[PREDATOR WARSHIP – ORBITAL SHADOW ABOVE LV-732]
The Hunter stood alone in his ship's sacred chamber.
His damaged BioMask sat on the floor, cracked where acid had melted through the inner lens. He touched the scar etched into his mandibles—a memory burned into his flesh by the creature below.
Not a Xenomorph.
Not prey.
Not yet.
The creature adapted. It built hives. Deployed tactics. Traps.
And it learned from every kill.
The Yautja's breathing deepened.
A silent code burned into the holoprojector before him.
[ELDER DIRECTIVE: HUNT CONTINUES. PREPARE CLEANSING BLADE.]
He retrieved a new mask—sleek, black, laced with ceremonial bone—and snapped it into place.
The next time they met, he would not leave with a scar.
[HIVE NODE – SUBTERRANEAN CORE]
Mo crouched inside his Hive, eye level with Stalker-002, watching as the unit curled itself into the warm curve of an incubation groove, recovering.
Even now, the Hive was growing. Slowly. Organically.
Every foot of tunnel he hollowed expanded its nerve-web. Every corpse absorbed added memory. Strength.
He stood and faced the wall. A surge of thought—instinct and command—triggered the system again.
[Swarm Mall – Hive Architecture Submenu Opened][Available Biomass: 81]
Spore Vent – 40 Biomass
Chitin Wall Reinforcement – 20 Biomass
Evolution Well – 100 Biomass (LOCKED)
Hive Echo Node – 60 Biomass
He selected the Hive Echo Node.
Flesh tore open across the far wall. Tendrils unspooled like roots, digging into steel and soil. A black gland inflated in the center—pulsing with soundless, psychic static.
[Hive Echo Node Constructed – Network Radius Expanded (400m)][Effect: Early warning system, pheromone broadcast, Swarm morale buff]
Mo exhaled.
He felt it. His mind stretching wider. A network of thought, fear, hunger.
Something twitched beyond the Echo Node.
Movement.
No—not human.
Not Predator.
Xenomorph.
[ABANDONED VENT COMPLEX – TWO FLOORS ABOVE THE HIVE]
It crawled silently—its head low, tail twitching.
A Xeno Drone, alone.
Its Queen was dead, executed by the Yautja weeks ago. The Hive had collapsed… but instinct carried on. It wandered now, feral. Half-mad. Looking for purpose.
Then it stopped.
It smelled flesh. Familiar… but wrong.
It tilted its eyeless head.
From the darkness, a single spore dropped—green and sweet-smelling.
It hissed.
Took a step forward.
[Pheromone Spore Contact: Xenomorph Drone][Attempting Behavioral Override… 23%][Link Attempt Failed – Willpower Resistance][Warning: Xeno Class: Rogue. Aggressive behavior likely.]
Mo didn't move. He simply watched through the hive-sense.
So. Not ready to join… yet.
"Then let's bleed it."
[TUNNEL JUNCTION – TRAP ZONE EPSILON]
Stalker-002 emerged from a bio-grate, crouched like death incarnate. Its carapace had hardened into a shimmering obsidian shell. Acid sacs bulged under its jaws.
It hissed low.
The rogue Xeno responded instantly—leaping forward.
The clash was brutal.
Claws raked. Acid splashed.
Stalker-002 bit deep into the Xeno's side—but was thrown into a wall with such force the Hive walls buckled.
Mo sprinted in from the side.
Fangs bared. Claws up.
The Xeno lunged—
And landed in a sludge pit hidden beneath Hive tissue.
It screeched, thrashing—caught in the digestive web.
Mo stood over it.
Watching.
Feeling.
[Consume? Genetic Material: Xenomorph Drone][Y/N]
"Yes."
The Hive drank.
Flesh dissolved into data. Bone into blueprint.
[New DNA Template Unlocked: Xenomorph (Drone)][WARNING: Incompatible Reproduction Method. Adaptation Required.][New Option Available: Hybrid Chassis Integration (Xeno-Tier)]
Mo stumbled backward.
A pulse of power surged through him. He fell to one knee, clutching his chest.
His vision burned white.
In his mind—flashes:
Rows of Xeno eggs pulsing.
Hives built of flesh and bone, towering like cathedrals.
A sea of black chitin under his command.
Then he saw himself.
Taller.
Heavier.
Crowned with a fractal carapace, wings folded behind his shoulders like some ancient demon king.
The Swarm King Ascended.
It wasn't real.
Yet.
[BACK IN THE HIVE – HOURS LATER]
[Biomass: +68][Swarm Size: 2]
Unit 002: Stalker-Class (Veteran)
Unit 003: Swarmling-Class (Hatchling) – Xeno Hybrid (Beta)
The new creature uncurled from the Hive node.
It hissed softly, then bowed.
It stood taller than 002—lankier, limbs longer, jaws split with bio-acid veins.
Not a Xenomorph.
Not a Swarmling.
Something new.
Mo's eyes glowed faintly.
He whispered, "You are the future."
[Unit 003: ACTIVE – Xeno-Hybrid Scout][Abilities: Wall Meld, Acid Spit, Hive Relay Node]
[COLONY – SURVIVOR ZONE ALPHA]
The technician who had fled Mo's trap earlier was dying.
Her veins were black. Her body twitched at odd angles. Her brainwaves spiked with irregular pulses.
"Get her on the table!" Lora yelled.
But it was too late.
She opened her mouth—and spoke in a voice not her own:
"The King watches. The ground is his blood. The sky… will fall."
Then she died.
The medbay lights flickered.
