Prolouge

I'm trying to work of my obsession with AvP by writing some fan fiction. I'm not new here on FF and have written several Harry Potter fan fictions before. Though, as you probably can tell, English isn't my mother tongue and therefore you'll have to bear with me. I am looking for a Beta and if you're interested contact me.

Don't own predator etc.

The night sky was clear, the stars shone bright above the breathtaking white winter landscape. Everything was dangerously calm and nothing moved, as if the inhabitants of the area knew that discovery was fatal, lethal even. All of a sudden a horrifying shriek, primal beyond imagination, could be heard across the vast landscape. The silence that followed was ill boding, like a message of death. Suddenly the calmness evaporated as five large, alien creatures came running toward each other through the deep snow. Three of them looked like black nightmares; vaguely bipedal in form and with a skeletal, biomechanical appearance and a scorpion-like tail. The other two were more humanoid in their appearance all though considerably taller than any normal human male would be. For a second the world seemed to come to a standstill as the five creatures leapt into the air. Then the silence shattered as they slammed into each another. Screams, totally alien for any earthly creature ripped through the silent wilderness.

The battle had begun.

XxX

Not far away a small group of people came to a standstill as the blood freezing screams reached them. The dogs pulling the sledge with their equipment growled defensively, as if they sensed the threat. The humans looked at each other, as if they were unsure about if they dared to open their mouths to speak. Two of them were males, the third a female with brown, curly hair and green eyes.

"What do you think that was Patrick?" the female asked and looked in the general direction of the sound. "It didn't sound like a wolf or a fox."

"Perhaps it was a polar bear", the other man answered and laughed.

"Very funny Ted", the woman sneered, licking her lips nervously.

"Aw, come on Tessa, I was only kidding", the man named Ted replied, wiggling his eyebrows impishly. "But if you feel frightened you know that you can always come to me for comfort."

"Are you hitting on my wife Ted?" the second man, Patrick, asked with playful sternness in his voice.

"The dogs seem upset", Tessa said, studying their draught animals, paying the two men no mind.

"It's nothing to worry about Tessa", Ted said sensibly. "It's probably just an animal of some sort or the wind. Besides, the dogs are tired. We should set up camp."

"Are you sure this is a good place?" Patrick asked, looking around the plain, white wilderness around them. "Shouldn't we find some shelter first?"

"We should manage", Ted answered. "We'll just dig a hole in the snow, it seems deep enough."

"Well you're the expert."

They put up camp, sheltering the tent from the wind with snow. When they were finished all three of them seemed to have forgotten about the strange screams. The dogs seemed to have settled down as well and the peace of the cold and dangerously beautiful landscape was restored. Tessa crept into the tent and started making their beds, but both Ted and Patrick remained outside, silently watching the breathtakingly beautiful northern lights that illuminated the black sky.

XxX

K'han crouched down beside the kill, studying its dead form: Elongated, cylindrical skull without visible eyes, blade-tipped tail, colored in a muted shade of black. Clicking in approval he extended his wrist blade and in one swift movement he severed the Kainde Amedha's neck, and the head fell to the ground with a thump; yellowish, acid blood spraying over the white snow with a hissing noise. It had been a good hunt. K'han was pleased. He had been able to kill two Kainde Amedha without sustaining any serious injuries; only a minor flesh wound on his right arm. He got up from the ground, placing the acquired trophy on his back as he did so. He glanced toward the north and for a while he was bewitched by the beautiful northern. Their hunt had certainly been blessed by Paya since she seemingly had bestowed her godly light upon them as well as good hunting fortune. All that remained now was for him and his hunting partner, Vraa'hn, to return to the mother ship. All of a sudden K'han realized that Vraa'hn's presence had gone missing. The young blood was not there anymore. K'han spun around, staring wildly at the scene of the battle. The three hard meats lay motionless in the snow; all of them had been de-headed, but Vraa'hn was nowhere to be seen.

"Vraa'hn!" he barked out in the silent night but there was no answer.

K'han switched his visual frequency to infrared from the specifically tuned EM Field Detector mode used to track xenomorphs and found Vraa'hn's heat signature only two kilometers away, moving swiftly in a straight line toward the north. To his surprise K'han found three more heat signatures further along in that direction. K'han who was an experienced hunter recognized those heat signatures as Pyode Amedha, soft meats.

"C'jit!" he cursed. The damned young blood had run of to find more trophies. "Pauk-de! Vraa'hn!"

Activating his cloaking device K'han set of after Vraa'hn, cursing as he did. He was responsible for Vraa'hn as his senior and mentor. They had come to this remote part of the back water planet to hunt Kainde Amedha, not Pyode Amedha and even though K'han understood Vraa'hn's excitement over the possibility to earn more trophies this was simply not the right time to go hunting another species. The damn fool hadn't even activated his cloaking device which was a sign of arrogance. K'han knew that Pyode Amedha was nowhere as dangerous as Kainde Amedha, but it was also his firm belief that they shouldn't be underestimated. He increased his speed but at the same time he knew that he wouldn't be able to catch up with Vraa'hn if the young blood didn't slow down on his own accord. K'han focused his infrared vision on the soft meats. They were three in total, two males and one female. The other heat signatures seemed to belong to some sort of four-legged mammal.

