Chapter 47 Man Vs Hive, Hive Vs Hive

                  _ _ _Navara Pov_ _ _

This box, this ship of metal and steel would soon become a prison, a tomb for those who fought so desperately to defend it. They struggled in vain completely unaware of their coming doom, after all dozens of my children had already been scattered throughout the tunnels that were spread throughout this vessel, like a virus worming its way through the arteries and veins of a body. Large numbers of them had already erupted out while the warriors of the two legged hive were distracted with their rival brood, a chance that allowed my forces to grow rapidly as I picked off the weakest and most unaware. In the end their still living bodies would be used to birth my growing swarm no matter how much they battled against it.

(More...more are needed...more hosts must be found...) I hummed, my emotions, my desires and needs forming simple and rudimentary thoughts.

As if to answer my needs an echoing voice of fear and confusion could be heard slowly growing louder until... "What the hell are yo-?!" The man's cries of desperation suddenly came to a stop when his kidnapper tossed him before me. "Oh god..." The being in question wasn't even able to scream before a Facehugger launched itself at him.

Turning my attention towards the two legged thing who had been the one to bring this host to me, or human as mother called them, I felt a sense of satisfaction fill me. (Helpers...servants of the mother...very useful...)

These odd humans were strange to say the least, their eyes were filled with a kind of worship that I didn't quite understand. Despite this they were very helpful, mother hadn't exactly forbidden me from using them as hosts, something they seemed almost willing to volunteer for, however I quickly learnt that doing such a thing would be a grave waste of resources.

Unlike my children they could walk amongst the human brood without much fear of aggression, something that stood out to me as a great benefit as time passed by. Additionally they were much better at collecting hosts discreetly compared to my children, they targeted members of the human brood that wouldn't be noticed if they went missing for an extended period of time. Either way however, they were more useful to me alive then dead, and now that more of them who followed mother were free from their confinement, well, things were only accelerating. 

Currently I was settled within my newly created hive, a place that was deep within the bowels of this metallic vessel. It was a quiet, secluded place where few seemed to venture, even those who did only came down here on very rare occasions every once in a while. I made sure to have some of my children waiting for them when they did come down for a visit anyway.

(Expansion needed...more children required...) I hummed once more as a psychic command was sent out from my mind, in that moment I could feel my children and their ravenous desires. (I must continue...must grow...must spread...) 

(Mother...gratification...desired...) 

Moving on from my fragmented thoughts I focused my attention elsewhere, more specifically towards the most notable battle going on at the time. Using my ability to sense the minds of living creatures through a kind of telepathy I was able to get a vague understanding of the battle in question.

It seemed that a large number of humans had held themselves up in a secure section of the vessel where a large open cavity was located, this large open place held several smaller versions of the vast metal box I currently found myself within. They had also sealed off all of the vein like structures running through the vessel as well as several other entrances here and there, however they had purposely left one way open to my forces. A fact that meant my children were forced to sprint down a long narrow corridor with what appeared to be oddly shaped guns at the end of it that fired without the assistance or intervention of any humans. How strange.

(Resistance...futile...) I thought as I gave another command.

In an instant several of my children were sacrificed, ripped to pieces by their kin so that the acidic blood within their bodies could be put to use. The humans were quick to notice something was wrong, however they were rather shocked when the sealed off entrances they had put so much effort into blocking off suddenly began to melt and break apart. Unfortunately for them that wasn't the end of it, in fact they barely had time to react at all when a wave of violet coloured creatures poured out from these now opened passageways.

(Good...good...)

                  _ _ _Carmen Pov_ _ _

I watched, watched as four of my so-called mother's children crept through the surrounding undergrowth, they're black bodies standing out in the sea of various shades of red that surrounded them. Their attention was elsewhere so they didn't notice me, at least not until it was already far too late.

They barely had time to even notice me before my scythe-like arms sliced through two of them with ease, their bodies hitting the ground as green blood poured out from their corpses. The third one was quicker then its siblings, it jumped forward towards me with a mindless fury only to have my bladed tail impale it through the side of the head before it could even so much as touch my form. As for the fourth and final one, well, it had its internal organs crushed into paste when I stomped on its back with enough force to not only snap its spine like a twig.

(Not all that far now...) I mused as I shook my head slightly.

[This is gonna be fun.] I mostly ignored Goldy as I turned away and began to walk once more.

