Just so the action fans are aware, there's a few quiet upcoming chapters of rest and recovery (and more importantly, plot and character development) coming. That said, if it's not your thing, just stay with us - we will return to the action sequences soon!

Chapter 29

Last Window

Katja was reflecting on just exactly what Blue's face looked like. Multi-mandibled, strong brow like the noble Pharaohs of old, razor sharp teeth and tusks, and no visible nose or ears. It seemed the only relatable parts they shared were the neck and below.

Remembering what had happened, she wiped at her neck with the sleeve of the sweater that probably cost two weeks of her pay. A question she hadn't needed an answer to was that Blue's tongue seemed to indeed be forked like a lizard's. At least, if the feeling of it was anything to go by.

Seemingly, the hunter species could get drunk, too. Surely the stoic alien wouldn't have done any of that sober. She'd forgive him simply because he was perhaps stressed, and his relaxed state made him more susceptible to what had just happened.

After all, their kind hunted humans. Everything that happened had just been for fun and loosening up after a stressful few days, nothing more. She understood that. Her men had done much the same before.

Still, despite all that, she found her new favorite feature on him. The teal-colored eyes that almost seemed to glow in low light. Very hypnotizing to look at.

His stripes, she had learned, also ran up to his head crest, which added to his unique looks. At least in her opinion. His mouth/mandibles had a splash shape of beige around it that faded into the grey color, like his chest.

The crown tips on the edges of the crest were also banded with stripes and the last stripe was that solid beige color on his chest, stomach, underarms, and inner thighs. She wasn't sure what constituted attractive to his kind of if such a thing existed, but the stripes certainly eye-catching and, dare she say it, intimidatingly badass. Not a word she had ever used before.

"Should we take the elevator?" asked Petrov, pulling her from her thoughts.

Since she was at the brink of exhaustion, who was she to argue? "Lead the way."

Without a word, he offered her his arm, which she gratefully leaned on. "Thanks, Maksim. Thank you. For everything."

He ushered her into the elevator car and pressed the number for their level. Even the elevator was fancy, with enough mirrors and lights to make her dizzy. Her head hurt.

"You don't have to thank me."

"I do. And I must apologize, too. You had to kill your former captain because of me."

The elevator began to move, and Petrov shook his head. "I had to kill Sokolov because of the things that led him to madness. Not because of you."

"But he was your favorite superior," she pointed out, raising her chin to look up at him.

"Where did you get that idea?" he asked, seemingly genuinely mystified.

Oh. Whoops. Now she was revealing information he wasn't supposed to know. "Well… when they decided to transfer you to my unit a few years ago, they told me you initially tried to decline and requested to stay with Sokolov instead. I told them to leave you where you were if it made you happy; but they denied your request. I assumed at the time you didn't want to work under me."

The elevator dinged, and Petrov sighed, as if he was the one who had a headache. "Katja… I didn't request to halt the transfer because I didn't like you. It was the complete opposite. I was afraid it could… I was afraid I'd cause you problems. I didn't want you to be uncomfortable because I can't keep my head on straight around you."

She looked at him, baffled, as he led her down the hallway. "I never noticed anything. You must've done a good job hiding it." The clean, overly-sanitized smell of the resort permeated her senses, making her even more dazed.

"Maybe from you. Everybody else knows. Pierce picked up on it in about two minutes, if you'll remember."

They arrived at the suite door, and Petrov dug a key out of one of his vest pockets. He didn't look at her as he worked at the lock.

"Well… well, why didn't you ever say anything to me?"

He blinked a few times, still staring at the lock. "Come on, Katja; do we have to talk about this now? You aren't feeling well, and–"

"You're the only one here who's never lied to me, Maksim," Katja said, hanging onto his sleeve. "Please be honest with me now."

"What do you want me to say? I was too shy as a teenager to ask you out, then you started dating Alexander. Then you were my commander." Opening the door, he escorted her inside the suite.

He must have sensed she was dissatisfied with his answer, because he lowered his voice and added, "Fine. If I asked you to go on a date with me when we get home, would you say yes?"

