I made my way back to the area where Alexis was waiting when I left. But she wasn't there. I looked around; her footprints in the mud looked rushed, and vehicle trails followed hers. A growl left my throat. The humans from before went after her. I ran along the rails, my cloak still keeping me hidden. I leaped onto vehicles passing by and used them to travel. My mask's tech located Alexis ahead; someone was holding her in a vehicle and taking her away from the city. I let out a roar and charged their way, leaping across vehicles and causing kayos.
The humans who took her couldn't see me past my cloak, but saw what I was doing. I could see Alexis looking back. I roared again, gaining on them. The driver was going at full speed, but I wasn't giving up. As I gained on them, I struck the company vehicles with my plasma sword and then leaped off, causing each vehicle to crash and explode or be hit by other vehicles. I kept going and almost reached the vehicle where Alexis was trapped. I jammed my plasma sword into the back of the vehicle, killing one human.
I could hear Alexis scream. The human must have been close. Pulling out my sword, I tore the roof of the vehicle open. They restrained Alexis near the door. I reached down and picked her up. I plunged my plasma sword into the front of the vehicle, making it swerve. Jumping off, I carried Alexis away from the humans in company vehicles as they crashed. My legs moved quickly, taking Alexis and me far away from the humans who took her. Soon, we reached the outskirts, where my ship was.
"Aida, what do we do now?" Alexis asked as I set her down. I turned my back to her as my cloak shut down, revealing my form. "Aida?"
"Da'knu-dei k'va," I told her, not turning away from the armored vehicles. My grip on my plasma sword was tight, my plasma caster locked on target. The blast hit the first vehicle, flipping it forward onto its back. Alexis was still behind me. I turned to her and pointed to the cloaked ship's shadow. She looked where I pointed and moved to hide. I ran, and the humans in vehicles followed. I glanced back, but none of them were interested in going after Alexis.
I turned and leaped onto one vehicle. The humans began firing without thinking about the humans inside. I moved quickly; their bullets grazed my skin. Bright green blood tinted the wounds. I sent a plasma blast to where the engine of the vehicle was, and it exploded, killing many humans, and hit the last vehicle, exploding it and killing those humans as well. I was kneeling when another human was behind me. I heard them aim their guns. I stiffened my muscles and knew they could shoot me and take Alexis into captivity if I moved even a little.
"Stay still, and things won't get messy," the human behind me said. Then I heard someone hit something else, and a thud came behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and Alexis was there, holding a chunk of wood, and the human was lying face down on the ground. I stood up and faced her, surprised she had done this. She dropped the wood, and I saw dark red on her arm. I widened my eyes when I saw that something had hit her.
"Alexis!" I rushed to her, crushing the gun underfoot as I rushed. I kneeled and looked at her arm.
"It's just a scratch," Alexis said. I saw it was a bullet graze. I picked her up immediately. "Wha-Aida?!"
I carried her to the ship. I pointed to her bag on the ground.
"What? My things?" she asked. I nodded and picked up her bag, taking it to the ship. I hit a few buttons on my arm piece and de-cloaked the vessel, and the doors opened. I took her inside the ship and set her on a clean spot on the floor with her bag. Opposite her on the wall were my trophies. I closed the ship's door and dug through the items on the ship.
"Di'cha t'kwei-dei k'ctah-ral; kha'ri-dei k'cha-ha." I told her.
"Uh," Alexis said, watching me.
"Ti'kcha na'hte?" I asked as I turned to her.
"I don't know what you're saying," Alexis said. I stopped and smacked myself in the face, realizing I hadn't checked if she spoke languages outside of Earth. I began messing with the device around my neck, switching to other languages.
"이게 더 나은가요??" I asked in another language. She widened her eyes in surprise, then I adjusted the language module on the device around my neck to another language. "How about now?"
Her face flushed red with the voice.
"Is this the wrong language? I can adjust it if-"
"No! No, English works," she finally snapped out of it. "I just wasn't expecting that kind of voice."
"Oh?" I questioned. "I can change it if-"
"No!" She stopped me. "I, uh, ahem! How do you pick the voices?"
"It's based on the volume Yautja speak," I explained to her.
"So, you sound like this in English?" She asked, her face still red. I nodded and got back to looking around the ship for things she could use to nest in.
"So..." she began. "What's all that for?"
"For your nest," I told her.
"Nest?" she asked.
"Yes," I looked at her. "Is there something wrong?"
"Is that what... You do?" She asked hesitantly. I fully turned to her with the soft material in my arms.
"Do humans not nest?" I ask.
"No," she said. Surprise came over me.
"Then how do you sleep?" I asked.
"Well, we put together beds." She explained. I tilted my head. "Well, let me see these."
She took the soft material and laid out the material out lengthwise, and pulled her bag over, taking out her electronic devices from it, and set the bag on one end, and laid out the rest of the material below to the end of the strange shape. This made me even more confused.
"... how is this more comfortable?" I asked, taking off my mask.
"Well, you lie in it and cover up to stay warm." She explained. I just looked between her and the "bed" she put together. She rubbed the back of her neck, realizing I still don't understand.
