Aliens/Predator 1. The Bitter Truth

Predator: You Can't Go Home Again

****

Prologue: The Bitter Truth

Courtney walked with quick steps through the encampment built on the edge of the spaceport, heading for a large hide tent that was decorated with symbols of respect for the one who occupied the dwelling. Her myriad of small, bead and bone adorned braids bounced behind her with her purposeful steps, and she wove with a cat's grace through the Soua standing around the encampment and guarding against Noa attack. They towered over her slight, muscular, five-foot-four frame, by nearly two feet, but that only served to allow her passage through smaller spaces between them.

She was a human, a clusu, or prey animal to the Soua, and forced to come to this planet many rotations prior. Gui'Yata, the predator, or Soua that had rescued her, had brought her here inadvertently to save her life, a favor returned for a similar compassion she had showed him once on Earth. She had stayed alive only because she had immersed herself in their society, learning their ways and passing all of the tests placed before her. Not that it had been easy, many times she thought that she was about to face death at the hands of these consummate hunters and warriors.

Courtney, or Raha, as those she was accompanying knew her, glanced only briefly at the small group that was calling this camp home tonight. A pang went through her as she thought again about why they were here and not in the trees, resting safely in the embrace of Taysa's boughs. The city was gone; nothing but ash and ruins high up the bole of that ancient stand of trees. The Noa had ensured that.

They had decimated the treetop city, not once but twice, in a war of vengeance against the more technologically advanced Soua. That was the reason she needed to talk to Eesa Lyonas, before she left.

The Noa had captured her, and though treated none too kindly while in their care, she managed to garner some vital information. Information that might just end the war, she had a suspicion, and she needed to get it to somewhat sympathetic ears. She had left Quarta nearly fifteen minutes ago, much to Gui'Yata's dismay; and she had felt him searching mentally for her since she had left. She knew he was close behind her. She hoped that she could tell her story before he caught up. Again, her smaller size would allow her to get past most of the obstacles that would slow her bondsman down.

Finally, she reached the tent and burst through the door, startling the Soua in the makeshift shelter. Quona rose slowly to his feet, his grizzled face tightening upon seeing her. The dense grayed spikes edging the crown of his head and hemming in his yellow and orange eyes gave him a wizened and very dangerous appearance. His mandibles were open and a low growl was emanating from his alien throat. His temper was evident in the taut set of his body, his muscles standing out under his grayish-green skin.

"You are supposed to be on the ship!" He growled at her.

She paused, bowing low and adding a sign of apology to the reverent greeting of her superior. The human had rarely seen him this angry before, and realized that it had to be the stress of the current state of affairs. It had obviously worn his normally boundless patience thin.

"I have ordered your departure for your safety, Raha! Do not choose now to disobey me, for the longer you linger the more likely your life will be forfeit."

She straightened, boldly closing the distance between them in a breach of etiquette that could get her killed with any other Eesa. It helped that she was a member of that now defunct governing body from the city of Taysa. Speaking urgently lest he cut her off, Courtney said, "I realize the risk that I am taking here, Quona, and the dishonor should I be caught after the events of this moon cycle, but I must speak with you before I leave," she said using his older title.

"Anything that you have to relay to me can be reported from the ship later. You were already to have broken atmosphere!"

She shook her head, "This must be said in person, where the proper weight can be given to the words, where you may challenge what I am about to say with out the delays of atmospheric transmissions."

Sinking down cross-legged in front of him, Courtney looked up into the grizzled old Soua's face, seeing his irritation and his curiosity warring. He looked about to relent, when a shadow passed across the opening and both turned to find Gui'Yata paused there, looking angry and anxious about Raha's presence before the Eesan.

Quona held up a hand to ward the boy off. He signed to the younger Soua that he would treat with her. Gui'Yata nodded, bowed slightly, and retreated the way he had come, returning to the waiting Taya ship. His orders were to take his human cargo back to Earth. The thought sent a thrill of nerves through Courtney, she didn't want to return home, because it wasn't home anymore. She could relate to a Gratla better than she could human beings anymore. Well most of them anyway, Gerard was a different story. Yes, a different story altogether, and she blushed despite herself, at the thoughts that invaded her brain. Quickly she pushed them out again and refocused, as the Quona settled into his furs and cushions across from her.

He did not prompt her nor question her but his expression was one of intent interest in what she had to say.

She cleared her throat nervously, unsure how her news would be accepted by the grizzled old warrior, treading carefully, and picking her words gingerly she said, "In my time amongst the Noa…I discovered something very disturbing. I would like some…clarification on the matter from you."

Still he remained silent.

"Quona, I am curious to know of Soona's history. Where are the Soua from?"

Quona tilted his head to one side bemused by her question, "We are of Soona…as we always have been."

She looked down and nodded, expecting that answer from him, "What if I was to tell you that Soua as they are now, are not of Soona?"

A flash of anger clouded his eyes, "That is blasphemous!"

"Yes," She answered bowing her head in subservience and not meeting his gaze, "But this is what the Noa have told me."

Again his head quirked to the side, the bone ornaments in his hair clanking quietly together, "Tell me what they think they know about our race."

"I was told," She started, glancing to his face and away again, "It was told to me, that long back in the history of Soona, that the Noa and the Soua were the same people. They were a people divided, what they called 'Clan' lived on the ground in stilted houses or natural caverns and lived off of the land. The 'Brethren' took to the trees, looking for easier living away from the prowling predators below in the forest. The two tribes supplemented each other, and sustained an uneasy peace," she glanced up again, noting that his eyes had widened, but no other reaction was indicated in his features. Courtney moved on realizing that she had his full attention, "A space faring race, one that the Noa referred to as 'The Masters', appeared and stole away a large number of the tree dwelling hunters for use amongst the stars. There, the Noa were made into warriors for an endless Master War amongst other planets, the beings keeping them never soiling their own hands with the task.

"The Masters altered the Noa to better serve the purpose. Eventually, how long after the Noa do not know, these genetically altered warriors broke free, in the process stealing the master's technology, and even a Taya ship and returned here. Returned to a home they only had a vague recollection of."

The Quona had straightened in his cushion looking both angry and thoughtful, "The…human told you this?"

Courtney nodded slowly seeing the defensive stance in Quona's posture.

"It could be that this was told to you to make you sympathetic, Raha," he added.

Courtney looked down, "It had occurred to me, Quona," She looked back into his eyes, "But there are…parallels that could be drawn between your two tribes. The physical similarities are the most obvious. That they could pass for Soua warriors without detection speaks volumes for that tie between the two species."

Quona was growling again, agitated to be compared with such simple creatures.

"There are also similarities in organization. A council, a council that is headed by the oldest, fiercest, and wisest among them, leads their city. They even fight with similar tactics as our own warriors."

"This does not prove that this story the Noa have fed you is true and accurate."

"But Quona, what if no deception was ever intended in the telling of this tale? The Noa say that the Soua began hostilities here on this planet between the two races. When the Soua landed here in a master ship they slaughtered the envoy of Noa who had tried to reestablish contact with their lost brothers. They were unable to reach a common ground, something they once had."

She could see that she had Quona thinking now, and inwardly she sighed in relief. She knew that he would be her best bet to get the truth out there, to be heard and dealt with. The views she was spouting were heretical, that the two races shared a common past, many others would have beheaded her at the first whisper of this blasphemy.

"If it is true, if the acts they talk about really happened, would it not be prudent to again find a common ground? Would it not aid us to end this war quickly and with less bloodshed and lives lost? All this, if only amends could be made for that initial act of hostility."

Quona rose so suddenly that Courtney nearly fell backwards, "I will think on this news, Raha. It does not change the fact that you MUST go, now!"

Courtney jumped to her feet, bowing low before him. She then retreated toward Quarta.


	2. Retreats

Chapter One: Retreats

Gui'Yata stood tensely on the boarding ramp, awaiting Raha's return. He had been disturbed to find that his bondsman was missing upon time for liftoff, which he had to subsequently postpone. More disturbing was the fact that he had found her in council with Eesan Lyonas, his grandfather. His mandibles clacked together in irritation. What had she found so important that she would stall their flight?

Raha had been withdrawn severely since returning from the Noa's dank and decrepit excuse for a city. He wondered yet again just why that was. He knew that something unspeakable had happened to her while in the Noa's company. He had seen enough depravity on the different worlds, to know that she had been treated unkindly by the Noa, and especially by the human, Thomas. Bothersome was the thought that she had been unwilling, or unable to share her troubles with him. Few secrets were kept from the other when it came to their pseudo-bonding, that she would feel this was one of them, was indeed painful.

It was, he felt, a lot to do with the fact that the other human had come into her life. His heavy, spike dotted orange and yellow mottled brows drew down at that thought. Courtney had found another to share some of her troubles with, taking away from that special relationship the human and the Soua shared. He shook his head, his fleshy hair rustling and clinking together with the motion. He knew he should be happy for her; he had given his blessing for her to pursue the relationship with that male. Yet he was unhappy to lose some of the special quality that had made their relationship truly unique. The short predator could almost call it jealousy.

Gui'Yata flexed one clawed and gloved hand as it began to tingle again. The damaged nerves in his left arm did this to him on occasion, most often when he was tense. He glanced down at his still weak arm, raising it slowly upward until it was about waist high. He frowned again, wondering if it would ever be normal. Allowing the arm to relax again at his side, he used his right hand to trace the jagged scar marring the orange and brown-flecked skin of his shoulder. The Noa bite was going to be bothersome for sometime to come.

He snorted, blowing air across his snakelike teeth as he thought about that particular scar. He was now being hailed as a hero, not just by Taysa's people, but also by many of the cities in this hemisphere. The fight for Taysa had come to represent a fight for the Soua way of life, and was already legendary. His part in it had raised his status considerably; they had even bequeathed him Quona of a ship! It was an honor bestowed upon him very early in his young life. But somehow, it held no comfort for him that the price of his new status would be to turn tail and run from the latest threats to the planet. Not only those threats the Noa posed in the continuing war, but those of his own people who were hungry for clusu-grapada.

The human found aiding and instigating the Noa into attacking the Soua cities and outposts had only damaged Courtney's standing among them. Now she was suspect, as was the human Gerard. No amount of talk was going to convince his people of the honorable and brave manner these two humans conducted themselves with. As far as they were concerned all of the humans would betray them to the Noa, and none would allow the two in his charge to live.

So they were forced to retreat. Gui'Yata's orders were to get the two off planet, and return them to their own. That was a bitter pill for him to swallow, because it meant ultimately that he would be losing Raha, forever.

"She has not returned?" He heard said softly in his ear.

Gui'Yata raised a brow, turning his head slightly toward the younger astrogator standing to one side and just behind him, "She is in council with Eesa Lyonas."

The silence did not hide the incredulity and anxiousness emanating off of Yalsa, "If she delays much longer we will miss our exit window."

"I am aware of this," Gui replied with an irritated growl, "She should not be too much longer."

Again it grated at him what she might be relaying to Lyonas without first consulting him. He crossed his arms over his thick chest to further illustrate how much this burr was bothering him. Yalsa was right, another ten minutes and they would have to postpone the flight for the following day. They could not just lift at anytime and expect to be headed the right direction through the solar system. It could be done, flying an orbit around the planet until they were going the right way, but it was time consuming, not to mention a strain on Quarta.

Time stretched out again Yalsa returning anxiously to the astrogator's room leaving him alone. Gui'Yata was on the verge of calling off the launch, when he saw Raha finally crossing the packed dirt, her form becoming steadily larger as she closed the distance with the ship.

She tromped up the ramp toward him, pausing only briefly to say in English, "Sorry about that, I'm ready," before whisking past him into the interior of the ship.

Gui'Yata checked the growl that was welling up in him, unable to explain why that short comment galled him so much. He hit the trigger for the ramp and door, turning from them before they had completely sealed, starting up for the navigation area. He projected ahead of him that all were aboard and that Yalsa could begin final preparations for lift.

He changed his mind about his destination as he neared the Nav room, heading instead for Courtney's quarters. The thought would not leave him alone, that she had excommunicated him from this news, and had not even had the courtesy of telling him afterwards what exactly was going on. It was so totally unlike Courtney to do this to him, and he was sure that was why it was such a priority right now to confront her on the issue. He wanted to know.

Stepping into the beam of infrared light that bathed the front door, he heard the low chime of announcement for the occupant. The rooms were well insulated, so Gui could not hear whether Courtney was in attendance, but he could feel her turmoiled thoughts from behind the sealed door.

After a moment the door swiftly opened and Courtney looked up at him with a bland face, "Hey, C'mon in." She said lightly, but the expression did not match the tone of her voice, "I figured you'd come find me."

He stepped in, arms dangling at his side, "You have been very secretive lately, Courtney."

She cleared her throat, "Yeah, well," And then fell silent before him.

Gui'Yata noticed something akin to pain cross her face a moment before she added, "have a seat Gui'."

He did as she asked, sitting on a low pad that adorned one corner of her room. She sat down just across from him, but would not meet his steadfast gaze, "You've been the hardest person to tell this to."

"And why is that? It is easier for you to speak with Gerard?" He wanted the tone to be very neutral, but sounded hurt even to his own ears. How unbecoming a Quona.

Her eyes locked onto his, "It is not that…I cannot tell him this, I will not tell him this, though he may have already guessed," She reverted to Sou, "It is only that I am expected to be strong, to show no weakness, and this last moon cycle has only made me feel insignificant…weak."

Gui'Yata straightened, anxiety bundling up behind his breastbone, "What did Thomas do to you, Raha?"

Her eyes widened, evidentially not expecting her bondsman to be that astute. Her eyes left his face and looked down at the floor. The ship rumbled underneath them as the engines came on line, but neither of them moved nor turned their attention to the sound. In fact it appeared that neither were aware of the change in their environment.

"He was…not kind to me," She started, her head turned to one side and down, "He…committed puomney many times, thinking it would get me to reveal what I know about Soua."

All four of mandibles came free of their neutral positions in Gui'Yata's disgust at what she had just said. Puomney…it meant forced himself upon…and it was something that rarely happened in his society. In earlier centuries it had become the norm to avoid puomney, just as a survival technique. Females were already larger and heavier than the males, and in the height of breeding were highly dangerous, to put it mildly. Only invited males were allowed to copulate with the breeding female, and to try and force sex on them often led to a messy death. That survival instinct had become so ingrained that it had become a crime of the highest form.

Gui'Yata thought again, unbidden, that the human race in general was a sick animal. He reprimanded himself for sliding into old attitudes after so long of knowing better.

"I would make him eat his own testicles," Gui'Yata vowed loudly, "I would kill him, were he not already dead."

Males, usually the young one with their hormones way too high were the ones to try stunts like puomney. Always they were caught, and if not killed outright by the female subjected to their base entertainment, they were…mutilated. This was to mean that their genitalia were violently removed. Afterwards, they were allowed to live for rotation in humiliation, at which time they committed grapada. Most threw themselves on their swords long before that, unable to stand the scorn or the thought that they would never contribute to the furthering of Soua society.

She finally looked up at him, and Gui could see the heat rise in her face as she gratefully smiled at him, "You don't…revile me now?"

