Author's Note:
Finally, I got this one. Have a good time with this chapter, because...you will probably like it.
As the Empress stepped on Grace, she felt not only the pain from her long wound on her leg, not only the Empress's rage and blood lust, but she felt her own fear. It only got worse when she felt how slowly the xenomorph above her pushed it's long sharp talon into her spine, slowly tearing her chitin and muscles. She tried to think, tried to focus in order to escape from her, but the pressure was too much for her to lift it, the talon inside her spine could easily dig in further in one motion and pierce her through...what she can do? She overestimated her abilities, and now, when everyone were on the run, she will slowly perish in worst way possible.
But she suddenly heard it with Empress - a slowly approaching machine, that came out from the shadows to reveal big orange powerloader, which housed Carl inside the protective layers of lead and metal. She got her hope back quickly, and not only hope - she actually felt a lot of feelings right now. The Empress sensed them too, and Grace realized it too late to hide it from her - when Carl challenged Empress, the xenomorph pulled it's talon from hybrid's back, hissing lowly and emitting pheromones to make it a clear message to Grace:
- I will end him first. Slowly. Gently. I will take the life you adore. Watch it. I will do the same to you.
She didn't had strength to talk to anyone - her own mind was still in shock, and it took her a while to notice that she was carried by marines away from the battle, where Empress charged Carl.
- Fuck! - Carl saw the Empress opening her arms and charging him upfront all of sudden. He raised his left arm and extended it with a step towards the Empress, grabbing her by neck and stopping her charge for a while. Raising his right arm, Carl crushed it top down, striking Empress right above her maw. She suddenly felt to the ground, moaning from the pain and anger, but Carl wasn't finished with her yet - he grabbed Empress by her shield-crest, raised her figure from the floor and just threw the giant xenomorph inside the warehouse. Was it upgraded powerloader or Empress's low weight, but he actually made that dangerous move, watching as Empress crushed lots of crates and shelfs. Of course it didn't hurt her - Carl took several steps back while he watched Empress slowly rising on her feet, smashing metal shelves to the side with her arms and tail.
Now he knew that he just got lucky - she didn't expected such force from powerloader, but know she will if she was as smart as Grace. And, to Carl's sudden realization, he remembered that he wasn't able to beat Grace when she understood the rules of games or situations. If Empress got the same learning speed, he is done for, unless he uses some tricky moves to deal with her. He closed his eyes to let the large drop of sweat pass, while he was slowly backing up to the warehouse he spotted before coming to Empress in the open. She followed him, slowly, making metal cracking and growling lowly, probably observing what he was about to do. Carl also wanted to know what the fuck he was about to do, since he was passing large tanks with chemicals inside them.
- Simmons, do you have any ideas? - he heard a radio cracking with Emmerich's voice.
- Not a single one, director, - Carl was still backing up, leading Empress inside the warehouse.
- Let me help you, just turn your camera a bit to the left first...there's a potassium tanker nearby, right on your left...and there are water sprinkles on the ceiling.
- Potassium and water equals explosion, I remember now, - Carl nodded, - And there's a lot of potassium inside the tanker, by the look of it.
- Do you still have explosives devices?
- Yeah, I managed to squeeze backpack inside the powerloader, and stole some from Dmitri just in case, - Carl took several more steps, trying to lure Empress away from the tanker. She still followed him, slowly walking those tight passages between chemical tankers.
- Good, now listen to me very carefully. Potassium is very volatile when exposed to water, which will result in immediate explosion and burning. The tanker explosion is the last thing you must do, because it doesn't need much to make a reaction.
- This gets better by a second...OK, any ideas how I can slow her down?
- None for now, but I am thinking.
- Carl, - suddenly he heard voice of Grizzly over the comms, - Just hold on, I am driving as fast as I can. If that explosion won't scratch that bitch, we still have SADARs.
- Grizzly, how long till the rendezvous? - that was Willis, who sounded tired as hell.
- Just give me several more minutes!
- I don't think I cal hold her for...Fuck!
The Empress suddenly charged him again, but this time it was much worse - she jumped onto him, grabbing powerloaders arms, nearly pinning him down. Carl tried his best to not fall backwards, but suddenly he saw xenomorph's tail launching towards his left leg, wrapping itself tightly around it. She probably wanted to push the tail towards her, while still pushing with her arms powerloader to the ground, but Carl had other plans - he quickly lift left leg backwards, making Empress fall on her back with a surprised screech, since she wrapped her tail too tightly against powerloader's leg. Carl slowly started to unwrap Empress's leg from his leg with left powerloader arm when she suddenly reached him, grabbing cockpit with her four arms and menacingly opening her maw. Carl shrugged from the sudden strike of her inner jaw against the viewing window, but it actually hold against the xenomorph...for now - Carl saw small cracks after the impact, probably on the outer side. He slowly reached Empress's neck with his hydraulic claw, starting to applying pressure on it while he was still trying to get the tail from his leg - he couldn't just cut it because of the acidic blood, that would end this fight just in seconds. When Carl finally removed the tail from his leg, he returned his attention towards the Empress, only to feel how his blood froze in an instant, and as he saw Empress's arm coming closer towards him, he felt the impending dread.
Empress's inner sides of her clawed hands were cut, revealing her acidic blood, and she already put some acid on his right arm. It didn't take her long to press her hands to cockpit, spreading acid blood all over the powerloader.
- Simmons, emergency ejection!
Emmerich's voice got Carl back to his senses, as he desperately pressed the needed button. The rear side of the powerloader blew up, making it possible for Carl to escape. He quickly put on oxygen mask and took small air canister with him and jumped out of the powerloader, swearing loudly from pain in his leg. Turning back to see acid eating through the cockpit, the boiling steam coming from the reaction was acidic too - Carl saw how acidic steam melted components inside the powerloader. The Empress noticed that he actually got out of his protective shell, but powerloader was in tight space between chemical tankers, blocking her path for now.
