CHAPTER 13: Caged Birds
xxxxx
To serve.
Most of his life that was all James Taddem had ever wanted to do, was simply to serve, to serve something that was more than what he was, to be a part of something that was far greater than himself. At the age of eighteen he had enlisted in the United Systems Colonial Marine Corps, he was excited to have the chance to be part of an organization like the Corps, to serve with honor and distinction to help those in need and to simply be a part of something that was much larger than what he himself was.
Basic training had been brutal, the DIs that ran them even more so, the officers even worse than the Drill Instructors, all of it, however, was with purpose, to break them down and remold the raw recruits into a cohesive unit. To give them the knowledge and training to survive what the universe had to offer and even return it in spades.
He didn't have grand visions of becoming a war hero or leading a charge against hostile aliens or single-handed saving a colony from raiders, pirates or slavers. He didn't even care about rank, for him to serve something far greater was all he could ever ask for and want. And for a while, he felt that he was so close to being able to live his dream of being able to serve others and maybe even made a difference for the better for someone.
The only problem was that the universe had other plans for him, he had been from his count about three-quarters the way through basic training when it hit him and hard. He could still remember that day with such clarity and bitterness, the day his own body, in its prime, betrayed him. He had been running laps with his squad when he suddenly found that he wasn't able to breathe, he remembered collapsing, and gasping for air and nothing would come and the burning pain in his chest and lungs and then everything went black.
He had been lucky, CPR from the leading DI had saved him, it wasn't until later on that day when he found out that he was asthmatic and severely too, from what the medical scans indicated. It was his first attack ever, he didn't know how it happened or what caused it or why it suddenly decided to ruin his dreams right there. It was of course treatable, controllable, but for him, not curable. It was also the reason that he was released with a medical discharge. Just a couple of more weeks and he would have graduated and then would have been assigned. Now he was out of the corps and that was it.
James had spent a better part of the year going to doctors seeing what could be done, the attacks were more frequent, but he was able to get them under control. Even though the USCMC was out, he tried other avenues of service, either he was denied because of his condition or it was something that offered no real interest for him. It was then that he decided to try what he might have considered his last avenue, to sign up and see about joining a mercenary unit. He could serve, get paid and see the galaxy, maybe not as noble and honorable as the Marine Corps, but it at least for him, could fill his need to serve a greater cause.
While he had made it in with the mercenary corps, it wasn't hard, he had most of the basic training from boot camp, which helped him pass the tests they threw at him. The only stipulation for him was that he needed to keep his asthma under control, if he could do that he would be picked by a group or assigned to one. And if he could not keep it under control and became a liability to the unit he was assigned to he would be dropped and that was it. He had made it a point to keep his medication on him at all times and keep a large surplus in stock.
As luck would have it one of the more professional groups were taking rookies to bolster their ranks, and he as well as several dozen others were picked. He found that he would be serving on an old repurposed heavy cruiser, the Vesuvius, from what he had heard it was a very professional unit that was more akin to the Corps in how they operated and presented themselves. He was excited, even happy, finally, his dream was about to be filled and realized. A chance to serve with honor and distinction, to finally be a part of something greater than what he was.
And now he was sitting in a cell on the very ship he and the company he was assigned too, to capture and retake. The only thing was, is that shit went sideways in a big, huge, colossal, and totally bad way. Life seemed to be a huge god awful joke and he was feeling like he was becoming the punch line of it all.
He nibbled on one of the meal proton bars that had been left for him and sipped down some water. He was hungry, but he simply did not feel like eating. His mind kept drifting back to the firefight in the hallway with that huge Xenomorph, and then to that horrific nightmare, and finally, that guy that had come with the food, only the same Xenomorph that had wiped out his squad was tagging along behind him like it was his obedient pet or something. It had even rested its head right on his shoulder and the guy didn't even flinch or show any fear if anything he seemed to be affectionate toward it.
What in god's name had happened on this ship before they had arrived? Pondering on it for a moment, he decided he really did not want to know.
It didn't matter anymore as far as he was concerned, all he wanted to do was leave this place and just go home. To see his parents, his family, his friends, to just forget this whole thing had ever happened. His whole dream of serving something greater than himself had not only been short-lived, it had been ripped to small bloody chunks and thrown right in his face by a giant, nightmarish horror.
Setting the meal bar and water cup aside he laid back down on the bunk, all he could do was simply wait, and hope that guy was telling the truth and that he and the other fellow mercenary would be released, whenever that was.
He still wanted to know why he was still alive when that thing had him in its grasp and was about to punch a hole right through his skull. None of it made any sense, he wasn't complaining about being alive but he did want answers, and maybe making threats was not the best way to get those answers, he sure as hell didn't want to anger that big Xeno and give it a reason to come at him. Maybe when that guy came back down he could get some answers now that he had a chance to calm down.
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice in the next cell over, a voice he recognized, and then wish like hell that he didn't.
"Ummm..hello...helllo...HELLOOOOO!
James shook his head, of all the other mercs to get caught, why in the universe did it have to be her, how did she survive, why did she survive?
"HELLOOOO, anybody there, I want to speak to the captain, like now, I demand to be released, why am I here. Is anyone there, HELLLOOO?!"
"Oh, crap," James whispered to himself, rubbing his temples, this was going to be torture, if there was a hell he was about to be thrown in feet first right into it, being alone would be better than this, hell being locked up with that big ass Xeno would probably be better than this, at least then death would have been quick and painless.
"Do you know who I am, HELLOOOO!"
"No, no one is there right now, and for god's sake keep your voice down!" James blurted out, instantly regretting even opening his mouth. The last thing he wanted to do was get that Xenos attention and give it a reason to come down here again. Course the way she was going on, it probably wouldn't matter. "The only person that has shown up is some guy that gave us some food and then left."
"Who are you, where are you, do I know you, should I know you?" The female voice rang out, clearly annoyed.
"Oh for shit sakes Amy, I was one of the rookies that were assigned on this mission, James Taddem, we were sitting next to each other during the briefing and on the dropship."
"Oh." Amy replied somewhat deflated, "guess you aren't that important, I don't really remember you, oh well..." Amy's voice suddenly cut out and a piercing scream filled the air, "...what is this, what am I covered in...GROSS!"
Laying there; trying not to laugh, James found there was a certain satisfaction to hearing her loose it like that. She had been annoying from day one, so much so that Commander Ortiz was losing patience with her from the very start. If she was covered with the same resin that he had been, she would be spending the better part of an hour trying to peel it off her clothing and out of her hair.
James listed to her tirade for about thirty minutes about how unfair this was and that she didn't deserve to be locked up like this and just how gross and nasty 'this stuff' was and that someone was going to pay for it all. She was going to demand a new uniform as well as an audience with the captain and that he would pay and apologize for this disgrace and humiliation to her person. And that she would be moved proper quarters with a large and soft bed and that she demanded to be treated with the respect she deserved and was entitled to.
