Chapter 21: calm before the storm.

I was enjoying the hot weather next to the lake when a low raw could be heard from the distance. At first, I thought it was just a regular ship just passing by but as it got close and close it became clear that it was military and that meant problems. I dashed to the nearest tree in an attempt to hide from its gaze. It flew by circling around the area a couple of times before flying back south were It disappeared over the horizon. I hoped to god it didn't spot me or anymore of my kind but knowing how life is it probably did which meant problems and that meant we needed to prepare.

I ran back to the hive ordering drones to start making bottle neck intervals that would limit their movement as well as create excellent ambush points. I ordered warriors to start creating tunnels so we could get around unnoticed as well as loop around so we would be able to surround them in a matter of seconds.

I waited for the next few days for something to happen. We were ready for any sort of attack so what would they do?

I was walking around my hive when I noticed a drone. At first, I would of just past it without a second thought because it pheromone signature was nothing special, it made the same sounds as a drone hell, it would even move like us but still something was off. I Warley approached it letting out a sharp, aggressive, hiss to see how it would respond. It just backed up a little, letting out its own submissive hiss.

"what are you doing?" I tried to question it but it was as if I was talking to a brick wall "what is your name?" no response. I grabbed it by the neck watching it squirm in a pathetic attempt to escape. I ripped off it head only to be spread with the milky blood of a synthetic! Bits of plastic and wires seemed to sway back and forth from it head the made low synthetic moans "DAM IT!" I growled as I took this peace of trash out of the hive and dumping it at the entrance.

I ordered my hive to check every member making sure they weren't a bucket of bolts. we found three more before we were sure that we were safe. We tared them apart before dumping them at the entrance like the first one. I looked around the hive, checking every nook and cranny at least hoping to at least find something but no, nothing, nada. What the hell were they doing? A sense of dread swept my thoughts as I kept waiting for something to happen.

A'lisasss approached me slowly, she didn't have her play full vibe to her which put me on edge even more.

"I think I spotted one of these androids?"

"where!" I growled at her.

"when you were coming back from your journey, I saw this warrior and…" she paused "at first it just seemed to watch me so I decided to try and teas it just assuming it was interested in me but I got no response. I tried to call out to it but as I approached it just left!" her voices was filled with a worry.

I wrapped my arms around her to try and reassure her that everything was going to be ok "don't worry, it probably just watching a behaviour or something."

"what are we going to do when they come?" she asked.

"well if there aggressive then we will be but if they just want to talk which I highly dote then I will give them a warning to leave us alone." I simply replied.

I was tending to the queen when A'lisasss came dashing towards us.

"twelfth humans have been spotted entering the hive!" she hissed in a worried manner.

"are they acting hostile?" I questioned hopping down from the queens back ready to confront them.

"no but one of them seems to be calling you."

I looked into the mind of a warrior that was almost completely hidden from site. All of them were heavily armed but only one was without a gun and that was Manfred.

"Livis!" he would call over and over as they went deeper into the hive.

Some of the marines began to whisper to each other as they couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. There flash light seemed to dart from left to right as if they were waiting for one of us to emerge from the thick vail of the dark only to be met with more darkness.

"who farted?" one of the marines said whipping his nose in a vain attempt to dull the smell.

"knock it off Dutch." The one I assumed was in charge snapped at him. He brings up a small pad and seemed to look at some sort of map "I am assuming Livis will be in this large chamber up ahead. We just need to fit through this bottle neck."

"another one? Something telling me they want to be left alone." One of the marines almost whimpered from paranoia.

I felt the reassuring hand of the queen on my back as the marines all clambered through.

"o shit, I say we GTFO before we piss of big mama." Duke said shaken by her visage. Before anyone could reply Manfred spotted me.

"Livis!" he beckoned to me.

"what the hell are you doing?" a marine snapped at him. He tried to pull Manfred back but he just shook him of and continues to walk towards us.

"you shouldn't be here!" I growled at him.

"Livis please! Come with us."

"why? So, Kroger can experiment on me?"

"I would never let that happen now please just come with me and we can help you." His pleading seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

"I don't need your help now leave!" I turned my back to him, changing my attention back to the queen Who just seemed to watch this pathetic creature beg and plead.

"Livis please…" he paused for a second as if digging into an old wound "before your mother died, she made me promise to protect you, to make sure that you had a normal life."

"this is a normal life for me! With my hive where I belong."

"Liv-"

"ITS L'IVIESSS! HOW COME KROGER OF ALL PEOPLE CAN SAY IT CORRECRLY BUT YOU CAN'T?" I hissed at him.

He didn't respond.

"please Manfred, this is where he belongs now would you kindly leave my hive. I have some eggs that will need hosts soon and right now you and the others seem suitable." A'mistoesss cold heartedly hissed to him.

His facial expression was one of shock and awe "you speak?"

"why wouldn't I? you think were just some feral beasts with absolutely no intelligence?" she questioned him clearly annoyed by his assumption. Manfred didn't respond to her question out of fear of having the entire hive swarm to their location "leave now, you have already medalled with are species enough!"

He froze the for a second before finally turning back to the marines who seemed to be fascinated by what they saw.

"are we goanna have to switch to plan B?" a marine asked.

"looks like it. Dutch, Garret and Burk Get Manfred out." The four of them left the chamber leaving the rest of the marines turned around and looked dead at me "sorry abought this."

