Winters beginning Chapter 13.
Batarian homeworld Kar'shan
Right now Gath was pissed, thanks to new comm buoys, messages now took days instead of weeks from the colony worlds. However once the troops had landed on Serth242 it was like someone had engaged in nuclear warfare. The only thing left was the remains of a power plant and a dead creature with its face badly mangled. Only a hand full of colonists made it out alive and the story they told was chilling.
So called face huggers would come after isolated pockets of slaves then less then an hour later. A new life form would burst from the victims chest, killing the victim quickly and with extreme agony. Then the serpent like creatures would gather up more slaves and the number would grow. No one was spared from the onslaught. The ones that made it off world were the ones in charge of the Colony's archive and research data. The giant creature designated the Queen was smart and didn't hesitate to spread the mayhem.
That said the survivors vessel didn't have an FTL engine and as such were forced to stay in system and pray help would arrive in time and arrive it did but it wasn't us. Curiosity got the better of them and they watched through what remained of the colony's camera's as the remaining population was turned into those monsters. That is where things got interesting as a meteor suddenly dropped onto the planets surface from seemingly nowhere. Then shortly there after the cameras picked up the creatures suddenly getting butchered by a weapon of insane firepower.
External cams then caught a glimpse of these creatures swarming something that couldn't be seen, then the area lit up like a celebration of death and destruction. In fact the craters looked similar to the ones on the slave planet we had begun to cull. The analysis was still ongoing but if I had to guess I'm no longer convinced it was wild animals.
later in the footage the first official glimpse of what caused all this havoc was seen. In the colony's armory the creature had decloaked in order to equip it self with our weaponry. This thing easily dwarfed the tallest Batarian in history and the strength to match as well. The alien blatantly ignored the remaining colonists and instead began to place its stolen weapons on load bearings across the small colony. The implications of what it was planning was dastardly. Had it been slaves no one would've cared but the remaining colonists weren't slaves but very wealthy slave owners who had thought it was a good idea to settle on the farthest planet in Batarian space.
What came next was nothing short of true evil. The colonists fought valiantly but once captured the bugs wasted no time on putting face huggers on the remaining people. That is when the final few seconds of video showed the buildings collapsing from detonations, killing the remaining colonists and bugs. The small nuclear fireballs were then recorded on the ships scopes completing the picture.
One, just one hunter since the tech seen fits the description, decimated a horde of monsters at the expense of the colonists. I don't know who I should hate more, the serpents or the one hunter. Likely the same hunter too since a Batarian company was decimated in a similar fashion.
"My Lord, it has become clear that there are no more living serpents on the planet and thus countless loyal citizens await to depart for this world" stated Drom trying to cheer up the leader.
" Send word across our space, any encounter with black serpents is to be reported and all attempts at killing them improved." Also I want dedicated ships for combat made and all manner of planetary defenses built, we are not alone and we are not the strongest so I want all colonies built up as quickly as possible."
" It shall be done my lord" Drom then proceeded to carry out his orders.
Yeager 1 Overseers office.
" You know Death this world's sole purpose is to make an army and fleet capable of defending our race from extinction. The Council chooses overseers at random and when said overseer wants to transfer back to a clan, a new one is selected. I however have so far enjoyed being overseer of this planet while my fellow Elders run the clan." Stated Lance clearly trying to set the mood for what was about to come
"Get to the point Lance, as far as I know the code wasn't breached and the only reason to be called by an overseer is because someone wants to waste my time." Death was not happy to be here away from training the unblooded.
"The Point is Death for the first time that I know of a number of females and males. Wondered how and why you turned their pups into some form of single minded organism of Doom." At this point Lance could barely hold it in as the last report had him on the floor. When the council got a hold of it they had assumed Death had finally gone insane. However upon confirmation and holographic footage was shown. Well the Council did something they rarely did. They shared it will the entire Yautja government. The reply Lance got back from them was a simple sentence. Funniest thing we have ever seen.
