Eran watched Aki move through the module. The airlock door was open, and Aki checked the status of the launch thruster fuel cells.
It was no proper ship, but it had small thrusters for manoeuvring, and that would be enough for their purpose.
The yautja checked the detachment sequence, and tested the door closing the main room off from the almost equally large control room. It had a window, a large one, and Eran could see the gas planet turning below them.
"Detachment works only from the inside, right?" he asked in yautjan.
Gruffly, Aki nodded.
Eran shivered slightly. "Are you ready?"
"Almost. I need your help. Once Blood Moon is inside, pull that lever, over there." He pointed towards a large red lever. "It'll close and lock the airlock. I'll detach the module."
Eran nodded.
"I'll be the bait for blood Moon. It's after me, I think. How close is it?"
The xeno concentrated for a moment. "It'll hear you if you are loud enough."
"Once its inside, you will lock the airlock, I'll rush through this door, and close it. That gives us a few minutes. It will probably smash through, but not immediately."
Eran nodded. "That should work."
"Then let's get to it." Aki said.
Aki had moved outside the module, checking for ventilation shaft openings. He had doused the lights down to a dim level. Blood Moon's uncanny ability to use the ship's technology to induce darkness was not to his liking, but if he dimmed the lights just far down enough, the creature might not bother.
He needed some light to navigate by. His flashlight was crammed into one of the nooks on the control panel of the module, ready to provide light should Blood Moon shut off the lighting inside the pod.
Akkan had ceased attempting to break down the door of the waiting room he had locked the three in. He only hoped Akkan and Paul would managed to get out afterwards. Weyland he did not so much care about.
He unhooked his communicator, and tossed it in a corner. He would not need this anymore. He drew his shotgun pistol and extended the wrist blade. Now was the time to get started.
They would destroy Blood Moon, once and for all.
He opened his mouth, mandibles and all, and emitted a loud and bone-shaking roar, striking his fist against the metal ceiling of the corridor.
"I'M HERE! COME AND GET ME!"
He roared again, beating his fist against the wall.
"BLOOD MOON! COME HERE AND I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
Stamping his feet, he began dancing along the corridor in a manner taught to him by the elder. The rhythmic movement calmed his slightly giddy brain. After a few seconds, he stopped.
"WELL, IF THE SLUG IS TOO AFRAID TO CONFRONT ME…!"
That had been it.
The lights flickered, but didn't go out. There was the patter of angry feet, then a loud bang, and a panel dropped down from the ceiling, not ten metres away from Aki.
Head-first, the Blood Moon lowered itself down from the ceiling. The scratches and wounds it had received during their first encounter had almost healed. It truly was almost indestructible.
Never ever call me Slug again. It hissed in Aki's mind, and momentarily, he was overwhelmed by the anger and the hate exuding from Blood Moon's mind. He steeled his resolve, and it held. Blood Moon would not destroy him in his mind. He was strong.
Strong together.
Slowly though, he took a few step backwards.
It was about twenty paces to the airlock door.
"Well, it's nice to see you, slug."
Blood Moon hissed, and crouched lower, its body taunt. It didn't even bother to speak in his mind, its intentions were clear.
Aki retreated further.
Blood Moon took a few steps towards him.
And then it stopped.
It checked the air, a rasping sniff into unseen nostrils.
Oh, I won't fall for that trick again.
Aki cursed in his mind. He drew his shotgun pistol, and, quickly taking aim, he opened fire, the force of the shot taking Blood Moon off its feet. Its strange blood spurted, and, hissing angrily, it was back on its feet and rushing towards Aki in seconds.
The Yautja dropped the pistol, and turned, running towards the airlock. Behind him, he heard Blood Moon in angry pursuit.
It was only a few steps. He raced across the threshold, and into the module. Behind him, he could hear the metallic hiss of the airlock doors moving shut, and he raced into the control room, slamming the door closure button.
The door slid shut, not a moment too soon. With a dull thud, Blood Moon connected with the door.
Eran had already pulled the lever, and was standing beside the control panel,
"Is the airlock shut?"
Eran nodded "We are good to go."
Aki busied himself at the control panel, starting the undocking sequence.
With a crash, Blood Moon smashed the small window in the door, its talon lashing through it, but the control panel was way out of its reach. It roared and hissed, a jumble of sounds and thoughts racing through Aki's mind and making his head throb.
Nevertheless, he concentrated on the small read-outs on the screen.
He undid the docking clamps, opened the air seal between the module and the Odessa itself.
The inbuilt life-support reported an error, and he overrode it.
With a loud clang, the last clamps opened, freeing the module from the station itself.
Aki stopped working on the panel, and even the Blood Moon became still for a few seconds.
Slowly, spinning around its own axis, the module moved away from the Odessa, in the gravitational pull of the planet.
Soon, the artificial gravity would subside, but they still had a few minutes left. Blood Moon resumed its attack on the door, even already denting the metal. It would be through soon.
The module turned, the Odessa moving into view. Aki watched it slowly start to get smaller. They would soon enter the planet's atmosphere, and then burn up. He didn't want that.
"Aki?"
"Yes, Eran?"
