[GZG] [GZG Fiction] The Watcher 2 of 4 - Target Selected

All this considered in an instant, flashing through the deeper parts of her
mind, Si'Buk settled to her meal. She dipped her head, the sharp ends of her
mandibles catching the foot and bringing it to the center of her mouth. The
macerated food slide satisfyingly into her throat sac, where it would be
broken down by digestive enzymes. It would be many riosh before she would need
to deal with the waste pelts left after the nutritious components had been
absorbed. She would spit them out on her way to the hunt, no need to sully
somewhere she may need to come back to.

Nestling back into a resting nook she began the rituals that would let
her Ano'Fah slip into sus - her Vao'Fah would remain vigilant, warning
her if she were discovered, another useful hangover from her evolutionary
past. Her mind ran of the course of her day. At the start
of the tuosh she had been in a nest-bed with others of the Kra'Bna. She
had left silently, scenting her departure for others to read on their
awakening.

She had engaged her Rns'krans even before leaving the Kra'Bna'Kon. The stealth
suit making her effectively invisible to all but those watching very
carefully. If she moved either very slowly or very swiftly the distortion in
the visual field of any observable typically went unnoticed. By happy
coincidence the Rns'krans had worked as effectively against the Huu'Mon as
Kra'Vak. A Toa'Xau who specialized in electronics had patiently answered her
questions on this once, as he had tinkered over a malfunctioning control
switch she had reported. These scientists had gained new standing with the
assault on the Huu'Mon, their skills necessary to understand this new foe's
unusual technological choices. The Toa'Xau had explained that the peaks of the
Kra'Vak visual range lay to either side of the wavelengths the Huu'Mon used.
He drew a bimodal diagram, pointing to one peak he identified the Kra'Vak
primary peak, optimal for thermal detection of prey and other heat sources,
and then he shifted his outstretched susi to the secondary peak, which was an
aid in signal formation during the lighter riosh. Across this he drew a single
humped curve, the modal peak sitting between those of the Kra'Vak. This was
the spectrum a Huu'Mon could detect. They contrasted the wavelengths within
this set to form their images. They had no secondary peak to offset the
substantial reduction in their visual acuity when darkness fell. It was clear
to her now why they preferred to move around at the very time the Kra'Vak
preferred to rest. She had commented that it was amazing the Huu'Mon had
survived so long when any decent Vo could have picked them off easily once
darkness had blinded them. The Toa'Xau had merely grunted and commented that
the Huu'Mon probably wondered the same of the Kra'Vak, after all to them the
day was a much better time for looking about and finding the resting bodies of
large prey. Si'Buk mused over that point as the Toa'Xau went on to finish his
explanation about the Rns'krans effectiveness. The original designers had
wanted a suit that covered all Kra'Vak visible wavelengths. They had cared
little for the wavelengths between. It had fallen out that the final design
was not hampered by covering the entire band and so that's what it did,
catching the human visible wavelengths up in the envelope designed to prevent
detection by Kra'Vak visual sensors. Therefore there had been no need to
redesign them when contact with the Huu'Mon was initiated.

She had spent many long hours talking over issues with that Toa'Xa. She
remembered him fondly. She believed they had communicated so well and enjoyed
each other's company because they were both unusual. Most Sho's were content
to become workers in society, to cease to think of themselves in a gender
sense and to become simply Kra'Vak. Si'Buk had been unable to settle, unable
to leave her do'Kon life with the Kra'Bna'Kon and she had carried her female
mental imagery with her into elder status. The Toa'Xa had made a more stable
transition to a Sho's role, but had reverted to a masculine mental image and
the more solitary habits of the much younger Doo's. Together they had found
space and companionship. She had felt his absence since she was called back
into service this time.

Such thoughts would not see her enter sus quickly however, so she brought her
mind back to the ritual and again began retracing the day.
> From the Kra'Bna'Kon she had slowly picked a path along then ravine
She had followed the scent of water straight to the coast, staying
riv-tu from the Huu'Mon convoys crossing the open ground. She did not
want the dust they kicked up to coat her Rns'krans and invalidate its stealth.
Following this route she reached the waterline above the point the Huu'Mon'Kon
had crossed from the island during their attack. She resisted the urge to go
and cleanse her susi in the lapping breakers. She had no time for such
luxuries, as it would be the act of a Ano's to take care of dust but then let
water reveal her instead. It was this careful thought over every action and
its implications for the suit's effectiveness that saw the Kra'Bna given the
right to wear these precious items. They were incredibly hard to manufacture
in sufficiently high quality that they really were effectively invisible. As
such they were not to be entrusted to just any Kra'Vak. Doo's in particular
were not allowed to wear them, they were far too prone to Ro'Kah to be allowed
to wear something that prevented anyone seeing them approach. No, Rns'krans
were only for Kra'Bna and the most skilled scouts in the Ton'R'Kon.

