Xatah grunted as the ship landed hard. Next to him, he heard Jenny gasp in pain as the seatbelt tightened against her body. He sat still for a moment, giving his body time to tell him if there were any injuries. Besides a small gash in his leg where he hit the console he was fine. He ignored the minor pain and turned to his new mate.

He quickly undid his seatbelt and knelt beside his fragile human. Gently, he caressed her chin, urging her to look at him. "Are you okay?" he asked urgently.

She smiled weakly. "Yeah. Some ride huh?" she said and winced as she tried to take off her seatbelt. He cursed silently to himself. Humans were more fragile than his own people. He should have protected her more during the landing.

He wouldn't forget again. Slowly he helped her stand. "Anything broken?" he asked, gently running his fingers along her body. She winced as she stood and took a few steps, but didn't cry out in pain. Still, he felt terrible for putting her in danger. He'd found his mate and already he had allowed her to be hurt.

"No, no, everything is fine. I just need a moment to get my breath back." She said, wincing as she sat in the back of the shuttle and closed her eyes. "I haven't crashed like that since my second year of flight school."

Xatah looked at her in surprise as he began to rummage around the supply cabinet for food and water. "What happened?"

"My friend Kane had this great idea to show off our skills during the senior graduation ceremony. We decided to do the Hammerhead but got caught up the wake of another team and lost control of our ships."

"So you had to bail?"

"No, Kane did, but I brought my plane down... with lots of bruises. But it saved me from getting my ass reamed by our flight instructor. Kane wasn't so lucky."

Anger rippled through Xatah though he wasn't sure why. Yes, she spoke of this Kane with too much fondness in her voice but her human companion of old wasn't there.

He couldn't help the coldness that came out in his voice. "You were fond of Kane?"

She looked up at Xatah with surprise in her eyes. "Well, sure, everyone was. He was a nice guy, but he went off and married one of the flight instructors. It was a huge scandal."

And that quickly his anger slid away. "Good." He said.

She eyed him in confusion as if she wasn't sure about his reaction to her little story.

Time to change the topic, he decided. He knelt down beside her and gave her a bottle of water he salvaged from the supply cabinet along with an energy bar. "We have enough food in your little shuttle to last us a few weeks if we're careful."

"Commander Jackson will be here long before then." Jenny said, as she carefully tore open the energy bar and alternated between sipping water and slowly chewing on the bar. The energy bars stored in shuttles were never all that appetizing but they'd fill up even Xatah for hours.

"We'll worry about that when we get to it." Xatah said, confidently. He wasn't about to say anything to the human woman sitting at his feet, but he hoped that when he found what he was looking for, Commander Jackson wouldn't be of concern to him ever again.

"For now, let's see how far away from the pillar we are."

"What are you going to do with me now that we've landed?" she asked unexpectedly.

He raised his eyebrows and a slow smile spread over his face. "I didn't just kidnap you so you could pilot the shuttle for me you know."

She raised her eyebrows at him in surprise. "You didn't?"

"No, I need someone to carry my pack for me too."

She threw her rolled-up energy bar wrapped at him. "Beast." He laughed at her and wagged his finger in her direction.

"Now behave, I'm going to see where we are."

He climbed up to the hatch at the top of the ship. They were in a canyon, and the front of the shuttle was completely snowed in from what he could tell from their viewer. He didn't want to open the large bay on the backside and let in more cold air and snow than necessary.

Outside, it was freezing. He quickly closed the hatch again and went into the shuttle. In the storage cabinet he had seen a few jackets and pants meant for freezing weather. He dug them out and threw them at her. "Put these on." He commanded her and went up to the hatch again.

"Um, what about you?" she asked, as she put on the warmer clothes.

"The cold doesn't bother me." He said. And then he went through the hatch and closed it behind him, sealing her safely into the warm shuttle behind him.

A roar echoed through the valley.