The Trip Home…
Shadow walked through the ships cargo bay with Kiera in his arms, closely followed by Dachande. Dachande pressed a button on a panel on the wall by the door, and with a hiss the door slid open to reveal a large hallway. Dachande walked ahead of Shadow, leading him towards the leader's quarters. The pair turned a corner and was confronted by a group of young blooded warriors. As they walked past the young bloods, Shadow heard them talking about him and the body of his mother in his arms "Ill be back for you, shit head. Just watch how you tread around me" Shadow hissed.
The young bloods continued there rambling. As they got to the end of the corridor, Dachande saw the current leader of the clan walk out of his quarters.
The leaders name was Cle'rik. He was tall and extremely well built. His body was coated with ceremonial armour, and a black and red cape was draped over his shoulders. Of what was visible of his body, he had spots and stripes dotted all over him. His facial features where too very different from most Yautja, his mandibles had tusks on the bottom of them too, although they were much smaller they were still very visible. On his forehead he had a symbol that seemed to be burnt into his flesh, much like the one that Dachande had on his forehead, but this one was a double lightning bolt instead of a single.
"Ah Dachande, I was just coming to the cargo bay to see you. Where is your little Ooman child and female you were saying we have to look after and why is that unblooded carrying an Ooman female?" Cle'rik said hastily.
"My little Ooman child is the unblooded Yautja you see before you. As for the Ooman female that I loved, that is her in his arms, the Oomans on the planet surface shot her as we ran to the ship. My pups name is Shadow, and I wish for him to start training as soon as we land on home world" Dachande insisted.
Dachande bowed his head in respect to the leader, and waited for orders from Cle'rik. "As you were a former leader of the Yautja clan, you may have the quarters next to mine that was lined up for a second in command. As for Shadow, he shall have to sleep with the other young bloods and unblooded hunters" Cle'rik clicked.
Dachande and Shadow both lowered their eyes in respect to Cle'rik. As the three moved to the quarters next to Cle'rik's. Cle'rik pressed a few buttons on the control pad at the side of the door. As he did this the door hissed and slid open, to reveal a spacey room with a bed, an armour rack and weapons stand, a table and 2 chairs and an on suite wash room.
Shadow turned to Dachande and handed over the body of his dead mother Kiera. As Dachande took her body Shadow stroked his mandibles on her forehead, to simulate a kiss goodbye. He lifted his head and turned to face Cle'rik, then lowered his gaze to the floor "Cle'rik may I have a wander around the ship and get to know my surroundings?" Shadow asked.
As he finished his sentence Cle'rik raised his hand to hit Shadow across the face. As he swung Shadow caught his hand about an inch from his face. "You address me as leader; pups of such rank may not address me by my name" Cle'rik said as he swung at Shadow again only to have his hand caught again.
"As you wish leader, but don't hit me for reasons I know nothing about" He replied.
Giving Shadow a slight push backwards, Cle'rik hissed his commands "You shall allow me to hit you when I please. If you step out of line you are expected to receive punishment. You may look about my ship, but be aware that if you disrespect any of the other hunters on this ship, they will not hesitate to battle you. So you understand?"
Nodding his head still with his gaze to the floor, he turned and walked out of the room. Shadow walked around the ship for about an hour, getting to know where everything is, things like the control room, the armoury, the kitchen, and the rest rooms and showers. As he walked into the battle arena, he saw two Yautja's sparring. As he progressed into the room, he was confronted by four young bloods, of which one he recognized as the hunter that started to talk about him, Dray'koe was his name. This Yautja was about a foot bigger than Shadow and about the same build. He had his dreadlocks tied together behind him, and his right shoulder and down his right arm was badly scared. His body pattern was very similar to that or Cle'rik, but he had more spots and fewer stripes on his torso.
The group of four walked up to Shadow with Dray'koe leading the pack. "What was that you were saying earlier UNBLOOD. 'Ill be back for you, watch how you walk around me'. What is an unblooded young one going to do to a pack of blooded warriors?"
Shadow stepped back a few paces and slightly crouched down "So are you just going to stand there or do you want to find out"
As the four went to attack Shadow, Dray'koe put his arm out to signal to his friends not to attack. As he did this he lunged towards Shadow with lightning speed. Although he was faster than some of his prey back on Dakota Alpha 231, Shadow was still able to calculate his movements. Dropping onto his back, Shadow raised his foot slightly. Dray'koe was now just above where Shadow lay, he then connected his foot to Dray'koe's abdomen and push kicked him to the other side of the room, with his back hitting the wall and his head hitting the floor as he landed, completely knocking the hunter out.
