Chapter 2: Pain

Disclaimer: I do not own Alien/Predator series or any characters and may not follow all customs and cultures found in Alien/Predator movies.

As we exited my clan's building, the open air, full with heat and humidity, warmed my skin and I clicked my mandibles a bit. The buildings are usually at a lower temperature but not by much. It depends on the settings that each clan decides but mine prefers it to be a little cooler than the planet. From time to time, it was nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air. However, we had a mission of an urgent nature to take care of and the sooner we go, the faster we can finish it and be home for the next meal prepared in the society building.

My stomach rumbled a bit when I began to think of the delicious food they served, especially a dur'ara . . . medium size flying lizards that roam the jungles but are extremely dangerous. Their razor-sharp teeth with tails, carrying venom that slowly kill their prey. Not to mention that they can fly if they have to get away but only for a short while since their wingspans are too small for their bodies. But it's worth the savory meat they provided and basically the only prey that I enjoyed eating the most.

But when I realized that I was getting away with my thoughts, despite my stomach growling, even more, I brushed it off. I tried convincing myself that if I get this done, I can enjoy such pleasures. But of course, Xen'ork, who was following behind, heard the sounds of my stomach and began to inquire.

"My lord. You seem to be hungry right now. Why don't we get something to eat before we go?"

"No."

I replied as quick as I could, not hesitating or else he might think I wanted to do so. He would try to persuade me to go have a meal. I didn't have any time to waste, thinking about food at a time like this. But Xen'ork just couldn't let things go, making me wonder if he really was a Blooded warrior and not some five season-old pup trapped in a twenty-one season-old Yautja. He asks again and I growl in warning but he didn't seem to get my message.

"Are you sure? We're going to be gone for a while and since you never know with oomans, a quick bite won't hurt. And then we can—"

"I said no!"

I cut off him off when I turned and roared at him, letting my mandibles and inner jaw spread out as far as they can. The other Yautjas around us stopped to listen in, curious about what will happen. I could only assume that they are waiting for a fight to break out. Then, the small chatter starts and I didn't like what they were saying as I zoned in a small group of Young Bloods that just arrived to see the action.

"Another fight with him again? Hasn't he had enough for today?"

"Apparently not . . . but this the Blood Assassin we are talking about. He seems to always be in the middle of a fight or start one himself."

"But why? I mean . . . we love seeing fights and all but he seems to take it too far."

"True but then again, he's been like this ever since he lost one of his sons. Ba'kou was his name."

That got my attention as soon as he said my son's name. I didn't make it too obvious but my muscles were starting to tense and my hands formed fists at the sound of Ba'kou's name being called out by a bunch of Young Bloods. However, they didn't stop there.

"Really?"

The one Yautja that was explaining to the other nodded his head as a 'yes' answer.

"Ever since, other warriors have mocked him for doing nothing as Ba'kou was slain by a bunch of unknown Bad Bloods right in front of him. Some suspect that he intentionally let it happen . . . like he was disappointed in him. If I was him, I wouldn't have gawked like a lunatic that he was or still is."

When upon hearing those words, my anger was unleashed, burning every part of my skin. I couldn't keep it back any longer. I swiftly turned my head at the Young Bloods and roared with all of my might so that everyone else could hear me if they were saying the same thing.

"If you have nothing to say to my face, than pauk (fuck) off!"

Everyone, even the small group of Young Bloods, almost jumped out of their sandals before scattering into every direction like moths. Some part of me wanted to go chase those that was saying those things about me and my family but I had to remind myself that Lord Dau'jein would chew me out again if he caught wind of another fight I started. Plus, I had Xen'ork in front of me, spooked by my reaction to the crowd but remained where he was. To my surprise, he stayed calm and waited until I blew off some steam. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths several times until I could feel my heartbeat slowing down to a reasonable level. I opened them and addressed Xen'ork about the earlier matter.

"We don't have time to get a quick snack. This mission is very important and confidential. If we don't get it finished soon, there could be more trouble from the other clans. We'll hunt on the ooman planet when we get the chance."

He smirked upon hearing and adjusted himself into a pose that showed pride in himself. I just wanted to barf.

"You got it, my lord."

I turned my back on him and continued on our long walk, passing the many buildings and going across bridges until the start of the metal deck began that would lead to where the ships were stored. Ours was almost to the very back, which I had hoped that it wasn't since I noticed many Yautjas walking around, repairing ships and what not. I didn't like that there were more Yautjas within the area than usual but at least they got the message when they saw me coming. They shoved themselves out the way as to not try and start something with me. I puffed in annoyance but continued on my merry way with Xen'ork behind.

