Snapshot: Pollux and Andromeda
The alien landscape hummed with life.
Pollux stood in a clearing on a hill and looked out over the jungle. Strange flying beasts, each no larger than a loaf of bread, flapped on leathery wings in a swarm around a tree. A woman stood next to him, leaning on her rifle as she regarded the alien landscape.
“Your pet sure melted into the trees,” she remarked.
Pollux chuckled. “Don’t worry, Genghis will come back once she’s caught something.”
“Say, isn't Genghis a boy name?"
"Hjkells are single-sexed, and if Genghis has a concept of human gender, she sure hasn't told me."
Andromeda straightened up and hoisted her bolt rifle onto her shoulder, aiming playfully at the flying beasts. She closed one eye, scoping out the distant moving targets.
"Andy!" Pollux barked, "you'd better not hit my hjkell!"
Andromeda lowered her rifle with a huff. "What do you take me for, an amateur? I'm not gonna kill your pet."
“Kill? A little energy bolt won't kill her, that’s not the problem.”
Genghis shot up from the foliage like a bullet, her jaws snapping shut around one of the flapping beasts. She fell back to the ground with a heavy thump as the critters exploded into screams and frantic flapping.
Andromeda whistled at the display. “What’s the issue, then?”
Genghis the greater hjkell trotted out of the bushes towards Pollux, the broken wings of her prey dangling limply from her jaws. Her lean, steel blue body shimmered under the twin moons overhead. When she reached Pollux’s side, she sat and waited.
Pollux chuckled. “Mangez, Genghis.”
With a low electric thrum, Genghis laid down and crunched happily on her prize, purple blood dripping between her jagged teeth. Pollux smiled fondly at her before lifting his gaze back to Andromeda.
"I don't want Genghis getting excited,” he explained. “Your rifle bolt would… excite her.”
At the sound of her name, the sleek beast lifted her head, fixing her many-eyed gaze on Pollux. He ruffled the flexible spines on Genghis' head.
"When one of her kind wants to mate, they spit high energy bolts at each other. You shoot her with that gun, and not even I could keep her off you."
Andromeda grimaced. "Is she a gentle lovemaker?"
“Ha. No.” Pollux's laugh rumbled through his thick chest. He gave Genghis’ head another rub. “You’re really not, are you, girl?”
“Boss.” Andromeda’s voice had dropped, all playfulness gone. Without so much as blinking, her hand casually wandered to her hip, settling on a much smaller pistol. “We’ve got company.”
Pollux frowned. He tapped his metal bracer, and his invisible force-field strengthened from casual to danger. “Can you maim them?”
Andromeda let out a long sigh, casually shifting her weight from one foot to another, turning absently towards the trees as though to admire the leaves. In one smooth gesture, she slipped the pistol from her hip and fired one bright bolt into the undergrowth. Genghis’ long neck snapped up, her entire body alert as a human scream echoed through the jungle.
A man staggered out of the foliage and collapsed in the little clearing, one hand gripping his bleeding leg, the other pointing a trembling pistol at Pollux’s chest.
“Easy, Genghis,” Pollux warned, placing a hand on her head, flattening her spines. With a low thrum, she settled back at his feet, but she never took her many dark eyes off the bleeding man.
“Cheap gear, poor stealth, no preparation… good enough intel to find us, though.” Andromeda leaned on her rifle with a smile. “Looks like another hopeful bounty hunter, boss. Wonder how much they’re offering for you now.”
Pollux crossed his arms over his massive chest. “That true, boy?”
The man was breathing hard, his gun still pointed at Pollux’s chest. Pollux recognized the brand, a high quality but common energy pistol. Perfectly fatal if the victim was unaware and the shooter’s aim was good, but Pollux’s force field could easily cope with it.
He doubted the shooter knew that.
The bounty hunter clenched his teeth. His gaze darted briefly and nervously to Genghis before settling back on Pollux. “C-care to know who your enemies are? You don’t fire, I don’t fire, I’ll let you know who sent me. We all go on our way.”
Andromeda burst into laughter, leaning on her rifle so she didn’t fall over. Pollux couldn’t hold back a smile. He leaned down towards Genghis.
"Genghis, regarde! Est-ce un ami?”
The bounty hunter’s face went pale. “H-hey —“ His gun snapped indecisively between Pollux and the greater hjkell. “Are you listening?”
Pollux pointed. ”Cherchez!"
Genghis’ lean body flexed in a leap towards the bounty hunter, her jaws still dripping with purple blood. The bounty hunter yelped a curse and did the worst thing he could have done.
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