Chapter 13- Tomb of ice.
Two weeks earlier.
Mal'kah, the scarred and half blind veteran walked down ice encrusted stone walled tunnels. He was suited up in a fully armored suit and his weapons of choice, two double bladed sickle swords were holstered on his hips. Ice was also encrusted on his armor and on his exposed face.
He was followed by another Yautja, one of a full broad size with imposing bulk wearing thick slab-like armor, fur pelts, and a nasty looking snarl on his face. This was a Yautja heavy hunter, one of the few who were like a stampede, relentless and hard hitting. From the look on his face and his thumping feet on the stone floor, it was evident that this Yautja wasn't happy with what was going on.
The bigger Yautja followed the veteran who had his wrist-comp projecting a three-dimensional map of tunnels. A moving blip indicated their current position. And their destination, a large room on the map was highlighted.
"I don't like this." The Yautja grumbled deeply, following the veteran. "Our lord is starting to get paranoid. Why didn't he just forget about this crap?"
Mal'kah turned his head.
"Once he finds out about something of this matter, nothing will persuade him otherwise." he pointed out, turning his head back forwards. "Besides Qul'dan, this 'ooman' surviving and killing Sil'cais has thrown his idyllic life into an ironic twist."
The hulking Yautja grunted at that last sentence.
"Why is he so obsessed about this ooman?" Qul'dan asked,
Mal'kah sighed. This would be the seventh time he had to explain.
"Because this 'ooman' is the last living descendant of the bloodline." Mal'kah explained yet again. "They were the most powerful warriors of their time, or maybe even all time. Even though the blood has been diluted by many generations of breeding with oomans, it is still as strong as it has ever been." He stopped at a crossroad, judging where to move next from his map display. "And they are not ones to let bygones be bygones. Once someone had killed one of their own, nothing would deter them from obtaining revenge. And that means the ones who culled his clan are as good as dead unless he dies first."
"So that's why we're sent here?" Qul'dan asked. "To sabotage his hunt?"
Mal'kah sighed and held a hand to his face.
"Do you use your brain. Of course that's why we're sent here." Mal'kah exasperated.
Qul'dan grunted, not even caring about the insult.
"I'm not scared of that ooman." Qul'dan said, thumping his fists together. "We killed him before and we'll kill him again, permanently this time."
"That's what Sil'cais thought and you saw what happened to him."
"So what, he was just an expendable asset. And he has finally been expended, a year late though."
Mal'kah then pointed to where they needed to go and they moved down the tunnels. The stone tunnels were incredibly ancient as told by archaic Yautja glyphs on the walls. None of them paid it any heed, as they were not here to find out what they meant. They were here for something more important.
The two hunters continued walking down the ice covered tunnels before arriving at a massive hall. On the stone walls were carvings and glyphs of a time long ago. They all depicted a clan of hunters and their lifestyle. Birth, life, battle and death were recorded into the stone and it all depicted training for battle. In two rows were statues of Yautja warriors brandishing different sets of pole arms or dual weapons in warrior poses. The two Yautja walked to the end of this great hall and arrived at a massive pair of stone doors, measuring fifty feet high. A large carving of a great battle between the Yautja and xenomorphs filled every space. In the middle of the doors was a massive depiction of a showdown, on a mountain plateau between a lone hunter and a great xenomorph of mythical proportions. The hunter in question was wielding an ornate scythe-like weapon in both hands, ready to strike down the gargantuan xenomorph that reared over him.
They both looked at the doors and Qul'dan shook his shoulders. Either he was cold or was not impressed by the sight of this inscribed masterpiece.
"So." Qul'dan said, pointing at the stone doors. "This is where one of the legendary Primarchs is imprisoned?"
Mal'kah touched the stone door with his hand.
"So I'm told." He answered. "The records that do remain are vague. They don't tell exactly what happened on this world or on any other world the bloodline set has foot on."
He placed a hand on the stone door, brushing his fingers on the Yautja engravings.
"And our lord is very intent on keeping it that way."
"Ooh, a sensitive subject?" Qul'dan questioned.
Mal'kah turned his head to the Yautja.
"Very, very sensitive."
Mal'kah examined the door. He looked for the right section of the doors that would open them and that would take some time. Qul'dan looked behind him, watching the dark ice encrusted tunnels. He had been doing that for the whole journey to the door. Like he was expecting an attack from the rear.
"Do you think those oomans know about this place?" He asked. "There were a lot of them on a remote planet like this."
"I doubt it." Mal'kah said. "That is just a small outpost belonging to that 'company' of theirs. Nothing to do with 'xenomorphs' as the oomans call them. Though they have squads of ma-rines with them for protection."
He chipped away ice with his talons and found a hand shaped indentation, lined with a circle of mysterious runes.
"I suppose due to the 'company' and its standing with them, I would be surprised if they didn't have much security." He added, brushing ice from the area to get a clear look.
Qul'dan turned back to the door.
"So, we just open these doors, let the Patriarch out to cause some havoc and leave." He queried.
"Let the Primarch out, yes." Mal'kah answered. "Leave, no. Our lord wants us to record and make sure the ooman and whoever he's with does not leave this planet alive."
Qul'dan perked up when he heard the last sentence.
"I like the sound of that!" He said, thumping his fists together. "Let's get this door open then."
The veteran rolled his eyes, then opened a pouch on his belt and carefully pulled out a glass vial. Inside the vial was glowing Yautja blood. It cast a green glow onto Mal'kah as he just stared at the vial in thought. As if he was contemplating over exactly what would happen its purpose was fulfilled.
Qul'dan watched on and snickered.
"Is the great veteran hunter suddenly not so willing to obey his orders?" Qul'dan jeered.
Mal'kah turned to Qul'dan, giving him a glare that shut the Yautja up. Despite Qul'dan being of a larger build, Mal'kah could still beat him down in single combat.
"Primarchs are no laughing matter." The veteran warned firmly.
He looked back at the vial. He gave it a tap with his talons, watching the blood ripple in its containment.
"There is great power in this blood." He said. "Ironic that it be used to end its line."
He unscrewed the cap off and with a sharp flick of the wrist, hurled the contents into the hand indentation. Glowing blood hurled out in fluid arcs, splattering on the stone and trickled down the doors slowly freezing from the cold.
There was a pause followed by mutter from Qul'dan.
"That it?" He said, disappointed and annoyed. "That's going to open this crypt?"
Mal'kah sighed.
"Just watch." He said.
Then, by some cue, the runes around the hand started to glow blue. Qul'dan went wide eyed in surprise as he and Mal'kah watched the blue light spread throughout the doors like blood pumping through veins.
"Technology of our ancient past." Mal'kah said in admiration. "Our race has lost so much."
Then the sound of grinding stone was heard as the great doors slowly moved apart outwards. Dust and ice went cascading down from above, first like a small trickle but then it started flowing like a deluge.
"It is done." Mal'kah said, discarding the vial and bringing his mask up. "Let's hope the Slayer doesn't tap into his inner strengths."
Qul'dan raised a brow at the last few words
"You mean like him going completely psychotic and slaughtering Sil'cais?" He asked, bringing his own mask up.
Mal'kah hooked up his mask to its fittings and tube with a hiss of gas.
"No. something far more powerful." He said cryptically. "Something that makes his Rage look like a child's tantrum in comparison."
The veteran turned and ran, tapping Qul'dan on the chest as he passed. The hulking Yautja followed and they both activated their cloaking fields, merging with the surrounding darkness. The doors fully opened outwards, the sound of impacting stone echoed in the catacombs. It was then after a period of silence that a loud echoing roar was heard from within the massive void-like chamber that the doors had sealed for untold millennia.
