Dteinou Thei-de disembarked from her ship in the hangar with two uncleaned hard meat skulls strapped to her back. She stood tall as she strode across the large space and into the ship proper. Passersby dipped their heads in submission and deference to her authority, and the higher authority she represented. Using her wrist gauntlet, she quickly scanned for Setg'in and found him just where she thought he would be.
As she walked with purpose towards her target, she removed her mask revealing piercing light grey eyes and a set lower jaw. Her greyed dreads billowed out behind her as she made her way down numerous halls, and past rooms used for almost every kind of occasion. Dteinou did not boast the wide hips and large breasts of a career bearer. Her hips flared only slightly, and her breasts small for her kind. She was mottled in dark browns, tans, and flecks of blue all over her body, which gave her a very feminine and almost delicate look when coupled with the length and thinness of her arms and legs.
When she was young, she was thought of as exquisitely beautiful, and everyone knew she would make a most desirable bearer, but Dteinou's heart and skill were drawn only to the hunt. She surpassed all other young bloods during her chiva, and was the only one to kill a queen hard meat during it. It was then that she knew she could never be bound to the home planet, and to perhaps never hunt or do so only sparingly. That was alright for some females, but not for her. She was a warrior, and nothing had ever swayed her from a warrior's path.
Now instead of being thought of as a rare beauty, her age made her beauty into regality. Well past the age of bearing sucklings, Dteinou Thei-de had no other thoughts beyond her responsibilities to her race and to the reigning matriarch. Many assumed that Dteinou would be the next ruler. She had even been encouraged to challenge Dhi'routa to a death duel to obtain the position, but Dteinou did not seek power for the sake of power. As a matriarch she would be bogged down with too many things, and not allowed to leave Yaut Prime for long periods. She would also be utterly cut off from hunting, and would only be able to retain her fighting edge in duels that offered little in the way of challenge. Dteinou Thei-de was in many ways still a free spirit. She wanted to hunt, she was content to serve her people as enforcer to the matriarch, and she wanted to uphold Yautjan customs and ways for as long as she lived. Her no nonsense approach, and ability to detect deceit and treachery made her invaluable in this position, and the matriarch Dhi'routa relied heavily upon Dteinou's council in many matters.
Dteinou Thei-de stepped foot inside the once lovely pillowed room reserved for the human women whom Bakuub had invited as sexual playthings for the unmated males on his ship. If she could have turned her nose up in disgust, she would have. An upper mandible twitched in lieu of her non-existent nose. Whatever it had once been, the place was a filthy mess now. The ooman women were there, mere shadows of themselves. Most were on deaths door from malnutrition and starvation, lack of proper medical attention, and harsh physical and sexual abuse from the much stronger yautja males who mated them. Dteinou had no love lost for humans. She hunted them and found it challenging, but on the whole did not believe they had much in the way of honor. Despite that, Dteinou Thei-de also did not believe in the mistreatment of pets. If you were going to keep humans around you may as well take care of them properly.
She looked around at the deplorable conditions of the females she could see. Several women were there sitting around on the cushioned floor and seats. The cushions themselves needed washing, as she could smell a blend of mating musk from both yautja and humans all over them. Dteinou stood still to simply observe and listen. All of the women she could see were staring blankly at the walls, the floor, or their own hands. One of them was rocking and hugging herself, muttering something in a human language Dteinou didn't understand. Some of them didn't seem as though they had washed themselves recently. It was disgraceful. Dteinou didn't understand any yautja allowing or living in such a state, or allowing their pets to do so either.
Standing in the middle of the circular room, Dteinou looked up on the walkway which led to private rooms for mating. From one of them she could hear the sounds of rough mating, and Setg'in's grating voice, making demands. She started up the stairway, her booted feet clanking on the metal grates. She stopped at one of the doors. Dteinou opened her mandibles, taking a big whiff and was immediately disgusted all over again. The mating musk was clear, but so was the distinctive smell of ooman fear. Dteinou Thei-de hastily used the wall panel to open the sliding door. She was appalled at the sight before her.
