The Queen pressed the yellow gel pad and opened the door to her eldest daughter.
She stared at the male Wraith who rescued her daughters as he walked slowly past her, dragging a used corpse behind him. Once he was gone and the door closed behind her, the Queen put her hands on her hips and huffed. The fury that surrounded the Queen seemed to be less intense now than it was before.
"Minlyn. How did you get captured? The drones I had guarding you were butchered." Mina rose to her feet, put her hands over her front and bowed her head accordingly. Gwena's brain download worked after all.
"My Queen. The humans you had captured had help. They grabbed Gwena first and I was captured trying to-"
"Yes yes yes." Mother grumbled and walked up to the sorry looking redhead. "You went after your child." Her voice was softer now, even with the typical Wraith edge to it. "I understand that. If anything however it shows how weak you are and how weak your child is that she was captured so easily." She snapped, mincing over to the dressing table, talking like Mina wasn't even in the room. "Really? 37 and with a young child? Your birth mother was truly stupid." She hissed, and pulled out some accessories from the draws and put them on the top of the dresser. "It's a good job I found you when I did! You at least stand a chance of surviving under my tutelage now." Mother walked over to a wardrobe and started browsing through the dresses. "Hmm...yes it's a good job that conniving scientist brought you back to me or I'd be skinning him alive right now."
"...did you send him to save us?" Mother turned dramatically, hands in the wardrobe still and a brow raised. "My Queen." Mina added and bowed her head again.
"Of course I sent him to save you. After those humans hacked into his work and almost cost me everything, it was the least he could do. It's the only reason I've let him keep his sorry little life. Oh, and he had to swear allegiance to me and my Hive. He may be a man, but he has a brilliant mind. You will learn that fear is power and power grows with the more people you hold under it. Particularly those with specific skill sets."
Mother pulled out a long white dress and hung it on the outside of the wardrobe. "You will bathe. You are filthy. I will instruct your sisters to do the same. You will then rest until tomorrow, where I will give you a tour of the Hive and instruct you of my personal rules."
"Yes my Queen. You are very generous to continue to care for us after we embarrassed you so." Mina curtseyed and waited to be snapped at again. When she wasn't she looked up, to find Mother stood a hair's breath away from her. Her deadly hands held Mina's shoulders and her amber eyes were hard, and burning with emotion.
"When I said you were mine now, I meant it. Your short life has been very cruel to you. Follow my rules and never cross me, and I will be very kind to you my dear."
"Thank you...m..."
"You may call me Mother when we are alone child." She actually smiled then. For a moment, then she was pouting again. "Now I will go and decide how to best inform the rest of my faction that you have been returned to me. Perhaps I shall say you fought your way out and fed on many of the rebels before returning home? I'll need to make sure that scientist keeps his mouth shut..." Mother spoke to herself as she sauntered out of the room.
It wasn't until the next morning that the three girls were together again.
Mother came to them one by one and played dress up with them. Gwena wore a green medieval dress with a wide neck, long sleeves and a golden cord around her waist. Her long white hair was down and she wore a golden headpiece made of two snakes. They coiled and twisted together across her forehead and held a green gem above her eyebrows.
Izzeyna wore a blue dress that wrapped over her shoulders and had a split cape falling in two strips. It fitted to her lithe form and dipped from her waist to her hips. After that it fell in layers of deep blue all the way to the floor. Her long raven hair was twisted back into two long French plats like ridges on her head, much like Gwena's was the other day. She wore long blue gloves that looped around her middle finger and had no palms to it.
Obviously.
Minlyn wore a long black dress with a collar, a halter neck top half to show off her lovely cleavage and a corset around her middle. The skirt was long and set on top of a hoop skirt, whereas the decoration was red lace. The centre of the corset and the sleeves from the elbow down was red lace with little roses embroided in the fabric. Her long red hair hung down her back and her bangs were taken back in braids and tied to the back of her head.
Mother dearest wore a similar dress, probably on purpose, except her sleeves were long like a medieval dress. The neckline was very low, showing off the Queen's bust. The right edge of the neck line was red, traced around her shoulder and fell down her back as a very thin long cape.
Appearance seemed to be very important to their new mother, as she made a point of choosing each outfit for them.
