Tantoro

## Basic Premise

Tanar system, June 5021

A resource collection team for a new startup power company, Iridia Power Solutions, is sent to Cuaxian to collect a kiloliter of a valuable resource called excitonium from the water in an isolated area of the moon; the excitonium is planned to be used for research into new power technologies. The moon was formerly a center for genetic experimentation research during the Twenty Years' War , and some of the creatures made during this time have survived.

## Story

Cuaxian, Tanar system, 4 June 5021 Galactic Standard Time

In orbit of Cuaxian, the inhabited moon of Tanar, a medium-sized transport ship, a Perseverance-class transport manufactured by Bandoria Stardrive, hung softly in its orbital position over the equator. The crew of six had been sent to the system to gather large amounts of water from a strange area near the equator of the moon; the bodies of water in this area contained a unique substance called excitonium, that researchers from their company, Iridia Power Solutions, had determined could be used as a power source for a new kind of reactor. They were waiting in orbit for another ship, with their local guide, on board to join them. The six crew members were all Bandorian citizens, from various different systems in the Protectorate. Ivan Mendes, their main pilot, was from the Kappa Coronae Borealis system, just over 100 light-years away from Tanar. Tara Kriyankos and Albert Hanson, the team’s two military specialists, were from the Alrai system, over 150 light-years away. The commander of the mission, Han Shian, as well as the team’s sample collector, Mi Qushi, were from the Zidaris system, just under 90 light-years away. Their engineer, Antonov Gomirov, was from the Skarn system, just under 300 light-years from Tanar. They had all joined Iridia Power Solutions at roughly the same time, and were employed as a resource collection team. Gomirov, at the sensor station of their ship, the *Metru Magella*, called out to Mendes at the helm.

 “A small craft is approaching from the surface,” he said. “It is an S10 Transport, and it is hailing us.”

 “Patch the pilot through,” said Ivan.

 “Transferring,” said Antonov. A moment later a voice came through the commlink microphone. “This is Nicolas Pinaro,” said the man on the other end. “Are you the team from Iridia Power?”

“We are the team, yes,” said Antonov. “This is Antonov Gomirov speaking.”

“Excellent,” said Nicolas. “I am assigned to be your guide; if you will follow my ship down to the landing site, we can get started. Be careful in the atmosphere; there are some powerful air currents in this area of the planet, and they can catch your ship off-balance if you have a weak atmos’ drive.”

“Alright, we’ll be careful,” said Antonov. “Gomirov out.”

“One of our trickier landings, then,” said Tara, who was sitting in the back of the cockpit, manning the weapons station; the other three team members were asleep, and the team took it in shifts to fly the ship. Han was their other pilot; although technically one person could fly the ship since all three of the main HUDs could be integrated into the pilot’s HUD, they preferred to do it in teams of three. As Ivan maneuvered the ship into a landing vector, he turned to Tara. “Well, it shouldn’t be too difficult,” he said. “This mission in general should be a breeze, all we have to do is collect water and stick it in the refiner they gave us.”

“Well, there is a local legend about genetically modified animals,” said Tara. “This system used to be a major center of cloning, and the Luna project was located here.”

 “Well, the Luna project was just made to boost the ranks of the Nocturns during one of the low points in recruiting for the Imperial military,” said Ivan. “They did quite a few other projects here as well, but the government hasn’t released details about them. I’m curious about the local legend though; what did you find?”

 “Supposedly there are animals that will attack and eat humans,” said Tara. “But reports of these animals have never been confirmed, and so they are still considered legends.”

 “Cryptids, like Bigfoot on Earth,” said Ivan. “Of course, even when evidence was finally found of Bigfoot, many still said it was fake.”

“Approaching the moon’s thermosphere,” said Antonov. “Pinaro’s ship is transmitting sensor data for the best approach vector. I’ll input it to your console.”

 “Thanks, Tony,” said Ivan, changing the ship’s course to match the vector in the data.

 “As for these legends, they shouldn’t have any effects on our mission,” said Antonov with a smile. “Of course, once we land, we can always ask Nicolas about the area and any legends or other interesting things there.”

 “I mean, all the confirmed genetic experimentation here was on humans, so there really shouldn’t be any animals that have been genetically modified,” said Tara. “It’s just interesting to read up on local history.”

“At least we won’t have to worry about idiotic anarchists shooting at us here, like our last mission,” said Ivan with a laugh. “Waking up on a cold, wet Folkar morning to the sound of disruptor bolts screaming all round me is one of those memories that I could do without.”

“Well, we’re entering the thermosphere now,” said Antonov, as the ship began to shake under the stress of atmospheric entry.

“I’ll go wake up the rest of the crew,” said Tara, going to the crew section of the ship, which was accessed from the cockpit by a short hallway. A few minutes later, just as the ship was passing through the light pink clouds of the lower atmosphere, Tara and their other three teammates came into the cockpit and buckled down into their respective seats.

 “We have arrived, Han,” said Ivan. “Our guide, Nicolas Pinaro, contacted us, and I’m following him in right now. We’ll be landing in about five minutes, according to the computer’s estimates.”

 “Excellent,” said Han. “Once we land, we’ll follow the local immunization procedure, using the injections command center gave us for this moon, and then meet with Nicolas. This mission should be pretty easy; all we have to do is collect the water, run it through the refiner to get the excitonium, then dump the refined water back out. Command only wants 1 liter of excitonium for now, so we should be in and out within two weeks.”

“Two weeks,” said Tara with a smile. “Maybe we’ll find some fun pets while we’re there.”

“Well, we have to follow local laws regarding wildlife preservation,” said Han with a smile. “We can ask Nicolas about that after we land.”

The ship flew through the cloud banks of the entry area, soon passing over the thickly forested mountain range that had produced the cloud bank on its western side; their landing spot was a few kilometers to the east of the mountain range. Antonov carefully piloted the ship through a ravine, which served as a pass through the range; once the ship came out of the ravine, a new landscape opened before their eyes. A valley between two massive spurs leading to the east of the two mountains opened out into a lightly forested area, with occasional clumps of thick trees and bushes. There were many boulders scattered around the landscape, but its most notable feature was the multitude of ponds and other small bodies of water distributed around it. As their ship roared over the forest, the commlink activated again.

 “Pinaro here,” said Nicolas over the comm. “Landing site is in 5 kilometers, slow and follow my lead.”

“Acknowledged,” said Antonov. Ivan slowed the ship, and adjusted its course following the telemetry from Antonov’s console. After a short descent, they arrived at the landing site, a simple clearing, and brought the *Metru Magella* into the center of the clearing; Nicolas’ ship, which was much smaller than their Perseverance-class transport, fit in easily nearer to the edge. All round the edges of the clearing were trees, about twenty feet tall, with pink leaves and strange light blue flowers. As Ivan settled the ship down onto the mostly flat, grassy ground, the transparisteel strip at the front of the cockpit was turned towards the horizon; the forested valley which they were in extended at least 20 kilometers to the east, where another small mountain range jutted up into the sky. Finally they felt the slight jolt of contact as the ship’s landing gear hit the ground.

 “Alright everyone, time to shoot up,” said Ivan with a grin.

“Those shots are no joke,” said Mi. “I hate needles.”

