April 10, 2621
I am here today with both Kj and Hadrick Schaefer. I have done this to further the interview, and clear up some details left out from the last interview. We are once again in the Schaefers' office, where Hadrick takes his rightful place on Kj's oversized chair, and Kj sits on the floor, Indian style. Even while he sits on the floor, Kj manages to come to the same height as Hadrick does sitting down. Before we begin Hadrick gets his fix on on cigar, while Kj lights a cigarette. I will also be highlighting who is talking so you do not have to be confused. With that we begin.(Kj) So what is it going to be this time?
"There were some elements I felt were left out by Hadrick in our last session, which, If I may ask, might we elaborate on?"(Hadrick) Like what?
"Concerning Kj's mental state, and, no offense intended, why did you allow Kj to fight in missions even when he showed signs of mental and emotional instability?"(Hadrick) His instability came more from his training than any thing else.
(Kj) I was being taught things I couldn't understand, and while I was quick to learn, I had to be quicker than that, I had to have everything memorized to a perfect T. That and the constant stress from Hardick and the other marines also weighted down on me some. Not to mention the physical requirements. But you already know all of this. We've told you about it.
"I understand but I feel like there's something missing. You had to have had something that allowed you to coop with the conditions you were being put through. A drive of some sort that made you continue."(Kj) I understood why I was being put through the conditions, I knew Hadrick here wanted me to be a marine. He wanted to toughen me up so I could kill shadows. It was better than being beaten by Weyland for no good reason.
Unlike that d#ck, Hadrick saw some usefulness in me, potential.
I had wanted to kill the shadows ever, since they killed Mom, but I was to scared at first. Sure I put three marines in the hospital for the duration of their lives, but shadows were different. Their entire bodies were weapons. Their hostility made them merciless killers, their adaptability and fast paced growth allowed them to mature to an adult drones within the span of a day and a half, and a queen within three to four weeks, provided their was no queen of course. That and these things were just all around terrifying. I can more than understand why the Oomans feared them so bad. I couldn't believe my own species was able to handle them for as well and as long as they have. But they've been hunting them for about ever so.
He shrugs.(Hadrick) But I didn't fear the bugs, well I did, but not their ability to take my life. I didn't care about anyone after my wife died, but I still I fought, and I trained others to fight as I did. I didn't do I because I felt it was the right thing to do, or that I just did it because I could. I did it because they took the love of my life from me. I made a promise to her before she died not to love another woman as I did her, even after she died. She wanted to be mine and only mine. I felt the same way. With no children to love and raise I just became this rock hard shell full of hate. I had no friends, well I did, but they were all dead so I guess you could say I had no friends. I had no one to give a sht to. All I had left was the Corps. It was home, the only home I ever really knew. But what's a home without some people to live in it with. The Corps didn't mean much to me either. I found myself nearly taking the lead pill, but each time I hesitated. Not because I had this fear to die, I at the time didn't care one damn bit at all. I'd had nightmares, I was depressed, felt like nothing mattered, not even my own religion. I just had nothing.
You take away a man's loved ones and you've truely given him nothing left to lose. Except I wasn't about to lose this fight. I never lost a fight. Sure I retreated a few times, for strategic reasons. But I always came back until I won. The xenos took everything I held dear to me, and although they couldn't kill me they'd weakened me enough were they didn't have to. I was going to kill myself. As I was about to pull the trigger on my Deagle that thought came to me. I was giving up. I was letting those bastards get to me. I was letting everyone I'd loved, that had been killed by the xenomorphs, including my wife, down. I was failing them all. I was giving the enemy my ass on a silver platter.
As soon as I recognized this I dropped the pistol, and said no. I wasn't going to let these bugs have the satisfaction. I made no vow that I would not stop until either they, or I was dead. After that if I was still alive, and had nothing left, then I'd put myself down.
(Kj) I can account for that. I saw him do it one time. Obviously he didn't do it, but I could tell he was thinking about it. Hell there were times I felt the same way. Especially during my days in boot camp. But I didn't have I in me. I was to afraid. I was only a kid. But when I saw just how much hate Hadrick had for the shadows, I understood. That and the picture of his wife. But you get what I'm saying.
