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After much fanfare, and a discussion of currency between Jerrith, Squee and Oakiino (one egg will net the group 500 azurs), the trio meets their hunt leader Kyapen. Dressed in a tightly woven vest of dense of plant fibers hosting hard wood plates and other armor, his lean wiry frame looks toughened - despite the species resemblance to a man-sized bipedal hair-less cat. A long iron spear and quiver of javelins remind them this hunt is business. After a cursory inspection of the group, scolding Alan’s apparent unpreparedness and smearing Prymaat dung on them - to get the scent, the four head into the semi-arid purple and yellow forest of the Veddas shiff.

* * *
The time is spent getting familiar with the terrain and getting close to their quarry. Squeezil scouts ahead in the concealing underbrush of alabaster root tangles and tufts of magenta weed growth. Alan discovers some old Prymaat spore - scan reveals it to be reptilian with digested mammalian bone fragments and fur. Jerrith warns the party away from a sinkhole but later unknowingly happens upon a predatory root system entangling his foot and leg. Hatchet uses a javelin to try to distract it but the entire shaft is snatched beneath the dirt with frightening speed and strength, demonstrating Jerrith’s fate if he isn’t delicate in his extraction. The ferret tumbles and leaps through the patch triggering furious grasps from the roots. Distracted, the hunter and engineer are able to help ease Jerrith out of the hold.

Under the burgundy glow of night and over a pot of some kind of savory porridge, Kyapen makes conversation with these strange beings. The group learns of Jerrith’s training with his father and bravery in the rescue of hostages from resistance fighters. Alan talks about his wild partying school days before being buried in the mundane work of a ship’s technician. Squee recounts days spent in a cage, only occasionally being freed to cavort with other animals, before bonding with Jerrith as her owner. The alien views this as an odd form of matrimony, which he understands - revealing two piercings on two of his fingers each for one wife.

His people, the Pangeese, are the natives of Veddas. Contact with the Cappoadans during their war with the Myessi brought civilization to them generations back but they carefully act to preserve the richness of their home. The Prymaat they hunt is one of a few remaining. Laying only two to four eggs per few years they must leave half as many behind to ensure its survival. Despite being a sizable predator, it is important to spare the beasts life if at all possible.

* * *

The next day they come upon a nest site with three eggs shelter by a trio of boulders. They stealthily approach fanned out. Squee is able to get right above the nest sniffing for any signs of the parent. She hops a top a rock to find it subtlety moving and dirt covering a scale pattern like that of the eggs but much larger. If she screams it may awake, fortunately Kyapen’s misstep takes away the possibility of her alerting it. Two tree think legs explode the bulk of a tank-sized beast from beneath the loose soil. It roars angrily towards the Pangeese hunter through a beak large enough to chew the entire party at once.

It charges Kyapen and nearly crushes him. Alan hustles to bowling ball like eggs to grab one as Squee grab on for a ride. Jerrith fires twice and hits but the bullets only half penetrate its shell. The beast whirls to chase Hatchett and it egg. Bounding over the two car sized boulders it closes with him in a moment. Three think tongues whip out suck in the engineer, passed out and hurt in its mouth. The ferret purchases on the egg threatening it before the beast, one of its yellow eyes bigger than her entire body. Alan is spit out and it waits watching the small creature. When she backs down in response to its surrender her friend the creature scoops up her and the egg in its maw and heads back to the nest. Jerrith restless down a small tree to whip into the Prymaat hard. Protecting its eggs it stays away from him.

Unwilling to leave its nest the group have little choice and stop holding back. The M-6 carbine, Squeezils precise attacks and the Pangeese iron spear brings the beast down.
* * *

Hatchett revives and is treated with Jerrith’s skill. On the way back they encounter the iguana team whom ask after their success. The hunter tells them one egg remains and the hunt is over. The creatures inscrutably stare for a moment before scuttling of past the group. Squeezil’s instinct is that she and her friends are now the hunted. At camp that night her suspicions prove accurate, as the scent of predators wafts on the night breeze. While they move away from the campsite, pair of large liquid black creatures strike from the shadows. The resemble adult versions of the guard beasts Alan kept vigil with at the metal shop. Kyapen’s blood is loosed and the ferret nearly incised by a marble fangs. She scrapes off her mud coating to let the glowing plant residue still stuck to her fur light the area.

The hunter calls them Nocteans. Their smoothly reflective skin, making it hard to define their outline from the shadows, diffuses the ferret’s glow. Squee is nearly nipped by one, flanked by the two humans it’s still hard discern. The Pangeese retreats towards the campfire and is nearly stung by a pair of tendrils sprouting from behind a stalker’s head. A strong light source behind them silhouettes the creatures starkly and it becomes easier to counterattack against their silky grace. One is scared off; the other jumps into the fire at Squee’s precise attack and is immolated. None other cross their path that night and it is questioned whether these things were on a regular hunt or were released for the eggs.

* * *

The group finally arrives back at the city limits of Veddalo, appraised by varied groups of expectant eyes as a crowd starts to gather. With a nod from the Pangeese hunter, Alan and Jerrith hold high the two eggs they retrieved.

The cheers are near deafening.

The rest of the Jovian Saga

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