Author's note: thank you for your kind reviews so far, I can only imagine that it's quite irritating to decipher my writing... ;)


The soft humming of the ship combined with the very dim, reddish light had something hypnotizing. And almost hypnotized, he truly was. Sitting in a large chair, he ran a hand over his face while staring at the motionless body laying on the examination table. The chair turned by 180 degrees and a holographic display of her body appeared in front of him. Pauk! He thought, distressed. He had expected her anatomy being very different from his own. They both were humanoids, of course. But everything else... her nervous system, metabolism, bone structure, circulatory system... Rhajk'de had no idea how to fix her, what had possessed him to even think of that? He had not left the room since he brought her, almost a cycle ago. Yautja technology was far more developed than that of the oomans, but Rhajk'de's ship was made to fit his needs, it only offered the most necessary medical devices. It was his own, almost like a home to him since back then, when he became a warrior. He had done what he could to stabilize the female, fixed her spine and healed the fracture of her skull. But she was still comatose and the holograph he was looking at showed him why. Tiny fissures crossed the tissue of her brain, witnessing of a brutal impact. This would clearly resume in a cerebral hemorrhage - and that would be her death. There was no way he could repair that, he was no medic. To try would, certainly, kill her. He wanted her to live, but he surely would not present her to a medic on the clan ship. If she were Yautja, her body would eventually heal itself.

If she will not wake from her Dhi'ki-de soon, there is no hope for her.


Earlier this day, Net'ej tried to knock sense in his head, make him understand that this was not right, that he would dishonor himself by aiding such a feeble creature. Net'ej understood that she had helped his brother, but yet he was sure Rhajk'de was taking his sense of honor way too far. But Rhajk'de was stubborn, had always been.

"This is nothing but madness!" Net'ej told him, and Rhajk'de had a simple answer to that.

"This is my ship and I can do whatever the fuck I want to!"

His brother only shook his head and huffed. "Right know you are acting like a jerk while I play the wise, calm and settled older one. You know it should be the other way?" he stated.

Normally, Rhajk would not lose his calm so easily, but he just had not been in a situation like this before. "Forgive me, brother. Of course you are right, I am the older one and I should not have reacted like I did. I will not put my honor at risk nor will I dishonor you. Someday, when you are older you will understand my actions, and you will learn to accept and value the courage of another, even if it will be... an ooman. No one must know about this, you understand?"

"Sei-i." Net'ej nodded. "May I leave now, my presence on the clan ship is required."

"Of course."

Net'ej peeked past his brother at the female, then back to Rhajk'de. "May I add, she's not that ugly, for an ooman."

"You may not! Be gone!" Rhajk'de barked, suppressing the strong need to knock that stupid grin out of Net'ej's face.


As the hours passed, Rhajk'de could no longer ignore the inevitability of her death. There might be a way... A faint voice in his head said, and Rhajk'de wondered if he was going crazy to even think of that. Among the elders it was said that many years ago, a high ranked Yautja Veteran gave his blood to an ooman female. During a hunt on the blue planet, he found her almost dead in a street, she had been raped and tortured by males of her own kind. He gave her just a small amount of his blood, but the result was tremendous. Her body drew new strength from the blood and was able to heal. Somehow, the veteran found the three males who had done this to her – he slaughtered them all. The female never found out what happened, and the veteran never returned, never told his story - until the day he died, old and honored. If he would give her his blood, just a drop... maybe it would be enough to bestow her body the strength to heal itself. There was no law which would forbid such a thing, nor would there be another Yautja being foolish enough to try – except of the veteran, and him of course. Rhajk'de assumed that such a small amount of his blood would only have a temporary effect, but though he could not exclude possible side effects. No matter what will happen, he would have to bear the responsibility for it. He shifted in his chair, rumbling deep from his throat, staring at he female. He clicked to her as if he wanted to ask her for permission, aware that she would not answer. Paya, I know you will let me suffer for this... he thought and got up, preparing the injection for her.


The sounds of unknown machines filled her ears, a sultry heat surrounded her and someone was using a sledgehammer in her head. Sighing, Robyn slowly opened her eyes. What the hell had happened? She tried to remember but the last thing she knew was the faceless head of that horrible creature right in front of her.