Finally, we reached for our ship that was a pretty standard, holding up to as much as fifteen Yautjas at a time with the clan's symbol etched on the front. But it was only the two of us so it will be much more comfortable that way. I got to the side of it and pressed my hand on its metal frame that contained the handprint scanner. It activated and the ship's ramp began to lower itself until settling on the ground.

I made my way up with Xen'ork not far behind. When both of us were safely off the ramp, I punched in the code on the panel inside and it closes itself, leaving the room dark for a moment until the lights start to come on.

I made my way to the front deck, passing Xen'ork as he bowed a little and begun to follow me once more. It was a similar hallway that stretched through the middle of the ship that branched off into several rooms that could sit one Yautja at a time, maybe more if needed. The hallway was covered in the symbols of our ancient language that lined on the bottom and top of the walls. A huge door was at the end of it that led to the front deck. It automatically opens when I step in front and both of us pass through the threshold until the lights in this room lit up as well.

The deck stretched from one side of the ship to the other, giving a huge view of the outside from the windshield. The panels only went as far as it stretched with several chairs in front of them so multiple pilots could work on the ship's movements. The panels activated as soon as I got close, waking up the ship to prepare for flight. I looked over to Xen'ork and motioned him with my head to come. He does so without wasting time.

"Can you take over from here?"

He nods.

"Of course. I'll get the ship prepared for flight and then when we take off, I'll work on the exact location of the oomans were are trailing. Of course, that might take the whole trip."

He looks back at me but I gave no reply. I just wanted to get on with it. He smirks and I wanted to slap it right off of his mandibles but I didn't get a chance to consider it when he moves himself to sit on the chair. He begins pressing codes on the panel and the engine of the ship comes to life, rumbling as its gears while the metal ground vibrates below my feet.

Xen'ork turns around in his chair and glances at me.

"Why don't you get some rest for a bit? I'm sure that the fight you started must have tired you out considerably."

In the last few words, he began to chuckle a bit and I didn't appreciate it. It took everything in me not to smash his head onto the panel but then again, I wouldn't have anyone to pilot the ship and I would be out of luck and a pain in the neck. Swiftly, I turned around to head to one of the empty rooms before I exited the front decks, I growled out my anger at him.

"You are very close to losing your head right now. Were you this difficult throughout all your life?"

He turns his head around and gives me another smirk.

"Ever since I was born."

I growled again as I exited the deck, hearing the doors close behind me shut and the clambering of my metal sandals on the hard floor as I walked off. I shook my head in disbelief.

How did that kind of a warrior survive this long?

I just pushed it out of my mind as I walked through the hallway, checking out each room until I decided on the one farthest from the front deck, hoping that I won't be disturbed until I have to be. I pressed on the panel to the room and it lights up green. The door opens to the room as I slid inside.

It wasn't much compared to the rooms in our clan's building but enough for now. It was just a simple sleeping area with a large bed with fur blankets. There was a small cabinet on the side that supposed to hold your armor and weapons when not in use. The door automatically locks, allowing only the occupant of the armor access in case intruders come aboard the ship. On the other side, there were two doors where one led into a cleaning room where a warrior can wash themselves of blood and flesh from prey after a long hunt while the other was for preparing trophies.

I decided to clean myself since I didn't have much time to do a full treatment when I woke up in my room this morning. I went to the cabinet and took off each piece of my armor starting with my chest, working my way down first and took out my knife and spear, placing it at the bottom of the cabinet. I removed my leg braces after that, pulling the straps off to release them. Next, I removed my sandals and then went for my wrist gauntlets as I took them off carefully. When I set all of my armor in the cabinet in a neat fashion, I removed my mask and placed it onto the mantle that held it in place, leaving me only in a loincloth.

I walked over to the door to the cleaning room and it opened without pause. I strolled in, seeing the small pool in the middle of the room while a full body mirror stood on the opposite side of it. There were fresh cloths lying next to it that must have been brought by other Yautjas who maintain and repair the ships. I pressed on the panel that was near the wall and the pool started to fill up with hot water.

