Winters beginning ch6
Note Roses are red, Na'vi are blue, how many fics depict Preds as younglings, I have no clue.
Location Yeager 1, Northern continent, recently commissioned Training base. Designated Base Zero.
Strikers log: "Its been twenty five years and Zuza's family has grown but now we just have 25 years left before, Winter, Kal and Hawk take their chiva and become blooded adults, among many others.
Base Zero, much like the colony it resided on, was set up to help train Yautja from any Clan. This allowed greater numbers to be taught in a myriad of different fighting styles. In short, just like our great world, it was designed to show true Predator Unity. While many clans are often away for great periods of time, one can not increase population without a planet, as such Yeager one has in time grown to a population of over fifty million yautja.
Yautja prime may show large temples and cities seemingly one with nature while another colony shows great buildings surrounded by desolate deserts and lava. Yeager 1 trumps both in the fact our world has become the Fortress of the stars.
Since the near extinction of the Engineers as well as their odd disappearance from galactic society. Other alien races have gradually developed and will eventually become space faring.
As such hunting these races forms a duel purpose, one is to test their will, the other is threat assessment. While I personally see our race as the peace keepers of the Galaxy. The reality is quite different as we are what the humans would say, the boogeymen or Gespenst Jager ( ghost hunter) of the cosmos.
We Operate in the shadows as well we should. After all, many races defecate themselves upon the mere sight of just one Predator, I can only imagine the horror they would feel upon seeing an entire army and fleet, and knowing all the knowledge they had accumulated about us was just what we wanted them to see and hear.
Still as of late having a very long lifespan compared to practically every sentient race we've encountered has produced a conundrum. In the time it takes for a Yautja to become combat ready, a society can already produce thousands if not millions depending on population in the same time frame. Some even said we should start doing chivas at fifty years of age. This however was only accepted if our society got really desperate and needed a population boost to prevent our extinction.
Good thing we know how to adapt quickly otherwise we may have gone extinct by now but times are changing and so we will be ready. End log."
In the middle of a training exercise Kal is wondering why he signed on with Death.
Twenty years or so left before our chiva and I can already tell that taking Death's course, instead of one of the other clan trainers was a big mistake. Rumor has it Death pioneered these methods based on human soldier training and just like humans it keeps changing. Then there is the other rumor that Winter doesn't drink intoxicants. I swear he is more soft meat human then Yautja and unlike Hawk and I, he doesn't hardly use a spear or anything else for that matter.
Instead I've noticed Winter when in close prefers to use Wrist blades either just one pair on his right arm or two. Beyond that he has clearly shown a preference for ranged weapons like smart disks and shuriken's. Yet Winters real preference is the Plasma casters and there associated variants. While Hawk and I have been trained in all manner of weaponry as well. We prefer blades and in nearly every duel with Winter or each other, Winter loses.
At first, then he pulls a weird human derived move to disarm us and punches us into the ground. What's most horrifying is there is no malice, just cold calculating movements. Hawk and I stopped being his close friends for this very fact because Winter acts more machine then Yautja. Everyone ridicules him for this fact and yet,he has not shown any anger towards us.
Now that I think of it Winter doesn't talk much at all anymore, he is only focused on one thing and one thing only, bringing death to as many creatures as possible, as quickly as possible. Still even he has his limits, often disappearing or shutting up entirely and only following orders. Its this odd level of dealing with hate has many of us confused.
" Kal stop thinking and help me out here, other wise Half Jaw will have us for soup".
"I'm coming Hawk."
Kal and I have been stuck with this new survival training in the snow. Why my clan decided to move to this frozen death ball I'll never know. Even with new thermal wear its still freezing and it doesn't help that Half Jaw is having us do team building exercises in this stuff. No other group is doing what we are doing and it pisses me off.
Yet here we are digging, holes sleeping in them, then being forced awake by trained Kewi's. How they managed to capture and train the little devils I'll never know. Though I heard a rumor that a female Yautja named Kima wanted one as a pet and her life mate Striker decided, why stop there and weaponized them. I curse the meat bags who developed cloning.
Unlike normal kewi's these ones are far more aggressive and have already sent many youngbloods to the healers. Deaths plan was dual purpose, teach us situational awareness and how to heal ourselves in case of injury. The idea being if we can survive the fastest critters on record we can survive Hard meats.
Sigh... great we now have to drag two of these kewi's we managed to kill back to base for food. "Kal! Stop thinking and help me out here."
" I'm coming Hawk"
Rabs darn vermin were all over the base and yet they made for really tasty grub. During my studies of Yeager one wildlife, the Rabs were so named because they had similarities to an Earth rabbit. However Rabs were different in a few area's namely they were the size of a Capybara with teeth more akin to a Viperwolf and a Beaver.
