Aliens Vs. Predators: Rift War by Weston Ochse;Yvonne Navarro;

Author:Weston Ochse;Yvonne Navarro;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags:  
Publisher: Penguin Random House LLC (Publisher Services)

29

The war whoops echoed in the darkness.

Back at their ship, the two remaining Yautja hunt leaders watched as the newly blooded youth celebrated. They’d returned with the bodies of Cau’dki, Hetah, and U’Brea’Sua, all of whom had been nearly torn to pieces by the Xenos. Their corpses were laid in an evenly spaced row in front of the ship, but there was no sadness among the survivors—only pride in the fighting spirit and the effort the dead young bloods had shown. Not that they were envied in death, but they were honored for the personal courage they represented, and their sacrifice to the hunt.

Ny’ytap felt the pride surging through him. The moment they had been attacked, his hunt team and Ca’toll’s had moved as one, establishing their battle lines and protecting themselves and one another. The intense training they’d been through, all of the preparations before and since their arrival, had paid off. He removed his helmet and held it up to the starry night sky like a dark and deadly fist.

The young bloods cheered and began to pump their weapons in the air. When he glanced over, he saw that Ca’toll was doing the same, her body movements taut with elation.

She had taken out several Xenos herself, in a deadly spin of combistick and wristblades, slicing and carving up the creatures with barely any effort. He had to admit that she was among the best hunters he had ever seen—perhaps even the best. Her smaller size and stature meant she might never make it to battlemaster, much less elite, but she should find herself leading many hunts in the future and gaining much honor.

Allowing himself to live in the moment, Ny’ytap was proud. The Yautja were few, in the greater scheme of things; across all of the systems, in all of the galaxies, he was one of the select hunt leaders whose mission was to take the young of their kind and transform them into warriors. Like a paramilitary alchemist, he mixed the right combination of traits to produce the superiority of their species.

He plunged his combistick into the ground, and stood tall to address the young bloods.

“We stand here to say n’dhi’ja—farewell—and honor our lost,” he proclaimed. “Cau’dki, Hetah, and U’Brea’Sua, and the first dead, T’U’Sa. Yet during these difficult battles, the rest of you stood fast. You faced the beasts and were strong, deadly. All of you fashioned your battle language like the warriors of the ancient writings, who understood the essence of what they had been taught. Who absorbed those lessons into the very fibers of their beings. My pride for you is unbounded. You have learned well here.” His mandibles spread for a moment, then he continued. “It’s time for us to leave this place and return home. When we arrive, all will know—”

Without warning, a riftwing dove into their midst, as stealthy and silent as where the wind began and ended. With its wings pulled back and body flattened to enable it to angle through the tree branches, it struck with extraordinary speed, far deadlier than should be possible.

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