That threw her. He was point-blank asking her to stop tiptoeing around, and she didn't know how to answer. Then again, she was the one who had forced the issue. "Wouldn't that be a serious abuse of my authority?" If he laughed at her for saying that she wouldn't forgive him. The moral quandary had genuinely been bothering her ever since she'd kissed him. Probably because she wanted to do it again.

Petrov walked her to the kitchenette and pulled out a chair for her. As he was filling a glass of ice water from the refrigerator, he said, "I have never seen you abuse your authority. Besides, I've more than had my part in this." Joining her at the table, he handed her the water. "I don't care about their rules anymore, Katja. Not since the train."

Katja took the glass gratefully as she considered his words, studying his familiar face. He really wasn't wrong. The crimes of their leaders far outweighed any fraternization offense. Besides, there was a distinct possibility they were both kicked out of the military, anyway.

She sipped the water, letting it soothe her parched throat as she finally noticed how thirsty she was. Undoubtedly, she had lost a lot of fluids over the last few days.

A crashing noise startled them, and Alexei stumbled into the kitchenette, smiling. "You're back. Guess what? I got the minibar open!"

Katja tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Alexei was drunk, too. Great. "What is it? New Year's Eve?" she mumbled, disapproving of all the intoxication.

Shifting her gaze away from him, she met Petrov's eyes. "Maksim? My answer is yes. If we make it home, yes." She was rewarded with a slow but happy smile in return.

She had no idea how they'd keep it hidden. But somehow.

Alexei looked back and forth between them. "What? What're we talking about?"

When Adrien finally returned to the suite, Katja was napping, and Blue was sitting on a recliner in her room in the low light, eyes closed, clearly trying to sober up.

Handing the hunter a to-go cup of coffee, Adrien said quietly, "Try this, pal. Doesn't really flush out the alcohol, but it does make you more alert."

Grunting, Blue tipped back the cup and took a swig. Almost immediately, he spat it back into the cup and gave a low growl, setting aside the coffee and reaching for his pen and pad.

Poison?

"Oh, come on now," Adrien whispered, mindful of the sleeping Katja. "I know I didn't put in much sugar, but it can't be that bad. Coffee's just naturally a little bitter."

No more, scrawled Blue.

"Have it your own way," Adrien snorted, taking the coffee away from the alien. "Don't say I didn't try to help."

Giving a parting huff of his own and rubbing the pads of his fingers against his head crest, Blue closed his eyes again and slouched down in the recliner. It creaked under his mass. He must've been a good three to four hundred pounds of pure muscle. At least! And that was without his gear.

Adrien headed into the kitchenette to dispose of the cup, and found Petrov eating crackers and…

"Is that caviar?" Adrien asked.

"I think maybe it is," Petrov replied, dipping a cracker into the black mush. "It's actually popular here, but I have never had it."

"Is it good?"

"No. Too salty and fishy," he said as he ate another.

"Then why are you still eating it?" Adrien questioned, and a shrug was all he got for an answer. Of course, they had depleted a lot of calories; the lizard part of his brain may just be ordering him to take in any (semi) edible sustenance.

"Food is hit or miss out here. I'm not going to waste any," Petrov told him, confirming Adrien's thoughts.

"Fair." Adrien went to the wastebasket and was poised to throw out the coffee when Petrov stopped him.

"Were you just going to throw that? May I have it instead? It'll cover up the caviar flavor."

Before Adrien could warn the man, Petrov took the cup and drank about half of the coffee. Adrien nearly gagged at the sight.

"Oh, God. Alien backwash. Nasty," he thought to himself.

"Something wrong?" asked Petrov. "You can have it back."

"Nah. Uhh, you keep it," Adrien answered, deciding it was best not to tell him where that had been. Unless Petrov got sick, there was no point in freaking the man out.

Instead, Adrien reached for the table and sampled some caviar. It was… okay, but he didn't get the hype. He'd rather have a can of spray cheese, himself.

Finishing the mouthful, Adrien next said, "Blue's being a moody bastard. Do you want to go talk to him? I already tried."

Shaking his head, Petrov said, "Do we know how good his hearing is? You might not want to say that with him right in the other room. Anyway, I could try, but I don't think he's too fond of me. He likes you, and he really likes Katja. Me and Alexei, not so much. My advice, let him rest it off."

