The First Hunter

Bet-Khar

I spent hours tossing and turning last night trying to fall asleep. It was downright frustrating. If I am honest with myself, I miss the faint heartbeat laying next to me, and the damn cold feet seeking warmth against my thigh in the middle of the night.

The shameless little human shared my bed for three consecutive sleeping cycles, and napped on me at least two times. She said "I'm warm and comfortable like a duvet." I do not know what a "duvet" is. I do not know many of the earth terms she uses, some can't be translated. But I find that I'd enjoy when she speaks to me.

I wonder how she'd slept in Zahraun's quarters. Did she have nightmares? Did she call for me? My brother is an honorable male. He is not cruel with females, but he is used to the Yautja ways. And Yautja females are rough. He will need to learn how to be "delicate" with the human female, if, she is going to be under his protection.

I check the time. The human should be awake by now. She must be hungry. I bathe quickly, unable to resist the urge to see her soon. I haven't been feeling myself lately.

Before I enter the cleansing unit, I send a message to Vorg, asking him to have fresh roots and nuts sent to Zahraun's quarters.

I arrive at my brother's rooms to find the door wide open. Something is wrong. Stepping inside, I see destruction and traces of blood. I use the program in my wrist gauntlet to reach out to the communication device I'd made for the human, the earpiece. But the signal  is turned off. I could not track her.

I activate my bio helmet and scan the room. My eyes follow the familiar tiny heat signature belonging to the human.

She doesn't know that I use the earpiece to monitor her activities. There was no need to inform her. I created the device to facilitate communication, but... I ended up adding a few extra features to it - location tracking, sound recording, and vital signs monitor for emergencies. It would allow me to hear everything in her vicinity, unless it's turned off or too far to be reached, as in, another galaxy.

Something is definitely wrong. Where is she? I called Zahraun but he doesn't answer. My unease turns into full-blown concern.

I stride the corridor, heading to the warship's bridge. I sniff the air, the scent of flowers and grass is very faint, meaning the human took this path several hours ago.

I reach for my wrist gauntlet and connect it to this ship's systems. I designed this ship, and everything I design works like this - even when it's not activated, it is still collecting data and storing everything.

The female may have her earpiece turned off, I may not be able to see her logs in real time, but this ship is fully on. I quickly browse the ship's archives for everything recorded within the last six hours.

It took a second to access the archives, scanning through images, sounds, logs... I am not able to find any image of the human in this corridor, nor her heat signature. The logs show no incoming visitors, no pods left this ship either. I pause, noticing that Celtic's Mission craft had exit the warship about six hours ago. Every cell in my body begins to fill with rage.

I storm to the bridge, ready to strangle someone, anyone. I can't begin to process the magnitude of my brother's betrayal, nor the evil that his actions have unleashed.

I try to control my rage, but when I arrive at the bridge and see that Zahraun is in a much worse shape than I am, I feel my anger dissipating a notch or two.

Sensing my presence, Zahraun growl low and turn to face me "Did you know?"

"I just I found out." I answer honestly.

I take a seat and glance over my shoulder to see Bal-Khan sending signals to allies, inquiring about a Celtic's possible location.

Utilizing every ounce of willpower I possess, I reach for the cool logical side of my brain and begin to analyze the data collection in my wrist gauntlet.