Author Note.

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Predator Gothic Part 7

Bar. Yautja Station.

The last time I'd been here I'd not taken a chance to find out that this bar was more than a spot to hang out, and it was. The barman turned out to be some version of the BTVS character Xander Harris, complete with eye patch, bandanna and combat gear. Judging by the sheer size of him, and the way he held himself, he looked like he could go a round or two with the Punisher.

He'd already explained to me that he'd encountered a Predator while seeking a Slayer somewhere in Africa. He didn't tell me the whole story, and I got the impression that it was best not to ask, but I was soon informed that he'd ended up here due to fighting along side a Predator against some rather nasty demons.

That I'd encountered yet another 'fictional character' didn't surprise me so much as I'd long since taken in consideration that since the Yautja could travel to other dimensions that would encounter worlds normally considered to be made up because in an infinite multi-verse anything you could imagine was bound to be somewhere. Besides it was hardly the strangest aspect in my messed up excuse for a life.

"So this is a trading outpost too?" I asked "I didn't think the Predators cared much for anything that doesn't involve gathering body parts for display".

Or at least that most of them didn't. The females of my clan clearly did desire things other than trophies, but that may have been a very uncommon event.

"Most of the trade is between people like us" Harris told me "Some really advanced stuff can catch the eye of a Clan leader, but mostly just bring me useful stuff like tech, tools, rare weapons, and I'll set up with real food, booze, stuff from back home. Maybe even information. I know people who want more from this life than living under the Predators".

This sounded interesting. I wanted to hear what else he had to say.

(Line Break)

Training Planet. AVP Galaxy.

Since I now had a ship which could venture to many different universes, I could be out there hunting many kinds of prey, just as my clan were no doubt off hunting Wraith, or soon would be, but rather than be allowed to go off and explore I had to deal with some distress call that I didn't at all care about. Nor was I qualified to do anything about it.

The source of the distress call was coming a world which like others happened to be a planet used by my clan as a training world. It contained no higher life forms, like large animals or what I'd consider to be people. It was used for the training of Yuatja young bloods as far as I could tell.

However some idiot humans had crashed there, and judging by the message I'd gotten, which was mostly made up of symbols rather than actual words, someone in authority wanted me to investigate what was going on here.

I wasn't sure what I was suppose to do, perhaps I was just meant to scout around and report back, or maybe I was meant to kill the humans, I didn't know and I had no intention of making up my mind about that until I had more information.

The ride here hadn't been smooth as I'd expected, and there had been some strange turbulence as the ship the atmosphere. Just as the journey was coming to an end and the ship landed itself, there had been several loud banging sounds, and a few sparks had filled the air.

I tried to use one of the 3D hologram displays by the controls, which had clearly been set up for human use since the holograms didn't give off heat. It responded by crackling with static. Something out there was responsible for the rough landing and the fact that I couldn't get a map of he planet. I wanted to find out what it was, and hopefully I'd get to blow it up.

Once outside I found myself in the middle of a coniferous forest, although the trees were far taller than any he'd ever seen on Earth, and the foliage was so thick I found myself standing in almost complete darkness. This world had four moons, but I could see none of them clearly.

For me this wasn't really an issue. My mask allowed me many types of vision so it was just a matter of blinking the right number of times so that I found myself with a form of vision that allowed me to see in this darkness without using infra-red. This left the world all shades of green, but since it was a forest it would have all been shades of green in daylight anyway.

I soon found the direction the signal was coming from. Once ready to move out I used my wrist device to cloak the ship, and then I go going. I felt secure due to my arms and armour, but I stayed cloaked anyway. Just in case the humans who'd crashed here were all jittery and had snipers about.

After about ten minutes of walking the forest I began to realise that there was something about this place that gave me a sense of uneasiness. This was added to when I discovered the source of the distress signal.

It was a crashed ship. Very much unlike the last human vessel I'd seen, but still clearly human made since it had a name on the side which was in English: Long Haul it was called. Although that could just be written there to tell people that it was a long distance cargo transport.

