This chapter is dedicated to Badly-knitted, who never fails to review each chapter. Thank you so much. Your support is invaluable. And thank you as well to every one reading this story. I hope you'll stick with it to the end.

Chapter 8 Meeting ones mate

Orion was running down endless corridors. Burst pipes choking him with their toxic steam. Ever so often a bolt of energy would shoot past him, just barely missing him. His lungs hurt and his heart was pounding a furious rhythm. He ran down another corridor and suddenly burst through a cloud of steam and almost tumbled over into a deep chasm. Down and down it went. There was no where for him to run and the monster chasing him was coming closer. He could hear it growling. In his panic he contemplated climbing over the edge. Risking a fall into the chasm might be better than facing the monster. But it was too late. The monster was here. It burst through the cloud of steam and stood before him, with a menacing smile on its face. It was his own face. He was the monster. He saw his doppelganger covered in blood and gore and he felt sick. His double moved in on him, coming slowly closer. Then… it touched him and they merged into one. Orion looked down at himself and found that he was now covered in the same blood and gore. He screamed.

He was wakened by someone shaking him. Being so totally freaked out by his dream he flailed his arms violently about him, in an uncoordinated attempt to ward off any attackers. He felt his arm impact on something, or rather someone, and flung himself as far away as he could. The result was that he tumbled to the floor in a rather undignified heap. He lay there panting as his mind slowly caught up to his now wakened state. He wasn't in a steam filled corridor and he wasn't being chased by monsters. He became aware of his shoulder throbbing painfully and he couldn't hold back the anguished moan forcing its way out of his throat.

Then there was a soft chirruping sound from the bed above him. He scrambled away in a moment of panic, thinking the monster had followed him into the real world. Franticly he turned and searched for the maker of the noise. That's when he saw them. The most beautiful person he had ever seen. Time seemed to stand still as their eyes met. 'Mate.' His mind provided blissfully. 'My mate.' In the back of his mind memory flooded back of how he had rescued his mate, which in part explained his dream about monsters. Not that he cared at all about that at the moment. He felt like he was under a blissful spell.

His mate was looking back at him with a concerned look on its face. Its beautiful purple eyes were staring at him in both worry and affection. It chirruped at him again in a questioning way. To Orion's dazed and frazzled mind it sounded like singing. He wouldn't mind listening to it all day, he thought as he gazed into those two amethyst depths. Then the beautiful creature reached out a small, delicate hand and touched his cheek. The bond between them came alive, pulsing with the rush of emotion between them. Time sped up to normal again, though Orion still felt rather dazed.

His mate carefully got off the bed, moving slowly so as not to startle Orion. He followed it with his eyes as it stepped over to a cupboard, which was revealed to contain a small sink. Rummaging through adjacent cupboards, the mate produced a plastic container and piece of cloth. It filled the container with water and returned to Orion's side. It looked at him questioningly as it dipped the cloth in the water. Orion couldn't help but lift his hand and touch the face in front of him. His caress was gentle and the mate smiled at him. Then it put the soaked cloth on his injured shoulder and he hissed in pain. It flicked a hesitant glance at him, but continued cleaning his wound.

Orion became aware that he was covered in dried up blood, gore and sweat. His dream flashed before him again. He was the monster. He had killed people. He had literally torn a person apart with his bare hands. He tore away from his mate, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, and sobbed in anguish. His tears flowed freely down his grime covered cheeks. He froze when he felt his mate's arms around him. He tried to free himself from the embrace, fearing he would harm them too, but they wouldn't let go. Relenting he allowed himself to be held.

He could feel his mate's sorrow as well, through their bond. It too was grieving and he realised it was for the two adults that had been strapped into the device beside it. He was saddened by the fact that he hadn't been able to save them too and he shared the feeling with his mate through the bond. It sent him a feeling of understanding and acceptance and it made him cry even harder. He mourned for the lives he had taken, for the lives he couldn't save and for the loss of his own innocence.

He didn't know how long they wept together, but when he finally finished his mate was sleeping in his arms. Very carefully he picked them up and put it back on the bunk. It whimpered as he let go and he caressed its hair before pulling away completely. His shoulder was bleeding again and he awkwardly removed the remnants of his shirt. The pain of moving his shoulder so much nearly had him collapsing on the floor. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. The pain slowly faded to a slightly less throbbing pain. He would need to get it cleaned completely and dressed in a bandage.