"What was done was not your fault," Gui'Yata said sincerely, "It is not the way of this society to shun the _receiver_ of an act such as puomney."

He watched her sigh heavily; "I am so relieved, because I thought you would reject me."

He shook his head in the negative, "Never."

Silence fell between them and a part of Gui'Yata noticed that the vibrations of the ship had smoothed into a steady and easy rhythm, "Is that what you spoke with the Eesa about?"

Her eyes widened again, "That was another issue entirely. I needed to relay to someone who was remaining here on Soona the news that I learned while in the Noa's custody."

A brow ridge raised over his inhuman eyes. It was a silent question, and again Courtney looked uncomfortable. She was spared explanation when the ship requested Gui'Yata's presence in the Navigation room.


	3. Investigations

**Chapter Two: Investigations**

Lyonas sat for a very long time after Quarta had freed itself of the planet's gravity well. His thoughts were heavy and troubled with the news that the human had brought him before her departure. Closing his eyes he again mulled over the news of the Noa.

What if it was true? What if the Soua had been living one huge lie all of these millennia? Hundreds of years of Soua lore surfaced in his head, and each he combed through very carefully for seeds that would to give weight to the words Raha had spoke to him. None of it even resembled mention of returning from the stars from slavery…none. All of the tales taught from one generation to the next all told of the Soua's greatness, of their supremacy not only on their planet…_their_ planet…but throughout the universe as well.

A sour taste welled up in his mouth at the thought that the Soua were bastardized versions of the Noa. Taken and stripped down to genetic codes and put back together again in such a way as to be unrecognizable as the race that had spawned them. The images whirred through his head, trying to imagine what that must be like, before a slow pounding ache began in him. It couldn't be true, if anything the Noa were regressed Soua. But the thought, and Raha's words stuck with him, and no matter how he tried to move his thoughts forward to other matters, the thought returned. If it were true, his ancestors were slaves for another race and escapees from that life after many centuries. Though he truly did not believe the story, he swelled with pride. It was a boon to him that there was that pride and tenacity even back then.

But he still did not wish to believe the truth of it. He would, when given the opportunity, investigate this news.

A scratching at the flap to his tent pulled him from his whirling thoughts, "Enter," He uttered, looking up as a harried scout pushed through the pliable flap.

"Eesa, the Noa are on the move, and coming this direction. We are moving."

"Very well," Eesa Lyonas said.

The scout ducked back out and nodded to someone he could not see and three Saru poured through the flap, adroitly gathering the Eesa's things and packing them with practiced ease. Lyonas did not stay, stepping out into the heat of the sun penetrating the thinner cover overhead. The clearing was bustling with activity as Soua packed their meager tents and loaded the many Yimhi and hovercars concentrated in the middle of the circle, for ease of protection. Without them the Soua would be quickly overrun, and knowing their enemies numbers would be great, it would be a battle lost before it was started.

He saw several others of the Eesa already mounted on agitated Yimhi, pacing steadily back and forth through the barely controlled chaos, and shouting orders to those around them. One Sougra was helping a gravid female into the front seat of a hovercar, the Souata's pain obvious, and it was certain that she was very close to birthing. He prayed to Yanah that she would make it until they could get to Doana, they would not be able to stop to give her the proper time to have the child. Even if the birthing were successful, losing neither mother nor child, circumstances of their retreat would see that the child would not survive to see that ancient forest city.

It was unfortunate, but true. It still galled him that they had to retreat at all, and to an inferior society. This felt dishonorable, like they were betraying the code. Yet he continued to remind himself that the code did not stand for useless deaths either. Throwing oneself on the sword just to gather glory was not any more honorable than taking foolhardy chances with the lives of those entrusted to a leader. The Noa had proven that they were ready to fight to the death for their belief that this planet was theirs and not the Soua's. Mandible's clacking together, he mounted his Yimhi, realizing that they had severely underestimated the Noa, and in more ways than one. Something was going to have to be done…yet he could not think of any plan that even hinted at success.

He focused on the goings on around him again, seeing that in the few minutes he had been mussing the camp had been stricken and the small band was ready to move again. Loudly he ordered the party forward, turning to the front and signaling his mount to move. As the column accelerated, scouts ranging ahead for any signs of trouble, Lyonas looked above him to the bright sky trying to discern the signature of the fiery engines of that living starship Quarta. Silently he wished his grandson luck, and a quick return from his errand.

His attention returned to the front of the column, moving between the trees at a quick clip, streaking quickly past those on Yimhi and on foot, the hovercars made a desperate dash for safety. They would arrive at Donona first, having strict orders to stay close together and make all haste to the city. The wounded, the gravid and the very young were the members of that party. Most of the Sougara had fought over the honor of protecting future generations from Noa aggressors. It was the capable wounded who had been charged with piloting them back to the capitol city. Each had a Sougara or Sougra riding as passenger to ensure that the vehicles were protected through the long stretch of wilderness between the two cities.

There own party would be nearly four days behind that group, and would have to be very cautious in order to make the capitol city at all. Surely the Noa would be targeting them as they moved more slowly through the hotspots and danger zones that had been reported ahead of their party. With any luck, and perhaps divine intervention they would arrive unmolested. That hope was a wisp of a shadow, and it did not linger in his mind or his heart. He would expect only the worst until they were safely in the treetops of Donona.

Kaiketa turned his sightless eyes up the trunk of the large tree that fronted him, echolocating the height above him to the Brethren city. He stretched three clawed fingers on each hand, tensing his aging muscles. Stepping back, he crouched low and sprang, latching onto the tree nearly fifteen feet from the forest floor. Quickly, and belying his age, Kaiketa scrambled up the bole, reaching his destination in less than half an hour. He pulled his lithe form onto the now sagging platform that the Brethren had erected between the branches, and cast about sensing what still stood.

"Kaiketa," a voice came reverently from behind him, "there was a lift you could have come up…you must conserve yourself."

The elder spun quickly cuffing the youth for his patronizing tone. Hooking two predatory claws into the meat on the youth's shoulder he whistled, "Do not presume to tell me what I am and am not capable of whelp. I am descended of the very Brethren that lived here and were taken back into the fold! I am more agile and capable than you will ever be at scaling the towering boles that make up this forest."

"Forgive me," he uttered in pain.

Kaiketa retracted his claws from the scout's shoulder and turned again away from him. He cast about again, realizing that much of the growth that had existed here had been destroyed or vandalized by his party. He stood straighter, his nails sinking into the heat softened material under him, balancing on the balls of his overlong feet.

"We have been victorious," the scout sighed, "The Brethren have fled before us!"

"It is too early to make that boast," he replied, stepping further into the smoldering hulk of what he remembered as a once proud Brethren city. The three attacks had reduced it to a nearly non-existent hulk, and the space before him was forlorn. Even the wind mourned for the loss of the city, "The Brethren will not be easily defeated young one, they are hunters and warriors, just as we are. We must respect that they are such, and also that they possess the master technology. Their numbers need not be as great as our own for them to defeat us. We must be cautious, and must act strategically if this victory is to stand."

"Yes, Kaiketa," the youth answered dutifully.

Kaiketa crouched low between his deeply bent knees, feeling the ground before him with one hand, "This was a fine city. How it must have pained them to relinquish possession of it."

Another scout pelted toward him, leaping last minute over a large hole in the platform where a growth had been destroyed. He skidded to a stop before Kaiketa already bowed very low between his own knobby knees. He trilled quietly for permission to report.

"Report."

The scout straightened, reverently staying below the elders own height as he turned his sightless face up, "The remaining Brethren from this city have been spotted just a quarter's day travel ahead of us."

"Can the gap be closed?"

"We are trying, Kaiketa, but they are using the mechanicals as well as the birds to accelerate their retreat."

"Do what you can," Kaiketa answered, "If we can destroy the party before they reach sanctuary of another city it will be another heavy, and decisive blow against our enemy."

"Yes, of course," the scout agreed, "Your will be done!"

With that he was off again, lost almost instantly to Kaiketa's perception.

"Yes," He muttered almost to himself, "This is going to be a long war."


	4. The Unknown

Chapter Three: The Unknown 

Things on the ship settled into routine very quickly after takeoff. And just as quickly the urgency of their departure faded and monotony replaced it. Just as their last trip from the blue and green planet, they were not making any stops along the way. Gui'Yata seemed to have orders to make the utmost haste on his trip, drop them off, and return to Soona. Courtney didn't like that, anymore than she liked to run from this whole situation.

She moved past Yalsa in the symbol-adorned hallway, much like Aztec ruins in its look, who appeared bedraggled and tired. He must have finally conceded that Quarta could fly without him. His battle helm was in his hand; the nav-connections dangling all too much like his own fleshy hair from either side of the brassy metal. The setup gave her an unpleasant association to the culled helms the Noa had been using to fool the Soua in their battles. He nodded at her silently as they came even with each other. Courtney could muster no words that wouldn't remind them both of the fact that they were retreating. Instead she returned his nod and moved further down the hall.

She was off of any kind of duty on the ship, and had decided to pay Gerard a visit to see how he was faring. She moved through a myriad of twisted passages, and only prevented getting lost by virtue of her many long years serving with the ship. As she reached the level just above the engine room she turned toward one darkened doorway. A light above her blinked red, and she could just hear the chime of announcement over the engine just below her and the insulation that prevented the room from being unbearably noisy.

A moment later she looked up, watching as the door receded into the wall. Gerard fronted her, looking unhappy, and just a bit green. His expression did not change as he looked at her, but he stepped aside and motioned her to come in.

"You okay?" she asked with some concern as she accepted his invitation and stepped into the spartan quarters he had been grudgingly provided. He was lucky to be in a room actually, had it been any other Soua crew he would be sleeping wherever was out of the way enough not to get kicked around. That was the way of the dishonored, that they had no privileges, which meant that they were given no sleeping quarters and no favor with those around them.

His cheeks puffed out as air escaped him, and his green turned to a pale white. He shook his head, "Always had a problem with traveling," he managed to get out. He moved past her and plopped down on the hard bench.

"You're a soldier and don't like traveling?"

He nodded, flushing slightly.

"I didn't notice any problems coming from Earth," She said, looking around, though not really knowing why. It wasn't like there was something there to see.

"You didn't exactly get around me, did you?"

She flushed realizing that she had stoutly avoided him on that trip. She had been too torn up with Sora's loss, and worried about Gui'Yata's sorry state of health to notice the only other person on the ship who was human, "Sorry about that. You should stop by the Soyan, I could fix that for you permanently."

His brow raised, "I wish I knew that sooner than this."

"Again I apologize. I hate seeing misery."

He shrugged, "Soona…great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there."

Courtney scoffed, "Say's you," And she plopped down on the bench next to him, "I didn't want to leave."

He looked at her sidelong, "Why not? Are you really so steeped in all of this hunting and fighting that you want to continue?"

A frown crossed her features then, "This has been my life for nearly fourteen years. I have never felt so alive…I mean my time on Earth was less than pleasant."

"But…you told me yourself, that this was a hardship. After thirteen years of denying yourself anything but pain and suffering, I would expect you'd be ready for the humdrum life you had before."

Courtney humphed, "It has never crossed my mind," she said smiling, but it slowly faded from her, as her one regret surfaced again. Her eyes moved up to the wall across from them, slowly becoming unfocused as she remembered Teresa. She would be nearly nineteen now. Unbidden tears filled her eyes at the realization of how much of her own daughter's life she had missed, a first because of her Ex, and then because of this change in lifestyle. She wondered again just how her daughter was fairing, and if her father had continued to treat her well after Courtney had been declared dead. She might never find that out even after they were back.

A lump formed in her throat as that hit her, very hard, just behind the breast. She worked hard not to let those tears fall, even as a part of her wondered what Teresa might look like. She tried to imagine it, remembering the details of her young face and trying to project in her mind what that would equate to in an adult.

"Are _you_ okay?" Gerard said, breaking her from her reverie.

"Yeah," she said a little too quickly, "Just wondering how well I will be able to get into the swing of being human again."

He frowned, not seeming to believe her, but he said, "You'll do fine. It would be like the proverbial learning how to ride a bicycle."

"What is that again?" She joked, scrunching up her face as she smiled. The joviality was contagious and Gerard seemed to have forgotten suddenly that he was motion sick. Courtney stood slowly, looking down at the male and said, "You know it is about meal time, how about we get something to eat?"

He looked green again, "Well, I'll try."

Together they stepped through the door and into the passage Courtney deftly maneuvering back through the corridors and levels leading up to the galley.

"You know," Gerard said, "I stepped out of my room once to go exploring, thinking I remembered the way," He paused, "I didn't, and it took me four hours just to make it back to my room."

Courtney smiled back at him, "The ship can be quite complicated."

_"The man makes little effort to attend his surroundings,"_ Quarta commented in Courtney's head, sounding offended, and causing her to smile.

"What's so funny?" Gerard inquired, noticing her widening smile.

"I think I have insulted Quarta."

"Who?" Gerard asked.

She paused, "Quarta, the ship."

"It…hears?"

"She is alive," Courtney answered her, "And she is more aware of what goes on inside her than humans ever will of their own bodies."

"The ship…alive?" He queried incredulously.

"All of the Taya ships are," Courtney replied.

Suddenly Gerard's eyes were darting over the walls and ceiling, "Great."

"She says if you would only pay attention you wouldn't get lost so easily."

"Well tell her that is hard to do when my stomach is threatening mutiny," he said dryly.

"I don't need to, she heard you."

"She understands English too?"

Courtney could only smile.

By this time they had reached the galley, a place that resembled nothing of what human's build in their heads about a dining facility. There was a large open space sprawled out before them no furniture or adornments filled the area at all. The lighting was low, because Soua did not need light to see, and she could feel Gerard tense next to her tense. Courtney was used to the soft light, but she could understand Gerard's apprehension. She strode across the expanse confidently, the man in her wake, and stopped at the indent in the opposite wall. Touching the top of the up-slanting portion, the lid slid away to reveal a variety of strange foods. At the same time large bowls were revealed off to the left of the display and Courtney quickly took one, mixing several of the food choices within it and turning, motioned Gerard forward.

He looked relatively reluctant, but did follow her suit, picking a bowl out and choosing what he thought looked appetizing, which wasn't much.

They moved over near one wall lowering themselves down onto the slightly padded floor to eat. Courtney moved through meal with a quickness that spoke of long years of expediency. She looked up, forcing herself to slow down as she watched her human companion pick at the Xaca in his bowl.

"Gerard, I will tell you again, you must eat."

"Oh, I know. But my stomach doesn't seem to agree. I can't wait to be able to eat a cheeseburger again."

She smirked, taking another bite of her own mix of foods. She chewed for long moments before asking, "So what are you going to do when you get home? Besides raiding the first fast food restaurant you come to."

He shrugged, "I'm not sure. I've, hopefully still got some prospects in LA that will pick me up to work. I doubt that little shanty of an apartment I was living in to stay under the Organizations radar is still there, not that I mind much mind you, it was a dump. Come to think of it…I think this little trip has been a benefit. They may not even be looking for me any more."

"Wow if they are still after you when all this time has passed…that is some serious grudge holding."

"Well, I guess they were afraid that I was going to spill something to the authorities."

