Chapter 6: Hivebreaker
[DEEP EARTH – HIVE TUNNEL K4, 2.3 KM NORTHWEST OF MO'S HIVE]
Silence ruled the tunnel. The air was damp with condensation and the sweet rot of resin-sealed corpses. Old bones, dulled by time, littered the walls. Eggs—dead and unhatched—lined the floors like rotting fruit.
And then…
Movement.
A sound like claws sliding over glass.
Unit 002 led the charge—Stalker-Class, body flat to the floor, tongue flickering with pheromone tension. Behind it, 007 slithered—acid bubbling beneath translucent throat glands.
Mo watched it all through the Hive Link, his eyes glowing, his pulse synced to the swarm's.
This was it.
The first offensive push.
A surgical strike to breach the rogue Queen's flank and begin feeding the Hive's endless hunger.
[Swarm Active: 7 Units][Swarm Capacity: ∞][Command Directive: Breach, Kill, Convert.]
[TUNNEL BREACH POINT: K4 COLLAPSED NEST WALL]
The wall crumbled.
Resin cracked.
Stalker-002 lunged through first—straight into a dormant nest pocket. Four rogue drones hissed awake, screeching.
[Enemy Contact: Xeno Drone x4]
Mo acted instantly.
"003. Flank left. 007—acid spray now!"
The Spitter opened its jaws.
Green death arced through the air, melting two drones in mid-charge. Their bodies shriveled, collapsed, twitched—bones dissolving in seconds.
002 rolled beneath a tail strike, slashing upward—decapitating the third with a scream.
The fourth leapt toward 003—
—and was impaled midair by 008, the Bulwark-Class, emerging from behind like a stone golem in motion.
[Enemies Terminated: +74 Biomass Acquired]
Mo stepped through the breach.
Black ichor dripped from the walls.
Eggs burned from acid. The air stank of dying Hive.
And Mo breathed it in like incense.
[HIVE MALL – BUILDINGS TAB OPENED]
[New Structures Available:]
Birthing Chamber Node – 150 Biomass (Accelerates Swarm Generation. Infinite Cap.)
Neural Chorus Node – 80 Biomass (Boosts swarm response and psychic sync.)
Bio-Crypt – 120 Biomass (Stores templates and fallen units for resurrection.)
He picked one.
[CONFIRM: Construct Birthing Chamber Node – Y/N]
[Y]
At the center of the dead Xeno clutch, the Hive spilled itself. A mass of tentacles and membrane erupted, absorbing Xeno corpses, bones, and resin alike. The Hive Node glowed.
The Birthing Chamber was born.
It pulsed like a dark heart.
Then it began producing eggs.
Six.
Then eight.
Then ten.
[Warning: Rapid Spawn Detected – Biomass Flow Critical][Biomass Drain Rate: 12 per unit][Current Units Spawning: 14]
Mo's eyes blazed.
"Let it flow."
[ELSEWHERE – THE QUEEN'S INNER CHAMBER]
She screamed—earsplitting and guttural.
She could feel her brood dying.
Her ground being taken.
Her Hive invaded.
Drones flooded her tunnels like ants under boiling oil. She howled commands—pure instinct and hate—and dozens of warriors responded.
She began laying new eggs.
But she could feel it now—this was not the Yautja.
This was another Hive.
One not bound by the Song.
One cut free from the chain of Queens.
She trembled.
For the first time in eons—
She was afraid.
[MO'S HIVE – HOURS LATER]
[Swarm Count: 23]
002 – Veteran Stalker
003 – Hybrid Scout
005–006 – Gen 2 Swarmlings
007 – Spitter
008 – Bulwark
009–023 – Swarmlings (Gen 2, Basic Combat)
The Birthing Chamber throbbed. Eggs cracked and wept. Limbs unfurled. Claws flexed. Eyes opened to Hive-sight.
Mo stood before his army.
And they knelt.
He was no longer just a commander.
He was Alpha.
A King in truth.
[PREDATOR SHIP – ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY]
The Yautja stood aboard his drop pod, eyes fixed on a growing cluster of heat signatures pulsing beneath the colony floor.
He activated all of his arsenal—plasma casters, smart disk, wrist blades, the net cannon.
One final hunt.
Two Hives.
One victor.
He would kill them both.
[THE INVASION BEGINS]
Mo's swarm moved like liquid down the tunnel slopes—scouts first, then the bulk. No roars. No screams.
Just breath and hunger.
[Command Queue Active:]
Phase 1: Breach Queen's Chamber
Phase 2: Corrupt Egg Clutch
Phase 3: Kill or Assimilate Queen
003 led the flank.
007 sprayed acid to open new tunnels.
008 crushed walls with thunderclap blows.
Drones screamed and died.
The Hive collapsed from the edges inward.
Mo walked through the smoke and steam, trailing behind the swarm, head bowed.
"I gave you a chance," he whispered to the Queen's fading song. "You clung to instinct. I embraced evolution."
A giant tail lunged from the dark.
Mo stepped sideways, caught it—snapped it with a twist—and sent the drone into the wall.
[Swarm Count: 32][Enemy Count Remaining: 18]
"Keep pushing."
They surged.
Xeno after Xeno fell.
Their screams faded into Hive-breath.
[THE FINAL CHAMBER – THE QUEEN'S DEN]
She roared.
Enraged.
Terrified.
Her body loomed three times Mo's size, attached to her massive egg sac, which pulsed with dozens of unhatched spawn.
She hissed as her warriors formed a shield around her.
But Mo?
Mo didn't even blink.
He raised his claws.
[Command: Full Charge]
The Swarm King's legion crashed into the Queen's last bastion.
008 led the charge, taking six spear-like tails through the chest—yet still smashing two drones into paste.
007 sprayed acid across the egg sac, rupturing unborn horrors into gurgling puddles.
003 and 006 climbed the walls and ambushed from above, slicing jugulars and rupturing spines.
Mo walked into the chaos—
And came face to face with the Queen.
Her tail whipped at him.
He caught it.
She lunged.
He leapt onto her back.
And he sank his claws into her skull.
[Assimilation Attempt: ACTIVE][Queen Core – Detected. Override Possible.]
She screamed.
Thrashed.
But it was too late.
He wasn't a rival.
He wasn't a child of her song.
He was a new species.
And he was rewriting her code.
Everything went quiet.
She collapsed.
The drones twitched.
Then knelt.
[Queen Assimilated.][Swarm Expanded: +36 Xenomorph-Class Units Converted][Egg Clutch Secured][New Unit Type Unlocked: Royal Brood]
Mo stood alone in the chamber, surrounded by the corpses of two species.
He was no longer growing.
He was multiplying.
His Hive was now one of infinite expansion.
And above…
A drop pod screamed down from orbit.
The Predator had arrived.