Chapter 37 Frustrations

      _ _ _Researcher Rosanna J Smith Pov_ _ _

"Are you fucking insane!" Mercer yelled in both disbelief and rage at the monitor in front of us all.

"I don't believe so."

(It's all going as planned.) I thought to myself as I watched the scene playing out before me.

I honestly hadn't expected it to escalate so quickly but it appears that my employers, or at least those that still think they are my employers, are more corrupt and idiotic than I originally expected. In fact the moment that the information orchestrated by my queen was revealed to them they almost immediately fell right into the trap that had been set. If they had simply thought about it instead of being blinded by their greed and ambition maybe they would have realized it beforehand, but no, they had given us exactly what we had needed from them.

"This isn't what we signed up for!" Marcus hissed in frustration but only got a rather unsympathetic response in return.

"You signed up to follow orders." A stern military man with a calm look on his face answered from the other side of the monitor.

"Look, I'm not the one making the decisions here and as such I can't do anything about it." The man in question simply sighed with a shake of his head as he continued. "It's not the best situation I will admit, however we all have to play our part in this or none of us are getting home any time soon."

"Easy for you to fucking say!" Ava growled equally as furious as her bald friend. "You get to sit on your ass in orbit while we're trapped on a planet filled with various things that just want to kill us or worse!"

I'm sure that you're asking what exactly is going on right now and the answer is quite simple actually. We were not allowed to leave the planet, that was what had just been told to all of us, not until we had completed the mission that was given to us by the higher ups at least. Apparently after watching the video they had ordered for us to collect several of these violet Xenomorphs for "research" purposes. 

We were also to go ahead and capture several of the prisoners, more specifically those that had somehow "tamed" the Xenomorphs in question. Unbeknown to almost everyone however, the video that had been provided was a trick created by my queen as a way to counter this very situation. She had known beforehand that someone would be coming to pick her up and as such she had prepared this scheme as a precaution just in case, after all you can never be too careful.

(Truly you are amazing, my queen.) I thought to myself, a strange pride filling me at the idea that everything was going according to her calculations.

"And I'm guessing you won't be giving us any support?" Orion muttered, however we already kind of knew the answer to that.

"I've been ordered to restrain from interfering if at all possible, although we can provide some assistance in the form of supplies but the higher ups are hoping that you will redeem yourself after that rather laughable failure of yours." The man simply shook his head before adding. "Additionally we really don't want possible traitors running around our ship setting off bombs and such."

"Son of a bitch...can't we speak to the captain about any of this."

"Unfortunately no, he is currently in a meeting with some of the executives of Weyland-Yutani." He muttered with a steady expression. "I'm sorry, I really am, however those are the orders I've been given. Unfortunately we can't evacuate any of your men until you have captured at least a single specimen from that new Xenomorph strain as well as one or more of the prisoners that are somehow working with them."

"And after that, what happens then?" James asked with a cold look on his face.

The head director was a man that I honestly hadn't interacted with all that much, however I had to commend him for his restraint. I could tell he was furious just by looking at him but he was surprisingly able to keep his calm under the current situation.

He and his group of survivors had been brought back here after our dropship had arrived at their previous location. In fact the dropship had actually arrived only moments after the sudden and unexpected appearance of the so-called Perseus. Unfortunately for most of the survivors on this rock however, the video that had been recorded by my fellows had almost immediately been sent to the captain of the Perseus, Elliott Terra, who then of course went off to send it to the higher ups leading to our current situation.

"You will be evacuated the moment your mission is completed, afterwards the planet itself will be observed from orbit until all beneficial information can be gathered from the two warring hives." He hummed and continued on before anyone could interrupt him. "Once this is done the planet and everything on it will be obliterated via orbital nuclear bombardment."

(Unfortunately you won't last that long.) I chuckled internally while making sure not to show the anticipation and glee I was feeling outwardly on my face.

"Now then, I apologize but I must be going, after all I have a lot to prepare for." He mused with a clap of his hands. "We look forward to hearing of your success." He finished and a second later the screen went black.

"Damn it!"

"We're fucked..."

"What the hell do we do now?"

I smiled as my eyes flashed with devotion as I turned to leave the room that was now in chaos. (It worked out just as my queen had predicted it would, truly she is glorious beyond my comprehension.)

