Chronicle of the Guardian: Chaos Factor

By THE Xenomorph

I own only the character of Vile, Catlina Flores, the Hybrids and the Scions

Star Trek Voyager is © Paramount

Aliens vs Predator is © Fox

No Good Deed

Six months is a long time to miss one's home, one's friends and crew. Six months is a long time to grow bitter and to possibly find happiness again. By the time the last days rolled around I had begun to wonder if I should go home. I was in fact sitting in the kitchen with Simon, River, Kaylee and Jayne all playing a board game. Something about buying properties. Kaylee was at the time trying to convince Simon to go easy on her.

"Don't listen she's got evil plans for those hotels." River hissed.

"I'd listen to Moon-girl." Jayne nodded. "Little Kaylee ain't 'xactly playin' fair..." His glance rolled over me while I was picking at my food, a roast lamb haunch that Book had graciously bought and cooked up for me after a recent depressive spout.

"Don't." River warned from nowhere. "He's thinking of the good times. You'll make him angry."

"Good times, you mean from when he didn't look like a bug?" Jayne snorted.

I flung my fork with what most considered amazing speed and accuracy, nailing the area right next to Jayne's hand. I cursed when I saw it had missed.

"Less power, more arc." River said, then to Jayne. "You're lucky, would have broken his promise to the Captain."

I curled my lips in a nasty grin. "River you say the nicest things sometimes."

"Broken puppies have to stick together." She smiled sweetly back then looked to Kaylee. "She's planning more hotels."

"Stop cheatin' Riv." Kaylee giggle. "You like the lamp Robbie?" She had taken to the nickname immediately after I had actually come to see her in her engine room. I couldn't make her stop and honestly she was one of the few I didn't want to.

"You remind him of the birdie." River said. She had a habit of informing people of the most cryptic things.

I had decoded a few nicknames and titles she used for people. "Birdie" was Robin, I was still conflicted on her, but she was my twin and I missed her at the core. "Man of Mercy" was Captain Mercer I think, though I couldn't grasp why. "Best Friend" I had to ask her, was the Doctor, she said it was because he didn't have a name and that was sad, but the title of Best Friend was a happy one. "Shy Kitty" was of course 'Lina and "Dìdì" was Niall as I found out it meant little brother. Everything else was a mystery or something I did not want to think about.

"What's the birdie?" Kaylee asked. I was silent and for a moment a look of anger passed from me to River. She merely nodded to Kaylee.

"My sister." I said softly. "She's become something of an enemy now."

"I'm sorry." Kaylee looked horrified.

"No don't be." I said with a weak smile. "You remind of her before that."

"The good times." River smiled.

"Don't loose hope." Simon said, "I got River out of the Alliance, I'm sure you can bring her back to you."

River looked sad for a moment, then looked to a corner, smiled and nodded.

"See even River agrees." Jayne said, one of the few times he didn't direct negativity towards me. We had come to an understanding, we didn't go after each others family and we hated the people who messed with River's head. We agreed on those things and pretty much those things. "Unless she was smilin' at a ghost or somethin'."

"Something." River smiled devilishly. Then to me, "He said to remember the message and that your future is as unwritten as it gets."

I froze for a moment, then remembered what Death had told me. I felt the back of my neck itch and Jayne's eyes went wide. He too had discovered the connection to the back of my neck itching and the ratio of bad things occurring.

"Please tell me you're shittin' me." Jayne said. "Last time you did that we got Ko'd in our own damn ship."

"You didn't seem to mind staying alive." I grinned at him.

"I didn't." He snorted. "Just the damn cleanup of those fucks. Didn't make'em suffer enough."

"Only one needed to suffer." I sniffed as I peeled a part of the lamb.

"No one needs to suffer Robert." Book said as he entered. "But we've had that discussion." He noticed the game. "Who's winning?"

"Kaylee." I snorted. She keeps giving Simon puppy dog eyes." I said mockingly. River laughed while Kaylee blushed.

"She does have them wiles sometimes." Mal said as he entered, less in Captain mode more in man searching for food. I held up a strip of the lamb for him. He nodded after taking an appreciating glance and took it. "Preacher made it?" I nodded. "As always Book, you are always welcome in this kitchen."

"The hedgehog?" River tilted her head quizzically.