She scoffed, "Like the authorities would believe that you worked for a super secret agency that hunted aliens on Earth."

"I would go over like a lead balloon."

She laughed now.

"How about you?"

Courtney's face blanked as she watched him primly put a small piece of xaca in his mouth and chews slowly, "What about me?"

"What are your plans when we get back?"

"I keep hoping that I won't have to stay," she admitted bitterly, "So beyond that vain hope, I hadn't really thought at all about what to engage in when I get back home," her eyes turned away and lost focus, "I guess I will start by breaking the news to my family that I didn't die 13 years ago."

"Hmmm," Gerard replied thoughtfully, "That's gonna be awkward."

"Tell me about it," She added.

"Did you…leave someone behind?" Gerard inquired that thoughtful, and a slightly hopeful look on his face.

"Like a…" she threw up her hands.

"Husband…boyfriend?" He clarified.

She smiled widely, "An Ex," the smile faded and that pain hit her again about the other she had left behind, one she was not willing to talk to Gerard about. It was just too painful.

Courtney saw the concern in Gerard's face as he was looking at her. She was more than grateful when he did not ask again what else was wrong. She turned her eyes back to her bowl, thinking about the unknown on the world she left behind, and wondering just how she was going to deal with it when she got there.

And still, she wished this was a dream, wished that going to Earth was just a stop off, a way to put Gerard back where he thought he belonged, despite how much that thought was beginning to hurt. She kept hoping that Gui'Yata would come to her and say, "We will again become Taysa Taru, and return, even if it means exile."

Yet he had not said it, they were still streaming toward Earth, and another drastic change in her lifestyle.


	5. The Trek

**Chapter Four: The Trek**

Tomakaya rose from her seat as the city of Donona towered over her and her small band of injured, gravid, and young. Two emotions warred within her, the first was of course relief. She had been certain that their party would be attacked before reaching this sanctuary. Yet she had seen no signs of the Noa who had been reported ahead of their position. Perhaps they were waiting for the bigger and slower party holding up the rear. That was, well, foolishness when most of the uninjured warriors were in that group.

The second was out and out anxiousness; she did not want to return here, probably any more than those seated around her or in the other hovercars. There was the question on how this was going to be received by the stodgy old crowd that lived in the ancient capital.

She heard a low growl from behind her and turned to see mla'k with her eyes averted looking both angry and hurt. A pang of pity welled in Tomakaya momentarily for the Souata's loss. She had been unable to last until they reached the foot of the great trees that held the capital city. She had birthed her daughter in the car, messily, and in such an unsanitary manner that the child had not lived fifteen minutes, that was saying something for the normally resilient spawn of their race.

The child had been alive long enough, however, for Mla'k was feeling the loss of her. They had disposed of the body at the foot of one of the great trees yesterday, giving quick rights and spreading the liquid that would destroy the evidence and prevent desecration by wandering scavengers. They had buried the remains in a quick and very efficient manner and moved on.

Mla'k would not mourn, it was not their way to do so, but she had a right to be mad, the child looked every bit the warrior breed, and had showed no infirmities that would have forfeited its life with grapada.

Seeing Tomakaya looking at her, the Souata struggled to straighten herself in her seat, not allowing any of the others to help in her effort. Once upright she looked to the trees above her, her former expression erased by the anxiety she must be feeling.

The looks they received were reserved if not shocked as they passed by the sentries at the west gate to the city. They looked about as anxious as she was feeling, surely feeling the pinch of the Noa's stepped up aggression from the south. Donona had not been unscathed by recent events, they had suffered at least one attack since the battle for Lmarianta. Some of their outermost holdings had been destroyed as well as the loss of at least 10 more Sougra.

The Noa had been pouring out of the forest like Yhi stirred from their nest. The word had gone out it seemed, and the tribes of the Noa had made it their duty to harass the Soua with aggressive abandon.

Tomakaya leapt from the hovercar as it slowed to a stop by one of the low-lying garages, and around the other side of the gargantuan bole of the tree nearest her. With authority vested her by her position as Eesa apparent for Taysa she ordered the youth sparring near them to assist with the wounded and get them into the tree city high above them. They blinked several times, their training to obey any Taura warring with their knowledge that this Sougara was new to them. They erred on the side of caution, knowing that punishment would be just as swift from a stranger as from one of their own.

Scurrying forward they began lifting limp bodies free of the cars behind her. She ignored this activity, her eyes for the arrogant swagger of an older Soua approaching her. He was no more than about ten rotations old, showing fresh scarring from his Taurana between his heavy and barely spike dotted brows, the flesh there was more orange in her vision than the rest and gave him away for the newbie that he was.

"What is this?" He said gruffly to her, looking ready to cuff her for what he saw as impudence in her act. He swelled before her, rising to a height that just barely reached her upper mandible. It wasn't enough to intimidate her even if that had been the intent, "Travel has been restricted to that necessary to livelihood, Souata. You would disobey the law?"

Obliquely she turned her head toward him giving him a good view of her marks of Taura and of her lineage of training. It was not stricken through, meaning that she had not given up her life as a warrior and a hunter, and therefore deserved more respect than this newly blooded whelp was showing her. Her upper mandibles flared slightly, and a low hiss emanated from her throat.

He was a dense one however, either not seeing the marks, or not realizing their significance, for he invaded her space and grabbed her fleshy hair in an attempt to reprimand her. She reacted instantaneously, sweeping out with one leg and knocking her offender to the floor. Her sasa was out mere seconds after, pressed to his insulting throat.

"How dare you," She hissed into his surprised face, "Do you always greet visitors in such a disrespectful manner?"

He growled at her, and she responded by pressing the sasa harder into his throat, watching as a rivulet of warm blood ran down the contours of his muscular neck.

"Do you not see the Sougara marks on me, boy?" She growled tilting her head down so that he could get an up close view of her scars, "I am no Souata that you can push around! I am no Fausi in need of reprimand! Who is your superior?"

"Forgive…" he whispered, seeing finally, and understanding just what she was.

"These people need attention boy, do not think I am going to accept such treatment for those in need. Do not apologize to me because you are stupid…who is your supervisor?"

"Tm'an'la," He uttered, fearfully, seeming to realize that he was the one in for reprimand now.

Tomakaya released her hold of him, standing and turning again. She ignored his slow rise to his feet, walking steadily for the guardhouse. Stepping inside the construction, Tomakaya came again to stop, receiving a wary stare from the Soua opposite her in the dwelling. He begrudgingly gave her a salute of respect before speaking to her.

"What is it, Sougra? What has happened that you bring wounded here?" At least he was more observant that the sasiyi outside had been. He had observed the exchange outside of his shack as well, and seemed to approve of her handling of the situation.

She raised a brow at his cool tone, "Tomakaya…I bring news, and a warning. Taysa has been overrun by the Noa."

He seemed to have an opinion about Taysa and its people, managed to keep his mandibles over the words, "I see," He said peering over her shoulder to the nearly empty hovercars they came here on.

She nodded, "The main body of the population will be here in four days or less, and Eesa Lyonas wishes an audience with the Ot Eesan upon his arrival."

"I will send word to the Doana," He said gravely.

She nodded curt thanks, "The Saru will need to be taken to the crèche, the wounded to a soyan, and living arrangements will be needed for 65 others."

His brow rose in silent question about the low number.

"It is all that made it through," She answered, "The rest were lost to Lmarianta swamp, or the last defense out of Taysa."

"I will make contacts for your party's needs. If you will wait, I will inform you when your arrangements are completed."

"My thanks," she said simply.

Within the hour the Sougra and Sougara accompanying the sick, injured, and young, had been moved into a compartmented growth almost as old as Doana itself. Most of her escorts were already sleeping, exhausted from the anxious trip. Tomakaya tried time and again to go to sleep, only to have that elude her and found herself staring up at the cool blues of the ceiling temperature above.

She was wondering about Nobaya, hoping that his trip across the forest floor would be as simple as hers had been. Somehow she just expected the worst, that she might not even see him again. She drew a deep breath, knowing she should be objective about it, which it would be honorable for him to die in such a manner as for the lives of his city. Yet that didn't make her feel any less upset about his possible loss.

* * *

Nobaya slashed again, down and to the left as another Noa made to bite his mounts ankle, he howled in triumph as half of the creatures head landed on the heavily foliaged floor of the forest. He wheeled his mount, holding tight as the creature leapt up, slashing with its clawed feet twice before jarring to the ground again. Of its own accord it stepped forward snapping with its beak at another Noa, tucking its chin and laying horns into a knot of the attackers, only to flip them again. Nobaya watched one body go fifty feet before landing heavily, and unmoving to the forest floor. He gave the Yimhi its head as he extended his raspa, and the punting sound reverberated in his ear cavity as several more Noa fell, barbs stuck in their necks and skulls. Again he swiped with his sraha, catching another leaping Noa in the chest, all the while holding tight to the Yimhi with his legs. 

He afforded a look around him, seeing that their party was fully engaged and he was on his own to fight this knot. Not that he found that a problem. He was having a great time with the engagement. He just hoped that the others, his bondsman included had made it through before these marauders had found their route of travel.

Nobaya returned his attention forward as his mount leapt again, dropping his raspa and grabbing desperately for the front of the saddle to prevent getting pitched to the ground. It was a near thing and he was hanging from the side of the saddle and found himself face to face with a charging threesome of Noa. With Herculean effort he pulled himself upright just missing getting hooked in the face by the cat like claws of his adversary. A second set sank into the flesh of his calf, just above his shin guards, and he grunted. Reacting he extended his hand down, his wrist cannon coming out of hiding and fired it point blank into the creature's face. The dead weight and the force of the impact ripped the claws free of his flesh, one breaking off as it hit the hard metal of his leg protection.

His mount twisted again, snapping another noa in half, warm blood streaming from the bird's beak and down its already bloody neck. It raised its head and screeched in triumph, raising a foot up and stomping down on another assailant as is leapt down from a low branch. Again it ducked down tucking its head and gouging a hole into the already dead Noa's face. It ripped the toothy jaw off of the Noa's skull and raised its head with the grisly trophy still attached to its horn by the skin. The Yimhi flipped its head a few times, prancing underneath Nobaya as if he were proud of his accomplishment.

He looked around him, noting that the fighting was coming to an end around them. Noticing a Noa sneaking in on one beleaguered member of the party, Nobaya wheeled his mount around, signaling the creature to charge. The bird built speed fast, pounding like a small freight train toward the creature trying to injure or kill another Soua. It turned its head toward them, but not soon enough to get out of the way.

Nobaya's Yimhi plowed the creature so hard that it flew back ten feet before hitting a tree with a sickening crunch. The Soua he had saved wheeled toward them, caught by surprise by the sound that the yimhi had emanated. He looked gratefully up at Nobaya, before slashing into the last of the Noa around him.

Just moments later an eerie silence fell over the small grove, and the Soua surveyed the damage. At least a hundred and fifty Noa lay dead, some were gravely injured and being put out of their misery by the warriors now wandering amongst the carnage. None of the party had been lost, but several were favoring limbs that had been bitten or cut by their involvement in the skirmish. One looked to have gotten medicine on his wound too late and was steadily being dissolved from the knee up. It didn't take him long to commit grapada, knowing a legless warrior was useless for what was coming on their heels. Two others attended the body, dissolving it quickly so as not to have Noa in their wake desecrate him. Three Yimhi had been lost to the fight, their riders not effectively keeping the threat of bites off of their mounts. That was a tender loss, and would slow the party down that much more in getting to their destination.

Lyonas stepped into the tightening circle of the remaining party looking to each before he spoke, "We need not tarry too long, the Noa surely will have more coming from behind us. We have much news that must be told and the sooner we are on our way the sooner it can be put in the hands of the proper Soua."

They nodded dispersing quickly to their respective places, many mounting now limping Yimhi, and heading again in the direction of the city. Nobaya kept a sharp eye out not only in front, but also behind and above them as they steadily made their way through the forest. Soon they would be safely within the protecting boughs of Donona. Though Nobaya was beginning to wonder just how effective that protection was going to be.

**_A/N: Thank you to all who have reviewed. And thanks for sticking with this even though I have been a bit slow about getting the chapters up. That is what I get for wanting to write the good stuff now and forget about the building parts(Which is what needs to be written to move the story forward). Believe me they are going to come in handy later on in the story._**

**_AriRashkae: bows Thank you for taking the time to read this. (Are all husbands like that? LOL! Mine says the same thing!) Yes ff does have an issue with taking out any kind of breaks between POV's...now at least we can throw a line between the passaged to arrange the switch._**

**_Mac-11: Thank you for stopping over and giving me your op on the story so far. I like my two heroes...we will have to see just where they go in their relationship._**

**_Shaolin-style: Thanks! I am so happy about the reception this story is getting so far! I can't believe my average hit count per chapter has hit over 100! Wow! I am glad that you like it, and I hope that you will agree with whereever I decide to take this...it may not be everyone's desired direction...but who knows!_**

**_Blackdawn: Hey girl! Glad to have you on board again! My stalwart supporter! LOL! I am glad you are liking it._**

**_Janusi: Snicker! They are a bit short for me...especially in recent months, so as requested this one is a tad longer. Writing faster doesn't seem to be an option for me at the moment...though I write on it as things come to me!_**

**_Wanderer3: Hey Man, we're getting to the good stuff...a small preview was here in this chapter...but not nearly long enough compared to what will happen soon! And you're right it was awesome to see the pred swing that alien, it is just too bad the aliens went for a hat trick and got a turkey in stead! Grrr...LOL!_**

**_Bastet: Yeah this is going to be a major change for her, she was feeling pretty isolated before on Earth and now she is going to be feeling very "alien"ated! LOL! OYE I am in a strange humor._**


	6. Planet Fall

**Chapter Five: Planet Fall**

Courtney stepped into the War Room, summoned for a council, stopping short as she was nearly blinded by the blue and green orb, white clouds dotted across its surface, that dominated the screen across from her. Suddenly she couldn't breathe, ragged gasps of humid air drawn into constricted lungs. She completely forgot that she had Gerard in tow as the reality of the situation set in like a hammer strike.

Gui'Yata and several other Soua were already in attendance, talking in low tones about approach vectors that would get them in and back out again without being noticed. Looking up at her with an unidentifiable expression, her bondsman straightened and moved closer to her.

"We will make planetfall at dusk," He answered matter of factly.

Courtney could only nod, a terse motion that belied her anxiety.

"The city has grown," he added with a raised brow, waving to another young Soua who pushed several studs. The image shifted in response to the request, zooming in on an area on the Southwest most portion of the North American Continent. Courtney wasn't sure how she knew, but she immediately recognized the shimmering grid of dots and lines were Los Angeles. More than that, it had at least doubled, if not tripled, in size. Courtney's eyes widened at the large swath of humanity that blanketed the land. A sinking feeling overtook her stomach, surely leaving her pale in the dim light around her. She didn't want to go…she wanted to stay here, on the ship; she wanted to return to Soona and live the life she had come to love. Her face flushed brightly shortly after, as the panic rising in her threatened to show.

"God that hunk of rock has never looked more beautiful!" A voice loudly interrupted her spiraling thoughts. She turned slightly as Gui'Yata looked toward the source.

