The sharks swarmed around the suited Yautja warriors and then snatched them one by one. The Yautja rallied in a tight circular position so they could fire their weapons in all directions. The sharks were modified Xenomorphs. They were black in color with Xenomorph skin; there were holes acting as gills on their sides, and their teeth were similar to a Xenomorph mouth. The Yautja warriors fought for their lives blasting the water with ineffective plasma bursts. They threw spears, nets, and projectiles at the sharks which clouded the water in green blood.
Lex watched on the screen as the sharks continued their assault biting at the Yautja limbs. "Have them retreat," Lex told the pilot.
"That is the Prince's decision," the pilot replied irritably.
More sharks moved towards the Yautja force as they sensed the green blood. The pilot sent out information to the Yautja team that they would be overwhelmed. The Yautja force slowly moved back towards the ship. The Yautja ship attempted to target the sharks that were a far enough distance away from the team. Plasma bursts went through the ocean water and destroyed some of the sharks. However, the majority of the sharks were too close to the team for a good shot.
Lex watched wondering if it would be so bad if the Prince were eaten by a mutated shark. The team suffered additional causalities as they moved as a unit towards the ship. Sharks would grab a Yautja and fling him away from the rest of the team where he would then be destroyed by the other sharks. Finally, they reached the ship and went inside.
The Prince took off his suit and ordered medics to the scene. Some of the Yautja survivors were bittin with severe wounds; the floor was covered in green blood. One of the Yautja took a netted dead shark to another room for examination. The Prince gave one last look to his injured comrades and then entered the laboratory with the shark. Lex walked into the room and saw the shark on the table.
"DNA analysis confirms it is Xenomorph," a Yaujta scientist told the Prince.
The scientist then cut the jaws of the shark with an acidic resistant tool and opened its mouth. The Prince could see the secondary jaw inside. "The creature appears to sense through echolocation. We could use that to our advantage."
"Modify our instruments so that we may be able to create constant echolocation pulses," the Prince ordered.
The Prince then noticed Lex in the lab. "Did you fear for me?" he asked.
"No," Lex said truthfully.
"Good," the Prince said and then walked towards the bridge.
On the bridge the pilot identified a new water craft nearby. The screen displayed the familiar shape of a naval submarine. "It is powered by a primitive nuclear fission reaction and a type of electrical system," the pilot reported.
"It has a compliment of 40 torpedoes that can penetrate our hull," the pilot continued. "It also has one nuclear tipped missile."
The Prince considered the possibilities and then turned to the pilot. "Jam their communications and use a tractor beam on the ship. I want that missile," the Prince ordered.
"Why? You're cloaked," Lex protested.
"If we destroy the ocean floor it will expose our weapons to your planet, but if we use a human made weapon it can be blamed on your nation," the Prince said.
"What about the crew?" Lex asked.
The Prince said nothing. The US submarine's communications were jammed and was being gently pulled towards the Yautja ship. The submarine didn't have weapons, so they had no idea what was happening. The Yautja ship opened a hanger bay and allowed the submarine inside.
"All capable warriors: proceed to the hanger bay and secure the alien vessel. They will be armed with projectile weapons," the Prince said through the intercom.
"Please don't kill them. They didn't sign up for this," Lex pleaded with the Prince.
The Prince looked at her and then made his way to the hanger bay.
The Yautja assembled in the hanger bay looking down on the submarine. Their weapons focused on the submarine exits. Eventually, crew members opened the hatch and took defensive positions with automatic rifles.
"Exit your craft and you will not be harmed," the speaker system said in English.
The submarine crew exited the craft and looked around in amazement. The officers came out and walked on a bridge to the rest of the hanger bay. The Prince waited for the captain to approach him. He was apprehensive but kept his calm. Lex was at the Prince's side wondering what he would do.
The captain then stood at attention and addressed the Prince. "Captain Summers of the USS Stingray, a naval officer of the United States of America," he said.
"I am the commander of this vessel," the Prince said in guttural English.
"Are we your prisoners?" the captain asked.
"No, you are my guests. You will come with me so you may be told what has happened here," the Prince said. "Your men will not be harmed."
The captain then delegated authority to his XO over the crew and followed the Prince inside the ship to another room. The Prince then gave Lex a blue vial. "You will translate for me. I want the human to see a familiar face so that I can gain his trust."
"Should he trust you?" Lex asked.
"Any other commander would have killed all of his men and taken the ship," the Prince reminded her
Lex took the vial, thought about it for a moment, and then injected herself with it. Immediately she felt extreme pain as her body slowly transformed back to human. Once the changes were complete she put on a skin tight outfit designed to cover any size. She then walked towards the room where the Prince and the captain were meeting.
