Harrick arrived a little late just as the first hunting party returned and watched the jubilant Kingston show off his new wings to all that stopped to stare at him. He also carefully observed the rest of the party and the state of their equipment and weapons.

  He turned to his assistant and nodded his head towards the party, “Hendon, follow that party and engage them in conversation. Find out what happened. I want to know what they encountered and if there was any reaction from the Dirtlings.”

  Hendon nodded and hurried after the group, waving cheerfully to them to wait for him. The party paused and grinned as Hendon offered to buy them a round of Fizzy at the public drinking establishment. Putting their arms or tentacles around each other, they swaggered in good cheer towards their free drinks.

  Harrick nodded in appreciation. Adding a veteran as his assistant looked to be the right move. Hendon had retired but was bored with civilian life. Hettie had suggested him to Harrick as her friend, Hendon’s wife, had passed away recently and his children were all busy with their own lives.

  Harrick went back to the quarters he shared with Hendon and four of his trusted security troopers to see what else they could discover.

  ****

  Over the course of the next few days Nelson worked out the kinks and peculiarities of hunts on Dirt. All seemed to be going well. His team had performed superbly after the initial issues and their roster meant he was rarely required to serve as the MTS technician. One rule they did put in place was to ensure they always called and double checked when making their check-in. One of his technicians had been a little slack and left the hunting party on their own due to a misunderstanding between the party members. That extra ninety minutes meant the party was badly injured by the time they returned.

  Nelson also made sure he was nearby when the parties returned. He felt a connection to Dirt being one of the trio of discovers and despite all the public and private reassurances that he had done the right thing, Nelson had a pretty good idea how Heron and Byron would have felt. Nelson shivered and went back to his duties.

  His alert chimed and he made his way to the MTS room.

  “They’re coming in,” said Jillian, with much more confidence than her first transmission.

  Nelson opened the door and nodded to Jillian in confirmation as the party came back.

  One, Two, Three, Four …

  Where were the last two?

  He purposefully strode to the MTS console and quietly said to Jillian, “Wasn’t this a team of six?”

  Jillian nodded and her tentacles started quivering again, “They screamed at me to beam them up, so I did.”

  Nelson looked into the viewer to have a look at the area from which the hunters had been busy. They were in a small village, with most of the houses burned and broken, most likely from the hunters energy and other destructive weapons. Nelson looked closer and increased the resolution till he found the missing hunters.

  “There’s one of them,” said Nelson as he saw the hunter lying still a short distance away from the village, “And there’s the other one.”

  Both hunters were still, and one looked very odd. Nelson guessed he must have used his pills and they failed, although the side effects still happened.

  “Let me check,” said a stern voice behind him.

  Nelson quickly turned and looked up into the firm expression of Harrick, staring past him at the viewer. Harrick raised his wrist to his mouth and said firmly but quietly, “Code Red. Now. MTS.”

  Within seconds, his five team members raced in and leapt onto the Matter Transmission Pads.

  Harrick, manipulated the controls and looked Nelson directly in his eyes, said, “Send us down there. Now. And get us back when you come around next.”

  Harrick strode promptly to a spare ring, it turned green like the rest and Nelson sent them down.

  Once they disappeared, Jillian whispered, “Who was that? Who were they?”

  Nelson was still staring where Harrick and his team had been standing seconds before, “That was the Hunter Safety Team.”

  “Who?” asked Jillian.

  “The HST are here just in case something goes wrong. I thought they were just an administrative group ensuring all the appropriate forms are completed and hunters follow their safety lessons. Apparently they do more than that,” Nelson said as he saw the determined looks on all the HST team’s faces and their obvious experience with lethal weapons and gear.

  Toff walked in beaming, “Welcome back!” he boomed than paused.

  “Why is not everyone here?”

  Nelson quickly answered, “The HST have gone down to retrieve the missing party members. We’ll contact them when we are next around.”

  Toff looked at Nelson and gave a slight nod, “Well, that is good! Now, let’s all go and check that everything is OK? Did you have a good hunt?” and he bustled the surviving party members to the medical ward which should patch up any injuries.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  ****

  Harrick and his team beamed down a short distance away from where they had seen the downed hunters. The shuttle was in constant motion and so even though the time was short between seeing them and beaming down, they were still a few kilometres away.

  “Let’s move!” said Harrick, “Don’t make any assumptions. You have read the briefings of our previous experiences so you know the Dirtlings can be,” Harrick quickly searched for the right description, “ … a challenge.”

  His team nodded and moved in teams of two with Hendon by Harrick’s side. The two teams moved ahead with Harrick and Hendon behind, like a triangle, “or more like an open jaw,” thought Harrick as they moved purposefully towards the location he had memorised.

  As they moved within sight of the village, his team crouched and moved slower. One of the teams, slightly further ahead spoke into his communicator, “Spotted them. Both are still stationary. No activity nearby, although I see some stirring in the destroyed village.”

  “Red Team move forward. Blue team cover them. We will watch over you both,” Harrick commanded and Hendon crouched holding a very fancy laser rifle with sights. It was an upgraded Laser rifle with extended range and enhanced electronic sights allowing accurate shots from almost two kilometres away, less accurate up to four kilometres range.

  “Only fire if anyone approaches the bodies. Try a warning shot if you can,” Harrick commanded. Hendon grinned and watched.

  As Red Team was within a few metres of the first hunter’s body, one that resembled a Dirtling ‘Horse’ but with an upper body with four arms. Hendon fired a bolt of energy. Through his magnifying lens, Harrick saw the edge of one of the houses explode and a number of locals scurried away. Harrick nodded and said, “Very good Hendon.”

