Happy last day of 2019! It was a goal of mine to get this chapter out before 2020 hit and I am happy I did it! I didn't have my Beta Reader touch it up, so there will most likely be a revision here soon; nothing big, just sentence structure and touch ups.
I hope you all have a fantastic holiday, stay safe, and bring in the new year with a new chapter :D
Eris wasn't entirely sure how long she had been on the new ship; it was anyone's guess really. She spent most of her time pacing the cell and waiting for Kidra to come back so they could converse more. If she had a Fit Bit, she knew there would be thousands of leg movement logged.
It was lonely being in the room by herself, causing her to miss her friends even more than she had. She was free to move around when she was alone on Tichinde's ship which helped her mentally. This, though, was exhausting. Were they close to their destination? Were they going to kill her? Sell her? The bittersweet thing about lingering on the ship was the feeling that she was safe for now, but it only meant she was getting closer and closer to uncertainty.
She could see how people went mad with being confined in a small space for too long. Had it not been for Kidra coming and talking with her, occasionally letting her walk around the ship, she knew she would have fallen into space madness. She recalled her first encounter with Kidra after she initially came onto the ship.
"What make you special?" Eris remembered the female Yautja's voice. When she had calmed down enough to be able to study her, she took everything about this new creature in. Her voice had a roughness to it like the others, but somehow hit her ears differently. It was slightly more feminine sounding than the males.
She knew there had to be some sort of opposite sex of the male Yautjas she had encountered, but was never entirely sure. Having only seen female humans and male Yautjas, one of her theories was that they reproduced asexually and liked the act of sex with human females on the side. She blamed Alegra all too much for her weird alien thoughts, which wasn't a bad thing.
"What do you mean?" She had asked Kidra at her question. Eris never thought there was anything special about her. If you lined her up with the rest of the human females, they were all the same, flesh and bone. The fact that this Yautja was throwing around the assumption that she was special confused and scared the ever living shit out of her. In movies, being the 'special' one always came with a lot of baggage and Eris wasn't entirely sure if she could carry anymore.
"Tichinde," Ki'dra started to speak with her unique voice while she made her way inside of the cell. "He Bad Blood. He fight for you, no harm you. What make you special?"
The way her giant body gently walked into the room was like an oxymoron in itself. How could something so enormous be so graceful like that? Had she not been looking straight at the alien in front of her, she wouldn't have ever heard her come in.
"I don't know what being a Bad Blood means and I don't know why I would be special." Eris pieced together that since Tichinde was some sort of criminal, that it was surprising he kept a human pet in great condition. She didn't like referring to herself as a pet, but that was indeed what she was to their kind.
"He fight for you." The Eifel Tower of a creature repeated.
"He fought for me?" Eris questioned her once more. Not entirely sure what Kidra was talking about until she remembered being put on a pedestal as a prize to be bought. Since she had snuck away, it escaped her mind that Tichinde did fight for her. "Oh, yes he fought for me to own me."
"Why special?" Ki'dra spoke once more. "Rumor he never had ooman before."
Surprised, Eris never knew that she had been his first human purchase ever. With a career like his, though, she could see why he wouldn't want to bring his work home with him. She thought more about Kidra's question. She wanted to know why Tichinde decided to fight for her, which she still wasn't so sure on. "Well, when they took me from Earth I wasn't afraid to talk to them. There was another Yautja," Eris stopped speaking when Kidra looked at her intently after using her races name. Continuing, "I never got his name, but he and I had a back and forth throughout the ship. I never cried, so maybe there's that too. I threw a fit when I heard one girl strangling another girl."
"Nothing special with that, what else?" Ki'dra pressed on, folding her arms across her chest.
"I threw myself off of a railing and into a pile of sweaty Yautja males to try to save my friend." Her words were nonchalant as if it occurred all the time. She didn't see the big deal in the matter.
"That's it." The Yautja goddess unfolded her arms and walked out of the cell.
Eris didn't know how to take what she had said, or any of that experience. Had she come to get information to pass on? Was that her statement to the police Yautja? She would never know.
It was hard for her to talk to Kidra at first, since her sentences weren't completely formed, but she quickly got used to it. If anything, at least there was someone else who spoke English. Kidra seemed to understand all of the words that Eris used, surprising her. Kidra had the basic speech, not too much on plurals or formation, but she understood all of the extra words that Eris tossed in there. Maybe it was like people who can understand another language but not speak it back on Earth? If anything, she was grateful.
