It only took a few days for the greenhouses to be printed in the large factory that produced most of the yautja ships and weapons. Once completed, both Ember and Ahzma watched as they were loaded onto the ship. Ahzma was excited to learn that Ember and Okaj would be joining her and Rakkah to Tani, along with her mate Akur. Traveling at a faster speed than before, Rakkah had informed her it would only take two days to get to Tani.
Excitement could not begin to describe what she was feeling. Never did she think she would have the opportunity to see her people again like this: free from an oppressive rule, happy with her new life, and now finally able to provide stability to her people. In the past few days, Ahzma found herself crying more than once at the surge of happiness, a habit that seemed to leave Rakkah visibly disconcerted when he saw it. Since the night she fell unconscious, Rakkah's lovemaking was more subdued—and it was driving her crazy. Even though he still brought her to the ultimate point of satisfaction it still left her feeling desperate for more. She tried to reassure him that she was perfectly fine accepting more from him and that she loved his wild lovemaking but each time he simply gave her a noncommittal grunt and ignored her arguments.
Standing in their chambers aboard the ship, she watched with fascination as Rakkah pressed a button on the wall which activated a hidden panel. Silently, a large wall extended from the long narrow panel, revealing a display of various weapons and armaments. Stepping closer, she examined each piece as Rakkah began to dress. Watching him select a pair of black gauntlets she looked at the silver pair that were mounted on the wall near her.
Sneaking a glance to Rakkah and back to the gauntlet, she nibbled at her bottom lip at the sudden urge of curiosity. She wanted to try it on. Hovering her hand just above the piece she paused and looked back to Rakkah. Gold eyes shined back at her, catching her in the act.
Dropping her hand immediately, Ahzma stepped back in heated embarrassment. "I was just...curious to see..."
Reaching past her, Rakkah plucked the heavy piece of gear from the wall and held it in front of her. Silently, he signaled for her arm, which she excitedly held out. Clamping the gauntlet to her arm, Rakkah released his hold on it and her arm dropped like a stone under the gauntlet's weight. Any other time Rakkah's deep chuckle would have been nice to hear, but not now. Giving him an annoyed look, she lifted her weighted arm back up and examined the gauntlet.
"Does it have a computer in it like yours?"
Reaching out for her other free hand, he lifted it and worked his fingers on top of hers like a puppeteer, making her select the hidden button on the gauntlet. Immediately, the flat portion of the gauntlet lit up revealing the screen in the red foreign text.
"Wow," she exclaimed, wanting desperately to fiddle with the buttons. "I wish I could read it, then I could send you messages all day while you are in meetings."
Ahzma laughed at his snort-like grunt at the statement. "What else does it do?" she asked.
Stepping behind her, he placed one hand on her exposed stomach beneath her bandeau top causing ripples of pleasure to course through her. Looking up to him, she watched him tilt his head down to look at her, causing some of his long dreads to fall over each of her shoulders. Extending his other arm out to her side, he held his hand palm up in silent demonstration before making a sudden hard fist.
The singing sound of metal sliding out with a whoosh startled her as she stared wide eyed at the sudden dual jagged blade that appeared out of the gauntlet. Awe struck she stared at the three-foot blade and back to her own gauntlet.
"How does that even come out of there?" she stammered.
Bringing the blade closer so that it crossed horizontally over her body, Ahzma stiffened against him. Gently, his hand at her stomach caressed her in silent reassurance. Looking down at the wicked dual blade together, he pointed at the three nearly invisible lines in the blade.
"The blades folds within themselves to house inside the gauntlet," he explained.
"How do you release it, without accidently stabbing someone or yourself?"
Flexing his fist again, the metal blades slid back in with a violent swoosh. Taking her hand, he held it palm up and pointed to the tiny red holographic lines on her palm. "You will form your fist as hard as you can while pressing your fingers to these three points."
Nodding, she held her arm out further and made a fist. Nothing happened. Trying again, harder this time she made a face of frustration as nothing happened. Rakkah's chest behind her vibrated with amusement.
Pursing her lips in concentration she tried again with no success to activate the blade. "It's not funny," she mumbled under her breath.
Reaching over her arm, Rakkah's thick fingers pressed against her folded fingers until she felt the gauntlet click against her arm and the blade extend in a sudden snap.
"Wow," she exclaimed slowly with a grin. Lifting her arm up and then down she waved the blade experimentally. "Its heavy. Do you really fight with these things?"
