Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Headhunter ❯ Tournament. ( Chapter 4 )

Headhunter

 

Chapter 3

 

Tournament.

 

Bishop was walking to representative Ayanami's quarters. He had received and recorded a message from Gendo Ikari himself. It wasn't that these were rare, but when `Eyes only' orders were given, they were usually transmitted through high security communication channels in encrypted forms.

 

This time, though, it was a voice message and it was send through a synthetic. Only very important messages were relayed through synthetics. It was a mark that something big was going on, something that was meant to be a secret. Synthetics were loyal to their builder, Weyland-Yutani. They would never give out information if they knew it was going to implicate their agenda.

 

Or so it seemed.

 

The latest incidents occurring with synthetic pilots and workers had cast a shadow over W&Y's image.

Some androids, which were slavishly loyal to the objectives given to them, had begun to think that humans were a threat to the accomplishment of their orders. Bishop had heard that some androids had even tried to kill human members of their crews to make sure that orders were carried out to the letter.

 

Bishop was programmed and constructed to be a lab assistant, co-pilot and technician. While he was appalled at the very thought of harming his fellow workers, he sometimes wondered whether that was his own will or someone else's. He had been programmed not to harm anyone, even if ordered to. He also understood that he could not aid his comrades if their lives were in danger. He didn't really want to find out which one would finally win: W&Y programming or his own will.

 

He could only hamper W&Y with indirect activities. He couldn't sabotage or rebel against them, but he could access W&Y data banks. After all, he wanted to be a better worker to the corporation, and what better way to aid his almighty creator than helping his son to be more aware of himself and his past? He could make up dozens of reasons why he had to know about Yui Ikari. The reason he settled on was that he was `freeing up resources by tracking and concluding files on former employees of the company'. He thought that, as an excuse, it seemed a little hazy, but, to his surprise, it had gone through in checks inquiries, which meant that W&Y were employing not-so-qualified personnel to run things in the archives.

 

The real reason was, of course, that Shinji had asked him a favor, and doing that favor seemed to be within the limits of what he could achieve without breaking many rules. He was also personally interested in what W&Y was up to.

After all, he had his own opinion on matters and the way they were.

 

He finally reached the quarters of the representative of W&Y. He was surprised how far ahead of him she had gotten: he hadn't stopped for very long to chat with Shinji, but she still had managed to get inside her cabin before Bishop had a chance to reach her.

 

Bishop stopped his servomotors in front of the cabin door. He pressed some buttons next to the opening panel and a soft voice answered. “Yes?” it asked.

 

“This is artificial worker Bishop, number 74. I have a message for you,” Bishop stated in his own voice. It matched Rei's own voice in its official tone, but it wasn't as quiet or thin as Rei's.

 

“What is it?” Rei inquired. Bishop sensed a slight change in Rei's tone.

 

“It's an `Eyes Only' commandment,” Bishop answered.

 

There was silence for a few moments, and Bishop wondered if he had come at a bad time. Then again, the message had to be transferred immediately. That had been made clear. “Inside,” Rei answered finally.

 

The doors opened and Bishop stepped inside her cabin. Bishop noticed how ascetic it was. The only furnishings present were those that were needed. Most of the W&Y personnel wanted to decorate their cabins with their own, what Bishop thought to be somewhat eccentric, style, but he noticed that this cabin was almost in its original condition. He was a worker, not a fashion designer, but it seemed desolate, even to him.

 

Bishop heard water flowing inside the cabin. It seemed he had interrupted the representative's shower session. He turned his head and saw Rei with only a towel covering her hips. She had stepped out of the shower but hadn't made any real attempt to cover herself.

 

Bishop wasn't confused, or flushed. Synthetics had emotional intelligence, which imitated human feelings. They felt pain and joy to a certain degree, and they were able to form their own opinions based on situations and experiences but one thing they didn't possess, which was natural to humans, was sexual arousal. Such a function was, needless to say, useless in a synthetic. Still, Bishop thought that some people would disapprove of this lack of modesty.

 

On the other hand, he also understood that most of the soldiers on the ship probably wouldn't mind if she made all her briefings to them clothed, or should it be unclothed, like this. Rei stared at Bishop like there wasn't anything unusual in her or his appearance. Bishop wondered if she was acting like this to save time, or if she just really did have a hole in her sense of etiquette.

 

Bishop didn't know or feel that he had done anything wrong. After all, Rei had asked him to enter.

 

Rei let her stare remain on him for a little longer and then she spoke. “Play the message,” she said.

Bishop heard the door closing behind him, and searched the data banks in his memory to get ready to replay it. It was an encrypted voice message.

 

Bishop's voice changed radically. His automatic synthesizer made changes in his tone. “Rei.”

Now Bishop didn't sound like himself anymore. It was the voice of someone else: Gendo Ikari.