"I have found your style." She spoke softly as she stroked the back of Gwena's hair. "You suit the traditional Wraith dress, as the very young usually do." Mother lead the three women around the Hive, pointing out all the key features they'd have to know for when they owned their own Hive one day. She had started with the feeding rooms. Then the bridge and the armour, the torture chamber again...then holding cells, and now they were just entering one of the banquet rooms. "I am also pleased with your style. Much like mine. Good in black." She smirked at her achievement, only to sneer at Izzy. "you I am still working on." Izzy held her hands together in front of her and simply bowed her head, knowing better than to speak without permission. "I shall try something white on you tomorrow." Again Izzy nodded. "Anyway, this is the main Banquet chamber." She waved her hands around her, walking along the main table. "Here we entertain guests within our faction. I would say friendly Queens, but no Queen is friendly. They are all enemies in the end. Even the ones we have an alliance with." She cackled melodically and put her hands on her hips. "That is nearly all of the Hive you need to see. Except for the old ball rooms. But they haven't been used in...oh...thousands of years. Back in the days where each harvest was bountiful and our hunger was always quenched." She smiled fondly for a moment, then licked her teeth and shrugged. She continued to lead the women through the banquet room and out the door at the far side. "these outfits will serve you well enough for tomorrow. Except for Izzeyna...of course...I will also have you feed tonight and rest well." She turned with a flourish of her long black dress and jutted her hip to one side, her hands holding her waist. "Tomorrow we join with three other hives on one of our grander bases." The crimson haired Queen was smirking, pleased with this piece of news. "We are going to attend a gathering. Larger than we have had in a while, but by no means the whole faction." She lifted one of her deadly hands, holding it out for Minlyn to take.
Mina steeled her reserve and slinked over to mother, smiling like she was pleased to be embraced by her. The older red head wrapped her arm around Mina's, and continued walking the group of women through the halls of the Hive. "I will be introducing you to..." she shrugged. "some important Queens in our faction. You will have to behave impeccably of course. If you embarrass me I'll throw your corpses into space." She chuckled darkly, patting Mina's wrist, faining tenderness. "Now, we need to talk about who will be attending the party, who you will not speak to under any circumstances, and whom you may speak to. With my permission and my presence."
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
"Talk about entering the snake pit."
Izzy whispered mentally to Gwena and Mina. They wore the same dresses their mother dearest had them try out yesterday. Gwena in the green and gold medieval looking dress, and Mina in the black dress with red rosy lace. Mother got something right today.
She'd dressed Izzy in a pair knee high white wedge boots, white stretchy leather trousers, and a white leather dress that had long sleeves, a low V neck and a belt around her waist fitting the dress to her body. The front clung to the curve of her hips and finished shortly after wards, where as the back of the leather dress hung down to her ankles.
Yes she was hearing white, but the raven haired Queen looked badass. Her hair was down and waved down her back, her bangs framing her face. Her white outfit made her dark hair, crimson eyes and black face markings tracing her cheeks and eyes stand out even more. She stood, tall and stoic with a scowl on her face behind Gwena. To her great delight Mother had told her that her one job tonight was to guard the young one. That suited her fine.
"There are so many Wraith here." Gwena fussed with her hands over her front, glad that Izzy had her hands on her shoulders. It made her feel just a little bit safer in this place.
"At least you are together. Mother is attached to me. And I keep having to nod and smile at Queens who are clearly thinking about the best way to off me." Mina's voice joined their mental conversation.
Across the hall full of glamorous looking Queens, their daughters and their male servants, Mother held Mina's arm and whispered into her ear.
Their mother was looking ever so extravagant. She wore a black dress with no sleeves and an enlarged V collar. It jutted out to either side of her neck and was lined with black feathers. The space between the V over her breasts was covered with red fabric, as was the front panel of the dress. The dress was fitted to her agile shape and as it dipped out from her waste her hips were made to seem curvier by the explosion of feathers at either side of her hips and her backside. The back of the dress trailed behind her slightly, and she wore long black gloves with the palms cut out.
From the look of the other extravagant dresses the other Queens were swanning around in, this party was more about appearances than anything else.
"Oh sweet lord here comes the scumbag." Izzy grimaced as Todd came to stand next to her. he didn't talk to her, he didn't look at her, he just watched the dance floor stoically.
