Bo'kui: The Bloody Spear Predator Trainer

Name: Bo'kui
Hunt name: Bloody Spear
Species: Yautja
Sex: Male
Role: Trainer of Youngbloods
Known for: Adulthood hunt on Hunting Ground 73569
Setting: Hunting Ground 73569, New Brasilia advance camp
First appearance: Aliens vs. Predators: Ultimate Prey, "First Hunt" (2022)
Status: Alive
Confirmed kills: 1 Chestburster

Bo'kui, called Bloody Spear, was a Yautja trainer in Bryan Thomas Schmidt's First Hunt, published in Aliens vs. Predators: Ultimate Prey in 2022. He took three Youngbloods to Hunting Ground 73569 for their adulthood hunt, ordering them to kill Xenomorphs first and humans after. When one student turned on an unarmed colonist, Bo'kui stopped him, cut a Chestburster out of a dying man, and left the woman alive. His family had hated humans for generations.

Biography

Family And Bad Blood

Bo'kui's family hated humans because of what had happened to one of his ancestors. A great-great-grandfather had been chained in a Portuguese-speaking city on Earth and declared a Bad Blood. That disgrace stayed with the family, and Bo'kui carried the grudge into his work as a trainer. Even so, he held his students to the rules of the hunt when they met humans. His hunt name, Bloody Spear, was the name the story used for him as a trainer, and nothing in the story gave his clan name or his age.

Adulthood Hunt On Hunting Ground 73569

Bo'kui dropped T'ua'sa, G'kon'dchah, and the quieter Zo'keah on Hunting Ground 73569. A human freighter had been shot down there three years earlier as a training prop, and the Xenomorph nest had since moved away from the wreck. Fifteen neo-Salesian colonists from the New Brasilia advance team were on their third day on the planet. Medical officer Matheu Pilar cut a Facehugger off a colonist named João with a laser and a Teflon sleeve, and the hugger ran into the street. Xenomorph drones then burst out of the forest onto the camp.

Bo'kui ordered his students to take the Xenomorphs first and the humans after. Zo'keah made the clean first kill. Pilot Timóteo was pulled through a window and torn apart, and G'kon'dchah's smart disc took the head of a patrol named Vanessa as a trophy. A female Praetorian then attacked from the trees, melted T'ua'sa's mask, and cut off his arm. The hunters drove it back with focused plasma, and it retreated into the forest. G'kon'dchah then blew open the field-hospital door and killed Lieutenant Adriana Bonfim and Dr. Pilar inside.

Sparing Joseli Sousa

Inside the hospital, G'kon'dchah turned on Joseli Sousa, a field-hospital assistant who was unarmed. Bo'kui blocked his student's stick, called him out, and forbade the kill. João was carrying a Chestburster, so Bo'kui cut him open, pulled out the embryo, and snapped its neck. He left Joseli alive. Despite his family's hatred of humans, he held to the rule against killing the unarmed and would not let his student break it in front of him.

Bo'kui sent Zo'keah to drag the wounded T'ua'sa back to the ship. He told G'kon'dchah that the elders would punish his recklessness with more training and clan service, not exile. The hunters then meant to find the moved nest and kill any humans still being used as hosts there, though the story did not show whether they reached them. Joseli looted medicine and two blasters from the camp and planned to hide in a cave and wait for rescue. She was the only confirmed human survivor of the fifteen colonists.

The Three Youngbloods

G'kon'dchah

G'kon'dchah was the most reckless of the three students. His smart disc took Vanessa's head as a trophy, and he blew the hospital door and killed Lieutenant Adriana Bonfim and Dr. Matheu Pilar. He then turned on the unarmed Joseli until Bo'kui blocked him and forbade the kill. Bo'kui told him the elders would punish him with more training and clan service rather than exile. The story referred to G'kon'dchah as male, and he left the camp alive with three human kills and the elders' punishment still ahead of him.

Zo'keah

Zo'keah was the quietest of the three Youngbloods and made the clean first kill when the drones attacked the camp. After the fight, Bo'kui sent Zo'keah to drag the wounded T'ua'sa back to the ship. Bo'kui ranked Zo'keah as the proven hunter of the day, ahead of the other two students. The anthology summary used no pronoun for Zo'keah, so the character's sex is not confirmed here. The story showed no wound to Zo'keah, and Bo'kui gave Zo'keah no reprimand for the fight at the camp.

T'ua'sa

T'ua'sa was the first student Bo'kui named when he dropped the three on Hunting Ground 73569. When the female Praetorian attacked from the trees, it melted his mask and cut off his arm before focused plasma drove it back. Zo'keah dragged him back to the ship on Bo'kui's orders. The story referred to T'ua'sa as male. No kill by T'ua'sa was shown, and he was the only one of the three Youngbloods who was seriously wounded on the hunt.

Behind The Scenes

First Hunt was written by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, who also co-edited the 2022 Titan Books anthology with Jonathan Maberry. Xenopedia's page on the story calls Bo'kui a descendant of the Bad Blood hunter in Drug War, Schmidt's story in Predator: If It Bleeds, co-written with Holly Roberds. Drug War was set in Rio de Janeiro, which may be the Portuguese-speaking city where the ancestor was chained. The colonists in First Hunt also carried Portuguese names, from Joseli Sousa to Lieutenant Adriana Bonfim, and came from the New Brasilia advance team.

Conclusion

Bo'kui, called Bloody Spear, was the trainer who led T'ua'sa, G'kon'dchah, and Zo'keah on their adulthood hunt on Hunting Ground 73569. His family hated humans after an ancestor was chained on Earth and declared a Bad Blood. He still stopped G'kon'dchah from killing the unarmed Joseli, cut a Chestburster from João, and ranked Zo'keah as the best hunter of the day. He sent his students back toward the ship and left Joseli alive as the only human survivor.