Huh...seems kind of friendly...
, Jack thought. He knelt down on the ground and boldly held a hand out. The creature paused for a second, then stretched its neck out, sniffing at him. It took another few steps forward. His hand shaking a little, Jack touched his fingers to the top of its head. When it made no apparently hostile reactions, Jack scratched behind its stubby ears. It made a small cackling/purring noise, its eyes closing halfway, and it tilted its head against his hand in apparent enjoyment.
“Well, you're a friendly little guy,” Jack said. He rubbed his hand down its back, and the creature arched itself up to meet his touch. “Or girl, I guess. No idea how to tell. Nice to know there's at least one species on this planet that doesn't seem to mind people, though.” He continued petting the black-furred animal, listening to the happy-sounding noises it was making.
Suddenly, the creature went silent, and it stood up on its hind legs. Puzzled, Jack looked around, unable to sense anything. The little animal was shaking nervously, turning its head this way and that, and it started making a little whining noise. Jack continued looking around, his ears and eyes straining to perceive anything in the depths of the forest.
A hair-raising shriek made him nearly leap out of his skin, and the black-furred creature bolted for the trees. Before it had gotten a meter away from him, a large, mottled-green blur whipped by Jack's head. He yelled in shock and took a few steps back, tripping on a tree root and falling right on his ass. He watched as whatever had just leaped past him chased after the smaller creature, which was climbing up the nearest tree trunk.
The larger animal howled in frustration as its prey escaped up the tree. Jack got a good look at it as it stood at the base of the tree, staring up at the escaped animal. The predator was huge, easily as big as Jack and maybe just a little bigger. Like the smaller animal, it had four legs, but the similarities stopped there. Twin tails extended from its haunches, each of them tipped with a wicked-looking short blade of what looked like blackened bone or horn. The blades glimmered in the firelight, shining with a natural polish. Each of the beast's four paws ended in short, slightly curved claws. The most fearsome part of it was its muzzle, which was longer than a wolf's and was filled with twin rows of sharp, shark-like teeth. The animal was covered with fur in a pattern of green, brown, and black, the perfect natural camouflage.
Just as Jack was thinking that he should get away before the beast noticed him, it turned its eyes towards him. It had four of them, set in two rows on its head, and they were all pure blue with no apparent pupils. The predator blinked all of its eyes, then bared its teeth and slowly advanced towards Jack, snarling as saliva dripped from its mouth. Swallowing, he looked around for a way out, and spotted a hefty fallen branch nearby. He seized it, quickly standing up.
The predator continued its advance, not intimidated in the slightest by the addition of a weapon to the mix. Without any warning or telegraphing of its intentions, it pounced at Jack, whipping its twin tails towards him. Jack jumped out of the way as one of the tails slashed by his face with millimeters to spare. With a shout, he swung his branch wildly, catching the creature with a glancing blow across its flank. Landing on the ground, it quickly turned to face him again, the fur along its back raising in anger.
“Shit,” Jack muttered. The beast was now standing between him and the campsite. He took a step towards it, swinging the branch menacingly. It jumped back half a step, wary now of being struck again. Gritting his teeth, Jack advanced, raising his branch to strike.
Which was exactly what the predator was waiting for. With a flash of its tails, it struck him square across the chest with the unbladed side of both appendages, throwing him back to the ground and knocking the branch from his grip. Before Jack could even think about getting up again, the beast was on him, its claws digging into his shoulders as it mounted his chest. Terrified, Jack struck wildly at its head, striking it multiple times with no visible effect. The animal continued snarling and roaring, trying to get its jaws in a position to bite at his face. In desperation, Jack placed his hand under its neck, pushing with all his might to keep its teeth as far away from him as possible. His muscles strained, his arms slowly bending as the predator forced its head closer and closer to its target.
“Ka'a'lai!”
A piercing, shrieking panther-like roar echoed around the forest. Jack gasped as the predator was thrown off of him. It landed on its back a few meters away from him, rolling back and forth in confusion before flipping itself onto its feet.
Growling, her teeth bared in a snarl, Aria planted herself on all fours over Jack's body, her tail whipping back and forth in the air. She pawed at the ground, her claws extended, staring the predator down. The animal whipped its tails in her direction, trying to goad her into coming for it. She kept her protective stance over Jack, refusing to move an inch.
Barking in anger, the predator took a step towards them, and Aria struck. She pounced on the beast, wrapping her arms around its body. With her feet she pinned both of its tails to the ground and starting raking her front claws down its flanks, opening up huge gashes in its furred flesh. The animal howled in sudden pain and dismay, rolling itself back and forth to try to break free of her grasp, but Aria held fast to it and didn't give it any chance to escape. As Jack watched, she pinned its neck to the ground and reached for her belt, drawing out his pistol. Before the animal had a chance to react, she pressed the muzzle to the side of its head and fired a single shot.
The beast stiffened up with one startled yip, twitched its tails in a few dying thrashes, and then lay still as its last breath hissed through its teeth. Panting, Aria tucked the pistol back into her belt and stood up, taking a step from the corpse.
Sitting up shakily, Jack caught his breath. He was dumbfounded by what he had just witnessed. Aria had dispatched the beast like it had been nothing at all, while he had been almost powerless to resist it. “Aria, you...I don't know what to...Thank you.”
Growling, Aria turned towards him and walked over with long strides.
“Aresh kal'a'ri me
tok
!”
she hissed at him. She grabbed him by the front of his undershirt, hauling him to his feet. She backhanded him brutally, drawing blood from his cheek.
Jack was stunned, both by the severity of the blow and by how it had come without much warning. “What the hell was
that
for?”
“Idiot! Stupid!” Aria was seething, he eyes alight with fury. “What you thinking, wandering from camp? Could have been killed!
