Lar'jar was standing behind his brother, at the deck commend, paying attention to the whole conversation between the Enforcer and the elder leading the Hunter packs residing in the other Yautja's ship.
Overall, the culture of their people could be considered one and the same. Differences among clans, generations ago, could be mostly pinpointed by customs that would vary according to the environment of their homelands.
Nowadays those divergences could be perceived in other aspects: if the clan would also push females into hunting, protocols around mating during the mating season, host and guest relationships and expectations, how communal life of child bearers would be, how the clan would deal with eventual bonded pairs, and so on.
As an Enforcer, Ah'kaedh had a very unique role: hunting his own people. Not for the glory or the sport. Nor for the renown. He did it because it was his duty.
It was not uncommon to hunt Bad Bloods from different clans: once disgraced, those Yautjas were no one. Their clans would not reclaim their remains.
(Elders and Matriarchs would prefer to take care of their own garbage, that was true enough. Soothe their displeasure employing violence).
The irony of it all: Ah'kaedh was not a sociable individual. His coldness and stoicism made him fit to play the part of executioner, yes, but… the social part? Not so much. To compensate for his lack of soft social skills, he learned about protocols and customs in detail, of each and every clan.
It was expected of Enforcers to keep cordial relationships with elders, leaders and matriarchs - and Ah'kaedh banked politeness to be able to build rapport and deal with such personalities.
It worked rather well, but… it was time consuming. A charming and easy going personality would probably be done with communications already. But Ah'kaedh still had some people to contact.
Which, in this case, was a blessing. Hopefully Ho'kan would be on his way back before the Enforcer had the opportunity to notice the Kid's absence.
XXX
Why can't I get a fucking break! Why?
Lance eyed the recently departed mercenary, reloading her pistol. She still had 4 bullets in that magazine, but it was better to change it now than go empty mid-shooting.
She put 3 bullets on that motherfucker, two on the chest, one in the neck.
Lance knew there was another person dogging her heels. The dead guy was not alone when she noticed him following her.
XXX
Ho'kan had found the ooman, alright. He recognized some of the features, sure, but the smell? Yes, it was her.
Which was part of the reason Lar'jar tasked him with retrieving the female. His brother didn't want to force her? Fine. But Lar'jar was not willing to risk his sibling's sanity in order to indulge Ah'kaedh's ideas of courtship (or whatever else was going on that head of his). The Medic would do it - except he couldn't.
Because there was a chance the Medic would end up with the wrong ooman. And if walked in with the wrong female? There was a fair chance the Enforcer would resort to violence.
You see, after witnessing his brother's frustration upon losing her trail, the Medic knew bringing her onboard was not going to be as simple as he previously thought. Yes, he found the whole situation utterly amusing (Ah'kaedh would never live it down), but misleading his brother was not easy business - hell, he was a fucking Enforcer, and a good one at that.
Enter Ho'kan: the other Yautja who could actually identify her.
If they were both missing for long, Ah'kaedh would surely become aware of the Medic's plan before they could fetch her.
Lar'jar let him know he would not lift the hunt for her - having that ooman distracted with mercenaries would surely give Ho'kan a better opportunity to ambush her.
A tired and distracted prey was easier to get.
Those Mercenaries were not tasked with her death - they were hired to kidnap the Girl.
Except… after two kills, there wouldn't be any kidnapping happening on the mercenaries side. At least today.
Ho'kan was observing through his thermal vision, and when bullets started to fly, the Kid left his spot, certain he would need to interfere (since no contract in the world was worth your own life). But before he stepped in, the other oomans on the perimeter were retreating already (the ones who didn't flee upon hearing the shooting, that is).
The mercenaries would probably regroup before trying again.
XXX
Hands on the wheel, Lance was weighing her options. It had been almost two full weeks since the skull debacle. She hoped losing 14 people would make that criminal family leave her alone, but oh well… Now she had mercs after her.
Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst: that's how she lived her life for a long, long time.
The Girl had less than 24 hours to prepare everything before meeting the Convoy group.
XXX
The Kid couldn't wait much longer. Lar'jar had been clear that he had two day's max. The Medic would come fetch him once he reported a successful capture.
A full day later, and he was still waiting for a good opportunity.
Lance, smart Girl she was, was using the crowds as a shield. Her first encounter with one of Charlie's mercenaries had been 2 days ago (one day before the Yautjas getting the fateful communication about the supposed Bad Bloods' vessel).
By then she had already informed Charlie she would be picking one of his contracts, the one whose deadline was in 12 days. Which frustrated Lar'jar to no end.
The Girl only went to fetch her things once she judged they were "cold" enough that no one would be still watching. And she would be right under normal circumstances - but alas, Ah'kaedh had tagged her stuff (careful to not let it show) with alien technology. Technology that Lance was unable to find or identify (yes, she did look for human trackers, which were way different from the minuscule Yautja's tags).
The Pulse Rifle concealed in the car was a must for the Convoy contract. The advance money gave her resources to shop for the job (which she desperately needed, after blowing through her stuff since the Chrysalideum debacle), but if she had to purchase guns, there would be nothing left for other essentials.