- Simmons, here is the way to slow her down - turn around and plant explosives on the nitrogen tank. It won't cause a thermal shock, not in her case, but still.
- She's very pissed, - growled Carl, running through the shelves. He put the oxygen tank under his backpack, strapping it tightly.
already placing plastic explosives on the right tanker. He turned the device to explode on ten seconds, and started to go as fast as he could to take a cover behind a tanker.
Meanwhile Empress finally removed the powerloader - she was tearing it down with her claws and acid, making it completely useless for Carl. And just when she started to move, she noticed the explosive device on the tanker, hissing with her jaw opened in boiled anger. She quickly walked towards the device and tried to strike it, but it exploded right in her face. Carl saw liquid nitrogen pouring on stunned xenomorph before nitrogen steams blocked his view, and eventually tanker fall right on the Empress, but he saw that Empress wasn't damaged by the look of it. Carl quickly started to move towards the potassium tanker, squeezing himself through the tight passages.
- How strong she really is?! The explosion didn't shit to her, the fucking tanker fell on her and she only got stu..., - Carl suddenly heard Empress's roar, that went loud in the warehouse, - ...was stunned.
- A normal xenomorph chitin is able to completely deflect small firearms, and only armor-piercing rounds could actually deal damage to them. But their chitin is very adaptable to environment, and eventually as they grew older, it gets only stronger.
- Fuck me sidewa...oh shit!
The Empress threw a tanker to the side, revealing her giant form to escaping Carl, who looked back to see what the xenomorph was doing. The nitrogen steam was coming off her, but it looked like she didn't care at all about being covered in volatile liquid. Carl saw how she slowly opened her maw, revealing a set of semi-transparent sharp teeth, making a low and prolonged hissing sound.
- Simmons, get a hold on yourself!
- T-trying, - muttered Carl, moving now a lot more faster. The Empress was moving too - Carl heard her footsteps on the metal floor, but she wasn't moving as fast as he was, - I hope that nitrogen shower will slow her for good, otherwise I am fucked.
- You still have to plant the explosives and do something with the emergency fire suppression system, - continued Emmerich, - I would also suggest closing the warehouse gates before detonation.
- I know, I know! - Carl approached the tanker with potassium and started to plant the explosives on it. The tanker, as Carl remembered, was vacuum sealed and had a lot of dry material inside to make sure that no water would come in contact with it. That's why he needed a lot of explosives placed on the tanker, - Dmitri you there? Remind me how to get it remote-detonated!
- Do you have a remote signaler device I gave you?
- Yeah, I got it, - Carl took a big brick-like device from his backpack, extending antennae for twenty centimeters. That signaler was a robust thing - pretty heavy, but hard to break.
- Good, you have to adjust the frequency on every device you want to use. On the right side there must be a switch to change between "timer" and "radio" input. Switch to "radio" and use the panel to input the needed frequency.
- OK, I got it, - Carl looked over his shoulder, seeing how Empress was slowly advancing towards him, trying to shake off the nitrogen from her chitin. He doubled his efforts, franticly typing numbers on the explosives, - How much range do I have?
- Open-space - fifty meters. Closed space...depends on the material and it's density. But that's why the signaler has the timer to send the detonation signal.
- I see it, - Carl nodded, - How do I input the frequency inside signaler?
- There's a opening on it's side, pull it. You see the panel you extended?
- Yeah, it has numbers on it, - Carl pulled the tray on the right side of the signaler, revealing numerical pad.
- Press the "FRQ" button twice, and...
- Fuck!
Carl turned around just in time to see the Empress coming around the tanker behind him. Carl quickly put the signaler on his waist and dashed towards the large shelves, trying to put as much distance between both of them, but Empress was very determined to chase him - her claws shredded shelves, her tail was smashing everything around, and she was constantly hissing. Carl squeezed himself between shelves, trying to use them as an obstacle:
- She is very pissed off right now! I pressed "FRQ", what next?!
- Just type the frequency and press it twice again...we have visual on APC, try to stay safe for a while.
- Trying to!
Carl quickly typed the frequency, still moving away from the Empress inside the countless shelves and boxes. To his terror, Carl realized that Empress was moving a bit faster, probably nitrogen started to wear off already. His leg was still in bad condition, but at least his speed wasn't reduced too much to Carl's surprise, but the Empress was still better in many terms. When Carl found a place from where he could see giant xenomorph coming towards him, he started to quickly check the backpack for anything useful. He still have some explosives left, but it wasn't too much - just two bricks of it. No weapons, since he had to discard rifle in order to get inside the powerloader, no grenades...suddenly it clicked inside Carl's head - the powerloader!It was still there, but the Empress could really fuck it up, or the nitrogen could wash it wholly.
Which was the case, as Carl found it soon. The powerloader was lying on it's back in the nitrogen puddle, making it inaccessible for him. Carl looked over his shoulder to see Empress approaching him still, making loud noises from clearing path to Carl through all the shelves of her way.
- I don't think I can escape from her, - Carl said in trembling voice, - The powerloader is in nitrogen, and seems very damaged.
- Simmons, get a hold on yourself, - Emmerich responded instantly, - You can think in those kind of situations, think!
- Trying! - Carl yelled as he continued his attempt to escape from Empress through the tight passages, - Trying! It's ju...