I wanted to fell the same hate he felt, I just wasn't motivated enough to pursue it. After dealing with Levinson's and Jones' insufferable asses, however, I found it. I'd found the motivation I was looking for. I would've thanked those guys, but yeah I don't thank people that talk sht about my Mom, and decide it's a good idea to cut off my genitals. Yes I did have nightmares, yes I understood I was having problems, but the only way I was going to fix those problems was if I worked harder to fixing them. The harder I trained the closer I'd come to facing the shadows.
"Could you say it was therapeutic?"The look at each other doubtfully.(Both) Eh.
(Hadrick) I mean I guess you could say it was, but I mean that's what we have music for.
(Kj) OH don't forget these.
He mentions about the cigarettes and the cigars, to which his father responds in humorous agreement.(Kj) Yeah I guess you could say that to.
(Hadrick) Of course that was our situation, before you became my son.
(Kj) Hey I just said I looked at you as my dad., you're the one that wanted me as your son. You didn't have to adopt me.
(Hadrick) Oh bullsht I know you wanted me as your dad, and you know it..
(Kj) I'm just saying.
Hadrick rubs Kj's head in a fatherly sarcastic manner, before Kj jokingly throws off.(Kj) Okay, okay, okay. Let's cut the crap. But yeah killing xenos was, in a way, therapeutic.
(Hadrick) It's the reason why I let him go in the first place. He wanted to kill xenomorphs, not for fun, he hates them with a passion. But it did stop the nightmares, and all the emotional and mental instability so I kept taking him on these missions.
(Kj) It not only helped me there, but it also gave me purpose. I'd been pretty deep in the Bible, was a convert to the Christian church, and baptized at eleven years old. I knew much about the Gospel and it's teachings, and I did my absolute hardest to follow each of them to a T. Once I accepted all of this as my belief, I made a promise never to kill a single human, and do my hardest to protect them, even though they were the ones that did all these horrible things to me.
"What about the marines?"
(Kj) They were pretty crappy at first to, but after learning to live with them, they grew on me, and I guess I began to grow on them to.
After every successful mission I was included on, my popularity among the Corps grew. I didn't pride myself in it nor do I intend to continue to do so now, but I'm just saying the marines knew about me pretty well.
Even after I kicked Jones' butt in boot camp I was still treated with alot of disrespect and criticism by my fellow bunk mates, only they weren't stupid enough to physically confront me about it. A couple guys liked me I guess, but most of em still hated me for the same reasons Levinson and Jones did. I couldn't hold that against them. I'd be pretty mad myself. I just wouldn't take it out on a kid who was barely half my age.
After killing my first xeno, though, all of that criticism and hate changed. The marines started to like me more and more. They began seeing me as one of them. I will admit I held the same respect for them in that regard, despite their biased attitude in boot camp.
One particular mission though solidified my place in the Corps, and once everyone saw the footage taken by my bio-mask...
He shrugs with an awkward smile on his face.
(Hadrick) Every true marine on this planet that saw what he did cheered his name so loud it could be heard from Acheoron.
(Kj) I don't mean that but...
(Hadrick) You know I'm right Kj. I know you know I'm right.
(Kj) Are you just saying that to boost your own ego ,Dad.
(Hadrick) No.
(Kj) You lying dog.
(Hadrick) You watch your mouth son, and stop calling me dad.
(Kj) Alright ,Dad.
They continue to joke with each other for a few short moments before they stop and we continue.
"Could you elaborate on the mission itself."
(Hadrick) Yeah he fought a Predalien.
(Kj) Hey ,Hadrick, I think he wants details.
"I would appreciate it."
(Hadrick) Go ahead son, it's your story not mine.
He says as he lovingly pats Kj on the shoulder and lights another cigar.
(Kj) It was June 15, 2606. Around two to two-thirty in the morning. I still remember the date on which it happened, I'll never forget. I was snoozing comfortably in my lower bunk. My bunk mate ,Tonny, insisted on sleeping in the upper bunk, mainly cause he knew me well enough that I'd heart him if he tried to fight me for it, or I'd accidentally cause the upper bunk to collapse on him, because of my weight. I was thirteen at the time, and I'd grown some since my first outing with the shadows on Talco. I wasn't huge, not like what I am now of course, but I was definitely bigger than I used to be.
