Welcome to chapter 5. I've updated the description of the story, mainly because I've decided to change to direction of the story a bit. Enjoy!

'Differences'

Quinn woke up well rested. He looked around expecting to be laying on a dirt floor, like so many days he had. He rubbed his eyes and swung his legs over the edge of his bed.

'What time is it?'

The clock read eleven. He had slept through most of the morning. Already wearing some boxers, he through on a t-shirt and walked out his room.

It was quiet on board the ship. All that sounded was the quiet, yet pleasant murring of the engines. Paya was usually up at the crack of dawn, but she was nowhere to be found. Quinn walked down the ship a bit and opened the door to her room slightly. Inside was Paya, sleeping still. He closed the door and yawned. In the kitchen he kept coffee somewhere, and he was dying for a cup.

With coffee in hand, he decided to get to work before she woke up on finding some of those messages sent by the Covenant. These messages were received by all 'Weyland' vessels, likely as an SOS. His ship was not made by Weyland Corp. however. But they hired his team every so often to do larger operations. The Apex was a long distance cruiser. Him and his team were stationed on it for discovery purposes typically, unless otherwise stated. He was meant to find lush, lively planets and take samples of the flora and fauna. These samples would be used for cataloguing or be looked at for medical applications. In the cargo hold must have been thousands of different things from multiple planets. Other times though, they'd be hired to set up small colonies. That is if the planet was habitable. And mark it for later use. That or really a multitude of other tasks, his team was prepared for anything they might have to do besides battle. The only weapons they had on board were there rifles.

His ship was outfitted with Weyland tech though. So the signal likely recognized it as such.

Quinn walked into another room along the massive hallway. Inside was a large desk with a monitor sitting on top of it. He sat down in an office chair and pulled himself up to the table. A desktop flashed on to the screen. Opening up his mail, he was shocked to find five new messages. One from home base (located in earths solar system) and another from.. one of his squad mates? The name read Jeremy. Since he woke up in that basement, he suspected that they all died. Quinn clicked on one of the four messages sent by Jeremy. This one was five days old. A day after Quinn was taken by Paya.

'I don't know if your getting this, I don't even know if any of you are alive. But if, by some miracle you are, I need help. I've made it back to our ship but I can't get in. I don't know how long I can last out here with those monsters... make your way back if you can.

- J'

Quinn felt a wave of relief wash over of him. Maybe he wasn't the only one who survived after all? He skipped the next two and clicked on the most recent message.

'CapturedDon't have much ti'

Following below the message was a series of numbers. Quinn knew what he needed to do. And he doubted Paya would go along with it, but it's worth a try.

She wasn't up yet and didn't want to wake her, so he took a breathe and calmed his nerves. He ran his hand through his hair, and calmed his frantic thoughts.

Covenant messages

Quinn reminded himself. He scrolled through the countless alerts before he found the ones that were marked red. He clicked on one of them and was met with a series of error codes and security alerts. At the very bottom was a set of coordinates. He saved the message so that he could find it easier later.

Quinn clicked on the second one, inside were pictures, dozens of them. Most were distorted and blurry, as if someone was running when they took them. The camera that had taken them was clearly damaged, leaving some sort of static on each photo. But some were discernible.

"What are you looking at"? He heard Paya ask behind him

Quinn waved his hand toward himself. She leaned against table and looked at the screen with him. He heard her mandables click as the two studied them quietly.

"Is this it? There nothing but poorly taken images"! Paya voiced

He brushed aside her comment and continued to look at the rest.

"Look there". He pointed to one.

This picture was in considerably better condition than the rest. It wasn't of anything special, just a landscape shot, which was admittedly beautiful. But what was interesting, and what Quinn pointed at was a likely massive structure poking out from behind one of the mountains.

"Do you recognize it at all"? Quinn questioned

"No.. is there anything else"? She sighed

Quinn navigated to the first message he opened containing the pair of coordinates.

"There were these, but that's all we got".

"One of them is the coordinate for the planet, I remember. I'm not sure about the other". Paya said

"Well it's shorter. It could be a planetary location". Quinn pointed out

"Likely. I want everything to bring back to the elders". She began to 'type' on her wrist device the coordinates on the screen.

"I need the photos as well, transmit them".

There was a long pause from Quinn. He took this to be an opportunity to ask her for assistance in rescuing his friend. Really, it was blackmail. But he figured she wouldn't even consider it if he didn't.

"No". Quinn shook his head

Paya turned her head to Quinn furiously.

"And why not Ooman"? She growled, impatient

"I need your help first. One of my team mates have been captured by a tribe. Nearby I think. I was sent coordinates for somewhere on this planet". He explained

"I can't do that Quinn".

"Why the hell not"? He suddenly became furious

"They are not my property. I did not catch them. That and the closest village is independent, I have no authority over them... I would get in lots of trouble, and on top of that, break my peoples code of honor".

