Disclaimer: You know the drill. Chapter 1 Yadi Yada

As an FYI: I do read reviews, most of the time. I didn't update my profile. Quite frankly I have no idea what to write or want to remain an enigma hmmmm…Yes, the latter sounds better. Also if you want to tell me that something is stupid knock yourself out, just make it constructive. I will take it under consideration and politely ignore it (kidding). I'm not made out of glass and will not break. Of course when I get positives that's even better. If you don't want to review no biggy. But, I will find you.

GH thanks for reminding me about the sentence and capital letters. I did that only on the quotes. I guess I wanted to avoid formality, but I can see how it can be confusing. So will do better (I hope). Might get worst ;)

This is the most I've written outside of the story :) Speaking of which, I did change the format a bit. Might do that more later on.

Chapter 5: Dilemmas & Decisions

He has seen few creatures to come so close within the gates of the great beyond and yet never reach it, only to graze the steps and return unscathed. It was rare for a mortal to come into such proximity as to have its exposed countenance tickled by the Kainde Amedha's breath and survive to tell the tale of its stench. To have fallen into the embrace of a being twice its size and savagery and not meet the final bpi-de was miraculous.

The Pyode Amedha refused to abdicate her right to live and surrender to feebleness was a testament of a true and blessed warrior. The female was bestowed with a fleeting moment of hesitation the Kainde Amedha rarely gives. A brazen instant to bellow it's roar has cost the Kainde Amedha its vitality and secured the Ooman's victory. He came to a single mind that perhaps Paya favors the female and gives her patronage. Only one blessed with such guardianship was to stay among the living, when so easily could meet its death.

Then she did what Oomans hardly ever do; removed the syra'yte. She did not take it, possibly to return for it later or perhaps to just leave her mark. She did however, take the tail. She used the furnace and water to clean the tissue and acid off exposing the fine-looking alabaster cartilage. Some Oomans collected trophies and proudly displayed them in their dwellings, yet the custom was scarce since space ventures seemed to demand a large portion of their existence. This fostering of a proud Yautia practice was a welcome sight.

He settled his gaze on the Ooman. She was crouched, resting her body on her calves staring at the locked Kainde Amedha. Her elbows rested on her knees and her hands limply sagged in front. She was surprisingly quite for the first time. Her eyes were transfixed on the black figure which was unable to return such gesture. The Ooman was still heaving obviously shaken. He was intrigued, not only because such a small creature was so determined, but also because she has deciphered a solution under duress and with no time to plan.

The notion of a battle thrilled his warrior spirit. He wanted to engage the sain'ja to a dtai'kai'-dte, but experienced one of his own. The Ooman was female and usually females of many species were not hunted due to their potential of providing offspring. Offspring from strong females could be equally dangerous supplying possible worthy future opponents. Females in his society were also regarded highly.

Hunting meant many things to different males. For him hunting was a matter of yin'tekai, responsibility to his clan and species. It was a cultivated tradition. However, it was not always the case with others. Even his two closest meh'sweis had different outlook at the base practice. Kai di'chak did it because he relished the challenge, power he held over the challenger and the status that came with victory. Steg'syra delighted in excitement and females that came with the acquired trophies. And then there were others driven by additional notions, but a lot of those drifted back to the female acquisition goal.

Yautia females choose to mate with the males that appear to have the best genes. Trophies, scars, spars or battles between males were verifications of fecundity, and increased the chances of their offspring's survival and success. Females that produced the more accomplishment members of the society, which was always translated to best hunters and most proficient females, were measured with status and respect. The more accomplished females, usually those that already provided worthy offspring, were granted their first choice of males. All to increase the chances of healthier, hereditarily better equipped members of Yautia future clans.

Their females subjugated the mating rules. They decided where, who and when. Males had the right to reject a female, but none would reject one that had the first choice. She was usually the hardest to acquire and therefore guaranteed the highest honor and in turn future choice of females. Yautia females were often not driven by the carnal need, but rather the reproductive need, keeping their ranks strong. In many cases males not worthy enough to mate would never get a chance. Not that they were not allowed, but their choices were scarce. No female would ever choose to mate with a male if there was a stronger, worthier more vigorous male available. Unlike their females Yautia males were not driven by only a need for reproduction, the excess energy was often unchained in hunts, training and battles. If males were of equal status, then females took other objectives under consideration. Often it was the male's appearance. Unfortunately for him that almost always pushed Steg'syra and Kai di'chak ahead of him.

