Authors Note: I do not own Aliens or Predators. all other characters belong to me
Detection
Tequani glanced towards the crowd of people standing outside the store. She had sensed someone like herself. It had been a brief touch of the mind, but it had felt unchecked, uncontrolled. She reached out, something she only did when she had to. There. A child. No more than ten. What had happened to him for his power to appear at such a young age? It had to have been something big. Most Powered didn't know it until they reached puberty, when the powers made themselves known. Only a traumatic experience would cause powers to be revealed before puberty. She felt his mind touch her own again. Shield your mind, child, she said to him, using the mind link that all Powered shared. The mind link appeared along with the powers, but it was as much a curse as a gift.
Once, the Powered had hidden, using the mind link to find others. The Organisation had formed, a group of Powered determined to protect each other from those humans without powers who would seek to hurt, kill or experiment on them. Then, twenty years ago, the Yaut'ja invaded. They announced their intention to take over the Earth, using it as a second settlement for their expanding population. The Organisation came out of hiding to protect their fellow humans, using their powers to fight the extraterrestrial hunters. While they had proved to be worthy opponents, they were only a small group, and they had previously only defended themselves against mere humans. Inevitably, the Yaut'ja overpowered them, killing any Powered who would not submit and taking the rest prisoner.
Tequani adjusted her sunglasses and scanned the crowd. There were a few children in the cluster of people. She couldn't tell which one it was. She felt the touch again. Shield your mind. Like this, she shoved her own mental shield into the boy's mind, hiding his thoughts from others. The Yaut'ja had learned a lot about the Powered when the Organisation fell. The Yaut'ja could sense the mind link shared by the Powered, when they were close enough, and didn't hesitate to threaten all surrounding humans until they found the culprit. Every school, kindergarden and child care centre had at least one Yaut'ja in the office, looking out for any emerging Powered. The Powered they found were sent to Yaut'ja Prime to be trained until they were twenty-five, then released on the game planet of the Yaut'ja to be hunted. The Telepaths were the only ones spared this fate, if they agreed to the deal offered by their captors. In exchange for life, the Telepaths worked for the Yaut'ja, hunting renegade Powered. Teleporters were their main target, being able to hide from the world a lot easier than any other Powered. Every now and then a Porter and another Powered would find each other and survive together, travelling and hiding all over the world.