Birds of Prey - Hetero Edition

He noted that the leader of the group had changed, now one of the Valbaran soldiers with a notably lighter scale color was at the head of the flock. It seemed that they were all of equal standing, all seven of them equally in charge. How did that work? How did they decide who got to make the decisions and when? They hadn't paused so far to make a new plan, so whatever they were doing, they were doing it without any obvious communication. It was like second nature to them.

Maza's flock was on the same page, moving silently save for the occasional feather signal. These were more complex than the simple flashes of color used to convey emotion, patterns and alternating hues sharing information that the humans couldn't parse. This was probably how they hunted silently in their distant past, not so much as a whisper giving them away to their prey. Unlike humans, the Valbarans did not seem eager to distance themselves from their predatory, carnivorous past. They seemed to see themselves, and indeed they described themselves, as pack hunters.

Even Tacka, usually so timid and reserved, stalked the forest along with her sisters. He had to keep in mind that she too had flown a fighter during the dogfight in the Oort cloud, she was no less qualified than Maza or Coza to wield that rifle. It was as if by working as such a cohesive unit, they were able to lessen the weaknesses of each individual, Tacka's meekness and Coza's bravado less apparent when they were focused on a common goal. The flock really was greater than the sum of its parts.

They reached another island of forest, and this time the group stopped for a few minutes, the Valbarans resting and checking in with their superiors. There was no sign of the Teth'rak yet, and there had been no new Bug activity. Jaeger and Baker decided to do a little exploring while they waited for their companions to recover their strength, wading through the ferns and checking out all of the strange plants and animals.

They found some kind of lizard clinging to a tree trunk that was covered in green fluff, not quite fur and not quite feathers, along with more of the colorful reptilian birds that were hopping between the branches above them. There were insects everywhere, fluttering things with iridescent wings that seemed to be pollinating the colorful flowers.

When they reached the edge of the patch of forest, they crouched between the trees, staying in cover as they had seen the Valbarans do so as not to draw any unwanted attention. Across the plain, they saw something massive in the distance. There was a whole herd of creatures, perhaps two dozen of them standing around a pocket of jungle as they used their long necks to nibble the tops of the trees.

"Sauropods," Baker marveled. "How far away do you think they are? They must be a hundred and twenty feet long at least, probably a hundred tons. It's like seein' a whale walking around on the land..."

They did indeed look like dinosaurs, they had round bodies that were propped up on four massive, elephant-like legs. Much like the Teth'rak and the Geu'tra, they were covered in a coat of feathers, these ones a vibrant blue in color. They sported tall, decorative crests that rose from their spines. Behind them trailed a long and flexible tail that tapered into a whip, a counterbalance to their long, giraffe-like necks. They were stripping leaves from the tallest trees using horny beaks, the ornate crests that rose from the tops of their heads catching the sunlight, they were like walking lighthouses.

"I never thought I'd be seeing anything like this when I became a pilot," Jaeger laughed, taking a photograph of them with his phone. They heard rustling behind them, and Maza emerged from the undergrowth.

"Come on, we're moving out. The target site is near."

They made their way back to the group, following them out of the forest and into the open once more. Jaeger felt vulnerable as they marched across the open grassland with no jungle canopy to protect them. The patches of forest were perhaps a half mile apart on average, and so it was quite a sprint to make it back to safety.

The impact crater came into view in the distance, the grass around it charred and burned. The Valbarans advanced on it with their weapons raised, craning their flexible necks as they kept watch for danger. As the resident experts on Bug tech, Baker and Jaeger jogged to the front of the pack, reaching the lip of the crater and leaning over to peer inside with their rifles shouldered.

It was a perfect bowl-shape, the sand and dirt had been turned to glass in places by the heat of the impact, but it was empty.

"Uh...wasn't there supposed to be a Bug probe here or somethin'?" Baker asked.

Jaeger walked around the circumference of the hole as the Valbarans looked on in confusion, deferring to the more experienced humans.

"We should not linger in the open for too long, Earth'nay," one of the soldiers warned as she scanned the horizon for danger. They had taken up a defensive position, set up in a rough circle with each of them facing a different direction.

