Orion's Hounds

“I know you don’t truly believe that, Qui’hibra,” Dea

“I thought I did at first, but many wise Pa’haquel believe otherwise. I am just a hunter, not a philosopher.”

“But you know the skymounts,” Dea

“That is what I would like to believe. But the Conclave has declared that the Hunt must resume. And the Hunt demands that I do what I must, not what I desire.”

“So you keep saying,” Dea

“You keep insisting that nothing matters to you as much as fighting the chaos, as much as preserving life throughout the galaxy. Well, here is lifefor you to preserve! Here is a whole species that you have it in your power to spare, right here, right now. A species that you revere and cherish, a species that is willing to forgive everything you’ve ever done to it and stand by your side as friends. A species that could be the greatest ally you’ve ever known.

“If they give you that, and you repay them with betrayal, with death—where is the balance in that?”

Qui’hibra was silent again for a long time. Dea

“What?”Se’hraqua challenged. “You would defy the Conclave?”

“You would defyme?” Qui’hibra’s voice was softer and more dangerous than she’d ever heard it.

The youth seethed. “I will stand down for now. But the Conclave will hear of this.”

“Yes, they will. I will tell them myself.”He faced the visual pickup again. “If you, Riker, and you, Troi, can prove to me that the branchers can be herded and used to hunt…then I will stand with you and prove it to the Conclave.”

“Thank you,”Riker said sincerely, and Dea

“Some things may change,”Qui’hibra said, unimpressed by the rhetoric. “But the Hunt goes on.”He paused. “Commander Troi…once again I offer my apologies for what I believed the Hunt required of me. I hope that now you are willing to forgive me.”

She crossed her arms and thought about it. The jellies were willing to forgive worse, as she had pointed out so emphatically moments ago. It would be a bit hypocritical not to follow suit. Still, she had to ask one thing. “Would you really have let Riathrek eat me alive bit by bit?”

He seemed surprised by the question. “Yes.”

She blinked. “Well, all right. Just as long as I know what I’m forgiving you for.”

CLAN AQ’TRI’HHE LEAD SKYMOUNT, STARDATE 57221.8

The Conclave of Elders watched the sensation wall speechlessly as it showed a trio of branchers, herded by live star-jellies under the direction of Huntsmaster Qui’shoqai and his clanmates, made short work of a group of spi

“Now you have seen with your own eyes,” Qui’hibra declared when the demonstration was concluded and the branchers were being led meekly away. “We have achieved this much after only a few days of training. Imagine how much more we can accomplish. We can still be hunters, even more effective than before. The balance of life and death continues…but we and the skymounts need no longer be on opposite sides of that balance. And we need no longer lose so many of our wives, sons and daughters, see so many worthy lines diminished or snuffed out in Houndings. Imagine how many of your kin would still be here today if we could have sent the branchers against the harvester.”

Se’hraqua shot to his feet and spoke angrily. “You speak of the balance, but you do not understand it. The balance of life and death is not preserved if we no longer have the courage and commitment to sacrifice our own lives to the Hunt!”

“And how is it balanced,” Dea

“This blasphemer has no right to speak here!”

“She is here as my advisor,” Qui’hibra countered, “and an honorary member of my clan. That gives her the right.” He addressed the Conclave as a whole again. “And she speaks wisely. The more of our lives we throw away, the more we diminish our strength against the chaos. Consider it. Consult with your singers of history. Have we ever had so few in a Great Hounding before, or come away with so few left alive? Our old ways were not in balance—they gave too much of an edge to death.”

Now Aq’hareq rose. “Our ‘old ways’ are our onlyways, Qui’hibra! They were handed down to us by the Spirit, passed on from generation to generation pure and unchanged. They are the way we were meant to be. Follow this corrupt path and the Spirit will never forgive you.”

“And what about the skymounts?” Dea

“The Spirit governs them too,” Aq’hareq replied, unruffled by her words. “They stray from Its path by seeking to evade the Hunt, and they will be shown their folly in time. The branchers will turn on them, or they will sicken with disease from having Pa’haquel live inside them, or the hotsprings of their breeding worlds will grow cold. One way or another, the true balance will be restored.”

“So it must be,” Se’hraqua added, “for so it is written.”

Dea

“Aq’hareq speaks of balance. If you want to see balance, look around you. Look where we are. The Proplydian is the greatest starbeast in all of Vela. It’s a symbol of the life force that pervades the galaxy, that sustains and defines you as a people. Do you have to kill it, or it you, to be in balance? No. You live alongside it, in symbiosis with it, in balance with it, as do countless starbeasts. It sustains a vast wealth of life, and does not need to die in order to do so. It pulses with life of its own, and does not need to kill to do so. Is this corrupt? Is this a path doomed to destruction? The Proplydian has lived longer than any other star-beast, longer than your entire species. It has earned your reverence and your awe. And it has done this without death. It has done this by balancing life with life.