Chapter 14: Homecoming.
The Dreamer pulled into the huge berth that looked like a large metallic cradle in the space dock, the large heavy cruiser was locked into place by a series of large locking arms that reached out and gripped the hull with a series of dull metallic thuds that reverberated through the hull.
This was followed by a series of large Flexi metal pipes that attached to the airlocks, the light above the airlock door changed from red to green as the pressure seal was checked and secured.
Liam tapped a few buttons and the inner door and outer doors opened at the same time this was the only time that both doors would open at the same time to prevent the ship from depressurising and venting everyone out into the vacuum of space.
"Come on ladies we'll take the shuttle down to the surface from here," Liam said to his curious pack.
"Why don't we just take a shuttle from the ship to the surface?" Leba asked.
"Oh the Dreamer needs to refit and resupply, after the fights in orbit of your planet she'll need to restock her ammo not to mention her food supplies, she'll also download her data banks and sensor data, plus there's constantly shuttles running to and from the surface bringing people up to work and down to rest up, now there are going to be a lot of Xeno's in here so try not to mind the stares, they're a curious bunch at the best of times," Liam said with a smile.
"Do they live here?" Sev asked and there was a deep rumbly laugh from behind them and they all glanced back as they slithered and walked along through the tunnel.
It was Tik eleth and alongside her was Jack, "Trust me you're going to see where they live, they're kinda obvious, as are their mothers" Tik said with a grin.
Liam chuckled softly, "Understatement of the year right there Grand Matriarch," he said and the four Serpentinus looked confused.
"Don't worry young ones you'll see exactly what he's talking about soon enough?" Jack said.
Celia made a humph noise and frowned at Jack, "Who are you calling young ones? Leba here is thirty-two rotations old and I am thirty-one rotations, granted yes our species live for about two hundred and fifty rotations, but we are far from young, I would say our male is younger than even our youngest member Veme who is twenty-eight rotations" Celia said and Jack snorted loudly.
Celia looked at Liam who was just grinning at her, "Yeah ok you got me I am younger than you all, I'm twenty-five, but the humans of this world live to about four hundred years which I guess is the same as your rotations and the Yautja like our Grand Matriarch here can live to a thousand years" he said.
Celia's mouth dropped open and she looked at Tik in utter shock, "Don't worry young one I am barely in my first hundred years as is my beloved male, though as Lady Paya's chosen one he too has a Yautja life span to match mine so that as my chosen one we will never spend a single year apart or aggrieved at the loss of our other half" Tik said.
Leba sighed, 'That sounds so beautiful, to have your male bound to you for life like that" she said and Tik nodded.
"I am bound to him and he to me, he is the father of my cubs and the love of my life, spending every moment of the rest of my life hunting at his side is my distinct pride and honour," Tik said.
"As it is mine too, two halves of the same coin" Jack said giving Tik's huge arm a squeeze and her mandibles a stroke making her purr.
The door that separated the docking tunnel into the main ring, the huge orbital dock was one part space station one part construction berth for constructing new space vessels, also it was one part orbital defence platform armed to the teeth with large long-range naval class railguns and anti-capital ship missiles and torpedoes.
"We'll leave your official tour of the planet with young Seeker Silver here I'm sure he'll manage to stretch it to more than the inside of his quarters and bed-chamber, we have to go see some Xenos about getting a whole load of guns, really big ones," Jack said giving Liam a clap on the shoulder before heading off with Tik in tow giving them a wave as they passed.
"I wouldn't mind a tour of your bed chambers," Veme said sensually slithering in close and Liam chuckled softly reaching and stroking her head and snout.
"There will be plenty of time for that I assure you, but first many things to do and see, so come on let me show you paradise," he said.
"My version of paradise is you laid out on a blue pillow holding a desert rose in your teeth wearing nothing but a where's Leba look on your face" Leba mumbled and Liam snorted and felt his cheeks warm.
"You really like that pillow don't you?" he said with a smile and her hood flared slightly.
"I like what's laid on it in my dream a whole lot more," she said nuzzling him with her smooth snout.
That's when they caught sight of the space station properly and they all stopped and looked around in awe, "Oh wow look at this place, it's huge! You could fit out entire orbital defence network inside it and still have room!" Celia exclaimed, looking around at the huge cavernous space made up of a multitude of levels all rising around a central core that rose up like a huge metal pillar.