 “Well, let’s see how many we have to take,” said Han, unlocking the crate of medical supplies. “Looks like only one each; that kind of makes sense since this is a more developed colony.”

Han gave one of the vaccines to each of the crew members; after using the shots, they went to the equipment rooms on the lower deck of the ship. There they picked up the containers used to collect water, as well as the rest of their equipment and rations. After they had got all the items they needed, they went to the far back section of the ship where the ramp was located; standing just inside the hold, they waited as Antonov activated the control to lower the ramp. As the ramp lowered, the six teammates got to see a closer view of the surrounding environment.

 “There’s very few animals,” said Tara. “All I see are some birds.”

 “Many planets are like that,” said Albert. “Many plants and only a few animals. Of course, this means that if there are insect-like animals here, they’ll be pretty big.”

 “Not more bugs,” said Mi. “The native mosquitoes on Folkar were bad enough.”

“Look sharp, here comes our guide,” said Han, waving to a dark-haired man, about five and a half feet tall, walking towards them. He waved back with one hand; they noticed he was holding some kind of weapon in his left hand.

“Hello all, I’m Nicolas,” he said once he got within speaking distance. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll lead you to the lodge.”

“Lodge?” asked Han.

“Yes, there’s a lodge that was built a while back around here,” said Nicolas. “I think it was some kind of resort originally, but now we mainly use it for when tourists or research teams like you come to stay in the area. It’s only a kilometer away from here, and plus, the local governor didn’t want you to have to sleep in your ship.”

 “Alright,” said Han. “We’ll take the cabin, then, but first we should get some personal things from the ship.”

 “Ok,” said Nicolas. “I’ll wait for you out here.”

 The teammates went back aboard the *Metru Magella;* they quickly collected some clothes and other items and put them in small suitcases. Once they had finished, they walked back outside the ship through the crew access corridor, closing the small hatch behind them.

 “We’re all set,” said Han. “Lead the way.”

Nicolas nodded and started off to the north of the clearing, where a rough trail could be seen leading through the woods. As Nicolas led them along the trail, Tara and Albert noticed that there were still no animals except a few birds and various kinds of insects; the plantlife mostly consisted of the pink-leaved trees and an assortment of bushes, with leaves of various colors, with dark blue, orange, and pink being the most prominent.

“Are there no animals around here?” Tara asked. Nicolas stopped walking, glanced around, then said, “How much have you heard about this area?”

 “Well, I was reading about the genetic experiments,” said Tara. “But as far as I know, they were only done on humans, right? Except in the legends, which were quite interesting to read.”

 “What is your name?” asked Nicolas.

 “I’m Tara,” she said.

“Well, Tara, this spot is one place where legends come true, and practically anything you can imagine can happen,” said Nicolas. “If you have time and are interested in these legends, I would definitely recommend reading more, especially in the old declassified military files for this moon. Personally I have seen some very strange things in this area. 15-centimeter long ants for example; this moon does have a higher oxygen content than normal, but ants are highly colonial creatures and shouldn’t be affected in the same way. Of course, there are also many assassin bugs, some a meter long, which prey on the ants and other bugs like two-meter-long beetles; and the centipedes; oh, the centipedes! Now you can probably guess why most people on this moon stay in the cities most of the time.”

 “How many times have you been out here?” asked Han.

 “I come out here occasionally with research teams like yours,” said Nicolas. “This will be my seventeenth trip in five years. Plus I went here once when I was younger and trying to escape from some UEO scum, but that’s another story completely.”

 “Well, at least the trees are nice,” said Mi, who had gone pale listening to Nicolas’ description of the local wildlife.

“Sorry if I scared you,” said Nicolas. “Just wanted to tell you all some basic info so you have some idea what to expect. Oh, and also, there are six plasma carbines in the lodge; I have two more on my ship, plus the one I have now. Don’t ever go outside alone or without one of the plasma carbines; most lasers are useless against the more dangerous wildlife here, take too long to penetrate the armor, and disruptors are not too good against insects.”

“Don’t worry,” said Han. “We’ll take precautions, make sure no one goes outside alone, and we’ll get some more weapons from our ship.”

 “I can go back later with Nicolas to get his other two carbines,” said Antonov.

“Alright,” said Nicolas. “There is a low-height speeder at the lodge as well, we can use that to transport more supplies; plus it’s faster and safer than walking would be.”

The group rounded a bend in the trail and came into a small clearing; in the clearing stood a one-story building, composed of both metal and wood, and was painted tan; it was roughly thirty meters long and ten meters wide. There were two doors to the building, one facing towards the rough trail which the group had taken to get to it, the other on the left side of the building, facing towards an even rougher trail leading further into the forest, towards the mountains to the west. On the right side of the building, a well-defined trail led to the east, presumably towards a settlement; on this side of the building, there was also a small attached building with a slide-down power door.

“Wow, it looks pretty impressive,” said Mi. “How long has it been here?”

 “It was built nearly two hundred years ago according to building logs,” said Nicolas. “Since then, it has been renovated and upgraded several times to strengthen the structure and security of the building.”

“What did they need to do that for?” asked Han.

 “There are large predators around here,” said Nicolas. “The local government wants to make stays here as safe as possible.”

 “Well, we stayed on Folkar during our last research trip,” said Han, and the other teammates laughed. “It was a little more dangerous there than just having to deal with big bugs.”

 “Alright, laugh if you will,” said Nicolas. He walked to the cabin door and slid a keychip into the maglock’s key slot; with a click, the door opened. He went inside the entryway and pulled out several more keychips from a shelf. “Here, you can distribute these among yourselves,” he said, handing them to Han. “Antonov? Let’s go get the other carbines and supplies.”

Antonov followed Nicolas to the small garage area containing the low-height speeder; Nicolas used the keychip to unlock the slide-down door, then opened it using the power button. Antonov walked into the garage and did a quick safety check of the speeder; it was a Marat 593, a simple, fairly common model; it was in good repair.

 “Alright, do you want to fly it, or should I?” asked Antonov.

 “You go ahead,” said Nicolas. “I prefer spacecraft, though I rarely fly at all to be honest.”

Antonov opened the canopy, then climbed up the short ladder to the cockpit. Nicolas followed him into the cockpit, and sat down in the second seat. The cockpit was quite spacious, and had a small access tunnel leading to the spacious passenger area and the cargo hold in the back of the speeder. Firing up the magnadrive, Antonov carefully maneuvered the speeder out of the garage, then, keeping it at a height of about five meters, flew it down the path towards their landing site. In less than a minute, they arrived at the site; Antonov landed the speeder between their two ships. While he was mainly in charge of sensors on the *Metru Magella*, he was also a supplemental pilot. Opening the canopy, he waited for Nicolas to climb down, then followed him and closed the canopy.

“I’m a bit worried right now,” said Antonov. “If there’s killer bugs around, I don’t want them getting into the speeder. You have any extra plasma packs?”

 “Yes, there’s another 40 packs in my ship, plus the two carbines, and the one carbine I have with me,” said Nicolas, unlocking and opening the cargo hatch on his ship. “Here’s some plasma and solonite grenades as well; I have two crates of each, which hold 100 grenades each.”

