That said, let's go.

Mark crashed against the wall with a resonating thud, and collapsed to the floor.

The impact had hurt, but his armor did its job in absorbing the blow.

Coming back up to his feet in a heartbeat, his eye traveled to land on the form of the kiande amedha queen.

Lips curling back in a snarl, he walked forward, cracking his back a little. He was not wearing his normal set of awu'asa, instead donning a much lighter version meant for hunting.

And those were his intentions for the day: that of going to hunt and kill something, in order to bring back food for dinner.

Zeri approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright Mark?" Her slightly muffled voice from behind her mask echoed out, and he nodded to her.

It had all happened unexpectedly, one moment he crossed paths with his mate's oldest offspring, and the next there was a loose hard meat queen.

Zeri would have been struck by the tail of the beast, had Mark not pushed her away.

He looked at the serpent with abhorrence, fists tightening. The Primal Hunter did not have his Cetanium weapons, but it did not matte: he had already killed hive queens without the need of such powerful weapons.

"Zeri," He told the Elite without looking away, "The bitch is limping on its left leg, focus your attacks on that while I distracted it." "As you say Mark." She let go of his shoulder and extended her combistick.

The human unsheathed his twin knives, brandishing them in an ice pick grip.

The serpent was already brawling with several hunters, keeping them at bay with her long arms and deadly tail, as her screeches filled the sky of Yaut.

Why the other Yautja did not bother to blast the damn thing with balls of plasma was beyond him, but it did not matter in the end.

Mark began to gather speed as he flipped the knives so that he held them by their ends and threw them towards the queen.

Just as he predicted, they neatly sank into the chest of the hard meat, causing it to shriek in pain.

The hunter jumped and landed on the crest of the black monstrosity. Once there he held onto the hard, bony carapace of the skull as the queen shook around, trying to throw him off.

Silently, he began to efficiently stab his wrist blades into the junctures of muscle and tissue of the neck, uncaring for the roars of pain.

The corrosive acid that ran through the veins of the serpent did not melt his blades, as they were built to contrast that effect.

Beneath him, he could feel its movements stiffening, as it was loosing too much blood.

The opportunity that he was waiting for arrived when the queen buckled and fell on its side. Mark did not need to guess to know that Zeri had brutalized the limb of the hard meat.

He jumped off and landed just as the serpent did, and without wasting a moment, he dove through the writhing mass of shrieking claws and blades, to effectively impale his weapon into the jugular of his sworn prey, and completely tear open the front of her neck with a quick snap of his arm.

The Primal Hunter jumped back to avoid the deadly acid, and watched with a merciless eye as the queen chocked on its last instances of life.

After that, it lay dead, its carcass occupying the entirety of the street that they were in.

The tall female came to stand behind him, "That was a true show of skill. I am honored to have been able to assist you Primal Hunter." Zeri bowed her head to him, and he quickly bid her to rise. "You helped me in the endeavor honored Elite. You did good as well."

But as he concluded his speech, he heard the commotion return as more and more hunters gathered around, as well as Arbitrators who were immediate in their effort to keep the bystanders away.

It was at this point that it would have been necessary to say that the mating season had just started, and Mark was already one step away from receiving the seductive purrs of many females in heat.

The thought of it made him grimace to no end.

The experienced huntress besides him was courteous enough to try and contain herself, out of respect for both him and her bearer, but the ooman could see that she was struggling.

"Zeri, you have done well, and that is why I will gift you with the spoils of this beast. Use its hide and exoskeleton for whatever you wish. I hope that the Gods show you their favor on your next hunt." He addressed her and walked away, his group of royal guards already forming a protective circle around him.

It seemed that his day was ruined, so Mark simply resolved to return to his dwelling, or rather to his mate's dwelling.

That was what would have happened, had he not bumped into Elder Na'gook.

The elder bowed his head, though with some hesitation, "Primal Hunter." He formally addressed him. "Elder." He wasted no time in walking away from him, and to his mate's dwelling once more.

'What the hell is happening today?' It was as if he was being eternally cursed right now, and dammit, it was getting pretty fucking annoying.

A click on his wrist computer caught his attention, and Mark activated it, and to his surprise, he found it to be a message from one of his guards back in his fortress.

He quickly read through it:

"Honored Primal Hunter, I write to you to tell you of an approach from a company that belongs to your homeworld. The ambassador that has been sent is currently being kept in one of the guest wings of the keep. We await further instructions."

