Lita knew that she wasn't perfect; honestly she was probably the most flawed xeno ever due to her lack of killing. But one thing she did have going for her was that she could see a million possibilities in one tiny thing. It was what made her who she was, and what made her a queen.

So when she began laying her eggs she was impressed with the possibilities they presented her with. The thoughts they gave her, and the ideas and conversations were almost overwhelming. They were all intelligent and knew what must be done to live. Nico also presented a world of possibilities; in the two short weeks they had been at the cave the pair had begun to talk, and in Lita's mind; bond. The connection was as strong as what she had with her eggs.

Lita turned her attention to the task at hand and pushed out with her mind and felt the planet around her. Then she went even father than ever as she began to push herself out into space and felt for Weyland. She found his ships surprisingly quickly. She guessed that there were only a few minutes left till he landed, but Lita didn't feel the pressure of time, instead she just wanted to know what she was about to face. She felt soldiers that had been genetically enhanced, mechs, androids, and technicians.

Lita lifted her head and felt the planet around her once again and searched its depths for the gifts it had to offer. Nothing much, just a lot of gaseous pockets and small creatures; Lita shook her head in disappointment, and turned to the only offense she had available. Her children willingly let her enter, and listened accordingly, We will find the beginning hard, but once you hatch and grow, we will gain an army and we will be unstoppable! But we need a plan. We cannot win if we inevitably starve on this planet when the humans stop coming. I will not have that!

She heard the squirming of the eggs and a battle cry in her head.

There are seven ships coming and I want seven ships to leave. Each possessing a hidden praetorian, this child will hide until the ship has landed and then she will leave, undetected, and find the safest place to hide. Make sure that if any of these praetorian's end up on the same planet one of them find another ship.

Her children agreed, but with slight unease. Their mindset was what Anaya had studied. They believed in kill or be killed, not allowing people to live so they might live.

Hear me children! Lita hissed loudly to get the point across. These hidden children will grow just enough have eggs, but not enough to be monarch. I will conduct all from Aiea, and before I die I will chose my successor across the stars.

Mother! Lita heard their call of surprise, We respect your wisdom, but why make us do this? It would be useless.

I have studied our history through our lovely human ambassador, Anaya, and found that our constant defeat was brought upon by ourselves. We were smart, but we didn't plan the moves ahead. We just did what struck us. I do not blame them, for they had little choice in the matter, but we do have the choice and I will take it.

We want food, hosts, and above all the freedom to move. If you listen to me than you shall have it, we will herd the humans as they herd cattle. We will take the sick and poor and feed ourselves, leaving the healthy to further their population so we may eat everyday and birth every night a new child!

We understand mother, we will be wise with our cattle. There was a pause before they spoke again, Anaya is finished, let one of us take her so that we have a drone. Lita raised her head toward the mouth of the cave in contemplation. She would never admit it to anyone, but she had grown attached to the woman. Hah! A xeno with a heart, she thought unhappily to herself. Lita wondered if her hesitation was because she was not given a choice when she was in the cell, and not giving Anaya a choice seemed just as cruel.

No, you will not become sentimental. Lita told herself internally.

Anaya, it is time. Lita sent to her, Does the boy know how to be self sufficient?

Lita heard Anaya's subconscious mind say yes while at the forefront of her mind said no; Lita knew the truth was in the subconscious. That reaction was the same as Anaya begging Lita not to kill her.

Lita pushed out again, You knew this would happen.

Before she could change her mind she searched for the most capable of her children. She found a special one in the middle of hundreds. The thoughts and spirit of this child impressed Lita, and reminded her of herself when she was just an egg.

Lita spoke directly to this child, Daughter, what is your name?

The girl squirmed in shock at being noticed by the queen, I am what you name me mother.

Chose for yourself as I had chose for my own self, daughter. Lita pushed gently.

Kadisha, The child felt a sense of pride at the choice. There was no hesitation in the choice. Kadisha had thought a long time on her name. She also makes a lovely candidate for a praetorian, Lita mused.

She then returned her attention to Anaya, Please don't make this any worse than it has to be.

By now Anaya had walked deep enough into the cave to speak, "I knew it would happen, but I still want to live".

Then why walk deeper to your fate? Why not run? Lita changed tactics, I can take away the pain. You will die quickly and will not feel my lovely daughter leave your body.

Mother let us take the coward! cried the face huggers.

"You still need me," Lita listened for Anaya to give her reasoning. Lita's Xenomorph instinct was dominant in Lita's feelings and wanted to take Anaya, but there was still the background noise in Lita's mind that didn't want to kill someone who had been a staple in her life no matter how cruel she had been to Lita.

"I know that boy is an almost invaluable asset to you. He even may know how to find food, but he sees me as a parental figure. If you use me as a host then the boy will notice my absence…" leaving the unspoken threat in the air.

This sparked a question, Why was this boy behaving so well away from his parents? Lita knew that humans grew emotional attachments to family members, and when that was stripped away it left pain and an emotional scarring. Perhaps Anaya was keeping the child happy and his mind off of his father. Or maybe the parents were just as abusive to the boy as they had been to Lita. That might have made him unusually accommodating to her because she offered him a way to get away from his father. Either way, if Anaya was killed he would see her as a martyr to retaliate against Lita. Which was as good a reason to keep Anaya around as any; as long as the child was willing to behave and not drive Lita up a wall then all was well with the idea of Anaya living.

But still the idea of having a drone or even a praetorian like Kadisha sounded nice. This dilemma only served as a reminder at how much the xenos really did rely on humans.

Very well, as long as the child behaves you live… but know this Anaya my children are waiting impatiently, so I doubt you will survive his first infraction.

There was a lot of complaining from the eggs, but Lita stuck with the choice. Inside she realized how imperfect she was. She had given into a weakness to allow Anaya continued life instead of taking it. Was that a wise choice? Or having let Anaya live serve to convince Lita's children that she was unfit to be queen, and ultimately challenge her? That thought worried Lita.

She listened carefully for the signs of this uprising from her children and found their complaints of her, and a hierarchy that was forming. The mentally strongest child was already getting a rally cry from behind her. Though the cry was mute, probably because they were just eggs, but it was there forming the seed would later grow larger once they hatched.

The thought of disposing of this figurehead child while still vulnerable crossed her mind, but there would be a problem with that too. The children would take that as a weakness of fear for her monarchy position.

This plan could backfire a bit, Lita thought bitterly. A house divided is not good at all, and to think there is a huge battle for survival against Weyland on the way to top it off. Lita made the choice that the divided house would have to be resolved before she sends the praetorians out on the ships.

She had already begun running scenarios in her head about how to best deal with the problem when she heard the background noise mixed in with with the complaints that was like music to her. If she could, she would have teared up.

Kadisha and a few others sang a tune Lita had secretly yearned to long to hear.

All hail the Queen!

OoOoOo

Author's note: Ok, so I did start a new story entirely. I'm not completely sure if I made the right choice, but I feel like I needed to take a chance on it and see where it leads.

I feel the need to apologize for disappearing, I don't have a very good excuse other than the lack of time.

I must ask, I have been told that there is only female xenos and then I would hear that there are males in the mix. Google doesn't seem to shed any light on it either. So is there male xenos? I feel like I'm leaving the guys out of the story and I don't want to do that at all...

By the way thanks for the awesome reviews for The Future Praetorian!