He looked around. There should be a first aid kit on board. The lifeboat resembled a caravan, he noticed. It had bunk beds along one wall, a wall full of cupboards on the opposite wall. In the front was the flight controls and to the rear the exit with the porthole and a large cupboard, he presumed contained the toilet. Opening the door he was pleased to find that not only was he correct, but it also contained a shower. The toilet itself could be folded back to allow room to stand under the shower. He smiled. Now all he needed was a towel and a change of clothes.

A search of the cupboards proved a treasure trove of useful items and he was now equipped with some soap, a towel, a hairbrush, a first aid kit and some coveralls. He quickly shed the last of his clothes and got into the shower. The water felt blissful on his battered body and he allowed himself the luxury of just enjoying it washing away the physical reminders of the awfulness of recent events. When at last he was clean again, he stepped out and towelled himself off as best he could. His shoulder was hurting like hell and the rest of his muscles were beginning to ache as well.

He pulled the coveralls up over his waist, but left the top half down. He would need to have his wound dressed first. He opened the first aid kit and found what he needed. But there was no way for him to reach his wound properly. Reluctantly he approached the bunk and looked down at his mate. He hated to wake it, but there was nothing else for it. He sat on the edge of the bed and gently shook his mate's shoulder. It fluttered its eyelids and with a deep breath slowly woke up.

When it saw him sitting there it blinked as if startled and then a slow smile spread on its face. He couldn't help but smile back.

"I need your help." He told it. He held up a cloth and a bottle of disinfectant, he had found in the first aid kit. Its amethyst coloured eyes widened in understanding and it sat up and took the items out of his hands. He flinched violently when the disinfectant soaked cloth came in contact with his wound. He grabbed the side of the bunk and gritted his teeth to keep from screaming.

"So," he ground out. "What's your name?" The child looked at him.

"Warwyn Saiyaela." It answered. Orion looked back at it.

"Beautiful name." It looked down shyly. "Mine's Orion. Orion Harkness-Jones. Though it probably should be Caralneska. That was my mother's name." The Saluvians and Micurii'ans named their children after the mothers or carriers, since several males could be co-contributors of the male parental DNA. Warwyn abruptly stopped cleaning the wound.

"What?" Orion could see the shock in its eyes and he could feel it through the bond as well. It looked flustered. Then it continued dabbing his shoulder with the cloth.

"My uncle was married to a Caralneska." It mumbled. Orion could tell that something was wrong. Both the Micurii'an and Saluvian species tended to have large families, particularly these days with the procreation laws, so it shouldn't be unexpected for the branches of their family trees to cross now and again. They wouldn't be predestined mates, if they were too closely related. After all, nature didn't care too much for inbreeding.

"Was?" It nodded and sighed heavily.

"My father's sibling, my uncle… is crazy. He killed his wife and some of her children." Orion felt his blood run cold. "He tried to kill the others as well. They sent him to prison, but he escaped. Then he came after us." By now Orion's strong grip on the bunk was deforming its metal. "He overpowered us, my parents and me, and sold us to the Fylfaouk pirates in exchange for a ship and some sort of technology." By now Warwyn's hands were resting idly in its lap and it was staring down at them. "The pirates wanted us to fuel their ship for the long Jump to the other end of the galaxy. We…" its voice broke and it swiped at the tears rolling down its cheeks again.

Orion's mind was reeling. Lartorc was Warwyn's uncle. He had sold his own family for a ship and some tech. He could feel the rage boiling inside him, as he thought of all the horrors that man was guilty of. He was vaguely aware of being bandaged up and of his mate crying. But it wasn't until Warwyn collapsed on the floor, sobbing, that he broke out of it. He rushed to embrace it. The emotional turmoil had become too much. Once again he moved his mate to the bunk, where he crawled in and held Warwyn close as it cried.

xxXxx

It was sometime during the early hours of the morning that they were woken by something moving around outside. It was something big by the sound of it. Orion climbed out the bunk and tiptoed to the front, where the controls were. Warwyn stayed in the bunk, looking awfully scared. It was still very weak from its stint in the energy robbing device. Orion took a look at the controls and finally found the one that enabled the external cameras and brought the night vision images up on the front view screen. Behind him Warwyn gasped as they saw a bunch of large animals walking around their tiny lifeboat.

Luckily, they didn't seem interested in them though. Aside from the occasional sniff or two the animals continued on their way. They reminded Orion of the American buffalos or the African wildebeests, except they were the size of elephants. They had a docile air about them as they walked along, sometimes stopping to graze on the blue-green grass and soft pink bushes.

