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 Three:

The Underworld

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

No one spoke for a very long time following the destruction of the Persephone. It was difficult to articulate anything into words after seeing the sky burn with amber fire before the cold of vacuum of space extinguished it forever. The atmosphere inside the shuttle was dark and sombre with most of the passengers taking account of what had taken place in the last few hours. Mostly, they were feeling the loss of Benjamin Yugowa, their comrade and to some, friend. It was hard not to like Yugowa’s easygoing nature, the sensitivity of his bedside manner when he rendered aid to the Marines. He should have been a doctor in a hospital somewhere, safe from aliens and danger.

Maia hated losing anyone under her command. Once upon a time, it used to be the nature of the game to lose comrades in the heat of battle. The UNE agent that she was, had become accustomed to that aspect of the business, no matter how distasteful it might. Even her own life was forfeit if it was requirement of the mission. All that changed after Fiorina. When Maia was forced to pull the trigger on Cassandra Yates and end her life as the young woman had asked, she had never been so cavalier about death again. The determination that one life equalled the mission suddenly held no comparison for her. There was no life that worth the mission and she would not pay that price willingly or as blithely as she had once done.

She glanced at MacReady and saw the Sergeant lost in thought. If losing Yugowa had hit her badly then it would undoubtedly be worse for him because he had trained Yugowa since basic. MacReady had considered Yugowa one of his more promising rookies, next to Leigh. To lose him in such a terrible way to the aliens was more than MacReady could stand she was certain. At times like these, Maia wished the barrier of rank and protocol did not exist because she wanted to offer him comfort, the way a lover was supposed during such moments. Unfortunately, that kind of display was impossible when she was his Captain and he was her sergeant.

The embers of the Persephone had completely disappeared behind them and all that was left of the freight ship were some rapidly cooling pieces of debris that were no larger than someone’s fist. No doubt, Paragon had a dozen other ships like her to replace the Persephone but Maia wondered about the lives lost Captain Lightfoot and XO Forey. What was the official explanation for the deaths going to be? And what did Paragon pay for the loss of crew life?

Thirty pieces of fucking silver?

Like the rest of her shipmates, Leigh had been silent. Her thoughts were also centred on Yugowa and the fact that she had lost one of her dearest friends since coming on board the Sparta. MacReady had once advised her to push it all aside into a place within herself that was reserved for grief. Deal with it when the time was right, he had said. Leigh found putting that into practise was much more difficult than originally assumed. No matter how much she tried not to think about Ben, her thoughts would inevitably returned to her friend and his death. Finally, she gave up all together and checked the message buffer for incoming signals, busying herself by focussing her attention on the communication station before to keep herself from thinking about Ben.

It was then that she noticed the signal. "Captain." She turned to Maia. "Switch to the priority channel." She said promptly, all thoughts about Yugowa dissipating from her mind. "We have an incoming transmission that’s been sitting since we boarded the Persephone."

"Shit." Maia swore under her breath. A transmission sent on a priority channel was never a good sign of anything because only a military ship used it to send coded messages it did not wish to be intercepted by civilian communications. While they were on the Persephone, there was no way that ship’s communication array could have picked up on the transmission because the frequency was beyond its capabilities.

Maia immediately switched to the priority channel and saw the coded transmission flashing before her eyes. It did not take her long to decipher the flurry of digits to understand the content of the message. All eyes were on her with held breaths as she keyed in the correct access code and converted the influx of gibberish on her screen to something that could be understood.

"It’s from the Sparta." Maia announced as the translated message appeared on the screen before her. "The message is from Addison."

"Oh Christ, its gotta be bad." Quinn mused, knowing that Addison never exerted his command abilities on anything unless it was an emergency situation. Despite himself, worries about Marin came to mind. He hoped to god there was a ship there when the shuttle returned to Styx.

"They’ve sighted another ship. " Maia continued, her brow frowning as she read more of the message glowing before her eyes on the screen.

"What is this, Grand fucking Centra Station?" MacReady swore. "What happened to maximum security on the planet location?"

"Quiet." Maia shushed him because she was trying to read more of the message. "It launched almost immediately after the shuttle left the Sparta. It made straight for Styx and landed."

"Well they’re fucking dead." Quinn said without any compassion for the fools stupid enough to land on a planet full of aliens. On the Persephone it had been just seven or eight aliens and a queen, on a Fiorina it had been hundreds but on Styx, the number was in the millions, possibly billions. He could not imagine what logic would ever let anyone think going to do that planet without a couple of hundred nukes to be a good idea.

"It was a commercial ship." Maia added.

"Paragon?" Leigh asked, unable to believe that any civilian force could defend themselves against what she had seen on the Persephone. She did not even think the Marines of the Sparta were any match for those creatures.

"More than likely." Maia answered and continued reading out the message. "Foster apparently tracked it to the far side of the planet where the ship landed. The area is supposed to have the thickest concentration of life form readings."

"They’re definitely fucking dead." Quinn reiterated and bore the brunt of a frown from his Captain when she looked over her shoulder at him.

"How long ago?" MacReady spoke up, surfacing an intelligence question as far as Maia was concerned.

"Almost 21.2 standard hours. " She replied. "There has been no distress signal or any calls for help. She’s just sitting there where she landed."

"I doubt there would be anyone left to take off." The sergeant commented, knowing from personal experience just how effectively the aliens could overwhelm a ship when they so desired to.

"I agree," Maia nodded. "But the aliens need hosts so they may not intend to kill."

"Then those poor bastards on the planet are probably cocooned by now." Quinn retorted basing his assumption on the pattern of alien behaviour whose primary motive for existence seemed geared for procreation at all costs.

"Probably." MacReady agreed.

"Shouldn’t we try to help them?" Leigh asked, voicing what none of them had even considered.

"We would not stand a chance of getting them out alive." Maia answered truthfully. Personally, the fools stupid enough to land on the planet deserved what they got but Maia found it difficult to abandon anyone to such a terrible death. Still, as the commander of a Marine squad, her motivations had to be broader than that. It all came down to survival odds and this stage of the game, she could honestly say that a rescue effort would be futile. The humans would have almost immediately been cocooned and used as hosts upon capture. Even if the Marines were to find them, implantation would have already taken place.

"Funny how that ship appeared almost immediately after we left though…." MacReady mused as he eased back into his seat.

"Not funny, "Maia said automatically, having given thought to that particular point ever since she read the communication received from Addison and the Sparta. It was too much of a coincidence that another ship would be in the vicinity of Styx at the same time as the Sparta and remained hidden until the shuttle had left. "Planned." She declared.

"Planned?" Leigh exclaimed and they all stared at her, sitting up and paying attention after that statement. Only MacReady did not seemed startled. The sergeant nodded in comprehension as if the last piece of an elusive puzzle had fallen into place within the recesses of his mind.

"Think about it. It waits until we leave to launch. If Paragon knows about Styx, it’s a good chance they know about the blockade as well. Now if they’re fighting the clock, would it not be simpler to throw a decoy in our way and then sneak past when we were gone? I say that the second ship was waiting for us to leave before it made the attempt to land on Styx so that we would have to divide our resources. The command structure of the Marine core is such that they would know that to break the quarantine requires a command decision and if I’m on this ship…."

"Then the Sparta is powerless to do anything until you get back and authorise it." Leigh concluded, reaching the point that Maia was alluding to. "It gives them time to land on the planet and retrieve their specimens. "

"They’d be stupid enough to believe they can get the eggs and blast off before we got back." Quinn added.

"Exactly." Maia confirmed.

"You’re telling me they used the people on the Persephone?" Leigh’s face curled in disgust as that thought occurred to her.

"Yeah," MacReady spoke up. "The Persephone was the bait. Paragon knew we’d pick up their engine signature in the area and would investigate. With the planet under strict quarantine, we would be required to see if the Persephone had inadvertently picked up aliens when they were in orbit."

"Jesus." Quinn whispered, unable to keep the horror of it all from his voice, despite his jaded and gruff exterior. He remembered the dismembered pieces of crew he had found strewn across that nightmarish scene within the cargo hold and had felt a cold chill trying to picture what it must have been like for them when they realised they had been implanted. How does one deal with such a horrifying possibility. The sheer terror of it must have been unimaginable. However, it was not as unimaginable as knowing that some corporate bastard in a fancy office somewhere had made the decision to inflict this death upon someone based on the findings of a balance sheet. "I thought this kind of bull shit was history when the Company got taken down."

"Never underestimate the power of human greed." Maia said grimly. "It’s just the dollar that matters to these assholes."

After what they now knew about the Persephone and its crew. It appeared that no one could disagree with that statement.

***********

It had been such a good idea to begin with.

In the beginning when he first saw the information, his blood practically boiled at what was before him. It sat on his desk, like the final piece of a puzzle that would magically show him the grail that so many others had sought and died to attain. It was beautiful in its perfection. He thought of the Company, the monolith to which so many growing corporations had once worshipped like the god it was. He had spent years in their ranks as rising executive, dreaming one day to hold the brass ring in his hand like so many others in its stable of raw talent.

Then the unimaginable happened. Weyland Yutani died.

It did not die a clean death. Its demise was painful and prolonged, with piece at a time being butchered and sold off while those smart enough to know that the end was coming had long since jumped ship. He had been one of those fortunates who watched its disintegration from the distance, mourning the loss of an icon while sifting through the debris for what could be salvaged. Paragon had been born of this flotsam and he ran this fledgling with the same fervour that had made the Weyland Yutani Corporation the greatest conglomerate that had ever existed.

For most part, he had succeeded and Paragon grew to be the company he always dreamed it could be. When David Lenard had presented the grail like location of the aliens, he knew he had finally reached apogee in the future of his company. The alien project had existed for almost a hundred years, from the moment the Nostromo had picked up that errant signal to the recent incursion at Fiorina. It was the ultimate weapon in bioengineering that promised trillions of military dollars to he who could unlock it secret. Before Lenard’s presentation, he had assumed that the project was unrecoverable, what with the collapse of Weyland Yutani.

The existence of Styx changed everything and he was not letting his prize go for anything in the galaxy. He concocted the plan to send the Persephone to Styx, knowing that the agent placed on board would ensure that spores were brought on board. If by some miracle the ship actually managed to escape its decoy status to reach Earth, Paragon officials would be awaiting to take control of the vessel, ensuring the right palms were greased so that it could pass through ICC quarantine. If it did not, that too was unimportant because its purpose had been served already. The Marines who were assigned to blockade the planet would undoubtedly reach the engine signature of the ship and pursue her out of fear that she may have breached the quarantine of the planet and endanger Earth.

He had much protest when he decided to lead the mission to recover specimens from the planet itself once the decoy had done its work and split the Marine forces. He knew he would have time enough to do what was necessary because Marine squads had a very specific chain of command that would ensure he would be uninterrupted. The protest came from his own people but he ignored them because he was serving a higher purpose now, a calling that not even his own greed could supplant. He did not understand this need to land on Styx, not even now when it was all said and done.

The desire to reach Styx burned in his veins like a fire he did not understand or could ignore. It paralysed all thought until all he could hear was this siren song that whispered softly to him and promised him oneness that he could not ignore. Like a splinter in his mind, it chipped away his resistance, breaking down even the seemingly impregnable walls of greed and ambition that towered like fortresses in his psyche. It permeated everything with its sweet scent until all that remained as he stared at the planet below him was this uncontrollable urge to be there.

The protests of his companions, Lenard and the doctor…what was his name? Keogh, that its. Keogh who was probably one of the last remaining authorities on the alien species was more vocal of them all. It was dangerous, Keogh kept repeating but those arguments made little or no impact upon him because the desire to plunge within the cumulous depths of Styx thick atmosphere overrode all other notions of propriety. Against all orders, he took the Necromancer down, skimming past the Marine ship Sparta as he made the journey to Styx after long last.

The planet was just as he envisioned it. Cold and wet. The air outside was damp and humid, making it almost intolerable within the containment suits they were wearing even though it regulated the temperature so that its wearer would be unaffected by the outside environment. The sky above them was grey, with thick clouds that promised to rain down a storm at a moment’s notice. Most of the terrain was bog but he knew where he was going. He did not question the certainty of this intuition and he had enough force of personality to convince the others he knew where they were going.

Armed and carrying the equipment necessary for specimens, they waded through the thick mire of green slime and mud, trying not to be repulsed by the sight of rotting carcasses that bobbed to the surface when their footsteps disturbed it. He ignore the growing apprehension of his companions and forged ahead because the journey to that siren voice was the only totality he knew.

"This isn’t a good idea." Lenard had spoken at one point. "Do you have any idea where the hell you are going?"

"Of course I do," he had lied and it was so easy to do because he was so practised at it. In truth, he had known where he was going even if he had not known why.

Lenard had protested throughout the length of the journey but he had ignored the Councilman. As they broke the edge of the bog and stepped onto an island of mud almost a mile from where they had landed, he knew he had reached their destination. Until now, he had seen none of the creatures that had been the point of this entire expedition to Styx. He could feel them, skirting the edge of the periphery, watching closely with their eyeless sight, the way a lion watched a zebra from afar.

He knew with total confidence that he would not be harmed as would those with him. He had a higher purpose for being here then either human or aliens could envision because she had told him so. The hive structure the Necromancer’s crew came upon was larger than anything they had ever known the aliens to construct. It did not look like the hive recorded on Fiorina or at all like the constructs within the Acheron facility prior to its destruction. This was a huge fortress, the bastion of alien culture.

"My god!" Lenard had exclaimed staring at it as they stood at the mouth of hell preparing to storm the gates. "What the hell is it?"

"Home." He had whispered so softly that none of the others heard before continuing forward into the darkness.

Inside the structure it was almost pitch black and only the small lamps on their helmets illuminated their way into the darkness. As he drew closer and closer, he heard her voice almost speaking to him in an unfathomable language of pure emotion, guiding him with feeling what could not be said in words.

"They’re all around us." Keogh stammered as the doctor continued forward on the black path ahead, surrounded by pods that did not look very different from the eggs containing the spores, except these were larger. They stood well above the tallest of them, with dark shadows moving within that none of the humans wanted to see exposed. The fear was so thick among his party he could almost taste it but there was no turning back now, even they knew it as the final leg of their journey approached.

They entered a vast cavern, which was ringed with rows after rows of alien progeny. The spores slumbered within the hatchery, surrounding a point in the centre of the chamber that was the nexus of the alien civilisation. By now, the others had guessed what had happened but understanding did them little good, the enormous pods behind them started to open slowly, hot gasses escaping as their folds fell away. The hiss of birth of birth could be heard as the creatures emerged from within. They were undoubtedly aliens of the same species but they were also different. Bigger than the normal drones the human were accustomed to encountering, the new arrivals had then surrounded but did not attack. Instead, they kept the human pinned in one place as the first of the spores started to open ….

*********

Crispin Dunne had woke up from a dream and stepped into a nightmare.

His mind had cleared and the stupor that taken him from the safety of his ship to this stygian place where it was dark and dripping with ooze and foul water had also evaporated like a fine mist. He opened his eyes to find the rancid smell of rotting things worming into his consciousness, until the stench was so overpowering he could not breathe or keep from gagging.

Breathing hard, he realised he could not move. His limbs were frozen in place and he could hear the others in the blackness, whimpering and lamenting with the horror of understanding that he had yet to grasp. He did not know where he was and as he struggled to be free of his bonds as the slow awakening of his mind reached it full revival, he noticed the egg before him.

The unsealed egg before him.

Oh God! Awareness exploded into his mind when at last he understood as the first sharp tinge of pain ripped through his body. He gasped loudly as the agony repeated itself with even more searing intensity, his body spasming with convulsions that were not strong enough to allow him to break free from his prison. As he panted in terror, he could hear the others crying out in similar despair, before the pain became such that even their voices were drowned out in the sound of his own voice finally escaping his throat.

And the screaming began.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I

When the Sparta finally appeared in the space before the small long range shuttle, the hulking ship appeared to the eyes of the Marines returning, to be the most precious sight in the galaxy. Even though their troubles were far from over, for the moment at least, they all observed a few seconds of silence of being able to return to her at all, considering the death they had barely escaped on board the now destroyed cargo ship, the Persephone.

MacReady stared at the vessel and felt the same emotions as the rest of his crew mates, even though it remained unspoken by all of them. Returning to the Sparta would allow them a moment of respite, while they caught their breath and took a well earned break following their ordeal on the Persephone. Unfortunately, even the sight of the Sparta looming closer as Maia directed the shuttle towards the mouth of the landing bay, was not enough to quash this knot of anxiety that had formed in the pit of his stomach.

He could not explain what it was, this feeling that had emerged from nowhere, rising from his innards like the stench of stagnant water but it seemed to gain momentum, until his heart was starting to pound. All he could do to keep himself centred was to crush these feelings under the weight of his discipline as a soldier and his natural ability to keep calm under the worst of circumstances. None of his ship mates had noticed the apprehension in his manner although in fairness only one person might have been able to detect this aberrant behaviour in him, but at the moment, she was too busy flying the ship.

More than anything he wished they were anywhere but on this mission, where he could let her soak him into her arms and hear her voice in his ear while she whispered things meant for him, Mac not Sargent MacReady. MacReady forced himself to maintain focus as the shuttle sailed into the depths of the Sparta, the indigo iridescent of space suddenly replaced by the hard steel interior of a Marine carrier. The walls enclosing on him suddenly escalated his already precarious state and MacReady found himself breaking into a sweat. He could feel moisture forming under his breast plate, feel rivulets of it running through his cropped hair. The air inside the shuttle seemed to be warming and each breath he took into his lungs only served to constrict his heart.

He needed to get out and for the life of him, he could not understand why.

MacReady clamped his eyes shut, doing an admirable job of keeping his state of mind from the rest of his fellow Marines, in particular his Captain. He knew that there was something she was keeping from him but he could not decide whether or not that silence was due to protocol in which case he would understand because that was the nature of things with both of them serving together. His second option was one he did not like but had to acknowledge; did it have to do with his episode in cryosleep?

In all the years he had been a Marine going from one mission to another, he had never had any kind of difficulty in hypersleep. To be honest, he did not like going under for months on end but that seemed academic when it was a part of his job. That he had suffered such an acute attack of hypersleep psychosis now, troubled him. Maia had said very little about it even though MacReady knew her well enough to guess that it was in her thoughts. However, her answers to his questions about it were evasive and it only made MacReady more certain that there was something she was not telling him.

He was snapped out of his reverie when the shuttle vibrated with the sound of metal against metal upon finally touching down on the landing pad of the Sparta’s shuttle bay. The whole ship seemed to echo with different sounds as the engines began shutting down and all of the shuttle’ systems started powering off. He could see both Leigh and Maia working in tandem to disengage the main engines. Although Leigh was not a qualified pilot, he knew that Maia had been showing Leigh a little about the operational functions of the ship.

