Survival

Alright new Chap! People seem to focus more on the story then the sex so I'll try to accommodate them. I'll be introducing the vain Hoto in this chap and Lieutenant Carlos Rodriguez's love interest.

Disclaimer: I do not own the uniform present in this story. It belongs to the people at Ironcald games. I just really liked.
Also I don't own the name Nautilus or 20'000 leagues under the sea, good book though.

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When the transport landed in the hanger bay Captain Hollister rushed forward, worried that something had gone wrong. When the transport doors opened his jaw dropped in disbelief. Out flooded about 93 Flist women, all looking around them excitedly, all of them naked. Hollister briefly heard the Ensign guarding the transport pad mutter a "thank you god" before his mind snapped back to what was happening.

A guility looking Commander Steven, a proud looking Alias and a laughing Lieutenant Rodriguez stepped out last. "STEVEN!" He jumped when he heard the Captain roar and briefly entertained running for the transporter. Alias had a death grip on his arm so that plan went out the airlock.

"What the hell is going on here!" Captain Hollister charged forward, ready to tear Steven apart. He was stopped by a woman wearing jewellery who stepped in his way. "Greetings oh great SkyGod. We are humbled that you choose us to save your people. May we please be shown our new mates now?" Captain Hollister blinked at the woman, his mind processing what she said. He stared at Steven and shouted "YOU TOLD THEM WE'RE GODS!"

Steven began to frantically explain "They came to that conclusion on their own. We're in their RELIGION for gods sake and I didn't have time to explain it to them!" Alias stepped forward towards the Priestess and said "Priestess" she began "We are not given a mate, we chose our mate. YOU chose who you want to spend the rest of your life with. All of you listen! I have much to explain"

And so Alias began to explain. She told them the truth about the humans they called SkyGods and the horrors and sacrifices during the Locust or SkyDemon war. She explained to the Captain that she went down to planet to gather more women to save humanity and that she had both the Flist women and human mens best interests at heart. She told them of the equal rights laws that protected them. Hours past but Alias was still talking, having much to explain.

When Alias told them that the Flist women would rule besides the humans over the galaxy many of them raised their heads proudly. They, simple housewives would save humanity and they and their children would rule beside them. As equals.

Captain Hollister, Commander Stevens and Lieutenant Rodriguez stood at the back of the crowd watching Alias as she gave her speech. Hollister sighed and began to talk "I know her intentions were good but 93 women will not be enough to save humanity" Steven grimly nodded "I know and from the look on Alias's face she knows it too."

A month had past since then and the Flist women found themselves quite comfortable. Already about half of them had found mates among the Daedalus crew. Some were happily learning how to be engineers and soliders from the crew who were more then happy to teach them. Four of the FList, Alias's mother Nora included had already passed the written entrance exam for the Mars military academy and would have another month to prepare for the brutal survival exam. The survival exam named Juggernaut had a 76% mortality rate but was necessary to become an Admiral.

At the end of the month Alias called all the Flist women to the hanger bay at 03:00 am E.T. They all slowly walked in, exhausted to be up at this hour. Some of them, like Alias were already showing signs of their pregnancy. The former Priestess, now an academy hopeful spoke up "Alias it's 3 in the Sky blessed morning! Why have you called us here?"

Alias looked out at the Flist and spoke "You all know by now that what I said a month ago when we first came here is true." Most the Flist happily nodded at this "But you must have realised by now that 93 women are not enough to save humanity" They all looked sad when she said that. Everyone had the seen Death clock, that grim clock that counted the lowering human population. It had only been a month but over 300'000 humans had died due to old age or dieases even nanites couldn't cure. And not a single child was ready to be born yet.

Nora asked the question on everyones mind "But what can we do?"

Alias smiled "Thats simple. We go back to the homeworld and rescue our sisters in species"

Captain Hollister leaned back in the chair in his quarters with a glass of scotch and groaned. Things had been getting really problematic lately. The worst of it were the new formed Acolytes, all of whom were Flist women. It had started innocently at first. A Flist woman in one of the science teams on X-23 would wander away from the group. An hour later she'd be back with around 10 Flist women following her. Hollister had standing orders from the U.P. to allow ANY Flist woman who wanted to join with humanity to come onboard. So he had no choice but to accept these new citizens. The problem was it started getting worse. A Flist woman in a science team once came back with over a 100 Flist women and a lot of pissed off Flist men chasing them!.

