Disclaimer: I don't own the story or fandom. This work belongs solely to blacktalon117 and the movie producers.
"You will explain yourself to me now!" Ti'kon ordered, yelling at the too thin Yautja before him.
Ti'kon was very. . .very upset.
His mate had just been in a fight that could have taken her life, and now she had fainted because of a few words spoken by this male. His mate was far too small for all this physical and emotional stress. The bonded male in him was roaring for Ti'kon to do something.
Little Knife lay on the Medic's table thoroughly unconscious, while an incredibly skilled Medic attempted to sew her mangled ear together. Not too far away from her, at another table Thwei'duh was also receiving medical attention. The spear having not been removed yet.
The female was sitting up, watching the whole scene unfold with an detached ease that just annoyed Ti'kon more. She wasn't even bothering to hide the fact that she was listening to the two males. It was more annoying then when she had insisted she and Little Knife share the same healing room, like she suddenly had Paya's permission to be close to his mate.
"Don't you think this discussion should wait until my daughter is awake?"
"No, Little Knife is my mate, and anything that we discuss that is of relevance I will pass on to her. I demand to know how you claim her as a daughter, when it is clear that she is not a half-breed!"
It was true. All Yautja half-breeds, to Ti'kons knowledge, were very similar in looks to a pure breed Yautja. Yautja genes being more dominant in almost every case. It required a trained eye to spot a half-breed, and it was not always obvious, with characteristics like slightly shorter tusks, smoother foreheads, or thinner talons.
Little Knife was clearly a Ooman in appearance, the only thing she had that remotely resembled her so-called father being her eyes.
"That is a very long story, Honored Warrior."
"I suddenly find myself with time to hear it," Ti'kon snapped, folding his arms and standing at full height.
The male, Guan, looked uncomfortable under Ti'kon's regard, but proceeded to speak anyway, knowing that he was out ranked here.
"It is not a story I am proud of."
"Being captured rarely is, but I demand to hear it."
Guan appeared to collect himself, straightening his posture to mimic Ti'kon's. For a Yautja of Gaun's age he was very meek, and hesitant. Ti'kon wondered if this was a result of his captivity with the Oomans.
Had his spirit been broken?
"Very well, but I ask that no one here repeats it, unless it is to my daughter."
Ti'kon nodded. In the corner Thwei'duh grunted her consent.
"I was young when the Oomans found me. I had only just left my clan a Blooded Warrior. I was headstrong, and proud, and thought that I would be better off hunting alone. I had. . .no offspring at this time."
Ti'kon, in his shock, suddenly lost his straight posture. Realising what Gaun was really telling him. He hadn't had a chance to mate before he had been taken. For a Yautja as old as Gaun was now, to have no experience in mating was. .. unthinkable.
Ti'kon watched as Gaun's eye flickered uneasily over to the conscious female, acting very much like an awkward Young blood. Thwei'duh to her credit, remained impassive, sniffing once in their direction.
Gaun cleared his throat to continue. "I was young and stupid. They captured me. I fought them of course, I fought them for several years after my capture, but they did everything they could to weaken me. They starved me, refused to let me sleep, by installing blinking lights in my cell. They would run experiments on me every day, several that I will never speak of." Ti'kon nodded at the male, respecting his choice not to speak of it, or his ordeal in detail. "I stayed sane. . . barely, but I stayed sane. I had a secret. The Ooman's didn't know I could understand them. So they spoke freely around me. I knew of most of their experiments before they conducted them, could brace myself for future torture. And then one day I heard talk of what they referred to as Project Nova."
Ti'kon felt every muscle in his body tense at his mate's Ooman name in this grisly story. He knew instinctively that he was not going to like what was coming.
"They were experimenting with my DNA, taking what they deemed were the 'best parts' and mixing it with Ooman DNA to see if it was compatible. They were going to 'push the limits of the human body', make a 'super-Ooman', splice our genes to create a new breed of Ooman that was stronger, and more resilient, like a Yautja warrior."
Gaun's voice was starting to sound strained, and he paused. Ti'kon let him collect himself, also mentally bracing for the rest of the story.
"They even found a Child Maker that agreed to carry, and raise the child until it was mature enough to 'take back'. It was my understanding that they paid the mother large amounts of money for secrecy on her part. I even got to see the female when she was carrying the suckling. She demanded to see the creature that had helped create her daughter. The Oomans made the child a female on purpose, you see, they said she would be easier to handle this way. Which made me laugh, because I knew that any female with Yautja in her would be anything but," Gaun paused, smiling faintly, before shaking his head. "Anyway, the female, the Child Maker, was horrified when she saw me. She said that they were making her give birth to a monster."
Ti'kon's mandibles flared as he listened.
'How dare her mother say such a thing!'
"She panicked and went into early labor," Gaun continued. "I saw the whole thing as the Oomans rushed to save the suckling. It would have wasted all their research if she had died. I watched as Nova came into this world, and even if I had no part in the making of her I thanked Paya for letting me have a small part in her creation. For letting me have my own suckling when I had given up on ever being able to mate," Gaun was smiling properly now, "and her mother, even her mother; when she saw her, regretted everything she had said about her sucking. She said she was perfect," Guan's smile faltered. "The other Ooman's had to remind her that the suckling was not hers to keep."
Ti'kon felt like his chest was going to explode. His Little knife is perfect. And she was no ones to keep but his. She was his, and if he hadn't found her, what would have happened to her? She was dying when they first met. In a flash, Ti'kon could see her suspended in a tube next to her father in the same liquid, dead to the world, but still available for experiments.