James never said a word the whole time he just closed his eyes and let her go on and on and on. What a joke she was and a bad one too.
Finally, he heard the sound of water coming from the shower and Amy just went silent. Rolling over he closed his eyes, maybe he could get some sleep, the way she talked and talked without ever shutting up, and always about her dreams and how she was going to be a grand admiral with a massive fleet and the whole universe would bow before her feet, with her going on like that he would be lucky to get any sort of sleep at all.
He never noticed a slick black shape moving around the ceiling in the hallway, the Xeno's gaze observing both of them as its head went back and forth looking between both cells.
About only fifteen maybe twenty minutes had passed before the sound of the water stopped, James was almost asleep when Amy started up again.
"I cannot wear this filthy uniform, I need a new one, where is that person that was here earlier you told me about, I demand that he come down here and give me a new uniform. This is totally unacceptable." She started up again.
"AMY!" James yelled, "First off, if you haven't really fucking noticed, we are locked up in the brig, this is a jail not your own personal hotel room service, no one is going to come running to your beck and call. Second, there isn't anyone else besides that ONE guy that came down with the food that he brought us, the two of us who are locked up and the XENOMORPHS that are on this ship. That's it, no one else, so you can yell, scream and demand as much as you want, but I doubt that anyone that you want to talk to is going to come down here."
"WELL...You're just rude!" Amy huffed. "HELLO, GUY, GUY, I DEMAND YOU COME AND BRING ME A NEW UNIFORM, OR CLOTHS, HELLOOO!"
"Just fucking kill me, please," James whispered to himself trying to block out the noise from his neighbor. At this point, the Xenos would have been far more welcome than Amy's rambling. Rambling which continued on for several more minutes.
Thin strands of saliva fell and pooled on the floor below the black form that had elected to stay and observe the two prisoners, and now she was regretting it. Alese didn't have any love for the mercs when they boarded the Saratoga, but this one she really did not like from the start. This female so called warrior had bolted and ran when Alese had surprised the small group, not even helping them out. But it was more than that, this human was so full of herself, so selfish and self-conceded, it was taking every bit of self-control for Alses not to come down there and rip the doors off, go in there and punch a hole right through the females head. If anything she would at least be saving the other merc a cruel and unusual punishment at this point.
At the very least she might just secrete her to the wall and resin her mouth shut. That idea was all too tempting.
"This food will just not do, I demand something fresh, meal bars, MREs, no, no, no, totally and completely unacceptable." She cried out in a pouty huff. "HELLO...HELLOOOO!"
Silently dropping down to the floor, Alese slowly rose up, looking over to where the male human mercenary was at, who was still rolled over and curled up and looked like he was trying to sleep. Poor thing, he'll be half mad by the time he's released, she thought to herself. Time to shut this Amy human female up for a bit. While she didn't really want to kill her, well maybe just a little bit, but for now, she would simply be satisfied with just scaring her at this point.
James was trying to sleep, all he wanted to do was just lay there in silence why, why of all the mercs that come on board why did Amy Trevor have to be the other one that was captured. He tried to block out her incessant rambling, maybe that guy, whoever he was, could gag her for the remainder of the stay. Or sedate her, that would work too, Amy could sleep for a few weeks maybe a month or two, and that would be just fine by him.
The room suddenly filled up with a sharp piercing inhuman screech, followed up with a loud hiss. Bolting upright in an instant, James blood froze, he recognized the screech and hiss as being from one of the Xenos, a Xeno that was enraged from the way it sounded, but it wasn't in his cell, for a second he thought it might have been that large Xeno from earlier. An ear piercing scream erupted from Amy, followed by racked sobs, and then silence.
He sat there frozen, James didn't know if it had killed her or not, and for just a second he was wondering if he had just heard her die to what would have amounted to a quick but grisly death. He didn't hear anything for several moments, then the sound of approaching heavy footfalls. Looking over toward the cell door, one of the Xenos came into view, thankfully it wasn't the big one but one of the smaller aliens, smaller but no less deadly.
It stopped for a few seconds turned its massive elongated head and looked right at him, drool streaming down from its mouth and the lips fully peeled back, it almost seemed to be smiling...in a really horrible I want to eat someone's face kind of a way, it then turned back and walked out of the brig area, the serrated, bladed tail whipping about hitting both the floor and walls making loud clanking sounds as it walked away.
James didn't say a word or even move a muscle for what seemed like hours, it was only when a bellowing cry erupted from the cell next to his that he realized Amy was still alive. Whether she was still unhurt was another matter altogether. "Amy...are you alright, did it hurt you?" He asked, as annoying as she was, he still felt some concern for her.
"WHYYYYYY!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, "I HATE THIS PLACE, I WANT TO LEAVE, NOW!"
Yep, she's ok. James thought to himself laying back down and trying to get some sleep though he doubted that he would.
"AND I JUST PISSED MYSELF...GROSS!"
James just started to cackle uncontrollably, all the horror, tension and stress that had just happened in such a short period of time had taken a toll and he was needing a release somehow and there it was, right there in the next cell over. His body shook uncontrollably as he just laid there, his laughing fits filled the rooms. So much so that after a while his stomach started to hurt but as much as he tried he could not stop.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY YOU ASSHOLE!" Amy screamed at the top of her lungs, peeling off her now very moist clothing off and slinging it down on the floor in a fit of undignified anger.
xxxxx
Alese came storming into the sleeping area, Shawn was sitting cross-legged off to the side with Shadow who was curled up around him, the Xenos tail laying right across Shawn's lap. Several data pads and what looked to be laptops were in front of him all on and operating, though what was on them none of the Xenos could tell. Ghost had stepped out to patrol and search the ship for a while just to make sure that all the mercs were gone. The last thing they needed was to have an uncounted guest start making trouble for them.
'By the queen mother,' Alese sneered, her lips partly peeled back thick drool falling from her lips and teeth, her tail twitching back and forth, 'that human is annoying beyond all reason.'
Both Shawn and Shadow looked up at her, surprised and just a tad bit afraid of just how angry she was, Alese was never angry, well almost never, the only exception was with the merc that had shot Shawn, but other than that she had always had a calm and soothing demeanor and now she was half way to frothing at the mouth.
"The guy down there?" Shawn asked, "He didn't' seem that bad, scared shitless, sure, and talking and acting out of fear but he didn't seem like he was that bad of a person really."
'He's not the problem, he's keeping fairly quiet and not doing anything. It's...it's...it's that HUMAN FEMALE,' Alese snarled that last two words, almost rabidly so, 'she doesn't shut up, all she does is talk and talk and talk, and it's all about herself, what she's going to do and the way she going to do it and how she's going to conquer the whole universe and how it will bow before her. Not to mention that she is demanding new clothes, fresh food and she wants you to bring it all to her right now.'
