Undertow
By Nalani
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Anger
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The weight of his body against her is euphoric. And with each breath Kate feels even more of his giant chest against hers. Her fingers are nimble in their exploration of the skin on his neck, the texture tingling the tips. When she touches the front of his neck and feels the deep vibrations from his purrs, Kate can’t help but bite her lip and whimper behind her mask. Eceris hands tighten around her thighs and he growls deep.
“I want you.” He says, Kate answering by squeezing her legs around his waist. “What is it about you Kate? I don’t understand!” Eceri lets his head fall back in an attempt to get air, her scent is driving him crazy. “You’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen, ever smelt.”
“I want you too.” She nearly groans back. “I want to touch every part of you.” It was true, but something has seeded in her belly. A bad feeling. It makes her stomach drop. “Why does it feel so wrong?” Suddenly they both stop, the question making them both take back. “Fuck, let me down! Now!” She demands, this feeling hitting her like a lightning bolt. At first Eceri doesn’t want to let her go, his hands go from holding her thighs to behind her back, his head tilts to one side. “I said let me go, this won’t work, please!” Kate untwists her legs and tries to push at his chest.
“What are you doing?” He barks out a little to impatiently, startling her a moment. Though when she still pushes, he indignantly drops her and moves away. But Kate, not expecting such a move, falls gracelessly to the floor. “Why must you always do something to ruin this?” Eceri starts to step back, wanting as much space between them as he can.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kate giggles in irritation, rubbing the back of her head to be sure blood isn’t pouring into her short blonde hair. “I’ve finally got it into my thick head that no matter if I want you, no matter if you want me, I know that in one second your mind will remember that I am nothing but a dirty little Ooman.” Her words hit home as he jerks his head back violently. “In the shower, you couldn’t wash your hands fast enough after you touched me…” Kates words trail off at the memory, a hand moves to sit over top her pelvic bone, she swears she can feel his fingers inside right now. “Those touches you give me, they make my skin burn. Even weeks after I can still feel your hands on me. And I know you want to touch me just as much as I want to be touched by you. And then you act like I’m acid, and turn into this monster. It breaks my heart Eceri.”
“I’ve never wanted to hurt you, or break you.” Silently Kate stands, her legs a little weak.
“Then stop doing this to me! I don’t know how you fucking Yautja do it, but playing around with someone feelings is not okay.”
“We don’t do such things. We don’t bother with feelings Kate, we do only what feels right. And yes, this does feel wrong doesn’t it. So you reject me, now? I can hear your heart beat, I can smell the need you have for me in your sweat, I can feel it!” He nearly roars.
“So what? What have you done about it but make me feel like a dirty Ooman? You touch me then turn away. Well fuck you Eceri, I won’t let you do that to me.” Kate takes one more deep breath before walking away from the wall. Her heart is so heavy that each breath feels like a burden. As she heads for the door, Eceri merely watches her walk out. Fine. Be that way. She doesn’t need him.
“” “” “” “”
The moment the air inside her tiny ass ship gets back to normal Kate rips off her suit and stands as still as can be. Has she really just walked away from him like that? Yes, yes she had. Was it satisfying? Very much so. Does she regret it? Incredibly. But she can’t keep touching him, can’t keep letting him touch her. Her insides yearn for him, the thought of him causes a radiating heat from top to bottom. Her mind goes blank when she is with him, and that is unacceptable. She had a job to do here. She can’t cry for her friends anymore, she can’t think of others anymore. There are no more ‘others’ in her life. They are all dead. After setting her suit to recharge, Kate hating herself for having to use a product from Yautja technology, she walks to her control room of her ship and sits in front of a computer screen. This next little bit will take little time, but a lot of patience. With half of the drifter colony Padua destroyed, she expects most if not all of the online capabilities down but the main database up. Whenever a ship docked for a long amount of time, it would connect to the main server to display their goods, easy advertising. But what the dumbasses who designed this program didn’t see was the potential for people to hack into the most intimate parts of ships.