Suddenly it clicked inside Carl's head. There was only one solution, only one plan he still had to counter the Empress, and it was insane one. Seeing a tanker nearby, Carl dashed towards it, quickly getting to the side of the tanker, placing explosives on it's side. He remembered the frequency on another tanker with potassium and said it to Emmerich over the radio, since he had to use another frequency to detonate the explosives. But Carl had another one left, and he quickly placed it on another tanker nearby, calculating where it could land after the explosion, but he set it via timer, which was dangerous. When Carl finished laying a trap for Empress, he took several steps back to finally face her.
She took her time, coming out from the passage and slowly approaching him. The xenomorph opened her mouth, letting out a growl of annoyance, since she was getting tired of those games with a human. As she stepped between two tankers, Carl took out the remote detonation device, which made Empress stop in her tracks. Grinning madly, Carl opened switch and pressed the button...only to find out that nothing happened. Carl's grin disappeared in an instant, as he pressed the button constantly to no effect, looking over the Empress with a clear fear in his eyes. The xenomorph understood the situation, and she let out a long victory screech, taking one step towards Carl and opening her clawed arms.
Suddenly the explosion came from the tanker nearby, making it fall on the Empress as she was screeching from such surprise. Carl quickly pressed the right button, making another tanker fall over the Empress, and he started to move quickly towards the exit.
- Excellent strategy, Simmons, - Emmerich's praise lifted Carl's spirit a little, - Marines already inside APC and are en route to you. Escape at once.
- I hope those SADAR's will be able to kill her...Emmerich, what was the frequency?
- One seven one point forty two.
- Got it. Dmitri? - Carl reached the exit, smashing the glass panel over emergency systems button, - How I can send a timed frequency?
- Input the frequency, press the "TMR" button on the panel, and input the timer. When you press the "TMR" button again, it will start the countdown, and you can't cancel it.
- Roger, - Carl looked over the Empress, who was struggling against the tankers, and he set the timer to one minutes, counting it down.
As he smashed the button to enable emergency systems, he also pressed the button nearby to turn on water sprinklers, since foam and gas fire suppression were not the option. As Carl left the remote signaler in the vent nearby, he quickly left the room and started to run away from the closed warehouse, hearing Empress's roar of pure fury as she finally escaped only to find out the real trap. Carl heard how she was trying to bump or scratch the emergency lockdown shutters to no avail.
- Simmons, get down!
Carl turned towards the warehouse and dropped on his stomach, covering his head. After five seconds the initial explosion shuddered the floor, but it was like a petard when water made a contact with potassium - the second explosion blew up the emergency shutters in several places, making more explosions inside the warehouse. Carl slowly raised his head, looking at purple flames of potassium everywhere, hearing the continuing explosions...and Empress's roar. She slowly walked out from the warehouse, covered in purple flames and dripping acid from her wounds, looking wearily. She was in flames, she was hurt to the point where she just couldn't run or move as fast as she could, but she survived it. Carl slowly rose from the floor, looking at Empress in utter disbelief, as he started to take small steps away from her. She in response started to slowly walk towards Carl, tripping constantly from all the wounds she got in explosion. But as Carl heard a familiar noise, he turned around to see APC coming towards him. The mighty vehicle was in a bad shape - some parts of it were eaten through by acid, armored windows were gone, and even the autocannon was damaged. APC stopped and opened the armored shutters, letting out several marines with large SADAR tubes - Willis, Dmitri, Wolbur, Steiner and Murray were wielding those weapons, while several more marines were covering the other side, laying suppressive fire upon coming xenomorphs.
- Five meters backfire! - shouted Wolbur, getting away from APC along with other marines and aiming at Empress with SADAR, - Manual aiming! Fire!
Just in time Carl opened his mouth and closed ears tightly - all five SADAR tubes launched a projectiles with a terrible speed, connecting with Empress in several places. It wasn't enough to kill her, but she got gravely wounded, dropping on her legs and spraying acid from large wounds.
- Under-barrel! - commanded Willis, discarding SADAR to the side. Other marines discarded them also and charged the under-barrel grenade launchers on their rifles, - Aim near wounded parts!
Contact grenades did the job right - the Empress finally fell on the floor, which was boiling from the acid coming from her wounds. She was looking at marines, still clinging to life and hate, as her wounded palms were trying to pull her towards the humans. But suddenly Carl saw a dark figure, that jumped to line of marines. That figure was holding not one, but two SADAR's, making it clear, who was capable of using those two tubes at once. After a little pause and preparing the weapons to fire, Grace pulled the trigger, sending both rockets into Empress's already damaged face. The result was a very nasty one - from the explosion Empress lost half of her head, spraying acid and chitin everywhere, but not too far away to touch marines.
- She's done for! - yelled Willis, quickly coming to Carl and getting him on his feet, - Now let's get the fuck out of here!
Not many marines survived the attack. Willis and Wolbur survived along with Grace, Steiner had three marines in his squad, Murray lost everyone when APC arrived, Uni and Rynder with other marines were wiped out right in front of Grizzly - she came too late to save them. Emmerich was still alive, but was looking nervous. Carl was too tired from everything, and he just passed out the moment he stepped inside the APC. Luckily, Grace was able to catch him, placing Carl's head on her lap and holding him tightly.
- As I thought - the death of Empress lead the whole Hive to civil war, - noticed Emmerich, who was watching via outer cameras of APC on surroundings.
- How so? - asked Steiner, who was holding his rifle and aiming at one of the opened part of APC.
- It was my design, - explained Emmerich, - A small Hive will be obedient to Queen, or Empress in our case, and there will be few individuals capable of transforming into the Queen if previous one dies, and their dispute will take only minutes, - director turned his eyes towards Steiner, looking at marine wearily, - As a precaution, I made several steps to ensure that Empress will have more candidates to become new Queen's, to ensure that we in case of emergency would have some time during their inner war.