Even when he banned the Flist from going back to X-23 it was clear the damage was already done. Flist women actually LOOKED for humans.

More ships were forced to come to X-23 to accommodate the new arrivals and already there were over a 1'000'000 Flist women joined with humanity last time he checked. Humanity was celebrating but Hollister wasn't. He released it would not be long before the Flist men really did become extinct. Was saving humanity really worth wiping out all Flist men? The Acolytes seemed to think so. Captain Hollister downed his drink and sighed. It's not like things could get any worse.

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4 years had past since then and a lot had changed. Just as Hollister had predicted Flist men were going extinct but the Flist women didn't seem to care. Those four Flist academy hopefuls had all passed the Juggernaut and had aced their exit exams. Those four now enjoyed their positions on the U.P. as Admirals and had created a new law stating that there must always be at least one Human and Flist on the council. It was approved unanimously. Alias had given birth to the first Human boy and Flist girl born between an interspecies union. The galaxy had watched with bated breath as for the first time in years the Death clock went up instead of down. Steven and Alias were the proud parents of a Human boy named William after Stevens deceased father and a Flist girl named Chorus. They called her Chorus because after their birth and the Death clock went up there was a chorus of voices, cheering. August 9th would forever be celebrated as the Day of Rebirth, a galactic holiday.

However things weren't perfect. When the U.P. council first brought up the annual budget review for the Revival project one of the four Flist council members replied "Why should we waste money on that? I say we should strike the project and spend the money on something useful" The three other Flist Admirals nodded and agreed while the Human Admirals stared at them in disbelief. The resulting argument ended with a vote. All the Humans voted to keep the Revival Project and the Flist voted for it's destruction. Luckily there were more Humans on the U.P. so the Revival project was safe, for now.

In truth the Flist hated the Revival project. They were afraid that if it worked the Human women would tear the Flist and Humanity apart. The Human women would demand the Flist be sent home and the Flist would be forced back to caves with their old abusive mates. After the meeting was ended it was clear that this was not the end of it. Over the following months 3 of the 23 Revival stations was destroyed but it was no accident. First the station would begin to flood with radiation and then when everyone was safely evacuated the station would be blown to bits. Years of research and work would be destroyed but no one would get hurt. It had to have been sabotage.

When the saboteur was finally caught, a Flist woman, her only defense was "I did it to protect my people" She was given life imprisonment in the prison facilty Hells Kitchen on Mercury. A month later she was released with a pardon given by the four Flist Admirals. The Humans on the U.P. couldn't help but wonder if all Flist felt this way about the Revival project. Thinking quickly they had the 20 stations left relocated to secure areas with round the clock monitering by ships captained by Humans.

Maybe not all Flist felt badly about the Revival project but some were willing to do whatever it took to see it stopped.

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Steven yawned and stretched as he stepped into his family sized quarters. Walking down a small hall towards his and Alias's room he quickly stripped off everything but his underwear. The Flist, Alias included, hated clothes so it became a custom in the galaxy to walk around only in your underwear at home. Guests however had to stay fully clothed. He glanced at the white zigzag tattoos on his arms and smiled. The tattoos are a Flist custom and it meant that he was mated. Alias loved running her fingers on the paint and she'd actually start purring, happy with the markings. Flist women are possessive mates. Steven was more surprised by the fact that they can purr!

It was late so his kids William and Chorus should be in bed by now. Not seeing his pregnant wife Steven left his room and walked to the kids room but stopped outside the door when he heard voices. He smiled when he released Chorus couldn't sleep so Alias was just finishing reading her a story.

He heard Alias get up and started to walk away but paused when he heard his daughters voice.

"Momma" Chorus began, her body covered by a blanket, her small spiky hair flat and her wide strangely human eyes gazing at her mother.

Alias carefully sat back down, being extra careful since she was 7 months pregnant. "Yes sweetie?"

