Shifting her feet Alouran was leaning against the wall hand to her side and head against the wall. It was a lot cooler than her sweat covered face. Earlier she had heard some kind of screech and prayed it was and Xeno getting it's ass kicked by a Yajuta or something that wouldn't come after her.

Rubbing the back of her hand against her mouth she rubbed the crimson blood off against her cheek leaving a smear on her uniform and face. A cool hand clamped down her gun arm and another one on her face. Closing her eyes Alouran heard Xeuss voice and she sighed softly in relief. "Holy shit It's good to see someone.. I know." she winced and put a hand to her side before nodding her head at the halfbreed who was talking to her.

She had blocked out the sounds of her MP3 player as he spoke to her. Apparently the queen was above them and she nodded her head to him when he said neither of them could climb threw the vents. His hand's movements for the MP3 player caught her attention but it was too late. 50Cent cut off in the middle of "think of what...." Rage built up in the girl the only reason he had heard the MP3 player was because he was standing right next to her. Balling her fist up she brought it up but it stopped still cocked back and dropped to her side. All Alouran wanted to was lay down go to sleep and wake up with things ok again she wasn't going to fight the only ally within in who know how far.

His scathing words reverberated in her head setting her teeth on edge. "I don't need you telling me what the fuck i should and shouldn't be doing in an empty fucking hall. I'm tired, hurt, and can't fucking see straight after a few yards of walking. I don't know where the fuck you come from but that music wasn't for me to just drift off asleep to!" she hissed the words out her pain making her snappy and short tempered. "But i don't know where Delta and Malus are. I could of swore they was with me for awhile after that hole in the floor sent me in a headlong fall to never never land. I know i couldn't of bandaged my self up and gotten to my feet without some kind of help but i did crack my head pretty hard.. so i don't know.." she unconsciously put a hand to her head and felt the bandaging and dry blood there.

A new trophy sat in its place along Black Warrior's back, the acid clotting and doing no damage to the armor covering the shouders and back of the hunter.
Black Warrior checked his helmet. There was alittle acid spotting on it, but not enough to penetrate to flesh. Clicking a mandible within his mask Black found all the visions worked, plasma caster which was unused was online, and vital signs were fine.

wait...did he see that right?

Black Warrior's heart sank at the data scrolling and the spectrum of colors flashing in the confined metal
mask. PREDATORv2's life signs were gone. During the fight everything was fine, but now, PREDATOR just seemed to drop off, an explosion sounded earlier, but it was not a wristcomp....and a good guess would say that it was still cause of death. Predator428 was standing beside Black Warrior, and saw the same within his own mask. Predator428 also felt the sadness, but they had to move on, no time to grieve.

(Somewhere else on the ship)

Shadowatching sat in a darkened room...slightly injured. She tried to nurse her wounds and make a speedy recovery. Her only source of light without giving away her position was the nightvision on her helmet. A low gruff voice spoke through her helmet and startled her...it sounded like Black Warrior. Black spoke and told her of recent events. When it came to the death of their Elder, his voice became grief stricken and even lower than before. A tear rolled down Shadowatching's cheek as she pondered over the sad news. PREDATORv2 was dead, his soul, now lost to this world, went on to live with the great warriors of Yautja Lore. A new objective was also given...realizing the reason for the harshness in Bw's voice, Shadowatching gave her answer.

(Back to BW and Predator428)

The two hunters walked along the metal floor, dodging
various hanging objects...a sort of noise....possibly sounds of human music came faintly through the upper floor and was received in the well receptive structure of the tunnels. The music cut off abruptly and a sound similar to the shattering of plastic was overheard. A voice was also heard with a harsh tone. Black Warrior sent a message to LH, telling him of atlast 2 oomans running through on the floor above, and to ready any predators and possibly even himself(LH), for an attack.

Atlast coming to a massive tunnel, Black Warrior and Predator428 looked at eachother, knowing that this was "the last mile" so to speak in their journey...and that if everything went as planned, then they aswell as the whole of the Balatu Clan would be written about in legends and their names would live on forever in the race of the yautja.

Shadowatching ducked in the vents, the small space for her was comforting as the sound of death was around her, vibrating and bouncing off the inner walls of the ship. She always loved to find her way around quicker and faster then the damned lift that the yautja's use to move from floor to floor. She chuckled to herself, the mind so wondering as she laughed when no one knew why or even knew she was laughing.

Ok, she shook her head and went back on track. Her hand moved to her booted foot and took out a small device that takes the skin off of her kills. She can use it to sauder (SP?) the vent's up, just in case always being jumpy and always thinking of the next task. Hell sometimes she would do things, because it felt right. The movements around her echoed and moved, making her wonder if its inside of the vent and not the outside.

She moved, not to fast as to make noise, but slow enough to move with care and silence. Her specialty right, a smile crossed her hidden lips as the figure went through the vents doing waht was needed and passing waht wasn't. She needed to find her clan, the hunter's moon and assist the situation. SHe didn't want anyone but the yautja's to get the ship, even if it meant her own life. They knew it, she knew it. She knew she was a pawn, a pawn to sacrifice herself for the greater good.


The hybrid moved, the voices around her as she turned and gasped the talkie at her hip, turning it down, not wanting the voices to give away her position. She moved her hands infront of her, the knees under her waist, the feet behind her. Crawling she used to fix the ships where the counterparts can't even fit. Another smile as she moved closer and passed where xeuss and the other female, she can tell by the scents they gave off of. Moving slowly she counted the scents. "Two" She said, softly counting moving past them and down the sharp bend going down. She moved on her back and her feet this time in front of her. She sat there as the message from Black came on her screen. She heard the message of her elder dying some how, the anger fueled more of that human hatred she gained form the fact that her elder is gone from this world and went to the next.

