Author's Note: Fun fact, the original plot had Alec and The Queen as the happy couple. Go figure.
With consummate stealth, Yeithwei approached the hive. The yautja barely able to suppress the slight tremor of fear, niggling at the back of his mind as he skirted around the ravager; the hard meat equivalent of a nuclear option. A mindless, instinct driven war machine beholden only to the Queen. Even the other hard meat avoided it lest they provoke its lethal ire.
Yeithwei was of a different view, he may have felt fear, but he also felt, and embraced, a great avarice. To claim this creature's skull would be the trophy of a lifetime. To do it without a plasma caster would be the stuff of legend.
Slowly he got into position, a small outcrop of rock which would allow him to leap onto the creature's back where, if fortune smiled upon him, his blades would be able to reap a bloody toll before he was dislodged. In his mind's eye the hunter played out the fight; once dislodged he would open fire with one of the human's projectile weapons, though it was unlikely the primitive firearms would, or even could, cause a fatal wound.
Once the clip ran dry or the ravager closed the distance; whichever occurred first, the gun would be discarded as he duelled the massive hard meat, avoiding the terrible claws and muscular tail, almost a mace as much as a blade. After that he would have to tire the massive creature, waiting for it to bleed out.
Plan decided Yeithwei tensed to spring into action. The leap never came as a second ravager joined its brother. Only a few yautja had ever slain two of the dread inspiring variants of the hard meat in a lifetime, and never at once. He was utterly outmatched.
At the very moment this humbling thought occurred to him a third stepped out of the cave into the evening gloom, the sharp contrast of temperatures actually making the yautja's vision clearer and sharper than normal. Seconds later a fourth joined the growing group.
The ravagers weren't alone either as a praetorian, quite heavily scarred, emerged from the cave mouth, accompanied by a small retinue of warriors and runners, four of each. For a moment Yeithwei almost felt pity for the hive about to be on the receiving end of this deadly task force.
But the strangest detail of all was the ooman being clutched protectively to the praetorian's chest, much to its protest. The ooman kicking and hitting and, unless Yeithwei's magnification lenses were malfunctioning, trying to scratch it with his fingernails, no doubt already a host in its final hours of life, desperately raging at the world in general.
He was almost tempted to put the poor creature out of its misery, but suicide was not a habit he wanted to develop, on the basis that it would be bad for his health.
Still such a disparate and dangerous group was certainly worth following. By staying in their wake he would have unparalleled opportunities for greatness.
Alec gently rubbed his wrists whilst stretching his legs as best he could in the small cavern he'd been unceremoniously deposited in. He did his best to suppress a look of gratitude towards Chrome, it would have been classic Stockholm Syndrome to be grateful to his captor for cutting him down from the resinous wall when she'd been the one who put him there.
Despite this realisation he was not entirely able to suppress a single brief moment of goodwill aimed at the towering praetorian, unable, even when furious beyond his abilities to give voice to his problems, to keep a certain fondness from his gaze when he sighted the slightly marred but still highly reflective dome of her skull, even more distinctive and easy to recognise now that it had been before. He'd tended the wounds that had made those scars and knew every single one of them by sight and touch.
As he removed the stiffness from disused muscles he became ware that he was being watched by her quite intently, the xenomorph moving her head ever so slightly, a minute back and forth motion. It was an unconscious gesture Alec had surmised meant Chrome was trying to 'see' in greater resolution than norma, her echolocation building a series of ever-so-slightly different pictures that her mind would compile into a single more precise image. Something, and this was an observation thus far unique to Chrome, she only did when nervous.
Alec scowled at the praetorian, "So is this the part where you kill me?" The demand was cold and harsh where he tried to keep the fear out of his voice.
Chrome recoiled as if punched, her expression unreadable to the human before she leapt forwards to wrap clawed arms around him in a crushing embrace.
Alec closed his eyes as death bore down upon him, ten seconds later his eyes opened again as razor sharp claws failed to scratch, let alone rend, his soft, malleable flesh.
The embrace was uncomfortable to the point of removing his ability to breath but still with the strength of the praetorian and the hindrance of her claws, it was comparable to a human delicately grasping the finest pottery shell in the world.
The realisation was a shock to Alec as some of the implications trickled through to his conscious. He was not Chrome's prisoner, he was her guest... and her friend. Guilt flooded like ice water through his veins as he gingerly returned the hug, his own arms not long enough to encircle Chrome entirely and his grasp was excessively gentle as he avoided the spikes on her back.
The reaction in his xenomorph friend was immediate, a quiet purr-like sound which reverberated through the small cave, the echoes making it seem as if a horde of cats were occupying the space rather than a xenomorph and a human. A scene usually followed by desperate pleas for mercy cut short.
Gently Alec found himself released, Chrome resuming her observations of him. For a moment Alec forgave her everything, and then her tail swung around, the flat of it catching him across the jaw and he knew no more.
