Let The Games Begin..

~*~*~*~

Ripley shuddered when she began to pick up emotions from the link. Standing, leaving Hicks and Call in mid sentence her dark eyes pinpointed on the exit from the food hall where just a few minutes away her crew mate and daughter left. There was a hiss in her mind, followed by a slither of intense rage..

It was jumbled but the intent was clear. Danger. Protect.

Chase.

Chase was exhibiting warrior drone behaviour and was very close to snapping.

Practically commanding her child to calm, the oozing quality of the link becoming stronger as the instincts that were now flowing through the both of them started to become cloudy – there was danger. She was needed. Protect young. The alien in her was practically hissing in readiness when she felt the control of her little one snap.

Ripley looked down at Call and saw her reflection in the androids eyes and then smirked as a piercing shriek rocketed through the ship and was answered by a ragged growl.

“There is about to be trouble.”

And with that, the bug busters rose and one and following Ripley’s fast speed, filed out of the eating hall.

~*~*~*~*~

Vasquez screamed when Chase seemed to suddenly break in her arms followed by a proud array of colourful cursing when the kid shrieked a challenge, running head first into her molesting alien, knocking the wind out of both of them.

It was then a tangle of limbs, growls and hisses.

She was shocked, Chase had never been this aggressive not even when attacking the aliens.

She was always quiet.

Never was there this never ending hissing and deep snarls and there was certainly never this amount of intensity in her before. The kid seemed to actually want to take apart her opponent with fervour and there seemed to be nothing she could do to call her off. Keeping her eyes peeled on the rolling, shrieking collection of alien and human arms and legs she screamed for Ripley. Call. Hell she even screamed for Johner.

She couldn’t stop this by herself; she would probably be killed if she stepped in.

~*~*~*

Aa’Ro was shocked at the speed. He too had lost his temper and when the little female had issued a challenge he too roared his. The little knife moved like nothing he had ever seen and didn’t seem to feel pain when they traded blows. He felt white-hot pain when it used its teeth on him, sinking deep in his neck seemingly trying to rip out his throat and he roared when he felt claws began to slice his hide from him.

“I wish not to hurt you, suckling…” Aa’Ro grunted as said younglings claws flicked across his shoulder. “ Away from me Hulij-bpe!”

Grabbing the female by a leg he hurled her from him hoping that his throw would make her hit the walls and thus knocking her out, blinking when the female twisted in mid air and bounced off the corridor wall like a shuriken coming back to its sheath. He was stronger but there was nothing he could do against the ferocity and the speed that the female was attacking him with.

He grunted when a clawed hand swiped across his guts, thanking the gods that his skin, while still being cut by the clawed appendages seemed to be too thick to simply falter and let his insides fall at his feet.

The female Vasquez was screaming for them to stop but uncharacteristically the young female was not listening to its elders, which was strange.

Growling again when he was knocked flying, regaining his feet just in time to avoid a well timed snap of jaws, Aa’Ro slammed a meaty fist into the crazed females face satisfied when a crunch and a yelp allowed him time to push off from the wall and into the center of the annex of corridors. He felt the crisscross of claw marks up and down his body, she had damn near almost run him through with her claws, right through his cuts and he could feel the ooze of blood from that wound pulse thickly but he was pleased that the ooman female was no better off.

Her face was bloodied, his claws had scraped parallel lines along her collarbone, there was a limp to her gait, she was clearly favouring her left side and he could see that his last blow to her face had already started to bruise.

What he had done to warrant this type of attach he did not know but the warrior in him refused to allow himself to lose. While he was fond of the ooman troupe he was proud enough of his own superiority to know that oomans, no matter how canny could not better a yautja, even ones that fought the hard meat. He growled in warning when the female that should know better leapt at him again. It was time he armed himself.

Dancing back from the well-aimed strike of her claws and narrowing his eyes at the hiss that seemed to be breathed into his ear cavities, removed his ceremonial knife and twirled it.