 “Man, how dangerous are these things?” asked Antonov. “This is more firepower than I’ve seen in a while.”

“There are some insects around here that even a Disruptorguard would rather not run into,” said Nicolas. “I mean, perhaps we could leave some of this if you prefer.”

 “No, let’s take it all,” said Antonov. “Better safe than sorry.”

Between the two of them, they easily managed to get all the equipment and weapons into the speeder in a quarter of an hour. Then Antonov unlocked the small cargo hatch on the *Metru Magella* and went into the cargo bay.

 “Alright, we probably just need some power packs,” said Antonov. “We also have a few QFDPs here. Would they work well against the bugs?”

 “They fire fast enough, but don’t hit quite hard enough,” said Nicolas. “Also, the bugs’ nervous systems are decentralized, so disruptors aren’t too effective against them. But still, they might come in handy. How long do you have to stay here?”

 “We have to collect samples of material from the water near the lodge,” said Antonov. “By the boss’ estimate, we’ll be done in two weeks.”

 “Two weeks? Ok, you definitely need these,” said Nicolas. “If you have to collect and filter water, you’ll probably be carrying large, heavy containers, and you won’t need the extra weight of a carbine; the QFDPs are probably the best option.”

“Alright, let’s take them,” said Antonov, opening the weapons storage container; he picked up a crate and placed six QFDPs in it. He took a large rack of power packs from the storage container as well; together, they stored the weapons and power packs in the speeder. After they finished storing the items, Antonov closed the cargo hatch on the *Metru Magella*. Nicolas motioned him to stay back against the ship and activated the charger on his plasma carbine, just as a monstrous chittering noise sounded from the direction of the forest.

“Be very quiet,” he whispered, aiming the carbine in the direction of the sound. In the blink of an eye, a giant, heavily armored scorpion-like creature, over a meter and a half tall, rushed out from the forest towards them. Nicolas fired a barrage of plasma rounds from his carbine, which struck the creature; the shots disintegrated its armor plating and seared its vulnerable internal organs. Nicolas fired a second barrage and the giant arthropod collapsed to the ground. Antonov started to move cautiously towards the ship, but Nicolas restrained him. “Wait, there may be more,” he whispered. After a few moments, Nicolas motioned Antonov towards the speeder; waiting in position for a few more seconds, he followed him once he was sure nothing was moving at the edge of the forest. Antonov fumbled the catch on the canopy from nervousness, took a deep breath to calm himself, then tried again to open it; the second time, he was successful. He jumped up into the cockpit, Nicolas right behind him, then quickly slammed it shut. Only then did he realize how hard his heart was beating. Forcing himself not to look outside, Antonov rammed the throttle up to max; the speeder lifted off almost instantly, and he kept it at a height of thirty meters.

 “That was close,” he said in a shaky voice.

 “That was a skorpix,” said Nicolas. “A genetically modified scorpion, somewhat common around here. They’re very aggressive, but fairly easy to kill. Unless, of course, they form a hunting pack.”

 “So they don’t always hunt in the same way?” asked Antonov, swinging the speeder around back towards the north.

 “No, sometimes they hunt alone, sometimes in packs,” said Nicolas. “Most insects around here are unpredictable like that, which is why practically noone wants to even come here, let alone live in the area.”

“After that experience, I can see why,” said Antonov. “Come to this beautiful area of the moon for a lovely vacation-you may get eaten by giant killer insects, but don’t let that stop you.”

 They both laughed at this, then they were silent for the rest of the short flight back to the lodge. Once Antonov had landed the speeder and maneuvered it into the garage, he shut down the engine and opened the canopy; together, he and Nicolas got out of the ship and began unloading the supplies. Han and Tara came in after a moment.

 “Hi there,” said Antonov. “You’ll never guess what happened.”

 “Did someone steal the ship?” asked Han with a grin.

 “No,” said Antonov. “We were attacked, by a giant scorpion-like creature. Nicolas told me they’re apparently a common sight around here.”

 Han put on a blank face, but Antonov could tell he was simply trying to make the best out of the situation. Tara, on the other hand, seemed almost excited at the prospect of such dangerous creatures actually being real.

 “How long ago was this?” she asked, her brown eyes lighting up.

 “Just a few minutes,” said Nicolas. “We came straight back from the landing site.”

 “Great!” said Tara, taking a crate which Nicolas handed her and moving back into the lodge through a door to the left of the garage.

 “Alright,” said Han. “Let’s get these supplies stored up in the lodge. There’s a room just off this garage that should work for storage. Did you manage to kill the skorpix?”

 “Yes, Nicolas shot it with a plasma carbine and it didn’t seem too hard to put down,” said Antonov.

 “I don’t know about this,” said Han, pausing and staring outside for a moment; Nicolas had also gone inside with a rack of QFDPs. “If there’s a real danger, I don’t want any of the team getting hurt. At the same time, if we don’t complete the mission, we may lose our jobs.”

 “Let’s do it,” said Antonov, moving to the speeder and picking up a crate of grenades. “We could have a team meeting and talk to Nicolas tonight about reasonable precautions to take.”

 “Meanwhile, we still have to be prepared,” said Han. “A set of aerial scout drones on overhead patrol would be good. I think there are some in the lodge that could be modified.”

 “I can do that once we finish unloading,” said Antonov.

 “Ok,” said Han. “Let me know once they’re finished.”

 Between the four of them they were able to unload the supplies fairly quickly, and Antonov was able to go to one of the rooms, which he shared with Albert, to work on modifying three small drones to use as a security system; since they were powered by fusion microreactors, power drain was not a major concern. The sun was just beginning to set as he worked; pale pink rays of light coming through the window gave the now deeply shadowed forest landscape a mysterious look. Antonov modified the drones’ control systems so that they could fly in a formation, and linked their transmitters to a screen on his personal GalNet device. Once he was finished, he went outside to a small deck around the back of the lodge and started to launch the drones. Opening the door, he saw Mi standing on the deck, looking out into the forest. She turned, startled by the sound of the door.

 “Oh, it’s you, Tony,” she said. “What are you doing with the drones?”

 “Han wants me to use them as surveillance,” said Antonov. “He also plans to have a meeting later with all of us and Nicolas, to discuss precautions to take because of the dangerous insects here.”

 “I’ve always hated alien insects,” said Mi. “On my home planet, Zidaris 1 c, we have virtually no insect species, so insects just have that added level of fear for me.”

 “Well, once I get these drones set up, we should be able to see if any of the more dangerous ones are coming,” said Antonov. “It will help when we have to collect the water to be refined.”

 “Don’t remind me,” said Mi with a laugh. “I have to collect all this stuff, and if we followed command’s instructions to the letter I would have to do it by myself too.”

 “Yeah, we definitely won’t be following that,” said Antonov. “I guess we’ll figure it out tonight.”

 “Good,” said Mi. “Well, I’ll see you later then.”

 After she went inside Antonov placed the drones on the flat railing on the edge of the deck, then launched them; using the controller, he set them to fly in a triangular formation at a height of forty meters, and he programmed them to focus on any movements they detected. He looked up to confirm that they were in position, then went inside.

 From the forest, tens of thousands of eyes watched him.

 When Antonov went back into the lodge, Tara came into the entryway to greet him.