When he awoke he was once more stuck to the wall alone, a situation he was growing increasingly both annoyed with and tired of. Still, accounting for the apparent guest status he was currently enjoying, it was at least safe to call for help.
"Chrome!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, soon rewarded with the heavy approach of a praetorian, the xenomorph, usually so unnaturally quiet, making not attempts to hide its presence within the safety of the hive.
Something about this observation struck Alec as awry but he couldn't quite place the reason, at least until the praetorian emerged into the dim gloom of the cave.
It wasn't Chrome. Perhaps a small part of him had known from the beginning that this was the case. He would never have heard his praetorian's approach, for such a large specimen of the caste she could move with deceptive silence whereas this smaller example of what was essentially the officer class of a xenomorph hive was outright broadcasting its presence, a mistake Chrome would never make he realised, not after the nearly fatal injuries inflicted by the alien hunter within her own home.
This depth of observation surprised him, it was strange to think how much he had attuned himself to the xenomorph's moods and the nuances of her behaviour in so short a time. The companionship provided by her, however unwillingly at first, was now something he could not imagine living without anymore. It had made him realise how lonely he'd been in those many months where survival had been his only concern; he wasn't sure he could return to that way of life again.
Right now though his main concern was not his quality of life but merely its continuation, the praetorian, young even to Alec's eyes, was not responding positively to his presence, a rapidly hissed sentence was issued, too fast for the human to understand with his limited grasp of the xenomorph language.
The praetorian advanced upon him, rearing up to its full height as it examined this intruder within its hive.
And then Chrome was there, pushing it away from him with a shriek of pure fury. Her foe backed away, hissing indignantly as the large praetorian blocked its escape route.
The conversation was quick and hard to follow but from the circumstances and the words he could pick out Alec could gather the gist of it. The smaller praetorian wanted to know what he was and why Chrome was hoarding prey as well as something to do with the Queen.
Chrome on the other hand was, as best he could tell, begging for his silence and all the while the massive praetorian blocked all attempts to leave the cave. Her lithe, sinuous form large enough that even when her foe took to the walls and ceiling it could not slip past the tunnel's guardian. Eventually the smaller one whom Alec decided to assign the moniker of Shorty – it really was the smallest praetorian he'd ever seen – had had enough and charged Chrome directly.
It might as well have charged a moving train head on for all the effect it had, Chrome merely punching it lightly in the side of the head, dazing it before an uppercut knocked it backwards into a heap.
Alec hissed as a few drops of acidic blood landed on his exposed shoulder, his shirt providing scant protection as it dissolved, the acid neutralising on his skin. He was fortunate Chrome hadn't used her claws to simply open its throat.
The praetorian clearly had a different view on Chrome's restraint as it quickly rose to its feet, lunging forwards to claw at the slanted dome of her skull.
Chrome gracefully ducked under the blow, driving her fist into its body, a series of bodyblows which left cracks in its natural armour. Her opponent collapsed, desperate for air, and then promptly answered a question on xenomorph biology that Alec had never thought to ask. It turned out it was fully possible for a xenomorph to vomit.
Utterly pitiless Chrome lifted it by the throat, her other hand, clenched so tight her claws were drawing her own blood, coming around to hit the praetorian and then again, and again, and again as she began the slow process of beating it to death. Shorty was no longer even trying to fight back.
"Stop."
He wasn't sure why he said it, why he told her to spare the creature he was pretty sure had been going to kill him, perhaps some kernel of pity for the beaten creature, its limp form so pathetic in Chrome's grasp, or perhaps some lost vestige of his pre-invasion morals, the belief in the sanctity of life, reasserting themselves.
Startled, Chrome turned to face him, a short hiss as she spoke the xenomorph word for why.
Alec paused, unable to explain something to her that he could not even explain to himself. "Please; just stop."
His friend paused, uncertain before letting go of her foe, instead moving directly in front of Alec and like her foe before her rearing up to her full height.
The deadly claws lashed out, causing Alec to brace himself instinctively, though his mind may have accepted her benevolence, his reflexes had not. Bonds expertly bisected, he fell into her waiting arms.
Piusnex had been heading back from yet another tactical meeting with the Queen when she had heard the shout, her mother, despite her earlier reservations, welcoming her back with an apparently heartfelt relief at having someone with more than a basic grasp of strategy.
Her new position as the elder praetorian was taking some getting used to, it was not a position she had ever aspired to but, she was beginning to realise, this was because she had never aspired to anything before now: the possibilities were startling.
Thinking something wrong she had burst into a run. She was far from from her cave, the small part of the hive that was hers alone, the echoes of the cave system broadcasting her human's voice and presence deep into the hive.
