Tooth and Claw - Doranna Durgin [31]
beginning to unbalance the managed ecosystem, seeding more prey species, thinning the forest to allow for the growth of certain plants to feed the prey species-were carefully planned, always involving just as many rangers on watch as those who did the actual work.
And now Akarr wanted to go out there with only two guards. Well, plus two wounded guards, one addled guard… and Riker. Three days of walking, by Riker’s calculation, to get them back to the force field portal. Four, perhaps, if Akarr insisted on hunting along the way.
On second thought, that probably wouldn’t slow them down. No doubt the hunted would assume the role of the hunter, closing in on them often enough for Akarr to gather all the trophies he wanted.
Think of the Ntignanos, Riker told himself. He was doing this for the Ntignanos, in the hope that Akarr’s father would then negotiate use of the charted space. A bribe, they might have called it, in another day. Maybe that was still the best term for it in this one. Just trying to get your attention, Atann, so we can save an entire sentient species. Staring out into the dimly lit forest-no light to speak of came down through these thick trees, although the shields were calibrated to let sunlight through despite their opacity from the other side—Riker grinned wryly to himself and shook his head. It would get Atann’s attention, all right, when he learned his son had gone down in the Legacy.
If any part of that transmission had made it out past the force field … If Geordi had then noticed the nonsensical burst of noise… if Atann learned his son had gone down in the Legacy.
“Riker!”
Somewhere along the way, Akarr had ceased to use
Riker’s rank. Riker had no qualms about returning the favor. He straightened, stretched a bruised kink in his back, and responded to the overloud hail in a more moderate voice that knew it only had to go from one end of the shuttle to the other. “Akarr.”
“We are done here.” Patching, bandaging, wrapping licking their wounds. “It is time to go outside and honor Pavar.”
Riker moved to the center of the twisted shuttle to take in the triage area in the back. Rakal and Takan had done most of the initial sorting, tossing aside those goods damaged beyond reason and keeping close tally of those things that could yet serve them well. Riker had been right in there with them to start, working with the wounded. Suture glue and a protective patch took care of Gavare’s head wound, but the blow he’d taken had left him dazed, wandering in thought and likely to wander in body. After Regen’s broken arm had been set, Akarr assigned him to stay by Gavare’s side, for Gavare had taken to heading for the shuttle door at every befuddled opportunity.
Not that he was likely to get it open, not when it required a manual release and manipulation, and not in his condition. But no point in taking chances; there was plenty of reason for Gavare to want out, what with the blood of his fellow guard drying to deepest violet along the shuttlecraft walls.
Ketan remained the most miserable of them. Whatever injury he had taken to his shoulder and upper arm, it was not obvious. In a human, Riker would have called the joint dislocated, but none of the Tsorans seemed to recognize what he was talking about; either the Universal Translator was glitching again or their anatomy differed too significantly for the analogy. The best they could do was bind the arm tightly to Ketan’s body. They
dared not use the painkillers—who knew how the human medicines would affect the Tsoran’s system-and the minimal Tsoran med kit did not include them. Whatever the kaphoora generally presented in terms of challenge, the Tsorans clearly had not expected significant injuries.
Or else they knew better—one either avoided close encounters, or one died … that, too, would alleviate the need for medical care.
Akarr had not gone unscathed in the crash—his nose was swollen and still leaking blood. But he made no complaint—only stood impatiently by the door, waiting for Riker to tackle the manual release.
With no little effort,