"Oh." Shawn meeped out, watching Alese pace back and forth, her clawed fingers flexing back and forth as if she was just waiting to tear into something or more precisely, someone. "Well, I hope that she's used to disappointment because that's all she's getting right now."
'Just the sound of her voice grates on my nerves, and when she talks like that I just want to pull out that pink, flapping, little worm in her mouth, show it to her and then shove it down her throat just so she'll choke on it. It took every bit of my willpower NOT to just tear the door off her cell and kill her. Though I did shut her up for a bit, at least I hope that I did.'
"Uhhh, Alese sweetie, you're really starting to worry me, I've never seen you this agitated before," Shawn said, looking up at her, he was wondering just what the hell had that female merc exactly said to get Alese wound up this tight. "So what did you do?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
'Hissed and screamed at her as loud as I could and shot out my tongue to make a point, I think I may have scared the other merc too, but she at least shut up, and she may have urinated herself too...I hope she did.' Alese said stopped dead in her tracks, her head slowly tilted up. Shawn could see her chest moving as she took in deep breaths trying to calm herself down. Her lips finally closed and the drool came to a trickle instead of a full blown stream. 'I'm sorry, but something about this human female was bothering me from the start and now that I have had a chance to observe and hear her, I know that she is a danger to us, more to herself than to us I believe, but we need to get rid of her as soon as we can.'
"Well, when we get close to a Freeport station we can use the Ember Rose to take them over and drop them off, I'll need to get the remaining repairs to my ship done at a dry dock anyway. The maintenance androids have done a fantastic job so far, but I'll need to have the FTL and the primary and secondary engines completely replaced. Plus the hull breach work they did, while good, is a temporary fix at best and that will need to be worked on.
'How long will that take?' Shadow asked.
"Don't really know, depending on if the parts are available and how good the crew is in installing and doing repair work. Could be as little as a couple of weeks could be a month or more." Shawn answered, his fingers tapping on a few of the buttons on one of the laptops in front of him. "Either way it'll be a chunk of time that we'll have to sit and wait."
'Perhaps then it would be best to leave them where they are at until the repairs to your ship are done, if we free them they may contact other mercenaries and we do not need others to show up while we wait for the repairs to your ship to be done,' Shadow said, crisscrossing his hands and resting his head down on them, after today's events he was feeling rather tired and wanted nothing more than to curl up with all of his hive mates and go to sleep for a while.
"Good point."
Cocking her head, Alese looked at the data tables and laptops that were on the floor, 'what are you two working on? She asked, squatting down in front of Shawn.
"All this?" Shawn replied, "After we dropped the food off in the brig area, Shadow and I made a quick run up to the CIC area to grab whatever equipment the mercs had left up there after you all ran them out. I remember one of them saying that they had the access codes with them. Figured I'd see what I could dig up."
'Did you find anything of use from what you brought back?' Alese asked, looking down at the tablets and laptops.
Shawn looked right up at her, a wide smile crossed his face, "Just the command access codes for this ship, that all."
'That was quick.' Shadow said surprised by how quickly Shawn had been able to gain that info, lifting his head he looked right at Shawn.
'Indeed.' Alese agreed with equal surprise.
"There wasn't much to it really, they already had the codes up and were about to use them from the way it looks. So looks like we can now unlock the higher level functions of this ship, which are the weapon and defense systems, all the armory and munitions bays, science labs, and the ships primary and secondary data cores. I should be able to also change the ships access codes too so that the next time we won't get shut down."
'So we should be safe then, from others doing what the mercs do to us?' Alese asked.
"Well safer, unless someone who knows the security system itself inside and out that can access the ship through a back door and can shut this vessel down, but barring that from happening, we should be fairly safe. That and if we get another merc ship that decides to mess with us they'll get eight partial cannons pointed right at them with whatever else this ship has to offer." Answered Shawn, "provided I can figure out the weapon systems and how to operate it, plus I still have to get back up to CIC at some point soon and start trying to locate that homing beacon and see about shutting it down."
'Do you believe that you can do that?' Shadow asked.
"Honestly I don't know. A lot of the higher level systems on this ship are going to have a steep learning curve I would bet, and I don't even know where to start looking. I guess I'll need to see if I can bring up a data schematic of the ship itself and start there. But we have just under two days before we come out of FTL, once that happens we will be pressed for time."
'Where exactly are we going?' Alese asked.
"The official designation is asteroid fiel three nine one, but it's more commonly known by its nickname, the hidey hole. It's a massive asteroid field that a lot of pirates, smugglers and other criminal elements go to when trying to escape whoever is chasing them. The thing about this field that so different than most asteroid fields is that the rocks give off an electromagnetic radiation that interferes with the ships sensors, scanners, and communications. You're damn near blind and have to rely on visual navigation, and the deeper you go into that field the worse it gets. Great for small vessels, like the Ember Rose and ships that are smaller than that, but bigger ships they start having a hard time navigating the field."
'And you plan on using this asteroid field, how exactly?" Questioned Alese, becoming not only curious but a bit concerned, while she didn't understand the ship's systems beyond what she had picked up, she did understand that the sensors on a ship were very important to its navigation, even though she didn't understand how it worked.
"I know a few spots that we can squeeze into and hide, I'm hoping that the EM radiation will scramble the homing beacon's signal so that even if the merc ships show up they won't be able to pinpoint our position. However they may have a general idea of the area that we are in and if they manage to spot us visually then we could have a problem."
'It seems you have been here before.' Shadow said, it was a statement, not a question.
"Some of my business dealing in the past took me there, first time I had to transport a few individuals for some sort of meeting that took a turn for the worse. And let's just say that I'm glad I have a very fast ship, I really didn't like the part about dodging missile and rail gun fire. Thankfully I was able to find a few areas to hide in for a couple of days before making a quick break and escaping."
'You were involved in what you race would consider criminal elements?' Alese asked somewhat shocked that Shawn would even be involved in activities like that.
"It wasn't by choice, I run or ran a courier service, most of the stuff I would deliver would be small amounts of freight, sensitive messages that couldn't be broadcasted out in the open, not even over a secure channel, even taxi people from one place to another and pretty much anything that could be transported in my ship that needed to be delivered someplace quickly. Got a job to transport a few people to the hidey hole for some sort of meeting, I was supposed to dock at a ship and they would go over have their meeting come back, I would wait for them to come back over and then leave and that was it. Not sure what happened, but when I heard weapons fire and saw one of the guys trying to make it back and then get shot to pieces I got the hell out of there as fast as I could. Guess the people commanding the other ship didn't want any witnesses, cause next thing I know I've got half a dozen missiles locked onto me as well as a few rail guns opening fire trying to take me out. So I got deep in the field, killed the power and parked my ship right next to a large asteroid and waited a couple of days before making a run for it. Don't know if they were still in the area and I sure wasn't waiting around to find out. But needless to say, I made it out of there in record time."
'You are lucky you were not killed.' Alese said, sitting down next to Shawn and Shadow.
