1. The Comfort of Strangers

If the truth be told - her life was a mess. But perhaps this unsatisfying situation could also be a chance, an opportunity to start all over again. As was often the case, it all depends on what you make of it. Robyn had lost a few things along her way; her job for example, her fiancé, and a whole lot of Money - it was a long, very long story. But to be fair, she was healthy and so was her family, she still had a roof over her head and now she also had time, time to write and earn a few bugs, after all she needed to pay her rent. It could be worse, eh? Robyn mused and took a sip of red wine, looking out of of large front window. It was January, and the snow fell in wispy flakes that slowly tumbled down onto the lawn in her front yard. Inside of the small house it was comfortably warm, the glow from the fireplace cast long shadows upon the opposite wall and the sound of the crackling fire filled her ears and made her feel relaxed and comfortable. It had been so long since she'd felt this loosened up. Robyn had difficulties keeping her eyes open, but right before she drifted off into a well-earned slumber her eyes caught sight of something unusual. Something - or somebody - was moving outside. It was darkest night and the next neighbor lived nearly a mile away, Robyn felt her heart beating faster and all of a sudden it appeared to her that moving to the outskirts of the city had not been the smartest idea. Sitting back in her chair and chewing on her lower lip Robyn waited to see another bowing of branches, perhaps another shadow flashing... it was to no avail, everything seemed calm and still.

"Dammit..." she muttered and got up with a sigh, quickly pulling on her jacket. As she opened the front door Robyn reached for a flashlight from the nearby reception table. She then slowly paced along the path that led through her front yard, one of her hands slid into her coat pocket while the other switched on the flashlight. It was freezing cold outside, and suddenly Robyn felt herself shiver violently - not only because of the cold, but because of what she saw right in front of her - she stopped abruptly and gaped at the body lying in the freshly fallen snow. She blinked, squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again only to find that she wasn't hallucinating. Robyn couldn't move, couldn't think properly, she only stared without even noticing that the flashlight slowly slid out of her hand and landed in the snow. "Fuck." she cursed quietly, bending her knees in slow-motion in order to pick up the flashlight. She couldn't take her eyes off the figure lying before her, the sight so utterly strange. It was not a person, not an animal; it was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, a thing, a creature clad in some kind of metallic armor; its left side of the upper chest and the shoulder, the feet and wrists armored with the metal. There were some leather parts covering up what she thought to be its private parts, and an odd fishnet-like bodysuit that covered the things' unprotected body parts. The creatures' face was hidden under a carved metallic mask, a leathery necklace reached down to the middle of its torso, attached to it were tiny skulls and a few teeth of different shapes and sizes. Still squatting, Robyn let her eyes wander along the creatures' massive form, she noticed that the unprotected parts of the its body were horribly mutilated - slashes as if made by a giant whip, burns, and deep wounds probably inflicted by a dagger or a knife. It smelled of burnt flesh. Strangely luminescent green blood streamed into the snow, creating awfully beautiful patterns.

Robyn was frightened, paralyzed; she knew she had to do something but she just couldn't wrap her head around the situation. She slowly started to get up, holding on to the flashlight as if it were her lifesaver. Next thing she knew was that she was down on her knees, her face only a few inches away from the creatures' head and her wrist squeezed in the painfully tight grip of a massive, clawed hand that didn't allow her to move. She was going to throw up because of all the bloody fear, her heart hammered in her chest and the lump in her throat threatened to suffocate her at any moment. From beneath the things' mask a growl arose, getting louder and louder until it finally peaked in a loud and beastly roar that made her ears rang. Robyn felt dizzy, she needed to say something, anything, but the words got stuck somewhere along the way out. "Stop it!" she felt her lips moving, but she did not know if she'd only thought the words or actually said them. Either way, the thing didn't hear it. "Cut the crap! " she barked suddenly, "I'm not going to harm you!" Robyn wondered where that came from, but it appeared that this time it understood; the creature released her wrist, the throbbing pain numbed her for a moment. She fell back on her behind and rubbed her wrist with her right hand while staring at the thing. It still lay there, unmoving, growling and panting as though it was fighting for dear life. Her breath plumed up, thick and steam-like, in front of her face as she watched him, attempting to speak but somehow she was lacking the words. On her hands and knees Robyn slowly moved to its side and looked at the thing, sitting back on her haunches. It didn't move its head to keep an eye on her, didn't even attempt to attack her again. It was dying, Robyn realized, and there was no one here to help but her.

