Star Child

Two - Bad Blood

Two Days Prior

Dhare examined the scans of the planet he was approaching, a claw tapping the metal control panel. It was a decently large planet covered in large swathes of green dto and a few large bodies of water, two to be exact, around the equator. White wispy clouds floated in the atmosphere covering up portions of land below. The planet, Dto'erra, was where his target seemed to be.

He was scanning for microscopic particles left behind from Faster Than Light travel. Each FTL drive left a different pattern of residue floating freely in space. His readouts showed the faint traces of ion particles from his target here in this orbit.

He also detected the man'daca having landed on the planet somewhere. Much of the planet was covered in temperate dto so there would be plenty of places to hide not only his own man'daca, but himself. With trees, he could also keep to them to avoid leaving a trail that could be followed. Any average Yautja trying to find him would have a difficult time.

As an Elite and Arbitrator, he was no average Yautja. He was superior in skill, intelligence, and size.

His bigger body mass gave him a claw up against the ic'jit. The pau'jit would be easy prey. Their dtai'kai'-dte would be a good way to exert his dominance and would be gkei'moun against the Young Blood. The hunted would soon dance with the gods or be devoured by the Destroyer.

The battleground would be set in this lush dto.

A perfect place to set traps galore if he wanted.

Not like there was an alternative choice, anyways.

Dhare engaged his cloak for the ship and became invisible to the Young Blood's radar. He had tailed the ic'jit for weeks now, watching and observing. Alerting his prey now would be incredibly amateur and for his honor, unforgivable.

Insight into one's target led to a successful hunt. His observations also told him that it was a miracle of Paya's mercy that the Young Blood had survived his chiva. This one was sloppy and arrogant, egotistical in his assumption that he could get away with breaking the sacred Code. It was drilled into Yautja from birth and to break it warranted punishment. Sometimes that punishment was death, especially if the accused ran instead of turning himself in.

The Elite Yautja switched his man'daca off autopilot and dipped into the exosphere. His hand maneuvered the vessel at a ninety-degree angle until he broke through the thick wispy clouds of the troposphere. Water condensed in rivulets on his windshield as he punctured lower.

Once flying horizontally over the dto, he was better able to observe the planet. It reminded him of N'ithya. The home of Homo Sapiens, humans, where his step-bearer was from. With just a passing glance one would think it was Earth but without the familiar land masses.

Even the atmosphere was nearly identical. The gravity was a tiny percent heavier and slightly richer in oxygen. Such ratios were the ideal conditions for humans if they ever made it this far out of their little sphere of comfort. But more importantly, these readouts also indicated the worst scenario occurred, like his mask being broken, then he would be able to breathe comfortably.

Thank the odds that this planet was in the system's Goldilocks zone, the region around a star where a planet could safely harbor life.

His gkinmaru picked up the ic'jit's man'daca and he landed his own a few hundred yo'hana away. Once the vessel was settled in a small, cleared area, he went through the process of donning his awu'asa. Each weapon was secured neatly in their place on his person while his systems checked multiple times the results of the first scans. When each data point was confirmed completely, he set out. A few clicks across his gauntlet's keypad retracted the ramp, closed the dock door, and locked it. The final step was to engage the cloak and shield system.