{///Name: Carmen...
///Titles: None...
///Race: Xenomorphs Queen...
///Current Physical Status: Healthy...
///Current Emotional State: Stressed...
///Rank: Social...
///Occupation: Newly Manifested Alternative...
///Growth Type Gifts:
Hive Dominance...
Hive Possession...
Verbal Communication...
Empress's Redemption...
Sanctuary Gate...
Enhanced Understanding...
Enhanced learning...
Hive Mapping...
Weak Projectile Protection...
///Inheritance Type Gifts:
Warp Conversion...
Minimize...
System Access...
Universal Clock...
Fate's Bane...
Sanctuary Management...
///Traits:
Superior Acidic blood...
Acidic Vial...
Xenomorph Weaponry...
Xenomorph Exoskeleton...
Telepathic Manipulation...
Electrical Impulse Detection...
Pheromonal Detection...
Breathless...
Wall Walking...
Extreme Environmental Resistance...
Pressure And Vacuum Resistance...
Greater Regeneration...
Hive Production...
Rapid Parthenogenesis...
///Skills:
Zoology...
Botany...
Ecology...
Sociology...
Cryptozoology...
Wilderness Survival...
Vehicle Maintenance...
Multilingual...
Business Minded...
Diplomatic...
Creative Adaptability...
Strategic Battle Awareness...
Combat Proficiency...
Savage Combatant...}
(What does it mean, 'stressed'?) I huffed, although a moment later I let out a long breath of exhaustion. (Okay, maybe a little...)
Well, saying I was just a little stressed might have been an understatement. Currently I was managing our newly set-up headquarters, one that had started from that maintenance room and quickly expanded to take up the entire floor. Defences and barricades were being set up, key areas were being repaired and prepared for later use, and I was the one directing it all.
Now don't get me wrong, I was used to leading a group and directing things at this point, but it was still a hectic affair. Thankfully I could shift some of the responsibility to some of my more experienced followers, like Edward or Elliott, but it still left me with a lot to sort out.
And if that wasn't enough, I was also helping to manage Sapphire's people. Why wasn't she doing that? Well, she had taken some of her guys to lock down the lower floors while my focus was on clearing the upper sections. Honestly, I would have gone with her, but one of us had to stay here to coordinate things and, unfortunately, I drew the short straw, so to speak.
To put it mildly, I had spent the last few hours working my ass off to get everything locked down while also sorting out any problems. Thankfully, Sapphire had not only told her guys to listen to me but had also left Nerak here to give me a hand. In fact, Nerak staying behind was something I greatly appreciated, as her followers weren't exactly ecstatic about taking orders from someone they'd never met before, not that I could really blame them, but still.
(Welp, might as well get back to work.) I sighed as I pushed myself off the wall I had been leaning against.
"Hey, stop messing around with that and hurry up." One of the marines called from my right as I passed by. "These things aren't going to move themselves, after all."
"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Where are we taking these, anyway?" His mate replied as he helped lift the box they were holding between them.
"To the east side on the level below us. There's an intact passage that leads to the neighbouring structure, and command wants it locked down before any more of those freaks can get across," the first marine explained, the box they were carrying containing two UA 571-C automated sentry guns.
"Damn things freak me the hell out..." the second marine hissed, a visible shiver running through him.
"Can't argue with you on that."
Ignoring the chatter, I continued on my way. "At least things are coming along. Once everything is set up I can put my plans into motion."
(Still, I wish I could take a nap, but I just don't have the time right now.)
My thoughts were interrupted, however, when a synthetic suddenly walked up to me out of nowhere, scaring the crap out of me. "Miss Carmen."
"Don't fucking do that!" I snapped, nearly jumping out of my exoskeleton. I had gotten a handle on my instincts for the most part as of late, but I'd be lying if they weren't screaming at me to rip this asshole's face off.
"My apologies," they apologised, face completely blank and emotionless.
Growling under my breath, I waved at them to speak. "Whatever. Just report already."
"Miss Ophelia requires your presence in the command sector," they mused robotically. "Additionally, head medical officer Eno as well as head geneticist Jonas have gathered new information on the subjects, information they are requesting to share with you at your earliest convenience."
(Head geneticist? Right, I forgot I gave him that position. He was basically that already, so it was only right I made it official.) I thought, shaking my head slightly.
"I'll head over to Ophelia first. The others will have to wait a bit," I answered.
"I understand. I will now return to my designated duties," the synthetic hummed, turning and walking away.
"Yeah, you do that." I sighed.
(Let's see what the issue is now.) I thought as I got moving.
As I walked I passed more and more unique individuals working on various tasks to get this place up and running; some of them were followers of Sapphire that I hadn't known existed until recently. Yeah, so it turns out that "The Tainted Water" wasn't actually the name of a species, instead it was a federation of three separate races. The first were the Calthrax, the species that Nerak belonged to; they were the most numerous and made up the bulk of the federation. The Calthrax took on a variety of roles, but the main ones were combat related, from generals to foot soldiers.
