And here we go, things are about to begin!

"Max... you have to understand that there will be many hardships. The life that I am offering you isn't one that will be relaxing. You... will be hurt, a lot. Many will hate you for what you are, for what you represent. Many people and things will want to kill you in the most horrific and torturous ways possible. What you will have to do, to prove yourself to be a hunter is not something that I would ever wish upon another human... I suffered because of it... and there's the chance that you will suffer as well."

Mark sighed and continued to talk, gently grasping the young boy's shoulders as he kneeled down in front of him, nearly encompassing him with his size.

"If you accept, you will leave Earth, and for the first portion of your life, you'll barely see it, much less walk on it. Many things will be lost, destined to become nothing but distant memories... your old habits... your friends... all of them will be gone when we reach Yaut."

A tear threatened to trail down his face as he confessed to the child, "I... I cannot have children of my own... the ability of it was robbed by very bad people... and as such I will never be able to have a son of my own flesh and blood." His voice became tighter, as he chocked on a sob.

"I had resigned myself. I had accepted the fate that was unwillingly bestowed upon me. But then," He paused, to control his wild emotions, "I met you Max... and we talked, we hung out, and... I learned to care for you... and I love you Max. I truly do." He spoke in a whisper.

"I know that what I'm saying is crazy... and I know that I'm asking a lot from you... and you are so young. This is a difficult choice for you, I've realized that. Do not worry though, you don't have to give me an answer immediately; you can have all the time that you need, just tell me and I'll understand."

The boy looked up to him, tears streaming down his small cheeks. "You... you want to adopt me?" "Yes Max... I do." His shoulders were trembling as he cried.

"W-Why are you crying?" Max asked, hiccuping as he cried too, "Because I love you Max!" The hunter wrapped his arms around the small boy and hugged him close to him.

They stayed like that for a long time, just comforting each other as Mark weeped, and Max sobbed against his shoulder.

"Yes."

"What?" Mark asked him, sniffling as his enhanced hearing heard the whisper, and Max spoke again:

"I... I want to be your son... dad."

"Here... stay still, just like that. Good, good job see? You're such a strong and brave boy, you'll grow up to become an excellent hunter." Max beamed up to him, even as he winced when the needle was pulled out of his arm.

It was necessary, as it contained a set of anti corps of viruses that were common on Yaut. Relations between humans and yautja had seen a major improvement on the knowledge of human bodies and physiology; that and added to Mark's first hand experience, made sure that vaccines, pills and other such medical wonders could be achieved to permit a stable life on other alien planets.

"I'll give you some pills later, and those will be needed so you can better adapt to the atmosphere of the planet.

"Dad?" "Yes?"

"What was that juice that you gave me earlier?" Mark chickled, waving his hand, "Don't worry about it, it's only use is to make sure that you don't fry up like a fish out of a pond." Max looked at him confused.

"How?" "It's much, much hotter there than on Earth. I mean, I sometimes can't stand the heat, and I'm a hybrid, so I'm theoretically built to be used to that stuff... but I guess not." The boy dangled his legs from the medical table as his adoptive parent sat in front of him.

"How long will it take until we reach the predator's planet?" "A couple more days. Oh, and about that, the days on Yaut are twice as long as they are on Earth, so that means that you'll have to take a nap during the day." "Sleep when the sun is up?"

"Yeah, sleep when the suns, plural, are up." And that did it, the boy was once again lost in the never ending sea that was a child's curiosity.

"There are two suns on the predator's home world?! No way!" Mark chuckled and gave his head a light pat, "Yup, it's a crazy planet, that's for sure."

And then, the Primal Hunter remembered that he was bringing a nine year old boy on a world filled with a species that had hunter his own race for millennia.

"Yeah... there's a lot of teaching to do..." "What dad?"

"Max, listen, when I was taken, I had a very dear friend of mine explain all of the rules and stipulations that are over there, and you must learn them too if you are to live with me." The boy gave him a smile.

The titanic hunter looked around, briefly considering something, "You know what? Come, I'll teach you with the use of technology and holograms, or else I'll bore you to death by explaining with just my words. Sounds good to you?" "Yes."

Mark picked him up and placed him on the floor, since the medical table was far too high for his height and he would have hurt himself trying to get off.

Together, father and son made their way to another part of the large ship, a table, to be exact. There, Mark pressed a few buttons, and a holographic display came up.

The yautjan symbol were translated into English, so at least Max could understand some of the sentences. "Alright, so the basic knowledge to have about these guys is that their entire society and religion revolves around hunting, and coupled with that is the extremely important Code of Honor, which contains all of the..."

"And that is how the first war broke out against the Yautja and the Hish, thus setting an eternal rivalry and cycle of hatred in motion."

Mark concluded his speech, and settled down next to his adoptive son. "Did you catch all that?" "Uh... maybe?" Chuckling, he crossed his arms.

"Don't worry, I know that it's a lot of stuff to remember, but we'll go over this once again in greater detail conce we arrive on Yaut. And speaking of, it's dinner time."

Again, he led the amazed boy through his ship, stopping by the viewing port to look at the great expanse of the universe. "We'll eat here, alright?" Mark asked him as he gently patted his back.

