**The last chapter! Thank you all who made it this far and have enjoyed reading Astarte's story. I cannot lie when I say that it has bee a bit of a wild one, with many twists and turns that I did not think would happen. But here we are, and I am so glad with how it has developed. So thank you all again for reading my stories. I cannot wait to start on the next one. That being said, I am sad to say that it might take a while until the next saga of the Xenomorph series comes out as I am working on a personal book project that I will be trying to print. But I promise that Amun, Jolene, Emilia and Astarte have much more story to be told! Thank you all again and I hope you enjoy the last chapter of Xenomorph: Astarte.**
Chapter Twenty-Six
All Hail the King
"Astarte, we have been looking for days. They are not here, and my feet hurt." Claire said from behind the praetorian who was leading the pack of xenomorphs through the forest. The excitement that was running through her almost drowned out the comment. She kept walking and searching every inch in front of her, looking for any evidence that an alien was in the area. that anything was in the area. Her larger head snapped from side to side, scanning every bush and every tree, looking for any scent that was out of place. She could not find anything. No, no, no, there had to be something. They had to be here somewhere, they had to be!
"Astarte." Claire called again but Astarte kept searching. "Astarte!" The loud call finally got through to her. She shook her crowned head as she snapped back to reality. She turned around to look back at the smaller drones that were following close behind. As she came to look to her sisters, she was shocked at just how tired they all looked. She could see them heaving for air and leaning against trees for a break. Their tails drooped and dragging against the floor of the forest, their large and heavy heads pointed to the ground. The realization that she had been pushing too hard sank in. She closed the distance between her and her sisters and took a seat on the cold, forest floor. As she did, all of her sisters joined her, sitting in a circle around their much larger sister.
"I'm sorry, I...I am just too excited. Father should be here somewhere. He has to be here. That our family should be here." She explained to her other sisters.
"We know, Astarte, we feel it too. But we do need to rest for a while." Cleo told her. Astarte looked to her and paused before taking in a deep breath. She held it and let the cool air soak into her body, then let the air out in a prolonged huff.
"Yes, of course." She responded. She watched as more than one of the smaller xenomorphs got into more comfortable positions. Some chose to lay down on the cold ground, other simply sat and mentally took a rest.
"Astarte." Rose began to ask. "We are sure they are here somewhere, yes?"
"As far as I know, this was the last place they were seen. The forest along the coast."
"How long ago was that?"
"I…I'm not sure. But it's the only led that I had to go on. I do think they are trying to keep a low profile, but we should be able to find them. We should be able to feel them once we get close enough. That's our biggest advantage." She explained to Rose.
"If they are here, will we be able to feel Father? None of us have ever met him." She made a good point, and something Astarte had not considered. Amun, being a royal xenomorph, should be able to reach much farther with their telepathy than any other members of their family. Should they not have felt him by now? It did give her an idea.
"Cleo…that's brilliant." She praised her sister.
She took another deep breath in, letting the cold air fill her body and cool her from the inside. It felt good. As she let the air out, she focused and reached out her mind, farther than she had ever done before. She focused hard, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing. She tried to reach out even further, stretching her mind. Nothing. She tried to focus on different areas that she was reaching out into, hoping that she may have missed something.
That was when she felt it.
The tiniest of pulls of some mind, far away from where they were. It was small, but something was there, a connection that felt comfortable to reach for. Her excitement boiled over.
"I found him! I think I found him!" She cried. Her tail began to twitch as her body tensed. She kept focus on what direction the pull was as she brought her mind back to where she physically sat. Her vision cleared and she came to see all of her sisters on their feet, ready to move with a new sense of excitement themselves. Astarte got to her feet.
"This way!" She took off in the direction she had felt the pull, towards the taller mountains that she had been trying to avoid. It made sense that their father would have taken their family into the hardest to reach areas of the mountain range. It did not matter to her and her sisters, they would easily make the journey. It would just take a while.
"How far, Astarte?" Asked Bailey as she ran beside her.
"It was far, rather far. At least twenty kilometers." She replied.
"Far? That is not far at all, they are so close, sister! I am so excited! Do you think they well be excited to meet us? O! Do you think father already knows we are here?" Bailey said in excitement. The emotion was flooding into Astarte's mind as her sister asked her questions, it made Astarte smile.
"I don't know, Bailey, but I'm sure they will be. I cannot wait to meet them all. By the sounds of it, there could be a hundred or so of our sisters with them."
"Them?" She replied and it instantly occurred to Astarte that they had never even thought about the queen that Amun was with. She knew from the online articles that Hanna had found that Amun had many smaller xenomorphs with him, but it had been the queen he had been with that had been strange. This queen with only one arm. A million question ran through her head just as fast as she physically ran through the forest.
