Chapter 7

Eryx: Ear-ix

Tangoroa: Tan-go-row-a

Xerxes and Hiram stood on either side of Aleris in the bridge of the ship. They looked out the window to a reddish planet. This was the infested planet that had the fallen warriors.

Aleris was now starting to get scared. The ugly Jamaican clued her into some of the little details of their world. Mostly some of their words and other little things. She now knew they were not kinky Jamaicans with cool wrist guards, but rather, they were a warrior race that lived to hunt other species and used advanced technology to do it and called themselves 'Yautja'. Xerxes also gave her the technical words for the dragons and herself along with his name.

Xerxes noticed the female's breathing changed. He knew she was becoming scared. He set his hand on her shoulder, trying to relieve some of the fear. She looked up to him with somber eyes. They softened and she smiled at him. She looked back out of the window. Xerxes now understood why Hiram had become attached to her. She had come to accept the Yautja and face them with courage.

"Sir" A Yautja behind them said. Only Xerxes turned his head. "We will be arriving at the planet soon"

Xerxes nodded to the Yautja officer. He looked back to the female. She had two of the firing weapons on either side of her body in a harness. They waited patiently for their time. He understood that if the female went out and fought the Kainde Amedha and came back alive, she would be a blooded warrior. That would mean she would have a high position of honor within the Clan and would have to have the warrior mark scarred into her skin.

Xerxes took a small set back and examined the female from the back. She had a Da'dtou-di strapped to her leg. That may come in handy if her powers of persuasion didn't work wit the Kainde Amedha of this planet. If not and she didn't make it out alive, then she would have died with honor and would be given a proper burial.

They would soon find out what would come of the female.

xXx

Aleris stood in the airlock of the ship. The time was coming. Xerxes told her that she was to help save two fallen Yautja warriors. Hiram told her that she may become short of breath on the planet Because of the air. It was lower in oxygen and higher in nitrogen that what she was use to. Aleris didn't mind as long as she didn't pass out. Hiram didn't want her to pass out so he put a little computer chip under her corset so he could monitor her vitals from the ship.

This was just great. Just a week ago she was just another normal girl. Now she stood on an alien ship with reptilian warriors around her. She was a hybrid of her own; a cross between a human and a dragon. She was able to talk to these dragons and help the Yautja. There was no turning back now; she had to do as these warriors wanted so she could stay with them.

She had no home now anyway. Earth was infested with the dragons and everyone was going to die. She was just lucky she suffered from depression. She wasn't afraid to die and wasn't afraid of these aliens. Yeah, her life had just made 450 degree turn and she just barely recovered.

The ship jumped slightly, signaling they had landed on the planet. The doors opened and the other Yautja around her ran out of the airlock. She ran out into darkness along with them.

She did not have a helmet like the other Yautja had, so she did not know where the ship was. The only thing she could hear was the sounds of the Yautja running against the ground. Up ahead she saw neon green splatter glowing on the ground and surrounding rocks. She remembered Hiram bleeding green in the empty Walmart and knew they had found the dead warriors. Aleris slowed as her friends went on into the ship.

For some reason, this planet was eerily silent. This set Aleris on edge since there were supposed to be a shit load of Kainde Amedha. She looked around her. She saw nothing. She looked back to the blood. Her friends had gone farther away from her to the ship that probably concealed the fallen warriors.

She started to trop towards the blood, but stopped short when she heard the screams of the Kainde Amedha. They were far away, for the time. She sprinted off towards the ship. She had to warn the others. She grabbed out one of her Uzis, knowing the Kainde Amedha was closing the distance. She skid to a stop, knowing she couldn't make it to the ship in time. Maybe if she shot at the drones that came near, they would realize they were near and get the warriors off the planet.

She held the Uzi still, waiting. She could hear the dragons talking. They wanted to get the Yautja for hosts. Aleris was not going to let that happen. A dragon jumped out from behind a rock. She yelled out for it to stop. It skid to a stop, kicking up dust. It told her that it had a responsibility to its Queen. Only when his Queen died would it follow her orders. It started running again.

Aleris knew she had no choice. She opened fire at the dragon.

The bullets hit the ground, causing the dirt to rise up and conceal the dragon. The bullets hit their mark, despite the cloud. Its scream's. Aleris ignored them, trying to listen for other dragons.

The Yautja warriors could hear the female's shots from inside the ship. They only found two warriors that were alive, but they were just barely. The two warriors grabbed the nearly dead Yautja and slung them over their shoulders. They ran out of the ship towards their ship.

Aleris stood strong. She fired more bullets at the growing number of dragons coming at her. She saw her friends running out of the ship out of the corner of her eye. They ran behind her, silently telling her they were done. She ran sideways with the Yautja, still shooting at the incoming dragons.

They made it to the ship, but Aleris stopped before she could retreat safely inside. There was a Kainde Amedha right behind her. She knew if it got onto the ship, it would kill as many of her new found friends as it could. She had an obligation to them to protect them. After all, they took her in. They treated her with respect.

It ran towards the airlock with lightning speed. Aleris stood strong, facing the cloud of dust behind the dragon. He leaped out at Aleris; not for her, but trying to get past her. Aleris jumped up, grabbing the dragon around its neck. She used all her body weight to pull it down to the ground. He hit the ground hard, but recovered quickly and began to go for the ship again. She wrapped her legs around its body, keeping it down to the ground.

Aleris reached for her Da'dtou-di and took it out. She held it up to the dragon's neck, hoping it would stop going for the ship and run away. It didn't. She pressed the knife into its neck. It screamed out in pain as its acid blood spilled onto the ground.

It continued to claw the ground, trying to get to the ship. She cut into the dragon's neck, sawing into it, trying to get the dragons to stop moving and run away. It kept going. The acid blood ran down Aleris' arm as she continued to saw at the dragon's neck. After not too long, it just stopped moving all together. It fell limp onto of Aleris. She tried to get up, but the beast had her leg pinned.

A Yautja yelled out from the airlock. The ship was preparing to leave the planet, with or without her. Aleris struggled to get up. She ripped the head off the dragon. The weight released from the dragon let Aleris slide her leg free. She got up quickly and ran for the airlock.

xXx

Xerxes waited for the female to get back onto the ship. The female helped his warriors, but did she kill any Kainde Amedha? If she did, she could be scarred as a warrior. But there would have to be evidence of her killing one.

"Sir. We're taking off now" A Yautja behind him said

"What about the female?" Xerxes asked

The intercom in the bridge opened before the Yautja could answer. "We have the female aboard"

Xerxes immediately left the bridge. He walked down several hallways and made it to the airlock in no time. The automatic door opened in front of him and revealed Yautja warriors staring at the female, who was crouched down on the floor. He took another step closer.

The female stood up, slowly, and faced him head on. He noticed that she held in her arms a severed Kainde Amedha head. He also noticed that the blood dripping from the neck had burned a whole into her armor.

Aleris looked down at her hands and noticed she still had the head in her arms. She tried to cover herself quickly.

"I didn't mean to bring in with me!"

Xerxes chuckled to himself. The female just proved herself. He walked over to the female. She looked up to him with scared eyes. He set his hand on her shoulder and clicked to her. He knew she couldn't understand, but the gesture was enough to relieve her.

Xerxes reached down and took the Kainde Amedha head from her. She looked at him with confusion. He couldn't blame her. She didn't know how about honor and keeping the skulls of their prey as trophies.

He motioned to the other Yautja. They came toward Aleris. She didn't know what they were doing, but she was confident that they would hurt her. Maybe just whip her or something like that, but not kill.