While the tub was being filled, I went over to the mirror and leaned in with one arm, seeing my reflection staring back at me. My light, brownish-green skin stretched all over my body but breaks up into a v-shape on my forehead with the mark of our clan burned in the very center as tradition dictates. But what caught my attention the most were my eyes. The first thing I noticed about them was how tired they looked in the mirror. The shine from them was gone and have dulled. Only then did I realize how heavy my eyelids were. I wanted to blame it on being stirred up so early in the morning but the tightness of my chest told me otherwise.

All I could think about was my mate Ni'geria and son Ba'kou. My mate was the strongest member of our clan in my eyes and I was proud to be her life mate. There were times I dreamed of her and how she would purr to me, leading me on into the dark abyss of my mind but I would soon wake up afterward. I shook my head while I dropped it to the floor.

I wonder what would happen if she hadn't died on that hunt . . .

But as I looked back up to the mirror, it wasn't my reflection anymore but of my son . . . Ba'kou.

His piercing, golden eyes looked into mine and in some deep part of me, I began to shiver like I was in the dead of winter. He just stared with no expression on his face whatsoever until a painful headache came to me and I had no choice but to shut my eyes tightly and bury my claws into the sides.

And then, the memories came back tenfold and I began to replay the events that happened so long ago.

"Ba'kou!"

"I can do this, Father! We can't let them escape!"

My son runs into the direction of where our enemies went but I tried to stop him. There were too many and we had no idea from where they will strike next. They had already killed most of my members, which left only me, my son, and a few others of our clan that had survived the initial attack. Our mission was to get my other son back from the Bad Bloods that had taken him during their surprise attack.

Ba'kou was right in some way. We couldn't let them leave when they had my other son in their grip but the logical part of me wanted to stop him from doing anything stupid. I was so caught up in trying to make a decision when an unknown Bad Blood pops from out of nowhere, landing on Ba'kou's back and making him fall hard onto the ground.

"Ba'kou!"

I tried to roar for him but they fall on deaf ears as he struggled to fight off the attacker. I don't know why I didn't move when I had the chance until the Bad Blood drew a knife from his belt, raising it high into the air.

At the last minute, I pushed my body forward, running to him with all of my might and hoping I make it in time. But I knew when the knife came crashing down on Ba'kou, I was too late to do anything.

I reached out desperately to get to him.

"Ba'kou!"

Everything moved slowly as the knife finally reached its target.

"NO!"

I opened my eyes again and found myself back where I was on the ship. Sweat began to drip all over my body and my muscles ached with pain. I shook my head, letting my dreadlocks slap on my neck and back until I looked back into the mirror. My reflection grew worse as I panted to get any breath I could inhale to satisfy my empty lungs. But then, I studied myself a little more and the words of the Blooded Yautja came back.

"You just watched as he was murdered right in front of your eyes and did nothing about it!"

My anger erupted like a volcano and I lost it.

I took my fist and pounded it into the mirror as it shattered into millions of pieces. They fall all over the floor like fallen stars where my feet stood. I remained still as a statue with my fist dug into what was left of the mirror. My green blood began to drip slowly from between my fingers and that is when I decided to move.

I brought my hand to me and slowly opened it up, revealing all the small cuts that bled out. Ignoring the dripping of blood that followed behind, I walked into the pool that had the warm water ready for me, ripping off my loincloth until I was naked and sat down in it, hoping that I could relax my body a bit. Somehow, it did the trick and I remained still, closing my eyes for a while until my skin began to wrinkle. I washed up and used a cloth to somewhat dry myself before putting back on my loincloth.

On my way out, it was only then that I paid attention to the trail of blood that I left but even being aware of it, I was too exhausted to do anything but go to bed. I passed on through, going into the bedroom before flopping down on the massive bed and furs, not really bothering to cover myself with them as I fell asleep into a dreamless night.

Or at least I hoped it would be.

. . . . . .

The next thing I knew, a call was coming in that filled the whole room and I was starting to think about shutting it off permanently. First my room . . . and now this.

But instead of requiring for me to answer it, the call came right through and Xen'ork's voice rings into my ears.

"My lord. We have arrived at the ooman planet."

I opened my eyes, blinking a bit as I was curious how we got there so fast.

"I thought it would be longer than this."

He replied. "It would have but I used the wormhole device to get there faster. After all, you wanted to get this done as soon as possible."

I grunted when I heard the sarcastic tone in his voice at the last minute like he was making fun of me. I would have roared back at him in anger but he did make a point that I said something like that. I stretched out my muscles that tensed and felt sore as I moved off of the bed and went towards the cabinet where my armor was.

