Chapter IV
Disclaimer:
This story has been written purely for entertainment purposes, and in no way, shape, form, or fashion means to impede, or infringe upon any copyrighted material whatsoever. I do however retain credit and claim responsibility for the creation of names and character statistics of any and all characters within this publication. These characters are based on copyrighted ideas and or characters of the respective owners of said material within the entertainment industry. No money will be attributed to the author of the following publication in any form. Definitions and wording used to describe devices, and other such items are derived from other literary works involving these types of characters. This publication was created for the sole purpose of entertainment and the expansion of a concept formerly copyrighted by an individual or individuals as a group.
I'm back, so now the world can rest easy knowing that I have returned. For I am the Icon of Coolness, of all that is cool, and ever will be cool, amen. I should have my own cult following, whaddya think? Anyway, I recently moved and only recently have I gotten settled in enough to sit and write anything, so without further delay, here is chapter 4. And by the way I hope that the Glossary at the end of each of the chapters will make things easier to understand and make reference to. And thanks a bunch to all those who reviewed the last 3 chapters, I will in return, review the work of those who review mine. Thank you, please drive through.
Chapter IV
Hulij-Thwei rested for a while after returning from both his meeting with K'tek-de'Sa, and speaking to the Elder about making Pok'de it'ktse his second in command.
It was then that the ship around him shuddered and convulsed violently. What was obviously a large explosion had breached the hull of the ship and woke him literally knocking him out of bed.
He picked himself off the floor wearily and looked around to see what damage had possibly been done to his immediate surroundings. Fortunately, whatever harm there was to the ship had not affected his living quarters and from what he could tell the hull breach was a few decks above and to the rear of the craft from his present location. Nonetheless, he was duty bound, as were all Yautja onboard a vessel, to investigate the source of the problem and provide any assistance to those in need.
He bolted from his domicile and sped down the causeway of the massive ship toward where he thought the problem might be. After a short run, he had ventured across a communication panel on the wall near a cross section of corridors. As he reached for the controls another loud explosion rocked the hulking craft like nothing he had ever felt before. His body slammed against the opposite wall with great force, and he quickly shook off the weariness he felt from the blow he had received. Reaching for the communication panel once again, he realized that another hull breach alert had sounded, telling him that some inner section of the ship, yet unknown to him, was beginning to depressurize. Realizing the urgent nature of the warning claxon, he hurriedly manipulated the controls on the wall, and accessed the damage report that was sure to have been instantly recorded by the ships sensors. To his surprise there was nothing. In fact, it only now dawned on him that he never heard an alert claxon after the first explosion, and the alert after the second detonation was far too delayed to think that things around here were normal.
Despite the peculiar events, he took it upon himself to try and locate survivors among the wreckage that was sure to be quite a serious issue by now. He had surely hoped that he was not the only one in the area that was prepared or able to help.
During all this, his mind silently questioned as to whom or what had attacked them, when the answer finally hit him. It had to be the Kin'chen De'ok; at least that's what the Yautja called them. This answer only gave him more grief, as he knew that they were not supposed to be in this area of space according to recent reports.
Desperately, he searched the area of the ship where the damage had been done and saw one dead Yautja after another. Some of them his friends and some of them he barely knew. At this point the only thing that really bothered him was the fact that that his allies had not even had the chance to fight to an honorable death, their lives had been taken from them without warning, but despite his feelings he continued his search, and discovered something that bothered him even more. The bodies of the Unblooded, and the Youngbloods were scattered amongst the wreckage, and this affected him even more profoundly, as they had never even had the chance to experience the glory of being ranked as a Warrior or better. He had never experienced emotions such as this previously in his life and it only proceeded to make him angrier at the current situation. 'Someone must have survived.' He thought.
It was then that he was surprised by a noise getting nearer to his location. From around the corner of a nearby corridor came his friend Pok'de it'ktse. He appeared to be injured, and was accompanied by two humans carrying him from what seemed to be a much more damaged part of the ship. He spoke to the humans, inquiring as to what had happened, and physically he heard no reply, although their mouths moved as if to answer him.
He recognized one of them as if he had known her for some time now, and even sensed that he may have had trusted her. It was Morgan, and she looked as if she had just been through a fiery battle. The other human was covered with the same sooty substance, but appeared to be unharmed. He leaned down over his Yautja friend, who was just now reverting back to consciousness, and turned his head slightly to one side he asked Morgan if she knew what had happened to him. Again, there was no audible sound from her moving lips. Nonetheless, he somehow knew what she was speaking. He traded a few words with Pok'de it'ktse, and after confirming that he was merely knocked out for a short period of time, he turned his attention toward Morgan with great concern, and grabbing her by the sides of the arms, he asked her if she had been injured.
