The Kauri Princess drifted through the cold depths of space with little to indicate that it was inhabited or had been one of the galaxies premier cruise ships. The Princess was a state of the art M-Class luxury liner with accommodations for 3500 passengers and able to adapt them to over 27 different species. With a crew of over 1200 to see to every one of the passengers needs, it was truly a rich beings starship. Though the thing that made this cruise ship different from others of its kind is that it was playing host to the prestigious Miss Universe Beauty Pageant, a year long cruise of the the civilized systems with hundreds of the most beautiful women the galaxy had to offer competing for the coveted title and crown.

The contest was one of the few legitimate pageants that did not work with slavers or pirates to sell the winner to the highest bidder.

In anticipation of the event being hosted on the ship, the offensive and defensive capabilities had been upgraded so that the Princess was on par with most space navies patrol cruisers. None of that seemed to help as a small dark blue vessel made a silent approach toward what was currently appeared to be little more than a ghost ship. The ship approaching the Princess was an ADD vessel, the Midnight Star, and responding to a garbled vid transmit that the last Search and Rescue team had been able to get out before everything went silent again.

Though the image quality had been rather poor, the ADD techs had been able to enhance it enough that recognition software had picked out a Xeno-form that was becoming an all too familiar lifeform encountered by the ADD and its agents. Harvesters. In response the two agents deemed to have the most experience dealing with their infestations were pulled from their other assignments and tasked with determining the extent of the infestation and whether it was an outbreak or simply an isolated incident like the others.

The blond haired Calista Cole, ADD Special Talent, walked back onto the bridge wearing her gray and silver skin tight combat jumpsuit which seemed to hug and mold to the sensual curves of her body. She looked over at her partner on this mission, the red haired Minerva Rocha, whom she had worked with before on other assignments and found that despite their loner personalities made a pretty good team. Plus they had both had rather intimate encounters with the Harvesters, which of course made them experts by experience.

”Anything on sensors or comms to make this just some sort of engineering error?” the blond agent asked, not particularly thrilled with the prospect of having another encounter with the aliens. Just a few months previous to this mission she had been captured by Doctor Steiner and subjected to twisted experiments meant to enhance the Harvesters. She knew Minerva had a similar experience with the alien beasts aboard the Pandora.

Minerva checked her the sensors and comms for the the umpteenth time. Unfortunately, no. There is nothing to make it look like it some sort of engineering error. The sensors report that the Kauri Princess is running nominally and cannot explain the reason why it is drifting. Also the communications seems to be working fine, there is just no response. Minerva sighed, the fact there had been no response from the last search and rescue team lead more creditably to theory that there was Harvesters on board.

The young woman stood up and stretched, turning off the footage of the pagent that was going on the Kauri Princess. An image of the ADD agent turned pirate Rei Yamamoto participating in the pagent briefly flashed on the screen, though the redhead did not notice it. She was wearing her form fitting red flight suit that left little of her curves to the imagination. The flight armor would also double as her body armor enabling her to have maximum flexibility while providing her some protection. Nearby was a large tank she was going to wear on her back in case they had to go in. In it was something that she hoped to be able to use against the Harvesters should they discover any on board the Kauri Princess. It looks like we are going to have to go aboard if we are to find out, what is wrong with the Princess.

~At The Beginning~

Pain. Fear. Uncertainity.

The last thing it remembered. A brutal battle against the horned beings that brought deadly weapons and purging flames. The loss of many females that were needed, the destruction of many 'soldiers', and worst of all... The death-throes of the hive. An intolerable loss, yes. But in the end, all that mattered was the fact it had survived. The enemy had not taken notice of how it had secreted itself away into the flesh of one of the not-horned invaders, taking over the man's nervous system in the process.

In control of the soldier, it had used his memories, his experience, and his knowledge of the soldier's masters to get out of the ruined hive. It had been a harrowing experience, with many near-discoveries and clumsy mistakes. But it had learned. In the end, it had learned. And when the timing was right, it had made good its escape.