Liam led the girls across the main deck and they were utterly enraptured by all the colourful Xenos scurrying around in their multitude of uniforms, everything from engineers, to Battle Angels to Saviours, not to mention the Humans and Yautja that were here too, a lot of which turned to look as they saw Liam pass by with his four charges, many of which saluted him as he walked by.
"We call it North Star, it started life as a space station for early detection of anyone approaching our planet, but in their wisdom, our Grand Matriarch and Patriarch saw an opportunity to do more than simply watch the stars, so they had this place turned into a full-on space dock big enough to hold four ships like the Dreamer at the same time although we only have one in her class right now others are being constructed as I'm sure you saw on the way in, they are super heavy cruisers but are built to punch way above their weight and class, so basically pocket battleships, also capable of carrying and deploying a good number of troops into battle when needed, then provide orbital fire support, I've heard rumours that Yoshi and Cirtus's hive are working on a new kind of ship that will make the Dreamer look like a cargo shuttle but Goddess only knows with those crazy Xenos" Liam said as she shepherded his pack towards the shuttle bay.
"Yoshi and Citrus?" Sev asked curiously.
"Yeah don't worry you'll meet them soon enough, their hive is the centre of technological design and scientific study on our world, not to mention a place of learning, in fact all of the hives are, Zara and Cortez's hive is our place of medical study and healing, its a giant hospital dedicated to saving every life that enters through its doors, it were all out Battle Angels come from, then there's Murphy and Aine's hive, they have turned a large section of the planet into a farm designed to grow our food while protecting the planet's ecology," Liam said proudly.
All of them looked impressed, "I would love to see that, I bet our farmers would love to get a look at something like that, our kind were once solely carnivorous but we evolved to become omnivores with time though a great many of us still eat a primarily carnivorous diet" Veme said and Liam nodded.
"Humans are pretty much the same, though we have extremes on both ends of the spectrum, some eat only meat, some eat only vegetables, though most eat a mixture," he said as he shepherded them into the shuttle and guided them to the seats, it was rather interesting watching them trying to figure out how to effectively sit in seats designed for people with legs, but they managed to part their pert rear ends on them eventually.
Liam dropped into the pilot's seat and strapped himself in, he quickly powered the shuttle up and went through his preflight checks before requesting both launch permission from air traffic control and also landing permission from ground control stating both his identification and clearance levels, Seekers had higher clearance than most and as second in command of the Soul Knights Liam's was pretty much as high as it got.
All was granted so he flipped the comms to the passenger area, "Ok ladies hold onto those cute scaly rears of yours here we go" he said as he lifted off from the landing pad.
The small interplanetary shuttle didn't have any weapons as it was a little surface hopper designed to ferry people from the surface to a ship or the orbital platform, not to fight battles.
"Wow look at all that blue and green! It's beautiful" Celia's voice came over the comm and Liam glanced back into the crew area and found them all craning their necks to look out of the same porthole that was in-between their seats which were affixed to the bulkhead.
These shuttles had four rows of twenty seats but thanks to their VIP and diplomatic status they had the whole shuttle to themselves.
"Hold on girls atmospheric entry in ten seconds," he said and the girls gripped their seats as the shuttle began to shake as they hit the outer atmosphere, flames began to lick the outside of the ship sending yellow and orange tounges running all over the glass.
Liam was an experienced pilot as were all of the Seekers, their Grand Patriarch insisted on making sure that they trained to operate any vehicle they may come across, so Liam could fly anything from a shuttle like this one to a huge starship like the Dreamer, they could also drive any vehicle they came across, it was the same for the Hunters, their Grand Matriarch was just as fastidious with her training as her beloved husband.
Soon enough the shaking stopped and the flames dissipated as they breached the atmosphere and the dove into the incredibly blue sky, "Coming up on the capital on your left now" Liam said as he took them down, the girls all crowed the porthole again.
"Oh wow look at that! It's beautiful" Leba said.
"What are those large conical like structures outside of the main city?" Veme asked upon seeing the huge structures.
"Those are the Xeno hives, on the east side you have Citrus and Yoshi's hive, on the west Aine and Murphy's that's the one in the centre of the plains, the one to the north at the top of the large hill is the hive of Zara and Cortez, the home of the Battle Angels," Liam said.
He circled the city, "Do you see that large almost pyramid-like building with all the rather angular ceilings towards the jungle side?" he asked.