I was having a good night sleep after a hard day's worth of exercise. Hadrick always made sure we were fit for the fight, and that no matter what circumstances we were in, whether we were sleeping, getting cleaned up, answering the call of nature, or making out, we were ready to drop it and grab our socks. Which is what happened to us this night, or morning rather. Alot of times it was a simple exercise made to keep us on our feet and to be ready every moment, especially when we weren't expecting it to happen, cause that's when it ever did happen. Alot of times it was just for practice, a simple drill, we'd begin in boot camp, and continue even after. Other times it was for real. Most of the time though it was the former. Although real stand-up fights happened pretty often themselves. There were very few instances where we'd actually get a good night's rest. and take into about that waking up at 4:00 and 5:00 is normal wake up time, but 2:00 that's "it's still time to sleep time". You can understand we were cranky insomniacs alot of the time we were awake.
I clicked my mandibles in an entry growl every time I heard that damn fog horn blow.
"Oh great this is another one of those stupid exercises Hadrick is making us do again." I thought. Don't get me wrong I still loved the man, I'm not going to get that upset over an inconvenience like this, but that didn't mean I had to like it. I remember thinking that this mission had better be for real, or I was going to break that fog horn off the wall, and chuck it out the window. Thankfully for the fog horn, once I was outside with my gear strapped to me, Hadrick gave me a breifing on the situation. It was for real alright. It wasn't very serious. 34 drone shadows, plus a couple of warriors, and one special had escaped.
"What's a special?"
A special is as it's name implies, a special type of xeno. It's one that isn't your normal drone, warrior, preatorian, or even queen. Specials are basically shadows that aren't of the normal variety were used to hunting. Obviously Weyland wanted us to collect the "specimen" for research. And of course we didn't listen to him. We never did at that time. We always set our priorities ahead, which were 1: Protect the colonists 2: Kill all Shadows 3: Make sure they're all dead. And that's what we did.
"And Weyland didn't chastise or punish any of you?"
(Hadrick) He wanted to in the worst way, but unfortunately for him, given the fact I was one of the biggest heads of the colonial marines on this planet at the time, I didn't let him do sht to us.
"How?"
(Hadrick) Did Kjon over here tell you what one of our purposes in the Corps at the time was. It was to protect the colonists no matter what. Weyland gave me that order himself, and I told him it was a lifetime contract deal, because he practically owned us at the time. He agreed, signed it himself. I had a copy to prove it. He knew I did. Paragraph 5, Section 2 of our deal stated that any agreement made by any two separate corporations would be followed by both parties. If either of those two would neglect or deliberately try to cause complications with the other faction then the contract signed would be considered void, and the party not responsible could do whatever the hell they wanted with full impunity. If you ask me it's a shty paragraph, but I'd be hypocrite to say I didn't enjoy the freedoms it gave us marines. Our job was to protect the colonies and it's inhabitants at all costs, which we did so. Weyland on the other hand tried to disrupt things thus we went behind his back when he did so. We were in the clear and he wasn't, and if he tried to do other wise I could always show the colonies that agreement we made, along with some incriminating evidence I kept on hand. Heck the contract also stated that it was not the colonial marines responsibility to safe guard Weyland Yutani assets. Something he himself signed!
"Why did Weyland sign it in the first place, and why did you capture a specimen at all during the War against the xenomorphs thirty years ago."
(Kj) It was his way of trying to make a form of government in the KJ System's society. The governments on other planetary colonies is different from ours you see. As the economic, and physical conditions of the colony and it's environment are big key factors to it's functioning, as such certain laws have to be placed in order to keep things safe for the colonists, as they do all the work raking in the money and resources for Weyland's secret operations. He delt deals with other corporations trading stuff he had with other corporations for things he didn't have, with things that the other corporate business shmucks wanted themselves. If you don't have a functioning economy to continue raking in that stuff you need to continue your trade with the other corporate companies, well then your screwed. And given the fact Weyland Yutani has so many business interests on so many planets, that they practically owned, it was more than necessary to institute laws to govern those colonies. To keep things moving.
(Hadrick) And if were talking about specimen retrieval, I gave the order not to take any xenomorphs alive, but kill them all. Unfortunately one of my underlings didn't obey, and having sacrificed some good men of mine along with his career in the Corps he got Weyland his specimen. Got paid very well for it to. Me, I booted his ass when I found out about it. Guy didn't care though. And concerning the agreement Weyland and I signed, we didn't have to protect xenomorph assets, but if we wanted to then we could so the guy was in legal jurisdiction within the paragraph's sentencing. Of course him being under my jurisdiction at the time also, he disobeyed my orders so I ruined any chance of a future in the marines he had, legaly that's all I could do, but back on topic.
