Ladies and gentlemen GhostNobody here wishing you all Nadolig llawen or in English Happy Christmas
If you don't celebrate Christmas let me just say happy holidays one and all its midnight here and Santa Ghost and his loyal elf Hybrid Chimera are proud to bring you this little stocking filler to hopefully get your Christmas day off to a good start.
This day is all about family and sharing our love with the ones we love most and I hope you all are able to have those closest to you gathered around you and if not thanks to this bloody virus, I hope that they are safe and well.
To me you are all like my extended family and I'm sending out my live to each and every one of you because after the year we've had we could all use all the love and cheer we can get.
So with one big thank you this is GhostNobody signing off and saying on with the show...
Hybrid Chapter 11: Morning After.
"Oh, don't worry, Ciri, Liam is a consummate professional, I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation as to why he and the ambassador's pack are not answering their communicators, I'm...oh," Jack Mason's voice seemed to slide into Liam's dreams like it was drifting across a vast expanse.
But suddenly a roar that invokes a reaction in any solider whether they like it or not like a muscle memory that flips a switch hit him, "Seeker, ATENSHUN!" Jack's voice roared, and Liam's body moved before his mind had even connected to it and he burst out of the pile of coils that he seemed to be wrapped in and snapped to attention.
"Seeker Liam Silver Mason reporting!" he snapped in his crispest parade voice, that's when his mind woke up and reconnected to his body and he found himself staring at a rather amused looking Jack Mason and a rather surprised and curious looking Regent Ciri.
Behind Ciri were the other members of the royal pack and they were peeking around her each with an equally surprised and curious expression and he was seeing a lot of curious flicking tongues, that's when his mind fully caught up and he realized that the cool, refreshing breeze on his nethers wasn't an illusion, he was as naked as the day he was born, before royalty.
"Umm, permission to restore some sliver of my dignity, Grand Patriarch," Liam said, Jack's smile widened and he nodded.
"Granted, Seeker," he said, and Liam grabbed his under suit which had been discarded to one side by the girls when they'd pulled it off him last night and he wrapped it around his waist like a skirt to cover some part of his nudity, from the large multicolored pile of coiled scales to his right a rather sleepy looking cobra head popped up, her tongue flickering away.
"What's with all the shouting and noise...REGENT!" Leba exclaimed, her hood nearly becoming a pair of wings strapped to the side of her head and neck.
Suddenly there were three equally loud shrieks as Leba's scream woke the others up and they realized what was going on and the four of them wound together so tightly to cover their nakedness that they turned themselves into a giant ball of scales in the centre of their heated bed.
"Ummm, forgive our intrusion on your private time and sanctuary, ladies, we became concerned when Seeker Silver wasn't answering his communicator and despite the Grand Patriarch's protests that his Seeker was fine I insisted we came to check on you to make sure assassins hadn't broken into the palace in the night and caused you harm," Ciri said.
"We're fine my lady, honestly," Celia's muffled voice came from the embarrassed ball of coils in the centre of the bed that hid the four very naked Serpentinus girls, that's when Liam realized that none of them had shut off the song the girls had performed their dance to last night and that's also when Ciri noticed as well.
"Oh my goodness! Your heart dance! That's your heart dance music! I had no idea your relationship had gone so far so fast! Oh my goodness, we're intruding on something very private, come, my sisters, we must leave, no pack should have their first morning with their newest pack member interrupted like this!" Ciri exclaimed, and she nearly dragged the rest of her curious pack who were all gazing at Liam a little too closely away.
Liam turned to Jack Mason who was still smiling wryly at him, "I suddenly find myself rather glad that I didn't double down my bet with my wife, but we do need you on deck as soon as possible, we got a lot of important things to go over, ok?" he said, and Liam nodded.
"So, this heart dance thing like their version of marriage?" Jack asked, and Liam nodded again, still silent as Jack smiled, realizing that he'd obviously accepted.
Jack turned to go but just as he was about to he glanced over his shoulder, his bright blue eyes sparkling, "You did your Clan proud, kid, just like I always knew you would, you made me proud of you, now do the same for them, you treat them right, all or nothing, you hear me?" Jack said, and Liam snapped to attention again.
"Sir, yes, sir, Grand Patriarch!" Liam snapped, and Jack nodded, waving his hand over his shoulder, leaving Liam and his new pack alone in the bedroom and no sooner had he gone and the door slammed loud enough to warn them it was safe to come out of their ball four heads peeked out of the coil ball.
