Chapter 2: Report
Not wanting to make a spectacle of herself, Cat turned away from him with a huff and started walking in the direction of the infirmaries. He was right on her heels, clicking "You are very shapely for an ooman. Tell me, do most of your females have such curves?" pausing a second, he trilled "Or such obvious disinterest in virile males?" Seeing her stop in her tracks, he stepped back a pace not wanting a repeat of last night. The blows she'd dealt him didn't hurt, but they were dammed uncomfortable for a few moments. Whirling around, Cat made a show of inspecting him; first from head to toe and then slowly walking around him, making contemplative noises in her throat. He was intrigued by her perusal, knowing there was no fault in his appearance and expecting his due praise.
His bubble was deflated when she spoke sweetly "I find I'm not partial to ashy skin, as it looks very sickly in my opinion. Your locks, though interesting to the eye, do not make me wish to do anything, least of all run my hands through them in wild passion and then there are your eyes…" pausing, she wondered if she had said too much already, but then thought to hell with it and continued "Your eyes have the distinct misfortune of being as black as a void." Adding silently "like the obvious void in your overblown head" aloud she continued, amused "They may sparkle under light, but I doubt that's the sparkle of intelligence. To your supposed virility, I can only say, that like your appearance, I doubt it would move me. So to conclude I will answer your question. Yes I do like virile males, but not honored warrior…you." dropping into an elegant curtsy as she finished, stiffening her muscles for the roar and rage that would no doubt follow her insulting set down.
The warrior roared with laughter, almost falling down with the force of his mirth. Cat couldn't believe it. Seeing the astonished look on her face, he laughed even harder before trilling "That was the most inventive and well executed rejection I have ever heard!" getting himself together, he trilled "A truce ooman. I don't think my weak constitution could handle much more of your sweetly wrapped insults!" His laughter was infectious, and Cat soon found herself extending her hand with a smile "I will accept your truce, if you stop pursuing me." Taking her hand, he gently squeezed and released it, teasing "It will be difficult, but I will do my best to resist. I am Fo'lix." Shaking her head, she laughed, "In that case. I'm Cat." As they both started walking, Cat glanced at him, asking with a grin "So… does it ever work?" Trilling, he answered with mock hurt "On our females. You are however the first ooman and I am a bit disappointed my charms did not work on you." Patting his arm, she winked "I wouldn't give up hope. I'm not the only human in the universe and I'm sure there's a willing female somewhere out there." He sighed, purring "True, but I doubt they are all like you." Shoving his arm, Cat wagged her finger at him "Don't you purr at me Sharky, I'm immune to it."
After a few more minutes, he excused himself and went off to the training fields, leaving Cat to go into the infirmary like she'd planned. Entering the huge building, she made her way to the back of it, wondering what the healer had in store for her today "I hope it's not going be as painful as last time." Opening the door to the laboratories, she stuck her head in, yelling "Hellooo, anybody here?" hearing faint clanking further in, she slowly stepped through the door. She was still a little apprehensive walking into the healers halls because of what had happened with Mi'ren. Her mind knew that that was an atypical, once in a million thing, but it didn't stop her heart from clenching for a moment. She was about to call out again when an irritated growl cut her off "Will you stop that racket! This is a place of healing, not practicing your vocals!" Snapping her mouth shut, Cat relaxed when the female whose growl belonged to stepped through a door carrying supplies and a hunters medi-kit. Going to the medical table, Cat hopped on grinning "Fill me up Doc." watching as the Yautja worked on something at a table. Doc, as Cat dubbed her, was a huge beige mixture of a female, with a nonexistent bedside manner. But for all her snapping and abrupt growls, she was as gentle as a kitten, provided you did as she demanded, otherwise you'd be strapped down faster than you could squeak "pain killer!". She did not mess around.
