The marsh strider grazed peacefully in the underbrush. Several others of its herd moved around it, alternating eating and keeping watch for predators. This one strayed farther from the group, sniffing for juicier plants. The strider heard a noise in the nearby shrubs and froze. Its head came up and looked around towards the noise. It was too late.
A massive shape launched itself out of the bushes and tackled it to the ground. The rest of the herd scattered from the sudden appearance of a predator in their midst. The first strider bleated in panic and tried to right itself, but the predator slammed its claws into its neck, killing it instantly.
The beast sniffed the carcass, then snorted and moved away. Such a creature was barely a tenth of its size and would provide little meat. Already, carrion birds began to circle in the sky above the kill. The towering creature ran towards a nearby cliff, ignoring the rest of the herd except to swipe at any who moved too close.
It scaled the cliff in seconds, digging its claws into the stone. The death of that creature had been a momentary diversion, but its true prey was near. The beast had spent weeks deep in the wilderness, hunting and devouring the creatures that lived there and slowly tracing the scent of its prey until it could find their nests.
It was near these nests now. It could smell them and the unnatural scents that surrounded their territories. It startled another group of prey animals as it moved to end of the cavern. It opened high on a cliff face, overlooking a cove filled with the nests of its prey. The beast leapt into the air, slamming into the ground amid a herd of striders. It was time to hunt.
Jubal looked up from his beer. "Did you guys hear that?" he asked. Verena and Donato looked at each other and shook their heads. The Ebonstar soldiers were leaning against the wall of the town pub, which was located on top of a small cliff jutting out from a rock wall. "You must be hearing things" Donato said, "Have you been spiking your drink with something stronger then alcohol?"
As he spoke, a pair of canyon striders ran into the open space the pub overlooked, letting out their 'scared' trilling noise. "Alright, maybe there's something." Verena conceded. If they had been experienced in studying the subtle patterns of animal's behavior, they might have noticed something was off. But they were soldiers, more accustomed to preparing for enemies coming out of ships firing guns.
"Maybe a blitzer got past the fence again." Jubal muttered as he shrugged his jetpack onto his back and grabbed his submachinegun from where it was leaning against the wall. He jumped off the edge of the cliff, activating the thrusters at the last second to break his fall. "They should just get around to hiring some Planet Tamers already" Verana responded as she and Donato moved to the edge of the cliff, hands on their pistols as they watched him move towards the edge of the clearing, towards the bridge the canyon striders had come from.
He raised an eyebrow as he heard the sound of the harpoon traps they had set up near the bridge go off. It should be a simple matter to go put whatever had set them off out of its misery. His inquisitive expression became a frown as he heard a series of electrical clunking noises. That sounded like an energy cable snapping. But to break one of those…
His thoughts were cut off as the source of the noise came around the corner, its footsteps shaking the ground. Behind him, he could hear gasps from the other two soldiers. His gun suddenly felt woefully underpowered.
At his post at the energy fence sealing off the nearby canyon, Mikhal's head snapped up as he heard the sound of gunfire. It wasn't nearby, and he hadn't heard any ships landing. He looked over to the pub where the soldiers often spent their downtime. Yes, that was where it was coming from. He could see the tiny lights of tracer fire and… was that a flame thrower?
He put a hand to his helmet and called the members of his squad currently on break. "Jubal, are you there?" Nothing. "Verena, Donato, respond? What's going on over there?" No response. Something was wrong.
"Martinus, Vitor, with me!" he barked, "The rest of you, hold this position." "Yes sir!" the other five soldiers chorused. He ran with the two soldiers he had selected out of the canyon mouth and towards the regulator. He was planning their approach when a creature walked around the edge of a small mesa.
It was like nothing he had seen on this planet, or any other for that matter. It stood on two legs, almost taller than the rock formation, despite its hunched stature. Two huge arms, similar to those of the ancient Earth apes, ended in four fingered hands with massive claws. Claws that, he noted, were dripping with blood. Jagged spikes protruded from its back and shoulders and tipped a large tail. Leathery grey skin that appeared scaly in patches covered its body, and it all seemed to be lit with blood red light from within. The head was the worst. Armored with thick bony plates with a spiked crest at the back, with a mouth full of jagged teeth and glowing yellow eyes, it looked like something out of a nightmare.