Gerard stopped even with Courtney, smiling broadly at the screen. Courtney's heart sank at his enthusiasm to be home, a small part of her wishing she could share in his joy. That, in turn, brought on a wave of embarrassment and guilt for not wanting to return home. After all she still had family, and she knew nothing of how they had fared since she had been away. That in the very least should be reason enough to want to be home.

She grimaced, thinking of her family only bringing on doubts about her ability to ever relate to those _humans_ again, even if they had raised her. She knew this was going to be hard and as many life threatening events she had endured in her life, she was unsure that she was up to this latest challenge.

Gui'Yata's eyes returned to her face, and she would have sworn she saw a need in his features to say something to her. She was disappointed when he turned away and moved over to Yalsa, making final preparations for landing.

She stared after him for long moments, her brow furrowing, and sadness welled up from deep within her, realizing that their time together was almost over. Wrenching herself away, Courtney turned away, a sick churning in her gut at the events coming quickly to a head. She closed her eyes a moment taking a deep breath and then sighing it back out again in an effort to subdue that nausea. The time was drawing short, and she couldn't bring herself to express her reservations.

From the war room she moved to a familiar place, a place that she had always found welcomed her need to be alone, in silence, with the exception of the low vibration from the living ship surrounding her. She had spent many hours here upon their last departure from the same blue and green orb that was slowly shifting across the transparency next to her. Thinking on Sora's loss only made her depression deepen in combination with her pending departure from the life that she had come to truly enjoy. She stood unfocused leaning against the left side of the frame, letting the icy fingers of the void beyond bleed through the frame and into her body, in a meager attempt to numb the whirling thoughts in her head.

For a few moments, her mind blanked and she focused again with detached clarity, at the beauty of the scene before her. Courtney watched the star patterns change as they hit synchronous orbit, in preparation for landing. It was easy to see why so many men had looked at the heavens and thought that the Earth was the center of the universe. The illusion was pretty complete, exacerbated even from this height. Glancing down at the Earth it looked stationary as the stars wheeled around it.

She looked away from it as the soft hiss announced the entrance of someone on her self-imposed solitude. Gui'Yata straightened to his full height after clearing the entrance, striding nearer her. Turning away, Courtney was well aware of Gui'Yata's proximity as he stepped up next to her, close but not touching her as she cradled herself; her eyes for the wheeling stars again.

"I have been a long time looking for you," Gui'Yata said softly, and Courtney glanced up to see that his eyes were for the view and not on her face. She nodded, knowing that he would see the motion, "I find it prophetic that you are here in this place as we return."

A chill moved through her at those words her thoughts lurching back to a scene of a pinpoint of brilliant light marking the pyre of one of the best friends she had made on Soona, "I needed a break from everything," Courtney sighed.

Silence fell heavily between them, both lost to thoughts neither would express openly.

Startling her, Gui'Yata turned abruptly toward her, "You are not ready to go, are you?"

She looked down avoiding contact with those very foreign eyes, eyes that seemed to have the power to penetrate her soul, "Would it matter if I was not?" she said formally, "The Eesan has spoken."

It was Gui'Yata's turn to break eye contact, looking back out at the bright blue orb gently spinning beneath them, pushing them along, "No…their orders, I am afraid, are all too clear."

"Them and their narrow-minded processes," she swore, showing her rebellious streak, "We should still be in the fight, not cowering like Hooba, running from our responsibility."

She watched as his features tightened, "I agree…and yet they would not allow you to assist in any way with the war for the treachery of Thomas."

"That was not my fault!" She growled.

"And yet they would color your motives with the same brushes as they had his, and Gerard as well. The Ot Eesan would not allow you to live."

"I would rather have taken my chances on Soona, than taking this dishonorable trip."

"Again I agree," He sighed throatily.

Again that tension was in the air, as if there was something more he wanted to say to her, but was afraid to voice it. He hesitated, eyes intense on her, but whatever he had intended to confide in her was lost as yet another interruption greeted their privacy. One of the younger staff aboard burst into the room, "Quona!"

Gui'Yata spun on a heel as the creature quickly closed the gap, "What is it Lu'manu?"

"Astrogator Yalsa has requested you on the main deck. The ship is ready for approach."

Courtney watched as his mandibles tightened over his face, a sign of discontent in the news, "Very well, send the call, all hands to stations, and make ready for planetfall." Courtney did not need another call to move even if she did not want to leave this brooding roost she had found, wanting to stay with her thoughts, to stay on the ship and never leave. She knew better than to be stubborn at this point, despite the grace and agility of Quarta, atmospheric landings could be a very bumpy ride.

* * *

**_A/N: Very short chapter I know…but this is the best place for the break before we get to the nitty gritty of this story…next chapter we will be back to Soona and the continued investigation into the facts behind Courtney's words to Lyonas. I hope not to take nearly so long to get the next chapter done…I have like four stories I am working on at the same time so it tends to get lopsided toward one story or the other!_**

**_Bastet: Yes there will definitely be a certain amount of prejudicial tension between the former citizens of Taysa and those of Donona. This will hinder the investigation heavily for Lyonas who will be trying to see what truth there is to Courtney's revelation._**

**_Wanderer: Heya! Glad to see you're still around. Yeah only the beginning! Drama and action will abound in future chapters._**

**_Crista: Thanks for stopping over to review what I have so far! I am glad that you are enjoying my treatment of the Predator mythology._**

**_Lady Javert: Yeah! She caught up! I hope that you will enjoy where this is going as we trudge through this little drama piece. I have been very close to these characters for a very long time, and I try to be as true to their character now as I was when I first created them. I hope it is working! LOL!_**

**_Janusi: He again thank you for understanding, I'm afraid I have fallen down again this chapter, it is very short…but better to be broken here and all else in another chapter than to conglomerate the stuff into one chapter where it will lose the desired punch! Hope you're still with me on this!_**


	7. Bad Blood

**Chapter Six: Bad Blood**

Quona returned yet again to the archives, determined to find out facts that either supported Raha's claims about the Souas' relation to the Noa, or disproved her theory. The quest for this knowledge had become an obsession…an unhealthy one Nobaya had warned him one day. Normally the impudence of so young a Soua would have had Quona lapsing into disciplinary violence. In this case, however, Quona was beginning to agree with the young Eesan.

A month ago he had spent only enough time in the crappy little dwelling that the city had provided him to ensure his people did not fall prey to prejudices that still lingered after nearly a decade of the two cities, Taysa and Donona, tearing at each other's throats. When they had been situated, and already mostly cared for by Tomakaya in his absence, he had started to search out hints, anything that would lead him to an answer one way or the other regarding the Soua origin.

Since then he had spent most of his waking hours scouring records dating well back into Soua history. Each time he thought he was close to an answer, he was thwarted. It was nothing that he could pick up on readily, all the records looked intact, but during the time period in which their return to Soona was to have taken place, according to the Noa liaison, the references became very vague on events. He wasn't sure if it was the incompetence of the record keeper at the time or whether it was a cover up of some sort. He wasn't ready to claim the latter. And yet the discrepancy stuck in his mind and he continued to dig for the answer, even when he was convinced that Raha had been fed a fabrication.

Currently his investigation was into the Taya registry, thinking that perhaps their alliance with the Soua might possibly date back far enough to recall precisely the events of those years. Taya held no political alliances with the factions of Soona, all the more surprising considering that Quarta had agreed to be taken for use by a group of Taysa . That lack of opinion forming would help him out if he could find one that had been flying since that time for the Soua. Lyonas' mandibles tightened over his face as another query was pushed through the system, pessimistic about the lead turning up any more information than his others.

A grunt reached his ears and he wheeled around to be confronted by Oona.

"You fit here amongst the moldering knowledge Lyonas," he snorted.

"Oona," Lyonas growled, "Why do you disturb me?"

"Mind your manners, Eesa, you are in my city now," he snarls, "You will address me properly."

"I will give you no such satisfaction," Lyonas said drawing himself up to his full height a good head taller than the much more diminutive throwback to another generation, "You haven't deserved the honor, not your entire life. It is a wonder you were ever chosen for the seat you fill, and I keep asking myself why. I never thought honor could be bought…you however have proven me wrong."

His face heated, and he drew in a long angry breath, and Lyonas considered that the Ot Eesa would try to rush him for his insolence. It would be a good death to be tried for killing this particular leader. A moment later the heat faded, and his adversary for more centuries than could be counted, pulled his lower mandibles away. Itwas his show of humor.

"I have heard the reason you squander your days in the bole of this tree Lyonas. I find it questionable of sanity that you would while your time here away chasing a legend, a rumor, and a myth, one told by a clusu and repeated to you by another."

"All myths have a seed of truth planted in them; I am trying to discern the degree of accuracy in that myth."

"Of what? That we are not cousins to the backward Noa, but direct descendants of them?"

"That is what Raha has told me."

"A folly, Lyonas, nothing more, a conspiracy to draw you away from concerns for the health of the Soua."

"What if it is true Oona? What if they are the forefathers? That fact could change the course of this war."

"By the time that you find your 'proof' there will be no Noa to make peace with, if that is what you are so foolishly suggesting."

"You underestimate the Noa, Oona, and your shortsightedness has cost lives before. If you insist that they are backwards, if you hold vainly to that notion, your prediction may come true, only there will be Noa, and no Soua. Their numbers are much greater than our own."

"And we make up for that with our technology."

"Sometimes it seems we rely too much on that technology, and that too is folly if taken too far."

"You worry over nothing Lyonas…too much and too often, your advancing age has feebled your mind."

"We will see who has the right of it Oona, for now leave me to my research."

"SSSS," Oona hissed, "I think not, Lyonas, your access to the archives is now voided. I will not have you spreading panic through my city with such wild accusations as this human has filled you with.

Lyonas looked up as two Huada step up behind the Ot Eesa.

Quona Lyonas straightened his back, drawing his own angry breath and let it out again.

"Wander the city Lyonas, visit the residence, enjoy the hospitality of Donona, relax your weary bones," Oona says with false pleasantries, "You have had a hard journey, and have worried your mind over too much this past month."

He stepped into Oona glaring down into his twisted, muzzled face. Oona to his credit did not back down, though Lyonas had cowed him before, a long time ago. The stylized sun between Oona's brows drew his attention suddenly, and it hit him that he had never seen that symbol before, ever…not in all the centuries he had been alive, and all the warriors he had been exposed to. It wasn't Sars and Chai, a typical and highly respected line of warriors. It was a single sun large stylized rays spreading into his brow ridges and a symbol he did not recognize in the middle.

Lyonas backed off blinking at the symbol, curious suddenly about what it meant. He stepped back from his challenge, something that would lose him points with Oona, not that he had many with the Soua to begin with.

Oona smirked in his odd way, seeing Lyonas back down from him.

Lyonas bowed his head, sidestepping the Ot Eesa and departing the archives, a Huada on either side of him. Let him think that he had won, there would be other days. As of now he had many things to think on.

* * *

Sitting in his dwelling, Lyonas continued to ferret through his more limited access trying to find out, not what he had been looking for before…that way was closed to him, but instead investigating the strange symbol that graced the brow of his nemesis of long ago. Odd, he thought that he knew all of the lines of the Soua, having dealt with them all in his time on the pack ships, training them to be young warriors. 

The Soua worshiped no single sun. Lineage was well documented and very public, and the records revealed very little about the symbol he was looking for. Oona's symbol was documented as well, but the file gave no lineage history about his line. It could be a backwater tribe symbol. But that suspicion didn't pan out at all.

Frutrated he rose from the computer station in his hole of a dwelling and headed for some fresh air.

_It is time to give this up, _He thought, sighing mentally.

He stepped from his dwelling to be confronted by a Soua elder, well past his prime, and looking as if he should have committed grapada many cycles ago. He was positively skeletal in appearance, his ribs jutting prominently out from under sallow green skin. The creature's brows, cheeks, and crests were crusted thickly with long white spikes and nearly obliterated sunken eyes.

Lyonas had thought that Oona's appearance Neanderthal compared to his own until he got a look at this creature. The Soua had no mandibles what so ever top or bottom, instead he possessed a muzzle, one that was much more prominent and square than Oona. Instead he had long sharp teeth jutting down from his upper jaw, two sets of which were the snakelike fangs the outer longer and the inner shorter. His lower jaw was shorter than the upper giving the Soua an overbite and the lower fangs that grew from that lower jaw were longer and more tusk like, extending well past the top of his muzzle. His long dreads were nearly unadorned and were thinned with dehydration and extreme age.

He looked like he had been animated from a desiccated corpse. Those eyes were bright in the shadows of his face however and he looked focused and intent.

"Al Eesan," he hissed, his voice as mummified as his body looked. He bowed his head, bending slightly at the waist as he gave a sign of respect, "The answers you seek cannot be found by conventional means."

Tusks clicked together in consternation that this stranger knew something of his quest.

"Noranai, the blinding light, have always held sway over the Ot Eesan. It has been so since the beginning, for the survival of the Soua depended on secrecy then. Our people had need of belief in their own righteousness, and the truth would have crippled our society. Noranai Oona has been charged to keep the dead buried," the Soua went on, "he is adamant about keeping that duty."

"What secret, Kailan," Old one, "what secret is he charged with keeping."

"The secret you seek to stop the war," the Kailan swayed a minute, blinking heavily, "Each generation is charged with the secret, kept safe, hidden, ignorance is bliss you see."

Quona Lyonas twisted his head peering at the old Soua strangely. Then he noted the nearly spike obscured crest between his brows, a stylized sun, "You are as Oona's line?"

"You will find your answers, Al Eesan Lyonas," he added nodding gradually, "But you must look to the south gate, the twins do not just mark the exit, but the source as well. One twin is the stronger and one the weaker. The weaker points the way to your answers."

The twins were the trees that had been laced together to mark the exit to the south of the city, but he had been through those many times and had never seen any artifact or hint of another storage or other repository.

"We were not always of the trees, of the stars; the ground speeding beneath our feet was the rhythm of our lives. For a time we were the watchdogs, until Noora, until the uprising. Look to those names and the key will be presented to you."

"My gratitude Kailan," Quona said, "But why, if you were once charged with the secret, are you now pointing me on my way?"

"All lies must be revealed for balance to resume here," the Kailan muttered, "My peace will not come unless it is so. This world will die and our lines with it, if we continue to blind ourselves. The Noranai command it to be so."

"But Oona?"

"He moves on his own agenda."

That did not surprise Lyonas in the least, "But, Kailan, why can you not tell me now what this secret is?"

He merely shook his head, "You have need of proof…proof that a Kailan such as myself cannot be. I will only be undermined, shunned for feebleness, and made to throw myself on my sword. The evidence, the proof that you seek is as I have said. Look to the south gate, and all will be revealed."

The Kailan turned and stepped feebly away from the dwelling, leaving Quona Lyonas more confused than ever. He was anxious and hopeful as well, a seed of progress had been planted. And if the Kailan could be trusted perhaps he would have the answers finally, perhaps he could end the war before it became entrenched and threatened Soua annihilation.

