The front gates of the facility slammed open, and a clap of thunder crashed through the night as the military APCs barged into the lobby. The rear access ports opened, and thirty marines ran out to form a defensive perimeter, reinforcing the surviving troops.

Gorson took in the scene, and was not happy.

"Dr. Haines! When you said you'd taken losses… even against Aliens, this is outrageous!"

"We used every tactic in the book that's been proven to work against Xenomorphs," said Haines, struggling to be respectful. "They used a completely different strategy from normal and took us by surprise."

"Explain."

"A typical Xenomorph attack is made up of huge waves of drones. They'll try to outflank if possible, but are happy to make a frontal assault. These ones sent a couple of drones to each section and outflanked us when it shouldn't have been possible! The air vents are on separate systems, with solid walls between that could stop a grenade. Yet they broke through those walls and slaughtered us."

"I see Dr. Hukken took some friendly fire," said Gorson, gesturing at the injured scientist as he hobbled over on a makeshift crutch.

Haines decided not to answer that. "I'm afraid there's more bad news as well, sir. Due to a… miscalculation on my part, we injected the retrovirus into one of our scientists. For reasons we're still not sure of, she defected and is now part of the hive."

"Reasons we're not sure of…" spat Hukken as he arrived. "General, Dr. Haines was subject to a temporary fit of insanity, and tortured the scientist in question. She had been the one who initially released the XR-1. During that fit, he injected her with the virus, and promptly gave the newly-created drone the access codes to release the hive."

Haines turned scarlet with fury. "I didn't see you stepping up to play the hero, Hukken! What would you have done if you had four metre long alien monstrosity carving you up? I don't think you have the right to denounce my actions!"

"SHUT IT, BOTH OF YOU!" roared Gorson. The two scientists jumped, and fell silent. "Thank you. Now, if we've stopped acting like school children, we can sort out some remedy for this mess. The court martials can wait for afterwards. Remind me what we're facing, and what we've got."

"The hive consists of twenty drones, XR-1, the rogue scientist, four praetorians, and the queen," said Haines. "With your reinforcements, we've got about forty men with assorted arms and three scatter cannon. Plus the APCs and any additional weaponry in them."

"Next important question: Do you have the virus?"

Haines patted his pocket. "Right here, sir."

"My suggestion is that we call in attack flyers and nuke the place," said Hukken, voice strained from the pain in his leg. "They've ripped through twice their number already without losses. We've got the virus. This is minimum risk!"

Gorson gave him a frosty look. "Do you have any idea how much we've invested in this facility, Doctor? Far too much to just throw it out the window. That's final." He paused. "I think the best bet is to just sit here and wait. This is a good defensive position, and we've got the firepower to take them on if they try any smart tricks. How's XR-7?"

Haines groaned. "XR-7 is… odd. He keeps complaining that his mind hurts. At first we thought that it was some side-effect of the change, but XR-1 never had any problems. I suspect that it is something to do with his refusal to join the hive – it is possible that the queen is capable of using her telepathic abilities to… give him a headache, for want of a better term."

"Is he reliable?"

"Probably." Haines sighed. "He seems to alternate between completely lucid and military, and psychotic blood-thirsty killing machine. We've kept him under control, and the vicious stages are short, but if we don't finish this soon, we may have to terminate him."

Gorson took in the view of his forces. "All right. This could be tight, but we can win this. Squad Alpha, set up crossfire positions on Sector One entrance. Beta, you're on Sector Two. Gamma, Sector Four. You facility remnants, you're Delta. Move back to the middle of the lobby, give support where needed, and keep the entrance clear. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, you take the scatter cannon, and send someone back to the APCs to get some combat shotguns and flamers. This could get up close and personal, so we want some close-in firepower. And tell the APCs to be ready to give cover fire if things go wrong. We'll only get one chance at this, so don't mess it up!"

>This could be painful,> said Shadow.

>For us or for them?> asked Kail.

>Us. Gorson's no fool; he's clearly prepared for the possibility of being outflanked again. Those facility troopers have moved back to cover anyone, and the way they've been deployed means that if we concentrate on one area, they can bring a lot of firepower onto us.>

¬Plus they have wide-area weapons.¬

Shadow looked at where the drone indicated. Several men were returning from the APCs with flamethrowers and shotguns. They wouldn't do a great deal against Alien carapacing, but they would slow. And against all that scatter cannon and pulse rifle fire, that would be fatal.

¬Any suggestions?¬ asked the Queen. She, along with the rest of the hive, had taken position a short distance from the fortifications being built.

