Part 5

Prince knew his small friend would not return. He had watched from beneath the floor panel as her stuff were placed in boxes. He made sure to keep quiet, already knowing the man in charge.

Henrietta had introduced Prince to her father. Sort of. Prince came to understand that the others of the ship were not as welcoming to him as she was, hence why he hid below the floors. One of these people were her dad, and he couldn't hurt him without hurting her.

She had taken care of him, feeding him delicious snacks, making a nest out of her pillows and blankets. Henrietta always babied him, overprotective and keeping a watchful eye on his actions. Prince would miss her.

Unless he could find her again.

A sharp pain pierced his head and he wailed loudly. Prince's front paws came up to clutch his black skull. His senses went haywire as a loud pitched ring came through his head. Eventually, it came to an end but he laid there in the empty room, as still as the dead.

A new sense came to him. Something he hadn't felt. The sense of his queen. She was in pain, emotionally, and distressed. At first, confusion came over him. There could not be any queen on board. By overhearing conversations, Prince came to realize that the people did not want to risk bringing one on board but they risked him. A warrior breed with capabilities of becoming a queen.

He could not tell Henrietta, mainly because he could not converse with her to explain it. Prince could feel his change, his growth mainly in his skull to form a crown. However, he whined at this, often sad when he felt the changes stretch him.

If Prince were to become a queen, he wasn't sure if he could stay with Henrietta and even if he could, his natural ability to reproduce, changing him to a neutral gender, would make it a challenge.

What if the children hurt her?

They would overrun the ship, possibly hurting her father.

There could be no way to win.

Still, the pain of his queen persisted. Without thought, he jumped into vents, crawling to the source. To the shuttles.

Upon arriving, Prince found a lot of people huddled around. Children screamed and cried as they were hugged by their parents one last time. Sorrow, confusion, and anger hung in the air like an invisible, thick fog. The signal came from the masses and he could see why his queen would be distressed. Even he would not be able to cope with this.

Staying out of sight, Prince caught sight of a struggling Henrietta. An older man tugged her beyond two doors, following several other children. Her father could easily be seen in the crowd, looking unaffected by the event before. Still, his emotions bled from him. He too grieved.

However, as soon as the shuttle launched off, the queen's presence faded. Moaning low, he curled up in the vent. He wished to seek his queen but beyond better judgment, Prince wanted Henrietta more.

With a growl, Prince crouched low and moved away. Winston had already gone back to work, grieving in silence at his computer. No matter what happened, Prince would not hurt him, but he would figure out where Henrietta went.

One way or another.

…

Several cycles passed before new shuttles docked themselves. Prince, as he had been doing since Henrietta left, followed Winston. A large number of people, carrying a multitude of luggage, came to be welcomed by him. They all shook hands but nothing felt friendly about this.

A bad feeling wormed its way down his spine, causing his acidic blood to freeze, his heart to clench, and his stomach felt it just fell to the floor below him. However, no stomach fell from his body and down to the floor where the people mingled their way to the hallways. He shook the feeling, keeping up with the quiet conversation happening just below him.

"Yes, three more will be coming on board. One had escaped but never found years ago. We believe it may have died but no proof was found." Winston talked with three other men, all armed with weaponry unfamiliar to that of the guards on the ship. They usually carried sticks, batons as Henrietta informed him, or small guns.

"We'll begin the search for it immediately."

"Just make sure it's dead. The doctors have new ones to play with." With that, Winston headed down to the science lab, meeting with several people for reports. The head scientist, LuBa, a humanoid with cat-like instincts, jumped around in excitement at the prospect of new subjects.

Prince growled, remembering some of the crueler tests. Thinking about it in heavy detail, his queen may be willing to take the younglings in as well as allow Henrietta to stay.

As soon as the younglings came in, recently hatched too, the scientists began their testing. Prince wished to stop them, but he found himself finding Winston instead. Alone in his room, he stared at a picture of a young Henrietta. Grieving with the man, Prince whined at the very familiar girl.

Silently, he came down from the vent. The bed barely squeaked under him, holding his weight well. With a silent hiss, Prince pounced. Winston's eyes went wide and he let out a terrified shout at the sight of the fully grown xenomorph. However, Prince still had no intentions of hurting the man.

Keeping his inner jaw in, he grabbed the photo with his tail and shoved it in his face. Prince continued to do so, hoping that he'd come to understand.

"You aren't touching my daughter, you freak!" Winston grabbed a hold of his gun but Prince disappeared up into the vent, his plan clearly not working. A few shots followed, piercing the metal and nearly hitting him.

Soon enough all the ship would be notified. Prince would be hunted.

Prince returned to the lab, the younglings already growing at an advanced rate. Some kind of serum had been injected into them according to the doctors. They were trying to tame them. Too bad for them, Prince finally could communicate with them.

You'll be safe with me. Follow my lead. I'll return you to our rightful Queen.

Our Queen?

One responded a drone just like the other two. However, with the serum accelerating their growth, two were in the process of becoming hunters, mutating their genes unnaturally. Prince was sure the other would follow suit.

She is off the ship. But we will find her and my friend.

Friend?

Yes. She will help us. Now get up, we need to get moving.

Despite still being young, their bodies were developing into the shape of a true xeno. Prince gathered them, helping him into the vent above and they clung to his back. His new spikes provided support for them to hang on. A new use for his new features, still he refused to be a queen. He had one to find with his siblings.

They were not born of the same mother but they clung to him as the oldest in their makeshift litter. Together, they could get out.