HERE WE ARE LADIES AND GENTS WITH THE FINAL INTRODUCTION CHAPTER!
It's taken a lot of blood, sweat, tears and certain other bodily fluids that I won't delve into to write this chapter and make it work.
Enjoy and be sure to leave a review.
Chapter 4: A Huntress in the Night
Human year: 2198 AD
Location: Karbanthia (alien planet)
Three male aliens were sprinting through the jungle making sure that whatever was hunting them couldn't catch up…hopefully.
The three humanoid aliens were wearing battle armour and wielded what looked like old earth assault rifles with a slightly different design, they finally came to stop at an opening in the jungle as they were out of breath and couldn't run further, one of the aliens took off his helmet to reveal a very hairy ape like face with two large tusks coming from his lower jaw.
"What the hell was that?" the alien said in a deep gravelly voice as the other two proceeded to remove their helmets.
"I think it was one of those demons in the stories" another younger alien said
"Don't be stupid Thrak; those are just bedtime stories to scare little children" the third alien who was obviously the eldest due to his greyish hair and larger tusks.
"Whatever the hell that was killed two of our best men without them even seeing it, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a demon" the second alien said
"Demon's? That's a bullshit Psych job; there are two or three men out there at the most, fucking demons" the eldest said with annoyance in his voice.
"No matter what that was it still killed Thran and Thrall, now we have to get moving or…" the alien almost finished until a blue ball of plasma blew his head clean off causing chunks of brain and skull to fly all over the place leaving nothing but a blue bloody stain in its place as the headless body fell to the floor like a ragdoll.
"SHIT RUUUN!" the Elder of the two aliens shouted, the two aliens ran as fast as they could as a cloaked figure leapt from tree branch to tree branch above them.
The two aliens kept running but the younger of the two began lagging behind the further they got, a net suddenly shot out from the tree tops and wrapped around the younger alien, entangling him in an instant.
"AAAAAGH THRATH HELP!" the younger alien shouted as the net got tighter and tighter, the Elder alien stopped for a moment and looked at him, he then turned tail and ran as fast as he could through the foliage leaving the younger alien behind.
"THRATH WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! DON'T LEAVE ME!" the younger alien shouted as his ally disappeared into the jungle, the younger alien then felt the net stop tightening and the sound of something landing beside him.
The sound of footsteps got louder until the figure was standing right in front of him, it was strange looking at it as it seemed like it was there but at the same time wasn't. The figure uncloaked and revealed itself, the creature stood at least 6 foot 5 and had light green skin with darker green stripes adorning its figure, speaking of which its figure gave it away as being female as it had a very nice looking hourglass figure. The creature wore segments of armour covering the necessary areas and had long black dreadlocks decorated with gold rings, the creature wore a mask hiding its face and had three red lights pointing at the aliens head at all times.
This creature was a Yautja….an intergalactic trophy hunter, this particular Yautja was a huntress which spelt bad news for the Aliens as the females of the Yautja race were the more dangerous of the sexes.
The Yautja then crouched down and grabbed the aliens head and roughly jerked it up so as to get a good look at its face, the huntress turned the aliens head to the left then the right before growling in disappointment. The Huntress then swiftly knocked the alien out, she then undid the net and turned to where the other alien had run off to.
The hunt wasn't finished yet, not by a long shot.
'Dam it dam it dam it, why couldn't that little shit just keep up? Then my chances of survival wouldn't be so crap right now' the alien thought as he ran through the jungle by himself.
The Alien then came to a dead end on the end of a fallen tree dangling over the edge of a cliff; the Alien then cocked his assault rifle and began firing it wildly into the forest behind him.
"DAM IT! COME OUT WHERE I CAN SEE YOU COWARD!" the alien screamed at the top of his lungs.
The Yautja uncloaked a few feet in front of him at the other end of the log, he raised his rifle at the Yautja and pulled the trigger only to find that he had spent the last magazine firing into the jungle. The Yautja waved her finger in a 'uh uh uh' fashion, the alien threw his rifle away and drew a serrated knife from his belt.
