Hunt again they did. Alien world after alien world; three more planets the Yautja group visited.
The hunting was grand, exhilarating; more than K'Shai could have imagined on her own. The planets they had visited were all in the same system, but they were as drastically different as the planets of Earth's own solar system. They had already visited a world of black rock and a world of jungle and dinosaurs; afterwards they had hunted hard-shelled creatures like giant scorpions in a dusty sand terrain so barren and dry it was a wonder how anything could call it home.
The next world the Yautja pack migrated to was rich and lush, but not green. Everything on the planet was a shade of brown that could have easily been mistaken for dead life all around them, but as the hunting pack sought out large snake-like creatures that blended into the tree trunks, mimicking them so perfectly it wasn't until they moved that K'Shai even realized they were alive, she realized most of the planet existed in much the same way.
Nearly everything on the brown-colored world was snakey and alive; even the brown bladed of grass had a leathery feel, and the grass did not just sway in the breeze; it slithered.
It was the strangest world they had been to, and the prey was certainly excellent hunting, but it was also exhausting. K'Shai trudged through mud with the pack on the next mossy planet and felt like her skin was going to simply slough off after they spent days with barely any dry ground at all. If not for R'chnt having helped to elevate her into a tree to rest upon a branch there was no way she could have climbed to herself, she would not have had any moments out of the muddy muck at all.
Of course, the rain did not help at all, so either way, the planet had set itself against the Yautja from every angle. The prey, oddly dolphin-like animals that only seemed huntable when they were leaping out of the mud to try to get a meal of their own, were exhausting and easily one of the most challenging she had yet encountered. The creatures could leap and lunge towards their intended target with scary agility and speed, not to mention the deadly sharp spikes that protruded from every direction when the animal broke the surface that made them as difficult to hunt and kill as any kainde amehda.
By the time she had returned to the ship, she felt a flashback to what seemed like a long-distant memory; the need for a long hot shower. She was filthy, with dirt caked under her finger and toenails so deeply embedded into every wrinkle and fold in her body she thought it might never come out.
"K'Shai," R'chnt announced in his typically robust voice, "come clean your prey, sharpen your blades."
"No!" She snapped unwarrantedly at him, causing the half a dozen others in the room to stop what they were doing for a moment and ping-pong their eyes between the two.
"I am going to clean myself first! I'll do this later."
She trodded away not even spending a moment of her thoughts considering what had prompted her to speak to R'chnt in such a way. She slunk into their quarters and found her way to the shower, not caring for a moment about leaving a dirty trail of armor and leather garments on the floor behind her. The hot water felt amazing against her skin, and helped her to relax just enough to realize how utterly sick she felt. She had never been so exhausted and weak before that she could recall; not even when fleeing from the hard meat on Earth for days and nights at a time.
Without warning, K'Shai curled over and heaved again and again on the wash room floor. She barely could focus her tired eyes on the trail of vomit that made its way in the warm water stream that ran down to the drain. She didn't care. She slapped the controls to the water and grabbed a giant chamois-like towel; only halfway managing to dry herself before she had thumped into bed without a thought in her mind.
"K'Shai," she heard fuzzily. "K'Shai…"
R'chnt's voice repeated again and again, softly, warmly.
As she became more aware of his presence, she felt his excessively warm grip on her skin as he stroked her shoulder and held her upper arm. She tried to focus her eyes and glanced around. She was dry, splayed out across the entire bed, with the sheets not anywhere close to covering her body. She was roasting hot, and his touch somehow seemed to be even warmer than normal.
"What's wrong?" She asked hazily.
R'chnt clicked at her, somewhere between a reassuring purr and a concerned growl.
"You should eat." He said with more of a questioning tone than a statement, as if he was trying to figure out exactly how he should be approaching her at the moment.
"No, I'm not hungry," she snapped without hesitation.
"I'm tired and I just want to sleep."
"K'Shai, you have been asleep for three rotations…. You must…"
"What?!" She gasped with alarm and tried to sit up far too quickly, felt dizzy from the sudden movement and tumbled back against the bed again.
