Disclaimer: I do not own Yaut'ja, Xenomorphs or anything from AVP! (no matter how much I want my own Yaut'ja…) However Hannah and Yeyinde are my characters. Yeyinde is obviously not Scar, so don't go there! And also, when Hannah talks about religion, it's nothing personal against anyone! She's just stating what she knows. Ok? So no flames on that!
And I'm making a lot of stuff up as I go…so yeah…
Spell checked and revised a bit!
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Hannah wandered, dejectedly kicking a stick out of her path. She'd been run out of town by the rest of the homeless population. A rustle startled her, and she watched the bushes and underbrush off to her right like a hawk. Reaching into her right pocket she pulled out her little double shot Remington Derringer that she'd stolen from an antique shop a few years ago.
A moment later something leapt at her from the bushes, and landed on her face. Her arm, however, had beaten the creature there. She shoved it away, pain lacing across the sides of her face as its claws drug away. Throwing it down she fired both shots into it. The creature twitched and gave out a sharp shrill screech before going still.
Looking at it a little closer, it resembled a large headless spider with a long tail, and two flat flaps behind the legs. "It's, those things…Lex told me…oh dear, they're back!" she whispered horrified. She leapt up and ran back towards the sewer opening. On her way she passed a body, stopping she turned to look at it. It was the man who owned the sword shop she used to visit a lot, before she lost everything. It was a tourist shop where the, now dead, owner made his own real swords.
He was a quiet guy, brusque and rude when he did talk. She remembered him telling someone that he actually went out to practice with them. Looking around she saw a stump with hack marks in it, and a broad sword lying near it. She picked it up, weighing it in her hands. It was a little heavier than she preferred, but not by too much. Giving it a practice swing, her body started to remember what it was like. A faint smile crept onto her lips, but fell away when she heard a hissing sound behind her.
Spinning quickly, Hannah saw one of the creatures Lex had described stalking slowly towards her. Its tail lashed ominously. Dropping into a defensive crouch, Hannah readied herself for an attack and at the same time prepared herself to attack if there was an opening. Her eyes never left the creature, hoping for a tell-tale movement that would let her know when it was going to attack. How am I supposed to know? I don't know what they do! A human moves their shoulder before attacking…these…how do I know?
Suddenly without any warning that she could notice, it lunged forward at her. Ducking low she missed its claws as it reared above her. She twisted and put all her force into an upward swing, driving her sword deep into its neck. Leaping back as fast as she could, she saw a small splash of blood hit her coat and start to sizzle as it ate it away. She ripped the coat off and tossed it on the ground, cursing as her warmest coat was destroyed.
Hearing a sound behind her, she spun quickly and not having a weapon put her fists up defensively. A section of air rippled, and a large humanoid materialized in front of her. Lex had told her of these things as well. Yaut'ja they called themselves.
He looked at her, then at the creature she had killed moments before. Looking her over for a moment, he cocked his head to the left and made a soft clicking noise. Bending down, he pulled a finger-like leg from the little creature she'd shot. Dipping the end in some of its blood, he turned back to Hannah.
Lex's words flashed back into her head, "He used the blood to mark me, see here? Yeah, it's apparently some symbol of rank. The others respected me for it, saved my life probably. He had the same mark on his face." Hannah looked up at him and nodded, then closed her eyes as he brought the leg to her cheek, burning something into her face.
Once he drew back, she opened her eyes, looking up at his mask. The mark on it matched the one on Lex's cheek. She smiled a bit, dug into her tattered shoulder bag, and pulled out a picture of Lex with the scar on her cheek. She held it up for the yaut'ja to see. "Lex, my friend, she's marked too," Hannah said to him.
Reaching up he removed two connecting cables from his mask, each of them popping away with a hiss of air and gas, then he lifted it off his face. He let out a roar in her face, wondering if he could scare her a bit.
