Chapter 1
Ilaynia Seogoro & HU-12
HU 12 watched the girl, as he had watched her for the past sixteen years. He watched her skin the yellow-furred hide. He watched her carve the flesh of the Ka'taparr'i from it's bones. He watched her filet the meat into portions - some she would cook tonight, and the rest she would submerge in the azure preserving liquid, the sap from the enormous Fshwama trees which surrounded the small house, the storage shed and the Iki pens. He watched her start the fire in the pit and set the rotisserie. He watched, and he remembered, as he always did.
Sixteen years ago they had arrived here together, only then there were more than just the two of them. The girl's parents and uncle had been here, barely clinging to the thread of life. After the crash only HU 12 and the girl had remained unscathed. A cruel fate that the girl would be left without the company of other living, sentient beings at such a young age. To her it seemed like a lifetime ago that she'd watched her family die one by one. To HU 12, whose memory banks were as refined now as they were back then, it all could have occurred seconds earlier.
"This may be the largest Ka'taparr'i I've ever caught, H," said the girl as she fastened the meat to the rotisserie. "It's a shame you can't eat."
She had been only two years old when the ship had crashed on this planet. HU 12, an altered design of assassin droid with protocol droid programming, had taught her many things. How to communicate, to read and write, to cook and bathe herself. HU 12 also taught her how to kill. For the girl, killing Ka'taparr'i and a variety of other native fauna was a necessity for survival. For HU 12, it was part of his purpose.
"You may be right, Ilaynia Seogoro," HU 12 said.
She poked at the coals with a long stick for a bit, then began to slowly turn the rotisserie's handle as she did so. The glow of the flames lit her long face, their reflection shimmering in the pupils of her emerald eyes. Her skin was tanned and her features rough from living amongst the elements for so long, but she was a pretty girl - at least, HU 12 thought, for a human. Her hair was like her mother's, dark brown, long, thick. But she had her father's pointed nose and strong jawline.
"They migrate early this season," Ilaynia said sourly. "Soon it will be ikee for several months. Several bland, tasteless months no matter how much their meat may be peppered."
The night was silent around them, as it often was. This area was abundant with harmless creatures, mostly herbivores, during the daylight hours, but at night even the birds took to rest. Only rarely did a nocturnal rodent or somesuch thing creep amidst the undergrowth, but never a predator or any animal worth hunting. With the four moons and the billions of stars up above, nights on U-X0311L was quite a serene setting. One could only hope to be stranded in a place such as this uncharted world. In many ways Ilaynia had been fortunate. And equally less fortuned.
HU 12 remained ever vigilant nontheless. His past as an assassin, a soldier and later, to the infant Ilaynia, a bodyguard combined with his inherent programming kept him ever alert. Ever waiting. Ever yearning for a fight.
Keep her safe, the words remained etched in his being. Less than a thought, more a direct order - his last - given by Ilaynia's father shortly before his heart ceased. His masters had died within two days of each other, and Ilaynia - by right, if not by that final order - inherited the faithful droid.
"Play it for me, H," Ilaynia said with a weak smile.
"As you wish, little one," the droid replied.
A small panel in the battered red framework of the droid's chassis slid aside, revealing a hologram projector. After a few flickers of blue light the projector came to life and displayed the image of a man and woman, each draped in hooded robes. The images were motionless, the expressions on their faces untelling. These were Aroc and Eme Seogoro. Ilaynia's parents.
Sitting cross legged, Ilaynia began to prepare her dinner under the lifeless gaze of her long-dead parents.