Tok le pu'ra me!
” She smacked him again, then let his shirt go, and he collapsed back to the ground. The Ailian stood over him, quivering in rage.
Jack didn't quite know what to say. This anger was extreme, even for her, and right now he was even more scared than he had been when he'd first encountered her. “S-...Sorry,” he stammered, the apology coming automatically.
Aria continued shaking, her tail whipping the leaves at her feet, and she cupped her face in her hands. For a few minutes she just stood there, not making any sounds, and Jack watched her warily, wondering what was coming next. Then she dropped her hands to her sides, closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, her anger seemed not to have diminished, but she looked more in control of herself. She turned, walking back in the direction of their camp.
“Get up, come,” she said over her shoulder to him. “We have work to do.”
“W-Work?” Jack asked, shakily standing up and following after her.
“Yes. Need to bury animal. Will attract more if left out. Come.” Aria led Jack back to the camp, and retrieved a collapsible shovel from each of their packs. She handed one to Jack and they returned to the dead predator. They dug a hole deep enough to hold the body, and Jack rolled the corpse into it, filling it in and covering it with loose dirt and leaf litter. When they were finished they returned to the camp once more and put away the shovels. The fire was still crackling merrily, and Aria tossed two more sticks onto it. She sat down in front of the fire, staring into the flames.
Jack hesitated for a few moments, then he sat down as well, opposite her. After almost thirty minutes of silence, other than the popping and hissing of the fire, Jack spoke.
“Thank you,” he said quietly. “You saved my life. I'd be dead if it wasn't for you.”
Aria snapped her head up, her eyes glinting in the light. For a heartbeat it seemed as though she was about to snap at him again, but then she looked back down. “Welcome. When I wake up and you not there, I think you run away. Come look for you.” She smirked just a little bit. “Lucky I wake up this time, yes?”
“Y-Yeah,” Jack agreed, laughing nervously.
The female sat for a little longer, then she stood, walking around the fire. As she passed Jack, she paused and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I go back to bed. You sleep, too. We leave soon after sunrise, yes? Need to keep moving.”
“Right...,” Jack agreed. “And...uh...Thanks, again.” He put a hand to his face, feeling a sting and a small wet patch of blood where she'd struck him.
Aria looked down at him, and then she turned away. As she walked past his pack, she stopped and pulled out the medkit. She came back to Jack, opening it up, and she knelt next to him. Taking a disinfectant wipe, she swiped it over the small cut on his cheek and then put a bandage on it. Aria stood back up and then vanished into her tent.
Touching the fresh bandage on his face, Jack looked after her, and not for the first time he thought to himself that she was one hard woman to figure out.
******
The next day they got an early start, just as Aria had said. She made no mention of the previous night's event, and Jack wasn't in any mood to remind her about it. They took more breaks than they had the previous day. The pair had seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement that Aria would not complain about his needs for rest, so long as he didn't complain about the work.
As the day passed into afternoon, the forest started to grow thinner, becoming less of a rainforest and more of a temperate area. Jack noticed that they were starting to go downhill, too, which was a welcome relief. As the going got a little easier, both of their moods improved, and Aria's death threats became less frequent.
On one of their breaks, while they sat in the shade of a tree, Aria even started talking to him in a conversational way. “So, Jack. You from Earth, yes? Or born on a colony?”
Jack was a little taken aback by this friendly line of speech. “Uh...I was born on Europa, but my family moved back to Earth when I was five. So both, I guess.”
Aria nodded. “Which you like better, colony or home planet?”
“I dunno,” Jack said, shrugging. “I don't really remember Europa all that well. I grew up on Earth, and that's what I'm used to.” He leaned back against the tree.
“Have family on Earth?”
Jack nodded. “Some. My mother and father are still there. My brother lives on Mars, working in the mining industry there. I have a sister, too...She's in the Navy somewhere out there, I'm not sure where.” He paused. “I'm not sure I'd want to tell you where, actually, even if I did know. I probably shouldn't even have mentioned that.”
“Is okay.” Aria waved a hand. “Ascendancy already knows most of where human military is. No harm.”
Jack relaxed a little.
Of course,
he thought.
After all, it's not like she can do anything about it. We're stuck on this planet.
He turned his head to look at Aria. “What about you, Aria? Where are you from? You have any family out there?”
She looked away from him, off into the distance. Jack was about to repeat the question when she stood, hefting her rifle and swinging her pack back onto her back. “No more talk.” She nodded up to the sky. “Sunset in a few hours. Need to keep moving before dark.”
Blinking, Jack stood as well. “Uh, yeah...Sure.” He picked up his backpack. “On your lead.”
******
About two hours later, they came to a flat area with a wide river running through it. Jack set up their campsite near the water while Aria refilled their canteens. When she came back, Jack saw that she also had a few strange-looking fish in her hands. They sort of resembled salmon, but they were longer and had far more fins than fish on Earth would have. Still, it would be nice to have something to eat other than canned rations, for a change.
Aria got a fire going and cooked the fish, and they ate. The fish had a pleasant, nutty flavor to them when they were cooked, and they were very tender and flaky. For a little while, Jack could almost imagine that he was just on a camping trip with a friend, instead of on a march for survival with what should have been his worst enemy. There was no more conversation as there had been earlier in the day, but at least there wasn't any hostility.
When the meal was finished, Aria took the remnants and carried them down to the river, tossing them into the water to be carried away. The sun was very low, almost below the horizon, and it was nearly time for bed. As Aria walked back, Jack was setting up his bedroll outside to sleep.
“Bedtime, yes?” Aria asked. Jack nodded, stifling a yawn. “Good. We sleep, ready for more walking in morn-!”