Wiping a bit of spittle from under her left eye, she blinked rapidly and asked, "Now, was the spit really necessary?" She wiped it on her pants as the yaut'ja let out an amused growl. He looked down at the picture. "Oh, I guess you don't see things the same with your mask on," she guessed.
Giving her a nod, he handed back the picture, tapping Lex's mark and then Hannah's cheek, before tapping his own forehead. She smiled when she saw the mark there that matched hers and Lex's. He placed his hand on her shoulder, giving a soft shake. Hannah reached up and tried to return the gesture, but found him a little harder to move.
A crack of a tree limb sounded above them and the yaut'ja looked up, throwing his mask back on, connecting it quickly. Hannah stepped back, looking up as well. "There!" She pointed to a different tree, where she'd spotted the shine off of the creatures head. The yaut'ja turned and looked, readying a spear. The creature leapt down at them, narrowly missing Hannah.
She was knocked backwards over a fallen log by a side sweep of the creature's long tail. Righting herself quickly, she snatched up a branch almost as big as herself; she stood again, watching the yaut'ja swipe at the thing with blades coming from the guards on his wrist. She noticed he was pinned, and the creature's face was inching closer to the yaut'ja's. Using the stick like a javelin, she threw it at the creature's head, smacking clean into the back of it.
The hissing black mass of death looked up at her and gave a louder hiss that almost sounded like a shout of anger. It turned and leaped towards her. She ducked out of the way, falling behind a large tree. The creature's tail lashed at her, hitting the side of the tree, and splinters of wood flew everywhere.
The yaut'ja had righted himself and aimed his shoulder cannon at the creature. When it wouldn't fire, he let out an angry hiss and picked up his spear that had fallen to the side, running up to the creature and driving it into the back of it's head. The creature screamed and lashed its tail towards the yaut'ja. Hannah rammed into the side of the creature, knocking it off balance and the sharp end of its tail narrowly missed the yaut'ja's throat by inches.
When the creature landed, it wasn't moving. Hannah looked over at the yaut'ja after making sure that the thing had stopped. "Hey, are you alright?" She asked, breathing heavily.
He nodded at her, and then responded in a scratchy and clicking voice, "Are you alright?"
Hannah looked surprised, "You can talk?" The yaut'ja tilted its head. "Or can you repeat what I say?" When he echoed the word "repeat" she nodded. "So…you can only repeat what I say, but you do understand what I'm saying, right?" She asked. He nodded. "You really ought to work on maybe a translator or something…" she mumbled looking back at the creatures body.
"Translator!" the yaut'ja barked, and pointed back toward a deeper part of the woods. "Translator."
Hannah looked back at him and her gaze followed the direction he was pointing. "Back by Dead Man's Cave? You have a translator back there? In what…a ship? A home?" She asked, hoping he'd find a word he could use.
"Ship. Translator back there," He told her. Bending down he pulled his spear from the creature's head. He pulled out a solution and a cloth. Pouring the solution on the cloth, he wiped the acidic blood away. He tapped her leg to get her attention, and then put his finger on the blood on the cloth. It didn't burn.
"Oh, a neutralizing agent, eh?" She bent down with him and looked at it. He nodded. "Awesome," she told him with a grin. Going from one creature to the next, he kept the heads, putting one on one stump, and the other on a different one; he pulled out a vial of blue liquid, and poured it on the bodies. They melted away extremely fast. "Whoa… that's some strong goo…" Hannah muttered.
He picked up one of the heads and looked it over, then handed it to Hannah, and grabbed the other one. "Ship. Translator back there." He said again, and motioned for her to follow him. She shrugged, not really having anywhere else to go. She trudged through the underbrush after him, carrying the head under her arm.
They reached Dead Man's Cave, and kept walking. How far away did he park? She wondered, but kept walking without complaint. He finally stopped and pushed a button on his wrist computer. A ship the size of a mobile home appeared a few feet in front of them. "Whoa…That's amazing!" Hannah stepped back to look at it. "Wow…" she looked at the yaut'ja who was watching her growling in a quiet and amused way. She blushed and followed him.