"I did not mean for it to go that far but since Wolf insulted my Daughter I needed to vent and thus my students became my outlet. However I will not deny the fact they have become the most motivated on the entire base." Death didn't even relax
"Motivated, hahaha, Death your fellow instructors painted the specially cloned and bred Kewi's in Purple and green. Your group of students then proceeded to disembowel them with a ferocity not even hardmeats could match and without any regard to pain or discomfort in all weather conditions. With the chants of Barney must die, must kill Barney, and my personal favorite, our name is Reaper, you killed our sanity, prepare to die purple dinosaur!" Now Lance couldn't take it and was trilling for all he was worth.
" Indeed, my fellow instructors thought it would be funny to do that, however upon seeing the carnage they took it a step further by painting a bunch of Rabs those same colors. What was suppose to be dinner turned into a bloody massacre of gut wrenching proportions, even by our standards. As the poor critters were torn to shreds and stomped into a gooey paste , literally." Death was now starting to lighten up.
"Death your trainees were the most violent yautja the council had ever seen, the best comparison is a human injected with adrenaline, then LSD, followed by meth and steroids, then ending with ten cans of some energy drink. The other instructors even noted that your charges had to be sedated numerous times as they would beat the other recruits in the kehrite to within an inch of death, despite having numerous wounds themselves.
That said when the parents found out, they were noticeably pissed off and contacted me with more complaints in a month then I receive in a planetary cycle. The only thing their pups would tell them is purple and green have become their most hated colors and as such anything wearing said colors will die a horrible death. Thus the advice given was to keep their masks on infrared." If Lance's mandibles could be any wider surely blood should be spewing from the strain. Indicating Elder Lance was having way too much fun with this then any Elder should.
"Do you want me to stop with this experiment?" Death inquired
"For right now yes and no, try to get them to think more independently. For now though that human Barney song might be useful for other applications as tormenting our prey has always been gratifying. This song and video when properly translated into other languages will surely be useful against both prey and as a punishment tool. After all if it makes a small group of unblooded go blood thirsty, imagine what it will do too prey when they hear this day and night." Lance now had a sadistic glint in his eyes.
" You've been spending too much time around Striker Elder but then I'm known as an overprotective enforcer. Anyway I'll dial it down and since another former pupil of mine is free I request Kal be transferred to Base Zero to assist me in teaching and providing technical support." Requested Death
" Consider it done, I'm sure his life mate will be happy to hear about that, in the meantime the parents will also be thrilled to hear about this as well. Dismissed Death and keep up the good work."
" Thank you Elder." Deaths leaves the office
Elsewhere Kima and Spirit were having a discussion.
"That is why he is the way he is, it is a shame you and him never became lifemates if I was a male I would ravage you every night I could." Kima couldn't help but admire Spirit and feel a little jealous that it was Scythe and not Winter, courting Spirit, oh well.
"So allow me to get this strait you and Striker turned Winter into the perfect Yautja soldier just for the sake of grand pups?" Spirit asked a little confused
"That was the initial idea, yes and we succeeded, mostly but we never expected his nervousness around females to become so entrenched. You see Spirit it started back when he was no longer a suckling and well as you will discover mating became harder and well." Kima was now turning green
Spirits eyes began to widen at the implication as the final peace to her friend's life clicked. " He saw you and Striker mating and it had an affect on him you tried to fix and wait, no you capitalized on it instead!" Spirits voice began rising at the implications and that her own sire effectively misled her. " Kima, you, Striker, Zuza, my own father, all of you used me as the trigger, as a means of causing him to be afraid in one environment and thrive in another!" Spirits fists clenching
"Regretfully yes and while results have proven most interesting we never thought he would take it quite that far. I came up with the plan, my mate and your father simply expanded it, Zuza your mother had no part in it. I don't regret it one bit as it has allowed my only son to survive and thrive in environments against nearly any foe. That said he keeps his social life private to everyone except you." Kima now had a predatory grin on her mandibles
The atmosphere was heating up and Spirit knew Kima was not one to piss off, but right now she didn't care and what better way to goad the other female then to explain her own secret.