"Yes," his deep voice vibrated against her as he reached for her hand and undid the gauntlet.
Watching him put it away she sat on the edge of the bed and watched him continue dressing. It was painful to imagine Rakkah going back out into the universe hunting down dangerous creatures. Scanning her eyes down the long wall of armaments she spotted one of his formal capes. The last time she saw him with a cape was on the day of her wedding. That was how she liked to imagine Rakkah, regal and formal, too far above the act of dangerous hunts, but she knew it was just a lie she was telling herself. Next to his cape were some of the same weapons Ember showed her in her lab, plasma canons, knives, spears, serrated throwing disk, and more. Rakkah was yautja, she reminded herself, a dangerous creature who lived and breathed the hunt.
Glumly, she looked back up to see Rakkah fully dressed and staring at her.
"May I ask you a question before you go?" she asked, watching him take a step closer to her in silent acknowledgment. "When we boarded the ship, I saw many other hunters board as well, and it made me think." It was a difficult topic to bring up, especially knowing that she had no real rights to deny Rakkah anything. Steadying her nerves, she looked at Rakkah's curious gold gaze directly. "Why are you going out of your way to help my people, my lord? I know you are a pragmatic leader for your clan and I know my people are only a burden." A tiny voice in the back of her head wanted to ask could it be that he was doing it for her happiness, but she knew it would hurt far too much to hear an answer she didn't want to hear. "Are you...are you by chance brining some of the warriors to choose mates amongst my people?"
For a few beats of her heart there was only silence until finally Rakkah's gruff animalistic voice sounded. "The number of your human women amongst your people out number your men nearly three to one."
Standing up straight from the bed, she faced her mate directly. "I don't want my people to get hurt, my lord," she tried her best to make the statement sound strong, but it only ended up sounding like a plea.
A succession of clicking started in the back of his throat, coating his words with warning. "The warriors of my clan act with honor."
Afraid that she misspoke, Ahzma immediately backed away from him until her legs hit the bed. "I'm sorry, my lord," she added quickly, she did not mean to make him angry she just wanted to clarify what was happening. "I did not mean to..."
Watching her back away in fear, his golden eyes darkened with anger. "I have issued no command for my men to choose amongst your women. But if they choose a willing female, I will not deny it."
"Yes of course, my lord, I was only trying to say..."
"Enough," he snarled. Turning on his heel, his dreads whipped violently in a wide arc. "I have heard enough of your doubts in my leadership."
Stunned at his sudden anger, her heart plummeted as she watched him leave.
##
It had been nearly eight hours since he left his mate standing in their chambers. No matter what task he busied himself with Rakkah could not get rid of the image of her fearful face from his mind. Clenching his fist, he tried to focus on the report one his hunters brought him from his hunt regarding talks of an internal war happening in another galaxy. The sound of the door opening behind him interrupted his thoughts. Rakkah did not need to turn away from the multiple computer screens before him to know that it was Iko. His second in command's steps paused behind him to his left.
"The younger warriors want to spar with you," Iko informed him emotionlessly.
Rakkah let out a considering grunt but did not turn his head. Sparring with some of the whelps would probably be a good outlet for his frustrations.
Seeing that Rakkah was not going to respond, Iko continued. "I can also report that your mate has been escorted back to her room."
Iko watched with interest as his leader stilled at his words.
"From where?" Rakkah asked carefully.
"From the storage bay. Koga has brought two of his younger hounds and one small pup. Your mate sat with Koga's hounds for a few hours before Koga returned her to your chambers."
Rakkah could feel the tips of his claws break through the skin of his palms as he slowly turned to face Iko. "Where is Koga now?"
Iko's eyes lit up with anticipation as he answered. "Waiting in the training room."
Walking into the large training area, Rakkah scanned the crowded room, ignoring the stares of the younger recently blooded warriors turning to his presence. Finding the familiar blue markings of his target, Rakkah let out an threatening snarl, as he spotted Koga standing next to his brother along the wall with the rest of the older and seasoned hunters. Attentions shifted and focused with interest on their leader and Koga whose eyes showed a faint trace of surprise before brightening to responding anger.
Rakkah took a step forward prepared to confront Koga in mortal battle.
"Tell us leader, do we go to this human planet to force us to mate with humans?" The deep voice of Jarak interrupted the impending battle.