"Wait, there's something here," Jaeger said as he took a knee beside a patch of scorched grass. "Look at this. There are tracks coming up this side of the crater and out into the field. They're like little indents, see that?"

"Yeah," Baker confirmed as he leaned over his shoulder. "So our probe got up and walked out of here? It could be fuckin' anywhere by now."

A Valbaran in green camo sidled up beside him, peering down at the indentations in the soil.

"So you are suggesting that an organic probe could be fired from a spaceship, enter the atmosphere, dig a crater six feet deep, and then get up and walk away? These Betelgeusians are capable of such things?"

"Oh yeah," Baker replied, "that's the least impressive thing we've seen them do."

The Valbaran seemed to pause, it was like watching a computer freeze up.

"What do we do?" she finally asked.

"We should probably follow the tracks," Jaeger suggested, rising to his feet and shielding his eyes from the sun as he peered out across the savanna in the direction that the probe must have gone. "Any of you guys know anything about tracking?"

The Valbaran soldier whistled for her flock, Maza and her companions joining them in a huddle as the two humans waited nearby. They chittered and schemed, flashing their colorful plumes as they formulated a new plan to follow. They also made use of their handheld computers, holding what looked like a conference call with the higher-ups, a solitary head popping out to check for danger every few seconds. For not wanting to remain out in the open for too long, they certainly took their time, a UNN squad would already have moved out by now.

"We will follow the trail," one of the soldiers finally said, Jaeger and Baker sharing a look of relief as they set off again. It was difficult to follow the tracks through the tall grass, they were little more than round indentations, no doubt left by pointed limbs like those of an insect. They were only about two feet apart, so whatever they were looking for wasn't very large, and would likely be hidden by the grass. The aliens had a keen sense of smell, however. They picked up a scent that they described as a blend of burnt metal and ozone, following their noses where the tracks disappeared.

After meandering around for a while, seemingly directionless, the thing seemed to have chosen a target and set off with more purpose. The tracks formed a straight line, leading back in the direction of the city.

"It came here with a mission, obviously," Jaeger said as they traced its steps. "It's heading straight back to the city, probably so it can crawl up the wall and tell its hive ship what kind of defenses we have."

"Have you seen this behavior before?" Maza asked as she bobbed along beside him. She seemed concerned, and after what her people had gone through on their lost colony planet, he couldn't blame her.

"Not personally," he replied, "but that's the tricky thing about Bugs. They're always changing, no two fleets are exactly alike. They usually build off of a kind of genetic blueprint that seems to be common to all hives, like they all start out with the same basic designs and then start...mutating them, based on their immediate needs."

"So...your people don't really know what we'll be facing when the Bugs launch their attack?"

"Not exactly," he admitted, "but let me put it another way. We've collectively fought dozens of individual Bug fleets over the last thirty years, and we beat most of them. Planets and systems changed hands a few times, we've had to give ground, but not often. That we're here at all is proof that we've been able to push them back and expand our borders. Nobody is more qualified for this job than the UNN."

That seemed to reassure her a little, but to be honest, he wasn't entirely sure himself. It usually took fleets comprised of two or more carriers along with an armada of support ships, not to mention massive battleships that could dole out some serious damage, in order to defend an inhabited planet from a full-blown invasion. It didn't happen very often either. The Bugs had never made it very far into UNN controlled space, they were mostly a problem on the outskirts where the colonies were less populated and harder to defend due to their remoteness.

Could the Rorke defend the planet with only the Valbarans for support? It depended on the size of the Bug fleet. It sounded as if the abandoned Valbaran colony that was likely its point of origin had been a fertile planet, and the more raw materials the Bugs had access to, the better equipped the fleets that they sent out would be. One hive ship and a limited support fleet they could definitely deal with. Two or three and a suitable number of support ships would be stretching it.

"We need to rest," one of the soldiers said as she sidled up beside them, directing them to a nearby forest. They turned and made for the cover of the trees, the aliens locking their legs and checking in with command as they caught their breath in the shade. Jaeger wondered what kind of role the Coalition might be able to find for them if they should choose to join, they certainly couldn't keep pace with UNN Marines on the ground. Perhaps they would be better suited to piloting roles.

