Predator: The Scavenger

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Grabbing her helmet, she stepped up to the pressurized airlock as she snapped the helmet ring around the collar to her suit. Activating the button in her gloves, her helmet sent a small almost inaudible beep into her ear before the ion infused quartz shield formed a dome over her head. Once the under-helmet was in place another beep signaled the outer shield forming. Sleek, shiny, and black the outer helmet was a lot like sparrow bike helmets designed for speed and to be aerodynamic.

Suited up, she activated the door and stepped out onto the small bridge as the door shut and airlocked behind her. About thirty feet below her was her target, a large twelve crew Corverian battle craft. Turning she glanced at the black unmarked triangular fighter cruiser floating silently next to the battle craft. She smiled to herself as she wondered how today's "meeting" was going to end this time. It was always a surprise with big Red.

Looking at her data readouts on the screen of her arm unit, she confirmed Red's location on the large Corverian craft floating below her and propelled herself downward. The thirty-three overlapping programs she coded by hand and installed on her own smaller interceptor-class cruiser was running like a charm, neither the Corverian ship or Red's ship could sense her ship's presence. Walking lightly along the battle ship's surface she moved quickly along the ship.

Inside the ship was eerily quiet. Too quiet for a twelve-crew ship that was over capacity by five by her initial readout's intel, though she knew the cause of that. Walking silently along the dim corridor she turned the first corner to see a black hand print of Corverian blood trailing down the wall into a much large blood trail. Red was always so damn violent. Shaking her head, she continued forward. Reading the intel on her screen, she hurried forward making sure to avoid the rooms she knew Red wanted. The preliminary readouts in her helmet told her there was no life forms on the ship other than herself, but her own modified program told her that was incorrect.

There was supposedly no system in the universe that could track Red and his kind, and if there was no one dumb enough to advertise the fact even if they could. Risk-taking coupled with having the largest most unhealthy obsession with her nemesis prompted her to break the unspoken galactic rule and create one for herself. If one was going to follow Red to the ends of the universe one damn well better be prepared to track him properly. Stepping over another thick black blood trail leading down another corridor that led to mostly likely to the control deck she continued forward. You did not want to be caught unawares by him.

Opening the door to the engine room, she smiled at the untouched equipment. Bless Red's large lime green pumping, eight chambered heart. Luckily for her, the guy never claimed hardware, machinery, or any cargo for himself. The big bastard wasn't interested in things like that, Red wanted two things: kills and information.

Being quick, she started to detach the power cells and black matter cables. Loading them up near the bay doors she opened the hatch to the cargo hold. Glancing inside cautiously, she exhaled when her scans read that the room was empty. Running over to the first holding dock she began rummaging through the crates. Junk guns, subpar explosives, jars full of contraband uranium fusion glow worms—score! Pulling at the heavy crate, a beep signaled in her ear.

Before she even turned around, she activated the shield.

A crashing sizzling bang against her shield stole her breath as she stumbled backward onto the crate full of the glow worms to see Red looming over her.

The shield she designed went from floor to ceiling and concaved around her at a width of six feet. Catching her breath, she stood back up slowly and faced the giant creature.