He led her through a hatch and down the hallway to the right. Pulling off his mask he set it on a holder on the wall. "The ship acts as a translator," he said suddenly. His voice was clearer, but it was still scratchy, and she could hear some clicks echoing in the background of his speech. "But I also have a portable one; I just didn't think I would need it." He turned and looked at her, "That is your trophy. You should have a place in your home to display it. The first trophy is important."
Hannah smiled and gave a shrug, "I would, but…I don't have a home. I've been living on the streets for a couple of years now." She looked around, not noticing his eyes widen in surprise.
She is a strong warrior, how can she not have a home? He thought to himself.
When he voiced his question, Hannah laughed a little bitterly. "I'm guessing we're from two completely different cultures," she said looking up at him. Damn he's tall… "I know there is a hunt down south, in Antarctica. My friend Lex was there when it happened. She's the one in the picture I showed you. She met one of your kind, and well, it turned out alright, until he died."
The yaut'ja nodded, "Yes, we called him Scar. He died a warrior. But his death brought…unseen circumstances." He let out a series of growls that she realized were chuckles. "One of the Kainde Amedha had gotten him, and gotten inside. When it was born out of him…it was an U'darahje. It had our features added to it." He said while taking some of his armor and weapons off. He pulled his shoulder plasma caster off and threw it on a bench to the side. "Pauk-de Sivk'va-tai!"
"How come some words don't get translated?" She asked, not understanding some of what he had said.
He looked at her, "Some are not? Damn…something is not working correctly." His mandibles flared for a second in anger. "I will have to fix it later. What did not translate?"
"Uhm well, U'dara—something and Kainde Ame- Amedha.. and uh, Pauk-de Si…oh I don't know!" She said after failing to repeat them. She crossed her arms around the head that she still held.
He tapped a button on his wrist computer, "U'darahje, Kainde Amedha, and Pauk-de Sivk'va-tai." Tapping a button again, he said, "Abomination, the first word. The second two, mean Hard Meat. That is was we killed today. And the next, is an expletive, and I was talking about my shoulder weapon." He watched her as she thought about it.
"Ok, makes sense. One more question. You're very patient, why? Lex mentioned that the yaut'ja she'd met…well they didn't seem like they really wanted to talk. Even after all the killing had ended." She looked up at him.
He chuckled again, "Ah, yes. Well, I'm a bit more on my own. I am part of my clan, yes. But I've earned my own ship, and spend my time as I please. And, If you promise not to tell anyone, your race intrigues me." He looked at her harshly, "Tell anyone of this, and I will end your life. It would make me weak in anyone's eyes."
Hannah smiled, "It doesn't in mine. And you have my word, I won't tell a soul." She watched as he used some devices on the kainde amedha head he had, Kainde Amedha, she repeated to herself so she'd remember. "What are you doing?" She asked walking over to him.
"Cleaning my trophy," he looked at her, still holding hers, "watch me first, then I will help you learn how to clean yours." He turned back to his, and slid over on the bench, giving her room to sit and watch.
She sat down and did as he said, asking questions about a device he used now and then, and why he used it. Once he was done, the head was preserved and protected from wear. "That last coat protects it from decay, and allows me to use water to clean dust from it, without wearing it down." He told her, as he stood and walked to the back, "Follow."
Hannah leaped up and followed him to the back of the craft. "Behind us are the engines, and a small room from which to make repairs while in flight." He approached a wall and a light turned on, glowing orange. She followed closely, having tripped over something in the darkness on their way back. He hung the head up on the wall beside others. There were many different kinds along with Kainde Amedha.
"You hunt us?" She asked, seeing a human skull and part of it's backbone.
He looked at it, "When we are much younger, Pyode Amedha—" Hannah cut him off, "Say that again, the translator missed it." He nodded, "Soft Meat. Any sort of humanoid actually. And only those worth hunting. We have a strong code, we do not hunt the sick, or injured, or any mother or mother-to-be, or the very young."