The sounds of fierce fighting roared around Alaric as he vaulted over razor wire and rolling into cover, impacting the concrete barrier with a notable thud. He peered out of cover and saw that the diversion had worked. The Archangels had caught the extremists' attention, firing disciplined volleys from their pulse rifles. The extremists were responding in kind with their own weapons, a mixture of small arms and improvised explosives. Alaric holstered his pulse rifle and pulled from his chest holster his sidearm.
He held it to his helmeted and masked head in respect to its previous owner as he drew one of his hand axes. With a quick battle prayer in his ancestors' language, he vaulted over the roadblock and charged at the dug in cultists. He fired several high caliber rounds, blasting the head of one cultist into crimson chunks and another lost his throat in a gush of blood. Before any of the cultists had any chance to react, Alaric jumped right on top of them with a loud roar and they didn't stand a chance against his axe.
Alaric cut down every single one.
The Angel of Death had reaped some more souls and from the entrance of the base, he saw more streaming towards him.
Alaric was the first to come around, thanks to his legendary endurance and he groggily roused himself. He saw first of all, despite not being able to see, was that Ly'enta had somehow landed on top of him, straddled across his chest and her mesh covered abdomen was on his face. Alaric carefully pushed her off, took a few needed breaths, and picked himself up. He rubbed his face, cleaning up the war paint that was smudged out of place. Holding his throbbing head, he saw Kra'vyx face down on the deck and Fel'tak had somehow gotten snagged onto the roof, hanging by his foot and was swaying gently. Mal'fax was still strapped in his seat with his head lolling to his right, no doubt knocked senseless by the impact. Their masks were strewn around where they were laying. They didn't have a chance to put them on but it was a relief that they weren't dead from head trauma.
Alaric looked at the state of the shuttle's interior. Sparks were fizzing out of cracked fixtures and bits of the inner hull were loose and hanging precariously. And with great relief, he felt that none of his axes had come loose from their holsters. They were still firmly secured in their places.
If that happened then the shuttle interior would have been turned into likeness a blender pulping up raw meat.
Alaric got up and made his way to the cockpit, watching his footing and picking up his mask. He was going to question the pilot on what had happened.
He shoved the door aside with some difficulty and saw a nasty sight. The pilot had been impaled by a safety support and it was jutting from this back, glowing from his blood that was trickling from his back. The cracked canopy was covered by thick armor plating, which was added protection in case of a crash landing and it had the damage to prove it. The shuttle's controls were smashed beyond any use from the impact and that meant they were stranded on this planet. Alaric walked up and looked for any signs of life.
There was none. Only the glazing grey eyes of the pilot spoke the truth.
'They're not gonna like this.' Alaric thought as he examined the body.'Impact must've pried this bar loose and the other impact jammed it in him. Right in the heart.'
He reached out and shut the pilot's eyes.
Alaric moved back into the passenger compartment, wondering how to explain and he saw Kra'vyx grunting as he heaved himself up. Ly'enta groaned as she rubbed her stomach and saw blue stains from where Alaric's face was. As Fel'tak came round and noticed that he was the wrong way up, he started fidgeting to try and get loose. Mal'fax was even now struggling to unstrap himself.
"Would one you get me down, if it's not too difficult?" Fel'tak asked, reaching up to his leg and trying to get unstuck.
Alaric walked over and with one tug on the Unblood's arm, pulled Fel'tak down into the deck with a loud crashing thud. Fel'tak groaned in pain as Alaric stood over him and a snicker could be heard from the others.
"How you doing now?" Alaric asked, walking over to help Kra'vyx up.
"Was doing a lot better before you pulled me down." Fel'tak grumbled, picking himself.
The others were heard chuckling at his expense. Fel'tak muttered to himself undignified.
"What happened?" Ly'enta asked as she got up.
"There must have been a problem during re-entry." Mal'fax said as he finally yanked his safety straps off.
Fel'tak looked at him with an irate expression.
"You think?" He said, gesturing to the shuttle's bashed up interior.
"Well, just be thankful we got here in one piece. At least now we can get our hunt underway and get back home as true hunters."
Fel'tak scoffed.
"I don't think we're gonna get back home in this junk pile." He said, stomping the deck with his foot.
He then gave each of the side hatches a tap. Both of the hatches were buckled and caved in from the force of the crash. There was no exit through them.
"Well, the exits are all now indistinguishable from the walls." He added before looking to the rear. "The rear hatch looks intact though."
"Let's have a look where we are, shall we?" Kra'vyx said, walking to the rear hatch, which was still intact.
"Yeah, see if the temple is near here." Mal'fax added.
Kra'vyx hit the release button and the door didn't open. He pressed it a couple more times and still nothing. Obviously, the crash had knocked out all electrics.
He muttered as he pulled the lock release with a loud click followed by the hiss of pressurized air and started pushing the hatch open. The hatch was resisting with considerable force for some reason. Like it was being pushed back at them by some large force on the other side.
Mal'fax came over to help but Kra'vyx waved him off.
"No, I got this. I got this." He said.
Kra'vyx then started putting a little more back into it, his muscles bulging in effort and finally the hatch was starting to creak open like it is under great stress.
The first thing that they all felt when the hatch opened a gap was a piercing jet of freezing wind. Kra'vyx immediately let go of the hatch and grabbed himself as it slammed shut with a loud clang.
"Damn, its cold!" He yelled, rubbing his arms hastily.
Confusion settled on the group.
"Cold? This jungle world is in its summer cycle!" Fel'tak said. "You should be sweltering!"
Alaric slipped his mask on; ushered Kra'vyx out of the way grabbed the hatch and pushed. He grunted as the hatch resisted his advances and after a few shoves it opened a few inches. The freezing wind poured in again, causing everyone to scramble out of the way. Alaric peered through, his face protected by his mask.
What he saw was beyond belief.
For miles around there was nothing but snow. A thick white carpet snow and jagged monoliths of dark ice and rock for as far as the eye could see. The howling winds kicking up snow like thick fog made it difficult to see but Alaric had seen enough to convince him of their current predicament. He let the hatch slam shut with a loud clang.
He looked back at the others with his ice encrusted mask.
"You Yautja are not going to believe this." He said, pointing at his mask.
Alaric told them that their supposed jungle hunt turned out to be set in an ice encrusted world. His mask was evidence of that fact. Either the jungle planet had suffered an improbable ice age or they had been sent to the wrong planet. The latter was the chosen outcome and the outcries were immediate.
"An ice planet!" Mal'fax shouted.
Ly'enta fell back into her seat in disbelief.
"Ice!" She said, not wanting to believe it. "We're stuck on an ice world!"
"Calm down and get a grip on yourselves." Alaric said, wiping his mask.
"Calm down?" Fel'tak exclaimed. "We been sent to the wrong fucking world!"
"And screaming your head off isn't going to get us out of here!" Kra'vyx countered.
"What the hell were the Elders thinking? Is this some kind of sick joke?"
Ly'enta got off her seat and moved for the cockpit. She wanted to hear what the pilot has to say as Alaric rushed to cut her off but failed to stop her.
"Ly'enta, don't go in there!" Alaric warned, just as she went through the doorway.
She gasped as she saw the dead pilot and the beam sticking into his back. The others went to see what was wrong and their responses were about the same. Kra'vyx led a shocked Ly'enta away from the sight. Fel'tak grumbled and muttered at how screwed their situation was as he watched Mal'fax futilely trying to get the console to work.
"Forget it, Mal'fax." Fel'tak said. "The shuttle is dead."
