The next chapter is posted!
WARNING: This chapter contains sequences of violence & gore.
Enjoy :)
Bhu'ja and Raelyn enjoyed their time spent on this little outing.
Even when they were getting shorter and shorter as his mate's pregnancy progressed. He didn't like to keep her out on an alien world for too long. Because they ran the risk of encountering dangerous prey.
Also, Raelyn started to tire more easily, due to the excess weight she wasn't used to carrying around. At least she was all baby and carried all in the front.
It was crazy just how fast her baby was growing. But quickly learned it had to do with the fact that she was a half breed. Her mind was still reeling when Bhu'ja told her gestation for his kind was seven months.
And despite human gestation being nine months, she already doubts she will make it that far.
At six months along, her baby was already bigger than what a human fetus would be at this stage in pregnancy. Because of this, Raelyn knew it wouldn't be nine months.
Bhu'ja was closely monitoring her throughout her pregnancy. And even he stated that judging by the pup's size, she'll most likely be born at the end of the seven-month mark at the latest.
Hey, in a way, she didn't mind a shorter pregnancy. Just as long as the baby was at a decent size and weight once, she delivered. And she was born healthy.
At the moment, they were on his way back to his ship. Raelyn had just finished informing Bhu'ja that she was tired and wanted to go back and rest for a bit.
They were nearly there when he noticed he was really starting to tire.
So, against her feeble protests, he scooped her up in his arms and started carrying her the rest of the way back.
"Hey, c'mon, Boo. I'm telling you; I can make it the rest of the way back." She said with laughter in her voice.
Though in truth, Raelyn loved how attentive he was with her. The young Arbitrator did everything to make sure she was comfortable and happy.
"Nope, just lay back and enjoy the free ride." He teased.
She huffed, but the smile still has yet to leave her face.
Another ten minutes later, the pair ended up back at his ship. And were greeted at the entrance by Tundra, who was looking a lot less like a pup and more like a young sub adult y'uuri.
It was funny seeing the pup she was able to easily hold in her arms months ago when she found her, now standing as high as her hip. And she still wasn't even finished growing either.
Bhu'ja told her that while the female y'uuri don't get as huge as the males, Tundra still has a lot of growing to do. At full size, she will be slightly bigger than the largest wolf hound canine species of her world back on Earth.
The young energetic y'uuri followed the couple back to his room.
He still had her in his arms too when he eventually laid her down on the pelts in the bedroom. Bhu'ja brushed some of her hair back as he looked down at her.
"I'll be going out on another short hunt. I won't be gone long though." He told her.
"Ok, I'll either still be asleep when you get back or down in the kitchen area eating." She replied.
Tundra nudged the hunter's side and barked up at him.
He looked at the young y'uuri, then back to his mate.
"I think I'll take Tundra out with me again this time. She's come a pretty long way in her training for sniffing out prey. Was able to lead me to a dy'stea nest on the last world." Bhu'ja said.
Y'uuri were pretty smart animals and apparently can be trained.
He saw the pup's potential a month and a half ago when she alerted him to a trail that was left by a rather imposing swer'tra and used her incredible sense of smell to lead him to the large animal.
That's when he decided she'd be good to take out on certain hunts. Yautja have been known to use hunting hounds. And it had its perks.
"Ok, just please make sure she doesn't get hurt." Raelyn said.
While she didn't mind that Bhu'ja found use in the y'uuri pup, Tundra was still her pet and didn't want to see her get hurt or killed.
"She won't. I've just been using her to sniff out certain prey, but not engage. She hangs off to the side while I fight the prey." He assured her.
'Plus, the y'uuri pup is still not big or strong enough to take on most of the prey he hunts. When Tundra becomes a full fledge adult though, that's a different story. Because she will definitely be more formidable then.' He ascertained but didn't tell his mate that.
"What's the name of the prey you're hunting again this time?" She inquired.
"Ingog'we. Omnivorous animals that prefer marshes and are solitary creatures. Quite large and formidable." He replied.
Raelyn nodded, then let out a yawn.
"Rest." He softly said, as he brushed his knuckles over her cheek.
Then he ran a hand over her protruding stomach and lightly caressed it, before he got up from the bed.
Bhu'ja called out for Tundra to come. And the obedient pup followed close behind him. And they both left the bedroom. While Raelyn closed her eyes and fell asleep shortly after their departure.
One of the small groups of bad bloods had been out there for about a few hours now. And so far, they haven't had much luck in finding what they were looking for.
"I swear Set-Thwei, if you have been leading us in the wrong direction, your ass will be target practice." Shesh-kuk growled to his hunting partner.
Set-Thwei snorted, "I'd love nothing more than to see you attempt it. But I know where we're going. Not my fault you're so pauking impatient."
