It was strange how it took a moment of utter horror to give you the sudden clarity to realize what was happening, was no product of a nightmare or a hallucination. Reality didn't allow you to linger on specific pieces of terror for maximum effect, it ran you over and kept going, caring little for the wreckage left behind. It had no time to consider all the bullshit going on in your head, it had its own agenda, and it had little time to deal with your personal trauma. 

When Buck Wilmington saw Mary Travis lying against Paracelsus's sofa, with that obscene lifeform attached to her face, he understood, at last, this was no Borg induced illusion. This was his life, and it was real. 

For the first time since he woke up to see he was in the Maverick's Sick Bay, freed of all the implants and Borg wiring in his head, Buck felt himself. The nightmare of assimilation, of being trapped by so many walls, the idea of penetrating them was impossible, became translucent. If his fears were something tangible, Buck realized he would be able to claw through it and find his way out. The anxiety crushing his chest rose into the air like wisps of smoke, diminishing into the past. 

Josiah would have called it a breakthrough if Buck had chosen to tell him about it. In that split second, Buck recognized how much of his time he wasted building this house of cards around his mind, believing it to be impenetrable when all he needed was a splash of reality for it to collapse. What was happening right now was real, so real that no amount of Borg influence could ever allow him to conjure up a situation as terrible as this one.

Like a sleeper awakening from a deep sleep, Buck Wilmington realized it was time he started being the first officer of the Maverick because his friends and comrades needed him to be. 

Turning away from Paracelsus, refusing to listen to any more of the man's insane babble, he had more important things to deal with than the man's deranged idea of enlightenment. The doctor was clearly certifiable, and Buck was happy to let Josiah try to deal with him from this point out. At this moment, Buck was only interested in saving Mary Travis, because there was no way in hell he was going to kill her to end her misery, not without exhausting every other possibility to help her first. 

"Nathan, how long does she have?" 

Nathan didn't answer him immediately. The healer was too focussed on Mary as he remained hunched over her unconscious form in examination. Nathan ran his tricorder over her from head to toe, before pausing at her midriff. Even as Buck looked in Nathan's direction, he could barely stand looking at Mary with that monstrosity attached to her face and wondered how on Earth, Nathan managed it without shrinking away in revulsion. 

"The embryo implantation is currently in progress." Nathan finally spoke. "I'm guessing it will be done in about six hours. After that, the gestation period could last anywhere between twelve to fourteen hours before...." 

Nathan didn't need to finish because everyone in the room understood what came next. 

The idea Chris Larabee could lose the second love of his life in the space of five years made Buck's jaw clench in outrage. Suppressing his fury at how this had come about, Buck steadied himself to do everything possible to prevent Nathan's deadline from reaching its awful conclusion. Turning his gaze back to Paracelsus the look he gave the man was one of unmistakable menace. 

"Doctor, I'm not going to ask you again, lower the force field." 

Paracelsus, too far into his delirium, saw none of this. "I will not rob her of the blessing..."

"FOR GOD'S SAKE GABRIEL!" Josiah exploded with exasperation and complete disbelief. "This has nothing to do divine intervention! These creatures are not gods, they're parasites that need a host organism to propagate! You've just infected Mary, and God only knows how many others to the kind of death I wouldn't inflict on an enemy! Now lower the fucking force field so we can help her before its too late!" 

Josiah's outburst shocked the rest of the Maverick's crew who were unaccustomed to seeing their Counsellor display such rage. 

Josiah could not reconcile himself with how his friend, who had expressed his religious leanings, albeit in the context of a philosophical discussion, stray so far off the path it had led him to this. They were healers, bound by an oath to do no harm and the fact Paracelsus had ignored that and intended to spread this horror across the galaxy was even more unimaginable. 

Josiah's booming voice sounded like a command from God himself, but Paracelsus was already worshipping at another altar. 

"You're wrong, Joey," he shook his head, wearing a smile of fervour that was almost as unsettling as the creature on Mary's face. "They are gods, and they will give the universe the unity we lack. I understand her plan, and as her prophet, I must bring her message to the galaxy." 

With a sinking feeling, Josiah realized there would be no convincing his old friend this manifest destiny was simply the fiction used by the xenomorph's queen to spread her seed to new hosts. If he had willfully infected innocent people with the xenomorph's spores, then it was too late for Gabriel, and Josiah was simply wasting his breath, trying to gain his help. 

"God help you, Gabriel," Josiah shook his head, stepping away from him, in case his insanity was catching. "God help you." 

"She already has," Paracelsus smiled wider. “She already has.” 

Buck heard enough, refusing to waste any more time with the doctor who was obviously not going to help them. All that lay between Mary and salvation was that force field, and he was bringing it down one way or another. "Ezra, you're with me. We're going to Operations. We've got to get that force field to lower."

"You will fail," the doctor spoke once more, eyeing Buck with the look of a teacher trying to explain some immutable truth to an ignorant child. "Only my authorization will lower it. You will face your destiny when you become her children." 

Without uttering a word in response, Buck drew his phaser and fired. 

Paracelsus collapsed as the yellow energy beam struck him in mid-torso and Buck showed no signs of remorse by his action. The First Officer of the Maverick did not care to listen to the man's dangerous prattle and suspected Paracelsus might attempt to interfere with their efforts to lower the shield. For Mary's sake, Buck did not need the complication. Thinking what the Captain would do in this situation, Buck had acted accordingly. 

"Commander?" Ezra gaped at Buck in astonishment. This ruthlessness was something he expected from Chris Larabee, not Buck Wilmington. 

"It's set on stun," Buck assured his shocked comrades. "I'm sorry Josiah, we need him out of our hair for the next hour at least. I don't want him trying to stop us from getting back to the ship." 

Josiah stared at Paracelsus, lying unconscious in a heap and exhaled loudly. "I agree. He's too far gone. Whatever the telepathic link with the xenomorph queen did to his mind, he can't be reasoned with. It had to be done."

Nathan's surprise lasted as long as it took for him to remember he had a patient in dire need of health. "Buck, when he was giving us the tour, I saw a stasis pod in their main Infirmary. They probably use it for serious injuries or illnesses that need specialized treatment. If I can get Mary there, I can put her into stasis. It won't stop the embryo implantation, but it might slow it down long enough for us to get back to the Maverick." 

"Can you extract that monstrosity from her?" Ezra asked, feeling all kinds of responsibility for allowing this terrible fate to befall the Protocol Officer in the first place. The security chief could not even begin to imagine the Captain’s reaction if he saw her like this. 

"It is possible," Nathan sighed. "When I was conducting the analysis on the xenomorph remains, I theorized it was possible to transport the embryo out of a victim's body, but it can't be done at this stage. The implantation is still taking place on the cellular level. We can't transport anything until that process is complete." 

"Are you telling me you must allow that odious creature to complete its purpose before you can do anything to help her?" Ezra stared at the spore attached to Mary and felt a fresh surge of revulsion. 

"Unfortunately yes," Nathan nodded grimly. "It will be easier to transport it out when it forms its version of a placental sac inside her." 

"Dear God," Josiah gasped in disgust, glaring at Paracelsus's unconscious form with fresh anger. 

"Alright," Buck cut in, deciding it was time to do something. Mary needed every second they could give her. "Josiah, you help Nathan. Get Mary to the Infirmary, put her in stasis. Ezra and I are going down to Operations. Keep an open com channel. I want us to stay in contact at all times." 

"In that case," Ezra pointed out rightly as Josiah went to help Nathan with Mary, "Has anyone heard from Mr Dunne?" 

"I was trying to raise the both of you when all hell broke loose," Buck replied, glancing upwards at the klaxons whose siren alert had retreated into a bellows at fifteen-second intervals. "It's not like him to ignore a com badge or check-in." 

A disturbing thought filled Ezra's mind, and he stared at Buck with colour draining out of his face. "Commander, Lt. Travis and I were on Sub-Level 25 when we discovered the alien hatchery. Lt. Travis wanted to investigate the source of the telepathic signals she was receiving. While there, we discovered the queen Doctor Paracelsus referred to. Buck," Ezra swallowed. "She has been exceedingly productive. We saw hundreds of eggs." 

"I thought he said fifty," Nathan blurted out as he and Josiah helped Mary from the sofa. 

"I wouldn't trust a damn thing that son of a bitch says," Buck said coldly before turning back to Ezra, "what's this got to do with JD?" 

"When we made our discovery, I tried to reach you but was unable to do so. The head of operations, Mr Shavo did imply there was some disruption to communication devices so far below the surface. If Mr Dunne is out of contact..."

Ezra didn't have to finish because Buck grasped what the Chief was saying and suddenly, Buck had a terrible premonition where JD was at this moment. 

"Queens?" 

JD stared into the face of Jerry Lambert, trying to comprehend the evil that could have allowed one person to do this to another. As he surveyed the roof of the chamber and saw just how many of cocoons there were, more than a dozen by his count, JD realized the magnitude of Paracelsus's crime, especially when Lambert made him understand the doctor's ultimate aim. Next to him, he could hear Holly sobbing, sobbing because she simply couldn't believe the man she cared for and considered a surrogate father was capable of such cruelty.

"You're from the Maverick?" Jerry's eyes widened with recognition. 

"Yeah," JD nodded. "Chris Larabee is my Captain. You're from the Biological Hazard Division at Starfleet? We traced your signal here." 

Jerry blinked, and JD's heart ached when he saw the moisture glistening on his face and knew it wasn’t sweat, but tears. "I came here looking for my girl, my Callie. She was on the Sulaco as an engineer." He paused a moment, tugging his story from his fading memories. "She was sick, and he told her he could fix her. He tricked her like the Queen tricked him." 

Queen. JD's jaw dropped open, and he immediately scanned the area, hoping he was nowhere near a queen xenomorph if there was one on Tenarus. "The Queen?"

"She gets into your head and talks to you. When you're here long enough, you can hear her. She makes you feel like you're one of her children, and if you don't understand what it really means, it almost feels nice, like you're not alone." 

This was what Mary had been sensing, JD realized and wondered if the same thing had happened to Paracelsus, which fitted with what Holly explained about the man's changing behaviour. 

"Callie was infected by the xenomorph on the Sulaco," Jerry explained, forcing himself to get the words out because it would be his last chance to tell his tale. "I think the baryon sweep we did, mutated the spore left behind. Instead of getting down her throat, she breathed in it. It took longer but somehow she had a queen growing inside of her. Paracelsus told her he could fix her, but it was too late."

His sentence ended with a sob, and JD’s jaw tightened at the hell this man was enduring. Next to him, Holly's hands covered her face as she wept at her mentor's actions. 

"It killed her when it was born," Jerry resumed after a moment, "but he wasn't done with Callie. He used her blood to infect others, to create new queens and drones. Paracelsus is fucking crazy. He thinks the queen is some kind of god and infecting people is a way of helping them reach enlightenment. The doctor plans on using the others," Jerry glanced at the cocoon, "to infect other parts of the Federation. He thinks he's a prophet spreading the good word." 

"Jesus," JD whispered. 

"Please," Jerry implored once more. "Please end it. It's becoming harder to think, very soon I won't be able to. I'll become like them." 

"I'm sorry," JD closed his eyes, wanting to refuse him, wanting to take him out of this place, because Nathan might be able to help him. Yet even as the thought crossed his mind, JD knew as well as Jerry did, it was too late. If they had reached him earlier, perhaps there was a chance, but not like this, not when his body was already in mid metamorphosis into whatever twisted hybrid the xenomorph DNA had wrought upon his system. JD remembered the Captain making the decision to end Buck's torment when he was a drone and knew as much as it pained Chris Larabee, this was the right thing to do. 

"What are you doing?" Holly demanded when she saw him changing the settings on his phaser. 

"What he asked," JD said listlessly. 

"No!" Holly burst out, "We can help him!" She stared at the man attached to the wall, the face she recognized as one of the new warders that arrived at Tenarus and disappeared just as quickly. It happened often, the staff came to this place and found they couldn't tolerate the isolation, leaving not long after. At least, she hoped that's what happened to them. 

"You can't!" Jerry implored once. "Please, let me go." 

"We'll stop what's happening here, Jerry," JD said softly, raising the phaser and taking aim. "What happened to you isn't going to happen to anyone else. I promise you. The Captain will see to it." 

"Thank you," Jerry closed his eyes, not wanting to see the end come.

The pain seared through his body for less than a second, enough time for one last thought as energy reduced his flesh to atoms. He thought of the girl with the smile like sunshine, telling him with her eyes, they would be forever even if their time together was brief. 

Jerry hoped it was true. 

NOW

When JD heard metal rip, he knew they would never make it to Sub-Level 23. 

After he and Holly scrambled back into the vent, leaving the chamber where they found Jerry Lambert and the royal cocoonery, he had sealed the cover across the opening with his phaser. It took less than thirty seconds for the xenomorphs to reach it and began their assault upon it. Each time, the loud clang echoed through the shaft, making their ears ring with its deafening sounds, JD also heard the sound of metal buckling inwards. They impacted the steel like a small wrecking ball, and even if JD didn't see it, he could imagine the dents forming after repeated attacks. 

Ahead of him, Holly was crawling along the passageway, saying nothing because, like him, she was still recovering from the shock of learning Doctor Paracelsus had gone completely insane. Seeing the cocoonery left little doubt in her mind because everything Jerry told them answered all the questions she had about the doctor's behaviour since his return from Ventax II. Not to mention, that the horrific undertaking in the bowels of the institute could not have been done beneath Paracelsus's notice. 

No, JD suspected, no matter how much Holly might have wished it otherwise, that part of Jerry's tale could not be denied. 

For his part, JD finally understood how the Captain felt when he was forced to fire upon Buck when the First Officer was a drone on Vulcan. At the time, JD could not fathom turning a phaser on someone who meant so much to him, but after today, it was a choice he understood with more clarity than he ever wished. He'd given Jerry Lambert his wish, he'd ended the man's misery, and though JD would have liked to have done the same for all the poor souls trapped in cocoons, the instant he fired his phaser, he awoke the xenomorphs in hibernation. 

If his phaser hadn't alerted the xenomorph to their presence in the cocoonery, then the klaxons sounding their warning throughout the facility most assuredly did. JD had no idea how many of the aliens rallied for attack by that awful din, but he was sure it would be more than enough to overwhelm him and his one phaser. After what he was forced to do to Jerry Lambert, JD had no intention of allowing either himself or Holly to end up the same way.

Yet as he heard the shredding of steel and the scrambling sounds of something climbing into the shaft, JD knew the xenomorphs would be on them in a matter of minutes if not sooner. Somehow, he had to delay them, delay them long enough to come up with a plan. Looking ahead, he saw the end of the passage approaching and knew they would soon be in the vertical shaftway leading to the rest of the sublevels. If the xenomorphs followed them up there, then the things would infest the rest of the facility the way it had supreme charge of sub-level 25. 

Somehow, he had to keep them from reaching the ladder, which would give them free access to the whole of the Tenarus facility. Think, JD, think!

Holly climbed into the vertical shaft first, but instead of heading towards the ladder, she was staring at JD with a mixture of terror and understanding. Something was wrong, although considering their present situation, it had to be the biggest understatement of the century. 

"JD, if the facility is under alert, that means there's a lockdown. The lifts could be disabled! We could get to sub-Level 23 and find we're trapped there!" 

It made sense, JD thought quickly, the neurons in his synapses firing like pulses of quantum particles. This was a prison facility, once you forgot about all the fancy names and ostentatious titles. Tenarus was meant to house the criminally insane and if there was a lockdown, then it was most likely to keep someone in, rather than letting them out. Violent offenders couldn't have free rein over the place, and so it made sense from a security standpoint, as Ezra would be the first to say, to limit escapees to whatever sublevel they were on at the time. 

Holly was right, they couldn't risk trying to make it to the lift. Then again, they could not remain on this level. What both of them had seen here proved that enough. So he had to come up with another way. 

There had to be a step forward that didn't end with them being torn apart by the xenomorphs or worse yet cocooned. JD's Starfleet tutors treated him like the second coming after he beat the Kobayashi Maru program, claiming he could be the next Kirk or Picard. JD had to tap into that well of resource that allowed him to beat the no-win scenario. He had to for both their sakes and because he wasn't about to let Jerry die for nothing. 

Jerry...

The answer came to him like a proverbial bolt of lightning, and suddenly JD Dunne knew precisely what to do. 

Just like it had been during the Kobayashi Maru test, the idea came to him from the gut. If JD had ever told Chris Larabee about the sensation, it would have surprised the youngest member of the Senior staff to learn, this was usually how the Captain felt before pulling off one of his famous Larabee hat tricks. 

Without answering her, JD turned to the shaft they had left and fired at point-blank range at the opening. The phaser, set at maximum, collapsed the mouth of the shaft, burying the base of the wall and floor with a large enough mound of rubble to ensure nothing was getting through for the immediate moment. The shock wave rocked the vertical shaft, and the masonry groaned in protest. As the ball of dust rolled up the shaft, smothering them in dust, JD prayed he hadn't done worse damage than that. 

"That will hold them for a bit," JD said, waving away the dust cloud, trying not to cough. He had no illusions that he was only going to buy them a few minutes if that. The xenomorphs were strong enough to rip through metal, JD had no doubt they would clear a pile of rocks quickly enough. Facing Holly, he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her face, even as she was struggling to control the coughs wracking through her body. 

"Holly, do you trust me?" 

Holly stared at him cautiously, not liking how ominous that question sounded, but answered him anyway. "Yes, I trust you." 

"Okay," he took a deep breath once the dust cloud had dissipated. "I've got a plan to get us to safety, but it's going to be dangerous, and you absolutely have to do what I say. Once we roll the dice, there's no going back, but it's the only chance we've got." 

Holly's fear showed in her eyes, but she was no coward either. 

"Alright JD," she said, trying to sound confident when she was far from it. "What are we going to do?" 

"We're getting out of the institute," JD stated, "the same way Jerry did." 

Gripping Holly's hand tight, JD gazed into the mouth of madness. 

The only way to escape sub-Level 23 was to leave the same way Jerry Lambert fled, and that meant taking the alternate passage through the walls. JD wasn't sure what he would find when he climbed out of the horizontal shaft once they reached its end, but after seeing the cocoonery, JD didn't think there could be anything worse. He was wrong. 

He switched places with Holly before climbing out the vent, this situation was perilous enough without endangering her life. The klaxons had ceased their bellowing, and JD wondered if that meant whatever crisis sparked its activation had ended or did someone turn it off because they were as sick as the noise as he. JD had removed his Starfleet blazer tied around his waist for the moment because the temperature was insufferably hot, but he could not discard it altogether. He would need it soon enough if his plan worked. 

Of course, his plan seemed like a long shot, especially after he realised where they were. 

There were eggs as far as the eye could see. They stood a foot and a half tall, and JD knew immediately what they were. He saw the footage from the Sulaco, he knew this alien hatchery was the progeny of the queen birthed by Jerry Lambert's Callie. Freezing in place, he almost didn't dare to move as he stood there, gawking at them, trying to decide what to do in the light of this discovery. Once again, he was running through his mind, everything he read in Alex's report, so he could navigate this nightmarish place without ending up like Jerry.

Holly climbed through the vent after him and took only a second to register what was happening around her before she understood their predicament and opened her mouth to scream. As JD spun around to stop her, Holly regained her composure and pressed her palm across her lips to stifle her cry, even though terror exuded from every part of her. She was panting hard, trying not to let her fear snap her reason as JD met her eyes and shook his head, issuing an unspoken warning that silence was the only way they would escape this place alive. 

Darkness surrounded them since the lights on the ceiling were obscured by the alien's bizarre architecture, created by resin and whatever materials the xenomorphs managed to scavenge. The walls were damp with humidity and the moisture in the air kept the eggs slick and wet. JD could see the spores inside the translucent shells, languidly emersed in the thick, noisome fluid. Somewhere in all this horror, was the queen. Callie's offspring, he thought. 

Holding the position for now, he knew that in insect entomology, the drones were rarely allowed into the hatchery. According to Jerry, Paracelsus had created drones to protect the young queen, so it made sense he and Callie ran into them at the cocoonery and had yet to see one here. Of course, if he and Callie were noticed in here, that would change, so they had to go through with his plan no matter how dangerous it was. 

Gesturing her to remain silent, JD raised the tricorder so he could conduct the scan of the floor. Whatever this place had been built for, long before the asylum was established, this sub-level had been used for more than just an alien hatchery and an empty storage place. Conducting the same analysis Jerry had undertaken to make his escape, JD scanned the slabs across the floor, now almost entirely concealed by alien spores and thick tendrils of resin.

It did not take him long to find what he was looking for, a narrow sluice tunnel that ran beneath the slabs, sealed off when the facility became an asylum. According to Holly, Jerry's entry point had been sealed off so no one else could use it to leave the Institute, but there was no way to completely sever the access to several hundred feet of tunnel. Still, JD doubted anyone would try to use it as an escape if they knew what they had to get past to reach it. 

JD studied its route through the tricorder display and determined which was the best way to proceed. So far, they were at the far wall of the chamber, and if they kept skirting its edges, without entering any further, it was likely they would never encounter the queen. Taking Holly's hand, he started moving slowly and was grateful to see she understood the need to sneak through this ghastly nursery because they could ill afford to give any of the eggs the stimulus to awaken. 

Moving along the wall, they trudge silently across the soft, porous tendrils that reminded JD of rotting foliage and made him shudder each time he heard his boots crushed them underfoot. Holly's grip on his hand was almost vise-like and when JD glanced over his shoulder at her, saw her face white with fear. She was trying not to make a sound, but the trembling he could feel through his palm told him just how near the edge of hysteria she was. If this were any other situation, he would comfort her, but right now he was more focussed on getting out alive. 

SCHLOCK.

The sound made them freeze. JD raised his eye to the wall they were walking past and saw something move in the organic material encrusted against the steel. It was along, spindly tail, curling in slumber. Heart freezing in his chest, JD saw the still hibernating xenomorph attached to the wall, continue to sleep, unaware of their presence or at least, too deep in whatever dark dreams in its head to realize they were intruders in its midst. For a few seconds, neither JD nor Holly moved, both were too frightened. 

The tail shifted again, before settling into position and moved no more. 

Wanting to exhale loudly in relief, JD controlled his breathing and nodded at Holly they were going to keep going. He had to tug on her hand twice to get her moving because, for a second, her legs didn't want to work, not that he could blame her. They continued in silence, this time mindful not just of the eggs but the xenomorphs on the wall. Obviously, some of them did remain close to the hatchery to protect their queen and her eggs. 

Something moved in the darkness ahead, and JD dropped to the ground, taking Holly with him. She uttered a suppressed squeal of fear that stuck in her throat, evident only by the way she clamped her mouth shut again. As they both dropped to their knees, almost the same height as an alien egg, they watched as a xenomorph walk carefully through the nest. JD suspected it was because of Holly and him, they were patrolling the hatchery. 

When he had been shooting earlier, there was little time to observe the creatures. Now as the lone xenomorph surveyed the area, its elongated head pivoting from side to side, JD almost wished he didn't have the opportunity. He thought Species 8472 looked alien. It was nothing in comparison to this biomechanical nightmare, with its spindly tail, ridged spine and talons capable of tearing steel. Teeth the length of fingers were bared, dripping with a viscous fluid. It had no eyes to speak off, and JD decided this was a kindness. 

Eyes were the window to one's soul, and JD didn't have to look into the xenomorph's to know it didn't have one. 

The creature continued its survey, turning in their direction but staying low to the ground, not to mention the darkness, allowed JD and Holly to blend in with the eggs in the rest of the hatchery. Remaining as still as the grave, JD prayed Alex was right about the xenomorphs, that they used sound as effectively as dogs used to smell for hunting their prey. Seconds stretched into a full minute before the xenomorph continued its patrol, moving further and further away into the distance until neither human could see it. Even then, JD waited another minute before he and Holly resumed their tortured journey to freedom. 

Finally, they arrived at the place they needed to be. The slab of floor beneath them looked no different than any other they had seen since entering sub-level 25, but JD knew what lay beneath it. They had moved beyond the range of eggs, and this section of the wall appeared relatively untouched since the stone walls were free of the alien construction. Taking a deep breath, he reached for his com badge and pressed it into Holly's palm.

"Listen to me," he said quietly as he slipped on his blazer again. "When this starts, you get into that tunnel, and you run. Do you understand me, you run as fast as you can. The minute I fire my phaser, those things are gonna know it, and they'll be coming for us. Our only chance is on the outside..."

"But JD," she hissed back in protest. "We don't have suits! We'll die in two minutes without one!" 

"I know," JD had already taken that fact into account. "But once we're outside, we'll be clear of the force field. Use my com badge and contact the Maverick. They'll be able to transport you back to the ship before those two minutes are up. I promise."

"Transport me?" Holly's eyes widened. "What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you, but I've got to hold those things back, or we'll never make it out of the tunnel alive." 

"But..." her face melted into fear for him, especially after seeing the xenomorph up close. 

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "Just do as I say, okay?" 

She swallowed thickly, fear and worry plain on her face. Then, before JD had a chance to protest, Holly pressed her lips to his in a quick kiss. She felt her chest flutter at the contact but knew they had no time to linger. Pulling away just as quickly, she took note of his surprise and offered him a little smile before nodding at him to begin. Whatever happened, would happen. She was ready. 

JD drew in a deep breath, his eyes sweeping over the chamber once more, knowing that the instant he fired that phaser, the stillness would be broken and they would be coming.

The phaser beam struck the dead centre of a slab and exploded spectacularly, obliterating the stone and sending fragments in all directions. As they were pelted with chunks, JD shouted at Holly, wanting to waste no time in getting her moving. The smoke had yet to clear, but he could see the outline of the hole he created. Beneath that broken slab was their way out of this hell if they could get away fast enough. 

"GET GOING!" 

Holly hurried to the hole, just big enough for both of them if they dropped in, feet first. She had barely a second to process the size of the new opening or the seven-foot drop awaiting her when she stepped off the ledge. Landing hard, she was almost driven to her knees by the sudden stop, but she recovered quickly and moved out of the way so JD could follow. 

"JD! Come on!" 

Even as he bolted forward, he could hear the hiss coming off the walls and in the darkness, he imagined those hibernating xenomorphs waking up, honing in on the source of that phaser blast. A flurry of movement at the corner of his eye made him turn, just in time to see a xenomorph sprinting towards him. Even though it was bipedal, it moved on all fours, and its locomotion reminded JD of a lizard's sprint. It was all the analysis JD was prepared to offer before he fired the phaser, striking the creature as it entered the weapon’s extreme range. 

The last JD saw of it before he jumped into the sluice tunnel was its body exploding, spraying corrosive acid in all directions. Dropping through the newly created entrance, he heard Holly's pounding footsteps against the stone floor as she did as he ordered, running as fast as she could. JD followed suit, aware that in a matter of seconds, they would have company. It didn't take long for him to catch up with her, and once again he used his tricorder as a makeshift torch, drawing power from its batteries to flood the display with a radiating white glow. 

Even as they ran forward, he could feel temperature starting to drop, there was no trace of the humidity or warmth of the egg chamber down here.

"JD!" Holly called back, needing to hear his voice to reassure herself the aliens hadn't gotten him. 

"I'm here!" JD shouted back, no longer caring if he was heard or not. The aliens already knew they were here. "Just keep running!" 

Suddenly, the light reflected something above him, and JD saw a xenomorph running across the ceiling, directly above his head. He fired instinctively, blasting it dead centre and then jumping clear. Acid blood splattered across the walls and floor, immediately reacting with the surface by filling the passageway with noxious fumes. JD had no time to respond to this because he saw another alien sprinting towards him and fired. Once again, its body exploded, sending acid in all directions. JD uttered a cry of pain when some of that splatter reached the upper sleeve of his blazer. 

Ripping it off his shoulder as he ran, JD didn't wait to see if there were any more aliens. He could not hear Holly anymore, which meant two things, either a xenomorph got her, or she was so far ahead she was outside his audible range. Either way, it didn't matter, he had to move his ass. JD ran forward, careful to avoid the alien corpse in front of him and sidestepping any acid pools. He didn't know if any of the things were behind him, but he kept up his breakneck speed. 

Indications of the temperature drop became more and more apparent as his pants appeared before him in the cold air. His arm ached because even the small faint drops of acid were able to eat through the sleeve of his turtle neck to reach skin. Biting down to control the pain, JD ran for his life. 