 “Han wants us to meet in the main living space,” she said. “Guess Nicolas gets to tell us about all the crazy creatures here.”

 “After what happened earlier, I could believe anything,” said Antonov with a rueful smile. “Hopefully we can keep going out to a minimum.”

 They came out of the passageway leading to the back door and entered the large, open main living space, a kind of lounge in the center of the lodge. There were several large sofas arranged in a square-like formation, facing each other in the center of the room. Nicolas, Han and their teammates were already seated on some of the sofas.

 “Great, now we’re all here,” said Han, looking over at Nicolas as Tara and Antonov sat down. “Nicolas, can you give us an overview of the most common creatures we will have to deal with during our trips? Of course, in view of the danger, I have decided that whenever Mi goes out to collect samples, at least two and preferably three other people have to go with her.”

 “That’s a good idea,” said Nicolas. “Make sure they’re all armed with plasma carbines, though, or else they won’t stand much of a chance against the larger predators. Now, when you go outside here, there’s several different levels of predators; all of them are insectoid creatures, and they come in three main types: the small ones, the big ones, and the flying ones. There’s not many flying ones, but they’re quite difficult to deal with since they dodge so easily; the most common type is the anrau, a large, green and black colored dragonfly-like creature with a meter-wide wingspan and venomous jaws, like a stag beetle’s but scaled up. Now, for the ground-walking types; there’s quite a few of those, but here are some of the most common small ones. There’s the trikyn, a beetle about 25 centimeters long, with strong jaws; it is not too dangerous. Then there’s the korkrin, a large centipede-like insect about half a meter long, with strong jaws and powerful venom. Another one is the shalan, a scorpion-like predator about 75 centimeters long. There are also 15-centimeter ants, and some kinds of assassin bugs up to a meter long; many of these assassin bugs are venomous. For the larger types, the most common one is the skorpix, basically a larger type of shalan, about a meter and a half tall; the shalan’s venom is more dangerous, but the skorpix is more powerful and attacks more often, sometimes hunting in packs. Then there are the vervan, large ant-like creatures up to two meters tall and four meters long; they generally only prey on the more peaceful insectoids around here. The most fearsome of the normal creatures are the centipedes; some species are up to seven meters in length. All these creatures were the products of various genetic engineering experiments done during the Twenty Years’ War. Then of course there are some creatures which are rumored to exist, but not confirmed by scientists. You may have heard of some of these, Tara.”

 “Yes,” said Tara. “Most of them seemed unlikely, but after hearing about the others you mentioned I’m not so sure.”

 “In my experience out here, it’s best not to assume they don’t exist,” said Nicolas. “Also in my experience, most of the creatures from the legends either do not exist, or do exist, but are made much more terrifying in the legends. However, there is one creature in the legends that, despite no confirmed proof of its existence, still seems to be quite likely, and I feel that I would be failing in my duty to warn you about these creatures if I left it out. Before I tell you about it, I should warn you: this is possibly one of the most terrifying creatures you will ever hear about, across all the inhabited star systems.”

 “Well, it can’t be much worse than what you already mentioned,” said Mi, who was trying her best not to look as terrified as she felt; Ivan, who was sitting next to her, put his arm around her shoulders.

 “I leave that to your judgement,” said Nicolas. “This creature is called Tantoro in the legends; it is said to be originally created from the baseline genome of a praying mantis, with additions to its predatory instincts, intelligence, and reflexes. It is said to be able to inject its prey with venom using long spines attached to several additional limbs on its abdomen. This venom liquefies internal organs and muscles, but hardens the skin; the process takes several hours, after which the Tantoro simply sucks out the liquefied material. This venom is not its only weapon, however; it also has the two long forearms of a praying mantis, allowing it to quickly impale prey with an arm, then drag it away to envenomate it. It can move its forearms with blinding speed, and is capable of running at speeds of up to 15 meters per second. Now the most potentially terrifying part about it is that it is said to be a shapeshifter; while it always stays in the shape of a praying mantis, it can become as small as a centimeter in length, or as large as ten meters. Personally I don’t believe this, it just does not seem likely, since the creators of the creature would not have had access to any DNA that would allow a creature to shapeshift; as you know, to this day there still have been no organisms discovered that have this capability. However, its existence is not unlikely, since there are many declassified military files for the genetic experimentation facility on this moon that mention designs for a super-predator soldier prototype with this kind of base design and capabilities; the files are also specific in mentioning that only one of these creatures was being considered at the time, and that no more would be made until extensive testing and research had been conducted with the prototype.”

 “Are you saying there’s a ten-meter apex predator out there with those capabilities?” said Han. The others in the room were silent; shocked at the terrifying prospect of going outside to collect samples while having to worry about this creature; Mi looked pale as a ghost, and Albert and Ivan looked terrified. Antonov and Tara tried to keep neutral expressions, while Han simply stared incredulously at Nicolas.

 “Not for sure,” said Nicolas. “It could be a hoax, and as I said, some of the things claimed about it in legends are highly unlikely. I would guess it could be between three to six meters; but then again, I’m not an expert zoologist. It should be vulnerable to plasma shells just like other insectoids, though.”

 “We can’t afford to quit the mission,” said Han. “We have to complete it, so we have to make sure that nothing will happen to us. You said this creature had advanced intelligence, right?”

 “Yes, according to the files, it has a level of intelligence of about 70 on the IQ scale,” said Nicolas.

 “More than a troodont,” said Han, thinking for a moment. “Is it possible that it would realize we can hurt or kill it with our weapons, and so decide to leave us alone?”

 “It’s possible, though I wouldn’t know for sure,” said Nicolas. “I’m surprised your company didn’t mention any of this to you before you were assigned on this mission. If you had been sent here by yourselves, it may well have been a death sentence.”

 “I believe they’re a relatively new company, so they might not have known about it themselves,” said Han. “Also there’s the question of speed; they needed to get samples of this resource as quickly as possible, preferably before teams from other companies arrived, and they may not have had time to research this moon yet.”

 “Well in this case, we’ll proceed with the plan for resource extraction,” said Han. “Mi, we’ll use the speeder to assist with collection; just put the refiner in the cargo area, and three other people, armed with plasma carbines, will have to be with you at all times during the collection. How long do you think the process will take to get a deciliter of excitonium per day?”

 “It should take about two hours,” said Mi. “A siphon tube is hooked up to a body of water and then it just siphons the water through the refiner; if we went all together to the collection site and worked for twenty hours straight though, it might be safer and easier.”

 “I don’t know,” said Han. “What do you think, Nicolas?”

 “This could work,” said Nicolas. “I’d recommend doing it during the daytime, though; the day cycle is fifty hours long on this moon, and if you need twenty hours to finish the process then there should be enough time in a day to complete all that you need to do.”

 “Then there’s also the question of whether it will be more likely for us to make mistakes if we work for twenty hours at a time,” said Han. “What do you think, Mi?”

 “All we have to do is attach the tube to the refiner and make sure it keeps in relatively clear water,” said Mi. “I have a drone we can attach to the end of the tube to move it if it drains all the water in one area. From the aerial footage they showed us, it looks like a bunch of little ponds, so having to move it could be an issue if we end up draining the water in each pond too quickly.”

