xXx

The Yautja ship rose into the air as if guided by unseen wings. It disappeared quickly into the sky. That left Aleris, nearly alone on her own planet. Her three Kainde Amedha encircled her, hissing defensively. They sensed the brooding millions of Kainde Amedha that had taken over this planet.

Aleris looked around her. The sky was blue on this bright, warm day. Grass and green trees. She wished the Yautja had told her where she was dropped of at or at least had given her a map.

She started to walk off in one direction. She figured she'd go the way the sun was starting to set. She could also sense the Kainde Amedha. Several millions, like the humming of a bees nest off in the distance. She walked up a hill and surveyed the landscape in front of her.

A small town was just ahead of her. A small deserted town. She didn't sense any Kainde Amedha in or by the small town. Her three friends didn't hiss at all. They just stood there, looking out along with her. Unsure of what they were doing.

Aleris walked down the small hill towards the small town. Her three Kainde Amedha followed close by her. They came upon a paved road that made its way straight to the town. She decided to take the road to the own. At the very least she could find some shelter and perhaps a clue of where they were at.

There was a certain eerie calm that hovered about the town. Some of the doors were swinging along with the wind that blew through. Aleris ran from door to door and to each window, hoping to find some sign of life, she came up empty.

There was blood, on one of the buildings. Aleris wiped her finger over it. It was dry. She figured the Kainde Amedha had already come through and had stolen the humans to be hosts. After a closer inspection of the building where the dried red blood was, she found holes burnt into the sides of the buildings.

A battle took place here. It was good that the humans here put up a little bit of a fight. Her race wasn't as pitiful as the Yautja believed. But it seemed like they still lost.

Aleris stood up and looked around her again. This town was so still and quiet. This really did bug her since for the past few months she had been on a Yautja ship fighting off those Yautja and Kainde Amedha. She could handle that. But silence?

A metal can skittered across the street Aleris and her friends were standing on. Aleris stood up slowly and cautiously walked over to the door the can came from. Carefully, she peeked around the corner into the dark room. Her Kainde Amedha stayed on high alert, ready to pounce and absolutely demolish whatever may hurt their Queen.

A figure covered by a cloaked jumped out of the doorway, about scaring Aleris out of her skin. She took a step back, but lost her footing and fell backwards. Her Kainde Amedha immediately attacked the cloaked figure. The figure flipped the cloak to the side, revealing a shiny gun. Without hesitating, the figure began to shoot at the Kainde Amedha.

They must have been a pretty lousy shot because not of the bullets hit their mark. One of the Kainde Amedha lunged out at the figure. It would have killed the figure if Aleris had not yelled out for it to stop.

The Kainde Amedha hit the ground and skid to stop just inches in front of the figure. It hissed, informing the figure that it still wanted to kill it, but would not if his Queen told him otherwise.

The figure stood still. Unsure of what just happened. He knew not to fire on the Alien that paused. Its brothers would attack and kill him for sure. Best wait and find out what was happening.

Aleris stood up and brushed the dust off her pants with her hands. She looked at the figure, they didn't move. Just her luck. Something with a gun. Just to shake things up: why didn't something attack her with a cupcake?

"It's ok" Aleris said calmly. The figure slowly turned its head to her. "They won't attack you if I tell them not to"

The figure looked this girl over. It baffled him how this girl could command the great killing bugs like she did. He looked closer at her. On her arms! They were the machines that the great hunters had on their arms. They came to the planet not long ago to try to kill the bugs. They lost and left. But perhaps, this was no ordinary girl. She had authority over the bugs and was accepted by the great hunters. She had to be someone of great importance.

He motioned Aleris inside of the building with his hand. She followed cautiously. She looked inside the room. It was a poorly lit bar. The figured motioned her in as they sat at an empty table. Aleris examined the dark room. Nobody else was in the room.

Aleris slowly walked around the corner and into the room. She was slow and cautious, but still walked strong. The figure could feel her presence grow as she came closer. She came up to the table and shot the figure a look. She did not want to be tricked and he knew it. The Kainde Amedha slowly came into the room when Aleris sat down across form the figure.