I was no judge of space craft, human made or otherwise, but I suspected that it was a cargo transport of some sort. It was all boxy, and as I did my best to inspect the craft I saw no signs of weapon's damage so I had no idea why it had crashed. It could just be a result of pilot error.

At this point I felt slightly disappointed that the distress signal was just a crash landing, but still I was still unable to shake off this sense of unease. Also there was still something going on, something that was interfering with my ship's system.

Which meant I still had a job to do, and it was possible that the vessel had been brought down by space pirates, who I could kill. And if there were any non-bad blood humans around I could give them a lift somewhere. Either way the humans would be removed from the planet.

Before long I found an airlock hatch and while the ship had crashed, it had some power, battery backup I assumed. It was easy to open the airlock, as it had been on the last human ship I'd boarded. I had no idea why it was so easy to board human made vessels.

Once inside I figured it was best to head to the front of the top deck of the ship, since that was were humans built the command centres of their star ships in both reality and science fiction, for some reason.

The interior of the ship above the cargo decks, which I'd already seen, was something of a maze and while wandering around I hoped to find some sort communication systems so that I could contact the bridge, but just as I came across what could be a means of internal communication, there was an odd noise. Something impacting metal in an enclosed space if I had to guess, the sound hadn't been too loud, and I got the impression that it someone rather than something moving around nearby.

My initial hope was that maybe I'd discovered one of the crew, and at he or she would be happy to leave with me, however that feeling didn't last for long as it didn't make sense for the crew to be in the air vents, unless they were hiding. Either from me or from something.

I switched vision types again, but saw nothing, most likely due to the thick metals all around me. This ship had survived a crash, and was meant to carry possibly dangerous cargo so wasn't going to be made from thin sheets of steel.

When I did see something it was a creature, and it was fast, but not faster than a plasma bolt. I shot it as the life form as it came charging at me, it ten stopped moving, but that didn't tell me what it was.

It wasn't until I heard a fizzing noise that I been to figure it out. Upon closer inspection I found that I'd been both lucky and unlucky. Lucky in that I'd killed the xenomorph from a distance keeping me safe from its acid blood, and unlucky as there were fucking xenomorphs here.

Vicious and lethal, with a barbed tail, a set of razor sharp teeth, tough exoskeleton and, oh yeah, acidic blood. They were nightmares given form, and rarely did you find one alone.

To make matters worse I wasn't really equipped for a fight with the hard meat. Sure I had my combistick and plasma caster, but my stunner and sword were going to be next to useless here. Well maybe not the sword, it might have been treated with some chemical which would allow to withstand xenomorph blood. That was one of the many things my mentor may have forgotten to tell me during my training.

Also I was lacking in backup. A couple of more blooded hunters would be real welcome about now. As things were I'd have to deal with the incoming xenomorphs all by my lonesome.

I fired my plasma pistol again, and while it took a moment to recharge I took out my sword, which would be more useful in this tight spot than a spear, I swiped the blade at an incoming alien and then fired again.

More xenomorphs were now incoming, and this was then reinforcements turned up, and they had pulse rifles. What I got in terms of backup was a man with a shaved head who was now standing a couple of feet away holding a flamethrower. There were others as well. Colonial Marines, not as good as having veteran hunters, but they'd do in a pinch.

Someone moved on the other side of me, a young woman, she had long dark hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and currently she standing over the corpse of the xenomorph watching its blood melt the floor.

In her hands she held an M320 pulse rifle, which she still had pointed at the alien. I wasn't sure how I knew she was the chick in charge, but I did.

"Well, that was good timing" I said.

The woman suddenly turned to look at me, and it was an angry. She brought up the pulse rifle and pointed it at me.

"Who are you?" she yelled at me "How did you get here?"

I made a point of not arguing with people who had firearms aimed at me.

"Gothic" I answered "And I came here on my ship".

"Gothic what?" she demanded to know "What's your rank?".

Under the mask I smiled. It really was a silly name.

"No rank" I told her "I'm not part of any military".

