Star Trek: Bendross
Episode 37: Predator Parade
By
Jay P. Hailey
And
The Bendross Players

"Trouble." Martin said.

Hamilton looked up from Expedition One's tiny galley, relieved to have anythingh interrupt the chores of doing dishes. "Really? What?"

"We have company." Kerenski said.

Hamilton went up to the weapons blister. He slid on a pair of shades and dialed the light amplification up. The weapons blister was dark, to accommodate Martin's own set. The multi-view goggles were deliberately designed to echo the appearance of cheap heavy plastic sunglasses on the last century. This is why they were called "Shades".

"Oh, Christ." Hamilton said. He dialed up the magnification. "There's our new buddy. He looks pretty rough."

"A collaborator." Martin said.

Hamilton looked at Martin and saw a faint haunted expression in the green amplified light.

"Switch to IR and look behind them." Martin said grimly.

Hamilton did so. Now there were many more figures out in the grass. "What the hell?" Hamilton peered more closely "Raptors."

"Wake everyone. And turn off your shades. I'm turning on the exterior lights." Martin said.

-*-

The Star Hat suddenly blazed with painfully bright light. The light was sharp, white and harsh. Stares-Into-Night looked down and tried to see around a massive spot floating in front of his vision. It hurt, which was surprising. Stares-Into-Night had a floaty, distant feeling. He knew he was in severe trouble.

Stares-Into-Night turned squinting to see True-Spear flat on his belly.

"You can turn back." Stares-Into-Night mushed. Stares-Into-Night was actually sort of hoping that the Demons of the Star Hat would kill True-Spear with their strange Magic. He was curious to see what it looked like and he wouldn't have minded seeing True-Spear die painfully. But there were other people on the line.

"If your friends kill me, they'll get you first." True-Spear hissed.

Stares-Into-Night blinked at True-Spear in pure shock "I AM DEAD NOW, YOU MORON!" He shreiked. True-Spear should know this, True-Spear was the one murdering him.

True-Spear looked at Stares-Into-Night and saw him clearly for the first time since the afternoon. The strange light accentuated the massive bruising of the Shaman's face, but leached away the discoloration. The almost drunken swaying. True-Spear had never actually seen a person as badly damaged who was still alive.

Self hatred fed his rationalization. "If you hadn't contaminated yourself with the Demons, we wouldn't have had to."

Stares-Into-Night tried to sneer but couldn't find the energy. He tried to feel something but couldn't find the energy. He had one chance now. He turned and staggered towards the light.

-*-

Vasquez and Martin were at the airlock, with rifles and extra ammo/battery packs. Their gauss rifles fired steel needles at hyper sonic velocities, using massive pulses of magnetic energy. The ammunition clip contained a power cell that was drained as the needles were fired. The rate of fire was tremendous, the damage out put terrible. Energy and nickel-iron steel were free for the gathering in space.

Martin looked at his weapon with a mixture of respect and frustration. The needles were so light that the gauss rifle fired with a spread pattern, like that of a shotgun, but far more narrow. It was still too wide to be very useful in a hostage stand off.

Martin was being optimistic. Chances were badly against their new friend living for another hour.

Sadly it was nothing he hadn't seen before. Getting out of the situation with the ship intact and his crew alive was a solid victory if a conditional one.

Martin finished his weapons check and put aside the question if he was getting soft in his old age. There would be time to worry about that later.

Linda Vasquez saw the expression playing across Martin's face and watched it with detached interest. Some people felt stuff when there was shooting to be done. It was a luxury Linda couldn't afford. You killed, and then you drank. And then you got back into the training/waiting phase until there was something to kill again. Linda idly wondered what there was to drink on Expedition One.

Hamilton arrived and began to check his weapon. "I'd really like it if we could get the little guy out of this."

Marin nodded "That's the plan. But I need you up in the turret, keeping those raptors off our backs."

Linda heard Martin's statement and with the smallest of shrugs altered her mental mission parameters from "Kill all the Furries." To "Kill all the Furries except ours."

Hamilton stopped and looked at martin grimly. "That thing's too inaccurate to help free our buddy."

Martin nodded. "I know, but we need to knock the raptors down."

Hamilton hissed but turned back towards the weapons pod.

Michelle arrived with a weapon, Jon Dou Arrived with a medical crash kit and Gradieaux also with a weapon.

"Now you see the true face of these little animals." Gradieaux said, giving his weapon a quick and professional check.

Michelle glared at him in the middle of a slower methodical check.

Rudy Greenvele arrived video Camera in hand. The whole evnt would be immortalized in the annals of the colony. It was already running.

Martin pursed his lips. He never got frustrated, ever. It could impair your judgment in combat and get you killed. The closest Martin ever got to frustrated was when dealing with civilians during a potential combat situation.

"Gradieaux take the camera. No weapon for you. Rudy, you're on the flight deck in case we need to evacuate. Michelle, Doctor, you'll wait here until we give you the all clear.

Gradieaux looks irate. Rudy looked disappointed. Michelle and Jon Dou were ready to revolt.

A brief flash of anger crossed Martin's face. "Our new friend's life is on the line, people."

