STANDARD DISCLAIMER: All characters and situations related to the 'Alien/ Aliens and Alien 3' films are wholly owned by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. The story is mine as well.

ALIENS: ORIGIN

Part Two

Crossing the Styx

CHAPTER EIGHT

He could hear her calling him.

Her voice was like a whisper in his ears, so soft and yet speaking in a language that was almost completely emotion but possessing no words. MacReady tried to see her but he could not see through the strange veil before his eyes. He knew she was here with him, somewhere through shadowy void that kept him prisoner in this dungeon of unreality. All MacReady knew for certain was that he was trapped in this prison and she, whose voice beckoned him like the Sirens who had once called to Odysseus, was the enemy. She was an enemy with potent weapons in her arsenal, far more dangerous and deadlier than he could ever imagine.

He was her weapon against himself.

Images whirled in upon him, distorted dreams and nightmares of people he knew, both past and present floated in and out of his mind. Memories flooded his brain with poignant smells and colourful sights, leading him hand in hand as they moved down the singular road into parts unknown. And then suddenly he was somewhere he didn't want to go. No matter how much he struggled, his feet would not stop taking him there, despite his hands clawing at the ground, his nail digging in to stop the retreat until there were bloody trails of shredded skin left in his wake. MacReady fought hard but was powerless as he plunged off the edge into the totality of his nightmares.

It engulfed him, swallowing him whole. He could feel it all around him, thick, oozing muck that gushed into his mouth, flooded his skin until he couldn't feel nothing but its sticky, gelatinous hold over his whole body. It swirled in on him when he finally dared to open his eyes. His hands flayed abut wildly, trying to catch some foothold so he could centre himself. His hand hit something firm that was not quite dead but not alive either, something rubbery and slick. His fist impacted against the odd surface and bounced off like it was a trampoline. His fingers searched for an ending or a beginning to this watery grave.

There was none.

He felt the space surrounding his body and realised that he was trapped in ball of fluid because his hands could find no opening but curved walls enclosing him. He could not understand how he could breathe through this thick, gelatinous fluid in which he was encased but somehow he was. Through the swooshing of moving liquid, he could hear her calling him with that voice of hers. Soft and enchanting. Suddenly, he was struck with the memory of his mother, how she used to lull him to sleep as a child. Little Kev used to drift into bedtime adventures to the sound of that voice and right now, if he was a weaker man, he would have succumbed to that sweetness that was drawing him to her.

MacReady opened his eyes and looked.

He could not see where he was but what his eyes saw beyond the blurry walls of his prison gave him an immediate answer.

Eggs.

As he stared past the viscous fluid. His eyes widening in horror, even though it stung to see what was beyond his confinement. The eggs ran as far as the eye could see, stacked in a hive cavern, not unlike the one that he had seen in Fiorina. They resembled a biological conveyor belt that stretched in long winding rows, with no end in sight. They touched the horizon in distance in a chamber so vast that he could not see its walls. It was like a scene painted out of a mad man’s description of hell. His entire universe was nothing but one enormous, giant storage chamber of alien eggs, waiting to be unleashed into an unsuspecting world. His sanity left him about then, when he started screaming on top of his lung, smashing his fists against the barrier of alien flesh, until he could feel them flare with unending pain.

"I am not here!" MacReady started screaming. "I am not here!"

Gelatinous resin rushed into his mouth as he spoke, but he refused to let it affect him. He wasn't here! He kept repeating to himself because that was the only way he could deal with this. His mind did not believe any of this was real and thus if his eyes was lying to him about what he was seeing then he wasn't going to use them any more.

Suddenly a disturbing thought occurred to him in his blind terror. Was Maia in here too? No, another voice inside of him spoke quickly. She's not here! She's not here because she's out there somewhere, fighting to stay alive. Leading the Marines and staying alive because that’s what she did. She would never allow this place to come into being. Maia would never let it get this far. If it took every breath in her body, Maia would fight this! As that thought stayed in his head, he began to get some balance of his own.

"I am not here." He whispered again, his voice came out as a half sob.This isn't real, his own inner voices started to speak again. Tell yourself that over and over again. It isn't real as long as you fight her. This isn't real as long as you make it so. Don't you understand, she’s using your mind to break you. Isn't this what you've always been afraid of? The fight's not over Kev, but it could be if you don’t get off your ass and stop letting her take a piece of you!

Suddenly, he was in a new place . He knew he was still in the hive because he could smell the rank putridness of rotting carcasses, decaying rapidly once the aliens were done with the organisms it had used as hosts. He could see the slimy entrails on the ground and the darkness that accompanied the alien’s natural habitat. They preferred the wet and the dark and through the dim illumination of light from whence he knew not came, MacReady found himself suddenly staring at Maia.

His heart leapt with excitement at the sight of her as he experienced all the warmth that came with memories of Maia Sanjay. He recalled with perfect clarity how his heart had skipped a beat the first time he had seen her on the deck of the Sparta and later on as she stood side by side with him and fought like a lioness protecting her brood. However, she appeared before him now, in the same dress she had worn during the New Year celebrations and she did not look like a hallucination or a dream. Her eyes met his in the manner that was reserved for him and as she tilted her head slightly and started to smile, MacReady knew this was her. It was his Maia.

"Maia?" He asked. His voice was so soft that he wondered if she could hear him at all. "Is that really you?"

The figure did not speak, but raised her hand for him. MacReady took one step forward, while the mist was swirling around her, the skirt of her dress was billowing in a Monroe like pose. She never seemed more beautiful then as her eyes danced with midnight fire.

Don't talk Mac.

"Is it you?" He asked he wanted so much to believe it was her, he wanted her to hold him in her arms and tell him that she was Maia Sanjay. He wanted her to take him out of this nightmare, because he didn't know how much longer he could stay sane any more. He didn't know how much more he could fight. It seemed like it was forever and he could not bear it, he wanted to rest.

Sure Mac, its me. Come to me soldier.

She smiled at him so warmly, that the weary heart in his chest couldn't deny her.

Come to me Mac, come and make love to me like the first, remember that? Yes you remember, it wasn’t so long ago was it? We fucked our brains out that day, first on the bed and then in the shower and then every damn place that we could think of. Come and do it to me now, her hands moved to shoulders of the dress and pushed it gently off, letting the soft material shimmer down her skin as it fell into the mist. She stood before him in bare magnificence, making him want her so badly after all that pain that he went into her arms with no resistance.

He kissed her hard and furious, his fingers digging into her skin, when suddenly, he felt it loosen under his nails. MacReady could feel his tongue in her mouth, but her lips felt strange, something in the shape of it was wrong. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into a face that had no eyes. Uttering a cry of horror, he pushed her backwards as she smiled at him again, this time revealing a set of inner jaws that dripped with slime.

Guess who Mac, the thing began to tear its skin off its body and even though he didn't see the face, he knew the voice. It was she.

"Jesus!" He screamed as he buckled over, retching violently as she laughed.

He knew what she was but his mind could not accept it. All he could do is scream as she transformed before him, the enchanting visage of Maia Sanjay that distorted into something huge and menacing, with a coal black exoskeleton and huge jaws that dripped clear resin and bled acid for blood…..

He was not even aware when he started screaming.

********

"Get it open!" Maia Sanjay barked at both Foster and Yugowa. They had had been roused out of stasis as a part of the emergency procedures in place in the event that any one of the sleepers experienced cryosleep distress. It was standard procedure to awaken both the commanding officer and the medtech in such emergencies. Foster, who had kept a close eye on all the sleepers had initiated the protocol even before the automated systems on board the Sparta could do so.

"Hurry!" She demanded, standing over the glass tube while the rest of the Marines were oblivious to the commotion taking place around them as Yugowa and Foster worked furiously to unseal MacReady’s tube. Maia felt her heart pounding in her chest as she watched her Sergeant and her lover screaming inside his tube with nothing less than stark terror etched across his face. The fear she saw as he tried desperately to escape was the likes of which she had never seen before. He was pounding against the cryo-tube with such force that he was almost to the point of shattering the glass.

Foster and Yugowa worked in perfect tandem, even though the medtech was clad in nothing more than a pair of military issued shorts and was ignoring the biting cold of the temperature around them. While asleep, environmental controls to this section of the ship was more or less disabled and would only be re-initialised when the sleepers were ready to be awakened. The premature disruption to this cycle of events had barely allowed life support controls to be activated in time to meet the needs of the rousing members of the group, let alone make it hospitable for their arrival.

Maia watched MacReady through the glass as he pounded to be free of the glass coffin, perfectly aware that he was still lost in the dreamscape even though what he was seeing there was making him a danger to himself. The stasis tubes operated on a very fine mix of cryo fluids that regulated specific metabolic processes. In his heightened state of hysteria, not even advanced machinery like this could cope with the rapid processes involved in human chemical reactions. MacReady could very well kill himself without ever regaining consciousness.

"Got it!" Foster exclaimed as he finally managed to release the manual clamps that kept the cryo-tube sealed. He stepped back and watched the glass door slip eject forward before sliding backwards into place. A gush of cold air escaped the tube and dissipated into the air as Yugowa regulated the chemical mixture that would bring MacReady out of stasis without sending him into metabolic shock.

"Mac!" Maia reached him before the others could, knowing that her swiftness had more to do with her intimate connection to the man inside rather than any concern for a fellow officer. She had never seen him so terrified before and she wondered what he was seeing in his dreams that could tear a mind so cool and deliberate under fire, so completely asunder.

MacReady sat up as soon as there was no longer any barrier that kept him contained. He was upright and gasping for breath, his hands slipped to his throat as if he had been suffocating. Maia noticed his eyes were closed shut and the pitch of his screams had descended into ragged pants for air. With a sudden start, she realised that he was still sleeping.

"Sergeant!" She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him as hard as she could. "Wake up!"

He fought her like a wild animal, arms flaying helplessly and Maia wondered what he was seeing. What could frighten him like this? Even facing the aliens before had never fazed MacReady to this state of terror. Maia had to take a step back or else she would have been hit by his frantic movements.

"Maybe he ought to be sedated….." Yugowa stammered, unaware of any instance in the text books that could explain this violent reaction in stasis.

"No!" Maia growled. "He doesn’t need more sleep. He needs to wake up."

"He’s going to hurt himself." Foster pointed out and Maia knew he was right.

Taking a deep breath, she struck MacReady firmly against the jaw, propelling him back into the soft cushioning of his tube. The Sergeant’s head landed on the pillow hard and only then after impact, did his eyes fly open and register any kind of recognition. He stopped struggling then and looked at their faces as confusion and puzzlement began to bleed into his features.

"Mac, are you okay?" Maia demanded, glad that he had stopped screaming at least and felt some relief escape her at the cessation of his extreme hysteria. In fact, the relief was exhibited in the eyes of both men standing beside her as they stared at the Sergeant, trying to understand what had happened.

"Yeah." He groaned and was aware of the stinging in his cheek. He rubbed his jaw carefully and then took note of the concern on all their faces. "What happened?"

"You don’t remember?" Foster asked before Maia could.

"No," MacReady shook his head in genuine confusion. "I was in stasis."

"Your brainwave readings went off the chart Sir." Yugowa replied, having examined them as soon as he was awakened from hypersleep to face the crisis. "You were having one hell of a nightmare."

MacReady looked at the younger man in disbelief and then took note of the expression on both Maia and Foster’s faces to realise that he was telling the truth. MacReady shook his head to contradict them all, still unable to believe what they were alluding. However, his mind immediately sent him pictures of thick viscous fluids and three inch teeth dripping with resin. His heart constricted in his chest as the images flashed in his mind of alien eggs and the overwhelming need to escape. Visions of things moving in the dark and the feel of slime against his skin visited him with potent fear that simply made his heart pound with even more apprehension.

He was not even aware that he was gasping until he heard Maia’s voice again.

"Mac!" She called out, her hands grabbing his shoulders as she leaned over his tube and stared him in the eye. "What’s happening?"

"I don’t know…" He managed to say. "I think I’m having a fucking anxiety attack."

"Not a chance." Yugowa shook his head immediately, dispelling that simplistic explanation. "Your metabolic rate was off the chart. If you were having an anxiety attack, it had to be one for the record books."

"That’s nice to know." MacReady mumbled, unable to guess what might have happened to him or what would cause such fears to surface so dramatically. "I hate to think I was losing my fucking mind for no reason."

"You okay?" Maia asked, trying to hide the depth of her concern under the iron mask of Captain Sanjay. She had released him and stepped away for Yugowa who was making a quick examination of the Sergeant.

"I think so." MacReady swallowed, feeling very dry in the throat. "I don’t usually have nightmares."

"We’ll administer a dream suppressant before you go back under." Foster suggested.

MacReady’s eyes widened at the notion that he would have to return to stasis. "Under?" His eyes shifted frantically to Maia and the fear she had seen replaced by confusion returned in full force. Still, she noticed that while he was afraid of something undisclosed, instinct told Maia that not even MacReady could explain what was so frightening.

"Yeah," Yugowa nodded as he checked MacReady’s pupils. "We’re only halfway to Styx."

MacReady shifted uncomfortably, fidgeting with a nervousness that Maia had never seen him display. What was it he had seen in his dreams that could frighten him so badly? Maia wondered. "Mac," she said in a softer and more personal tone because that was what he needed to hear right now, not the authoritative voice of Captain Sanjay. "Talk to me. What are you feeling?"

"I can’t say." He replied abruptly because he was lying.

He knew exactly what he was feeling and this terrible weight that was causing his heart to pound inside his chest was inexplicable to him as it was to those around him. He was terrified. The fear was as real and tangible as anything in the room with him and the idea of being trapped inside that glass coffin was sending him into panic. MacReady had endured numerous missions and during all those times, had never experienced the apprehension he felt at the thought of returning to hypersleep.

"Try." Maia urged because the glimmer in his eyes had not faded and she had spent a lifetime reading people for this particular failing.

"I can’t!" He snapped. "I ain’t going back in there!"

"Mac," Maia tried to reason with him as he broke free of Yugowa and stepped out of the tube. In seconds, he was striding past them, almost running for the exit that would take him out of this glass mausoleum.

"Halt Sergeant!" Maia barked, using the once voice she knew he was too conditioned to obey. MacReady froze in his steps as Maia tried not to show the shock in her face even though it was apparent in both Yugowa and Foster. He turned around and met her gaze and even Maia had to feel surprise in what she was in his face. She wanted so much to take him in her arms and hold him, to whisper that nothing was going to harm him, not while there was breath in her body. This was not a man that frightened easily if at all. She had seen him face horrors that could break lesser men into a thousand pieces. Yet he stood before her now, quivering with so much vulnerability that it made her own heart ached seeing him this way.

"Mac, please." Maia implored. "We are still five months away from Styx. You have to go back into cryosleep."

The raw edge of panic that flashed across his face at that suggestion was not lost upon anyone in the room with him. "I can’t!" He shouted. "There’s something…." He paused, unable to articulate this terrible feeling that something was awaiting them at their destination.

"You have to tell me why Mac," Maia said softly. "I can’t help you otherwise."

"I won’t go back!" He shouted as he wrestled with the words he needed to say to make her understand.

"Mac, don’t do this to me." Maia swallowed. "Don’t make me force you back in there. I promise, nothing will happen to you." She glanced over at Foster. "I’ll make sure that you are monitored constantly, the first sign of trouble and you will be out of there. I promise you."

"I can’t Maia." He almost begged. "I don’t know why but I can’t go back in there. She’s waiting for me."

The admission escaped him like a held breath and immediately he saw the reaction on their faces. "Stop looking at me like I am fucking insane!" He roared. "I’m not crazy!"

"I know that." She took a step towards him. He was like a terrified animal. One false move on her part and he would run. "I just need to understand."

"Understand what!" MacReady shouted, his eyes wide with fear. Maia was almost within reach of him now and knew that if she did not act soon, he would bolt. There was still too many parts of the ship where life support was not yet initialised. In his state of mind, he could be running into a vacuum without even being aware of it until he dropped down dead from suffocation.

"Take it easy!" She tried to reach him but saw him preparing to run.

Without thinking twice, she dropped to her knees and swung out her leg as she swept his feet from under him. MacReady felt to the ground heavily as Maia set upon him before he had time to react. She knew exactly how to deliver her punches and with two swiftly delivered blows, he was knocked out cold. His head lopped onto the cold floor with a gentle thud as he fell unconscious.

"What the hell did he see while he was in there?" Yugowa asked as he ran forward to help with Foster following close behind.

Maia rose to her feet and stepped back, unhappy by what she was forced to do as she stared into MacReady’s face, desperately wanting to hold him but forced back by years of conditioning not to let her emotions get in the way of her duty to the mission. Sometimes, she hated being who she was. "I don’t know." Maia shook her head, wishing with all her heart that she did.

"Are you okay Captain?" Foster asked with concerned. It was no secret that there was some kind of relationship between the Captain and Sergeant MacReady although neither had ever allowed it to show while they were on duty.

"I’m fine." She swallowed hard, forcing away the emotional distress that this entire situation had caused. "Put him back in." She said firmly, wishing she did not have to but knowing that there was no other alternative. The Sparta ran on a limited oxygen supply and for them to sustain the ship for five months so that he could avoid hypersleep was beyond their supplies to accommodate. "I want him on the strongest dream suppressant you can give him Yugowa." She looked at the young medtech. "We’ll sort this out when we get to Styx."

"I’ll keep him under round the clock surveillance." Foster offered, fully intending to keep a very close eye on the Sergeant for the next five months. "If I even see a slight fluctuation in the normal pattern of his brainwaves, I’ll wake him."

"All right." Maia nodded and prayed that it was going to be enough because she had a real bad feeling about who MacReady was talking about when he mentioned the mysterious ‘she’.

CHAPTER NINE

The first thing Maia did when the powerful lights over her stasis tube came to life and the frosted glass covering of her stasis tube slid away, was to check immediately on Sergeant Kevin MacReady. Normally, she would linger a little in this confine space within her capsule, accustoming herself to being awake once again. No matter what anyone might say, sleeping in the hibernation chambers was not restive. It felt more like having your body abruptly switched off for a long period and then on again with the brain scrambling to account for the lost time in between.

On this particular occasion, the discomfort hardly registered in her mind. The first conscious thought following revival was wondering how MacReady had come through the enforced slumber. His capsule was next to hers and instinctively, her head shifted in his direction. Considering the interlude where they had been prematurely revived midway in their journey here, Maia hoped that putting him back in stasis was not the mistake she dared not make.

She still had no idea what had driven her normally reliable Sergeant, not to mention her friend and lover to the state of utter panic she had been forced to witness. MacReady was one of the most balanced people she knew. Had he chosen the UNE instead of the Marines, Maia knew without doubt he would have been one of the best agents in the field, even surpassing her. He had the ability to stay calm in the worst situations and had this intensity about him that made him a natural leader which was why the others, even Quinn rallied around him in a crisis situation.

Maia looked at MacReady and saw that he was all right.

He sat up in his capsule, stretching his neck before turning to his lethargic limbs to massage the blood into flowing. There was no sign of the fear she had seen in his intense blue eyes, just the normal expression of a man who had emerged from a long deep sleep. He met her gaze and smiled faintly.

"Hey." He said showing no signs of the heightened fear that he had displayed not so long ago.

"How you doing there soldier?" She asked trying to hide the concern in her voice even though Maia was certain it showed in her eyes.

"Better." He swallowed. "I remember vaguely that I made a complete idiot of myself and there was really bad dream." He was clearly uncomfortable discussing the subject and Maia hoped that it was as Foster had claimed when Maia and Yugowa had returned MacReady to the capsule.

According to the android, it was not impossible although rare that an imbalance in the mixture of cryogenic fluids could create the kind of brain dysfunction that might have been responsible for MacReady’s violent behaviour. Although Foster could detect no such evidence when they examined MacReady’s capsule, he did take the precaution of adjusting everything back to standard requirements. Since there were no further incidents from the Sergeant, Maia had to assume that it was the probable cause of MacReady’s uncharacteristic behaviour.

"Well," Maia said sitting up and carrying out the same routine of massage on her limbs. "We pumped you full of dream suppressants before we put you under again. It seems to have worked out fine."

"Yeah," he nodded uncertainly and wished he could understand what happened to him. "I’m here and not running around like a fucking maniac."

Still, Maia could see the concern in his normally unflappable expression. This bothered him more than he let on and Maia wished they were anywhere but on a mission so that he could confide in her as a friend and not as his Captain. MacReady was too much the professional to blur the lines between seeing her as is Captain and his lover.