Setg'in was standing up facing the doorway. With his only arm he was roughly holding the ooman woman's face to his crotch. Dteinou could hear the woman gagging and choking as she weakly tried to push away from the member in her mouth and the male forcing her swallow it. He was so caught up in what he was doing until he paid no mind to the intruder. It must have been commonplace for them to enter upon one another during mating. Without hesitation, Dteinou stepped forward and grabbed Setg'in by the throat with one hand. His eyes nearly fell out of his head as he let out a very unyautja-like yelp in surprise and then sudden anger.
The woman scrambled backwards on her butt until she was clear of the angry female, and left the room in as much of a hurry as she could. Dteinou Thei-de got very close to Setg'in's face and slowly slid out her wrist blades, pressing them underneath his vulnerable chin. His feet were ever so slightly out of the reach of the floor as she lifted him to be eye to eye with her more than nine-foot frame.
"First I would like to thank you for the hunting trip," Dteinou said calmly, her grey eyes steady upon his golden ones.
"You lied to me Setg'in, and I will not tolerate another one. You tried to send me to my death, and I have taken note of the fact, but you will not be rid of me that easily," she said, her voice even, and the blades pressing in so hard that a trickle of blood ran down its sharpened edge.
"Now, if we are quite done with games and lies more suitable to a young blood pup than a so called clan leader, I'd like my trophies cleaned properly….NOW!" She bellowed, slamming him once against the wall before letting him drop to his feet, gagging and giving her a death glare which he dared not act upon.
She stared at him as he righted himself, and found his codpiece. He was seething as he flexed his hand as if to release his own blades. She didn't miss it and delivered a devastating backhand slap to his face, following it up with another choke against the wall.
"You will clean my trophies like the fool you are, because it will give me enough time to think, with you out of my face and out of my way. Make no mistake Setg'in, you are breathing only because I have not unraveled the mystery of your many lies. But when I do, and have no doubt that I will, I will remove your wretched head from your pathetic body, and bring the sorry sight to the matriarch as proof of the deed," she growled at him.
He couldn't take it anymore. Being humiliated on his own ship? He wasn't going to let that go anytime soon. Setg'in delivered a kick to get her off of him which worked. He got his footing and immediately tackled her to the floor, roaring and using his only arm to punch Dteinou in the face. Highly skilled at grappling and wrestling, Dteinou quickly pulled guard, and managed to deliver several blows to his head before eventually mounting him. She dug a wrist blade deep into his side, but Setg'in simply glowered at her. He wanted to scream out, but refused to give this bitch the satisfaction.
"I would stop now if I were you Setg'in," Dteinou said roughly, twisting the blades just enough to make his eyes water, but he still did not give voice to his pain.
"Get off me you bitch!" He growled, which only made her dig a little deeper.
"I have explicit permission from the matriarch herself to kill any who are found to be complicit in the killing of the Old Hunter. All I have to do is kill you here and now, and tell the matriarch that her one-time mate, who had sired at least fifty of her last pups, was avenged by me. Once I tell her it was you she wouldn't bother asking me any details. Do you know why?" Dteinou asked a defiant Setg'in who refused to even speak.
"I'll tell you anyway. We all know who you are. From the day Yeyinde brought you under his wing, we knew something was wrong with you. I remember the time you left with a hunting party of some of the best hunters in our clan, and somehow only you managed to return with many trophies to your name no less. I am no fool. I have always suspected you of some kind of dishonor, and now I have only yet to prove it. I'm going to find out who the unknown yautja was that Bakuub managed to kill, but I have a feeling you hope I don't. No matter, Setg'in. You will be released to the Black Hunter when I am through with you, now get up!" Dteinou said, lifting herself off of an enraged Setg'in.
"Trophy cleaning…now," she said with a completely straight face as she handed him the skulls off her back.
Reluctantly he took them, and she left without another word or look back. He would have to quit playing around and have her killed. He didn't know how yet, and thought he really would have to kill Dteinou himself somehow, until he had a wonderful idea. His shirxa was still here on the ship. Yes, his shirxa would do just what he needed, and he would reward her very kindly for it indeed.