And just as she thought, there is no activity on the online server. However, there is a quite large and extensive backup of information saved in an offline file. The patience part of this little expedition was the guessing game for passwords, but remembering that most people keep things simple, she wasn’t at all shocked that the word ‘colony’ gave her complete access. At the time of the backup, the information collected tells Kate everything from how many people were on board, that number breaking her heart, how many ships were attached and even what each person had for goods and supplies. Once in the roster of ships that were attached, all she needs to do it see if they are still there. Who knows what the Yautja destroyed with their attack. And after finding one that is not only still intact but well stocked, she is very fast in getting her fully charged suit on.
The walk to the docking bay of her chosen ship was close and yet it still takes her the better part of an hour to get there. The docking bay doors took a little kicking to get open, but the scene inside is too intense. The occupants of the ship are all floating in the air, their blood frozen in perfect little droplets. The loading door to the huge ship is wide open, making her job very simple. And yet still disgusting. Finding the captain was easy, he still has the main keys on the string around his neck. Kate will never forget the coldness of his skin as she takes the lanyard off him, she almost throws-up in her suit. Even as her spine shivers, Kate runs up the ramp and up into the hull of the ship, heading straight to the command deck. The size of the hallway is more than twice the size of hers, and upon seeing the control room she has to laugh. Nothing was broken, nothing was patched together or leaking or making odd sounds. Or smells for that matter. She hops to a close computer screen and logs in with the captains keys and finds the ship in perfect shape, more so in fact. Full fuel. Full water. Its kitchen and supply decks are full to the brim, she can’t bring her food stuffs even if she wants to. But she doesn’t have the time.
The clink of metal on metal has Kate stop mid breath. No one else is here, she checked for that. Multiple times. Her right hand slowly reaches towards her pistol, as to why she didn’t already have it out and ready, she doesn’t know. But that will never happen again. However, before even one of her fingers hits the hilt, the too familiar sound of a blade sliding from its sheath echoes in the room and the cold steal line glides gently across her throat. A growl hits her ears as Kate grabs her pistol, but the knife pushes harder against her neck, forcing her to not only let go of her only means of defense, but put up her hands like a bitch. Her ears ring as the crackling and popping sound of the Yautja cloak is dropped, but instantly Kate knows she is in trouble. The hand at her throat is not Eceri, its colors are too light for it to be him.
“What do you want?” Kate asks boldly, getting only a deep grumble. So she takes an even bigger risk and slowly turns her head around to look at her assailant, but sees only a vacant helmet. Way shorter than any Yautja she has seen yet, with armor so perfectly kept and unscathed she knows instantly this one is young. “Don’t make me ask again.”
“Eceri has a message for you.” Ah, so that is his game. Can’t even talk to her face to face anymore. Some men can’t take rejection. “You have eight hours to do what is it that you do, then he never wants to see you again. You are released as his prisoner, as his charge and are no longer his liability.”
“Tell him I won’t need eight, I’ll be gone in,”
“He doesn’t care!” The Yautja interrupts, taking her aback. “He just wants you gone. We all do.” The blade is hurriedly taken from her neck, causing a little cut, and the Yautja is heard stomping way and off the ship, leaving Kate alone yet again. But free. She’s actually free.
“” “” “” “”
“I told you not to hurt her.” Eceri hisses at the Young Blood as he walks towards his Arbitrator, the tone of his remark causing the boy to stop dead. Even with the little amount of blood, he knows her scent.
“I didn’t, I swear!” He says, bowing his head. “I took a precaution of putting my knife to her throat as she was going her for weapon, sir. I didn’t want her to get it, it was the only way. Her neck has only a small cut, she is alive, I swear to Paya.” Young Bloods always talk too fast when they are nervous.
“I’ll believe you, now go help collect more things.” Quickly the Young Blood is off to one of the rooms filled with Yautja things, filled with dead bodies and dead memories. Eceri reads over all the different Yautja they have found, every Clan marking has been cataloged and collected and so far the numbers are leading their search into one particular area of space. Certain Clans will keep to their particular hunting grounds, and with more than half of the dead accounted for belonging to his own clan, he knows where to look next.
