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Published:
2022-02-13
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2024-09-02
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25/?
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Acceptance

Chapter 25: XXV

Chapter Text

For the first time in his life, Winter felt powerless as he struggled to help contain the hardmeat queens as they somehow managed to escape the confines of their cages. He was an Elite, trained by Wolf himself! Not many could have that honor and look at where that has gotten him, fighting alongside several other warriors and all of them were unable to contain the queens.

"Duck!" Winter ordered, swinging his combi-stick around and impaling one of the queens on the right side of her body, the tip piercing through the thick carapace of her armor.

The queen shrieked in pain and swatted at Winter but he retracted his spear and rolled out of the way in time.

"Hit her with all you've got!" Winter shouted.

Everyone in the vicinity unleashed their strongest attacks on the two queens but their attacks were for naught.

A sharper screech echoed loudly in the distance and the two queens paused in their attacks. Their heads cocked to the sides briefly as they hissed sharply to one another, then took off scrambling towards the ceiling before disappearing from sight. Winter and the other warriors stared in confusion at the retreating figures of the queens and then at one another.

"What in Paya's name just happened?" Javelin asked, sheathing his weapons deftly.

"I don't know, nor do I want to know."

Everyone suddenly received a message on their wrist-comps from the Elders, ordering their return to the gathering hall.

"Come on," Winter said.


Scar groaned and opened his eyes blearily to find Arrow hovering over his face.

"Scar! You're awake!" the pup said eagerly, throwing himself on top of his brother.

"Arrow?"

"He was waiting for you to wake up the entire time," Dice supplied, coming into the room to pluck her youngest son off her eldest.

"Lex! I have to find Lex!" Scar suddenly shouted, jumping out of the bed and making a beeline for the door.

The doors slid open to reveal his father and the other two Elders standing there.

"Father! I have to save Lex!"

"Calm yourself my son. Storm has placed a tracker on the ship they were on. We are monitoring their progress as we speak, they will not be able to escape our detection. In the meantime, we must return to Yautja Prime and resupply the ship. The Ancients have called a meeting with us to discuss what to do about the three escaped queens aboard the shuttle as well."

"How far are we from Yautja Prime?" Scar suppressed the urge within himself and trusted in his father's judgement.

"We will be arriving soon. Prepare yourself for the meeting with the Ancients, they have requested your presence as well."


-Somewhere in the middle of space-

Pain.

That was the first thing Lex felt.

Unbearable pain shooting from the center of her chest towards every part of her body.

This forced her eyes open as she sat up abruptly, groaning in pain when the movements only caused her agony. When her eyes finally adjusted to their surroundings, she noticed Echo sitting in the pilot seat of the ship, his hands constantly pressing buttons and adjusting various knobs and levers. Glancing down at her body, Lex noticed the dagger that had been plunged into her chest was no longer there. Instead she found several thick layers of bandages wrapped tightly around her body and her cheeks flushed momentarily at the realization of Echo tending to her wound.

"You're awake," came his voice from up front.

"Did you do this?..." Lex gestured at her bandaged wound.

"Would you have preferred if I let you bleed out?" Echo responded coldly.

"That would've been better," she muttered under her breath.

"You are Scar's weakness. I cannot let you die so easily."

There he goes again with the whole vendetta against Scar.

"What is it with you and Scar? Why are you so hell bent on killing him?"

Switching the ship to autopilot so he could talk freely, Echo turned around and growled in a low voice, his mandibles opening and closing in a silent threat.

"He took everything I worked so hard for away from me."

"Okay...and explain to me why your English is so good."

"That is none of your business."

A screech could be heard from somewhere deeper within the ship and Echo gave a sharp whistle of his own.

"Why does she listen to you?"

Again Echo refused to answer and resumed piloting the ship. Lex brought her legs together against her chest and laid her head in between the gap. Her armor was left on but her weapons and wrist-comp were taken away, no doubt to prevent her from making trouble or contacting the others. Lex could only silently pray that Scar had a plan of sorts to get her out of the situation she was in.


-Yautja Prime-

The ship landed on one of the hangars and the Elders disembarked with Scar beside them. Awaiting their arrival were the Ancients, the most respected of the Yautja. All of them carried their masks under their arms as the small group greeted them.

"Respected Ancients, we have returned as per your instructions," Ember said.

"Tell us what happened. Your transmission mentioned something about three hardmeat queens escaping aboard a ship with a Bad Blood and a ooman female. What is that all about?"

"Several moons ago during the chiva of my son and two of his comrades, they came across a group of humans at the hunting site and proceeded to kill all as per their training. The oomans had released the queen from her cryosleep too early and she began producing eggs. Celtic and Chopper were killed but Scar managed to escape thanks to the actions of a ooman female who saved his life, and they defeated the queen together. I marked her myself as a sign of her courage as a warrior. We returned to the same planet after receiving a distress call from several young Unblooded who were there on their own hunt and my son ran into the ooman female again. This time, I allowed him to bring her aboard for treatment after saving his life a second time, and she has become a part of the clan since."

The Ancients clicked their mandibles together briefly.

Oomans becoming a part of their clan and culture were not unheard of. Machiko Noguchi of Broken Tusk's clan was one of the oomans who have willingly joined a clan, therefore it wasn't a shock to them that Ember's clan had accepted a ooman into their ranks as well.

"This still does not explain how or why the three queens escaped with a Bad Blood," Ar'kai growled.

