[ZETA TUNNELS – DEEP NESTING ZONE, 3.2 KM NORTH OF MO'S HIVE]
It breathed.
The cavern was massive—womb-shaped, slick with ancient resin and filth. The walls were covered in old hive-flesh, black and hard, but pulsing faintly with reactivated life.
At its center sat the Queen.
She hadn't moved in days.
But now her limbs twitched. Her inner jaw flexed. Her tail slowly coiled through a pile of bones, dragging with a hiss.
Something had awakened her.
A rival.
Not human.
Not Yautja.
Something new.
She shrieked—and the hive walls answered.
[MO'S HIVE – HOUR 5 POST-SPAWN]
[Hive Status: Active][Units: 5]
Unit 002 – Stalker (Veteran)
Unit 003 – Hybrid Scout
Units 004–006 – Swarmlings (Gen 2)
Mo stood before the Hive Echo Node, mind linked to every vibration across kilometers of earth.
He felt the Queen's call.
Not directed at him.
But echoing through the ancient instinct of the Xeno DNA now inside his swarm.
It rattled their minds.
Unit 003 hissed, agitated.
[Swarm Instability Detected – Foreign Hive Song Interference]
[Mall Unlock: Neural Severance Beacon – 90 Biomass]Function: Breaks psychic link between all Xeno strains. Immunizes swarm against outside Queens.
Mo's eyes narrowed.
"She's trying to steal them. Make them hers."
He opened the Hive Mall again.
Searched the Buildings > Defense tab.
[Neural Severance Beacon – Construct?][Y/N]
He paused. It would cost nearly everything he had left.
But if the Queen took his hybrid…
His entire bloodline could become hers.
[Y]
The Hive shook violently.
The new structure rose from the floor—a massive black spire laced with twitching nerves and twitch-flesh, capped with a glowing cerebral bulb. When it activated, it pulsed once, and every Swarmling screamed in unison.
Then silence.
Peace.
[Psychic Interference: NULLIFIED][Swarm Integrity: SECURED]
Mo exhaled.
"She wants a war… I'll give her one."
[MO'S STRATEGY ROOM – HIVE CONDUIT LEVEL]
With his hand pressed to the Echo Node, Mo began planning.
He needed to locate the Queen's nest fully.
He needed biomass, intelligence, and the element of surprise.
He opened the Hive Mall again.
[Instant Learning Available – Xenobiology Lv.1 – 20 Biomass][Instant Learning Available – Tactical Command Lv.1 – 40 Biomass]
[Purchased: Xenobiology Lv.1][Purchased: Tactical Command Lv.1]
Suddenly, he knew.
The Queen's pheromone trail.
Her spawning patterns.
Her weaknesses.
"Your brood is ancient, Queen. Predictable. Instinct-bound."
He summoned 003 and 004.
"You're going in."
[SCOUT MISSION – INTO THE DARK]
Unit 003 and Swarmling 004 moved under cloak—bio-chitin tuned to absorb thermal heat. Slow. Silent.
They slithered into the North tunnels, passing dead ventilation shafts, bone piles, and skull nests.
Then they saw it.
The Queen's Hive.
It was massive.
Hundreds of eggs.
Dozens of drones, asleep in the walls.
The Queen sat in the center, bloated and twitching, her mouth dripping acid.
Then—
Her eyes snapped open.
[ALERT: Scout Detected – 003 and 004 in Danger]
[FIGHT – SCOUT TEAM]
003 let out a warning screech.
Drones uncurled from the walls, black serpents with arms.
004 charged, claws forward—tore into the first Xeno drone like an explosion of flesh and acid. But two more were already on it.
[Unit 004: TERMINATED]
003 leapt onto the ceiling, blending into resin.
It turned and fled.
Fast.
Too fast to catch.
It vanished into the earth as the Queen roared, her voice splitting stone.
[RETURN TO HIVE – 40 MINUTES LATER]
003 staggered back into the Spawning Pool chamber, leaking fluid, half its tail gone.
Mo knelt beside it.
"You did well."
He placed a hand on its head.
And for the first time, it purred.
[Biomass Gained from Scout Kill: +19][Queen's Nest Mapped: 62%][Mall Update: Xeno Drone Variants Unlocked]
Spitter-Class (Acid Projection)
Bulwark-Class (Tank Variant)
Shadow-Class (Cloaked Stalker)
Mo stared at the list.
"I'm going to break you, Queen."
"And I'm going to build you better."
[MEANWHILE – ABOVE]
The Predator stood at the crater's edge.
He saw the Hive expanding.
He saw the Xenos moving to war.
And in the middle—
He saw Mo.
Not hiding.
Commanding.
The Predator activated a new weapon—the net launcher, laced with plasma-thread.
It was time to collect a new skull.
[MO'S HIVE – POST-SCOUT MISSION]
The chamber pulsed with quiet rage.
Thick hive-flesh rippled along the walls, reflecting Mo's mood like a living heartbeat.