"Why do we look different from Daddy, Will and Grandpa Holli?" Steven grinned at this. The kids had taken a shine to Captain Hollister but couldn't say Hollister yet. So they called him Grandpa Holli, to everyones amusement. Hollister said he hated it but Steven saw the small smile on his face whenever William and Chorus called him Grandpa Holli.

"Well" Alias began "One day Human boys and Flist girls decided they liked eachother and became friends. Daddy, William and Grandpa Holli are Human boys and you and I are Flist girls." She was hoping to leave it at that but Chorus was smart for her age. "But what about Flist boys and Human girls?"

Alias took a deep breath, unaware of her eavesdropping mate "Flist boys were really mean to us so we left them and Human girls were..." She tried to think of a word other then killed "chased away by the SkyDemons" At the word SkyDemon Chorus eepped and pulled up her blanket, covering her mouth and nose. On Halloween Grandpa Holli would tell her and Will scary stories about the SkyDemons. She once heard Momma yelling at Grandpa Holli when she and Will started having nightmares!.

Chorus's voice was muffled by her blanket when she said "But what happens when the Human girls come home?"

Alias's face darkened as she said in a stern voice "Then We'll chase them away again. Never forget sweetie that Human boys belong to us now, ok?" Chorus nodded and smiled when her Momma kissed her forehead goodnight. "Night Momma!" she shouted when Alias walked to the door "Goodnight Chorus, Goodnight William" a muffled "how'd ya know?" came from the second bed and a human boy with blond hair, green eyes and strangely sharp teeth pulled back his blacket, wondering how his Momma knew he was awake and eavesdropping.

Alias smiled "I'm your mother. I know everything" and she gently closed the door behind her. She turned around and jumped when she came face to face with her furious mate "WE belong to YOU. CHASE the Human girls away" Steven whispered, not wanting the kids to hear. Alias paled when she realised Steven had heard every word.

Alias calmly walked past Steven towards their room and said "Well it's true isn't?" She sat down on their bed and watched as Steven closed the door and began to pace, a habit he'd picked up from Captain Hollister. "No it's not true!" Steven began "If we ever bring back Human women it would be perfectly alright for a Human man to fall in love with her" Alias's eyes narrowed and Steven saw that familiar predatory look. His reflexes warned him too late and he found himself pinned to the floor by his angry mate.

"I am not losing you!" She growled in his face but Steven just glared back "What the hell are you talking about!?"

Alias looked to the side and began to talk "I'm not stupid Steven. I know that if Human women are revived they'll want Humanity back, maybe even YOU back. I don't want to go back to the caves, I WON'T!" She stared at Steven with tear filled eyes and screamed "YOU"RE MINE! I WON'T LOSE YOU!" Alias buried her face in his neck and after a moment he heard her whisper "please don't leave me..."

Steven quickly wrapped his arms around his wife and started to rub her back since it always calmed her "You're not going to lose me Alias. The Revival project is important to Humanity but that doesn't mean I'd leave you for a Human woman." Lifting his mate into a bridal hold he lowered her onto the bed and lay next to her, still rubbing her back. "I love you more then life itself and that will never change." Alias asked "You promise? No matter what?" Steven nodded "No matter what" and fell asleep.

Stevens alarm went off the next morning and he got up and stretched. It read 06:00 am E.T and slammed his hand against it, silencing it. He walked to the wardrobe and pulled out his uniform. Once his pants were on he heard an unhappy growl behind him and turned to the sight of his sleepy pregnant wife glaring at his uniform. "I hate clothes" she muttered before getting up herself.

Steven chuckled "I know, I know but do you really want me to walk around naked where anyone can see me?" He felt Alias's arms slip around his waist from behind and her pregnant bump against his back. She lightly bit his shoulder, not drawing blood but leaving teeth marks on his shoulder. Walking out of her grip he started rubbing his shoulder and asked "Ya know you never told me WHY you do that" Alias just sat down on the bed watching as her mate pulled on his blue shirt. "It's a Flist custom. The men used to do it to display dominance over their mates but they would draw blood." Once his shirt was on Steven asked "but why do you it?" she stood up, playfully poked his nose and said "to remind you that I'm the only one who gets to see you naked" Steven smiled, kissed her on the lips and walked to the door.