"You will translate for me," the Prince ordered Lex.
The captain was surprised to see Lex and wondered if she was a prisoner as well. "This woman is one of us but appears human so we can communicate with your kind better," the Prince said with a series of Yautja clicks.
Lex reluctantly translated the message to the captain. "I understand," he said simply.
"Your planet has an alien infestation in its oceans. If unchecked the infestation will poison every marine like animal in your ocean and then manifest on land. Every human will be killed as well as all life on this planet. We are in the process of containing the infestation while remaining hidden from your kind," the Prince said.
"What is the nature of this infestation?" the captain asked.
"It is an alien species that creates thousands of eggs. The offspring then impregnate a host, kill the host, and then mature with the host's characteristics. In this case the hosts are sharks and whales," the Prince said.
"There are millions of sharks in our oceans," the captain said.
"Yes and the alien species are not just limited to sharks and whales, but other marine life. If it comes onto dry land it will impregnate human beings killing the entire human population," the Prince said.
"How did this happen?" the captain asked accusingly.
"How it happened is irrelevant. We are here to fix the problem without the human race knowing. That is why we disabled your communications. Humans can never have any evidence that we were here," the Prince said.
"What about my men?" the captain asked.
"They will be detained until we have eradicated the infestation. We will then release your craft," the Prince said.
"This encounter doesn't have to be a secret. We could be partners," the captain said hopefully.
"In due time," the Prince said vaguely.
The captain was escorted away and Lex stopped translating. "Place the humans into cells. If they resist you may execute them. I want the security codes to access the nuclear missile," the Prince ordered his men.
The Prince turned to Lex. "You translated excellently," he complimented.
"You're going to kill them when you have contained the infestation," Lex accused.
The Prince said nothing. "There are 150 sailors on that boat," Lex told him.
"By stopping the infestation I will have saved seven billion human lives," the Prince said.
"You were the ones that caused the infestation in the first place," Lex argued.
"You don't hold yourself accountable for this at all? You cast the Queen into the ocean instead of keeping it on the surface. As long as it stayed on the island our ship had the situation contained. The Queen would have been killed on the island if our three warriors had failed," the Prince said.
"How was I supposed to know you had a cloaked ship watching as we fought for our lives?" Lex shot back.
The Prince sat in his chair thoughtfully. "What would you be willing to do, so as to keep those sailors alive?" he asked.
"I would do anything," Lex said softly.
"We shall discuss terms once the infestation has been contained. There is no need to discuss this further if we are all destined to die," he said.
The Yautja removed the crew from the submarine and placed them in holding cells. The Yautja then entered the submarine and took a crash course on how to run the controls. Lex was placed on the submarine as she was the only one they trusted who also had human hands.
"We have cracked the code on the nuclear missile. It is at your disposal my Prince," the Yautja scientist informed him.
"Excellent," the Prince said pleased.
The submarine exited the Yautja ship and headed over to the infestation spot. The Yautja turned on the instruments except communications. Since Yautja hands were not ideal for the controls Lex moved around the ship inputting commands and turning knobs. On the bridge was a hologram screen of where they were going.
"Impressive that these humans can navigate only on these instruments," the Prince remarked.
Meanwhile a Yautja team walked slowly on the ocean floor towards the infection spot. They needed to make sure the Queen was inside before launching the missile. As they walked they activated an echolocation scrambler with them. The Xenomorph sharks would be hit with the waves and would stay away from them. The team then went inside the ocean cave. The cave walls were thick with Xenomorph vomit.
The Prince waited patiently as the team made their way through the network of caves. Along the way the team was attacked by various Xenomorph creatures. One was a black squid that was as large as a Yautja. The team blasted the squid with their plasma weapons as their projectile weapons were ineffective in the water. The Yautja team also encountered crabs, octopuses, and deep water fish that had all been Xenomorphed. The team continued to fight their way through the caves killing anything that moved.
The team finally encountered a large cavern and the sensors read a dramatic spike in temperature. The team looked over an active underwater volcano and saw thousands of eggs. In the middle was the Queen. The Prince saw a visual of the queen and the thousands of eggs and then motioned to fire. The submarine launched the nuclear missile straight for the cavern.
"Terminate the target," the Prince ordered his team knowing they would all perish.
The Yautja team engaged the Queen, and was quickly surrounded by sharks. The holograms indicated casualties immediately. The submarine turned around and went full speed away from the blast. The Yautja ship absorbed the submarine, and then the nuclear missile hit. The explosion ripped through the ocean floor, and caused a volcanic eruption on impact. The Yautja shields withstood the blast but none-the-less lost control for a moment. The Yautja ship moved towards the surface and cloaked as soon as it was in the air.