Currently I was on the march, heading towards the stage where the final conflict with my enemy would more than likely begin. All the while I was possessing the body of my Ravager, a massive creature that had evolved from one of my Praetorians. In all honesty I didn't even know if it was possible to create one considering that the game "Alien Vs Predator Extinction" isn't exactly the most canon source, however it ended up working out and now I had another powerful card that I could play in the upcoming battle.

As for the safety of my hive as well as my true body and my followers, well, I had left behind just under one fifth of my forces to continue protecting my territory. In the end I wasn't stupid enough to risk my life if something truly did end up going terribly wrong, in fact my back up plan involved using the hopefully captured Perseus to nuke my mother's hive from orbit. I was nearly ninety percent certain that I wouldn't actually need to use that little failsafe plan but you can never be too prepared.

(We're close now, I can feel her probing some of my scouts.) I hummed, as I noticed the vegetation around me beginning to thin out.

[Finally!] Goldy yawned. [Let's get this battle started.]

Rolling my head at him I sighed while tapping into my hive mind. (Just one final thing that I need to do first...)

<<Darook, Alpha, are your teams ready?" I quickly received two different responses.< p>

<<Yes, clan leader.>> The familiar voice of the Yautja in question echoed in my mind. 

As for Alpha, well, her response wasn't anything close to words, instead it was more of a feeling, a feeling that I understood rather quickly to be her confirmation that they were indeed ready. <<Very well, wait until the battle begins before you start your end of plan.>>

(I still don't understand how the Yautjas can speak english in my hive mind.) I muttered as I cut the link.

[Like I said before, they are technically not speaking English, all words spoken within your hive mind are automatically translated into words you can understand. Additionally everyone else can understand those words so long as they are connected to the hive.] Goldy explained with what I guessed was a shrug. [Of course however, this little perk of your connection with them only applies to those that are speaking through the hive mind and not face to face. As such your little Yautja buddies will still have to learn english if you don't want to use the hive link to communicate with each other, or you could learn their language, both options work either way.]

(Yeah yeah whatever, let's just get this over with already...)

Blocking out Goldy's constant yapping I began to pick up the paste, the large horde behind me doing the same as we advanced further into the heart of hostile territory. The groups of enemies we came across continued to grow in both frequency and number the further that we moved, that was until we came to a cliff side overlooking a mountainous Valley with a large chasm in the center. This was the place, the apparent home of my foe, my mother and my siblings . 

Unfortunately we hadn't arrived unnoticed however, not that we were being very stealthy to begin with. In fact even though we were still somewhat far off I could still see them, hundreds of black bodies pouring out of that massive hole in the ground, all of them moving in our general direction. Actually as I continued to watch their numbers grow, from a few hundred to a few thousand and then into tens of thousands, I quickly noticed something interesting. If I had to guess just from the blurry shapes I was seeing, they more than likely outnumbered us on the ground, however it would seem that we had a much larger air force compared to them. Yes, they had airborne Xenomorphs just like us, however not in the apparent quantity that we did.

[Here they come.] Goldy chuckled somewhat while sounding way too enthusiastic about all of this.

(Would you just be quiet for once in your damn life...)

[Not gonna happen.]

(Of course that's your fucking answer.) I huffed as I began heading down a path that led into the valley

I had already scouted this area out previously, it had cost me a few Scavengers sure, however the information it gave me had been worth it in the end. (Let's just hope my preparations actually work out the way I hope they will...)

(Welp...let's get this all started shall we...) I sighed to myself, all the while I began giving out command through the hive mind.

                   _ _ _3rd person pov_ _ _

The original hive had been stirred awake when they felt the call to war, their outline forces were being slaughtered and it was crystal clear as to who exactly was doing it. They had battled against their rogue and twisted kin before but they had never been to idiotic as to attack this close to their primary nest. They could hear their Queen's screeching in rage within their minds, these lost children were a threat to not just her but the species of the whole and because of this...they must be eradicated.

The first interaction with these invaders was when around two hundred or so Runners and Lashers crashed into them out of nowhere. These attackers were some of Carmen's scouts who had a very important mission to carry out. They attacked viciously while using their superior intelligence and overall speed to help them kill dozens of their opposition, the moment they began getting overwhelmed however the retreat was sounded. Of course though, the moment that the defenders turned to chase them all down another second group with equal numbers to the first arrived and slammed into their rear before they even realized what was happening.

This cycle continued for a little while until the main bulk of the black hive caught up and the two groups of violet xenos were forced to retreat. Of course this didn't stop them from returning again and again until finally the defending swarm was able to fully wipe them out in one final vicious struggle.

