Jake took another sip from his cold coffee cup and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Glancing at the clock on the desk next to his console screen, he sighed when he read '0412'. He'd been sitting here for hours and hours, staring expressionlessly into the flickering light of the screen. He had population counts, inventories, schematics and potential strategies for the defence of both the ship and their destination planet.

"Jacob? What the hell are you doing still up?" Jeica murmured, appearing behind his seat on the bridge, lieutenant's cap pulled down over messy hair. Had Jake's brain been functioning properly, he would have concluded Jeica was probably ashamed of serving with such valour under criminals and against an innocent species, hence the stepping down from her leader position.

"Planning. I think I've covered planetary defence, but –"

"Jacob, we've got weeks to prepare for that. Get some sleep for god's sake." Jake sighed and shut the screen off grudgingly.

"Okay, okay, I'll get some sleep. Come on 'Vena." Jake took a few steps towards the door, then stopped and turned around in confusion. Advena was still dozing soundly on the floor next to his seat, apparently oblivious to the world. Jake felt a pang of guilt for keeping her up that late, and suddenly remembered something Sal had mentioned a while back. He concentrated, and sure enough, easily slipped into Advena's body, lifting his head off the floor and cringing at the close call when his body slumped to the ground, only to be caught at the last second by Jeica.

"Ah, Advena. Er, Jake may have just passed out from exhaustion."

"Nope, still me," Jake informed her, gently taking his own body from her arms and clutching it to his chest. Wow, he was incredibly light in this body.

"Oh, that is weird," Jeica muttered. Jake chuckled and carried himself back to his room, where he curled up comfortably with his Xenomorph-occupied body in bed. Lazily, he drifted back into his own form once more, and allowed himself to drift off to sleep, still grinning tiredly at his little stunt.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

"Uuuuugh," Jake groaned dramatically. "She's making too big of a deal out of this." Advena giggled at him as he once more tried fruitlessly to guess the password to the bridge door. Jeica had locked him out, demanding that he take a couple of days off.

"Well, it's not all bad. Maybe you and I can finally do some more romantic stuff together." Jake couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"You are such an opportunist. Fine, this stupid thing isn't opening, let's just grab some breakfast."

"You mean lunch," Advena corrected him. It was true; Jake had indeed slept in until the ship's equivalent of midday as a result of the morning's endeavours. He'd been doing a lot of that lately, it seemed, ever since he'd met Advena. He rolled his eyes and merely strode down the long corridor which would lead him to the mess hall. His lips curled into a proud smile when he stepped into the scene beyond. All around the room, humans were having active conversations with Xenomorphs, some tables having a designated telepath to relay information to the non-telepaths. It was a lot easier for the humans to Bond with Xenomorphs now that they knew what they were doing – the problem was finding out which Xeno went with which human.

The duo stepped around a playful wrestle between two Xenomorphs taking place in the middle of the floor, spectators shouting their encouragements and cheering their chosen alien on, and finally made it up to the canteen, where a middle-aged lady with a kind smile was lounging on the counter.

"What'll it be Mister Strong-and-Handsome Leader?" she jibed playfully. Advena bristled at the word 'handsome', but refrained from releasing a hostile hiss. Jake chuckled at the jealously drifting from her mind like a trail of smoke. Maybe they really did need to spend some more time together; she was getting antsy – perhaps even paranoid that he didn't love her.

"Watcha got?" he chuckled.

"Er, mashed potatoes, macaroni, crackers, green salad and some bacon strips."

"Bit of everything for me please. And you?" He directed the last part at Advena, who hummed in thought.

"Respectful adjectives for peoples' boyfriends," she decided finally.

"Bacon, potato and a little salad on the side for the lady," Jake told the kitchen hand.

"Coming right up. Oh, and don't miss breakfast tomorrow – we're cookin' pancakes."

"I'll try not to sleep in too late," Jake assured her with a chuckle. "Did you just call me your boyfriend?"