Did this mean their mother was…was Jolene here with him! Had she been injured in a fight? Was it even her? No, could it be? Could their mother have somehow ended up with him once more? It was then that Astarte realized that she had never mentioned that a queen had been seen emerging from the ocean a few days before Amun had.
"Sisters." Astarte began. "Our mother might be…" She almost fell over with the wave of excitement from each and every one of her sisters that hit her mind. It slammed into the praetorian like a Mac truck, forcing her to come to a halt. Her mind was then flooded with yells of excitement and questions from her sisters which did not help to stop her mind from spinning. "Please, sisters, I need you to calm. My head is splitting."
Once she let it be known that she was being assaulted, her sisters controlled their emotions and let Astarte's mind settle. They all gathered around her, waiting for her to collect herself and continue to lead. Once her mind was clear, she sent a mental smile to them all.
"Yes, sisters, mother might very well be with father. We will be with them again soon. Keep going, north by north-east, towards the valley between those two mountains." She explained as she pointed to through the trees to their destination.
As her hand was in the air, pointing the way, a noise cut through the still air of the forest. It was a loud rumble that shook the very trees and ground around them. She knew it had been an explosion. It had come from the valley they were heading to. Excitement turned to fear. What was happening to their family? Were they safe? Were they being attacked? She did not want to waste time, she reached out to all of her sisters.
"Go! Something is wrong. Do not wait for me, just go!" They still had so far to go and she could not be the one to slow them down. Her sisters were much faster at traversing the forest then she was. Her much larger body was clunky and slow and would take much more time to navigate through the foliage.
"But Astarte-"
"GO!" She commanded. "Find our family, protect them!" She sent every ounce of urgency she could to them. It seemed to work as no one else protested, they all just took off in the same direction. The direction of yet another sound of an explosion.
Astarte watched as each of her sisters disappeared into the forest in a flash, making their way using the trees or sprinting along the ground. She started after them as fast as she could, the sense of urgency pushing her faster than she had ever run before. She tried the best she could to avoid the vegetation and rocks that blocked her path, but some could not be avoided. She impacted larger tree trunks, slamming her head or shoulders into them as she attempted to avoid them and failed. Her clawed feet slipped more than a few times as she ran over rock piles and boulders. Her larger, crowned head snagged on low branches and was jerked violently in random directions. She was still not quite use to her new body and it was showing. No matter, nothing would keep her from getting to her family, she was so close! She had to run faster, she had to get to them.
As she ran, she sent out another mental ping to see if anything had changed. She was glad to feel the pull within her mind much stronger than before. But something was off, it was almost like it was not reaching back. As if it didn't care that she was there. Something was very wrong. She kept running.
Not far now.
She reached out and felt her sisters in front of her, they had gained quite a bit of ground, pulling away from her. They should find their father any second now, she would catch up once they were with their family. The thought of that excited her, but also terrified her. She prayed that they were safe.
Another explosion shook the ground. She had to find them, she had to find her father.
She burst forth from a tree line and found herself landing on a beach of stones. A quick glance at her surroundings showed her a wide river bed in front of her, with long beaches made of smaller rocks and stone on each side. It must be a good hundred yards of rock, cut in half by a wide stream. The beaches were covered with larges pieces of drift wood that were bleached white from years of being in the sun. Twisted branches and roots made them look like modern art pieces. She did not pause to admire them for too long, she sent out another mental ping. A pull to her eleven o'clock cause her feet to get moving, it was stronger than ever within her mind.
She was so close, maybe only a hundred or so yards now, just on the other side of the trees that were covering the other side of the river bed. As she was running, it was then that she noticed the black smoke coming from the trees in front of her. One, then two, then three. She had not been able to see them until now. The cut into the air like signal flares of dread. A sound cut off her train of thought, a sound that she recognized. A whistle that cut through the air. A missile. She quickly scanned the sky around her looking for the object, knowing that it could very well be heading towards her.
Left to right, up and over her large head snapped around looking for it. She only found it once it was far too close. However, it was not coming for her, it was heading for the forest in front of her. She could only watch as the car sized object sliced through the air at frighting speeds, then disappeared into the trees, instantly followed by a fire ball that rose up from the forest. The sound wave slammed into Astarte, almost knocking her over. She was able to raise her hands up quick enough to protect her face, but it slammed hard into her stomach which gave her a sharp pain, even being a few hundred feet away.
When she recovered, she watched in horror as the fire and smoke shot towards the heavens. Her mind went to her sisters. She reached out with her mind again and was over whelmed with how many feelings came back. There were so many xenomorphs within the forest in front of her, how had she missed them all? There must be a few hundred of them, all hidden and moving fast. She shook her head and took off towards the river in front of her, she needed to get across the water, she needed to find her family.
