Boundless

Release

Standing outside, Ah'kaedh stood by the conference chamber's entrance, immobile like a statue. The two sentries walking that area of the complex perimeter had just disappeared into one of the many sinuous corridors when the soft woosh of the door sliding open hit Ah'kaedh's ears.

Jan'tya was the first to leave the room, storming out, anger palpable as she briskly walked away. Gor'gol was the second to emerge, his expression unreadable.

"Follow me," he said as he walked past Ah'kaedh.

The Enforcer, who had been ordered to 'wait outside' by the Arbiter, followed the old hunter, only two steps behind, in silence.

"Find a seat," the Ancient hunter ordered as soon as the door to his office opened enough to allow them in.

The room had mostly stayed the same since Ah'kaedh had been instated as an Enforcer of the Talon: a portion of the old hunter's trophies were on display, albeit some of those skulls were brand new. The tapestries mainly were gifts (some on display since ever), while the fur rugs were changed regularly since Gor'gol preferred to arrange dinner from scratch.

Round tables were standard among the Talon, and Gor'gol held a screen with advanced holographic technology. With a voice command, the old Yautja projected a bunch of visual data, which floated over the table.

These were primarily videos of Ah'kaedh and Lance interacting in various instances and contexts: his Girl sitting on his lap at the commanding deck, working, Ah'kaedh showing her how to hold a skinning knife, Lance attempting to escape from one of Ah'kaedh's ambushes, his Pest resetting his tresses cuffs. Some of the footage showed Lance inspecting Ah'kaedh's body looking for bullets, helping him load and unload the auxiliary ship, and scavenging through her piles of paraphernalia. And sex.

The quiet and the crazed, the tender and the feral. In different chambers, corridors, the docking platform. Different scenes featuring sex in many places but one.

Not fazed in the slightest, the black Enforcer approached the broad table, eyes fixated on a specific scene: both of them lying in his old, elevated bed. Lance was clearly asleep while he purred for the convalescent Girl, half covering her with his body.

Upon close inspection, he could tell this footage was from before Lar'jar started to ease her out of her sedatives after she was brought aboard his ship.

"I was surprised by you breaking ship protocol and ordering the mainframe to stop surveilling parts of the vessel", Gor'gol said after giving Ah'kaedh a moment.

"I'm afraid it's not my only infraction," the younger male answered flatly after turning to face the Elder.

"Fucking prey sure comes to mind," Gor'gol approached the table, keying his gauntlet.

"Allowing an alien to have access to the facilities unsupervised," Ah'kaedh offered.

"Your prisoner doesn't seem inclined to abuse her liberties, though," the Ancient observed. "She mostly refrained from using or accessing anything not directly handed to her".

Of course , Ah'kaedh thought, he's already aware of all our activities onboard the ship.

"No," the Enforcer murmured.

"And yet, she did kill some of your prisoners."

"And stored them in the food freezer, yes," Ah'kaedh sighed.

"Watching her torture the ooman male surprised me, in all honesty", and with a hand gesture, dragged that projection closer, leaving it in front of them.

(Poor, poor Charlie.)

"My report contains a detailed recount of this episode," Ah'kaedh offered, taciturn.