"Is that a problem?" Jake shook his head bemusedly and accepted his tray of food, Advena quickly following suit.

"I guess I expected at least a day's notice before you decided we're a couple." Advena gave her signature victorious smile when that was all the argument he had, and the duo navigated towards the nearest unoccupied table so they could begin digging into their meal quietly. Minutes later, they were joined by two marines.

"Hey Cap," the male one of the two greeted Jake. He looked up at the speaker, and was surprised to see Lance Corporal Sitherland, and sitting next to him across the table from the duo was Corporal Piotra – two of the four other survivors from the bug hunt where Jake had been impregnated.

"Cap?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Y'know, 'Captain'. Cap. This is your ship, isn't it? Makes you captain."

"Well, sure I helped steal it, but I'm not the one running this thing," Jake corrected him. "Still, it's good to see you guys again. Not many people survived the mission…" Jake caught the quick glance which Piotra threw at Advena, grimacing when he felt the shame it caused his companion.

"But we all know that was Weyland's fault," Sitherland added. "We were just another experiment to them; meat to feed the Xenomorphs. Joke's on them though; the Xenos were good guys all along, and without them, we wouldn't be here." Still, it was obvious by their behaviour that they weren't fully comfortable around a creature which had slaughtered many people before, and it showed through in the way of nervous glances, fidgeting and awkwardly avoiding eye contact with Advena. It didn't help that neither marine had been impregnated, so there would be no Bond or telepathy to help sway them.

There was a sudden, piercing screech which rose above the racket of the mess hall, causing silence to fall like a heavy blanket as a solitary Xenomorph stumbled and tripped over furniture in its haste to get out of the room.

"What the hell…?" Jake muttered. He was no expert, but he had been beginning to notice physical differences in Xenomorphs – subtle things, like head shape, height, tail length and tip, postures, spines and body shapes. Enough to pick out Xenomorphs he was acquainted with. "Was that…?"

"Sal? Yes, yes it was. Something tells me this has something to do with Tyler…" Jake sighed and quickly hurdled his chair, slowly warming up into a jog, then an all-out sprint to catch up to Sal. Not only was he a Xenomorph, but a Runner. That made him really annoying to try – and fail – to keep up with. Advena led the way with her superior speed, bounding through the bridge door as Jake groaned. A panel had been unbolted from the wall, allowing access to the wiring beyond. The cables in question had been tampered with and fixed to a small bypass device, which was currently displaying a loading bar labelled '100%'. Once inside, he swore under his breath.

Tyler was stumbling backwards, clutching a bleeding hand to his chest and cursing lividly while Sal frantically advanced on him, trying desperately to soothe the young human. Meanwhile, Advena was low on her haunches, muscles tensed ready to…

"Oh no…" Jake groaned. Advena pounced, colliding with Sal forcefully and sending him crashing into a wall. "Advena!" he barked, but all he received in response was a haze of blood rage. Sal was too shocked to respond for a second, earning him a slash across the face, three deep grooves in his cheek now leaking sizzling blood.

"I didn't hurt him!" Sal screeched defensively, holding his hands over his head in a pitiful attempt to shield himself. "He took a swing at me and cut himself on my teeth!"

"Shut up you vile, lying, abusive scumbag!" Jake yelled. He couldn't stop himself, he wasn't in control of his body anymore. He struggled desperately with the boiling rage racing through his blood, mind clashing together with Advena's in an overpowering display of hate. He fell to his knees and clutched his head as Advena continued laying into the prone form of Sal, even as he screamed protests. Eventually, he realised Advena wasn't stopping and began fighting back. He shoved her off of him roughly and rolled onto his feet, whipping his tail up before him to sway threateningly. Advena jumped onto all fours and began circling, hissing aggressively, while Sal sidestepped to remain facing her. When it was clear she wasn't getting on his blind side, Advena simply leapt into him, clashing head-on.