"I've been asleep for that long?" She groaned, covering her eyes with her palms as if it might help keep her eyeballs from spinning in their sockets. Even with them there, the room seemed to spin endlessly.
"We are nearly to the next hunting world… You should eat so you have the strength." R"chnt informed as he gestured, unnoticed by her, to the tray of food next to the bed.
He had brought her fresh food for days, along with cold water, and each time had tried to wake her to eat, but each time she simply grumbled something incomprehensible and went back to sleep. She had not drank, eaten, or even urinated or defecated in rotations; and this was completely abnormal for her for sure.
He watched her body grow continually warmer with each passing day, and now she was extremely hot. She squirmed out from under his touch as if it was somehow causing her pain. She had staked out the bed, which he left all to herself. R'chnt did not dare try to move her, and he found it difficult to sleep with her in such a condition, so he simply sat and watched her from a chair next to the bed. He caught himself jarring awake from slumber, too; even he needed to sleep.
What food and drink she ignored, he would eat. He had cleaned her prey, prepared the meat and polished the trophies she had well earned. He displayed them in their quarters in a temporary case just until they returned to the homeworld where they would be displayed properly. He cleaned her armor, repaired the damages, and tended to the injuries on her body; now just bruises.
The wet conditions of the most recent hunting world had taken a toll on K'Shai's skin, body, and apparent attitude as well.
He had left her to sleep, but now they were drawing near to the hunting planet. The hunt was far from over, and the pack was still in the middle of the blood lust for the hunt. They would return to the homeworld next breeding season with trophies fit to draw in mates, and scars and stories to impress all. R'chnt glanced down to his wounded leg; a deep cut just above the top of the shin guards when one of the piercing spikes from the recent prey seared into him at a lucky angle.
K'Shai had gotten injured from the hunt as well, but mostly bruises. He had double; even triple checked her skin for tears and rips and found none deep enough to warrant concern. Her skin was weak and soft from too much dampness and bore scrapes that had been easily treated with ointment to prevent infection and promote healing. Indeed, the wounds, he confirmed as he surveyed her once again, were healing quite nicely, and dry as well.
R'chnt grumbled and paced along side the bed as he watched his mate turn and fuss and try to fall asleep again.
"K'Shai!" He commanded again. "You must eat. Gain your strength back or you will have none for the hunt. We are only hours from…."
"I am not hungry, and I am not going on this hunt!" She retorted sharply.
"I'm tired, just let me sleep. I don't want anything to eat, I just want to sleep. The room is spinning. I can't wait to land. I think I'm space sick." She groaned and rolled over and fussed with the pillows and tried again to force her body in a halfway comfortable position.
"I can feel the ship moving, the engines whirring.! Ugh!"
With that, K'Shai quieted down. R'chnt did not respond, he simply watched her for a while longer and then when she was solidly back asleep, he strode over to the computer panel and sat before it, back to the massive windows as the stars whizzed by. He tapped on the controls to the computer console and awaited a reply; and waited… and waited.
"R'chnt…" the voice said in a humble greeting as the monitor blinked to life. A high-pitched whimper echoed immediately after and the voice continued in a casual fashion.
"What is it you require, Honored Leader?" L'ruch questioned adding in the last two words as though it was an afterthought, and judging by R'chnt's displeased growl, he had clearly noticed.
"I want you to respond far faster when I summon you." R'chnt responded with a harsh voice that caused L'ruch to bow his white-crested head submissively; some new beaded adornments in his locks and brow tinkling together as he did so.
"Something is wrong with K'Shai?" L'ruch stated with only a hint of a questioning tone.
"She is not right," R'chnt confirmed immediately.
L'ruch's voice pitched high in consideration. When is she ever right, he thought, but wisely, he kept that particular question to himself; still the idea of what R'chnt's face would look like had he asked amused him for a micro-second before he got down to business.
"What is ailing her?" He asked quickly.
"Isn't that what you are supposed to tell me!?" R'chnt demanded, with no interest, or time, for the healer's unusual nature.