As the hours tick by and less and less is found, Eceri calls over his right hand, Tog, to help in sending off the message that it is time to go. But before Tog leaves, Eceri grabs him by the arm gently and pulls him in close.
“Let me know when Kate, the Ooman, has left. I would hate to recant on my promise to let her go by blowing her up with the rest of this piss hole.”
“She is already gone, Arbitrator, she left a good two hours ago.” Tog says surprised, why would anyone care about that damned Ooman? And thankfully Eceri and his surprised face are hidden from everyone in the bustling room. As to why he is surprised, he doesn’t know. He shouldn’t care where she is, or when she left. She walked out on him before he could get a word in, so she can do anything she wants. He has released her as his prisoner, he has no obligation to help her or any responsibility to know where she is. But why does he, deep down, feel insulted she would leave. And without saying goodbye. And yet, shaking his head of the pure stupidity of those thoughts, how could she do such things. He shouldn’t be insulted, he should be happy that she is gone, that her temptation is no longer an issue.
“Then lets’ get off this thing, blow it up and get home. I need to talk to our Patriarch.”
“” “” “” “”
Under the thick white covers of her blanket, Kates eyes are desperate to keep closed as the sun starts to shine through. The gentle humming of the mobile blinds as it moves up the gigantic window ring her ears, but it’s the light that is killing her. She tosses the pillow over her face and tries to go back to sleep. But the sun is too much, her room has such a glow that she knows she will never get back to sleep. And so groaning and swearing at the insufferable sun, Kate gets up and out of bed, stretching as she walks towards the window. And with a big yawn she greets the Earth in its orbit, the bright blue, white and green ball floating quietly.
“Still don’t get what all the fuss was about…” Kate remarks out loud. Oh well. She has chores to do today, best get to them. Every day she walks into her bathroom and looks in the mirror, and every day she wishes she didn’t count how long it’s been since she saw him last. Her hair was once so short, it now sits near to her shoulders, the almost stark white blonde making her look paler than milk. But her face has real shape to it now, not just the bones. Her find of the century, this ship, has been her saving grace. Proper meals, showers, a bed, everything she has ever needed or wanted. So what is a girl to do when the universe is at her disposal, when behind her is a Yautja she can’t stop thinking about and before her is nothing but space? The first thing to pop into Kates mind was Earth. She has to see if Eceri was telling the truth those many months ago. He told her that there was no one on Earth anymore, that the wars fought had killed everyone, so those in space had no idea. So she started the nine month long trek and never looked back.
But she did dream, and she had nightmares. And day dreams. And fantasies. Illusions. Desires. Hopes. She misses him.
Once out of the shower, dried and dressed, Kate gets to the command deck and sits in her chair. It took a long time but reprograming the main computer desk to be the hub of her whole ship was worth it. She can do everything from one seat instead of running to each part of the ship that she needed to look at. The task today, finally head down to Earth. From old maps and rumors from a thousand people, she heads towards an ancient core of the old world, hoping that someone was still there. The decent was slow and eventless, something her old ship would never have been able to even attempt. And once through the thick white clouds, Kate sits back and gasps at the pure beauty. The striking blue of the seas is more than she ever thought. So many colors she never knew existed are splattered over every inch.
A loud beeping starts from a screen and that is not good. Instantly Kate looks to find that there are nine approaching ships, unusually slow but definitely right at her. But then she sees the shape of them, the size. They are Yautja jumper ships. Instantly Kate starts punching in to move her ship faster, she needs to get away. But it seems they had been anticipating that. The nine ships surround her faster than anything she has ever seen and just as quick her ships halts to a stop. Her body hits her screens hard enough to push the air from her lungs, and a moment later all the power starts to drain, the screens flickering before they stop. All but one. The darkness in her control room is too eerie for her liking, the silence even more so. It makes her ears hum.
“This is the Retrieval Squad Nine, state your name and reason for approaching Earth immediately.” The mans’ voice is so loud it makes her jerk back, but Kates confusion is giving her a headache. That is no Yautja voice. That is human. “Repeat, this is the Retrieval Squad Nine, state your name and reason for approaching Earth immediately.” Jumping to her feet and running to the communications screen, she finds her lips are suddenly dry at the thought of talking to someone else. She has to think about what to ask, what to say.
