The next chapter is here! Enjoy :)

The ship had found a vacant spot to land.

It was a fairly big ship with a crew of around eleven aboard. The leader still sat in his chair in the control room. His fiery eyes slowly scanned the surrounding areas outside.

Then the door slid open and another hunter came inside. The leader turned to face him, and the subordinate gave him a bow.

"Sir, we are ready to disembark and bring back the prey you seek." The subordinate said.

"Good, remember we need a young one. You already pauked it up last time by bringing me intended prey that was not only an adult but a little past its prime. Don't screw it up this time, unless you want a good thrashing and be skinned alive." The leader growled threateningly.

The subordinate bristled at the threat. No doubt his ruthless leader will make good on his promise. Everyone around here knows well enough he always makes good on his word. Especially, the threats.

He remembered the last poor bastard that fucked up and got on his bad side. And that unfortunate hunter's head was now a part of his leader's trophy collection.

"I give you my word, Sir. Our group will come back with a young one this time. And anything else we deem will make a good trade with the others." The subordinate promised.

"Fine, now get your sorry ass out of my sight and take the other two assigned to your group with you." The leader snapped.

With a quick bow, the subordinate left.

As the subordinate hunter made his way down the hall, he bumped into another coming from another hall around the corner. He growled and shoved the shorter and younger hunter back.

"Watch it pup!" He growled at the youth.

The youngster grumbled in annoyance but bowed his head in submission. Then watched as the older hunter trudged off in the opposite direction.

The young blood huffed. He then looked down at the armful of armor and weapons he was carrying that was now splayed about the floor.

He got done on his knees and started to roughly collect the items. Another two hunters came around the corner and saw him trying to collect everything he dropped.

One of them kicked a combi stick out of his reach when he reached for it on the floor. The two hunters cackled as they did this before continuing down the hall, leaving a now very irate Youngblood.

"Stupid pauks!" He growled under his breath.

The youngster's name was Oc'djy.

He barely completely his kainde amedha chiva, when disaster struck for him. During the chiva he was partaking in with two other fellow youths, he had just killed his second hard meat drone.

When he suddenly found himself surrounded by no less than six other yautja.

Oc'djy didn't recognize them as being part of the Blooded group that dropped him and the other youths off on the planet to complete their chiva.

He realized rather quickly that they were in fact bad bloods. And worse, he saw two of them holding the heads of his two fellow hunt brothers.

Despite being outnumbered, he drew his weapon, with every intention of making these bastards pay for killing his hunt brothers.

Instead of engaging him though, one of them, whom he could see was the leader approached him with an offer. He told the youth he didn't have to die like his hunt brothers, if he chose to serve under him.

Oc'djy vehemently denied the offer and would've rather died. It was foolish and reckless of him to do so, but he challenged and charged the leader with his wrist blades drawn.

In less than a minute, the leader had him on the ground. And had started to give him quite the thrashing.

When the youngster realized his predicament, he quickly decided to detonate the bomb in his wrist comp. He'd die a quick death and hoped to at least take the rest of these dishonorable bastards with him.

But the leader was one step ahead of him. He smashed the youth's wrist comp, effectively destroying it, and stopped him from being able to activate the bomb.

Next thing Oc'djy knew, he was knocked out. And when he came too, he was already aboard their ship, and in a cell.

They took away his armor and his weapons. Along with his hard meat trophy. Leaving him with nothing. That's when the leader and two of his other cronies came to his cell.

And since then, he has been forced to work under them.

Being the youngest and less experienced warrior here, they practically reduced him to that of an aseigan. Putting him in charge of polishing and cleaning their awu'asa and weapons.

They also made him serve meals to the animals in the cargo hold.

In return, they did give him room and board along with food and water for his services. Though his room and board so to say was the dingy cell that he first woke up in.

The bad bloods treated him like straight up cjit beneath their feet.

And there were plenty of times he wished to take his own life. Because he rather be dead than being forced to live in dishonor as a fugitive.

But he was never given the chance to do so. Because the assigned another to watch him as he worked for the first couple months aboard to make sure he didn't pull anything or take the way out via suicide.

He's been onboard this accursed ship now for six months.

And he started losing hope about ever escaping or being able to take the honorable way out by dying.

