The delights of Rax (draft 2)

A soft click pierces the silence as one of the two Arbiters places a translator onto the "table" inside of private room designed for questioning.

"Begin test for auditory translation hardware. Can you both understand me?"

Two other voices begin speaking, though unintelligible at first. They begin to coalesce into a steady stream of bad grammar to perfect speech as the two continue talking until one of the Arbiters commands them to cease.

"Seeing as the translator is working, let me begin. As per our legislative laws, before we consider your application to living quarters on this station you must first identify yourselves, your species, and the planet that was the original home of your species" spoke an Arbiter with a bored and hurried voice.

The human leans forward in his seat and speaks authoritatively. "My name is Alex Johan, I am a human, I hail from the planet Earth in the Sol system."

"And you are?" asked the other Arbiter as it pointed to the tripedal chitinous creature.

"Th'lakis, I am a Sharn, I come from..." it trailed off as it confided with Alex. "What do you guys call our star system again?"

"Alpha Centauri...jesus, are you fucking dense?" Alex said in a low whisper.

With more confidence than before, Th'lakis corrected her statement, "I come from what my people call Sharnari in the Alpha Centauri system." Contradictory to her commanding squeaks and clicks, her "bean-stalk", as Alex called it, reverberated an embarrassed slightly black color. The Arbiters didn't seem to pick up on such a clue, but Alex knew her far too well. She was hiding the fact that she forgot.

The two Arbiters sat back in highly strange seats. Alex and Th'lakis considered that by some measurement, the seats they themselves sat in were constructed just for both of their species, as if they were tailored simply for them before they even entered the room. Alex thought of this as a reassuring gesture, though Th'lakis was annoyed by this as no immediate measurements of her carapace or Alexs' were made even though she knew her species was on file.

Still relaxed, or what seemed to be by their body structure, the rightmost Arbiter began. "Alright, now that we've gotten the basic information we require from you, we must ask the circumstances of your arrival and the nature of your request. Under law, we also must advise you that you have the right to separate interrogation chambers should you so desire."

Th'lakis, without hesitation or consideration for Alexs' opinion strongly clicked "No. We're fine right here." Alex seemed humored by the gesture.

The leftmost Arbiter gave what the two could only guess as a sigh before muttering "That'll make this long ordeal." Ignoring his counterpart, the other Arbiter continued; "So how did you two come to this station, for our record-keeping?"

"Some dude rescued us from a planet that they called Rax. I can't tell ya how far away it is, or what star system it's in." Replied Alex.

"I wouldn't really call it 'rescuing' to be fair. They just picked us up after we finished our distress beacon." Squeaked Th'lakis.

"It's called a 'distress beacon' for gods sake! Neither of us wanted to be stuck there for the rest of our lives, we were fuckin' *rescued*."

Clearly annoyed, judging by the greenish hue her stalk had changed to, Th'lakis clicked "Here we go, another argument about semantics from the oh-so-wise idiot who-"

"Please desist from further banter and tell us how you came to be 'trapped' on Rax." said the right Arbiter, clearly calm and disinterested.

Alex and Th'lakis glanced at each other before the human stated "Well, we kind of 'escaped' from our detention cells on a Dothen ship, found an escape pod, and jettisoned ourselves before the ship we were on was cut in half..."

"I still can't believe we survived all of that shit." remarked Th'lakis. "Some Dothen assholes capture me and him, both on different planets, and try to sell us into slavery above Rax, and then we were attacked by...whoever the fuck they were. The power cut out, the magnetic seals on our cages broke, and we escaped."

Alex gave a short laugh, "Yeah, after we ejected, apparently the captain of the Dothen ship piloted the ship halfway through the atmosphere before the aggressing ship cut the damn thing in half with some kind of beam cannon."

"Luckily for us, one half survived the plummet to the ground."

Seemingly more involved with the discussion, the left Arbiter asked "And you have no knowledge of who attacked the Dothen ship?"

