The prey is small, too small to be worth the energy to hunt. A piglet, not even fully grown. There are four others. Her nestmates, her strange family and they all are female.

That fact makes them uneasy at time. An instinct says Find a mate. Female raptors are larger than males. In the wild, on places like Isla Sorna, a pack is a dominant female, her mate or mates, and their chicks from previous years. When female chicks grow large enough to leave to form their pack.

Here there is no leaving, they are allowed outside where they can smell the larger world but it is barred to them by walls. With four of them trapped together they fought for who would be in charge second to Mother. Mother should be in charge, but they are old enough to be mothers themselves and they do not like being stuck together with no males to command and chicks of their own to lead.

The fact they are not truly sisters does not help the tension. Blue's instincts tell her that if a raptor who is Half of me survives then some part of her survives in them. Others do not matter as much, except when they must rely on each other for survival. The Others are her only Family, but it is not a natural pack.

The Brown one that Mother calls Echo thinks she should be in charge and eat first. Blue is the oldest. Her egg hatched first. She had time to grow and knew Mother first, so in Blue's mind raptor Brown was a usurper. As each reached adolescence they had fought to decide who would come first.

Screeches and circling and bluffed charges before finally Brown leapt for Blue. Brown was left with a scared face and a dislocated jaw for her efforts, giving her visage a permanent sneer. Blue would have killed her if not for Mother's arrival.

"Hold"

After the fight the others followed Blue's lead second to Mother and Echo would always take up the rear of any charge or formation. Echo never challenged Blue again. Despite Blue's victory, Mother never let Blue eat first. Mother fed Blue last after that. The lesson was clear. Do not fight the others for the right to eat first. Mother alone decides who eats first. Do not fight.

Blue leads the charge after the small prey, the other close behind her. Then Mother calls "Hold". She stops. The others come to a stop beside her, moving into position around her. They look up to Mother.

"Ok!" paired with the click but the food doesn't come yet. Click means food. Why isn't there food?

Charlie stands to her left, the closest to her. She is green with dark stripes. Blue thinks of her Little One, but to Mother she is Charlie. Blue knows the designation Mother has given them, along with over forty command words she and others have learned. She and the others have their own signature calls in their own language, putting sound to an identity recognized by scent and sight. Charlie is Blue's favorite.

She was born from another clutch. The second female born after Blue, originally designated V. antirrhopus Charlie did not live long enough to be transferred from hatchery to nursery. She was kept by the scientists who did their best to save the little chick but in nature it is rare for all young to survive. The project called for at four raptors, so while Delta and Echo were placed with Blue in the nursery more eggs were prepared and incubated. The healthiest among them was transferred to the nursery and ther others were culled. The replacement was also given the designation Charlie, perhaps to erase the failure.

Being younger, Charlie was smaller than her older siblings. In the wild raptors were born all together. There were no younger siblings, not until one clutch was grown. Sometimes sisters would share a nesting ground and a super-pack would form of mothers and aunts and their males, all helping to raise several eggs and take down larger prey. Then you might see a thing like this, older chicks and younger chicks, but it was rare.

It is not a hatchling's instinct to take care of the smaller. The strong survive and every sibling was another mouth competing for food. Big, strong siblings who would help in the hunts until they were old enough to find their own pact were valued. Little ones were pushed aside, and bullied.

Yet Mother made sure all were fed and would not let them steal food from Charlie. Blue took to enforcing Mother's rules. Her hisses and posture said to her sisters. "If you mess with Charlie, you mess with me."

Blue cared for her little sister driven like this smaller raptor was her own chick. She played at being mother to her. This won her Charlie's undying loyalty and affection. Sometimes she'd give Blue her own food, or nuzzle against her neck preen her. Charlie was small, and young, and clumsy at times, smacking the others with her tail, but all the same Blue favored her most of all and saw Charlie as her own little one. Mine.

"Eyes on me!" came Mother's command. Mother is above them standing on a platform in the air, out of reach.

The others look up obediently, but Blue is restless. Why wasn't there food with the click? She tapps her big claw impatiently.

The should be some reward for stopping. Besides that, she wanted to make a kill. She is ready to make a kill. Every game of chase ends in stopping before the prize is captured. They'd still be fed. They never went hungry. All the same there is a satisfaction in catching something. She loves to chase and catch, but Mother did not let them catch the prey.

"Blue?" calls Mother. The clicker sounds several times to get her attention. "Blue!"

She looks up. Despite all the clicks there's still no food. Click means food right? Complete the task, get a click, get a treat. Happy mother.

