Chapter 18: Love's Fury.
Jack's burst of sudden speed caught the bad blood totally off guard and he had to block rapidly to stop him bringing the staff down on his skull, the contact between the staff blades and his wrist blades sent sparks flying in all directions as with a scrape they glanced off each other, he tried to duck under it and stab at the ooman's exposed chest, but to his surprise the ooman twisted out of the way at the last second and spinning on the spot he swung the staff low catching the male in the back of the leg, he roared in pain as the blades sliced through his flesh sending a spray of green blood across the room, with a quick flourish Jack managed to gain a second smaller hit on the same leg to the back of the male's knee hooking it, the male landed with a huge thud on his back as his leg was pulled from under him, but he was able to roll out of the way of his downwards thrust and the staff blades hit the floor plates with a loud metallic clang that boomed and echoed, he rapidly turned and got back to his feet and looked with wide eyes at the ooman who was stood side on to him with the staff lowered at his side, the first thing was the burning blue eye that he was looking at him with, they were filled with a mixture of what looked like pure rage and hate, the male charged him and he twisted out of the way, but he was able to reach out and grab the oomans shoulder to stop him moving, but before he had chance to follow the move up the ooman gripped his wrist like lightening and twisted it sharply rotating his arm outward causing him to bend forwards with the momentum of the twist, then with his other hand the ooman struck him hard directly to the elbow which made a sickening pop and crunch as it was disintegrated by the devastating blow, he roared in pain as he cradled his now useless arm, then with unbelievable speed the ooman rushed him and swung the staff like a mad man, it was all he could do to deflect the flurry of blows the ooman unleashed on him with his staff with his one good arm, but unfortunately he wasn't quick enough because while he was watching the staff he didn't see the kick coming, the ooman booted him full force in his malehood and a starburst of pain blinded him for a second and caused him to double over, but it wasn't the kick that was the problem, it was that he followed it up with a strike from the staff tip to the same place.
Jets of glowing green blood sprayed from the bad bloods crotch as he looked down in total horror, this weak pathetic ooman had managed to use the staff to cut his malehood clean off, he looked up at the ooman who was grinning at him with a face of pure hate and for the first time in his life the male felt true fear, it was also the last thing he felt in his life as the next thing the ooman did was plunge the staff straight through his chest, then he heard the oomans voice, "Now you're both dickless and heartless" he said with a voice void of any mercy or pity and that was when the world went black.
"Do you think that when they break that pauking ooman and he finally tells us where the pauking Shadow Claw bitch is hiding that they'll let us take turns with her?" one of the young bloods guarding the drop ships said to a second,
"No chance, the elder is going to want that bitch all to himself" the second said,
"Pity I wouldn't mind having a go with that bitch even if she is a pauking dwarf" the first said and both of them laughed as they turned to continue their patrol, as he reached the rear of the drop ship they'd come down in something came out of the shadows at him, before he even had chance to react something rather strong grabbed his head and twisted it sharply, he felt his neck pop and all of his limbs go completely numb, then he was laid down on his back rather gently, he tried desperately to move but none of his limbs responded to any of his commands and he could feel panic rising in his throat like bitter bile, then a shape loomed over him and fear flooded his mind as the Shadow Claw bitch knelt down over him.
Tik eleth opened the now paralyzed young blood's wrist computer and checked it, sure enough it was linked to his life signs, if she'd killed him it would have triggered a self-destruct that would have taken out everything in this crater, quickly she reprogrammed it and terminated its link from his heartbeat, then quickly she removed it and strapped it to her own left arm along with his wrist blades, he also had an additional plasma caster mounted on his shoulder which she took from him and strapped it to her left shoulder, now she had two of them and she quickly tested the modified targeting to make sure her mask was compatible with it and could handle dual targets, unfortunately with the damage it had suffered it wouldn't work, so she unclipped it from her face and threw it down, then without any pity she tore the pretty new mask from the helpless young blood's face and clipped it to her own, as he was paralyzed he was unable to speak right now but the look of fear in his eyes told her exactly how he was feeling, the new mask fired up and instantly picked up the second plasma caster now mounted on her shoulder, then she extended her new wrist blades and without a second thought stabbed the young blood through the heart ending his pitiful honorless life, one down three to go.