So here she was, driving. And trying to decide what the fuck she would do next.
XXX
Not a motel, a hotel. Cheap, clean, always busy. The tower had 30 levels above ground, 18 suites per floor.
The Girl left her car in a car park close by (hotels had gun detectors. She hated to leave her things behind, but she couldn't risk the safe house before taking care of those fucker tailing her) and got a room.
Luckily for Ho'kan, she took her gym bag (after concealing the guns under the car's backseat). Yeah, he could identify her, but finding the ooman in that damn hotel tower was going to be a pain if not for the tag.
XXX
It was past 2 am, and a very grumpy front desk employee was trying to phone Barbara Frost's room after a very angry couple, in the unit underneath her's, made a rude complaint.
The young man tried 3 more times before letting go. He informed the couple there shouldn't be any further disturbances, and promised himself that if anyone else complained, he would go personally kick that door.
Hopefully ringing 4 times was enough to make that bitch get a grip, and remember people around her were trying to sleep.
XXX
Lance was not one to go looking for trouble. Actually she would have picked the first time the front desk phoned her.
That is, if she was able to do so.
Cause right now there was a fucking Predador holding her in a semi-chokehold, and upon realizing someone actually noticed something was going on inside the room, she tried to make more noise.
"Stop. Right. Now" came the monotonous voice used by the biomask. Ho'kan didn't have the chance to record oomans in order to use playblacks.
And she wasn't about to debate with the freaking alien. There was zero chance of stopping, no point in arguing.
"I. Won't. Hurt. You."
The software could do better than that, but Ho'kan was talking with such vehemence in his own language, that it came out like that.
Are you fucking kidding me?
"You are almost breaking my face, asshole!"
That was what she tried to say - in order to prevent screaming, the Yautja had one hand over her mouth. Most of her words were a muffled mess.
The Kid had entered using her window. The Girl was sleeping by then. She woke up with a scaly hand over her mouth, and an arm circling her dorso - she only had time to kick, trying to jump away.
After that, everything was blurred. They rolled across the room, the Kid trying to not hurt her, while keeping her from screaming.
She quit biting the hand on her face upon realizing she was choking on green blood for no reason: the Yautja had not moved his hand, or made a single pained sound.
"I. Won't. Kill. You".
More muffled protests.
"You. Know. Me."
What?
That earned him a break.
"The cell. You released me. From the oomans".
Gosh, that kid had no idea how that affected her. It was dark, but he had two arms. Two organic arms. She was currently being held by both, and had bit his left hand rather viciously.
Ho'kan relaxed his hold just a bit, once he felt her body tremble. She was not fighting anymore. His hand was lax enough that she could attempt to talk properly.
"Did I break your jaw?"
He was concerned, but his biomask tone was flat.
"No. How did…", she took a deep breath.
How did he find her? Yeah, it didn't matter much. Here he was.
"Why are you here?"
"I came to take you".
What?
"What? I mean, why?"
"I don't have time to explain", still a flat tone. At least the delivery was more fluid.
Bullshit kid. Bullshit.
XXX
Lar'jar was becoming impatient. The Kid still had time, but keeping his brother in the dark was becoming more difficult by the hour.
XXX
I should just knock her out, and be done with this.
Arguing was not helping.
He had established the basics: he was not here to hurt her, he was not going to kill her, he would take her back, they needed to leave now.
Except… the ooman was not cooperating. Of course not. Why would anything be easy? There she was, creating trouble on top of a band of Bad Bloods.
Lar'jar had asked to keep Ah'kaedh's presence a secret if possible. None of them explained why the Enforcer was after her, but the Kid was not naive. It was more than simply hunting for his captors. That much he knew.
When asked why keep his brother a secret, Lar'jar said "I would prefer to not rob my brother of the chance to introduce himself". And didn't explain further.
"It's not safe for us to stay here", he tried.
"Kid, safety is a luxury I'm used to go without".
For what he knew, she was not lying.
"Barbara, it's really not safe. More like me are coming here. Well… not like me. Those are Bad Bloods - criminals".
Barbara?, her mind stuttered.
"You…how do you know about that name?"
"It doesn't matter, we need to go. Now".
"No sir. Why Bad Bloods are… wait. Those guys… it's them attacking people", she was talking to herself now. Yeah, it made sense. Oh well, that kid was late for the party.
"They are already here, kid", now she addressed him. "They have been here for weeks. I crossed with one not long ago".
Behind the mask Ho'kan grimaced. Oh, fuck.
"My name is Ho'kan", he informed, unwilling to be labeled as a kid any further. "They are not here. But they are coming. We were hunting"
"Wait, the attacks… were you?"
"Me and my pack, yes"
"Why?"
"We are after the oomans who imprisoned me".
Yeah, I can't fault them for that.
"I can't go", she breathed. "If you came after me for help, I'm sorry."
"You will die", same monotonous tone. But maybe that shook her.
"Death's on its way, Ho'kan", she tried, but his name didn't sound quite right.
"I'm not asking"
"I'm not going"
Quite tired from this whole conversation, he tried to subjugate her physically. That is, until he realized he would need to break some bones - she was not quitting, all muffled screams, kicks and bites.