The third member, Mahnde got a good chuckle out of that last remark.
"Tell me about it. He has the attention span of a toddler." Mahnde quipped.
Shesh-kuk's masked face snapped to his with a growl.
If they weren't in the middle of looking for the elusive rynn'ta, he would've pummeled both of them into the ground. But as it were, they were on a mission.
And they know their leader will not be happy if they returned without one and instead go at each other like a bunch of impulsive Youngbloods.
"Wait, hold up, I see something in the distance to the left through the trees. It's quite large and stationary." Set-Thwei said.
The other two bad bloods looked in the direction he gestured towards.
At first glance, they could hardly make out what they were looking at. Until they changed the vision settings on their masks and zoomed in.
"It appears to be a ship. And a Yautja vessel at that. There's another hunter here." Mahnde said, eyeing the ship in the distance through the trees.
Shesh-kuk grinned, "Let's see if anyone is home and pay them a visit."
The other two cackled and the three of them activated their cloaking devices and headed towards the ship.
They got there within the next ten minutes and eyed it. It was a very nice ship. Top of the line and in great condition. It also clued them in that this was no young hunter.
Younger hunters didn't get ships like this one. Ships like this usually belonged to those of the Elite class or...Arbitrators.
Regardless, it was a nice find. And they wanted to see it. Perhaps there could be good weapons and armor inside that they could salvage and take for themselves.
"Mahnde, Shesh-kuk, I'm looking through the interior mode. My scanners show there is someone present aboard the ship. But...I don't think it's a hunter. The overall shape and size are much smaller. And it appears to be resting in the quarters of the ship." Set-Thwei stated.
"You mean to say there is another being onboard this ship?" Mahnde inquired.
"You can switch the settings and see for yourself. It's too small to be a hunter. But it doesn't appear to be an animal either." Set-Thwei told him.
The other two switched their vision modes to see what their comrade was looking at. It didn't take them long to pinpoint what he was looking at either.
There was a being or non-yautja origins on the ship. It was certainly enough to pique their curiosity and interest.
"Let's disable the locks and help ourselves to whatever is being kept aboard. It could be something of worth for us that we can take back." Shesh-kuk stated.
They told Mahnde to stay outside and keep an eye out for when and if the hunter returns. While Set-Thwei and Shesh-kuk approached the cloaked ship.
The pair approached cautiously, because you never know if a ship has its defense systems online or not. And they don't want to be blown to pieces by the ship's exterior guns.
But surprisingly, as they got closer, no weapons seem to activate and lock onto them as they made their way towards it.
They got to the entrance and Set-Thwei started going to work on disabling the locks to allow them entry.
It took a good few minutes to get through a surprising number of firewalls to get to the code with the disabling device Set-Thwei was using to unlock the door.
But he was able to eventually get it.
The door unlocked and slid open to allow them entrance. And they went inside.
They made their way down the halls of the ship, looking around as they went. As much as they wanted to stop in the other rooms and look around or see what them can take, they felt they maybe crunch for time in doing so.
Because who knows when the other hunter may return.
Normally, it wouldn't matter if they did. Because they would just kill the hunter. But there was a find here that could be important and they wanted to get ahold of it and leave with it before the owner of the ship returns to find it missing.
They used their masks to lead them down to where the heat signature of the being was located.
Raelyn was still asleep when the door to the bedroom quietly hissed open. And two large individuals entered the room. They located her on the bed and quietly made their way over to her sleeping form.
Both bad bloods eyes widened behind their mask at what they just found.
It was an ooman lou-dte kale, and judging by her bulging stomach, she was pregnant. They quickly ran an internal scan and found something even more surprising.
The pup had some ooman features, but it also had features reminiscent of their kind. This ooman female was impregnated by a yautja. And if they had to guess, probably the owner of this ship.
The bad blood pair looked at each other with a wide sneer on their faces. They both nodded, before turning back to the slumbering ooman female.
Shesh-kuk reached out and grabbed her, quickly pressing a hand over her mouth as he did.
Raelyn was startled awake when she felt something heavy clamp over her mouth. Her blue eyes widened in shock when she looked up into the mask of an unfamiliar individual looming above her.
She started to panic and thrash in his grip. Until she felt a sharp sting in her thigh.
A few moments later, everything started to get blurry and fuzzy. Then her vision went dark, and she slumped back onto the pelts. And Shesh-kuk scooped up the small pregnant female in his arms.
"Screw the rynn'ta. This is a much better find. Let's get her back to the ship right away." Shesh-kuk said to his comrade.
"I agree, but once we do get her back, Leader Da-ec'te still may require us to go back out to find our original prey. But for now, let's just get the pauk out of here." Set-Thwei said.
The two quickly left the room and made their way down the halls.
