My predator's back story

[Mikey1]

Hello. I was toying around with a back story to the character for the suit I'm making. Wasn't sure how predators were named within their own society, so forgive me if the names are a bit off! Anyway, here goes.... enjoy!

The hunter sat high in the tree watching the horizon for the tell tale glow of the dawn. Below, the remnants of the camp
fire smouldered, the dim glow casting erie shadows amongst the trees and sparse equipment that made up the hunter's camp. It had been a restless night for the hunter, this was the last of three days spent alone on this planet preparing for his upcoming initiation hunt, and he'd just recieived the signal to indicate his clan ship had re-entered the system. This time tomorrow he'd be entering the pyramid located on the fourth planet with the two other initiates the ship had just recovered. The hunter's excitement was well justified. His life had been one big trial for acceptance, from the moment of his birth, to the death of his father. But once he completed his initiation he'd have proven himself and his status would be unquestionable. The hunter thought back in his life, remembering his father's words about his birth...
The huntress had died during the night. The complications of the pregnancy had developed suddenly and even their
medical knowledge couldn't save her. They'd been able to deliver the child prematurley and now he was being monitored by the medical computer. The child was weak and small... too small, If he survived he'd never grow to the full size of his peers. Tre'ak stared at his son, to loose his mate was heartbreaking, but to loose his son also... he couldn't bear the thought. Kret'aal, the elder, stood close by. Few of his words could bring comfort to his friend. He'd promised Tre'ak he'd do everything to save the child he'd named Myk'al. If he survived, he'd be a runt and would get a tough time from the others in the clan. He'd do his best to dissuade such behavour from the adult hunters, the rest would be up to Tre'al, if the child survived....

The distant horizon began to lighten as the sun slowly began to rise. The hunter dropped from his perch in the tree to the
ground and went over to the dying fire and poked at the ashes with a stick. He'd always been too young to understand and it wasn't untill he reached his juvenille years that he'd began to realise he was different to the other children. Most of them were polite enough, keeping a wary distance, but one child, the son of a prominent hunter who was rumoured to be angling for the elders position, seemed to enjoy a hostile rivalry. A rivalry that had ended violently. It was at the same time he'd lost his father during a failed attempt to undermine Kret'aal the elder. He remembered when Kret'aal had come to their quaters on the ship to tell him his father was dead. He'd gone on a hunting trip with five other hunters, one of which was Rut'era, the father of Myk'al's hulking rival, and prime contender for position of elder. It would seem that Rut'era had brought some of his supporters along to help thin out Kret'aal's followers. Unfortunately for Rut'era, Tre'ak's skills had far surpassed his and by the end of the whole bloody affair only Tre'ak was left, though he died from his wounds after being recovered and telling of what happened. Following the bloody affair krul'er, Rut'era's son, had to live with the shame and dishonour of his father's actions and on one day not long after decided to take it out on Myk'al...
The mood on the ship was a sombre one following the shocking revelation of Rut'era's betrayal. Many of the adult
hunters had gone on the hunt to avoid the repressive atmosphere. Many of the young stayed in their quaters, only a handful of hunters were present when a bitter Rut'era happened on Myk'al in the main communial area. The past few days had seen Rut'era, once favoured amongst the young hunters, now shunned and ignored. In his mind, Myk'al and his father were the cause of his downfall and here was a golden opportunity for vengance on the pathetic runt. With a roar he charged at the unsuspecting Myk'al and was somewhat surprised and angered when he missed his target and ended up being shoved into the wall. Myk'al was far from unsuspecting, he'd following the other's movements and was expecting some sort of attack. As Rut'era had charged in, Myk'al had twisted sideways, brushing past the larger boy and pushed him at the wall. Rut'era turned to face Myk'al, green blood dripping from a split in the skin on his lower mandible. The larger boy swung at Myk'al, who dodged the blow, and then another. Rut'era was larger and more powerful but the smaller Myk'al was faster and easily evaded his blows and delivered a few of his own to the ribs and face. On the last swing, Myk'al ducked under Rut'era's arm, stepped between the boys legs and using his own momentum, pulled Rut'era over his hip and onto the floor. As Rut'era struggled to get up, Myk'al grabed his arm and twisted around and up to the middle of his back, pinning him to the floor. Rut'era's discomfort was short lived as a couple of hunters pulled the pair apart. Myk'al was calm and stepped away, but Rut'era was beyond rage and pushing the restraining hunter away, drew his dagger and lunged at Myk'al. In a flash, Myk'al grabbed the arm with the dagger in one hand and struck into the inside of the elbow with the other causing the arm to bend and the dagger to plunge into Rut'era's neck. Ruth'era gagged, spraying green blood and with a gurgle dropped to the floor. Kret'aal was called and listened to all involved. He decreed that Myk'al defended himself honourably from a cowardly attack as verified by the two hunters who witness it. After that day, more of the hunters aknowledged him in passing and some of the younger hunter's began to socialise with him. After all, he had technically made his first kill, unarmed, against a larger and more powerful foe. Myk'al, though, had no doubts as to the outcome of the fight, after all, his father had trained
him well...