They all looked around and Sev pointed it out, "There that one" she said.
"That's the Seeker temple, where I call home," he said glancing back and he could see their tounges attempting to smell the temple through the sealed glass porthole making him chuckle softly.
The landing site was in walking distance from Citrus and Yoshi's hive and no sooner had he set down he found his girls up and ready to go, they were chomping at the bit to get out there and see his homeworld, they immediately slithered up to him and flanked him.
Liam opened the door and there was a hiss as the pressure seal broke and fresh air filled the cab, as the loading ramp dropped Liam immediately saw a group of Xenos approaching them all wearing lab coats, "Welcome! Welcome! Oh our king and queen will be so pleased to meet you" the first Xeno a female said happily.
She was wearing a voice modulator collar which glowed like a little green gem around her throat so they could understand her, "We are very happy to be here and I look forwards to meeting you king and queen" Celia said in her best diplomatic voice making the female Xeno that Liam knew to be called Fex smile brightly.
Liam led the group towards the entrance to the hive and he saw his girls looking around the huge entrance in awe, "Is this place...organic?" Leba exclaimed reaching out and touching the organic polymer that made up the walls.
"Yup, the entire place was constructed from scratch by our queen for her and our king to live in, once they had their first children we all helped to improve and enlarge it, my species secrete a natural organic resin that we can use to construct what we need, over the years we have found numerous applications for it as well as that when it is combined with various elements produces incredibly strong and lightweight building materials that are utterly weatherproof when set," Fex said proudly as she led the four Serpentinus and one human Seeker inside the hive.
A few winding corridors later she led them out into the gigantic lab area and all four of the Serpentinus stopped dead and looked in utter shock and awe at the sight that greeted them, "Welcome to our home, the leading scientific, engineering and research facility in Clan Mason, if it beeps whirs or clicks, we've broken it apart figured it out and made it better right here" Fex said with obvious pride.
No matter how many times he saw this sight it never failed to impress Liam, the entire place was one gigantic lab, cubicles all around them with Xenos in lab coats scurrying around screeching and hissing at one another as they discussed the inner workings of the universe as they knew it, projectors and whiteboards were everywhere and groups of Xenos with both Yautja and humans among them also in lab coats or engineering overalls were stood discussing various problems.
This place always made Liam smile, it was a testament to interspecies co-operation, all of them here with one singular purpose, to understand everything they could and to teach that knowledge to others, it was a superbly beautiful thing.
Seemingly out of no-where a huge black shape morphed out of the shadows of one of the huge corridors and as one all four of the Serpentinus girls mouth's fell open, "Ahh Celia, Leba, Sev and Veme Dimondscale it is my distinct pleasure to introduce the queen of this wonder of learning and knowledge, queen Citrus and her human King Yoshi" Liam said gesturing to the utterly enormous Xenomorph that stood before them regarding them curiously.
"So these are the Serpentinus that my beloved children have been in such a tizzy about, it is so good to finally meet you, ever since my beloved children started receiving the reports on your species our hive has been buzzing with excitement, my children utterly love to learn about new forms of life and to meet new people," Citrus said her voice husky and warm, she too was wearing a voice modulator collar like a large green dog collar around her long neck.
Celia was the first to recover her senses after meeting the huge Xenomorph queen, Liam had kinda guessed this would happen to see a Xeno was one thing but either a Praetorian or a Queen were utterly on a whole new level what with their size and their sheer presence, but it was always funny to see both the shock of seeing one and then the confusion when you realized it was friendly.
"Queen Citrus its an honour to meet you and to welcomed into your hive which I must say I don't even have the words to adequately express how impressive it is, our beloved male told us of it of course but even his eloquent words don't do this place justice, it is a true marvel to behold," Celia said gripping Liam's arm lovingly and tightly, Citrus who's collar acted as a Universal translator drew up and smiled both happily and proudly.
"I am glad you think so Celia Dimondscale and it pleases me to hear that your male speaks so highly of us," Citrus said turning her huge head to look at Liam giving him something of a sly smile, Yoshi stepped forwards and as usual he had an array of magnifying and scanning devices on his head that kinda looked like a seriously kick-ass jewellers lurve.
