CHAPTER 38: Breach

Bolting out of the lab, Ryan scampered down the darkened corridor as fast as he could. The light from his flashlight bounced all over the place, sending out distorted images that manifested themselves on the walls, ceiling, and floor. He felt like crap for leaving Shawn and Alex to handle things, but there was no way in hell he had any intention of leaving Elizabeth's team to die in this place. None of them had any control over what Mason did or what kind of experiments that mad fuck ran; their job was to keep the women that Mason impregnated alive, and that was it. He wondered what would happen to Mason and those who survived the attack when the Xenos finally got to them. Pity that he was going to miss that shit show, he would have rather liked to see dear Doctor Ford Mason get his head bitten into or his guts spilled out over the floor. Maybe the Xenos would keep Mason alive just long enough for him to get back and see the end of their handiwork.

One could hope anyway.

Picking up his pace as fast as he could, Ryan tried to ignore his calf muscles' stiffening and the leg cramps that were starting to set in. He quietly cursed himself for not keeping in better shape and going to the gym more often. One would have thought that spending a week or was it two on the run with a Praetorian Xenomorph while getting chased down by security forces that wanted you dead would have gotten him into better shape. Though it did seem like he had spent more time either riding Tank or being carried by him than using his own two feet. However, in all honesty, Tank could move like a bullet train when he needed to, which had been a lot, the first time Ryan had held on for dear life, praying like a madman at the Xenos massive burst of speed.

Rounding several corners, Ryan shot down a straight hallway; only a few small emergency lights illuminated the hall. He counted himself lucky that Elizabeth and her team had been stationed close by in the general vicinity. Passing by several dimly lit windows, Ryan caught sight of a few of Elizabeth's team, now looking at him; from what he saw, a look of surprise was plastered on their faces. Sliding to a halt and winded, Ryan started pounding feverishly on the thick metal door. A second later, the door slid open, right in mid-swing, and he found himself caught off balance and stumbling in.

A small group of confused looking scientists, doctors, and lab technicians glanced at Ryan as he barged into the small work area. "Ryan?" A female voice mixed with shock and disbelief broke the silence after a few seconds. A dark skin woman with midnight shoulder-length hair and brilliant green eyes holding a portable emergency lantern came up to him.

"In the flesh," Ryan said, gasping for air as he tried to catch his breath. Slowly straightening up, he turned to Sara Rivers, Elizabeth's second in command of the small lab.

"You're actually alive? We all heard that you were dead, just what in the hell is going on? We heard explosions, weapon's fire, and a lot of screaming." Sara said, looking back at her staff in the small lab for a second before returning her attention to Ryan.

"Alive and kicking, at least for the moment." He said, "As to what is going on, the short of it is this, we need to leave. You and your staff need to gather whatever you can and follow me; we have to get the hell off of this station."

"What do you mean leave? Ryan, you know damn well that we can't just abandon our work; we have way too much at stake right now." Sara protested, "And even if we wanted to, it's not like we can just up and leave this place on a whim."

"I know, believe me, I know, and as much as I would love to fill you in on every little detail that's happened to me these last couple of weeks, there isn't time. Once we're off this station, I'll tell you everything I can, but right now, we don't have time."

"Then you better make some time, and make it quick, because in case you don't remember, leaving really isn't an option for us." Sara flatly told Ryan, waving her hand toward a large window at the back of the lab. In an adjacent room lay ten women sound asleep hooked up to I.V.s and monitoring stations.

Ryan spat in raw frustration, recalling that Elizabeth had informed him that Mason was planning to impregnate a large group of females with the Xenomorph embryos. Still, with everything that happened, he completely forgot. "Fuck, he really went through with it. Why am I not surprised?" Ryan muttered to himself, "Look, here's the short version. You remember those three Xenos that escaped the station several months ago?"

"Yeah, I remember." Sara told him, "I remember they made one hell of a bloody mess when they escaped and left a trail of bodies all the way to the airlock."

"Well, they found help and came back to free the other Xenomorphs. In fact, when I left the lab, they were all loose."

"Loose?" Sara stammered, "All of them?"

"Yes, all of them."

Sara drew in a deep breath, holding it for what to her felt like an eternity before slowly exhaling. "They're going to kill us all, Ryan do you have any idea what the fuck you've done." She all but raged, her hand balling up into a fist and hitting him in the chest as hard as she could.

Grunting slightly and rubbing the spot that Sara has struck him at, Ryan had to admit that she had a hell of an arm on her for someone that was almost petite in size. "They're not going to kill us, but Mason and what's left of his staff are probably dead by now and if not now, will be soon. And in a very short time, this station will become a giant radioactive stain in space. So we need to pack up whatever we can and get back to the main lab, there's a way off this station, but things are going to get weird." Ryan stated flatly.

"What do you mean weird?" Sara skeptically asked him, her eyes widening in fear suddenly as they darted over to the direction of the window and entry door. "Oh my god," She gasped in terror as seeing a massive black Xeno padding past the window followed by a much smaller warrior. A moment later, the Praetorian entered the small confines of the lab, its head panning back and forth, taking in the new surroundings as the remaining staff quickly put as much distance from themselves and the aliens as possible.

"It's alright, it's alright," Ryan said, quickly putting himself between Sara and Tank, "He's a friend, and he's not going to hurt or kill you, any of you. Like I said, it's going to get weird."

Sara stood there almost frozen, her brain trying to take in what she was seeing. "A friend?" She finally stammered out, "I heard rumors, but I didn't believe them. How did this happen?" She asked, fear mingling with curiosity at the sight of the huge but seemingly passive Xeno.

"Like I said, it's a long story, but they're coming with us, all of them."

"The Xenomorphs?" Sara asked.

Ryan nodded slightly, "Yeah."

"All of them?"

"Every single one of them," Ryan said, "I get it, it's a lot to take in, but we don't have a lot of time before station security shows up, and when they do, I doubt they'll be in the mood to…" Ryan's voice trailed off at seeing the small warrior step inside the room, her gaze panning across the room only to stop at seeing him. While it had been from what he could remember a couple of weeks, maybe a little longer since he last physically saw her in the lab, it felt more like several months. "…talk." He trailed off, his voice oddly calm.

Ryan never uttered a single word as the small warrior walked up to him. While she was considered small by her own kind at barely over seven feet tall, she was still more than an imposing sight for most humans. Ryan, however, felt completely at ease around her; for the first time since this whole ordeal started, his doubts and fears melted away. "Hey," he whispered softly to her, not sure what he could say at this moment.

For the warrior, something as clumsy as words were unnecessary, gently she reached out, clasping Ryan's head in her hands, and leaned forward, her forehead gingerly touching his. Slowly her inner jaw slid out, opening to take in his scent, and retracted back inside. Her body shuttered slightly as she took in his pleasant odor. Releasing his head, she reached around his torso and brought him in, her chin cupping over his shoulder.

Closing his eyes, Ryan reached around her waist and pulled himself in as much as he could. As far as he was concerned, he would be more than content to stay like this forever. While the mental construct they both shared in the past had been a blessing, a wonder, and something he would never forget, this, however, was tangible, physical, and real. Even if that tangibility was in the form of warm drool dripping down his backside from the Xeno's maw. As he started to relax, possibly for the first time since his assignment to the station, he felt it, that familiar tickling in the forward part of his head, like a finger just a hairs length away from the center of his eyes.

Ryan remembered Shawn telling him that the sensation was from the forming of a mental link. The beginnings of the bond between Xenos and humans. He wondered where this path would lead to and how it all would pan out in the end. What would he learn; how close would he become to her and the other Xenos? Maybe in time, an excellent opportunity to study their race would present itself, really and truly learn about them, in their own environment and on their terms. Not throw them into cages like freaks of nature to gawk and torture them or try to use them as living weapons.

After what seemed like many long minutes, Ryan came out of a trance only to see everyone in the room awkwardly staring at him. "Like I said…" he began as he looked over at Sara, the center part of his forehead still tingling.

"Weird, yeah, I get it," Sara replied as she continued to look at the embraced pair, still not exactly sure what she was even looking at or if it was even real or not. The reality, for all intents and purposes, now seemed to have been flipped on its head. "And for the record, your definition of "weird" is an understatement."

"Look, I'll fill you in on what I can once we get over to the Saratoga, but we need to get going and soon." Ryan reiterated, not wanting to wait around for security to show up or for another monster to be unleashed on the station. "Because frankly with what happened in the lab, I wouldn't be surprised if security shows up soon, and given with happened with that "thing" trying to choke us all to death, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

"Yeah," Sara muttered as she painfully recalled the all too recent memory of having whatever it was snake and worm into her mind, talk to her and show her the end of humanity. Then unable to breathe, the constricting feeling around her body, the burning in her lungs. Panic racing through her mind, desperation, and terror filling her being.

What stung worst of all was the amusement she had felt creeping into her mind from that creature. That she and everyone around her, hell, every human and non-human on the station were nothing more than a plaything that could be swept away without a second thought.

During that ordeal, Sara's thoughts had been rampant, panicked, and scattered as she thought of her family, her friends, and oddly enough, her duty here, then the sudden regret of taking this post engulfed her. All she wished for right then was that she could have done so many things over again, done them differently or better. That she was going to die, and none of her family would ever know what happened to her. Then just like some miracle, the voice stopped talking, and the constricting feeling vanished. Funny enough, something in the back of her mind was telling her that she was getting a second chance to make a fresh start to do better; all she had to do was get off the god-forsaken station and away from Mason and his insanity. However, it would mean throwing her lot in with the Xenomorphs, and everything she had learned about them indicated that they were little more than remorseless killing machines that attacked on sight. Yet, Ryan had somehow befriended a couple of them, and one of them seemed more than just a little attached to him. It now looked like there was more to the Xenos than what she had been brought to believe.

"Ryan?" Sara started to ask, "do you know what it was that tried to kill us, any idea at all?" She asked, trying to get a handle on what happened, none of her staff talked about it, but she could tell that they were all thinking about it. Maybe, for the moment, it was too much for them to fully grasp, or perhaps it was that they were all terrified by what they had all seen and didn't want to believe it. Maybe to some of them, it was a shock to find out that they weren't at the top of the food chain as it were.

"No.," Ryan answered, "And to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I want to know. Anything that powerful is something I don't want to think about right now, maybe ever." He said as he reluctantly pulled away from the small warriors embrace. "And not to give anyone the idea that things could get worse, but Alex implied that pod two held some stuff that was almost as bad as what was in pod one, and if pod two is damaged in any way, I would rather not be around if anything else breaks containment."

"Who's Alex?" Asked Sara, she didn't know of anyone in Mason's team who went by that name, maybe someone Ryan knew.

"Believe it or not, he's one of the security guards that's helping us. Apparently, his past family has some kind of history with the Xenomorphs. He only gave us a quick rundown, so I don't have the full details, but it looked to have involved both a hive and Weyland-Yutani."