Despite being in a potentially life threatening situation, Alaric was calm, maybe too calm about their situation. But then again, he was used to life threatening situations. It's what being a Slayer was all about.
"This is a textbook case of FUBAR, my friends." Alaric commented, his years of experience as a marine coming forth.
The others looked at him in confusion over the word he just said.
"FUBAR?" Ly'enta said, questioningly. "That's not in the ooman language."
"FUBAR is an abbreviation." Alaric told her. "And it means: Fucked Up Beyond Any Recognition. It's a common descriptive term in the corps. Especially when ever you Yautja or bugs are involved."
Alaric walked out of the cockpit and back into the passenger compartment.
"Just about sum's it up really." Fel'tak muttered. "We're on an ice world, the pilot's dead, the ship is crippled beyond use, and no one knows we're here."
Alaric crossed his arms.
"So, you're just gonna give up?" He asked.
"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Fel'tak said. "Do you have any ideas, Slayer?"
Alaric cracked his knuckles. Fel'tak's mandibles dropped as he thought Alaric was gong to punch some sense into him.
Alaric crossed his arms as he told them what all life did since the dawn of creation.
"Adapt or die." Alaric answered. "Make your choice."
Alaric walked off while Fel'tak breathed a sigh of relief.
"If we can somehow get off this world, then that would be an achievement." Mal'fax pointed out. "I don't think any Kainde Amedha would be here on this planet anyway."
Ly'enta then said something that caught Alaric by surprise. Something that attributed to his teaching of expecting the unexpected.
"Well, just because we assume there are none on this world, doesn't mean we shouldn't consider the possibility." She pointed out.
"Well said." Alaric applauded.
Ly'enta inwardly beamed at herself at Alaric's thanks as he started looking through compartments as the others watched. He pulled out various objects, some that were broken and others that weren't before tossing them over his shoulder.
"What supplies have we got here?" Alaric questioned. "Check every container and storage space."
Kra'vyx nodded and went about searching some overhead compartments.
"Time to put those survival lessons to use, my friends." He said, with a hint of optimism.
The young initiates went about scavenging what ever they could find that would be of use. They brought out various items they found and arranged them in the middle of the deck. Alaric went about seeing what was suitable for their situation and what was not.
Since Alaric was the most experienced out of all of them put together, the others let him get on with it without interference unless asked for assistance
The fact that they had been outfitted with jungle gear, designed for use in a sweltering jungle was all but useless in an icy wasteland. Alaric was the only one who took a jack of all trades approach. So most of the things he was going to improvise were for them.
Alaric found that several fur lined emergency blankets would serve as protection against the wind and help retain vital body heat. There were plasma cells and their welding torch, one heat source of use. He also found what he assumed was an emergency transmitter of some kind. Kra'vyx confirmed it as that and Alaric placed it in his pack. It wouldn't give a signal in a blizzard like the one they are in but it will come in useful at a later date.
And putting aside a medical kit, emergency supplies, some thick wool-like insulation material, and some other assorted parts, there was nothing else of use.
The group's biggest concern for the moment was finding a proper shelter as soon as possible. The shuttle interior was slowly getting colder by the second. Their armor's internal heating and thermal mesh helped in keeping them warm but they all knew it wouldn't last long against continuous exposure. And if they failed to get out before the shuttle is completely covered with snow then they will be stuck in their icy tomb for eternity.
Alaric tore some wiring from the wrecked consoles and panels and fashioned the blankets into rudimentary cloaks with Ly'enta's help. Kra'vyx and Mal'fax were busy pulling panels down to be used as snowshoes. Fel'tak asked what these things were used for, apart from making them look stupid, to which Alaric answered they are to stop you sinking in the snow too much. He also said they could be used as emergency shielding if they needed to get out of the wind.
They all slipped on their cloaks. The improvised protection covered them quite well. Alaric for one had his completely around him. The others were mostly covered with only a small part of their fronts exposed.
They were as ready as they'd ever be and they couldn't afford to stay in the wrecked shuttle for much longer. They had to get out.
"We can't open the rear hatch unless we fancy getting flash frozen by those winds." Alaric said. "Then again, the snow could be so packed that the hatch won't shift."
"Yeah, you two had to struggle just getting it open a few inches." Mal'fax said.
"What about the cockpit?" Kra'vyx suggested. "It has an emergency canopy release."
He went over to the cockpit before Alaric stopped him.
"Just a second." Alaric said, stopping the others from following before taking an unused blanket.
He walked into the cockpit and hastily pulled out the support from the pilot's back before covering him. Alaric then heaved the stiffening body into the passenger compartment. Kra'vyx and the others watched as he heaved the corpse into the middle of the compartment.
"Just getting him out of the way." Alaric said, carefully tidying the blanket. "Anyone want to say something… a few words in his memory perhaps?"
Ly'enta knelt down by the pilot and spoke a short prayer, thanking him for bringing them down safely, more or less. The others followed suit while Alaric bowed his head.
Ly'enta was always a very spiritual Yautja and she had been complemented as having the makings of a priestess within her. Which was not surprising since she was from a long line of priestesses, the High Priestess was in fact her grandmother.
Alaric then gave a little prayer of his own. He spoke in his ancestor's language in a respectful tone. He then finished by placing two fingers on his forehead before taping the finger on his chest where his heart was.
"What was that?" Kra'vyx asked.
"It sounded like a prayer." Ly'enta added, noting the way Alaric had spoken. "What did it mean?"
Alaric coughed as he translated.
"Honoured Ancestors of the past, watch over the soul of the guardian who safeguarded his charges to his dying breath." Alaric repeated. "Let not his selfless sacrifice be forgotten in the annals of Fate. And that one day, that debt will be repaid."
Fel'tak cocked his head to the others.
"Well, can we get moving before we freeze to death?" He asked. "There's nothing else we can do here!"
Alaric went back into the cockpit, slipping his mask on. The initiates followed suit, lining up in the doorway. Kra'vyx pointed Alaric to the canopy release latch. Alaric grabbed it and he turned his head as the others slipped on their masks.
"Are you all ready?" He asked. "We only have one shot at this."
The young hunters looked to each other. There wasn't any other choice. Heading out there was just as dangerous as staying in the shuttle. But at least out there they had a chance of survival.
They nodded, tightly gripped their cloaks and Alaric pulled the latch.
The cockpit canopy blasted off it's fittings before being carried off several yards by the wind. The group hastily climbed out of the cockpit, tugging their cloaks tightly onto themselves as they felt the brunt of the blizzard's icy claws. They hit the snow floor, sinking a few inches into the snow and regaining their balance on the shifting snow banks. They shuffled away from the shuttle before looking back. The cockpit's interior was covered in a white blanket within seconds.
Alaric surveyed their surroundings quickly with his mask's multiple visions before coming up with a route. The frozen wasteland looked like it was endless in this blizzard but Alaric had been in worst spots before and had the experience to prove it. And he was able to just make out dark shapes in the distance. Possibly mountains.
The cold was stinging at their exposed flesh but at least it wasn't immediately lethal. However, continuous exposure would soon change that.
Alaric turned to the initiates, his hair bands jingling like a wind chime.
"We need to get out of this wind as soon as possible." he told them, raising his voice to be heard on his coms. "I think saw an acceptable area not far from here. Stay close and don't lag behind."
"This snow is playing havoc with our armor!" Kra'vyx shouted over the now, fiddling with his wrist-comp. "Cloaking is shorting out!"
"Save your energy for thermal heating!" Alaric ordered. "Now let's move!"
Alaric took up point, using his great axe as a walking stave with the young initiates following closely. They were all huddled together to conserve what body heat they could. Kra'vyx and Fel'tak had Ly'enta between them while Mal'fax had taken up the rear, blocking them from the wind.