Hannah listened and twitched her mouth a bit, not sure what to think of him having hunted humans. "But we only hunt them early on. After the Hard Meat Chiva," He heard the translator fail that time and hissed in aggravation, "Hard Meat Trial, we hunt only Kainde Meat." This time he let out a growl and turned, "I will fix the translator." Walking brusquely out of the room he headed to the opposite end of the craft with Hannah close behind him.
"Then we will clean my trophy?" She asked, eagerly. Wow, I guess I'm really getting into this. She thought to herself with a chuckle. He doesn't seem like anything Lex said about Scar. He seems…nice…well, with the exception of human hunting…
He turned and nodded, "Yes, we will then clean yours." He looked at a panel and pulled up what she figured were diagnostics. Reading them silently, he made a click, and bent down to the bulkhead, pulling a panel off of it and reaching inside, pulling out a mass of wires running through a box. She noticed some wires were loose as he put them back into a slot, and pushed a button on the side of the box. He opened his mouth to talk, but it was completely in his language.
"Nope." Hannah said, and he growled, aggravated, switching the wires and pushing the button again. "Now?" He asked. Hannah smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that did it." She suddenly had a thought pop up, "Uhm, what's your name?"
He looked up at her as he was placing the wired box back into it's place. "Yeyinde. It means Brave One." He told her, sliding the panel back into place, he stood up. "And what is your name?"
"I'm Hannah. Uhm… I think it's Greek, but it means Grace of God," she told him with a grin. He looked slightly puzzled, expressions…I understand expressions! "What's wrong?" she asked him.
"Grace of God, but…which god?" He asked her, heading back to the place he'd cleaned his trophy.
"Oh, well most of our religions only have one God. Our ancestors had many gods, but not anymore. Christianity became the most popular religion, well Christianity and all those many different versions of it, I guess." She let him take the head from her.
He looked it over and clicked his mandibles as he thought abut what she said. "That sounds strange to me," he finally said.
"Hmm, probably, but you gotta realize, having many gods sounds weird to me just as much as one God sounds weird to you," she reminded him, picking up one of the tools. "This one first, right?"
He nodded both in agreement with her statement, and her choice of tool. "Careful, and get right up in here, so that none of the soft tissue is left." He pointed to the front, where she noticed a little pocket. "Aim the nozzle and push the button on the side." A blue light waved over the pocket and there was a slight sizzle and then a little bit of smoke. "Alright, sweep it over the inside completely…yes, just like that." It wasn't long until they were done. "You may place it on the bottom of my wall in the back until you have a wall of your own to display it on." Yeyinde told her.
Hannah smiled and thanked him, getting up to go put it there. She tripped over something again. "Damnit! You need lights in here! How the hell do you see anything!?" She growled out to him, rubbing her shin.
He looked down the hallway at her, "I can see fine." He reached over to the wall and pressed a button. Soft lights came on along the bottom of the walls, lighting the floor. "I forget you cannot," he said in what she guessed was all she'd get for an apology.
Hanging the trophy head on the wall with the others, she smiled. It's so cool looking! Ha! Her mind was excited, but she kept a cool and relaxed posture. "So how many are there on Earth? Of the Kainde Amedha, I mean." She asked him.
"Just the ones we killed today. I only brought three with me. And you killed most of them." He told her. Well, I suppose she did. I hadn't realized that in all the commotion.
"Oh, sorry," Hannah said, coming back into the same room he was in. She looked out the door way and noticed it was dark already. The thought of night without her good coat sent a shiver through her.
"Are you cold, Hannah?" Yeyinde asked, standing up, and shutting the hatch.
"Hmm, no I was just thinking. I lost my good coat to one of those damned things today. I'll have to get a new one soon. It gets cold here at night." She told him, turning to face him.
