Chapter 14: The Plan
After a few days of walking and time to heal, the small group of Xenomorphs finally found refuge near a hidden lake deep within the mountains. One that they knew would be near impossible to get to if you were anything but a Xeno. It was here that Emilia and Bobby recovered from their wounds, they all took to the water for play or to escape reality for a short while. A day or two later, as Amun was returning with a few big bears to eat, he was surprised to see all three of his hive conversing in a circle when he got back. He could tell something was happening.
"What's this now? Am I getting voted of the island?" He joked as he laid the two dead beasts on the ground in front of them. " Can we at least eat first?" He felt the mental smile from Emilia.
"You goof. No, we are discussing a few more...critical things." The seriousness in her tone had grabbed his attention. Without a word he joined their circle to listen to what they had been talking about. "We think we know a way to get back at the company." Amun started to object but was cut off. "Hear us out, please?" She said, his uneasy feeling not going unnoticed at the statement. He stayed quiet to listen. Emilia let out a sigh.
"A Trojan horse." Emilia let him think about that for a moment. He played around with the concept for a moment before realizing what that meant.
"Ooo no no no. That is way too risky! Plus I don't want to, will not leave you alone!" He shot back at her. He knew exactly what she was thinking and he didn't like the risk. They would use either himself or her as bait, letting the company capture them in order to gain the upper hand. But the company would not know of one of their daughters that was hidden somehow and taken with them as they are captured. At the right moment they would sneak away and infiltrate the lab and open the doors to the outside. It was not a bad plan, but he did not like the risks involved.
"I won't be, and this is where things get interesting. Because it will have to be you who goes, I cannot hide Abby. However, your back tubes should be large enough to hide her within. While you are infiltrating from the inside I will be with Bobby...gathering the rest." Her last few words had him confused, a feeling that Bobby picked up on.
"Our new sisters, Father. We are going to rebuild our hive. We will travel and find another farm, gather as many new sisters as we can and surprise the company with an army at their door." A small trickle of fear came to his mind, a fear of losing more of his daughters to this plan. Something he did not want.
"Bobby, I don't know if it will be much of a surprise. When they killed your sisters and nearly you, they knew exactly where we were. Somehow they have been tracking us and knew when and where to strike. How can we make an army that they won't know about?" Amun asked, curious if his daughters had thought of this already.
"They whole point is that they know about us, we are not the main attack, you are." She replied.Amun tilted his head, not fully following her plan. Thankfully she gave him a moment to think to himself.
If he let himself get captured for a purpose other than letting an army in, what was it? Why take Abby with him if not to let the others in. How would he be the main attack? As he thought to himself, it came to him.
"Ooo...Abby will release me inside the labs as you distract their main forces with an army outside. I can then cause chaos from inside before letting you in. Hiding the main attack in plain sight...I like it. But what of our new sisters, I do not want anyone hurt. I cannot got through that again." He was dead serious about that, Amun would not lose anyone else he loved, period. Thankfully Abby had the answer.
"They won't be. They will stay away from the labs until you can get us in safely. That way their defences will be useless. We will attack as one with speed and force." She said as she began to crawl onto her father, coming to rest on his shoulder. "I will find a way to help you escape Father, I promise."
"I know you will my daughter, you are too good at finding things. Finding a way to let me out would not prove difficult." He let out a long sigh. "I still do not like the idea of splitting up...but I know you are all capable of handling yourselves." He said with a laugh. Abby nuzzled the side of his head with her own. He then looked to his Queen and First born and then sighed."I do not really enjoy the thought of raising an army only to fight with, these are our daughters not cannon fodder. But I do understand your want for revenge."
"And they won't be, I want everyone of them to come home alive, I swear it my King. And Bobby thinks we can keep them hidden until they are needed." Amun felt the mental reinforcement to her statement. Even without their mental link, he knew Emilia well enough to know it was true. But her last statement had grabbed his curiosity.
"Hidden? How?" He asked looking to his First born.
"Abby found a rather large cave system that would hold more than enough Xenos to make this work." She replied.
"How many?" He asked with curiosity.
"Around one hundred."Amun would have spit out his drink if he had one, he was pretty sure he just heard her say one hundred. He looked to Emilia who he knew was mentally smiling.
"And you are ok with this? You would have to be suspended for quite a long time for this?" She nodded to him and pulled her lips back for a smile.
"If we do this right, I won't have to. Bobby came up with the idea of haveing all one hundred eggs ready to go and then hit a farm in one night. That was we will not have to wait. We just have to find a farm with a lot of cows and some food for me to have while I lay my eggs." When she finished her explanation, Amun thought through her plan and found that it would probably work rather well. Gather up all the facehuggers in one night, hit the farm and give birth to a new hive in one day. Then hide them for a short while to take away any prep time the company would have to build up any counter defence.
As he though the plan over, he could feel the anticipation radiating off of all three of the ladies in front of him. From that, he knew that they were all on board with this idea, but he wanted to ask anyway.