"Play nice Izzy. He isn't allowed to talk to you unless he-"
Izzy closed her eyes as she felt a gentle caress. At least, that's what she thought it was. But she couldn't name whereabouts the sensation was coming from.
Gwena turned to look up at Izzy with a brow raised. Their mental connection had been terminated...
The snowy haired Queen snapped her red eyes onto the smirking face of Todd...he was a lucky Wraith. If they weren't surrounded by the Queens of their faction...he'd be one dead Wraith.
"Perhaps you should allow me to train you mentally Izzy. It was too easy to push your friends from your mind and make a connection to you."
"How the fuck did-"
"Remain calm." Todd cleared his throat.
Izzy was scowling and had made moves to turn to look at him directly. "You do not wish to cause a scene here, after all."
"Fine." Izzy licked her lips and relaxed her hands on Gwena's shoulders. "So what do you want?"
"Can't I simply seek a private audience with my Queen for the pleasure of the thing?"
Izzy felt her skin crawl, and she wanted so badly to just turn and punch him in his face. Even his mental voice sounded smug.
"If you really don't want me to cause a scene, you'll get to the fucking point."
"Very well. How aware are you of how Wraith Society works?"
"Erm...not a lot. I'm doing ok so far though I think."
She felt Todd dare to glance at her and he rolled his eyes.
"Your mission is to be invited by your new Mother to attend the summit of Queens when it is decided. That way you can discover what they have found in the Ancient research base. No one can get close to it. This Faction is one of the largest ones, and they have an arsenal surrounding it. No new transfers of men are allowed, or the changeover of Queens watching over the facility."
"That's why you needed us, right?"
"Indeed." Even his mental voice sounded like he was smirking. "So let's keep you alive. You Mother is what we would you could call a middle ranking Queen. She's not a powerful Queen, but she has a few Hives that are loyal to her. she also has alliances of her own within the faction."
"Oh gee. I couldn't have guessed that at all." Izzy flicked some of her raven hair back over her shoulder and scanned her red orbs around the room. "She's prancing around with Mina on her arm, touching base with her allies, right?"
"Ah, some yes. most however are her enemies."
Izzy raised a brow and started to feel concerned for Mina's safety. "I believe humans have a phrase that explains the need to be more concerned with your enemies than your friends."
"Yeah. keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
The party wasn't exactly thriving. Not by Izzy's standards. There was music playing in the background, but no singing. No one was dancing, and everyone seemed to supply their own wine from their servants. Queens were systematically talking to each other, like this was their real dance, and the air was heavy with danger. It made Izzy miss being in the field with her p90. At least then you'd know who you were meant to shoot at.
"You appear to have gotten the hang of not speaking without permission. that must be difficult for you."
"Listen, get to the point. Every second of you inside my head makes me want to blow chunks."
"On the contrary Izzeyna. Being inside of you is quite pleasant."
That sensation came back again, cranked up to 10. Her skin started to tingle, and it felt like hands were ghosting themselves over her body. she blushed, and took her hands off Gwena. "Ah ah ah Izzeyna. Don't make a scene."
Every fibre in her body wanted her to turn round and wrap her hands around his neck. how she managed to stand there with just a scowl on her face, she didn't know.
"You are going to pay for that you mother fucker."
"I look forward to it. alas, I believe you mentioned something about getting to the point?"
"Just get on with it."
Mother seemed to sense something was up, so to speak, as she was looking over at the scowl of Izzy's face with a brow raised.
"The best way of making sure you three get invited to the summit is to make as many friends as possible. Your mother can only bring one of you, after all."
"What?!" Izzy turned to look at him with shock on her face. Just a second, then she returned to looking forward with a tense jaw. It was becoming more and more difficult to appear aloof. "When were you going to let us in on that little fact, Todd?"
"Hmmm...I thought now was the appropriate time."
"You bastard." Izzy took a deep breath and calmed herself. "No matter. Mother will probably take Mina, and I'll hang back with Gwena."