- You know that you are a fucking monster, Emmerich? - growled Grizzly, driving APC through the atmospheric processor.
- This monster is on your side, and always was, since I had no plans and no gain in unleashing xenomorphs upon civilian population, - parried Emmerich, returning to monitor screens, - Some casualties, yes, some deaths out of need, but all my work was about saving and upgrading our species, rather than exterminating for greed and power.
- You are a major cunt still, - coldly replied Grizzly, cautiously turning APC around the sharp corner, - Despite the fact, that those cunts are even worse...Grace, how's Carl?
- Stable, he is just tired.
- Stable, - Grizzly replied, so everyone could hear it, - At least some good fucking news, our kiddo surely has the balls to go upfront with a fucking monster.
- We better focus on the impending coming of PMC forces. Do we have an engagement plan?
- Not right now, Emmerich, - replied Wolbur, who was getting patched by Murray, - But we'll get one right after we leave this fucking graveyard...how much do we have until new Queen emerges?
- Hard to say, - director closed his eyes and rubbed his chin with a slightly shaking hand, - It could at least two-three hours up two several days.
- Two hours it is, - sighed Willis, - Not much time and we are clearly outnumbered, even with help from Grace we have to perform some guerrilla tactics to win this one.
- Even if we get those PMC's, and we get to the ship Emmerich was talking about, what next? Shadow fighting? - asked Murray with a definitive irritation in her voice, - Corporate espionage?
- Do we have a fucking choice, Murray? - Wolbur looked right in her eyes with such expression, that Murray shuddered and took one step back, - We have plenty of time to discuss it with Emmerich and Willis, and we all knew that corporate assholes in suits are going put a blame on us for everything possible.
- I know, it's...
- Murray, I am ordering you to chill the fuck up. Is that clear?
- Yes sir, - she nodded, - May I return to providing medical assistance?
- Permission granted.
The rest of the trip everyone went silent in the APC. Everybody were on the edge, because the fight was far from over, and they still have some civilians to save from this hellhole. But it won't be easy, considering their dire situation. Willis, Wolbur, Steiner, Volkov and Emmerich were creating a plan with survived colonists, while other marines were guarding the hangar bay. When Carl woke up, he saw a very familiar hospitable face:
- Doctor Warren!
- Don't yell like that, I am not that young anymore, - he smiled, looking at Carl attentively. Carl noticed, that Grace was standing right beside doctor, cocking her head to the side a little, - Grace told me about your wounds and what you did, while you were injured.
- Yeah, but I am...oh, - Carl tried to stand from his bed, where Grace put him for medical examination, and he felt the pain from his leg, back, and whole body at all, - ...OK, I am not fine.
- That's what I was talking about, - Warren sighed, taking step back, still smiling softly, - I must admit - I was expecting much more severe damage from what Grace told me, but it appears you just need some rest for week or two with light treatment.
- She's my savior, - Carl nodded to hybrid, - I would be dead already, if she wasn't around.
- That's right...and that leads me to another question, - Warren pointed to the medical coffin, where Pierce was lying, sealed from outer world, - Emmerich stated, that doctor Pierce is stable, Grace said the same thing, and the pod sensors also states her stable vital signs, just like she's in comatose. I was...
- Doctor Warren, - Emmerich suddenly appeared, looking at Warren with a cold expression, - I suggest that we discuss that matter lately, since life of my protege is secured. We need to discuss more impending situations, such as...
The sudden explosion made whole hangar shutter, and Emmerich looked to the side, frowning instantly. The second explosion was even more louder and had much more impact, shuddering the inside of APC. Carl heard marines yelling around and colonists screaming in sudden chaos of still coming explosions.
- They are blowing up the main gates with something, - suddenly said Grace to Carl, - We need to...
The last explosion was loud, and judging by the sounds, the hangar bay doors were done for. Carl looked over the monitors of APC to see, what was happening, and he got the answer - PMC were supported by a military-grade exoskeleton, which was slowly walking inside the hangar bay along with the PMC's in darkish red battle armor without any signs or ID. Carl had a look at the military exoskeletons before, when he was traveling with father from planet to planet, and those things were scary as hell - a giant armored walking tank, with a large variety of weapons and ammo for it, along with solid protection from radiation, temperature, gas attacks and thick frontal armor, which could take several SADAR shots to the face and still walking, like it was nothing. Those things were expensive, and training operator to effectively pilot exoskeleton is even more expensive.
Emmerich already stepped out from the APC, placing his knees to the ground and taking his hands behind the head. Other marines did the same thing, placing weapons on the ground - civilians were not secured in time, and they decided to not take any chances of a firefight. The PMC's moved in, the exoskeleton was watching the APC while other PMC's were getting everyone at their knees in one straight line.
They still had some time. But what could they do? The autocannon was pretty much useless, and SADAR wouldn't be effective to destroy that thing in one shot. Suddenly Grace turned to the medical pod and started to put some sequence into the keypad, nodding to Warren. Doctor tried to say something, but he quickly closed his mouth and just shouted from the APC:
- We are coming unarmed! The hybrid comes with me! We don't have weapons, and there is another person inside!
- Take slow steps from the APC, one at a time, - the exoskeleton roared with dynamics, arming it's weapons towards the exit, - As you step from APC, take ten steps forward and get on your knees, hands behind your head, and hybrid comes next. Is that clear?
- Yes, we understand. I am coming out right now! - Warren yelled, stepping first from the APC and taking slow steps forward.
- Now listen to me, - Carl watched Grace, as she planted two pistols, one under his pillow, and one right into his arm, - Pretend to be paralyzed. Be ready to shoot without a doubt, our lives are now in your hands, but wait for my signal. I have a plan.