She didn't even get a word out when another nearby explosion had occurred in an adjacent wall sending a large piece of metal careening through the midsection of her body, effectively slicing through her like a finely sharpened blade. Her lower extremities fell to the ground in a bloody heap, as the upper portion went completely limp in his arms, and slipped thorough his grasp to the flooring below. In his peripheral vision, he could see the bodies of both the other human, and his friend Pok'de it'ktse, bleeding profusely as their bodies were also mangled by the twisted shards of metal that tore through them at lightening speed.
As he scanned the area realizing that he had not been harmed in the least, he heard Morgan's voice as well as all of the voices of all of the dead call to him in his head. He spun to again look at her remains and the others around him, hoping he was not losing his mind, when shockingly enough, her mouth moved and spoke to him; only this time he could hear every word as plain as day and again as before, the many voices of the dead around spoke in unison with her creating sort of a delayed echo.
"Do not let fear guide you." Spoke the voices of Morgan and the other dead.
It was then that he realized that he had succumbed to the visions of a nightmare. Sitting quickly in his bed he looked around to make sure that it was over and that he was not still sleeping. It was only on rare occasions that he had experienced such awful thoughts while asleep, and they were never typically as vivid, or uncontrollable, or more importantly, never as real.
The chime at his doorway had sounded alerting him to the presence of someone outside his quarters, and he rose hastily as he answered appropriately the greeting that would allow the entry of his guest into his domicile.
He was almost at the entryway as the hatch slid into its fully open position, revealing the existence of his friend Pok'de it'ktse stepping into the room. Uncontrollably, Hulij-Thwei stared at him with an oddly twisted expression, although he felt as if he had hidden his strange behavior well, or so he thought.
"Are you going to just stand there in the way for the rest of time, or are you going to invite me in to have a comfortable seat? Spoke Pok'de it'ktse.
"Oh, sorry. I was preoccupied with thought." Stated Hulij-Thwei.
"Oh, well that explains it. For a minute there I thought perhaps you had seen the Shadow of Death."
"Well, what I did see was close enough, and I don't really care to talk about it at the moment."
"Oh, I see. Well I hope that it has something to do with the scheduling of the Kehrite for the training of the Unblooded, because I took it upon myself to make sure that it was done when I was in your quarters last."
"Thank you." Spoke Hulij-Thwei, as he took up a position adjacent to Pok'de it'ktse in the common area of his lodgings. He sat on a large, lavishly decorated chair of significant size. It was covered in fur, as were most of Yautja belongings. It was typical to construct furniture from many different parts of their kills, thus rendering them to stand as near trophy status all by themselves.
"It must be something serious that bothers you. You haven't done as usual and offered me anything to drink."
"To be honest, it's not as bad as my distraction may lead you to believe, but either a good sparring, or meditation will surely relieve me of the problem."
"Never mind, I'll get something to drink myself." Said Pok'de it'ktse with a humorously annoyed tone.
"Oh, sorry. Anyway, what time did you schedule the use of the Kehrite for?"
"About half a kerev from now."
"That would be about twenty minutes from now, in Earth time I suppose." Said Hulij-Thwei as he glanced at the timepiece on the wall.
With a chuckle, Pok'de it'ktse responded accordingly. "And why are you concerned with Earth time, might I ask? Does it have something to do with that, human female?"
"Yes and no. It more or less concerns all the humans. If we are going to have them observe the training of the Unblooded or hunt or fight with us, then it might make it easier to communicate with them if I developed the habit of communicating in ways they are more familiar with."
"Oh, for a minute there I thought you were beginning to dwell a bit too much on just her." Spoke Pok'de it'ktse with the Yautja equivalent of a grin to his mandibles, as he handed Hulij-Thwei a drink and sat down a few feet away on an adjacent chair.
"Don't be ridiculous. I know where my priorities lie, which reminds me, you are now officially my second in command." Stated Hulij-Thwei, with a slight hint of a smile.
"I am already aware of that. The Elder made it a point to make sure I was informed immediately after you spoke to him. And by the way, I am impressed with how you suddenly took advantage of the conversation in order to change the subject, simply impressive, I must say." Laughed Pok'de it'ktse.
"You just don't quit, do you?"
"Quitting is not the Yautja way."
"Leave it to a technicality of our culture to allow you the means to annoy me further."
"Truth be told, as your friend, I simply want to see you live as a Yautja should. That means that when there is a chance to enjoy life with a female, than you should do so, and besides, how long has it been since you've done so? Well, that's too long."
"You didn't even allow me the chance to answer."
"Exactly my friend, exactly." Replied Pok'de it'ktse.
A few moments passed before Hulij-Thwei stood and spoke.
"If you will go and wake the Unblooded, I will take a few minutes to prepare the Kehrite for use, and meet you there."
"Of course, I will relish the opportunity to give them as much grief as possible."
