章節 27: Chapter 27 Unseen Forces
(Just under half...) I hummed to myself.
Hearing my mumbling, Goldy decided to speak up, pulling me from my thoughts. [What ya doing?]
(That's how much of the railway system the hive currently covers, just under half.)
[Oh.]
In fact it was rather true, over the frankly short but brutal war that I had initiated with the surrounding gangs my hive had exploded in both population and size. The war was still going on in isolated sectors mind you but most of the gangs had either been subdued or had tried to escape to the surface, unfortunately for them that didn't end all too well for anyone that was involved.
Anyway, back to what I was saying about my hive, most of the tunnels had been covered in hive resin at this point with small clusters of eggs scattered pretty much everywhere. In fact there were hundreds of much smaller tunnels connecting everything together, they had all been dug out by some of the drones to allow for quicker movement between areas, all this occurred while everyone else focused on hunting down what remained of the subterranean gangs.
Of course this success hasn't come without some sacrifices, even if their weapons were completely shit and useless for the most part they could still get lucky from time to time. Sadly several xenomorphs ended up getting killed through various means, although thankfully the ones that were only injured healed relatively quickly after I pulled them back to recover. Additionally however, I did have some new help in supporting my ever growing horde, that being the new variant of xenos I had recently acquired.
The xenomorphs in question were created from the razor hounds and were proving surprisingly effective as fast and nimble scouts. There weren't all that many of them however but that was fine, they were definitely proving quite useful either way especially in running down stragglers and or investigating far off areas.
They had the same overall body shape of the razor hounds but with some key differences, one of which was obviously their new slightly biomechanical appearance. As I said before they had a vague resemblance to that of a runner but stood about six point five meters tall when on all fours, also each fork of their prehensile tails ended in long hook like blades that were quite useful in helping the xeno in question while they were grappling on to a target. Finally, unlike the vaper hound the new variant only had two tendrils coming out of their backs, this was probably because of the short yet prominent dorsal plates that also took up some space along their spines as well.
I had given these creatures the nickname of lashers, not the best name I know, however most of the xenomorph variants have names that are simple and rather uncreative. Anyway, this wasn't the only new variant I had running around, although there was currently only one of the other variants.
Alpha, my first child and first praetorian, was taking to the task of hunting down all the remaining bastards with surprising gusto. Oddly something about her seemed somewhat different when I connected to her but I decided to leave it for now, mostly because I had slightly more important things to focus on at the moment.
(My forces have grown significantly as well over this period of time.) I hummed, the xenomorph side of me feeling rather satisfied with that fact. (Currently with just both drones and warriors alone my forces number to just over nine thousand, and with everything else, except for the eggs and facehuggers, my overall numbers should be well above eleven thousand.)
[And them?] Goldy muttered, pulling my attention towards a somewhat large group of people humbled in the corner of a newly dugout area off to the side of my main chamber.
(Right...)
To put it simply they were all people I had rescued during the war, of course these weren't all those that I had managed to set free, actually they were just the ones that I had taken in. They were the ones that had no way of surviving on their own, I couldn't take care of all those I had freed after all so in the end I decided to at least take in those too young or hurt to survive without any help to support them.
Unfortunately, and to my great dismay, I had to put some of them down for good, after all I had the feeling that they'd rather just die quickly instead of continuing to slowly wait for death as their bodies decayed over time. The cause of this tragedy and the reason as to why I did what I did was simple all things considered, there was no way to save some of them thanks to the wounds and infections that they had accumulated.
As for the group I had taken in, well, they were definitely in a bad state to put it mildly but at the very least they would survive to see another day, in fact they may even be able to physically recover through natural means given enough time. As for any kind of mental recovery however...let's just say that most of them will more than likely require a significant amount of therapy. Thankfully I may actually be able to help somewhat in that last department but that'll have to wait for now.
As for their current condition, well, if I know anything about psychology or human emotions then I'd have to guess that most people after being herded away like sheep by monsters after watching said monsters slaughter and drag away their tormentors probably wouldn't be feeling anything close to relaxed. In fact they were terrified out of their minds, something that was completely understandable considering the current situation they were in right now.
[Why exactly did you save them?] Goldy asked, causing me to pause slightly.
