Short hills dotted the landscape along with larger mountains. The sky right then was a clear blue, though clouds gathered in the distance, indicating another storm was brewing close by. The pillar towered above all the rest, piercing high into the sky. There was a blue haze that covered everything, giving the planet an almost muted look. White, grey, black, and blue seemed to be the only colors on the entire planet. Dotted along the landscape were large black trees scattered along the horizon, filled with small, dark grey leaves that fluttered in the wind.

"It's beautiful." She said, turning to him, only to find him staring down at her.

"Yes. It is." He said, trailing his fingers along her cheek, one of the few places that was actually exposed to the cold air.

"It's not as cold as I thought it'd be." She said, turning away from the lust she saw in his eyes.

"No. Not until the storm hits. Then it will be too cold for you again. We need to find my ship or return to yours before then."

"Then we better get a move on."

He helped her down from the top of the shuttle after they attached their snow shoes. He also had her wrap the furs around her hands as sort of makeshift gloves. They almost glided across the snow as they began their trek to the spire.

Xatah walked next to her, keeping pace with her no matter how much she slowed down. Constantly he scanned the surrounding area, looking to see if a thoratt or maybe one of the smaller predators on the planet were nearby.

"For generations our people have been going off-world, seeking out the largest and most dangerous of predators in the known galaxy to prove themselves as great hunters," said Xatah as they continued their step-step-glide routine towards the spire. "It was a very honorable rite of passage. The greater the beast a warrior brought home, the greater the praise. This is the place I chose for my own ceremony."

She felt oddly pleased that Xatah had chosen the planet she liked so much to go hunting in.

"So you're a great warrior, huh?"

He grinned at her and she felt her knees go weak.

As they continued on their trip, Xatah became more and more tense. His voice became quieter when he talked to her, and his neck muscles were bunched up as he quickly tried to take in the landscape.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

"We're being hunted." He whispered.

She began trying to glide faster along the snow, hoping they could get to the spire before whatever it was that was hunting them pounced.

And then she tripped on a hidden rock. The snow wasn't as deep where they were, and she landed hard, crying out as her leg twisted beneath her. Next to where she landed something burst out of hiding and she screamed. Her voice echoed through the valley as she flung her hands up, sure that whatever it was would eat her face off.

Xatah was laughing at her.

Indignantly she lowered her hands to see a creature very similar to a rabbit running off.

"Way to scare off that predator, y'calla."

Jenny squinted into the distance. "Well... it probably had rabies or something. I just saved our lives."

Above her, Xatah went completely still, then he reached down and took off both of their snow shoes. "We don't need these anymore." He said before he hauled her up, tossing her into his arms as he began to run full out toward the spire. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "What is it?"

"Quiet." He whispered, his eyes on the distance as if he was counting the steps he needed to take to get them to safety.

She peered over his shoulder, and around the femur which he had strapped to his back, and saw a creature in the distance running toward them. Though she couldn't make out its exact shape, she could tell it was huge.

It was going to eat them. She clutched him tighter and he made a choking sound. "Please don't strangle me." He laughed at her. Well, she thought, at least someone was in good humor.

"Um, I think it's gaining on you."

"Don't say things like that."

"Okay but seriously, it's going to eat us." She said, trying not to strangle him even though she had the strongest urge to try to climb on top of his body.

The thoratt was slowly gaining on them and for the first time she got a good look at the beast. It was like a snow leopard, pure white with dull blue spots, but instead of the cute, cuddly size of cats that she was used to, this beast was slightly larger than the elephants she had seen at zoos. It had a wide jaw that was hanging open and its large tongue was hanging out of its mouth. Teeth were overflowing it's large mouth, and its eyes were a terrifying shade of yellow.

"You fought one of those things before?"

"Nothing to it." Xatah puffed.

Jenny decided they were about to die. Her pirate was getting winded, the catlike creature was gaining on them, and they didn't even know where his people's ship was. If it was even on this planet.

"You worry too much." He huffed.

She pulled away from his neck, taking her eyes off the cat for a moment to look up at her pirate. He had a determined look in his eyes, and his skin was steaming with heat. He was very warm to the touch. If they weren't about to die, she thought she could hang out in his arms forever.