Only to be cast into the darkness of space, drifting in the cold vacuum. How long it had taken, the creature did not know. A long, long time, it felt like. Then suddenly, warmth. The man had died a long time ago, when he had been taken by the creature. His body could no longer 'live'.

Another was needed.

The decomposed husk of the soldier suddenly split open as spindly legs reached out, the creature extracting itself from its frozen prison. And just then, another male had come in. A sudden gasp was the only thing that escaped him before he too was taken. Unlike the soldier, the man was overtaken completely... His body reduced to naught but biomass, enough to reconstruct the creature's body... His memories and knowledge added to the creature's own. The hive had died, but its children would live on!

Time slowly passed by, the great ship going about its affairs, ignorant of the evil that had been resurrected within. With so many people aboard, a single solitary Harvester soon became a few Harvesters. And the few became the many. Eventually, before anyone was aware of the rapidly worsening crisis, a growing legion of Harvesters swarmed across the Kuari Princess, overwhelming both the crew and the passengers. It had not taken long for the 'Trixian-born' Harvester to guide its brethen against the walkers, capturing every female that they could find while taking in all the males to be infected with parasitic lifeforms, transforming them into Brutes.

The old hive possessed many soldiers, but few powerful enough that numbers were meaningless against them. The Brutes had done their work well, tearing through the Princess's security precautions and rendering them worthless, leaving people no place to hide in and no weapons that would work against them...

~Two Weeks Later~

Within the great 'chamber', the once luxurious cargo hold had been transformed into a stronghold of hungry biomass, Harvester flesh covering everything and choking up the machinery, preventing them from operating properly. And within this 'stronghold', nearly half of the Princess's female population found themselves restrained by both fleshy biomass and ravenous tentacles, the newborn hive's drones hard at work harvesting them for their fluids and nutrients.

They were in no shape whatsoever, both mentally and physically, as their bodies had been modified in both manners to serve the Harvesters, echoing what the creature had said aboard Muse Station to a certain princess. They had defied the Harvesters at first out of fear and terror, but now... each and every female served the Harvesters with every fiber of their being, the choice having long since been taken out of their hands.

Not when the hive's psychic will was much more powerful than ever, with so many more Harvesters united together now. Not when there were numerous 'broods' throughout the ship, taking advantage of the women's bodies and 'resources' to further their own potentials. Not when the ship was filled with pustules that continually pumped out enormous quantities of pheromones and leaked slime all over everything, making it virtually impossible to not be affected by the Harvesters.

Within one of the decks dedicated to swimming pools, considerable damage had been done and now most of the decks found themselves in serious disrepair... and almost all of the Princess's water supply being flooded into the last few decks, providing for an entirely new environment.

In such an environment, with biomass everywhere as well, new lifeforms had been given birth to. Though, many of them continued to follow similar paths in their genetic makeup, others had evolved in entirely new directions. Of all the women that had been captured and harvested by the monsters, a few had proven to be so compatible that they had become hybrids of their own, much like the original Harvesters' creator... Except they had not retained their original bodies but had instead warped into new beings, their minds broken and twisted into such a state that they were no better than the Harvesters themselves.

The twisted hybrids had taken over the submerged deck for themselves, treating the entire space as their personal hunting grounds and consuming any unfortunate Harvesters in order to keep on evolving themselves. It was truly a world where the strong fed on the weak... With the sole exception that even these powerful lifeforms answered to the hive's unified will, serving the hive as well as any of the others.

Then again, with many females in their grasps, the hybrids and their fellow aquatic lifeforms were much too busy keeping the women in a state of constant pleasure to be too much of a threat to the hive's control.

Within the atrium, a similar scene would greet the eyes of any free-willed being. Where it once had been a beautiful feature of the Princess, filled with greenery and plants from across the galaxy... The terrace was now choked by hideous mutations of the plants, warped into living Harvester lifeforms by the pheromones and the slime.