"I never thought I’d be glad to see this bucket of bolts again." Quinn drawled as he unbuckled himself from his seat and stood up. "That was too close." He retorted, thinking how they almost did not make it back from the Persephone.

"It’s always too close when it comes to those bastards." MacReady quipped, thinking they had not been very lucky at all, considering not all of them had made it back. "Just ask Yugowa."

"Yeah," Leigh said softly, trying not to be affected by the death of her comrade because a Marine was supposed to become accustomed to losing a man but she was new at this, no matter how promising and intelligent she may seem.

"Hey Leigh," Quinn spoke up. "You did good out there."

Leigh was surprised by the compliment and despite the sorrow she felt for Yugowa, found enough pleasure by the remark to let a smile steal across her face. "Really?"

"Really." MacReady agreeing with the smartgunner on this point completely. If it were not for Leigh, he and Maia would have become alien hosts by now and suffer an equally nightmarish death.

"Take the compliment Leigh," Maia said rising out of her chair, after flicking the last few switches that completed ship’s landing procedure and its shut down. Like the rest of those under her command, Mai was equally glad to be back on board the Sparta and she recognised how much Leigh had contributed to that happening. "Coming from Quinn, its gotta be worth a mention in someone’s diary."

The smartgunner threw them all a smirk and retorted. "Very funny. See if I give anyone a nice word again."

"Well we better get out there and see what else has happened since we’ve been gone." Maia sighed, having not quite decided what she would do about the situation on Styx, now that the security of the planet had been breached. Realistically, any rescue operation would be an exercise in futility if what had happened to the earlier ships was any indication of the chances of humans surviving on a planet full of aliens.

"Couldn’t be any worse that what we left on the Persephone." Leigh commented.

"You would think so wouldn’t you?" Maia said sarcastically, not believing for one moment that things could not surpass themselves in danger or intensity when it came to the aliens. She knew she was being pessimistic but experience taught her that pessimism simply prepared one for the worst case scenario, which in this case took place the minute they put into orbit around this stygian world.

Although she did not voice it to her comrades, Maia had this terrible feeling that everything was about to hit the fan.

*********

While the Captain and the others disbanded following their disembarkation of the shuttle, Quinn took the opportunity to get a shower and a few hours of sleep. The Captain had scheduled a briefing in a few hours and had effectively let the Persephone team to get some well-deserved rest. In the meantime, Quinn heard something about her patching a com channel to the brass at Gateway, to come to some decision on what should be done with the latest developments on Styx.

Quinn seemed to agree with the Captain on her reluctance to make a surface landing of the planet. If the commercial ship that had landed on the world was in any fit state to make if off the planet then in his opinion, it would be just as effective to board them then. If not, then it was pointless risking more lives by making a hopeless attempt to rescue them when in all likelihood, the crew of the ship was already dead.

Showering was the first thing on his agenda since he had escaped relatively unscathed. The Captain had ordered both MacReady and Leigh to the medlab for a quick check up since both of them had been attacked by the rogue android Wyatt and probably had some bruises in each of their encounters. Quinn was never pleased to slip under the cool rain of the shower than at this moment. Feeling the layers of dirt, smoke and other alien fluids wash off his skin went a long way to boosting his moral and made him feel that the danger for the moment at least was over. His adrenalin was still surging from the wake of the mission and he knew from experience that it took time before his equilibrium was restored.

The rest of the Marines were continuing their work on the sensor array and so he had the shower room to himself, which was just as well. Like Leigh, Yugowa’s death still preyed on his mind and he did not wish to talk about it just yet. He had liked the kid, who was a little on the green side maybe and Quinn could not confess to connecting with him on any level, but Yugowa had been a good medtech and Quinn had respected him for that.

He padded to his locket once he stepped out of the communal shower and proceeded to dry off in front of his locker when suddenly, he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey Quinn."

He knew it was her even before he turned around and this was a meeting he did not wish to have. Until now, he had managed to forge all about Marin and worst yet, Jaleel, letting the mission on the Persephone occupy his thoughts while he forced his more intimate troubles to some place where it could not remind him that Marin was no longer his. As if she ever was to begin with, he thought ruefully.

It took a moment of decision before he turned around to face her and when he did so, he carefully wrapped a towel around him as if it made a difference now that she saw him naked when it had never mattered before. "How you doing Marin?"

"Looks like you had it pretty rough on that ship," she pointed out, her dark eyes staring at his. To anyone else, she might have seemed indifferent but Quinn who could read her better than anyone else, knew that she was concerned about him.

Even as she stood before him, Quinn could feel her eyes moving over his body, examining him for injuries as if Foster’s words that he had emerged unharmed from the Persephone was not good enough for her. Despite himself, he could not help feeling glad to see her. After being so close to dying on that ship, it was good to know what he had tried to stay alive for so desperately was still here. "We lost the medtech." He said simply.

"I heard." Marin nodded.

The awkwardness between them was creating a gulf that Quinn knew would be permanent once it had completed its work. They were the best of friends in all things, in work and in civilian life. For years, it had just been the two of them and now suddenly, the arrival of Jaleel had jeopardised all that. Quinn knew that MacReady was right, that if he could just force himself to tell Marin how he felt, it would go a long way to resolving this situation between them.

Except he could not.

He could not open his heart and let her in because he did not know whether or not she wanted him. Until Jaleel had come into her life, Quinn had never even anticipated the possibility that she might want a romantic relationship and he had always hoped that when she did, it would be him she would choose, not some wet behind the ears rookie.

"Quinn," Marin sighed, "what’s going on between us? We’ve been friends for a long time and now, you can’t even look at me. Is Jaleel that much of a problem?"

"Marin, I ain’t got time for this." He turned around, deciding that he was in no mood to discuss Private Jaleel at this point.

"Goddamn!" She stopped him from turning away and made her face him. "Not this time! I’m not letting you weasel out of talking to me. What the fuck is wrong?"

"What the hell do you think?" He shoved her hand away and glared at her, suddenly feeling a dam bursting inside of him as all these pent up feelings surged outwards, allowing him no possibility of restraint once freed. "It’s been you and me for years Marin! Years! I know everything there is about you. I know what perfume you wear, I know that you don’t always wear army green under your clothes, I know you like Chinese food but not just any kind, Cantonese especially. You like going to Chinatown in Frisco to this little place on the corner. I know that you like walking on the beach with no shoes on by yourself cause it helps you clear your head." He swallowed feeling inordinately stupid but not enough to keep from speaking his mind, now that he had finally had the courage to do so.

Marin stared at him in astonishment but said nothing. She had suspected he felt this way but hearing him say it out loud was almost as much a surprise to her as it was to him. She had never told him about that little restaurant she liked frequenting or the fact that when she supposedly took off on her own, she had done so because she wanted to go walking on the beach alone. That he knew all these things about her was not as surprising as the fact that he had taken the time to find out.

"It kills me seeing you with him." Quinn swallowed. "You were more than just my partner, you were my friend and I kinda hoped that some day, when you got around to it that we would be more than that."

"Quinn, I didn’t know." She said softly, sounding very much like a woman there without one iota of resemblance to the tough smartgunner that had stood by his side during so many battles.

"No you didn’t," he responded firmly, the momentary lapse in emotional control fully restrained in place now. The indifferent mask started to fall across his features again. "And now you’re with Jaleel, so there ain’t much point to it now." He turned back to his locker again because he did not wish to continue this conversation any further. He had already said more than he wished and despite the need to unburden himself, Quinn now felt more foolish than he did liberated.

Marin closed her eyes as she came to grips with what he had told her. Of course, she had felt the same way but until now, she had assumed that she was alone in how she had felt about him and thus remained silent. Only since they had come off furlough for this particular mission, did Marin start to suspect that this might not be true. Ever since he had seen her with Jaleel, he had reacted in a way that she had never seen before and now at last, she understood why.

"Quinn." She placed her hand on his shoulder. Instead of simply letting it rest there, she let her fingers circle the taut skin with feather like touches in a gesture that was unmistakable in its intent. She felt him freeze under her touch and as her fingers started kneading the flesh slowly, caressing it the way a woman would touch a man that she cared for, he slowly faced her again.

What she saw in his eyes could almost be considered hope as he reached for her hand and replaced it on his chest, staring into her eyes as he did so. Marin could see fear and anxiety in a face that had never known fear in its whole life. She did not know if this was right or even wise but without any hesitation, she pressed her mouth against his.

His reaction to her lips on his was swift. She had moved to kiss him but by the time the sensation had time to register on his mind as pleasurable, he was devouring her with his own mouth. He explored the sweetness beyond her silky lips, surprisingly soft for a woman who rarely pampered herself as others do. His arms took her small petite form in his and delighted in how she felt, enjoying the curves of her body and the softness of her breasts as his hand made an exploratory probe of her perfect flesh.

He had her pressed against the row of lockers, as his hand snaked up her t-shirt, feeing his arousal surge with the feel of her bare skin under his palm. Absurdly, he wondered how he was ever going to get into a communal shower with her ever again. He could not believe the power to be had in a kiss as his mouth took from her every thing that he wished and Marin felt no desire to stop him.

Her head swam at how perfect this all felt, wondering to herself why it had taken so long for them to breach this barrier when the rewards were so wonderful. Her own hands ran over the muscles of his back, delighting in the hard, taut flesh whose power to excite her was growing by the minute. She felt his fingers brush the tight bud of her nipple and arched against him in a moan of utter want.

"Oh god," she groaned into his mouth and heard him grunt.

"You feel so good," he whispered, unable to believe that this moment had finally come. He had dreamed of it, imagined it for years but now that it was here, he felt awestruck….

"Hey Quinn!" The familiar voice of Tim Addison announced as the Corporal entered the locker room.

Immediately both Quinn and Marin pulled apart with each other, like children who were caught doing what they weren’t. Marin pulled her t-shirt down and ran her fingers through her hair as Quinn quickly returned to his locker and pulled on a pair of pants to hide just how much he had enjoyed their brief encounter.

"Don’t tell me you two are at it again!" Addison grumbled as he found the two staring at each other with unfathomable looks.

"Shut up Addison." Quinn retorted as he met Marin’s gaze slyly. "Ain’t none of your business."

"The hell it isn’t." Addison persisted. "You’re bringing everyone down with this shit of yours. Deal with it and get on with your lives, I’m begging ya." The comtech retorted. "I mean how difficult could it be?"

Marin and Quinn exchanged glances and decided without having to say one word, that following what had just transpired between the two of them.

It had just become a great deal more difficult.

II

He was going insane and he did not know why.

Master Sergeant Kevin MacReady stared at himself in the mirror and tried to understand what was happening to him. Ever since he had returned to the Sparta, what had been a nagging unexplainable feeling had worked its evil in his mind like a splinter of glass that was slowly threatening to unhinge him completely. He had endured the medical exam that Maia had insisted upon following their return to the ship, all the while feeling as if he was growing out of his skin. The room had almost felt airless and it took every ounce of self-control not to beat the living crap out of Foster when the android had begun the examination.

Foster had said nothing if he had noticed MacReady’s uneasiness, which was just as well, for the Sergeant, was in no mood for pointed questions about his state of mind at this time. As it was, he could not have escaped the medlab soon enough and even though he had stood under the shower for a good twenty minutes with icy cold water running over his skin, nothing seemed to drive away this feeling inside him. He could feel it tugging at the edges of his mind as the potency of the cold water did nothing to jar him back to his senses. He was using every bit of discipline he could muster to resist it but it would not go away and slowly but surely he could see it chipping away at his resolve.

MacReady stared into the mirror of the shower room trying to see the progression of the fire that was consuming his brain. He could feel his exhaustion starting to penetrate his determination not to yield to that voice inside his mind that sounded so sweet and filled him with a strange oneness that was drawing him somewhere. For a man accustomed to being in total control at all time, MacReady could not deal with this powerful assault on all the self-discipline he had built up over a lifetime in the Corp.

She kept calling him.

Her voice was so sweet and she whispered things in his ears that he could no longer ignore, no matter how hard he fought her. He was nearing the edge of the blackness with each promise she made, knowing that the invisible ropes dragging him to the precipice was looming ever so close. The part of him that was still Kevin MacReady, Master Sergeant of the Colonial Marines, had enough reason to suspect what was happening although that part was not strong enough to do what necessary.

The scourge that was tearing his mind asunder was almost nearing its victory in the battle that was presently being wages. MacReady wanted to go to Maia because she would know what to do. He suspected that she had always known and felt his rage bubble, at the idea that she would not tell him, even now when it was so important that he understand what was happening to him.

How could she let him endure this if she loved him!

"Get out my fucking head!" MacReady screamed as he stared at the mirror that documented his descent into some unimaginable nightmare while he was powerless to stop it.

His fist struck the centre of the glass, shattering it into a thousand pieces as it crumbled into the mouth of the sink below it. He had hoped the pain might stop it but nothing was penetrating this black haze that was paralysing every rational though that ran through his mind. Not even the sight of blood running down his hands, intermingling with pieces of broken glass while creating angry crimson streaks against the porcelain. He winced at the pain and that was as much reaction as he was allowed because she was inside him now and she would not allow anything to touch him.

"I won’t go!" He hissed, defying her to make him do what he knew would mean death to them all. "You can’t make me!"

But he was already lost because she was inside his mind and when he went down to the planet, she would be inside his body.

CHAPTER TWENTY

I

Maia looked at the neuroscan readings for a long time without saying a word. Although she had suspected this ever since MacReady had displayed his first episode in hypersleep, seeing the stark evidence before her was still nonetheless disconcerting. As much as Foster may have disagreed with her previously, even the android could not deny what they were both viewing on the digital screen with grim realisation.

When the Marines had returned to Sparta, Maia had MacReady and Leigh to the medlab so that Foster could give them a quick examination and tend to some of the injuries acquired during their time on the Persephone. However, she had an ulterior motive for making the order following what she had learnt about Captain Lighfoot and how his aberrant behaviour had led to the destruction of everyone on board the ill fated ship. She was almost positive now that the same thing that had made Lightfoot doom his crewmates to an alien death was now wreaking the same deadly mischief on Master Sargent Kevin MacReady.

The medical officer on the Persephone had detected abnormal brain wave patterns on the Captain prior to the loss of all hands. Those readings now stared back at Maia and Foster, except they did not belong to Lightfoot but MacReady. His readings showed the same unusual fluctuations that indicated that something was playing havoc with his neural pathways. Maia searched her mind, trying to recall if she had detected any unusual behaviour from him during their journey back. She could remember nothing but that still did not alter the fact that she had to act and act quickly.

"This is inconclusive." Foster remarked, trying to offer the Captain some hope for more than just professional reasons. Although Maia made no reference to it in any conversation they had ever had, Foster was aware of the personal situation between herself and Sargent MacReady. Even for a woman with her resolve, this could not be a situation that was easy to deal with. "We know that their brain wave patterns are affected by something, it may not necessarily be the Queen mother’s influence.

Maia let out a deep sigh, knowing that as much as she wanted to believe that Foster was right, she could not take the chance when the lives of more than just herself hung in the balance. MacReady was a Sargent, the second highest voice next to her own. In a crisis situation, the others would turn to him for leadership if she was absent. How could she allow him to be in a position where he might lead them all straight into the lion’s den? She knew that he had a strong will, one of the strongest she had encountered, and certainly one of the most well balanced as well but no one could fight telepathic control by a species that was a seasoned in its use.

"It doesn’t matter." Maia shook her head and turned away from the screen, unable to look at it any more. The confirmation of her suspicions offered her no peace of mind, indeed it only made things infinitely worse. "He’s infected by something and until we leave Styx for good, he’s a danger to everyone on board this ship. I won’t have him turn out the way Lightfoot did."

Foster nodded grimly, agreeing with her judgement even though he did not envy her position. "So what do you plan to do?"

"The only thing we can do," she said unhappily. "We put him back into the freezers for the duration of the mission."

Foster shrugged uncomfortably. "The mission could take months. The other ships aren’t due here for awhile at least."

"I know," Maia nodded. "However, we don’t have a choice. The sooner we get him in the freezers better. Captain Lightfoot ended up getting his entire crew infected. The queen mother’s influence robbed him of complete control; he practically served them up. MacReady has an even higher psi rating than he does; god knows what could happen. I’m somewhat surprised he has not started displaying aberrant behaviour as it is."

"Sergeant MacReady is an extremely disciplined individual," Foster ventured a guess. "Most Marines are noted to have high tolerance levels in personal determination, its comes with the job. It may not have affected it because he is trained not to let outside influences penetrate the Corp training."

"It will get to him eventually," Maia wished it were not so but she could not deny the level of neural fluctuations in the readings before them. "Perhaps not now but soon and until we get him into stasis, he’s a time bomb waiting to happen."

"I am sorry." Foster said trying to empathise with her feelings on this matter and knew that he could not possibly imagine what conflicts she must be enduring on this point. While the Captain and Sergeant MacReady had always kept their profession and personal relationship decidedly separate, no one was blind to the affection they held for each other, not even to an android like himself. "I know how you must feel about this."

It took her a moment to understand that he was not referring to her feelings about having to tell one of the people under her command that she was going to have to virtually keep them in suspended animation. Worse yet, because they were a danger to themselves and everyone else before they had even done anything. Maia realised that Foster meant her delivering this news to someone she cared about deeply. She had never spoken to the android about her personal feelings for Mac even though she supposed on some level, even an android was blind enough to see it.

"I don’t think you do." She replied, softening just enough for Foster to catch a glimpse of the person beneath the uniform. "I have to go to someone that I know care about a great deal, rely upon and trust and inform him that he has to be locked away because he may end up killing the lot us. Somehow," she paused as the emotion got the better of her, just for a brief instant. "I don’t think he will be very understanding."

"It’s for his own good as well as ours." Foster reiterated. "Surely even he must know that."

Foster was right in that respect, MacReady would understand the need for such action if that level of danger was involved. Nevertheless, Maia did not relish telling him that the aliens had tendrils into his mind. No matter how self possessed Kevin MacReady was at times, that kind of knowledge would frighten the hell out of anyone. Maia was almost glad she did not have to discover something like that about herself.

"Mac’s pure Marine," Maia replied, still indulging a little in using Foster as a confidante, knowing that her words would remain completely private. "He won’t like it but he won’t willingly put the squad in jeopardy. Sometimes," she sighed as she met the android’s gaze, "it would be so much better if humans came equipped with behavioural inhibitors like you do. It would make things so much less complicated."

"But dull." Foster retorted. "Humanity seems to thrive on conflict and to remove it would cause stagnation."