L'ruch shook his head, quickly enough to let R'chnt know he had misunderstood the question, but dared not to shake his head too long as to imply that R'chnt had given an unintelligent answer back.
"What are her symptoms?" L'ruch asked slowly, feigning a bad connection.
"She is tired, weak, has not eaten in days, irritable, and hot."
L'ruch hummed and whimpered as he thought about it. Each new issue with K'Shai was a medical lesson for him; a chance to grown his own experience, however useless human medicine might actually be, but it was an intellectual puzzle all the same. He had a chance to impress an Honored Elder Leader, and that was a very good thing to have behind you. On the other hand, if he failed in his efforts, he knew than an angry Honored Elder Leader was a very very bad thing to have behind you.
Tired, weak, irritable, and hot, L'ruch thought quietly. Vague symptoms that sounded pretty much like every other hunter who returned back home from a long hunt. The fact that she had not eaten in days, was of concern, along with R'chnt's further explanation that she had also been nearly unconscious for those days. Fact was, he had no idea what was wrong with K'Shai.
She was human, and try as she might, she did not belong with the Yautja or living a hunter's life. Why this little fact seemed incomprehensible to both R'chnt and K'Shai was the real mystery to L'ruch, and he idly entertained that particular notion in his mind for a fraction of a second. R'chnt's deep growl let him know the Elder's patience was being heavily tested.
Two things were very obvious from R'chnt's face. One was that he was very much concerned for K'Shai; not really a surprise considering the Leader had given up his own blood to once attempt to save her life, which had, amazingly, actually worked. The other obvious thing was that R'chnt was expecting an immediate, knowledgeable, and correct answer, so L'ruch jumped to the obvious.
"She has an infection, R'chnt. You should give her an injection of anti-serum to clear it from her."
R"chnt shook his head, long enough to let L'ruch know he was implying the response was unintelligent, and he did not care.
"She had one already."
"When?" L'ruch questioned.
R'chnt waived his hand dismissively. "Just after our second hunt; she had some deep gashes."
L'ruch tempted fate by shaking his head. The battle lines of unintelligent were clearly drawn.
"Leader," he started politely to help take away from the head gesture, "she may need another serum. It will cause her no harm. Give her another; she likely has an infection."
R'chnt nodded. "Yes, then, I will do that and if I need you again, be sure to respond promptly."
With that, R'chnt cut off communication, not even bothering to notice that the healer dropped his head in obedience. It was his place after all, and R'chnt had no time for this. He took a full syringe and injected it into K'Shai's thigh; she did not even grimace or moan or appear to notice or wake up at all when the large needle went into her body.
He waited by her side throughout the next several hours before she finally stirred, this time with a clearer sounding hum in her voice. He could immediately tell just by how she turned over in bed and shifted into an upright position that she was clearer headed, stronger.
"Ooohhh," K'Shai groaned and rubbed her forehead, squeezing her eyes closed as she tried to orientate herself.
"K'Shai!" R'chnt announced with a boastful noise. "You are well!"
With a yawn, K'Shai righted herself up on the bed and looked about.
"I …. I guess… I do feel better."
"You should eat now. Regain your strength. You were ill, but you will heal."
He had stood and walked over to the platter of food, which he placed directly on the bed right next to K'Shai so she could reach it more easily, as if to prompt her to eat.
"Did you give me something?"
R'chnt nodded. "Serum to help with infection. L'ruch said…."
"You contacted L'ruch for this?" K'Shai said with a satisfied and grateful smile.
R'chnt glanced to her quizzically, at first reacting as if she was offended as any hunter might well be for being viewed as so weak that they would need the help of a healer, especially one like L'ruch. However, K'Shai, thought she might be a huntress, was not Yautja. It was her nature to provide medical help for every injury no matter how large or small, and just as she had once been grateful for his help saving her life, she again viewed him with an obvious look of gratitude on her face, and a chuckle in her throat.
She stood up and started towards the shower, but not before she plucked a fruit off the tray and bit into it.