The Yautja, having evolved on a humid jungle planet, were ill suited for the freezing conditions despite what training they'd gone through. Every second spent exposed to the freezing winds was dangerous.
The cloaks Alaric had fashioned were a big help against the wind and the snowshoes helped to keep them stable.
Looking back, they saw that the shuttle had now been completely consumed by the snow. The only indication of anything being there was an irregular mound. A barrow as Alaric called it, a grave of ancient man for the pilot inside.
There was no going back, the only way on was forwards.
They trudged through the snow for well over half an hour, heading to what looked like a valley that goes down into the planet not far from the crashed shuttle. Away from the freezing winds and that was a good thing.
The ice winds continually blocked their masks with encroaching ice and they had to keep wiping them off. On the windward side of their cloaks, snow had been forming into a thick layer that was growing as fast as it crumbled apart from their movements
They carefully trekked down the shifting snow banks in a loose formation, careful not to cause an avalanche. The howling winds were becoming slightly slower and less violent. The snow here was also becoming more stable and compact. Here and there, they could see a dark rock or two jutting out of the white carpet.
"This sucks!" Fel'tak cursed as he nearly slipped down the slope.
"You have been saying that for the last thirty minutes!" Mal'fax shouted back.
"That's 'cause it's true! I didn't become a hunter to freeze my ass off!"
"Well, at least you breathing out hot air is keeping us warm!"
"Oh, ha ha!"
Alaric didn't pay any heed as he stopped to quickly gain his bearings. Mal'fax looked back behind them, watching the tracks they were leaving behind as they were quickly swallowed up by the blizzard. Ly'enta shivered and huddled closer to the bigger Yautja for warmth.
"This blizzard is like a ravenous beast." Ly'enta said.
"This death world IS a beast." Alaric said, turning to them. "I myself have been on plenty of them. Let's keep moving."
Alaric looked up to the skies and saw that it was now darker then it was when they started and that wasn't good. Being stuck in a blizzard at night was tantamount to a death sentence.
Looking back, he saw Kra'vyx and the others were getting weary and sluggish. The cold was starting to get to the young Yautja. Even he felt a bit light headed and he could feel his limbs going numb. But while he was able to blot the numbing cold out, Kra'vyx and the others were not so lucky.
He saw Ly'enta stumble into the snow and Kra'vyx helped her up. Fel'tak shook his head as a shiver ran through his body. Mal'fax looked like a yeti with the amount of snow on him.
They needed a shelter and they needed it fast.
Alaric looked around for anything that would get them out of the wind.
"Over there." Alaric said, pointing to what was a large ice cliff.
It took the others a minute to see what Alaric was pointing at and it was a welcoming sight. In the face of the snow and ice encrusted cliff face was an opening. A cave.
And a cave is a far more welcoming place to be then in a freezing arctic wasteland. The rest didn't need telling twice as they followed Alaric in direction for the cave.
A cave was the first good shelter they'd seen since the crash.
Alaric reached the mouth of the cave and ushered the others inside, giving them a good shove to be sure. When they all got in, the first thing they all did was shake themselves free from their frozen skin. Great clumps of snow went crumbling off them as they started getting some warmth in their bodies again. The initiates took off the improvised snowshoes, relishing the feel of their feet not being restricted again.
It was dark in the cave, but that didn't matter as long as they had their masks. They could make out the walls, all slick with hard ice. The ground had a thick layer of snow that had been blown in sometime in the past.
That said, their multiple mask visions never captured the detail as the naked eye does. They can only see in one spectrum or the other. Alaric kept his to his normal spectrum.
As the others tried to get warm, Alaric pulled out the plasma torch, and was busily figuring out how it worked. He was answered when a plume of blue fames erupted out of the nozzle, the heat melting the ice on his mask. He set it on the largest flame, the heat emitting from the flames and warming the air around him as he brought it to the initiates.
The heat coming from the flames was a welcome relief. The light given by the torch cast the cave into a blue glow.
"Warm yourselves." He said, placing the torch on the ground, letting the heat spread upwards.
The young initiates wasted no time huddling over the flame. Alaric on the other hand bent down on the snow covered floor and started doing press ups, getting the blood flowing to his limbs again. Kra'vyx noticed what Alaric was doing, remembered something Alaric told him about regaining body warmth and joined in.
"Come on, rookies." Alaric said, now doing press ups with one hand "Get your blood flowing."
The others looked at them and saw Alaric get up and started jogging around the cave, running up to a wall and doing a back flip off it. Mal'fax shrugged and started pumping his arms like a bird. Fel'tak muttered and started to jog around the cave while Ly'enta just stood by the torch, rubbing her arms unhappily. Kra'vyx saw her pouting, or the Yautja equivalent of it, and got up. He walked over and helped move her arms.
"If you don't do this, you'll get frostbite and then your limbs will drop off." Alaric warned as he did a few kicks into the air.
Ly'enta sighed and started to stretch her legs.
After they had all got some warmth back into their bodies, they all took the time to debate on their situation.
"What do we do now?" Kra'vyx asked, clenching his fists.
"Well, there's nothing we can really do except for waiting out the blizzard." Mal'fax said, pointing to the outside.
"Like we have a choice." Fel'tak grumbled.
Alaric looked down further into the cave. It looked like it stretched further then first anticipated. It would be wise to investigate how far the cave went. They wouldn't want any uninvited guests.
"We should check how deep this cave goes." Alaric said.
"But shouldn't we stay here, near to where the shuttle was?" Ly'enta asked. "Wait for help from home to come?"
"Yeah, we have the distress beacon." Kra'vyx suggested.
Alaric shook his head.
"It wouldn't make a difference. This blizzard could go on for days for all we know and trying to send a signal in the middle of one would be futile, even with your tech." He pointed out.
He laid a hand on one of his axes.
"Besides, we don't know if this cave is inhabited or not." He said, looking further into the cave.
The initiates murmured at the prospect of some monstrous creature living in this cave. But, it did mean they could prove themselves as hunters at least.
"He has a point." Mal'fax added. "This could be the home of some great ice beast for all we know."
"Well, I hope so." Fel'tak said, perking up. "I don't want to be stuck here for nothing."
"What have we got to lose?" Kra'vyx asked, thumping his fists together.
The verdict was unanimous and they moved further into the dark cave. Alaric lead from the front with one of his axes at the ready and the others did the same with their weapons.
There was no knowing what could be waiting for them inside but whatever comes , they'll be ready.
That is if they could unsheathe their weapons. Alaric saw that they were struggling to pry them loose. Unlike their weapons, his axes were holstered in loops on his harness and belt, not in scabbards or latches.
"The frost." Alaric lectured with a chuckle. "Sometimes it makes the blade stick."
The initiates had been walking through the pitch black caves and tunnels for an hour now. The cold wasn't as lethal as before which was good. And so far nothing had attacked them, be it alien or natural predators. They kept their weapons out just in case after finally managing to pry them loose.
Alaric moved with his great axe propped on his shoulder. Kra'vyx had one of his kataras in his fist and thumbing its edge while Fel'tak was casually twirling his stave in his fingers. Ly'enta had a chainwhip wrapped around her arm and Mal'fax brought up the rear with his hammer at the ready.
Despite walking for nearly an hour now with no sign of any ambush, Alaric insisted they keep their weapons drawn just in case.
"How much further does this tunnel go?" Ly'enta asked, looking behind her.
"Hard to say." Kra'vyx said, checking out his map display on his wrist-comp.