"Are we all in agreement then?" He asked and three silent nods from them confirmed that they were."Alright then... let's find some cows!...After we eat." Amun guestured towards the two dead bears behind him. His daughters giggled as they moved towards the feast. Emilia came close to him and placed her head upon his shoulder, wrapping her hand around him.
`Thank you." She whispered mentally to him.
A few days, and a few hundred kilo-meters travelled, the four aliens found themselves at the edge of a tree line where they gazed out over a rather large herd of cattle. It was exactly what they had hoped for, around ninety or so cows to fuel their new hive. It was blind luck that they had found such a large farm, but they were not going to count their chickens just yet. It would be a while before Emilia could produce the amount of eggs that would be needed to take the herd of cattle all at once.
The other factor was the distance from the cave that Abby had found, it may be a bit too far for them to travel with one hundred or so facehuggers as passengers. That would have to be the first problem they solve, a new location for Emilia to produce her eggs.
"We will just have to explore a bit and see what we find, come my ladies." Amun then lead the way back into the forest with his Queen and daughters close behind. He chose a path that lead them close to the mountain range that was still nearby. He hoped that they would find another cave, but he thought that it might be pushing their luck. They walked for a few more hours and lost track of time, not that it mattered to them, but they still stopped to take a rest.
Amun felt the cold breeze on his exoskeleton and enjoyed its cool refreshing touch. He laid upon the ground and found it colder than expected, which meant that it was most likely the middle of night. As he got comfy, Emilia curled herself beside him, wrapping her tail around his. Bobby and Abby went off chasing one another through the tree tops. Both him and Emilia watched as the two chased one another from branch to branch, playfully swatting at one another. It was then that Amun had a rather creative idea.
"Did you ever have a tree house as a child?" He asked Emilia as they both looked up at the large trees.
"No, I don't think I did. Why?" She asked as she softly purred and nuzzled his neck.
"I think I did. I...remember something about hiding from my parents in the woods. No one would find me because I hid in the trees. People have a weird tendency not to look up. With that in mind, I think I just found somewhere to nest." He explained as he gestured to the branches over head. Emilia followed his gaze and realized that the trees around them were rather large. They may have even been giant red wood trees at the sizes she was finding. "At least it's not a cave." Amun joked. Emilia playfully pushed him with her shoulder.
"It's not a horrible idea, and this way I could be outside with everyone, keep an eye on things." As they chatted, Bobby and Abby made their way across their line of site.
"Girls, come here please." Amun called out to them. They turned and made haste towards their parents. They quietly came and sat in front of the towering king and queen. "I need you to find me a rather large tree with a tight network of branches. Ones that your mother could suspend herself on. Abby...give Bobby a five minuet head start."
"No fun." Abby responded and laid herself lower onto the grass. Bobby wasted no time and took off into the nearest tree, looking for the perfect spot. She disappeared into the leaves above, her family watching as she went.
"I do like this idea Amun but are you sure I'll be able to get up that high?" Emilia asked as she looked up. Her question was justified, it must have been more than fifty feet to the lowest branches. Amun let out a low purr, he was not worries.
"We will get you up, not to worry. I'm more worried how upset Bobby is going to be when she finds out Abby already beat her." A wave of confusion came from Emilia. The Queen looked to Amun and noticed that he was staring at his daughter, but Abby was not looking to him. She was looking behind him and once Emilia followed her daughter's gaze she let out a mental laugh. She was looking at the perfect spot to hide a nesting Queen high off the ground behind them.
"Bobby is going to be upset, but very well done Abby." She heard her daughter purr at the comment. She and Amun both stood from their place of rest.
"Bobby, come back, we found a spot." Amun called out.
"What?! How I've only been gone...Abby!" Bobby's anger was still playful, but still had frustration within it.
"He he he." Abby giggled as she climbed onto Amun's back and into a very specific spot. "Father?" No more words were needed and Amun lowered his head and shoulders, getting his aim just right. One moment Abby was sitting on his back, the next she was darting through the air like a rocket towards the tree. Amun watched as his aim was true and his daughter landed on one of the nearest branched. Abby quickly started to explore the nest of branches as Amun felt Bobby hop onto his back.
"Father?" And another Xenomorph went flying through the air, right on its mark. When Bobby landed, she playfully took off after her sister. The sight warmed his heart and he was not the only one. Emilia gently wrapped her one arm around his shoulders and nuzzled his neck.
"I'm glad we still have them." Amun could feel her sadness, but it was over taken by happiness quickly. he too was beyond glad that not all their daughters were murdered by the company, this Weyland. He rested his head upon hers for a moment before taking her hand and leading her to the tree. Once there, he released her and began to climb the large trunk which easily held his weight. Amun was surprised at its actual size, it must be forty feet around, and it looked to be the smaller one in the area.
He paused half way up the tree after noticing that Emilia had not been following him. He looked down at the Queen, waiting for her to join him. She hesitantly moved towards the large trunk and placed her hand upon it and then Amun realized why she had hesitated. He made his way back down to the ground beside her.
