CHAPTER 12: THE RESOLVE
Locale: Planet Nagaigo, Scott Town
Valerie slowly stood up as the lights were flickering on and off. She knew she had to get moving. She slowly inches her way to the backlit wall before stumbling upon the bodies of the security guards she had spoken with just moments ago. She grabs one of the deceased's M41A Pulse Rifle, she looks on its side, "05", she kneels down as she searches the dead guards for an ammo clip. She spots one on a guard furthest away from the group, she crawls over to him. She pulls the clip out of his dead hand, the clip was covered in copious amounts of slime. "Yuck" she comments. Drool drips on her shoulder, Valerie quickly throws herself back as a long segmented tail comes shooting down from the ceiling like a viper.
She quickly aims at the tail, she closes her eyes as fires the pulse rifle, "04" "03" "02" "01" "00". She hears the ticking, indicating she is out of ammo; She misses the tail completely. Valerie quickly removes the empty clip from the rifle before slapping the new one in. "99" the ammo reader updates to the new clip. The tail retracts as it snakes its back up into the ceiling. A pair of long fingered hands reach out of the air duct. Followed by an elongated ribbed caged eyeless head sporting sharp teeth. The rest of its body came into view as it slowly wiggled its body out of the ducts. The creature slowly stands on its feet. Valerie fires the Pulse Rifle while keeping her eyes open, the xenomorph dodges the bullets as she misses again. The xenomorph curled its tail up like a scorpion, Valerie took a few steps back, memories of her being impaled courses through her mind. The xenomorph shrieks as it darts its tail at Valerie, her quick synthetic reflexes allowed her to dodge the xenomorph's stinger.
Valerie glances at the ammo reader "89" and sneers at the xenomorph. She aims down the sights of the gun, she holds the Gunstock against her shoulder for stability. She fires a hail of bullets into the xenomorph, the first bullet punches a whole in its neck, the second grazes its face, the third gets stuck in the armour around its sternum, and the fourth grazes its left arm. "85" Acid bleeds from the xenomorph's neck. Valerie aims down the sights, she targets the alien's neck before firing again. The caseless bullets rips a massive hole in the xenomorph's neck. The xenomorph hisses as it enters its death throes. Valerie checks her gun, "72" she sighs before heading off.
Meanwhile... Zerachande and his band of predators were scouting the rooftops of the ooman colony. The sounds of pulse rifle fire and screeching of oomans and kainde amedha echoed throughout the colony. Zerachande spotted one of their scouts returning.
"Honorable Zerachande" he bowed, "The kainde amedha are establishing a hive within the heart of the ooman settlement. The rest of the pyode amedha have taken shelter in the medicinal chamber. Honorable Zerachande, how should we proceed?"
"We hunt" Zerachande answered the scout, "We shall give them nan-deThan-guan" the scout and the other yautja begin howling in agreement. The yautja leap down off the roof as they spread out through the colony.
Valerie carefully moved about the empty corridors, signs of battles left acid burn holes in the floors and walls. The bodies of mutilated security litter the ground in pieces. Valerie watchfully bends down and collects the ammo. She then proceeded down the adjacent corridor, she glanced at the wall big bold letters saying "ADMINISTRATION" plastered on it. She headed to the main office, she turned down to the next corridor then the next but then stopped in her tracks. Secreted resin covering the floors, ceilings, and walls of the halls. The admin door was torn from its hinges, she slowly moved in to investigate. The room got progressively darker as she traversed deeper into the Administration offices. Her robotical eyes brightened the visual feeds to her brain giving her excellent lowlight vision. She spots a combat knife stabbed into a table.
She spots an open ovomorph. She cautiously approaches the egg, she shoves her gun's barrel inside of it. Nothing happened, she pulls the barrel out and sees the ovomorph is empty. She glances over to a pale thing in the corner of her eye. It was a facehugger, but it was dead. She then glanced up to see the assistant from before is now cocooned. "Shit" Valerie cussed as looked over to see many of the administration people that were cocooned to the wall. The assistant grabs Valerie by the arm, "Please...kill me... I c-can feel it.... Chewing..arggahhhhhhhh" the assistant's shirts starts to be soaked in blood. A bulge begins to form between her breasts, the bulge explodes into a shower of blood as a chestburster emerges from the assistant's sternum.
Valerie tries to move away but the assistant's death grip prevents her from doing so. The chestburster snaked its eyeless face towards Valerie. It gnashed its teeth at her as it pulled itself free of the woman's shattered rib cage. Valerie saw the chestburster flop awkwardly to the ground before it coiled itself like a rattlesnake. Valerie aimed her pulse rifle at the creature, the chestburster quickly slithers away. Valerie breaks the assistant's arm as she frees herself. The other cocooned admin people slowly began to groan as their chests began to bulge as well. Valerie huddles in a corner as she witnesses the cocooned yelping as their chestbursters are born.