(Kj) Fortunately, out of the total 39 shadows that had escaped containment, only 20 of them had managed to escape Facility #56. We were in Facility #31 which wasn't that long of a fly in a dropship. We could make it there in like, less than ten minutes, fifteen tops. Unfortunately given how long it would take for us to get there to drop some guys off at the facility to help assess damages and provide support for our boys at #56, that would lessen the time we would have to hall butt, and intercept the bugs moving towards the closest colony. And take into account Facility #56 was the closest of Weyland's facilities to a colony. That colony being the capital of this planet ,New Hadleys Hope. The two areas were 60 miles apart, which isn't far, considering Facility #31 was 250 miles away from #56, which we managed to fly in fifteen minutes. Don't bother me about the math just leave it alone. Any way with New Hadleys Hope's rapidly growing population of two hundred and thirty hundred million, within a ten to fifteen mile stretch of land, if even so much as one queen managed to establish a hive in that area, and it was left uncontrolled, Oh merciful Master Jesus, it was going to be a living hell.
Thankfully though Weyland kept Tabs on all his shadows. Tabs are these little tracking devises that Weyland Yutani developed to sort of help know where the xenomorphs are at any given time. They were designed specifically to track the xenos position, and monitor what it's vitals were, what kind of condition it was in, all that. Made it very helpful for us marines in finding the buggers. After dropping off some of our guys at #56 we wasted no time intercepting the shadows. We picked up the Tabs' signals on the dropship's satellite television devise. Thankfully they hadn't made it to the colony yet, and were all moving in one big pack. I felt this feeling of unease as we zeroed in on them. I'd hunted shadows before, I wasn't worried about getting killed, so long as I did nothing stupid, which I never did. It's just, whenever I'd hunted them, I found out that they'd get smarter and smarter as we continued to attack them. The shadow queen Weyland kept locked away in Facility #31 had grown in intelligence with each escape attempt it made it's drones and warriors would make. It deliberately made them do these escapes in order to test the area for any weak exploitable areas that she could use to escape from. Facility #31 had a history of xenomorph outbreaks, but each and everyone of them had been successfully contained. Although that didn't stop the queen and with each passing outbreak. The xenomorphs would become harder and harder to contain. That learning capability was also passed down onto the later drones and warriors, and the occasional preatorians that she would spawn. It was at this point we discovered Shadows have genetic memory. Thus after we'd kill the escaping drones and warriors, the queen would take notes, and learn from her mistakes. That knowledge would then be passed down to her newer offspring. While not as intelligent as she was, the mere fact that they were getting smarter, and were able to communicate telepathically didn't help us fell at ease.
"But these were from Facility #56, and where did the special come from, and why would this facility be housing xenomorphs when they were so close to the colony?"
(Kj) The shadows that came from #56 came from one of the other facilities farther away that had a queen in their lockers, Facility #56 just managed to catch them and contain them, which I was shocked by once I found out. And Facility #56 wasn't a research facility as much as it was a security manufacturing facility, that specialized in securing the area around the colonies to make sure no xenos slip through the cracks, all while manufacturing combat equipment, like the marines firearms, explosives, and armor. I honestlyhave to admit the idea of that type of facility sounded pretty good to me, up until I learned they were part of Weyland's special security task force, who are similar to us, but they follow Weyland's orders and his alone, unless told otherwise, and because of this they're total d#cks.
As for the special I'm getting to it.
We intercepted the xenos 30 miles away from New Hadleys Hope. Like I said my suspicions about these shadows were making me uncomfortable, not just concerning the special one, but about how intelligent these fkers actually were. Everyone in the Corps, who had paid attention during breifing knew that these things could get smarter. Unlike everyone else though, I kept that idea in my skull on every hunt. almost of the other guys except Hadrick, not so much.
We had this huge fricking autimated M56 smart gun mounted underneath our dropship, that we used to dust mop any shadows we saw on the surface, before we sent out guys to clean out a hive that managed to form after an outbreak occured that wasn't able to be contained. We had permission from Weyland to use the thing unless we were 10 miles from any colony as the thing made a pretty loud series of bangs when ever we fired it. The sound alone could stretch up to 3 miles, but given how secretive he wanted to keep his operations he restricted us to 10 miles. We opened up the thing from it's compartment locked onto the swiftly moving bugs and let it rip. The sound of 10mm caseless high explosive tracer rounds, coupled with the EDM of Alan Walker's Spectre, blaring from my IPhone, was music to my ears.