He stopped when he heard a "no breakfast?" from his disappointed mate. "Sorry but I can't" he called back as he headed into the hall and walked to the childrens room. Quietly opening the door he slipped in and gave a sleeping Chorus and William a kiss on each forehead and walked back out. Once the door was closed he started talking to his mate who stood by the exit. "Captain has something important to talk to me about so I haven't got the time. Besides I've made you and the kids breakfast everyday for the past two weeks, my cooking skills need a day off" He kissed her on the lips and smiled "I don't know when I'll be back so it's your turn to make dinner, just remember that pasta is meant to be stringy not straight." She playfully swatted his shoulder and watched as he walked out and closed the door.

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When he stepped onto the Bridge Steven gave the Human and Flist bridge crew a quick good morning before walking into the Ops. Room. Captain Hollister was staring at the holographic starchart with his back to Steven. When he heard the door shut he turned around and smiled "About time you showed up" Steven just shrugged and said "I had to go find your adult diapers for old people"

Captain gave out his usual barking laugh and grinned "I can't wait till your kids grow up and use your own wit against you"

Steven just sighed, it was to early to trade wits "Captain, your stalling. Can you please just tell me what's going on." Hollister nodded, his face serious "Long range probes have picked up life signs on the planet we're on route to now"

Steven asked the obvious question "Is it Locust? Flist?" The Captain shook his head "Long range probes have advanced since we found the Flist and I can say for certain that it is neither the Locust or Flist" Steven gazed at the starchart and asked "Are they advanced?" Hollister just shrugged "Readings get kind of buggy when it comes to that. I've had the techs search for glitches three times and even got Mouse to look over the readings. All we know is that the computer can only describe their technology as 'Machine's that aren't machines'"

"What? Machine's that aren't machines? What kind of technology is that?" Captain Hollister just scoffed "If I knew I'd tell you. I want you to head down to the hanger bay and ready the transporter. We'll be arriving soon and you'll be taking Lieutentant Commander Rodriguez and some Ensigns who need to get their feet dirty for some recon"

Steven saluted and walked towards the exit. Just as the door opened he heard Captain Hollister shout "And Steven, I don't want another Flist incident. You understand?" Steven just nodded, walked to the elevator and hit the Hanger Bay button. When he got there he found Carlos and 3 Ensigns, one of them Flist. At the sight of him the Ensigns snapped to attention while Carlos lazily waved. "Good morning" Steven said as he headed for the equipment locker. The Ensigns answered "Good morning sir!" while Carlos just groaned "What's so good about it?" Steven started laughing and threw Carlos and the Ensigns some surveillance cameras, transmitters and tranq. rifles. "Still not a morning person eh Carlos?" Carlos started loading his rifle and said "If I know being an Lt. Commander meant getting up this early I wouldn't have tried for the promotion." Carlos took a moment to analyse his equipment before saying "So, surveillance?"

"What was your first clue" was Steven's response. He raised his voice and shouted "Alright listen up! Long range probes have picked up advanced life on the planet we are on route too. It's not the Locust or the Flist Raiders so its our job to find out what they are and if they're friendly"

Carlos asked "What about technology?" Steven just shook his head "We've got no idea thats one of the reasons we're heading down" As everyone loaded their tranqs. and checked their equipment Steven was reminded of the Flist Raiders who had been showing up lately. The Raiders were Flist men who had managed to steal a landed scout ship and have been using it to attack Human ships in some sort of revenge. Unfortunatly they had located a shipyard for moth-balled starships or voidships as the Flist called them and had become an annoyance. The U.P. created the Valkyries in reponse to this threat. They were the Flist equivalent of the Human Spec. Ops. soliders or S.O.S and the Valkyries LOATHED the Flist men, its why they're so good at their job. Unfortunatly they hated the Revival project too.