“Are you human?” She asks, sounding scared even to her own ears.
“I am human, yes.” Kate laughs out loud, unbelieving at her luck. “Do I need to repeat myself?” The man asks, a little joke in his voice.
“No, no. My name is Kate Esther. And I’m…” She pauses, honestly not knowing what to say next. “And I’m the last survivor of Padua, the Yautja have destroyed the colony. I’m in search of safe grounds.” There is a long pause of nothing, dead air. Should she say it again? Without warning the screens and lights to her ship turn back on, and a heavy thud of her ship moving again makes her almost lose her footing.
“Kate Esther, welcome home.”
“” “” “” “”
The fresh air stings her eyes, even more so than the sun. Kate is used to the sun, but there is something to be said about breathing air that your body evolved to breath. It’s like each breath brings in life, and she can feel it travel to her toes and finger tips. Standing on a balcony, the table behind her is set for two, glass cups and perfectly round plates sit waiting for someone to use them. But they didn’t have to wait long. A door far in the room behind her opens and a large group of people come in to her suite, all guarding one man as he leisurely makes his way in. It had been nearly seven weeks since Kate had landed on Earth, landing in a city called New York. The new modern buildings were so cleverly hidden amongst the old, decrepit ones that it took someone pointing out the small differences for her to see them. Clever camouflage. And since that first day, she has learned many things. Firstly, and most importantly, that New York is the last of ten remaining human cities. Everywhere else has been left for Earth to clean up. Secondly, the information that Eceri told her was more than false. The people on Earth had long ago stop warring, and for a good reason. And that leads to the third thing Kate has learnt.
It seems the Yautja have created a most brilliant enemy in Humans. And they have unwittingly helped them to be a most equal enemy at that. When Kate asked them about their Yautja jumper ships, everyone laughed. And it took a few days to get the real story from them. And it was a good one. They are not Yautja ships. They are merely the same design made by Humans. Every piece of Yautja technology had been somehow smuggled to Earth where it was dissected and reimagined and remade. Every piece the Yautja have ever made, the Humans have. And they don’t want to use it just to survive. Not at all.
And that brings Kate to this room, to this balcony, to this man walking towards her.
“Mr. Blackley. It is an honor to finally meet the man everyone talks about.” Kate generously gives her hand to this man, his large hand nearly completely taking over hers. His height is well above six feet, his weight matching. If he only had a little more fat on him he would be more disarming rather than imposing. But that is what this man is going for. The self-proclaimed ‘Mayor’ of New York, Kent Blackley is the man you need to be friends with.
“The privilege is mine, Miss Kate. Please, we have much to discuss.” He motions to the table set up for two on the balcony, and while Kate goes to sit he looks back at his team and waves them all to leave the room. He doesn’t move until they are all gone, unbuttoning his suit jacket before he sits down. Across from him Kate almost playfully combs her hair behind her ears, she needs to look as innocent as possible. She had at first thought to put it in pigtails, the blonde hair long enough now to do so. But that would be too innocent of her to do. That task going so far as to wearing a light pink ensemble, anything to help her.
“I was really surprised you even contacted me, I had approached your office so long ago. I had even visited your office many times.” She says, getting only a small scoff from the man as he opens up a bottle of wine, the sound genuinely scaring her.
“It tends to take a while for none Yautja issues to get to my ears. But you were the answer to a very big riddle.” He pours the dark red wine into their glasses, giving one to her with a courteous smile. “When communications ended with Padua, we honestly never thought the Yautja had done it. It has happened in that past that that shit-hole broken down. But not for so long. Shipments of Yautja items, they came like clockwork. So when one was missed, we knew something was wrong.” Kent stops talking with the door to the room opens, allowing a man with a large serving tray to walk in. In silence he puts down two plates of things she has never seen before. And a small conversation as to the origin of these things was a little less than interesting.
