Author's Note: Finally have enough information from my pole; the results were very, VERY close, like one point difference in favor of just continued Haven. This is good, because I have no idea what I'd title a sequel.

Warning: One of the things I said I'd like to avoid is convenience. I've read several fics (They were fun enough to read, so don't please think I'm bashing them) where Lex joins the tribe and they "conveniently" have armor made in her size, and ready for her the moment she steps on the ship, liked they'd expected a human to come joining them. Not happening here, I'm going for realism. On that note as well, acceptance is another issue I'm having with some of these fics. In one she was immediately accepted by the entire clan, in another she wasn't by the whole clan, but Scar's family welcomed her instantly and encouraged their relationship right off the bat. These fics were fun to read, but they were just a little too…'cartoony' for my taste. It may yet be a full chapter before I actually let her out of the hospital, and I intend on introducing a few more OCs this chapter.

Disclaimer: AVP is not mine, but you got to admit, it'd be really awesome if I did.

Haven

Lex had dozed off shortly after Earth had disappeared from view. From what she had gathered from Crusade's brief explanation of what would happen now, was that there were actually several planets that the Yautja kept the serpents, the Kainde Amedha, or hard meats as they called them, for the hunt, Scar and his group had been among the first in many young warriors to take this test of manhood. Now that Lex had decided to stay, they were moving away from her home planet, she watched until it had gone, to the next one. Time dragged on forever, the ship passed the planets she knew, and then ones she didn't recognize, her eyes started to feel droopy.

And then she had fallen into a light slumber.

She felt pressure on the bed around her, like something was crawling around on her bed. In her half-sleep and image of a hard meat flashed before her, she gasped, opening her eyes in an instant. Almost immediately the creature that was on the bed with her dived for the edge, hiding from view with a startled yelp. It was not a hard meat, but another Yautja, this one however was much smaller.

Lex stared at the place she'd seen it disappear, and sure enough, a small head peered back up, it ducked again when it saw her, but slowly rose to study her. The Yautja was young, even more so then Scar, about the size of a nine year old human, he looked just like Crusade and Scar, Lex concluded that this meant he was related. The little Yautja cocked his head and flexed his mandibles, emitting a sound that was more of a chirp then anything she'd heard Scar make.

"Hey there..." She said sweetly, the child ducked again, "Oh no, no, it's alright, I won't hurt you. Come on now." He peeked up again and slowly approached her, "That's right, come on, a little closer. Hi!"

The Yautja child climbed on the bed and moved his face close to hers, a little too close for her comfort, but it was clear he was just trying to identify what she was. "H-h-aii" The Yautja repeated sniffing her and gave a sharp little trill which woke up Scar, who too, had dozed off.

"Gluh'ave! Get down from there!" He snapped at his little brother. The younger Yautja ignored him, reaching out and touching Lex's hair curiously and finding it an odd texture under his fingers. Scar called out again, but this time he was not alone. Their father stood in the doorway with a frustrated look, calling his youngest over irritably.

"Father." Scar greeted.

Lex looked over at Crusade as the Yautja child climbed off her and ran to greet him. The elder growled at his son and popped him gently on the head; he turned and trilled something to Scar before approaching Lex.

"Iapp'oll'jieze iif Gluh'ave was bothur'ing yew." He said dragging the little one along with him.

"What? Oh no, he wasn't bothering me." She smiled "Is that his name? Glaive?" She asked.

"Mor or Less." Crusade answered.

"Father, what is she?" Glaive inquired, looking at the strange creature in the hospital bed.

Just as he asked Lex had asked another question herself "How old his he?"

Crusade answered his son first, "She is ooman, from the blue planet we were just at." Turning to Lex he added, with an irritated growl "Too young, 'e sho'ld be home wit 'is mod'ur."

"Father? Father?" Glaive tugged his arm, trying to get his attention as Lex asked him to elaborate on what he meant."

"Gluh'ave iz not old enouf to be here," he explained, "He snu'k on boar'd when we pik'd up the Jehdin, to see Sckeahr git 'is marhk. 'is mod'ur probably thin'kz 'e iz ded."

"Father? Father? Father!" Glaive insisted.

"What!?"

"Are we going to eat her?" He asked, "She doesn't smell like she'd taste that good."

"PAYA! No! Where did you get that idea!?" Scar answered for Crusade.