Using echolocation, he saw that the tunnel was just going on and on. And that wasn't a helpful thing.
"I don't know what will kill us first, the cold, or the boredom." Fel'tak mused.
"Fel'tak, shut up and keep moving." Mal'fax ordered.
"Look, a light up ahead." Alaric said, pointing ahead.
In the distance was sunlight or at least what looked like sunlight. Kra'vyx saw on his map that the tunnel was indeed ending ahead of them. And that was incentive enough for them to move at a faster pace.
What they saw when they reached the end of the tunnel filled them with a sense of jaw dropping awe.
"By the gods." Ly'enta murmured.
They were in a massive ice cavern. Fluid lines and curving slopes gave the whole area an organic appearance. Like this cavern grew from the very body of the planet. The surface of the ice was all polished bright like mirrors, glinting and illuminating the entire cavern. Looking up, the group saw sunlight flowing through a fissure in the cavern roof. It was angelic seeing the rays of light coming through.
Beneath this planet's harsh exterior was a place of beauty.
From the entrance to the cavern, they saw that they were on a cliff edge and curiously, they walked to the edge.
At the edge of the ledge, they looked down and saw a dark abyss beneath them. The light from the caverns lit down for several hundred meters until there was a dark void at the bottom. Kra'vyx picked up a piece of reflecting ice and dropped it down.
They watched the piece fall helplessly into the blackness, flashing as it reflected the light. Then, the void swallowed it up.
"Wouldn't want to fall down there." Kra'vyx said.
A faint impact was heard echoing from below. Then multiple impacts were heard as the ice went bouncing of the walls below.
"It's still going." Fel'tak pointed out.
Then the banging stopped. They couldn't tell if it reached the bottom or went out of earshot. Their masks' audio enhancers couldn't pick it up.
"That has got to be over two kilometers at least." Alaric estimated.
"Let's keep going." Mal'fax said, heaving his hammer and walking away from the ledge.
Alaric got up and tapped Mal'fax on the back in recognition. They moved away from the ledge and move along the cavern wall. As much as this place seemed more forgiving then outside, they needed to find a more suitable location. This area didn't leave much room to maneuver.
Kra'vyx who was moving on point then noticed something.
"Look at these." Kra'vyx said, pointing to the snow covered ground.
The others gathered to see what it was Kra'vyx found. There were prints in the snow.
Footprints.
And they were made by human boots.
Alaric smiled behind his mask as he knelt down to examine.
"This is a good sign." He said, tracing his finger over the prints.
"Oomans are on this world?" Kra'vyx asked, looking around. "We're not alone, then."
Fel'tak looked around.
"What are oomans doing here anyway?" He questioned.
"Probably a research or mining expedition." Alaric guessed. "At least now, we know we're not the only ones here."
Alaric checked the imprint patterns and he nodded.
"Spec Op boots." He clarified as he checked the other prints "Marines and civilians."
He got up.
"There must be something big here if Spec Ops is involved." He postulated.
He then saw something not far from them. Something suspicious and the tracks were leading to it.
"Hold up." Alaric said, raising a fist.
The others stopped as Alaric cautiously walked towards a rectangular mound in the snow next to a tunnel leading out from the cavern. He gave the mound a prod with his axe and he heard a clang of metal coming from within. He holstered his axe and started brushing the snow off the top of the mound. What he found was an unpleasant surprise.
It was a human design supply crate that was buried under the snow and painted on top was a yellow angular W joined with a white Y. Underneath this all too familiar logo was a paradoxical tag line.
Building better worlds.
"Weyland-Yutani." Alaric cursed. "Figures."
Kra'vyx and the others looked at the symbol with interest. They looked at each other and started getting excited.
Weyland Yutani was known among the Yautja for one thing and it was something convenient to their lifestyle.
"I know that name!" Kra'vyx said, remembering what veteran hunters always boasted about. "The other hunters say that when ever this 'Company' is around, Kainde Amedha are always abundant."
"Then we can earn our place after all." Fel'tak beamed.
Alaric thought otherwise. He had learned and studied all of the three-way encounters documented by the Corps. The incidents on LV-201 and Freya's Promise were prominent examples. Despite what reports on those incidents say, regardless on how many survived, the only true winner was death.
"It's always the same." Alaric sighed. "The Company tries to harness the aliens, the aliens break out and hive everything, the Corps get sent to clean up the mess and the Yautja swoop in for a hunt. The result: a total bloodbath for anyone involved."
"A bloodbath for you humans but a glorious hunt for us." Fel'tak countered.
Alaric carefully opened the crate, expecting a facehugger or something equally nasty to pop out and looked inside. With sudden enthusiasm, he started rummaging around inside and pulled out all sorts of equipment. He pulled out three ice picks, a flare gun in its holster and flare shells, coils of high tensile rope and thermal packs.
He handed the thermal packs to Kra'vyx and the others.
"Crack 'em!" Alaric told them happily.
The Yautjas looked at the beanbag thermal packs with confusion.
"How the hell do you crack a bag?" Kra'vyx asked
Alaric sighed and took one from him and bent it sharply in his hands. A sharp crack was heard and Alaric handed it back. To the young Yautja's surprise and delight, the pack started to get warm and within a few moments, it was fully heating his hand.
The others felt the pack, felt the heat it was giving out and eagerly cracked theirs. Alaric watched as the young hunters began to attach them to their armor while giving of purrs of comfort and delight.
Alaric picked up the other equipment from the crate, holstering the coils of rope around his shoulder. He then holstered the flare gun to his belt, not before loading a flare first. He handed two of the ice picks to Kra'vyx and Fel'tak before holding the last one for them to show.
"This is an ice pick." He explained, pointing to the relevant parts. "Front end is used for scaling ice falls and the back is used as a hammer for hammering in pegs. In a fight, they can be used as effective anti-armor weapons."
He then struck an ice wall to demonstrate how to use them. The pick bit deep into the ice and took some wrenching to get it free.
"Guaranteed to ruin anyone's day." He said, holstering it in his belt.
Kra'vyx and Fel'tak both flurried with their picks to get a feel for them. They both found that the tools were both simple and utilitarian, albeit small in their hands, before holstering them to their belts.
"Let's follow these tracks." Alaric said, pointing in the right direction. "We might not be far from a camp or facility."
"Is that wise?" Ly'enta asked.
Alaric pulled out the emergency transmitter and casually juggled it in his hand.
"There might be a relay dish we can hook this up to." He explained as he holstered it. "One powerful enough to penetrate the blizzard."
"In that case, let's be one with the wind." Kra'vyx said, punching buttons on his wrist.
Kra'vyx's cloaking field activated and he vanished like a ghost, only a faint reflecting form of him in his place. The others activated theirs and Alaric did the same. It felt weird to be like a ghost or as close as you could to one.
They walked over to the tunnel entry and Alaric paused. He thought he heard a soft fluttering of wings. Like something flying very close behind them. He turned around quickly expecting something to appear. There was nothing. The others noticed that he stopped and was looking around the cavern.
"What is it, Alaric?" Mal'fax asked.
Alaric drew his great axe and hefted it.
"Did you see something?" Kra'vyx asked, bringing his katara to bear.
Alaric turned to them, gripping his axe securely.
"I don't know, but I think we're being watched" Alaric said.
What they didn't know was that they were already being watched from the start. Watching their violent impact into the snow banks and viewing their struggling march across the frozen plains on a large snow dune was Mal'kah, Qul'dan and a retinue of fully armed and armored hunters. They were all wrapped in snow white fur pelts, blending into the blizzard apart from Qul'dan who wore black fur out of pride.
Mal'kah crouched as he watched the small group through his mask's zoom function and image intensifier.
