The floating silver ball beeped its completion just as Esmerelda snatched it from the air. Her scans and further exploration of the small temple would just have to wait. Packing up her equipment, she called Daga back over to her. With his help, they both threw their weight onto the door and pushed it closed once more.

"Ok, boy," she said as she clicked a button on her wrist's datapad. "We need to go home."

Daga's eyes lit up in recognition at the mention of home. Home was where he got to cuddle into his bed, eat his snacks, and sleep undisturbed. In comparison to the kennels where he used to stay, Daga liked going home.

Turning her head at the slight humming sound, Esmerelda looked up to see her speeder she had summoned gently pushing its way through the thick greenery. She quickly went over to the bike and swung a leg over it. The bike activated its second engine once her boot clicked into place, rising higher off the ground. Turning it back towards the way she came, Esmerelda looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with Daga.

"Let's go home. Hurry," she commanded, using the two keywords Daga knew well before grabbing the speeder's acceleration handle and propelling her forward into the jungle.

Over the engines' roar, she could hear the repetitive thumps of Daga's clawed feet hitting the earth as he kept an easy pace alongside her bike. Twisting the bike around and over trees and jutting rocks, Esmerelda's mind raced as she thought of the message she received. There had been another encounter with the androids. Her insides knotted at what that meant.

Bursting through the tree line, Esmerelda squinted at the bright sun that shined unimpeded into her eyes. She reached up and activated her visor. A translucent red band formed from her left temple to the right, shielding her eyes. Up ahead, there were miles and miles of seemingly endless rocky canyons covered in sparse, resilient shrubbery that did well in the volatile bioclimatic climate that bisected sector nineteen from sector seventeen. On the other side, sector seventeen sat the palace.

Looking over to Daga, she yelled. "Hurry!"

Delight filled Daga's eyes and she watched as the muscles in his stout body bunched and stretched as he raced ahead of her. The craggy rocks and thorny vegetation of the arid canyon that seperated the jungles were no match for his rough, scaled feet. With near grace, he bounded over the hot rocky floor, determined to beat her home.

After nearly an hour, they finally came to a stop as they reached the edge of the pyramid castle. It was late in the afternoon, and she could see a few of the yautja hunters walking to and from the black palace.

Pulling her speeder slowly around the colossal pyramid, she stopped and dismounted.

Panting, Daga stopped to stand diligently at her feet, refusing to sit unless he was either commanded to or he was inside their apartment. It was honestly a constant battle for her not to baby the hound. Looking down at his panting face and alert eyes, she wanted so badly to let him at least sit while she activated the palace's hidden door. But Esmerelda knew she couldn't. Koga had drilled into her that the hounds were not canine hounds humans were used to and that spoiling them would only undo important battle training. So instead, she waited silently by her hound as the large door opened fully. Grabbing her bike by the handle, she walked inside the large doorway. The ground sloped drastically beneath them, leading them to a large service elevator below. Once they were on, she hit the button, and the elevator sank deep into the earth until it stopped at the storage level.

This level was where the yautja, mostly youngbloods and even younger unblooded warriors, who still lived in the palace barracks stored their things that their tiny apartments could not hold. The vast warehouse-like room was eerily silent. When she had first seen the place a few years ago, it reminded her of a storage facility—just lines and lines of endless hallways lined with doors.

Finding her own door, she waved her datapad over the sensor. The door slid open, revealing an empty room. Unlike the other lockers that were no doubt filled with weapons and bone trophies, hers was only used to store her bike.

Once done, she hurried over to another lift on the other side of the massive room with Daga at her side. She took it to the barracks level. As usual, the barracks floor was silent. Situated in a big square at the base of the pyramidal building, the long dark hallway was lined with blue lights along the floor that led to nearly hidden doors that went to each apartment.

