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“Daniel. Daniel?" A whisper over the radio. Daniel's clumsy, half-asleep arm fumbled around atop his dresser until his hand closed around his walkie-talkie. It had been three days since he had arrived at the outpost, and R'kan had without fail contacted Daniel every day for a quick chat, mostly about trivial things of little importance, but it did the young human worlds of good. “Are you awake?"

“Mrruh?" Daniel mumbled. He heard a soft chuckle from the darkness.

“Sorry if I woke you I just… couldn't sleep. I went for a walk to clear my head and, you know, ended up in the area, so I thought I'd give you a try. Heh…" Daniel mentally pictured R'kan scratching the back of his neck as he always did when he was nervous or embarrassed. He smiled sleepily at the familiar image.

“No problem buddy. If you don't mind me asking… bad dreams?" A crackling sigh.

“Yeah. It was Rye. I could have saved him Daniel! I killed him… I ended his life. He didn't ask for this. He was told that he was protecting his friends, family, species. And I ended his life. Did he have a wife? Children? If he didn't, he never will now. He'll never get to experience the joys of life ever again. Because of me. I took that away from him. Forever. I-I'm a monster Daniel. A demon from the very depths of your kind's hell. And what's worse is the others were there too. They were faceless, nameless, and angry. I didn't even think about it. The consequences. And I can't take it back Daniel. I can never make up for what I've done."

“You can," Daniel soothed him supportively. “They sacrificed their lives when they signed up. Now you just have to make their sacrifices worth it. Don't let their deaths be in vain. They died so you could live, so make something of that opportunity. Strive to end this war, so nobody else has to die like them."

“Yeah, okay." R'kan took a deep breath. “You're right. Just promise me something Daniel."

“What?"

“Promise me you won't make my mistakes. Promise me you'll never kill anybody Daniel."

“R'kan… you know I can't. This is a war, there may come a time when I'm presented no other choice…"

“There is always a choice Daniel. Always another way, you just have to look for it."

“Unfortunately, I'm about as good at looking as I am at walking right now – it doesn't help that I don't exactly have 20-20 vision."

“Daniel, this isn't a joke. You will regret it for the rest of your life. At least promise me you'll try."

“Okay. I'll look, but if I can't find a way…"

“I understand. It's not as if I'm in any position to judge, now is it? Goodnight Daniel, talk to you tomorrow."

“Yeah, tomorrow," Daniel replied, but the line was already dead. He sighed and lay back in his bed, thinking deeply about what his Lahzid friend had said.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

On the sixteenth day, Daniel, supported by Mack and Pete, was able to make it out of the building where his room was situated and into the open air of the outpost's asphalt. The complex had everything he needed to survive in it, but he was grateful for the chance to sit out in the sun without a window separating him from the soothing breeze and the sounds of birds. This far from the city, the outpost site was right next to a forest which stretched on for as far as the eye could see until the great wall of the valley rose up, blockading the region off from the rest of the continent.

Daniel gazed at the scenery from within the concrete walls of the outpost, sighing wistfully as he imagined being out there himself, talking to R'kan in person. Speaking of that Lahzid… being in the situation he was in, Daniel found himself rapidly crashing down into a state of depression, but somehow his alien friend managed to pick him up every day, fill him with the hope he needed to keep going. Sure, he got visits from his friends, mostly Mack and Pete, but his companions had been kept busy with designated jobs and spent a lot of time with their new friends they'd made around the place. They never admitted it, but Daniel knew they often forgot all about him and just enjoyed their own lives without his disability weighing them down.

Did he blame them? No. Did it hurt anyway? Yes.

But even in broad daylight, with the occasional soldier passing by Daniel's quiet corner, he heard his radio crackle.

“Hey bud!" the ever-present cheery voice greeted him. “You're outside! Hey, can you see me waving? Look at the highest tree you can find in front of you." Daniel did, and faintly saw the briefest of movements atop the tallest tree near the outpost. He gave a small smile.

“Yeah. I mean, it could have been a bird, but it was probably you. Don't you think it's kind of dangerous to be so out in the open, so close to the outpost, in the middle of the day?"

“Probably, but it's a risk worth taking to talk to you. I'm worried about you."

“Don't be," Daniel told him dismissively. “I'll be all right, as long as you stick around to watch out for me, ay? Anyway… seeing as we're both outside, why don't we try for a game of I Spy?" He received a well-meaning laugh.

“That sounds like a terrible idea," R'kan exclaimed, “let's do it!"

