Yakeline was, even as a baby yak, a dreamer. She envisioned herself high up in the sky, and not just on a mountain. Birds flying by always caught her eye, she wished to be among them. Her herd had fewer thoughts collectively in their lifetimes than Yakeline experienced moment to moment.

Yakeline was lonely in her pack. Her mother was more interested in grazing than socializing. The only connection she truly felt was from Yakary. He was only slightly older than her, and she found him very handsome. They grew up together in the herd, always playing together and sleeping closeby. Still, he was not like her and she knew it.

Always the fastest in her herd, Yakeline would embarrass Yakary when they would race. She also had incredible control of her massive body, able to stop from full speed almost instantly. Her mother was nothing like that, so she figured it was from her father who she never met.

Much of the life of the herd was peaceful, only ever threatened by the expansion of human building. One night Yakeline had a feeling that peace would be ending soon, as if she sensed enemies approaching. 

Trouble descended in the form of ravenous reptilians. Thousands of small gators encroached on the territory of the herd. Running was the instinctual first option, yet they found that the perimeter was secured by the gators. Yakeline watched as Yakary was torn apart, and her mother was nearby, not wise enough to flee.

Yakeline focused all her energy to speed ahead and ram the gators. Her mother moved out of the way just in time. The gators were eviscerated, entrails flying everywhere. Behind Yakeline there was a trail of torn grass. She couldn’t understand how running caused this, or how the gators were ripped apart.

A nibble interrupted Yakeline’s thoughts. Gators had swarmed her, as the obvious threat. Luckily for her, their attack was uncoordinated, as if missing a leader. Some of the smaller gators were on her back and a couple larger ones nibbled at her legs.

Yakeline heard spinning and felt her body vibrate rapidly. She closed her eyes and endured the strange sensation.

When she opened her eyes, thousands of gators were dead. So were the yaks. Her entire herd was mutilated. What had she done? Yakeline couldn’t understand. She cried loudly, confused, angry and more alone than ever.

Just then, she heard a whooshing sound overhead.

“Stay still.” commanded a voice over a loudspeaker. The voice responded to an unknown person, “Yep, we finally found her.”

From above, Yakeline saw a helicopter hovering, looking for a place to land. It settled for directly on top of the corpses of the herd. Yakeline felt sick.

A man in a suit stepped out of the helicopter and approached Yakeline.

“We’ve been looking for you. We figured one day you’d start showing.”

She didn’t know what he was talking about, nor why she understood.

“You look confused.” the man stated. “You thought you were just a yak? With that steering system? With that radar and computing power? With those turrets and those rotor blades?”

The man chuckled and stood next to Yakeline. “That’s funny. I guess that makes sense. I mean you spent your whole life with these creatures. And you are quite literally half yak.”

“Half yak?” Yakeline thought, wishing there was some way he could hear.

“I bet you’re thinking right now, ‘half yak?’. Well, ma’am, I’d like you to meet your father.” the man pointed forward. Yakeline stared through the fuselage of the helicopter for a good few seconds. The man walked to the door and slammed it shut, and then held out his arms to present her father to her. “Say hello to daddy AH-217.”

Yakeline resisted for a few minutes, letting the man’s words pass through unheard. Then she gave in, knowing it to be true.

“You are more than a yak. You know this. Now join us. Join us in the fight against the wicked. We need you on our side.” the man’s invitation began to sound like a threat if she didn’t agree.

Yakeline looked around to see her herd nothing more than a graveyard. She bid farewell to her mother and began to focus her energy again.

“That’s it, baby.” the man said, getting in the AH-217 and awaiting Yakeline in the sky.

Rotor blades extended from her back and machine guns popped out from her sides. Yakeline would not forget where she came from. She would seek out the reptilian leader who caused the attack and she would honor both her parents while doing so. Yakeline patrolled the skies as A-Yak Helicopter.