“You are pushing me too far.”

He heard the female Vasquez shout a warning but it seemed that the little one was still not paying attention. He would not, no matter how much of a beating he would probably get from H’tch or the elders allow a little snot of an ooman best him. It would be a disgrace. He waited until she was committed to engaging him and at the last minute dropped to his knee and swiped out with his blade, roaring in victory when a scream and the wet sound flesh ripping gave him victory.

Spinning round he seized the female by the neck and threw her into the wall, snarling when she hit with a thump and fell back to the floor.

Stalking forward he stabbed down, aiming for her shoulder when quicker than he could believe, considering the gut wound he had given, the female rolled backward to her feet and swiped her claws over his face, damned near tearing his tusks off. Maddened now, the male in him demanding retribution for his almost ruined sign of manhood rammed his fist into the females midsection, delighting in the pained scream and then again and again until he was successful in knocking her away from him.

Striding towards his target, he stopped when his female brandished a strut from the air vents at him. She had screamed for the rest of her clan when the fight started but they had not yet come yet. It felt like the fight had lasted an age.

He growled at her when she started to swing it, still shouting ‘Ripley’ in a high-pitched voice. Aa’Ro lowered his hand and looked at the female that had challenged him struggle to get up.

She was shaking with the effort to rise; the clothing that covered her chest and middle had the indents from his fists in blood. She was speckled every now and then with the green that was his but she was still getting up.

He backed off when she shakily got to her feet and swayed, turning and staring at him again. It was a hungry stare. A stare that a predator gave to its prey before it consumed it. She was loosing, did the crazed female not realise this.

Her wound to her sternum, he has obviously damn near caved in the left side of her rib cage from the blood that was oozing from her lips and the rattled sound in her chest. He stared at the half disintegrated knife, the metal was bubbling and bits feel to the ground in small piles disintegrating. The little one hissed again. She was still coming and he was not sure how long he could now last.

“M-di H'chak.. Do not push me too far.”

No mercy.

He met her charge full on, the remains of his knife between his fingers. He swore the force they both used in that final charge was earth shattering as was the scream that came from his Vasquez when he slipped the have acid bubbled blade between the young females ribs.

He stepped away when she gave a half cough that he was sure was a intended to be a strangled scream of pain and reached out to catch her.

He did not have a chance as in his peripherals he saw his elder and his friend round the corner, H’tch with murder in his eyes and the Alpha Female like an avenging goddess powering down the corridor, the mother of the young ooman female he was sure he had just helped on her way to U'sl-kwe – final death – issued a similar snarl to her young and crashed into him and like a mime rein acting, he howled with pain when another set of claws half skewered him.

~*~*~*~*~*

Elder Jo’ein had been alarmed when he had heard the challenging screams and even more so when a yautja voice answered. He like the oomans, flanked by his guards and sons gave chase taking another tunnel, as the ooman group lead by the alpha female took off in the direction of what was sure to be a fight. He was surprised that his mighty son ran out of place, over taking him. Jo’ein turned the corner just as his son did, at the exact moment Aa’Ro; his brother’s progeny slipped a blade between the ribs of the Alpha Females child.

Instantly, he threw his son into the wall when the beginnings of a growl started to come up H’tch’s throat.

He signalled for his guards to hold his son in place and stared at his son in sympathy when he fought, snarling.

Jo’ein turned when the sound of pounding footsteps alerted the oomans arrivals and seeing the look on the mothers face as the warrior he counted as his, went to catch the defeated youngling. He did what any self-respecting male did in the face of a female mother wrath. He stepped out the way, giving the signal that no one was to interfere. He watched without emotion as the female ran full tilt into the battered body of his nephew and proceeded to sink her claws into his already battered hide.

He turned away when Aa’Ro bellowed when a second set of claws impaled him, only turning back to watch when there was a loud thump, signalling that Aa’Ro had fallen.

