6 Chapter 6: Attack.

The two spacecraft roared through space, a desperate fight for survival.

Rin-kon nervously shouted at his screen, "They have increased velocity, twelve parsecs."

"Keep changing our trajectory," replied Dal-kel. "Are you ready on tactical?"

Del-ros could only grunt so as not to break his concentration.

Twisting and turning creating gaps in space, each manoeuvre anticipated by the other, each ship being pushed to their limits.

Three missiles were fired, thrusting their way forward. They hit, but not enough to cause any significant damage against the unseen protective shield. It fired back a series of pulses that slammed into the front of the larger craft.

In space they played this cat and mouse chase exchanging weapon fire at each other.

"Let's do it now!" shouted Dal-kel. A giant pulse launched itself forward.

The smaller ship in front went from flying in a controlled manner to tumbling across the galaxy out of control. Eventually the larger ship caught it with a tractor beam and brought it under control.

"No life signs." confirmed Del-ros.

The long process began of dragging their prey to a safe place where they would not be observed. A space pursuit like this had many parallels to a werewolf hunting and being hunted. Run your prey down until they are so tired that you can then deliver the fatal blow.

Choosing the right craft had to be based on the crew and the cargo. As terrans the three still had morals not to attack the innocent. Even as werewolves with a lack of control there was always a need to remain in the shadows all the time.

The process they had developed was to watch for smugglers, or weapon carriers. Make sure that they had more fire-power or the element of surprise and then pursue and attack. Never attack unless you knew you had superior power, and always stop if the pursued went towards a planet with a moon. They could still control the ship as werewolves, but the rage could lead them to make a poor decision and leave themselves exposed. Attacking as terrans was the golden rule.

Dal-kel and Rin-kon entered the ship, it had an eerie atmosphere. A once frenetic craft now in silence except for the sound of lights and static across the intercom.

"Let`s make sure they are not hold-up on the deck." said Dal-kel through his comms on his spacesuit. The shock would knock out life support. By the time they got there the vital systems would have begun the process of restarting but there was no hope for the crew.

On the deck were the crew of four. Shrunken shells of the terrans that they had been, agony wretched across their faces.

"We should have a think about this," said Rin-kon, "maybe when we are in attack mode we should wear our suits? If someone took us out we would still be able to survive?"

Dal-kel nodded at him. Every attack meant that they learnt something new. Every attack brought them fresh supplies - plus a cargo to be sold and weapons that could be adapted on their own craft.

Away from the main systems there was a lawless frontier. No questions were asked as goods were bought and sold. The ship and the three men had become regulars at a couple of outposts where they could restock and listen for news.

With a payment just made for their last cargo and the refuelled they sat in a crowded bar, mixing with terrans and other species from across the local systems.

Above the noise Del-ros was excited. "Look at this group of planets here," he pointed to a small perspex screen in front of him, several planets without moons, a few with moons. Settlers on each of the planets and mostly mining outposts."

"And?" asked Rin-kon.

"And, reports of attacks by animals said to be wolf-like but standing up."

Suddenly the other two took a sharp interest.

"Now the mining company have offered a bounty on anyone who captures these creatures. It isn`t good for their share price that folk are scared at night."

"But what of the moon phases? How long would we be terran for?"

"That`s the interesting part, only a few times in every cycle, so these fellows of ours could either be holed up somewhere, or could be part of the community. What interests me is how many bounty hunters they are going to attract into that sector. We could make a big strike against them."

As they drank and ate they all had their ideas on what should be done next. It was an interesting proposition, the chance to take out a few bounty hunters, but was it also dangerous? They discussed the possibility of working far away from the system where they knew that they would probably be safe.

Although there was no agreed chain of command, the two always waited for Dal-kel to make a decision.

"We have lived in chains and been persecuted. Maybe the terrans shouldn't be on those planets, maybe they should be planets where our kind can live in peace. We agreed that we would be the bounty hunters of the bounty hunters. I think we owe it to our kind to go and at least have a look at what is going on out there.

They all nodded in agreement.

Extra supplies were purchased. Hand weapons were purchased. Fuel to spend longer in space was purchased. They finally had a mission. It was going to be more dangerous than anything that they had done before, but now they were going to start the fight back against the terrans.