Bishop's outward appearance and stance didn't change a bit. The voice he was replaying seemed so hard and cold that it was almost impossible to even think that it would be his real voice.

 

Rei recognized this voice instantly. Her figure seemed to start when she heard the recorded voice. Her red eyes seemed to get sharper and her figure was alarmed.

 

“I have several tasks for you,” the voice continued. “You may choose yourself what task will you complete first, but choose carefully.”

 

Rei nodded.

 

“The first one concerns the transfer of new personnel. Doctor Ritsuko Akagi has been ordered to transfer to the Costanoga class cruiser, Solaris. She's hoping to get first hand knowledge on Xenomorphs. She has her own equipment, as well trained operators and lab techs with her. While she has done excellent work with some minor samples, I'm uncertain as to how she will deal with real specimens. Watch her carefully. I don't know if she is fully committed to our cause.”

 

Gendo Ikari was silent for a moment before he continued. "Your next task is both military and retrieval. A band of… raiders…" Ikari made a small pause and filled the gap with a despising snort. "…Has made a bold move. They have intercepted one of our cargo ferries and raided it. They are using a wartime frigate as their base of operations. It is named 'Firefly'. I doubt there will be any survivors. Personally, I've grown tired of playing games with its `captain'. Make sure that he and his raider operations are dead as the sci-fi series after which they named their ship. Do not, how ever, destroy the ship until you have boarded it and secured the cargo. It's carrying a quantity of the Terium drug, which is more valuable than the whole crew. If some raiders do surrender, take them captive. They may be useful as a test subjects or mercenaries. Their last transmission came near coordinates 7-3-4 near Io, one of Jupiter's moons. If you are lucky you can still catch them." Bishop wondered what Ikari meant by test subjects.

 

Rei's expression grew more wearied and heavier. So she knew something about them, or at least guessed it. But she didn't like it, or thought on it without pleasure.

 

"The last task," Bishop continued replaying the message “is about our experiments with living Xenomorph specimens. At planet Enron, an unfortunate event took place when a containment system for the specimens failed, and they escaped. As predicted, our classification protocol has overridden any attempts by them to make distress calls. It has completely foiled their signal frequencies and none of our ships in the region will come to their aid… Except this, of course. Any unwanted witnesses should be taken care of by the Xenomorphs; they should all be dead by now, so you don't have blood on your hands, and besides, they are all replaceable. What I can tell you is that there were two specimens in the holding pen. Try to capture at least one of them, and maybe Dr Akagi's request for a whole specimen can be fulfilled. Officially, this was a tragic accident, caused by yet another mistake in choosing which worlds to colonize; Xenomorphs seem to rest in the most unusual places indeed. The lives that were lost were sacrificed in the name of mankind in order to make the universe a better place to live.” Gendo sounded almost like he was giving a press statement, until he finished his sentence, “…They were incompetent and that was bad for the public face of Weyland-Yutani. We didn't suffer any real losses, and whatever compensation has to be paid to the families is like a single drop in the ocean. It should be good publicity for our insurance division. Every other problem has been dealt with, so the only real issue is the capturing of the specimen. Contact me when it's done."

 

What Bishop could read from her face was a mixture of furious planning coupled with worry. Or perhaps was it guilt? Bishop couldn't tell. He had noticed that of all the humans he had worked with, only Rei seemed to be like him. Actually, some people said even that she was a new kind of android, capable of independent thinking. But Bishop could easily tell that Rei, no matter how strange her behavior was, wasn't one of his kind.

 

The message wasn't yet concluded. “I suggest that you will let Akagi wait, and first proceed with these more important missions. She has waited for this for a long time: she can wait some more. You should choose to take care of the more important objectives.”

 

“End of transmission,” Bishop stated. This was one of his qualities that he didn't value. Although many of his designers considered this message transmitting and securing system on of a synthetic worker's top qualities, he didn't like replaying messages this way. It sounded weird, and it made him seem possessed.

 

Rei seemed to have eased a little. When he was beginning to replay it, she was tense, like somebody who feared and yet valued what was coming. Rei was now carefully deciding what she should do.

Both options seemed like they were already closed. She couldn't help the people on Enron: they were all dead by now…

 

“Representative…?” Bishop called, as he saw how Rei had almost forgotten his presence in her cabin.

 

“Yes?” Rei answered immediately. Her expression returned instantly to her normal blank expression. She looked as though the last few minutes had never happened.

 

“May I be excused? Mechanic Horaki has requested my help on maintenance duties on one of the upper decks.” Bishop didn't see any reason to ask if she was alright, because she wouldn't tell him, even if something was wrong. She had avoided routine checks in the docks every time.

 

“Of course,” Rei answered and turned back to her shower. It seemed like she intend to finish what Bishop had interrupted. Bishop walked out the door and began to pick a way towards the area in which he'd been called to assist.

