It was time.

Everything was ready, after months of preparations the hunt would finally commence. Cth'ctchi looked over the control and display panels, which could tell him anything about the events occurring in the ship and also gave him control over all the things in it. He flexed his fingers, then began typing rapidly at a key board. He had never felt so powerful, all these creatures under his control… even the Predators on the ship deferred to him. An evil look as he anticipated the carnage to come spread across his face. Time to wake some of their inhabitants up…He selected the lesser predatory species category containing creatures gathered from several galaxies, although this group was predominantly made up of Earth creatures being as they'd spent so much time there gathering humans. He looked at the two other categories, the Yautja and of course the Xenomorphs… It was tempting to simply release all at once and see who emerged the strongest for him to challenge, but he restrained himself. Pulling up a visual of the human holding pen he turned on the communication system between that room and the control bridge.

"D'ran?"

"Yes my Elder?" D'ran replied, hating that he was reduced to referring to Cth'ctchi with such a respectful title. He was only older by 4 months!

"Separate the humans, placing them in different areas in the ship. Some in groups, some on their own. Give each of them a weapon of some description. Then wake them up. Keep you're over aggressive instincts to yourself, do not harm any of them"

The com system cut out before D'ran could acknowledge the order, and such blatant insolence in the way Cth'ctchi treated and spoke to him was infuriating. C'th'ctchi was D'ran's equal, if not inferior, so putting up with such disrespect was hard on his pride. D'ran punched in the code for Rea'gul's com set slightly harder than necessary, knowing that all the recruits would be with him helping manage the Queen.

"Yes D'ran?"

"I need some assistants, if you have any to spare" he added, not forgetting his manners unlike their arrogant 'leader', "Cth'ctchi has ordered the humans to be put into place"

"I will send some up immediately. The Queen sleeps, so there is not much to do here."

With that Rea'gul was gone. D'ran paced the length o the chamber to work off some aggravation. Why had Rea'gul not supplanted Cth'ctchi as the ships commander? He was the rightful leader here, the only one among them who was truly worthy of respect. But then, it was Cth'ctchi who had thought up and organised this hunt, something D'ran doubted Rea'gul would have done despite his respect for the old Yautja. And there was Cth'ctchi's 'special abilities'… He snarled slightly, using banned substances to gain advantage over your peers and betters was a cowardly way to gain command of a ship…
Six young Predators then entered the chamber. D'ran watched them silently file in, then repeated Cth'ctchi's orders to them. After making sure they all knew how to administer the stimulant which would wake the humans up, and checking there were enough weapons for each human to have one, D'ran left them to it, heading back to his quarters to get some rest before the hunt began.

After about an hour and a half, it was finally Joanne's turn to be picked up and moved. A Predator named Ad'risti heaved her over his shoulder and began walking to the door, when another young male stopped him briefly.

"When we came down to get soft meat for the eggs, Rea'gul spared her saying Cth'ctchi hates her, and was to be saved for the hunt. If he really does despise her that much, then if we make her suffer he'll be pleased"

Ad'risti nodded, "and maybe then D'ran would back off us a little. He hates Cth'ctchi but doesn't have the strength to challenge him himself. If we're in Cth'ctchi's favour, he can't keep harassing and humiliating us."

The other male clasped Ad'risti's shoulder before going into the chamber to get a human of his own. Ad'risti looked at the unconscious, upside down face of the human he carried. There was nothing special about her, he thought, except the fact she had a head wound, strange because those sent gathering the humans had been ordered not to harm them… A string of drool slowly oozed from the girls mouth and landed on his chest plate. Ad'risti snorted in disgust and went to find the most miserable hole in the ship to leave her in.

It was dark. Really dark.
A low groan emerged from a figure on the floor, and Joanne sat up, brushing hair out of her face slowly. The upright position triggered aches to blossom all over her body, and her head felt about six times its normal size. She groaned once again, closing her eyes and clutching her head trying to will the throbbing to stop, and felt the matted tangle that was her hair. She tried running her fingers through it but they snagged painfully on the knots and snarls her little adventure had created.

"ugghh…" She said, trying to massage the numbness from her arms and legs. After all that time unconscious the blood flow to them had stopped, giving her a tingling bouts of pins and needles. She slowly did a rough check on herself to see if she was injured or restrained in any way but all she could find was the gash on her head, which while a mess had stopped bleeding a long time ago by the feel of it.

>Ugh were on earth am I? She thought, looking around herself and straining her eyes in the darkness. She couldn't make out much; the only light to see by was some distance away and coming from round a bend by the look of it. Instead she felt around her, and her hands touched an object lying beside her. She picked it up and held it close to her face, trying to make out what it was…

"Oww!" She said as one of her questioning fingers was sliced on a sharp edge. Sucking her finger she summarised she was holding a knife or dagger, about 30 cm long. She frowned, why would this be by her side?

