Chapter 27: Ocean of Black.
Tik eleth breathed a sigh of relief, she never doubted her beloved one's abilities or skill in combat or in the hunt, but when she wasn't there at his side she just couldn't help worrying about him, it was her greatest fear that he would die without her there at his side in her rightful place so that they would go into the Eternal Hunt hand in hand together as was supposed to happen.
"Grand Matriarch we're getting a communication from home" comms officer T'Alack said peering at her console.
"Put it up," Tik said and T'Alack punched a few keys making the visual screen of the bridge changed to show Yoshi's face, it was a relay message not direct so it was a recording, it would have been stored in the nearest satellite's relay buffer until the jamming was cleared and the satalite could lock onto the Dreamer's transponder.
"Grand Matriarch and Patriarch I have excellent news! We have completed work on the Dreadnaught! It is still being loaded up with munitions and supplies and Sela eleth is sorting out the crew for it but we anticipate it able to join you very shortly and I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results both myself and my beauty queen could not be happier with our hive's efforts here, this truly is a ship worthy to be deemed the new flagship of the Clan and to carry the mark, will send a further update when she is ready to launch, Yoshi out" he said.
Tik clicked happily, the new Dreadnaught class would turn any battle to their favour, she had personally reviewed the specs for these things when the hive had floated them at a Clan meeting and both her and her beloved one had been utterly blown away by them, it had been a truly ambitious project requiring a complete restructure and refit of the space dock to build it let alone house it, but in the long run, it would be worth it, this was a ship that could go toe to toe with a Yautja Clan ship many times its size and win.
Tik pressed her chair comm button, "All Hunter teams meet me in the hanger dock, its time to get this show on the road as my beloved one says" then she turned to Vess who was the second-ranking bridge officer under her.
"The Dreamer in your hands, I'm going to stretch my legs and some pauking necks," Tik said with a dark grin.
"You can count on me Grand Matriarch," Vess said slamming a fist into her armour breastplate and Tik nodded at the young but incredibly competent Xeno Praetorian female, she was one of the most brilliant tacticians she had ever seen, a true credit to Aine and Murphy's hive, infact Tik was incredibly glad her queen had encouraged her to join the Saviours rather than become a farmer, her talents would have been sorely wasted at home managing crops, although Tik was under no illusions she has done it brilliantly if that's what she'd chosen to do with her life.
As Tik was about to leave the bridge Vess spoke again, "Please take good care of my human for me" she said and Tik smiled brightly and nodded.
"He's a Hunter Vess and a damn good one, don't worry he's got the whole Clan and his Grand Matriarch backing him up, he'll be fine," she said and Vess nodded her large crested head obviously summoning her courage.
It was a feeling Tik knew well, she never worried for herself just for the one she loved and Tik herself had presided over Christopher's mate hunt alongside Analise who was the presiding Seeker that day, they'd both seen Vess's determination to catch him and catch him she had, Tik still remembered the smile they were both wearing when Vess emerged from the jungle carrying her human prize bridal style in her long arms, just two days later she had become a Praetorian much to queen Aine's pride and joy.
Christopher himself had passed out into the ranks of the Hunters and had become a fine addition to their numbers, he was well-liked among his brothers and sisters of the gold, always quick with a joke or a word of encouragement, his attitude had gotten many a recruit through the gruelling training that was designed to test strength, mental fortitude and teamwork.
As Tik eleth strode out into the Dreamer's hanger deck the remaining Hunters aboard had all formed up into ranks and instantly snapped to attention the moment she stepped in, "Grand Matriarch on deck ATTENSHUN!" the sergeant major yelled his voice booming through the whole ship, her beloved one was right, every single one of them could shout louder than a God.
Tik outlined the plan to them over the next twenty minutes and then set them all out into teams, Hunter one her own personal team would be with her as always, they weren't taking Battle Angels with them this time as they would be needed at home if there were wounded to be ferried back, plus in this style of combat, there was little time to stop.
Soon enough each of the ten Hunter teams and ten Savior teams were loaded into the shuttles, no sooner had they left the Dreamer's shuttle bay than they cloaked and went to silent running, this assault had to be an utter surprise to the Scalathor, if they got wind they were coming it would be all over before they even got close, these shuttles couldn't go up against a cruiser or a frigate and stand a single hope in hell of surviving.