"Stop. This. Nonsense"
The strangled scream that came as an answer was so angered, he tried a different route.
"What can I do to make you agree to come?"
And oh boy, it didn't take much for him to regret asking.
XXX
Rot'gar was organizing the group who would go pick the slaves when they passed by the wreackage of an abandoned ooman ship.
He couldn't care less by whatever was the fate of those oomans or the vessel, but one of his subordinates approach him in the commanding deck, projecting something on the screen after a brief greeting.
"What am I looking at?"
"Here", the other Yautja said, zooming in in a specific area on the cargoship shell.
Rot'gar could see it clearly now. The irregular edges of a hole. He knew what it meant - their ship had an invasion tunnel. Rot'gar had used it plenty to know how the marks on ship hulls would look like.
"The oomans haven't retrieved the ship yet", the other completed.
"Oomans are not very good at cleaning things up, but yes. Whoever was here first, should be at a week's distance max. Scan the whole area".
"Are we still going down today?"
"Why not? We are 31, and there are only 7 slaves onboard. Unless you are willing to share yours until we can find a safe window".
They were 33 last week.
Yautjas were long-lived beings, living in a society with deep rooted culture. Giving your back to said society and culture didn't mean they were completely free of them. Especially because some of those customs were built around biological imperatives, such as sex.
Oomans also viewed sex as a basic need, but for Yautjas, a race tied in mating cycles, sex took a different dimension.
Yes, they would have sex for fun, for pleasure, to relieve stress, to appease violent impulses, for the lack of better things to do. Some of them had really high sex drives.
Every single Yautja could feel under their skin the proximity with the mating season. Yes, females were the ones going into heat, but decades (or centuries) participating in mating rituals made Males quite attuned to the cycles. Call it habit, tradition, a nonsensical longing for a home that turned its back on you. Whatever it was, the males in the ship always got restless around the mating season - their libidos increasing. And with the libido came the violence, the habit of engaging in physical disputes.
The presence of slaves made it manageable. But Rot'gar knew that if they didn't got more slaves, and fast, he would lose more hunters.
The Oomans promised 14 females, but he needed more. Sending a second group to kidnap some oomans didn't sound bad, but having other Yautja vessels around changed things.
The leader of the Bad Bloods would need to reconsider his next steps.
"Send a communication request to slave owners", it was all he asked before retreating to his quarters.
XXX
Damn, I would have missed that one.
Ho'kan was not prepared for how a ooman could be around security.
But that was not any house. That was a safe house set by Black Ops. Lance made him follow her back to the house, and boy, it took time, since you know, she didn't want anyone following them (and it didn't matter how much the Kid told her that no, no one was following them now).
Entering the house was another process. Lance was quite used to avoiding the traps around, but she had to show Ho'kan how to avoid everything until they got into the rooms were they could walk freely.
"Where is this communication equipment?"
"In the basement", the Girl was already in another room.
"Please, lend me your mask" the Girl extended her hand. Ho'kan was not keen, but she had been quite convincing.
He stood in the stairs, watching her for five minutes. She had used a random piece of cloth to collect some blood, and held it and his mask in front of a device, while talking.
The Kid couldn't understand a single thing without his mask, but it didn't took long the Girl to be done - and hand him his mask back.
"What did you say?"
"In a nutshell, that I had solid proof of the presence of predators and am now waiting for further instructions".
"You are not staying".
Oh, well.
"Ho'kan", again, is not the best pronunciation. "I know I said that I would go with you, but… I said it so you would come here. I won't hurt you, nor try to imprison you. Hell, I just showed you my fucking safe house.", she said, taking a deep breath.
"What? No! We need to go", he was pissed in a second.
"Look, listen…"
"Enough with your talk. We are going. Now!", so fucking pissed.
"Kid, do you even know why you were imprisoned".
"I'm not a fucking kid", the tone of the mask was flat, but she could hear his actual voice behind it now. Definitely pissed into the next dimension.
"Oh, yes, you fucking are!", everyone was pissed now. "What, do you think only your people have criminals? What do you think I was doing when I released you? Having fun? The people that held you in that cesspool buy other alien fauna as well. And they fucking using it to bring chaos. You know Xenomorphs, yes? The fuckers with Parsital larvae? That exploded from your chest?"
Ho'kan stopped, lowkey stunned. He never really considered why she had raised that place. It's not like oomans didn't attack one another - everyone knew that they were at war often.
"Oh, now you are listening. Good. Those people… years ago they were splicing your people's DNA with Xenomorphs. Imagine that.. Actually, forget I just told you that for a second. My race can't do shit against Xenomorphs on the regular. We are too weak to simply engage with them without training or heavy guns. And do you know how fast contamination goes? It's exponential. I have the math memorized. Once a colony hits 0,2% of the population of a community, we can't stop the spread of not by major force, as in exploding all affected area plus 10 miles radius. Did you know?"
Ho'kan was uncertain about how to answer, so she proceeded.
