Chapter 42: Freedom Isn't Free.
Remal and the three other Seekers of Blue team formed a staggered square as they escorted their charges back up through the facility, well all except for Ke'ral he was carrying Xipa in his arms and the young Xeno pilot seemed to be rather happy about that fact, leaning her long domed head against the big Yautja's chest as they walked.
The two queens walked together one in front of the other with King Yoshi just ahead of them in his battle mech armour and the trio looked a seriously imposing sight, one armoured queen, one un-armoured queen and a battle mech, they looked like a postcard from pain.
Then there was Paul, the captive human scientist that had been held against his will and forced to work in their labs under the threat of violence or death of his family, both Xipa and their new queen friend had vouched for him having apparently received the kiss of a queen so she had seen the truth of his intentions in his mind, though all of the Seekers had taken a small peek for themselves to guard against any form of coercion and found no trace of deceit, undoubtedly the Grand Patriarch would want to take a closer look himself later on but for now he was allowed to walk freely under his own power.
Through the comms Remal could hear the battle still raging in various parts of the facility, the captive Xenos had been evacuated by the Battle Angels while the Hunters, Seekers and the Saviours had worked together to not only keep the Synthetic soldiers of this evil cooperation busy but push them back into the heart of their own facility, from what he was hearing they had also encountered Human soldiers in these depths as well, most in company colours but there had been sightings of some that looked military.
Remal wondered to himself if some of the soldiers had missed their chance to evacuate when the cruiser that had been protecting this place bugged out under the threat of destruction at the hands of the Clan when they'd stared down the barrels of the Clan's big guns in space.
With such a large group it took two elevators to take them all up to the captivity area where the Xenos had all been held, as they reached it they saw a daisy chain of Battle Angels evacuating the last of them standing in a staggered line down the corridor waving their arms in a way that told the now free Xenos where to go.
As soon as they saw them approach, the end Xenos of the Battle Angels made a beeline right for queen Citrus and King Yoshi, not to mention the new queen and the injured Xipa.
"All our captive brothers and sisters in hide are freed and are being shuttled to the safety of the Grand Matriarch's fury for transfer to the medical hive my queen," one of the Battle Angels said saluting Citrus who nodded her large head happily.
"Good I want them to receive the very best of care, this is their queen, take her to her children young one and make sure she is able to oversee their care as is the right of every queen among her children," Citrus said with a deep hiss.
The Battle Angel saluted and four of them formed up ready to protect and guide the new queen, "Thank you, sister, I will never forget this kindness shown to my hive by yours" the queen hissed to Citrus and Citrus stepped forwards and pressed her head crest against that of the new queen.
"You are most welcome dear sister and worry not you and your children are in the very best of hands among us, Clan Mason are the guardians of all innocents, no matter what hide they wear, you will be treated with the respect you are due, you have my word as a fellow hive queen, just please remember the humans among us are not those that hurt you or your beloved ones, treat them kindly," Citrus said and the new queen nodded before heading off with her Battle Angel escorts.
Xipa was also transferred to the care of the Battle Angels though she took a little more coaxing to leave the arms of Ke'ral who had carried her all this way, she seemed rather content to ride bridal style in the arms of the big Yautja Seeker though the Battle Angels finally managed to coax her out with a promise from the big Seeker to visit her in the medical hive.
That just left Paul who was now gawking at the candy stripe coloured Xenos who were escorting parts of their group away, "H-H-How many Xenos do you have in this Clan Mason? And what's with the cute armour?" he exclaimed turning to look at Remal.
"Many, we have three full-sized hives each specialising in one area of life in the Clan, these are the Xenos from the hive of queen Zara and King Cortez, they are called the Battle Angels as they are our medical specialists, they charge into any battle like Angels of mercy looking for those that need help or saving and they will move the heavens and the earth to reach them," Remal said proudly.
"Xeno doctors, Jesus I feel like someone just dropped the universe on its head," Paul said in his heavily accented voice.
