The Huntress and Her Prey

The hunter held her breath steady, only short, silent huffs of air moved through her Bio mask's ventilation system. The narrow and dark umber design did nothing to hide itself within the brown and red hues of the temperate forest of her home planet, and she did not attempt to cloak herself. Instead she stood on stable feet planted silently on the dry leaves and mulch that stuck out between her four toes.

She did not flinch when she felt a small noise vibrate throughout the air and alerting her highly sensitive dreads. The slightest movement of leaves being brushed aside by swift feet, but not swift enough. She trained all her senses to find where it was coming from. She tasted the air, felt the ground thumping, and saw a small speck of heat through the thermal sight of her mask.

Without a sound she jumped to a nearby tree and scaled up the amber bark using her sharpened nails to keep her steady. The top half of her mulberry dreads were tied in a loose knot to conserve their length and keep them from making any possible noise. Her dark crimson, leathery skin stretched over every 713 muscle in her body. Her beige stomach was the second most clearest thing you could see of her form that was jumping at an alarming pace from tree to tree.

She located the origin of the sound. Her prey.

A purely beige hunter with golden tinted joints that did a surprisingly good job at hiding him within the more yellow coloured part of the forest. But his hickory dreads along with his darkened bronze bio helmet stood out like a sore thumb.

He was lurking around the forest floor. Her mandibles tightened behind her helmet as she angled herself ready to pounce. Her knees bent to her stomach, her hands clasping the amber branch beneath her. She leapt forward, no muscle out of place. She became a red Blurr aimed towards her prey, and by the time he turned his head her way it was too late.

She was on top of him in the blink of an eye, the prey stared up at her. Her bio helmet glared down at him with its crimson visors. He stared back at its distinguishing feature, a large, underbitten jawbone attached to the bottom half of the helmet. Eight menacing teeth showed a false threat to snap at its victims.

The golden hunter reached up to try and get her off him, he punched and clawed at her shoulders drawing blood, but she did not move an inch. She gave a hardy punch to his throat, causing him to choke and sputter. She growled and ripped off his bio helmet throwing it away as the thin tubes snapped. She stared into frenzied eyes, golden green orbs stared at her with pupils as small as a grain of sand.

The eyes of prey that knows it has been caught.

She gave him a punch to the face, only with enough force to badly bruise his right eye. The second punch however was given with a significant amount of extra strength, dislocating his bottom left mandible.

He howled in pain and tried crawling back, but she grabbed his arm tugged him upwards. She kneed his stomach and simply moved to the side at his futile attempt to kick her back. She dragged him by his sensitive dreads over her shoulder. He wailed and scrambled desperately to roll off her shoulder, or cause enough movement that she'd drop him. But her strength well overpowered his own, she easily grabbed his hips and threw him a foot or two.

She began striding towards him. Giving him a growl to indicate she was approaching. She watched him clamber up and hold his hands in a surrendering gesture, his knees bent and lowered, hands spread and faced towards her to show his submission.

She huffed again, annoyance rather than pride. She removed her Bio mask to show the same golden green eyes as him. Their crest size and shape were identical, small dark quills lined the center of their heads. Except, her skin was a dark red, unlike his golden hues. And she was a female, which automatically differed her body from his, like her slimmer waist and lack of plumage, along with the leather wrappings she wore like her loinclogh and chest wraps. He wore less, just a loinclogh, and he had small spikes that littered the males body and produced their pheromones, and his were letting out a sour smell of worry. Still, once glance gave indication to their siblinghood.

When she stood before him and didn't make a move he slightly lowered his arms and huffed in relief. She suddenly jumped at him and knocked him in the side of his crest. He howled once more and held the side of his head to ease the pain.

"What do I always say!" She growled at him as he stood hunched in front of her.

"Never," he regained his breath "Never act like prey."

"Or else?" She asked eyebrows furrowed.

"Or else you're already dead." He finished, tired. She huffed in satisfaction as she began walking away placing her bio mask on her hip and untying her dreads and letting them fall onto her back once more.