"Come on soldier," Maia sighed as she started to climb out of the capsule. "Its time to rally the troops."

"Sergeant MacReady at your service," he grinned, grateful to be moving off that subject. Being reminded of his job injected a new vitality into MacReady and he practically leapt out of his capsule onto the cold floor of the hibernation deck.

"Come on you lazy bastards, move it!" He barked out in his most annoying Sergeant’s voice, the purpose of which was to motivate the other Marines who were still in their capsules and reluctant to get moving. It was a practise he had learnt from Master Sergeant Parker whom MacReady still missed and had been thinking a great deal of late, ever since they learnt they were encountering the aliens again.

"Not so loud Mac!" Addison grumbled. "Jeez, how does a guy who says nothing most of the time get so loud?"

"You talking about me Corporal?" MacReady stared at him with a mixture of authority and amusement.

"Oh god," Quinn rumbled with just as much disdain. "He’s pulling rank again. I told you once a man gets promoted, he forget his friends." The huge smartgunner was the first one out of the capsule after MacReady and immediately began limbering up next to the chamber by shaking out his limbs.

MacReady threw Quinn a look that revealed he was enjoying the bantering even if he was in charge of them before remarking with a mischievous grin. "Don’t you ever forget it."

**********

"Not exactly the prettiest planet in the galaxy is it?" Maia remarked as she and Foster stared through the observation deck of the Sparta, less than an hour after the Colonial Marines and their captain had been revived from hibernation. As per her customary practice during their missions, Maia and Foster usually gathered for a private meeting where the android would appraise her of everything that had been transpired during her time in cryosleep.

The planet beneath the Sparta was supposedly rich with vegetation and vast tracks of swamp land but from space, its colour was a mottled grey that seemed as ominous as it appeared dismal. Maia studied it for a moment, deciding that the grim world seemed a fitting place to have given birth to such a terrifying and voracious species as the aliens. It struck Maia that in all the encounters with the alien, no one had bothered to give the creatures a name, not even the scientists who wanted specimens so badly. Perhaps there were some things that defied the ability of human language to describe. As far as Maia was concerned, the aliens certainly fell into that category.

As she stared at Styx, Maia could not help feeling a slight shudder of discomfort, knowing what dangers lay beneath the thick clouds that made up the planet’s atmosphere. Despite assurances to the contrary, Maia could not deny that this mission was leaving a bad taste in her mouth. Her instincts were seldom wrong and she remembered what MacReady had said about being fatalistic but it was more than self defeatism at work here.

"Not somewhere I would pick for a vacation." Foster retorted snapping Maia out of her gloomy thoughts. "The surface scans show mostly equatorial temperatures, with heavy precipitation throughout the planet. The gravitational pull of the binary stars has produced some extremely inclement weather patterns. If were required to go planetside, I would recommend extreme caution. The dropship would feel like a leaf in a hurricane."

"Charming." Maia grumbled as a picture formed in her head of what such an experience might resemble. In any case, Maia did not relish the idea of a surface landing in any shape or form. It was one thing facing a prison full of aliens on Fiorina but the thought of facing an entire planet full of these creatures was the stuff of nightmares. "I’m hoping we can avoid having to cross that bridge. " She replied before turning away from the window, deciding that the view was doing nothing for her mood and she had more important information to glean from the android. Facing the dour expression of Foster’s atypical features, Maia took a deep breath and tried to forget about Styx for the moment.

"So did you do the background check I asked for?"

"Yes." Foster nodded dutifully even though he seemed a little uncomfortable about what conclusion she would reach when he had provided this information. When Maia had first asked him to search through the personnel records of the Sparta’s complement of Colonial Marines, the android had been confused over the purpose of it. However, he did not question the request, since it was made after the incident with Sargent MacReady. As an android, he was committed to believe the most logical explanation for MacReady’s behaviour following his premature revival from cryosleep. Conceptual leaps were not impossible for him and Foster preferred the comfort of proven facts rather than the uncertainty in leaps of faith.

"It appears you were correct in your suspicion, Captain." Foster answered after a slight pause. "Sargent MacReady does have an usually high psi-rating. In fact, he has the highest rating on the Sparta."

Psi testing had become the norm in the last hundred years. In the centuries before, the scientific community had always disavowed the legitimacy of paranormal ability no matter how overwhelming the evidence. Telekenetics who were known to bend spoons, to shatter glass, psychics who aided criminal investigations with their prescience and even the soothsayers of the day had been treated as little more than freaks of nature. Eventually, with growing public awareness and belief that such abilities were not an aberrant genetic abnormality, serious scientific study was devoted to the subject.

With serious study came serious conclusions and that led to the discovery that there were more human beings than ever imagined who possessed psychic ability, even if it manifested itself as little more than insight. Eventually, psi ability become so common place in public awareness that its inclusion into most psychological profiles was almost mandatory.

In this instance however, Maia was not at all pleased to be proven right about what she had suspected about MacReady after his outburst. It had been little more than a hunch which she had expected Foster to disprove but instead, the android had done the complete opposite. He had presented Maia with an extremely dangerous situation, no matter how unlikely it might seem.

"It has not been proven." Foster reminded her, seeing the glimmer of realisation in her eyes with the delivery of this news. "What we assume about the Queen Mother is merely theory."

"We have never seen them communicate." Maia argued, convinced she was right. MacReady had seen more combat than most of the Marines on the Sparta and battle psychosis was something he had never displayed. In fact, his psychological profile seem to indicate that he handled stress well and Maia had seen this first hand herself on numerous occasions. She could not believe that he would fall to pieces for no good reason unless there was an outside influence manipulating him. "On their own, they’re not very smart but we’ve seen them formulate strategy to launch a viable plan of attack. The Queen is the central brain and yet she can communicate with her drones no matter where she is, how does that happen unless she isn’t telepathic?"

"That may be true," he argued, "but that’s a long way from believing that she could affect the Sargent. We are discussing two very different brain patterns to say nothing about their physiology. I seriously doubt that either could interact on that level."

"I hope you’re right Foster," Maia countered because she was afraid for MacReady and in light of what they now knew, she was afraid for all of them. This was an aspect of danger that Maia had never considered until the incident with the Sargent and now that she was faced with it, Maia had no idea how to protect herself or her Marines from it. She felt helpless and uncertain because this unknown commodity had the potential to destroy them without them even being aware of it.

"But I don’t think you are." She sighed. "I think he’s psi-rating makes him easiest to reach and if she could do that to him while we were still five months away from this planet, what will she do now that he’s so close?"

Foster would not say and on some level , her concerns were not unfounded for there was a good chance that the aliens were telepathic. Fortunately, he was immune to such influence and hoped that advantage would count if Maia’s fears were true and the Queen Mother did have direct access into Kevin MacReady’s mind.

***********

MacReady was grateful that none of the other Marines aside from Yugowa was aware of his embarrassing display during their trip here. He was not much of a dreamer and most of his nightly forays into the dreamscape usually involved such interesting sexual fantasies but nothing that would drive him out of the capsule like a lunatic. He remembered vaguely what had happened but each time he forced his mind to visit the dark place that had caused such fear, MacReady found his stomach clenching and he could go no further. Finally, he decided that he was going to leave it alone and not force himself to remember.

As it was, he had bigger concerns on his mind. Following the Marine’s emergence from the capsules, the soldiers had migrated to the showers where they performed the rituals of revival by bathing and getting dressed. Most of the group were now on their way to the mess hall for their first taste of food in what was almost ten months. Normally, their longest hibernation periods lasted no more than six month but Styx was almost on the edge of explored space.

Even though MacReady was walking towards mess with Addison and Leigh, his attention was focussed on the situation that was brewing with Quinn, Marin and Jaleel. Although there was none of the behaviour that had preceeded his having to intercede between the two men, there was a note of underlying tension between the trio that required resolving. As Master Sargent, it was not his problem to get involved in the personal relationships of those under his charge. However, when the relationship involved his two smartgunners and their ability to work together, MacReady could not shake his concerns.

As it was, the atmosphere among the Marines was tense because of the nature of the mission and the opponent they were facing. In all likelihood, there would never be a reason to land on Styx, if Maia’s determination to avoid that eventuality was anything to go by. Still, MacReady did not want any surprises during this particular mission. He felt uneasy enough about things without the added worry that his two smartgunners were more likely to turn their guns on one another than they would on aliens, because of some unresolved issues between them.

"So if we’re not landing on this planet, what are we doing?" Addison asked as they walked down the corridor that led them from the showers to the mess. The life support systems in the ship was more or less fully functioning since Foster had initiated their operations shortly before the Marines were revived from their deep sleep.

"Don’t you read your data tapes," Leigh groaned. "We’re supposed to be here for surveillance and to provide support for an aerial blockade of Styx."

"Isn’t that the job for the Navy?" Addison retorted.

"Yeah, but we’re the experts on the alien and from what the Captain has told me, the UNE has given Hanlon the reins on this one. Seems they don’t trust anyone else."

"How nice for him." Addison grumbled, still unhappy by the fact that the Marines were called onto to face the aliens once more. Like all of them, he still had uncomfortable memories of what they had seen in Fiorina. His nights had been occupied by nightmarish images of inch long teeth and slimy things in the dark. Addison had no fear of dying. It was impossible to be a Marine and fear death. However, dying was not the worse thing that could happen to a person when one faced the aliens. He had no wish to play host to an alien embryo.

Knowing it happened to Yates was convinced Addison that he would rather eat a bullet than let it happen to him.

"Cheer up Corporal," Leigh quipped. "We’ll be getting to spend the entire tour of duty inside this metal can. How bad could that be?"

"Bad enough." MacReady retorted. "It means everyone will be climbing the walls for something to do."

"I’m sure Leigh and I will find something." Addison grinned and jokingly slid his arm around the demure redhead’s waist.

Leigh shoved him away playfully and gave him a contemptuous glare. "Not even if you were the last man in the galaxy."

MacReady laughed and found himself remarking. "Now, you’ve got promotion potential." He chuckled.

"You’re supposed to be helping me here." Addison whined good naturedly. Addison and Leigh’s flirting was often a source of great amusement to MacReady because he knew that Leigh considered their mischief as nothing more than playful banter and Addison did not. Still, as Master Sargent, MacReady was forced to keep a close eye on Addison’s remarks. After all, while it was permissible or the genders to become romantically involved if they wished, the brass looked very unkindly upon those who dared the mistake of harassing female colleagues who did not want the attention.

"No thanks," MacReady returned promptly. "I’ve had enough of sorting out you guy’s romances. "

Of course, they were perfectly aware of who he was talking about. If there was one thing that distracted the Marines from their coming mission, it was gossip regarding the triangle involving Quinn, Marin and Jaleel.

"Jaleel is an idiot." Addision commented. "I mean for Christ sake, we always knew there was a no trespassing sign on Marin’s butt from day one."

"A no trespassing sign?" Leigh looked at him with typical female outrage. "Maybe, he shouldn’t be thinking that she ought to be waiting around for him to get off his butt!"

MacReady rolled his eyes and wondered if conversations like this were taking place all over the ship and resolved himself to do something about it quickly. The last thing he needed was everyone focussing on the sexual trials of Private A Quinn while they had an alien breathing down their neck.

***********

Maia was on her way to join the rest of the Marines in the mess when she heard Foster’s voice over the audio system, beckoning her to the Sparta’s main bridge. The Captain paused in mid step, glaring at the speaker that had delivered the message and muttering a slight curse because she was indeed hungry and wanted a repast before she moved into the next phase of their mission on Styx.

When she had left Foster, he was following the standard UNE directives to conduct an in depth scanning of the system. All ships were required to make such investigations when encountering a so far uncharted system. While Styx had been the subject of scan prior to their arrival, most of that information was still classified and for her own peace of mind, Maia wanted to know about anything that might effect them during their stay here. Hearing Foster’s summons only brought Maia to the unhappy conclusion that he had found something that required her immediate attention because he knew she was on her way to the mess hall.

As Maia made her way to the bridge of the Sparta, she ran through all the things that would need to be done now that they had arrived at Styx. Long range sensors that were normally a staple of naval ships had to be installed into the sensor array of the Marine carrier so that they maintain an effective blockade. Since they were sent here as quickly as possible, there had been no time to outfit the ship while they had been at Gateway and so it was necessary to do so now that they had arrived at their destination. It was at least four days work to install the sensitive equipment and Maia wanted to get started as quickly as possible.

She arrived on the seldom used bridge of the Sparta who presence was only as a backup measure in the instance the automatic command failed and it was necessary for its crew to take manual control. Foster was standing by the console that operated the sensor array looking even more dour than usual. He looked up at her as she entered the room and crossed the floor, allowing no clue of why he had summoned her here to show in his face.

"What is it?" She asked immediately upon reaching him.

"I was conducting the routine sensor scans of the system under the UNE directives." Foster began explaining, his eyes were fixed on the console screen before them that contained readings she could not even began to decipher but was undoubtedly a cause for great concern for him.

"And?" She looked at him suspiciously, suddenly expecting him to drop a bombshell on her for some inexplicable reason.

"And I have detected signs of chemical traces gases that don’t fit with previous scans of the area. The concentration of it makes it pretty conclusive that they are not a natural phenomenon and the residue is quite recent."

"What are you saying?" Maia demanded, unable to handle this waiting while he tried to explain the scientific specifics of it.

"Someone else has been here." He stated, watching the shock bleed into her eyes. "Just before we arrived."

CHAPTER TEN

For a moment, what Foster had said felt so impossible that Maia refused to believe it. However, as she stared intently into his eyes and saw the firm set of his jaw, she knew that it was no joke and he had meant what he had said. Once her mind was able to wrap itself around that concept, Maia was better able to articulate a response to his incredible statement.

"That’s impossible." She declared and knew that if Foster had thought enough of the evidence he had found to summon her, then it was most likely true. "No one knows about this planet, not even the UNE Body Council is privy to its existence, just the Security Council. The information was absolutely top secret."

"I don’t know what to tell you Captain," Foster answered quietly, knowing that this news changed their mission parameters considerably. "The sensor logs will confirm that I have found traces gases specific to fuel components. The rate of decay seems to suggest that this occurrence was very recent. Whomever our guests were, they were ahead of us by a matter of days."

Maia said nothing. She was thinking hard, trying to remember what Hanlon had said about the mission. The knowledge of the alien was being kept under very close scrutiny because the Council was aware of the danger to Earth should any imbecile wish to bring live specimens to the planet. Of course, she was once in the business of secrets and secrets had a way of getting out, no matter how much one might wish otherwise. The Security Council was not invulnerable because people talked and despite the precautions one might take to ensure that such conversation did not fall into improper hands, it still happened.

Suddenly another thought occurred to her and she turned to the android. "Can you tell me from the trace gases, if the ship was commercial or military?"

"I see no reason why not." He answered and quickly let his fingers fly over the keypad before the console screen. The screen flashed a number of differing images before Maia was faced with reading that required Foster to decipher for her to understand. He looked up at her with a troubled expression and more or less confirmed what she suspected, even before he spoke.

"It’s a commercial ship."

Why was she not surprised? What else would it be? The information had been leaked and no doubt someone in the private sector had made good use of it. Maia turned away from the screen as she debated what they should do. If someone had come to Planet Styx and assuming in the worst case scenario, that they had indeed removed alien samples, they would be heading back to Earth. Bribes would ensure that the creatures passed through ICC Quarantine at Gateway, assuming they were even told if the collectors did not decide to smuggle the specimens through.

Once on Earth, the aliens spores would no doubt be given unwilling bodies to host their embryos and the progeny that would come forth from the coupling would be under the control of men whose greed outstripped their sense. They would attempt to confine the beast, delude themselves that the control environment provided would be adequate until the aliens broke free and showed them all in their last seconds, what utter fools they had been.

After that, no one on Earth would be safe.

With that thought in mind, Maia had no choice left to her. She had to clean up this mess and she had to do it now. A commercial ship would be outfitted with conventional engines, which meant that its occupants were probably in hypersleep now. There was still time to intercept them before they made their arrival on Earth.

"Foster," Maia sighed once her decision was made. "Prep the star drive shuttle. We’re going after them."

Foster was unsurprised by the order and merely nodded the affirmative. "How soon do you want to launch?"

"Immediately, " Maia responded. "If it’s a commercial ship then we still have a chance to contain this thing."

"How sure are you that they’ll go to Earth?" Foster questioned.

"I’m not sure at all," she confessed. "Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice in the matter. I’m gambling that they came here for the aliens and if they have their specimens, would want them on Earth as soon as possible. All the best research facilities are on Earth and they’ll need it if they’re intending the specimens for the bio-weapons division."

Foster seemed to agree with that judgement, although like her, he would have preferred to have a little more concrete evidence that Earth was the definite destination of their mysterious trespassers. "Prep time for the star drive is approximately two hours. Is that soon enough Captain?"

"It will have to do." Maia nodded. "I’m taking a minimum complement with me. I want modifications to the sensor array to begin immediately so this sort of nonsense does not happen again during our watch."

"Captain, is that advisable?" He looked at her with concern as she started making her way to the doorway. "If you even do find the ship, there may be the possibility that the crew has been compromised."

"I know," Maia sighed. "However, I have been given extraordinary powers by the UNE to keep this contain and if I’m facing a ship full of aliens, then I’m just going to blow up the ship from a minimum safe distance. I’m not risking any of our people fighting it out in such close quarters. Still, I’m hoping that we get survivors."

Even as the words passed her lips, he could see that she had given up hope on such an eventuality. When the Sulloco had been found, Foster had seen the video footage taken by internal monitoring systems. It did not matter that the occupants of the ship had been in cryosleep. The alien had managed to penetrate their chambers and managed to infect them. The spore when it was awakened was absolutely relentless in its determination to serve its purpose in its brief life. If the crew of the unknown ship had retrieved eggs, then they had no idea what was coming at them until it was too late.

And as Foster watched Captain Sanjay depart the room, he had a feeling that it already was.

********

When Maia arrived at the mess hall, she noticed that all the Marines were present and engaged in lively conversations with more optimism than she had seen since this entire mission had began. She hated how her news was going to change that pleasant mood, especially when telling them about the trespassers was the least of it. She was going to have to split the group to undertake this sidebar mission and felt uncomfortable about dividing their forces but the star drive shuttle could not take so many, particularly if they were forced to take on survivors.

MacReady was at his end of the table and the empty chair next to him indicated that he had saved her a seat as always. No one noticed her arrival for a few seconds and Maia observed MacReady with an affection that was not at all military. He seemed fine now, with no effects of his previous mania showing in his cool demeanour. She prayed that Foster was right, that MacReady had been so distressed by an imbalance of cryogenic fluids. That explanation was the only thing that kept her anchored from the possibility that MacReady had suddenly become the most vulnerable of them because the Queen Mother had a direct conduit into his mind.

Maia took a deep breath and knew she could ill afford to delay this any more. Striding towards their table, it was Addison who caught sight of her first and offered a robust greeting. "Hey Captain, gonna break some bread with us grunts." The comtech said pleasantly.

"Unfortunately we don’t have the time." She said firmly, in a voice that told everyone at the table that something was up. Immediately, they all shifted their attention to her, wondering what bombshell she was about to set upon them now.

"I’ve just come from the bridge." Maia said meeting MacReady’s gaze. The Master Sergeant sat up erect in his chair and downed the entire content of his cup as if he was preparing himself to make an abrupt departure. "According to Foster, a commercial ship has been in the vicinity as recently as a few days ago. Assuming that their presence here is no mistake or fluke, then I am taking the view that they were here to retrieve specimens. If this is so, then it is up to us to find this ship and destroy those specimens as well as placing the said individuals responsible for violating quarantine under arrest."

"I thought no one knew there were aliens on this planet!" Addison exclaimed.

"Well apparently someone does." Maia replied, feeling no wish to discuss the how and why the planet had been looted of its terrifying store. "Sergeant, you’re with me on the rescue mission."

Maia did not want MacReady here in charge of things if indeed the Queen Mother was capable of effecting his mind. The further away from the planet they were the safer it would be. Although Tim Addison may behave like a juvenile at times, Maia had put the comtech in charge prior to this occasion and was confident that he would comport himself appropriately.

"Corporal," she met Addison’s gaze. "You’re in charge."

"Oh my god, there’s goes the Marines." Someone muttered and caused a slight titter of laughter throughout the room, which went a long way to breaking the uneasy line of tension that kept everyone on edge. Maia suspected it might have been Leigh.