He shook his head to disperse the derailed thoughts and in turn focus on matter at hand; the Ooman female. The Yautia's mating rituals and structure were clear, but Ooman reproduction rituals were mostly unknown. What the Yautia did know was that they reproduced often and nearly everyone did so. How the females chose their partners was an unexpurgated mystery. He heard of tests and studies performed, but he never found interest in such notions. He only knew that even though they there was no biological selectivity visible on the surface they had many young and somehow they were also evolving. Their expansion in space was an ample proof of that. The hunters did not mind the evolution of a race that provided a greater challenge, but progress of a race that had no evident mating structure was baffling.

Here was where his dilemma seeded. There was no guarantee, as it would have been with a Yautia female that the Ooman would choose a worthy male for reproduction and in turn provide a fine specimen for future hunts. The trophy of such a worthy opponent might be a much better contribution to his and furthermore his clan's status. His impasse was centered between the need and contributions provided through a hunt, and the need and preservation of a worthy female. However, since the Ooman was hulij-bpe the possibility of her actually choosing a proper mate was undetermined.

He could not engage the female in a battle. He decided she was more of an asset alive. He has learned much this day, and once again was proven that soft meet beyond appearance should not be taken lightly. He had no doubt that he could easily kill her and take the trophy, but could not, unless the female would attack. If she presents a challenge he will reciprocate.

In such a moment of accordance the female started once again uttering profanities. She put her palms on the side of her temples and started rubbing. Still looking at the locked Kainde Amedha she kept on repeating the word "fa'auck". He understood the word, but abandoned interpretation of what the female was saying or why? He already decided that her worlds and many actions are just absent reason.

After a therapeutic session of verbal lewdness, Joanna decided that staying here and using blaspheme like a drunk sailor is not going to open the gates of hell and send the black devil on its way. She decided to leave the Beelzebub's pet hound to its own demise. Probably killing it quickly instead of allowing it to slowly die of starvation, locked away in a reinforced box would have been more merciful, but then again ... fuck it. This soldier of army of darkness has sealed it's faith when, with its posse, it tried to turn her into human chowder.

"Se la vie motherfucker" she said with a nod announcing the fact that she has made a decision. Since that was settled the next part to resolve was where she should go.

She could follow Weiss and the rest of the A-Team to engineering, but judging from the rapid fire she briefly heard on the com, it would result in inviting trouble. And you can say Marvel's middle name was not "trouble" or "danger". It was actually Karen, and Karen used sound judgment and gift for safeguarding. Engineering was far from safe and without doubt will be hard for "self-guarding".

Tina Turner could sing all she wanted about needing a hero, but this soldier was signing out of that volunteer list. Since deciding that she was not one of the X-men the priority at this juncture was to get as far away as she could. The furthest would be off this hell hole and into deep space. To accomplish a successful getaway plan she needed to get to the transport that currently was located on the tarmac near the hanger. Her com was down due to some unfortunate "acid problem" so she could only hope the shuttle was still there. She could use the facilities announcement system to let whom ever was still alive know of her plans, but she wondered if it would be a good idea to announce it to the entire planet. Those black carnies might actually understand her. It was doubtful, but Joanna was tired of surprises. Perhaps she will broadcast it right before departure. It was impossible to get a response since her com was trash.

Important part of the agenda was still a setback: the obsidian creatures.

These Frantz Kafka's and Hieronymus Bosh's collective creations were probably standing right behind the next corner, waiting for her dumbass to stroll right in for a little afternoon carnage. No more of this "things don't look so bad" or "maybe they have welcoming intentions". She was sure that the white creepy-crawlers and the black personification of the grim reaper were connected and they were not here to roll in the red carpet. Marvel came to a conclusion that these things were vicious, multiple and she had to avoid them. The doors were not the way to go. That would probably result in running into those creatures sooner or later and neither sooner nor later worked for her. What ever, or how ever things went wrong in Bumfuck Egipt it spread like a bad rash and if 114 colonist could not handle it neither could she. Creative thinking was in order and fast. She looked all around waging the non existent alternatives and sighted dejected...but then ...

