Welcome back: I know I said one or 2 days but school was canceled today and I got to spend the entire time working on the first chapter.

Many of you wanted to know more about Cassandra. So I put in the little scene with the med scan in volume 1 chapter 6 for those of you who are into the details of how things work. I decided to save her actual past for volume 2 due to the suggestions of a friend. This chapter starts seamlessly where the last volume ended

Ps. I still need a proofreader. by proofreader I mean someone who can actually mark the changes that need to be made rather than telling me where to look.

Ok I realise that not everyone has read the first volume yet so I decided to add on the expression guide to the first chapter in V2 to help people understand how the characters are interacting withought needing to read and remember V1

please look carefully at the different ways that the characters express themselves. under special circumstances there will be symbols inside of the quotation mark repersenting the different modes of comunication for example take the word hello.

"hello" this is normal speech

"((hello))" this means the character is thinking and no one else hears

"+hello+" this means the character is talking using telepathy

"HELLO" All caps means yelling

"any phrase with only
ONE or TWO words in ALL CAPS means emphasis on those words or phrases"

Chapter 1

Ghosts of the past

"LEAVE HER SHE IS ALREADY AS GOOD AS DEAD" shouted Sam as Cassandra struggled the remove the small hatchling from her unconscious mother's face. "Look I know how much she means to you but the drones are close behind we have to move now."

"How can you say that" she screamed to her big brother "mom is still breathing we cant just leave her here, who is going to take care of Jason" she said pointing at her crying baby brother

"Look sis" Sam said taking the head of a leaping drone and turning it into Swiss cheese with his pulse rifle, barely managing to dodge the still flying corpse. "If we stay here we are all dead. He have to get to the emergency fallout shelter it is the only part of the base they can't break into." Seven more drones came tearing around the corner alerted by the sound of the shots. "Cassie take Jason and get to the shelter" Sam yelled grabbing the crying infant just before a drone's tongue shot out and struck the floor where Jason had been laying "ill hold them off as long as I can" Sam yelled to his little sister as he tossed her his screaming brother.

"Come on Sam get out of there," Cassandra screamed as she ran through the doorway. She turned around and saw her brother still killing drones left and right but for every one he shot ten more came pouring out of the hall.

"Cassandra I am not going to make it" Sam yelled, "RUN"

Cassandra just stood in the doorway watching, hoping that Sam would try to make a break for the door. Suddenly he did something that would haunt her forever. Cassandra, only ten at the time, saw every second of her big brother's ultimate sacrifice as if in slow motion. He pointed his rifle toward the door where she was standing and shot the emergency fire alarm. As the large fire doors slammed shut in front of her separating her from the battle, Cassandra watched through the small view port in the door with tears streaming down her face. Sam was being pinned up against the wall by a drone after being impaled by its tail.

Sam knew the tail had severed his spine because he couldn't feel anything from the chest down. He saw the drone bear it's fangs in anticipation of fresh meat. He looked toward his sister, still watching from the door. He smiled at her "((You go have a long, full life, sis))" he thought as he reached for his rifle. "hope you enjoy your last meal" he said to the drone who was holding one of his legs in it's mouth. Than, he pushed the button next to the trigger.

Cassandra screamed as she saw the Drone begin to rip her brother apart. She nearly threw up when she saw that he was still alive. The last thing she saw was him smiling at her, and there was something in his eyes that told her to….. She dove to the ground and jumped on top of the baby to shield him just as the heard the dull thunk of the rifle's grenade canister firing. No sooner had she hit the floor and secured her struggling brother than she heard the blast and felt the wave of heat as the fire door's window blew out showering her with broken glass.

"SSAAAMMMM" she screamed jumping up and looking through the shattered glass, only to find that flaming steel girders had collapsed and were blocking the door. Cassandra could tell by the sound of the drones screeching, that they were either burning alive or trapped under the flaming debris. Either way her brother's last act had stopped the things in their tracks, or so she had thought. Her head was still ringing from the blast, when she felt a feeling she dreaded more than anything else. It was the feeling of danger. Since she was 5 she had a very limited telepathic ability to sense strong emotions. What she felt now was a mind filled only with pain and the intent to cause harm. It was more intense than anything she had ever felt before almost to the point of giving her a migraine. She leaped up and ran down the hall toward the shelter. Looked back just in time to see a large drone still on fire, with a large portion of the left side of it's face and jaw face missing, and one of it's arms blown off, break through the air vent leading from the room where her older brother had just died. Cassandra bolted and the drone chased after her. Too scared to notice what she was doing, she turned the wrong corner and headed deeper into the base and towards the heart of the hive. Despite the base's mandatory requirement of combat and fitness training Cassandra found the drone was gaining on her. "Dead end. Dammit," screamed Cassandra sending baby Jason into a renewed screaming fit as she almost collided with a sealed containment door.

The drone came right at them it's acid blood dripping from it's numerous wounds. It reached down and grabbed Cassandra. As it flexed its tail to strike she ripped herself out of the creatures weak grip but too late, the tail connected. Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief. Although her chest was incredibly sore from the impact the drone did not have the strength left to kill her. The tail had not been able to penetrate the armor vest her brother had given her. She looked at the drone as it tried to flex it's tail for another strike. Placing the baby out of harms way she stood up and caught the tail in mid strike. The drone tried to pull it's tail out of her grasp but it had already lost so much blood that it didn't even have the strength left to harm an insect. The drone tried to screech in anger but only managed to cough up some blood with a gurgling sound before collapsing dead on the floor.

