Chapter 3

The Yautja Leader, Xerxes, stood at the front of his ship, looking out into the depths of space.

His robe was adorned with red fabric and many different skulls from different species. His tusks were larger and his hair thicker than the other Yautja. Showing he was of a higher status. He was a great warrior and elder to all the Yautja in his clan.

He had just received a distress signal from a fellow warrior from his clan. He rushed towards the planet called Ee-arth. The ship buzzed with electricity and the many flashing lights kept the other Yautja informed of their speed and location.

He sent Hiram to Ee-arth for observational purposes. He was an aspiring scientist in the field of Ooman study. Xerxes decided to send him to where the Oomans live so he could have hands on field training.

He had also sent Hiram to Ee-arth for another reason.

Just about twenty years ago Xerxes had sent another much older and experienced scientist to Ee-arth. His job was to collect DNA from the many different species on the planet. His vitals signs ceased not long after landing on the planet.

Xerxes had it on good authority that the Oomans in one of the bigger countries had captured him and confiscated what he had on his person. The higher members had taken the Queen Kainde Amedha DNA had began to try and combine it with Ooman DNA.

Stupid Oomans, Xerxes thought. It was impossible to combine the DNA of the Queen Kainde Amedha AND Ooman and still have it be mostly Ooman. That was, until, four years later…

Some of Xerxes' soldiers had informed him that the Oomans had succeeded on fusing the two genetic codes into one Ooman. This set Xerxes on edge. If the Oomans could train her properly, she could be unstoppable. Having Ooman wit and the ability to control Kainde Amedha would make her the ultimate warrior.

He ordered the lab and creation destroyed. The soldiers did the job well, destroying everything. It wasn't until later that the soldiers found out that the creation had been moved to a secret location to live.

They also found something else out…

The creation was an Ooman female. She had the acid blood from the aliens along with their agility and quickness. He wasn't sure where she was moved to, but he had to destroy her. He couldn't let her grow and become stronger. Who knows what other powers she may contain.

xXx

Hiram awoke the next day to extreme quiet. He looked over to the female. She was still asleep.

The night before, Hiram had taken the female to the clothing part of the store for protection. He had grabbed a pillow to keep her comfortable and snatched up a blanket to keep her temperature had a constant level.

He also left his mask off for the night. He knew he shouldn't have, but for some reason, Hiram didn't think he needed it around the female.

He sat up, still looking at the female. He wanted so badly to touch her skin and hair. He wanted to know what she felt like. He reached over with his clawed hand. It was just too tempting for Hiram to bear.

Carefully, he flipped her brown bangs out of her face. She didn't stir. Good. He studied her face for a few minutes. Small forehead, two eyes, one mouth with small teeth… much different from himself.

He grabbed a lock of her hair and rubbed it between his two fingers. He was both fine and soft. He let go of her hair and went back to her face.

Soft features and smooth skin. He wanted to rube his finger against her skin. He wanted to see just how soft it was compared to his own. He gently laid his index finder on her cheek.

He quickly withdrew it when she moved her head to him and sighed. She didn't open her eyes. Hiram noted all of this mentally.

Hiram laid his hand on the side of her face. His hand almost covered her face completely. She didn't move has he begun to gently rub her cheek with his claws.

Aleris moved her head to one side in her sleep. She didn't stir when his reptilian skin touched hers. It didn't seem like she minded him touching her, even though she was still asleep.

Hiram moved his hand to her neck, still stroking her cheek. He couldn't explain why, but he felt something strange for this female. Something profound stuck out about her. She was different from the other Oomans. He just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

Aleris awoke to her friend stroking her cheek and the rest of his clawed fingers wrapped around her neck. She halfway thought that he was going to try and hurt her. He was making a low purring noise, so she quickly discarded that thought.

Aleris turned her head back up so she could see her friend fully. She smiled to him.

"Good morning" She said sweetly to him

Something in Hiram started to pound when she spoke to him. Well, OBVIOUSLY it was his heart, but it wasn't because he was tired or anything. Oh my Hera. Could this be those emotions the other Yautja scientists are talking about?

Hiram didn't care about that at the present time. He just wanted to make sure the female was comfortable before he cared about himself.

Aleris shot up out of her makeshift bed, which startled Hiram quite a bit. She began to breathe hard. She heard something inside the store. Talking almost. And in the back of her mind, there was something telling her to move forward; to kill anything in her path.

This frightened Aleris. Go where? Kill who? This wasn't one of her regular voices. This was something else.

Hiram knew something was wrong with the female. She was breathing hard. This was bad, he knew it, but what could have caused this kind of a reaction from her? She was usually calm and cool, but now she wasn't.

Hiram heard it. From the back of the store. Some Kainde Amedha were inside. From the sounds of it, it sounded like there were about three drones. Hiram stood up and put on his mask, switching it to electrical immediately. He looked about. He saw nothing. But he heard them.

He really did hate it when they did that. You can hear them just fine but it isn't until they're right there in your face about to kill you do you know where they are. The female stood up shakily. He had to protect her and figure out was going on with her.

There. He saw one of the drones scurry down an aisle. He took a step closer to the female and gently pulled her behind his body. He darted his head from direction to direction like a bird's trying to keep track of the three drones that now were surrounding them.

Aleris could not stay focused. She was hearing voices. They sounded like they were talking into her ear. She was starting to loose control of her own mind. There were three distinct voices whispering the same thing over and over again.