Next were the Kenara, a species that looked like humans with gills and cyan marks all over their bodies. They didn't have legs, instead having a long, eel-like lower half. Simply put, they resembled a less humanoid version of whatever Sapphire's race was and were by far the least interesting of the three. They were apparently not fighters, instead filling the roles of scientists, artificers, and nobles.
Finally, in my opinion, the most interesting were the Veltour. The best way I can describe them would be living coral reefs acting more like fantasy golems than biological beings. While they were sentient, they weren't like anything I'd seen before; their bodies were completely made of living organisms like coral and anemones, all of which were interconnected like a nervous system or a fungal network. At the centre of that network was a pulsing cyan-blue core that seemed like a mixture between a heart and a brain.
Their forms were also rather interesting to observe. The Veltour came in a variety of shapes and sizes, each one completely unique. Some looked humanoid while others looked more like fish, crustaceans, or other deep sea life. In fact, from what I was told, they never stopped growing, so while the young ones had forms that looked somewhat coherent, the elders had long since lost any such orderly appearance. In fact, the oldest of their species were so large that their bodies had literally been turned into living, mobile cities. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to study the hell out of them; my biologist side was practically drooling with curiosity.
(It really is a shame I haven't had enough free time. I should take a bit to just indulge in my hobbies later.) I thought while rubbing the smooth part of my head.
(Welp, thoughts for later I guess.) I mused internally as I got a move on.
It wasn't long before I reached my destination. "You!" That was the first thing I heard once inside.
"Hey..." I murmured awkwardly as the very pissed-off Ophelia stormed over.
Seeing that she was in one of her moods I could only shake my head. "So... why don't you go ahead and tell me what's going on."
"Oh, I'll tell you alright," she growled through her teeth.
(Here we go again.) I sighed before taking a more steady stance.
"Just breathe, okay? You don't need to snap at me every time we meet up like this," I said, my voice calm and firm.
Surprisingly, this actually worked. I mean, she still looked mad, but she did seem to take a second to centre herself before continuing. "Those god damn skull collectors of yours are at it again."
"What have they done this time...?" I groaned, getting the sudden urge to bash my head against a wall.
So yeah... the Yautja. They had been another unexpected pain in my ass recently. Not that they weren't following my orders or anything, no, the problem was their aggressive attempts to establish some kind of hierarchy. To put it simply, ever since I added all those new Yautja to the hive mind things had gotten annoyingly complicated; the lot of them had all been competing for dominance with one another.
Normally this would be fine, in fact I'd usually be fascinated to learn about their different customs but right now I was not in the mood. They had split themselves into four clans that were vying for dominance over the others. One of those factions was being led by Darook; although he was still technically rather young by Yautja standards, and as such his clan was definitely the smallest of the four. Even so, Darook's clan was by far my favourite right now, mainly because they weren't causing me any problems.
"They have been at each other's throats for the past hour," she hissed, clearly fed up with everything. "They keep getting into fights with one another and whenever someone calls them out on it they threaten to rip their bloody spines out."
"Of course they are," I shook my head.
(I don't have time to deal with this right now. Guess I have no other choice.) I mumbled to myself.
"Alright, give me a second and I'll get them out of the way for a bit," I said, opening up the hive links I shared with them all.
"You better. They've been driving me insane," she grumbled, crossing her arms under her chest. "And what's more, you're the only one they will listen to, so it's not like any of us can deal with them."
"Don't worry, I got this," I replied.
Once the connection was fully opened, I spoke through it to those on the other ends. <
Immediately I was bombarded with several dozen responses, much to my dismay. The worst part was that they could hear each other, so they immediately started bickering.
<
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(That should keep them busy for a while.) I thought, turning my attention back to Ophelia.
"There. They'll be on the higher levels for a bit, so they won't be able to bother anyone or get in the way anymore."
"Good." She breathed out, looking at me for a long moment. "Thank you."
"You're... you're welcome?" I muttered, a little taken aback.
Seeing my clear confusion, she looked at me oddly, which caused me to cough awkwardly. "Sorry, I'm just not used to you saying that."
"Whatever." She huffed, before turning to leave and get back to whatever it was that she had been dealing with before I arrived.
With all that out of the way, I was about to head over to my next destination but stopped when I felt a sudden, unfamiliar call through the hive mind. (What is it now?)
Following the connection, it wasn't long before I found the source of the sudden call: one of the xenomorphs born of the splicers. I had known they were running around but hadn't really had time to wrangle them in. Looking through the hivelink between us, I couldn't help but pause when I saw what the xeno was facing off against. There, standing over it, drill revving threateningly, was a Big Daddy.
(Well... shit.)