Kira

Chapter 7. The Leader

Kira's hold on her strap tightened as she followed Di'kaadh through the never ending ship. They went down busy hallways that turned into large open spaces where more yautja mingled. Their eyes followed her, scrutinizing her. Despite them being the same species, Kira felt like she had walked into a lion's den where she was a foreign cub and they were the curious onlookers trying to sus her out.

It was strange. Being surrounded by her own kind for the first time.

None of this was anything like she ever imagined.

Some yautja dwarfed her entirely, their towering frames casting shadow upon her. Never before had she been the short one in a room. There were also some who looked like they could benchpress a bus with ease, their bodies not much different than strongman humans, but somehow bigger.

Apprehension flared through her nerves as they passed a particular group of yautja. Each of them looked like they could break her in half with ease. They stared back with narrowed eyes that bled with suspicion and confusion as they inspected her with their predatory gazes. A few flared their mandibles and hissed until Kira looked away. She clung closer to an unbothered Di'kaadh who kept walking without passing even a glance at them.

He was leading them through a large cavernous room where, for as far as Kira could see looking up, were dozens of walkways spanning the wide atrium above. Along the walls and on mezzanines were metal stalls where yautja traded things with others, passing pieces of equipment, objects that vaguely resembled food, fabrics, metal, and other things Kira couldn't name what they were.

Kira never imagined there'd be an entire market on the ship. It was straight out of a sci-fi movie!

This place was like a cruise ship, but bigger, super advanced, and alien in design.

There was so much Kira wanted to see but Di'kaadh growled when she would try to walk off to explore. She withheld choice words for him as they entered an elevator at the far end of the market.

Di'kaadh was silent still, pushing a button and scanning his hand on a screen when prompted. In seconds, Kira felt the elevator taking them up and somewhere new. He passed her a glance briefly before focusing his gaze back to the closed doors. The doors were solid metal and thus prevented Kira from seeing more outside until the lift came to a stop.

When the doors slid open, they revealed a short hallway that led to massive double doors at the end. Intricate reliefs of yautja locked in battle with strange creatures were carved into them. There were more images etched into the walls along the way, some depicting scenes of yautja fighting one another and others that Kira couldn't make out. Warm yellow lights, just like throughout the rest of the ship, lit up the dark metal corridor and cast weird shadows over the guards who stood in front of the oversized door.

The guards were decked in head-to-toe bronze armor and brandished spears with colorful fabric wrapped around the grips. One spoke with Di'kaadh when they reached the door, the two exchanging foreign words.

"Come," Di'kaadh said, waving her forward.

She nodded, glancing at the viewing window on the tube before following him once again. Behind them, he led the floating tube into a new room.

It wasn't very large nor intricate, but it resembled a personal office with a meeting table. There was a large gray desk built into the wall by a long rectangular window. There were many nicknacks decorating it that Kira couldn't name, along with a few familiar things like exotic crystals and rocks. Tapestries hung from the rear wall, a dizzying array of colorful scenes depicting different yautja. A large intricate throne made of bones sat behind the desk as the icing on the cake.