Glaive turned and chirped at him, "That's what Dod'j told me."

Scar rolled his eyes, "And you believed him?" He asked, "You know half the stuff Dod'j spits out are lies, and Buhr'nn is just as bad."

"They're your friends." Glaive pointed out.

Scar flared his mandibles angrily causing his bother to duck behind their father's legs. Crusade snapped at both of them to behave while he talked to the ooman warrior.

"Tha tuu of tham." He growled shaking his head, "Sckeahr was a p'a'k of Kainde Amedha on 'is own, but wen Gluh'ave came along, it was twi'ce tha tro'ble."

Lex glanced at the elder's two sons. As long as she had known him Scar had been quite composed, and prepared for the hunt. Glaive on the other hand, would never have lasted ten minutes in that pyramid. She found it hard to believe that Scar was ever as big of a handful as Glaive, seeing as the younger of them was currently bouncing up and down, tugging Crusade's arm and chittering.

Crusade shook him off and turned his attention to Lex fully, "How yew fiel'ing? Iif yew try'd, co'ld yew stan'd?"

Lex flexed herself trying to rise, careful not to let the blanket slip, but failed, and answered no. She'd been explained the extent of her injuries, blood loss, several broken ribs and many fractures. Scar injuries were similar, but he'd also been impaled with the hard meat's tail in multiple places as well so he also had some muscle damage, but for a while they thought Lex would die from her blood loss because they had no human blood to donate. It could be a while before she could stand or walk.

Crusade chittered to Scar a moment before turning back to Lex and giving a short simple nod, he appeared ready to add something when the door to the hospital opened and a group of Predators entered. Several of them were large marked males, two were unblooded, an elder, and… Lex strained her neck to get a better look, but the group, with the exception of the elder and two Jehdin, hustled off to another section of the hospital. But Lex was sure the tallest one in the center had been female.

"Sckeahr!" The two unblooded Yautja greeted.

Scar's eyes twinkled when he saw the two of them, "Dod'j! Buhr'nn!" The three of them burst into excited clicks and purrs. Crusade approached the other elder, this was the same elder who had stubbornly demanded they leave the soft meat behind, but Lex knew nothing of this. Instead she observed the newcomers. The two unblooded were the same age as Scar, that much she could tell, with pale red skin that was blotched with darker markings, twins, from the looks of things. The Elder that came with was the same; she guessed that he was their father.

Crusade thumped a fist on his chest. "Raa'th." The chief nodded in respect.

"Kru'saad." The other returned the gesture, and then turned to Lex. She lowered her head, hoping that would signify respect, the elder rumbled, but made no move to threaten her, it appeared she'd gotten that much right. "Yuu sai yuu w'll ta'k tha hu-nt?"

She looked up again, this other elder's English was not half as good as Crusade's, but she could make it out, "Ye-yes sir." she said, the stumble in her voice made his eyes narrow, at least until he realized it was from pain at attempting to sit up.

"Raa'th." He said pointing to himself.

"Wrath." She repeated using the closest English word she could think of, Crusade's dictionary popped into her head, as well as his implication of the presence of another human. "I'm Lex." She introduced.

Wrath looked her over, sniffing the air and memorizing her scent. He turned back to Crusade with an unimpressed snarl, "She will never last." He snorted.

From his place on the bed, Scar growled a light protest, but did not argue against the elder's assessment, Crusade however placed a hand on Wrath's shoulder, "That was what we thought of Fii'shur if you recall."

At this Wrath's eyes softened and he took a quick gentler look at Lex before turning back to his friend, "Well…maybe she stands…a bit of a chance." He didn't elaborate and just left the room, Crusade growled to the youngsters and followed.

As soon as the adults were gone, the chattering got louder, she couldn't understand a word of what they were saying, but she heard her name mentioned a couple of times.

"Sckeahr said we weren't going to eat her." Glaive growled crossing his arms, trying to look threatening, but with his short stature and meager muscle build he only looked cuddly.

"We aren't!" Scar snarled emphasizing that this was the end of this; he chirped suddenly and pointed at the human, "Lhrueckz!" In turn he pointed to his companions, "Dod'j…Buhr'nn."

Lex understood the introduction and pointed to the correct Yautja as she repeated the names, "Dodge…Burn." She smiled as Glaive began jumping up and down excitedly.