"My son's intentions is to become mates with the ooman female, and I do not object because I have seen the way they interact with one another. Echo knew of their relationship and used her as leverage to get my son to secure their passage off the ship. Storm has placed a tracker on the shuttle, and we are still tracking their location. Once we have a positive response, we will go after them to retrieve the three queens and rid ourselves of the Bad Blood."

"This is your mess to clean up. We expect nothing but positive results. Resupply your ship and have the other hunters take a well earned rest to prepare for the upcoming battle. Facing one hardmeat queen is no easy feat even for the most seasoned of warriors, but to face three at the same time is something unheard of. Make sure everyone is adequately prepared and their weapons replaced," Sher'tal instructed.

"Understood," Nova bowed his head.

"Ancients wait," Scar finally spoke up.

"What is it?" Xai'har, leader of the Ancients inquired.

"One of the hardmeat queens has become an Empress," Scar revealed, shocking everyone within hearing distance.

Nova whipped his head around sharply to look at his son.

"Are you sure of this my son?" Nova asked in a grave voice.

"Yes. Her size and crest are bigger than normal, and the other two queens obey her commands without question."

"An Empress...this has never happened before without the presence of a hive being established."

"We must capture the queens before a hive can form."


Once the meeting with the Ancients were over, Scar returned to the ship and quickly began preparing for the trip to rescue his potential mate. The Ancients had given them fresh supplies of everything they would need, including more advanced weaponry and wrist gauntlets. This time it seemed the scientists of Yautja Prime came up with a newer version of the gauntlets, one that came with a Kuhjad which allowed for more advanced functions. Even the wrist blades were new, allowing for it to completely retract into their gauntlets and hidden from view.

"Nice weapons," Glaive said as he examined the new batch of shurikens.

"We each get one of these?" Dagger was excited to be receiving new upgrades.

"Yes. The Ancients want us to purge the three queens before it spirals out of control," Scar answered.

"You're obviously going to save Lex and leave the killing to us aren't you?" Storm eyed his leader through his Bio-Mask.

"She comes first," Scar slipped several new shurikens into their holders on his belt and activated his Bio-Mask.

"Figures," Dagger snorted from beside Glaive.

"Enough. We're leaving when the first sun rises. My father has ordered all of us to get appropriate rest for the hunt that's to come. The Council has also authorized two warships to follow us as reinforcements in case the queens have formed a hive."

The other three were stunned by this piece of information.

The Council oversaw their entire race and only gave judgement when deemed necessarily. However, only they had the authority to mobilize the warships on the planet in cases of emergency, and clearly the Ancients saw the existence of three queens converging a great enough threat to send not one, but two warships to act as reinforcements for their own mothership.


-Planet Tyr'Sauk (LV 354)-

After what felt like an eternity cooped up in the small cockpit of the ship they were on, Lex was glad to see they were circling a planet in the distance. The journey to wherever they were going had been rather uneventful since Echo refused to talk to her aside from the occasional grunts that signaled his annoyance. Not that she cared one bit, she had nothing to say to the one who not only tried to kill her, but kidnap her as well just for leverage against Scar.

"We're landing here," Echo said gruffly, directing the ship to break through the atmosphere of the planet.

"Why are we landing here of all places?" Lex asked suspiciously.

"Locals here revere Kiande Amedhe and their queens, even willing to offer their lives to become a part of the hive."

It took a moment for Echo's words to process properly through Lex's brain.

"You plan on turning this planet into a hive!?" she said in shock.

"The people consider it an honor," Echo stated bluntly.

Lex felt her legs give out from beneath as she fell on the mesh-wire grating of the ship floor, her eyes widening in alarm at what she had just heard.

"You're willing to sacrifice an entire planet...just for the sake of your revenge? How sick are you to even go this far?!" she whispered in horror.

Echo curled his fist in anger and slammed it atop the panel.

"Don't you talk to me like you know anything about sacrifices! What do you know about sacrificing anything in your life!?"

Snapping her hand back after forming a fist, Lex punched Echo sharply across his lower jaw, injuring herself and him at the same time as she pulled it back.

"I nearly lost my life twice to save someone else. I killed one of my friends during the expedition to Bouvetoya because of you guys. I gave up a freelance career to join Scar on an intergalactic trip around the fucking universe, hunting god knows what and learning to live with your kind! Yet you have the audacity to ask me what I have sacrificed? Well, here's your fucking answer you prick. I sacrificed everything to be here, to get where I am today without being forced to do something against my will. The ironic part? I'm a fucking human, I don't have superhuman strength or advanced technology like you to help. I survived on pure instincts and a strong will to live alone!" she spat angrily, cradling her injured hand against her body tenderly.

Her sudden outburst quelled any flames of rebellion within Echo as he found himself speechless for the first time.


To be continued...

Review?

In regards to their new weaponry and stuff, I got the idea from the Predator movie where the Rogue Predator had new weapons that previous films didn't show. Figured I'd throw it in there since it would make sense for them to develop newer versions of everything constantly and all the time lol.

In case you're wondering, while Echo is a Bad Blood, he's not entirely all bad. He still has some sense of honor within him, but anger and vengeance against his clan has clouded his judgement and mind. Maybe Lex could help bring it out before Echo truly becomes a Bad Blood eh?

Next time: Unleash the three queens! Chaos is bound to ensue XD

Will Scar and the others get there in time? ;3

See you all then!

Celsius Fate~