"Well, that was, umm, awkward, not exactly the way I imagined my first morning of marriage to go, not that I exactly planned to be married to more than one person either, but hey, I'm definitely not complaining," so, how do you girls like your eggs?" Liam asked, trying to defuse the tension somewhat as it was obvious that the girls were somewhat distraught having been found naked in bed with their alien male, by their queen of all people.
Slowly the four of them unwound from one another and the ball became four beautiful women again, "Well, I gotta say, I never imagined sleeping in a living breathing ball of scales but I honestly couldn't be happier, well, apart from the royal alarm clock, but hey, rough with the smooth, right? And it doesn't get much smoother than you girls," Liam said, moving over to them and reaching up and stroking both Celia's smooth diamond scaled head, relishing the glass smooth and coolness of her scales while also caressing Leba's sensitive hood.
As he did that Sev and Veme moved in and wound themselves around him from two different directions, making him wonder if they were going to add a bow to the wrapping, but their cool scales made him shiver, "We never knew that love was this beautiful or that it would come to us in the form of a hot blooded mammal, but Celia was utterly right when she described you as the most perfect male she had ever seen, she told us that your heart just seemed to glow, well, you sure proved that to us last night, you loved us so openly and freely and bodily," Veme said, tickling his ear with her tongue.
This time Liam acted on that instinct he'd had last night, turning his head and activating his abilities at just the right time, time seemed to slow right down and Veme's tongue began to wave at him in slow motion just an inch from his face, as quick as a flash he moved his head and used his lips to trap it and coiled his own around it as best he could before drawing it into his mouth properly, relishing her taste as her almost minty flavor saliva coated his tongue.
"He caught Veme's tongue mid smell!" Sev exclaimed as Liam and Veme were locked in mid snog, around him he felt Veme's coils tighten briefly before melting like butter around him, suddenly there were three more of them flickering around him and he got the feeling that they were all hoping to be caught just like Veme's, so he obliged them, as he released Veme who kinda looked like she'd gone into a trance.
"I...I...I, oh my," Veme said, her eyes all dilated and unfocused.
"I want that!" Celia exclaimed, and as she was speaking Liam kicked his abilities into high gear, making his eyes light right up and the air around him crackled with electricity and time slowed to an absolute crawl, even though he was still restrained he managed to reach out and grab Celia's tongue, winding it into his mouth while it was moving super slowly in his mouth he pretty much licked it clean of her saliva and replaced it with his before doing the exact same thing to Leba and Sev.
Then with a flash the three of them flickered like their senses overloaded and their eyes dilated into utterly lost bliss, "Oh, wow, I don't even know or care how he did that but I want this every day of my life," Sev exclaimed.
Liam pulled an arm free of the coils entwining him and stroked her face gently, "And you shall have it, my little tree climbing emerald scaled lover," he said softly, planting a tender kiss on the tip of her snout which she immediately tried to taste with her little pink tongue.
"Alright, girls, time to get up, I think I gotta go to work," Liam said softly, kissing each of them on the snout one after the other and he felt their coils tighten slightly before they all slithered from around him, letting him stand up right on his own feet and that's when an odd rush of cold air hit his skin, he'd just been wrapped in cold coils but now he was free he somehow colder, well, except for his feet, standing on the heated mattress they were toasty warm.
"He's right, my sisters, and besides, we need to go bask or we're going to be utterly useless this morning," Celia said, stretching herself and treating Liam to an utterly sublime view as he watched all those strong muscles bunch and ripple under her scales, though if he thought tearing his eyes away from one beautiful naked Serpentinus female was tough four of them was a near impossible task for a newly formed scale loving hot blooded human.
"Wait, you guys have to bask in the morning?" Liam asked, and Celia smiled and gestured with her hand to another door on the other side of the bedroom which until now Liam hadn't even noticed.
It was made to look like part of the wall and Leba pressed a switch, making the whole thing slide upwards to reveal a room made to look almost like a desert scene with a painted golden yellow floor made to resemble sand and painted walls made to resemble a perspective gazing off into the distance, whoever had painted it was a very talented artist, Liam got the feeling he should introduce them to h'chak.
In the centre of the room were four large slate slabs cut to resemble the kind of random rocks you'd see in the desert just lying around but Liam's incredibly sharp eyes easily picked out the tool marks on them, they also picked out the girl's names carved into the rock.
Each of the girls apparently had their own rock and as he watched them they slithered over and onto the rock with their names on them before laying down and stretching themselves out, as Leba laid down on her front she arched her back and then wiggled around to make herself comfortable and Liam was presented with an utterly hypnotic view of her buttocks wiggling and swaying as she tried to get comfortable, suddenly he realized that his make shift modesty hider was not going to be enough if he stayed here any longer but his curiosity was burning.