Not only a tear ran down her cheek as she loved the yautja like a brother to her. SHe threw her head back and screamed in that anger, that hurt and that pain that coursed through her body. She saw a ladder infront of her. Taking it up, she figured that not only where the control room would be, up always up never under and down. She watched the vents and sealing them within, so that if there was anything trapped inside would remain inside the walls of the ship and she would take care of them later. She moved quickly up, finding the vent she needed to get to the room, for the ships controls.

She kicked it and muttered softly that she was at the room, the right one. jumping out and pushed the vent back in to place, sealing it with the small gun in her hand.


THe vent's echoed her scream of anguish and that pain. She wanted all to hear the fury of the hybrid yautja. She moved quickly crashing through the vents. "Almost all the vents are sealed" She said through her mask, looking from one side of the room to the other. her shock was that of a smile, she made it to a control room.

She started her way towards the controls. Knowing that she was there, alone for the moment. She spoke to Black through her mask, getting the right sequence for the lock down. The fingers danced across the pads, touching and moving what was needed for the right code. A small alarm sounded like a siren right next to the ear. Moving to a control pannel, she pealed it back and played with a few things, doing odds and ends. The clan knew what she was doing which is fine with her.

She is now at the control/bridge room.

AS LH lead the two Hunters, not notcing both alouran and Xeuss(DW),on the Balatu member stopped suddenly "what's wrong?" the warrior stood still for a second but as he was about to answer a cry of anguish and anger rung through the ship, it was Shadow's, LH turned to face the Balatu hunter who finally answered "Our Elder PredatorV2 is dead"

LH hung his heead in sorrow, he should have gone back and helped him after all as he raised his head he barely heard the distinctve sound of something breaking, he looked at both the young bloods and said "gather at the ships and set up plasma turrets for defense against both humans and Hard meat" the nodded and walked away to the ship of their clan, LH turned and walked back to the hall that they had left just a few minutes ago he stopped as he neared the the corner and listned, barley hearing the words being hissed through adublie pain, a female by the sound of the voice, saying "i don't know where Delta and Malus are. I could of swore they was with me for awhile after that hole in the floor sent me in a headlong fall to never never land. I know i couldn't of bandaged my self up and gotten to my feet without some kind of help but i did crack my head pretty hard.. so i don't know.."

Lone Hunter walked around the corner into view but he still couldnt see the humans, scanning the area quckly with his eyes (no helmet or left arm with wrist comp) he saw noone in the hall he slowly walked down the hall looking both left and right after a few seconds he said in english "This Ship is not yours to claim Oomans and any attempt will see you dead by our hands, I give you both this one chance, leave and take your fellow Oomans with you" he waited as his words rung out into silince "if you do managge to take control of this ship know that we would rather see it destroyed then to have it fall into your species power hungry and corrupt hands" once again he let his words sink in. he opened his mouth to speak again only to stop as an alarm went off

he listned carefully as the alarm voice spoke in Yatjau , "hahahaha, leave oomans you can no longer claim this ship it is ours, and soon it shall be completly ours" Lone Hunter turned and made his back to the ships leaving behind a few bombs that he had picked up in the armorey that he PV2 and Shadow were anly a short while ago at every second corner as he neared the airlocks where Hunter's Moon and Balatu had docked...

As following Malus's orders and returning to the Hangar area,Delta except from a few bruises from the fall...he was fine.
Upon returning,scanning the empty room,no people he thought "Damnit!",Delta snarled. The lonely clink of the sentry guns and Deltas breathing where the only sounds that where made.
Wondering where Alouran was and Malus and even that Xeuss guy?.
Finding that special suprise Sam was telling them about,
Delta unfirled the cloth drab that hung over the 3 belching machines,lowered it to ground level and climbed in.
With everything in place Delta switched on the 'Power' button,unlocked all safties and made his way to the ships bridge in the monstrosity that could even strke fear into predators..............the EXOSUIT.
Armed with rocket pads,minigun mounted on right side,flamer on left it was a machine built for war and delta had no such problem using it like what it was built for.

"Yea, yea, just run away..." Xeuss whispered as the unmasked Yautja turned around and left. This was unusual behavior, to just warn them and let them go, they must have been demoralized by something, maybe the unexpected death of that one he'd kicked down the pit. He looked back at Alouran with concern. This was not why he had come here. Not to kill predators and team up with humans, but it was just something he had learned from other Yautja in his lifetime that it was not a good thing to kill a female when in such a bad shape.

"The alarm's saying the ships' on lockdown. Loud enaugh to keep you awake i hope? I don't know who did this, but it was a bad thing to do. The aliens use the vents, not the doors, all this does is just to further delay me from killing the Queen." Xeuss said with an angry fist hitting the wall. Looking back at the yautja mines behind him he realized the vents were now the only solution, despite what he had thought before.

"Well let's see, bombs the way we came from, sealed doors in front of us, no other way to go but straight up, sorry... I guess we're gonna have to climb after all. So maybe you'll want to give to me any weight that is not immediately necessary and could pull you down. Also, as you see, my blood is not something you'd want dripping on your face..." - he pointed at the stightly smoking, silently sizzling ever growing hole in his uniform around the bleding wound on his right leg that his left hand was pressing on - "...so you'd better climb first. I'll help if needed. Now decide what you're gonna carry and let's move for a control room. I have to know exactly where we are and then i can override the lockdown in the right places and i can get back to the queen. I can also get you on a safe path back to the dropship if you want. Now let's move!"