After the run across the plain she was glad to drop to a slower pace as she
moved amongst the dunes searching for suitable quarry. In the later part of
the dark tu'tuosh she had stopped to watch the Huu'Mon lazying around their
fire. Chittering like Luot. She would not hunt these ones, simply observe,
their habits intrigued her. She had stayed many riosh with them, but now she
was here and she must rest. Giving her thoughts first to Va'Yua'Zan greatest
of the Lo'X and then to Lo'Bat the deity of the Si'V she finished her
meditative ritual by swearing she had not deviated from Lo'z, the one truth
path.

When she woke later, not long before dusk her first act was to stretch and
limber and work the stiffness out of her joints. With a few good cracks she
felt limber and mobile. She straightened away the Ko'Ns equipment she had used
the night before and then engaged the Rns'krans.

Si'Buk slipped up on to the ledge underneath the hatch to the outside.
Cracking it open the barest of distances she tasted the air, straining all her
senses for evidence she was not alone. Satisfied she could depart undetected
she slid back the hatch and jumped out on the plain. As she slid it shut
again, the sand about the hatch quickly fell back over it, hiding it.

Moving past the chittering Luot of yesterday, Si'Buk quietly and slowly pushed
on deeper into the Huu'Mon kres. They were all so at ease, so ignorant of what
was about them, sure they were safe here from any Kra'Vak strike. It would be
so easy to reach out and end the vaat of one of these senseless kaa'zes.

Si'Buk knew better than to act on such rash Doo's'Ro'Kah impulses. She wanted
to select a worthy prize, even if it was unaware of its stature. She spent
many riosh wandering carefully through the Huu'Mon, stopping repeatedly to
observe before discarding the tentative selection and renewing the search.
Just as she was clearing the far side of the bulk of the Huu'Mon kres she
found what she was looking for. Suddenly she was spoilt for choice. She
settled on a Huu'Mon in a dark Kon'krans. There were no symbols on this one to
show which Do' it belonged to. She lowered herself to the ground; this would
be a long and cautious hunt. She would need to listen well and plan her moves
carefully if she were to successfully complete this mission.

This was not just some pleasure hunt, out to empty an urge. She had been
tasked with capturing a Huu'Mon and bringing them back to the Kra'Bna'Kon so
they could ascertain which Kra'Vak Kon'krans were most
visible to the Huu'Mon - recent losses showing that the Doo's Kon'krans
provided little beyond protective armour, providing little or no visual
obfuscation at all. They had decided against simply picking up one from the
immediate vicinity in Ns'Kra'Vak'Fe'Les as doubtless this would see the
Huu'Mon push back more strongly in the hope of reclaiming their do'Kon.
Instead she was to capture one far back away from the Kra'Vak'Kon and bring it
back to the Kra'Bna'Kon. This way the Huu'Mon would be confused as to where it
had gone and would not be able to strike quickly.

Her quarry finished tending to its kit and moved over to a small group deep in
conversation.

"... so I said to Cathy, 'don't stop now darling'..."

"It's not that I don't love that story Mike, but we need to sort out the
brief for the patrol tonight and the insertion-extraction tomorrow. I
don't know how serious they are about this, but they only want nine of us and
we're to cover a six kilometer stretch. From here up to the first
fork near checkpoint delta-sierra. Whittaker, you're with Osbourne and
Campton, you have the two closest to home. Montague you have Winters and Smith
and the central stretch from the dry gully north of the truck
depot up to the case-evac field. Strachan, you and Acres are with me.
We've got the last stretch...."

Si'Buk listened attentatively as they spoke of objectives, rendevous points
and rules of engagement. She did not understand much of it, but Si'Buk
believed she had picked up enough to know that her target would be in the
patrols. Unusually for humans they were moving out by night. They were
scouting for Kra'Vak spies on their perimeter. She mused that this would be
the perfect opportunity for her to strike.

Drawing a little further back into the darkness, Si'Buk watched as the
bulk of the group went to their nest-beds. Only her quarry and vaoikeo
of its Kon joined it in preparing to patrol. Annoyingly at that moment a suit
warning went off, vibrating in her collar. Activating a display on the top of
her susi, the flash of dots and strokes told her that her suit power was
dropping. What a time for things to go wrong. Checking the sky and wind she
judged it safe to continue, the Huu'Mon were at their most vulnerable in these
conditions.