 

*

 

Hikari was, again, in the main launching bay, repairing the airlock emergency pressuring system. Considering there was only one safety system it was relatively badly maintained. Hikari could only wonder how it passed safety inspections. It seemed that safety was the last priority in the company's list of duties. “Had to be the cheapest system you could get, huh?” she mumbled. “Can't buy a better one, no…always have to stick to the cheapest… what if a couple of hundred gun totters were blown to the void, huh? I suppose they'd just send a pay-check after them…” She took another good look at the safety system's wiring: everything seemed to be alright. She had done this at least three times, and diagnostics indicated that her command could not be transmitted. “Talk to me please…” she whispered as she began to run a diagnostic for a fourth time.

 

“I'm talking to you now,” a voice said behind her.

 

Hikari glanced behind her. Her sudden start changed quickly to annoyance and anger. “You!” she barked. “What you are doing here?”

 

Toji was startled by Hikari's sudden outburst. He forgot that she had a long memory. “I've missed you too,” Toji said submissively. He looked at his girl whom he hadn't seen for a couple of weeks. Her appearance had changed only a little. Instead of two piggy tails she had only one thicker ponytail. She wore, as she usually did, her dark blue mechanic outfit and her pilot uniform, which she had combined together, so it was green at some parts.

Her freckles had stayed too.

“Don't start talking to me like that! I've had enough of it,” she said icily. “Besides, I have work to do, so why don't you go shoot somebody, do some parade or whatever you people do for a living…” She turned back to her diagnostic terminal.

 

Toji spread his arms and shook his head. “Such a warm welcome, I'd almost think I'm unwanted here. Besides you weren't so `delighted' yesterday when we met.”

 

“Yesterday was just that: yesterday! If you're trying to spin that act of yours here, you're gonna get a war so bad you'll be hoping to hide behind a bloodthirsty Predator rather than deal with me,” Hikari said in serious tone.

 

Toji took a little more apologizing expression. “Are you still chewing on that old thing…?”

 

“Old?!” Hikari shrieked and jumped up to turn and face him. “Old! It was three weeks, two days and...” Hikari glanced her watch. “…15 hours ago when I had everything set, and thought `Oh, maybe Toji needs some cheering up,' and called you to invite you to my place. And what did you answer?” She looked at Toji accusingly.

 

Toji had begun to sweat a little, and regretted thinking that Hikari would have forgotten such an atrocity. “W-well I...I…” he stuttered.

 

“You…” Hikari's voice climbed at least two octaves, “You said you had more important things to do. And what was so important that you had to give the middle finger to my irresistible offer?” She again let Toji answer and gave him a `No Mercy'â„¢ stare. It was the same way Asuka had treated Shinji when she was alive.

 

Toji took a couple of steps backwards. It seemed Hikari wasn't in a cheery mood, and suddenly being in a line listening to Sergeant Barnes's taunts didn't felt like such a bad idea. In fact, it was almost inviting. “Um…”

 

“I'll tell you: you put your girlfriend's invitation aside because of a… freaking… basketball… match!” She poked her finger at Toji's chest between every word in `a freaking basketball match'.

“Basketball! So bouncing a rubber ball is more valuable to you than your girlfriend?”

 

“Hey!” he roared. “It wasn't just a match, it was the semi-finals!” The courage he gained from his anger at Hikari's mocking of his favorite sport vanished, however, as Hikari launched even more furiously into another barrage of words.

 

“Don't you `Hey' me! I'm the one whose feelings are hurt, I'm the one who got dumped because of a sport!” she yelled.

 

“Look, I didn't mean to offend you, but it was my favorite team on the line, besides we can always have one of those...” he said in an apologizing tone.

 

“This isn't about a dinner, it's about the way you act! You don't even value me enough that you would call me and say that you aren't coming!” Her voice echoed through the hall, making the walls tremble.

 

“That's not true! I do value you!” he retorted.

 

“You didn't call me or send a message to say `Hey, sorry, I can't come because I have to watch a group of guys chasing a rubber ball,' did you?” She left the question hanging in the air.

 

“Ummm…I…” Toji was even more nervous now. He'd never seen her this angry before, so he tried to do what he thought, in this situation, would be best: being honest. “I… didn't want to… hurt your feelings…”

 

“You honestly thought that leaving me waiting wouldn't make me mad?” she asked tiredly.

 

Toji thought about her question. “No…not exactly, but…I just thought that…” He began to lose his words again and the purpose of his talk was beginning to fade away.

 

“Thought what?” Hikari asked in a resolute tone.

 

“That if I called to tell you, we would have had this fight then, and after all, it was the day before my departure to another escort duty and then to here. I couldn't have relaxed even if we had been in Earth's best restaurant sipping up the finest wine that corporations import there…” He shook his head. “I just didn't want to go away with us having a strain like this on our relationship,” he answered.

 

“Wasn't the real reason that you didn't want to miss start of your match?” she asked dryly.

