A blue ball of plasma dropped down from a roof top. Impacting with a Zombie skull and downing the creature. As the personal cloaking device phased off, the Hunter leapt from the building to the street below. Combi-Stick extended as one end was rammed into a slow moving Zombie on the right, flick of the Hunter's wrist and a shuriken left his hand. Slicing through a third Zombie's skull and severing the brain in half, before spinning through the air back to it's owner for a quick catch. The Zombie on the end of the combi-stick tried to move, stuck there like a sitting duck.

Wrist blades extended from the gauntlet on his arm, a growl given as the skull of the Zombie was run through in two places. Retracting the combi-stick from the fallen thing, the Hunter growled at the worthless prey. The city had pushed them back it seemed. Few remained from his 'night watch.'

"Pyode amedha...C'jit."

"So here it is. My story. Told by none other then me, Rockhound. Okay...okay...so that's not the name my mother gave me when I was born. But hey, didn't you ever have a nickname" I live on this ship. It's huge. It's like having your own little town all to yourself. Well, okay so I don't live alone here. I live with a dozen or so others. But hey you can't beat free rent! This ship, it's so far from where it started long ago. Heavily modified by it's owner...leader you could say. His name is Thwei Cetanu. Blood God of Death, how'd you like that as your name" I'm a simply guy, or I was. I used to work with computers and at one time on oil rigs out in the oceans of Earth. Well, we're not on Earth anymore. We're on this planet called Rhydin. If you can dream it, it probably lives here, or did at one time. I love this place. I mean, where else can you see beautiful females of every humanoid race there is? I used to carry a small pistol, forty caliber. But after taking up and living with my big pal Thwei Cetanu for a few years, I purchased a light weight, sleek, blaster pistol. Well, so I didn't exactly purchase it. I took it with a few other things off this bounty hunter in the Star's End Spaceport after Thwei gutted him like a fish. I shot an ork the size of a tree, I swear he was that big, last week. One shot and the big fellow was face down in the dirt. Yeah, this pistol beats my old one hands down. So let me tell you a little bit about those that live on this ship with me. First off, I still to this day have trouble pronouncing their names in their language so I've given them all names that run easier off my tongue. Greek names, due to the fact I loved Greek history as a kid. So I've told you about the leader of this ship, Thwei Cetanu. He's an Elder, Ancient of his people. He's lived longer then anyone I know, put together. He's not as hot headed as some of the others onboard at times. But maybe that's because he's done so many 'hunts' in his life time that he doesn't go gun crazy and want to skin the first thing that crosses his path. His face behind that bio mask he wears, is white with black. Personally, I think this makes him stand out in a crowd. Well, long as his mask is off that is. Zenobio, is a big Yautja. That's what they're called, their species. Zenobio I think finally accepts me living onboard the ship. For a while there he'd always threaten to skin me with his wrist blades. I introduced him to alcohol and he's kinda been my friend since then. Laertes is quite possibly the only other Yautja close to Thwei's age. I think. He carries an old flintlock pistol tucked in his belt. The reason I believe this guy could be as old as Thwei. I mean, could you imagine coming up against one of these big brutes back in that century' Course, Rhydin does have technology of all kinds scattered about the planet. I suppose he could of killed some ship captain on sailing