* * *

**_A/N: Finally! I got it where I wanted it to go (Balking all the way! BLEH!) Another fairly short chapter..but now we get to swap back over to the story line I have been dying to get to! Straight up...Courtney, Gerard, and Gui'Yata back on Earth... and the trials that await them there. Courtney gets more than one surprise she isn't prepared for...Uh HUH! I'm not telling...you'll just have to guess!_**

**_Hope you like this...it was hard because it was setting up for later when we do find out just what lies beyond the South Gate of Donona. Let me know what you think!_**

**_Gotta bounce!_**

**_Darwin_**


	8. Culture Shock

**Chapter Seven: Culture Shock**

Quarta was hard put to find an appropriate spot to land, for the city had not only grown out from the center of downtown, it had also finally gotten the government to give over Griffith Park. That section of the county now sprawled with what looked like high end single family homes.

Courtney did what she could to stall, packing her few Earth acceptable belongings, double and triple checking the area to be sure that she had picked everything up that she was going to need when she went back to the world. But she knew that she couldn't take too long, because even Gui'Yata would drag her by her drawers out the ramp if it interfered with the Eesan's orders. As much as she didn't like it, this was the end of the line. Reality had landed and she couldn't avoid it any longer.

Slinging her pack over her shoulder she glanced down her body, grimacing at the attire she had been forced to change into.

_I should have burned these,_ She thought morosely. She hadn't even thought that this set of clothing existed after such a long time away from her home planet. Yet she couldn't appear in the middle of the evening crowd in her usual attire. From somewhere, these blood-stained and tattered clothes appeared to answer her question about how she was going to look human enough not to get picked up by the cops.

Sighing she pulled the loose pants up as they started to creep down over her hips. She hadn't realized just how much weight she had lost while she was living amongst the Soua. She wasn't a large lady before, and wearing those clothes and having them fit so loose made her feel emaciated.

Leaning down she pulled a large sack made of habade hide, and filled with items that she was insistent not to do without. She wanted as many reminders as they would allow of the life she had come to love amongst the star flung hunters. In it she had packed her mask, the undergarments that made up the basis for her hunting suit. The hair ornaments were in there as well as the neck band and other adornments that would not raise brows with Quona Gui'Yata. She had also kept her Yhi tail Sasa, damned if she was going to let them wrest her trophy from her.

With another sigh she made her way toward the entrance, smiling wanly when Quarta forlornly said her goodbye. Pain hit her eyes, and she firmly sat on her reaction to keep the tears from freeing themselves from her eyes. It took her a while but by the time she came to the main chamber her emotions were back in check.

Gui'Yata was already there, as was Gerard, dressed again in the clothes that he had been in for almost as long as she had known him. He was bouncing on his heels like a kid waiting to get on his favorite ride at Disneyland. Again she wished that she could be so enthusiastic.

She came to a stop before the two of them looking quickly at Gerard and then a lingering gaze on her companion of fifteen years, Earth time. She managed not to reflect the roiling emotions that were threatening to make her sick. His eyes met her solidly, and she thought she saw a ghost of his own emotion change the shade of his eyes. It was gone quickly and he merely nodded at her, and turning he donned his mask.

"You're," she paused as he glanced sideways at her with that faceless mask, "You're coming along?"

In Sou he replied, "I would not just drop you and run home. You do not know what changes have occurred in your absence. I will see that you are safely integrated and then I will return."

"What about your orders?"

"The Ot Eesan is a little too far from here to concern me with reprisals."

Her gratitude shone as heat of embarrassment in her face. Setting a hand on his forearm she whispered, "Thank you."

He nodded again and then glanced up at the sensor nearest him to talk to Quarta. It was beyond her capability to follow the wordless conversation, but she was sure it was directions on how to proceed while Gui'Yata was away. His head bobbed sharply and the gate unsealed exposing the darkness of the surrounding area.

It took them nearly three hours to make it to the downtown area. And Courtney was more than a little amazed by the amount of growth since she had last seen the city of her birth. Despite the expansion it was easily noted that nothing had changed about the festering sore that was downtown, the slums and bars and decrepit buildings had multiplied as fast as or faster than the growth of the better neighborhoods.

Her lip curled in disappointment and disgust as she noted this.

Gerard it seemed had a few bits of money from before, and at first opportunity split off from the other two and found that hamburger that he had desired their entire trip here. With a sigh Courtney hung back, Gui'Yata, cloaked behind her shuffled to a stop as well. She couldn't see him for the cloak but she could feel the crackle of energy from his disguise as he stood there.

"As large as the city has gotten, it appears that not much about the human society has changed," he muttered in Sou.

She snorted in the same language, "You expected an epiphany? I mean it has been like this for millennium, you think a handful of years are going to change that?"

He chuckled, "I had actually."

"Silly you," She replied, shifting slightly as she took note of a clothes store near the place where Gerard had paused to buy some dinner.

Gui'Yata read her mind, "You should purchase something more suitable to wear."

"Have to have money for that Gui'." She pulled out the wallet seeing once again that she had no bills at all in her billfold.

He grunted, "Then we will procure them instead."

She looked back at the blur behind her, realizing that it would be an advantage, "You are brilliant Gui,' y'know that," and this time the words were in English.

Together they moved over to Gerard, and Courtney took enough time to let him know where they were going. He was happy as a clam, trying to talk around a huge mouthful of food.

"Don't choke on that now," she added as she moved off.

She walked in the open door, Gui'Yata still a few steps behind her, looking over the racks and finding something more suitable than the tattered rags she was currently in. When she found the items she wanted she would hand them to Gui'Yata who pulled them into the influence of his cloak, and they would effectively disappear.

"Can I help you Ma'am?" the lady behind the counter asked.

Courtney smiled broadly, suddenly self conscious about her accented English, "No that is fine…I'm just looking."

She smiled, though it was not nearly a heartfelt one, she seemed suspicious. Courtney wouldn't put it past her, especially the way she was currently dressed. Reversing the roles, Courtney would be kicking herself out of the store.

After several more swipes, the two of them made their way out of the store and retreated back to the alley where they had come from. Courtney made quick work of changing into some of the fresh clothes, tearing tags off as she went, no longer self conscious when Gui' was around about her nakedness in between.

She sighed, feeling human again, and then frowning at the thought of what that meant.

Gui'Yata de-cloaked then, his shoulders slouched heavily and his head hanging a bit, "You look…human…again," the inflection on "human" held more than one meaning to it.

Courtney watched as he reached up and disconnected the hoses on either side of his head, the hiss of the released gasses from his lines echoing loudly off of the walls. More slowly he pulled the mask from his face, stretching his mandibles, so tightly held in place by the confines of the device. The sadness in his eyes was more than a little evident to Courtney as he gazed down at her. His head tilted to one side, another emotion warring with the sorrow of the pending separation. She thought she knew what it was, only precisely what eluded her completely. The look made her feel uncomfortable.

His hand shot out then, grabbing her by the back of the neck, and he pulled her closer to his larger body. He had to stoop way down to do what he did next, a move that shocked her and scared her. He pressed his spiny forehead to her smaller one. His mandibles traced delicately over her cheeks, her chin, and the line of her jaw. A part of her amazed at how gentle he could be with those, the tusks tucked tightly against his skin, as if he was taking special pains to avoid hurting her. She had seen what he could do with those tusks; no piece of Xaca stood a chance around him. Yet these were the lightest of caresses.

Another part of her was painfully aware of the significance of the gesture. The move was one saved for Soua in courtship, in mating, and in bonding. He was telling her in no uncertain terms that he loved her, that their bonding was more to him than just a title. Courtney wondered just how long he had been restraining himself from revealing such a depth of emotion; from her, from his clan, and from the strangers who came in and out of their lives on a daily basis.

It was all she could do not to struggle against his hold, an insult that would forever damage their relationship. She felt the same, she truly did. But it was unattainable, and it was too late for them…time had run out. She was also torn between that feeling for her bondsman and that of the human with whom she was growing more and more attracted every day.

He must have sensed her tension for he withdrew from that intimacy, even though he did not release the hold of one large hand around the back of her neck. Gui'Yata only leaned back far enough for her to focus on him.

She let out a breath, her heart thudding loudly in her chest and her face hot with more emotions than she cared to try and name, "How long? Gui'…"

He didn't avert his eyes, as she had expected him to, and again she reminded herself that he wasn't human, and had never had issues with telling her how he felt, "Many rotations," he said gruffly, his voice heavy with emotions that were unusual for him.

She shook her head, tears of confusion threatening, breaking over and sliding down her cheeks. Gui'Yata was quick to wipe them away, consternation coming into his face to cloud the more primal emotions, "I do not…my position has not been one that would have allowed…"

She almost smiled to hear him stammer, sitting on it to spare his pride.

"I do not mean to separate from you with this burden unspoken," he finally managed.

"Oh Gui'," She said shakily, confusing the issue, or clarifying it, she wasn't sure which, when she added, "I wish I could go back…I don't belong here anymore."

"We both know that is beyond our power to make happen," Gui replied straightening from the intimacy altogether and assuming a distanced look.

"Then I wish you would stay," she added selfishly.

"I cannot," he answered, "It would be too difficult to keep me…provided for…here. There are still threats to my kind here."

Courtney looked at the litter strewn blacktop at her feet.

All further conversation was cut into by a low moan further into the shadows of the alley.

* * *

**_A/N: Well I had hoped to get this chapter to you guys earlier than this…HOWEVER…it just didn't happen. That is what I get for making promises! And this is not even the chapter I was intending to do on this! Snicker!_**

**_Janusi_****_: Yeah I am still alive on this one…I started to put in what was my notes from the first draft of COI…but I needed that transistion…so here it is…with my little shocker at the end…Talk about a love triangle! HEE!_**

**_You will have to be patient about the _****_South Gate_****_, I am giving no secrets away here…LOL I am so cruel!_**

**_Wanderer: Hi there! I'm back finally! Snicker…Well we start her stomping grounds run here, but we will be back and forth along the two sides of the story so that things progress in parallel. _**

**_Golden Wind: Man I seriously owe you some reviews! blushes I have been so up to my ears in alligators lately it is not even funny, especially between getting my book published and work and college! But I PROMISE I will get back into the swing of it and get to reading some more of your chapters!_**

**_Bastet_****_: Who she is going to see or not see, or see first or last I am not saying at this point, bask in the glory of Gui's admonition to Courtney and we will get into that in a later chapter! LOL! I am mean aren't I._**

**_Crista_****_: Heya! Well being that I am TRYING to give equal exposure to each half of the story here, we will see more about Quona's quest in the next chapter…I hope this chapter didn't disappoint! LOL!_**

**_Soulfulbee_****_: I keep telling myself that the hardest part is over and that writing the rest of this will be a cake walk, that hasn't been the case obviously! I hope to have another chapter a lot faster than the last Quona chapter took me! Snicker! Thanks for your patience in the matter!_**

**_Buddy: YES Another new reviewer! I plan on compiling a glossary of terms here in the near future for people who are confused by my friendly coined terms! Snicker! Thank you for the suggestion!_**

**_Thanks to all who have had their patience worn thin by my slow updates…I would promise faster ones but my muse seems to tell me otherwise almost as soon as I say it…and go against your muse I dare you! It isn't a pretty picture!_**

**_Darwin_**


	9. The South Gate

**Chapter Eight: The ****South Gate**

Quona Lyonas adjusted the light pack that he had slung across his right shoulder, standing in the shadows of the Twins and looking up toward the bright, hot light of Chai now filtering down through the cooling trees to blind him. Drawing a deep breath his gaze fell from the sky to once more watch the tug of war the twins played anytime there was a gusty day.

The trees were huge, and yet they swayed supplely with the storms. Their latticework trunks gave them away as foreigners to this world, Lyonas only then realized it. They did not grow naturally on this planet, and he honestly couldn't pinpoint which planet they might have come from. In some long distant past the trees had been groomed, boughs interwoven to create a huge arch of living plant, laced patterns of the branches above the arch created stained glass patterns as the suns light penetrated through the oddly shaped leaves. The effect was exotic compared to the tall straight trunks that the native trees possessed, and it made an attractive and inviting entrance to the largest Soua city on the planet.

He studied the two trees closely, remembering the words of the strange Soua who had claimed to be from some clan formerly unknown to him. Noranai...what kind of a clan name was that? The blinding light, though the meaning did not elude him, not with the other things that the Kailan had spoken of. His suggestion was that the Soua had at some point covered up the truth about events in Soona's history.

He had also mentioned Noora, a name that was not unknown in his society. She was a master craftsman when it came to the technology their society used. Her innovations brought the Soua out of the dark ages and into more enlightened hunting habits. What would she have to do with this conspiracy?

Lyonas was also puzzled by the mention of an uprising, something that there was no record of ever in the history records.

_The twins do not just mark the exit, but the source as well. One twin is the stronger and one the weaker. The weaker points the way to your answers._

The tree on the left side was the stronger of the two, obvious in the thickness of the high root structure and the girth of the snaking bole that rose towering into the sky. To the right of the path was the just slightly smaller twin and as many times as he had been through this passage he only just noted the fact that the right tree was slightly leaned toward its larger brother, their tug of war becoming a slowly losing battle to the better equipped left tree. Shifting, Lyonas moved closer to the smaller bole searching for some sign that would lead him to the source hinted at by his mysterious informant.

His eyes were first for the canopy of that growth, looking for one branch that held pattern, which looked as if it was focusing attention on another point in the forest. He scoured the upper portion of the tree, becoming frustrated when nothing became apparent in his search. Lyonas again shifted his position thinking maybe it was at the wrong angle to provide the answer he sought.

This procession of position changes and studying the tree's canopy lasted nearly an hour, and had taken him three quarters of the way around the tree. Lyonas breathed out heavily, no nearer the clue he was looking for than when he started this jaunt into the forest. He drug his gaze away from those mocking, whispering leaves, allowing it to fall to the floor under his large and clawed feet.

The Al Eesa sank onto his haunches, running a hand through the loam that had gathered and piled around the seine that was the roots of the tree. That hand fisted as he mentally reexamined the clues the Kailan had given him, trying to divine something more than the words on the surface.

Sighing heavily, he put out his hand to a root of the tree, using it to assist his motion to his feet. He merely stood there, wondering once again why he was chasing shadows, why he wasn't assisting the other Al Eesas from his own city or the other clans in preparing for the closing circle of Noa. The war was inevitable, unavoidable, and lingering out here in the forest chasing myth and legend, would bring them no closer to victory.

His gaze focused once again, taking in the varying shades of blue of the root before him, much cooler than the surrounding air, and of their own accord they traced one line of lifeblood moving moisture from the ground and up into the treeptop. He ran a thumb over that vein he could see but not feel. Once the vein ended a the main trunk of the tree he moved back down the large root under his hand, moving toward the life giving ground.

His brow furrowed as he noted that the vein splintered near where the root disappeared into the ground. He found it strange that the edge he could see started into a near perfect circle. Crouching once more Lyonas pushed leaves away from the anomaly, gasping as the mark formed into something he recognized. There was no way that the arrangement of capillaries could form in such a manner on its own.

Bending further over his muscular legs he studied the symbol, its pattern becoming easier to read as he stared longer. Somehow the life carrying veins had been manipulated, the outer edge was symmetrically circular, framing two stylized lightning bolts, or rather blades, sraha blades. It was a symbol of Noora clan!

