Sorry about the wait on this people. Unfortunately, I am stuck with OLD SCHOOL dial-up and can't get on FFN from home. Anyway, here it is. I actually had to get SOMEONE ELSE to post this for me!

Thwei-de Guan stared at the representative of the High Matriarch while deep in thought. A 'culling' needed to be performed on a Hive that was growing too large. There were many Elite Warriors in her Clan that she would be able to send for it.

Thwei-de Guan nodded her assent to the representative and watched him leave. According to the information she'd been given, she'd have to send twenty Warriors to thin down the numbers of the Hive. In order to properly accomplish that, at least five hundred Drones would have to be killed. It would not be a simple task. Now, she just needed to decide who should be sent.

The mandibles of the Clan Matriarch flexed into a smile when she thought of three who would be excellent in such a situation. Granted, Kwei Kv'var-de was not an Elite Warrior and neither was R'ka Thwei, but should either of those two become endangered, there would be the ooman to consider.

Thwei-de Guan knew that the ooman was small, but she was also exceedingly dangerous. That fact was clearly demonstrated by the fact that the ooman had managed to kill five Black Yautja and obtain two of their vessels as trophies! There could be no question of Jen's combat skills, because those had been clearly proven.

In the end, Thwei-de Guan decided on eighteen Yautja, one Black Yautja, and one ooman. Although she decided on the unusual trio, she also made certain that the other seventeen Warriors were of exceptional skills, so that in the event that the trio proved that they weren't up to the job, that the mission could still be completed.

xXx

"The three of you will accompany seventeen other Warriors to complete a culling of a Hive. This isn't a cleansing; their numbers just need to be thinned down. There are many that will need to be killed, and trophies are only to be claimed when it is safe to do so. I do not wish to lose anyone to this." Thwei-de Guan stated solemnly.

"I'll do my best to make sure that everyone comes home alive." Jen avowed seriously.

"Doing that is not your responsibility Jen." Thwei-de Guan told the ooman.

"That's always been my responsibility before, so I'm used to it. It might be a different group, but I still have the same goal… make sure everyone comes home." Jen replied firmly.

Thwei-de Guan knew that Jen was adamant in her intentions, but she knew of many times that intentions had gone awry. She sincerely hoped that this wouldn't be one of those times.

xXx

Everyone was on full alert as they moved towards the center of the Hive. Already more than twenty Drones had been killed, but the stated number was far higher.

Dachande knew he was very skilled in combat. He had gained his status as an Elite Warrior at the age of three hundred. Now, at nearly five hundred years of age, he was both familiar, and comfortable in battle. He had two immediate concerns though. One of those concerns took the form of a Black Yautja female. While the size and obvious strength of the Black Yautja would be considered an advantage, the youth of the female was definitely not!

The second concern Dachande had, took the form of an ooman female. He would readily admit that the ooman's armor was exceptional, and supposedly, the skill was as well. Even so, the small size, lack of strength, and fragility of the ooman could be very detrimental in the completion of the assigned task.

"Stay sharp people! We've got a job to do. We get it done and all go home. This is no time to become a dead hero!" Jen said in a stern tone.

Dachande was not pleased with the ooman female! He was more than seventeen times the ooman's age, and did not appreciate being ordered about like an Unblooded pup.

Jen wasn't finding things very pleasant. Shrouded in utter darkness, her eyes were completely useless. Only the ultraviolet spectrum was actually useful in these caverns. She considered herself very fortunate indeed that her helmet was able to convert that spectrum in to something she could see. She knew that because the Hard Meat produced no body heat of their own and thus were the same temperature as the surroundings, even thermal imaging was useless in spotting them.

According to the maps that were available, Jen knew they were still more than a klick from the Hive center when the group entered a large area. As soon as they did, Drones poured from everywhere and everyone was fighting for their life.