"Quinn, Yugowa and are with me." She continued. "I want a minimum complement. You will be in full gear when we board the star drive shuttle. Quinn I want you to be outfitted for the smartgun."

"Do you think we can catch up to them?" Leigh asked.

"Possibly," Maid nodded, unwilling to make any more of a response than that. In truth, she did not know and would not deceive their expectations by taking guesses in the dark. Realistically, she did not know that the ship had collected specimens or that it was on a heading for Earth. The feeling that guided her to her current course of action was not something that was explainable; it was a pure gut instinct.

She knew she was right about this. She just could not prove it.

"What is the worst case scenario here?" Quinn asked in his gravelly voice. It was a standard question for the man. Quinn needed to know what the odds were so that he could prepare himself to face them when it was time to fight. It was easy to become overwhelmed in a combat situation and Quinn disliked the idea of being ill prepared for anything.

Maia sighed, knowing all eyes were upon her with this question, even those who would not be going after the ship. MacReady did not look at her even though she knew she had his undivided attention. "The worst case scenario is that the crew was taken in cryosleep and the ship is infested with however many hosts were available at the time. Since we cannot use our sensors to discern who has been infected and who is still alive, we’re going to have to board the ship and conduct a manual search."

"Shit." This came from Petrov who had seen the aliens on the data tapes and knew how dangerous a situation his comrades were walking into. "Forgive me for saying but is it not better just to destroy the ship once you sight it?"

Maia had considered that as her last resort tactic because she could not imagine anything worse than waiting to die in a ship full of aliens. If there were survivors still uninfected on board the mystery vessel, she had no intention of abandoning them to such a hideous fate. She had not signed up to become a Marine so that she could make people expendable. "Not until we have assessed the situation and are satisfied that there is no one aboard who can’t be saved."

"But…"Petrov opened his mouth to speak.

"Shut up." MacReady threw him a stern glare. He knew why Maia did not want to leave anyone behind. She would never do that again, not after what had happened to Yates. She had always blamed herself that if she had arrived just a few minutes sooner; the young medtech would still be alive.

"It is a valid statement." Petrov pushed.

"I said shut up." MacReady growled with a voice that told Petrov that if he was required to say it once more, the pilot was going to have cause to regret it deeply.

Petrov held MacReady’s gaze for less than a split second before complying with the request, knowing that it was never wise to cross the Master Sergeant on anything. MacReady seldom exerted himself this way but when he did, it was usually for a good reason. Petrov was not going to buck convention by trying to contradict that wisdom.

Maia let the moment pass and continued speaking. "Corporal," she looked at Addison once again. "I want you to coordinate with Foster and get the modifications to the sensor array done as soon as possible. We need to know what’s coming at us now that it appears the secret is out."

"No problem." Addison said confidently, glad that he was not the one facing the aliens.

"And one more thing," she added now that the thought had occurred to her. "You are to listen to anything Foster says on anything, do I make myself clear? I know some of you may have a problem taking any advice from a synthetic and I am truly sympathetic to any such concerns but at this particular point in time, I really don’t give a fuck. Anyone of you not paying attention to Foster, is going to have to deal with me when I get back. Is that clear?"

No one was foolish enough to say no.

"Good," Maia said with no mood for anything now that they had this unexpected curve ball thrown at them. "Finish your meals and report to the main deck in 20 minutes."

*********

When Maia stepped into the berth where the star drive shuttle spent most of its time, MacReady had the others in the minimal crew of Marines assembled and awaiting instructions to begin boarding. All were dressed in full gear, with rifles and flame units slung over their shoulders. Quinn was the only exception to the rule because he had enough hardware on him as it was, since the enormous smartgun was harnessed to him like a second limb. She had selected her team carefully; knowing that if there were survivors, it was good to have the medtech around and Leigh had the ability to keep her cools under pressure which was vital if they did face the aliens. Of all the new Marines under her command, it was Leigh that was the stand out, with Yugowa following a close second. It also helped that Leigh had trained as a comtech and would be a great asset since Addison had to remain behind.

Maia observed all those under her command and felt positively underdressed in her simple coveralls with the sidearm strapped to her side. In truth, she was required to wear the whole ensemble consisting of a helmet, body armour, shin guards, heavy artillery and more equipment than necessary but could never bring herself to adorn herself that way. Maia required the freedom of movement and a full pack was too restrictive for her liking. Besides, she knew this attitude came from the fact that she had not been trained with the Corp and so she did not understand the tradition that required her to strut around like a walking armoury.

Foster emerged from the ramp way that extended out of the main belly of the star drive shuttle. As shuttles went, it was quite small but unlike conventional shuttles of the day, this particular vessel had three times the armour that others did. Its gravity drive was the most sophisticated of its time and the star drive that made it so unique, did away the need for cryogenic chambers, which was why its application was solely for military use. Using a revolutionary ion based engine, the operation of which Maia could not even begin to comprehend, it shortened the journey between the stars to weeks not months, days not weeks. At this time, it was still too experimental to be used commercially but the military had used it as a sort of emergency transport.

The shuttle was no larger than the dropship and sat about twenty people at capacity. It had the usual amenities but it was not heavy on space and certainly not recommended for use on a prolonged journey. Its metallic exterior was gun metal black and shaped like a wedge with extendable wings that would only make its appearance only if they had to manoeuvre in an atmosphere.

"She’s prepped and ready to go." Foster remarked as he approached Maia who was standing away from the Marines because she wanted a quiet word with the android. "I would feel better if I were going with you."

Maia smiled at his loyalty, knowing for a fact that Foster had some personal inclination for her. Perhaps she treated him with more respect than most humans would bestow upon an android, she did not know. All Maia did see was that Foster was fiercely protective and uncommonly loyal for an android. "Thanks Foster but I need you here. Now that we have a confirmed breach of security, it’s safe to assume we may have other visitors before the Ronin and the Fury arrives to provide support. I want our sensor array up and running before that happens. Besides, you’re the only besides me who’s rated to oversee the construction work."

"I know." Foster admitted but not liking that she was right. "Any last minute instructions?" He asked with a sigh, knowing that the subject as far as the Captain was concerned, was now effectively closed. She would not appreciate his insistence and his programming frowned upon such actions.

"Not that I can think of. I don’t think the ship is too far ahead so we should not be gone for too long. Just keep an eye on Addison and don’t let his big mouth faze you. He knows as well as I do, that you know your stuff." Maia responded, giving him a squeeze on his shoulder for support. "I am going to hope that we can do this as painlessly as possible but with the aliens, I know we don’t have that kind of luck."

"Captain," MacReady strode up to them at that point. "The natives are getting restless."

"Wouldn’t want that." Maia tried to joke and saw a faint smile cross the sergeant’s features and even Foster dour features brightened for an instant. "How’s the mood?" She asked.

MacReady cast a glance in the direction of his squad and remarked. "Quinn’s spoiling for a fight, he wants to take out his frustration’s on something that ain’t going to get him courtmarshalled. Yugowa and Leigh are doing okay but Yugowa’s a little twitchy."

She could not blame him for that. The aliens were enough to make anyone a little nervous. "How about you?"

"I’m okay," he tapped his head and then added with no sign of discomfort or embarrassment. "No bats in this belfry."

"That’s good to know." Maia replied, please to hear that. She took a deep breath and let it out again before she decided that it was time to get going. "All right Sergeant, pack them in."

"Yes Sir." MacReady replied loudly for the benefit of the Marines more than anyone else. "See you soon Foster." He said as he marched forcefully to the small congregation awaiting orders not too far from them.

"Likewise Sergeant." Foster returned. "Good luck."

"Marines don’t need luck!" MacReady threw him a grin. "We’re bad assess!"

Maia rolled her eyes and retorted. "Thanks a lot," she grumbled, "Now you’ve got them going. I’ll have to listen to this all the way there."

*********

The shuttle emerged from the belly of the Sparta the same way the drop ship escaped the confines of the ship.

Once its inhabitants were safely nestled inside the passenger compartment, with Captain Maia Sanjay at the controls, the hangar in which the ship was berthed would decompress. The ship’s anti-gravs would be temporarily initiated, creating a low whining sound that would continue as the ship hovered over the floor. A thin line in the metal floor was the only indicator that the shuttle was resting on an enormous set of doors that slid open shortly after the anti-gravs were fired. When the doors were fully parted, the pilot would then disengage the anti-gravs and let the ship plunge through the opening.

The shuttle would free fall for several hundred kilometres, almost edging to the outer ring of Styx’s atmosphere before the star drive would be initiated. A flare of bluish light signalled the beginning of the process. The stars seemed to contract around the vessel as a sudden surge of propulsion sent it into the canopy of indigo blue like a bullet fired.

From his own ship, Crispin Dunne and David Lenard watched the departure of the shuttle through the console screen of their fully operational long-range sensor array. They watched the smaller craft disappear into the stars, leaving the Sparta to fend for itself for the duration.

"Well," Lenard said once the shuttle had disappeared into the darkness. "It worked. They’re talking the bait."

Crispin Dunne smiled. "Did you ever doubt they would?"

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I

They found the Persephone approximately three light years away from Styx.

The registration and name of the ship was emblazoned on its hull and could not be seen until the shuttle’s external lights were able to throw illumination on the title etched in metal. Its heading was as Maia had suspected, on the fastest possible route to Earth using conventional transportation. However, as the shuttle approached the ore carrier, it became very obvious that something was indeed wrong with the ship. Drifting in between the space between systems, the Persephone’s present position now found her far slipping further and further away from her original course to Earth. With no sun to cast any sort of shadow on its grey hull, it was a mere silhouette of black against a canvas of stars.

The Persephone’s engines were off line and its course indicated that there was little or no thruster control. Its trajectory indicated that its intended journey to Earth had been interrupted some time ago and that it had been drifting aimlessly for some length of time. While still heading towards the general direction of Earth, the course had started to decay and ultimately in the long journey ahead, would find itself nowhere near its original destination.

As the shuttle approached the ship, the Marines within saw it rotating like a whale that was rolling slowly and languidly in the surf, moving to the currents as the ship was now moving to the solar winds. Gravity controls were also inoperative and had more or less added confirmation to their belief that the Persephone was no longer under operational status.

"Any life signs?" Maia asked Yugowa as she finally disengaged the shuttle’s star drive as it slowed on its final approach to the ore carrier.

Yugowa studied the statistics on the console screen before him and frowned with uncertainty. "It’s hard to define." He risked enough to say after a few seconds of careful scrutiny. "There are life signs but they are very faint. They could still be in hypersleep which might explain these readings but it looks to me like the entire ship is shut down and that would have to include the hibernation chambers."

"Not necessarily," Leigh quickly responded. The junior comtech was seated before the main sensor terminal, next to Maia who was occupying the pilot’s seat. "All hibernation chambers have back up power generators just in case of complete operational failure, like it is in this case here. They would be alive but still in stasis."

"Or," MacReady sighed not wishing to bring up this most uncomfortable possibility but knowing that it was his duty as Master Sergeant to do so, "they aren’t in hibernation and they’re all awake."

"The sensors would have shown that." Yugowa quickly countered. "I don’t have anything resembling normal bio-readings."

"I mean," MacReady cleared his throat, knowing of no delicate way to put this. "Is that they might have been revived from hypersleep just before the spores made them hosts."

"Christ." Quinn grimaced involuntarily. The smartgunner could think of no worse nightmare than to face the aliens while in hypersleep. It was bad enough to be so vulnerable during that period but to have aliens running around waiting to make one an incubator? It was truly one of the few things that could make Quinn’s skin crawl with evulsion.

"We don’t know that yet." Maia spoke up loudly, trying to dispel the tendrils of fear that was moving through the group with that possibility. They were all tense enough as it was without letting their imagination make the situation any worse than it already was.

"I would be smarter to just nuke the damn thing from here." Quinn muttered under his breath and although it was meant to be a private remark, the confines of the shuttle’s passenger cabin was small enough to let it carry to the others who immediately grunted their approval.

"It would be," Maia agreed, "unfortunately that is a civilian carrier and while there is even the possibility that there might be life on the ship, we are obliged to make an on board search."

The shuttle proceeded to make a slow orbit around the ore carrier before locating the docking station at the rear of the ship. Maia brought the shuttle about carefully, initiating thrusters so that the shuttle’s would veer gently towards the direction of the Persephone’s hull. Within seconds, the gap between both vessels had decreased steadily and the connection was made with flawless precision.

The sound of docking clamps engaging sending a loud metallic reverberation throughout the shuttle as the small vessel locked against the hull of the commercial carrier. No one spoke as the tether was established because the veterans in the group were unanimous in their belief that the worst had befallen the Persephone if its crew had been foolish enough to land on the planet Styx. Even though she was adrift, they had no real evidence to prove that the crew had actually violated the quarantine.

However, everything that made Maia Sanjay what she was, screamed that the Persephone was a ship with secrets.

Secrets and death.

************

Senior Comtech and Corporal Tim Addison did not like taking orders. He liked giving them even less.

When he was placed in charge of the squad with the departure of Captain Sanjay and Sargeant MacReady, Addison figured how hard could it be? All he was really required to do was make sure the I’s were dotted and the T’s were crossed and everyone knew where the john was. Pretty standard stuff. The task Maia had left the Corporal was a little more complicated than standard but nothing that a squad of professional soldiers could not handle standing on their heads. After all, it was a long-range sensor array they had to assemble not a nuclear missile launcher.

The first few hours of his command had gone by with relative calm. As he had believed, they were professionals and they launched into the job ahead with the same dedication they met all their missions, no matter how unimportant it might sometimes seem to be. Most of them were pleased that their mission parameters did not include a surface landing of Styx which Addison had to admit, he was quite glad of himself. After all, assembling a sensor array that required some space walking was nowhere as life threatening as facing a planet full of aliens on their home turf.

Addison was no coward but he understood when he was outgunned and outmatched. The aliens they had encountered on Fiorina had did all that and more. For those who had survived that mission, it had left them changed by the knowledge that they could never be sure again that they were ready for the unexpected. Fiorina had taught them a harsh lesson in how even a squad of seemingly invulnerable Marines could fall prey to the unknown.

He wasted no time after the departure of the Captain and MacReady to set his comrades to work in building the sensor array that was vital for their blockade mission. Addison supposed that MacReady was probably glad to get out of this detail, knowing how his best friend and Sargeant felt about space walking. It was the one instance when that unflappable expression was wiped utterly from his calm features. MacReady hated space walking with a vengeance and would no doubt have abhorred the idea of spending the time required to assemble the array on the hull of the Sparta, while at the same time having to portray an image of authority to the rest of squad.

Addison had no trouble with space walking and along with Jaleel, Lopez and Dmitri, were soon garbed in their Enviro-suits and carrying out the work required to assemble the long range sensor equipment that would give them a valuable edge in detecting ships attempting to run the blockade. Space walking took some getting accustomed to and even the most seasoned Marine could have difficulty keeping their senses in zero gravity. Long ago, a rating system was established so that individuals with low tolerances to weightlessness need not be subjected to working in the cold vacuum of space. Not unlike a driver’s license, being rated for space walking required testing and the Marines presently working on the hull of this ship were rated the highest in the entire squad.

"Pick it up people." Addison said as he knelt down on the underside of the Sparta and conducted the intricate wiring that only he was qualified to perform as the squad’s comtech. "I’m in charge now, so I’m pushing you twice as hard. None of that slacking off you’re used to with Mac."

"Bite me." Jaleel retorted as he held up the metal length that Lopez was welding to another attachment.

"Now is that anyway to talk to your superior?" Addison grinned as he slipped a five-pin plug into its corresponding connection. Despite his attempt at levity, Addison’s eyes never left the panel with its exposed wires and unattached plugs. If even one of these were not where they were meant to be, the resounding short circuit could invariably blow the entire board and precipitated a electronic disaster that would see his next four furloughs cancelled when the Captain got her hands on him.

"Okay," Jaleel paused and took a moment to articulate a suitable response. "Bite me Sir?"

The remark elicited a burst of laughter from all those present, Addison included. "You’re just such a stickler for convention." The corporal smiled as he finished connecting up the rest of the loose pins on the control panel before him.

Normally, the work of assembling the sensor array would take a matter of days if they were in a gravity environment. Fortunately, weightlessness hastened the process considerably. In a vacuum, without the weight of an atmosphere pulling at their movements, limbs moved quickly and invariably things got done faster. They could expect to complete a few days works after little more than 24 hours. Addison rose to his feet and unhooked his tether line so that he could investigate what progress Jaleel and Lopez was making. Dmitri was an old pro at this and if its was one thing that Addison was sure of, the Russian needed supervision from no one, least of all him. While Addison found Dmitri to be a conceited son of a bitch most of the time, he had to admit that Dmitri was good at what he did.

Addison gazed upwards and found himself staring at the planet Styx. Thanks to his magnetic boots and his tether line, he was hanging up side down as he stared at the world which did not at all offer him comfort. Most times, seeing a planet close enough to touch was something to enjoy especially when he was seeing it like this, as an infinitesimal in space. However, Styx was not a world that engender images of rolling fields and beautiful skies. He stared at it and decided that it was indeed an appropriate name because it was the closest to the underworld that he could imagine in this life.

Suddenly, he heard a burst of static in his headset that made Addison flinch. He glanced at the others and saw the same reaction as they tapped their helmets, as if that gesture alone would dispel the sudden disruption.

"Secure your tether lines!" Foster’s voice erupted abruptly in his ear. "There’s a ship about to make a pass. Repeat! Secure your tether lines!

"Shit!" Addison swore and immediately scrambled for the grabbling hook that hung off the belt as the tether line that it was attached to it had retracted after Addison had unhooked himself. The corporal immediately found himself a secure place to tether himself to the hull and slipped the locking mechanism into place. As soon as he was safe, he looked over his shoulder to see Lopez, Jaleel and Dmitri taking similar precautions.

"What do you mean another goddamn ship!" Dmitri demanded. "Is all our fucking intelligence about this mission wrong?

"I don’t know," Foster responded with maddening calm and Addison could understand just how infuriated Dmitri was at this time because he was feeling the same anger. "It appeared on our scope just a few seconds ago. It has apparently been using the planet’s interference to mask its signature. Remember, that’s why we were installing the long range sensor array, our present radar is somewhat limited..."

"No shit!" Jaleel declared. "How close are they going to pass us?"

"Pretty damn close!" Lopez exclaimed as she started pointing to the distance. The quartet immediately shifted their gaze upwards, staring at the planet Styx but more importantly at the ship that was speeding past them. Fortunately, space allowed them to feel no shock waves of any kind at the close quarters pass but the proximity of the trespasser did give them reason for concern. Viewing it from inside the Sparta would have given the space walkers little cause to break a sweat, but their present position made the small cruiser seem terribly large and brought awful images of collision to mind.

Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened and the cruiser simply continued on its obvious course towards the planet. The Marines were given a bird’s eye view as it arched across the sky, passing the Sparta closely before continuing its descent into Styx’s atmosphere, with little thought as to the humans it was passing by in space or the consequences of landing in the alien stronghold.

"Whoever they are, they’re fucking insane." Addison said, never one to hold back a thought.

"Are you able to get a look at its name?" Foster inquired from inside the Sparta, making the question general to whomever could best answer it.

The illumination on the hull was enough for them to conduct their work but not even to catch a glimpse of the writing on the disappearing ship in the distance. The planet’s natural glow had given them enough light to see the ship but its speed and the positioning of its registration markings did not allow the vessel to be identified. Addison nevertheless tried anyway, knowing that it was important that they knew who was attempting to run the blockade. As a corporal, he did not have the authority to order the vessel shot down, not with so little information about it at their disposal and Foster was a synthetic. He could not allow anyone to be hurt even if he wished it. His programming simply did not allow him to commit an act that would endanger human lives.

"Sorry," Addison frowned, knowing what the presence of this mysterious vessel would mean for those present. "Too far away."

"It’s not military." Dmitri replied with confidence. "It’s a light cruiser but the engine configuration is not standard for this class. I would not be surprised if that ship could outrun us by conventional drive."

"Its power readings at higher than what they should be for a ship of that size." Foster reinforced Dmitri’s speculation.

"Is it a commercial ship?" Lopez asked, glancing in the direction of her mentor.

"No," Dmitri shook his head in response, knowing that much about their intruder. "Its too small to be commercial. I’d say that is a private ship because it’s a custom job."

"Well I think we got bigger problems than just building this thing now." Addison frowned. "Foster, get on the horn and call the Captain, we need her back. At the very least, we need a command decision on what to do."