Uncertain whether or not the cold was a factor or perhaps there weren't enough xenomorphs to come after them, there was no sign of the creatures after ten minutes of running. JD was out of breath, and the pain was becoming acute, but he comforted himself with the knowledge he could hear Holly's footsteps echoing down the tunnel as well as the howling wind of the arctic conditions outside. 

Natural light began to flood the tunnel, telling JD they were almost out, even if the temperature hadn't given away that fact already. The icy cold had not yet reached its extremes, but JD knew that was coming. Very soon, running would be the only thing generating any heat in his body. Craning his neck to look behind him again, he saw no sign of the xenomorphs and prayed they abandoned the pursuit. 

When the cold did finally hit him, it did so with the ferocity of a thousand knives. Every nerve ending he possessed screamed in protest as he was plunged into minus 50-degree temperatures. Shuddering at the impact of the sudden drop in temperature, JD saw Holly standing at the mouth of the tunnel, her face covered in flecks of snow, blown in from the outside. She was shivering hard, her arms hugging ber body close, while her teeth chattered. 

Beyond her, lay an icy wasteland and JD knew they would have to leave the tunnel and go into the open if they wished to see how far they were away from the Institute and its forcefield. He didn't much like the idea of survival if they were face to wander into the tundra. 

"JD!" Holly screamed, her eyes wide as saucers.

JD spun around just as the alien pounced...

Chris Larabee tried to ignore the empty chairs when he and what remained of the Senior Staff convened in the Conference Room a short time after they lost contact with the Tenarus Institute. 

While the bridge crew continued their attempts to raise the Away Team, Chris knew they had a much larger problem on their hands than just failed communications. As Ezra feared, before the Security Chief insisted on joining the landing party, the force field in place around the facility made it impossible for Chris to send anyone else to the asylum to rescue Buck and the others. As he faced Vin, Alex and Julia at his customary chair in the Conference Room, Chris forced himself to ignore the knowledge Mary was also down there.

This was the job, his and hers. Chris had to accept there would be times where her life would be in danger. He could not be Captain of this ship if he did not remember that. 

"Julia, is there any way we can disable the force field form up here?" Chris demanded, opening the meeting. 

"Not easily," she answered, just as worried for Ezra as the Captain was about Mary. "It's a Level 10 security shield. Those kinds of security screes are developed to contain anti-matter explosions. Unless it's disabled from the inside of the installation, we can't breach it."

"That's not an answer," Chris spoke with just enough edge in his voice to imply he wanted solutions, not information he already knew. 

"Chris," Vin started to say, seeing Julia flinch, when Alex touched his hand gently, letting him know she would handle it. They could both see the Chief Engineer was still a little fragile after her Borg experience and probably not as immune to the Captain's biting tone as she would under usual circumstances.

"Captain," Alex spoke up instead, aware of what was going through their Captain's mind even if he was trying hard not to show it. "What Julia means is, we're going to have to think of another way to get through the screen." 

Chris swore inwardly, realizing he was being an ass and that Julia had just as much invested in lowering the shield as he did. The Captain gave Alex a nod of thanks for calling out his tone before he regarded Julia again. "Julia, I'm sorry, is there any way we can get around it as Alex suggests?" 

Julia gave Alex a grateful smile and dropped her gaze to the dark surface of the table, thinking. After a moment, she lifted her gaze. "We could detonate a chronoton charged photon torpedo in the upper atmosphere above the facility." 

"Chronotons?" Vin stared. "I thought that they just affected warp reactors." 

"Not necessarily," Chris replied, considering the possibility now Julia opened the door in his mind. "They destabilize atomic frequencies so they might affect the force field, but will it be strong enough to lower it?" Chris eyed the engineer dubiously. 

"It doesn't have to do that," Alex stated, meeting Julia's gaze and guessing where the woman was heading with this. "It's just enough to create fluctuations in the force field intensity. Maybe we just need to detonate one just beyond the shield's range, so we can localize the effect. If we do that, we might weaken it just a little." 

"Enough to get a transporter beam through?" Vin ventured a guess, now entirely on board with what Alex and Julia were proposing. 

"Yes," Alex nodded, and then regarded Chris. "But we'll have one shot at it, and we'll have to do it fast. If it was just matter we were dealing with, we could probably guarantee the effect to last longer, but since the screen is energy, the shield will reconstitute quickly back to full strength." 

"It will have to be very precise Captain," Julia added, now that Alex had taken her suggestion to its natural conclusion. "I can calibrate our sensors to the transporter pad, energizing as soon as the shields are weakened enough to enable the beaming." 

"I'll take a security team, Chris," Vin suggested, perfectly aware of what Chris suspected was awaiting them down in Tenarus. If the Captain was right and xenomorphs were somehow involved, then Vin was the best person to deal with them, being the only one on board who'd gone hand to hand with the things and survived. 

"We'll take a security team," Chris stated, not about to let Vin go down there alone. He too had a very personal stake in this. 

"Captain..." Alex started to protest, not liking the idea of the Captain being anywhere near xenomorphs. For that matter, she wasn't entirely thrilled Vin was going down there too, but she could accept it more than the Master of the Maverick descending into a situation where an alien horde might be running loose. 

"That's my decision Commander," Chris spoke with enough edge in his voice to tell Alex in no uncertain terms his mind was made up.

"Then I suggest you don't take phasers," Julia added, recalling her own experience with the creatures. Julia had played a deadly game of cat and mouse with a xenomorph on the Sulaco, while the rest of the Away Team was stranded on Fury 361. “You know the effect of phasers on their bodies.” 

"She's right," Alex agreed, deciding if the Captain and her husband insisted on going down there, then she was going to make sure they did it the right way. If there were xenomorphs on Tenarus, then they would have to rethink how they approach the creatures after their experiences on Fiorina 361. The things literally exploded when struck with energy weapons, and the resulting spray from their acidic blood was like being bathed with lava. "Julia, can you replicate those 21st-century pulse rifles used by the Colonial Marines of the Sulaco?"

"I should be able to," she looked at Chris. "Captain, I'll need your authorization to override Ezra's security lock on the replicator protocols." 

"You got it," Chris was aware all replicators were restricted from creating any kind of weapon, even outdated ones. "In the meantime, Alex, I want you to conduct scans of the facility and its surrounding area. Jerry Lambert got out of the place to reach the relay station, I like to know how...."

The sudden chirp of Chris's communicator made him reach for the device immediately. "Captain Larabee, what is it?" He asked, somewhat annoyed by the interruption. 

"Captain, we've just received a signal from the surface. It's Lieutenant Dunne." 

As bad as Buck Wilmington thought things were, in truth, they were worse. 

How bad had yet to reveal itself to him fully as he and Ezra approached Operations with the klaxons whining over the communications systems. However, with xenomorphs in the equation, all bets were off. On a beeline straight for the institute's central control, Buck now understood why Chris wanted him to take charge of the place and begin evacuation immediately. The Captain's reaction to xenomorphs was visceral, and only Buck knew how deeply affected Chris Larabee was by what took place at Fury 361.

"Jesus Christ," Buck shook his head as he hurried down the corridor with Ezra at his side, thinking about the exchange with Paracelsus. "The man's totally insane." 

For once Ezra was not about to argue with the First Office in any shape or form, feeling the same astonishment when he listened to Paracelsus speak of his 'goddess' and what he let happen to the poor engineer Callie Leech. As one who went to hell trying to retrieve Julia from the Borg, Ezra also felt a great deal of empathy for Jerry Lambert, who tried desperately to save her and failed. 

"While I am just appalled at his actions, we did not have time to examine the full extent of the xenomorph's ability for telepathic communications during our last encounter with the vile creatures. We have no idea how powerful the Queen's control over him might be. A propensity for spiritual enlightenment could have been twisted into this grotesque shape through no fault of his own." 

Buck snorted.

"Unless he can't talk or move, he had control over himself, and that should have been enough to do something. There's no excuse for what he let happen to that poor girl. He's a goddamn counsellor, the minute he heard voices; he should have told someone. We might have been able to save her if we'd gotten to her early enough, but he didn't. That thing used her as an incubator, and even after she died, Paracelsus used her to do the same to others. No," Buck shook his head. "I don't have any sympathy for him." 

Ezra threw a sidelong glance at Buck and knew the commander was speaking about more than just Paracelsus. As one who kept a close eye on just about everything on board the Maverick, the Chief was perfectly aware of Buck's mental state, even if he chose to say nothing about it. Ezra was aware how many hours Buck was logging across the Maverick, except in his quarters but hesitated to approach the man about it. He had his own difficulties in dealing with Julia's transition from Borg to the person she was and decided the Captain or Josiah were the best ones to pick at that scab. Now Ezra felt guilty for being so selfish when it was clear Buck still had issues. 

"We may encounter some resistance when we reveal the Captain's directive," Ezra remarked instead, deciding the subject of xenomorphs might actually be easier to deal with right now than Buck's feelings post assimilation. "He's inducted quite a few into this religion of his. They may have drunk the proverbial 'Kool-Aid'."

"True," Buck couldn't deny that point. "We'll use extreme force if necessary. I don't much like firing on civilians, but you know better than I do, what is at stake if there are xenomorphs on the loose here. "

Ezra shuddered, remembering the loss of his entire security team on Fury 361. He had been so furious with Chris for bringing them down there in the first place, despite Ezra's most persuasive arguments to the contrary, he had almost come to blows with his Captain. For weeks after, he still had nightmares of seeing the black tide of alien bodies spilling over the roofs of the prison facility, closing in on them. If the same was taking place here, there would be no shuttle capable of reaching them this far down, and their only salvation would be to reach the upper levels where the transporters could get a lock on them. 

All of which depended on lowering the shield. 

They were closing in on Operations when they saw the approach of the two Nausicaans guarding the transporter room, Abrogar and Zargh. Buck noted they were both armed and glanced instinctively at Ezra, who went for his phaser. By the set in the Chief's jaw, Buck knew it would not matter one damn bit if the shorter of the two Nausicaans stood taller than him. The gambler might have been smaller in stature, but he could fight like a demon when the mood took him. 

"What are you doing here?" One of them barked as soon as the Starfleet officers were in view. 

"We're going to lower the force field," Buck said without hesitation, aware Ezra had a firm grip on his phaser and was more than ready to open fire if the duo gave him trouble. "We have orders to evacuate this place immediately." 

"Evacuate?" The Nausicaans eyes widened, his gravelly voice rising an octave in outrage. "Under whose orders?"

"Under the orders of Captain Larabee and the Central Bureau of Penology on Earth, whose authority this place is under. Your doctor is responsible for unleashing an extremely dangerous biological hazard we thought we contained until now."

Both Nausicaans exchange glances at each other and then faced front again, their grips on their weapons tightening. "You speak of heresy!" 

Before they could get another word out, Ezra's phaser was drawn with far more speed than either of them would have imagined possible of a human. 

"Gentlemen," Ezra spoke with a glacial edge matching the freezing temperatures beyond the institute. "I would advise against drawing your weapons, or you will be communing with whatever deity you have mistakenly chosen to worship far sooner than either of you would like." 

Buck didn't give them a chance to think twice. He reached forward cautiously, his eyes fixed on the two warders and grasped the barrels of the disruptors in their hands before they had a chance to fire. Without even needing to look over his shoulder, he was certain Ezra had his finger poised to fire in case either of them chose to react to Buck's attempt to disarm them.

It was a bet he would have lost. 

No sooner than he wrestled the weapon out of their hands, the Nausicaan Buck learned later was Zargh, lashed out with a mighty fist, connecting with the underside of his chin. The power behind the strike sent him staggering backwards against Ezra. Fortunately, the reflexes that made the Chief such an excellent card player, allowed him to step out of the way and avoid ending up on the floor, but the momentary delay was enough. 

The other Nausicaan charged, and Ezra had just enough time to sidestep him. The alien's enormous bulk rushed past, giving Ezra a clear view of his back. As any of one of the Chief's former opponents could attest, this was not the best position to be. Spinning around to reacquire his target, the Nausicaan Abrogar turned to see Ezra take aim before he was met with a chest full of phaser fire. The force of the setting swept him off his feet as if he weighed nothing, and he was spared the pain because he was unconscious long before he hit the metal deck. 

Meanwhile, Buck recovered enough from the Nausicaan's punch with a shake of the head to dispel any lingering disorientation. He had a second to react before he threw a forward in the hulking enemy's sternum and followed through with a sidekick, this one landing in the stomach. As the Nausicaan doubled over, Buck finished him with a back kick, the ball of his foot connecting with the hard protruding ridge of the enemy's nose. The bone crumbled beneath his foot and the Nausicaan managed a muffled grunt before he staggered backwards. 

Before he collapsed, a phaser beam caught him against the ribs, and if he had any fight left to offer the First Officer of the Maverick, it ended with the side of his face slapping hard against the floor. 

"I had him," Buck threw Ezra a look, wiping the bit of blood from his bottom lip. 

"I'm sure you did," Ezra rolled his eyes and kept going. "My way is a great deal more expedient." 

"Can't argue with you there," Buck shrugged, not bothering to deal with the Nausicaans for the moment, although he retrieved both their weapons. The last thing they needed right now was being blindsided by the duo when they finally regained consciousness. 

Leading the way, Buck stepped through the doors of Operations. He soon realized the alerts sounding throughout the facility, was nowhere as loud as the chatter inside the room. 

"Stop saying that!" 

Ezra recognized Rekellen's exasperated voice even before he and Buck stepped through and arrived just in time to see Dralak slamming Shavo against the wall with a loud thud. The Andorian didn't seem to be offering any resistance and Ezra reminded himself that Dralak being Romulan, was almost as strong as a Vulcan, albeit to a lesser degree. 

"What the hell is going on?" Buck demanded as Ezra moved in quickly, the Chief's training as a security officer demanding he attend to the altercation immediately. Ezra grabbed Dralak by the arm and tried to drag him away from Shavo who was merely staring at them both, shocked but not moved enough to do anything. 

"This Andorian *Ryak'na has gone mad!" Dralak snapped angrily, his eyes still fixed on Shavo, intending to choke the life out of him. 

"You have nothing to fear," Shavo grunted through the strangulating fingers on his throat. "It is the Blessing." 

Oh hell, Buck cursed and realized this Andorian was just as insane as Paracelsus. One of the Faithful, he thought ruefully. Like all the others before him, Paracelsus's belief he could handle the xenomorphs was an illusion fragmenting with each second. Three hundred years ago, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had believed the same, and they were a hell of a lot more realistic about what the xenomorphs were capable of than the good doctor. Unlike Paracelsus, who sold his followers the fiction the alien Queen was some kind of goddess. 

"It is coming for all of us," Shavo repeated himself, even as Dralak's grip around his throat loosened because Ezra had wrestled the Romulan away. The Andorian's eyes reflected his complete indoctrination to Paracelsus's words, and his expression revealed the look of one who had reached the edge of fear and tipped over into the abyss of madness. "We will be one with Her." 

"What rot is that?" Dralak barked his fury and managed to collect his thoughts enough to explain. "He's been saying that since those things appeared!" 

"You're Starfleet!" Rekellen barked at them from where she was standing in front of her console. While her words oozed with contempt, there was no hiding the fear on her face. "Do something! Shavo has lost his mind!"

"What's the situation?" Buck asked as he crossed the floor even though he could guess. By the level of panic on her face and that on the young Xyrillian Kash, he could only imagine.

Rekellen blinked recalibrating her mind to think clearly instead of succumbing to her intense Romulan emotions. "We had a security breach on sub-Level 25," she stuttered her response, and it was strange seeing a Romulan anything but supremely confident. "We assumed that it was one of the patients trying to escape. We had a similar problem not long ago, so I initiated lockdown procedures." 

"Including raising the shields and blocking out communications?" Buck demanded and glanced at Ezra. The security chief had a firm grip of Shavo, ensuring the Andorian didn't cause further mischief.

"No," Rekellen shook her head. "Lockdown is meant to keep everyone inside, but comms lock is not part of it. Shavo arrived at Operations and told us we not only had to initiate the locks, but we had to encrypt permissions. Doctor Paracelsus did that remotely. None of us can get in to disable it or the shields now." 

"Damn it," Buck cursed and almost wished Alex was here. The Science Officer had a Class A rating when it came to programming and was pretty damn good at it, not to mention like Ezra she had first-hand knowledge of the xenomorphs. Turning to Ezra, Buck was about to ask the Chief if he could put his Class A programming skills to work and possibly get past Paracelsus's encryption when Kash cried out from his station.

"Whatever they are, they're moving fast!" 

The younger man shot a glance at Buck and even though he was Xyrillian, his manner was so much like JD's at the moment, Buck felt a fierce need to protect the younger man from harm. Thinking about JD sent fresh fear through Buck about the fate of his young protege who so far had yet to check-in. He couldn't think about that now. He had to trust the kid knew how to handle himself, and if the worst had happened, he would deal with that after. Right now, he had a job to do. 

"Jesus Christ." 

It was all Buck could say when he stood over Kash's shoulder and looked at the young man's display to see what he was looking at. Buck read the reports when the Away Team returned from Fiorina 361 and the Captain's own logs about the incident. Hell, Buck had even taken a look at the grotesque corpse of the spore brought back to the ship for study, but nothing compared to seeing the things for himself. For the first time, he understood Chris's reaction to hearing Jerry Lambert's connection to the Sulaco and why the Captain had demanded the evacuation. 

There were five of them on the screen.

They moved so quickly one could have been forgiven for believing they were irregularly shaped shadows flickering along the walls. Yet once your eyes adjusted and saw what they were, there was no mistaking them for anything but the hellish creatures that had killed almost every human who encountered it. Buck stared at the animals, and even on the screen, he knew they matched him in height. Their exoskeletons were covered in black chitin like that of an insect, with dorsal spines along their backs. At the end of both spindly arms were sharp claws capable of tearing through metal. Their long tails, flexible and serrated, acted as effective as whips and if needed, spears. 

The most distinct feature, of course, was the banana-shaped heads. The slick black skulls gleamed in the darkness, were often the first thing you saw of the creatures and the sharp, three-inch teeth when it opened the first of its jaws, were often the last. Once you laid eyes on them, everything about these aliens was a vision of terror, guaranteed to chase you into your nightmares. 

"Where is this?" Buck managed to ask, finally snapping out of his horror because he knew there were more than five of those creatures on the loose, and the rest of them would be coming. 

"It's a disused air shaft that was sealed off when the Institute was built into the structure," Rekellen answered now that she had recovered her anger and overcome any lingering animosity towards the Starfleet Officers. "It starts at sub-Level 25, and goes all the way to the surface." 

Ezra swore, and Buck didn't blame him. Profanities were rare from the Chief of Security, but under the circumstances, it was entirely warranted. 

"In other words," Ezra spoke up, his voice grim. "They have access to the entire facility." 

God help them. 

"Captain, we've just received a signal from the surface. It's Lieutenant Dunne."

There were only two ways a signal could reach the Maverick from the surface. Either the shield was down, or JD was outside of it. If so, Chris knew what his next order was going to be. "Have you got a transporter lock on him?" 

"Aye Sir," Drew Katovit's voice replied before a burst of static cut off the Assistant Security Chief. 

"Maverick, this is Lt. Dunne, two to transport immediately!" JD's voice cut through the static as well as the gale-force winds surrounding him. "We are outside the range of the force field without enviro-suits...!" 

"Oh my God," Alex gasped, perfectly aware of how long any human could survive in the icy temperatures of Tenarus without cold-weather gear. "Captain...." 

Chris was way ahead of her. "Transporter Room, lock on to their signal and transport them immediately. Repeat, transport them immediately. JD standby! We're beaming you up now!" 

"Captain!" JD started to say when suddenly something cut through the air that made everyone at the table freeze. 

The shriek was like talons across glass. It cut through the static and the blizzard surrounding JD and whoever was with him. Everyone at the table recognized the source of that unholy screech. It was a sound none of them ever wished to hear again. 

"JD WATCH OUT!"

The voice screaming was no one familiar, but they knew terror when they heard it, just like they recognized the discharge of phaser fire. It ended the shriek abruptly but was quickly followed by another indignant howl of outrage. 

"JD!" Chris shouted and received no answer. The Captain jumped to his feet and was running out the Conference Room with Vin following close behind.

"Drew!" Alex fought the impulse to go after them and reminded herself while Buck was absent; she was the Acting First Officer and had to behave accordingly. "Get security to the transporter room immediately! Break out the phaser rifles and set weapons for maximum. We may pick up hitchhikers when we're transporting the away team! " 

"Come on!" Alex gestured to Julia before the two women hurried after the Captain and the helmsman.

Chris arrived at Transporter Room 1 just in time to see the golden shimmer of the transporter beam appearing on the pad. 

Everything moved at slow motion after that because it was the only way to process what took place over the next sixty seconds. Once the shimmer on the pad solidified, it revealed the form of a young woman, no older than twenty if that, by Chris's estimation. She was on her knees, her arms folded over her head. Flakes of snow-covered her clothes and skin, and what they saw of her face revealed nothing but terror. When they saw what was materializing on the second transporter pad, Chris could understand the reason for her fear. 

He had yet to form fully, but what did appear in the transport stream painted a vivid and terrifying picture. JD was on one knee. Like the girl, he was covered in particles of snow. His sleeve was torn to the skin and what was exposed, revealed burns Chris had far more knowledge of than he would like. Acid burns. The youngest member of the Senior Staff was aiming his phaser above him and what was caught in amber, about to be given life in several seconds, was the confirmation of Chris's worst fears about what was happening on Tenarus. 

"Jesus Christ!" Vin exclaimed, hurrying to the weapons locker while there was still time. 

"Captain," Transporter Chief Rain who was manning the transport pad was deftly working the controls while addressing him at the same time. "There was the discharge of a weapon when we locked on. I'm deactivating it!" Rain explained before her eyes lifted and saw why. "Holy heck!" 

The xenomorph materialized right above JD. It would land right on top of him when the transport was complete. 

"Vin...!" Chris threw him a warning, already hurrying towards the girl who needed to be gotten out of the way. 

"I got your back, Chris," Vin replied promptly, moving into position. 

The few seconds between full materialization and movement was all the time Chris and Vin possessed to save JD and his companion. The instant the shimmer stopped, Chris leapt towards the young lady he would later know as Holly. Holly uttered a short scream as Chris slammed into her in a full-body tackle, sending them both tumbling off the transporter pad. JD's predicament required an even more forceful approach. 

Vin, whose combat programs on the holodeck included hand to hand battles with xenomorphs, ran forward and jumped while the xenomorph was still in mid-air. With the butt of the phaser rifle he'd managed to retrieve from the weapon's locker, he slammed the thick stock into the xenomorph's jaw with all his Vulcan strength, sending it flying away from JD. The creature uttered a screech of fury as it hit the wall hard. When its disorientation cleared, the alien hissed in anger as well as puzzlement. Vin had enough time to yank JD off his knees before the xenomorph overcame its confusion at its sudden change of surroundings. 

It was upright on all four with the speed of a coiled snake, baring those fangs that would rip apart metal as easily as flesh. It assessed its situation immediately and decided to deal with Vin first, sensing the Vulcan was the strongest opponent in the room. 

"Vin, you can't shoot that thing in here!" Chris warned, scrambling to his feet. "It will eat halfway through the ship!" 

"Computer, initiate emergency force field Section 7, Grid 21 – Lieutenant Rain - authorization code Galadriel!"

The force field surrounded the xenomorph before it had a chance to lunge at Vin. As it moved forward and impacted against the energy barrier, the burst of static upon contact made the creature recoil in pain, before it uttered another enraged shriek. It hurled itself against the force field once more refusing to accept its captivity. 

"Captain," Rain stared at the monstrosity before, trying to settle the horror shared by all her previous hosts as a Trill. "What do you want me to do with this thing?" 

Chris glared at the xenomorph and spoke through gritted teeth. "I want you to get that fucking thing off my ship." 

Romulan translation - *garbage or trash

When Ezra Standish got scared, Buck Wilmington knew all bets were off. 

Witnessing the Chief’s face draining of colour after seeing what was on the display in front of him, Buck realised however bad the situation looked, it was actually worse. If there was one constant in the universe the crew of the Maverick could rely upon, it was the fact the Chief of Security always had his shit together, no matter how bad things were. When he didn’t, that was the time to worry.

Ezra would never admit to it of course. Still, the sight of the xenomorphs scaling the walls of the hollow passage running up the height of the facility, where they would have access to every level of the Tenarus Institute shook the man. Not that Buck could blame Ezra for his terror, because seeing the grainy images of the things on the footage from Fiorina 361 and the recovered data tapes of Acheron, was nothing in comparison to what he saw now.

They were more than just hideous. The xenomorphs were the things nightmares were made of. 

If there was any consolation to be had in all of this, Buck’s mind wasn’t entirely as gripped with fear as Ezra’s. Perhaps it was never coming face to face with the creatures that allowed him to think with clarity. He had to if any of them were going to escape this place alive. 

More and more of the creatures were appearing across the numerous displays across operations. They were spilling out of sub-level 25 as if someone had kicked open an ant hill. The aliens had one purpose the minute they emerged, and that was to find a way to reach the potential hosts above them. 

“We need to bring the shield down,” Buck turned to the Operations team. “That’s the only way we are getting out of here. I don’t know how much you know,” he swept his gaze over the faces of Dralak, Rekellen and Kash, “but the biological hazard I just mentioned are these creatures. Doctor Paracelsus has been growing an entire nest of these things down in Sub-level 25. 

Disbelief showed across all their faces, except for Shavo, whose adoration of the man was elevated to almost religious worship, where nothing said against Paracelsus would penetrate. For the others, the doctor was a kind and compassionate man, and Buck had no doubt if not for his encounter with the alien Queen, it would have still been the case. 

“It can’t be,” Dralak muttered, but even as the words left him, he shifted his gaze towards Shavo who was proof of Buck’s accusation. “He wouldn’t...” 

“He told us, alright!” Buck snapped, not having time to convince the Romulan. Not when the xenomorphs were on the verge of infesting the entire facility. “That’s why we came here in the first place. We received a distress signal from your relay station, asking for help. The message came from a Starfleet Security Officer named Jerry Lambert who risked his life to warn us, by escaping this place and making it to the station on foot.” 

“There was no Starfleet Security Officer,” Rekellen protested, about to demand what kind of fool he thought they were when she remembered something. Raising her eyes to Kash, who was also processing the Starfleet Commander’s words, they reached the same conclusion. 

“The patient who escaped!” Kash burst out before Rekellen could. “The one who got through the disused sluice tunnel.” 

“Disused sluice tunnel?” Buck jumped to the possibility there was a way out of here without having to break through the formidable force field. 

“Yes,” Dralak nodded, still glaring at Shavo, his Romulan passions well and truly enraged and Buck suspected it wouldn’t take much for the man to snap the Andorian’s neck in anger. “It was a month ago. A patient escaped. He got outside, and the Nausicaans were forced to retrieve him.” 

“Is it still sealed?” Ezra questioned, reaching the same conclusion as Buck that this could be an alternate way out. 

“I assume so,” Dralak replied, revealing his uncertainty of whether or not this was the case. 

“It is sealed,” Shavo spoke up suddenly. “It is sealed and only the worthy may enter it now. The path lies through the temple of the Goddess on Sub-Level 25.” The Andorian continued to display that unnerving expression of bovine vacancy, as if it was their fate to be taken by the xenomorphs. 

“Oh Christ,” Buck shook his head in disgust and decided to waste no more time with the man. They had to get out of here. “Ezra, can you try and access the system?” 

Once again, he prayed Ezra’s skills as a Class A programmer were enough. 

“I can make an attempt,” Ezra stepped forward even if his voice was dubious, “but it will take time.” 

“We don’t have it, but do what you can.” 

“What are the things anyway?” Rekellen asked as she saw more and more of the aliens emerging from their subterranean nest. It chilled her to the bone to see how swiftly they moved and how sheer walls did nothing to slow them down. 

“The most dangerous alien life form we’ve ever encountered,” Buck said shortly and saw a group of xenomorphs surrounding a ventilation grill along the straight wall. He did not like the look of this. “Where is that?” He asked, not particular about who gave him his answer. 

“Sub-Level 23,” Kash answered and then looked up, his Xyrillian eyes filled with fear. “Patient’s wing.” 

“Christ,” Buck swore. “Give me comms to the level immediately! We’ve got to get everyone out of there before these things get fresh hosts.” 

“Host?” Rekellen stared at him. 