"Nope." both replied instantly and plaintively.

"So how long were you two on Rax, and how did you survive?"

"Seven years." replied Alex.

Th'lakis' stalk again turned a slight irritated green and corrected Alex. "They don't use Earth years." She raised up one of her scythe-like claws and continued,  "We were on Rax for about one tenth of a standard year."

"Like I fuckin' know what a standard year is...in any case, after we landed, we damn near killed each other. I mean look at her, she's friggin 8 feet tall, stands on three legs, and she's got claws that could slice clean through a steak, no offense Lacky."

Alex had taken to calling Th'lakis "Lacky" as shorthand. She seemed fairly at ease with such a butchering of her name, given that her race detested such mannerisms. The Arbiters, being privy to this particular social faux pas, expected an execution. What they got was a deep purple from Th'lakis, indicating contentment and trust. "I had heard rumors about humans; incredible strength, superior reflexes, being a barbarian species,  and the inability to sense pain, so of course I feared him as much as he did me. But against the odds of certain death, we kind of "mimed" our way through most of the early days until we got to the wreckage of the ship."

"I'm sorry, 'mimed'?"

"A human expression." replied Alex out of turn. "It basically means making motions and gestures with your appendages and body to kind of communicate."

"If you can call it communicating." said Th'lakis, now emanating a bright orange which denoted amusement. Nothing was amusing to the both of them during those days, but looking back on them was simply funny. "It was more like incredibly primitive motions to objects and things we needed or wanted-"

"-or hunted"

"Yeah, that too. But as we made our way to the wreckage of the ship, we started to learn basic commands verbally and could *actually* communicate."

Both Arbiters, sitting more upright, were visually intrigued by the story that they were hearing. The Sharn were a uniquely xenophobic race and detested other species, and they knew absolutely nothing about the humans, or Earth. It was a rare thing for a Sharn to communicate to the communal races of the galaxy, but for an unknown race such as humans? Both Arbiters thought of it as blasphemy. "So...you two simply learned each others languages as you went along. Is that correct?"

"Pretty much." exclaimed both Alex and Th'lakis, again in unison.

"It's pretty hard to distinguish the different types of clicks and squeaks that Lacky makes.

"Just as hard is it for me to decipher the retarded vowels and consonants all strung together...and don't even get me started on human grammar."

"Yeah, took her ages to figure out why 'their, they're and there' meant completely different things and stuff like that."

"Oh, and spending two years learning Dothen so we could operate the technology inside the ship was a big pain in the ass."

Again, in complete unison, as if bound by telepathy, both stated "It fucking sucked."

A short silence fell between the four. As the Arbiters simply looked bemused and confounded, Alex gave them an opportunity for reprieve.

"Hey, don't mean to be an ass to ya'll, but do you guys got bathrooms? I gotta go somethin' fierce."

Before the rightmost Arbiter could even open his mouth to ask 'What is a bathroom?' Th'lakis clarified for them. "He means a bio-waste disposal area. To be fair, you guys kept us waiting for quite a while."

"Ahh, yes. If you exit the door behind you, go right all the way down the hall and it will be the last door on your left."

Without a word, Alex jumped up from his seat, turned around and opened the door, eager to alleviate his hurting bladder. Unaware of this fact, Th'lakis inquired "Is it a number one or two?"

Without answering, he headed out the door towards the 'bio-waste disposal area' as she clicked incredibly loudly so as he could hear her "DON'T STICK 'IT' INSIDE IF YOU GOTTA PISS!"

Anticipating the Arbiters' questions of the meaning of 'piss' and 'number one or number two', she explained human excrement and the mechanics of such things.

"With your bathrooms, it won't take him long to figure things out."

Fifteen minutes pass, and she had successfully elaborated on the human male genetalia and waste orafices and the practices thereto in "grooming" as Th'lakis called it. Just as that conversation has concluded, she began to wonder 'What the hell is he doing?'

