Chap 14 Taking out the Trash.
The blast from the cannon threatened to send Trista sprawling backwards, but she held fast, the aching muscles in her legs stiffening to keep her balanced. The menacing jaw of the queen moved sharply to the side as the light passed by, knocking down one of flanking Praetorians. The queen screeched as the warehouse lit up behind her. Trista caught sight of the organic mesh of the hive before the pulse took it apart, breaking into the resinous web and destroying whatever was contained within. The Queen was thrown forward into the bright light, her body a mass of thrashing limbs.
Trista scowled and took another shot at the grooved armoured frill which made up the majority of the Queen's head. This time, the drone edging away from the exit leapt in her defence and spiralled through the air hitting the hard wall with a crack. The Queen had been tugging forward and had fallen upon the floor in front of the entrance. She was up in a shot and ran toward Trista at a speed that was at odds with her bulk, emitting an ear piercing scream that turned Trista's blood cold. She aimed the cannon again.
Well, it's now or never, she thought. She pulled the trigger and steadied herself for the recoil that didn't come. She tried again – nothing. The subtle blip of a blue light marked the end of the cannon's energy. She dropped the weapon, squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for the impact.
Amongst the thud, thud, thud of the Queen's charge, Trista was suddenly aware of a strange whistling sound. She opened her eyes in time to see a metallic flash slice into the side of the monolithic Xeno. The queen flew against the second GPU and hissed angrily, yanking out the jagged circular blade in its side with a monstrous clawed hand.
Trista turned her gaze to her right and saw the hunter standing in the doorway, its invisibility flickering off, his mottled arm falling onto another blade attached to his waist. Trista willed her legs to move and stumbled behind one of the Fork Lift suits. The queen was already on her feet, heading toward the new intruder. He stood fast and flung another blade at the creature. Trista gasped as she watched the queen duck out of aim and smash into the hunter sending him sprawling into the pods. The weapon made a sharp whizzing sound and then shuddered to a halt in the bay wall next to Trista.
The hunter was cornered and Trista's mind seemed in a haze. What could she do? She stepped out of her hiding place and took a few steps forward. She had to help the hunter or they would both die. Trista's breathing increased as panic started to set in. Something as large as the queen would never fall to the pitiful, blunted blade on her arm and she had no other weapons she could think of.
…except for one.
Trista fidgeted around her waist feeling for the distinct shape of the small weapon. In the corner of her eye, she saw one of the Praetorian guards run toward her, its spindly arms outstretched. She leapt out of its way and ran toward the nearest GDU. She glanced back and saw the creature sprinting toward her a second time. She pushed open the circular door and ran into the GPU. She felt the brush of a talon across her back as the Xenomorph flew in after her, missing its target by inches. Trista held tight to the edge of the door and swung in with it. She watched the Xeno skid fully into the unit before spinning around the door's edge. She grabbed the handle and pulled as hard as she could. The locking mechanism clamped into place. The Xeno was trapped. It flew against the door and smashed against the glass with its inner mouth. Trista stood and watched for a second.
'Come on…Smile for me you bastard!'
The Xeno opened its mouth to strike. Her wrist blade rocketed through the glass and into the creature's throat. Yellow splatter corroded the glass, melting it from the inside out leaving a gaping hole in the centre. The alien flew back and writhed on the floor in agony flailing back until it reached the sensors. As the red bulb blinked on and the familiar synthetic voice appeared, Trista punched her fist in the air and swung round to the queen brandishing the Whipper gun.
The Queen's tail slashed across the path of the hunter, but he was fast and managed to pull away from each strike. He gracefully dodged each attack from the queen, slicing at her body with his wrist blades when the opportunity arose, leaping and rolling out of reach and then driving back in to strike. He was too close to shoot from his shoulder cannon unless he wanted to become a melting puddle on the floor, but hand to hand combat was far more honorable and would be a story to tell.
She paused and whipped her tail up high, aiming its serrated end at the hunter. The tail snapped through the air and flew past the hunter's head causing him to leap sideways into her massive clawed hand. She gripped on tight.
Trista stood next to the broken window of the GDU. Memories of Max's last moments swam through her mind and she winced. She pushed a shaking finger at the Whipper's control panel, tapping in the required length for the shot, allowing for a lot of slack. 'I hope this works buddy' she whispered.
Twenty seconds
As large as the hunter was, it was nothing compared to the size and strength of the queen. His bladed gauntlet was trapped against his body in the grip of the monster's hand. Her lips parted as she hissed and snapped open her jaw. Her inner mouth was the size of the hunter's fist and poised in front of his mask. Trista wasn't sure if the mask would stop penetration, but she knew that its impact would probably break the hunter's neck.
Ten seconds
Trista aimed the Whipper at the back of the Queen's head and fired. The bullet cut and rotated through the air. It finally stopped its course as it burrowed into the queen and expanded into shards which kept it in place. The queen screamed in surprised rage, releasing the hunter. She twisted her head sharply to face Trista. Trista stared back hard at the Queen. She could feel her heart hammering from inside her chest as though she was experiencing a thousand nightmares at once. She pushed the recoil button and shoved the gun into the porthole. It flipped sideways and jammed against the inside of the door, pulling the screaming queen back, the wretched sound of her hind claws scraping against the floor sent pain shooting into Trista's ears. She stayed for as long as she dared next to the GDU, making sure the gun stayed put. In the last few seconds Trista dodged past the lunging queen, noticing the grooves in the floor as the bitches legs strained against the pull of the gun.
Purge
Trista felt the sensation of rising into the air. She looked to her side and saw the hunter's back legs rising up. As soon as the sensation came it was gone and the two hunters fell back to the floor, the pull of outside pressure having claimed the body of the queen. Trista looked over her shoulder and watched with tired eyes as the monster's mouth opened for the last time, her arms twitching for the briefest of moments. No scream escaped from its lips. Whatever sound there was flew from the Queen's collapsing midriff into the GDU. Trista heard the exit panels closing and breathed a massive sigh of relief as the red glow died.
She lay on the floor and tried to catch her breath, willing her heart to slow down. In one panicked moment she tried to remember if she'd been near any parasite eggs or if she had lost consciousness during any part of the mission. If felt like her chest was going to burst open at any given second. Eventually her pulse rate slowed and she felt a cool wave rush over her. It was over. There would be other times to be neurotic.
She groaned as she sat up, each of her muscles burning with pain. Not one part of her body was spared, even her ears felt as though they were about to drop off the side of her head. She looked over at the dead queen, its massive head pulled down toward her legs, most of her torso having been jettisoned into space or spread across the interior of the GDU. She almost felt sorry for the fallen mother but everyone and every thing on this vessel knew it was kill or be killed. She watched as the Queen's acidic blood dripped from her wounds where it would start to eat through the metal and as solid as the GDU's were, even they couldn't compete with the aggressive body chemistry of the Xenos.
She used her metal arm to push her body up, her legs complaining at having to do the rest. She rubbed her temples and knew she was forgetting something…something important. The drawn out hiss directly behind her made her heart flip. It was too late to turn and fight. It would be quick, of that she had no doubt. A bullet to the head wouldn't be as effective. She then heard another hiss, and another and she suddenly realised what it was she had forgotten.
A big thank you to my eagle-eyed Beta Khalthar.