                          _ _Carmen pov_ _

(If I truly get to keep most of the things that I "own" from this world then it might be worth giving it an actual try at the very least...) I sighed while tapping my head in contemplation.

[What are you on about now?] Goldy asked, causing me to shift my attention over to him.

(I'm trying to think of a plan to deal with that spaceship or whatever, for now it's not really an issue but that may end up changing sooner than I may like.) I hummed, despite the information that my spies have been feeding me I can't help but be on edge about it.

Hearing my response Goldy simply shrugged from what I could tell. [Don't you have more pressing problems at the moment.]

(Yeah yeah...)

Honestly everything was going relatively well all things considered, however that very fact was the exact reason for my current paranoia. Yes, the spaceship was a problem, a problem that could bite me in the ass if I didn't deal with it eventually but for now it wasn't an issue. In fact my plan was working rather well so far actually, however I was expecting something to go wrong, nothing ever goes as planned after all, and because nothing has gone wrong so far I was kind of freaking out a little. 

[Anyway, how are your new possible minions doing by the way?] 

(What do you care? If I remember correctly you fell asleep while I was talking to them.) I asked with an annoyed hiss in response.

[Are you still mad about that?] He asked sarcastically and I suddenly felt the urge to rip his head off.

(You snored in my head for twenty eight hours straight!) I screeched, the asshole had been so loud that I barely got any work done.

[Oh come on, it wasn't that bad.]

(I hate you...) I growled while "miraculously" getting the completely "unexpected" desire to dig my claws into something.

[So scary~] He chuckled, causing me to roll my head in annoyance.

On the topic of the refugees, well, some of them had left by this point unfortunately. I hadn't stopped them mind you, in fact I had directed them to a group of people that had sent themselves up in a relatively safe valley just outside of the city. They were the people that I had saved but hadn't taken into my care, actually they had formed a small settlement at this point and had even fought off several groups of bastards that tried to take control of them again.

Of course I've been keeping an eye on them without their knowledge just in case something happens. Despite a few hiccups here and there in the beginning, they have honestly been doing relatively well surviving and governing themselves. Additionally though, their very existence only gives me another reason to deal with the ship in orbit to be honest, after all I may not be a saint of any kind but I'd rather not allow a bunch of people that I put so much effort into saving to just die in nuclear fire.

Other than the ones that have left however, there are two other groups that have so far decided to stay. One of said groups is made up of those that hadn't made up their mind yet, on the other hand the second group was made up of those that had decided to join my hive mind already. The number that had joined me was rather few currently, however that was fine for now and may end up changing down the road as more people realize that I'm not a threat to them.

As for those that had joined me at the moment, well, I hadn't allowed them into my main chamber for the indoctrination, instead I had them stand close enough for me to reach them with my mental strings. I had done this because I...I didn't want them to see me...I don't know why but...but it just made me feel uncomfortable for some reason.

A-anyway, to my surprise three people in particular had ended up joining my hive already, Mel being one of them, a fact that honestly made me rather happy to be honest. As for the other two, they were Jonas and Harper, the latter one surprising me the most to be honest, this being because she seemed by far the most reserved out of the group.

As for the old man and his granddaughter, well, they were apparently still on the fence about everything, not that I could blame them, in fact I was surprised that any of them were even considering my proposal let alone already agreeing to it. Either way though, I was just glad to finally have someone different to talk too after all this time that isn't some fucking asshole in my damn head. Actually now that I think about it, since indoctrinating them all not too long ago I've noticed something of interest, something I had yet to get an answer for.

(Why are they so unaffected?) I asked with a slight hum in my voice.

[What do you mean?]

(Why aren't they obsessed with me like my other thrall?) I mused before adding. (Not that I'm complaining, I'm just confused as all.)

[It's quite simple actually, when they joined you it wasn't a struggle for the most part, they did it willingly.] Goldy explained but didn't stop with just that. [To put it more broadly, think of it like this, with the people on the station they subconsciously struggled against you, this caused your Gift to alter their minds to some extent in its attempts to force them into your service. A fact that was also the reason for the emotional outbursts and headaches they suffered from in the beginning.] 

(And I'm guessing the more they fight back against my control the more obsessed with me they become in the end?) I theorized getting an affirmative response in return.

[Right, these new minions of yours are still loyal to you of course but because of the minor amount of changes to their minds you can have a conversation with them without hearing their praises and worship every couple of seconds.]

(I see...)