Stopping her pacing, Eris let her shoulder blades hit the cool metal of the wall. Arching her neck up, the crown of her head shortly found the surface as well. She had been in there for so long and couldn't wait for destiny to just get on with it. As if God himself heard her pleas, she found herself tilting her head to look over at Kidra.
"How sleep?" Ki'dra's encounters with oomans taught her about their typical pleasantries. Any time she saw two oomans greet each other, it typically started with something called 'small talk' before any of them would get on with the point. It was an interesting and wasteful practice that they did, but she would use their customs if she saw fit.
"I slept alright," the bed in the cell wasn't particularly comfortable, but after a couple nights and nowhere else to go, anyone would have been able to sleep on it. "Are we close to the clan ship?"
"You finally ask." This ooman wasn't like the other oomans she had met before that had been in this one's exact situation. It wasn't an uncommon thing for her to come across an ooman that was taken from Earth and enslaved by the Bad bloods while she traveled the void of space. She wasn't sure how she became some sort of ooman liberator, but it came with the job that she had.
Ki'dra made her living as a bounty hunter, catching Bad Bloods with high payout or killing creatures for those Yautja too injured or not strong enough to do it themselves that offered bountiful rewards. She had no problem working in teams, but typically ventured off by herself. Whenever she would apprehend a Bad Blood with an ooman female, or rarely an ooman man, in his chambers, she would take the creature on board and bring her back to the clan ship where the council would decide what to do with them. Leaving the oomans to die wasn't something she was fond of, and if she were in charge, then the oomans would come back every time. It wasn't their fault they were in this mess. Hell, they weren't even supposed to know that her species existed.
When Dachande had first asked her to join the mission in killing or capturing a Bad Blood, Ki'dra was a little hesitant at first. The male and female standing with her species was far different than that of typical breeds. Even though Dachande was an Elder, she still ranked superior over him, just not politically, so the fact that he was trying to enlist a female was a rarity in itself. When she learned that the mission involved closing in on Tichinde and his clan, Ki'dra was immediately on board. She had heard stories about Tichinde through more Yautja than just Dachande, making her want to see the being in the flesh. Dachande was strong enough to defeat such a Tarei'hasan, unworthy opponent, so she initially didn't know why she was needed. It wasn't until she remembered Tichinde's trade that she knew why she would be valuable on this mission. Speaking ooman, Ki'dra would be a conduit between the two species had they come across Tichinde in his ooman transportation ship.
Knowing that Tichinde was in the ooman trafficking trade, she knew they would either get his clan ship with many oomans or his personal ship with none. Hearing rumor of Tichinde through the cosmos, he was one to have never taken an ooman as a lover or a pet, so when an ooman was on his personal ship, she was caught off guard. When Dachande wanted to leave the ooman in front of her, she silently protested but wasn't about to step in on the matter. Not her bounty, not her concern.
Had they come across Tichinde's bounty ship full of oomans, she knew they would have taken them all back. With only one, though, it was the leader's call. Oomans who had been by themselves with a Yautja for some time often became hulij-bpe, crazy. They had been through such mental distress that there was usually no coming back from it. When the ooman before her began to stand up for herself back on the ship, Ki'dra knew she was far different than the ones she had encountered before, regardless of cutting a Yautja's arm off.
After her first initial conversation with this ooman, Ki'dra would notice the ooman ask more about the Yautja culture more than anything. She wanted to learn words to try to understand them more, which was an interesting feature, and what Bad Bloods really were. She never did give the ooman a description on what Bad Bloods were or what would cause you to become one, and the ooman didn't press the issue. Her conversation was a breath of fresh air compared to the others she had encountered.
Most of the ooman females she saved from the Bad Bloods were shy, crying little things until they learned that no harm was going to come to them, leaving them talkative in their wake. They asked: when something would happen, why something was going to happen, what was happening, how it all happened, and many more exhausting questions. This one in front of her, though, hadn't really asked a single thing about her future. Now that she had, Ki'dra was interested on how she would react.
"Have you been waiting for it?" Eris brought her green eyes to me Kidra's golden ones. Everything about this Yautja was so similar, yet, so different from the males. Her facial features were the same, just fewer black spikes coming out of her face. Her hair, or what Eris perceived as hair, was the same as all of the other ones she had seen, except that hers had more of a chocolate brown hue to it than black. She had a slim figure but was toned as all get out. The muscles rippling underneath her skin was lean but powerful. Breasts only confirmed she was female, not too large nor invisible. Her legs probably had the strength to crush many skulls. Why that was her first thought when it came to Kidra's thighs, she didn't know.