He watched as the Alpha female, Ripley and the second in command female Call ran to the fallen body of the youngling. Jo’ein knew not the cause of the fight but he knew that while the youngling female was volatile she had shown that she did not needlessly start fights, especially after gifting him with hard meat jaws, albeit with prodding from the second in command.

She had approached him fearlessly and offered them to him and he had accepted, running his hand through her un-braided hair as he has seen others do. The youngster had been seen sitting quietly with his eldest son and even through she treated him with an almost forced acceptance he had seen the beginnings of a tentative acceptance between them – aided by H’tch’s desire for the female.

But he also knew Aa’Ro.

He was his nephew and he understood the dynamics of a truce. He had heard rumours that Aa’Ro had tempted an ooman female to his bed at the recent celebration and had an inkling that this was something to do with it. Instead of interfering, as was his right as elder and leader, he stood and watched Ripley brandish her own justice and would do so again as the truth came out.

Turning slightly he pinned the female Vasquez with a knowing stare.

That female was ringing her hands and had the stink of his nephew all over him. Flicking his translator he approached the oomans circled around what would soon be a dead youngling if the amount of blood on the air were any indication. He was amused when the second biggest male, Hudson turned and brandished an ooman burner at him.

“Hey pal, back the fuck off.”

Elder Jo’ein showed no fear of the weapon and walked past and looked down. As he suspected the little brave one, Yeyinde, was a mess and despite the crude genetics that she and her mother possessed was soon not for this world. He nodded to his guards and they released his still foaming son from their hold. Jo’ein called for Zion and hoped that maybe their enhanced medicines could do something.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hicks was the first to recover and started to throw nitrogen at the pooling blood that seemed to have a never ending source i.e. the Kid and watched as Ripley and the boss alien took the kid to the medical bay. He yelled for Vriess to get his mechanical ass here now and bring whatever other nitro that was available. One look at Ripley confirmed his suspicions that she was trying to use that mind thing that all aliens had as she walked.

It had been that weird shit that had alerted her that something was about to go down. Call had stayed to help him clean up but had stared daggers when a group of their hosts picked up the still alive alien that had been beaten within and inch of its life, not once, but twice.

“So. What the fuck happened?”

“Four broken ribs, shattered shoulder, mass internal bleeding, knife wounds across the sternum, punctured or collapsed lung and god knows what else.”

Hudson pursed his lips and let out the breath he had been holding. “Yo, Call what the fuck happened, man. Vasquez ain’t saying shit, she took off after Rip and them and them guys ain’t saying shit either.”

Call had also noticed that Vasquez had followed them. She had been very agitated and had been for days but she had appeared almost inconsolable when Ripley lifted Chase into her arms and there was a low moan uttered from the child. Ripley said something happened a few nights ago – she had found it humorous but she hadn’t shared just smirked.

She should be in the medical bay but she had stayed to clear up the pool of blood that was slowly eating through the floor. This time she doubted that it could be hushed up. They would see that Chase was very different from a human, even a genetically advanced one.

“I don’t know Hudson. I think.. I think Chasey was protecting Vasquez. Why else would she start a fight with these guys after being told that she was not allowed? Ripley will find out what happened when Chase recovers.”

Vriess coughed and then muttered something that Call missed, even with her android hearing.

“What was that Vee? I didn’t catch it.”

Vriess looked up angrily. His eyebrows slanted dangerously across his eyes and Call saw a flicker of the man he was before he lost the use of his legs. “I said, that’s if Cheri pulls through. That knifing would of killed anyone – right in between the second and third rib and how the hell are we going to explain it if she does pull through? Any normal person would die from those injuries Call.”

The Cajun rolled his fingers round his wheelchairs controls and took off down the corridor.

“I’m going to work on our only mode of escape. We might need to leave quickly after this shindig.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

The combined use of human and alien technology made his med lab look like something out of a nightmare. There was a soft and painfully slow beeping that the females had their eyes pinned on at all times that was somehow attached to the barely living young ooman female. Strange wires were crossed here and there and the smells of the combined technologies made his head hurt.