"Fucking-hell," Sara muttered to herself, "I'd almost rather deal with whatever was on pod one before it went up than have to deal with those Weyland assholes."

"I don't blame you, but right now, we really need to work on getting out of here."

"Not to state the obvious or anything," one of the lab specialists voiced as he slowly inched his way closer to Sara, not once taking his eyes off the two Xenos. "But we can't move the patients, at least not all of them. If you haven't noticed, we don't have any gurneys or wheelchairs, and only a few of us are physically strong enough to carry them, at least for a while."

"Erin's right, so I hope you have an excellent idea on how to move them because I'm not leaving any of them behind." Sara flatly stated.

Looking back at the window and seeing the ten female hosts lying in the next room, an idea popped into Ryan's head. "Okay, that might just work," he muttered to himself, turning to look at Tank, who was watching the pair. He could almost swear that the Praetorian was smiling at them. "Tank, do you think that we can get some help moving the hosts out of here?"

Panning his head toward the window, Tank took a few steps toward the room; his focus now seemed to be on the women. A moment later, he whipped his head back toward Ryan and nodded.

"Well, I think that help is on the way," Ryan said.

"Do I even want to know?" Sara asked, "And Tank? You gave it a name?"

"Tank let out an annoyed hiss at being called an "it" toward Sara, a response that had her backing up a few feet in caution.

"Him," Ryan immediately corrected her, "and no, I didn't name him, he named himself."

"Okay, right, him and Tank it is. Sara said, correcting herself, having no desire to anger a Xeno, much less one of Tank's size. Quickly regaining her wits, she turned to Erin, "Erin, help me get the patients ready to move; Ryan, I'll need your help as well." Sara said, looking back at the odd pair, then turning to address the rest of her staff. "The rest of you get the backup data-cores and all the necessary supplies for the treatments, whatever you can pack away and carry."

"Hey boss, are we really doing this? I mean, he just comes busting in here, and all of a sudden, you're ready to go and follow him just like that, at his say so." One of the techs spoke up.

Thomas, if you want to stay, you can. No one is forcing you to leave." Sara told the tech flatly. "But honestly, I hate Mason, and I hate what he and his crew have done. I have no love for this place, especially after how many women Mason impregnated with the Xenomorph embryos. You know as well as I do that once he did that, he signed their death warrants, a very slow and painful death at that. You've seen firsthand what happened to the past hosts and how much they suffered at the end. And he did it without a second thought as if they were nothing more than cattle to the slaughter. And don't forget that he tried to murder Elizabeth by gutting her, smashing her head open, and throwing her into a pod with one of the Xenomorphs hoping that it would finish the job. And what did he get, a fucking slap on the wrist, or did everyone in this room completely and conveniently forget about that."

Low mummers of "no," sounded throughout the small room from most of the staff.

"Not to mention everyone on the entire station almost getting choked to death by some all-powerful creature less than an hour ago." Ryan interjected, "and if they had something like that on board, then there's no telling what else they might have stashed away."

"That as well as the not so small fact that pod one was purged and destroyed," Sara said.

"So, what the hell is to prevent Commander Snyder from purging this pod once he finds out that all the Xenos are free and running lose?" Thomas asked, "I get what you are saying, and I agree with you, but I would prefer not to be vaporized. I kind of like living, you know, and would like to keep on living if that's alright with you all.'

"The plan is to rush to the main hub and get to docking bay two where the Saratoga will be waiting for us if everything pans out," Ryan informed the tech.

"So that's your plan, rush in and hope for the best? Shit, we might as well suicide ourselves right now and get it over with if that's your plan." Thomas said, looking away.

"Thomas, that's enough," Sara snapped, "like I said, if you want to stay, you're more than welcome to; no one is forcing you either way."

Thomas shook his head in what looked like absolute frustration, then letting out a deep, exacerbated sigh. "I just want to know what I'm getting into again. I didn't ask for this assignment, and I sure as hell didn't ask to get put on board this station. No one told me anything until after the fact." He snapped back harshly, perhaps more than he intended.

"You know the same goes for all of us," Ryan said, "hell man, I didn't know what I was getting into until after I got here, and I don't even know where here is. Even to this day, I still don't know what our location is, beyond the vague answer of "in deep space." I didn't sign up for this shit storm either. I doubt any of us did. And if I knew then what I know now, I would have told the agents who contacted me to take that contract and shove it up their asses, and I bet that everyone in this room would have done the exact same thing. And right now, there is a way out, granted it's not an ideal way out, but it is a way out."

"Like I said, I just want to know what I'm getting into this time." Thomas said again, "I would rather not blindly trade one bad situation for another."

"More than likely," Ryan said, feeling a pang of sympathy for the tech, as he was asking a lot of this group with little info and no proof, and literally no time to process what he was throwing at them. He could at least give them some straight answers. "On the run from this organization with a large pack of Xenomorphs and a few other humans and whomever else from this lab decides to come. If you don't want to come, then don't, but if you have some way to get off this station, then do so. But on a positive note, we'll at least be able to defend ourselves well."

Thomas was silent for a few moments before he finally spoke back up. "Alright, fine, count me in. I doubt we'll live long enough to regret this, but hey, fuck it, right." He said, then heading over to one of the terminals to offload the backups.

"If anyone wants to stay, speak up now," Sara said, looking around, half expecting one or two of the group to stay behind and take their chances. Surprisingly, no one said anything as they were all now busy working on what they could get ready for travel. "Alright, Erin, Ryan, you two are with me," Sara said, walking into the adjacent medical room.

Behind Sara, Erin was trailing right on her heels, the tech glancing over his shoulder as Ryan and the small warrior walked in. "We'll need to keep them sedated until we make it over to the ship." Sara told the two, "If we make it, that is." She finished, leaving the rest unsaid.

"What do you need me to do?" Ryan asked her as he looked around. It was the first time he had ever physically been in this area, and though he had never set foot inside, he had seen it through the window. Overall, the room was sparse. Only the beds, monitoring equipment, a few cabinets, and a full-sized medical refrigerator occupied the area.

Sara pointed over to a large cabinet, "There is a medical cooler in that cabinet, top shelve, grab it, and in the refrigerator, there are I.V. bags, fill what you can. Erin, you start disconnecting the monitor hookups and prep the patient's I.V.s for transport. If you need to swap out an I.V. bag, do it quickly."

Without saying another word, the three quickly went to work. The small warrior stood just inside the room by the doorway, her sightless gaze panning back and forth, observing what was going on. Her observations interrupted by one of the techs calling out to Sara.

"Uhhh, Doc. I think that help Ryan was talking about is here." She said, fear heavily lacing her voice.

Looking up from prepping one of the hosts to move, Sara saw many smooth, domed drones enter the lab area. Each one looked around the room; some she could swear were glaring at the staff. Thankfully, the Praetorian seemed to be keeping the group in check. Nervously she fumbled around with one of the I.V. bags, her heart racing as she tried to do both her job and keep an eye on the new arrivals. Not that there was anything she could have done if the Xenos became hostile. Two of the alien creatures had been unnerving enough as it was, but now there was a small hoard of them just outside; while she was doing her best to hide it, she was scared shitless.

"Coolers' full," Ryan said, walking over to her, "what is this stuff, anyhow?"

"It's a mix of nutrients and sedatives. We'll need to keep them asleep until we figure out what to do. I doubt that any of them are going to like waking up and finding out their pregnant with an alien life form." Sara answered, "Help me prep the next patient."

"Yeah," Ryan muttered, not really wanting to think that far ahead. "I'm not sure how we're going to explain that to any of them when they wake up." In his time onboard the station, he tried to poke around for some info, but he never found where the hosts came from or who they were. In less than five minutes, the remaining hosts were prepped and ready to be moved. Each one wrapped in a white medical blanket with an I.V. bag stuck inside securely.

"Tank, we're ready, only two at a time," Ryan said, motioning to the Praetorian.

Ryan, Sara, and Erin quickly got out of the way as a pair of drones entered the small room, Tank still keeping a watchful eye on his hive mates, just in case any of them decided to lash out at the staff. The two drones walked up to the hosts, carefully picked them up, and carried them outside into the hallway. In a short time, all ten hosts were securely in the protective arms of the drones. Deep down, Tank felt a pang of jealousy toward the new lives that would soon emerge. They would have something that none of his hive from the lab ever had, a chance to bond and grow with their hosts. While he would be happy for the new members and what each one would experience, it was still, and always would be, a painful reminder of what Mason brutally stole from them.

"Alright, people, tell me you're done and ready to go," Sara yelled out to the small lab group.

"As ready as we'll be, the backups are secure, and we've gotten all the equipment that we'll need.' One of the techs piped up.

"Then let's get going," Ryan said, tapping his coms unit. "Shawn, Ryan here. I'm on my way back with Elizabeth's group and ten hosts that are sedated. How's it looking in the main lab?"

The coms were silent for several seconds before Shawn's voice came back. "Well, Shadow and the whole hive gave Mason a serious mind fuck; I think they mentally broke the man. Ghost threw him in one of the pods and locked him inside. All he's been doing is screaming, "what did you do to me," between that and fits of crying, he's throwing himself into the pod's wall headfirst."

"Jesus," Ryan muttered to himself. He couldn't even imagine what the Xenos could have done to Mason to drive him to what Shawn had just described. Half of him wanted to know, the other half, not so much. "I'm guessing the rest of the staff is gone?" Ryan asked, morbidly wondering now how quick it had been for the rest.

A few more seconds of silence before Shawn answered back. "No, the remaining lab staff have been locked in the pods also."

"They're still alive?" Ryan asked, surprised that the surviving lab staff hadn't just been slaughtered as soon as the safety room opened.

"Most of the hive decided that a quick death was too good for them and that they want the rest to suffer when the radiation floods in. I guess having their skin melt off, and their innards liquefy is a more fitting death than punching a hole into their skull and killing them instantly." Shawn replied.

"And security or the reinforcements?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing yet, wireless is still silent. Alex thinks a partial signal might have gotten out from the lab, but with everything that's happened, security might have their hands full with something else." Shawn answered. "Regardless, Alex and I are getting a few surprises ready, just in case."

"Alright, we'll be back to the lab shortly," Ryan said, ending the transmission. As the large group started down the hallway, Ryan turned his attention to Sara. "Have you heard anything about how Elizabeth is doing?" He asked quietly, not noticing that the question had grabbed Tank's full attention.

"She's out of the I.C.U. but is still in critical condition. The medical staff repaired the gut wound Mason gave her, and they've brought down the swelling in her brain." Sara told him, her voice almost as quiet. "They say it's still too early to tell when, or if she'll wake up as she suffered a lot of trauma, and her system is still recovering from it."