There was more to her plan, however, as her momentum sent Sal crashing into the wall behind him, stunning him for precious half-seconds. Advena's tail whipped under him next, yanking his legs out and forcing him back onto the ground, allowing her to rake her claws down his back, tearing open his flesh and spraying acidic blood up the walls.

"Stop it!" Jake yelled both mentally and verbally, but Advena refused to listen. She wrapped her tail around both Sal's wrists and roughly jerked his hands out of the action, giving her plenty of room to lunge at his throat. Advena squealed in surprise when Tyler suddenly appeared in front of her, palm outstretched desperately as he yelled something she couldn't make out over the thumping of her blood in her ears. She was going too fast to stop though, so it was all she could do to sheathe her claws and whip her body to the side. Her shoulder smacked into Tyler's, causing him to be thrown back into the wall, his face smacking against the hard surface. He yelled in pain as his skin became raw, stinging and burning with the acid which had been rubbed upon it. He clutched a hand to his cheek instinctively while he stumbled out of the room, tripping multiple times in his blind, pained panic.

The adrenaline drained out of Advena's system as she watched the horrific display, and finally Jake could shake the red spots from his vision and shakily get to his feet. Sal woozily stood on all fours and swayed unsteadily for two steps, before collapsing back onto the floor, green liquid still oozing slowly from his wounds.

"I need a medical team in the bridge… probably some engineers too. A couple of older Xenomorphs with a bit of know-how wouldn't hurt either. And could you please dispatch somebody to Tyler's location? Yeah, shuttle bay, ship seven – no doubt." Jake took his finger off his earpiece and heaved a heavy sigh. "This is a fucking nightmare," he groaned.

"I – he was hurting Tyler!"

"Advena, you can't just try to murder somebody like that! Christ, are all Xenos like this? Because we need to have a serious talk." A group of humans, accompanied by two rather bulky Xenomorphs, suddenly bustled inside and immediately set to work, obviously not needing any guidance on their objectives. Jake placed his hand on Advena's back and firmly guided her out the door, mouth set in a grim line. Down the corridor and to the right, they ducked through a doorway with a spiralling staircase leading up, finally arriving in a cosy, circular room with a domed ceiling. It was made completely of transparent plating which allowed a view of the inky blackness beyond. Stars glittered merrily in the distance, seeming uncaring of the hardships of mankind and Xenomorphs alike. It was here that Jake sat his companion down on a comfortable padded bench seat, before flopping down beside her.

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose warily, sinking back into the soft, synthetic material with a weary exhale. They sat in silence for a few moments after that, their gazes slowly drifting upwards, into the stars.

"I'm sorry I lost control," Advena apologised finally. "Things used to be simpler, back when humans were the bad guys. Now I'm not sure; I think all of you are my friends – You, Jeica, Tyler – but it's just… complicated. Humans hate me because I'm an alien, they're scared of me, despise me… I suppose it just gets to me."

"I don't hate you," Jake told her. "But I might be just a little scared of you." He chuckled after that and placed his hands on the seat either side of him. "I forget that you're not a solider like me; stress, pressure, emotions – I guess I'm just used to it all. You're a warrior, there's no doubt about that, but a solider? Maybe I should be giving us more time to spend together, relaxing. Anything to make sure today never happens again."

"Well, we're here now, aren't we?" Advena placed her hand over his, and gave him a reassuring smile when he turned to face her.

"Yeah. We can sort all this out in the morning. Tonight, let's just spend some time together," Jake agreed.

"I am worried about Tyler though. And Sal, I guess."

"In the morning," Jake reminded her. He pushed himself off the seat and stretched idly as his eyes searched the room. Finally, he spotted a set of speakers built for playing announcements, ambiance or scientific recordings. He slid a small chip from his shirt pocket and plugged it in to the device, prompting Advena to pad over and cock her head curiously. Softly at first, the music chimed in with a pleasant melody. Advena smiled at the so-called nice noise, which she had heard very little of since her first exposure all those years ago.