“I truly don’t know how I got out. My husband, Detecive Chase, he just threw me into this ship and told me to go and go far. That was after the first explosion.” To play it up, Kate closes her eyes and sighs before she takes a deep sip of the wine. It was disgusting. “My ship was blasted from the dock by the second shot and it took a while before it settled out. By that point I was beyond the solar system. I didn’t risk going back.” Suddenly Kate feels a hand on hers and she looks to see him touching her, his face squished together to show sympathy. What a cunt. She knows his type. But she smiles back, faking a blush and looks away, taking her hand and placing it on her lap. She may have, at one point, been flattered that a man as handsome would be smiling like that at her. He had a rather dark complexion, black hair, cut jaw line, perfectly shaved beard, dark eyes. But not his eyes, not Eceris.
“You don’t need to tell me everything, I read the report you gave to my assistant.” Kent smiles and he finishes of his cup. He garishly places it down, licking his large lips. “But that is not what you want to talk about, is it?” He sits back and puts a hand on his full stomach, making her nearly gag. Secretly, throughout this entire meal, Kate has been comparing this little shit to Eceri. To his muscles, his height, everything. But for some reason, Kate knows that no one she will ever meet for the rest of her life will compare to him.
“I know it is a rule that when people off world come, they can’t leave. And honestly I agree with you hundred percent. It keeps you safe. But me asking for permission to leave is because I don’t belong here, Kent, I really don’t.” The man is staring at his empty plate longingly, an eyebrow cocked up on one side as he absentmindedly sucks loudly on a tooth with his tongue. Rude pig. “I know I’m not supposed to die here. And I can’t be around all this Yautja stuff.” At that he sits up. Almost insulted.
“This is not Yautja, this is Human technology, we just used theirs as a template.” He argues, and Kate fully agrees. But she presses the fact that because it is so similar, she is uneasy. They killed the greatest love of her life, her best friend. Her life. Her dearest Chase… She may throw-up soon.
“I just want to start again somewhere, a place where no one needs to know who I am or what happened.” Wordlessly, Kent stands up and moves closer to her, leaning against the table with his ass too close to her hand.
“And you can’t do that here?” He asks, looking down at her. Moreover, looking down her shirt. Just where she wants him to look.
“Even if you let me settle outside New York, I’m used to space. I’m used to alien worlds. This place, as beautiful as it is, is your home. Not mine. Don’t you understand?” Kate looks up to him pleadingly, and places a hand on his thigh very lightly. His breath hitches, perfect.
“Don’t you want to be around your people though? It’s not right to be alone Kate, we are not a species that likes that. We like to be around others, to be close to others.” More eagerly than he probably wanted, Kent reaches up and cups Kates face with his hand, stroking her cheek with a thumb. And she plays to it, pushing in to it and even closing her eyes before looking away, biting her lip. To keep from laughing of course. But to him it looked to keep from crying.
“I’m still mourning Chase, I only lost him a few months ago. It feels like yesterday. But it has been so long since I have felt another human, another man.”
“I know Kate. But that is the best part of being human, don’t you see?” He moves her head to look at him, her face turned up slightingly. And slowly, more for show, he leans down close. “That is how we are better than them, as humans we can love again. We grow past our hurt and pain. I can see your pain, Kate. It is all over your face.” Closer he comes to her, his breath smells of shit wine. “I saw you weeks ago, sitting in my office waiting to see me. I wanted to make you feel better then. I still do.” Kent pushes his lips into Kate, harder than any man should. And she reacts by jumping up, pushing her chair away from her and moving backwards. She touches her lips as if they are burnt, her eyes wide as can be. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-”
“No, it’s just that I’ve never kissed another man.” Kate bites her lip, and she can see something inside the man change. His eyes squint the tiniest bit and his breath is deeper. She almost has him. “Maybe just one more…” With small steps, she goes and kisses him again, gentle and inquisitive. Then again, harder. It incites a glorious little moan from deep in his throat. Perfect. While still in the kiss, Kate reaches into one of her sleeves and pulls out a tiny little white pill and gingerly drops it in the remnants of her wine. She waits for it to dissolve before taking her lips back, licking them seductively before taking a fake sip of her cup. She offers the rest to him, her eyes excited for the results as he finishes it off.