While the Harvesters only preyed on lifeforms, in such sizable quantities, the chemicals they released had begun to evolve into something else, a fungal strain that had infected and consumed the greenery and in their place produced a cross between the parasitic Harvesters and the organic plants. Much like the aquatic environment down below, the atrium had given birth to new organisms of its own, all of which were no less gentle and no less hungry for the bodies of females.

The atrium too housed its own population of females, all of which were firmly in the monstrous plants' grasps as they were ravaged over and over again, their bodies used to feed the creatures' ravenous need for nutrients. Just as everywhere else aboard the vessel, there was no shortage of pleasure for the women, unable to do anything but accept the Harvester's attentions and service their endless hunger.

All throughout the Princess, different areas had given rise to new Harvesters, each with their own clutch of females to harvest, each brood but an organ in the great 'body' of the hive, each one serving the hive's needs.

And deep within the ship, where the power core provided the Princess with all of its needs, the incredible heat had attracted the original Harvester when it first came aboard. Now that the vessel was under Harvester control, the room now held the hive's beating heart, the massive creature that served as the guiding force behind the Harvesters. Great eyes moved around, seemingly looking at a thousand different things every moment, as thick tendrils moved around. No longer was it completely helpless as it had been in the past.

No, the Harvesters had learned, and they had adapted. Now, the core came with its own defenses, even as Brutes roamed the nearby area, seeking out alien beings to trample down and destroy. The core could now fight back if necessary, and it possessed the strength to destroy anything that tried to end its existence.

The Harvesters did not forget. More to the point, the Harvesters did not forgive. This fury had already been felt by those who had come aboard the Princess after it drifted off course. Such search and rescue parties had been met with merciless and brutal reprisal, the males taken and transformed into Brutes and the females added to the Harvesters' collection.

~Now~

Before the pulsating mass that served as the hive's mind and heart, a familiar sight could be seen. Having regenerated its body from the biomass so generously provided by the males of the vessel, the man-spider remained silent and still as it interacted with the ship, its mind joined with all the Harvesters aboard, every single creature speaking together in a terrifying union of psychic power.

Then it cracked open its eyes, black orbs staring out at nothingness. A twisted smile spread across its ghastly visage. Having accumulated the knowledge and experiences of thousands, along with all of their memories, the creature was no longer just a creature but a real monster among the Harvesters. It had developed individuality, had become its own being. Upon its mind, there was only two things... The inevitable spread of the Harvesters across the galaxy... and vengeance.

Vengeance on the Harvesters' maker for daring to manipulate them toward her own ends, for daring to use them without a care of their own needs. The Creator would fall to her own creations, and she would serve the Harvesters just as she had made them serve her. The monster... No, the being would ensure all of it. He would see to the Harvesters' future, even if it meant creating one where none had existed before. She was their warden, their manipulator. At this thought, the Architect scowled. He would be their liberator. He would be their leader.

"All will serve us..."

As Calista was about to respond to Minerva she suddenly staggered as she clutched her head when an intense psychic wave washed over her. She felt ill as if something dark and evil had brushed her mind, she felt like her skin was covered in oil as she tried to determine where it had come from. She had heard of other Talents feeling powerful psionic impressions over great distances, but that only usually happened when a being of great psionic ability died. No this felt like it was much, much closer to them, but it had faded away just as quickly as it had appeared.

She suddenly felt someone hands on her shoulder as the persons voice and face escaped her for a moment, she looked up as the psychic feedback slowly began to recede as her mind began to work again. On shaky legs she stood up with Minerva's help, though she tried to not take notice of the look of concern on the other woman lovely features.

"I'm fine...just...are we ready to dock with the Princess?" Calista asked, still looked a bit pale from her experience but took a few steadying breaths to try and steady herself. She looked up at Minerva as the thought of calling for assistance crossed the red haired womans mind.