She came to the water's edge and decided that she would try to gain some ground by launching herself into the air, aiming for the center of the wide river. For such a large xenomorph, she still possessed remarkable amounts of power. She leapt, cutting through the air and going thirty feet up. She easily went forty feet pass the water's edge. She started to descend and watched as the water's surface quickly came towards her. She got her feet under her body and prepared for impact. It came hard, her exoskeleton slamming into the steadily rolling waters of the river. Pain snapped into her legs as her feet unexpectedly hit the bottom of the river only five or so feet from the surface. It forced her to let out a hiss of pain but she had no time to waste.
She pushed the feeling aside and began to slog through the water. It pushed hard against her legs each time she raised them to take another step, but she was doing well because of the power she possessed. Further and further she went, pushing through the liquid that was fighting back with every inch she took. One step, then another and another. This simple bit of water would not keep her from her family, nothing would. It did not take long for her to reach the other side of the moving water, it becoming less and less deep which had made it easier to move. Once she was free of the liquid, she took off as fast as she could, still had a long way to get to the tree line.
She started to build up speed, determination forcing her forward. However, she had not gotten far before something exploded forth from the tree ling in front of her. An alien king burst forth from the vegetation, the sight of him caused her to freeze. He was tumbling through the air, broken trees and dirt followed him as he flew. She watched as his large body slammed into the stone of the river bed, shaking the earth and throwing stones as he did. Astarte nearly fell over from the force of the impact.
She watched as the alien king fumbled to get to his feet, and that was when she noticed something. As the wood and dirt settled, she noticed that there were a few xenomorphs climbing over his body. The blue color of her sisters filled her vision as she watched as they moved all over him. She watched as he grabbed them with his enormous, clawed hands and pulled one from his crowned head. She thought nothing of it, he was probably trying to protect them from some attack from within the trees.
That was when her mind was flooded with horror as the alien king flexed his fist, squishing the xenomorph within his grasp. She heard the shriek of her sister as the pressure quickly cracked and crunched her exoskeleton like a large bug being stepped on. Her acid blood bursting forth and exploding all over the hand of the alien king. She watched in dread as he dropped the corpse of the alien and reached for another. Astarte shook with pure horror as she watched him repeat the action a few more times until there were no more aliens crawling upon him.
What…what had she just seen? Why would he be killing his own daughters? This could not be the king that her mother had told her about. The one that had been so kind to her mother when she had been human. There was no way it could be…could it?
She stood frozen in place near the water's edge, not really knowing what to do. Should she run? Should she approach him and introduce herself. No, she had just seen him killing her sisters, there was something very wrong and she knew that approaching was the last thing she should be doing. But she could not move her body, it was not listing to her. That was when something filled her vision, something strange. She watched as the alien kings Pheromones finally began to take shape around him and the blood, red mist took form. It was a dreadful display of black and crimson, swirling around his body, like an evil spirit that had possessed him. She watched in horror, this was not good, something was very wrong. He...was he truly her father.
That was when she watched the large crowned head of the alien king turn towards her and stop, fixated upon her much, much smaller frame by the water. Pure dread filled her body, causing every muscle she had to tense and freeze. She could not pull her gaze from the large, razor-sharp teeth that lined the maw of the creature before her. She could only imagine what it would be like to be ripped apart by such things as she stared at them.
The two looked to one another for a moment, neither of them moving, neither one of them saying a thing. However, that changed all too quickly as the alien king took one step towards her. That one step quickly turned into a full sprint. Astarte had not time to react as the one hundred or so yards between them was covered in mere seconds by the king. Her body only had time to slightly turn in attempt to run away, but it was nowhere near fast enough. She watched as the alien king was suddenly towering over her and reached down for her with that acid blood covered hand.
Something suddenly moved into view from her left, something that had come out of nowhere. Astarte could only stand there in shock as another royal alien slammed into the crimson king and sent it flying. His body tumbling and rolling over itself on top of the rocks of the river bed. Astarte in her state of panic, froze as she now looked up at the new xenomorph that was in front of her. They were much larger than the alien king that they had just sent flying, but looked similar. However, they had much more elaborate armor plating covering their body, their crown looking like it was twice as thick and covered in more curves and points. This was a beast, not a king, but a monster. Every part of it looked like it was meant for one thing, killing. However, it was the sudden color that filled Astarte's vision that surprised her. This new xenomorph was surrounded by a wonderful teal color that seemed so very familiar. And that's when it hit her, she had seen this color before, surrounding her sisters.
"A...Amun?" Her question was no louder than a whisper, but it had been enough to be heard by the towering monster in front of her. She watched as his enormous crowned head turned down to look at her.