"Expected it." Ki'dra noticed the ooman studying her, thinking nothing of it. It was normal for the oomans to study the bodies of Yautjas of either sex. "One ooman sleep cycle." She answered her initial question.
"Tomorrow." Taking in a deep breath, she didn't know how she felt about it. Waiting so long for her destiny to be revealed and now it was here. "Am I going to die?" Eris refrained from asking this question from the get go. If she knew she was going to die, it would have panicked her the entire time.
"No die." Ki'dra waited a moment to see if the ooman would ask any more questions. She studied her facial expressions and noticed they appeared to be that of a concerned ooman.
Something about the species fascinated her. They were so emotional and had so many facial and body expressions that it was almost hard to keep up; not to mention their different scents, too. There were so many differences between the two, some that were quite crucial to the survival of oomans with Yautjas. One being showing their teeth. What an ooman would take as a 'friendly smile', a Yautja would only see signs of aggression and a challenge.
It seemed that not only was Ki'dra a bounty hunter, she was also a bi-lingual interpreter in both body and actual language. She was able to help her clan ship realize that the acts of the oomans weren't what they appeared they were. When she first started bringing them back to their ship for the council to take care of, they had thought the creatures to be challenging. It took Ki'dra a couple decades before her clan finally understood the acts of oomans fully.
Being female, she was able to do what she did by bringing the oomans back to their ship. Females weren't born as often as males, which led her to believe that's why so many Yautja males, Bad Blooded or not, took ooman females. It disgusted her at first, but after a while she stopped caring. She had birthed her own pups a couple of times, all being male thus far. For her, she could have any male she wanted, but understood that not all males could mate with a female of her kind.
Acts of mating for her was nothing more than a birthing right. With so few females it was her job to keep the clan strong. Only the strongest of warriors would be allowed into her body to pass down their lineage. If they could subdue her long enough to pass his seed, she would create a child for him. That pup would grow up to be a strong warrior and keep the clan at a thriving capacity.
Males, she noticed, found pleasure in mating. Back before oomans came around, the male Yautjas worked harder in order to be able to pass down their bloodline. They didn't know pleasure was an option until the first Yautja mated with an ooman. It started out as a rumor heard over the void from the Bad Blooded clans until it made its way to the Blooded community. Curiosity took over and Blooded warriors began to dabble in the hobby.
It puzzled Ki'dra. Yautjas worked so hard to pass down their seed into pups, yet wasted the same substance on oomans who would never be able to birth a child for them. She found the hypocrisy absurd until she started to communicate with the creatures. They were quick witted and some even became part of their clan as warriors. What used to be known as a sin was now less taboo for her kind. Be it an ooman warrior, they could mate away to their hearts content. An ooman in servitude, though, was more frowned upon but still remained tolerable.
The Blooded community never went to gather their own oomans, only inheriting them from the ones they had saved from the Bad Bloods. When brought to the council, they would evaluate the ooman mentally and physically. If they were well enough to serve the clan as a warrior, they would send them off to train for their Chiva alongside other Unblooded Yautjas. If not chosen to be a warrior, they were placed in servitude for the clan which held a plethora of responsibilities. If not deemed worthy of the first two options, their only saving grace would be a Yautja that would take them in, which only happened if the ooman wasn't mentally stable. If an unstable ooman wasn't claimed by a member of the clan, they would put the creature down. They were never permitted back on Earth.
"Come," Ki'dra spoke to the seemingly concerned ooman. "We walk ship."
"Alright." Eris watched as Kidra's dreads tossed in the air as she swiftly turned around to head about the ship. Following behind, she really wished she had a Fit Bit of some sort; maybe the gauntlet on her arm could be used as one.
It took a couple days to get used to the weight on her left arm, and a couple more days for her to not be sore from it. She swore that if the device was ever removed from her arm, it would be monstrous compared to that of her right. Looking at it each day reminded her more of Tichinde, but he was something of the past now. Trying not to think about him, she continued on with Kidra.
The ship was made from the same metal that Tichinde's was. The strong steel lined every single wall with the red lights that accented it. Was it easier for them to see in this kind of light? She knew that if she made her own ship, it would be filled with bright lights so she could see everything clearly, which would also help it look less intense. They had to of done the same thing for themselves. Why make a ship spooky scary if you couldn't really see in it? They were a smart species, she knew it wasn't just for show.