Before I could ask what, he meant I felt a surge of pain as it felt like my hearing was being blasted by thousands of explosions. I collapsed to the ground as my mind struggled to proses what was happening. I tried to call for the queen help but whatever they were using seemed to be paralyzing her as well as R'itleyesss. The only thing she could do what let out a silent cry as well as realise something. As soon as it is my nose, I felt my instincts screaming 'ABANDON REASON! KNOW ONLY DEATH!' I pulled myself from the ground as one of the marines tried to shoot me with the net gun. I side stepped it before lunging straight form him. His last facial expression was one of pure shock and surprise.

"I thought the sound cannon was meant to paralyze him? Its doing fuck all!"

"it's doing something alright, it's called pissing him off!"

"pull bac-"

Before Adam could finish his last order, he would utter my tail cut deep into his throat casing one coherent sentences to turn into a gargled mess. He collapsed to the ground dropping the sound cannon from his hand, finally releasing the hive from its grip.

"o shit!" a marine shouted as R'itleyesss slammed his inner jaw striate into his skull, spraying what was left of his brains across the flaw.

"we got to get the fuck out of here now!"

They started to fall back but we were able to slowly pick them off one by one killing some and grabbing others to be hosts. The last one was filled with a sense of hope as she ran towards the glimmer of hope that beckoned her with its southing lights. Her mind kept repeating the same few words over and over I'M GOING TO MAKE IT! I let her have her fun before I commanded A'lisasss to jump down in front of her. she let out a confused scream as she fell backwords from being forcefully shoved.

"NO PLEASE DON'T KILL ME PLEASE!" she bellowed as she franticly crawled backwords until she bumped into my knees. I grabbed her by the shoulders and pressed the bladed tip of my tail against her back. Thick Strems of drool seemed to flow down my vicious maw, running down her shoulder to her chest before forming a puddle on the flaw "don't kill me." She whimpered once more.

"don't worry, I won't kill you." I chuckled mockingly.

A'lisasss grabbed her leg and dragged her back to the queen's chamber where she forced the marines head to hang over one of the queen's newest eggs. The flaps slowly opened and before she could scream her fears the face hugger had already latched on and forcefully shoved it ovipositor down her throat. We quickly placed her body against the wall before smothering it in resin.

I turned to A'lisasss and lovingly pulled her close. I brushed my hand against her domed head before nuzzling her with my chin.

"well today was eventful." I said jokingly.

After their massacre it seemed the hive was filled the pleasant scent of fear which me and my kind revelled in. we would normally try to get as much fear out of something before finally killing it. It's probably what gave us an almost sadistic nature to begin with.

Manfred watched the video unable to believe how fast thing went south. He watched how Livis proceeded to murder the marines but it wasn't that, that bothered him it was the fact that the queen had spoken to him telepathically. Did that mean they could read his mind? could they communicate with anyone? What if they could only now fully understand what they were thinking because of Livis? does that mean they would understand and react to their plans before they had even explained them? All of these questions seemed to trouble him and he probably wouldn't receive any answers any time soon.

Kroger stepped into his quarters with his signature smile across his face.

"so, what do you think?" he questioned "is he still the L'iviesss you were after or is it some sick manifestation?"

"we should have stopped his contact with them the moment you first told me abought him visiting that hive."

"that would be ill advised for you see if xeno is separated from a hive and held in captivity then they will slowly die."

Manfred paused in thought not sure whether to tell him that the queen spoke to him "that queen spoke to me."

Kroger stared at him for a second looking for the tell tail signs of someone pulling his leg but no, he was completely telling the truth "what did she say to you?"

"she told me to leave her and her hive alone as well as Livis before threatening me."

Kroger seemed to pause for a moment before finally deciding to tell him his theory "you know when she first told me that the king was trying to communicate with her, I just laughed assuming she was watching too many movies or just have a nightmare the xenomorphs seem to produce but when she was finally able to prove it to me, I was fascinated by it. Ideas ran through my mind as we began to run more test. At first it completely baffled me how come we could communicate with him but no one else? And that's when it hits me! Something to do with are brains, I looked into it deeper and found out that are family's brain waves and chemistry were compatible with the xeno's! we were the one that could bridge the gap! I decide to look into the group of people who started to worship the xenomorphs and I found that they were similar, they either had the correct brain waves but chemistry was off or it was the other way around." As Kroger explained this to him his almost sadistic nature was gone with only a pure scientific mystic to his voice. "that's why I'm so interested in studying L'iviesss. So, we can fully bridge the gap as well as truly understand their alien ways."

Manfred was interested in what Kroger was telling him but still didn't trust him with Livis "how come you can say it properly?"

"his father taught me. The king." He paused for a moment "you know a lot of the recent test have been showing him taking a lot of attributes of a king, even his once free and wild hear seems to be forming into more of a king crest. Even looks like he's starting to get the two-extra tales on his back, look you can seem them right there." He paused the video and placed his fingers were Manfred could see the two extra spikes starting to take shape on his back.

"what is the point of a king?" Manfred asked.

"well you see a king act like a royal guard and is always the most dominant male of the hive who normally gets exclusive breeding right with the queen."

"can't a queen just produce eggs without the need for a male?"

"yes, but when a queen mates with a king it seems to produce much more strong broods." He pulled out a pad from his pocket and showed him a picture of two warriors you see the spikes running along the top if the head as well as the much more well-built frame. they are much stronger and more durable than a regular warrior. I think after a month or two they end up malting into a stage that is closer to a Pretorian but not quite. either the king or queen can choose whether they are worth or not by putting them under a test that will send the entire hive after it. If they survive then they get to become praetorians but if they fail then they simply die."

Manfred couldn't help but feel fascinated by what he was told.

"the other purpose of a king is to lead his special warriors and help take stress of the queen so she can focus on laying eggs." He looked at his watch "well I need to go speak with some of the higher up so if you don't mind, I will be off." Kroger left the room leaving Manfred to his thought.