“Yeah,” Buck nodded grimly. “These life forms don’t kill you. They reproduce by implanting an embryo inside the sternum of a living host. When the embryo matures, it exits through flesh and bone while the host is still alive.”

“Griff!” Kash swore, his golden scales turning almost grey with fright. 

“It’s a blessing,” Shavo chose that moment to speak again as if he was relishing their terror. “ You need not fear it.” 

“SHUT UP!” Dralak swore, whirling around and preparing to put his fist into Shavo’s face when Buck caught his arm, stopping him from going any further. 

“Save it!” He stared the Romulan down hard, even if he understood the man’s fury. Paracelsus had sold these people on a fiction, induced by his telepathic link to the xenomorph Queen, unaware of the true nature of the species. “We’ve got bigger problems. These things gestate fast once they’re implanted. The infants will become full-size adults in a matter of hours. They also bleed acid for blood, so if you fire on them with phasers, they literally explode in front of you. If you’re not at a minimum safe distance when that happens, they’ll take you with them. Their blood can eat through duranium.” 

“How do we fight them?” Dralak looked to the Starfleet officers who seemed to be the only ones who made any sense right now.

“We don’t,” Buck admitted readily enough. He didn’t like running from anything, but Chris’s report had painted a grim picture of how dangerous these creatures were. “We get the hell out of here.”

“Doctor Paracelsus claimed there were fifty of them,” Ezra explained from the workstation he commandeered to break Paracelsus’s encryption of the main computer. His face was illuminated by the green hue of the display screen while his fingers moved deftly across the console, continuing his combat with algorithms and programming. “However, he is also in possession of an egg layer.” 

“An egg layer?” Rekellen’s eyes widened in realisation. “You mean like a...”

“...queen.” Ezra threw her a sidelong glance as the sentence died in her throat at her full understanding of their problem. “There is no telling how many progenies she has birthed, but there is every possibility there may be an egg for every last one of us.” 

Buck didn’t comment on Ezra’s grim forecast of their predicament, choosing instead to warn the rest of the facility they were about to be overrun by the very worst invaders possible. 

“All personnel, this is Commander Buck Wilmington of the USS Maverick. At this time, I am assuming control of this facility under the authority of the Central Bureau of Penology in accordance with Starfleet Regulation 19, Section C, allowing me to assume tactical command due to the threat of imminent loss of life. Doctor Paracelsus has been conducting illegal experimentation with highly hazardous biological organisms. These organisms have now broken quarantine. All security personnel are to begin the orderly evacuation of all patients to the Transporter level for immediate departure. Repeat, all patients are to be evacuated immediately. All other personnel are ordered to report to your direct supervisors to carry out the same. This is not a drill. REPEAT, THIS NOT A DRILL.”

Buck cut off the channel at that point, convinced the comm system would soon be bombarded with a barrage of transmissions from confused personnel demanding an explanation regarding his rather incendiary announcement.

“What good is getting them up there?” Rekellen demanded with no trace of Romulan superiority in her face, just fear. “With the force field up, your ship cannot transport any of us out of here!” 

“The further we get away from Sub-Level 25, the more time we have to figure a way out of this mess before they get to us. Personally, I would rather get as far away from the Queen’s hatchery as I can.” Buck bit back before glancing over his shoulder at Ezra. “How are you doing Ez?”

Ezra’s sea-coloured eyes remained fixed on the screen before him, his fingers continuing to tap furiously as the smooth glass console, “I told you before Commander, without Paracelsus, it will take some time.” 

They didn’t have time because Rekellen was correct. Even if everyone evacuated to the upper levels, the things would catch up eventually if there was nowhere for them to go. It wouldn’t take long for the creatures to breach sub-Level 23. Once that was done, there would be no stopping them from overwhelming the few Starfleet Officers and Nausicaans armed with hand disruptors and phasers, from getting their pick of hosts. 

They had to lower the force field. There was no other way. 

Unfortunately, Paracelsus was so deep in his religious mania he would never consciously agree to help them. This entire situation had come about by the doctor’s design. Or rather that of the xenomorph queen using her telepathic influence to addle Paracelsus’s mind into believing her primeval instincts to breed was some kind of divine path to achieving enlightenment. 

All this fell to damn familiarity for Buck’s liking.

Once again, he was revisited by images of himself as Borg, preparing to assimilate Chris Larabee so he could take over the Maverick, all for the sake of the Collective and returning to their Queen. The similarities between Paracelsus’s dementia and Buck’s assimilation felt so similar, Buck felt the bile crawl up his throat from sheer revulsion. Paracelsus was just like Buck had been, a drone. 

No, Buck told himself firmly. He was a drone. Now he was Commander Buck Wilmington, First Officer of the Maverick with no connection to the Collective, no matter how many nanoprobes swirled dormant in his blood. Everything he had done as a drone was not him, it was the Collective. He never had any choice in the matter. Not one damn bit and it was time he accepted that. 

He wasn’t One of Nineteen, Primary Adjutant of Unimatrix 376 anymore. 

The admission of this simple fact made him feel like Atlas, casting off the world from his shoulders. For the first time in too long, he felt like himself, like this reality he’d been experiencing wasn’t a figment of a Borg induced nightmare, but his life. The Maverick, his friends, Chris, JD and Inez, God...Inez. They were waiting for him to acknowledge it.

And he did. 

Letting out a long exhale, because with that watershed moment another thought occurred to him. 

“What if we blew the force field generator? Set our phasers to overload and take out the whole level it’s located on. Reduce it to ash.” 

All eyes turned to Buck in shock. 

It was Rekellen who found the voice to speak first. “That is madness. We wouldn’t just lose the force field, but everything! Life support, environmental functions and what security measures might keep those creatures out. With the temperature outside, we’ll freeze to death in hours!” 

“Maybe,” Dralak replied, meeting Buck’s gaze with something akin to admiration at the ruthlessness of the plan. It was almost Romulan. “But I’d rather freeze than become a host to one of those monsters.” 

“I second that,” Ezra agreed, thinking it was worth the gamble despite the danger. 

“Good,” Buck saw Kash and Rekellen’s doubt, but they weren’t about to argue when there was no other alternative. “We’ll blow the generator after everyone is on the transporter level. The Maverick can evacuate almost everyone within the hour, and we’ve got enough shuttles and runabouts to get the rest.” 

“There’s only one problem,” Shavo spoke up and appeared as if he were a harlequin. “The shield generator is on sub-Level 25.” 

“Of course it is,” Ezra Standish said dryly. 

******

"..... Repeat, all patients are to be evacuated immediately. All other personnel are ordered to report to your direct supervisors to carry out the same. This is not a drill. REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

"Well this day just keeps getting better," Nathan Jackson growled as he and Josiah Sanchez made their way to the Infirmary level with Mary Travis in his arms.

With the hallways now filling up with people hurrying to evacuate the area, Nathan felt like he was swimming upstream of a raging river. Weaving through the bodies trying to reach the lifts to escape, Nathan wouldn't have minded going with them if not for the fact Mary's only chance of surviving the alien implantation was inside a stasis tube. He was grateful he had spotted the pod during Paracelsus's tour of the facility, although he would have preferred using it for anything except this situation. 

"I can't believe he did this," Josiah muttered while waving people to go around Nathan, so the healer didn't run into obstacles while he carried their unconscious Protocol Officer to the Infirmary. Even now, Josiah could barely stand to look at Mary with that monstrosity attached to her face. Doing so would only fill him with renewed rage that this was done to her because of his old friend's insanity. 

"He did it alright," Nathan shook his head, wanting to sympathize with Josiah but not having the time for it right now They had a very narrow window of opportunity to save Mary, and Nathan was not going to tell the Captain the woman he loved was going to die in the worst way imaginable. "Road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that." 

Josiah's response was interrupted by someone's fearful cries as they approached the corner leading down the hallway running past the main doors of the Infirmary.

"GET BACK INSIDE!" 

Josiah froze in his steps and exchanged a look with Nathan, who also heard the commotion and stopped dead in his tracks. Gesturing the doctor to hold back since he was the one carrying Mary, Josiah inched closer to the edge of the corner and peered around it. The angry bark was followed by voices soon cowed into silence. It was a stark contrast to the chaos further down the corridor where people hurried to the lifts with such haste, they were oblivious to the drama taking place now. 

A Nausicaan guard was standing beside a Napean doctor Josiah remembered Gabriel introducing as Doctor Zanil. The Napean, who was recognizable by the boney leaf-shape formation across his forehead natural to the species, seemed to be standing with the guard against his human and Tellerite colleagues. They were being kept from evacuating by the disruptor pistol aimed in their direction. 

"Zanil! What are you doing?" A petite nurse with jet coloured hair and dark brown eyes stared at the Napean in bewilderment at the threat. "You heard the Starfleet officer! We've got to leave!" 

"It's a lie!" Zanil declared as the Nausicaan closed in on the duo, barking another order for them to retreat into the Infirmary. "They don't understand what is happening, they can't hear her voice." 

"Whose voice?" The portly Tellarite doctor in a blue smock demanded with just as much confusion. "What are you talking about! There is a biological hazard on the loose!"

Josiah groaned inwardly guessing what Doctor Zanil was going to say before he uttered the words. Napeans were empathic and had limited psi ability. If Mary, with her scant talents, could detect the telepathic signals of the alien queen, then this Napean would have had no defence against her influence. Like Paracelsus, he had probably been converted slowly over time, until now he was just another worshipper ready to sacrifice friends and colleagues to become xenomorph hosts. 

"There is no hazard," Zanil replied as Josiah suspected he would. "There is just the blessing. What is happening will unite us. We'll be reborn in a new skin with a consciousness that only recognises unity.” 

"Have you lost your mind?" The woman snapped in disbelief. Josiah couldn't blame her. 

Retreating, Josiah took a deep breath and unhooked the phaser from his belt. Never again was he ever going to question Ezra Standish's paranoia. The man was a cynic, but he was the best kind. The kind who prepared for every contingency. Quickly examining the settings to ensure the weapon was set at stun, Josiah met Nathan's gaze, and the doctor understood immediately what Josiah intended to do. If it were not for Mary in his arms, Josiah was sure Nathan would have helped.

He crept to the corner again, aware he had to do this before the group disappeared into the Infirmary and while he still had the element of surprise on his side. Taking careful aim, he thanked God for all the captain's demand that everyone on board the Maverick was phaser proficient. The beam of energy shot out of the phaser as soon as he pressed the trigger. A burst of sound chased the yellow bolt across the floor. It struck the Nausicaan in the small of the back. 

The towering alien uttered a groan of pain before his legs gave way beneath him. As he fell, Doctor Zanil swung around in Josiah's direction, and there was a split second as both healers made eye contact. Zanil raised his weapon to shoot, but Josiah was just a second or two faster. A second blast of energy escaped phaser, eliciting a cry of shock from the young woman while the Tellarite stumbled back against the door to the Infirmary, startled. 

Zanil collapsed where he stood, and when he hit the floor, his fall was partially broken by the unconscious Nausicaan on the deck already. They folded upon each other like pieces of cardboard across the floor. 

"Get their weapons!" Josiah ordered emerging from the corner. 

Both of the rescuees stared at the Counsellor, somewhat surprised that salvation had come from such an unexpected quarter. Nevertheless, the Tellerite did not waste any time hurrying forward to collect the disruptors still in the grips of their would-be kidnappers. 

"What is going on?" He demanded as Josiah closed in on them, with Nathan stepping into the hallway behind him. 

"They're under the influence of the creatures that are about to overrun this facility," Josiah did not mince words. "You two need to join the evacuation immediately." 

"Wait," the female, who Josiah realized was a nurse, objected when she saw Nathan approaching with a patient. "What's wrong with..."

She stopped short when they saw what was attached to Mary's face. 

"Oh my God..." the woman whispered in horror, her skin turning pale. 

"You need to get going now," Nathan ordered, " both of you." 

They left without further argument. 

"This is an M41A Pulse Rifle. Ten millimetres, with an over-and-under thirty-millimetre pump-action grenade launcher. Feel the weight." 

Alex Styles stood before the assembled Away Team fitted with cold-weather gear, trying not to flinch at the fact her Captain was among them, while she delivered her briefing. Eyes resting briefly on the Captain, she knew nothing short of a phaser set to stun could keep him from descending onto Tenarus, riding the full wrath of the Larabee rage. As the acting First Officer of the Maverick, she took some comfort in knowing Vin would be at his side, keeping him safe. 

Of course, she was no happier about her husband being down there either, but if there was one person she knew could handle himself against those savage lifeforms, it was Vin. 

Returning her attention to the remaining members of the Away Team, who included Drew Katovit, Kate Stokes, Opa Loca and Manny Garcia in Cargo Bay 2, she saw them examining the weapons they were issued with a short time ago. There was apparent scepticism on their faces as they experimented with the bulky weapons’ functions while Alex resumed speaking.

"Each member of the Away Team will be carrying no less than ten clips each. Each clip contains 99 rounds, but Engineering has replicated them with 95 rounds to avoid stoppage. They're explosive tip, caseless, light armour-piercing rounds. Take time to familiarise yourself with the flame units you've been provided with. The M240 incinerator is designed for close-quarters combat, utilising ultra-thickened naphthyl fuel with a range of thirty meters."

As she mentioned the second weapon, her audience studied the flame throwers, a sleeker gun that the Pulse Rifle, but still cumbersome in comparison to their handheld phasers. 

"These will be useful where visibility is low. Even though your tricorders have been calibrated to detect silicon-based life forms, the xenomorphs have superior camouflage abilities. In tight spaces where visibility is poor, the flame units can save your life. If you enter the hatchery and your presence has not been detected by the drone, maintain absolute silence. The eggs react to external stimuli, most likely sound. The spores are fast, and you do not want to get caught by one." 

"I don't understand," 2nd Lt. Manny Garcia, the youngest member of the security team, looked up at her. "Why can't we just use phase rifles?" 

Chris, who was in the process of securing the fastenings on his heavy parka, looked up. "The xenomorphs bleed acid. A direct hit from any energy-based weapon causes their bodies to explode violently. Their blood is the most corrosive molecular acid in existence, capable of eating through duranium. If it gets on your skin, you'll die screaming in seconds. I shit you not." 

Garcia turned pale. 

"You're scaring the kids Captain," Vin whispered, tilting his head in Chris's direction. 

The rest of the security team tensed with Garcia swallowing audibly. Knowing the Captain, his statement meant he did not want to hear any more complaints on the choice of their weapons. The rest of the Away Team got the message and faced front again, waiting for Alex to continue. 

"We realise these weapons may seem primitive in comparison to our phasers, but in close quarters combat, which is how you will be most likely engaging the xenomorphs, they're more effective to avoid the acid spray. Captain, would you like to take over?" She knew he may wish to explain the finer points of their entry into the facility. 

"Only to say we will enter the Institute using the route Lt. Dunne found on sub-Level 25 and will undoubtedly encounter the creatures. We've received the facility's technical data from the Penalogy Institute on Earth, so we know the force field generator is also located there. Our objective is to disable it so the Maverick can begin transporting the Institute's population on board. We'll deal with the xenomorphs after the civilians and our Away Team is safe." 

Vin didn't need to be a mind reader to know what approach Chris would take once the Institute was cleared. He would obliterate it from the surface of the planet, and the Vulcan couldn't blame him for it. Even though the inadvertent meld with a xenomorph brought on premature Pon Farr, Vin knew he hadn't suffered the worst of it during their encounter with the creatures on Fury 361. The Captain had been taken through the wringer, and still carried the burden of many deaths, especially young Lt. Angel who sacrificed herself for him. 

The doors to the cargo bay opened and to their surprise, JD was striding into the room with their guest Holly following him closely. 

"JD Dunne, you are not supposed to leave Sick Bay! Didn't you hear what Doctor Zheng said, you should be resting. Dermal regeneration works only if you keep the injured area still for longer than an hour!" 

"I'll be fine," JD bit back and stopped in mid-sentence when he realised that they had an audience.

"JD, what are you doing here?" Vin asked first. "Ain't you supposed to be in Sick Bay?"

"That's what I said!" Holly burst out. 

"JD..." Chris looked at the two young people. "Miss Jones is right. You should be getting some rest." 

"Captain," JD shot Holly a look of annoyance before facing Chris again. "I should be going down there with you. I was apart of that Away Team, I can't just abandon the others." 

"You're doing nothing of the kind," Chris understood JD's desire to go with them. "You gave us a route into that place, it's going to help us a hell of a lot with lowering the force field. Right now, the best thing you can do is stay here and rest." 

However, JD was having none of it. His worries for Buck and the others overrode his normal inhibitions of speaking his mind to the Captain. "Captain I've been down there, I can save us time when trying to navigate that place. The aliens have turned it into some kind of a nest with these weird formations all over the level. You may have technical data on the facility's layout, but they may not be current." 

The kid had a point, Chris thought with a frown, and the xenomorphs knew how to use their victims' unfamiliarity of the terrain to maximum effect.

"JD, you should be staying here with the Captain, you can still help!" Holly insisted, sensing the Captain's silence might be capitulation. 

"The Captain isn't staying here," Alex commented, wishing he would do precisely what Holly assumed. "He's leading the Away Team." 

Chris shot Alex a look, suspecting she was still smarting over his decision to go down. 

"How can the Captain go down to the surface?" Holly turned to them in surprise. "Isn't that against your Starfleet Regulations?"

"You know Starfleet Regulations?" JD stared at her in surprise. 

"Of course I do," she replied as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "I read up on them before your ship arrived here. If we had to deal with Starfleet, I needed to know how you guys operate so I can do my job as Doctor Paracelsus's assistant. How can you leave the ship? Isn't this like a crisis?" Holly questioned Chris. 

Alex bit her tongue, Vin found something on the floor more interesting to look at, while JD winced inwardly. The rest of the Security found a reason to look away as well. 

"Miss Jones, you are a guest onboard this ship. It's not your place to question how I run it." 

Chris bristled in annoyance, controlling his temper as he stared down the young woman with the most scathing version of the Larabee glare he could muster. 

"With all due respect Captain," Holly countered without batting an eye. She was accustomed to dealing with testy authority figures or at least ones who were being plain petulant. "I'm a civilian. You can't tell me not to voice an opinion, especially when you're breaking your own rules." 

"Holly..." JD started to say, recognising the Captain's expression of anger slowly reaching volcanic.

"Captain," Alex stepped in before Chris murdered the girl. "JD has a point. I don't like him going down there either, but you need to get to the force field generator as quickly as possible without getting lost down there, fighting off the xenomorphs. If you insist on going to the surface, then JD should go with you." 

Alex didn't like the idea of sending either of them to Tenarus but any advantage the Away Team could get on the surface was one they could not squander. Exchanging a glance with Vin, who was trying to suppress a smile of amusement by the whole scene, she saw the Captain trying not to groan with exasperation as he surrendered to the superior argument. 

"Alright," Chris conceded defeat. "JD, you got ten minutes to get ready. Alex, tell Julia to replicate us more weapons." 

"But Captain!" Holly protested.

JD ignored her and gave Chris a nod of gratitude. "Thank you, Sir. Come on, Holly!" 

The junior officer retreated through the way he came, dragging Holly with him before she could say anything further and end up in the brig. 

Vin finally spoke after the two were gone. "I like her." 

A different kind of alarm now screamed its warning throughout the Tenarus Institute. 

Through the communications panel on the wall of the Infirmary, Josiah Sanchez listened with rising alarm to the terrified voices of patients and staff throughout the facility seconds before their transmissions were interrupted by dead silence. Each disrupted voice vanished in a burst of horror and fright, the tell-tale sign Paracelsus’s twisted plan was being unleashed upon them all. Both officers could only listen to the deteriorating situation for a few minutes before it became too much for them. Josiah and Nathan could do nothing to help the people on the other end of those transmissions, not if what made them scream was already upon them. 

Josiah finally switched off the communicator, convinced if Buck Wilmington needed to reach them, he would do so via their combadges. At this moment, he and Nathan had more significant concerns. After liberating the medical staff attempting to evacuate to the upper levels, both healers retreated into the Infirmary and found it empty. Sealing the doors from the inside in case any more of Paracelsus's fanatics chose to bother them again, Josiah stood guard after helping Nathan place Mary within the stasis chamber. 

"How is it going?" Josiah paced the area in front of the main doors, studying the display providing him with a glimpse of the outside corridor. It appeared everyone in the area had either been evacuated or were staying out of the hallway. 

"I'm setting up the stasis field right now," Nathan explained, moving along the bullet-shaped capsule key to Mary's continued survival. Everything above the Protocol Officer's shoulders could be viewed through the clear glass window that made up a third of the capsule's construction. The rest of the chamber was the dark grey of duranium, with a control panel of opaque glass fixed along the side, in the middle. 

Nathan was calibrating the device to ensure Mary's vitals, as well as the alien spore, slowed enough to halt the implantation process while keeping both human and xenomorph alive. The healer avoided looking through the glass because the sight of Mary with that creature attached to her face, infuriated him. Especially when Nathan remembered it was another physician who brought this horror upon her. 

"And the implantation?" Josiah almost couldn't bring himself to say the word. It was too monstrous. As it was, he winced each time he saw Mary through the glass window of the capsule. He couldn't even see her face, all he could see was that damn spore attached to her like some grotesque mask. Again, the rage frothed up inside him, knowing the architect of this horror was someone he once called a friend. 

"It's slowed down," Nathan answered, but judging by the creases Josiah could see on his forehead, it was clear Mary was nowhere out of the woods yet. "But not enough." 

"Not enough," Josiah stared from across the room. "What does that mean?"

"The life cycle of these things is exceedingly fast," Nathan paused long enough to meet Josiah's gaze. "From the moment the spore attaches itself to a host to the eventual 'birth', we're talking just a day." 

"Oh my God," Josiah shuddered, understanding what Nathan was getting at. 

"Yeah," the healer nodded grimly. "I've extended that as much as I can, which is to say two days and no more. We've got to get to the Maverick well before so I can get this thing out of her while it's still in embryonic form. Anything further along than that, removing all the stray bits of DNA becomes a hell of a lot more difficult. "You heard what Paracelsus said about that poor girl working on the Sulaco." 

"Callie," Josiah recalled. 

"She breathed in particulates of xenomorph DNA, and they were able to implant a queen inside of her. These things are highly adaptive, almost down to the molecular level. When I remove the embryo from Mary, I have to get it all, nothing can be left inside her or else it will simply multiply through cellular mitosis. I haven't seen anything like it since Species 8472. Because their cells are so densely coded, they immediately infect all foreign cells around it. The only reason the Doctor on Voyager was able to get rid of them was due to his access to Borg nanites...." 

Nathan's voice trailed off into silence as wheels started spinning in his head, possibilities emerging. 

Josiah could tell immediately Nathan had stumbled onto something important, but anything else he had to say died in his throat when something dropped down from an air vent on the ceiling, at the far corner of the room. It had made its penetration silently, and even though the Infirmary was well lit when the xenomorph made its appearance, it felt as if all the light was drawn to it like an organic black hole. 

"Nathan," Josiah said calmly, sensing if he shouted, the creature would attack.

The tail appeared first. It was a boney ridged thing that looked like it belonged to one of those dinosaur skeletons in a museum. Josiah had seen images of it after the Fiorina mission, and that footage did nothing to convey how terrifying these things actually were. It landed on the floor, like a coiled ball of nightmare, ready to strike. 

"Jesus Christ," Nathan whispered when he saw the ashen look on Josiah's face and followed the man's line of sight to its horrid conclusion. 

His first thought was to go for his phaser before he remembered what the Captain said about shooting these things. In these close quarters, there was no telling how much damage that acid spray would do. He'd treated the Away Team for acid burns when they returned to the ship after the mission with the Sulaco and knew just how corrosive the stuff was. 

Josiah took one step forward, not sure what to do when the creature's head pivoted towards him, opening those formidable jaws to let out a hiss. The xenomorph hadn't attacked yet, which was contrary to everything he knew about these lifeforms. They were apex predators, who feared nothing except fire and their queen. It should have turned this room into a blood bath by now. 

Why was it hesitating? 

In a flash of insight coming from twenty-five years of counselling numerous races with different behaviours, the answer surfaced in Josiah's mind. 

"Nathan, head for the office," Josiah didn't take his eyes away from the xenomorph watching him closely. It was waiting for him to behave the way all prey did before its natural instincts overrode what minuscule reasoning skills it had.

"What about Mary?"

"She'll be fine," Josiah maintained his tone, aware their lives were perched on a razor's edges. "Just do it and don't look behind you." 

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Nathan started to move slowly and through the corner of his eye, could see the xenomorph turning back to him. 

The creature was starting to take more interest, and Josiah knew it was nearing the limits of its control. When it saw Nathan move, it's body seemed to tense, ready to pounce. Josiah did not give it a chance. Instead of firing directly at it, the Counsellor aimed his shot above the xenomorph's head, striking at the panelling. The metal hissed with heat, spitting sparks in outrage. 

"RUN!" 

Nathan didn't need to be told twice. The healer sprinted across the room towards the main office as the xenomorph uttered a shrill screech of savage and bolted after him. Josiah did the same, and both men moved faster than either was accustom. The xenomorph crossed the floor in a streak of black, intending to reach them before they entered the room. Nathan entered the interior of the office first, coming to an abrupt halt at the wall next to the door panel. 

"MOVE YOUR ASS JOSIAH!" 

Josiah leapt over a chair with far more agility than a man his age was capable with the xenomorph in close pursuit, knocking everything in its path out of the way as it closed the distance between them. It's tail swished about, slapping so hard against the glass window of the capsule, for a second Nathan feared he would crack it. Despite Josiah's speed in trying to escape, Nathan could tell he wasn't fast enough. Desperately trying to think of what to do, Nathan knew shooting at the xenomorph when it was that close to the Counsellor would only get the man killed. 

Instead, he fired at the nearest panel along the xenomorph's path. Nathan hoped no one received severe radiation poisoning in the next few hours since he was aiming for the controls to the decontamination chamber. The glass display exploded violently when he hit it dead centre, sending fragments and sparks in all directions. The xenomorph reacted for only an instant since fire was the only thing that seemed to give it pause, uttering another indignant howl as if any attempt to keep it was some unpardonable sin. 

It was a split-second delay, but it was enough. Josiah crossed the doorway into the office less than a second before Nathan slammed his palm on the door controls. The twin doors began to close almost immediately, but the healer knew that would not be enough to keep the xenomorph from breaking in. 

"Computer, activate security lockout, Starfleet override Theta 251879!" 

"Code accepted," the computer's calm voice spoke. "Initiating security lockout protocols."

With the dull thud of the doors sealing them inside the room, a security field hummed into being across the entire doorway. The xenomorph ran straight into the energy field and was flung backwards by the impact. Screeching in pain, it was not about to give up two potential hosts and hurled itself at the force field again, uttering another spine-tingling screech when it was met with the same resistance. The xenomorph made two further attempts before it finally retreated. 

While the thing had no eyes, Nathan was convinced it was glaring at them with nothing less than murder. The healer suspected if it did get through, the beast might forego the trouble of keeping them alive for implantation. It would kill them outright. After its final attempt met with the same result, it retreated back the way it came, disappearing into the shaft with its tail going out of view like a coiled serpent. 

"Good thing Paracelsus didn't change any of the standard security protocols," Nathan exhaled loudly as he leaned against the wall. 

"That's something," Josiah sighed, preferring not to think about his old friend at present. Forcefields like the one Nathan had just initiated were standard safeguards in any penal colony. No matter how well behaved or well run any facility might appear to be, the Federation took no chances when it came to the safety of staff working in such rehabilitation centres. "You know after everything I read about those things," Nathan said, staring at the vent where the creature had vanished. "I didn't think we'd get a chance to get away when that thing came after us." 

"Me neither," Josiah admitted. "Without being able to use our phasers, it should have taken us apart, but it didn't." 

"We got lucky," Nathan sighed. 

"No, we didn't," Josiah met the healer's gaze. "It hesitated for a reason." 

"What reason?"

"Mary," Josiah stared at the stasis chamber, where Mary Travis lay, oblivious to the fact she had just saved both their lives. "It hesitated because it sensed the alien inside her. It won’t harm her because she needs to be alive to for the birth.” 

Nathan’s heart clenched in his chest. “Christ.” 

Gabriel Paracelsus could hear the Queen in his dreams. 

Although she never used words, he knew exactly what she meant. There was never any misunderstanding between them when she could speak so directly to his heart. She whispered to him now, telling him her children were in danger, the children she'd charged him to protect in the world, to walk the places she could not. They were in danger, beset upon by the hateful who did not understand the grand gift she'd sought to give them, and she needed his help to put a stop to their murdering. 

