Derelict

By THE Xenomorph

I own only the character of Vile.

Star Trek Voyager is © Paramount

Aliens vs Predator is © Fox

Plan A never works

I scurried through the Jeffery's tubes with ease and comfort and only made it half way before panic struck me. I was being sent to an alien ship. I was to be a hostage. What if Janeway had struck a deal for safe passage using me as payment? Was I walking straight into a trap? I shook myself free of the pain the idea of betrayal brought with it. So far Janeway had earned my trust, but my instincts still flared an alarm of treachery.

"Vile, are you all right?" Janeway's voice came over the com. Should I voice my concerns? No she'd keep on board then and if these crabs were a threat I was the best choice to deal with them

But what if they weren't?

"Fine..." I lied. "A bit of... agoraphobia, I'd call it."

"Flores is waiting? Should I send Seven instead?" Janeway asked, concern seemed to lace her voice, but concern could be faked.

Why was I doubting her? She more than anyone short of the Doctor had earned my trust. I looked down both ways of the tube. One direction to Flores and the crabs; to my job and the other back to my alcove, to hiding and fear.

I slammed my hand into a pipe and scalded it slightly. My scream was in more rage at my own impotence at this point than anything.

"Vile?" Janeway's voice was still calm. "Go to Sick bay, I'll send Seven."

A million thoughts raced through my head. All the variations of betrayal and horror that could await me on this ship. Then the Seven's calm face took over and Janeway's patient voice and the Doctor's smug smile, even Neelix's stupid grin. I slammed my claws down and pushed forward.

"No, Captain. I can do this. I have to." I could hear my voice strain under fear and stress. She most definitely did.

"You don't have to if you're not ready." Concern again, was I imagining it?

"No, I have to." I reassured her.

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Three Felltohan guards were waiting in shuttle bay 1 with Ensign Flores and her small case of gear. She thought they looked rather odd standing in their special suits that made them look like walking water filled gloves, but their weapons countered that. The Felltohan's didn't use light or energy based weapons. Instead they had biological spear-guns grafted onto their arms and the tips of the spears betrayed a toxic gift. She made a mental note to avoid angering the guards.

She was about to ask the captain what was taking so long when a Jeffery's Tube seemed to fling itself open. The guards barely seemed to react until she stood up. She figured the suits dampened their hearing, this almost confirmed it. However her analysis of the strange aliens would have to wait as Vile slowly made his way out of the tube. The large hybrid was not overly social with the majority of the crew, seemingly going out of his way to only speak with Seven of Nine, the Captain and the Doctor. He also seemed to make a point to avoid bother Tom Paris and her. She could only imagine what "joys" this mission would bring.

The tall hybrid made his way over with a steady, if unsure pace. He seemed to regard the suits the Felltohan's were wearing as a strange offense or perhaps just an oddity. Then again he was eying her with uncertainty, that she knew was connected to him advising to kill here when the strange parasite had been found attached to her face. Finally he stood in front of the guards who seemed nervous when looking him over. Of course he did have a good two feet of height over them and she could see the slight manic look in his eyes that told her he was enjoying the sense of power. Either that or he was about to have another of his infamous breakdowns.

The guards nodded and then bowed to the two. "Welcome guests from Voyager, to the Yuuurna." The guards then advised Flores to don her re-breather, which she did with practiced ease. Then they asked where Vile's gear was. The hybrid merely made a point of flexing his claws. She was sure she saw a flash of nervousness pass between two of the guards. The smile Vile gave indicated he did too.

With a nod the group was then on the shuttle, Flores' gear starting to float up from the air in the sealed case. Vile's long arms and claws then seemed to envelope and enclose the case as he forced it to the bottom. At first Flores figured Vile was along simply cause his odd biology would allow him to hold his breath for an immense period of time as the doctor had confirmed his lung capacity was far beyond most humans and even klingons. In the shimmer of the water though she clearly saw why as his skin seemed to ripple to life. Webbing expanded between his claws, his eyes grew dull as a special membrane rolled over them and his ribs seemed pulse in and out, but nothing was more astonishing than the ridges she noticed along his arms and legs that unfolded into fins. The guards noticed this too and an obvious look of fear dropped over them as Vile effortlessly swam to the rear of the shuttle. The guards seemed to look to her for an explanation, she merely shrugged and swam off with him.

In the rear she found an air pocket with a small section of the ship out of the water. Vile was already up there fidgeting with the rocky surface of the biological ship. He seemed agitated by the strangeness of it and almost angered by it.

"Don't break it, the ship is a special type of coral." She said after pulling her re-breather off.

He whipped his head around, a strange piercing nature permeated the look before he cocked his head and spoke.

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"Bajoran?" I blinked with obvious confusion. "Flores and bajoran..." I had never meta bajoran and only new what little I did from Voyager's database.

"Adoption is a wonderful thing." Flores said with a fake smile. "You can call me Catlina if you want."

"Catlina..." I sniffed the air. This ship smelled wrong, felt wrong and made me want to rip it to pieces. "What were you told of this 'mission'?"

