It wasn't usual for Lar'ja to back off from a potential trophy, but these serpents were, to put it simply, smarter than the usual kainde amedha he encounters. They stop, they scan their surroundings, they're patient, and, most important, they communicate. The hard meats were not known to asses the situation at hand before jumping into the fray and attacking, but those that do...well, one learns the hard way and either survives or dies. "Let's not be hasty, now. Once we know more of this particular hive we will come back for your mask, Bakuub. I cannot risk going in when they have shown much restraint around one of our kind." Both of his brothers nod in agreement.
"If that's the case, then we should continue hunting. We are low on meat reserves," Guan says and stands up from his crouched position on the tree limb. "My legs are also getting sore." Bakuub nods in agreement. Lar'ja hums in thought before his gauntlet beeps.
"Seems the blood has finished analyzing...I'm going to check the results. Both of you go on without me; I will join you later." His brothers give him a nod then cloak, leaving him alone by the hive. He glances down at the tunnel, tempted to explore without his hunt brothers, but resisted. He heads back to the ship, vaguely taking notice of someone tailing him. He chuffs quietly then takes a different route to the ship, trying to shake off his stalker. It didn't take long much to Lar'ja's surprise, but he wasn't going to question it. Once inside the ship, he recloaks the ship and switches on the proximity alarm. If it was a Bad Blood, then he'll make sure they don't get to leave alive.
The lab was his addition to the ship and although his hunt brothers are allowed to use it, they do not have interest in how a being has come to be. He's studied many oomans before which, much to his brothers' irritation, led him to personally not hunt them. Bakuub had his engineering room where he could tinker away and Guan...was as simple as a simple male Yautja could get.
Guan was intelligent, but he was a very laidback male preferring to hunt and discover new prey and planets, yet has excelled wonderfully as a medic during his short time as one. In their clan, every female and male were given rotating roles soon after they completed their Chiva and after they completed the course, they could choose to continue hunting or stay and continue practicing a role of their choice with time given to hunt when wanting. Many males continued to hunt as is predicted, but there wasn't a shortage of female huntresses who chose the hunter's path either. Guan's Bearer and Sire were hunters and so it wasn't surprising when he chose to continue in their footsteps.
Anyways, back to the blood sample, Lar'ja brought up the results and trilled curiously as he read through it. "Peculiar," he muses and reanalyzes the blood; it didn't hurt to be sure of his findings. If the results came back exactly the same, then there was no doubt about what the white Yautja female was. Shame she didn't know what race she belonged to in the first place, but then again, she would have been shunned based on her looks. Discrimination runs in every sentient race, no matter how advanced they are. She was beautiful; he wouldn't mind mating her.
Lar'ja pauses at the thought. What was he thinking? She may have only been a couple of seasons younger than he, but she didn't even speak Yautjan much less understand it, and from what little he saw, she still acted much like a pup. It was...weird for him to have such thoughts. He gives a heavy sigh and shakes his head. "This is what I get for forgoing mating season," he mutters to himself and saves the blood test results. He would have to find her Bearer to find out more. To sate his curiosity of course.
He's brought out of his thoughts as the device deeps in front of him and true to the previous results, they stayed the same. "For her age, she is very tall. No doubt she will be one of the tallest females once she finishes growing." He clicks in thought as he wonders what he will do with this new information. He didn't have to share it; nobody but he was privy to his research and frankly, he liked to keep his findings to himself. Unless the Elder Council commanded he give up his knowledge, he wasn't obligated to inform others. Even his hunt brothers would never stoop as low as to pester him just for some meager blood results. Bakuub had better things to worry about and Guan never gives a c'jit to anything that is not his next prey.
Lar'ja walks out of his lab to check on the surveillance. The alarm hasn't gone off, but he doubts it could catch everything, especially if anything is hiding beneath the ship (Bakuub is working on that). Once satisfied that nothing has snuck up on him-the ship that is-he grabbed a few more hunting weapons and set off back into the forest.
Comfort. It was a blanket of security for everyone, especially through sorrowful times. They lost a brother today, died protecting one of their youngest siblings who was out exploring the outside world for the first time. He died at the hands of their predators, screeching at Mina to run back to the hive. The entire hive was silent, mourning. How Mother was able to accept another loss of their hive without losing her mind she didn't know, but she knew Mother had to stay strong for all of them. Another sibling will be born, but they will be weak for a long while as they grow.
Nakrill glared at the wall, tusks clicking in agitation. She's always hated feeling week. Tiko could have lived if she was there and maybe send those...fucking predators to death. Then all they would have to worry about would be their mindless cousins and dwindling food supply. She pulls out the sharp thing she managed to snag from the metal box and twirls it expertly in her paw. She was furious, yes, but she wasn't stupid. They were stronger than her and had a lot of things that could kill her easily if she got caught. If she could just get her hands on on of their dangerous things, then she might just have a chance...
"Nana..." A small, quiet hiss comes from behind her and she turns to look at the newcomer.
"Taka. I thought you would have been with our siblings." Nakrill tilts her head, but motions for her sister to join her.
"I wanted to be with you...I'm scared. What if...they come hunt us down in our own home? We've lost so many siblings these past cycles," Taka whimpers and lays her head on the albino's legs. Nana purrs softly at her and gently smoothes her paw over her sister's head.
"They won't. I'll make sure of that."
"How?"
"I don't know how, but I'll do it. I am not one of you, but the hive is more to me than the ones who look like me." She sighs and sets down the sharp thing and looks up at the ceiling, "But I do not think it was the predators we saw that...took Tiko from us. They just got here."
Taka nods after thinking about and and sits up. "...We should ask them for help," She states with a confident hiss. Nakrill stares at her sister with a slack mouth and eyes wide. Taka was one of the most timid of all her siblings given her runt size, but here she was suggesting to try and talk with their predators of all things!