"Thanks to you I never got the chance to tell Winter how I felt, and when Wolf showed up and activated his soldier mentality that I had only heard rumors about. It felt like a dagger had sliced into my heart, reopening feelings I thought were buried but no longer. I love Scythe and want to be with him for the rest of my long life but Winter was my first and is currently my best friend! What angers me more is my fathers over protectiveness and the stupid thing is I actually understand since I'm his only daughter and he goes to insane lengths to protect me and and". Spirits plan backfired and now tears were dropping, her intent was to understand why Winter is the way he is only to understand it and more.
Lifemates care more about their pups then anyone else, the traditional yautja would see this as weakness but now I see it is a strength. Strength to ensure your legacy survives and a reason to fight and die for that someone.
Kima's anger waned not expecting Spirit to go from anger to sad like that, such things only occurred during pregnancy. Now however she knows and understands. Wrapping her arms around Spirit, Kima let her cry. " I guess I have my own confession to make and is the very reason why I'm so protective of my family. You see all my siblings died in their chivas and my mother couldn't stand to loose another pup so she sent me here when the colony was still very young I was just a pup and was raised by others. I vowed back then, I would do everything in my power to keep my future pups from dying. and I would never abandon them like my mother did me"
"If that's the case then who raised you?" Spirit asked now beginning to relax on Kimas shoulder.
" Everyone and no one, eventually I had an eye on a special someone who's father died while killing green meatbags. He wasn't the strongest but did show an aptitude for brains and of course blowing stuff up, then getting in trouble for it hehehe"
"Does Striker know this?" Spirit had already figure this out as many sappy stories involving romance were like this. Of course her story of getting her father to finally take Zuza as a life mate is one for the books.
" Are you joking, he already has a big enough ego as it is, if he were to find out about that well. I wouldn't here the end of it, after all we all have our secrets know one knows everything, why do you have something juicy about my son because I must confess he maybe good at hiding his feelings but not his embarrassments."
"What are you getting at." Spirit inquired hoping Kima doesn't know. Now having removed herself from Kima's embrace.
"I saw the recording and decided that had it been a simple gut shot, he wouldn't have gone to see you now would he. Nope instead he went to see you to have his genitals looked at because that is where he was really hit, am I wrong?"
Pauk, Kima was good, Winter may keep his mouth shut to his parents about many things but Kima here could give the arbitrators a run for their trophy's with her deductive reasoning." I don't want to know how you figured that out but yes its true and don't worry he is still capable of copulating if he needs to. Wait why are you not laughing about this?" Spirit is now confused as trying to read Kima is like trying read and armored wall at this point.
"Why would I find that funny, actually why would anyone find that funny?" Kima specified with a raised eyebrow.
The urge to facepalm hard was strong with this one, its now clear where Winter got his lack of humor from or it could just be Kima's personality. " No reason anyway have you heard from my mother recently?"
"I have and honestly I have never trilled as hard as I did until Zusa told the horror story of what your father did to some new recruits."
Knowing my father the implications of what he did likely reached the Council this time, a new record for him as not many can do that. Which means if Kima knows it then that means Elder Lance knows it which means. On know my youngest brother Dagger who is a major fan of the Elite known as Wolf likely didn't know and triggered our father into doing something sadistic without knowing why.
He was warned not to sign on with our father but nope he decided that taking other instructors wouldn't be enough. Blaze was smarter, he went with a different instructor and passed his chiva with minor wounds, now like father Blaze has been in training to become an Enforcer and serves aboard the larger Council warships. Turns out he wants his own command someday.
Elites and Enforcers have always had a bit of a rivalry when it comes to operations but my father especially detests them and Wolf in particular as the two have a history that know one really knows about.
"Oh boy, I'm going to cetanu for this, but please engorge me what did my father do this time?"
Kima smile at this, the young will always resent their parents, well some of the time." It started with a Purple Dinosaur".
Okay yes I did that and yes I know their are worse songs out there or songs that shouldn't even be classified in that category, Cough wrap cough.
Just to make this clear, Dagger here is not the same Dagger in Acceptance, different yautja same name. I imagine everyone has worked with or met someone with the same name so I add this note to prevent confusion.
As always, like, share, and review. Thank you.