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A Union of Convenience (Formerly ‘Alone’)	By : Keen Category: M through R > Predator Views: 13010 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Predator movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 19
- 20
Ali’shir moved through the darkened halls. His body worn from fatigue,
moved with a strange ease as he climbed the steps to see her. There was no rest
for him. The memory of her body so still, so cold in his arms, haunted him. He
had failed to keep his promise to her and the constant reminder of that night
was his punishment. Opening the door, he looked on her with a heavy heart. She
lay in the centre. It was room built for twenty, but it only housed her. He
commanded it so.
            His foot falls echoed in the empty
and quite room as he neared. His unsteady hand folded the cover neatly at her
waist. He could barely look at her like this. His heart would always twist
painfully at the sight but he could not stay away. He could not leave her
alone, ever, not even like this.
            Ali’shir removed his faceplate,
showing the face only she loved. Kneeling at her side, he apologised into the
skin of her hand, rubbing her palm against his cheek, threading his fingers with
hers. He was sorry he ever made her feel unwelcome at home, where she belonged,
where this would have never happened
to her. He was sorry that Kaian wasn’t dead and that she was somewhere roaming
free and unpunished with his son. He was sorry he wasn’t a better father.
Yash’in and En’kal would have never taken her ship if
he had been there to counterbalance their mother’s teachings. Kissing her
fingers he set her hand back on her stomach and stood, replacing his faceplate
quickly. Someone approached.
            Ali’shir looked over his shoulder
with a growl, “I told you never to come here.”
            Fushel met
him with a deep bow “You are needed in Council,” he said, moving to stand next
to him. Ali’shir growled at him to back away as he re-covered Isis.
She would not like to be naked in front of him.
            “I will come when I am ready.” he
said, tucking the sheet under her body.
            “It has been days, Elder,” Fushel sighed. “We cannot survive like this much longer.”
Ali’shir seemed to ignore him but the Enforcer continued; the male had to
understand what neglecting his duties as acting Lead Elder meant.
            Fushel
could appreciate that Ali’shir fell into the position and did so reluctantly,
but adjustments had to be made. It was he who took the reigns after Yash’in
escaped, ordering a search party and seeing to its progress. It was seen as an
action of leadership, one that inadvertently said he accepted responsibility of
the title Joi’en offered him. The ship and it’s Council, fearful of his
re-emerging rage, drifted in line behind him without objection.
            However, that was not to say there
was not opposition. Tremors of violence broke out now and again, young bloods
vying for Elder status or a place on Council if not at its head, and that was
the reason for Fushel’s concern. The violence rolled
along just as intensely as it had from day one but the warriors of his guard
were growing weary with the constant battering. A more succinct plan was needed
before total chaos engulfed the ship and the Lead Elder was needed to help put
it in action.
            Elder Fushel
watched his Lead continue to attend to his mate. When he became uncomfortable
watching him languish over the female, he spoke, careful of his tone. “There is
nothing more you can do for her, Ali’shir,” he said softly.
“Please come with
me to Council.”
            “Yes,” Bahdri
sighed with contempt, “Come be of use to your
kind.”
            He walked inside the room and stood
beside Fushel, looking on with little interest as the
Lead Elder moved around the table.
            “I will be along in a moment,”
Ali’shir said, brushing curls from Isis’ face.
His finger traced the line of her lips.
            “We have heard that too many time to
believe it anymore,” Fushel said tersely. “Elder
Ali’shir, you do realise there is life outside this room. This cannot be how
she-”
            Ali’shir raised his hand, “Careful,”
he warned.
            Fushel
could see the male’s hand tremble with kept anger but he continued. This had to
be said. “It was no secret that the Elder Female and I were not fond of one
another,” he began. “We never saw eye to eye, she could not stand me and I her,
but I know even she would agree with me that you are less than useless like
this.” Ali’shir growled at him to be silent but Fushel
outwardly refused. “The time you spend at her side should be spent making sure
others do not follow her here. We are in the thick of a battle for control over
this ship, Lead Elder. All I ask is that you spend an hour with Council. Just one,” he said, stretching one long
finger out for emphasis.
            Ali’shir looked at his hand and then
away. Bahdri snorted in disgust. “If it matters any
Elder Enforcer, I think you made your point,” he said quietly. “I think it is
clear we should proceed without him.”
            Fushel
raised a thick eyebrow, “And let you step in as acting Lead Elder?”
            “If it becomes necessary,” he said
proudly, sticking out his chest. “I can certainly do a better job than he can.
