Hunters and Hunted

Aun Shi Ki walked confidently forward, his stride measured and graceful, his robes gently flapping in the light breeze. He closed his eyes in concentration, the prey was near, he could sense it, its hunger, it foul breath and metallic scent of chitinious armour faint on the air. Opening his eyes he scanned the rubble taking in every detail of the uneven battleground, only a fool neglects to study the land he will fight on he thought. A small sound reached him, a stone had fallen, his prey was on the move, so it begins he thought.
His two bladed polearm now was at the ready, a reddish sheen on the hi-tech blades, a unique alloy he had discovered on some now forgotten death world. The edge was keen and the alloy proof against the strongest of acids, an excellent weapon for the prey at hand. His concentration snapped back to the present, ‘focus, focus’, without that he was nothing or worse he was dead. As an individual his death was unimportant but as Ethereal his death could have a catastrophic effect on the morale of the Tau around him and do great harm to the greater good. Shi Ki spun on his hooves as the creature leapt from behind his blade flashed and deflected the long talons as the creature made an airborne attack, he ducked as its leap it carried over him to land heavily in the rubble beyond.
Shi ki examined his prey with cold detachment, a large creature four armed each limb ending in long curved talons, its black and yellow striped body covered in armour plates. A product of accelerated evolution the earth caste scientists had said. It was a creature born to hunt, born for war. It was weary now, it had underestimated its skinny foe, and the creature was far from stupid. Shi ki saw its muscles tense between chitinous plates and was ready for the attack; still its speed was impressive, this time the blade master severed a limb in his graceful dodge. The armoured limb fell to the floor with dull rattle. The creature looked on hissed and flexed its other 3 claws. Interesting it shows no anger or even pain at the loss of a limb, this is unfortunate thought the Ethereal, for if a foe can be angered they can make mistakes.
Time to take the offensive thought Shi Ki, and he moved into his attack routine, a dazzling display of blade work and a graceful dance like motion. The creature was fats and deadly but outclassed, the Ethereal sliced it apart like a scientist doing a dissection, finally missing most of hit s limbs and several of the more vital armour plates the creature slumped to the floor its blood oozing from dozen of almost surgical incisions, it died with out anger silently.
“End simulation” Shi Ki’s command triggered a startling change, the once rubble streets melted away to remove the clean white lines of the interior of a Tau warship. The creature fading away as the holographic training program shut down. A small group of fire warriors and air caste were watching. A naval officer stepped forward “Brilliant performance great one”
“No it was not captain it was worrying”
Confused the captain stepped back, “I don’t understand”
“Today I killed one, it took me several minutes, these things hunt in packs, there could be thousands of them on the planet surface by now, if we cannot work out a way to stop them our warriors will die”

part 2

Hunters and Hunted part 2

The vehicle sped onwards, its once clean lines now marred by acid burns and damage, sparks and wiring showing through the alloy skin where acid had penetrated deep. Despite this it still flew, skimming low across the ground the pilot struggling with the damaged controls, now and again it would dip too close to a tree or rock and scrap the alloy armour. It erratic flight like some wounded bird.
Shas ‘ui Kem Shim knew his co pilot was dead; a winged creature had severed his head and was probably now devouring it. The grisly end made him shudder but he had no time to weep any distraction to his piloting now would mean death. The vehicle dropped suddenly as it hit a hidden valley, design to skim the ground it would not sustain high altitude and dropped dozens of meters to skim the valley floor. The vehicle was a piranha light attack skimmer. Fast and well armed but open topped and not well armoured. A hasty military adaptation of a civilian vehicle it had proven useful to the Fire caste. A warning light came on, enemy approaching from the rear, Kem Shim’s gloved hand smashed it into silence, he smiled such a display of ill-disciplined anger would have been frowned on, but he was past caring now. He checked weapon systems, the Piranha’s fusion blaster was long gone, smashed off in an earlier collision, but the two gun drones were still functional and requesting targets. The rear camera now picked up his hunters, armoured insect like creatures swooping and gliding to build up speed on membrane covered wings, wicked scythed talons hanging below their main bodies, whip like tails stiff to aid high speed flight.
The drones were requesting permission to deploy and delay the enemy, normally a good plan as they would be able to fight independently once free of the houses on the crafts wings, but escape was not the plan thought Kem Shim well not today anyway. The computer showed he was 2 decs from base, too far with the speed the creatures were gaining. “Sorry old friend but once more you must serve the greater good, in death as you did in life”. Reaching back he unclipped the restraining belt on his co pilot, “Forgive me brother”, pulling hard on the sluggish controls Kem gently rolled the craft, the fire warrior’s body being hurled free. In the rear view screen he could see the creatures stopping to feed, far from the hive mind they were little more than beasts.
The crippled Piranha speed past a remote sensor tower, the near by drone turrets activating in case of threat, their mushroom like drones lifting to reveal weapon systems. Kem Shim had reached the outer defenses. Already aircraft control was directing him to a repair area and down loading his recon data. The Piranha came to a surprisingly gentle stop; repair drones and earth caste were waiting it would soon be fully operational again. Tired and saddened Kem Shim took one last look at the blood stained seat of his co pilot. A warm feeling of comfort and re assurance swept over him as the Ethereal came into view. “ You have done well Shas’ui, “Aun Shi Ki spoke with the unmistakable voice of authority that all of his caste seemed to possess.
“The cost was..”
“Acceptable, but unfortunate Shas’ui” said Shi Ki cutting off any further argument.
“You have brought information, and knowledge will be the key to defeating these creatures” The words brought little comfort, in the distance the rhythmic sound of burst cannons and other weapons firing had begun, the creatures were testing the perimeter. As if sensing his thoughts Shi Ki spoke;
“So it begins, get some rest Shas’ui, your squadron awaits you and I will have need of your skill before too long”, Anger flared briefly in the fire warrior
“Will the conflicts ever end? Are we forever to serve and die?”
“We serve so that others might live Kem Shim, we die so that our families and friends back home can live and be safe, this is the nature of the greater good. For we are Tau, we are neither beasts like these that we fight, nor do we glory in war like the Gue’la but what we do is never without purpose, not a single fire warrior’s death is without meaning”
Humbled by the Ethereal’s words and honoured by the fact that his name was known Shas’ui Kem Shim trudged steadily to his quarters, tired but resolute.