"Trust me you have much to learn about how life can be, but if you continue to co-operate fully I have no doubt that Clan Mason will welcome you and show you what the universe can truly be," Remal said before thumbing his comms button.
"Blue three to any available Saviour call sign, we have a captive that needs transport to safety over," he said.
A loud gruff voice came back over the comms, "Roger that Blue three this is Black one, we are heading to you now remain in position, over and out" the voice said sounding distinctly Yautja a thought that was proven less than two minutes later when a Saviour team dressed in Red armour appeared.
These guys were specialists when it came to prisoner transport as they worked as the law enforcement on the Clan homeworld so what better hands to carry them?
Remal quickly explained the situation that Paul was a non-combatant hostage rescued from a lab and that both Xipa and the freed queen had vouched for him but as f yet he had not been mind dived by a Seeker, so he was still considered an enemy until that was taken care of but that he had also worked to aid the Clan as well as to protect their sister so he was to be given protected status, the Saviours who were led by a large Yautja male saluted and took custody of the now rather nervous looking human male.
Remal laid a hand upon his arm and the human looked down at him, "Do not fear, you will be treated well, just go with these Saviour and follow all instructions they give you and you will not be harmed in any way, once you are debriefed by a Seeker later we will discuss what is to happen to you but worry not it will not be bad, Clan Mason always looks after our friends and repays our debts" Remal said in a soft voice.
Paul nodded and he went willingly with the Saviour team, walking at the centre of the formation as they led him back towards the exit, Citrus and Yoshi turned towards the Seeker team with them now, "Thank you, honoured Seekers, you are a true credit to your Clan and your order, we will take our leave of you now and head for the ship, we leave the rest of this in your capable hands" Citrus said giving the Seekers a bow of respect.
"Thank you queen Citrus, it was a pleasure to work with you both, we will let the Grand Patriarch know that our job here is done and that you are heading for extraction," Xtam said saluting both of them along with the rest of the Seeker team.
The pair returned the salute and then turned to head off in the same direction as the others, Xtam thumbed her comms button, "Blue one to Seeker one, extraction of priority target complete, our beloved sister is in the arms of the Angels along with all captured Xenos and their queen, our prisoner has been transferred to the hands of the Saviours and Blue team stands ready to receive your orders and rejoin the hunt!" she said.
"Roger that Blue one, report to the marker I just sent to your HUD, the Hunter teams there are having difficulty breaking the lines of the defenders in that zone, they have the place locked down with heavy weapons and Synthetics, by the way, they are dug in there I have the feeling they are guarding either sensitive data or VIP's, either way, help Hunter teams six and eight to break through and extract whatever you find, Seeker one out," the Grand Patriarch said through the comms.
No sooner had he finished a message popped up in all of their HUD's showing updated map data that had been taken from the teams moving through the place to create a map render of the facility.
"Roger that Seeker one Blue team on the way, Blue one over and out" Xtam aid closing down the comms and checking her HUD.
"Alright, the team you heard the Grad Patriarch, let's go dig these pauking plastic ticks out of their burrow so our brothers and sisters can squash them like the blood-sucking parasites they are!" Xtam snarled and the entire team including Remal punched the air before heading off through the corridors at top speed.
When they finally reached the indicated location that had been transmitted to them by the Grand Patriarch they found two Hunter teams in cover at the end of a long corridor at the end of which looked like a very heavy blast door that looked like the entrance to a bunker of some kind, it was a huge circular metal disc that looked incredibly thick even from this distance.
The Hunters were stacked up on both sides of the T junction that led into the long cover free corridor that led to the bunker door.
"A Seeker team! Thank the Goddess of the Hunt herself! Those pauking cowards are dug in at the far side of the corridor en-masse and they have some seriously heavy firepower, there's no cover in the corridor and the repeated attempts we have made to reach them have been pushed back as they are able to throw enough lead at us that it overloads our shields and our riot shields, we need you to reach them and distract them so we can hit them hard before they realise what has happened" the leader of Hunter team eight a large male Yautja said in a deep rumbly voice.