The child pointed to himself and loudly announced "Gluh'ave! Gluh'ave!" He ran to her side and touched her arm, "L…Lu…Lekz!"

"You do a better job pronouncing my name than your brother does!" She laughed, and reached out to rub his head. Glaive jumped up on the bed with her, purring, chirping and clicking as he nuzzled her hand, making her giggle even more.

"Gluh'ave!" Scar snarled, "Don't climb on her like that, she's still injured!"

"Awwww…" Burn teased, "Look, he cares so much about her!"

"She's my friend." The youngblood insisted.

Dodge took up his twin's joke, "He cares so much! Are you going be her mate Sckeahr?"

The flesh on Scar's face brightened in a blush, turning it almost as luminescent as his blood, "That's not what I-"

Before he could finish the twins moved in on him, "He cares so much, it's beautiful! We should hug him!" One of them spoke the first part and the other finished, but when they spoke like that it was hard to discern which was which.

And then they hugged him.

"Gahhh! Get off me! OW!" The more he protested the more they seemed intent to hold him, until it finally became clear to the twins that they really were hurting him and pulled away. Finally able to breath Scar glared at his friends, "You guys are jerks." He declared.

Dodge shrugged, clearly they'd heard this many times, "Hey, don't blame us, we were genetically doomed to be like this." he said.

Burn backed him up, "And we have the family history to prove it."

Glaive piped up, "Go eat a Zabin!"

The twins were prepared to give a nasty comeback when the door opened once again and Crusade entered with a lightly embarrassed look on his face, followed by Wrath whose face shown with pride, and a third elder who's expression remained indifferent. Crusade ordered Glaive to his side. Since his youngest son was not supposed to be here, the boy was actually in a lot of trouble and Crusade should have took him with him when he left. Having left his son in the hospital made this twice now that he'd lost track of him, rather embarrassing for the chief elder.

Lex watched the third one she'd not met yet, she assumed he'd come for the same reason Wrath had, to observe and judge her. He too spoke English, still not as well as Crusade, but with half the difficulty of Wrath. "I am Jaev'len." He introduced, "Lhrueckz…" he had a kinder look in his eyes than either of the other elders as he looked her over. He stepped closer and stroked the mark.

"Uh… Hello Javelin…" she greeted, the number of Yautja examining her was making the woman uneasy, but Javelin gave a reassuring purr and she decided that she was more comfortable with them then anyone else thus far.

Meanwhile Wrath beamed at his two sons, "Be proud!" he announced "The both of you have been selected for the next chiva!"

The two howled excitedly and pounded a fist against their chest and shook each other's shoulder, the other Yautja present responded appropriately as well, and even Lex understood that good news had just been shared. Then Burn asked, "Who is our other partner?"

And the room fell silent again.

Javelin turned away from Lex and the three elders looked at each other, Wrath nodded from Crusade to Scar, the other elder shrugged, but neither said anything. It Javelin who finally answered, "Dahrt…" he'd kept his voice low, trying to keep Scar from overhearing, but the youngblood picked up his rival's name as clear as if he'd shouted it.

"ARE YOU KIDDING!?!" He protested, "There's got to be some mistake, he can't be on a team with Dod'j and Buhr'nn!" The twins too, argued against this lineup, but Scar was more zealous in his objection.

"Ki'cte!" His father snarled, "The choice was not ours to make. Respect that."

Scar grumbled angrily for a moment "Ki'sei…" he folded his arms and glowered, not looking the adults in the eyes.

Wrath shook his head and turned to the third elder, clearly wanting to change the subject now that it had taken a sour tone "Jaev'len, the ooman. What do you think?"

To Lex's surprise, Javelin spoke in English after he had been addressed, "Lhrueckz haz surviv'd de Kainde Amedha Chiva, it iz still tu url'y to tell, buht, wie hav had hur kin'd marc'd b'for," He paused a moment and his eye twinkled, "I 'ave fay'the in hur."

Lex blinked in astonishment at the accolade, but managed to find her tongue so she didn't just sit stupidly, "Thank you."

Javelin turned and nodded respectfully. Yeah, she definitely liked him the best.

