The Prince walked down the halls of the King's palace. As he did, there were royal guards on either side of him. Some stood at attention while others moved back and forth. The palace was designed to be a rearranging pyramid so in the event of attack the intruders would become trapped in separate chambers while the King would remain secure. The punishment for killing the King was to have the assassin's genetic line wiped out, which was highly discouraging.

The Prince knelt before the King's throne. "Come my son," the King said.

The Prince walked up to the throne. "One of my brothers tried to have me killed."

"I read your report on the research facility. The decision originated within the ten heirs to destroy the facility to secure the safety of the empire," the King said.

"I had the outbreak under control. There was no possibility of contamination," the Prince said.

"The motives of your brothers are not always clear," the King reminded him. "You have become popular among the people," the King said.

"I serve you, not the people," the Prince replied.

The King pondered the Prince's already turned in request. "I will authorize your request. Your brothers will be obliged to go on your sponsored hunt. They will not refuse my order."

"Thank you my King."

One Month Later

Kachina (#6) entered Lex's room with her line of servants behind her. "The Prince wishes to see you," she said simply.

Lex followed Kachina to the Prince's throne room inside the mansion. Once they were inside, Kachina left the room leaving the two of them alone. "We leave for a hunt. It will just be the two of us," the Prince ordered.

"Is the prey human?" Lex asked without emotion.

There was a pause. "No."

The Prince walked towards Lex from his throne. His beast looking hound followed him as if to guard the Prince. "One of my brothers tried to have me killed. This hunt will be dangerous, so I am hoping that the brother responsible perishes," he said.

"How will you know the dead brother is the guilty one?" Lex asked coldly.

"We have a tradition that if a Yautja dies horribly in a hunt he must have been guilty of a heinous crime," the Prince said.

Lex gave the Prince a dismissive look. "Humans would often test to see if a man was guilty by burning their tongues. If the man's tongue was sufficiently burned, the man was guilty and then executed."

Lex tensed up when she heard "human" from him. "Humans don't convict the guilty that way now."

The Prince ignored her. "Each of my brothers will be allowed only one wife for this hunt, so I am choosing you because of your skills."

"Is it wise to bring a pregnant wife with you on a hunt?" Lex asked.

"You assume the other six are not?"

Lex gave him a blank face. The Prince chuckled. "You do not want this child, and I want someone that has shown a reckless disregard for Yautja traditional tactics. We both get what we want," the Prince said.

Lex didn't confirm or deny the claim. "What is the prey we are hunting?"

"It will be a surprise. We leave tomorrow."

The Prince and Lex boarded a small craft that flew over to the Yautja battleship. The ship was the size of a city sitting on the ocean. The top of the ship was a run way for aircraft like a giant airport. Lex could see that the ship's design was the same as a typical cruiser but bigger. The ship included numerous guns and missile tubes. There were also a number of smaller ships attached to it.

"This is the second largest ship in the fleet. Only the King's personal ship is bigger," the Prince pointed out.

The small craft landed on a pad. Immediately ship officers approached the Prince giving him a hand salute. "The ship is ready to leave on your order," the Captain said.

"Are any of my brothers here?"

"You are the first."

"Very well. I will be taking command of this ship until I am relieved by another Prince," the Prince said.

"Very good my Prince," the Captain said bowing his head. The Captain then left with a crowd of officers following him.

"Elitism is a universal trait," Lex commented.

"I find your comments amusing, but you must be guarded with your speech among my brothers," the Prince warned.

"I thought I was untouchable while pregnant," Lex said.

"A Prince has a long memory, and you will not be pregnant forever."

The Princes all eventually arrived on the ship with their one wife. None of them were interested in commanding the ship and didn't inform the Prince that they had landed. Finally, the oldest brother arrived. The two Princes greeted each other on the landing pad.

"I give authority of this vessel to you," the Prince said to his older brother.

"I delegate you to be my executive officer for this hunt," the older brother replied.

The two gave each other salutes officially handing command back to the Prince. The Prince then turned to the Captain. "We leave now."

A dome then covered the run way as the ship lifted off the waters. The ship resembled a cruise ships with several activities all happening at once. A popular gambling game was to see which small alien animal ate the other. There was an indoor hunting simulator, pools, and bars throughout the ship. As it was a military ship, it also contained armories, fighter crafts, and tactical rooms. As the ship went through space at faster than light, an escort of smaller ships followed alongside.

Lex said nothing but observed the royals. Despite their entertainment, she could tell that they weren't enthused to be on the ship. They were all forced to be on this hunt by order of the King and some of them knew the reason why. The Prince was not very sociable with his brothers, instead micro managing ship operations.