Valerie forces herself to stand up, she glances at the combat knife. She reaches for it and grabs it by its handle. She then walked towards the chestbursters, without hesitation she stabbed them one by one. Acid blood soaks the resin covered floors. Valerie drops the knife, its blade now completely dissolved. A sharp hiss fills the air, Valerie stands back up. She ventures further into the main office, where a large xenomorph was lying snuggled in a heap of resin.
This one looked different from the xenomorphs she ever encountered. She was familiar with the eggs and larval stages; however on encountering the adult castes she was only familiar with the copper colored flat-back Runners and the bipedal black colored Drones and Warriors. This one was far larger than a regular warrior, she glanced over at the floor, she spotted the discarded remains of a warrior's shell lying tattered on the ground. It just molted into a praetorian. Valerie aimed her rifle at the praetorian, but she couldn't pull that trigger. She couldn't risk alerting the others, she has to play it safe. So she lowered her rifle and slowly retreated out of the administration office. The praetorian hisses after discovering the dead chestbursters, Valerie ran. Xenomorphs began crawling out of the resin covered walls.
A xenomorph warrior emerges from the floor to cut off Valerie from escaping. The other warriors, drones, and runners were too soon to catch up with Valerie. The floor warrior shoots out its inner jaws at Valerie, corralling her back to the other xenomorphs. Valerie forced herself to aim and fire into the warrior. The xenomorph is shot up in its core region, the momentum forces the alien backwards. Valerie leaps over the melting remains of the xenomorph. But smacks into something hard, it felt like she collided into somebody but there was nothing there. Then it moved, the heat shimmer creature was back. It uncloaked then glanced down at her.
Zerachande switched his biomask vision to metallic mode, and detected the ooman girl was a synthetic but one thing struck him odd, there was a metallic cage in the brain area where most synthetics just had a synthetic brain. Zerachande would investigate but the kainde amedha would not wait. He switched his vision range to electrovision. He turned to face the charging kainde amedha. His trilaser sight beams on the lead xenomorph, his biomask marks it with a triangle crosshair. The triangle locks on to the kainde amedha. The plasma castor on his shoulder begins to heat up, a blue ball of plasma is fired into the lead xenomorph; It explodes on contact.
Swayande bolts past his elder, swinging his combi stick around. While Rouyeyin and Tassa-dhou-ti extended their wrists blades to their fullest extent as they charged forward. The xenomorphs overwhelmed the cocky young yautja.
"Eat my ki'cti-pa!" Swayande shoves his combi stick down one of the xenomorph's throats.
Rouyeyin stabs a runner in the head before dragging it directly in front of himself, he pulls out his wrist blades to stab it a couple more times. Tass-dhou-ti bear hugs a xenomorph warrior, using his massive muscular bulk he crushes the xenomorph's spine before violently throwing it down.
Swayande throws his combi-stick into an adjacent warrior, he grabs the handle of the spear then swings it with all of his might, throwing the paled kainde amedha into its comrades. Swayande leaps at the fallen pack of xenomorphs, he plants his combi-stick into the injured one's head before deploying his wrist blades to finish off the others.
Rouyeyin and Tassa-dhou-ti both stare at Swayande, "kha'bj-te" they both retorted.
"Kek, don't be jealous of my slick moves" Swayande retorted back. Valerie couldn't understand a word they were saying as the large humanoid aliens spoke their alien tongue.
Zerachande further examines the girl, through his biomask he sees through the metal cage to his surprise it was holding an organic brain. Zerachande grabbed the girl by the throat. He could see fear in the synthetic's eyes, "h'dlak jehdin" he growled at her as she struggled to free herself. The other yautja gather around the honorable yautja, "It's an ooman?" said one of the females. "No sister, it's one of those ooman-machines," replied another female.
"Let's take it apart and see how it ticks," said another female yautja.
More xenomorphs arrive from the administration office, the yautja ready themselves for an encore, but then a pack of xenomorphs arrive from behind them. Zerachande drops Valerie back on to the ground, he picks up her M41A Pulse rifle to ensure she poses no threat for the time being.
Swayande leaps into the second wave of kainde amedha, swinging his spear into the xenomorph's necks. Severing their jugulars in the midst of their decapitation. A xenomorph warrior fires its inner jaws into his shoulder while a Runner fires its inner jaws into his calf. Rouyeyin runs over to save his brother but a pack of runners quickly run towards Rouyein to halt his rescue attempts.
Zerachande was firing his shoulder cannon at the xenomorphs at their rear, he turned to see Swayande getting attacked. Rouyeyin swiped at the front Runner with his extended wrist blades, slicing off its head. Its companion leaped at Rouyeyin, but the young yautja uppercut the beast with his right hook impaling its head with his wrist blades. He elbows another Runner in the head before slicing into it.