Baäl who had been standing close by, eagerly watching the silent confrontation come to head, let out a roar of frustration as he shot a deadly glare to Jarak for his interruption.
Pulling his gaze from his target with a trace of reluctance, Rakkah whipped his head to look at Jarak who was standing amongst a group of younger warriors. Jarak was a strong warrior, taller than most and nearly double the width. In battle no one had matched the big young warrior's strength. Rakkah had once watched a recording of the warrior take on two sentinel xenomorphs at the same time, killing them simultaneously with his bare hands. Rakkah would have easily considered Jarak to be one of their clan's finest future warriors if it were not for the fact that Jarak was an idiot.
Seeing that his confrontation with Koga would not happen at this moment Rakkah walked to the center of the room where a large circle was printed on the floor. Standing in the middle of the sparing circle, he addressed Jarak and the others. "I do not require you to mate with a human, I require you to simply reproduce and ensure the future of our clan. It is your choice with whom you mate with."
"I could not mate with such a weak species," Jarak continued arrogantly, not noticing his fellow warriors backing away from his side. Rakkah could feel the gazes of his clan upon him, waiting for his reaction to Jarak's charged words. Rakkah did not react he simply watched as Jarak continued. "I do not even understand how you mate with her."
Deep laughter vibrated along the walls of the room from the older warriors causing Jarak to let out a threatening growl in response and flexing his claws for a fight.
"I meant how is it possible," he roared angrily, whipping his head back and forth among the warriors, scanning to see who dared laugh. Annoyed he turned back to Rakkah and gave him a surly questioning look. "How do you not break her? How do you dominate her to show her you are worthy to seed her?"
Though the warrior was slower of mind than most, he presented a question Rakkah knew many if not all the warriors besides Akur probably had. Nodding once, Rakkah walked directly towards Jarak to the raised podium that was situated behind him on the far wall. Rakkah noted with a trace of primitive satisfaction as the large warrior moved hurriedly out of his path. Stepping up the stairs of the podium, Rakkah turned and sat, feeling his long spines arc in the air at the quick movement. Once he was seated, every warrior in the room stood straighter pulling from the walls and clustering closer to see and hear what their leader was going to impart.
"Human mates are nothing like your mothers nor the female yautja you know," Rakkah instructed. "Human females do not fight for dominancy in their mating. Once they decide to mate with you, they will come to you willingly and with affection."
He could see the reaction of his words move across the crowd. Bristled movement, looks of confusion and it made sense to a degree. Affection was not something yautja were taught. Parents trained their offspring rigorously from a young age ensuring any weakness was stamped out leaving only the brutal nature of a killer. Looking around this room, Rakkah could see the few that he already knew he would never allow to join with a human, those particular warriors were incapable of adapting to a gentler nature for the sake of a mate.
"Affection?" Jarak asked, clearly alarmed by the notion.
Rakah nodded. "My mate only seeks pleasure during our nightly mating," he explained, watching some of the hunters' eyes brighten at the foreign concept of only giving and receiving pleasure. "But one must exercise discipline and restraint against their soft bodies."
Another young hunter standing next to Jarak spoke this time. "Is it even possible to obtain pleasure for yourself through such restraint?"
Nearly the whole room stepped closer to hear his response. Rakkah realized in that moment, his hunters were sorely unprepared for the idea of human mating. Unlike them, Rakkah knew he was going to take a human mate, he had prepared himself by watching Akur's interaction with Ember, he had read archived files of ancient yautja admitting and detailing their own experiences with human females. Combining that data with the information on human female's anatomy Rakkah had trained himself on what to expect and how to pleasure his mate. For the few in his clan that would undoubtedly take their own human mate, Rakkah was going to have to ensure they were sent the needed data prior to their joining.
"I have never been tested so rigorously in my control," he admitted. "Nor have I been rewarded so greatly by my mate's responses."
A few scattered grunts of understanding mixed through the crowd amongst the remaining disinterested hunters.
"What about us who will not mate with a human? How do we have access to more yautja females?!" Jarak howled amongst the noise, silencing the room with his display. Propping his elbow on his knee, Rakkah rested his head onto his fist. Resisting the urge to exhale loudly, he listened to the distressed hunter's tirade. "I will not choose a human mate. I will not be mated for life to a weak human who does not have the lust for the hunt running through her veins."
