Bakuub: Straight Spear Of Hunter's Planet
Bakuub, also called Straight Spear, was a tall male Yautja warrior in David Bischoff's Aliens vs. Predator: Hunter's Planet, the 1994 Bantam Spectra sequel to Prey. After Nat'ka'pu died on Var, he granted Lar'nix'va the Hard Meat skull but refused to treat one feat as proof the pack would live under him. Aboard the hunting ship he killed a captive Hard Meat with a spear throw that pierced the nerve nexus and spared most of its acid, then freed the bisor prey. When Machiko Noguchi killed Lar'nix'va, Bakuub announced himself Leader, rallied about fifty hunters from several packs, and led the ground assault on Evanstonville's hybrid factory. His party later brought Livermore Evanston's fresh skull to headquarters as a trophy and left to rest before talking about the wild bugs still on Blior.
Biography
After Nat'ka'pu
When Lar'nix'va stood over the armed Hard Meat he had burned and claimed Leadership after Nat'ka'pu's death on Var, the tall warrior Bakuub answered sullenly that they could not doubt the kill, but that more than one feat made a Leader. He said the pack had to see how it worked under Lar'nix'va in serious times and could not hazard a bad choice. Lar'nix'va wanted to treat the pushback as a duel challenge, but judged that killing Bakuub would strip the pack of a useful hunter, so he called for a teamwork exercise instead. Bakuub agreed. When Lar'nix'va proposed Soft Meat as the worthy hunt, Bakuub asked whether it was wise before they knew what truly transpired on the planet, and Lar'nix'va accused him of cowardice. The others backed the Soft Meat raid, and Lar'nix'va loosed Hard Meat on the same world.
Holding Pen
Later, on the yautja starship over the Hunter's World, Bakuub, Straight Spear, stared into a holding pen where a young Hard Meat stalked a bisor, a small doglike mammal from the surface. He brooded on the Soft Meat settlement, the female ooman the pack had met, and Lar'nix'va's trouble after humans had seen the hunters and killed one of theirs. He had sifted the dead safari's supplies and found no clue to what the settlement leaders were planning. He wanted a detailed read of transmissions from the settlement with the little gear they owned, and he had already alerted the other packs of the flotilla, but he was not Leader and Lar'nix'va was. He saw through what he called Lar'nix'va's tarei'hsan offal: a hunter who cared for personal ambition more than True Glory, dangerous in a ticklish time.
Hatred for Soft Meat and Hard Meat rose in him as the captive kainde amedha closed on the bisor. He opened the cage lid, drew the spear from his back, and threw it so the razor tip drove through the Hard Meat's upper carapace into the nerve nexus with a minimum of acid spill. He had studied Hard Meat anatomy for that angle. When the creature died, he opened the outer door, told the bisor to live, and closed up. He meant to tell Lar'nix'va the Hard Meat had tried to escape, and if the fool challenged him, the fool would die that much sooner.
Leader
After Machiko killed Lar'nix'va in their spear fight on Blior, with help from a shot from Attila's severed android head, Bakuub became Leader. In the stark control room of his ship he allowed himself one second of pride, then ordered the communications controller to open lines to all fellows nearby on a wavelength Soft Meat would not monitor. He announced that Lar'nix'va was dead, that he was the new Leader of the pack, and that the Soft Meat settlement was transforming Hard Meat into warriors that had to be destroyed in a ground assault under his direction. Ships could not strike the settlement from the air because settlement weapons covered those approaches, but they had allies inside the compound. He promised a Hunt of Great Honor and Great Glory, and the packs answered with growls.
At sunset he came to Machiko and Attila and said the warriors were ready and preferred battle as soon as possible. Attila explained that preparations were not ready; Bakuub was not happy, but left after reassurance that trophies would come soon. About fifty Predators from several packs gathered for the attack.