These sacrificial scouts did accomplish their mission however, they had slowed the black horde down long enough for Carmen to get everything ready that she needed. Either way however, the original hive didn't even notice that the scouts were only stalling for time, in fact the thought that they were playing right into the hands of their enemy didn't even cross their animalistic minds.

Unfortunately for them their singular minded strategy of running directly at the enemy and overpowering them with numbers came to bite them in the ass this time. This was mostly because said enemy had moved to an area that was close to their hive that was shielded by a wall of trees, a fact that only seemed to aggravate them even more. 

Carmen knew that moving so close to their nest would only serve to piss them off even more, even if these creatures were aliens they still reacted like animals to some extent, fortunately she had plenty of experience with animals and their various behaviours. So when the smaller members of the black horde charged into the wall of densely clustered together trees she could only smile while watching as they left their larger counterparts behind. After all, massive creatures such as Crushers who relied on charging down their enemies and killing them with the sheer force of their weight didn't do very well in densely wooded or cramped areas, unfortunately for them they just weren't suited for that kind of environment.

So when the still massive numbers of smaller Xenomorphs finally came into contact with a line of shifting purple closer to a part of the forest with far fewer trees they had no large support to back them up. Amongst this wall of violet bodies was a group of truly massive creatures that looked like a mixture between a snake, centipede and maggot. These entities fired out globs of oddly coloured hive resin from their mouths, each shot aimed at an individual that had been wounded in the attacks from the previously mentioned scouts. The moment this hive resin came into contact with the blood of the said individuals however, it exploded with surprising force and killed or wounded any xeno nearby.

This bombardment continued for several long seconds, at least until a signal was given. In that moment the Detonators stopped firing at the approaching enemy and began targeting those who were further back, their towering height when they arched up gave them the perfect view of the battlefield. As for the enemy's frontline, well, because they had completely locked their attention onto the invaders in front of them they almost completely missed the enemies in the trees above. Unfortunately for them they had almost no time to react before said xenos began to drop down around them, just as the swarm of purple in front of them started to move as well.

The two sides were quick to clash, however without the support of their larger brethren the first wave of smaller black Xenomorphs were quickly trampled under foot or impaled by violet Crushers and Lancers. The battlefield was quickly drenched in green acidic blood as waves of black and purple slammed into each other, claws and teeth ripping through flesh, all the while the towering Ravager stood and watched from the back.

While the battle on the ground was going somewhat well, the battle within the clouds and above the valley was going even better in Carmen's favour. Here in the sky the enhanced intelligence that the violet Xenomorphs had slowly been developing was really starting to shine, this was especially true in the praetorian variant of the scavengers, also known as the Gargoyles. 

The large winged creatures commanded their smaller variants with surprising ease as they ripped their enemies apart with their claws, in fact the Gargoyles just swooped down and tore the wings off of their opponents before watching them fall to their death below. Not to say that there were no losses on their side, oh no, dozens of mangled violet bodies plummeted to the ground in droves as the fighting continued, however they were vastly outnumbered by the quantity of black Xenomorph bodies that fell alongside them.

Elsewhere something else of note was happening, a large group consisting of around thirty or forty Praetorians, two Predaliens and oddly enough five Yautja could be seen gathering together far from the battle currently going on. Strangely however, the two factions were not trying to kill one another on sight like most would expect to happen, in fact they were actually tolerating each other's presence rather calmly all things considered, except for two of them that is.

"Pauk-de U'darahje!" Dengwei growled causing Beta to hiss in his face while flexing her claws slightly, she didn't understand his words but it wasn't hard for her to figure out that they were insults.

"Mei'hswei, ki'cte!" Darook hissed, shutting his brother up. 

This caused Beta to look somewhat smug, or as smug as a Xenomorph could look anyway. That was until Alpha whacked her in the back of the head, much to Gamma's amusement.

Darook just ignored this as his helmet zoomed in on the battle off in the distance. From what he could tell the battle was going well for now, soon it would be time for them to begin their part of the plan but until then they had to just sit and wait patiently. Thankfully they were able to get replacements for their lost weaponry at their ship or this would have been a suicide mission. 

Unfortunately things wouldn't be so easy however, as just as he was about to get everyone moving again something got Enu's attention. Enu was the most observant out of the Yautja, a fact that made it clear why she was the first to notice the small group of very hostile Xenomorphs, or Kiande Amedha as the Yautja called them, heading their way.

"S'yuit-de..."