"Might be hard to climb a tree with only one arm yes?" He asked, she nodded with embarrassment. He thought for a moment and found an answer. " Try to use your tail, dig it into the tree to either pull yourself up or hold yourself in place. You can do it." He explained and felt positive feelings her way. He could have very easily carried her up the tree, but wanted her to accomplish this task on her own. Giving her a confidence boost. Emilia let out a long sigh and looked up at the branches where her daughters were still at play.
She did as Amun suggested and thrust her tail into the side of the tree, impaling deep into its meat. Using both her feet and one arm, she began to pull herself up the side of the massive tree. When she reached a height that stretched her tail to the max, she anchored herself and retracted the blade from the tree. Impaling her tail once more, she continued these steps until she reached the top. She turned to look down at Amun who was looking up at her from the ground.
"Very well done my Queen." Amun then began his climb towards her, moving with a bit of speed. He reached the plateau of braches and saw Emilia exploring a bit, his attention was taken from her when he suddenly felt two playful Xenomorph's begin to chase each other around his massive body. Both of which stopped upon his crown.
"This should work well Father, I think we can hide Mother enough that no one will be able to see her from the ground." Bobby said as she playfully pinned Abby to his head.
"And we found some good spots to place all the eggs in the trees." Abby further explained while she attempted to wriggle free of her sisters arms. Abby playfully hissed at Bobby as a show of strength, one that Bobby returned to her. This grabbed the attention of Emilia who then began to walk towards her family. She stopped in front of Amun and placed a gentle kiss on his head before taking her daughters from his crown.
"I think it will be perfect as long as I have you three here with me." Emilia said as she softly hugged her daughters with her second set of arms. She held them with her smaller hands as she placed her larger one on the side of Amun's face and purred. "It will be perfect my King." As she spoke, Amun pressed into her hand, showing his affection.
"Why don't we take the rest of the night off, I would not mind exploring the area a bit."Amun said as he turned to leave.
"Father, may I join you?" Abby said excitedly from her mother's arms. Amun had hoped to be alone for a short while, but did not wish to destroy his daughters excitement. Amun took his one daughter from Emilia's hands and placed her upon his crown.
" I would not mind taking a nap if you want to stay here Mother?" Bobby asked as she looked up at Emilia who nodded in agreement. Amun then gave his Queen another kiss and made his way down the tree, his one daughter upon his back.
Once on the forest floor, he took a quick moment to look in every direction. He was looking for anything that looked like a path or road in the area which would bring unsuspecting humans to their hidden hive. Satisfied that there was nothing in the immediate area, he took off running in a random direction.
He thundered through the trees with each step, anything in the area would know of his presence but he did not care. As he ran, he kept his vision open for paths or roads in the vegetation but he was truly looking for something else that he would never see. He began to pick up speed as he lost himself in his own thoughts. Images of his family flooded his mind and the sadness began to spread. Sara and Brittney playing by the river while he cooled off. Catching Jean covered in mud whenever she had the chance. Scarlett and Rowena...as he stayed by their sides guiding them to become his royal guard. Thea...as she died right before him.
With each memory he gained speed, not caring for what was in front of him. He began to crash into smaller trees while he bounced of the larger ones that were in the area. He did not care for at that moment he felt nothing. He only remembered the mental connection he had to his family as they all faded away. How empty he had felt. How he still feels.
"Father!?" Faster and faster he ran, his powerful legs digging holes in the ground behind him.
"FATHER!?" He ran through another tree that exploded into splinters from his hardened exoskeleton.
"AMUN!" His name? He began to slow, his own name bringing him back to reality and to his worried daughter upon his back. He slowed to a jog, then to a walk, then he stopped in his tracks. He took in two deep breaths before falling to his knees. He barely felt the small hands and feet of his daughter who crawling towards his face.
"Father...are you alright." She said as she circled his crown in concern. He was not sure how to respond. He did not want to frighten her, but did not want to lie.
"I...I miss them Abby, your sisters...they were my world and I loved everyone of them. For all my strength I...I have no way to fight this...I feel so cold... so vulnerable." His words were covered in sadness that flowed into his daughters mind."I...I don't know what to feel. I have so much anger inside that I have to ignore or I'll do something stupid. But everything else is pressed down at the same time. Emilia knows this." He explained as his daughter moved to the ground in front of him, looking up at the towering Xeno King.
"I miss them too father. I loved my sisters and I miss playing with them. I know they liked to make fun of me, but I knew they loved me still. I would do anything I could to have them back, but it cannot be so. Instead I remember them, each and every one of them, because it keeps them alive. It keeps the love I have for them in my mind. Focus on that. Remember the love that we shares, not the hate that came after." She moved to his knees and wrapped her tail around his leg and purred loudly. If he could cry, he would be.
Instead, he began a long, low growl that grew and grew until it was a mighty roar. With all his might he let loose his thunderous voice into the wild of the forest, letting all his hate and anger out with it. Abby joined him as loud as she could, remembering her sisters. To honour them in a way that only they could.