  At the sound of the energy bolt, Red Team had dropped to the ground and quickly scurried the remaining short distance.

  “Dead, Sir,” said the Red Team leader, “Hit with a lot of sharp sticks, probably from one of the primitive Dirtling weapons. He also has some holes in his lower hooves and some metal spikes still in them. I have extracted some for later study.”

  “Stay with him and cover the other body. Blue Team, go.” Harrick commanded while watching the village. Responding to a gut feeling, Harrick also scanned the surrounding trees.

  He leapt backwards and fired his laser rifle at an approaching dirtling who charged from its hiding position behind a tree. Only armed with a pointy stick, it was propelled backwards from the force of the energy bolt. Hendon only briefly looked to where Harrick was firing, assessed the danger and went back to watching the village. Hendon grunted and fired another bolt at a different building and smiled as other Dirtlings ran away.

  “We have the other hunter,” the Blue Team leader reported, “Also dead. No communicator and much of his equipment is missing.”

  “Same here,” added Red Team leader, “Scavenged but otherwise left alone.”

  “They are too big to carry, Sir,“ Blue team leader said, “Orders?”

  Harrick pondered while he approached the Dirtling he had hit. The Dirtling groaned as Harrick picked up the pointy stick. The stick had a metal point, quite shiny. This was manufactured and used some advanced metal. The Dirtling looked up at Harrick.

  “Stay still,” Harrick commanded.

  The Dirtling stopped moving and stared at Harrick in surprise.

  “Yes, you can understand me. I have a communicator which translates between our languages. Now give that back.”

  Harrick pointed at the communicator the Dirtling was trying to hide behind his back.

  Harrick pointed his gun at the Dirtling who shrugged, bared his teeth and offered up the communicator. Luckily Harrick had seem the Dirt broadcasts and knew the Dirtlings considered bearing their teeth a sign of friendship or humour. They were weird.

  Harrick took the communicator and said, “Thank you. If you had kept this you would have regretted it.” Harrick them mimed an explosion with his hands and mouth. “Now stay there. Don’t move until we are gone. I would rather not have to kill you.”

  The dirtling nodded and stayed quite still.

  “Red and Blue teams. Guard your hunters. I am approaching. Hendon, continue watching the village.”

  When Harrick stood between the two hunters and his teams, he raised his voice which caused the communicator to increase the volume.

  “Dirtlings! Keep away from us. We will stay here and then leave in a very short while. If you approach you will be killed. Next time you see us you would be better to run away and hide.”

  There was no sound from the village, but also no movement either.

  Harrick stood in position with his team maintaining their guard.

  A short while later he had the expected call, “Greetings. It’s Matt here. Are you ready to return?”

  “Yes please,” said Harrick and they all returned with the two bodies.

  A few hours later the other communicator, a Universe 7 model, which had been whisked away by one of the villagers, exploded, destroying the villager and his cart and ox on which he had been riding to escape the alien attack.

  ****

  Harrick and the HST team materialised and Toff was ready to whisk away the two hunters. Harrick nodded at Hendon who moved quickly away to conduct his talented debriefing of the hunting party, and the rest of his team quickly disappeared to their quarters.

  Harrick look at Nelson, “Where is your other team member?”

  ‘I sent Jillian to Medical. She has had rather a stressful time,” Nelson replied.

  “And you?” asked Harrick.

  “I wanted to be here when you returned. I didn’t realise HST had such an action based safety procedure,” he said.

  “I was the Hunt Master on the first VIP hunts. I think you will find there is a bit more danger on Dirt than has been advertised. But you look as if this is not a surprise to you?” Harrick said.

  Nelson shrugged nervously and replied, ‘Well, I just want to make sure everyone has a good hunt, you know.”

  Harrick nodded.

  “Very well. Carry on.”

  The next few days had more successful hunts but every time the hunters interacted with the Dirtlings the injuries were greater. The HST only went down one other time and so far there had been no bodies left behind.

  ****

  “Sir,” said Trotter as he walked into Patter’s office, “I have the results of the first week’s hunts.”

  “All good I’m sure?” said Patter

  Trotter paused almost imperceptibly, “Sales are excellent. The resort is doing fine business and our tie-in products and entertainment is all going very well.”

  “And the hunts,” probed Patter, sensing there was something Trotter was obscuring.

  “Well, we are getting some injuries and a few deaths among the hunters,” said Trotter slowly.

  “That’s to be expected. Everyone has signed their waivers. Legal, Safe and Rare doesn’t mean no one gets hurt you know,” Patter said.

  “Yes, but these injuries aren’t just from ‘misadventure’. It looks as if, ummm, the Dirtlings fight back,” Trotter said, stepping one foot back cautiously.

  “They’re NC, Trotter. They don’t fight back. They may act defensively or in reaction, but they don’t plan or co-ordinate their responses. That would be an issue wouldn’t it?”

  Trotter pondered and replied, “No. It is definitely just a reaction. We have no ‘proof’ of coordinated response. Definitely NC, Sir.”

  “Hmmm,” muttered Patter, “Thank you Trotter. You may go.”

  “Ah, one little thing,” added Trotter, “It looks like having Harrick around was a good idea. His little team, dubbed HST - or Hunter Safety Team - has worked well. They have retrieved some bodies, but also rescued a couple of hunters who foolishly lost their communicators.”

  “Excellent,” said Patter and waved Trotter away.

  Patter sat back and swivelled his hover chair to stare over his magnificent view over The Capital. It was a bit of a concern that Harrick was needed to step in at all.