Frehley leaned against the wall of the main nest chamber. Once it had been the geothermal reactor, the hub of the colony keeping everybody warm and sustained. Now it was the hub of the hive.
He wiped sweat from his brow, admiring the constructions of the bugs. The never ending twists and turns of the building substance that lined the walls and the reactor core. Even after all this time, he did not truly know what it was. Spittle and secretions of some sort, by turns brittle and pliable, but like no substance he could identify. He remembered old autopsy reports from year past confirming the belief that the xeno's anatomical construction was a mixture of carbon and silicon but beyond that nobody was sure. Carbon-silicate gel was the closest anyone came, a cop-out if ever there was one. He had long become accustomed to the smell of decay and fetid humidity of the hive noticing the foul odours.
He pushed off from the wall, heading towards the core. Several colonists were webbed in, held upright by the substance. Frehley raised the head of one colonist. Glazed eyes stared lifelessly back at him. Very dead. No use to the Queen now. He pulled at the body's arms, breaking them free. Beside him a drone shook its head, rattling and clicking at him. He pulled open the colonist's tunic, revealing the gaping wound in the chest. The drone realised what Frehley was doing, and began to assist in removing the bodies.
Frehley pulled the last one free and dropped it on the floor. The drone pounced on the corpse, dragging it out of the nest chamber, towards the food chamber. Frehley shook his head in amazement. The Aliens were an intriguing mix of instinct and intelligence. Terran scientists believed drones to be as intelligent as dogs. He disagreed. Living amongst them for so long had given him an opportunity to study them, something the Terran scientists had not. The average drone possessed an intelligence equivalent to that of a parrot or macaw, creatures he had seen on holo-vids.
They were resourceful too. He recalled the original attack on the base. They had attacked and killed one of their own to break in, using its acid blood to eat through the door, when they realised it was too strong even for them to break through. How many dogs could develop that sort of strategy?
A liquid dropping sound roused him from the daydream. Another followed. The Queen was laying eggs again. Absentmindedly he scratched at his chest, feeling the dull ache of the scar. Soon the captured marines would be implanted. A shame. Time to say farewell.
He walked around the core to where the marines were webbed in.
"Eyes front Marine." He called to the Captain.
The Captain glared at him. "Traitor." He spat. "Why did you do it?"
"I have my reasons. My… lofty ideals are beyond your comprehension."
"Why sacrifice an entire colony for your own personal ambition?"
Frehley laughed contemptuously. "You forgot to mention a platoon of marines as well. So many great generals did it. Kutuzov in the Franco-Russian Nationalist war in the nineteenth century, Mastar against the Farisi-Zubon Alliance. It's simple. Vast losses were incurred for a greater good. I'm merely doing the same."
"You are insane! Elgan was right. You're as bad as those fanatics who loosed the bugs onto earth. Y…"
Frehely drove a fist into his midriff. He thrust his face into the Captain's, breathing hard. "I have nothing at all in common with Salvaje and the misinformed masses. I have a different motivation. Not that you'd understand." he hissed.
"Bastard! I'll see you in hell!"
Frehley chuckled and looked over his shoulder at an opening egg. "I'd say you were already there."
He stepped aside. "Sweet dreams Captain."
