{Author's speech notes. Queens speak in Bolded and Italicized text this way I am your Queen. Drones and Praetorians speak in italics: I obey my Queen. Speaking aloud is in quotes, mental speech of queens and Praetorians is normal for the type but without quotes, Radio or speaker transmissions have quotes but also havea colon on each side ":Radio speech:" Mental Speech of humans is in reversed }Like this{ There are your notes ^_^ Enjoy!}
Jessica felt fuzzy and cold at the same time. A gentle hand stroked her cheek and words she could barely hear, though the person was speaking just over her head, stayed just outside her range of hearing. They echoed and Jessica tried to focus and the familiar voices became more clear. One was obviously the mind voice of a strong Xenomorph Queen.
She is going to face great trials. But this child of yours, now of my kindred also, is not one who will fail nor will she fall so very easily as all that.
"She is so young. I was twenty five before I had her at least. She's only twenty, and just barely."
"Jessica will be fine love. Her strength isn't all inside her own self anymore. That isn't the nature of what she has started to become. The ties she formed with others will salvage her life and make something of it yet. You just wait and see if I am not right."
Jessica fought to open her eyes, but the lids felt like lead weights were holding them down.
Child this is not the time for you to awaken just yet. It would hurt more if you do awaken then if you stay asleep just a bit longer.
"Okay then Majesty."
Jessica felt so cold and her very bones ached. It felt as if the grip on her self that those three had been holding was finally, slowly, letting go.
The pain will still be bad but you must tolerate it. You are not alone anymore but the debt flows both ways my smallest daughter.
"Yes Ma'am, Majesty."
The gentle human hands that had been holding her along with the talons of the greater Queen released at last, and Jessica opened her eyes to agony and bitter cold that seemed to be in her blood and bones, not in the air itself.
The smallest things had to be brought back up to working order first. Jessica remembered that from when she was recovering from her abduction and the subsequent abuse. Her hands clenched then flexed out to the farthest she could extend her fingers. The joints popped just like they always did. They had been severely damaged as punishment by her attackers when she did not obey their every whim. They were more prone to aching and crackling pops when she stretched out her fingers then anyone else her age's finger joints would be. That had not changed.
Her toes were not damaged, though she had broken her feet once long ago, they had healed correctly. Now her toes popped just a slight bit and her feet flexed slowly. Her calves ached from the enforced stillness. She had to have been laying out flat for more then eight hours.
The charlie horses in her legs indicated it might well be several days of laying in the same position. Whomever had stolen her had not cared in the least for her well being. Unconscious people or the ones who were awake but could not move had to be moved manually by someone else so they did not get these aches nor any rotting bed sores.
Finally it was time to try it. Her legs and arms worked and wiggled like they should and nothing hurt like a broken rib or fractured hip or shoulder, all things she had suffered from in the past. Slowly she lifted an arm straight up and made sure her eyes were not deceiving her. Nothing obstructed the space overhead. She could sit up if she wanted. A niggling sense of instinctual level wisdom warned that she wasn't going to like what she found when she did sit up, but she knew she had to. The Queen had said 'the debt flows both ways.' That meant one thing in her mind. The Xenomorphs who had been taken with her, Alpha Dog and little Omega needed her. Someone else too but she would follow that sense once she found her missing companions.
She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the metallic table that she had been lain out on. Her hands felt strange and everything in her that wasn't bones throbbed badly. Muscles and skin and eyes and her mouth and her throat and her tongue even hurt. Why would her tongue hurt? Regardless of that Jessica pressed forward. They could be hurt and need her help if she didn't find them they could die!
She reached with her open mind and touched something much like her missing ones but not them.
Who? Queen? QUEEN!
Jessica Shut the link for a moment, and tried to focus on raising what little barriers she knew how to raise. Then she gently reached out again.
Queen?
Yes I guess so. Since the other Queen said I was her family now too.
What other Queen?