So, Petrov had noticed Blue's… enthusiasm down in the pool room. Though it had been hard to miss. Also, Blue liked him? That was a big crock of crap. "Nobody likes Alexei, El-Tee, but fair enough." Adrien then gave a short cough and changed subjects. "How's Kat? I was surprised to see her up and promenading."

Petrov gave him a long, suspicious look. "That's a lot of syllables for a drunk man."

"Drinking makes me both scholarly and verbose. Plus, my aim gets better. What can I say?" Adrien responded quickly. He had a feeling that if Petrov knew he'd set up that display as a test, he wouldn't be too happy. "Anyway, looks like she's resting again."

"Yes. I think it'll take her a few days at minimum for recovery."

Adrien yawned. "That's fine. I feel like this storm is gonna be a bad one. Maybe even worse than the one at the train wreck." Man, that already seemed like a lifetime ago.

A moment passed while Adrien ruminated on the weather, and if they should decide on a backup plan if the green energy was knocked out or failed. At the very least, they should make sure the resort had a backup generator.

That led him to think about the serpent nest and the Queen, and how she might prepare and react to the storm.

"What are you thinking about?" Petrov finally asked.

"Thinking that we can take that nest. You, me, and Blue."

"Is that all?" Petrov chuckled, thinking it was a joke.

"I'm serious. I've been doing some guesses on numbers, and I think we've actually decimated their ranks more than you'd think. I think the queen knows that, too. I say we flush them out onto open ground and hold the trigger down. Then take the nest," Adrien said.

Petrov appeared briefly tempted by the thought, but eventually shook his head. "Now you sound drunk again."

"Why not?" Adrien demanded. Maybe he was a little more buzzed than he thought, and this wasn't a good idea.

"Just the three of us? And next to no ammo or weapons?" Petrov asked incredulously. Right; he had forgotten to tell Petrov one of the things he and Blue were doing out there during patrols.

"Actually, we came across a Weyland outpost before getting the meds. Seems your other woman, Jade, was posted there to monitor the nest. Long story short, some of those patrols I've been taking with the big guy were ransacking that outpost and bringing the gear back here," Adrien explained.

"And you didn't think to share this with me?" Petrov sighed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize I had to answer to lieutenants; or did you get promoted without my knowing?" Adrien snapped, and immediately regretted it. Petrov's jaw closed and he looked away.

"That was uncalled for. I'm sorry. You're right, I should've told you. It slipped my mind," Adrien apologized.

"It's ok. You've taken a lot on your plate with my actual Captain down. I'm surprised you stay as cheery as you do," Petrov met him halfway on the apology, reinforcing Adrien's belief that he was overall a pretty decent guy.

Adrien took a seat at the table next to the man. "Don't sell yourself short. You were out there too, provoking the drones so the queen stayed focused on us. And you've had good ideas, like securing the hotel. You have the makings of a good leader."

"Thanks. But I think I'm done with the military after this," Petrov answered. He seemed about to elaborate, but Adrien held up a hand to stop him.

"I get it; no need to explain it to me."

Another stretch of comfortable silence. "Is Jade dead, then?" Petrov finally asked.

"No; though the threesome she wanted with Blue and me would've surely killed her," Adrien answered.

"She invited you to a threesome?" Petrov was taken aback.

"That's the weird part of the story to you? That I got invited?" Adrien raised an eyebrow.

"Right. Well, what happened to her?" Petrov asked.

"She claimed she was going to throw Slater off our trail and give us the chance to get the meds. I took the chance, and it seems she followed through," Adrien explained.

"Why, though?" Petrov pressed.

"Said Katja reminded her of her kid sister," Adrien shrugged.

"Think she can be trusted?" Petrov questioned.

"Mercenaries aren't always that different from us. Instead of doing it for a flag, they do it for the dollar. But, orders are orders, and you don't have to like them to follow them," Adrien mused.

"I don't see how that answers the question." Petrov rubbed his eyes.

"I'm saying, Jade may be here under orders, but she may not approve of them. Now, that doesn't mean she's gonna team up with us; but she may help when Weyland has their back turned," Adrien finished.

"So… we should be cautious?" Petrov concluded.

"Abundantly," Adrien replied.

