The table was ice-cold, wet from being freshly cleaned of previous blood - her blood. They had always been consistent in that, keeping the table clean for each new visit. A new set of tools for every session. She shivered remembering their electric tool, something akin to a taser. She imagined it hurt much more for the angara, what with their bioelectricity. She looked down at her body to see that only her legs were strapped down, one on each side of the table, the cool air caressing her inner thighs. Lilja shivered.

Her wounds had been closed, she was patched up just enough for another round of torture. Some cuts were crudely stitched together, others cauterized. The Imperator stood at the end of the table, dead eyes watching her closely. He was always watching. Lilja could feel her face wet with tears, she just wanted it to stop. All the pain, the killing. She'd watched all her friends die, she'd watched her brother die.

Lilja stared back through bruised eyes, waiting. There would be questions, always with the questions, and then pain.

The Imperator leaned over her body, his rank breath smothering her when he opened his mouth. "Where do your people come from?"

She glared at him, his boney facial structure adding to the cold look in his eyes. She hated the kett more than she'd hated anything in her life. In fact, she was more than certain that she would be happy spending the rest of her life in Andromeda hunting the bastards down. If she lived that long. She didn't think she would. Perhaps she would just set her sights on The Imperator. If she was dying in this hellhole then he was going down with her.

"Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much," Lilja started, trailing off into painful laughter at the sight of his disgruntled face. She coughed until she could catch her breath, the sound raspy and wet.

"You think your foolish posturing will save you? Do all your people respond like this? Try and use words to make up for your feeble bodies?" His voice was harsh, but confident. He walked to the side of the table, picking up one of the many blades on the tray. "You're all just filthy animals. You don't even deserve exaltation." She knew what was coming next.

Lilja awoke screaming. A hand clamped over her mouth, and she flailed wildly, her panic rising. Strong arms pinned her against the bunk, she could hear a voice whispering, and struggled harder. She felt her heart rate rise, her side throbbed and her bruises protested against the pressure, but her fight-or-flight response won out over the pain.

"Stop moving, human!" the voice finally hissed in irritation, after a beat he began again, softer this time. "You are safe. No one will hurt you here. Shhhh. You are safe."

Lilja took deep breaths struggling to calm herself. Her eyes wide and fearful stared up at the stranger that hovered above. She searched for a familiar face in the alien that stared, but only found pooling blue orbs, speckled with white and purple and pale blue. Her breathing slowed. The eyes were actually rather beautiful, like small planets.

"Thank you," the voice said gruffly.

Lilja sucked in a breath, mortified. "Oh hell, I said that out loud." The alien gave the smallest of smiles that was gone in a second, and she sunk into the bunk, realizing who it was. "Y-you... you're Akksul."

His brows furrowed, his eyes searching hers, for what she didn't know. "Yes," he said quietly.

She pushed his hand away from her mouth, struggling to sit up. His hands curved around her waist, helping her move. Lilja watched his hands, staring at the curious webbed fingers that slipped away from her body. She sat silently as he left, returning with surprising quickness.

He handed her a cup, sitting beside her. "Drink this."

Lilja took the glass, peering inside. "What is it?"

"Dremaagry."

She blinked at him, then at the liquid. "I don't think that translated," she whispered meekly.

His chest rumbled with something akin to a growl. "Just drink it."

She nodded, bringing the cup to her lips and swallowing the murky liquid quickly. It was slow to slide down her throat, thick like honey, and it tasted strange, a little fruity, but the aftertaste was bitter like medicine. Lilja looked up at him, feeling very small under his gaze. "What was that for?"

He grunted. "Go back to sleep, human."

Feeling bewildered, she nodded and sunk back into the bunk with his help. She felt the blanket drop over her body and then the sound of the door opening and closing. Lilja let out a breath, "that was odd."

After finding a comfortable position, she quickly fell back asleep, nightmare free.

xxx

Akksul sulked back down the hall. He couldn't fathom why he had gone towards her room in the first place, but the sound of her screams set his heart rate running like it would with one of his own people. He chalked it up to her small size in comparison. She was like a child, he told himself. He sighed, opening the door to his own room.

Nightfall was coming, and then they could land on Havarl unnoticed. They would need to scout out Daar Paalev, then he would go see Thaldyr, and Onsef would see her husband again, Kjan. For now they orbited the planet, just out of scanning range.

He collapsed onto his bunk, remembering the way the human slept. She was curled into a tight ball when he first entered, and he forced himself to look away. Onsef slept on the bed across the room and he walked over, making sure she was getting the proper rest for her and her child. Then he heard the thrashing, the human tossed her limbs about in a way that would easily reopen her wounds. It took him a moment, but he finally approached the bed, moving to pin her to the bed. He knew she would not like it when she awoke, but she would be thankful to have less pain later.

Akksul rolled onto his side. His lips threatening to tug into a smile at her response to him. Of course, at first she was afraid, but then she stared unabashedly. Whispering about his eyes. He glanced up at his reflection in the glass. Beautiful, she'd said. Like small planets.

His door slid open, Onsef standing in the doorway. "Thank you for helping Lilja."

He huffed. "And here I thought you slept through everything. You could have helped her yourself."

Onsef laughed, walking into the room. "You may fool the others, Akksul, but I saw the look in your eyes. You pity her, and you feel for her pain."

