Boundless

Recoil

Darkness.

It was a hunter's responsibility and duty to keep in shape, each small habit and action counted. So routinely Gor'gol rose, cleansed, armored himself, prepared and ate his meal in complete darkness. It was in these dark hours that his wrist gauntlet blipped.

"About time," the Ancient murmured before taking the call.

He was leaving his home when, by first light, the Arbiter checked the docks' schedule. Ah'kaedh would be leaving shortly that very morning, but Gor'gol could catch him before departure.

"If Ah'kaedh shows up early, keep him busy until my arrival," he requested.

"Yes, Arbiter."

"And do not mention me," Gor'gol added.

Upon reaching the main hangar, the Ancient noticed the tall, dark figure talking with two members of the docks' personnel, both females.

"May I take him from your hands?" he requested when getting into their earshot without raising his voice.

"Arbiter! Yes," one of them nodded. "The Enforcer is carrying a large amount of alien items; I wanted to go through some protocol for storing such things before his departure," the female added before leaving with her companion.

Great excuse , the old male grinned inwardly.

"Let's walk," Gor'gol gestured towards the exit. And Ah'kaedh nodded, stepping forward, since there was nothing the younger Yautja could do but to comply.

And they walked for long minutes before the Arbiter broke the silence.

"I wish to know what drove you to kill that sentry yesterday."

"You already know my reasons." Ah'kaedh kept both his stance and voice neutral.

"Do I?" The male grumbled. "You are intelligent enough to know killing that sentry won't bode well for you."

The only sign of cracks in Ah'kaedh's cold armor was a long, tired breath: "Wrong insults at the wrong time."

"We train our Enforcers to be above mundane disturbances," the Arbiter noted.

Finally, something cut through Ah'kaedh's iceberg demeanor: abashed, the Enforcer's eyes dropped to the ground. Gor'gol finally had an opening he could force to try and gain insight about what was going on in that male's head.

Unlike Jan'tya and a few gossipers (whom Gor'gol had interviewed in the previous weeks), his issue with Ah'kaedh was way beyond preyfucking.

Ah'kaedh's competence as Enforcer, for once, was at stake. The council knew about the shift in his predisposition after his torture and recovery. Still, his behavior towards that prey female made the Arbiter wonder if that decision had been the correct one.

Moreover, there was also the matter of Jakhar. While Gor'gol personally believed the implied accusations towards Jakhar were baseless (allowing a sexual pet aboard their Clan ship went against their Clan's rules), as an Arbiter, the Ancient had no choice but to follow up on that.

After some moments, Ah'kaedh grumbled his answer. "I had some stressful weeks."

"Did you? Reporting had never been an issue before," the Ancient poked.

"It's my first time reporting the actions of a Bad Blood that evaded death and ended up infesting an entire ooman colony with a hoard of Kiande Amedha."

"Which is why our first duty, and priority, is to catch and dispatch them", Gor'gol made a pause before continuing. "When you are back, you had better be prepared to explain why you put your duties on hold to find that ooman".