A really loud snore cut into the conversation.

Alexei was passed out drunk in a strange position on the couch in the other room. Kid could not hold his liquor despite being Russian. Course, he had the whole minibar – though he had earned it, after his weak little arms had worked for days to pry it open.

Never mind there was a full bar at the restaurant. He was an idiot and coward for refusing to leave the room without an armed escort.

Thinking back to the pool room, Adrien began to reconsider his original approach. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to inform Katja and ask her to manipulate the alien. It was no better than the whole 'covering up her extraction' thing, and that hadn't turned out well. Besides, if he had to guess, Katja didn't practice deceit any better than she liked being subjected to it.

It would just end in hurt feelings, low morale, and damaged pride. As Adrien had come to learn, Blue had a lot of pride. Anyway, it wasn't like the alien was going to make a move on her.

The big guy didn't mince anything, so he would've by now if he was going to. It was more than likely that Katja treated him the nicest of all of them, and he just preferred her over them. After all, even Adrien had a tiny crush on her, if he was being honest. Didn't mean he was going to act on it. Same went for Blue.

Maybe.

And that wasn't even getting into the whole hunter/prey thing and the different species roadblocks.

No; it was best to just let Katja continue to treat the hunter kindly, as she had been. He'd cover for the alien by smoothing things over with Petrov, let Katja live life in happy ignorance, and talk to Blue himself about what would happen at the end of this. Everyone could have a happy ending that way, because there would be no confrontations or loss of morale.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about the whole hot tub thing," Adrien began.

"Why are you sorry?" Petrov's forehead wrinkled.

"Both of us go more smashed than we should've down there. To keep it brief, it's my fault," Adrien continued.

"Oh. I mean, it's fine. I get it," Petrov brushed him off. "Anyway, if anyone deserves an apology, it's Katja. Not me."

"And I'll get there, but this needs to be said. That's why the alien is pouting. He's mad because I gave him much stronger stuff than I promised, and egged him on to drink more and act inappropriately. Now that sobriety is setting in, I'd guess he's regretting expressing those actions to what is considered a lesser species, or prey," Adrien explained further.

The relieved look on Petrov's face said it all. The man now believed Blue was just totally trashed, and his actions were nothing more than that of any other drunk man acting inappropriately. Just like that. Maybe he was susceptible, too, because it was simply the story he wanted to hear all along.

"I think it's best if we just put all of this behind us and not talk about it. Especially with Blue. He seems very prideful."

"Yes. Agreed," Petrov answered, clearly ready to end the uncomfortable subject.

"Good. I'll apologize to Katja and explain what happened. Then I'll apologize to Blue, as well, when he's sober and less surly. Hopefully that'll be the end of it," Adrien offered.

"Hopefully," Petrov echoed.

The setting sun shone through a crack in the room's curtains, and Katja blinked awake. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was and why. Once her brain had sorted that, she automatically looked over at her arm, but only saw the sweater sleeve. Her guys hadn't hooked in the last IV yet.

The angry bruises she could feel down her arm made her glad there was only one bag left. Grateful as she was, it was clear none of them were experienced with needles.

Rolling over, she reached for the nightstand and picked up the clock. Late afternoon. Either Adrien's storm hadn't yet started, or she had been passed out for a day or more. Adrien had also burrito'd her lower half in the sheets. Again.

Making a note to ask someone what day it was, Katja set down the clock again. As she did so, she noticed another item on the nightstand: an empty tea mug with a large picture on its side. Probably the resort's logo…

Wait.

"What the hell?" she said aloud, picking up the mug.

How had she missed it? Ill or not, she should have noticed down in the gift shop.

"Something wrong, princess?" Adrien asked, strolling into the room.

Flailing in the giant bed, Katja waved the mug around. "This is– this is–!"

"What is the matter with you?"

Winning the battle with the sheets, Katja took the mug over to Adrien and shoved it under his nose.

Bewildered, he said, "Yes. Yes, I see. Do you want leaf water?"

"No!" she cried. "Don't you see the logo?"

"Yeah. It's all over the resort. What about it?"

"This is Alexander's resort! He owns it!"

Drawn by the shouting, the three others entered the bedroom, watching Katja and Adrien curiously.

