Chapter 25

Author's note: I just wanted to thank all of my readers for their continued interest and support. I've got 3,100+ views and it keeps on climbing. You guys are awesome!

~Sharon's POV~

Pete, the hive and I waited until nightfall before we began our rescue operation. The soldiers from the day changed their shifts, and now there are half as many armed men.

Seems like luck is on our side, at least for now.

Pete, Hariel and I decide to split our force into two groups that will circle around the soldiers and meet up again on the other side of the boat.

Even with motion trackers, the soldiers shouldn't pay much attention to them since they'll disregard our movement as the moving waves.

Now that we safely reach the other side, I pay more attention to the boat. The part of it that's exposed to the surface gives it the appearance of a medium-sized boat, but I see an isolated section of it that goes down into the water.

It reminds me of Bioshock, and has me wondering if there's perhaps an underwater base.

One small Drone quickly climbed up the tall ship, and went onto the deck.

I hold my breath as I wait for any sort of reaction from the soldiers, yet they remain quiet.

After a tense couple of minutes, the Drone leans over the railing and hisses quietly. "Clear," she states.

Without a second thought, Pete and I climb onto two Warriors, and the entire hive force climbs up carefully to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

When we reach the top deck, Pete and I stand on our own, and look through the clear part of the door that leads inside of the ship. I narrow my eyes to penetrate the darkness when abruptly my vision switched to a white fuzz and everything inside became as clear as day.

Accidently, I back up into Pete who holds onto my waist to prevent me from falling.

He grunts as he takes in my weight, and then pushes me back to an upright position. "Sharon, are you alright?" He asks in concern.

I shake my head to get a hold of myself. "Sorry Pete. It's just that my vision has somehow gone from normal to night vision," I answer as I turn around to face him.

It's Pete's turn to freak out for his eyes widen almost comically, and he takes a step back. "Sharon, your eyes…." He trails off.

I look at him in confusion. "What's wrong with them?" I asked almost scared.

Pete lets out a breath, and his posture slightly relaxes. "Your eyes are white; kind of like that Storm chick from the X-men."

I look at him horrified, and then look back at the glass covering to look at my reflection.

I can't tell any difference because of the new vision, but I believe Pete. He's not the type of person to purposely joke about matters like this.

Still, that fact creeps me out a bit.

I turn to look behind me when Hariel gently places a clawed hand on my shoulder. "You have acquired our sight," he states. "It changes automatically, depending on the amount of light in the environment."

A frown plasters itself on my face. "So, I'll have the freaky white eyes every time my vision switches to see in the dark?" I ask.

Hariel surprises me by shrugging; never has he performed a human gesture. "I do not know. Why does this bother you so much?"

I sigh, and shake my head in a gesture to shrug off the question. "It's a human thing I suppose. Come on, we've got a mission to complete."

Understanding the message, Hariel nods and expertly removes the door from its hinges. He steps aside to allow me to go through first before he comes in himself, followed by Pete and the other xenomorphs.

We walk down the dark hallway with me in the lead, confidently guiding the group. We arrive at a crossway where two other hallways meet up, and the last part is an open space that leads to an armored elevator. Bingo.

I gesture the group to move swiftly, and we arrive at the elevator. There's an access pad on the side, along with an alarm bell on the wall by the elevator.

For the first time since we started, I begin to feel nervous about our chance of success.

I inhale deeply to calm my nerves, and then glance over at Pete. "I don't suppose you know how to bypass the security measures this thing has?"

The dark-haired man shakes his head, as I suspected. "Sorry Sharon; I'm smart, but not that smart."

I nod, and then look over at Hariel. "This is the only known way of getting in. Once I cut the wirings, the alarm will go off a few minutes afterwards, depending on how long it takes for the electricians to realize that their elevator has been sabotaged. We'll have to hurry." I tell him.

The Raven doesn't speak as he processes the given information.

He then nods and once again surprises me by grinning. "This would not have been exciting if the humans remained oblivious to our intentions," he comments.