"How did you feel the last time?" snapping out of her amusement, Cat thought for a moment before answering "Pretty good. There was a slight fever and I felt nauseous for a day or two, but other than that, it wasn't as bad as before." As a holographic real time image of her skeleton and insides materialized beside her, she teased "Look at those muscles, I'll be bench pressing Yautjas in no time!" Grunting absently, Doc intently observed the holo skeleton, clicking in surprise "Remarkable, your bone density has increased 13% already and your cell regeneration is starting to boost well above 9.7%. Your body is starting to accept and work with the blood." The Yautja furiously started tapping on the pad in her hands. Looking at the holo, then at the healer and back again, Cat frowned "Are you sure? I don't see anything and I don't feel any different at all." Not getting an answer and completely ignored, she stared at her holo bones trying to see what the healer saw. She couldn't make out any variation at all. She supposed that since she wasn't as sick as a dog anymore, Doc was right. Eight months ago, when they started, Doc gave her 10ccs of neon green blood. It was a nightmare; her body went into shock and then convulsions. After they'd stabilized her she blew up like a balloon, then a day later came the fever, retching and migraines "Yep, those were the days" she was in the infirmary for three weeks, before she felt well enough to be moved to the palace for an additional two weeks of bed rest. Two days later, it started all over again. By the third month, Doc wasn't pleased and so started mixing Cat's blood with Yautja blood before giving it to her. The effect, thank god, wasn't as severe, just a few chills or hot flashes during the night and a headache here and there, these symptoms she could deal with.
Her eyes almost bulged out of her head when the healer turned around, the large glass canister she was holding held a lot more blood then she was expecting, it looked like almost one liter, the canister half full. Seeing the look on her face Doc clicked while inserting a needle into the vein in her arm to draw blood into the canister "Don't look so stunned, I told you we would be increasing the dose." As they waited Cat occupied herself by looking everywhere other than her arm "Think about puppies and kittens, chocolate covered err…everything… About kicking a certain Yautjas ass when I see him… " After what felt like hours, but was actually a few minutes, the needle was removed and then another inserted into her other arm, a soft humming heard as a pump started pushing neon red blood into her veins. Cat barely heard the clicked words "This is your final addition for the next six months to a year, you need some time to recover and adjust." Gritting her teeth "Oh joy." she prepared for the pain that radiated a few seconds later like liquid fire blazing under her skin, moving up her arm first and then through her side to her heart where it was sent everywhere, her body felt like she was burning from the inside out. She could barely keep still and not scream her head off. She didn't know if she would be able to hold out for the three hours it would take for the blood to be slowly pumped in, she was already sweating and breathing as hard as a race horse. Thankfully she didn't have to wonder about it for long as her mind took away the decision by shutting down.
"What the pauk do you mean they are gone? They couldn't have just vanished! Not all of them!" The Yautja on the screen twitched at the High Matriarchs incredulous roars, stammering "The last transmission was three days ago from Yaut Prime and nothing since my Ruler. It is like they are all-" Dahira roared "They are not dead! Most certainly not all seven! It is impossible, they are one of the best hunters we have." She paced for a moment before growling angrily "Send me what you have, every conversation, every holo feed, even the ships status logs! I want to know where and when they landed on that pauk'de planet, how much time it took between transmissions and every c'jit step they took! If they so much as nicked a blade I want to know about it. I want EVERYTHING sent within fifteen minutes Elder Zal'taq!" she didn't wait for him to blurt out his understanding, closing the feed with a slammed fist on the table. Punching another button, she waited impatiently for an answer, clicking over it "Bring me the ooman Berh'in." The aide clicked "The ooman? I believe she is resting my Ruler." Dahira didn't have time to wait, growling "Now Berh'in!" A few seconds later her consoles went off beeping as information flooded in. Opening files, she studied the ships operating systems, supplies and fuel consumption, paying special attention to the motion sensors on the three levels. Moving on to the communications logs and holo feeds when she cleared the ship to be in perfect working order.