Every Valkyrie had some horror story of their treatment at their ex-mates hands. Most psychologists thought that they shouldn't be let near a weapon. Their ship was the most advanced and deadliest ship humanity ever built, it was a massive dreadnought called the Nautilus. Named after the submarine from Jules Vernes 20'000 leagues under the sea, it's most frightening feature was the ability to deploy the first anti-matter bomb, nicknamed Eclipse. The Eclipse bomb could turn a whole planet into flaming rubble. If these readings are false and just a Raider ambush then they might get to see the Valkyries in action.

There were only about about a thousand Flist Raiders left thanks to the Valkyries. Since it was no longer possible for Flist women to give birth to Flist men the Raiders, who are the last Flist men alive, were doomed to extinction. Steven couldn't help but wonder what the Valkyries would do when the Flist men were extinct and he hoped they wouldn't turn their weapons against the Revival project. Afterall, the Valkyries were notoriously known to be EXTREMELY possessive over their Human mates. It was well known that the Valkyries liked the relationship between Humanity and the Flist and even mentioning the word Human woman in their presence would earn you a hospital trip.

"Commander" a robotic voice pulled him from his thoughts "We are now orbiting the planet and are within transporter range" Steven nodded towards his squad and they quickly positioned themselves on the transport pad. Approaching the console Steven located a large group of life forms and targeted an area some distance away. He set the console to transport after 10 seconds, ran onto the pad and he and his squad disappeared in a flash of light.

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When Steven managed to blink the spots out of his eyes he couldn't help but whistle, impressed with his surroundings. "It's like the Amazon jungle back on Earth, well except for the red leaves." Carlos muttered and Steven had to agree, it was a lot like the Amazon except bigger. The trees were three times the size of the Amazons trees but had red leaves instead of green. The vines were thicker then their bodies and the fruit, at least they thought it was fruit, were spotted.

Pulling out his scanner Steven pointed North and they marched forward, tranqs. at the ready. After 20 minutes they came upon a hill and after heaving their way up it they quickly threw themselves to the ground a gaped. Butterflies, man sized, TALKING humanoid butterflies. They had two thin legs and arms 5 fingers on each hand put the feet were pointed with no toes, like a curved triangle. They stood up straight and they had a natural full bodied exoskeleton and light green fur covering their chest and stomach.

Their eyes were angled diagonally and were pitch black. They had flowing hair and two antenna on top of their heads. Their faces were Human looking, a nose, a mouth, ears, a chin it was all there. The men had flat chests while the women had breasts. But it was their wings that took your breath away.

Taller then their bodies, the wings were full of different colours and intricate patterns that amazed them.

Steven and his squad watched as they flew and walked on ground before one of them caught his eye. It was a male and he was carrying some sort yellow seed. He dropped the seed on the ground and his antenna's began to vibrate. A small noise emanated from his antenna's and they watched, amazed as the seed sprouted large amounts of bark that twisted and turned until it had turned into a wooden recliner chair.

"Mierda!" Carlos cursed in spanish "Did you see that?!"

Steven slowly nodded his head and remembered the computers explantation "Machines that aren't machines... " Steven mumbled now understanding what the computer meant. He pulled out his scanner and synched up with his squad "Alright I want surveillance cameras and and transmitters positioned here, here and here. Full stealth, no contact and be careful!, every seed you see could be proximity mine" The squad nodded and split, the Commander staying behind to moniter alien movements and warn his squad if they started heading for one of their positions.

Lt. Commander Carlos Rodriguez slowly padded through the forest. Years of military training honed as he tried to complete his mission. His blue eyes slowly swept the area noticing every sign of movement. His ears picked up the faint sound of crying to the distance and he stopped. His mind was in a tug of war between his training and his ethics until finally the rope snapped and his ethics was left standing. He made his way towards the crying and came across a clearing, there he saw a woman who took his breath away. She looked just like the other aliens except her wings were a solid blue with no designs. He couldn't explain his attraction, he'd even sworn to never date an alien but there was just something about her.

She was sitting on a massive log and her hands were covering her tear filled eyes. Her wings were drooped behind her and she looked absolutely miserable. A voice that sounded strangely like his mother rang in his mind and said "What are you waiting for boy? Comfort the poor woman!" and just as he stepped forward Stevens voice rang in his ear "Don't do it Carlos" Carlos froze and muttered "First my Mother and now I'm hearing the Commander. I've gone nuts!"