"Tell me about it, I was watching my back for months after that, still was in fact when you all picked me up." Placing his hand over his mouth as he took a deep yawn, he hadn't realized just how tired he was. Though most of this day or what he could recall of it, he had gone through a major anxiety and panic attack, had that damn little voice from the back of his mind come back, removed the mercs weapons and equipment, bagged more dead mercs that he wanted to count and emotionally opened up more than he ever had about what had happened on Darrius station to Alese.
Overall it had been a very busy and taxing day, it was no wonder he was so damn tired all of a sudden.
Closing up and putting the laptops and date pads into sleep mode he sat them aside for now, he would need them for later when he made his way back up to CIC to take the locks off the high priority functions and see about changing the ships commanded access codes. For now it was time to get some much-needed sleep, hopefully minus the weird dreams or any mass panic attacks.
Both Xenos looked to have caught on to the fact that Shawn was about to lay down and get some sleep, as they started to shift their positions to lay down too. Shawn leaned over; reached out and cupped Alese's face and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you for everything that you did and still do to help me."
Alese didn't say a word, her hand moved up to the back of his head, her fingers playfully running through the back of his hair, lifting her head level to his, she drew him in, her thin lips playfully and delicately danced across his in a somewhat messy if not lengthy kiss. 'You're welcome.' She finally replied back, her mental voice back to its normally calm and gentle tone with a hint of slyness in it. 'We are hive, we are always here for one another; I hope that as time passes you will truly understand what that means.'
Shawn sat there utterly speechless, while this was the second time that he had been kissed by one of the Xenos, the first time was Shadow and it was him half playing around, this, this kiss was serious, he had felt the heated attraction fill his mind. And while it was to a much lesser degree, it felt very much like the emotions he had been picking up in that dream of his. The desire, lust, even deep felt love that for a few moments filled his mind and then slowly tapered off.
Reaching up he touched his lips with the tip of his fingers, "wow," was the only thing he could muster out. Alese had joked from time to time and he had picked up on her feelings, but she had never been this direct before. It was possible that the encounter with the mercs had reiterated just how dangerous things were for them and they might at any moment be killed or captured. Maybe for them, it was time to stop fooling around and start seizing the moments and hold onto them for however long time would allow.
He just wasn't sure if he was really ready to take that big of a step, a large part of him wanted to and had wanted to for a while now, but just enough of him was still holding back, not sure if this was right or not. He hated the uncertainty of it; not being able to go with what he deep down knew he wanted. He wanted to give himself to Shadow, Alese and even Ghost if it ever presented itself, but there was just that bit of fear in the back of his mind and soul holding him back, that tiny voice that seemed to rein him in somehow.
He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, it had been a taxing day and his mind was tired and clouded. Sleep would help clear those thoughts up and maybe tomorrow he could talk to Shadow about a few things. Somehow he needed to find a way to push past this wall, or just break through it. Alese had started putting some major cracks into it, he had opened up to her in a way that he had not opened up to anyone else. He now felt like he was truly starting to make some progress in taking on and conquering his own demons. It was something that he just wasn't able to do on his own, no matter how much he might want it.
Alese smiled at him, 'We all need rest,' she said, laying down.
Nodding, Shawn laid down, Shadow in his usual manner spooned up to his back, the Xeno's arm laying over and drawing the human in as close as he could. Alese shifted her position coming in as close as she could to the two males. Her head resting just snug against Shawn's chest, the tails of both Xenos coiled and draped over each other in the usual protective fashion.
'So...no kiss for me?' Shadow playfully asked, the back his forefinger gently caressing the side of Shawn's face.
"Oh, you're just being a cheeky little bugger now aren't you?" Shawn jokily said.
Shadow just let out of loud series of repeated hisses, something that Shawn had come to recognize as the equivalent of a Xenomorph belly laugh.
'You do know you can sleep with us without your clothing on, it might even be more comfortable.' Shadow purred in Shawn's mind. 'I know I would not mind at all.'
"Errrr, maybe when I'm ready to I will," Shawn replied back, not sure why Shadow just brought it up out of the blue all of a sudden, he was feeling more than a bit self-conscious about his body, he didn't actually mind the small belly gut that he had, which had gotten smaller since coming on board, but it was all of the horrible burns and scars on his back side that he didn't want anyone to see.
He knew that none of the Xenos would see him any differently or treat him differently if or when they saw it, but it was such a painful reminder of the choices he had made and what it had cost him in the past. Closing his eyes, and enjoying the gentle strokes to the side of his face, Shawn quickly felt himself drifting off to sleep. He hoped that it would be a nice restful sleep, and while he might not mind the erotic, planet side dream again, he hoped that it would at least finish up and not stop midway.
Shouldn't get close, can't afford to get close…The voice in the back of his mind started up again.
SHUT IT, Shawn mentally told himself as he with all his mental might took that tiny voice and shoved it in the corner for a serious timeout.
Shortly after that, he was out and fast asleep.
xxxxx
Amy sat on the floor of her cell, she was in a bad mood, a major snit, an all out sulk, in other words, she was not doing well. And that suited her just fine for the moment. She hadn't said a thing since that god awful ugly as hell THING had shown up in front of her door and screamed and hissed at her, it's head tilting side to side that awful white, toothy tongue slowly going in and out repeatedly, the teeth opening and closing, and then it had just up and walked away. She could have sworn that it had smiled right at her as soon as screamed bloody murder and even peed herself in the process.
Her now soiled pants and underwear were lying a few feet away from her as she sat bare ass on the cold plexi-steel floor. So gross she thought to herself, she was not going to touch that, that's what others were for, to take care of her needs for her, after all, she was going to be a grand admiral of a mighty fleet and others would need to get use to serving her needs, wants and desires at a moment's whim.
On top of it all, that ingrate, whatever his name was, she didn't care; as far as she was now concerned he wasn't important. He had been laughing at her, the utter nerve of him, how dare he, no one laughed at her and got away with it. By all rights, HE should be cleaning her soiled clothing to at least partly make up for it.
This was not how things were supposed to have turned out, SHE was supposed to have returned back to that old, broken down ship, victorious, with the mission complete, praise coming everyone, even a promotion for all her efforts and she led her incompetent minions into battle. This was her time to shine, HERS, and hers alone and no one else's. She was the important one, HER, and no one else.
At least that was what she had told herself and kept telling herself. Her dreams would not be hindered by this cell and those…monsters. Monsters that she wound now scour and purge from her galaxy, she would find these horrible and mindless beasts and burn them all to ash, wipe them out of existence and the galaxy would praise her as a hero.
But for now, she would simply have to tolerate her unjustified oppression, until she could free herself, take over this ship and destroy those beasts. Once she did that she would return a hero and be properly rewarded with her own ship, a mighty battleship freshly minted from the shipyards.
