Chapter Twenty-Two

Ray cleared her throat nervously when the messenger's scrutinizing gaze lingered on her longer than she could bear, she glanced back at him, his hide was light copper, lined with black stripe markings on his four limbs, he looked like a beast, hence she decided to call him Tiger, it was the only way she could discern his kind - colors and markings. The casually dressed messenger finally shifted his eyes to Bau'jah, "follow me," he said to him and he led the way.

"Red, can I hold your hand?" She asked him in a whisper, feeling nervous and a bit insecure.

"No, we need to keep our distance in public," he murmured softly.

"How long do we have to stay here?" She whispered to him again as they followed the messenger in behind. Her heart skipped a beat after noticing what she just said, not you or I, it was a we, it just blurted out naturally from her mouth like they were in a long-term relationship. Fuck, this isn't good, she cursed, scowling deeply to clear away the disconcerting thought.

"Three weeks," he replied, once the mating season is over, there is no need for him to stay here.

Three weeks, twenty-one days, should be plenty of time to see the entire vessel, I can do this. She looked around the crew deck in wonder, ignoring others stares at her, she couldn't resist the urge to glance from side to side at each room as they passed, some were entering their quarters with skulls to decorate their trophy walls, allowed her catching occasional glimpses of ordinary yautja living their everyday lives when their doors opened briefly before closing.

In that distracted moment, Bau'jah's voice brought her back as he stood waiting for her to catch up, she skittered to his side. The messenger remained the same pace, walking with powerful, long strides ahead of them, each stride added a slight distance between them.

"Um, Tiger," shit, she blurted out again, it was too late before it left her lips, it'd been a very emotional day for her, and being nervous wasn't helpful either, she could only pray he didn't hear that, "would you mind slow down a bit?" She asked politely as she ran up to close the distance. This stark size difference reminded her again how small she was compared to his kind.

Well, that caught his attention to stop in mid-stride, giving her a chance to get closer. The messenger whirled around to face her, "that is not my name, nor is my problem if you're too slow, hooman." He turned back and resumed his normal walking.

Sloppy move, she wished she hadn't called him that, first day onboard she already made an enemy, but it didn't seem like she had any real friends here anyway, there was nothing to lose.

"You're moving too fast, you better carry me if you don't feel like slowing down, because I will fall behind and get lost." She countered sarcastically, she had no intention of skittering all the way to wherever the place he's taking them, that'd be rude and ridiculous. Red always waited for her, even right now.

She was still jogging when she heard both of them growling at her. Bau'jah took her by the arm and lowered to her ear, "you let that male touch you, I will break him," he gritted out, fighting hard to keep his rage in control.

"Relax, I was only joking to provoke him, he slowed down, see?" She jerked her chin at the messenger. "I thought you said we should keep our distance," she eyed his big hand on her arm.

"I mean what I said," he let go of her arm and straightened. It was more likely she'd provoked him, the thought of her pursuing another male was enough to make him burn with anger.

She shrugged and said nothing, enjoying the regular walk to the elevator as the messenger slowed down his pace a bit. After they boarded the elevator, Tiger pressed on the screen and it started ascending, leaving the crew deck behind them. The entire ride was quiet and awkward, she could sense their intense brooding permeating the air in the locked space, each one of them definitely got something on their minds. When they reached to the designated level, Ray braced herself for the final time as the elevator door opened to a bright, spacious hallway that ended at the feet of two huge doors.

Stepping into the hallway, she heard no noises here, not like the lower decks that bustled with activity. The sight of two guards stationed at each side of the entry made her gulp, she did her best to appear calm and followed them, when they arrived at the doors, the guards suddenly stopped her from going any further.

The messenger explained to Bau'jah, "the hooman waits here, they are not ready to see the female yet."

"No. She stays with me." Bau'jah strongly disagreed with him.

"The guards will keep the hooman unharmed, you have my word." The messenger promised.

Bau'jah snarled and was going to protest again, but Ray interrupted to defuse the tension.

"It's ok, Red. I can wait out here," she said to him before he lashed out at the messenger again, "I will be fine, just go." She assured him, she actually didn't feel like going in there anyway, in fact, more like she was afraid to go in, whatever they were about to discuss, better leave her out of it.

Bau'jah let out an angry growl at the messenger before turning to face her, "stay here and do not move, do you understand?"

"Ok, understood." She nodded her head, watching him disappear from her eyes as the doors closed.

Standing in the center of the throne room, Bau'jah cradled his bio-mask in the arm, giving the clan leader and both elders a formal greeting as the messenger stepped aside.

"Let's cut straight to the point," the clan leader leaned forward in his throne and continued, "Bau'jah, one of my greatest and proudest elite hunters of my clan, is degrading himself to side with a hooman, a prey. I believe we're due a thorough explanation from you." He narrowed his amber gold eyes at him.

A thorough explanation? Bau'jah raised a brow imperceptibly, his actions indeed deserve a thorough explanation, but he'd already informed them what they needed to know, how many times does he have to repeat this?

"Like I stated in the messages, I saved the hooman, unfortunately the incident left me with no other options, I was forced to take her in, to keep her with me." He replied smoothly.

"What we really interested to know is how come you saved the same female twice? Instead of leaving the hooman to her own fate, yet you still intervened not only once, but twice. Everyone here is aware of your distaste for hoomans, so what is so special about this particular hooman female that made you changed your mind? Surely is not because she proved herself worthy, I presume." One of the elders chimed in over his uncharacteristic behavior, not pleased with his not-thorough-enough-explanation, a subtle undertone of sarcasm ringing in the air made Bau'jah scowl.