Cat was wondering what happened as Berh'in led her in a hurry all over the palace to the High Matriarchs private offices. Following him, she had to run to keep up with his longer stride, questioning breathlessly "What the hell is going on?" she was still tired and out of sorts from the healers and in no mood to be led around. He ignored her, picking up the pace. His sudden stop was so abrupt, she ran right into his back, steadying herself and opening her mouth to give him a piece of her mind. Completely confused when he grabbed her, opened the door and unceremoniously shoved her in, closing the panel in her face. Blinking at the door, Cat wondered "What the hell! Did he get dropped as a pup one too many times?" Turning around, her confusion increased as she saw the High Matriarch pace in front of her huge table. She'd never seen the usually steadfast female behave so uncharacteristically. It made the hairs on the back of her neck rise up. "Something big must have happened." Her mind immediately jumped to her Clan, especially its Elder, imagining the worst. Her heart started pounding and her hands shook yet she still didn't move. She felt glued to the spot. Some kind of sound must have escaped her because Dahi'ra stopped her pacing and snapped her head in her direction clicking "Good, you are here. I need to show you something." Watching her like hawk for a moment, Cat let out a relieved breath, it wasn't about her Clan or Ke'varde. She'd received bad news before and usually it was accompanied by sad and pitying looks. Finally able to move and breathe again, she rushed to the Matriarchs side as Dahi'ra turned to the screens pushing buttons and clicking "Three days ago, one of our hunting parties was returning to its Clanship, but last minute decided to go to the original home world for a treasure hunt. This was the last transmission:" the screen flickered to life, showing some kind of long pitch black hallway. Lights occasionally moved on the walls from one of the hunters, making out four of them after a few moments. They all moved cautiously and quietly, to Cat it seemed almost like a normal hunt, that is, until something moved in the shadows. The hunters didn't notice it, going further down the hall. She clutched the back of the chair in front of her, knowing this would end badly. On the screen, the Yautjas made it into a huge room, from what the light touched she could make out that the room was circular with an extremely high ceiling. Crumbling statues were positioned all around it, she counted three, no four distinct openings in the walls and a few smaller ones up higher. Again a shadow moved past them, this time closer to the hunters. One of them must have noticed it too because he started looking around with purpose, silently signaling his party to stop. It was tense watching them look around in the quiet blackness. Then all of a sudden all hell broke loose. One of the hunters disappeared into thin air, the others growled and clicked, flicking lights on surfaces searching for him in hurried motions. Something jumped out of nowhere tackling the hunter who was recording this, blood covered the lens as he was slashed open repeatedly. The last thing that was heard before the screen went blank was the horrifying snap of bones and agonizing roars of the dying, joined by an unfamiliar high pitched half roar, half wail.
Cat didn't know what to say, she'd never heard or seen anything like that in her life. It scared the daylights out of her. Looking at Dahi'ra she could tell this weighed heavily on her powerful shoulders. The Matriarch clicked, staring at the blank screen "The one you are searching for is with them." It took Cat a moment to figure out who she was talking about, turning to her she questioned, hoping she was wrong "What? You mean Mi'rens sister?" getting a nod as confirmation, she hesitated only a split second before saying with resolve "I know you're going to send a rescue party. I want in." Expecting an argument, she was pleased when Dahi'ra sighed and nodded, clicking "I knew you would. Be clear on this Cat, I am only allowing you to go because you know more about the treasure and that place than anyone else. I know you have studied Selt'ox's notes and every detail that has been stored in the archives. Your objective is the spear, but not at the cost of your life or the hunters lives. If the warriors give you the order to leave, you will go, understood?" The High Matriarch stared directly at her, knowing the ooman debated the wisdom of such an order, after a moment Cat grudgingly nodded "Alright, yes I understand." placing a clawed hand on the oomans small shoulder Dahi'ra clicked quietly "The team will be assembled at first light, you leave an hour after that. Take care of yourself little one and always be vigilant. Now go prepare what you will need for the journey and then rest." releasing her, she listened as Cat walked to the door and closed it behind herself. Turning back to screen, the image of a shadow appeared on it, the Matriarch purred with worry "Paya be with you..."
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