Ryan let out a small sigh of relief at the news. Up until now, he wasn't sure if she had survived or not. It was good to know she had; maybe with more time and a lot of luck, she would wake up and make a full recovery. He just regretted he wouldn't ever see her again. "At least she's alive," Ryan muttered, mostly to himself, but Sara and Tank had heard him. A second later, he felt someone gently grip his shoulder. Ryan looked over to see the small warrior walking next to him. Reaching up, he grasped her hand, giving it a firm squeeze. A sense of relief and calm instantly washed over him. Whatever came next, she would be with him, and in that knowledge, he took comfort.

xxxxx

"When you're finished, put this on," Alex said, as he quietly approached Shawn from behind.

A few meters away from the main pressure door, Shawn had finished moving one of the still mostly intact androids up against a wall. Its mass covering up a booby trap that Alex had quickly put together. Glancing up toward the guard, Alex all but shoved what appeared to be an armored chest piece right in his face.

The chest piece itself was slightly charred and bloody. Shawn figured its former wearer no doubt had met a horrific but quick end. Despite the grisly appearance, it looked to be mostly undamaged. Seeing the fresh blood, Shawn hesitated a few seconds at accepting the offered armor.

"Put it on," Alex said again, this time with a slightly more forceful tone than before. Apparently, the few seconds of hesitation had been more than enough of an indicator that Shawn was more than a bit reluctant to accept the armor. "He won't be needing it anymore," Alex stated flatly, "you, on the other hand, will need it. Now put it on." Alex told him again, holding the armor out toward him.

'Put it on.' Shadow firmly stated as well. This time, however, it seemed to be more of an order than a suggestion. The Praetorian was still not happy that Shawn had deliberately left his armor behind on the ship. It had been nothing short of a miracle that the human hadn't been injured yet. 'You will need all the protection you can get.'

"Fine," Shawn said, taking the armor from Alex and putting it on the ground, quickly he started to undo his vest and harness. He had no idea how he would arrange his equipment for quick access while wearing what he considered bulky armor. He would have to simply prioritize what he needed; the rest could go in one of the small satchels

Grimacing to himself, Shawn picked the armor back up, slung it on, and adjusted the fasteners to where the armor snugly fit. "So, what now?"

"We'll need Xenos in the ducts just beyond the point of entry but at the edge of the blast zones." Alex told him, "Once the traps go off, they can drop down and assist in the attack. There should be enough chaos that it will throw the assault force off balance."

"That's if they are willing to go up there in the first place," Shawn said. "Not sure how they're going to feel about stuffing themselves up in small metal holes with explosions going off below."

'They are willing to try.' Shadow said, 'at least some of them are.'

Shawn turned to look at Shadow, "You sure about that? It sounds like a risky gamble; what happens if one of them gets hurt or killed by the blast?" He hadn't heard Shadow speak through the hive link, but then again, there could have been a private conversation with the hive, and he was excluded from it.

Shadow kept his gaze focused on Shawn for a few seconds before speaking again. 'They are willing to take the risk,' he said.

"Okay," Shawn said, turning back to Alex. "Shadow said they'll do it." He had his doubts about this tactic. It seemed like they were willing to put themselves in unnecessary danger. But then, if it gave them the element of surprise, maybe it would be worth it.

"Good, it will increase our chances of winning this battle when the security forces show up. We should not hit them head-on, but come at them from the sides and from the back."

"If they show up, so far nothing," Shawn said, removing some of the more critical items from his vest and trying to find spots on the armor to attach said items.

"I have no doubt an attack team is being formed as we speak and will be on their way shortly," Alex replied. "Even if a partial message got out, Snyder will still need to investigate, especially with the cameras offline. And if he has tried to communicate with the lab and has gotten no response, he will be forced to assume the worse has happened and act accordingly."

"The worse being a full breach of the Xeno containment pods." Shawn stated, stuffing what he could in a satchel.

"That's correct."

"Well, what now?" Shawn asked, suddenly feeling the need to keep busy until the big showdown.

"I need you to place several more bodies at the left side entryway wall, just a few meters down from the pressure door. Several more will be required at the left and right sides of the intersection of the hallway. Try to make it look like they died at that spot or close by and not blatantly dragged to it. I also need a few just inside the main lab's entryway, either on the left or right side. A mix of both human and androids will suffice." Alex said, turning to Shadow.

"Fuck." Shawn muttered underneath his breath, not looking forward to the gruesome task ahead. It seemed disrespectful on so many levels, desecrating the dead in such a manner. Then again, their options were limited, and Alex was using whatever resources he had available. Even if those resources were the dead.

"Shadow," Alex said, "I will need several of your," he paused for a moment as if trying to find the correct words as not to offend the nine-plus foot tall Xenomorph standing in front of him. "People to get into the ambush spots, and once up there, they will need to remain absolutely still as not to alert the attack force before the breach."

Shadow wanted to let out nothing less than a scoffing hiss at this human. Any of his kind could remain motionless for days at a time if necessary waiting in ambush, an hour or less was nothing. However, instead of hissing in contempt at Alex's comment, he kept quiet and simply nodded in acknowledgment at the human's plan.

Alex only pointed out five spots total, one just above the pressure door itself, one at the center of the hallway junction. Two spots in the hallway, one to the left, the other to the right. Both several meters away from the intersection, with the last one just inside the lab. If two or even three could fit up in each spot and drop down on top of the attacking force, they could quickly end the assault.

"Ryan's back," Shawn told Alex pointing to the large group that was starting to round the corner of the hallway. At seeing the hosts and the lab crew, he wondered how they would get off this station. This had gone from freeing a hand full of Xenos from the station to quite literally a large crowd. How was the lab crew, not to mention the host going to be protected?

"Ryan, get them in the safety room. That should offer the most protection from the fighting," Alex said.

Ryan raised his hand in a halfhearted wave as he took Sara, her staff, and the Xenos who carried the hosts to the safety room. "Right."

Walking over to the far side of the lab, Shawn spotted one of the dead guards whose body was intact, save for a large hole in the top of his head. Trying not to think about it, Shawn grabbed the guard's hands and started to drag him across the lab toward one of the spots that Alex pointed out. A few moments later, Ghost, Alese, plus the two Xeno warriors that he had interacted with earlier sprinted by, each one grabbing either a guard's body or an android. Within less than ten minutes, the five of them had placed bodies at the spots Alex wanted, making it look to the best of their abilities that the lab's fallen defenders had died on those spots. A few gory slashes and head punctures were added to make it look believable. In the labs almost nonexistent lighting, it would be practically impossible to tell the bodies had been placed.

Tank, Shadow, and several other Xenos, quickly went about unsealing the vent covers with carefully placed spurts of acid on the bolts. In a few moments, the targeted vent covers were off, allowing access to the area inside.

One of the warriors jumped up, and with a flash, her black, chitinous form disappeared inside the air duct. 'There is room for two more,' she said, her form noisily banging against the metal vent walls, the sound echoing throughout the lab. 'It will be tight, but we can exit quickly when the battle starts.'

"She says two more can fit up there. If the other areas are like that, that will give us fifteen attacking from those five spots." Shawn said, looking at the guard.

"Excellent, that should provide maximum surprise. Once the force enters, we will wait until they move to the hallway and the lab's entryway, then I'll detonate the bombs. That should take out a significant amount of the force and hopefully damage any combat androids they have. At that point, the three of us will lay down a field of fire for several seconds. Once they start to back off to regroup, you will notify the Xenos to attack." Alex said.

"Couple of points I would like to make out first." Shawn said, "One, in case you haven't noticed, it's almost pitch black in here. The Xenos are going to be in the middle of that mix-up; I'm not going to risk firing on one by accident. Secondly, the three of us? Right now, there are only two of us here."

"To answer your first point, I wasn't expecting you to continue firing your weapon after the Xenos start their ambush. I, however, will." Alex told him, "And as I have the only sniper rifle among us, I can perform pinpoint strikes on any targets. Secondly, I included Ryan as he has as much to lose as the rest of us. I was assuming self-preservation would be a motivating factor in his agreeing."

"Not sure how he's going to feel about firing into a bunch of former coworkers."

"His feelings are not a factor in this. Survival, however, is. If he has to kill to survive, then so be it. I want you to consider this, if any of us are caught, we will be executed, there will be no trial, no lawyer to plead our case, no jury to decide a verdict, and certainly no mercy. The best we can hope for will either be a bullet in the back of the head or getting vented out an airlock."

"And if we're unlucky?" Shawn asked.

"Then, more than likely, we will be used as subjects for testing, something I do not wish to experience," Alex told Shawn pointedly.

"Fuck that, so what now?"

"Start setting up a defensive position for yourself over there on the left," Alex said, pointing to a terminal that was about ten meters and positioned slightly to the left from the lab entryway. "I'll take a more central spot, and Ryan can take a position on the far right."

"Setting them up in a crossfire, I assume?"

"That is the plan, but as I have come to learn, most plans have a tendency to go south. Something I'm sure you know all too well."

"Sara and her staff are safe, as are the hosts." Ryan said, walking toward the two humans, "But someone mind telling me just one thing. Where the fuck did that queen come from?" He blurted out. "I mean a queen, how?"

"I'm guessing it's one of Mason's dirty little secrets. Even the Xenos didn't know he had her locked up back there." Shawn said, pointing to the back of the lab.

Ryan shook his head in frustration. What the hell was Mason planning to do with a queen? There had never been even the slightest hint of a queen being born. Had his plan been to sneak her off the station and use her for his own purposes. Whatever his plan had been, it was now a moot point. On his way to the safety room, he got a look at Mason, the man's head and face now covered in what he assumed was his own blood from ramming himself into the pod wall. The wailing and screaming could be heard even through the thick transparent wall. A part of him wished that he could have felt even a sliver of sympathy for the man, but after everything Mason had done, that ship had sailed long ago.

Going behind a nearby work terminal, Alex retrieved a chest piece with a pulse rifle. Walking up to Ryan, he shoved the two items right into Ryan's chest. "You'll need these."

Glancing down at the offered objects, Ryan had what seemed to be a dumbfounded look on his face. "Are you kidding me? I don't know how to put on armor, much less use a pulse rifle."

"Put the fucking armor on; if you want a chance to make it out alive along with everyone else, I suggest you learn very quickly how to use that rifle. It's not that hard," Alex told him in what seemed to be a far sterner voice than the two had been used to.

Reaching out, Shawn took the items from Alex, "I'll help. While I'm not an expert, I do know how to use both."

"Good," Alex replied, "I still have some traps I need to set up." A second later, he turned on his heels and took off into the dark lab.

"Crap," Ryan scoffed to himself.

"Believe me, I know how you feel." Shawn said, "I'm not exactly looking forward to pulling the trigger either, but he is right; if we want to get out of here, we'll need to."