I let out a short laugh, but immediately silence myself. I'll be damned if we have to abandon the mission because of an outburst from me.

I let out a long exhale and press one of Hariel's clawed finger along the wiring. I look up at him, and he nods in encouragement. I gulp before I slash the wirings with Hariel's claw.

Some sparks fly out, but nothing else happened. The elevator door opens to reveal a wide space that looks like it can hold all of us comfortably.

I wipe the sweat forming on my forehead, and offer a small smile to Hariel. "Let's get going," I say.

I step inside, and all my companions follow my lead.

I press the button that's labelled as the last floor, and the elevator doors close. It feels like our fate was sealed that exact moment. What scares me is that I have no idea what to expect when we reach the bottom.

The sensation of going down fills me as the elevator descends slowly. The atmosphere is a bit awkward as Pete and I have no idea what to say, and the xenomorphs seem to not know what to do.

I snort quietly at a random thought that pops into my mind. I can just imagine a comedian joking about this situation, starting off with: "so two humans get into an elevator with a bunch of xenos."

The elevator ride goes on for a few minutes, and I'm wondering just how far deep this place we're going to is.

At last, the motion stops, and the elevator doors open without any incident.

I momentarily stand still like an idiot, before I give myself a mental slap and step forward cautiously. Pete walks behind me, his shotgun being pointed in every direction.

I aim my own gun in front of me as I step forwards carefully like a person would when on extremely thin ice.

Hariel walks up to me, and stretches his head upwards as he sniffs the air.

I look at him inquisitively. "What is it?" I ask.

"I sense the presence of your other companions," Hariel comments. "Would you like for them to be brought to you before we begin?"

"Go get them, but keep them isolated. That way, they won't get caught in the conflict should this whole thing go sideways," I reply. "Keep them safe though; Parsi and Esme are our friends."

Hariel nods. "Consider it done," he says before he, along with the same Drone who gave us the all clear back on the boat, venture off to find my friends.

Pete steps at my side, and I gesture with my head to keep on moving.

We do so as quietly as possible; that's not hard at all for the xenos who climb onto the ceiling in all directions to get better views.

Eventually, we arrive at one unlocked door and hurriedly step inside when we hear multiple footsteps our way. I order the xenos to disarm any soldiers they come across and incapacitate them harmlessly.

Perhaps with the show of mercy, the soldiers will realize that the boss they work for is insane, and will let us go freely. A girl can dream.

Pete keeps watch by the door while I explore the paper littered room.

There are several powered off monitors with only one still on closest to the door.

Curious, I walk over to it and look at the screen.

There's a file that's still open, so I click it and a voice recording comes on. "This is Dr. Richard Amari, employee ID 55617. We have just received a new specimen late last night. This queen is very different from the others we have seen; starting off with physical traits, subject 13 lacks the secondary set of arms common in queens. Her size is also unusually small, although it could be due to her young age. The detail that strikes me the most is her infertility; I assumed that it was the result of a fight gone badly, but looking at the genetic results, there are traces of human DNA that appear to be actively blocking her reproductive capabilities. This is incredible, for I've never seen anything like subject 13. Perhaps she is the one that Mr. Weyland has been looking for; a unique, and most importantly, controllable queen who will lead her hive to dominate the others and put them under our control." There is a slight pause as an audible exhale is heard. "The neutron pulse is managing to prevent subject 13 from communicating with her hive, but I wouldn't be surprised if her Warriors come in to try to rescue her. As such, she will be transferred to Mr. Weyland's private labs at 05:00 hours. End recording."

I'm barely able to take in the information when the alarm goes off.

I curse loudly, and whip my head to face Pete. "We've got to go. Alannah is no longer here," I say.

Pete grits his teeth in frustration, and the sole Warrior with us hisses in anger.

I march past both of my companions and press my back against the wall by the door as shouting passes by.

I curse again. "This is all going to hell," I comment.