"Alexander…" Scratching his head, Adrien asked, "Wait, like your ex-fiancé Alexander?"

"Yes," Katja said impatiently.

If anything, this seemed to puzzle Adrien even more. "But if he can build a resort, especially one like this, he has to be loaded. Like a millionaire or something."

"He is," Katja said, examining the mug a little closer. Yes, it was high quality, just like Alexander would demand for his guests. "Did I not mention that?"

"Um, no!" Adrien exclaimed. "You did not."

Turning the mug around, Katja again displayed the logo. "He's a very high-ranking executive of Seegson Corporation. And he likes to throw around his money. Private luxury hotels for the wealthy is sort of a side hobby for him." Tilting her head back, Katja looked at the high ceiling. "He was so proud of this place. Kept pestering me to vacation here with him. I tried three times, but each time my leave was denied. He was pretty nasty about it."

Blue snarled something in his own language, and it sounded negative.

"He's a billionaire! Why would you need to ask for leave? Why would you need a job at all?" Adrien asked, flabbergasted.

"Because I wasn't going to sit around on my ass in a bikini for him all day long!"

"Why not? Hell, I'd do it! He's an executive! He probably sits on his ass all day long!"

Katja suddenly realized they were both shouting in front of everyone and tried to calm herself. "Adrien–"

Pushing his glasses up his nose, Alexei interrupted. "Wait, Jekaterina, are you saying your fiancé was Alexander Vidovic? One of the richest men in all of Europe, tech genius, and my personal idol?"

Why was everyone struggling with this so much? Well, Blue she could forgive. He probably had no idea what half the terms they were using meant. But Alexei and Adrien were acting like she had been hiding the secret to curing cancer from them.

"Yes, Alexei. That Alexander."

Alexei slapped his forehead. Actually slapped it, the same way a cartoon character would. "And you dumped him? Are you nuts?"

Katja inhaled sharply. "My mother sure thought so," she muttered. Contrarily, Karik had been happy she'd left Alexander. It had been one of their last conversations before…

Katja shook her head clear.

Oddly enough, the only person without an opinion on the matter had been her father, despite Olga insisting he encourage Katja to take Alexander back.

"Let her do as she wishes," he'd said to Olga. "It is her life."

Petrov spoke up, taking the attention off of Katja, for which she was thankful. "Does that mean there's a way to directly contact Alexander from here? Maybe something Weyland hasn't jammed or blocked? I'm assuming he'd want to keep tabs on his staff from time to time. We could ask him to send an S.O.S. message."

Katja shrugged, refusing to voice the thought they all – even Petrov – likely shared. Even if Alexander sent their message, who would come help them? They were expendable; useful for a little while and then tossed aside. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. If there is, I don't know about it. I know he has his own private suite here. Maybe we can search for it and see if there's anything useful in it."

"Sounds good to me," Adrien said, still looking a little bemused by the situation. "Let's look for the trillionaire's suite."

"Wait, why does he get richer every time you speak of him?" Alexei asked.

Adrien, of course not understanding, didn't answer.

"Okay, that's settled," said Katja, rubbing at her eyes. "I, umm… is this the same day it was earlier?"

Blue made one of his 'laughing' noises, and Adrien grinned.

"Yes, kiddo; you just had a long nap," Adrien assured her. "You hungry?"

In fact, she was ravenous. As far as she knew, she hadn't eaten anything since she'd gotten sick. "A little."

"Then in a few minutes, I'm gonna whip us up some burgers. It's high time you had an American hamburger, Katja. Twenty-nine years on this planet without trying one is unacceptable."

"I see."

"I want something else! I've had a lot of hamburgers!" Alexei protested. Katja repeated and Adrien grunted in irritation.

"Fine, I'll think of something else for you."

Yawning, Katja added, "Is there anything else I should know, or does anyone have another question for me?" Now that she could stand, she should be returning to her leadership responsibilities.

Alexei raised a hand. "Excuse me, yes. Why, again, did you dump a billionaire?"

Katja groaned. "You heard the story back on the radio tower. I'm not repeating myself." Maybe it would be polite to bring Blue up to speed, but would he really care about human drama? She'd tell him in private later, perhaps. "Anything else?"

