"Where is it?" Tiberius panted. "Just over that ridge, but..." Sydney began. Tiberius charged headlong towards the edge of the cliff, not waiting to hear the rest. The mountain he was on overlooked a deep valley, with a sharp drop off that led straight down into the canyon. The acid rain poured down, sending up small wisps of steam when they hit the ground. The constant thunder storms on Venus were a nuisance. He heard a distant roar from below. The beast was not far. With a roar, he lunged off the edge of the cliff. He propelled himself upward, where upon reaching the zenith of his climb, reared back holding his fist in the air. Arc energy began to crawl along his body. With a yell, he plunged downward into the valley. Arc energy crackled in the air around him, feeding his power. With one fist ahead of him, he prepared to hit the ground. When he landed, a blinding blue flash lit up the canyon. A wave of devastation rolled across the ground. Tiberius jumped up and held up his hand. His ghost Astrid, materialized in his hand. "Get my sparrow, will you?" He asked. "And while you're at it, mark on my HUD where the creature is." "Will do. Marking coordinates now." Astrid said. Tiberius jumped and lifted his left leg, straddling the empty space where the sparrow would form. With a whoosh, the vehicle transmatted underneath him. He pushed the throttle forward, and the sparrow took off down the rocky path. The valley walls stretched up around him, their sheer faces seeming to say, "go away." Tiberius tore through the valley, following the trail Astrid had laid out in front of him. He turned a corner and looked around. "Where is it? It was supposed to be right here!" he asked. Astrid was furiously scanning around them, looking for any sign of the beast. Tiberius slowed, bringing his sparrow around. "We lost it, didn't we?" he said dejectedly. "ABOVE YOU!!" Astrid screamed. The rocks above exploded raining down in a cascade. The creature lunged from one side of the canyon to the other. It just missed, slamming hard into the canyon wall. For the first time, he saw it clearly. Its long, lithe body was covered in sharp spikes. It was a dirty gray color, with white undertones. It slithered forward, heading along the valley. Tiberius grabbed his rocket launcher. He aimed carefully, and fired. The beast whirled around, the rocket having hit its side. For the first time, he heard its voice in his head. "[i]You don't want to do this.[/i]" Tiberius stared at it. "I know your kind." he shouted. "You feed on our desires, our wishes. We don't want you anymore." The beast seemed to chuckle. "[i]You will always want us. The Ahamkara are always useful to guardians.[/i]" "Not anymore. What you ask has become too costly." Tiberius responded. With a roar, the Ahamkara tore away to the west, following the curve of the canyon. Tiberius quickly turned to Astrid. "Get me to my ship. And keep a lock on it. I want to know where it's going." he said. In a second, he was sitting in his cockpit, looking out at the stars. He set a course for the rendezvous point. In a few minutes, he transmatted down to a small clearing in the Venusian jungle. His five other Fireteam members were there. Sydney, Kara, Carter, Valimore, and Ray. They all sat around a small fire, awaiting his return. "Did you find it?" Sydney asked. "Yep. I'm tracking it as we speak." Tiberius said. "You mean I'm tracking it." Astrid cut in. "You couldn't track a Fallen dreg." The team laughed as they stood up. "Let's go team. We'll meet up in orbit and then head after it." Tiberius said. They all nodded and transmatted up to their ships. Tiberius followed them. He leaned back in his chair and said, "Let the hunt begin." This is my new short story about a team of Guardians participating in the Great Ahamkara hunt.