"I don't know if I can, I really don't know. It was different when I was pulling the trigger on a synth, but this, I'm not sure If I can."

Shawn was silent for the better part of a minute, trying to figure out what he was going to say. "I can tell you this, at some point, you'll need to. If not, then you'll either die or will be captured. And maybe her as well," Shawn motioned to the small warrior that had followed Ryan out of the safety room and was standing behind him. "Here's the thing, I would do anything to make sure that Shadow, Ghost, and Alese are safe, not that any of them need me playing guardian for them. They're more than capable of defending themselves, but regardless, I would do anything to protect them. And if that means pulling the trigger and snuffing out someone's life who is trying to kill both my family and me, then that's what I'll do. It sucks, and I hate it, but what's the alternative, letting them kill us or become someone's test subject?"

"I get what you're saying, but it doesn't make it any easier." Ryan replied, "Not like our options are all that great, are they?"

"No, not really, and I don't know if they will get any better," Shawn said, setting the rifle down on the ground. "Let's get you set up."

As Shawn started to take Ryan through the steps of putting on the armor and how to use the pulse rifle, Ghost and Alese walked up to him. 'Shawn,' Ghost said, his tone serious with an underlining feeling of dread that carried through the hive link. 'We have something to tell you.'

Shawn turned around to look at the two drones. The feeling that Ghost now projected along with those words, "we have something to tell you," gave Shawn a hollowed pit in the bottom of his stomach. It was rarely accompanied by anything good. In fact, it was usually bad news. "I get the feeling whatever you're going to tell me I'm not going to like."

'No,' Alese said, 'you will not. Both Ghost and I will be taking a position in the vent above the main door.'

At that news, the whole world seemed to drop right out from underneath his feet. The pit in his stomach forming into an abyss. The two drones that he cared for most would be right in the middle of the fighting, dead center in it. As much as he wanted to argue the point and let someone else take the risk, he knew that wouldn't be right. Uncontrollable images of the two drones lying dead on the floor, blown into unrecognizable pieces, the acid eating holes into the metal plating; the remains falling through to forever disappear ran rampant through his mind. "Don't either one of you fucking die, especially here." Shawn all but stammered, trying not to beg the two to let some of the other Xenos take their place.

Reaching out, Alese grabbed Shawn's head, pressing her forehead to his. 'We say the same to you, stay alive.' She told him, 'I wish for the four of us to find someplace, call it home and spend every day and night we have together mating until we pass out from exhaustion.' A series of sexually explicit images of the four of them ran through not only Shawn's mind but also Ghost and Shadows. 'A little something for the four of us to look forward to when we get back.'

Reaching up, Shawn ran his hands along the length of her smooth dome, 'I'm going to hold you to every one of those acts.' He said, not wanting to let her go.

After a long pause, Alese reluctantly stood back up, giving Ghost a moment with their human.

Kneeling in front of Shawn, Ghost leaned forward, the front of his dome pressing up against Shawn's forehead. 'I am grateful we met, grateful for all you have done for us, for me.'

'Don't,' Shawn said to Ghost through the hive link. 'I know what you're doing, you're saying goodbye, don't you dare fucking start saying goodbye, not after everything we've gone through and shared. You're not going to die.'

'We both know it is a possibility,' Ghost said, holding onto this moment as he rubbed his dome against Shawn's hair, inhaling the human's scent, and while his voice may have been calm and collective, the underlining fear threatened to rip through. 'We all know that at some point, our luck will run out, but I have no intention to die in this place or by these people.'

'You had better not.' Shawn said, as Ghost stood up. The Xeno looked at Shawn for a few more long seconds before taking a step back, then turning with Alese. The two walked away, disappearing into the dark.

'They will be fine,' Shadow said as he placed his hand on Shawn's shoulder and gave the human a reaffirming squeeze to try and calm his nerves. 'This is not the first battle they have been in. They know what they are doing and how to fight.'

'Doesn't make it any easier.'

Shadow let out a small agreeable hiss, 'No, it does not.'

Ryan had been discretely observing the whole interaction, not saying anything until whatever was going on was over. As he could see, the two drones had left the area, and now Shadow was hovering over Shawn. "You alright?" He asked.

Shawn was quiet for a few seconds as he stared into the dark where Alese and Ghost had disappeared into. "They're going to hide in the vent section that is right above the main door and plan to be in the middle of this battle." He finally said, "So, no, I'm not alright."

"I'm sorry," Ryan replied.

"Let's finish showing you how to use that weapon," Shawn said, his voice now quiet and far away.

About twenty minutes passed as Shawn continued to show Ryan how to use the pulse rifle. Running him through quick drills on how to eject the rifle's magazine, quickly load a new one in, and how to properly hold and level the weapon, while it was sloppy it was far better than nothing. Shawn had opted for Ryan to use the three-round burst mode instead of the single shot or full auto. In that time, Alex had passed by numerous times either with an arm full of grenades and intact flame tanks for his traps or full magazines, dropping them off in a small pile with the two. Tank and six other Xenos had decided to go and hide in one of the long adjacent hallways that ran parallel to the lab, waiting for the breach so they could flank and ambush the attackers.

Neither Shawn nor Ryan even noticed Alex when he walked past. Dropping to a knee behind one of the terminals, he started setting up his heavy sniper rifle. "You two might want to get in position." He said, pulling out the magazine from his rifle. "So might the rest of the Xenos. I think we're going to have company very soon."

"You picked up something over the coms?" Ryan asked.

"No, it's been unusually silent," Alex said as he pulled out several boxes of ammo and set them down on the floor.

"You think something is going on?" Shawn asked.

"Maybe," Alex replied. "The teams may be running silent, but that doesn't explain the blackout for the coms. There should be low-level communication chatter, even some static noise, but there's nothing."

"Or maybe no one is showing up." Ryan said, "I mean, it's been what, almost forty-five minutes since we broke in, and no one has shown up. Hell, we could have brute forced our way out of this place and been halfway to the Saratoga by now. Yet, on your word alone, we've turtled up and are waiting for some inevitable breach that, for all we know, may not happen. Christ man, at this point, I say we pry that fucking door open or have the Xenomorphs melt a hole through it and make a beeline for the docking bay."

"That would be unwise," Alex said, pulling out several empty magazines and placing them next to the ammo boxes. "Here we have a fortified defensive position with the advantage of surprise. If we leave now, it is highly likely we would run into the assault team. At that point, we would be at a severe disadvantage and possibly take heavy casualties."

"So, what do you want to do, just hang around until these fuckers show up?" Ryan asked, agitation creeping into his voice. Just as Ryan was about to say something else, a sharp metal pinging sound echoed through into the room.

'They are here.' Ghost announced throughout the hive link.

"Well, it looks like we finally have company," Shawn said.

"Then I suggest you two get into position and move as little as you can," Alex said coolly, as he continued to load rounds into the empty magazines.

Both Shawn and Ryan took their positions to the left and right of Alex. The remaining Xenos ducked behind whatever was available, effortlessly blending into the dark, their forms hidden until the attack signal.

"What are you doing?" Shawn asked as Alex continued to load up rounds into the magazines.

"Prepping to engage any heavy units," Alex answered. "These are high velocity, armor-piercing rounds with an explosive core. They primarily are used as an anti-armor round; however, we keep them on hand in case anything breaches containment that standard rounds cannot bring down."

"And what, you just happen to carry that kind of ammo on you for such an occasion?" Shawn asked.

"Normally no," Alex answered, slamming one of the magazines in his sniper rifle and pulling back the bolt. A loud metallic double-click reverberated throughout the room. "But I've been slowly over time taking a few rounds here and there. A box or two would be missed, but a missing round or three every now and then can be written off as an error in inventory." He said, resting and leveling the large rifle on the console station he was behind, aiming the weapon toward the hallway. While balancing his rifle with his right hand, Alex slipped his left hand into a pocket and pulled out a small cylinder object, his thumb now resting on the top. "Get ready and get down."

"Here we go." Shawn muttered under his breath, his heart starting to pound heavily in his chest, the anxiety building up. A large part of him wanted to throw the rifle to the ground and run and hide. Taking deep breaths, he tried to push the anxiety down and smother it. Telling himself that it was for the hive, and it would be over soon. Glancing over to Ryan, the poor man looked ready to go into a full-blown panic. Thankfully, the small warrior was with him, her hand resting on his back as if she were trying to reassure him that everything was going to be alright. How Alex seemed to have such a calm, and relaxed demeanor right now was beyond him. Shawn's mind raced with all kinds of outcomes, none of them good. Shadow placed his hand on Shawn's back, the Praetorian's thoughts flowing through his mind, washing over and calming him. "Thanks," he whispered.

Shadow let out a short and low hiss in return, 'You cannot afford to make a mistake. You will need to remain calm and levelheaded.' He responded.

"Yeah," Shawn said, closing his eyes, letting the calming waves flow over him.

"Lights off," Alex barked, turning his chest light off. Several seconds later, Shawn and Ryan followed suit turning theirs off as well.

A high-pitched mechanical roar then suddenly filled the air breaking both Shawn and Ryan out of their semi-trances. The smell of burning metal and ozone waffled through the labs filling the air with a noxious scent. Bright blue light lit up the hallway with a cascade of sparks around the main door.

'They are cutting through.' Ghost announced, tension filling the Drones voice.

A few seconds later, a deafening metallic thud shook throughout the area.

"Steady," Alex whispered to both Shawn and Ryan.

'Move in, heavies take point, squads check your motion trackers, watch the corners and vent openings, remember to check your targets, anything that isn't human take it out.' The squad commander's voice flowed through Shawn's mind as Ghost both relayed everything he heard and the movements of the human attack force. 'We have casualties, six, correction, seven, around the entrance area, no movement so far.' Another voice echoed through his mind as Ghost and Alese silently observed and relayed everything to the hive.

The sound of slow-paced and heavy metallic steps vibrated through the metal floor. Steps that grew louder and closer with each passing second. At first, it was a single pair of steps, then two, finally three.

'Do not attack until it is time.' Shadow ordered to his hive mates.

"Negative movement, hostiles not detected!" A loud and heavily distorted synthetic voice boomed out as a widespread, thin red laser probed up and down the hallway, the beam widening out toward the central lab.

"Steady. Don't fire until you have confirmation." Another voice spoke up, while somewhat far away, it was loud enough for Shawn and the others to make out.

"Affirmative!" The synthetic voice boomed again.

Bright lights flooded into the lab from the hallway, carefully peeking around the terminal. Shawn stifled a gasp. Entering the lab was a massive nine-foot-tall mechanical monster. Human looking in form but covered in thick dark armor plating, blinding searchlights mounted on both shoulders, with heavy weapons mounted to each of the two arms.

It was then that Shawn and the others became aware of a dull pounding sound with low muffled screaming coming from behind them.