"While it's still manageable, if the authorities are able to intervene with at least 5 times the number of Xenomorphs. Then we will explode only the nest, evacuate and quarantine everyone in a 10 miles radius, and kill all suspected cases. Without testing. Because we won't have time."
She sighed. Yeah, he was listening.
"Once a community reaches 0,2% we know that there's a chance the Queen will lay Queen's Eggs. Since you know… if she dies, another will take the place. And some Xenomorphs might take those eggs and hide them. All the whole, more people are being incubated. Once it gets to 2%, only 2%, we know in a fortnight the colony might reach 25% of a community."
"They start to lay Queens after a week. The eggs just take a lot more to mature", he corrected.
She went to sit on the stairs, chuckling at this new piece of information.
"Well, Thedus has around 3 million inhabitants. This city here has around 900,000 humans. All the slums close by should have around 200,000 inhabitants. The larger slum has… 70,000 inhabitants. The Smaller probably has 15,000. So for the larger community… 140 Xenomorphs will do the trick. But for the tiny one? It's 30".
She gave him some time to react before kee going.
"Well, if an infestation starts in the outskirts of the city? We have about 20 days to control it. Because we have the math, but we don't have enough military force to push back if it hits 0.2% of this city. And to be honest, if the infestation gets past 1,000 Xenomorphs, there is always the possibility of the Government of the Nation sponsoring the planet in question and Colonial Security condemning the planet. Now, you have no way to know it, but standard procedure would be sacrificing all potential contaminated citizens and starting the recovery protocol after the first wave. We don't have enough space on ships, and we would need to use dropships. Moreover, we don't have enough space on the space bridge. Meaning the recovering process would be carried as we arranged placement and resources. All the while citizens would need to stay locked. I'm not going to keep torturing you kid. The chances are 85% of the people staying behind after the first weave of evacuation will die in the first 6 months. Aliens, starvation, or human action. Yes, crime rates will skyrocket. Anyway… do you know how many colonies we lost for Xenomorphs?"
Ho'kan just took a very long breath.
"In the last century, around 8. None of those times your people were responsible".
He turned to face the Girl.
"I'm aware your people abduct mine to impregnate them with those nightmares. But you never left behind enough mess to fuck up a entire colony. Every time, humans were responsible."
She cats her eyes down.
"The first colony we lost, that's a nice tale. Humans set a colony in a planet that had been previously infested. It's unclear if the organization who set that up was aware or not of the possibility of Alien Hazard. But we do know that upon having solid proof, they sent settlers to investigate".
Ho'kan finally reacted with a universal facepalm, growling.
"Humans have been trying to use Xenomorphs as weapons for a long time now. Frankly, it's ridiculous how we keep insisting on sheer stupidity, but we do. Some people had the incredible idea to try and tame them by mixing their DNA with different species. So here we are".
"You think abominations would be more tameable?"
"Abominations?"
"Yes. Abominations".
"The name kinda fits…", she sighed, remembering how the infants looked. Lance hadn't seen the real deal, but the hybrids were no joke.
"But to answer your question, no. I actually think that giving more intelligence and more strength to anything with their gens is insanity."
"We need to go".
She ignored him.
"So, my Command asked me for real proof of Predators presence here. Thanks for the help, my comandardes won't be deployed for a suicide mission now".
"Predators?"
"That's what we call your species".
"And why would they hold your people? You just gave me a large discourse about why you won't leave".
"I won't. I need to wait for my orders. But everytime your species becomes involved with anything… We know the more force we use, the worse it gets. We also know you usually kill off all the xenomorphs you find. And lastly… we have billions across all colonies, but less than 250 individuals operating as I do."
"So what you are saying, Barbara, is that your life is worth more than an entire colony?", the question was loaded with sarcasm and lots of young arrogance that only someone who had survived a deathly challenge in order to be parting their own society could have.
"Oh kiddo, my name is not even Barbara".
XXX
"Finally, what took you so long?"
"Lar'jar, I will need more time", and he sounded a tad tired, a tad pissed, and quite certain.
"Paya guard me, what's wrong with the lot of you? Just grab that damn female and be done already!"
"I can't"
"Ho'kan, I swear, you will need to be more specific, otherwise I'm coming down right now just to beat some sense back into your Young-Blood head", Lar'jar was not pissed. Yet.
"We might be able to locate Nax"
"I said specific", still not pissed. Even after taking note of the glaring 'we' in his last phrase.
"The female ooman was in the raid that day because she hunts criminals and had previous knowledge of humans looking for our blood for… disgusting purposes. She says she is here because after the raid it was discovered this is the origin point of distribution of certain species, ours included. They keep records of… transactions", and that last word, transactions, was loaded with so much disgust and hatred that Lar'jar knew at once Ho'kan could not be dissuaded. He could swear to kill him in the worst way possible and it would make no difference.
"Ho'kan, come back onboard and I will help you find those records. I swear".
"Even if I do, she won't".
"Don't ask her. Bring her".
"No. She will try to kill me if I try to force her"
"You have twice her size", no, not pissed. He was almost amused by that shitty excuse.
"She almost tore my hand off with her bare teeth".