The corridors of this place were rather large obviously to accommodate the size of the Yaujta who walked its halls, fortunately this gave Jack plenty of places to hide as he ducked and weaved between doorways trying to stay out of sight. His body was total agony as he moved but he knew that he had to fight through it, he couldn't let them catch him as he didn't think they'd be so forgiving of him killing one of their own and stealing his stuff, speaking of which he looked own at his shiny new wrist blades, he'd seen Tik use these things to amazing effect, somehow he didn't think he would be so graceful with them but if he could get the drop on one he could still stab the fucker in the balls with them, but what he wouldn't give for some human weapons right about now, he ducked into a doorway as four of the large males walked passed speaking in Yaujta, then slowly he moved down a long corridor with no idea if he was even headed in the right direction but for some reason he kept feeling in his heart that this was the right way to go, as he reached the end he was presented with a T junction and both choices were equally confusing, but then a voice spoke in his head softly, "Turn left" it said, and he turned his head to look, but there was no one there, then something to his left drew his attention, about quarter of the way down the corridor was an open doorway with some rather strange noises coming from it, silently he approached the door and he peaked around it, what he saw made his jaw drop open, the walls were totally covered in skulls hundreds of them in all different shapes and sizes, there was everything from wolves to kiande amedha skulls and one absolutely massive one with a huge hole through the side of it which he recognized as a queen, it was at that point he realized that the hole through the side matched exactly where he'd shot the queen he and his beloved Tik had fought, then it hit him, it was the same fucking one! These bastards were trying to claim glory for their victory!
For some reason this stolen glory made Jack's blood boil, he wasn't usually bothered by someone else trying to take credit for his victories, it had been a staple of his Military life, commanders and officers taking credit for the hard work and blood spilled of their brave soldiers to whom the victory and honor truly belonged, as a solider all he ever cared about was that he got the job done and that he and his brothers and sisters in arms made it back alive and in one piece, it was all most soldiers ever hoped for.
But this, this was different, the woman he loved had nearly lost her life to defeat this thing, it had spilled her blood and she had fought with all her heart and soul to defeat it, that victory and honor belonged to her and not them! "No-one steals from the one I love" he hissed to himself in a silent voice of pure hate.
In the middle of the room was a Yaujta male, he was sat with his back to the doorway holding some sort of tool, he was using it to strip the flesh from the skull of what looked like one of those Calibri wolves that he and Tik had fought, it sort of reminded him of the trophies that Tik had on her wall in the cave, he was about to move on when something else caught his eye, on the left wall was a collection of what appeared to be weapons, these could come in handy, but then something else caught his eye, it was the white and gold armor that he'd retrieved from Tan's final resting place as well as his weapons, the bad blood turned from his work and looked at the armor before moving over to it, he looked at it curiously before placing a hand on the shiny breast plate only to be immediately electrocuted, a voice boomed in Jack's head in a Yaujta, "You are not worthy honorless one, only one of honor may use my gifts!" it boomed, Jack was surprised that somehow he was able to understand what it said, the large male danced around shouting at the armor waving his hand around in pain, it didn't take a genius to understand that the words coming out of his mouth right now were rather unpleasant, then with a couple of hand gestures to the armor he turned and returned to his task with his curiously effectively repressed, silently entering the room Jack moved like a ghost up behind the distracted bad blood who still seemed to be cursing to himself and quick as a flash he plunged his shiny new wrist blades through his back with all his strength while at the same time jamming his hand over his mandibles to silence his death roar.
Tik eleth watched the last two remaining bad bloods as they walked back and forth on the far side of the ships from her perch on top of one of them, the second male had fallen rather easily when she'd used her wrist blades to sever his spinal column between his shoulder blades, with his wrist computer turned off she'd dragged his body into the clearing and left it where the two others could see it, then she'd clambered up on top of the nearest drop ship and now lay in wait.
One of the bad bloods spotted the body of his fallen brother and instantly called to the other, both of them approached the body cautiously, the one who'd spotted it turned it over slowly checking under as he did, with no sign of a trap he quickly flipped it over, he and his clan brother both reached out to check the body but as they did one had his left forearm blown off the other the right arm, both of them recoiled in pain roaring as the burning agony hit them, but fortunately for them it didn't last long as Tik eleth's second volley hit them both square in their faces turning their heads into green mist. Dropping down from the ship Tik eleth gave a roar of victory as she looked at the smoldering bodies of the two fallen bad bloods, then she turned and headed for the first drop ship.
Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing on the weapon wall, rather a lot of them where human but they weren't modern, there were African spears, ancient Japanese Katana swords, a couple of what looked like flint lock rifles and pistols, even an ancient roman short sword. They had all been preserved and maintained very well, running his hands over the ancient human weapons Jack couldn't help but wonder just how long this clan had been hunting here or how many of his kind they'd killed in the name of sport, as he was looking over the weapons he noticed something rather much more modern and he smiled all be it painfully with the split lips, there on a rack of its own was his AS50.
