Eran watched in horror as Weyland shot the man dead.
He hadn't expected this. His spear still at the dead man's throat, he heard Weyland speak into his communicator "All clear, but the time window is small. Get on board, and get this thing started. I won't be a minute."
He passed by Eran, and turned to the Xenomorph. "Get rid of the Body. I don't care how. Just make sure it's not on the ship when I return."
Eran stared at the human, who drew a large revolver, and departed the ship back into the corridor of the Odessa.
The Xeno watching him walking away, his revolver raised, his brown coat flapping behind him.
There was a man that was truly dangerous. He would need to keep an eye on Weyland.
Sighing, he grabbed the Marshall's corpse by the feet, chucking it out of the door onto the corridor, where it collapsed in a crumpled, blood-stained heap.
He retracted his spear, and checked out the interior of the ship. It smelled… weird, lots of scents mingled. It confused him slightly. The cargo of this ship must have been diverse.
A hiss came from the side of the ship, and a second Airlock opened, with Jeanne stepping through it. Behind her, Aki came.
Weyland's ship had docked on the other side of the Shipstern Bluff.
Eran pushed Jeanne aside and hugged Aki, quickly relaying the events of the last few minutes. Aki looked horrified. "This man is dishonourable!" he clicked at Eran
"Yes." The xeno nodded
"We should leave without him."
Eran moved his head "Perhaps not."
"Why?"
"If we do so now, he will get angry and perhaps cause us trouble. And, judging by her scent, the Jeanne female is attached to him. She will not leave without him."
Aki grinned "You can smell all of that?"
Eran nodded proudly. "I can"
The Yautja grabbed the Xeno, lifting him clean off his legs and hugging him so tight he squealed.
"Hey there, you two, don't spoil the upholstery!" Jeanne chuckled.
She seemed much energetic on her ship, her movements precise as she manipulated the dials and switches. She must know very well how to fly this ship.
Soon, the large engines rumbled into life, the screens at the helm illuminating, and the lighting system inside the ship glowing brighter.
"There we go." Jeanne said "All ready for take-off. We now need to wait for Fred."
Weyland had crossed over to the elevator, his large S&W Revolver in his hand.
Soon, all would be revealed.
The Elevator door hissed open, and a man stepped out. His hair was greying, and he was sporting an impressive grey beard. Weyland almost didn't recognize Schulz, as the large beard obscured his features, but it was him.
"Don't move."
Schulz' eyes widened in surprise as he saw the Revolver, but he was wise enough to comply
"Step out of the elevator."
"Look-"
"You might have fooled the colonial marshals, but you don't fool me."
Weyland aimed for the left knee cap, and fired, the revolver kicking in his hand.
The other man's knee exploded in a shower of white liquid.
Schulz cried out, collapsing, and holding his knees.
"Perhaps I should ask who you are, but I doubt you'll tell the truth."
The android stared at him with a soul-less stare, reaching inside its suit.
Weyland shot again, disabling the right arm in a shower of white liquid.
"But from your appearance I'm guessing you have been sent by the Olde Wood Foundation."
"How did you escape the Marshall? He was briefed on your abilities, and you were alone."
Weyland laughed. "I have more allies than you think…"
The android twitched. "Shoot me then!"
"With pleasure!"
Weyland loosened three shots into the machine's chest, making it convulse and collapse on the floor.
He drew an impressively large knife out of his coat pocket, and stepped up to writhing android.
"You see, Mr. Schulz, I need answers. And I want-"
One of the Androids flailing hands had hit him against the side of the head, making his vision spin, and knocking him to the floor, the knife skidding from his hand.
Slowly, still convulsing, the android started to get up, moving in a scary, inhuman fashion...
"Oh S-" Weyland cursed, and kicked the Android against the broken chest, making it stagger back.
Apparently this was an upgraded model. Its movements were jerky, and it was spewing white liquid across the corridor, but it was advancing, slowly.
His original plan had been to cut off the android's head and to scan it for information, but that plan was dissolving fast in the creature's flailing motions.
He got up, his head still hurting, and moved out of the reach of those lethal arms. His advantage was that the android apparently was not fast.
Levelling the revolver, he aimed, and fired the last shot in the drum, smashing the android's head to a white pulp, and making it collapse on the floor.
He had learned nothing, only ruined his coat.
The machine on the floor was still twitching, and he didn't hang around to see if it was really dead.
Weyland appeared in the door, closing the outer and the inner airlock, and sealing them. His coat was spattered with strange, whitish liquid. Aki growled at him.
"Jeanne, we can un-dock. I'm in." Weyland said.
The interior of the Shipstern Bluff felt slightly cramped, with Aki and Eran sitting on the table and the Sofa, and Weyland taking off his coat and getting into the co-pilot's chair.
Eran had curled his tail around Aki's shoulders, and was almost purring, as the Yautja stroked his dome.
Jeanne manipulated the controls, and with the loud blaring of an alarm horn, the Shipstern Bluff undocked.
"You missed the Alarm, Fred"
"I didn't. We just have to get into light speed before they catch us."
"The ship they have is fast."
"Isn't this one of the fastest ships in existence?"