"We're hostages and to play nice, unless something goes wrong." She leaned against the coral wall. "You scared the hell out of those guards." She wiped her brow and pushed her hair back.

"Good." I smiled, "Making things nervous is kind of what I do."

"You think they'll try something?" She asked as she looked down into the pool where the third guard now sat on the crate of her gear, one of his stalked eyes occasionally looking up at us.

"I know it." I kept my smile going. "Their reaction said it all."

"And what reaction was that? All you did was scare them." Flores barked her laugh out.

"The one where I could smell their fear." I said plainly, not taking my eyes off the guard, I then noticed the lights in the rear going dimmer.

"We're on their ship." Flores put her re-breather back on. "Behave."

I arched an eyebrow and grinned before slipping silently into the water. The guard turned to me immediately, his odd clacking making no sense to me, the translator provided to em wouldn't work underwater, but his claw pointed to the exit which was now opening. My legs and arms tensed along with my tail and then the door fully opened and I was out, faster than any guard could react or weapon could be shot, I stopped just as fast when I saw the captain there to greet us. He stood as tall as I did and his claws had two very off empty pouches covering them, pouches similar to the ones the guards had only bigger. He clicked and clacked, but remained motionless until Flores came out and began talking to him. Her re-breather allowing the sound of her speech to reach me.

She explained to the captain that my translator would not work underwater, but that I would behave and comply with her directions. I rolled my eyes at that and the captain seemed to notice as she had to keep reassuring him. Then the guards lead us to out "quarters". It was an impressive section of the ship that wasn't flooded and even the coral nature of it didn't bother me. What did bother me were the obvious changes in water level the ship had marked all over the room.

"Please, feel at home here." The guards said, their own translator working for us in the room.

They left shortly after explaining how their technology worked and how we would order food or drinks. They showed Flores the areas she could use and simply advised me to please not interfere with any place go anyplace on their ship I wouldn't go on my own. I didn't even bother grinning, they knew how fast I was and had an idea as to my strength. They were prey I was an apex predator and they knew it. Worse, they knew I was enjoying toying with them.

"All right, I'm going for a swim in their little hobby swim area." Flores said as she went off.

"Wait." I pushed her back as I went into the water first. My senses flared to life, not that they'd been dormant, but underwater they truly shined. I sensed the heartbeats and impulses of the creatures under these supposed safe waves and each one seemed to recoil at my presence. Nothing seemed to challenge me, not even the other predators I felt swimming at the edge of my senses. Then I felt it, large and muscular and it didn't care that I was in the water. I felt it approach at high speeds and go right past me, as if to challenge me. What I saw told me everything I needed to know about this crew. I then surfaced and climbed out.

"Well?" She seemed to huff in anger.

"Don't." I warned.

"Figures." She dropped her re-breather. "How bad?"

"Three things I'd equate to sharks and one dunkleosteus." I said.

"You mean something like it." She looked at me. "Right?"

I shook my head.

"Bullshit."

"Its a big one." I sighed.

"How the hell does a prehistoric earth fish get in the Delta Quadrant?" Flores shrieked in confusion.

"Well let's run down the list of what's involved. Giant Prehistoric fish, delta quadrant." I said with a yawn.

"Yes." Flores started to calm, but not by much.

"Ok, so lets go by this: how many races have a prime directive law?" I asked, she seemed to think it over. "Now considering that, we can likely assume somewhere along the way some alien race probably decided that ancient fish's great ancestors look pretty awesome and then they got bigger and had to get rid of them."

"Who would consider those things pets?" Flores asked.

"I know a few races." I shrugged.

"For now let's just be glad it's down there and we're up here." Flores sighed as she leaned over to water's edge to look. My tail shot out and pulled her back without a thought.

"Are you an idiot or something? There' are several large predators down there that would likely love to gnaw on your face and you look INTO their territory with out any knowledge on how they hunt." I snapped as she shoved my tail off of her.

"You're fine." she snapped back.

"I'm an apex predator!" I grumbled lowly.

"Well the dunky didn't kill you." She pointed out.

"No, it didn't." I realized. "So it's either not hungry or very well trained."

"Huh?" Flores looked confused.

"The water in there is pretty much identical to the rest of the ship..." I explained.

"Makes sense." She countered. "Why make it different?"

"Same reason you lower the water level." I pointed out. "Same reason you raise it, to adapt for your 'guests'."

"They can drown me." She realized.

"You won't drown." I said flatly.

"You're right, dunky will eat me first." She groaned.

"We aren't going to be the ones dying." I growled and she glanced at me. "They're trying to cage me, and I don't like being caged." I leaped into the hobby pool and quickly swam to attach myself to the nearest coral wall.

I waited for minutes as all the life in the water seemed to relax and go about its business, ignoring em or forgetting about my presence. I clung sharply to the wall, letting my eyes adapt and my other sense feed me the information I needed. It took me all of ten minutes to find what I was looking for. Deep near the bottom of the hobby pool was the pile of corpses the animals had collected and buried underneath it was the a valve with friendly graphics explaining it was the hatch to the rest of the ship.

All I could do was smile. I was about to win before it even started.