Gradieaux quickly re-stowed his weapon and took the camera out of Rudy's hands. He'd dealt with American Special Forces enough to know their almost Vulcan reserve.

As the door opened, Rudy shook his head and turned back towards the flight deck. Martin lead the way, With Vasquez covering. Michelle came out after wards, covering Linda, inexpertly but with zeal.

Martin Shrugged mentally. Close enough for Government work.

-*-

Hamilton set up the controls of the gunnery pod to suit himself and made sure all was ready. Then he opened up a com channel. "This is Gunery. Ready to Rock."

Standing out on the grassland, Martin could smell the dirt and life happening all around him. The bright lights of Expedition One were already attracting masses of bugs, drawn by their confused navigation equipment. The warn night air washed over him. Faint sounds came to him. There was one thing that made the situation easier, even if only slightly. Their new weapons weren't as loud as he was used to. The noise of battle was so violent it damaged one's hearing and one's skull. Headaches, hearing loss and even occasional damage to one's equilibrium were often the ignored side effect of battle. None of that would be happening here.

"You're cleared to fire, Guns. Take down all Raptors." Martin said.

Hamilton Lined up his first toothy victim and tapped the trigger.

-*-

Stares-into-Night made it a few steps toward the star hat when True-Spear grabbed his Arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" True-Spear hissed.

The idiocy of the question made Stares-Into-Night giggle. "Well, Duh."

"You'd choose Demons over your own people?" True-Spear boggled. He had the feeling he was not grasping something and it annoyed him.

"My own people are over there." Stares-Into-Night nodded at the treeline. "I'd cheerfully choose them if that was an option."

True Spear shook Stares-Into-Night roughly. "I'm sick of you! You belong to me! You're Mine! Do you understand this!?"

True Spear saw another one of his hunters get up carefully and begin to edge forward. Finally something was beginning to work.

The door to the Star Hat opened and the Demons came out into the pool of alien light. They were carrying things.

True Spear forced Stares-Into-Night to the ground and laid down to cover him. True Spear was trying to prevent Stares-Into-night From Escaping. The irony of his position escaped him.

The smell of a deeply injured person didn't though.

Then the Star Hat ripped.

-*-

Ass-Spear hated his name. Ass-Spear hated many things but his well-earned name was top of the list. His main problem was that his powerfully and well-thrown spears had a tendency to drift slightly. He could strike with greater force than True-Spear but all too often he struck his prey in the haunches, resulting in a long chase to run down injured and undignified prey.

When the Star Hat lit up Ass-Spear hid and stayed hidden. From what True-Spear said, Killing the Demons would be easy. But the lights, the strange things, Ass-Spear resolved to let someone else lead the way. Once he'd seen another hunter close and do something that made sense, he'd follow. Until then, the tall grass and being flat on the ground were Ass-Spear's friends.

Ass-Spear watched True-Spear and Stares-Into-Night arguing standing in the painfully bright and harsh light of the Star Hat. "If we find the Clue tree, you get the first fruit, True-Spear." Ass-Spear snarled to himself. "Yeah, right, framed by demon magic, on the grass land at night, that's when you really want to stop and have melodrama."

The Door on the side of the Star Hat opened and four Demons came out. Ass-Spear felt his guts wriggle and his sphincter clench. They looked a lot bigger in person than they seemed while True-Spear was raving in the forest. They looked terribly dangerous.

"What the hell am I doing here again?" Ass-Spear asked himself. That afternoon his imagination was filled with new names like Demon-Slayer, Demon-Spear or Demon-Scalp. Now these fantasies were replaced by "Demon-Bait", "Demon-Supper" and "helpless and wailing demon victim." "Ass-Spear has a certain rebellious ring to it." Ass-Spear decided.

Then the Star Hat ripped.

Ass-Spear heard the ripping noise pass right over his head. It was the scariest thing, because he felt on the deepest level of his soul that the ripping noise would rip him to shreds as easily as it ripped the air above him.

A cry forced itself from Ass-Spear's throat unwillingly. He was covered in wetness. "I've Wet myself." Ass-Spear thought. As this realization came to him part of his brain started yelling "IT MISSED! IT MISSED! I'M NOT DEAD!! IT MISSED!!" It was the most joyful thought in all of Ass-Spear's experience. But another part of his brain stopped and thought. "If I wet myself, how'd it get on my back, too?" He rolled a half turn out of the small puddle of urine underneath him and saw guts. Lots of guts. And blood. Lots of blood. Nearby, about three times arm's reach away, the head of a Raptor flopped. It was dead but still fighting, flopping and snapping on the ground.

The raptor that must have been right on top of Ass-Spear, the raptor *he'd never even noticed was there*.

Ass-Spear was surprised at the pitch and volume of the scream that wrenched itself from him. He was covered in Raptor blood and guts. He screamed out and took a deep breath. Ass-Spear hopes of self control were dashed when his body took the lungful of air, clenched around it tighter than he'd ever known he could and forced it out in another high pitched panicked scream that seemed to go on-and-on.

The Star Hat was ripping again.