Ensign Artinus Serinus - Hunting hunters, heading home.

[Joseph George]

((Near the Red Rock Caves, Safe Harbor))

 ::For the last couple of hours, Artinus had put himself into something of a purposefully induced paranoia. Hyperaware as he was, the cold was nearly unbearable.::

::A primal scream echoed through the still air and reverberated through the rocky canyons ahead making Jona jump in place. Without evidence of the source, people turned around in confusion.::

 

 

::When she heard the primal scream Karen turned around a bit scared and a bit surprised.::

 

ch'Ranni: ::quietly:: What was that?

 

Stendhal: Well it wasn’t me! ::She answered.:: You don’t have any wild dangerous animal here, don’t you? Bigfoots? Mountain lions? Klingons wild hogs? Lawyers? 

Serinus: ::whilst many heard  the echoes ahead, he knew the source was behind them, for he had heard the original scream.:: Security, rear! ::He called out as he sprinted to the back of the formation.:: Usually one for formality on duty, potential combat was another deal altogether, so as he passed the drag marks at the back of the formation, his next shouted sentence was a rushed:: Jona, shuttle, phase scans!:: He blew past the barrier, and there he saw it, just as it's victim let out another ear piercing scream.::

cn'Ranni: Aye!

::A shimmering effect shot from the shuttle, as Artinus ran through the barrier.::

::It was a great cat, looking much like a sleek, black Panther, with an ivy colored stringer on it's tail. It was crouched atop an elderly man with bright orange skin, foreclaws in his chest, it's maw quickly closing in on the man's head.::

::Ensign Serinus' first instinct was to reach for his phaser, but remembered that it was still on the shuttle. So instead, he ran at, and kicked the cat's jaw, seconds before it would have made contact with the elder's face. The beast turned it's head toward the interloper, and while shifting to pounce him, it whipped it tail stinger towards him. The Magna Roman narrowly dodged it, before the predator itself was flung into the air by physic power from the arriving Altered security team. It hovered 20 feet above them, and began to repeatedly  sting itself with it's own tail. Artinus was fascinated, and distributed, as the majestic hunter writhed in brutal agony, swimming in the air, as it died.:

::The cat expired, and was lowered to the ground. Artinus glanced at it again. On it's neck was a collar, with a light glowing red on it.::

::Artinus knelt down to observe it, while the Altered tended to their elder. The collar was black, an onyx colored metal. Satisfied that he could learn little more, for now, he began to stand from his crouch.::

::The disruptor beam came millimeters from his face, before richocheting off the shield placed by one of his new friends.::

ch'Ranni: ::pointing:: Up there!

Serinus: ::Everyone, down!:: He shouted as he dropped prone. Looking to the ridge on the right of the main group, where the rifle had been fired from, two more of the predatory felines in collars rushed down, as a line of disruptor rifles fired from behind them.:: Drop the cats, light up the ridge, I'm flanking left! On my signal. ::He told them, before low crawling towards a fallen tree.:: Now! ::As they gunned for the collared hunters, Artinus stood into a crouch, and ran into a copse of trees. Taking cover behind a thick, oak like one, he waited for the suppression fire on the ridge to commence.::

::All the while, the rest of the away team was escorting the rest of the colony to safety.::

::As Artinus snuck through the woods, one of the cats veered off towards him.  With a larger sight picture, the Altered brought down the cat with their various energy weapons, before it could reach him. He could now see a slope that would lead up to the ridge. Weaving through the trees, he followed them up to get to get behind the shooter..::

::The shooter, and a whole squad of his compatriots were returning fire on the Altered squad below. Artinus knelt to grab a rock near his feat, and tossed it at the Ya-Grhan leader. It grazed his ear, and he growled.::

Ya-Grhan: Tsk-Gor, Arusk-Rae, someone is behind us. Go investigate!

Tsk-Gor/Arusk-Rae: Yes Firemaster!

::Tsk-Gor and Arusk-Rae sat up, and turned around. Tsk-Gor split left, and Arusk-Rae split right, sprinting to intersect the person behind them.::

::Artinus was sprinting himself, knowing that they would try to flank him, he moved to ambush one. The hollowed out trunk of a fallen tree that he had seen 30 yards back seemed like the perfect hiding spot.::

::The Magna Roman was secure in his hiding spot when the Ya-Grhan sprinted by. Waiting for ten seconds, he crawled out of the hollow trunk, and ducked behind a tree. Letting out a bird call, not too loudly, he waited.::

::Tsk-Gor turned about, and moved more methodically toward the sound, moving around a particular tree, a sharp pain exploded in his leg, as a smaller man drove his heel into the Ya-Grhan's knee cap.::

::As his monstrous foe lurched forward, Artinus caught him in an arm bar. The Ya-Grhan fell further, and Ensign Serinus transitioned in to a rear choke, cutting off the oxygen to his brain, and rendering him unconscious.::

::Taking Tsk-Gor's rifle, he found it had a biometric trigger, so it was now useless to him. Excerpt maybe as a bludgeon. Rifling through some of his other gear, he found a few metal cylinders that seemed like grenades. Taking them, he ducked behind another tree, and began moving slowly towards the main squad, always on the lookout for the other roving flanker.::Ensign

::Nearing the remaining members of the squad, still pinned down by his friends, Artinus was moving between trees when a disruptor beam just missed him. Posting up at the next tree, he looked behind him, seeing the shooter as he moved towards him, also using the trees for cover.::

::Arusk-Rae was advancing on the enemy, when something landed at his feet. Looking diwn at the Devilspawn Anti-Personnel grenade, he knew then that he had become a martyr.::

::The explosion comforted the Firemaster. The interloper was finished. No.smaller person couod stand a Devilspawn and live to tell the tale. He tapped the communicator on his helmet:

Firemaster: =/\=: Good work, return to the squad.

::There was nothing.::

Firemaster: =/\=: Acknowledge.

::Still nothing.::

::The Firemaster scowled with his four hinged mouth.:: Fall back, we'll try to move around them.

((Time skip))

::Ensign Serinus had escaped them, and returned to the Altered squad. They had rushed to join the others, only to be hit in the rear as they went. A fighting retreat had demoralized the invaders enough for them to call off the pursuit.::

::Artinus and his ragged band, down by two colonists, joined the others in the caves.::

Serinus: We lost a few. I'm so sorry.

Riedella: ?

ch'Ranni: ?

Stendhal: ?

:: What they had gained, was a biometrically locked displacer rifle, a black, cylindrical grenade, and some kind of animal collar, which Serinus hypothesized could control certain kinds of wild animals.::

Serinus: Governor, I don't think the Ya-Grhan will leave your people alone after one such defeat. ::break:: Lieutenant ch'Ranni, can you access federation databanks from the shuttle?

Riedella: ?

ch'Ranni: ?

Stendhal: ?

Serinus: I think we should leave Safe Harbour with a collection of writings on guerilla warfare. The classics. 

Riedella: ?

ch'Ranni: ?

Stendhal: ?

((Time skip))

::Flying from the atmosphere, into orbit, it was a welcome sight. The Columbia was bruised, but not beaten. They had won on both fronts, at least temporarily. Safe Harbour might not live up to it's name for a while, but for Artinus, the Columbia was all the safe harbour he needed for now.::

ch'Ranni: ?

Stendhal: ?

Fin.

Ensign Artinus Serinus 

Security Officer 

USS Columbia 

NCC 85279 

C239607A