Jenette Vasquez- Originally from the 'Aliens' saga, Private first class Vasquez was a smartgun operator for the United States Colonial Marine Corps before the organization was disbanded and replaced with the UNSC. When not in the field she works with communications.
Mark Drake- Originally from the 'Aliens' saga, Private first class Mark Drake and good friend of Vasquez joined the UNSC at the same time and now works in communications alongside her.
Rick Hale-
Drone Caste- The lowest ranking class of the Xenomorph caste system. Basically they are scouts and cannon fodder. More often or not Drones are born from physically weaker hosts, Humans, Grunts, Jackals ect. At average they stand at seven feet on two legs. Their head crests are narrow and smooth and are used as a form of class identification for the species.
Soldier Caste- The second lowest rank in the Xenomorph caste system, soldiers are as stated in their name 'soldiers'. During an invasion they are the main aggresors, killing relentlessly then moving on, leaving the Drones to drag away hosts and food. They stand at about seven feet, their head crests are narrow but have a complex design not seen in the drones.
Elite Caste- A higher class of soldier than normal soldier castes Elite castes can be considered the 'special ops'. Elite Xenomorphs are born from a normal facehugger infecting a Sangheili, the resulting xeno stands at about ten feet on two legs. They have a rather domed head crest and lack the traditional tail most Xenomorph castes posses. They also have the ability to spit acid. Other than that little is known about this Caste.
Praetorians- The royal guards of the Xenomorph species, praetorians are only born from the strongest largest hosts. They stand at an average of ten feet on four legs and twice that on two, they have large head crests that resemble a queens crest.
Red Matriarch- Also known as Red Queen Mothers, they are the rulers of the Xenomorph species. There were originally thought to be six in total, all of which are held on Xenomorph Prime, homeworld to the species. They are known to have powerful telepathic abilities that allow them to control the entire species across the universe.
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X's Pov
It was dark outside. Only the one mission had been scheduled for this particular night and agent X had returned to the butte and was currently monitoring radio chatter, waiting for his comrades to call in a pickup. That meant the two Allied soldiers assigned to the control center didn't have much to do and were busy playing a round of cards with the Jee'Dangian, when the wall mounted speaker's burped static and a desperate voice was heard.
"This is Charlie 217, repeat Charlie 217, to any Allied forces. Does anyone copy? Over."
X glanced away from his full house at the com tech first class Jenette Vasquez and frowned. "Have you had previous contact with Charlie 217?"
The techs looked at each other shook their heads.
"I'll check with Douglas." Jenette said as she turned toward the jury rigged monitor.
Com tech second class Mark Drake nodded and keyed the boom style mike that extended in front of his lips. "This is Allied combat base Blue. Over."
"Thank god!" The voice said fervently. "We took a hit after clearing the Valiant, put down in the boonies and managed to make some repairs. I've got wounded on board and request immediate clearance to land."
Douglas, who had been busy fighting a simulation of the battle of Marathon, materialized on Drake's screen. As usual the image he chose to present himself as was that of a stern looking man with longish hair, a prominent nose and a high collared coat.
"Yes?"
"We have a Pelican, call sign Charlie 217 requesting emergency landing. None of us have dealt with him before."
The AI took a fraction of a second to check the myriad of data stored within his considerable memory and gave a curt nod. "There was a unit designated as Charlie 217 on the 'Valiant'. Not having heard from 217 since we abandoned ship and not having received any information to the contrary, we assumed the ship was lost. Ask the pilot to provide his name, rank and serial number."
Drake nodded. "Sorry Charlie, but we need some information before we can clear you in. Please provide name, rank and serial number. Over."
The voice came back sounding increasingly frustrated. "This is first lieutenant Rick Hale, serial number 84658-28553-RH. Give us a break, we've been dodging Hoon'tak for days. Over."
Douglas nodded. "The data matches...but how would Hale know that Blue base even existed?"
"He could have picked up on our radio traffic." X offered.
"Maybe," The AI agreed. "But let's play it safe. I recommend to bring the base to full alert, notify the general and the Arbiter and send a reaction force to pad three. You'll need the crash team, the emergency medical team and some people from Intel all on deck. This 'Hale' should be debriefed before being allowed to mix with the base personnel."
Vasquez slapped the alarm button and put out the necessary calls. "Roger that."
Drake said into his mike. "You are cleared for pad three, repeat pad three, which will be illuminated two minutes from now. A medical team will meet your ship. Safe all weapons and cut power the moment you touch down. Over."
"No problem," Hale replied gratefully. Then a few minutes later. "I see your lights. We're coming in over."
