Too Good To Be True

Agile Blade sifted through her armament. A combistick, wristblades, and her recurve knife. However, she now carried an additional weapon; a shuriken. Naithei gifted it to her shortly before they boarded the mothership. Traditionally, she'd have to earn this weapon through trials and hardships. The clan leader gave Naithei permission to give it to her, after all there was no law that said he couldn't do that.

She felt satisfied and reassured after she made sure everything was in place. She sat down with her back to the walls of the ship. Why everything was so dimly lit was a mystery to her. The other Young Bloods conversed on the other side of the bay, none of them even acknowledging her. Each one of them were trained just like all the others, but they all specialized in one area of expertise. The smallest one was definitely a tracker of sorts, an expert at hiding in the shadows and striking before their prey even knows they're there. His bird-like bio-mask was probably equipped with something that helped him in that area. In order from left to right she saw a spearmaster, a wristblade master, and a berserker. Agile Blade was none of the above; she was a trapper, a rarity among Yautja culture.

Naithei taught her as much as he could about human ingenuity. Humans had a tendency of outsmarting Hunters and making them fall for their traps, simple as they may be. So with what little knowledge he had he trained her in that area. Since he couldn't teach her everything she had to learn everything herself afterwards. Naithei also taught her how to take down opponents bigger and stronger than her. Her cutting down opponents could only do so much, however. If her prey were a r'ka or something like it, her fast attacks would be for naught. R'ka were known for never backing down until they either killed or a Hunter killed them. Naithei taught her how to analyze prey to the bone. That way she could figure out exactly where to cut, stab, or break.

---

The doors hissed as they slid open. Evelyn finished buttoning up her shirt an walked into the brightly lit cafeteria. Row after row of tables and seats in the large room. Evelyn thought it was overkill considering that only a handful of the colony was awake. Roughly two thousand souls aboard the ship and only ten people were awake.

"Ah. Evelyn, how was your wake up call?" asked Dr. Kovacs. He was an elderly man, at least 30 years older than Evelyn was, but he moved and acted as if he were 20 years younger. The man got out of his seat and pulled a chair for Evelyn.

"And they say chivalry is dead." she said jokingly and sat down. "And total bullshit waking sequence, as always."

"Watch your language, honey. It's bad table manners." said Mrs. Kovacs. She wasn't a doctor like her husband, no PHDs in any area, just a loving and supporting wife.

"Sorry, ma'am." she said awkwardly.

"What'll it be young lady?" asked Dr. Kovacs.

"Nothing, sir. After coughing up that cursed liquid I'd rather stay away from foods for a bit." she flatly rejected his offer.

"Well, we're not all built the same way." he said cheerily.

"So, why did you wake me up?" she asked. Truth be told, the question had been lingering at the back of her mind the instant she woke. She chose to ignore it, but it kept gnawing at her.

"You will not believe what we found." he said. He smiled and stared, waiting for her to take a guess.

"I'm not a psychic, sir." she pointed out.

"I'm very sorry. It's just that..." he cut himself off and laughed in excitement. "...we found a habitable planet."

"Holy shit that's amazing." she said with a huge smile on her face.

"It is a very big planet. I believe Nyx said it was uh, six times bigger than Earth?" he said with a hint of doubt. "And, get this, it orbits three suns."

"Three suns." she repeated. "Is that good?"

"Yes and no." he replied. "You see it's--"

"All due respect." she cut off. "I'll understand every fifth word, maybe. 'Yes and no' will have to do for now."

"The reason we had you awaken is because we want to send in a small team to explore it. The ship computer says it's habitable, but I'd rather not take any chances."

"So you need me in case anyone gets injured, or poisoned, they break something, etc."

"Well you are a medical doctor." he said in confusion.

"That I am. But why wake the escorts?" she asked.

"Just in case we run into anything hostile. We'll only be taking a few of them, the rest are still in hypersleep." he explained.

"Captain Fan gave you the green light?"

"Not exactly." he said with some annoyance. "I was hoping you could help me try and convince her."

