Moya threw herself flat as a Kelvan lunged at her from an empty cabin. She rolled under the alien's feet, throwing it to the deck beside her. She sprang up nanoseconds before it did. She knew she had to keep it off balance if she were to survive. She kicked it in the knee for good measure and bounded down the hallway.
It pursued as she'd hoped. This particular Kelvan was too close to the infirmary for her comfort. For half a heartbeat she wished that Anthony was fighting by her side, but then was glad he wasn't.
The Kelvan used her momentary distraction to grab for her ankle. She fell heavily to the deck. Her calm facade slipped away and she bounded up again with a Rex battle scream. The Kelvan paused, confused the woman should have gone down and stayed down. Instead, she launched herself at him, grasping his throat. He bent back from the blow. She allowed the force of her leap to throw them both against the walls, but clung to his throat tenaciously.
When he could retreat no further, the Kelvan brought his mind to bear on her. She squeezed harder, forcing his head back. She felt a tug at the edge of her senses, and knew she was out of time. His neck snapped, and the feeling was gone.
She dropped the body and staggered against the wall. The infirmary door slid open and an orderly looked out. She waved, letting him see her uniform and rank. He nodded back, a worried look on his face. He glanced down at the dead Kelvan, and when he looked up she was gone.
A new feeling edged into her mind, ruffling her tail and ears. She dropped to one knee. Time travel! she groaned mentally. She collapsed face down on the deck, trying not to retch as the twists in time caught her and the Knight up.
Two more Kelvans rounded the bend. She made herself lie still, hoping they would pass her by, or ignore her. They did, and she overcame her nausea enough to spring up behind them to attack. One leapt forward, his features more like a Rex's than the other Kelvans she'd seen on board the Knight. The other nodded, then hurried on.
Moya changed her leap mid-air, twisting out of the way of the back-breaking kick aimed her way. She rebounded from the wall, swept back towards her enemy. He smiled at her like a Rex would, like prey, and she could do nothing more than smile back. Now her father's people would be killed, if they had not already been destroyed. They were warriors, and would surrender no sooner than Klingons or Borg. If she fell, who would protect her grandmother, an old woman with no other family and few enough friends left alive?
She met the Kelvan's next kick with a block, then feinted low. The Kelvan did not fall for it, so she followed through on the blow, striking him hard. He did not fall. He growled a challenge at her. She felt her human side sliding into the safe hold she had long-ago constructed for it, and let her Rex reflexes take over.
Her human side could see the Kelvan's confusion. He had been met by a thinking being, where now he fought a creature of instinct. He pulled back half a step, and she pursued. She slashed at him with her claws, using her human side to control the nausea that still threatened her. The Kelvan struck her hard on the side of the head. She rolled with the blow, came back up with a knife in her claws. She slashed repeatedly at the Kelvan, beyond nausea and fear now. The Kelvan saw the beginnings of madness in her eyes, and thought to retreat. She howled once more and clawed at him, using barely remembered Starfleet tactics. She knew, distantly, that she needed to retreat, that she could not hope to kill this one, but her Rex side would not stand down. She shut down her human side and let go.
She "awoke" again in an empty corridor. She did not know where the Kelvan had gone to, but she hoped he was dead, or dying, or even lost in the strands of time. She leaned her head against the bulkhead, waiting. Footsteps sounded. She swung around to find security officers watching her. She smiled wanly at them, knowing she was a mess. They nodded, but did not come any closer.
"First Lieutenant Moya Artel," she said, fighting to stay calm. "What happened?"
One of them shrugged. "We found several dead Kelvans. Are you responsible?"
"I sure hope so." She stood straighter. "Where are they now?"
"Everywhere," was the terse answer. "We can't seem to sneak up on them. It's like they can feel us coming!"
"They probably can," she answered with a shrug. "Just point me in the right direction." They blinked at her. "I saw one get into the infirmary. Did it kill anyone?"
"No." The security team looked at each other. "There's no sign of Kelvans on this deck, except the dead ones."
"Drat." She smoothed her stained uniform. "Oh well. We'll find him sooner or later." She stepped away from the wall, only to stagger slightly. "Go on. I'll be along shortly. I just need to catch my breath." She could smell the fear on the security team, and knew part of it was in response to her. She waved them off. Oh, grandmother. It's so hard to stay a true knight, she mourned. She rubbed her face, smoothing her fur. "But I will. Protect those weaker than myself, and defend against all enemies."
With a grin at herself, she hurried for the nearest access tunnel. Confusion to the enemy, she thought. If she could tap back into the Rex side without losing all her human-ness, she might be able to avoid being found. It was certainly worth a try. She pulled open the access hatch and slid in, closing it after her. She drew in a deep breath and concentrated on all the harsh words people had said to her about her Rex heritage, all the mean-spirited insults and sly innuendoes thrown at her. Her fur bristled and her tail fluffed. Again her human side retreated into its "foxhole". The last thing she thought was Confusion to the enemy!
The hunt, that entirely Rex activity - hunting sentient beings - was on.