Chapter 7
Gaining the upper hand
Xan awoke slowly with his eyes blurred and a splitting head ache. His vision mode was still on but it didn't help take the disorientation away. He pushed himself off the floor and sat up. He shook his head in an attempted to clear the blurriness. When his vision was clear he saw that he was high in the stands. He then saw Alice's faint energy signal, she was alive but hurt badly. Xan turned his focus on Crescent who was just standing down it the arena laughing.
His energy signature was strong, and has his heart beat it would make the aura around him explode to high levels. Xan couldn't let him kill Alice then his attempt would have all been for nothing. He pulled out a compressed star from his belt, and stumbled to his feet. Xan through the star at Crescent; the star's blades slung out, making it fly faster. It tore through the air at its target. The star imbedded itself into the back of Crescent's neck, at the base. Xan smiled at his successful hit, but that changed soon after.
Crescent reached back for the star, ripping it free of his neck. He turned around to see were the star came from. He stared at Xan, and dropped the star. Xan looked around, completely out of ideas and looking for one. That's when he noticed his spear in the middle of the ring. Crescent noticed it to then looked back at Xan. He ran for the spear then jumped for it. Crescent ran to the spear to cut him off. Xan was mere feet away from grasping the spear, but Crescent got to him first. He was kicked in the side, and curled up as he sailed into a wall. Xan's body fell from the wall and he coughed up blood. Crescent walked over to him, chuckling has he did so.
Xan saw the spear behind him, but there was no way he could get it now. Just then he saw Alice stand up. Xan thought to himself "Come on Alice, get the spear". Then she looked at Xan, then back at the spear. Alice ran for the spear as fast as she could and on all fours. Xan was amazed at her speed; it was faster than any xeno he had seen. She snatched up the spear as she ran by. She then leaped onto Crescent's back, throwing the spear to Xan in the process. She continuously stabbed her tail into his back, as she had a hold on his neck with her teeth and claws. Crescent flailed around, trying to get her off. Then she missed a stab with her tail, and that gave him a chance to grab it. He pulled on her tail and she came off. He spun around holding her tail, and then released her. Alice was thrown away from him, landing on the other side of the arena.
Crescent turned around and felt a strong burning pain a crossed his abdomen. He saw Xan standing there, his spear in full blaze burning away. He looked down at his abdomen; a gaping smoking gash was there. Crescent held his wound and looked back at Xan. He still stood there staring him down. "Hurts don't it" says Xan proudly. Crescent tried to heal the gash but failed to do so. For once he was worried, and scared, something that he had never felt before. "Who ever thought that my weapon could be the one thing that kills you" he says still proud. Xan quickly slashed at Crescent. He jumped back to dodge it but didn't succeed. The burning spear ripped through Crescent's chest armor, but didn't stop there. The fiery blade tore through his flesh, muscle, bone, and just missed his heart.
The wound burned with fire, after the blade left his body, for a few seconds. Crescent passed out from the pain. Xan stood there staring at Crescent's smoking body. He raised his spear up over his head and prepared to stab him, but something was wrong. He felt a pain in his chest; he dropped his spear and fell to his knees. He coughed up a large amount of blood, and darkness surrounded his vision till all he saw was darkness.
Xan slowly started drifting back into his dream, only this time it was different. The dark figure he couldn't see was becoming clear. He was tall, dark gray skin, very long blue dreadlocks, and the darkest black armor he had ever seen. His eyes glow with red fire as was the light behind him. Then he heard a deep voice calling his name, Xanathar, Xanathar, Xanathar. The voice became faster and shortened his name. Xan, Xan, Xan. The voice quickly became less deep, and more female.
Xan opened his eyes and saw Alice looking down at him "Xan, Xan are ok". "No I'm not, but it doesn't matter we need to get out of here" he says. Xan sits up and looks over at Crescent s body. The wounds had stopped burning and were slowly healing. "We need to hurry, help me up" he says. Alice helped Xan up to his feet; he picked up his spear and retracted it. He clipped it back on his belt, and walked to the exit. The plan had changed, now they would have to take a drop ship. Taking the Ashcon ship would be impossible now. Crescent would wake up and have the whole clan after him before he could take it.