 “Those ponds are very deep, about twenty meters,” said Nicolas. “You might still need to move it a few times, though; if your refiner has to run for twenty hours just to extract a liter of this special material, you may have to keep moving it quite often. One thing I didn’t understand from when you explained the procedure earlier, though: where does the water go after entering the refiner?”

 “The refiner boils it away into steam as part of the refining process,” said Mi. “Of course, we first have to get the refiner from the ship, then bring it to the site; the speeder would probably be the best way to do this.”

 “Alright then,” said Han. “First thing tomorrow morning, Tony, Nicolas and I will go get the refiner from the ship. Then we’ll head back here and pick up the rest of you all, and go to the collection site. Sound good?”

 There was a general response of “Yes” from the other team members, and Nicolas nodded.

 “Let’s get to sleep then,” said Han. “The night is 25 hours long, so make sure to take sleep medications if you need to. We want to be as well rested as possible for tomorrow.”

 “Oh, Han, I finished with the drones,” said Antonov. “They should be good to go for overhead recon.”

 “Good,” said Han. “We’ll take them with us tomorrow. You can monitor them once we arrive at the site.”

 The team members left the room, going to the bedrooms in the other areas of the lodge. Antonov and Albert went to their room, and Antonov stayed up for a half hour or so watching the drones; he saw many flying insects, some quite terrifying in their size. He saw several anraus, and a large batlike creature that flew over the area quickly. After a while Albert, seeing the glow of the screen, got up and came over to look at it.

 “Seen anything interesting?” he asked.

 “I saw some anraus, those creatures Nicolas was telling us about,” said Antonov. “They are scary to say the least, but a good shot should take them down.”

 “I wonder how good this Tantoro thing’s hearing is,” said Albert. “The last thing I’d want is to get rid of one predator only for another to instantly know where we are.”

 “Well, it’s no good to worry,” said Antonov. “Guess I’ll turn in now. Would you like to watch this or should I shut the display down?”

 “No, I’d rather not see terror bugs before I sleep,” said Albert with a laugh. “Good night, Tony.”

 “Night,” said Antonov. He turned off the display on the controller, and they both laid down in their bunks, one on each side of the room.

 25 hours later, the teammates woke up. The pink light of the early morning sun shone over the clearing around the lodge. After a quick breakfast, Antonov, Han, and Nicolas got in the speeder and proceeded to the ship’s landing site. Antonov piloted the speeder, while Han and Nicolas sat in the passenger section. They did not see any of the fearsome insects on their way; once they got to the ship, they quickly transferred the refiner to the speeder using the speeder’s aft cargo hatch, which was much larger and more easily accessible from the ground. They returned to the lodge just in time, as the other team members had all risen and finished their first meal. They climbed into the speeder through the back, and Antonov took the speeder above the trees on the narrow trail to the collection site. Through the trees Antonov could see movement on the ground; evidently some of the insects were already active. The air was cold and somewhat foggy, making it difficult to pilot; however, the speeder’s all-weather sensor system allowed him to see the terrain on the canopy’s AR display. A few minutes later, they arrived at the collection site. It was nearly ten kilometers from the lodge, in a much more open area away from the mountains, and with much fewer trees; there were large ponds scattered all over the landscape, and it was difficult to find a large enough area of dry ground on which to land the speeder. Antonov slowed the speeder’s airspeed to idle, then rotated it slowly to look for a suitable site; once he found it, he maneuvered the speeder carefully to the area and landed it. Once he landed it, Antonov made his way back to the cargo section, where Nicolas and the rest of the team were arming themselves. Albert and Tara each held a plasma carbine and had two QFDPs on a belt at their waist. Ivan and Nicolas both held carbines; Ivan and Mi were holding the tubes for the refiner. Tara handed Antonov a carbine as he came in.

 “Good work,” said Han. “Now, Tony, you and I got the job of carrying the refiner out to the pond. It’s not too heavy, and it has carry handles, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”

 “Good,” said Antonov. “Let’s go.”

 Nicolas opened the hatch on the back of the speeder, and they stepped out into the morning air. Wisps of fog drifted past slowly, as a light wind blew through the tall blades of the blue grass. The wind gently stirred waves on the surfaces of the ponds, which were quite large; the nearest one was easily fifteen meters wide and forty meters long. It was difficult to tell how deep it was, since the pinkish clouds cut off a fair amount of sunlight, making it a little darker than a normal morning on a planet like Earth. In the distance, nearly a kilometer away to the south, the edge of the forest, with its pink-leaved trees and bushes, swayed gently in the wind. Antonov and Han followed the others and carried the refiner to a spot near the edge of the closest pond. Mi and Ivan attached their sections of tubing to a hook on the end of a small drone, which Mi controlled using a small wristband controller; she sent it flying over to the middle of the pond, then let it lower the tube to the surface of the water. The drone’s hook extended as it lowered the tube, allowing it to sink below the surface, but not going near the bottom of the pond, where it would suck up silt. Mi then moved to the refiner, powering it up and turning its suction generator on. In moments, water was traveling up the tube, which was mostly transparent; they could see it going into the refiner, and the steam boiling up from the vent on the top of the refiner.

 “Now all we have to do is make sure this thing keeps going. So that’s my job,” said Mi. “We might have to move it if the water from this pond is drained, though its suction speed looks slow enough that it’ll take quite a long time for it to drain a whole pond.”

 “Albert and Tara, you two make sure nothing gets near us,” said Han.

 “Yes, sir,” said Albert. “We’ll split up, one person to each side. I’ll take the south side and you can have the north.”

 “Sounds good,” said Tara.

 “Tony, you can go to watch the video feed from the drones. Mi, Ivan and I will have your backs,” said Han. “We’ll be watching the areas closer in to the refiner.”

 “I can guard the speeder,” said Nicolas.

 “Every hour we report back to the speeder,” said Han. “Make sure to take note of anything that looks threatening, and of course, if something tries to attack, shoot it.”

Each of the teammates went to their positions. The gentle breeze, combined with the cool temperature and the pink-tinted light, was quite relaxing in a strange way. The grass swayed gently in the wind, making it difficult for them to tell if any smaller creatures were moving through it, especially since it was quite tall in places. Tara saw several large beetle-like insects moving around about 200 meters away from her, but they did not appear threatening and moved off to the east. Nicolas noticed that there were less flying insects than normal, and he mentioned this to Han; in the past, he had noticed that this happened usually when there was some larger predator in the area. After the first hour had passed, nothing more threatening than the large beetles had appeared. Just as they were all gathered at the speeder, however, an incredibly loud chittering noise came from the direction of the forest. At this, many flying insects appeared, evidently frightened from their hiding places by the sound.

 “What was that?” asked Han.

 “I’m not sure,” said Nicolas. “I’ve never heard a call of that noise level before. It sounds a little different from a skorpix, which are the ones that usually make that noise, and of course it was much louder than them.”

 “Perhaps that was the Tantoro,” said Ivan. “After all, you said it’s much bigger than the other predators here.”

 “For all our sakes, I hope not,” said Nicolas. “If the Tantoro is here, we must keep a closer watch.”