When she was first assigned a room down here, Esmerelda dreaded having to leave. No matter what she did, she could never remember how to get back to her room. She had tried counting her steps and even subtle marks on her door—nothing worked. The black metal doors against the black metal hallway were an absolute nightmare to her sense of orientation. After days of sleeping in her lab and much trial and error did she finally figure out the sneaky yautja technology embedded in the walls.

Lifting her hand to the wall, she placed it flat against the cool metal. Instantly blue markings appeared a thin blue line shot forward along the wall.

Seeing the line, Daga took off after it. Following at a much slower pace, she reached her door as Daga patiently waited. The blue light pulsed around her door, lighting up the big hound's face and glinting off his tiny glowing eyes. Sometimes in moments like this, she caught flashes of his large teeth and densely muscled frame and had to remind herself that the beast was more than capable of tearing her apart if he wanted.

Cocking his head to the side, Daga gave her a curious look before letting out a deep whining sound.

Esmerelda smiled and returned her thoughts to the present. "Ok, ok, I am hurrying," she murmured as she waved her wrist's datapad in front of the door sensor.

With a gentle, airy hiss, the door slid open. Not waiting a moment longer, Daga leaped into the room, landing on his long awaited bed with a great whoosh.

Esmerelda winced at the slight tearing sound and glanced over to the abused bed with a fearful look. From what she could see, the heavy-duty canvas was still holding up.

After reaching the point in her training where she could finally take Daga from Koga's kennels, she had spent nearly all-night hand sewing the giant dog bed. Using a thin reinforced wire as thread and the sturdy canvas, she stuffed the massive bed tight with plenty of soft foam. At first, Daga had just stared at the large soft square before looking up at her. But after instructing him to stand on top of it and lay down, she watched him slowly understand its purpose. Now the big beast couldn't get enough of it.

Walking across the room, Esmerelda stopped in front of her closet. Stepping out of her boots, she unzipped the white reinforced suit and peeled it off her body. Inside, the suit's red data lines pulsed along the black fabric lining. The suit was all a part of her new training. Training towards a stronger, better version of herself. Or at least that is what she told herself each morning when she met with Alamide, one of Justice's sisters, and tried to keep up with the cyborg's grueling training program.

Hanging the suit up on the hanger, she opened another little door within the closet and set her boots down before hanging up the suit. Shutting the door, Esmerelda keyed in the commands. With a hiss, the cleaning unit began washing and refreshing the boots and suit. While that ran, she took a step back and glanced back at her desk.

The desk sat directly in between the small living area and the bed, dividing the studio space. The living area, like all yautja living spaces, was completely bare unless one activated the hidden panel in the wall to reveal fold-out seating arrangements. Since she never really used the living area, she let Daga take over the empty space, which worked out perfectly for the massive hound. Sprawled out on top of his bed, his head hung off to the side while he gnawed on a massive bone—a leftover from one of his random kills.

Since all meat on Ojibwe had to be hunted, which included food for the strictly carnivorous hounds, that meant every week she and Daga had to find enough game not just for her, but enough to fill his diet requirements. Which to her surprise was about eighty pounds of meat per day. It was easy to say her meat locker was stuffed with hanging carcasses.

Looking at her desk again, Esmerelda thought of the information she had read earlier and the pit it caused in her stomach. She needed to sit down and look at it, but not now. She needed to mentally prepare herself first.

"I'm taking a bath," she called out to him, though she wasn't sure why.

From the day she brought Daga inside to stay in her apartment, she just seemed to start talking to the hound. Maybe the self-imposed loneliness was finally catching up to her and making her crazy.

Esmerelda smirked at that as she punched in the commands on the shower stall. With an almost indiscernible whirring sound, the big shower stall began to modify to her request. A black metal partition raised from the floor while the glass door retracted into the wall turning the stall into a tub.

Dressed in only her underwear, she looked up at the black glass mirror in front of her. Her long brown curls were winning the fight against her braid, some escaping here and there. Her body, which was once just flat and skinny, was much more toned. Her breasts, of course, were still very small B cups. Although she certainly didn't have curves like Ahzma, Esmerelda could see the overall changes in her body thanks to her daily training.