The other presence was not asking what other queen like she would have thought. The impression was more a request for a description. She shared the fuzzy memories of the conversation and the recollection of the overwhelming feeling of age and wisdom that permeated that mental presence.
Inky Shadows. First Queen of all Queens. Not really here. In realm where the self goes after death to await rebirth.
So the others were my parents then. I thought it might be them, the voices were so familiar.
If parents are dead then yes might have been parents. Queen not always Queen?
No not always Queen. Used to be much less then Queen, barely Drone. Human even.
Strange things, but Queen is Queen no matter what Queen started out as.
Jessica had walked three slow laps around the holding cell sized room before someone finally noticed she was up and moving around. Several persons congregated behind the high windows up near the ceiling to look down at her. She looked up at them and waited. The buzz of unimportant things, the things that still needed noticing if only to be filed away as unimportant things for now, told her that she was naked. None of them cared a bit about that. They had dehumanized her long before they turned her into a hybrid of three species. She could feel inside herself a tie to the Xenomorphs and to her almost lost humanity and to a third kind as well. What had they put inside her?
Finally a reflective panel became clear as her vision continued to sharpen. Her face was more then strange, it was horrific! The answer though, the answer to what else they had put inside her cellular code was there in her appearance. Her jaws ached and she had three sets of them to feel the discomfort in if you counted the extra inner mouth of a Xenomorph behind her lips, and the outer mandibles of a Yautja that surrounded her somewhat ordinary mouth She flexed and wiggled all these parts and found that she still had a tongue inside the wider then normal inner mouth of a Xenomorph.
Her once semi-sharp canine teeth were now wicked as daggers., the tongue was longer and more prehensile then a monkey tail. She flicked it around a few times and let herself laugh hysterically for a moment. That was her last indulgence, and the time when Jessica worried only about herself and what would happen to her was at an end. It was time to step up and show that she still had courage and dignity. They could not take those things from her and she would not let them take those things from Omega and Alpha Dog.
Who do you have? Who did you take the genetics from to give me these mandibles that adorn my new face?
The humans up above her startled, not used to mental speech of any kind.
":We were able to secure several samples. Only one was used however the others are still being held in reserve.:"
I want to see them. These Yautja you took the seeds of my new nature from. I want to meet my new father. Don't try to deny that it is a male either, since there is no way you would survive for longer then five seconds against even a juvenile female of their kind.
":We are as of yet uncertain as to your mental state madam. I can't authorize your release until we are sure you are calm enough to be allowed to enter the general public of the station.:"
You can and you most certainly WILL!
That voice that came from all the way down in the depths of her person was the kind of voice every member in every hive across the universe prayed never to hear. It was the voice of a very angry Queen.
":Madam please calm yourself. Your agitation is upsetting the Xenomorph specimens and we need them to be calm so we don't have to use the liquid nitrogen on them.:"
You do that and I will eat your heart in front of your face fool! This cage you put me in can not keep me against my will because you are a moron and I will show you this before you die!
Jessica's whole mind shifted. The nurturing self that those who knew her would recognize went into a coma, and the savage who had fought her way out of human captivity and ripped the entrails from the bodies of her foes stepped forward. The DNA inside her cells was three times ans furious as an ordinary human's. She could feel her cellular level rage burning hotter and hotter with each moment. Everything in her was crying out to kill and defeat every enemy until none were left to threaten what was hers.
A way showed itself. Not all of the men hired by the Scientists to provide them with extra muscle were guarded in their thoughts. Truthfully all of them had weaker barriers then she had once had in some respects. They could not hear Jessica normally, if she spoke in everyday conversational tones, but they would be hearing her today!
Let me out! LET ME OUT NOW!
}Coming! Coming! Hang on!{
The door opened and a dark skinned man with long hair pulled back from his face and wearing a uniform of some kind stepped aside to let her out.
"Take me to my child who is closest please. I can hear him but all I can tell is he is that way."