"Are you afraid to die?"
"I was. But now I'm not."
"Why?"
Aki turned towards the control panel, accessing the self-destruct mode. "Because I have you."
Eran smiled, as Aki primed the self-destruct mechanism. "I love you, Aki."
"I love you too, Eran."
They were silent for a moment.
"We have to destroy this module." Eran said.
"I have primed the self-destruct. This button" he pointed towards a small green one "Will destroy this thing for good, and kill Blood Moon."
"What happens after you die?" Eran asked.
Aki straightened his back. Tears were glistening in his eyes "We die honourably, and we will go to the great forest, and hunt together forever."
"Are Xenos allowed there?" Eran's voice was slightly cracking.
Aki smiled, hugging Eran tightly "Not usually. But as you are an honourable creature, I am sure the gatekeepers will make an exception for you. You are more yautja than xeno anyhow."
Eran smiled. "I think that sounds good. Yes, good."
Aki's hand moved over the button. Blood Moon screeched in his head, but he just shut it out.
"I want to kiss you before we go." Eran said, his talon entwining with Aki's over the button.
Their mouths moved close together, lips touching, kissing deeply, and closing their eyes.
Together, their hands moved down on the button.
There was a beep, and then a wave of hot air, then –
Akkan had roused Paul, slightly fretting, until Paul had slapped him softly to make him stop. Weyland had gone into some sort of Coma, though Paul had said he was only sleeping.
Having fiddled with the control to get the door open, they just managed to hide fast enough as Blood Moon, chasing Aki, thumped past their door.
Now, Paul watched the medical module, detached, floating towards the planet. Aki and Eran had gone on board, lured Blood Moon there, and now they would only need to exit the Module and float back to them in their space suits.
You know what I find interesting, Akkan?
Yes, love?
Paul rubbed his still bruised head. Where did they get the space suits from?
Space suits?
Well, they are going to eject Blood Moon, but to survive, they would have to wear space-
Paul stopped.
Without a noise, the module, spinning peacefully against the backdrop of the gas giant, had turned into a fireball.
Slowly, the fireball extended, and Paul felt the station rock as the explosion hit it.
"NO!" he screamed, slamming his fist against the small window.
Paul! Akkan raced over to him, knocking a table over, and hugging him tightly.
What happened? Paul sobbed softly. He had grown to like the big yautja and the xenomorph. There was a strange bond of kinship between them.
I think they had this planned. Akkan said quietly. That is why they stopped you from doing it. I think this was their plan for quite some time.
No… Paul kept sobbing.
Gently, Akkan kissed him, and stroked his head. The human felt like a fragile glass doll in his arms. Shh, love. It's all right. We are still here.
Suddenly, the station lurched, knocking Akkan and Paul to the floor.
Weyland awoke with a start, and a groan "What's wrong?"
Supressing his tears, Paul explained the situation to Fred.
"So Aki, Eran and Blood Moon are dead?"
Paul nodded.
"I'm sorry" Fred said. "And we are locked in here?"
Akkan nodded as well.
Fred sighted, massaging his shoulder, wincing slightly.
"How are you?"
"It's a nasty flesh wound, but I'll survive."
"What do we do?"
"Call Jeanne. Tell her to open this bloody door from the outside. She can dock at the airlock where the module was."
The station lurched again.
Paul reached towards his communicator. "Jeanne, are you there?"
After a few seconds, Jeanne's voice answered "Thank god. I thought you guys had died."
"We need a pick up. We are locked in in one of the rooms on top of the medical spire."
"Yes, I saw the module explode. The station took quite a hit."
"Can you dock where the module was and get us out of here?"
Jeanne was silent for a moment. "I can, but it's gonna be hard. The station is lurching and tipping…"
"Hail us once you are there."
Akkan was supporting Weyland, who could already walk by himself. Paul was impressed how well he was coping.
The Shipstern Bluff had appeared in front of the window, and was now manoeuvring itself relative to the station's irregular movement.
Every now and then, it lurched, almost knocking the three down on their feet. Weyland had tried to check the computers, but they wouldn't respond. It seemed as if the system had crashed, perhaps it was trying to correct the stations orbit.
With a loud clang, the Shipstern Bluff docked, and the airlock hissed open.
Jeanne appeared in front of the window.
"The door controls are shot but there's a manual opener. It only unlocks the door though." She said. "Akkan will have to help me heave it open once it is unlocked."
Akkan nodded.
Jeanne started working with a small power tool on the other side of the door, ever so often stopping because of the increasingly irregular movements the station made.
Soon, she had cut the control panel open, pulling hard on one of the levers.
"Should be open now."
Akkan set down Weyland, and, expertly, pushed the door open with his superior strength.
Paul, supporting Weyland, staggered out, followed by Akkan who dropped the door back down again.
The moment Jeanne lay eyes on Weyland, her face fell. "Fred, what happened?"
"A bloody accident. Nothing serious. We need to go."
Jeanne nodded. "Station's breaking up. Where's Aki and Eran?"
"Dead." Paul said bluntly
"Oh no…"
"We need to go!"
Quickly, the three moved to the airlock, and back into the Shipstern Bluff, to safety.