Quinn was annoyed by her hypocrisy. He had helped her! He didn't even know what these Yautjas plans were if they got what they wanted. Hell, he didn't know what they were expecting to find, humans outside of the Covenant didn't even know! It could be anything. Likely deadly, and dangerous, whatever it is. And he just handed it right to her. Albeit for his life.

The least she could do is repay the favor?

"You don't think me sharing this with you isn't illegal? I could get court marshaled if any one found out! Please Paya. This person means a lot to me". He practically begged

"But no one will find out. How could they". Paya said quietly

She paused for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts.

"I'm sorry. No. Your help is no longer needed. With or without the pictures, I have what I really need". She clicked her mandables. Quinn noticed her furrowed brow

"Is that a threat? After all this, your threatening to kill me"! He raised his voice, not quite a yell

"Kill you... Ill be honest Ooman, you've grown on me. I plan to leave you be. But no Quinn, I can't help. I refuse to betray my brothers and sisters, and my way of life". Paya glanced down slightly, as if saddened

Silence filled the room for a few moments as Quinn thought of what to say next. He recognized the yautjas loyalty to her people, this in many ways made him feel guilty for giving away possibly world changing information for his own life. Now was the decision he had to make; let her leave, or try to stop her from returning those coordinates- flushing the selfish feeling he holstered from his chest.

"Then you can leave. Gather your things and get the hell out". He sighed, leaning into his hand

Paya walked to the door slowly and opened it. She turned to say something but was cut off.

"I can't believe I considered you a friend". He spoke the last word quiet

"This was never meant to be anything more than an interrogation! You know that Quinn. You were part of my mission, nothing more! It's not my fault if it turned into something more than that for you". She growled

"Clearly you care enough about me not to kill me. You said it yourself. You do think of it as more than that! Maybe you didn't, but you do now... So as a friend Paya, I'm begging you to help me. There's no way I can do this alone..." he finished

Paya clenched her fist, conflicted. He saw her shake her head very slightly, making her decision mentally. She walked out of the door. He could hear a loud bang down the ship. Moments later the sound of the door opening then closing echoed through the ship.

Quinn put his head in his hands. He was pissed, but not so surprised. He had warned himself multiple times throughout the last few days that something like this would happen. But it wasn't over. As much as he cared about Paya at this point, he couldn't let her leave with those codes. He to had responsibilities.

Quinn slammed his fist into the aluminum table and stood up. He quickly walked into his room, dressed himself in sutable clothing, and grabbed his rifle. The door hissed open and he looked around, he figured that she'd be going back to the hut.

...some time passes...

Quinn stepped quietly but was quick. He hadn't left to far behind Paya. In the distance he saw a figure walking through the trees, that must've been her no doubt. He kept as quiet as he could.

Now within a few feet distance, he decided to take the plunge. Quinn took a breathe, steadying himself. He felt the snow fall and melt on his skin. He began to run at her now, readying his gun.

Paya turned and was shocked to see Quinn running at her, as quick as she was, she wasn't fast enough and was slammed with the butt of his gun into her head.

He panted hard and dropped his gun in the snow beside himself. Paya lay there unmoving. Lucky for Quinn, she hadn't been wearing her bio-mask. He dropped to his knees and checked her neck to make sure he hadn't killed her. He sighed in relief as he felt the steady pulse.

Now to get what he came for. Quinn grabbed her wrist device and took it off. He didn't know how to work it but that wasn't important, the important thing was that she didn't get these coordinates home. The marine began to shiver in the cold, the snow had melted beneath his legs and was getting them damp. He stood up and looked at Paya one last time, he wasn't worried about her being cold; remembering the first day they met. Quinn opened her satchel and took out the gauze she had used to mend his head. He wrapped it as best he could around the wound she now possessed.

Maybe she won't remember this... wishful thinking

He smirked slightly and stood up. He felt horrible about this, but it was his duty. And as always; as friendly as Paya was, the predators were the enemy. It was time to move on now, he had a friend to rescue. Quinn put her device on his own wrist and made his way back to The Apex.

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That's five! In this chapter, I wanted the two characters to establish there sides. An actual conflict. How there missions, responsibilities, and peoples are different, which stops them from any true friendship they could have. While Paya has had this in mind most the time, Quinn was working with the idea that he HAD to survive and that's all, developing noticeable feelings for her. But by the end realized the somewhat selfish and possibly dangerous implications of this. With the sudden change in adittude, he uses Payas vulnerability as an opportunity to 'redeem' himself. His goal not to kill Paya of course, but to stop her from giving away this valuable information. After all, he's a human soldier, and his duty is to protect and help humanity, an idea that had been lost on him until Paya revealed she wasn't going to kill him. This event was meant to illustrate Quinn's major character flaws that will build plot points in the future.

I hope you enjoyed! Any questions? PM me! Other than that, please leave a review and all that! Have a wonderful day!