"Ahh this is my beloved male, my human king and the brightest star of my heart Yoshi," Citrus said introducing the rather shy and softly spoken Japanese man who was now blushing at his queen's loving introduction, but let's be honest he didn't need to be loud and aggressive when he had his queen at his back, there wasn't a being alive who still had the sense they were born with who would fuck with him, there was a saying on this world, 'Hurt a king and face his queen'
"It is so good to finally meet you all, the hive has been getting near-constant updates since the Dreamer came back into Clan Mason space and everyone has just been utterly buzzing with anticipation, a new race, new biology to study, new ways of thinking to analyse, new technology to investigate, such a joy all around and I'm hoping its the same for you to meet us," Yoshi said in that infinitely soft voice of his.
"Oh yes indeed both my pack sisters Leba and Veme here are our chief surgeon and chief bio researcher, they have been utterly relishing the chance to speak to your best scientific and medical minds to swap and discuss theories and data, not to mention Sev here is our chief historical chronicler and historian, I know she would utterly relish the chance to get a look at your history," Celia said proudly indicating each of her pack sisters in turn.
"If you would like Veme I can introduce you to our beloved children who run our bioscience and research division, they work under a Human scientist called Grace I'm sure she'd be utterly thrilled to meet you and to discuss ideas with you and oh please do excuse the energy, Xenos gets very energetic when they get excited," Yoshi said.
"Yes please I'd love to," Veme said and Liam gestured with his hand for her to follow Yoshi who led her through the hive, Liam instantly heard the shrieks and hisses of the surprised Xeno's who now had an alien in their midst and Liam saw the clamour to get a look at her and instantly Veme found herself shaking hands with an ever-extending queue of exited Xeno's.
Liam chuckled softly and turned back to Citrus who was watching her husband lovingly, "Would you like to lead the tour queen Citrus?" Liam asked and the big Xeno smiled and nodded leading the way with her long tail swishing behind her as she showed the ever-curious Serpentinus girls around the hive.
"This is truly a marvel queen Citrus, what you and your family have created here is utterly magnificent, I cannot wait to tell my people of this place," Sev said and Citrus smiled at her.
"Thank you Sev Dimondscale your kind words do you honour, you should meet Lelia Ridgeclaw, she's the head arbiter and historical chronicler, I'm sure you two would have a lot to talk about," Citrus said causing Sev to smile brightly.
"Thank you queen Citrus I will do that," she said.
Once they'd managed to pry Veme away from her new friends with a promise to return later and to continue the verity of conversations she'd been having Liam led the girls from the hive and out into the city, they slithered about looking at absolutely everything, every blade of grass, every flower, every person who stopped to greet them in the street.
Though Liam had to admit watching them in the park as they passed through to head on up to the arbiters before they were to head up to Zara and Cortez's hive to meet the king and queen of the Battle Angels.
In the park there were children of all races playing together chasing each other around, playing and climbing on special built frames, they were being watched over by proud parents of all races who were either playing with the children or stood chatting together, they were a mixture as diverse as they offspring were.
Hunters, Saviors, simple civilians all equals and all proud of their young as they rightly should be, the products of their love made flesh, the Clan's greatest strength and resource happily running around and playing with their friends and siblings.
The second one of them set eyes on the four aliens in their midst they all stopped what they were doing and ran over to Liam, all four of the Serpentinus girls were positively gushing at the sight of the children, "Oh wow Seeker Liam they're really pretty! Who are they?" a young pureblood human boy called Trevor said looking up at Leba with wide brown eyes.
"This is my pack, and they are my wives, this is Celia, Leba, Veme and Sev Dimondscale, they are Serpentinus a new species who want to be our friends, our Grand Patriarch and Matriarch brought them here to show them our home and to show them our way of life so that they can see what good people we are," Liam said in a soft voice.
"That's Silver Dimondscale, we have your name now as you have ours beautiful husband, don't forget you are now Liam Silver Mason Dimondscale," Leba said with a smile followed by affectionate nuzzle to his cheek.
"What did she say?" Trevor asked and Liam realized they didn't have UT's to translate, he held up a finger and he began chanting till his eyes flashed and lit up with glowing bright blue energy, reaching out he connected to the minds of all of them including the parents and transferred the Serpentinus language to them getting a collection of ohhh's and ahhh's as they all marvelled at the display of Dream Warrior power.
"There we go now you can understand them," Liam said as the parents all came over to look at them as well.
"I keep forgetting that people don't understand our language because everyone aboard the Dreamer could speak it," Sev said and all the children looked at her happy because they could understand her now.