Jake held out his hand as a voice joined in on the words, and Advena accepted it hesitantly. Jake wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled them together close, before rocking slowly to the rhythm. He began moving his feet, and the relaxing atmosphere soon had them stepping in sync as their minds slipped into togetherness. Their bodies and minds flowed as one to the beat, rocking and swaying, turning and spinning – 'Dancing in the Moonlight'. Well, starlight in this case, but the song certainly did have some charming relevancy to its chorus. As the twinkling gems in the sky shone their light upon the duo, they moved gracefully and swiftly, perfect and effortless choreography.

Too soon for the duo, the song began drawing to its close, and their motions slowed to a mere rocking once more. However, instead of letting go as Advena had expected him to, Jake reached up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in and pressing their lips together softly. Advena purred and leaned into the kiss, allowing her arms to leave their fixed positions and instead clasp his back comfortably.

It was at that moment Jake finally accepted his role in their interspecies relationship. He was kissing Advena, not because he felt the desire to do so, but because he knew it would make Advena feel worlds better than she was, and help her let go of the endless pile of problems they were to deal with. He knew he was willing to do anything to keep that smile on her face, that feeling of joy radiating from her mind, and if that wasn't love, then Jake didn't know what was.

He finally broke away and offered her a warm smile, before resting his head against her chest, listening to the steady thrum of her heartbeat. "So, I was thinking that we could go back to our room, and maybe play some video games together," he mentioned casually, his voice barely above a soft whisper. Advena hugged him tightly with an elated coo.

"I love you Jake," she told him as she had countless times before.