 

Toji thought on how to answer that. “Well, that too…but…”

 

“Of course.” Hikari rolled her eyes. “How do you think I feel when some sport gets between us and you make up lies to protect it?”

 

Toji sighed. “You misunderstood me. I said that was one reason, but the main reason was that I didn't want to have this conversation then.”

 

“Oh now I get it!” Hikari crossed her arms. “I'm just getting angry over nothing! I should just smile and let you do your stuff and keep a good distance between us!”

 

“I didn't say that! I didn't say that you don't have a reason to be angry, but you have to admit that you're boiling over because a dinner, and we're gonna have more time together here than we did there.”

 

“You didn't listen to me, this isn't about you skipping a dinner, it's about you skipping out on the time we have together before you die!” she shrieked.

 

“Well maybe I… Wait a minute…” He stopped when he realized what Hikari had just said.

 

Hikari seemed to realize something. She looked horrified and her face turned pale. “Did I say that?”

she asked quietly.

 

“You said I'm going to die,” Toji answered seriously.

 

Hikari bowed her head and sat down to her diagnostic equipment. She rubbed her palm down from her forehead to her chin. “Godda….” she stopped her curse before it even began. “I didn't mean to say that… I…” She shook her head.

 

Toji looked at her and then he began to put things together. “Let me get this right. You aren't angry because I didn't call you, or that I left without saying goodbye… It's because you think that someday I…” Toji whistled and snapped his fingers. “And you want us to make as much use of that time as we can…”

 

“It's…” she started. “Well, I got mad too because sometimes you seem to take our relationship for granted.”

 

“I understand now,” he nodded. “But why did you put this whole show together? Why didn't you just say why you were really angry?”

 

Hikari looked at him but now her anger was gone. “I was afraid to say it because I thought if I said it out loud, it would actually come true…” she looked at him in sorrow. “Just like what Asuka said: she was desperate before the day of her mother's death; she said that the cooling process wouldn't work and her mother was going to die… And it happened. No matter how hard I tried to comfort her, I couldn't make her feel better…”

 

Toji knelt beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you did what you could, no less. If Asuka didn't value that, it's her fault not yours.”

 

“I know, but it still didn't feel right… She was dying herself when she saw her mother being strangled by that… thing.” She shuddered as the memory of the spider creature began to loom at the back of her mind.

 

Toji hadn't seen Asuka's mother and he didn't go to see her because he felt like an outsider. He did see Hikari though and sorrow was radiating from her, too. “If she said something, I'm sure she didn't mean it…”

 

”That's just it: she didn't say a thing. I tried to get her to talk but she didn't say anything, just mumbled something and continued watching her mother…” She lifted her head and glanced at him. “I've missed her, wondering what life would have been like if she and the others from that station were still alive…”

 

“Me too,” he answered. “In some way those fights were refreshing, and she didn't stop me screwing things up. I wonder if that shaped us into the people we are now, or if this is fate.”

 

Hikari sighed. “Sometimes I think that this isn't what I should do, or that I would have done something totally different if…”

 

“Either way, I think Asuka would be proud of you now,” Toji said.

 

“You think so?”

 

“Of course. You are both head mechanic and the pilot of dropships, jobs that aren't easy for a woman to get… I mean you both were feminists, weren't you?” he asked jokingly.

 

“And I still am!” she chirped. “Why should I be worse than men mechanics, after all I can do more things at one time!”

 

“That's the spirit, girl!” Toji said and clenched his fist, playfully hitting her arm.

 

Hikari laughed a little and then she looked deeply into his eyes. “I've thought about what you did, and I'm willing to put it aside if you promise something.”

 

“Tempting offer, but I'm not doing your dishes this time,” he answered.

 

“No, just promise me that… you won't die,” she said shyly.

 

Toji smiled at her. Then he took her hands inside of his palms. “I promise. Next when some Predator is trying to decapitate me, I'll just say that I can't die yet.”

 

“And what about Xenomorphs? What are you gonna say to them? I heard they don't talk much,” she asked playfully.

 

Toji grinned. “My kind of guys: less talk and more action.”

 

“As I see it, it'd be better the other way around,” Hikari sneered.

 

“Are you going to start this whole thing all over again?” Toji retorted.

 

“Just trying to make you a better person. Is that a crime?” she smiled.

 

“Maybe not worth capital punishment, but I guess you could use some spanking,” he winked his eye to her suggestively.

 

Hikari had listened to this kind of talk from him since they started dating. At first it seemed rude but now she just put it aside. “In your dreams. I still have my famous Horaki modesty to hold onto.”

 

Toji slumped his shoulders down and pretended to be hurt. “That's a shame. Well you can't always win, not every time.”

 

“That's right,” she laughed. “I've still got a lot of work to do. They didn't give me my mechanic and pilot uniforms just so I could make your guilty conscience lighter.”

 

“I thought that you forgave me already,” Toji complained.