He woke up with a start in his quarters and realised he was alone. The meddling Starfleet Officers who usurped his authority in his own kingdom were nowhere in sight, no doubt attempting to interfere with the plan he so painstakingly cultivated over the past three months. Even Josiah, a trusted friend, had become Judas the betrayer. Getting to his feet, he shook away the ache in his limbs from the stun blast and staggered over to the comm panel. He had to learn what was happening in his institute, and salvage the plan to enlighten everyone. 

"Operations," Paracelsus spoke. "Come in. This is Doctor Paracelsus. What's happening?"

There was a pause for a moment as if the person on the other end did not know what to say, but when the voice responded, Paracelsus recognised it immediately. It was Rekellen. 

"What is happening, you lunatic!, is that we are all about to die because of your insane plan! Your creatures are loose across the facility! We need to shut down the force field so we can leave!" 

An unbeliever, Paracelsus sighed, his shoulders slumping visibly. He always suspected the Romulans would be the most difficult to convince. In any case, it didn't matter if she didn't believe. He had plenty of others in the fold who were faithful to the cause. They would help him show her the truth. 

"It's alright, Rekellen," Paracelsus countered in a calm, soothing tone. "There's nothing to fear. Once we're a part of the whole, there will be no reason to worry. We will be reborn into something better.”

There was a pause where nothing was spoken for a few seconds, and Paracelsus wondered if she was considering his words, that perhaps she might see the light. 

"You're insane." 

He supposed it was too much to expect any more from her. She would see the truth of his words in time. Right now, however, he had work to do. Activating the panel again, this time with a specific code entry, he addressed a different audience, one he knew would be waiting for his guidance. 

"This is Doctor Paracelsus. My friends, it is time for the purification to begin."

"Do you have any idea how we are going to do this?" 

Dralak asked the two Starfleet officers he was accompanying as they hurried towards the nearest turbo-lift after departing Operations. 

The Romulan was armed with one of the blasters taken from the unconscious Nausicaan joining them on their plan of disabling the force field. Leaving Shavo under Rekellen's watchful eye and ensuring the two guards were secured, the trio headed towards Level 25 with no illusions, their chances of reaching the power generator would be a perilous journey if the xenomorphs were on the loose. So far the area had been evacuated with only a few stragglers left to reach the upper levels, but there was no guarantee those evacuees were any safer, not when the xenomorphs had the run of the place. 

"I'm making it up as I go," Buck confessed, noticing the sharp look from Ezra as he made that statement. "I'm hoping these things are too busy infiltrating the rest of the facility to worry about anyone trying to reach their nest. You were in their hive the last time Ezra, you got any suggestions?"

Ezra frowned, having successfully buried the memories of Fury 361 into the back of his mind after his experiences there. Aside from losing the entire security complement assigned to the mission, the Away Team was so utterly overwhelmed it was a miracle they survived at all. Finding himself in a repeat of that experience was something Ezra never wanted to face again, to say nothing about how many lives hung in the balance this time. 

"Alexandra is the real expert in their behaviour," Ezra commented, wishing they could contact their science officer for her opinion on the subject. Of course, if that were possible, they would be back on the Maverick instead of running for their lives. "These creatures have similar behavioural traits as societal insects, living in a hive with a single female, a queen who is the primary egg layer." 

"Right, right," Buck nodded, recalling what he read in Alex’s mission reports. "As a rule, they tend to keep out of the egg chamber, so if she's laying them down there, they might keep their distance. From our earlier encounters, they have drones and spores, no sign of a warrior caste, so the drones may be the ones infiltrating the rest of the institute. From the data gathered from the Sulaco and LV427 about the queen, she displayed highly intelligent behaviour." 

"We must assume so," Ezra agreed. "Telepathically, she was able to connect with Doctor Paracelsus and convince him that he was on a quest of divine enlightenment." 

"I can't believe it," Dralak shook his head, still bewildered by this. "I have worked with the doctor for almost two years. He isn't a foolish man. As a healer, he is rational and compassionate. It is beyond me he could have been so deceived. "

"Look I do not doubt he isn't batshit crazy right now," Buck said without pause as they neared the turbo lift. "But if she's telepathic, we have no idea what she could have done to his mind. If he was exposed because of his high ESPer rating, he might not have been able to fight her off." 

"I agree," Ezra nodded as they waited for the doors to open. "We must also remember that the queen chose to build her nest under the primary heat exchange at the Acheron colony. The one place the Marines who went there could not use their weapons. If that location was chosen strategically, then we have to assume she may have built her nest near the shield generators for the same purpose."

"That could work for us," Buck stated. "If she's done that here, the drones will stay away from the hatchery, which means we might be able to get through before they figure out we're there."

Ezra said nothing since the xenomorph's ability to lay waste to the best plans of mice and men was infamous. Not that he could say anything because when the doors slid open, Ezra found himself staring at a blaster pointed squarely at his belly, courtesy of an Andorian who looked not much older than Shavo, with Paracelsus standing behind him. The doctor was accompanied by two of his Nausicaan guards who were similarly armed and apparently ready to meet resistance. 

"Gentlemen," Paracelsus greeted. "Kindly drop your weapons." 

Despite having a blaster aimed at him, Ezra was unprepared to relinquish his phaser, especially when giving it up meant surrendering to Paracelsus whose insane plan involved implantation by a xenomorph. Ezra would rather take the shot. 

"Not a chance in hell," Buck answered before Ezra could, his own phaser drawn, more than willing to shoot it out in this corridor if they had to. "Your creatures have broken containment, they're moving throughout the facility. This isn't a question of a few of your faithful converts becoming enlightened, this is about everyone here and potentially all the life on this planet becoming hosts." 

Ezra, Buck and Dralak took a cautionary step away from the turbo lift. One of the Nausicaans tensed as if preparing to open fire, but Paracelsus stayed his hand. The First Officer of the Maverick knew immediately it wasn't because the doctor was opposed to violence, but rather because every dead body was one more squandered host. Buck was thinking fast, aware they had to get down to the shield generator as quickly as possible. Every second wasted, was another second allowing the xenomorphs to completely overwhelm the facility. 

"The method may vary, but my purpose has unfolded all the same. We will all know the Queen's blessing." 

"You fool!" Dralak swore with disgust. "One only needs to look at these creatures to know we are nothing but raw material to them." 

Buck flinched at the comment, finding the Borg connotation too close for his liking. 

"Doctor," Buck stared at him with eyes as hard as flint. "Stand aside, or we'll go through you. If you want to stay here and let you and your converts receive a blessing or whatever the hell you want to call it, I can't stop any of you. The other people in this place didn't ask to become purified. You have no right to sacrifice them without their consent." 

"They'll thank me," Paracelsus spoke, sounding as if nothing Buck said had any effect. 

"Oh for God sake!"

Ezra Standish, showing why he was one of the best card players in the fleet with reflexes to match, fired point-blank at the Andorian in front of him. The Andorian, mistakenly letting down his guard during the conversation, was struck before he had a chance to realise the Security Chief's patience had finally reached its limit. The beam sent him sprawling backwards, tumbling into the bodies of the Nausicaans behind him. 

"Come on," Dralak shouted as one of the Nausicaans reacted swiftly, pushing Paracelsus to the side as he opened fire. "We'll take the other lift!" 

Buck dodged the beam of energy that flew over his shoulder, aware that unlike Ezra's phaser, Nausicaan blasters didn't come with stun settings. The bolt struck the wall, turning the white paint finish black. Smoke filled the corridor as he saw Dralak gesturing furiously for them to follow. Buck dropped to one knee, firing at the Nausicaan who took cover behind the open doorway of the lift. The beam impacted harmlessly against the wall, unable to reach his target. 

"Don't harm them!"

Buck heard Paracelsus cry out and once again, his jaw tensed knowing this wasn't for their sake. The doctor was issuing the warning because corpses made poor hosts. Next to him, Ezra fired at the Nausicaans again, keeping them temporarily pinned inside the lift. "Commander, go! I will cover your retreat!" 

"Ezra, we're leaving together!" Buck shouted, not about to let the security chief lag behind for any reason. Ezra's devotion to duty, particularly in protecting the senior officers of his ship, often led him to risk his life, which Buck was not having under any circumstances. 

Behind them, Dralak had turned around and was returning fire, trying to cover them both as the Nausicaans emerged from the lift doors attempting to force the Romulan back and cripple the two Starfleet officers. Ezra continued to fire, watching them close the distance, successfully avoiding his shots until he felt Buck's hand gripping his arm and pulling him away. The security officers started to move when something caught his eye from above. 

A ceiling panel suddenly dropped and following it all the way down, was a xenomorph. 

Buck, who had never seen the thing before could only stare at it. 

All he could think of while gaping at the monstrosity of gunmetal grey, baring its sharp teeth oozing noisome fluid, the video footage brought back from the Sulaco and Fury 361 did not convey just how terrifying it looked. Even though it launched itself at the Nausicaan staring at it with horror seconds after its landing, it felt like an eternity. No one spoke in the wake of their first glimpse of the alien, and the Nausicaan wore an expression of revelation that had little to do with reaching divine purity. 

Perhaps at that moment as he saw those teeth bearing down on him, he realised these creatures had come from the darkest corner of creation not a higher plane of existence. Fear snapped the Nausicaans reason as he attempted to shoot, raising his weapon following his abrupt display of belated clarity.

"DON'T SHOOT IT!" Paracelsus screamed. 

It was a warning they all agreed with for entirely the wrong reasons. The blaster struck the creature in mid-torso, exacting a screeching shriek of agony that ripped through the air. Buck didn't wait around to see what would happen when the energy weapon did its worst on the xenomorph's skin. The First Officer of the Maverick yanked Ezra with him as they bolted further down the hall, turning back just in time to see the xenomorph's body explode. 

The greenish fluid splashed across the room in all directions, bathing the Nausicaan directly in front of the alien. In its death, the toxic blood began eating into everything it touched with a loud, sinister hiss. That sound was eclipsed by the blood-curdling scream of the Nausicaan whose flesh started to disintegrate as if someone had poured scalding water on butter. Buck's stomach clenched in horror at the excruciating agony the man was experiencing and did the only thing he could. 

He fired his phaser. 

The stun setting of the phaser would do nothing to save him, but it would render what was left of his rapidly liquefying brain unconscious. His shrieks of pain were immediately muted but as he continued to dissolve, so was the floor and the walls where the corrosive acid had struck. The alien's corpse sunk through the metal deck, leaving a ragged hole of molten steel and stone as it continued its journey downward. 

"By Romulus," Dralak whispered. "We're going to die." 

"I don't want to hear that!" Buck barked at him, understanding his fear but needing for them to get moving. The only way to prevent more deaths was to lower that shield generator, and after what Buck just saw, they didn't have a lot of time.

Actually, they had no time at all. 

The rest of the ceiling panels attached to the one used by the dead xenomorph to make its arrival, suddenly vanished, ripped away by three of the creatures falling onto the ravaged deck. Attracted by the death cry of their brethren, they landed with cat-like agility, surveying the situation in an instant before launching themselves at the prey in the room. One of the things snatched up the unconscious Andorian Ezra had stunned and disappeared into the gap again. 

"Commander! We are leaving!" Ezra snapped, exchanging places, being the one who was now dragging him along.

Buck paused long enough to see the remaining aliens converging on Paracelsus and his lone Nausicaan follower before he turned on his heels and ran for his life. 

They rounded the corner, unaware whether or not the xenomorphs were following when Dralak shouted at them both. "We can't leave without Kash and Rek! This level has been breached. They can't stay in Operations!"

"Right!" Buck agreed not about to let anyone else be sacrificed to those monsters. 

Fortunately, Operations was on their way to the other turbo lift, and all three ran in full stride, aware their enemy would be coming if not already in pursuit. Ezra wanted to examine the tricorder and get a fix on the creatures, but that was using time they didn't have. The smoke from acid burns began to fill up the hallway, and Ezra wondered if Paracelsus' other Nausicaan minder had opened fire on one of the xenomorphs. A shriek both outraged and ferocity cut through their ears and Ezra knew it was a rallying cry to all the others. 

"We have to get off this level!" Buck shouted, voicing what Ezra suspected. "They'll be coming for us!"

"You read my mind Commander," Ezra agreed as they saw Dralak arriving at the door to Operations.

"Dralak wait!" Buck called as he saw the man activating the door panel. 

His demand did not register as the Romulan rushed in. Buck uttered a curse of annoyance, understanding Dralak's impatience because he had a relationship with Rekellen, but with the appearance of the xenomorph on this level they could take nothing for granted. Then again, Buck was swimming upstream of Romulan passion and having had to deal with the Vulcan variety in the past, knew he was fighting a losing battle. 

Exchanging a look of exasperation with Ezra, the two Starfleet officers followed him into Dralak and stopped short. 

It was empty. 

There was no sign of Rekellen, Kash or even Shavo. The only sounds of life were coming over the comm systems as multiple screens showed the nightmarish scenes of xenomorphs infiltrating almost every floor of the Institute. Only the uppermost level where the transporters were located seemed unaffected. For now. Elsewhere, terrified faces in corridors and rooms were suddenly obscured by blurry shadows that moved too fast for the recorder to capture, before leaving those spaces devoid of any life a second later. 

Buck stared at the screen, horrified by the sight of people being taken by the xenomorphs. He fought the urge to draw the conclusion JD might be somewhere in this accursed place about to become a host to an embryo. The horror of it was more than he could bear, but he reigned it in. If he succumbed to his fears for JD, he would be useful to no one, and none of them would leave this place. 

The kid was alive. Buck refused to believe anything else. 

Meanwhile, Ezra had started examining the room, trying to determine what happened here, although the lack of bodies painted a painfully clear picture. He spared a glance at Dralak who was standing next to Rekellen's empty seat, a look of anguish on his face. At that moment, he didn't look too unlike Vin after they'd discovered Alex's abduction on Fury 361.

"Commander," Ezra called out, capturing Buck's attention from the monitor screens. 

"What have you found?" Buck asked although he could guess. 

Overhead, ceiling panels had been removed in places while one or two had been ripped in half, with deep grooves in the metal that resembled the claw marks of a creature capable of tearing through steel. One of the screens was smoking, no doubt the recipient of an errant blaster shot. Ruined wiring and circuits were still spitting embers through the shattered display. Across another screen, where Shavo was seated, was a splatter of blue blood across the dark glass. Buck wondered if Shavo had survived to get his blessing or had the xenomorphs killed him.

If there did, he would be here, Buck reasoned. The aliens had no use for a corpse. 

"This," Ezra gestured to the floor. 

Buck sucked in his breath as he saw the Nausicaan blaster they'd liberated from the guards lying across the floor, covered in the familiar translucent, thick resin. Dralak, drawn out of his stupor of grief, stumbled next to Buck and looked down at the weapon they'd last seen in Rekellen's hand. 

"They killed her," Dralak whispered anguished. "They've killed Rek!" 

"No," Buck clenched his shoulder and made the Romulan look at him. "There are no bodies here. That means they've been taken for embryo implantation. If we can get to her and the others, we might be able to save them. Dralak, I need you to pull yourself together. We've got to get to Sub-Level 25. The only way we can help them is to get them to the Maverick. Do you understand?" 

The question seemed to snap Dralak out of his stunned state, and he blinked several times in quick succession as if needing to dispel the stupor he had been in. 

"Yes, yes, I do. Come on," Dralak spoke with renewed focus and started jogging towards the door, expecting Buck and Ezra to follow. "It's this way to the other lift." 

Without argument, they followed him out, leaving behind the voices screaming through the comms for help. 

When the gold shimmer of the transporter beam faded from his eyes, Chris Larabee was frankly amazed JD Dunne had not been returned to the Maverick with severe hypothermia. 

The landscape surrounding the second Away Team after their materialisation on the surface of Tenarus revealed a treacherous wilderness of wide glacial plains scarified by harsh blizzard winds and enclosed by jagged mountain ranges. In the nearby distance, the prison facility appeared through the haze of snow, and while it ought to look like a shelter in a storm, to Chris, the ancient origins of the structure made it look more ominous than impressive. 

After agreeing to let JD accompany the Away team, they beamed onto the surface of the planet fully armed with the same weapons used by the Colonial Marines of LV426. Despite being bombarded with a litany of reasons why he ought to be staying on the Maverick, Chris ignored Alex’s entreaties and maintained command of the mission as intended. Under any circumstances, he would have heeded Alex’s advice, but he had a blind spot when it came to the xenomorphs. They had to be destroyed and he would trust no one else to lead their annihilation other than himself. 

“Vin, you take point,” Chris spoke beneath the faceplate of his enviro-suit. “Use your tricorder to find the tunnel entrance.” 

“Aye Sir,” Vin stepped forward, virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the Away Team in their suits which looked like a formidable hybrid of cold-weather gear and battle armour. Although the Vulcan hated arctic temperatures, he was also the only one of them who possessed reflexes fast enough to take on a xenomorph, not to mention rip one apart with his bare hands if he was pissed off enough. 

“Drew, scan the area. I want to know how many of those things have gotten out of the facility.” 

“Yes Captain,” Drew Katovit nodded after gesturing to his security team to flank the Captain while producing the tricorder Julia Pemberton calibrated to detect the creatures’ odd silicon-based life readings. 

“Captain,” Kate spoke up, “if these things reproduce as prolifically as you’ve said, can we assume they might try to reach the other indigenous life forms on the planet?” 

As much as Chris hated to admit it was a possibility he couldn’t discount. “It is, and we’ll have to solve that problem when we get to it. It may be necessary to quarantine this entire planet if the aliens have expanded beyond the Institute.” 

“I gave them a way out,” JD frowned, realising if this took place, it would be the result of his escape with Holly using the same route Jerry Lambert had taken to flee the institute. “They’ve gotten loose because of me.” 

“Don’t even go there,” Chris said sharply, turning to JD who was walking next to him. “If you didn’t get out, we wouldn’t have a way to help Buck and the others. There’s only one reason this happened because Paracelsus let it.” 

“Yes Sir,” JD nodded and even though Chris couldn’t see him through the faceplate of his suit, the Captain suspected the words would mean little to the man if the aliens succeeded in infesting Tenarus. 

Vin left Chris behind, going on ahead, holding his pulse rifle with one hand while scanning for the sluice tunnel concealed by wind and snow. As he studied the display, he was also mindful of the flurry of movement before him. The snow made it difficult to see and like Chris, Vin was amazed JD and Holly had survived this blizzard when they emerged into it without suits. As it was, the temperature was south of -60 degrees and if the Maverick hadn’t found the duo, they would have been dead in minutes. 

The tunnel’s location appeared in the tricorder display a few seconds later with the sensors using the structure’s composition to hone in on its location. It was just over the next small hill. “I’ve found it!” Vin spoke up loudly, trying to be heard over the roar of the wind. “It’s just above that snowbank!” He gestured at Chris and the others as he started forward. 

“Vin, hold up!” Chris warned, remembering that the alien had no difficulty in cold weather. The things could survive in a vacuum and would be more adaptable to this weather than the Away Team. As much as Chris wanted to get into the facility and find Mary and the others, he knew he had to be cautious. On Fury 361, he’d behaved recklessly and cost the security team their lives. 

He would never make that mistake again. 

Vin maintained his position as instructed, knowing how testy Chris could get with anything related to the xenomorphs. He lowered the tricorder, preparing to hook it to his belt when something that didn’t seem like the frenzied swirling of snow entered the extreme left of his vision. The Maverick’s helmsman turned around just in time to see the xenomorph coming out of the snow, its black exoskeleton almost grey from the white flecks. It moved across the snow at surprising speed, giving Vin just enough time to raise the Pulse rifle and pulled the trigger. 

Chris saw Vin’s silhouette through the blizzard and was on approach when the sound of gunfire ripped through the air, banishing the howling of the wind to background noise.

“VIN!” 

Chris bolted forward brandishing his weapon, ready to shoot when he saw a xenomorph avoiding the barrage of bullets Vin fired at him. The creature pounced at Vin but the helmsman managed to jump clear and prevent the xenomorph from bringing him down. The Vulcan spun around just as quickly and slammed the butt of the Pulse rifle against the side of the xenomorph’s skull, disorientating it. Taken by surprise at the fact its prey was far more formidable than expected, the creature swished its tail in Vin's direction. The helmsman ducked, dropping to his knees to avoid being swatted aside before firing again. 

This time the hail of bullets met its mark and as the shells tore apart the xenomorph’s body. Vin had just enough time to register its dark exoskeleton rupturing, spewing forth tides of deadly acid when a hand yanked him backwards. The noxious blood splattered across the snow, filling the air with toxic fumes as it created craters in the snow-covered ground. In front of him, the xenomorph's body disintegrated the snow beneath it, sinking into its depths like a torpedoed ship. 

“Thanks, Pard,” Vin glanced at Chris as the rest of the Away Team caught up with them. 

“Anytime,” Chris returned, staring at the carcass turning the snow into slush the deeper it sank into the glacial plain. “I guess there’s no question they found a way out.”

“I’m afraid so Captain,” Drew came up alongside him.

The tone of his voice put Chris on guard telling him nothing good was coming from the Assistant Chief of Security. “What is it?”

“I’ve detected at least six of the creatures are on the loose,” Drew reported. 

The statement immediately prompted Vin to get on his feet and conduct a visual survey of the area, trying to see through the blizzard for any signs of the xenomorphs closing in on their location. In the snowstorm, he could only see a few feet ahead and the snow was moving so fast across the landscape it was impossible to distinguish anything through the drift. 

“Location?” Chris demanded, doing the same as soon as Drew mentioned that number. 

“Not in our location,” Drew answered quickly. “The one we just encountered appears to be a straggler. I’m afraid they’re spreading out Captain, they’re heading into the wilderness.” 

“They’re searching for hosts,” JD gulped, his worst fears realized. 

Chris’s jaw ticked, aware of what that would mean for the native wildlife of Tenarus. If left unchecked, the xenomorphs would very quickly spread out across the continent, turning the entire planet into a hive. All it would take was one ship to land on this world for the aliens to escape containment, as they had done in the Institute. 

Closing his eyes slowly, he tapped his combadge. “Captain to Maverick, come in.” 

“Captain,” Alex’s voice replied immediately. “What’s your status? Is everything alright?”

“We’re all fine Commander,” Chris replied, omitting to tell her about Vin’s most recent encounter with a xenomorph. “Commander, we’ve detected signs of the creatures escaping the facility. Right now, they’re out in the wilderness, hunting for prey.” 

“Captain, if they succeed in implanting the indigenous life forms...”

“I know,” Chris cut her off before she could finish the statement. Just one of the xenomorphs was capable of producing a handful of eggs for the purpose of implantation. It would take only one of those to be nurtured into a queen. “Commander, I want you to use the Maverick’s sensors and scan for any silicon-based lifeform outside the facility and fire phasers at their location. I want the target range over a half-mile radius.”

Everyone except Vin gaped at the Captain in shock. Vin was sure if Alex were here, she would probably be displaying similar astonishment at the order. However, as extreme as Chris’s solution was, Vin knew it was the only way to save the planet from becoming a xenomorph nest.

“Did you hear me, Commander?” Chris asked when Alex didn’t respond. 

“Yes Captain,” she replied, composed from her shock. “Readying phaser banks now.” 

“Good. We’ll check in once we’re inside the structure,” Chris ended the transmission before regarding his Away Team. “Let’s get moving.”

Although seemingly safe inside the safety of the security force field in the Infirmary, both Nathan Jackson and Josiah Sanchez knew it was only a matter of time before the aliens found a way into their sanctuary. Trapped inside the CMO’s office, they were forced to watch through monitors and listen through combadges, the chaos taking place throughout the facility. It seemed Buck’s action of evacuating everyone to the upper levels had merely delayed the carnage, not halted it. 

The xenomorphs were on the loose and through the displays, Josiah and Nathan watched hapless inmates and staff being snatched away by blurred images that moved in and out of view in a second. Only the harrowing memory of inch-long fangs dripping with slick fluid, the curve of a distended head and the spindly tail remained behind in the aftermath. Those who had been screaming, whose terrified faces spoke of the coming attack, disappeared soon after. 

“How long do you think it will take them to get through here?” Josiah asked, staring at the ceiling and feeling some measure of gratitude to see the force field array providing a canopy of protection. At least the xenomorphs were not coming through the ceiling vents as it had done earlier.

“Hopefully not before the Maverick figures out how to get us out of here,” Nathan replied, casting a look at Mary who still remained cocooned in the stasis pod, far safer than any of them at present. At least the xenomorphs would leave her alone while she was still undergoing the implantation process. The doctor was presently seated at one of the terminals, scrolling through streams of data in careful scrutiny. 

“Counsellor Sanchez to Away Team, come in.” Josiah tapped his combadge, hoping to reach Buck and the others. With everything in the Institute going to hell, the Away team hadn’t checked in with each other since the First Officer ordered them to bring Mary here. 

“Josiah! This is Buck! What’s your status?”

Josiah exchanged a look of relief with Nathan before he resumed speaking. “We’re still in the Infirmary. Nathan managed to get Mary into a stasis pod, but we had to erect the emergency force-field in the CMO’s office because we had company.” 

“Are you alright?” Ezra’s voice interrupted before Buck could respond. 

“We are for now,” Josiah assured the Security Chief, aware of how Ezra could be when he thought anyone under his charge was in trouble. “The security grid is keeping them out, but we’ve heard nothing from JD. What about you?”

Josiah didn’t have to see the expression on Buck’s face to know that the pause that followed was answer enough. Inwardly Josiah prayed JD and Holly had found a safe place to hide, but the boy hadn’t attempted to contact them via coms and that was pretty damning proof it might be too late for the young lieutenant. Still, for Buck’s sake, Josiah chose not to voice that possibility. 

“No, nothing,” Buck spoke after a moment. “We’ll have to look for him later. Right now, we’re heading towards Sub-Level 25. We’re planning on shutting down the force-field generator.” 

“Is that wise?” Josiah asked, concerned that Buck and Ezra were entering the proverbial lion’s den. 

“At this point, we don’t have a choice. If we don’t shut down the force field and get help from the Maverick, none of us are leaving this place alive.”

Unfortunately, Josiah couldn’t argue with Buck on that point. “Alright Commander, good luck.” 

With that, the channel fell silent and Josiah swore, hating it that he was trapped in here with Nathan while Buck and Ezra went into the maw of madness. As it was, the Counsellor was struggling to keep his fury under control, because he still couldn’t believe the architect of all this death and horror was a fellow physician, worst yet, someone he considered a friend. 

“What are you up to?” Josiah turned to Nathan, noticing the healer was studying the data on the screen intently. The Counsellor needed something to distract him from worrying about his friends while they were trapped in here. 

“I’m going through Paracelsus’s research.” 

“He’s not a medical doctor,” Josiah pointed out, taking the seat in the empty terminal next to him. “Can it help you?” 

“Yeah, I think it can. Fortunately, medical data isn’t locked up as tight as his permissions for Operations so I was able to access his private files using my Starfleet Medical override. No matter how much he might consider this his private fiefdom, Tenarus Institute is still a civilian facility and I can get access to those.” 

Josiah supposed in the scheme of things Starfleet would always carry a bigger stick than most of the other organisations in the Federation. “So what have you learned?”

“As you said, he could only record general medical data in regards to Callie’s condition, but the progression of her implantation is well-documented. Apparently, she was one of the engineering teams setting up sensor devices across the Sulaco before it ended up at the Lunar Museum. During a work detail of the engine core, she came into contact with a dead xenomorph spore.”

“Dead?” Josiah started, wondering how all this could have been set in motion by one dead carcass. 

“Yeah,” Nathan nodded, “remember, under the Captain’s recommendation, they zapped the whole ship with a baryon sweep to sterilise it. If we missed a spore, not entirely impossible considering how huge the Sulaco is, it could have killed it. According to Paracelsus, the spore was in a desiccated state when Callie ran into it, meaning she might have inhaled particulates from the dead husk.” 

“That’s what Gabriel meant,” Josiah understood at last, “when he said she breathed in its essence.”

“Exactly. Now we know the xenomorph’s highly adaptive, but even so cells mutating would need to find the optimum place for growth. I would say that was why it didn’t show up on scans immediately after the event. The girl just walked out of Starfleet Medical with no idea she was carrying a timebomb.” 

“That poor child,” Josiah shook his head. “Would we have been able to help her if we had gotten to her soon enough?” 

