Aki'ru was running out of ideas.

Blood Moon's assault must have been immediate and relentless, else his comrades would have surely stopped it. It possessed an understanding of the yautjan ship, and presumably a cloaking device, how else could it have gone unnoticed in the ship.

For what reason had it freed the xenomorphs?

Aki'ru ruled space pirates out. Even if they were of his species, it was clearly impossible. Eran wasn't of much help either. The xenomorph was resting, an uneasy rest. He himself did not feel tired. This was an impossible situation, and that was enticing him. A test of his abilities. He was alone, against an enemy he could not grasp. He always worked alone.

You're not alone this time… he thought.

They had to get off this ship. They had to get somewhere where they could re-group. He would not have purchase on his elusive opponent if he attacked on its home ground.

Lure it out into the open, and then tear it apart. That was what the elder had said, when dealing with elusive prey.

But the elder was dead, leaving him behind, alone, his training not fully finished. It forced Aki'ru to acquire the rest of the skills necessary for a hunter by himself. Alone. Again.

There were escape pods, but Aki wasn't sure that they were a better choice. After all, they were in the middle of space, and he doubted they would last longer in an escape pod.

And then he remembered.

They weren't in the middle of space. By now, they should have reached LX-239. The ship could even already be in orbit.

Maybe jettisoning by escape pod didn't seem such a bad idea after all. They would go, recover, re-arm, and then return to the ship to hunt this Blood Moon thing. It was a tactical retreat.

He shook the xenomorph, and it turned around, flinching at his touch. "We make for the escape pod."

Grabbing his mask, he put it on.

The alien was getting up. Even though not hours before, two blades at least ten inches long had been stuck in its side, it raised itself less shaky than before. The yautja was at least 7'2, but the xenomorph towered over him when fully raised.

It was a strange alliance, and these days were strange days.

But life was life and honour was honour. And it was a truly courageous deed to almost kill oneself to save a life, one that did not even ask to be saved. Aki'ru somehow considered the creature an equal.

The door slid open, and the two made their way outwards. Both were hunters, both knew the necessity of staying silent.

Aki led the way, crouched low, and Eran followed him.

The dim, red light of the emergency power supply was already fading and flickering. It was not going to last long. The life support must already be failing. It was cold.

His mask permitted him to see in the dark, and he suspected the xenomorph did not have such problems.

The ship was silent, so absolutely silent, it chilled the yautja. And yet, he relished the feeling of his blood rushing through his body, the danger of the situation tingling his nerves.

He was enjoying himself, unlike the xenomorph behind him. It was almost on all fours, crouching low.

Eran was scared. His movement were like those of a hunted animal, of something that had never experienced the feeling of power.

That confused Aki'ru. He'd never seen a xenomorph act like that. He wasn't sure if Eran was any use when it came to fighting. His instinct somehow wanted him to protect the creature. He kept reminding himself that Eran was no helpless child, but a xenomorph.

They had reached the escape pod, and Aki'ru was busy manually preparing it for launch. All the automated systems had failed during the power cut, and this was painfully loud.

He had told Eran to stand guard but was quite sure that he'd hear any danger much faster that the xenomorph would

The capsule's door opened, and Aki'ru stared into the confined space. Just a few last adjustments, and the capsule would launch them onto the planet.

Then he would prepare, and ultimately, return to the ship and face Blood Moon in battle.

He heard the hiss before the xenomorph did, as he'd expected.

Spinning around, he quickly spotted the praetorian slinking along the tunnel. The targeting system of his plasma caster automatically locked onto it, but he didn't fire. If he missed, it would blast a hole in the ship's hull, sucking them into space.

He'd never fought a praetorian before, not in hand to hand combat.

Eran had obviously fled. He was nowhere to be seen. What a fool he was to think that beast could have some idea of honour.

Growling, he faced the Praetorian.

The creature, now its cover was blown, strode towards him.

It was huge, larger than Eran, a small crown on its dome, towering at least four feet over the yautja. It hissed aggressively, and lowered itself.

Aki prepared his wrist blade.

The creature struck, using its legs to launch itself at him. He ducked, but the praetorian never reached him.

With a savage hiss, something exploded out of the ceiling. Aki saw a flash of steel, a domed head, and an ear-splitting crack.

The praetorian shrieked, and yellowish, corrosive blood spurted from the place where once its jaw had been.

It squealed and recoiled, back into the tunnel. It was wounded, but not yet dead.

Eran turned his head sideways and clicked to Aki "Go."

Then he gripped his spear, and advanced on the Praetorian.

Spear or no spear, jaw or no jaw, he didn't stand half a chance against the bigger alien. The yautja stepped up beside Eran. They'd fight together.

"I'm right beside you" he clicked.

The praetorian whipped his tail on the ground, and kept on retreating.

Suddenly the emergency lighting flickered, glowed brighter and with a flash went out completely.

A voice chimed in the yautja's head. A voice devoid of feelings, of emotions. A voice tearing at the edges of sanity yet calm like the eye of a storm.

I have seen you.

