Doctor Danielle Conway's Story

Dani was enraptured by the massive, long-necked tree-eaters browsing in a wooded area just below the hill. Some of their heads were more or less level with hers, from her vantage. One even glanced over at Dani and let out a grumble of acknowledgment. The creature was so large, it resonated quietly through the earth beneath her feet. Then it went back to eating leaves casually.

Hearing the chirping from almost right behind her, Dani turned around slowly, so as not to spook whatever was there. She had to repress an urge to “squee” at the cuteness of the little quill-backed creatures. They were more interested in her bike, and didn’t notice her until she took a small step toward them. Dani immediately crouched down to about their height to seem less threatening. She almost reached up to pull down the Stenomask before a thought struck her: the mask looked very similar to the beaks on these Quillbacks.

“Hey, guys, aren’t you cute?” Dani said in a soothing voice, only somewhat muffled. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. Here... I think I have something for you!”

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a granola bar and offered it to the Quillbacks after unwrapping it. They sniffed at it skittishly, but didn’t seem to want to take it from her, so she dropped it in front of them. Her attention was torn away by a high, shrill whistle. Three short ones, three long ones, then three short again. It was repeated. Definitely Morse for S.O.S. Somebody was in trouble nearby.

Dani ran to the edge of the hill and looked down to see a large most definitely herbivorous herd stampeding away from her, being stalked by what looked like raptors. In the midst of the herd was a man holding some sort of long handled weapon, calmly threading his way through them. What worried her most was the raptors: they might decide the guy was an easier target. But how was she supposed to frighten them away? She had a large(ish) caliber pistol, but was loathe to use it unless absolutely necessary. Shooting it in the air would be a waste of ammunition. A plan began to form in her mind even as she went about doing so.

Dani hopped on her bike while calling to the Quillbacks: “If you guys want more of that stuff, follow me, please!”

It was a longshot that they would listen, but it might work. This side of the hill was very steep, so it would be a very rapid descent. With the height, it might seem to the raptors that the Quillbacks were bigger, so they might be spooked. If all else failed, maybe seeing a human racing at them yelling as viciously and loudly as possible racing down on them would scare them off. Dani pushed off and started heading down the hill...

The Xamatoraptors attention was diverted to the crazy person on the bike. They were surprised to discover a strange new creature that was not only not afraid but seemed to want to fight them. They opened and closed their frills to each other, once again using that strange bodily language to communicate with each other.

Through consecutive flapping and bird-like squacking toward each other they made a temporary retreat. All of them that is except for the alpha, he did not retreat. Instead he stood his ground and angrily screeched. He was not leaving without a meal, his pack could wait for him.

Michael watches as a person on a bike seems to rush over. The Xamatoraptors seemed to have scurried off, all but one. At least there's not as many anymore. The one screeched, he wasn't sure for what reason, but he rushes the creature anyway, and hits it in the throat with the blunt end of the pike, probably not killing it but almost definitely hurting it. He takes a couple quick steps back, then prepares his pike and takes on a fighting stance.

As predicted, it was a very, very rapid descent. Dani could barely keep her bike going in a straight line. but thankfully she only had one target now. The rest of the sizeable raptors did appear to be spooked by her unorthodox attack. The last one, definitely the Alpha, stood its ground. The dude with the spear rushed up and poked at the raptor’s neck, but Dani didn’t have time to see what effect it had. Suddenly she was almost upon the two. Hunching over the handlebars and shifting her center of gravity towards the back wheel, Dani wrenched the rear brake. Throwing that shifted gravity to the side now, the back wheel started skidding right into one of the raptor’s back legs, possibly breaking the thing’s knee-joint if it hit properly.

Not wanting to sit around waiting to have her head chomped off, Dani pushed down hard on the pedals after the momentum followed through on the strike. If she got free before the raptor could react to the attack on two fronts, Dani would throw down her Stenomask with one hand and then gesture at the spear-wielding fellow: “Throw me your spear! I have an idea!”

The Xamatoraptor alpha went in for a bite but was interrupted by Michaels spear handle strike to the neck. This injury would have it make a pained squeak sound. Suddenly Dani's attack to its knee joint would collide, causing its leg to fracture. The Xamatoraptor let out more pained sounds before falling over. It struggled onto its feet and yet....its attention was not on the two fighting it. One could see fear in its eyes. It did its best to limp away in the direction its pack mates went.

The reason for its fear quickly became apparent as hiding in the foliage nearby Dani and Michael were being watched. They were face to face with a Xamatosaurus Rex, the most feared and dangerous predator in the valley. It forward facing eyes were staring directly at them, having been attracted by the sound of combat. It made no sound, it awaited their next move and stayed stock still.

