Yeah, I meant to work on this chapter a lot sooner… however, I've been away on an out-of-state trip with the family, and have had very little time to focus on the story without giving myself away to them. In any case, I wrote this up on my laptop while they were asleep. So, hope you all like it!
The Weyland team was unable to override the security system, and simply decided to wait out the situation, as there was no way for the Xenomorphs to make a practical getaway without being either killed or captured.
Star and Chase had both freed Sugarcube from her cell, and then they started trying to figure out how to get out of the situation they were in. There was no way they were going to be able to make it out without the WY security teams recapturing or even killing them on sight. Plus, the autonomous security system was too dangerous to try and go back through.
"How are we supposed to get out of this now?" Chase asked.
"I have no idea..." Star said. "...but we need to see if we could find any unorthodox routes to escape, like an air duct or something. No way are we gonna be able to get through that security system without one of us getting hurt."
"Yeah, I might still be young… but I'm not perfect." Sugarcube said.
All of them were using their heightened senses to try and search for a feasible escape route… but they could not find anything from their current location in the complex.
"Let's split up. We can cover more the premises, and call out to each other if we find something." Star suggested.
"Fair enough." Chase said. "Just… please be careful, Star… I wouldn't want to lose you to the bad people!"
"Hey, let's not forget I'm the tough girl who actually got inside the place!" Star said.
With that, the three Xenomorphs began to cautiously patrol the building, being careful to evade or even disable any security sensors they came across. Since WY agents would be stationed at every major entrance/exit to the building, they needed to figure out a better way to get out.
Star was making her way through a fairly deserted part of the facility filled with large turbine machines making a loud hum that filled the chamber… but little did she know, she was being watched.
The Drone, Warrior, Boiler, and Praetorian who had been watching her make her way into the laboratory, evading any mechanism that would have otherwise inhibited her, had stalked Star around, following and waiting for a good moment to reveal themselves. As a matter of fact, the lack of other brainwaves in the locality meant that it was the perfect moment…
As Star was about to reach the edge of the room in order to head into the next in search of a way out… she began to sense some movement behind herself. Turning back around, she saw four beings, all of various size, approaching her.
"Eep!" Star yelped, making an actual startled noise simultaneously with her telepathy. "Wh-who are you…!?"
"Calm yourself, child… we do not seek to harm you." the Xenomorph Praetorian, who appeared to be the leader of the small group, spoke.
"We simply wish to… have you help out with our cause." the Warrior said.
Star was still a bit nervous as the four escapee specimens surrounded her. "What… are you l-looking at…?"
"Your form… your female anatomy… you are PERFECT for what we need!" the Boiler said.
The young female Drone was unsure what to make of the situation.
"Allow us to explain..." the male Drone said. "...my brothers and I… we want to get out of this place, but… we do not know how to adapt on our own. All we can go off of… is our primal instinct. In order to counter this dilemma… we are in search of a Queen who can guarantee our survival in this… unknown world. Given that we were lucky enough to encounter you, who is already female, you may just be able to fulfill that need of ours!"
"A Queen? So..." Star briefly trailed off, getting extremely uneasy. "...you want to… mate… with me…? Have me carry your offspring…?"
"No, no, no..." The Drone said. "...nothing like that. In fact, my hive-brothers and I are sterile and unable to reproduce."
"S-so then… what do you have in mind…?" Star asked.
The Praetorian stood more upright, assuming a formal stance.
"What we request of you, young child..." he spoke. "...is to submit yourself to a process that will convert your body to that of a Queen's. It will be slow, and it will be intense… but you will be in a state of hibernation during all of it, and you will remember none of it when it is over. Rest assured, everything will be alright. There is no need to be worried. We are trying to help you become what you truly are meant to be."
Despite their reassurance… Star was still sulking a bit.
"And we can tell, from your stressed brainwaves… something is troubling you, isn't it?" the Warrior asked.
"...I… I-I…" Star stammered. "...I lost… m-my Daddy..."
"So… your father has recently passed?" the Praetorian asked, sincere empathy in his telepathic voice. "You poor child… I offer my deepest condolences."
"But… how can you have a father? Only a Queen can spawn facehuggers." the Drone asked.
"...W-well… my Daddy… was a Xenomorph… like m-me… and my mother… is a human..." Star explained.
This puzzled the other Xenomorphs.
"Your mother… was able to withstand the otherwise fatal birthing of you as a larva?" The Praetorian asked.
"No... It's not like that..." Star said. "...I wasn't born like a natural Xenomorph… I was born… like a human, from how Mom described..."
"I see..." the Drone said. "...and how exactly did your father die, if you'll pardon the boldness of my question?"
"He was killed… b-by creatures… from this w-w-world..." Star choked.
"You see?" The Boiler spoke. "This world… it is populated only by beings who cannot be trusted, no matter what!"
"Who's to say your human mother hadn't been planning on delivering the killing blow to him herself… and do the same for you?" The Warrior said.
Star froze in shock at the statement… but it got her to wondering. What if Kira had indeed been keeping them isolated so she could have the satisfaction of letting their guard down so she could effortlessly take their lives?
"You mean… m-my mother… was trying to trick me and Daddy?" she asked.
"That could very well be." the Praetorian said. "We all can confirm that humans especially should never be trusted! They have been known to lie and backstab each other… constantly!"
"So then… you'll help me?" Star asked.