The docks were not far from the arena, but they had to take it slow. Xan's chest hurt each time he would take a breath. When they arrived at the dock, he opened the doors. There was still only one drop ship, so that stopped any one from following them for a short time. They climbed aboard the ship, and Xan staggered to the controls. All he wanted to do was sleep but he couldn't until they were far away. He hacked the air lock open, and dropped out into space. He set a course, started the engines, and set them on full thrust. He kept them going until there was no sign of the Crescent or the Ashcon ship.
Now that it was clear he set a course for LV142 fired up the warp drive. The planet he research oomans for 20 years. That would be his best option to hide; he knew the planet well and could survive for as long as he needed. Xan was really starting to fell the pain now; he couldn't take a breath without agonizing pain. He staggered his way to the middle of the ship. Alice, who stayed by the door, helped him walk along the way. Xan approached what resembled a coffin standing on its end.
He activated its systems via computer panel. "Alice I'll be asleep for awhile, so don't touch anything" he says. Alice nodded, and smiled. Xan stepped into the coffin like machine, the machine closed after he stepped in. Then soon after that several needles came from the door of the machine, and punctured deep into his chest. The pain was severe for a second, but the fast acting pain killers stopped that. He drifted to sleep not to long after that, the tank would noticeably speed his recovery. These machines were only used for the severely injured or dieing, and Xan was dieing. His ribs had shattered, and they punctured his lungs. He was bleeding internally; his only chance was this machine.
Alice wandered the ship looking for something to keep her occupied while Xan was in the coffin machine. She saw some things that interested her, but not for long. Until she came a crossed a room in the very back of the ship. The room was dark, to normal eyes but Alice could see perfectly. In the back of the room was a small cage, she could somehow sense something was in there. She approached it carefully to get a better look; a few small lights came on around the cage as she got closer. The lights startled her, but she continued to get closer. What ever was in the cage was awakened by the lights. A hiss came from the cage, and then it started to shake. More lights came on above it, giving Alice clear view of what was inside.
The creature was jet black in color, defined skeletal fetchers. Its head was long and smooth and had no eyes that she could see. The creature was on all fours like a dog, and half Alice s size. It had a short bony spin like tail, with a small dagger looking spike on it. The animal looked at Alice in a puzzled manner, she just stared back. Then she heard a voice come from the creature, but the voice seemed to come from he mind as well "Queen? Are you queen"? The voice was just like when she heard Xan in the arena. Confused Alice stepped back a little. "You have sent of queen" the voice says. "What are you, and how are you doing this" says Alice in English and out loud. "Help kill invaders if you free me" says the voice again in the same way. She yelled in her first known language "what are you talking about"? The creature responded back through her thoughts "the soft-skinned predators that kill us, I sense one near".
Alice thought of what the creature meant, the only one else on board was Xan. Then it dawned on her, this thing wanted to kill him. The one creature that ever showed interest or kindness to her. She couldn't let that happen, not after he tried so hard to keep her safe. Now she could return the favor. Alice thrust her tail between the bars of the cage so fast the creature never flinched. The bladed tail went right through the animals head with ease, and exited through the back. The animal twitched for a bit then fell limb. She pulled her tail back through the bars as they slid the body off of it.
The yellowish blood of the creature spread out over the floor of the cage. It started to smoke, and crackle. The blood did this for a minute or two, and then just stopped altogether. This caused a memory to come back to her; the smell of the blood was all too familiar. She held out her hand and extended her index finger. Then with the claw on her thumb, she cut a finger open. The drop of yellowish blood fell off her finger and to the ground. It smoldered for a while then stopped. Alice looked at the creature's dead body, and then backed out of the room. She walked away from the room until she found another room with a cot like bed. She curled up on the bed and fell asleep from exhaustion.
Chapter 8
Meeting Old Prey
The ship came out of warp drive and slowly came alive when it came in range of its destination. The auto pilot located the safest place to land near the only inhabited city. The ship began its decent to its landing zone; the entry into the plant's atmosphere was rough. The shipped shook violently, and the inside rattled, but the ship seemed to make it through alright. The ship was closer to the landing zone now. The shacking put it off course, but it corrected itself after reentry. The landing itself wasn't to smooth ether, but other than landing on a few trees it was good enough.
The coffin machine opened and out stumbled Xan, he managed to get to his feet and start to walk. He managed to make it to the ships exit door, after stumbling and tripping from dizziness. He pressed the palm sized button to open to door. The door fell like a draw bridge to the grassy ground. It was night time on this planet, and it became very dark here because this planet didn't have a moon. The sky was always very cloudy, and at night it didn't let even star light in. He walked down the ramp, and stopped at the blue tinted grass. He was becoming short of breath, but he still tried to walk on. He didn't get far until he became so exhausted, he collapsed to his knees. Xan became light headed and gasping for air. He fell forward, and landed on his stomach. Then he blacked out from his light headedness.