I should be dead...

Staring at he ceiling first, she let her eyes wander around the room she was in. It was mostly black, with red lights and buttons here and there. Also, there were several consoles and devices she had never seen before. As she sat up, Robyn recognized that the table she was sitting on was too high to even touch the floor with her feet. And, what was most important – there was large and elliptic porthole. Looking through it, she saw nothing but darkness and a slowly rising, blue planet.

What the heck? I am on a spaceship? In space... On a spaceship...!

She could not arrange her thoughts fast enough as her stomach suddenly decided to discharge its contents right now onto the floor. She wasn't sure what it was, her immense headache or the trauma of being in a spaceship. Maybe she was dreaming? No, if this would be a dream, that embarrassing patch of puke right underneath her wriggling toes would turn into beautiful smelling flowers. She couldn't stop staring at it.

Eww. Charming.

With some difficulty, Robyn managed to get off the table and walked over to the porthole. Disbelief and wonder filled her eyes as she looked at the planet that seemed to be so close, but yet so far away. A slight fear overcame her, but considering that she was here because he had obviously decided to save her ass, the fear lessened. Yet he had not threatened her or given her a reason to fear him, but he was no puppet or a jerk in a costume . He was one real, huge and without a doubt, dangerous and frightening creature. Robyn made a mental remark to better not forget that. She sighed, wishing there was a mirror in that room. Or something to erase her little accident there on the floor. Slowly and on bare feet, she walked through the room until she reached a narrow corridor. It was hot in here, maybe around 30 or 32 degrees, the air was thick and made it arduous to breathe for Robyn. But the more she inhaled, the easier it was. All of a sudden, she heard thundering footsteps not too far away and froze. Coming around the corner, Rhajk'de noticed the smaller figure standing a few steps in front of him. He stopped immediately, regarding her soft facial features for a moment. He could not help but give a slight trill and some curious clicks at her. He wore no mask, no metal armor and looked somehow... impressive. "Hey, big guy." she greeted him, smiling softly.

Paya! She is alive!

Rhajk'de approached her, adjusting his gauntlet to scan her. The fissures in her head were gone, his blood had obviously helped her. With a low growl, he walked past her and motioned for her to follow. Robyn didn't move at first, but when he gave her a slightly annoyed snarl she obeyed. Dumbfounded, Rhajk'de considered her little "present" on the floor.

"Uhm, I'm sorry... couldn't help it. Really, I don't think I've ever been this embarrassed..." Her eyes stuck at the floor in shame. Suddenly, she wondered about the weird noise he made. She dared to look at him and realized that he was actually laughing. It sounded strange, coarse and grimy.

He went over to one of the consoles and took the mask which lie on top of it. Equipping it and tilting his head to the side, Rhajk'de looked at her. "My ship. Do not fear. Safe." He informed her in a calm and deep tone.

Robyn nodded, searching for the right words to form the question she had in her mind. "Why? Why did you save me?"

"Honor. Had to, you did the same for me. Still weak, badly injured."

"I know... thought I'd be dead. What happened? I mean that thing, the other alien?"

"Prey. Ultimate prey, Yautja hunt since ancient times. Xenomorphs, hard meat."

"On earth? I don't think that was coincidence I mean... how did they came to earth?" He held her gaze for a moment, then he turned around and walked away. Robyn followed, still waiting for the answer to her question.

"Bad bloods kept them on board, their larval stage. Escaped."

"Oh..." was all she could say. Rhajk'de was not sure what to do with her now, she was not fully healed and he did not know yet if his blood had side effects on her. It would be best to keep her here for another day, but that would also mean to delay his hunt for the bad blood. When they reached the observation room, Rhajk'de stopped and motioned for her to sit down. Robyn took a look around, this room was much like the other, but it also had a big table and some more chairs in it.

"You need to eat. Stay here, will bring you food."

She felt quite dwarfed considering the height of that table or the width of those chairs. For a brief moment she cursed herself for her naivety, regarding to her current situation, it would be more than appropriate to freak out - so why didn't she?

Better than being dead, Bobbie. Actually, it's kind of cozy here. Damn, my head is killing me, could be the air...