"Only if you wish to remain amongst the Wraith forever." Izzy tensed, seeing where this was going. "After the summit we will need to get the information about what the lantean base contains back to your people, and mine. We will then need to meet and make a plan. I doubt your people will offer any more help if you are still in the middle of Wraith Space on a Hive." Izzy's hands clenched into fists by her sides and she looked seconds from telling the mission to go to hell and launch at Todd. That bastard was playing with their lives, and knew this from the word go. The stakes in this game just got a hell of a lot higher. "Once the summit is over I'll be 'escorting' however many of you that managed to get invited to the summit, back to Atlantis. I anticipate that this will not be easy, and will no doubt involve us fighting to get out. I can't anticipate whether we'll get away from the faction first, or if we'll need to leave from the summit itself. It will be easier to escape with all three of you at the summit, where your mother and all the others are distracted, than on her Hive, where she is focused on you."
"So let me get this straight? Two of us are going to have to be 'invited' by two other Wraith Queens if we want to be on that exit flight home?"
"Yes." a hushed chuckle taunted her through the air. "That's exactly right. Minlyn might be the most similar to our Queen by her appearance, but you are more like her than you know. You proved that in the torture room."
"Todd." Izzy turned and glared right at him, open to the room that she was clearly pissed at him for something. Todd bowed his head and appeared to be submissive to her. "I swear to God if you want to live you're going the back the hell away form-"
"Think about it. Your veracious nature, dominating presence, and your lust for bloodshed. You have the instincts of a leader, a predator and a fighter. You are a better Queen than the other two put together. You should be the one trying to get close to-"
Crunch.
Izzy swung her fist into his face and sent him straight to the ground.
"How dare you!" Izzy hissed with rage, moving over to finish him off, when none other than Mother stormed into her way.
"You will calm yourself this instant." Izzy was snarling, her gaze fixed on Todd on the floor, but she didn't go towards him.
Behind her she registered the fact that Mina had retrieved Gwena and was edging her over to stand behind Mother. It was then she realised that the whole room was looking at her.
Shit.
Izzy kicked in her 'good soldier' control of her anger and stood to attention. she kept her hands behind her back, and bowed her head. "You have embarrassed me. Get out of my sight. Now." Mother turned to look at Mina and Gwena and hissed at them. "Take her back to the cruiser bay. Board our ship, and wait for me there."
"Yes Mother." Mina bowed her head and steered Gwena to stand behind her. she then led the way out of the hall, Izzy bringing up the rear. The last thing they saw in the hall as they turned a corner was mother squaring up to Todd.
Ah, at least he was going to get punished too.
Once they were alone in the cruiser, Izzy explained what had happened, and oddly, received a verbal battering from Mina.
"Are you crazy?!"
"What? He suggested that-"
"Does it matter which one of us becomes 'mother's favourite'?" Mina put her hands on her hips and shook her head at Izzy. "So two of us are going to have to get friendly with other Queens to get an invite. It's shit, but it is what it is. Do I think Todd should have told us this before we came back? hell yes. but at least he told us."
Mina paced, Izzy stood with her arms folded defensively over her front, and Gwena leaned back against the bridge wall. "It's shit, but we might not even survive until then if you keep behaving like this."
"What? But he-"
"No." Mina stalked right up to Izzy and pointed at her face. "We are on a Wraith Ship. We are surrounded by Wraith, and we are only alive because Mother decided to take us in. They are not human, and they don't play by human rules. You give them even the slightest reason to off us, and they will. Mother included."
"Mina you have got to be kidding. You're saying I should have-"
"Kept your temper in check? hell yes!"
Unbeknownst to the three women on the bridge, their Mother chose that moment to board the cruiser. As soon as she did, she could hear their arguing. Slowly, and making sure to remain hidden, she stalked towards the bridge door. "I can't believe you embarrassed Mother like that?"
"You don't understand what he said. How he said it. oh hell, what he did to me." Izzy hissed back. "He did something to me. Like, like hands on me and I wanted to be sick. That bastard sexually harassed me and then on top of everything else, you except me to not smack that bastard silly?!"
"Yes." Mina was still shouting. "I expect you to keep that shit to yourself, or you'll get us all killed. I expect you to be a good little Wraith and wait until you get him on your own. In private, where you can't cause a scene and get us all shot, then yeah. that's when you can have his balls. Hell, I'll hold him down and Gwena will bring all the nice sharp and pointy things. Go for it. but not-in-front-of-Mother!"