Lar'jar looked upwards, and mouthed 'what have I done wrong?', before speaking:
"Paya, just wait for me. I'm coming down", he sighed.
"Uh…we cannot do that", the Kid murmured the last bit.
"Why?"
And now… Now Lar'jar was pissed.
XXX
The Medic marched to the commanding bridge after a prayer or two. If he had known things could go sideways in such proportions, he would surely have chosen differently. But oh well, at least she is not alone .
"Good to see you Lar'jar, we are leaving in one hour".
The Enforcer had spoken with 16 vessels, and while he didn't need to hold positions in order to do so, it would be better to have a plan before tracing a route. His last communication ended less than an hour ago.
"Ah'kaedh", Lar'jar said his brother's name as a way to prepare him (and himself) for what was coming next.
The Enforcer furrowed his forehead.
"Yes?"
"Her name is not Barbara. It's Lance. And she is most likely going to meet a group of Bad Bloods right now".
XXX
[57 years ago]
"Kid, stay away from that shit!"
"I'm not even close to your work station", the Girl countered. But boy, oh boy, she was mostly curious.
"This shit could kill you. Could kill me, and everyone in a mile radius".
Like everyone in that team, Asher earned his name. He was a combat specialist, yes, but his best work was making things disappear into nothingness: an expert in explosives. A mean, creative, highly knowledgeable, workaholic, clever, expert. In explosives. Asher.
XXX
[present time, 5 hours before the fateful communication between Lar'jar and Ho'kan]
"Jesus, I've hunting fucking Predators across the last decades. But… you know, it kinda makes sense. How else those fuckers in the Blackmarket would get dangerous species".
She sounded almost disappointed in herself for only figuring out the obvious now.
"So, have you changed your mind?"
"Of course not. I just need a different plan".
"Different plan?"
"Yes. It needs to…" she made a fluid movement with her arms. "To flow… naturally".
"Are you serious now?", the Young-Blood turned his whole body in her direction.
Hold your tongue, Fer-de-Lance. He is thrice your size.
"Yes. Try to think like this: it's not about how many moving parts it has, it's more about how many parts you will need to interfere with in order to make it work. You know?"
"No".
"You are not helping. Ok… so, slaves, they use them for sex… and?"
"They are savages with them".
Ho'kan had experienced that savagery first hand. He had been rape as a form of dominance, of revenge upon a society that had cast them out. But the slaves had it much worse. Not because of the intensity of the act, but because the Bad Bloods never lost interest in them.
"But it was here that I understood why they were so… subdued".
"They are probably drugging them".
"Did you know?"
"It's a well known form of controlling sexual slaves. It's disgusting, but humans have known that for generations."
"I wonder why those mercenaries didn't have any of those drugs with them".
"Are you sure? It's quite unheard of to transport those slaves without the drugs. It's like selling a toy without a charger. Maybe they were transporting the ingredients to cook it later. Which is a tad risky, because some substances have a volatile process…"
"Cook it?"
"Yes. Raw ingredients are easier to transport. Depending on the drug, you need special containers for the final product. When people buy those they…"
A light bulb. It went off.
"OhMyGodHoKanblessyouyoufuckingamazingpredatoryouOhmyGod!"
"What you…"
"I found it! the flow!" She was already stading
"What do you mean?"
"The Drugs, kiddo! Let's pray one of my friends left me some of the good stuff!"
XXX
[10 minutes after the fateful communication]
"Alright Ho'kan. Repeat back to me all steps of the plan".
"Ambush your convoy: shot the larger vehicle wheels. Kill some people in the back. Run for cover".
"Not some. Two is enough. There will two riders in the back. You guys have killed lots of people in the canyons, everyone is scared shitless. Stay the hell away. I will open the communication in the earpiece once we start phase two."
"I can kill more than two!"
"Just do the necessary. It's more important we get to the next steps"
"Ok"
"Ok"
"I will be listening to your earthing. I will wait for you to tell me to approach"
"Earpiece. You will be able to hear me the whole time. Just don't talk to me before I signal you. Ok?"
"Ok."
"Right. And next?"
"I will wait for you to make contact once you leave".
"Yep. Let's see where your tags will take us".
"Are you sure you don't want me to follow you?"
"I'm sure. You will be carrying explosives. Find a secure spot for them, close to the location you will attack us, and stay hidden. Well hidden. If there are people like you coming to get those slaves, they could be anywhere."
The Kid looked at her with a patronizing glare, well Biden by his mask.
"Ok, earpiece on"
Ho'kan shook his head and placed it in his ear. She gave him the transmissor, placing her own piece next.
"This is such archaic technology".
"Next time you bring your toys! Are you hearing me?"
"Yes".
"Loud and clear?"
"Yesss".
"Nice. It will take around two hours to get close to you. Remember, don't try to understand me. Pay attention to my tone".
Because Ho'kan couldn't understand her and vice versa. Ideally she would only open comms close to his location, but leaving the anxious kid in the dark could be too much for his nerves.
She had managed to convince him to join her, it was better not push her luck.
"Are you sure the timer is going to work?"
The Lid had explained they had small bombs with timers, adapted for hunting purposes, that would went off upon setting. Yeah, it would work like a timer.