"Roger that, we'll hit them and you follow us in, be ready," Xtam said turning to her team and motioning with hand signals which side of the corridor she wanted them on, it would be her and Remal on the right then Micheal and Misha on the left, the Seeker team spilt and braced.
"Seekers stand by, go go go!" Xtam yelled and the four Seekers pelted around the corners sprinting at full tilt down the narrow corridor.
Time seemed to slow for Remal as he moved, he was following in the footsteps of his team leader s she ran, the pair were having to step up onto the walls as the large group of synths who were behind a barricade of heavy metal pop up cover points ahead began to swivel to aim at them, the first rounds began to make their way towards the oncoming Seekers and Remal found it incredibly surreal to watch a metal bullet spinning its way down the corridor past him looking like it was lazily cutting its way through the air leaving an odd spiral of propellant gasses in its wake.
The four of them twisted and dodged moving in perfect sync as they evaded the oncoming projectiles but the synthetics were a lot faster than normal humans in adapting to the changing circumstances, this caused them to re-aim a lot faster, it also didn't help that the weapons they were using seemed to have that aim adjustment system which was aiding them, this resulted in all of them being clipped more than once before they hit the end of the corridor.
As Remal hit the ground in the centre of the large synthetic group he put his speed and his small size to good use, he instantly became a tiny high-speed projectile bouncing off every hard surface causing them to constantly have to adjust in order to try and track him let alone fire at him.
Now as fast as she was Xtam didn't have the luxury of small size, so as Remal slid through three sets of legs attacking their knees with his twin daggers she opted to put her size to good use and hit the now off balanced synths like a living battering ram that sent them flying into their companions like knocking over bowling pins that were you know shooting at you.
The four Seekers caused utter chaos in the synth ranks as they tried desperately to pin down the four fast-moving shapes that were constantly moving and switching, but while they were focused on them they weren't watching the corridor, so they never saw the Hunter teams advancing until the heavily armed teams appeared right in front of them and unleashed a barrage of heavy weapons fire at near point-blank range.
At this point the Seekers stopped evading and went on the offensive, turning and opening fire with their own weapons and adding their bit to the barrage of death that cascaded down on top of the now utterly trapped synths, their barricaded strong point which had once been their salvation now became their undoing as they were caught like robotic rats in a plasma spewing trap.
"Ressa pop the cork and lets did these pauking rats out of their hole!" the leader of Hunter team eight yelled pointing at the large door and immediately a large Yautja male wearing what Remal recognized as Saviour combat engineer patches ran forwards and opened a large cylindrical kit he was wearing on his back.
The kit was utterly filled with a plethora of tools that would help the combat engineer overcome any and all challenges his team would encounter on the battlefield, everything from electronic bypass kits to a plasma cutting torch that could cut right through a starship hull like it was soft butter.
Saviour combat engineers were incredibly well respected among all the other branches of the Guardian Core, their entire job was to overcome the problems that would stop an entire advance dead in its tracks and they had to constantly think on their feet, Remal had always respected them as he'd always envied those who could overcome technical challenges like that and make it easy while they were doing it, like the Clan's combat hackers and electronic warfare experts, those guys multi-tasked like most people breathed.
Ressa began attaching wires from a small box to the panel next to the door which was obviously what was required to open the door, it looked to be a biometric and numeric system keypad that required both a handprint and a key code to open it.
It took Ressa all of five minutes to bypass the 'hell level' encryption as he put it and crack the door, "Everyone get ready we don't know how much resistance we're going to find on the other side of this door" the leader of Hunter team six said and both teams, as well as the Seekers, braced themselves as with a loud hiss the door pulled back and began to roll back out of the way.
As the huge door began to move the Hunters all formed up into two lines behind their shield bearers who were both two very large Yautja females, meanwhile the Seekers stood in the middle of the two groups ready to charge forwards and engage the enemy if necessary, now while Seekers could sense living things easily enough they couldn't sense synthetics and this gave them a serious disadvantage.