"Damn, I kinda hoped that the crash would've saved us the trouble." Mal'kah said, as he saw one of them stumble in the snow. "But then I think the cold will finish them off."
Qul'dan shook off the snow that had been building up on him. His black fur pelts stood out for a second before the blizzard blotted it out again.
"Where's the sport if the prey is killed before we kill it?" Qul'dan asked, slightly offended by the prospect.
Mal'kah coughed slightly, getting the hulking Yautja's attention.
"Well, the pilot didn't survive the crash so at least they can't leave this planet." He added. "You can have all the fun you want with them." He turned to the hunter. "But this 'ooman' must die at any cost."
"Don't worry about that." Qul'dan said, cracking his knuckles. "When I'm finished with him, he won't have a living cell in his body. And those kids won't stand a chance against me."
Mal'kah clicked his mandibles when he heard the last sentence.
"Like what you and Xyl'tai did to the ooman's child?" He asked pointedly.
Qul'dan merely cracked his knuckles in response as Mal'kah resumed his watch over the initiates.
"'A waste of good genes' as she so aptly said." Qul'dan quoted.
That day when they struck Alaric and his family, there were some things that the veteran thought had gone too far. But then, they were given the leave to abuse them however they wanted before killing them, as it was to be their only pardonable chance. However, Mal'kah had the honor of a hunter to not indulge in those acts of sadism and to only go for the root of their lord's problem.
Alaric himself.
The veteran watched as the small group moved into a cave.
"They found shelter." He acknowledged. "They're doing well, for initiates."
Qul'dan thumped his fists together and broad wristblades shot out. He signaled to the hunters to follow him but the veteran turned to them and raised a fist, halting them.
"Not yet." He ordered them. "We have to gauge their strengths first.
Qul'dan protested with annoyed grunts.
"Strengths!" He asked. "They're pups for fuck's sake!"
Mal'kah swept a fist around and caught Qul'dan in the face, knocking his mask off and exposing his face to the razor winds. The other warriors murmured as Qul'dan scrambled to retrieve his mask before it was buried under the drifts. The other hunters stayed motionless in the snow, not even reacting to their superiors' blunder.
"You are forgetting the main reason why we are here." Mal'kah elaborated before stating the problem. "Alaric, who happens to be the last of the bloodline of Cetanu."
Mal'kah turned back to the cave as Qul'dan took the name into his head in puzzlement.
'Cetanu? He thought. The Black warrior? No, that's impossible.'
He stood up, retracted his blades and slipped his mask on.
"So what does the veteran suggest?" He said, dryly as he adjusted his mask.
Mal'kah turned back to the cave.
"Let the Primarch and it's kin do their work." Mal'kah answered.
The cloaked initiates moved swiftly down the winding tunnels, following the tracks. Alaric had given them some advice as to not engage the humans for any reason until they knew exactly what was going on here. He was met with protests, stating that humans from the Company deserved to die for what they do to their race. Alaric quoted to them 'Never judge the individual by the whole'.
Alaric determined that if they could find the humans then they could use their equipment to call for help. That is if they would let them, due to obviously poor relations with the Yautja. Still, with Weyland-Yutani on this planet, discretion would be the better part of valor.
They didn't want to catch the Company's 'interest'.
But things were about become deeper in mystery. And that mystery came from a gruesome discovery
Ly'enta was the first to notice it when she tripped over something buried in the snow. She hit the ground hard, her cloaking field flickering and fazing. The others uncloaked and stop to see what happened.
"Sorry, I tripped over something." Ly'enta said, deactivating her cloak field.
She didn't get a reply as the others were occupied looking at something. Something that had latched on her leg.
"What is it?" She asked, puzzled.
"I think someone took a fancy to you." Fel'tak said, tilting his head to her leg.
She looked behind and saw a disturbing sight. A frozen armored hand was caught around her ankle. She gingerly got her ankle free, the frozen fingers cracking as she shuffled back and saw that the arm it belonged to was buried under a mound of snow.
"By the gods." She said in disgust.
"Just a second." Alaric said, walking up to the mound.
Alaric brushed the snow off and saw a grizzly sight. It was the body of a marine, what was left of him, buried in the snow and it looked like he had been forced through an industrial shredder to put it lightly. His whole blood soaked body, armor, equipment and all, was ripped apart by some great force. A pulse rifle was a few inches from him, jagged tears in its frame and barrel.
But the remains of his face were the most telling. The look of utter fear and terror at what ever did this to him.
Whatever did this much damage to a marine was fast, large, and utterly lethal.
"I'm no expert, but I'd say this ma-rine was boned like a fish." Fel'tak said, kneeling down and giving the corpse an investigative poke.
The body wasn't completely frozen as shown when his finger sank into the flesh rather then pressing into ice. Alaric smacked his hand away, his marine upbringing coming into play.
"Show some respect for the dead!" He chastised.
Fel'tak backed off as Alaric ushered the others out of the way before he crouched down to examine the body. Fel'tak grumbled as he and Mal'fax kept a lookout for dangers. Ly'enta and Kra'vyx watched as Alaric did some forensic investigation.
Sometimes the attacker can be identified simply by examining the damage they inflict.
Alaric thoroughly examined the corpse in a short amount of time, checking each of the wounds in turn.
"This death is no more than an hour or two old." He evaluated, holding a shredded arm up. "Cold but hasn't frozen solid completely."
He pointed to the deep lacerations in his chest and limbs while Kra'vyx and Ly'enta looked closer.
"Something bladed or clawed had shredded him with nearly enough force to rip him apart. The ribcage is cleanly sliced through, his armor did little to absorb the impact and his lungs and heart were nearly cleft in twain. Death was instantaneous, mercifully."
He then saw bites marks, huge chunks of flesh and organs missing in his abdomen.
"And he has been chewed on." He added in disgust.
"Was it Kainde Amedha?" Kra'vyx asked, crouching next to him.
Alaric shook his head as he laid the arm back down.
"I don't think so." He said. "It's similar to what a Bug would do but this is completely different. It's like they weren't focusing on grabbing hosts and just butchering them instead."
Indeed, the aliens main evolutionary goal is the survival of their queens and their species and that meant grabbing more hosts to increase their numbers. Nothing else mattered unless their queens deemed it so.
"Well, at least this gives us something to work with." Ly'enta added.
Mal'fax looked down at the corpse.
"So, how do you think the ma-rine died?" He asked.
Alaric stood back up.
"I'm guessing that he got rushed when his back was turned." The Slayer guessed.
Fel'tak and Mal'fax looked around cautiously.
"That's how they fight." Mal'fax pointed out. "Strike fast and without warning."
"And that's what makes the hunt so exciting." Fel'tak added.
"Unless they kill you first." Alaric countered.
Alaric looked around the tunnel, looking for a way that aliens could use to ambush their prey. There were no tunnels or crevices that an alien could use to hide. In fact, there was no way that an alien would be able to sneak up on the marine without him knowing in an illuminated tunnel like this.
Alaric saw that the marine had indeed fired his weapon when he saw bullet holes in the ice and a large crater from a grenade missing its target. And that was strange.
Nothing could evade that without taking damage in a confined tunnel.
"This is strange." He said, discovering an odd fact. "He wasn't ambushed, he was charged head on."
"Kainde Amedha don't charge head on unless there is a swarm." Ly'enta insisted.
"Yet there are no tracks." Alaric pointed out. "Not even marks on the ceiling."
The others looked up and it was true. There were no claw marks from where any creature would need a foothold.
Alaric then went over a plausible scenario that would fit the result, using all the facts they saw so far.