Myk'al checked on the computer on his wrist gauntlet for the ships progress. It was linked into the basic computer
system on the one man drop pod that lay at the edge of camp and used its short range scanners to watch for the ship. Myk'al
remembered when he got his gauntlets, plasma cannon and medkit. They'd been his fathers and had been kept by Kret'aal until he'd made his first kill, then as per his father's wishes, passed on to him. He'd also recieved his own bio-mask and basic armour. Those early days were an exiting time as Myk'al went on his first hunting trips with other young hunters. Over the years he'd increased his standing with his trophies and soon he would face off against the ultimate prey and earn himself full bloodied hunter status. He checked the computer again and momentarily got two signals on his read out. All of a sudden the beacon transmitter on his drop pod shut down, responding to a signal from the clan's ship.Using the pods scanner's he roughly triangulated the ships orbital position and set his masks vision mode to maximum zoom. At this range all he could make out of the ship was a bright star in the morning sky. Another star seemed to be moving in close to the ship and then they merged. It was hard to know what was happening and minutes passed as Myk'al watched the sky when suddenly the star flared in a bright flash of light. When the flash died down the sky was empty. Myk'al hurriedly tapped at the controls on the pod, sending out beacon calls and listening for a response.... any response. All he got back was a static hiss of empty space. At that point he knew he was now alone...

 

[Kaelos]

I like this back story a lot. Very good job on the fight scene between Myk'al and Rut'era. Myk'al seems to be a very promising hunter.

 

[Mikey1]

Thank you. There's more to come, it's just getting from my mind to the screen. The story shall continue, once i get home from work, though!

 

[Kaelos]

Looking forward to reading more keep up the good work!!!

 

[Mikey1]

Ok, a bit more story here. Not much action I'm afraid... that's still to come!

