The next chapter is posted! Enjoy :)
Bhu'ja didn't have to wait long before Ci'tde replied to his call.
"Hey, Bhu'ja. How's everything?" Ci'tde inquired.
"Fairly well. I found a ship full of bad bloods and took it out." Bhu'ja replied.
"Good, who were they? Any more notorious ones from the list?" His friend asked.
"No one really noteworthy. There were seven of them. Most of them appeared to be of the Blooded Status, but I don't think they held that status for long before they defected and became bad bloods.
Because they still didn't hold the same level of experience of a blooded warrior that had their status for a long time. If I had to guess, they were Youngbloods that had just been upgraded in their status." Bhu'ja stated.
"So, not too much of a challenge for you then?" Ci'tde teased.
The pale yautja chuckled, "Not really. But they had some interesting cargo aboard their ship. I'm not sure how, but they had obtained a hard meat queen aboard their ship. They also had a small handful of drones and some eggs.
Which was a shame, because my ship scanner indicated their ship was stolen. And I originally wanted to see if I could return the stolen ship. But after finding hard meats onboard, especially a queen, the ship sadly had to go bye, bye." Bhu'ja said.
"That's a little strange. Usually, the bad bloods that have a hard meat queen in their possession are more experienced bad bloods. Because they know how dangerous and volatile it is to keep such a dangerous specimen onboard. They are aware of the many things that can go wrong with keeping one in their midst." His friend said.
"I think they may have obtained her from another group of bad bloods. Someone informed me that another ship containing bad bloods docked with the ship I raided, and that they exchanged some weapons and some live cargo.
But even then, I don't know why a ship of bad bloods would give a queen to bad bloods with lesser experience. Unless it was some random attempt at taking out competition.
That cage she was in didn't seem like it could hold her for long. Same went with the cage that held the four hard meat drones in it. Looked like an accident waiting to happen if you ask me." Bhu'ja told him.
"Probably. Wouldn't be the first time either of us entered what we thought was a deserted ship, only to find it overrun with loose hard meats and the crew all dead. And most of those times, it was a group of young less experienced warriors that turned bad blood. But what do you mean someone informed you? Did one of the bad bloods inform you of something before you killed them?" Ci'tde asked.
The young Arbitrator paused for a moment, trying to think of the right words to say.
"There was something else. When I was aboard the ship and cutting my way through the crew, I came upon a young ooman female. I walked into one of the bedrooms just as one bastard bad blood was trying to force himself on her.
I was able to save her. But as I killed the last bad blood in the control room of the ship, he activated the self-destruct sequence to the ship and set it on a low timer.
I had to grab the female and rush back to my ship before the explosion. An explosion that would've happened eventually, because if one of them didn't blow the ship, I was still going to due to the very dangerous cargo onboard.
But now, I have the ooman female aboard my ship. And I'm not entirely sure what to do with her.
I'm very far from Earth right now. And even so, I don't believe I can send her back. Our race doesn't take too kindly to the fact of any oomans having insight or a lot of knowledge of our kind.
And from what she has told me, they've held her captive for a while. So, she knows a lot about the yautja. Most would feel her knowledge could be a threat to us if she were to return home.
Plus, I don't know if they have done anything to her as far as possible experimenting goes. But if they have done anything like that to her, then she definitely cannot return home.
Because we do know some bad bloods like to capture others from a separate race and experiment with them. Remember, you and I found that one ship where we've encountered some bad bloods with specimens they were experimenting on?
We found out they were doing this to tamper with DNA and also running little experiments on themselves with the specimen's DNA. They were also attempting some hybridization between a couple dangerous species of animals." The pale yautja stated.
"Yes, I remember. They were insane and the end resulted in making abominations. But all that aside, it definitely seems like you're in a small predicament there in regard to the ooman female.
If you feel they have tampered with her in anyway, then this is something you need to find out for yourself. As far as her knowledge goes, I don't know what to think of it.
While she may know about our race, she is still one, lone ooman. I don't believe she alone could really do any damage. But you may have to consult with the Elders of your clan and ask for their opinion.
If you're worried, she may receive death, don't worry. Despite what she may or may not know about us, our laws still stated we cannot kill her. Because she is still one harmless and unarmed female." His friend said.
"Perhaps, but it still concerns me what else they may say to do with her. For all we know, they may tell me to exile her or drop her off on another world somewhere to fend for herself.
Either way, I don't see how either of those options wouldn't be any less than killing her. Because she still runs the risk of dying alone and helpless on a far-off world regardless." Bhu'ja implied.
There was momentary silence, before his friend spoke again.
"I think I have heard of an instance where an ooman in similar circumstances was offered to live among them in exchange for their silence. Kind of a granted amnesty if you will.
I believe it was the Night Hunter Clan this happened in. It was quite some time ago though. And the only reason I heard of it was from the Arbitrator Kata'nu, because that was his native clan.
Something about an Elite stumbled across a known bad blood that was keeping an ooman female for a pet. The Elite killed the bad blood and saved the female in the process.
She informed him that the bad blood had her for a couple years before he came and freed her. Unsure what to do with her, he brought her back home to his clan and sought advice during a council meet with the Elders.
They did apparently tell him she couldn't return to Earth. But they did grant her acceptance into the clan and allowed her to stay and live among them." Ci'tde told him.
Bhu'ja knew Kata'nu. He was a friend to both he and Ci'tde. Though he doesn't recall him ever telling him this story. But then, Bhu'ja never asked and what would be the point of knowing such a story.
"Did he tell you what became of the female afterwards?" Bhu'ja asked.