The same could be said about the heat on the ship. Temperatures were always high, which she was surprised she had survived it thus far. She remembered the cold nights from when she was homeless, begging for the weather to change a couple of degrees warmer. Now, she missed the cold from those nights.
Walking passed what appeared to be a break in the wall, Eris looked at the pipes that were easily accessible inside. She could hear whatever was in them bustle around as an immense heat radiated from the area. The pipes were horizontal, an inch or two above each other to give room for maintenance. As she walked further along, the pipes curved vertically and into the ceiling. Wondering what kind of substance was in there, she could only guess if it was some sort of glycol or possible steam that ran through the metal cylinders.
"What are these?" Eris stopped when they came across a cove in the ship. It was the same room that Tichinde had on his ship that she was never able to ask about. Skulls ranging in shapes and sizes decorated the walls from top to bottom. She recognized only a few of the skulls from the times she watched Tichinde butcher an animal from his living room sized freezer.
"Trophy room." Ki'dra stopped to look at the creatures, too. Being Dachande's ship, she had never stopped to look inside of the room since it wasn't with her own victories and stories. He was an Elder Yautja, which meant he was a strong older male, he had far surpassed the beasts of his Chiva. The trophies that decorated the walls were that of glorious beasts, some that she herself hadn't conquered yet; not from lack of strength, but lack of time. She would soon be able to go on her own hunt, and while looking at these skulls, she would add one of them to her own room.
"Tichinde had a couple of these." Looking over at a long, curved skull she was glad that whatever it was, that it was dead. It had two sets of teeth, one that resembled a normal mouth and a smaller one hidden inside. One mouth from this creature seemed scary enough, let alone two sets of teeth. It was understandable that this creature was featured in these rooms. A battle with that thing didn't seem like an easy task. Though, maybe if she saw what the body looked like it would be a different story. They were in a trophy room after all, so all of them must have been hard to take down.
"I see." Tichinde had defeated a xenomorph, which meant he had technically passed his Chiva. Being deemed a Bad Blood before completing his Chiva though, made him an UnBlooded no matter what he had done since his escapades on Ryushi. She wondered, however, what other trophies Tichinde had had in his show room. She would never know his infamous tale.
It was then Eris' eyes shifted to a human skull that sat on a small pedestal in the corner of the room. Above it, a skull with the spine still connected to it. Out of all the beasts on the wall, she didn't understand why human skulls seemed to decorate it. "Why is there a human skull here?"
"Why not?" Ki'dra looked at the ooman staring at the skulls that belonged to her people a moment.
"Out of everything here, they seem out of place." Trying to calm her anxious mind, she peeled her eyes off of the familiar bones and back to the foreign ones. Everything here seemed animalistic, a challenge to the Yautja race. Here she was, on a ship that had possibly saved her from someone who was apparently evil, only to find out that they also kill humans for sport. She had read 'The Most Dangerous Game' and wasn't about to be a willing participant had they really been going to a planet to hunt her on.
"Oomans smart. Think, hide, craft, learn, evade." The Yautja walked to the ooman skulls, "Try to live, but smart about it." She had a few oomans in her trophy room as well. Though her kind didn't traffic humans, they still dabbled in a hunt now and then. If the opponent was worthy, she'd take their skull to remember such an honorable match they had given her.
"Do you hunt humans often?" Her interest was piqued. She never thought that in her time with the Yautjas that she would hear one say that they thought humans were smart. It seemed that her race was the bottom of the barrel to them the way they were sold and passed around. Here Kidra was though, talking about how they were some sort of great hunt. Eris didn't know how to feel about that information, was she scared or was it a compliment to her?
"Once a decade if time." Yautjas had to keep their species a secret from other intelligent life forms. If they hunted knowledgeable creatures too much, their secret was bound to get out. Though oomans were smart, they still lacked intergalactic travel. If her information was correct, they had only been traveling their moon and orbiting planets for a short time. She had seen an ooman creation scouting deeper space in her travels, but they were far from ever seeing it with their own eyes. Because of this, the species as a whole was not permitted to know that Yautjas existed.
"Are all Yautjas that way or just you?" How often had they come to her planet and killed humans? She began to think about all of the 'missing people' seen on websites and bulletin boards in grocery stores. Could the people she had seen perhaps been killed by a Yautja?
"Decade at least, some longer. Can't be caught." Knowing English, Ki'dra still didn't know how to use words all that well. She knew she didn't portray what she wanted to say to the ooman female, but did to the best of her ability.