For several days Myk'al lived alone on the primitive planet. He hunted for food and kept himself occupied by preparing
his trophies and hides. On the fourth day the battery of the drop pod died. The continual use of it's scanners and broadcasting of
the simple beacon was not quite what was intended of the small power cell. Myk'al wired it up to the power cell of his wrist mounted
computer unit. It meant not being able to use his mask or weapons, but there were no real threats here. His main concern was that
the planet was located on the edge of his clan's hunting territory. The prospect of rescue seemed less with each passing day. On
the seventh day, as Myk'al was lounging aimlessly in his tree, the pod console began to beeb. Myk'al droped down to the pod and
began to examine the display. A ship had just entered the system and was on a direct course to the planet. The computer tracked
the ship into orbit then sounded a signal to indicate the ship had become two. A quick glance at the scanner read out indicated a
vessel of medium size... possibly a drop ship, most likely of the type used by larger hunting parties. The drop ship would be here
soon. Myk'al collected his spear, and extended it. he stuck into the ground and disengaged his bio gear from the pod and quickly
re-armoured himself. He had just disappeared into the treeline when the dropship landed near to his camp. It was a typical clan
hunting vessel. It's markings indicated it to be from a neighbouring clan, one that was on more friendly terms with his own.Caution
got the better of him and he stayed within the trees. The hatch opened with a hiss and four hunters emerged. They held their
weapons ready and watched all around them. They were definately on edge. Behind them emerged a hunter of obvious status.
Various trophies adorned his armour. He stopped just past the other hunters and looked at the camp. He then scanned the treeline
and for a moment Myk'al was sure his masked gaze stopped briefly on his exact position.
" Come out Myk'al, son of Tre'ak. We will not harm you." growled the lead hunter. "I'm sure you know our clan markings.
We're here to help." Myk'al edged out from the treeline, his plasma caster primed and his spear held ready.
" Who are you? How do you know me and that I was here?" Asked Myk'al, trying to ignore the four plasma casters
aimed at him. The lead hunter made a minute gesture with his hand and the other hunters lowered their casters.
"My name is Gar'oka. I know who you are and that you were here because I was told," Gar'oka unlatched and removed
his mask, "By my brother." Myk'al stared in disbelief. The resemblence was uncanny. It was as if an older Kret'aal was standing
before him. Gar'oka growled in amusment at the young hunter's obvious surprise.
"Come, I shall explain everything on the way to the mothership." Myk'al followed the old hunter into the ship and into the
main area, the other hunters followed them in then went about the business of getting the ship under way. Gar'oka sat down in a
large throne like chair from which several displays gave readouts on ship systems, local weather patterns and a video
comunication link to the clan's mothership.
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but your clan's ship has been destroyed. You are the only survivor. We recieved a
coded signal from Kret'aal. They'd been attacked by a group of rogue hunters. They managed to sneak up using the moon's
magnetic field to disguise themselves from their scanners. From what he said they rammed the ship, disabling it and began to
board it hacking into the ships systems as they went. They over whelmed the defenses and were minutes away from taking the
ship. Kret'aal said there was only two thing left to do, to keep his and his hunters honour by denying the riders thier trophy and to
keep a promise to an old friend. He gave us your coordinates then set the ships self destruct. From the amount of wreckage we
think he took the raiders with him." Myk'al sat in silence. He knew from that day they were gone, but to be told made it all the more
real. Myk'al looked at Gar'oka. Could this aged hunter really be Kret'aal's brother. Gar'oka seemed to sense his unasked question.
"I was once part of your clan. A hunter on the up. But a hunting trip lead by me went badly. Some of my hunters were
captured, others killed. The rest of us managed to free our brothers but I had made a bad mistake and had dishonoured myself. To
save any dishonour to my family I took voluntary exile and the clan considered me dead. It was many years into my exile that I came
across this clan. I avoided them at first, but soon our paths crossed and they slowly took to me. After I had prooven myself they
allowed me to travel and hunt with them. It would seem my hunting skills had attracted the attentions of the elders daughter. I was
tasked with collecting twenty trophies from the hive serpents to join the clan and prove myself worthy to mate with her. Well, I went
into the initiates temple five times, each time I emerged victorious. That was many, many years ago." Gar'oka returned his
attention to one of the displays. The ship raced into orbit and docked with the large mothership. As Myk'all waited to exit the ship
he saw curious faces on the otherside of the airlock. Great, he thought, It's gonna be like being a juvenille again. He followed
Gar'oka through the ship to the elder's chamber. Gar'oka bowed before the elder and Myk'al followed his example.
"The survivor from the planet, my lord." The elder dipped his head in aknowledgment.
"See to our guest's quaters, make him comfortable." The elder turned to Myk'al, "We sympathise with your loss, young
one. We will return you to your clan on the homeworld, till then you will be as one of us." The elder turned away as one of his aides
approached. Gar'oka led the young hunter out of the chamber and took him to what would be his quaters while with the clan.
"Rest now. Food will be brought to you tonight. I shall call for you tomorrow. Untill then..." The door slid shut and Myk'al
was left alone in the strange room. He slowly removed his armour and mask and sat on the bed. It would be nice to sleep in a real
bed, for the past six nights he'd been sleeping rough in a tree. An hour later a young huntress arrived with a tray of food and left
without a word. Myk'al ate the food and then stretched out on the bed and fell into a restless sleep.