He can’t even tear himself away from this human for an hour. It’s not like
she’s going anywhere,” he shrugged.
            Fushel
took a quick step back and Bahdri watched him go with
confusion, he did not see Ali’shir move behind him. His hand just grazed the
Enforcers face as clutched Bahdri’s neck, fingers
sinking into his flesh. Ali’shir forced the male to his knees with a roar,
gripping harder.
            Fushel
watched silently from a distance as Ali’shir wrung the male’s throat until his
eyes rolled. He was beginning to enjoy the sounds of Bahdir’s
desperate pleas when another sound caught his attention. He turned slowly and
cleared his throat audibly as she stirred.
            The snarling and roars woke her. Isis’ brows crinkled and she turned to her left her eyes
fluttering open. She watched Ali’shir shake Bahdri
like a doll with both hands before she turned her aching body on the side.
            “If you let me do that to Kaian when
I wanted, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
            At hearing her voice, Ali’shir
discarded Bahdri, tossing him without care into the
corner. He turned and watched Isis sit up, the
white sheet wrapped around her sliding off the curves of her body as she did.
Between her perfectly round breasts, he could see the garish black evidence of
the trial that nearly took her life. A scar wound in the valley of her breasts
like a wickedly sharp vine, cinching the skin around it tight and shiny. It was
an unsightly and painful mess. Isis inhaled
and a hot flash of pain spiked through her, exiting as a strangled moan.
            “I will get the Elder Healer,” Fushel said quietly, backing away as Ali’shir crossed the
room. He dragged Bahdri’s unconscious body to the
door and tossed him into the hall for the guards to take like a bag of trash.
“I will also adjourn Council, not that you will care now…” he muttered.
            Ali’shir barely nodded in his
direction as he watched Isis feel her new
disfigurement. Her finger traced over the tightly drawn seam and she flinched,
the wound tearing a little. Ali’shir moved to the trey at her side and got a
dish of salve. He had been the one to apply it all this time, refusing to let
the apprentice Healers touch her, but now that she was awake he was hesitant.
He would not be able to lay a hand on her without pulling her into a deathly
embrace.
            Isis
looked at him and Ali’shir realised he had been caught staring. He held his
hand out like a child, “Here,” he said offering the salve.
            Isis
took it with a nod and started to dab at her wounds. It stopped the irritating
itch almost immediately but burned slightly. She winced and Ali’shir seemed to
reach to help her, but she told him it was all right.
            “Been through worse,” she chuckled. It
even hurt to do that, so she stopped. “I don’t see how I survived it though.”
            “Neither did Navin.
He told me that you would never recover. When we found you, when I found you,” he said clearing his
throat, “Your pulse was so faint I thought you were already dead. Fortunately,
as Navin later explained, the layers and layers of
scar tissue that formed over the years protected your organs and slowed the
spawn’s exit. Otherwise…”
            Ali’shir hated to think of
‘otherwise’ but Isis did. “…It would have
blown my chest wide open. Like the members of my crew,” she said quietly.
            The male nodded and Isis closed the dish, setting back on the trey with his
help. “So, where is it?” Ali’shir tilted his head and she pointed between her
breasts. “Buddy, the spawn,” she said
correcting herself. “Where is it?”
            “Taken.”
            Isis
looked up immediately, “Taken?” she repeated, her voice hinting at her growing
anger. “By whom?”
            “Yash’in,
or Kaian. One of them removed it when they left.”
            “Don’t tell me they are allowed to
get away with this,” she grit.
            Ali’shir pondered his answer first.
The simple truth was they could. Both he and Isis were in the wrong for not
properly notifying Council of Isis’ state as an infected agent. Even now, very
few knew the real reason why she was here. Most believed Kai tried to cut out Isis’ heart and Ali’shir had said very little to dispel
it. Yash’in was guilty of escaping, Kaian, the then Elder Female, for aiding
and abating, but neither could be punished for trying to kill his mate.
            “They are being pursued,” he said
finally.
            Isis
tsked as she ripped the tubes from her arms. Ali’shir
moved to stop her but she refused to listen. Her body was a fire with pain, the
ache in her chest felt like she was getting a tattoo from the inside, but the
itchy hose connections were more irritating. She flung the stringy mess to the
floor and Ali’shir growled as he caught them, untangling them.
            “Do you want to make it worse?” he
griped.
            “It cannot possibly get any worse,”
she scoffed, pulling out the last cord.