"I guess this is becoming like a habit," she laughed lightly. "He must feel like an expert on human medicine by now."
R'chnt harrumphed, making K'Shai smile widely and she disappeared into the shower.
She emerged in a much better state, clean and more alert. R'chnt left her on her own to prepare the other, but not before saying at least three times that she too must join them. K'Shai had wrapped herself in a light blanket and curled into a chair near the window. With her knees tucked under her chin and a warm drink in her hand, fresh meats and fruits on a tray next to her, she had little intention of going anywhere.
She sat there staring at the moving stars for so long she lost track of time. It was the first time in days she felt good and rested, cool and clean, and could tolerate holding food down, and she had definitely intended to savor it.
Still, the echoing clinks of metal on metal from the kehrite, combined with the bellowing exclamations of the hunters sparring, rang through her head, and kept pulling her attention away. She supposed that perhaps she could at least go watch; maybe she would feel well enough doing just that to think about lightly sparring.
She knew they were nearing the hunt world. The males were just about finishing their pre-hunt release of pent-up energy. There was hardly time for her to commit to a full bout of training, but R'chnt had clearly expected her to at least show up.
She stood with a sigh, and talking mostly to the empty cup in her hands, she whispered, "well, I guess I better get out there sooner or later."
With that, she turned to head to the wardrobe in the bedroom where her nicely cleaned armor was stored. She made it about half a dozen steps away from that chair and immediately felt it again. Dizzy, nauseous; the room was spinning.
She groaned in discomfort and then sprinted into the bathroom, hunkering down over the drain as she once again emptied her stomach and intestines completely of anything and everything she had eaten or drunk in the last few hours.
Grappling at her tired and aching abdomen, she moaned to herself.
"I'm pregnant."
With some exertion she pulled herself up to her feet and cleaned herself and the shower floor, wondering if perhaps being in space while pregnant was creating so much sickness. All of a sudden again, she felt simply miserable. It was a good few hours, she thought as she slammed herself back down into the bed and laid there until R'chnt showed up.
"K'Shai, we are heading to the landing site. We will be ready for the hunt in a short while."
"R'chnt…" She moaned to him as she sat up.
"You will not be joining us." He said without question.
She shook her head. "No. I just can't. I'm too…"
"In child." He finished.
She eyed him widely. "How is it you know these things before even i do? I just figured it out myself. I guess I just didn't realize how much time passed without…"
Waving her hand dismissively in the air, she changed the subject.
"Nevermind. I'll be fine. I just need rest. I can just feel every little thing the ship does. It's very nauseating."
"We can give you more serum if you should need it," R'chnt assured. "We have plenty."
K'Shai laughed in amusement. "Well, I might need it!"
She reassured him though after a moment. "I'll be fine. It's nothing. I just can't wait until we land. Solid ground will do me well."
Turned out that landing did nothing to resolve her sickness. The ship had set down on a patch of idyllic looking land in broad daylight. Clearly whatever the intended hunt was on this world, R'chnt had no concern whatsoever about being seen. K'Shai watched the lush and bright green world come into closer and closer view. She felt the landing a little harder than usual, and wasn't so sure that it was the ship just landing roughly. Beautiful trees with leaves so green they looked like they were artificially colored and branches studded with puffy little pink and white flowers lined every inch of the area she could see.
Long after they had landed and she had her fill of resting curled up in the Yautja-sized chair in front of the windows, she decided to get up and see the world a bit closer.
She grimaced and sighed as she clamped her pained abdomen as she walked down the corridor and finally caught up to the males who were well prepped in their awu'asa ready for the hunt under the guide of their respected Leader. R'chnt tipped his head towards the doorway when K'Shai entered. Tall and mighty before her, she felt a rush of emotion as she looked him over. He was powerful, confident, deadly, and commanding.
There was no doubt, none whatsoever when he stood in full armor ready for the hunt, why he had lived so long and become the leader he had.