Michael was about to toss his spear to the woman when it becomes obvious to him that the animal is clearly injured and trying to get away, so he chooses the path of pity and allows it to escape. But it seemed afraid... He looks over his shoulder and sees exactly of what the thing feared. A Xamotosaurus Rex, which he wasn't sure was, but it was big and looked dangerous. He looks at the woman, pointing over his shoulder and trying to convey the message that something is there, then readies his spear and turns around, waiting for the beast to make a move.

Silence and strategy, all of it was interrupted by the sound of a deafening sonic boom that reverberated all throughout the jungles of Xamoyos.

The deafening boom was immediately followed by a brief roar, followed by a deafening crash, the shockwave from the crash moving out in all directions, tossing leaves, twigs, and other debris.

Roughly a dozen or so feet from the Xamoyos Rex, Michael, and Dani, an unusual metal structure could be seen in the scorched foliage, and soil. It's bottom still glowing red hot from it's entry into the planet's atmosphere. Steam rose from the impact where the strange pod landed.

But the show wasn't over, a metallic clank, followed by a loud pop followed, and the heavy armored front of the pod flew forward to reveal a slender figure clad in all black armor of some kind, the armor, like the figure was sleek, almost glossy black and worn with a glossy black full head helmet and visor. This completely obscured the figure's identity as they undid the straps that kept them restrained to the chair inside the pod.

The figure's eyes were on the large creature, it's form highlighted on a high-fidelity field of view, highlighted through the trees, and the grass. The figure reached above, grasping a long, sleek weapon encased in a dazzling fractal camouflage pattern.

The figure jumped from the pod, and landed with a soft crack on the ground, the muddy ground crunching under their weight. It brought it's weapon to their shoulder, and took keen aim at the Xamoyos Rex.

The raptor Alpha was definitely hurt now, hopefully not mortally. It managed to move off pretty gamely, but Dani figured fear might have been a factor in that. Pedaling a bit more slowly now that the immediate danger was gone (or so she thought), Dani turned back to see the fellow pointing behind him at... well, in her eyes it looked like a larger, meaner, Tyrannosaurus Rex. A Xamatosaurus Rex then? In typical fashion, some part of her mind was still being the biologist, trying to figure out the naming system of species, despite the imminent doom. Would the raptors then be called Xamatoraptors...?

No... this wasn’t helping at all. There was a creature most likely planning on eating both of them for snacks, with little trouble at all. Dani started pedaling toward the man and beast, planning on making a stand with another human being than run off and leave them on their own. Then all hell seemed to break loose in an instant.

First, the sonic boom of an object entering the atmosphere. Then the follow-up roar of impact, the shock wave actually picking Dani up off her bike and into the back of the man with the spear. If he hadn’t been there, she was certain she would have ended up almost directly beneath the X-rex’s feet. Dazed from the impact, Dani still managed to untangle herself and get up in time to see the occupant of the pod draw and aim a deadly-looking weapon at the Xamatosaurus Rex.

“Wait! Don’t kill it please!” Dani shouted at the armor-clad figure, and startled stumbling towards them in an attempt to throw off their aim at the X-rex and hopefully only wound it instead.

The X-rex's cover was blown, this much was obvious. It was originally hunting the Xamatosaurolophus that were here before the raptors had arrived. Its attention instead shifted to the much more glaring pod that had crash landed. It had never seen anything like it but it did not approach. It however saw that one of the humans was coming out of it, holding what looked like a weapon.

The X-rex leaned its head back some and let out a thunderous roar, shaking the ground slightly from the sheer force of it. The intent was to scare, if that failed then combat was inevitable.

Michael flinches at the loud roar of the X-Rex, and involuntarily takes a couple steps away. He turns around to face the X-Rex, and finally sees the man there, with what appeared to be a rifle. He's not sure how to act, and wants to take the self-preserving route, but he sees the woman try and get in between the man and his target, so he just runs over and just decides to back her up, but not saying a word. He tries to stay mindful of the X-Rex, and every instinct he has is to run, but he owes this woman a favor now. So he stands next to her, and holds his spear at his side.

The figures faceless gaze seemed to suffer no reaction at the woman who jumped between her and the beast, placing herself squarely inside the line of fire. But if one could see past the faceless visor, one would see grit teeth.

The figure angled down the aim of their weapon, no longer aiming at the beast, and unfazed by it's earth trembling roar.

