(A/N: Oh, boy. I think I need help because I have a problem. My problem is that I'm strangely addicted to writing "Predator" stories. :) :D
I'm kidding. Although, seriously, I think I need to stop after a little while... but not yet. Not before I get started on one more, which is (of course) this one.
My "Predator" stories tend to focus more on the human characters because I'm more familiar with them. This one, however, I'm going to try to focus more on the Yautja to better build on them, so to speak. I also think it would be good for me personally because it will help me with the Yautja in my other stories.)
o-o-o~*I-Y-I-Y-I*~o-o-o
A young Un-Blooded Yautja with yellow and orange skin with dark orange and red blotching and reddish-brown tresses was inside of one of the living quarters of a large spaceship. It was the quarters of all of the Yautja of his rank, and he had it all to himself as the only Un-Blooded on this upcoming hunt.
There would be more of his rank in the quarters with him, if the purpose of this hunt was to become a Blooded, and it wasn't. And even if it was, he wasn't high enough in rank to even participate yet, he had to be the next rank, a Young Blood.
He was only there because his father thought it would be a good opportunity for him to learn. He was only to watch, he wasn't old enough to kill yet, unless it was in self-defense or for food.
Ordinarily, a hunt that involved a group of hunters meant it was either a Chiva, a trial hunt that promoted young Yautja to adulthood, or they were hunting a significant and dangerous target or a group of targets. In this situation, it was the latter, it was one, lone target.
They were hunting a Bad Blood, a type of hunt that was ordinary for Enforcers or possibly even Leaders or Elders, but this time it required more than a single hunter. The Bad Blood they were hunting had killed a couple of Yautja and stole a supply of kainde amedha eggs after killing the kainde-lou-dte kalei as well.
It was a potentially dangerous hunt and his father knew this, especially with a Bad Blood as deadly and ambitious as this one. He would have to stay as far away from the fighting as possible with his low rank, but he was nevertheless quite eager to witness the hunt firsthand for the first time.
He heard a thump at the door and went up to it, pressing a button on the panel beside it. When he did, he was greeted by a Bio-mask with a broad jawline and cheekbones with many scratches on the surface. It was worn by a Yautja with green and dark brown skin with dark grey and black blotching, his father.
He removed his Bio-mask, revealing a crescent-shaped scar under his eye, to see and speak to his spawn, "Sa-de kv'var."
He turned around to pick up his own Bio-mask, telling his father as he put it on, "Ch'hkt-a ki."
"H'dlak ell-osde'," he replied. "Gahn'tha-cte ic'jit s' m-di h'chak."
He left the quarters with his father and they went several levels below them to the hanger. There, a pod was waiting for them in addition to their hunting party.
His father went up to one of them and greeted him by shaking his shoulder. They communicated for a while before he ushered him into the pod, followed by the other hunters.
As the pod left the hanger, the young Yautja nudged his father to get his attention, asking him, "Kv'var?"
"Tjau-ke oomans," he answered.
They were going to Earth? He had heard stories of the humans and their planet for his entire life, most of them regarded them as unworthy prey. Humans have a "fight or flight" instinct and from what he knew, they always chose flight. However, he also knew how resourceful they were, they were a species made to adapt in any type of environment.
Despite the stories he had heard, he always wondered what they were like. One could never trust the word of another until they saw it themself.
That also posed another question, why would the Bad Blood go to such a planet? From what he understood, their technology was very primitive and many did not believe in the existence of other species in the universe.
As they descended into the blue planet's atmosphere, he found himself secretly hoping that they would be landing in a populated area. That way he could finally have a firsthand viewing of humans, from a distance.
He was disappointed when he discovered they were landing on an unpopulated island. He would have to wait until he was Blooded, if he even made it to that point, it was not guaranteed.
The pod landed and they all exited, and all of his disappointment was washed away. He saw they had landed on a beach, the sand under his bare feet and in between his clawed toes was annoying yet strangely brought him feelings of joy, as if he was only a suckling. The sand led to water, a beautiful crystal blue ocean that seemed to expand forever.
Above it was a blue sky that faded from a lightly tinted horizon to a fully hued overcast. The sky was decorated with clouds, most of them white and flocculent but a few were like pale grey brush strokes.
His entire life he had only seen jungles and forests, this ocean scenery was utterly new to him. The blue sky was also strange, a smog-filled, dirty yellow one was all he had ever seen.