“I spy with my little eye…" Needless to say, the game ended terribly, with neither player able to see any of the minor details the other could. They ended up using 'wall' six times, 'tree' came up a few times and so did 'concrete' and 'building'. Surprisingly, it took Daniel five minutes to get 'outpost', but other than that they enjoyed more the stupidity of the game than the actual game itself, and R'kan was pleased at the near-constant stream of laughter he was getting from the human. He hadn't seen Daniel this happy in a week.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, in an isolated and heavily guarded area of the outpost lay the command centre for the region. In a small, off-to-the-side office resided a room with a variety of surveillance equipment and a tired, middle-aged man. In front of him lay a single machine into which his headphones were plugged, and sheets of print-outs surrounded him, splayed out so he could see each and every one. They were transcripts. Each transcript was entitled 'T+' followed by a number.

For example, 'T+2', which was a few, stapled-together pages long, held the following on the first page:

_T+2

R: Hey there.

D: Hi. Glad you're back. Are we going to do this every day? (D sounds hopeful)

R: Of course! Maybe even twice a day if you're real lucky.

D: (laughs)

R: Anyway, my team and I were scavenging in the city, in the usual spot around –

D: NO!

R: What? What did I say?

D: I'm not sure how secure this channel is. If somebody is listening in, and you say where your squad has been and will be tomorrow…

R: Oh. Oh god. You're right. I'll be more careful, I promise._

And another one:

_T+8

R: You there?

D: (rustling noises) Yeah, I'm here. I'm probably always going to be here. I can never get away from here! (D is hysterical, then begins crying)

R: Hey hey hey hey. Daniel! Come on, don't be like that. Talk to me. Are you getting lonely?

D: I'm… I'm just so sick of being stuck here! I'm not even in control of my own life anymore! I can barely even get food without somebody else's help! I hate this… I want it all to stop…

R: Daniel! You better not be suggesting what I think you are!

D: (sniffling sounds, otherwise silent)

R: Hey… it'll be okay. I've been asking around my base and a doctor friend of mine says he knows of a medicine that could help you. Something that my kind brought here. If we find a Lahzid medkit, we find your cure. And we're looking, believe me. I promise you, we will find you your cure. You will walk again Daniel, I swear it.

D: I… I… (D resumes crying, then turns his radio off)

R: Please, stay safe (R is whispering, then he too leaves the frequency)_

_T+9

R: Is your radio on?

D: Yeah. I'm really sorry for yesterday. I just…

R: Shh, it's okay. I know how you must be feeling. I know that feeling of helplessness, the inability to change what life throws at you. But there will always be someone there for you. Sometimes they take a while to show up, but as long as you stay determined, you will find them.

D: R'kan. Thank you… thank you for everything. I don't think I ever could have made it this far without you.

R: Thanks for reciprocating. It's been a long time since I've had a friend. My sister was the closest it got during the voyage here, and the ones I made on my home planet… well, one way or another, they're not around anymore.

D: I wish there was some way we could just get along.

R: I thought we got along just fine.

D: (laughs softly) You know what I meant, you big goofball.

R: Goofball? What an interesting turn of events.

D: Oh stop it. Look, I've got a little work to do right now, so we'll talk again later?

R: Of course. Oh, and Daniel?

D: Yes?

R: Never turn your radio off like that again. Ever. Not without a 'see ya later'. I was worried sick about you. I have trouble enough sleeping on account of my nightmares without questioning whether I'll get to hear your voice again.

D: Y-yeah, will do R'kan. Sorry.

R: (sighs) Talk to you later Daniel._

From here on out, R always checks in twice daily. Once during the morning (0600-1100), once at night (1900-0000).

“So why are you showing me this?" a gruff first lieutenant demanded, the highest ranking officer the outpost had. The radio-man, Specialist Judo, turned to face her.

“Well, you told me to keep you updated on any potential strategical information. There's none. They made an agreement pretty early on to never discuss anything like that over the radio, and they've stuck to it. What's interesting is that they're forming a very close relationship. And also, this is from this morning." Specialist Judo handed Lieutenant Dover a transcript paper. She began reading it.

T+18

“What does this mean?"

“Hm? Oh! 'T' is the day Daniel arrived here. So 'T' plus eighteen means this is his eighteenth day."

“Right." Dover resumed reading.

_T+18

R: Daniel! (R is very excited)

D: R'kan, it's one o'clock! You need to stop coming so late in the day… you're going to get killed, and I couldn't live with that.