"Don't worry the returning Seekers will ensure that it becomes widely understood, it is a simple thing for us communicate language like that, so we'll make sure you and the Ghost Slitherers will be understood?" Liam said.
"Oh wow you're so big and long and your tail is really shiny, plus your scales are really pretty, I like green, green is my favourite colour," Trevor said looking at Sev's tail.
Sev made a squee noise holding her hands against her chest and before anyone could say anything she plucked Trevor off the ground and cuddled him against her, "Human younglings are so cute!" she squealed joyfully as she cuddled the giggling boy.
Liam saw all the parents bristle as one as their protective instincts kicked in, especially that Yautja, it was hard-wired into them to protect cubs, it didn't matter who's they were any one of them would fight to their dying breath so that any cub might live.
Liam held up a hand to show them that it was alright and that she meant no harm, "Oh it fills my heart with so much joy that our younglings might grow up in such a beautiful place, that our sons and daughters will have friends of many different races, that our daughters when they form their own packs, will have beautiful males like this one to form their own pack with, exotic and handsome just like our own beloved husband" Sev said placing Trevor back down and slithering up to Liam and wrapping him.
The parents looked at him curiously and there were a few sly and amused smiles among them, "Just as long as they don't start taking too many pretty oomans away from the Yautja" one of the Yautja mothers said with a smile as she rubbed her human husband's hair playfully.
"Or the Xenos," a Xeno mother said wrapping her tail around her human husband possessively and protectively.
Liam chuckled softly, "I think our pure blood population is more than healthy enough for everyone to be happy including our new friends here," he said.
"Can I touch your tail please?" a young Yautja girl asked Leba who's hood gave her surprise away but she nodded her consent and the smiling girl put her hands on Leba's long tail and a moment later they were all at it, laughing joyfully as they all felt the girls shiny and smooth scales.
Sev showed off that despite her smaller size than the others she was strong by lifting a few up wrapped in her tail making them shriek with delight as they clung on while Sev swung them around, it made Liam smile seeing how easily his pack adapted to being around all the other races and easily they took to it.
Liam saw the streaks in the sky of the other shuttles coming down, he knew most of them would be bound for the Seeker temple as they would be ferrying down Ghost Slitherers for training, so their first stop would be to get them settled in the large barracks that place had.
Jack had built the place much larger than was strictly necessary with the hope that one day it would be full of warriors from all over the Galaxy trained to do good and to fight for good.
It had a large barracks just like the Hunter proving grounds for single Seekers to live in, those that had a mate or indeed family lived in either their own home or the larger mated quarters on the upper levels, the barracks itself was underground hidden directly beneath the temple to protect the Seekers in case of a preemptive orbital strike on the place, Jack had wanted to make sure that his Seekers had a chance to live and get in the fight should such an event occur, hence why it was built like a reinforced bunker, lots of concrete reinforced with layers of both ceramic and the special metal they refined here to make it blast-proof.
Liam smile when he thought of the little ones the Ghost Slitherers had brought with them being allowed to come here to make new friends and to play with them, it would be the first time in their lives they would be able to slither around in the open-air freely without fear of persecution, they would be as free as anyone else and able to enjoy their little lives because here they were safe, here they were protected, here Clan Mason would tear apart anyone who tried to harm them ever again.
Once the pack waved goodbye to the kids and their parents Liam lead them towards the arbiters, all of the Clan Mason arbiters were Saviors, trained as both chroniclers and police, they were dispensers of justice in the Clan on the supremely rare occasion that someone broke their laws, but to be fair the only real thing they ever had to do and even that was rare was break up a fight when a couple of the Yautja girls got into an argument over a human boy, though thanks to the mate hunt or the battle royale these fights were usually the result of a whose woman was the stronger argument.
As such the arbiters didn't have a whole lot to do in the way of peacekeeping, instead mostly what they did was chronicle the events that happened and organised the mate hunts and battle royales which to be fair kept them rather busy, as there were always petitions to hunt flying around.
The arbiters office was in the centre of the city itself so they drew rather a lot of attention slithering along through the city streets, but the atmosphere was both curious and friendly rather than confrontational, with Liam's pack waving to onlookers and getting greetings and waves in return.
Liam held the large door open for his girls to slither inside the office and straight away he was met by Nyx a large male Yautja arbiter with white and black snow camo like skin.