Another brief moment passes, and Alex opens the door, eyes abeam with a smile that went from ear to ear. Startled by this, Th'lakis asks "And just what were you doing in there? Giving birth?"

"No. No, no, no. I was just..." he paused as his smile paradoxically grew wider. "I was simply exploring the...intricacies of your restrooms. Quite gracious and fulfilling they are."

Simply by the tone of Alexs' voice, she knew exactly what had happened. "Please tell me you didn't." she pleaded.

"Awwww yeah I did. And screw you for telling me not to!" Alex boasted with great gusto.

Completely confused, both Arbiters tried to make sense of the situation. "What did you do? Did you destroy our waste facilities?!"

With a great bellowing laughter that took everyone by surprise, Alex replied "No, absolutely not, I just found them enjoyable!"

"You stuck it in and fucked the anal evacuation tube didn't you?" her stalk now an incredibly embarrassed black.

"Oh you know me all too well." said he.  "Hey boss, those things are sterilized after every use right?"

Even more confounded by the outbursts from both parties, the leftmost Arbiter stated quite shakenly "Erm, yes, after every use, why do you ask?"

Especially proud of himself, to no great surprise or relief to Th'lakis, Alex replies, "Excellent."

Th'lakis' stalk, sparking a deep, burning red, she curtly cuts the conversation short. "If you don't mind, we've answered all your questions, and we're a bit tired. I believe we've done our best to enlighten you to our situation."

Composing themselves, both Arbiters can sense the frustration of the Sharn. "Well, yes, I think we have everything we need." The right Arbiter said hurriedly. You'll be stationed in quarters H82J6. Enjoy your stay."

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Th'lakis entered their assigned room first, assuring their accommodations were met. Though cold for herself, and the air thick, it was perfect for Alex. "I think this'll do nicely for you, asshole." still holding onto her red, furious hue on her stalk.

"Oh come on" Alex nonchalantly pleaded. "It's been fucking years. I can't believe you'd be so -"

The blunt side of Th'lakis' claw smacked across his temple at high speed as the door closes, knocking Alex to the ground. Through the flurry of clicks, squeals, and garbles, he hears only "- CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D DO SOMETHING SO AMAZINGLY IDIOTIC AND FUCKING EMBARRASSING AS WHAT YOU DID BACK THERE!" She towered over him at full height, certainly an intimidating presence with all extremities extended. "WHAT THE FUCK CAME OVER YOU?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT IMPRESSION YOU MIGHT HAVE GIVEN TO THE ARBITERS, TO ME OF ALL PEOPLE, AND TO YOUR SPECIES IF THEY KNEW WHAT YOU HAD DONE?!"

Getting on his feet, and absolutely mortified at seeing Th'lakis in a state of rage, he collected himself. She was leaning over his frail body like in the early days when trust was at a premium. He knew that in an instant she'd be able to dice him into nothing more than hamburger meat. "Jesus fucking christ, Lacky!" he yelled as he assessed the damage to his head. "They don't know what the hell went on, and I doubt they care! They have bigger issues than some human taking liberties with their facilities!" Seeing no blood on his hands as he drew them back for a looking over, anger swept over him. In a fraction of a second, he leaped into the air straight for Th'lakis' abdomen and knocked her down. The lower gravity giving him a higher advantage than her three legs could give to her. "Eye for an eye, bitch!" Alex screamed and his fist made contact with her cranium.

The next short moments were a simple jumble of Th'lakis' body and Alexs' becoming more intertwined and furious, both scoring superficial yet painful hits to each other. Alex had his arms around both of her front insectoid and powerful arms and his right leg wrapped around  her front right leg, keeping her off balance while she continued to pummel his spine with her back knee. Both of them rolling close to the door, a chime pierced the grunts, groans, hisses, and clicks of the pair. Instantly, their scuffle ended as the door was opened by the Arbiter. Seeing them jumbled on top of one another, and both looking straight at him like a deer in the headlights of a car, he exasperatingly muttered "Sh-should I come back at a later time?"