Asher had left some material (just in case) but no timer mechanism that would fit their purposes.
They would need to bank on the strength of the explosion setting off the entirety of the explosives. A bomb, just not a proper one.
"My toys are better than yours", the tone was flat, but she was positive he was making fun of her.
XXX
The siblings agreed that physical violence among them would probably get the two Lunatics (somewhere out there) killed. Because… you know, Bad Bloods and all that shit. The fast the brothers got to them, the better.
But as it happens, they didn't reach an agreement fast enough, some punches had been thrown. But hey, no deaths, only injuries.
If violent silence could kill, Lar'jar and all his descendants would be gone by now.
XXX
All humans were piled up in 3 chambers at the Yautja ship. Sabrina, somewhat acclimated to the possibility of being dead, was still quite dutiful on her tasks.
But her jealous and entitled nature had the opportunity to read its ugly head once she realized how 'comfy' Sila was. Alone in 'her' room.
XXX
One thing Lance knew: once the shitshow started, bullets would fly everywhere.
Blessed be that shoulder cannon: with a single shot Ho'Kan blew the left front wheel, and part of the rig's chassis.
The Girl jumped from her motorcycle, seeking cover, screaming in the convoy open channel.
Next she knew, the cacophony of shots was preventing anyone from actually understanding what was being communicated. Which enhanced panic. Which enhanced shots.
Staydownstaydownstaydown! Come on kid! Downdowndowndown…
XXX
The siblings were pinging Ho'kan like crazy for the last 3 hours or so. Yeah, he had deactivated the tracker on his mask. Because fuck the police.
But he had delivered the explosives already.
And truth to be told, he was actually surprised with how… well it all went. Kinda.
He didn't know how the crazy died down, but Lance was screaming her lungs off the whole time, sounding quite pissed and not panicked. It took more than half an hour for her to call his name.
The only thing he could actually understand of her language, and couldn't be confused with most English words.
When he got there, he knew what to expect. The rig in the middle of the way. 3 people guarding it, Lance being one of them.
Invisible and silent, Ho'kan took one after the other, quickly and efficiently.
Killing machine born in stealth mode, indeed.
Lance went inside the ruined rig, locked the four slaves left behind and got the container with the drugs. Those had to be refrigerated and had a shelf life of only 2 weeks once the seal was open, so there were dozens of ampoules heavily refrigerated.
There was an absurd amount of liquid nitrogen there. Lance handed the 4 of the 6 cylinders, opened the protective outer shells, leaving the inner cylinder on the ground. The outer shells were then filled with plastic explosives, reassembled to look like proper nitrogen was still stuffed inside, and placed back in the refrigerated container.
"Looks new!", she was talking to herself. Ho'kan kinda wanted to ask, but didn't.
"Are you sure this is going to work?"
"If your timer works, yup! Don't forget to take those with you. Discard them away from here, and if they start to leak, just throw them anywhere. That stuff is dangerous. It will frostbite you in no time".
"Alright. You really don't want me to follow you back?"
Stalking. A second nature.
"No, stay under the radar and away from me. You will be hearing me the whole time. It will take some hours, though. If you get tired of waiting out here, go back to the safe house".
He shook his head, equal parts anxious about the two brothers already pinging him and the safety of that tiny ooman.
He stayed somewhat close until the other oomans came back.
As she had predicted, there were not enough motorcycles to transport all girls plus drugs at once. The mercenaries opted for delivering the product they were being paid to deliver first. If something else happened during the trip, at least 10 slaves made it to their destination.
As Lance predicted, telling the group the other two deserted the convoy out of fear had worked just fine.
Ho'kan had killed 3 mercenaries (just to prove a point) and another 2 had died to friendly fire.
(Friendly fire was the exact reason Lance jumped away so fast. Panicked people made shitty decisions with guns in their hands).
The Convoy was now down to 9 mercs before the Yautja killed the 2 who stayed behind with Lance, guarding the remaining slaves.
When the seven oomans started to head back to Pike tradepoint, the Kid's conscience was already weighing a ton.
"You motherfucker, where the hell are you?"
One would think Ah'kaedh would be screaming profanities as an open line, but no. That was Lar'jar, pissed out of his mind.
"The canyons?", Ho'kan blurted.
"Turn on you fucking tracker! I thought I had killed you, you fucking irresponsible kid!"
Ok, he kinda deserved that.
"Ho'kan, you are at least two hours away. Report " the Enforcer snarled. Ah'kaedh's cold fury could be felt across the galaxy. The Kid's brain was lowkey frostbitten by it.
"We are alive, no injuries. If everything goes according to plan, in 8 hours the Bad Boods vessel will drop the stealth".
XXX
The last step on Lance's plan: drop a tag on her employer.
"I got word from my client, all 14 slaves were delivered almost intact. Well done", Rafaele spoke to the remaining 7 mercs, relieved for the next 3 generations of brokers in his family.
"We were attacked on the way", it was all one of the guys said. No need to explain the whole ordeal, especially when some deaths were due to their own carelessness and panic.