"Ahh Seeker Silver it is good to see you," he said smiling and waving as the Seeker approached with his pack in tow.
"Actually its Seeker Dimondscale now," Liam said with a smile.
"Silver Dimondscale" Sev corrected happily and Liam chuckled.
"Yeah my name and the title is a bit long to say all of it so just rank and last surname will do," he said.
"Oh? I assume it has something to do with our new friends here?" Nyx asked looking up at the Serpentinus girls encircling him and his large marble desk that sat in the centre of the well-decorated arbiters lobby.
The arbiters office was a large place and the lobby they were currently in had a large marble floor with the Clan Mason symbol in the centre of it with an inscription in both Yautja, Xeno and English written around it, 'What heroes achieve we remember, for we stand on their shoulders as their sacrifice for us all lifts us all towards the heavens' it read.
"Yup the beautiful ladies here are my wives, I'm part of their pack now and proudly so, oh here allow me to impart their language to you so you can speak to them," Liam said reaching out towards Nyx who leaned his large decorated head forwards his little dread charms jingling as he did.
There was a brief flash as Liam gave him the Serpentinus language, "Thank you kindly Seeker Sil...err Dimondscale, wow that's going to take some getting used to and damn I'm going to have to send out notifications to all those that put a hunting request on you, lotta girls were hoping to bag themselves an ooman Seeker boy or as Vivi would say 'A succulent slab of ooman Dream Warrior beef'" Nyx said with a grin as he did quotation fingers for that last part.
"Doing rather bad impressions of me again Nyx?" a deep growly voice form their left said and they all turned to see a rather gargantuan Yautja female standing nearly 9ft tall with muscles in places most humans didn't even have places, her skin was bright yellow and black almost like desert camo.
Nyx grinned at her, "I think I'm getting better with every attempt boss" he said and Vivi laughed.
"Well you got one thing right, gonna be a lot of disappointed Yautja girls out there now Seeker Silver here is spoken for, yours truly among them, I would have very much liked to have gotten a chance to taste said slab of succulent Dream Warrior ooman beef," she said with a rather predatory smile at him that made his girls move in close and flank him on all sides protectively.
Vivi laughed when she saw this and smiled at them, "Oh calm down ladies you have nothing to fear from me, I am a proud Yautja huntress and arbiter of Clan Mason, I would never in a million lifetimes touch another females claimed male, especially when said male could kick my sculpted arse clear across this building before I could blink, there is a reason my people revere Dream Warriors and if you've ever seen your husband here fight you know what it is, but I can still look, admire and pine can't I? Jealousy is not unnatural" she said with a grin that made his girls relax somewhat.
"Well I'd better get adding Seeker Dimondscale to the married and unable to be hunted or petitioned list, plus I'll need to add the names and details of his wives," Nyx said tapping at a computer.
"No problems, girls if you would be so kind," Liam said gesturing to Nyx and his girls slithered up to him to begin giving him their details so they could be registered as not only his wives but as members of Clan Mason as was tradition, anyone who married a member of the Clan was made members by default.
"Well, I'm going to head over to the Seeker temple and start collecting all the details of these what did the Grand Patriarch call them...Ghost Slitherers, yes that's it before they slither off and I have a job trying to hunt them all down" Vivi said.
"It's not like you to turn down a good hunt Vivi, not going soft are you?" Liam joked playfully and Vivi growled at him making all of his girls bristle as if getting ready to leap to their male's defence.
Then Vivi roared with laughed and smacked her arse with a resounding slap that echoed around the chamber, "There is nothing soft about this girl I can tell you that" she said and Liam laughed.
"Now all you need is a good ooman to appreciate all that...hardness," he said and she gave him a grin.
'Well I guess you're off the cards, oh well guess I'll have a little poke around the Seeker temple while I'm there see if I can catch any pretty ooman eyes" she said and with a wave over her huge shoulder, she was gone.
Celia looked at Liam for an explanation, "Oh, don't mind Vivi I've known here since I was younger than the kids you met in the park, she's a merciless flirt but she's harmless, well in the sense of her being a nine-foot tower of muscle whose job it is to break up other fighting towers of muscle who are arguing over who's human is prettier, but truly she's a sweetheart if anything I feel a little sorry for her at times" Liam said and out of the corner of his eye he saw Nyx nodding in agreement.
"Sorry for her? Why?" Leba asked.