Xan's sight faded from darkness, slowly becoming clear. He sat up slowly due to his head ache. He looked around the room and realized he was back in the ship. He heard something walking towards the room, he figured it was Alice. But when an ooman female stepped through the door, he was more that a little surprised. "Oh you're awake" she says. "What are you doing here ooman? Don't you know were you are" Xan says. "I guess it has been a while if you can't remember me" she says. This was odd, this ooman wasn't afraid of him, and she acted like she new him well. Xan couldn't remember her, but considering what he's been through it was no surprise.
The ooman was around 5'7", with dark tanned skin, and strait long black hair. Her body was slender and athletic; she had a few scars on her hands and arms. She wore a brown and black short sleeve shirt and jacket, and tight dark brown pants. Nothing about her rang any bells, until he looked directly into her eyes. Her eyes were so bright blue that they seemed to glow. Seeing this struck his memory, and he knew exactly who she was.
"Aika? Is that you? Wow! You've changed" he says. "Well it has been 8 years since you left" she says. "8 years? It doesn't seem that long, so you would be 23 now" he says. "All right enough about me, why are you back here?" she asks. "Long story and I'd rather not discus it" says Xan. "Just like always; you would never tell me anything about yourself" she says. Xan couldn't tell her anything about the yautja back then. Bad blood or not it was still against the code to tell of the yautja culture, unless they earned it. He slid off the table and stretched his arms, his joints popping as he did so. He felt much better now that his head ache and dizziness were gone. "Wait a minute" he says. "There was someone else one the ship with me, where is she?" he asks. "Another one of you" Aika asks. "No completely different" he replies. "I've been on this ship for a couple of hours now, and I haven't seen anyone else but you" she says.
"Damn it! She must have gone into the jungle" Xan says to himself. "I'll just have to find her later. Xan examined his chest for any reminds of scaring, which there was none, but while doing this he realized he was naked. He looked back up at Aika who was sorting through some stuff on a small table. "Where are my clothes?" he asks. Aika continues what she's doing "what?" "Give my clothes back Aika" Xan says in a stern tone of voice. "Alright here" she says; throwing his pants at him. Xan catches them, and puts them on. When he finishes he stares back at her. "Oh, don't be mad. I've been curious about you since you left, and when I brought you in here I decided to go head and look" she says. He stretched some more and looked around for his armor. "Your a lot more human like then I thought you where" she says.
Xan snarled at her for the comment. "What? Is that so bad" she says. He knew he had no right to defend his race. He was an exile; an exile from the bad bloods, and there wasn't any lower place for a yautja that. The only place for Xan now was who ever would accept him. He turned towards a small, hanging, metal cabinet on the wall. He walked over to it and opened the door. He pulled a breath mask out, and turned around towards the doorway. He began to walk, but stopped in the door way. "Sorry, come outside with me" he says. As Xan and Aika walk down the hall; he put on the breath mask. Aika watched as he put it on "what's the mask for?" she asks. "My species has trouble breathing ooman air, and these masks solve that" he says. "Is that why you were passed out in the jungle?" she asks. "Yes, I wasn't thinking clearly when I stepped off the ship" says Xan.
They came to the exit door of the ship, and Xan released the door revealing the day light jungle. The both of them stepped out of the ship and walked down the ramp. Xan began circling the ship to see what shape it was in. the ship was more damaged than he would have liked. So much in fact that he wasn't sure if he would be able to fix it without the repair tools of Yautja technology. The trees the ship landed on were small, and now lay sprawled out from the ship.
He came back around the ship to stand next to Aika, but still looking at the ship. "It's not in good shape, looks like I'm going too be here awhile" he says. "Sorry for your luck" says Aika. "Its ok, I need to lay low for a while anyway, I've kind of gotten into some trouble" he says with a sigh. "Is that the long story you didn't want to talk about" she says. Xan turns to Aika and points to her scared arms. "So what are these from" he says, trying to change the subject. "Oh these, it s a long story, and I don t want to talk about it" she replies. "Point taken" he says.