K'Shai's lips cracked a small smile. She was hardly ready for the hunt herself. Her body was barely clothed, save for a lightly silken robe that was more or less see-through-able, not that such things mattered. It was obvious to the hunting pack, if they did not already know for sure, that she was not going to be joining them on this particular hunt. The rest would do her well.
R'chnt nodded to her, a reassuring gesture that told her two things. First, he was acknowledging that she would be safe and content on the ship. Second; that she should remain there. However, when he nodded to Koo'ni-de to open the shuttle bay door, and turned to face the exit himself, K'Shai immediately caught a scent that captivated her.
She took a deep breath through her nose as the door opened fully and the shuttle bay filled the planet's fresh atmosphere. It wasn't simply fresh; the air smelled sweet. She had been to plenty of worlds free of pollution and the ill scents of whatever forms of life cultivated, built over, and destroyed their lands by now, but none of them smelled as sweet as this.
As the Yautja hunting pack departed, K'Shai approached the doorway. The hunters would be off tracking their prey almost immediately, but K'Shai followed them to the top of the ramp all the same. Again, the sweet smell that she couldn't quite place filled her nostrils. It was a scent of fruit, some kind of sweet familiar fruit, like strawberries perhaps, mixed together with an unmistakable scent of sweet honey.
Transfixed by the scent, drawn by it, K'Shai's feet took her down to the ramp and barefoot onto the mossy soft ground before she even realized what had happened. She glanced to her feet just long enough to absorb the sight of tiny little pink flowers that covered nearly every available inch between the tiny mossy leaves that covered the ground. The pink petals, so perfectly round and lightly dusty with something resembling the powder on a butterfly's wings, sparkled in the sunlight like jewels.
All around her were the most beautiful trees, flowered with white and pink and blue-hued petals and along the ground grew hedges and hedges of chest-high flowering bushes. Everything was so perfectly spaced and splayed out, including the massive oval landing area the ship had been set down in, that she had half a notion that the Yautja had landed in a botanical gardens.
The wilderness around her hardly looked wild at all. It looked maintained, idyllic and peaceful. The Yautja did not concern themselves with such things. Their large, padded feed stomped over the little flowers and tiny little bugs that flittered onto them in hopes of a meal, crushing all of it. R'chnt turned back towards the ship and broke the bird-chirping melody with a deep growl.
"K'Shai! Remain on the ship unless you are hunting!" He commanded.
She dared not disobey or dishonor him by remaining where she was. She immediately and without a word retreated into the shuttle bay and shut the door behind her. However beautiful and pristine the world was, she thought, there was still something out there worthy of an entire Yautja hunting pack to stalk, although it hardly seemed possible based solely on first impressions.
Her curiosity however, got the best of her some time after the hunters had gone. K'Shai had spent the last few hours pacing the ship, looking at her surroundings from every window and every angle and saw nothing but beautiful pristine land, fluffy little white creatures that looked like rabbits, and birds of all sizes fluttering and soaring around the skies.
By the time the sun began to set, streaking the sky with cotton-candy pastel clouds, K'Shai found herself sitting on the shuttle bay ramp, just listening to the sounds and observing the sights. She was not off the ship, after all. She just hoped the hunting party didn't find her dozing off and surprise her; or anything else for that matter.
It was pitch black outside when a rustling noise did startle her from some rest. She woke to find herself cradling her abdomen, painfully aware of how uncomfortable she was. However she focused the trees, trying to spy what was making the noise. It must have been some kind of animal, daring enough to approach the ship.
It sounded like it was rustling through leaves and sticks looking for a meal. None the less, K'Shai latched onto a sword she had brought with her; just in case whatever it was decided she was the meal.
She held her breath and sat motionless and mostly noiseless as she tried to stifle a groan from the pain and discomfort in her abdomen. She waited and waited, eyes focused intently on the darkness and trees before her. The rustling noise was getting closer, but she still could not see what the creature was, threat or prey. She suddenly realized she would have done a lot better had she bothered to bring her helmet with her.