"Precisely." the Praetorian, just before turning to head down what appeared to be a hidden passageway from where he and the three other Xenomorphs had come from. "Now, follow us to the control chamber we must get you to. The emergency systems have unlocked it for us."
He led his group and Star to a large, environmentally-sealed chamber with an anti-dust airdoor. There was nothing except for what appeared to be a sort of basin, about a meter in height, in the center of the room. Inside was a thick, gelatinous, white fluid. Star peered into it with curiosity.
"What is this?" she asked.
"This, my dear… is genuine royal jelly, produced by the very Queen who spawned the facehuggers that gave all four of us life." the Praetorian said.
"The bad people have tried to run tests on it in an attempt to recreate it from scratch..." the Drone said.
"...but they have been largely unsuccessful." the Warrior said.
"It's proteins are too complex to be easily replicated with their mere machines..." the Boiler said.
Star tried to take everything in at once; only mere hours ago, she had only instinctual knowledge of her species. Now, everything had happened so fast, and it was all too quick for her to fully grasp in that moment. She was now being presented with a substance that would metamorphose her into an actual Queen!
"Now, my dear… are you ready to drink up and coronate yourself?" the Praetorian asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"...Wait. Wait." Star said, looking back at the other Xenos. "How do I know you're not lying to me?"
The others tilted their heads in confusion at the female.
"Why would we do that?" the Drone asked.
"We don't even know who you are!" the Warrior said.
"But what we can tell about you is that you're special!" the Boiler added.
The Praetorian stepped in, turning her around, and placing both of his hands on her shoulders, kneeling down to be at her level.
"Listen… we only wish to do what is best for our species. We do not like seeing our kind suffer. We are doing all we can to make this insanity stop… but you must be brave enough to take that first step for us. If we try to do it… it could go horribly wrong, with us having been modified in such a way that our metamorphosis to a Queen would be highly unstable, as opposed to you, who is already female." he said.
Star hung her head down after the Praetorian let go of her, and she turned back to face the basin. Maybe they did have a point; what would they have to gain from lying to her about such a promise of becoming something other Xenomorphs would give their lives to become themselves?
They were, after all, the same species as she was. Would it make more sense that they would see the true nature of humans, having lived longer than she had? She knew that she had to make a choice that would ultimately be for the better… and from the recent turn of events… after what happened when her mother had left briefly, only to return with trouble… it was pretty clear what had to be done, in the eyes of the young female Drone.
Star, having absently stared at the basin, slowly leaned her head down, stuck out her secondary mouth, and began to down the royal jelly. It was gelatinous, obviously, but it also had a very sweet, pleasant flavor to it. Utterly hypnotized by her taste buds, she continued to drink the thick fluid, until she felt like she had enough.
Once she finished, Star stood upright, turning to face a very impressed quartet of Xenomorphs. All of them did not think she would take it so willingly.
"You have done well, child." the Praetorian said, taking her by the arm gently. "Now, we will take you to the place you will need to be for the process to begin in a proper, safe manner..."
With that, he led Star to a new room, this time one with a structure of resin akin to the kind that Xenos were capable of producing on their own… yet there were devices and wires stuck in numerous places all across it. Not only that, but the resin structure itself was symmetrical; mirrored right down the middle in an unnatural way.
"You will remain in that polymerizingenvironment until the process is complete. Don't worry; it will shape itself to accommodate your change in shape. You will be quite comfortable in there." the Praetorian said.
Once Star laid on a roundish part of the structure that had a diameter slightly larger than her height, the numerous wireless devices stuck into the organic resin had LED lights flash briefly just before the resin itself molded to the shape of Star's body. It felt just about as good as her bed… perhaps even better.
While Star remained laying, the other Xenos quietly left the room. The Praetorian stayed behind briefly, gently rubbing his hand across her smooth head.
"Rest well, my dear… you shall awaken as a stronger, better being. Your vast potential shall finally be tapped into." the Praetorian said.
With that, he left the room, and all four of the escapee Xeno specimens conjured a wall of resin from their gizzards, sealing off the chamber from outsiders, and leaving Star on her own, in a jet-black, silent environment. It was just what she needed to feel the effects of the royal jelly.
She felt the jelly churning in her stomach, producing a fairly warm, pleasant sensation of motion inside of her, as well as a series of gurgling and moaning noises. A subtle, but bizarre, tingling began in her belly, and spread throughout her body to the very tips of her fingers and toes. It spread through her head as well, going through to the back tip of her cranium, and spreading to the contact points on her lips...
"...Ah..." Star said, her vision blurring and fading. "...I-I... I feel... I... f-feel... s... s-sleepy..."
Unable to hold her gaze any longer, Star fell unconscious as a result of sedation… from what she had recently ingested.
Though she was still alive, her breath and heartbeat present, the royal jelly had put the young female Drone into a very deep sleep…
(XXXX)
Outside of the environment chamber where Star was in her hibernation, the other Xenomorphs were silently snickering. Their plan had actually worked! And it was far smoother than they had anticipated!
"Within mere months, brothers..." the Praetorian said. "...we will have ourselves a new Queen! And we can form our own hive to take as our own!"
Well, things just took a bad twist, huh? Wonder what this could be all about… and what could be in store for our little shining Star? Anyway, thanks for continuing to follow the story! I'll be back real soon! Keep holding on...