"No, he didn't get a chance to tell me the rest of the story, because someone else contacted him and he had to take it. But I guess if you wish to know more about it, you could always contact him." Ci'tde suggested.
'Wouldn't be a bad idea. Because if what he says is true, then he could probably take Raelyn back to Yautja Prime and wouldn't have to worry about her being dealt with any repercussions.' He thought.
"Thanks for the advice. I may just do that. I would like to try and contact Kata'nu first, before I ask or inform any Elders." Bhu'ja said.
"No problem, though I'm sorry I couldn't give you any straight answers. Hopefully either Kata'nu or the Elders could clear this up for you. Where is the female now?" His friend asked.
"She is asleep in my quarters. It's clear she's been through a lot." He replied.
"It's a good thing you found her when you did then. Paya knows how much longer she would've lasted with them if you hadn't come across their ship." Ci'tde stated.
Lucky was an understatement. Paya must've really been looking after this poor unfortunate female. All captives end up dead at some point while under the incarceration of bad bloods.
Very few are ever interceded in time by Arbitrators before the bad bloods get rid of them.
"I agree. She was in pretty bad shape when I found her. Covered in bruises and undernourished. And the rags they had her in barely covered her." Bhu'ja mentioned.
"Then when you're not on missions, you should try to take care of her in the meantime. Beside the recent ship raid, you contacted me not that long ago and said it had been pretty slow the last couple months in the sector you were patrolling and traveling through.
Maybe take this time out to take a break and look after her. She will need this down time to build up her strength and health again. Plus, you've been out here now for nearly a year.
This is one of the longest times I've seen you work without stopping home or stopping off on other worlds to relax or hunt something else for a change.
I know you're very good at what you do. But you don't want to end up burning yourself out either." His friend said.
"Yes, mother. Anything else?" Bhu'ja joked.
"Ahh, pauk yourself, you little cjit. I'm just saying this because I'm your friend and I care. Being a workaholic can be good to an extent. But overdo it and you may work yourself to death. Literally and figuratively speaking." Ci'tde teased.
The pale yautja snorted, "Hey, it's a way most of us Arbitrators like to go out. No different than any other hunter out there. But I suppose I can put work on hold for a little while and help her out."
"Did she give you, her name?" Ci'tde asked.
"It's Raelyn. She appears to be quite young. She told me they grabbed her as she was leaving her job back on Earth. She was very shaken up when I found her. No surprise there, with what I walked in on. Sick bastard was practically mounting her when I entered the room." Bhu'ja growled.
"At least you were there to stop it this time. And it won't happen to her again. Odds are she could be quite traumatized from her ordeal though. You may want to take it slow with her." Ci'tde cautioned.
Ci'tde had some experience talking with traumatized captives, he was trained in it. But Bhu'ja, not so much. Probably because he never really came across live captives. Except for animals.
"Any pointers, my friend? I haven't been trained in that area like you have. Don't want to do any more harm than good while trying to help her." The pale yautja told him.
"It's as I said, Bhu'ja. Take it slow with her. If she is an assault victim, don't crowd her and give her space. Give her time to build up trust with you. It's usually a slow process. But thankfully, we both know you can be very patient. Which is what she'll need." Ci'tde informed him.
For most of his time as an Arbitrator, Ci'tde still didn't come across too many live rape victims, but when he did, he was good at consoling them and talking to them.
Majority of the victims were from another race. Because unlike the yautja race; females from many of the other alien races tended to be smaller and weaker than the male counterparts.
Because of this it was easier for bad bloods to take advantage of their victims and overpower them.
Most of the female victims Ci'tde has come across were of the Tharian race. For some reason, bad bloods liked to target Tharian females and there were cases they took them for sex slaves.
But surprisingly, he hasn't come across any yet that took ooman females. And they were even smaller than Tharian females.
Yet, Bhu'ja did just that. And while he was good at eradicating bad bloods, he wasn't used to conversing with victims. Even back home, there were a lot of yautja in his clan that always said, he never seemed to be much of a 'people' person. Someone who wasn't overly talkative, but tended to be rather quiet and was not big on large social gatherings.
"Thank you, Ci'tde. And thank you for your suggestions. As I said, I'd like to try and contact Kata'nu. Before I make any other decisions to contact anyone else." Bhu'ja said.
"No problem, and good luck. And also, I'm sure you may already know this, but if you do plan on taking her to see other worlds, just remember to do so on ones that are rich in oxygen. Otherwise, she will have a hard time breathing." His friend said.
"No cjit, Capt. Obvious." The pale yautja said.
Ci'tde laughed at the remark.
"Ok, Wise Ass. If you have any more questions, just contact me." He replied.
"Will do." Bhu'ja said.
Not long after, the call ended.
The young Arbitrator leaned back in his seat. While he was all for taking some down time and was about to so before his raid on the ship, he never thought he'd be spending it with an ooman female.
'May as well start making her some clothes then. Good thing my aunt's a tailor and taught me the basics.' He thought.
He wanted to get started on that right away. But at the moment, his guest was asleep, and he can't make anything without some sort of proper measurement of sorts.
Then there was another thought that occurred to him that weighed pretty heavy on his mind.
Bhu'ja knew she may wish to go home. But how can he explain to her that she can't? He knew she wouldn't be happy at all once he told her this either. And being she already been through so much, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her.
So many thoughts going through his head right now.
And when there's a lot on his mind, he usually likes to go blow off some steam in the kehrite. So, for now, he'll probably go do just that. Whatever thoughts he had about how to help out the ooman female will be put on hold for now.
And he will address them when she awakens.
Until Next Time ;)