Lex jolted awake, a chirruping sound forcing her tired eyelids apart. It took a moment for her to orient herself, "Where the hell am I?"

Looking round, she saw she was still in the pilot seat, 'I must have passed out…'

A shiver ran through her as she remembered about the battle with the Queen and a savage pain pounded at her temples, merging with the steady rumble of the turbines. The ship rose through the atmosphere, the altitude gauge on the console ticking reliably upwards. Next to it, a symbol was blinking, showing the airlock had closed. She tried to rise, but sank slowly back into the seat again. The exertion of flying the ship and defeating the Queen had drained her. She felt hot and faint, her legs boneless.

There was a whisper of metal, the cockpit doors sliding open. She turned, her temples hammering so violently she feared she would faint. Scar stood there, battered and bloodied, leaning against the doorframe as if he too were on the point of collapse. He lifted his head and his eyes met hers, both breathing steady, slow breaths.

"I thought you would die." She whispered, barely able to speak for ache in her throat.

He shook his head and staggered across the cockpit, until he stood in front of her. Now, she could see the tendrils of steam curling from the acid wounds spattered across his chest. The smell of scorched flesh hit her, anxiety causing the sharp taste of bile to rise up in her throat. She wanted to hold onto him and not let go. Again she tried to lean forward, tried to rise, but again her legs gave way and she fell back against the seat, leaning her head back to look at him, reaching out for him with shaking arms.

"Your burns look serious."

He took hold of her wrists, "They are nothing."

"Acid burns are not nothing!" She didn't mean to snap, but she was struggling to keep her voice level.

He leaned down, lifting her eyelids with one talon, staring intensely into her face, "We must use the vessel's medipod to check you for organ and brain damage."

"Brain damage?" She frowned, but then she remembered what Sek'Met had said about her sister being in the pod, "You cannot put me in the medipod – "

"Lexsss, you do not understand what has happened to you. Do not be stubborn."

"I am not being stubborn!"

His eyes narrowed, "You may not refuse me in this."

He reached down to lift her out of the chair but she put out a hand to stop him as a wave of something like vertigo hit her. "No, wait!" She gasped.

The room swam before her eyes and she had to screw them shut or risk passing out again.

"Lexsss. Pleassse." From far away, she heard him speak the human word, "You are… not well. Your injuries… I must scan you… to know the extent of them."

"You cannot put her in the medipod, U'darahje." Snarled a new voice.

Both of them turned. Sek'Met was still lying where Lex had left her and then forgotten her, arms tightly bound behind her back, legs bound too.

"The pod is being used to heal my sister." She spat.

Scar's head snapped back to Lex, eyes wide, "She is here?!"

"She must have been here when we came onboard."

"You mean I left you here… with her?"

Lex nodded, drawing a deep breath, still fighting the lightheaded feeling and a new stab of nausea at the confirmation that, yes, he did know this female, "This is her ship, I'd guess?" She said.

He ignored the question, "You took her down?"

She nodded, "Yes, I defeated her." She said the words in yautja, for Sek'Met's benefit.

"Only by trickery!" The female snarled.

Scar ignored her too, speaking to Lex, "Yet you let her live. You do not realise she is my Mother's lieutenant – sent here to destroy us."

"Your … mother?" Lex's brow creased. She felt at such a disadvantage; the fog in her brain had still not cleared, recent events still murky, "What has this got to do with your mother?"

"Lex, you may not remember, but my Mother has taken Spyrro." His voice was shaking with barely controlled rage, "She took her and then she sent us to die on that desolate rock; used as hosts for the hard meat. She sent her assassins to finish us if the hard meat did not. And they would have succeeded if you had not proved her superior in cunning," He turned on the female, "Is that not so, you bitch?"

"The soft meat took me by deceit." Sek'Met glared back at him, tawny eyes like an angry leopard, "And you wounded my sister – your clan sister – in defence of this insidious, sorceress slut! How many of your own kind will you slaughter before you see her for the wicked parasite she is?"

Scar stared at her, frozen for a few beats. When his voice came again, each word was dripping with poison, "Every one of you." He hissed softly, "I will slaughter every Rough Skull living. I will execute all who threaten what is mine, one after the other… starting with you!"

With shocking speed, he laid hold of Sek'Met, dragging her across the cockpit and into the corridor.

"Scar, wait!" Lex called, dragging herself upright and staggering after him, legs feeling like they were about to give way. Waves of dizziness rolled over her and through her whenever she tried to move too fast but she held onto the wall, fighting them off and pushing herself to catch up with him as he hauled Sek'Met towards the airlock.

"S'Kia, no!" She shouted after him again, leaning against the doorframe, "Put her down!"

He stopped, his head turning towards her.

"Your witch is calling, U'darahje!" Sek'Met sneered, "Release me, that I may silence her and free you!"

With a visceral roar he turned, lifting her by the throat and slamming the back of her head against the wall.