Hale's Pov
Pilot Hale keyed his mike off and turned into his cockpit. Bathed in the green glow produced by the ship's instrument panel the man in the black suit looked all the more stern.
"It's a good thing you found us agent U." Hale said gratefully. "If you hadn't found us and repaired our ship my team and me would have been done for in a day or two." He turned back.
"Not a problem, I'm here to serve." Agent U responded from behind the pilot's shoulder. And with that U let loose a green thread over Hale's head, pulled the handles in opposite directions and buried the wire into the pilot's throat. Hale's eyes bulged, his hands clawed desperately at the garrote and his feet beat against the control pedals. He vaguely wondered why no one was investigating the commotion, unaware that the remaining soldiers had all been killed in a similar fashion by the squad of cloaked Hoon'tak Hunters aboard.
Wok'gagre's Pov
Wok' entered the cockpit where U had taken over the controls of the Pelican, the marine's dead body was pushed off to the side.
"All marines dead and accounted for. Good work U. The Hunters are ready for infiltration."
The Hunters on board all carried camouflage generators stolen off Sangheili soldiers, along with their weapons. Their job was to take as many landing pads as possible and hold them until six dropships loaded with Chasers, Stalkers and more Hunters landed on the mesa.
Douglas's Pov
Like most AIs Douglas had a pronounced tendency to spend more time thinking about what he didn't have rather than what he did and sensors were at the top of his list. The sad truth was that while Elle and her company had recovered a wealth of supplies from the 'Valiant', there had been insufficient time to strip the ship of the electronics that would have given the AI a real time, all weather picture of the surrounding air space. That meant he was totally reliant on the data provided by remote ground sensors which the patrols had planted here and there around the mesa's ten kilometer perimeter.
All of the feeds had been clear during the initial radio contact with Charlie 217, but now, as the Pelican flared in to land, the sensor in sector six started to deliver data. It claimed that six heavy duty heat signatures and one lighter one had just passed overhead, that whatever produced them was fairly loud and that they were inbound at a speed of approximately of 350 kph.
Douglas reacted with the kind of speed only a computer was capable of, but the response was too late to prevent Charlie 217 from touching down. Even as the AI made a series of strongly worded recommendations to his organic superiors, the Pelican's skids made contact with pad 3's surface, a number of nearly invisible Hunters thundered down the ramp and the men and woman of Blue base soon found themselves fighting for their lives.
Yes'kadan's Pov
One level down, locked in a room with three other Chasers, Yes'kadan heard the distant blare of alarms and thought he knew why. Wok' had been correct, the MIB agents known as Kay and Elle had recently frequented this place. 'Kadan knew this because he had seen the agents' more than six units before, triggered the transmission hidden inside his boot and thereby set the raid in motion.
That was the good news. The bad news was that Wok's quarry might very well have left the base during the intervening period of that time. If so then the mission was categorized as a failure, and the Chaser had little doubt as to who would receive the blame. But there was nothing 'Kadan could do but grip the crudely welded bars with his two fingered hands, listen to the distant sounds of battle and hope for the best.
At this point 'the best' would likely be a quick and painless death.
Lopez's Pov
All the members of the crash team, half the medics and a third of the reaction team were already dead by the time Lopez had rolled out of her rack, scrambled into her clothes and grabbed her personal weapons. She led a crowd up to the landing area to find that McKay was already leading a pitched battle.
Ionized particles seemed to stutter out of nowhere, pulse grenades materialized out of thin air and throats were slit by invisible knives. The landing party had been contained, but just barely and threatened to break out across the neighboring pads.
The Arbiter, Thel' Vadam was already there, naked from the waist up, shouting orders as he fired short bursts from a Covenant Carbine. They soon were joined by Zed, X and Kimbli, all of whom had weapons at the ready.
"Flood pad three with fuel! But keep it inside the containment area. Do it now!" Lopez shouted to the soldiers
It was a strange order, and civilians would have balked, but the soldiers reacted with unquestioning obedience and a Kig-Yar ran toward pad three refueling station. He flipped the safety out of the way and grabbed hold of the nozzle. The air seemed to shimmer in the floodlight off to the Kig-Yar's right and Kimbli unloaded a full clip into what looked to the others like empty air. A commando Hoon'tak screamed, seemed to strobe on and off as his camo generator took a direct hit and folded at the waist.
Undeterred and unaware of his close call with death, the Kig-Yar turned the handle of the fuel tank, gave the hand grip a healthy squeeze and sent a steady stream of liquid out onto the surface of pad three.
"Get back!" Lopez shouted and rolled a frag grenade in under Charlie 217's belly.