"I'll be right there in a few moments."

"Yes, my lord."

The call goes out and I focused on getting my armor on and properly, tightening the straps on my leg braces to my thighs while clicking on the pieces that connected pieces of my chest armor to each other. When I checked over and made sure everything was set, I reached for my mask. I inspected it a little, noting how it looked so similar to my son's but I shook it out of my head when I felt my anger coming. I placed the mask on as quickly as I could, moving my head back and forth to test it before deciding that I was ready. I grabbed my knife and hooked it on the belt that held my loincloth while I took the spear, extending it to make sure it was in peak condition before hooking it on the other side of my belt.

After that was done, I walked out of my room and headed for the front deck, expecting Xen'ork to be working on our landing and also finding the location of the oomans that were out targets.

As I arrived, Xen'ork was pressing codes on the panel ferociously as I looked ahead of him, seeing the ooman planet in our sights. I grunted, not really liking this planet as it was much cooler than my own and not my preference. The worst thing about it was the oomans that populated it. They may have been known to be intelligent but they are primal creatures that value no honor at all in their hunts. The males had raped their females, murdered each other and their pups, and then go on as if they haven't done anything wrong. If I could, I would wipe out every living being on this planet and be done with it. Destroying it from the face of the universe would be a favor to us all.

However, the Council of Ancients would be against it and nothing can change their wills so easily so I had no choice but to deal with it. I leaned over the panel on the side of Xen'ork and kept my sights on this planet that we were about to land, speaking to Xen'ork as we got closer to it.

"Have you found the exact location of the oomans yet?"

Xen'ork nodded slightly but kept focused on controlling the ship, keeping his fast pace on the panels.

"Yes, I have. They are in the northwest of the forest that we will be landing in soon. I'm going to land a few miles away so that they can't detect our presence."

I bowed my head down in approval. At least he's doing his job right now instead of making fun of me. But you never know . . .

"Alright but activate the ship's cloaking device just in case. These oomans are very unpredictable and we don't want them to be alerted that we are here. Stealth will be our advantage."

Xen'ork turns his head towards me and my eyes met him. I was taken aback when his mandibles twitch in delight and his eyes lit up like he just got the best news in his life. It was starting to get annoying so I had to ask what was going on with him.

"Why are you looking like that?"

He just smiled. "I just can't wait until we can go hunting. I'm pretty hungry and knowing that I'll get some skulls out of this is pretty exciting. It's been a while since I was here after all. And oomans are quite interesting."

I was surprised at his response and I begun to probe a little to try and figure out his mind.

"What makes you so obsessed with these oomans?"

"They're just interesting."

"In what way?"

He just shrugs his shoulders. "They just are."

Knowing that I wasn't going to get any more out of him with his obsession of oomans, I stepped back and started walking towards the ramp of the ship after seeing that we just past the atmosphere of the planet so it wasn't long until we would land.

"Where are you going?"

Xen'ork's voice echoed in my mind but I didn't stop walking out of the front deck, not bothering to turn and look at him after our conversation about oomans.

"I'm heading to the ramp. So make the landing and get back here as soon as you can."

Before he could protest any further, I was out of there and the doors behind me shut so I couldn't hear his voice anymore. During my walk back, Xen'ork's words started to get to me and I tried my best to not think about it. However, my curiosity got the better of me.

Why does he think oomans are interesting? They're just worthless creatures who only care about themselves and would do anything to stay alive. Even if that means letting you own blood die for you. What a joke! I'll never understand them nor be interested in one. That would be a miracle!

Repeating my own words in my head, I kept my focus on my mission since it was the only thing that was keeping me sane in this situation. All I needed to do was get on the planet, track and kill the oomans experimenting with our blood, and leave without any incident.

That is all I cared about as I felt the ship slowly coming down on our destination and once we did, our mission would begin.

Hi Readers!

So the Blood Assassin finally reaches the ooman planet and is ready to get his mission over with. But it won't be as simple as he thinks it will be. What is hidden on the planet that will turn everything upside down? And will it be for the better? Or will it lead to even more ruin?

With his dark past torturing him from a mistake that follows him like a shadow, will he ever find peace at all?

Find out when Chapter 3 comes along! :)))

Reading notes:

Normal = Human speaking English (ooman language)

Bold = Any Yautja speaking English (ooman language)

Bold and Italic = Any Yautja speaking Yautja language