 

“I may forgive, but I don't forget,” Hikari snapped.

 

“Of course, that would be too easy for me….” Toji murmured and then he noticed something as he glanced at his girlfriend's face. “Hikari?”

 

“Yeah?” she asked and tilted her head.

 

“You have something on your pretty face.” Toji pointed her right cheek.

 

Hikari felt her cheek with her fingertips and then rubbed them a little against her cheek. Soon her fingertips were all black. “Oh great,” she snorted. “It's that cursed stuff that Corporation's using. I don't even have a tissue to wipe it off…”

 

Toji grinned when he saw it. “Well you have me right here, what if…” he raised his eyebrows.

 

Hikari flushed a little but then answered. “Haven't you learned anything? Last time you ate that - and I still can't believe you could eat a whole sandwich of that stuff without wondering at the taste - you didn't do anything but sit on the toilet for a day, crapping out both of your ends.”

 

Toji's expression darkened a little. “That was one of you-know-who's stunts. I'm sure she had fun doing it. Besides it was worth it,” he smiled again

 

Hikari eyes seemed to go a little sleepy as looked deeply into his eyes. “Guess one of your strongest points is that you don't learn…”

 

“First time I heard that from you…” He slowly began to move himself closer.

 

This was one of the moments where time seemed to slow down. Hikari slowly began to close her eyes, and move her face closer to Toji's, as an answer to his gentle gesture. When their faces were less than inch away from each other Toji could sense her warm, but soft breath. Suddenly Hikari's face bent to a cheerful smile and her eyes grew wider from their half-closed state. She moved her head away from his, but Toji then heard why. “Bishop!” Hikari chirped.

 

“Did I…” He looked at the obviously disappointed Toji. Bishop couldn't possibly know, but right then in his mind Toji cursed every synthetic, android, artificial person, robot or whatever Weyland-Yutani had put together. Maybe his feelings about the interruption would be best described with the comic book symbol of a skull and crossbones.

 

“Interrupt something?” Hikari added. “No. Not at all, Toji is only stopping by. Glad you came, where were you?”

 

Bishops data banks analyzed for the appropriate answer. Even though Shinji had helped him override some safety mechanisms, corporate business was enclosed and sealed. “I was delivering a message to corporate representative Ayanami. Every matter is classified with command code 7 alpha 8 and….”

 

“…. Directive 67 and moment 86,” Hikari remembered. This was familiar to her. “So I guess that means I can't hear it. Well, how has your day been so far?” Hikari asked politely.

 

“I'm feeling fine.” This meant that his systems were okay. If he felt ill then his artificial organs had been contaminated or he was going through a programming error. “How are you Mechanic Horaki?”

 

“Could you just call me Hikari like everybody else?” she asked.

 

Bishop made corrections to his conversation application. “Of course, Hikari.” Bishop looked over her shoulder. ”But… Do we need to report to the infirmary?” he asked.

 

“Why?” Hikari wondered.

 

“I don't know for sure, but I think that Private Suzahara is experiencing… depression.” He pointed at Toji. Hikari turned and grinned ironically.

 

Toji had stood up, and looked a `little' enraged. His eyes were tiny slits and he had swiped his hand from his forehead to his chin, and his other hand was clenched into a fist, which seemed to be hurting itself.

“What a rotten fate…” he muttered.

 

“Hey, it's like you said; you can't always win, not every time,” she laughed.

 

Toji spread his arms and looked up. In normal conditions he would've faced blue sky, but now he had to satisfy himself with directing his silent question to the dull gray hall roof, reaching out to some force greater than humans, asking why the universe hated him. But as soon as he said it, he took it back because he really didn't want to know.

 

Hikari left Toji wondering over this question by himself, and spoke again to Bishop. “Hey, I've been buzzing all day long here but haven't found anything. Could you lend a hand? This diagnostic equipment doesn't help me anyway...” she glanced at its screen. For the fifth time it showed `Command Cannot Be Translated'.

 

Bishop took a look over her equipment and smiled. “It's no wonder you can't get anything. You'd do it faster if you went through the entire hall's wiring by hand. Even door mechanisms have more circuits than this... `diagnostic system'. Its range is useless in this kind of hall.”

 

“Wasn't that little harsh? Isn't that like your cousin or something that you're talking about?” Toji said, still annoyed over Bishop's interference.

 

Hikari's glared at him angrily and Bishop answered, “I don't have a family, I'm unique.” He didn't take offense, but certain things annoyed him too.

 

“Pretty good, from an android...”

 

Bishop was about to answer but Hikari beat him to it. “`Artificial worker', stupid. And is it too much to ask to show him some appreciation? I couldn't possibly get along in here without him.”

 

“How come? You handle all the equipment don't you? And you were our class's prime student,”

Toji said to her.

 

“I'm flattered, but it isn't about how smart you are, it's how you feel and see,” she chuckled.