Stupid, she thought. What would R'chnt say if he discovered that she had been sitting on the open ramp, which he had already told her not to do, and did it without her helmet to help her see. She winced at a little pain in her belly which distracted her thoughts just as the leaves finally broke. Torn between her stupidity, the pain in her abdomen, a sudden need to vomit, and wariness of her life in danger, K'Shai shuddered, then laughed at herself.
The animal that bounded out of the woodwork, something like a dog-sized rabbit seemed utterly stunned at the fact that something was there watching it. It looked up, large buck front teeth visible in the moonlight and surveyed the area. K'Shai held amusedly still for a half a moment as the threat to her life dwindled away. Then, she leapt up quickly, sending the rabbit scampering as quickly as possible back into the woods while she darted, equally as quickly as possible, to her quarters.
She barely made it back to the bathroom before she vomited severely and collapsed to the ground. Over and over, her pained abdomen emptied itself until she was too weak to stand up. K'Shai barely managed to creep along the bathroom floor, feeling only mildly better once her guts were completely vacated of anything and everything she had eaten in the last several hours.
She reached up, stretching as far as she could just to turn on the hot water and give her cold, sweaty, tired, shaking body a good rinse.
The hot water felt good and soothing on her skin and tired muscles. She let the water beat her on the abdomen and chest and face and flitted her eyelids against the flow as she looked around, feeling strong enough to stand. Slowly, K'Shai made her way back through the corridors, still trying to shake off a bit of nausea, but mostly feeling better. She halfway contemplated making a pit stop at the medical bay to get another dose of medication to help ward off any remaining discomfort, but her mind quickly shifted.
C'jit! She thought and hurried to the docking bay on the lower level, suddenly realizing that in her haste to get up to the bathroom, she left the damned bay door open.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, she cursed herself countless times before she finally made it to the shuttle bay and quickly surveyed the room, carefully eyeing it to see if anything had crawled, walked, flew, or otherwise come on board.
"Arrgh!" K'Shai growled to herself. In her haste and illness, she had left her damned helmet back in her chambers. K'Shai huffed sharply, an annoyed sigh as her abdomen once again kicked in pain. She was definitely pregnant, that much she knew by now, but the offspring inside her felt like it had been conceived with a spear in hand and was diligently learning to use it with no regard for her uterus or anything else.
She was feeling sick again, and as she watched the bay door close finally, scanning outside warily to see if R'chnt might have happened to have returned and caught her so foolishly making a silly mistake he had well warned her about, she decided she was sick of it and just wanted to go home.
K'Shai confirmed once again that as far as she could tell, there was no sign of anything in the shuttle bay with her, and she had not seen anything in any of the corridors on the way down, too. She vaguely thought about the notion that she had really no idea how long she had been asleep on the shower floor. When she had ran up to the bathroom in the first place, it was night. It was still night outside, but what did that mean, really?
It felt like only a few minutes that she was out, but it could have well been hours. Before she walked fully out of the shuttle bay, she did press a panel on the wall and brought up a chronometer. C'jit! She cursed to herself, feeling utterly annoyed and pained and ready to just pilot the ship back home.
She missed A'ryin'di and El'tude very much and been gone for so long, she imagined they must have doubled in size. It would seem odd and even disrespectful if she were to contact the mei'sa just to check up on her children.
That was totally abnormal behaviour for a Yautja, and if she did so, she very well could have put them in danger by implying to the mei'sa mothers that they were somehow incapable of looking after her human children. They just would not be able to understand that she just needed to know how her children were. She just missed them and missed home.
Seven hours. I can't believe I was out for seven hours. What the hell is wrong with me? Where is R'chnt. I just want to leave this damned planet.
Her mind churned as she traipsed back through the ship all the way to the control room as if she really was going to just leave R'chnt behind. She plopped down in the command chair with a huff and rested her weary chin in her palm as she looked outside, barely noticing or caring the beauty of the light mist and the dual blue moons that hovered so far above them, nowhere close to the horizon; which meant that night time was not likely to end on this world any time soon.
