Cloaked

Journey

Juno POV

"This is absolues shit."

I spat my breakfast on the floor in front of me. Turns out, Yautja were omnivores, despite their horrifyingly predatory appearance. That should've made me feel better, since I rarely ate meat back at home, but I was thoroughly disgusted by my current choices.

Scai'k had prepared breakfast for the both of us. He gave me some weird, yellow, spiky fruit, burned, leafy stocks that I assumed were vegetables, and the meat of the deer thing he had decapitated yesterday. I picked up another piece of the dark stringy meat and wrinkled my nose at it.

"It smells like rotting eggs!" I groaned. Scai'k made of show of himself plucking the meat off his plate with a single claw and gulping it down in one swift motion. He stretched his mandibles with a satisfied expression. I made a face and pushed my plate away from me.

"Ukleb meat is considered a delicacy amongst many Yautja clans. The animal is very rare and expensive. I was very lucky to find an injured one in the desert. They are very common on this planet, but it was too risky to enter the forest."

I plugged my nose at the stench. "Liver is considered a delicacy on Earth. That doesn't mean I like it!"

Scai'k nudged my plate towards me. "At least eat the fruits. Those are some of the last ones in the stock."

I glared at him, but my stomach snarled impatiently. The yellow fruit reminded me of starfruit, except spiky. I picked up a small piece with my fingers and held it in front of my nose. I was greeted with a sharp, tangy smell like that of kiwi. The spiky edges dug into my fingers as I returned it to my plate.

"Scai'k," I muttered. He was fixed on his breakfast, but looked up. "How do I eat this?" I asked, embarrassed. I looked away. He picked up a piece from his plate and peeled the spiky skin from the top down. Beneath, a juicy, seedless dark yellow flesh was revealed. I licked my lips. It actually looked pretty good. That was probably just my stomach talking.

I reluctantly returned my gaze to the fruit. Scai'k was watching me, amused. I clasped the end of the thick skin and peeled it downwards. It barely resisted as it slid away. I pulled the fruit out of the skin and pushed it aside.

The juice from the piece coated my hands. It gave off an even more tangy smell. I held the seedless prize in front of my lips and ate it.

I clamped my teeth around it and found that the flesh was very easy to chew, almost like a banana. The sharp taste stung my throat, but I gratefully swallowed the food. The taste reminded me of a cross between pomegranate, kiwi, and pineapple. It wasn't half bad.

I gulped down the remaining food, plugging my nose when I reached the burnt vegetables. They barely had a taste. The meat was stringy, but also very tasteless. I gazed up at Scai'k once I had finished, my stomach feeling very happy.

I bit my lip and turned away. "Thanks," I muttered. He nodded firmly before growing very still.

"There's something I suppose you should know," He started. I whipped my head around. This would be interesting. "I'm going to leave today," The yautja stated. "I need to kill the xenomorph queen. That's the entire reason I came here. I will need to be hunting while the ship is rebooting." Though his face was emotionless, I could sense doubt and fear in his words. I was unsure of how to respond, but I could tell he knew what I was thinking.

"You are to remain here," he ordered. "I need you watching the ship while I am gone. And don't get any ideas: It will not fly without my DNA."

"You can't leave," I said, panicking. "If you die, I am stranded here."