Chapter 1:
The ground sloshed beneath her booted feet as she made her way through the jungle. Only four hundred yards away. That's what her datapad said, at least, but she was starting to doubt it. She had spent a good portion of last night pouring over Ojibwe maps scouting out the ancient ruins, and pinpointed this location. Maybe she had been wrong, though. Lifting her armored boot out of a particularly deep pile of mud with a grunt, Esmerelda let out a sigh. It wouldn't be the first time she had been wrong in her coordinates. Since the yautja refused to map the locations of their ancient ruins-or at least share with her the locations-she was forced to try and research and find them herself.
Just thinking of Iko's emotionless eyes as he stared at her in response to her request to poke around their ancient ruins and, essentially, their history made her scowl. The second in command's eyes had glittered in evil amusement as he gave her the permission but absolutely no helpful information, knowing full well the task would be beyond a pain the neck. Why must everything with the yautja be some sort of proving challenge or some gauntlet to determine one's honor in even the most innocuous task? Didn't they appreciate the value of shared data and how it impacted one's research? They absolutely did not mind taking data from around the known galaxies, she thought with a snort.
Although…she tilted her head in consideration as she mentally corrected herself, the yautja certainly weren't alone in their weird fascination with demonstrating one's worth. The cyborg huntresses were just as bad.
Pausing in her trek, she did a double-take at an innocent-looking plant ahead of her. Lush and green, the tall plant seemed to preen under a single shaft of sunlight spearing through the jungle canopy above. Esmerelda stepped cautiously closer and watched as the long narrow blades of the plant's leaves gently moved under an unseen wind. Noting the white spore-like dots along the plant's stem, Esmerelda pursed her lips together into a confirming grim smile. Taking one step backward, just to be safe, she released the datapad attached to her wrist and took a picture of the dangerous vegetation, a giant fern-like plant that was very poisonous to yautja and fatal to humans. Now that she had it in her system, she would late be able to save the info for future reference so that her scans would automatically search and pinpoint the plants for her.
Just another test that the yautja put everyone through. Much like a child being taught how to cipher their numbers without the use of a calculator, the yautja forced their kind to recognize and encounter their threats first before they allowed the ease of any technology. Sidestepping the dangerous plant, Esmerelda thought of the giant reptilian-like hunters. He could give them credit for that, at least. Their way of teaching, though inordinately rigorous, was effective in creating highly intelligent and very skilled warriors. But why must she participate?!
Except she knew exactly why.
Since the birth of Justice's and Ember's second child, Esmerelda found that her role in the palace was waning greatly. Finding herself with hardly anything to do since most of the children were past their toddler age ranging from six and seven now, and the new babies were completely immunized and doing well, Esmerelda's position as the captive doctor was somewhat teetering. Even traveling back and forth between Tani and helping out with the people there was fruitless. The Upran people had their own doctors and didn't need much help besides the occasional access to equipment and supplies. The sudden lack of need for her skills left her feeling more than a little bereft.
"So what do you want to do? Leave?" Justice had asked her when Esmerelda finally confessed her pent-up feelings to the other women.
The thought of suddenly leaving Ojibwe and the others left a hole in Esmerelda's stomach. Of course, the thought had crossed her mind a few times at night when she lay in her bed, but the thought had always been a jarring one. A thought that always came unbidden to her mind, seemingly just to torture her. If she left Ojibwe and returned to the known galaxies run by humans, what would she have? Nothing, that's what. Being one of eight children, her family had sold her to the Renkin Imperial Alliance, the controlling authority of her planet and nearby others, to join their Science and Engineering academy to one day be filtered into their organization like all their young recruits.
The memory of her family's unfeeling decision that day didn't even fill her with resentment anymore, she thought as she hacked violently at the overgrown plant life. A practical side of her could even understand it. They needed money to survive, not children, and children they had plenty of.
"A basic supply and demand problem," Esmerelda muttered sourly to herself.
Checking her wrist pad once more, she glanced at the red point and up ahead of her. She could hardly see four feet in front of her. The jungle was thick, almost oppressive. The beautiful lush labyrinth was steadily trying to devour her whole, to keep her locked beneath its tangled green canopy until she was just another denizen of its dripping undergrowth.
Hacking once more, she stumbled to a halt at the sight ahead. Familiar umber stone peeked out from beneath its captor of twisting and knotted vines.
A smile spread across Esmerelda's lips as she beheld the ancient ruin.
When she had first found herself with more and more time to herself, the first thing she had thought of was continuing her research of Hybrid biology. A field of study she had always been interested in while studying in the academy-a field of study that unfortunately made her a prime target for the soulless androids and their own pursuits of creating life. Standing still, Esmerelda closed her eyes and felt her lips cock into a sad smirk. Abducted twice in her life. Both times by a deadly species. Could anyone else claim such odd circumstances?