"Like what?" Jaleel’s voice indicated that he was almost afraid to ask what the answer to that decision might be.

"Like whether or not we sit on our butts until she gets back or do we go after those assholes." Addison sighed most unhappily.

He had a bad feeling that it was going to be the latter.

**********

She was calling him.

He did know how he could hear her voice through the depths of the void between them but her song was a siren’s call beckoning him to the rocks and no matter what he did, he could not seem to will it away. He had listened to her sing even in hypersleep, caressing his mind in slumber, whispering promises of oneness he had never known in his entire life. Suddenly, everything was so clear to him and in the dreamscape where she reigned supreme; he finally understood this deep loneliness that had pursued him all his life. She promised that it would be driven away forever, that he would never be alone again. He need only reach her to be apart of the whole.

**********

"I still don’t think this is a good idea Mr Dunne." The scientist who went by the name of Ian Keogh reiterated for the dozen time since the decision to make a surface landing of the planet was made. Keogh had been a refugee of the Weyland Yutani Corporation, one of those disembodied souls that wandered aimlessly once the massive funding of the company had dried up and forced him into an oblivion where pure research was no longer an option. Dunne had found him languishing in a minor biochemical research company as an underpaid minion to those who did the important work. Keogh’s credentials should have earned him a better position in a number of companies, had he been able to reveal what he had spent the past ten years of his life working on.

Keogh was one of the few experts regarding the Acheron alien that was not currently languishing in prison.

He had somehow managed to slip through the cracks of the investigation when Weyland Yutani was finally made accountable for its crimes. Dunne had sought him out after Lenard had come to him with the discovery of the planet Styx and offered him a chance to continue his life’s work.

Upon meeting him for the first time, Dunne could very well understand how investigators had looked him by. Keogh was one of those rare individuals that could disappear in any crowd. There was nothing about him that struck anyone as exceptional and only Dunne was aware of what brilliance remained behind the thick rimmed frame of his thick glasses. Keogh went through life unnoticed although in this instance, that personality trait had been more a blessing than a hindrance.

"We cannot gain specimens by remaining trapped in orbit between the planet and the blockade, Doctor." Dunne said impatiently as he sat at the main controls of the Necromancer’s cockpit.

Keogh figetted in his seat, an action that Dunne not only found irritating but seemed to be a constant trait the man displayed. "I understand that but we know almost nothing about the planet. The information provided by Mr Lenard is sketchy at best. It could be extremely dangerous."

"The information I provided was enough to find this planet," Lenard glanced at him from the co-pilot’s seat with an icy glare. "If it wasn’t for me, you’d still be languishing in your dazzling career as a glorified insect exterminator."

Keogh flinched at the insult but said nothing. Instead he swallowed hard the anger that build inside him and narrowed his eyes in nothing less than pure hatred. However, when he spoke, he did not address Lenard but rather saw through him because he had learnt enough during this journey, that the Councilman hated being ignored more than anything else.

"Mr Dunne, you pay me to offer you my scientific knowledge on these creatures and I am perfomring that service by warning you that this is dangerous. If this is indeed the home planet of these creatures then it is an extremely hostile environment that gave birth to such an aggressive species. I speak my mind on this because I do not wish to die here or become a host and that is precisely what will happen if we attempt to land haphazardly."

He was right about that much, Dunne had to admit. Keogh was paid for his expertise and if he dared to make himself heard despite his timid manner then Dunne had to value that advice. "We are well armed with military grade weapons and the best motion trackers and sensor equipment that money can buy, Doctor Keogh." Dunne said not unkindly. Keogh was better value for money that Lenard had ever been and so he offered the doctor something he would never permit the Councilman.

Respect.

"We will collect samples and leave at the first sight of trouble. Believe me, I have no wish to risk my own life in this endeavour but we have to collect these specimens before that shuttle gets back. My intelligence network tells me that the Marines will not make a move without their Captain and believe me, if even half of what I hear about Captain Sanjay is true, you do not wish to be her prisoner."

"But the coordinates of the landing site are nowhere near the place the Iago landed." Keogh insisted. "According to your trajectory, we are going to the other side of the planet."

For once, Lenard had to agree with the doctor’s confusion. "I have to agree with the doctor on this one," he said much to his surprise as well as Keogh’s. "Do you know where you are going?"

Crispin Dunne smiled and met their inquisitive stare with an enigmatic glaze to his eyes. "I know perfectly well where I am going when we get there, you’ll understand just as perfectly."

CHAPTER TWELVE

I

A beam of blue light broke through the plexiglass portal at the main hatch and illuminated the Persephone’s innards as the Marines stood poised inside the docking conduit between the two ships. From what little they could see through the tiny opening as they attempted to force the door open, there was no sign of any activity inside the vessel. The darkness that greeted them as they stood on the periphery, left them all with a feeling of ominous gloom.

Since the ship was completely powered down, the electronics that allowed the hatch to open was also inoperative and required Leigh to hook up a portable generator in order to initialise the locking mechanism. The young private worked quickly and Maia found her admiration for Junior Comtech Leigh to be growing. Of the new recruits that had joined the squad after the Fiorina mission, it was Leigh who showed the most promise. It was a testament to her ability that MacReady relied upon her because he rarely trusted anyone other than himself.

They were all clad in environmental suits because until life support on the Persephone was operational once more, the temperature inside the vessel would not only be minus freezing but also airless. Maia did not know much about the aliens but she remembered Foster telling her that research data that they had acquired (secretly) from the Weyland Yutani Station in orbit around Fiorina had indicated that the aliens’ silicone based exoskeleton allowed the species to survive in the most hostile environments. The planet Styx had created a creature that was not only one of the most dangerously organisms to crawl out of the primordial ooze but it was also extremely adaptable.

Considering how she now required this cumbersome suit to move around on board the Persephone, Maia could not help but think that the aliens were going to come out of any engagement better than they would. She hated wearing envirosuits even though their necessity was obvious. It cut down their manoeuvrability and the helmets distracted peripheral vision which further annoyed the former UNE agent.

"I hate this fucking thing." Quinn grumbled, verbalising her thoughts more accurately she could ever translate into words. "How my I suppose to shoot anything?"

"You’re a smart guy," Maia replied with a faint smile. "You’ll work it out."

"He ain’t that smart." MacReady grinned behind his face plate.

"Fuck you Mac." Quinn retorted.

"Sorry Quinn," the Sargent said turning back to Leigh to check her progress. "You’re not my type."

Quinn threw him an unhappy scowl and returned his attention to the smartgun harness around his body. The envirosuit was not made to accommodate a smartgun and so Quinn was having a difficult time trying to get the large weapon to sit just right so he could shoot with any accuracy. When it came to his role as smartgunner, Quinn was nothing less than a perfectionist. He spent hours maintaining his weapons and ensuring that he was thoroughly prepared before he went on any mission, no matter how trivial the assignment might be. Marin was the same way and the duo usually would perform the ritual together. The thought of Marin suddenly touched a nerve within Quinn more than it should have and he felt resoundingly guilty at how he had treated her during their last exchange. Quinn made a mental note to apologise or make it up to her when he got back to the Sparta.

However, the way their luck was sometimes, Quinn just hoped that he did not get killed before that happened.

Suddenly, lights started flashing across the key points on the door and Leigh stepped back as the shrill sound of a klaxon screamed in their ears. The sound paused long enough for a computer operated voice to quickly respond. "

"Warning, outer door engaged. All pressure doors will be sealed at exactly T-minus one minute."

The door once opened would give them access to the hangar where the escape shuttles were kept. As they saw the pressure doors at the far end of the room grinding to a close through the portal, they also took note that the escape pod had not been engaged. It was still nestled in its berth oblivious to the disaster already taken place or to the one that might yet be. There appeared to be no sign of damage to the pod and Maia wondered if the crew had even a chance to reach the vessel.

While she could not say for certain that Yugowa and Leigh were expecting the worst, Maia knew with confidence that MacReady and Quinn were. With the time to boarding the ship only a matter of seconds away, she noticed Quinn checking the ammunition inside the chamber of his gun even though he had done it a few seconds before. MacReady was less obvious. The Sargeant’s only reaction was to raise the barrel of his pulse rifle in the direction of the door, no doubt poised to act if anything should come through it.

"T minus ….five seconds." The computer voice replied.

"T minus…..four seconds." The Marines took one step back from the door.

"T minus…..three seconds." Leigh and Yugowa raised their guns at aimed at the door.

"T minus….two seconds." MacReady tightened his finger over the trigger of his gun and joined them.

"T minus..one second." Quinn ensured he was standing before all of them with the smartgun pointed forward.

"Outer door engaged." Maia held her breath.

The door slid open, metal grinding against metal as it disappeared into the wall. A loud hiss escape the hydraulics that had allowed it to open and a gush of cold air made itself seen by the powdery curls of white that drifted towards them once it was open. Everyone of them were on a knife’s edge as the entry way into the Persephone opened itself for them. Seconds ticked by as they stood there frozen waiting for something to happen, waiting for something to spring from the dark or give evidence to some dark creature taking refuge in the shadows as it waited for them to enter before attacking.

Except nothing happened.

A minute had almost ticked by before any one noticed that they had been standing rooted to the spot, almost terrified by what might be hiding in wait for them in the shadows. It felt almost foolish after they realised that there was nothing lurking in the hangar bay and no boogey mean was going to make a dramatic appearance.

"Okay," Maia released a held breath. "I feel stupid."

"Ditto." Leigh agreed.

A collected sigh of relief filtered through the com-sets to everyone present and while the danger was far from over, it did bring to home how much an enemy their own minds were being in this instance. The aliens did not need any more of an advantage than they already had and so Maia looked to MacReady and said firmly. "Let’s move it inside."

"You heard the Captain." Mac prompted. "Quinn you first."

"Right." Quinn nodded and moved forward cautiously, not because he was afraid but because that’s how he did things. He flicked a switch and a beam of light illuminated his way from the external torch mounted on the smartgun.

As previously witnessed, everything inside the escape pod’s berth had been undisturbed. Other than a thin film of ice that had formed over equipment, machinery and the ship itself, there was nothing to indicate the presence of any violence. Since the pressure door had sealed the bay from the rest of the ship, they were assured nothing could make an untimely arrival and surprise them while they made this initial exploratory search.

"We’ll need to get to the bridge." Maia commented as they moved deeper into the bay. MacReady had taken up the rear while she was being flanked by Yugowa and Leigh while Quinn led the way. "Private, you ever fired up one of these babies before?"

Leigh looked at her with uncertainty. "Only in simulations." She confessed.

"Nothing to it," Maia who was a fully qualified pilot smiled with confidence. "I’ll need your assist while we’re doing it but in generally initialisation is pretty simple."

"I’d like to find the hibernation chambers." Yugowa suggested. "If anyone is still in there, we should get them out."

"We’ll do that after life support is established. " Maia retorted. "If they’re in stasis, another hour or so won’t hurt them. If they’re not in stasis, then I’m guessing it’s already too late."

Yugowa opened his mouth to protest until he understood what she meant by that statement. The medtech fell silent, disliking the idea as much as Quinn had declared earlier, what an awful fate to be so vulnerable when one was in stasis and powerless against determined alien spores.

Leigh was busy monitoring the readings on the motion tracker and was gratified to know that there were the only ones inside the escape pod bay. She also noticed that nothing else was moving within the range of the tracker and wondered if the alien infestation they feared was a mistake. Perhaps there was a legitimate reason why the Persephone had been in the vicinity of Planet Styx.

"Anything?" Maia asked as they neared the pressure doors.

"Not at all." Leigh responded. "If there are aliens here, they aren’t moving."

"That’s not unusual behaviour." MacReady replied. "We were guts deep into their hive and didn’t detect a thing on the tracker before we worked out we weren’t alone during the Fiorina mission."

"They tend to hibernate when there are no hosts around." Maia explained for the benefit of those who don’t know.

"Great." Leigh said unhappily because that meant there could be aliens in this room in a similar state of stasis waiting for warm bodies to appear before making their presence felt. A cold chill ran up her spine which had nothing to do with the icy temperature outside her envirosuit.

"Let’s just get to the bridge." Quinn grumbled. "I want off this floating coffin."

His choice of words left a lot to be desired but Maia could not disagree with the smartgunner’s desire. They had arrived at the pressure doors and had to leave the safety of this room if they were to find out what happened on board this ship. Everything they needed was on the bridge, the controls to the life support systems, the initialisation for main power and more importantly, at least to Maia anywhere, the captain’s log which might possibly explain what had happened to the Persephone during this journey. She wished Foster had come with her on this trip because the android would be able to interface with the main computer much more rapidly than Leigh was able.

"Stand back." Quinn declared as MacReady stepped forward and took up position by the lever that would activate the door’s manual release. Maia, Yugowa and Leigh took position behind the smartgunner as Quinn waited for MacReady to open the pressure doors. MacReady slung his rifle over his shoulder as he wrapped his hand around the lever and forced it down with a resounding hiss that continued when the huge metal doors forced itself off the ground.

Behind it was more blackness that was quickly illuminated to reveal a walkway. Although the Persephone was a large ore carrier, very little of it was actually regulated for human usage. Most of the ship was cargo space that may or may not have been filled to capacity, depending on whether the ship was ever allowed to complete its mission by collecting its required payload. Maia knew the basic layout of the ship and knew that they would not have much ground to cover. The only distance they would have to endure was reaching the parts of the ship designated as crew areas which were no doubt at the end of the corridor outside this bay.

Quinn stepped through first, the massive barrel of the smartgun pivoting from side to side with enough speed and efficiency to make anyone seeing if for the first time to believe that it was an automated response, not the skill of a man. The torch on his weapon showed that the corridors was clear and ran clear for several hundred meters in either direction. This did not surprise the smartgunner because cargo ships were often built this way.

The light travelled up corridors and revealed nothing that could be considered dangerous for the moment. MacReady followed Quinn out, taking position next to the smartgunner as they paused a moment and waited for the rest of their party to emerge from the escape pod bay. Maia had downloaded a schematic of this class of vessel prior to leaving the shuttle and so she had a good idea which way they would be headed.

"According to this," she replied studying the data pad closely as she sought out the most direct route to the bridge. "If we go down this corridor to the next juncture and take a left, it should lead us straight to the bridge."

Although she did not voice it, she wanted to leave the vessel as soon as possible. Without having even seen any bodies or aliens, Maia was certain about what they would find. The Persephone was a ghost ship because everyone on board was dead. She had no doubt in her mind that the Persephone had made an ill advised landing on Styx and encountered the aliens. The question was where were the creatures now?

As always, Quinn led their advance with MacReady standing beside him as they move deeper into the ship. There was no sign of any violence or nothing to indicate that aliens had the run of the ship. The Marines saw no signs of the strange vein like constructions the aliens tended to build in their nesting areas as they had witnessed on Fiorina.

"I wonder what she’s carrying." Leigh asked as they continued down the deck.

"Ore I suppose," Yugowa answered and received a frown from Leigh considering ore could mean anything from deutronium to something as simple as bauxite.

Commercial ore miners believe nothing was sacred from plunder. From the earliest days of off world colonisation, the miners had led the charge, traversing in all kinds of terrain to bring in the yield from an untapped vein of minerals and precious metals that would make them rich. As the galaxy expanded so did the trillion-dollar industry until mining on Earth had virtually disappeared. Environmentalists had cheered because the home planet was being spared and nobody really cared what happened on another world where there was rarely life to protest the mining.

"This far out it could be anything." Maia remarked off handedly. "When we get to the bridge, you can call up the cargo manifest to see what they were after."

"I can’t understand why they would stop at Styx, even if they were after the alien. I mean, they’re ore carriers." MacReady remarked as they passed by the mess hall.

"It’s still a commercial ship." Maia pointed out as they paused long enough to inspect the room. "They’re under standard contract which means that what company they signed on with holds their leashes. When the Nostromo encountered the alien on LV427, they were under the impression that they were meant to be investigating at unknown signal. They had no idea that they were meant to find the alien because the Company never told them."

"You mean these poor bastards might have just been sent to Styx?" Yugowa exclaimed in nothing less than shock.

"It’s purely speculation Private," Maia reiterated. "But yeah, I think that is what happened." she nodded knowing what some corporations could be like. Weyland Yutani had set the standard and while the conglomerate no longer existed, the lessons it taught in the manner business was conducted was not as easily erased. "I think they were probably diverted from their original heading and sent here so some corporate raider could get his hands on a specimen."

"So much for security on this thing." MacReady grumbled. "What happened to no one having any idea that Styx even existed?"

Maia could not answer and in truth, she would like the answer to that question herself. General Hanlon had promised her that only the task force being prepared at Earth and the ships that were meant to form the blockade had any knowledge of the alien home world. How had such sensitive information fallen into the hands of a commercial carrier?

Inside the darkened walls of the mess hall, the Marines made a quick inspection and discovered that the dining area and the kitchen were kept spotlessly clean. Excepting the thin layer of ice that covered everything, the mess was as undisturbed as everything else they had seen so far on the Persephone. Chairs were tucked neatly in place at the tables and the mess appeared as it was after its final cleaning. Maia suddenly had the premonition that the facilities had not been put to use since the sleepers on board went into hypersleep.

"This is getting really weird." Quinn declared and no one could disagree with him. "If the fucking things are here, where the hell are they?"

Maia could understand his frustration because Quinn’s personality could only handle dangers that he could see in order to focus his aggression. With no enemy is sight, all that violence was bottled up with no place to go and now with the added pressure of his unresolved tensions with Marin, Quinn was a time bomb waiting explosion. When he went, Maia doubted even MacReady’s influence was going to be able to stop the white-hot fire of his rage.

*********

The Marines continued towards the bridge and reached the central hub of the Persephone without incident. Still, their not discovering of any aliens was creating almost as much tension as not finding any of the creatures at all. It deepened the puzzlement that they felt at what had taken place on board this vessel with its quiet and empty halls. They had prepared themselves to see all kinds of atrocities when they stepped on board the ship and not finding any twisted them with the rising fear that there was more going on then they knew.

Maia finally let out a sigh of relief at their arrival on the bridge because then it allowed the Marines something to do other than dwell on their inability to find anyone or understand what had happened to the ship. Maia immediately took the controls as she and Leigh got to work re-initialising the ship’s main reactor so that they could reinstate power into all systems. Maia had not even considered what to do when all was restored because the ship could not simply be abandoned here. Ore carriers could return to Earth under complete automation when its crew was in hypersleep but emergency safeguards would alert those crewmen if trouble arose. However it was highly unlikely that the Persephone had any crew left for such a task.

"How are we doing?" Maia asked as she sat at the Captain’s chair and wondered if he or she was still alive to mind the imposition.

Leigh was poised over the engineering station, her movements hampered by the envirosuit because it was near impossible to use the keypad with the cumbersome gauntlets over her digits. However, the Marine made a valiant effort to conduct the work and after a few minutes looked up at Maia. "I’ve entered the proper access code, " she informed Maia dutifully. "You have complete authorisation over all systems."

"Good," Maia nodded. "Everybody, hold onto something." She instructed the Marines who were scattered over the bridge. "I’m going to attempt a cold start which means we will probably have some turbulence when the engines fires up."

"Terrific." Quinn remarked, keeping a vigil by the main entrance to the bridge. He was still convinced that not everything on board was as peaceful as it appeared. Something smelled bad, the smartgunner could feel it in his bones.

Suddenly, proximity alert started screaming behind him.

MacReady who was holding the motion tracker immediately lifted the device that was making itself heard most prolifically. Everyone on the bridge seemed to freeze at that moment as furious glances were exchanged across the room before finally resting on MacReady who was staring in the digital screen of the tracker.

"I got readings!" MacReady exclaimed.

"Where?" Quinn raised his weapon and hurried next to the Sergeant so he could see for himself.

"It’s coming straight for us." MacReady announced. All thoughts about powering up the Persephone was quickly brushed aside as the rest of the Marines grabbed their weapons. Maia jumped out of the Captain’s chair and picked up her pulse rifle, her eye following MacReady as he allowed the motion tracker to instruct him on which direction their ‘guest’ would be arriving. The beeping sound seemed to quicken as he reached the main entrance and Quinn stayed with him all the way, as the others got behind the two men .

"How many signals?" Maia ordered as she stepped forward, no longer content to be safely guarded behind MacReady or Quinn.

"Just one." MacReady looked up at her in confusion.

"One signal?" Even Quinn found that to be confusing.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps against the metal deck and it did not at all sound alien or dangerous. It sounded very much like someone hurrying down the corridor.

