Chapter 9: A Hunt is Afoot!


Sha'ra was walking through the Markets of the clanship looking to buy some wares for preparing trophies she had yet to clean. That is until her brother Yeyinde came running down the market knocking over other Yautja in the process who would reply with a raised fist or a snarl of anger at the Hunter as he rushed towards his sister.

"SISTER!" Yeyinde shouted to his older sibling as he rushed through the crowd

"Yeyinde?" She spoke as he came to a stop in front of her, he was clearly out of breath and was panting loudly

"Brother calm down, gather your breath. Then tell me what is wrong" she said patting her brother on the back as he was bent over panting

"Uncle requests your presence immediately, its important" Yeyinde panted

"Why?" Sha'ra asked

"It's to do with the task force" he said, this surprised Sha'ra as in the two years since the task force had been formed they hadn't done anything substantial.


"What is it uncle?" Sha'ra asked stepping into her uncle's quarters, Zen'tau was sat at his desk with a holo-disc in between his fingers.

"I recently got a message from high command; apparently a large hunting party of Black Yautja has attacked a Ooman ship somewhere in the gamma quadrant and we have been tasked with intervening" Zen'tau spoke

"How large is the hunting party uncle?" Sha'ra asked

"…large" Zen'tau replied

"Why would so many Black Yautja be in the gamma quadrant though? And why attack a Ooman ship?" Yeyinde asked

"I know not my nephew, but what I do know is that it is our duty to hunt down as many Black Yautja scum as possible, we will have to perform this task with the upmost stealth in mind if we even hope for the mission to be a success.

Sha'ra pondered in thought for a moment which gained the attention of her uncle

"Sha'ra what's the matter?" Zen'tau asked his niece

"Nothing Uncle I….I just need a moment alone" Sha'ra said before leaving her uncle's quarters, Yeyinde looked to Zen'tau who gave him a nod to go and talk to her.


Sha'ra had gone for a walk down the botanical gardens of the clanship in order to clear her mind, she was never one for starting wars or being a soldier, she was a huntress and a dam good one at that, she wasn't fit to fight in any sort of war. In fact the only reason she agreed to become part of the task force was to keep an eye on her younger brother and protect him if necessary.

"Sister" Yeyinde called to Sha'ra

"I said I wanted a moment alone brother" she told Yeyinde

"I know what you said sister, all I want to know is why you had to storm out of uncle's quarters like that" he asked his smaller sister

"We aren't soldiers brother, we are hunters and we don't have to do this" Sha'ra

"We have to do this sister, otherwise the Black Yautja will continue to slaughter our people without mercy. We agreed to join the task force for a reason" Yeyinde told his sister

"I agreed to look after you brother, I don't want to lose you to those murderous scum. I promised mother I would look after you and that's exactly what I intend to do" Sha'ra said forcefully to her brother who despite his larger height was still weaker than his sister who commanded a more powerful presence than him.

"I know what I must do sister, how long will it be before they become so bold as to attack us where we live? We can stop that from happening sister…all I need is you at my side" Yeyinde told his sister

Sha'ra let out a sigh, her brother was always as stubborn as this and when he got an objective he never let it out of his sight until he achieved it. it was one of the reasons he had gotten to such a high rank despite his young age.

"….very well Brother…ill go, But only to look out for you" Sha'ra told her brother who smiled and gave her a hug

"Oh thank you sister" Yeyinde said as he lifted her up of the ground with the hug, Sha'ra only laughed as her brother span around with her in his arms.


Aboard the Asclepheus, the Black Yautja had managed to take control of the majority of the ship's systems and the Elder Ma'zax was sitting in what used to be the captain's seat. His huge size made it a tight seat but he got used to it eventually and took glee in the human and alien aspects of the ship's design.

"Isn't it interesting? How the Oomans managed to integrate their technology with something infinitely more advanced than them. For all their inferiorities and weaknesses you must admit they are a curious race" Ma'zax said before taking a sip of his mug of c'nlip

"I'm only interested in how easy it is to kill them my lord" one hunter said to him causing some of the other hunters to let out a chuckle

"That is why you will never be an Elder" Ma'zax said silencing the other hunters, the hunter who made the previous comment seemed to be offended by this.