She was also getting hungry now, looking up, the tray with the food that had been left there earlier was still on the door shelf, she, however, was NOT going to, under any circumstance even touch those awful MREs and meal protein bars, those were for lackeys and those under her. She wanted a proper meal, piping hot, well-cooked meats, with steamed vegetables, hot bread and of course an expensive wine, with a rich dessert of chocolate. Not these pitiful, meager rations.
Completely, totally, unacceptable.
All of it, was completely unacceptable as far as she was concerned, this situation that she was in, the food, her treatment, everything. When that guy came back she was going to tell him off, rip him a new one, and boy would he be sorry for ever putting her in this cell, she'd get a new uniform, clean clothing, proper quarters, that nice soft bed and a hot meal.
Everything that she deserved, and properly so, she would get and very soon.
xxxxx
Today was going to be a very busy day, in fact, it was turning out to be one already. Shawn had woken up feeling somewhat refreshed and in a far better mood, he didn't know what time it was and for some odd reason, it no longer seemed to matter to him or be that important anymore. He had managed to ease out of Shadow and Alese's grip and slip out of the sleeping area without waking any of them, no small feat there. Ghost at some point had returned and was curled up just above the three of them, his tail resting along and draped over Alese's torso.
He had stopped by the mess hall grabbed a few of the bland meal bars with a couple large mugs of coffee and headed up to CIC. A few chores were in order to get everything straightened back up, he had diverted some of the maintenance androids to start cleaning up the blood in the hallways, hanger bay and even the large airlock prep room, once the androids were done with that task he would have them take the weapons, ammo, power cells and all the other equipment that had been gathered from the mercs and place them in an empty storage room that was close to the sleeping room. Later on, when time permitted he could take stock of what they had. As well as looking in on the merc dropships and seeing what all was on board.
As of now he was perched up in the Captains nest control area, and had unlocked the high-level functions of the ship, with the access command codes that had been an easy task, as had been resetting the codes too. The ship was now fully under their command, which was one thing, learning how to fully operate it however was another beast entirely.
Even if the ship was partly automated, which it looked like some of it was, as well as having service androids to help out, it still required a fully functional well-trained crew. Not like he just had a few hundred crew members and officers he could just ask to come on board. Besides he didn't know how many people would be willing to serve aside Xenomorphs.
And even then, the Xenomorphs were very limited on what they could do as far as operations on the ship, they couldn't see what was on the display or monitor screens, or if they could it was very limited on what they could see, which eliminated most of the critical functions. Maybe there was some way to work around that or adapt the technology to their field of vision.
If he could do that then they could help operate the ship. Just add one more thing to do to what was a growing list of things to do.
Let's face facts here Shawn, you're going to be very busy for a long time, provided any of us make it through this mess. He thought to himself drinking some more of the coffee.
While he was still feeling a bit winded and a little tired from the previous day, he was feeling far better than before. The feeling in his hand was starting to come back and he was now able to fully move all of his fingers, the palm of his hand and arm were still numb, even the soreness from where he had been shot was no longer there, in fact the bullet wounds no longer hurt at all.
Wonderful stuff that life jelly.
Sipping on his second large cup of coffee, he looked at the now unlocked higher end systems of the ship from one of the display monitors, scrolling through menu after menu until he found what it was he was looking for, the ship's database schematics and layout. He brought up what looked to be hundreds of folders with thousands of files, each organized either by deck, section, and even function.
"Computer, locate and access long range homing beacon." He said taking another sip, his gut feeling was telling him it was not going to be this easy, he really hoped it would be but experience had taught him otherwise.
"ERROR...UNABLE TO LOCATE, NO SUCH DEVICE CURRENTLY ACTIVE ON VESSEL."
"Well, balls," Shawn muttered to himself, so it was going to be like that huh. There was no way he was going to be able to go and look through every folder and file, that in itself would take months, months they did not have. His mind started to focus in on what needed to be done as if somehow a hidden switch had flipped on and, had started to take the normal chaos that would have come with a daunting task like this and bring order and structure to it instead. The process of elimination then it is. Came to his mind suddenly, it would be the easiest way and the most logical instead of randomly searching through the data files.
"Computer, list type and size of power conduits being used on this ship."
"ACCESSING INFORMATION, POWER CONDUIT TYPE INSTALLED IS G-ONE THOUGH G-SEVEN."
"Ok, heavy military grade, that's something at least."
'You slept well it seems, you even managed to sneak out without waking any of us up.' Shadow said walking into the CIC.
"Oh yeah, I did sleep pretty well, no weird or nasty dreams. Didn't want to wake anyone up, besides you all looked pretty cute sleeping curled up like that. By the way, did you know you snore, or at least I think that it's a snore. You sort of make these adorable little almost squeaking noises when you breathe sometimes." Shawn replied back, looking up at the approaching Xeno, "Besides I needed to get started on trying to track down this homing beacon that we have strapped to our ass."
Shadow walking up to where Shawn was sitting at, the Xeno placed his hand on Shawn's head and ruffled the human's hair a bit. 'Squeaking noises indeed, you should know that you snort at times. So any luck in your search?"
"Just started, but I have an idea that might work, now the computer doesn't have access to the beacon itself it seems, so I'm thinking it might be an independent unit altogether, but it would still need a lot of continual power to transmit a signal out as far it is. My thought is to look through the schematics of the heavier power conduits and eliminate them one at a time until I find the power conduit that is connected to the beacon and then see about shutting it down. At least that's my plan."
'Will that work?'
Shrugging, "don't know, maybe," he said, "unless it's got its own independent power system that's off the main grid, then well, I don't know what we'll do."
'I have faith that you will figure it out.'
Shawn was silent for a bit, he turned back and forth in the chair ever so slightly. "Can we talk, I mean really talk."
'Of course, what do you wish to talk about?' Asked Shadow, curious about what it was Shawn suddenly wanted to talk about and so soon after waking up.
"Us, you and I, and Alese too," Shawn said, not really sure about how to broach this subject but maybe it was time.
"Oh," Shadow said, his crested head turning to look at Shawn with interest.
"Ok…look, I know that you are interested in me, and from the way that you've been acting since we first met, I guess you have been probably from day one. And Alese as well, especially from that kiss that she planted on me last night, I can still feel it too."
'She wishes to mate with you and has for some time,' Shadow told him bluntly, his voice very serious now, 'as do I. And to answer your question, if that was what it was, yes, I became interested in you shortly after we first met, I found you fantasizing for some reason, at the time I could not figure out why.'
"I'll give it to you, you do not beat around the bush when it comes to talking about this sort of stuff do you?"
'It is a natural biological function of many living creatures in the universe, why should we be ashamed to express and discuss something that is so natural. Even if we are different species there is enough in common for us to both share physical and mental pleasure with each other.'
"Well, I can tell you right now, that there are a lot of my people that freak out beyond reason when even the idea of cross inter-species relationships come up. They tend to think that it's unnatural and that we need to keep to our own and keep the bloodline pure and untainted by alien filth, as those people put it."
