The Hunter of Kraxis

Cerryn landed boots first. Rust swirling around her canvased legs. She checked her watch, point nine gravity. She pulled off her goggles and breather revealing her cerulean blue eyes and thick auburn hair.

She unpacked her riffle from her backpack and swooped it around her cloak into the ready position as she marched off towards the black ice covered mountains.

Cerryn had been to this planet before with a xenobiologist expedition. One that went horribly wrong. So for her this was not only a hunt to claim the prize, but also one to reclaim her honour. In this society you were either born into privilege or must earn your honour on the battlefield, Cerryn was of the second caste.

The razor sharp rust storm rumbled at a snails pace behind her. Above the storm, keeping pace with the clouds, was the observation ship containing the gentle-persons lounge with all sorts of dignitaries and obnoxious folk eliciting private wagers on the success or failure of Cerryn’s mission.

In the back corner of the lounge, a nervous man watched the screen for any sense of harm to come to his granddaughter. Her predicament was his fault. In a dipsomaniac state in a bar on the planet Oberon, he boasted about her talents as a soldier and survivalist, and that she was exactly the kind of person who should lead a revolution of have-nots against the haves. This boast was soon elevated all the way to the Prince of Oberon who commanded Cerryn to bring her the head of the creature that killed her xenobiology compatriots restoring her perceived honour.

On the ground Cerryn had reached the edge of the black mountains. With the storm overtaking her, she signalled the platform with a salute, and the obnoxious observers salivated and cheered as she moved into a dark icy tunnel.

Cerryn put on an ear piece which illuminated the cave. The hardened black water that formed the tunnel reflected the light and revealed a multitude of small luminescent creatures burrowing through the ice. A growl echoed from the cave as it was inhabited with the terror that killed and maimed most of her former expedition.

On return to Therris, Cerryn was able to bring a sample of DNA of the creature to the clerics. They managed to synthesise a masking agent which she now sprayed over her clothes. It smelt like UV induced crystallised micro-globules that forms on ‘unfortunates’ and induced a momentary gag reflex in Cerryn.

The whistle of the wind from outside fell silent and the creatures in the walls no longer moved. Only the audio of a dead channel coming from Cerryn’s earpiece could be heard. Then an ear piecing low octave scream of a banshee.

Out of the darkness a large beast three times her size emerged, with a large distorted humanoid-like head covered in dense bone armour and a dislocated jaw slobbering drool, sensed the smell Cerryn had dispersed on herself and nodded its head towards her like a pet. Cerryn was stunned so she stroked it accordingly.

Two drones appeared firing little taser beams at the creature antagonising it, while in the observation lounge the obnoxious pushed each other out of the way to get the chance to press the taser button.

The creature lurched up and destroyed one of the drones. Cerryn followed suit and fired her riffle at the other obliterating it. The creature was startled by the weapon and fell back as though it recognised it. Cerryn tried to reassure the creature who then lunged forward with it’s paw releasing tendrils into Cerryn’s brain.

Cerryn saw that centuries ago ancestors of the aristocracy conquered the land for its minerals and wiped out most of its population ultimately leaving the planet barely habitable. Kraxis they called it. Cerryn then fell back into her memories of her training at the academy and how all the ‘higher ups’ told her she would never become an officer, then she recalled how they treated the “unfortunates” on worlds they had conquered claiming that only civilised peopled are subject to the rules of chivalry.

The creature released the tendrils as streams of tears and blood ran from Cerryn’s cerulean eyes. “They did this to you” she said. “Like they have done on so many worlds, and I was a part of it.”. “I am so sorry”, she said to the creature, who huffed and crawled back deeper into the cave. A new fire and determination was instilled in Cerryn’s heart.

She put on her goggles and breathing apparatus and exited the cave.

The rust storm was still raging, the obnoxious where cheering each other and laughing, while her grandfather sat darkly until he heard a voice in his comms. “Grandfather” said Cerryn. “Cerryn, you’re alive!” “Find an escape craft, now”. Her Grandfather snuck out of the observation lounge and jumped into a white and gold lined escape craft, which promptly left the back of the observation lounge without any of the obnoxious being aware.

The rust storm cleared. Cerryn pointed her missile grenade on her weapon at the observation lounge and the Obnoxious begin to notice and look down at her with spite.

“This is for all the unfortunates of the galaxy” Cerryn muttered.

She pulled the trigger tracking the stabiliser engine in her goggles as the missile found its way. There formed a spectacular blue explosion which sent the platform careening down.

The Obnoxious lost their balance in all directions as their glasses of fine octopus champagne and alien delicacies flew about the place. The loose bodies flopped around and were murdered by broken beams and squashed by finely carved tables. Cerryn watched from a mild distance until the vessel exploded on impact, sending fire and bits of body out into the landscape.

Cerryn’s Grandfather landed the craft next to her and as she climbed on board, the creature exited the cave and stared out to her, then to the explosion, and made its way to salvage any meat left overs. Cerryn sat in the co-pilot seat and turned to her grandfather;

“Well, I guess we’ve started your revolution”.