"I will not allow you to participate in the next hunt, Ui'stbian." She announced, Ui'stbian's head shot up despite the pain he quickly gathered his dented bio mask and ran to her side, angry.

"What!" He growled but not snarled, he didn't dare after losing a fight to her, instead he attempted to ease her into letting him into the hunt. Mis'tbian! The elders already approved me to join for my Chiva. I need to join this hunt to become blooded."

"You will not be hunting." Mis'tbian snapped, mandibles flaring.

She knew this hunt was important to him, it was his chiva, his time to prove himself worthy to hunt and pass on his seed. That was his role, what he had been training for, what everyone of their species trained for. They were Yautja, hunters of the galaxy's finest, but Ui'stbian wasn't ready, if he couldn't even keep hidden without his armour, how would he stay hidden on an entirely different planet.

"But it's just an Ooman hunt!" He argued. Mi'stbian shot around back to face him directly.

"It is not just an Ooman hunt! It is a mission in ridding the galaxy of their existence!" She snarled.

"That's why it's the perfect opportunity to prove I'm worthy of a hunters status!" He began growling.

"I will not let my little brother hunt in a war zone when he can not even evade me!" She yelled grabbing a handful of his dreads yanking him down. Ui'stbian looked up at her with annoyance.

"You're a top tier hunter Mi'stbi, surely getting that far into the hunt would prove I'm more than capable of taking on Oomans." He concluded.

"If this is your way of buttering me up, it won't work. Besides, you're underestimating Oomans too much." She sighed, letting go of his dreads. She continued walking out of the forest, trained feet barely making a sound even now.

"Ui'stbi;" she began as they reached the scented path of the forest. "For centuries our kind has hunted. Our ancestors did it for survival, our thar'n-da did it for sport, now we must hunt to exterminate Oomans as though they were kiande amedha."

Ui'stbian raised his brows at that. Kiande amedha?

"Are they truly becoming that bothersome?" He asked, helmet held tightly within his clenched hands.

"Not bothersome brother, worrisome." Ui'stbian furrowed his brow, he couldn't see how the Terrarian race became such a problem, he new their thar'n-da had lost to one, and now he walks with Cetanu, but for all of them. Luckily, Mi'stbian elaborated for him.

"Not long ago, a bad blood had slipped right through the enforcer's fingers and escaped his punishment. So they sent an upgraded hunter after him."

"An upgraded?" Ui'stbian asked even more confused. "What's this have to do with the Oomans?"

"The bad blood was found trying to reach the Terrarians planet, Earth. What was first thought to be a simple chase and catch became so much more. The Hunter caught the Bad Blood, executing him, but quickly learnt he'd bought a weapon to Earth with him. So he tracked it down to keep it out of the Oomans hands. He was.... unsuccessful, and was dispatched before he could either retrieve or destroy the weapon. But we learnt what the weapon was, a full suit of armour, apparently fit for humans."

Ui'stbian listened with great intent. "So the Oomans have our technology?!" He asked.

"Yes. The elders do not worry about the humans learning how to utilize the weapon, however, if the technology was stolen by another species, such as the Amengi or gods forbid the Engineers..." Mi'stbian spoke in a soft, worried tone. Ui'stbi placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Then I want prove myself worthy. Worthy enough to hunt the Oomans, to protect our kinds secrets, and to protect you." He smiled.

"Bold of you to assume I need protecting, brother. They only have our technology, not our wits, not our techniques, not our bonds." She said placing her hand over the one on her shoulder.

Ui'stbian smiled, upper mandibles arching in a 'U' shape and his lower pair pressed closely together.

"Maybe we should show them just how well we hunt when we hunt in a pack." Ui'stbian with a subtle sly tone.

"You little c'jit!" Mi'stbian laughed jokingly smacking Ui'stbian in the back of the head. "....Fine. I will allow you to join the hunt- only to make thar'n-da proud."

Ui'stbian was content with that conclusion.

"Thank you, Sister."

Yautja Language:

Ooman - Human

Chiva - Trial

Kiande amedha - Hard Meat (Xenomorph)

c'jit - shit

thar'n-da - Guardian (Parental)