Maza talked with the other aliens for a minute, pointing to something on one of the tablet computers, then returned to Jaeger and Baker.

"We have people checking the top of the wall, it doesn't look like anything has climbed over it. At least there's no evidence of that. The probe is probably still between the crater and the city."

"That's good news at least," Baker said.

"There's another problem, however. They have eyes on the Teth'rak, and she's wandering this way. She hasn't seen us yet, or she'd be moving faster, and we're downwind of her so she won't pick up our scent. Even so, we should try to get this done and get back to Yilgarn as quickly as possible. She's about five miles South of us, and she can run at about twenty miles per hour, so if she spots us, we're going to have...a little under fifteen minutes to get to safety."

"We really don't want to be out here in the open when she notices we're here," Coza added, "there's no weapon or armor that will do us any good against her."

"Shouldn't we get back behind the wall and then come take another look when she's moved off again?" Baker asked.

"No," Jaeger replied. "We don't know whether that probe is trying to send information back to the fleet, trying to poison the water supply, or trying to release some kind of deadly virus. Letting it run amok while we wait out the Teth'rak isn't an option. We don't have any time to waste, let's get moving."

They broke from cover and returned to the trail of Bug tracks, the city wall looming in front of them. They were almost back to the gate now, it was perhaps a quarter mile away from them to the right, still open a sliver. There was a large patch of forest to either side of them, maybe another half mile apart, and the Bug's tracks arced off to the left where they seemed to end at the foot of the structure.

If what Maza had said was accurate, then the Teth'rak was probably a good distance South of the gate relative to them. They would have to move towards it to reach the probe. It was said to have good vision, and so it seemed likely that they would be spotted on this open field. They needed to get in and out fast if they didn't want to end up as dinosaur food.

They reached the foot of the wall, and the tracks changed. Jaeger didn't need to be a master hunter to see that the insect had tried to climb up the glassy surface, leaving scratch marks where it had scrambled to find purchase, and then it had given up and walked along to the wall to the left. They followed the trail a little further, the subtle curvature of the structure masking the end of it, and a hole eventually came into view. It looked about the right size for a large dog, and there was a mound of dirt nearby, the creature had tried to dig its way under the wall to get inside the city.

Jaeger took point, shouldering his rifle and edging closer to the hole. As he neared it, another spray of dirt was ejected from it, landing nearby to join the growing pile.

"It's still here!" Jaeger announced, "back me up!"

The Valbarans formed a rough crescent around the burrow as Jaeger leaned over to look inside. It was dark, he couldn't see very far, the thing had dug a pretty deep tunnel.

"So are we going to try and recover this thing?" Baker asked.

"If you want to squeeze down that hole and wrangle it, be my guest," Jaeger replied. "I don't see any conceivable way to get it out of there. Maybe we can lure it out with something? Scare it out?"

Baker stepped forward, aiming his XMR straight down into the hole and firing off a couple of rounds, the loud crack echoing across the plains. They heard the creaking sound of scurrying insect limbs, and then the probe burst out of the hole like a bat out of hell, vanishing into the tall grass. Jaeger hadn't gotten more than a glimpse of it, but it looked like a giant, blue-shelled isopod or a woodlouse.

"Get after it!" Baker shouted, but the Valbarans were already moving. They raced through the grass, even faster than the Bug, quickly surrounding it and blocking off its escape route. They kicked at it with their taloned feet like birds trying to kill a snake, hissing and spitting as their feathery plumes rose into vibrant displays of red and orange. When Baker and Jaeger arrived, the Bug had curled up into a tight sphere about the size of an exercise ball. Its iridescent, blue shell was divided into segments, again very much like a woodlouse. The carapace was charred and scored, no doubt damage sustained during its hard landing, and there was a hole in its rear that was leaking yellow ichor where Baker had shot it.

"Alright, alright, back off," Baker said as he warded the furious Valbarans away. Coza gave it one extra kick for good measure. He examined the creature, letting his rifle hang from its sling and scratching his chin. "Can we move it?"

Jaeger shrugged.

"I'm not going to try to pick it up."

