Hendon was at the MTS waiting for the recall of the current hunters. He did not like the party dynamics he had observed when they went down and he had a gut feeling there could be trouble. The door to the MTS slid open with the normal “whoosh” and in stepped someone in the Hunter Safety Team uniform he did not recognise.
Clinton walked up to Hendon and saluted, “Sir. Clinton reporting for duty.”
Hendon saluted slowly and asked, “Is that so? Who are you?”
Clinton stayed at attention and replied, “I was assigned by HTI headquarters to be part of the Hunter Safety Team.” He paused and added, “Sir.”
Hendon mentally reviewed his communications from HTI and looked at Clinton closely, “I wasn’t informed, and neither was Harrick as his messages are being forwarded to me while he is away on family leave. I think we will wait for his return tomorrow.”
Clinton gulped and quickly added, “Well, the request to join came from me. The HTI office saw I was still rostered on as Harrick’s assistant so approved the travel request.”
Hendon remembered Harrick mentioning this assistant. “Clinton was rather bright and inquisitive. He was almost killed but we came through. Better for him to have pursued other interests, but he could have been useful. Prepared for anything. And inquisitive.”
Hendon slowly nodded, “You can stay. Where are your bags?”
“In my assigned room. The other troopers were surprised to see me but they allocated the spare bed and storage unit.”
Hendon gave a slight accepting grunt and said, “You can stay here with me. The latest hunting party is due back soon. But they left with some discord in the group so we will be prepared.” Hendon looked at his time piece and added, “The rest of the team should be here in 3, 2, …”
The door once more whooshed open and the remaining four troopers in the HST came in, armed and ready for instant action. This had become normal procedure of late.
It was Nelson’s turn at the MTS controls and he eyed the Hunter Safety Team curiously. They seemed pretty nervous, waiting for the returning hunters. Harrick was still away, due back tomorrow, and they had a new younger member of their team. Nelson remembered he had been Harrick’s assistant from the last VIP hunt.
While Nelson was waiting to make the call to the hunters he idly had a look at who was hunting today. He froze and double checked the names. There was Heron and Byron under their assumed names. He looked up quickly and realised he was stuck at the controls. There was no time to get a replacement and if the hunters were ready to return, there was a good chance he would be seen by his hatch mates.
A red light blinked on his console. It was time to make the call.
****
Major Tierney arranged to get the key to the utility van from Dave and the two blue aliens were bundled into the back and placed under guard. A utility vehicle raced into the grounds and quickly stopped in front of the Major. A trooper got out of car and ran to the Major, “Sir! We have the two worst boars. They’re not happy.”
The cages at the back of the vehicle rattled and shook with enraged roars from the transported boars. “I can see that, Trooper,” said the Major with a smile.
One of the wildlife reserve workers approached carrying a strong metal pole with attached looped rope, “Where do you want them, Major? They’re not happy. We’re happy they’re not our problem.”
The Major nodded and pointed at another Trooper holding two devices in his hands, “We need to place these on the boars. How will we do that?”
The wildlife worker looked at the devices and back at the boars. The larger male boar stopped his raging and stared malevolently at the worker. “Do we have to?” he asked.
Major Tierney nodded, “It is for a greater good.”
“Hmmm,” the worker pondered, “They have collars on them as we had to apply a tracker in case they escaped. Again. Let me have a look at those devices?”
The Trooper approached and the worker examined the devices. These were the communicators taken from the two blue aliens. The worker had an idea and rushed to his cabin and brought out some small satchels, “Major, these small packs will fit those devices and we can secure them with some duct tape. The back has very effective velcro which will attach to the collars. What are the devices? Some sort of tracker?”
The Major considered, “They are sort of like a locator and homing beacon. Once we have them attached and we get a message, we must open the cages and let them go.”
The worker looked stunned. He said in shock, “Everyone better get to some sort of safety!”
“Sir!” another trooper ran up and saluted the Major, “The remaining two aliens are holed up in the gymnasium. They can’t get out without us stopping them. Do you want us to get them?”
“No,” said the Major, “I think they’ll be going away shortly. Keep shooting at them but don’t take any risks.”
The Trooper saluted and spoke into his radio.
While the Major was conversing with the trooper, the wildlife worker had been successful in attaching the communicators to the collars. They wouldn’t hold if the boars got loose and attacked anything, but the Major said he would handle it if there was trouble.
“The devices are buzzing and making a calling sound!” said the worker.
“Everyone in cover. Release the boars!” commanded the Major.
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The worker jumped on the back of the utility and pulled open the cages from above. The boars raced out and charged around the vehicle. The worker smiled from safety in the utility tray while the Major and a Trooper were buffeted by the boars charging the doors.
The Major grinned. Pity he wouldn’t be able to see what happened.
****
Gerdon and Timms were stuck in the large room surrounded by piles of chairs and other equipment. The Dirtlings couldn’t get in without being fired upon and they couldn’t move without being shot either. It was a stalemate.
“What are we going to do?” asked Timms, firing another shot at movement just outside the large doorway, “Missed him.”
Gerdon watched the other doorway, “Wait for the recall and get out of here. Shouldn’t be long.”
He ducked as a hail of bullets flew over his head.
Their communicators buzzed. Stabbing the answer button as quick as possible, they heard, “Hi there. Matt here. Ready to beam up?”
“Yes!!” shouted both Gerdon and Timms at the same time.
Their bodies disappeared in a blue shimmer.
****
Outside, the bodies of Red and Blaire disappeared in a shimmer of blue. The two enraged boars stomped their feet and began another ferocious charge against the utility door when they also disappeared.