Zerachande growls at Rouyeyin before tossing him a speargun, Rouyeyin catches it before aiming it at the warrior xenomorphs. The xenomorphs are quickly pinned to the walls, floor, and ceiling. Rouyeyin growls at Tass-dhou-ti to help him lift Swayande up. Zerachande taps at his wrist computer as a hologram of an escape route is charted. The honorable Zerachande growls to his clanmates, "Fall back" drool drips down from the ceiling.
"Above you!" Valerie shouts to the leader of the yautja. Valerie crawls to her feet as a Runner jumps down from the hole in the ceiling. Valerie pushes Zerachande out of the way while the Runner lands on her instead. The Runner claws into Valerie's shoulder as its feet land on to her back, Valerie grunts as the Runner distributes its weight on her. The Runner full of rage attempts to headbite Valerie but halts once it takes in her synthetic scent. Zerachande slices the Runner's head off with a stroke of his glaive. The runner's headless body collapses on Valerie.
Zerachande kicks the runner's body off of the synthetic woman, he picks her up before he motions his hunting party to move out. Zerachande took point to lead his clan to their destination as he occasionally would fire Valerie's M41Pulse Rifle at any kainde amedha that strays into their path. Valerie looked over Zerachande's shoulder as he was following the holographic map on his wrist computer. It was the layout of the facility, she recognized the hangar bay area was nearby. "Go there" she points at the map, "Ship" she moves her hand like a flying craft. Zerachande glances at her then back at his clanmates. They make a sudden turn as they head towards the flight control center.
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CHAPTER 13: THE INFECTION MUST DIE!
The yautja enter the flight control center, Zerachande allows Valerie to leave his shoulder. He gestures to her to do her thing. "Honorable Zerachande, why did you bring an meca-ooman with us?" Zhou-di, one of the females asked.
"We are going to use her to set up a signal for our mother's clanship to find, we will use this machine to return home" he crosses his arms as he watches Valerie switching on the necessary systems from the backup-power systems to the communication's dedicated power grid. Once all the instruments were all online, Valerie nodded to Zerachande. Zerachande cocked his head confused at her gesture, she makes a motion of talking while moving her hands like an aircraft. Zerachande then returns the nodded gesture as he makes his way to the communicator to set up the signal.
The Praetorian senses her Queen's mind touching her own, she understood. The praetorian hisses to her lower caste sisters to fall back to her. The praetorian follows the trail of bodies left behind by the yautja, light glowing green blood and dull white blood sprinkled all over the floor.
Meanwhile, above planet Nagaigo. A yautja clanship warps into orbit. It slowly descends to the planet's surface. The clanship hovers above the colony of Scott Town, leaving a massive shadow upon the ground. A smaller shuttlecraft departs from the mother clanship as it lands in the starport. The laughing skull clan yautja roar with excitement, they wait for Zerachande's signal. He gestured to his clanmates to go through the window. The yautja smashed through the window as they made their way down into the starport. Zerachande turns his attention back to Valerie, he tosses the M41A Pulse Rifle back to her before departing through the window.
Valerie checks the ammo counter "00" and looks back at the fleeing Yautja. "Figures, they leave me high and dry" she shakes her in disappointment. The door behind her starts to break and bend behind her. "I have a bad feeling about this" Valerie then jumps out of the window too. She slides down the ceramic slopes. Before rolling onto the pavement, she looks up and sees the yautja mothership was in the midst of departing. The mothership's engines burn a bright blue before escaping the atmosphere.
Valerie turned her gaze back to the control center pit. The praetorian bursts through the doors, she hisses when she discovers the flight control center was empty. Valerie looking up at the praetorian fills her with mixed terror and anger, she grits her teeth before spotting her starcraft. A sense of relief floods Valerie's brain as she bolts towards The Videl. She opens the cage canopy as she climbs in and dons her space helmet. She flips on the switches as she powers up her spacecraft. The Praetorian hisses at her from her vantage.
Valerie revs her ship's engines as she gains lift off. She accidentally thumbs on her radio comm. "Please help us, the xenomorphs are going to overrun the medbay. If anyone is out there please save us!" Valerie closes her eyes as she ponders her next move. She returns to the starport. She quickly replaces the empty clip with a full one, the ammo indicator displays '00' which updates to "99" after the reload. She punches in the commands to her canopy to open. Valerie leaps out of her spaceship's cockpit. A lone runner digging into a trash bin stops to look up at Valerie. She aims for the Runner's neck before firing a few shots into it, the Runner falls on to the ground dead. She glances over to the facilities main doors, she glances up at the control center as xenomorph warriors begin crawling down from the windows.
Valerie bolted towards the doors, before the xenomorphs could reach her. Valerie couldn't believe it took her this long to become acclimated to her synthetic body, she could run faster than her original body, she is alot stronger than she would be if she were still biological. Her synthetic muscle memory was astonishing, she impressed herself. She spotted ARMORY plastered on the wall, the armory door was left open. She examines the room quickly to see hangin on the racks are Pulse Rifles, Shotguns, Flamethrowers, Standard Pistols, an old beat up smartgun locked in a caged cabinet, boxes of ammo and a roll of duct tape. Valerie wiggles her eyebrows in excitement at the sight of the smartgun but frowns seeing the lock was a deadbolt. She grabs the duct tape as she tapes together the flamethrower and Pulse Rifle. She grabs a second M41A pulse rifle just in case.