(What?)
[Why did you bring them here? Why did you bother to save them?] He asked again and I simply shook my head somewhat baffled by the question.
(I couldn't just leave them there to die.) I argued back but he was surprisingly quick to retort that.
[We both know that's not the answer.]
(That's not...) I tried to say but paused before the words could come out. (I...I don't know, okay.)
In all honesty I really didn't know why, I mean I didn't have to take them in, I could have just let them fend for themselves on their own. In fact they would probably just end up getting in the way as time went by and things progressed but I did it anyway. (Maybe I'm trying to draw a line, to hold on to what little of me is left, what little of my humanity that I have remaining...or...or maybe I'm just starting to feel lonely and isolated after all this fucking time, I just don't know anymore...) I huffed before letting out a long sigh of frustration. (I was never good with emotional crap after all, never good with people either...)
[Well, what are you going to do with them?] He asked and I took a quick second to think about that.
(I'm going to give them a choice, after all they should be the ones to decide their own fate.) I muttered as I decided to just get it over with now.
I took over the body of one of the researchers who I had indoctrinated not too long ago, in fact I hadn't really had much for them to do since I took control of them and as such I'd mostly just left them to their own devices. They had mostly just been taking advantage of their new ability to explore my hive without having to worry about being attacked, they were apparently having a great time observing my xenomorphs in a more natural environment. Unfortunately they were all much further away then my mind controlled thugs but that was fine, after all I was definitely not going to talk to these people in one of the bodies belonging to the bastards that had tormented and abused them.
Once my puppet arrived I approached the group who were currently being watched by two of my drones that were hidden in the dark just out of view. Of course the group almost instantly noticed my approach, I wasn't trying to hide my presence from them after all.
"P-please don't..."
The one who had spoken up was a little girl that was no older than seven or eight, a fact that honestly surprised me to be honest. Not to say that none of the others weren't speaking either, most were fearfully silent of course but I could make out some murmuring amongst them, the problem was that they were speaking so quietly that I couldn't hear what they were saying.
Anyway, the girl in question was shaking ever so slightly causing the torn and tattered rags that she was currently wearing to shift somewhat across her form. I couldn't really tell considering how pale she was but from what I could inquire from her overall appearance she seemed to be of mixed race, if her milky brown skin was anything to go by. She had messy and long silver hair with dull looking blue eyes that held an alarming amount of fear within them for someone so young, a fact that made my blood boil.
Finally her leg had seemingly been broken at some point and hadn't been properly set, this meant that it hadn't healed properly causing her to limp ever so slightly when she moved. I would make sure to try and fix that if I ever got the chance to down the line, actually now that I mentioned it a lot of them had similar such injuries or problems caused by injuries that hadn't properly recovered thanks to their prior living conditions.
Anyway, I took a second to calm myself down as I stopped some distance away and spoke to her as soothingly as I could. "You're okay, no one is going to hurt you now."
"I'm Carmen by the way." I mused, hoping to calm them all down somewhat. "I'm just using this body to speak through, my real body is back there."
She didn't appear to understand for a moment but quickly froze when she seemed to realize what I was getting at. "M-monster..." She whimpered and boy did that hurt me emotionally.
I tried my best to keep a calm expression as I continued to speak. "I guess you would see it like that huh..." I sighed before giving the most comforting smile I could.
"May I ask your name?"
"M-Mel." She answered nervously and I suddenly got the urge to squeeze her but resisted for now.
"Well then little Mel, I need you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say okay? Can you do that?" She nodded slowly and I felt somewhat relieved that she was even willing to hear me out.
"Very good, I'm going to give you and all the people behind you an offer, you can take as long as you want to think about it before you answer so don't feel pressured." I explained and she nodded once more.
"O-okay"
By this point the people around her were also starting to somewhat calm down and pay attention to what I was saying. "You can stay here and I'll try my best to help in any way that I can, or I can see about trying to send you somewhere else where you can hopefully be safe to live out your lives." I paused to let that sink in before continuing on with the last part. "However...if you decide to stay here under my protection you must join my hive."
[It's not like they'll be able to hurt you, so what does it matter if they join your little hive mind or not.] Goldy asked and I quickly growled back a response.