vessel down by the docks last week and taken the flintlock as a token. Tycho isn't one for talking much. Not that these guys talk much. Most of it is clicking, growling, roaring and other sounds with hand gestures. Tycho usually can be found with a pair of those shoulder mounted plasma cannons and he likes using his whip made from this wicked Alien tail. He's accepted me, I just keep having to supply him with Twix candy bars and I'm his buddy. Panos is a mountain of a Yautja. His mask is scratched up but he refuses to obtain a new one. Signs of his trials, hunts perhaps. Let's see...then there's Adrastos. He's kinda quiet too. For a big guy, he sure does move around quiet like. I once seen him sneak up on a clan of Orcs. In less then a minute he'd dispatched them all. He's true to his race and culture that's for sure. Theron has more greenish skin then the others do. He's fair, like Thwei is. But I don't think he's anywhere near Thwei's age. Zotico can be a fun one to hang with. If it's humanoid, chances are he's hunted it and has it's skull hanging in his chamber room on the walls. Lucky for me, he doesn't hunt too many humans anymore. Mostly going after bigger game like Trolls, Orcs and these giant seven foot tall lizards that live in the East. I forget what they're called. Well let's see...I've talked about...Zenobio...Adrastos...Zotico...oh, how could I forget the best looking Yautja in the galaxy. Okay...okay...so technically, she's not a hundred percent Yautja. Her mother was a beautiful, everyday human doctor with long black hair. Thwei saved her from this gorilla group, not the kind that eats leaves but the kind that carries guns in the jungle. Anyway, low and behold she took a liking to him after a while and here is Aella. I swear sometimes Thwei looks for Aella's mother. She's been missing for years now. I hope she's okay. Aella has become quite the accomplished hunter herself. She has that reptilian skin, yet smoother to the touch then Yautja's have. Those spots, wow, talk about sexy in green and brown! Much like that of her father and most Yautja, she's tied her hair into those tight as all hell dreds. Personally, I think she makes the dredlock look, very...very...sexy. I think she views me more as an Uncle then any possible future husband. Which kinda sucks for me...but hey, how many bad ass chicks do you know that can take down nasty alien things that try to rip you apart' Her father, Thwei, gave her the first sword she ever owned. She still carries it, sometimes when on a hunt. The blade curves outward and I could shave my face in it's clear shine. I think it was an Elven sword at one point, not sure. Thwei's got so many gifts and trophies it takes up nearly four chamber rooms on the ship here. He's been checking out a new chick lately. Not sure if she'll stick around longer then others have, but for now she's got the 'ok' pass ship board. Usually the ship lays hidden in the large lake in the glen South of the big city here. I think the other night when we went for a trip to the outer system and emerged from the lake, this guy letting his horse drink by the edge of the lake turned white as a ghost. Not to mention his horse threw him twenty feet. Ouch. At any given time, the ship is pretty quiet. Most either off hunting something, or someone, or tending to their trophies or getting some much needed sleep. Let you in a little secret' Buy the big guy 'Root Beer' and you'll be his instant friend. He loves the stuff. I introduced him to it like seven or eight years ago after we first met. I think it's something to do with the way the bubbles feel in his throat or tickle his mandibles...not sure. But Thwei loves the stuff. He's always got least two or three barrels of it in one of the storage chambers on a lower level of the ship here.