"And I'll keep saying no." announced a woman. Evelyn turned around and saw the captain of the ship, Fan Minh. She was shorter than Evelyn, but twice as dangerous. Story went that she acquired the Stalwart after beating the old captain to death. Exaggerated for sure, but Evelyn still wouldn't want to get on her bad side.

"You have to reconsider, Captain." begged the doctor, "This is exactly what we were looking for."

"I checked the data. It's almost a perfect replica of Earth." she said.

"Which is why--"

"Which is why I don't want to risk it." she cut off. "That data is too good to be true."

"Might I suggest something?" asked Evelyn, interrupting the two.

"Go ahead." ordered Fan.

"We can take a small ship, leave the colony ship in orbit. Once we land we explore a one mile radius. If all goes well we can add an extra mile every day." she suggested.

"That's almost too good of a plan." said Fan.

"Why must you be so pessimistic?" asked the doctor with anger.

"I'm just cautious, Dr. Kovacs." she said with a stern voice. "That place might be completely hostile, maybe there's something mixed with the air that could kill us, maybe even fucking aliens that don't want us stomping the same ground they live in."

"We could take suits, keep them on at all times. The soldiers can take standard weapons, have them leave the heavy ordnance on the ship." said Evelyn.

"What if they get infected with something?" Captain Fan was looking for many reasons to not let them go down.

"Cryosleep. Keep them under until we can help them." replied Evelyn.

"Nyx." Fan called out.

"Yes, Captain?" asked the A.I. Fan inspected the three people that were in front of her, as if she had accepted defeat.

"Place the ship in orbit around the planet. Scan as much as you can and find a safe spot for a dropship to land." she ordered.

"Right away, Captain."

"This is gonna come bite me in the ass, I just know it." she said in a low voice.

"Well then. Shall we get ready?" asked Evelyn.

---

The pod landed with a heavy thud. The sheer force of the landing still had her body shaking. Agile Blade collected her thoughts and began climbing the nearest tree.

She didn't climb to the top, however, only to about half its height. Even though she didn't fully climb it it was at a high enough spot to get the lay of the land.

To her knowledge, they'd send in several prey for her and the other Young Bloods could hunt. Her mind was set on one thing; the r'ka that they'd send in. It might not get the Night Hunter clan to fully accept her but it would sure as hell get her their respect.

Unfortunately, it'd be no easy task. R'ka weren't normal. They were worthy prey for a reason; relentless, no fear, and sometimes a Hunter became the hunted. They are completely random in what they do so tracking them was pretty much pointless.

The only way to track them is by finding whatever poor being happened to be in its way. So right now her main goal was to find the freshest kills on the planet. Of course some could be from the other Young Bloods. Unlike them though, she knew how they killed. It was always a mess; they scratch, bite, use the weird extra mouth, and even their tail was used to impale. They rarely ate their kill. R'ka are more of a parasite, it needs hosts.

In the distance, there was one grand tree, bigger than all the others, different in appearance as well. That tree was her marker. Once she was satisified with what she saw she began to climb down but her attention was caught on a weird sound.

She climbed the tree, only a little higher this time and tried to identify the sound and where exactly it was coming from.

The clouds above her split open, revealing a small craft. It was completely black, so black it stood out in the planet. It wasn't a Yautja dropship, that was a given. This was smaller and more sleek than their design and it didn't even look well protected. Even a small Yautja scout ship could take it head on.

It wasn't prey either, those dropped from high up in the air with parachutes -- tampered parachutes. If they knew what awaited them, for sure they'd prefer dying during their entry.

The craft descended and disappeared amongst the trees, about two or three hours away from Agile Blade. She wanted to ignore it, but her curiosity wouldn't let her. Right now she had more pressing matters to attend to. Just as she was turning away, a thought suddenly came to her; if that ship had a big enough group, for sure a r'ka would be attracted to it. She looked in the direction of the ship and made a mental path of how to get there. She activated her camouflage to hide herself from any encounters and began to make her way towards the ship.