- Now the hybrid, - roared exo-pilot, - You have five seconds.
Carl quickly covered himself with a medical blanket and took a position as if he was really paralyzed - he was lying on his back and he tried not to move his head. He put his pistol right under the his hip, and tried to relax, even for a bit. Whatever Grace's plan was, he just had to trust her and do, what she told him to do - there is no other choice. But his whole body shivered, and he felt like his hair could turn gray at any moment, if not fell off entirely.
- OK, put them with the others, watch the hybrid closely. Crimson Six and Seven - check the APC.
Carl heard them coming - their boots were coming fast, and he remembered that he's actually paralyzed, so he have to lie as still as he could. Carl swallowed as he heard PMC's moving inside APC and checking in from the frontal side to the rear. As they moved closely to inspect Carl and medical pod, Carl noticed their weapons - new, just from the conveyor, and he couldn't recognize those assault rifles at all.
- Get up.
- If I could, I would do it. I am not stupid.
- Since you did it nice, I am going give you ten seconds, - the PMC pointed their assault rifles at Carl, - Would be it a miracle or you stop acting, I don't care - you will walk from here in a bag or on your feet. One.
- Do not talk further. Everything is under control...trust me.
- Two.
- Trust me, Carl. You move or show your fear, and we are finished.
- Three.
- I still have seven seconds for miracle, right? - Carl nervously smiled, looking at two barrels, pointing to his head.
- Four. Now you have six seconds.
- Be prepared.
- Five. You better get up, boy. Six.
- This is it. Wait for signal.
- Seven.
Suddenly the medical pod burst - it's armored cover flew into two PMC's, pushing them onto Carl's bed. Carl quickly reached his pistol under the pillow with left hand and without any doubts took five shots at the nearest PMC, cracking his protective helmet into pieces. Other PMC already took out his pistol and now he was aiming right at Carl's eye.
Something suddenly grabbed PMC by the wrist and Carl heard cracking bones along with the muffled screams. As Carl watched in awe, he saw elegant black alien hand slashing the throat of the last PMC, while another black hand was holding broken wrist. When Carl traced the hand to it's owner and met his eyes with hers, he could only whisper in amazement:
- Pierce!
Meanwhile marines and PMC forces were fighting. Grace had a lot of time to warn everyone about her plan, so marines were only waiting for the right opportunity to fight. It was the first shot from the APC that was a signal to attack, now or never, so marines along with Grace jumped on their guards in that little moment of distraction. By Grace's plan, marines must hide behind the PMC's, since they had some armor to stop some incoming fire. But it wasn't all - they just couldn't win like that, and Grace made every marine understands the importance of taking PMC's alive.
Because it was her bargain with the sudden horde of xenomorphs, lead by a Praetorian.
Marines quickly turned the tables and commanded civilians to get inside the spaceships, where they could be protected from the firefight. While doing so, marines and captured PMC's were taking steps back, to get behind the ships and far away from the exoskeleton, which was fighting Praetorian at close range. It wasn't wise decision, since Praetorian was just distracting the exoskeleton from other xenomorphs, that tried to swarm it and open, like a tin can. The fight - if extermination could be called a "fight" - was quickly over, leaving many PMC's injured or captured by xenomorphs. The exo-pilot got the privilege to be torn in half by Praetorian herself, which signaled the end of the battle. Marines slowly came out from the cover, still taking PMC's hostages, as they were watching the xenomorphs horde right in from of them. Grace and Praetorian were silently talking in low hisses and growls, along with their pheromones and minds, while Carl was holding Pierce on himself, slowly taking steps from APC towards the marines. Pierce, despite the fact that she was finally awake, was weak and confused. She wasn't reacting to anything or anyone, and Emmerich quickly decided to not let anyone bother her for a while. As Carl placed Pierce nearby Emmerich, he got a better look on her.
She mutated, a lot. Her hands and her chest along with the stomach were now pretty much similar to what Grace or other xenomorphs had, but she possessed human features, just like Grace. But what troubled Carl, is her eyes - when Emmerich pointed a flashlight into them, they were silver-white in color and not reacting to light. She was generally weak and it was looking like she had a concussion.
- A shock is expected, - sighed Emmerich, - I will attend her, mister Simmons, so do not worry.
- Easy for you to say, - growled Carl, turning his head to the xenomorphs horde.
The trade was successful - all PMC that were captured by marines were transfered to the Praetorian, and marines just in case took out the rifles, watching xenomorphs around them. The situation could be worse, sure - one order from Praetorian and the hell will break loose. But it didn't happen, insted the xenomorphs slowly crawled away from the hangar, leaving humans to their fate - they would not care about them, since they got the hosts for a rightful Queen, which meant only one thing - the Hive War will continue, until one Queen will remain victorious.
At least for several hours, before atmospheric processor will eventually explode, killing and burying whole colony right under the layers of thick ice and frozen stone.
- I want to leave, - suddenly said Grace audibly, so everyone could hear her.
They left the planet for good. Remaining colonists were transfered to the spaceships, and, lucky for everyone, no human being was on the moons of this forsaken planet. The spaceships for colonists were programmed to travel for several months into neutral space, far away from USCM and Weyland-Yutani.
Their ship, however, was about to start it's own journey. They already found it, started the systems and were now slowly performing a slingshot maneuver - for additional speed, but mostly because everyone wanted to see a big white-blue explosion on the dark-blue surface of the planet...and mostly because they wanted to take some time to gather themselves. Carl stood inside observation room, watching planet slowly getting away from them after the slingshot maneuver.