There was an explosion followed by a loud 'whump' as the fuel went up in flames and the Kig-Yar shut off the hose. The general effect turned those Hoon'tak who remained on the pad into shimmering torches, screaming dancing torches. The response was immediate as the Allies opened fire, put the flaming Hunters down and were then forced to turn their efforts to fire fighting. Charlie 217 was fully enveloped by that time shuddered as the fuel in one of her tanks blew. But there were other Pelicans to protect and while some had lifted off, others were still grounded.
Lopez turned to McKay, Zed, Thel' and Kimbli. "It's Showtime people." The general said as Douglas spoke into her ear. "This was little more than a warm up, no pun intended. The real assault force is only five minutes out. Six Hoon'tak dropships if Douglas has it right. They can't land here, so they'll put down on the valley bellow somewhere. Kimbli you assemble the snipers up here, Zed and X get to the control room and monitor the situation and McKay you get a team and keep fighting these fires. Thel' and me will take the valley."
They all nodded. "Yes sir." And all moved out, McKay towards the fires and Zed and X headed inside and Kimbli went to gather the snipers who weren't already out. Thel' was gathering his own troops and preparing for the next wave.
Lopez spotted private Lasky and waved him over. The noncom had a squad of Helljumpers in tow.
"Round up the rest of my company, tell them to get ready to handle an attack from the mesa. Let's give the bastards a warm reception."
Lasky tossed a glance at the raging fires and grinned at the Lopez's pun. "Yes ma'am!" He said and trotted away.
Out along the butte's irregular shaped rim, the commandeered turrets opened fire. Pulses of bright blue energy probed the surrounding blackness, found the first ship and cut the night into slices.
Kay's and Elle's Pov
What happened next wasn't clear, but could make a regular marine scream and put themselves out of action in a relatively short period of time. Kay, Elle and the seven remaining members of their party fired into what seemed like a tidal wave of Facehuggers and a pack of drone casted Xenomorphs, they backed away and resolved to keep moving. They were vulnerable even with their weapons and armor, especially from behind, they'd already lost two of their party from drones that dropped from the ceiling.
Ammo was a concern for them all, Elle knew that from experience, so rather than fire wildly she ordered each of them to aim, trying to pop as many Facehuggers as they could before ganging up on a drone, each firing a single shot.
The drones tried to swarm the small group but didn't quite have the numbers for it, something which Elle wanted to worry about considering the bodies they'd seen, but was too busy shooting. So the creatures rather than attack head on climbed over walls and ceilings trying to outmaneuver the remaining Allies. They could be handled by the guns, it was the Facehuggers that came in droves leaping from everywhere that were the real problem, it only took a single well placed bullet to put them down, but there were hundreds of them and were quickly eating their remaining ammo. If that wasn't bad enough the need to constantly watch every angle to prevent one from latching on was becoming increasingly difficult as more drones moved in.
Elle and Scar holstered their guns and quickly brought out their combi-staff and attempted to shrink the number of drones. They cleared a small path and shouted for the rest of the team.
Elle knew of a few strategies for hunting Xenomorphs, things to help even the odds no matter how small and they all made the difference.
First she kept her team running, firing as they went, stretching the Facehuggers thinner, forcing them to skitter from one end of the room to the other. They were numerous but not bright. As the others fired at the small creatures, Elle and Scar stayed at the front using their spears, shurikens and hunting skills to dispatch the drones in front.
The second tactic was to watch for breakouts, concentrations of the creatures where a well thrown grenade could destroy dozens of them at once. And the third was to keep switching back forth between guns, letting one soldier fire while the other reloaded so they maintained a constant rate of fire.
These strategies suddenly became even more critical as something big leaped out of the darkness. A Xenomorph, but larger than a drone, much larger. Nine feet tall on its hind legs, domed crested with four mandible like jaws and ripped with muscles, its tail short and stubby lacking the trademark blade. Elle new it wasn't a Yuatja cast because it was too large, had too few fingers and lacked the trademark dreadlocks. It was its hands that gave it away, two index fingers in between two thumb like appendages. So it was from a Sangheili, great, that was all they needed right now.
The Elite caste came charging and swinging at them with its powerful forearms.
In the first few moments Elle wondered how best to take down the beast when more of the horrible creatures appeared and hurled themselves forward. Not just ran, but vaulted into the air, as if hoping to crush the soldiers under their weight.
They were susceptible to bullets however, something for which they were all thankful for, although it often took fifteen or twenty rounds to put one of the large creatures down for good.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity, after all the drones and Facehuggers were dead and the floor was bathed in acid blood, two of the remaining Elite casts turned tail and ripped through a melting wall. This provided the party with an opportunity to escape.