Rhajk'de returned with a plate of food and placed it on the table. He sat down towards her and watched her eyeing the food. She picked a Naxa fruit, rolling it in her hand and sniffing it warily.

Does she think I want to poison her? "Called Naxa, you will like this. Try."

Hesitant and without losing eye contact, Robyn took a bite and made an astonished "mhhhh!" sound. "That's delicious, thank you Rhajk'de."

Well, that was a first. The first time she had called him by his name instead of "big guy." He approved of that and chirped at her contently. Though, he wasn't sure how to handle her name. Maybe he could simply give her another one? He thought back to the moment when he found her almost dead in the grip of the hard meat. She had tried to kill it with that ridiculously small knife... "Da'hdtou-di!" he trilled, and Robyn looked at him quizzically.

"What?"

"Da'hdtou-di, suits good. Little knife."

Wait, was he giving her a nickname? "No, no I don't think I like that. Why little knife? I'm not really...little, you know?" she asked, chewing on her Naxa.

He took the ceremonial dagger from his leg holster and rammed it into the table, making Robyn jump in her seat. "Next time you want to kill a hard meat, should use bigger knife."

There it was again, that raspy laughter from hell – but Robyn didn't mind, it made her laugh, too. For what seemed to be an eternity, both of them said nothing and just ate. But Robyn could no longer ignore the fact that she needed to go back again, back to her home. "So... when can I go back, you know, to earth?"

"Do not worry, will take you back soon. But you need to rest."

Robyn nodded, knowing he was right. Though, there was another point to discuss and it didn't make her feel very comfortable. "Rhajk'de, is there a place where I can take a shower or something like that, clean myself...?" He tilted his head and much to her relief, he nodded.

"Bathe, yes. Come, will show you."

About an hour later, Robyn felt refreshed and relaxed like never before. Big guy really had a shower aboard, a huge shower. After he had shown her how to use it, Robyn had enjoyed it as long as possible. Wrapping herself up in a way too large cloth which seemed to be some kind of a towel, she wondered where Rhajk'de was. She still didn't know where to sleep. He awaited her in the observation room, somewhat shocked seeing her dressed in only his towel. Hiding his astonishment, he motioned for her to follow him. With some taps of his claw on a touchscreen, he opened a door which led into another room. This room was different to the others she had seen. It was also very dim, but without all the technical stuff. It was sparsely furnished, only a small table and a chair, a console and the largest bed she had ever seen, right in the middle of the room. Robyn opened and closed her mouth slowly, not quite sure what to say. "Is that... your bedroom?"

"Yes." he stated dryly.

Uh oh.

"But...?"

He tilted his head to her, sensing her stress. "You may sleep here. Will stay on the bridge, do not need to sleep as often as oomans do."

Robyn sighed and felt stupid. "Okay, thank you." she said, trying to smile.

"The door to the left is another bathroom. The other door is none of your concern. Understand?" His voice sounded determined but not threatening, and Robyn nodded in agreement. "Sleep well." he rumbled and left her alone.

Robyn just stood there for a while, staring into the darkness before she finally allowed herself to fall into the bed, creeping underneath the furry blankets. Although her mind was busy and she had so much to think about, the humming of the ship swayed her into sleep within minutes.


Meanwhile, Rhajk'de sat on the bridge in his chair. It was true what he told her, he did not need as much sleep as an ooman did. But actually, he hadn't slept at all during the last two days. Net'ej would laugh his ass off seeing him like that, crouched into the pilot chair while the female slept happily in his bed. He grunted, rolling his eyes. There was nothing else he could have done, except he wanted to share his bed with her. What? Never had a female slept in his bed. Of course, he had often shared a bed, a floor, a table... with a female – but not his bed. Though, he had allowed her to sleep in it and that somehow unsettled him. Rhajk'de tried to distract himself, figuring out what to do about the bad blood, considering his next steps. Surely he would not lose his head again and step into a trap, he would be very careful like he should have been before. Slowly, he felt sleep wash over him. But before he drifted away, a certain unsettling thought returned to him once again...

In my bed. Bare.


Dhi'ki-de - coma, unconscious, death

Paya - a god, conquering warrior

Da'hdtou-di - Little Knife (feminine)

Naxa - type of fruit

Sei-i - "yes"