Okay… it's time for a sad part of the story. I know that it's been kind of all over the place, but I promise that it will all have context by the time the story's climax comes about. So, on with the story!

Aster and Star had managed to get a good distance away from Kira's house before the Weyland security officers could arrive and find them. There was no way that they were going to be able to fight them all off without reinforcements arriving.

"Where are we going to go?" Star asked.

"Somewhere safe." Aster responded. "Once we are absolutely sure that it is possible to rescue your mother, only then will we go and find her. I know her telepathic signature quite well, so I can find her easily."

"O-okay… but… what if those bad people hurt her or something?" Star asked.

Aster pondered for a moment. "...I'm sure she'll be alright." he said.

The two Xenos eventually came across a fairly rocky region, a sort of canyon. They decided that it would be best to take shelter in this area.

"Those people probably won't think to look here. Just stay close, sweetie." Aster said to his daughter.

"Yes, Dad..." Star responded.

The pair eventually found a cave, and both of them agreed that it would be the ideal location to stay for the night. They both found a large spot of soft sand that would be comfortable enough for them to sleep on, and the cave had trapped enough heat from earlier in the day, at least close to the entrance.

"Sleep well, Star." Aster said.

"You too, Dad." Star said.

They both tried to fall asleep, which was difficult due to the fact that they were immensely worried about Kira...

(XXXX)

Kira and Sam had both been taken to a WY security detention center, where they were holding them in separate interrogation cells as they had been undergoing questioning for several hours, all the while denying any of their claims as if they knew nothing of what WY were talking about. Needless to say, Kira was very nervous; she believed that they were going to place her in jail, even if they did not find Aster or Star. Still, she tried her best to remain calm.

"Kira, do you hear me?" SORIA asked through the earpiece that Kira was still wearing.

Kira sat up in that moment, and she held her hand over her mouth in order to redirect and amplify her quiet voice so that SORIA could hear her without the microphones in the in interrogation chamber hearing her clearly.

"Uh… yeah, SORIA… I'm here." Kira said, audible enough so she could hear it in the same ear.

"Based on the signal of where your transceiver is..." SORIA said. "… you appear to be in a WY security station."

"Yeah… and they are going to try to find Aster and Star, and what's worse is that Weyland has been known to put people in jail without concrete evidence. They just arrest people based on mere suspicion alone, and their too powerful and rich for the regular law enforcement agencies to do anything about it!" Kira said.

"Indeed." SORIA said. "The situation does appear to be rather dire at this point in time."

"So, what should we do about it?" Kira asked.

"That, I am still unsure of." SORIA said. "I am capable of accessing the computer mainframe of that building, but since you have clearly specified that I should not be doing any hacking, there is not very much that I can do to aid you, Kira."

Kira sighed. She hoped that some miracle could happen to help her get out of this dilemma… but fortunately, not everyone in Weyland-Yutani was corrupt.

(XXXX)

"Are you sure it's a good idea to let her and her housemate go, as well as the other young man we arrested shortly after?" a young male member of the security team asked.

"Their alibis are watertight." the team leader said. "Our forensics department investigated her property, as well as the young man's, and found absolutely no evidence of any extraterrestrial beings ever existing on the premises. The SORIA unit she possessed contained no data from its background recording partition about the allegations either. It doesn't matter how elaborate or fleshed-out the allegations are; we have no legal right to keep them detained if we can't connect any of them to the report."

"I know, but..." the younger security officer spoke, looking at Kira through the one-way soundproof glass. "...something about this girl feels… wrong. You know what I mean, right? She's got that weird… vibe."

The senior officer facepalmed. "Are you forgetting what happened back in 2059? A girl her age was arrested and brought before the local court based on flimsy allegations and unreliable theories. The word of her unreasonable detention made national news, the girl was found innocent… and Weyland was ridiculed by public opinion for years! We're not letting that happen again!"

The younger officer looked at Kira again. "Speaking of 2059… you realize who her mother is, right?"

"Are you suggesting we should suspect her and the other two detainees of the allegations just because her own mother went to court a little over thirty years ago?" the senior officer said.

"No! That's not what I'm..." the younger officer trailed off. "...forget it, let's just get her and the other two outta here."

The officers opened up the door to the interrogation chamber, and Kira looked up at them, anxious about more questioning, or possible consequences if they discovered something. However...

"Young lady..." the superior officer said. "...sorry to take up so much of your time, especially this late at night. You're free to go."

Kira sighed in relief. "Thank you." she said.

Without saying too much more, Kira left the security station along with Sam… and as they were partially expecting, they happened to see Kai leaving at the same time as them. By this time, the light of the morning sun was creeping over the East horizon.

"So, they interrogated you two as well?" Kai asked them after he approached in the parking lot.

"Yeah," Sam answered. "it was crazy! I was trying so fucking hard to keep a straight face like I didn't know anything!"

"Look, I'm really sorry that you had to get caught up in all of this, Sam..." Kira said.

Sam sighed. "...Guess that's what happens when you're desperate for a place to stay until you can get back on your feet; really crazy shit happens."

Kai pulled out his phone. "Well, I can call up an Uber so we can head back home… and I just hope Sugarcube and Chase are okay..." he said.

"Same with Aster and Star..." Kira said. "...I told them to run away and hide. I just hope they haven't been caught..."

(XXXX)

A few hours earlier, Aster and Star had been sleeping for a couple of hours… when something happened that forced them to wake up. They began to hear a strange noise. Both of them sitting bolt upright, they heard a very strange growling noise.

They looked near the entrance to the cave to see a large brown bear, hunched over in a threatening manner and growling at them. The two Xenos immediately got to their feet, which made the bear roar at them as it was preparing to rush them.