Xeuss moved closer to a side vent with a large opening took out his knife and managed to open it. This one had not yet been turned into a hive so he figured they were pretty far away from the Queen. "Alright, give me whatever you'll want me to carry so you can move easier. And if we meet any predaliens, don't worry, they'll be concentrating on the immediate predator threat from what the Queen says, so as long as you don't shoot they'll think i'm killing you and won't bother. Well..." - stretching his right arm twards the opened vent - "...after you."

Predator428 and Black Warrior stood infront of a large doorway, the doorway into the main reactor complex. The queen's chamber. Predator428's mind was still reeling from the news of his elder's death. PREDATORv2 had been the one to bring Predator428 into his clan, the one being that had shown any mercy toward him before he joined Balatu. If it were not for him, Predator428 would have been executed, maybe even lost his sanity in his lonelyness. And now he was dead.

Rage began to well up in Predator428, a deep seething anger that filled his being. The predator tightly clenched his fists, his sharp nails drawing blood from his palms. He wanted to strike the wall, stab his blades into the one responsible for PREDATORv2's death. It was most likely one of the humans, the filth that had tried to take this ship away from its rightful owners. Predator428 would evicerate every single one of the vermin onboard, none would leave alive.

No. For now, Predator428 knew he must concentrate on the task at hand. There was still the matter of the queen to deal with, and the two hunters already had a plan on how to deal with her. The speargun that his elder had given Black Warrior was loaded with special spears. They would deliver a shock of electricity to its target, one that would completely paralyze any being struck by it. However, the queen would undoubtably be resiliant to it. They would have to drive the spear into the base of her skull, that would be the only way to effectivly subdue her.

Once that was completed, Predator428 and Black Warrior would exit the reactor chamber and give Shadowatching the go ahead signal. She would activate the reactor failsafe system from the bridge. The system was built to contain damage if the reactor was ever to become unstable. There was only one doorway into the chamber, and that door would be sealed shut when the command was given. Even though she would be unable to move, the queen could still give orders to her brood using some sort of connection she held with them. That is why Shadowatching would pump the reactor coolant fluid into the chamber. The main reactor would be sent offline, but the clanship could manage on backup generators. That would effectively stop the queen from ordering the hardmeat, but still leave her alive for use later.

Once she was frozen, the hardmeat on the ship would have no direction. They would most likely be thrown into complete disarray, maybe even pass out from the sudden dissappearance of command. A brood this size would most likely posses no real thought, the hardmeat warriors would be helpless without her guidance.

Predator428 turned to Black Warrior and growled, "It is time." Predator428 reached for his belt and pulled off three triangular devices. He placed one on the deck inside the entrace, and one on either side. The two hunters stepped through the enormous hatchway. Predator428 raised his arm and tapped a control on his gauntlet. The three laser grid emitters flashed to life, sending a grid of energy beams crisscorssing over the open hatchway.

Now the only way for any creature to get through to the queen was for Predator428 to shut them off. The entire reactor chamber had no vents, open panels, and no other doors. It had been desgined to be able to contain reactor explosions. Now it would need to hold something just as deadly.

Predator428 drew his short blade in his left hand and ejected his wristblades. Black Warrior reached behind his back and pulled out the speargun. Both warriors cautioulsy stepped out of the hallway and walked into the dark chamber infront of them. Once they got past the diagnostic center, the would come across a large open chamber, with incredibly large reactor at the center. The queen would be there, drawn to the heat and energy of the power source. It would not be long now.

Alouran looked up hearing a loud howl of anguish and anger from Shadow, she shuddered just a bit. Looking over Xeuss' shoulder the girl saw the Yajuta LoneHunter, tilting her head he was still pretty far off down the hall but she could see him. She saw his jaw open and instead of the clicking blabbering she had heard them speaking English came from him. Jerking a bit in surprise she listened to him, he had a funny sounding accent that made a grin spread across her face. A loud screeching alarm cut off her retorting words. Lifting her head toward the sirens she flipped them off before looking back at where the Yajuta had been standing, he wasn't there but his bombs where.

With a soft sigh she turned her attention to Xeuss who was whispering a retort to the Yajuta under his breath. His question of whether she was gonna stay awake threw that squealing whine of a siren set her blood on fire. "No, I'm gonna sleep threw it." she let her body go slack except for her legs and let out the sound of a snore. "Freaking smart ass." she thought to herself as she straightend back up and listened to the rest of his words.

The sight of his clothes smoking made her grimace, she had questioned what kind of halfbreed he was but now it made it clear he was part Xeno. Crossing her arms under her breast she shivered slightly from the thought of acid touching her. Dropping her arms quickly she tilted her chin up defiantly "I appreciate your offer Xeuss but i can carry my own stuff." It was obvious she was a prideful woman who would only accept help if she had to.

Moving to the vent she shifted her pack around so it wasn't on her back but was on backwards across her chest. Ducking her head she dropped to all fours and started to crawl along the venting as quickly and quietly as she could. "I hate tight spaces, I hate tight spaces, I hate this ship, I hate this damn ship and it's damn maintenance hatches...." her mind kept whirring with things she hated so she would keep moving toward getting rid of what she hated. She paused a few feet in the vent and looked back toward Xeuss. That wound on his leg sorta worried her. Not that he would bleed on her but the fact that i was eating threw his uniform. None of her medical supplies would do any good for him since they where human issued and not used to help the Xeno population but maybe she had something to atleast stem the bleeding. Shaking her head from thinking like a medic she waited for him to follow.

Malus must've taken quite a few wrong turns, or even some right ones. He reckoned he must've been pretty lost, to have ended up here. At the wrong bloody end of the ship to where he needed to be. He heard the constant, faint click and whirr and shook his head. That knock must've taken out his compass for good, because it had led him in the exact opposite direction. This wasn't the bridge. This was a pit where they'd almost been ambushed by Xenomorphs, but for Vevlaa's quick thinking.