"You guys have to bask every morning?" he asked, and they all glanced at him and nodded.
"Yeah, the lamps in the ceiling are designed to reproduce the sun's UV rays perfectly along with a generous helping of infra red to warm us up and give us energy, just one of the joys of being cold blooded I guess," Veme said.
"So why do you have names on your rocks?" he asked as he processed this info, it was something that would be important to remember when it came to them visiting his home or if they ever moved there with him.
"Oh, because queen blue pillow whore over there wanted her favorite rock all the time, so we decided rather than argue we'd each pick a favorite basking rock and mark them, then it would always be just ours," Celia said playfully, teasing her sister who glared at her and fanned her hood at her.
"I am not a queen pillow whore!" Leba exclaimed angrily, and Liam got an idea, winking and little Sev playfully while mouthing 'Watch this' silently.
"Oh, awesome, well, that blue pillow does look comfy since you offered I guess I'll go take a quick sit down before I take a shower, I just hope I don't smell too badly of you girls, I mean, you don't sweat but boy do you girls get wet when you get going," Liam said, turning to leave.
Leba was on him before he'd even taken a single step, "Noooo! Not that!" she screamed, wrapping him up tightly, her face full of panic and her hood at full mast, Liam raised a single eyebrow.
"Pillow whore," he said with a grin as her hood twitched with embarrassment as she realized she'd been tricked as her sisters rolled around on their rocks and laughed themselves silly.
But he kissed the tip of her snout softly, relishing the feel of her now surprisingly warm front scales and he guessed that the rocks were meant to reflect the heat into the girls as they lay on them, warming them from both sides at once.
"But you my big queen pillow whore and I don't love you any less, and hey, I suppose I could always just sit on you now couldn't I?" he said playfully, stroking and kissing her hood, making her shiver.
"Just my luck I had to fall in love with a joker, a mammal joker, the worst kind of joker," Leba said, making Liam grin and chuckle.
"Oh, we mammals are the best kind of jokers my little pillow whore, just wait 'till you wake up and find you and Sev have the same color scales and a snazzy new pair of bushy eyebrows along with a sharp new top hat," he said, giving her a sly smile.
"You wouldn't dare," Leba said, tightening her grip on him and making him laugh harder before giving her a look that make his eyes sparkle.
"I think you'd look snazzy in a top hat or with a monocle," he said.
"And I think you'd look snazzy with a shaved head, all nice and smooth and shiny," Leba shot back as she now realized he was just playing with her, making him roar with laughter.
Suddenly Celia howled like she'd been shot and slithered into the wrap, also entwining Liam in her coils, "Noooo, you leave our male's fur alone! No one is taking the joy of running my fingers through that silk soft fur away from me!" she howled, hugging his head in-between her now deliciously warm breasts, letting those scale covered sacks of feminine flesh spill over his shoulders as she hugged him and burying her snout in in his hair, tickling his scalp as she did her equivalent of huffing down lungfuls of his scent.
Liam slid his hands between the coils and found a glorious pair of scalie orbs to squeeze and upon gripping a handful he realized he had hold of Leba's rear end by the soft hiss and gasp she let out in his ear, so while Celia was still huffing his hair he leaned up and allowed Leba to draw him into a deep, passionate kiss, letting her little tongue tickle its way around the inside of his mouth, tickling its way over every one of his teeth and all along the inside of his cheeks.
His tongue slipped into her mouth and began to polish the two fangs running along the roof of her mouth, making her shiver now, it was obvious she loved having her fangs tasted like this as it was an incredibly intimate thing to do and he guessed that to a Cobra genus her fangs were as sacred as her hood and maybe even a little sensitive.
When they parted from their kiss she was smiling warmly, "I love you so so much, our little mammal husband," she hissed softly.
"As I love you, my sensitive little cobra, now, if you would, girls, I'd better go shower and you two had better get to basking, don't want you to be utterly useless today or I may just have to find other ways to inject a little loving warmth into you," he purred softly, making both of them quiver.
"Oh, such wonderful promises," Leba said before both of them unwound from around him and they slithered their way back onto their basking rocks while he staggered his way to the showers, still picturing those two delicious, sexy, wiggling scaly behinds as the sun lamps caught them on the rocks.
Suddenly he was glad he wasn't wearing his armor or by now the door would be going in and screeching Battle Angels would be filling the place, hissing and screeching about dangerous blood pressure levels.