“You don’t need to do this.” Kent tells her as she starts towards the bed, unbuttoning her dress as she goes. She looks at him over her shoulder, she tries to look as smoldering as possible.
“But I do have to, because I want to.” She perfectly times turning away him as her dress falls to the floor, reveling white underwear. The markings Eceri gave her are nearly glowing, the twists and turns of the blue going from her neck to her toes shine in the light. The image must have made his knees a little weak, Kent has to sit on the table for a moment. Now, it also could have been the pill in the wine. But she’ll say it’s both to boost her ego. In seconds the giant of a man is beside her, holding her body against his. Her fingers are nimble in taking off his shirt, and what she finds is surprising. What she thought was chubby human gut was actually the cut stomach of a man, hard and sexy. Pity she had already giving him the sedative, she should have gotten a good use of out his one. Oh well. A weird groan escapes Kents lips and before you know it, he is falling on the bed too dizzy to stand. Groggy words are mumbled, his eyes are darting this way and that. He only looks forwards and concentrates as Kate moves up the bed and sits on his lap, her body so small compared to his.
“What is going on…” He says slowly. His movements are equally so, Kents places his hands on her thighs and she hates to admit it but it feels good.
“Oh we are just talking Kent, don’t you remember?” Kate touches him smoothly, causing little goose pimples all over him. “You were telling me all your secrets…”
“” “” “” “”
She keeps telling herself to go slower, to take each step calmly. She doubts anyone will have any questions about her pass to leave Earth, it comes right from Kent and he is currently sleeping of a rather interesting drug in his hotel room. For all intents and purposes, Kent will wake up in ten hours believing that without a doubt he spent an insane night of sex and debauchery with Kate. Forgetting everything he told her, all the passwords and usernames he told her. Everything. Rather unfortunately, and yet reassuringly, one of his bodyguards had come in unannounced to check on him, only to find Kate still straddling him, naked to the underwear with his hands eagerly touching her up and down. Now no one will doubt the man’s story. After she got everything she could think of, including Kent’s deepest sexual secrets, she dressed and merely jumped out the window. The walk from the hotel to where the ships were all kept was gingerly taken, the sounds still new.
Around the corner from the hotel, tucked under a bush, Kate grabs her little bag and quickly changes into something more fitting to her task. Crickets, as she was told they were, make a strange chirping sound. She has yet to see a little bugger but she doesn’t really care too. When she saw a bird for the first time, Kate nearly cried. She had seen things similar on other planets, but to see a home grown species, it touches something inside her. Its song did too. But tonight it doesn’t sing, it is too late for such a thing. But under the star sparkling sky she hums her way along, letting the gentle wind play with her hair. If only Eceri could be here.
“And when did you get this?” The guard, or rather the small kid asks. Kate takes her mind away from counting the number of pimples on his nose to answer that her meeting had run into the night but Kent allowed to her leave tonight, despite the lateness. It takes a little more coaxing, but soon she is sitting in her command chair, dusting off the screen with a little blow. It needs only light cleaning but all in all the ship sits in good shape. Turning it on brings pride, checking to see that everything is still full and stocked makes her smile.
In less than an hour the beast is warmed up, and before she can blink Kate is above New York with the first tendrils of the sun hitting the tops of falling apart towers. As she turns the bow of the ship away, Kate wonders to herself if she should bother looking back one last time. She knows she will never be back. She didn’t lie to Kent, this is not her home. She knows she is not meant to die here. But before she has time to answer for herself, Kate and her ship are long gone from the solar system. Without looking back.
“” “” “” “”
Dark planets orbit around Kates ship as silently as she sits on her chair. Her anger is starting to make her sick, each time she tries and fails at finding any sign of the Yautja a little part of her breaks. A little more resentment is put on to the pile each time a little bleep of a chance pops up to have no positive outcome. Ten months and sixteen days, nine hundred and six scanning drones, four hundred planets and thirty nine moons, but not a single Yautja.