"Screw this," Maia snapped and took up position at the door panel. "I’m opening it. Quinn, if its not human, shoot it."

"Yes ma’am." The smartgunner was more than happy to obey that directive.

"Its right on top of us." MacReady announced and raised his gun just a little higher while maintaining a firm eye on the screen of the motion tracker.

Maia slammed her hand against the door panel as the sound got louder and closer. The hydraulics of the door gave away its intention to open and stopped the footsteps immediately. The door slid apart with a loud hiss and to everyone’s surprise, they found themselves staring at young woman who was not wearing an envirosuit.

"Thank goodness someone has finally found us," she gushed. "I’m Wyatt, the Persephone’s synthetic."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I

For a moment, no one spoke because they were still too astonished. They had expected to be facing an alien when the motion tracker had screamed a presence approaching them but their anticipation had led them astray as the synthetic human named Wyatt stared at them and appeared confused at their reaction. Of course, it should have been of no surprise to anyone that there would be an artificial person on board the Persephone, after all they were a standard requirement of all commercial liners for the past fifty years.

However, they had been greeted by nothing but silence since they had boarded the ship and could not understand why Wyatt’s appearance had gone unnoticed all this time.

"Where the hell have you been hiding?" Leigh exclaimed, since she had been in charge of the motion tracker all the way to the bridge from the moment they had boarded the ship.

"A good question," Maia remarked stepping forward to indicate to the synthetic who outward appearance had her looking like an Asian woman in her early thirties. "We’ve been on board this ship for several hours now and we have not noted your appearance anywhere. "

"I was hiding from them." The synthetic said coolly, aware of the deep scrutiny she was currently under by those present.

"Them?" MacReady asked, even though everyone had a very good idea who ‘them’ was but it was helpful to hear this woman say it for herself.

"I don’t know what they are," the synthetic said breathlessly, clearly disturbed by having to describe the creatures that everyone were certain were the aliens. Although androids were merely mechanical, programmers had instilled them with every human idiosyncrasy, including emotions such as fear and apprehension. "Who are you people anyway? We didn’t expect anyone to be out this far."

"Obviously we’re military," Maia took the question. "We’re out here doing a survey mission for possible venues for war games when we came across your ship adrift."

"I see," the android nodded, accepting the story that none of the Marines were going to refute for the moment. Their mission to the planet Styx was supposed to be held in complete secrecy and if the crew of the Persephone had stumbled onto the planet by chance, then there was no need for that fact to be exposed. "I’m glad you’ve arrived, we need to get back on course."

"What happened?" MacReady inquired wondering why the ship had been a drift in the first place if there was a synthetic on board to monitor the situation as this one was obviously meant to.

"Wait," Maia interupted before she could answer. "We need to get this ship operational. She’s still adrift and we need to get her systems back online, most notably, life support."

"Yeah," MacReady nodded in agreement. "Back to position people." He prompted. The group disbanded to their specified stations with Wyatt keeping in step with Maia as she made her way to the controls.

Quinn took up position next to the door once again, even more convinced that the Persephone had more surprises up her sleeve with the appearance of Wyatt. Her ability to remain undetected all that time presented a very stark vulnerability in their defensive perimeter and he was staying at this door to keep that weakness from being exploited for the duration of their stay.

"You’re a comtech?" Wyatt asked Leigh as the young private sat at the operations console once more.

"That’s me," Leigh answered, still concentrating on breaking the dozen or more encryption codes that will allow complete access to the computer core. While the main engines were now at Maia’s command, there were other sections of the ship that were effectively locked out to the Marines until their codes were deciphered and entered.

"Thank goodness," Wyatt responded. "When things started to awry, I didn’t have the authorisation to do anything."

"Technically, you’re supposed to revive the Captain in case of that kind of emergency." MacReady replied. "Isn’t that standard op on commercial ship?"

"Yes," Wyatt nodded sadly. "Unfortunately, it was too late for that."

Unlike Foster, Wyatt was a commercial model, which did not have half the behavioural inhibitors accessible to military grade synthetics that could function without ever seeing a programmer once it was taken off the assembly line. Unfortunate incidents over the years had robbed commercial synthetics of the autonomy enjoyed by their military counterparts and this included having interface abilities, not to mention encryption algorithms.

"Okay," Maia spoke up as she re-entered the sequence for the initialisation of the main engines. "Everybody, I’m trying the cold start again. Everybody find a seat or hold on."

Leigh leaned back into her seat and grabbed onto the armrest, motioning Wyatt to do the same. The synthetic slipped into the empty seat next to her while MacReady braced himself against a bulkhead, while Quinn pressed himself against the near by wall for support. Yugowa at the life support station made similar preparations as he eased back into his chair.

Maia let her fingers fly over the keypad and kept her eyes trained on the readings on the screen before her. The screen flashed red as the engines came on line. At first, no one could tell anything had happened and then without warning, the ship shuddered violently. Maia dug her nails into the leather of the armrests as the Persephone started bouncing and rocking forward. Everything that was not bolted down immediately fell to the deck as the entire hulk of the vessel heaved in protest. The stress on the structure could be heard in loud whine that reverberated through the floor and tingled down to their bones. The sound of the engines struggling for life could be heard as the enormous machinery beneath was forced into motion.

"Structural integrity is weakening!" Leigh exclaimed as the warning signs flashed across her screens.

"Just a little more," Maia whispered under her breath, coaxing the engines to fire with the addition of more power. "Come on you cold bitch! Fire!"

No sooner than she had made that vehement demand, lights all across the bridge came to life and the ship surge forward as the engines finally ignited. Maia immediately switched on the thrusters that would allow the Persephone to hold its position in space. The shuddering continued for a few more seconds before it gradually dissipated into nothingness. Although this kind of dramatics was common with cold starts, everyone on the bridge released a collective sigh of relief.

Space was too big to be so blase about anything to do with the health of a space ship.

"Main engines are at nominal and all systems are back on line." Leigh grinned as she saw pleasant emerald coloured readings replace the angry red that had flashed from her screen a short time ago.

"I am initialising life support." Yugowa said automatically. "We should be able to breathe atmosphere in about thirty minutes."

"Thank Christ," Quinn grumbled. "Does that mean we can get out of this fucking suits?"

"Charmingly put as always Private," Maia smiled as she threw the smartgunner a look.

"I ain’t fucking Tennyson." He retorted.

Maia resisted the urge to ask Quinn how he even knew about Tennyson but decided this was hardly the time. She offered MacReady a smile as things on the bridge of the Persephone settled back to something even remotely resembling normal. However, his expression showed no elation at their apparent success on the bridge. Instead, he was staring hard at Wyatt. It was a look Maia knew well and had come to rely upon.

Something was wrong and it was time they found what that is.

**********

When the environmental controls were finally operational again and the Persephone was finally suitable for human occupants, the Marines divested themselves of their enviro-suits and retired to the mess hall. Maia wanted Wyatt to debrief them on how the Persephone had come to be at Styx and later in such dire straits to be adrift. Like MacReady, Maia did not entirely trust the synthetic even though she was not usually prone to such prejudices. Foster had proven himself time and time again, through a dozen missions that he was a faithful member of the Sparta Marines. However, Maia had no such prior knowledge of Wyatt and so she was an unknown and Maia never trusted unknowns.

She tended to live longer that way.

"We were just coming back from planet RJ 6632 right on the rim," Wyatt began her tale as they all sat down in the mess to a hot cup of coffee for a short break. Quinn was still keeping a vigil with his smartgun near the main entrance to the room, just as Leigh kept the motion tracker close to her. Although Wyatt assured them that there was nothing to fear, the Marines were too much the professionals to take her on her word. They were the best because of their ability to expect the unexpected and this was no time to let their guard down.

"We’d just loaded up on 30 trillion tonnes of uranium and the crew had spent a long time out here. You can imagine how well it was received when I received the transmission to divert to coordinates 02 588 23, especially when according to navigational charts there was nothing out there."

"Any explanation?" Maia inquired.

"Just that a deep space probe had received some unusual life form readings from a planet in the system and under standard clauses of Paragon Employee Contracts, we were required to investigate."

"Paragon," Maia mused recognising the name. She thought quickly, trying to remember where she had heard of the company before this moment. Suddenly, it came to her. "Crispin Dunne runs Paragon does he not?" She questioned.

"Yes," Wyatt nodded, confused by the relevance of the inquiry but was program bound to answer. "Mr Dunne is the CEO of Paragon."

"That’s it!" Maia swore quietly but loud enough for MacReady to hear when she realised how this breach had occurred. Hadn’t she been responsible to linking Councilman Lenard to all kinds of illegal acts because of his close relationship with a company that he had been leaking classified material to?

"What?" MacReady asked, leaning over to her.

"David Lenard is a member of the UNE Council. At the time we left Earth, Lenard was under investigation for leaking classified material to the commercial sector so that they could get the leg up on important government tenders. Lenard could have had access to the information about Styx and by that definition so would the company that paid for the service." She whispered as Wyatt went onto explain how she had revived the crew after diverting to Styx.

"Let me guess," the sergeant let out a sigh of understanding. "Paragon?"

"Paragon." Maia nodded and turned her attention back to the narrative offered by Wyatt.

"Thing started to get very strange as soon as we approached the planet." Wyatt continued.

"Strange?" Maia interrupted. "How?"

"The Captain started making irrational decisions," the synthetic replied, wearing a frown on her face as she related the events that had led the Persephone to ruin. "He wanted everyone to go down for the initial landing. He was prepared to turn complete computer control to me while the crew made the surface landing."

"Fuck." Quinn exclaimed, perfectly aware as the rest of the Marines how much of a violation of commercial protocol that was. No Captain in his right mind would turn his ship over to the synthetic on board unless the situation was extremely dire and even in that event, he or she would be subject to a board of inquiry upon their return to Earth.

"Naturally the XO stepped in and short of relieving Captain Lightfoot of command, manage to convince the man to send down a small team as opposed to the entire crew."

An ugly thought crossed Maia’s mind at that point and she instinctively glanced at MacReady, wondering if the same thing that had happened to him had not also happened to Captain Lightfoot only with increased severity. "What happened then?" She asked quietly, suddenly having a more personal reason for knowing than ever before.

"Captain Lightfoot agreed to the minimum survey team but he insisted on accompanying the landing mission. XO Forey was not willing to let him go but short of relieving him of command which Forey was not prepared to do at that point, she decided to allow it."

Somehow, Maia knew that was a fatal mistake without having to hear the rest of the story but nonetheless listened carefully anyway.

"The precise details of the landing are not clear," Wyatt confessed. "I was not on the landing mission and although we kept a close monitor of the team when they reached the surface, some of it still very confusing. We do know that they landed at the specific coordinate given to us by Paragon Central and the survey team reported discovering some kind of a structure. The Captain had determined that it was a construct by an unknown form of life and according to company contracts that required the team to make a full investigation."

"They were served up." Quinn said with disgust, knowing how this story went from this point on. It had too many parallels to their experience on Fiorina.

"Two of our crew men returned with some kind of organism attached to their faces," Wyatt said grimly, "we have data tapes if you are interested in examining them. We were unable to remove the creatures and decided that it was probably wiser to put them in stasis and freeze for the trip home."

"Were the creatures susceptible to stasis?" Yugowa inquired. The settings for each organism had to be very specific for stasis to work adequately. The requirements were specific from one individual species to another. There was no guarantee that by simply placing the crewmembers into the hibernation chambers, it would negate the effects of the creature’s embryo implantation process to any degree.

"Unfortunately no," Wyatt replied. "The Captain insisted on returning to the planet for more specimens so that our science officer could conduct some form of research to understand what was happening to the crew members infected since it was determined quite early that removal was impossible."

"Let me guess, the second team including the Captain was infected?" Maia concluded.

"Yes," Wyatt nodded. "The Captain had opted to bring back the alien eggs and while the surface team was loading them onto the ship, the eggs unsealed and we were faced with the same problem."

"Bad move.’ MacReady drawled shaking his head at the foolishness of it all. What had the Captain been thinking when he chose to do conduct himself that way? The man had to be a company stooge to blatantly disregard all of the most fundamental rules of biological containment.

"The XO who had remained on board with the science officer retrieved the Captain and the others and had little choice but to place them in stasis with the others. There was little else we could do to help the crew until we reached Gateway’s facilities so the XO made the decision to return to Earth."

"So how come you ended up adrift?" Leigh inquired.

"Forey and Alvarez our Science Officer were ready to get into the chambers when we discovered the alien organism had detached from the crew’s faces. We actually believed that the stasis field might have killed the creatures. Unfortunately, what we knew and what was the reality of the situation was far worse."

None of the Marines were surprised when they learnt that the aliens had made their appearance and broken out of the hibernation chambers and were soon running loose throughout the ship. Commercial carriers had no weapons of any kind that could adequately mount a defence. When Alvarez was killed and Forey was taken by one of the spores that were laid by the aliens on board, the XO had done the only thing she was able to do in her last moments.

Maia tried to imagine the agonising decision that was left to Commander Forey as she realised that she was already dead and that in her last moments of life, her primary concern was still the safety of Earth. She had disabled the ship and let it drift, knowing that it’s decaying course trajectory would destroy it soon enough. Commercial carriers required two senior officers to effect the self destruct mechanism and since she was alone, Forey must have decided that this was the only option left to her.

"So where are the aliens?" Yugowa asked fearfully because the Persephone had a complement of ten people and if they were all taken, then there were ten aliens running lose throughout the ship.

"They built their nest in the main cargo hold," Wyatt replied automatically. "I was able to blow the hatches and jettison the entire lot of them."

"Good thinking." Maia said slightly relieved to hear that, although it pleased her not at all that ten lives had been lost thanks to another corporations desperate greed for power. She made a mental note to send a communique to UNE Security when she returned to Sparta. Wherever Crispin Dunne and David Lenard were at this moment, Maia wanted their heads on a spit for this outrage.

"Are you sure they’re all gone?" MacReady persisted, still unable to shake the feeling that something was not quite right. "Those bugs have a tendency to stay alive no matter how determined you are to fry them."

"I can’t truly be sure," Wyatt admitted. "That is why I took so long to present myself to you when you first came on board. I was not sure it was not an alien that was on the bridge until I realise that you were attempting to bring main power on line."

"Well," Maia sighed after a few minutes of consideration of what should be done now that the whole sordid story was intact. Against her better judgement, she abandoned her idea to destroy the ship because she would be held accountable if the aliens were not on board and she needed the physical evidence of the log and alien’s presence on board if any indictments were to be made against Paragon.

"We need to find out of the ship is clean." Maia said reluctantly. The faces of the Marines before her revealed that this was not something they wished to do but as Marines had little choice but to get the job done. It was at the nature of what they were. "We’ll do a full sweep and if there are no unexpected guests on board, we’ll set the ship on autopilot and send her back to Earth. Wyatt, you can come with us."

"That would be appreciated," the synthetic said with a sigh of relief. "Although synthetics are supposed to not mind solitude, I have to admit that it has been a little too quiet for my liking." She said with something of a faint smile.

"Well, looks like we have a purpose." MacReady said rising from his seat and prompting those under his command to get moving. The whole situation with the Persephone did not feel right no matter how reasonably Wyatt may have explained it and MacReady wanted to put as much distance between himself, his squad and the woman he loved and this vessel, as was humanly possible.

"I can assure you at least," Wyatt spoke up as the squad prepared to undertake the sweep of the Persephone, "that the cargo holds are completely sealed and there is no way the aliens could not have entered. Since we’re carrying uranium, the usual radiation protocols are in place. Not even a microbe could penetrate it."

"That’s good to know," Maia nodded, perfectly aware of how full proof containment could be on uranium carriers. If the aliens were able to penetrate the surrounding cell of ten inches of pure steel, they were far more formidable then any creature that Maia had previously encountered.

"Yeah," MacReady mused, keeping his eye trained on Wyatt as the synthetic made that statement, taking note in particular why she had gone out of her way to mention the cargo hold. Why? The impregnability of uranium cargo containment was known to all of them, why make specific mention of it unless there was something to hide?

MacReady could not explain why but he was now determined to see what was inside the cargo hold.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I

While the rest of the Marines spread out over the length and breadth of the Persephone, searching for any signs of aliens that might still be on board the ship, having escaped Wyatt'’ attempts to blow them into space, Leigh remained on the bridge alone. Despite Maia’s desire to have someone remain with her, the Marine had been adamant that with her gun close at hand and the motion tracker in close proximity, she would be in no immediate danger. Besides, every available personnel was required for the sweep and Maia could not spare any really, even though for Leigh it was vitally important that the ship’s log be accessed and downloaded.

Leigh understood her Captain’s reasoning of course. The ship when it returned to earth would fall immediately under the jurisdiction of civilian authorities not the military. Civilians could be bribed and the Captain had no illusions that the company called Paragon would take precautions to see that it be safe from indictment and they would require the erasure of all data records of what had taken place on board the vessel. The lives of the Persephone’s crew had to be answered for and those responsible were not necessarily the aliens that had provided the physical end for the ship’s complement. As far as the Captain was concerned, whoever had sent Persephone to the planet Styx was ultimately responsible.

The encryption that the files had been placed into was one of the most sophisticate programs she had ever seen and Leigh inevitably wished that Addison was here because he could have waded through all the codes and safeguards to maintain the lockout with his eyes close. The man may be infuriating as hell but Leigh had to admit begrudgingly that he was very good at what he did, when he decided to do it of course. Ever since her arrival into this squad, Leigh had the benefit of two very good teachers, the Sergeant and the Senior Corporal.

She had this idea that MacReady was taking her under his wing somewhat and felt slightly privileged that the man thought so highly of her to feel that she had the potential to deserve his direct influence. Of course, it also helped that the man was exceedingly good looking and if he was not already so involved with the Captain, Leigh might have attempted to take the relationship even further than just a student mentor capacity.

"Christ." Leigh swore slightly, seeing just how many safe guards the file was buried under and began to wonder why had the log been secured in this way. After all, logs were meant not only to be records of the journey taken but also as a narrative to others in case of disaster, so those who came after would have some idea of what had taken place. Whoever had encrypted these files had done so to ensure maximum protection of the data and would require nothing less than a password to access it. While the system was not completely full proof, it would take time just to down load it into a portable carrier.

Leigh had a secret weapon in her arsenal of decryption programs and its creation had been one of Corporal Addison’s pet projects. Before they had left the Sparta, the senior comtech had handed her the disk containing the decryption program he had created to slice through codes and password locks as if it were butter. Leigh had seen it at work and knew just how effective it was so she did not refuse the offer. Although, she hated the smug expression on his face as he handed him.

"Just in case, you start to miss me." He had grinned, inciting Leigh to wish nothing better than to wipe that satisfied smirk of his face.

Still, the amount of time taking to unlock the secret of this file was starting to annoy her and she liked the other Marines, wished to be off this ghost ship as quickly as possible. Wyatt’s story had sent a chill of ice up her spine and like Captain Sanjay, Leigh was not completely convinced that the aliens were gone. Reaching into her pack, she searched through the contents until she found the disk in its case.

"Here’s goes nothing." Leigh sighed as she slipped it into the drive and keyed in the initialisation sequence before sitting back in her chair and letting the product of Addison’s genius do its work. She watched the program appear on the console screen before her and directed it at the file that she required it to decrypt.

Leigh ran her eyes over the expanse of the bridge and wondered what was must have been running through the minds of those who last sat in command of it. There was an eerie feeling permeating the empty seats in front of the various command stations and personalised remnants of the crew deepened the sense of foreboding that seemed to follow every one of the Marines since coming on board the Persephone. She saw coffee cups with World’s Greatest Dad sitting neatly on the space next to one console panel with little decal stickers on the side of the metal panelling. Leigh read the words, Honk if you’re horny and found herself smiling.

As she did however, it splashed against her skin like cold water to know that the people who had made this bridge something more than just a command centre for the ship, were dead. It made her swallow hard, thinking that the loved ones in the pictures, like the one tucked in the corner of her screen would soon be receiving obligatory letters from the Paragon Corporation. A few brief lines of a data pad would be inform them that their fathers, mothers, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, son or daughter would not be coming home.

Her attention shifted back to the screen when she heard the soft beeping from the unit indicating that the decryption program had finally run its course. She studied the information displayed before her and found herself commending Addison’s program for its skill. The files that she had been trying so hard to unlock now awaited her perusal and Leigh wasted no time skimming it first. She retrieved another disk and inserted into the drive, preparing to down load as she reviewed the data.

