Blizzard Ch28 (POV Switch)
I did not know what had happened, but once I got the call, I just knew I had to get back home as fast as possible.

I stepped through the front door, and was met with one old house assistants, with K'lee at his side. Her face looked like a sad and baffled sea creature that the oceans had stranded. I quickly held her warm, tear-stained face in my palms, my throat too tight to ask what had happened.

"The baby is gone." Her words had barely registered and already I had brushed past her to get to the nursery. I did not know if she meant gone, as in dead, or what.

However, as I slid open the door to the nursery, I knew.

Someone had taken our baby.

Every inch of the room was wrecked. Statues broken and the dark pieces scattered on the floor-remnants of the xenomorph alien statue and others. Deep, angry gauges in the walls. The crib was completely turned upside-down. Bright green blood splattered absolutely everything, and pooled on the floor.

I felt as though gravity was shifting around me.

I wanted to hurdle around chunks of broken statues and roar with anger and pain-but they were no bodies. The baby could still be alive.

I had to get him back.

My mind immediately went to the alien that had kidnapped K'lee on that island, the Lurker. He had stalked us. He must have known K'lee and I were mates. And he might have wanted to see a hybrid predator and ooman baby for himself. There was no time to waste, no telling what an alien like that would do with a child-I quickly called the king, and got to figuring out what happened.

A DNA test showed that almost all of the blood was from the expert. There was so much of it, there was no doubt he was dead.

The house had no cameras whatsoever. Only our masks had extensive surveillance. The expert's bio mask had not been worn at the time of the attack, as his ships log did not hold that footage. But everyone agreed, there was no way an alien like the Lurker could have gotten on the planet. There were too many protections against that sort of infiltration—the guard must have taken the child.

The guard was supposed to be wearing his mask on duty-but he had fled in his ship, which held the download footage from his bio mask.

It had not been that long; his ship was still traceable within the galaxy.

Halo'acz and I left immediately and I began putting on all my gear, ready for a war.

I put on my bio mask—that contained my breathing apparatus, diagnostic technology, visual and audio recording systems, and the red targeting lasers. It had zooming capabilities, could switch from multiple vision modes, facilitated vocal mimicry, aimed my plasma caster as well as any other weapon I synced it with. And coupled with the homeostasis netting, it produced the cloaking mechanism to bend light.

My polished armor protected my body from simple blows, though it did not cover all vulnerable areas. It was the job of the yautja to be able to avoid attacks and not simply rely on armor to protect them. Still, the metal was nearly impossible to pierce, and did not dent easily. The straps that held the armor on, though it looked like simple cloth, was deceptively strong and could not be cut my normal means.

My wrist gauntlet contained my twin serrated blades, the weapon of choice for most yautja. It was made of the most durable, shatterproof material, and never needed to be sharpened. The blades remained sharp enough to slice threw tendons, bone, and metal alike, even through years of use.

The small plasma caster was secured up top my shoulder. It was the most powerful weapon I carried on me, capable of throwing plasma bolts at even long-distance targets. Upon impact, bursts of plasma shrapnel tear through even armor, creating gaping holes in the enemy and damage to nearby objects as well.

For this endeavor, I also equipped myself with the net launcher-with the constricting net that would slowly dig into the captured being's flesh until dead.

Halo'acz had the same basic gear but his weapons of choice were the Spear gun, that discharged metal stakes to pin prey down. And the laser net, when deployed it produced laser beams that only sliced through organic materials.

The king and two of his other guards went after him as well.

My heart was pounding in my chest as the guards ship began to encroach into an area too far away from the home planet for us to track exactly. Through the ships screen, my eyes saw nothing but bright stars ahead, but the scanner told a more grim truth. The king confirmed with a short message what my ships target analyzer was picking up-there was only the guard aboard the ship, and no other living bodies. No baby.

We had to disengage his ship before we lost him. I had to know what he had done, where the body was.

However, the guard knew he was being followed.

He sent us both a message.

"Do not engage me. Tuhks'ma'he has the child."

I stared at the message, the simple red slash marks making up the words, my breath paused...We were to far away to keep on him without the exact tracking. We had to stop him now, or risk loosing him.

...but I believed him.

I believed the impossible.

It probably wasn't because of the excuse I provided myself-that the guard had been around when I was growing up, that he had always been loyal, and that he had given an oath to serve and protect with his life...No, I think it was because if it was the expert who took Nickerabi, then there was a chance the baby was still alive.

Because there was no one else on the guards ship.

Therefore, the baby just had to be with the expert...He just had to be.

I sent a message to the king, "Do NOT blackout his ship."

The king did not send a message back, to tell me I was being foolish, but did not attack the ship either. We followed the guard's ship as close as we could...but soon lost him in the vastness of space. Neither of our ships were up to date with tracking technology, as there was never any use for it before.

We were practically in the dark, as far as tracking him went. My chest was tightening, thinking that maybe his words had been to the purpose of stalling us so he could not be tracked easily, so he could lose us.

However, after a while, the guard sent a message, giving his coordinates, and we followed. There was still hope then.

I decided to contact K'lee, to at least tell her what was going on. I prepared what I was going to say and contacted the house, and through servants, was connected to her.

I saw K'lee sitting on our bed through the hologram. We both just looked at each other a moment, before I forced the words out, "K'lee...We were following the guard, but sensors indicated there was only him on the ship."