"Why not more?" Eris seemed a glutton for punishment. There had to be a whole civilization of Yautjas out there, so why didn't they all hunt humans? She felt if they had, Earth would definitely know about them. Was it like hunting an animal on Earth where it had to be the right kind of season and they had to have some sort of hunter's permit?
"Far more planets than Earth." Ki'dra didn't know why this conversation interested her so much or why she thought her kind wanted to hunt them relentlessly. It just proved that her species wasn't ready to know about all of the other life forms in the dark void of space. This ooman was fixated on her own species as if they were the center of the universe, but the truth was that there were millions of other planets out there with billions of other creatures far more challenging to hunt. Oomans had been a favorite because of their unique mindset, but they weren't some sort of special trial.
"How many do you have?" Whether it was something twisted in her mind or the fact that she just simply wanted to torture herself, Eris asked the question she wasn't too sure she really wanted to know. It was like asking a murderer back on Earth how many people they had killed while being locked in a cell in their basement waiting to also be killed.
"Two." Turning to walk out of the trophy room that had caused much unwanted conversation, Ki'dra began to continue down the halls of Dachande's ship.
Two seemed like a small number, but that also depended on how old Kidra was. If she was only 20 years old, then that was a lot of humans to have killed since it seemed she could only do it once every decade. It would have meant she had taken every opportunity to kill one. Had she been something like 80 years old, not knowing how long these creatures lived for, then it wouldn't have seemed like too many. Kidra had implied that they kept worthy prey in their trophy rooms, which would mean that she could have killed way more humans but didn't think their battle was worthy enough to hang their skulls in her ship for eternity. She had to stop thinking about this.
The more Eris learned about the Yautjas, the more she pieced together that they were an intelligent species that just simply liked to hunt. It didn't seem like they did anything else, besides also dabbling in human trafficking. Her time with Tichinde showed her many animals from many planets that she had gotten to eat, which meant he would have had to go to each one of those planets to hunt them all. There was also the time he left her on a ship so that he could hunt, and the hunt that they were heading to before they were overpowered by these Yautjas. Taking her eyes off of the many foreign skulls, she began to follow Kidra.
Hearing the tiny footsteps behind her, Ki'dra hoped that the conversation on hunting oomans was over. It didn't make her uncomfortable to talk about, but if anyone was going to explain the ways of Yautjas to her, it would be from an ooman warrior on the clan ship. The warriors appreciated the Yautja ways whereas some of the oomans in servitude or those in pet positions spoke ill of them. She knew the female behind her would most likely get warrior or servitude out of the 4 possible options: Warrior, Servitude, Pet, Death. The last two didn't seem fitting to her unless the council miraculously voted otherwise. After a small while of walking in silence, Ki'dra began to usher the ooman back to her cell chambers.
"Get sleep, important day tomorrow." Opening the cell entrance, Ki'dra watched as the ooman walked inside. She sat on her bed and looked up at her. "No die." She repeated.
"See you tomorrow, then." Eris didn't wait for Kidra to leave before she laid back down on her bed. It would be hours before she would fall asleep since it was still just the start of her day, but there wasn't much else she could do. Thinking about the conversation she had had with Kidra and all of the questions and theories she now had, she was mentally exhausted. It felt like she had never used this much of her brain before. It was like the time back on Earth when she would forget a word or the name of someone she had met, she would spend hours upon hours trying to remember it before it would finally come to her. The weight she felt leave her shoulders when she had finally solved the puzzle was huge. This weight, though, wasn't even close to being able to go away. She was solving a puzzle that she wasn't even on the surface of being able to crack.
The next morning hit her like a ton of bricks. Her stomach was sour, heart began to beat faster, and slight adrenaline started coursing throughout her entire body. Standing up from her bed, she knew it was only a matter of time before she would be on another clan ship where again her fate would be decided. Walking back and forth in her cell, Eris wondered what might happen to her. She could be dead in mere hours.
Kidra's words played in her head at the thought of dying. She claimed that that wasn't the case for her, but maybe that was to keep her under control from a state of panic. After the first day being held captive in this ship, Pike had been the only reason she had survived. She was an emotional mimic, since there was no one else around, she would mimic the persona of Pike which had been working thus far.
"Come with me." Kidra's voice startled her, not ready for someone to jump in on her deep thoughts to herself. Stepping outside of the cell, she grabbed the fur that Tichinde had given her. She used it each night by laying on top of or underneath it. His blood flaked away for the most part, leaving tiny stains on the pelt. Thoughts of their time together were etched in the back of her mind and she planned on keeping them there.
