Although not entirely necessary, it would be wise to read the prequel to this. As usual, I do not own the Aliens and Predator franchises…that's all 20th Century Fox's. Please review!

Unexpected Return

Part 1

Chapter 1

The Yautja ship's engine was rumbling deep in the bowels of the vessel, taking itself home on auto-pilot. The infinite and dark vacuum of space enveloped the ship, which was only barely lit by an approaching solar system's star. All appeared normal in the ship, besides the destroyed kitchen area and the occasional scratch across the walls. A proud warrior stands in his Kehrite, as he has done hundreds of times before, and gazes out into the stars in a peaceful meditation. Although his training room was well equipped, it seemed dusty, and there was no quiet clicking of tusks as one in meditation would ordinarily do. Only upon close examination would one realize that the fiery yellow eyes of the Yautja hunter were even more sunken in than usual, and pale as milk. His tusks, though still vicious, hung flaccid. His gaze; a billion mile stare, for there was no inner peace being sought, he was brain dead. Lifeless, but still incredibly deadly, the Yautja zombie was a new menace to the universe as he stared out his viewing window.

Zazin-de had encountered an unidentified toxin and enemy from a regularly used hunting planet, inhabited by the clever Oomans. He was investigating suspicious activity of the space jockeys on their planet, so landed without knowledge of the new affliction. The Oomans had an all but devastated world, with seemingly only hundreds of small pockets of survivors across the planet. The virus works by killing off the Ooman then the body is revived after death by the pathogen, causing them to be deadly in infectious numbers but easy to pick off. Except, what he hadn't known was that their bodies emit no thermal energy when dead...before his hunt even began Zazin-de was doomed by a simple bite in the leg. The toxin acted slowly due to the hunter's strength but after drinking too much of his C'ntlip supply he succumbed to the virus in an inebriated sleep on his furs in a dishonorable death for such a proud and noble warrior. His body had been dead for weeks now and it was slowly starving. The undead Yautja had already scavenged the small meat reserves and was truly only surviving thanks to the warrior's metabolism. Taking a statuesque stance was the only reason it ended up surviving the rest of the trip…becoming a ticking time bomb waiting to be released on an unsuspecting warrior race.

The lights that indicated awaiting messages in the bridge area only served to cascade an eerie orange glow across the entire room, as if a klaxon flashing danger. The elders had not heard from him for quite some time, but could track that his ship was returning. They flippantly ignored the potential warning sign that something was amiss in not hearing back from him. His ship was practically already in their solar system and it would only be another few days before his arrival.

The time drew near for his return and a party of his clan gathered to learn why he had abandoned his duty. Zazin-de was a spectacularly honorable member; he was just unlucky enough to draw the space jockey duty. The one unfortunate enough to have that duty was to follow the derelict vessel and track their movements without interaction. No one could really blame him if he just simply grew tired of following the vile Xenomorph spreaders. Although, it would be very unlike him, and he would still have to face some retributions for denial of duty. The ship arrived and gently lowered, clearly controlled by computer guidance, perfectly centered on the docking station. However, no door opened and no walkway descended from above. Calling down someone who could access the electronics, the Yautja's clan waited patiently. They stood around and discussed various topics, ranging from Zazin-de's hunts to the possible repercussions of his abandoned mission. It was clear that he was he was a well-respected Arbitrator and deserved mercy in his trial. Finally, after opening a small panel and reconnecting several wires, a door hissed open and yet there was still no sign of their warrior, so three of Zazin-de's longtime hunting partners decided to go in and resolve this situation.

All appeared normal as they entered his scout ship, humidity and gas levels were in check, besides a faint stench, the three had no way to know what awaited them. Calling out his name and getting no response, they began searching each of the rooms. Every one of the three clicked their tusks nervously as no response was heard and no sign of life was on the ship. They had come into the kitchen and deduced that there must have been some strange attack, since the food had been demolished with the rest of the room. Cabinet doors were ripped from their hinges as if some monster had enough sense to know there was food inside, but not enough to simply open the door. They turned into the trophy room and attention was immediately drawn to the center of the trophy wall, for a spotlight lit an enormous hard meat queen's skull. It was an amazing sight but next to it was a strange and bloated Ooman head in a jar that snapped at them as they drew near. There was a very strange mix of emotions running through their neon blood of both pride and anxiety. The perplexity of the situation only worsened when they heard a weak groaning noise from the next room over. Taking a battle stance on each side of the entrance they pressed a button on the panel, and the door to the Kehrite hissed opened giving all three an instant relief to see their brethren meditating by the window. Although, he looked strangely different, as if ragged and paler, the three still knew him as their friend. He must have been in such a deep trance that he didn't notice the landing or them coming in, he didn't even notice them calling out his name in front of his face. Looking him over, they saw the faded green wound on his leg, but in doing so, missed the slight movement in his eyes. Sensing food and renewed life, the undead Yautja lunged forward and bit into the neck of the nearest of his unsuspecting friends. The others roared in surprise and began trying to pull off their crazed friend; only to have him turn on their hands…each losing a finger before backing up and reevaluating the situation. They quickly grabbed a net gun from the nearby armory and fired it at him; it instantly began pulling tension and started to constrict around him. The two Yautja then stopped the constricting wires and looked over the insane Arbitrator, unsure of what to do next. The gaping hole in the neck of the first Yautja was devastating but nothing a day or two in a healing chamber couldn't fix. So, they grabbed the incapacitated warrior and the two left to tell the others what happened to their fingers and friends.

