Yes, now our poor boy has to deal with this shit.

Let us wish him good luck.

Also, you might want to remember the A.N. from a couple of chapters ago, when Mark frees himself from the hish.

In the end, his ship was still intact.

As were all of his trophies; he would at least be able to keep them as his prized collection.

Kyiv trusted him enough for him to pilot his own ship, knowing that Mark was not one to stray from his duty. And he was grateful to the arbitrator for that matter.

The first thing he did was to go to the med bay to heal. He staggered along the wall, leaving bloody footprints. This was one of those few moments that he wished to have a smaller ship.

But still, he managed to make it to the desired room. There, he entered it, and injected himself with healing stims, sighing in relief. Slowly, he took off the damaged armor, hissing in pain as he did.

Just as slowly, he reset his ribs back into their proper place, grunting as he did do. The cut was healed and cauterized, and a good quantity of nanobots would do the work of repairing the damaged tissue from the inside.

His leg received the same treatment, though this time he installed some metal braces that would keep his femur locked into place. The nanomachines would then heal it, and would decompose the braces, before eventually exiting his body though his feces.

Light bandages were applied to the previously mentioned areas, and to a couple more ones where the cuts were wide and in danger of festering.

Finally, he was finished with healing himself.

Now he could do the scan and find out if the assholes did anything.

Mark placed himself on the bed, as the machine above him passed over his wounded body. When the results came up, he obviously ignored the most recent injuries, and set it to show only the injuries received from a day ago.

Everything looked to be fine: no brain damage, good blood levels, good heartbeats...

But then he saw it, the problem.

"Oh god... no... no... please no..." Mark whispered to himself, eyes growing wide in realization of what they had done to him.

He silently sobbed, "No... please no... not this..." he curled himself into a fetal position; his control on his emotions shattering.

Those fuckers had tampered with him... with his reproductive organ.

Mark still had it all, his testicles were intact, as was his penis; but the issue was another...

He had been made sterile.

His seed was barren.

He would never be able to produce children.

The hybrid slowly woke up, his eye was still in tears, his nose clogged with snot.

He slowly noticed the figure sitting next to him.

Kyiv looked at him with sadness, and Mark understood that the elite arbitrator had read the scan. He knew of his condition.

Wordlessly, he deleted the information.

"Mark I..." the yautja did not know what to say; "It is alright Kyiv. But please, let this remain between us." the other assumed a solemn gaze, and nodded his head, the many dreadlocks shaking with it.

"I swear it on my honor Mark. No one will ever know about it." it pained him to see his friend like this: hopeless and hurt. He wished he could've somehow helped, but realized that this was the reality of the situation.

"Are we... are we on Yaut?" "Sei-i." "Is it time to go?" he closed his eyes, "Almost. Get ready. The council is expecting your presence."

Mark sat up and attempted to stand on his feet, but nearly collapsed when he did. Kyiv caught him, and together, they moved to his personal chambers. There, Mark dressed in simple clothes, like the ones back on Earth. His heart ached just thinking about it. He had finally returned; even if it was for a brief period of time, he was able to go back there.

"I prayed for your good Mark. You are a worthy, honorable hunter." he silently thanked him. They made their way to the exit of the ship, and although it pained him, Mark was still capable of walking, even with a limp.

Outside, he was placed in chains, his arms and legs were secured, and that made it a bit harder to walk. Kyiv had to leave him in order to go attend as well.

A formation of royal guards were escorting him, each coming from one of the different major clans.

If they felt pity for him, he would never know, for their decorative masks covered and hid their expressions.

The walked through the streets of Yaut, and silence reigned as the populace stared at him, whispers echoing here and there. Still, the hissing was still there, and it was getting louder.

Up ahead, he could see the gargantuan building of the council, as it towered over even the pyramids.

This was the most beautiful place he had ever been to. The architecture, the luxury, statues, plants, they were all woven in a perfect pattern, leaving him breathless. And now, he found himself on the uppermost level of the building, and around him, spread in a semicircle were the matriarchs of the yautja race.

The most prominent ones were placed at the front, closest to him; the minor ones were placed farther, and higher up as the prestige of the clan was lower. Of course, these were not all of the clans, but those that were here were the paramounts that oversaw the clans for each sector of the yautja controlled space. At the very front, seated on their respective thrones were Guan-Kwei and the matron of the Dark Blade clan, as being the most powerful.

Seated next to them, were also the respective primal huntresses, and his breath hitched when he saw Mhei r'ka-Guan. She... her beauty and figure were still as ethereal and striking as ever, likewise with her piercing blood red eyes.

Mark did a quick scan of the other matriarchs and noticed the other five primal hunters, and to his surprise was a male, an ancient to be precise.

The elite hunter winced as he got down to his knees and bowed, and action that required some thought on his part given his bad leg.

Mark stayed still, waiting to be addressed, he controlled his breathing, even if it was hard to do as with each breath, he felt a bit of pain from his abdomen. But the goal was to keep his scent neutral; devoid of anger or aggression.

Finally, one of the matrons spoke, the one from the Bleeding Star clan, "Elite hunter Mark Johnson, when given the orders to avoid all contact with the oomans, you kept your measure, but now you have broken those rules, and in doing so revealed our race to them. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

Mark bowed his head to her again, not making eye contact, "I did what I had to do honored matriarch." another female from behind, aggressively barked out, "That is not enough justification to satisfy our question. You must provide more."

