Thicker Than Blood
I do not own any film in the Alien franchise.
Author's Note: I am continuing the chapter beneath the teaser. I hate chapters that are TOO short. :-)
Chapter 8
Hundreds of light years away from the planet Earth, a large vessel was scanning the region for any worlds containing fairly intelligent lifeforms. So far, the ship's inhabitants had come up empty.
"It has been too long since our last hunt."
"Your impatience will mar your effectiveness, young one. Be vigilant. The universe is large with many worlds. We will find one that has been fruitful. Then, with skill and perseverence, you will earn your place among the warrior elite."
Life has a way of tricking you when you think you know your path. Life will throw obstacles in that path, to test your mettle, or to winnow out the weak. Life will rain down pain and destruction, and not even laugh. For Life has no feelings, no intent, it just is. There is no way to make plans for, or easily defeat, what cannot be predicted.
Ed Wheaton and Cres'sa, Jennifer Philips and Jonathan, Major Tanner and Dr Thomas, Annalise and Sul'ss...all were involved in their own worlds. Life and death, lust and hatred, trust and betrayal, fear and loss. None had any idea that each would be bound to the other in a fight to the death, even while keeping their assumed enemies from interfering in the goals of the other. All differences would be set aside when the true threat appeared on the horizon.
And the threat was on its way, from far across space.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Annalise was finding everything she had learned about flying coming back more easily than she expected. She had set the controls on autopilot, once they had taken off from the planet's surface and left the star system shortly after. It was smooth going after that.
Turning toward the rear of the cabin, she muffled laughter when she saw Sul'ss. The xenomorph was flattened against the wall, obviously uncomfortable with his position.
"I cannot believe you. One of the universe's greatest terrors, and in space, you're its biggest coward."
Sul'ss swung his head on her direction and hissed angrily. Not the nest. No walls.
"You prefer the security of walls. Sul'ss, your people have travelled in ships before. Not by invitation, of course. But I suppose it's different in a smaller ship. I know how it is in those bigger transports. You'd hardly know you were in space." Turning back to the control console, Annalise called out, "You didn't have to come with me, you know. Just relax. Another 26 hours, and we should be within communications range."
She checked the autopilot settings, and then went to the rear of the craft. Pushing a button on the back wall, she waited for the bed to slide down from its hidden position, and lay down. She stared up at the ceiling, thinking about her children, hoping Richard was protecting them and her fears would be unfounded.
Sensing her worry, Sul'ss moved over to her side, his tail draping across her waist as he purred his concern. But in his own mind, he knew that if Cres'sa or Jonathan had been harmed in anyway, blood would be spilled and by his own hands. Killing humans was something that Annalise had tried to teach the nest was wrong. But protection of the nest, and his children, made this imperative unimportant.
Annalise reached out to caress the smooth hard skin of her mate. She closed her eyes, sending her thoughts across space. We're coming for you, my own.
It was several hours later, when she rose from her resting place. Sul'ss had left her side while she slept and was crouched near the flight console. His head turned toward his mate when she stepped up front to join him. Taking her seat, Annalise punched a few buttons, then set the message to be directed at Richard's ship. He had given her his homing beacon and codes long ago, telling her if she was ever in trouble, to use them to contact him, and he would get to her as soon as he could.
Annalise leaned back, hoping that her message would reach him before they approached Earth orbit. She wanted no trouble from Earth defense. She felt a clawed hand on her shoulder, and turned her head to rub her cheek against Sul'ss' cool, dark head.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Hidden in the brush, Sergeant Wheaton roused from a disturbed sleep. Dreams clouded his mind, dreams of explosions, dead comrades, and blood. He opened gritty eyes to see Cres'sa lying beside him. Actually, she was more around him, almost protectively. He reached out with a shaky hand to touch a bumpy appendage that had curled itself over his body. Was that a tail? How long had he been out?
Sensing the human was now awake, Cres'sa stood over Ed, all the while staying alert for any movement around them. She felt pleasure knowing he was alive. But could he move? She would not leave him alone, so what they did depended on whether or not he was able to travel.
"Cres'sa, how long was I alseep?"
Cres'sa's raised her head toward the sun. She curled her fingers once, twice, hoping the human would understand.
"Two days? Jesus! Why hasn't anyone tried to find us?"