Ti'kon felt the uncontrollable urge to break something, to make someone suffer for this. He wanted to go back to Earth and flay everyone of those Oomans hides. Dismantle their bodies piece by piece, before setting the complex to explode all over again.
"After she was born," Gaun spoke softly now, mournfully, "they no longer needed me. They debated having me killed, but decided I was more useful in stasis. So that if Nova failed they could 'fall back' on me. I tried to fight them. I had a reason to live. I had to save my daughter from living my existence, but..." Gaun stopped to clear his throat.
Ti'kon didn't blame him, he needed to clear his throat as well.
"...I was too weak"
The room was silent. A mutual understanding passing between all the occupants that time was need for such an admission, even the silent Medic looked thoughtful.
"But that doesn't matter now," Gaun spoke through the silence. "We are both alive and my daughter is being well cared for," he looked to Ti'kon, who nodded, acknowledging the praise. "And I know that with such dishonor surrounding me, I am lucky to have my daughter mated to an Honored Warrior. I am a weak excuse for a Yautja, the shame of my capture will always follow me, but my daughter will know none of that thanks to you, Ti'kon. I only request that you understand my attachment to her, even though I haven't had any part in raising Nova. She is my only child, and I am already proud of her beyond measure."
Ti'kon nodded understanding what Gaun also was not saying. No female would look twice at him now, he was shamed. Little Knife would probably stay his only Offspring. He even wondered if it would have been better to leave the male back on Earth, as his own kind would now shun him for a mistake made in his youth.
Gaun was looking at him with unrestrained hope in his eyes, begging him to acknowledge his connection to his mate. To understand his need to know his daughter. Ti'kon had the right to refuse Gaun from seeing her, because of the dishonor he could bring to his Mate, but the question was should he?
Mistakes happen, and if Ti'kon, K'on, and Little Knife hadn't escaped from Earth on their own merits, destroying the evidence as they went, they would also be in the same position as Gaun right now.
Dishonored.
"When you talk to your daughter I would prefer that you call her Little Knife, not Nova," Ti'kon watched as Gaun's face started to break out in a huge smile, completely transforming the male. "That is the name I have given her, and I think it suits her far better. Even more so, now that I know where her Ooman name came from."
"Yes, yes of course," Gaun smiled. "Only the best for my daughter."
Brown eyes alight with happiness, Ti'kon watched the father turn to gaze at his daughter, only to see him flinch.
Confused, Ti'kon followed his gaze, only to flinch himself.
Little knife was awake, staring at both of them. Tears running down the sides of her face as she lay on the table. He had been so focused on Gaun that he hadn't been paying attention to what was happening in the room. Even Thwei'duh was looking at his mate with concern.
How long had she been listening?
How long had she been crying?
He rushed to her side, lifting one of his hands, intending to wipe her tears away. He was already purring to her, determined to calm her. Sooth the inner turmoil she had to be feeling.
"Don't."
Her harsh command made him pause, his hand just before her face.
"I really don't want to be. . .coddled right now."
His purr died in his throat. Her voice was void of all emotion, scaring him, as more silent tears fell from her eyes. His hand shook slightly as he withdrew it, but he was too caught up in her serious expression to care.
"Could both of you please leave?"
Ti'kon felt the words like a physical blow. Everything inside him was screaming to comfort her, but his Mate was having none of it. He had never felt this torn before.
It had been easier to watch her meet Thwei'duh's challenge in the arena.
"Please, Little Kn-"
"No," She cut him off. "I've just found out that all my childhood, who I thought I was, was a lie. I need some time alone. Could you please both leave?"
"But-"
"I need time to think, please leave."
Ti'kon still faltered, not being able to step away from the Medical table.
"I believe," a harsh voice growled at him, and he turned to see Thwei'duh. Spear now clenched in her fist, rather than embedded in her shoulder, "that the female told both of you to leave. Why the pauk are you still here?"
Ti'kon's felt his anger suddenly flair, at the females rudeness. Little Knife was his Mate, he had a right to be here.
'Pauk her!'
"This is none of your-"
Ti'kon was cut off as the Medic suddenly stood between him and the females.
"Both my patients have requested that you leave," he spoke for the first time. "I suggest you do that, or do I need to contact the High Elder?"
Defeated, Ti'kon looked around the room. If no one wanted him here he would leave. Pivoting he stormed out of the room, making sure to knock a tray of medical instruments over as he left. Hoping it would help ease his frustration.
It didn't.
Outside now, Ti'kon briefly noted that Gaun was already standing in the hallway. Leaning against the wall, looking off into nothing, his eyes as dead as Little Knife's.
Ti'kon stomped past him, not caring how the male felt, when he himself was in turmoil. Well, that's what Ti'kon kept telling himself as he stormed down the hall.
'I don't care'
But, when he reached the end of the hall, he found himself turning back. Gaun was still staring into nothing, probably seeing things that Ti'kon would never understand.
"Father!" he yelled, startling the male with both the term of address, and the fact that he was being yelled at.
"Do you have quarters assigned to you yet?"
Gaun shook his head, blinking, "I only have the Medical room that I awoke in."
"Would you like to come and stay in my quarters until your own are assigned?"
Ti'kon knew this was a poor offering. The male had been through much over the years, physically, and mentally. Giving him a place to stay wouldn't take away all the pain he had to be feeling, but it was a start.
He knew that when Little Knife was herself again she would want to know her father.
Gaun was family, and Ti'kon would honor that.
"That would . . . ." Gaun faltered. "Yes, I would like that very much."
"Then follow me, father."