She fretted silently for a short while and then stood to go back to the chambers. On her way down the corridor, she thought she might as well pull up R'chnt's live feed and see where he and his group were at at what they were hunting.
"Oh!" She groaned and whined as her stomach kicked in agony again and doubled her over in the hallway.
Feeling sick, she resisted the urge to vomit on her own toes and tried to stand upright.
"Kiddo, I'm not going to survive this if you do this to me for the next few months." She complained in a whisper to her demanding offspring and then hushed suddenly, certain she heard a soft scratching sound echo through the ship.
She held her breath and listened again. Sure enough, she heard it again. Not quite like nails on a chalkboard, the sound was similarly high pitched but a little more erratic. It echoed through the ship for a moment then stopped, then echoed again, then stopped. She couldn't be sure if it was the sound of a stride of some sort of animal, but there was some things she was sure of.
She was sure her abdomen was in pain, she was sure she was miserable and did not want to deal with some aggressive intruder on the ship, and she was definitely sure that the whatever it was was coming closer. K'Shai continued forward around the curve of the corridor, figuring she should get to her chambers, don her armor and get some weapons, possibly even interrupt R'chnt's hunt to call him back for help and just lock herself inside the chambers.
What if the thing can get through the door, she thought. Assuming it could be possible, she knew defending herself and the ship she allowed to be infiltrated in the first place was a good idea, she made her way to her chambers and tapped the door control panel. The door slid open and immediately K'Shai doubled over in pain, vomiting uncontrollably.
Shaking, howling and whimpering in agony in the open archway of her chambers, K'Shai looked down at her now vomit covered legs and hands and realized they were dark red with blood.
This is not good she thought quickly, and then her attention was turned back down the corridor by a rumble that sounded rather like a jackhammer.
Her eyes widened and she cursed herself. The thing standing before her had a very distinct scorpion look. Its large snapper front claws were quickly tapping together, causing the jackhammer echo and its backwards curved tail was hitting against the ceiling. Of course it was gigantic, why wouldn't it be gigantic.
Yautja! She thought as she found herself bolting into the chambers to get the nearest weapon she could possibly find; a fortunately long spear with a mighty curved dual blade on one end. It was R'chnt's. It was so heavy and long she could barely lift it, let alone use it competently. Combined with wanting to vomit again, carrying the weapon to try to defend herself against the massive creature was a real chore.
Fortunately, she had also depressed the door panel as she jumped into the room and the doors were sliding closed equally as quickly, and far less cumbersomely than she wielded the spear. Still, she watched. She heard the creature dart after her; without looking there was no question that the thing was in pursuit.
The chamber door was suddenly wedged open by the thing's tail. Oh yea, why not. K'Shai stood ready, charging before the mighty animal had even demolished the door. She lunged as hard as she could, leaping into the air a little bit in order to shove the spear into the creature. It retracted without any sound; no squealing or roaring of any kind, which in of itself was oddly disconcerting.
She saw black fluid all over the fllor that she assumed was the animal's blood and its tell tale jackhammer sound told her it had not gone far and was definitely still alive; at least for now. R'chnt's spear was nowhere to be seen. Whether it was still lodged in the animal, or fallen in the hallway somewhere, she had no idea. Fortunately, there was hardly a shortage of weapons in the chambers of an Honored Elder Leader.
Even though she wanted to just shut the door and collapse and cry in pain, she did not have that option. The door, after all; was bent inward so badly it would have to be completely replaced. The giant scorpion was strong. Worthy prey she vaguely thought as she peered out the door with the next available spear in hand, fortunately a much lighter one and much more useful for a predator of her size.
She stepped out into the corridor feeling utterly weak, sick, shaking, and ready to vomit at any given moment. There was no time, however. A deadly prey was on the ship and K'Shai knew that if she found herself having a moment of weakness, she would easily be killed. The animal was injured and alarmed and now more ready to strike than ever.
Completely focused on the black trail of blood in the corridor which was dissipating, she only took a fraction of a moment to curse herself that she failed yet again to grab a helmet. No matter; there were limited places the thing could go, and it was clearly fairly injured. It might have been been helpful if the animal made some kind of growl or vocalizations to help her track it; this creature was totally silent.