"Come on, get a taste" the Alien said, the huntress slowly walked towards the alien who charged at the Yautja and swung his knife at her, the huntress not only dodged the blow but also picked him up above her head and brought his stomach down on her knee, the Alien felt his insides shift and coughed up a mouthful of blood before falling to the floor.
The Yautja backed off and drew her wrist blades and awaited the alien to get to his feet, she was going to have fun with this kill, the Alien got to his feet and ran at the huntress again but instead of swinging his blade blindly he tried to play his strikes more intelligently.
The huntress dodged his blows easily, the Alien was at least a foot taller than her and she was using this to her advantage as her smaller frame was harder to land a strike on, he then tried to stab her but she grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder like a ragdoll.
'Dam it how can she be this strong?' the Alien thought, he stood up and spat a mouthful of blood away.
The Huntress gave a 'bring it' gesture as she awaited her opponent's next move, the Alien knew he wasn't going to survive if this fight drew on any longer, he threw his knife at her and ran as fast as he could in desperation.
The Huntress dodged the feeble knife throw and decided to end this quickly before she got bored, she fired her wrist blades at the fleeing alien, and the wrist blades hit the alien in the shoulder causing him to fall to the floor.
The Huntress slowly made her way over to the still live Alien and put a foot on his back keeping him on the floor, she leaned down and tore off a chunk of armour from the base of his back, the alien grunted as he tried to get her off of him to no avail, the huntress then rammed her hand into the base of the aliens back and grabbed the base of his spine tightly.
' got you' she thought as she got a good hold of the spine before yanking it from the Aliens back along with his skull, she raised the skull and spinal cord in the air and let out a triumphant roar that echoed through the mountain ranges of the jungle.
Things were turning out well for the huntress as she returned to her ship, within a few days she had already got a few worthy trophies; she had claimed at least 4 Karbanthian skulls and they were all of strong males.
The Huntress hung the trophies up on a rack so that she could properly clean them up later, she proceeded to remove her armour and weapons and place them in their respective cabinets.
The Huntress then removed her mask and revealed her face; she had pearly white tusks and green eyes that gleamed like emeralds, by her race's standards she would be considered an absolute stunner in terms of looks, though the one thing that held her back from being the perfect female was her height.
Most Yautja females were either the same height as the males or were even taller, the reason that she was so short was because she had a birth defect that caused her to be smaller than other females, and this wasn't by any means like dwarfism because her limbs were perfectly proportioned with the rest of her, she was simply…..shorter and in the eyes of some Yautja that was quite unattractive.
This didn't get her spirits down however as her height meant she could easily out manoeuvre enemies that most Yautja couldn't, she was also way faster and more agile than most hunters yet still had the strength that was expected from a yautja.
She sat down in the cockpit of the ship and let out a long sigh.
"That was far too easy….it's getting harder and harder to find challenging prey" the huntress said, ever since the wars with the humans it was getting increasingly difficult for yautja to find prey worth hunting, the Karbanthians were the latest in the long line of replacements for the humans, but none of the new races were a suitable enough to be considered worthy of replacing them.
The Karbanthians may have been strong and intelligent but they lacked that certain flare that the humans had, that little spark that helped the human's sometime triumph over the hunters and give them an honourable death. As a matter of fact not very many species had that human flare that made them such challenging and fierce opponents, perhaps it was this flare that drove the humans to rise up against the Yautja and put a stop to the mass hunting of their race.
"Huntress Sha'ra, a message has been sent to your local memory core, do you wish for me to play the message?" the ship's Ai asked her in a synthetic voice.
"Play the message" Sha'ra ordered, as the Ai confirmed the order a holographic image of a Yautja male in ornate robes and armour appeared in front of her.
"Huntress Sha'ra this is a message from the Ka'maris clanship, you are to return as soon as possible, Elder Zen'tau requests your presence" the holographic Yautja said before it disappeared back into the ships holographic projector.