Shaking as she picked up her brother Cassandra looked around for the first time since she started running from the crazed drone. Her heart sank and her blood ran cold as she realized that not only had she gotten completely lost but also she had gotten lost in the part of the base that had become the xenomorph's hive. She tried to pick up something from anyone else that had survived the initial attack but she could only sense brief sparks of fear. No way could she use it to find her way to the shelter even if she was able to pinpoint some people there was no way of telling whether it was the shelter or an egg chamber she was heading to.

"((I cant stay here in the hall. Its to open they'll find me in no time.))" She thought as she began searching for someplace to hide. Cassandra ran back down the hall. She had no idea where to go, and all the familiar markings were covered with that thick black organic slime the creatures used to create a hive. Finally, after about 20 minutes, she seemed to be making progress in the right direction. She heard a hissing noise as she approached one of the weapon development labs. She turned around to see a pack of drones following her they jumped onto the walls and proceeded to surround her from all sides. "GO AWAY" she screamed trying to hit one of the approaching drones with her fist. She missed and the drones circled closer. She dropped to the ground and tried to keep them from getting at Jason. The drones were within inches of her head. They seemed to be trying to decide what to do with her. The largest of the aliens a royal guard grabbed her by the head and lifted Cassandra right up to its face. She whimpered as the massive creature began examining her. It reached out with it's tongue and licked her face. "((please don't eat me please don't eat me please don't eat me))" she prayed. The guard shrieked and hurled Cassandra to the ground. The other drones leapt on her and began ripping off her body armor trying to get to their dinner. Cassandra felt searing pain as one of the drones finally managed to rip through the leg armor and sunk it's teeth into her calf muscle. Cassandra screamed. Even though she knew the creatures wouldn't care she put every little bit of energy she had left into her scream all her agony, her fear, her hatred for these monsters all came out in one final death shriek.

"((This can't be happening….. Whats going on))" Cassandra thought when she opened her eyes. The drones were screeching and holding their heads as they backed away from her. They stopped and stood looking at her hissing in anger. The royal guard ignored the drones and came straight for her. Cassandra looked up at the alien as it approached. "LEAVE ME ALONE" she screamed. Just then, the creatures head exploded.

Cassandra looked up only to see the rest of the drones were also looking around in confusion. Another drone's head blew up, followed by another, than a drone's arms were blown off. One by one the creatures were cut down. Cassandra heard a low hum followed by a series of loud clunks as another 2 drones were dispatched. Looking around for the source of the noise she glanced toward the weapons la and tears of joy came to her eyes. Standing in the now open door was a large battle mech.

Dr. Connors looked around for the source of the scream. There was too much damn smoke and he had to find whoever it was fast. There were too many drones around for him to hold off forever. And the prototype reactor on his mech was over heating fast. "HEY CAN YOU HEAR ME" he called over the mech's speaker system.

Cassandra tried to answer the man only to find that she had lost her voice. Jason seemed to be in a state of shock and wasn't even crying. Cassandra tried to move toward the door as the mech began to retreat back into the lab. She was about to pass out from the pain so she did the only thing she could think of and lit one of her small flares.

Upon seeing the bright white flame of burning phosphorous pierce the smoke, Dr. Connors maneuvered his prototype mech toward the light. "Oh my god" he said when he saw the figures sprawled on the floor "those are the admiral's kids." A sudden shriek caught the scientist's attention as second royal guard who had been hiding in the shadows leapt at the mech from behind.

Cassandra looked up to see one of the massive aliens ripping open the cockpit and devouring the poor scientist. She saw a bright explosion as the monster hurled the now useless machine to the side where detonated. The last thing she saw before blacking out was the burning mech's fusion core cracked wide open and spewing radioactive gas.

"((Am I dead))" thought Cassandra.

"+No+" the thought just entered her head without provocation.

"((where am I))" Cassandra thought as she noticed she was no longer lying on the floor.

"+safe+" again the thought simply popped into her mind

Cassandra opened her eyes only to see darkness. She felt around for something to hold on to but found nothing. She became aware that she was floating, drifting aimlessly through the darkness.

"((What is this place))" she thought only to be answered immediately by a foreign entity in the back of her mind.

"+home+"

Cassandra suddenly realized that she wasn't breathing. In fact she was completely submerged in a thick fluid medium. Panicking she tried to swim to the surface, only to be held back by an unknown force. She tried to scream but her lungs were full of fluid and she couldn't make any noise save for a slight gurgle.

"((HELP PLEASE, I'M DROWNING))" she screamed in her mind.

"+We are helping+" replied the entity "+you are in no danger+"

Cassandra felt a deep sense of lethargy overtaking her as her panic faded and she realised that somehow she no longer need to breathe. "((my brother is he))" she thought.

"+Yes he is doing fine, now rest+" with those words, the voice stopped and Cassandra gave in to her exhaustion.

"And there you have it, the first chapter of volume 2" proof readers still wanted