"He said I was bloodthirsty and a cold bitch. He said I should try and steal mother from you because I'd be a better Queen. He-"
Mother started chuckling and pressed the door release. She then continued laughing as she saw the mortified look on all of their faces.
"Is that why you saw fit to embarrass me?" Mother glided onto the bridge with her hands on her hips. "Because a man saw fit to flirt with you?"
"Flirt?" Izzy squeaked, and then slapped a hand over her mouth. Shit, she'd spoken out of turn again.
"Yes." Mother was oddly in a good mood and took her position in front of the control station. Todd then limped onto the bridge, holding his side in pain, and his eyes cast down to the floor. He dragged himself over to the bridge controls and waited. "I beat out of him the fact that he'd made a move on you without my permission. Men. They are so insolent when they think with their loins."
Izzy was flustered, her feathers well and truly ruffled. Had Todd said that...to the whole hall of Queens?
Mother minced over to her, and she bowed her head submissively. A hand made her flinch as her chin was lifted, and she was made to look into the amber eyes of Mother. "Your sister is correct. You should not have caused a scene like that. you should have waited until we could punish him on his own. I have punished him for you. he will however be...functioning again after a feeding."
The pained look, the humiliation written across Todd's face...
No...she didn't...did she?
Todd lifted his eyes for a moment, and then looked down again.
Holy crap! Mother beat him in the balls!
Izzy immediately started sniggering, then bit her lips to stop herself. "When a man says you are deadly, cold and blood thirsty, he is admiring your power and strength. He clearly thought that because I had offered him to you before you were captured, that he could try and touch your mind. You were right to reject him...but not in public." Mother released her face and chuckled. "You have embarrassed me...but you have also shown the room that men would dare to risk their lives to offer themselves to you." she giggled behind her hand and walked around the bridge. "My daughter, so very appealing to the men we rule. Quite a few of the men were looking at you and Minlyn tonight." Mother stroked Mina's cheek as she passed her, smirking with pride. "You should have heard the things this one said about you, even after I crushed his pelvis with my foot."
Mother fluffed her long red hair and smirked at Todd. "Take us back to my Hive. Now."
"Yes my Queen."
Mother took point on the bridge and her 'daughters' stood in a line behind her. she spoke about how the other Queens had been envious of their youth and beauty, and the fact that three queens were loyal to her. Queens were not normally so lucky as to have more than one daughter survive under them, and she had three!
The chit chat continued as they returned to the Hive.
Mother ordered the girls to go back to their rooms, and allowed Todd to go feed so he could get back to work. as she left, Todd hovered to speak with the girls.
"Sorry about your junk there Todd." Izzy sniggered, and opened her mouth to make another comment, when he hissed at them all.
"I managed to turn your outburst into a positive for our Queen. Had I not proclaimed my hysterical admiration for you, and our Queen, I would have been killed."
"Oh?" Izzy squared up to the angry crippled Wraith. "Well I knew you liked me Todd but-"
"Let me make this clear." he winced, but he managed to force himself to stand upright. His pain threshold must have been incredibly high. "I said what I had to in order to survive, and keep your cover intact. However, if you ever put my life in danger like that again, I will not hesitate in revealing your identities to the Queen. Remember, I know everything about you, and I'm also the only way you get to feed without harming a precious human hair."
No one spoke against him then. Not even Izzy. He was deadly serious, and didn't look like his normal whimsical self. "If you get me killed before I manage to reveal you, you will have no choice but to feed on humans. Are you willing to do this?"
They shook their heads, coming to realise just how much they needed Todd to survive. "Then I suggest you don't do anything so stupid in public again, as you need me. What I said to you...was because I thought you would be a better Queen. I was trying to help you secure your survival." He smiled in the most malicious way possible. "I won't be doing that again. If you get into trouble like that again, I will not come to your rescue. I will offer my assistance to you if it affects the mission, but other than that, you are now on your own." He took a painful step past them, and turned mid step to face them, so he was walking away from them backwards. "On a Hive. Surrounded by Wraith that will kill you if they know the truth. One wrong move, and they will. Sleep well."
And he disappeared around the corner.
"Son of a bitch." Izzy hissed.
"That is going to come back and haunt us." Mina sighed and put her hand on Izzy's shoulder. "Come on. let's go to our rooms and...well. be safe I guess."