It proved fortunate that she'd responded with such urgency for as she entered her home she saw one of her worst fears made manifest. Desturbatio, the arrogant praetorian which had taken such joy in capturing her, was towering over her human.
Rage, too pure and powerful to articulate with words, overwhelmed her as she dove forwards, tackling the intruder that dared violate her sanctum.
Desturbatio broke away, making distance even as she moved back to block the entrance, realising that she could not allow him to tell the Queen; the consequences of her secret coming to light from someone other than herself were too dreadful to contemplate.
"What are you doing?" He demanded, pacing from side to side as he sought a gap to dash through.
"Protecting my property." Piusnex stated with implacable resolution in her voice, no matter what happened she would protect her human from the consequences.
Desturbatio took a while to answer, the idea of possessing something was foreign to him, the hive could own but the individual could not; as it was Piusnex had broken several grammatical rules by placing a possessive word after a pronoun. "You cannot hoard prey." He said slowly, mind wrestling with the concept.
"He is not prey." Again there was no compromise in the words, less an opinion than a statement of fact.
This only confused the younger praetorian further; all things were either of the hive or prey. There was no middle ground. As he pondered this an ancestral memory surfaced.
It was not unknown for a drone to go mad after eating contaminated prey, the drones at first merely acting irrationally, their symptoms progressing to violence towards all those around them and foaming at the mouth before, inevitably, death.
And worse still any bitten by it would eventually succumb to the same illness, if Piusnex were suffering from this disease then the fate of the entire hive might rest upon his choiced.
As calmingly as he could Desturbatio answered her, "Not prey, ok, does the Queen know about you keeping it here?"
Piusnex growled lightly, not enjoying being patronised, "It isn't any of her business."
"All things that happen in the hive are her business." stated the male with firm resolve before trying to dart past her, using the walls as a springboard.
Piusnex was too well prepared and too well positioned, a single step to the side allowing her to block his path.
The praetorian, out of some blind sense of duty, charged her only to be punched in the head, a perfect cross, her claws carefully kept out of the way, not for his sake but for Alec's, an arc of arterial spray would prove fatal for her human. She winced, a sharp hiss between her teeth as despite her care a pained outburst was voiced by the immobile figure on the wall.
The uppercut that followed had enough strength behind it to nearly flip her foe in midair, Desturbatio landing in an untidy heap, yet, though the blow would have almost removed a human's head from their shoulders, he merely rolled to his feet, lunging forwards with claws outstretched.
Piusnex almost smile at the rookie mistake, a good fighter knew not to overreach and she punished him for it accordingly. She felt the thick chitin give way under her punch, forcing air from his lungs as she followed up with a further four sledgehammer blows to his stomach.
The small praetorian retched, his stomach acids vicious enough to dissolve part of the hive's floor.
Without mercy she grabbed him by the throat, lifting him as her other hand drove into his upper body, she felt something break beneath the impact as the praetorian stilled, starved of oxygen. There was no going back now she decided, driving another titanic blow into his liver, striking each major organ in murderous precision.
"Stop."
She nearly ignored the quiet command, her fist drawing back one last time before it fully registered.
Spinning on the spot she faced her human. "Why spare him?" She demanded.
"Please, just stop."
Perhaps it was because he'd asked, voice so pleading, or perhaps it was the thought that if he, the intended victim, could find it within himself to spare the foolhardy xenomorph then so could she.
Either way she slowly lowered Desturbatio to the floor as she contemplated the consequences of this act of charity, she only had one option still available to her.
She would have to introduce Alec to the Queen.
The Queen glared as Piusnex strode into view, "You appear to be lost, daughter. Your cave is elsewhere in the hive."
The praetorian remained defiant in the face of admonishment, "We need to talk Mother." There was something wrong with her posture, it took the Queen a moment to realise she was cradling something in her arms, hiding it against her chest.
"What are you hiding? Show me!" She demanded, unused to the concept of negotiation, never before had she encountered anything she couldn't simply give orders or have killed.
"I intend to Mother. But not before I've explained things to you." Piusnex promised, a master of diplomacy by comparison. "I'm going to request you don't interrupt beyond asking questions until I've finished explaining, and then I'll await and accept your judgement." Even as she said it Piusnex realised that was a lie, the Queen no longer had the right to judge her.
Fortunately the Queen took this at face value, pausing to consider whether to acquiesce to the request, afterall she had nothing important to do until the ravagers hatched, and she was curious to know why her eldest daughter had reeked of human since she'd got back.
"Very well daughter." She said, careful to keep the curiosity from her voice. "I'll listen."
Author's Note: Thank you all for being so patient with me. Partially the delay has been due to uni, but also because I very much regard this as my best fic, some may get more views and faves but this is my piece de resistance and so I've spent the last few months trying to hone my craft. I hope it was worth the wait. And yes, I have made it that in this fanon xenomorphs can get rabies.