Nathan eased back into his chair and considered the possibility. “I don’t know. These life forms are like nothing I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve dealt with some pretty alien species over my career. If we had gotten to her early enough and understood what we were looking at, perhaps.”

“So it was already too late by the time Gabriel found her?” 

“Yeah,” Nathan admitted sadly. “I think it was. According to Paracelsus’s data, the embryo wasn’t implanted in the sternum but in utero. I think it adapted itself to her reproductive system, using it to nurture the alien queen.”

“I suppose we ought to be grateful Mary got implanted the old fashioned way,” Josiah frowned, staring at the Protocol Officer in her stasis tube. “Nathan, can you get that thing off her?”

Nathan didn’t answer. Instead, his attention was fixed on the plexiglass window. It took but a second for Josiah to follow his gaze to realise what had captured the healer’s attention so completely. Entering the room through the main entrance of the institute’s clinic was Gabriel Paracelsus. 

The doctor looked as if he were in a daze, trying to come to grips with what was taking place around him. He surveyed the room before his eyes rested on Josiah and Nathan on the other side of the plexiglass. 

“Joey, you’re still here.” 

“Thanks to you, we can’t go anywhere,” Josiah returned coldly, no longer seeing this man as a friend, but as a mass murderer. “What do you want Gabriel? Your grand plan is underway. Shouldn’t you be soaking up the accolades? Look at those displays! See those faces? Isn’t this what you wanted?”

Paracelsus’ brow furrowed as his gaze dropped to the floor, and his expression became one of confusion as if he were uncertain about what he’d wrought. “I don’t understand, we were supposed to be blessed, to reach enlightenment,” he raised his eyes to Josiah. “Why are they treating us like the enemy?”

“Because we’re not the enemy!” Josiah snapped, unable to believe the man could be so lost in his own narrative he couldn’t see the truth. “We’re hosts, all of us! They’re not coming to save us, Gabriel! All they care about is breeding. If you hadn’t been so wrapped up in your delusions of grandeur, you would have seen that? For God sake, how could you not see any of it!”

“I could hear her talking to me,” Paracelsus looked at him stricken. “She spoke to me, Joey! Only to me! She’s angry with me. That’s why this is happening.” 

“What?” Josiah felt his heart sink, thinking that perhaps Gabriel had reached a watershed moment, where he understood the folly of his ways, but then realised the man’s ego simply would not allow it. That he had been so misled. His delusion was becoming a snake eating its own tail and the only way to cope with the catastrophe he caused was to produce a more outlandish reason for its cause. 

“Oh shit,” Nathan cursed as more xenomorphs lowered into the room from the ceiling. 

Both healers took a step back as Paracelsus found himself flanked by two of the creatures. They had yet to attack, mostly because they sensed the presence of the spore on Mary Travis’s face. The same hesitation that saved Nathan and Josiah earlier kept Paracelsus from falling prey to the xenomorphs in front of him.

“I have to prove myself to her,” Paracelsus exclaimed, the mania in his eyes horrified Josiah as he saw something implode inside his old friend as if the man could see nothing else but his queen.

“Gabriel, hold still!” He shouted, drawing the attention of the xenomorphs to him. In truth, Josiah had no idea how to help the man, not from this side of the energy field.

“I can prove myself to her!” Paracelsus cried out, drawing the creatures to him again. “I’ll bring her this blessing!” 

With horror, Josiah realised he meant Mary. The doctor took steps towards the stasis pod, intending to open up the capsule that was Mary’s salvation. Both creatures tensed, their screeching growing even more ferocious. However, Paracelsus cared little for this. The fantasy consuming the doctor had swallowed him whole and Josiah could only watch helplessly as it played out to its final, grisly end. When he saw the xenomorphs react to the man’s advance towards the spore and its host, Josiah knew that moment was now.

“GABRIEL! DON’T!” 

Gabriel Paracelsus never had the chance to reach the pod because both xenomorphs pounced, misunderstanding the doctor’s advance to be an attack on the spore. The blessing he intended to deliver to every one of them, was a gift he would never know himself as they tore him apart.

The unspoken rule on board the Maverick was if Ezra Standish was afraid, you better pay attention. 

For the senior officers of the Maverick, this was a rule both Chris Larabee and Buck Wilmington observed without question. Since coming on board the starship, the two senior officers had learned the Chief of Security's nose for trouble was without peer. While most considered Ezra the best card player in Starfleet, Chris had brought Ezra on board the Maverick as its Security Chief because he thought the man the best investigator there was.

Perhaps it was due to his unorthodox upbringing travelling the gambling circuit with his mother that allowed him to read people at the poker table as well as away from it. Whatever it was that made him such an astute investigator, Chris relied upon it and so did Buck. 

Right now, Ezra was afraid, and that didn't bode well for what lay ahead. 

Inside the still functioning turbo lift, Buck, Ezra and Dralak were descending into the mouth of madness. Thanks to the operations officer, they were able to bypass the restrictions set in place by Doctor Paracelsus for unauthorised persons to reach Sub-Level 25. The Romulan's status as one of the senior operations staff gave him access to the area, though until now, there had never been a reason for him to journey there. Meanwhile, their combadges allowed them to hear the frantic cries of more and more inmates and staff falling prey to the xenomorphs. 

Whatever containment Doctor Paracelsus had believed he put in place to keep the creatures restricted to sub-level 25 had predictably failed. The aliens had the run of the facility now, and not even the evacuation to the upper levels protected them. While some of the facility's personnel were armed, it only took one shot from a blaster for the security of the floor to be breached. The xenomorph's corrosive blood ate through the floor and kept going, creating new entry points for their brethren to infest the area. 

"Ezra what can we expect?" Buck asked because Ezra had said nothing, and Ezra Standish quiet was a rarity in itself. 

Ezra took a deep breath, composing himself because he was not about to deny what he was feeling was terror. 

On Fury 361, he'd seen his entire security team decimated and the image of the black swarm sweeping across the prison facility, closing in on the Away Team and their transport still haunted his dreams. Except for being captured by Borg, being taken by a xenomorph as a host was probably the worst way he could imagine dying. Ezra had hoped to never reencounter the monstrous creatures, but Fate could be a cruel beast when she so desired. 

"The queen's ability to produce eggs is quite prolific," Ezra explained, the gentle pulse of the turbo lift repeating in the background as they descended. "Judging from what I saw on Fury, she was able to produce hundreds of progeny, which is why the xenomorph's primary objective is to acquire hosts. I believe at present they are doing just that, acquiring as many as they can find to begin implantation. Therefore, we may not encounter as many of them when we approach the hatchery since the adults would be spreading out throughout the facility." 

"What about Kash and Rek?" Dralak asked, his Romulan passion barely restrained because two of his friends were now in the hatchery, most likely already implanted. 

Ezra didn't speak, but his silence spoke volumes. 

"Dralak," Buck assured him. "If the worst has happened, we'll get them back to the Maverick. Our CMO believes they can be removed by transporter technology. The xenomorphs have a particular type of physiology, we can lock-on and remove the embryo if they've been implanted."

"Hells," Dralak cursed, not wanting it to get even that far. "This would depend on how quickly we can get to them, right?"

"Yes," Ezra couldn't lie to him, and in truth, he didn't know himself. The gestation period varied. In the reports downloaded from the Sulaco and then from the observations of the Bishop android recovered on Fury 361, the process could take hours or days. With the mutation of the xenomorph's DNA inhaled by poor Callie Leech, there was no telling how the implantation process was affected. As it was, they were in a race against time to save Mary Travis. Right now, the only thing keeping her from suffering the fate of other hosts, was the stasis pod she was presently encased. 

God only knew how the Captain would react when he learned of her condition. 

"Okay," Buck spoke up as he saw the digital counter on the wall revealing their approach to the depths of the facility. "We're right at the bottom, so we don't have to worry about causing breaches. We shoot to kill and make sure we do it at a minimum safe distance." 

"When we move through the hatchery," Ezra added, "I would recommend silence. The spores react to oscillation and sound, we cannot avoid producing the first, but we can certainly practise the second."

"What about this queen?" Dralak asked, "Is she capable of movement?"

"The specimen we encountered in Fury remained attached to the umbilical appendage and appeared quite immobile, but once she breaks free of that restraint, she is quite formidable." 

"Well let's make sure that doesn't happen," Buck stated. "How far is the generator from the turbo lift?" He glanced at Dralak as he saw the approach of Sub-Level 25. 

"80 meters," Dralak replied just as the lift came to a halt. "We should be able to see it the instant we step off the lift." 

"SUB-LEVEL 25."

"Ezra, keep your combadge on mute." Buck reminded. "No communicators." 

"A wise precaution," Ezra agreed and tapped the device to silence it for what came next. 

All three men immediately tensed, gripping their weapons just a little tighter by the announcement made. As the floor beneath them lurched by the lift’s gradual halt, no one knew what to expect. Thanks to Paracelsus's desire for secrecy regarding his 'project', all monitoring devices on the sub-level were disabled. The door slid open with a slight hiss, and all they braced themselves for the worst. 

It was the heat they felt first. 

Humid air rushed into the space within the lift, like a hot belch in their faces. The mist that reminded Buck of a tropical rain forest followed soon after. He took the lead, because he was First Officer and because if he didn't, Ezra would be doing it instead. The lighting on the sub-level still functioned, but it was obscured and cast too many shadows for his liking. When they stepped out of the lift, Buck understood why. 

"Jesus Christ.”

Instead of a vast room for storage where the shield generator should have held court, they stepped into what might have been an unknown alien landscape. Dark, organic formations constructed from whatever material were available at the time created a maze of narrow passages and cavernous walls. Surfaces gleamed with the slick moisture of too much humidity, hardening resin and other viscous fluid none of the men present care to name. It was a nest worthy of the creatures who inhabited it. 

"Oh, I did not ever wish to see this sight again." Ezra said to no one in particular, following Buck out of the lift. 

"Again?" 

"This is exactly like the nest we encountered on Fury 361," the Chief explained to Dralak as he unhooked his tricorder and examined the dark display. During their trip in the lift, he'd calibrated the device to locate all life signs, including the silicon-based readings produced by the xenomorphs. "On that occasion, they constructed the nest as a free-standing structure, using any materials capable of fitting the purpose, including corpses and bones."

"Where did they come from?" 

"We're not sure," Buck admitted, remembering Chris's log reports. "Our Captain seems to believe they may have originated from outside the galaxy. The original discovery was made by humans 300 years ago. They described a ship of unknown origin. What footage we've seen of the craft indicates a design we've never seen before. Furthermore, no civilisation we know has ever encountered these species either."

"Commander," Ezra spoke up when his muted tricorder flashed readings across the screen. "I'm detecting at least a dozen life signs in that direction," he pointed to one of the winding pathways to the left, "including four xenomorphs." 

As much as Buck wanted to save those people, he knew it was more critical they destroyed the generator first. Once the forcefield was lowered, the Maverick could send help for everyone. "We need to keep going towards the force field generator." 

"What about those people!" Dralak hissed, and even though he did not use Rekellen's name, the Starfleet officers knew that was who he meant. 

"Dralak," Buck bit back in a lower voice to prompt the man into doing the same. "We need to lower the force field first so we can get them help. Right now, nowhere in this facility is safe. We've lost the Institute, do you understand?"

Dralak wanted to respond but held his tongue when he realised the human was right. There was no point freeing Rek and any of the other friends captured by these monsters if there was nowhere to take them, even if they did escape implantation which he was too much the realist to assume. 

"Of course," he nodded begrudgingly. 

"Good," Buck replied and started moving first, leading the way. "Ezra, tell us if any one of them gets close." 

"I will. However, it appears the life signs are close to the force field generator, so we may find both." 

For some reason, that didn't give Buck much comfort.

Leading the way, he was conscious of every sound and shadow. Since they agreed to keep their voices down, none of them spoke which made the place seem more sinister than ever. The silence was broken on occasion by the sound of something wet tearing or the plink plink plink of water droplets splattering on some unseen surface. It felt like they were walking through the belly of some beast that had yet to awaken.

For reasons he could not explain, Buck thought this felt a lot like a Borg hive and the association made him shudder. As he moved past the formations, he saw pieces of equipment forced into place with furniture, held together with resin, hardened until it set like rock. The construct was bizarre, and Buck wondered if everything the xenomorphs did was for functionality. Did this species have any considerations beyond its primary instinct to breed? 

"Commander," Ezra warned. "Stop." 

Buck froze in his tracks, not asking why. Up ahead, he saw something moving, something the size of a man but did not appear remotely human. The xenomorph had not sensed his presence, and Buck watched the grotesque creature sprinting past, its powerful tail swishing behind it as it ran across the path ahead. It almost disappeared into the shadows again when it paused suddenly. Buck's breath died in his throat, and for a second, he imagined the xenomorph had spotted them and would utter that awful shriek bringing the others. 

Instead, it pivoted its elongated head, trying to locate the source of the sound that made it pause in the first place, its teeth bared in annoyance when it could not find the cause. After a second, it started moving away, vanishing into the shadows cast by the labyrinthian architecture.

Buck let out a breath and was convinced Ezra and Dralak did the same before he started moving again, clutching his phaser tighter after that near miss. Behind him, he saw the faint glow of the tricorder illuminating Ezra's face. No doubt, the Chief was making sure they had no surprises coming out at them. Buck wondered if the xenomorphs fashioned this place in this manner for defensive purposes. Aside from providing them with the perfect environment for camouflage, it disorientated trespassers. 

He stepped through an archway that was composed of tubing, parts of a table and what looked like someone's tool bench to enter another chamber. Now the air was not just humid, but rancid. His stomach immediately lurched with the odour of something putrid and Buck found himself breathing through his mouth to keep from gagging. Behind him, he could hear the sharp intake of breath from both Ezra and Dralak, telling him they were similarly nauseated. 

Somebody moaned, and Buck was about to tell whoever it was to dummy up when he realised the voice hadn't come from behind him, but rather from ahead.

"Commander," Ezra said, "we are approaching the life signs." 

Ezra needed not have told him because Buck saw it for himself a split second earlier. Until that moment, he thought seeing the interior of a Borg ship, with bodies lined up in alcoves one after the other was the most awful thing he'd ever seen. After today, his definition of horror would need new measures because he doubted he would ever forget the scene before him right now. 

He counted at least a dozen people held in place against the walls, their bodies covered in slick resin, now hardened to the density of concrete. Like the toys of some unseen child, they were held there with no thought to comfort, their bodies twisted at an angle to fit the aliens' design and bones broken to make them fit in the grim tapestry across the wall. Legs dangled off the ground, arms flopped loose and heads drooped forward in contrition for the sin that condemned them here. Yet that was not even the worst of it. 

In front of every single one of them was an unsealed alien egg. 

"Oh my God," Ezra whispered.

Buck didn't have to look over his shoulder to see Ezra's gambler's composure shock to the core. 

More moans were heard, and this came from those who had already been implanted. Lying on the deck in front of them, were the spores delivering the alien seed. Buck wondered if these poor souls had any idea what kind of death Doctor Paracelsus inflicted upon them. Others were still undergoing the process, and Buck's jaw tightened with horror when he saw two or three victims with spores still attached to their faces.

Despite himself, he searched the victims and saw no sign of a Starfleet uniform. Wherever he was, Buck could at least be assured JD Dunne wasn't here. He still feared the worst for the young man because JD could very well be in another chamber like this, somewhere else in this hell. However, Buck would take what little comfort he could in the kid's absence. If JD were in here, Buck had no idea whether or not he could function. It was bad enough seeing Mary with a spore attached to her face, he couldn't imagine the horror of finding someone he knew in here...

Then as if Fate was showing just how cruel she could be, a voice called out in the darkness. 

"Dray?" 

It came from directly above them. All three men looked up and saw a familiar face above them. Rekellen. Her cheeks were smeared with slime, and her skin was damp with sweat. Most of her body was concealed beneath the weird alien resin keeping her restrained to the wall with her feet suspended over the floor. Buck winced seeing her and turned immediately to Dralak whose expression was nothing short of aghast. Once again, Buck thanked God Nathan had sense enough to get Mary to a stasis pod to spare her the nightmare Rekellen was enduring now. 

"Rek," Dralak whispered, the anguish in his face couldn't be hidden even if he was grateful to see her. However, what pleasure in knowing she was still alive was dashed by the unsealed egg in front of her.

"It's inside me Dray!" She started to weep, and the tears running down her face stabbed the heart of not only her lover but the two humans behind him. "I think I can feel it moving."

Dralak dropped his gaze to his feet, unable to meet her eyes. He knew the xenomorph's method of reproduction, and the horrible Fate before her if they didn't get her and the other poor souls trapped here to the Starfleet ship in orbit above Tenarus.

"We're going to help you Rek," he reached for her and was only able to take her hand because she was too high above him for anything else. "We've got to lower the force field generator so the Federation ship can beam all of you to their Sick Bay. I promise you, you will not end here." 

"Damn straight," Buck added his voice to the conversation. "We're not leaving any of you behind, but we have to disable the generator first. Once you're on the Maverick, the best doctor I know is going to do everything he can to get that thing out of you." He said those words not just to assure Rekellen but to remind Dralak they had to get moving. Their arrival at this chamber meant the hatchery was close and they needed to reach the generator before those eggs hatched, and its spores came hunting for them. 

"Please Dray," she wept, her eyes showing her terror because she too knew what was going to happen. "If you can't get me out, you need to kill me. I don't want to die seeing that thing coming out of me...!"

"I will never let that happen to you Rek," Dralak promised, blinking away his own torment because she needed his strength to endure this ordeal. As a Romulan, he knew how to be pragmatic, but he couldn't bear to sacrifice her, not like this. "But I need to leave you for a little while, so we can lower the force field. That's the only way to get that monstrosity out of your body."

She nodded in understanding but still broke down and started to weep. Buck, who had found Kash taken at the same time, was relieved to see the young man unconscious. If luck was with them, the kid would wake up in Sick Bay without ever realising what was growing inside of him. A few others were awake, crying out for death, while some weren't aware of what was happening. He wondered how many of these were Paracelsus's converted. 

"Commander," Ezra spoke up, wanting to get moving because staying in one place was dangerous. 

Buck didn't need him to finish. He gripped Dralak's shoulder, perfectly aware of what kind of hell this was for the man. "We have to go."

Dralak nodded, pulling away from Rek, forcing himself to stay focused because to remain was to doom her to death. The only way to save her now was to follow through on their plan.

"I'll be back for you," he said once more before she disappeared out of view. "I promise." 

Rek didn't reply, but as they left the chamber behind, all three heard her weeping. 

Hurrying out of the chamber leaving behind the moans of the others, not to mention her sobs, the Romulan followed the two Starfleet officers. They drew away from the area with haste, no doubt to spare him any further agony. The next chamber, however, offered no easement in their torment as they discovered the source of the rancid stench that filled their lungs the minute they stepped out of the lift.

Unlike the previous chamber where the hosts waited for salvation, there was no such hope in this one. For every person here, it was already too late. 

The bodies attached to this wall had one thing in common. All their sternums had exploded outward, and the deadly seed emerging from them was no doubt the adult drones gathering new hosts throughout the facility. Strewn across the floor covered in rotting meat and blood, were the spore carcasses. As horrific as the previous chamber had been, this was worse. There was no help for any of these poor souls who most likely had no idea what happened to them, even as the xenomorph infants were tearing through their flesh. 

"I know some of these people," Dralak whispered. "They were inmates and staff. Doctor Paracelsus told us they had left or were discharged." 

Ezra's jaw tensed. "I suppose he had to concoct a tale to avoid suspicion." 

"I want to kill these things. want them all to burn." 

Buck said nothing, but he agreed wholeheartedly with that statement, and he had a feeling when Chris Larabee saw what became of Mary Travis in this place, the Captain of the Maverick would ensure everything would burn. 

"Hell is not a place. It is a state of mind conjured by the deepest, darkest well of one's depravity, entered willingly by a rope of guilt after death."

In this instance, it was not a rope leading them into hell, but a long, dark tunnel equally symbolic. As the Away Team descended into the sluice tunnel leading them into Sub-Level 25, Chris Larabee wondered if Gabriel Paracelsus had any idea what kind of nightmare he was unleashing upon the world by his cultivation of a xenomorph nest. Listening to JD describe Jerry Lambert's fate, Chris decided he was no better than those fools at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation revealed by the tapes recovered from the Sulaco.

The tunnel JD had taken to escape the force field surrounding the Institute was like taking the final walk through the gallows, with pervading darkness beyond the range of their torches. The xenomorph's presence was painfully clear by the patches of resin along the walls and the gaping holes in the floor. Acidic blood spilt had eaten through the rock, taking with it the carcass left behind as it disappeared into the earth. 

"And this is why we're using these rifles instead of phasers," Chris said to the Security Team, just in case they still had doubts about using these ancient pulse rifles. 

"No kidding," Drew muttered through Chris's comms. 

"Captain," Kate spoke up. "According to the tricorder, we've passed the force field barrier." 

"Then our combadges should work," JD stated excitedly, glad they could now try to find the rest of the stranded Away Team. 

Chris was well ahead of him. "Captain to Away Team, come in. Repeat, this is the Captain. Report." 

They stood in the darkness, praying that the worst had not happened. That Paracelsus's insanity had not wiped out their comrades, just as surely as it had done to Jerry Lambert and the other poor souls trapped in this place. 

"Chris, it is damn good to hear your voice," Josiah Sanchez replied. 

Chris let out a sigh of relief and saw a similar reaction from the others in the tunnel with him. "Likewise, Counsellor, what's the situation?"

"Doctor Paracelsus has been creating a nest of the xenomorphs on Sub-Level 25 of the facility. He went completely insane, Chris. He was in direct telepathic communication with the xenomorph queen and believed it was some kind of divine message. Somehow an engineer named Callie Leech..."

"From the Sulaco," Chris stopped him. "Josiah, JD managed to escape through the tunnel Jerry Lambert used to get out of the Institute. He told us most of what Paracelsus has done."

"JD's with you?" Josiah's relief was palpable. "Thank God, we had no idea where he was."

While Chris couldn't see JD's face through the visor, the Captain could tell the young man was just as grateful to the friends he left behind were alive and well." 

"He's safe," Chris assured him. "We managed to transport him and Miss Davis off the surface before the weather got them. He's with me, Vin and a security team, we're approaching Sub-Level 25."

"You're here?" Josiah's voice grew taut. "Chris, the xenomorphs have broken containment, they've got the entire run of the facility now. They're snatching new hosts from everywhere. Buck took command of the Institute and evacuated everyone to the transporter level while he and Ezra went down to lower the forcefield generator." 

"Well we'll find them," Chris stated promptly, aware the Security Team would be especially motivated now they knew the Chief was close by. "What about you and the others?" 

Chris didn't mention Mary by name but was certain Josiah would know what he meant. Since learning just how bad things were on Tenarus from JD, Chris had tried to maintain his objectivity and not be guided by his fears for Mary. He couldn't be. Long ago, when they realised they meant something to each other, they decided there were some lines he couldn't cross, not if he intended to remain Captain of the Maverick or Mary his Protocol Officer. Her life couldn't be any more valuable than any other member of his crew, but at moments like this, that line became as vast as the Sahara. 

"Nathan and I are holed up in their Infirmary with the security forcefield in place, so the xenomorphs haven't managed to breach it." 

"And Mary?" 

It did not escape Chris’s notice Josiah missed mentioning Mary. 

The pause on the line made them all stiffen and sent a spike of white-hot terror through Chris. "What?"

"Chris," this time it was Nathan who spoke, and Chris knew what was coming even before the words left the doctor's mouth. "She's been implanted." 

"Fuck." After seeing what had happened to Jerry Lambert, JD couldn't imagine anything worse and reacted accordingly. 

Chris couldn't breathe. Not since hearing about Sarah and Adam had he felt this level of anguish. It almost broke him in half with its intensity. He thought about Lt. Angel, the young security officer who died on Fury 361. The child who begged him to kill her because she'd been implanted and there was no saving her. Not before the xenomorph growing inside her body tore her apart being born. Chris closed his eyes and saw her in his mind, her terrified eyes pleading for him to end her life, and he had. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do in his life, firing the phaser that ended hers.

Until now. 

"Captain, we've got her in a stasis pod," Nathan said quickly, guessing from Chris's silence where the Captain's mind was. "We've halted the implantation process. If we can get her back to the Maverick, we can get the thing out, and I've got an idea to make sure we remove all traces of the xenomorph's DNA. We just need to get her back to the ship." 

Chris collected himself, latching onto the lifeline provided by Nathan because the idea of having to deliver the same kind of death to Mary as he had to Lt. Angel was a hell he never wanted to face. He'd never survive it. 

"Chris," JD spoke up, placing a hand on Chris's shoulder. "We can save Mary. We need to help Buck bring down the force field." 

Chris fell silent and sucked in his breath, looking up at the young man who was one of his best friends. Nodding slowly, he gripped the hand on his shoulder in thanks. "Nathan, Josiah, are you safe?"

"For now," Nathan answered, grateful the Captain had replied. "The things aren't too willing to attack because of Mary so we're okay." 

Chris's stomach clenched at the thought, but he would take it as a positive. "Alright, the minute the shield is lowered, contact Alex and get her to transport all of you directly to Sick Bay. We're going to head to the generator. Buck and Ezra are going to need help." 

"Aye Sir," Nathan answered. 

Chris straightened up and noticed Vin was standing with his back facing them. The helmsman had been conspicuous by his silence, and for the first time since his temporary fugue at learning about Mary, Chris wondered why. 

Vin said nothing because something was pressing at the walls of his mental shields. Thanks to the meld with his grandmother, she had been able to teach him without uttering a word how to strengthen them, to keep other minds out, as well as avoid inadvertent intrusions. This invasion, however, felt entirely alien and it took him a few moments to realise when he felt the sensation before. 

On Fury 361.

During a hand to hand fight with a xenomorph, Vin had inadvertently melded with one of the creatures. The result had been the premature awakening of his Pon Farr, but this time there was no savage lust to breed. This invasion was more like a rallying cry, a call to arms, trying to draw you in. Vin's eyes snapped open when he realised who was attempting to breach his mental shields and worse yet, what it was trying to do. 

"Chris," Vin shot the Captain of the Maverick a hard stare. "I can hear her." 

"Her?" Chris was almost afraid to ask. 

"The Queen. I can hear in my head. She can't get past my shields, but she's sending up a flare." 

"Aw hell," Chris swore, guessing what that meant. "We better get moving." 

"What is it, Sir?" Drew inquired, not liking the ominous tone in the Captain's voice. 

Before he could answer, the narrow chamber was filled with the distant bellow of something large and furious. 

"Trouble." 

Buck stood stock still.

There was nothing else to do when they left behind the gruesome mural of bodies and entered the next chamber. They'd called it the hatchery, but in truth, it was really the nursery. Bile crawled up his throat at either term being applied to the xenomorphs, but when they closed in on the shield generator, they knew they had been wrong. The source of the force field's power, a tube-like construction that resembled a warp core, pulsed with a greenish light. However, more than half of it was encased in thick veins and tendrils the size of tree branches, making it look as sinister as the rest of the place, even if it provided them with some illumination.

Although in retrospect, Buck wasn't grateful for this. 

Surrounding them as far as the eye could see were eggs. There were so many he could barely count them and Ezra's warning about what they would find here felt like icy, cold fingers wrapping themselves around his spine. Covered in a sheen of moisture which no doubt came from the humidity in the air, he could hear the sound of droplets splattering against the deck or rolling languidly across the organic containers. 

None of them could speak, remembering Ezra's warning to them about sound being the stimulus waking up the eggs. They had to reach the shield generator in front of them without any of the eggs unsealing or awakening the queen whose court they were trespassing. Buck tried to see her, but it was too dark, and the xenomorph architecture around them simply too bizarre. In the end, Buck opted not to waste his time trying. They had a mission to undertake, and as it stood, their chances of surviving were slim. There was no need to complicate matters by sightseeing. 

Signalling at Ezra and Dralak, who were both just as still and looking similarly tense, Buck stepped forward, walking stealthily through the forest of eggs around them. The things stood no more than two and a half feet tall and were semi-translucent because as Buck passed them, he observed the life form slumbering inside. The spore that resembled a hand with too many fingers and a long prehensile tail. The sight of it hastened his pace, but not so much to make any noise. As it was, his stomach lurched every time his boot sank into something soft and slick. 