But it was great idea.
The pale hunteress trills and stands up with a smirk. "Okay, but how will get them to get what we are saying?" Her small sister tilts her head along with her tail-their version of a shrug. "Well...I guess we can start off by returning the face hardskin." Taka nods and carefully grabs the displayed hardskin with her paws. "And we will have to take our time with this. Rushing it will only make things worse and make mistakes we do not want."
"Okay. It's going to be terrifying. Do you think they will attack once they see that we have their things?" Nakrill shakes her head.
"No, or they would have done it already," she reassures and grabs the sharp thing before peeking out. Relieved that the long room was clear, she led her sister to one of the many tunnels that led outside into the jungle. She took a less traveled tunnel, but as they were about to slip pit of the tunnel cover, a warning hiss stopped them in their tracks. Nana looks over her shoulder and groans in defeat. "Miko..."
"Where do you think you are going? And with Taka of all beings. No offense, dear sister." Taka brushes it off, used to the light hearted teasing from her siblings. She knew she would rather flee than fight. Nakrill clicks her tusks then gives a quiet chuff. She could never hide anything from her elders.
"We were heading back to the metal box...to return the items I took."
"And?"
"...And to try and communicate with them." She grumbles out. Miko simply shakes his head, but walks past her; he looks back to them when they don't follow.
"Well?"
Nana gives a surprised chirp, but follows him with a smile of her own, Taka slipping in between them for protection. It took a while longer to get to the clearing they had last seen the metal box, but once they reached it, all three stayed within the treeline, heads tilted in curiosity as the three predators in the clearing were stock still and staring at their metal box.
Completely destoryed.
Nakrill could barely believe her eyes. She had seen it completely intact earlier that cycle, had even sneaked inside of it and now it was in pieces. She looks down at Taka who returned her worried expression then looks back over to the obvious rattled predators. She takes in a deep breath and steps out of the bushes as loudly as she could; it took a lot of focus to make sure her steps weren't silent. All three of them whipped around with their weapons drawn and Nakrill and her siblings slowly rose their paws up. There was the sharp thing hanging from her hip, but she was intending to return it...somecycle.
Their predators clicked, chirped and growled at her and it took a while for her to realize that they were trying to communicate. She gives them a shrug and turns to Miko. "What should we do?" Her elder regards her for a moment then steps towards the strangers.
"Leave it to me."
Lar'ja growls softly as the Warrior Serpent stalks forward, its hands still up in the air. It still had a lengthy and dangerous tail as well as a second mouth that can crush through their bone as if it was nothing but a sheet of cloth; its hands in the air certainly did not give it an innocent look. Still, he ordered his hunt brothers to stay their weapons; he doubts they would win in such a close combat fight with two skilled hunters. Even as the kainde amedha got close enough to spear him with its tail, even as its mouth got in range to impale him with its inner mouth, he still did not give his brothers a signal to attack.
His muscles stiffened as its smooth carapace lightly grazed his forehead then he froze as a small shock coursed through his mind, but just as soon as it came it left and Lar'ja was left with light nausea. He did take notice of the serpent retreating from them, but he had more important things to worry about. Specifically a painful headache that made him wish the kainde amedha actually killed him.
"Where's the fun in that?" A voice sneered into his thoughts. He froze once more then looked at his brothers. "Did you say something?" His brothers look at him with their heads tilted-he took that as a no. Lar'ja sighs and tries to ignore the pounding headache. He'd rather be impaled than deal with such a thing. "Good. A headache means the connection is working." He growls loudly and whips his head to Guan. "Stop talking!"
"I'm not talking!" Guan snarls, looking at him as if he was the one that was crazy.
"They are not talking to you, I am." A low hiss comes from the larger serpent and now Lar'ja definitely knows he went crazy. "You predators have always been crazy."
"Miko, you shouldn't insult them! We are here to ask for help." The white female yautja turns to warrior serpent and smacks it across its arm while the smaller one-a drone-fidgets next to them. He had to keep an eye on that one. He turns to his brothers completely with a heavy sigh. "It seems as though I am now able to communicate with the serpents. I know it sounds crazy." He watches Bakuub regard him with a weary gaze, but it was Guan that made his blood boil.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head while we went hunting?" Lar'ja's eye twitched lightly before giving another heavy sigh.
"Yes, Guan, I am sure."
"Just checking." He then turns to Bakuub.
"Well?"
"I would very much like to know what the serpents want."
Taka kept fidgetting next to Nana, which on any given cycle would have been tolerable but at this moment it was very, very annoying. "Taka!"
"Sorry!" Her small sister squeaks as she curls in on herself. Nakrill simply sighs before turning back to Miko.
"I thought only Mother and her personal guards could establish a link," She says with a head tilt.
Miko nods and gives a quiet hiss. "Yes, but she is training me to be one of her guards already."
"Oh, that's wonderful news!" She gives out an excited cry and wraps her arms around him and Taka followed suit, both of them hissing in laughter when Miko gave a disgruntled noise. Once they pulled away, all three of them took notice once more of the other three beings. "Ah, right. The predators. What do we tell them?"
"First we let them ask their questions, but not out here," Miko says with a quiet rumble. Nana's eyes widen and glances between her brother and the hunters.
"Miko...are you sure? What if they..."
"I will make sure they will not. Do have faith in me, Kri." Nana sighs and nods, running her hand over Taka's head to keep her calm.
"Then let's get going before whatever destroyed their box comes back."
Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews on the first two chapters! I'm glad my readers are enjoying the story so far and I hope I continue to make this fanfic enoyable for y'all :D And a big thank you to those who left a review on the past two chapters!
P.S: I know I haven't updated in a looooong while, but I swear I haven't abandoned this fic like the previous ones