 

[Mikey1]

And now for the finale!

Early the next morning Myk'al woke to the sounds of activity outside. He rose from the bed ,put on his armour and went out into the corridor. A stream of hunters rushed past heading towards the elder's chamber. Behind them strode Gar'oka.
"Myk'al! Good your up. Come with me." He growled. Myk'al followed the old hunter to the elder's chamber. In the center of the room was a large holographic projection of a planet. A triangular marker flashed over a spot on the surface. On a display next to the elder's throne was the image of an anchient pyramid, or rather the ruins of an ancient pyramid. The surrounding area was a scorched and devestated landscape.
"An initiation hunt went wrong. Somehow the prey escaped the testing grounds and began breeding uncontrolled. One
of the hunters initiated his self destruct before falling, but some of the prey survived, including the queen." Gar'oka turned to Myk'al,
"We're going in to destroy her and any remaining brood. The elder has given his permission for you to join us. Considering your
age, this is the ideal chance to for your blood initiation. Once we return to the homeworld you will have trophies and status to show
for you suffering, should you survive!" Myk'al nodded his head in gratitude. The prospect of hunting the ultimate prey, and to stalk a queen as well, filled him with excitement. Images of returning to the homeworld, bloodmarked, bearing trophies and being renown not only in his own clan but also in this one flashed through myk'al's mind. The next few days should be interesting to say the least!
The drop ship landed next to the ruined pyramid. For a moment nothing moved, then the hunters began to leave the
ship, weapons at the ready. Twelve hunters in all, nine experianced hunters and two of the clan's ready for initiation and Myk'al.
They made their way through the blackened ruins of the temple, decending deep through the structure. For almost an hour they
picked their way through until they reached the empty queen chamber. Corroded chains hung from the cracked roof above the
remains of a bloated egg sack. Amniotic fluids had spead across the floor, spilt undeveloped facehugger pods littered the area. In
the back wall a large hole had been knocked through. From the lay of the rubble someone had broken into the chamber. The
hunters cautiously entered the hole and found themselves in a long tunnel that led away in both directions. Metal support girders
propped up the tunnel roof and crude metal rails lined the tunnel floor.
"The fools mined right into the temple's base," growled Gar'oka, Switching through vision modes, Gar'oka could see the
tracks left in the amniotic fluids all turn to the left and lead off into the darkness. He motioned to the group and they all followed the
tracks into the tunnel. After a few minutes they entered a small cavern. Numerous crevaces and small tunnels lined the walls and
from these hiding places a swarm of the alien prey burst upon the group. The cavern was too small for the effective use of energy
weapons and soon the air was filled with the sound of ringing blades and the shrill shriek of dying aliens. One hunter bodily lifed
one of the creatures and threw it against the wall. It twisted in mid air and landed lightly on the wall before leaping directly at Myk'al,
who was just running another alien through with his spear. Myk'al turned at the sound of a warning cry, just as the creature smashed
into him. The force smashed him and the alien through the wall and into a large natural cave beyond. Without the supporting wall
the mine tunnel began to collapse. The hunters all dived for cover as the ceiling caved in on top of most of the remaining aliens.
The last few were swiftly finished off by the hunters still standing, and as the others got to their feet, Gar'oka went over to the cave
in andbowed his head.
"Die well, young one. I will tell of your honour to your clan." With that Gar'oka turned and led the remainder of his hunters
deeper into the mine. Myk'al and the alien tumbled down into the large cavern and landed with a splash in the shallow pool at the
base. Myk'al kicked the alien away and flipped onto his feet. The alien charged at him it's claws scything through the air towards
Myk'al's face. Myk'al dodged to the side and grabbing the aliens arm flicked out his wristblades and cleaved off the limb. The alien
tumbled forward, shrieking, and spun around, acidic blood ran from the wound where it's arm used to be and hissed and smoked
on the rock floor. The alien once more leapt at Myk'al, fangs bared, mouth wide open. As the creatures claws raked down his
chest, he rammed the forearm of the severed limb into the creatures mouth, then swung his right arm upwards jamming his
wristblades up into the alien's head. Myk'al let the lifeless body drop to the floor then pulled his blades out being sure to avoid the
spurt of blood. He scanned the cavern wall and noted the cave in. No way out there. He turned and began to make his way through
the cavern and found a cave system that led downwards. A quick scan with his biomask revealed an extensive cave network. He