They were almost up to the shield generator when Buck saw something moving across the glowing surface of the generator. At first, he thought it was the energy fluxes behind the casing of the device, but it was too slow, almost sluggish. Then he realised something was wrapped around its cylindrical structure. It took a moment for Buck to understand it was organic. The appendage was translucent, and it surrounded the generator like a serpent coiled around its prey. 

The science officer he had been, knew what it was immediately. An ovipositor. 

Within this tubular sac, untold numbers of alien eggs were being formed. It was enormous, which was why Ezra had probably missed it when he and Mary made their ill-fated trip down here. Buck followed the tube which ran across the wall before it culminated in its birth on the floor of the sub-level, joining the rest of its sealed brethren. Reversing direction, he followed the tube back towards the shield generator and perched against it was the bizarre construction he thought to be a product of xenomorph design, but was nothing so benign. 

The alien queen seemed to be aware of them because she lifted her monstrous head, with its flared crown and bared her teeth. Like Ezra and Dralak behind him, his breath caught at the sight of her. Instinctively, all three men took a step back as she craned her head forward, trying to reach them. As she did, Buck realised something else, now that he had overcome his horror at seeing her and was able to think more clearly. 

"Ezra, Dralak," Buck spoke in a low voice, never taking his eyes off the queen. "Circle around and get to the far side of the generator. Disable it." 

"Commander..." Ezra opened his mouth to protest, his eyes still transfixed by the alien queen in front of them.

"She's attached to the ovipositor," Buck hissed. "She can't move so this is our one chance to get to it before she figures out what we're here to do and calls for reinforcements. She's telepathic, she could be calling them all now." 

"What do you intend to do?" Ezra asked quietly, aware that Buck was correct.

"Keep her attention on me," Buck replied, aware it was a tall order.

Ezra and Dralak started moving and caused the queen to turn her massive head in their direction. Almost on cue, Buck began waving his arms wildly in her direction, snapping her attention back to him again. 

"Come on, Your Highness!" He hissed at her as that monstrous face turned to him and bared her teeth again. Her voice was a low growl, and he felt the heat of her breath against his face and thought it smelled like the bottom of a furnace, crusted with toxic ash. As she opened her jaws, Buck shuddered at the teeth revealed by those widening jaws, each one as long as his forearm. 

At the corner of his eye, he saw Ezra and Dralak moving out of view, trying to move stealthily past the eggs, each one a timebomb waiting to go off. 

Without warning, another set of jaws sprung out of her open mouth like a Jack in the Box. Buck stumbled back, narrowly avoiding decapitation. The heel of his boot struck something hard and rubbery. With a curse, Buck glanced over his shoulder and saw it was an egg. He retreated from it, ensuring he was a safe distance from the queen to avoid any more surprises while fixated on the egg, waiting for it to open.

"Very clever," he said, giving her a hateful glare. "This won't end the way you wanted it to." 

In rebuttal to his comment, she shrieked loudly, the sound resembling a screech of fingernails against glass. Buck winced and wondered if she might be mobile after all. Her limbs flayed about impotently, trying to reach him and when she couldn't, lashed her tail at him. The spiky appendage struck him on the side and swept him off his feet. Buck landed on the deck covered with sticky resin and flagella creeping across the floor from each alien egg. He uttered a cry of pain on impact, feeling ribs taking the worst of it. 

Not that he had time to recover because the queen intended on killing the intruder in her hatchery. The tail came at him again, and Buck rolled out of reach before it impaled him through the chest. Scrambling away, Buck knew he couldn't stray any further. The longer this monster focussed her attention on him, the better the chance Ezra and Dralak had to sneak past her and get to the generator.

It was only when he saw the unsealed egg a second later Buck realised it was he who had been distracted. 

"Damn," he cursed a split second before something launched itself at him. 

If he had been one second slower, the spore would have landed on him, face first. Fortunately, Buck's marksmanship with a phaser was equally swift, and he reacted instantly, firing a streak of amber energy. The energy beam struck the spore dead centre, and Buck had just enough time to jump behind a cluster of sealed eggs before the splatter of its acidic blood reached him. The corrosive fluid hissed as it made contact with the ground, but as Buck suspected when he took refuge behind the eggs, they were immune. 

The queen uttered an enraged shriek witnessing the murder of one of her children, and as Buck scrambled to his feet to escape the spores that would soon be emerging from the very receptacles he used to protect him, her struggles intensified. Her tail was swishing about violently, seeking something to attack and her screeching bellow echoed throughout the room. It didn't take a genius for Buck to realise she was summoning her army. 

The loud hiss of escaping gases followed the opening of another egg like the blooming of a grotesque flower. Buck searched the space for Dralak and Ezra, seeing no sign of them, praying they had successfully evaded the queen and were even now working to disable the generator to which she was attached. Returning his attention to the spore, the sight of one digit probing the outside world, snapped Buck's restraint and he fired again, not caring how pissed off he made its mother. 

The egg exploded with Buck retreating to safety beyond the reach of its corrosive fluid. Another roar of fury rocked the air, and he saw the queen's body heaving as she began to pull away from the generator. Another cry tore through his ears. This time, it came not from the xenomorph queen in front of him, but from behind. Buck spun around and saw an adult xenomorph sprinting across the floor towards him. It moved like a lemur, with speed and agility, making such expert use of shadows Buck could well understand how just one of the creatures managed to wipe out the crew of the Nostromo in a day. 

With the queen's attempts to break free, the eggs unsealing around him and now this alien drone closing in, Buck came to the firm conclusion he was in trouble. Without thinking of the consequences, he opened fire before the drone reached him. The beam struck the drone, and the effect on the creature was devastating. Its body exploded, spraying acid in all directions. Some of it splashed across Buck's uniform and began to sizzle. As the pain bit into his skin, he tore off his Starfleet blazer and the jersey, tossing it away as it began to smoke.

He didn't escape unscathed. When the noxious stuff reached his skin, he felt the burn across his abdomen and his forearm. The pain was stinging, but Buck forced himself to ignore it. But at least the pain was real, just like this nightmare in front of him was real. No Borg induced illusion could conjure anything like this. The alien carcass continued to hiss, disappearing through the deck as its acidic blood disintegrated the steel. Meanwhile, another egg-opening in front of him prompted Buck to shoot again, giving him no time to register his injuries because right now, the danger was closing in on him on all sides. The egg erupted spectacularly, sending chunks of meat and pulp in all directions. 

Buck expected another angry bellow from the alien queen but was greeted with something else entirely. 

The sound of tearing. 

Spinning around, he supposed if his intention was to give Ezra and Dralak the distraction the two men needed to lower the shield generator, he succeeded spectacularly. The queen was no longer tolerating the assault on her children and was heaving even more violently than ever. With her jaws open as she shrieked, her massive legs unfolded and reached the floor. Buck watched for a second, mesmerised with horror as she ripped the ovipositor sac from her body, spilling noisome fluid across the floor, along with half-formed eggs. 

Turning her head in his direction, she screamed a warning that said in no uncertain terms, she was coming for him. 

Trying to ignore the game of Russian Roulette his commanding officer was playing with the xenomorph queen, Ezra Standish navigated the clusters of eggs surrounding the force field generator. He questioned the value of trying to walk stealthily around these biological containers when the Queen and Buck were parlaying so noisily behind them. Even as he led Dralak away against his better judgement, he could hear the Queen screaming her outrage at whatever distraction Buck was providing. 

So far none of the eggs had stirred, but Ezra didn't count on them remaining that way, not when there was so much noise around them. The tubular sac coiled around the generator was encrusted in resin, securing it further in place. The Chief's jaw clenched at the sight of the forming eggs through the translucent tube, each one of them destined to bring a horrific death to some poor soul. Their journey through the ovipositor had ceased, and Ezra realised it was because the Queen's biological gauge was preparing her for a fight. 

"We must move quickly," Ezra whispered to Dralak, breaking the silence. 

"Trust me," the Romulan replied, "I am not lingering unnecessarily." 

Dralak did not have the experience of these Starfleet Officers with the creatures infesting the Institute, but then one did not need to after seeing and hearing the carnage caused by them. A part of him still grappled with disbelief that Gabriel Paracelsus, a man he respected, who gave him and Rekellen sanctuary from the Empire, was the cause of all this. The man Dralak knew was one of compassion who tried to do the best for his patients. How he had been twisted into this crazed fanatic willing to sacrifice them all was beyond the Romulan. 

With Buck and the Queen out of sight, Ezra realised they'd arrived at the back of the generator. The space surrounding it was covered with eggs and Ezra guessed the drones must be responsible for spreading them across the sub-level. With the Queen attached to the ovipositor, there would be no way for her to do it herself. Searching the generator shaft for the control terminal, he could barely see it for all the organic matter concealing it. Bathed in greenish light, the clumps of hardened gelatinous material and the sac itself made the whole scene even more sinister. 

Ezra caught sight of it finally, a row of coloured lights glowing dully under the resin. A small section of workstation display could be seen through the organic material, and Ezra swept his gaze around once more, ensuring the eggs remained sealed, and no xenomorph was in sight. His tricorder indicated they were safe for the moment, but judging by the Queen's bellows, he didn't think it would be long before the drones made an appearance. 

As he approached, Ezra was startled by another enraged shriek, except this one was followed by the distinct sound of phaser fire. Craning his neck, he tried to look past the ovipositor and the generator, but his line of sight was obscured. Nevertheless, the use of a phaser meant Buck was in trouble, and they had to move fast if they were going to help him. 

"What in *Areinnye is going on?" Dralak hissed, similarly alarmed. 

"It doesn't matter," Ezra said smoothly, "the terminal is there. Disable the generator, and I shall keep watch." 

Dralak didn't argue and quickly moved past Ezra towards the partially concealed terminal. The Maverick's security chief was fighting his natural inclination to go to his comrade's aid but held firm as Dralak approached the terminal. The Romulan could see through the organic material coating the shaft of the shield generator and once again felt a surge of disgust and fury at what Paracelsus had done. Dismissing his anger for now, he sucked in his breath as he sunk his fingers into the sticky mess covering the terminal and felt revulsion at the contact. Dralak started to pull the clumps of resin off the touchscreen. 

The sac wrapped around the generator shifted suddenly, corresponding with another enraged scream from the Queen. Bits of resin tore away from its outer casing and made both Ezra and Dralak jump.

"What....?" Dralak started to say when Ezra cut him off. 

"Hurry! She is attempting to free herself!" 

The statement was punctuated by another burst of phaser fire. A fresh shriek, this one not as loud and not from the Queen, followed. Ezra knew without having to see it, it belonged to a drone. The monarch had called for reinforcements which meant very soon they would have more than just eggs to worry about. 

Dralak continued to rip away pieces of hardened resin from the terminal, removing enough of it to gain access to the touch screen display. It was covered with moisture from the humidity in the air, and when he wiped it away with his palm, the screen came alive with colour. Tapping the black screen smeared with resin and fluid, data began to flash across the display, giving him access to the system. 

Now all he had to do was...

The sac shuddered again, this time more violently. Dralak took a step back in surprise and noted briefly Ezra had done the same. It shook so hard for a second the Romulan thought it might actually damage the generator. Neither man could hear the sharp sound of tearing like someone had pulled a ripcord somewhere because the Queen was shrieking so loudly now, they could listen to little else. As it ripped away from the generator, the sac split open, emptying torrents of thick, greyish fluid into the open. The viscous material splashed across them, sending waves of revulsion through both men before it broke free completely, tipping over several eggs as the two men got clear. 

Ezra scrambled to his feet, struggling not to slip as he tried to see what was going on and froze at the sight of the Queen no longer held in place on her perch. She was free of the sac and ovipositor attached to her body, moving quickly away from the generator, in pursuit of her prey. 

Buck Wilmington.

Ezra almost ran after them when he remembered his orders. The force field needed to be lowered because there was more than just Buck's life at stake here. There were hundreds in the Institute needing rescue before the xenomorphs used them all as hosts. In the face of those numbers, Ezra knew what he had to do. 

Damn!

Swinging around, he turned back to Dralak who had gotten to his feet again. The man had to jump clear when the sac and the ovipositor had broken free of the generator. The biological conveyor belt had tumbled to the floor, collapsing on itself as it continued to spew out eggs and noisome fluid. Dralak was trying to stand upright, a problematic proposition when like Ezra, he was covered in alien slime.

"Disable that damn shield!" Ezra shouted, no longer caring who heard. 

Almost on cue, an egg to his left began to unseal. Ezra didn't let it open fully before he incinerated with a bolt from his phaser and got clear to avoid the spray of acid. Another one opened no sooner than that, and Ezra fired again, not about to let any of those spores see the light of day. Once again, Ezra retreated to avoid the spray of acid as the bolt of amber energy ignited the organic container. 

In the meantime, Dralak found himself wincing in disgust as he climbed over the piece of sac lying across the front of the terminal. The touch screen, covered with moisture before was now slick with the xenomorph version of amniotic fluid. Swallowing away his revulsion because he was Romulan, he ignored the slippery feel of the organic sheathe as Dralak returned to the display screen and was forced to wipe away viscous liquid so he could resume disabling the shield. 

Behind him, the Starfleet officer was conducting his one-man war on the hatchery, ensuring any egg attempting to open was promptly obliterated. Dralak paid no attention to this, too busy trying to gain access to the operational commands that would override Paracelsus's permissions. He thought of Rekellen in that terrible nursery, with people he'd worked with almost every day since coming to Tenarus.

Dralak and Rekellen were only going to spend another year here, just until they had the credits to travel to one of the newly establish Romulan colonies to begin their lives together as husband and wife. Following the Empire's destruction, their love for each other had been an oasis in a sea of pain.

He could not fail her. 

The eggs were opening much faster now, and Ezra was using every ounce of skill he had to destroy them before the Queens' dearly progeny had a chance to emerge. Across the vast sub-level, he could hear the giant xenomorph's deafening screech as she continued her pursuit of Buck. Ezra didn't even want to think about how she would react when she learned what he was presently up to. The air was thick with the stench of burning metal as the noxious acid ate away at the floor and any vulnerable surfaces. So far he'd managed to say out their reach, but the smoke was making his eyes water and the toxicity of it, harder to breathe. 

Through the intensifying swirls of grey, Ezra saw a shape that was not Dralak moving near the terminal. Too late, he realised what it was. 

"DRALAK!" 

Dralak turned around at the last minute before the xenomorph could strike and reacted in the only way a man caught by surprise could do.

"DON'T SHOOT!" 

Ezra's warning came too late as Dralak pulled the trigger, and the result of the energy weapon on the body of the xenomorph was every bit as devastating as the Chief feared. Its body exploded, soaking Dralak from head to waist. In horror, Ezra watched the toxic chemical continue its onslaught across the terminal and the outer casing of the generator shaft, immediately eating away at everything beneath it. Dralak uttered a piercing scream of such complete agony Ezra knew he would remember it until the day he died. 

In horror, Ezra could only watch in muted horror as Drala's face melted away. Skin, flesh and hair melted into a sludge of red before bleached bone appeared. His scream was muted because seconds after that first cry, he no longer had a tongue to make any sound. The acid ate through his clothes and caved in his chest until all that remained was a ragged hole of disintegrating flesh. He was dead before his legs buckled beneath him. However, the damage did not end with Dralak's death.

Just as quickly as it liquefied the Romulan, the acid ate into the terminal, disintegrating glass and metal like butter. Energy surges spat in protest before the screen disappeared into a smoky mess. However, it was nothing compared with what took place as the acid ate through the casing protecting the core of the shield generator. Ezra took a step back, realising the acid would eat its way to the deutronium power cells.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the green glow of the generator began to fluctuate. As the light faltered, Ezra started to retreat, no longer worrying whether or not they could disable the shield. In less than a minute, that question would become academic. Something else was moving in the smoke, coming at him from behind the device reaching critical. Ezra counted at least three aliens closing in on him. One from the ceiling above and two from the next chamber. The xenomorphs were oblivious to the danger, and Ezra saw no reason to enlighten them. 

Still covered in ovipositor fluid, Ezra spun on his heels and started running, putting as much distance between him and the generator. The xenomorphs quickly gave chase but time was against them as the acid ate through the device and reached the volatile deutronium core. 

The explosion that followed lit up the entire sub-level like someone had ripped off the roof and allowed the sun to into the room.

He felt the heat against his back, felt the shockwave lift him off his feet, followed by the terrible screech of the xenomorphs who hadn't gotten clear in time. Ezra smashed into several eggs, tumbling across the floor like a rolling dervish before taking them with him. As the world turned into a kaleidoscope of blurry images, he saw the space where the generator had been. The entire shaft had been obliterated, along with everything in its immediate vicinity. A smoking ring of black was all that remained in its place. 

Shaking the disorientation out of his head, his return to clarity was prompted by the furious roar of something very mad coming his way. 

*****

"Commander Styles!" 

Alex, who was at Tactical, looked up at Jewel Chun who was presently occupying JD's navigator station on the bridge. 

The Science Officer and temporary commander of the Maverick was in the process of carrying out Chris Larabee's order to locate any xenomorph that might have escaped the Institute and target the area for phaser bombardment. It was not an action she approved of since there were sure to be life forms unaffected by the creatures, and this sterilisation would kill them too. Unfortunately, when it came to the xenomorphs, nothing could be left to chance. 

All she had to do was remember being trapped inside a xenomorph hive in Fury 361 to appreciate the Captain's sentiments on the matter. Furthermore, she also knew Starfleet would also consider such extreme action appropriate after hearing the tapes from the Sulaco. Not to mention the Away team's reports detailing their initial encounter with the creatures.

"What is it?" 

"The force field just lowered." 

"What?" Alex quickly tapped the screen before her and changed the view of the tactical display to see for herself. She was convinced Ezra was going to come back and complain she'd messed up all his settings. The man could be so pernickety when it came to his toys. Of course, Alex was only thinking of him this way, because she was worried about him. As it was, she was unhappy every member of the Magnificent Seven, the nickname given to the men of the Senior Staff because of that silly holo program, were down on a planet with xenomorphs. 

Within seconds, Alex had confirmed Jewel's statement was true. The force field was down and with it, streams of data began flooding in, not only into Ezra's station but hers too. 

"You think the Captain managed to lower the shield?" Charlotte Richmond asked, standing in for Alex at the Science station. 

"I don't know," Alex shook her head, but she knew what it meant if the shield was down. "Jewel, hail the Captain." 

"Maverick to Captain Larabee," Jewel obeyed immediately as she tapped the display, each touch of her fingers against the dark glass creating a soft chirp they all could hear. "Please come in." 

Seconds passed into a minute with Jewel making repeated entreaties to their Captain with little success. When it became apparent he was not going to respond, they tried the other members of the Away Team and was rewarded by a familiar voice filling the bridge. 

"This is Counsellor Sanchez! It's good to hear your voice." 

Alex let out a visible sigh of relief, grateful to know they had contact with someone from the original Away Mission. After what JD reported about Doctor Paracelsus, Alex was worried about their welfare. "Josiah, are you alright?" 

"Nathan and I are fine.," the Counsellor's voice was as always calm, and Alex wondered how the man managed to sound that way even when the world was falling around their ears. "We've heard from the Captain and the security team, they were on their way to Sub-Level 25 to disable the shield generator. I assume they managed to get it done since we're talking." 

"We don't know Josiah," Alex admitted. "We can't seem to get in contact with them." 

"He's probably got his hands full," Josiah stated, trying to sound comforting to those on the bridge, even though he was in greater danger down in Tenarus than any of them. "Nevertheless, we need to get Mary back to the ship as soon as possible." 

"What's happened?" Alex asked and was almost afraid of the answer. 

"She's been implanted," Nathan broke into the conversation. "I've put her in stasis, but I need to get her back to Sick Bay immediately."

"Oh my God," Alex gasped and quickly composed herself because they needed to act fast if they were going to save their Protocol Officer. "Nathan, can you get her to the Transporter level?" 

There was a slight pause before Nathan provided her with an answer. "We can, but we'll have to take her out of the pod. I don't know how long the gestation period is Alex. These xenomorphs have been mutated so it could take longer or it might be shorter. Whatever the answer, we have to get this done fast."

Alex thought quickly. "Okay, just get her to the transporter pad, and we'll beam you directly to Sick Bay. I'll tell Li Pong to have a stasis pod prepped and ready for her when you get there." 

"Good," Nathan replied and then added, "also I need Julia there when we arrive." 

"Julia?" Alex exchanged a puzzled glance with Charlotte. "Why?" 

"Because I have an idea and I'll need Julia to make it work." 

*******

Under any other circumstances, having a woman hell-bent on getting her hands on him would be the greatest thing in the world to Buck Wilmington. 

Unless of course, she was a queen xenomorph who stood almost fifteen feet tall and was capable of tearing you apart with her bare hands, if she didn't decide to decapitate you with a single bite of her massive jaws. As Buck turned on his heels and ran for his life, he heard her behind him and didn't dare look back because her royal highness moved pretty damned fast for a creature that big. He didn't have to look over his shoulder to know she was stomping through her own hatchery, demolishing the formations making up the catacombs on Sub-Level 25. 

All he had to do was here that fearsome bellowing. 

Yet while his heart was pounding like a warp core about to reach critical, and he wasn't ashamed to admit he was scared shitless, Buck Wilmington felt almost euphoric. For the first time in weeks, he felt like himself again, as if the fear and adrenaline had forced out all the trauma left behind by the Borg and he had a better grasp of himself than ever. Unfortunately, this watershed moment would be for nothing if he couldn't think of a way out of his current situation. 

Except for the shield generator, the sub-level was used primarily for storage. What the xenomorphs hadn't taken to construct their strange labyrinth still remained behind. The Queen ran through these discards like a wrecking ball, and Buck knew he was only ahead of her by a few paces because she was moving fast, much like her progeny. Elsewhere, he could hear the distant cries of drones, and he knew that he suspected right, she had called for reinforcements. 

Jumping over a set of crates that must have been used to store machinery by its size, he hoped the dim lighting and the confusion would hide his route, but the Queen kept up with him. While he ran over it, she smashed through and thought he did not see the carnage, the tearing of metal and plasteel as she tore it apart. He knew he couldn't keep this up because sooner or later, he was going to run out of sub-level.

Out of nowhere, he saw a ladder standing in front of it. Buck recognised it as the type used for maintenance purposes and followed the rungs to the top. It led to a walkway running beneath the ceiling, no doubt to allow maintenance personnel to carry out work on the lighting fixtures now obscured by alien architecture. The ramp was suspended high enough for him to escape the reach of the enraged monarch behind him. Deciding it was his best chance to stay alive, Buck practically jumped on it and started climbing. 

As he ascended, the Queen closed the distance, and it astonished him just how fast she was moving and how damned lucky he was to be alive. At the sight of him scaling the ladder, she uttered another furious howl, determined to reach him before he slipped out of reach. Buck saw her slamming through everything in her path, reducing the organic walls into pulp. In some instances, trampling her own eggs in the effort to close in for the kill. Buck scrambled up the rungs, never moving so fast in his life. He climbed onto the steel mesh walkway just as she ran into the ladder. 

Panting hard as he looked down on her, the Queen tilted her massive head in his direction, and though she had no eyes to speak of, Buck was convinced she was doing a fair representation of the Larabee glare. For a second that might have been an eternity, Buck saw her regard him with calculation, and with a sinking feeling, he knew in that instant what she was going to do. 

She was going to jump. 

"Oh fuck..." 

The utterance coincided with a Hail Mary pass that came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, the centre of the sub-level lit up in a blinding white light that made him flinch and look away. 

BOOM!

The explosion and the resulting shockwave was so loud, he dropped to his knees as the walkway shook beneath his feet, throwing him off balance. The world drained of all sound but the ringing in his ears. Buck was half-aware of the flames and smoke resulting from the blast. The generator! Ezra and Dralak just took out the generator. As the light started to contract, allowing the darkness to regain purchase, Buck saw the Queen reacting in kind. 

She had forgotten all about him and spun around to witness the destruction of her nesting place. Throwing her head up like a wolf howling at the moon, the sound that escaped her was like a thousand kinds of rage, flung in the direction of the blast like driving points of daggers. Buck watched her stomping forward, armoured rage determined to make the destroyer of her children pay. 

For their sakes, Buck hoped Ezra and Dralak were safe because hell was about to descend on them. 

*hell

"I should be coming with you."

Chief Engineer Julia Pemberton stared at Alex Styles as they both rode down the turbo lift together. After the force field was disabled and the Science station was able to make a scan of the facility, complete with calibration for detection of silicon-based life form, the result had sent Alex heading straight for the nearest shuttle bay.

"You need to stay here," Alex stated firmly, not as Julia's friend but as the ranking officer on board the Maverick. "Nathan needs you to help Mary. Last we checked, he and Josiah were on the transporter level, so they should be beaming back to the Maverick any time now."

"Thank God they managed to do it before the power cut out," Julia stated as the turbo lift hummed its descent to the shuttle deck around them.

"Yeah," Alex agreed wholeheartedly.

The complete destruction of the generator not only lowered the forcefield but resulted in a loss of power to the entire facility. Not only was the place running on batteries and auxiliary power, it meant whatever remaining security protections were in place, was disabled. 

Worse yet, the Captain remained out of contact, which only worried Alex more, even though she tried not to think about Vin. Their marital bond told her he was still alive, but where xenomorphs were concerned, that was no guarantee of anything.

Mary Travis was still alive, but she was not at all safe.

As it was, the batteries were the only things that managed to get Josiah and Nathan to the transporter level. Otherwise, they would have been trapped in the depths of the institute, with no way for the Maverick to reach them.

It left the remaining members of the Away Team and the party led by the Captain, in a decidedly vulnerable position as they would be cut off from reaching the transporter level unless they left the institute the same way they came in. If they intended swarming the hatchery, then the xenomorphs would be rallying in that location to protect their Queen.

"I'm going to set down at the coordinates where we picked up JD and Miss Jones," Alex explained as the turbo lift announced their arrival on the shuttle bay deck. "I should be able to get a fix on our people and beamed them onto the runabout if they're coming in hot."

"Alright," Julia didn't disagree with Alex's plan because Ezra was down there and the idea of anything happening to him left her sick with worry.

For two months, Ezra was a constant at her side, proving in so many ways how much he loved her, tirelessly helping her overcome her trauma after assimilation. Julia knew she hadn't made it easy on him, but his patience, so easily transferable from his gambling skills to a human Rock of Gibraltar was just what she needed. It was not lost on Julia, Ezra had been willing to walk away from Starfleet to help her recover at her family home. Now Julia didn't care where they were, as long as he was safe and they were together.

"Hey," Alex caught the worry on her face and squeezed her hand in comfort. "They'll all be okay. If nothing else, those guys know how to get themselves out of trouble as much as they get into it."

If the Captain of the Maverick did not respond to the hail of his Second Officer, it was for a good reason.

They were just emerging from the sluice tunnel, rushing to reach the Away Team whose life signs were finally visible through the tricorder after the generator exploded. The lowering of the force field allowed them to scan the interior of Sub-Level 25, revealing Buck Wilmington and Ezra Standish's present location but reaching them became problematic with the other noticeable life sign signals. Not that it took long for them to gain a visual.

Vin's telepathic discovery of the Queen's rallying cry had not gone unheeded by her children. Not since that awful moment on Fury 361, when the Away Team inadvertently awoke the xenomorphs in the hive, had Chris seen so many of the creatures appear. It was a sight he never wanted to see again. They were a tide of slick, black chitin, baring sharp, jagged teeth dripping with noisome fluid and spindly bodies that resembled skeletons fashioned in obsidian.

The same terror gripped him as it did when he first sighted them on Fury, and like his ancestor, the ill-fated Corporal Dwayne Hicks, he crushed the emotion mercilessly because he had to get his people through this safely. The aliens were closing in on them, and there was every possibility the queen was on the loose as well. With the power now disabled throughout the entire facility, only the torches mounted on the barrels of their pulse rifle provided any illumination. Still, it was more than enough to show them they were about to be overrun.

"VIN! 

On your right!"

Vin Tanner swung around at Chris's warning, just in time to see the first xenomorph to reach them, spring out of the darkness. The helmsman wasted no time raising his rifle and unleashing a deadly barrage at the drone, cutting it down in mid-air. 

The rat-tat-tat of the 21st-century weapon he wielded was lost in the already deafening bursts of gunfire exploding around him. A sharp screech followed by a ruined body sent acid splattering across the floor covered with debris and organic tendrils that resembled tree roots.

