Author's note: This story is a stand-alone continuation of "The cat from another world" and "The Vulami Mating Ritual".
I stumbled out of the wreckage. My head was throbbing. The brightness from the sun stung in my eyes. My brain went into survivalist mode, remembering the training I'd been through at the Academy. Forget what's not important, focus on the here and now. Focus on the immediate problems, solve them one by one. Adapt. Overcome.
Point one: I was alive. Check for wounds or trauma, make sure I stay that way. Doing a quick check of my extremities, my body seemed fine. Bruised, tender everywhere, but there were no signs of internal bleeding. I could stand, even walk, albeit with difficulty. I sat on a rock for a minute, just trying to breathe. That was another piece of good news; there was oxygen enough. I seemed to recall somebody shouting that they were aiming for the nearest class 8 planet when we were going down. They must have aimed right.
Point two: check for other survivors. Did that. There were none. I looked back at the twisted remains of the shuttle. Commander Li sat strapped in his chair with what was clearly a broken neck, and no vitals. His co-pilot had done an amazing job getting the shuttle down here, but he was also killed in the impact. The rookie assigned to our group had been too slow to strap in, and had been thrown around the cabin like a rag doll during our rapid descent. Just me, then. No idea how I managed that; by all accounts, I should be dead, like the others. The craft looked like it had been thrown clean through a mountain. Still, here I was.
Point three: supplies. I went back to the wreckage and started rummaging through the crates mounted to the internal walls. I had water and some rations. Maybe a few days' worth. Okay, that's good, I thought. Maybe it could last long enough to be rescued. Surely, somebody would send a search party soon. I also had my pack of standard gear, so I could build a rudimentary shelter. Get out of this hot sun. Couldn't find a working radio anywhere, though. Dammit.
Point four: where the fuck was I? Looking around, it looked like a craggy desert. Red and brown, some plants in the distance... Could it be Corelus? One of those rocks the Alliance had fought the Terali over? Harsh environment, hot sun ... might be. It was near the disputed border, after all. I held my aching head, trying to remember the briefings from the past week. Disputed border territory... three habitable planets undergoing survey... one of them had sentient life... I couldn't remember what that was about, but I remembered somebody saying that as long as the planets were disputed, we couldn't start a full colonization.
Yeah, they were "disputed", all right. Fucking Terali had started shooting us up as soon as the shuttles entered the zone. I wondered what had become of the others, if they had managed to get back to the cruiser or if they had all been destroyed. Maybe they didn't have a pilot as good as ours, or maybe they had gotten lucky... Maybe there was still a battle raging in the skies above, maybe not... The marine in me kicked in and forced me to let go of it - there was nothing I could do about any of that right now anyway.
I got to work building the shelter, thinking about my options. Should I stay with the shuttle or try to get to those trees in the distance? If there was plant life, there was a chance of finding water. Possibly food. However, if a rescue party managed to get down here, staying with the shuttle would be the best bet. I decided to stay for the time being and go exploring later. For now, a bit of water, some food ... and rest. I rolled out a mat and inflated the foam, taking shelter next to the ruined shuttle and tried to get some sleep.
I woke to a weird sound. A huffing, like intermittent wind, just ... weirder. As I opened my eyes, the sound came closer, and I suddenly became aware of a presence. I was not alone. It was dark and I couldn't see clearly, but there was a large shadow moving towards me. It came closer and closer, and then I realized what the sound was. It was the sound of an animal sniffing me out, approaching as it caught my scent.
I tried to move as silently as possible, but as soon as I sat up, the animal spotted me. It didn't attack immediately, and I was not going to provoke it, but I fished out my knife and got ready to defend myself if I needed to. I was trying to make out the shape of the creature, but it was too dark to see clearly. All I could see was that it was big and furry, and that it had a long tail. It moved silently around me, clearly observing.
"Shoo." I said, trying to send it away. Maybe I could scare it off, I thought. Then I heard growling.
"Grrrrr..."
"Shoo! Go away!" I repeated, but it wasn't going anywhere.
"Chars. Hewwas. Rrrrr..." it growled.
I was beginning to prepare myself mentally for a fight to the death, when I suddenly felt something move behind me. Then I was knocked unconscious.
I woke the next morning - at least I think it was morning, it was hard to tell, but at least it wasn't dark anymore. I looked around and saw that I was in some kind of tent. Well, calling it a tent was generous; it looked more like a big sheet of cloth just draped over some sticks pounded into the ground. But it definitely looked like somebody made it - not just a cave or clearing inhabited by animals. It was big, about fifty feet across. When I looked up, I could see several shapes moving around, and I heard voices. So... they could talk... and they could make things? That would make them sentient.
They were big, four-legged creatures with red-brown fur and pointy ears. They had long, bushy tails and long snouts. When one of them yawned, I could see long rows of sharp teeth in its maw. At first I thought they moved only on four legs, but then I noticed several of them walking around on two, seemingly just as easy. It seemed they could choose whether to act as bipeds or quadrupeds. All in all, they reminded me of a mixture between dogs and cats.
"Database. Identify."
I whispered to my wrist-mounted scanner, which I suddenly realized wasn't there. Nor were my clothes, they had all been removed and I was completely naked, lying on a fur mat. The computer voice replied from a bundle nearby.
"Specify entry."
I looked around to see if any of them had seen me move. If they had, they didn't seem to care - they kept moving around without bothering to check on me. I turned over on the floor and reached for the little pile of clothes that had been thrown into a corner. Just managing to fish out the little computer from the bundle, I then aimed it at one of the creatures and repeated:
"Identify species."
"Species ID 124-7D. Temporary designation: Coreli. Traits: clan-based hierarchy. Aggressive."
That was all I had time for before some of them started looking at me. They didn't look pleased. One of them came rushing over on all fours, taking the computer off me and throwing it back into the corner. It shook its head and looked at me. Then it spoke in a hushed whisper:
"Not."
I guessed it was a female - she was quite small compared to some of the bigger creatures nearby, and the voice was lighter than the dark growling of the big, muscular ones.
"Hey..." I tried. "Do you speak? Can you understand me?"
"Yes..."
"Where am I? What's going on?"
"You slave. Or food. Chief decide. Obey if you want survive."
She spoke faster and faster as she neared the end of her sentence, as if sensing that she needed to wrap it up. Then she quickly moved to the side, bowing down and moving away from the approaching chieftain. She wasn't quick enough, though, and he kicked her aside as he came towards me.
"RRRR.... Rrrraass... quiet!" he growled, baring his teeth and showing me four sharp canines, before giving me a kick with one of his powerful hind legs.