"You’re probably right, " she agreed as she made a move out of the medlab because she could not let any more time pass before getting MacReady in stasis. If the alien influence had not worked its presence on his mind yet, it soon would and Maia would prefer Mac in a controlled environment before that happened. "But I’d like to try if for a while."

**********

Marin was confused.

After her passionate exchange with Quinn earlier, the smartgunner felt her emotions in a state of turmoil that was not only unfamiliar but decidedly unpleasant. For once in her life, she had no idea how to proceed and for one whose personality lent itself to decisive action always, this confusion was something she did not wish to experience any more than she had. Most of the Marines were not presently off duty, having accomplished the task of assembling the sensor array that would allow the Sparta to detect long range ships.

She had been walking along these corridors for almost an hour, unprepared to face either Quinn or Jaleel because at the moment, they were the storm around which she was trapped in the centre. She had no idea that Quinn felt so much for her even though she had started to suspect it since his sudden change of behaviour when they had returned from furlough. However, even Marin was unprepared for the intensity of his desire when she became lost in his fiery kisses. The mouth that devoured hers had engendered more feeling than the lacklustre feelings she had experienced with Jaleel.

Marin knew she wanted Quinn. She probably had always wanted him but had brushed aside a personal relationship for every reason other than the one that should have mattered the most. When he had pressed her lips against him, all those insecurities seemed petty and insignificant in the full face of what they felt between them and the heat that had been generated in their passion. With sadness, Marin knew that she had not experienced anything similar for Jaleel.

With Jaleel, their relationship was warm and comfortable, not hot and fiery. At the time, she had believed that real life romances were meant to be like it was in books, passionate and torrid and so had found nothing lacking in her relationship with Jaleel until Quinn showed her otherwise. Unfortunately, clarity did nothing to ease the problem that now lay before her and required immediate action. When she had kissed Quinn, she had taken a step over a line that should not have been crossed until certain issues had been resolved. The premature escalation of her feelings with Quinn had left Marin in a very untenable situation between the two men and she was going to have to resolve it soon.

"Tina!" She heard the familiar voice of Jaleel behind her and wondered if fate was having fun at her expense.

Marin had not wished for this confrontation right at this moment but she supposed that there was no reason to delay it, when doing so could prove hazardous to everyone involved. It was bed enough that Jaleel and Quinn had been at each other’s throat for the duration of this mission but if Jaleel had any idea of what had taken place in the locker room between herself and Quinn, it would escalate beyond her worst imaginings.

"Hey Jaleel." She smiled faintly as he jogged up to her and started walking beside her down the corridor.

"Where have you been?" He asked, slightly out of breath. "I’ve been looking for you everywhere. You disappeared pretty quick after mess hall."

"I’ve been walking." Marin said meeting his gaze and hated herself for doing this but to follow her heart, she had no choice but to do so. "Thinking and clearing my head."

"Oh." Jaleel, not being explain why that those words oozed with foreboding. "What about?"

No point beating around the bush about this. "Us." Marin answered, stopping so that she could look at him.

"What about us?" Jaleel swallowed, feeling something terrible about to make itself present.

"You’re a great guy Jaleel," she said softly. "I like you a lot."

"I like you too." He smiled, flashing those perfect teeth as he placed a hand on her cheek.

Damn, Marin swore. Why did he have to make this so hard? Jaleel had offered her love and intimacy at a point in her life when she felt that she was no longer capable of engendering such emotion in any man because of what she was. Now that he had been the impetus that allowed Quinn to breach the barrier of his insecurity and tell Marin how he felt, Jaleel had to be discarded like some tool that had served its purpose. She felt horrified at how callously things had turned out for the private and worst of all, her responsibility for the hurt that she was about to cause this.

"Jaleel, I care about you a great deal and I want to thank you for making feel like a woman for the first time in a very long time. Because of you, I found out that it was okay to care about someone without losing myself or getting soft. I think you’re a great guy and someday, someone will come along…."

"I know," he retorted, having heard the words escaping her lips through a rising wave of anguish. "I’ll meet someone who is so much better than me." He said bitterly. "Spare me, I know the speech."

"Jaleel," Marin tried to find the right thing to say that could make this easier for him to hear but realised that there was no way that such things could be handled without someone getting hurt. "I never meant to hurt you."

"I know," he replied, starting to feel anger eclipse the pain he was feeling. "But now Quinn’s paying attention, so you don’t need me any more, is that it?"

"No," she exclaimed, horrified that he could think such a thing and knew that it was the anger that was talking. "It’s not like that at all. I just don’t know how I feel about either of you at the moment and I want to take a step back."

His disbelief was more than apparent in his eyes. Jaleel stepped back from her, his feelings laid bare for all to see. Marin saw the pain in his eyes and felt her own heart clench knowing that she had caused it. She had never meant to hurt him and wondered how things could have spiralled so out of control. "Sure you do," he said derisively. "Let me guess, when you take one step forward again, it sure as hell won’t be towards me now, will it? It will be to Quinn."

"Quinn has nothing to do with this." Marin lied, not willing to let him see that many of his words had hit home because he was right.

"The hell he don’t," Jaleel snapped and turned on his heels, to put some well needed distance between himself and the smartgunner. As he continued up the corridor, he saw his nemesis appear in the same passageway.

Quinn met his gaze and then saw Marin down the path and knew something had transpired between the two. Judging by the grim expression on Jaleel’s face, Quinn suddenly had a rough idea what had gone down. Jaleel stared back at him with open resentment.

"I guess you got what you wanted after all." Jaleel said through gritted teeth, open hostility in his eyes as he drew away from the veteran and disappeared down the corridor.

Quinn said nothing because he was more interested in Marin at this point. His partner and friend was leaning against the wall, looking most distressed at the obviously ugly exchange between herself and Jaleel. As he approached, she looked up at him and the sadness in her eyes, melted his heart there and then.

"You okay?" He asked gently. They had not had a chance to run into each other since their encounter in the locker room.

"Fine." Marin nodded, "I just ripped out Jaleel’s still beating heart without spilling any blood. "

Quinn leaned against the wall next to her and dug his hands in his pockets, trying to decide what he should say to that. "I’m sorry." He said softly, deciding that was the safest thing he could impart to her at this point.

"It had to be done." Marin swallowed. "Couldn’t let things go the way they were."

"I guess not." Quinn said non commitally because he had no idea how things were now. He was just in the dark about this as she was. Relationships were not something he had an abundance of experience in, he normally looked to the other person involved to take his cue.

"I hope he’ll be okay." She confessed, staring down the corridor Jaleel had taken after their exchange.

"He’ll get over it." Quinn sighed, feeling her pain most profoundly because he did not feel like much of a victor. Jaleel was a good man and he had made Marin happy and he had given Quinn the kickstart needed to admit to how he felt. Despite the hostility that had existed between them both, Quinn had not wished to see it end this way.

"In the end we all do."

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

Maia found MacReady in her quarters, knowing that he went there sometimes to get a private moment alone. He knew that she did not mind his intrusion in her only refuge from command and everything else that went with leading a squad of Marines. As she entered the room, she heard him inside the bathroom, the door of which was ajar and wide enough for her to see what he was doing. He was poised over the sink and there was enough traces of red against the stark contrast of white porcelain to pull her into the room.

"Mac, what happened to your hand?" She asked as she stood next to him and observed the deep gashes in his knuckled.

MacReady who was busy performing his own treatment of the injury, was picking bits of glass out of his skin, leaving a small pile of bloodied slivers where she could see. "I tripped against a mirror." He retorted shortly, not wishing to discuss how he had really acquired the injury.

"Why don’t you go to medlab and have Foster look at it?" She suggested, wrinkling her brow in worry at the pain those deep cuts must have caused.

"I can do it myself." He said abruptly.

His manner was abrasive to say the least and Maia observed him long enough in silence for the next few seconds to know that something was bothering him. His jaw was tensing, she could see the knot of his throat flexing under his skin and the injury to the hand was not the cause of any misadventure with a mirror. A person who put their hand through glass might be a more accurate explanation of how he had sustained his cuts.

"Mac, we need to talk." Maia said cautiously, uncertain whether this was time for it because he was so on edge. Yet his agitation proved that it was indeed the time for him to know about Lightfoot and queen mother. If this was the start of her telepathic influence on his mind then Maia had run out of time. Mac had to be put in stasis now.

"You finally gonna tell me what you’ve been keeping to yourself since we boarded the Persephone?" He looked at her with his intense gaze, making her flinch with the accusation in his icy blue eyes.

"Yes," she swallowed, alarm bells starting to make themselves more pronounced in her mind now. She could tell by the way his body language was talking that he was on edge. Every muscle seemed to be tensed and poised to leap at the slightest provocation. Maia suddenly realised just how much he was affected by her.

"Let me have it." He said, continuing to clean the blood of the wound with a swab of cotton and alcohol. She saw him flinch as the liquid seep into the cracks of the cuts but the pain was crushed away ruthlessly by his control.

"Foster and I believe that there is an alien queen that is the mother to the whole race down there on Styx."

"Queen bitch of the universe huh?" He laughed but there was no humour in his voice.

"Something like that." Maia mumbled, feeling a sudden tendril of fear run through her spine at his manner. She wondered if the crew of the Persephone felt the same fear when they saw their Captain starting to descent into the alien controlled dementia that would see them all dead in a matter of hours. "We also think that she is telepathic and this is how she communicates with the other lesser queens and the rest of the hive. "

"So?" MacReady’s eyes seemed to bore into her now, as if he was daring her to say what she thought.

"We think she can influence humans as well." She said slowly, watching his reaction as he started to wrap a bandage around the hand once he had cleaned the wounds sufficiently. "Captain Lightfoot was almost definitely effected. His psi-rating was very high and he would been the most susceptible than the rest of the crew to a telepathic link created by the queen."

He stopped what he was doing and turned around to face her. "What does this matter now? Lighfoot’s dead."

"Mac," Maia took a step towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The gesture barely registered and Maia knew that he was fast nearing the place where Lighfoot had died. "You have a very high psi-rating too. We think that what happened to you in stasis is a result of the alien queen’s influence. If this is true, we need to get you back in the freezers and put a stop to this thing because it has more of an influence over you."

"You want me to go back into stasis?" He looked at her with almost black eyes.

"Its only for the duration of the mission," she explained, hoping that he could understand, that he was not too far over the edge for her to reach. "I’ll have Foster give you dream suppressants so she can’t effect you in your sleep. It’s the only way Mac."

"So your idea of helping me is to lock me up?" MacReady glared at her, the mania in his eyes was visible now.

"Mac," Maia tried to reason with him. "Lightfoot died and he took the rest of the crew with him. I don’t want to take the risk on this happening to you. I promise you, I wouldn’t be doing this unless the threat was real."

MacReady nodded as if considering her words, saying nothing as he deliberated on the possibility that he could be dangerous. Suddenly, without warning, his fist snapped forward, connecting with Maia ‘s jaw. The blow was hard and fast, moving so swiftly that even Maia with all her training had not seen it coming. She fell backwards against the wall, slamming her head against the tiled surface with a loud whack that drew a curtain of black over her eyes as she slumped to the floor.

MacReady looked down at her dispassionately for a few seconds before remarking quietly. "No one is putting me under." With that, he casually returned his attention back to his injured hand and resumed bandaging his injured fist.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

I

"We’ve received a distress signal from the planet." MacReady announced as he walked into the living quarters where the Marines were readying themselves for the eventual arrival of lights out. The rumble of conversation died with the declaration. The Marines immediately stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the Sargeant, abruptly leaving their books, their card games and any other activity they had been engaged in at the time.

"Someone’ still alive down there?" Leigh exclaimed in surprise. After what she had experienced on the Persephone, she knew what it was to land on a planet full of those alien monsters. Like the rest of the Marines, she assumed that the fools on the commercial transport ship would have been killed or worse, used as hosts, the moment they landed on Styx and entered the alien’s reach.

"Apparently so," MacReady answered, meeting her gaze directly. "The Captain and Foster are attempting to clean up the signal to pinpoint their location but the preliminary results tell us that at least three survivors are down there, waiting for pick up."

"So do we go get ‘em?" Addison asked, disliking the idea of having to make a surface landing.

"Yes," MacReady nodded. "The Captain wants me to take a small team for the rescue operation." He continued neutrally, his eyes sweeping all their faces, feeling the tension fill the room with deadly quiet as they listened to him. He had to be very careful how he played this as to not arouse their suspicion. He had already taken care of the Captain and Foster did not pose any threat because he did not exist in the chain of command and was only an android.

"Leigh, Jaleel, Tem and Marin, you’re with me." He replied. "Lopez, you will pilot."

Immediately, Dmitri was on his feet. "Sargeant, I should be flying the mission. No offence to Carmen," he said firmly. "I feel that she’s not quite ready for a mission of this magnitude. It’s a soup down there, you need a pilot with some serious flying time in combat situations." The Russian stared down MacReady, unprepared to back down on this issue. Carmen was just a rookie, she should not have to deal with something like this. He could not believe Captain Sanjay would send Lopez out on her so prematurely.

"Are you questioning the chain of command?" The Sargeant turned his steely gaze on Dmitri. "She’s not going to get any experience if you nursemaid her. The Captain feels that its time for her to fly solo and that’s how its going to be, do you have a problem with that?"

Dmitri swallowed, not at all liking the order but realising that Captain Sanjay was his superior officer and he had to obey, whether or not he felt Carmen was prepared to handle things on her own. She was a good pilot and a bright kid but she was raw and inexperienced and that made Dmitri uneasy.

"I’ll be okay." Carmen responded, not all offended by the way Dmitri had stood up for her, knowing that he was aware of how apprehensive she had been about going to the planet. Now it appeared that not only would she going, it would also be her first solo effort as the squad’s pilot.

Dmitri did not think she would be okay at all but could find no logical reason to contradict the order or question the chain of command as MacReady had put to him so abruptly.

"Mac," Quinn added his voice to the fray. He was not happy that Marin would be the only smartgunner going down the planet. Considering the high risk factor of the mission, both smartgunners should be going, not just one. "Why only Marin? It should be the both of us going down there." He declared.

"What is this, a fucking democracy?" MacReady snapped at him and silenced Quinn with an icy glare. "I ain’t the one making the damn decision okay, talk to the Captain if you have a problem. For the moment, we’re Marines and we have a job to do! Now the personnel I just named had better be on the hangar deck in ten minutes! You got that! Ten minutes!"

With that, he stormed out of the room, leaving the squad staring at him in astonishment.

Quinn was the first one to speak after MacReady had gone. In all the years that Quinn had served with the man, he had never seen MacReady the way he had been a moment ago. If there was one person who could always be counted upon to keep his cool under fire, it was Mac. "What the fuck is wrong with him?" He asked Addison, who was closer to MacReady than he was.

"I don’t know." Addison found himself, similarly disturbed by MacReady’s behaviour. "I don’t think I’ve seen him like this."

"I can tell you what it is." Dmitri spoke up as he saw Leigh, Tem and the others chosen for the surface landing of Styx, disbanding to their lockers and packing their gear for the journey ahead. "He’s probably sick to his stomach over the choice of personnel he is required to take, not to mention the risk factor for the mission is so high that if everyone doesn’t get wiped out it will be a fucking miracle!"

"Keep your goddamn voice down." Addison hissed, deciding that those going on this mission did not need to hear this kind of talk. "We do not question the chain of command. Now Captain Sanjay has gone through some pretty serious shit to make sure we make it home in one piece. She has never put anyone in danger when it can be avoided. If she gave this order, there’s a reason for it."

"She’s an officer." Dmitri pointed out. "Officers live in different country."

"Maybe some do but not the Captain." Quinn spoke up for Maia because he knew like Addison what the Captain had been willing to do to save their lives. The only reason why they were still alive after the Fiorina mission was because Maia had not given up on them, even when the aliens had taken them to the hive for implantation. The Captain had been willing to come after them, no matter what the consequence to her own life. A person like that cared about the people under her command.

"Well I hope it’s a damn good reason, she’s got." Dmitri continued, feeling even more apprehensive about this situation with a every passing second. Something was nagging at him and the Russian could not for the life of him imagine what that might be. It remained on the edge of his awareness, defying him to solve the mystery whose urgency was becoming more potent the longer he grasped for straws in the dark.

As Quinn watched Marin suiting up for the mission ahead, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge and found himself secretly agreeing with Dmitri on this point. He hoped it was a very good reason as well.

***********

So far, so good.

As MacReady departed the sector of the ship reserved for the Marine’s residential requirements, he had one more stop to make if he wished to leave the ship unencumbered or without rousing any suspicion. Prior to his arrival at the laboratory where the android Foster spent most of his time, the Sargeant made a brief visit to the armoury. As he walked down the corridor, he attached the silencer to the end of the hand gun he was carrying.

Upon entering the laboratory, he saw Foster sitting at his work bench as always, poised over the eye piece of a microscope as he examined something beneath the high powered lens. Foster looked up at him as MacReady’s steps announced his presence in the room. The android regarded him with that same bland expression with which he viewed everyone on board the Sparta.

"Sargeant MacReady," Foster inquired. " May I do something for you?"

"Yeah," MacReady nodded, making no threatening moves as he neared the android. "The Captain has authorised me to take a small team to the planet and investigate."

Foster’s expression shifted ever so slightly and with enough subtlety for MacReady to be suitably impressed. Only human’s were capable of such duplicitous reactions and although Foster was hiding it, MacReady could tell that the android knew he was lying and at the moment was trying to decide what to do about it.

"How may I assist?" Foster asked neutrally, showing no signs that he believed anything was amiss. Foster did not mention that he knew that there was no way Maia would allow MacReady to go anywhere near Styx, particularly in light of the conversation he had with the Captain a short time ago. If an android could feel some measure of alarm, Foster did so now because MacReady would only be so bold unless something had happened to her that would prevent her from preventing his departure from the Sparta. Somehow Foster had to keep MacReady talking while at the same time, attempt to sound the alarm.

Unfortunately, if Foster was dealing with anyone else, the ploy might have worked. MacReady was perfectly aware that Maia would have taken Foster into his confidence and would have most likely obtained the evidence of his supposed psychosis from the android following the medical examination MacReady had been forced to undergo upon his return to the Sparta. He was certain that even now Foster was thinking of some way to delay him from his purpose and might have even suspected what had happened to Maia.

Whatever ruminations the android was making in silence did not matter any more, his time had just run out.

"You can die." MacReady said coolly and pulled out his gun, emptying the entire clip into the android’s torso before Foster even had a chance of reacting, let alone escape. The explosion of sound that normally came from a weapon of that calibre was muffled by the silencer that MacReady had installed on the barrel. The only noise that emanated from the exchange was Foster soft cry as the bullets impacted on his body.