Akksul clenched his jaw, looking away from Onsef's near giddy smile. Perhaps he did pity her. She was covered in wounds, and as Kedh and Onsef had both reminded him, she'd risked her life for angara. It was only right, wasn't it? To pity those more unfortunate. He couldn't imagine that her small body had taken the beating well. And he could still remember the things that they did to their captives.

"No one should have to suffer at the hands of the kett," he said plainly.

Onsef nodded, accepting his answer knowing there was more to it. "I was thinking of introducing her to the family. Jivfa would do well to see that not all aliens are like those in Kadara Port."

Akksul bolted up. "No! You will not." Jivfa was not as lenient towards aliens, he hated all of them - intensely. Onsef thought the best of everyone, and Akksul was glad that she was married to Kjan, who was as kind as she was, but not Jivfa. He was one of the best warriors Akksul knew, but he would kill Lilja. "Go see your husband, but the human stays here."

"And who will look out for her?" Onsef asked, a twinkle of mischief in her eye.

He glared back at her. "Just go. She will be safe here."

xxx

"You look better."

Lilja looked up to see Onsef standing behind her. "The bruises?" she asked, looking at her reflection. She twisted her body this way and that, trying to look at it all. "They're mostly yellow now. Almost healed."

Onsef nodded, placing a gentle hand on Lilja's shoulder, "I will be leaving soon. We are headed down to the planet."

"Which planet?"

"Havarl," Onsef said, a fond smile on her face.

Lilja thought for a minute, the name sounding familiar. She knew that Aya was the seat of their government and the Resitance, and the Voeld was their main military front against the kett, but she couldn't quite remember… "Isn't that...your home world?" Lilja asked, turning to look at Onsef.

"Yes," Onsef replied with a nod.

"And I will be staying on the ship," Lilja said glumly. It wasn't a question. She knew that they wouldn't let her have free range of both the ship and their home world. Not that she had free range of the ship, but so far she hadn't been specifically told she could not go anywhere. She mostly stayed in her room, Onsef would bring her food, and the bathroom was just across the hall.

She smiled sadly, "Akksul thinks that would be best."

"Ah, of course. Don't trust the human near your people."

Onsef shook her head, combing a reassuring hand through Lilja's hair. "Give it time. You will grow on him."

Lilja raised an incredulous eyebrow. "I doubt that."

"You will see, Lilja. Trust me." She smiled and left, giving Lilja some privacy.

Lilja carefully peeled off her clothes, stepping into the shower. She let the water soak her hair, gingerly raking her hands through the tangles. She stared down at the drain, watching as the water changed from a murky brown to clear. Lilja let her hand trace the edges of her body, stopping at each new scar. The one on her side was healing nicely under the angaran doctor's care.

She stepped out of the shower, leaning down to pick up her dirty clothes. She grimaced. There had to be some sort of washing machine somewhere on this ship. Lilja wrapped her towel tightly, and leaned out of the bathroom. The hallway was clear. She tiptoed out, wandering down the hall from room to room. She knew it had to be near the quarters somewhere. Lilja came upon the last door on the hall. She pressed the button on the panel to open the door, looking for an alien version of laundry machines. Instead she stood in front of a very naked angaran.

She gasped. "Sweet lord."

Akksul turned at the sound, and Lilja nearly choked on her own breath. But wow was that man built. She would admit that she'd had the occasional sexual thought about an angara, after all she was naturally curious. But now she has wild images flying through her head, and suddenly she didn't think walking around in a towel was such a good idea. Akksul's broad shoulders flowed down into narrow hips, and the intricate dips and curves of his chest made her curious as to their purpose, her hands itching to touch them, to know what his skin felt like. His body was the same combination of dark and light grey that his face was, all the way down to his... Lilja barely suppressed a squeak, her eyes going wide as she stumbled out the door way, and hurriedly pressed the button to close the door.

She felt her skin flush, a warmth spreading over her in her embarrassment. His... it was so. She swallowed a lump in her throat. It was much more similar to human anatomy than she'd ever thought it would be. Lilja gripped her towel tight and ran back to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She dumped her clothes in the sink, scrubbing as much dirt off as she could with the hand soap. Her temperature fell back to normal as she stood in front of the hand dryer, holding her damp shirt between her hands.

When her clothes were mostly dry she tugged her shirt over her head, struggling to get her pants all the way up as she opened the door to the bathroom. Lilja buttoned them as she left the room, looking both ways to see if Akksul had left his room. When she thought the coast was clear she stepped out, turning down the opposite direction from his room. She was turning around the corner when a hand clamped down on her shoulder, spinning her to face the opposite direction. He guided her down the hall, all the way to where his room was, and she tensed. She thought she heard him chuckle, but the sound was quickly covered up by him opening another door just past his room on the opposite side.

"This," he started, gesturing to the machines, "is where we wash our clothes."

Lilja blinked. "Oh... thank you." Her shoulders slumped in relief. She wasn't sure what she thought would happen, but this certainly wasn't it. She turned and looked up at him, and he simply shook his head at her.

"Here. Onsef brought these for you," he said, handing her a pile of clothing. "She seemed to think they would fit you."

She blinked at the clothes, taking them slowly. But how would angaran clothes fit her?

"They're human. There was a merchant that happened to have them," he explained gruffly.

Lilja nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. She really did need to stop saying her thoughts aloud.


A/N: Reviews? Reviews for the poor?

Thank you to my first reviewer, whoever you are sweet guest. It's always nice to know what the readers think! :)