For a brief, tension-filled moment, neither side moved. The beast broke the stillness. It bellowed a challenge as it tore a huge boulder from the ground almost casually. "Scatter!" yelled Mikhal as he dove to the side. The stone missed him but slammed into Vitor, tossing him back with the sound of breaking bones. "Martinus, flank it!" he screamed as he let off a burst of fire from his rifle at the charging creature.
When he didn't hear a response he looked over his shoulder to see Martinus running away as fast as he could, completely ignoring the prone form of Vitor. He bit off a curse and turned to face the oncoming beast, only see it launch itself into the air over him. It slammed into the ground just behind Martinus and immediately pounced on him. Martinus screamed as the beast pinned him to the ground with one claw and slammed the other down on him. It ignored the gunfire from Mikhal as it savaged the fallen soldier.
After a few more blows, Martinus fell silent and the creature whirled to face Mikhal. He activated his jetpack to dodge backward and opened fire, only to curse as his rifle clicked empty. It roared and ran towards him. As he fumbled with the new clip, it slowed and reared back its head. A moment later, as the clip slammed home, a wave of fire burst from its mouth and enveloped Mikhal.
He screamed and faltered in his flight, too consumed by panic to act rationally. He clipped a rock formation and spiraled to the ground, losing his grip on his rifle as he did so. The fire reduced to a smolder, he tried to crawl away. There was a dock nearby, a dock with water. If he could get to that, he would be safe from the fire. His efforts to escape were halted as a massive clawed hand seized him and lifted him into the air. The beast slammed him into a wall, driving the air from his lungs and breaking several bones. It examined him for a moment, then opened its jaws wide and blasted him with fire. The tiny figure writhed for a moment, then went still.
It stepped away from the stone, letting the figure fall to the ground. It sniffed the air and moved to a nearby building. It moved along the edge, examining the structure, then rose to its full height and slammed its fists into the ceiling. It beat against the structure with its claws and boulders until it managed to tear a hole in the side, revealing the inner mechanisms of the building. It shoved its arm into the gap, clawing and smashing anything within reach. Unsatisfied, it stepped back and blasted the interior with fire.
The three soldiers Mikhal had left at their post shifted nervously. They had heard more gunfire and what sounded like several explosions, but nothing more since. "Sir?" one of them called over the radio, "What happened? Sir!" They heard the sound of another explosion, followed by a much closer sound. The sound of an energy fence deactivating.
Energy fences were nearly impervious, utilizing Rank-Rajat fields only vulnerable to extreme fire power. Though they were often used as defensive measure against pirates or Hub raiders, the colonists of Shear had found that they were just as useful to keep out the dangerous wildlife that Shear had in abundance. One such example was the crowbill sloth that had taken up residence just on the other side of this one. Crowbill sloths were testy at the best of times, and were currently in the 'murder everything' stage of the mating season.
The sloth reared up onto its hind legs and tail in a warning stance and bellowed a challenge at the soldiers. Instinct and training kicked in as all three of them opened fire on the animal. The bullets did little more than enrage the creature and it dropped to all fours and charged them. The first it trampled underfoot, hardly noticing he was there. The second dodged the charges and sprayed it with fire from the side. It bellowed again in anger and turned to attack her. She tried to dodge again, only to find she had backed into the canyon wall. It reared up again and slammed both forelimbs onto her.
The final soldier turned to run, only to come face to face with a massive creature that had snuck up behind them while the sloth served as a distraction. He barely had time to scream as it seized him in its jaws and abruptly shook its head.
The sloth noticed the new challenger and moved to attack. It didn't get far when a boulder slammed into its head, knocking it to the ground. As the wounded creature tried to right itself, the predator moved closer and stabbed its claws into its throat and tore upwards.
As the dying creature fell limp, the monster moved away. It circled through the area searching for more prey. Satisfied that the nearby homes were empty, it climbed the highest rock formation in the area and roared at the sky, releasing a jet of flame as it did so. This attack was not the only one, but one of many its pack would carry out. The Goliath cast its gaze over the larger structures at the mouth of the cove. Soon Shear would belong to the monsters.