Deciding that he could use quite a bit of this stuff Jack took down his AS50 and retrieved its ammo from nearby, the next thing he took was the Japanese Katana as it still looked as razor sharp as the day it was forged, then an idea came to him as he put the weapons down on the desk in front of the dead Yaujta, then Jack's attention was drawn to the white and gold armor, an idea began to form in his head and before he knew what he was doing he'd reached out and placed a hand on the chest piece of the armor, the same voice as before boomed in his head, "Your heart is worthy warrior, take these gifts and bring honor to your clan and yourself, fight hard and die well" it said, Jack shook his head in surprise but then he smiled,
"Thanks" he said and then he picked up all the pieces and began to figure them out.
The armor proved to be rather comfortable and very light considering its size, but it was rather loose fitting but with some inventive use of some of the skins the male had removed Jack managed to improve the fit, the last thing he took and modified with some cordage and one of the skins turned inside out to make a hat was the bright gold and white hunting mask that Tan sel eleth himself had used all those years ago, the wrist blade that Jack was wearing was majorly inferior to the one that Tan had used so he'd replaced it with Tan's twin golden wrist blades, these things were huge like having a retractable Katana strapped to each arm, but for some reason they were rather comfortable and easy to wield. They hooked up with the mask and instantly he had access to a whole host of different visual spectrums and to boot both the plasma casters that he'd retrieved from the dead bad blood and had strapped to his own shoulders powered up, they stood up from their mountings following his head motions, he quickly strapped the rest of Tan's weapons to him at various points as well, now he caught sight of himself reflected in one of the mirrors that the bad blood had been using for skinning, dressed in the white armor with the huge white cape flowing behind him he looked like some sort of knight out of one of Earth's medieval times but with a modern and Yaujta twist. As he was looking at himself he suddenly felt something behind him and as he turned his head he saw Tan sel eleth standing in the corner of the room smiling at him broadly, then he balled his fist and struck his chest before giving a slight bow to Jack, who instantly recognized the Yaujta honored greeting and returned it, "Use my gifts and fight with honor and make your enemies die well Ack" he said,
"I will Tan sel eleth, these pauking cowards are not going to stop me getting back to where I belong, right into the arms of the woman I love! And I swear it on the honor of my immortal soul if they have so much as hurt her feelings I'll make them drown in their own blood" Jack replied, Tan sel eleth smiled broadly,
"A pure Yaujta heart in a ooman body" Tan sel eleth said, this caused Jack to smile, then Tan walked across the room to the ooman now dressed in his majestic white battle armor with it cape flowing behind him and stopped right in front of Jack, "There is one more gift that I must bestow upon you before I go and it's something you have tasted a little of already, but with this you'll know your true power" he said, this caused Jack to cock his head curiously, Tan reached out and placed his hand on Jacks shoulder plates, "It's time to awake Dream Warrior" he said and as he did what felt like a bomb went off in Jack's head causing him to go ridged as a statue, his head was filled with thoughts and voices and feelings from all around him, it was like being dropped into a stadium of people all talking at once, he tried desperately to block them out or to at least organize his thoughts into something cognitive, but then as quickly as it came it went away again, it was at that point as his head was clearing he realized that he could actually feel Tan's touch on him.
The large Yaujta warrior stepped back from him and smiled down at him, "You are awakened now Dream warrior, not only will you see into the hearts of those around you and know the intentions of others before they themselves know them, you will also have the power to see the auras of every living being you encounter so you'll know their allegiance and their true heart at a simple glance, the lighter the color that surrounds them the purer their heart, the darker it is the further they have fallen and the more pain and honorless death they have caused, also now you'll be able to seek the guidance and aid of the honored fallen, whereas before they would come to you only when they felt you needed them, now you can call them to your aid and they will come, honor their memory and their sacrifice and more powerful allies you'll never have, now go young ooman and find my great granddaughter and honor your promise to her, I will be watching to make sure you do" he said, Jack slammed his fist against his chest and bowed to the massive warrior,
"You have my word of honor Tan sel eleth none shall hurt her while I still live" he said, Tan clicked his mandibles happily and smiled before turning and fading into the shadows, inside the mask Jack smiled, he picked up both Tan's shining white staff spear and also as he did he noticed his arm was shining, as he looked at it he saw a pure white fire burning around it and he looked down at himself and saw that he was surrounded by it on all sides, it flowed, rippled and washed all over him like white liquid fire, he smiled as Tan's words about the purity of heart entered his head again, then he took his AS50 and strapped it onto his back, it was time for some payback ooman Dream Warrior style, but first there was something he had to do, he climbed up onto the desk facing the queen's skull and extended one of the wrist blades, then he began to carve. After he was finished he dropped down and grinned at his work, right in the center of the skull was a huge heart shape, inside it were the words, 'Property of the full blooded huntress Tik Eleth Mason' it read, he had thought about smashing the skull but that would have dishonored their accomplishment and it was too big to take with him, or to even carry really, so this act of reclaiming his mate's honor was the best he could do, with that he he turned and headed out.