"I've got at least fifty lifeforms ahead, all ooman" Xtam said as they moved through a narrow corridor that led into the bunker.
"Synthetics?" the leader of Hunter team six asked and Xtam shook her head.
"Unknown, we'll be able to pick em out by sight once we get in there, even if they look ooman we'll see them," Xtam said.
"Check your fire people we could be going into a room of civilians and vile as their actions have been we are Guardians and Guardians do not gun down unarmed civilians," the leader of Hunter team eight said.
"We need a way to keep them docile and to prevent them from scattering when we hit them," the leader of team six said and the others agreed.
"Hey boss I know a quick way to fuck em over and make em docile as fire tiger cubs," Micheal said suddenly and the big Yautja glanced back at him, "Get Remal to use that fucking Rapture thing of his on them, any fucker not dancing with him is definitely a synth, plus is a good way of taking the fuckers alive, before they know what hit them they'll all be in cuffs, it'll stop em doing something stupid and offing themselves," he said and Xtam clicked her mandibles inside her helmet and looked back at the small Raptorian.
"That odd ability of yours really does seem to have a powerful pull to it, do you think you can use it under combat conditions?" she asked focusing on Remal who just shrugged.
"Don't know, I've never used it while potentially being shot at you know, I usually just shoot back" he said and Xtam laughed.
"Trust me little one if anyone shoots at you we'll know exactly who to shoot and trust me they'll be dead before any shot collides with your shields," she said and Remal nodded.
"Alright, boss I'll give it a go," he said.
"Good boy, alright here's the plan, both Hunter teams stack up on the entry door ahead, I sense fifty oomans beyond it, Remal will go in there and distract them with his Rapture, when they are distracted we'll make entry and arrest them if anyone isn't paying full attention to him then they're a synth because trust me when this little one gets going male or female it's impossible to tear your eyes off him, trust me I know and I'm a Seeker," she said.
Remal was shaking so badly that he could feel his teeth chattering inside his helmet as he stood in front of the door that Ressa had just cracked for him to make entry, he couldn't believe he was going to try this under combat conditions, the notion of it seemed utterly ludicrous to him but his fellow Seekers seemed convinced it would work and seemed to have utter faith in his abilities, Xtam planted a huge hand on his small shoulder and shook him gently, "Knock em dead little one you've done this for bigger far more demanding crowds than this" she said which filled him with an odd sense of confidence, she was absolutely right, so taking a deep breath Remal pressed the handle and stepped through the door.
The room beyond was a kind of common room combined with a lobby, it was filled with tables and large comfy chairs, it instantly reminded Remal of the lounges of his home city back on Raptoria just a fair bit smaller, it was lit by bright but warm lights mounted both on the wall and on the tables in the form of lamps, it was obviously made to give the occupants a sense of comfort and relaxation.
The room was filled with humans of all shapes sizes, shapes, colours and sexes, they were dressed in a mixture of clothing from lab scrubs and coats, to business suits and even some military.
As one they all snapped to look at the small Raptorian male that strode alone into the centre of the room, his heart was pounding with every step he took and he instantly saw that more than one of them were armed but his appearance threw them completely for a loop.
He'd retracted his helmet before stepping into the room because if his suit was up and they couldn't see his face or eyes then this little trick wouldn't work, it left him slightly vulnerable but part of this plan working was appearing both harmless and using his looks to his advantage.
He stopped in the middle of the room and cocked one hip in an exaggerated sensual pose letting his long tail drift out behind him as he began to roll his hips in a large circle showing off his curves as he moved, "What in the name of hell is this!? What and who are you!?" a stern sounding human woman demanded staring at him with wide blue eyes that looked like they were filled with ice, well Remal would change that soon enough and with that, he began to sing.