And if your wondering where I got the IPhone from, it was a gift given to me by your's truely sitting next to me, as a Christmas present from the following Christmas. Which I then set up a holder for it on my bio-mask so I could listen to it while I was busy. Helps to calm myself, whenever I fight. Sometimes discomfort helps to make someone get into the fight more, but most other times it's just best to stay as calm and focused as possible. Music helps.
I still have it by the way, and I still appreciate it very very much ,Dad.
(Hadrick) You're welcome, and stop calling me ,Dad.
(Kj) Any rate I watched as the 10 millimeter caseless high explosive tracer rounds tore through the treeline below, Almost instantly the little green dots that showed the xenos position in relation to us on the monitor inside the dropship disappeared. I was momentarily distracted by the noise from the Smart gun, and my IPhone's EDM music playing, I almost forgot about my paranoia. As soon as we dropped down and inspected the bodies however, that's when my paranoia came back to me hard.
There were only 6 bodies on the ground when we went to inspect our work, worst yet the tabs from all twenty shadows were attached to the six dead shadows. At first we thought it was an ambush. We all held a perimeter, but after a couple minutes passed with no contacts approaching us from above or to our sides, we began suspecting something else was amiss. I began swepping the area for any signs of the missing shadows, and once I did, I was hit with realization. We hadn't been lead into a trap, but rather, we'd been diverted. I found a pheromone trail with my bio-mask, from, where the shadow group had split, along with it I found traces of acidic blood from when the shadows ditched their Tabs onto the 6-now dead-shadows. I couldn't believe it, these things had played us so hard. I turned on my bio-masks earpiece, another feature I added to the bio-mask. I reported the situation to Hadrick told him I was in pursuit, and without even waiting to receive his permission I took off in the direction the bugs had went.
Like I said I hate running, and having to do 30 miles none-stop isn't fun, especially after you've been up for only an hour and a half. But the thought of completing my mission which was to protect the colonists kept me going. Promises are btches, but it was either my legs or the lives of the colonists, my legs would get over it. Thankfully for myself, I was a Yatja and thus I was much stronger, faster, and a helluva lot more endurent than any Ooman so I managed to catch up to them. Xenomorphs are able to catch up to speeds of up to 25 miles per hour, that is for drones and warriors of course. I myself can only do about 20 mph, at my fastest, but my determination pushed me forward to catch up to the shadows. I saw another split in the trail, the shadow's had thought ahead and decided that if their decoy strategy didn't work maybe another larger decoy would, and it did, as that decoy was headed right for the colony. I was going to have to let the retreating shadows go if I wanted to save the colonists. I did give the marines a heads up in the direction the others were headed though as I went after the ones heading towards the colony so I wasn't letting anything get away. As I was breaching New Hadleys' borders, I found myself diving through an electrified barbed wire fence, made to keep shadows out as a last line of defense. Thankfully the xenomorphs had managed to actually break through the fencing somehow, and I was on the end of the fence where the electrified part wasn't, but the barbed wire still stung like a btch. After tearing myself up getting out of the stuff, I followed them deeper into the colony. I found them setting up shop inside a hotel pool where they'd ambushed a couple of teens taking an early morning strip-dip. Yeah this is right around the time my puberty set in, and as much as I could understand what these kids were up to, I wouldn't be going so low as to commit fornication, especially in a public establishment swimming pool. Thankfully none of these stupid kids had been hurt, the shadow's had just affixed them to the walls with their disgusting resin, while they prepared the facehuggers. Yeah I forgot to mention they brought some eggs with them. How they managed to do so I have no idea. At any rate, I wasted no time getting tonight down to business slaughtering the shadows, and saving the teens from the hatching eggs. I dropped most of them with my wristblades and my smart disc, although one tried to sneak up behind me so I ended up putting it down with my homemade plasma caster. None of the remaining plasma casters from the lab worked after Mom torched it, but after dissecting one of them, and figuring out it's mechanics I made another one. I tested it out, and while it didn't work as well as most plasma casters are supposed to, it still did the job. After I finished the shadows and most of the eggs, I ended it off by saving a teenage girl with her bra off, from a face hugger. As much as I disdained fornication, I didn't feel this was a fair punishment for the girl. I grabbed the facehugger by it's tail just as it lept off the floor to impregnate the girl. I watched the little arachnid fker struggle helplessly, before I broke it apart with my claws. I serveyed the area looking for any more xenos, but that was all of them. I did stop long enough to get a quick eye full of the girl with her bra off. Yeah I was definitely getting interested in girls at that time.