Liam thought about having himself a cold shower to take the edge off but he figured against it and decided to heat his sore muscles up, he hadn't been aware just how much he was aching 'till the watcher hit him and he cramped up almost immediately so he turned the dials 'till the water jets hitting him began to wring the tension out of him.
As he stood there lathering his naked body he remembered being in here with Celia, the feel of her coils winding around him, of her hands exploring his flesh both sensually and very curiously, of doing the same to her of running his hands over those glass smooth scales, those powerful muscles, those incredibly feminine assets, suddenly he was seriously glad he wasn't wearing his armor.
After his shower Liam put his gear back on, including his armor, once he engaged the mask the missed messages popped up in his HUD transfered from the wrist comp after exiting privacy mode, all from Jack and the other Seekers trying to get hold of him.
The Clan Mason Intranet worked through a series of relays that each of their suits had along with the ships, it allowed it to broadcast over a wide area, having access to both real time voice comms and burst type data packets for text and image messages, he had about eight now all asking where he was and why he wasn't answering, mostly from Jack but a couple from both Ryan and Analise asking where he was and if he was ok, then a joke from Ryan asking if he needed them to bring down some protection from the Dreamer, well, it was a bit late for that now.
Suddenly an incoming transmission came in broad spectrum from the Dreamer, "This is Hunter one one to all Guardian Core ground units, the Scalathor ships have entered the system, we are moving to intercept, all ground units move to red alert and be prepared to repel any fast moving ground assault pods that might try to break past us and land, Hunter one one out," Tik eleth said.
Instantly Jack's voice came over the comms next, "Seeker one one to all Seeker units, gather in the main atrium of the palace, I'm setting up a QRF, all Hunter teams set up a perimeter and be ready to respond to any and all threats, all Savior and Battle Angel teams keep doing what you're doing, let's get this planet's defences online as fast as possible, Seeker one one out," Jack said, and before Liam could tap his acknowledgement command his private comms lit up.
"Seeker one one to Seeker one two, come in," Jack's voice came through the speaker in his helmet.
"Seeker one two receiving, go ahead," Liam responded.
"Ahh, good, you finally untangled yourself from the Serpentinus girls, where is your pack right now? Over," Jack said.
"They are in their quarters basking, their species need sunlight to warm their blood in the morning, they're cold blooded, over," Liam replied.
"No wonder the fucking Scalathor decided to attack at this particular time, they knew the Serpentinus would be doing their morning bask and would be distracted, ok, gather your pack together along with the royal pack in the conference room and sit on them, I don't want anyone getting close, the royal guards will be joining you, keep them safe until we are sure this is all over and the threat is passed, Seeker one one over and out," Jack said.
"Roger that, Seeker one two out," Liam said, and with that he headed back to the girl's basking room.
"Alright, girls, sorry to interrupt your basking time but the Scalathor have entered the system, we need to gather you guys and the royal pack together in the conference room so get those cute rear ends of yours in gear and get dressed," Liam said, watching the four of them lift their heads from their basking rocks to look at him, looks of concerns passing over their pretty faces.
"The Scalathor are back?" Leba asked, and Liam nodded.
"Yes, but don't worry, the Guardian Core will protect you, but I need you all up and dressed quickly, please, ladies," he said, and quick as a flash the four of them slithered quickly back into their bedroom and dressed themselves, ready before Liam moved them to the conference room where the royal guards brought the royal pack along with the Regent.
"Their reinforcements have arrived?" Ciri asked, and Liam nodded.
"Yes, my lady, the Dreamer and our fleet are moving to intercept them as we speak, this is just a precaution, the Seekers are setting up defences here to hold the palace in case of attack and the Hunters are forming battle lines as a perimeter around the palace to protect it, our Battle Angels and Saviors are out in the city working to protect the people, so please don't fear, my lady, the Guardian Core has everything well in hand," Liam said confidently.
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"Three frigates on approach, Grand Matriarch, they have their weapons powered and defensive systems up," the weapons officer, a young human male called Richard said, turning his blonde head to look at her with expectant eyes.
"Send comms to the fleet, move to block their path to the planet and open a hailing frequency, run it through the translation matrix with what we have decrypted of the Scalathor language," Tik said, her tone authoritive and calm.
"Yes, Grand Matriarch! Channel open and the algorithm is running," the comms officer, a young Yautja female called Qunara said.
"This is Grand Matriarch Tik eleth Mason of the Guardian Core of Clan Mason, this planet and its people are under our protection, if you do not stop your advance towards their sovereign territory we will fire on you and take it from your already dead colleagues, you do not want to pick a fight with us, it is not one you will win," Tik said, her voice calm, collected and controlled but also full of aggression.