Both of them got to their feet, ashamed and embarrassed about being caught like this. "No, we're quite fine." clicked Th'lakis softly.

"We were just..." Alex trailed off as he gave a concerned look to her. "We were simply having a, uh, discussion about societal norms in...erm, you know."

Satisfied that the situation had extinguished itself, and none the wiser to their fight, the Arbiter explained himself. "I regret to inform you that Records Keeping requires a bit more information from the two of you, and that it is in the interest of brevity and security that we interrogate you two one at a time. Is this a bad time to begin?"

Wanting to distance herself from the whole debacle, Th'lakis spoke up. "Nah, lead the way Arbiter." Looking down to Alex, she could tell that he was feeling guilty of the scuffle. 'Good' she thought. 'Maybe this will give him a wake up call.' Before turning to leave the room, she decided to walk over to an end table near the door and remove a soft kind of cloth from a receptacle. Turning to Alex, she grabbed his head and tilted it upwards and wiped off blood that began to trickle down his left nostril before stuffing it in there. "Hold it there, I'll be back soon."

As the door shut, silence again permeated the dormitory, falling like a thick blanket of humiliation. Holding the cloth to his nose, body bruised and defeated, he simply let his legs give and dropped to the floor. Even with the low gravity, his ass still hurt from the impact. He simply didn't care. He fucked up, he knew it, and worst of all he fought the only person in the universe who he implicitly trusted and respected. For the next several hours, shame would be his only companion, or so Alex thought.

Eyeing the room, there were two rectangular objects that he could only guess to as being beds. Being inside that broken wreck of a ship with Th'lakis for seven long years, he'd become acclimated to the hard deckplates of the ship as being his bed. Walking over to one of the 'beds', he towered over it and prodded it with his hands. It was soft, far too soft in fact. It was of no consequence to him though, the floor would do nicely.

Giving his estate another look-over, he saw a table near one of the bulkheads across from the entrance. Next to it was a panel in the wall with a triangular hole that receded a decent bit into the wall labeled "Molecular Printer". On the table, Alex saw something that looked just like the translator that the Arbiter had put down in the interrogation room, except this one had an interface for displaying information. He picked it up into his hands and began to try and decipher the gibberish on the screen. Reflexively, he asked the datapad "Hey, can you translate this text to Dothen?" The datapad instantly responded, and the text began to morph into the Dothen language. Enjoying this kind of responsive tech, Alex muttered "Swanky."

With the newfound ability to access a galactic network of information, he posed yet another question for the datapad: "Can you give me all public knowledge of the planet 'Earth' or any information regarding the human race?"

Attempting to sit down on what seemed like a simple elevated stool, he waited as the datapad scoured the network for all the information as the screen displayed the message "Standby: Searching for relevant information. Estimated wait time: 382 station units." Judging by the timer in the lower left corner of the screen, he supposed it'd probably take about 20 minutes.

"Twenty minutes..." Alex sighed. "Well, certainly not much I can do besides look back at my time on that hellhole." Drifting back to his memories, all he could focus on was his most intense and personal memory with Th'lakis.

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In the bowels of the gutted and tattered ship, Alex found himself dragging his freshly hunted quarry down to a room of Lacky's choosing. Approaching the cargo hold, or what was left of it, he heard the clicks and hisses of his comrade in the dimly lit and spacious room.

Entering the doorway, his still warm prey in tow, he asked her "Are you sure you want me to do this?" His voice echoed and boomed off of every which wall as she cowered in the far corner. "I can simply lock you inside until it's all over and done with."