Kate rubs her eyes slowly, she needs to sleep but something is keeping her awake. A feeling. But she has had this before. A feeling maybe this drone will find a ‘downed Yautja ship’, used as bait as the original one had been used on her. At every solar system she finds, Kate sends out scanning drones to see if there is any kind of metal deposit on the surface, like the one she had found two years ago.
Two years. Two years without his face, without feeling his touch. It shouldn’t hurt to miss someone you barely knew. It shouldn’t bring on bouts of sadness so deep that one moment you are fine and the next you could die without care. A few touches is all it took and Kate knows that she is forever his. Fuck him and his stupidity and the situation he caused. Okay maybe she caused it too. But it still hurts every time. Every time she wakes and his face is there, she breaks. Every time she dreams of his hand on her shoulder, she cries. Kate almost wishes she had a proper photo of Eceri, something to allow a memory of his face to form. To know the curves of him again, even if only by sight, would make something easier.
But when the nine hundredth and seventh drone comes back with no sign of any metal deposits, Kate turns off the main command screen and slowly steps out of her chair, wraps her shawl around tight and goes to bed. Maybe tomorrow.
“” “” “” “”
It doesn’t smell right. Something is wrong. It may be that there are no clouds in the sky, as black as it is already, the moon would have highlighted it if there even was one. But the sky is stark, nothing but a blue moon lights the wreckage in front of her. The bits and pieces seem too fresh, like the crash should have happened yesterday but it’s too clean. Like the first one she had found, Kates computer on her ship had beeped rather unimportantly at the find. But it has been exactly what she has been looking for. She had wasted no time in hiding her new home, tucking it into a giant moon crater three solar systems away and taking out one of the larger jumper ships. She needed to be very careful. The planet itself made a lot of sense, it was large and it looked to have once been inhabited. By humans? Who knew. She didn’t care honestly. The moment her ship set down she hoped that somehow a message would be sent to the Yautja. And she hoped, secretly, it would go right to Eceri.
The carnage of the ‘crash’ would have broken her heart if it was real, but she knows otherwise. There are no bodies, no evidence that anyone was here. The metal is, for damn sure there is a lot of metal. And as Kate walks around the downed ship, she sees little bits and pieces of things that could have made her rich. High chest plate with a few small skulls, a Yautja screen unbroken, shoulder cannon. It could make her the richest person in the universe. But knowing the true expense of this, to know that though she is a mere scavenger there are still people out there hunting Yautja and every day more are dying for human pursuits, that breaks her heart.
But something in her stomach is twisted, has been since she set foot on this rock. And then she hears it. A tiny echo in her step. Kate has always been light of foot, to a fault sometimes. But right now her feet have no soft soil to hit, only metal is available to walk on. So when her footstep echoes twice, she knows they are here. Someone is stepping with her. Watching her. Moving with her. As fast as she can, Kate grabs her pistol from its holster on her thigh and twists around, crouching as she goes. The first thing she hears is an intense growl, the second is scratching of metal on metal. Then silence. The high peaks of debris cause her line of sight to be too small, she can’t see too far or around and corners. While the remains of the Yautja ship was spread wide and low, it still causes her trouble. She needs to get the Yautja to expose themselves and she curses herself for taking out her gun. With great ease and care, Kate lets the pistol fall to hang off one of her fingers as she spreads her hands wide, showing whoever may be watching she doesn’t intend to use it. From her studies, Kate has found that the Yautja have a very strict hunting guide, and she hopes she can use that knowledge.
“I know you are there, Yautja!” Kate yells out, she hopes her voice sounds as calm as she wants it to be. She stands up, slowly, and starts off towards the burnt clearing that was taken down by the ‘crash’, hoping whoever is there will follow her. But still with her hands high and wide, her gun lazily hanging off a finger, she begins to walk backwards so her face is towards the rubble. “Yautja, do you hear me?” She yells again, and a small little growl is heard off in the distance. “I know your tongue, you may as well talk Yautja!” A sudden loud crash of a huge wall makes her jump a little. But not as much as the next sound.