"D-Dad… wh-what is that…?" Star asked.

"Just stay right behind me." Aster said.

He stood between his daughter and the bear, hissing and flailing his tail, along with sticking out his inner maw in an attempt to intimidate the carnivorous mammal.

Without any prior sign of motion, the bear broke into a sprint, rushing for Aster. The latter was going to try and flip the bear over as it passed so he could have easy access to the opening just below its ribcage to impale it… but he was knocked over as a result. The bear was more massive than any other creature he has ever had to face… save for Meyer's Queen on Mars, where there was lower gravity.

Despite being stunned, Aster managed to roll away from the bear after it stomped on his chest a couple of times. His ribcage hurt a lot now… but he was not going to let the bear hurt Star. Using his heightened agility to counter the bear's slow, clumsy reorientation, he climbed on top of the creature and wrapped his hands around its neck.

The bear thrashed about like crazy to try and throw the Xenomorph Drone off of its back, but Aster had far too strong of a hold. He then brought his face to the bear's skull… and thrust his inner set of jaws through its head. There was a massive spurt of red blood in Aster's face as he killed the bear. The large creature slumped over, and Aster fell off along with the momentum. He laid on the floor as Star quickly rushed over to him.

"Dad!" she said. "Are you okay!?"

Aster made some straining noises as he struggled to sit upright.

"...I… I think a few of my ribs… are broken..." Aster said in a pained way. "...m-my chest hurts..."

"Here, Dad… I'll help you!" Star said, pulling up her father by his arm.

It took a little while for them to get moving, but Star began to walk Aster back in the direction they had originally come, in the hope that they could make it home before the morning light could reveal them.

They passed by a small, isolated house in a very rural region of the area. The two Xenos hoped that they could just walk right past it… but unfortunately, they caught the attention of a dog behind a fenced area, which started barking.

"Oh, no..." Star said, trying to move quickly.

However, the inhabitant of the house, a hermit, happened to spot them. He happened to be the owner of the four acres of land surrounding his house… and he saw Aster and Star, believing that they were just regular people under the cover of darkness.

"YOU SET FOOT ON MY TURF, YOU JUST SIGNED YOUR OWN DEATH WARRANT!" he shouted.

The hermit took aim with his shotgun that he brought, and opened fire. The buckshot scattered around the two Xenos, and that coupled with the loud bang of the gunshot startled them.

This forced Star to carry her father on her back… but given that she had not fully matured, her muscular system was underdeveloped and Aster felt quite heavy to her. Regardless, her adrenaline kept her going, despite the rapid gunshots going off. At a couple of points, Aster grunted. Star assumed that she was not carrying him right, and tried to walk smoother.

Eventually, the two made it away from the mad hermit, and Star eventually let her father start walking again… however, she became horrified at the sight of blood covering practically his entire body.

"Dad..." Star uttered.

Aster could only wheeze to regain his breath; he had been shot numerous times with buckshot. The amount of blood he had lost was already having quite a detrimental effect on his wellbeing in that moment.

"...S-Star..." Aster spoke, softly. "...I...I c-can't… walk anymore..."

True to his word, he could not keep going. His wounds and fractures were festering, and not healing correctly. His acidic blood was still seeping through the openings of his skin, and he was bleeding internally through his broken bones, as well as internal cuts they causes. His strength gave out. He was getting very lightheaded and cold as well. He fell to the ground, too weak to stand back up. Star stopped and knelt next to him.

"Dad, please..." Star said, very concerned. "...get up! We have to keep going! We have to get home...!"

Aster tried to stand, but he could not lift himself on his arms, and he fell back to the ground. He had lost far too much blood.

"...I... I'm not sure... I can, Star..." Aster said.

"Dad... please don't do this! You have to get up!" Star said.

"...Ahh... Star... l-listen to me..." Aster said, taking her hand in his own.

Star was getting extremely uneasy about the situation right now. "D-Dad... what are you... d-doing...?" she asked.

"...S-Star... my little g-girl..." Aster strained. "...do you... remember how to... g-get back home...?"

Star hung her head down, and started sniffling. "...I-I... I think I d-do... b-but... why do I... h-have to go...? Aren't you... g-gonna come... with m-m-me...?"

"...Star..." Aster whispered. "...promise me... you'll r-remember... who you truly are... and that you... w-will keep... fighting... for your entire life... and d-do... what you believe in. You have to... l-leave me... here... and... find your mother… tell her... what h-happened..."

Star began to cry. "...D-do I... h-have t-to leave you... D-Daddy...?" she said.

Aster, albeit weak, was in immense surprise and bliss that she had just address him as "Daddy"; it has been years since she called him that. Most of the time, she just called him "Dad" or "Pops". It truly meant the world to him that she still cared enough to call him "Daddy".

"...Star… please save yourself… and r-remember… never… stop… th-the… fight..." Aster uttered, his breathing slowing down.

Star sat next to her father, just hoping that she could help to comfort him. There was nothing she knew to do for him. She did not know how to stop bleeding, or made a crude set of crutches. All she could do was watch helplessly, crying as she saw her father suffer and slowly die right in front of her.

It had been quite a long while, Star having blacked out for quite a bit of time before she became re-aware of her surroundings. The stress had gotten to her quite immensely, but she instantly returned her attention to her unconscious father. Only…

...he wasn't unconscious. He didn't even appear to be breathing, much to Star's horror. His brainwaves were absent as well...

"..."

"...D...Daddy...?"

"..."

Well… shit. This doesn't look good at all, does it? Wonder how the others are gonna react to this? In any case, thank you all for continuing to follow me despite the updates being far between! I'll get back to this once I'm done with finals in school! Keep holding on...