The artificial life form jerked about like a marionette puppet as each bullet tore through him, white fluid spurting from the ruined synthetic covering that made up his skin. He did not scream, merely grunted in surprise as his self diagnostic system started showing multiple failures. However, programming had given him all too human characteristics and his face registered the injury even if the data could not truly be considered pain.

By the time he finally collapsed, the pristine surface of Foster’s work bench and the floor was covered in the milky fluid that acted as the android equivalent of blood. Foster lay on the ground, his hands jerking spasmodically as he landed, his struggles resembling more like an epileptic fit than injuries sustained from numerous gun shot wounds. His eyes stared at MacReady’s with a mixture of surprise that soon descended into understanding, almost as if he accepted what was happening.

MacReady looked at Foster dispassionately, watching the growing puddle of fluid that expanded from underneath the android. Although the android had stopped moving by this time, his eyes were still staring at MacReady with awareness. For some reason, MacReady could not stomach the glassy eyed look that the android was giving him.

"Stop looking at me." MacReady barked and aimed the gun at Foster’s head.

Foster said nothing but did not stop staring at him.

MacReady pulled the trigger but the chamber was empty and the only sound that came from the weapon was the audible click of a spent cartridge. Taking a deep breath, the human finally turned on his heels and proceeded out of the laboratory, his heavy boot sloshing the fluid under his feet as he walked.

Foster did not move, at least not until his audio receptors were certain that MacReady had put enough distance between himself and the lab. Once the android was certain that MacReady was not coming back, he blinked and attempted to move. The bullets currently embedded in his body had caused considerable damage and several key systems in his overall matrix were damaged. However, while primary systems inoperative, his body was working fast to re-route those functions through auxiliary systems.

Foster could only wait with impatience as these took place, even though he was aware that every second that hurtled by made it all the more likely that MacReady would make it off the ship and take a team of Marines with him.

To their deaths.

*********

When MacReady returned to main hangar where the dropships were currently berthed, the team that he had selected were already present and waiting, wearing full body armour and carrying a healthy complement of artillery. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to force them to discard their munitions supply without arousing their suspicions, so he said nothing for he doubted that their bullets would mean very much once they reached Styx.

"Mac," Addison said as MacReady approached the team he was taking to Styx. "I don’t think this is a good idea." As the Senior Corporal, he was somewhat surprised that Maia would assign such minimum complement to what seemed like a suicide mission. "Maybe you ought to talk to her again." He suggested.

MacReady whirled around and gave him an icy glare. "Maybe, you ought to remember that you’re just a grunt and she’s a fucking officer. Grunts don’t ask, they do! We’re Marines and have a job to do. It ain’t up to ask to question whether it’s right or wrong!" He retorted.

Without knowing why, Addison had a premonition that something was terribly wrong and it had nothing to do with Captain Sanjay and everything to do with Sergeant Kevin MacReady. He knew how MacReady felt about Maia and he also knew that in all the time that Captain Sanjay had been in their lives, he had never heard MacReady refer to her as a ‘fucking officer’. He could not understand what was going on but he suddenly had the need to find the Captain.

"You’re right Mac," Addison nodded. "I’m sorry I forgot myself. "

"About time." MacReady grunted and strode towards the others. "Leigh, pack em all in!" He ordered the young comtech. Leigh nodded but she wore a look of uncertainty, because like Addison, she was noticing MacReady’s odd behaviour as well but had not the experience under her belt to argue with her Sargent or question his orders for that matter.

"You heard the Sarge!" Leigh shouted to the others and the group marched at double time into the open hatch of the dropship that was powering up even as they hurried up the steel steps leading inside it. Quinn who had been there to say goodbye to Marin, watched the love of his life and the others disappear into the dropship before MacReady pulled the hatch close behind him.

Quinn and Addison retreated out of the hangar, taking refuge behind the pressure doors that led to the rest of the ship while the drop ship was moved into position. Both men watched the ship poised over the main doors that would allow its escape from the Sparta with silence, feeling the same knot in their gut although they could not explain why. Something about this whole things stunk to high heaven as far as Addison was concerned but as the main doors slid open and the dropship was released, he knew that it was too late. The ship plunged through the opening, drawing gust of escaping oxygen with it as the hangar began to decompress for the few minutes it took for the drop ship to be free of the Sparta.

By the time they had started to close again, restoring the artificial atmosphere inside the hangar back to tolerable levels, Addison could bear to remain silent no longer. He turned to Quinn who was wearing the same concerned look.

Addison finally spoke. "I think we need to find the Captain."

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

God, her head hurt.

She did not know how long she was out but if the intense pain on the back of her head was anything to go by, then she must have been out cold for some time. Maia opened her eyes and found herself lying against the icy coldness of bathroom tiles. Strange how no matter how warm the temperature, bathroom tiles always managed to remain cool and brisk to the skin. She blinked a number of times as she tried to discern where she was and what had happened, her mind still a cloud of spinning images.

She felt warmth in her mouth and touched her lip while she was still on the floor, feeling the sticky wetness that covered her finger tips with its slick feel upon contact with her skin. Maia focussed on the blood and the sight of it, prompted her into action, even though her head ached from where she had hit it on the tiles and her body throbbed with similar discomfort from the fall she had taken.

Didn’t know that bastard was that fast.

That thought proceeded the realisation that Maia had been absolutely right about MacReady. She hated it when her worst suspicions were confirmed and she was still unprepared for it. The ease of which MacReady had taken her out was infuriating to a professional like Maia and she knew that part of the reason he had manage to knock her out was her own fault. She was still thinking about him as Mac, the man she loved and the sergeant she trusted, not the potentially lethal adversary he had become when the alien queen had worked her evil on his brain.

Maia was not making that mistake again.

She knew he was somewhere in there still, the man she did know. Unfortunately, he was unreachable until they left Styx for good. As she struggled to her feet, feeling her body protest with every action she made, Maia hoped it was not to late. She had no idea how long he had been gone and as the second highest voice to hers, he had access to just about everything on board and everyone. Her heart constricted at the level of damage he could cause in his present state of mind and knew that he had to be stopped, one way or another.

She groaned as she stood up and it took a few minutes for her to shake the ache out of her weary limbs. Maia limped out of the bathroom, feeling cramps running up her side as her legs became used to working again when suddenly she heard the sound of voices outside her door.

"Jesus Christ, how long does it take!" A disgruntled voice Maia immediately identified as Quinn barked.

"Just hold your goddamn horses!" Addison’s equally familiar voice returned. "She’s got the thing password locked."

Maia staggered to the door way and activated the panel, deciding that in her condition, the last thing she needed to hear was the contemporary version of Abbot and Costello performance currently taking place in the corridor outside.

"Captain are you alright?" Quinn asked because he was first in when the door was opened and he noticed the blood running down in a red line from the corner of her lip.

"I’m fine," Maia said making her way to a nearby chair while at the same time wiping away the blood. "What’s happened?" She demanded, knowing that their attempted forced entry of her room could have only resulted from some very dire circumstances.

"Mac’s gone nuts!" Addison exclaimed. "He said that you ordered him to take Leigh, Tem, Marin and Lopes to go down to Styx to answer a distress beacon."

"Shit!" Maia swore openly, rubbing the contusion on the back of her head tenderly, where she had landed on the tiles. "I did no such thing. He blind sided me when I told him he had to go back into stasis."

"In to stasis?" Quinn exclaimed. "Why?"

"He had an episode when he was in cryosleep," Maia explained as she started to stand up. "We think the same thing that happened to Captain Lightfoot on the Persephone has affected MacReady as well. It’s got to do with how high your psi rating is. The aliens are telepathic, that’s how they’re able to communicate with each other. A human with a high enough psi-rating may be effected Mac’s got the highest rating on board."

"Fuck!" Addison swore, finally understanding why he had looked in his best friend’s eyes and had seen a stranger. "That explains what he did to Foster."

Maia looked up at Addison sharply. "What did he do to Foster?" She was almost afraid to ask.

The grim expressions exchanged by both men were explanation enough. However, it was Addison who replied. "Mac put an entire magazine into him. He’s pretty badly damaged. When we tried to find you, we stopped at the lab and found him. He was trying to crawl to a com panel to get help."

"Oh god." Maia said almost anguished, unable to believe that MacReady was capable of so much destruction, thanks to the alien influence in his mind. "Is he repairable?"

"Yes," Addison nodded, knowing just how fond she was of the android. Hell, they all were. Foster was a part of the team and losing him was almost as bad as losing a fellow Marine. "He’ll have to be taken back to Gateway but yeah, I looked him over briefly after we found him, I think he can be repaired. We’ll have to bag him though."

"Good," Maia answered, glad that they had that much at least and then moved onto the question she did not want to ask. "How long has Mac been gone?"

"About half an hour." Quinn answered. "He was behaving real weird and as soon as he was off the ship, Addy and I went hunting for you. He was talking strange so we knew something was up."

"You’re not kidding." Maia muttered and made her decision, because there was no other choice really. Perhaps this had been inevitable since the moment they had learnt about Styx’s existence. "Addison, I want you to get the squad ready." She said quietly, meeting both their gazes. Quinn was poised to go she could see how worried he was about Marin and the truth was, it was no longer up to her whether or not they could. MacReady had taken the choice out of her hands the minute he left the Sparta.

"We’re going after them."

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

I

"I knew it!" Dmitri swore as he heard the news after Quinn had returned to the others with the Captain. At the moment, Addison was placing Foster into stasis, since the repairs required to him whole again following MacReady’s devastating attack on him could not take place until after they had returned the android to Gateway.

" Take it easy," Quinn retorted, knowing the Captain was feeling bad enough as it was for letting this to go on as far as it did. He could empathise with how she felt even if he did not possess the emotional bond with MacReady that the Captain had. Still, he and Mac were buddies and they had waded through a lot of shit together and cover each other’s back for enough time to make Quinn disbelieve he could be capable of what he had done as well. "We couldn’t have known."

To that Dmitri could not disagree. Who would have believed for one moment that the aliens had this kind of power under their already formidable arsenal? Wasn’t it enough that they could rip a man to pieces without thought or provocation, without their having some kind of ESP ability that could interfere with humans and induce a perfectly rational human being like MacReady to deliver his comrades to certain death?

"What’s the plan Captain?" The Russian looked at Maia who was holding an ice pack to the back of her head. It was the best that she could manage what with both their medical personnel out of commission.

"We got after them." Maia said grimly. "It is that simple."

"Its suicide you know." He pointed out, not relishing the idea of going down to the hellish world where so many had already died.

"This isn’t negotiable." Maia glared at him. "We all go."

"I know," Dmitri said fearlessly, unafraid even if he did not like the idea of what was waiting for them on Styx. "I just thought someone ought to point it out."

"You done that," Quinn grumbled, eager to get going because Marin was down there with MacReady and some good people, including the intrepid Private Leigh whom the smartgunner counted as good people. "Now shut the fuck up and let the Captain lay it out for us."

There was not really much to lay out. MacReady had been smart in his selection. He had taken the rookies with him and one smartgunner to maintain the illusion that it was a rescue expedition they were mounting, not a sacrificial offering. He had left behind most of the personnel who had direct contact with the aliens previously and Dmitri who was not good at following orders that would blindly lead them into death without an explanation.

"The plan is simple," Maia said. "We got in there and get them back by any means necessary."

"That’s easier said than done." Dmitri remarked. "It’s a soup down there. Its almost impossible to land from what I’ve seen so far of the surface topography. You cannot even have the benefit of an APC." Even though he was a natural pessimist and seemed indifferent and self serving at the best of times, Dmitri was a team player who would not see himself or his comrades die for worthless causes.

Maia paced the floor of the hangar, trying to decide how they were going to proceed. With the Russian required to pilot the dropship, it would just be Maia, Addison and Quinn who would go in pursuit of MacReady and the others. Three against an entire planet of aliens was not the kind of odds Maia had envisioned when contemplating a landing on Styx.

"We don’t have a choice." Maia said as she considered all the options. "We have to go down there, preferably within the next half hour." She let out a deep breath. "All we have to do is catch up with them. Its only Mac we gotta worry about since the others believe that I authorised the rescue mission. Once they learn otherwise, they’ll return to the dropship."

"Have we tried contacting them at all?" Dmitri asked.

"Mac’s got them on silent running." Quinn responded before Maia could since he was with Addison when the attempt has been made.

"There’s no way for the others to know what’s happening." Maia repeated herself, making sure Dmitri understood as Quinn and Addision did why they had no choice but to land on the planet and retrieve their errant comrades. "They’ll think they’re going to a rescue operation right until the end because Mac is leading them."

Dmitri studied his Captain for a moment and knew she would do it too. She would lead them all into hell just to rescue the others. He was a cynic in most things and he had to admit he had been a cynic about her too but Dmitri was starting to see why someone like Quinn would bestow her with unswerving loyalty. "Captain," he said after a moment. "I want them back as much as you do but we are few. I would be willing to carry a combat pack with you but I feel we ought to think about what our chances of really getting to them in time if MacReady is taking them to these aliens."

Even Quinn looked to Maia for her response to this question, mostly because she could see through his attempts to hide just how much he feared for Marin’s life. She could sympathise with him completely, she wanted all the Marines returned to her but she could not deny that with MacReady, her feelings were completely arbitrary. She loved him. Until now, Maia had hardly dared to admit to herself let alone the vulnerability she would feel in telling him but it was the truth. Perhaps she had loved him from that very first moment they faced each other alone, she could not say for certain but she knew she could not let him go, not like this and certainly not without telling him.

"I’m not going to bullshit you," Maia said after a few seconds of consideration. "Our chances are not good at all. Mac’s being drawn to the Queen Mother with an insight we can’t even begin to imagine. If she’s smart as she appears to be, then she’ll clear the way, making certain that the others don’t suspect anything is wrong until the aliens are ready to converge on them. If we get to them, we’ll be lucky and that’s the god’s honest truth. The alternative is to leave them behind and I don’t think any of us is ready to do that, are we?" She shifted her gazes between Dmitri and Addison to see if they would refute that statement. Neither did.

"Okay," she let out a held breath and continued. "Dmitri, you go prep the drop ship. Quinn, you’re with me. We’re going to the armory. How long do you estimate before we can take off?"

"I’ll have it done in 30 minutes, maximum." Dmitri said confidently and giving her every indication that he would rather die than fail to meet that deadline.

"Good, I want you prepped and have your combat armour on stand by. I do not want you on the surface with us because we will almost need to make an extremely swift getaway when and if we find the others but the aliens are not stupid. You have to land to pick us up and I have no doubt that they will try to neutralise you before that happens."

Dmitri nodded in understanding of what lay ahead and he was not about to let her down. He had doubted her word before and even though a saner man who say that this was fool’s rescue they were planning, he was proud to serve under her for the cause of rescuing his comrades. "I’m on it." He hurried away, not waiting to be dismissed because that was the other thing he had learnt about his Captain, she cared little for titles and protocol. She only cared about getting the job done.

She must have been Russian in another life.

**********

"Addison." Maia spoke into her communicator as she and Quinn made their way through the long corridors of the Sparta. "Quinn and I are on our way to the armoury. Have you finished with Foster yet?"

"Yeah," the comtech’s voice crackled in response. "I’ve put him in stasis. He’ll be in stable condition until we get back to Earth and Gateway techs can have a look at him."

"If you’re done, meet us at the armoury. We’re getting out of here in the next half hour. Dmitri is already preparing for launch."

"Affirmative," Addision replied. "Be there in ten."

"Make it sooner," she said abruptly and terminated the line. "This is going to be close." She grumbled as she kept pace with Quinn, not an easy feat to do since he towered a good foot above her head.

"We’ll make it." Quinn’s deep vice replied firmly and Maia glanced at him long enough to realise he would accept nothing else. Without even knowing how she could tell, perhaps because she had learn to read him after all this time serving with the man, Maia realised that Quinn’s problems with Marin had been somewhat resolved.

"I take it you and Marin sorted your problems out?" Maia asked.

Quinn met her gaze briefly and added. "I take it the reason Mac is so happy lately is because you guys have done the same?" A slight smile crossed his lips although with Quinn it was difficult to differentiate a smile from a scowl.

"We never had any problems." She pointed out, sharing the moment of levity despite the grim circumstances they were about to enter.

"He took enough cold showers to show he had at least one." The smartgunner allowed a devilish grin to steal across his features.

"I don’t think I ought to be discussing this with you private," Maia remarked, with a hint of amusement, trying to get the picture out Mac languishing under cold showers to vent his sexual frustration’s out of her head. Suddenly, she felt a wave of emotion over her sargeant, hoping that there would be other memories in her mind because they had shared such a short period of intimacy.

Quinn saw the sadness in her eyes and knew that she was thinking of MacReady and just how much she felt about Mac was apparent to Quinn at the moment. "Captain," he said with more tenderness than he had ever shown in recent years. "We’ll find him."

"I know," she smiled faintly, knowing that this was quite a leap for Quinn. "She’s had quite an effect on you has she?" Maia replied as they rounded the corner and saw the armory at the end of the corridor.

Quinn shrugged, showing just how uncomfortable he felt about talking about his feelings for Marin but deciding that since they were having this heart to heart, it would not hurt to have another opinion. He was stumbling into this thing with Marin blind, with only his feelings as guide and it was not a tool he often relied upon to know whether or not he was making the best decision. "Its funny," Quinn admitted. "I never thought how much I cared until I saw her with Jaleel and then I just couldn’t stand it. Just looking at her with him, made me sick to the stomach."

"You two always had chemistry." Maia replied. "You just needed a little spark to get things going."

"I feel bad for Jaleel though. He’s got the sharp end of the stick from all this."

"He’ll hurt for awhile," Maia replied, guessing that Marin must have made her choice in favour of Quinn for the smartgunner to be so introspective. "But he’ll get over it."

"That’s what I said to Marin." Quinn remarked. "Didn’t help though. She still felt bad."

"Marin is a lot more feminine than most people think." Maia answered. "She looks tough and for most part she is but there’s a woman under all that gun oil, don’t ever doubt it."

"I don’t." Quinn said with a smile, having discovered this for himself rather recently. "I just want her back to see what’s under there."

***********

Leigh had a bad feeling about this.

She was not alone in this assertion because she could see the trouble expressions on the faces of her comrades as they trudged through the mire that MacReady was convinced led to the last known coordinates of the humans who had foolish landed on this world and now needed rescue. It was bad enough that this was the alien infested homeworld but as they moved through the tall trees with their buttress roots protruding from the grey boy through which they lived, the Marines could hear nothing to give presence of life. The place was eerily quiet as if nothing large enough to make sound still lived in this hostile environment.