Internally, Mark cursed: it really seemed as if this day would be composed of nothing but tedious things to do, this one not being an exception; but oh well, he would simply take care of the matter.

Proceeding forward at a faster pace, he required that one of his guards take a ship to bring him to his own dwelling.

This would need his attention, as this was the first time that he had ever been approached by someone who was not an entity of the government.

"Ah, Mr Johnson, a pleasure to finally meet you!" The man dressed in business suit exclaimed, just as Mark walked around his desk and sat down, "Please," He gestured with his hand for him to follow, "Sit down and get comfortable."

"Well then, I can say that you are in a hurry, so I won't take long in explaining myself. The company for which I work for, the Weyland-Yutami Corporation, would like to strike an exclusive deal with you."

"Oh, alright then, go on, I'm curious." He placed his elbows on the desk and looked at the man.

"We would be willing to sign a few contracts with you, which would bring you some very good deals in the proximity of arriving in humanity's territorial, and you would also gain a substantial share of any and all future investments and profits of the company."

"Okay, that sounds good to me, but I'm assuming that you need my help for something; this wouldn't happen for no reason out of the blue." The other chuckled, "Yes, you are indeed perceptive Mr Johnson."

"What we ask of you is your allowance to take a few eggs and live specimens of the species scientifically known as that of the xenomorphs." Be raised an eyebrow at that, so it prompted the businessman to elaborate and explain further upon it.

"You may know them under the yautja name, and forgive me for my pronunciation, kiande amedha. We would officially like to take in custody a couple of specimens from the class of the- "No." The businessman stopped and looked at Mark.

His single eye had narrowed and his hands were tightly gripping the metal of the desk. "I'm terrible sorry Mr Johnson, but I fear that I didn't quite catch what you said there. Would you please mind repeating- "I said no."

"No? You are sure of this- "What gave your superiors the idiotic idea to approach me of this? Do they even know what the serpents are capable of?" "Well, I do not exactly- "No, of course they don't."

He stood up, "I will not allow this, you can return back to Earth and tell the heads of Weyland-aiutami to consider that dream an impossible reality."

Sputtering, the ambassador began to talk up once again, "Mr Johnson, please consider the many advantages- "There are no advantages from having serpents run free on the planet."

"Now leave, and do not think to do this again." "You are being unjustly unreasonable! Why will you not help your own species?" "Careful ambassador, I would recommend that you choose your next words wisely."

"This could lead to a breakthrough- "IT WILL ONLY END IN THE DEATH AND EXTINCTION OF THE HUMAN RACE!"

His chest heaved and breathed deeply. "I will talk with the Council of Matriarchs, to make sure that no one like you viciously backstabbing fuckers will ever get their greedy hands on the hard meats." "You, you can't!"

Mark smiled cruelly, "I can and I will. Hmm, you said that I was going to receive economic support and profit if I signed the contract." "Yes! And you still will if you lend us your help!"

"I have no need for that, I have no need for whatever wealth you would give me, because I have it all. I am the richest human in all of history, and nothing of what you do or say shall sway me to think otherwise." His blue eye narrowed even more, "I shall buy the corporation." "That is impossible!" "Is it now? I will only need to bring this subject up to the United Government and the Council here o Yaut. Now imagine how quickly the stock sharings shall fall once I tell the universe of your mystifying schemes."

He called for the royal guards to escort him out, and he was finally left alone again.

'Hmm. It is time that I go see Mhei, I want to see her.'

"Mark? What are you doing here?" Mhei r'ka-Guan spoke in a surprised tone, her mandibles contorting a little as she towered over the smaller hunter.

"Well, I have nothing else to do, so I thought that I would come stay." The female yautja looked away, her scent one of stress.

"I told you not to come." She whispered, as her voice strained to contain a growl, "I will hurt you."

She had told him to stay away, in fear of injuring him. "Mhei, I do not care. I am strong enough to take whatever beating you would have for me."

"It is not that simple!" She roared, crushing the metal bar that she was holding in her arms.

Her body had begun to tremble now, and the huntress still looked away from him, "If I let go... I will not be able to stop Mark."

On some occasions, the mating season would have another effect on the females: that of increasing their aggressiveness and ferocity when it came to the act of mating. While it was uncommon, there were still many incidents that resulted in the deaths of hunters.

Her red eyes pleaded to him, "Go, I beg of you my mate." It broke him to see her like this. "I love you my queen. I will help you, as you have helped me for all of this time."