He stared at the ship for a minute then spoke up, "I broke many of my clan's codes, and I fled here before I received the full punishment". "That's good enough. My scars are from the fights with the beasts that ravage my home" she says. "You mean the razor backs still threaten your kind" says Xan. "They are just too strong; we had them beat because of our weapons. Now that are supplies have stopped coming from the base planet, we are running out of ammo" she says. "Base planet? What happened to them" he asks. "We don't know we lost contacted with them over a month ago, and the pigs are attacking more and more now" she says. Xan was beginning to wonder if the planet he blew up was their base planet. "We've tried to make crude swords and spears now, but there is no point they can't stop them" she says.
"With out guns, oomans stand no chance against the razor backs" he says. Aika looked at Xan, insulted by his remark. He apologized for what he said, he had forgotten that oomans can't take the truth very well, especially females. "I'd hate to admit it but your right; we've already lost 40 people in the course of month. They are growing more confident; attacking us earlier in the day, before we are wake up" she says. "How many of them have you killed yourself?" asks Xan. She lets out a sigh and answers "two with a pulse rifle, and one with these". She pulled two metal objects from her jacket, and held them out to Xan. They were short brood blades with knuckle busters at the base of each.
He held them both in one hand; examining them. They were made of steel, and were covered with scratches and nicks. "Did you make these?" Xan asked. "Yes" Aika replied. "They're not to bad, pretty good as far as ooman standers go" he replies. "Thanks I think" she says scratching her head it confusion. He handed the weapons back to her, and she put them back in her jacket. After that she just stared at Xan hoping he would get the hint. "I know what your trying to ask and the answer is no" he says. Aika looked at him with a pleading, sad looking expression. "Listen I can't interfere with your people's fate" he says. "But you said yourself that you have already broke your clans rules and fled them, so why cant you help us when you're the only one who can" says Aika as her eyes became teary. Xan couldn't stand to see her cry, ever since she was a little girl, which is part of the reason he disliked hunting them. He saw no challenge in any creature that could cry.
Plus she had a point; he had broken away from the yautja clans, so why was he still protecting their ways. When he was a bad blood he was being hunted by the arbiter's clan, and now that he had run from the bad bloods, he would now be hunted by them to. Xan had become a merc, Yautja that drifted through space taking on odd jobs and bounty missions. "Alright alright, listen I'll see what I can do, but I will not pull your people's weight for them. I expect them to fight as hard as they have been" he says. "Oh thank you! I know we have a chance if you help" says Aika. "Try to keep me being here a secret, I would rather like to be undiscovered" he says. "Don't worry, I can keep it under wraps" she says. Xan walks up the entrance ramp to the ship. "Were you going?" says Aika. He stops and turns to her. "Come back tomorrow, I've got things to do" he says. Xan turns back around, and continues up to the ship. Aika watches as he shuts the door and the ramp goes up. When the ship was sealed she walked off into the woods.
Xan begins to look over the inside of the ship now that Aika was gone. He did a scan of the ship for other life forms other than himself, but there was none. Although the scans picked up a dead life form. He got a sinking feeling in his gut when he saw this. He thought it was Alice, but he kept doubt in his mind to counter act the felling. He walked towards the back of the ship to the room the corpse was in. When he approached the door Xan stopped for a minute, and then proceeded to open it. His attention was immediately drawn to the dead xeno in the cage. Once he saw what it was the sinking felling went away. He approached the slaughtered xeno runner to examine it. It didn't take him long to figure out that Alice was responsible for this. But he was puzzled as to why she would have killed it at all. She was very closely related to xenos, and this one couldn't pose a threat in a cage, so why would she kill it.
He was starting to worry more about Alice; what would happen if she came across the ooman compound. How would she react? Xan already knew how oomans would react; they would shoot her on sight. He left the room and headed back to the sleeping quarters. He lay down on the stiff cushion and stared up at the ceiling; thinking of what to do. Xan thought that it would be a good idea if he stayed in the ooman city. In case Alice appeared there looking for food, and if the razor backs stormed the city. The oomans would just have to deal with him being among them.
He left the small room, and proceeded to the ships sleeping quarters. Xan had fully healed from his injuries, but he still felt a little worn out and groggy. He figured a short nap would be better for him then stepping back into the coffin like machine. As he walked passed the machine he reset its systems, so it could be used again quickly just in case. When he finished that he locked down and cloaked the ship; just to make sure that no one could notice him. Felling more secure; he headed for the bed. He dropped down onto the bed and let his arms hang over the sides. He took a deep breath and drifted to sleep.