Unit 003 lay in a bio-cradle, its torn body regenerating, carapace flaking from acid burns and torn limbs. A cracked fang had been absorbed by the Hive's tissue for recycling.
Mo crouched beside it.
"You made it back," he murmured, placing a clawed hand on its fractured skull. "You're worth a hundred of them. When this war is over… you'll be my first Alpha."
003 blinked once in recognition.
[Swarm Status]Units: 4
002 – Veteran Stalker
003 – Hybrid Scout (Injured)
005–006 – Gen 2 Swarmlings
[Hive Update: Spawning Pool – Egg Cycle Ready][New Units Can Be Hatched: 3]
[Biomass Required: 15 per unit]
Mo rose and turned to the Spawning Pool.
Eggs pulsed under the green fluid like lungs submerged in bile. A low thrum filled the room as the Hive Node opened a new interface.
[Hive Mall – Unit Template Editor: Open]New Xeno Forms Available (Captured DNA):
Spitter-Class (Acidic ranged variant)
Shadow-Class (Lightweight, cloaked ambusher)
Bulwark-Class (Heavily armored frontline)
Mo's eyes flickered. He selected two.
[Constructing Units:]
Unit 007 – Spitter-Class Hybrid (Ranged)
Unit 008 – Bulwark-Class Hybrid (Tank)
Unit 009 – Gen 2 Swarmling (Standard)
[Total Biomass Consumed: 45]
[Estimated Maturation Time: 1 Hour (Acceleratable)]
He nodded and watched the eggs swell.
Soon, he'd have a strike team.
But his Hive was still a heartbeat away from destruction. One focused assault by the Queen—or worse, by the Predator—could destroy everything.
He needed to fortify.
[HIVE DEFENSE – INFRASTRUCTURE PHASE]
[Hive Mall – Building Tab > Defense Structures]
Chitin Wall Reinforcement – 20 Biomass
Clutch Hallway (Slowing Resin + Egg Trap) – 35 Biomass
Bio-Turret Node – 60 Biomass (LOCKED)
Neural Lure Glands – 25 Biomass
Acid Vents – 40 Biomass
Mo selected:
[Clutch Hallway – x2] = 70 Biomass
[Chitin Reinforcement – x1] = 20 Biomass
[Neural Lure Glands – x1] = 25 BiomassTotal Spent: 115 BiomassRemaining: 3
The Hive groaned. Flesh ripped. Walls reshaped.
Tunnels narrowed and filled with living resin eggs, their presence designed to slow anything not keyed to Mo's pheromones. The Neural Lure Gland anchored itself above the main access tunnel, oozing a psychic pulse designed to draw Xenos off-track—should the Queen send her swarm blindly.
The Hive had become a trap.
[SURFACE – PREDATOR STALKING RIDGE]
The Yautja crouched beside a steaming vent, masked and armed.
He had watched the Swarm spread.
Studied its tunnels. Mapped its behavior.
He could not strike blindly.
But now—an opening.
A fleeing Xeno drone. Wounded. Tagged with plasma residue from an earlier battle.
He fired his net cannon.
The drone was ensnared—screaming, thrashing—acid blood hissing into the ground.
Then it went still.
The Predator approached slowly, retractable glaive buzzing with energy.
He didn't harvest it.
He planted a tracker inside its head.
And then let it go.
[TARGET: Drone – Redirected][Objective: Locate Rival Hive]
Soon, the Queen's swarm would lead him to the Swarm King.
And he would strike.
[HIVE – HOUR LATER]
The Spawning Pool ruptured again with a wet cry.
Unit 007—Spitter-Class—emerged first, long and lean, its throat glowing faintly with acidic bile sacs. Its tail twitched with surgical focus.
Unit 008 rose second, massive, plated with layered armor that glinted like obsidian steel. It stood motionless, then bowed deeply to Mo.
Unit 009 crawled from its egg with a chittering screech. Standard, small—but fast.
[Swarm Count: 7]
002 – Stalker (Veteran)
003 – Hybrid Scout (Injured)
005 – Swarmling
006 – Swarmling
007 – Spitter
008 – Bulwark
009 – Swarmling
Mo looked over his new children.
This was no longer survival.
It was a war machine.
He stood tall at the Hive Core and gave his first true command:
[Command Broadcast: Prepare for Invasion Phase I]
Objective: Breach Queen's Tunnel Flank (Tunnel K4)
Objective: Capture Biomass Hostages
Objective: Infect Enemy Eggs
The units moved as one—like fingers of a single hand.
The swarm had begun to walk.
[MEANWHILE – THE QUEEN'S LAIR]
The rogue Queen hissed as her eggs stirred.
The Drone she had sent—her scout—returned.
But it smelled… wrong.
She rose, cautious.
The Drone bowed.
Then convulsed.
A beacon inside its skull activated.
The Predator's tracker pinged.
A map burned across the Yautja's wrist display.
Two Hives.
Two threats.
He smiled beneath the mask.
Let them fight.
He would kill the victor.