He heard her coming from behind. She wanted to be heard.
- You are...troubled.
- It's just...lots of things happened, and they all ended...all of sudden. Just days before I was running with you from the xenos, and now we are here...I guess I can't believe, that this is the end for now.
- For now? - she cocked her head to the side, standing near Carl and watching him closely.
- We are still on the run, and...I want to know everything. About that spaceship, how someone created xenomorphs, how...I dunno, - Carl sighed, rubbing back of his neck, - I have nowhere to go and nothing to do, so this sounds like a good idea to start learning something new.
- ...when you were in that exo-suit, - Grace suddenly changed to verbal speech, - I was...feeling something. All this time I protected you, since you are weak - to my standards - and I am strong enough to keep you safe...but you showed me your strength, - she cocked her head to the side again and smiled softly, - It was not the exo-suit you used, though it was a spectacular show...It was your courage, despite that you were constantly afraid of the Empress, may she rest in pieces.
- That's why you wasted two shots on her? - Carl put a small genial sarcasm to his words.
- I was not "wasting" them, I was making sure that "target is destroyed", - she suddenly parodied how Volkov usually sounded like, making them both laugh a bit. When they stopped laughing, Grace took Carl's hand in her own, looking right at him, - I want you to know this. I can't see myself without you near me - I know you well, and I am pleased that you are growing into even better person that you already are. All I want is to ask you..., - Grace took a slight breath, pausing for a second before she continued, - ...will you stay with me further? Can we two become something more, that we already are?
- Aren't we?
- Well...since you asked, we can be more. And it is actually possible.
- ...wait, - Carl started to blink rapidly, - You mean...
- Yes, - Grace hissed "s" happily with a large grin on her face. Carl also noticed how her tail was swaying from side to side in large arc, - I made some...research, and I decided that we are fine.
- ...well, that escalated quickly, - Carl still was attempting to think straight, but the flashy images in his mind were distracting him too much.
- You are not ready, - Grace pressed her finger to Carl's forehead, - That's fine. I can wait, until I decide just to take it from you. We still have some time before hypersleep, so you better check on everyone and make sure our ship is fine.
Emmerich's spaceship didn't had a name, so it was the first thing everyone did when marines stepped on board. After several minutes of arguments Murray came with idea to name it "Darkbreaker", which actually was laughable at first. But after some consideration marines understood, that this name was fitting - their new mission was to break the darkness of lies of the Weyland-Yutani. The "Darkbreaker" was a very interesting prototype ship, which was designed to store a small crew and perform illegal research, hence the need for equipment to mask the ship's presence and some weapons to defend itself. It was dark in colors, to mask it's presence even more, and was slimmer and more accurate in design than military-grade ships like "Arbiter" or "Sunrise". Carl spend some time in blueprints along with Emmerich, trying to understand how "Darkbreaker" actually worked, and while doing so Carl uncovered many surprises.
The first surprise was about air recycling and creating. "Darkbreaker" was using the same technology that was inside atmospheric processors, it was just much smaller and more efficient - the ship was able to create oxygen from many sources, which was a good thing. But the second surprise was the reactor, that powered whole ship - Emmerich claimed, that this ship's power source in right conditions could last not for hundred, but for a thousand years, maybe even more. It was too expensive though to be placed on the modern ships, even VIP or military one's - Emmerich stated that new reactor won't be available for a public use at least for next twenty-fifty years, maybe a hundred. The ships engine were another miracle - it was much faster than any military recon vessel, and could easily travel from LV-426 to Earth just in a matter of week or two. They had their own assembly rooms, lots of lab equipment, arsenal, even small hydroponics. But they also had other vessels.
The exploration of space was a dangerous and risky gamble - every planet, even after weeks of analyzing it's atmosphere and sending automatic probes, could hold many surprises. That's why the main exploration vehicles were designed to be large, bulky, but with many strong wheels with a good friction to the ground. "Darkbreaker" had two such vehicles - armored and lightly armed exploration all-terrain vehicles. Taking old human tradition of naming things, Volkov decided to name those vehicles very simple - "Dragon" and "Wolf". The "Dragon" vehicle carried heavy-duty flamethrower turret and was much heavier and more armored, "Wolf", on the other hand, was faster and armed with low-caliber autocannons. Emmerich stated that the weapons are detachable, and they can turn "Dragon" into real firepower. To the question about why they need armed explorer weapons Emmerich said something about previous expedition tragedies of the long past and LV-426 incident.
The other thing was the hangar bay, where their dropships slept, along with the damaged APC and exo-suit. Marines decided to take some time before explosion and use both dropships to get those valuable pieces of equipment in order to repair both of them one day with Carl's help, but when he assessed the damage, he understood one thing clearly - they need more resources to even start thinking about repairs. They also had several small escape shuttles, which were just fine, and everything was looking a bit brighter for them.
Expect that the whole multi-milliard company was after them.
Carl decided to take Grace's advice and clear his head from previous conversation. He decided to visit science sector first, where Pierce, Warren and Emmerich were working together. Carl actually was surprised that Warren volunteered with them, knowing everything about the dangers of their journey, but he looked fine and busy more than ever, checking on Pierce constantly. Pierce, on the other hand, wasn't very happy with her slowly progressive mutation - Emmerich took samples from Pierce and they both studied them to understand, that her current form is not the end. It will be much slower now, but they had no clue where it will stop, or stop at all.
- Doctor Pierce, doctor Warren, director, - Carl nodded to everyone in the room, - Any complaints about equipment?
- None so far, Carl, - Pierce nodded to him. She tried to look like nothing was happening to her, but her clawed hands were always in front of her face.
- Good, because I was wondering, what the actual fu...I mean, Grace told me, that she did some...research.