"Have we arrived?" Eris looked up at Ki'dra as they walked side by side. This was the only Yautja she had any communication with for what seemed like weeks. She had seen the others, but never said a word to them. It took her a while to not look at the creature who killed Tichinde right in front of her in disgust. That was an unknown battle between the two of them that she would probably never understand. They were primal creatures doing what they naturally did best which was to kill.
"Yes." Ki'dra spoke to the ooman once more as they made their way to the exit of the ship. She was ready to be done with the mission and get back to other tasks at hand. Though she enjoyed oomans more than the average Yautja, she was ready to be by herself and not some caretaker. This was one of the reasons why she never claimed an ooman as a pet for herself. They were time consuming and she would have to supply everything to them to keep them alive. Their lifespan was only about a century or so, but even with how short oomans lived, she wasn't even close to devoting that small amount of time to one. She liked socializing with them on the ship, but at the end of the day, she was able to go back to her own room or ship to be in peace. It was unfathomable that Yautja males could take on such a task where females rarely ever did so. Whenever an ooman was claimed as a pet, not being suitable for a warrior or in servitude, it was primarily males who took the oomans on. Ki'dra guessed that it was for the pure fact of mating that made the males so patient and willing to be with them. Either way, it was their concern, not hers.
Attempting to steady her heartbeat, Eris tried deep breaths to get her mind back in a calm state. She had been waiting for this day to come, but now she wished she was back in that cell. At least there she was alive, if you even called that living. Watching as Kidra opened the door, she let her eyes focus on everything outside of the ship. She felt taken back when all that was in front of her was another metallic hallway. When she had been taken off of the slave ship, it went right to the heart of the Yautja community.
Allowing her legs to move, she followed behind Kidra, letting her lead the way. She hadn't seen the other two males yet, but that wasn't any of her concern. Cutting a sharp left from the hallway off the ship, they continued down more long stretches of metal before seeing any other living being.
The room expanded where there were Yautjas talking amongst each other under the yellowish light above. It soothed Eris' eyes from all of the red she had become used to. There were tables, ledges, a ring in the middle that she only assumed was for more fighting, strange statues, coves that led to other areas, and some similar stands that the market place had had. Looking around at everyone who was there, it felt like no eyes were on her. When she was in the market place that Tichinde had taken her to when he planned to sell her off, it seemed everyone was looking at her. Here though, she didn't appear to be anything to see. Widening her eyes, she focused on a table that consisted of only humans.
"Humans?" she questioned aloud. It made sense to her now that she wasn't some hot commodity. They didn't seem to be terrified at all, just talking at a table while eating strange looking food. There were both men and women, dressed in the attire of the Yautja people. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Were these humans equals? Scanning the room some more, she noticed more females wandering about in clothes that she was wearing. So, some equals and some not.
"Saved from Bad Bloods." Ki'dra didn't bother turning around to talk to her face to face. She was bringing her to a holding area where oomans waited to be judged by the counsel. Then, she would talk to Dachande about her bounty in the matter. She hadn't helped kill Tichinde, but she did spend many sleep cycles taking care of an ooman, so she was going to get her times worth. Dachande, being an Elder, was good for it.
"Saved." She felt like she was finally able to breathe. They had been like Yautja police, saving her from an apparently bad situation. Looking at all of the humans on the ship, there were at least 20 that she could physically see, not knowing how many others lingered throughout the ship. She wasn't going to die.
"Counsel decide what happen with you." Ki'dra took the ooman's attention off of the room and back on her. "I take you to a place while you be judged."
Kidra's words didn't concern Eris too much now that she knew that she wasn't going to die. She was curious on how she was being judged, but just the sight that there were humans on this ship walking freely and not panicking about was on the forefront of her mind. Turning a corner from the opposite side of the room where they had entered, Eris looked back as much as she could to view the humans before the wall took over her sight.
She passed by more Yautjas and humans while following Kidra to wherever it was that she was taking her to. Feeling more confident, she found that her strides weren't small short ones anymore, but long ones to keep up with the Yautja. Everything seemed like a maze, not knowing where she was going. The halls led to more open rooms which led to more halls and so on until they finally made it to where they needed to be. With Kidra opening up the room, Eris stepped in without a fight.
"This is where I'm being judged?" The room was a small box that had a bench on one side and plexiglass on the other. Walking to the glass, it seemed to be hovering over a room with a long table and 5 gigantic chairs. In front of the table were a few steps with a long red carpet that led directly underneath her floating box. It reminded her of a court room with no jury.