He heard Stevens voice again but this time it sounded confused "What? Carlos I'm talking to you using the communication nanites" Carlos smacked his hand to his face and sighed. He backed away from the clearing and started to walk towards the objective but he had to ask "Are you following me?" He heard Stevens voice again in his ear "I synched our scanners remember? I can see you moving but only as a dot. Now imagine my surprise when I saw your dot heading for an alien dot. Mind telling me why you almost blew our cover?"

Carlos shrugged but remembered that the Commander couldn't see him shrug and replied "There was a crying alien I just... I don't know it didn't feel right just walking away." Carlos heard a click in his ear meaning the Commander had hung up and he quickly began to set up the surveillance equipment. When he got back to the hill overlooking the aliens home he found he was the last one there. "Alright settle down for the long haul boys and girl, we're gonna be here awhile" Carlos dimly nodded and pulled out his binoculars like everyone else but his mind was elsewhere. All he could think about was the crying alien and the guilt that he just walked away.

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Captain Hollister, Commander Steven and Doc. Ulysses aka Mouse stood in the Ops. Room staring at two green holograms of an alien male and female.

"Unbelievable" Captain Hollister muttered while Mouse was doing circles around the holograms, his eyes moving swiftly "Man sized, human looking butterflies. Butterflies!" He turned his gaze to Steven and asked "What can you tell us about them?" At this question Mouse froze for a second, nodded and kept doing his circles. He might not look it but Steven knew that Mouse was listening attentively.

"Well" Steven began "They call themselves the Hoto and they tend to be fickle and vain but that doesn't mean they're not dangerous. A wild animal attacked them and some sort of dust fell from their wings and onto the animal. It fell right to sleep. They don't judge by gender but rather they judge you on your wings. The more colours and the more intricate the designs on your wings the more social standing you have. Those with less colourful and intricate wings are treated quite cruelly by the other Hoto. They'd probably find us bland and boring to look at. We even saw a couple of Hoto who's wings were so impressive to the others that they bowed and praised them. Amongst the Hoto beauty is everything."

Steven paused to catch his breath and Captain Hollister asked "But what about the technology? The 'Machines that aren't machines'?" Steven nodded at this and began to explain again

"They do have technology but it's A LOT different from ours. They have some sort of yellow seed that they put on the ground, their antenna's vibrate creating sound and the seed turns into something else. A chair, a ball, even a house! All from a seed." Mouse froze, spun on his heels and zipped straight to Steven until they were face to face "Are you sure thats what you saw!? Are you positive!?" Steven backed away and nodded while Mouse started bouncing on his toes, happily whispering to himself.

"Mouse!" Hollister shouted, wanting answers "What does this mean? Is it important?" At the word important Mouse stopped bouncing and screamed "IMPORTANT? GREAT SCOTT ITS UNBELIEVEABLE! AMAZING!" Mouse began to circle the hologram again "Organic technology! It should be impossible but it isn't! Do you realise that with enough of those seeds you could GROW a city the size and complexity of New York city, Venice, Moscow, anywhere! In minutes! Entire fleets of organic, self-repairing starships in hours! AN ENTIRE ARTIFICAL PLANET IN MONTHS! All from a bunch of seeds!"

Mouse stopped circling, zipped in front of the Captain and stood completely still, at attention with his shaking hand in a slaute. "Permission to go planetside and gather samples SIR!"

The Captain turned his head to the hologram of the Hoto, thinking. After a minute he turned back to the still shaking Mouse and asked "An entire fleet in hours?" Mouse nodded or at least Steven thought he did. Mouse was shaking with excitement so much that it was hard tell from this angle. Captain Hollister nodded and said "Be in the hanger bay in one hour" Mouse jumped and gave a "YES!" before running out of the room. Captain Hollister smiled and shook his head "If nothing else he makes life interesting..."

Steven stood next to the Captain as they both stared at the Hoto holograms. Finally it was Steven who spoke "You want Mouse to gather these samples incase of war. To find a way to combat them?" Hollister grimly nodded "We can't predict the future. Some day the Hoto will decide to explore space and they might find us so 'bland and boring' that they'll want to get rid of us. Leaving the galaxy for more 'beautiful'" The Captain's voice took on a mocking tone at the word beautiful "people like them. Besides, there's something familiar about them. Something my instincts tell me means trouble."