"What are get going to say to Command Minerva, Agent Cole had a bad feeling...I'm a Special Talent and we get leeway in our missions...but not enough to justify sending in a strike team on a bad feeling or with no solid intel..." the blond haired agent said and the smiled faintly at Minerva as she sense the worry in the other womans mind "I'm sorry, psychic feedback tends to make me a tad grumpy...though the concern is appreciated Minerva."

Minerva looked up just in time to see the blonde Special Talent stagger as she clutched her head. It looked she was in intense pain. The agent realized that Calista was feeling some sort of really psychic episode. The redhead had read up on psionics since she fist met the Special Talent back on the Antares Base. Still nothing she read about gave anything that she felt was real knowledge when dealing with psychic phenomena. All she could would try to comfort Calista. The redhead quickly made her way over to her blonde partner to see what she could do.

Minerva readed down and put her hand on the blonde's shoulder as she asked for the blonde woman if she she was okay. A look of absolutely confusion appeared on the Special Talent's face, and Minerva worried for a moment that the woman had been struck dumb by the psychic episode. Fortunately the beautiful Calista's face seemed to recognition of Minerva eventually. The redhead soon was ready to help up her partner.

The young woman looked terrible and seemed to be shallow in breath as the Special Talent seemed to be trying to steady herself. Minerva wondered if Calista was so shakened by the experience if would not be better to calling additional help to help explore the Princess?

Calista read her mind and complained that they didn't have enough to call in more people. It was a bit snippy but the blonde soon smiled a little when she realized that the redhead was simply concerned about her partner. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay to go on the mission. We are docked so we can begin shortly.

The Architect craned his head about, sensing something just beyond the Hive's influence, a psychic intrusion. It felt foreign to the sentient Harvester, something beyond its control. But rather than alarmed, the Architect was merely interested in this. It had felt as if it was approaching, and this led to the possibility that there were indeed more people coming into the Hive. If it was another psychic being, like the Trixian princess that had given rise to the new Harvesters, then it was indeed a very valuable resource to be exploited.

Already, the Architect's will spread through the Hive once more, rejoining the unified minds of the Harvesters all through the vessel and taking control of those closest to the intruding entity. Not wishing to harm the potential new addition to the Hive, the powerful Brutes were pulled away from the immediate location where the agents would be docking, and lesser lifeforms brought in to replace their presence with numbers.

From outside, the vessel had appeared quite normal, apart from the fact the power had been disabled and only the red glare of emergency lights were on. Once the two were past the dock shaft, inside was a far different matter. Fleshy biomass covered nearly everything, leaving little that wasn't. The heat, just as it had been on the Pandora and the Muse Station, was nearly unbearable, the humidity much too high. More than that, the biomass was covered in numerous pustules that continually breathed out pheromones even as slime leaked down from the walls and the ceiling, leaving the floor covered in roughly an inch of the highly addictive solution.

And for both women, there was a constant buzzing in the air, both loud and droning as if there were far too many insects nested together and agitated. For Calista, however, there was something else, an alien entity trying to reach out toward her mind, tendrils already pressing down on her psyche, attempting to worm into her head.

The large, foreboding structure of the drifting starliner loomed forlorn against the black void of space. It sleek form cast long shadows across the smaller ADD ship attaching itself to one of the smaller passenger shuttle airlocks. Calista had followed Minerva into the Midnight Star airlock as they both suited up, both donning special rebreather systems so they wouldn't be breathing in the mind addling pheromones of the Harvester (if indeed it was the alien menace on the ship). The blond haired agent finished adjusting her gear before handing Minerva one of the special cryo-blasters, designed by ADD RnD from Minerva's report on the alien monster vulnerability to cold.