Kujhade loved to see Jasmine like this. She couldn't close her mouth, and she was trying to look everywhere at once. They had finally gotten to the trading ship which was really more like an intergalactic Mall of America. There was only one large open space, with booths and merchant shops of every description. There were so many alien life forms walking, or crawling, or slithering around. They were selling things she had never seen before and couldn't make out the usage of the items, but almost every stall or shop was full of customers. It was loud and it was bustling, and suddenly it reminded her of Times Square. It was always crowded, always full of so much energy and diversity of people.
Sensing all the surrounding excitement, Marcus was on her back wiggling and starting to cry a little. Jasmine knew what he wanted. The most guarded secret about yautja was that they were extremely nosy, sometimes going out of their way to see or hear what someone else was up to. The babies were the worst. Marcus wanted to see everything too, and until Jasmine made it possible she was going to hear about it. She twisted around a little to grab him and bring him to her front. He immediately began to coo and stare, reaching for complete strangers as they walked by.
Kujhade had Mili again. He couldn't keep away from that boy, so much that Jasmine had to warn him about favoritism. Kujhade was a surprisingly attentive father, and after some small admonishing from Jasmine, paid both boys equal attention. Mar'cte and Lijia were right beside the couple, as they looked around the huge bazaar. All four adults tuned their wrist gauntlets to track each other. They modified one to fit Jasmine, but it was too big for her wrists, so she wore it around her upper arm like a band. A complete layout of the trading ship hovered above the gauntlet in a 3D image, pinpointing their exact position within it.
"Mar'cte and I need some replacement weapons," Kujhade was saying as he slid a small metal card from a belt on his waist. He pressed his thumb on its surface, and the fingerprint seemed to sear itself into the metal. He then handed it to Jasmine.
"Oh shit, you handing me the card to the funds?" Jasmine said, smiling and taking the card.
"It only works in the main trading posts such as this, and on Yaut Prime. It's not recognized anywhere else," he said, not understanding the implications of handing his wife full access to whatever passed as money for him.
"Okay so hold up, where the hell you get money from, and why I don't have any?" Jazzy said, stuffing the card in her cleavage.
"I have always had what humans call money. The chip I gave you marks my rank, and I am entitled to better weapons, armor, and more supplies because of it," Kujhade explained. Jasmine nodded.
"So, you had a damn Platinum card in that loin cloth of yours and didn't tell me. What else you got in there I don't know about?" Jasmine said, reaching for the top of his cloth, and faking a peek inside.
"You have full knowledge of the only other thing in my cloth Jasmine, unless you want to know it again right here," Kujhade said, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her into himself forcefully.
"You ain't nothing but a bunch of talk Kujhade. You not gone bust this open in public," Jasmine challenged, to which Kujhade took exception. Lijia could practically see Mar'cte's eyes rolling behind his mask.
"You doubt my resolve in this matter?" He asked, and she could see he was ready to take her up on the challenge.
"You're too jealous to do it. You said you don't want anyone smelling my "sweet scent of fertility" as you so eloquently put it," Jasmine said, giggling at the whole crazy exchange.
Every time they walked into a crowd he insinuated that they should screw in the middle of it. He was working his way up to doing exactly that, and was talking her into the idea in the process. It was sort of working. He made it very clear that sex was not a private act among his people, and he wished to perform it where and when he deemed it appropriate. The only thing was that his definition of appropriate differed from hers in this regard. While Jasmine was rather sexually liberated, she wanted to keep some ideals of her own. Sex was private where she came from, despite her past as a prostitute. It would almost devalue their relationship in her eyes, likening him to a John, and she couldn't have that. So while it was fun to play and joke, and while it was even a hot fantasy, she didn't want to reduce her love down to a public rutting.
She wanted to kiss him, even if it would have just been on his mask, but thought better of it. After all he did have a reputation to keep up, so Jasmine opted to simply give his hand a squeeze before going their separate ways. Kujhade handed her the baby as he went with Mar'cte to get supplies for the trek to their home planet. Lijia followed Jasmine and took Marcus from her to hold.
"This is a fascinating place isn't it? Does Earth have places like this Jasmine?" Lijia asked, as she bounced Marcus around making him laugh.