After trashing the controls and booby trapping one of the drop ships Tik eleth settled herself into the pilot seat of the second one, it was a much older model than she was used to and was probably stolen from some unfortunate clan that had been unlucky enough to run across the bad bloods, but to her it was salvation all the same.
Pressing various buttons to get the ship to power up it felt like eons since she'd been behind the controls of one of these, they were small and not built for comfort only really used to ferry one or two hunters from a clan ship or transport vessel to a battlefield or hunting ground, but despite their size they like most Yaujta technology was built not only to last but with multipurpose in mind, even though this was a drop ship she could technically use it to travel across the galaxy due to its high speed drive and stasis bunks, it was also equipped with a hydrogen fuel scoop so that it could be replenished by taking it close to a star and catching the hydrogen that was blown off.
But right now Tik eleth could care less about any of that, right now this ship was her means to get off this planet and back to where she belonged, into the arms of her loving mate, so she fired up the engines and with an expertise born from countless combat and hunting drops piloted the small ship out of the valley, on route she engaged the ships full stealth systems, she did not want the clan ship to see her coming till it was too late.
As the small ship burst free of the atmosphere Tik eleth took a look down at the planet she'd called home for the last four seasons, for some reason mixed in with the joy of the freedom she felt a pang of sadness, despite being trapped there against her will and despite being forced to hunt and forage to survive, this was a place where she had truly discovered herself on a primal level, here she had truly realized what it meant to be Yaujta, it was also the place where she had discovered the true meaning of love.
The clan ship was huge, it reminded her of her own clan ship but it was far far larger than it, some of the Yaujta clans chose a nomadic lifestyle never living I one place for long and moving around a lot, this was as it was explained to her, to preserve the natural balance of the galaxy and to preserve the hunt, if Yaujta stayed in one place for too long they tended to extinct prey species rather quickly, so to make sure that there was always strong and worthy prey to hunt, a few of the clans had chosen this so that not only would they have the honor of finding and killing new prey, but the ones already hunted would have chance to repopulate and would be there to hunt in the future.
But this ship was on a whole new level, it was at least five or six times the size of her own clan ship which made her think about the odds of finding Ack on something that size, she shook her head quickly to clear such thoughts and to steel her determination, she was going to find him, she had faith that her heart would lead her to him and she was going to save him from those pauks, she had to.
So scanning over the ship she found some entry points that would be viable, she didn't want to go in through the main hanger bays as she'd be instantly spotted and shot out of the sky by the gunner teams inside, but the cargo hangers would be far less secure and easier to infiltrate and as luck would have it she could actually see a cargo vessel lining up to enter the dock, so quickly she adjusted course and lined herself up directly below it using its thruster exhausts to mask herself completely from view, as the big ship entered into the cargo dock she went with it hiding in its shadow.
The cargo hanger was a massive collection of suspended metal docking berths and mini storage warehouses dotted all over the place, as the big ship glided into a berth Tik eleth piloted her little ship to hide under one of the platforms that housed a warehouse, she used the ships magnetic clamps to lock onto the underside of it and powered it's engines down, she quickly made sure her hunting mask was in breather mode so that she wouldn't suffocate the second she opened the hatch and then she checked her weapons, everything was in place and ready to go when she was, so with a last look at the ship's sensors which told her the cargo hanger was nearly deserted she headed to the hatch and opened it.
The climb from the ship onto the gantries was a little tricky but she'd had worse, using her claws to gain purchase on the rough metal Tik eleth scaled up from the ship and onto one of the gantries, there were various crates of all different sizes strewn about all over the gantries, she hissed at the sheer lack of discipline these pauks possessed, taking cover behind one particularly large crate she quickly checked the map of the ship that she'd downloaded from the drop ship's computer to her wrist comp before landing, there appeared to be a series of holding cells for various captured hunt specimens in the center of the ship and this is where she got the feeling they'd be holding her beloved Ack, so before shutting off the comp she planned out her route to keep her out of sight, she didn't want to start a fight before she had Ack back in her arms where he belonged, once she had him back then they could tear this place up together as the warrior lovers that they were, she didn't care if she died in combat fighting by his side as that was her destiny, but not apart from him that fate was to cruel to comprehend, she wanted the last thing she saw in this life to be his beautiful face and the love in his eyes and nothing would keep her from the honor of that, so shutting of the comp she drew her wrist blades out and began to move stealthily through the cargo bay, darting from cover to cover all the time being careful to keep an eye on the few bad bloods that were down here working, it was slow going but eventually she made it out of the massive cargo bay and into the ships corridors, now the real hunt for her lost love would truly begin.