Lex gripped the doorframe hard, fighting to stay upright, and limped down the corridor towards them, the thought pounding in her temples, 'I can't let him do this – if his Mother's got Spyrro and Sek'Met is her lieutenant, maybe she could help us to get her back! Whatever might have happened between them, whatever jealousy I might feel towards her, Spyrro is more important.'

"No!" She yelled, "Don't kill her!"

"I will throw her into space with the rest of the junk!" Still holding Sek'Met against the wall, he pressed the door control. The inner hatch of the airlock slid open and he slung the hunter onto the floor of the chamber.

"You are a ruined thing, U'darahje," Sek'Met wheezed up at him, "Weak, corrupted and in subjugation to the soft meat. Do what you will – I do not fear death!"

As he hissed back at her, too near the brink of a berserk rage for words, Lex slipped past him, putting herself between him and the lieutenant. Immediately, he started back, holding himself in check; eyes wide, jaws curling up on themselves.

"Stop,"Lex clutched the doorframe like a drowning woman, "S'Kia, don't kill her."

"Why?" His eyes were hellfire bright, "Tell me one reason why I should let her live!"

"Because we want our daughter back." She said, in English, "If your Mother has Spyrro, then Sek'Met might have information that can help us. And we need to start making allies instead of enemies. Maybe she can help us get Spyrro back – "

"Why would you think we can make an alliance with this creature?"

"Because she has saved your life once already," Lex switched to yaujta, "Is that not right, Sek'Met?"

The female looked up sharply, her gaze flickering between them, but she stayed silent.

"You said you helped us," Lex went on, "In the hard meat chamber. You wanted S'Kia to escape. You left us the sivk'va-tai – "

"It was she?" Scar swivelled to gape at Lex.

"She told me."

Sek'Met did not look at Scar, glaring at Lex instead, her skin flushing darkly. There was no mistaking the sincerity of her shame, "I did not do it for you, soft meat!"

"You see S'Kia?" Lex panted, "We owe her our lives."

"You owe me nothing – filthy v'jed'lika," A growl rattled the lieutenant's throat, "I would gladly watch the hard meat rip you apart… I would destroy you with my own hands."

Scar gave a strangled snarl, "You will not touch her!"

"Or what, U'darahje? Your ooman mistress gives you an order – do you dare disobey her?"

"I will throw your carcass into the void!"

"No!" Lex put a hand on his shoulder, finding she had to hold onto him to stay upright, "Scar, you have to be calm – please!"

"How can I?!" He looked away clasping his head in his hands. When he turned back to her, he looked utterly crazed; his pupils shrunken to tiny slivers of black, his voice a spine-freezing snarl, "How can I be calm when she means to kill you? When she says so, herself!"

"She didn't kill me before and she won't kill me now – Spyrro's life is what matters."

"You died, Lex!" He gripped her shoulders, "Your heart stopped. You lay dead in my arms and I could do nothing – nothing! I never wish to experience that again; do you hear me? Not ever again!"

She stared at him as another wave of dizziness surged through her, vision blurring, sweat starting out on her skin. She heard him say in that same voice, "Now, do you understand? Now do you see why I cannot let her live?! I have to kill her! I have to kill any who threaten you – I will destroy them all rather than let your heart be stilled by their malice!"

A trickle of snowmelt in her frozen brain; a memory came dimly back to her; of hearing this tone in his voice before, long ago; on the Shadow… when he had been going to kill D'Kand… this same intensity that would not hear reason. Then, with a gush of ice dissolving, more memories of hearing that same tone; on the Cutter, after R'Zuul died… on Hirai, when both of them had been near death and he had been ready to give up his life.

The memories crowded in on her and now she knew. Now she understood. In this moment, he was not with her; this was the thing that made the other hunters fear him; the thing that drove him to the worst extremes of savagery and violence; something terrible and overwhelming that took him beyond himself.

She stretched out her fingers to him and took hold of his hand. Like a sleepwalker, he let her press it flat to her chest, her pulse thudding against his palm.

"My heart is still beating, S'Kia." She gave a shuddering breath, "But I need you to come back to me."

"Come back?" He sounded mesmerised.

"I know you go someplace else in your head when you fight… but I need you to come back from that place."

His palm was hot where it pressed against her skin, but he was shivering, "You are asking me to choose… between your life… and my daughter."

"How can you think that?" Her voice caught in her throat, "Spyrro's my daughter, too."

Lex had forgotten about Sek'Met now, all her energy concentrated on making him listen. The sound of her own breathing echoed through her head as another wave of dizziness broke on her. Her eyes closed for what seemed only an instant but, when she opened them again, she was in his arms with no memory of how she came to be there.

He held onto her like he was drowning, burying his face in her hair. Through the descending darkness she felt the tension in his body draining away second by second, muscles relaxing as he breathed her in and breathed the rage out.

"Lexssss," His words were just a hiss against her ear, "You know I cannot refuse you."

Isaac looked round as his twin strode into the cockpit of the Chameleon. Something about Selim's quick steps and the tense set of his shoulders warned Isaac all was not well. His brother began to range up and down the cockpit. Finally, he came to stand next to the console, one fist pressed against his lips. Isaac knew better than to demand a response. He just watched his twin, sharing his suffering even though he did not know the exact cause of it; aware of Rika's silent, watchful presence beside him in the co-pilot's chair.