As they got closer Tik could see shuttles leaving the frigate's hanger bays obviously ferrying troops and supplies down to their ground bases, one of which was now under their control but there were many others, how many exactly was an unknown until they got a hole of one of these ships, or their teams on the ground were able to pull it from their network, but by the sheer amount of movement it was quite a few, seems they'd learned their lesson from their attack on the Serpentinus, you don't go up against friends of Clan Mason lightly or you'll be tasting your own tail hole for days when your head gets rammed up it.
"Thirty seconds Grand Matriarch" their pilot called back and Tik nodded.
"Enter through their open hanger bay doors, it will be a lot quicker than us having to cut through hatches," she said and the pilot gave her a thumbs up.
Through the large bubble-like window of the shuttle they could see the large Scalathor frigate looming up out of the sea of black all around them, Tik turned to her team, "You all know the drill, secure both the bridge and the engine room as the top priority, our primary objective it so captures but if that is not possible then we overload the engines and weapons and move on the next" Tik said and there were nods of affirmation all around.
Every one of them activated their cloaking systems as the shuttle slipped silently into the hanger bay just before the doors closed and the pilot expertly set them down away from the other shuttles, Tik could already see the confused faces of the Scalathor engineers looking around for why they'd heard engine noises in an empty hanger bay.
The shuttle door opened and the team slipped out silently before the shuttle buttoned back up and sat there in the shadows waiting to extract the team, where possible Hunters always preferred a stealth infiltration to an all-out assault, it was good to learn a prey's weaknesses before an attack was launched, it was just good hunting technique.
Rather than go weapons hot and free the team followed their Grand Matriarch as they moved silently through the hanger bay which was loaded with crates of weapons and supplies ready to be shipped down to the troops on the ground, seizing or destroying this ship would be a massive blow the Scalathor and Draconis war effort because not only would they lose the needed supplies but they'd lose part of their orbital air cover as well.
Slipping silently into the corridors of the ship the team split up with two of the Saviors and two of the Hunters heading for engineering and Tik leading the other half towards the bridge, when they encountered people in the corridors the team merely hugged the wall and let them pass or ducked into a side corridor, using this method they were able to traverse the entire ship undetected thanks to their cloaking tech keeping them hidden.
All of Tik's hunters and Sela's Saviors were well disciplined and knew not to use railgun rounds aboard a ship as there was a chance of shooting through the ship hull if you missed your target causing potential decompression, which while it wouldn't affect the Hunters much thanks to their magnetic boots and fully space capable armour it was something all of them would rather avoid, though it was a quick way of killing a ship's crew if needed, disabling the bulkhead doors from sealing shut then blowing a big ass hole in the hull to vent the ship's air supply into space, therefore suffocating the crew.
Though Tik preferred a much more hands-on approach to dealing with her enemies than killing using coward methods, a point she proved as the elevator doors pinged open and she charged onto the bridge heading right for the rather surprised Captain of the vessel.
The Capitan who was a rather well-groomed woman dressed in a crisp blue uniform with a chest full of what appeared to be medals most likely given for males raped and species abused barely had time to issue a squeak of alarm as Tik's custom wrist blades lovingly built by her most beloved one appeared out of her back dripping with crimson, 'When you see your pauking Dark Seed tell them Tik eleth Mason the right hand of the Eternal Huntress says we're coming" she said to surprised looking dying woman before letting her drop back into her seat where she expired a moment later.
Tik's battle roar scared the living shit out of the remaining Scalathor freezing them in place before she and her team cleaned house not giving a single one of them a chance to signal an alarm, Vexi a female Yautja Savior rushed up to the main command console and began plugging her tools into it while Reggie a male human Savior rushed to the pilot's seat and began working on the controls.
"The engine room is ours Grand Matriarch what are your orders?" Leanne a female human Savior's voice came through the comms in her helmet.
"Lock it down, we are scrambling their access codes right now, pretty soon the whole crew will be locked out of anything on their own ship, normally I might say vent the atmosphere, but a report that came in from our ground forces told of the presence of hostage male Scalathor being used as comfort males, I will not let these innocents perish by our hands, once the ship is fully under our control the crew is to be either killed or contained, then I want it searched and the males located ready for transport to the Dreamer for treatment, if these vile animals cannot show their own species what freedom and the joys of life are then Clan Mason will do it for them!" Tik snarled into the comms.