Blue held up his fancy hotel pen and began to write quickly on his notepad. When he was done, he handed it to her.

" 'Request Alexei's electronic device. My wrist computer has been broken since human base attack, needs repair. Can use to call ship and reinforcements'," Katja read aloud before looking up at the hunter with a slight frown.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Adrien yelled. Actually, it was closer to a shriek. "That's what this was about? You're telling me that you've been stalking us for like, a week, nearly killing us, dragging Katja to a roof in the middle of the night, because you wanted a stupid tablet?!"

Blue simply nodded.

"Goddammit!" Adrien continued to shout. "You're worse than one of those Apple freaks who camps out in line for three days for the newest iPhone!"

"Of course you can have it, Blue," Katja answered more calmly, but she shared Adrien's opinion. All that for a relatively cheap tablet?

"That why you haven't nuked the area with your sore loser bomb?" Adrien asked as he stalked toward Alexei.

That earned him a rather vicious snarl. Adrien ignored the show of anger. "Yes or no?" he demanded. Blue finally nodded – a bit sulkily this time by the looks of it.

The mystery had finally been revealed, and it was less than climactic; though it all made sense now. The tablet had been with various people at various times, making it seem like he wanted one of them and not the device.

"Were… were you asking for it the whole time in the apartment? In the woods after the train crash?" Katja finally voiced. Once more, he nodded. She wondered, briefly, how this would've played out had he acquired it at the apartment or in the woods. They'd probably all be dead by this point.

Adrien took the tablet from the protesting Alexei and walked back to the alien. But something Alexei said caught her attention.

"Wait, wait! Alexei, what did you say?" Katja voiced. Adrien and Blue stopped.

"I said, you can't give it to him!" Alexei stated.

"Yes, but why? What did you say the reason was?" Katja demanded.

"I said, I recorded our encounter with Weyland! You could prove Adrien's innocence to the Americans! But if the tablet is cannibalized, then that evidence is gone. Forever," Alexei lamented. "It's a secure device. No Cloud data backups. Speaking of, Apple rules, Adrien. Don't slander their good name."

"What's the word, Katja?" Adrien asked. "I only heard my name, and… did he say Apple?"

Katja could tell Blue knew every detail about this. Maybe Adrien told him everything about what had happened with Adrien's boss. The hunter's arm dropped away from taking the tablet.

She repeated Alexei's words to Adrien. He deserved to know. The American just stood there for the longest time, an internal debate clearly raging within him. He finally turned and gave Blue the device.

"Alexei, go help him with whatever he needs to get his computer working," Adrien ordered.

"Adrien–" Katja began.

"Look, if he can get more hunters to clean up this area, then the important thing is my little girl will grow up," Adrien cut in.

"Promise me you'll ensure that," Adrien looked to Blue. The alien grabbed his shoulder and dipped his head in confirmation.

A few hours later, it seemed Adrien's sacrifice might have been in vain. Though Blue's wrist device was working, he still needed parts to transmit and interface with his ship. Satellite transmitter of some kind perhaps? Katja wasn't certain. Alexei had confirmed it wasn't a super rare component anyway. Still, morale plummeted.

They spent a big block of time bringing Blue and Alexei various electronics and disassembling them. Printers, computers, cellphones, and whatever else was laying around the hotel. Still, nothing got it working. It may have been that the parts did not have the signal strength to reach the ship, but Katja was no tech expert.

Determined to keep her men from losing the last of their hope, Katja had put on her bravest face; though inwardly she felt tired, dismayed, and still quite sick from the sepsis. "It'll be alright. We'll wait out the storm, and after that, check out Weyland's camp," she'd told them reasonably. "Surely, they have a satellite connection. Hell, maybe Alexander even does somewhere in his room. He did love his HBO."

Though Adrien had thrown on a smile and agreed with her, Katja knew that this was only another discouragement, another loss tossed onto the pile. She wondered how much more he could take.

How much more she could take.