A steady hum and blinking lights were constant in here but the elder healer's room was just right for him. He had several healing chambers and enough practice to take care of his entire clan, no matter the situation. This situation was different though and he took it all in, unsure of what to do next. Malweh-te looked over Zazin-de, restrained by straps and inside a cage, but still growling and snarling. Zazin-de had hunted with him for many seasons before he had become an Arbitrator and Malweh-te devoted his life to being a healer. They kept close despite having galaxies of distance between them and much respective work to do. Now though, he should have been unconscious with the amount of sedatives he received but without any blood flow, the drug just sat in a lump where it was injected. Malweh-te moved on to the three that had each lost a part of themselves in the attack. Something was wrong with the healing chambers though too; each chamber hadn't updated their progress in healing. He had been the clan's eldest member and the most reliable healer for many seasons now, but their technological advances and thefts had never pleased the old Yautja. Tapping the electronic tablet but getting no response, he decided that a punch to each chamber's panel would fix it. Surprisingly to no avail! In the amount of time that he had given the machines to work, the two with finger injuries should have finished long ago. He checked the tablet again, 98%, 98%, and 77%...exactly as it had been when he put them in. He called for a technician, who couldn't explain the conundrum either. The two collaborated as they tried to piece together what was wrong. They turned each chamber off at the source and let them reset for several moments, before turning them back on and then checked the panels; 90%, 90%, and 50%. They shouldn't have dropped at all, much less over 25% for the one with a hole in his neck. Something was seriously wrong with the chambers, or was there another reason? Malweh-te thought it all over.

Since the numbers were stable as long as the healing chambers were active, Malweh-te decided to reevaluate how to help these warriors. The hunters all appeared to be infected with something and the one with the most serious injury and blood loss appears to be affected the most by this unknown blood borne pathogen. Zazin-de had been infected by something and has now, perhaps in the same process, spread it to three more. This all felt familiar but he couldn't place his talon on it quite yet. After much deliberation and endlessly searching through his files, he decided that a walk was in order for him to clear his mind. Most Yautja pride themselves in their determined long-strides as they powerfully walk, Malweh-te was different; slower and more deliberate in his motions, and he wandered aimlessly. He thought about the infectious virus that seemed to eat away at living cells in the infected body, and that the healing chambers help but only in delaying their effects. His sauntering eventually led him to the bay where Zazin-de's ship was being held. Curiosity piquing his interest, he remembered that there was rumor of a Kiande Amedha queen's skull on board. So, Malweh-te walked into the scout ship and made his way to the trophy room. Overpowering every other skull was the queen. She was enormous, much bigger than he remembered. Bigger than the one he had faced even. That was long ago but the memories of his ancient fights rushed back to him as he drew his claws across the crests. The hunt used to be the only thing that mattered; now politics hindered all aspects of the proud Yautja. Policing the Derelict was a joke to Malweh-te, but during the seasonal clan meeting, where over a hundred clans come together, politics shape their lives. He remembered the debate of whether or not to allow space jockeys to continue seeding planets with hard meat, he opposed, suggesting the Yautja maintain a small population only for hunting. A neighboring clan, of Fyet-Thwei's though felt that the Xenomorph species wouldn't survive without help. So, a treaty was struck up by Fyet-Thwei's conservationist clan and was forced into acceptance by delegation. It allowed the space jockey to spread the Kiande Amedha to a select few hunting planets. Malweh-te wondered what he and his peers would have done in their day, probably just mounted every space jockey's skull in their respective trophy rooms. He traced his claws across the back of his skull, where two deep scars ran. The Kiande Amedha was a treacherous species that deserved the hunt, but surely deserved no mercy. Now, because of politics, one of their clans most valuable Arbitrator was forced to complete a banal task to allow the Kiande Amedha to spread, and then seemingly become lost to this unknown disease.

Without a body needing to be supported, the head of a Zombie needs nothing to survive. The humidity of the Yautja ship only served to disfigure the face more and create a terrible smell. It had sat for nearly a month, only following the motion of another of its kind for a long time, and then there was suddenly a smell of flesh nearby. Sensing life, its mouth opened silently and then with a snapping of its remaining teeth, began biting at the air towards this new potential meal. Malweh-te jumped, expecting that it was only an Ooman skull in the preparation of mounting. Unsure of what he was looking at, he got closer to the glass jar and studied the bloated Ooman head. Their eyes usually had a brilliant color that flashed brightest when they're bodies were suspended in the air by wrist blades. This creature's eyes though were as pale and milky as Zazin-de's are; this connection did not escape Malweh-te as his brain sprang into action. What if this trophy held the key to what afflicted his fallen comrades? He understood that; if he could reproduce the virus from both Zazin-de and this Ooman head, then he could take that sample and revert it into a cure. He carefully picked up the jar and made his way past the secured docking area, and back towards his lab.

The technician had already left; he deduced, as the main lights were out and nothing but the small lights on the machine blinked…meaning the hum wasn't present. Malweh-te, with the grace of someone a hundred seasons younger than he, ran into the healing chamber room to find only two occupied. Plus, the remaining two were down to 8% each before he was able to find the right cables to reconnect the power. It was no fault but his own; he hadn't explained to the technician that his panels for his lights were rigged to be a part of the same controls for the pressured chambers. In turning off all the lights when he left, he also depowered the chambers, which in turn released the door lock for them. The door to the chamber containing the unhealthiest Yautja somehow had violently opened and the door had pulled out the auxiliary power cables for each chamber, the dying hunter was missing too. Zazin-de sat with glazed eyes, only making weak biting gestures, similar to the undead Ooman head. As the hum fell into place with the blinking lights, Malweh-te took a deep breath and clicked his tusks in thought. "Pauk!"

Hope you all liked chapter, I have part one almost completely finished…but I figured I'd start uploading to build the suspense. Please take the time to review, I feed off of it!