'The scientist are trying to warn the guards.' A female Xenomorph warned.

The massive combat android turned toward the muffled pounding and screaming, the blinding lights illuminating the containment pods. From the side of the android's head, a red laser swept out in a wide swath, the thin beam flowing from the top to the bottom of the pods. "Surviving human science team located, preparing for emergency extraction." The androids synthetic voice boomed.

"What in the hell?" One of the guards slowly whispered as he took a step past the android, his head panning back and forth taking everything in, trying to figure out what was going on. Why were the pods empty, why were the scientists trapped inside some of them, and where were the Xenomorphs? Everything was locked down; there was no way they could have escaped, perhaps one or two, but not all of them. He focused on where the scientists, several of them pounding on the transparent wall, waving their arms and pointing at something. Their words muffled; he could hardly make out what any of them were saying. It wasn't until he saw something for just a moment before it disappeared behind one of the nearby terminal stations, a black blade attached to a segmented tail. Too late, it suddenly dawned on him where the Xenos were. Quickly he leveled his pulse rifle, bracing himself for the sudden alien onslaught, "Oh, hell. Everyone form up, ambu…" His words died in his throat as fire and shrapnel consumed his body, tearing him apart.

Repeatedly Alex hammered his thumb into the detonation button, explosion after explosion rocked the lab, liquid fire mixed with metal shrapnel filled the hallway and the lab entranceway. A monstrous fiery roar drowned out the screams of the dying. "OPEN FIRE!" Alex bellowed, the normally calm and semi-emotionless guard now seemed to be filled with hot fury.

Dropping the detonator and looking down the sights of his rifle, he swung the barrel a few inches to the right and up; a second later, a deafening, thunderous clap reverberated throughout the lab with a blinding muzzle flash.

Shawn gritted his teeth, his right ear ringing from the round discharging. Not even a second later, a second-round blasted out and then a third. As he leveled his own rifle, he saw Alex was fighting against the recoil from each shot, the top part of his torso pushed back every time he fired. Pulling the trigger on the pulse rifle, rounds ripped out through the air. Not even aiming at anything, he tightly swept the weapon from right to left and back again.

Through the plumes of fire, one of the metal monsters trampled through. Napalm coated the combat beast but did nothing to slow it down or harm it, its floodlights sweeping over the area in an attempt to detect the attackers.

"GRENADE, HEAD!" Alex bellowed as he fired another round. The metal monster's head jerked up slightly as it staggered back a step. And as quickly as it stumbled back, it recovered just as quickly. Taking another couple of steps toward the perceived threats. Its arms rising up, the weapons' targeting lasers illuminating, painting the area that the incoming fire was originating from, ready to fire on the hostile combatants.

With a metallic double-click, Shawn chambered a grenade, aimed, and pressed the trigger. The explosive ordnance burst out of its chamber with a dull pop and slight kick, flying toward its target. A second later, a loud explosion lit up the area. The heavy combat android teetered back, its chest slightly dented and scorched but doing little to deter it from moving forward. A second pop followed by another explosion, this time a direct hit to the armor-plated head sent the behemoth back.

"Get them ready!" Alex yelled, the tension high in his voice as he took aim, held for a second, and fired again. The android's head jerked back, its whole body freezing for a few seconds before stumbling forward in an almost drunken manner. As its head snapped forward, minus the left eye, thick white nutrient fluid poured down the android's front torso leaving a thick trail on the floor. As it started to raise both arms, suddenly in a wildly erratic pattern, its weapons fired. The mini-guns, one mounted to the side of each arm, let out a massive barrage of white-hot rounds, tearing at first into the floor, then the walls. The heavy combat android continued to stagger forward, then turned in a half a circle and lurched to the side.

Without even needing instructions from Alex, Shawn cocked another grenade and carefully took aim, and held, right as the android turned another quarter-circle away, he fired. The grenade hit dead center on the back of the android's head; a half-second later, the deafening blast from Alex's weapon shot out. The metal monster wobbled forward, slamming against the bulkhead, and in an almost humorous manner, its body slowly slid down, unmoving. Daring to take a quick look, he could see that a massive hole was in the back of the android's head and upper neck. He prayed that it wouldn't get back up after that.

"Two more heavies incoming!" Alex screamed as he fired off another shot, the explosive round hitting one of the new arrivals dead center in the chest and doing nothing. "Now, tell them to go now! And you two hold your fire!"

'Drop and attack, kill every one of them!' Shadow bellowed, his body tensing up, ready to spring into action, prepared to lead his hive mates into battle. 'Tank, now!'

'Attack the big ones from behind; remember they are vulnerable at the back of their head. Rip them apart!' Tank roared, beginning his charge.

Not even a moment later, bent, and twisted metal panels with over a dozen black chitinous forms crashed down from the air ducts, shooting out toward any that still survived. Each Xenomorph screamed as loud as they could, their pent up anger still raw and festering from their captivity. A moment later, Shadow's taunt body sprung forward, leaping over the console in a fluid motion. The Xenos that were hidden in the lab burst forward, each one vaulting over any obstacles in their way.

Memories of coordinated hive attacks suddenly flowed into and through Shawn's mind, multi-prong attacks, sneak attacks, dropping from above onto the enemies below. A sense of what he could almost describe as a euphoric combat high rushed his senses. The exhilaration of being part of a greater whole that not only could but would overwhelm their enemies. For a moment, the enemies that he saw in his mind's eye wasn't that of the station's security forces, but of the creators themselves, an older and far more hated enemy.

And as quickly as the brief vision had flowed into his mind, it slipped away, fading into nothingness. Shaking his head, trying to clear the residual fog from his mind, Shawn wondered where that had come from. Maybe it was some kind of bleed over from the hive memories of past battles. Or an effect from the now combat high that most of the Xenos were experiencing as they tore into the attack force.

Shadow and the other Praetorian slammed full force into one of the approaching heavy combat androids, lifting it off the ground and throwing it back into the bulkhead before it could act. Each Praetorian grabbed an arm and pinned it to the wall trying to neutralize the android until one of their hive mates could get in an attack at the base of the neck. The android immediately fought back, pushing with all its weight, its powerful actuators ramping up to max power to counter the Xeno's strength.

Five to six other Xenos, a mix of drones and warriors, swarmed over the third heavy combat android. Several trying to pin the arms down while the rest attempted to rip and tear through the armored metal shell. One of the drones found herself lifted up into the air. Even with her strength and build, she couldn't hold the metal monster's arm down. A second later, she found herself slammed into the bulkhead, a loud, meaty crunch followed by acidic yellow blood spewing from her mouth and an agonizing high-pitched scream.

The android leveled its arm at the proned drone, amid the clawing, hissing, and shrill alien screams, a deafening electric buzzing noise followed by a fiery burst exploded out from the mini-gun. An explosion of yellow flesh, black chitinous armor followed by a wide burst of acidic blood. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of armor-piercing and explosive rounds had torn into the Xenos body, leaving little more than an unrecognizable mess. Metal quickly turned into slag as the acidic blood ate through the floor and walls. A large hole in the floor opened into the levels below as the drones' remains fell through the newly formed breach.

Fully enraged at his hive mate's death, Tank bellowed a death challenge at the heavy combat android. The other Xenos that escorted him broke away to engage the rest of the attack force. Charging at full speed through and past human and android alike, he rammed into a human guard that happened to be unlucky enough to be in his way. The guard never knew what hit him as he flew into a wall, his lifeless body slumping over. A moment later, Tank plowed his full weight into the massive android. The Xenos that were trying to hold down the heavy combat android scattered at the last second as Tank collided into it.

Both Praetorian and android tumbled over and over on the floor before coming to a stop. Bursts of weapon fire erupted from the arm-mounted mini-guns, stray rounds flew wildly down the corridors and lab, hitting humans, androids, and Xenos alike.

Rolling over, Tank pounced on top of the android. Before the Android could bring its weapons to bear on the attacking Praetorian, drones, and warriors piled on top of it, pinning its arms down, each one careful not to be in its field of fire. Tank's whole body shook with heated rage and hate at the soulless thing that only seconds ago killed one of his hive mates. His hands tightly gripped around the beast's head, claws slowly tore through metal and pasty, white artificial skin. Tank let out a volatile spray of acid that coated the android's face and neck. He had expected the head to melt into a sloppy white mess and end the ordeal, but to his surprise, nothing happened. Only the metal flooring that the acid touched melted.

Fine then, the hard way it would be, the satisfying way.

Tensing his body, Tank pulled the android's head, his claws digging in deeper, white fluid slowly pooling out from the gashes. At first nothing, then a metallic grinding noise, followed by tearing and ripping. The android attempting to twist its body and kick away, lifting one of the warriors up for a moment before he regained his grip on the android's leg and forced it back down. Violently twisting to the left and then to the right as hard as he could, he attempted to wrench the droids head from its shoulders, resulting in a mix of wet metallic pops, cracks, and scraping.

Another burst came from the two mini-guns, the rounds impacting harmlessly into the bulkheads, a show of force that was nothing more than a futile attempt to fight back. Digging one of his knees into the android's chest, Tank strained as he continued to try and yank its head off, pulling back with everything he had. A moment later, he was rewarded with the sound of fleshy snaps and pops. With a loud grating noise, resistance gave way, and with a final heave, the androids head tore loose from its body. White organic tubes dangled from the neck, thick with liquid oozing out, and the android's body went lax. Tossing the head aside, it was time to finish off the last of the heavy combat androids.

Shadow and the other Praetorian, along with several drones and warriors kept the last android pinned to the wall, but none of them had been able to kill it. Acid did little more than flow off the armor and eat away at the floor. And none of them had any success at getting to the nape of the heavy android's neck or rip apart the heavy armor. For the moment, it was a stalemate.

The fighting in the hallway all but died out. Only a handful of androids and humans continued to fight a foolish battle at the encroaching hive warriors and drones instead of retreating. In what sounded like an act of desperation to Shadow, one of the human guards screamed and cursed. A second later, a loud explosion reverberated down the hallway. And at that very moment, Shadow felt another one of his hive mates die. The warrior's mind slipping away forever, the living tether cut from the hive link.

Another one of their hive mates gone, Shadow knew not all of them would make it out alive; in fact, it was possible that none of them would make it. Dying while fighting for their freedom was better than a life imprisoned in those damned tubes and being exterminated by Dr. Mason. Still feeling one of them slip away, that sudden emptiness, that void, it was never easy to experience. But it did give them a resolve to fight harder and fiercer than before.

Shadow was about to follow Tank's example, to take all that hate, rage, and anger and unleash it on this metal giant and rip its head clean off. Only he never got that chance, at least not at first. A deafening shot ripped through the air, and an instant later, the androids head slammed up against the wall. Shadow hissed in annoyance, as did his Praetorian brother. While the round had missed the two of them by inches, they both felt it fly by. Not even a second later, a second, then a third shot. The second shot blew out the android's right eye, the third shot taking out the left eye leaving it completely blind.