It's taken years, but I finally kinda, a little, understand some of their language and the instruments onboard this ship. Most of the time, the ship is automated. But it does have manual controls and a year ago was my first time piloting it. I'm glad we were in open space at the time, because it sure took a bit to get the directional controls down.

Hmmm...Zotico is back from a hunt and he's got a very long anaconda with him. I don't think it's dead yet. Time to go!

.....Computer end log."

"They are demons I tell you."

Eban shifted the weight of the plow as he ushered the horses forward. Digging into the soft earth on this fog ridden day. Stec looked over at Eban as he worked his pair of horses several feet away. The pair had decided it would go faster to plant seed if they both helped out each others fields. Stec shook his head. "Come on Eban. Those are old tales told to keep children in the village at night in their beds." "Oh yeah' Then what happened to those men from the city at the end of last summer" They came here from Rhydin city and asked the village Elders of the Demons beyond the forest. Their...odd weapons of lightening. Their technology, remember?" Stec nodded over as he gave a sound for the horses to give pause so he could shift the weight of his plow into the soil better. "Yes, I remember." "Well, they disappeared and never came back didn't they?" "Perhaps one of those flying ships picked them up and we simply did not see it, Eban." "Bah...they were killed I tell you. Killed by the demons beyond the forest, where it meets the ocean I tell you. Those waters, they are cursed. That ship of slave girls, you remember it don't you?" Stec gave a sigh and shake of his head but nodded. "Yes, I remember. It sank just out of sight from the shores here. It was probably a storm, Eban." "Storm' That night was clearly lit by the moons above us, Stec. There was no storm. The monsters of the deep oceans aren't active by late night. So what sank those ships" They found bodies from the slavers, from the crew, but they didn't find a single female slave. Where did they go?" Stec shook his head again. "They probably drown, Eban. Or sharks or some other predator of the sea ate of their bodies." Stec gave a whistle and his pair of horses picked up some in their step while he pressed the plow into the soil. "If a shark or some other predator of the oceans ate of their bodies, then how come it was said they found the bodies of the crew in the water around the wreckage of the ship?" "Woah.." Came Stec's voice and the horses ahead of him gave pause in their step. Stec looked over at Eban and then back at the forest only a hundred yards away. Beyond it laid the shores of the ocean. "I don't know, Eban. I don't know why their dead bodies were found. I don't know what happened to the slave girls that were onboard. I don't want to talk anymore of it. I don't know what lays beyond the forest, or what lays below the sea, Eban. I don't know if I want to know. I don't want to believe in demons. They are just old tales." Eban nodded slowly and gave a look over at the tree line and what could lay beyond. "They say the bodies found washed up on shore, with their heads missing, they came from ships making a crossing with slave girls two days ago. Not a single girl was found. The bodies of those men were cut up, Stec. Swords or spears had tore through them it's said. They say 'he' is responsible." Stec's face turned to one of almost panic and he quickly shook of his head at Eban. "Hush now Eban! You don't talk of his name remember" Be him myth or not, you don't talk of him!" Eban swallowed as his eyes were still on the forest beyond the field. "The demon of yellow eyes, Stec. I tell you he is real. Praylor's wife has seen of him. He said mercenaries came across his wife not but a month ago and tried to have their way with her, while she was in the forest picking berries for a pie. You remember how she came back to the village. Fearful, so greatly upset. Blood about her body, but not of her own. Speaking of how the forest came alive and killed the mercenaries. Of those yellow eyes she had seen. Of how she heard of their screams as she ran as fast as she could away." "She is lucky for escaping those men, but I don't think some demon came for them, Eban. Perhaps it was a giant bear" Or a cougar of unusual size?" Eban shook his head. "If it was a creature of the forest, then why did it let her go' Why did it not kill her as well" You know it is forbidden for women of our village to carry anything larger then a simple dagger on them. Why is such so' Is it because men who venture into the forest beyond with weapons are found dead" They say Praylor's wife was spared because she was female, because she was pregnant with his child." Stec gave a sound and the horses picked up again into step as he shifted of the plow. A look back toward the tree line. "Perhaps it...no...it...Eban let us get our fields plowed and planted, yes? We have a lot of work to get done before it rains again."

"So how was your trip?" Smiled Rockhound aside to the tall Aella. She was a product of her Yautja father Thwei Cetanu and her Earth mother the doctor, Leenna. Thick dark dreads spilled over hers shoulders. Flesh a light swampy green with specks of brown here and there like her father. Curves, definitely from her mother. In fact she looked more human then Yautja. Well, minus the thick dreads and skin color and those clawed toes and fingertips like her father.

"My trip was well, Rockhound. You were quick to pick up the others and myself in gathering." Came Aella's richly deep textured voice. "Well ya' know, when your father wants everyone gathered up quick I'm your man." Aella nodded aside to Rockhound as they walked through the halls of the unique ship. "My father trusts you, Rockhound. He has for years before I was born. You said Laertes found evidence of Netrovo' If this is true, it won't be easy to capture or take him down as you would say, Rockhound. Netrovo was once an Honored Warrior among the Yautja." Rockhound nodded and tipped his fedora back, never let it be said Rockhound didn't dress awfully well in a suit and tie for one living on a Yautja ship. "Yeah well...I didn't get a chance to mention Adrastos believes he had seen Baylor and Nezcor fleeing from a village to the North. And he's not sure...but he thinks Dachande was with them." Aella gave pause in her step upon those unique leg fitting boots of hers. "Dachande" She is a Yautja female with no honor. My father has told me stories of her. She's killed her own young when felt they would simply slow her down on a hunt. I've heard she's butchered entire villages of human women as they were defenseless. Last I heard from my father on the subject, she was in chains upon a desert planet imprisoned." Rockhound nodded slowly. "Yeah, she was. I'm thinking Baylor or Nezcor must of busted her out, set her free to go along with their rag tag bunch of outlaws and criminals. Hopefully it's not too many." Aella perked a smirk as she looked to Rockhound. "Afraid of them, Rockhound?" "Who, me" Naw...your father's been watching my six since like ya' said...long before you were born. Besides, I'm not totally defenseless ya' know." Rockhound lifted back a side to his suit to expose the WESTAR-34 blaster pistol in a shoulder holster there. "Traveling the galaxy with your father certainly has offered up some interesting bits of technology." Aella gave a nod of her head toward the weapon before turning to step onward.

"Rockhound?" "Yeah?" "Do me a favor?" "Sure anything." "Stop trying to get a look at my ass."