When she leaves the armory a xenomorph breaks out of the ceiling, Valerie shoots it up full of holes before continuing down the corridor. "89" her ammo indicator updates. She quickly glances over at the side walls to check on her progress, MEDBAY plastered on a giant red arrow.
"I'm getting close" she spots a pack of xenomorphs clawing at the medbay doors. Valerie aims her gun as she runs and shoots at the beasts. "84" tango down, "75" the ammo indicator updates, "63" "51" "46" "38" "25" "17" eight xenomorphs now lay dead in front of the medbay. Valerie walked up to the heavily damaged reinforced doors, "They stopped attacking?" Valerie heard someone whisper behind the reinforced door. Valerie lightly knocks on the door, "Shit they are back! Everyone remain quiet, please" the whispering voice was male but was high in pitch, very nasally and british.
"The xenos are dead," Valerie whispered, "I have a ship, the coast is clear"
"No, you can't be real, everyone here barely made it out alive. Go away" the nasally voice whispered back
"Hey don't be an ass, she came to help us. You have weapons, right?" came a gruff male voice.
"Uh Yeah" Valerie answered back,
"Okay Paul, open the door"
"What are you mad, if I open the door we all die!"
"Paul for f**k sake open the goddamn door, I rather die on my feet as man than starve to death like a coward"
"Ah bloody hell, if you want to die out there then be my guest" Paul opens the door. He was a skinny man with bad posture. He wore glasses and had a large forehead. The other man was a big burly man with a crew cut blonde hair and a square jaw. Both men were dressed in blue maintenance attire. Behind them were the remaining civilians and two teenage nagaians.
"So that's the voice behind the door, you look barely old enough to start college, kid" The burly man chuckled.
Valerie smiled at him softly before handing him the spare pulse rifle, "Yeah I get that alot"
"My mama told me to never look a gifted horse in the mouth, the name is Bjorn" he grabs a spare clip from her as he loads the clip into the locking chamber "99"
"Hey were coming too" Akae walks up to Valerie and the big guy Bjorn, following her was Takashin. The rest of the remaining civilians began walking out of medbay, leaving Paul behind.
"What? You can't leave me behind, can you?" Paul power walked up to Valerie, "Listen here girl, you can't just walk up in here like you bloody darn feel like it and demand these good people and the two nagaians to their death" Akae and Takashin exchange glances at each other as Paul rambles.
"Okay, now you listen to me. What good would it do with everyone locked up in medbay, your only two options with that was to either starve or..." she gave him a hard look, "They eventually break in" she smiled grimly.
"Do you know what the xenomorphs do to you once they get you? They sting you with their stinger, you begin to feel numb as its venom paralyzes you. Then they carry you back to their hive. It's dark in the hive, pitch black because of the resin they secrete" Valerie turns her back on Paul, "They wrap you in a cocoon, made of resin. They plant an egg in front of you, once it hatches... the thing that comes out of it. You will feel suffocation while it slides its nasty proboscis down your throat and that is not even the worse part. Next is the birth, you die from it. A tiny xenomorph will erupt from your chest! Do you want that?!" Valerie turns to stare directly into his eyes.
"N-no" Paul resigned. Valerie smiled sincerely, thinking she got through to him. Paul quickly glanced at her shoulder, she was bleeding white. "W..wait a minute. Hold up Girl, you expect me to buy that story? You talk as if you've been there and experienced all of it, but why should I believe a synthetic! A blood goddamn robot for christ sakes! For all we know, you could have been planted here by the company!" Paul then looked at her with determination and seething hatred. "Yes, that is it isn't it?" Paul started shaking his head.
"What is what?" an overweight engineer asked.
"Company sent her here, she must have brought the xenomorphs here" Paul conjectured.
"Now that you mentioned it, there was a rumor being spread in administration. Saying a cargo vessel crashed landed nearby" the overweight man spitted out his words from his heavy lips.
"Yes, all too convenient that she has a bloody working ship" Paul nodded his head.
"The snuggems were knocked down by an alien ship, not mine! Don't believe check the black box. Also I'm human, not a f**king robot!" Valerie sneered.
"You think of yourself as human, I see white blood" Paul walks up to Valerie and digs his fingers into her wound, Valerie flinches from the simulated pain receptors that stimulate her natural pain responders in her brain. He shows off her white blood, "You can't fool me by simulating pain, robot!"