Scar rumbled questioningly, Crusade quickly translated the other elder's assessment of his friend, earning Javelin a look of gratitude from the youngblood. Once again the conversation changed once again to the Yautja language and the topic of the next hunt; location, estimated time of arrival, and preparation plans, ignoring the continued disenchanted growls of the youngsters.

Dodge and Burn gave Scar a farewell and he wished them luck on their hunt (also a painful death for their third party member) and the elders too began to leave again, Crusade called to Glaive, the boy chirped walked at his father's side. At the door Glaive suddenly stopped and ran back to Lex. He patted her arm.

"N'dhi-ja…" He paused, trying to remember the earlier conversation because in the excitement he'd already forgotten her name. "N'dhi-ja Mei-jadhi!" he finally decided.

Scar turned bright green again "G-Gluh'ave!"

Lex wasn't sure what he'd said, and had no idea why Scar reacted that way, but she was sure that Glaive was trying to be nice, so she smiled and patted his head. "See you around squirt."

Glaive chirped happily and ran back to his father, Crusade rolled his eyes as the youngest of his sons approached and bopped him lightly on the head. Scar turned back to Lex and chittered something in his own language. From her spot on the bed, she could see in his eyes that he was embarrassed by his brother's choice of words, but she had no idea why.

"Its okay, it doesn't bother me." She said, the two languages were completely different, but tone remained the same. Scar nodded, getting the gist of her words and their meanings and lied back down from his sitting position, though he did not go to sleep. Instead he reached onto a stand near him to a knife and traced its edges with his claws. Lex lay back down as well, and recounted her introductions. Glaive…Wrath…Dodge…Burn…Javelin…Crusade…Scar… There was a connection between the names of the Yautja, Crusade's dictionary, and the mysterious 'he' and 'others of her kind', she knew it. But what sort of connection? Was their another human on this ship? Were there more than one? Would she meet them?

These questions lead to others, and then more and finally sleep…

Author's end note: Please read character information under translation notes. Now I didn't introduce all of the OCs that will be popping up in this fic, but I figured anymore than five new ones (as well as brief mentions of a few others) right off the dot would be a little too much and result in head aches. Of course since it's a big ship with lots of occupants perhaps some of them will not know Scar or others, like Dart will not like him. So be prepared for all kinds of characters.

Editor's note: I really hate how the Yautja speak English… :(

Paya- The Yautja Warrior God, as it is used in the fic Scar is essentially saying "Good God, no!"

Zabin- Insect, essentially "Go eat a bug", didn't think I'd make a little child say something too vulgar did you?

Chiva- Trial or test

Ki'cte- Enough

Ki'sei- "I agree" or "I understand", in this context Scar is telling his father he understands that the choice to put his friends on a team with his rival is not theirs and nothing can be done about it, but he's saying it in a way that clearly shows disapproval.

N'dhi-ja- Good bye.

Mei-jadhi- Sister.

Character notes

Glaive: Scar's little brother isn't supposed to be on the ship at all and is actually in trouble for sneaking on, but by the time he was found the clan was too far from their home planet to turn around and drop him off, enjoy him while you can because he's only staying for a few chapters before he's sent home.

Wrath: Of the three elders that debated Lex's fate when they found her unconscious with Scar Wrath was the one who didn't want to bring her on board. He's an ass, but he'll grow on you.

Dodge and Burn: Like they said, they're genetically doomed to being jerks because they are Wrath's only sons and thus he pushes them harder then anyone else. They have a few sisters back on their home world, but they are the only boys.

Javelin: He's the Elder in the trio from chapter 6 who didn't make any arguments for or against bringing Lex aboard. He does, in this chapter show a liking to her, just to avoid any misconceptions about his attitude towards her, I'd like to tell you that relationship building between them is more of a father-daughter development rather than the romantic one between her and Scar.

Dahrt: Or "Dart". Is going to remain anonymous for a while, just know that he will be appearing in full character later and that he and Scar are like oil and water. They hate each other and will always hate each other, by the end of the fic, if I have any writing skills at all, you will hate him too.

Female Yautja: I made a brief mention of a female in a circle of males; she will be showing up again in the next chapter or so. She is Scar's sister, the males surrounding her are her other brothers and her mate. What she's doing in the hospital is a surprise.

Fii'shur: "Fisher" an anonymous human presence, he will be explained in either the next chapter or the one after that. Be not afraid, he poses absolutely no threat to Lex and Scar's relationship.