Once she had completed the minor task, Leigh proceeded to open the file and found that it was a ship’s log all right but the Captain of the Persephone did not provide the narrative, even though his logs were more of an attachment to the main document. The author and most likely the instigator of this computer lock out was the First Officer. Intrigued, Leigh started reading the files to find an explanation for this odd occurrence.

She continued scrolling through the document, absorbing a large portion of it since she was an adept speed reader before marking a discovery that made her straighten up immediately in her chair and take notice. Leigh kept her gaze fixed on the screen for a few more seconds.

"Shit! The Captain and the Sarge!" She exclaimed and jumped abruptly to her feet before grabbing her Pulse rifle and running out the door of the bridge.

***********

Maia and MacReady stared at the hibernation chamber and felt their stomach’s hollow at the sight of the capsules that were once occupied by the crew of the Persephone. The bodies had naturally been removed but the signs of the violent deaths that had transpired within were still apparent in the blood stain cushions that no amount of cleaning had been able to remove. As Maia gazed upon the scene, she wondered if the crew had been aware of the progeny they carried while in stasis and hoped they never regained consciousness to find out.

"I gather you disposed of the bodies?" Maia inquired, glancing at Wyatt.

"Yes." The android nodded sombrely and Maia could tell that it was not a task that Wyatt had liked doing, even though she was just a machine and was not meant to feel such things as remorse. "The XO made an obligatory speech as we jettisoned the bodies but we could do nothing else. By that time, we had aliens roaming around the ship and the XO had bigger concerns on her mind.

"I can imagine." Maia shuddered, trying to imagine how she would have felt under similar circumstances.

They had spent at least two hours combing the ship, searching for any signs of the aliens but so far nothing had presented itself. On the other side of the ship, Quinn and Yugowa were performing the same ritual, inspecting every darkened nook and cranny on the ship, searching for shadows that might be attempting to deceive them. However, neither team had found anything nor it was starting to look like Wyatt had been correct in her assertion that the aliens had been expunged from the ship completely.

"Well," Maia sighed, deciding on her next course of action. "That’s pretty much covers all the decks." They had left the hibernation chambers to last and it appeared that their search was more or less concluded.

Lifting the comset to her ear, she spoke into the small device. "Quinn, give me your present status."

A burst of static crackled through her ear before Quinn’s gravelly voice responded. "The ship’s clean. If it’s in here, it’s hiding better than we can find it." The smartgunner revealed.

"That does not instil me with confidence, Private." Maia frowned, wishing she did not feel so uneasy over turning the Persephone to automation in order to send it back to Earth. She wished that there were someway of confirming that there were no aliens on board because if she was wrong, then she might be sending a potentially dangerous organism to an entire planet full of hosts. The idea of a mistake had terrifying properties when looked upon on from that perspective.

"Calling it like it Sir." Quinn returned automatically. "We ain’t seen nothing."

"All right," Maia sighed. "Proceed to the bridge, we’ll rendezvous with you there shortly." With that she terminated the line once again and turned her attention to her companions.

"It looks like the ship is clean, as you said Wyatt." She remarked to the android.

"Except for the cargo hold." MacReady said abruptly. Both women, human and android turned sharply to the sergeant as he made that statement. MacReady kept a close eye on Wyatt’s response, since he was accustomed to what kind of reaction he would receive from his commanding officer.

"Wyatt, the Sergeant and I need a moment alone." Maia said automatically to the synthetic, expecting to be obeyed.

The woman regarded Maia and MacReady for an instant and then nodded. "Certainly." She answered. "I will proceed to the bridge to join the rest of your party." There was no hint of offence in her voice but that meant nothing. Without saying anything further, she quickly withdrew from the hibernation chamber, leaving Maia alone with MacReady.

As soon as they were alone, Maia turned to MacReady. "What’s this about? She already told us that she jettison the aliens in the cargo hold? Your question made her look like a liar." There was a hint of reproach in her voice because she had been aware of his ambivalence towards the android during their sweep of the ship. Maia wished he would just come out and voice if reservations if he had any, instead of presenting them as he had. While she knew some people had aversion to synthetics, MacReady had never struck her as one of those who possessed such a prejudice.

"I don’t trust her." MacReady said simply.

"She’s an android, Mac. They have standard behavioural inhibitors that do not permit them to lie, harm humans, either by intent or action." Maia retorted.

"They’re a machine," he persisted. "Which means they can be programmed. We both know that Paragon sent the Persephone to Styx to get specimens. Now, nobody could predict the Captain was gonna flip out so they must have had a stacked deck somewhere and that deck is Wyatt, I’m telling you!"

Despite her refusal to believe that the android could be guilty, Maia had to admit he was right. Paragon could not have possibly known that the Queen Mother’s telepathy would have influence the Captain of the Persephone as it had. Yet they still had to ensure the safe return of the specimens and for that, they needed an inside man. It could not be the Captain because no man voluntarily allows himself to become impregnated, no matter how suicidal.

"Okay," Maia nodded, deciding that his point was valid enough for investigation because if she was wrong and that there was something in the cargo hold, the consequences to Earth would be extreme if the ship reached Gateway. "There’s only one way to settle this." She met his gaze. "We’ll go look."

"Thank you Sir," MacReady let out a breath of relief, pleased that he was able to convince her.

He was not normally so passionate about anything but Maia had come to learn one thing about MacReady; he seldom became this concerned over nothing. If he believed that there was something in the cargo hold, Maia trusted his judgement enough to investigate the possibility. Besides, nothing was fool proof, certainly not a synthetic. The Nostromo whose entire crew was lost because a synthetic had deemed them expendable could certainly attest to that reasoning.

As they left the hibernation chambers and made their way to the lower decks of the ship, Maia saw MacReady checking his weapon again, a thing he did when he was nervous. She realised that he really did believe that something ominous was awaiting them in the cargo hold and his diligence forced her to check her own gun. Their footsteps sounded loud against the steel plating of the metal deck and seemed to echo down the long corridors the further they went.

"What do you suppose happened to the Captain?" MacReady asked after a long while.

Maia had a fair idea what had happened to Captain Lightfoot. It was the same thing that had happened to MacReady when he had been in stasis. No doubt when Leigh had finally downloaded all the personnel files of the Persephone’s crew, Maia had every reason to believe they would learn that Captain Lightfoot, like MacReady had a high ESP rating. Although she had not addressed the issue, it was a point of concern to Maia what she would have to do about MacReady when they finally returned to Styx. Obviously if Lightfoot had been willing to sacrifice his crew to the aliens, there was no reason to expect MacReady to act any differently.

"I don’t know Mac." She lied, hating to do it but needing to discuss with Foster what she ought to do. The possibility that he may have to be placed in stasis for the entire duration of the blockade mission was becoming very real. "We don’t know a lot about the aliens. How they communicate or their pattern of thinking beyond the reproductive need."

Whether or not he could tell she was holding back, Maia could not say. He merely regarded her words for a moment before they arrived at the junction where the doors to the main cargo hold were situated. All need for conversation seemed redundant at that point, evaporating like a mist into the sinister atmosphere of what may be lying in wait for them behind the door.

"What does the tracker say?" Maia asked quietly as they stood before the door.

"No movement," MacReady responded after making a careful study of the readings on the device. Whatever was behind the door, it was for the moment, dormant. "They may be just hibernating, like they were in Fiorina." He pointed out.

"Or they may not be in there." She looked at him.

"If you’re wrong, no one’s going to be happier about it then me." He returned and held his gun forward as Maia prepared to open the door.

"You ready?" She asked, swallowing as she prepared to depress the button that activated the huge pressure door that lead into the cargo hold. If the aliens had been contained within the cargo hold, the density of the doors would have kept them trapped. Maia knew of nothing that could break through the inches of steel that made up this door.

With abated breath, she pushed the button and the door mechanism sprung to life with the heavy grinding of steel against steel. It took a few seconds longer for the entrance way to open up for them, the sliding sound of metal echoing down the length of the corridor before fading into nothingness as it continued its journey to the rest of the ship. Maia and MacReady stood before the newly created opening, feeling as if they stood on the edge to some dark abyss.

Inside the room, it was pitch black and nothing jumped out of the darkness, flashing inches of teeth dripping with resin. However the antiseptic smell of filtered air they had been breathing ever since coming on board the ship became rancid and foul, as if there had been a shift in the wind. Maia and MacReady exchanged glances immediately; knowing the implications of the terrible scent that was almost stomach turning. Although none of them spoke, both were remembering their experiences in the alien hive on Fiorina when they had entered the chamber where the hosts were kept after embryo implantation.

"This is as far as we go." Maia responded, her voice was hushed. Although it was illogical to whisper since the aliens had no ears to speak of it, Maia almost found it difficult to speak. Her heart was pounding so loud in her ears that she could hardly breathe as she stood on the periphery of a nightmare she had never wanted to experience ever again. "Throw in a flare Mac." She replied meeting his gaze as she stood poised next to the door panel, preparing to close it again if anything attempted to emerge from the pitch-black darkness.

MacReady reached into his pack and produced the marking flares that would provide enough light for them to see what was in the immediate vicinity of the entranceway. He hated it when he was right because he had no doubt of what they would find inside. Breaking the cap that would ignite the flare, he tossed it into the black and watched the white hot illumination radiate throughout the room.

There were only two bodies but it was more than enough

They hung suspended off the ground, attached to the wall by resin or some other fluids secreted by the aliens that clung to the smooth surface like sap oozing out of trees. The oxygen in the atmosphere had maintained the cycle of decomposition until the bodies had decayed to a point where they were nearly unrecognisable. Maia guessed that it was most likely the corpses of the XO and the science officer. There was no question as to the cause of their deaths as Maia and MacReady took in the sight of the cargo bay floor.

Wyatt had not lied when she had spoke of jettisoning the contents of the cargo hold, except that it had been the uranium payload that had been ejected from the ship, not the aliens. They could see the uneven shapes on the walls, the vein like constructs that had confused them so much during the Marines first encounter with the aliens in their hive. Lost in this primitive and organic design, Maia knew they were lying in wait for more hosts. She had no doubt that a deeper search of this cargo bay would yield the queen whose eggs now covered the floor.

"Jesus." MacReady whispered.

"I’ve seen enough." Maia declared, requiring no further proof of anything any more. They were getting off this ship and they were doing so right this moment. Once inside the stardrive shuttle, Maia had every intention of obliterating this vessel to atoms for it was never reaching Earth while there was breath in her body.

"Damn right." He exclaimed and turned around when suddenly he saw a flurry of movement from the corner of his eye. However the android that had appeared out of nowhere was too quick for him. Before MacReady could even raise his gun to fire, Wyatt had slammed the fire extinguisher into the side of his face.

Maia spun around and saw her Sergeant collapsed on the ground as the artificial human named Wyatt attached. She had struck him hard against the head, making a loud noise as the steel impacted and Maia was certain she heard the crunch of bone. The Captain wasted no time and pulled out her gun, firing point blank at the approaching synthetic. The bullets that tore into Wyatt’s body would have killed a normal human being but a synthetic was far from human.

"I’m sorry it had to be this way." Wyatt said as calm as ever as she grabbed the gun out of Maia’s hand before Maia could pull the trigger to fire again. Wyatt’s reflexes enhanced by her programmers were faster than any human's and a dozen times stronger. She swatted Maia aside like a fly, sending the Captain of the Colonial Marines sprawling. Although Maia managed to regain consciousness, she felt the pain on the side of her face flare in angry red waves.

Maia cleared her head in enough time to see Wyatt approaching her swiftly. She kicked out her leg and connected with Wyatt’s knees, bringing down the synthetic with that well placed blow. However, Wyatt felt no pain and recovered just as quickly as it took for Maia to scramble to her feet and attempt to contact the others.

Wyatt saw the human attempting to communicate with the other Marines and immediately decided that it was not something she could allow. Grabbing the hand that held on to the com unit, Wyatt smashed Maia’s hand into the wall with such force that the human uttered a soft cry and dropped the device on the floor. It clattered across the floor noisily before disappearing into the darkness beyond the door.

"It’s not my choice to do this," Wyatt replied as her other hand enclosed around Maia’s neck and lifted her off the ground.

Maia felt her windpipe being steadily crushed as all the air escaped her lungs. She tried kicking but Wyatt held her in such a way that her legs dangled uselessly off the ground. She knew that if she weren’t holding on to the woman’s arms, her neck would have already been broken.

"Unfortunately," Wyatt continued speaking as if she were carrying a normal conversation with some bystander, not about to commit murder. "Programming is such an uncertain thing. I found a subroutine in my behavioural inhibitors that apparently allowed me the flexibility to carry out my mission. The crew is expendable." She said meeting Maia’s widened gaze.

"My crew and now yours."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I

"Captain!" Leigh shouted into her communicator as she hurried down the corridor after her terrifying discover. "Sarge!" She tried again, hoping that there would be some answer from the duo but the only response that she managed to hear was Quinn’s gruff voice.

"What the hell is going on?" The smartgunner demanded, his voice taut with the realisation that something was amiss. "I can’t raise the Captain or Mac."

Damn!

Leigh swore knowing that the worst had happened or was about to unless they found their missing squad members immediately. If what she had read in the XO’s log was even half true then the Captain and Sarge were in deep trouble. "Where are you Quinn?" Leigh demanded as she turned the corner and arrived at a set of steps that led up and down to the other decks of the ship.

"I’m in the engineering deck." Quinn replied through a burst of static. "The Captain’s last position was the hibernation chambers."

"We’ve got to find them." Leigh declared and paused long enough to think. She tried to recall everything about Wyatt ever since they had encountered the android and replayed every thing the android had related regarding the events that had taken place on board the Persephone. Leigh had been presented with a different scenario through the files of the XO’s log and knew that not only were they in grave danger, they also had to destroy this ship before it could ever reach Earth.

Suddenly, she recalled what Leigh had said about the aliens and how she had gone out of her way to convince them that the cargo hold was free. MacReady had noticed it and so did Leigh, who knew her Sarge had very good instincts when it came to such things. With what she knew about Wyatt now, Leigh realised that the android would never eject the precious cargo that was worth billions to Paragon back on Earth. Suddenly, she had a destination in mind and though she might be wrong, Leigh did not think she was.

"Quinn," she said taking the steps that led downwards to the cargo hold. "Meet me in the cargo hold."

"Why?" She heard him asked through her communicator but could tell by the deterioration of his signal that he was on the move already, making his way to the same place she was going at such hasty speed. Leigh held her gun close knowing how imperative it was that they reached the cargo hold immediately.

"I just read the log," she said out of breath as she spoke into the mouthpiece of the headset poised over her lips. "When the Captain of the Persephone went down the first time, Wyatt was with him. There was no second trip to the planet, the XO wouldn’t allow it. She relieved the Captain of duty and had him confined because he was displaying odd behaviour."

"Then what the fuck happened to the rest of the crew?" Quinn asked, breathing hard into the earpiece because he was running and the weight of the smartgun was slowing him down considerably but if Leigh knew Quinn at all, he would barely notice the hindrance.

"They all got infected by the alien spore!" Wyatt responded as she ran down the stairs leading in the depths of the ship, sometimes leaping over two or three steps at the time. "Every last one of them. Wyatt had brought the eggs back to the ship. Quinn, she’s been trying to breed as many aliens for return to Paragon labs on Earth!"

"But the behavioural inhibitors…" Quinn’s astonishment was apparent in his voice.

"Behavioural inhibitors can be tampered with in programming language," Leigh said as she reached the bottom of the flight of stairs and studied the chart on the nearby wall which more or less gave a layout of the ship. She was only two decks down from the junction to the cargo hold. "I think Paragon had disabled her behavioural inhibitors so that she would deem the crew expendable in light of the mission objective."

"Shit!" Quinn swore, coming to the conclusion that Leigh had reached the moment she had remembered that Wyatt was in the company of the Captain and Sargent MacReady. If it was specimens the android required, then the first two she would select would naturally be the persons in closest proximity.

"Exactly. We have to find the Captain and MacReady now cause I don’t think the aliens are off the ship. I think Wyatt’s got them stashed inside the cargo hold. It’s the only place that strong enough to contain them and is also shielded from ICC sensor scans because of the heavy shielding for uranium carriers."

"Move it!" She heard Quinn shout to Yugowa. Leigh was breathing hard, glad that she had just taken her gun with her and not anything else. Her boots impacted heavily on the steel deck, making her footsteps echo down the empty length of corridors that ran throughout the deck. The whole ship felt sinister to Leigh but never more so than at this moment.

She knew that once Wyatt was done with Captain Sanjay and Sargeant MacReady, the android would inevitably turn her attention to the rest of the Marines. After reading the XO’s log, it obvious that Wyatt was slave to the programming that made her mission more important than the lives of the Persephone. She had brought the aliens on board and allowed everyone to become infected. Only the XO and the Science Officer had escaped embryo implantation but their respite was only momentary for as soon as the aliens had emerged, they were finished.

The XO had been implanted and knowing of the fate that awaited her, did one final thing before she died. She disabled the main engines and ensured that the ship would not arrive at her because Wyatt did not have the access to the ship’s computer. No matter what alterations had been done to the programming, the ship was programmed to recognise human operators only. It was programmed to initiate a complete lock out if it detected the energy signature of a synthetic attempting to utilise its commands. Which was what had happened when Wyatt had tried to take the Persephone back to Earth and thus causing the ship to drift as it had when the Marines had detected her.

Leigh stepped onto the deck leading to the cargo hold and heard no sounds of life. She swallowed hard, hoping that Quinn was not far behind because she was no match to face all the aliens alone if the cargo hold had been unsealed. Stepping forward slowly, she left the safety of the steps and continued down the corridors, unable to deny that the overwhelming silence was getting to her. She was used to working with a team, not a lone and now understood why MacReady had always demanded that the squad always move about in pairs.

Suddenly, something heavy landed on her back from up above. The weight that impacted against her form drove her to her knees and caused her to fall forward, her gun slipping from her grip as it slid across the floor out of reach.

Leigh looked up and saw Wyatt staring down at her.

The android smiled faintly and remarked, "another lamb for the slaughter."

***********

"Maia wake up." She heard MacReady’s voice in her ear.

Maia Sanjay tried to open her eyes but was held back as the pain in throbbing head started to make itself felt after the bliss of unconsciousness. She felt her head swimming in pain and tried to control the nausea that attack her in waves. Images swirled in the dark recesses of her mind, offering a conundrum of confusing pictures in her head before it gradually came to a stop and offered her something a little more coherence.

She remembered the last few minutes of memory and suddenly, she was awake completely. Maia’s eyes opened without any difficulty but all she was the dying ember of the flare in the distance. The flare was still radiating enough light for Maia to see where they were, however discovery their current location was not entirely in their benefit. She could see the faint silhouettes of elliptical objects at her feet, covering the floor as far as she could see. The sight made her heart start pounding in her chest as for the first time in too long, she was gripped by nothing less than panic.

"The bitch fed us to them." MacReady responded, announcing the obvious.

Maia could not see him even though she could hear his voice. As she attempted to turn her head, she was unable to move. Desperation forced her to move her arms in a bid to break free but her arms as was the rest of her body was held in place by the resinous secretions of the aliens Wyatt had delivered them to. Maia knew immediately what was happening to them, she had seen it on Fiorina and she had seen it here. When the thought crossed his mind, he saw the egg before them.

"I think we’re in trouble." Maia stated, trying not to lose control but knew that she was not far from it. The resin had her trapped in securely in place and she could not move no matter how hard she struggled. Despite herself, she was starting to feel the panic overwhelm her as she found herself facing a death that was unimaginable by her reckoning. She had been living with the idea of it all her life but not even her jagged demeanour to it could endure this kin do of an end.

"Maia, its no use." He said wearily as he heard her struggling to break free of the material that kept them suspended on the walls of the cargo hold with the other unfortunates who had died the same way. He had almost become accustomed the disgusting stench of rotten corpses and the looming possibility that he was about to die a most terrifying death. A year ago on Fiorina, MacReady had vowed to himself that he would rather eat a bullet than die this way.

It now appeared he was not going to fulfil that vow.

"I’m not going to end up like this!" Maia hissed and continued to work the bonds that held her confined. The strength of the resin amazed her. It moulded around her wrists and legs like cement and would allow for no movement at all.

"I’m not exactly happy about it either," the Sargent replied, ever mindful of the egg that had yet to unseal. Even though he could not see them, he knew that the aliens were somewhere in the darkness, keeping watch on them as they awaited embryo implantation. Wyatt had taken their guns so if the alien decide that they were becoming too much trouble, they may forego the formality of letting Maia and he become hosts by killing them outright. "We’re not alone." He stressed the last words so that she would understand.