"She just never seems to have any luck in the love department, every time she thinks she's got her sights sets on a human someone snatches him away before she has a chance to act, it's a real pity she has a lot to offer any human who would be lucky enough to catch her eye", Liam said.
"As I remember she put her name on the list of those who wished to hunt or battle for you didn't she Seeker?" Nyx said and Liam nodded.
"Before I signed my non-consent form yeah," Liam said.
"You signed a non-consent form to not be hunted? Why?" Sev asked curiously tickling his ear with her tongue as she slithered up to him.
"I wasn't ready, I was still too young and I wanted to focus on becoming a proper Seeker, I didn't think it would either be fair to me or whoever caught me as I wouldn't be around most of the time, so I signed the form and put myself off-limits," Liam said.
"I know this sounds selfish but I am glad you did, it meant that we got to meet you and claim you," Celia said and Liam smiled.
"Had you been here at the time you would have been denied the right of claim" Nyx said and Celia and the others looked at him in surprise.
"He's right, Clan Mason's laws are strict but fair, when a situation where multiple people wish to stake a claim to a person to avoid conflict and arguments a hunt or battle royale is declared, for you see it believed that Paya will only guide the one who loves that person the most, the one who's love is strongest and will make that person truly happy for life, so we place our fate in that hands of the goddess of the hunt and let her guide us, for you see she doesn't only guide the hunter but the hunted too, she shields them from those that are not meant for them and guides them to where they need to be to meet the one meant for them," Liam said proudly.
"So what if none of them is worthy?" Sev asked in a fascinated voice, Liam noticed she was taking notes and it made him smile.
"Then the hunted escapes and the hunt is declared over and the hunted are free to choose their fate or to join the hunt for another" Nyx said.
"Hmmm it is an odd system but I can see the fairness in it and in a sense we also took part in it, because maybe just maybe your Lady Paya or maybe our Great Tree guided you to us, to the ones who will love you for the rest of your life as we know you will love us for the rest of ours," Sev said gently and slowly wrapping herself around him before being joined by her sisters in the love wrap.
After they were done there Liam took the girls to visit the giant farm hive of Aine and Murphy and the girls utterly revelled in watching the various Xeno genus out working the fields with their king and queen hard at work alongside them, growing, nurturing, tending and caring for all the vegetables, herbs and plants under their care as they fought to feed their Clan.
Then it was on to the giant hive hospital and the home of the Battle Angels, it appeared they were already busy, the Ghost Slitherers had all been brought here for examination and medical clearance by the hive, though it appeared most of the female Xenos were cooing and fussing over the Ghost Slitherer children, it seemed that their cuteness had a real effect on the girls as they were screeching and hissing happily while hugging them and making a big fuss of them.
It also seemed that queen Zara wasn't immune from their overwhelming cuteness either as she was currently cradling four of them in her multitude of arms, she was hissing and cooing at them softly and it was obvious that the children trusted the huge Xeno queen, they were giggling and hugging her while Cortez was standing to one side smiling at his huge love.
"She's the most natural mother you could ever imagine, I suppose it goes with the territory of having such a large family," he said with a proud smile when he saw Liam and his girls watching the scene before them.
Liam chuckled and nodded, "Oh don't worry I know what kind of mothers Xeno queens are, ain't too many beings stupid enough to mess with a Xeno when their mother's around, it's like poking a sentient bulldozer with a stick," he said with a grin.
"Ahem that's an incredibly sexy and ravishing bulldozer thank you very much," Cortez said with a playful smile that he shot at his beloved queen who displayed her incredibly sensitive hearing by flicking her tail at him and giving him incredibly gentle and playful swat across the rear with it making Liam laugh.
"Well if you have the time I'd like to get my gorgeous wives medically certified and cleared and if possible I'd like to let them have a look around the hive, the very lovely Leba here the owner of the sexiest hood around and queen of the blue pillow is chief surgeon among her people and is utterly fascinated by our medical tech and procedures," Liam said making Leba's hood flare out in embarrassment.
"See? What did I tell you? Have you ever seen such a sexy hood?" Liam said playfully embarrassing Leba even further and making her hood flare to full mast, making him reach out and stroke it playfully and gently, it was only fair with all the surprise wrappings they gave him that he got his own back sometimes.
"Blue pillow?" Cortez asked obviously confused and Liam chuckled.