God knew where Vevlaa was now. Malus had a suspicion the marine had gotten lost. It wasn't a hard thing to do in a place like this. The design was so utterly alien. Malus hadn't seen anything like this in his many years of war. He hadn't really noticed it until now, but as he wandered through the ship alone, he began to realize that it had remarkable similarities to the pseudo-constructions the Xenomorphs made when creating a hive. Coincidence?

It appeared to Malus that one culture had a hand in making the other, perhaps. The question was, which was which. Was it that the Yautja copied the Xenomorphs whom perhaps shaped thier hunter's creed and made them into what Malus knew them as today, or were the Xenomorphs themselves created by the Yautja? It was clear the Xenomorphs were bio-engineered, considering thier quasi-mechanical appearance. But still...It gave Malus something to think about as he wandered the wrong way, back towards the hangar.

Staring down at the egg-pit, he realized that his own gear was woefully inadequate for such a task as capturing the bridge of an enemy location. And with luck, his troopers would still be in the hangar. Setting off at a sprint, it only took him another minute to reach the hangar, where he saw Delta suiting up in the first EXO. Malus nodded. "Probably a good idea. We're gonna need serious firepower to clear out the rest of the bastards." Malus said as he walked towards the other one.

It was then that he realized that Delta was alone. Hadn't the others heard his orders? Were they on thier way? Were they even alive.

"Where's the others?" He asked, looking around. The hangar had remained thankfully untouched during their absense. Thankfully, the extensive armoury Malus had left inside the dropship was in the same pristine condition. Grabbing some military-grade tape, he began sticking Pulse Rifles and ammunition to the inside of the Exo-suit. The others would need new weapons and ammo. They'd been disarmed too easily. At least, Malus had. Not gonna happen again. Not on his watch. Maybe an APC would have been a good idea after all.

It was then that he remembered the command-suite inside the dropship. Sprinting over, he sat down on the seat and looked over at the screen that represented Alouran. Her life-signs were dangerously low, but she was still alive, and the camera was still recording. Malus could detect the faint outline of a Yautja nearby, and he could see that Xeuss was with her. At first, he couldn't hear anything over her music, but eventually when Xeuss ripped it off, he was able to hear thier conversation.

He still wanted the hive dead. That meant the Queen. So did Malus.

It was at that point that his PDA began to vibrate. Slipping it from his pocket, he saw he had a new email from Weyland-Yutani. Apparently, they'd heard about his discharge. They had a job offer. Apparently, Kidd was working with the marines again. That meant they needed someone else to do the job they had assigned him. It also meant that there was a hefty pay bonus. And, by the looks of it, prospects for future employment.

He reached for the microphone sitting on the dashboard of the command console and patched in to Alouran. "Alouran, this is Malus. I have you onscreen. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT engage that Yautja alone. If Xeuss is willing to assist, you have a green light though. Delta and I are suiting up, we'll be at your location soon. I have revised orders for you when I get there. Malus out." He said as he got up from the console. Grabbing a new helmet microphone and switching it on, he began to strap himself into the exo-suit.

Switching the system on, he flexed the muscles of the suit experimantally and checked the weapons. Twin miniguns, right arm, Okay. Missiles, right arm, all good. Flamethrower, left arm, working fine. Cutting laser, left arm. Looked sweet as ever.

Stepping out of the dropship, the hangar deck clanging with the force of each step, Malus turned the suit to face Delta.

"Lets finish this."

===
MANY, MANY PAGES AGO:
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Vevlaa stepped out of “The Waffleâ€Â. He noticed Malus walk away to the only doorway into the hangar that he could see. He turned around. “Hmm everybody must still be inside,†he thought.
As he turned back around to walk after Malus, he felt a small but intense pain behind his knee. Seconds later everything was black….

===
PRESENT
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Vevlaa opened his eyes slowly. Everything was spinning. Spinning fast! He tried to feel around, and soon found out that he was inside a small square hole under the Dropship. He grabbed his head and tried to focus his thoughts on what had happened. Then it slowly came back to him. “Damn†he said and grabbed after his leg where he had felt that pain. To his surprise, he found one of his Morphine injectors there. Still stuck! “What tha…?†he mumbled, and pulled it out. “You were supposed to be inside my medkit.†Vevlaa mumbled to the damned injector. The world was still spinning at a crazy speed. He felt over the medkit as best he could in his condition, and after (quite) some time he found a hole, just big enough for the injector to fall out of…

Some minutes later, V had managed to climb out of the hole. He tried to stand up, but immediately fell down again. He lay there for quite some times, listening to the ships noises. .. Well, that didn’t work out well, because seconds later his breakfast was on the floor beside him. Now the sounds started to get annoying, so he tried to shut them out, without any luck at all. “WILL SOMEBODY TURN THAT SHIT OFF†he yelled and tossed the injector that was still in his hand. He heard a clanking sound as the injector hit something. His vision had improved enough to catch some images after throwing up, so he looked in the direction that he had thrown the injector. It looked like the foot of a Exosuit… Then everything got black again…

From the hangar to an unknown location on the ship, Kidd finds himself turned around, unsure where to go. He did set out to find the bridge but due to all the enemies roaming and attempting to elude them, his luck finally has ran out. With no other options than to fight his way through, the old Devil-Dog ready his rifle and retraces his steps back to a corridor where he begins his march towards the ship's bridge.

During his one man's army march, Kidd recalls his orders from the W-Y Corp to capture the ship and to eliminate any marines who are not willing to co-operate. Having his mind set on those objectives, he is going to use every single man of Alpha Draconis under Peterson's command at his disposal. Sadly, Peterson dipped the mission and the marine he put in charge, Nikkie, was killed in action trying to lead the marines with her inadequate expierence. With only several marines left fighting for Alpha Draconis, he has to somehow use the remaining soldiers to his advantage...