"I understand the vehicle had to be left behind?"
Debriefings. Useful, but gruesome, specially after an experience like theirs. Nerves rightfully wrecked, bodies aching from the chaos and tension they had just been subjected to.
(On top of that, debriefs could take hours).
Lance paid attention, tried to participate a tad, while looking for a way to place the damn tag. That broken was an icebox. The answer was appeal to bullshitting.
After dismissing them, the Girl approached them, a serious expression plastered over her face.
"Genovese?"
The man just glanced over her.
"I didn't want to mention it with the others around, but this fell from the drug container…"
The man's face fell.
"I'm positive it's a piece from the locking mechanism".
"Oh God…"
"Genovese, I would not worry much, it won't affect the product inside".
"How do you even know this?"
"I work for Charlie. I know my way around those things".
She saw relief creep up his face.
"After the incident, we went to check the items inside. Since I noticed the drug box was flipped, I went ahead and checked if nothing was leaking".
The box had indeed flipped, and she did look inside, in front of others. It was not part of the show - Lance had to be sure everything was intent, or at least make everyone believe it was.
The box had been fine, but since she didn't find a way to approach Rafaelle physically to tag him, well… she needed a way to make him carry the tag on his own volition.
"Ok. Do you think I should notify the client?", the man applied as much tranquility he could into his voice.
Lance could understand his reactions, since, you know, dealing with Predators would probably make him have a heart attack before 55 (but had she not know, she would believe Mr. Genovese completely unfit for the Broker role).
"Nah. I doubt they will notice and it won't affect the product. But I do think you should talk to the provider. Show them this, and if they can't offer you a guarantee the next ones will hold, I would look for someone new. This box is fine, but who knows if the next will be? The car didn't even flip over."
What she meant: if the slaves were fine, the box, which was intendente to hold off impact, should also be.
That surely clicked. Yeah, she could see the gears turning in the guy's head. Rafaelle pocketed the tag that was not bigger than a shirt's button.
"Thank you, Miss Frost".
The Girl nodded.
"I hope to hear from you soon", and with a nod, she spun on her heels, walking away.
XXX
The Girl was not tagged. Lar'jar convinced the two other males to wait at her home, per her earlier suggestion to Ho'kan.
"She's on her way", he announced once he heard her sing-song his name 3 times.
the Kid went straight to his gauntlet, checking the tracker. Yeah… she tagged something or someone.
A deep breath. Nax .
Ah'kaedh looked like a glacier, but Lar'jar knew better. The guy was nervous.
The kid had shown them where all the traps were, and went to get the communication equipment. The kid now knew how important her job was to her. If they wanted to convince her to move, kidnapping the communication paraphernalia sounded like a good idea.
And Lar'jar? The Medic went to town. He was turning the whole Black Ops safe house upside down.
XXX
The Girl had finally arrived in the city. She changed cars, now driving the one she had been using for the past couple weeks. Properly tagged. She alerted Ho'kan again, as she said she would, when she got closer to home.
"What is she doing?" The Young Blood chuckled.
"Hun?" Lar'jar placed a tablet on the side, one she had properly hacked into and had just downloaded all its contents.
"She's… singing? Saying words with some cadence to them, singing".
Singing: sounds straightforward, but when your biology is so different that you can factor in purring and a pair of mandibles clicking…
Ah'kaedh wanted to laugh, but he also felt a pang of jealousy. He tried to imagine how she would tell him about her last adventure.
Don't look so worried. I just stuffed a box with a bunch of explosives.
Yeah, that sounded about right.
XXX
The Yautjas were growing anxious by the minute, each due to their own circumstances.
But it was Ho'kan, who had been sitting in a relaxed manner, who broke the peace.
By jumping from his spot, tense and fumbling with his wrist gauntlet.
"Speak, creature!" Lar'jar shouted.
"Find the car tag. Something just happened"
"What? What did you hear?"
"Shots"
XXX
Not being able to communicate would not factor in this specific situation. Lance was so freaking relieved by the night success, that she forgot the first thing about undercover assignments: never let your guard down.
When she came to, there was a car paired on her left.
"Jesus fucking Christ!", she shouted.
(Somewhere , not very far from there, Ho'kan jumped to his feet. Her tone… something was definitely not right).
You see, Charlie had been quite explicit: he wanted her alive. However, after some guys working on her bounty were sent off into early graves, well… alive surely didn't mean totally unharmed, right?
Of course, shooting was not their intention. But how could they know she had just survived a fucking contract, and weeks ago a criminal family was digging her heels?
They just meant to threaten her into submission, make her pull the damn car. And all would be well. Another payment made to their accounts.
But Lance was not a mere merc. She was a Black Ops agent - being captured was not in the cards. Not if she could avoid it, anyway.
Hers was the first shot. Of many.
XXX
When the Yautjas reached the car, she wasn't there. Both vehicles crashed in a wall, almost side by side, in a quasi-desertic intersection in the industrial area of the city.
Another 15 minutes and Lance would have been back in the house, safe, miraculously unharmed after toying hard with her luck.
Well, luck toyed back.