Her hands were cold and her clothes soaked with snow, she knew she needed to act quickly unless she wanted the creature to freeze to death. Maybe letting it die was the best thing to do , who knew what it was up to? And what if it died? The thought of having a corpse lying around in her garden did not really appeal to her. Stretching out a shaking hand Robyn slowly touched the things' uncovered right shoulder. Once, twice… it didn't move. "Hey…" whispered Robyn, the uncertainty in her voice was more than obvious. "If you can hear me… listen closely; we must go inside," she slowly shuffled her arm underneath its shoulder while she spoke, "Wrap your arm around my shoulders if you can, I will help you to get on your feet. Oh and... don't kill me." Its head was far too close for her liking, not even her little finger would fit into the space between her face and its mask. "This is ridiculous…" whispered Robyn and squeezed her eyes shut, she tried to push it up but it didn't move at all. "Come on… please," she pleaded and tried it again, and all of a sudden the two of them were standing on their feet – more or less - the Thing was leaning on her and nearly knocked her over with its immense weight. What did just happen? It must have understood what I said… Robyn's thoughts went haywire and she had to force herself to start walking, placing one foot before the other until they finally reached the front door. Maybe half an hour later Robyn closed the door behind her and sat down on the flat table right in front of the couch. It would have been impossible to maneuver the creature to the bathroom, it was just too heavy and too exhausted. Running a still shaking hand through her messy hair she looked him over, trying to figure out what to do next. The green liquid that seemed to be blood trickled along the things' body and dripped onto her couch, the creatures' wounds needed to be patched up, else it would be dead soon.

Minutes later Robyn held a first-aid kit in her hands and began to clean the things' wounds as best as she could. The fishnet and armor got in her way all the time, but she was pretty sure that she wouldn't live long enough to see the creature heal if she tried to undress it now. Gently nudging its shoulder Robyn tried to wake the creature. "Hey… umm, can you sit up?" Robyn raised a brow in response to its sudden cooperativeness, because the thing actually sat up without any protest. And more than that, it helped her by taking off the shoulder- and chest protectors. While doing this, the silvery eyes embedded in its mask followed her every move. Robyn sat back and watched the thing take off its armor, slowly ripping off the fishnet wherever needed; in that very moment Robyn understood that "it" was male. She did not speak, only listened to the odd clicking sounds emitting from beneath the mask. His body then fell slack again and Robyn finished the cleaning. She tried to bandage his wounds as good as possible, realizing that no human would have been able to survive these kinds of violations. But he was not out of the woods yet. He soon passed out on her couch, and Robyn decided to leave him here and let him rest. She lightened up the fireplace and went to the bathroom, refreshing herself a bit and trying to clear her mind.

She had found an alien in her garden. Well, most likely an alien; he was wounded, and more dead than alive. Perhaps she should call the authorities and let them take care of him, but then again she knew what they would do to him. She had no illusions according to that - they would examine him, interrogate him and perhaps even kill him because they accused him to be a threat to humankind. What if he actually was a threat to humankind? Robyn honestly doubted that he was harmless; his armor had many attachments with lots of pockets and places to put stuff into it. There were blades coming out of his gauntlets and his leather belt appeared to have held at least two knives or other weapons of that kind. His body was well trained, sinewy and agile; he appeared to be a weapon himself, a weapon that carried a lot more weapons - but apparently he had either lost all of them or someone had disarmed him completely. He wanted to kill her at first sight, of that she was sure. But wasn't that only natural when someone had beaten the hell out of you and left you to die? Meanwhile it was 5 in the morning and she was tired as hell, but Robyn could not even think of sleep. Silently sneaking back into the living room she cuddled up into a seat and wrapped a blanket around herself. Robyn watched him sleep, and for some odd reason she was not afraid anymore.