When the androids attacked the small research facility she had been assigned to and captured her and a few others in her lab in the process, she had thought her life couldn't get any worse-the androids quickly proved her wrong. After two years of captivity with those inhuman bastards, she had welcomed her second capture with the monstrous-looking yautja. By then, walking into the hands of a seven-foot crab-faced monster was easy. The silent bestial creatures only wanted her help to ensure their sired half-human children were healthy and strong-unlike the androids.
Opening her eyes, Esmerelda pushed back the terrifying memories and looked at the ruin in front of her. She couldn't believe she had actually found it.
Bored and a little lost with her reduced responsibilities, she had begun to pour over the yautja data at her disposal and found herself turning more towards the origin and evolution of the strange, brutal species. Intelligent, violent, and steeped in rich culture, Esmerelda found the odd, prideful hunters utterly fascinating. And since asking them direct questions about their history seemed to be an almost taboo subject for non-yautja, she was given only one option-to do the research herself.
Changing her machete to a staff, she swept the pole end lightly along the ground until she felt the stone path clang against the metal staff. Using her boot, she began to brush away the layers and layers of caked on dirt in one area. Bending down, Esmerelda observed the faded ornate indentations in the stone. Smiling, she took off her datapad once more and took a photo. She had to hand it to the yautja, they may not look it, but they did not lack style. This was the second ruin she found, and from what little she could see, it had the same elements of fine craftsmanship as the other.
Standing up, she turned just as the thick undergrowth to her right shuddered. Esmerelda looked up as the birds above squawked in simultaneous outrage and warning as something big began to barrel through the bushes. The ground beneath her feet thumped as the disturbance got closer and closer.
Her smile faltered as the beast barreled out of the bushes towards her when and she caught sight of the limp body hanging from its mouth.
Stopping in front of her, the massive hound dropped its kill in front of her before giving her an expectant look.
Grimacing, Esmerelda did what Koga taught her. Crouching in front of the big hound, she put a hand on his big head and smiled at the beast as she reluctantly put her hand on the limp gray-haired monkey lying on the ground.
"Good job, Daga," she murmured, watching his beady yellow eyes light up with appreciation.
She continued to stroke his big head, enjoying the way he tilted his head into her hand.
Glancing down at the poor dead creature on the ground, Esmerelda looked meaningfully back up at Daga, catching his watchful gaze before motioning to the monkey. "You can have it," she instructed, motioning again to the lifeless body.
Without hesitation, Daga scooped the monkey into his mouth. Esmerelda caught a glimpse of his sharp, yellowish teeth closing down over the furry body and quickly stood up and averted her eyes. Too bad that didn't help with the sound. Clenching her jaw together, she listened to the wet sounds of flesh tearing and bones cracking before she heard the audible gulp.
She gave a little shudder before turning back to look at Daga, who was looking more than pleased by his meal.
Reaching out to him again with her hand, Esmerelda laughed as he quickly pushed his big head into her hand. His spines, much like the yautja, swayed with the movement as he ran his head side to side under her hand, taking over his own petting.
"Did you have fun hunting?" she cooed at the beast.
His tongue lapped at her gloved hand once in response, and she laughed.
It was Daga who helped kick start her new hobby. Once Koga had given the girls their new hounds due to the unforeseen death of their previous hounds, he had one leftover. A little older and not quite suitable for the girls, Koga had informed her that he planned to destroy the mild-mannered pup if he wasn't taken. Looking back on it now, Esmerelda was sure it had been a ploy by the blue marking hunter. As if sensing her need for a change in her life, he had given her an option she certainly couldn't refuse.
Looking down at her hound, she felt her heart swell at his waiting expression. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if she had said no that day.
"Come on," she said, patting her thigh.
Obediently, Daga fell into step behind her as she approached the small structure ahead. Carefully she and Daga picked their way around the stone architecture. Square at its base and rounded on the top, the small building reminded her of a stupa, a shrine of some sort. Checking the ground beneath her, she measured the stone platform that sat at its base and confirmed that it only protruded about four meters out. There was nothing below it from what she could see. Coming back around to the front, she stared at the entrance. Taking a few minutes to access it, she stepped closer and pulled at some of the vines, following the door's seam. Pulling away just enough of the stiff vines, she inspected the door closely. It looked to be a thick stone slab. Something an overpowered yautja would have no problem with heaving open and shut.
Esmerelda twisted her lips in a thoughtful frown.