[MO'S HIVE – PRESENT]
He stood at the Hive's edge, his new hybrid creature beside him.
They looked up toward the ceiling, through layers of rust and steel.
Above, humans clung to hope.
And farther still…
The Predator sharpened his blade.
Mo grinned.
The game was moving.
And he was learning faster than anything alive.
[HIVE NODE – LV-732 COLONY SUBTERRANEAN CORE]
Mo's breathing was steady, his claws tapping against the Hive's walls in rhythmic thought.
Around him, the hive pulsed quietly—alive, but limited.
Two units.
One Stalker.
One newborn hybrid.
Not enough.
Not to defend the Hive.
Not to grow an empire.
Not against what's coming.
He stood and approached the Hive Node's central stalk, placing a hand on the moist flesh that pulsed with every beat of the Swarm.
[Swarm King System: Hive Mall – BUILDINGS TAB OPENED][Available Biomass: 109]
A grid of organic blueprints unspooled inside his mind—structures not made of steel or stone, but of bone, bile, and brilliance. Living systems.
Endless potential.
[BASIC BUILDINGS UNLOCKED:]
Spawning Pool – 80 BiomassGenerates and incubates up to 3 Swarmlings per cycle (Slow Rate). Requires constant biomass feed.
Tissue Recycler – 45 BiomassConverts corpses into biomass automatically.
Hive Capillary Conduit – 30 BiomassLinks Hive Nodes across distances. Enables networked control.
Terror Spire – 100 Biomass (LOCKED)Emits psychic terror pulses. Demoralizes humanoid targets.
Brood Chamber (Xeno-Compatible) – 120 Biomass (LOCKED)Allows containment, gestation, and reprogramming of captured Xenomorphs.
Mo's eyes focused on the first.
Spawning Pool.
He pressed his claws into the Hive Node.
[CONFIRM: Construct Spawning Pool?][Y/N]
"Yes."
The ground shuddered.
A section of the chamber's floor folded inward like petals of a rotting flower. Steam poured upward as tendrils burst from the walls, coiling and knitting themselves into a shallow, pulsating crater.
The pit filled with green bio-fluid—thick, luminous, warm.
Then the Hive birthed eggs. Small. Round. Not Xeno.
Swarmling eggs.
Three of them.
They pulsed softly. Alive.
[Spawning Pool Constructed][Current Egg Cycle: 3/3][Cycle Time Remaining: 2 Hours (Boostable)]
[New Unit Design Available – Swarmling (Gen 2)]
Mo took a deep breath, his thoughts racing.
He needed more biomass. A lot more. He still had other buildings to make. Other defenses to build.
He turned toward his surviving hybrid—Unit 003—and sent a pulse through the Hive Link.
[Command: Hunt. Capture. Return with prey.]
The creature hissed and vanished into a tunnel, silent as a ghost.
Stalker-002 approached him next, now armored with bone ridges and fresh carapace plating after its recovery. It bowed slightly.
[Command: Guard Spawning Pool. Kill on sight.]
[MEANWHILE – LV-732 SURFACE: Yautja Observation Ridge]
The Predator sat motionless beneath the eclipse-shadowed sky.
LV-732's blue sun was fading fast.
Night approached.
The hunt would resume.
The hunter had watched the Hive grow—watched it build.
Unacceptable.
The prey had stopped running.
It had begun nesting.
A violation of the code.
A trophy must not build legacies.
The Predator drew his Cleansing Blade, its twin edges vibrating with heat and ionized plasma.
He affixed it to his arm.
Tomorrow, he would descend again.
And end it.
[COLONY EDGE – HUMAN ENTRANCE SHAFT]
[Biomass Signature Detected][New Target Acquired – Human Patrol Group (3)]
Mo felt it.
Through the ground.
Footsteps.
Voices.
Three humans. Talking. Whispering. Lost.
One limping.
Perfect.
He emerged from the Hive—just a shadow, moving through tunnel cracks and Hive slime.
"I'm telling you, this wasn't a Xeno nest. There were… symbols. Like architecture. Grown."
"Keep your voice down, Jax—Jesus, we're supposed to be getting air samples—"
"We shouldn't be down here at all. There's something down here that learns."
They never saw him.
Mo dropped from the ceiling.
The first man's neck snapped with a clean twist. No sound.
The second ran.
Stalker-002 was already behind her. She tripped. Screamed. Then silence.
The third—Jax—froze.
Mo stepped into the light.
His eyes burned green.
And he spoke.
"Run."
The man pissed himself.
And ran.
[Biomass Gained: +47][Two Corpses Delivered to Tissue Recycler]
[Cycle Boost Activated – Spawning Pool][New Swarmlings Ready: 3]
[HATCHING CHAMBER – HIVE CORE]
The first of the Gen 2 Swarmlings broke free from its egg.
Slick, multi-eyed, and low to the ground, it chittered as its two scythe-like arms flexed.
Smarter. Faster. Acid-resistant.
[Units Active: 5]
002 – Veteran Stalker
003 – Hybrid Scout
004–006 – Gen 2 Swarmling (Standard)
Mo stepped back, arms raised.
A King before his growing court.
But the Hive trembled.
A signal. Low and dark.
A new presence.
Something vast.
A Queen.
Not his.
A wild one.
[HIVE NETWORK ALERT – ZONE THETA]
[Xenomorph Queen Detected – Dormant Hive Cavity ~3km North][Status: Aggressive. Brood Size: Unknown.][System Alert: Major Threat Detected.]
Mo's mandibles clenched.
"Shit."
He turned to his swarm.
"We're not alone anymore."