At the first possible chance, Akkan dropped down from the ventilation shafts, and, hissing dangerously, he pulled Paul from Weyland's grip.

He hissed at the man, and clutched Paul in his talons.

"Whoa, calm yourself, I was just trying to help!"

Sniffing at his friend, he noticed a slightly chemical smell about him. These must be the "Tranquilizers" the doctor had been talking about. Shaking Paul a bit, he waited for a response

Paul? Can you hear me? Paul?

Akkan felt a dim feeling of recognition but Paul stayed asleep.

The big round light had risen in the sky, and the xeno stopped to look out of a window.

Paul had told him about it, but he now saw it for the first time with his own eyes.

Freedom! He was free. He could run and jump and hunt in freedom for the first time.

But the dead weight of Paul on his shoulder brought him back into the sticky reality again.

Weyland had started talking to him

"Listen, Akkan. We don't have a way to get out anymore. We're stuck here. Our escape route is barred."

Akkan reflexively clutched Paul tighter.

"I have an idea, but you won't like it and I don't blame you. But it will be the only way now."

The xeno tilted his head questioningly

"You have to get caught."

NO! Akkan hissed at Weyland, gashing his jaws.

"Believe me, there's no other way!"

Screeching and roaring, and whipping his tail, he screamed in his mind No, No, NO!

Weyland tried to soothe him. "If I can get them to think I caught you, they will trust me. I can free you once we reach earth. And you can take your revenge, as I will take mine."

Revenge? Weyland knew about revenge?

He smelt it on him. And instinctively, he knew, that for his and Paul's survival, it was necessary, to a point, to trust Weyland.

He nodded.

"Good."

And suddenly, Akkan was staring down Weyland's gun.

His instinct told him to rip the arm off, and bury his inner jaws in the human's head. He had to summon all of his strength to prevent that from happening.

Then he thought of Paul on his shoulder. Poor Paul, who couldn't do anything now. He relied solely on him for survival. Only he, Akkan, could protect him. And he would do what was necessary, to get them to safety. He could survive. He had survived, even the strong medication, and the years in his cell.

But instinctively, he knew that now he had not only himself to take care of, but also Paul. And he was worried about the human on his shoulder. They would take him away.

"Akkan, one last word before we go on with our little act. Don't let go of Paul. Just don't."

Akkan nodded, and, putting on the best "angry xenomorph" act, he let himself being nudged onwards by Weyland.

They passed a few corridors, sending people fleeing for their lives whenever they saw his angry black figure.

Weyland had adopted an air of professionalism about himself, and even Akkan felt it was very convincing, even to him, and he could practically smell lies.

He had the gun pointed at him, and his head.

After some time, he heard the stamp of heavy shoes on the metal floor, and a pack of soldiers appeared, their guns at the ready.

Akkan smelt their fear, but also their hate. Towards him

"WAIT!" he heard Weyland shout, as they pointed their rifles at him

"Why should we wait? This thing is a danger, it killed four of our men. We will dispatch it right now!"

Weyland's professionalism turned into anger "You won't kill it. In fact, you don't have anything to decide. This creature is worth a fortune to Weyland-Yutani, and that's why we will wait for the extraction ship to arrive."
"You're not killing it because it's got a hostage!" A fat prey bustled itself through the soldiers. It had an air of command amongst him, and the soldiers listened to it.

It also had a bandage around its head, like Paul around its shoulder. It went on "We will do exactly as told. Neither hurt it, nor hurt Dr. Cromwell."

Akkan hissed loudly, and dropped alien spit on the floor. Then he reared upwards and slammed his tail into the ground, whipping it past Weyland's face, who took a surprised leap backwards.

The soldier's and even the fat prey's fear was almost palpable in the air.

And yes, he enjoyed it. Whilst being aware that he wasn't in charge, he enjoyed the ability to make them cringe with fear.

It gave him a sense of power he had missed. A sense of power he had not felt since his sleep.

The soldiers were staring at him.

Well, until he noticed Weyland raising his gun, and pulling the trigger.

Instead of a gunshot, the gun made a rather funny sound.

Like someone had stuck a mouse down its barrel.

He felt a soft sting in his side.

Everything turned pink, then blue, and then Akkan felt his legs crumble beneath him, and he crashed to the floor.

Then his world went black.

The soldiers stared slightly dumbfolded at the fallen Xenomorph.

"What the-" Colonel Marker was staring at the bright arrow in its side, slowly dissolving due to the blood leaking out of the wound in a small rivulet.

"That, my dear friend, is a tranquilization dart."

"What the hell? Right, Weyland, you'd better tell me what this is all about."

"It's simple. It really is."

"Well then hurry up, else I'll give the order to shoot this bastard. And you with it."

"Dr. Cromwell and his experiment here are a new kind of weapon. A weapon that would make humans on a battle field obsolete. Think of an android, one that you can control, but with the abilities of a xenomorph. That's what we're trying to create here, a biodroid. A xenomorph you can control. And this example here is one where we've almost reached our goal!"