"Yes Ma'am. Right this way please Ma'am."
She followed the soldier type up the hallway from her cell and into the third door down after her own.
"I don't have the door codes for the Xenomorph chambers Ma'am. I was lucky to have yours. That's only because I saw Dr. Charles use it once or twice."
"That will not be a problem my soldier. Watch and learn."
Jessica knew she had to keep anyone she took and commanded like this. It was the way weaker Queens were defeated by stronger ones in inter hive combat on contested planets. Though most held peace when resources and space were plentiful, in harder environments Queens and their hives disputed and if you dominated the other Queen's drones and hive members you won. She had won because the Scientists were not Queens and did not have a regular Queen among their specimens.
Jessica felt her tail flick out and nudge the newest member of her hive behind her just in time. They might not be able to stop her from overriding the door locks but they had maintained control over the liquid nitrogen sprayers. The mist of it that hit her face burned like fire as it froze and it hurt like nothing else she had ever known. She shrieked as any Queen would shriek before allowing her next hive member out of his tiny prison. They had used up the supply of nitrogen in his cell, however her logical mind told her she would have to go through this each time to release the members of her new hive.
No it will be my task Queen. You tell me what to do and I will accomplish the release of our hive mates.
Go ahead of us then. This one knows which doors hide our brethren behind them. He too is hive as are any I decide to keep for the moment. No harm shall come to him from us. The Yautja here are under treaty of peace. They will be spared lest they have lost their minds. If that happens and they attack you go for the kill without hesitation. Captivity will have suited them less well then it did us even.
Yes Queen.
Three more drones she did not know and one Praetorian of very large stature with a crest of spikes from his upper lip to the blade of his tail were on this hallway. They would need to take the elevators to get to the next floor of the facility. The ventilation shafts were to small to go through. Then a thought occurred to her and she smiled.
The circle of metal flooring fell through and they reached the next floor. They had been left at the top of the specimen cells as the least dangerous. Four more floors of cells remained then they could begin hunting their former captors. Jessica's belly ached with emptiness and she complained subliminally to the soldiers at her side.
There were three of them now, the fourth one having been fed to her new hive members. Johnathon Black Cloud, Michael 'Whiskers' Willison, and David Horton had survived their peer Mitchell Danvers's death. Johnathon handed her some kind of ration bar, and she crooned at him. Whiskers was still looking at her slightly funny out of the corners of his eyes as she gave codes to the older drone and he opened the cell doors.
"What is it Whiskers?"
"Um lady how come Danvers was the only one you fed to your buddies? Not that I mind of course, just kinda curious what the rules for this new outfit might be so I make sure not to break them."
"If you don't want a fate like his you only mate with willing partners. If you don't want other punishments to fall on your head then you obey my will absolutely in all things as long as I wish to keep you at my side. Beyond those two things the rules as yet are undefined. Until they brought me here I was as human as you are. I still don't quite have everything figured out as yet."
"They made you into this thing?"
"They made me into a Queen my dear Whiskers. Their...FATAL mistake."
Ten more soldiers and fifteen more Xenomorphs were on their current floor. Along with them were three scientists, one of whom Horton greeted most familiarly. Once he had slid his companion behind his back he turned to her with a grim look on his features.
"Tell me we can keep Dr. Lexington my Queen! Please? "
"He has always only ever done what he was commanded to do. This makes a good hive member. You may both stay for now. Though I would rather you not mate in front of me. Other conditions will of course arise as we progress."
The announcement of Horton's orientation and partner did not seem to surprise his fellows or the other two scientists. They followed along quietly with no intent to cause trouble for now, but once they were on a planet they intended to try and run.
"I already know you do not wish to be a member of my hive permanently Dr. Keller, Dr. Shintai. Neither of you shall be forced to do so. Obey now and be sent forth free men again later. Betray before your release from your obligation and I will cut you down, whether it makes orphans of your children or not."
