The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)
Julie didn't know what to expect when they began to land on Kata'nu's home world the following day.
The young woman could barely take her gaze from the large planet looming outside the ship's window in Kata'nu's quarters. While the view was breathtaking, it was still also a sad reminder than she is nowhere near home anymore.
Kata'nu could tell by the look on her face that she seemed quite sad upon realizing that this will be her new home now and forever.
Hopefully, things will get better when he shows her that she will not be harmed while under his care.
The Elite warrior unfortunately knew that not all caregivers showed kindness and consideration for their servants. Thankfully, most out there did.
And in extreme cases of abuse, the servants could be taken away from their caregivers if they feel their life is in danger.
Still, just because most didn't treat their servants horribly, many yautja may still look down on them as weak and inferior in every way. That they will always remind the alien servants that they are still better than them in every way.
All clans had their own laws in regarding servants. Luckily, his own clan, the Dark Blade Clan had some pretty strict laws on how servants should be treated.
Because of this, a lot of servants were treated fairly and most eventually settles into their new roles and were rather happy with it.
Kata'nu didn't believe himself to be better or superior to Julie, whom he still likes to call R'ka-de for her fiery nature. Despite claiming her as a servant, he still found her to be equal to him in many ways.
Unlike most his brethren, he always held a profound respect for oomans, despite their faults.
They may not be as physically strong or fast like the yautja. But they had other underlying strengths that made them deemed worthy as challenging prey.
Through the centuries, oomans have come a long way technology wise. They were highly intelligent and cunning beings with a vast spectrum of emotions not far off from his own kind's.
And as good of a warrior he was, he'll admit there were a couple oomans here and there that almost got the drop on him and killed him during a couple past ooman hunts.
But when it all came down to it, he found them to be more fascinating alive than dead. And this is why he only ever went on a small handful of hunts in the past.
It's actually been a very long time since he has actively participated in an ooman hunt. Hell, this is the first time he participated in acquiring them alive for servants.
And he only went because they were a couple men short for the job. So, he filled in just this once.
Kata'nu is glad he did. While he agreed to help obtain young and fit oomans for the role of servants, he didn't expect to claim one for himself during this trip.
But this feisty little ooman female was too interesting to pass up. He couldn't think about her going to any other buyers. That is why he stated right then and there that he will be taking her and she would not be auctioned off.
As for the other oomans, they will be taken to a place among the clan where they will be auctioned off to other perspective buyers. Some buyers were from his clan.
But there were also a handful of other buyers that will be there from other neighboring clans.
Julie looked down at the blue, green, and brown planet. In some ways, it resembled Earth. Yet, at the same time, it looked different. If anything, it also looked larger than Earth.
And as they drew closer, she saw these rock clusters floating around its atmosphere.
As the ship drew closer, she actually started getting a little nervous. These rocks were drifting pretty close to the ship she was on. The thought of the ship being hit came to mind.
Kata'nu finished suiting up. He grabbed his weapons and stuck them to his awu'asa and belt. Before turning his attention back to Julie.
She was still standing in front of the large window when he came up to her. And she didn't turn her attention to him when he came to stand beside her.
"Aren't they worried about hitting those rocks out there? They're drifting awfully close to the ship." Julie finally voiced her concerns to him.
His masked gaze went from her to the view.
"No, our pilots know how to get around them. The gravitational pull of these rocks is there to help keep the planet safe from invasion." He told her.
The young woman slowly nodded, then her gaze finally went from the view in front of them to him.
Seeing him decked out in all that armor and weapons still seemed to intimidate her. It made him look regal yet menacing at the same time. Then her gaze trailed down his form and she noticed he held something in his right hand.
"What's that in your hand?" She asks.
His gaze shifted from her to his hand.
He knew the object in his hand would be something that would no doubt piss her off. But it was for her own safety upon leaving the ship that she where it.
Kata'nu held up his hand and opened it. What she saw was this strange, thick intricate piece of leather.