"Grrr damn asshole! If I really were a corporate bot, why would I lend you weapons or hell lead you to the armory if I wanted you to get you killed? I could have let the xenomorphs do it for me, also my wound, take a look at it!" she points at her arm wound as she shows everyone, "That's not a knife wound, that's a xenomorph claw wound. My brain is human, my body is a synthetic-based prosthetic body. The reason why I know so much about them is because I experienced it first hand. They know I am human because they can sense it. Xenomorphs don't attack Synthetics unless provoked...." Valerie's eyes widen as she turns her head, "They are here!"
Valerie takes charge as she walks down the corridor leading to the armory, she turns around and sees the group hasn't even budgeted, "Come on! Why aren't y'all running? Guns and ammo down this way!" The group began to move when they heard the screeches of a praetorian emerging on the opposite side of the corridor.
Once at the armory they grabbed all that they could of the available weapons before heading off to the starport. Several xenomorphs awaken from the commotion brought on by the remaining colonists. Valerie and the colonists quickly gun down any xenomorph stupid enough to approach them. "Get to the ships, people," Valerie demanded.
"Wait, this installation costs trillions of dollars, we can't just abandon Scott Town!" Paul reminds her.
"I hate to agree with these humans but he is right, what about my home?" Takashin finally spoke.
"What alternatives do you have?" Valerie retorted.
"Can't we just target the xenomorph's queen and be done with this nightmare?" asked a random colonist.
"Problem is where am I going to find a xenomorph queen...." Valerie then remembered the Snuggems were the source of the outbreak. "No it's too dangerous, we will never pull it off besides I can't ask you to enter a xenomorph hive with me when I don't even want to go. Let's just take off, we get the colonel marines to nuke the snuggems from orbit" Valerie cried.
"So the badass company cyborg is afraid of a couple of giant bugs? Huh? You were so confident just about an hour ago where did all of that confidence and bravado go, Miss Robot?" Paul overemphasized on the T to Robot.
"I'm not going back into another hive, I won't.... I died in one...came back as a machine.. You can't make me!" Valerie started ranting to herself.
"Oh how did you die exactly, miss robot? Oh yes, a chestburster? Heard it was very painful, how did it feel squirming in your insides chewing away at your lungs?"
"Hey Paul, give her a break"
"No, if she managed to get a prosthetic body that means she is high on the corporate ladder? Did mum and dad pay for that new body of yours? Only someone filthy rich could afford one of thoses"
"Hey asshole, knock it off!"
"Ah go blow a wank, ya wanker!" Paul curses, he turns back to Valerie. "Okay now then where was I..." Paul is immediately lifted into the air, "Noooooo!!!! You vicious bitch!" he screams.
Everyone looked up at Paul's captor, it had large leathery wings on a basic xenomorph drone body frame but its head was most peculiar. It possessed the wing-horns of a nagaian. Akae and Takashin stare off in horror to see the monsters now taking nagaian form.
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CHAPTER 14: THE HIVE
The Xenomorph Gargoyle flies past the starport crane as it turns to look down upon the starport as the prey stare up at it. The prey struggles within its grasps, the Gargoyle peels back its lips baring its silvery teeth. It opens its jaws wide, Paul could feel the saliva dripping on the back of his head.
"Don't just bloody stand there, save me you worthless husk of bloody f**king plastic!" screamed Paul.
The Xenomorph Gargoyle fires its inner jaws into the back of his skull through his mouth. Blood comes gushing from his mouth as the gargoyle retracts its innerjaws. The gargoyle releases Paul's lifeless body, gravity pulls his corpse back to the ground. Bjorn aims his pulse rifle up in the air, he waits for the gargoyle to get closer. "94" his rules rifle ammo indicator updates itself as the caseless bullets tear off the gargoyle's wing. The gargoyle collides into the Lancaster luxury shuttle, grey carapace and yellow acid blood splatters all over the civilian shuttle. The acid eats through the ship rendering it, compromising the hull of the ship.
"It's blood eats its surroundings, just like the others, what are these beasts?" Akae asked.
"Species XX121 aka Xenomorphs," Anna Williams, a woman with short brown sci-fi bob hair dressed in a white lab attire. "The xenomorphs are many things, a parasitic lifeform during their larval stages, a vicious killing machine when they are adults. Their parasitic young incorporate the DNA of their hosts. Species XX121, are very fascinating creatures. We were scheduled for a shipment containing specimens for the labs at Peak-79 however as you can see the specimens have escaped containment"
Both nagaian eyes widened in horror, before they could ask any questions. Valerie power walked over to Anna Williams. Her fists clenched, the expression on her face made her intentions clear of what she thinks of the scientist.
"Wait, wait, you knew they were on that ship? And didn't warn the colony!" Valerie clenched her teeth before landing a slap across Dr. Williams's face, "That was for the crew of the snuggems! This is for the colonist" she clenches her fist.
Bjorn grabs Valerie's arm. "That is enough,"
"Just why did you bring them? Did you learn nothing about what happened on earth decades ago?" Valerie continued.