Both men went white at the mention of their children. She shook her head and mentally reminded them that their recent subject had been someone's child once as well.
"You don't want to be this way do you?"
"No Whiskers I sure do not. I would rather be left in peace but these days that happens very seldom if at all and only when you prove you are wicked evil and bad ass enough to eat your enemy's hearts in front of their terrified faces. I for one have no problem with the added nutrition!"
"Well I for one am gonna like being in this here outfit!"
Jessica's progress towards the two she sought most was not impeded any more with the good Dr. Lexington on her team. The others tried to give him a hard time for giving up all the override codes promptly. He just laughed and did as he was asked and what was required of him in between times spent cuddling up to Horton.
Thirty seven drones all told and five Praetorians were released from the cells before they reached the two doors that held her back from Alpha Dog and Omega. Alpha dog was thrashing against his cell door and screaming in her mind now that she was close enough to hear him.
"We put these two in shielded cells since it was quite obvious from ground unit observations that you could communicate with them prior to your transformation."
"Thank you Doctor Lexington. Now if you would enter the codes and step back please."
Alpha Dog leaped out of the cell and ran into Omega's tiny little box as soon as the door was high up enough to shimmy underneath it. Jessica waited until it was up far enough that she could duck underneath the lifting metal plate.
Omega was not in a good way in the least. He lay there and she could sense from his labored breathing that one lung had collapsed. Omega's host had somehow granted him a weirder then normal configuration of internal organs including a third lung, which is the only reason he was even alive this long.
He'll DIE! Jessica Jessica JESSICA! Do something or he will DIE!
jessica?
"Yes I am here Omega it will be all right now don't worry I will fix this somehow...somehow I will fix this."
You talk like a Queen person. Are you a Queen person now?
"I am a Queen person now little one. Yes I am."
Before the Queen who is my mother would not call the change in me despite the fact that she loves me very much. She said the chances were higher then half that I would die. Chances now are higher then half that I will die anyway. Are you Queen enough to call the change? I will go to Inky Shadows today otherwise.
Jessica! Please CALL THE CHANGE! I don't want Omega to die!
"I will call the change. I can see how it would be done now."
Jessica reached deep into her own genes and did three things with what she found there. First she took the ties to Omega's Mother that she normally would have left intact had he come to her as a gift and she severed them clean. She would apologize to the Northwestern Queen later in time if they all lived until then. The second thing she did was reach into him and find the codes that lay dormant at the base of his cells and pull them to the forefront of his tissues. Normally this would have initiated the change on its own but he was too weak, so with the power of her nature as queen and a heavy dose of pheromones to top it all off, Jessica called forth the change in Omega.
The process was horribly untidy and discomforting to watch but as she had caused this and allowed them to be out of their hive and vulnerable to being captured in the first place. So Jessica sat and watched with tears streaming down her face. They tasted odd when she licked them up with her tongue. It took half an hour to complete the change. His heart stopped beating twice, but Omega did not die of it because it shuddered and started beating again after a frightening moment or two each time. Finally it was done and the newest Praetorian of her hive lay panting on the floor of his holding cell.
It was then that she Jessica the third thing her genetic code now allowed her to do, with every single Xenomorph standing in the hallway and all those waiting for her who had agreed to be hive to her. They had been of fifteen different hives, from seven various planets counting the ones from the North hive and the two from the Northwestern hive of Earth. Now they all were of one hive, her hive.
The humans felt different. She took those she could but the infamous Dr. Charles could not be taken nor confirmed as hive. She wanted to hunt him instead so she struck out with her mind and stunned him, then she began stalking her way further down to the labs.
"Dr. Charles is toast isn't he?"
"He assaulted my person, allowed this travesty with Omega and captured a whole ship's worth of Yautja Hunter males. I should think his death being a sure thing is obvious as the mandibles on my face."
"Yes ma'am. You had best be careful though. He will have Vickers and Thompson and Johns with him like he always has been doing lately and they won't be mind fuckable or at least I don't think they will."