It wouldnt be long now...that was too late to say.

First a large black shape came into view, ever rising from behind the core. It tilted and swung from side to side. Vicious jaws shoved forwards and snapped at nothing, and the arms of the beast showed themselves. Large spinal spikes protruded from behind the neck, and nearly touched the wall behind. Finally the queen revealed herself, and the massive black matriarch let a deafening roar erupt from her monstrous throat.

Lights flickered and moved, the room and surrounding structers shivered and shook at the very steps of the queen, and her powerful appendages swung through the air with recklessness.

The beast was easily many times the size of both hunters combined. Black Warrior was ready, or so it seemed.
Predator428 unsheathed his own weapons of choice, and looked on at the mother of the hive.

Hissing and roaring was heard from behind, the other xenos had tried to lead a sneak attack from behind, but were stopped by Predator428's laser traps. One unfortunate xeno had half its dome and one arm amputated trying to cross the red lights.

Sensing the hunter's intentions, the queen charged, her spiked crown down to crush the opposing force.
Bw and P428 jumped to opposite sides, Bw on the left of the queen. He grasped his hand into the chainmail bag on his waist, and pulled forth ammunition for the speargun. A long serrated spike followed by acid proof chains clinked in his hands. The chain was loaded, wrapped around a groove in the aliens dome, and the spike was pushed back into the mouth's barrel. Squeezing the trigger, Bw launched his shot. The spike was pushed forth, its sharp point missing the queens thigh and digging into the wall behind. A curse in yautja was shouted as Bw tried to reload again, but was swiped away by the massive clawed fingers of the queen. The gun stayed connected, but the chain was broken off before the electrical current could be activated. Bw clamped the speargun by his thigh and unleashed his combistick, his ribs ached from the force that sent him crashing to the ground, but pain was but little worry to him. Standing, he raised his weapon and jammed it into the metal beneath. He the leaped to the side, avoiding the clawed foot that pounded where he once was. A screech of pain was heard as the queens left foot was penetrated by the now melting combistick, it wasnt major damage, but it was something.

Predator428 could not sit by and watch Black Warrior take a beating alone. Preparing himself, Predator428 began his assault on the queen.

For a moment there the queen stopped talking. Xeuss stopped too, in awe. What had ahppened, had she been killed just like that? No... A moment later she was shouting again, calling... calling her children... Xeuss could hear it inside his head, he knew Alouran couldn't hear it, but for him it was loud and clear. More loud than clear, actually. So loud it hurt. Xeuss' pupils dilated in fear of what could happen. This was not supposed to happen!

The queen was shouting in anger, enemies of the hive had come to challange her, she had abandoned the egg layer... Xeuss could no longer hear Alouran talking to him, nor could he hear the message from Malus, the queen was much louder this time. He had to help! He had to help the queen, if the predators killed her, there was no way to recover the ship! This was much more important than anything else now, or so the queen said! Xeuss couldn't argue with it. It was just too loud. He knew where she was, he knew how to get there, he had to move fast!

He looked at alouran waiting for him, but couldn't make anything of her face, he was not paying attention, he couldn't hear tell if she was talking or not, all he could do was say "I have to go!" and dash right by her through the vent, pushing her into the left wall. Xeuss ran and ran, the wound in his leg had stopped hurting him, but it was still slowing him down as the muscles were not completely healed. The blood was not flowing out of it as badly as before, but it was still a downside. It didn't matter, he was using his hands too, grabbing everything he could to give himself a boost of speed. Screeching along with hundreds of screeches, "Come for the Queen! Come for the Queen!", Xeuss hurried to save the one he was going to kill himself.

Vent from vent, the Queen was getting louder, she was under attack, the warriors couldn't help, he had to get there as soon as possible! Ten predaliens joined him as he ran through one of the bigger vents, the whole hive was trying to help the queen, but from what Xeuss could hear they couldn't get through to her. Some of the vents were sealed, he didn't know why, but right now it was not important. Finally the hall. Tens of predaliens were stacked behind a barrier of three predator claymore mines. Easily camouflaged between so many aliens, the hybrid hurried to what was probably the only open door on the ship.

The predators were already battling the Queen. Xeuss approached the mines. It was a hard job for the aliens, who lacked the grace with which a human could handle tools, to disable these mines, but he had done it before. Bleeding parts of fallen xenomorphs were already eating through the floor of the hall, several holes having already gone through to lower levels due to a high concentration of acid interacting with them.
As Black_Warrior was missing a shot at he queen, Death Wraith was quickly squeezing acid from alien the hands and legs around the feet of the mines, melting the wall around them. He had to be careful as they fell to the ground not to get cought in the lasers, because that would mean the end of him.

"FIND THE OTHER HUNTER!" he screeched at the aliens gathered around him. And picked up the last mine as it was falling off the wall. Busy with the queen, the two had not noticed what was happening at the entrance, but now Xeuss was about to get their attention. "Hunters!" he yelled at the two while this last mine was rolling in the air, flying right at Black_Warrior's head. Predator428 disabled the mine just in time, to make it uselessly miss BW, but a powerful swing of the Queen's tail still managed to throw them into the opposite wall.

Limping, Xeuss approached the two half conscious hunters with his pulse rifle in his hand, pointed at BW. "I cannot let you do this, sirs, i must intervene. But i am almost disabled, you see, so let's make this an eaven match..." he said in Yautja and shot three bullets in the hunter's right leg. This made him come back to his senses... At the same time, the Queen slowly, arrogantly moved closer to Predator428 only to look at him and roar in his face while the tail impaled him, bypassing vital organs, and lifted him to the level of her roaring mouth. This was an opportunity for Pred428 that the Queen was unaware of, because well, she was just arrogant like that.