'Small and petty minds they have, but we are deviating off the subject you wish to discuss.'
"Right." Shawn said, "There is a large part of me that wants to, I mean really, really wants to, but there is also just enough of me that is scared, and unsure about this, and it's holding me back."
'What can I…can we do,' Shadow said, correcting himself, 'to alleviate your fears, to show that we would never harm you, even if we were to mate, none of us would ever bring harm to you during intercourse.'
"It's not the physical aspect that concerns me, well not as much, despite just how damn big you are, you've always been gentle with me. But it's the emotional side of it all, I don't know if Alese shared with you what she helped me with, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of carrying around a bit of emotional baggage that I'm having a hard time letting go of."
'Yes, I did notice you are carrying around what you describe as emotional baggage and no, she did not share that with me, I assume that what happened between the two of you, she wishes to keep private until you deem it ok to share.' Shadow replied back. 'She would not wish to violate and break your trust.'
Shawn reached out and took one of Shadow's hands, gripping it tightly he steadied himself for what was to come, again. "Do you want to see, I would not mind sharing, in fact, it seemed to help some the first time."
'Only if you truly want me to. I will go no further than what you want.' Replied Shadow, his grip tightening a bit on Shawn's hand, reassuring the human that he was there for him no matter what happened or what he would see.
Nodding, Shawn closed his eye and tilted his head forward. A few seconds later he could feel Shadow enter his mind, his mind while in many ways was just as gentle as Aleses' was when she had first entered, Shadow's mind, however, felt far more powerful and focused. The images whipped by, and he felt the whole ordeal play again, Alese helping him in the airlock prep room, the room fire, his loss, everything. And while he was better prepared for it, it didn't make it that much easier.
Slipping out of Shawn's mind, Shadow looked at him, as the human wiped away some tears that were starting to fall. Coming in closer, he rested his chin on Shawn's head and drew the human in. 'I am truly sorry for what you have had to endure, and that you felt the need to endure it alone and by yourself. You are not alone anymore and should not suffer needlessly. Alese is correct, pain is pain no matter how much or how little. You should not feel guilty simply for what we had to endure, and for what you have gone through. This whole concept that you need to 'man up and take it and that you should not complain because others have had it worse' is not healthy, it is self-destructive and poisonous. Your race might be better off if they would just allow their own emotions to run the course instead of trying to suppress them, simply for the reason that it make them look weak. That is not true at all, lose is lose, grief is grief and pain is pain, an emotional release is needed and no one is weak for needing that.'
"Yea well, we are a bit screwed up as a race." Shawn said, "This helps, but I don't know how long or if ever it will take to get rid of all this pain or if it will ever go all away."
'I know by what little I have seen when you sleep, bits and pieces that have been projected, that there is a great deal more, none of us will press you for it, but we are here for you and each other, and I can tell you this, the sooner you release this pain the better off you will be. It is a simple and powerful truth.'
Smiling a bit, Shawn nodded again, "I know, and thank you." Shawn continued to rub and explore Shadow's hand with his own, "So…us, let's say I want this, I mean fully, what happens between all of us. Besides the physical stuff that goes on."
Releasing Shawn from his embrace, Shadow backed up a bit and squatted down in front their human, 'A closer, stronger and more intimate bond than before; one that would continue to grow and flourish between us all.'
Reaching up, Shawn placed his hand on the front of Shadow's face, his hand slowly gliding down feeling the thin lips, sharp teeth, sinuous muscles, and tendons. "You know, when we first met in this room, I thought that I was going to die, that you were going to rip me apart. I've been scared before, but it was one of the few times I was absolutely terrified, I had never seen anything close to you or Alese or Ghost, and I wanted off this ship so badly, just to get away and run. But yet I couldn't, I had to stay or take my chances adrift in space. And I'm glad that I stayed, I know it's only been a little over a month, though, god, it seems so much longer than that, but now, now I don't think that if I could, I would ever go back to human society, I'm not sure I could really fit back in. It's not just everything that I've experienced with the three of you, but I spent so much time alone that I sort of became more and more detached from human society, now…now I'm not sure that there's really a place for me anymore within the social norm."
Shadow took Shawn's hand and placed it flat against his, their fingers slowly interlocking together. 'You have a place with us, you are one of us,' Shadow leaned forward nuzzling the side of Shawn's face, giving the human small, gentle rubs along his cheek, jaw, and neck. 'Come with us when we find a home, be with us, you need not be alone ever again, you are wanted, needed…desired.' The words he spoke were naked and bare, the heat of his own beginning arousal started to press into Shawn's own mind with the Xenos desire, lust, and love.
His mind started to drift into a primitive and even primal instinctual base, logic, ration even reasoning were quickly being pushed aside, and for a few moments Shawn did not care at all, he returned Shadow's nuzzling, rub for rub, his lips danced gently kissing the side of the Xeno's jaw. A deep part of him now wanted nothing less than to give himself fully over to this all-powerful male alpha alien, to show him absolute and total submission and let this Xenomorph, his Xenomorph, his mate, to do whatever he wanted and desired to him, to allow and let him completely and even fully penetrate and impregnate him, even at the risk of his own life, nothing else mattered, only fulfilling and sating the absolute needs, urges, desires, and pleasures of his mate.
Nothing else mattered and that was final.
The raw and even overwhelming lust coming from Shawn's mind made Shadow mentally break away, apparently, it wasn't just pain that the human had been repressing but also vast sexual desire and need, something that was just as damaging. He had sensed where Shawn's mind was all too quickly going and that he was about to completely give himself over, and while Shadow did want Shawn, he didn't want the human to be taken completely over by total and pure bestial instincts and give himself over like an animal in desperate need and heat. Though the temptation was almost far too great to resist. 'I apologize, our instincts are powerful, I did not realize how much it would overwhelm you like this.' Shadow said, feeling more than a bit overwhelmed himself.
"Trust me, it wasn't just you," Shawn said, coming back to his senses and reeling from the intense sexual heat that his mind had just been put through, closing his eyes he tried to calm down, his whole body felt tingly and hot. "You just happened to help bring it very close to the surface that's all." He said shaking his head. He had never felt anything like that, his mind has just closed itself and allowed his base instincts to just take over, only his instincts seemed to be ramped up to an ungodly level somehow.
'I will exercise more caution until you are ready to make your decision, I should not have pressed like I did.' Replied Shadow, trying to calm himself down, he needed to focus on something else, anything else at this point. 'It was needlessly careless of me.'
"I've don't mind you being as forward as you are, it's a constant reminder of how much you are truly interested in me, and not just for some short term relationship," Shawn told him, rubbing his forehead. "But thank you for showing restraint when I couldn't, if we go through this I want our first time to be special and I don't think that the two of us going at it like a pair of wild animals in CIC would really be considered special. If anything I think that we would have regretted it."
'As much as I wanted it, wanted you, I agree, we would have regretted it. I will wait as long as it takes for you to be ready and if you never are I will still be there for you.'