Aki'ru the faithless.

I know your name. It was whispered to me by the dark, lodging itself in my reality.

The praetorian in front of him suddenly turned tail and fled.

"Who are you?"

You will see. In time. For I will hunt you, like you have hunted so many others. Your kin were enough to whet my appetite. But you are the only true prey. For the end is so close. I can feel it. But our hour is not yet upon us. Farewell, Legionless.

Something brushed his shoulder, a wisp of wind, disappearing along the tunnel, and the lights came back on, very very dim.

"Aki, we leave." Eran pulled Aki into the capsule, a definite, decisive grip, so unlike the creature he had seen before. The alien's demeanour had changed completely.

"We can't."

The xenomorph brought his face close to the yautja's mask. "You've heard it. I've seen it."

His voice held a searing agony. "We have to go. Aki."

"I can't. Honour binds me to kill it."

"You can't. No-one can. Either we go or we die."

Reluctantly, Aki'ru closed the hatch. The xenomorph's grip was iron, clenching itself to his arm. It was scared, Eran, the xenomorph was almost scared witless of this thing. Aki knew that it was pointless, attempting a hunt right now. He would fail, and that would be dishonourable.

The capsule blasted off.

It was dark.

Night had fallen.

The capsule had come down on the planet's surface, bounced twice, and came to rest the wrong way up. Aki'ru and Eran almost had to dig their way out. But now they had left the steel cylinder, and were on the planet's surface. It was warm, even at night. Aki'ru enjoyed it. He thrived in warm climates, and even the Alien seemed happier than in the cramped ship.

Most of the land was flat, grassy prairie, but in the background, large mountains loomed up. The yautja adjusted his sight, using the magnifying function within his mask.

He scanned the horizon. There had to be a settlement somewhere here, at least some kind of signals, else the pod wouldn't have landed here.

But then again, nothing was fail-safe, and the might have ended up somewhere with nobody around for a long, long distance.

Growling, he looked again and again.

And then he saw it.

A small light at the base of the mountain. It practically yelled human at him, now that he'd seen it.

Switching of the magnifying setting, he looked around.

Eran hadn't left. The xenomorph had descended the small hill, and was looking back up at him.

"There's something not far from here. Human, I'd say."

Aki walked down to Eran "We go there. We arm ourselves. Then we go back to the ship and kill Blood Moon."

Eran sort-of nodded. "Need food." He clicked.

"Well then let's go. By dawn we will reach the mountainside."

The yautja fell into a jog, and the xenomorph pulled up beside him. They loped across the rather soft, sandy ground, at an even pace. Aki'ru watched the alien from time to time. It was holding up remarkably well, yet it had developed a limp, a small one, but it was there.

Aki didn't permit himself to feel tired, yet he envied Eran to have taken a rest back on the ship. He should've done so himself. No matter.

They crossed a road, but decided to stay off of it. Hardly any humans would be up at this hour, they usually only came out by day, but neither he nor Eran would be taking any chances. Aki'ru preferred a stealthy approach, and taking the Xeno near any humans was asking for a fight. Not that he'd mind, fighting a human was always a challenge, but humans were not their prey anymore. There was a treaty, he remembered.

Besides, he wanted to hunt Blood Moon and not humans.

Eran was carrying the spear, clutching it to his chest. Dried xeno blood was on one side, he must've attacked the Praetorian with it.

There was anger within this creature. Anger he didn't understand, but he had the feeling that Eran had enjoyed watching his kin, probably his brother even, bleed.

It held admiration for him, Aki'ru was sure of it. It kept glancing at him from time to time.

This confused the yautja. He was used to being admired by some foolish unblooded, but this xenomorph's behaviour confused him.

It shouldn't admire him, it should kill him. And he'd fight it, and the better would win, and take the other's head as a trophy. But not this. Not a prey trying to be friends with him. He didn't have any friends. He didn't need any friends.

He didn't want any friends.

Not after what had happened to Ka'en.

He couldn't allow his memory to stray back there. It was unhealthy for him. And it was over. He should forget it. Think of the future. The elder had told him so.

But the elder was dead too.

Legionless, the voice had called him. Faithless. He was an outsider, even on that ship. Amongst his own species.

Different, Eran had called him. Different. He was a survivor. And maybe, he had finally, found an equal, for Eran was different too. No xenomorph possessed honour, not one, and yet this one had a profound understanding of yautjan culture. It had assimilated itself so fast that he now had the foolish idea that it might be equal.

Honora was everything, the elder had told him. He had died for his honour.

If Eran could act honourable, he could be an equal. And he had.

They would fight together. He slowed down, and so did the xenomorph.

"I want you to stay back. Stay hidden. Let me do the talking."

"Human?"

"Yes, humans are there. They will kill you if they see you."

"They never will see me." Eran bowed his head. "Thank you for the gift, Aki'ru."

The Yautja nodded. "Let us go on."

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"I will watch you. If anything happens, we will fight together."

"Of course…. Hunter." Aki'ru bowed his head, to honour his newfound hunting partner.