Predator428 screamed in agony, the sound barely subdued inside his mask. The pain in his abdomen was unbearable, the hunter had never endured this much tormet before. Blood began to spurt from beside the tail, painting the black exoskeleton a glowing green. The pain was only made worse as the queen raised Predator428 off the deck, causing the wound to be torn deeper.

The hunter was slowly brought up to the queen's height, Predator428 barely managed to focus on her face. The pain had brought a haze over his eyes, threatening to take away the warrior's conciousness. The hive mother's massive jaws slowly lowered, revealing rows and rows of sickle like teeth. The queen had opened her inner mouth, preparing to launch the appendage straight into Predator428's face. This was the end, he was going to die.

No, Predator428 thought. He still had a task to finish and there was no way this demoness was going to stop him. Before the queen could launch her mouth into the hunter's faceplate, Predator428 brought his shortblade up with a grunt of rage. The serrated wedge of steel cut clean through the queen's jaw, spearing the inner mouth and catching itself in the top of her skull.

The queen shrieked in agony as the blade penetrated her skull, fixing the inner mouth inside her maw. Acidic blood began to pour from the tears as Predator428 twisted the blade. The hunter released his grip, leaving the weapon buried in place as he reached for another. Predator428 pulled his second blade from his belt and swung it in a downwards strike. The section of tail sticking in Predator428 was cut away from the rest of the tail.

The hunter began to drop with his sudden lack of support, arms flailing out to catch hold of something to stop his fall. Predator428 managed to grab into one of the queen's secondary arms, her main arms still trying to remove the weapon from her head. Predator428 shifted his weight and flipped himself into the queen's back, his free hand grabbing onto one of the queen's back spikes.

The hive mother dismissed the weapon imbedded in her as she discovered the predator's location. The queen's long arms were unable to reach her back, so she resorted to violently twisting her body to try and dislodge the hunter.

Predator428 hung on for dear life, knowing that he was dead if the queen got ahold on him. He needed to get some extra leverage if he was going to hold on for long. Predator428 brought his short blade back and drove it into the fleshy back of the queen. The acid proof material lodged itself into the hive mother's back, giving Predator428 an extra handhold to keep his grip. As the queen renewed her efforts to sling the hunter off her back, Predator428 wondered what had become of Black Warrior and the human newcommer.

Shadow paced back and forth, pissed and furious that her Elder wasn't there. She was growling, ready to just end them all, so that none would ever get ahold of the ship. She huffed and growled, her words that none should really hear from her lips, spewed out in to the world. THe com link to other's, was off so she was in the clear.

Moving, as the final piece was done and set, she watched the monitar's, she would tell them to inject themselves with the neo-toxin's, to help slow down the process, but she remembered that they all took that shot, before hand, before she would even get a really bad thought. One that, her heart turned cold. THe monitors told of where everyone is, human and non-human alike.

Not liking what she saw, the men and women running this way and that, the queen almost dead. Her finger's touched a button caressing it as one would a lover's hand. Shadow smiled, her thoughts caressing the mind of her's, muttering loud enough for the hunter's to hear. She waited and watched, wondering what was going to happen. "Oh no" She said, with an air of shock in the breath and clicks of her words. "Oh no you don't" Which was she looking at. Malus with this extra metal on his body, or the queen in the room with her clan. She knew 2 can take the queen, even if she wanted to help she would wait for a moment, before jumping up and dashing in to the vents.

She spoke quickly in to her mask, loudly incase one can't hear her in the beginning. "BZ, close your masks, use your inner air. Close the masks, close the masks. BZ" She would repeat a few moments longer, making sure all of the yautja's closed the masks. She would wait for that "Got it, shut up. Even the GRRR" of the yautja's that didn't care for her species, her hybrid yautja self. The 15, is a nerve gas, the yautja's was able to take and pull it apart, making it harmless to them, but harmful to all other's that came in contact with it, more in the breathing then the touching factor. She took the needle out and plunged herself quickly as the hand rested on the button to pour out the odorless smoke.

Soon she would see differen't reactions from those that is not yautja, wondering how it would hurt Xeus. The gas seeped in to malus's and Delta's suits, they are wearing. The odorless, gas soon took affect upon their minds and bodies.

Bw roared in agony as the pulse rifle bullets penetrated the meat in his right thigh. Bright green blood spurted from the wounds and painted the floor around him and surrounding armor. Dw looked on in anticipation, and watched Bw as he rose.
Hands planted on the ground, Bw brought himself up, to almost his full height, with a slight limp. Shadow's message then came through to both him and P428. He touched a tube on his mask and pinched it, a light illuminated a reddish color and 4 metal plates connected his mask to his armor.

Drawing his naginata, Bw ran towards Dw. Dw, showing suprise at the sudden burst of attack, sprayed bullets across the room. Dents and holes riddled the walls behind Bw, and a few bullets penetrated his chest plate, but it wasnt enough to hurt him severely. Swinging his naginata in a wide arc the blade sliced into Dw's ribcage horizontally. Acidic maroon blood gushed from the wound, and Dw grunted, he fell to one knee, his bad one, but wasnt down yet. Black Warrior limped over, and with building energy threw his metal clawed boot into Dw's hurt leg, splintering the bone and bringing even more pain to the already injured hybrid.

Meanwhile, P428 thrashed around on the queens back, and the predaliens began to fill the room.

Halves of torsos and severed limbs decorated the floor as the spinning blades of death cut into the xenomorph crowd. Dw simply roared at the xenos telling them to back off, pushing the ones who resisted his command away, he wanted Bw for himself, without the help of the clumsy grunts...