Styx appeared just as desolate on the ground as it appeared from orbit. Above them, thick grey clouds managed quite successfully to dim the bright illumination of twin suns. Leigh observed them attempting to break through the cumulous, resembling headlights in a fog. The atmosphere was further diminished by the sprinkle of rain that came down on them even though the temperature was anything but cold. The thick humidity made them sweat in sufferable steamy heat with tendrils that sneaked past the heavy armour of their uniform and penetrated the skin.

The reports regarding the terrain had been more or less accurate. Styx was a swamp world where the twin suns had given birth to vegetation but the ground was not stable enough to stable any kind of forest. The battle between land and water had come to an uneasy alliance of mud pools and grey bogs. It was something of a chore to navigate through this uneven terrain for Tem h ad almost drowned when he stepped from ground that was knee deep in water to something far deeper. If it had not been for Leigh grabbing him before he went under, she had no doubt his armour would have sent him all the way to the bottom.

MacReady seemed oblivious to all this, leading through the muck with more enthusiasm than was any of them felt, even though there were civilians who needed saving at the end of this journey. Leigh was firmly of the opinion that when the passengers of that commercial carrier had ran the blockade and landed on Styx, they had more or less rolled the dice on their own fates. It seemed like an unnecessary expenditure of time and effort to retrieve them when this was what they deserved. No doubt, these were the same people who had led the Persephone to the planet and allowed them to become impregnated as an adequate diversion for the Marines.

She had no sympathy for men who would sacrifice other for the sake of a dollar.

"Its so damn quiet." Marin remarked, even though her conversation did not take her attention away from the surroundings. The smartgunner had her large gun poised in front of her, prepared for anything. Leigh could see the tension running through her muscles as she put herself in combat readiness.

"Yeah." Leigh agreed as she looked back at the small petite woman. "Its creepy. I wonder what happened to all the wildlife."

"I think the aliens have used them all as hosts." Marin replied tautly.

"Shit." Tem grumbled, not liking that idea at all. It meant that there was probably a great concentration of aliens in the immediate area for he too had taken notice of the lack of fauna. "We’re like a fucking dinner bell."

"There’s probably something still alive here." MacReady broke into the conversation. The Sargeant had been leading the charge, compelled forward by forces he had no power to stop and driven by a directive that placed everything else in minor consideration. "Something to small to use as a hosts. The things gotta eat."

"Great Mac," Marin found herself groaning. She was the only one in the group with enough familiarity and history with the Sargeant to address him that way. "Great moral boosting speech."

MacReady grinned and met her gaze, his blue eyes almost dark with that humourless visage. "Don’t worry Tina," he said, "I’m sure they would not stoop to eating you. You’re much too valuable as a host."

"You’re a sick man." Marin pointed out but could not help staring at the expression in his eyes. She had known MacReady for a long time. Hell, they had undergone boot camp together and yet when she looked at him, there was something unfamiliar in his eyes. Something she could not put her a finger on.

"How far to the crash site?" Tem asked, wishing to get this detail over and done with. He did not want to admit he was afraid because not much terrified a hulk of his size but for once in his life, Tem could not deny feeling slightly apprehensive over this entire decision to land on Styx. He could not believe the Captain would simply send them here after everything they were told about the alien.

"Not far." MacReady answered. "We’ll be there very soon."

"Good," he replied, pulling his foot out of a cache of mud that stuck to his boot when his leg broke the murky water. In truth, he was not happy about leaving Lopez behind at the drop ship alone. It had taken some doing finding a place to land in a terrain that had no stable or dry ground. However, Lopez had found a shallow space of swamp that allowed her to set down with the landing struts keeping them above the surface without causing any serious damage to their take off potential. MacReady had ordered that she remain behind, a situation that did not sit well the islander who had taken the girl under his wing since they had joined this squad.

They continued for a little while more, meandering through an unseen path through the groves of trees until they reached what passed for a clearing. Except for the sounds of their voices and progress through the swamp, there was still no other sound to be heard and the deathly quiet was getting to all of them. Leigh started to feel very uneasy about this whole situation because if they were so close, why could she not hear the sounds of the survivors? Humans tended to make noise, no matter how silent they tried to be. The ones who tried most to be quiet were usually the ones who caused the most commotion. She was more than certain that corporate men fell into the category.

However, none of it troubled her as much as MacReady’s manner. She had worked with him a long time and had never seen him like this. She attributed it to the fact that it might caused by the personal anger he felt at being sent by the Captain on a mission like this. A mission, though none of them had voiced it, was on par with being a suicide run not a rescue attempt.

Suddenly, there was a break in the trees and they emptied into what appeared to be a clearing. For a few seconds after their emergence, none of them could speak as they took in the sight of what was awaiting them there. It stood almost like as high as any dual storey complex, so wide that it filled the clearing from one end to the other. Its dome like shape was achieved by the fusion of any material that could be utilised for the purpose, branches and twigs, felled trees trunks, dried mud caked into place, however the most prolific construction material seemed to be skeletal remains. There was no real way to identify what creatures had yielded their bones for the sake of this structure for they were broken and forced into place with such ruthlessness that it was impossible to identify where one set of remains began the others ended.

"Jesus Christ." Tem managed to break the silence. "What the fuck is that?"

"It’s a hive." Marin answered, her voice nothing more than a whisper. Leigh did not have to look into her face to know that the smartgunner was terrified. "It’s the biggest fucking hive I have ever seen."

MacReady finally answered without looking at them. "I told you it wouldn’t be far." His voice sounded almost trancelike. "We’re here."

Jesus, Leigh realised as the inconceivable penetrated the gnawing in her mind that had been taunting her ever since MacReady ordered them.

Lightfoot.

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

The dropship heaved as the huge clamps moved it into position above the launch doors. The mechanism signalled its readiness to proceed with the opening of the huge doors by a sudden gush of air escaping the hydraulics that dragged them apart upon activation. As the launch bay entered decompression, a great wind swirled around them as the clamps began to slide into release. With a loud metal clang, the clamps keeping the dropship in place, released and plunged the vessel through the opening.

Within the belly of the craft, Maia, Addison and Quinn felt themselves rocking to the shuddering rhythm of the sudden plunge as Dmitri prepared to fire the engines. She barely heard the sound because the craft’s violent descent was matching beat for beat, the terrified pounding of her frightened heart. She was certain she could see the same fear in the eyes of her companions. Addison in particular seemed pale while Quinn hid his own worry behind a trademark scowled.

She could not blame them for their fears when they were about to fall into the mouth of hell.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

I

"Everybody! Stay where you are!" Private Samantha Leigh shouted on the top of her voice. "Discontinue penetration of the structure immediately."

No sooner than the words had passed her lips, MacReady whirled around and strode towards her. Leigh was expecting his protest and immediately brandished her pulse rifle as her comrades descended into confusion at this sudden development. However, Leigh’s statement had the desired effect of bringing their advance to the alien halt to a standstill as the rest of the Marines tried to understand what was happening.

"What are you doing countermanding my orders, Private?" MacReady demanded, with almost murder in his eyes.

It was at that instant more than any thing else he had done so far that convinced Leigh that MacReady was no longer acting under his own accord. His eyes held none of the man and appeared black and listless even though he was exhibiting all the signs of a man enraged.

"The Sargeant is not in his right mind!" Leigh cried out trying to explain before MacReady reached her. "He is under an alien influence."

"Shut your mouth." He snarled and swung at her with a backhanded blow.

Leigh staggered back from the blow but she was not to be lead like a lamb to the slaughter because he was being controlled by the aliens as Captain Lightfoot had been on the Persephone. "The Captain of the Persephone was under the same influence!" Leigh shouted as she stood bravely to defend herself against his next blow. "He led his entire crew to the aliens to be used as hosts!"

MacReady seemed possessed as he raised his gun to shoot but was halted immediately by the audible click of a smartgun trigger. As his eyes looked to his side, he saw Marin staring at him with warning, her smartgun aimed directly at him with a gleam of menace in her eyes that told MacReady she would not have any hesitation in pulling the trigger if he gave her cause. "Put it down Sargeant." Marin ordered firmly as she was the highest ranking Marine in the chain of command after MacReady. "Now I know you’re under the influence. There was no way I could sneak up on you otherwise."

Leigh let down a sigh of relief as Jaleel and Tem looked on confused. The junior comtech stepped forward and relieved MacReady of his pulse rifle and his side arm. MacReady glared at her with naked hatred and Leigh felt a shudder of fear because she knew that in his present state of mind, he would kill her on the spot if he had the opportunity to do so.

"What the hell is going on?" Jaleel demanded.

"You heard me." Leigh replied. "The aliens can influence humans with a sort of suicidal dementia. The Captain of the Persephone brought most of his crew down here to be impregnated including himself."

"Shit!" Tem exclaimed. "You mean this is a trap?"

"More or less." She nodded. "That’s why we’re pulling out now."

"You’ll never get out of here alive. " MacReady said with a faint smile. "She knows you are here."

Instinctively, their eyes shifted to the dour surroundings for a brief instant, trying to discern whether or not he was right. The swamp around them was still saturated with that overpowering silence and nothing could be heard through the depth of the thick unyielding bog that surrounded them. Despite their training which required them to remain cool under pressure at all times, this situation was entirely different. They were on a planet that were full of hostile predators, not to mention that their Sargeant had led them to die under the pretext of a rescue mission.

"Get moving." Marin jabbed MacReady with the barrel of the smartgun prompting him to move. "We’re getting out of here." She said to the others and felt somewhat relieved that they did not have to enter the alien structure that loomed ominously in the background.

Suddenly, the motion tracker that Leigh had in her possession tore through the silence of the place, distracting everyone with its shrill sound. MacReady reacted swiftly, immediately shoving aside the large barrel and almost toppling Marin off her feet as he broke away from his comrades and made a dash into the thick foliage surrounding them.

"MAC!" Marin called out, more afraid for what he would do in his state of mind rather than the danger they were facing with the activation of the motion detector.

"He’s gone!" Jaleel shouted, feeling inexperience and fear starting to strangle his sense as the situation deteriorated to the point where he was starting to panic. "They’re coming!"

"Leigh, how many?" Marin demanded as the comtech studied the device.

Leigh studied the small digital screen and looked up to meet Marin’s gaze with an almost stony expression on her face. "At least ten." She replied and then added softly. "With more signals converging in on us. They’ve got us surrounded."

"We’re fucked!" Jaleel cried out as he raised his gun and looked for something to shoot but there as nothing there even though all indications proved there were. Although the swamp around them looked calm as it had since they first landed on this planet, Leigh and Marin knew from experience how quietly the aliens were able to move, not to mention slowly. Although especially vicious, the aliens were most effective when they attacked in stealth.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Tem growled and looked to Marin. "What do we do?"

"We get back to the ship." Marin ordered. "And kill anything that tries to get in our way." The smartgunner ordered and gestured for him to move. The huge islander who had little fear of anything immediately began to backtrack the way they had arrived. Marin tried to see where MacReady might have disappeared to and did not at all like the idea of leaving him behind, particularly when he was not responsible for what was happening to him.

"We can’t leave the Sarge." Leigh voiced her unspoken concern.

"We got no choice." Marin replied, hating that she had to make this decision because Mac was one of her oldest friends. Unfortunately, with command firmly in her lap, she had to make a decision for the best interest of the entire group, not just one man. MacReady, if he were not under the power of some alien creature, would be the first one to tell her to get going. "We both know that we can’t reach him in time."

As they started hurrying away from the scene, Leigh knew that Marin was right. Unfortunately, knowing it and accepting it were two different things. No matter, what she might tell herself now or later, Leigh could not stomach the idea that she had left her friend and mentor behind to be become and alien host.

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

Carmen Lopez paced the floor of the cockpit inside the drop ship, telling herself that it was all right to feel as frightened as she did. Although she had put on a brave face for her partner and co-pilot Dmitri when MacReady had ordered to fly solo, she knew that facade had been false. At the time, Dmitri needed to know that she could handle the assignment that MacReady had given her because if the Russian for one moment, believed she could not, he would have demanded that MacReady’s orders be countermanded whatever the consequences to himself.

However, now that she was alone, she felt all the insecurities crowding on her as she waited for the return of her comrades in this decidedly hostile environment. Outside the cockpit window, she saw nothing a but a grey mists that covered everything in this stygian world. The dropship had sunk deep into the marshy surface, its landing struts almost totally entrenched in mud. It was the most stable terrain that Lope could find near the coordinates MacReady had named for the location of the survivors awaiting their rescue. She knew that upon take off she would have to use the boosters to launch them out of their confinement and was confident that her decision to land in this place had been the correct one.

Unfortunately, the mission itself was another thing entirely.

Merely looking out of the world beyond the cockpit window, gave Lopez a shudder of revulsion. If there could be a more fitting environment for the hostile creature she had witnessed in the data tapes, then Lopez would have been interested in seeing it because this place was had to top. Its desolation permeated through the hull of the ship, making her feel the humid heat outside even though the interior of the dropship was presently ventilated with cool air. However, it was not the temperature that concerned her so much, it was the fact that she was alone here.

After travelling with Dmitri and having his company during all their previous missions before Styx, it felt a little disconcerting to have sole command of the dropship. Not to mention that she had to remain behind while her comrades were facing god only knew what in their search to find survivors of a landing that should never have taken place in the first instance.

Lopez had studied the tapes regarding the aliens after Dmitri had presented her with the first glimpse of it. The images of the creature were so terrifying on screen that it was hard to imagine what it must be like to actually come face to face with that kind of terror. Yet as she remained in the relative safety of the ship, while the Marines were forced to conduct their rescue mission, Lopez wished she had been able to accompany them. She did not have any desire to see these creatures in the flesh but felt that she ought to at least stand with her comrades when the aliens finally made their appearance.

Suddenly, she noticed the communication channel blinking at her steadily on the control panel of the cockpit controls. There was only one vessel in range that could be attempting to communicate and that was the Sparta. She had been aware that MacReady had wanted them to maintain radio silence but as she observed the frequency the message was being transmitted, Lopez realised that it was coming across on a bandwidth reserved from extreme emergencies. As much as she wanted to adhere to MacReady’s order, the Captain was the only person who could access that channel and her authority superseded that of the Sargeant.

Throwing caution to the winds, Lopez immediately opened the channel and allowed the message to transmit.

"Sparta, this is dropship 1."

"Thank Christ!" Maia Sanjay’s voice responded almost immediately, following a burst of static which made Lope flinch slightly at the harshness of the noise. "Lopez, have the others left the ship?"

"Yes," Lopez answered, feeling alarm rising at the anxiousness in the Captain’s voice. "They went about twenty minutes ago."

"Damn!" Maia swore loudly and then paused a moment as if she were deciding what to tell Lopez next. The young pilot was starting to get a very bad feeling about this so call mission of theirs.

"Lopez," The captain responded after a pause. "I want you to listen very carefully to me. I want you to get back to the Sparta immediately. Sargeant MacReady has gone against orders and broken the quarantine. He was not authorised to lead the mission to Styx. There are no survivors."

"Oh my god!" Lopez exclaimed horrified and wondered how she could be so stupid. That is why he would not take Dmitri on this mission! Dmitri would never sit still for a questionable order but the Sargeant had known she would. "But I can’t leave them!" She found a voice a second later.

"You can and you will." The captain said firmly in a tone that tolerated no argument. "At this moment, myself, Addison, Quinn and Dmitri are entering the atmosphere of Styx, we’ll get them back but you will get back to the Sparta. We need one dropship in a safe berth in case of any further trouble."

"Yes Sir." Lopez finally relented, disliking the idea but knowing she had little choice to obey the Captain on this issue. "I’ll began launch preparations immediately."

"Alright then," the Captain said finally. "We’ll see you back at the barn. Sanjay out."

With that the channel return to its static backdrop and Lopez was left to ponder the extraordinary news she had just heard. Of course there was no question that she would not obey the order to withdraw. Ashamedly, she could not help being slightly relieved to know that she would be escaping this place.

Suddenly, she heard a noise beyond the door to the cockpit and wondered if Marines had discovered MacReady’s false orders and had returned home. Just to be safe, she extracted her sidearm from its place at her side and went to investigate. Activating the door panel, the young pilot peered through the sliding door in its opening and saw no signs of anything out of the ordinary in the compartment before her. The seats that would normally be occupied by the Marines were vacant and Lopez moved past the narrow space through them, feeling all the hairs on the back of her neck standing on edge for some unfathomable reason.

The sound she had heard was not particularly loud and she knew that it could be her imagination playing tricks on her in light of what she had just heard. There seemed to be nothing out of place in the room and Lopez started to lower her gun when suddenly, she saw something small fall to the floor next to her feet. It looked like a drop of clear, viscous fluid that splattered upon landing on the steel ground. Instinctively, she stepped away from the mess when a low hiss started.

Acid.

Lopez had just enough time to make that realisation when she looked up and saw a grotesque shape attached to the ceiling of the compartment, bearing teeth as it lunged forward…..

***********

The signals were closing in on them and they knew it. No matter how fast the Marines tried to make their way back to the ship, the aliens seemed to move faster and were now less than a hundred yards away. Their presence could be heard in the rustle of leaves and in the splashing of water as they converged upon the human prey.

"We’re not going to outrun them!" Leigh barked as she ran alongside Marin.

Marin who was having the hardest time with any sort of rapid movement because of the smartgun harnessed to her body seemed to agree. The terrain was not making it any easier for it was a maze of mud and water. One wrong step could have someone plunging to the depths where there had been land before. "You’re right." She paused and swung around. She looked at the readings in Leigh’s motion tracker and saw which direction the nearest aliens were advancing.

Without giving any quarter, she started firing into the sheath of green surrounding them. The roar of the smartgun froze the others in their tracks as they realised what was happening. Marin heard the frantic screeching of aliens as the bullets cut through leaves and anything else that happened to be in its path

The entire scene descended into pandemonium as the Marines opened fire. The dark flurry of movements that ran through the thick swamp, took cover in thin mists and leafy backdrop, making it hard to see if they were actually shooting anything. Leigh kept a close vigil on the motion tracker and noticed that some of the aliens had started to fall back far enough to reorganise their attack strategy.

Suddenly, something lunged out of the shadows and landed directly in front of Marin. Its arrival was preceded by several other aliens that landed in among the humans. For a moment, Marin had no idea what this creature was before her. She knew it was an alien but it was neither queen nor drone. It rested somewhere in between as its size was far larger than any drone they had encountered before. She was familiar with the physical description of the queen from Maia’s recollections and noted this creature before her had a spindly tale almost as impressive with a less pronounced crown on what passed for its head.

"What the hell is it?" Jaleel shouted as he aimed his weapon at the creature and fired. It side stepped the bullets with ease, leaping over them and landing behind Jaleel before any of them knew what was happening.

Marin watched in horror as she realised what was coming and screamed. "JALEEL!"

