Christen skidded to a complete standstill as darkness settled between the trees. Some mercenaries remained on the ground but had settled into small groups to wait out the night.

Sorrow carved into Christen. Despite her best efforts to save them, most of her friends hadn't made it.

Williams and two of his officers made it this far. Doc and Sera were still out there, hopefully alive, but few of the others remained.

Christen wanted to hunt her enemy like animals, but it would do no good. Tomorrow, they would send more men. Her priority had to be to find Doc and Sera. Williams and his people could take care of themselves.

The logical part of her mind warned her that keeping her secret, surviving, and escaping had a higher priority than the lives of either Sera or Doc.

If her people could contact her, they would insist that she leave the humans behind, but she refused to listen to logic. She wouldn't lose any more people. Doc was her friend, a sister in arms, and family in a way.

***

Christen lifted her head and strained her senses to their limits before she heard her name.

Something happened as she concentrated on the far-off but familiar beat of Doc's heart, and for just a second, she saw them.

Sera had escaped unharmed, but the colonel hadn't been so lucky. She didn't even take a conscious decision to run and didn't limit herself as her night vision turned the night into green-hued day.

Doc had found a safe spot for them to hide, far from the mercenaries and out of their way, at least until daybreak when the trackers and their technology would endanger them again.

***

The distinct smell of the colonel's blood warned her that it wasn't a minor wound.

She burst into the clearing, and Doc reacted despite fighting pain and weakness. Her gun lifted, and for a second, their eyes met.

Christen's heart froze, and her stomach plummeted. She had seen that look often enough; Doc had suffered a mortal wound.

"I knew you would hear me," the colonel smirked bravely, but her friend had not called for help.

Doc would never again see the light of day. Only her unwillingness to leave the teenager alone in the middle of an enemy-invested jungle, and her knowledge that Christen was Sera's only chance of survival, kept her from slipping away.

The gun lowered and dropped from her weakened grip. Christen reached her and sat down beside her on her haunches.

***

The colonel's blood had soaked the ground, and she took her friend's hand, holding it despite the sticky red coating.

"Doc saved my life," Sera said with tears glinting in her eyes and a pang of deep sadness. Life had already taught her to control her emotions as much as possible, and the girl realized the colonel wouldn't make it. She had made herself face the fact to be strong for Doc, as much as Doc did the same for her.

How sad and brave.

"It's been a good run, Kid," Doc said, and Christen fought her dismay.

"Yes, it has," she agreed, and even as they spoke, Doc's skin cooled, and her pulse slowed down.

"Tell Moore I love him, and he was an ass. He'll understand," Doc said, and Christen let her speak.

These moments were important and would be the colonel's legacy to the world as much as her life had been.

Christen's heart tore like that day on the tarmac when she watched her family die. Even though she wanted to deny the truth with every fiber of her being, it wasn't possible.

"I'll tell him," she promised, not even knowing if she would survive, but if the thought comforted Doc in these last few moments, she would not deny her that peace.

"I'm glad I finally got to see bits and pieces of the real you. Although I would have loved to meet the stranger, I sometimes see in your eyes. Most of... all... I would have loved it if you didn't have to hide from me, but I understand your... situation." Weakness made her words grow fainter and more erratic, but it didn't stop her from saying what she wanted. "Take good care of Moore... for me."

Her eyes fluttered shut, and Christen spied blood on Doc's lips. It was nearly over.

***

Loss became an avalanche Christen barely contained, but she did not allow the colonel to carry the burden of her sorrow.

"VSA Strickland?" The voice, so close to Christen, startled her.

Someone skidded to a halt at her side and fell to her knees. Christen reacted before recognizing the female soldier.

Kendra. What was she doing here?

Her hand closed around the woman's throat, but she could tell from the shock on her comrade's face that her strength surprised this altered soldier. They'd only spoken a few times, and she learned little about the major except that she was William's second in command.

Something in the expression of those dark eyes changed as the blond grabbed her wrist with one hand and touched Christen's face with the other. The contact calmed her down in a way that wasn't natural.

A human would not have survived the pressure Christen exerted in her anger, grief, and surprise.

Christen reluctantly let go, fearing she'd miss Doc's last moments.

***

"Don't you realize you can save her? We can save her. Doc won't be the same, but she'll be alive," Kendra said, and Christen frowned.

"Unfortunately, I dare not do that. Not with me not knowing what would happen, and those who own me might kill her anyway," she countered, but hope stirred in her heart.

"Forgive me, but I do not understand. Are you a made creature? That is not possible; your blood is nearly pure. The way you immobilized me proves it. What do you mean you don't know what will happen? She'll be just like you, just not as powerful," Kendra urged.

This seemed wrong, yet she wasn't ready to let Doc go.

"But I am not like you," Christen countered, and Kendra lost her patience.

"Yes, you are. You are an alien hybrid of a different species, but we are related. The two of us are distant cousins, in a manner of speaking. Our people just thought that all of your kind were extinct and that you died in the crash.

"If someone manufactured you and you don't understand what you are, the humans discovered the ship and stored our DNA, but it doesn't matter. Our scientists programmed our genes to react to similar genes very specifically.

"This is not the time for explanations. Cut your wrist, let it drip into the wound before she bleeds out, or let her die. I will take care of her whatever you decide, then take the kid and get out of here while it is still possible," Kendra urged.

Something in her expression made Christen do the one thing she should not do and wanted with all her heart.

Using her knife to cut her wrist, blood spilled from her veins into the open wound.

Doc was already unconscious.

If this worked, it worked, and if it didn't, Kendra would destroy the evidence. She needed no one to tell her this.

Kendra, Michael Williams, and Brandon were not experiments but settlers, and they crashed here and lived side by side with an unwitting human race. She didn't even doubt Kendra's words for a second, as if the woman did more than just calm her.

***

Shots sounded in the distance, and she glanced in that direction. The blood stopped, the wound healed, and she had no more time to waste if she wanted Sera to live.

Only as she got to her feet, grabbed her discarded gear, and moved toward a startled-looking Sera, did she realize she hadn't spoken English, and neither had Kendra.

But it wasn't her language, but Kendra's. She grabbed Sera's hand, and the teenager followed without resistance, even though she sensed her mind churning as grief chewed a hole through the kid.

Why did she feel so much older than this human, even though they were technically at the same emotional level?

Christen glanced back once, and Kendra waved at her before picking up Doc's lifeless body with unnatural ease.

Their eyes met, and Christen experienced a similar connection to Kendra than she did to Arthur, just not as intense or integral.

*Fear not, we will meet again,* Kendra promised inside Christen's mind before disappearing into the trees.

***

The two of them had been running for a while before she realized her touch had a similar effect on Sera than Kendra had on her earlier. The kid was almost unnaturally calm but couldn't run much further.

The fat was already in the fire, and Sera yelped in surprise as Christen picked her up and ran with her as if she weighed less than a child.

The teenager adjusted quickly as the trees blurred past them. Sera learned too much and had no idea what to do about that, but Christen would be damned if she allowed this kid to die, too.