Ah pauk, he automatically presumed that does not include his mating practices with her. Not surprisingly, his odd request had set off suspicious and rumors among the rest of the clan.

"Yes, I do not like hoomans. I was merely driven by my instinct to kill the dishonored hooman males in what appeared to be an unfair fight at first, it wasn't until I revealed myself to her and noticed she was only a hooman child. Surprisingly, she didn't flee when she saw me, not until I scared her off after she somehow managed to take my dreadlock ring, so I decided to keep the hooman under my watch," there was a brief pause as himself was even confused at such behavior, could that be the moment he wanted to keep her on his radar? When she unknowingly claimed his personal possession? He still wasn't sure, but he decided not to dwell on it.

"That enabled me to save her from an attempted rape again, the only problem is she was still in harm's way whilst remaining unconscious, and I was running out of time, I had no other choice but to take her with me. This isn't what I expected how it would go, but it is what it is, or would you rather to have me stand aside, kill a defenseless female like a bad blood?" Bau'jah asked cunningly with a counter-question of his own.

There was a long silence in the throne room as three of them considered this unusual and yet conflicted situation, no wards spoken as the clan leader exchanged glances with both elders in that moment.

"How did a hooman child take your dreadlock ring?" The clan leader inquired, incredulous.

"I underestimated her, I was...careless." Bau'jah admitted, reluctantly.

"Are you telling me the hooman female is not afraid of you?" The clan leader asked again.

"In a way...no, she's not afraid of me." Bau'jah replied matter-of-fact.

"Bring in the hooman." The clan leader suddenly said to the messenger.

Ray was pacing again. Her heart hung heavily as she waited for Bau'jah to come out, he had been in there for a while now and she didn't know what was going to happen to them, she attempted to relax, but her mind refused to comply. Standing here uselessly, she sighed again as she watched both guards stood motionlessly like two statues.

"Do you stand here everyday? How long?" She asked one of the guards with clay skin, she needed to talk to someone to ease her nervousness, but none of them was up to engage with her as they remained silent and still, she kept harping on one of them.

"Do you feel bored standing here like this? What if you have to use the bathroom? How old are you? What's your name? Do you have any siblings? What is your favorite food? Why aren't you talking to me? I know you can talk, you stopped me from going in earlier, I really don't want to go in there, so thank you, I guess, but I'm so worried about Red, what's going to happen to—shit!" She startled to turn around when hearing the doors behind her opened.

At least, both guards were relieved when she finally shut up.

"They are ready to see you now." The messenger beckoned her to come with him.

"What? Now? Okay..." She answered him absentmindedly.

Her legs felt heavy like lead as she followed the messenger inside, her mind began racing through the worst scenarios when the doors closed behind her. The sight of Bau'jah standing in the center of the room, waiting for her, made her feel slightly calmed. But her attention was quickly captivated by the throne room itself, the square room looked huge with two giant stone pillars stood on each side, all engraved with letters and drawings, depicting the glorious hunts, artificial torch flames lit up the entire room, flickering freely on the walls, when her eyes landed upon the throne that was occupied by the clan leader, her jaw dropped at the sight, that had to be the biggest skull she'd ever seen so far and he was sitting on it. The leader in the throne leaned forward, she saw him clad in the armor, staring down at her intently, along with two others that sat on each side of him.

"Um...hi," she waved her shaky hand at them and stopped next to Red, her fake smile faltered. Never in her life had she felt more nervous than this moment.

They didn't acknowledge her, the cold stares only made her heart thumping as all six eyes were fixated on her, looking up to Bau'jah nervously, she saw his attention was focused on the clan leader, not her. She swallowed hard, a serious of sudden vicious growls from the throne direction almost caused her to jump, she wrung her hands on the hem of her skirt awkwardly, unsure of what to do at this point, what the hell am I doing here? She breathed in hard to suppress her fear.

Bau'jah frowned deeply when he scented the stench of fear in the air, looks to him they were trying to intimidate his female in front of him.

The pauk they will, the smell of her fear disgusted him. He placed a hand onto her back firmly to silently convey his intention, in an attempt to take her fear away.

Ray immediately felt his warm hand held against her back, she looked at him confusingly and their eyes met, oddly, the unsaid words gave her all the support she needed, she unwittingly gave him a faint smile, the heavy weight on her shoulders suddenly lifted, she felt safe in that moment.

"We called this meeting so you could explain your actions, now we'll take your side of the story under consideration when it comes to making the final decision," the clan leader finally spoke to them. "While that decision is being made, I need you to attend the ship's operating systems with a complete diagnostic check, to fix all the alarming issues."

"That would take weeks for a size of vessel like this! Is this a form of punishment?" Bau'jah exclaimed.

"Think of it as a chance of enhancing your technological skills, we've had a few major upgrades since you left, I expect you to finish this task by the time the feast begins, will it be a problem?" The clan leader asked.

"No, I will complete the task before deadline." Bau'jah replied, inner teeth gritting.

"I have full confidence in you. This meeting is adjourned." The clan leader declared.

Ray exhaled upon exiting the throne room with him, she didn't fully understand what exactly happened in there, they never did speak to her.

When they finally boarded the elevator, she asked him inquiringly, "well...what happened? What did they say about me?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." He commented halfheartedly. Pressing on the number for the control deck.

He was fully aware that he had no time left to waste if he wants to complete the task before the feast starts in three days, and he was furious. This was clearly a task for a tech team of four, not him alone. Hell, he wasn't even in a tech team, this wouldn't be a pleasant task.

Definitely a pauking punishment. Damn the clan leader, add the elders too, mostly damn the vessel. He wanted to punch something or someone, either spar or challenge, maybe both.

But first, fix the damn vessel.