When she first got Daga, Koga had her training alongside the children each day on how to interact and hunt with their hound companions. At first, she was mortified. She had sat up for hours that night before trying to figure out a way to back out of the training and still somehow save the orphaned hound from death. But it just took one look from Koga's narrowed eyes for her planned-out excuses to die on her tongue. So there she was every morning, lined up with the children performing her drills.
Looking to Daga, Esmerelda smiled. "Ready to get to work, boy?"
Watching her facial expression and listening to the change in her tone, Daga shifted excitedly from one massive clawed paw to the other in wordless agreement.
She tapped a button on her wrist datapad, calling her speeder to her. She didn't have to wait long for the bike. Carefully following the trail she carved through the jungle, the speeder bike emerged from the foliage, its sleek black metal barely making a sound as it hovered into the clearing they were standing in.
The bike was a gift from Rakkah. Well, not a gift, actually, she thought with a scrunch of her nose. It was more like a response to her request to search for and around the ancient ruins spread throughout Ojibwe. After Iko had so graciously given her permission, she had woken up the following day with a message from Rakkah letting her know that her works on Ojibwe earned her the speeder. She should have been insulted, she was the captive here on this planet, but she would just be kidding herself. She felt happy when she saw the bike waiting outside the castle. It was probably what most children felt like when they received praise from one of their parents.
Even now, as she retrieved the reinforced length of cable from her speeder, she smiled at the odd analogy.
Attaching the cable hooks onto the door, she attached the other end onto Daga's harness. Stepping back, Esmerelda didn't have to command the hound to follow. He kept close to her heels until the cable went taught, and they both stopped.
Looking down at Daga, Esmerelda held out her hand and made a pushing motion with her hand. "Pull, Daga. Pull," she repeated the command.
Obediently the hound understood and hunched his body until he centered his weight before digging his clawed feet into the ground.
"That's it, pull," she told him encouragingly as the door began to pull open.
Once the door was open, she unclasped his harness, giving him a few extra pets on his head before she gathered the cable. Turning on her shoulder lights, she stepped inside.
Dark and more than a little dank inside, she turned cautiously in the entrance and let her light shine across the concaved walls. Thick brown vines trailed down the walls and tangled across the floor. Using her staff, she hit the knot of roots on the floor and shuddered as a bright black and orange snake slithered angrily out of its hiding, disappearing into a nearby crack in the wall. Knowing there were no doubt other creatures crawling and slithering around the moist, cool room, Esmerelda decided to make quick work of her capture. Pulling out a shiny steel ball, she twisted it until it pulled apart slightly, revealing glowing red seams. Holding the ball out in her hand, palm up, she watched it rise in the air and hover to the center of the room as its lasers began working. While the ball began to take detailed mapping of the room's surface, even penetrating beneath the foliage to the surface below, she took off her datapad and began taking pictures and notes back on the outside of the structure. Stepping around Daga, who was lying down patiently on the ground, she circled the structure.
Just like the first one, she found closer to the palace. The structure was some sort of small temple. Judging by the stone slab in the center of the room, the domed ceiling with the oculus in the ceiling, and the constellations carved into the concaved roof, it was some sort of sacrificial chamber in accordance to the sun and the moon.
Running her hand down the stone wall, Esmerelda tried to imagine the fearsome yautja taking the time to chisel and hammer at the ornate structure. It was a hard mental image to achieve.
Checking her datapad, she could see she had about forty percent of the surface mapped in the structure. Sitting down next to Daga, she used the hound back support. Daga only made a chuffing sound deep in his chest as she leaned comfortably against him. Taking out her datapad once more, she balanced it on the top of her knees as she activated the holographic keyboard.
There were new messages in her group chat—a chat with Justice, herself, Ember, and Ahzma only.
"Heads up. Ookla and Bex are at it again." - Justice
"By the stars, where?! Tani or Ojibwe?" - Ember
"Ojibwe." - Justice
"Thank the stars. Ahzma and I are on Tani right now." - Ember.
Sitting up a little, Esmerelda stiffened as she typed furiously.
"Dammit, I'm out in sector nineteen. I just found an old temple. I really don't need to see them having sex-again. Once was quite enough." - Esmerelda.
Just thinking about the day she walked into one of the supply rooms and found the pair gave her goosebumps. It was the most highly disturbing yet erotic thing she had ever seen. She still couldn't look them directly in the eye, a fact that made the shameless cyborg huntress laugh every time Esmerelda ran into her.
"Yeah. I figured you were out, so I thought I'd warn you." - Justice.
Typing in her thanks, she sat back against Daga, feeling him take a deep breath beneath her. Swiping to another message, her hand paused as she read the first few lines of translated yautja text.
Her stomach dropped. "Oh no."