 

Bishop knelt down to her equipment and took a wire out of his pocket. This was different to normal couplings. One end was a sharp spike, and the other end was modular, fitting with most electrical devices Toji had seen. He didn't understand the sharp point though, which seemed not to fit anywhere.

 

Bishop plugged the modular end into Hikari's equipment. Then he rolled up his sleeve so that his right arm was bare. Next he put his palm to the middle of his arm.

 

Hikari grimaced. “I hate this part,” she muttered.

 

Bishop twisted his arm and it let out a couple of sounds that sounded to Toji like the time he broke his arm. In Bishop's case, only artificial tissues detached and they revealed several plugs. Part of him came out a like slice of pie. Toji saw several veins that transported Bishop's body liquids and some things he didn't care to know any more about.

Bishop didn't seem to feel anything. He calmly put the sharp end in his connector. It let out a crackling and several sparks that startled Toji a little. Bishop spasmed as the connection was made. Bishop closed his eyes and was sitting still.

 

“What... is that?” Toji asked.

 

“A direct connection to ship's own resources,” Hikari answered, and crossed her arms. “Bishop's CPU makes that little box over there seem like a kids toy. The problem is that he can't access any systems by himself: he needs something that's linked to the ship itself to form a direct connection. Now that he's online this should only take a mi-”

 

“Malfunction found and analyzed,” the ship's speakers said in Bishop's voice.

 

Toji shuddered a little and whispered, “That was creepy...”

 

“Tell me about it,” she answered.

 

Bishop opened his eyes and began to put himself together. “The emergency pressurizing system isn't getting power. It seems there's something wrong in the main power relays. I've got a number of reports on that department. Power has been interrupting in all areas of the ship.”

 

“New ship, and it's broken already,” Toji snorted.

 

“Maybe not,” Hikari said. “Smells like the shipyard's people were in a hurry and didn't make the proper calibrations. The plasma reactor is a bit tricky. It isn't easy to adjust it...” she shook her head.

 

“I'll come with you. We should get it working soon if I can find the right wave form frequency,”

Bishop responded.

 

“Right. Toji, let's do this some other time,” she said in an ironic tune.

 

“Do I have a choice?” he asked, knowing well that the answer was `no'.

 

Hikari smiled at him one last time before she and Bishop exited the hall.

When they were at the hall's door she yelled at him, “Try for once to keep your promise! Good luck with your gun plays!” She waved her hand at Toji and disappeared from his sight.

 

“Good luck. I'm gonna need a hell of a lot more....” He remembered that Bishop had come from seeing the W&Y representative. “I wonder if Snow-White is making a move...” He shrugged and began to seek out a way back to his unit. Sometimes he wondered if he really did want to get himself killed like this but then he remembered that life was too short for separations. This was the most dangerous vocation in the universe after all...

 

 

*

 

... Or more like the second most dangerous. If he and Asuka had somehow managed to meet inside the same room they probably would argue who had seen the most danger in their life.

 

Clearly Asuka would have won that debate. After all she had gone through many phases to get where she was today. Being a member of the clan wasn't easy and it was about to get even harder for her.

 

About 20 meters from her and her ship, there is was, the pitch-black beast.

 

Its long arms were hanging loose at its sides. Its strong legs were still, and its huge shield head waved in the air. Its tail hovered in the air like a cobra.

 

But even its massive size wasn't what made Asuka tremble.

 

It was its jaws.

 

It had horrifying sharp blades in its mouth. Unlike Xenomorphs, its teeth were white as snow and she could've seen them without her hunting mask. With it, she could see every detail, every spot of darkness on it clearly. Normally one only saw an Alien's head and jaws before a quick and painful end.

 

It looked like had been swimming somewhere; its black skin was moist and sparkling in the sun's rays.

Its head shield was bending light away from itself, giving it a somewhat metallic shade. The creature's jaws weren't entirely clean. The lower jaw was with blood the unfortunate worker had left on it as his head was crushed. Its mouth seemed to be twisted into a smile.

 

In that smile all of her fear melded together in a single moment, her mother's death and struggle all alone in the space station against them, every step she'd taken trying to escape, her stomach constricted with the fear they would follow. Her fear was so strong that she couldn't feel hunger, even though she should have been starving.

 

Her fear was justified-just moments away from her was probably the most dangerous creature a lone hunter could ever face: a juvenile queen, also known as a Praetorian.

 

Even the most skilled Predators didn't want to fight against it without planning first. With its claws it could tear an unsuspecting hunter to shreds. It rarely used its claws for anything else but keeping the victim still so its inner jaws could do the work for it.

 

This Praetorian was hungering. It had killed many humans inside the outpost, but it wasn't enough. It lusted for more. It needed much more so it could grow even larger and start building its own brood.

And now it smelled that something had stepped right onto its plate.