"At once Grand Matriarch!" Leanne said and the comms cut off, Tik truly couldn't wait to get down into that jungle alongside her beloved male and really show these paukers what a real jungle Huntress could do.
Suddenly the network lit up as the other Hunter teams began calling in to inform her that they had taken control of their respective ships, no casualties sustained by any Clan Mason forces but now they were essentially in covert control of exactly half of the Scalathor and Draconis fleet.
"Grand Matriarch we've sealed all of the blast doors and bulkheads trapping the vast majority of the crew in utterly useless areas, plus we've located the male storage area as these fucking bastards have actually labelled it 'male storage' like they're some kind of object, plus the engineering room team have taken full control of the engines, so now effectively the whole ship is under our control" Vexi snarled angrily.
Tik nodded approvingly than and an idea struck her, she didn't like it but it would be efficient, "Is the male area locked down and are there any crew members in there?" she asked and Vexi checked the console and looked back at her.
"It is locked down behind sealed bulkheads and I'm not detecting any crew transponders in that area but I am detecting twenty male life signs in there," she said her voice sounding pretty sad, Tik snarled angrily then blew out a deep breath, speed was needed here in order to make this work.
"Tie us into the Dreamer's network and get us marked as friendly, then isolate the male area and vent the atmosphere on every deck except the male area, as much as this leaves a bad taste in my mouth we need to remove this fleet from play and we cannot risk them getting wind of our control of one of their FOB's let alone their ships," Tik eleth said quietly and Vexi looked at her and nodded her large head.
"Yes Grand Matriarch," she said and moments later Tik heard the telltale sounds of the air being shut off and the outer hatches being opened to suck out the vast majority of the air quickly while the rest was simply sucked out by the ship's pumps suffocating the crew while leaving the males and the Clan Mason operatives untouched.
Tik pressed her comms button, "This is Hunter one to the Dreamer and all Clan Mason ships, move into position and prepare to attack on my order" she said before receiving a host of acknowledgement.
Moments later the Dreamer emerged from behind the moon which it was hiding behind coming onto the sensor scopes, instantly the Scalathor battle fleet began to turn to intercept it and under Tik's orders the captured ships among them moved alongside them keeping up the charade of still being on the Scalathor's side.
The fleet commander opened communications with the Dreamer and Tik listened in, "Enemy vessel power down your engines, weapons and surrender! You cannot possibly hope to stand against the mighty Scalathor and Draconis empire!" the fleet commander snarled but Vess was not easy to intimidate and being a Praetorian had its perks.
"Funny I was about to say the same thing to you but given your past form I doubt you'll listen to reason, so I will simply say this, if you stand against Clan Mason or our peaceful allies you will suffer the consequences and we are allies of the good people of Raptoria, so I'll make it simple for you, stand down and surrender and live, or stand against us and die, but either way this unprovoked attack on a proud and peaceful people will be answered," Vess said with such power and venom that it even made Tik shiver but also she felt her heart swell with pride, Vess was a true poster child for belief in the ideals of the Clan.
The commander actually began laughing at her, "Look around you fool! You are outnumbered twenty to one! What chance do you even believe you have?" she growled and Tik actually heard Vess's smile in her words.
"See now that's the mantra of the dumb right there, you see its not the enemies you can see you should worry about, its the ones you do not, commander Vess to all Clan Mason ships, fire," Vess said and Tik hit the button.
In absolutely perfect sync all of their cruisers decloaked and fired their charged plasma weapons and torpedoes at near point-blank, while at the same time all the captured Scalathor frigates turned their weapons on their oblivious comrades blasting their shields away with their first salvo which opened them right up to the incoming heavy torpedoes and heavy railgun shots from the Dreamer.