"Yeah, we call it the mall, but this place reminds me more of New York, the city I was born and raised in. It's like Times Square," Jasmine said, finding an odd comfort in the fact that she had to squeeze past just to walk.
"What is New York like? You never talk much about your home. Why is that?" Lijia asked innocently, noting the way Jasmine's face made a subtle change.
"I miss it, and I know I will never go back, so I don't waste time talking about it," Jasmine said, her tone more clipped than she wanted it to sound.
"Sorry," Jasmine said to Lijia, who just dismissed it with a shake of her head.
"No need to apologize. I am away from the home planet for very long periods, and I miss it at times also," Lijia explained. Jasmine stopped suddenly.
"It's not the same. You didn't get taken from your home like I did, you left on your own. You didn't get placed with aliens and have to adjust to life in a totally different place, doing totally different things," Jasmine said, taking a deep breath before continuing.
"Don't get me wrong Lijia, I love Kujhade and the kids, and even you and Mar'cte I've come to love, like an extended family. It's just that, well, I was the lucky one. It turned out better than it should've only because Kujhade happened to choose me. If he hadn't I would have still been on that ship, and maybe even dead," she said, not meaning to go into any of that. Lijia considered what she was saying for just a moment before starting to walk again.
"You are right, I'm still among my own kind, but I didn't have much of a choice for leaving either. I could no longer birth sucklings, so I had no choice if I wanted to find a place for myself. I was never one for hunting, but I was interested in medicine and science. I wanted so much to be a bearer, and I was for a time, but," Lijia said trailing off into thought for a moment.
Jasmine was silent. She liked Lijia, and was sure the feeling was mutual but Lijia had never really opened up about her past. Now Jasmine felt silly for complaining.
"I didn't know. I'm so-," Jasmine said cut off by Lijia's raised hand. A short awkward silence followed as Jasmine looked around, searching for a way to turn the conversation to something lighter.
It was then that she saw it. A large booth filled with things she recognized. The person sitting in front of it, had their head down as if they were reading something. In a trance, Jasmine was drawn to the booth. Curious, Lijia followed her gaze, and then immediately understood.
Jasmine stood before the woman sitting behind a small counter, reading a book. The woman looked up and Jasmine gasped a little. It was a woman. A human woman. She was Caucasian, brunette with large brown eyes, and long lashes. She was beautiful. Before she could stop herself, Jasmine reached across the counter and hugged the woman with one arm. The lady was startled into reciprocating before backing off at the sight of Lijia.
"I'm Jasmine, and I'm sorry but,"
"But you've not seen a human in a very long fucking time, I get it," the woman said in a thick English accent. Jasmine smiled and nodded sheepishly.
"Are you really speaking English, like with your mouth and not just because I can translate it?" Jasmine asked the lady.
"No, I'm speaking it outta my fuckin' arse," the lady laughed. "O' course I'm speaking it with my mouth love. C'mon in, take a look around, yeah. Oh by the way, th' name's Karen," she said, smiling and waving Jasmine and Lijia into the booth.
"Thanks Karen. Can I have another hug?" Jasmine asked, not a bit ashamed to ask a stranger for open affection.
"Sure love," Karen said, getting up to hug Jasmine and seeming to notice the baby in Jasmine's arms for the first time.
"Is that a little one?" Karen asked, delighted to have a look.
All at once, Jasmine felt a sudden sense of shame about her babies and the fact that they were half yautja. She had never anticipated really seeing another person, and hadn't thought about how it would make her feel. She knew that she could never live on Earth in peace, and live like a normal family. The people would never accept it. They would probably take and experiment on her kids, evaluate her like she was crazy, and they would capture or kill Kujhade. Well, they would try to kill Kujhade. The point, was that in that very instant she almost hid her child away from Karen, afraid of the judgment. As quickly as the feeling had come, Jasmine fought it. Smiling broadly, she leaned forward to allow Karen a look at Mili.
A brief look of confusion crossed Karen's face as she looked from the baby, to Jasmine, then finally to Lijia, then back to Jasmine.