What the pauk was antiseptic? Anti-biotics? He knew what a sedative was and despite the second in commands protests he had pumped the body he was working on full of them. Aa’Ro would live – he was badly beaten, skin and muscle had been almost burn from his body but a few cycles in the healing chamber he would be as good as new but this half grown suckling? He did not know and despite his aversion to praying to the goddess Paya he admitted to himself that if there was ever a time it was now.

H’tch and Elder Jo’ein were viewing his progress from the viewing port and there was something in the set of the elders mightiest seed that had him uneasy – he looked at the female that was receiving treatment like she was his.

That did not set well with him.

Not that he was adverse to inter species relationships but he had numerous questions. Right now, with the wounds it had by law the female should be dead. But the body had started to heal and if Aa’Ro had not shunted a blade into it and almost damned near torn the pauk out of it, Zion had no doubt that the strange DNA that the young suckling and its alpha parent possessed would of kicked in and it would of rapidly healed over and Aa’Ro would have been ripped to pieces.

But in its current state there was nothing to be done it seemed except wait.

He listened as the female healer, Call rattled off a list of injuries to the Alpha female and wondered if said female was as calm as she looked. Her upper clothing was bathed in the fluorescent green that made up his kinds blood, blood belonging to Aa’Ro.

The faint hiss of the door being opened alerted him that one of the viewers had joined him. H’tch was busy clenching and then unclenching his hands, visibly shaking to keep from snarling at the motionless figure in the cyrotube being healed.

“He has been gutted twice and it seems that all three of the remaining ooman females want his balls. I believe he is suffering enough, son of my elder. Wishing more harm to befall your cousin is dishonourable.”

H’tch growled.

Enough?

Ha! Maybe when he, himself had beaten his cousin and supposed best friend into submission and bloody with his spear, stripped some meat from his hide with his shuriken and then maybe removed everything that he held sacred from his body then yes, maybe Aa’Ro had suffered enough.

His female.

His female!

His female was damaged to the point of where the prayers to Paya began! Potentially dying because his bastard friend could not keep it in his pants for a cycle and causing a rift between the truces that his sire found to be beneficial. He too found it beneficial, yes due to the little female that had captured his attentions. And then there was the order that none enter into combat with the ooman pack members under any circumstances.

His father’s word was law. He saw to it that it was and by the goddess he H’tch had also seen to it. His snot nosed suckling brother had managed to keep his distance and not engage a fight why the pauk could not a warrior known for his temperance and wisdom not do the same? Cjit!

“He will be judged healer. I will not tolerate an order from the elders being disobeyed. It is my duty.”

Zion snorted. “It’s your duty is it boy? Is it your duty because he has roughed up the female you have been busy sniffing after? Phsaw! You young males are all the same, a flirty movement of talons or mandibles followed by a sweet smelling musk and you follow skipping and prancing about.”

“You will not mock me healer!”

H’tch snarled in anger at the image that the healer had painted. He did not skip after a female. It was beneath him. He was a prize to any female. He had females coming out of his ears! Not the one that he wanted yet but he had immense prospects and was not a Pauking twitter patted unblooded in his first rutting season.

This female was different.

“I do not mock you, H’tch. I was once young like you and shared in the pain of not having the female I desired come to me. They are different from us, boy. You would do good to remember that.”

“Aa’Ro did not seem to have a problem.. Is she going to recover, Elder healer?”

The mighty hunter walked to the glass that separated the healer’s room from where he wanted to be right now.

With this female.

His little brave female.

He laid a clawed hand against the glass and wished that the rooms weren’t sound proofed. Even her whimpering in pain would sooth him. Lies, hearing her in pain would probably induce him into a rage and half the equipment would suffer. He should have followed his cousin. He could of stopped her from being hurt, could of stopped the entire shenanigan from occurring but no, he had not left the table. He had done nothing.