On the way out, they made a quick pit stop to the control deck and sabotaged the control counsel. It was a nice ship, but the pregnant ooman female carrying yautja offspring was way more valuable than the ship.
It was very rare to come across such a find. Most yautja would never consider taking an ooman for a mate let alone have offspring with them.
Once they left the ship, Set-Thwei activated his shoulder cannon and shot holes in the ship, particularly at the thrusters, rendering the ship completely useless. And to ensure the hunter wouldn't be able to leave if they were to try and pursue them.
Bhu'ja was only a mile and a half away, making his way back to his ship. When he heard the telltale signs of a small explosion. Then he saw smoke starting to billow to the sky.
And to his horror, it was coming from the direction his ship was located.
'Raelyn!' He thought.
The young Arbitrator dropped his latest kill to the ground and took off sprinting as fast as he could to his ship. Tundra was hot on his heals as she followed her Master back to his ship.
He made it there in under eight minutes, and saw his ship was damaged.
Bhu'ja didn't have time ponder what just happened, when he heard another shot fired off from his left. And he quickly dove out of the way of the incoming projectile.
The pale yautja got to his feet with a snarl and whipped his head around to see another yautja jump down from a nearby tree where the shot came from.
The intruder pulled out his ki-cti-pa and poised it at Bhu'ja and crouched into a fighting stance. He then started to speak to him.
"Well, who would've guessed, that the ship belonged to an Arbitrator. And not just any Arbitrator, but the great Bhu'ja of the Jungle Hunter Clan." The bad blood taunted.
Bhu'ja growled, and pulled his own ki'cti-pa from his armored back.
"You will pay for the damage you dealt here today, Ic'jit." The young Arbitrator spat.
The bad blood cackled, "Not as much as we will get paid handsomely for the little ooman female my comrades and I found aboard your ship. Never thought I'd see the day an Arbitrator took an ooman, pauked it, and impregnated it.
Our leader will be most pleased with this find. Who knows, he may want to keep the little female for himself. She did seem quite easy on the eyes. And if an Arbitrator thought of her as a good pauk, then so will our leader."
Bhu'ja let out a menacing roar and charged the bad blood with lightning speed.
The bad blood barely had time to hold up his combi stick in front of him to deflect the harsh and violent blow of the Arbitrator's weapon.
"WHERE IS SHE!?" Bhu'ja yelled.
He made quick and violent swipes at the bad blood.
While the criminal was a fine and seasoned Blooded warrior, he was finding it difficult to fend off the blows from the enraged Arbitrator. And not even four minutes into the fight, Bhu'ja had his opponent on the ground.
He placed a foot on his chest and held his combi stick at the bad blood's throat.
"I will not ask again. Where is she?" Bhu'ja snarled.
"Pauk you, ooman pauk-de!" The bad blood spat.
Quicker than any could imagine, the pale yautja pulled his sword free and brought it down on the bad blood's left arm, severing it.
The bad blood, Mahnde roared in pain as his arm now lay freely on the ground. Bright neon blood started spurting from the stump.
"Where?" Bhu'ja snarled.
His enemy didn't say a word though. So, the young Arbitrator swung again and effectively removed his other arm, causing the bad blood to roar in pain once more.
"Still got two more limbs to get to. I'll even cut of your worthless prick while I'm at it if you insist on jerking me around. Now, where did they take her." Bhu'ja repeated.
"Our ship. It's about a kilometer west from here." He rasped.
"Who's your leader? And where will he take her?" The pale yautja demanded.
At first there was silence, then Bhu'ja raised his sword over one of the bad blood's legs next.
"DA-EC'TE! He's our leader! He usually likes to trade our most exotic and rare cargo to the biggest black market out there, the De'vos Market on the dead rock known as Lar'gus. But I heard my comrades talking, odds are he will keep her.
We've never come across an ooman carrying yautja offspring. Half breeds are an extremely rare find. Especially one of yautja and ooman parentage. Usually something very rare like that, Da-ec'te will not be so willing to give up.
I'm almost certain he will wish to keep her and the offspring she carries." Mahnde blurted out in desperation and pain.
His bright green blood continued to gush from the stumps where his arms used to be like a geyser, and he was starting to feel lightheaded.
Bhu'ja leaned in with a growl.
"You better NOT be lying to me you filthy piece of cjit. Because if you are, I will prolong your suffering." He growled dangerously.
Mahnde let out a weak chuckle, "Good luck in that. At this rate, I'll be dead very soon as it is. And even so, you'll never get your ooman bitch or half breed brat back. Even if you were to get to our ship. My leader will gut you like the worm you are and pauk your whore right in front of you while you bleed out on the ground."