The Scalathor never even got a chance to either know or understand what hit them, the sheer amount of firepower that the combined fleet unloaded on the unsuspecting and vulnerable Scalathor ships was utterly incredible, Tik felt a surge of grief and anger in her heart as she watched the ships exploding, but it wasn't their crews that she felt a single nanosecond of pity for, it was the innocent males that must have been aboard them who have never harmed anyone but now we're losing their lives in a war they had no choice about being dragged into, collateral damage to Clan Mason was a truly horrifying thing and Tik was not the only one saying a silent prayer to the Eternal Huntress to take pity on those poor innocent souls and to help guide them to the Eternal Hunt and to peace in their final rest.
The battle was over in mere seconds after the trap fully closed, the Scalathor barely had time to get a single shot off before they were utterly obliterated by the sheer force of having half of their fleet turned against them and the surprise attack from the Clan Mason ships, not a single one survived.
"Skies are clear Grand Matriarch, shall I summon reinforcements from home?" Commander Vess's voice came through the comms.
"Negative but all the new cruisers will need additional support troops to run them so pass the word among the fleet to send as many Saviors as we can spare to properly secure and clear them, plus I want all of the hostage male Scalathor was taken from every ship and returned to the Dreamer where they are to be transferred into the hands of the Battle Angels where once their immediate health has been cared for they will be shipped back to our home to be cared for in Zara and Cortez's hive, these poor creatures have suffered more than anyone should ever have to and I will not expose them to single second of danger longer than is necessary, ensure all rescue teams are instructed to handle them with kid gloves they will be absolutely terrified," Tik said.
"Yes, Grand Matriach it will be done," Vess said and closed off comms.
Over the next hour shuttles from the Dreamer were ferrying teams back and forth between the captured ships, then returning the captive male Scalathor they found aboard each one a hundred in total as there seemed to be twenty per ship back to the Dreamer, Tik's team headed to the male storage area aboard the ship they were on stepping over the bodies of the fallen female Scalathor as they did and cracked it open.
They found the males kept in utterly horrific conditions, secured to the walls by chained collars barely able to move further than the single bathroom they all shared, not even a bed to sleep upon, the most they had between them was a blanket each to huddle on the cold metal floor.
Upon seeing the strange alien creatures the poor wretches were utterly terrified and tried to huddle together for some form of protection making Tik's heart utterly break in two as she watched the poor creatures some of which looked way too young to be in here which lit a fire in Tik's chest that would only be quenched with the blood of the guilty.
She crouched down in the middle of the room and removed her helmet looking at the ball of shaking males, the youngest of which had been pulled into its centre in what would be a vain but still noble attempt by their brothers to protect them, "It's alright, we're not here to hurt you, no harm will come to you I promise" Tik said in as soft a voice as she could manage.
But the closer she got the harder the males seemed to shake, most of them squeezing their eyes shut and weeping softly further adding to Tik's inner pain, "Grand Matriarch if I may?" Reggie said suddenly from her side and Tik looked up at him with slight confusion, till she saw what he was pointing at and she nodded silently.
Reggie was a tall and very broad ooman male with skin as black as the night, be had muscles that would make a Yautja male jealous, but for all his size and strength the man was as gentle as they came, he stepped closer to the knot of males and knelt down in front of them, a couple of the braver ones watched him closely while the others simply clung to their brothers and squeezed their eyes shut.
"It's alright brothers look I'm like you," Reggie said softly lifting his head up and pointing under his chin to the very prominent Adam's apple in his neck, the braver males looked at him carefully and slowly a hand came out of the knot reaching nervously and cautiously out to him, Reggie didn't move, he remained as still as a stone.
The hand touched his face before recoiling in fright, but Reggie didn't react he stayed as still as a stone, when he didn't respond the hand came back and slowly it touched his face again, this time running over his smooth skin, slowly turning his head so the owner could examine him before two fingers ran over his Adam's apple.
"Male? Like us?" one of them said in a very frightening sounding voice.
"That's right, I'm a human male," Reggie said softly and now more of the males were starting to open their eyes, suddenly more hands were appearing and they were touching him.
"These big girls behind me are called Yautja, they won't hurt you, we would never hurt you, we belong to something called Clan Mason, it's our job to protect you and people like you," Reggie said softly.
"G-G-Girls always hurt us," one of them said in a very frightened and shaky voice as he eyed Tik with many suspicions.
"These girls won't and they would die to make sure no others do, we're going to take you away from here to a safe place, a place where you will be treated with kindness and fairness," Reggie said.