The team found themselves on the upper gallery of a well-lit room. They could only assume this though do to the resign that had been attached to walls turning the inner structure of the room into hot and humid nest. There were more Xenomorphs within, strange new casts, Kig-Yar, Unngoy, Jee'Dangian and the classic Yuatja and Human casts. If the creatures were aware of their presence they didn't show it, instead every last one remained still, as if asleep on the walls in grooves where their bodies fit like twisted puzzle pieces.
Elle silently motioned them forward and they crept along the right hand wall to another hatch. Once there in a small channel between the previous chamber and the next they decided to pause for a brief rest. They reloaded all of their weapons and divided up the remaining ammunition equally before injecting their wake-up stims.
One of their Sangheili compatriots, Null'Leng, was mending a gash in his arm brought on by one of the Xeno drones with his medi-kit. "What are those monsters? And why did those behind us let us pass?"
Elle was helping a Yuatja with an injured ankle. "They're called Xenomorphs, they're a carnivorous form of bio-engineered animal that know only to do three things kill, eat and reproduce. As for why they let us pass, well they're not gonna' stop fresh meat from willingly entering their nest." She stood and gathered her weapon. "We should keep moving. We don't want them to become any more interested in us then they already are."
A short journey brought the team to a similar chamber, except the walls here did not hold resting xenos but instead the dead bodies of the captain's team, the floor was littered with eggs mostly empty but a few were still sealed shut, awaiting new hosts. Elle turned away horrified at seeing the bodies hung from the wall, and the memories they brought back. Images of R hung from the resign covered walls of Antarctic temple flashed through her mind. His last moments of life spent writhing in pain as he became host for the monsters.
Kay put a firm hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
She nodded. "I will be, but first we need to find a way out of this hell."
They stayed in the birthing chamber only long enough to collect the soldier's dog tags and scavenge some much needed ammo. Most of the remaining members of the missing captain's squad was here, the captain included.
The contents of the next room was not so thrilled to have company. A large Elite cast dropped from the ceiling into the group crushing Null'Leng under its weight and sending the rest across the room with a powerful swipe. Scar and Rtas' staggered before charging the xeno spear and sword out at the ready. The soldier cast was impaled through the chest and then to the wall with a crunch. As they drew back their weapons the creature crumpled to the ground leaving behind a trail of acid blood that began eating through the outer wall. The xeno growled and hissed as it tried to stand, but it was quickly bleeding out. With a last hateful snarl it launched a jet of acid at them from its mouth. One Yuatja was unfortunate to get catch the volatile liquid in the face and was soon dead. The five soldiers who were alive dodged and filled the Xenomorph with lead and plasma.
They had no time to mourn their lost comrades and quickly continued farther along the hallway. They soon came across two dead marines, they looked torn and ripped, their deaths caused by fighting the xenos rather than as hosts, proving that at least some of the squad had managed to get this far, which opened the possibility that more had escaped.
Dog tags retrieved they continued deeper into the nest through wide galleries and narrow corridors, past humming machinery and finally to a large vault door, the entrance to which was a small corridor filled with eggs and the still forms of multiple soldier casts.
Kay quickly scanned the corridor and chamber beyond, the results were negative. Nothing was moving inside, but that didn't mean that the room was empty.
When a Xenomorph lies perfectly still they didn't show on motion track, thermal or night vision. Their metallo-silica exoskeleton and low PH blood made them very difficult to detect, only with special equipment could they detect silicon molecules in the exoskeletons, but since none of them were prepared to handle a xeno infestation they lacked any of the proper equipment to handle the dangerous animals.
They checked their ammo once again before entering. The chamber was large and almost completely pitch black, the only light coming from a huge whirring machine that pumped out hot steam that slowly made its way out through the corridor and to the rest of the nest. Every inch of the room was covered with the alien's secretion. A large spire of the resign dripped a foul, musky smelling greenish jelly that collected in a small reservoir at the bottom where a trio of rather large eggs lay stewing in the concoction, two were sealed but one was just an empty husk. The rest of the floor was littered with smaller eggs, all except a small square of metal close to the steam machine, a small slime covered lift control panel stood close by.
Elle tried to shush her team but it was too late.
A Sangheili pointed to the lift. "Look!"
There were growls from both sides of the room, two large structures that at first they mistook for sub walls picked themselves, their heads emerging from behind the large shielded crests and their four legs lifted their thick bodies and carapace away from the resign wall onto the floor. As they locked onto the intruders they began advancing teeth bared and snarling, while at the same time being careful enough not to step on any eggs.
" 'atch out, Praetorians. Must be queen nearby." Scar whispered to them. " 'eir crests too tough shoot 'rough, aim for stomach and back."