At the bottom of the ocean floor, laid a labyrinth of structures running into and out of the undersea mountains of rock. Here they were left alone. Here the Yautja could practice, train and even have what humans would call down time. Clan ships leaving and going almost every hour. True, they were responsible for most of the USO (Unidentified Submerged Object) sightings by tall sailing ships upon Rhydin's seas at night. Emerging or plunging into the deep oceans depths.

"Theron and Zotico should be fine in a few days time." Commented Aella as she stepped along side her father as he peered out into the vastness of the oceans dark depths through a thick glass like view port. "Tycho believes he's found tracks leading back to Rhydin City. He believes there are six or seven left, father. Adrastos and him are going to keep an eye on the city and see what turns up in the next few nights. Hopefully Paya hasn't gone too mad into chaos that he strikes during the day in the bright open sun." Thwei gave a small nod of his head. Thick dreadlocks barely moving against his broad shoulders in the motion. "You are pained, at what he has become." More a statement, then a question really from Aella. "He was once...great...among Yautja. Leader...of...a mothership....once." Came Thwei's deep rumbling tone. Mandibles shifted slowly as he spoke. Free in motion as his bio mask was back in his chambers deep in the undersea installation. "Honorable....he was."

Aella set a hand slowly to her father's arm. His gaze would shift to the side at his daughter then as she spoke. "Father...he is no longer, honorable. He must be stopped before more innocent blood is shed and he dives further into this path of pure chaos. Left alone, he will decimate some of the populations on this world. He hunts not for trophies or honor anymore. He simply kills because he can." Thwei nodded slowly as his gaze turned back out the view port. A glance was made down the hall way, as a half dozen Yautja were trying to horde a sea creature into an aquatic pen with electro staffs. "Find him...I will. Come...find Rockhound now. He owe...drink."

John Rush was a middle aged man with the ability acquire information, for the right price. A beard of brown with highlights of some grey. Hair drifted past his ears almost to his shoulders. He was enjoying a late afternoon, early evening meal at a low-tech tavern in the city.

Finishing up his stew with the fresh baked bread, his right hand reached for the tankard on the table. Lifting the brew toward his lips but suddenly giving a pause. He froze. Eyes peered across the tavern to a large beast of a Hellhound on all fours between two empty tables. The creature with the unique eyes was staring at him. Rush turned his head finally to the left and then in turn to the right. Slowly he would set of his tankard to the table and just as slow, he'd lift up from his chair to turn and start for the door to his far left.

A glance aside as he started in his walk, noticing the large animal was walking parallel to him. "Good god, not today." Muttered Rush. He tried to control his breathing, but a little bit of fear was perking in his head. Letting fear get the better of him, he suddenly burst into a run for the door.

Nearly there, two feet to be exact and something grabbed Rush by the throat. Spinning him around and slamming him against the wall beside the door. Beside his escape.

Slowly the camouflage disengaged in shimmer. Light green skin with darker spots along her arms and legs, long thick dreads of dark coloring, the knee high protective foot wear of some unique metal, the fashioned chest armor and wrist gauntlets and that strength. Given, Rush was a foot off the floor. His hands were upon her arm, trying to keep a hold as to not choke in her grasp of his neck. "Heh...um, Aellla. Good...to see of you...."

Aella looked at him briefly and then dropped him back to his boots. "John Rush. My father requires information." Rush caught his breath with a nod of his head. "Okay....how is he?" "Well. He requires information on several ships and beings as well." Aella was never one for small talk, but she was one for the eyes to feast upon. Looking more human than Yautja of course. That would be the DNA of her mother, Doctor Leenna. Though she was long gone, her father Thwei Cetanu still would tell of stories of time passed and how the two had met. Truly one of the best mates her father ever had known.

Aella pulled a small metal disk from her waist belt and held it out to Rush. The man looked at it and simply knew better to ask, he'd take it and put it into a pocket on his pants. "Okay okay....I'll look over the information and get back to you." "I'll find you, John Rush." Spoke Aella.

She moved to the side and pushed the door open to depart the tavern of old. "Butch, come." Spoken quietly from her lips. The large beast of a Hellhound, set free with others from a distant prison some years ago, moved past Rush. A pause taken and the hybrid dog like creature growled at the man with it's sharp teeth. Rush shifted further back from the beast of a hound as the animal moved outward after Aella.

"Be an engineer my mother said. Some respectable scientist....no, I have to walk the black market. Next life, I do something that doesn't bring me dangling in dangers way."