Vin took a step back, avoiding the acid spray and wrinkled his nose in reaction to the noxious fumes produced by its corrosive blood eating through deck plating and stone. The xenomorphs looked like springs bouncing off the floor and walls as they launched themselves at the Away Team. One of them closed in on JD. The kid reacted to the attack with more speed and less emotion then Vin expected, reducing the xenomorph to chunks when he opened fire. Vin supposed after JD's earlier visit here, the younger man had braced himself to face the creatures.

No sooner than he dispatched the alien attempting to kill him, JD promptly swung around and shot down another drone before it could bring down Kate Stokes.

Flashes of muzzle fire flared across the darkness, revealing a gleam of teeth, and it was all the warning Chris got before the xenomorph pounced. He dropped immediately as it sailed over him. The Captain rolled across the floor before straightening up one knee. The thing was dangerously close, too close for bullets, giving Chris time to switch to his flame unit instead.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

He hollered the warning and hoped it was enough for the others to get out of the way before he unleashed a jet of fire that swallowed the xenomorph in flames. The creature uttered a shriek of pain before being driven away, looking like a demon breathed in hellfire. The fire lit up the darkness. His Away team got clear or were beyond the range of the fire. 

It also showed him there were surrounded.

"Manny watch out!"

The scream came from Kate Stokes as she watched Manny Garcia being attacked on both fronts. While firing at an advancing xenomorph, one of the creatures took advantage of the young man's distraction to drop down behind him. At Kate's cry, Garcia swung around but had no time to act as the xenomorph's inner jaws sprung like a coiled trap. The extended jaws crushed the bones of his cranium and left him unrecognizable when they retracted. Garcia never had a chance to utter a scream of pain as his brain matter was shredded inside his fragmented skull.

Kate's reaction to this was visceral when she saw Garcia collapse, his leg still twitching from the shock of his sudden end. She uttered a howl of anguish rivalling any produced by a xenomorph queen. Without thinking twice, she pulled the trigger on her rifle, ignoring the danger of acid spray, wanting only to destroy the thing that killed Manny.

They were friends! Kate had gotten to know him off-duty since they were both a part of the Maverick's music society. He played the flute just like she did, and the idea he would never play Poulenc's Flute Sonata again broke her heart.

"Kate, you're too close!"

The warning came from Drew Katovit who grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away before she was given an acid bath. As he did so, he spun on the ball of his foot to shoot another burst of gunfire at an advancing xenomorph. With just as much speed, he pulled Kate behind the cover of a stone column, allowing it to bear the brunt of the corrosive blood. 

Another short screech followed with Kate sighting another drone attempting to outflank them. Its body was ripped apart as Opa reduced it to hissing flesh with a quick burst of gunfire.

Chris had shot another blast of fire at a charging xenomorph when he saw something moving above him. He had just enough time to look up, to see a drone dropping down on him. 

It reached him before he could fire, and the creature's weight had them rolling across the floor. The xenomorph moved with astonishing speed, its skeletal tail swatting the flamethrower out of his hands. As it clattered away, Chris saw those widening jaws coming at him and knew it would do the same thing to him as it had done to Garcia...

All of a sudden, the xenomorph's elongated head snapped sharply to the side when the butt of a pulse rifle slammed into its jaw. The power behind the blow was more than enough to dislodge the drone. The Captain rolled unto his stomach. Meanwhile, Vin leapt over him to strike the xenomorph across the jaw again. The Vulcan possessed more than enough strength to daze the creature. Chris stared open-mouthed as Vin circled the drone so quickly, it had no time to react when Vin grabbed its skull and twisted hard.

The sickly squelch of bone was heard even through gunfire with the xenomorph going limp after Vin twisted its head around in a 360-degree turn. It slumped against the floor with no further struggle and Vin sidestepping it without further thought to reach Chris.

"You okay pard?"

"Yeah, thanks," Chris said gratefully, snatching up his gun as the rest of his security team continuing their fight against the drones. "Now's let's find Buck and Ezra."

Was that gunfire?

At first, Ezra wasn't sure what he heard. To be fair, he was running for his life from a queen xenomorph intending to have her revenge for destroying her hatchery and to his dismay, the nursery where Rek and Kash awaited their grisly fate. The explosion from the generator had vaporized them all, and Ezra didn't know whether he ought to be grateful he didn't have to tell Rekellen Dralak was dead. He had not known any of the unfortunate victims for long, but he mourned their loss, nonetheless.

With the Queen in pursuit, Ezra had started running, chased down by the enraged monarch who would not waste her time trying to immobilize him for implantation. No, he had foregone such a prolonged ending for something more swift and final.

However, when the gunfire erupted, Ezra knew it sounded familiar. He tried navigating the labyrinth of xenomorph created chambers and formations to reach the help he suspected had come. However, the Queen simply obliterated everything in her path, stomping it into the ground as she gave chase.

Tapping his combadge as he ran, he panted as he demanded an answer. "Chief Standish to the Maverick! Come in!"

The only answer came from the repeated shriek of the Queen, cutting through his ears like a loud screech. Nevertheless, as he attempted to reach the source of the gunfire, Ezra realized he recognized its origins. Pulse rifles! Whoever was out there was using pulse rifles! Unfortunately, judging by the frequency of muzzle flashes bursting like fireworks in the distance and the intensity of the gunfire, it appeared he was not the only one paying attention. He had to get to them if he had any chance of escaping the enraged queen behind him.

On Fury 361, they'd encountered the Queen when the Away Team comprising of himself, Vin Tanner and the Captain had ventured into the alien nest in search of Alex Styles who was taken for implantation. When Mary talked him into following the telepathic signals she was receiving to its source, they'd been led to Sub-Level 25 where both of them came face to face with the Queen cultivated by Gabriel Paracelsus. Previously, the Queen was held in place on her roost, rendered immobile by the ovipositor attached to her body. It was a testament to the brutal nature of these creatures that even in such a restrained condition, she managed to terrify him.

That was nothing compared to seeing her thundering after him, her massive crowned head leading the way with mouth wide open, revealing foot-long teeth that could crush his skull with one snap of her jaws. Free of her reproductive appendages, she sprinted towards him with the speed of any land mammal built for the purpose. He knew if he didn't act immediately, he would die before ever reaching the rescue team from the Maverick. At the rate she was gaining, Ezra knew he had to buy himself some time.

Craning his body just enough to take aim, Ezra fired a blast of phaser energy in her direction.

The amber bolt struck her in the chest and halted her advance, forcing her to retreat. The Queen uttered a howl of outrage at the personal assault with the ridged armour plating across her sternum smouldering with heat where the phaser beam struck. She was driven back no more than two steps before she put her head down and charged. Impossibly, she seemed to get even faster, as if her rage could spur her on, not slow her down.

As she bore down on him, the security chief did the only thing he could think to do, turn tail and run.

The Queen gave chase almost immediately, and Ezra thought absurdly of Orestes, being chased by the Furies for the crime of matricide. While he hadn't harboured such thoughts about Maude since his teenage years, Ezra supposed he should have been grateful he hadn't done it if this was the result. Leaping past the eggs which oddly enough hadn't opened, Ezra wondered if leading the Queen to the rescue party was the wisest course of action.

Ducking through the shortened entrance of yet another chamber, this one was also filled with cocooned eggs, presumably for the hosts, the drones would collect from the institute's population. Ezra weaved through them, suspecting the eggs had some kind of warning system that prevented them from blooming if the conditions were perilous.

Without warning, a xenomorph emerged from one of the walls where it had been hiding, waiting for the most damaging moment to strike. Ezra fired his phaser while it was still far enough away for him to avoid harm from the inevitable acid spray. The creature exploded as expected, dousing the surrounding eggs in acid. 

Behind him, the Queen roared again, and Ezra saw her rip apart the organic wall created by her children, to reach him. In dealing with the drone, Ezra had wasted precious time, and now she had caught up.

Fear caused him to turn to run when a blast of phaser fire struck one of those massive frills on her head. It sheared off enough of her crown for her to scream in pain. Acid spewed from her wound, running down her black body and eating into the ground. Before she could recover enough to resume her charge, a second shot struck her, followed by a third. One by one, Ezra saw her driven back and had the presence of mind to use his own phaser to help his rescuer.

The combined blasts drove the Queen back enough for Ezra to look up and see Buck Wilmington standing on a walkway above him.

"You called Chief?" Buck grinned as he took aim at the suspension cables holding up one section of the walkway nearest to Ezra. Taking a precise aim, Buck severed both of them in mid-length, dropping one end to the floor as if he'd just lowered a drawbridge.

"Come on, she's not going to be dazed for long! I haven't had the chance to raise them, but I'm pretty sure that's our security detail causing all that ruckus!"

Ezra did not argue and could see the Queen tilting her head in their direction after shaking off the brunt of the phaser blasts. The Chief did not know if getting on the walkway was any safer, but it seemed a better course than the one he was charting at present. Running up the ramp, he looked behind him long enough to see her closing the distance. 

She reached the edge of the metal frame just as Buck pulled Ezra to his section of the walkway.

Not that it mattered because her large hands gripped each side of the slanted ramp and started pulling. The remaining walkway shuddered, and both Ezra and Buck had to fight to stay on their feet as it swayed from side to side by the Queen's insistent tugging. Bellowing at them in what seemed like a gloat and a promise they were going nowhere, the Queen continued to pull at the metal frame, determined to bring down the entire construction to reach her prey.

"You know," Buck turned to Ezra as they started retreating further along the walkway, trying to outrun the inevitable collapse. "In my head, this plan sounded better."

"Perhaps," Ezra managed to say as he was flung to the railing and held fast, instead of going over. "You should attempt to employ your animal magnetism on the lady. She is, after all, a single woman with a large brood. Your dubious charm might win her over."

Suddenly the Queen stopped shaking the downed rampway, and both Buck and Ezra knew what she was about to do.

"Oh hell," Buck cursed.

With far more agility than one would expect from a creature her size, she stepped on to the ramp, making her way along its length even as her weight buckled the metal beneath her. Oblivious to the strain she was causing, the Queen was several feet off the ground when she jumped. Whether or not intended to reach the walkway beyond, neither of them would ever know for sure. The suspension cables were no match for her weight, and each one snapped behind Buck and Ezra as they tried to get far enough away from the Queen as possible.

The Queen hung on as the walkway collapsed, determined to end this avenue of escape once and for all.

When the floor gave way, Buck was thrown off, while Ezra rode it all the way to the ground. The First Officer landed hard, convinced those bruised ribs from earlier were now definitely broken. However, he hardly noticed the pain because when he scrambled to his feet, he saw Ezra was in worse shape. A section of the railing had broken off and twisted into gnarled and jagged metal, one sharp shard finding its way into the security officer's body. He was pinned and groaning in pain, blood starting to pool beneath him.

"Jesus Ezra," Buck rushed to Ezra, at the same time, throwing a look behind him to see where the Queen had landed. She was on the ground now, wrapped up in twisted metal and masonry, shaking off the debris like a big dog shaking off the rain. She did not look at all hurt, and Buck wondered if anything could kill her. 

Along with the jagged metal penetrating his flesh, there was a patch of slick on Ezra's skull, providing a reason for his unresponsive state. Buck knew then and there, he was not going to be able to save Ezra before the Queen reached them. The possibility of saving himself never entered his mind because Ezra was his friend, and if Buck couldn't save him, they'd die together.

The queen xenomorph advanced, her triumph expressed in a loud hiss as she bared her teeth again. Instead of using demolishing speed, she now approached them slowly as if she knew her prey was cornered with nowhere to run. Trailing behind the Queen, were at least four other xenomorphs and as she closed in on them, Buck was convinced she was gloating.

Tightening his grip around his phaser and preparing to fight to the death, Buck felt no fear, just regret.

More than anything, he wanted to see Inez, wished he could tell her he had been a prized ass when she had done nothing but be there for him since his freedom from assimilation. Buck wanted to tell Josiah and Chris he was okay, because he'd finally accepted this was his life, and it was all his, with Borg programming expunged for good. Glancing at Ezra who was unconscious, Buck took some comfort in the fact the Chief would not be awake for the death coming to claim them both.

Until a stream of ignited naphthyl fuel created a wall of fire between them. The Queen uttered a shriek as another jet of flames flared in her direction, driving her and her drones backwards. For a second Buck could only watch as at least four crisscrossing streams of fire forced the xenomorphs into retreat.

"BUCK!" JD ran forward, emerging from the smoke

"JD!" Buck hid the intense relief he felt seeing the young man alive. Throughout all this, JD's fate was something he tried not to think about because if the boy was dead, it would have broken him into a thousand pieces more completely than anything the Borg could have done to him. He clamped his hand on the younger man's shoulder and squeezed. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Long story," JD said grinning, "but we got to get moving!"

"Ezra's hurt," Buck turned back to Ezra until he noticed Chris joining them. "Chris, what the hell are you doing here? You should be on the ship!"

Chris glared at Buck exasperated, "this is hardly the time for that conversation Commander. Let's get Ezra, so we can get the hell out of here. We've taken that bitch by surprise, but she'll regroup soon enough."

Buck had no doubt of that, and despite Chris's tone, Buck could see the Captain's intense relief at finding them both alive.

"Amen to that," Buck grinned. He wanted to go home.

Josiah was never more grateful to return to the Maverick, but he wished it were under any other circumstances. 

As he, Nathan and Mary materialised in the centre of Sick Bay, there to greet them was Doctor Zheng Li Pong, Lt. Rain and Julia Pemberton. Both Julia and Rain were understandably puzzled at the need for their presence in what was a wholly medical matter. However, after hearing Nathan's plan to save Mary Travis, Josiah knew no one else on board could help the doctor with the minor miracle he intended to perform. 

"Oh my God," Julia gasped as she stepped back and saw Nathan carrying Mary in his arms to the nearest biobed where Li Pong awaited. 

"There's nothing holy about what happened to her," Josiah stated firmly, thoroughly sick about hearing anything spiritual in connection to the xenomorphs. It would take a long time before he could forget the mania Gabriel Paracelsus displayed, and how many he'd condemned to a horrific death because of his delusions. Never again would Josiah be able to see his old friend as anything but a monster, not after Gabriel so flagrantly ignored a healer's mandate to do no harm. 

"We need an immediate scan of everything going on inside of her," Nathan told the assistant CMO of the Maverick. "I want to be able to identify every trace of xenomorph DNA inside of her."

"Yes, Dr Jackson," Li Pong nodded promptly, hurrying over to the biobed controls to do just that.

No sooner than Nathan had delivered that message, he crossed the floor of Sick Bay, his attention fixed on the two non-medical staff present in the room. Although Nathan would have liked to have a personal moment with Rain, whose eyes showed him how grateful she was to have him back in one piece, it was not a desire he could immediately satisfy. Not when Mary's life was at stake and not when the time was so short. 

"Rain, I'm going to be attaching transponder isotopes to the spore," he glanced over his shoulder at the monstrosity attached to Mary's face."

"Will that work?" Josiah asked, not capable of believing it could be that simple. 

"To remove the larger organism, yes." 

"I can calibrate the transporter to the silicon DNA of that thing," Rain confirmed, her distaste at the creature attached to Mary evident on her face, "but if it's on a microscopic level..."

"I know," Nathan was prepared for this.

"Doctor," Li Pong called out from the display screen next to the bio-bed. "The implantation process has begun. I'm detecting high levels of dimethyl sulfoxide being produced by the spore."

"That's its delivery system," Nathan explained to his comrades. "These things don't carry any kind of embryo, not in the way we understand it. They infuse potential hosts with a substance called Plagiarus praepotens instructing the host body to replicate the biological matter required to create the embryo."

For the uninitiated, the information was horrifying. So far, no one who became implanted survived the birthing process and the idea Mary could die screaming as a monster tore out of her body, was too terrifying to accept. Josiah, Rain and Julia automatically shifted their gaze to Nathan, hoping he'd have a solution to save her. 

"How long until it matures?" 

"Seven hours." 

Seven hours. Okay, Nathan could work with that.

"Monitor its progress," Nathan instructed her. 

The doctor nodded quickly, turning her attention to the display on the bio-bed controls again. 

"What are you going to do?" Josiah had to ask. While the idea of transporting the spore away was the most obvious answer, Josiah retained enough information from med school to know the solution was nowhere that simple. 

During their time in the Institute's Sick Bay, Nathan had thought long and hard about what to do about Mary's condition once they returned to the Maverick. An idea struck him, borne mostly out of desperation, but the more he gave it thought, the more he became convinced it was the only way to save their Protocol Officer. 

"There's no way we can get the spore off surgically, not when it has acid for blood, but we can inject her with transponder isotopes which will be programmed to attach itself to any silicon-based lifeform in and out of her body. We use it in the same way we treat malignant tumours too dangerous for surgical removal." 

"Give me the specs Doc," Rain said with a determined set of her jaw. "I'll get that damn thing off her." 

"But that's not enough," Josiah pointed out. "Not if she's been infused with Plagiarus praepotens. Just a few cells from a dead spore was enough to infect Callie Leech and create the mess on the planet!" 

"I know," Nathan was prepared for his outburst and suspected even Josiah's usual calm was not going to find his next response any more comforting. "To eradicate it, we need something that can transform cells on a genetic level by rewriting it." 

Julia's eyes widened in realisation as Nathan's gaze slowly shifted to her. Now she understood why he had asked for her. 

"You can't be serious..." her voice escaped her in a strangled whisper. 

"What?" Josiah looked at Julia and then at Nathan. "What do you have in mind?"

"Borg nanites. He wants to inject her with Borg nanites." Julia revulsion was plain.

"Nathan that's crazy!" Rain blurted out, never one to stand on ceremony. 

"Maybe," Nathan ignored the protests. "But it will work. The Borg nanites have proved capable of rewriting the cells of every species they have encountered. If I reprogram them to seek out the xenomorph cells, I think we can use them to remove all traces of Plagiarus praepotens from Mary's system." 

"Where do you propose to get these nanites from?" Rain questioned. "We're a long way from the Collective." 

Josiah saw Julia stiffen and turned a shade pale and guessed the answer. "We don't need to be, do we?"

"No," Nathan shook his head. "We don't." 

Julia took a deep breath, hating to be reminded somewhere in her bloodstream, there were still Borg nanoprobes rendered inert. Nathan had disabled the neural transceiver in her brain and all the other hardware the Collective saw fit to infest her with, but he had not been able to remove everything. During the first few weeks after she was free of assimilation, Julia was plagued with recurring nightmares that they would spontaneously come alive and turn her into Borg again. 

Now it appeared they could well be Mary's only salvation. 

Remembering Lt. Ty Atwater, who died on the Sulaco alone and in terror, Julia knew if she could spare Mary that same nightmare, then she would not hesitate to help. Besides, if she was to have these microscopic freeloaders in her system, she might as well put them to work. 

"What do you need from me?" 

Chris realised there was only one way out of Sub-Level 25. The way they came in. 

After the generator's destruction, every xenomorph in the facility was on route to intercepting the intruders in the hatchery. There was no way to reach the transporter level via the turbo lifts. Furthermore, with the Queen leading the charge, they would never make it there anyway. Buck and JD carried Ezra who was still unconscious. The possibility of the head injury he sustained was much more severe than the bleeding wound on his side preyed on everyone's mind. 

The flamethrowers had given them enough of an opening to make a run for it, with Drew, Kate and Opa laying down a wall of fire to allow the rest of the Away Team to reach the tunnel. Sandwiched between the Captain, Vin and the security team, Buck and JD held Ezra up by each arm as they entered the narrow passage.

"Chris, let me take point," Vin spoke over the whooshes from the jets of fire being unleashed by the flamethrowers, followed by the corresponding shrieks of pain and outrage from their targets. "With the power down, they could come at us from the outside." 

"Good idea," Chris agreed, finding in these close quarters, the flame units were more useful than the bullets from the Pulse rifles. At least the fires would force the drones back and not put any of them at risk by getting splattered with acid. "Buck, how's Ezra doing?" 

"We need to get him to Sick Bay," Buck grunted while struggling to keep Ezra on his feet, even with JD's help. "I think he got hit on the head pretty hard when the bitch brought down the walkway." 

"As soon as we're out in the open, we'll be in transporter range. The ship will transport us before we die of exposure!"

"I'd rather freeze to death than let one of those things take me. I've had enough of fucked up alien species deciding they want to use my body for Christ only knows what, without my permission. First, the Borg and then these goddamn things. "

"Must be all that animal magnetism," JD couldn't help quip, glad to hear Buck sounding more like himself than he had in months. 

"Real funny junior," Buck shot him a look. "You can't know the trouble I've seen because of it." 

Chris shook his head at their sense of timing but couldn't hold either at fault. For the first time since coming out of assimilation, the shadow in Buck's eyes was nowhere in sight. 

The Captain supposed the xenomorphs had a way of making you put aside all the bullshit running through your head to remember what was really mattered. When Chris had been on Fury 361, his obsession with finding out who killed Sarah and Adam had made him reckless, costing a lot of good people their lives. After that incident, he learned never to take his position as Captain for granted again and swallowed a bitter lesson about how his choices affected the lives of his crew. 

Perhaps being in a similar position had given Buck the same clarity. 

"If you ladies can quit jawing," Vin barked from the front, "we've got company." 

Leading the Away Team through the tunnel, now illuminated by the glow of torches and the jets of fire, Vin had a good view of what was ahead of them. The end of the passage approached with daylight pouring through its entrance, but they were not alone as a trio of xenomorphs closed in on them rapidly. Vin hesitated to use the Pulse rifle because splattering acid across the terrain they would need to cross to escape, sounded like a generally bad idea. Instead, he opted for the flame units. 

At least three of them were sprinting across the stone floor, intending on intercepting the escaping humans. Two were moving along the stone slabs, while a third was making its approach from the roof, no doubt planning to get above them before dropping in. Vin wasted no time depressing the trigger of the flame unit, sending a rush of fire down the passage, filling the small space with smoke that made his eyes burn and started someone, he thought it might be JD, coughing. 

The fire swallowed one xenomorph, provoking a sharp screech of pain as it flailed about wildly before retreating the way it came. The flames surrounding its body lit the drone's flight out of the tunnel, and Vin wondered if it had the capacity to reason that reaching the snow outside could save its life. Meanwhile, the rest of its pack advanced, their savage instinct forcing them to attack. The one on the ceiling dropped to the ground, taking up position next to the remaining drone. Both pounced, intending to bring Vin down before he could aim those jets of heat in their direction again. 

Vin didn't give them the chance to reach him, pulling the trigger again and sending a stream of fire in their direction. At the same time, a hail of gunfire exploded out of Chris's pulse rifle. Between the flames and the bullets, the drones were either cut down or forced back. Their retreat gave the Away Team a clear path through the tunnel for now. As the Maverick's crew forged ahead, sidestepping the carcass of the alien Chris had killed, they avoided the acid eating into the stone. The Captain looked over his shoulder and was relieved to see the Security team had rejoined them. 

He supposed he could take comfort in the fact the Queen couldn't follow them down here. 

"Report!" Chris barked as Vin continued to lead the way, unleashing bursts of gunfire to ensure their way out was safe. "Security?"

"We're okay," Drew Katovit replied promptly. "A little singed, but okay." 

"What about that big bitch!" Buck demanded, convinced the Queen would not give up so easily, not after seeing how relentlessly she pursued him and Ezra through her hatchery. 

"Can't say, Commander. We lost sight of her once we climbed in here." 

Another burst of gunfire cut off Drew's speech, telling Buck and Chris the xenomorphs had not given up yet. It was clear the drones would dog them every step of the way until they were transported to the Maverick, which wouldn't be long now. Despite the use of flamethrowers and the heat generated by the fire, the air was growing steadily colder, an indicator they were almost outside.

"We're almost out!" Vin announced as the light ahead became brighter, eclipsing the radiance from their torches and the fires. There was no further appearance of the xenomorphs in front of them. 

"No kidding," Buck complained as he started to shiver, his uniform no match for the icy temperatures of Tenabrus. While the others were dressed for it, he and Ezra were not so fortunate and would not last for long on the surface.

"Captain to the Maverick," Chris tapped his combadge as they approached the exit. He could see the grey sky starting to appear past the doorway and felt the cold wind assail his skin since he was no longer wearing any headgear. "Come in, Maverick."

"Captain!" Charlotte Richmond exclaimed almost immediately. "What's your status? Are you safe? Did you find the rest of the Away Team?" 

Where was Alex? Chris was puzzled. She should have been on the bridge. 

"It's a long story Lt," Chris said abruptly as they emerged onto the surface of Tenarus with the Institute behind them. "I need you to lock onto our signal for immediate transport."

Cold winds lashed at them as soon as they emerged into the harsh icy weather, with Kate taking his place carrying Ezra since Buck needed both hands to deal with the cold's effect on him. The First Officer was rubbing his hands over his arms, trying to generate heat. At least Ezra was spared the discomfort, although Chris did not know if this was a good thing or not. 

THUD!

The sound was loud enough to interrupt Chris in mid-sentence, and every member of the Away Team honed in immediately on its source. 

THUD! 

It was coming from the Institute. Another loud bang, audible over the sound of the howling wind told them why. With a mixture of horror and astonishment, the Away Team watched with wide eyes as a section of the outer wall crumbled from repeated bombardment. As the cracks became fissures and finally gave way, a small dust cloud of mortar and steel formed over the newly created opening to Sub-Level 25. 

Emerging through it, was the Queen. 

"Are we ready?" 

Nathan Jackson stood over Mary Travis, with Li Pong at the bio-bed controls. Surrounding them was a force field because as much as this procedure was necessary to save Mary's life, there was no avoiding how dangerous it was. If they failed to remove the spore properly, it would kill Mary in retaliation for their tampering. If his plan succeeded, he would have knowingly infected Mary with Borg nanoprobes, risking the possibility the nanites could continue their assimilation of the Protocol Officer once it was done with the xenomorph threat.

Outside the security shield, both Josiah and Julia watched on. The Engineer was more than willing to donate her blood where many of the nanites resided in their dormant state. Nathan knew she had mixed feelings at allowing the things to be injected into Mary, but seeing that monstrous creature on her face went a long way to convincing the Engineer this was the right thing to do. Still, Nathan was glad to see Josiah was standing by to offer her support. 

"As I'll ever be Doc," Rain spoke up. "The transponder signal is strong. I'm getting a good read on the organism." 

"Alright then," Nathan sucked in his breath. "Engage." 

No sooner than he spoke, the xenomorph spore started to shimmer. As the transport beam activated, Nathan saw its limbs twitch and the tail coiled around Mary's neck began to tighten, as if the creature knew something was happening. The golden mist of energy expanded, enveloping the spore and animating it further, but it was too late. Nathan and Li Pong had been meticulous in their preparations, planning for every contingency to ensure the creature did nothing more to endanger Mary Travis. 

The transport beam lasted for only a few seconds, and when it vanished, Mary's face became visible once again. Nathan was not about to celebrate. "Did we get it all?" 

Li Pong faced the display screen on the biobed and studied its reading for a few seconds, unaware Nathan, Josiah and Julia were holding their breaths in anticipation of her answer.

"Yes," she nodded, too relieved to smile, "the spore itself is gone." 

That's one, Nathan thought silently.

"Rain, have you got it?" He spoke up, aware the Transporter Chief was listening via the open channel between Sick Bay and Transporter Room 1. 

"I've got it," Rain replied tautly. "It's in the transporter buffer. What do you want me to do with it." 

"In the words of our esteemed Captain," Nathan eyed Josiah and Julia. "Get it the hell off the ship." 

"Oh, I like it when you talk dirty Doc," Rain teased and then added more seriously. "Acknowledged."

While the spore was gone, Mary was nowhere out of danger. Nathan was not about to let her suffer a repeat of Callie Leach's ordeal. While any trace of the xenomorph's DNA remained inside Mary's system, she was in danger. Now that the spore itself was removed, including the vile proboscis lodged inside her throat, Nathan could move to the next phase of treatment. 

Reaching for the instrument tray, he picked up the spray applicator containing the nanoprobes extracted from Julia's blood. Once again, he noticed the Engineer flinch when he held the device to Mary's neck. He knew she was still anxious about what he was proposing, but her lack of refusal indicated Julia knew there was no other way to save Mary. 

"Li Pong, you keep an eye on her vitals. The minute these nanoprobes enter her bloodstream, the assimilation process is going to happen real fast."

Nathan had activated the nanoprobes after removing them from Julia, programming them to seek out any traces of Palgiarus praepotens in particular, during the assimilation of its new victim. Of course, he also had a good dose of Omicron particles on hand to neutralise the things when the time came. 