Within mere minutes, more than a dozen Drones were down and either dead or dying, but three of the Warriors with her were also badly injured. Jen ducked her head to avoid the secondary jaws of the Drone she faced, and used her right leg to kick it away from her. The inertial magnification unit in her boot worked exactly the way it was meant to, and flung the beast away from her.

Dachande was very surprised when the Drone he was fighting was knocked away from him by the flying body of another. Both smashed into the wall of the cavern with enough force that both were killed by the impact. Looking around quickly, he saw that it had been to ooman who had achieved such a deed. That was when he saw the ooman fling a small knife at the head of another Drone engaging a Warrior. Even though his left thigh had been impaled by the Hard Meat's tail, he was still able to fight. He was enraged that the ooman would interfere in such a way.

"Kwei… check out that tunnel to my right!" Jen shouted.

"On it!" Kwei shouted back as he moved to carry out the order.

Kwei knew that once again, Jen was taking the lead as she had done so many times before. The Drone he'd been fighting had been about to gain the upper claw, but Jen had killed it with one of her throwing knives.

The tunnel wasn't much. In fact, it came to an end only fifty nok from the entrance, but was fairly wide towards the rear of it. He quickly relayed this information to Jen.

"Everyone in the tunnel… now!" Jen shouted as she began using splash damage from her shoulder mounted plasma casters to drive the Drones back.

Kwei quickly began to help end one of the fights that another Warrior was involved in. When the Warrior became angry at the interference, Kwei told the Warrior to help someone else. In this way, all of the fights soon came to a halt and Yautja filed in to the tunnel.

"R'ka! Help me cover the entrance!" Jen ordered once everyone was safely inside the tunnel.

"Kwei, head's up!" Jen shouted as she tossed a medical kit behind her.

Kwei Kv'var-de smirked to himself as he retrieved to tossed kit. Now, he understood Jen's plan. They would use this tunnel to heal, rest, and recover their strength. It was an excellent plan, and very surprising that it could be carried out in the middle of an active Hive!

Kwei administered pain blocker and healing serum as needed. Those Warriors who had needed treatment, were both surprised and grateful, but also very confused. When he was questioned about what was happening, he replied that Jen would explain later.

As Dachande looked towards the entrance of the tunnel, he was shocked to see that both the ooman and the Black Yautja were fighting as if they were a single Warrior! The Black Yautja was directly behind the ooman, using a spear to block the arms of the attacking Drone, while the much smaller ooman was able to deliver a killing strike to the belly or throat. Already there was a pile of about ten dead Drones at the tunnel entrance.

"Kwei! Select a fresh Warrior and get ready to relieve us!" Jen called out loudly.

As soon as Jen and R'ka were relieved, they walked towards the back of the tunnel where both promptly sat down.

"Do you seriously expect me to sit and rest while other Warriors fight?" Dachande demanded angrily.

"Yes… I do! With two Warriors at the entrance, we can rest, heal, and recover while still culling this Hive they way we're supposed to. We'll be able to ensure that the Warriors at the entrance are always fresh and ready to fight, so that hopefully no one gets killed. You and I both know that those Drones are going to keep attacking us until none are left, or we're all dead. The key to winning this is to make sure that they die, and we don't! I want everyone to go home when this is over. I don't care if you don't like me. I don't care if you don't trust me, but we're all in this together, and I will see to it that everyone going home even if they're dead!" Jen replied firmly.

Dachande heard a growl of awe from another of the Warriors, and understood that the ooman's combat skill was very different from his own. Suddenly he was incensed to hear laughter. Her looked around and saw that it was the Black Yautja laughing at him.

"Now you begin to see why she is an Elite Arbitrator among oomans, and why she has the skulls of five Great Yautja Warriors and has captured two Great Yautja vessels to claim as trophies." R'ka said in amusement.

"Elite Arbitrator?" Dachande gasped in surprise. He'd been told that the ooman was very skilled in battle, but he hadn't even suspected that level of skill!

"Yes… and she commanded other Elite Arbitrators in battle against very large packs of bad bloods." R'ka answered calmly.