"We brought them because of what happened on earth. We were going to study them, learn about their weaknesses, and ultimately how to kill them"
"What a load of bull, that ship had already sailed! Bionational, Weyland-Yutani and Medicorp have already tried"
"There still plenty of room for research, beyond orbital bombardment, our current war technologies are barely effective against them. Innovating technology is always a Work in Progress. Besides, if we were able to study Species XX121 sooner than perhaps the infestation on earth could have been avoided!"
Valerie hangs her head low, "Yeah whatever, so did your research churn up anything useful?"
"Nothing yet," Anna replies.
Valerie sighs in frustration.
"There is always the Berserker strategy: Kill the Queen, you cripple the hive" Anna added.
"You humans keep mentioning a queen. Do the beasts have a chieftain of somesorts?" Takashin asked.
"The Xenomorph Queen is an egglayer, she maintains absolute control over her entire brood. The Queens can lay hundreds of eggs, that is one egg per person. If we take out the queen, the xenomorphs will become directionless" Anna said matter-of-factly.
"Is it possible for a hive to have more than one queen?" Valerie asked.
"Yes, if the hive is big enough. A praetorian will molt from the eldest of the queen's royal warriors" Anna replied.
"And what do praetorians look like?" Valerie asked. Thinking back on the large xenomorph she encountered earlier.
"They are the transition between subordinate and ruler. Body of your common variety xeno with the crest of a royal breed..." Anna looked up as she heard a loud bang. Valerie turns her back to the double doors as they begin to bulge.
"More of the monsters!" Akae growls.
The double doors burst open as a very tall creature squeezes itself through the door frame. Its head initially resembles the cigar-shaped heads of the warriors but widens at the back into a flat crest.
"What in all of creation is that thing?" asked one of the civilians.
"Is that a praetorian?" Takashin asked.
"Oh indeed it is," Anna smiled.
The praetorian came with some guests, a few warriors and drones. Valerie was observing her surroundings, she spotted the crane lift. She looks back at the hostile creatures, that sense of dread she felt all those years keep creeping back to her. She shook her head, No not this time she thought to herself, "Hey I got a plan! Keep the smaller ones off my back"
"What do you have in mind? Ms?" Bjorn asked.
"My name is Valerie, Valerie Armstrong" she answered.
"Bjorn Erickson" the big replied, "Don't be gone too long, Ms. Armstrong"
She nods as she bolts for the crane lift, the "smaller" xenomorphs quickly break away from the bigger one. Bjorn and those who are carrying a weapon begin opening up fire on the charging drones and warriors. The praetorian charges in with her near-flat head, she grabs one of the civilians with her claws. She clattered her teeth to scare away any humans from thinking of rescuing the captured. The praetorian then spots Valerie climbing up the crane's ladder. The praetorian hisses to the remaining warriors to go after the fleeing girl. The armed colonists take cover from the attacking xenos, occasionally peeking out of cover to squeeze a few rounds into the biomechanical monsters.
"We got to keep these bastards away from Valerie!" Bjorn fires a shotgun into a smooth headed drone, blowing off its jaws then arm.
The ladder vibrated violently, Valerie held on to the ladder for dear life till the vibrations stopped. Only to be replaced with the clinking and clanking of claws against metal. Valerie glances down to see a xenomorph warrior climbing up the ladder. Valerie hastens her rate of climb as the warrior gains on her. Valerie makes it to the top, she reaches for the electronic door. The warrior grabs her by the wrist and tries to pull her down to the floor, Valerie swings around her M41A Pulse Rifle.
"Eat this!" She unloads half a clip into the warrior, bits and pieces of its carapace fly off its frame. The warrior releases Valerie as it stumbles over the ledge, Valerie quickly makes it back to the electronic door. The warrior in an act of defiance impales Valerie with its tail, the sharp stinger burrows through her synthetic body's abdominal region. Fatal to an organic but not to a synthetic. Valerie continued to enter the cabin of the crane, she shuts the electronic door on the warrior's tail. The warrior hisses sporadically as it falls to its death.
Valerie operates the crane, she orders the electromagnet to pick up the damaged Lancaster luxury shuttle. She nudges the crane to hover the damaged spacecraft above the praetorian. Valerie releases the shuttle from her magnet, the Landcaster comes crashing down on top of the Praetorian. Crushing its back, limbs, and tail; leaving its head unscathed. It fruitlessly thrashes its inner jaws at the prey, before succumbing to its wounds.
"Okay, Bjorn. We should evacuate the remaining civilians. Make sure everyone gets onboard that old Dropship" Valerie spoke through the cabin's microphone. Which allowed her to broadcast her voice to the speakers.
Bjorn nodded as he led the civilians in the old dropship. Valerie opened the electronic door as she stepped out, she gazed across the horizon to see a flock of giant birds come their way. She squints her synthetic eyes to zoom in closer, they weren't birds.