"There's so many of them." Warwyn said in wonder, as it joined Orion up front. He put his arm around it and together they watched the herd migrate passed them. After a while Orion noticed his mate beginning to shiver with cold. He kissed it on the head and guided it to the bunk for some more sleep. He silently hoped that there weren't any predators around to hunt those large animals.

xxXxx

He was awakened some hours later by the sounds of his mate rummaging around the various cupboards. Sleepily he rolled onto his back and stretched his arms over his head, yawning. But the instant pain in his shoulder brought him sharply awake. Hissing he cringed and rolled back onto his side and settled for watching Warwyn. It looked over its shoulder at him and smiled, before turning back to the cupboard it was currently ransacking.

Orion smiled at the image his mate presented. Warwyn was dressed in a coverall identical to the one he was wearing; only it was several sizes too big. The sleeves and legs had been rolled up, but the rest was still too large causing the bottom to sag between the legs and the excess fabric to overflow above the waist. He thought it looked adorable like that; still so very childish, yet he knew it wouldn't be long before it would move into adolescence.

His musings were interrupted as Warwyn let out a loud "Ah!" Apparently they had found what they were looking for. They triumphantly pulled out a small food packet, from amongst a multitude of others. Orion was pleased to know they wouldn't need to starve if they couldn't find other food sources. Who knew how long it would be before they were rescued. There was no way he would be able to make a new portal. Not only had it cost him a great deal of energy but what was worse it felt really wrong. As if it was a violation of the laws of nature. It would be something to discuss with Rea and Xarion when they got back home.

He felt a sharp pang in his heart as he thought of home and of his family. 'Daddy and Tad must be going ape with worry.' He thought as he watched Warwyn mix the contents of the food packet with water and stare at it. Orion thought about their visit to the Queen and was convinced she would never let Torchwood inside the palace again. 'Hell, she'll probably refuse to speak to Daddy and the rest of us ever again.' He smiled at the thought, and then he noticed that Warwyn was still just staring at the container of food. He was just about to ask, when Warwyn broke off its staring contest with a frustrated groan.

"I can't do it!" it half yelled and looked at him. "I'm not strong enough." It's voice was quivering and it's entire posture was one of dejection. Orion wasn't entirely sure it was referring to whatever it had tried to do or if it was speaking about the whole situation in general. It looked ready to break down again. The amethyst eyes were brimming with unshed tears and it's lover lip was quivering slightly. He gingerly got up, mindful of his aching shoulder, and put his good arm around Warwyn's shoulders. It leaned closer, drawing comfort from his touch.

"Where you trying to heat it?" he asked carefully. Warwyn nodded and a single tear flowed down it's cheek. Orion gently wiped it away with his thumb and looked at the stuff in the container. It was some sort of light blue mash with green, orange and red chunks in it. He steadied him self as Xarion had taught him and sent his awareness deep into the bowl. The world faded around him as he became aware of the much smaller world of the food molecules. He started a small chain reaction once he could see them and influence them. Like tiny billiard balls the atoms were set into motion and struck each other and the sides of the container and changed direction and zoomed along to strike another molecule and another part of the container. The movement created friction which created heat. The whole process only took a few minutes and soon all the food in the container was steaming hot.

He pulled his awareness back to normal and saw his mate sending him a sad smile and a whispered "Thank you." Orion smiled back and kissed it on the top of it's head.

"Let's eat this while its still hot." They poured the contents out onto to plastic plates and sat down on the floor to eat. Somewhere in those cupboards were some folding chairs and there was a tabletop that could be pulled out of the cupboard wall, but for now the floor would suffice.

"I can teach you how to absorb energy from the planet, if you don't know how to..?" Orion said carefully between mouthfuls. The food was rather good, both spicy and sweet at the same time. Warwyn looked up mid-chew.

"I'd like that. I only know how to do that from artificial sources, like power packs and such." Orion nodded his understanding. He had once tried that with an ordinary battery, at Xarion's insistence. It had tasted sour and the energy output had been poor. But Xarion had stated that they could be used in an emergency for a minor energy boost. Orion had grumpily mumbled that one would do better with a bar of rich chocolate than a battery.

"This is only the fifth time I'm on a planet." Warwyn continued. "Born and raised on ships." It said matter of factly, with an air of quotation. Orion thought it was cute and couldn't help but smile.

"This is only my third time on a spaceship." Orion countered. "Born and raised on a planet." He winked and smiled his trademark Harkness smile. Warwyn snickered shyly, before gingerly saying:

"This isn't really a ship. It's a lifeboat." Orion laughed hearily.

"I know. I was just trying to impress you." He laughed again. Warwyn hesitated for a heartbeat or two and then joined in. The peels of laughter were music to Orion's ears.

Hmm, I am suddenly feeling the need to sing "Getting to know you" from "The King and I"