"They have dead stopped, Grand Matriarch, and they are fanning out, they're weapons appear to be targeting us, no indication that they have noticed the rest of the fleet yet," Richard said, and Tik nodded.
"Incoming message, Grand Matriarch audio and visual," Qunara said.
"Put it up," Tik said, and suddenly the large screen at the front of the bridge flickered to life with lines of static which rapidly cleared and became the face of a Scalathor female, her scales were electric blue with traces of black running through them that kinda made it look like she was made of living lighting.
She had eyes almost as blue as her beloved Ack, but that's where the similarity ended as those eyes were angry and full of hate, "Who the fuck are you to tell us what we can and cannot do, Alien? This matter does not concern you so step aside and let us do as the Black seed commands!" the female said, the translator made a tinny echo of her voice which seemed to be very raspy and throaty.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen, you launch a cowardly, unprovoked attack on a peaceful people and you expect us to just stand aside and let it happen? No pauking way, you have two choices here, stand down and live or fight and die, that's it, your choice, but we will not stand aside and let the senseless slaughter of innocent people happen right in front of us, the Guardian core will fight to the death first," Tik snarled with so much passion that it radiated into those around her.
"You are out gunned three to one and you have the gall to stand there and tell me that not only will you defy the will of the Black Seed but that you will fight to the death for those cowards? Plus, just so you know, our intention is not to slaughter the innocent people of Serpentinus Prime, no, only the royal pack and their heirs must die, then we will simply find and take their Ghost Slitherers and bring them back to our Dark Seed, with all of them gone those sniveling serpents will come to know the power of the Dark Seed, they will see the truth finally and turn away from that weak and pathetic twig the so Called Great Tree, she preaches love and inclusion that we should weaken ourselves by changing our sacred traditions and move with the times, well, we say no! We have a new god now, a powerful god, one who has shown us the dangers of what will come when aliens arrive on our doorstep and the destruction they will bring with them, so now we revere the Dark Seed even more because here you are and now you will see the truth of what real power looks like! Now step aside, this is your final warning!" the Scalathor captain exclaimed darkly.
"All Guardian Core vessels report ready, Grand Matriarch, Hunter and Savior teams eight through twelve report ready along with Savior teams six through ten are standing by for your word," Qunara said.
Tik sighed heavily, she knew there would be no bargaining here, if there was one thing Tik knew probably better than anyone else in the entire of the Guardian Core it was the eyes of a fanatic, she'd seen them many times in her old clan, those who would have destroyed her beloved cub for merely existing, who would have destroyed her for choosing her own love for herself rather than blindly following their ideals of purity, no, there would be no reasoning with these people.
She pressed a button on the comms pannel on her seat, "So I see then that you will not listen to reason, so then I have only three words for you, surprise Matriarch pauker!" she said, flipping the switch to send the silent go code to the fleet, the whole time staring into the eyes of the Scalathor captain who looked both confused and surprised which morphed into deeper anger as she realized that it was a trap.
"It's a trap!" she yelled into her ship's comms, but it was too late, the beauty of Yautja technology is their highly advanced stealth technology and cold running systems, so against the cold nothingness of space when Yautja ships were running in stealth they were utterly invisible from both the naked eye and all but the most highly advanced sensors, so the Scalathor were royally caught off guard when from nearly point blank range they were hit with a powerful barrage of plasma cannon fire that obilitarated their shields, coming apparently from nowhere before the Yautja ships decloaked all around them.
"Fire all guns on the lead ship!" Tik roared, and Richard smiled darkly.
"With pleasure, Grand Matriarch!" he said, and the Dreamer's forward guns roared to life, sending a barrage of plasma and hyper speed tungsten death right at them.
"Boarding teams, green light I want those cruisers intact, you have your orders, both the engine room and the bridge secured, take prisoners if you can, if not, teach them to fear the Guardian Core so that the mere mention of our name sends fear through their fucking distant relatives!" Tik eleth roared.
From the closest ships to the outer frigates a series of smaller ships detached themselves and sped straight over to the outer frigates, latching themselves onto the outer hatches of the frigates to begin cracking through their encryption or if need be cutting through while their parent ships took out the frigate's weapons from close range.
The lead frigate opened fire on the Dreamer and the frigates scrambled to try and break free of the Yautja ships but it was no use, their shells slammed into the fully charged shields of the Dreamer which while they felt it didn't do anywhere near enough damage to pose a risk, just gave them a nasty jolt.