To say that Dachande was surprised by such a revelation was like saying that a Hard Meat might be a bit aggressive. Dachande was stunned. He'd had no idea that a Warrior of that magnitude had been assigned to such a simple mission. While being given orders by someone a mere fraction of his age might be construed as an insult, the ooman was giving orders because she was accustomed to it, and she possessed the rank to do so!

xXx

Thwei-de Guan Matriarch of the Broken Knife Clan was standing to the left of the High Matriarch's representative. She watched carefully as her Clan members disembarked. All twenty were there, and every last one of them carried the skull of a Praetorian. It was a sight that made her proud of her Clan's Warriors. All were happy and several jokes were being exchanged.

"Well? What was your final tally?" Yeyinde demanded tersely.

"We were assigned to kill five hundred to cull the Hive and thin it down. We amassed more than two thousand Drones, and more than fifty Praetorians." Dachande replied proudly. "The Hive was much larger than stated, but the skills among us were more than equal to the task." He added ominously.

Yeyinde bowed stiffly, before he quickly left.

"I take it that there were no problems then?" Thwei-de Guan asked casually.

"We were quickly overwhelmed, and all would have perished had not the ooman taken command and enabled us to secure a victory. It was only her knowledge and skill that allowed us to prevail!" Dachande answered factually.

"I told you I was going to make sure everyone came home alive." Jen added with a grin as she walked up.

"That, you did. I have just been informed that you were crucial to victory." Thwei-de Guan replied sternly.

"I only did what I had to do so everyone could come home." Jen stated with a shrug. "Being teamed up with those who were willing to listen to me helped a lot."

"Few would have listened without the words of the Black Yautja." Dachande said softly.

Thwei-de Guan could smell the Warrior's irritation and wondered at the cause of it.

"Look… it really doesn't matter who did or said what. What's important is that everyone's home safe and sound. Job's done, and everyone's alive to talk about it. That's all that counts." Jen said seriously.

"You don't seem to care that most of us would have been killed had you not assumed command." Dachande growled.

"The only thing that matters to me is that everyone's home safe." Jen said candidly.

"She doesn't care about her own rank or prestige. I have even seen that she will gladly give up an exceptional trophy to help her comrades." Kwei said as he walked up carrying his own skull. "She will put the team or group before herself, and that is part of what makes her so dangerous to her enemies."

"What kind of trophy did she give up to help others?" Dachande scoffed.

"I know for a fact that this ooman gave up a Black Yautja vessel to pay a debt owed by another!" Thwei-de Guan replied firmly.

Dachande was rendered speechless by the declaration of his Clan's Matriarch. The stated trophy wasn't small and certainly not insignificant like he'd thought. This particular ooman truly cared about the fate of those around her, and that spoke volumes for her Honor. Now he began to understand what she'd meant in that cavern when she told him that an individual does not make a team.

"The concept of teamwork is one that she is still teaching R'ka and I. A team is composed of individuals who work together for a common goal. Something that is impossible for a single individual can be easily accomplished by a team." Kwei told the Elder Yautja. "It is not always easy to think of the group first, but Jen does just that."

"I am not some foolish Unblood who refuses to listen to wisdom. This 'teamwork' is something I wish to learn." Dachande said with a nod.

"I think it possible that the entire Clan might benefit from such teachings." Thwei-de Guan said wisely.

"The results can never be denied. None of us would have survived or escaped the Game World without teamwork. Had there been more of us, teamwork might even prove effective against a Double Tough." Kwei stated candidly.

"What is this 'double tough' you speak of?" Dachande asked.

"A creature with a hide that is impervious to Yautja weapons. So much so, that a plasma caster will only anger it." Kwei explained.

"If the hide is that durable, then how do you kill it?" Dachande asked curiously.

"Only by going through the eye to pierce the brain. I even tested Hard Meat blood on it, using the small sample that was on my ship. It had no effect. Once made into leather, it can not be worked by Yautja science." Kwei answered. "The meat is rather stringy, and not all that tasty."