Not waiting for a moment longer, Shadow opened his mouth and spewed out a geyser of acid on the android's face, targeting the now vulnerable eyes slits, or what was left of them. The machine jerked and fought back, trying to break free from the Xenos iron-clad grip. Artificial white skin and nutrients fluid boiled and melted away, turning into a smoking, synthetic soup; muffled sparks flashed inside the machine as the acid melted everything it touched. The other Praetorian followed Shadow's lead and let out a spray of acid at the eye slits as well. The combat android thrashed and seized far more violently, what almost sounded like muffled mechanical screams emanated from the robotic voice box.

Silence and stillness followed as the deadly war-machine abruptly went motionless. Its arms going limp with no resistance, thick white liquid flowed from the faceplate down the front of its chest and pooled on the floor. Only a few brief and loud pops came from within the android's chest, then nothing.

Shadow glance at his Praetorian brother for a fleeting second as if taking his gaze off the android even for a moment was inviting a sudden surprise attack. The other Praetorian seemed just as apprehensive as Shadow. Neither wanted to loosen their grip just in case it came back to life and unleashed a volley of fire.

'Drop it. I'll make sure it is dead, as if it were ever alive to start with.' Tank said, raising his tail blade, positioning it to strike.

The Xenos loosened their grip, letting the android fall face forward. Just as soon as the droid fell to the ground, Tank's tail blade sliced down, burying half the length of his blade into the nape of the android's neck, almost decapitating it.

Quickly Shadow and the others looked around to see if any more of the station forces were trying to hold out and continue the fight. Nothing. Only the hive remained standing, save for two of their own dead and several injured. 'Ghost, Alese,' Shadow called out to them, 'are you two injured?'

'Only a few minor wounds,' Ghost replied, 'they will heal quickly.'

'Shawn?' Shadow asked.

'We're fine,' Shawn answered with a hint of discomfort in his voice, 'one of those rounds grazed my neck, but nothing serious.'

'It's time for us to leave,' Tank said.

'Agreed,' Shadow replied.

'Shawn, some of us will scout ahead to make sure there are no more of the station's forces lying in ambush. Get Alex and Ryan ready to go.' Shadow told him, 'Those that are not injured, help the wounded, others help carry the hosts.'

'On it.' Shawn replied.

The group of Xenomorph drones bolted back into the lab and headed for the safety room to collect the sleeping hosts.

"Time for us to go," Shawn said. "Shadow informed me they are going to scout out the area ahead to see if any more of the station security is waiting for us in an ambush." He headed back to the large console to retrieve the data core that was copying over the system files; it was a little over halfway finished. Hopefully, whatever was on it would be more than enough to get some answers. He stopped the transfer, unplugged the data core, and headed back into Mason's office to retrieve the two duffle bags he placed there earlier.

By the time Shawn came out of Mason's office, the Xenos with the hosts were ready to leave, as was Elizabeth's staff. The one drone that had stayed inside the safety room held close to her body the tiny encased and frozen queen, her fingers slowly caressing the canister. Alex, at some point, picked up one of the pulse rifles and slung it around his back and pocketed a few magazines. Ryan, while on his feet, looked ready to either pass out or throw up, perhaps both. Shawn knew firsthand it was from shock; he did feel the same to a lesser extent. The guy would have to try and focus on something else. Thankfully, the small warrior was now back at his side, comforting him.

The fires had all but died out in the area, leaving the lab almost pitch black. There was little illumination from either the emergency lighting or the few remaining shoulder and chest lamps from the security forces. To help the lab group see better, Alex and Shawn activated their own lights.

'Alese and Ghost along with some warriors have gone ahead,' Shadow said, coming up to the group, 'it seems the power outage goes far beyond the lab. The hallways and rooms past this area are all dark, with only the emergency lighting activated. However, it seems the way is clear, at least for now.'

"Alright, everyone, listen up," Shawn said, turning to face the group. "Power is out past the lab; we don't know how far that extends, the emergency lighting is active, but that's it. A few of the Xenos have gone ahead but haven't made contact with anyone yet. So for now, let's just go slow and get past this area first."

As they left the lab itself, Shawn, Alex, and Ryan, along with the other humans for the first time, could see the carnage of the battle. The remains of the massive combat androids were the first thing they came across.

"Man, I'm glad we didn't have to face off with more of those damn things," Shawn said as he walked past the hulking armed behemoth.

"Be grateful the security forces didn't hit us with heavy battle suits." Alex told him, "They're essentially mini-mechs with much heavier firepower and thicker armor. I doubt we could have done anything to stop even one of them."

"The Saratoga has a bay or two full of those things. If I could have figured out how to get one up and running, I would have seriously thought about using it." Shawn replied, passing the massive melted hole in the floor. Very little of the drone remained, only a few chitinous pieces lying partly fused into the metal. His stomach turned at what had happened to her, her freedom all too short-lived. Like the rest of the hive, he too felt both her and the warrior die.

'She had a chance to fight for her hive and her freedom. We all knew that this would happen.' Shadow said, taking the bag of thermite from Shawn to help ease his human's load. 'I fear that more of our hive will die before we leave this place.'

Looking down, Shawn could see several levels below. For a second or two, he thought he could see movement on the lower levels. Something bathed in shadow jerked and twitched before zipping away. A moment later, the muffled sound of metal twisting and ripping floated up and then silence. "Alex, Ryan, either of you two have any idea what's in the areas right below us?" Shawn asked, his stomach knotting up tightly.

"More labs, not sure what the work is, though." Ryan said, "Why?"

"Cause I saw something move, and it didn't even look remotely human, but it was damn fast, and I think it just tore through a wall."

"And now that something is out," Alex stated flatly.

"Yeah," Shawn said, "something is out."

Alex jerked a thumb forward, "Time to move people, and everyone, stay away from this hole."

As the group continued to move forward, ripped, torn, and burned bodies of humans and androids littered the hallway. Some were missing parts of their heads and faces, others dismembered or blown to pieces, and a few that lasted to the end lay with silent death gazes as blood slowly trickled out of the large holes in their foreheads. Most, however, were simply unrecognizable.

Gasps, silent cries, a few murmured curses, and even wet vomit spilling onto the floor came from the lab group. Another Xeno lay in the middle of the hallway, the body halfway into the melted floor, his chest cavity partly blown out, and part of his lower jaw missing. A few meters away, one of the guards, the front of his body, was little more than a mix of smoking charred skin and shredded organs. The poor bastard had used a grenade, taking both himself and the warrior out, either in a last-ditch act of defiance or desperation.

Passing the last of the carnage, Alex, Shawn, and Shadow stepped onto the massive metal slab that had once been the pressure door. A few meters away beyond the door threshold sat a large and bulky piece of machinery affixed to four rugged and heavy-duty tires. The machinery was mostly a large square gunmetal grey box, with pipes and conduits coming out from the top and reconnecting to the lower portion of the sides. Several screen readouts lined both the front and sides, with dozens of buttons and switches. On the back of the device sat a control box and joystick with a keyboard set in just below it. At the front of the machine, attached in the very center was a multi-section mobile arm with several tubes tightly secured to the arm. Attached to the arm's very end was a white-colored cylinder about a foot in diameter with a two-inch nozzle set out from the very center.

"It looks like an industrial-grade mobile plasma cutter." Shawn said, walking up to the machine, "No wonder they were able to burn through a couple of feet of reinforced metal in a few seconds."

"You're familiar with this kind of equipment?" Alex asked, keeping his light pointed down the dimly lit hallway.

Shawn nodded, studying the readout screen. "I worked as a mining tech on the moon when I was younger, then went to a deep space mining station. We used plasma cutters on the station to cut asteroids into more manageable chunks for processing. Some of the cutters were the size of buildings and weren't what you would call mobile, but we did have some that were like this for smaller jobs."

"What's the range on the beam?" Alex asked, looking at the cutter with a somewhat new interest.

"The range is pretty short, depending on the power setting and how narrow the beam's focus is, you might get a range of ten to fifteen meters at most, but nothing beyond that. At least that was with the cutters I worked with. Though I'm not sure about this unit as it looks like a newer model, so it's possible this unit might have an increased range." Shawn said, looking over at Alex, "Tell me you're not wanting to haul this thing around and use it as some kind of weapon."

Alex shook his head, "No, nothing like that, curiosity mostly. But we might have to use it to cut our way through a door or several depending if the lockdown extends past the lab area."

"Well then, let's go find out," Shawn said, stepping away from the cutter and continuing to walk down the darkened hallway.

The group hadn't made it more than thirty meters down the hall when Ghost spoke up through the hive link. 'Another pressure door is locked down; there are a large number of humans directly on the other side.'

'Another attack group?' Shadow asked.

'Possibly.' Ghost replied, his voice cautiously quiet, an unexpected and underlining sense of anxiety from him flowed through the link.

"Great," Shawn muttered, "well bad news," he turned to look at Alex and the other humans that were now mixed in with the large group of Xenos. "Ghost just informed us that there's another pressure door, and it's locked down, and there's a large group on the other side, probably another attack force."

"Most likely it's a second group or late reinforcements that were sent in to back up and support the first attack force. They probably decided to fortify their position when the main attack force didn't report back in, or they sent out a distress call at the end, instructing them not to approach." Alex said, his grip tightening on his sniper rifle.

"So, what the hell do we do now, hit them head-on and hope for the best?" Shawn asked, his stomach knotting up more and more with each passing second. He could swear that it felt like rocks were jostling away in his stomach now.

"We might not have much of an option at this point. If it is another attack force, they would have secured the area, fortified themselves, and prepared. However," Alex turned to look back from where they came, "we might be able to give them a surprise."

Shawn gave a quick nod in understanding what Alex was referring to. "Max the power out; narrow the beam, and we can cut right through that door and anything else on the other side in a few seconds."

"I'll see if there is anything I can do with the door while you get the cutter," Alex said, as he continued down the hallway.

"Got it," Shawn said, as he made his way back through the crowded hallway and went into a full-on sprint. A minute or so later, he was back at the mobile plasma cutter. "Alright, sweetheart, let's see what you can do." He muttered to himself; for a few moments, a calming warmth washed over as he began to look over the machine. While it was a small thing, it was something familiar, something that took him back to a time before everything in his life was completely turned upside down and inside out. It was a simple machine, built for simple reasons, to carve and cut. He had repaired and operated many of them, either in the mines at Luna city and on Darrius station. Places that now felt like a dozen lifetimes ago.