The Queen was calling for the hive's help, but Xeuss was telling them to stay back. His commands were of course not more important than the queens, but his pushing was convincing enough. Still half way kneeling with his hurt leg, he was struggling to keep the predaliens out of his way, in the meantime using his gun to parry the quick hits and slashes coming from BW, who was also using his other hand to cut through the overwhelming waves of xenomorphs. A loud roar and the Queen came crashing right at them with Pred428 on her back, Xeuss barely managing to jump out of the way and at the same time hit BW's armed hand, blowing an ugly hole where the palm of the hunter's hand used to be, as he was jumping in the opposite dyrection to get out of the Queen's way himself.

Xeuss' head was getting heavy, his vision blurry, and the pain in his chest harder to handle. The last of which was a rather good thing, as it was keeping him concentrated and lucid. He noticed Pred428 on the Queen's back as she crashed head-on into the wall in front of her. He was accustomed to using only one weapon at a time, but since he was up against two such formidable adversaries, a fight which he had been avoiding for obvious reasons throughout his life, he got his 50 caliber Desert Eagle out of his now melting coat (See, i'm really gonna be left naked if you keep slashing through various parts of my uniform. I already only have half of my pants on.) and with lightning speed shot right for the predator's head.

But missed. All the hardship his body had gone through that day combined with this newfound blurry vision and unexplained headache were a serious match for his years of marksmanship training on the Melanie, competing with Lucifer's auto-aiming plasmacaster. As he realised that his bullet didn't hit where he had intended, he also noticed the aliens around him were starting to lay down in mass. As the bulet hit Pred428's shoulder in full force, the hunter was thrown off of the Queen's back...

Sniper caliber in a pistol... Had it not been for the armor on the predator's sholder That's why Xeuss loved that weapon. it was hard to handle for normal humans, but for him it was just as easy as a squirt gun.

His blurry vision managed to make out a larg shape flying at him over from the other side the Queen as she clumsily got up again. He stretched out the hand holding the M41A1 rifle and hoped for a lucky shot. He saw green burst out of the seemingly flying shape and heard a roar. Then for a moment everything turned into the blackest darkness. The Qeen was talking to him. This was some sort of gass. It was killing her children. But not her, and not him. It was not designed for them, Xeuss figured. It was only designed to clean up a situation like this, after all, the predators probably wanted the Queen alive, in which case all of this was useless. But it was too late to turn back now.

All this lasted for a fraction of a second. He felt more human as he became immune to the gass' effects, but then everything was back to normal. He opened his eyes. The floor was full of the hive's corpses, the Queen was still running around trying to kill Predator428 and headbutting him was Black Warrior who now had a deep wound in his side.

Predator428 had heard Shadowatching's earlier message about some sort of gas, he had already checked to make sure this mask was still sealed. That however, had been when the predator had still been on the queen's back. A bullet from the newcommer's weapon had hit his shoulder armor. The weapon wasn't strong enough to penetrate the metal, but the force was enough to cause Predator428 to loose his grip on the queen's back spike. All his weight had been transfered to the short blade imbedded in her flesh, ultimatly causing the weapon to rip free.

Predator428 crashed to the deck as he fell from the queen's hieght, his shoulder armor protected him yet again by softening the landing. The predator was forced to make a sharp role to the left as a clawed hand lashed out at his prone body. The queen roared in pain and anger at the predator, taking a few steps back to get a good look at the battle area. Predator428 unsteadly climbed to his feet, the tip of the hive mother's tail still imbedded in him.

The queen had finally gotten ahold on the weapon handle sticking out of her chin. She wrapped her slender fingers around the metal and forcebly ripped it out. The serrated edges of the steal cut wide gashes through her head and mouth, causing more acidic blood to flow from her maw. The yellow pools spilled onto the floor, not doing any damage whatsoever. This entire chamber had been constructed with Tam'ki, it would not be affected by the queen's natural defense.

With the impediment finally removed from her head, the hive mother charged straight at Predator428. The queen lowered her massive crown like a battering ram, preparing to crush the predator against the chamber wall. Predator428 dived rolled to his side in an attempt to avoid the attack. The queen was too fast for him. The jagged edges of her crown struck Predator428's side, cutting wide gashes across his side and shoulder as he was thrown across the room.

Predator428 bounced graclessly across the deck, his chest filling with pain as three of his ribs were broken. The predator tried to climb to his feet, stumbling as he got a view of his surroundings. He had been thrown to the site of Black Warrior's battle with the newcommer, Xeuss. Predator428 spotted the modified speargun near the two, discarded when his clanmate had been ambushed.

Predator428 scrambled to his feet and rushed to the weapon, trying unsuccessfuly to block out the pain in his chest. The warrior scupped the weapon just as the queen's tail impacted his side. The approaching queen had swipped Predator428 across the chamber, hissing in spite as he crashed into the wall. Predator428 struggled to lift his head as the queen roared again, lowering her head for another ramming. Her pounding footsteps shook the chamber as she approached, confident that the hunter was done for.

Oh no you don't, thought Predator428. He wasn't going to the underworld that easily. The warrior forced his arm up, aiming the speargun at the approaching hive mother. The weapon gave a sharp crack as the projectile was fired, sending a hooked spear straight into the queen's upper arm. The spear was connected to the weapon by a long chain, the other end still held inside the barrel. The wound caused the queen to hesitate, briefly slowing down to try and remove the projectile. The material was acid proof and was locked in place by spikes. It would not come out.