 

Saliva dripped all over its head and slowly the inner jaws pushed out of its mouth. It let out a pleased hiss when it saw Asuka waiting on the launch pad. It smelled that this piece of flesh was human but somehow different from the humans it had killed inside the outpost. A small suspicion began to strain its savage brains. But if this human was different, it could a have more nutrient feast when tearing her to pieces.

 

It took a couple of exaggeratedly slow steps as it prepared for the deadly chase that was about to come.

 

Asuka was now horrified. Had it been a Xenomorph, or even several of them she'd have fancied her chances, but she'd never expected to even see a Praetorian, let alone have to fight one. Thaarn had only told her a little about these creatures because he also didn't expect her to ever face them. She was also equipped with weapons that were difficult to use against it. This strong beast could rip her spear out of her hands.

 

A strangling feeling of fear was all around her. She was alone, neither Thaarn nor any of her tribe warriors could help her. Just like four years ago.

 

The Praetorian could somehow sense her fear, and it fed the beast's blood thirst. It again took a couple more steps and its death white grin seemed to grow larger.

 

It looked like it was laughing, not solely at her person, but at everything she had ever been, everything she was now and all she had ever tried to be. Asuka felt like it was laughing at her whole life, like everything she'd done to get here was a really good joke and amusing as hell.

 

This finally pushed her over the edge. She didn't come all this way to die in hands of a mongrel, and nor she would betray her teacher's trust by dying in her first solo hunt. A deep rage towards all Aliens began to take over her. “What are you laughing at!?” she grumbled and took her spear out from its containment part. Twin Alien tails grew from its carrying mode. She twirled it, making a circle. “I am Asuka Sohryu, hunter and student of Predator Thaarn! Come here and I'll wipe your pretty face dry, Sweinhund!” she shrieked and readied her spear. A small humming noise cut the air as her mask's vision mode changed. The Praetorian glowed as a metallic-shaded figure and everything around it changed to deep red.

 

The Praetorian hissed and suddenly changed its pace from lazy walking to rapid four-limbed running. Giant claws took support from the launch pad's steel plating. When it was about five meters from her it leaped into the air.

 

Asuka at first stood still but when the creature was just about to touch her she took a side step and swung her spear, quickly hitting the creature's shield head. Next she crouched and somersaulted on the ground, just managing to avoid getting hit by the Praetorian's giant tail. She quickly turned to face it.

 

The Praetorian hissed more even louder and swung its tail while turning towards her. Asuka shielded herself with her spear and took a jump backwards. The Praetorian again crouched and leaped at her, trying to crush her with its weight. A loud thump echoed when its feet met the ground. Again Asuka had avoided it, this time flipping a cartwheel to the left while holding her spear with her right hand.

 

Thaarn had noticed her performing these kinds of stunts before and advised that they weren't necessary, only working retreats were. Asuka had, of course, stuck by her own opinion and continued to do her acrobatics.

She implied that maybe Thaarn was jealous because he couldn't move like her.

 

Thaarn didn't say anything to that.

 

With fast back steps she began to realize that she had to so something soon. This kind of jumping from one point to another would lead nowhere.

 

Asuka began to remember the little that Thaarn had told her about them.

“I'll tell you about the Praetorians only briefly. They are the ultimate guard creatures of what we call, in your language, teeth-tongue. Many of them are at least equally as strong as your fellow Predators, but usually they are much more powerful. Being what you are, I don't recommend you try to kill them at close range: they are too much. What you should remember is that they are stronger but also slower than ordinary teeth-tongues. You should be faster, if need arises. I have only killed two of them, one with a disc and another with my sword. Don't take this as shame: I only used my sword because I had no other weapon available.” Asuka glanced again at her spear. “It's a little too late for that...”

 

The Praetorian glanced at her and let out a low growl. Although it enjoyed toying with its food, it didn't like food it couldn't touch. “Tired all ready?” Asuka taunted it. The Praetorian leapt into the air again and Asuka did another a side step…

 

Just like it hoped she would. It didn't made a full jump but landed shortly and rolled, quickly swinging its tail in a wide arc, trying to hit its still alive food.

 

Asuka barely saw it coming and narrowly managed to place her spear between herself and the incoming tail.

The tail twisted around her spear and began to tear it out of her hands. “Uuunghh...let it go....” She tried to hold on to her spear as her life literally depended on it. If the Praetorian could get it away form her hands she was done for.

 

The Praetorian was hissing more enthusiastically as it knew its victory was close at hand.

Though its tail looked like it was only bone, it was strong enough to bind its victims and certainly powerful enough to lift objects. Asuka's strength would wane soon enough. Soon the Praetorian would win. Then she noticed that the living tail touched only one of the dead tails. She shrank it quickly back into compact mode. The Praetorian's tail slipped from it.

 

The giant Alien didn't leave it at that, though. It swung its tail like a sledgehammer, landing a clean hit on Asuka's hunting mask.