"Bloody fuckin' hell, I thought this one was a girl!" Karen said, in reference to Lijia. Instantly Jasmine understood the confusion, and couldn't help a hearty laugh.
"Oh hell no! That is a girl! The father isn't over here right now," Jasmine quickly explained, as Lijia placed her hand on her hip. She didn't like being mistaken for a male at all.
"Oh shit, sorry," Karen said, apologizing to Lijia and Jasmine. Then she chuckled at the whole thing and leaned back in to look at the baby.
"I didn't know anyone could get close enough to one of those Pre'a'tahs to have a freaking baby with one. He's a cute little bugger ain't he?" Karen said, as she reached in for Mili to wrap his hand around her finger.
Loving the attention, he promptly went into his cute baby routine by eating one hand, tilting his head to the side, and cooing loudly. Not willing to be left out, Marcus did the same thing, eliciting several 'aaawwws' from Karen as she baby talked to both of them.
"I think we've got something for these little cuties. C'mon, let me show you a few things you might want," Karen said, leading the way.
It was large for a booth, and jam packed from the ceiling to the floor with all kinds of do-dads, and thingamajigs. Some of it still seemed not from Earth, but most of it was. There were dishes, cups, bowls, a few books Jasmine had never read before. There were even some electronics and all of the items seemed new, even if they were a little cheap in quality. There were digital cameras, laptops, a few older model mp3 players, and an assortment of earbuds. As they went through the few aisles, there were clothes, shoes, and women's accessories. There was even a small section of little pieces for home décor. There was one picture which caught Jasmine's eye and made her stop. It was a generic black and white photo of the famous New York skyline. It was the kind of picture you found at a department store, just something to fill the frame but not take away from it. Jasmine couldn't stop staring at the picture. It was almost as if she could see and hear the hustle and bustle of the streets below the tall skyscrapers. Car horns honking, impatient yelling of drivers and pedestrians alike. She could smell the polishes at the hot dog stands, and the smell of pizza straight out of the oven. She could hear the men playing basketball by Marcus' school, and the rap music they would have playing in a nearby car.
"Jasmine? Jasmine are you alright?" Lijia asked with some concern.
Waking from her daydream, Jasmine blinked a few times in Lijia's direction, the smell of grilled onions and polish sausages fading back as if they'd never been there. She wiped her eyes and cheeks. She didn't know she'd been crying.
"I'm okay, it's just… I'm okay," Jasmine reassured, offering a small smile and turning her attention away from the photo.
"Here's what you might need mommy. We've got some baby stuff for your babes," Karen said, and she did indeed have plenty.
"Thanks, I really do need some baby stuff for them," Jasmine said, and it seemed like everything threatened to make her burst into tears.
All of the things Jasmine saw only served to remind her of how unique her situation really was. When she thought of herself having children back on Earth, she always imagined taking them for a walk in their strollers, or having a baby shower, or taking her kids to the park to play. She imagined reading them bedtime stories, and taking them to school, but there would never be any of that for her or them. They wouldn't know what Saturday morning cartoons were, or Sesame Street, or kindergarten. They wouldn't know about graduations, or proms, or learning how to drive, or sleepovers. They were the children of a strong yautja male, and they were males themselves. As such, they would learn hunting and killing as the means to survival. The chiva would be their graduation ceremony, one that they might not live through. They would not drive any cars, but spaceships instead, and their very presence would strike fear into the hearts of all who laid eyes on them.
For now though, they were just her baby boys. They were half human also, and she would make sure that at least some things that passed as normal for her would be done. She found two of those cheap fold away strollers and picked them up. There were also a few baby toys, a little plastic pan she could use as a tub for them, and quite a few onesies. Jasmine knew she would have to make a few modifications to the clothes, but for goodness sakes they freaking had onesies!
"Oh my god, you guys have those little bouncy things!" Jasmine exclaimed as she reached for a box with the bouncy seat inside. It was the kind with the little rack of toys hanging just in the baby's reach.
"How do you get all this stuff and we're so far away from Earth?" Jasmine asked Karen. The latter stopped to consider how to answer.