Selim did not speak for a while. He seemed to be watching the stars, bright eyes contrasting with the deep, blue light that indicated the ship was in stealth mode. He stared out at the glowing vista of space, but Isaac could tell he wasn't really seeing it as he chewed distractedly on one knuckle.

"Selim?" Finally his brother turned to look at him and for once he spoke the words in yautja, "What is it brother?"

His twin turned his head away, "Nothing."

"Selim, you can tell me."Isaac spread his hands.

His brother only shook his head, "Are we clear of the Cutter? They cannot find us?"

"I'd think if they were chasing us, we'd know it by now," Isaac patted the console, "And even if they did, our stealth tech would protect us."

"Then we need to start looking for our family," Selim turned to Rika, "Do you know where they have taken our parents and our sister? Where would they be keeping them?"

Rika clicked his jaws, "Varrik said that there had been some kind of bargain with the female contingent, some exchange of S'Kia and Lex and probably your sister in return for the antivirus. Though I am not sure why they would want them."

"They must have taken them to that ship," Isaac laid a hand on his brother's arm, "The one we rescued Spyrro from."

"The Vortex; the females' command ship." Rika said, "It is a craft the same size as the Void Cutter. The females are ruled by the supreme matriarch. They call her the GhaRan-S'i-Ka."

Selim's face screwed up, "The… 'Annihilator'?"

Rika nodded.

"We have seen the Vortex." Selim said slowly, "The females stole Spyrro from us."

"Spyrro?"

"Our sister. Mei'Savir broke onto the Vortex, stole her back and fought his way out."

The Rough Skull snorted "No surprise, then, that she was prepared to take S'Kia in exchange for something of such high value. They say she rules by the fist and by the blade. She would not tolerate such an open challenge to her power."

Isaac was also frowning, as much from trying to follow their yautja speech as from his own worry "We know what we're looking for – so it should be easy to find, this giant ship?"

Selim turned back to Rika, "Is it likely they are being held on the Vortex?"

"No. If her purpose is punishment, they would have been sent directly for execution."

"Execution?"

"Yautja justice is swift… and there are dark rumours about the GhaRan-S'i-Ka's punishments. It is said that she gives those who displease her to the hard meat."

Both twins turned to look at him.

"Tell me I misunderstood that." Isaac gulped, "I thought you said that she gives prisoners to those creatures we saw on Earth? Those ones with all the fucking teeth?"

Selim nodded, swallowed hard and turned back to Rika, "We must go to find them at once – we cannot let them become infected by the hard meat!"

Rika frowned, "If the rumours about the Annihilator are correct, she would have taken them to a planet where the hard meat are found in numbers. It would have to be in Rough Skull territory – one where they would not be disturbed by enemy clans and where the hard meat are to be found in numbers."

Selim groaned "We do not have time to go to every planet!"

"Sel, we don't have to." Isaac's face lit up and he swung round to the console and began to tap at the controls, "S'Kia dragged us all around Rough Skull space on this ship looking for big, scary monsters for us to fight – right? I'll bet we have all that data stored on the Chameleon. We can just enter our criteria and the console will find the best match for us."

Selim turned to him, a smile lighting up his face, "Ize, you really are a genius."

Isaac grimaced, "Congratulate me when we find them, Sel."

"You are making an inventory of nearby planets?" Rika came to stand beside them, "There are a number in Rough Skull space where the hard meat are present."

"But we can… eliminate them." Isaac turned to Rika "If we look at the last known co- ordinates for the Vortex."

"But how can you know this?" Selim had his hand on Isaac's shoulder.

"Because S'Kia tracked the Vortex," Isaac said "When we were chasing Spyrro – he fed this data into the console to… find her. I watched him. And… he was sending data… back to us whilst he was onboard, via his wristcom." He glanced up at his brother "At least he's good for something." He added in English.

Selim sighed, but did not protest at the criticism.

Rika was leaning over his shoulder, watching closely, "You think you can find them?"

"I know I can!" Isaac's veins were on fire with adrenalin as he brought up the data. He had never seen a hard meat nest but he had seen enough of the terrible creatures to last him a lifetime. From his parents' stories, he knew how the foul things reproduced and that image had haunted his nightmares. Sweaty, screaming nightmares. He could not stop picturing his Mother and sister trapped in mucus cocoons, struggling to free themselves, their mouths plugged by writhing alien appendages.

It was easier not to think about S'Kia at all.

Happy Friday everyone. I've been laid low by some crummy virus so I haven't had much to do except sit and write. I enjoyed writing this chapter, probably a bit too much.

lexia the beautiful wolf - Beheading is more traditional for a Queen, historically speaking, but harder to do with one set of wristblades.

Tenjp - glad you're enjoying it. Lex wouldn't let a little thing like drowning stop her!

.Queen - Hello from England! I hope you will read to the end, though.

LovyDovy - Yeah the boys have got some more to go through too. Sometimes it makes me feel bad :)