(Hadrick) You do realize that that girl was older than you were, right?
(Kj)... And. I looked I didn't touch.
Anyway after admiring the attractive Oomans unmentionables I went back to work with the remaining five shadows, I was keeping track of every shadow we'd killed and how many more remained. Their were the six we'd gunned down 30 minutes earlier, and their were nine, in the hotel pool, excluding the facehuggers, which left five more to go. I would take note of any potential facehuggers, with the remaining five.
I went back on the shadow's trail and had found that they'd once again broken off from the group in order to provide more of a chance for themselves to escape. As I followed it, I saw it.
"What was it?"
(Kj) A Predalien. Yeah an Abomination that results whenever a facehugger impregnates one of my species. Such a creature is considered dishonorable, and any seen must be destroyed as quickly as possible. My kind litteraly hates tthem that much. I had no idea how Weyland got ahold of one, but I didn't have time to care about asking questions. I would have to kill this Abomination.
In Yatja society an Abomination that spawned from a member of a particular clan, must be hunted ddown by another member from ththe same clan, as it's very existence brings shame to rest of society especially to other clans, and since it came from that clan they are the ones considered responsible for it's creation, they would be held accountable. Thus it would be their duty to destroy it, if they wish to maintain their honorable status with the rest of Yatja society itself. I didn't know where this Abomination had came from or what clan it had spawned from. But then again I didn't really care. I wwould just kill it because it was the honorable thing to do. If it so happened to spawn fro my clan, well more honor for me, and if it was from another clan, then hey sombody owed me a favor. That's how it works in Yatja society. If someone from outside the clan has slain the Abomination for them, they've just helped that clan maintain it's honorable status with the rest of society, therefore that clan owes them a favor. It's just tthe honorable thing to do. I scratch your back, you scratch mine.
I moved swiftly yet stealthily throught the trees keeping pace with this ugly mother fker and it's four compadres. As i followed them i tried to make a determination on how I would eliminate each of them. Obviously I would need to get them into an operable area from which to fight them in, next I would need to cancel off their escape, then I would need to take out the four regular shadows so they wouldn't cause any complications while I fought the Predalien, then finally I would take on the Abomination.
"How did it go?"He curves his mandibled face into a menacing grin.(Kj) The Abomination and the shadows that had followed it were heading into this clearing. It wasn't a good choke point, and their were plenty of areas for them to escape through. Although it was better for me to fight them somewhere I could keep track of them, where there weren't to many trees or any other random natural obstructions to get in the way. And-what do you know-I just so happhappened to have something that would make it impossible for them to escape-and wonder of wonders-it was also the one thing I knew they feared most.
"What was that?"(Kj) Fire. I'd made some upgrades to my wristblades a couple of missions prior, which came in quite handy. Basically I modified the mechanics of an M240 Flamethrower and intigrated those modifications with the mechanisms of my wristblade. My wristblades operate around the tension in the muscles in my wrists, whenever I position them those muscles in a manner that is safe enough for me to use them and flex them they trigger open and it's slice and dice time. The same goes for my wristblades, and the Flamethrower inhancements work the same way. Depending upon how I flex my muscle, aand what position they're in i trigger the Flamethrower, and dependiing upon what type of firing setting I have them on they can either shoot regular flames, or unegnited fuel, I can also light the blades themselves on fire, or if I want to I can make it so they can douse me in unignited fuel. I am fireproof so I can pretty much aford to bathe in flames. Of course I have to deal with a lack of oxygen, but unother than that, I'm perfectly fine.