"I know baby girl," Jake chuckled, slipping out of her grasp and taking her hand in his. "I know." Together, they walked back down the stairs and to their room, where they spent the next two hours relaxing and playing one of Advena's favourite games.

~~~~~~~~~~(The Next Morning)~~~~~~~~~~

Jake snuck out his quarters' door, leaving Advena sound asleep in their nest. As much as he wanted to stay in her arms all morning, he suddenly remembered that he'd left his music chip in the observatory, and there was no way he'd let one of his most precious memories of his parents get nicked by some opportunist. Even though he doubted anyone ever went up into the small room, he still couldn't rest easy knowing there was even a chance of it being stolen.

As he crept up the stairs, he was suddenly given pause when he heard a voice from above.

"… still just feel so confused about everything. Nobody's ever taken the time to ask me what I want, or how I feel – except you of course. Just for once, I want to be in control of my own life." Jake sat down on one of the many steps of the spiralling staircase, immediately interested when he realised it was Tyler talking. Any insight on the young man's feelings was more than welcome, though he was also curious as to who he was speaking with.

"You have more control than you realise," Sal assured him. Jake blinked in confusion when he looked around, and realised Sal must be up there with Tyler, talking to him. Tyler and Sal were talking? Now that certainly was unexpected. If Jake wasn't interested before, he sure as hell was now. "For example, you could have let Advena kill me. You controlled me for a few seconds there. And yet, you spared my life, at your own expense."

"That's what I'm saying! I'm just so confused, Sal. I hate you – god, I really hate you for how you lied to me, manipulated me and tried to take over my body. But at the same time, you remind me so much of someone I used to know… the way you treat me, how you're always there for me… I just don't get it. You're so nice, and such an asshole, all at the same time."

"I love you Tyler. Everything I've done, I've done for you. I didn't think you were able to protect yourself, so I tried to do it for you. I know that it was the wrong thing to do now – if I could take it all back I would, believe me I would. I love you more than anything else in the galaxy."

"Whoa, back off there buddy!" Tyler snapped suddenly.

"What? I –"

"You're a guy! A-and an alien! What makes you think I'm into guys? O-or aliens!"

"Is Tyler denying his homosexuality?" Advena queried.

"Shit!" Jake yelled in fright, banging his head against the wall as the sudden voice in his head made him jump.

"Son of a bitch…" Tyler muttered from up above. To say he sounded pissed was an understatement. Jake quickly hopped up the remaining stairs, finally able to drink in the sight of the duo. Sal was laying on the floor, head perked up in confusion as the rest of his body curled around a small Tyler-sized hole where the young man had obviously been sitting not long ago. The scientist in question was standing near the stairs, arms crossed furiously as he glared at the newcomers. The wounds from yesterday's scrap were extremely evident, but a gauze strip plastered to Tyler's right cheek and three long, parallel scars running down Sal's domed head were the ones which stuck out.

"Tyler, just listen for a second –" Jake started, but was promptly cut off by the young man.

"I'm not a fucking homosexual, Advena," he growled.

"But –"

"But nothing! I'm straight as a fucking Christian nail. End of story."

"Tyler," Jake soothed, "it's okay. We know you're gay; there's no need to try and hide it from us, we're here to support you."

"Oh, in that case, I'll direct you towards the nearest gay man because I'm not fucking gay!"

"Tyler –"

"Is very, very straight. He's also getting really pissed off at all these accusations about his sexuality."

"Would you just –"

"You know what? I think you're all gay, and you're just trying to push your sick fantasies on me. How does that feel?"

"I have a girlfriend," Jake said snippily. "And Advena has a boyfriend. The only other gay person here is Sal, who's sole reason for being gay is because you're gay."

"Xenomorphs base their gender on sexuality," Advena explained to him.

"Well, then Sal's as stupid as he is abusive, because he got it wrong. I'm still, surprisingly enough, no more gay than I was the first fucking time you accused me." Before any of them could come up with a rebuttal, Tyler stormed out of the room, no doubt retreating back to his shuttle.

"Really!" Sal growled. "I was finally getting somewhere with him! Why do you always have to ruin everything for me Advena?"

"Sal, come on, it was an accident," Jake protested.

"Oh, yeah! And I'm sure it was an accident when she convinced Tyler not to try and fix up our relationship too. She 'accidentally' told him he should go seek other Xenomorphs to Bond with. Whoopsie, clumsy little Advena!"

"Well, maybe if you actually fulfilled your duty as a Companion like a proper, decent Xenomorph, instead of abusing your host, then –"

"Okay, let's all just not fight, okay?" Jake intervened. "Lord knows I did not come all this way just for us all to kill each other on the home stretch." Advena sighed and dutifully stood down, plopping her haunches onto the floor and staying silent. "At least he was talking to you," Jake said in an attempt to cheer Sal up.

"Well, I guess he didn't know what else to do. I've always been there for him when he needs me; reassuring him, guiding him, telling him that everything is okay. Whenever he's feeling hurt or confused, he comes to me. Today was no different."

"Hey, that takes a lot of trust. Forgiveness might be closer than you think." Sal smiled bitterly and slowly stretched his legs, before standing and shaking the stiffness from his limbs.