"You will pay for this! We may die this day but the Dark Seed will sprout and it will grow, mark my words, alien scum, and there's nothing you or your Pussy Tree loving friends can do to stop it!' The Scalathor captain screamed with pure hate in her voice.
"Shut her the pauk up, permanently please," Tik said calmly.
"Roger that, Grand Matriarch, one special delivery of high velocity shut the fuck up on the way," Richard said, and with that the next shot from the Dreamer's mighty front guns punched right through the now utterly drained shields and straight through the frigate bridge window causing the image on the screen to flash and then vanish into blackness as the huge tungsten slug smashed its way through the bridge and deeper into the ships bowels.
Sure enough there were a series of secondary explosions from deep inside the ship but as that was happening Tik saw four small flashes from the side of the ship that streaked away towards the planet, at first she thought that they were escape pods until the sensors picked up that they weren't displaying any form of emergency beacon and each only had one occupant and then it clicked in her mind.
"Pauk! Drop pods! Shoot them down!" Tik roared, but the Dreamer, as powerful as she was, was too far away and even the much closer ships tried but the four pods danced and dodged around their plasma fire like flying dancers in space.
"Fuck, I can't get a lock! It's like they're predicting my fucking shots!" Richard yelled in frustration as he kept firing at them, suddenly Tik's blood ran cold and she punched the comms quickly.
"Dreamer to all Guardian Core on the ground, you have inbound pods, believed to contain Nightmare Assassins, I repeat, inbound Nightmare Assassins! And I think they're hunting Dream Warriors!" she yelled.
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On the ground Jack Mason's eyes narrowed as Tik's message boomed through his speakers, "Recived, Dreamer, we're on it, Seeker one one out," he said, and he turned to the other Seekers in the great hall with him along with their royal guard allies.
"Heads up, people, we have inbound Nightmare Assassins, count possibly four, I want this place locked down tighter than a mouse's arsehole who just got past his wife''s credit card bill for the month and for the Serpentinus among us that's fucking tight, not a single gap, if you see something you call it out, you do not try to take them on alone, if you see them you call for Seeker support immediately, am I understood?" he said.
He could see the royal guards all looking at each other questioningly, it was obvious to him that they were not used to taking orders from strangers and definitely not a male, "What's a Nightmare Assassin?" one of their officers finally asked, looking at him curiously, there was a note of arrogance in her voice, she was a rather large specimen of her species a white and cream scaled Boa.
Jack got the feeling that in order to get the Serpentinus too fall in line a demonstration was in order, "Seekers, disarm them," he said, and without a single seconds hesitation every Seeker in the room moved so fast they looked like a electric blur and suddenly the hundred or so royal guards suddenly found themselves standing there without weapons and in the centre of the room was a rather large pile of guns surrounded by seven Seekers.
"What in the name of the Great Tree!? How did you do that!?" the officer yelled loudly.
"Seekers, rearm them," Jack said, and once again the electric blurs began to move and as if nothing had happened each royal guard suddenly found they had a weapon in their hands again and they looked both confused and stunned.
"Ok, story time, ladies, so listen the fuck up, I'm only going to say this once..." he began, and with that he launched into an explanation of who and what Dream Warriors were which created a rainbow of expressions from shocked to scared, to clueless to surprised.
"Ghost Slitherers! He's talking about Ghost Slitherers, you mean to say they are real!?" The officer exclaimed.
"If that's your word for a Dream Warrior then yes, here, let me show you," he said, and with that he reached up and touched her face before she could move and her eyes flashed to his color and her expression changed.
"B-B-By the Great Tree! Oh my Great Tree, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed as he showed her the power of the Dream Warriors, her eyes flickered back to normal as he released her and she shook her head, her tongue flickering as she tried to clear her head.
"Yeah, it is, but Nightmare Assassins are most definitely not, they are the dark side of what we are, you've just seen a small glimmer of what we can do, now imagine that power used for evil and you have a Nightmare Assassin and you can be sure as hell they won't just take a gun out of your hands and leave you standing there looking like a fool, you'll be very lucky if they just kill you outright, they torture and torment for fun, they're greatest pleasure is destroying a soul from the inside out, leaving the person a gibbering burnt out husk with a head full of their worst nightmares for company," Jack said, and suddenly every shred of arrogance among the guards had evaporated like a fart in a tornado.