The Major smiled and gave the order, “Everyone go. We have to get out of here now!”
The Troopers raced out of the building and boarded the waiting choppers that had landed just outside the university grounds. The two utility vans raced away hoping to get caught up in traffic on the major highway a five minute drive away.
ARRG procedure in the event of a FOP capture was to get away from the hunt location as fast as possible. It was a regular situation where the FOP security came down after an incomplete party returned and made sure no hunter was left behind.
****
Nelson ducked down behind the console as the returning hunting party began to dematerialise. He peeked over the edge hoping that Heron and Byron didn’t see him. His eyes went wide as one of the rematerialised bodies was a dirtling creature who charged directly at the control panel. A huge thump of the creature’s head against the console wall rang with a loud CRUNCH, breaking the wall. The second creature followed up with its own charge which broke through the hole, its head pushing through and one of its tusks burst through the other side. Nelson jumped backwards with a scream of fright!
Hendon was counting the returning party when he saw two of the party were actually dirtling creatures. Before he could react they charged the console with the operator cowering behind the flimsy protection.
“Get them!” he shouted to his team. The four HST troopers rushed to get into positions they could fire without hitting the hunters. Two of the hunters were already down on the ground and the two upright hunters were looking around in bewilderment. Clinton took in what was happening and leapt over the short wall surrounding the transmission pads and with outstretched arms, knocked down both of the hunters. “Stay Down!” he yelled at the hunters who started to struggle.
Hendon now had a direct line of fire and shot one of the Dirtling creatures, hitting it in the neck. It raised its head and shrieked a terrible cry, spinning around. The other creature pulled its head from the console in a spray of sparks and raced towards the door on the other side of the room from Hendon. Multiple shots from the troopers barely missed the running beast. It left the room into the corridor, loose in the shuttle.
“Get it!” shouted Hendon to his troopers. The wounded beast stopped spinning, saw Hendon and charged. Hendon stood rock solid and shot the creature between the eyes, killing the beast who fell and skidded to a halt at Hendon’s feet.
He observed Clinton who was helping the two hunters he had knocked down into a seated position against the wall. Hendon mouthed “only four” and raced to the MTS console.
“Can we get down to where we picked them up?” he asked Nelson quickly.
Nelson moved back to the console and pressed some buttons. The screen was a mess of static and then the whole console shut down as safety protocols closed down the system.
“Where is the backup system?” demanded Hendon.
Nelson blinked and answered, “Being serviced.”
Hendon looked around him and pointed at Clinton, “Get them off the pads! You and I are going down!”
Clinton pushed the two hunters out of the pads area and quickly checked the other two and looked up at Hendon, “They’re dead, Sir.”
Hendon raced to the pads and said to Clinton, “Ready?”
Clinton gulped and nodded, “Yes, Sir”
Hendon looked at Nelson as Hendon took out a device and pressed his Pad Transmission Over-ride button.
The pad lights did not light up.
Hendon pressed the button again.
The pads stubbornly stayed off.
Nelson spoke up, “They are part of the same system. It’s not safe to run them independently, especially with all this damage!”
Nelson squatted down and looked at Hendon through the hole in the console wall, past a blackened mess of broken and torn wiring and circuit boards.
Hendon made a low groan.
“How long?” he asked Nelson.
Nelson looked at the mess and stood up slowly. “Could be a week?”
“You have to make it a day!” Hendon commanded, “We have hunters missing.”
Nelson looked at the two hunters cowering behind the short wall and the two dead hunters still on the pads. Heron and Byron were missing. He looked at Hendon.
“Yes, Sir!” he said and called Toff to tell him the news.
****
X Bear watched the tragedy as it unfolded. He had told Heron and Byron, he would be nearby to make sure they were safe. Once the hunting party had landed he had quickly landed just inside the walls of the university. Setting the ship camouflage to look like a bush, he climbed one the ancient trees and watched the action. He sent Kurt to have a closer look. Using the small camera hidden in a camouflaged helmet on Kurt’s head he had views of what was happening.
At one point Kurt had to quickly escape out a broken window when the hunters fired at him, but the brave pigeon continued to monitor the situation from outside the windows. X Bear winced when he heard the huge explosion and was ready to move in when he saw Byron escorting a badly wounded Heron into the abandoned part of the building.
Just as he was starting to climb down the tree, a huge military chopper landed just outside the university and many Dirtling soldiers raced in. Kurt remained near Heron and Byron as X Bear saw two of the stupid hunters get gunned down after exploding through the university front doors. Then Kurt flew upwards as Byron accidentally dropped some window covers onto the ground, alerting the Dirtlings. He could only watch as more soldiers went in to find his friends, accompanied by a soldier in black and a security guard.
X Bear was stuck in his tree as another chopper arrived with more soldiers. He peered closer at these troops who all had arm bands emblazoned with the letters “ARRG”. He would look into that later. Kurt’s camera captured the moment Heron and Byron were captured. The Dirtling in black had a cross on his helmet, so was a chaplain. The chaplain knelt down and tended Heron and then arranged for the soldiers to quickly get a stretcher. Heron and Byron were then taken to the back of one of the vehicles. He was impressed that they were being treated well, quite different to the soldier’s reactions to the more violent hunters.
X Bear aimed his rifle at the vehicle containing Heron and Byron and fired. None of the dirtlings noticed the tracking device which stuck beautifully to the vehicle roof. He saw it appear on his communicator as a red dot in his locator application. Kurt flew back and joined X Bear in his tree.
“Well done, Kurt,” he said, scratching Kurt’s head lightly, “We’ll follow once they leave and we’ll rescue them. I promised.”