"Voyager's cook and 'morale officer'." I smiled. "Not always the best cook, but he tries."

"His clothes are as untrustworthy as the Preacher Man's hair." River stared at me.

"I'd agree to that." I nodded with a small laugh.

"Really now..." Book even smiled. "A good friend of yours I take it?"

"Neelix was among the best and the first." I smiled.

"You ain't mentioned him before, just your girl and that Cap'n of yours." Jayne smirked.

I stayed quiet.

"Man doesn't have to share a thing with us he don't want to Jayne." Mal said, a slight bit of his captain tone creeping in.

"Aw hell, didn't mean nothin' just glad to hear he actually has a friend." Jayne smirked.

"He was taken from his crew." Simon rolled his eyes at Jayne. He tended to try to defend me when there was no need. He had a bit of guardian in him, he just needed to learn to spot when it was needed.

"And not all of them were friends." I smiled. "More like a family."

"Hell, it's a fool who don't know his family's his crew." Mal smiled at me as he picked up an apple from a recent pick up. "Never did take you for a fool."

"He's the biggest." River smiled.

"You're a brat." Simon sighed.

"She's not wrong though." I said staring at my meat. "Family is crew."

"Family isn't always blood." Inara walked in and took a seat next to me at the table. "You knew that, even if you didn't admit it to yourself."

I gave a weak smile. In the months I had been here Inara Sera had quickly dissected more than a few of my troubles. She proved to be a reliable councilor and amateur therapist. I had taken more than a few hours of hers and Book's with long philosophical conversations. We would occasionally drive Mal to screaming fits.

The night passed, as the had begun to do so with a regular interval. Food was passed around, Wash would check the scopes and instruments and eventually they would all go to bed. In the night cycle of Serenity I was allowed free reign, but I always just stayed on the bridge, vigilant and watchful. This night though, I waited. This night someone was going to meet his end at my claws.

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Jubal Early sneered as he attached his small ship to Serenity, this time though he made sure to seal the door properly. Only hacking it or ripping it off would remove it. He then crept into the ship through it's airlock and just like before it was all to easy. They hadn't learned. He took off his helmet and felt the scars on his face, he had been extraordinarily lucky and gotten picked up. Unfortunately it was by some cons and they knew him. He killed them and took their ship, but not before they got their own blows in. now he was here to repay that to Serenity and her crew.

As he exited the air lock into the ship proper, he could have sworn he heard a hiss and a growl. He dismissed it though, the ship was old and made odd sounds. It wasn't until he heard the footsteps behind him that he realized he probably shouldn't have done that. He spun with his weapon to face... nothing.

Then a scraping sound from down the hall. Something on metal, but not metal itself. Had they gotten a dog or cat or something to guard the place at night? Maybe they did learn. He made sure to proceed quieter and to ready his weapon at all times. He came to the stairs to the quarters he knew belonged to the man that claimed to be a priest. He put a device on the door and pressed a button.

"You ain't getting' out till I say so old man." Early smirked to himself.

Something clanged behind him. He spun and saw movement low to the ground. It was big, likely a wild cat of some sort.

"Oh I see you kitty." He smiled. "You know they called me a lion the last time I was on board."

Silence.

He crept around a corner as he saw what looked like a tail disappear around it.

"Come on out kitty. I got a nice surprise for you!" He whispered as he came around and saw nothing. He backed up and turned to check behind him. There was nothing. "We are not playing hide and seek I've seen to many horror vids to fall for that."

It was at that moment something heavy fell onto him from above.

"Jubal Early." A voice hissed. "There's someone who wants to meet you." The voice flipped him over and he saw a monster. Something twisted with the head of a man and it spoke again. "He won't be cheated twice and for you. I'll make the arrangements myself." Early felt a large claw slam into his chest, pierce the skin and a claw or two hook behind a rib. Then it squeezed. Early didn't scream he wouldn't alert the crew to his presence. Instead the took his weapon and fired at the shoulder of the beast.

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I had only been told the story of Jubal Early once by Jayne. The man had crept aboard to take River as a bounty. He threatened to rape Kaylee and brutalized the crew. The name was already partially familiar to me, but the end of the story told me exactly who he was. He cheated death and death and made a request of me to pass a message. I was willing to do a little more in this case.