"It's a collar. You will need to put it on before we leave the ship. It's for your own safety." He informed her.
He watched her expression turn into a glare and saw fire in her eyes.
"Fuck you, I'm not wearing a collar like a fucking pet! You like it so much, then you wear it!" She spat.
The large warrior sighs, "I won't make you wear it in my home. But while we are out in public, I highly advise you do. All the servants wear one. If other yautja saw a servant without a collar, they could be seen as fair game and taken."
While being kidnapped yet again didn't sit well with the young woman, her pride still wouldn't allow her to sink so low to wearing a collar like a dog.
"As I said, I'm not going to wear it. Only pets wear collars. And I'm no goddamn dog. You're so concerned, then just have me stay close to your red, scaly ass. But I don't give a shit how many times you ask me, I'm not wearing it. Nor will I wear any fucking leash that may come with it." She snapped.
Perhaps, as long as she stayed by his side, she will be alright. But what about the times he will have her go out on her own to do errands?
'Errands. I'll be lucky if she does anything I ask of her. I can already tell once I give her list of chores to do, she's most likely going to tell me to pauk off and do it myself.' He thought to himself.
He knew there were ways of getting a defiant servant to submit.
But it didn't sit well with him getting physical with the small ooman female. His mother raised him to be better than that. The older female would most likely put his balls in a blender if she ever found out he or any of his brothers mistreated a female, especially one of another race.
The only females he ever really got physical with were yautja females. Usually during sparring or mating though. And that was because yautja females could take it.
Mainly because of the fact that they are naturally bigger, stronger, and quicker than males.
But in many of the other intelligent and sentient races the yautja have encountered, in most of them, the females were generally smaller and weaker than the males.
Oomans being an example of that.
Kata'nu saw stubbornness and determination in those bright blue orbs and knew the young woman wouldn't budge. She would most definitely fight him the whole time he'd be trying to get it on her.
"Alright, fine. But you cannot for any reason leave my side, while we are out there. Understood?" He demanded.
Julie snorted, "And go where exactly? I'm on an alien world after all. There is nowhere for me to go."
As much as she hated to admit it, she finally came to terms last night, that she may never be able to escape this.
Even if she were to get away from her captor, she could run into a multitude of other problems with other members of his race. Plus, she wouldn't even know how to work one of these alien ships to get her back home.
But if anything, she felt bad for the civilians she came here with. No doubt they will not like where fate led them. No doubt, they will be freaking out upon landing, after waking up.
Seeing as when she inquired about the other humans, Kata'nu told her they were all still asleep due to the sleeping gas they've been continuously pumping into the cells.
"Well, at least I'm glad we're on the same page there. Vast jungles surround our clan's village. And you don't want to find yourself wandering off into the jungle. Especially, without any weapons." Kata'nu said.
"Does this mean, I'll actually acquire some then?" She asks, with some hope in her eyes and a small smile.
His mandibles twitch behind his mask, trying not to smile.
"Won't need them. I'll keep you safe." He replied.
He playfully puffed out his chest after the comment.
Julie rolled her eyes.
"Great, more macho bullshit. But I don't need your safety. I can take care of myself just fine, thank you very much." She retorted.
Kata'nu grinned, "Of course you can, little ooman." He joked, while patting the top of her head.
Unamused, she batted his hand away, which made him chuckle.
"You really are a smug bastard. You know that?" She quips.
"All those lovely nicknames you're giving me. I may find it hard soon to remember them all. Are you ever going to settle on one by any chance? Would surely make things much easier if you do." He sarcastically replied.
"Hard to pick. Since they all seem very fitting for you." Julie says.
"If you say so, pipsqueak." He teased.
"Fuck off, I'm not that little. You're just freakishly tall." She stated.
"Sure...small fry." Kata'nu continued.
If she was going to give him some colorful and lovely names, then he'll give her some too.
He watched her narrow her eyes at him. It seemed pretty clear she didn't like being teased for her height.
"You're one to talk. Sasquatch looking motherfucker." She hissed.