He stretched his arms to relieve the stiffness. He noticed the dried blood on his jacket. So he had been shot. So much for armor, he thought. He tried to raise himself up on one elbow and noticed the tightness of his shoulder. The bullet must have gone clean through him. That would make things easier, at least. He attempted to take his jacket off, but a sharp pain impeded his movement. "Help me," he nodded at Cres'sa. "I have to get this off so I can check the wound."
Cres'sa knew what the human was trying to do, and tugged at his clothing. She reached for his backpack, sliding it over to him.
"Thanks," Ed whispered. "So...you stayed with me." He stared at the xenomorph, marveling at the small changes in her physiology that had occured over the last day or two. She was maturing right in front of him.
Taking the pack, he carefully reached in and found the anticeptic gel and a bandage. Sliding his shirt off his shoulder, he rubbed the gel on the dried wound, then unsealing the bandage, placed it over the now-stinging hole. At least there seemed to be little if any infection, considering he had been unable to care for himself.
Everytime the human made groaning sounds as he worked, Cres'sa sensed more the agony of each movement and wanted to do something to make him feel better. She remembered how her mother, in a very non-xenomorph way, tended to each newly born brother or sister when they were hurt or scared. The complex they called home had many areas that were off limits, yet some of the young would make their way around the various rooms, find some object or other. They would hiss violently and attack it, only to have it light up or start making sounds, frightening the young. They would scuttle back to the nest to be comforted by their mother, who would chastise them gently for roaming unattended.
Cres'sa waited for Ed to finish up, feeling additional warmth exuding from him. Without his jacket and shirt, the heat of his skin became more apparent to her. Bending, she rubbed her snout against his back, taking in that warmth.
"Cres! What are you doing?" The wounded soldier reminded himself that his charge was naturally inquisitive, and that he shouldn't berate her too harshly for that. She had helped him, after all. "Look, I need your help. I can't reach behind me." Leery of her finger nails, he added, "Can you...very carefully, put some of this on me back wound?"
Cres'sa took the tube, not sure what to do. She waited when Ed smiled, and taking the tube from her, showed her how to hold her open palm up as he squeezed gel into it. She tilted her head as she rubbed the odd liquid on his back where dried blood spotted his otherwise clear back. The human hissed, not unlike her kinsmen. Without being told, she took the bandage he had removed form its wrapping, and placed it gently on the back wound.
"You learn quickly, girl." He took a deep drink from his canteen. "Do you need any water?" he asked, holding out the canteen to her.
Cres'sa shook her head from side to side one time.
Ed put the canteen into his pack, and slipped his shirt back up to cover his shoulder. But now he had a more urgent concern. He grabbed for Cres'sa, who stood very still while he pulled himself up off the ground. Her actions were almost instinctual, he not even having to articulate his needs for her to react.
"Wait here," Ed said, as he went in search of a private area. Seeing she was about to follow him, he said a bit louder and with more authority, "Wait here." Satisfied she wasn't going to follow, Ed found a tree and relieved himself. He thought of the others. Where were they? And what about Jennifer and Jonathan? Hopefully that one was giving his friend no grief or she might have to kill him herself. When he finished, he slowly bent to grab a handful of moist dirt, and rubbed it between his hands. Slapping most if it off, he turned to head back to Cres'sa when he stopped short. "How long have you been standing there?"
She lowered her head, then raised it slowly.
Ed shook his head as he imagined, had she a face, the xenomorph would be grinning about now. Oh well, maybe she had no experience of human bodies, and seeing him while performing a most private act, would be of little interest to her. "Come on, girl. Let's go find some help."
He picked up his jacket and pack, and indicated for Cres'sa to follow him. She bounded up beside him as they headed through the woods where, hopefully, they'd find aide.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Annalise was taking a break from her flight duties, one hand draped on Sul'ss sturdy shoulder. She felt an almost overwhelming need for her mate, but this was not the time or place for such an indulgence. Sul'ss sensed her need and responded, baring his teeth as he began the mating ritual they had honed for one another in their time together. Just as Annalise was about to allow her mate access to her, an alarm went off on the console. A red light blinked rapidly. Groaning, Annalise pulled herself away from a disappointed Sul'ss.