"An inside joke, my sexy little cobra really loves her blue pillow and is very defensive of it is all," Liam said with a soft smile.
"Her little blue throne," Celia said with genuine warmth in her voice as she looked at her sister.
Cortez smiled and nodded obviously understanding, with as many sons and daughters as he had he must have many inside jokes, "Come on I'll give you the tour myself, I doubt I could pry my large love away from the Ghost Slitherer children if I tried and I'd need a seriously big pry bar to pry my daughters off them" Cortez chuckled as he glanced over to the big throng of cooing Xeno girls.
The medical went quickly one of the male Xenos a Praetorian conducted their checks and pronounced them all fit and free of contagions, once that was done the male called Farran took Leba to give her a detailed run of their medical procedures while Cortez took the others on a little tour.
Once they were done and they all met back up again Leba said she would be eager to return as the medical tech and procedures of Clan Mason were astounding to her and there was a lot for her to learn and to take back to aid her people.
From there Liam finally led them to the Seeker temple and all of them sat there in utter awe gazing up at the huge building which now had Ghost Slitherers slithering about exploring and talking to their fellow Dream Warriors as the Seekers made their distant brethren welcome in their home, "Come on girls you let me into your home and your hearts now let me let you into the one of those two I haven't already shown you" he said smiling.
The group followed him through the gates and almost immediately they saw Zed and his pack running around the gardens being chased by laughing and shrieking Ghost Slitherer children who were playing with huge gentle fire tigers, one of the children was riding on Zed's back his tail wrapped around the fire tiger's midriff holding on tightly.
On a bench nearby Analise was sat with Kelmar watching the tigers and the children play and they appeared to be laughing together, which was good to see, Liam couldn't even begin to imagine the horrors that poor Draconis had endured in his young life and now here he was sitting in a huge garden surrounded by beauty guarded by a plethora of warriors who would die for him in a heartbeat as he was one of them now, a member of the Clan and as such he carried the promise of their strength everywhere he went.
Liam lead them down to his quarters which were a fair bit larger than they were on the ship, more like an apartment than a set of quarters, Jack Mason made sure every one of his Seekers lived in comfort as a reward for their service to the Clan, he had a lounge, his own kitchen, a large bathroom and a decent sized bedroom with a double Yautja sized bed to accommodate Seekers with a partner, it was the universal standard here.
The girls slithered all over the place investigating absolutely everything, that's when Leba froze in the lounge and made a squealing noise, there in the middle of the room next to the small dining table, was her blue pillow.
She slithered over to his and coiled herself upon it with a big happy smile on her face, that's when Sev let out a squeal of her own and slithered over to the bookcase on the far side of the room, where she found her books had been placed among his own Liam had gone to great lengths to ensure that their personal items brought from home were not just smuggled out of the Dreamer but placed in among his own things here in his home, in order to make them feel just at home here as he did, the Xenos could be a rather sneaky bunch when they wanted to be.
Once he'd settled them in and they utterly destroyed his bedroom turning the bed into a kind of rats nest of blankets and pillows, Liam knew how they liked to sleep at home and it made sense that they'd turned it into communal sleeping space for them all, now all he had to do was figure out a way for them to bask, though to be fair they were in the middle of summer here, though it might be somewhat distracting to have a load of naked Serpentinus lounging around the garden, so it might be worth putting in a call to Yoshi and Citrus's hive to get some basking lamps set up for them.
After a brief call to the hive Liam took the girls on a tour of the Temple, they watched the Seekers training and learning the skills of their trade, watching Tamers learning how to commune with the nature all around them, watching Soul Knights speaking with the spirits of the honoured dead.
Eventually, they returned to the gardens where a large amount of the Ghost Slitherers had gathered predominantly males, Jack appeared to be in the middle of them and Tik was sat on one of the benches surrounded by curious Serpentinus children who were utterly fascinated by the huge proud huntress, their little tounges flickering at her constantly and Tik seemed as enthralled with them as they with her.
"Ah Liam good timing, the Ghost Slitherers want to perform a ritual for us to thank us for bringing them here, take a seat this ought to be interesting" Jack said gesturing to a bench and as Liam sat the male Ghost Slitherers grouped together in a circle entwining their tails in a knot, they all faced inwards, suddenly it occurred to Liam where he'd seen this before, they were going to dance, Jack was right, this was going to be interesting indeed.