"See you around." Ki'dra spoke as she closed the door. She needed to find a member of the counsel to let them know that they had obtained another ooman that needed judgement. She needed to give her statement on the matter on what she felt the ooman could contribute to their clan, helping them to decide where to place her.
With the door closing, Eris sat down on the bench. She wasn't entirely sure what she was about to be judged on, but knowing that death wasn't an option eased her. While seated, she could still see a bit of the room, but not too much. Deciding to stay as she was, she would stand up when and if she heard any sort of commotion going on down below. If it was anything like the fighting ring on the last ship, it was something she was going to want to see.
It didn't take long for Ki'dra to find a member of the counsel. They were easy enough to find out of everyone on the ship, usually frequenting the same places. They were older Yautjas who had earned their place in the matter. Though she ranked higher than them by being a respected female, she respected them in turn. "Nat'ka'pu," She watched as the male elder stopped what he was doing to look at her.
"Ki'dra," he began, standing up to greet the female in front of him. He had mated with her once during mating season, siring a boy from her. A strong female indeed, though most were, but she was the most troubling to subdue. "You're back. Where is Dachande?"
"Finishing up some business before he heads to the counsel room." Ki'dra didn't know where Dachande was, but she knew that he was familiar in the process on oomans. Plus, he had to let the counsel know how the mission regarding Tichinde had gone.
"The counsel room? Is Tichinde in custody?" Nat'ka'pu knew of the mission they had gone on in hopes of taking or killing the Bad Blood. When they had found a burnt ooman body floating around, they knew they had been close. Any Blooded Yautja knew that if they were to kill an ooman, they would leave no trace. Being as they found an ooman body, they knew it had to be from a Bad Blooded ship, knowing Tichinde led such a business.
"He is dead." The look on Nat'ka'pu's face let her know that he would have rather had him in custody, but death was just as good. "But there is an ooman."
"Ki'dra," a heavy scuff left his mouth while he looked at the respected female. One of the reasons taking Tichinde down benefited him was for the pure fact that they wouldn't have to worry about judging and taking in as many oomans anymore since the business would surely shut down. He didn't know why she was so fascinated with them. "We don't need any more oomans in this ship."
"Then decide what to do with her." Ki'dra barked back, turning around to head to the counsel room for the ooman's judgement. She knew the counsel didn't like her bringing back so many oomans, but had they not been mating with them they could have had a case against her. They profited from the oomans individually as much as the clan did. Ooman warriors, though weaker by comparison, were valuable to their clan. They were smaller, swifter, and typically gave good insight on complex situations.
It wasn't long until Ki'dra was in the counsel room. When she had walked in, Dachande was already there waiting for the members to arrive. This process would go quick, as it usually did, then she could talk to the Elder about her payment from their voyage. As the counsel members each walked in and took a seat, everything was finally able to begin.
"Dachande," The Arbitrator Bet-Karh spoke. "It is good to see you back. And you, Ki'dra." He gave a nod to the female before continuing. "I suppose we're here because you have news on Tichinde?" Being an Arbitrator, he had the sole power on how someone would meet their fate. He was the judge, jury, and executioner. The input that his council members gave him was appreciated, but it was ultimately up to him.
"Yes," Dachande walked towards the table, stopping at the steps. "He is dead." Each time he thought about Tichinde being dead brought satisfaction to his mind. It had been a long-time hunting, but he was finally able to kill his rival that had killed so many.
"Excellent, then we may…" Bet-Karh was cut off, turning a displeased head in the direction of the Yautja who began to speak.
"There is an ooman to judge." Nat'ka'pu kept his sights on Ki'dra.
"Just one?" Bet-Karh turned his head to face Dachande. "He only had one on his trade vessel?"
"We caught him on his personal ship." Dachande looked in the eyes of all the counsel members as he spoke, making sure not to keep his gaze too long to make them think he wished to challenge them. Though he was an Elder, the counsel still ranked over him. Whenever one of them were to die, he planned on taking their seat. "To our surprise, he had an ooman female as a pet."
Looking over at his fellow counsel, Bet-Karh thought long and hard about it. It was up to the mission leader whether or not to kill a single ooman if they were to come across one. "So Ki'dra let her live." He spoke after a moment, looking at the female. She was known for saving oomans, never having discarded one on her many missions no matter how crazed the ooman was.
"No, I let her live and board my ship." The Elder could feel the confused glares of the seated Yautja.