'Get them. Must take them to the Queen. Must bring more brothers and sisters.'

But there was another, much louder, voice with the three. It was almost yelling at her.

'Bring me more hosts. Don't stop'

It was a good battle, but Aleris lost.

She turned and ran and disappeared into the racks of clothing. Hiram growled in frustration. He had no idea what was going on and now of ALL times, the female decides to turn tail.

He saw them. Two of the drones were speeding around the walls and ceiling. He shot out with his shoulder cannon. He hit one head on. It splattered against the wall and melted it immediately. The other jumped down onto the floor to avoid being hit with the blue energy ball. Hiram charged after it.

That left Aleris by herself. She hid in one of the clothing racks. One of the whispering voices had ceased, but now there were only two. The louder voice had also ceased, for now. She hid in fear, knowing she left her friend to kill the dragons.

There was the sound of the Jamaicans cannon going off. A couple a shots, a few impacts, and…

Aleris crippled over, grabbing at her ears. Another scream. The sheer pitch of the scream made her cringe. It ceased after not too long. There was only one whispering voice now. And the louder voice had come back.

'Get the hosts. Avenge your brothers' and sisters' deaths.' It said again and again

Hiram had killed off two of the drones easily. That left the one. He jumped up onto the top of one of the display shelves and looked down over the entire store. He saw the last drone. It was going in and out of the clothing racks. Hiram switched his vision to thermal. He then saw Aleris and realized how close the drone was to her.

Aleris saw the dragon through the clothes. It was too close, but she dare not move. His hissed, frustrated almost. Then it turned sharply to her. It saw her.

The dragon crouched down, poised for a pounce. Aleris took the chance to run out of the rack of clothes. The dragon darted out after her, but caught up in the clothes. It freed itself momentarily. Aleris ran out of the clothes with the dragon right behind her. She darted from side to side to avoid the dragon's attacks as she ran down the walkway.

Hiram watched with interest. This female was quick and agile. She was able to outrun a Kainde Amedha and still be able to turn and avoid attacks. Amazing. This convinced him. There was something about this female that wasn't Ooman. She was too perfect for such a spoiled specie. There was something else…

Aleris tripped and rammed herself it a cement wall. She hit hard enough to blur her vision and leave her temporarily disabled. The dragon ran up to her, but stopped. Aleris looked at the dragon, expecting it to jump at her and kill her, but it did not. It just stood there, staring at her.

The voice. It changed. It was still a whisper, but now it said something different.

'Sister? Why are you here? You should be with the Queen. She is expecting you…'

Aleris tried her best to calm herself down. The dragon just stood there, staring at her.

"The Queen?" Aleris was almost unable to get out. She was so scared at the moment

'Yes. The Queen…' the voice said again. 'She can sense you. She wants to see you'

Hiram charged out and tackled the beast. The voice yelled out. Hiram lost his grip on the Kainde Amedha and I quickly turned and came back to him. Scratching Hiram all over his body and trying to stab him with its skeleton tail. Hiram succeeded in keeping the tail from stabbing him and the creature's second mouth from biting him, but he received many deep gashes.

Aleris realized she had to do something. She regained most of her composure and stood up. The dragon continued its assault on her friend.

"Stop it!" She yelled out

The dragon stopped attacking immediately and looked over to Aleris.

'Why do you ask me to stop?' The voice asked

Hiram took the opportunity to throw the Kainde Amedha off of him and blast it away with his cannon.

Another high itched scream consumed Aleris. Then everything was quiet. Hiram stayed still. He had many wounds that were bleeding and his energy was drained.

He was already tired from the night before. He had spent the whole night watching after the female. He fell into a deep sleep.

Aleris' composure was fully regained. The voices were gone. She walked over to her friend, who wasn't moving. She knelt down and placed her hand on his forehead. He was still breathing, just not moving.

Her eyes moved down his body. Neon green. That's all she saw.

'Hmm…that must be his blood…' She thought herself

She picked up some of the blood on her fingers and looked at it. It glowed slightly. Now she was really jealous.

She knew she had to get him out of here and find someone to take care of his wounds. She guessed that he could get an infection quite easily. She knew nothing about alien anatomy, but she figured it was better to be safe, than sorry.

Aleris decided to leave her friend for a few moments. She needed to gather some supplies to help her friend.

She left for the pharmacy department and returned minutes later with a hand basket full of supplies.

She kneeled back down by the Jamaican and looked him over again. She's lucky she wanted to be a RN when she grew up. She already had an idea how to clean wounds. She just hoped that alien anatomy didn't hold any surprises.

She emptied her basket out. It was mostly just rolls of gauze and handkerchiefs. She opened some of the packets of gauze, tossing the empty packets behind her. She looked over him again. She realized that she had to take off his armor before helping him.

She reached under his chin and looked for the button that releases the mask. She found the button and pressed it. Like before, a gush of air came from the mask and ceased quickly. She pulled up on gently the mask and removed it. She looked own upon her friend. He was sleeping peacefully with his eyes shut.

He was so ugly he was kind of cute to Aleris.

She proceeded to remove his chest plate and weapons, setting them carefully behind her. She grabbed the handkerchiefs and began to carefully wipe the neon blood away. She continued this for a little while longer. Then she proceeded to cover his gashes with the gauze.

This Jamaican had saved her from the school and saved her once here. The least she could do was make sure he didn't bleed to death or get a blood infection. Yeah, this guy had started to grow on her.