But there was one thing here that kept him going. Another slave like himself. Not a yautja, but a young Tharian female. She was brought aboard four months prior.

And when he learned what they have found use of her four, it made hit gut churn and his anger flare.

Not only has she been assigned to prep meals for the bad bloods, but they also would pass her around and use her for sex. His heart lurched when he was walking by another bad bloods room and heard crying and whimpering coming from behind the door.

He also smelled the familiar scent of mating musk permeating from beyond the door.

One particular loud cry made him come through the bad blood's door with every intention to put an end to what the dishonorably pauk was doing to her.

But it was obvious that the bad blood didn't like being disturbed while raping the alien female. And he showed his distaste by beating Oc'djy to a bloody pulp for it and tossing him out of his quarters.

The youngster tried to fight him off as best as he could and did get a few blows in. But he sadly, still wasn't a match for the older and bigger warrior.

The next day, he saw the Tharian female serving out food to everyone seated around the large table. She was covered in scratches and bruises, and one of her eyes were swelled shut.

He felt bad for the young female. No one deserved what she endured.

When their eyes connected for the first time, she quickly looked down and away in fear and submission. But one time when he found her alone in the kitchen area prepping more food, he approached her.

She was very scared at first and tried to move away from him.

But Oc'djy made it clear to her that he meant her no harm and informed her he was just as much a slave here as she was. Of course, she didn't believe him at first.

Not until she witnessed a couple others of his kind beat the shit out of him because he missed a spot while polishing their armor.

The two of them would exchange words whenever they can. But unfortunately, it wasn't very often. The bad bloods kept them quite busy with their 'chores'.

He learned her name was Illaria. And that the bad bloods came across the ship she was on with other fellow Tharians. She was one of their crew, one of the pilots to be exact.

The bad bloods came and invaded their ship, killing everyone onboard but her. Instead, they decided to take her back with them.

And that is where her own nightmare begun.

Back to the present, Oc'djy grunted while he picked up the last of the weapons he dropped. And continued on his way to the kehrite to place them back on the weapons wall.

Afterwards, he'd like to see if he can go see what Illaria was doing.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like she was used for sex often. Since she came aboard a few months prior, she informed him that they took advantage of her four times.

But it's luckily been a while since the last time. They mostly had her there for chores like himself more than anything. Which can be downright scary for her most of the times.

Seeing as a few involved serving their leader and waiting on him hand and foot.

He was quite a cruel and sadistic pig if there ever was one. She nearly lost her lunch a number of times when he would crow to her of his exploits. All of which involved torture, rape, mutilation, and death.

There were times she was tempted to rip that dagger from his belt and plunge it into his black heart.

But she knew it would be futile. Illaria has witnessed him fighting and sparring on many occasions and could see why he was the appointed leader.

None of his crew could match him in speed, strength and skill.

He was very brutal too during sparring. He would severely injure his subordinates, sometimes bringing them to the brink of death before backing off. Then he would order one or two of the others to haul them off to the med bay.

Yes, to Oc'djy and Illaria, this ship was hell, and the leader may as well been the devil. The mask he adorned and his brutality made it all the more likely that he was.

Eight of the bad bloods split into groups and left the ship with all their clear instructions from the leader. There were various exotic species here. And they were in charge of bringing at least one of a couple of the different species back.

The cargo that they obtain always fetched a very good price for them on the black market or slave trade. And they were always paid handsomely for whatever exotic or dangerous creatures they were able to capture and bring back.

Though they will admit, they enjoyed a good raid and slaughter from time to time as well.

The screams of their prey excited them and they took pleasure in wiping out small villages. Not caring for the destruction, they left in their wake.

Their fearless leader never showed any leniency or mercy on anyone. And he instructed his crew to do the same. Because showing such things were an intolerable weakness.

Something he refuses to have onboard his ship.

And if any ever questioned him or refused direct orders, he'd collect their heads and add it to his trophy wall. A wall he'd show off to all his subordinates as a warning if they were to decide to think for themselves or disobey orders in anyway.

They all feared and respected him at the same time. Because in the end, he was revered as a great leader among them. As cruel as he was, he made sure his crew had enough weapons and other supplies to their expense to do with as they wish.

Yes, no one would ever thing to cross their ruthless leader, Da-ec'te.

Until Next Time ;)