Lyonas rose to his feet and stepped back a moment, taking another look at his surroundings, and at the tree he had come to rest next to. He was on the far side of the tree from the path and noted immediately the lean of the bole away from him. He let his eyes slip down the root again, noting that it was thrown out farther than the surrounding roots, which maintained a closer relation with the rising trunk. The growth seemed to be an anchor against the pull of its larger brother.

Was this it? He followed it further until it disappeared into the litter strewn floor, but it seemed to focus Lyonas' attention on the darkness beyond its finger. A breath caught in his throat as he realized that there was a path leading into that blackness. It was overgrown to be sure, but not nearly so much as it should have been if this sign was as old as he had been led to believe. The trees over the path bowed reverently over the packed earth in between their tall forms.

Leaping high, and running as fast as his considerably strong legs would carry him, Lyonas came to the head of the trail. He looked back noting that the main path leading away from the city was obscured from his view, and he no longer wondered how this path had gone unnoticed.

Another item that he noted was the heat that moved up through his feet. He peered down the long trail, past the bushes that encroached on either side and saw the bright orange glow that seeped up through the ground in a nearly ruler straight line from the head of the trail.

Tilting his head he slowly began down the path, anxiety and excitement warring in him. This like the symbol on the tree root was not natural, and it reminded him of the power sources buried near each city to store the solar energy from above. Only here there was no city, other than Donona behind him and this was too far away for it to be of any use to the city. Despite their burgeoning technology, the effectiveness of energy transfer was reduced the further the source was from the outputs. Lyonas saw no other places for the energy to outlet in the forest around him.

The trek through the forest took him nearly two hours. The line of heat beneath his feet had dissipated suddenly and he had been traveling cold packed earth for nearly one and a half hours. The trail had become much more muddled too since he had left the source of that seemingly burned trail through the forest. More than once Lyonas feared that he had lost his way through the meandering trail that had narrowed down to little more than something game might use to traverse the area.

Lyonas was therefore surprised when the trail dumped out into a nearly hidden clearing. He paused at the edge only because of the shock of its appearance. The space was fairly large perfectly circular, and a slight mound rose in the middle of the clearing leaf litter obscuring what was underneath the pile. There was something there, he could vaguely make out the outline of an artificial structure beneath the accumulated matter.

Nervously he extended and retracted his sraha before moving further into that uncomfortably empty space between the trees. It felt and smelled like a trap, even when there was nothing or no one else anywhere close to his position.

Sheathing the short blades he forced himself to step forward, grunting as he misjudged the rise near the knoll and nearly falling as he overbalanced. Ungracefully he fell forward, skidding through the leaves, his gauntleted arm clanging loudly on something foreign beneath the litter.

He was quick to gather his feet under him, using both long muscular arms to sweep away the concealing plant matter. It took some doing, as the gathered leaves were deep and lower layers had already turned to half packed loamy earth.

Lyonas straightened as the last of the matter came free of what was hiding beneath it. A breath was stolen from him as the Noora symbol glared up at him in cold ice blue. Beneath the stylized blades was another symbol, seeming to support the first. A circle with heavy triangular rays bordering it peeked around the forward symbol.

Only then did the relation hit him. Noranai... Blinding light...

Noora meant light, was it Noora herself who had established this conspiracy of darkness around their origin? He still couldn't fathom why such a revered member of the Soua society would hide an origin from the rest of the society.

"There is one way to find the truth," he muttered, crouching over the disk set into the forest floor, and looking for a latch with which to open it.

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_**Okay Finally go that one done! The next one should be faster (If I can find my notebook with the passage I want to use), and back to Earth. What was the source of that moan, eh? We will all find out next chapter!**_


	10. Full Circle

**Chapter Nine: Full Circle**

Both Courtney and Gui'Yata spun about glancing down the darkened alley behind them. Courtney was unable to make out a whole lot from the pitch, and ached suddenly for her mask.

"There is a human crouched behind the rubbish bin," Gui'Yata filled her in, falling into a well practiced caution. "To your right."

With the Soua at her back, Courtney padded that direction. Darting a glance back, she noted that Gui'Yata had already taken the precaution of camouflaging himself. Courtney's hand went to the butt of the sasa tucked into her newly purloined belt, not drawing it but at the ready in case this was a trick or a trap. She put her hand back in a signal for her companion to hang back. It was a precaution, most couldn't see the refractive light that hid the predators, but the last thing she wanted was to have him in her shadow and have someone actually pick the blur out of the background light.

A pale light reflected from further down the hallway, and Courtney used it to help her locate the human who had announced him or herself. It still took her long moments to locate the person, for he or she had used the garbage in the alley to break their profile, as if fearful of being found.

Courtney slowly turned, crouching down and taking in the huddled form half blanketed in black shiny bags of garbage. It was a young woman, her dark clothes were tattered in several places, and her reddish brown hair was unkempt. Makeup that had been heavily applied streaked from her eyes down her cheeks. Her cinnamon brown skin was smudged with dirt and blood.

Several tattoos adorned her hands and arms, and Courtney barely suppressed a gasp, seeing one she recognized as a long standing LA gang mark. The woman was holding a bloody wound on her shoulder with one hand, the other held tightly to a switchblade. She looked as if she had been on the losing end of a fight.

Absently Courtney set down the pack she miraculously retained from earlier in the evening. Her free hand reached toward the wound, attempting to pull the hand away. With reactions nearly matching Courtney's own, the girl lashed out with the knife. Courtney jumped back, just clearing herself from the blade's arch.

"Leave me alone, you fucking bitch!" The girl spat, not as out of it as Courtney had first assessed. The look that came through the dirt, make up, and blood on her face was murderous.

"I am only trying to help you child," Courtney replied in soft words with her accented English. She knelt again, just shy of the girl's reach with the switchblade and regarded her steadily. A part of her was wondering why she was bothering. She had seen this too many times before, a kid spiraling out of control headed for nothing but a messy death. Yet there was a part of her that remembered that she had been assisted out of a similar vicious cycle and that part wanted her to pass on the things that she had figured out. First she would have to tend that wound.

"I'm not no damn kid!" she growled, shifting against the wall, as if trying to get up from the position she had fallen into.

Courtney nodded in demure acknowledgement, "This wound will not heal itself. Gangs are, after all, a nasty business. Did you win...or lose?"

"I'm not in a gang..." she denied, shaking her shaggy mane of hair and making it rustle against her black leather jacket, "And I won."

"Los Diablos," Courtney uttered, pointing to the tattoo on the back of the girl's hand. She watched smiling as the girl tried to hide her shocked expression, "I was almost a member myself. They're a nasty group if they are even half of what they were when I was younger. I am still very glad that I got talked out of it."

The young woman turned away, but her gaze was drawn back as Courtney pulled her backpack toward her.

"What're you doing?" She growled.

"I'm...in the medical profession," Courtney answered carefully, drawing out the very alien looking box that held her more extensive supplies. The med kit was much larger than a standard Soua triage kit, but she was a Soyasa, and that extra amount has saved many a warrior's life. Breaking out the Totant, Courtney began mixing it in the self contained bowl. Mashing it together until it was an even blue and slightly iridescent, she turned her attention back to the woman shifting until she was within arm's length, for that matter within stabbing distance.

"What's that?"

She looked at the girl searchingly, scratching the side of her nose, "I'm making a...poultice to pack that wound with, so that it will heal."

"You some kind of witch doctor?" she snarled, making an attempt to back away, and hindered by the wall at her back, "You some kinds of wanna be, got your license taken away so you prey on the unwitting?"

Courtney smiled at the inference, "Oh no, you'll find this much more effective than any herb remedy found on Earth."

"Yeah, right."

"Well it is obvious to me that you are not in a rush to be seen by a hospital. So your alternatives are; let me help you and sit here and bleed to death. Which would you rather?"

Scowling darkly the girl reluctantly lowered her hand to her lap, and seemed to work hard at not wiping the crimson liquid onto her dark jeans. Courtney shuffled yet closer and with deft hands, examined the wound. It was not nearly as deep as it had looked on first assessment; in fact it had been a glancing blow, laying the meat of her upper arm open. Courtney cleaned it as best she could with the old rag of a shirt that she had again unwittingly kept.

She looked the girl in her dark brown eyes, grimly relaying, "This is going to sting."

Her face set, as if she was trying hard to prove that she was up to the pain. The human Sougra smiled wryly, knowing there was no being ready for the first time totant burned into the skin. She was beginning to admire the girl's strength of will, if not her character.

"Do you have any family?" Courtney asked absently.

"No," she barked, fear of the coming pain, belied by the quaver in her voice, "Mom died about 15 years ago, I ran away from that abusive bastard who claims to be my father when I was 14."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Courtney answered sincerely, "What is your name?"

She began applying the totant thickly at that same point, and a hiss of pain escaped the girl.

"Teresa," She bit out.

Courtney leaned back and let the chemicals set the poultice and bandage. There was nothing in her that connected the pieces of information she had garnered, "Pretty, my daughter's name was Teresa."

"Was?" The girl said with spark of interest, her face still heavily pinched at the sure burning sensation concentrated in her shoulder. As that look eased from her features, she added, "What happened to her?"

Courtney was packing the unused items back into her Soyasa pack and shrugged, "I haven't seen her since she was five, she went to live with her father, and I ended up going on a long trip."

When she looked up the girl was staring at her hard.

"Is there something wrong?"

Her face pinched again, and her eyes squinted as she bored holes into Courtney's face, "Divorce?"

Courtney nodded leaning in once more to check the set of the poultice.

"Why?"

She shrugged once again, "Because his lawyers were better than mine, because I wasn't convincing enough in my accusation of abuse. I never let him touch my daughter though."

The girl swallowed, "Always between us, always protecting me."

Courtney was peering at her strangely, for she sounded a little delirious. It would be typical to the pain and the blood loss.

"Y...your name...is Courtney?"

She was unable to help the jaw drop that reflected her shock, "What did you say?"

"You're Courtney Salazar," she stated, nodding, "God, that fits! Everything you said, it fits!"

"Oh my God," Courtney whispered, a desire welling in her suddenly to retreat.

"Where did you go? Everyone thought you had died!" Teresa's hand flexed as if her heart and her mind were warring about reaching out and touching Courtney's face.

Courtney darted a glance toward the shadows, toward where Gui'Yata was standing and most likely listening to the entire thing. She wondered what the Soua was thinking about this, and yet not certain she wanted to find out.

"I had to go away," She uttered, meeting those pain glossed brown eyes, seeing suddenly the resemblance to herself. Butterflies were tickling the lining of her stomach.

"Dad got worse after you were gone!" She whined accusingly, "Somehow even the thought of you had kept him in check! When they said you had died he hit me, he punched me! I had to run...I was so tired of being his punching bag! I even tried to find you, I thought that the rumors were just that. But you weren't there! Why did you leave me?" Her angry tears made the dark streaks of mascara worse.

"I didn't have a choice," Courtney said softly. Suddenly, she was overcome with guilt. So this is what had become of her family, her ex more brutal than ever, and Teresa falling to a life that she understood was a vile one.

Teresa's mouth thinned severely, as if she didn't buy such a pat explanation.

"How long...how long have you been living like this?" Courtney asked, her maternal instinct kicking in hard, suddenly angry that her daughter would allow herself to get into this life.

"Six years," She replied sharply.

Courtney did gasp then, snapping her mouth closed as she once more assessed the look on her daughter's features. She nodded imperceptibly, noting the hard edge, the bitterness that came from living in the shadows, in fear of your very life. She had obviously done things that would give Courtney's hunting status a run for its money, just to stay alive and connected to the dregs that had taken her in. The initiation rites alone would have taken her virginity and her self esteem all at the same time, and bonded her for all her years to a life of underworld dealings.

* * *

Gui'Yata stood in the shadows watching the scene in confused fascination. His bondsman had a daughter? He had never been told Courtney's past, she had always been adamant about keeping any mention of her life on Earth from his ears.

His gaze strayed to the youth that was still huddled amongst the refuse. The girl was tall and husky when compared to the wiry build of her mother. She looked strong, and yet agile, vicious; she would have been trophy material to any Soua passing through the area. He had a sudden urge to know what the girl's father must look like.

Gui'Yata focused again as Courtney leaned forward passing the girl's arm over her slight shoulders and drew her to her feet. The girl wobbled, and if Courtney wasn't as strong as he knew she was, Teresa would have unbalanced them both and drug them to the alley floor. The two of them made steady progress toward him in his shadowed hiding. As they came even Courtney gave a meaningful glance at his shadow and with a silent motion of her head told him to follow.

He complied willingly, curious on how this was going to play out. When they had cleared the mouth of the dark alley, Gerard was adamantly searching them out. Catching sight of Courtney, he bound their direction, sliding to a stop at the scene before him.

"What's going on here?" He asked incredulously.

"This woman is injured," Courtney answered as if it was totally obvious.

"I can see that," he muttered.

"Do you have a place of your own?" Courtney asked the girl. Though Gui'Yata wasn't sure just how cognizant she was at the moment.

She nodded minutely as Gerard slid up next to the girl on the other side insisting on taking her from Courtney, "About three blocks up," came her pain faded voice.

The group of four moved in silence up the street until the girl came nearer her home, which she pointed out to them, her voice sounding farther and farther away.

Teresa let them into her squalid little apartment and managed to walk to the rumpled bed in the corner before her legs finally gave out on her. Courtney had purposely stood near the door so that Gui's entrance wouldn't draw any undue attention.

Once he was inside, she shut the door, a guilty glance up at the fuzzy outline of his form, and then she moved over to the now unconscious girl on the bed. Gui'Yata moved to a heavily shaded corner of the room before he turned his camouflage off. He watched silently as Courtney tended to the girl, giving boosters, administering painkillers, and antibiotics from a section of her kit that was specifically designed for human physiology. She performed these actions with a deftness that readily described her skill as a soyasa.

She finally rose and moved toward him, and he straightened a bit, wondering just what she was going to say. She suddenly looked haggard, upset and more concerned than she usually was when dealing with patients.

"She's lost a lot of blood," Courtney relayed in a soft voice, glancing at Gerard as he joined the three of them. She shook her head, "She should pull through, but that is not a guarantee, I have no idea how long she had been sitting there before we found her."

"And you helped her, why?" Gerard asked gruffly.

Courtney glared at him.

"She's a gang-banger, Courtney!" He hissed, "All you're doing is delaying the inevitable."

Pain crossed Courtney's face.

Gui'Yata put an end to his tirade, backhanding him in the shoulder, "Mind yourself!" He growled, "One does not question a soyasa's choices."

"She's my daughter," Courtney blurted self consciously.

"What?" Gerard laughed, thinking that the other human in the room was pulling his leg, "You have kids?"

"Kid, just one," She whispered, "I lost her to a divorce, didn't even get visitation. I haven't seen her since she was five."

Gerard was no glaring back at the still form on the bed, "That is a hell of a coincidence that you would just happen to run into her on a dark back alley someplace, don't you think?"

She nodded, "It is, but it's true."

"Oof," Gerard said, "Hell of a welcome back there."

Again pain moved over his bondsman's features, and it quickly turned to anger, "I've got to find her father."

"What?" Gerard and Gui'Yata both blurted at the same time.