"Computer, set a course for the clanship, I'll be resting in my quarters so wake me up when we get there" Sha'ra ordered the ship as the computer got to work.
Sha'ra walked back to her quarters; it was going to take a little while for the ship to reach its destination and she was feeling a little too tired to stay awake the entire time so she might as well get some rest.
"Mistress, we have arrived at the clanship, would you mind awakening?" the computer said as Sha'ra rubbed her eyes and rose from her bed.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Approximately 4 hour's mistress"
"Well…..we got here fast" she said as she made her way to the cockpit
Sha'ra hadn't been at the clanship for at least 2 weeks, though when a hunter left the clanship they wouldn't get called back for at least a month or two, so whatever possessed the Elders to call her back had to be of significant importance.
Once she was within range of the ship a live hologram appeared from the projector, it was of a male hunter who was very well armoured; it was obviously an honoured elite due to the ornate design of his armour.
"Huntress Sha'ra we require your access code" the holograph said
Sha'ra was quick to type in her code, at this point in time it was getting more and more common for Black Yautja to highjack Yautja vessels in order to infiltrate clanships, the blood feud between the two races had raged for centuries and for the Yautja it was only getting worse. The Black Yautja were stronger, faster, had greater numbers and not to mention their equipment was far superior to that of their cousins.
The access codes were to make sure that the vessel approaching wasn't hijacked in any way, the codes would be a sign that the hunters were fine and no Black Yautja had followed or hijacked the ship, if no code was sent back then the ship would be destroyed before it had a chance to dock.
"Your code checks out, thank you for your time" the holographic Yautja said before fading out
Sha'ra commenced to dock with the clanship; the clanship was very large and dwarfed many human made ships. It didn't take long for Sha'ra's ship to dock properly and with that she left through the ramp.
"Sister!" a male Yautja called, this Yautja was wearing the same variant of armour an honoured elite would wear, this Yautja was also at least 7 foot 6 and had the same skin pattern Sha'ra had.
"Yeyinde!" Sha'ra greeted her brother as he walked up and gave her a hug, Yeyinde was a common name among the males of her people, mind you that didn't make him any less special to Sha'ra as he was the only two family members she had left.
"How was your hunt sister?" her younger brother asked
"For lack of a better word…..uneventful, prey is getting easier to kill brother; do you remember the stories uncle told us about the humans?" Sha'ra asked
"How they were just as resourceful as us or the fact that they are murderous scum not worthy of a place in history?"
"Has he had another rant today?"
"What do you think?"
It was well known to Sha'ra and Yeyinde that their uncle had mixed views on the Humans as a species as he was one of the veterans of the wars between their races, he would sometimes tell stories of the great hunts he had on their worlds and how they were foes to be reckoned with, he also spoke of how he thoroughly despised them and how they weren't even worthy an honourable death, their uncle was indeed a mixed bag and Sha'ra often wondered the reasons why he was like this.
"Did the Elders request your presence as well brother?" Sha'ra asked
"Indeed they did, it seems they have requested not just us but several other high ranking hunters from their hunts"
"I think its best we find out why as soon as we can"
It didn't take long for Sha'ra and Yeyinde to reach the main gathering hall, the room was adorned with skulls and skins of hundreds of different species the Yautja had hunted over the centuries, there were strangely more than a few Elders present, this was strange as every clanship had at least 2 or 3 Elders present, here there were at least 7 or 8.
'Elders hardly ever gather in number like this unless something serious is going on' Sha'ra thought
"Sha'ra, Yeyinde I didn't think you two would come this soon" said a deep voice
The voice was that of a large Elder wearing ornate armour and a red cloak, the Elder had a more spotted skin colour like that of a jaguar, but one of the Elders most key defining features was his cybernetic left arm, from what the Elder told many was that he lost his arm in the war against the humans, he never disclosed how exactly.
"Elder Zen'tau" Sha'ra greeted
"Uncle" Yeyinde greeted
Elder Zen'tau then hugged his niece and nephew which was pretty easy due to his large size.