Though he was an idiot, his words rang true with some of the other hunters who displayed disinterest at the idea of mating with a human as they nodded in agreement.
Giving Iko a sidelong look, that only he would understand, Iko gave him a faint nod of confirmation. It was sooner than they had discussed but Rakkah had already planned for this. "We will have a ceremonial gathering with our brethren clan on Ubu. There you may present yourselves to their available females for their approval."
An array of guttural sounds and clicking filled the room at the announcement. Ubu was the sister planet to Ojibwe. Though they shared the same sun and moons, they could not be more different. The hunters of Ubu prided themselves in living by the true ancient way, as they called it. Their rituals were pagan and their use of technology wasn't as flagrant as Ojibwe. On Ubu, they kept their use of technology at a minimum assigning it mostly to their ships and domiciles. On their hunts they relied on complete immersion in the surrounding environment and natural instincts to kill their prey. And that was why their death rate was so high, Rakkah thought with a grunt. To make matters worse, that was Jarak's native clan.
Wearing the body netting that all yautja of Ubu wore, along with an irritating dangling display of mini skulls and various body parts from his kills, Jarak visibly swelled with pride at the news. Though he was the only one. He could see the dismay in the other's eyes. On Ubu, Jarak's intelligence was considered above average.
"We are also holding talks with Carnak," the vocalized exhale in the room only angered Jarak. Carnak was another yautja planet in their galaxy and shared many similarities to Ojibwe but dealing with the reclusive clan was a difficult undertaking.
Standing up, Rakkah thought of his mate's saddened face when he left their chambers in anger earlier. The anger he felt was gone now, replaced with the unfamiliar sting of regret. Looking down to his clan, he gave them one last piece of information. "It is true that my mate does not understand our need for the hunt," he confirmed. "Nor does my mate want to imagine me in danger," he ignored the scoffing grumbles. "But my mate offers me something that is foreign to yautja," everyone, including the doubter's attention fixated on his next words. "My mate opens her arms and body to me each night and admits to me ultimate weakness."
Rakkah stepped down from the podium and walked through the parting of the crowd as the startling revelation of his speech settled on the hunters. He heard Iko's final announcement as he left.
"If you decide to take a human mate, you will arrange a private meeting with Rakkah to obtain the necessary preparation."
Entering his chambers, Rakkah stopped in the middle of the silent dark room. The bed that sat in front of the large window that overlooked the passing stars as they travelled had a familiar small lump in it. Stepping closer, he watched as Ahzma breathed softly lying on her stomach. Removing his armor and his loincloth, Rakkah knelt onto the bed. Reaching for her, his hand paused when it made contact with her shoulder. She was warm. Warmer than normal, maybe up by three degrees at least. Growling in disapproval, he slid his hand underneath her and lifted her pliable body upwards watching as she slowly awakened.
"Rakkah," she whispered, turning towards him in his hold. Sleepily, she squinted at him through the hazy darkness of their room. "Please do not be mad at me."
Adjusting her in his arms so that he was sitting on the bed with her cradled in his arms he brought her closer to him. "I bear no anger, mate."
"You were though," she pressed, in a small voice.
"I was," he confirmed.
"I just want what is best for my people, Rakkah," she defended, trying to sit up straighter in his arms. "I am worried that the other hunters won't be as nice as you are to me."
Rakkah was positive the word nice had never been associated to him before and wasn't sure how to feel about it now. "I will make sure they understand how to handle your human women."
Ahzma frowned. "Handle? That is not a nice way to put it Rakkah."
Enjoying her outrage, Rakkah let his hand slide underneath her night shirt and up to her bare breasts. Her anger immediately dissipated as she arched to his touch. Pushing the gown off her completely, he laid her on the bed his body already reacting to the sight of her legs spreading for him in eager preparation. Holding himself above her, he ran his hand again up the length of her flushed body. "You will go see the human doctor in the morning," he commanded, thankful he had the foresight to make the doctor join their trip.
"Why? I feel fine." She asked breathlessly, her hands burying themselves into his spines to pull him down towards her.
"Your body his hotter than normal. You will go, mate, and not argue." Absently he realized the effect of the command was probably lost as he complied to her silent demands to touch her. Opening his mandibles wide he let out a groan at the taste of her naked breast against his tongue.
Soft legs wrapped around his waist, trapping him close. "Yes, yes, whatever you say, my love."