These creatures were the number one reason why trees in many area's were not as dense as they are on other planets. The Rabs had proven to eat through thick layers of wood at such speed it was a wonder there were any trees at all. However the docile nature and fast breeding abilities of these rodent like creatures led to a new food source for the growing colony.
Wrist comp beeps.
"what do you need"
"Is that anyway to speak to a friend"
Gulp,
"Spirit I'm in the middle of training for my chiva and if Half Jaw finds out about this, I'm in for another year of misery."
" I thought you enjoyed that?" Spirit asked.
"Valid point, Now is there a reason why you called me?"
"Yes have you found a female you like yet, besides me?"
Immediately Winter turns green and all that emotional control goes out faster then a chest burster.
"I eh ah, left, right, No!, also we are not courting and you know how I am around females!"
"Ow, not so loud!, Paya, you make my younger brother look tame by comparison, oh and my Dad is behind you by.
"Winter!?" Death has that look in his eyes
"Yes sir?" Winter responds with trepidation
"Alright runts! Can anyone here name what Winter did wrong?" Death asked,
Scythe answered, " He left himself exposed"
"Correct, anyone else?"
Hawk answered, "he violated protocol and showed he's not as cold as his name would imply."
The others snickered from this.
"Very good, now as punishment, all five of you runts will be hiking with full kit, twenty five miles out and twenty five miles back. There will be no sleeping as the temperatures are expected to drop considerably so walk quick or die."
Winter held his head in shame. "Sorry Death and everyone else."
"The Hike will start tomorrow morning, also I will not tolerate any action against your fellow Yautja, if you do I will personally send you to my life mate Zuza with the request that she use Blue gel only. Assuming your still conscious to feel such torture."
Everyone shuddered at that, knowing what Death does as punishment to young bloods and what his Life mate Zuza does to those who deserve the application of the proven but extremely painful blue gel medicine.
"Now any Complaints Runts!?"
"No Sir!" the group replied.
"Good now move it before I make it a hundred!"
Ah for once its my turn to be sadistic, Jokes on you Striker. Death finished.
Blooded hunter training instructor Pike representing the Clan of Elder Lance on Base Zero, Yeager one, next day.
Slam, kick, parry, lunge, ah yes these young bloods are doing very well. While Half jaw may prefer to torture his charges like the Enforcer that he is. I prefer to teach my young bloods in tradition and what it means to be a Yautja. Still the interesting combo of Death and Zuza causes many to wonder, just what kind of sick game they're running here?
Just last night alone after Death deliberately caused his daughter to talk to Winter and cause a reaction that many of us find both funny and odd. Namely why a male would be nervous around females or how that little soft meat goes from emanating paranoia and caution to a blubbering unstable toddler. In less time then blades being deployed.
However instead of punishing just Winter, Death does it to all his charges and they are now suffering a grueling hike of fifty miles in thick snow at near zero degrees. Such things are usually easy but as our race isn't all that adept in such conditions it might as well be a hike through a hive.
Still I can't deny the results as it has caused competition with the rest of us and our charges. Rumor has it the females in Voi now discipline their pups just by mentioning Death and Zuza. Having met Zuza myself I can see why, she is a fantastic healer however, getting on her bad side,like yelling at her life mate Death and well the infamous blue gel comes to mind.
Sigh... "females in general are sadistic, glad I did not take on a life mate as rutting a couple times during mating season is good enough for me."
"Your pregnant again Zuza!" Ask a shocked Kima
"Yep, I'm sorry your unable to have more Kima, truly but on the bright side, your experience has allowed many successful births and saved many lives."
"Yes well giving birth in negative twenty on a freezing snow bank, while beautiful, is not ideal since the cold seeped in and destroyed all my eggs. If it wasn't for you Zuza I would have perished a horrible death from the inside out. Winter well, he was lucky as freshly born pups are even more susceptible to the cold.
"I wouldn't say that. thanks to your walks in the cold, Winters DNA began to mutate in order to better protect against the cold environment. To that end his core temperature runs at a lower range then normal Yautja. While this does give him an edge in colder climates as his tolerance is higher. It means he has to drink more fluids then normal in higher temperatures.
Which is not that big of a deal anyway as thermal netting is standard gear. That said he is the only one to be born in such conditions as the risk to the mother is too great. Which is why no female is allowed to travel beyond ten meters out side a building unless in the city during their final trimester.
Well, looks like the boys are back from their punishment, I shall be off to treat them, try to go easy on Striker this time will you. Treating these pups and taking care of my own is not easy." Zuza takes her leave to attend the injured such is the life of healers.
"I'll try my best Zuza, have a good evening." Replied Kima.
Nearly 2k words, that's a new record for me. man this chapter was hard to write. Next one the chiva's.
Also for any who actually read and review this. This chapter will be replaced with a reedit which just now happened as my skills have improved.
As always, like, share and review. Thank you.