"No Whiskers your former peers are closed to my advantages of the mind thanks to alterations made in their genes by the Wicked Doctor. I will be able to make them submit after I defeat them but I can not reach out and smite them like I did to the Doctor just now. However his sudden collapse will bring about his relocation to the medical facility for diagnosis and treatment of his difficulties. This will make him easier to locate. Firstly though we release the Yautja prisoners."
Is Long Knives here? I thought I sensed him.
"Yes Talon my sweet, Long Knives and many members of his clan are present including whichever Yautja warrior unwillingly donated to my new genetic makeup."
Omega had accepted his renaming without much trouble. He seemed to be amused that his deadly looking claws were the reason for this renaming. Jessica was appreciating the clicking noise that they made on the synthetic flooring when a bullet whizzed past her head. The person who had shot the gun was on the floor at her feet with his head forcibly bowed and his arm twisted near to being dislocated behind his back not a moment later.
"Genetic enhancements or not, there is no substitute for loyalty to your training regimen Mr. Johns."
"Obviously, now let me...go..."
Jessica had a taloned hand cupping John's face oh so gently while she battered his mind. Physical proximity enhanced skills of the mind, physical contact enhanced it more. Now Mr. Johns was learning that, and to his detriment. He screamed but it was a useless waste of a defiant sound because his defenses crumpled and she had him an instant later.
}My Queen what is your will?{
Johns you will serve me until I consent to release you. For now you will tell me the last known location of your comrades whom are also altered that I may defeat them and continue to my main objective all the sooner.
}Yes my queen they are down three floors and in the red section with the Doctor in medical.{
The location also of the data regarding my experiment if you have it. I wish to know what samples were used and from what hive my own genotype was obtained. I must know because I am most sore to have to apologize to so many Queens and I must also make reparations to the mother of the lost one they killed to make the mutigenic serum.
}It was not your doing my Queen. If you want to make reparations to the Queen who laid that egg you should seek the Queen of the East. All those years ago while the hunters hunted in your home hive we took the remains away for study once they had taken one of your former Hive mate's head from it's shoulders.{
He Mr. Johns. That individual was a male, and his name was Blade Claws. He was a very strong Praetorian and the one who taught all the others their duties to the Queen. After all not all things are instinctual. Especially wisdom in dealing with a royal female.
Johns flipped head over backside through the air and landed sprawled out about fifteen feet down the hallway. Jessica was surprised at her own strength, but only her two chief Praetorians and the elder one with the many spikes could sense this, as she covered the thought so quickly.
It is all right my Queen. All is strange and new to a new Queen, especially the strength that you will have grown into. I doubt that a full measure of a Queens strength is yours for your frame is too small to hold it, but you are stronger now then any human no matter what gender or weight class they belong to. That and you are also stronger then me. That is unusual indeed for a being as small as you.
There are many things about me that will be most unusual Spikes. You will grow accustomed to my oddities in time.
So I would suppose my Queen. So I would suppose.
The Praetorian flirted with her briefly after he sensed her impression of his looks was favorable, then he ripped off the door of one of the cells to reveal its captive.
One of the waylaid hunters my Queen.
The language used by the hunter was racy and wicked. Spikes knew the hunter tongue, and he showed her without hesitation all the things the hunter was saying. Including the multitude of physically impossible suggestions and crude insults to ancestry.
"Now now cousin is that any way to act around females of your family? We are here to retrieve you not to make you suffer more. Now come along and the opportunity to take some of your captor's heads will present itself shortly, well that is if you behave properly until that time."
"Whatever they made you from it was surely more tough then they are Little White Queen."
"I am sure it was hunter and in one case I am sure it yet is."
{A/N: Yay chapter 3 down! 4491 words before Authors notes. I am employed so I will not finish up chapter four until sometime on the Monday-Wednesday docket, which is when I am off work. Hope everyone had a fun read!}