"B-B-But we can't go! If we go they will beat us!" one yelled.
"And kill us!" another yelled.
"They'll cut off our horns!" another wailed in fear and instantly Tik noticed that at least two of them had been dehorned and her blood began to boil with pure fury.
"The females of this ship won't be hurting anyone any more, they're all dead," Reggie said with a grimness to his voice.
That got the males attention, "D-D-Dead?" one of them asked and Reggie nodded.
"We took this ship from them because they were doing bad things with it, using it to hurt innocent people with it, innocent people like you, that's what Clan Mason does we protect innocent people from bad people, you see this?" Reggie said pointing to the shield of the Saviors on his chest.
All the males looked at it and nodded, "This means that I am a Savior of Clan Mason, it is the sworn duty of all Saviors to be the shield behind which the innocent are defended, it is a solemn pledge that I will lay down my life to protect anyone worthy of it and you my brothers are worthy, so come let us help you, let us take you to a safe and beautiful place where you can know what it's like to be free" Reggie said with such pride and passion that Tik's heart swelled at his words.
"What does that symbol on her chest mean?" one of the males asked pointing to Tik's chest.
"That is the sword of the Hunter, she is a Huntress of evildoers, the sword is the symbol that our Hunters wear because they are the sword by which all those who would harm the innocent will perish, our Hunter hunt down evil wherever it hides and destroys it, she is also our Grand Matriarch, so it is her job to lead the Hunters and to ensure that every one of them is handpicked to be a warrior of the light and the good, if you ever see a person wearing either of these symbols they are Clan Mason and they will protect you and defend you no matter what" Reggie explained.
It worked, Reggie's soothing tone and soft explanations slowly drew the males out of their protective knot and soon he was stood in the middle of the group of curious scaley males as they looked over the strange alien before them, one of the braver ones even approached Tik looking up at her with a mixture of fear and hope in his bright orange eyes.
"Here little one let me help you, no innocent being should wear these" Tik said and pulling out her compact folding Yautja war hammer from her back as the male tensed expecting the worst Tik brought the huge metal head down on the chain securing his collar to the wall utterly shattering it into bits.
"That's why we call her Tik eleth Mason, Grand Matriarch of Clan Mason and the breaker of chains, there is not a single Hunter, Seeker or Saviour who is not proud to stand and fight at her side, because she always fights for justice and good" Reggie said to the utterly shocked males who looked to their new friend for both help and an explanation.
The freed male held the broken chain in his hands looking like he couldn't believe what he was seeing, he looked like he didn't quite know what to do with himself, "The breaker of chains" he said softly.
Tik eleth turned and with another mighty swing smashed another chain and then another and another and pretty soon all of them were stood holding the remnants of their chains, "Never again will you be chained like beasts, never again will you be forced against your will, never again will you be slaves for another's amusement, now these chains are broken and will remain so" Tik said in a deep growl.
Suddenly one of the males burst into tears and hugged the fragments of his chain to his chest and no sooner had he begun than they all began to cry, it was like the years of abuse and pain hit them all at once, they began to hug one another and even Reggie and Tik herself, normally Tik never let another male touch her but this time she more than allowed it she embraced it, to see these poor innocent creatures overcome by emotion as they're suffering came to an end was a truly incredible sight, it made her proud of her Clan, this right here was what Clan Mason was founded and stood for.
The males began to chant, "Breaker of chains!" over and over again in celebration holding up their broken chains to one another as if they still couldn't believe it and to Reggie as well.
Eventually, the Battle Angels arrived and the now freed males were shepherded gently along with the completely male team of Xeno's, as they seemed to have formed a bond of trust with him Reggie was permitted to travel with them back to the Dreamer so that they would feel safe during the little trip and once they were safely in the hands of the care team and among their other brothers aboard the Dreamer Reggie returned to his post.
Tik eleth herself returned with Hunter one to the Dreamer but there was to be no rest here, her blood cried out for justice and vengeance because of what she had seen and it was a cry she intended to answer.
She pulled the remaining Hunter teams from the ships and assembled them back in the Dreamer, when she stepped out a number of mouths visibly dropped open, Tik had changed her armour over for a little something that her beloved Ack had whipped up for her in his spare time and she'd been itching for both excuse and a chance to wear it, now seemed as good a time as any and honestly, it seemed rather fitting.