 “Alright,” said Han. “I will guard Mi, and Nicolas, you and Ivan can watch to the west and the east. It might be a good idea for us to get some commlinks; Tony, did you see any in the speeder?”

 “There should be some in a storage panel in the back of the pilot section,” said Nicolas. Antonov went into the speeder and retrieved the commlinks, which were simple, small tabs that clipped onto a sleeve or collar. He handed one to each of the other teammates and Nicolas, then took the last one himself.

 “If I see anything on the drones I’ll make sure to report it,” he said. “If any of you see anything suspicious make sure to report it also.”

 “Sounds good,” said Nicolas.

 “Nicolas, one question,” said Tara. “I was wondering, what does the name Tantoro mean?”

 “In the local dialect, it means ‘terror of Tanar’,” said Nicolas. “Of course, it may have another meaning in old Earth languages, but I don’t know any of those.”

 “Wait a second,” said Han. “Does that mean that there’s more than one of these creatures?”

 “No, there is only one Tantoro, in the legends,” said Nicolas. “We don’t know for sure that it exists, of course. But the name ‘terror of Tanar’ comes from another part of the history here. When the creatures all broke out of the lab a few hundred years back, there was one species that was a real pest. We used to call them skitters, because of the sound they made when they walked, and they were beetle-like things about half a meter long. They spread throughout the whole system, and we had to make sure that ships leaving the system were thoroughly sterilized before going through any jump gates, so that the pests wouldn’t get spread to other systems. I guess the legend of the Tantoro got somewhat merged with the fact of the skitter infestation, and so the name was invented.”

 “I wish we only had to deal with skitters,” said Mi. “It would definitely make things much more relaxed.”

 “Well, let’s get back to work. We can relax when we get this finished,” said Han. They went back to their positions. Antonov noticed that the treetops seemed to be moving slightly at the edge of the forest, but he thought it must be the wind. Indeed, the combination of the gently swaying grasses and trees and the cool breeze made the day quite pleasant. Each hour, the teammates gathered back at the speeder. No one said anything over the commlinks, since they were somewhat used to the wildlife at this point; Mi was the only one still afraid of the smaller creatures, and she was busy monitoring the refiner. Six hours after they had started, after everyone had gone back to their places, Antonov decided to send one of the drones down to investigate the movement at the edge of the forest, since the treetops would still move occasionally, and the wind had mostly died down at this point. The trees were only about six or seven meters tall, so the drone had to come down fairly close to the ground in order to get a good viewing angle. Antonov kept a close watch on the view from this drone. As soon as the drone got down to the edge of the forest, something whirled around and fled back into the forest at an incredible speed. It happened so quickly that he couldn’t tell what the creature was, or even get a general idea of its shape; but it must have been quite large, as he could see the trees shaking in the wake of its flight. He quickly sent the drone back to a higher altitude, hoping to get a better view, but nothing stirred in the forest below. Shaking his head, he clicked on his commlink.

 “Han, Tony here,” he said. “I just caught a glimpse of a large creature at the edge of the forest. I can’t be sure, but it seemed like it was in a good position to be watching us.”

 “Tara, did you hear that?” said Han.

 “Loud and clear,” said Tara. “I saw something move a moment ago, and it did look big. I’ll take a look with the scope on my carbine.”

 “Keep us updated if you see anything,” said Han. “And keep your weapons ready, everyone. Mi, how’s the refiner looking?”

 “On course to be completed as scheduled,” said Mi. “306 milliliters excitonium refined so far.”

 There was a brief silence, then Antonov saw an anrau swoop in on Ivan’s position. Ivan shot it easily, and it fell with a screech and a splash into one of the small ponds. The sound of the shot echoed strangely, though, and he could see many smaller insects scurrying away frantically.

 “Just got one of the little flying devils,” said Ivan over the commlink. “It didn’t even try to evade, though it looked like it wanted to try to catch me for its next meal.”

 “Alright,” said Han. “Good shooting. Did anyone else see anything?”

 “When Ivan fired, a lot of smaller creatures ran away,” said Antonov. “Judging by their reaction, I’d say this is the first time in a while that someone’s fired a weapon in this area.”

 “Noted,” said Han. “Well, they won’t jump twice. Keep your weapons steady and aim well if anything else decides to try to be a hero.”

 For several more hours nothing happened; Antonov and his teammates met back at the speeder each hour, and the drones picked up only smaller creatures, which took a wide path around the area patrolled by the humans. Several anraus tried to investigate the drones, but Antonov was able to pilot the drones to evade them. The sky began to darken, however, as a storm front moved in. At one of their breaks, Nicolas looked up at the clouds worriedly; they were a dark shade of magenta, almost burgundy in color.

 “If that turns into a full-out storm we’ll be in trouble,” he said. “It’ll cut down our visibility and the wind will pick up; we’ll have to watch out for wind gusts, since anraus like to use those to give them great bursts of speed when hunting.”

"Keep a careful watch, everyone," said Han. The teammates returned to their positions. A few moments later the clouds moved overhead and the wind started to pick up. Rain began to pour down, and Antonov was forced to bring his drones back to the speeder and land them to prevent them from crashing in the stormy air. Han called over the commlink: "Everyone get back to the speeder!". After a few moments all of the teammates except Ivan were huddled in the speeder.

"Where's Ivan?" asked Han.

"I didn't see him when I started to go back," said Mi.

"You were the closest to him, too," said Han. He activated the commlink and tried to contact Ivan on it, but there was no response. "Did anyone else see him?"

"No," said Antonov. "I couldn't see him on the drones when I took them in to land, though none of them were directly overhead the area he was in at the time."

"Should we go out to look for him?" asked Albert. "Tara and I should be able to handle anything out there."

"Sure," said Han. "Tony, you go with them to cover their backs. If you can't find Ivan within three hundred meters of the refiner, come back here. And stay together; I don't want anyone else disappearing."

"Ok," said Albert. The three of them moved forward, going past the refiner and skirting the edge of the pond from which it was draining water; on the other side of the pond, the grass grew taller and there were clumps of bushes and small trees, making a thicket that cut off visibility from the west. Albert moved into the thicket and quickly backed out, his face pale.

"What did you see?" asked Antonov.

"Ivan, or what's left of him," gasped Albert. "Get out of here!"

They started to run, but suddenly a massive skittering sound came from behind them. A long arm shot out, and Albert screamed once as it dragged him back into the thicket. Antonov looked back and saw what appeared to be the back of a titanic praying mantis disappearing into the brush and trees. He quickly stopped and fired at it with his plasma carbine; one shot hit it, which caused it to run faster, but the others missed. Tara fired a volley of shots into the thicket, just as at least a dozen skorpix rushed out towards them. They both ran as fast as they could back towards the speeder. Antonov called over the commlink, "Team, we need cover fire now!"

Several figures appeared outside the speeder; Antonov recognized Nicolas, who fired a shot that felled a skorpix. The rest of the pack kept running, leaping over the body with a hideous clicking sound; slowly their numbers were reduced by shots from Nicolas and Han. Just as Tara and Antonov reached the speeder, the last two skorpix fell dead behind them, chittering wildly.

"Lord, it took Albert too," gasped Tara. "We have to stop this thing."

"Get in the speeder, all of you," said Han grimly. "Leave the refiner. Our lives are worth more than finishing this job. We'll go straight to the place where we landed our ships and get the heck off this planet."