"Who...who are yoOOOOFF!" His response was cut short as the crimson king slammed into him front the side. They both went tumbling over one another as limbs and tails tumbled and flailed through the air. Astarte could only watch as the two giant aliens tore at one another with claw and teeth. Chunks of armored exoskeleton were cut away as the crimson king used his tail to slash at Amun's crowned head. He countered with his own clawed hands, slamming them into the side of the crimson king's face. Astarte watched as more than a few teeth broke away.
The Crimson King let loose a roar and lunged forward, clawed hands out. They were caught by those of Amun's as the two became locked in a struggle of pure power. Amun's hands were larger than the other kings which gave him an advantage. Astarte watched as Amun started to force the other king downward. That was then the tail of the crimson king shot forward, driving itself into the ribcage of Amun. He roared in pain, but kept his grip upon the other king's hands. He sent out a surge of rage and power, flexing his hands strong enough to crush the crimson kings' hands within his fists. The smaller king let loose a cry of pain as his fingers were crushed to splinters within Amun's grasp. It was that moment that gave Amun the chance to end this fight.
His hands shout outward, tearing the hands clean off of the other king's wrists, causing an ear piercing shriek to come forth from the crimson king. Amun wasted no time as he tossed the limbs aside and dig both of his clawed hands into the sides of the other king's head and pulled him close to his open maw. The crimson king was now panicking, clawing at Amun with claws that were no longer there. He was still landing hits with his large tail blade, but they were not doing much damage against Amun's much thicker armor.
This royal xenomorph, this...false king, could do nothing but watch as Amun's large teeth opened, reveling his second jaw. The smaller king let out a roar as he realized that he was about to die. Amun's second mouth shot forth, burring itself ten feet into the skull of this false king. The alien's body went limp as his life left his body. It stayed in the air as Amun held it there as he kept his clawed hands buried into its skull. He retracted his second mouth, acid blood now covering every inch of his face. Amun let out an earth-shattering roar as he looked dead into the face of the now dead king before tossing his body into the river. It landed with a giant splash and sunk to the bottom of the rather shallow water. He then turned his maw skyward and let loose a roar of triumph over his enemy. It was of pure strength and defiance.
When his war cry ended, Astarte thought this was the best chance she had to grab his attention. She called out for him once more.
"Father?!" The use of the word made Amun's large head snapped towards her. She was filled with fear as the nightmare monster in front of her now stared at her. Some part of her still feared that he was not the person she had been told he was. That something was still very wrong. Her thoughts were answered as the monstrous xenomorph began to sprint towards her.
She quickly reacted, knowing that the other king had killed her sisters only moments ago, she needed to get away. She bent down low, trying to leap away from the charging alien but was caught in the air just before she could do so. She felt the blood from the other xenomorph king cover her exoskeleton as the large fingers of the xenomorph king wrapped around her body. In a panic, she began to trash about, trying to escape the impossibly strong grip of the alien king. It was useless, she could feel the strength of his grip as it held tight into her hard exterior.
She could do nothing as the king lifted her up and towards his chest, bringing her towards him in a strange embrace. She began to claw at his fingers, hoping that she could do enough damage to cause him to release her. The image of her sisters being crushed by the other king filling her head and fueling her panic. She clawed and bite him, even using her large tail blade to dig deep into his exoskeleton. Nothing seemed to work. That was when she felt the second hand of the king wrapped around her, squeezing tight to her body. Terror took over her mind.
She was about to die.
Her thoughts went to that of her mother, to Jolene. She wished she could have seen her for the first time, seen her in front of her and look upon her. She wished she could have sat in front of her for the first time and told her of the adventure that she had gone through to get to her. She hoped that her sisters were safe, that they had seen what was going on and had hide away from the other king that had been killing them, that they had been able to see their father for the first time. She prayed that they could stay free for as long as they could.
Because she was about to die, and she would never know what happened to them.
She felt those giant hands wrapped around her, keeping her from doing anything now that they had her pinned in place. She had no way to fight back, no way to escape. She was about to die, and there was nothing she could do about it. She let out a loud roar as she was trapped within the grasp of this alien king. It was then that she heard a voice within her mind, one that was kind and caring, not hateful and angry. It shocked her.
"HANG ON, LITTLE ONE!" It yelled.
Right after she heard the voice, the alien king did something she had not expected. He curled up around her, keeping her tight to his chest. And that was when she heard something else, the familiar whistle of a missile. Only a moment later, her mind was filled with the deafening sound of an explosion, the missile impacting mere feet from where she was being held. Her body flooded with pain as the fire swept over her in every location that was not being covered by the hands of the alien king. The concussive force snapped her head sideways and impacted the hand of her father, sending a searing pain through her mind.
Then, the world went dark.
To be continued.