Chronicle of the Guardian: Precursor

By THE Xenomorph

I own only the character of Vile, Catlina Flores and the Scions

Star Trek Voyager is © Paramount

Aliens vs Predator is © Fox

Fear the hunter

The vents became a highway to me as I tore through them, leaving an occasional acid burn where metal parts would bite into my body. They were nothing and never slowed me down, they merely reminded me I was alive. I was running at my full strength after only a few days and my desire to kill had been cranked to the high setting, nothing was going to stop me now. I would hear terrified voices below me every now and then and they only seemed to cause me to move forward at a much greater pace.

Then a vent shut closed in front of me while another opened. How cute, they were trying to herd me. Too bad for them I wasn't going to have it. I tore into the metal and let it melt as the jagged metal edges bit into my hands causing the metal to give even further. I broke through in seconds and was well on my way before they could start closing passages on me. I wasn't really going anywhere in particular, just messing with the aliens to see if I could make them think I was just a wild animal.

I stopped running when I came to a vent that looked down upon a hallway with six of the aliens at one end, a dead body with a chunk of flesh ripped out of it's neck lay right below me. I kicked the venting out and landed on the far end. Four grunts advanced on me, their rifle blasts missing me by hairs widths at a time and the one that did hit merely burned my flesh. They reached me and found I was not as sedate as they likely hoped I would be. I grabbed and crushed the skulls of two with ease and impaled the other two with my tail before spreading the blade and making them each half the grunt they were. The last two looked at each other before one ran off and left his comrade whom I advanced on with slow intent.

Much to my surprise he pulled out a dagger and charged me. The blade pierced the palm of my hand and melted the metal. The grunt didn't waste any time as he pulled out a pistol and aimed at my head, but my other hand was already in his abdomen, the claws tearing a hole into the exoskeletal structure. When I removed it, he dropped to the ground dead. I looked down at the body for a moment, I considered taking his skull, then I realized Janeway would never let me keep a sapient life form's skull as a trophy.

I moved into the hall the other one had run down and a blast caught my bad shoulder. Unfortunately for the grunt that had fired it he was within range of my tail and quickly impaled on it while I roared in pain. I continued down the halls, stomping and snarling, making my presence known, the steps increased as I came upon a body that had been feasted upon. The discovery evoked something darker in me than I had expected and then I realized what the creatures wanted as food. I stalked out of the halls, a new anger filling my chest, straight into a group of grunts aiming their weapons at unarmed nurses and doctors.

"Surrender!" One shouted,

I merely growled and crouched, then began to pace in a crawling fashion that obviously unnerved them. The grunts let their vision shift from me to their hostages a few times, but their leader did not, he stayed locked on me with a deadly awareness.

"Surrender!" Their leader shouted.

I leaped up and and into the ceiling of the station, tearing a hole with my claws, a few blasts directed at me caused my blood to pour down onto the other grunts and a few of the hostages. I heard the screams of guilty and innocent alike and my anger rose once more. Then blasts penetrated the ceiling and forced me to move.

"Keep firing as he moves, he'll run out of space soon!" Their leader shouted.

One soldier screamed about loosing an ally, a name the station's translator couldn't understand. Another shouted about the floor melting. Their leader continued to order the firing, but I had already moved to the other side and wasn't making a peep until I was ready.

"Dammit, it fled!" A grunt shouted.

"Keep firing." Their leader ordered, a deep rattling anger in his voice. It seemed I was getting to him. Good.

I found an air vent and quickly tore it open. The sound drew their attention and the grunts immediately began firing on the vent in both directions. To bad for them I never went in and simply went back around to the hole I had made earlier. I peeked my head through and much to my delight saw that their leader only had two guards, both focused in the wrong direction. I also saw a doctor doing his best to stop a friend's leg from bleeding out and I silently chewed myself out for letting my blood hurt others. That wasn't supposed to happen.

I dropped silently to the ground, the hostages noticed me but remained silent. I stalked closer to the leader and was a mere foot from him when he spun around to face me. He lashed out with a punch that almost broke my nose. I lashed out by jumping on him and ripping his arms from their sockets before leaping to his subordinates and pulling out whatever limb I could. Blood and gore splashed everywhere and I heard both hostage and captor scream in terror as my vision hazed over red.

I heard a voice call out, a familiar voice, but distant, irritating, ready to die. I spun and roared at it not caring who it was, only to slake this unending blood-lust I had found. I saw the form, a black uniform and red shoulder coloring. I charged and several bolts pierced into me, this time dropping me in seconds. Clarity filed my vision as my consciousness faded, I saw Tom Paris scanning me while yelling at the others, I barely heard Harry's voice before I passed out.