            Isis
stretched her hands and flexed her newly freed arms. She felt better now, but
not good enough to get off the bed. The room spun when she shifted and head
felt like it was full of sand. Plus, she doubted Ali’shir would let her. He
narrowed his eyes at her now as he unwound the wires and tubes, the look one of
foreboding.
            He moved to stand over her bed and Isis laid back down, looking up at him. “What happens
now?” she asked.
            Ali’shir stretched his arms over
her, resting on the bed. “You will get better,” he replied, staring at her
face. It calmed him that the colour was already returning. “Then we will go
from there.”
            “Where?” she
wondered aloud. “Away from Ge’tan or is this
home now?”
            Isis
watched him stare into space. Ali’shir hadn’t thought that far. He wanted to
get as far away from the Clan ship as possible but as Fushel
so eloquently reminded him, he had responsibilities now, lives that depended on
him. He could not leave the ship and not have a bloody battle for the Lead
Eldership title ensue. Somewhere between leaving and coming back, he had grown
a conscience and it would never let him rest knowing he walked away and allowed
such destruction.
            “I must stay. At least until things are stable again,” he said finally. “I cannot and will not
turn my back on my Clan a second time.”
            “I can respect that,” she nodded.
She didn’t like it but she could respect it. “But why do you have to be the one
to fix the mess Joi’en left?”
            “Because the task
was given to me.”
            “By my last count, there are at
least five other Elders on that Council. Let them get off their asses and do
some heavy lifting for once.”
            “Isis,
I have made my mind. It is done.”
            “I know, but you yourself said that
the life of a Lead Elder wasn’t what you wanted. I just wanted to make sure you
can handle it.”
            “I can handle it,” he said, stiffly.
It slightly angered him that she, of all people, would join everyone else in
doubting his abilities to lead. In fact, it more than slightly angered him. She
was his mate, she was supposed to believe in him more
than anyone else.
            Isis
heard him prattle low in his throat and lay a hand on his shoulder to calm him,
“I only say it because I worry about you.”
            Ali’shir moved his shoulder away. It
was worth than he previously imagined, Isis
thought him weak. “Did I ask you to worry about me?” he hissed.
            “No but-”
            “Then do not. Despite what anyone
thinks, I am capable of doing this and I will prove it.”
            Isis
chuckled out of sheer irritation, folding her arms. “I have just about had it with
your mood swings, Ali.”
            “And I have just about had it with
your mouth, Isis. You do not need to give your
opinion about everything.”
            “My opi-” Isis halted with a deep breath, “I don’t need this right
now.”
            If she was well, she would be in a
position to fight with him, but as it was now, she couldn’t even raise her
voice without experiencing pain. It made her wonder why she even bothered.
            “Get out,” she gave a defeated sigh.
“I can’t stand to be around you when you’re like this.”
            “Gladly,” he stood, striding to the
door. “I cannot stand you either.”
            Isis
sat up, angry. “Well you won’t have to deal with me too much longer!”
            Ali’shir paused, “And why is that?”
            “I’m not infected anymore, so you
don’t have to baby-sit me. I know that’s the only thing
that kept you from sending me away the first and second time I asked.”
            Ali’shir shook his head. It
wasn’t…at least, not the second time, but he couldn’t
tell her that. “You are still a liability, Isis.
Your kind would be all too eager to learn what you now know about us.”
            “You mean cut it from my hide,” she
corrected. “They would play nice long enough to milk me for all I know and then
they would lock me up in one of their labs. I’d rather be shot, thank you.”
            Ali’shir scratched the nape of his
neck, irritated by the turn of the conversation. “I wish you would reconsider, Isis.”
            “Why?” she asked, simply. “Why
should I stay here with you?”
            Ali’shir let out a long breath. It
was difficult enough admitting to himself how he felt
about the woman so there was no way he could tell her. If she knew how
intensely he wanted her, she’d use it to manipulate him like Kai did. He
couldn’t afford to be anyone’s puppet again, even if he didn’t mind it. Welcomed it, he thought looking at her.
His pride wouldn’t let him confess his feelings but it would let him exploit
another angle.
            Isis
listened with her head lowered as Ali’shir told her how difficult it would be
to explain away her disappearance at this stage. The way he saw it, they were
perceived to be deeply affectionate, strongly bound mates. She could not simply
leave without damaging her reputation or his. Ultimately he would be the one to
carry the brunt of it as he would remain after she left. In the end, the
members of the ship would think they were no better than Joi’en and Kai.