"Thanks Jacob. It's good to hear that, especially from a human." Sal slowly sauntered out of the room, leaving just Jake and Advena alone once again.

"You shouldn't give him false hope like that," Advena advised him.

"Oh come on 'Vena, give the guy a break. You know that Tyler is difficult to work with – Sal's doing the best he can, and he really does genuinely care about him."

"Yes, Tyler is hard to deal with sometimes," Advena agreed, "which is all the more reason to be careful with him. I bet you won't feel so kindly towards him if this all blows up in your face. Sal and Tyler have a rare, close relationship – and it's been abused. Dangerous things can come of this, Jacob. It worries me."

"What are you talking about?" Jake demanded as he yanked his music chip from the speakers. He'd not forgotten the whole reason he'd come up here, after all. Advena let out a long, drawn-out breath before slinking over to the lone bench seat. She curled up on it and patted the space next to her with her tail, and Jake obliged her by sitting down next to her.

"You've seen what we can do together, as a Bonded pair. Our telepathic abilities are guided by a strong Bond between us, and have been developed fully through our love and trust. We can, for the most part, control ourselves when it comes to our abilities. Even if one of us gets out of hand, our emotions flow only between the two of us – like an electric current through a cable. When abusive relationships come into play, the cable snaps, and suddenly the electricity is flowing into a water puddle, and into other cables. People have lost control of themselves, hurt others with awry abilities meant only to be shared between trusting and caring individuals. It can drive people crazy, make them lose themselves. This is one of the main reasons we Xenomorphs despise people like Sal."

"Christ…" Jake muttered. "So you're saying that Tyler might be able to abuse other peoples' minds – with memories and emotions 'n' stuff?"

"Not only that, I'm afraid. As I've mentioned before, the bond between Sal and Tyler is particularly strong. Should they continue down their hateful, manipulative path, they will be twice as destructive. Normally, Shallow-Bonds cause anomalous telepath abilities – weird stuff like partial mind-reading, or recognising faces of other peoples' familiars. Tyler and Sal have a close relationship however, because of their yin-yang personalities. Tyler is weak-willed and troubled, but cunning. Sal is protective and supportive, but not too bright. They fit together like puzzle pieces."

"What about us? What do we fit together like?"

"Like a stack of pancakes. Our Bond is good in different ways. But that's beside the point. Sal and Tyler will be able to freely utilise abilities reserved for closely Bonded pairs, such as sharing memories, emotions, body-swapping, and in some extreme cases, linking. It's all wrong; bonds like this should only be formed by the most intimate of lovers, but Sal destroyed an already-weak man's mental barriers. Nothing like this has ever happened before, to my knowledge, so I'm only speculating at the moment. It could be much worse, or less severe. I for one, do not particularly want to find out, as Tyler is currently still trying to work for Weyland – our enemy. This is why I want Tyler and Sal to split up and seek other Companions. If they don't direct their telepathy somewhere, they will begin forming these 'Shallow-Bonds' – partial Bonds to other telepaths which allow very one-sided telepathic exchanges."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just get them back together? I feel like we should do that as soon as possible. You know, not much time to muck around with dating and stuff when our potential doom is just around the corner," Jake joked nervously. He wondered why Advena had withheld this information from him, but then again, he was almost hyperventilating right now, so maybe she had held back out of concern for his health.

"I don't know. The Bond they have requires intimacy – lots of intimacy. Love, respect, trust. I don't think they can ever fully repair what Sal has broken, which would be dangerous. Who knows how much damage a Half-Bond could do?"

"Well, at the very least, it would convince them that they can only abuse each others' mind. They can only abuse each others' mind at the moment, right?"

"Tyler is growing stronger; he's able to resist a lot of Sal's influence. Soon, neither party will be able to force anything telepathic on the other. That also means that when they begin turning their abuse to others, nobody will be able to mentally subdue or resist them. So yes, for now they can only hurt each other, but that is likely subject to change."

"Well, this is really turning into a shit-show," Jake whined, running a hand through his hair as he thought the situation over. "We've got Weyland on our tail, Tyler fighting us every step of the way, unease in the ranks and two potential mega-threats growing in power every day. Never a dull moment around here, is there?"

"Whatever comes next, you have me by your side," Advena assured him, crawling onto his lap slightly to nuzzle his chin affectionately. "Besides, this probably sounds a lot worse than it really is. We can beat Weyland off with those plans of yours, Tyler is just one man, trust will build eventually and those two are hardly 'mega-threats'. They're like radioactive material; unstable, but handle them correctly and they can't hurt anyone." Jake said nothing, so Advena nudged him comfortingly with her head. "Now, you can sit here all day and worry about it, but today is pancake day, and I for one do not want to miss that. What do ya say, partner?" Jake chuckled and stroked her cheek affectionately, before sliding off the bench and stretching.

"That's my girl. Let's go grab some breakfast."