It was called the Valkeryie, Ack had modified both the hunting mask helmet and armour itself, the helmet had Nordic style swirls and patterns all over it inlaid with silver and white, along the outside of its ridges a series of fin-like spikes had been added that almost resembled horns along the outer crest, he'd also altered the coverings for her predlocks so that they were pure ice white so they really stood out against the gold.
The main body was covered in swirls and runes showing a very Nordic styling and Tik had been utterly blown away when he'd given it to her, along with a matching golden war hammer, "Now you'll look every bit the warrior Huntress leader I know you to be and when our enemies see you they'll know it too" he'd said when she'd tried it on, though to be fair no sooner had she put it on than she wrenched it back off and dove on him, but that's another story.
Now as she stood before her assembled Hunters she utterly saw its effect, these were people that she lived and fought with every day and if it utterly stunned them, then their enemies were in for a real shock.
"I'm sure I don't need to tell you what's expected of you here, you've all seen what these animals do to their own kind let alone their enemies, if you are like me and I know you are then right now your blood is screaming for justice, for vengeance, for honour to answer the crimes we have witnessed aboard those ships and I for one will take up that cry and I will pauking answer it!" Tik roared and her Hunter all roared in response pumping their fists in the air.
"In the name of Paya, the Eternal Huntress let's show these pauking cowards what happens when you mess with the Hunters of Clan Mason! Mount up! We're getting in this fight!" Tik roared and her Hunters all raced to their pods, it was time to ride the elevator to hell.
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"Heads up we have incoming!" someone in the control room yelled and Jack snapped around so fast it looked like there were three of him briefly.
"Hostiles?" he asked quickly and Liam looked up from the control panel having gotten there first wearing an odd smile.
"I think someone missed you Grand Patriarch," he said and Jack looked confused until he heard a telltale sound he knew anywhere.
Running out into the yard he saw Surface Stalker prides scrambling to get to defensive positions and trained their weapons skywards at the approaching roars, "Stand down! Friendlies on approach!" he yelled leaving them all looking confused as the first of the drop pods made a smooth touch down right in the centre of the yard and he knew before it opened who it would be as there was no way she would lead from the rear and not the front, she was always the first to set foot onto the field of battle and the last one to step off it.
The pod opened and Jack's breath got taken right out of his lungs robbing him of his power of speech as Tik eleth Mason his beloved wife stepped out looking like a war Valkeryie in her armour, the armour he had made for her especially to celebrate their anniversary, he had told her on that day that she would look every bit the warrior huntress he knew her to be in it and now seeing her she utterly shone.
"Couldn't stay away huh? All this jungle called to you?" Jack said playfully making Tik spin around to spot him, she growled happily and walked right up to him picking him up off the ground in a bear hug and pressing her masked forehead to his, up close the silver eyepieces he'd fitted to stylized collapsable mask were even more impressive.
"Holy crap who the hell is that!? She's fucking huge!" Jack heard a pride say from close by, Tik heard it too and growled happily inside her mask clicking proudly.
"That is Tik Eleth Mason, the breaker of chains and freer of hearts, she the Grand Matriarch of Clan Mason and leader of the Hunters, now do you see why I said don't touch her male?" A'Ramak's voice said from atop one of the tanks.
"By the Great Tree, she does look like she could force-feed a pride their tails if they tried" the pride sat with him or rather all over him said.
"I've missed you my beloved one, just never really feels right not having you at my side during a hunt or a fight," Jack said softly and Tik purred softly.
"Well I am here now my beloved Ack and I am ready to hunt these cowardly pauks down and extract the justice of Eternal Huntress from them, I have borne witness to the crimes they have committed against their own kind now with my own eyes and it will not go unpunished!" Tik snarled darkly.
"Captive males?" he asked and she shot him a look that asked how he knew and Jack pointed over to one side where a group of them were being tended by male Battle Angels while female Raptorians stood guard all obviously grief-stricken that they could not get closer and comfort the poor boys without scaring them half to death.
Tik snarled darkly, "Pauking cowards will pay twice now, once for coming here and invading and second for their treatment of the innocent and defenceless, mark my words my beloved Ack the fires of vengeance are stoked and they will be quenched with the blood of the guilty" she snarled looking at them.