Ah'kaedh found her two blocks away, in an alley, tucked between two dumpsters. Lar'jar was right behind. The blood trail, he knew, was a terrible sign.
Barely breathing, the Girl was losing awareness of her body, uncertain of her surroundings.
She barely had energy to hold her pistol, and she couldn't remember if there were bullets left.
You are supposed to keep count, Lance…
Who had said that? Was it her own inner voice? Or dad? Or Mauler… or…
Her eyesight, it was not exactly fading. The focus was there, but she didn't had the energy to sort the images.
Black scales, large talons, eyes like molten magma. She knew those. Once upon a time, so many decades ago…
XXX
There was a explosion, alright. The AI mainframe of the Yautja vessel registered when another vessel fell into their radar.
They were not the only ones. The human's surveillance did too. Already aware of the wreckage, they were a bit more cautious, and voilà'!
Less than half a light day away. Unfortunately (well, Ah'kaedh was a pool of unaddressed fury, maybe not so unfortunately) it didn't kill the whole crew - just those in close proximity. But it sure damaged the ship. They would have no choice but choose one planet to stop on, or crash soon.
XXX
Lar'jar was doing his best, and it was not enough.
The Girl had lost an obscene amount of blood. She was barely alive and now fighting an infection on her wounds.
Transfusions were not possible: one thing the Medic had learned in the past few days was about the different types of blood. He was able to emulate those, and why was he even surprised: hers didn't match the other's.
With a high fever cooking her witt, the agent was barely able to stay awake or not get caught in delirium.
And on top of it all, get Ah'kaedh to agree to anything was harder than getting a star to cool the fuck down.
His recent stunt surely didn't improve the ability of his younger brother to trust his judgment.
Ah'kaedh on his side, had conscience that Lar'jar was not responsible for the shooting, but… he felt like shielding her of whatever outside interference was the only thing he could actually do.
(Convincing the Enforcer that stabbing her chest was actually a valid form of treatment upon finding her with a collapsed lung… was a miracle Lar'jar didn't dare to hope repeating).
But…
"Brother, she is not getting better".
Silence. And violence. That was just this far to become very real and physical.
"Ah'kaedh".
Nothing.
"Not talking with me won't help her. Actually the opposite ".
"What the hell do you want? You already informed me she is dying".
Well, yes, that he did.
"Well, there is an… option. Of sorts".
The Enforcer was sitting by the side of her bed holding her hand. In the past he had often pictured how that could be, and now he really wished he had never even tried.
"Lar'jar, I don't have the tolerance or the time for your games. You either say it or not. I don't have an ounce of patience for you right now".
Paya, that's… not good .
For a time Lar'jar tried to pull his brother out of his shell, while he was in that unbalanced, enraged stated.
Well, that would be it.
And it was way worse than an introverted beast.
Now it was not the sense of a mean carnivore stalking prey. Ah'kaedh was famished, ready to feed on violence.
"It's not unheard of, but there is hardly any official records of feeding our blood to oomans. It supposedly… helps. But the reports on it are inconsistent, and some of those point to a decline before any positive effects start to show".
"She might die."
"There is a fair chance."
"What are the chances of her dying if we don't do anything".
"Significant. The point is, I can't tell which option is more dangerous. What I can tell… is that I don't have other options. She either pulls through on her own, or we try it".
Ah'kaedh noded. And turned his back to him. He rested his paw against her burning face.
XXX
For the next hours (how many, the Enforcer was not aware) he tried to unsuccessfully set aside his inner turmoil.
Making decisions when all you could picture was loss… was a terrible thing.
There was a kid alone in a forest, only a breadcrumbs trail to follow… but to where? And for what?
Behind, somewhere in the dark, a house made of sweets, impossible to keep. No one can live in such a house. Sounds nice, yes, but… sugar doesn't make good walls.
Move on.
She was Lunatic to the end. There was not a single fiber in his entire being that had not been utterly furious by the lack of self preservation that tiny thing had.
And yet…
Somewhere out there, a bomb went off.
"Hard to believe that something so small can be so brave", he murmured, knowing she wouldn't answer. Because she couldn't hear.
She would surely say something outrageous. If she had a voice. If she could see him.
If her body was not in such a state, staying awake wasn't a heavy chore.
(And even awake, her mind was broken by delirium. High fever and alien medicine).
I need to get you out. You are getting out.
He could remember her saying it. And now he could understand it. Really, really understand it. Because he needed to get her out.
Maybe that was his answer. Or rather, that was what she would do in his place.
XXX
Lar'jar had wanted to make it a controlled process, but Ah'kaedh insisted he hooked a direct transfusion.
Bright green merging in deep red.
XXX
Jesus, i'm going to die…
Before…The Girl was fluctuating in a sea of tiredness. She didn't like it. It was hard to stay afloat, to breathe.
But she was getting used to it. To the heaviness of it. She could sink or keep trying… head above water and all that.
But the tide turned, and now everything was spiraling. Swirling. No way to stay above it. Hell she could even let go and drown… It was like being dragged by centripetal force. And whatever was in the middle… would not let go.
She had no choice. Drowning or not. Living or not. Her only way out was through.