Steven walked to the door but stopped at the Captains voice "Steven. Take your team and head straight back to planet, secure the transport site and wait for Mouse to beam down. I want tranqs. AND live ammo on this mission. No matter what happens, I don't care if the ground splits open or you have to kill every last Hoto, Mouse is to come back safe and sound. Understood?" Steven nodded and head for the elevator, disappointed that he didn't get to spend some time with his kids like he planned.

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Commander Steven, Lt. Commander Rodriguez and the three Ensigns sat around the clearing they had used to transport in last time. They had already set up motion and heat sensors surrounding the clearing making it impossible for the Hoto to sneak up on them. Now they were simply waiting for Mouse to beam down. Carlos hated silences like this so he decided to break it.

"So Commander, how are the kids?" It was well known that if you wanted to get Steven talking you asked him about his kids. The problem was he wouldn't shut up. Steven grinned "They're doing great. Will and Chorus have already made friends with some of the other kids on the Daedalus and practically don't stop moving! Once when we had a sitter minding them Will and Chorus snuck past her, put on their pajamas and went to the Bridge and said Grandpa Holli we're bored!"

Before he could keep talking a flash of light filled the clearing and when it dissipated there stood Mouse in a fluffy winter coat with a massive backpack on his back. "Uhhhh Doc? Whats with the gear" Carlos began wondering why he was wearing winter gear on a tropical planet.

"Never can be too careful!" Mouse said as he shuffled forwards, his backpack making a clanging sound as he walked. "Who knows what kind of poisonous bugs are flying around here. Now, where are these Hoto?" Steven stood and the others followed, the Ensigns looking around themselves for bugs. "Right this way Mouse" After another 20 minutes and a quick hike they all laid down on the hill and watched the Hoto. Mouse was muttering to himself as his eyes were zipping around in their sockets.

Steven leaned over to Carlos and whispered so the Hoto wouldn't hear them "You ever wonder what would happen if we gave Mouse coffee?" Carlos shuddered at the thought.

Finally one of the Hoto pulled a seed out of her fur and dropped it, her antenna began to vibrate. They heard a small sound and large amounts of bark burst from the seed before twisting and turning on itself. When it was finished a masterfully crafted table stood there. She whistled and some of the Hoto flew down carrying food.

"Amazing! I have to get one" Mouse stood up and walked towards the Hoto. Steven rushed to his feet and tackled Mouse, pining him to the ground. One of the Hoto children, male they think, stared in their direction for a few seconds before going back to his meal. "Are you insane!?" Steven furiously whispered "They could hostile for all we know! You could have been killed!" Steven rolled off Mouse and started crawling back to the others, Mouse following him.

"How am I supposed to get one of the seeds then? They carry them in their fur! It could take me weeks to found one on these trees!" Steven nodded when Mouse said this and began to think. After a few seconds Steven pulled out his scanner which was synched with the lifesign scanners on the Daedalus. He turned to Mouse and said "I know where one is"

A few minutes later they came to a stop at a huge clear with a massive log. The crying Hoto female was still on top of it. "NO!" Carlos whispered "We are NOT going to hurt her just so Doc Mouse can get a fucking seed!"

Steven turned to Carlos and glared "We have no choice! Besides we're not going to hurt her. We'll just tranq. her, Mouse will get a seed and we'll head back to the Daedalus. She'll be fine!" Carlos just shook his head "What if predators attack her when shes asleep!"

"She's close enough to home, they'll hear any predators and-" Steven was interrupted by a thump sound. He and Carlos turned their heads and saw the Hoto woman unconscious and Mouse walking towards her, holding a tranq. gun. They rushed forward and the Ensigns established a triangle perimeter around them. "Didn't now you had it in ya Mouse" Steven said, impressed.

Mouse just shrugged and replied "I'm also a vet, although its kind of pointless since the Locust wiped out the animals on Earth." Mouse clapped his hands and said "Now! can one of you stick your hand in her stomach and chest fur and grab a seed?" Carlos raised an eyebrow and asked "Why can't you do it?"