"Yes Doctor," Li Pong nodded, having no illusions on this point. Not after the Maverick's most recent encounters with the Borg. 

"Nathan," Josiah felt compelled to ask as he saw the doctor about to inject the nanoprobes into Mary's body. "Are you sure about this?" He threw a sidelong glance at Julia, who was biting the nail on her thumb as she watched on with apparent anxiety. 

"Yeah," Nathan answered. "If we'd gotten to her soon enough, we could have saved Callie and spared her what Paracelsus made her go through. We can't help her, but we can help Mary." 

"Do it," Julia finally spoke. "Those damn things have to be good for something."

The doctor did not answer and squeezed the hypospray against Mary's neck, slightly bruised from the spore's tail coiled around it for so long. The nanoprobes entered Mary's body with a hiss, and for a few seconds, nothing happened. 

Josiah didn't have to look directly at Julia to know she was tense. Her green eyes were fixed, and Josiah could only imagine what terrible feelings this was surfacing in Julia's mind. Looking straight ahead, he saw Mary remained in her unconscious state, oblivious to the effort being made on her behalf. Josiah suspected he might have to clear his appointments for the next two days to counsel those who would undoubtedly need it after this whole affair. 

Hell, he and Chris were due to share a bottle of Saurian whiskey because for once, it was not Chris who needed to talk. He did. 

Without warning, Mary convulsed suddenly as red light indicators lit up across the bio-bed controls and the shrill beeping of emergency sounded throughout the room. The Protocol Officer's body arched sharply over the mattress, her peaches and cream complexion quickly taking on the grey, mottled colour of Borg skin. Next to Josiah, he heard Julia's breath catch when the first dermal implants burst through Mary's cheek and hand.

The assimilation had begun. 

The Queen stepped through the freshly created hole she had just battered into existence, stepping out of the dust cloud resulting from broken mortar and rocks like some twisted version of the Angel of Death. Emerging with her, were swarms of xenomorphs swarming past, able to move far swifter than any of the humans who might try to outrun them. 

Chris snapped back to attention far quicker than any of the Away Team. "Charlotte, we need a beam out now!" 

"Aye Captain!" The assistant science officer did not miss the urgency in the Captain's voice.

However, the xenomorphs would be here in a matter of seconds, and Chris had a feeling some of them might make it off the planet in time, but others would not. The creatures were closing in way too fast. Beside him, Vin and the security officers were preparing to meet the onslaught of drones, but the numbers racing towards them would make this an extremely uneven fight. Even with the technology at their disposal. 

"Now this is why you need to stay on the ship!" Buck stated as they waited for the Maverick's transporters to sweep them to safety, hopefully before the xenomorphs reached them.

"Is this really the time?" Chris gave him a look. 

"We're about to die," Buck shrugged. "It's as good a time as any."

"Die?" JD's eyes widened at the thought. 

The creatures were closing in and all three men, despite holding up an unconscious Ezra Standish, braced themselves for a fight. 

All of a sudden, a bolt of energy flew past their heads and struck the enemy line. The blast was powerful enough to send all the drones into complete disarray. As the shocked Away Team looked up into the sky, they saw a Starfleet runabout making a tight loop above their heads before taking another run at the swarm attempting to stampede them. The Queen realising the odds were about to shift significantly out of her favour, charged the runabout. With her head bent like a battering ram, she roared with fury in a shriek also laced with finality.

The phaser banks fired, and she was obliterated in a ball of fire. Her body was blown apart, no match for phasers made to tear through deuterium hull plating. As pieces of alien flesh and acid blood scattered in all directions, her army screamed in outrage, their anguish at her loss rising above the whistle of the wind. 

"Hey, Captain," Alexandra Styles's voice spoke through their combadges. "I was just in the neighbourhood and thought you could use a lift." 

Vin was grinning as he stared into the sky, unsurprised his wife would be just impatient enough to come get them. 

"Good timing Commander," Chris shared Vin's elation at hearing the Science Officer. At least he knew why the lady wasn't on the bridge when he made contact. 

As the Captain spoke to Alex, Buck heard the familiar hum of the transporter beam and smiled to himself as Tenarus, and the world around him became enveloped in a shimmer of gold. Closing his eyes as he was spirited away, Buck's last thought as he vanished off the surface of the planet was how good it was to finally go home to the Maverick and the people he called his family.

*Plagiarus praepotens is referenced in canon-related works for the Alien franchise.

"Captain's Log - Stardate 2378.293.

It has been twenty-four hours since the Maverick completed the final evacuation of all personnel from the Tenarus Institute. We recovered 147 of the 219 residents of the facility. The rest were taken by the xenomorphs and killed after embryo implantation or were caught in the generator explosion. More disturbingly, upon examination of Doctor Paracelsus's personal log, we learned he falsified the release of 43 patients, claiming they had left the facility. According to the doctor's surviving followers, these unfortunate souls never returned home and were the xenomorphs' first victims. 

Also lost, was one of the Maverick's own, Ensign Manny Garcia. I do not look forward to informing his parents of his passing. Mr Garcia is the oldest child of his parents who own a farm in Oregon, and the first in his family to attend Starfleet. Counsellor Sanchez tells me he was a practising Catholic, so services will be held as soon as time permits. 

I have recommended Tenarus be permanently quarantined after ordering phaser bombardment of the facility. It is my hope we managed to excise the xenomorph threat completely. Nevertheless, Starfleet has issued a Priority One advisory alert to all relevant authorities and governments regarding the biological hazard now existing in Tenarus. While I hope my orders to Commander Styles to sterilize each instance of infestation was successful, we cannot be sure the threat is truly eradicated. If nothing else, the xenomorphs have proven to be extremely adaptable. 

Nevertheless, Dr Paracelsus's followers have been confined to the brig due to the continued influence of the Queen on their judgement. Counsellor Sanchez believes rehabilitation may be possible for some. Still, for those who have had prolonged exposure, they may never break free of the delusion she is a deity, worthy of worship. Fortunately, Paracelsus never knew about LV-426 or Fury 361 since the information was deemed classified. Not even Lt. Leech was aware of the xenomorph's true origins. As a result, it is doubtful the more extreme members of his cult can trace the xenomorphs to those worlds in an attempt to revive their 'religion'.

Meanwhile, Doctor Jackson has successfully removed all traces of Plagiarus praepotens from Lt. Mary Travis's body. Utilizing reprogrammed Borg nanoprobes, the nanites sterilized all foreign cells capable of interfering with the assimilation of a new drone. Once confirmation of removal of Plagiarus praepotens was made with 100 per cent certainty, Doctor Jackson then administered omicron particles to Lt. Travis's system, deactivating all nanoprobes in her body. The implants were surgically removed, and though Lt. Travis must remain under medical care for the next week, it appears she is free of the xenomorph's infestation.

Also recovering well is Lt. Commander Standish, who sustained a fracture to his skull and a perforated liver during his encounter with the queen xenomorph. No doubt the Chief will be demanding his release from Sick Bay the minute he wakes up. I'm guessing he will discover a queen xenomorph is as threatening as a neutered tribble in comparison to the Chief Medical Officer of the Maverick.

The sudden chirp at his door made Chris Larabee pause from his log entry. 

"Come in." 

Entering his Ready Room was Holly Jones, who was carrying a Starfleet datapad as well as a mug of coffee that was wafting with an unfamiliar but rather inviting aroma. Remembering their earlier encounter, the master of the ship eyed the young lady with suspicion. 

"Hi, Captain," she greeted pleasantly. "I bought you some coffee. I know you drink the same Jamaican blend all the time, but I thought you might like to try something different. You know, mix it up a bit? Anyway, I've gone through your paperwork and completed most of your outstanding reports. You have two personnel requests and at least four requisition forms that just need approval. Once you do, they'll be good to transmit to Starfleet Command."

She spoke faster than artillery fire. 

Chris blinked and stared at her through narrowed eyes, trying to understand what was happening here. "Miss Jones, I have a Yeoman who does all this for me already, and who gave you the authority to access my reports?"

"Correction, you did have a Yeoman. Apparently, Ensign Arlok has decided to transfer to stellar cartography or go home to Benzar to raise sea turtles or something. Commander Wilmington didn't specify which exactly, but he said you needed my kind of help since you've hardly got time to do your reports, what with leading Away missions and all that. Besides, I've got nothing to do until we get to a Starbase." 

That rat bastard. He should have known. Clearly, his oldest friend and First Officer was not yet ready to forgive him for leading the Away Team to the surface and was getting his revenge by inflicting this girl on him. Chris supposed he ought to be grateful since this was a clear indication Buck was on the road to recovery at last. 

"I can manage on my own," Chris bit back petulantly. 

"Oh don't be such a baby," Holly rolled her eyes, unafraid of him because technically, she was still a civilian not crew. The petite young woman set down the coffee mug and the datapad with his completed reports on his desk. "Go on, try the Hawaiian Koa blend." 

Chris shot her a glare, disappointed it did not have the power to incinerate her on the spot when the aroma of coffee reached his nostrils. It made him look down into its dark depths with interest. Not looking at her, he raised the mug to his lips and took a sip. 

Damn, it was good. 

 Of course, he would rather be facing an armada of Borg before he admitted it to her. 

"Not bad," Chris grumped, not about to admit it tasted delicious. 

"See? Dare to be different, Captain.," she beamed before continuing. "I've also gone through your schedule today, shifted a few things around and freed up some time so you can take a meeting with Counsellor Sanchez and visit Lt. Travis in Sick Bay. Don't forget to bring her flowers. I'll replicate you some roses. Girls love those." 

Chris wondered if it would be a bad thing to send her back to the planet. 

For the first time in weeks, Julia didn't dream about the Borg. 

In fact, she didn't dream of anything in particular. The flotsam of her day swirled around her in the dreamscape, adding little twists on the mundane occurrences she barely heeded in her waking hours. She floated through them like a disinterested traveller, scarcely aware of them they drifted by. It was a pleasant change from the terrible nightmares of being assimilated where she watched helplessly as friends and whole worlds were destroyed by the juggernaut of the Collective. 

This time, she was roused out of her sleep by something other than a nightmare reaching climax, where escape came by waking up in a cold sweat or by screaming. Ezra's soft groan sliced through her slumber like a laser torch. Julia's eyes flew open at the hearing of it, the walls of her dream environment abruptly lowering for the cold sterility of Sick Bay. Another groan banished it entirely, and she blinked to wake herself up fully. 

She hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep by his bed, having come into the room the night before because the idea of going back to their quarters without him was more than she could stand. However, when Julia looked up, she saw Ezra slowly emerging from his drug-induced sleep. The wonders of 24th-century medicine left him devoid of any wounds once Nathan finished treating him. Still, even if his wounds were healed, his body remembered the abuse he'd suffered onTenabrus. 

Ezra's return to consciousness filled Julia with an overwhelming sense of relief. When he was first brought into Sick Bay, the stark terror running through her heart made her forget all about her discomfort at donating the nanoprobes needed to help Mary. The idea of losing him, after all they had been through together was more than she could bear. He'd fought so hard to bring her home it would be the height of cruelty if they were parted again.

Not after what they discussed the night before. 

Ezra emerged from his stupor, his senses quickly adjusting to his situation as he took stock of his surroundings. When his eyes met hers, Julia broke into a smile, thanking all the deities that may exist for his life. 

"Hey Chief," she reached for his hand and squeezed it. 

"Julia," Ezra croaked and winced at how dry his throat was.

Julia wasted no time remedying that situation by pouring him a glass of water and holding it to his lips so he could drink. She watched him take a few sips before retreating again.

"I take it from my presence here, I have Commander Wilmington to thank for my continued existence?" Ezra tried to ignore the throbbing in his head and wished for something to make it go away. However, such easements from the doctor usually came with a sedative that would put him right back to sleep again. Doctor Jackson was cunning as he was compassionate. 

"Not just him," Julia explained, planting a soft kiss on Ezra's palm as she resumed holding his hand at his bedside. "The Captain led an Away Team..."

"The Captain?" Ezra almost sat up in his bed at that morsel of news. "By himself? On the surface? Why?"

Julia rolled her eyes in mild exasperation, wondering if Captain Larabee who was already in Buck Wilmington's doghouse would be suffering a similar sentence in Ezra's brig. 

"He had a security team with him, Ezra," Julia said gently and on that subject knew this revelation was about to take a dark turn. She wished she could avoid telling him, but Julia knew what Ezra's people meant to him. "Ezra, we lost Ensign Manny Garcia on the Away Mission." 

"How?" Ezra started to ask and then stopped himself. If Manny died on Tenarus, it took no clairvoyance to know why. "Nevermind, I think I can guess." 

"I'm sorry," Julia saw the sorrow flooding his sea-green eyes briefly before Ezra reverted to type, sealing off his emotions from everyone behind his usual poker face.

"He was a good officer," Ezra said quietly, the only indication just how much it hurt to hear of Manny's death. Manny who played the flute, who came from Oregon and played a killer game of dom-jot. This was his first starship posting and his last, Ezra lamented silently. "He was too young to die at the hands of those insidious creatures." 

He looked so grieved at Manny's loss, Julia wanted to console him with some good news. "Nathan managed to get the spore off Mary," she revealed, wishing him to know that not all encounters with the xenomorphs had ended in tragedy. 

"He did?" Ezra exclaimed, fearing such a thing might have been impossible when he brought Mary to the healer. Still, it was a welcoming bit of news and Ezra supposed with every loss, there could be victories too. He just wished Manny didn't have to die to even those scales. "Was he able to transport the spore out of her body?" 

"Something like that," Julia nodded, not about to explain the part Borg nanites played in Mary's salvation, or where they had come from. Not yet anyway. 

She did know what she wanted to talk about now that he was conscious. During the hours Julia sat at his bedside, she thought long and hard about their relationship and where she wished it to be. Before the Borg, it was a no-brainer. Since her return to the Maverick, Julia had struggled to get back to a normal life without the Collective. While Josiah had counselled her through much of her trauma, it was Ezra who held her together even though she still kept him at arm's length. When she saw him broken and bleeding, Julia realized just how awful it would be if he were gone. 

"Yes."

Ezra stared at her, not understanding. "Yes?" 

"Let's get married." 

It took a second for his brain to catch up and when it did, Ezra had to confess the shock statement caught him by surprise with his gambler's facade shaken completely. While he felt elated by her answer, he was quick to question it for fear of disappointment. Ezra cleared his throat, trying to downplay the whole thing with cautious regard. No doubt his injuries were a prime motivation, and he didn't want her to make life-changing decisions only to regret it later.

"Julia, while I would love nothing better than to enter a matrimonial state with you, I do not wish you to make such a decision because of my present condition." 

Julia rolled her eyes in exasperation, but then again, this was Ezra. 

"Ezra, I don't deny seeing you hurt scared the hell out of me, but it also reminded me of how much I love you and need you in my life. You've been my rock these past two months, and you've put up with my crazy for longer than that. I want to share my life with you, and I certainly don't want you to go on an Away mission, where you could die any time, thinking I don't have enough faith in you to come back to me. I want to marry you. I want us to share our lives together, on the Maverick or any other ship in the fleet. I don't care, as long as we're together." 

Being able to read people allowed Ezra to know she was being sincere and realize this was something she wanted to do because she loved him. His chest swelled, thinking this was better medicine than any concoction Nathan could administer. "In that case, I accept on one condition." 

"And that is?" Julia asked before she leaned in to kiss him. 

"Let us keep this from my mother for as long as we can." 

Chris entered Sick Bay when he finally had the chance after Holly's expert manipulation of his schedule (damn her), carrying the bouquet of red roses the girl insisted he brought when he left his Ready Room. 

On his way to Sick Bay, he promised to get Buck for inflicting the girl on him and made a mental note to tell Vin to head to the nearest starbase at Warp 9.9. The sooner they got that pain in the ass off his ship, the better. Even if that Hawaiian blend coffee was to die for. 

Mary wasn't alone in her room in the Recovery wing of Sick Bay. Adam had brought Billy to see his mother, aware Chris would be too busy to do it earlier. Thus when Chris entered, he found Billy lying against his mother on her bed, with Mary's arms wrapped around him to assure her young son she was not going anywhere. Adam, who spent most of his time these days studying for the equivalency test to qualify him for admission into Starfleet Academy, occupied the only chair in the room. 

"Chris?" Mary sat up, looking a little pale but no worse for wear after her experience the last twenty-four hours. "You brought me roses?" 

"Yeah," Chris bristled, trying not to show his annoyance at Holly being right about Mary's appreciation of the blooms. "They were just lying around."

"Smooth dad," Adam smirked, somehow inheriting all of Buck Wilmington's sass. "I thought I'd bring Billy by since you've been busy fixing that mess down on the planet." 

"Thanks," the Captain patted his son's shoulder in gratitude. Even though this Adam was not the child born to him and Sarah, Chris loved him just the same. Through the barriers of dimensional walls, they had found each other and healed the wounds from two different tragedies to become a family. Adam discovered the father he never had, and Chris became the father he never expected to be again. 

"Anytime dad," Adam said with just as much affection before regarding Billy. "Hey kid, let's go get some lunch. We can go surfing on the holodeck later." 

Billy seemed reluctant to leave Mary, and Chris could understand why. The boy lost his father less than two years ago, and the possibility he could lose his mother the same way must have been terrifying.

"Can't I stay with you?" He asked in a small voice. Even though he was eight years old, Billy wanted to remain at her side for as long as he could. 

"Of course you can," Mary planted a kiss on her son's forehead, seeing his fear clearly. "But you need to get some lunch, and you can come right back after if you want. Right?"

"Absolutely," Chris said to the boy who had come to mean so much to him since they laid eyes on each other. "Adam will bring you right back if you want." 

Billy nodded and climbed off the bed once he was given the assurance. Adam gave him a little smile, and Chris had a sneaking suspicion Adam liked playing big brother to Billy. Adam, who had the most dysfunctional upbringing in that other universe was happy to embrace the whole notion of family in this one.

"Come on, Billy," Adam gestured for him to follow. "We can go to Four Corners and grab sundaes." As they left, Adam threw Chris and Mary a look, "I hear one of the people we rescued from the planet is a cute, hot blond." 

Chris winced. 

When he turned back to Mary, he saw she was smiling even though she looked pale, with circles around her eyes and the red marks against her neck. At that moment, Chris was grateful he never saw her with that damned spore attached to her face. The Captain had no idea how he would have reacted to seeing that monstrosity smothering her and was grateful by the time he returned to the Maverick, Nathan had successfully removed the thing. 

"Are you okay?" He set down the roses on the table beside her and took her hand in his. Leaning over, he kissed her gently on the mouth and stared at her with all the love he could convey without uttering a word. Like the two boys who just left, this woman restored his wounded heart and taught him that life went on, even after tragedy.

"Yes," she nodded, a little more sedate, now she no longer had to put up a brave front for Billy. Touching her neck, she could still feel the clammy tail wrapped around her throat. A shudder of fear ran through her, and despite Nathan assuring her, nothing was growing inside her body, she couldn't help feeling anxious. After learning what happened to Callie Leech and how that poor girl had suffered her own private hell. One exacerbated by Gabriel Parcelsus's delusion. "I’m scared Chris, I can still feel her." 

"Feel her?" Chris stared at her with alarm. 

Mary nodded, "like she isn't far away, even if I escaped implantation."

"I know the feeling," Chris empathized, remembering his own demons after Fiorina 361. "When I came back to the Maverick from Fury, I knew it wasn't over. She was out there somewhere waiting in the dark for us to fly into her web."

"What do we do?" Mary whispered because the idea of meeting these creatures again was terrifying.

"We deal with it together," Chris looked at her affectionately as he squeezed her hand once more and then added, "and we watch. We make sure the next time will be the last." 

"Penny for your thoughts?" 

Josiah Sanchez looked up and saw his Captain standing over him.

The Counsellor had been nursing a glass of Saurian brandy, staring into the stars through the large window, lost in his thoughts as he reflected on what had taken place on Tenarus. Even though he'd spent his day helping several people, including Mary Travis and Buck Wilmington, Josiah found he could offer himself no such comfort. His mind kept replaying the events as they unfolded, again and again, wondering how someone who had been a friend could have lost his way so utterly.

"We live in a society without money, and even if you had a penny, you couldn't afford me," Josiah gave Chris a little smile before inviting the Captain to take up the empty seat in the booth he was presently occupying. 

Chris slid across the seat and motioned one of the passing servers to bring him a glass so he could share the bottle of whiskey in front of the Counsellor.

"How are Paracelsus's followers? Do you think there's any hope for them?" 

"I don't know Chris," Josiah shook his head, still trying to wrap his mind around how deluded some of them were. "They really think the xenomorphs are the source of some divine agency, not even after I explained to them, we've encountered these life forms before, omitting the location of Acheron and Fury of course." 

"What do you recommend?" Chris asked, grateful Josiah kept that information from them. The xenomorph's adaptability made Chris fear these fools might actually try to reach those worlds to continue their worship. While he was confident he'd wiped out the aliens on Fury, the creatures might have managed to survive. What happened to Callie Leech was case in point. 

"We keep them confined until we can be sure they're no longer a danger to themselves or anyone else," Josiah sighed, hating to recommend imprisonment as a solution but there was no other alternative. The last thing the Alpha Quadrant needed was an outbreak of xenomorph infestation because of these misguided people. 

"Okay," Chris nodded and then took a moment to study Josiah. It didn't require any unique insight to know Josiah too, was affected by what went down on Tenarus. The report he received from Buck and JD told him plenty about how Gabriel Paracelsus, once-respected psychiatrist, had lost his mind under the influence of the alien queen. Such a downfall would have had to affect the friends who knew him, friends like Josiah. "How are you doing?" 

The question took Josiah by surprise, and he took a moment to compose himself before deciding sincerity would suffice. If there was one person he could talk to about this, it was Chris Larabee. 

 "I've been better. It's not every day I see a friend change so drastically, he's unrecognizable." 

Chris dropped his gaze to the table surface, choosing not to remind Josiah that less than two months ago, he'd faced down Buck who had become a Borg drone. Buck was on the cusp of delivering the Maverick to the Collective before a desperate gamble on Chris's part restored the First Officer to himself once more. 

"Maybe just a little." 

When the second glass was set down on the table, Josiah poured Chris a drink and met the Captain's gaze. "I suppose you do." 

"Josiah," Chris said kindly, "we know so little about the xenomorphs. We have no way of knowing how strong the queen's telepathy really was. Even Vin, with Vulcan shields intact, could feel her in his head, your friend would have had no ability to tune her out." 

"Perhaps," Josiah raised his glass to Chris before taking a sip. "But there were so many choices he could have made Chris, so many decisions before the telepathic influence became too strong. Gabriel could have told someone what was happening, that Callie wasn't sick, she was carrying something inside her. The instant he felt the connection, he should have raised the alarm. I watched Nathan save Mary, he or another doctor like him, could have saved that poor girl." 

There was no denying that no matter how much Chris tried to reframe the subject. In the end, he didn't even try. "You're right, he had choices. I guess sometimes the search for truth becomes an obsession that warps your sense of right or wrong. I went down that path once as you know, almost lost everything to find out what happened to Sarah and Adam. I didn't even realize how bad it was until it was too late..."

Josiah did remember, but in Chris's defence, the stakes had been terribly personal. There was no such excuse for Gabriel. "It wasn't too late. You pulled yourself together in time to bring everyone home." 

Chris did not believe so, not one damn bit. How he still had his command was a testament to the friends around him. Had Ezra chose to push the point, Chris could have found himself accountable to more than just his conscience. People had died, and in the end, it was no Larabee hat trick that saved them, it was Julia getting to the Away team in time. 

No, he would never be able to absolve himself for those deaths, not ever. 

"Josiah, some people can't be saved. I don't think anything you said would have made a difference. From what you told me, Dr Paracelsus wouldn't let it go, not even at the end. That kind of obsession is beyond anyone to sway. I'm sorry you lost your friend, but I think he was gone long before you arrived on Tenarus."

"I know," Josiah was forced to admit, thinking about the disbelief on Gabriel's face when the xenomorphs ripped him apart. As if he could not accept he wasn't the chosen one, the Queen had assured him he was. The Counsellor never wanted to be that mistaken. "I just mourn who he was, Chris. I mourn the friend of my youth, and perhaps I'm mourning a little bit for myself. Seeing him this way makes me remember how different I am from that kid so many years ago." 

"You became better Josiah," Chris patted him on the shoulder. "And youth is overrated. I prefer who you are now, my friend." 

"Thank you, Chris," Josiah met Chris's eyes with gratitude. "When you convinced me to accept this post, you said space could be dangerous, I never realized how much until now." 

"Yeah, I think the universe throws something like the xenomorphs at us every now and then, to teach us a lesson about not becoming complacent while we're out here. No matter how technologically superior we think we are, or how civilized we believe ourselves to be, it doesn't take much to show us just how helpless we can be if we're not careful."

Josiah thought about Gabriel and his religion and raised his glass once more to the Captain. "Amen to that." 

Inez Recillos ran her fingers across Buck's brow and decided she loved this man. 

After losing her fiance', Inez thought she was done with relationships or men with ambitions to be starship Captains. She didn't believe for one instance the man who could fill the void left by Raphael would be the worst philanderer on the ship, but then she had always had a very odd relationship with Buck Wilmington.

When Raphael had died, she thought Buck was trying to take advantage of her vulnerability, but instead, he stayed away and what he did offer was friendship of the purest kind. He asked for nothing in return, and even if it was to let her rant and weep into his shoulder once a week, it had been enough for Inez to slowly mend her broken heart. The breakfasts they began sharing at Four Corners during this time, had become a ritual, and nowadays Inez's day didn't feel like it was starting right if they didn't break bread together. 

Less than two days ago, he had told her that he needed some time apart and Inez understood his reasons for what they were. Buck was a frightened man trying to deny he was in pain by shutting out everyone who could see it. Instead of reacting with her usual fiery temper, Inez chose restraint, suspecting Buck didn't really wish her to go, he just didn't know how to deal with his inner turmoil. 

Upon his return to the Maverick, she had been the first person he sought out. 

"Buck!" 

It was all Inez could say as she saw him covered in blood she would later realize was Ezra's, with his Starfleet jacket gone and what looked like burns on his skin. What on Earth was he doing here, instead of Sick Bay? While she did not know what exactly transpired on Tenarus due to her being a civilian, Inez was aware the First Officer and the Away Team were in trouble. Not that she needed to speak because soon as he laid eyes on her, he was pulling her to him in a deep, passionate kiss. 

He kissed her like she was all the air in the world, all the breath he would ever need. As he clung to her, Inez felt his heart pounding against her and realized whatever he went through on the planet, must have been traumatic indeed. 

"Inez, I'm sorry," he said into her hair when his lips left hers. He was still hugging her against him as if he needed to feel her closeness to make sense of things. "I've been a prized jackass. You've put up with me these last two months, and I never appreciated how hard that must have been for you, not after losing Raphael."

"Oh Buck," Inez dismissed his self-reproach. "You were there for me when he died, how could I not be there for you when you needed me? I know it has been difficult for you after what happened with the Borg, even if I couldn't understand. If you need time, I can give that to you." 

"No," he pulled away so he could look her in the eye. "I don't need time, I need you. I've been stuck in amber since coming out of assimilation, believing this wasn't real, any of it. I went down to Tenarus and found out just how real this life is and how I was on the verge of squandering it."

Buck thought about Lt. Callie Leech and Lt. Jerry Lambert whose story JD had related to him. Two people who never had a chance because their love was doomed the minute the xenomorph entered their lives. Their love affair was so twisted out of shape, death was the only mercy left to them. What happened to them was out of their control. Everything going on with him and Inez was wholly within his. If he took nothing else away from their tragedy, he would take away this. 

"Buck, I am not going anywhere," she drew him to her and kissed him gently on the lips. 

Buck Wilmington smiled. "Neither am I." 

That was hours ago. 

Now Inez looked down, watching Buck as he lay stretched out across her sofa. He'd returned to her quarters once he'd attended to his duties as First Officer and had his injuries attended to. They shared a little supper and talked about how he still felt a little disconnected, but generally better. They even made plans to take shore leave together, visiting someplace beautiful (not Risa) for a week or two. However, the real success of the evening came when she lay next to him, her fingers running soothingly over his brow, please to hear the light snore escaping him. 

Finally, Inez thought with a smile, he sleeps. 

THE END

BACK TO MAIN PAGE