Untitled – 21003.01

By Erein Neral

The ground war had been fierce. For the last four months neither the Romulan Star Empire, or the treasonous democratic rebels had been able to get a good foothold on the planet of Cretak IV. It wasn’t as much as they were at a stalemate with each other, but the planet itself. Cretak IV was a planet of death. It seemed that everything that breathed was out to kill them. Even many of the plants were dangerous to them. Vines that would creep up on you in your sleep and squeeze you to death. Large flowers that would rip the skin off of you with the barbs that they kept inside their petals if you accidentally stepped on them. The planet was awful.

Uhlan S’Talon Khnialmnae of the Tal’Shiar had been working with rebels for weeks. He was sent to a planet of death to ensure loyalty, and here he was working with traitors. He was separated from his unit and was forced to work with the traitors for his own survival. He had demanded that they give him the flame thrower. It was a barbaric, but amazingly efficient weapon to have on a planet that was covered entirely in jungle.

As much as he’d rather have not been here, this recently scanned planet was vital for it’s Magnesite deposits. Someone had leaked that information to the rebels, and they decided they too wanted it. After only weeks people started to desert in the face of patrol orders that sent them into the awful jungle. The Tal’Shiar was brought in to ensure loyalty.

So here he was, wandering the jungle with traitors, jumping at every noise.

A rebel by the name of Mandukar held up his hand. He was the scout, and a damn good one. He moved off into the jungle, not making even a slight noise as the rest waited for his return. Several minutes later he returned with a look of terror on his face.

“What?” S’Talon asked disgusted at the rebel’s fear. After a moment without an answer, he decided to see for himself. He moved in direction the scout had for twenty meters and came to an opening where an animal lay sprawled out, all of the flesh removed from it’s body. The rest of the group came into the opening and came to an abrupt stop.

“Kottr,” one of them said to no one in particular.

“What?” S’Talon snapped at the rebel.

“It’s a large predator that lives on this planet,” another said. “It stands four meters tall and has barbs on it’s tongue that it uses to strip the flesh from it’s prey. This is fresh. It’s in the area…”

“Which means it has our scent,” the scout finished.

“We have to set a trap,” the ‘leader’ of the rebel band decided. He looked at S’talon. “I’m going to need that flame thrower. The thing’s scaly skin seems to be impervious to disruptor weapons. The only thing I’ve ever seen kill it was fire.” He held out his hands to receive the weapon, but S’Talon wasn’t giving it up. He was by no means an incapable soldier, and he wasn’t going to trust his life in the hands of a rebel. He’d kill the beast himself.

“I’ll do it,” he told the rebel. It only took a little bit for the scout to find the best spot to ambush the monster.

“And remember,” the leader told him, “you have to keep your eyes shut. It has glands in it’s mouth that sprays out a mild acid that burns the skin a little, but causes total blindness.” S’Talon nodded. If anyone else could handle the burn, he could. The rebels moved back thirty meters to stay out of his way as he blindly sprayed fiery death at the beast.

After only a few minutes he heard it. It was huge. He could hear all of the brush that it was crushing as it moved. It got closer, and closer… Finally he estimated it was at a prime distance and he shut his eyes. He dove out letting out a scream to bolster his courage and sprayed fire over the area where he estimated the creature was. The flame thrower went dead in his hands, and he slowly opened his eyes. Before him his target lay dead. But his target wasn’t a monster. It was his unit. He’d killed every one of them. He dropped the dead flame thrower.

They’d tricked him. They’d used him to kill his own unit. They knew they were being followed, and they knew they’d be wiped out by the bigger, better trained, better equipped soldiers. The skinned creature in the clearing was done for his benefit. Mandukar killed it and skinned it himself.