Taking his eyes off of Ki'dra, Bet-Karh focused once more on Dachande. "I am surprised you spared the single ooman." Unlike Ki'dra, Dachande had never brough an ooman back to the clan ship to be judged. It was odd that the Yautja female had nothing to do with the decision on the ooman's life.
"I had plans to leave her on the ship, I even raised my Sivk'va-tai at her." he began, recalling his events, "But her lack of fear in the face of death made me let her board. I believe she would make a decent warrior." Remembering the look on her face when he pointed his weapon at her, she hadn't flinched a bit, but instead encouraged him to kill her if he were to leave her there. It was an uncommon reaction for an ooman to have when facing death.
"Then you may train her as such." The Arbitrator stood up, already making his decision without seeking advice from his counsel. "She will stay with you while you train her on how to become a warrior." This was a ruling he had never done before. When Ki'dra had started bringing the oomans back, the only reason he hadn't stuck her with the same verdict was strictly due to the fact that she was female. Angering her and causing her to join a new clan would hinder the clan greatly. Her sex was the only thing that let her save the oomans. She had been the only one to ever bring an ooman back to the ship. Now that a male was doing it, though, he would use that as a lesson to all males who tried to bring a new ooman into their clan.
"Arbitrator, I haven't trained in decades, let alone trained an ooman." Dachande tried to keep his composure, refraining from flaring his mandibles at him. Had he known his statement would leave the ooman on his ship, he wouldn't have spoken at all. This was a punishment he had never given before, why was he starting now?
"You are one of the most respected leaders this clan, any clan, has ever known. Your reputation among the stars is nothing but glory. I am sure you, Dachande, can take this ooman and make her a warrior." Bet-Karh spoke truthfully. He had always liked Dachande, even had his pups train underneath him, but something had to be done about the amount of oomans their clan contained. They didn't hinder them much, but they still held them back status wise. He would not let his clan's name fall.
The Arbitrator was trying his patience. Darting his eyes to Ki'dra before looking back at Bet-Karh, Dachande knew there was nothing he could do or say to change his mind. "Alright." He couldn't hold his voice as it hissed at his commander before he turned around to leave the room, he had a Chiva to get ready for.
Eris couldn't tell what had happened in the room below, she couldn't even hear them. When she saw the Yautja that had killed Tichinde turn around abruptly and leave the room, she didn't really know what to think. It was a ruling about her, so why was he mad about it? Did he want her dead? If that was the case, then he should have just done it on Tichinde's ship.
It was only moments before the door to her container opened, showing the disgruntled Yautja in its wake. He dramatically turned around once more, which made Eris wonder if he wanted her to follow him. Stepping out of the container to trail the angered beast, she stayed a few feet behind him just in case this wasn't something she should be doing. She didn't want to know what would have happened had she not followed him and made him have to come all the way back to get her.
Trailing behind him, she found herself passing all of the places she had already explored with Kidra until they were back in the area where she had seen humans for the first time. Looking around some more, it was then she stopped focusing on the raging Yautja in front of her and on one of the humans at a table. Cara?
Eris couldn't believe her eyes. Was she really looking at a familiar face on this clan ship? The last time she had seen her friend was when another Yautja was hauling her away. Hearing her scream her name in terror was a sound that had haunted her dreams almost every night.
"Cara?!" Turning her direction to head towards the table, a smile formed on her face when the short blonde-haired girl turned to look at her.
"Pike?!" The brown eyed girl said in turn, practically falling down as she stood up from her table to meet with her long-lost friend.
"What are you doing here? I mean, how? I just…" Eris met the embrace of her friend as they both began to cry over the other's shoulder. She couldn't believe that Cara was here. Out of all the places to find her, especially after seeing what her fate looked like back on the slave ship, she never imagined this would be it.
A pain formed on her shoulder.
"Go!" The angered Yautja whipped the ooman around before grabbing her by the arm to usher her back to his ship. He wasn't about to let her sit here and reminisce when he had to train her up for her to get out of his hair already.
"Cara!" Eris called back to her friend, but noticed that Cara's face seemed different this time.
"You'll be back, I know it! He's here all the time!" Cara shouted from behind them.
Eris wasn't too sure what was happening, but Cara's words stayed in her mind. If she had recognized the Yautja dragging her away, then what she was saying must've been true. They all looked the same to her so far, besides those who were obviously female, so for her friend to know this particular Yautja spoke volumes. But for now, at least, she had nothing to do but trust Cara's words and pray she would be back to see her once more.
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