As Shadow jumped up the other three hunters decided to attack Shadow. By this time there was a little crown forming to watch the gruesome fight between the hunters and Shadow. With tremendous speed Shadow was hitting one hunter then turning and hitting another. None of the other hunters could believe his speed. Shadow turned 180 degrees and crouching and then connected his fist to one of the hunters stomachs, sending him flying through the open doorways and tumbling down the corridor. Seeing this, the other hunters picked themselves up and left the room, leaving Shadow and his onlookers in the sparring room. Shadow stood up from where he was crouched, and looked at some of the warriors in the room that were gawking at his show of skill and power. He turned to see if the hunter that he had kicked into the wall at first was alright, only to hit in the face with a training staff. As Shadow stepped back, Dray'koe hit him across the face again. As he swung the staff for a third time, Shadow ducked out of its collision path, and connected his knee to the sternum of his attacker. Thinking that was going to be it, he turned around to walk over to a chair to sit down, but was hit in the back of the head by the training staff once again, this time softer than before but still painful. He turned to face Dray'koe, and he swung again. Blocking the staff with his forearm, Shadow raced around and grabbed Dray'koe's arm, and using his strength, snapped his arm from the elbow inwards. Green blood splattered to the floor of the sparring room, and Dray'koe following the blood fell to the floor in pain clenching at his arm.
The other hunters in the room diverted their gaze from Shadow as not to annoy him. Crouching besides his fallen enemy Shadow asked "Do you want me to take you to the medical facility near the kitchen; get you arm looked at and fixed up"
Dray'koe looked at Shadow with a now angered but accepting gaze. "I told you to watch how you tread around me" Shadow said as he picked Dray'koe up.
Walking towards the medical facility on the huge craft "Why are you helping me, is this like a game to you. You want me to be humiliated in front of my fellow warriors" Dray'koe asked.
"No not at all. You and I are the same, I don't mean to hurt you, you brought it upon yourself. I just hope this makes you realise that, it doesn't matter about size and rank you can be taken down by someone less experienced" Shadow replied.
Dray'koe turned back to face the way he was walking and continued his journey to the medical area.
Later that night Shadow chose a spot down the 'bedding area' of the unblooded and young bloods corridor to sleep in. He had a mat and a pillow to sleep with, along with his weapons that Dachande had given him and his few items that belonged to him.
Putting his head up against the wall, Shadow reached into his Satchel and pulled out the locator for his hunting knife. Turning it on it beeped softly, and the liquid crystal display showed and arrow of the direction in which to travel to locate the knife. The soft beeping of the locator sent Shadow to sleep. His dreams were that of Dakota Alpha 231 and his newly acquired friends, how he had to leave them so early in their friendship, and his first love Samantha. He dreamt about what might have happened if he had stayed on the planet with her, but dreamt of the future and if he would ever see her again.
When Shadow awoke, he found himself surrounded by a group of Yautja staring at him. Wondering what they were staring at, he looked down to see that he had changed back to human during the night. His thoughts about his friends and everything he loved had changed him back.
He stood up and ran down the corridor, closely followed by the group of Yautja that were chanting 'Kill the Ooman stowaway'. As Shadow ran around the corner, he thought of everything he hated, and morphed back to his Yautja appearance. Immediately he stopped and turned to walk the other way. As he reached the corner the mob came hurdling around the corner. "Have you seen an Ooman run down this corridor" one of the smaller hunters barked.
Turning his head around to face behind him, he looked down the corridor. He then turned back and shook his head, and continued back to his bedding area.
As he reached his sleeping area, a siren sounded. Shadow began to get worried, as he though that it was due to the hunters finding a human on the ship. He quickly gathered what he had with him and walked towards his father's quarters. As he arrived he saw hunters running around in what seemed to Shadow a panic. He knocked on Dachande's door, as he finished the second knock the door skid open to reveal Dachande dressed to impress in all his ceremonial armour and all his weapons. "What is happening father? Are they all after me, some of the hunters have seen me as a human. I must have changed during the night" Shadow asked.
"No my pup, we shall be landing on home world soon. So everyone has to get there equipment prepared and ready to go back to their lives on home world. They have to look their best for the elders that shall greet us upon out arrival. You should do the same, get your weapons cleaned and prepared. Adopt them proudly; here is a sling for your staff. Put it on then put the staff over your shoulder and onto your back. Go my young pup, before your betters wish to laugh at you" Dachande replied.
About an hour later, ninety percent of the ships crew members where in the cargo bay in formation awaiting the welcome home crowd, and to get back to normal life. Shadow and Dachande were at the back of the pack awaiting excitedly, waiting for the reactions of the Yautja crowd.