It felt refreshing not having to constantly wear his armor, as in the past years he was constantly and heavily involved with hunting, doing work as an ambassador and ironing out the small treaties that many clans wanted to singularly sign.

But now, he had more free time, much more than he actually needed to be exact.

The only thing that Mark hadn't done, was to tell his honored mate that he had adopted a child.

He had discussed it with her beforehand, several times. They simply did not yet come to a conclusion, and Mark could not tell how she felt about the matter, but she did say that she was interested in the possibility of it.

Unfortunately Mhei had been called to oversee a few hunter, trials and negotiations with other clans. It was something that they were both used to doing, since their rank and prestige was the cause for much sway.

Mark simply did not have the time or opportunity to tell her directly, but he was more than sure that this would go smoothly.

Yes, he was expecting her to first judge Max, but that was simply the Yautjan way of life. In the end, everything would be absolutely fine.

He had showed much of the ship to his son, including some of his skulls. The boy had been entrenched by them, so he always liked to linger around there.

"You know, I had to wait a century before I could finally eat a cheeseburger again. Would you like that? A big juicy cheeseburger?" "Yes!" Come on then sport, I'll start your training today. First and most important lesson: a hunter must know how to survive, and that includes cooking."

Max could not reach the top shelves, so the taller hybrid placed them down on the kitchen counter and propped a chair against it so that the boy could follow.

"Wash your hands, you don't want any malicious germs infecting your food." He stated as he watched his son do as he said.

"Is this your first time making patties?" "Uhh... maybe? The matrons of the orphanage once made hamburgers for a party a couple of years ago. I helped them, but I just brought the plates and glasses." "Then this will be your start."

He plopped down a sizable chunk of grounded beef with some with some fat sprinkled in.

"Ok, so you want to start working the meat, you first season it a little bit with salt and pepper, then you add a tiny little bit of wine," He made the motion to stay quiet and Max giggled, "With your hands, you begin to shape the beef so that it forms a circular..."

"So... sauce?" Mark asked as he placed the different options on the table, "Ketchup thank you."

He looked at the child blankly: "Really? Ketchup? Get out of here... mayo is better." "Why?" "Because I say so son!" There was a playful tone in his voice and he poked his side.

"Stop it!" "Alright, let's not make a mess. There you go, cheddar, bacon, lettuce and tomatoes. No onions though..." "They taste horrible!" Mark shrugged, but understood the boy's point of view. Even he disliked the food when he was his age.

"You got that or do you need some more help?" "No I got it." For once as well, Mark was eating a hamburger too. Naturally, it would be nowhere near enough to satisfy his appetite, but he wasn't about to freak out his son by eating four trays worth of food in one go, even if by comparison, everything else that he had shown him was infinitely more shocking, by human standards at least."

Max let out a small groan of pleasure once he took a bite of the burger, and the hunter felt his heart shudder with affection. He had a son now and he was so, unbelievably, happy.

Voraciously, the kid began to munch on it with gusto, to the point where the hybrid became a tiny little bit concerned with the sheer speed at which he was going.

"Slow down champ, we wouldn't want you to start chocking now would you?" The instant that he said this, he slowed down, which was quite the feat since he had been devouring the thing not a moment ago.

"I take it that you like it?" "Of course it is, you made it." "Nu-uh, you did!" Mark smiled fondly at it, "We made it together, are you happy now?" Max answered with an affermative nod.

The boy's attention though was still brought to the viewport outside of the ship. "This is so cool..." He spoke with awe, "I sometimes watched videos on Earth about other planets, but I never saw space like this." "Oh boy, you're in for a surprise." "Really?" "Calm down; one step at a time, you must have patience Max, that is one of the best virtues of the hunter."

He thought back to the memory, "My dear friend Kyiv taught me that when I was still training." "Will I meet him?" "You sure are full of questions aren't you?" Still, he ruffled his head, "But yes, you will meet him in time, old fellow that he is"

"Soon enough we'll pass by a portal and take it to reach Yaut faster." The child's ears perked up upon hearing this, "Wow! What's it like?"

Mark thought about it for a moment, "Something along the lines of hyperspace, from Star Wars."

Max looked at him, confused, "What's Star Wars?" The hunter nearly dropped his fork, "You've never watched Star Wars? Jeez, don't the generations remember that classic? The prequels?"

Mark stood up, "That's it, we're watching episode four, no talking back." The boy was confused and puzzled as he watched his father tap something on the device that he always carried on his wrist.

He wiped his mouth as he finished eating as a holographic display came up and the lights dimmed down, the windows becoming covered by metallic sheets.

"Dad? What is this?" Mark had carried an armchair and had plopped it down. "I'm about to treat you to the best movie of your childhood. This is the movie that I grew up with, so pay attention." "Ok."

He settled besides the boy, just as a blue text appeared on the holographic screen.

Mark held his laughter in when Max jumped at the loud score that blared to life.

Good god, it had been an investment to install the theatre audio boxes.

"What is this?" "Keep quiet and watch. You'll see soon enough."