Nicolas and the others rushed into the speeder behind Antonov. Han shut the boarding hatch as he entered. Antonov turned on the speeder's engine and quickly did the preflight checks, then took off. The gusts of wind made it much harder to fly, and the storm cut down visibility; he tried to keep the speeder on track towards the north. Suddenly a swarm of anraus burst out of nowhere, slamming against the speeder; one must have hit the drive, as the speeder swung sharply downwards and hit the ground despite Antonov's efforts to pull up. Sparks flew up from several control panels and the hull creaked ominously. Antonov hit his head on a control panel as the speeder crashed into a large tree, and he lost consciousness.

When Antonov came to, he was laying in the back of the speeder on a slide-out bed. Tara, Mi, and Han were all standing near him. He looked around to the front of the speeder, which was crushed; the hull was bent almost completely out of shape, and most of the support braces were exposed and poking through the destroyed interior panels.

"Are you all alright?" Antonov asked.

"Yes," said Han. "We were all in the back here, and most of the impact must have been in the front; we were thrown around a bit, but no one else was hurt seriously. Nicolas went out about half an hour ago to see if anything is nearby."

"How long have I been out for, then?" said Antonov, trying to get up. He staggered and fell back onto the bed.

"About two hours," said Tara, helping him sit up.

"Wait, you said Nicolas was outside by himself," said Antonov, horrified. "Is he crazy? Doesn't he know what that thing can do to us?"

"He said he knows the terrain, and the Tantoro's abilities," said Han. "Once he comes back we should try to get to the landing site, or back to the lodge; maybe we can try to communicate with command from there."

"Han, he probably shouldn't walk anywhere for a while," said Mi, looking at Antonov. "He was hit pretty bad when we crashed. When I checked him earlier at least two of his ribs on his right side were broken."

"Antonov, how many fingers am I holding up?" asked Han, holding his hand out.

"Five," said Antonov without hesitation. "I can see clearly, but my head and side hurt."

"We need to get him to a medical facility," said Mi. At this point Nicolas came back, walking quickly and glancing around into the forest.

"Did you see anything suspicious?" asked Han.

"Nothing," said Nicolas. "But that doesn't mean it couldn't still be out there."

"Do you know where the closest medical facility is?" said Mi. "We need to get Antonov there."

"Yes," said Nicolas. "There is a small town about 100 kilometers east of the lodge; there's long-range commlinks in the lodge that we can use to tell them about our situation."

"How far are we from the lodge?" asked Han.

"We need to find our way back to the trail first," said Nicolas. "We're probably no more than 20 kilometers from the lodge."

They started off, Nicolas leading the way with Mi behind him; next came Antonov with Han helping him walk, and Tara brought up the rear. The forest was thick, and they could see barely ten meters in any direction; the thick undergrowth, with countless small trees and bushes, and vines clinging to some of the larger trees, was perfect concealment for any predators. Smaller insects skittered through the vegetation, but no larger creatures showed themselves. Mi had a QFDP, and Han, Nicolas, and Tara all had their plasma carbines. Tara kept looking from side to side, scanning the forest; it was the first time that Antonov had seen her act nervously. No one spoke, and they all tried to move as quietly as possible. Mi tried to appear unaffected, but she was trembling, both from fear and from grief at Ivan's death. Antonov could barely see straight, and each breath was fire; he desperately tried to keep from taking deep or fast breaths so that his broken ribs would not puncture his lung. Han scanned the forest just like Tara, only he also shot occasional glances to the side or over his shoulder. Nicolas held a plasma grenade in one hand and his carbine in the other; if anything jumped him, he would be prepared to take it down. After three hours of walking, they took a rest; Han stood guard a few feet away from the four others, who were sitting and leaning on the roots of a tree.

"Any idea of how far we've come from the crash site?" he asked Nicolas.

"This forest is pretty thick, I would guess we've made about ten kilometers," said Nicolas. "We should hurry, it will be late afternoon soon, and the Tantoro can use the shadows to its advantage."

"Did that thing call in the smaller bugs to assist?" asked Tara. "It seemed like that pack of them attacked to cover its trail, after it-" she broke off.

"I don't remember hearing anything about mind control in the legends about it," said Nicolas. "But there's always the possibility it could have evolved that capability."

"Evolved, or been given it?" said Han, looking into the forest warily. "Who knows if the scientists controlling the 'experiment' aren't still around, after all."

"If this is all an experiment it's a very badly designed one," said Antonov. "Anyone could just go into the area, although the locals stay out because they know what's here. I can't believe our company didn't warn us."

"We have to get out of here," said Mi. "Nothing else matters right now."

"I know," said Tara. "Well, no use sitting around. Let's go."

They stood and walked on. The sun's light started to grow fainter as the day turned to afternoon, and soon the shadows were deepening. They went on like this for another hour, Nicolas silently leading the way and pointing out easier paths for them. Little did they know, from behind the cover of the undergrowth, their enemy watched them. They stopped to rest at a cluster of trees, where four large-trunked trees grew close together, forming a sort of wall on three sides. The forest was much darker now, and they could hear larger insects occasionally crashing through the undergrowth as they hunted. Antonov tried to control his breathing, but each breath was painful, and he knew if he took a deep breath he risked puncturing his lungs. The others were scarcely in better condition; they had not eaten in hours, and only had small flasks of water with them. Because of this, they had to stop frequently. Nicolas paced nervously at each stop, but he knew they needed the rest; still, he was frustrated, as the Tantoro and it allies could lay ambushes for them during this time. After what seemed like an eternity of walking through the forest, they finally came to the clearing where the lodge stood.

"Thank God," gasped Antonov. Mi looked at him with concern; he was barely able to breathe, and looked very pale and tired. Han was giving him almost all the support to keep walking, and even with the help he had still almost fallen several times. The stars were shining brightly in the sky; along with the setting sun, this was all the light they had.

"Get inside, quickly!" yelled Nicolas as a furious chittering came from the forest. They ran as fast as they could, Nicolas and Tara firing a shot back into the forest every few yards. Some furious screeches from the forest told them they had hit some of their targets. Han, helping Antonov, made it to the main door and unlocked it; Mi followed just behind them. Just as the three of them had opened the door and got inside, a pack of skorpix rushed out of the forest. They almost seemed to be arranged in careful formations, to most effectively cut off Tara and Nicolas from getting to the lodge. Nicolas hesitated for an instant, then ran along the trail towards the ships' landing site. Tara followed him right away, firing a round into the skorpix pack that sent its target to the ground. The pack continued to follow them at first, then stopped as the Tantoro emerged from the forest; it made a curious screeching sound, and the skorpix all stopped, then turned back towards the cabin and began to surround it.

"Keep going," yelled Nicolas, seeing that Tara had paused in shock. "It'll send out some of them to catch us if we stay nearby."

Tara turned and followed him down the trail, fighting down tears at the thought of what was about to happen to her teammates. Nicolas slowed his pace slightly; it would take them a considerable amount of time to reach the ships' landing site on foot, and he did not want them to be exhausted from running in case a predator decided to take the opportunity to attack, or the Tantoro decided to send out some skorpix to hunt them down. They were both cautious, as the sky was darkening while the sun fell lower. The forest was ominously still; Nicolas motioned to Tara that they had to keep quiet, and they proceeded down the trail.