(Trust is something that can be easily betrayed on a whim, and sure, right now they're not a threat but who knows how long that will last.) I knew I was being extremely paranoid but I couldn't help it, not after all of the shit that I've been through up until this point. (In the end it's always best to be cautious, especially when dealing with humans or other such sentient races.)
[Weren't you also a human?]
(My point exactly.)
Honestly though I could have just forced them into the hive the moment they arrived but I didn't want to, after all I had nothing against them, no reason to force them to do anything. I mean sure, some of them had been sent to this world for the crimes they had committed but the vast majority were just innocent children that had done nothing wrong for the most part. Even those that were sent here for their past actions probably didn't deserve the hell they were forced to endure all this time, and besides their previous crimes had nothing to do with me nor do I know the reasons as to why they committed said crimes. Despite all of this however, I wasn't gullible enough to just trust them not to try and back stabbed me the moment they got the chance.
"Hive? Wh-what...what is that?" She asked and I let out a soft sigh, something I'd been doing more often nowadays.
(This is going to take some time to explain...)
_ _Corporal Samuel Mercer Pov_ _
"Kelly, how long until you can get the power on line?" I asked as I looked at the woman displayed on the communication device in my hand.
"Soon, it'll take a little longer than expected mostly because of the lack of manpower that we have down here but I'd say at least two or three hours tops."
I thought on that for a second before nodding my head slightly. (That was good, we needed this base back online if we were gonna have any hope of surviving on this damn rock.)
"Good, very good." I hummed out loud. "Once you get the generator working, move on to the outer defenses. I want those turrets as well as the electric fence around the base fully functioning as soon as possible."
"You got it, Tiger~" She hummed with a little purr in her voice and cut the link before I could say anything more.
A familiar chuckle came from my side after that. "Tiger?"
I groaned in annoyance as I turned to look at the grinning face of someone that I considered a rather close friend. "Please...don't ask."
"Is there a story there?" Ava mused in amusement.
"God damn it all...!" I hissed, getting a laugh from her in return.
"What do you need Ava?" I grumbled in irritation. "Or did you just come here to pry into my past."
Hearing my question her smile became slightly more serious as she continued. "We need to hit the other bases." She was right about that, of course she was, but things weren't so simple. "Rosanna has given us the information we needed, however the longer that we wait to act the harder it will be for us to move around freely later on. Especially when you consider the fact that we may have a possible infestation that could be spreading across the planet at this very moment."
"I know that, I really do, however we still have people out there that need rescuing and I only have one drop ship at my disposal right now." I sighed, the situation was rather frustrating to say the least.
"True, but I may know where we can get some useful assets that may be able to help with that little dilemma." She exclaimed, getting my attention.
"And where exactly would that be?"
"I've checked all of the information over again and I think I've found something, one of the bases was supposably used to store more "heavy" types of equipment."
"Like what?" I knew Ava, she wasn't the type of person who'd bring this up if she had nothing to go off on.
"Vehicles, heavy loaders, that kind of thing." Now that got my full attention. "I doubt that we'll be able to find anything like another drop ship but if we can find something with wheels that is still running, well, that should let us take some of the strain off of our search efforts."
"Alright..." I hummed in thought while nodding slowly to myself. "Get a team on it, and take one or two of the engineers with you just in case some on site repairs are required."
"Yes Sir." She smiled and turned to leave.
Before she could even take a single step away from me however something I definitely wasn't expecting happened. "Hummm?" Someone was trying to contact me all of a sudden, as such I quickly answered the call. "What is it?"
"Sir...you...you might want to see this." From the sound of the voice I could tell that it was one of the soldiers I had tasked with patrolling the forest around the base.
"We got a problem out there, marine?"
He hesitated for a second before he spoke and from the disgust that I heard in his voice, whatever it was that he found wasn't anything close to pleasant. "I found someone...they're...they're dead sir."
"Who?! One of ours?" Ava asked in alarm.
"I don't know..." He quietly responded, confusing me a little.
"What do you mean "I don't know"?"
"Sir...oh god..." he sounded as if he was about to vomit as he continued. "They...they're missing their...their skin...sir..."
"What?!"
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