"I think this marine was patrolling this tunnel, alone." He postulated, pointing to where they were going. "Then he saw something fast coming towards him." He moved to where the bullet holes lined the ice wall. "He managed to fire off a burst or two before firing a grenade." He felt along the bullet holes. "Whatever ever attacked him weathered that punishment without pause." He moved back to the corpse. "Then he was rammed, forced to the ground, and torn to shreds."
He picked up a knife from its torn shoulder holster. He examined it, noting the lack of use in the fight. He then moved the corpse's head around and saw the marine's name stenciled on and doused in frozen blood.
"Private Lewis here was dead the moment it laid claws on him." He finished. "Didn't even draw his knife. Then he was buried to hide the evidence. Very intelligent to do that."
He then noticed blood at the back and he carefully tilted the corpse's head around to take a look and saw a gruesome sight. There was a large ragged hole the size of a fist punched in the back of the helmet with bits of splintered skull lining it.
A very distinctive calling card.
"Bugs." Alaric confirmed to the initiates before taking a closer look and he cocked his head in confusion. "And they did a no-brainer?"
"No-brainer?" Kra'vyx said.
Alaric then pulled the head up and shone a light from his mask into the hole. There was nothing inside the skull, only blood and cranial fluid lining the inside. Kra'vyx knelt down, looking in the empty cavity in curiosity. The others were merely disgusted at the fact.
"No brain." Alaric showed. "Sucked clean out of his skull."
The others then had a look out of curiosity.
"Sickening." Mal'fax said.
"Odd." Fel'tak added.
"Do Kainde Amedha do that?" Ly'enta asked, disgusted at the fact. "They never told us about behavior like that."
"This is a new one for me." Alaric told her.
He sheathed the knife into his belt and gently laid the head back down. He then checked for anything of use, only to find that the knife was the only thing of any value. Then out of habit from his marine days he yanked the dog-tags from the corpse.
"This day is getting weirder by the minute." Kra'vyx said, getting up and rubbing the ice from his masked face.
"Yeah." Fel'tak added. "First we get battered by a crash landing, then freezing our asses off in the snow and now we got some brain sucker lurking around in these caves."
Alaric got up, placing the tags into a pouch.
"I think it would be prudent to terminate whatever did this with extreme prejudice." Alaric said, looking down the dead marine. "I think the evidence can speak for itself."
"Our point exactly." Mal'fax said, hefting his hammer to illustrate his point.
Ly'enta felt that they stayed around here for long enough. She had been looking around alertly since seeing the corpse.
"We should leave before whatever did that decides to come back." She suggested. "Or if it has friends with it."
"That would be wise." Mal'fax added. "There's nothing else we can do here.
"Well, at least we know what this thing is capable of." Kra'vyx said.
They activated their cloaks and proceeded down the tunnel, following the tracks towards where the humans might be gathering.
And this time, they were keeping a sharp lookout every step of the way.
While things were turning into a living hell for the group of initiates, things were continuing as normal back home on Lai'kairis.
Ja'anya was busy doing one thing that she loved doing aside from hunting. And that was watching over the young children. Something which suited her small size and the children perfectly.
She sat on a cushion and watched as the children played in their designated play area, making sure that nothing got out of hand. Especially when they were all playing 'Alaric the Slayer'. Boys and girls of varying ages darted around the place, attack and parrying with their sticks and all painted up.
Ja'anya couldn't help smiling while some of the other caretakers rolled their eyes.
Truthfully, she was secretly daydreaming about the day when Alaric and she would officially become a pair, though Alaric had reservations about that ever happening. Her mother and brother would approve but she was not sure that Kal'deris would. She hoped that she and Zel'tyr would be able to persuade him otherwise.
But watching the children also brought up another thing in her mind.
'Would Alaric ever want to have another child after so painfully losing his son? Would it even be possible for her to conceive?'
The two children that Ja'anya so fondly knew walked up to her. They saw that she was daydreaming about something and hadn't noticed them. The boy then gave her a few prods from his stick, snapping her out of it.
Ja'anya looked down and smiled.
"Hi, Ja'anya" They both said.
"Hi to you, too" Ja'anya greeted back, looking at their blue streaked faces. "I see you two are having fun."
"This is a fun game, especially since we met Alaric first."
"Tyl'mak, Syl'vyr, I hope you know that what Alaric does is not a game. I don't want you two getting carried away."
The two children merely beamed at her in response.
They then noticed the shining shield-hawk pendant around her neck. Tyl'mak couldn't resist grabbing it. Ja'anya was yanked down unexpectedly as the two children looked at the pendant with inquisitive in their bright eyes.
"Where did you get that, Ja'anya?" He asked with wide eyes.
"It's pretty." Syl'vyr added.
"Alaric made it for me." She told them, adjusting to her position. "It's a shield-hawk. A protector."
"Protector?"
"It alerts its master to hidden dangers."
Tyl'mak handed the pendant to his sister and she looked at it with awe.
"Does it have a name?" She asked.
Ja'anya thought for a second. She didn't think of that but then she remembered the only name Alaric ever called one of these.
"Alaric called it Aegis." She explained, as she gently took it out of the child's grasp. "It means 'Shield' and a shield is used to protect yourself."
"You mean those big circles that oomans stick on your arm?" Tyl'mak asked.
Ja'anya nodded.
"It suits the shield-hawk perfectly." Ja'anya added.
Footsteps were heard as another huntress came walking over.
"You can leave now Ja'anya, I'll take over." The huntress said.
Ja'anya nodded up at the huntress before turning to the children.
"I have to go now." She said. "You two take care of yourselves."
"Bye Ja'anya." They both said before running off to resume their game
The huntress in charge then spoke aloud as Ja'anya got off the cushion and walked to the door.
"Come on you lot. Put those sticks away and wash yourselves." The huntress ordered
A loud chorus of disappointed moans were heard coming from the children as Ja'anya left the play area.
"Don't argue!" The huntress said firmly.
Ja'anya shut the door behind her and sighed contently. She then walked down the street, her pendant glittering in the light. Now that her shift was over for the day what should she do next? Should she head over to medical wing and help out like her father before her or should she go spar with one of the other huntresses.
'No.'She thought. 'It wouldn't be the same without Alaric here.'
In fact, that was the only reason she would spar so that Alaric would be there to watch. And she loved sparring with him. Especially when she pinned him to the ground.
Then again, she would be contacted if the healers needed extra help.
She then decided to pay Elder Kal'deris a visit and turned briskly to the right direction.
Kal'deris was at his desk, busily attending to his new smart disk. It was to replace the one that Alaric had sliced through during his arrival and Kal'deris had to wait for months before it was completed. Kal'deris had always preferred disks and had accomplished many daring feats during his younger days to earn the title of Diskmaster.
Sitting in front of him was Zel'tyr in her ornate robes. She was discussing the next groups of initiates to her academy. Kal'deris listened as he thumbed the disk's edge.
His attention to his disks caught the door to his sanctum opening and Ja'anya stepping through.
"Ja'anya, how are you?" He greeted.
Zel'tyr turned to her daughter.
"Finished caring for the young ones for today?" She asked
"Yes, mother." Ja'anya replied, sitting down next to her mother.
Kal'deris started to polish his disk, bring up a cloth.
"I see playing 'Alaric the Slayer' is still popular." He said. "I saw some pups with blue faces running around outside."
Zel'tyr added to that.
"I have never known an ooman to influence our kind so much." She said. "Then again, he is a remarkable warrior, defeating a notorious Bad Blood single handedly."
Kal'deris turned his eye to her.