R: Sorry, I was accompanying a scavenging mission. Anyway, I've got to go, but I just want you to be in your room at eight o'clock tonight, alright?

D: Okay. Why so specific?

?: Corporal! Get your ass over here!

R: You'll see when the time comes. Bye! (R is in a hurry)_

“So what?" Dover demanded.

“He's arranged a time, which means he obviously has something important to say, and it has to be done at that time. I think we might get something tonight." Dover checked her watch.

“It's eight o'clock now," she pointed out. Judo nodded.

“Hence why I asked for you to be here, ma'am. R'kan should call Daniel any minute now." Five minutes passed, and the only noise Judo's machine made was its idle whirr. “Aaaaany minute now…"

And still not a peep.

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel waited impatiently in his room, staring at his walkie-talkie expectantly. His watch changed over to 2007 hours. Seven minutes past eight. A few seconds later, he got a knock on his door. He groaned in frustration at the interruption.

“What?" he demanded. His radio crackled to life.

“Guess who!" R'kan giggled excitedly. Daniel turned to his door in disbelief.

“No way…" he muttered. “No way!" He flung open his door, to find R'kan lounging outside casually.

“'Ello mate," he greeted the human goofily. He took a moment to take in the human's clothing, which had changed drastically since the last time they'd been this close. In the place of his worn grey suit, Daniel was wearing khaki jeans and an unzipped forest camo jacket over a plain black t-shirt. That along with the fact that he was wearing black combat boots told R'kan that the military had just handed him some odds and ends rather than actually gone looking for civilian clothing. Daniel looked nice in it though, the colours looked very good on him, and he wore it in a very casual way. Very suave.

“Oh my god R'kan! Get inside, NOW!" Not waiting for his response, Daniel bustled him inside and swiftly locked his door behind him. “Christ, what the hell are you doing?" R'kan could see the tears beginning to form in Daniel's eyes. “You-you-you could have been spotted! And-and killed! R'kan, how could you be so careless?"

R'kan acted quickly before he broke down into tears completely.

“Hey, hush now, I'm fine. Remember how I mentioned that scavenging mission earlier? Well, I brought you something." R'kan reached deep into his back pocket and pulled out a syringe filled with a strange, transparent, cyan-coloured liquid. “It's an altered form of that medicine I was talking about. Alph adapted it for human use. This will heal you Daniel." Daniel stared at the syringe in R'kan's hand, then slowly reached out and placed his own hand over it. Then, without warning, Daniel lunged forward and crashed their lips together, slipping his free arm around R'kan's neck to pull his face down to kissing level.

R'kan froze, startled, and before he could process what had just happened, Daniel had pulled away, a slight red tinge on his face. R'kan noticed that his arm stayed however, resting on the taller man's shoulder.

“I-I owe you so much R'kan… you mean the world to me… I never want to live without you… I love you. I love you so much!" Daniel gave up on trying to explain his feelings and just buried his face in R'kan's chest. The Lahzid could feel the wetness of his eyes. R'kan smiled softly, made sure Daniel had a tight grip on the syringe, then slipped both arms around him, pulling the human into a tight embrace.

“I love you too buddy. Now, I better gap it before I get caught. Keep me posted on that leg of yours, okay?"

“Definitely!" Daniel agreed. “Maybe soon enough, I'll be coming over to your place to talk!" R'kan laughed, ruffled his hair, then vacated the room with a gleeful:

“I look forward to it."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Mack entered the cafeteria, looking to grab two plates of breakfast so he could pay Daniel a visit. He was startled to see Daniel already sitting at a table with Pete and Caitlin, waving to him enthusiastically. Mack shrugged, grabbed some food, and took a seat with them.

“Hey guys," Mack greeted them.

“Hi Mack!" Daniel giggled.

“He's loopy!" Harry remarked from behind them, before plopping himself down next to Mack. “Absolutely crazy. I think someone hopped him up on drugs or something."

Daniel was in fact, in a very good mood for two reasons. Number one, R'kan had contacted him again this morning and told him the medicine would show results within a few days, and number two: he had finished with 'catch ya later luv' instead of the usual farewell. That meant they were dating, right?