"Yes, your planet is far too cold for my tastes really. Home, is a lot warmer. Always," he told her. "You are welcome to stay here with me tonight," he added. "It will be much warmer in here."
Hannah nodded, "I heard it was supposed to snow tonight," she said disgustedly. "I don't like snow, not one bit. I used to, when I was younger. But not anymore. Now it's just cold, dangerous and uncomfortable."
Yeyinde watched her with an amused look in his eyes, "You are not old enough to be that bitter about your present compared to your past. You have been alive how many years, 20?" he growled a laugh out.
Hannah smiled, "Do I really look that young? Hm, point for me. I'm 26," she told him. "27, next month actually. On the eighth." She smiled sadly, thinking back to her birthdays with her family before the fire. Before everything had gone up in smoke, literally.
"You are sad, Hannah. Why?" Yeyinde asked. Why should I care? He suddenly thought, Why do I care? Why do I care if I care? Then he stopped wondering before he confused himself. He'd always been too much of a thinker.
Hannah looked up and smiled, "Sad? I'm not sad. Sorry if I seemed that way, I was just lost in thought I guess." Her stomach suddenly growled loudly, and she blushed a bright red.
"I have some Naxa fruit. Hold on, let me get you one." He stood and walked to the middle of the ship, opening a compartment that hissed open. It was chilled, she could tell as the cold air touched her face. "Here," he handed her a bright red round thing, the size of a grapefruit. "It may be different that what you're used to, but it's all I have that you can digest."
She looked it over, "So do I peel it or what?"
He took it back and cut a piece of rind off with his claw like fingernail, "here, peel it and the sections come apart."
Taking it from him, she did as he was told, a citrus like smell greeting her nostrils. "It reminds me of oranges, and grapefruits we have here." She got the rind off, and pulled a section off. The inside was made of almost diamond shaped pieces that reminded her of apples. "With a bit of apple or pear mixed in…" She took a bite. It was sweet and strong flavored. It had a bit of a cinnamon taste to it after a few bites. "Ooh this is great!" She said, with a grin, and munched happily on it.
She looked up to see him chewing on a piece of raw meat, as he was typing some stuff into the main computer. He held it in his mandibles and fed it slowly into his smaller mouth. Suddenly realizing she was staring at him she looked down at the fruit in her hands again. This is definitely a weird friendship When she realized she'd used the word friendship, a smile slid onto her face and she continued to chow down on the fruit.
Once she had finished eating, she started to realize how tired she was. "Yeyinde, uhm, is there a place I can lay down? I'm getting tired." As if to make her point, a yawn took over suddenly.
He nodded, "Yes, over here." He pressed a button on the side of the wall and a bunk swung down on what seemed like hydraulics. "This is your bed. Mine is ahead of yours." She looked up and saw another still retracted.
"That's really awesome." She looked at the bed that was at her shoulder. "Uhm…you know you're a lot taller, so I bet this thing is easy for you to get into…" She was looking around for maybe a way to step up, when suddenly she felt his hands on either side of her waist, lifting her onto the bed. "Oh, Thank you Yeyinde," she said and smiled at him.
She realized she was now at eye level with him. "Heh, you look different from this angle," she teased. He turned to walk away, but she reached out and caught his arm. Whoa…lotsa muscle… "Yeyinde, I really do mean it, Thank you."
He gave her a happy rumble and faced her, "You have proved yourself a warrior, and if no one else will honor you for it, then I will do my best to. Now, you sleep well, Hannah. I will have to go out to make sure nothing was left behind, but I will not be gone long." He laid a hand on her arm and gave it a squeeze, then grabbed his helmet and walked out the hatch.
She could see a few white fluffy snowflakes falling. Damn snow, she thought. Then, why is he so nice to me? Lex said they were a hard and very cruel race. I don't understand. Maybe, maybe he's different. She lay down and tucked her arm under her head, pulling her legs into her long coats. She was asleep long before Yeyinde returned.
Until next time my kiddies!