AVP Hunters Planet 6

Something different about this one, thought Nat'ka'pu. Something odd, besides its large size. His boot stepped on a dry twig.

Snap.

The response was immediate. The Hard Meat rose up like a vehicle on hydraulic crane legs, and a soul-chilling hiss escaped from its mouth. Thick saliva dripped from its jaws, and it reared up for what looked like the beginning of a charge. Nat'ka'pu went immediately into the Warrior's Stance, the position from which all martial-arts moves in such Hunt battles derived. His mind spun ahead, calculating the maneuvers that would be necessary when this creature attacked.Chpt.Prologie pg.286

The kainde amedha suddenly stooped. When it came back up, it was holding something in its limbs. That was one of the things that was different about the thing, Nat'ka'pu realized. The limbs were different. At their ends were structures very like hands. And in those hands now was a weapon. No! Was this a dream? Hard Meat couldn't hold weapons. But before he could think anymore, the weapon gave off a blast of fire that cut through Nat'ka'pu like a giant saber, and the Great Path suddenly dropped away like a trapdoor into pitiless darkness.

Lar'nix'va watched as the explosive bullets rammed through his commander's armor, watched as they blew his head and chest apart like ripe naxa fruit. He did not watch for long, however, for action in the life of the warrior was the stuff of survival.

This was no longer an exercise, this was the real thing, and something incredibly unexpected had just happened. Raising his burner, he ran forward, calling out a terse command for the other adjutant to do likewise. The moment he was within striking distance, he pressed the trigger. A stream of power and flame streaked out, attaching itself to the Hard Meat before the creature had the chance to swing its weapon around. The thing screamed and fought against the power, but it was blown back, blazing, pieces of its chitinous body tearing off.
The blast of his fellow adjutant pushed it over, finishing the destruction. The Hard Meat was soon a pyre of death. When the flames died down, the group walked through the gory ground, littered with the blood of their commander.-Chpt.Prologue pg.287-288