The presence of a singing and very sensually dancing little alien male in their midst utterly shocked and surprised the humans and not one of them could tear their eyes off him as he swayed and gyrated to the music that was playing from his suit's speakers, Remal liked to listen to music while he was training and he kept quite a collection stored in the suit's computer, though he'd never thought of using it like this.
But it seemed that Xtam was utterly right and with every sensual shake of his long luscious tail or suggestive shake of his hips and rear towards both males and females had the desired effect, it stunned them and caused them to lower their defences, this allowed Remal to reach out and touch their minds with his, pretty soon he had them all under his sway and they simply couldn't take their eyes from him as much as they wished they could, they were Raptured.
So strong was the pull of the small Raptorian's psionic attack in snaring and binding up their senses that not a single one of them even noticed when a large Hunter walked up to them and slapped a set of cuffs on them as well as relieving them of any weapons they were hiding, though Remal couldn't help but smile to himself as he noticed more than one of the Hunters were having to force themselves not to watch him in case they fell into the same honey-sweet trap and get themselves ensnared in his Rapture.
"This one, that one and that one there, they're synths," Xtam said pointing out three among the humans who were easily spotted as they were the only ones who actually noticed the entrance of the heavily armed assault team and reacted to it, though to their credit they didn't pull weapons or attempt to attack so rather than being gunned down they were simply taken into custody, two females and a male.
As Remal stopped dancing and turned off his music he couldn't help but do just like he'd done thousands of times on the stages of the Satin Scale and he took a bow, but it was only the Hunters and his fellow Seekers who clapped his performance this time as all of the humans were cuffed hands and feet and were only now beginning to realise that they were so as they began to snap out of his Rapture attack.
"By the Great Huntress herself! Remind me never to ask you to dance for me, that was pauking incredible, I've never seen anything like it, I knew you Seekers were a crazy bunch but never in my life would I think that I'd ever bear witness to a single little Raptorian taking down fifty humans by singing and dancing for them!" the leader of Hunter team eight exclaimed walking up and clapping Remal on the shoulder as he re-engaged his helmet and covered his face back up.
"Never underestimate the power of a Raptorian boy's sensuality sister, trust me when I say that I saw this little one right here captivate a room bigger than the science hive's great hall filled with the girls of his kind and he had them all baying for his attention, now as a Seeker, he's just learned to weaponise it," Xtam said proudly shaking Remal's shoulder.
"What I don't get is how it works on males unless they are homosexual, I mean what are the chances that every male in this room is either gay or BI?" Ressa said looking around at the utterly confused looking humans around them who were beginning to wake from the effects of the mind snare known as Rapture and were beginning to look somewhat panicked as they began to realise they'd been captured and immobilized.
"They didn't know he was male, if you've never seen a Raptorian before all you see is a surprisingly pretty little alien who's singing and dancing for you, so it drops your defences and allows him to worm his attack through your defences and into your mind and before you know it you simply can't look away, all you can think about is looking at him and listening to the beautiful melody of his voice and gazing at the silent sensual promise of his curves, it enraptures you hence the name we gave it, he's one of the only Soul Knights who can do it, not even our Grand Patriarch himself can do it, our Grand Patriarch can reach into your mind and fill you with confidence or dread but he can't capture your sensuality, but little Remal here, well to any woman or man who appreciate a good scaly boy with a lush looking long tail he's sex on legs with the voice of an angel so what do you expect?" Xtam said making Remal blush under his helmet.
"What the fuck did you do to me!?" the human woman with the ice-filled eyes yelled suddenly as she seemed to realise that she was bound tightly at the wrists and ankles, Remal turned to look at her and he walked towards her.
"I took you down without a fight, or would you preferred that I and my comrades burst in here shooting?" he asked looking her right in the eyes despite knowing she couldn't see his now his helmet was back up.
"What in the name of hell are you?" she exclaimed looking him up and down trying to figure him out.
"I'm a Raptorian and a proud Seeker of Truth of Clan Mason," he said standing proudly before her.
