Drok'ti was thankful for her distraction with her 'cat'. He could drop her off back on earth and go to Lau'thalus and tell the clan about the beings that had captured him and warn them of the attack. He knew that some of the copied weapons had been given out and weren't on the space colony anymore. He set the coordinates for earth and sat back watching Strife as she hopped around spastically and hummed something. He closed his eyes and drifted off.

He was having a strange dream where he saw Strife standing on the edge of a cliff by a waterfall. She turned and looked at him smiling. She turned back to the waterfall and jumped. 'wee'. He ran for the edge of the cliff. He got there and looked down. Strife was nowhere to be seen. He heard a giggle and looked up in the air. Strife suddenly had wings that gave off a beautiful heat pattern and she was flying around doing flips in the air. She got a scared look on her face and flew off. Alvorus suddenly appeared behind him and shoved him off the cliff. The waterfall and lake disappeared and sharp rocks jutted up out of the ground. He put his arms up to cover his face.

His body twitched and he woke up. Strife was sitting on the cot staring down at something. Drok'ti walked over and looked down.

"What is that?"

"It's the computer thingy I yoinked from the colony. There's a lot of pictures of the weapons and bunch of scribbly stuff that looks like it's in Russian, but if I read it as Russian it doesn't make any sense."

"It's Bavarian."

"Bavarian? Like from Bavaria?"

"Bavaros. It's a planet not far from where the space colony was."

"Oh. Hah hah. That's funny."

Drok'ti snorted. He didn't know why it would be funny.

"Do you know how to work those things?"

"Of course I do! I spent most of my time on a computer, they are basically all the same, you just have to get the system down and then you can do anything with them. Well, maybe not fly, but, hah hah, a lot of other things."

Drok'ti remembered his dream and looked at Strife. She just had to mention flying. That dream was just a dream. Alvorus was dead. He had watched Strife behead the bastard. And Strife wouldn't just grow wings suddenly. He decided to forget about the dream. They had never had any relevancy before.

"Drok'ti, do you know how to read Bavarian?"

"No."

"Damn, I guess I'll never know what it says then."

Strife sighed and Drok'ti shrugged his shoulders.Drok'ti returned to his seat to see where they were. They weren't far from earth now. It would only be another day. Drok'ti walked over to the cot and laid down behind Strife. He closed his eyes and drifted off again.

He woke up to Strife straddling his chest and looking down at him. Those goggles gave her a strange appearance. He put his hand on her shoulder and she looked at it. He grinned and gave her a playful shove. She toppled over backwards and landed on the floor. She stood up and looked at him.

"I'm going to get you!"

She came running at Drok'ti and jumped onto the bed. Drok'ti caught her and flipped her over onto her back. She jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck and started to wrench her body side to side.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to make you fall over."

Drok'ti laughed and grabbed Strife by her arm and pulled her off his back. He held her up in air above his head.

"Oh yeah, Mr. big tall tough guy."

She wriggled around violently. Drok'ti lost his grip on her arm and he dropped her. She jumped up and rammed her shoulder into his stomach and started pushing. Drok'ti laughed again. She had the spirit, but lacked the strength. He grabbed the back of her neck and lifted her up again. He held her at eye level and roared in her face. She looked dumbstruck for a moment then she took a deep breath and let out a roar of her own. That sent Drok'ti into a full fledged fit of laughter. He dropped her and sat down on the cot.

"What's so funny?"

"Your roar."

"I thought it was good."

"It was pitiful."

"Well excuse me for not having the lung capacityand voice capabilities of a full grown male yautja."

She stuck her tongue out and made a strange noise. Drok'ti looked at her.

"What was that?"

"It's called a raspberry. It means piss off."

Drok'ti smiled and grabbed Strife's arm. He pulled her onto his lap and ruffled up her hair.

"You're definitely good for a laugh."

Strife bit his hand and laughed when he pulled it away from her mouth. He rolled her onto her back and started tickling her. She started giggling and writhing around. There was a succession of beeps and Drok'ti looked over. He saw earth out of the window of the ship. He carried Strife upside down over to the chair and dropped her on her head into it. He fastened her down and then fastened himself down. He smiled when he felt Strife staring at him. He looked down at her face.

"Um. . .I don't think this is quite right Drok'ti. I mean it could just be me, but I think I should be upright."

"You mean you aren't?"

"Drok'ti!"

He laughed and unfastened her restraints then sat her on her rear and refastened them.

"Better?"

Strife nodded and put her thumb up. 'Thumbs up'. Drok'ti shook his head as they entered earth's atmosphere.

After landing Drok'ti started walking Strife back to her house. He had remembered where it was and could find it easily now. Strife was humming and hopping around in circles around Drok'ti as they walked. He had enough and grabbed her shoulder.

"You're making me dizzy."

Strife giggled and walked calmly next to him. They reached Strife's dwelling and Strife stopped. Drok'ti stopped and looked down at her.

"What is it?"

"There's a light on in my house."

"What does that mean?"

"Someone is home."

"Is that bad?"

"Probably."

Strife sighed loudly.

"I'll be right back."

Strife walked towards her house and disappeared through the doorway. Drokti waited for a few moments. He thought about just leaving and apologizing later. No. He couldn't just leave Strife here without saying goodbye. He owed her an explanation. Maybe she would understand. A few minutes later a light came on in a different room and Drok'ti heard his name. He walked over to the window that Strife was sitting in.

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, my parents just got home and had no idea I've been gone."

"Strife, I have to leave."

"What?"

"I have to go to Lau'thalus and tell the clan leader the situation so he can warn the tribe and other tribes."

"Can't I go with you?"

He put his hand on her head.

"I'm afraid not. You would be in great danger there."

"I can deal with it."

Drok'ti smiled.

"I bet you could, but I wouldn't be able to cope if my best friend was killed."

Strife sighed.

"All right, I'll stay here and hold the fort while your gone!"

Drok'ti smiled again. That's the Strife he knows.

"You're coming back, right?"

"Of course. I don't know how long it will be. I'll send you a message on your electronic notepad."

Strife smiled.

"Ok! I never get importantmessages! This is going to be so cool."

"Take this and keep it safe."

Drok'ti handed Strife his knife. Strife looked at him with confusion.

"Why are you leaving this? Wont you need it?"

"I can manage without it. Protect it for me?"

"Yes sir!"

Strife raised her hand to her head. Drok'ti didn't know what this meant, but he laughed anyway.

"You'll hear from me soon."

"Ok."

Strife wrapped her little arms around Drok'ti's neck and hugged him. Drok'ti hugged her and purred. He pulled away from her and patted her on the head.

"Be good."

"I will."

He turned and walked away.