"What? Did I say something that offended you?" Ma'zax asked turning to the hunter who gave a glare back at the seasoned Elder

"Well allow me to explain this to you, the Hunter who underestimates his prey always ends up dead, the Hunter who overestimates his prey gets his trophy….but the Hunter who insults and thinks his prey is lesser ends up nothing but a Honourless mangy tarei hsan (insect)" Ma'zax said causing the hunter to growl at him with his mandibles twitching.

Ma'zax rose from his seat and walked over to the hunter and stared him dead in the eye with a calm look on his face.

"You are the latter my friend" Ma'zax said causing the hunter to roar and extend a combi stick only for Ma'zax to thrust a hand into the hunter's throat and tear out his windpipe in one fluid motion, luminescent blood spilled out all over the floor as the hunter fell to his knees and spluttered blood all over the floor while reaching to his throat with both hands.

Ma'zax then grabbed the back of the hunter's head and tore it off with the use of only one hand before throwing it to the floor and wiping the blood off on the limp body. The other Hunters remained silent as Ma'zax seemed very nonchalant about brutally killing one of his own men, he then raised his mug to his mouth and took another long gulp before going back to the chair.

"I have no use for hunters who look at themselves as superiors…..as long as I am in charge then you will do and agree with everything I say or I won't think twice about tearing you apart…is that understood?" Ma'zax announced to the hunters gathered around the room, the silence pretty much spoke for itself

"Good" he said before sitting down, the door to the bridge then opened and Tra'kan stepped in with a look of annoyance on his face.

"My lord…..the Ooman captain still refuses to talk" Tra'kan told the Elder

"The captain must be more durable than I thought, very well allow the captain to rest then have another go at him in a few hours" Ma'zax said

"That isn't all my lord" Tra'kan said

"What else then?" Ma'zax asked

"One group of Hunters was found dead in one of the outer sections of the ship" Tra'kan announced

"They must have died in the combat taking over the ship, its nothing to worry about" Ma'zax told him

"But my lord…..they died of wounds that don't match any Ooman weapons" Tra'kan said

"What did they die of then?" Ma'zax's curiosity grew a little

"They were killed with Bladed weapons that leave the distinct signature of the swords the Kamads use" Tra'kan said, the other hunters around the room traded glances and Ma'zax replied in kind

"If there are Kamads on board this ship then they risk ruining the entire plan…..send out a few groups to hunt them down….lead them yourself so they do not fail" Ma'zax said in a commanding tone

"It will be done my lord" Tra'kan bowed before leaving the room


The Myrmidon's ship had managed to touch down in the hangar bay. The ship had managed to sneak past the four large Black Yautja ships unnoticed.

"Is the artificial atmosphere holding?" Erik asked the pilot

"Readings say that the air is safe and breathable sir. It should be safe to board the ship without the use of oxygen masks" the pilot replied looking at the schematics

"Don't take off until we come back, and be sure to guard the ship if push comes to shove" Erik patted the pilot on the shoulder before going into the back of the ship.

"Ok ladies get suited up, we got a long trek to get to the core so let's not waste any more time sitting around" Erik said putting his helmet on as the face plate clamped down.

The Myrmidons leapt out of their ship and into the hangar bay to see the lights were all either flickering or not functional at all. The bay was full of unused cargo crates and heavy lifting machinery that gave the place a very eerie feel.

"The only thing missing is a sign saying 'abandon all hope ye who enter here'" Baako said gripping his pulse rifle

"Way to ease up the tension Baako" Vlad said as he retrieved his pulse minigun from the ship

"Enough chit chat, we got a long way to the core so I say we get on the move" Erik ordered the others as they got their equipment ready including their weapons, ammo and the supplies they would need for this mission.

"Ramirez get this door open" Erik said as they reached the blast doors, the Spanish Myrmidon got his bypass kit out and tore open the access panel for the doors and began to fiddle with the wires

"How long is this mission gonna last Major?" Michael asked Erik

"As long as it takes Rookie" Erik replied as the blast doors opened revealing the dark misty interior of the ship. The Myrmidons activated the night vision in their helms and the laser sights on their weapons and began to make their way through the ship.