"Well, that bloody thing is completely out of control. It killed four of my men!"

"It's not out of control. Your men attacked it! It's programmed to defend itself, and the program in its brain is not yet fully refined" and with a sly grin, he added: "This creature is worth at least a million dollars. If Weyland-Yutani find out you had it shot, you'll be an ex-colonel before you know it."

He could see Marker's brain working. "All right. Get the scientist, and lock the creature away somewhere."

"Leave Dr. Cromwell with the creature."

"Why? It will eat him as soon as it's awake again."

"No, because he is its programmer. That's why it's carrying him. Because it sees him as its queen. If you take him away, I'm not sure what will happen."

Of course, those were complete lies, but Weyland didn't care. Marker was gullible enough, for sure.

"All right. Get both of them in the cage. And make sure it is locked up tight for transport."

Weyland cheered inwardly. Now he just had to get on that extraction ship.

Of course, Akkan was the first who awoke. His alien physiology was much more resistant to tranquilizers.

They were locked away in a cell, roughly 3 metres square.

Slightly panicky, he looked around, and then found Paul, set down in a makeshift bed.

The human was breathing slowly and steadily. Blood had seeped through the patch over his shoulder, but Akkan had a look at it, and didn't see anything worryingly. But then again he didn't really know what to look for.

The other prey had fastened something heavy and cold around his neck, something made from hard metal. He tried to pull it off, but it wouldn't budge.

He paced his cell, looking for a way out.

There were no doors as far as he was concerned, only a square hatch of a metre in size in the ceiling. He tried knocking down the walls, but they were solid. No smells from the outside world penetrated his prison, and he was left with the overwhelming masculine scent of Paul lying in the bed.

Akkan flopped on the floor. The last few days, maybe the last few weeks, he had grown to think of Paul more than just mere prey. He'd grown to like him.

And now through their attempted escape, especially down in the maintenance shaft, he had developed something more. Something his mind could not grasp. Paul wasn't the queen of the hive. He couldn't be the queen, not ever, his gender was wrong anyway. Plus he wasn't of his kind. He shouldn't even think of these things.

But he couldn't stop himself. It was like he was cursed. Cursed with an attachment to a human.

To Paul.

He wriggled around on the floor. The crampedness of the prison did nothing to help him get his mind off the things he was thinking about. And this had to happen fast, else something else would happen, something he didn't want to happen in front of Paul

Well, not without him going the same way, he smirked.

Paul awoke.

It was dark around him, and there was a very faint hum, of which he wasn't sure if it was in his head or not.

He was lying on a bed, a rather hard one at that, and his shoulder stung heavily.

Then it all came back to him. He had been shot.

"Akkan!"

A black talon went over his mouth before he could shout the word. It pressed down on his face, and Paul noticed that Akkan's hand held quite a nice smell to it.

Quit your shouting. We're not alone

What? - Where are we? What happened?

We're on that extraction ship.

Weyland's ship?

No. Weyland had to abandon his plan. I think he's betrayed us. He shot me.

Oh my god, Akkan? Are you hurt?

You twat, it was just a tranquilizer. Somehow he had missed that sarcastic tone of the alien. Then, much more earnest he asked: And how are you feeling?

My shoulder hurts.

You were at the doctor. Weyland and I carried you there. A hint of pride was in his voice

Thanks… well…

Weyland put painkiller things in your pocket in case you're wondering.

What happened to Weyland now? How did he betray us?

I don't know. I don't know if he did. He suddenly abandoned the old plan, and told me it was safest to get us caught. I don't know, Paul. I can't make much of that man. His scent is an enigma.

Paul breathed in, and tried to get up. Pain shot through his shoulder, and he let himself fall back

I'm surprised you didn't eat me when I was wounded.

I did want to, but your blood somehow smells weird. Not like it should with prey. I ate the soldiers instead though. He heard Akkan burp.

Well, you have explaining to do.

Do I?

Yeah, Akkan, you do. Why did you tell me you had to protect the queen? There's not a queen around here as far as I can see? And why are we locked up together?

I ummm well ummm I think the thing with the queen just was a figure of speech. Like you're the most important thing now, that makes you queen, doesn't it?

Paul giggled except I'm not female

Yeah, well, let's find out

Oi you big rapist, leave me alone! He giggled again.

Anyway, Akkan went on I don't know why they locked us up together, but I'm not letting you go.

You probably thought about killing Weyland.

I do. I suppose I will if ever meet him again. But I doubt I will get the chance..

Akkan, you're a sweet guy.

Sweet? The answer came a bit slurred

Yeah. Despite you're a xenomorph, you're very sweet and caring.

Suddenly, Paul felt Akkan's arms around him, pulling him and the Xenomorph together. The strong arms clutched him tight, but carefully at the same time, and then he felt cold, wet lips on his.

Heat welled up in Paul

And he kissed back, not caring about the alien drool dripping on his chest.