Chattering and clicking, Lacky responded in a very unusual way. Alex couldn't tell if it was her species' version of shivering or what, but it certainly sounded like it. "No!" she replied in an ear-piercing squawk. "I-it needs to be done this-s-s way. When we Sharn bro-ood, we become aggressive, an-nd each female needs to be subdued or k-k-killed."

"So, basically, I just need 'ta beat the hell out of you when you're done laying your eggs and ready to fight. Is that it?" Alex asked calmly. He had to play it cool, he knew Lacky was nervous even without being able to see her stalk. Walking closer, he laid the fresh meat at her nest and gave her a concerned nod for her to eat.

Composing herself and trying to fight the chattering, she explained to him that this was a brutal ritual by human standards. After laying her eggs, she'd become supremely paranoid about protecting her newly laid offspring. Any living creature that came close would be slaughtered unless ready to fight for the brood. She elaborated that in her species, this was typically done by the 'Alpha Male' as Alex understood it. The Alpha would fight, dismember and subdue or outright kill the female in order to fertilize the eggs she was protecting, and by doing so, would prove his worth to the female and stand guard over the nest. Alex would be forced to fight her until she could no longer be a threat, or until he himself perished. Only then would her rage subside.

"Don't worry about the 'ripping off of limbs' part..." said Th'lakis. "They grow back quickly, as you've seen before on our hunts."

Alex gave a hearty, yet considerate laugh. "And just as you've seen me on our hunts..." he said as he trailed off and put a hand on her arm. "I don't take threats against my life lightly. I certainly won't kill you, but you'd better be ready for the fight of your life." As he gazed into her compound eyes, he recognized her approximation of a smile as her stalk turned an almost invisible purple in the dim cargo bay. "Although I doubt I can fertilize your eggs!" he ended with a laugh.

"That's the only response I expected from you." she clicked softly. "Now leave me and let me eat. You'll know when I need you."

Walking towards the exit of the defunct cargo bay, he looked over his shoulder at her with hidden fear. She was a formidable ally on their hunts, and an excellent brawler when they would fight over meaningless things. This was different, however. She had held back her hunters pride with him at every turn when they would fight. Never once did she seriously harm him, and likewise for him onto her. This was a battle of the most basic instincts of both of their species, and he knew damned well what that meant. She was going to be out for blood.

Quickly he set out gathering every piece of weaponry he had while powering up the portable fusion generator to power the automated energy weapons outside the ship in case any of the wildlife decided to join in. Certainly a risky move, as if any of them stepped outside while they were active, they'd be killed.

As Alex waited outside the cargo bay, he listened to the sickly sounds that emanated from it while sharpening his knife. He had to be surgical, he could not under any circumstance lose control over himself during the fight. He couldn't risk her life, as he'd be risking his own in the long run. Besides, who else would he have to make fun of or tell stories to? Who else could operate the innards of the ship like she could? What other friend did he have?

Two hours later, after much of the sounds from Th'lakis had stopped, an incredibly painful screech echoed throughout the entire wrecked ship. He heard the energy weapons outside discharge as 4 shots rang out against a foe. Disregarding this, Alex stood shaking with fear and adrenaline, and turned into the cargo bay to fight for his life.

She was covered in the blood of the animal Alex killed not long before. It's gore was plastered along every inch of the corner where her nest was. He'd never seen Lacky so intimidating before; every extremity of hers was outstretched and a loud hiss reverberated through the bulkheads. Looking for the first strike, Alex charged at her. She swiped at him furiously as he slid across the slick blood soaked floorplates underneath of her. He drew his blade and sliced her front right leg off above the knee, being exceptionally careful to keep the knife away from her body. As expected, she toppled over, unable to keep her balance on three legs. Propping herself up with her right arm, she lashed out with her left behind her, making a gash into Alexs' left shoulder. Crying out in pain, and in a frenzy of adrenaline fueled rage, he jumped onto her back and drew his blade across her right arm slicing it almost all the way through. She fell again as the remainder of her arm cracked sharply under the weight put onto it. Hissing and screeching, her left arm flailed and lashed out in arcs in an attempt to murder Alex. Both of her legs began scratching the floor in a semi-circle in an attempt to turn her towards her prey. With her being unable to use the right side of her body effectively, what with her right front leg and arm missing, all she could do was turn circles on the floor in a fit of seething animosity. Turning towards the cargo bay doors, he walked to the doorway and pulled out a long and sturdy piece of what passed for wood on Rax. Walking back to the enraged Th'lakis, who was now using her left arm and the two remaining legs to scratch her way closer to Alex, he hefted the log over his head and shouted "lights out!" before bringing it down on her head.