Maia froze, realising what he was adhering to. Her eyes scanned the large room. It was difficult enough to see with the strange alien constructs obscuring much of the walls but the shapes she could make out, made her blood chill. She heard the loud slurping sounds in the distance and remembered it from a hundred nightmares before this moment. She knew she would never forget it, even though she could not see to confirm her suspicions.

Suddenly, theirs becoming hosts to these aliens was not the worst thing that could happen today.

"Mac," she whispered quietly, forcing herself to be silent because the eggs required external stimuli to be coaxed into opening. "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah," he said in an equally soft tone. "What is it?"

"It’s an egg sac." Maia swallowed, trying to contain her horror. "There’s a queen in here."

"Oh fuck!" MacReady exclaimed. "Does this get any fucking worse?"

No sooner than he had uttered those words, the egg in front of him unsealed.

***********

Leigh slammed into the wall that Wyatt threw her against. For a moment, the comtech saw stars before hitting the floor, as the side of her body flared in pain. She glanced upwards and saw Wyatt approaching her, preparing to renew her attack on the human once more. Leigh twisted herself to return the favour, slamming her own foot hard against the side of the synthetic’s knee, bringing Wyatt down. However, instead of remaining to fight, Leigh concentrated on finding her gun, running past the android as she surveyed the corridor to locate her weapon.

There was no doubt now in Leigh’s mind that the Captain and Sarge were in serious trouble and it would appear that unless she stopped this automaton, she would be in similar straits. She had never seen the aliens that frightened the veterans of the squad so profoundly other than what had been recorded in the data tapes, however Leigh knew one thing for certain, she did not want to die facing them, at least without a fighting chance.

Her gun was nowhere in sight or at least nowhere that would have been of any use to her. Leigh saw Wyatt get up to her feet and knew that she had seconds before the android was on top of her again. The synthetic was faster and stronger than Leigh and the Marine knew that in any physical competition between the two, the android was going to come out better. In truth, she did not have the time to waste.

Leigh ran down the corridor, putting the distance between herself and the android as she bought herself some time to escape. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Wyatt maintaining her pursuit, she was nearing the juncture that led to the cargo hold when she suddenly noticed MacReady’s gear on the floor. Deciding quickly this is where the android must have ambushed the Captain and MacReady, Leigh skidded to the floor next to the backpack. Wasting no time because Wyatt was only seconds away, Leigh rummaged through the contents, trying to find the specific item she would required.

Her hand wrapped itself around the object required just as Wyatt reached her. The android perhaps sensing that there was some danger at her having access to her Sargeant’s belongings, grabbed her by the arm and practically flung her across the room. Leigh hit the wall hard with her back, feeling intense pain running across the spine as she landed heavily on her rump. The tendrils of agony snaked up her back but Leigh kept her grip fixed on her prize, knowing now that it was the only way she was going to survive this battle.

"I knew you were going to be difficult." Wyatt replied as she advanced on Leigh and grabbed her by the throat and dragged her to her feet and off the floor. "I suppose you accessed Forey’s log?"

"I accessed and downloaded and I also reinitiated the lock out on this ship. You are not going anywhere." Leigh grunted even though it was a lie. The first thing that had run through her mind after reading the files about what Wyatt had done was the welfare of the Captain and the Sarge. It was a bluff but at the moment, the only one she had.

"You would have needed the Captain’s authorisation for that." Wyatt said glaring at her even though her eyes showed no expression.

"I don’t need the Captain to make the ship completely inaccessible to you." Leigh declared a she started to choke. She knew she had only a few seconds of oxygen left in her lungs to do what was required. Ignoring the pain in her throat, Leigh depressed the button on the mini-grenade and yanked the top of Wyatt’s coverall and dropped the object into its folds.

Taking advantage of Wyatt’s attempts to remove the grenade, Leigh slammed her elbow into the android’s sternum and broke free of her vise like grip. Knowing how much time she had, which was not much at all, she scrambled to her feet and started running as soon as she was free. Leigh did not waste any time looking over her shoulder this time as she could hear Wyatt’s frantic cries as she struggle to find the deadly device lost in her clothes.

The explosion that followed sent a shock wave in all directions in the corridor. It lifted Leigh off her feet and threw the Marine forward as it surged past her. She felt the heat on her back as pieces of debris rained down over head. The corridor was bathed in a reddish glow in the wake of the explosion, with klaxons screaming in protest at the detonation.

Leigh remained on the floor for a few seconds not daring to move. Mostly because she ached in several places and also because she was holding her breath in anticipation that after all of that, Wyatt was still behind her. After a few seconds of further rumination, the young Marines rose to her feet, feeling her ankle ache as she turned around to see if the android had survived the blast.

The debris that had covered most of the floor was in fact pieces of Wyatt. As Leigh approached ground zero, the floor had turned black where the explosion had originated and continued directly overhead on the ceiling. She kicked the debris from underfoot; noticing burned strands of hair and melted pieces of metal that was Wyatt’s endoskeleton. Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her and saw Quinn and Yugowa running down the stairs, obviously having heard the explosion.

"Leigh are you okay?" Yugowa asked reaching her first since Quinn had to deal with carrying the smartgun.

"Yeah I’m fine." She said quickly, unconcerned with her own status when the Captain and MacReady were yet to be found. "Wyatt just tried to kill me."

Quinn who arrived and surveyed the ruined pieces of the former android all across the deck looked at the young woman and remarked. "She didn’t that great a job." He replied and then in a softer and more concerned note. "You alright?" Quinn asked, admiring the newcomer’s gumption. She had smarts the way Mac had smarts; he decided and started to understand why MacReady had taken her under his wing as he had.

"Listen, we got no time to waste.’ She ran to the control panel that controlled the doors to the cargo bay. "I think she’s put the Captain and the Sarge in there to get implanted." Without further thought, she smashed her fist against the button that activate the doors and stepped back as its machinery started to turn in order to open.

"Give me your flame unit, Yugowa." She asked and the medtech complied immediately, understanding why she might not want to be unarmed when that door finally opened.

The trio stood ready, bracing themselves for whatever they might encounter behind the door once it finally revealed to them its secret. Leigh was certain that if Wyatt had attempted to implant the Captain and the Sarge, this was where it would have to be. After all, with the weight of this massive door, the aliens could be contained safely until their eventual return to Earth, if Wyatt’s plan had gone accordingly.

No sooner than the crack had opened in the door, they heard the terrified voice of Captain Sanjay screaming on top of her lungs. "Help us!"

Leigh saw the eggs and immediately let loose a jet of fire from the flamethrower aiming carefully. The stream of fire surged forward in a straight line, setting a light the top of every egg that it came into contact. The room became bright with colour and immediately, they spotted Maia and MacReady hanging on the far wall.

It was Quinn who saw the emerging spores before them and let loose a hail of murderous bullet that filled the room with deafening sounds as it tore the ecliptic objects to pieces. Leigh did not waste any time, running through the burning objects as she went to assist the Captain and the Sarge who were immobilised against the wall. She was careful to avoid the burning eggs, in case any of the spores decided to make a desperate bid for implantation even as the room was in flames.

"Cover her!" Quinn barked at Yugowa who fell into pursuit with the comtech. Quinn’s attention was mostly focussed on the walls of the room because he knew the constructs before him as well as Maia and Mac undoubtedly did. After Fiorina, he knew that these aliens hibernated and they did so very close to the eggs in order to guard them. If the fire did not wake them up yet, it would soon enough. Fortunately, there had only been a handful of crew members on the Persephone and not an entire army as there had been on Fiorina.

"Thank Christ." MacReady called out as Leigh approached them. "I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see two rookies."

"I’m not going to be that picky.’ Maia sighed. "Get us the fuck out of here. That was just too close."

"Wyatt is toast." Leigh replied as she began hacking away at the resinous material with her knife. She felt the metal tear at the substance, freeing one of the Sarge hands. With one hand free, Mac was able to do

"That’s good to know." Maia sighed. "The bitch got us when we weren’t looking."

"She’s been protecting the alien." Leigh informed dutifully as she worked away at the bonds holding MacReady in place. She was working fast, perfectly aware from the data tapes that the fire was going to awaken the aliens at any moment. "I manage to decrypt the logs and found out that she was the one who brought the eggs on board and impregnated the rest of the crew."

"She was going to do the same to us." MacReady remarked, wrenching one foot free before his weight tore him free of the remaining resin. He dropped to his floor on his knees and quickly jumped to his feet to help Leigh with freeing Maia’s bonds. Using Yugowa’s field knife, the marines worked quickly.

"She had intended on using all of us as hosts," Leigh continued, "and then setting the ship back on course to Earth. She tried that before but the XO disabled the ship and set her adrift."

Maia had guessed that much but decided that such consideration could wait until a later time. Right now, they needed to be out of here and fast.

Almost on the trail of that thought, things started coming to life around them….

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I

Everything was still but the dark was able to deceive.

Around them, they could hear something. It could have been the machinery or some systemic failure of the ventilation system following the grenade detonation a short time ago but they knew better. It was a like a shift of wind that was loud enough to be heard but not to be pinpointed. The Marines were silent because they all had heard the heaving of something moving in the blackness around them. No one spoke as they strained to listen, the tension in the air thickening like the fear that was snaking up their backs like tendrils.

The overwhelming quiet was shattered by the sudden beeping of the motion tracker. Leigh took the machine from Yugowa and studied the multiple signals that had suddenly appeared on the tiny screen. Seven possibly eight luminescent bleeps was converging on their location. "Hurry Sarge, I’ve got multiple signals coming at us."

"From what direction?" Maia asked apprehensively. She was still trapped in the resin that the aliens used to immobilise its hosts, even though MacReady was working fast to free her of it.

Leigh met her gaze. "All around."

"Give me some kind of a lock!" Quinn barked as he spun around to face the space behind them, switching his helmet eye piece to infra red. He could hear them coming in the shadows of the eerie alien construct, inching closer and yet remaining undetectable to infra-red. Nothing could chill the core of Quinn’s tough demeanour then the possibility of facing the aliens that had killed most of his friends on Fiorina.

"I can’t!" Leigh declared, trying to find some discernible pattern in the approach of the creatures. She could see none.

"Forget it!" Maia replied as she pulled her arm free of the resin once MacReady had freed her enough. "We’re getting out of here and resealing the chamber." With that, she forced herself free of the wall in a surge of strength, following her descent with the sound of tearing. Landing on the slimy floor, Maia immediately pulled Quinn’s sidearm from his its holster and cocked the gun.

No sooner than she had said those words, she saw a dozen eggs starting to unseal around them. The fire that Leigh had started was making them explode and over the sound of the cackling fire and burst eggs, Maia could hear an unearthly roar that was drawing closer and closer. Beneath her, the floor started to shudder. She could feel it vibrating through the plates and penetrate the soles of her shoes.

"Captain," Leigh suddenly said confused. "The signals, they’re holding."

Maia looked at her sharply. "What do you mean, they’re holding?"

"Wherever they are, they’ve stopped coming at us. " The young comtech replied, shaking the machine in her hands in case there was a mistaken in the readings. "I’ve just got one signal now."

"Maybe the others are frightened of the fire." Yugowa suggested, watching the eggs unseal as the spores within made a desperate attempt to escape the fire that was consuming most of the hatchery.

"I seriously doubt that there is very much that frightens these things." Maia retorted and examined the ground. A few of the escaping spores were scampering towards them and Maia knew, fire or not, the creatures would try to implant them all with embryos. Despite their presence, Maia still did not believe that odd vibration in the floor was coming from the spores.

"Can you feel that?" Maia looked at the others.

"What?" MacReady asked, staring at her in question as the group inched closer to the door. All their weapons were drawn and MacReady was feeling seriously outgunned with just his pistol to defend himself. He wanted his pulse rifle, the one that could tear an alien apart as proved once before on Fiorina.

"I feel it." Yugowa exclaimed after a moment of careful concentration. The vibration was still little more than a tickle under their feet but it was growing in intensity.

"Maybe it’s one of them?" Leigh suggested as she looked at the screen of the motion tracker, trying to decipher was it was that was approaching them so swiftly while the others were held at bay.

"They usually attack together." Quinn declared, remembering in particular how the aliens had converged on the squad in Fiorina like a pride of lions closing in on a herd of zebras.

Suddenly, something leapt out of the shadows at Leigh. The young woman screamed in surprise as she saw something coming at her that had too many hands with a swishing tail. It almost knocked her over as it landed on her chest and immediately scrambled up towards her face.

"Get it off me!" Leigh shouted, the flame thrower dropping from her hands as she tried to push the spore away.

"Shit!" Quinn exclaimed but he was in no position to help, what with the smartgun making his movement slow and cumbersome. Fortunately, Yugowa was unhampered by such things and both he and MacReady sprung into action, wrapping their hands around the creature in an effort to pull it off the comtech. The length of its tail had coiled around Leigh’s neck, tightening its hold as a slick proboscis inched its way to her mouth.

Maia dropped to her knees and retrieved Leigh’s fallen flame thrower and aimed at the spores that were scampering towards, no doubt with the same intention of impregnating them as the spore on Leigh was attempting to do at this moment. Pulling the trigger, she sent a jet of hot flames gushing at the creatures. They emitted a loud screech of pain as the fire consuming them. Maia felt her stomach hollow as she watched the spores gripped in a fiery dance before flipping onto their backs and curling up in death, their limbs twitching in the final moments.

Maia turned to MacReady and Yugowa to see how they were progressing in removing the spore from Leigh’s neck. MacReady had prise the serpent like coil from around the young woman’s neck while Yugowa was tackling the more formidable task of removing the main body of the creature. Despite its size, it was incredibly strong and it took all of the strength the young medtech was able to muster to force the thing from Leigh’s throat.

"Somebody 86 this thing!" He shouted as he prepared to throw it.

"I’m on it!" Quinn said immediately, pivoting the barrel of the smartgun in the direction of where Yugowa and MacReady were about to hurl the creature. It uttered one final screech of indignation as it was torn away from its intended host and arched neatly across the air. Quinn never allowed it to land. Releasing a torrent of bullets, the smartgun ripped the creature to shreds before it even hit the ground. Acid sizzled into steel deck as the humans stepped out of the spray.

"Are you alright?" MacREady asked Leigh as he helped her from the floor after she had collapsed.

"I’m fine." She coughed, rubbing her throat at the terrible death she was so close to experiencing.

"We’ve got to get out of here." Yugowa stated, keeping his hand firmly around hers as MacReady retrieved the motion tracker on the ground.

Maia could not disagree. The smoke was starting to thicken to a point where it was becoming harder to breathe. Maia could not understand why the aliens had yet to attack even though the Marines knew for a fact that they were here.

MacReady stared at the bleep on the screen and saw that it was less than five metres away from them. "Heads up!" MacReady shouted when he realised how close the alien was to them. Even Leigh who was still recovering from near strangulation and implantation reacted by grabbing the sidearm in Yugowa’s holster, aiming in the direction that MacReady was staring at.

The smoke swirled as the Marines waited for the creature to emerge, the tremor that Maia had felt earlier could now be heard by all of them. The movement was slow and heavy but was now unmistakably identified as footsteps. It was Yugowa who caught sight of the thing first. Its massive head broke through the clouds of grey which was a stark contrast against its ebony coloured skin. It had no eyes to speak of but it knew exactly where they were for it looked down on them and hissed loudly.

Its enormous jaws yielded and equally impressive set of foot long teeth, dripping with saliva and revealing a set of inner jaws that was almost as formidable. It towered over them at almost fifteen feet, skeleton in parts but well armoured for most. Its talon like hands was capable of tearing them all to pieces.

"Shit." Quinn managed to say.

Maia stared at the Queen, knowing that this was a position she never wanted to be in again. Facing the alien queen once had been bad enough but at this moment, she was terrified beyond belief. Forcing her fear away, Maia collected her thoughts and shouted. "Get to the door!"

She had not to make that order twice as everyone turned around and bolted when suddenly they heard the queen roar behind them. The motion tracker started screaming in alert and Leigh examined the readings long enough to know that they were in serious trouble. "Captain, the other signals are closing in!"

"I know!" Maia shouted, sending another blast of flames at the queen as the monster thundered after them, hardly concerning itself with the fire that was blazing around it. It was a trap. No doubt, they were soon going to have visitations from the alien drones who were lying in wait as their queen sprung the trap. "Quinn! We’re going to have company!"

Quinn heard the order and saw the alien that had emerged from the smoke. He caught sight of a blur of movement, travelling so fast that if he had been a rookie, he would no doubt be dead by now. Except he was not wet behind the ears kid. Quinn pulled the trigger on the smartgun and led the bullets rip through the creature that was almost upon him before the force of artillery swept it aside. It splashed against the walls of the cargo hold, immediately adding to the smoke billowing inside the room with the sizzle of melting steel.

"Yugowa!" Quinn saw something speeding towards the medtech who was at the far end of the group. He had been flanking Leigh who was armed only with a hand gun. "On your right!"

The young man spun around and saw the creature that was closing the distance. He raised his gun but was not fast enough. Quinn watched in horror, knowing that the alien would reach him before he could fire….

"Mac!" Quinn screamed, hoping that the Sarge would be able to do something before it was too late.

The alien knocked Yugowa off his feet. Leigh was trying to fire but it was impossible to see where the alien began and where Yugowa ended with the tangle of limbs that followed the two of them disappearing into the smoke.

"Help me!" Quinn heard Yugowa scream as the pulse rifle flew from his hand, disappearing into the obscurity of the smoke.

"Yugowa!" MacReady shouted, opening fire with his handgun hoping he could spare the young medtech.

A high pitched scream descending into a gurgle of pain ended that question and MacReady knew he was too late. He could see the alien’s movement but not Yugowa’s. The bullets fired tore the alien apart with a loud screech and as MacReady ran forward, he could feel the slick of blood on his boots that he knew was Yugowa’s.

"Oh Jesus!" Leigh screamed, knowing that he was gone even if her mind did not wish to accept it. "Ben!"

"He’s gone!" Quinn shouted, prompting her to keep moving because he knew that the only thing keeping the big bitch that was chasing them across the cargo hold was the flame thrower the Captain was using to slow her done. "Come on!" He ordered, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her forward.

They could see the doors approaching fast and Quinn knew that the aliens could not break through that barricade of inch thick steel if they made it through. If the creatures were going to go for broke, this would be the time. He pulled the trigger of the smartgun, allowing it to clear the path before them in a murderous hail of bullets. He had more than enough clips on his person to take them to the door before he started getting low in artillery.

Leigh saw something fluttered overhead, attempting to leap on top of Quinn from above, since it appeared that he was the one who posed the most danger at the moment. It screeched as it dropped from the ceiling and remembering Benjamin Yugowa her friend who was now back there somewhere torn to pieces, made Leigh’s reaction only swift but laced with cold ruthlessness. Leigh pulled the trigger, emptying the entire clip into the creature with such force that alien was throw clear of the smartgunner when it landed.

Its acidic blood immediately ate into the floor where it landed and Quinn looked over his shoulder and let out a sigh. "Thanks kid." He smiled faintly before he saw her eyes widened behind him and Quinn swung around without blinking and fired. The alien that was only inches away from them both screamed as the bullets from the smartgun ripped the creature to shreds.

"Get to the door!" Quinn ordered. "I’ll cover you!"

Leigh nodded and hurried forward without question. The door had closed automatically when the trio had entered to rescue the Captain and the Sarge and Leigh could see the panel that would activate its opening once again. Quinn stayed close to the young woman, knowing that anything could and probably would make an attempt to stop them from leaving. He had not even dared to look over his shoulder to see how the Captain’s attempts to hamper the queen from her relentless pursuit were going. That was one terror he did not want to deal with just yet.

All he could think of was dealing with one disaster at a time.

*********

It was possibly the most terrified that Maia Sanjay had ever been in her entire life.

She could say this with absolute certainty as she kept depressing the trigger that kept a wall of flames between her and the alien queen. While the creature had no difficulty moving past the flames in its determined pursuit of them, like all primitive animals it would not confront fire directly and that one small consolation was the only thing that was keeping the Marines alive.