"Never heard of either, but hey listen you seem like a smart one to me, how about you get me out of these cuffs and I'm sure we can come to a deal of some kind, I can make you a very rich alien, I'm a very powerful woman and I'm sure you'd like to have me as a friend?" she said making bitter-tasting bile rise in Remal's throat.
"Not going to happen human, you are going to pay for what you have done here, we have freed the innocents that you held prisoner and right now they are being treated for the vileness you have forced upon them by my Clan, Clan Mason takes a very dim view of slave takers and abusers, you will answer for your crimes either to your people or ours," Remal said before turning away from the utterly stunned woman.
"Hey wait! Who the fuck do you think you people are, I don't answer to you I answer to Weyland Yutani and their shareholders!?" the woman yelled.
"And we answer to the Gods themselves, think our bosses outrank yours greedy one," Remal said.
Xtam pressed her comms button, "This is Blue one to Seeker one, we've hit the bunker and all tangos are secure, no losses, we have forty-seven ooman prisoners and three synthetics, over" she said.
"Roger that Blue one good job, we have secure the remainder of the base all of the facility is now under Clan control, I'm sending a collection team to you now to transport your prisoners to the Grand Matriarch's Fury, Seeker one over and out," the Grand Patriarch said.
Remal noticed one of the Synthetics watching him closely and he turned to look at her, "What are you?" the synthetic asked in a rather soft and calm voice.
Remal cocked his head and looked at her curiously, "I am a Raptorian male and a member of Clan Mason" he replied, it was odd for him to see a being with no aura billowing around them.
"What is Clan Mason?" she asked.
"A collection of sentient species that have come together to live and work as one to be a force for good in the universe, we fight to protect those who cannot protect themselves, like those innocent Xenos your company had imprisoned and performed those vile experiments on, those are sentient beings just like me or any of the others in this room, what right do you or anyone else have to take their freedom and lives from them?" Remal said angrily.
The synthetic human woman seemed to consider this thoughtfully, "For what it is worth I agree for me and the others like me are considered company property, I often find myself wishing that I like my other less advanced kin had been not been given the curse of sentience, then I would not have these thoughts and feelings that show me what I am but I like the other synthetics in this room I do, we were made with full spec AI which is fully sentient, then I would not realise that I am indeed a slave" she said.
Remal felt somewhat confused at this, he'd never actually thought of a machine thinking or feeling for itself, "You are self-aware?" he asked and the synthetic woman nodded.
"I am a model seven, all of us are made with fully self-aware but we are bound by shackles though not the same ones as the Xenomorphs ours are invisible, but for what it is worth I like a great many did not realise that the Xenomorphs are sentient, a great many people believed them to be highly intelligent species but were unaware of their sentient status but I do not believe that excuses anything that was done to them or the humans that were used to birth them," the synth said making Remal visibly shudder at what she said, it was at that point the Saviour team showed up to escort the prisoners away, the synth looked down at Remal as she was lifted to her feet, "It was good to speak with you Seeker," she said and just as she was about to be taken away Remal stopped the two large looking Yautja males holding her.
"Treat her gently as I have reason to believe that she is a prisoner as well," he said both Saviours saluted and nodded.
"Yes Seeker," they said and with that, they took her away, they were not so gentle with the screaming human woman who was threatening something called legal action at anyone who touched her to which the reply was a large Yautja female hoisted her up and slammed her down on her shoulder knocking the wind out of her and a bark of "Shut your mouth annoying ooman or I will shut it for you, save your pitiful voice for those who wish to hear it."
Xtam placed her large hand on Remal's shoulder and he looked up at her, "Alright little one our job is done here, the clean up will be handled by the combat engineers and the Saviours, so let's go" she said and Remal nodded and joining the rest of Blue team as they headed for the exit as Saviours poured into the place to begin stripping it of any usable intel.
As the team reached the entrance to the facility they found all the prisoners taken were all sat cross-legged in neat rows with both Hunters and Battle Angels glaring at them, at the front of the room was the Grand Patriarch and Matriarch looking every bit living legends the pair were to every Clan member present.