“Do not call me Yautja in such a manner, Ooman.” His voice was hard, solid and yet fluid. It comes from every direction and to be blunt it is rather disorientating. Just at the cusp of the untouched ground and the Yautja ship, the moving fluid lines of a shield become visible. “My name is Krok, and you are on sacred Yautja grounds.” Kate watches the ground and swallows hard when she sees a foot print being made as this Yautja steps forward, his weight making the ground crack beneath him. His steps are wide and long, but she holds her ground.
“We both know that is not true.” She says gaily, making the Yautja stop. “I am a prisoner of Arbitrator Eceri. Son of Md’Khi, ninth in a line of Arbitrators. He is currently doing an investigation of Oomans trafficking Yautja goods. I must reach him immediately.” The silence makes her skin prickle, and each breath feels like it takes an eon.
“Doubt it.” He says, a light note in his tone. This can’t be good. “If Eceri is holding you as a prisoner, you would be on his ship. Which, you are not.” He takes another step forwards. But Kate still holds still. “Any investigation like that would be huge, everyone would be involved. Especially if they were taking Ooman prisoners and using them.”
“And who are you to think you should know more than an Arbitrator?” Now Kate is going on a limb, and she may have gone too far. With a speed she has never seen before, the Yautja in front of her surges forwards and slams his shoulder into her chest, sending her flying. The air is knocked from her lungs and by the time she stops rolling on the ground she can just barely take a breath. She gets to her hands and knees just as her first deep breath stops her head from spinning. She notices her pistol is on the ground a good ten feet away, but the second after she thinks to go get it, a giant foot slams down on it, crushing it to a hundred pieces. Fucker. “That was my favorite weapon you know.” The Yautja laughs slightly. “It was one of my only weapons not made from Yautja technology.”
“You’re far, far away from finding Arbitrator Eceri, you honestly could not be farther away.” He begins to head towards her again, but this time she can tell his feet are lighter. Not as angry as before. Good. She can’t do another hit like that. She can already taste the blood on her tongue.
“I’ve been working in circles, starting from the planet of his first bait Yautja ship. I got separated from him,” This Yautja doesn’t need to know all her details, she didn’t even know most of them. “I need to find him. I have information that is his.” Kate stands to her feet, her knees are weak.
“Little Ooman, thinking you can demand anything from me.” The crackle of his falling cloak gives her a small ounce of security, but the sight of him quickly takes it away. From the relative newness of his amour and boring curves of his mask, Kate knows instantly that this is a young Yautja, the most dangerous kind.
“I am not demanding, I am merely saying I am Eceris, and I must be returned to him. He out ranks you, and as his you have to take me to him.” It is only now that Kate starts to back away from the approaching youngster.
“You see, that is where you are wrong Ooman.” The Yautja extends his wrists blades and her stomach drops. “I don’t have to do anything. You brandished a weapon, therefore your ownership is no matter. For all I know you are here to steal Yautja goods, and I have every right to hunt you for it.”
She needs no other motivation to start running. Her plans had never involved a young Yautja, she had always thought this would work. In her studies, Yautja bow to those in a higher standing, so this is very confusing. The minor detail that Kate is in fact not Eceris prisoner should not have gotten to such a Yautja in such a low station. So this is pure stupidity. For a split second she regrets setting her jumper ship so far away, her feet cannot move fast enough. Kate dashes under fallen trees, jumps over puddles of oddly colored water to finally jump over a large rock only to fall down a slippery hillside. Towards the end she begins to roll and the dizzying affect makes her want to hurl. But once she stops, Kate sees no one behind her. That damned Yautja isn’t following her. At least she thought. The kick to her side sends her sprawling to the ground, and before she can blink the Yautja is on top of her. He raises his arm, wrist blades at the ready. But the moment he takes his arm back, his head twitches to the side and he freezes.
It must have been a full minute before he moves again. Or maybe even an hour. Every heart beat is in Kates ears and her fingers begin grasping at the soil. So when the wrist blades are retracted, she nearly screams. The Yautja leans down and growls deep, the vibrations hurting her bruised chest.
“You’re lucky today.”
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