Valerie double timed down the ladder, the metal of the ladder burned against her synthetic skin. She lands on her feet before turning around to the ships. The dropship was getting ready to lift off, Valerie bolted towards the dropship. "Bjorn, I'm going to need your help" she walks over to him.
"With what?" he asked.
"Setting the Snuggems to self detonate,"
"Wait, I thought you didn't want to go anywhere near that ship?"
"It's true, I don't want to go back to that place... but there is a flock of flying xenomorphs heading to our location. We must take out the queen, otherwise we lose another world to them" Valerie then glances over at takashin and takae, "They will lose their only world...to them"
Bjorn looks over at the pilot, he nods for the pilots to take over as he walks up to Valerie. "I will help you, Ms. Armstrong" he reloads his Pulse Rifle, "Lead the way" The sounds of spacecraft engines roar as another luxury starcraft leaves the starport.
"Wait, who left?" Valerie asked.
"Anna Williams, the researcher," Bjorn replied.
"What is she doing?" Valerie bolts out of the dropship as Bjorn follows her.
"Forget about her, we have bigger fish to fry" Bjorn points at the incoming flying xeno swarm.
"My ship, let's go!" Valerie ordered.
The Dropship retracts its ramp as it becomes airborne. It tucks in its landing gears before taking off into orbit while Bjorn and Valerie bolt towards the Videl. Valerie quickly dons her helmet before punching in the buttons and flipping the switches to get her spacecraft airbourne. The Videl lifts off. Valerie directs the Videl over the colony Scott Town. Xenomorphs everywhere, they all look up and stare as the Videl soars above them.
The xenomorphs on the ground disengage with their previous actions as they all slowly begin to follow the Videl. The xenomorphs in the air quickly turn their flock towards the Videl. "Looks like we got their attention" Bjorn observed.
"Yeah, looks like it," Valerie agrees. A xenomorph gargoyle zooms past her fuselage, was it ignoring her? In the distance they saw a familiar ship landed on top of the snuggems.
"Wait, isn't that Ms. William's ship?" Bjorn asks.
"Oh boy," Valerie sighed. An electrical sensation courses through her head, she is drawing closer to the hive. She briefly hallucinates the queen's visage peering through her cockpit. Valerie tries to ignore it, which only angers the hallucination. Then the hallucination disappears abruptly. Valerie carefully lands her craft on top of the snuggems.
Locale: Planet Nagaigo, USCSS Snuggem, Hive Interior.
Anna Williams was taken by the xenomorph drones to be cocooned, they placed an egg near her. Anna takes a deep breath as she bites into the medicine cap in her back tooth. "What that synthetic bitch doesn't know, I have a contingency plan for everything. Including using myself as an incubator, Mr. Mishima.. I mean the Weyland-Yutani Corporation will have to give me a promotion after this..." She smiled mischievously, "I sure hope this works" she began to doubt herself. The egg peels open, Anna takes another deep breath as the facehugger screams on its way out of the egg.
Valerie and Bjorn slowly made their way into the upper deck of the starship. They slowly made their way down to the middle deck. Valerie would constantly ever so often look around frantically.
"What's the matter?" Bjorn was worried about his companion's mental state.
"I don't know but sometimes I get these episodes where I feel their presence..." Valerie attempts to explain.
"You feel them? How?" Bjorn asked with doubt in his voice.
"I don't know? It's not often either, it's like a sixth sense but it doesn't always work.." Valerie explained, "There" she points, "Hide!" Bjorn's doubts quickly vanished as a pack of five warriors were crawling on the ceiling.
"We got one more level, then we will reach the reactor" Bjorn reassures Valerie as she starts to enter another episode. "Valerie?"
Valerie tries to suppress her hallucinations, she then hears Bjorn's voice. "I'm alright, lets go" she nodded her head.
They reached the reactor core after an hour of making d-tours to avoid company, the coolant controls were typical of those found on M-Class Star Freighters. Valerie collapses herself on the coolant system, she lifts herself up as she concentrates to not allow the hallucinations to stop her from completing her task. One by One, She pulls out the four metal handles then screws them each into place. She pulls the handles up then flips the inside switches from green to red. Coolant was now being pulled from the active reactor.
"DANGER, THE EMERGENCY DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS NOW BEEN ACTIVATED. THE SHIP WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN T-MINUS, TEN MINUTES. THE OPTION TO OVERRIDE AUTOMATIC DETONATION WILL EXPIRE IN T-MINUS, FIVE MINUTES" the ship's onboard MUTHUR mainframe announced.
The xenomorph queen arose her massive head, she peels back her thin lips barring her sword-like teeth. Spit and drool ran down from her jaws, her children quickly began their trek through the ship. Meanwhile the medicine Anna took wakes her up to the self destruct alarm. She glances at the dead facehugger now laying dead on the floor, she flexes her arm muscle, her life-like synthetic hand disconnects from her amputee stump. The hand moves on its own before reconnecting back to the stump. A blade emerged from her synthetic hand's wrist, which she uses to cut herself free from the resin. A lone xenomorph worker crawls over to Anna, she quickly sprays herself with xeno-perfume to mask her human scent. The worker sticks out its long pink tongue before resuming its daily chores. Anna sneaks her way through the corridors.
