“Yeah, like your tail suggestion was such a great idea!” Bobbie Ray snarled. “When I want your advice, I’ll ask for it.”
Reoh backed up, holding up his hands. “I know you’re better suited to handle this than me.”
Wearily, Bobbie Ray sat down and leaned his forehead against the wall of their niche. “Problem is, I don’t know what to do!”
Starsa grabbed Ijen’s pack after descending the cliff to the seep. When she saw the direction they had run, she used the ropes that had been left hanging by the seep to climb to the top of the plateau.
Tracking the cadets through a side canyon, she saw the Rex pacing in the bottom. They were focused on a hole in the cliff wall, waiting for the cadets to come out of hiding.
Starsa ran around the deep cut in the plateau, to the edge just above Bobbie Ray and Reoh. She tied one end of the rope around several boulders. Crouching down to stay out of the range of the Rex’s keen eyesight, she neared the edge to judge the right spot to lower the rope.
The bigger Rex abruptly stopped in his tracks, raising his head slightly and drawing back his upper lip. She could see his tongue flicking the roof of his half‑open mouth. The Rex seemed to be almost in a trancelike state for a few moments, holding its breath and staring straight ahead. Then it abruptly shook its head and looked directly at her.
Starsa wasn’t about to get into a staring match with the Rex. She never won with Bobbie Ray, always ending up blinking first or turning away from his huge, unwavering gold eyes.
She dropped the rope. “Bobbie Ray! Nev Reoh! Grab the rope!”
Bobbie Ray leaned out of the hole in the wall, giving her a wide‑eyed stare. “Hurry!” she shouted at him.
As Bobbie Ray began to claw his way up the cliff, leaving deep grooves in the wall from his hind claws, the other two Rex retreated to a place where they could get up the cliff. Starsa chewed on her lip, watching their fast progress.
“They want you!”she told Bobbie Ray.
“How reassuring,” he retorted, nervously watching as the Rex bounded gracefully up the steep slope.
“Help me!”Nev Reoh wailed from below, dangling from the rope like he’d run out of strength.
With Bobbie Ray’s assistance, Starsa pulled Nev Reoh up at least a body length, looping the rope around the boulders to give them leverage. They gave another mighty heave, bringing the Bajoran near the lip of the plateau.
“Uh‑oh!” Bobbie Ray exclaimed, as the Rex reached the plateau and headed for them.
“You’re talking to them wrong,” Starsa panted.
“They haven’t given me a chance to talk to them,” Bobbie Ray protested.
“They talk with their bodies, not their mouths! Go meet them,” Starsa told him, hanging on to the rope with all her might. “Reoh, you’ll have to climb up the last bit!”
Hesitantly, Bobbie Ray moved forward to meet them.
“Not like that!” Starsa exclaimed. “Make yourself look bigger! Fluff everything out–”
“I’m going to get killed,” Bobbie Ray muttered.
“Think of it as stylized combat. I doubt they really want to hurt us–or they would have killed me. They’re confused because you’re not responding right.” She grunted, holding onto the rope. “Reoh, get your Bajoran butt up here! A three‑year‑old could climb faster than you!”
Bobbie Ray faced the two large Rex as they cautiously approached, no longer growling as they had when he had run. He realized he was on the balls of his feet, and his shoulders instinctively squared to make as himself appear as big as possible.
They began to circle, and he kept his face toward them, backpedaling slightly to keep them from surrounding him. The smaller Rex fell back, letting the larger one move in.
All Bobbie Ray could see were the enormous incisors of the Rex and each one of those four‑inch claws. The hair on his spine crawled, as if sensing the way those jaws would clamp on the back of his neck to deliver the killing bite.
“Make the first move,” Starsa hissed from behind him.
Bobbie Ray gave her a quick glare. Why hadn’t his parents ever taught him about Rex? Surely they knew that, going into Starfleet, he was bound to encounter his own kind. If he got out of this, he was going to have a long talk with his mother.
“Go on!” Starsa urged. “Be tough. Put your ears back, like when you’re challenging someone to a fight.”
“You’re interfering with my concentration,” Bobbie Ray snapped.
The Rex stopped, seemingly confused, looking from him to Starsa. Bobbie Ray realized she was right, and he began advancing slowly, weaving from side to side, taking care to rotate his ears so the backs faced frontward, in what Starsa said was his “growly” look.
It seemed to work, because the other Rex immediately flattened his ears, not just turning them back but making them almost disappear. Bobbie Ray tried out a low growl or two, but was less than pleased when a spine‑chilling wail seemed to rise from nowhere.
“What’s that?” Nev Reoh asked, peeking over the edge of the plateau.
“I think it’s coming from him,” Bobbie Ray said out of the corner of his mouth. This time he was careful not to break his stance. Knowing he could never compete with that unearthly sound, Bobbie Ray made a big show of moving forward a few inches, his legs absurdly stiff.
“That’s good,” Starsa called out encouragement. “I think you’re scaring him.”
“Is that a good idea?” Bobbie Ray murmured, advancing, then pausing, giving the Rex plenty of time to call it quits.
As the Rex came very near, his head seemed to twist as if focusing in on Bobbie Ray from a different angle. He took a slow step forward and twisted his head the other way, and Bobbie Ray started to get the feeling that he was a sitting duck. A rather realistic growling whine rose from the back of his throat, rumbling out and rising in power as adrenaline‑laced panic sang through his nerves.
They both slowed, moving in tiny increments, balanced only by each other’s shifting. The Rex was screaming directly at him, frozen, and Bobbie Ray felt the same compulsion to glare at his rival, to move even slower, as if not to admit fear.
Suddenly his adversary lunged toward him, and Bobbie Ray shied back, trying to get room to maneuver. The Rex came in over his back to get his teeth on Bobbie Ray’s neck. The cadet kicked out his leg, swiping support from under the Rex, causing both of them to tumble away from each other.
Bobbie Ray was quickly back on his feet, twitching his fur, trying to feel if he had been slashed by those deadly claws. But the Rex hadn’t connected. Bobbie Ray silently blessed every hand‑to‑hand defense instructor he’d ever had.
The Rex seemed even more wary this time, but he stared hard at him before coming in again, taking a defensive posture. When Bobbie Ray immediately countered his stance, the Rex didn’t move in as close this time. After a few frozen moments, wailing and rumbling loud enough to make Starsa cover her ears, the Rex finally began to ease back.
Bobbie Ray felt himself relax with every centimeter the Rex slowly retreated. It was so gradual that he wasn’t sure it was over until both the Rex faded away, turning and disappearing down into the canyon.
“You did it!” Starsa exclaimed, clapping her hands. She jumped on Bobbie Ray, wrapping her arms around his neck.
He was practically rigid, still in his alert‑stance, feeling strangely exhilarated and unwilling to break his pose. “Let go,” he ordered under his breath.
Laughing, Starsa jumped down and did a little dance. “We did it! We did it!”
“They might come back any second,” Nev Reoh said, edging up to them. Bobbie Ray noticed he stayed well out of arm’s reach.