He never got the chance to escape for the creature swished its massive tail and tore into the Marine’s back, impaling him through the chest as Jaleel let out a shriek of agony as he was lifted off the ground. His blood ran red over the muddy surface as the creature swished him about like he was a rag doll, before flicking him away in annoyance. His body slammed against a tree, his bone making a terrible squelch as they snapped like kindling on impact.

"KILL IT!" Marin shouted in fury and opened another murderous hail of bullets at the new alien specimen. It dodged her bullets as easily as it had evaded Jaleel’s attempts to kill it. This time, instead of dispatching Marin as it had done her lover, the alien swung its tail against Marin and smashed her with such force to the ground that the petite woman was almost dizzy when she felt herself sink into the mud. She tried to scramble to her feet in defence, not an easy thing to do when there was almost 50 pounds of gun attached to her body.

The alien was on her in seconds, except it did not attack although its jaws widened to reveal its secondary sets, dripping with ooze as it had done so on numerous occasions during her worst nightmares after the Fiorina. It remained poised over her and Marin left her terrified gaze shifted long to see that Tem and Leigh had been subdued in almost the same way. Leigh was already unconscious although there appeared to be no wounds of any kind on her body. Not like Jaleel.

Jaleel was a tangle of flesh and blood, his face contorted in a rictus of terror that would follow her until the day she died. Marin stared at the creature who was pinning her down, ensuing that she could not pull the trigger of the smartgun which was doing as much to keep her immobile as the alien itself. Suddenly, something that looked oddly like a tentacle struck her skin from one of the alien’s bony protrusion. Marin let out a small cry of surprise as it penetrated her skin but caused no other damage other than a sting of sharp pain. The tentacle retracted from whence it came as soon as it struck her skin and Marin felt her head swim and she was drawn into a black sleep that was almost as dark as the alien’s soul.

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

The fact that the dropship was still on the surface of the planet when its mate from the Sparta landed not too far from it was not a good sign. No matter how much rank Maia had threatened to pull on Dmitri, the Russian would not be deterred from accompanying them to investigate why Lopez had not taken the ship back to the Sparta. Finally, Maia had finally relented and allowed Dmitri to join their party as they left their own dropship to reach the other. She knew how protective Dmitri was of Lopez and had been aware of the close mentor relationship they had shared. Maia who had her share of proteges in her time, knew what it was like to lose one and she sympathised with what Dmitri was enduring.

Unfortunately, all of them had drawn their own conclusions as to why Dropship One was still on Styx. Although none of them were prepared to voice it, they knew that they would be extremely lucky to find Lopez in one piece. As they neared the vessel, they saw how it had been trapped in the mud and had a hasty take off had been necessary, Lopez might have effectively destroyed the ship in her attempts to pull away. Maia knew the only reason that such a landing had been made was because MacReady wanted to be as close to the Queen Mother as he could get when he brought forward the offering of Maia’s Marines.

She kept telling herself that that this was not his fault. He was under the influence of the aliens and was committing all this treachery through no will of his own. Unfortunately, knowing that did not make what must be any easiser. She would save him if she could but Maia’s primary objective would be the return of the other Marines. If he was too far gone that he might hamper that purpose then she would carry out the only humane course of action left for her to do for him.

She would kill him.

Maia knew that the MacReady she loved had no wish to become an alien host and if she had no other choice left to her, then she would save him from that fate. It pained her to think that upon finding someone she loved so dearly, she would lose him in this terrible way but accepting such tragedies was at the core of what she was. She could handle it even if it changed her from that day forward.

They arrived at Dropship One and found their worst fears confirmed by a torn piece of hull at the join where the wing met the fuselage. That was how the aliens had entered the ship and although it was not tactically wise to enter the craft when it was compromised this way, Maia wanted to be sure that Lopez was completely lost to them before they abandoned her. The Marines entered through the main hatch and quickly made their way through the innards of the ship, seeing no signs of violence.

The motion tracker that Addison had been using to ensure their safety, revealed no presence of any hostile aliens on board and Maia realised that it was most likely because the aliens had done what they had set out to do when they had penetrated the ship.

Upon entering the passenger compartment prior to reaching the cockpit of the dropship, the Marines found the irrefutable evidence that Lopez was no longer on board the vessel. The proof was at their feet in waves of red.

"Jesus," Addison whispered as he stared at the blood in front of them. "We’re too late."

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

I

Maia turned her gaze towards Dmitri following their gruesome discovery and could think of nothing to say for a few seconds as the evidence of Lopez’s fate lay before them without any shadow of a doubt. The Russian appeared stoic, as if it were a characteristic bred into the race. However, she knew how protective he had been of the young co-pilot and knew that while he did not show it, he was feeling grief at the irrefutable evidence of her loss.

"Dmitri, I am sorry." Maia spoke first because neither Quinn nor Addison could say it.

"I should have been here." He whispered, his eyes still filled with the sight of all that blood. "I should have insisted he take me instead. She had no business on a mission like this herself."

"Dmitri," she said making him look at her as she spoke. "It’s not your fault. You could not have known this was going to happen just as I did not know Mac was going to behave this way. As much as I like to afford you your grief at this moment, we simply don’t have time for it. We need to get the others."

Dmitri nodded slowly and met her gaze. "I understand Sir," he said quietly. "Let’s get to it."

"Good," she gave him an approving smile and turned to the others. "Well, I am assuming that MacReady would have led them to the aliens already. They haven’t been gone that long so if we can track them, we may be able to reach the rest of the squad by implantation."

"We’ll use their PDT’s." Addison suggested. "If they’re anywhere in transmitting range of us, we should be able to find them."

Maia hoped so because the PDT’s had very limited range utilising the field of electricity generated by a human being to function. Finding Lopez had driven home to all of them that it was likely that even if they could reach the rest of the squad and effect some kind of a rescue, it was still very likely that some of the Marines were beyond saving, like Lopez had been. However, it concerned her that Lopez had been attacked specifically, when there was half a squad presently roaming the swamps, who were more than adequate candidates for hosts.

"You know I don’t think they came after Lopez by chance." Maia announced as they made their way into the cockpit where Addison could set up the equipment to find the transmissions emanated by the PDTs.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked as they squeezed into the narrow confines of the cockpit. Addison took the co-pilots chair so he could easily reach the communications panel on the console next to the flight controls.

"I mean, why come all this way to get one person when the squad is out there?" She met the smartgunner’s gaze with a troubled expression.

"Maybe they wanted to be certain that no one left." Quinn remarked off handedly, not really believing it himself but merely speaking out random possibilities.

"That would make sense." Maia looked at him, wondering if he knew how significant a statement he had made.

"Yes," Dmitri agreed immediately with her, nodding his concurrence at her conclusion. "She is the only one who can fly the dropship off the planet. Get rid of her and the others would have no way to leave."

"Wait a minutes," Addison paused what he was doing and declared. "These things are animals. They’re not supposed to be that stupid."

"We don’t know everything about them, Addison." Maia pointed, repeating that often used statement made by Foster. Thinking about the android gave Maia a pang of sorrow as she remembered what state he had been in when the left the Sparta. It was not uncommon for humans to mistake androids for being more than what they were, automatons however, Maia had always felt that in Foster’s case it was justified. Who was to say that they did not skirt on the edge of consciousness even in the slightest degree?

"We know the drones aren’t very smart," she continued. "However, the queens are a different thing entirely. During the infestation on Acheron, the queen built her nest under the primary heat exchange centres of a nuclear reactor. Now some may say that she did that because of an animal’s instinct of being drawn to the heat or if she may have built the hatchery there because it is the one place she knew that they could not afford damaged. If that is the case, then at the very least, the queen in capable of tactical reasoning and that makes her extremely dangerous."

"I always thought that in ant colonies," Dmitri added. "Particularly where there is a hierarchal queen, there were drones but there were also warrior castes. I wonder why this colony does not have warrior aliens since its organisational structure is insect derivative."

"Would they fucking need em?" Quinn asked. "It takes one of these," the smartgunner glanced at their guns. "To even pierce their hides. They’re tough enough without needing some bad ass warrior alien to kick butt."

"Nicely put," Maia could not help remarking. "Unfortunately, I think Dmitri was right. When Foster was still in one piece, he pointed out that there may be some kind of warrior alien, which is why I had us pack all the extra hardware."

"Oh great," Addison grumbled while letting his fingers fly over the keypad on the communications console. "A warrior alien that is worse than a drone. What else are they going to throw at us?"

"I would prefer not to have that question answered," Maia replied automatically , understanding all too well his concerns. If she had to face a bunch of warrior aliens, she would not be particularly happy about it either.

Suddenly, the console screen began flashing with eerie green light, displaying a map of the area and the location from which the PDT signal was emanating. "I got them." He declared excitedly and let his eyes move across the screen at whose PDT was transmitting.

"Marin, Leigh and Tem are at these coordinates." He quickly scribbled that information down on a pad he kept by his side for that very exact purpose. "We can’t tell whether or not they are alive. Lopez’s PDT is not transmitting." He said quietly and then noticed one other absentee. "Neither is Jaleel’s."

For the PDT to stop transmitting could mean only two things. Either the device was removed from under the skin which was most unlikely, or the body was dead and producing no more electricity for it to transmit any signal. Without even debating the issue, the Marines in the cockpit drew their own conclusions.

"Damn." Quinn whispered under his breath, never wishing Jaleel to die even though they were rivals for Marin’s affections. He prayed that she had not been present to see Jaleel’s death and felt more determined to reach her following this news."

"What about MacReady?" Maia asked almost in soft whisper. A part of her did not want to know. She did not wish to know that MacReady was dead but forced herself to listen to Addison’s answer because she had made him a promise to never let him die as a host. If it required sacrificing her own life to do it, she would save him from that nightmare.

"His PDT is still transmitting," Addison said with some measure of relief because MacReady was his best friend. "But he’s not with the others. He’s close by but not with them."

Maia absorbed that information and filed it away for now. She had to weigh the lives of all those that hand in the balance and make her judgement that way. While she did not like the choices before her, Maia had no option but to do what was right for the squad, not for her.

"We make for Leigh, Marin and Tem. We’ll have to deal with MacReady later." She said abruptly. "Addison, power down. We move out in five minutes." With that Maia Sanjay swept out of the cockpit, not waiting to hear their answers.

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

Leigh was having a bad dream.

She was having the worst goddamn nightmare of her life and could do nothing but helplessly watch as hell unfolded its evil before her terrified mind. There was possibly one thing more frightening than everything she was seeing before her and that was the realisation that this was no dream and all that she was experiencing was painfully real. As her eyes moved slowly across the cavern that reeked so bad of decomposing flesh that she actually had to fight to keep from throwing up, Leigh knew with perfect clarity that barring some miracle, it was very likely she would die in this place.

She did not mind dying. Dying was a part of life in the Corp. However dying like this, hung up on a wall like some trophy, her arms and legs pinned to the surface with wet slimy resin, waiting in the dark amidst the sounds of dripping fluid and squelching noises across the soggy ground was not something she could accept.

Inside the cavern before her were eggs. Literally thousands of them, all waiting in expectation of the sacrificial lambs that would give their spores life. She could not see any aliens at the moment and decided that there was hardly any need to be guarded since they were more or less incapacitated.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a loud hiss. Like an escaping gush of heated gases. Straining to look, she saw an egg towards the edge of her perception, unseal. A small cloud of steaming air drifted upwards as it opened up, its innards throbbing with life as she held her breath and watched in frozen horror. Leigh wanted to kick and scream but she could not, she could only stare as one digit of the new born spore emerged from the warm depths of resin and birthing fluids.

"Jesus!" She heard Tem’s voice exclaim in horror and knew in that instant that the spore was meant for him. She could feel his violent struggles through the tremors from the surface to which she was similarly imprisoned.

"Help me!" He shouted, futility becoming desperation as he cried for assistance in a place that was devoid of hope.

Leigh could not see him but she saw the emergence of the spore from inside the egg, its entire body was not poised over the edge, its tail coiling as it prepared to spring.

"No!" Tem shouted in terror as the spore launched itself out of the egg, trailing fluid with it as it landed wetly not too far from his feet. His cries became more frantic and more desperate, until each word, pleading for help wrenched at Leigh with even more potency then the horror of her situation.

There a final moment of clarity, when Leigh heard those screams become muffled and then there was no more sound. She heard nothing but a lengthy silence that knotted her stomach in constricting fear because she knew what the cessation of Tem’s screams had meant. Leigh was about to open her mouth and call out after him, even though it was probably a useless gesture by now.

"Don’t." Leigh heard a voice speak next to her.

"Marin?" She whispered in surprise, having forgotten all about the smartgunner.

"Keep your voice down." Marin instructed even though she was in the exact same predicament as Leigh at this point. "Keep your voice down and don’t get excited."

Leigh nodded slowly, not understanding what purpose there was to this. How could silence help them now? After what had just happened to Tem, Leigh was of the firm belief that there was no help for any of them. Not at all.

"The spores awaken when they sense life." Marin continued speaking in that same dulcet tone, each word escaping her lips with painfully length. "I figure that if we keep quiet, the eggs won’t unseal for awhile."

Leigh began to understand. The eggs responded to outside stimuli to hatch and Tem had started struggling and fighting almost as soon as he had awakened from the paralysing venom the aliens had hit them all with to keep them immobilised for embryo implantation. The egg had fed on that reaction and unsealed, unleashing its progeny on the huge islander who had doomed himself with every frantic cry.

"That won’t work forever." Leigh responded just as slowly.

"Maybe not," Marin replied automatically as if prepared for the argument. "But if the others are coming, then it’s a chance of staying alive until they get here."

It was a slim hope, Leigh thought to herself but at this point, she was willing to cling to any plan that might end up in their escaping this nightmare. Breathing in deeply, she exhaled and calmed herself, following Marin’s advice because there was nothing left to do. She only prayed that the smartgunner was right, that someone was coming for them because she did not wish to still be here when Tem woke up.

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

Despite his protests, Maia left Dmitri at the dropship, deciding that she wanted him in the air during their attempt to rescue Tem, Leigh and Marin. After what had happened to Lopez, she did not wish to risk their only pilot by leaving him alone in the dropship where he would be accessible to the aliens. However, it was not advisable to take him into a combat situation since Dmitri had no training whatsoever other than the rudimentary survival skills all pilots were required to learn in basic.

As they watched the dropship soar into the air, Maia was confident that if everything else went to hell, at least Dmitri would be alive to explain to Gateway what had happened on Planet Styx. The coordinates where the rest of the Marines were located did not appear to be very far from their present location. It seemed that the queen’s instructions to MacReady were very specific. It further proved the level of intelligence they were dealing with in the queen mother.

The land was indeed a quagmire of murky water and sinking mud. Moving through it hampered their progress to the rest of the squad, even though the distance they were required to traverse was not very far. Maia found herself swatting off blood gutted flies from her skin as they buzzed around the trio, no doubt being the only things to survive in this eco-system that was of no use to the aliens.

"How long til we get there?" Maia asked uncomfortably as they waded through a patch of wetlands.

"Another two hundred yards." Addison remarked as he glanced at the motion tracker in his hand. Having linked the frequency of the PDT’s to the device, they were now able to follow its readings to their friends, while at the same time detecting any aliens that might be coming their way.

"Good," Quinn drawled, having the worst time of it all since he was carrying the cumbersome smartgun on his person and was having great difficulty moving through the thick bog with the weapon. "It this aliens don’t kill me, its going to be this fucking place."

"Suits them though." Maia found herself commenting. " You kind of picture their home planet for looking something like this." She let her gaze move across the cloudy grey sky and the vista of dark, grainy water and huge trees with their buttress roots protruding from the water.

"Hey I got something!" Addison exclaimed as the still sound of the swamp was broken by the successive beeping of the motion tracker warning them of a proximity alert.

"What?" Maia hurried next to him, to see for herself what he was talking about. As she peered over his shoulder, she saw only one signal coming towards them. If it was an alien, it was not moving as fast as they normally did and further examination proved that the signal was coming from a PDT.

"Its Mac." Addison declared, his gaze moving across the terrain before them, trying to see their errant Sergeant.

"He’s heading straight for us." Maia remarked, trying not to let her emotions get away with her at his seemingly safe return, even though chances were good that he was still under the queen mother’s influence. In any case, he was a liability as long as he was in close proximity of Styx.

"Addison," she looked at the comtech as the signal drew closer. "I want you to load a stun pellet and put him down as soon as he gets into range. That’s the only way he’s going back with us."

"Right." Addison said in understanding, aware now of what MacReady was capable of after sacrificing his comrades to the aliens because of this telepathic control that the queen mother had over him.

"Dmitri," Maia spoke into her own com unit. "Do you copy?"

"I got you." The Russian replied following a burst of static as the channel opened.

"I want you to zero in on our location and prepare for immediate evacuation of one personnel."

"One?" He uttered in surprise. "What about the others?" His bewilderment was obvious.

"I’ll take them back on the other dropship." Maia retorted. "Following pick up, you are to return to the Sparta with Sergeant MacReady and put him in stasis, is that understood?"

"Will do." Dmitri replied. "You can count on me put the Sergeant on ice."

"Alright," Maia declared. "See you in five minutes, Sanjay out." With that she terminated the line just in time to hear the swishing of water in the distance.

Even though the trio knew it was MacReady who was on approach, there was no reason to let their guard down. All three went for their guns, while Addison kept the stun gun poised to act the moment the Sergeant made his appearance. Someone was wadding through the bog and coming towards them and as the direction from which those sounds become clearer, Maia saw MacReady’s familiar form appear before them.

"Thank Chris I found you guys." MacReady gushed, his eyes firmly fixed on Maia. He did not seem any worse for wear but he was no longer carrying his gun or sidearm and Maia wondered why he would discard those in a terrain like this.

"Stay right where you are, Mac." Maia ordered, her gun still aimed at him. "Don’t think I won’t shoot you Sergeant."

"It wasn’t my fault!" He pleaded, genuine sorrow showing in his eyes as he started at her. "I couldn’t help myself, I just felt this thing inside me, pulling all my strings and making me bring the others down to Styx. She made me do it!" He cried out, looking nothing like the man that Maia loved but a whimpering weasel that had condemned half her team to death.

"Stay where you are." She repeated as he took another step towards her. "I believe you Mac." She said after a moment. "I believe that you are not responsible for what has happened but I’m not letting you run loose. You want us to believe that you’re back to normal, you let Addison stun you."

In the distance, the roar of the dropship could be heard as the vessel approached their coordinates rapidly. MacReady looked over her head and saw its eminent arrival. "We’re leaving?"

"No," Maia shook her head. "Just you."

