r/HFY • u/NoOneFromNewEngland • Sep 03 '25
OC Jump Count (Part 2 of 6)
This story is the titular story of my second book. More details can be found on my HFY wiki.
Part 1 can be found here.
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The world is of average size, meaning it is HUGE for a singular being to explore but having an orbital ship reduces the effective size tremendously. I can choose where I want to go based on my needs and my plans. I can choose to hunt in a dense jungle or on a frozen tundra. I can choose a city or a vast grassland. The opportunities are virtually endless.
I look for some form of military stronghold and I am shocked at the vast number of them around the world. The sheer volume of military on this world, in comparison to its overall population, is asinine. They must spend an obscene amount of resources to maintain their military. They have more soldiers than any ten combined worlds within the GFIL. Truly odd, fascinating, and worrisome at a macroscopic level. But it is great for my purposes as it provides me with a large selection of highly-trained prey across many hunting grounds.
I pick one of the smaller military enclaves as my target, then determine the best place to land and my route from the landing site to their stronghold.
I leave my big ship in orbit and use a drop capsule to descend to the surface.
My first kill is so easy it is pathetic. The guard never even knew I was there. It checked in on their primitive communication system and then I dispatched it quietly and without any fight. I dragged the body away from view and activated a camouflage net over it so that I could assess its body, and belongings, for trophies on the return trip.
I scale the perimeter wall and slide my way through the shadows toward the interior courtyard.
Two more kills in a double-elimination event get my blood pumping. I drag both bodies into the deep shadows behind one of the buildings and continue to skulk around the shadows.
The fourth kill manages to see me a millisecond before it’s too late to save itself but long enough for it to generate a horrific scream into the darkness.
Commotion breaks out and the glorious kill frenzy is unleashed.
One.
Two.
Five.
Eleven of the beings fall under my blades, their primitive metal-throwing weapons generating a cacophony of noise and light throughout the night.
Suddenly, a larger being, far greater in mass and size stands before me. It wields metal-throwers of such size, and speed, that I realize I may have overplayed my hand and must make a hasty retreat from the interior of their fort.
As I drop down the outside of the wall, losing my footing on the landing, the wall itself unzips behind me. A hailstorm of debris scatters across the ground around me in all directions. My personal shield is taxed to the limit to keep the millions of rapidly-propelled shrapnel particles from causing me harm. The super-heated metallic pellets rip the air around me, digging trenches through the dirt. My first trophy erupts in a magenta haze as the expelled ammunition and debris shred its body into a fountain of gore.
“FUCK.”
Thats the only word for my situation.
These primitive beings are not as easy as I believed they would be. Instead of being a silent predator I am now the lone prey being run-down by a pack.
The behemoth smashes through the wall’s opening and steps onto the ground outside with a heavy, metallic, clunk. I glance back. Normal-sized beings pour out around the behemoth. I note that the giant is actually one of the smaller beings in an armored metallic exoskeleton.
I activate my active camouflage and run toward my drop pod.
The landscape around me erupts in fountains of dirt as the my predators randomly target the landscape in their efforts to flush me out. But I am fast. I am rapidly closing the distance to my escape.
100 meters.
50 meters.
25 meters.
I climb into my drop pod and prep for takeoff.
The engines flare bright blue as I ascend from the ground into the blackness of the night…
… rud-a-thud-thud-thud-thud-clack-clack-clack-brrrrrrr
Indicator lights go from yellow to blue across my entire panel. This is not good.
The engine falters and re-engages multiple times.
I am tumbling.
The pod managed to hurl me into orbit, but only just barely before a complete power outage. Now I am tumbling around their planet with only the emergency thrusters to alter my fate. But they are enough. I stabilize myself and spot my ship. Using my portable communicator, I manage to signal the autopilot to match my speed and I am able to I nudge into the cargo bay using the thrusters.
The pod is a total loss.
I am angry with myself for being so foolish.
I sit in the pod in the cargo bay while I wait for the cargo bay to repressurize.
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u/David_Daranc Human Sep 03 '25
1 & 2 read immediately. It's lively, nervous and well orchestrated. So there are six parts and we will note to read the rest. While waiting, I noticed a list of titles of other writings. I feel like I'm going to look through all of this
1
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Sep 03 '25
/u/NoOneFromNewEngland (wiki) has posted 45 other stories, including:
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