Looking ahead of them, it was clear they might just make it to the pillar after all. Xatah was a much faster runner than she was. And at the base of the pillar was a cave that was slightly hidden from view.

"Look, Xatah!" she cried, pointing to the cave. He changed directions and sprinted. The cat screamed behind them, making her head ache. "We're not going to make it." She warned.

"Grab the tree." He ordered right before flinging her up. She reached out and grabbed onto a large branch and hauled herself into the tree, turning to see if Xatah needed help joining her. But instead she saw he stopped running and unhooked his weapon from behind his back.

He turned to face the thoratt and crouched in a battle stance.

The cat roared again before lunging mid air at Xatah as if going for his throat. He dodged to the right and brought up his femur weapon, slamming it against the thoratt's head as the cat passed over his body.

The creature fell to the ground, and Jenny stared in amazement at Xatah as he wrenched his weapon free from the predator which lay still on the ground.

"Wow." She said lamely, and he looked up at her with a weary smile.

"Worried?" he asked and gestured for her to drop down into his arms.

"As if."

A look of disappointment crossed his face before he quickly hid it.

She smiled and reached up giving him a kiss on his chin. "Maybe a little."

"We need to leave here. Its body will attract other predators to the area."

Nodding, she took out two energy bars and some water, handing him some. "Eat." She ordered, ripping open her own energy bar as they began to quickly walk to the cave she had pointed out.

Inside the cave it was even warmer than outside and she quickly unwrapped some of the furs from her body. She looked at him critically. He was steaming hot as if his body began over compensating for the cold outside. "You're not going to overheat are you?"

Shaking his head, he toured the cave. "Not for a while yet...." He trailed off as he went deeper into the cave. "Come here." He said, opening his hand and giving her one of his sexy smiles that make him completely irresistible.

"What is it?" she asked, placing his cool hand in his larger warm one.

He smiled down at her and ran his hand along the curves of the cave. "This cave isn't natural. My ship is here. I can feel it." He said. There was a hopeful joy in his face that made her heart clench up. Here was a man, she thought, who would be a true partner to her.

"Let's go find it then, shall we?" she asked, tugging him forward.

They searched the cave together until they came to the back side, where ice steps led up, taking them further up into the spire. There was an eerie blue light that echoed throughout the walls as if the spire itself had an inner light to lead them to their goal.

They slowly climbed, counting the steps as they went until they realized they were about a third of the way up the spire, when the stairs stopped and opened up into a landing pier. It was as if it was carved out of the spire naturally. The walls were of the same smooth blue ice that lightly glowed, giving them plenty of light to see by. The ceilings were thirty feet tall and in the middle of the landing, a large circular ship was parked.

"It's actually here." Jenny said, breathing heavily from the climb. "This is amazing." The ship almost loomed before us as if it had been waiting for Xatah this entire time.

"Yes." He laughed and pulled her to him for a hug. "Come, let's see it."

We toured around the outside of the ship, pausing to check the landing gear. There was a generator outside as if someone had set up camp at one point. And one of the shuttles was missing, but other than that, the site was clear of debris or any proof that someone had crashed here. It was almost as if the plane had been hidden.

"Do you have any idea what happened?"

He shook his head as he looked up at the stairs leading into the ship. It had been left open as if completely fearless that anything would bother the ship until the owner came back for it.

"Rumors, only. I wasn't a part of the mission, but my parents were. They were too secretive, afraid that another species would take advantage of our weaknesses so they told the children nothing. I didn't even know what had happened until my parents explained the crew that had been entrusted with the ship had gone missing. And we've been looking ever since. For some reason it looks like they abandoned the ship here. But why?"

He reached out his hand to hers. "Come, let's search the inside."

Willingly Jenny placed her hand in his and they walked up the stairs into the last salvation of his people. Inside the ship looked pristine as if it hadn't been used very long before it had been abandoned on this planet.

They walked to the bridge where there were no signs of damage. The pilot box was gone and there were no mission notes. So they walked to the passenger quarters, which were empty. The cargo bay with the frozen Kossts were still intact, the onboard generators and computers were running perfectly.

And the frozen tubes filled with all the DNA from his planet were in perfect condition.

"How odd." Jenny said, taking in all the different aspects of the ship that looked as if they'd been lovingly cared for and someone had just gone out for a stroll.