Th'lakis awoke to indescribable pain hours later. She had been laid down on her left side by Alex as he bandaged and cleaned the wounds he inflicted upon her. She turned her head, which was throbbing intensely, to get a good look at the room. The stumps on her missing arm and leg had been carefully and meticulously cleaned by Alex, as well as dressed. Cloth was covering her left set of eyes for what she assumed was a crack in her exoskeleton where he brought the log down upon.

"Alex..." she softly squeaked, unable to say much more.

A familiar rustling of cloth came from behind her, and a warm hand placed itself on her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm here Lacky."

As his voice rang out in the stained cargo bay, Th'lakis' stalk turned to a dim yellow. She was incredibly happy he was still alive. Through a series of nearly unintelligible clicks and squawks, she managed to ask "Are you injured? Are you alright?"

Walking around her injured and weak body to face her directly, he sat down in front of her and replied "Yeah, I'm injured." as Alex pointed to his left shoulder. The entirety of his left upper body was soaked in glistening red blood. Through the darkness she had seen that he had tended to his wounds only after tending to hers, judging by the bodily fluids on each of them. "You got a damn fine hit on me you fucking asshole." he said with a pained smile and a forced laugh.

Stammering and chattering, Th'lakis told him to go to what was left of the medical ward and find the fibrous tissue regenerator to fix his badly wounded shoulder. Laughing heartily now, Alex said something she never expected from anyone in the universe.

"Nah, got to guard your and your kids from predators, right? Once you have your strength back, we'll both go and find the shit we need."

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Taking a deep breath of air, Alex slumped down onto the table. He had no idea why he thought of that particular memory, and in the situation he found himself in after the fight with Th'lakis, after the interrogation, he felt even worse than before. He began to hope that the whole ordeal would just wash itself away like all the other fights in the past. However, seeing her that upset that she'd loom over him like that, and in that kind of anger, he knew that she was irate about the whole thing.

A soft beep interrupted his train of thought as the datapad now displayed all the information of Earth and humanity it could find. With a sigh of relief, he could finally find a place suitable to go home to. He could finally show Lacky all of the wonderful places he had told her about in his stories. 'Maybe the Grand Canyon first...' he thought to himself. She had been enthralled by his descriptions of it, and showed a keen interest in knowing all about it. She had said it reminded her of home in the past. Maybe that would be a good place to start.

As he continued to read on and catch up with the goings-on of humanity, his cheerful thoughts of his far away home came crashing down as he came onto the 'Current Politics' part of the article.

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Silently walking through the stations bright and clean corridors, Th'lakis took in a large breath of air to cool herself down. This wasn't the first time they've fought, and fighting between them certainly was never a rare thing. Given Alexs' small stature and fleshy extremities, he was just as capable and just as dangerous a fighter as she was.  Given a weapon of any kind, Alex could have killed her outright at almost any time.

'Seven years...' she thought. Seven years of camaraderie, preservation, arguing, fighting, helping, *living*. Her species were born hunters, and the harsh reality of her world was 'nothing except your own kin will keep you safe'.

Then there was Alex, the human. A species of hunter-killers and foragers...or at least as described by Alex himself and confirmed by Th'lakis herself later on.