As the party took aim and the Praetorians readied to attack when there was a resounding roar that shook the entire room.
The Allies looked toward to the large machine and came across a terrifying discovery. Everything above the gear box pumping out steam was not machinery but actually part of an enormous creature.
The huge head crest itself was at least eleven feet high but instead of being intricately ridged it was completely smooth. From the ground up the creature was at least thirty feet, in length from its crest to its multi bladed tail it was sixty five feet long, the creatures bulk took up most of room which was even larger than any of them at first noticed. It's legs and two sets of forearms were curled up underneath it as it hung by pillars of resign, a large ovipositor attached to the beast's abdomen circled from the back of the room forward where it constantly dipped to the ground to place an egg. This creature was twice the size of an average queen Xenomorph and its exoskeleton was a dark shade of muddy red, like river bed clay.
Laurel and Scar both gasped, taking a few careful steps back. They knew what this behemoth was.
A red matriarch. The red matriarchs were created by the Engineers as the alphas, the absolute rulers of their entire species, they controlled all of the lesser queens and hives across the entire galaxy. But the red matriarchs, all of them, were supposed to be located on the Xenomorph hive world, a planet on the edge of the universe that was not only quarantined but also in the late of the century had become a shield world, meaning that the planet had been encased by a planet sized shield that kept anything from entering or exiting the planet's atmosphere.
Elle guessed that long before the planet was closed off the Engineers must have guessed at their own demise and taken one off world so that the species would continue on.
The matriarch's head descended from behind its crest and it gave a threatening hiss at the group of soldiers. Rtas'Vadum and the other Sangheili raised their weapons at the ready, Elle, Scar and Kay quickly intervened grabbing the muzzle of their guns and pointing them down.
"Don't" Elle hissed. "If you attack the queen the entire nest will be after us." She watched the red matriarch's movements cautiously.
"Then how do we escape?" A Sangheili asked desperately.
Elle removed her Magnum pistol, aimed straight up and fire three precise burst into the ceiling. The red queen roared in rage and Praetorians growled and made to advance, but when Elle turned her gun to the eggs stewing in the green slime the matriarch hesitated. The xeno turned her sights to the Praetorians and gave a low hiss.
Slowly they bowed their heads and retreated, though they continued to glare at the group of soldiers from their spots on the walls.
The red queen turned her attention back to them, watching their movements carefully.
"Now, follow my steps slowly, any sudden movements will set the eggs off."
They went in a straight line each following in Elle's footsteps who herself followed in Scar's as he set a trail maneuvering with extreme caution around the eggs towards the lift pad, not taking their eyes off the matriarch.
Kay leaned forward to whisper to Elle, he wasn't sure if the highly inelegant animals could understand human speech but he wasn't taking any chances.
"Laurel we can't let this hive or the Matriarch live. They've already claimed the lives of most of the captain's squad and who knows how many Hoon'tak. If they get out or more likely already have gotten out we can't let them spread any farther. If they get off world, well I don't need to tell you the danger they pose."
Elle stared ahead grimly. "I know Kay and we're not going to let them live. Kay can you give me a scan of that machine below the Matriarch."
He nodded and as discreetly as possible pointed his scanner at the machine, a few seconds later the results were back. "The machine is the venting mechanism of an RLF class nuclear powered generator that powers this entire installation. You have a plan."
"Blow this place to hell."
Kay nodded, understanding and he turned and ordered everyone to pass up their remaining grenades.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity they made it to the lift, as Kay began accessing the lift's terminal, Scar, Rtas' and the remainder of the team went to stand on the pad and Elle began setting the timers on the grenades and setting them close to the reactor vent. All the while the queen was still watching them closely.
The console went green and the lift whirred to life. The red queen gave hissed and the eggs around the lift pad split and opened, the Facehuggers within awakening and sensing the carbon dioxide from their soon to be hosts.
"Kay now!" Elle shouted, shooting the eggs.
Kay hit the activation button and the lift began descending rapidly. The queen screeched in rage and the Praetorians leaped from the wall and charged. Both Elle and Kay leaped for the pad. As the large aliens charged their head crests banged against the lift channel, too wide and tall for either of them to enter.
"I set the grenades to go off in ten minutes. That should hopefully give us enough time to get out of here."
After three minutes the lift came to a stop in a long underground tunnel lighted by fixtures in the ceiling. A good portion of the tunnel was covered in the secreted resign that marked the Xenomorph's nest, in the midst of it all were slimy tracks, both Xenomorph and human tracks.
"Looks like some of the squad did make it out after all."
That was good news, but for right now it was time to run.