Baker walked forward and slipped his hands underneath the blue carapace, straining to lift the thing. It wasn't very large, but it looked heavy, the shell was probably partially composed of metal in order to shield it from the heat of reentry.

"Don't just stand there, Bullseye, give me a hand here."

Jaeger cursed, dropping his weapon to let it hang from his chest and making his way over to help Baker, taking the other side and struggling to raise it off the ground. Between them, they were able to carry it, the little critter seemed to want to stay inside its shell.

"Alright," Baker sighed, shifting the weight around. "Let's walk this thing back to the gate and-"

The Bug sprang to life again, uncurling in a flash and flailing its sharp legs, Baker and Jaeger yelling in unison as they released it. The pointed, chitinous limbs tore into their body armor, scoring it like a penknife on a wooden desk and leaving deep scars in the material. Jaeger caught a leg to the face, his visor cracking and the HUD fizzling out as the thing made another break for it.

"Fucking- just shoot it!" he shouted.

There was a chorus of gunfire, and then the scurrying probe lay motionless in the grass, its segmented body limp as a dozen holes in its blue shell leaked syrupy fluids. Some of them were smoking, no doubt a result of the laser weapons.

"Motherfucker," Baker muttered, rising to his feet and brushing himself off. "I take back what I said about the body armor," he grumbled as he looked himself over, "that thing had feet like knives."

"Let's take the body and get back to the gate," Jaeger said, "I think that's enough excitement for one day."

As he walked over to the carcass and gave it a wary prod with the barrel of his XMR, he heard one of the Valbaran soldiers call out.

"Stand by, receiving a message from control." Her feathers fluttered in shades of yellow and blue as she listened, turning to the humans with a frightened expression. "Teth'rak comes this way, we must hurry, Earth'nay."

"The noise must have attracted it," Maza added, her tone urgent. "Come, collect the Bug and let's go!"

Baker and Jaeger took a couple of legs each, lifting it between them and hurrying in the direction of the gate. The thing was heavy and unwieldy, it was like trying to move a couch. The Valbarans clustered around them, weapons at the ready, and yet Jaeger knew that they would not fire on the creature. Not even if their own lives were on the line.

As they rounded the wall, the gate came into view, and then Jaeger heard a low-frequency pulse. It wasn't heard so much as felt, the vibration shaking the ground and traveling up his spine, resonating in his very bones. He turned his head to look behind him and saw what looked like an angry explosion staring back at him. The Teth'rak was standing perhaps a quarter mile away.

It was looking straight at them, the orange feathers around its neck and shoulders puffed up to expose the red hues beneath, framing its massive jaws as it panted and dripped strands of saliva. Its beady eyes watched them, the two streaks of white coloration on its snout making them appear far larger than they actually were, its pearly teeth contrasting with its fiery plumage.

It emitted another call, the sound seeming to shake the earth. One would have expected the creature to open its jaws and loose an intimidating roar, but it sounded more like a whale, or maybe an unimaginably large alligator.

Everyone froze, Baker and Jaeger included, a deeply primal dread overcoming them. It was one thing to be shot at by an enemy, but there was an ancient terror associated with being eaten by a predator, rooted deep in the amygdala.

The two parties stared each other down for a moment, time crawling to a standstill. It began to walk towards them, its massive, three-toed feet splaying to carry its weight. Then it began to run, slowly gaining speed as it gave chase.

By the time Jaeger and Baker had dropped the Bug carcass, the Valbarans were already halfway to the patch of woodland nearest the gate, about seven hundred feet away. Only Maza lingered as she hastily gestured for them to follow.

"Come on, come on!"

They ran, following after the aliens who were already nearing the edge of the forest, the Teth'rak growing in size alarmingly quickly as it drew closer. Jaeger felt like he was trying to run in molasses, as if he was trapped in a nightmare. He was sprinting faster than he ever had before, but he was slower than everything else on this damned planet. The beast's footsteps were reverberating through the ground like an earthquake, he could feel the thing gaining ground. The Valbarans had exhausted themselves, struggling the last two hundred feet or so and leaping between the cover of the stout tree trunks, Maza not far behind them. The two humans ran as fast as their legs would carry them, but their endurance was of no benefit here.