Jack nodded, "I feel you my love, we pulled twenty of them from this place and once they're prepped we've made a deal with the Raptorians to relocate them under heavy guard to one of their cities where they will be cared for, in return the Raptorians are going to send us even more Surface Stalkers to boost our number because now they know that not only can we be trusted but we stand for their ideals as well," he said and Tik nodded approvingly.
"We have a hundred aboard the Dreamer and I have made arrangements for them to be transported home so they can be placed into the care of Zara and Cortez's hive, the Battle Angels are handling everything," she said and now Jack nodded approvingly.
"Whoa! Matriarch you look incredible! Is that the new armour that Patriarch made for you! No wonder he kept it such a secret, when our enemies see you charging through the trees in that they'll be begging Paya to forgive them" a familiar voice from behind them both said.
Both turned and saw Ryan grinning at them, "My beloved cub! When did you get here?" Tik squealed happily picking their son up in a huge bear hug.
"He and his team arrived about an hour before you did, once comms was restored we ordered a regroup of our ground forces, they've been trickling in ever since," Jack said.
Once Tik put Ryan down he began to examine her new armour and that's when he spotted something, "Hey Patriarch are those..." he began before Jack began waving his hands trying to shush him and Tik noticed and turned to look at them both as they began whistling like nothing was happening.
"Is that what exactly?" she growled suspiciously trying to look at where he had been looking near one of her pointed shoulder pauldrons.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all" Jack said trying and failing to be non-challant.
Tik cocked her head and Jack caved, he knew better than to leave his wife hanging or she'd tear the whole damn thing apart looking for the thing that had caught her cub's attention, "Alright fine I may have made some extra adjustments in regards to the plasma casters" Jack conceded and Tik cocked her head again then turned and activated her targeting system, pointing it away from all living things.
Instantly the fins running over her shoulder pauldrons popped up and four large golden casters rose up on their gimbals, "What are mark nine multi-configuration war casters?" she asked turning her head and stopping dead when she saw the large casters on her left shoulder.
"Umm well, I might have sort have acquired the new prototype plasma casters that Yoshi and Citrus's hive have been working on and umm maybe finished them as well as did some modifications of my own" Jack said softly rubbing the back of his head as he spoke.
"Wait...these casters have a sniper mode!?" Tik exclaimed and she must have selected it because instantly all four casters reconfigured arrowing their barrels and extending them by a factor of three, now they looked like four jet engines with large glowing chokes on that span in a spiral.
"They can hit targets up to seven hundred meters!" Tik exclaimed before she spotted something else, "And they can fire full auto!?" she exclaimed before selecting it.
The casters reconfigured and now appeared to turn into four tri barreled miniguns on her shoulders with glowing cores at their centre, "Well I heard somewhere that every girl loves to accessorise and what Yautja girl's new outfit would be complete without four new plasma casters than can spit out a thousand low yield plasma rounds a minute for three minutes before requiring a recharge?" Jack said playfully.
Tik's shiny new casters reconfigured to their normal mode and then collapsed back into their fin covered holsters before the fins retracted and hid them all from sight, Tik spun and lifted him off the ground-hugging him tightly again, "Oh my beloved Ack! You always know the best way to my heart!" she growled deeply.
"Yup high powered weaponry or very sharp mean-looking blades," Jack said from his position in her arms making Ryan laugh.
"Matriarch is a woman of simple tastes" he joked making his mother growl at him.
"Nothing wrong with that young one and you should learn well from your Patriarch, a proud huntress is always prouder when she's slaying her prey with a weapon forged by the hands of the male she adores because it is a testament to their love and honour for one another," she said proudly.
"Oh, I do haven't you seen Shena flashing that new sword of hers at every opportunity?" Ryan laughed and Tik growled.
"She does so that she makes sure you know she's honouring you with it," she said putting Jack down and Ryan grinned.
"Goddess above I can't wait to see Sela's face when she sees what Patriarch made her for her birthday" Ryan laughed and Tik looked at jack questioningly.
"A conversation for another time my heart's star, right now we have a hunt to plan," Jack said and Tik nodded, with that, they all headed towards the command centre, now things were going to get hot, the Masons were going to war.