Shadow looked around the scout force. Himself, Kail, and a couple of drones. Hardly enough to be a threat. Let's try something unorthodox…

>An impressive defensive position, General Gorson.>

Gorson swore, and spun. "They can see us!" he hissed. "Motion trackers!"

>Honestly, General, do you really think that you would be able to deal with us by looking for motion? How do you know that we didn't move out of sight before contacting you?>

"Never hurts to try all the possibilities," said Gorson, continuing to turn and holding his pulse rifle steady.

>True. Let me get to the point: we're not particularly keen on taking on all that firepower. We have nothing against you. All we want is to get outside. Let us leave, and we'll leave you alone. On the other hand, if you do want to hold this out to the bitter end… you'll take losses as well. We might even win. This is a way to end it cleanly. Isn't that what we both want?> The voice paused. >How about two of us come down so we can talk about this face-to-face? With a guarantee of mutual safety, of course.>

Gorson considered this. He'd let a new Alien hive swarm out onto Earth over his dead body, but just talking… and besides, they might learn something important. "All right, Alien. Come out. But if you touch any of my men…"

>Likewise,> said the voice, with an almost visible grin.

The contact faded, and Gorson turned to his troops. "Men, we've got a pair of Aliens incoming. They're here to talk, not kill. If you see just the two of them, keep your distance but don't shoot. If more turn up, give 'em all a one-way ticket to hell!"

"Yes sir!"

"Sir! Over there!"

Gorson looked in the indicated direction. A pair of shadows had separated from the wall, and coalesced into a pair of Alien drones.

He could feel a trickle of sweat run down his collar. He considered himself fearless, but the sheer size of these creatures was unnerving. He was used to the three-metre normal bugs, but these ones were a third as long again. The really disturbing part was that despite their large size, they moved with lethal agility.

>General,> said one of them. He couldn't tell which.

>Things have changed a bit since your presentation a couple of months ago, General,> said the other with a snide tone. Obviously the rogue scientist.

"Dr. Kail, I presume. And I'm afraid I don't know your companion's name…"

>Call me Shadow. What I was doesn't matter.>

>Perhaps we should go somewhere less exposed?> suggested Kail.

Gorson's face darkened. "So you can rip us apart in private?"

>If we stay here, what's to stop you from shooting us down right now?>

"You're in no position to dictate terms… Shadow. But to keep things civil, let's go into the office over there. Haines, Hukken, this way. And bring XR-7."

>XR-7?>

"A friend of yours," said Gorson with a wolfish grin. "I reckon three humans and a drone should be a match for you two."

"So. You wanted to talk. Talk," said Gorson harshly.

>We've outlined our offer already.>

"I take it that you want out?" asked Hukken. Haines merely stared at Kail in horror, staying as far away from the Aliens as possible.

"The answer's 'no'. We have a superior position. Yes, we'll take some losses. But you will lose. Come up with something better, or this discussion ends here."

>Does everyone agree with that?> said Kail swiftly. >What about you, Dr. Haines? I believe that you are in command of this facility, and therefore have jurisdiction over any operations here.>

Gorson turned to look at the quivering scientist.

"Yes," quavered Haines. "We're not letting you out of here."

Gorson returned his gaze to the two Xenomorphs. "I think you have your answer. And we might as well start now. X! Kill these two."

The insane drone turned towards Shadow and Kail. With a horrific screech, itleapt.

They dodged, but the sudden change in situation had caught them by surprise.

>You barstard!> screeched Kail. >We were negotiating!>

"With a pair of non-humans?" inquired the General. "Doctors? If you please?"

The three humans raised their assorted weapons and opened fire on the pair.

>Shit! Kail, try and take them down. I'll take the drone!>

>Are you mad?> A hail of bullets ripped across Kail's side, releasing a spray of acidic blood. >If I go anywhere near them, they'll shoot me to bits!>

Shadow leapt at the wall, and then pounced backwards off it. XR-7 screeched in pain and fury as Shadow slammed into his opponent. >Don't stop moving! Never stop for a moment!>

Kail repeated Shadow's manoeuvre, bouncing off onto the next wall. Her wildly swinging tail smashed against Hukken, sending the unfortunate man crashing into the desk. He looked unconscious.

Gorson dived towards the door with surprising agility. "Haines!" he roared. "Get over here! We'll cut them down with the crossfire!"

Haines was stuck to the spot. Kail leapt towards him, and he pulled the trigger on the pulse rifle. A hollow clicking noise alerted him to its empty state. He managed one scream before Kail landed in front of him, and spat out her inner jaws. They punched through the man's skull in a spray of blood. Remorse flooded through her at the man's death, but there was no time to dwell on it.