His laughter turned into a roar of immense pain as Bhu'ja whipped out his plasma pistol and shot the bad blood in the leg, blowing it apart in a shower of gore.
Then he leveled the weapon with Mahnde's head and blew it to pieces. Bright green gore shot out in all directions from the hit. And the bad blood died instantly.
The level of carnage done to the body was quite extreme to most standards. But this bad blood would've gladly done the same to him, if given the chance.
Bhu'ja didn't waste any more time. He could tell by looking at his ship it was already quite totaled. He needed to reach the bad blood's ship before they took off.
Once he heard the leader's name uttered, his blood ran cold. The young Arbitrator knew that name well enough and had encountered the dark-skinned bad blood once before.
The very monster that killed his family when he was a young child. And the same being that haunted his dreams for many years after. That bastard was the very reason he became orphaned and why he dedicated his life to being an Arbitrator in the first place.
And now, that same monster had his beloved Raelyn.
Bhu'ja gunned it in the direction of the ship, again Tundra followed him through the brush as he sprinted as fast as he could, west to the ship. He can only hope to possibly catch up with the ones who took her before they get her back to the ship.
But it sadly looked like luck was not in his favor today.
As he ran, he saw the large ship appear through the canopy as it lifted up into the sky. And by the time he broke through the foliage the ship took off for the stars.
Bhu'ja let out an enraged roar that turned into one of sorrow.
The pale yautja then dropped to his knees and pounded his fist into the ground.
"Rae, I'm so sorry." He muttered to himself.
His heart felt like someone had torn it from his chest and stomped on it.
He could barely here the whimpering coming from Tundra beside him as he continued kneeling down on the grass. Bhu'ja can't help but feel like he failed her. And now he feared he was going to lose her and their unborn child the same way he lost his parents and brother.
The pale yautja shook his head.
'No. I won't let that happen. I will find her and bring her back. And I'll make Da-ec'te pay for what he's done and take his head.' He promised himself.
The young Arbitrator stood up and pressed a few buttons on his wrist comp. There was silence for a moment, before a voice came through.
"Hello Bhu'ja, how are you fairing?" Came the voice of his friend Ci'tde.
"Ci'tde where are you? Are you anywhere near Planet Syr'rayi? If you are, I need you to come pick me up right away. Bad bloods destroyed my ship and took Rae." He dished out quickly.
"Cjit! You ok? I'll be there shortly! Damn, you're lucky! I'm over on Planet Quil' literally a half a day's travel to you. Even less if I gun it. Hang tight, I'll be there shortly." His friend assured him.
"Thank you. Any chance you can get ahold of Kata'nu and have him join us? The ones that took Rae, they work under...Da-ec'te. I may require assistance. And if there are any I trust most to watch my back; it's you two." Bhu'ja said.
"Da-ec'te? The supposed leader to all bad bloods? The same one that killed your family?" Ci'tde inquired, clearly surprised.
"The same. And right now, he has Raelyn. I'm very worried about her, with the condition she's in, and what they may do to her." The young Arbitrator admitted.
Yes, Ci'tde is aware that Bhu'ja had decided to take the young ooman female for a mate. And had been informed of her pregnancy. He and Bhu'ja did after all, speak regularly when they have the chance.
"Don't worry, we'll get to her. I'll be there soon. And I'll contact Kata'nu. Last I heard from him was actually only a couple days ago. He had tracked down a couple of bad bloods on Planet Hii'tru. That planet isn't very far either." His friend said.
"Good, just please hurry and get here. They took out the thrusters on my ship, and rendered it ground bound. It could take a very long time to repair by the looks of it and I don't have the time to do so. I need to get to catch up to Da-ec'te's ship as soon as possible." Bhu'ja told him.
"Understood, I'll be there soon. And I'll contact Kata'nu and inform him of what happened. Try to stay where you are so I can get a lock on the signal from your wrist comp when I get there." Ci'tde informed him.
"I will. I'll see you soon. And thank you." The pale yautja said.
Then the line cut out.
Now all Bhu'ja can do is stand there and wait for his friend to pick him up. He can only hope that bastard Da-ec'te and his band of followers won't hurt his pregnant mate.
He then remembered the metallic bracelet he gifted to Raelyn. It was a special one with a top-grade tracker inside of it.
So, in case they were somehow separated, it makes it easier to find her. It had an impressive range too. She could be on another planet and the tracking system would still be able to pick it up.
Though, the signal can be disrupted if they did a space jump to another galaxy.
But he knew where the dead rock known as Lar'gus was. And it did happen to be somewhere in this known galaxy, albeit very far away though. Still, the tracking signal on her bracelet should still work.
'Just hand in there, my love. I promise I'll find you.' He thought.
Until then, pale yautja eagerly awaited his friend's arrival.
Until Next Time ;)