K'Shai tried to control her own breathing so she could manage to listen to the sounds of the thing's claws or tails scratching against the metal walls around it.
She paused in the corridor for a moment; a Y junction ahead and no sounds whatsoever. K'Shai assessed the situation and pondered the options. Left towards the lift to the docking bay and one entrance to the kehrite; right back towards the control room, additional bed chambers, and another entrance to the kehrite; or just sit there and wait for R'chnt to come back and figure it out for her while she vomited.
Resisting a very tempting urge, she tracked to the right and wound down the corridor past a weapons and armor locker, and towards chambers. The blood did at least look like it headed off this direction and as she rounded the corner she noticed telling scratches in the walls and door as if the animal was trying to almost dig its way under the walls. Slowly, she crept along the corridor, waiting for the thing to attack at any given moment and wondering where it had gone.
The wait was brief; the scorpion-like creature charged at her from the control room without a sound. She was ready. Not thinking, just reacting, her training came through this time without R'chnt there to help her along.
She jabbed the spear into the animal and withdrew, leaping about moving as quickly as she could to both land another blow and avoid the animal's retaliation as well. She leapt away from the stinging whip of a tail and slammed the spear into the side of the creature' head.
It swung its legs wildly, but never made a sound. Before K'Shai knew it, the animal, though large enough to fill the hallway, had somehow managed to do an on-the-dime spin and whip around the other direction, successfully pulling K'Shai off balance. She still had a half a grip on the spear and let go before she dislocated a shoulder, but not fast enough to avoid the whipping tail spin around and hit her.
She slammed backwards into the wall. In the small space of the corridor it was difficult to move around the large animal, which was a mixed blessing, because it also meant she couldn't be easily slammed to the ground, and the creature would also experience difficulty moving. Sure enough, the spear had managed to fall out of the side of the thing's head not far from K'Shai's feet and she jumped for it, after trying to recover from being hit with the thing's tail.
The animal didn't miss a beat, either. It knew she was behind it, and immediately responded by trying to stab her with the tail. She had a immediate wish for for a blade, and she would have chopped the thing's tail off. As it was, she had little choice but avoid the blows from the tail and leap onto its back.
From there, the animal tried hard to rear up and dislodge her, but the build of its body prevented it from doing too much. It had a thankfully extremely low set back, high head, and raised tail. As it reared up, it managed to hit its head on the ceiling and do nothing but jar K'Shai's back while she straddled its hard exoskeleton plating.
She suddenly felt even more nauseous, just from the ride as the creature moved forward with a lurch and tried to get up some speed. It was attempting to go on a mad run down the corridor and once again, while in motion, it's tail struck. She avoided the first blow, but as the thing tried again, she felt the armor ridges of the side of its tail tip lodge quite successfully into her shoulder. With a scream of pain and frustration, K'Shai slammed the spear down into the back of the thing's head; both in anger and retaliation.
The creature, silently, slumped to a halt in the middle of the corridor. It was done. K'Shai sighed and slid off the animal, glancing around the corridor as she took some wobbly steps away from the massacre. Blood of the blackest hue she had ever seen coated the floors, walls, and she suddenly realized, her own body. With that; she fell to her knees, sick and no longer able to control the pain from her abdomen as she started to vomit.
She cried out in agony and felt a rush of warmth suddenly fill her thighs. K'Shai glanced down to realize that she was pouring blood. She howled and cried at the top of her lungs, as if that might make R'chnt here. In a fury of pain, she grappled at her leathery belt and unwraveled it from around her waist, releasing the light armor she was wearing.
Howling in pain, K'Shai lost total track of time there in the echoing corridor of the empty ship. She felt labor-like pains and pushed and pushed as hard as she could for as long as she could, trying her hardest to control her breathing and fight her desire to pass out. She could, however, only fight for so long. Lying there in a pool of blood, vomit, and a very small, still and lifeless offspring.