Gorson swore and slammed the door shut, and Kail turned to look at the battling Aliens. XR-7 was covered in cuts and other injuries, but Shadow was in worse shape. Neither were used to using their forms to their full potential, but XR-7 had the strength and recklessness of insanity on his side.

XR-7 detected that he was now facing two opponents, and turned to Kail. With a rasping noise of anger, his tail lashed out, missing her by millimetres.

Shadow pounced on his opponent, but was shaken off by the rampaging creature. Kail charged straight at the other drone, slamming him off balance. XR-7 looked around at his assailant just as she used her claws to neatly decapitate him.

Shadow raised himself from the floor. >Tough battle,> he commented. >Nice manoeuvre at the end, though.>

>Are you all right?>

>Nothing that won't regenerate in a few hours. We've got more important things to worry about, such as all those troopers outside.>

>What about him?> asked Kail, indicating the prone form of Hukken.

>Destroy his weapon and we'll leave him in here. He might be useful later.>

Gorson listened carefully, and swore as he realised that the silence could only mean that XR-7 was down. "Delta squad! Form up on that office. Kill anything that comes out, even if it looks human." That was the only solution at the moment. It would take away some force from his perimeter, but two Xenomorphs could do a lot of damage if they weren't contained.

Things had not gone according to plan. He'd thought that three people with pulse rifles would be more than a match for a pair of surprised drones, but with one fell swoop he'd lost both of the top scientists on the project. And Haines probably had had the retrovirus data on him back there…

Maybe Hukken had been right. Get out of here, set up a perimeter around the outside of the facility where they had the APCs for support, than call in airstrikes until the place was rubble.

But not without that retrovirus! Months of effort and a lot of luck had been put into that research. If he could just get rid of the two drones in the office, retrieve the datachip, maybe even rescue Hukken if he was still alive.

It seemed like a no-win scenario. Whatever he did, he'd lose. Oh, the Aliens would die if was careful, but he would always end up losing something precious. Storming the office would probably be a massacre, but might recover the datachip. Destroying the facility would lose him that datachip, but minimize casualties. Choices, choices…

>That complete and utter… he stationed a dozen men around the entrance!> snarled Shadow.

>What did you expect? That he'd just forget about us? No chance. You don't get a promotion to general for nothing.>

¬So you are trapped there?¬

>Yes. But to withdraw that many men, he would have to weaken his defences.>

¬You suggest attacking now?¬

>Yes. No. I don't know! They'll still be too strong!>

There was a faint groan from Hukken, indicating that he was regaining conciousness. "What the…" He opened his eyes, took in the scene, and promptly sobered up.

Shadow would have grinned if his mouth could create such an expression. >Dr. Hukken, you may have just solved a problem for us.>

Gorson's radio squawked, and he activated it. "What?"

"General?" asked Hukken nervously. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me." He suddenly recognised the voice. "Hukken? You survived?"

"Yes," he said nervously. "I'm the only thing left here. Haines is dead, and there are three drone corpses. I can't get out because I think my leg's broken."

Gorson considered this. It was possible. Fatal embrace, as the hand-to-hand marine specialists called it, could have occurred with XR-7 being killed by the death throes of his opponent, or vice-versa. On the other hand, it could be a trick.

"Hukken?" chattered the intercom. "How do I know that this isn't a trap and you're being forced by the Aliens?"

Hukken looked helplessly at his captors. Do it, ordered Shadow.

"I'm not crying crocodile tears, sir," he said, using the 'all clear' phrase. "Please…"

There was a sigh. "Can you see the retrovirus datachip?"

"Yes. Haines still has it."

Pause. "All right. I'm coming in." There was a sharp click as the Gorson disconnected.

>Just remember that if you lied to us about that code, if we survive…> threatened Kail. The two drones jumped onto the ceiling above the door.

The door opened, and a pair of marines stalked in, waving pulse rifles. Gorson moved in right behind them.

"Hukken. Good man. We'll just find that datachip, and then we can be out of here to the APCs. I've decided to take you up on your idea of nuking the facility…" Gorson stopped as he noticed something wrong with the scene. "Hukken? There's only one 'morph here. Where are the other…" He tailed off, rage building. "You sold us out."

"They threatened to kill me!" Hukken shrieked. "You'd have done it too in my position. I could almost feel their claws ripping me open –"

"You spineless little worm!" Gorson interrupted. "You've doomed us all!"

>You really should get people with a little more backbone, Gorson,> said Kail. >Even Haines was a coward – he gave me the code to release the hive without a fight.> She leapt at the two marines from above, stinging one and cuffing the other into unconsciousness. Gorson spun to bring his weapon to bear, but had it knocked away by Shadow's tail.