He stared at the new scenery in a state similar to a trance, he was brought out of it when he heard a growl coming from his father, telling him to focus on the situation at hand. He obeyed with reluctance, as most children did with their parents and guardians.
The hunting party was split up into two teams, one team would investigate the northern and eastern sides of the island, the other would investigate the southern and western. They would rendezvous back at the pod if they found nothing. They were only searching the coastline of the island, not the interior until they reunited.
He followed his father and three other Yautja as they searched the north and east. With any luck, it would be quick and they would all be unscathed.
They searched the eastern coastline of the island, but it was fruitless, the Bad Blood was not there. With that side giving them nothing, they moved on to the north. It was then they discovered a most unusual presence.
He was walking behind his father when he suddenly held his arm out horizontally. He looked at his father in a perplexed manner, tilting his head, he crouched down and made a circle in the sand with his finger. Inside the circle was a print, a footprint belonging to a human, the roundedness of the foot and toes were unmistakable.
"Oomans?" he asked, his eyes wide to show his fear. Not because he was afraid of humans, but rather what their presence could cause.
Many Yautja hated humans because they saw them as nothing more than something to be hunted, which made their presence even more the threat to their mission, especially if the Bad Blood discovered them first. If there were humans on the island, they needed to be found before the Bad Blood found them.
The older Yautja knew this and suddenly commanded, "Dt'i-te!"
"Mei'kalei'e?" his son asked, tilting his head again.
"Pe ic'jit kv'var oomans," he mentioned, his voice low and serious, like a growl. "Kv'var m-di h'chak." He suddenly looked at all of them with eyes glowing with rage, but especially at his son, "M-di oomans kv'var h'ka-se! Sei'ell-osde'?!"
He was given many grunts, growls, and clicks in response to this, with his son being the last to respond. The young Yautja was stunned by the sudden shift in his father's demeanor and his demands to not hunt any humans. He had hunted humans before and had once said they were only good enough to be used as prey, but nothing else.
The group of five climbed into the trees and used the branches and vines to travel to each one as they looked for any humans. The island was very humid, humans, as warm-blooded beings, would likely appear prominently on the infrared vision of their Bio-masks.
Even after relentless searching for a while, there was still no sight of any humans. It was beginning to appear that any humans that might have been there may have already been killed.
Although humans were a prey species, the young Yautja still found himself feeling dispirited and slightly melancholy. Dying at the hands of a despicable rogue that may as well have been a monster out of a nightmare must be a terrible fate.
Then, a large leaf suddenly floated down from above and landed on his knee. He looked up and saw a strange creature through his Bio-mask. It looked like a hominid, but it wasn't human, it was too small, too thin, and had a long fifth appendage extending from the base of its spine.
He cocked his head in curiosity as he looked up at it. It appeared to be eating something, insects most likely, he could see small white specks as it ate.
It suddenly let out a series of deep, bellowing howls - most likely a warning or mating call. Then, it started to climb further up the tree it was on before it swung to another using the branches.
Curious, he watched it, waiting for it to do anything else. It craned its nose upward and took in deep breaths, it then turned its head and left.
Using the claws on the ends of his fingers and toes, he climbed to the branch where the creature had been. He slowly turned his head in all directions in order to locate it. He found it in a tree some distance away, sitting on a slightly low branch.
Leaping from tree to tree, he found himself directly above the creature, it was sitting next to a large fruit that hung from the tree branch above it. He jumped down and landed next to it, startling the creature and causing it to flee.
He decided not to follow it again and instead focused on the large fruit he noticed. He discovered that it wasn't one fruit, but rather a large cluster of layers of smaller fruits. He broke off one and saw that it was crescent shaped and the length of his longest finger from the base to below his claw.
He bit into the fruit, it was soft and had a leathery texture when his teeth sunk into it. It was surprisingly sweet, something he didn't have a particular taste for, but not overpowering, just enough for his sensitive tongue to taste. Just one bite was enough to tear the fruit in half with little effort.
He tried to swallow it, but the leathery texture of the fruit prevented that. His throat was constricted, instinctively not allowing it to be swallowed.
Rather than forcing it down his throat, he used his claws to pull it out, it was covered with his saliva. He carelessly threw it away, along with the half that hadn't been in his mouth. He heard it land in the sand below, the sound of the impact was unmistakable.