"Vents"

"Joanna you are a genius" she said, giving herself a mental pat on the back. The black creatures were too big to fit in those. They would also be slowed down by the closed doors on the way, if they followed her on the ground waiting for Joanna to hop out. Sure they can break through the vents, but if she kept it quiet and kept moving she might outmaneuver them.

Come to think of it quiet was not enough. Without eyes these things could probably hear like a bat. Joanna had thought of a solution to that. She turned on the first music file she found in the computer, cranked up the decibel level to just enough to hear her own thoughts, and activated the announcement system.

The music sucked. Whoever listened to this should be shot, but then again he or she probably was dead. She wasn't sure if it even was music or just random sounds of a broken boiler and butchered pigs. For a minute she actually considered turning it off and getting slaughtered instead. She had to admit the "music" provided some distraction in more ways then one. The hideous beetles would have an impossible time finding the source because it was on full on assault throughout the colony. It was settled the "music" stayed on.

He never spend such volume of time observing pray. Usually he would watch it, stalk it, sometimes taunt it and strike. It was always simple, even when hunting Oomans. He was there to get a trophy and yin'tekai. He has always been a sain'ja rather than hult'ah. This was not his element. Perhaps if not charged with a scouting commission he would never give himself time to explore the perplexity of the Ooman behavior.

He could not help wonder what would his closest mei'hswei do if one of them was here instead of him. He never took cue from neither, but he could not help, but speculate. Setg'syra will be trilled with the video feed from his mask and he also knew that no matter what his mission was Setg'syra would forget all about it, and follow the female if it was Setg'syra here instead of him. His mei'hswei was not an observing type either, but he would be entertained to no end. Mostly due to the Ooman's intriguing survival ability, but also because she was female. He has seen Ooman females before, however brief, but he knew that the much younger Setg'syra most likely has not and that fact alone would have deterred him from the mission.

On the contrary if Kai Di'chak was given the opportunity to gather information on the Ooman settlement all Pyode Amedhas would have been a long time dead. Kai Di'chak would not dishonor himself, but he had low tolerance of the Ooman variety. He has always described them as good for one thing fools.

For this very reason the elder has decided to give the task to him. He would not rush nor defer the commission entrusted to him. The contemplation was interrupted by an earsplitting sound. It had a beat of drums and some other inexplicable noises. The racket was unbearable. It would attract every Kainde Amedha in the entire ooman facility. Would she be so reckless as to bring the herd of Kainde Amedhas into a battle? She survived so far, but tantalize good fortune would end with the ooman's inevitable thei-de. He has never seen an Ooman bring death and battle so willingly and haphazardly, but then again this one was far from typical.

The loud burner shots ended the hunter's suppositions and he noticed the female was shooting a wall. What is she doing now?

She drew a quick escape rout on her forearm or rather around her forearm. It was more extensive than the space her small limb provided. However, Joanna knew she definitely does not want to get lost in the ventilation channels. Even with the makeshift map it will be hard to translate to the vent system. However, she had no time to look for a system schematic. So this would have to do.

She glanced again at the locked beast and at the masterpiece of scattered bodies she so artistically placed. These bugs had a well-developed sense of smell. If they did not the pepper spray would have probably been useless. She needed to somehow disguise the scent she might be leaving behind, especially since she will be traveling in ducts that had a hatch every thirty feet or so. She decided covering herself in slobbering goo she found on one of her victims; after testing it didn't burn. And then she realized that the vent was quite high and she should have first thought how to find her way up there before she bathed in the rotting spit, but it was too late now.

She turned off the "music" to make a quick announcement: "Ladies and Gentlemen! This is your favorite Lieutenant speaking! Thank you for the welcoming on-boarding process, and if anyone is still listening I am heading to the tarmac to get my ass of this forsaken hole! If anyone is planning to tag along, see you there."

She turned the music file back on, turned on her heel and settled on making holes in the wall with her gun and using it for purchase to climb up. Then, Joanna slid the grill and started her rats journey. She was pleasantly surprised that inside the vent the sounds of slaughtering pigs was muffled and tolerable.

Frantz Kafka's (writer) and Hieronymus Bosh (artist) – I suggest googling it, if you don't know.

Translations:
bpi-de - end
sain'ja – warrior
hult'ah - observer
Kainde Amedha – hard meat
Pyode Amedha - human, soft meat
syra'yte – head
th'syra – skull
yin'tekai – honor
mei'hswei – brother
Hulij-bpe – crazy
dtai'kai'-dte - battle