Mouse blushed and looked up at the sky "You know, because... well... she's a, a, woman" he whispered the word woman and his face went redder.

Steven waved his hand towards the body and said "All yours"

"What!" Carlos shouted "Why can't you do it"

Steven gave him a disbelieving look "Because if I do it and Alias finds out, and she will find out, she'll tie me to the bed and never let me out again! You know how possessive Flist woman are!"

Carlos nodded and slowly stuck his hand in her fur. He heard his mother's voice in his head saying "I didn't realise I was raising a boy who gropes helpless woman" He closed his eyes and tried to block out his mothers voice, finally he felt something round and grabbed it. The Hoto woman let a soft moan. He went bright red and he opened his eyes. Steven, Mouse and the three Ensigns were looking at him in shock. Steven opened his mouth and said "Seriously? Your THAT lonely?" Carlos just scowled and got back to work. Finally after what felt hours to him but was really minutes Carlos pulled out a yellow seed.

"Yes!" Mouse screamed, grabbed the seed, dropped his pack and pulled out a glass jar. After putting the seed in the jar he pulled out an interactive medical pad and a green light drifted from the pad and over the woman. Words, numbers and pictures of organs filled the screen and Mouse started happily tapping away. Steven and Carlos stood up and waited for Mouse to finish. "It was an accident..." Carlos muttered and Steven just nodded and replied "Uh huh" Carlos angry eyes whipped to the Commanders and he shouted "IT WAS!" Steven just nodded again and said "uh huh" Before Carlos could start shouting again Mouse whispered the words

"Holy shit..." Mouses eyes were wide and his body was frozen. Steven crouched down next to him and asked "You alright"

Mouse shook his head "According to these medical scans the Hoto share a 96% genetic similarity to the Locust. This woman came from the same world the Locust did"

One of the Ensigns dropped his tranq. in shock and the clearing was deadly silent. Stevens head snapped to the Ensigns and shouted "LIVE AMMO NOW! I WANT THOSE GUNS TRAINED ON HER INCASE SHE WAKES UP! MOVE IT!" The Ensigns started frantically switching ammo but stopped when Mouse shouted "WAIT" and dived infront of her. "She's a Locust but at the same time she's not a Locust"

Steven growled "In Basic Mouse"

"It's like Humans and Apes! We're genetically similar but different! Somewhere along this species evolutionary line they diverged. Some became Locusts, others became Hoto! Both different but at the same time similar. Our own long range probes say they're not Locusts. We need to take her back with us so I can run some more tests"

Steven gritted his teeth and looked at the ground, trying to decide what to do. Mouse spoke up again "Commander if you tell the U.P. that this species is related to the Locust they'll order the Valkyries to destroy this planet. I NEED to run more tests! So I can prove without a doubt that these people are not Locusts! We can't destroy an entire people for the sins of their relatives. Please, just give me a chance to save them." Steven stared at Mouse's pleading expression for a second before sighing. "Carlos pick her up. We're heading back to the transport" Carlos nodded and held her bridal style, being careful with her wings, his mind conflicted between his attraction to her and his hatred for the Locust.

As they were walking back Carlos looked at the Hoto woman and whispered "I wonder why you were crying?" Mouse answered him "Her wings"

At Carlos's confused expression Mouse explained "Hoto judge a persons worth by how many colours and how intricate a design they have on their wings. Her wings are only blue with no patterns at all. To the Hoto she's probably considered hideous and from what the cameras have shown us they are quite cruel to men and women like her." Carlos couldn't help but wonder how anyone could consider her hideous.

When they got to the transport clearing Steven pressed his earlobe, activating his communication nanites and said "ground crew to Daedalus. Seven to beam up"

He heard the person manning the transporter mutter "Seven?..." and in a flash of light the clearing was empty.

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Alrighty chap 4 is done and so begins the Hoto. Will Humanity and the Flist wipe out the Hoto? Or will Mouse get his evidence in time to stop the Valkyries? You'll just have to keep reading to find out.

Also there will be sex next chap! Just a heads up ya know?