Of course, Daniel couldn't tell any of his friends what had happened the previous night, so to them he seemed unreasonably happy. He had been so scared after he'd let those three words slip… 'I love you'. Within the time it took for R'kan to say it back, Daniel was terrified that the Lahzid would reject him, or even worse, be disgusted and never talk to him again. But he'd said it back! Daniel giggled to himself again as his mind wandered… all the things they could do now…

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel leaned against the wall, breathing hard; he wiped away a bead of sweat from his forehead before resuming hopping down the hallway, one hand keeping contact with the wall the entire time. He reached his destination: the Lieutenant's quarters. Her room was located as far away from everyone else's as possible, and was used much less than it should be, seeing as she usually slept in short bursts within the confines of the command centre, if she slept at all. She was often preoccupied not by her own garrison, but rather by conveying long-distance orders to others in the midst of battle, seeing as there wasn't all that much to do here except allocate search zones to her squads in the hopes of finding the alleged Lahzid base. He knocked on the door and waited.

Lieutenant Dover opened the light, flimsy piece of wood with a scowl. However, her expression changed very suddenly when she saw who was visiting her.

“Oh, Mr Teil. I sent someone to help you over here, didn't you see him?" Daniel waved her off dismissively. Dover took a moment to inform a 'Specialist Judo' that Daniel had arrived and no longer needed his assistance.

“I can walk. Well, I mean, I can't, but I can do something to the same effect. You get the point, ma'am," Daniel rambled respectfully. “Though quite honestly, I don't know why you'd want me here, to talk to you, in person. It must be quite important."

“It is. Some of the staff here have reported you speaking to someone via a walkie-talkie, and nobody here has one like it. So you must be talking to somebody outside. If there is a civilian out there, I'd like to know about it."

“He has a very strong opinion about the military," Daniel lied, unbeknownst to him, he wasn't fooling anybody. “He would rather fend for himself until the quarantine is lifted, but he does like company, so he settles for talking to me." Dover nodded, apparently accepting his lie.

“Well, if you can convince him to come and stay here that would be preferable, but if you cannot, then I suppose it can't be helped. It's a relief to hear that it's just another human civilian; some of the men here were speculating that it was a Demon that you were talking to." Before Daniel could respond, Specialist Judo burst in, panting.

“Urgent business ma'am!" he declared.

“Thank you for seeing me, Daniel. Now, if you'll excuse me…" Daniel nodded and vacated the room. When she was sure he was out of earshot, she demanded: “Well?"

“It's done. There's a camera in his room now, so if that Demon did visit him last night, and does it again, we'll know." Dover nodded, impressed at how fast Judo had managed to set it up. She hadn't been distracting Daniel for very long at all.

“Good, well done, Corporal." Judo's eyes shimmered slightly as they widened.

“Wh-why thank you ma'am!" He gave a rigid salute and a satisfied smile at the spontaneous promotion.

Meanwhile, a fair distance away from the two human soldiers, a different corporal was lounging around atop a wooden bench seat, legs resting upon one armrest, his back against the other. He had his scaly arms interlaced behind his head as he stared at the clouds.

“Hey sis," he uttered suddenly, despite the fact nobody else was near him. “So… it's been a while since we've talked, but a friend of mine picked up this thing called the 'Holy Bible'. The humans seem to believe in this place called heaven, up in the clouds above us. I don't understand it fully, but it's where I would expect to find you, because it's where all the greatest people of this planet go when they die. And you're the greatest person I know…" R'kan removed his hands from behind his head and wiped away the tear that was beginning to form. “So, uh… I thought I'd say hi, just in case you're up there, watching me… or even just listening. I've been real busy since we last talked… I'm a corporal in our specie's army, because, you know, the humans violently attacked us and tried to wipe our kind out of existence. But they're not all bad! It's just a misunderstanding… I've actually met one, and made friends with him. Well, 'friends' is a bit of an understatement. I love him. He's… incredible, Faya. He needs lots of comfort and encouragement, but I can see in his heart that he's a very determined and passionate person. It's silly but… every time I look at him, I see the face of our saviour; I feel that he's the one who'll end this war."

R'kan paused, smiling bitterly. “I really miss you, but Daniel's helping me get through all this. Sometimes when I'm out there, I just want to lay down and die, you know? I wonder if I could go to this heaven place, with you. But I always remember him. I know that I'm no good to Daniel in heaven; he needs me here, on Earth. The things I've done Faya… and still, he loves me. He even kissed me! I don't know how much longer I can stay separated from him… every night I get the urge to sneak into the human base, just to touch him, just to see his smile again. I do love him, Faya. I want him to be apart of our family, as my mate. And if anyone even so much as tries to hurt him… I'll make them wish they were never born."