I used my flame blades to spray a circle of unignited fuel around the field, once the Abomination and it's bros were in position Iit the clearing surrounding them into a flamming ring. The shadows accompanying the Abomination scretched in fear as they sensed the flames surrounding them. The Abomination was well aware of the dangerous obstacle infront of it, but it didnt show any fear. They were now trapped, and they could sense my presence. And they knew I could sense theirs. They had no choice. There was no escape. It would have to end in a fight. The shadows remained on gaurd hissing at everything that moved, and jumping at the crackle of the flames around them. The Abomination knew exactly where I was and tracked me with it's gaze as I circled the ring of fire. It didn't bother letting any of it's friends know where I was, it knew I wated to fight, the others would just make this more complicated. I knew the shadows also had a form of genetic memory that came from their hosts, but this was interesting. This creature wasn't honorable by any means, but given it's host's memories, it could understand what honor was, and was willing to fight as such. I was intrigued. But my amazment didn't stop me from doing what I needed to do.
The creature made and ungodly screaming noise, telling it's friends where I was. The xenos immediately turned in my direction, thet looked a little confused. They couldn't sense my pheromones, behind the stronger sensation of the fire, but they continued to look forward obediently.
Before the shadows knew it, they were already dead. I plundged myself into the inferno ring, and charged two of the shadows impaling them on both of my wristblades. I charged back out of the rinflames just as swiftly as I had entered, I proceededto remove the heads of he shadows just to be sure they were dead. Returning my attention to the Abomination and the other two shadows I could see it was purposefully sacrificing it's friends. There was something to this crearure that struck me in an odd way. It was smart, but how smart. It knew I wanted to fight it with honor, understood that, but did it want to fight the same way through.
The two ither shadows were dumbfounded by what just happened, I'd just killed two of their friends so quickly, they didn't have much time to react. They looked like they were actually terrified of me. They were right to be. I went in for them next this time I cleaved one of them in half, and as I went to dispatch the other one the Abomination reacted swipping me across the back with it's spear tipped tail. Electricity shot up my body as I felt the cut on my back. I should have expected the Predalien would have done. The last remaining warrior shadow took this opportunity, and attacked. It pounced at me ready to deliver a fatal blow with it's tail, but I was to quick and before it could comprehend what was about to happen I decapitated it. The Abomination took that opportunity to charge me to, headbutting me into a flamming tree. It picked me up and slammed it's head into mine, before tossing me away. My backpack fell off my shoulders and out of the ring off fire, as I hit the ground hard. I'd wanted to fight, and the Predalien was happy to ablige. I was a little surprised, but I was not disappointed by the results. Quickly throwing off every weapon and peice of armor I had on, except for my bio-mask of course, I stood bravely infront of the Abomination. It gave out a challenging roar, and I accepted with a roar of my own. Then we charged. Upon impacting I brgan to grapple with the hulking monstrosity. The Predalien was bigger than I was, and I knew it was stronger than any healthy adult Predator, yet still I thought I could take it on. I quickly found out that physically trying to ragdoll a Predalien I bad idea. The thing began slamming me to the ground, tossing me, slashing, pounding me into a bloody pulp. There's a reason why most Yatja don't take on Abominations physically head on, I found this out the hard way obviously, but like I've said before, I am no ordinary Predator.
The Abomination tired of toying with me lifted me off the ground and prepared to head-bite me with it's inner jaw. I wasn't about to go down like a chump though, and kicked it in the face hard enough for it to let me go. I gave it a viscious upper cut to it's chin. It quickly recovered, and prepared to stomp me into tje ground but I quickly rolled underneath it's massive legs. Yeah this thing was so much bigger than I was that I could litteraly duck and roll between it's legs. It then tried to impale me with it's tail, but I just managed to dodge it's attackThe creature spun around, picked. me up and tossed me away out of the buning ring of fire. The firey ring was still burning, just as well as it had when I light it, but that hadn't stopped the Predalien. I didn't know these things could tolerate heat like we could although given it's biological physiology is similar to that of it's host I really shouldnt have been surprised when I saw it walk out of the firey ring like it wasn't even there. I recoved quickly enough to dodge another vertical strike with it's massive tail. I took off running towards a tree as it charged after me. I did an athletic flip over the trunk of the massive bluewood right as the Abomination collided with the trunk. The base of the tree broke into splinter, but the beast was unphased by the blow. It was then I realized just how much I had underestimated this monstrosity's strength. I knew I couldn't be able to it in hand to hand combat, even with how physically strong I was, the Abomination was just so much stronger. I'd gotten cocky before the fight between me and the Abomination had begun, and that mistake had nearly costed me my life, but luckily I had luck and skill on my side. I'd made sure to make a mental note to myself never to underestimate another opponent again.