"Why?" Gerard continued.

"He drove her to this!" she snarled, "That fucker, I warned him not to lay a hand on her."

Gui'Yata and Gerard shared a mutually confused glance, noting how little that statement had made sense. At least he knew that Gerard hadn't been privy to any more than he had. She had been withholding her past from them both.

Asserting logic, Gui'Yata said, "Ensure that she will get through this."

The words and his hand on her shoulder had the desired effect, for Courtney's body lost the tension that had been there.

"Of course," She said not meeting his alien gaze.


	11. Proof?

**Chapter Ten: Proof?**

Lyonas made his way gingerly into the dark, the colors all around him fading into shades so similar there was little he could do to distinguish one blue from the next. Pulling his helm from his belt, he donned it and shifted the view so that he could see once more. Rain clouded shades of gray gave him more contrast and he could now make out a narrow and nearly round tunnel and the slightly concave floor.

He made his way slowly...sure that he was headed back under the trail he had walked above. It was deathly silent around him now, not even the accompaniment of the creatures above made it down this far. Reaching out, Lyonas ran long clawed fingers over the walls of the tunnel. He noted immediately that there was a smooth texture to it, the rock had been melted, all the way to the shaft that led above. The slight undulations crested and fell toward the direction he had come from, suggesting that the tunnel had been cut from further ahead.

Al Eesa quirked his head to one side as he processed that information, puzzled on the implications. He managed to clear his mind as he continued into the claustrophobic pitch around him.

He could only say that he traveled a long time, his mind seeming only partially on the trail before him. There came a point in his trailing where he had felt as if he had overshot the South Gate altogether he had been under here so long. Vaguely he wondered if any in the city would miss his presence by this point.

He felt dull, sluggish, and began to wonder if there was enough atmosphere in the tunnel to support life. He found himself suddenly wishing he had brought along his tank.

_That would be the problem with an unknown situation, _his mind fed him.

Doggedly he pushed forward, beginning to notice the creeping increase in the heat surrounding him. With a few quick swipes of his fingertips over the studs on his armband, Lyonas switched once more to his primary light filtration.

His assessment was accurate, as the heat rose toward surface temperature once more. The change makes him forget his previous lethargy, and his senses sharpen with the heat. His assumtion became that he was no under that heated portion of trail that he had seen and felt under his feet as he departed the South Gate on this odd exploration.

Lyonas was forced to pull up short when the way proved to be blocked by the smooth surface of some sort of metal or hardened ceramic he was unfamiliar with. It looked like no design he had ever been exposed to in all his years of leading pack ships. No race they had encountered on those trips showed any technology such as this.

Tilting his head, he pondered on how the mystery here only seemed to deepen the further he went. There was a thought that this search might turn into a mind numbing circular chase with no answers to appease his mind.

Heat permeated the door, and the edges of the oval portal were much brighter in his vision. His gaze roved the surface of that portal for long moments, searching with attuned eyes, for some sort of opening mechanism or trigger that would allow him beyond this point.

Nothing became evident, even after he searched through the rock either side of the door for a possible mechanism. He even rotated through the many spectrums made available to his kind by the mask with no better luck than with ultraviolet.

He cursed softly behind his mask, and it echoed thinly back to him in the small space, leaning forward and laying his hand on the surface of that strange material. He was startled into removing it again when the area around him shuddered hard enough to threaten his footing. He stepped back, his feet slapping loudly on the hard pack of the tunnel floor in order to prevent getting dumped.

When he managed to regain his balance, he returned his sights to the entrance. He was shocked to find that in the rumble around him the door had disappeared.

Lyonas twisted sideways, cross-stepping nearer the maw shining nearly white with heat that was now facing him. As he shifted he could make out symbols and heat signature displays beyond the immediate play of heat across his senses as well as his skin.

He moved forward silently, half expecting some form of attack. Despite his years of training at the hunt and almost as many taking charge of other hunters, the last thing he had expected was to be addressed by such a foreign place.

The voice was mechanical, the language lilting and nearly incomprehensible. It was Soua...he thought. And yet the dialect was so skewed he couldn't make out more than a few words. He had extended his Sraha unconsciously and was standing in a defensive position.

Then he felt it, something powerful, something ancient sliding tendrils over his mind, even though he was strong in mental defense. There was amazingly no pain, the touch was gentle and the contact left as abruptly as it had intruded.

"Put away your weapon, warrior," the voice came again, perfectly understood now.

The grizzled old Soua did not relax one iota.

"You will come to no harm in this place."

"And what is this place?" Lyonas found his voice, skeptical and just a tad fearful of the surroundings.

"You would...refer to this place as the cradle," that voice said firmly, "Bou'haina."

"Bou'haina?" The Eesa repeated, "What does that mean?"

"Are you not of the Noranai?" The computer said, "The guiding light has not illuminated the purpose of this place?"

"It has been long since there has been need for such a place. Even the most stringent of religions lose their center over such long periods of time," Lyonas replied, thinking quickly on his feet.

A heat screen flickered to life just to the right of Lyonas hand.

"Your ancestors were the product of genetic engineering," the voice droned, "based on a warlike race indigenous to this planet. They were already warriors, but your masters, the Kaila, were not completely satisfied. Over five generations they were able to more accurately create the kinds of soldiers they wanted for their continuing war with universal rivals, the L'alai.

"There came a technician to the tenth line of Oraha, whom had been named Noora. Her ability in the insertion of controls and the integration of weaponry for the army was beyond reproach. Yet she was obsessed with the tales of a home planet."

Lyonas knew of these procedures, the bioware that allowed all Soua to control their weapons in the heat of battle without needing to interface the computer in their arm band. Each warrior was installed with the needed hardware upon acceptance to a pack ship.

"Noora in her research traced the tales to solid fact, surreptitiously hacking into the recordings the Kaila kept of each new habitat they encountered in their travels across the universe. Armed with this information she slowly gathered support from many on her ship to overtake the Kaila who had leashed them for so many centuries. There was a bloody defection, the Kaila caught unaware when the Soua's fear of their masters had always kept them in check."

Scenes of efficient killing and bloodshed spilled past Lyonas as he divided his attention between the sourceless voice and the horrifying and fascinating video account of the slaughter.

"Kaila were not fighters themselves, physically they were not made for fighting, and the uprising was a rout. Afterwards Noora and her freed Soua crew, fighters, and hunters, sought out the cradle of their existence. It took them many rotations, but they finally arrived back at Soona, some 800 rotations after their ancestors had been removed from their simple lives.

"This ship, the one on which you stand on the deck, Bou'haina, is the very vessel that brought them back to their heritage.

"But their return was not as well received as they had dreamed. Their long lost relations did not, could not recognize them for what they were. Their long absence had not only resulted in physical changes between themselves, Soua, and their cousins, Noa, but had put a communications gap between them that neither could cross.

"Dark days resulted as many of Noora's freed hunters took out their frustrations by slaughtering the Noa who refused to recognize their relations. For nearly fifty rotations the Soua slaughtered, taking from them the treetop homes that had been the Noa's for longer than the Soua had been rift from their planet.

"Noora, and her more loyal supporters, were forced to take drastic measures. Killing the defectors, striking their names from the records was only a start. Noora had envisioned a much brighter future for her people and their newly rediscovered home. She saw only one way in which to stop all that had transpired.

"Thus they buried the Bou'haina," the sound was almost regretful, "Stripping much of the technology in an effort to recreate smaller vessels they could use to get off planet.

"Along with this drastic action," the ships computer continued, even as the scene's played before him, "The Noranai was formed from the remaining Soua after the civil war. Their first goal was to erase the memory of their time as slaves to the Kaila, and also to erase the bloody trail back to the Noa. That rift had grown so large that none felt it ever amendable. They taught their children a skewed version of their heritage, hiding the truth of their existence so thoroughly that none knew...except the Noranai.

"Each generation a Noranai is chosen from the different ancient lines, a cadre of warriors whose duty it is to know the truth, to expose that truth when the time became appropriate to do so."

"This much has been told to me," Lyonas agreed, "But my people, even the Noranai no longer believe the tales."

Another door slid open, one curvature Lyonas had thought only to be another contour of this strange ship. The plate peeled back to reveal an enclosure, coolly filled with liquid. In it was a body, a body of a creature he had never in his life seen, and he had seen many ends of the universe before.

The body was so tall that it had curled in on itself slightly to fit into the tube that was still taller than Lyonas was. Long fingered and thin hands rested on emaciated thighs, and the lower extremities were still thinner. The feet were long and blunt ended with no show of toenails or claws in the few that he could see. The head was oversized for the thin neck on which it was perched, and the slim shoulders were narrower than the heads widest spot. Large bulbous eyes, slanted slightly toward the peaks of the creatures head looked lifelessly out the surface separating this room from the enclosure. The nose was nonexistent, two mere slits between large eyes and small mouth.

It was all Lyonas could do not to retreat when lids shuttered those eyes and then opened again. It was impossible that this creature had been here so long and still lived.

"Do not look so incredulous," the creature spoke through the dead sound of the speakers, "I am the Kaila, honored with the care of the Bou'haina. I was reindoctrinated by Noora herself to serve the Soua, I was their flagship in the early years, their only way to get back off planet. I am the physical proof of the story you have heard, false Noranai."

He did not try to deny what the Kaila had claimed, quickly schooling himself instead to better guard his thoughts.

"Your world must be in a sad state of affairs, Soua, if a non-initiate has been chosen to treat with me."

"I was not chosen..." Lyonas replied, "I am investigating a rumor that was brought to me by one of our warriors. A rumor brought to her attention by a Noa sympathizer."

"Then what have the Noranai of this time been doing? They had been tasked to bring the truth forward if genocide has been threatened of the Noa."

"The Noa are not the ones in danger of being wiped out," Lyonas answered, "They outnumber our population ten to one, and have been incensed into all out war on our race by a fanatic. The Noranai have done nothing, but to deny the truth of the rumor and ignore the threat that stands on our very doorstep."

"And what is it you truly seek?" the slow blink followed the words.

"Proof," Lyonas spat, "The factions on both sides needs to be made aware of the wrongs of the past. They need to be reminded of the blood relation between our peoples, and to stop the madness that has sprung up on both sides of this war."

Those orbs seemed to shift, the gaze distant.

"There is much earth and wood between the Bou'haina and the sky," the attention returned to Lyonas, "but it seems it is time to lay bare the sins of the past."

* * *

**_A/N: Here we go again...just when I think I have a head of steam up for writing on this I get bogged down! RRRR! I really did try to get this out to you guys sooner than this, it just didn't shape up as I wanted it to! _**

**_So here it is...chapter ten...and I think Lyonas has finally found the proof he was searching so desperately for...now bounce back to Earth and the goings on there! Let me know what you think K?_**


	12. Paybacks a Bitch

**Chapter Eleven: Payback's a Bitch**

Courtney paced down the street, her world narrowed to a small window just in front of her. In the back of her mind she knew that Gui'Yata was behind her, probably not more than a step, but she didn't care. That son of a bitch she shared her life with was going to pay for driving Teresa into the street.

She looked down at the slip of paper in her hand, several shabbily written lines on it that told her where her ex was living now. Teresa had written it for her, with still shaking hands. She would live, but there was nerve damage to her arm that might never heal, not with the primitive medicine Earth still had. That did nothing to calm her fury however.

As she paused on the street corner, orienting herself to the much changed streets of Los Angeles, Gui'Yata finally worked up the nerve to speak.

"You are being rash, Raha," he whispered.

"I'm being a mother," She snarled in return. Internally she was laughing at herself, she hadn't been Teresa's mother since the girl was five, what made her think revenge would quell the guilt she felt for abandoning her daughter to the whims of her husband?

"You are again a citizen of this world," He tried to reason with her, "Subject to its laws. If you do this you risk incarceration."

She spun and flung an arm violently at where she thought he was. Her arm whistled harmlessly through the air, "I know what I am doing! Damn it; don't pretend that you're my conscience suddenly!"

"You would do no less if I were being unreasonable," he countered from the shadows, and she caught a glimpse of his shield only because he shifted on his large feet.

"Shut up!" she growled, scowling at the woman who passed her on the street looking as if she were a lunatic. That would help, that the people here would think her deranged, talking to nothing.

"Only for now," she heard him snigger.

She sighed, stepping off the curb and striding across the avenue, to turn right down the cross street. Courtney paused again as she came upon a towering apartment building in glass and steel rising some forty stories into the brown sky.

She turned to the blurry outline of her shadow saying, "You do not need to come."

"I do," he answered, "and I will."

"I am not a Saru." She nearly bellowed.

"You are certainly acting as one."

She flipped him the bird and headed into the foyer. She made short work of the distance between the lobby door and the elevators. Pounding on the call button about ten times she finally stepped back and watched the slow progress of the numbers toward the lobby level. Courtney said nothing more to Gui'Yata now standing to the far right of the door, away from the button panel where he was less likely to get stepped on by any new entrants on the way up to the desired floor.

The action turned out to be unnecessary, no one else joined them. Many seconds later the door opened on the 16th floor and Courtney burst through the opening doors like a thoroughbred from the starting gate of a horserace. She moved with determined purpose, not turning her head as she took in the numbers in a glance. The Sougara reached over her shoulder to pull the mask from the pack Gui'Yata had gifted her, affixing it to her face as she pulled up just in front of a door marked 1685.

As it sealed tightly to her cheeks she was already reaching for the doorbell, her stance tense and her mind ready for anything.

It took a few moments for the door to be opened, but the man who stepped out the door was all too familiar to her.

"Can I help…" his brow furrowed, "Halloween is two months away."

Courtney only saw red, her foot coming up and kicking him in the gut before a coherent thought had run through her head.

"Woof," was forced from him as he fell back, the momentum carrying him into the back of a very plush black couch. His hand went to his side as the other arm held him up on the sofa back.

"You son of a bitch," she growled, her voice muffled by the mask on her face, "Close the door."

Steve looked at her incredulously, thinking that she had been talking to him. He straightened looking defiant. His face fell when the door closed of its own accord and the bolt was turned, locking the door tight to would be rescuers.

More slowly she removed her mask, revealing her face to the man standing like a stone still by the couch. It was a smooth motion that put that mask into the pack once more. For long moments Steve merely stared at her, as if trying to remember where he had seen her face before.

"You!" he breathed, "You're supposed to be dead!"

The statement was followed with a hearty laugh from her former husband.

"You little bitch, you've been hiding all this time?"

He moved toward her with an aggression that used to cower her. She was well beyond his pathetic attempts at dominance. She stepped into him as he got within two steps, hitting him with a right hook and following it with a chop from her left hand in his lower ribcage as he fell away from her.

"I warned you," she snarled, "I told you never, _never _to lay a hand on Teresa! You asshole! You drove her to the street – right into the arms of the gangs you hate so much."

"What're you talking about?" he sounded sincere, but she'd seen this act before, it was the same one he gave to the cops, "You saw Teresa? Where?"

"Like I'm going to tell your lying ass. I'm here for you, you broke your word to me, and payback's a bitch."

"So are you," Steve threw at her.

"Thank you," she smiled wickedly, closing on him again.