I had him pinned and was about to take a slow sadistic pleasure in his death when he fired a laser round through my shoulder. No noise was made and it burnt straight through. It was also my bad shoulder. Early had made the last mistake of his life. He scrambled to his feet as I released him and leveled the weapon at my head. He never saw my tail coming. It pierced his back, right in the spine. He dropped the laser weapon and fell to his knees. He looked up at me confused.

"Lion you mat be, but I am Cerberus and you will not pass these gates of heaven." I raked a claw across his, face, not enough to kill him, but enough to let him suffer as the acidic venom slowly dissolved his nervous system. It was funny though, he seemed to make a point of not screaming or making any noise. Even as the light faded from his eyes he refused to admit any pain. Then again, he probably wasn't human enough to feel it.

I took his body to the air lock and made sure it was a body. Then I sent it the way of garbage while in space. I had after all been told to do so. Then I made my way to the med-bay and used what I could of Simon's gear to treat my arm. When it was all over I removed the locking device on Book's door and took up my normal vigil on the bridge.

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"The hell is that?" Jayne asked as he walked into the kitchen where early had shot me through the shoulder. It had left a mark on the inner hull. A large mark.

"Cerberus breathes fire." River smiled.

"I don't think so." Mal said as he looked to me.

"We had a visitor." I said it flatly. "One Mr. Early. I was saddened to inform him that the hours were to late for visitors."

"I suspect he was mighty upset." Mal asked, trying to mask his anger.

"Well he didn't express anything to me." I smiled. "He did however have to leave his vehicle behind."

"Shiny." Kaylee said as she walked in. "Who left what?"

"Early survived." Jayne sneered. "Then he met our friendly guard nightmare."

Kaylee went pale. "He ain't coming back is he?"

"Kaylee, unless a man can survive a a fight with me and and space walk without a suit, I think he's gone." I nodded to my tail where the barb was regrowing.

"That's a stinger?" She asked, completely forgetting about Early.

"Yes." Simon said as he too joined the group for breakfast. "It delivers an acidic venom, correct?" He asked me.

"It paralyzes the prey and dissolves the nervous system." I explained.

"Yikes." Kaylee said with an impressed whistle. "Well thank you Robbie. You're my hero."

"It was all a pleasure on my part." I grinned.

"Now that is spooky." Jayne smirked. "Can't say I disagree though. Best not tell Book."

"I already spoke with Robert about it." Book said as he popped up from behind the kitchen counter. He had been searching for some spices. "And while I am adverse to murder, I am pleased that we were all spared a gruesome and prolonged death."

I nodded to Book with a smile. "God doesn't say you can't defend yourself with lethal force. Just not use it without provocation."

"Or not in his name." River smirked. Book raised and eyebrow, I glared.

"You really are a brat." I snorted.

"You found the last pieces." She smiled back. "Time to fix it."

"Yeah." I said as I put the broken remains of both Early's suit and his laser weapon on the table. "Time to make the way home."

"Well that's good!" Kaylee smiled as Inara and Zoe entered. "Guys, he can go home soon."

"That's wonderful." Inara said. "But why is there a massive blood stain in the cargo hold?"

"We had a guest." I smiled. "Be glad you weren't disturbed."

"Early bird got eaten by the guard dog." Jayne said with a large smile. We all looked. "I can do the weird talkin' too." He said it with such a grin of confidence and the look on River's face was so horrified it was hilarious. Most of use were laughing.

"I will pay you in warnings of horrible things to come if you never say something like that again." River was staring at Jayne.

"How many?" Jayne asked.

"We'll negotiate later." River then turned back to looking at her cup of tea that Simon had given her.

"By which..." Mal began, "We now have for real confirmation the Jubal Early is dead."

"Well." Inara blinked. "I'm relieved." Then she looked to me. "Could you at least have cleaned up?"

"Could have, was really tired after being shot though." I said as I stood to go to my sleeping hole.

"Fair enough." Inara sighed. "At least that's one horrific worry we don't have any more."

"I better work on this thing. Lots of small pieces and its still gonna take sometime." I sighed, remembering the fuel source a ridiculous rarity out here.

"Grape juice?" River tilted her head, something I couldn't tell if she was mimicking or if it was a trait we just shared.

