Chapter 151: I Just Love Being Special
"Not like I am complaining, but you know I am much more suited to hunting konjin than you two are. Not to mention with all the other fucking Saalistaja around, I think one of you should stay behind while I hunt," interjected the Njeriuujk, completely surprising Da’kea.
He had never seen a case where Saalistaja and a Njeriuujk worked together for the sake of a single female... what was going on?
"What do you want?" asked a voice, cutting off the conversation between the males. All four occupants of the ship turned their attention to look at him.
"You killed my daughter," he said, not meaning for that to be the first words out of his mouth. He was known in his tribe as the diplomatic one, the one that was sent out to deal with other species because of his way with words, and yet, he felt like a young cub facing an unknown situation like the one before him.
"Am I supposed to offer my condolences?" asked the figure on the nest. He cocked his head and tried to see where it might be a female, let alone one old enough to be attracting males.
"No," growled the first male, still holding the cup in his two hands. "She challenged you, and you won. You would now claim her place in the chain of dominance."
"And if I don’t want to?" sighed the figure, and Da’kea was absolutely stunned. His daughter was the top-ranking female of their tribe. She had never once lost a challenge. And yet, this... female... didn’t want that level of dominance.
"Then you don’t need to worry about it," shrugged the Njeriuujk. "That is only beneficial if you want to live in one of the Saalistaja tribes."
"Which is not on my list of things to do," the figure replied, and Da’kea was becoming more and more certain that it was, in fact, a female but unlike any he had ever seen before.
"I need proof for the Elders and her mother that it was a challenge between two females," said Da’kea, interjecting before the conversation could continue.
"I am sorry that your wife needs proof, but there is no way I am proving jack all to you," sneered the voice. Da’kea couldn’t understand what the word wife was and turned to the other two Saalistaja males to see if they could offer an explanation.
"We don’t have wives or mates," explained the second male as he turned around and looked at the nest. "No female is willing to tie herself to a single male. There might be some exceptions, but they haven’t occurred in the last 500 years or more."
"Seriously?"
"Females across the universe have become more and more extinct," explained the Njeriuujk as if it wasn’t common knowledge. Every species has experienced a decline in female offspring for the past few centuries. That was why it was such a big deal when one was killed. "And because they are rare, there is almost no such thing as mates anymore."
"Are you serious?"
"Our females are nowhere near as dominant as the Saalistaja females, their lives controlled by their males and the Alpha, and even they do not take mates. But that is more because they are passed around every time they give birth."
"Well, crap," groaned the figure. "No wonder the Alliance is being a pain in my ass."
"Is it not like that on your planet?" asked Da’kea, once again interjecting himself into the conversation.
"For the most part, we have an equal number of males and females born every year," the female shrugged like it was no big deal, but the earth beneath Da’kea’s feet shifted at that very thought.
"How many females are there?" he asked, his outer tusks clicking behind his helmet in irritation. If there was a planet with that many Saalistaja females born, then he and the rest of the Elders needed to be informed.
"The last I looked, and that was almost six years ago, there were 4,020,279,864 females on my planet or about 49.5% of the population. Huh, I never noticed just how equal the numbers were before. But yeah, there are 4,094,205,947 males."
There was silence as all the males looked at the lone female, acting like billions of females was not something completely mind-blowing.
"Which also explains why the Alliance is probably searching for the coordinates to your planet," grunted the first male, and Da’kea wondered what he was talking about.
"Why wouldn’t the Alliance have the coordinates to her planet? All Saalistaja planets are recorded, and the information given to the Alliance," pointed out Da’kea. There was an uneasy look passed between the males before they turned their full attention to the female.
"Because I am not Saalistaja," replied the figure.
"No possible, that armor means that you are of Saalistaja descent," said Da’kea, shaking his head. There was no way that the nanos inside the armor would respond to someone, not of their blood.
There was silence for a moment, and the males turned to look at him.
"You have the information that you need; you can leave now," growled the first Saalistaja male as he passed the cup in his hands to the Njeriuujk. Turning his attention back to Da’kea, he approached the Elder.
"Wait," called out the female from the nest.
"Yes," replied Da’kea, slipping past the irritated male and going to stand in front of the nest. "Do you have a question?"
"You said that the armor needs to be activated by my blood."
"Correct, only Saalistaja armor can be activated by Saalistaja blood," nodded the Elder.
"But there is no way for me to have Saalistaja blood. Is there any way that the Nanos could be reprogrammed to activate using anyone’s blood?"
"No," said the Elder. "There is no way possible for that to happen. However, the armor cannot be activated by any female. That is my primary concern and what needs to be dealt with."
"Speak clearer," said the female lying in the bed of furs.
"If you have armor, you have to be a male Saalistaja," interjected the second male. "Or at least, that is the way it was for aeons before your arrival."
"Great. I just love being special," hissed the figure, and Da’kea’s tusks clicked in amusement.