Meanwhile back at the cabin, Han and Mi were trying to keep Antonov alive. They laid him on a couch in the central room in the lodge. Han had found some pain reducers in a storage locker, and he kept watch while Mi checked Antonov's vitals and injected him with the pain reducers. They could hear the skorpix pack scuffling around outside the cabin, occasionally charging into the walls; this lasted for several minutes, then there was silence.

"Is he going to be ok?" asked Han, nodding towards Antonov.

"He's lost a lot of blood and he has internal bleeding as well," said Mi. "We need to send a message to any local authorities, and ask for medical help. I can't take care of this with the resources we have here, he needs a hospital."

"I'm on it," said Han. "Keep a close watch on the doors, and I'll look around for any long-range comm devices. I'll leave my pack here, it's got some grenades and rations."

Mi nodded, sitting on a chair near Antonov; the central room had hallways leading out on four sides, and she could see both the front and the back door from the room. Han walked down the corridor to the right of the main room, looking in each room and trying to make as little noise as possible.

In the clearing outside the lodge, three dozen skorpix gathered in a group around the Tantoro. Very good work, it sent to them. Surround the building, and break in at any weak points. Bring the remains to me.

The skorpix sent acknowledgement, and began their work.

Meanwhile Han continued his search for a comm device; in the first room he found an old computer device; he tried to get it started, but it wouldn't power up. He left it and continued to search the room. On a table near the window he found a newer small computer device; it powered up right away, and he took it with him to look for a signal booster. He found one in a supply closet, along with several stun rods; these he left, as they would be practically useless against the skorpix or the Tantoro. He moved onto the next room, but it was a bedroom, and he guessed there would be no useful supplies there. Then he remembered the storage room at the end of the hall, near the garage where the speeder had been stored. He walked down the hallway, just as a rattling came from one of the windows in the room he had just left; hearing this, he quickened his pace and rushed into the storage room. He began searching the containers in the storage room, opening each one then moving onto the next as soon as he saw they held no signal boosters. As he reached the last container, there was a terrific crashing sound from the end of the hall near the garage. Han ran out to the doorway of the storage room to see what it was, and jumped back into the room as a skorpix rushed at him from the shattered side doorway of the garage. Gasping for breath, he raised his plasma carbine, just in time as the skorpix charged down the hallway, skidding to a stop as it saw the doorway of the storage room in its peripheral vision. It changed directions quickly, rearing up on two of its legs and swiveling round to bring it in line for a charge into the storage room. Han fired several rounds at it with his weapon, and the skorpix staggered, then fell to the ground. Han kept firing for several seconds, then cautiously peered out of the doorway, raising his weapon just too late as another skorpix leapt on him and brought him to the ground. He proudly stayed silent; no enemy would make him scream in fear. His last sight was of the skorpix's tail slamming down on him; there was a brief flash of pain at the impact, then slowly fading into nothingness.

Back in the main room of the lodge, Antonov was slowly slipping into unconsciousness while Mi sadly watched him. Antonov shook his head to try to clear his vision, but it remained blurred.

"Mi, my eyes are starting to get blurry," he said. "What does that mean?"

"Just try to keep still," said Mi. "I'm sure Han will be back soon, and then we can call for some help."

Just then they heard a loud crashing sound at the front and back doors, as well as a commotion from down the hallway. Mi screamed as the doors buckled under heavy blows from outside.

"Help me sit up," Antonov gasped, coughing blood, as he picked up his plasma carbine. "Let's take a few of them with us."

Mi nodded and helped him; she raised her QFDP and pointed it at the back door. Antonov took several grenades from Han's pack and armed them with a proximity detonation setting, then rolled them along the ground; they stopped several meters from the couch. He raised his plasma carbine and pointed it at the front door. Moments later, they heard the commotion down the hall. Mi glanced down the hall and sobbed, but kept her weapon pointed at the back door. Almost instantly afterwards, skorpix burst through the front and back doors; combined with the skorpix in the corridor, they charged into the main room from three sides. Mi's QFDP was less effective against them, but she still managed to fell one of the beasts. Antonov killed two and severely injured another; its packmates dispatched it instantly, and several got into a fight over its remains. The grenades all went off as planned, blasting half a dozen skorpix to bits; the rest of the pack charged over the bodies, although the grenades had killed both of the humans inside the area as well.

Mission accomplished, the alpha skorpix sent to the Tantoro.

Good work, my servants, responded the Tantoro. Now gather your brethren and let us rid this place of the rest of these weak creatures.

Meanwhile, Tara and Nicolas had kept up their pace on the trail. Still, it had only been a few minutes before several skorpix crashed through the undergrowth behind them and charged; they managed to kill them all, but Nicolas realized this meant that the skorpix had most likely already killed everyone at the cabin.

"We need to go faster," he said. "Run, now!"

Tara nodded and they both started running; soon, they came in sight of the clearing.

"Take my ship," yelled Nicolas, as Tara ran for the *Metru Magella*. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to set the reactor to self-destruct," called Tara. "It will only take a few minutes, and it'll kill many of the skorpix, maybe even the Tantoro, and make it so no one has to come back here for the ship."

"Alright, but make it fast," said Nicolas. Tara ran up the boarding ramp into the *Metru Magella* and logged into a control panel in the cargo bay. She set the self-destruct for ten minutes and secured it so that it could not be cancelled, then ran as fast as she could back out of the *Metru Magella* and to Nicolas' ship.

"All right, we have about eight minutes," she said, breathing heavily.

"Good, the ship is almost ready," said Nicolas, adjusting the controls and hurriedly doing all the prelaunch checks. Just as he was finishing the last systems check and adjusting the atmos' drive power to prepare for takeoff, a dozen skorpix burst out of the forest at the edge of the clearing, charging towards the ships.

"Let's go! They're coming," said Tara nervously. Nicolas rammed the throttle up, and the ship accelerated, pulling up sharply and going into a steep climb, in order to get some distance from the site of the explosion that would take place in a few minutes. As they broke through the cloud layer, they saw the flash behind them; then came the shockwave and the massive booming sound that told them of the *Metru Magella*'s fate. The ship was hit violently by the shockwave, and Nicolas briefly lost control, but he was soon able to get it back on course again. They headed towards a nearby spaceport, and notified the local authorities of the incident. The commander of the local Bandorian military forces told them that she would send air units to conduct extensive bombing runs of the area, and it would be declared off-limits for the next 100 years, at which time a special task force would be sent in to exterminate any remaining creatures in the area. Nicolas managed to get a contract as an escort fighter pilot with a local transport company, and Tara went back to her home planet of Rade, where she got work at a water collection company. The military operations on the moon went ahead as planned, and drones were sent into the area to scout it. After three years of constant high-precision monitoring of the area with no sightings of any large predatory creatures, the Bandorian military forces considered it sterilized; nevertheless, they kept the special task force operation order on the plans for the area, and it was still declared off-limits.

17 years after the explosion, something stirred under a pile of rubble in the restricted area of Tanar 1 b as the Tantoro slowly came to its senses.