The air lock door on the Princess held as it tried to roll open before strangely rolling shut again. After another attempt and rolling the door open the rest of way, Calista flicked on her flashlight to look around the darkened entrance and beyond, She could see the all too familiar bio-mass that engulfed everything. The ADD Special Talent slowly moved further into the room, feeling the slime ooze harmlessly down her skin tight suit, the droning buzz was incredibly loud and gave the ship a surreal quality. The psychic landscape had been reshaped much like the ship physical surroundings, Calista could feel the questing mental tendrils probing her mental defenses for a way in. She focused on isolating them in a special pocket of her mind that she had learned to create to divert such attacks. Silently she turned back to her companion as the air lock door sealed shut behind them mechanically and organically as the biomass surged forward to reclaim its lost territory.

~Just relax I'm going to hide us from the Harvesters...it isn't perfect but it should give us an edge~Holding up a finger to indicate for her red haired partner to be silent, Calista shut her eyes and reached out to gently caress Minerva's mind as she used her powers to psionically camouflague both women from the Harvesters senses. She concentrated as her brow furrowed, this was a little trick that she had discovered when Doctor Steiner had captured her a few month back and it had almost helped her escape the Doctors clutches. Though she had failed to escape then, the method had proven its worth and she had decided to test it out here if it proved to be an infestation. As long as she continued to mask them, the Harvesters would see the pair of women as one of the hive, though she could reproduce the pheromonal markers that the aliens used to communicate so they would still have to be kn their guard. Another thing, Calista didn't know how far she could cover Minerva if they became separated on the ship and didn't feel up to testing that theory out.

Moving forward, Calista began heading deeper into the dragon's lair.

Minerva moved to the airlock of the Midnight Star to get ready for the attempt to board the derelict Princess. The redhead looked back at the blonde Special Talent, the psychic agent would not have to read Minerva's mind to see the concerned look on her face. If there were Harvesters on board they would prove to be a difficult foe for the two agents would attack endlessly until the agents were subdued or had escaped. Defeating them would be an extremely tall order. Minerva began suiting up in her flight uniform, a soft space suit that was not skin tight like her beautiful partner was, but hid little of the redhead curves. The agent silently cursed as she put on her helmet, the suit had own internal air system had failed recently and she hadn't had time to fix it. So she was going to have to use the special rebreather system and hope it would prevent the pheromones from entering her suit. Also the redhead quickly took the cyro-blaster that Calista handed to her. It had been designed to blast extreme cold against its target, something that Minerva had found out the hard way worked against the Harvesters. The agent also carried her trusty side arm as a reliable backup should she need it for close encounters.

Soon Minerva began the process of getting the air lock open on the Princess. It was a simple process of using the existing emergency procedures to open the air lock from the outside. However, the redhead was stunned to see the door open halfway before it made a horrible grinding noise and seem to jam in place. The door shuttered for a moment before it closed back shut again. Minerva's eyes just blinked for a moment and she couldn't understand what had happened. The redhead checked the door controls and it reported that there was something blocking the door. That was impossible, the two agents did not see anything that could be blocking the door at all. Minerva forced the door to attempt to open the door once more. Again the door opened halfway before it began to make a grinding noise and shuttered in place. It was then that something seemed to let the door free or gave way as the door finally opened giving the two agents access to the Princess.

The two agents stepped into the dark room and Calista turned on a flashlight. Instantly the two women's worse fears were realized. Instead of what should have been an empty room, they found them inside a fleshy room that was the tale-tale sign of a severe Harvester infestation. The room was coated in slime and the two women found themselves up to there ankles in the disgusting/seductive stuff. Worse slime was dripping on the agents from above, their suits being the only thing protecting their skin from direct contact. Minerva didn't even know about the psychic assault that her partner was now enduring as they tried to figure out what to do next.

It was then that Calista said something, her voice barely audible over the sounds of the creatures that seemed to everywhere nearby. She something about being able to hide the two of them. Minerva was about to ask how she thought she could do that, but the blonde held up a single finger to silent quiet the agent. Calista closed her eyes and her brow begin to furrow, Minerva eyes went wide as she realized that the Special Talent was doing something psychic, something that she thought would hide the two from the always hungry Harvesters. The Special Talent completed her work before she turned and began to move further into the ship. Minerva had little choice but to follow.