When Robyn woke up in the morning ( or rather afternoon), her guest was still lying on the couch as if he hadn't moved at all since he fell asleep last night. After taking a long and hot shower Robyn grabbed for a new pack of bandages and sat down beside him, starting to change the wound dressings. Apparently aware of her presence he rose up from his horizontal position, tilted his head and made that strange clicking sound again. Robyn flinched and took her hands off of him in an attempt to give him more space. "Good morning," she began hesitantly, "Your bandages need to be changed. Do you understand…?" He only clicked and nodded slightly, Robyn assumed that meant he understood and therefore she continued to treat his wounds. Robyn realized that he was recovering much faster than any human would. She could not help but take a closer look at his skin, it was of a very dark brownish-green tone, thick and more like a reptilian hide. It was rough but yet smooth to the touch. On the insides of his arms and down his chest and abdomen, the color was of a light beige. "You are healing unbelievably quick." Robyn said mesmerized, watching him fall back on the couch. He still needed to rest. Robyn went to bring him some water, he had to be thirsty, at least she assumed that he would be. Placing the glass on the table in front of the couch she looked at him and pondered whether to ask where he came from or not. She decided against it. "I am in the kitchen, in case you need something. There are a few things I need to take care of." Robyn then turned her back to him and walked towards the kitchen when all of a sudden, she heard a strangely deep and rough voice ask, "Name, ooman?" Robyn heard it loud and clear but it took her a few seconds to actually understand what was happening. He was talking! "Did you... did you just ask my name!?" Robyn questioned, taken aback, "Robyn, my name is Robyn." He clicked softly to her before he continued, "Rhajk'de," pressing a hand to his chest. "Thank… you." He seemed to have difficulties speaking out these last two words. "You're welcome," she answered sheepishly and headed to the kitchen. For a few moments Robyn thought that she finally had lost her mind. Did this really happen? An alien just asked her name? She threw her hands up in front of her face and shook her head. What a way to start the day!

Rhajk'de was unable to make sense of his current situation. How did he end up in an ooman dwelling? He tried to recall what had happened, but his memories were fragmented and blurred. The last thing he knew for sure was that he had hunted a bunch of bad bloods. Not any bad bloods, but those who had slaughtered his bearer and two of his brothers. It was his duty as an Arbitrator to act as judge and executioner the same, but as a Son and brother he would savor the moment when he'd kill them with his very own hands. He had found them here on that insignificant planet, and it had taken him months to track them down. They were hiding here because they knew about his aversion for oomans. He cursed at himself inwardly, how could he have been so stupid? This planet was foreign territory and the bad bloods had used this knowledge against him, they must have known that his hatred would made him blind and reckless. It had been a trap, and he'd fallen right into it like an ignorant youngblood. The elders of his clan had doubts about his status as arbitrator, although he was a highly ranked elite warrior who had never failed in his hunts and tasks. Though, it was unaccustomed to rise up to such a high rank at his age, most hunters would prefer to enlarge their trophy collection for as long as possible instead. Maybe they were right, and maybe sending him after those bad bloods was a Trial; he obviously failed at it. There had been three of them... he'd killed two of them even though they had poisoned him and whipped the shit out of him - with his very own favorite whip- before his world disappeared in a black sea of nothingness. Of course there was nothing he could've done about it. He was sedated, and no honorable Yautja would use such disreputable tactics. He needed to find the escaped bad blood, and if it was the last thing he would do. He would prove the elders wrong and show them that he was more than worthy of his rank. Rhajk'de remembered the light he'd seen, an ooman building, a fireplace inside. These fuckers had taken his weapons, the med-comp, everything of use. His shift suit was broken, that was the worst thing. His species was not used to the icy temperatures here, and although his wounds might have been mortal he probably would have survived them – but he would not have endured the cold - after hours of lying in the snow his body had gone numb. The ooman had saved him. Rhajk'de shook his head in disgust at this realization.

This is ridiculous, I cannot even get off this forsaken planet!

His ship was still orbiting the ooman planet, but unfortunately the remote for the steering mechanism was broken. His only chance was the drop ship. It probably would not take him off the planet, but the communication device inside could still be functional, if the bad bloods hadn't destroyed it, that is. There was only one person he could contact– his youngest brother. Net'ej and Rhajk'de were not the average brothers who go through thick and thin, but they were brothers still and he knew he could count on him, especially when that meant Net'ej got allowed to assist Rhajk'de in hunting down that bad blood. But Rhajk'de was wise enough to admit to himself that his body was still too weak. He would need a cycle or two to regain his strength before he could search for the drop ship, and even then it would take at least one more cycle until Net'ej arrived. If an ooman saw him … they would try to catch him, to steal his technology, maybe running experiments on him... he snarled at that, he wouldn't allow it to happen. What if the ooman female had already informed other oomans? No, that was rather doubtful because if that were the case they would already be here. Why she had helped in the first place was a miracle to him. Oomans did not have a sense of honor. And he had never hunted them because to him, they weren't proper prey. They were nothing but cowardly, shallow and pathetic beings. If Rhajk'ke were a youngblood he would probably wreak havoc all over this house, scaring the hell out of the little female. Luckily for her he was not, and as the years had gone by he had grown patient. Very patient. Like any other honorable hunter Rhajk'de would never kill somebody who was unarmed or defenseless, sick or pregnant. The female was brave, and courage was something he truthfully respected.

If he liked it or not – he would be dead if it wasn't for her.

Ooman - Human (slang)