A beep from the bath signaled it was ready.

Stripping off the remainder of her clothes, she washed herself off quickly with the handheld nozzle before stepping into the bath. Esmerelda released a groan as she sank into the hot water. Set at its lowest setting, the water in the massive tub was nearly too deep for her five-foot six frame, but she held onto the side to keep herself from completely slipping under.

She closed her eyes and tried to relax her muscles. Words from the report she glanced at earlier invaded her thoughts, making her frown.

Relax, dammit, she commanded herself. She would get to it in a few. She needed to be focused and clear-headed first.

Focusing on her breathing, she tried clearing her thoughts once again. In and out, her diaphragm swelled and contracted. Air rushed out in one big exhale before she filled her lungs once more. Esmerelda could feel her muscles begin to loosen and her body sink further into the hot water. Opening her eyes, she let out a calming breath just as she caught movement in the corner of her eye.

Esmerelda nearly let out a scream at the two eyes shining at her in the darkness of her bathroom.

"Daga," she groaned as she clutched her chest. "Are you trying to kill me?" she groaned at him.

All the relaxation she achieved seconds ago was long gone as her heart beat wildly in her chest.

Having the decency to at least look a little ashamed, Daga, who had been standing silently in the open doorway of the bathroom staring at her, bowed his head a little.

Sighing, she looked away from him. The big ugly beast had grown on her so much she could hardly keep a stern face with him.

Grabbing her loofah, she poured some soap onto it. The time for relaxing was over; she needed to face the music.

After a quick wash and another few minutes of soaking she got up. Setting the tub to clean itself, Esmerelda threw on a pair of underwear and a large forest green tunic. Like all her clothes they were handmade from Tani. Barefoot she padded over to the food processor in her tiny kitchen just next to the front door and keyed in a few commands. With a plate of fish and plantains covered in a spicy Tani chili oil she was obsessed with, she walked over to her desk. Forking a few bites, she stared at the screen for a moment.

You have to do this. She told herself firmly. You've been running from this long enough.

Her stomach twisted, and she pushed the plate of food away. Glancing to Daga, who was lying back in his bed, the ever-watchful beast gave her an inquisitive stare as if sensing her stress.

You said you wanted to be stronger, to make up for your cowardice and change for the better—here is your chance! She mentally yelled to herself.

But something fearful and weak twisted and danced in the back of her mind. But you're not strong, you've proven that.

Her hand tightened on the edge of the desk, wanting so badly to push herself up and off her stool and turn her back on all of it. Looking anywhere but the computer screen ahead of her, she glanced at her suit in the cleaning closet. She could see the reinforced white armor through the dark glass and felt herself stiffen. Justice had nodded approvingly when Esmerelda had come to her asking to be trained. She and all the others, including her cyborg sisters, gave Esmerelda words of encouragement at her decision on wanting to become stronger. She wouldn't just be letting herself down, she realized, she would be letting them down as well.

Turning back to face her monitor, she caught a glimpse of Daga's beady yellow eyes on the other side laying on the floor and smiled at his alert stare. Having learned a long time ago what her human facial expression was for happiness, he visibly relaxed on his cushion and lowered his head, presumably for a nap.

Without another pause, she clicked on the report.

The Hidoi clan encountered another android ship a few weeks ago. The ruthless, space-bound yautja clan had sent out scout ships to investigate rumors gathered from stolen information about a large ship hiding within the ice rings of planet Yulea in some no-name galaxy. She scanned the succinct yautja report detailing their findings—more experiments, more forced breedings.

Memories flashed in her mind. Cold, dead eyes of the synthetic stared at her as unforgotten pain seemed to creep back into her body, reminding her what she tried to run from. Screams of suffering that she had played a role in replayed themselves in her head.

Closing her eyes, Esmerelda gripped the edge of her desk. She had to continue. She couldn't continue to hide from this.