“That is in the hands of the gods young one. There was talk of some specialist healer in another system but I got the impression that the alpha female was reluctant.”

“Aa’Ro?”

“He was be on his feet in the next few days. He will have pain in his gut for a long time and the two holes will scar.”

“I will keep guard tonight healer. You may retire to your rooms.”

Zion sighed. It was going to be a long night.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Ripley forced the emotion down – she was not unfeeling but since her resurrection as a half human alien it had become almost too easy to portray nothing. Her face was an unmoving ode to that which is known as the ‘Poker Face’.

The information from the link was sketchy at best – there had been the desire to protect a hive mate and rage. Call had been on at her for weeks that the hormones in her offspring’s blood were in a constant state of flux and that she did not know what that meant. Sure, there had been other experiments with alien human DNA but until her, Ripley eight and followed by her Chase, the process was never perfected again to such magnitude.

There had been numerous tubes full of botched experiments, faces twisted with fangs and elongated bodies and in all stages of growth where she had found the test tube that held her child.

She had felt the emotions before of course, bearing a child. Feeling the hesitant kicks against her womb, hearing the soft but rapid heartbeat on a monitor and then the scalding pain of bringing a child into the world but it had still been magical. She had her Amy and her Newt back. Smiling faintly, Ripley stepped forward and rested a clawed hand against her young’s head, sending a wave of soothing feeling through the link, knowing that there was a remote chance that Chase would not hear it.

I wouldn’t give you up. Nothing would make me.

Why had there been this slip? Reiterating, Ripley knew that Chase had been angry before, even more so when a drone had made off with one of the new age hippies that had taken up with them. The desire to render and destroy the drone was there but even when she did catch up with them there had not been an inkling of rage – satisfaction yes, in ripping the skull from its body. No protective rage had never been present before and if she was honest it made her feel uneasy as if she was missing a crucial titbit of information that would piece together why in all that was holy her child would disobey a direct order – drones could not disobey the queen and in their relationship she, Ripley was the hive mother and Chase was a warrior drone.

Glancing at Call she shifted her stance a little – once upon a time she would of needed coffee or some other form of stimulant to stay awake and on her feet, not so now. Looking at Call again she sighed as the android went over the findings again. Raising an eyebrow while Call went through each and every reading Ripley stared silently at Vasquez who was concentrating on the information that Call was rolling off.

Call was sure that this influx of hormones was at the root of it but all roots needed a catalyst.

“.. I mean these readings are off of course by human standards but even you have never lost it and flicked your internal switch. There is something we are missing! When you were re grown you never had any issues? Ripley…? Ripley?”

The Hive Mother closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering.

“They were attempting to teach me things. I almost throttled Wren and I was succeeding even with my hands encased and then there was the room dedicated to bringing me back. I cannot say that since then I have felt especially emotional. Call.. I was grown to maturity with my extra curriculars, as we will call them. Chase was an embryo, a blank page. Could this imbalance be because I was grown to maturity and she was not?”

The android blew at the strands of hair that fell in her face.

“I don’t know Ripley. The files from the Auriga and the Indianapolis base are AWOL from the system. Even if we wanted to cross reference data we couldn’t…” Call paused, cocking her head before speaking.

“Gediman’s brother was also working on the cloning process. Last time we hacked the mainframe he wasn’t anywhere near successful but the data indicated that he had a hand in a lot of early work on you after the first failures. Last I checked he had a lab in the abraxus system.”

“Shit! You know that place will be crawling with military assholes. If we even let them get a whiff of you or the kid and we’ll never see you again. She deserves better than that Ripley.”

Call glanced at the before silent Latino and watched with curiosity as Vasquez edged closer to the mat holding Chases lifeless body and absently flicked away stray hairs from her face. Ripley suddenly had a small grin on her face as she stepped forward and patted Vasquez back quietly.