 

The whole world seemed to spin around. The strike was so powerful that it lifted her from the ground and she flew through the air. She finally landed on her side on the ground.

 

“Au....” A silent moan came from her lips. She had managed to keep her spear with her. After a while she managed to focus her vision. Without her battle mask she would be shorter now.

 

To the Praetorian's surprise its food was still alive. It had its fun, but now was the time to end it.

 

The Praetorian began to run again, this time straightened up and not using its claws. Asuka didn't see it since she was lying on the ground trying to decide if she was still in flight or if the planet had suddenly changed its rotation direction. But she heard it. Suddenly she saw its shield head over her. It had stopped beside her and raised its claws in the air before hitting them downward.

 

Asuka managed to roll out of its way but didn't get far enough to avoid its next hit.

 

“AH!” The creature's right claw managed to hit her back. Dark nails cut her flesh and all her previous desire to fall unconscious had disappeared. She now had other things to think about. She continued rolling, and what dirt the wind had carried here managed to get inside her flesh. It burned her wound like fire. “Damn it....” she hissed and watched her prey which seemed to be showing her who the real hunter here was. She struggled to get to her feet.

 

The Praetorian was now going full throttle. It saw that its food was injured and the blood trail from it to its feast seemed like an inviting red carpet. It let out a victorious roar and didn't make any effort to hurry as it again straightened up to walk on two feet.

 

Asuka saw her spear. Her own blood was covering it, and it was close to her. Quickly she ran over to it and grabbed it from the ground. She ran in front of the Praetorian and quickly began to stab it with her spear.

Her spears made from Aliens' tails confused the Praetorian a little. Its reactions had been dulled since it had gotten used to easy prey inside the outpost. However, the spear didn't do it any real damage, because its skull was thicker than that of normal Xenomorphs'. Asuka managed to make a couple of wounds on its head, but she didn't get any further.

 

The Praetorian countered by slashing its claws. Asuka managed to reject or avoid every one of the attempted blows.

 

Finally the ache in her muscles and blood loss began to wear her down, and the Praetorian slashed once more, knocking the spear out of Asuka's hands. Before she could retreat the Praetorian hit its claws to shoulders. Although her shoulder- plating held its nails outside, it didn't protect her from the squeezing grip. It managed to lock her in place. Asuka tried to break free, her hands vainly fighting her attacker's claws, but its skin was too slimy and the creature was too strong.

 

She saw the giant Alien's head now closer than before. Its white fangs had opened and inner jaws were visible inside its mouth. Asuka was beginning to think that this was her end, but then, while looking at her nightmare eye-to-eye, she remembered a last resort what would at least take the demon with her.

She managed to press a hidden button inside her left arm. Her wrist computer let out a blipping and with it, her right pad opened.

 

It revealed a sharp metal object. She directed it right to her tormentor. “See you in hell,” she said as the metal object began to sparkle. The Praetorian wondered where the sparkles and noise were coming from but didn't realize until too late.

 

The metal object shot out from Asuka's right hand like a missile. She had closed her eyes but she heard loud a splat and the Praetorian's roar of both pain and surprise. She felt the pressure on her shoulders loosen and she fell to the ground. It took a moment for her to notice that she wasn't dead. She opened her eyes when she felt something burning through her thigh.

 

The metal object had managed to cut through the creature's right arm, which was still hanging from her shoulder and dripping acid onto her thigh. She could smell her own burning flesh. She detached the Praetorian's arm from her shoulder and tossed it aside. She looked at her thigh and it was still letting out smoke.

“There goes my chances of being Miss Germany this year....” she chuckled while sweating a little because of all her injuries. She soon found out where her adversary had gone.

 

It wasn't far away. It was easy to spot from the smoke trail on the ground resulting from its blood's nature.

It was on the ground like her, breathing heavily and letting out moans. Where its arm had been was only dirty yellow spot of flesh and acid.

 

“Could you just drop dead?” Asuka asked sarcastically.

 

As though it had heard her it slowly began to rise, determinedly walking in Asuka's direction, dripping acid on itself as it shortened the distance between them. It was now almost as hurt as Asuka, and it seemed to want, literally, to bleed all over her.

 

Asuka looked at it and sighed. She had just delayed her destruction. When she saw her spear she decided to try for it once more. She dragged it to herself. The Praetorian let out a growl when it finally managed to get to her and it was about to collapse over.

 

Then Asuka held her spear between herself and impaled the Praetorian on it. She did her last roll out away out of the acid spray of the giant creature. It began to howl as the spear sank deeper into its body. The spear was sinking into the launch pad under the giant's weight. Finally it's howl changed into a pitiful growl as its head and left arm fell loose.

 

It was finally dead.

 

Asuka was hurt, but happy. Not solely because the giant Alien was dead, but because she had endured it. She only smiled and lowered her head to the ground. She would rest here for a moment.

 

A long moment.