            It made him sick to his stomach to
say it. He didn’t believe a word of it and neither did Isis.
She lifted her head and her expression was one of utter confusion.
“Let me see if I understand this correctly,” she said, steepling her fingers. “I should stay so we don’t look like
those two?”
            He nodded lamely, “Surely you know
how quickly rumours spread.”
            “That’s it?” she blinked, “That’s your reason for wanting me to
stay?”
            Ali’shir held his arms out his
sides, “What would you have me say?” he asked.
            “Anything else but that,” she
yelled, agitating her wound. “Like you want me to stay
because you want me to stay.”
            “Did I not just tell you I wanted you to stay?”
            She held her aching head. “Not like
that,” she sighed.
            “Then like what Isis?”
he roared. “I can never follow your irrational logic during these arguments!”
Ali’shir waited for an explanation but Isis only bit her lip and lay
back down. She turned away from him as she wrapped herself in bed sheets.
“Please close the door on your way out,” she said, hiding her face in
the pillows. “I’d like to be well rested when I go.”
            Ali’shir’s
hands clenched, shaking as he forced himself to keep silent. He wanted to ask
her how he was supposed to say he wanted her to stay, but he was fearful he’d
only work himself deeper into this hole he suddenly found himself inside. Everything he said seemed to upset her,
sparking an argument that just drove them further apart.
            He took step toward her and then
stopped. The door at his back opened. Navin arrived
and Elder Healer had the staff usher him out. In the hall, standing guard
outside her door, Ali’shir hoped. He prayed she would change her mind.

            Isis
turned onto her back slowly, someone shook her by the
shoulder.
            “Come female,” Gi
said. “You will be late.”
            The woman opened her eye to the see
the Vae smiling down at her, pointy ears jutting away
from her face more than usual. Isis smiled
back because her female’s was so infectious. Inside her heart was breaking.
            Gi took Isis under her arms and helped her out of the bed. With
her arms around her waist and her head against hers, Isis
could see the scar that crossed her cheek. She did not even realise she was
touching it until Gi took her hand away.
            “I am so sorry,” Isis said.
            Gi took
her hand and kissed it, “Don’t,” she said softly. “What happened was not your
fault.”
            Isis
wasn’t so convinced. “I should have told you I was infected. You wouldn’t have
gotten that mark and the children...I put them in such jeopardy,” she sighed.
            “They were never in jeopardy.
Ali’shir told Heron, so I knew all along about your little friend,” Gi said patting her chest.
            “Now I feel even worse,” Isis groaned. Out of the pair of them, Ali’shir managed
to be the responsible one? “I am so
sorry,” she whimpered.
            “Stop it,” Gi
shook Isis to emphasise her point. “If you
want to apologise for something, apologise for leaving.”
            Gi stared
at her with those impossibly blue eyes and Isis
looked away. “I have to go,” she said softly.
            Gi shook
her head, bouncing her snowy curls. “You want
to go,” Gi corrected. “It’s easier than staying and
trying to work things out.”
            “There is noting to work out,” she
shrugged. “We were just too different.”
            Gi could
have strangled her. The woman was too blind to see that both she and Ali’shir
were two sides of the same hard-headed and prideful coin, “I swear, if you two
would just talk you two could come to an understanding,” she huffed.
            Isis
shook her head, “There is no understanding him. He won’t even let me worry for
him.”
            “But he loves you. I know it,”
            “I’m glad you are so certain,” Isis mumbled.
            Ali’shir was good a pretending he
cared about her. The fact that he wanted her to stay to save face proved it.
What they had was simply an arrangement of born out of necessity, she had been
the stupid one to get emotionally invested. Waking up in the infirmary had
shown her that much.
            She almost died and he met her with
nothing but dry reserve. His responses were coolly delivered, almost as if what
happened was everyday and not worth discussing. That was until they started
arguing, which they seemed to do all the time because everything she said angered him. Isis
was strong but she didn’t think she could bear it if she told him how she felt
about him and he laughed at her. She would just die.
            Mindful of her bandages Gi helped her shower and dress in her old clothes. She had
worn the old flight shirt and cargos for nearly every day for so many years,
they were like a second skin once, but now they felt foreign and heavy. Gi watched the woman alternate between her collar and
cuffs, tugging impatiently at both.             Isis gave a startled gasp when she smacked her hands.
            “Stop it. You’re making me nervous
for you,” she said.