"Yeah..." I sighed as I made my way to the hold that had become my little room. It was time to work on making my way home. It just didn't feel right at the time though. I pulled my stuff out and began to move the pieces around on the floor, using the scans that Mercer had provided and my memory of the ones Batman had shown me I began to slowly sort out and connect the dots. It was going to be a rough build and it wouldn't look anything like it once had, but I would get it working for just the one portal I needed.

"Mind if I make sure you closed everything properly?" Simon asked as he and River joined me. I rolled my head to look at him, he had discovered early on I wouldn't let him treat me if he didn't ask.

"Warn me if you're gonna get close to a nerve. Bad history with this shoulder." I said with a rumble

"Can I help put the puzzle together?" River asked as she sat across from me.

"Sure, could use your tiny fingers." I smiled.

"Yours are a bit fat." She nodded with an unamused look before a grin broke out on her face.

We spent a few hours more piecing the inner workings together. I only really needed to attach the fuel pump and gauge and we would be good. For his part Simon had really just watched me and my shoulder, making sure it didn't rotate or flex wrong. He seemed happy after a few minutes.

I held up the device and smiled at River. A sad look crossed her face and even Simon caught it.

"What's wrong?" Simon carefully approached her.

"End of the road." River frowned. "The Wild Coyote said to trust your gut."

"What?" I asked. "Wild..." It took me a moment. "Chaos?" She nodded.

"What does it mean?" Simon asked.

"Something bad is coming." I said, my neck began to itch. I didn't wast my time, Chaos had sent me a message and he had started to show something of a resemblance to humanity and my gut told me to trust him and to get moving. I just didn't know where.

"Oh..." Wash's voice boomed on the comms. "Ladies and gentlemen we have unfriendly company inbound. We're gonna make..." The ship shook as something rocked us to the side.

I knew where to go as the device tried to escape my hands and nearly landed near the engine room. An idea formed in my head, Serenity could never fight back, she had always run, but whoever was after her was nearing a target lock. She had to disappear.

"Kaylee!" I shouted as I made my way in. She was busy wiping a streak of blood out of her eyes, she had been rocked into a wall.

"I'm fine!" She shouted. "We gotta..."

"I need to get this on your engine!" I said as something began to hiss.

"What is that?" Kaylee looked horrified.

"My key home." I looked at it.

"Robbie..." She looked terrified. "We can't..." We shook again and she was thrown hard against a wall and went limp.

I hit the comm. "Simon, Kaylee needs you in the engine room! She's out!"

"On my way!" He shouted into the comm nearest him.

I began to quickly work at taking the electrical currents and wiring them into the device. Soon Simon and River came in. Simon paid little attention to me but River just stared.

"You're not what you think you are." She smiled. "You're Cerberus, you are the guardian."

"I'm so sorry." I said as I bound the last of the wires together.

"What's going on?" Wash called back to the engine room. "I lost power for a mom..." He went silent for a moment.

"Stracker what the hell did you do?" Reynolds shouted into his comm. "Why is my ship glowing blue?"

"I'm sorry Mal." I sobbed. "I can't let you all die."

"What did you do?!" He shouted.

Then silence as I felt myself be pulled and tugged away from the space I was in. Then a blue light filled the room. All in a moment I was somewhere else, somewhere familiar. I looked up to see Janeway and the bridge crew staring at me in shock and happiness.

"Captain!" Harry shouted, "The vessel off our port is heavily damaged, nine life signs all human."

"Friends of yours?" Janeway had a wry smile on her face as she nodded to the view screen.

I turned, a pit in my stomach. I knew what was going to be there and all I could do was sob. I couldn't even roar. I hadn't offered them the choice. I had done just as Janeway had. I had taken from them without thought.

"Vile..." Janeway was quiet.

"P-please..." I tried to get out. "They use EM ranges."

"Harry." Janeway nodded.

"On it." Harry nodded and moved to work his wonders.

"Vile." Janeway put her hand on my shoulder. "You're home."

I just turned and walked away. I went into the turbo life and went straight to me room where I filled the tank and sealed it. Why wouldn't this nightmare end?

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Vile is home, but the story is not over. Want more? Want a twist? How about this, tune in for the next chapter to see one hell of a wonderful twist if you're a fan of other Firefly/Star Trek crossovers, you might like this one...