plotted a possible course and retreving his spear, set off.
For a long time he trekked through the mine. A few times he thought he heard the scrabble of claws on rock. Finally the
cave emerged onto another mine tunnel. Suddenly a loud hissing roar echoed through the tunnel. Myk'al had heard nothing like it
and figured it was the queen. Gar'oka and the others must have found her. A noise made him duck back into the cave as a dozen
alien warriors ran past, responding to thier queens cry. He waited untill they were past then followed them. He emerged in another
large cavern on a balcony of rock overlooking a scene of chaos and carnage, between him and the battle was a deep abyss. Alien warriors fought against hunters in a savage mele. Alien corpses littered the floor and there behind her warriors was the queen. A
hunter wrestling an alien got too close and with a swipe of one of her massive claws sent both tumbling into the dark abyss. Things
weren't going well for the hunters, not while the queen lived and she was too close to the other to use his plasma caster without
injuring any of the others. Myk'al noted a steel cable fixed to the wall above the queen which streatched up and off to the right.
Myk'al judged it as being just out of jumping distance. He turned and walked away from the edge. No way to climb down and
unlike the aliens he couldn't crawl acroos the roof. He pulled his spear from his back harness, turned and ran for the edge of the
balcony. He leapt into the air, as his spear extended out. He let the shaft slide through his grip. Just as his forward momentum
began to slacken off, he managed to hook one of the flat arrowhead shaped blades over the steel cable and grabbed the spear
with both hands. He zipped down the cable, gaining speed, towards the queen below. With a roar he let go of the spear, the
sudden loss of his weight caused the cable to spring up unhitching the spear causing it to tumble onto the floor, and landed heavily
on the queen's back, dislodging his mask and cracking two ribs. The unexpected impact bore the queen to the ground and as she
started to get up, Myk'al sat up on her and extended his wristblades once more. He grabbed her crest and forced her head
forward, revealing her thick neck. The wristblades flashed down once, twice, three times. The queen turned her head to try to
dislodge him and Myk'al's blades found an exposed artery. Blood sprayed outwards and in a move to avoid being covered lost his
grip and fell to the floor. A nearby hissing caught his attention and he realised that his blade gauntlet had been caught by the spray.
He unclipped the bracer and flung it aside, the blades left poking out of the sizzling, hissing mess. Unfortunately he was now the
focus of the queens attention. She swung her claws at him and he narrowly avoided them. He jammed his hand down on the
controls of his computer gauntlet and quickly punched in the manual commands for his plasma caster. Without his mask he
wouldn't be able to target, but this close it shoudn't be a problem. As the queen moved in again he fired off a shot which missed
and struck an alien warrior, smashing it into the back wall. The queen raised her arm and just as she began to swing it towards him
he fired again, the blast severing her arm at the elbow. The queen screamed in pain and swung round to protect her injured limb.
As she did her tail whipped round and caught Myk'al in the side. He flew across the cavern and landed heavily on his already
cracked ribs. He struggled onto his hands and Knees and felt something against his fingers. His spear lay before him. He
snatched it up and got to his feet. Behind him the queen roared in rage and charged at him, head low, mouth wide open. Myk'al
changed his grip on the shaft of the spear and just before the queen got to him, spun on the spot and launched his spear at the
queen.. The spear lanced into her open mouth and ripped through the soft tissue inside her head, impaling her brain. The queen's
head snapped back and she fell mid step, landing before Myk'al. He pushed at the still body with his foot. Then placing his foot
firmly on the dead queen's head, roared loudly claiming his prize.
With the death of the queen, the remaining aliens were easily cleaned up by the remaining hunters. They surrounded
Myk'al as he sat on the corpse holding his ribs. He stood and watched as each hunter saluted him one by one. All except Gar'oka
who looked down at the queen then at Myk'al. In his hands he held Myk'al's Biohelmet. He passed it to the short hunter.
"Well done! You have earned your bloodmark and brought much honour to yourself and you clan with this kill. My brother
was right when he said he saw something in you. It pleases me that one of his hunters will continue his and your father's legacy."
Myk'al reached down and snapped one of the fingers off the queens corpse and marked his mask. He then burnt his clans mark
into his forehead. The collected hunters all let out loud roars. Myk'al raised his bio and joined in the chorus.

