4

I'd been on the ship for hours now, moving through space. The yautja had been silent since, pressing things on the console or on the strange device on his forearm. I'd just sat by the window, watching the stars go by.

"Pauk!" he suddenly said harshly, and I assumed he was cursing before he started speaking in a language I didn't recognise; lots of strange words and clicks and grunts as he tapped buttons more angrily. I jumped slightly, staring at him and he looked up. He looked angry but his face eased off the angry expression slightly when he saw I was obviously spooked.

"I apologise for the sudden curse, there is a slight problem with the ship. We must stop momentarily so I can fix the problem." he said firmly, as the ship headed down to a smaller moon-looking planet. It was surprisingly very smooth to land, only the slightest shake as the ship touched down on the surface of the planet. He stood up and walked out the room, grabbing his helmet as he left. I was unsure whether to follow, but awkwardly went after him. Just as I followed him to the door, I was pushed back with a heavy clawed hand.

"Stay. You cannot breathe this air, little ooman. Go back to the cockpit." he said sharply, putting his helmet on. I stepped back and quietly returned to the cockpit like I was told. I didn't particularly want to piss the yautja off, especially as he was heavily armed and I wasn't. I went and sat back by the front window, listening to the faint sounds of whatever he was doing outside the ship. After a few minutes, he returned silently, hung up his helmet and started the ship once more.

"...What was wrong with the ship?" I asked quietly.

"The temperature regulator was under the minimum level." he replied then saw I looked confused. He chittered softly, almost a chuckle.

"The ship was getting too cold." he said in simpler terms and I nodded.

We fell into silence for a while, him pressing buttons again and I stared out the window.

"I'm Dee." I spoke up, deciding to introduce myself. It would've been weird not to since we'd been stuck together for a while now, and I was fed up with just being known as 'little ooman'. The yautja looked up briefly and grunted in mild disinterest.

"I am Makane." he said after a moment. Makane the yautja.

I nodded and didn't say anything else. After a few minutes, I felt nature calling and stood up.

"Uh... where is the bathroom?" I asked. Makane didn't respond for a few seconds before looking up again.

'Down the hall. The room I found you in." he said then went back to doing whatever it was that he was doing. I left the cockpit and walked down the dim hallway, and found the bathroom.

After coming out, I heard something dripping. Was something leaking? I glanced into the room again but saw nothing particularly weird, aside from being in an alien bathroom. Just as I walked out the room again, Makane came marching towards me in full armour.

"Go back to the cockpit." he ordered sternly, pushing me aside. I went to ask why but he just snarled and growled so I went to the cockpit. As I walked, there was a screech that didn't sound like it came from the yautja, and a lot of noise. Something else must've been on the ship. I immediately hid under the console, praying whatever it was would go away. It was bad enough I was stuck with one big scary alien, but two? Fuck no.

There was a loud crash and another screech, then I heard heavy footsteps coming towards the cockpit. Oh shit. I scooted further under the console, just as a large set of black legs stepped into the doorway. The dripping followed, and whatever it was, it was drooling onto the floor. It hissed softly and stalked further into the room, its hindlegs moving slow.

I spotted some sort of spear thing on the floor and slowly scooted to it, reaching out for it. As I grabbed it, the creature screeched loudly and dragged me from under the console, screaming. When I saw it, my blood went cold. It was a pure black, with this horrible long head and bony body, and a huge tail that had some sort of sharp spine on the end.

It threw me into the wall, and lunged but I grabbed the spear in time and it extended, immediately sinking into the torso of the monster. It screeched even louder and tried to jab its tail into my head, but I managed to dodge and pushed the spear in as hard as I could. The creature's blood splattered, and a little hit my skin. It started burning and I screamed in pain but still pushed the spear harder. Finally the creature slumped with one final screech and died.

Makane growled and stormed in, holding a bleeding shoulder. He looked surprised seeing me alive and struggling to push the corpse of the monster off of me.

—---

Makane stepped forward and pulled the xenomorph corpse off the human, Dee. How did she kill it? She was weak enough as it is, and he assumed she wasn't trained to fight as well. She was trembling and he could see its blood got on her.

"Ooman Dee, you killed kiande amedha?" he asked and she looked confused.

"W-what? That thing?"

"Yes. They are Xenomorphs, we call them kiande amedha, hard meat. I did not think one could get on the ship." he said, ripping the spear from the xenomorph and dragging its corpse out the room. For a human, especially one like her, he was impressed she'd managed to kill it and only come out with little injury.

He tossed the corpse in storage for the minute and covered his wound before returning to the cockpit where the human was.

"We will be at Yautja Prime very soon. The healers can look at your burn in the medical centre. Take this." he said, offering Dee a small vial of a pain killer from his planet.

She gingerly took it and drank the liquid, and immediately groaned softly as the pain killer kicked in. It was almost amusing how she slumped down in relief, her eyes half closing. What a strange species humans were.