Forcing herself to look back up, she gritted her teeth as the report coldly recounted the found deaths, a few hundred androids now most certainly deactivated by the hunters, and information and specimens found. A few pregnant females of a species she has never heard of were found along with living fetuses contained in gestational chambers. There were scores of embryonic samples, eggs, and semen along with thousands of brontobytes of supplemental data.

Staring at the information, Esmerelda felt her insides knot. This wasn't enough. This wasn't what she sat down to do, and she knew it. When she first glanced at the report back in the jungle, her first thought had been of back then. Of the pain and the trauma she didn't want to face. Things she had been turning her back on ever since she came to Ojibwe.

After her initial questioning by Akur, who had been the one to take her from the androids, and her questioning from Rakkah and Iko, she had been immediately assigned to Ember's care. Pregnant with her first half yautja child, Ember had been a welcome distraction. Between the pregnancies and the children's early development, Esmerelda had gladly let herself be swept away by the diversions, anything not to face the grim reality of her time on that ship.

But the commotion of new life and her expertise and bringing them safely into this world was over, and the past was coming to collect on its due.

Shakily, she hovered her finger over the icon.

"I am not the person I once was," she whispered before tapping the icon.

A black message box appeared, and she typed in the words on the screen, watching as they morphed into the yautja red lettering.

Iko, sorry to bother you, can you grant me permission to view archived data S98-A? Or do I need to request an audience with Rakkah first?

Pressing send, Esmerelda let out a deep breath. Looking at her food, she considered heating it up again when the screen dinged in front of her.

Surprised, she stared at the surly second in command's concise response.

Granted.

She was honestly hoping he would have responded sometime later or maybe even tomorrow, just anything to give her a moment of reprieve. Setting her jaw, Esmerelda held in a breath as she tapped through to the archived folder and opened it.

Using the information from the captured android Daniel, Akur was sent to galaxy Gh-92 to find a large carrier ship in active stasis. Infiltrating the ship, Akur was able to find her using the given data from the android Daniel. Along the way to her lab, where she was held prisoner, Akur noted other subjects being contained but most notably other yautja. Since capturing her and bringing her back to Ojibwe was priority, reinforcements were called in.

Scanning further down in the document, Esmerelda noted another name she had never seen or heard before. After chronicling Akur's departure from the android ship, the report switched from Akur to this new name.

Esmerelda frowned at the complicated name. It was very Yautja. Some of the letters had no direct translation leaving the name broken and unreadable.

Single-handedly the new hunter eliminated the synthetic enemies and rescued one Carnak female youngblood warrior who was still alive. Other Ojibwe yautja, the scientist she presumed, were called in afterward to catalog and retrieve the physical samples and data.

Reading the rest of the report, which cataloged the findings on the ship, Esmerelda found another supplemental document that Daniel, the android captured from the ship Akur and Ember was captured on found a way to self-destruct while in captivity.

Reheating her food and pouring herself a big mug of tea, Esmerelda sat at her desk for hours, pouring over the rest of the data.

Her heart felt like as if someone had poured concrete over it. Thirty-two female subjects from varying species, including one yautja—all dead, all violated, and tested on against their will. And she had been a part of it.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to take in a deep breath, but it hurt too much. Her chest felt tight and constricted. Shame for her cowardice was oozing into her veins, branching out to her limbs, making her feel heavy. She wanted to sink to the floor and hide from it, but she could barely move.

She flicked her gaze back up to the screen, barely registering the words before her as she tried to push back the memories of her compliance.

Frowning, she focused on the information ahead of her as a piece of information that stuck out from the rest. A dead yautja huntress had been impregnated and then killed for fear of escape. She had broken through five restraints and had killed over a dozen guards. To reduce risk, the lead technician ordered her termination—but there was no mention of the embryo.

Leaning forward in her chair, Esmerelda gulped the remainder of her tea before she began to dig deeper into the files. She switched back and forth from the new ship the Hidoi clan had found back to the one she had been contained on in galaxy Gh-92.

There was missing information.