"With a temperament like his, it's hard not to pity his opponent." He mused before returning to his disk. "Then again, Bad Bloods deserve no pity."
He looked at the time.
"He and Kra'vyx must be well into their hunt now." He guessed, be fore chuckling. "It won't be long before they have females all over them."
Zel'tyr clicked her mandibles.
"I don't know, Alaric, already has quite the following for an ooman." She pointed out.
Ja'anya shuffled on her cushion. Her mother talking about Alaric being such a great warrior was subtly hinting towards Ja'anya's and Alaric's relationship. And Kal'deris wasn't picking it up yet. He was too busy polishing his disk to pay attention.
Maybe this would be the right time to break the news to Kal'deris since he was in a good mood.
"Mother, isn't there something we should tell Kal'?" Ja'anya hinted.
Kal'deris raised an eye when he heard Ja'anya.
"Tell me what?" He asked.
"Kal'deris, there is something you should know..." Zel'tyr started
A beeping chime was heard coming from Kal'deris' desk unit
"Wait a second, Zel' Theres a transmission coming through." Kal'deris said, looking at the unit. "And it's urgent."
Kal'deris punched in some buttons on his pad and a holographic screen projected between them. After a few moments of static, a clear picture was shown. It was a hunter, one of the few who resided on their hunting world for initiates. The expression in his posture and eyes should that he was concerned a great deal about something.
"Mor'gyn, what is the meaning of this?" Kal'deris addressed the veteran hunter. "I was in the middle of some private issues."
The hunter rubbed his dreadlocks.
"My apologies, Elder. But it's Initiate Shuttle Alpha." The hunter said, apprehensively. "There's no other way to say it but... they haven't arrived yet. They're overdue twelve hours now."
Kal'deris, Zel'tyr and Ja'anya was puzzled by the message. They hadn't arrived after all this time?
"What do you mean 'They haven't arrived'?" Kal'deris asked.
"Just that, Elder. They haven't made planetfall and we've tried to contact them to see why but nothing got through."
"So, you don't know where they are?"
"Nobody here knows where they are. We have been sending patrols all over the planet in case they landed somewhere else but have not seen any trace of them. We even contacted our orbital cruiser and nearby ships but not one has crossed paths with the shuttle."
Kal'deris was shocked by the news but not as shocked as Zel'tyr and Ja'anya. Zel'tyr's knuckles were already going white and Ja'anya clasped her pendant. Her mandibles clicked nervously.
"Let me check something." Kal'deris said, bringing up a separate holo-screen.
He then punched in keys in sequence bringing up the shuttles flight path. He watched the simulation as the shuttle left Lai'Kairis. Everything looked normal until the halfway point where, inexplicably, the shuttle's locater beacon suddenly blipped off.
Kal'deris' disk slipped out of his grip and embedded itself into his desk with a thunk.
"That can't be!" He said, "Their signal just vanished!"
He turned to the hunter on the first screen.
"Send out a ship to investigate their last position, immediately." He commanded.
"Yes, Elder." The hunter replied bowing his head.
The screen blipped off. Kal'deris started punching in keys and runes on his pad, bringing up multiple windows.
"Kal, what's going on?" Zel'tyr asked with slight distress in her voice. "What happened to the shuttle?"
Kal'deris unstuck his disk and placed it on its display stand. He was distressed as much as she was. Kra'vyx was Kra'vyn's son and Kal'deris would be damned if he let anything happen to the young Yautja.
"Our initiate's shuttle had been diverted by someone." He explained "I'm going to send out patrol ships to every possible destination along their last known route. Something odd is going on."
"What about Alaric and Kra'vyx?" Ja'anya added. "Are they even all right?"
Zel'tyr saw that her daughter was getting agitated and upset at these distressing news. Kal'deris gestured to her to calm down.
"Look Ja'anya, I'll do everything I can but this is out of our hands for the moment." Kal'deris assured her. "We don't have any idea where the shuttle even went."
The holographics then projected three of the other elders. Some looked like they were in the middle of business.
"Elders, we have a problem." He started. "One of our initiate shuttles went missing."
The elders looked puzzled. One of their shuttles had been diverted from the hunt? Impossible. That was not possible without their direct orders.
"That's not possible." The first, a grizzled veteran of the hunts, scoffed. "No one here gave such an order!"
"Well, someone gave the order because no one below the title of Elder can authorize it." Kal'deris stated. "And I sure didn't because of personal reasons."
"Which shuttle was diverted?" Another Elder asked, a female whose robes indicated that she was head of the medical caste.
"Shuttle Alpha. It has Zel'tyr's son on board and the ooman, Alaric."
The last Elder, the pompous one who had scoffed at Alaric's abilities during his clan rites then did the action of dusting his hands clean.
"Well, that's one problem taken care of." He said without remorse.
Ja'anya, outraged by the elder's attitude to this crisis, forced her way into view, shoving a surprised Kal'deris out of the way.
"That's Alaric and my brother you are talking about!" She said in outraged disgust as Kal'deris regained his composure.
The Elder was unrepentant. He had despised Alaric the moment he'd arrived on Lai'Kairis.
"Good riddance, that ooman has humiliated our warriors long enough." The Elder replied with disdain.
He then noticed the shield-hawk around Ja'anya's neck.
"And his influences are spreading like a virus." He added.
Ja'anya would have lashed out at the screen in anger at the Elders disrespect if Kal'deris hadn't quickly ushered her out of the way and Zel'tyr took her daughter in her arms.
"You should keep your feisty daughter on a tighter leash, Zel'tyr." The Elder added venomously.
Zel'tyr just gave the Elder a glare before Kal'deris came into view.
"Zel'tyr, take Ja'anya out of here." He ordered before turning back to the Elders. "We need to investigate, immediately."
Ja'anya was led out by Zel'tyr as Kal'deris briefed the elders on the problem. And they could definitely hear that elder's spiteful tone towards Alaric. They stepped outside and sat down on a low bench.
Zel'tyr rubbed her eyes.
"Only with my son does simple things get complicated." She sighed.
She looked down at Ja'anya and saw that she was sniffing. Like she was going to break down. Zel'tyr brought her daughter close to her. Ja'anya laid her head on her mother's side.
"It's alright, my daughter." Zel'tyr comforted her daughter.
"Mother, we have no idea where they could be." Ja'anya said. "They might be on a world of fire for all we know."
"We don't know that."
"And that is what's making it hurt more. We don't know if they're even safe."
Zel'tyr brought Ja'anya's head up to face her.
"My daughter, your father had gone to many hostile worlds for vital medicines, you know that." Zel'tyr told her. "He knew full well that he could die on those worlds, but that didn't stop him. And I don't think Alaric will let that stop him either. And Kra'vyx, well, he always finds a way."
Ja'anya remembered what Alaric told her last night, their last night together.
'We'll make it back, Ja'anya. That's a promise.'
Ja'anya clasped her shield-hawk pendant as the words echoed in her mind. It glinted in the light, catching her mother's attention. She looked at the pendant.
Zel'tyr wondered what the hawk meant.
"The bird around your neck, what is it?" She asked, hoping to divert Ja'anya from her train of thought.
Ja'anya looked down to her pendant.
"A Shield-hawk." Ja'anya said. "It protects its master from hidden dangers."
"Does it have a name?" Zel'tyr asked, gently clasping the pendant.
"Alaric calls it Aegis."
Zel'tyr brought her daughter close.
"Then let's hope Aegis will protect Alaric during this crisis." Zel'tyr assured her daughter. "Alaric and the others will find a way back."
Ja'anya rested her head on her mothers chest.
"I know he will, Mother." She said before smiling. "He doesn't know how to give up."