- It is correct, - Emmerich looked at Carl with a mixed expression on his face, - She had questions about evolution and reminded me about our attempts at fertilizing her. Now-now, calm down, we didn't done anything to her, - Emmerich sighed, looking at Pierce, - Amanda?
- We were discussing the possibility of coupling, and she heard it somehow a long time ago, - nodded Pierce, working with some samples, - Emmerich decided to make an attempt, but we nearly made a containment breach while doing so, - she looked at Carl, slightly smiling, - That's why he needed "Project Pavlov" - not only for control, but to make coupling possible.
- And, - continued Emmerich, - With the help of our medical officer here, we finally understood that your intercourse is not only possible, but a rather safe procedure - Grace allowed us to research her closely for this matter, and we got the needed data.
- ...I don't even know, what to say or how to even feel about this right now, - grumbled Carl, feeling how his face slowly turns red.
- Time is short and valuable, and you better make a mistake than rather not do anything at all, - responded Warren with an advice, - Because you can right your wrongs, but you can't return to the moment...of course if it's not something about drugs, rape or other harmful activities.
- And, Carl, - suddenly said Pierce, turning to him, - She...asked me questions about something, but I am busy right now, so you better ask Murray and Grizzly in hangar bay.
Carl left the R&D division with a head, full of mixed emotions. Maybe, he should visit Grizzly and Murray too - they both were working in the hangar, doing usual repairs. Normally, Carl would be there too, but doctor Warren insisted that young man must be free from working for some time.
- Murray, Grizzly, - Carl found them and nodded to both women. He only know understood, that they were very opposite of each other - Grizzly had more aggressive appereance, while blonde Murray had more calm and casual look, - I want to ask you something.
- Hey, it's not my fault that a girl wants to know girl stuff, - grinned Grizzly, leaning from the APC's autocannon, - Is that right, Jay?
- I was actually surprised that she already knew something, - nodded Murray, looking at Carl closely with a slyly expression, - But the girl wanted to know more, and who we are to stop her?
- Princess told us everything about your...how she said it..."compatibility".
- In details.
- And our humble council of ladies decided to let her know everything.
- In even more details.
- ...I hate you, - grumbled Carl, making Grizzly and Murray laugh.
- Don't worry, Big C, it's not the end of the world when two people decided to take another step further in their relationship, - said Murray reassuringly.
- The end of the world happens, when you started to ride him and he already done and snores like a fucking whale.
- I better move myself away from your girl kingdom.
- Permission granted, and don't forget - we are here, when you need some advice on girls.
Carl left the hangar bay with even more mixed feelings, and he started to move towards the assembly compound. It was the place, which was taken over by Steiner and Volkov almost instantly, but they were slowly figuring out how it worked. Carl pressed the button to see, that Steiner and Volkov were standing over the console, reading something.
- Busy?
- Oh, no, Big C, it's just...we really need you here, - sighed Steiner, turning with Volkov to face Carl, - But you know the doc and our W-team, - it was a marines designation of Willis and Wolbur, - Their words is the last one. What brought you here?
- Well..., - Carl slowly explained his problem to Volkov and Steiner.
- ...I don't see how this is horrible, - Volkov shrugged his shoulders.
- Don't see either, hell, I am even envy you, Big C - whole galaxy full of ladies, and you got the jackpot, - nodded Steiner.
- What.
- See it like this, - sighed Steiner, taking a small chair to sit on front of Carl, - Our princess has very little to do with our values - she has some, thanks to you, but not everything, while most of the ladies in this galaxy wanted only your money. She is very hardened person, while other ladies possibly could only killed a bug or two in their entire life, and get the PTSD from it.
- What Steiner is trying to say, - interrupted him Volkov, - Is that your relationship with Grace, in his opinion, is much easier than relationships with typical females...in some terms.
- Yeah. And, Jesus fucking Christ, Carl, you got the chance one to freaking minus infinite. Lucky bastard, this is what you are! - laughed Steiner.
- I can say, that there is nothing wrong in this, especially when she knows how men work.
- ...she was here too? - asked Carl wearily.
- Yup, - nodded Steiner, - She wanted to know more, so we told her about sex with our perspective.
- Why?
- Why not?
He wasn't sure, what he must do, and after long hours of trying to solve the puzzle he decided to just get back to his quarters and sleep for a while. His quarters were small, just like on the colony, but he didn't care - at least he had a bed and some personal space, nothing else really matters. He took several steps right to his bed, when he heard a muffled hissing behind him.
She dropped from the ceiling, pinning young human down to the bed. Grace pushed gently, but with a bit of a force his wrists to the small bed, "watching" him closely with a large smile on her face. She slowly rose up, leading her hands from his wrists up to his shoulders, and than - to his stomach. Her hips were holding him by his sides - gently, but Carl knew that if he tried he wouldn't move even for a millimeter.
- I should train with you more, - she whispered, cocking her head to the side, - Keep you in better shape.
- I guess, you decided to just take it, - Carl tried joke a bit, but he was actually nervous, and Grace felt it.
- You are afraid, because it can be dangerous? - she stopped her clawed hands right next to his belt, when suddenly she understood, - ...no, that's not it. You are afraid, because it's your first time, - she now was showing her white-ish teeth to him in supporting smile, - Because you don't want to disappoint me.
- Yeah, pretty much, - sighed Carl, - I...never had anyone before, you are the first.
- Well, you are my first too, I guess it makes us even, - she chuckled in response, - You would not mind if I take the lead then?
- I don't think I have a choice here. Can't complain, though, but...
- Shhh, - she put her finger on his lips, leaning closer with a wide smile on her face, - Relax.