"Right, I'll leave you to it," I said to her and went to the helm of the ship to set the coordinates. She climbed into her "bed" and settled after the long day we had. I had a look through her digital trail. She has often been going to places with these strange drinks. Booba? some strange drink. And a.. what? Kak pop? what is that? I shook my head and continued looking. I started the ship and decided to examine the composition of these objects to discover what Yautja Prime uses as a substitute to make them.
It looks like most of the tea part of the Booba, I can substitute on Yautja Prime. The ball things I need to figure out. But the items to make them are on Yautja Prime. I just need to get stable amounts. The kak pop will be just as easy to recreate. She will have to help in recreating these items. I set the coordinates for Yautja Prime. Turning, I looked to Alexis. She was asleep in her "bed" and looked peaceful lying there. Getting up, I walked over and kneeled beside her, and brushed her hair from her face, and watched her face while she slept.
I shifted to sit beside her sleeping form on my knees. She doesn't have any survival instincts or any sense of needing to fight to stay alive. Maybe she doesn't fight for the same thing that the Yautja do. Maybe I can leave Yautja Prime and find a place to live with her, and maybe make a place for cross-species communication intelligence can live together. Who knows, I'll settle with protecting her and making a new future for myself, and letting new people in, and letting go of those who won't stand in my way to have a better life.
Soon enough, we landed on Yautja Prime. I shook her shoulder gently. She made a small noise and sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Where are we?" she asked groggily.
"Yautja Prime," I told her. "My home."
Alexis stood up and looked out the window, and saw the terrain of my home. She looked confused. I gathered her devices and put them in her bag before standing up. She turned to me. I held out her bag for her. She took her bag, and we headed out once the ship's doors opened. I had my hand on Alexis's shoulder. We walked in, and the guards around looked confused seeing Alexis.
"Are Yautja giants?" Alexis asked, pressed against my side while we walked.
"For human standards, yes, but these are the female counterparts," I explained to her as we walked. The Yautja around us watched as we passed. I ignored them, like always. We kept walking through. Alexis looked around the area and at the many Yautja watching us. I held onto her, keeping her at my side as we walked. Soon, we met my mother. I pulled Alexis behind me. She pressed against me. Mother looked at me with a feral expression, displeased with my new company. Not my problem.
"Ki'cti-da, Aida?!" my mother roared. Alexis clung to me.
"De'ktra du'te, Ma'ri? Kra'thin ja'acha ta'ni Yautja dra'cha in'kth?" I retorted. Never once backing down, even with my mother being the clan leader. She only has so long before I can take over, or another of my siblings from her other mates.
"Ki'dat yai-dei ru'ta-de jat'ki Aida! Du'sek ya'kcha, na'kti ru'ta ka'tra-de ooman!" Mother spat. I didn't care.
"Tsa'n-dei k'cha. Yautja-dei k'cha-jdei. Dei-dei k'cha! Jai'kan pu-dei!" I retorted and left with Alexis.
Mother yelled after us. I continued walking, guiding Alexis ahead of me. We kept walking until we reached a room in the structure, and I took her in with me and closed the door and locked it. Alexis looked around the space, then at my nest with a few carved stone skulls.
"Uh, what are those?" Alexis asked, pointing to my nest.
"My nest, other Yautja have their kill around them. I just carve replicas to set around my nest." I explained.
"Oh," she relaxed. She looked around until she found the small tree I had brought back from Earth years ago. "A willow tree?"
"Willow?" I asked.
"Yeah, a willow tree," Alexis said. "It's a tree from Earth. It explains the smell you have on your person."
I tilted my head, watching her look around my living space. She set her bag beside my nest and looked at the skull carvings. I watched her, my heart racing when she looked at the carved skulls. I've never felt like this before. When others came in, including blood relations, I felt angry, territorial. Not with Alexis. Maybe because she's human? No, when I saw humans who couldn't fight, I just felt pity. Why is it different with her? I shook my head and watched her as she put down one scull around my nest and looked at how my nest itself was made.
"This is more interesting than I first imagined. I honestly thought you nested like birds on earth!" Alexis smiled. I was stunned. She thought Yautja nests as birds do? I stared at her for a while. I didn't feel offended by it, as something like that said half-heartedly would. Instead... my heart raced, and I felt my face heat up. She smiled at me, and I... I felt warm. What is this? I've never read anything like this feeling in books on Yautja history.
"So," she said, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was standing directly in front of me, making my heart jump. "Where do I sleep?"
"In the nest with me," I said before I could stop myself. We both made choked noises. I felt my face burn; Alexis's face was a bright red hue. I was stiff in place, and Alexis wasn't moving either. We were just stuck there, staring at each other, her face red, my face burning.
"...um..." Alexis started. "Ahem! So, uh, I guess Yautja blush green?"
"Blush?" I asked.
"Blushing, you know, like, when you feel flustered, or you are around someone you have romantic feelings for." She explained. "When you feel those things, or you get embarrassed."
"Romantic... feelings?" I asked.