One step forward, two steps back.

Fuck.

Aboard the darkness of his stolen ship Leto stared at the urns of black goo that now sat secured upon the desk he had claimed from the previous owners. He found himself staring at the legendary chemical and chuckling with glee. He almost felt the need to hug the jars.

"Dearest, why do you laugh so?" Praenuntius asked, her mate remained silent until she went to leave.

"This is the future of our race." Leto's face split in a twisted grin. "We just need to master it."

"And how do we do that, it's either going to kill us or put us back into the hive's control." Praenuntius sighed. "And the queens would just love to punish us for our 'insolence'."

"They only understand their desire to destroy, their compulsion really." Leto looked out into the cargo bay where a queen sat with several drones and several of his guards stood and then felt the back of his head where the scar caused by a fight with a large unfriendly creature had broken the hive's control over him. "Your brother is still my main concern."

"Bobby will come around, or he'll die." Praenuntius smiled.

"What happened to your other plans?" Leto turned to his mate, a look of dangerous curiosity in his eyes.

"Still in play, but I don't want to just kill him. I want my family back." Praenuntius pouted.

Leto walked over to his mate and cradled her face gently. "If that is your wish my love." He released her face and turned to the good on his desk. "We will need out own trump card if that is the case."

"We can't just master it out of desire my dear." Praenuntius chuckled, "No matter how much we may wish."

"And why not?" Leto walked over to his desk and plucked a container up with ease. "We may not be the purest form of it's power but we will be the most passionate, we will be the strongest!"

"Leto, my love." Praenuntius stepped back into the hall, fear tread across he face. "Don't my love."

With a quick motion of his hands he shattered the container and let the black slime loose. At first it merely puddled at his feet, then it began to crawl up his body and with it came agonizing pain and Leto's own maddening screams as something monstrous became a living devil.

I awoke, and that fact was a startling one to me, aboard Voyager with a very upset Doctor standing over me and very little in the way of actual recent memories. I heard shuffle of feet and turned to see Janeway with a viidian official, they didn't seem to notice I was awake and Janeway did not look happy. I got the sense that I was about to wish I had died. I went to sit up and my chest stung, I looked to see my chest covered in blaster burns.

"Relax, they're mostly superficial." The Doctor said.

"Mostly." I groaned. "What happened and why did I get shot?"

"You took on a terrorist force in the medical station." The Doctor explained. "When Tom and your team found you, you were in some sort of berserk frenzy."

"I thought I got fixed?" I grumbled.

"You did, now your brain knows exactly when and how to make you like that." The Doctor grumbled right back.

"Oh joyous day." I fell backwards onto the table. "I hurt anyone I shouldn't have?"

"No, that's the good news." The Doctor said. Whatever they trained you to do in that clan, you only seemed to attack if they had a weapon."

I barked a deep laugh and then cringed. "All right, who got my lungs?"

"That would be Harry." Janeway said as she and the official exited. "You should have stayed hidden, a lot of people might still be alive otherwise."

"I don't hide from monsters." I snapped.

"They wanted food." Janeway said. "The viidians harvested the race that they traded with on their trade routes."

"They were gathering their food." I grunted as the Doctor continued to scan me.

"What?" Janeway's confusion would have been funny, if not for my pain.

"They were gathering the people there for food. I found some of their snacks." I shifted in place, wholly uncomfortable on the much too small table and with having to repeat myself.

"Almost done." The Doctor saw me shift around.

"That does explain the state of several bodies..." The official sighed. "Well, I must thank you for your actions, but condemn you for them as well."

The Doctor nodded and I stood up tall in the sick bay and stretched as far as I could. "It's not like I expect a pat on the shoulder or anything, I did what had to be done."

"I understand." The Official turned to Janeway, "Well that was easier done than said for once."

"That was your condemnation." Janeway seemed less than enthused.

"My government can't condone what he's done, but me as a father and someone with family that worked there..." He seemed to weigh his words. "I may be a bit more lenient on my views." He then bowed and walked to the door where a security guard escorted him away.

"The luck you have is beyond amazing." Janeway took a deep sigh, "But it only works with them."

"Plasma manifold duty, was wondering when I was gonna get it." I grinned.

"Oh you wish." Janeway almost looked a little manic. "No, I'm gonna find a more effective way to punish you..." She then grinned and walked out.

I turned to the Doctor. "Somehow I think my antics finally broke her."

"I think you're right." The Doctor's look lingered on the door.