 

[Kaelos]

I have to say bravo!!! Well done! I give it 2 thumbs up!

 

[Mikey1]

Thank you. I enjoyed writing this for 2 reasons. 1: I haven't written any short stories since high school and 2: As the story progressed certain events occured that can be used on my eventual suit. For example, the aliens claw marks across the chest and some light acid burns on the right forearm can be portrayed as scars on the suit. I know There will be some people who see an unblooded taking down a queen as unrealistic but i tried to put in an element of him doing it almost by luck, while still getting his butt knocked around in a plausable way. In my mind he left the caves with 1 broken and 2 fractured ribs, claw wounds to the chest, light acid burns to the right forearm, dislocated left shoulder and some major bruising! Still, he got a few good trophies for his pains! lol

 

[Mikey1]

Epilogue:
Myk'al stared out across the landscape before him, below people moved about the city going about their own affairs. He stretched in the afternoon sun enjoying the warmth and purity of the air. After his time in space it felt good to be back on the homeworld. Despite their advances in technology, myk'al still felt that the ships of his people still weren't warm enough and the air on board carried a filtered, stale taste to it. Myk'al breathed deeply and reached out to the balcony's rail. He studied the scaring on his right arm. It extended from his wrist to just above the elbow. A sore reminder of his battle with a Queen alien. He had been lucky on that occasion and had come out of the fight with only some minor wounds. Some of his father's words came back to him, 'Never stop training... One day a Hunter's luck will run out. On that day it's always good to have some skills to fall back on.' Myk'al turned from the view and went into his room. On the wall was mounted an alien skull. His first trophy of that kind and the only one he took from the hunt. He had given the queen's head to Gar'oka to honour older hunter for saving him and giving him a chance to prove himself. Gar'oka had been most gratefull and had offered one of his wristblade gaunts to replace his lost one, 'Something to remember him by!' he'd said as Myk'al had accepted the gift. The queen's head had then been presented to the elder to prove the hunt successful. He had enjoyed a revered status for the remainder of his time with Gar'oka and his clan and had made many friends amongst them. On his return ,the younger members of his own clan had been impressed with his scars, especially the three that ran diagonally across his chest and his elders had listened to Gar'oka as he recalled the hunt in the old mine and had confirmed his blooded status. He'd rested for a few days, then he'd been approached by some hunters planning an expedition. He was invited to join them on the hunt against a cunning and intelligent prey on a backwater planet know to the indigenous life as 'Earth'. From what he'd heard, it should be an interesting trip.