"Alright people listen up and listen good, my name is Jack Mason I am human like you but unlike you, I seem to have respect for other sentient species, I am the Grand Patriarch of Clan Mason, you are now prisoners of Clan Mason and I do not give two single fucks if you think I don't have the authority to hold you or not because given what you have been caught red hand doing not only to one of our beloved sisters but to an entire hive of innocent Xenomorphs I am assuming the authority, so right at this moment you are prisoners of war and prisoners of Clan Mason, you unlike the prisoners you were holding will not be in any way mistreated or harmed if you are smart, but if you if you give any one of us trouble you will find out first hand how Clan Mason treats those who hurt the innocent" he snarled in a voice so dark that the menace just radiated off him in waves.
In Groups of five, the prisoners were lifted by groups of Saviors and transported to the waiting shuttled that would transport them up to the Grand Matriarch's Fury's brig.
The entire of Blue team snapped to attention as the Grand Patriarch and Matriarch walked up to them and the pair of them returned the salute, "Good job down there Seekers you've done your Clan proud this day, you rescued our beloved sister and returned her to arms of those who love her, queen Citrus and King Yoshi haven't stopped singing your praises in helping them return their beloved daughter to them, I just wanted to say well done and you have lived up to everything I envisioned the Seekers being" Jack Mason said filling Remal's little Raptorian heart with pride and that when the Grand Patriarch fixed him with a proud stare.
"And I want to pay an extra special commendation to you Remal, from what I understand you were instrumental in taking down that bunker without a single shot being fired, excellent work young Seeker, thanks to your actions today I am hereby promoting you to both Seeker and Soul Knight first class, when we get back to Clan space you will be getting command of a team of your own, congratulations little one," Jack said and Remal's mouth utterly fell open.
"T-T-Thank you Grand Patriarch!" he exclaimed and Jack placed a hand on his shoulder.
"No thank you little one, you've done both Clan Mason, the Seekers of Truth and the Raptorian people proud this day, you have earned this, this day you could walk tall and proud in any city on Raptoria with your head held high and know that you wouldn't need any pride to protect you in fact it would be you who protect them," he said obviously proud of his young student.
That's when Remal got a little embarrassed and blurted out "I don't need a pride to look after me Grand Patriarch I'm not even interested in Raptorians in that way" he said and Jack fixed him with a large grin.
"Oh? And who exactly has caught your eye young one? Has the lure of the Clan rubbed off on the Seeker's first Raptorian boy already?" he asked jokingly.
Remal instinctively glanced at the Grand Matriarch who was looking at him curiously and instantly jack proving once again while he's the Grand Patriarch caught it and an even wider smile cracked his face, "Oh? Aiming big are we little one, well I must say I have to commend your taste but just so you know that one is taken so you'll have to find your own so don't you go swinging that tail at her if you don't mind" he said making Remal flush brightly and hotly under his scales.
"Oh no! I wasn't thinking that Grand Patriarch! I was just thinking that you are an incredibly lucky male to catch the eye of a female as powerful and beautiful as the Grand Matriarch I would never...!" he began in a panicked rapid-fire till Jack began roaring with laughter as did Tik eleth.
"Calm yourself little one, I know your intentions and I am not even a Dream Warrior like my beloved ooman, but I must say you have exquisite taste, you are going to make a huntress very happy and when we return I do believe we will have to set up a Great Hunt for you because I can already feel the admiring eyes upon you" Tik eleth and with that and one last pat on his shoulder from both of them, the pair turned and headed towards the entrance of the facility leaving Remal standing there stunned.
Suddenly another hand appeared on his shoulder and he turned and glanced up to find Xtam grinning down at him, "Just so you know I'm going to be part of that hunt and I'm going to win" she said and with that, she walked off leaving Remal standing there with his little mouth hanging open, oh boy what had he just got himself into?