Valerie and Bjorn run past Anna's position, missing the shortcut to the outside. Anna seizes her opportunity to escape through the shortcut, she runs into a xenomorph warrior. The warrior extended its inner jaws before retracting them, the perfume tricks its sense of smell. Anna was free to leave the Snuggems. Valerie and Bjorn turn around when they hear a hiss coming from the door they passed earlier.
"THE OPTION TO OVERRIDE AUTOMATIC DETONATION WILL EXPIRE IN T-MINUS, THREE MINUTES"
Valerie burns the xenomorph with her flamethrower, the other xenomorphs soon converge on their location. Bjorn and Valerie blast away the oncoming xenomorphs now surrounding the shortcut. "87" Valerie's ammo indicator updates. "81" Bjorn's ammo indicator updates. Valerie glanced at her flamethrower fuel gauge, "78%"
More xenomorphs hiss in the distances, Bjorn and Valerie make it to the shortcut door. Taking the maintenance tunnel directly to the outside of the Snuggem's hull. Valerie climbs first up the ladder, while Bjorn follows suit. Mid climb, a sharp hiss filled the maintenance tunnel, Bjorn looks down and sees a xenomorph beginning to climb up the ladder. "Climb faster!" he shouts to Valerie.
"Shit! Shit!" Valerie curses as she increases her rate of climbing. Bjorn followed a step behind her. The xenomorph is about twentyseven steps behind the both of them. "THE SHIP WILL AUTOMATICALLY DESTRUCT IN T-MINUS FIVE MINUTES"
Meanwhile Anna Williams runs over to her ship, she trips as she clutches her chest feeling the neonate chestburster moving around in her chest. A xenomorph gargoyle lands on the snuggem's exterior. It spots Anna Williams, her xeno-perfume is starting to wear off. The xenomorph approaches Anna but hesitates once it senses the chestburster growing within her. Anna's escape ship opens its bay doors, deploying a ramp down. A Large synthetic comes walking down the ramp. He carries a massive caliber of sniper rifle.
He targets the nagaian spawned xeno, "Hasta la vista, baby!" The moment he pulls the trigger, the gargoyle's head comes apart like a popped balloon as the gargoyle is thrown from the Snuggems. He holsters his rifle on his back while he carefully retrieves Anna to bring her back to the ship.
Anna looks up at her personal synthetic bodyguard, "JACK..." she starts coughing. The Synthetic places her in the cryostasis pod, before administering her a blue-gelatinous serum. JACK turns around to secure the bay doors. "Williams, Anna. Is Secured"
"Good, proceed with extraction" the computer spoke. JACK walks to the flight controls. He sits down while he operates the control. He spots in the video feeds, two survivors fleeing the maintenance shaft. "Witnesses. Shall I terminate?" JACK asks the computer.
"You don't have time, proceed with extraction as ordered" the computer transmitted.
"Yes, Master Mishima" JACK complied. He revs up the ship's engines before taking off into the air. JACK's afterburners are all that Bjorn and Valerie see from the fleeing spacecraft.
Valerie and Bjorn run over to the Videl, from the sky a Gargoyle breaks away from her flock as she dives bombs the Snuggems. Valerie and Bjorn both shoot the Gargoyle out of the sky, the xenomorph falls to the snuggems dead on arrival. Her wounds bleed on to the ship's hull melting through the decks like a hot knife through butter. The xenomorph on the ground quickly swarms the snuggem, climbing up its hulls like massive ants. "YOU NOW HAVE ONE MINUTE TO ABANDON SNUGGEMS... THE SNUGGEMS WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN T-MINUS ONE MINUTE"
Bjorn hops into the Videl first, Valerie seats herself second. She puts on her helmet. Punching in buttons and flipping switches, the instruments to the Videl sing their electronic tunes. Valerie revs her ship's engines, a lone xenomorph drone leaps on to the Videl as she takes off the Snuggems as she becomes airborne.
The gargoyle flock swarms towards the Videl. The drone attempts to smash its head into the cockpit but Videl accelerates the starcraft causing the drone to lose its footing as it slides off the fuselage onto the Videl's wing. The xenomorph climbs on the twin engine booster, in its desperation to reach the fuselage. The xenomorph leaps off the booster engines however as the ship is in acceleration, the booster engines end up frying the drone.
The Snuggems engine room engine emits a light, a light that engulfs the queen's chamber, then the entire ship. The Snuggems explode into a massive dome of light before evolving into a dark mushroom cloud. With the queen's death, the gargoyles are thrown into a state of shock as they plummet into the burning inferno below.