Tolana
The Hunter was gone! The Hunter was gone!" Veal was certain that he was about to die. He had watched so many of his friends scythed down by the Hunter's weapons while he cowered behind a rock outcropping. He hoped that the Hunter had not seen him, but he was wrong. It pounced on him with the fury of thunder. He should have died. Instead he found himself in a grassy field on an unknown planet.
It was dark, probably night. The planet was close enough to its star to have grass, which tickled the joints of his exoskeleton as he lay on it looking up at the sky, so there must be a day. He didn't recognize the constellations and neither did his, admittedly third-rate, implanted computer.
There were satellites in the sky, he could see some of them, but he couldn't communicate with them. The Standard GPS frequencies were all dead and he couldn't detect any chatter from in-system craft. Whatever these people used to communicate was either too primitive or too advanced for his systems to handle.
Veal considered activating his emergency beacon, but he decided against it. The Hunter would trace it and kill him if he was lucky. High Command would have him executed for desertion if he was not. At least death by Hunter was quick.
With no other option, he picked a direction and started walking. When he got hungry he took a tuft of grass in his claws and uprooted it. Scanners said it contained no toxic substances and was mildly nutritious, though bland. He preferred meat.
After about a mile a vehicle flew overhead. Computer said anti-gravity tranport. Manufacturer: Unknown. Occupants:unknown. There was nowhere to hide. Savannah was flat, grass wasn't tall enough. Veal dropped prone anyway. Little concealment better than no concealment.
The transport landed in front of him. Someone was visible through a window. Occupant:Human Likelihood of hostility 94%. Veal readied the cannon attached to his right arm.
The door folded open and three humans stepped out of the transport. They were unarmored and had no shields, local police, not Federation. If he attacked from ambush he could kill them all before they could react. His computer confirmed. Probability of Success: 100%. But gunfire would attract the Hunter. And the Hunter would ... No. The risk was too great. Veal set his computer to translate his words into GalTrade and all known human languages.
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Narim could see the alien hiding in the grass. It was insectiod, with a hard orange exeoskeleton and a wicked-looking blade attached to its left forearm. It was potentially hostile, but this was a first contact situation and he certainl wasn't going to fire the first shot. Instead he allowed the two security officers to approach it slowly.
As the security officers approached, weapons holstered, the alien rose, slowly, with it's hands over its head. And it spoke in broken English, a language that Narim recognized only because of his time on Earth. "No Kill! No Kill!Please! Hunter Come. Kill All. Hide me. Please. "