"Dream Warriors are rare and they spend most of their lives wondering and resenting the fact that they are different from everyone around them and never knowing why, why they were chosen to wield such power and living in fear of what will happen to them when and if the people around them discover that they possess such power, will they be killed through fear, kidnapped from their family and experimented on or dissected to find out if the process can be replicated, all sorts of things really, that fear and shame can drive them to madness or even worse, it's why Clan Mason has the Seekers of Truth, that's who we are, Dream Warriors trained and molded to not only accept who and what we are but to use it for good, we at the Seekers teach that we are not better than anyone else, simply different to them, we are given gifts the same as anyone, what defines us is how we use them," Jack said to the attentive Royal guards all flickering their tongues at him curiously.
"But how are we supposed to stop something that can move like you do, Grand Patriarch?" the officer asked.
"Dream Warriors or Nightmare Assassins are not invincible, just incredibly powerful, but we can be hurt or killed just like any of you, you just have to force them to make a mistake, in combat a Dream Warrior or Nightmare Assassin's greatest weapon is our speed, we move many times faster than you do, it allows us to perceive movements before they happen, but that can be exploited, dummying movements, or feints will throw us off, make us commit to an action that lead us into problems, attack them from all sides at once if possible and whatever you do, try not to let them get close," Jack said, marching back and forth along the line of troops like a drill sergeant.
He could feel the fear in the room and he looked at Ryan who nodded, Ryan stepped forward and he began to chant softly, "I am a child of Paya, the Great huntress of the Yautja, a child born of two worlds, of two peoples but of one love, I reach out now to the one called the Great Tree and I am humbled in your presence, please, Great Tree, let me calm the fears of your beloved children, let your strength flow through me and calm their hearts, give me the strength that I might give it to them, let it take root in me," he said, his eyes beginning to glow and a slow hum noise began to emanate from him as golden sparkling tentacles of light began to emerge from his chest.
As he began to chant the other Tamers joined in and strengthened the bond, feeding their energy into their leader and those golden tentacles reached out and touched every Serpentinus in the room, their eyes lit up and stared at invisible wonders flashing before their eyes, Nature's Stength was one of the most beautiful powers that the Tamers possessed, it used their connection to nature to fortify the hearts that they touched, the Soul Knights could do something very similar but the Tamer's version was less drastic and forceful.
It was an ability which quelled fear, encouraged hope and fortified strength, it literally raised the spirits of all it touched.
Ryan reached out and let the Great Tree touch the hearts of all of its children through him, using the power of his team to amplify the effects and to forge a stronger bond between them, Jack watched proudly as his beloved son brought hope and quelled the fears of the Royal guards, he gave them the courage they needed to fight for their loved ones and for their home, he showed them the beauty all around them and made them want to protect it with everything they had.
Once his son's ritual was complete Jack could feel the confidence washing off them now, "So what now? Do we just wait for the Nightmare Assassins to come here?" Ryan asked, and Jack shook his head.
"No, we spilt into two teams, I get the feeling they are going to do the same, Tik said there were four pods launched, that means potentially four Nightmare Assassins, she said something about them hunting Dream Warriors, now that could be just us or possibly the indigenous ones, so they will most likely spilt into two teams as well, two to come here and go for the Royal pack to seed chaos and the other two to hunt down and convert or kill the untrained indigenous ones, either way it's a whole world of bad so we have to find them first," Jack said.
"Ok, so how do you want to play this?" Ryan asked.
Jack looked thoughtful for a moment, "You take control here, I'll go after them, I'll take Analise and Zed as well as Mav and Rita along with me, you keep the others here with you, Liam is guarding both the royal pack and his own up in the conference room and he'll our last line of defence and trust me, no one who's going to want to harm those girls is going to get anywhere near them with him there," Jack said, and Ryan smiled.
"So it happened then?" he said, and Jack laughed and nodded.
"Oh yeah, got the surprise of his life when me and Regent Ciri along with her whole pack kicked him and his new pack out of bed this morning, Serpentinus girls are rather funny when they're embarrassed, turn themselves into a giant living football, Liam not so much, he just stood bollock naked and salutes," Jack said, and both Analise and Ryan roared with laughter.
"Note to self, never let Liam live that down, though, Grand Patriarch, I must ask, was it his hand saluting?" Analise asked, making Ryan roar with laughter again and Jack just grinned.
"Let's just say I think he made the queen and her pack rather curious and somewhat jealous of Celia and hers," he replied, making both Analise and Ryan both laugh.
"Oh yeah, never living that down," Ryan said with a grin, all of them silently coming up with snake loving jokes.
"Well, alright, there's no time to lose, those pods will be making planet fall any moment, they won't waste a single second so neither shall we, so you three with me, the rest of you form up on my son and let's kick these fuckers back into the void they crawled out of, shall we?" Jack said, being met with a cheer from both the Seekers and the Royal guard.