Nodding, Shawn reached out and patted Shadow on the shoulder, "Thank you." Shawn paused for a bit, he looked back at Shadow as a question that had come across his mind earlier came back and before he could even think, the words just kind of spewed out on their own. "Sooooo, just out of curiosity your race doesn't like, you know, ejaculate acid do they?"
'WHAT!? NO!' Shadow bellowed out complete taken aback by the odd question and damn near doing a double take, 'No, we do not ejaculate acid, is that something that you were concerned with? By the queen mother Shawn, if we did, I would never have been as forward with you in wanting to mate knowing that it would have killed you, none of us would ever have put you in that kind of danger, ever.'
"Just wanted to check, I mean your race does have acid for blood, didn't know if there were any other bodily fluids that might be acidic also," Shawn replied back a bit sheepishly.
'Just our blood and that's it,' stated Shadow.
"Well good to know anyway," Shawn said letting out a nervous laugh, "so...how about we go and check on our two guests and see how they are doing, we can stop by the mess hall I'll get some food for them and we can see about walking all this tension off, I hope."
'Agreed. Though I think that we would both have to walk the length of the ship several times over to relieve the tension.' Shadow commented getting up and heading toward the main CIC doors, Shawn got up and following closely behind.
"Do I really snort in my sleep?" Shawn asked, trying to change the subject to something a bit lighter.
'Yes, but it is cute when you do.' Shadow answered, sending Shawn a mental image of himself curled up, the Xeno gently stroking his hair and side, occasionally a loud snort would erupt from Shawn as he slept.
Shawn's head dropped his hand covered his face, "Oh my god," he groaned out loud, completely embarrassed by what he had just seen.
A rapid succession of loud hissed filled the air as Shadow gave off a Xeno style belly laugh at Shawn's response.
Shawn could only smile and laugh as well.
xxxxx
As time went on, Amy's bad mood had gotten far worse, she was practically seething with white-hot rage, she still sat there without her pants or underwear on, and of course why would she, they were soiled and filthy, and SHE was NOT going to clean them, on top of that no one had bothered to come and check on her needs and that what was most important.
How dare they ignore me, She thought bitterly to herself, she had slept a bit dozing off and on some but refusing to move from that spot, How dare they not come up and check on me, what can they be doing that was so much more important than checking up on me.
It was right then when she heard a metal door open up and then a few seconds later close with a loud metallic clank. Forgetting that she was not wearing anything below, she flew up to her feet, whoever it is, is going to get it now, She thought to herself.
A lone figure came into view, he walked over to where a large bench table that ran most of the length of the cell room; sat down a tray with what looked like MREs and meal bars. Picking up a few he turned around and started to walk toward her cell.
"YOU, YOU, YOU…!" She yelled, loudly snapping her fingers, "Where have you been, how dare you not check in on me, I have dirty clothing that needs to be cleaned, I demand that you clean my uniform or get me a new one right this instant, and I demand that I receive proper food, if fact you WILL move me to proper quarters right this instant!"
Shawn just stood there looking at the half naked female merc, not really sure if he was just seeing and hearing things or had she really just demanded that he become her personal manservant.
"Just what are you gawking at, you heard my orders, snap to it now, chop, chop." Amy barked, crossing her arms.
"Really? You going to start dishing out orders in a cell doing the half Monty, and the lower half of all things." Shawn said, only raising an eyebrow and nodding at her.
Amy just looked at him in total confusion, half Monty, what was this dim half-wit talking about. It was right then her brain cell connected and she realized that she was standing up with no pants or underwear on and that it was all hanging out for everyone to see. Grabbing the lower part of her shirt she pulled it down trying to cover herself up as much as possible and save what was left of her dignity.
"YOU FREAKY LITTLE PERVERT STOP STARING!" She screamed.
"In case you haven't noticed you're not in any position to give me or anyone else orders, and by the way, you don't have anything that I haven't seen already." He said placing a few more meal bars and MREs on the unmoved tray on the door ledge. "Here, it's not much but it's better than nothing."
Amy walked up, still holding her shirt down with one hand, and slammed the tray back through the hole with her free hand, the tray and its contents flew off and scattered onto the floor. "I SAID REAL FOOD, ARE YOU STUPID OR DEAF, AND I WANT A NEW UNIFORM AND REAL CLOTHES…NOW! She screamed at the top of her lungs. "GET THEM FOR ME!"
Shadow took a step forward his lips peeling back in full aggression, thick, hot drool started to fall from his chin, there was no way this female merc was going to treat his human, his mate, like garbage, if necessary he would rip the door off the wall and teach this impudent little child a lesson. And he would have no problem inflicting a certain amount of pain on her to drive the lesson home. She would learn her place and very quickly, it was no wonder Alese had come back so pissed off.
Shawn glanced toward his direction, 'No, let me handle this one,' he mentally communicated with Shadow, who stopped before he had revealed himself to the female merc.
Going over to the fallen tray he picked up the contents and placed them back on the tray, then picked it up and placed it down on the table bench in full site for her to see. "You want to act like a spoiled five-year-old child, fine, then you're going to get treated like one, let's see just how you like not having anything to eat for a day or two. And as far as I'm concerned you can stay in that cell buck ass naked for all I care, you want that uniform cleaned, do it your fucking self, there's a sink and shower in there with running water. Have fun." Picking up a few of the MREs and bars he turned his back on her as he walked away and toward the other cell.
Amy stood there in total disbelief, how dare he, some lowly unimportant peon, talk to her in that manner, no one had ever talked to her like that in her entire life, she was the center of the universe and deserved respect from all. And that was a fact that was not up for debate, mommy and daddy had told her that all the time and they knew all.
"YOU DON'T DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, OR TURN YOU BACK ON ME, DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM, HOW DARE YOU!" She bellowed out, tears starting to run down her face, "GET YOU ASS BACK OVER HERE RIGHT NOW…I COMMAND YOU!"
A large black skeletal form with a massive crested head and lots of sharp teeth filled her field of view as soon as she finished up her outburst. Lips peeled back it hissed at her with a cold fury, elongated clawed fingers grabbed the bars and slowly started to squeeze, the bars began to slowly creak and groan under the aliens strength, then started to gradually cave inward.
Amy shrieked in terror and in an instant found herself standing in a warm pool, as yellow liquid trickled down her legs.
Satisfied, Shadow let go of the slightly bent bars and backed up, a slight sadistic toothy smile plastered on his face. Disgusting, but it serves you right you filthy little human bitch. He thought to himself.
"I don't know who you are nor do I care, but I know what you are, you're an annoying spoiled little child, how you managed to get into a mercenary group is beyond me but if they accepted you than their unit must have been desperate for recruits. OH, and for your health, I wouldn't try to piss off my friend here ever again, he doesn't take to kindly to outbursts like what you just did, if you want to talk then I suggest that actually try talking in a polite and rational manner and not just yell out orders like you own us all. Because the next time, he might very well pull that door off and come right in for you, and what he does to you, no matter what it is, I won't even try to stop him, hell I might just sit back and record it." Shawn said, already tired of this little mercs self-centered attitude, right now a good and hard dose of reality is just what she needed.