"We’re almost the door!" MacReady shouted, his eyes also fixed on the form before them. Although his handgun was next to useless against the alien queen, MacReady was more determined to keep the drones of Maia. If what he knew about insect communities was accurate, the drones would do anything to protect their leader and if that meant braving the flames to reach Maia, then MacReady was certain that they would sacrifice themselves for that end. The

Maia did not answer. Her attention was firmly focussed on the flamethrower’s fuel gauge. She had been watching its deterioration for some time now and felt her heart pounding in her chest each time the reading decreased. She knew that at the current rate, it would take only a matter of minutes before the gauge read empty and their only form of defence against this terrifying beast would be gone.

"Mac!" Maia cried out, realising she could no longer keep this information to herself. "I’m almost empty!" She shouted, not looking at him as she spoke since her complete concentration was required to hold the alien queen at bay. The towering creature screeched its anger at the human’s ability to hold it back and her tale swished about in fury, smashing against walls and anything that was within reach. Maia kept herself just out of range of that treacherous appendage, knowing that the queen was trying desperately to reach her in order to remove the obstacle that she posed.

"We’re almost there!" MacReady answered, knowing what it would mean when the flamethrower finally exhausted itself. He was almost as frightened and thought that he was handling it somewhat better than he thought he would. Maia had seen a queen during the Fiorina mission when she was forced to rescue all of them from the hive. However, her reporting of the event was nothing like the reality of seeing it for himself. Now more than ever, he realised what she must have gone through to rescue them.

Suddenly, the flamethrower sputtered impotently in her hand as it breathed its last. The jet of fire that had kept the alien queen a safe distance from them vanished with a trail of smoke. Maia’s eyes widened as it died in her hands and the creature seemed to roar louder, knowing now that she was defenceless. It hastened its pace, closing the gap between them quickly until it was only metres away.

"QUINN!" MacReady fairly screamed.

MacReady grabbed Maia and almost tore her arm out of her socket as they raced for the door that Leigh had opened by now. The queen, understanding that her prey was making a final bid for escape surge ahead.

Quinn stood at the door and waited until MacReady and Maia were past him before he started firing, not caring how much artillery he wasted as he rained a barrage of ammunition at the enormous hulk bearing down on him. He kept his finger on the trigger, watching the bullets explode out of the enormous barrel, tearing into the black hide of the alien leader. He saw the bullets penetrate the skin and the consequent injuries would have destroyed a normal drone but the queen was a different animal all together. Acid splattered from wounds across its steel like exoskeleton, eating away every surface upon which it landed.

She screamed at him, inner jaws snapping its outrage while outer jaws widened, brandishing its long teeth as a warning to cease. Quinn forced away his fear and continued the relentless bombardment, not daring to withdraw until the rest of his squad was safe. He did not even look back to see if the others had gone, aware that they would let him know when it was time.

Maia and MacReady passed the threshold that stood between the cargo hold and the rest of the ship. Leigh had already made it through and was awaiting orders at the door panel on the other side. As soon as Maia stepped onto the corridor, she shouted at Leigh.

"SHUT IT! SHUT IT NOW!"

MacReady ran forward, seeing Quinn’s shape trying to keep the queen at bay for a few more seconds. The Sergeant wrapped his fingers around Quinn’s smartgun harness and fairly dragged the private through the closing doors. With the weight of the smartgun bearing down on them, both MacReady and Quinn fell backward onto the deck, watching in a mixture of horror and fascination as the queen approached. For a moment, they felt a terrible sliver of fear that they were going to die as the black skeletal form closed in on them.

Twelve inches of steel slammed shut just as the queen approached the doorway, meeting each other with a loud clang upon impact. Both MacReady and Quinn scrambled away from the door as it finally closed, sealing the fire and the aliens within the cargo hold once again. For a few seconds, no one dared to speak out of fear that the danger had not passed even though they could still here it, slamming against the door, trying to escape.

It was Maia who finally spoke, amidst the pounding against the doors before them. Although there was no signs that the continuous bombardment would weaken its structural integrity, Maia still felt uneasy knowing that an alien monster was behind that door capable of rendering them all limb from limb. "Is everyone okay?" She asked quietly.

They all were covered in grime, soot and other fluids no one wanted to describe in too much depth. There were probably mild acid burns too but everyone present was too happy to be alive at this point to complain.

"Yeah." MacReady nodded. "I’m just peachy."

"Leigh?" Maia asked, especially concerned about the young Marine who had saved herself and MacReady from a fate worse than death.

"I’m okay." Leigh nodded. She was sitting on the floor of the deck, in the space beneath the door panel. "I’m just thinking about Ben." She said trying not to get emotional but unable to because Benjamin Yugowa had been her friend. She had known him since basic and he had saved her in there just now, only to die moments later because she could not return the favour.

"We don’t have time to think about that." Maia responded, not altogether unkindly because she understood what Leigh was feeling. As Captain of this squad, she was no better prepared than Leigh was to lose a man. "We’re getting off this fucking ship."

"Thank Christ." MacReady muttered, allowing himself a rare moment to voice how he truly felt.

"Then we’re going to nuke from space." Maia concluded firmly. "This ship is never reaching Earth."

Despite her ignominious fate, the Persephone was still going to fare better when Maia got her hands on those responsible for all this at the corporate headquarters of Paragon and her master, Crispin Dunne.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I

The pounding followed them all the way down the hall.

As the Marines put as much distance between themselves and the cargo hold, they could hear the alien queen battering against the enormous doors that kept her trapped with relentless determination. While it was theoretically impossible to penetrate those doors, Maia was certain that whoever had made that judgement probably did not contend with an alien in the equation, particularly a 15-foot monster with an exoskeleton that was known to survive in a vacuum.

Maia noticed the piece of Wyatt scattered across the corridor as the group left the deck and found herself shuddering at what the android had done to MacReady and herself. If it had not been for the timely arrival of Private Leigh, Maia had no doubts that she would not be giving birth to an alien by now.

"Have you downloaded the ship’s log?" Maia asked as they reached the steps leading to the rest of the ship.

"All of it," Leigh answered, "including the XO’s log. It’s all at the bridge. I kind of took of in a hurry after I read the thing."

"Do not even think about apologising." MacReady retorted. It was difficult to reprimand someone who just saved you from a fate worse than death.

Suddenly, the pounding ceased and despite her better judgement, Maia froze in her tracks and looked down the corridor once again. In fact, they had all come to pause upon the sudden cessation of noise. The alien queen, until now, had been most determined to escape her prison. The fact that she had suddenly given up was a cause of concern to all of them.

"It’s stopped." Leigh declared stating the obvious.

Maia who had been leading the party, retreated down the flight of steps leading to the next deck and took a few paced down the corridor again. She could still see the huge cargo doors in the distance and for the moment, nothing about it seemed unusual. All was silent on the ship, which was a great change from the noise and fire they had escaped moments ago.

Then she heard it.

The sound was difficult to identify at first, resembling more of a soft hiss then anything else. Maia looked over her shoulder at her companions who were surveying their surroundings with similar scrutiny, attempting to discern where the strange sound was originating. Leigh was glancing at the motion tracker, trying to see if there was something moving towards them that they had yet to detect with the naked eye. The shielding within the cargo hold rendered the tracker useless but the general vicinity offered no revelation of anyone else moving on board the ship beside themselves. The comtech seemed puzzled as they all did because the sound was becoming louder and they could all hear it.

The tendril of smoke rose slowly from the door and from the distance that Maia was standing, could barely see it as it snaked up towards the ceiling before disappearing into the ventilation system of the Persephone. However, its intensity grew as the second passed until a thin line of smoke had become a white stream marking itself in the air as it rose steadily from melting steel. As it began to inch up the corridor towards Maia and the Marines, the former UNE agent realised what was happening.

"Oh shit." She gasped as it dawned upon her what they were about to be confronted with.

Maia swung around and started shouting. "RUN!" GET UP THOSE STAIRS NOW!"

The sheer panic in their normally cool commander’s voice was enough to get the Marines moving and they did not have long to wait before they realised what had engendered such a response from her. The cargo doors fairly exploded as molecular acid ate away the steel with far more efficiency than the fire raging inside its confines. As the fire consumed all oxygen inside the bay, it started to starve and retreat as it waited for a fresh supply of air to feed it once more.

Somehow, the alien queen must have sacrificed one of her drones, using its corrosive blood to eat away the door and provide her with the escape that she had been seeking. The onrush of fresh air into the newly created fissure had caused an explosive reaction that was more than capable of tearing steel and anything else in the path. The fire rushed out of the corridor as Maia and the others scrambled up the steps in blind panic in an effort to escape the inferno. Hot waves of fire jetted in both directions, turning the corridor into a conduit of flames.

Whether or not the alien queen had survived the inferno was a question that Maia had no intention of answering. At this moment, she wanted nothing but to be off this ship. Emergency klaxons were screaming in protest, attempting to alert personnel that no longer existed to the current predicament. With half the ship systems still off line since there had been no time to initialise minor systems, one of which include the safety systems that controlled the internal sprinklers, there was no way to extinguish the flames. It would not be very long before it spread to other parts of the ship and destroy the Persephone all together.

"Mac," Maia said as they reached the next deck. Through the stairwell, they could see the fire spreading upwards, with clouds of thick smoke billowing through the opening faster than the ventilation system could cope with it. "I want you to take the others to the shuttle, I’m going to get the logs."

"Captain, that’s not a good idea." MacReady retaliated, unprepared to let her go anywhere on her own. "You don’t know whether the aliens made it out."

"Are you countermanding my orders?" Maia glared at him.

"Yes," MacReady nodded, deciding he would risk a courtmarshall for insubordination on this point. "We do this together or not at all."

Both Captain and Sergeant faced each other, neither wishing to budge an inch because Maia wished to risk no more of her people with the aliens on board this ship of death and MacReady would not let her face them alone either. She saw the conviction in his blue eyes and knew that it was rare for him to stand his ground like this and realised just how determined he was and how ardently he believed he was right. For once, Maia was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"All right," Maia conceded defeat, breaking their locked gaze first. "We go together."

********

The fire had yet to reach the upper decks of the Persephone but its presence could be felt in the emergency lights flashing angry colours on every level that the Marines happened upon. While they encountered no aliens, the stench of smoke and melting steel clung to their skins, as well as the rancid smell they had encountered inside the cargo hold, where many of the Persephone’s crew had finally met their grisly end. Something about all this still bothered Maia, wondering why Paragon would have been foolish enough to send a ship to Styx, when even Lenard would know that the military would sent its own vessel to cordon off the planet.

Why risk a ship that was certain to be discovered once the military arrived to begin their blockade?

She did not know much about Crispin Dunne, except that he was a risk taker and one of the more ambitious corporate heads to emerge since the demise of Weyland Yutani. It was of course expected that in the wake of giant’s death, many would rush forward to take its place in the vacuum that was created. Dunne had managed to push Paragon to the forefront of these potential candidates by sheer force of will.

When she had been assigned the task of raiding Councilmen Lenards’ home computer, she had read the allegations about him and knew something of Paragon’s history. The company specialised in biological and genetic engineering. It had gleaned some of the best minds that had found themselves without a home after the death of Weyland Yutani and created one of the most specialised commercial avenues for scientific research. Their success had come most in the acquisition of unusual projects and nurtured them to full potential. Maia shuddered to think what Paragon might have in mind with the alien specimens they had gone to so much trouble to acquire.

Like so many other fools before them, Paragon believed the alien could be maintained in controlled environment. After the Fiorina mission, simulations had been run by government agencies about the possible consequences of an alien infestation on Earth. Maia who had been consulted as an adviser for many of this simulations had not been surprised to learn that in the event of such a thing occurring, Earth had three per cent chance of survival. The findings had scared the living daylights of everyone who ran the simulation not to mention those who were forced to review the data. Part of the reason why a blockade had been sent so swiftly to Styx was because every member of the UNE Council had been privy to those simulations and knew what was at stake.

Unfortunately, men like Crispin Dunne believed they could beat the odds and a ninety seven per cent chance of infecting the entire planets were numbers on a screen that faded into obscurity when compared to the dollar value of such an enterprise.

Everything was exactly where Leigh had left it when they arrived on the bridge. The comtech immediately went to the workstation where she had been decrypting the ship’s logs and gathered all the evidence that Maia would require to hold Paragon accountable. Quinn had taken up position next to the doorway once more, not at all ready to believe for one moment that the danger was over. His smartgun was the only weapon they had left and if any aliens decided to pop out of the woodwork, he was going to be ready for them.

The bridge was flashing red like the rest of the ship, alerting them all to the fire that was rapidly moving up the decks of the Persephone. A soothing voice blared over the internal speakers at regular intervals, informing them that there was danger in the cargo bay and the lower decks. The Marines ignored this, more than happy to let the Persephone go to a fiery end so that it could take the aliens on board with her.

Maia was not prepared to entrust such a vital task to a chemical reaction. She slid into the captain’s chair once again and studied the console before. Letting her fingers run across the keypad, she brought up the menu that would allow her access to the ship’s auto destruct sequence.

"What are you doing?" MacReady asked as he came to investigate what she was doing. With Leigh busy retrieving all the relevant data she had decrypted and Quinn taking point at the door, MacReady felt like a fifth wheel since he did not even have a gun to protect himself or anyone else for that matter. His pistol was empty, as he had used all his bullets helping Maia fend off the queen earlier on.

"I’m pulling up to auto destruct programme." She responded without looking at him, her eyes were fixed on the screen ahead as her fingers typed in the required authorisation code into the mainframe.

"I thought we were nuking her from orbit." MacReady remarked.

"This is just a little insurance." Maia said looking over her shoulder with a faint smile. "When we leave, I want to make sure that not only is this fucker going to be solar dust, but there will be nothing left for a salvage team to stumble across."

MacReady could understand her reasoning. They knew from previous reports that the alien could hibernate indefinitely until a warm body arrived and provided it for a reason to wake. If Paragon was so determined to get their specimens, they may send someone else to sift through the wreckage to see if anything survived the blast. Knowing how finicky Fate could be when it came to the aliens, Paragon might actually be fortunate to find their specimens lying in wait and the Marines would be back in the same position again.

Force to clean someone else’s mess.

The destruct sequence lay before her, waiting only for her to punch in a time delay so that they could make their escape. "Leigh how are we doing?" Maia asked, checking with the comtech before she entered in the information.

"I’m done." Leigh announced, shoving the last of her belongings into her backpack and slinging it on to her back.

"Great," Maia said with approval as she keyed in the correct sequence to initialise the auto-destruct sequence, giving themselves a thirty minute window in order to make it back to the shuttle.

The screaming klaxons alerting them to the fire suddenly came to an abrupt halt as the impending destruction of the ship overrode all previous systems.

"Auto-destruct has been initialised," the computer’s cool voice announced. "You have thirty minutes to reach minimum safe distance."

"Alright, let’s go." Maia jumped out of her chair and joined MacReady, Leigh and Quinn who were already on stand by to depart. It was unanimously decided that every one of them wanted off this ship as quickly as possible.

***********

It did not take long to make it back to the shuttle in the pod bay since it was relatively untouched by the fire. As the Marines hurried through the decks, it was obvious that the fires were wreaking much damage in the lower decks, with life support systems failing on several levels and climate controls all but shut down completely as the temperatures plunged swiftly. There was no time to suit up again since according to the bridge controls at the time of their departure, life support systems in the hangar were very much in operation.

They were not far away from the pod bay when suddenly the motion tracker began beeping ominously. The Marines froze as Leigh examined the device and her eyes widened upon deciphering the signals that were lighting the screen before her.

"What is it?" MacReady asked.

"I’ve got multiple signals." She said in a hushed voice. "They closing in on us."

"Shit!" Quinn swore. "What does it take to kill these things?"

Maia could understand his exasperation but she did not have time to experience it for herself. None of them did. "How far away?"

"At least twenty five metres." Leigh met her gaze.

Maia thought quickly, they could just keep ahead of the alien if they moved at double time. She glanced at Quinn with the smartgun and decided that he would have to discard the weapon if they were to make a run for it. "Private, lose the gun."

She saw Quinn’s face baulked at that suggestion and cut him off before he could make protest. "We have to make a run for it. The only chance we have of getting off this ship alive is to reach the shuttle before they get to us. So don’t argue with me and lose the weapon!"

Quinn did not like the idea at all because the smartgun was their only means of defence, however, he was still a Marine and Marines obeyed their orders, no matter how ill advised it might be. Unbuckling the harness strapped to his body, the weapon went slack in his grip and clattered to the floor noisily when Quinn finally released his hold upon it.

"Okay," Maia said once he was freed of his burden. "We’re going to run our asses off and get to the shuttle as quickly as possible. "

With that, the group bolted forward, running at top speed as they raced down the empty corridors of the Persephone, once filled with a crew who were now as dead as the ship soon would be when it reached critical mass. Emergency venting was being initialised all over ship as the atomic core began the gradual journey towards meltdown. The temperature in the ship became terribly humid as warm steam escaped from air vents all across the vessel. By the time they reached the pod bay, they were all soaked in sweat and steam but unaccosted so far by an alien drones or their dreaded queen.

"You have ten minutes to reach minimum safe distance." The computer voice repeated as the Marines started down the conduit that carried them from the Persephone back to the shuttle.

Leigh checked the motion tracker one last time as MacReady activated the locking mechanism for the outer hatch. What she saw made her look over her shoulder and start shouting. "Captain, they’re ten metres away and closing!"

"Christ!" Maia exclaimed and turned to Mac. "Sergeant, hurry!"

MacReady punched in the activation sequence faster than he had done anything in his life. The panel came to life under his finger tips and the mechanism signalled its readiness to open with a loud hiss from its hydraulics. Stepping back one pace, he saw the door extending outwards slightly before sliding open with a loud grinding noise of metal against metal. The Marines almost tumbled inside as they heard the noises of movement through the escape pod, bearing down on them rapidly as MacReady scrambled for the inner panel that would seal the doors behind them. Jamming his fist against the red button, the door started to close as an alien made its appearance at the pod end of the conduit. It hissed at MacReady as the outer hatch began to close and the Sergeant fell backwards as it lunged forward, moving through the length of the passageway with incredible speed. MacReady reacted swiftly, brandishing his gun with three rounds left and fired at it, knowing that the bullets could not possibly k ill the creature but could make it bleed.

"Hang on!" He shouted as the ammunition penetrated the hide of the alien skin and acid splattered in all directions. The fluid splashed against the thin walls of the conduit and immediately started eating away at the metal. Within seconds, it had created a fissure large enough to let in the vacuum of space. Whatever advance the creature was making towards the hull was immediately halted with that one action.

The Marines found themselves grabbing anything that they could find as a foot or a hand hold as the atmosphere was forced out of the conduit and into the narrow opening. They watched in something of mild horror and fascination as the alien was dragged to the orifice and dragged through. A terrible screech echoed from the creature as its body was forced into that narrow space, until its flesh was torn to fit the compact opening.

They watched it struggle and scream in agony as it died before them, threaded through the fissure in a slow death that almost gave them reason to feel some compassion until they remembered the friend that had not made it back with them, until they remembered Benjamin Yugowa. The hatch slid to a close, sealing them safely from the breach in the conduit outside.

Maia did not waste any time once things had returned to some semblance of normal. She could not with the Persephone about to detonate in a matter of minutes. "Strap yourselves in, I’m not going to have time to check when we blast off!"

The Captain of the Colonial Marines slid into the pilots chair and made the fastest launch preparation she had ever conducted in her life. Her fingers seemed to move of their own accord as she initialised the engines and prepared to use the thrusters in burst of propulsion that would carry them far from this place and out of the blast radius.

In the meantime, MacReady was ensuring that the rest of the Marines were nestling themselves into place, strapping themselves into their seats to avoid being splattered against the walls when the g-force of their quick departure from this particular location. The engines roared to life underneath them and although they could not hear the drone of the Persephone’s computer telling them how much time they had to reach minimum safe distance, they knew their time was almost up.

"Hang on!" Maia cried out as she activated the thruster controls and the ship lunged forward, disengaging itself from the wounded conduit at the same time. She looked through the cockpit window and saw the Persephone shrink in the distance, swiftly becoming as ignominiously a twinkle in the canvas of black as the stars themselves. Like those same stars, she would have one final moment of beauty before fading into nothingness.

The explosion took place soundlessly even though the shock waves lashed out with surprising speed and managed to sweep the shuttle forward like a surfer riding a swell. It propelled them forward, causing emergency systems to scream protest as it did so before dissipating a short distance later. Space became an amber glow as the fiery end of the Persephone reached apex and for a moment, she became the source of much beauty and colour.

Maia supposed that was some kind of ending.

To be continued…..

 PART THREE