Instead the figure called out in a distorted, reverberating voice.

"Get out of the way! Do you have a death wish!"

The figure adjusted it's stance, gaze affixed to the mighty x-rex, trying to get a better firing angle. They were watching every subtle move.

That was until they did the unpredictable, and raised their weapon into the air, firing a single shot, culminating in a blinding green flash of light, followed by a streak of light that shot into the sky, and sounded like a thunderclap that echoed through the valley. The figure lowered it's weapon back on the X-rex, waiting for it's next move.

As if her ears hadn’t already taken enough of a beating, the roar of the Xamatosaurus Rex quickly brought ringing back to Dani’s eardrums. She barely registered that the armor-clad figure had asked her if she had a death wish. Then that figure shot their weapon into the air, causing yet another jolt to her hearing, and a blinding flash of light thrown in for good measure. This time, Dani heard -and felt- something pop in her right ear, and imagined some blood coming out of it. She didn’t have time to confirm that suspicion, as something in her brain got “stuck” from all the sudden sensory input. Her legs got tangled up underneath her and she went sprawling, possibly striking her head on a rock, but all Dani knew in that moment was darkness.

Dani was only unconscious for a few moments, but apparently that was all the time needed for a frightening and vivid nightmare: She found herself standing in the stranger’s black armor, holding that highly advanced weapon. Dani was laying slaughter to any and all life she saw before her with that scary gun. What was truly horrifying (for her biologist mind, at least), was that there was some small part of her that was enjoying the slaying of these poor animals...

The loud and vibrant display of the fireworks-like blast of the disruptor hurt the X-rex's ears and it shook its head in pain as a response. It made a loud pained snarl from its massive maw and turned tail in the other direction, this meal wasn't worth it. The loud sound however had attracted others to the scene, eyes were watching them from the underbrush.

Most peculiar however were a specific set of eyes, whos gaze were fixated on the injured Dani. From what little of them could be seen in the shadows, there were a small group of humanoid figures with eyes shining much like a cats. They looked curious of her, but oddly not predatory.

The gunshot causes Michael to flinch backwards, almost falling over. He wants to run, and save himself, but then he sees the woman go sprawling and hits her head, and he winces. He quickly steps over to her and checks out her injury. It seemed that she had hit her head pretty badly, and he wasn't entirely sure if she was okay. He wanted to move her but he wasn't sure if he should, because he couldn't tell the full extent of her injuries. So he looks up at the man in armor with the gun, and yells, "Hey! Do you have any medical supplies?" He's not sure if he should risk annoying this man, and he still wants to get as far away from the X-Rex as possible, even though it seems the animal has retreated, but he needs to do something and he needs to do something quick. He kind of wishes he never came to this planet, then all of these things might not have happened. He doesn't notice the eyes from the shadows, and proceeds to flip over the woman, and checks her pulse, just to be sure. He doesn't know much on treating head injuries. He rubs his eyes and takes a deep breath, then continues on.

Taking another step forward, the figure cracked a smile behind their deep glossy visor. They watched the large creature retreat in fear, but also remained on guard as their suits situational awareness system detected several thermal signatures all around them. The sensor suite highlighted the figures in the bushes, and displayed them as bright orange figures within the field of view, and as red icons on a three hundred and sixty degree sensor display.

Slowly, the figure started walking, raising their weapon up, and attaching it to their back with an audible click.

"We are not safe here." The figure said, the voice raspy, and almost robotic sounding through the vox filter.

They were now standing close to Michael and Dani, standing at almost six feet in height. They stooped down over the unconscious scientist, and began to examine her injuries.

The figure reached into a kydex polymer pouch on their thigh, and withdrew a small white box the size of a cigar case. The figure prepared a small syringe, and pressed it to Dani's neck, there would be a hiss as the combination of chemicals were injected. The figure examined the head for any bleeding, and would inject a foam like substance into any lacerations that quickly hardened, and stopped the bleeding.

The combination of healing nanites and a potent chemical the aschen called beta-cantin. Dani would find her minor injuries healed in a matter of minutes.

"There are creatures in the undergrowth, if you don't want me to dispatch them, then we must depart." The armor clad figure explained.

Liren Amakija Liren entered the valley with his new friend... what was he going to name the creature though?

After coming out of the wooded area of the beach he would bear witness to the Prairie. It was a wide open grassland where dinosaurs of all kinds roamed about with a lake in the center of it.

Liren Amakija Liren smiled looking at everything...

Across from where he came from was a moving herd of Styracoxamos. Their large frilled heads swayed with every movement, their sharp horns very evident.