The figure shot the incoming bugs a look of discontent. Aleris saw this and raised her hand to her friends. Silently, she told them to wait inside and abandoned building nearby and to stay away from humans at all costs. They were reluctant, but left quickly enough.

Aleris looked back to the figure. The cloaked did well hiding their face. "What do you want?" She asked sternly

The figure brought up their hand and began to slowly tap their finger tips on the table.

Aleris looked at the fingers. Thick male fingers. She looked back up to the concealed face. This man was watching her, studying her. She exhaled slowly and leaned back in her chair. This conversation was going no where fast.

"Thirsty?" A male voice announced

Aleris looked over to the male sitting across form her. He had stopped tapping his fingers. She could feel him staring at her.

"Yeah" Aleris said calmly. She really didn't want to piss off a guy with a gun.

The man reached beneath the table and retrieved two bottled beverages. He handed one to Aleris and opened his. Aleris watched as he drank his drink without the cloak moving to show his face. She exhaled deeply again and opened her drink. Slowly, she drank it. She was thinking of how she was going to get into the Kainde Amedha infestation off of the planet.

The man didn't break his gaze from this girl. She was strange, and that was the only thing he could figure about her. She was calm, and that was amazing on the planet these days. Great black aliens were running around killing people. Not to mention the fact that she was the most attractive female to come by here that was under the age of 30. He needed to know what she was doing here.

A beeping sounded filled the dead silently room. Aleris lifted her arm up and looked at the computer on it. She flipped it opened and a red imaged came up in front her.

The image was of the planet Earth. Little white dots were sprinkled heavily over all the land. Words formed beneath the image of Earth. The man could not read what they said, but Aleris knew what they said.

Kainde Amedha Infestation.

Now that she knew the extent of the infestation, she could asses the situation better. She needed a plan of attack. The image disappeared and Aleris closed the metal flap.

She fell back into her chair, thinking deeply. The man watched her intently. He needed to break the silence between them. He needed to somehow connect with her in case the aliens came back. She showed that she could control them. That may prove invaluable in due time.

"What's your name?" He asked her

That was enough of him talking that Aleris could figure out this guy. His voice was strong, but not mature. He was probably around her age, no older than 17.

"My name is Aleris" She tilted her head slightly and looked deep into the darkness which concealed his face. "What about you, man-with-a-cloak-covering-his-face? What's your name?"

He was taken aback at her comment about his appearance. But then he realized that this was no ordinary girl. She deserved more respect than what he was giving her. He brought up his hand and with one smooth motion, removed the cloak from around his head.

That startled Aleris. She wasn't expecting him to remove the cloak, especially so quickly. But what it revealed was more startling than the action. She was expecting a horribly grotesque man underneath with twisted features, but no such thing came from behind the veil.

What came from the darkness, was a handsome young man. His hair was brown, cut short, and looked like it hadn't been combed, or even washed, in days. He had dark peach fuzz on his face, but it only made him look older than what he was. His eyes stood out from the dingy brown of his person. They were a rich green colour, dazzling his somewhat bleach look.

"My name is Alexander, but everyone calls me Xander"

Aleris took in a breathe when he spoke this time. His voice matched his face perfectly. He was so handsome and even looked like he was her own age. She was so use to seeing the twisted faces of the Yautja that she had all, but forgotten how her own kind looked.

Some rumbling came from the back room of the bar. Sounded like boxes falling. Xander turned his head quickly. A small, young girl emerged from behind him. She had her head, walking slowly towards the table. Xander put his hand on her head and rubbed it slightly and also messing up the dirty blonde hairs on her head.

"What is wrong Euphoria?" He asked the small girl

She pressed her body up against Xander's and buried her face in his cloak. He gently rubbed her blonde hair and continued to mess it up.

"Her name is Euphoria?" Aleris asked softly

Xander nodded his head. "I named her that after our mother died giving birth to her"

Xander then coached the girl away from him and got her to hold her head up so Aleris could see her face. Once the little girl noticed that Aleris was another girl, she immediately smiled and walked over to her. Euphoria reached for Aleris' hand and began to rub it once she got a hold of it.

Aleris looked to Xander for some help, as she did not know what this was supposed to mean.

"There isn't another girl here, so she happy to see you" Xander said

"Oh…" Aleris didn't know how to take this flood of emotion that came her way