He was about to leave to find his father and the other Yautja, when he heard a voice speak, "What the hell? What was that?" It was unmistakably feminine and spoken in a human language, his Bio-mask translated it for him.
He quickly activated the camouflage feature of his armor, mistakenly pressing the wrong buttons at first. Fortunately, he was invisible by the time the source of the feminine voice came into his view.
It was unmistakably a female, a human female, and young based on what the Bio-mask was showing him. He was viewing through the infrared visual spectrum and he could not see many details, he could tell that she had long hair that flowed with the breeze.
Strangely, he could see that she was wearing some articles of clothing, a detail that could oftentimes not be seen. Her clothes were blue yet her body was red, it indicated to him that she might have been in the water.
She was carrying something with her, it wasn't food, or at least no food he had ever seen. It was conical in shape and appeared to be made of wood, or what he thought could have been. The unusual shape made him think it could have been some type of trap, possibly for fish or small animals.
She began to walk out of his view and he quickly climbed the trees near him to keep her in his sights. Unfortunately, the trees and other vegetation eventually grew too thick for him to follow and he lost sight of her.
He leaned back against the tree he was standing in and grunted in frustration. He was looking up at the sky above as he tried to calm himself for his failure to follow the human. He had found the human, but that meant nothing if he could not follow her and report her location to the others.
As he stared up at the sky, he suddenly received a notification from inside of his Bio-mask that someone was contacting him. He raised his arm and pressed a button on the wrist gauntlet.
When he did, he flinched slightly when he was greeted by the angry voice of his father as he growled at him, "Jkiu!"
He didn't know what to say, he feared anything he told him would only make him angrier. He knew he had to say something and decided with what he thought would be the least infuriating, "Ooman hult'ki. Ooman-di."
He was completely silent for a long time and that was unsettling to him. Finally, he gave him an order, "M-di kv'var. Dt s' dto. Sei'ell-osde', Za'tain?"
"Sei-i," he replied, shutting off the communicator in the wrist gauntlet afterwards.
He was told to remain in the trees or go into the forest to wait for them. No matter which he chose, they would find him through the tracking device in his armor, it was only a matter of time.
It was also only a matter of time before he would finally get the opportunity to observe a human for himself. The thought thrilled him as he would be able to determine for himself if he thought humans were a worthy species to be hunted.
o-o-o~*I-Y-I-Y-I*~o-o-o
(A/N: So, how do you like it so far? I know it's probably idiotic of me to write this when haven't gotten very far with my other stories, but I just had to become I couldn't get it out of my mind. :)
Translations:
1. kainde amedha - hard meat (Yautja name for Xenomorphs)
2. kainde-lou-dte kalei - Xenomorph Queen
3. Sa-de kv'var. - The hunt begins.
4. Ch'hkt-a ki. - I am anxious.
5. H'dlak ell-osde'. - You should fear.
6. Gahn'tha-cte ic'jit s' m-di h'chak. - The Bad Blood is ruthless and merciless.
7. Kv'var? - Where is the hunt?
8. Tjau-ke oomans. - Earth (literally meaning "The planet of humans'')
9. Oomans? - Humans?
10. Dt'i-te! - To the trees!
11. Mei'kalei'e? - Father?
12. Pe ic'jit kv'var oomans. - The Bad Blood hunted humans before.
13. Kv'var m-di h'chak. - Hunted without mercy.
14. M-di oomans kv'var h'ka-se! Sei'ell-osde'?! - No hunting humans this day! Do you understand?!
15. Jkiu! - Report location!
16. Ooman hult'ki. Ooman-di - I found a human. A human female.
17. M-di kv'var. Dt s' dto. Sei'ell-osde', Za'tain? - Do not hunt. Trees or forest. Do you understand, Za'tain?
I choose to write the dialogue between the Yautja in this chapter in order to show how they might speak to each other. I feel like they would use very few words when speaking. I also wanted to practice writing dialogue in the Yautja language because I don't just want to write their language in a bold-style font in English forever, I feel like it's not putting in the effort. That's not to say that I won't, I already did with one of my other "Predator" stories, it really was just for practice more than anything else.
Anyway, I hope that everyone really liked the chapter and stays to read more of it in the future. When that day comes, I'll be here to make it happen.)