While having a slightly different layout, the cutter control systems were set up almost the same as the older models he had worked with. Flipping a few switches and knobs, the machine hummed to life. "Power remaining just over ninety-eight percent," Shawn mumbled to himself, looking over the panel readout. "Narrow focused beam, range set at twenty-four inches, power output set to twenty percent." Gripping the joystick, he pulled slightly back and right; immediately, the machine started to back up and turn to the right.

Slowly the cutter turned a half-circle before facing down the hallway. "Alright, let's get going and see what you can do," Shawn said, pushing the joystick forward all the way. A moment later, the cutter lunged forward and rolled down the hallway at a less than a leisurely snail's pace. "Well, that's not right." He said, tapping on the screen to bring up a diagnosis readout of the cutter. Right away, a schematic of the unit popped up with what looked to be the drivetrain flashing red. "Great," Shawn groaned, "no wonder it took them so long to get up here."

"McNeal, what's your status?" Alex's voice came in over the coms.

"I'm on my way back, but the drive train is partly busted. Hell, I've seen infants' crawl faster than this thing is going"

"Anything you can do to speed it up?"

"Sure, get me a lift, the right parts, and about an hour, and I'll it have running in top condition."

"Unfortunately, I seem to be lacking those things at the moment," Alex replied, with what seemed to be a bit of underlining snark in his voice.

"Then, there's not a lot I can do to speed it up, so it'll be a bit," Shawn said, leaning into the two-ton machine trying to get it to move a bit faster, his efforts less than successful.

"Understood," Alex said, "By the way, the station coms are back up; there is another attack force waiting for us."

"Of course there is. Why should any of this be easy? God forbid we should be allowed to just walk out." Shawn said, "Don't they realize they're just throwing their lives away."

"It's what they signed on for. I also picked up a transmission from another group a few levels below; apparently, something's slaughtering everyone in sight. You said you saw something a couple of levels below, correct?"

It was something he barely saw for a handful of seconds. The way it moved, it almost seemed to vibrate and shimmer; for that brief time, it looked like it disappeared for a fleeting moment then reappeared. Not in the exact same spot but a few feet from where it disappeared. "Yeah, but it was weird the way it moved, almost like it was, I don't know," Shawn focused on that moment he saw below, "almost like its body, or a part of its body was shifting or phasing in and out of thin air at high speed."

"Interesting."

"What, you know something?" Shawn asked, almost accusingly after a few moments of silence.

"No, it's just that I never heard of anything moving like that."

"Well, interesting or not, this just gives us more of an incentive to get the hell out of here all that much quicker. Whatever is running amok below, I'd rather not run into it, though maybe it'll help distract the guards from our escape."

"Agreed, our next hurdle is just past this door; once we deal with the force on the other side, we'll make a straight run for the hub."

"And while you're doing that, Shadow and I will make our way to the main reactor. Once we set the charges and blow them, we'll meet up with you and the group." And hopefully, get off this station before the reactor melts down completely, Shawn thought to himself.

"If nothing else inhibits our way," Alex replied.

"Right," Shawn said, as he slowly continued to maneuver the plasma cutter, "if nothing else inhibits our way." Fat chance of that happening, he thought to himself. If this place could throw any more curveballs in his direction, he had no doubt it would. Now all they had to do was stay alive and make it to the docking bay, and once that was done, they would be home free, at least that was what he kept telling himself. Another slow ten minutes passed by as he was finally able to roll the plasma cutter into position.

Ghost stood in front of the heavy pressure door and seemed to be intently focused on it, or rather what might be beyond it. The drone slowly turned to look at Shawn as he rolled the massive piece of machinery up to the door. 'Something has happened.' Ghost told him.

'What is it?' Shawn asked through the hive link.

'I do not know. The humans that were waiting for us are not there anymore.' Ghost said, turning back and pressing his domed head up against the door.

'What, they up and left?' Shawn asked.

'Unknown.' Ghost answered, 'They are simply gone.' A heightened sense of anxiety flowed through his words, something now gnawed away at the back of his mind. The way the humans' presence on the other side of the pressure door suddenly disappeared set him on edge. Any of his kind could pick up pheromones and detect the life energies of living creatures. And while two feet of reinforced metal made it difficult, briefly, he had picked up their life energies; then it was gone. Almost like something had blanketed the area rendering them undetectable. He found it unsettling.

"Did something happen?" Alex asked, coming up next to Shawn, observing the silent interaction between the two.

"According to Ghost, whoever was on the other side of this door is gone." Shawn said quietly, "and before you ask, no, he doesn't know if they left or if something else happened."

"Only one way to find out." Replied Alex.

Nodding, Shawn started working on the control panel. The arm-mounted cutter lifted and positioned itself at the top right corner of the door. "Alright, this is going to be bright, like blind your eyes bright, so don't look directly at it. Shadow, you might want to place the thermite out of the way, just in case."

'Wait,' Tank said, coming up next to Shawn, the other Praetorian stepping up next to Tank and Shadow a few seconds later. The three Praetorians all lined up with around a dozen warriors behind them, along with two larger Xenos that had the odd head crests with the glowing yellow blisters. 'Now.'

Pressing a couple of buttons, Shawn lowered his head, closed his eyes, and flipped a small switch on the panel. The hallway lit up with a blinding blue light as the cutter moved effortlessly along the edge of the door sending a shower of sparks along the way, the plasma beam slicing through the metal with no resistance.

"Goddamn, that's bright," Ryan commented as he held his hand over his eyes, looking away.

"That's why you don't look at it," Sara remarked snidely.

In just under twenty seconds, the cutter had done its job, burning through the outer edges of the massive two-foot thick pressure door. As it shut down, semi-darkness blanketed the area. Only a few ceiling, wall, and floor mounted emergency lights illuminated the hallway in a sickly white and red glow.

The three Praetorians slammed into the door without saying a word, sending it falling with a sharp and deafening metal bang. The sound reverberating through the hallway like a massive clap of thunder, the vibrations rattling everyone to the bone for a second. The three had been ready to lead the charge, to rip, tear, and bite into whatever opposition waited for them on the other side. Only there was no opposition waiting for them. The three Praetorians held their position as their heads panned back and forth, observing the area. It took the three a moment to register what they were looking at.

What came first was the sharp smell of ozone, chlorine, and burnt copper as it flooded into the hallway. A thick dripping sound dully resonated as if someone had left a series of faucets on, allowing heavy viscous fluids to drip every few seconds. The walls, ceiling, and floor once smooth and gunmetal grey in color, now oozed crimson and white, distorted and twisted limbs melded into the metal structure. Faces frozen forever stared blankly out in a mix of silent shock and agony. It was carnage, pure, and simple, but this was an act not done by their claws, teeth, and tail blades.

Shawn maneuvered his way through the tight pack of Xeno warriors until he was just a few feet behind the three Praetorians. "What is that smell?" He asked as his light illuminated the hallway; right there, he froze. "Holy fuck." He gasped to himself at seeing what lay before them. Bodies arced out in agony, hands and fingers outstretched clawing in pain, eyes froze in the moment of death and terror, mouths gaped open in endless silent screams. For those few long moments, his mind couldn't process what he was seeing. It didn't make sense, none of it did, it was impossible. None of the bodies from what he could see, be it human or android, were stuck to the hallway structure. They were merged within the structure itself. He slowly turned around to look at Alex. "You need to see this."

Even Alex, with his normally deadpanned expression, was taken back, almost in shock at what he now saw. "This is what happened to the reinforcements?" Shawn wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement, maybe a mix of the two.

"How? They're in the walls…how? How does something like that happen?" Shawn whispered, nervous tension racking his voice. The whole thing almost reminded him of one of those old-time Halloween haunted houses that he and his family would go to when he was young. Arms reaching out to grab him, his friends and parents, or a face appearing from behind a black curtain for a moment to scream and disappear. Only this wasn't one of those haunted houses, and there was nothing fun about this. Just minutes ago this had been a fully armed assault team ready to fight and, if necessary, die to keep them from escaping. And now the whole force was quite literally fused into the walls.

'It doesn't matter,' Tank said, 'whatever did this did us a favor and removed an obstacle that we no longer have to deal with.'

'Unless whatever did this comes back to do the same thing to us, and frankly, I don't think any of us want to wind up this way.' Shawn replied, balling his fist uptight and relaxing it after a second.

"Look," Alex whispered, pointing down the hallway.

Following where Alex was pointing at, two large hulking figures bathed in darkness stood unmoving in the hallway several dozen meters away, just past the gore zone. "Okay, what is that?" Shawn asked, his heart beating harder and faster now, were they, whatever they were, responsible for what happened, or was it something else? The fact that neither of the figures moved and only stood there seemed to make it all that more unnerving for him.

"They're heavy battle suits." Alex told him, "Guess command decided to break out a pair to put us down." Alex took a few steps forward, slowly weaving around the outstretched arms and hands. "I get the impression whoever is inside suffered the same fate."

"Lucky fucking us," Shawn said as he followed behind. He tried to avoid looking at the victims that now silently stared accusingly at him with each step he took. He didn't want to look into the dead eyes of those that now lined the hallway, didn't want to see their faces in their final moments, and didn't want to think that whatever happened to the attack force could happen to them as well.

Despite that, he couldn't help himself. A part of him needed to see; needed to know; perhaps he needed to remember that they had been living breathing people a few minutes ago. There was no rational reasoning as to why he had to look into the eyes of the dead. It made about as much sense as fixating on a dead animal that one might come across on the side of a road or in a forest. But there was something in the back of his mind that told him to, even if it was just for a second.

Slowly turning his head, Shawn found himself just inches away, now locked eye to eye with one of the former guards. Like the others, the man's face was a twisted and distorted amalgamation of shock, terror, and even disbelief. His arms merged partly into the bulkhead wall, his fingers arching out, tightly gripping at nothing. His eyes, now completely white, somehow still showed panic and shock. And his mouth forever froze in his final death scream. He could swear that just behind those dead white eyes, he was being watched, observed, and perhaps even judged. Just below the surface, something ever so slightly moved.

Shadow thankfully broke Shawn out of his trance, placing a hand on the human's shoulder and slightly prodding him forward. 'This is wrong, normally the dead do not bother me, but this, something tells me we should run and not look back.' Shadow said.

Agreeing, Shawn continued to move forward, his finger gently coming into contact with the trigger on the pulse rifle. He had not only heard it but also felt it, fear coming from Shadow, real absolute fear, the kind that gripped your heart and froze you in place. He swore that for that fleeting fraction of a second, he had seen something underneath those dead eyes.

Slowly Alex made his way forward, his sniper rifle at the ready. Shawn closely following behind, just a few meters away. The three Praetorians kept in stride, staying a short distance behind the two humans. "We are lucky," Alex told Shawn, "I doubt you'd want to get hit with a twenty-five-millimeter gauss round, believe me, there's not much left after. If they had hit us with these, we would all be dead."