The elite hunter sighed, before continuing, "I deliberately went against your orders to save my species." murmurs were heard as the females discussed his words amongst themselves.

Another one spoke, from his left, "The punishment for such an act would be execution; you did realize that there would be the likelihood of that occurring when you decided to fight, correct?" "Yes honored matron."

It was then that his own matriarch spoke up, "Sisters, while he has gone against our wishes, it is also true that he has provided us with a priceless amount of information on the hish. We now know where there settlements are located, the size of their clans and fleets, and how to fully stop them. He has turned the endless war into our favor... it would be hypocritical for us to punish him so." she received a few trills of agreement, mainly from the Dark Blade clan and those whose allegiance was close to them.

"That does not take in account the fact that he is your hunter matriarch Guan-Kwei. And of course he has provided you the engineer technology, and while that was a boon, it was only a boon to the clans that hold close relations to yours. As such, I cannot take your words for him, for they may very well be favorable to your clan." this was said from a female farther back, but a good number of clans agreed with her.

"He has clearly acted out of his position, such things have never been tolerated before, why should they now?" another matron shouted. "I vote for execution. Such should be the punishment for those that break the code of honor." more and more agreed, but now they were all arguing, some coming in his favor, others not, and others simply still unsure on what to do.

"Matrons. Matrons." he called out to them, and they focused their attention on him once more.

"I did not break the code of honor. There are no such rules that state that my actions were unwarranted." he then daringly looked at the back of the council, towards the clans that were calling out for his punishment.

"But I ask you to please think of the position in which I was. Would you have done the same, had you been in my situation; would you have saved your clans, even if it meant going against the wishes of your superior?" he directed the question towards all.

"I understand that many of you are adamant in letting humanity know of your existence... but it does not necessarily mean that things have to end in conflict. This occasion could prove to be advantageous." a matriarch trilled at him, she had been one of the quieter ones, "Then explain how so?"

Mark gathered his courage, "First, you would gain an ally in fighting against the hish. I can say with certainty that the leaders of my world are definitely not pleased to have been invaded. They will want revenge." he briefly paused, "Second, now would be the best of times to create good relations with humanity. They see you as their saviors, for it was you who helped to turn the tide of battle." "And what were to happen if we refused?" "Then you would only delay the inevitable. My species is becoming an interplanetary one; eventually, even if you were to refuse contact you would still be forced to act."

The matron of the Dark Blade spoke next, "And how would you guarantee such a thing?" he bowed his head to her, "I would gladly take on the task of the bettering the relations of both worlds."

"The pyode amedha are no better than prey. Their history speaks for themselves: it would be detrimental to ally ourselves with such an inferior species." Mark looked towards the angry female, "The history of the yautja is not much better though: one must simply look at the Blood Wars to see all of the wrong that those conflicts have brought."

"Mind your tongue ooman! You are not to speak unless addressed!" a matriarch roared at him.

Mark closed his eyes, sighing. "Would you believe if I told you that it was because of the will of the gods?" that shut them all up.

"Hunter Mark... explain yourself, we do not understand." he shifted his shirt a bit, and managed to expose his mark, he turned around so that the matrons could see it.

"I possess the mark of Cetanu. When I was hunting on a game world just a few cycles ago, it began to burn; I do not know why, but it guided me to a group of hish. It was there that I slaughtered them, and discovered their fleet. And after doing that, I discovered the invasion of Earth."

"What you speak of is nonsense! You dare to disrespect Cetanu in such a way?!" a female from the far back yelled at him.

The council was in uproar now, some were calling for his blood, others were trying to keep the calm.

An imperative roar echoed out, overwhelming all of the other noises.

Mhei r'ka-Guan stood up from her throne, and walked forward, so that she could address the entirety of the council.

"Honored matriarchs, the hunter that has been placed on trial has spoken his words, and expressed his reasonings."

Mark felt dread come over him, shocked at the fact that the towering huntress has intervened.

"But he shares the same mark that we primal hunters possess. Many of you have fought in the battle, and I am sure that many of you had the occasion to see that the elite hunter has acted for good."

"What he did was not something many would do. But he has a true, honorable heart, and that must be why the Dark Hunter must have chosen him as one of his followers. He was chosen to save his species."she paused, letting her monologue sink in.

"To punish him would go against everything that we live and fight for; and as such I vouch for his innocence."

Silence still reigned, and then, the primal huntress of the Dark Blade clan stood up and came to stand next to Mhei, and then another came, and then another until all seven of them were together, all voting for their innocence.

The clans that they represented followed suit, and then, one by one did the neutral ones declare their agreement.

Less then a quarter of the matriarchs remained in denial, but it was more than enough for him to win the trial.

Mark felt something else this time, a warmth encompassed him... Mhei had defended him, she had saved him even, and so had the other primal hunters, and thanks to their legendary status and honor, they demonstrated their belief in his good.

The chains were taken off of his arms and legs, and the council meeting was declared over. He felt something on his cheek, and was surprised to see that it was a single, lone tear come from out of his eye.

He looked back to Mhei, and she gave him a nod of respect.

It was one that he returned.

There we go.

I hope that the trial was written well, and I hope that I have provided sufficient answers on the whole matter with the mark of Cetanu. There is, of course, more foreshadowing, but vote and comment your feelings and theories.