"You can’t send me back to the Sparta." He stared at her. "I got the squad into this mess and I should be with you to get them out. Maia, don’t make me leave, please." He met her eyes, begging her with his voice and convincing Maia without a shadow of a doubt that he was still under the alien’s influence. MacReady would never use his relationship with her to get what he wanted.

"Do it." Maia ordered Addison coldly.

Before Addison could pull the trigger, MacReady darted out of the way and allowed the pellet to whiz past him harmless. Maia did not see where it went but she had more or less been expecting this reaction. With lightning fast reflexes, she slammed into him with a full body tackle that landed them both in the mud. He had used her feelings for him to get the better of her once before, Maia had no intention of letting him exploit her again.

"Captain!" Quinn hissed, trying to come to her aid but was held back by the smartgun.

"Stay where you are!" Maia shouted. "Addison, reload!"

MacReady threw her off him and Maia landed a few feet away, sinking into the mud as she watched MacReady struggled to get back on his feet. Deciding that if he were to escape them now, they would never have any hope of ever recovering him. Dragging herself out of the muck, she jumped on top of him again, keeping him in place as Addison fumbled to reload the stun gun with its immobilising pellet.

"Mac, let us help you. You’re not in your right mind!" She tried to reason with him as he lashed his fist out at her. Maia stopped the blow with her forearm and then added a further warning. "Mac, don’t make me hurt you." She replied softly. "You blindside me once and that was lucky but I can beat you and we both know it."

"Like hell you can." He pulled her shoulder down and delivered a skull cracking head butt which left her reeling for a second as he threw her off his body. Maia felt her forehead sting with pain but had enough sense about her to slam her foot into his ankle as he tried to stand up. MacReady fell face first into the mud and Maia leapt onto his back, pinning him to the ground with her knee while keeping firm grip of his arm.

"Shoot goddamn it!" She barked at Addison.

Addison pulled the trigger immediately and the pellet escaped the chamber of the stun gun. MacReady swore profusely as the sedative penetrated his skin, still fighting to break free even though in the position he was in, he could very well snap his arm in the effort.

"Stay down, Mac!" Maia cried out. "We’re going to help you but not here!"

"Fuck you!" He screamed but the edge of his rage was starting to lose potency as the pellet began taking effect on him. In a matter of seconds, he was no longer struggling and in even half the time it took for that to happen, MacReady was completely unconscious. Maia finally released her hold on him and stepped back, breathing hard and wiping mud from her cheek as he lay before her, flat on his stomach and lost to the world.

"Well," she let out an exhausted sigh as she turned her attention back to Addison and Quinn. "That’s one. Now let’ go get the others."

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

I

Once MacReady had been handed over to Dmitri and airlifted off the planet’s surface to ensure no other mishap occurred to their last dropship, the three remaining Marines were ready to depart. The PDT’s were still their best chance of reaching the Marin, Leigh and Tem if they had not become alien spores yet. None of them wanted to entertain that possibility, especially Quinn. He and Marin had reached a major turning point in the relationship and he wanted to explore that further. He loved her, that much he knew and he wanted to see a future between them. For the first time, he understood why personal relationships between soldiers were discouraged when it involved intimacy; the risk of heartbreak when death was an every possibility was too great.

 There was a heavy feeling of impending doom closing in on them as they approached the source of the PDT signal and the swampy terrain which had seemed intolerable before became nothing more than a stretch of mud they had to wade through. Maia could not blame the others for their silence or their less than enthusiastic view of their chances. She did not think that they would survive this any better than they did, however, she refused to give into that desolation because Marin, Leigh and Tem were still alive and while they were still alive, there was hope.

It had started to rain, a light teeming fall, which felt prickly against the skin. The rumble of the dropship could still be heard in the air and Maia was consoled by the fact that it would not be far away when they needed it. When they had first retrieved MacReady, her plan had been for Dmitri to return the Marine back to the Sparta for insertion into cryosleep but upon reflection, she realized that it might offer more salvation that merely being a carrier to ferry them away when the danger was over. She had given him instructions; he was more than happy to oblige after what had happened to Lopez. She just hoped her gamble would not get them all killed.

"We’re close." Addison spoke up, looking forward through the misty air at faint grey shapes in the distance.

In reaction, Quinn lifted his smartgun and primed it for fire. It had been a backbreaking exercise to see to it that the weapon did not dip into the quagmire and be given excuse to malfunction but as his only way of saving Marin, Quinn bore the strain without complaint. Their eyes scanned the area but what they saw were the buzzing of fat, blood filled flies and the unbroken reflection of the swamp staring back at them.

"How close?" Maia asked.

"Less than fifty meters." He answered promptly.

"Let’s get moving," Quinn said impatiently, feeling time pressing on him more than ever.

"We will," Maia stilled him with that statement. "Just make sure we know what we’re walking into."

The motion detectors were silent but they only registered life signs when it was actually moving. If there was one thing they had learnt about Ripley’s alien, it knew how to wait for its prey and be very quite about doing it too. Finally, she realized they had no choice but to proceed, even with the uncertainties before them. "Alright, let’s keep moving."

They trudged on a few meters more and suddenly paused when the sight, which by now had special place in all their nightmares, appeared once more. This time however, it was not the small haphazard construct they had seen on Fury 161, this was far more complex and larger. It was huge and was extremely organic in its design and structure. The hive resembled one of the alien pods, only larger and it almost seemed alive in its own right. Seeing it send shudders of fear through all of them no matter how disciplined they thought they were.

"Jesus," Addison whispered.

"Fucking A," Quinn agreed wholeheartedly, "guess that’s alien central huh?"

"I’d say so," Maia responded with a nod. "Come on," she stared at them sharply. "We’re not tourists."

They continued their approach and soon sighted a fissure on the surface of the large hive structure and seemed to be the only way into alien nest. It was a jagged smear of black leading into hell. There were no aliens in sight now. Mostly likely they were scattered searching for the prey they know were here if not gone. Quinn started walking first, his smartgun held in a firm grip in readiness to fire. The expression on his face was etched with fear and worry, something that seemed so far away from the tough mask he often wore. The captain had no doubt that any alien attempting to stop Quinn from reaching Marin would have reason to regret it.

"Quinn, wait up." Maia ordered the smartgunner who immediately came to a stop and glanced impatiently over his shoulder for his captain and the comtech to catch up.

"Captain," Addison spoke up as he studied his PDT scanner, a slight frown appearing on his face. "I can’t get an accurate fix on any movement within. I think there may be some interference coming from the structure. When they come after us, I can pin point their general location but nothing exact."

"Are the PDT’s still transmitting?" Quinn turned around and faced Addison with that alarming news.

"Yeah," Addison responded automatically. "Lucky for us too, I don’t think I want to go searching through this whole place for them."

"Me neither, " Maia agreed under her breath. "Are we clear for insertion?" The captain looked at Addison since they were about to penetrate the interior of the hive.

"As we much as we’ll ever be." The comtech retorted with a shrug. "The immediate vicinity looks all clear."

"You don't sound very sure." She noted.

"I’m not." He returned the stare Maia was giving him with just as much intensity.

Predictably, Quinn entered without waiting for them while they were still talking. His smartgun came equipped with a torch perched on the barrel and the moment they entered the darkness, the small bulb illuminated inside its glass casing and lit the way for them. Maia and Addison followed right behind him and once again they were faced with the bizarre construction of the alien hive. It was a little more elaborate than what they had seen on Fiorina but ultimately, no different. Gigantic veins ran across the high ceilings and the interior of the hive seemed to be a collection of dark chambers, shadowy and indistinct. It was the perfect environment for the aliens to lie in wait for the unfortunates who became trapped in such a stygian place.

"Addison, how far away are they?" Maia asked as they moved through the black chambers.

"About a hundred feet." He responded his voice soft and hushed.

"Almost at the centre." Quinn remarked.

"Makes sense," Maia replied. "They would be placed very close the egg chamber, which is where the queen would be. If the entomology principles of a hive society were in force here at least in the conventional sense, the queen would be isolated. She would be protected by the others but at a safe distance."

"So we will have to pass their defensive perimeter to reach her." Quinn nodded in understanding.

"I think so." Maia replied.

"Everybody quiet!" Addison suddenly hissed loudly. "I'm getting alien signals approaching."

"How far?" Maia demanded.

"I can’t tell, there’s something funny about the signal." The com tech replied "But we ought to proceed with extreme caution."

There was no need to seek out the approaching aliens for they emerged soon enough. Maia saw the black shape spring out of nowhere, the angle of its trajectory heading straight for Addison. As it leapt over herself and Quinn, Maia noted that this did not look like ordinary aliens. In fact, they were a hell of a lot large. She remembered a conversation she had with Foster about the alien hierarchy, how they had only ever encountered the queen and drone aliens. If an entomological comparison was made, should they not be warrior aliens as well? They performed the function almost as vital as the drone and the queen. Maia had thought that in this instance the drone doubled as a warrior caste too but seeing the alien before them, almost double the size of a normal drone and a little smaller than a queen, Maia decided that this might be their first glimpse at it.

Unfortunately, there was little time to debate the discovery because it was about to kill Addison. Maia aimed her pulse rifle at its direction while Addison staggered out of the way when suddenly Quinn let loose a lethal barrage of fire from the smartgun that tore through the warrior alien mercilessly. Both Maia and Addison leapt out of the way as the bullets penetrated the alien’s hide and sent a spray of acid in all directions. The creature screeched in outrage but Quinn paid little attention and continued to riddle its body with bullets until it collapsed on the ground, shredded and unmoving.  

Quinn release his hold of the trigger and looked over his shoulder to the others. "Let's go."

But they were not going anywhere yet. Probably because they were just as astonished by the brutal demise of their own, two more aliens made their appearance and Maia ducked as one lunged and rolled across the grimy floor as she fired her pulse rifle at it. She heard was a shriek of pain when the miniature grenade struck its hide and retreated to a safe distance as the creature was blown apart, spraying acid in all directions. A bit of landed on his shoulder and Maia uttered a small gasp of pain as she felt the noxious substance eating through her armor and into her skin. Without wasting any time, Maia discarded the ruined shoulder pad, cutting abrupt the flow of acid making its way through to her flesh. He had still had some burns though but fortunately not enough to slow her down.

Addison in the meantime had also finished off the second creature when he noted that Quinn had gone ahead.

"Quinn!" Addison shouted as he hurried to the captain and helped her up. "Wait for us you crazy Fuck!" The smartgunner did not respond and Addison shook his head in annoyance as he turned to Maia. "Are you alright Captain?"

"Yeah," Maia nodded wincing at the pain in her shoulder. "Its hurts but I'll live." She raised herself to her feet and examined the injury. Her initial assessment was correct; it looked worse than it was. While there was pain, her adrenaline was lessening its effects for now. Her attention was mostly focussed on Quinn who had disappeared. "Sergeant hold your horses! NOW!" Maia roared in a voice that immediately garnered a response.

"Well hurry up!" Quinn snapped back from the next chamber.

Addison shook his head in disbelief at the smartgunner’s behavior. "Is it me or is he behaving just a little bit...."

"Deranged?" Maia looked at Addison, thinking the same thing herself though she had a better understanding of why Quinn was feeling so emotional. "He’s worried about Marin."

"We all are," Addison declared.

"Not like he does," Maia gave him a pointed stare and it took a second before understanding filtered into the comtech’s mind.

"Oh," he muttered. "I figured something was snaking him since Marin and Jaleel got together. Its about time though."

Considering their circumstances, it was better late than never, she supposed.

***********

They encountered more aliens the further into the hive they pushed. Addison’s motion detector readings indicated that there were a large number of them in the hive and at this moment they were converging upon the rescue team. Fortunately, they were now only twenty feet away from the PDT source. Quinn was pushing forward with the same savage pace and the more Maia saw him react to the aliens, the more the captain became convinced that he would either reach Marin or die trying. The latest kill, again with a classic case of overkill left at least three warrior aliens ripped apart all over the slimy floor of the hive, their acid blood hissing into the ground.

They entered the large chamber with the skeletons and saw the remains of animals the aliens had used for its breeding. It was this point that they discovered what was left of the Paragon’s crew. Their faces were a frame by frame account of agony and horror. Their bodies split open like melons when the aliens they had given host to ripped through their sternums. Before them, empty spores were displayed like a brand of death. Among them were David Lenard and Paragon’s CEO Crispin Dunne. Maia supposed the question of how Paragon had learnt about the alien was more or less answered. David had more than paid for his indiscretion for his terrible death as did Dunne for his ambitious desire to turn the alien into a weapon.

"Poor bastards." Addison whispered as he saw the terror they must have endured by their horrified expressions.

Maia was passing by a corpse clinging to the wall when suddenly; a hand reached out and grabbed her. She almost turned around and fired but when he looked, all he saw was a human face. A live human face.

"Tem." Maia gasped and felt a little of herself die then and there when she saw Tem’s eyes fix on her. Once again, she found herself in this position. She swore she would never do this again after what had happened to Cassandra Yates during their first encounter with the aliens.

"Captain." He whispered. His face was covered in moisture and held in place with ooze. His huge bulk was pinned to the wall with the resin the creatures had used to construct their hive and keep their prey immobilized for implantation.

"Oh sweet Jesus." Addison muttered somewhere in the dark and Maia knew it was not because he was alive but because Addison had seen the unsealed egg and the dead spore at Tem’s feet. With an alien inside of him, there was no help they could give him. He was as good as dead. It only required the agony of the alien’s emergence to make it so.

"Captain, I can't feel it moving." Tem blinked and hot tears ran down his cheeks. "It's scratching against my insides. I think its going to come soon." He had never shown fear in all the time she had known him but he was afraid now and with good reason.

"We'll get you out of here Tem," Maia said quickly examining his trappings to do just that. Perhaps there was something could be done, something beyond what was inevitable.

"Captain," Tem met his gaze with a great deal more realism than he himself, possessed. "You can't get this out of me in time." He said softly, trying not to cry. "I don't want to die like this. Please don't let me see it coming. I couldn't stand it. Let me die like a man"

Main swallowed thickly and nodded. If Tem could feel the infant alien starting to claw its way out of his sternum then they were out of time. Even if she pulled him free, they had to make it out of here again and it would still be too late. With anguish, she realised that the private was far braver and smarter than she was.

"Come on Tem," Addision replied, refusing to let things end like this. "We get you out of here..."

"Addison," Maia spoke with a voice not quite her own. "Give me one of your grenades."

"What?" Addison stared at her, knowing what she was asking. "No..."  

"DO AS I SAY!" Maia roared with a vehemence that would have sent the aliens running for cover if they understood the words.

Quinn met Maia’s gaze and a wave of sympathy filled his eyes for his comrade but he understood what Maia needed to do and it was he who handed her one of his grenades. "Come on Addison," he tugged at the com tech’s arm. "We have to go."

"No." Addison shook his head. "Not like this."

"This is my choice Tim," Angel made her final plea. "I don't want to see it come out of me." Tem was begging now and Addison felt his heart breaking into a thousand pieces and never hated a species more than this miserable race of aliens. Finally he understood what the captain had endured when forced to make the decision with Yates, why she still looked haunted whenever they spoke of their fallen comrade.

Addison couldn't say anymore because Quinn was pulling him away. Maia did not watch as her cometch and smartgunner faded into the darkness. All she could do was stare into the face of the man whose life was turned in an obscenity because of this wretched world. She had never felt so ashamed in her life for doing what she had to and when she placed the grenade in his large hands. he

"I'm scared Captain," Tem whispered. "I'm so scared."

"I’m sorry Tem." Maia leaned forward, kissing his cheek gently. "I wish I could be with you but I can’t."

"I know," he swallowed thickly. "You gotta go now Captain." He urged as his fingers fumbled to activate the explosive.

Maia gave him one long look of farewell before she turned away. She did not look behind but she could envision him pushing down the detonation button on the grenade and she was a good distance away when the explosion shattered the silence in the darkness. She was glad for the opportunity to be alone for a few seconds before she caught up with Addison and Quinn. It gave her a chance to dry her tears.

**********

Marin heard a sharp voice and knew that through some miracle, help was actually coming. She had heard gunfire and voices in the distance, all the while praying they would reach her before the noise they had caused gave the alien spores before her and Leigh reason to awake. However, through all the shooting and voices, the spore remained sealed which gave further evidence that there spore's sensory perception had limits. However, now it was time to make a decision. Her friends were close and they had to know where she was. They had to know even if she had to help them. Even if she had to risk giving the spore stimulus to awake.

"Oh hell!" Leigh cried out when she saw the spidery finger of the alien spore infront of her make a tentative exploration beyond its egg confines when the sounds of all the gunfire awakened it.

"HELP!" Marin screamed on top of her lungs and hoped that it was enough.

"Tina!" The voice returned almost immediately. "Tina, we're coming!" Quinn shouted back.

"Thank Chris!" Leigh shouted. "I don’t suppose you want to hurry up!"

The egg before Marin needed no more incentive than that. It started to unseal with a loud hiss of warm gases escaping the mouth, like an obscene parody of a flower bud opening.

"FUCKING HURRY!!" She shouted unashamed of the pure unadulterated terror in her voice when she saw her spore’s spindly digit make an exploratory examination of the outside world through the noisome fluid of its receptacle and discovered her waiting for implantation.

She watched as another digit peered out, dragging clear, sticky fluid in thick suspending rivulets. Soon the entire creature was pushing towards the edge of the egg. Marin watched in transfixed horror as doom continued towards her like a hand with too many fingers. She saw its long coiling tail preparing to propel itself through the air towards her. She saw its muscles flex and knew that she was out of time.

Marin screamed just as Quinn appeared out of the shadows and tearing it to shred with gunfire before the spore had a chance to reach her.

As he did so, an alien leapt into view and Addison dispatched it and the spore in front of Leigh with as much impunity. Another emerged and Quinn displayed the skill that made him the best shot on the Sparta when he swung around and killed it before it could even reach them.

"Tina!" Quinn hurried to her, letting go of his rifle as he reached her. A surge of happiness at seeing her well made him push his lips against hers in a kiss of passion before he had chance to know what he was doing. Marin did not know if her sudden deliverance was more surprising or the fact that Quinn had actually kissed her in front of everyone.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his eyes full of concern.

"One second more and I wouldn't have been." She laughed with relief even though they were nowhere out of trouble.

"I’m fine too," Leigh said sarcastically. "But you don’t gotta kiss me for that."

"Damn," Addison retorted. "You just wrecked a perfectly good plan.

"Funny," She gave him a look as he freed her of the resin holding her in place.

"I do not wish to interrupt your reunion but do you think you could possibly wrap this up so that we can get the FUCK out of here?" Maia asked as she joined them.

"What he said." Marin replied. "But without the swearing and a hell of a lot more gratitude."

"You okay Captain?" Addison asked concerned, knowing what happened with Tem must have been a nightmare revisited. Sort of like this whole planner actually.