- ...I just don't know why we are...hurry with this, - grumbled Carl.
- We do not, - she rose up, cocking her head to the side, - Because that is what you wanted all this time, but you were suppressing your desires for a long time. And now, when you can actually do what you wanted, you want to take step back. I find this...irrational. Noble, but irrational. Besides, this is a good way to take all that stress from you, - she leaned to him again, nearly touching his forehead with her own. Carl suddenly swallowed, since she was dangerously close, - You want this, and I want this too. You will not disappoint me, I am taking you for what you really are. Is that enough for you to let go of fear?
- I du...
She slowly leaned forward, touching his lips with her own. She was smooth and tough at the same time, but Carl wasn't complaining - he answered to her, much to his own surprise, and slowly both of them opened their mouths. Her tongue, thanks science, was not a secondary jaw, but it was still rather long, so long that she actually wrapped it around Carl's one. She pressed her body to Carl, slowly rising his hands and removing his shirt. She broke the kiss first, throwing his shirt somewhere away and rising with a soft reassuring smile on her face.
- So, what do you think about this motivation? - her clawed hands started to slowly trail from his neck down to his stomach, leaving barely noticeable traces of her claws. She was gentle, but wanted to tease him.
- ...I say we do this, - nodded Carl suddenly.
She smiled again and started to slowly removing his belt and pants in general. After some time Grace let her jaw drop, because she saw something really amusing.
- It's self-irony, - chuckled Carl.
- I was not expecting this. At all, - she started to press her clawed finger to his white underpants with pink hearts, trying to suppress her laugh, - OK, give me a break, - she started to laugh with Carl, and after some time she leaned to him again, kissing softly, - Let me guess...you have more of those?
- I have one pair with cat faces, and one with bears.
- Next time I want to see...bears. Definitely bears, - she pressed herself to Carl's body again and put her hand over his crotch. Carl quickly tensed, sensing that her hands was slowly and gently moving all over his length, that was still under those ridiculous underpants, - Because right now I want to tease you. We will take it slow, just as you want to do it, but we have to do the first small step before we can do - how Grizzly said - "main event" next time.
- Thanks, Grace, - Carl sighed with relief. After some hesitation, he slowly rose his hand from the bed and touched Grace's face, feeling her smooth alien chitin under his palm, - Let's hurry slow.
- You are getting more confident. Good, - she, like a cat, rubbed herself over his palm a bit, while her hand started to slowly removing his underpants, - Don't lie like that, I know you like it a lot, but have a conscience! Help me with those, - after some fuss Grace finally get underpants from Carl, exposing him naked to her. She cocked her head to the side, and slowly reached Carl's manhood with her clawed arm and gently squeezing it. Carl tensed a lot, feeling how smooth chitin of her hand squeezed him, - ...now I understand why you like doing this night activity with yourself.
- It's, as you said before, to relief stress.
- Ri-i-i-i-ight, - she grinned, showing her teeth, and she made a slow stroke over his length, making Carl shiver. He felt her claws touching him, teasingly, and that smooth silkiness of her chitin hand could drive him insane. She made another slow stroke all over his length, and started to do it more frequently, but still rather slow, - You like it.
- Y-yeah, - Carl could only whisper in response.
- And I like it too, - she started to stroke him a little faster and more confident, now not just up and down, but also adding screw-like moves from left to right and in reverse. She stroked him for quite some time, adding more and more speed and pressure, when she suddenly put her thumb over his tip, starting to move it all over the tip.
- I...won't hold long, - whispered Carl, already closing his eyes and trying to hold it, - You just doing it too much.
- Oh. Guess I have to change my plans, I have no intentions to use only my hands.
Suddenly the pressure over his manhood disappeared, and Carl let a sigh of relief. But suddenly he felt that something was touching his tip, something warm and wet. He opened his eyes to see Grace leaned to his manhood with her tongue licking the tip in circular motions. After some time of licking Grace opened her mouth and pushed herself into his crotch.
The insides of her mouth were amazing - warm, smooth, and welcoming. She started to bob her head up and down over his length, adding more speed with every second. Carl couldn't even think straight, all he could do, is to close his eyes and just let his growls of pleasure out from his tensed chest. Carl knew, that he would not take long this torture, and tried his best to hold out.
But when Grace reached his sack and started to massage it, he gave up almost instantly and shoot right into her mouth.
Several times.
Grace stopped bobbing her head, and to Carl's surprise he heard and felt how she was swallowing his load and licking him clean with her long tongue. When she was done with cleaning him, Grace pressed herself into his manhood again, getting him erect again. But this time she wasn't just moving her head over his length, no - she stopped for a while, when Carl was fully erect, and she let out her tongue from her mouth. She playfully licked his tip, and to Carl's amazement her tongue started to coil around from the tip down to his shaft. And now was the most impressing part - while she was bobbing her head up and down all over him, her tongue was squeezing his length too in circular motions. It wasn't long before Carl shoot into her again, but she wasn't stopping at all - now she added her hand to squeeze and massage his sack, gently teasing it with the tip of her claws. It wasn't long until he shoot out again. And again. Carl lost the sense of time completely - it was just two of them, and maybe it was the first time in his life, when he was truly happy.
He didn't even noticed how he passed out from being sucked dry.
Author's Note, part 2:
Yup. It happened.
All that is left right now - is the epilogue, which will come as soon as possible, but it won't be a as big as other chapters - it just needs to point our several things for the...
Sequel.
I decided to continue their story, because I know how it will end already (several endings, to be exact, are already in my mind). But right now I will take some time to add epilogue and start next volume right away.
In the epilogue I will say much more about everything. Stay tuned, and thanks to all of you for reading and supporting.