"I have to admit among all these dusty farts and cocky Youngbloods it's good to see you two" Zen'tau chuckled, Zen'tau wasn't like many other elders and clearly spoke his mind no matter what anyone thought, many other Elders would look down their noses (if they had any) at him and think that he didn't deserve the title of an elder, but as many Elders got their positions not from hunting and battle but through inbreeding and class, Zen'tau got his position through being one of the greatest fighters his race had and was once a bodyguard to the Yautja king himself.
"Uncle you should really watch what you say among the other elders, you might anger someone" Yeyinde suggested
"I don't care what these inbred snobs think, if they have a problem with the way I speak I dare them to try shutting me up" Zen'tau said holding his head high; Sha'ra took note of the Elders trying not to pay attention to him and gave a little snicker.
"So why have we been gathered here anyway?" Sha'ra asked her uncle
"I think that is best left for when the high Elder arrives, he is the one who requested us all here" Zen'tau said
As if on cue another Elder entered the room, his robes and armour were much more intricate than that of the other elders; his tusks also had intricate markings and his dreadlock rings were adorned with jewels, this was the high elder and it was very rare when he would appear.
The high elder sat in his seat as did the rest of the Yautja whom where gathered, the elders seats were more throne-esque than the seats of the other yautja. The high elder was basically the adviser of the yautja king and was his voice in matters which concerned this many elders.
"My fellow elders, hunters and huntress' of the Yautja clan, I come before you with words from his highness king Ret'kal" the High Elder said in a deep booming voice that echoed through the hall.
"The king? Must be serious stuff" Yeyinde whispered to his sister
"As many of you know our conflict with the black Yautja is only getting worse, as they have greater numbers, equipment and have taken over a substantial area of our territory" the High Elder said with a grim tone
"Could we request assistance from our allies?" one hunter asked
"You dare think we should run and hide behind our allies legs!? This blood feud has existed for as long as I have remembered and I will be dammed if it is ended by the interference of the Kamads or any other high and mighty race" an Elder from the dark blade clan shouted at the hunter
"Then what do you suggest we do? Keep fighting the way we have done for centuries as the black Yautja slowly kill us off?" Zen'tau spoke up
"I suggest we try bargaining with them, try and come to an understanding" another skinnier Elder spoke
"You think we can reason with them?! Are you insane or just plain idiotic!? We have tried diplomacy in the past only to get the heads of our ambassadors sent back, there isn't any way they would listen to anything we had to offer" Zen'tau bellowed
"You are very good at dismissing plans Zen, but tell me, what is it you think we should do? Should we try defying them only to become mutilated heaps of flesh" another larger Elder spoke, the mention of mutilation clearly struck a nerve and Zen'tau rose from his seat and slammed his fist on the table.
"YOU HOLD YOUR TONGUE BEFORE I RIP IT FROM YOUR MOUTH, YOU INSOLENT PUP!" Zen'tau bellowed at the top of his voice, this caused all the other elders and hunters to rise from their seats and start bellowing in a flurry of insults and accusations, Sha'ra remained seated and rubbed her temples while Yeyinde tried to calm their uncle down.
"SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENCE! " the High Elder roared, his voice echoing through the hall and silencing all the other Yautja in the room.
The other Yautja then began sitting back down one by one, the hall was silent as a grave and with good reason, the High Elder wasn't just a loud voice and a wise advisor but he was also the most experienced warrior on the clanship at the moment.
"The King has requested you gather for a reason, the Black Yautja have managed to better us time and time again because they travel in greater numbers and attack us when we let our guard down. What his majesty has in mind is that we gather our greatest warriors and turn them into a task force with the specific task of finding ways of turning the tide against our foes" the High Elder continued
Sha'ra raised her hand to ask a question in respect.
"Huntress Sha'ra?" the High Elder asked
"What kinds of tasks would these warriors face?" she asked
"Anything that helps our people in the war, this could even mean killing Black Yautja hunting parties to finding secret installations" the High Elder spoke
"His majesty also wants these warriors lead by an Elder, an Elder who would stand out as our greatest warrior"
"I volunteer for the position" Zen'tau said with a clear voice
"A few moments ago you protested against such an idea Zen, what changed your mind?" the same Elder who caused the outburst spoke.