R'kan's shoulders sagged. “Yeah, I know. I sound like a monster, and I probably am, but I've lived my whole life having things take away from me… my home… my planet… my ship… my friends… my parents… … you…" He was sitting up now, no longer in his casual lounging stance. “It's driving me crazy. How much do you expect me to take before I snap? When you left me, I learned a hard lesson. Life's a bitch, and I've gotta stop letting myself be pushed around. So now look at me; I'm a soldier, I kill people. No longer am I an innocent child crying for their family to come comfort them. But you know what? I'd go back to that any day. Now that you're gone, I have to be strong because you can't be strong for me, but I'd rather be weak and have you by my side. I guess what I'm saying is that it's been hard to find the courage to go on, but I have hope now. I want to settle down with Daniel, and live a happy life together. You may think I'm crazy, thinking about that sort of thing when we've only known each other for a few weeks, but I'm only twenty-six, and I've had all this shit thrown at me, can you blame me for wanting to be happy?"

He chuckled to himself. “Anyway, this got depressing real fast. Bottom line: I love Daniel, and I will go to the ends of the Earth to ensure we can live out our life together in peace. I'll stay positive and happy, so long as I push the rest of my thoughts to the back of my head and just concentrate on getting us through this. Bleh, you know I've never been good with words, and maybe none of what I just said makes sense to you, but I think I've been given a chance to be happy, and I will take it. I've been forgiven for my sins. Now I just need to make it happen; I just need to keep fighting for that brighter future."

~~~~~~~~~~()~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel plonked himself into his computer chair, worn out from the hundred-or-so metres of 'walking'. He pulled up some news websites and flicked through the various reports of the 'first wave' of the 'Demon invasion' until he found one in English.

Chaos. The camera was shaking violently as the news reporter and co rushed away from the scene. People were running and screaming, flailing about as steel pods as big as buses demolished buildings and buried themselves in the streets.

“This… this is Linda Candelle reporting live from New York… we appear to be under assault by an unknown type of weaponry –" A thunderous boom sounded and concrete chunks showered the crew, who had tried to shelter underneath a concrete bridge. A car swerved wildly and smashed into a nearby road barrier. “The government is evacuating civilians as they attempt to counter these attacks and… we're getting reports from all over the northern hemisphere! Astronomers appear to have sighted… the attacks… damn it! Stop screaming in my ear!" The reporter was obviously getting a lot of chatter on her earpiece, which she was clutching with a pained look on her face.

A military Ural rolled up and began depositing U.S. Troops onto the street.

“Come with me ma'am; we're getting all civilians out of the city," a soldier urged the reporter. Suddenly, a nearby pod slammed down and burst open, allowing for a group of Lahzids to stumble out, coughing and waving away the smoke that had been building up in the interior. The troopers raised their rifles and began firing wildly as one of them began approaching.

“Shit! We're under attack! Send backup and clear the streets!" the commander yelled into his radio. Terrified at their friend's death and unable to communicate, the remaining Lahzids pounced on their enemy before they could fire again, tearing away at them with their claws, slashing through armour and flesh alike. The news reporter's sobbing was drowned out by screams and sporadic gunfire. The news crew began running, camera careening about as the cameraman stopped paying attention to where it was pointing and ran for his life. Through the shaky image, the Lahzids could be seen grieving their dead friends, then picking up the fallen weapons and taking to the streets. Then the image cut out as the studio was evacuated.

Daniel flicked through several more, which ended much the same. Military showing up, receiving orders about the dangerous aliens, and opening fire. The Lahzids never got a chance. There was other footage too; huge cannons on land and vehicles firing into the sky, shooting down pod after pod of innocent civilians. There were too many, so for every one that was incinerated mid-air, twenty got through. Some videos showed a rain of pods, so many that they darkened the sky. These videos were shot in more open places; deserts, harbours, plains, hills and countryside. Daniel realised then that there had been millions of Lahzids, if not hundreds of millions. Maybe even a billion. If the war did end, and peace was made, could Earth handle that population? Seven billion was already taxing it, but eight? Nine? Would there be enough food, water, resources?

Or maybe with the two species working together, science would advance tenfold, a hundredfold. Maybe they would seek out more planets to spread to, solving world hunger, overpopulation and resource scarcities. It was then that Daniel realised, there was no other way. The war must end, and peace must be achieved, for the good of both races. But that's not what he realised. He realised that if there were people out there who, like him, knew of the Lahzids' innocence, they would be procrastinating, just like he was. What he realised was that he had to be the one to take the first step.

First thing first though, he had to regain his ability to step.