Walking over to the next cell, the other merc was just sitting on the bunk, almost wide-eyed and looking more than a bit nervous. "You have that tray, I've got some more meal bars and MREs," Shawn said.
Getting up the merc slowly walked over and placed the tray on the door ledge, as soon as he did Shawn placed some more of the ratios on it. "So you're not going to threaten to kick my ass again are you?" He asked, looking right at the Merc.
James just shook his head, "Sorry about that from earlier, I was…"
"Scared," Shawn said finishing up James sentence.
James nodded in tentative agreement.
"I can relate, all too well in fact. Look, man, just keep calm and nothing bad is going to happen. But just out of morbid curiously, that lady merc over in the next cell, has she always been like that, because she's about half a step away from having her ass handed to her by one of the Xenomorphs."
"As long as I've known her which hasn't been that long." He answered back.
Shawn nodded, "Look for what it's worth, I'm sorry about your friends, we didn't have much of a choice in the matter. The Xenomorphs aren't going back and I wasn't about to let them get taken."
"They weren't my friends," James said, "I barely even knew them, I was a rookie, and this was my first mission out with them. Same with the other one over there, this was her first mission out too." He said nodding toward the other cell. "If you don't mind me asking, but why are we in these cells and not dead, that Xeno had me in its grip and was about to punch a hole in my head but I'm still alive, why?"
"That was me," Shawn said, "we needed info on how your group tracked this ship down, so I asked the Xenos to grab a couple of you guys so we could try and get answers, as it turns out, we didn't need you or the other one, I was up in CIC when one of the groups came in and I overheard them saying something about a homing beacon that was transmitting back to the base. But I'm guessing you don't have any idea on where that beacon is at?"
James just shook his head, "No, just that we were following a signal that would lead us to this ship and that we were to regain control of it and capture the Xenos, it was supposed to be an easy mission and it just turned into a shit storm, they…they didn't do anything to me, did they?" He asked fear laced his voice.
"Do?" Shawn asked.
"Did they…rape me somehow, do anything to me?"
"No, they did not rape you. Why do you ask?"
James was silent for a bit before answering, "Dreams, horrible dreams, and this stuff I was covered in, whatever it was when I woke up."
Shawn leaned against the wall, Shadow was only a few meters away, staying out of sight of the young merc. "They had you secreted in resin to hold you in place on a wall, I suggested that they move you down to the cells, figured it might be more comfortable than being stuck to a wall for weeks or even months. That was it, none of them raped or violated you."
"And you know they didn't because…?"
"Because they have no interest in you like that. Besides if they were to have raped you, I can tell you right now without a doubt you would have known it as soon as you woke up." Shawn said trying to reassure the young merc. "You weren't bleeding out and nothing was ruptured, am I correct? So nothing happened to you, well, besides getting stuck to a wall for a few hours maybe a day and that was pretty much it."
"Ok," James replied, nodding some, but sounding none too convinced, his hand moved up to his chest, "I had a black medical pack on my right side, do you know where it's at?"
"Probably in the area where you were secured at when you were first captured, along with the equipment and weapons that were removed, why?
"That pouch has meds that I need," James answered back, he wasn't starting to have an asthma attack just yet, but he knew that sooner or later he would have one. The attacks hadn't been as frequent since he had come on board the Vesuvius, possibly something to do with the recycled and purified air but he would still get them, and sooner or later he knew that an attack was due. "I'm asthmatic, I made it a point to keep meds with me at all times. And I would really appreciate it if I could get that medical pouch back...please"
Shawn nodded, "We'll get it for you, but you do understand we'll have to look through it first, just to make sure there are no weapons or items that you could use to break out."
"We?" James asked.
At that moment Shadow revealed himself and stood next to Shawn, James immediately backed up away from the door.
"Don't worry, he's not coming in after you, my suggestion is that you get used to seeing them because you will be seeing them around as long as you are on this ship. Besides they are not dumb animals or mindless killers, and despite how we might see them, they can be quite pleasant to be around, so long as you don't do anything to completely piss them off."
"How…how can you do that, do you control them somehow?" James asked, still not sure he could trust his eyes.
"No, I do not control them, like I said before, I was invited onboard, and you guys were not. In the short time that I have been here they have never shown any hostility toward me since I came on this ship, though they did scare the ever loving shit out of me the first time we met." Shawn said, giving Shadow a slight wink.
"I'll take your word for it," James said, sitting back down on the bunk, trying to keep a respectful distance between himself and the Xeno. He still didn't see how this guy, whoever he was, could keep so calm standing right next to one of them, especially that large one, the same one that had slaughtered the group he was with.
Turning to leave, "I'll see about getting your med pouch back. Maybe even some fresh clothes," Shawn said heading out of the brig, Shadow true to his namesake was only a foot or two behind Shawn, the large Xenomorph towering over the smaller human.
"I'm going to grab some more coffee and head back up to CIC, care to keep me company for a bit?" Asked Shawn.
'As much as I would like to, I must decline, you have a great deal of work before you and I would be an unnecessary distraction, a distraction that you cannot afford to have right now.' Shadow answered back, placing his hand on Shawn's shoulder. 'I know of the pouch that the human merc speaks of I'll go and get it, you can look through it and see if there is anything that could be used against us, I'll then return it to him.'
Stopping Shawn turned and looked up at the Xeno, "You are not a distraction if anything you give me focus, the will to do what needs to be done."
'Be that as it may, I was ready to tear your clothing off, pin you down to the floor and fully mount and mate with you on the spot and at that time I cared for nothing else, and I still do some, so considering our predicament we cannot afford to waste that kind of time no matter how much we may want to sate our desires and instincts.' Shadow let go of Shawn's shoulder, turned and started to walk away. 'I will ask Ales and Ghost and see if they can offer any sort of assistance to you, if anything maybe they can help you keep your focus. I, unfortunately, cannot, and for that I am sorry.'
Shawn stood there and watched as the large Xeno walked away until he was out of sight. Taking a deep breath he tilted his head up and slowly exhaled. "And god knows I would have let you too, and I really wanted you too." he whispered to himself, "but you're right we can't afford distractions, not now, not with those mercs on our asses. Timing here just totally fucking sucks."
About two days is what they had, two days to find a homing beacon that was not on the ship's schematics and diagrams. He didn't even know what he was looking for and if he did find it how he was going to disable it. And even if he managed to pull that small feat off there was still the matter of getting the other Xenomorphs off of Eclipse station and finding them a home, and beyond a want and need to do that, none of them had any sort of plan.
Considering everything that was standing right before them a distraction was exactly what he wanted.