Chapter 5: Invasion
The facehugged, or rather chesthugged, Gro'Tek had been dragged into the main area of the nest with Masich and Zumbren in close pursuit. Masich was in a marine exo-suit, a machine with acid proof armor and more weapons than you could shake a stick at. He had a trio of exo-suits that were on autopilot, all set with one primary mission: capture as many aliens as possible. The electro-net was a favorite choice in xenomorph capturing equipment because they could scratch through or destroy it with acid and because it would eventually knock them unconscious, thus why Masich armed all his machines with an almost uncountable amount of these nets. Zumbren wore nothing but his own armor.
The exo-suits entered the hive and were almost immediately met with retaliation. Four warriors and two other huge aliens who looked like rotweilers from a distance attacked Masich's suit. The suit fired six rounds at its opponents, capturing all the aliens in electro-nets. They continued through the nest, capturing most of the aliens before they could even reach the suits they planned to attack. Even the ravagers were of no use against the suits. In a matter of minutes they were in the treasure room of the alien hive: the egg chamber.
Zumbren had been following Masich's soldiers like a ninja, waiting for the moment at which he would be needed. As Masich captured most of the eggs and facehugger victims, including the Gro'Tek, Zumbren flew towards the back of the nest and towards the greatest prize of them all.
The insectoid alien found Scarlet with four ravagers and six praetorians. He lifted off his "sombrero", which turned out to be a small aircraft. Four guns sprouted from the hat, all modified with the electro-net technology. Zumbren didn't like the idea of taking xenomorphs alive, seeing as he was more of an exterminator than a monster wrangler. Still, Masich's money was good enough to make him switch roles. The insectoid stood back as his hat did the work, trapping the ravagers and the praetorians before they even noticed his prescense.
Scarlet had been dormant with her eggsack busily laying eggs. The queen would normally be awoken if there was a battle, since chaos would definitely insue if anything got close enough to the nest. But most of the xenomorphs had been put to sleep before they could make a sound of protest, and thus Scarlet was left unaware. The warmth of the nets made her wake up. The queen saw a flash of light, and then fell to the ground.
Scarlet woke up in a situation that seemed eerily familiar. She was in a dark room with only one exit, which just so happened to be blocked by a glowing blue barrier. Yes, this was a very similar situation indeed. There was even a glowing grid of lit-up buttons in the same spot as last time. Lights came on as two humanoid creatures walked into the room. One looked like the humans that Scarlet knew while the other seemed different, with legs that were two long, extra arms, and two pairs of wings.
"Maybe that one is a queen human." Scarlet thought. The humanoids began to speak.
"I still don't like this, Masich. These creatures are better off destroyed, not in cages. Why would you even try something like this?" the "queen" said.
"Zumbren, I've dealt with xenomorphs for years, and if there's one lesson I've learned from them it's that they make lots and lots and lots of money. And if this xenomorph and her brood are as powerful as the myths about them say, then I'll make even more. The risk is worth taking." Masich cheerfully replied.
Zumbren shook his head, spotting the egg that had been left out in the open. "Why did you leave that there? That is a hazard to our journey, to say the least!" Zumbren scowled.
Masich smiled. "Oh, it's there for a reason. Let me tell you how I usually do things. After capturing an entire hive, I cover myself in some of the pheromone secretions in the queen's spines to keep my merchandise from killing me. This gives me control of the hive, allowing me to order facehuggers to attack selected prey items. I am always having to find new, stronger prey for these aliens or else I'd lose business. So I said to myself,'Self, what would be a bold, new prey item for the market to buy?" Then I thought," Masich ordered the egg to hatch. "What about a bounty hunter?"
The facehugger launched from the egg and at Zumbren. The insectoid bounty hunter tried to dodge, but Masich had lowered the temperature of the room to keep the cold-blooded killer slow. Soon the insect fell to the ground, soon to be dead.
Masich turned to face Scarlet, who he knew was watching. He smiled. "You're quite a prize. That red crest of yours is stunning. Oh, don't think you'll be getting out of here. That light grid is just to distract you."
There was one alien that Masich hadn't captured. The ravager that had been almost killed by the Gro'Tek had awoken from its torpor. Ravagers were able to heal any wound if they went into a state of dormancy, which this one had done. The wound he had sustained from the Gro'Tek had left a green scar on his head.
Greenslash the ravager decided to return to his queen. Something was wrong, however. The scent of Scarlet came in the opposite direction of the hive. Greenslash knew that there would probably be a battle, which suited him well. The ravager began to head towards Masich's shuttle.
Masich was now in the lower levels of the ship, looking at his prey items. They were all fine specimens, including a few variants that he found rather interesting. The predaliens would probably be very well selling items, as would the ravagers. The facehugger in the Gro'Tek had turn into a human-sized chestburster, which was good news for Masich's wallet. He couldn't wait to see the outcomes of his other "prey items".
Masich's thoughts of greed were soon interrupted by a loud pounding sound coming from above. Masich took his elevator up to the pilot level of his shuttle to see what was going on. He saw Greenslash hacking away at his ship and smiled. No alien could break through his ship's tough armor.
However, nobody had ever seen a ravager alien before. The alien's claws were hard and sharp, and the battle with the Gro'Tek had made Greenslash's new claw even stronger. Masich climbed into his exo-suit to capture the alien, unaware that it had already gotten in.
Masich too the elevator down to the ship's lowest level to deal with his prey. The ravager was waiting for him. As the man in the pheromone hiding exo-suit stepped out to find the alien, he noticed the gaping hole in his ship's hull. Before the truth could dawn upon him, the ravager stepped out of the shadows and attacked. He chopped off the exo-suits arms, then decapitated what he thought was its head. The suit's "head" was actually its battery supply, which caused it to power down. Masich screamed as the lights went down and the oxygen in his suit shut off. The ravager figured out how to use the elevator as the human slowly suffocated to death.
The ravager went past the first seven floors, passing by his alien bretheren. He would rescue them after the queen. At last he reached her floor. Greenslash walked up to her cage, took one slash at the wall next to the barrier, and immediately saved his queen. Scarlet looked at her blue warrior and smiled (or whatever the alien equivalent is). The quickly flew through the floors, freeing all of Scarlet's children and taking the facehugged animals with them. Each floor of aliens organized into divisions; one group on the highest floor would go, then the next, then the next, and on until they reached the next floor. This way there would be no crowding in the elevator. When it was all done the aliens dragged the ship next to their hive's entrance, disguising it with leaves. This would be a fortress for any major battles: they'd allow the invaders to enter the hive, then the soldiers in the ship would run out and attack the invaders from behind as well as from the front.
The day ended with twenty-one new and powerful xenomorphs being born, including a gargantuan ogre-like xenomorph and a flying, dragonfly-like xenomorph. Scarlet smiled. The hive was getting even stronger.