            Isis
forced her hands to her side and grimaced, “I can’t help it. I just want to
tear it all off.”
            “I would not,” Heron said striding
into the room. “I think that kind of thing would be scandalous where I am to
deposit you.”
            “And where is that,” Gi said, putting her arms around her mate.
            He hugged her tightly and rested his
head on top of hers before answering. “One of the newer satellites the humans
have made, populated by harvesters. It is quite nice,” he said recalling a few
images he had seen. “Lots of woodlands, valleys, and
mountains. Great bodies of water. The land is
plentiful. You will be safe,” Heron assured Isis.
            “The Lead Elder would have it no
other way,” Gi said warmly, nuzzling his neck.
            “He is only the acting Lead Elder,” Isis reminded.
The couple hadn’t heard her. They were too busy lost in each other’s embrace,
tenderly rubbing cheeks. Isis caught herself
watching their ritual with longing and then looked away when it turned to
jealousy. “I’m going to head toward the docks, ok?”
            She ambled out the door and Gi moved to help her, sliding out of Heron’s arms. As the
three neared the entrance, Isis took Gi into a hug, thanking her for all she had done for her.
            “You were a friend when I needed one
most. I owe you so much for that,”
            Gi looked
down, wiping the blue tears from her cheeks. “You are my best friend, the only
one that put up with me and all my…” With a laugh, she gave up trying to
describe her giddy quirks and grabbed the woman, hugging her dearly. “I will miss you,”
            “I will miss you too,” Isis returned, swallowing tears. She rubbed the snowy
curve of her very pregnant belly that peaked from her burgundy top, “And I will
miss not knowing you,” she said pressing her kissed fingertips atop it.
            Gi
promised she would visit in the near future to introduce her to her new baby
but they both new it was just talk Heron would not allow it. There was no way
he would take his mate and their young pup light years beyond the safety of the
ship to visit her. Especially after what happened. Isis couldn’t even argue with him when he joked that I
was a lightening rod for everything fucked up.
            Taking a deep breath she tried to
forget all the things she would miss because they would only make her feel
worse. Fortunately she did not have too much around her to remind her. Her
departure was a secret. Ali’shir couldn’t be a Lead Elder without a mate and
she knew too much to ever get Council blessing to return. If anyone found out
about her departure, it would spell death for all of them so in the dead of
night they gathered, just the three of them on the dock. Or so they thought.
            Isis
moved up the plank, walking with pained stride when she felt a chill run
through her. She turned slowly, aware that she was being watched. She did not
have to look long to find him there, lurking in the shadows of the docking
hall, his silver eyes glittering in the dimmed light. He leaned against the
wall, arms folded, his bare and unmasked face studying
her with an almost menacing glare. Like she had done him some wrong.
            She turned to face him, waiting for
him to do something, anything. A
tick, a twitch, hell she would have even settled for a
long blink but he was as still as she was. He did nothing and said nothing,
even as the hatch doors closed, shutting her out of his sight.

            Heron settled into his seat,
strapping down for take off. He flipped a few dials on the smooth dash and then
glanced at his passenger. She sat next to him, rigid as the dead, eyes forward
and her breathing noticeably even. “Are you ready, Elder Female?” When she did
not even so much as blink he touched her shoulder, “Are you ok?”
            She nodded, “I’m fine,” she replied
with a smile.
            His expression said he did not
believe her in the slightest but he left her alone, which was all she wanted.
Heron ran a reverent hand over the monitor, sparking it to life. As he charted
their trip, he glanced at Isis with a trill,
trying to keep the mood light.
            “Ready to go home?” he asked,
lifting his mandibles in a smile.
            “Yes,”
            Isis
heard the thrusters roar as the ship bounded out of the port, slinking into the
blackness of space, lengthening the distance between them and Ge’tan. She closed her eyes, hoping tears wouldn’t eek out
from her tightly shut lids.

A/N: Thanks for being patient guys and as I promised, I am working hard at
getting the first chapter of the sequel up by the end of the week. I wish I
could type out all the names of folks who commented on both versions and tell
you how much I appreciate your responses, but I’d be worried I leave someone
out so the best I can do is say thank you, thank you, thank you!

[EDIT 29 December 2008] Sequel is here: [http://movies.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600092100] and if you are one of those purists who liked the original better (which goes more into who A'rah was, how she and Isis met, the incident on the Whistler ect), leave a comment with your E-mail address, I'll hook you up. :D
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A Union of Convenience (Formerly ‘Alone’)