Jeanne giggled, pulling up. Aki watched the Odessa rush past them, and then they were pointed into space.
Jeanne handed Weyland a sheet of paper. "Fred, you get the pre-light speed checklist done. I'm programming the navigational computer…"
She interfaced with it, bringing up a star map, whilst Weyland was doing the engine check-up.
Aki noticed how taunt Jeanne looked. He just hoped Weyland's estimation of their ability to launch their patrol craft was correct.
Eight minutes they would have till the patrol craft was in the air.
"Jeanne, the fuel pressure on the return side of the engine is a tad low."
"How low? Half a bar?"
"Yeah."
"That's fine then. Probably just slightly clogged. I've flown with it like that for the last half year."
"All right." Weyland continued.
The watch was ticking down. They just had four minutes. "I think I've done my checklist. Everything seems to be in order. Though the pressure on the stabilizer hydraulics is not constant. It's within its limits, but you need to get that looked at."
Jeanne nodded. "I'm almost done. I didn't save the planet as a location, but I can backtrack my original course, and-"
"I don't care how you do it, Jeanne, just hurry. We are running out of time!"
"All right! I have to do the calculations manually, my android got confiscated! So gimme a break!"
Her hands were flying over the keyboard, and suddenly, a planet appeared on the screen
"There it is! I'm plotting a course!"
Weyland leaned back "They have just launched their patrol vessel!"
"That's two minutes faster than you estimated-"
"Shut up and work!" Aki rumbled, and Eran hissed in agreement.
"All right, we are ready!"
A beeping noise filled the ship. "We are being hailed" Weyland remarked drily.
"They can go fuck themselves now!" Jeanne giggled, starting to prepare the engines for light speed.
There was a rumble, a roar, and then an angry hiss, and Jeanne pushed the accelerator up to the max.
The ship did a small jump, and suddenly, the gas planet streaked past them, and the stars became a blur as the ship jumped into light speed.
Jeanne giggled again "There we go."
"You do realize that they can follow us?" Weyland said
She smiled "Yeah, they can. We're still pulling a radiation wake. But wait ten minutes, until the outlets are up to temperature, then I can shut the gas intakes, and the radiation tail will just fizzle out."
"Smart!"
"You really though this ship was easy to track?"
"The question is how did they get you last time? Because I don't want that to happen again."
Jeanne's grin faltered "Last time was human error."
Weyland scrutinized her "Like what?"
"If you must know, I was drunk." She smiled again. "But that's not likely to happen again as my store of alcohol got confiscated, along with almost everything else on this ship."
They both shared a laugh. "Tough luck, huh."
Aki cleared his voice "So how long will the journey over there take?"
"You are in luck. It's actually not that far. It's gonna take a mere day to get over there."
"That's good."
Eran clambered up on Aki's lap, and curled up. "We are going to have a rest. I hope you don't need us to fly this thing."
Jeanne shook her head. "I'm up for another snatch of sleep as well. Autopilot will do all the flying." She got up, pressing a few buttons "I'm just closing the intakes"
Turning towards her quarters, she opened the door, and closed it again.
After a few seconds, Aki could hear her shouting in rage
"THOSE BLOODY MISFITS, THEY EVEN CONFISCATED THE DUVET OFF MY BED!"
Weyland had fallen asleep on the co-pilots chair, having pulled his coat around him. Jeanne was quiet now as well. She had been stomping around in her quarters, complaining about them confiscating her personal belongings.
Eran wasn't moving, but Aki knew he was awake. "How are you, Eran?"
"Scared." Came the answer in a timid tone.
"What are you scared off?"
"I can't describe it. It's just… I don't think this is going to end well."
Aki patted him on the side of his head. "It doesn't matter. We fulfil our vow honourably. That's all that matters"
"I wish I was as brave as you." Eran hugged Aki "But I just can't manage it. I'm so afraid…"
"Being brave is not about not being afraid. Being brave is about being afraid, and still acting."
"Are you sure?"
Aki nodded "You are brave, I think."
He held the xenomorph in his arms. "I love you, Aki."
"Yeah." A slight remainder of Aki's original roughness returned "Shut up"
He had just noticed how scared he was himself. It had shone through his soul and manifested itself in his voice. He was never this uncontrolled when dealing with other yautja or humans, but with Eran, it felt okay to be soft. For a murderous serpent, the Xeno was pretty soft himself.
"Will you be all right?" Eran asked.
"Course I'll be all right."
Eran kissed the Yautja. "You need to be all right. I need you."
Aki kissed back "We won't be parted. We are hunting partners."
Eran snuggled up to Aki "What do you think Akkan will be like?"
"He'll be like you I suppose. Big, dangerous xenomorph, except that I doubt he'll be as smart and cuddly as you."
"Hey!" Eran playfully swatted Aki with his talon, which Aki caught with his hand, and held it.
They kissed again. Space was flying past them through the bridge windows, a mesmerising amount of stars rushing through their field of vision.
"Do all of those stars have planets, Aki?" Eran asked
"No, not all of them. Quite a lot do."
"Where is your home?"
Aki cleared his throat. "My home is right here, at your side, Eran."
The xenomorph hissed happily, and they leaned into each other, watching the stars streak by.
They were happy.