"A few moments ago the High Elder hadn't told us the King's orders, now that he has I wish to do his majesty's bidding however I can" Zen'tau spoke loudly
"I fail to see how you quali…." The other Elder began until the High Elder cut him off
"I can see why a former bodyguard to his majesty would volunteer for a position like this, very well Zen'tau you shall be the commander of this operation" the High Elder said, the Elder from before frowned while Zen'tau smirked at how he retreated back into himself.
The meeting lasted for another hour as the Elders argued and discussed the reasons why this wouldn't work and why it would, Sha'ra could only sit back and soldier through it as the elders were basically saying the same thing over and over again, thankfully though the meeting was finally over and the Huntress could finally leave and get over the boredom she suffered in that hall.
"Thank Paya that is over, I thought I was going to die of old age in there" Sha'ra sighed
"I don't think it was that bad sister" Yeyinde said trailing behind her
"You are used to those kinds of meetings brother, it's only natural that you don't bet bored to death during them" Sha'ra said
"I have to admit I thought uncle was going to rip someone's head off in there" she went on to say
"I wouldn't doubt it, he is capable after all" Yeyinde chuckled
It didn't take long for the siblings to reach Sha'ra's home, Yeyinde lived somewhere on the other side of the clanship but he went with his big sister first to make sure she was safe, this was a waste of time however as his sister could go toe to toe with the best of them and was probably a better fighter then he was.
"You think this will work sister? The plan I mean" Yeyinde asked
"Only time will tell brother, only time will tell" she said as she opened her door and waved her brother goodbye as he left.
She set her things down and thought it best she go to bed, it had been a long weary day so she thought it best to end it there.
As she disrobed in her bedroom and prepared to go to bed she picked up a framed picture at the bedside, the picture contained four Yautja with the same skin pattern she had, a young male standing next to a large male who was the father, and a female holding a smaller female in her arms.
*flashback
"Now you two be good for your uncle Zen alright? We will be back before you know it" their father smiled
"We will father but where are you hunting? Could you bring me something back?" a young Yeyinde asked
"I'll try and bring something back for you son, now you look after your sister" their father said
"And you look after your brother Sha'ra" their mother said to a younger Sha'ra
"I will mama" Sha'ra said as her mother hugged her
"If anything happens to these two I will have your head brother" the Father said
"Don't worry brother I will take care of them as if they were my own, even the black warrior wouldn't dare harm them" Zen'tau said as he hugged the two children to him.
The two parents waved as they boarded their ship, the two infants waved back as their uncle held them. The ship then soared away leaving the siblings staring into space.
*end flashback
Sha'ra stared at the picture for a good minute or two before putting it down on her bedside, she lay down and turned off the lights, she closed her emerald eyes and slowly drifted off.
Sha'ra may not have known it at the time but at that exact moment forces were at work that would change her life and the lives of many, some for the worse and some for the better, but one thing was for certain and that was this universe was going to be turned upside down…..very soon.
Yautja pronunciations:
Sha'ra - sharia
Zen'tau - zenitau
Ka'maris - kai maris
PHEEEEW you guys have no idea how hard it was trying to write this chapter and make it sound good.
So guys tell me what you thought because I don't know if that was good or bad or whatever, do you think the Yautja dialogue sounded alright? Did you like the way I set things up?
Whatever you dudes and dudettes thought please leave it in the form of a review or a series of comments telling me your opinions.
AND FINNALLY WE FINISHED THE INTRODUCTION CHAPTERS!
The players have been introduced; the stage has been set all we have yet to do is to get the plot moving. The next chapter may take me a little longer to write (I know I said that about this chapter) due to the fact I will try and make it longer and meatier than the previous chapters.
NEXT TIME – Chapter 5: Welcome to the Asclepheus