I was surprised they thought that given that I wearing modified Predator armour while wielding a sword and plasma pistol. Well just a pistol now, xenoblood had melted the sword leaving only the handle. Still to make a xenomorph bleed that much meant the weapon had been far more deadly than it looked. The handle was still intact, perhaps I could the blade replaced with something better able to handle corrosive substances. Not that I intended to get into any more fights with the hard meat, so far I'd been lucky, but that wouldn't last forever.

"You have your own ship?" the shaven haired man with the flame thrower said.

"I do," was my reply.

The woman jabbed her gun at me.

"You'll get us off this planet and then take us wherever we want to go, you understand?".

I nodded and she didn't lower the gun, rather she continued to glare at me. Then she lowered the weapons.

"I'm Corporal Jenkins, these apes are Sanders, Hewitt and Smythes" she told me "We're Colonial marines, we were sent down by drop pods to investigate this crash, we're all that's left of three entire squad. We can't contact our ship, its suppose to be in orbit".

While on the way I'd detected no ship. Which was worrying.

"Well first things first. We'll need to find a way off this ship, and I got a bit turned around, so I'll need you to direct me" I said.

"Get off this ship?" protested one of the men "But those things are outside".

So what, they were in here too?

"Well, so's my ship," I pointed out.

"How did you get in here without them attacking you?" someone else asked.

My reply was a shrug.

"I have no idea, but I was walking through the forest for at least a quarter of hour and I didn't see anything" I answered "Maybe they were hibernating inside the ship".

Did xenomorphs do that? I just couldn't recall if I'd ever been told that.

"Alright, then let's go" the Corporal decided.

Her men were less than eager to follow.

"It's crazy! We won't last five minutes out there!" one of them protested.

Jenkins turned to glare at them.

"Well, what other choice do we have?" she asked them

They had nothing to say to that.

"How far away's your ship?" she then asked me.

It struck me then that they must really be desperate to get off this planet if they were so willing to follow a total stranger. Still while I was odd looking, I was at least human. Which meant something right now since the alternative was hanging with the xenomorphs.

"Assuming we can find the airlock I used to get in, about twenty minutes on foot" I answered "Or less if you can run".

She grinned.

"Trust me, we're fast runners" she assured me.

Soon we got moving, and that meant going past the corpse of one of the aliens.

"What are these creatures anyway?" one of the guys asked.

"Xenomorphs" I said.

Jenkins looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she said.

She must have heard of them. The users manual for the pulse rifles they carried mentioned the species.

"I've heard people call them xenomorphs" I said.

"How do you know that?" one of the men asked.

Acting causal I shrugged.

"I know a lot of stuff" I then said.

"And what exactly is a xenomorph?" I was asked.

Perhaps they'd just never seen one before and didn't recall them being mentioned by their proper name. That or these guys were using older model pulse rifles and had been out in space for a while, and as such didn't have up to date information.

"Probably one of the nastiest creatures in the universe," I told the group "I have no idea where they come from, but I do know that they are very difficult to kill, as you may have worked out. They've got a vicious temperament, acid for blood, a really horrifying methods of reproduction. Even a double sets of jaws".

That was when I spotted something unpleasant.

"Resin" I said "Or something like that. Its secreted by the xenomorphs when they're nesting".

Given the size of the ship and the fact that it hadn't crashed that long ago, this was most likely a new nest, or an extension of another one.

"This wasn't the way I came in" I was soon saying "We need to go back".

We took a different route, but we'd only gone a few paces before a moan could be heard. It was a strange, muffled kind of moan, and we all stood still for a moment after hearing it, trying to work out what it was. After a moment's silence it became clear. It was a call for help.

"It's Matthews!" one of the men yelled.

That would be the fifth member of this small squad I guessed. Five people under the command of a corporal, sounded like a military unit to me. Bu squads were suppose to be ten people under a sergeant weren't they? When had that changed.

"If he's in the nest he's as good as dead already" I told everyone "There's nothing more you can do for him. Look, I don't want to leave him there any more than you do, but if you go after him you'll only end up dead as well".

Which could solve my problem as then I could go back to my ship and simply inform my superiors of the infestation. Then some experienced hunters could come in and sort things out.

"Does that sound like he's dead to you?" Jenkins yelled "He's still alive and I'm going to get him out of there!"