He noted how Vraa'hn slowed his pace as he neared the soft meats camp. Like a deadly shadow the young hunter crept nearer and nearer until he almost was upon his unaware preys. The two males were standing still with their attention towards the sky. K'han knew that they were dead meat. Vraa'hn pounced without making any sound, flying over the primitive tent and landing on top of the soft meats, making the process short with them. Barley a sound escaped their throats as Vraa'hn's arm blades impaled them. K'han was silently impressed, but cursed silently as the woman stirred in the tent and came crawling out. A silent, feeble sound of terror escaped her as she gazed upon the, in comparison, huge hunter and her two dead companions. For a while both of them just stared at each other, neither of them made a move and K'han knew that if the female only stayed still, without attacking Vraa'hn, she most likely would be spared. It was not considered honorable to kill females.

"Patrick!"

All of a sudden the woman got up on her feet, bringing a spade with her as she did so. With an angry cry she lashed out at the stunned hunter that barley blocked the swipe against his head.

"Bastard!" the female cried and made another swing at Vraa'hn with the spade. The hunter caught her by the neck, unaffected by the spade that landed heavily on his shoulder.

With a snarl of disgust he threw her to the ground and, as if to make a point, he extended his arm blades and trained them on her. Making her options clear; fight back and you'll die, stay still and I'll let you live. K'han switched his visual frequency to Neuro Vision and saw that the female was in a well balanced mode between fear and anger and not in panic as Vraa'hn probably imagined. The young blood withdrew his arm blades and turned his back to the female that seemed rooted to the spot with fear. Not a smart move. K'han growled in annoyance, hadn't he taught the young blood better? As Vraa'hn turned his attention towards his killings the woman strode into action. Drawing a sharp object from her boot, probably a knife, she leapt forward and drove it into Vraa'hn's unprotected calf. The hunter yelped in surprise and pain, turning around and impaling the woman with his arm blades. Red blood decorated the snow and the female soft meat seemed surprised for a second before she slumped forward against Vraa'hn's arm, dead.

K'han snorted and de-cloaked, giving Vraa'hn a faint nod as he approached. He would teach the young blood a lesson or two once they were aboard the ship again. Vraa'hn answered the silent greeting with a nod of his own and started tending to his kill. K'han watched in silence. The youngster had a healthy drive to him but he was far too impulsive, it would do him good to get a fair reprimand for his behavior. All of a sudden a faint cry was heard from within the tent. K'han stiffened and Vraa'hn stopped his severing of the soft meats necks. K'han switched his visual frequency to infrared and scanned the tent. There, among blankets and sleeping bags he found a small heat signature. So small in fact that he hadn't paid it any mind earlier. A sudden realization dawned upon him and as he tore the tent canvas open and reviled the inside he felt his temperature rise. There, facing him was a small Pyode Amedha pup. It cried upon seeing him and K'han felt how anger overwhelmed him. It was forbidden to kill prey that had pups, it just wasn't done.

"C'jit!" he cursed and turned to Vraa'hn that had become remarkably still and silent. "What have you done?"

Vraa'hn didn't answer and K'han roared at him.

"Why didn't you make a proper investigation before you killed your prey? Pauk! It was bad enough that you killed the female. What are we going to do with the pup?"

"Leave it", Vraa'hn mumbled and avoided K'han's eyes. "Nature will take care of itself."

"Pauk-de! Vraa'hn!" K'han snarled. "You ignorant young blood! You took off without consulting me, your senior and higher-ranking hunter, and then you ignored all necessities; killing a female that had a pup. You've broken the code of honor and soiled your pride. What do you think that the Elders will say?"

"I didn't notice it! How were I to notice something so small?!" Vraa'hn shoot back, taking a defensive stance.

"Don't talk back to me you pup!" K'han growled. "You alone will take responsibility for this! The Elders will decide your fate."

Vraa'hn slumped his shoulders in defeat, watching the tent with resignation and then turning his gaze toward K'han who refused to let up his aggressive stance.

"What should we do with the pup?"

K'han looked at the ridiculously small creature. What should they do with it indeed? He had no idea. The best option of course would be to leave it with some other soft meats, but they were in the middle of nowhere and even if they did find someone of its own kind it was no guarantee that they would let the pup live. K'han had seen soft meats capable of great atrocities and since they (or more specifically Vraa'hn) were the reason for this pup's predicament it was only right that they saw to that it would be treated in the best of possible ways.

"We'll take it with us", K'han decided. "You will care for it until the Elders say differently. That will be your punishment. Lou-dte Kalei."

Vraa'hn growled at the insult but lowered his head in defeat. K'han clicked in annoyance and turned his gaze toward the stars and the green, shimmering of the northern lights. He wondered what the Elders would decide to do whit the pup and Vraa'hn or with himself for that matter. He was after all the senior hunter on this expedition; he should have paid more attention to Vraa'hn. The young bloods were after all known for their foolishness.

"Pauk", he breathed.

Lou-dte Kalei - (child maker (female) and a male insult)

C'jit - ("Damn!", "Shit!", general expletive)

Pauk - ("Fuck")

Pauk-de - ("Fuck you")

Kainde Amedha - (Hard meats, xenomorphs, aliens)

Pyode Amedha - (Soft meats, humans)