Nevertheless, he'd cheerily headed to the kitchen to prepare supper. Katja had attempted to follow him and help, but he turned her around and marched her back to the suite to rest while he cooked. Blue, unfortunately, kept her there at Adrien's insistence. He'd cloak and then appear at her every attempt to sneak out and put her right back to bed. She was sure he was using her as hunting practice…

Now the whole group was dining on porcelain dinnerware and real silver utensils in the resort's enormous main restaurant, under the ambient lights of chandeliers. It felt surreal to be eating the appetizer Adrien had made, plain chicken soup, from a bowl that looked like it should be in a museum.

Katja put the spoon to her lips and tasted the soup, reveling in its flavor and heat. Such a simple pleasure, but it really did make her feel better.

Alexei slurped noisily, complaining to himself about soup, pointing out it didn't really pair well with hamburgers. Katja hushed him, knowing Adrien had made it specifically for her. "You haven't eaten in a long time. I made some soup to start you off, just to ease your stomach back into eating," he'd explained to her when she'd been setting the table with Petrov.

Petrov and Adrien ate more quietly, glancing at her now and again. They probably still thought she shouldn't be up and out of bed.

Blue hadn't yet taken a bowl, standing some space away from the table. Even after his rescue mission with Adrien, it seemed he still felt like he should keep his distance. Maybe he was still embarrassed about what had happened in the pool room. Or maybe he didn't want to get too chummy with them.

"Blue," Katja said, setting down her spoon. "Can I get you a bowl? It's not cow, but I think you'll like it. We humans call it a 'comfort food'."

Blue shook his large, masked head. It seemed he wasn't totally comfortable taking that off around them. "Later," said his computer, in Petrov's voice.

"Still so weird to hear," Petrov muttered, and Katja gave him a light kick under the table.

Now that Blue's computer was fixed, the hunter was recording human voices to play back as a means of communication. It certainly saved time; however, despite her reprimand of Petrov, she couldn't really disagree with him about it being somewhat unsettling. Especially when he used one of the men's voices to call her, and it turned out not to be one of them.

She briefly imagined what that would be like… her hearing the voice of a comrade only to be ambushed and brutally killed. Shaking out of it, she refocused.

"If you're sure," she told Blue with a toothless smile. "You're always welcome to join us."

Blue only replied with a head dip.

Katja was about to go back to her soup when she suddenly noticed the enormous, electric fireplace at the other end of the restaurant, which was surrounded by plush sofas and chairs in the purest white. Elaborate, carved wine cases sat on either end of the fireplace, inviting diners to relax with expensive wine after their meal.

It was almost as alien as the alien.

Katja nearly snorted. It was all so Alexander. The chandeliers, the gold leaf trim, the big windows, all of it. And for what? As enjoyable and relaxing as it may have been, she doubted most of the guests who had booked here enjoyed the cold or could even ski well. The selling point had to be the privacy and isolation it afforded.

She was suddenly very glad she'd never gotten around to staying here with him.

At her side, Adrien had put his spoon down and was looking at his phone. Unable to help her curiosity, Katja leaned back in her chair, trying to catch a glimpse of the screen. After all, what could he be looking at with the WiFi blocked by Weyland? Was he selecting a song to play?

On the phone, she saw a pretty, blonde woman and an adorable little girl, smiling brightly.

"Is that Mackenzie?" Katja asked.

Adrien automatically angled the phone away from her and scowled, hunching his shoulders. "Yes. Nosy."

"I'm sorry. You're right, I shouldn't have been peeking," Katja admitted, taking another spoonful of soup. "I won't do it again. It's just, they look very nice."

"They are," Adrien replied, softening a bit.

Katja looked up at Blue. "How about you, big guy? Do you have any kids?"

Blue shuffled a little, then played a bunch of voice clips. This time, she did not recognize the voices. Maybe it was recorded during his previous visits to Earth. "Thirty-nine. At various stages of life, but many are young or pups."

Alexei dropped his spoon with a clatter. "Thirty-nine? This guy must be popular with the ladies."

Adrien requested a translation, and after Petrov obliged, the American scoffed. "How do you know that? Maybe that's just a normal hunter litter size of… pups. Or egg clutch, whatever they do."

"Don't be rude," Katja scolded. "Besides, he's very gentlemanly. What hunter lady wouldn't like that?"

Even though Adrien rolled his eyes, Blue seemed pleased by her compliment. Then again, she might have just been imagining it.