Mother is not happy now. Owen points at her. "Watch it." The tone is meant to cow Blue.

Charlie snarls at Mother, shaking her head. Just as Blue always protected Charlie as a chick, now Charlie is always the first to defend Blue. She doesn't like it if anyone questions or chastises Blue, not even Mother.

This earns Charlie a reprimand from Mother. "Hey, Charlie! Don't give me that shit."

Mother's tone is clear, displeasure and firm command. 'Hey' meant attention now. A Name meant pay particular attention, Mother meant you. They knew the names Mother gave them. The rest of the words were meaningless, but the anger is clear.

Mother is in no mood to be crossed.

Delta, standing to Blue's right, growls in annoyance and shifts.

Owen Grady knows better than to keep pushing his animals. Dolphin trainers utilise time outs. If an animal is not interested in a session or isn't focusing, the trainer doesn't snap their fingers and try to get their attention. The trainer lets them have some time to sort out whatever social issues they have before asking them again if they want to participate. Ideally he'd train the raptors using the same techniques and wouldn't push them this hard, but today he needs to put on a show.

There's a lot more money riding on this program and Owen has to answer to the Ingen Security Division. The head of that department is Vic Hoskins. Hoskins does not know much about animals, and doesn't care about anything but results. Owen is behind on sending reports. Hoskins wants a demonstration that Owen isn't wasting Ingen's time and money. Owen can't risk losing this project, not just for the sake of his job but for the sake of his raptors. Hoskins needs to be impressed.

The raptors do not know why Owen is pushing them through a series of commands. That they are part of a project, assets expected to perform. They know they are a family and must listen to their mother.

"Delta!" Mother calls. "Lock it up." That meant keep still, keep formation together.

Reward would come if they obeyed, and so they obey.

"Good!" Clicks.

That word and tone, like the click, usually meant a treat would come. Mother has the pack's full attention now.

"And we're moving." Mother holds out a hand to the side indicating the direction they most go and walks along the plank. The pack follows, moving to the side while keeping their eyes trained on Mother.

Blue nearly bumps into Charlie who is too busy watching Mother to move. She snaps at her, screeching lightly as if to say, "Hey! Watch it? Do you want us to trip?" Her little sister annoys them all sometimes. She must learn to pay more attention to her surroundings.

Charlie scrambles sideways and turns an excited circle, smacking Echo with her tail as she does. It nearly knocks the brown raptor off balance, which earns yet another snap of annoyance this time from Echo. Teeth never come near skin. The snaps are a warning. "Watch where you're going!"

Sometimes Blue wonders if Charlie will ever learn to pay attention. She must learn, Blue knows, for being alert and vigilant is the difference between life and death. Blue hopes the snaps are a lesson to her little one. "You must always pay attention to where you are what's around you."

"Hold!" calls Mother again. They chirp up at him, calling like hungry chicks. He's near the food bucket now. They know what the bucket means.

"That's good. That is damn good." Click, click, click. So many clicks. "Very good!"

Drool pools in Blue's mouth and her heart races with a jolt of happiness that is almost as satisfying as making a kill. Mother is pleased and there will be a reward.

Mother's hand goes for the bucket.

Blue does not move and tries her best to contain her excitement. Mother always feeds her last. She must wait until Mother signals it's her turn. Who gets to eat is signaled by name.

"See, Charlie, that's what you get," Mother tosses a bit of meat to Charlie. Mother always feeds the little one first. A lesson, take care of the weakest, the strong can wait. Charlie catches the bite mid air.

Maybe her little one isn't so clumsy, just inattentive sometimes, but food always has their attention.

Echo is fed next, and then Delta. Then at last is Blue's turn.

"Blue?" she lifts her head, slightly snapping her jaws as she burbles in anticipation. He holds up a large rat where she can see it. Rats are her favorite treat. "This one's for you."

She catches it in her mouth, tearing at it with her teeth before easily gulping it down.

"Hold!" Comes Mother's voice again. They look up at him.

"Eyes up!"

They raise their heads and stand at attention as they have been trained to do.

"Go!" The release word. They are free to now to run and play at chasing each other. The pack darts off, relieved the work is done now. Mother requires attention, hunts require attention, but paying so much careful attention and controlling every mood can be exhausting. It is nice just to run for a bit.

Delta pauses though, she is looking up at Mother. Blue watches her, watching Mother and Aunt. There is another human there with them, a stranger. The Big One, she calls him in her mind. Delta screeches in displeasure. She does not like the way the Big One is approaching Mother. "Threat."