He opened his mouth to call her something back. When a familiar ringing sound filtered through his quarters. Then one of the pilot's voices sounded over the intercom.
Julie listened as one of them garbled over the intercom in their strange language. Then as quickly as it started, it ended.
"What did he just say?" She asks.
"We will be landing soon. Which means we should probably start making our way to the ship's exit." Kata'nu told her.
He turned around and started heading for the door at the front of his quarters.
The warrior paused halfway and looked over his shoulder.
"You coming or what?" He inquired.
At first, Julie didn't move.
Then she let out a sigh, and slowly started making her way over to him. He waited for her, then they went to his door. He punched in the code and the door slid open to allow them out into the hall.
She walked in step beside him, well more like speed walking. Since his strides were much bigger than hers. Julie also saw other yautja leaving their rooms to also make their way down the hall to the ship's exit.
They were nearly there, when a group of yautja stopped at some of the other doors on the way. And as she looked behind her, she was surprised to see some humans come through the doors.
Indicating she must've just passed most of the holding cells.
Julie became pretty pissed when she saw some came out in chains. By the looks of it, it was mainly a few men that came out in chains. While still quite a few of the others weren't wearing chains at all, like herself.
It made her wonder why some were wearing chains while others weren't.
She saw Brownie, a.k.a Bakuub walking up a few paces behind her. And she just had to ask.
"Brownie, why are some of the humans in chains?" She asks.
Bakuub still hated the nickname she gave him. But it seems every time he corrects her, she still insists on calling him that. It didn't help when Kata'nu found amusement in it and called him that too a few times to tease him.
Even Dachande could barely hide a chuckle when he heard Julie call him that. But then quickly got annoyed when she called him Banana, due to his yellow coloring with mottled black spots.
Of course, it was Bakuub's turn to laugh at that. Dachande had no idea what a banana was. But Bakuub knowing a little more about oomans and some of the things they eat, knew it to be a type of fruit.
The yellow yautja grew even more annoyed about the fact he was referred to as some kind of fruit, of all things.
"They too aggressive. Try to attack yautja when come in cells. Unfortunately, had to be chained." He informed her.
Julie frowned. Of course, they would attack their captors. They were none the happier being here than she was.
She tried to look for Mya and Jake among the large group of people coming out of the cells. After a couple minutes of looking behind her to check, Julie thought she saw a familiar head of short dark curls. She knew Mya did.
Now, there were probably around twenty-five to thirty-five humans cluttering the hall. Too many for her to spot the ones she talked with and somewhat knew.
At some point, she gave up looking. Julie turned her head, only to find herself nearly walk into another yautja's back. Kata'nu quickly grabbed her arm to keep her from colliding with the yautja in front of her.
After another three minutes, everyone came to a stop. And one of the yautja at the front of the group, which happened to be Dachande, started putting in the keycode to the exit door.
The large door slid open shortly after.
Julie noticed bright sunlight starting to filter in through the entrance a several feet ahead of them. Then once the short ramp was deployed, they all started to exit the ship two at a time.
Once they got to the door, she felt a large hand gently grasp her shoulder. She looked up to see Kata'nu look down at her briefly. Before he gave a small gesture with his head to go.
As they made it down the ramp, Julie's eyes widened with a small inaudible gasp.
They were in some large outdoor port. And in front of them, was a very large and alien looking town. It was made up of many strange building structures of various sizes. And there were many yautja along with some other alien species walking about the dirt roads that surrounded and weaved through the spaces between the structures.
It kind of looked like one of those planetary towns you would see on some sci-fi shows, like Firefly.
Her trance was broken when she heard the humans behind her gasp and start talking among themselves as they too looked around. It tugged at her when she thought she heard a couple individuals start to cry.
While some may have found this new world to be rather interesting, others still saw it as a strange and scary new world.
In the end, it reminded her that they were now deemed the aliens here and not the other way around. All she can do now, is hope that she and the others can somehow adjust to this new environment.
Until Next Time ;)