I followed, but kept my distance. Just in case this was an ambush.

"Son of... !" I heard the man with the flamethrower yell out as he directed a burst of flame at the creature which had just burst out of Matthew's chest.

The alien screeched as it was chargrilled, but then even louder shrieks sounded from somewhere deeper into the nest.

"We need to get out of here!" I shouted "As in right the fuck now!".

The five of us turned and began to run back the way we come, but there was the sound of movement in front of us and well as behind. Which meant we had xenomorphs blocking our way. They'd trapped us, and now they were coming in for the kill.

Sounds of Pulse rifle filled the air, and the aliens shrieked and slowed down a little as their acid blood was spilled, but it didn't stop them.

"Don't let those things get near you!" I shouted

Despite being slowed down somewhat, a swarm of xenomorphs quickly replaced those that had fallen and began to make up the distance. We might win this fight given our fire power, but I was sure we'd lose people.

(Line Break)

Training Planet. AVP Galaxy.

"This way!" I shouted.

There were only two marines left at this point. The Corporal and a guy who didn't have a flamethrower. That guy had covered our escape, blowing himself up in the process. Which had been all heroic and awesome.

"Are you sure?" Jenkins shouted as she and he other marine ran after me.

Not really as something seemed to be jamming my homing signal.

"Don't worry we'll find it" I assured the marines.

Somehow.

"Not the most convincing thing I've ever heard," Jenkins commented.

The shrieks of the xenomorphs were now reaching us, which put a quick end to any debate.

(Line Break)

Training Planet. AVP Galaxy.

Despite knowing we had to keep moving, we were all too stunned by what we saw next to just simply run past it.

"Well, I definitely didn't pass this on my way in," I said, "Perhaps this was the wrong way".

I looked up at the strange dark stone building in front of me. It wasn't human made that was for sure, it seemed wrong, too alien. It was a massive pyramid, which were rare enough on Earth, and it was somehow far more sinister looking than what the Aztec and Egyptians had ever built.

"This is alien made" I muttered.

"You're not telling me that these xenomorph creatures are capable of building something like that?" Jenkins asked.

I shook my head.

"No it's the yautja who made this," I said "But not the group I work with, well for. This group are using humans to breed the xenomorphs as prey. Any that they can get to land here. Hence the distress call sent by no one that leads right into a new xenomorph nest. The cargo ship was lured here too I'd bet".

My mind was now racing. Could this place contain whatever it was that was preventing me from easily getting back to ship, or from sending out a distress call.

"We have to get out of here as soon as possible," I was now saying, "I need to report this back to the adjudicators. What they're doing definitely isn't legal, and if another clan is behind this then this could be the start of a war between...".

Jenkins interrupted me.

"Honestly, I don't care about reporting it," she said, "I'd just like to survive it. Now, do you know which is the right way yet?".

Because I was looking around I was the first to notice the three pinpoints of red light that had just appeared on the forehead of the male marine who was either Sanders, Hewitt or Smythes. Not that it mattered for long.

"Fuck!" I yelled.

I had no time to do or say anything else as the man's head exploded in a shower of gore. I turned and fire at what only I could see, and the Yuajta fell out of the tree.

Since I'd grabbed my Wraith stunner rather than plasma pistol the shot only dazed it I figured, because it was soon moving, if sluggishly, however clearly it was now visible to the naked eye as Jenkins soon avenged her team mate by shooting the Predator, she emptied a whole clip into the hunter, and for sure human made weapons had improved, as the hunter killed was in a very bloody display of fire power in short order.

Sure that hunter had been a fool, it should have killed me first and then come down to the ground to finish off the two humans, but still that had been too easy.

Upon closer inspection I found this hunter had no clan mark, few trophies, and had left its chest exposed. Age was hard to tell, but I deduced that this was a novice warrior who'd come in overconfident and underestimated humans. As Predators had before, and would likely do again.

"Come on we need to disable that signal and get to my ship" I said.

Jenkins followed, she looked to be somewhat in shock, all glassy eyed. Hopefully she'd snap out of it soon, otherwise she'd get herself killed.