“Vasquez, she thinks of you as a hive mate. That is why she attacked the Yautja. For all her faults and yours I am proud of her for protecting that she calls ‘sister’. Go and rest, you aren’t helping anyone by keeping a silent vigil. You are useless to us all dead on your feet.”

Vasquez and Call both picked up the subtle emphasis that Ripley made when she stressed the word ‘yours’. My fault?

Yes.. it is my fault. If I hadn’t got so assholed I would not of been laid by that mother fucker, I wouldn’t of been so pissed off about it, I wouldn’t of run off from the mess and gotten followed by him obviously on the prowl for round two and Chase wouldn’t of tried to kick his ass for his trouble. Slamming her palm against the wall Vasquez felt something trickle down her face. Reaching up she was surprised to see drops of water against her skin.

Tears?

She had not cried since Drake.. Eyes widening in alarm, the Latino woman’s mind went into overdrive. She couldn’t of saved Drake her dearest Amigo but she could at least take a crack at saving Chase. The abraxus system to see a freak called Gediman.

She stared at her pillow and fell onto it drifting off into a sleep filled with the screams from her little friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It had been 18 hours.

Eighteen rotten hours since she left the medical lab and she was still nowhere near a plan. Vasquez was in need of help - Help and a lot of planning. Ripley never would sign off on a little trip a couple of million light years, right and then left to see the good doctor. Call might be persuaded to help but she doubted very much if she could coerce Vriess into being pilot. She could probably count on him for much but he would never go behind the bosses back as he called her.

Hicks and Hudson would be useless and she point blank refused to speak to the crud hole that was Johner. This was his entire fault and eventually he would pay for it but right now she had a sick amigo to look out for. Being told that the kid thought of her as family made her chest ache briefly. She knew her face had taken on pain right then and had been unable to suppress it. Call had stared at her and had nodded. Call would be the one that she needed to pull this off. Chase HAD to get to that crazy ass doctor and be fixed.

It did not matter that there were potentially alien fuckers there or the USM. She would have one chance and that would be if there was some chaotic event happening where Ripley would be needed and off guard duty leaving Chase free for extraction and then getting both of their asses to a pod or something and then taking off for the base. Punching in a set of codes, she raised her head to see Hicks followed by a yawning Hudson and a now glaring Johner approach. This was going to cause a headache and the rubbing of temples began.

“Yo, Vaz.”

Vasquez didn’t bother looking up from the terminal. She did however hear the big lug shift on his feet before clearing his throat.

“Hey did you hear me, woman?”

Gritting her teeth against turning round and ripping his balls off Vasquez ignored him and instead tapped out commands intermittently and studied the responses before swinging round in the chair and staring. The ties that were thought to of been tight were looser now; the rope was barely holding anything together.

Johner just glared back at her. Asshole.

“You gonna tell me what the fucks up?”

The slither of thread snapped like the ginger candy she adored.

What the fuck was up? Setting her jaw again and tossing her head, suddenly all haughtiness again Vasquez smirked.

“The fact that you’re sitting here pendejo and polluting my air is what’s up. Fuck off, puta.”

She heard Hudson snort in amusement while Johner simply stood there and fish mouthed for a few seconds before balling his fists. Raising an eyebrow at him, she tapped her fingers against her vintage jungle issue knife. Hicks would have her back and she saw him immediately stub out his cigarette and move to get into the way but all Vasquez did was smile.

“Yo kiddies, c’mon this is like seriously buggin’ us all out, okay? C’mon man, you and Johner are tight right? Bug busters forever, yo?”

Hudson was staring at Vasquez with his normal shit eating grin and under normal circumstances she would smirk and slap hands, join in the bug buster shit but she had a debt to repay. Hopping up from her seat and closing the clips on the terminal case she sighed and looked at her comrades in arms.

“Hudson, Hicks. You my boys and always will be. Apone’s badasses but there are some things you just need to stay out of and this is one of those things, ok ‘migas?”