>Well at least I know it's sharp… she thought, scowling at the knife. She put it down and felt the floor once more, it was a metal grid really and now she was more alert and focusing on her surroundings she could hear the steady drip of water nearby. She shivered, suddenly realising how cold she was and that parts of her clothing were soaked.

>Ok. Its dark, I'm freezing and wet. I have no idea how I got here or where I am. This is so not good…

Joanne tried to stand up but her body wasn't listening. It took a further two attempts to get her on her feet, and when she finally got upright it took a couple of minutes for her to regain some semblance of balance. As she took a slightly wobbly step forward her foot kicked the knife she'd found ahead of her and she swore loudly, the sound echoing slightly in the quiet chamber. Being as she couldn't find it by looking, and that it must have been left with her for a reason, Joanne got on her knees and started feeling for it. She found it eventually, then hauled herself up once more onto her feet. She sighed and started to walk slowly towards the only light she could see, holding the knife in her hand. As she stumbled toward whatever lay up ahead she tried to think. Tried to remember how she got here. Her headache promptly reappeared but she kept trying. If nothing else it gave her something to do beside speculate about how much shit she was in this time…

Cth'ctchi looked at the readings from all the humans, now awake and either panicking, wandering around or both. He chuckled, stupid creatures. Some where examining the weapons they had found beside them, and several fights, both physical and verbal, had broken out amongst the humans in groups over the best weapons and what they should do now.
He brought up another panel onscreen. This detailed the status of all the creatures in the 'lesser predator' classification on board the ship. They all where awake and generally bad tempered. Cth'ctchi grinned; they were probably hungry too…
He pressed a key and panels on each of the enclosures slide away to reveal tunnels. While some of the animals immediately went down these paths, others refused, staying in their cages.
Cth'ctchi frowned, and pressed another key. In each of the enclosures a small taser emerged from the wall, programmed to target heat or movement. In the empty enclosures these did nothing, but in the ones with creatures still inside…
As the last of the beasts fled down their appointed escape path a smile returned to the Predator's face. The hunt had begun.
Joanne wandered around the walkways she had found aimlessly. She tried sensing her surroundings with her mind but it was too painful, and she winced as her headache came back twofold. She still had her knife and still was walking off the effects of the sedative she'd been given. Her memory had come back in patches; she had been knocked out and taken, somewhere…

She looked at the walls harder, they had strange markings she'd never seen before on them in places, while the rest of the walls where bare metal. The floor beneath her feet was still a metal grating, and pipes ran above her head transporting God knows what to God knows where.

>What the fuck is going on…? She thought for the billionth time since she'd woken up. She turned around and went back the way she had come, searching for the dead end she'd found a couple of minutes ago, figuring this was as safe a place as any to try and figure things out. Finding the blocked passage, she curled up in on of its corners, trying to warm herself a little, while she forced herself to try and remember what had happened…

Joanne could see her room, but things weren't right there. Two police officers where walking around it, one making notes while the other examined the floor by her desk…Her father was there! What was he doing, she didn't know he was coming to see her! And there was her mother, but something was wrong, she was crying… Matt was sitting beside her, an arm awkwardly around her shoulder, his face blank as he stared at the wall…
>Hey what's happening? Joanne asked but her voice was silent. She tried going up to Matt and her mother but neither of them responded to her. Joanne backed away, trying to work out what was so very wrong about this scene when she saw her keys where on the floor…
She bent to pick them up but when she stood upright the room had changed. Gone where the police and the people she knew and loved, instead there was something else standing right in front of her…
Joanne tried to scream as Cth'ctchi stepped towards her. He was covered in blood, and fresh skulls hung from his belt…the coppery stink making her want to vomit…
She tried to back away but skinned corpses hung from the ceiling, blocking her path. As she recoiled in horror the Predator seized her by the neck and held her close to his blood smeared face, roaring at her as loud as he could.
Images flashed by her mind… the deaths she'd seen in the shopping centre so many months ago, her dream that she'd dismissed as just a nightmare and the brief moment she'd woken up, to see one of those MONSTERS standing over her… Her mind shook the final inhibiting effects of the sedative off and tore through the spacecraft, glimpsing the things that it contained. Inextricably her mind was drawn to one being, sitting at the ships command…

Cth'ctchi turned and looked at her.

>So you're awake human?

Joanne sat bolt upright, ripping her mind back to her body. Her eyes where wide as she finally realised that, once again, she was trapped with Predators… and this time they had a score to settle.