I wrote this for the fun of it. Hope you enjoy.
Hunters Hunted!
The old woman shook her head sadly as she gazed at the murdered croft. The bodies of cattle, all bloated and burst like overripe fruit lay in the paddock and the stench was foul. Inside the barn was worse, for the bodies of the family were fixed upon the walls, splayed in grotesque fashion and held in place by some Hellish concoction.
None had been spared, not pretty young Shannon, who was to be wed in a season, or even wee Tam, not ten Summers old. All had been slain, and in such a vile manner, their chests torn open, and their insides spilt upon the cold ground. And just the previous night they'd burnt a wheel at the stone and made offerings to the Goddess to celebrate Samhain.
"And for what?! Pride and vanity is all,"
she sniffed,
"well, this won't stand says I."
***
The creature examined the controls of the ship with a certain level of confusion. The remotes had reported that the local area presented a suitable biome with appropriate lifeforms and so it had been properly seeded in preparation. He and his fellows were keen to begin, and so he had engaged the vessel's cloaking mechanism and manipulated the instruments to bring it down for a successful landing without incident.
Outside a peculiar condensation had wafted about the landing site and for some inexplicable reason it appeared to defy the numerous sensor devices that dotted the hull. The ship's AI had been tasked to analyse this anomaly and it had drawn in samples of the atmosphere for examination, but it had no sooner begun its allotted task when it had suffered a malfunction. First gibbering in some unknown dialect before seeming to shut down in what was effectively an electronic sulk, and nothing the ships artificer could do would so much as stir the stupid thing.
That was when the power gave out.
According to the instruments there was no malfunction. Nothing at all was wrong with the ship's systems or the drive coils, they just refused to work! It was entirely galling.
Nevertheless, they were here now, and creed dictated they must carry out the necessary rituals. There were beasts to stalk, and trophies to be taken so that the rites of passage could be observed, and so he tasked the remotes to locate and resolve the mechanical issues while he and his broodmates had gathered their nets, and harpoons, their blades and spikes. They had armed themselves with shoulder mounted plasma casters and personal shrouds before disembarking in good form and high spirits.
Despite the unexpected malfunctions it would still be a good hunt.
Outside the strange mist seemed to thicken, and again the scanning devices mounted in their helmets struggled to pierce its murky depths. Infra-red was worthless for their prey anyway, but it soon became apparent that ultravision and light intensification were equally useless. The detector measuring micro-changes in air density squawked in dismay for a brief instant and then shut down, and they were electronically blind.
Still, undeterred, they stalked forward for they knew that there was nothing on this primitive, insignificant backwater of a world that could threaten them, save for the prey they themselves had set loose.
A movement up ahead brought his attention back to the business at hand and a curt gesture to his fellows brought the safari to a halt. Weapons were made ready, and the group spread out, moving carefully and stealthily closer to the potential prey.
Then the mist cleared somewhat, and he snorted in disgust.
The primate was sitting there on a mound perhaps ten paces ahead, picking at some of the local flora and making an irritating droning sound, possibly some form of barbaric melody. From the size and shape he guessed the virtually hairless monkey was a female of some kind, dressed in primitive rags and unarmed, save for a crude spear that was thrust point-first into the soil by her side. He sensed the disappointment in his companions at the sight. This worthless creature would be poor prey at best.