She happily clicked at the irony. A pure-bred hunter, and a hunter-killer, from two completely different stars, with two completely different societies, and here they were. Nearly inseparable, best and most trusted of friends, and an absolute treat to brawl with.

Th'lakis nearly bumped into the Arbiter as she let her mind wander. He had stopped at the same room that they had occupied not 2 hours before. "Please, sit. We will begin shortly."

The droning of the Arbiters questions was incessant; how did you survive with just you two and a broken half of a ship? How did you conduct medical repairs? How did the flora and fauna of Rax effect you? Could you tell me more about the behavior of humans? All simple questions, and all with simple answers. For about 2 hours this went on until the Arbiter threw her a fast-ball, as Alex would say.

"...And what is your relationship towards the human?"

Her stalk dimmed to a pure abashed black. What the hell did that mean? "I beg your pardon?" she demanded.

"Protector, assistant, friend, mate? Things of that nature."

She paused for a moment. Alex rarely ever needed protecting, she surely wasn't an assistant, far beyond a friend, but certainly not a mate. Composing herself, she meekly squeaked "An honored sibling of different species would be most accurate."

Satisfied with this, the Arbiter stood up out of his seat and remarked "Th'lakis, you've been more than helpful in our dealings here. I think we need not ask for Alex to come and testify. You and your companion are welcome to stay for 3 rotations, but after that we will begin to require compensation for your drain on our networks. Under the circumstances, we believe this is a fair and just accommodation for you and yours to begin plans for settlement on wherever planet, station, or ship you desire." Clicking off the recording software on the translator, the Arbiter said in a cautious tone,  "Please, do yourselves a favor and stay out of trouble. Our security forces have been stressed due to lack of shipments and their emotional status may reflect this. Again, welcome to Adrani Station 3. Please enjoy your stay."

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Th'lakis entered their dormitory with an approximation of a sigh. A bowl of pulsating meat was sitting in the center of the table near the bulkhead where Alex sitting with his back facing the door. A quick and forceful sniff was uttered by Alex as he cleared his throat. "I went to the molecular printer and asked for a traditional Sharn dish. Figured you'd be starvin'." he said, swiveling around and putting a datapad he had in his hands onto the table. He looked away from the door, staring off into nothing in particular. His face was red, bruised and many blood and mucus stained tissues laid on the table and floor. With a cough, Alex pointed to her right front leg and started "You aware you're drippin' goop onto the floor?"

She looked down to her leg, and sure enough, trauma from the fight earlier had cracked her exoskeleton which she hadn't even noticed, with a greenish viscous liquid seeping from the crack and onto the floor. Giving a huff of surprise, she responded "Heh, so I am. Gimme one of those cuts of cloth."

Picking up the receptacle, he walked over to her and jokingly asked if he should bleed on it to stop the drainage. Th'lakis, her stalk turning a blue-ish purple, shook her head and gave what Alex knew as a smile.

"What?" said Alex laughing. "It worked when you fell and cracked your chest. Christ, I remember bleeding myself three or four times just so the damn blood would scab over and seal it."

Going from blue-ish purple to green, Th'lakis watched as Alex tended to her wound. Not to be outdone, she remarked "Oh you had your fair share of spills. Like the time you broke your leg and you had to be carried all the way back home like an infant."

Finishing up the makeshift bandage, Alexs' face went from a smile to a stark emotionless expression. "Y'know...I truly am sorry about earlier." said Alex very softly. "I was a pigheaded asshole...it shouldn't have happened, and I shouldn't have done something like that to me, or my race..."

Th'lakis was shocked beyond words or expression. Even her stalk gave no clue as to how surprised she was. Alex was an asshole, to be sure. Selfish, arrogant, single-minded to a fault. This was the first and only time he had ever apologized without having it beaten over his head.