"How much longer?" Sophie asked with a moaning tone

"We'll get there when we get there" Eli replied in an annoyed tone at how much Sophie was moaning

"Can't we just take one of the trams?" Sophie asked

"Oh of course we should use one of the trams, alert the Black Yautja to our presence so that when we do get to the ship they use their ships to blow us to smithereens, why didn't I think of that?" Eli replied sarcastically

"It was just a suggestion" Sophie muttered

"Well next time think before giving us any more 'suggestions'" Eli said as he led the group

The group had been walking for a while and things where not looking up as they didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

"How long have we been walking for exactly?" Norma asked

"About 3 hours" Rezeal replied

"Ok we can't keep walking without a rest" Sophie said but Eli seemed to ignore her

"I said..." she began until Eli cut her off

"I know what you said, I just chose to ignore you" he stated blatantly before suddenly stopping dead in his tracks.

"What did you stop f…" Sophie went to ask until Eli raised a closed fist and gave a few long sniffs and looked off into space, Rezeal went up to him and whispered in kamad

(What is it? What do you smell?) He asked

(…..something big) Eli responded

"What is it?" Norma asked before Dexter began screeching and clinging to Norma as the two Kamads heard something approaching and drew their weapons in anticipation.

"You two may want to get back" Eli warned gripping his Katanas

Suddenly from around the corner a massive creature turned to let out a bellowing screech at the two Kamads, the creature looked like some sort of cross between a centipede, a scorpion and a worm. Its armored exoskeleton covered most of its hide including its two large pincers and its maw containing thousands of sharp rotating teeth.

"What the fuck is that?" Eli asked

"It's an Aurelian Skarnak; don't let it get ahold of you!" Norma warned the two Kamad warriors as the Skarnak attacked first.

It tried to grab Rezeal who propped its pincers open with his Hookblade and Shortsword making the creature screech and try to grab him with its other pincer which Eli leapt on top of and impaled it against a wall with his Katanas.

The Skarnak let go of Rezeal and went use its free pincer to get Eli to get away, it swiped its pincer at Eli which he leapt up and landed on what could be called its head while Rezeal grabbed the pincer with his Hookblade and cut it off with his Shortsword.

The Skarnak let out a painful screech and shook its head around trying to get Eli off as he had difficulty keeping his balance. Eli then back flipped onto a lower segment of the Skarnak and noticed the vents in its back, he then flourished his swords before stabbing the Skarnak in the vents causing black blood to jet out of the wounds as the creature cried out in pain.

Eli then drew back one of his swords and reached into his coat pulling out an object that looked a lot like a grenade only more advanced looking. Eli then rammed the grenade into one of the vents on the Skarnaks back before sprinting off its back into a jump. He then landed next to Rezeal and they both ran, picking up Norma and Sophie on the way.

"You girls may want to cover your ears" Eli warned as the Skarnak began writhing around until its midsection exploded into blue flames blowing it in half causing black blood to splatter all over the walls.

Eli and Rezeal then looked back with Norma and Sophie still in their arms and let them down. Dexter was still clung to Norma and was still shaking like a fuzzy maraca.

"Wow…..remind me never to piss you guys off again" Sophie said as they all looked at the sizzling remains of the giant arthropod.

"You….killed it, that fast" Norma said amazed at how skilled these two Kamads where

"Oh that's nothing…as long as there aren't any more of those things onboard then we'll be fine" Eli said

"There are actually 9 onboard including the one you just killed, along with hundreds of other species" Norma said, Eli and Rezeal then let out a collective sigh and began walking again.

"Hey where are you going?" Sophie asked

"We just got attacked by one of the reasons we have to get off this ship. If we don't get to the ship soon then more of those fuckers will track us down and we may not be able to protect you next time" Eli explained as he and Rezeal got further and further away

"Hey wait up" Norma said as she and Sophie caught up with them


Ok there we go another chapter done, hope you enjoyed it

A bit of fair warning the next chapter will concentrate on the Yautja and the Myrmidons