"Live birth, no eggs. Not one reproductive partner, but many. Duty to spread warrior genes, duty to enlarge clan, duty to continue race," Blue spoke through voice clips.

"That does make sense. They must always be in danger of extinction due to manhood trials alone; let alone all the combat they see. Especially if they are hampered by breeding seasons," Adrien mumbled aloud.

From the little Katja did know about Blue's race, she had to agree. Their numbers must always be at risk. Throw in Adrien's mention that they had only a certain time when they were fertile, and that certainly sounded like a constant extinction risk.

It was interesting that Blue called reproduction a 'duty'. Like a job, or assignment in the military. Didn't sound like there was much intimacy to it; though he seemed considerate enough, at least as much as one of them could be. Maybe they were more like animals in that regard. Pure instinct.

What was shocking to her was the live birth revelation. She had been sure they were saurian, with that scaled hide. Dinosaurs. Egg layers.

"That mean you are mammalian, then?" Adrien asked, voicing her own thoughts. Katja watched as Blue looked up the word and studied it. He slowly nodded after a moment, as if not completely sure. More than likely because they classified creatures differently than humanity would.

"Live birth, warm blooded, feed young with milk, yes," the voice mimic answered.

"But you have that… alligator skin," Petrov spoke, probably for everyone.

"Two suns orbit planet. Very harsh. Gods bless us with a strong hide to thrive," Blue answered.

"Tatooine," Alexei whispered. "How old are you?" the kid added suddenly. Katja was mildly surprised; she didn't recall Alexei going out of his way to interact with the hunter. She had figured it was because he was too afraid of Blue, but perhaps his scientific curiosity had finally won out.

Again, Blue turned to his device and began tapping into it. Katja, meanwhile, told Adrien what Alexei had asked.

"By earth standards, three hundred and twenty-two years," Blue answered again.

"Woah, so how long can you live?" Adrien followed up.

"One thousand Earth years or so, by natural death. Rarely do we die that way."

"So, he's in his early to mid-30s or so, equivalent to human lifespans?" Petrov deduced with some simple math. It was strange to think that in forty to fifty years, Katja would be an old woman and Blue would still be considered youthful.

"Sounds about right," Adrien agreed. It appeared like he was gearing up to ask more.

"Revealed too much about my kind already. Breaking rules," Blue protested.

Katja nodded. "Fair enough. Thank you for sharing with us," she told him, and hoped that was enough to get everyone to stop overwhelming him.

Activating his recorder again, the hunter asked, "Katja pups?" This time, the voice was Adrien's.

No, Petrov was right. It was weird to hear.

Katja tried not to squirm with all eyes now on her. The only thing worse than her mother and sisters-in-law asking 'why she didn't have kids yet' might have been an alien asking. Uncomfortably, she said, "Umm, no. I want one, someday, but I don't… I don't have any."

Blue didn't ask why, only tilted his head contemplatively. Maybe it was completely alien to him that a woman didn't have any young. After all, it was clearly considered essential to his species. Katja had no idea for sure, though.

Regardless of his thoughts on the matter, Blue didn't seem to feel the need to add further commentary, the way her mother would have. He merely gave a head dip and let the issue go.

"Hey, doesn't anyone care if I have kids?" Alexei, for once, made things less awkward by cutting into the silence and being awkward.

"What did he say?" Adrien asked.

"He asked if anyone is interested if he has kids," Petrov rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, even an alien unfamiliar with our cultures knows no woman wants you," Adrien sneered, and Blue began his version of laughing again. For a fearsome beast, he sure made a lot of endearing noises. She didn't dare even think the words 'cute' or 'adorable', lest he hear her thoughts.

She was turning into one of those 'tinfoil' people.

Alexei predictably protested, but he was ignored. "On that note, are we ready for the burgers?" Adrien asked.

To piggyback off of writer 1, next few chapters were a case of lesser of two evils. We are probably pushing believability with how fast Katja recovers. But it was cover her recovery or do a time-jump.

Thankfully, this lent an opportunity to tie-in Seegson from the awesome game: Alien Isolation!

Couldn't find a definitive answer on how many years a predator can live, so we guessed. Feel free to correct us.