"What is it now?" Her eyes darted over the board, falling upon the long-range sensors. "Is that...a ship? It could be a comet, I suppose." She read the monitor, noting the identity code was not from the US military, or even an Earth vessel. Checking their course, Annalise was anxious to avoid encountering any alien ship. They had no weapons if that ship were proven to be hostile.
The sensors noted the other vessel changing course. That nailed it. This was no comet. And it seemed to be running parallel to their course, with a 10 degree variance, straight for Earth.
So maybe it's just a scavenger ship or company transport. She exhaled loudly, just anxious to get home as soon as possible. Within a few hours, she would set the automatic beacon, aiming it for Tanner's ships.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Tanner and his troops jogged through the woods at a brisk but steady pace. They had run into a small group of enemy soldiers, found to be quite human when the bullets that hit them drew gouts of blood. Fortunately, the major's group had lost no one in the skirmish.
Checking his directional sensors, he found that it indicated a small town ahead. Probably one that, hidden way from major population centers, was able to maintain the intimacy today's cities no longer had. But there had to be transportation there, or at least communication link ups.
"Alright, stick together. We're coming to a town. Once there, we have to find someplace to contact headquarters, since our own damn comm unit is out. We'll get airlifted out of here, and re-group. Then we go back and find Sergeants Wheaton and Philips, and the twins. The Company is not going to get away with this one." Setting off for the town, Tanner smiled ruefully, as murmurs of agreement issued from the soldiers. Revenge was as much a part of their mission now as protecting the xenomorphs had been.
It was a couple of hours later that a military transport had picked them up Tanner and his troops. Once they had reached headquarters, everyone changed into fresh camouflage, and picked up pulse rifles. A new ship had been made flight ready, stocked with 3rd level laser weapons. They would not be taken by surprise this time.
They had been airborne for a couple hours, heading for the woods of Kentucky, when an incoming message for the major came over the console. "Sir, it's headquarters."
Tanner took the right seat to listen to the relay. "Shit!" he uttered, as he closed the channel.
"What is it, sir?" asked.
"It's Annalise. She and Sul'ss are on their way here. She wants us to meet her. She's demanding to know what's wrong with the twins."
"But...how did she...?"
"I don't know," Tanner interrupted. "The xenomorph Queen is on her way to Earth to see her children, whom she entrusted to my care, and I have no idea where the hell they are!" He thought a moment. "Set sensors on wide range. Let me know if you find anything even remotely human or humanoid. I'll be in the rear, updating the men."
After Tanner had vacated the right seat, the co-pilot settled back in, changing the settings on the sensors.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Tanner had responded to her hailings, and gave her coordinates for a landing site somewhere in Kentucky, of all places. He seemed guarded, and hadn't mention Jonathan or Cres'sa at all. Setting the course into the navicomputer, she increased speed. She wanted to be at the meeting place before Earth defenses detected her ship and questioned her presence. Tanner would be able to speak for her, but something wasn't right. She had no time to dally with air space authorities.
Looking down at the wooded area below, Annalise let the auto-pilot take over for landing, content once the ship had settled gently on the ground. The door slid open and she stepped out, breathing in Earth's atmosphere for the first time in almost a decade. Walking towards a copse of trees, the xenomorph queen found herself staring at the business ends of several pulse rifles.
"Guns down, men. That's Annalise, the mother of Jonathan and Cres'sa."
One soldier leaned toward his friend next to him. "She's not quite human, is she?" Both men noted the skin and altered features. No wonder the xeno mutants looked the way they did. But neither could hold in their gasps, as they saw Sul'ss exit the ship. Taller than a human male by more than a foot, the dark-skinned xenomorph came to stand beside the somewhat-human woman. It hissed low as its great head swung from one side to the other, as if tasting the very air itself. "It has no eyes."
"Didn't you ever read the xeno first contact report? They have skin like lobsters, hard and impervious to the acid they have for blood. You get a drop of that stuff on you, and you can kiss your body parts goodbye."
The soldier couldn't take his eyes from Sul'ss. "This is the first time I've ever seen one...like that. Wonder if its as friendly as Cres'sa." He grasped his rifle tightly and waited for orders.
"Richard, it's good to see you." Annalise went up to hug the Major, followed closely by Sul'ss. Glancing around, she asked, her brow now furrowed, "Where are the children?"