Experience is Everything [Tentacle_Lover/Krom]

[Krom]

Altor 3 is not at all what the young bounty hunter expected. From her home in the more civilized central planets, she is used to worlds with far more light - albeit artificial, on most of those planets - and far less grime. Altor 3 is one of the seediest of the outer planets, the home of many crooks - and thus, the home of many bounty hunters, like herself.

But, none of them are quite as specialized as she is, and that is why she finds herself on this planet. For her targets are not mere humans, but the strange encounters from the deepest reaches of the Black, the weird creatures from outer space. Of course, those who hired her may not realize how little experience she has with such creatures.

The city around her is silent, though, not rowdy as usual. There is a fright among its people, with this dreaded new stalker prowling the night. The prostitutes remain indoors at night, now, not wandering the streets, and even the men are keeping inside the bars and homes tonight.

Altor 3's capitol city is a maze of black stone and brick, gigantic clockworks with strange, glowing blue crystals in their center powering much of the planet. All around her, these gears clink and turn, chugging away and producing the cloudy haze of smog that gives the city its nickname: Smog City. The smog, to her unaccustomed eyes, makes the city almost impossible to navigate.

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

Andrea had come to this planet hoping to make a name for herself, and to make a good bit of money in the process. Normally Altor 3 was crawing with Bounty Hunters, and newbies like her were crushed the second they arrived. But lately things had gotten out of hand....the bounty hunters here had no idea how to deal with something unknown and inhuman. In all honesty, she had little idea either, but her studies back home had included the study of Xenobiology, so she felt herself more than qualified to hunt this inhuman threat. Sure she might have exaggerated her knowledge, skills and experience a little, but she doubted that made a difference. By this point, what little government Altor 3 had was desperate enough to hire anybody willing to take the job on, even someone as young as her.

After arriving, Andrea had spent the day gathering as much information as she could, and now that night was falling the streets were practically abandoned. No bounty hunters, no prostitutes, and only the most blind drunk were stumbling from bar to bar, though even they avoided the alleys and shadows. Not Andrea though....she was walking as close to the shadows and alleyways as she could, wanting to draw this creature out. One hand was running through her hair, the other hand down at her side on one of her twin pistols. She was ready to take this thing on in a heartbeat...a few good shots and she was sure she could take it out, drag the body back and collect her reward. "Come on you little bastard.....come on out and play...." She glanced around, then up at some of the gigantic gears that turned slowly above her, never stopping, never slowing.

 

[Krom]

Indeed, it seems as if the gears creaking and cranking away are the only movement on this dark night, the two moons of Altor barely able to glow through the smog and smoke cascading from the city's many factories and power plants. It is a strange creature indeed that frightens off even Andrea's competition - the other bounty hunters so common here are holed away just like anyone else.

The city is completely silent, and just as one would begin to wonder whether this whole space-monster thing is a myth, that is when she sees it. Deep in the smog ahead, the shadows seem to shift along one wall, inky blackness rippling, just too far for Andrea's eyes to make it out clearly.

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

Andrea froze when she saw the shape through the smog, immediately reaching for her pistols and drawing them before she started to move slowly and silently through the thick smog, being careful not to cough and draw attention to herself. She wanted to make this quick and clean...the less trouble this thing gave her the better. Anything long and drawn out would probably just make things more difficult for her. She managed to get a little closer, then quickly pointed both pistols at the creature, hoping that perhaps it could understand her speech. "Hold it you monster! Stay right where you are or I'll incinerate you...."

 

[Krom]

It's unlikely the beast before her has any notion of speech and communication - still, there is always hope, and Andrea still, even this close, cannot make out the full extent of the monster's physiology. The smog around the beast is thick and oily, and the shadows deep, but Andrea finds herself standing before the strangest writhing mass in the galaxy.

Upon first approach, the situation seems safe enough; Andrea is armed, and before her is a somewhat-shapeless mass, appearing to be a solid entity. It is not until her voice is raised, though, and the thing moves, that she would realize her mistake: the thing is not a dense shapeless body, but a writhing pile of inky black tentacles, snapping outward at the sound of that feminine voice. They do not attack, but whip into the air before her, curving slightly, looking like vicious serpents ready to strike. More importantly, though, there are nearly twenty of the wrist-thick tentacles.

 

[Tentacle_Lover]

At first Andrea felt smug at her victory, but then she coughed on the smog, shaking her head to clear herself, then the smog began to slowly clear away in the immediate area. What she saw wasn't what she had been expecting. "Wh-what in the hell.....?" She took a step back, staring at the mass before her. She had been expecting some singular creature that she could stun or take in....but this....this was just...insane. "Oh god...." She took another stpe back, raising her guns as the tentacles shot out towards her, eyes following the two closest ones. "Oh hell....this is not good..." She frowned, then quickly started firing laser blasts from her pistols at the tentacles. Perhaps if she took enough of them out the creature would be subdued.