Before the hive mother could restart her charge, Predator428 slightly lowered his aim. The weapon gave another sharp crack as another spear was fired. The shot was connected to the spear in the queen by a long chain, something that PREDATORv2 had undoubtably rigged up. The second spear impacted the deck and hooked its spikes into the floor, ensuring it would not budge. The queen was thrown off her feet as the chain held her back, shaking the entire room as her bulk crashed to the deck. The hive mother viciously tugged at the chain restraining her, still eager to get at Predator428. The queen's struggles only activated the spear tip's main purpose, engaging a small generator located in the shaft.

An wave of electricity engulfed the queen as the spear delivered its pulse, sending thousands of volts of electricity into the queen. The hive mother thrashed about the deck in pure agony, not fully understanding what was happening to it. But Predator428 still needed to get a spear into her skull, that would be the only way to fully paralyze her for freezing. The warrior climbed back on his feet, checking the speargun to make sure it was still loaded. Soon the queen would be that yautja's again, then they could deal with the humans. And Xeuss.

Alouran had been waiting to see if Xeuss was gonna hurry up and follow after her but he never made a noise. He got a funny look on his face before he blasted past her saying he had to go. Tilting her head to one side she sighed softly rolling her eyes. Xeuss had left a blood trail all threw the vents though and she grimaced. She could follow that to the queen's lair easily. "Malus, Delta, this is Alouran do you read me?" she asked into the mic. It was a bit shotty from hitting so many things in her falls but it worked well enough. Her voice would go threw high and scratchy at times but others it would sound clear as a bell.

Her green eyes scanned the darkness that was the vents and a shiver ran up her spine. If Xeuss was part Xeno and he had darted off like that was there possibly something wrong with the queen? "I've got too much time to think." she muttered softly before crawling farther along the vents as quietly as she could. Her left leg would give out randomly and make a dull thunk sound on the metal that would reverberate up the shafts of the vents for a few hundred feet but nothing ever came to attack her. "Malus, Delta, It's me Alouran do you hear me?' she asked softly into the mic. Malus had sent her a message earlier. He must of been at the drop ship if he had been able to tell what she had been seeing earlier. With a growl she rolled her eyes and crawled after the acidic blood droplets that littered the vents.

Down, left, right, left, down, down, right, Alouran crawled in the shafts for what seemed like ever hearing screeches of pain and shots off in the distance of the vents. Where they having a war or something!? Oh yeah DUH it was a war.. or skirmish.. Whatever it was called they where having it in that area. The vents echoed horribly so she had no idea where the noise was coming from. She cringed when she slammed her helmet into the top of the vent with a dull clang. Murmuring under her breath she went back to crawling after the spots and specks of melted vent plating. Eventually another loud screech from the queen made Alouran's whole body reverberate with it's power. "Oh fuck.." she muttered and banged her hand against the side of her helmet. "Fucking REPLY DAMN IT!" she hissed into the air around her. She was right next to the damn entrance to the hive and she had just enough ammo to count for about 3 clips! NOT ENOUGH TO TAKE ON A HIVE!

Suddenly the winds in the vents started to kick up, it was cold against her bare arms and she shivered. The gas that spread threw the vents made her stomach seemingly heave. Thinking it was just her wounds messing with her she shook her head and refused to stop moving. She could do nothing with just 3clips of ammo, backing slowly out toward where she had come from she soon felt her arm give out from under her. Her body slowly began to stop moving. Her mind was clouded much like how a sleepy child is before they are sent to bed. Cranky, unruly and then out like a light.

Malus had just reached the outskirts of the Xenomorph-controlled area of the ship when the scanners in his Exo-Suit picked up something in the air heading towards them. A change of chemical make-up and air density. Malus had been trained by the Colonial Marines, and he instnantly reacted. With his rapid reflexes and speed, he had the comm channel open and was addressing the one marine that he knew was not protected from the posion that the Yautja had unleashed upon them. So much for honour, you little pricks. He thought to himself bitterly. They'd unleashed chemical warfare on his forces. Under the Geneva Convention, that meant he was cleared for maximum violence towards the enemy.

"VEVLAA! FLETCHER! ALOURAN! MASKS ON, THEY'RE USING GAS!" He didn't bother radioing in to Delta. He'd know about it, and even if the Exo-Suits they were in weren't envionmentally sealed. And they were. He was still wearing his gasmask. He'd be fine. Alouran was the one he was most worried about, though. There was a locked door between V and the gas. She could already be in the thick of it. He hoped to hell that she was allright. They'd already had too many casualties, with Fletcher still MIA out there. He then de-activated the suit for a moment, held his breath, reached into his pocket and put his own suit on. The process took three seconds, and another second later, the suit was back online. He knew Vevlaa was still at the Dropship.

"Vevlaa, you are cleared to use any and all Biological agents you have over there. Deploy any you see fit, then get over here. Alouran, head towards the bridge. Delta, follow me." His orders given, he turned his back on the hive. Let them have thier fight, Malus would use his time more wisely. Thrning the suit towards the bridge -he knew for sure which direction it was in this time- he set off, the exo-suit clanging loudly as it moved. The time for subtlety was over. They had to control the bridge. Once they had that, the ship was thiers. He'd heard Xeuss mention that the doors were jammed. He checked the rocket launcher of his Exo-Suit, as well as the charge on the Cutting Laser. Well, he just happened to have a key.

A highly explosive one, too. Heh heh heh.

He didn't know where Xeuss was, but with the Xenomorph Queen fighting for her life, Malus had a good idea. Xeuss was probably off to kill it. Hopefully, he would take down a few of the Preds with him. Good luck. Malus thought silently as he stomped towards the bridge. It wouldn't be long before the battle was over. He didnt have much time. This time, it would be HE whom chose the field of battle. Not some bloody inhuman Sonnova Bitch.