Evanstonville Assault
When the raid began, Machiko charged Bakuub with kinship and honor in the Predator challenge gesture, and he answered that they hungered for it, pounding a hand blaster on his armor. He stepped up beside her at the factory, took her pointing toward the entrance, and gestured his companions forward. Attila told Machiko that according to Bakuub their motto was something like taking things as they came. When hybrid cyborg Hard Meat met them, Machiko called him back and had Attila tell him there was hope if his people fought quickly and agilely. Later, when Attila announced withdrawal in the Predator language, the hunters turned to Bakuub for confirmation, and he gave a definite gesture to get out. Machiko then saw him rallying his troops as they kept after the hybrids.
Trophy
After the factory fight, Machiko asked Attila whether he still had contact with Bakuub; the android said the hunters were on their way in to talk about what came next. Bakuub's party shouldered into headquarters, Attila made greeting noises, and Bakuub and Machiko exchanged a gesture of mutual respect. When asked about Evanston, Bakuub gestured to a pack member who held out a net sack with a fresh skull, spinal column, brain flecks, and a dangling eyeball. Bakuub said Trophy, then that they would rest and talk tomorrow. Attila later named the wild bugs still breeding on Blior as the first project Bakuub would raise the next day. The novel ends with Bakuub still alive as Leader of the joined packs.
Appearance And Weapons
The novel calls him a tall warrior, without a private height figure beyond the usual pack scale around two and a half meters. His honor name in the text is Straight Spear, tied to the javelin he carries on his back and throws with trained accuracy into a Hard Meat's nerve nexus. He wears armor and a mask in the field, pounds a hand blaster on his armor before the Evanstonville push, and speaks enough for Soft Meat allies to catch words such as Trophy through Attila's translating.
He studies Hard Meat anatomy, monitors Soft Meat transmissions when he can, and alerts other Leaders of the flotilla when he sees a threat larger than one pack's hunt. Personal ambition in others, especially Lar'nix'va, is what he reads as danger to the People's cause rather than a private insult.
Similar Predators
Bakuub ranks with novel Leaders who take a pack through Soft Meat politics and Hard Meat threats and live to close the book. Nat'ka'pu was the earlier Leader of the same training party; an armed Hard Meat killed him on Var before Bakuub's pushback against Lar'nix'va. Lar'nix'va, the short adjutant Machiko called Shorty, claimed Leadership over Nat'ka'pu's body, ran the Soft Meat raid Bakuub doubted, and died when Machiko finished him on Blior. Dachande of the Prey novel is the Broken Tusk Leader whose mark Machiko still wore in Hunter's Planet, the earlier pack story Bakuub's book continues.
A'kael trained first-hunters on the homeworld and lived to be named clan leader after a council test on Earth. Light-Stepper survived every hunt he entered in the comics, as Bakuub survives Hunter's Planet as Leader. Bakuub does not appear in the Dark Horse comics that run parallel to Prey and War; his arc is novel-only in Bischoff's Hunter's Planet.
Behind The Scenes
David Bischoff wrote Aliens vs. Predator: Hunter's Planet for Bantam Spectra, which published the paperback in December 1994. It was an original sequel to Steve Perry and Stephani Perry's Prey rather than a comic novelization. Bakuub's honor name Straight Spear appears in the holding-pen chapter that opens on him by that title, and the Yautja Dictionary on this site glosses Bakuub as Straight Spear from that usage. He is not the same figure as Top-Knot's ship the Shell in War; that name belongs to the later novel and comic, not to Bakuub.
Conclusion
Bakuub, Straight Spear, was the tall Hunter's Planet warrior who granted Lar'nix'va the Var skull, refused to treat one kill as Leadership, and watched the Soft Meat settlement with more care than his fool Leader. He killed a captive Hard Meat with a studied spear throw, freed the bisor, and took Leadership when Machiko killed Shorty. He rallied about fifty hunters, led the ground assault on Evanstonville's hybrid works, and brought Evanston's skull to headquarters as a trophy before resting to talk about the wild bugs still on Blior.
Appearances
Tag Categories: Individual Predators | Predators From The Novels | Predators Who Survived | Yautja Leaders | Predator Lore