Turning on her heel and starting to stalk out of the eating bay she paused at the door and sealed the deal.

“As I said puta, fuck off.”

Taking a deep breath Vasquez slowly exhaled. It didn’t hurt at all. He was a poor reminder of Drake after all. There were more important things. Hold on kiddo, I’m thinking up a plan.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Zion followed the ooman female that seemed intent on downloading as much crude data as it could. The male known as Johner and the female were known to be mates as their scents had been found together mingled numerous times but they never seemed to put off that exclusive air, hence why that pustule prancing pauker of a male Aa’Ro had made a play for and won a night of mating rights.

He had studied ooman behaviour in his youth after one of his most revered uncles had been slain on a hunt on the ooman home world. It had unfortunately led to his demise but the story went that the leading elder at the time had been impressed with the way that the warrior and the ooman had worked to destroy a hard meat queen no less and had thus chosen to honor said female with his own spear.

Oomans were known to be soft, easy prey 90% of the time but if you were unfortunate enough to find one of the 10% that had a brain then you had to work fast and hard, utilizing all your resources and ensure that the crafty ooman did not have a chance to do the same.

Females it appeared were the feistier of the breed, all that had been encountered did the name female proud and displayed a fierceness, cunning and the ability to adapt that brought a pool of blood to the loins to a warrior.

These particular females were all of what he had heard and more. Oomans that hunted hard meat prey, oomans that would willingly get into a fight with a superior breed without thought of losing, oomans that seemed to be damned near indestructible and oomans that had corrosive blood.

Like hard meat.

And so he watched the females like a hawk.

It was apparent that she was working on something and wished the others not to know and from his vantage point he could see that she was looking at some very primitive star charts. That caught his attention. Why would the female be looking at star charts or planning something with the rest of its pack? Zion’s curiosity was now most definitely piqued especially when the female grunted in triumph and then started a whole new calculation on the very basic computer terminal. Intelligence it seemed and ingenuity were also utilized by oomans.

Zion crept closer to the wall when the second Alpha female came striding into the relaxation area. He watched as the two females said nothing to each other and thought that this was odd, what he knew of this group was that they were very social and getting them to shut up was something that was rarely accomplished. Instead of voice communication the one known to him as Call strode forward and handed over what looked like to be a communication tablet.

“She will never agree. If you’re going to do it then you need to make a move soon, use this and it will interface with the Betty’s A.I system. I can give you breathing space but not much.”

Zion narrowed his eyes. Interfaces? Making a move soon?

“She wont be happy about this Call. Why risk helping me, thought you and Rip were tight as.”

The ooman called Call turned and walked away and then paused at the oval exit.

“She’s a child to me as well. At first I saw her as a danger but she grew on me. Looks like she did a hatchet job on you. Bad ass mother fucker my ass, Vasquez.”

“If this space age hippy doc can’t do fuck all then I plug him and us. I wouldn’t let the USM anywhere near us. Fry everything. No trace. I still am a bad ass.”

Interesting..

He was right to investigate the strange behaving ooman. Was the smaller one going to challenge the alpha for command?

Zion’s brow wrinkled with thought when it hit him. Star charts, on board computers. There was either a mutiny coming or he hoped, this sly female was going to find a healer for the younger pack mate. He was a male as well as a scientist and no one wanted see young die. Especially young of such potential – a hybrid of some kind. Such an ooman would be worth investigating and would call for some testing. Enter the revered elder healer, i.e. Him. Zion.

Flicking on his translator he came out of hiding, noting with pleasure that the ooman female trouble maker jumped in surprise at first and then scowled. Splaying his mandibles in a soothing manner knowing first hand that mutiny was hard job, especially to a primate like an ooman.

“Take young. Heal? I. Help. “

He gave a yautja smile when the females shock wore off and they were in an accord.


~*~*~*~

OoH.. Slightly cliffy...