Shadow tried to follow it up with a proper sting, but the blade bounced off the armour. Gorson snatched the rifle, dived away from his attacker, and brought the gun to bear on Kail.

No more choices. Shadow lunged, and neatly cored Gorson's head with his inner jaws.

Silence filled the room, only broken by Hukken's faint squeaking.

¬I see you made your choice, little Shadow. The troops outside are in confusion – they heard the fight. We're attacking now; leave the office and join us.¬

Hukken walked over to the door. Sounds of battle still echoed through the facility – a hideous cacophony of screams, unearthly screeches, the rapid chatter of gunfire, and, worst of all, the rending, cracking noises when the Aliens brought a man down.

He sidled out, hoping to make it to the main entrance, to get to an APC and get out of this mess.

He saw that about half a dozen Aliens were down, but only three humans remained, huddled in a corner. As he watched, their gunfire cut down another drone in an explosion of acid.

The ammunition on their weapons went dry almost simultaneously. A massive praetorian lunged towards them with a scream of triumph and ripped them apart with its four arms.

And then the only noise was the snapping, ripping noises as the Xenomorphs fed on their defeated foe.

They were still occupied. He could still make it.

He pressed his hand against wall panel next to the main entrance, and the doors opened. He ran through towards the looming shapes of the APCs. The rear doors were still open.

He stumbled through to the cockpit of the vehicle, slamming the panel that closed the rear doors. "Get us out of here, quick! I'm the only survivor!"

The pilot said, and did, nothing.

"Come on! They'll be after us any second!" He grabbed the man's shoulder and shook him.

And recoiled in horror as he felt the blood.

>I'm afraid that this APC is 'Xenomorph-only'. As is the other one. We took the liberty of enforcing that rule on the occupants.>

Hukken spun to face Kail. "Kail, please… we weren't exactly friends, but we were colleagues! Let me go! What harm could I do you or the hive?"

>It's 'Spiketail' now, she cut him off coldly. The Queen was quite insistent that I take a new name – she said it would ease the transition. Have you counted the number of times you've begged pitifully for your life in the past few days? I make it three, four if you include that display to Gorson.>

He realised that he was backing away from her. Something had changed, even since the incident in the office. There was no doubt about it. The… thing… in front of him was Spiketail, not a human named Kail.

>As for harm… hah! This isn't about you being a threat. This is you being capable of helping the hive, one way or the other. Probably as a host. There's enough flesh in the facility to allow everyone to gorge themselves. Relax,> she continued soothingly, >you won't feel a thing. Until it breaks out, of course.>

"The hive? The hive wants help? I can help! I know things…"

Spiketail seemed amused. >How could you help us? Apart from the obvious? You have no idea how well we've been doing.> And, in great detail, she explained how they had ended up in that situation.

"You can't stay here forever! Everyone's dying. There were reports of hives turning on each other for food! I can give you codes to access things, places…"

¬This could be helpful.¬

Spiketail considered the cowering figure before her. >All right, Hukken. Give us every access code that you know. Every one. Then you can go on your way. I hate to think what an Alien that came from you would be like, anyway.>

Hukken typed in the codes into the APC's computer. Spiketail looked over his shoulder, and hissed softly. With one fell swoop, Hukken had given them access to the mainframes of the military, civil services… the world was their plaything.

>Good enough. Now go. And pray that we don't meet again…>

Hukken looked back at the facility. Lights were on all over it, and he could see dark shapes moving. And then, as he watched, the power went. Darkness engulfed the area.

He walked off through the streets, towards the light of the city centre. Leaving the darkness behind. A poetic way of putting it, he thought.

"So there you have it," said Hukken quietly. "The last survivor of a facility of over two hundred, spared because of a coward's trick. The same trick that must've let them stow away on the Charon – I gave them access to the spaceport mainframe."

>So now you know our mutual friend's history,> said the drone. Everyone jumped – they hadn't heard the Alien return.

"Like you said, long time no see, Shadow. How's Spiketail?"

Shadow chuckled darkly. >She's ensuring that the rest of the crew are packed away into controllable pockets. She can be very… persuasive at times. She's always been a lot more vicious than me – probably because of the overdose. He looked at Hukken closely. You seem to have grown a spine since our last encounter. The Hukken I knew would never have told that story – he'd have been worried that everyone would hate him for bringing them into this situation. It's time to see if we can get us out of it…>

Author's note: So there we have it. Hukken's full past, and the goriest chapter yet. Those of you who noticed the 'four arms' reference about the praetorian should know that that's an idea of mine. Since in the set of Alien lore that I'm using, praetorians turn into Queens, it made sense for them to six limbs like the Queens.