"I'll take your word for it," Shawn replied, as he carefully maneuvered around the remains.

As they got closer to the silent sentinels, Shawn realized that the suits were far larger than he first thought. From the way it looked, both units were down in a squatting position. He figured that they would probably be around ten to twelve feet tall when they stood fully upright. Gripped by one of the metal hands was a large cannon that looked to be the only weapons the suits possessed; a feed belt ran from the cannon to the back of the suit, attaching to a massive ammo pod.

Shawn had to admit that the battle suits were impressive-looking machines. Sleek with hard edges and thick armor surrounding vital areas. The arms, reinforced with heavy armor, same for the legs that looked to be of a digitigrade design. The head was squat and deeply set in with a pair of large red optical eyes protected by heavily reinforced glass several inches thick. It was something that could easily take out even a Xeno Praetorian with little effort. "Any other weapons on these things?" Shawn asked as Alex made his way around the suit, examining it from the way it looked.

"There's a high-powered laser mounted in the right shoulder with enough fuel for a two-minute burn if engaged at maximum power. Originally, it was designed as an anti-missile defense system, but it was reworked to be used as an offensive weapon if necessary. The main gun also has an under-slung fifty-millimeter grenade launcher with a twenty-round magazine." Answered Alex as he grabbed onto what looked like a pair of handles on the back, pulled, and rotated clockwise. A loud hiss came from the suit as the back separated and opened up, revealing the unmoving pilot. "And lastly, each arm has a retractable blade for close combat, it's a bit cliché, I admit, but it is better than nothing when the ammo runs dry."

Shawn stayed silent as Alex examined the pilot and uncoupled the safety harness.

"Well that's disturbing," Alex said, as he pulled the pilot out, the body slumping to the floor and almost collapsing on itself. The remains looking more like a lifelike rag doll wearing military garb and a helmet.

Taking a couple of steps back, Shawn's eyes widened a bit for a moment. "What in the hell?" He asked as he saw that the pilot's eyes were completely black. Every time he thought that things couldn't get any more disturbing, something topped his expectations.

"The bones are completely pulverized." Alex said as he examined the pilot, his hands deeply sinking into the body every time he pressed down. "There's no visible sign of external injury, no cuts or bleeding, not even the skin from what I can see of it is blemished or bruised."

"Alex, did you happen to see his eyes? They are black, not discolored, not bloodshot like a vessel had burst, not white like the others, they are completely black."

"Yes, I noticed. Did you also notice the not a single shot has been fired from anyone? Not the pilots of the suits, not the guards, not even the androids. Whatever happened to them happened far quicker than they could react to."

Looking back at the bulkhead fused bodies; a second far more disturbing and horrific theory came to mind. "They couldn't react," Shawn stated. "You saw their faces. They knew what was happening to them. They just couldn't do anything. What in the hell could have done this?"

"I do not know," Alex replied as he secured both his sniper and pulse rifle inside of the suit. "And I don't want to find out."

"What are you doing?" Shawn asked as Alex hoisted himself up and slid inside the cockpit of the battle-suit.

Flipping several switches, the heavy battle-suit hummed to life, "I'm giving us an actual fighting chance." Alex said, "We might be able to make it out of the pod, but once we step into the main hub, we're going to need as much firepower as we can manage."

Stepping back, Shawn eyed the metal monster. "Do you even know how to operate that thing?"

"Every guard that is assigned here has training in these suits. We only have a limited amount on board the station, so command decided they didn't want to rely on a handful of qualified operators and suddenly have most, or all of them killed in some kind of attack or freak accident."

"Makes sense, I guess," Shawn said.

"Climb into the other one. I can walk you through the steps and get you operating on a basic level."

Shawn leaned over to look at the other battle-suit kneeling on the ground, raising his eyebrows ever so slightly. It was tempting, very, very tempting, if he had known how to operate one of those when the mercs boarded the Saratoga or when he came on board the station, it would have made things a lot easier. As much as he wanted to, and he really did, it was something he was going to have to decline. "Alex, maybe you've forgotten this, but I can't exactly get into one of those things and make my way down to the reactor without drawing everyone's attention."

"Point taken, very well," Alex said, closing the hatch. A second later, the battle-suit rocked upright to its full height of just over eleven feet. Both hands of the suit gripped the massive cannon holding it at the ready. A pair of spotlights, one on each side of the head lit up flooding the hallway with bright cold white light. "All systems are nominal, the reactor is stable, and ammo is at max capacity." Alex's voice chirped over the speaker. "What is your route to the reactor?"

"This," Shawn answered, bringing up his data-pad. "It's the most direct route that Shadow and I can take without being discovered. At least from what I could get from the station's blueprints.

"No good, a quarter of those ducts and shafts have been rerouted or are shut down for maintenance. Give me a minute, and I'll send you a new route." In less than a minute, Alex plotted out a new route and sent it over to Shawn's data-pad. "It'll take a bit longer as you'll have to go around a few areas, but it will get you there without anyone noticing you, as long as you and Shadow stay quiet. The entry point is about three hundred meters ahead; you'll just have to take the left split when we come to the first junction."

"Hey, what's going on up there?" Ryan's voice came in over the coms. "The Xenos are refusing to let any of us pass. In fact, all of them seem kind of antsy about something."

"It's clear, but you all might want to brace yourself for what's ahead," Shawn answered.

"What do you mean, what happened?"

Shawn was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. How did one explain that a whole squad was literally fused into the walls, ceiling, and floor without it sounding outlandish? Maybe there wasn't a way. "Those reinforcements Alex was talking about, they're still there, but they're all fused into the bulkheads."

It was almost a full thirty seconds of silence before Ryan's voice came back over the coms. "Wait, did you just say that there fused into the bulkheads?"

"Yes, it's pretty damn gruesome. Just hurry up and walk through it quickly, and whatever you do, don't stop."

"Right," Ryan replied drily before turning off the coms.

Less than a minute later, both Shawn and Alex heard screams, cries, and cursing coming from down the hallway. Thirty seconds after that came rapid footfalls, the dozen or so warriors guiding the rest of the group.

"What the fuck was that? What happened to those people?" Sara asked, her face several shades lighter now, not really noticing the eleven-foot tall, heavy battle suit towering over most of the group.

"I don't know, and I don't want to stick around to find out," Shawn said mirroring Alex's words from earlier. "Alright, Shadow and I are going to break away and hit the reactor. Alex is there someplace you can hold up that's close by docking bay two until we can meet up?"

"I know a spot. Not sure how much good it will do us considering the amount of attention we're going to draw, but it should provide decent cover and is somewhat defensible until you rendezvous with us."

'You two are not going alone.' The female warrior from earlier said, she and her male counterpart made their way through the crowd. 'We are coming along.'

'As will I.' Came the familiar deep voice from the Xenomorph that had chastised Shawn earlier in the lab. The Xeno with the large head-crest adorned with yellow-colored blisters, broke through the crowd following closely behind the two warriors.

Closing his eyes, Shawn ran his hands slowly down his face, letting out a low, frustrated groan. The last thing he needed was to bring along half the damn hive for this. He wondered who else was going to come along for this little jaunt. "Look, I can't take half the hive along for this." He protested hoping to sway them.

A low shuddering hiss erupted from the female, "That is good. Half the hive is not coming with you for this, just us.'

'You will need our help for any battles, the humans will resist, and the two of you cannot fight them on your own." The male warrior said.

"So, in other words, the three of you are going to come along no matter what I say. Is that pretty much it?"

'Correct.' The female warrior said.

Trotting up behind Shawn, Shadow placed his hands on his human's shoulders. 'It is good they are coming with us; we will need help if the humans are stubborn or foolish enough to put up a fight.'

"It won't be much of a fight if they hit us with these damn things," Shawn stated, jerking his thumb at the battle suit. "I know you're tough and all, and can shrug off a lot in the way of firepower, but none of you can survive getting hit with a gauss round, especially the size those fuckers are carrying."

'Then we will be careful and quick, so they do not find us.' The female warrior said.

Without warning, Alex swung the battle suit around, "We need to move out. When word gets back to Commander Snyder on what has happened, he may decide to lock down this pod and purge it."

Looking around, something suddenly dawned on Shawn. Why he hadn't noticed it before was beyond him. "Hey, Alex, Ryan, how far do the primary and secondary power conduits go out from the lab?"

Ryan only shrugged, "No idea. It's not my area of expertise."

"Same," Alex answered.

"Well, the power is still out," Shawn said, waving a hand around. "As far out as we are from the lab, you would think this section would have power, even if some of the lines are connected to the lab from here."

'Is this information important, human?' The Xeno with the yellow-blistered head-crest asked.

Shawn turned to look up at the larger Xeno that towered over him just a couple of meters away. "I don't know, maybe. I'm just wondering how far the power outage extends. If we can use it for cover and conceal our movements."

'You think like one of us, human.' The Xeno said, a smile forming at the corner of his lips.

'He IS one of us.' Shadow said sternly, correcting his brother.

"If we are lucky, the power outage will extend out for a section or several. If not, expect to fight for every foot we gain." Alex said. "McNeal, do you have a plan in case Snyder decides to purge this pod?"

"Well, I didn't know about the pods being able to be purged like they were when I came on board. I did have an idea in case things got too hairy and I needed to buy some time or cause some confusion." He said, "But what you're asking would be more like a Hail Mary, it depends on how much time I would have to pull it off."

"And that would be what exactly?"

"Hit the station with the Saratoga's particle cannons, all of them at once. Low power with a wide area dispersion, it'll be like setting off a massive EMP bomb inside the station and shut everything down, at least in theory."

"Yeah," Ryan interjected, "and in the process, release every fucking thing that's onboard this station!"

"And you can do that?" Alex asked, ignoring Ryan's outburst.

Shawn raised his arm that had the attached datapad. "I hope that it doesn't come to that, but I did a few preprogram commands that I can access on the fly. How else do you think I was going to get that ship to dock here in the first place?"

"Good enough then. Let's go. I'll take point." Alex said as he pushed the battle suit forward, each step it took reverberating through the metal flooring. A few seconds later, the rest of the group started to trail behind, keeping a respectable distance from Alex.

The metal behemoth's footfalls eventually faded away as the mixed group of humans and Xenomorphs left, leaving the area bathed in cold silence. No one was there to notice the dull red and white emergency lights slowly die out, flickering one final time. Blackness took hold, heavy and oppressive, like a thick and dense weighted blanket coiling around someone smothering them.

No one would ever notice shadows of meat and bone that slowly peeled away from the bulkhead, oozing into a shapeless mass. Sightless eyes seeing all, faces stretched out, mouths widened in silent cries. Meat, bone, and ligament extended outward into malformed, wormlike tendrils, appendages to grip the metal surroundings, and heave itself forward. The direction to which it headed was from where the group had come.

In the end, no one would hear the screams.