If I couldn't this thing in physically, maybe I could trick it into a trap. Once the Abomination charged at me again, I lept back up into the trees. It began scanning the area above it for any signs of me. While it was stronger than I was, I was still much faster than it. I grabbed my combi-stick I'd thrown away earlier in the fight, and imbedded it into the ground, making an audible thwumping sound as I did so, purposefully attracting the Abomination's attention before leaping back into the trees. The Predalien approached my combi-stick and inspected it curiously. I then lept down on top off it, grabbing onto it's dreadlocks and yanking it around. As it went to grab hold off me I jumped off it's back and began running circles around it.
"Trying to tire it out?"(Kj) Exactly. The thing was also very endurent to, but I could see it had it's limits. Thankfully I did more exercise than it had even been alive, so I was more endurent than it was also. After slowing it down enougn, and ta,ing a few swipes and swings for my trouble, I began climbing up a tree, just slow enough for it to see where I was going and follow, yet also not letting it catch up to me to quickly.
Surprisingly for how big Predalien's are, they are really good at climbing, although given the fact shadows can traverse on any seurface with ease and we Predators are also naturally skilled climbers, I can see why. As we neared the top of the tree our combined weight began making the enormous barked plant tilt. Once the creature and I were at the perfect position, I charged. The Predalien had not expected that. I shoved myself off of the creature, allowing me to leap off of it and direct it's decent right onto my combi-stick which I'd left sticking up out of the ground. I heard a bone crunching crack, followed by a painful slice as the Abomination was impaled. The creature manahed to stay alive long enough to see the foreign object potruting through it's body, before giving up the ghost, with a painfully prolonged hiss. I managed to lift the beast's heavy ass corpse off of my combi-stick, which the monster had destroyed upon falling on it. After dislodging what was left of my combi-stick from Abomination's torso, I stabbed the creature in the throat with it, breaking it's neck in the process. I removed the Predalien's skull afterward, and roared victoriously as I began listening to Terrence Mann's Power of the Night, which I also sang to victoriously as well, as I carried the Predalien's haed over my shoulder.
(Hadrick) As soon as I saw Kjon come back from the fight allbloodied up with the head of thad monster on his shoulders, I couldn't help but feel proud of my boy's work.
(Kj) Definitely onemof my proud moments myself, although had I not acted like a teenager, and underestimated the creature before the fight than maybe I would have beenbeen prouder of myself, especially had I been able to kill the thing with bear hands, but it was enough for me to say that I survived an encounter with the creature and killed it honorably, especially with how young I was when I did it, and with the fact I only used my combi-stick. But yeah. That is another one of my hunts I hold in very high regard. Although the story doesn't end there.
(Hadrick) Initially though while I was proud of what Kjon had done, I didn't show my enthusiasm for his kill, until after chewing him out first.
"What for? He stopped a potential infestation from occuring, killed a Predalien, and save a bunch of teenagers."(Kj) The latter was why.
(Hadrick) Weyland was on my ass after he found out about the "destruction of valuable property" which I told him to go kiss my ass about, although his complaint about Kjon making his presence know to the colony I could understand his concern for. If the colonies knew Weyland had a firgging Predator in the Corps this entire time, they might become suspicious as to why, and the last thing he wanted was for them to find out about his secret operations. I gave Kjon here a thorough chastisement about it, but in the end I was to proud not to let him enjoy his accomplishment. Kid killed a Predalien stopped a infestation, and saved a bunch of stupid horny teenagers.
(Kj) After all was said and done I rode peacefully back to Facility #31 watching the dawn break overhead. I honestly didn't think much over the rising sun break over the horizon, unother than I was happy to have survived another mission, and to have brought more honor and glory to Mom. That and you'd better believe I enjoyed the good morning's worth of sleep I got afterward.
Kj and Hadrick say a few more things, and then we finish. Kj and I schedule another interview for next week after I finish wok editting this chapter, I'm also scheduled to met with his wife ,Jennifer, later on this week. After that I shake Kj and Hadrick's hand and thank them for their time.
Sorry this one took as long as it did to make, I tried to finish it as quickly as possible while also keeping the fights entertaining enough tto read and the details short but accurate, I was having a bunch of stuff happen over the past week with my moving plans happening so suddenly. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if there's anything you'd like to comment on don't be afraid to ask. It helps out quite a bit actually. Thanks :)