"Yeah," Maia nodded, "I’m okay." She was rather surprised to note that she meant it.

Quinn ripped the rest of resinous material than kept Marin bound and she dropped into his arms from her suspended position against the wall. She took a moment to embrace him, never being so happy to be alive. However, she soon noted that Addison was keeping watch on the motion detector. The frown on his face did not bode well.

"Captain," Addison said softly. "They're coming."

"How many?" Maia returned tautly as they started to back track.

There was a pause before the comtech answered. "All of them."

Maia swore inwardly and decided it was a good thing she had made other arrangements regarding their departure. There was only one way for any of them to get out of here alive.

It was time for a royal meeting.

**********

It was not hard to find the chamber where all the alien eggs had originated. As soon as they approached it, the advance stopped in its tracks. The aliens were hovering at a perimeter, uncertain of what to do, Maia wagered. She had been correct in assuming that the drones would not risk attacking while the mother of their entire society was endangered. Knowing she existed was nothing like laying eyes upon her in reality. Maia alone remembered what it was like to see the Queen, the others had been incapacitated at the time. However, this was the mother of the entire race, not just an offshoot. Maia was not sure of what to expect.

As they entered the maw of hell, no one dared to speak. The horror of their situation had robbed everyone of speech. The eggs sack ran like a giant conduit around them, beginning at an egg and ending at the queen alien that was perched on top of it. She was aware she had visitors and raised her massive head, flared with black frills that looked very much like a crown, her outer lips, it was the closest definition he could come up with, pulled back and revealed an enormous mouth full of teeth the size of his forearms. Clear ooze dribbled off those massive uneven teeth as fangs were bared in their direction. Her crown was larger Maia noticed and where there had been flecks of grey on the other queen she faced, this one was black obsidian and it was like staring into nothingness.

"Oh shit." Marin whispered. "Captain, tell me again how this is a good idea?"

Maia did not know what she was doing for an instant as she stepped forward and stared at the thing, ahead of those with her. Maia was just beyond her reach but close enough for the alien queen to know that she was being observed by the leader of this small band of humans or in her reckoning, host creatures.

"So you're the big bad huh?" Maia asked, her voice devoid of humor.

She hissed, a loud stomach turning sound.

They regarded each other for a long moment, bringing puzzlement to those who observed the silent exchange.

"I'm going to kill you." Maia said simply but the menace in her voice made those who heard shudder at the sound of it. "I'm going to wipe you and your whole fucking nest out of existence. If I have to turn this planet into radioactive mush, I will do that because you're going to pay for all those poor souls who died screaming in a nightmare they could never wake up"

An egg unsealed next to her and Maia stared at the queen, aware that the creature had just thrown down the gauntlet. Fine, she had come in here with a plan.

"Now Dmitri." Maia spoke into her headset.

No sooner than the words had left her mouth and explosion rocked the structure. The alien screeched loudly her arms flaying as the high ceiling above them suddenly shattered, torn apart by air missile. Maia chose that moment to withdraw, ordering the remaining Marines to the far corner of the room as the dropship slammed through the top of egg chamber, raining debris down over the queen's precious eggs. The Queen roared once again with fury, struggling to break free and Maia had no intention of sticking around for that. Once was enough. The drop once inside the narrow space began to lower onto the ground. Dmitri picked his landing spot carefully as the Marines watched in anticipation. Maia thanked God that the Russian pilot was as good as he claimed when she saw him set down the dropship on a pile of debris. The landing was unstable but Maia knew as well as Dmitri that the dropship would be capable of blasting off any surface.

"Get to the ship!" Maia shouted though it was a redundant gesture. Everyone was already clambering through the hatchery towards the craft, which was as close to heaven as any vehicle could be. Marin was the first to reach the hatch, which opened automatically. The destruction of the hive had overridden the aliens' fear for their queen and they were closing in. As Marin clambered through the open door, Quinn fired at an approaching alien in the shadows. Following close behind was Leigh and Addison. Maia was last.

Maia had one more thing to do before she vacated the area. Removing all her grenades, she activated one and then threw the entire belt in front of the queen's perch before she ran like hell for the dropship while the Marines valiantly kept attacking aliens from reaching her. Maia had to practically jumped into the open mouth of the dropship open hatch in order to reach safety

"Get us out of here!" Maia shouted at Dmitri who was already starting to lift off without any prompting.

The dropship continued to rise when Maia closed the hatch and as the craft ascended out of the orifice it had created, Maia could see the aliens crowding in on the space the ship had occupied. No doubt some would try to reach it. Maia didn't care. They could hang on for all they were worth if they did but they were not going to survive the trip out of the atmosphere because she'd burn the bastards off first.

The dropship exploded out of the hive as Dmitri took off at maximum speed, sending hot waves of exhaust from the engines as it shot through the air like a comet. The fallout incinerated the eggs and aliens beneath it, ending their threat in a screech of all consuming fire. Having widened as the structural integrity of the hive when the dropship had forced its way through the shell, it began to collapse with the ship’s departure. The craft escaped the hive when another explosion was heard; this time a little more localized in its concentration and had all the earmarks of a large number of detonating grenades.

Inwardly, Maia whispered to herself. Die bitch, die.

"Dmitri," Maia struggled to her feet after they were free of the hive and went to his pilot. "Circle around."

"Circle around?" Dmitri stared at him in surprise.

"Circle around." She repeated. "Addison how many mini-nukes have we got on this thing?"

"Five." Addison responded with a smile of approval.

"Dmitri, I want you to take a pass at that hive." Maia said with a tone that would not tolerate any argument, even from those she considered friends. "And I want you to fire all nukes at that damn thing."

"All?" Dmitri exclaimed. "One would be sufficient."

"ALL." Maia glared at him. "I want the entire site leveled."

Strangely enough, that was a comforting thought for everybody and Maia received no further comment.

EPILOGUE

There was no sense of victory when the Marines returned to the Sparta from the alien homeworld. Even though those who stepped onto the landing deck of the troop carrier was grateful that they had survived, their relief was soured by the fact that so many of their friends had not been so lucky. Although Marin did not say it, Maia could tell the smartgunner was experiencing intense grief at losing her one time lover and her comrade Jaleel. Even though she did not love him the way she no doubt loved Quinn, Marin had felt deeply for the young man who had saw past the soldier that she was to care for the woman beneath. Thanks to Jaleel, she had learnt that it was perfectly alright to be a woman and a Marine and a part of her would always miss him. He had deserved better than the death he had received.

Quinn said nothing, offering gentle support that seemed out of place in a man as tough and cynical as he but for Marin, Quinn was willing to be what she needed in order to help her through her mourning for Jaleel. She had chosen him over Jaleel before the younger man had died and even though they had been for a time, rivals for Marin, Quinn had respected him and felt equally saddened though not on the level of Marin, over his death. Leigh was silent because she was the only one of the new recruits who had come through Boot Camp together to survive the hell of the alien homeworld. All the others were gone and she tried not to think too much about the friends lost, friends like Jaleel, Tem, Yugowa, Carmen and so many others. She wondered what serendipity had allowed her to live while they had died. Addison remained close by, experiencing the same anguish when they had returned from Fiorina, enough so that he understood completely what she was feeling.

As soon as they had rested, Addison went to work on Foster who was in quite a mess after what MacReady had done to him. The comtech who knew more about synthetic life forms than he would care to admit, spent the next 36 hours straight working on repairing the damage inflicted upon the artificial person as Foster so often reminded them to refer to him. It was a race to save the personality that the Marines had come to rely upon so much over the years before the damage to his central processors required him to be memory wiped and infused with a stranger that did not know them or share the same experiences.

In the meantime, Maia left MacReady in stasis. Although Maia had seen to it that the alien queen and her wretched hive had been destroyed, she was not going to leave anything to chance. Under the alien influence, MacReady had shown just how dangerous he was to them. She had no idea how he was going to take the knowledge of what he had done when he finally regained consciousness but there was no way to prevent it from happening. The best that could be said for the acts that he had committed was that he was not responsible, it was the alien queen who had infected his mind with her poison.

Somehow, Maia did not think MacReady was going to accept that as an explanation. She knew him to well and while he remained in cryosleep, he was blissfully unaware of the friends he had led to their death. She had no idea how he would react to the truth. Maia had no doubt the next few months were going to be hard on him, she would have to be supportive as both his commander and his lover, she hoped she was equal to the task.

However, if it was one thing she was equal to, it was ensuring that what happened to MacReady was not repeated when the Fury and the Ronin arrived in the star system. Maia had submitted her report in which she made a formal request to ensure the crew complement of either ship did not include any member with a high psi-rating. In some sense the Sparta had been fortunate because MacReady had been the only one on board with a heightened psychic potential, Maia could not imagine the possibility if he had not been alone.

The incursions by the Paragon personnel seemed inconsequential by now since none of them had survived to be punished. However, Maia submitted the report nonetheless and learnt that it was Councilman David Lenard who had furnished the location of the planet to the Paragon’s CEO Crispin Dunne. Unfortunately for him, Dunne’s leadership had only brought him an end that Maia would not wish upon her worst enemy. Hanlon took in the news of MacReady’s actions and then agreed that it was best not to press the matter, since it was not the Sargeant’s fault. Secretly, Maia was certain that Hanlon did not want MacReady’s mental competence questioned and the details of what happened was thankfully left vague.

With the Ronin and Fury now less than a day away, Maia felt intensely relieved that they would be heading back to Earth. She was more than thoroughly sickened by the place and wanted it far behind her. She had no doubt that the rest of the Marines felt the same way.

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

"Okay," Addison sucked in his breath as he ran a last minute diagnostic of Foster’s artificial brain before attempting to bring the artificial life form back on line again. "He’s as good as he’s gonna be."

"You did fine Tim," Maia remarked as she studied Foster who was seated on the examination table with a peaceful expression on his face, his eyes closed as if he were meditating. The bullets wounds were still riddled across his chest because new synthetic skin needed to be grafted on his frame to replace the damaged covering and the Sparta did not come equipped with that kind of specialist robotic equipment. No doubt the technicians at Gateway would be able to do a much better job when they returned to Earth.

All the Marines except MacReady who was still in stasis attended the awakening of Foster. Maia had the feeling that everyone was present because after all the losses they had suffered lately, it was good to see one of them make it, even if was their synthetic. However, most of the Marines present with the exception of possibly Dmitri and Leigh, thought of Foster as more than just an android. Maia had no doubt then when they knew him a little longer, they would think of Foster in more or less the same way as well.

"Here’s goes," Addison said anxiously as he activated the android’s initialization program.

Foster’s reawakening began with the android’s lip twitching in rapid succession before his eyes flew open. For a moment, no one spoke as they waited for him to show some signs of recognizing them. Foster’s head snapped up and he took a long sweeping gaze across the room and at the faces before him. His expression was detached as he studied them as if he were examining some new discovery and Maia began to think that perhaps the personality that they had come to know was gone, erased by an act of violence.

"Captain Sanjay," Foster declared, meeting her eyes.

"Yes," Main replied with more hope than she ought to be feeling. "Its me Foster, it’s the Captain."

He regarded her revelation with a slight nod and then turned to the others, "Private Marin – Smartgunner, Corporal Addison – Comtech, Junior Corporal Leigh, Dmitri – Pilot, Quinn – Smartgunner or big son of a bitch as referred to by Corporal Addison."

"Well his memory’s intact," Addison smiled sheepishly as Quinn gave him a dark look.

"How much do you remember?" Maia asked instead, ignoring the duo. She was certain that Quinn and Addison would be talking about this later.

Foster’s expression stilled and Maia knew immediately that he remembered quite a bit.

"Sergeant MacReady attacked me," Foster replied. "He was under the alien influence. He wanted to go to the planet. He thought I would make trouble for him."

"Yes that’s right," Maia nodded.

"Did he succeed?" The android inquired.

"Yes he did," she said quietly, trying not to show how much it hurt to admit that.

"I am sorry," Foster replied softly, well aware that the captain and the sergeant had an emotional connection.

"We’re all sorry," Dmitri muttered under his breath. The Russian was unable to get past his hostility where MacReady was concerned. No one could blame him. Dmitri had cared for Carmen as a friend and as his student. He blamed MacReady for her death, even though forces beyond his control were manipulating the Sergeant. "Unfortunately, it’s not going to bring back the dead."

"It’s not his fault," Leigh retorted immediately. She worked closely with MacReady and she knew that he would never have done the things that he had under normal circumstances. It was the alien queen that had manipulated his mind and made him her creature. It was not MacReady’s fault and she refused to let anyone say so.

"Whatever," Dmitri shrugged. "It still doesn’t change the fact that the others are dead."

"How many were killed?" Foster inquired. While he could not feel the emotion of loss that the others were feeling over the death of their comrades, Foster did register regret at their passing.

"Enough," Addison replied.

"And Sargeant MacReady?" Foster looked at Maia.

"He’s alive but in stasis," she explained. "We’re keeping him there until we leave this system."

"He’s not going to be happy when he wakes up," Foster pointed out.

"I bleed for him," Dmitri said snidely.

"That’s enough," Maia hissed, hearing more than she could take. Mac was going to feel bad enough without Dmitri making things worse.

"Yeah," Quinn added, his voice full of menace as he glared at the pilot. "Stow it."

No one said anything further but one things was for certain; no one would envied what MacReady would learn when he finally woke up.

*********

 With the arrival of the Fury and the Ronin into the star system that was home to the alien world, the permanent blockade of the planet had begun. For as long as it required, the two ships would remain, ensuring no traveler’s stumbled across it or make any foolish attempt to land. Humanity’s track record with the aliens had been anything than stellar and the fear that these harmful creatures may get lose on Earth was something the military and UNE government were taking very seriously. Maia and her team, who had fought the aliens more than anyone on Earth save perhaps Ellen Ripley herself, could appreciate that sentiment and were pleased when the order to ship home finally arrived.

Even though she knew she ought to wait until they returned home to Gateway Station, a part of Maia could not bring herself to begin their long journey until she at least had a chance to talk to MacReady and tell him what to expect. Dmitri was openly hostile to the notion of waking the Sargeant before they left the system and Maia knew that his reaction would not change when they returned to Earth. What had happened was not MacReady’s fault but Dmitri would never be able to overcome the belief that MacReady had killed Carmen and all those others for leading them falsely to the planet.

The Sparta had traveled to the edge of the star system, putting as much distance between itself and the alien planet at Maia’s behest because she did not want MacReady affected by the malaise that made him such a danger to himself. Main stepped into the cryotube section of the Sparta shortly after MacReady had been revived. Foster had stepped out of the room guessing that Maia and MacReady would need some privacy. Even though it had been a good twenty minutes since he had been awakened, Maia noted that he had made no move to leave the stasis tube he had been occupying for the past week.

"Mac," she called out as she entered the room, drawing his attention to her.

MacReady turned to her but his face was devoid of expression. His eyes were another thing entirely.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"How are you doing?" She asked gingerly, wishing that they were not Captain and Sargeant at this point more than anything. However, she had to take whatever solace she could from the fact that they were alone at least.

"For a man who wiped out half my company, I’m doing just peachy." His voice was bitter and full of anguish.

"Mac, it wasn’t your fault," Maia said quickly. "You couldn’t control what was happening to you. We all understand that."

"Well I’m glad for you," he retorted, sitting up right. "But it’s a little harder for me."

"Mac…." She looked at him helplessly, wishing she could say something that would make this better, but nothing came to her at the moment and in all truth, nothing would even if she had time to think on it.

"Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid Maia!" He lashed out at her. "In here, when we’re all alone, we’re not captain and Sargeant, give me that at least!"

"I am!" She cried out, wishing he would understand how painful this was for her and then realizing that he could not because he was too agonized himself. "Mac, I want to help you. Nobody blames you for what happened. Even the brass back home understand! It happened to the Captain of the Persephone and there’s a possibility it happened to Crispin Dunne’s expedition to the planet! It’s not your fault!"

"THEN WHY CAN’T I GET THEIR FACES OUT OF MY MIND!" He screamed at her. His face was an expression of pain that tore at her heart. "My cryosleep was one big long dream about how I led my friends to those fucking things! I killed them, I almost destroyed Foster and I damn near would have killed you to get down to the Queen!"

Maia crossed the floor and took his face in her hands when she reached him. "Mac," she whispered as she looked into his eyes and was encouraged when he did not pull away. "I don’t know what to say to you that can make this better, I really don’t. All I know is that you would never hurt anyone if your mind was your own and when we were at that planet, you weren’t. I can’t promise you that you’re ever going to get over this and something tells me you won’t for long time, but however long it does I’ll be with you every step of the way. I love you, don’t you understand? I love you."

It was a difficult admission to make but she had no choice. He was the one man in so many years that had captured her heart and their relationship, peculiar as it sometimes could be was the most important thing in her life. She knew if she had to chose between her career and him, he would win out every time. He was a good man and an even better soldier. For a Marine, he had more heart than the entire squad put together at times and she knew that this was tearing him apart inside.

He stared at her for a moment, unable to believe that she had actually come out and said it. He knew for a long time that she had felt strongly for him but everything she was prevented her from telling him exactly how much she did care. MacReady had resided himself to that fact because he loved her too. Perhaps he had from the first moment he beheld her and knew inwardly that their lives would always be intertwined. Loving someone like Maia had come at a point in his life when he thought nothing could ever surprise him and she had been a delight he could not be grateful enough for. It did not matter if she never said she loved him, MacReady could tell that she did.

Hearing her say it felt so very good and yet it opened his insides up as if his heart had been cleaved in two. All the frustration and anger at what had happened to him, against his will started to spill forth from him like a rising damn. He did not want to feel all that emotion, having suppressed much of his guilt to the point that it was destroying him from inside out. However, her words had exposed that pain and as he looked at her, he felt them overwhelm him with incredible intensity, refusing to let go.

He blinked and turned away but she would not allow him that respite, wrapping her arms around his neck and drawing him to her. When MacReady felt her warmth enveloping, he felt himself submit and against his will, an involuntary sob escape him. Once that barrier had been breached, he clung to her desperately and the tears began to come easily.

"Oh God, Maia!" He gasped as he continued to weep with her embrace.

"Its okay Mac," Maia crooned gently as she held him in her arms. "We’ll get through this I promise."

He looked at her, composing himself long enough to respond. "I love you Maia," he whispered softly. "I don’t know how I’m gonna be after this but that much won’t change."

"I know that," she smiled confidently and pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss. "I’ll be right there with you Mac," she replied sincerely. "No matter what happens, we’ll see this through."

And once again, Maia took MacReady in her arms and they stood there, holding each other and knowing that whatever came to pass in the days ahead, it would not matter much as long as they were together.

As long as she just kept on holding him.

THE END

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