Lex knew the names of each Prince but decided to give them names she could keep track of in her head. The first brother was Antiman, a name Lex thought as a pun. It meant Condor of the Sun, which seemed appropriate because he seemed like a vulture to Lex. His wife was Ailen, a twist on the word alien, which means happiness. She seemed happy at the time spending her husband's money wildly on gambling.

The second brother was named Citali, which means star. His wife's name was Calfuray, which meant violet flower. The third brother was named Maquinna, and his wife was Maiara due to her solo study in the electronic library. Nahuel was the fourth brother named for his jaguar patterned skin and his wife Nina for fire. Quidel was the fifth brother, which meant burning torch and his wife's name was Rayen which means flower. The sixth brother was named Shikoba meaning feather and his wife's name was Saqui which means favorite. Tiriaq was the seventh brother and his wife was Tamaya. Ujarak was the eighth brother meaning rock for his size and his wife's name was Ukaleq meaning hare. Wapasha was the ninth brother named for his relatively red skin and his wife's name was Winona which means firstborn daughter. The tenth brother was the Prince, but if Lex had to name him it would be Morning Star associated with a famous Chief but also Satan. The Yautja didn't use names in this way instead changing their tone when referring to a "brother" or "sister."

Lemon

Lex stayed to herself using the indoor simulator occasionally. She still didn't't know what this hunt was about. She also went to the gym that had a number of different muscle machines. Instead of lifting weights, the machine vibrated the muscles at high speed tearing down weak cells. It didn't require any energy on her part. She simply had to withstand the pain. Another part of the gym was the gravity simulator. Upon activation, it would simulate higher gravity levels. Merely standing would require immense strength. The room was guarded at all times to prevent a royal from accidentally killing themselves.

The Prince visited her in the gravity room as she did some old fashion push-ups. She was struggling to move in the intense gravity. The Prince entered the room, paused, and then casually walked around the room towards her. Lex stared up at him and saw his muscles tensed up and relaxed as he adapted himself to the gravity. She was sweating and her hair was a mess. She struggled to get back to her feet; the Prince gave her his hand. The Prince was lightly dressed revealing his muscular frame. He appeared slender compared to his brothers but that was because he had very little body fat. He was like a machine with limbs of iron.

"You will need your strength," the Prince reminded her.

Lex simply stared at him as wild thoughts went through her mind. "Tell me…does that guard watch those who train in here?"

"The machine monitors your heart rate. If it reaches a threshold, he will come to shut down the machine," the Prince answered.

"So, that's a no," she said as the two circled each other.

"No," the Prince confirmed.

Lex touched the Prince's chest. "We came together through suffering and physical violence."

"I suppose we did."

"I think it only appropriate that we give each other love in this room," she said to him.

The Prince wondered if it was the pregnancy hormones or something to do with his brothers that were making her act this way. She rarely volunteered anything to him like this. "Computer: increase gravity to the next level."

Lex felt an extreme force push her down. Her legs buckled as she fell to her knees. The Prince stood tall. Lex fell on her back as her tired muscles collapsed. "With this gravity you can barely move. In here you have no control. I understand some females like to have a total lack of control," the Prince observed.

Lex found herself lying on the floor and felt as if her limbs were strapped to the floor. The Prince slowly knelt down next to her and worked to remove some of her clothes. Once she was completely naked, the Prince put his own clothes aside. The Prince then took her arms and placed them around his neck for she could not move them herself. He then worked to get her legs into the right position. As he entered her, she tried to move her head up to kiss him but the gravity was too much. The Prince instead lowered himself to her. As his weight plus the gravity would crush her, the Prince took up a push up position with his arms. His triceps tensed up as it resisted the strong gravity. Lex was glued to the floor as the Prince continued his slow thrusts. The gravity was affecting him as well, and it was starting to slow him down. The two of them panted with effort against the gravity, the Prince started to sweat from the effort.

"You better hurry before you collapse," Lex said to him.

"A female wanting me to rush?" he gasped.

"I permit it," she replied.

The Prince took stronger breaths as he readied himself and then quickly took her as fast as he could. Lex let it happen completely dominated by the Prince. He finally came with a grunt. Lex felt the familiar sensation but with greater intensity due to the gravity.

"Computer: End program," the Prince ordered.

The gravity immediately lifted. The Prince struggled to get to his feet and put his armor back on. Lex felt sore as she lifted herself up. "That was… interesting," he said leaving the gravity room. The Prince then approached the guard on duty.

"My mate and I had a strenuous exercise routine. I require that the room be cleaned immediately," he ordered.

The guard bowed and then departed.