"I knew you would." Said Hulij-Thwei smiling.
Pok'de it'ktse left the room and headed in the direction of the lower levels of the ship where the Unblooded were bunked.
After staring at the door for a few moments, for reasons of focusing his thoughts, Hulij-Thwei then turned toward the wall where he kept his armor and weapons, and relinquished them from their resting places. Upon putting them on, he caught a glimpse of himself in one of the mirrors he had placed around the room for study of strategic purposes. It was to his surprise that by placing these objects in certain areas, the room would appear larger, and made him feel a bit less cramped.
It wasn't long that he stared at himself before any doubts of his confidence as a Yautja Leader had gone away. He was instantly filled with enough pride to conquer any enemy, and he would make sure that these Unblooded trainees would know his name, and learn to respect the ways of wisdom that he would teach them. He would make sure that they attained all the necessary skills to survive a Kainde Amedha Chiva, and what's more, he would try to instill in them the ability to not only survive this hunt, but also bring back a trophy as well.
It was well known amongst the Yautja that Hulij-Thwei was one of the more successful of trainers that any Yautja had ever set eyes on, even though he wasn't officially able to do so. It was when he was assisting in the training of earlier groups of Unblooded youth that his Leader at the time gave him free reign as to how they would be trained. While the credit officially went to the Leader, most still recognized his accomplishments with former Unblooded. It was also these facts that made others jealous of him, on more than one occasion, and often lead to more and more challenges for position within the clan. He had a flawless record of never having lost a challenge to anyone, except once, and that was to his Elder when they were first introduced. Although it is still rumored today that the Elder himself believed that Hulij-Thwei had held back some during the course of combat with him, he just couldn't prove it. Of course this was just a rumor, and all rumors are quite possibly exaggerated.
Still one couldn't help but notice that even considering Hulij-Thwei's smaller stature compared to the Yautja, he remained an imposing site, his armor was carved with some of the most elaborate of designs, most of them signifying death to challengers, or representations of strength according to Yautja beliefs. What's more is the fact that any exposed area of his body rippled with muscled intensity, even when relaxed. There was no doubt that he was in perfect shape and was superior to all who would stand before him.
Upon being satisfied with his current state of mind, he turned to exit his quarters and brought himself to the Kehrite in which training would begin for the Unblooded, and prepared the various weapons he would allow them to use. While checking each individual weapon for flaws or damage during their last use, he began to remember back to when he was a youth and first used these items himself. These were the same weapons he now possessed; only less advanced as far as the technology was concerned.
How he so enjoyed the memories of hunting his first kill. It was in the Yautja culture the same as it was for the humans; the first time anything was accomplished was considered to be an important marker in their lives to be remembered. He thought back to his first use of a staff, and wrist blades, as well as other assorted items in use by the Yautja. He even remembered his first use of what the humans called a gun. Gon'tok-de, the Yautja who raised him as his own had given it to him after his first kill of a San'tak, a creature the size of an elephant, with only his extendable spear.
It wasn't until standing there for a few minutes when he suddenly realized that he missed training the younger generations of Yautja to come. Of course, being independent and having the freedom to hunt where he wanted, and usually when he wanted had its appeal too. Either way, he realized that for the most part he was content, and was genuinely satisfied with his life, there was but one thing missing, and what that one thing was, was as big a mystery to him as he could fathom.
Without warning his thoughts were impeded upon by the thunderous approach of Pok'de it'ktse and the young trainees entering the Kehrite. He turned his head quickly to see them piling in with complete disorganization. Despite their lack of unity, they all possessed that look of utter determination, and hunger for the hunt, or anything that would make them better hunters in the long run. The Unblooded were like a sponge, soaking up anything that would eventually allow them to be Warriors, or more. It would be to their advantage seeing as to how Hulij-Thwei was nearly ruthless when it came to training, and his persistence in training the way that he did had paid off for many of his former students, especially when it came time for the Kainde Amedha Chiva.
Glossary:
Kerev- A standard Yautja unit of time equal to about one Earth hour represented by a circle with a number inside to represent the number of these Kerev passed.
San'tak- A large elephant sized creature native to the Yautja Homeworld. This creature is covered in bony plating similar to our rhinoceros of Earth and has no trunk, but does have the large tusks similar to our extinct wooly mammoth, where they curve outward and then back inwards towards the centerline of the mouth. Along the sides of the legs grow large bony spikes that curve slightly downwards toward the ground. It has a long reptilian tail also covered in plates and spikes and can be swung in defense. Like the water buffalo of Africa these creatures are docile until angered and they live in packs of hundreds. Defense of the pack is shared by all, if you anger one of them you have angered them all and they will charge. Victims continue to be mauled and stepped on, and spiked repeatedly sometimes for hours after the victim is dead.