"..or to you." Alex continued. He sat down slowly on the floor, looking at his feet. "You've always been there for me, and I'd like to think I've returned that...but now that we're off that godforsaken rock, I can't help but feel..." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. Th'lakis, completely taken away by this ludicrous change in him, folded her legs underneath herself and 'sat' down in front of him, listening intently.

"While you were gone, I tried finding any scrap of information on my people, or even a picture of Earth..." His voice was shaking, and his breathing was completely off. "Turns out that they've finally gotten FTL and that they just haven't made it this far." Alex could barely keep himself together, but he continued. "T-They've completely closed themselves off from other species...I don't know why or how, but my home has changed."

A tear ran down his face as the news finally hit home in his heart. Earth itself became militantly xenophobic to any species that wasn't human in the many years that he had been away. After his colonization ship had been sent off speeding through space to his previous home before his abduction, and Rax, they made first contact and summarily closed it's borders some years later. No non-Terran lifeforms could lawfully set foot on Earths soil, and no human living amongst an alien species could come back home for fear of "corruption".

Th'lakis, empathizing with his plight, pulled him close with both scythe-like arms. "What, and you think I can go back to my home?" she asked without need for an answer. Slowly, she reminded him, "You know I was cast out, shamed by my own people and family. I know how you feel."

Her dominating height, even while sitting, forced Alex to look straight up into her compound eyes. She had never seen this kind of powerful expression from him before, tears were streaming from his eyes and down his fleshy and bruised face. His eyes were as red as her stalk could ever dare to be, and mucous dribbled from his nose. He looked so helpless, so incredibly sad, and this was a pain that she knew far too well, and her stalk shined a bright white in sorrow and understanding.

"That's not what I'm so upset about you fucking moron..." stammered Alex. Wiping his excrement from his face, he showed one of the most complex and vulnerable emotions she'd ever seen from any creature. Quickly, he buried his face into her carapace and began sobbing. "I wanted to show you my home, I wanted to show you my paradise, I wanted for you to share in it." She could barely make out his words, but she could hear anger, despair, and defeat in his quaking voice. He was breaking down, turning into his most vulnerable state right in front of her very eyes.  "...and all I did was behave like a retard as soon as we left Rax. I...I wanted Earth to be your p-perfect home. I wanted you to come with me."

Th'lakis was almost speechless. He was bawling, he had finally opened up to her, through 7 years of scraping enough for the both of them to survive, he had never once ever expressed anything but platonic kinship, jokes, stories about how great Earth was, and quips.

Again, almost incomprehensibly, he muttered "It was the reason I wanted the both of us to get off that god damned planet, for me to go home and for you to have a real home...my home. I wanted Earth to be your new Sharnari..."

Th'lakis, again would be surprised. She never knew Alex to be anything but selfish, but this was the complete opposite. Looking back over the years, she remembered how many times that he had been there for her. Through broken exoskeletons, sliced off limbs, starvation, dehydration, predators...brooding...he'd been there and brought her through it all, just as much she did for him, if not more. The conflict they both went through made their bonds strong, nearly indomitable, and after all that turmoil, he was thinking of nothing else but bringing her to a new home; now that the dream had been shattered for him, this gross, embarrassing, beastly, violent, and 'selfish' idiot wasn't even concerned with himself, but her.

If Th'lakis had tear ducts, she'd have been weeping herself.

As softly and delicately as she could, she put her arms under his and propped him up onto his feet so his eyes met with hers. "Alex..." she squeaked softly, "when did I ever give you the impression I was ever going to leave?"

In what seemed like an instant, he threw himself at her chest and wrapped his arms around Th'lakis' shoulders and put his head beside hers, laughing through his tears and squeezing her tightly. He could see her stalk turn the deepest purple he ever saw as she returned the gesture. "I know you haven't" he protested with even more tears streaming down his face. "But wherever you go, I want to be by your side."

"Don't you get all mushy and soft on me now..." Th'lakis calmly warned him as she jabbed his side endearingly.

"..I expect so much more from a mate."