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Aboard the Dreamer the comms were going crazy, "Hunter eight one to Dreamer, we are breaching! Airlock defences are down and we are going in!" Fera, the leader of Hunter team six yelled through the comms and this was swiftly followed by repeat calls from the other boarding teams.
"Dreamer to all breaching teams, roger that, do this by the numbers, secure the bridge and the engine rooms, Hunter teams, move as fast as you can, take prisoners if possible but if not don't let anyone slow you down, Savior teams, flood their systems with viruses, I want their comms crippled this time, they're not calling for help, Dreamer over and out," Tik said, and there were a chorus of replies.
The Hunter and Savior teams had trained for this, the Hunters would move fast, punching through the defence teams aboard the ships to contain and secure the control points of the vessels, namely the bridge and engine room and neutralising any resistance they met along the way with maximum aggression, the Saviors on the other hand, their job was two fold, first thing they would do would be to flood the ship's computer network with viruses that would cripple its internal defences and sensors as well as playing merry hell with other things like lights, these viruses were friendly in nature and could be turned on and off at will by the saviors electronic warfare experts, each team had one, the others were engineers who's job was to take control of the ship's systems when the Hunters cleared the hard points.
But Sela eleth's Saviors were warriors in their own right, granted they didn't have all the specialized combat training of either the Hunters or the Seekers but they could more than hold their own in a firefight and were just as heavily armed as the Hunter teams, their ranks also contained highly specialized soldier types like snipers who were not currently among the numbers aboard the frigates, they would be all but useless in that enviroment, but close quarters combat is really where the Hunters flourished.
Now the Guardian Core are not murderers, they would show quarter to any defenceless or helpless enemy they came across, or if they surrendered they would be taken into custody, as this was a rapid deployment they didn't have time to properly secure the ship, they'd simply hit them with a stun weapon which would render them unconsious for a couple of hours allowing them to be properly secured.
But just because the Guardian Core believed in mercy and the true rules of war did not mean for a single second that they would hesitate, thy would go right through anyone who stood in their way without a second thought, they would fight to the death to accomplish their mission and to uphold their principles but they also understood that not everyone was like them, that's where the mercy came in.
Tik eleth's pride was swelling in her chest as she watched the displays from the team's cameras, her Hunters were like her cubs, she had raised them up and trained them to fear no one, to always stand true and proud for their Clan, to defend it with all that they had and right now they were doing just as they had been trained to do, they were cutting right through the Scalathor like a hot knife through butter.
The lead Hunter was using an energy shield which blocked the narrow corridors as they moved firing over it with their plasma casters along with the two Hunters behind them while the last one in the stick walked backwards as a rear guard while the Saviors moved along with them.
In Perfect sync the teams on both ships burst into the ship's bridges and eliminated the crew, holding them while at the same time the secondary teams hit the engine rooms, being vary careful with their weapons fire, using stun grenades and gas to flush the rooms before entering to avoid any stray shots damaging something that could potentially blow the ship to kingdom come.
That's when the calls she'd been waiting for came through, "Ship secure, Grand Matriarch, we have control," in near perfect unison the Hunter team leaders called through.
"Roger that, good job, my Hunters, I am damn proud of you all of you," she said.
No sooner had the calls come through than the ships next to them latched on them and began sending control teams aboard that would secure any prisoners taken, though from what Tik had seen it had been been pretty much fight to the last woman over there, fanatics very rarely surrendered, but now they had two more frigates to add to their fleet and hopefully a whole world of intel for their analysts to sift through.
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"Dreamer to Seeker one, one skies are clear, my love, we took two of their frigates and destroyed their command ship, Dreamer out," Tik eleth said through the comms.
Jack looked out at the brilliant blue sky over the vast desert all around them, they were currently following two sets of foot prints from the pod crash sites, two had headed around them towards the city and he had warned his Seekers already, but these two seemed to be heading toward the mountains in the distance, they were hunting and that meant so was Jack.
"Roger that, my love, we're tracking the Nightmare Assassins, it looks like two have headed for the city and the palace and the other two are heading for the mountain, possibly in pursuit of the native Dream Warriors, I am sensing a great deal of energy from that direction so we're heading after them, over and out," Jack said.
Suddenly Zed snarled to his left, "Looks like he got the scent, so let's hunt," he said, and without another word the four Dream Warriors took off at top speed with Analise riding Zed and transferring her power to him so he could move at their speed, the hunt was on.