"The owner of the shop, Mr. Isaacs, owns an importing and exporting company back on Earth. I'm not s'posed to tell anyone any of this, but he deals with all kinds of companies. One of them made all of this possible, letting him travel back and forth from home to out here with his goods," Karen divulged. She seemed as though she'd been itching to tell someone this information, and was relieved to have shared it.
"Which company is that?" Lijia suddenly asked. She had been curiously staring at a set of teething rings trying to figure out what they hell they were for exactly.
"I don't recall the name, but I know I don't like the wankers that come around. They all are world class arseholes, and they all wear that stupid uniform with that huge ugly "W" on the front," Karen said, looking annoyed at the mere thought of those world class arseholes.
"Oh," Jasmine said, suddenly not sure she should even be in a store sponsored or ran by Weyland-Yutani. Lijia cast a look her way but said nothing more.
"You familiar with them?" Karen asked, curious as to Jasmine's one-word answer.
"Not really, I mean I've seen the logo around town….back on Earth," Jasmine said, mentally kicking herself for not sounding confident.
"Oh, well I hate those sonsabitches. They always manage to creep me right the fuck out," Karen said, briefly hugging herself as she shuddered a little. She then looked at Jasmine and smiled, her brown eyes twinkling.
"Enough about them though my love, go ahead and keep looking around. I'll be in the front if you need anything," she said, moving through the cramped aisle back to the front counter.
Lijia waited until she was out of earshot.
"Aren't the Weyland-Yutani people the ones who brought you and those other females to us?" She asked Jasmine, to which Jasmine knitted her brow and nodded.
"Yeah, they're the ones that fucking kidnapped us. Hate those bastards. C'mon Lijia, let's just get this stuff and get out of here," Jasmine said, trying not to let this news ruin her time.
She went around the shop, picking up clothing, all the baby stuff she could carry, a hand sewing kit, two pairs of shoes one of which were some really pretty platform stilettos she couldn't pass up, and a large button pin which said I Love NY on it. They paid for it with what Jasmine thought of as Kujhade's Platinum card. Karen didn't swipe it so much as she just scanned it. Above the scan a quick 3D image of Kujhade appeared along with the word "Arbitrator" in both English and Yautja below it.
"Oh my word, you've got yourself an Arbitrator? Those guys are fuckin' scary as hell," Karen commented as she finished ringing Jasmine up.
"Hey, don't be fucking strangers, yeah? Come back any time with those cute little babies!" Karen said, waving as Jasmine and Lijia walked away with a huge bag full of goods. Jasmine immediately made use of the two strollers, and had to laugh at Lijia having to hunch down to push it and not being too happy about it. The twins loved being pushed, as they kicked and cooed and purred loudly. They really were the happiest little babies Jasmine had ever seen.
"Let's go get the guys," Jasmine said, checking her gauntlet to find them.
It only took them about five minutes to find them, and when they did Jasmine's jaw dropped. There Kujhade was standing in the middle of some large pit covered with a domed top like a gate. He was roaring and posturing and looked like he was about to fight some kind of other large alien. The other alien, which sort of reminded Jasmine of a large grizzly bear was doing a little roar of his own, when the MC of the fight made his announcement.
"In this corner we have Sardon the Yautja Killeeeerrr!" the MC announced to the loud cheers of the gathered crowd. Sardon took center stage, huge muscular arms in the air as if he had already triumphed.
"And in this corner, feared across the galaxy The Arbitratoorrrrr!" he announced again, this time to the jeers of the crowd. Kujhade paid no attention to the crowd whatsoever as he seemed to study his opponent and ready his whip.
"And now, for your viewing pleasure a fight to the death!" he said, and the crows went wild.
A/N: Hello all my beautiful readers! First I apologize for not updating as quickly as I usually do, and for not being as interactive as I usually am with you guys. I've been having some personal issues that have kept me occupied. Due to those issues, I haven't been able to have the kind of concentration which allows me to complete a chapter as quickly as I would like. I will not leave the story however, and will try to be more prompt with the updates, at least once a week. I thank all my new readers, follows, faves, and reviews. It all means a great deal to me, and your support inspires me to keep going.