He moved like he was in slow motion compared to Courtney's sharpened senses and reactions. His fist lashed out and she deflected it with ease, as he bent, she brought a knee up into his gut and then pushed him completely prone. She stomped with a booted foot on the small of his back, stepped back and then made for a field goal, his middle the ball.

She then grabbed his fingers, pulling them back toward his wrist, and he was quick to get to his feet despite the pain of the other injuries she had inflicted. Courtney walked him over and sat him down at one of the very expensive dining chairs. Her sasa was in her hand before he could blink and she pointed it at his throat.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you Steve?" She uttered wiggling the blade just a hairs breadth from his Adams apple. While you are sitting here in the lap of luxury your daughter – OUR daughter is on the street scraping out a living by selling drugs and whoring herself out to the boys in her gang! How the hell do you justify that?"

"I don't have control on her!" he protested, "She didn't do that sort of thing when she was living here!"

"Yeah, she was fourteen when she left here, because you abused her!"

"She told you that?"

"Don't try to deny it, you bastard, I know you better than that!"

"She's lying," he uttered, his face completely serious.

"I'll believe her over you any day of the week."

"I'm telling you…"

She flicked the sasa and a rivulet of blood appeared on his chin. The look on his face was priceless.

"Don't even," She hissed, "I'm not buying what you're selling, and never will again. How does it feel?"

"What?" he still had defiance in his eyes.

"To be on the receiving end? I mean you've been abusing, for what, 35 years? It must be quite an experience being on this side of the blows for once."

His lips thinned and the dangerous part of him rose up behind those dark eyes of his. Courtney smiled and backed up.

"You think you want a piece of me?" she said softly, "You think I am still that cow you used to beat every day for seven years? Give it a shot Steve, I'm up for it."

Thrill went through his eyes for a moment before caution overrode the idea.

"I thought not," Courtney spout, "Just like the coward you are."

She sheathed her sasa and turned from him. She had only taken four steps when there was the sound of the chair thumping to the ground, and a strangled cry from her back. She wheeled to find that Steve was suspended off the ground by at least six inches a large clawed hand pinched around the back of his neck.

"Coward," Courtney repeated, "I could have handled it, Gui'."

The Soua dropped her ex back to his feet, and not being ready for it Steve nearly collapsed to the ground. He spun in a move that would have impressed a break-dancer to get a look at who had assaulted him. Steve started skittering like a crab on his hands and feet until he bumped into her.

"What is that thing?" Steve whispered hoarsely.

She grinned down into his green face, "You could say he's my husband."

She heard Gui' snort, but didn't look up to see his matching mirth at the statement.

"You married…that!" he said still clinging to one ankle while pointing at the Soua.

"A much more satisfying marriage, too," She smirked, "At least he respects me, something you're going to learn here - quickly."

"I respect you," he whined.

"Whatever," she kicked him away from her. Coming down from on high she drove her fist into his face, following through with the blade of the sasa that had come automatically to her hand when he had threatened her again. The edge slashed his cheek open clear to the bone, and immediately made his mouth quite a bit larger than it had been. Blood spilled freely down his jaw and neck, and his hand went there instinctively to attempt to quell the bleeding. Two more quick flicks of her wrist and more lines of crimson appeared on his forehead and nose.

"You are an insufferable asshole, and I honestly don't think anyone will miss you when you're gone Steve."

"W…what?" He scrambled once more to his feet, "What do you mean? You're not going to kill me. I love you!"

"You never loved me…not in any way that mattered. You loved having me as frustration release, as a punching back. Even sex was about pain for you. I'm never going to put up with something like that again."

"You can't kill me."

She lunged forward, plunging the Sasa into his belly just bellow his xyphoid process and angled it up until it pierced his heart, her hand sunk deep into her ex husbands innards.

"Watch me." She hissed in his ear, "You have no idea how many years I wished for an opportunity like this one."

She leaned back long enough to watch the light go out of his eyes, his grip on her shoulder slowly losing strength, until he was sliding to the floor. With a jerk she removed her weapon from his body and stepped back. She was smiling at the tangled heap that was now on the floor, blood slowly staining the carpet.

Her gaze slowly moved up to take in her only witness to the act. Gui'Yata was standing impassively, the expressionless mask hiding the more expressive orange eyes.

"Are you feeling better now?" He asked in an even voice.

Courtney looked down at her bloody hand, "I…no. He got off too easy."

His head inclined a bit but he said no more.

"You are going to condemn me now aren't you?" Courtney sighed.

"After meeting him," Gui' said, shaking his head in a human negation, "He was an ass, I see why you wanted him dead."

A wan smile turned up one corner of her mouth.

* * *

**_A/N: I knew it, I knew it...merph...here I am horribly slow about the updates again. My muse got in a rut of writing on Plague over on FP and well, she wasn't considering other offers for other chapters! AUGH...part of it was College, but I can't blame too much on that! I just won't make promises about the next chapters posting! LOL!_**

**_I wrote this particular chapter in about an hour. The fight with the Ex seems to be one of the easier topics of discussion here! LOL! Anyway I know a lot of you were looking forward to seeing this confrontation, so here it is. Please let me know how it came out!_**

**_Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter, I appreciate you sticking with me as slow as I have been about getting this stuff on the table for your perusal!_**

**_Thanks!_**

**_Darwin_**


	13. War Interrupted

**Chapter Twelve: War Interrupted**

Tomakaya could hear the bellowing Habade. The trees – so ancient and solid - fall before the great beasts' onslaught. The ground beneath Donona shudders with their approach, the air reverberates with the shockwaves. Underlying it all was the buzzing sound of the thousands of Noa coursing ever closer to the ancient city.

On the breeze she caught their scent, the vents in her mask not hiding it from her senses. Her clawed hand tightened in anticipation of the pending battle. Her other hand pulled at the various straps across the armor that leaves little skin still exposed to the humid air. A hunter would be shamed to wear so much protection.

This was not hunt, however, this was war, and a totally different set of rules applied. To survive they needed to remain protected against the gouging claws and the desiccating venom of the Noa's bite.

Nervously she flicked and retracted her sraha, wishing the armo of the Noa would hurry up and arrive. The waiting was the worst part of all of this. In the heat of battle there was no time for worry. She longed for the loss of her pessimistic thoughts.

Tomakaya's station was at the rail of Donona's south defensive wall. Her orange eyes scanned the gaps between the trees; looking for the assault she knew was coming. Her mandibles clicked and ground together behind her mask, the sound echoing loudly in her ear slits.

She glanced to one side, locating the next sentry along the low wall, noting quickly it was another of the Taysa.

Frustration built in her as her gaze strayed further from the forest below and in front of her, noting that each warrior on this section of the rail was from her defunct city. This wall was predicted to be the first hit by the incoming Noa horde. She didn't know whether to be honored by that fact or incensed. The latter was at the forefront, unable to help the notion that Donona had put them all here in order to be quickly rid of their presence.

Tomakaya refused to let that thought rule her, steeling herself with the notion that no matter the purpose of their "strategic" positioning, her clan would fight with honor and dignity due the ancient lines.

That was what mattered, not the petty politicking of the Ot Eesan.

Nobaya drew her attention when he passed by her. "Have you seen Eesa Lyonas?"

She blinked, even when the consternation couldn't be seen through the material of her mask. "He has not made it to his post?"

Nobaya shook his head. "None of the Taysa has seen him for a full rise and fall of Chai."

Her indrawn breath was loud in her helmet. "But he is to lead our assault. He was well aware of the Noa army descending on us."

"Aye," Nobaya agreed. "The idea that he has abandoned us is worrying."

"He would not abandon us, Nobaya." She defended their leader, "He is probably on a mission of his own choosing."

"What good is some side mission when we are threatened with extinction? Perhaps on this very day."

"Do not question the Eesa, my mate. He will not let us down."

A clicking growl escaped her mate's throat, "I hope that you are right."

"Get back to your post!" A strange Soua snarled at Nobaya, "You're lax Taysa ways are not sufficient here. I'll not tolerate sloth from the likes of you."

Nobaya glared at the new entry. The creature was a monster of a Soua, matching the height of Yaha and thicker.

"You are not our squad leader, Taura."

"I am now. Your Lyonas has come up missing, is presumed to have deserted the city to save his own worthless hide. I have been sent to replace him."

Tomakaya saw the struggle in her mate not to lash out at the larger Sougra.

"We do not need outside leadership. I will take the squad," Tomakaya chimed in. Nobaya was a good warrior, but loathed leading.

The Sougra snorted, "I have my orders, Sougara." He at least gave her the courtesy of the correct title. "And so do you. Get back to your posts; scouts are reporting the first wave on the move."

Tomakaya wanted to argue more, but merely squared her shoulders and turned back toward the rail. That fight would be for another time, for now she had an adopted city to defend.

She did not look over her shoulder as Nobaya took his leave of her, resuming his place in the defensive line. Under her feet she saw the grunts moving out into the forest, a meager attempt to stave off the attack and keep the intruders from gaining access to the lifts at the base of the tree. She knew it was a failure before she saw the first warrior fall.

Tomakaya did not know what started the Noa on this path, but she knew that they were set, determined to decimate the Soua population beyond hope of recovery. She envisioned the city swarming with Noa by the evening. Their previous assaults had weakened the cities defenses, taken too many warriors.

There was a part of her that was certain that these would be the last days of the mighty Soua race. The Noa would see to that, in short order. That did not mean, however, that she was resigned to such a fate. She would go out fighting, down to her last breath and trickle of blood.

Adrenaline rushed through her system as a trickle of Noa foot soldiers made their way through the line, surging toward the anchor line. The incessant clicking became louder, irritating and frightening all at the same time. Nobaya took aim, slaying three before they could make it under her perch. She swore as the growing numbers flooded past the smaller trees. She fired until the plasma cannon grew hot on her shoulder, and still she only made a small ripple in the stream of bodies that belonged to the enemy.

She found herself cursing with each shot, unsure whether it was frustration or the blistering pain making its way through the padding between her and her weapon. For each Noa she slew, fifteen took their place, the body trampled or eaten as the warriors continued their assault on Donona.

It would be a bit before the Noa made it this high, but she was sure that the creatures would find their way up here eventually.

"Second wave is on the move," relayed through her com. She sucked air through her teeth, unable to see the break between one and the next.

Light speared through her vision as trees were felled in the great forest. A wide swath of destruction could be seen behind the hulking body of the Habade a cleared path to make the swarming Noa faster through the undergrowth. They were like ants at the creatures feet, dashing and zig-zagging to avoid being pulverized under the gargantuan feet of their prime weapon.

The Habade bellowed again, a sound of indignation, overwork, and pain. The handler between its feathered ear tufts yanked mercilessly on the hooks in its nostrils, steering it directly toward where she was standing on the 30th level of the city. She began to make out the Noa warriors on its side, clinging to its huge shoulder feathers like parasites. If the beast made it to the wall their cause would be lost.

Tomakaya aimed for the beast picking the small spot just under its chin. A clean shot would sever its head from its neck and make the creature one more obstacle for the army hanging well back from its slashing feet and swishing tail.

She ordered her weapon to fire, snarling when the snake-like head twisted away and down from the lancing plasma. Instead of doing its intended job it seared through the ear feathers, singing the rider's shoulder before decimating an already tipping tree.

The Sougara swore as a heavy foot squashed warriors from both sides underfoot.

She nearly fell when a strong tremor moved through the earth below the city. Her gaze shot up to the Habade realizing that the act was out of time with its ponderous steps. The tree supporting Donona shivered a second time, vibration moving through the platform and her feet. She shuffled forward catching and holding the rail before spilling over in to the melee below.

When she stabilized her footing once more, she returned her attention to the Habade. There was something wrong in the creature's stance. As she watched the Habade leaned to one side. She thought at first that it was setting up for a swipe at the mingling warriors, but it wasn't turning it was just tipping.

She narrowed her eyes, as if that would bring the action into better focus. The ground beneath the creature's feet was lifting, pushing the Habade off balance. She couldn't help the grin that erupted on her face when the mammoth animal crashed to the ground, its neck whipping with enough force that the rider came free and slammed into a tree before sliding into the panicked Noa on the ground.

She darted a glance around, realizing that all commotion had stopped. The entire battlefield fell silent. The only sound that permeated the air was the rumbling of that mound to the south of the city.

The soil continued to lift and heave, the mound growing longer, even as it widened the swath of disturbed earth. There was a certain familiarity to the outline of that object, but Tomakaya did not want to believe what her eyes were reporting.

A wedge broke free of the confines that trapped it, dull and ill fitting panels poking through the dirt. It was a…ship?

As it freed itself from its prison she realized that the craft was unlike anything she saw in her life. The face of it peaked in three places, between those equal divisions the skin dipped sharply toward the longitudinal axis. Unfortunately that was all she could see from her angle. More trees fell as the ship; a good five times larger than the Habade took to the air. It did not linger there, only freeing its landing struts, shifting a bit and settling in the newly made clearing in the forest.

The crowd, both Noa and Soua merely stared at the phenomenon. Conversation on both sides was slow to start, only to be hushed again when the ship opened its hatch. The breaking of bones in the bodies under its weight carried even to her ears on the platform.

Speculation began anew when a figure appeared on the ramp.

A Taysa next to her began to shift out of his position.

She snapped at him, "You will stay at your post!"

"But Sougara…that is a Soua on the ramp."

"The immediate threat is the Noa. Ship or no ship you will stand your ground and carry out your orders."

The Soua did not look happy but did not budge from his post.

Her eyes strayed to other Soua, fascinated by the entry of such a strange vehicle in their midst, departing their assigned positions and jockeying at the lifts to get to the ground for a closer look.

She was proud of her warriors when they took her at her threat and didn't budge, even with such tempting sights before them.

A transmission cut through the external chatter. The shocked voice was not known to her. "It is…Eesa Lyonas."

* * *

_**A/N: Okay, you guys have been VERY patient with me. I'm very sorry it took me this long to update the story. I really wanted to, but when the muse turns her nose up there isn't anything that I can do about it. I go where she tells me to.**_

**_Chancelor: Hee Steve was not a sympathetic character, not by any means. I'm glad that you are sympathetic to my characters here…I tried very hard to ensure that they were relatable to the readers._**

_**Blackdawn: LOL Thanks I have been trying to clean up my grammar.**_

_**Wanderer: Hi hi! Yeah I know, I'm like way behind on my updating with this program here…Trophy worthy? Well I don't think any of them would want to keep the skull.**_

_**Soulfulbee: Hiya, I'm back (finally) I am a horrible horrible little author for making you all wait so long. That was a long mulling! And yes his death was way too good for him…too neat and tidy!**_

_**Zevrillion: Thanks hopes this one is as satisfying!**_

_**GoldenWind: Hi lady, long time no hear I know…Been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest lately. Thanks for all the well wishes…I get to walk for my diploma next month! I am also the student speaker for my school how kick ass is that (Magna Cum Laude besides!)**_

**_Caz: cowers thanks for the kick in the butt…I have been way too lax about updates to this one…Sigh, no excuses, and no promises right? LOL But here is the long mulled and quickly written next chapter. Thanks for being so patient? LOL!_**

_**Later!**_

_**Okay there we are…back in the saddle (I hope)…Later for now!**_

_**Darwin**_


End file.