The way her face looked, I was regretting telling her what was happening, but I continued, "The guard says that the expert is alive and has the child, but our ships are too far away to track or scan the expert's ship (if it is in fact ahead of the guard's). So we are trusting the guard and following him...even though he may very well be leading us away from the baby."

She placed her face in her hands, her body shaking. I should have just told her we were going to get him back.

"We have no other leads or options."

Again, my words just seemed to tear at her.

"I love you. I have to go." I ended the connection.

I was aching to get my hands on the expert, but all we could do for now was dodge space debri and follow the guard. I was left to plan and prepare, as well as ponder how the expert could have been alive.

It was his blood all over Nickerabi's nursery. Nevertheless, the expert had resources at the zoo, and must have duplicated his blood. He planned this. He had planned to take our baby. He had splattered blood all over just to fake his death, just to throw us off.

Then under his cloaking device and with an unmarked ship he took off with the baby, after fighting off the guard. The guard would follow, on his own ship, looking as if he had killed the expert and the baby. The expert must have planned that we would catch his ship in time for it to be blacked out.

However, he had not planned on us believing the guard.

But they had to be a catch then, a backup plan.

Moreover, just how had he managed to fight off one of the king's guard and escape with Nickerabi by himself?

Well, we soon found that he was not alone.

The king and I followed the guard's last coordinates he had sent, a very small dwarf planet coming into sight.

My ship quickly scanned for the guard's and the expert's ship, finding them side by side in the dense foliage. The terrain was uneven with canyons, cliffs, and holes but I found a few suitable spots to land.

My already racing heart leapt into overdrive as the experts ship began to take off. The guard's ship did not budge. One of us should land to find the guard and the other should follow the expert. I was not about to let the expert go, and changed course to follow, then, sent the message of my actions to the king.

As the kings ship continued to land, I pursued the expert. My ship found three bodies aboard. One had to be Nickerabi.

King's POV:
The ship settled in the spot the experts ship had been. Fully armed and dressed for battle, I walked off the ramp, scanning the looming vegetation for threats. I cautiously checked the guard's ship, looking up the ramp and running a quick scan. His ship would not allow me to step inside, as well as other beings it recognized, but a small fuzzy animal native to the planet was already exploring inside for itself.

I followed tracks beside a dark canyon of crumbling black and silver rock. Tracks turned to scattered leaves. Broken branches to scratches down trees. Blasted holes in rock to florescent green blood.

The blood lead me to the body.

The guard was lying on his back in a pool of green. Small cuts covered the entirety of his body. His homeostasis netting torn, his armor only half-holding onto his body as though someone had specifically aimed to cut the straps. One foot was completely missing from the ankle. Nevertheless, what had done him in was the gaping hole in his stomach from a plasma caster blast. He must not have been fast enough to avoid it.

I did what was necessary, picking up his body and shoving it onto his ship, so at least animals would be deterred from getting to it. And I called for a pickup. I still had a mission to attend to, to find the child. Someone else would have to retrieve his ship and take care of the body.

I got off the planet and began following the coordinates Ze'ekelse'qwe provided. He also left a message: call K'lee. I wondered if he had called her at all.

She looked terrible. I did not like seeing her so sad. Her eyes somehow looked sunken in, rimmed in red, and glassy. She sat perched on the edge of the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest and her back hunched.

"If my son hasn't already informed you, we now believe it was the expert who took the child, and the guard was only pursuing him. We followed the guard to a barren planet, where he was found dead."

K'lee let out a terrible-sounding choked sob, and dropped her head. I tentatively continued anyway, "But because of his landing, and the act of fighting with the guard, we were able to catch up with the expert's ship. Three living bodies are aboard, one is the child...Princess, look at me."

She lifted her head but not her eyes. I could feel her grief from galaxies away. "We will get him back." I promised.

I watched her a moment more, then ended the connection. However, as soon as I did, I had an idea, a change of plans. I quickly called one of the head clan members.

"Tar-roff," I greeted the bulky male, and filled him in on the situation. Then, I said, "The guard's body will be picked up. If the recording on his ship incriminate the expert, I need you to take K'lee with you to an elder."

His eyes narrowed, the scar across one eye showing up more noticeably, "You would ask an elder for help, with retrieving a hybrid infant?"

"I would ask an elder for help in returning my grandchild to my hands, in tracking down a traitor to the family and the clan, and ridding the planet of a person that would commit such a crime of kidnapping the innocent, the man that killed a loyal guard that once stood by my side no matter what was coming. I would ask help from every elder and even the gods."

"I will do what I can." He replied thickly.

I turned off the hologram and turned my attention back to the stars ahead.

An elder was no one you dared defy, or even run from. They would show no mercy once you marked a target. If even one of them would help, the child would be returned safely. It was unlikely that an elder would physically step in to aid us, but they still had incredible power. An elder could send others to help us, could provide permits allowing us to enter enemy territory if that was where the expert headed, provide better technology, tracking devices and weapons, and so much more.

The guard would pay dearly for his mistakes.

...and I would pay for mine...

Before I heard any news from Tar-roff, I got a message from the prince with new coordinates, which led me to another planet-but there were no other messages from him. My ship landed beside his. A scan revealed it was empty. The expert's ship was empty as well.

Now, it was a hunt.

Thick yellow ash covered the ground, and tangles of trees like untamed roots rose above it. I was uneasy about leaving my ship unguarded (as there were weapons powerful enough to disable it) but I could not find anyone near by and began to follow the path Ze'ekelse'qwe and the expert had taken into the jungle.