Octavia and the captain quickly made it to the shuttle, they just had to start up the shuttle and they would be able to get out the castle and immediate danger. Already Evelyn was keying the pad to open the shuttle's door. It was until the door opened and the Royal Army officer began to jerk back that Octavia realize that anything was wrong. A stream of green slime hit the dark haired Trixian and quckily knocked her into the the hull of the shuttle. Evelyn struggled against the green slime but she was stuck fast, already her clothes began to dissolved.

It was then that every door on every shuttle in the hanger began to open. Ashlyn began to pour out of every shuttle, making it clear they had laid here in wait to ambush the anyone attempting to use the craft to escape. Octavia screamed in fear as she fired a burst from her rifle at the nearest of the oversized bugs.

The Princess was not going to be able to take a shuttle or even save the soldier that was protecting her. She would have to try to escape out of the hanger and try to make it through the kitchen. Before she too was slimed and captured by the Ashlyn.

Fortunately there were only one or two Ashlyn to a ship but there were too many to fight against. What made things worse for the Princess was that the Ashlyn didn't care if others escaped, if they did they would not have advanced out of the hanger but their goal was to capture her and that was the will of the Hive and the will was all that mattered.

She was key, or any other royal for that matter for the Ashlyn were not too picky.

Because there were so many of them she even managed to take out some of the larger drones though as she rushed out of the hanger one of the drones makes it out with her. Not to mention that among all the whipping tentacles and green slime she lost the rifle.

But out in the corridor she could seal off the hanger though that still left her with the sole drone to deal with, whipping tentacles flowing out from the sides of it's body as a knife sized stinger dripping some green venom is witnessed on the bug as it flies at her all to eager to restrain her or stab her with no preference. A slapping tentacle coming straight at her, the control panel for the hanger right behind her.

Though only a few of the bugs came crawling out of the shuttle, the combined effect of the all the shuttles releasing the Ashyln contents made it seemed like there was an endless horde of creatures. And they were all after the Princess, ignoring the captain whose now almost nude and restrained.

The Princess fired almost blindly as she tried to retreat across the hanger. The royal had never taken her defense training very seriously and absolutely hated violence in any form. Still the pink haired princess simply could not miss with the amount of Ashlyn advancing towards her. As much to her horror as anything else, she killed a few of them but it barely made a dent in the tide of creatures hunting her down. Soon a tentacle wrapped around her rifle and ripped it out of her hands. The Trixian royal screamed and sprinted to the hanger door just missing some of the slime that was squirted in her direction.

She soon found herself outside the hanger with with one of the giant bugs near her. It aimed its giant stinger at her and prepared to strike the royal with the stinger. The pink haired woman backed up against the wall until she felt the control panel behind her. She jumped out of the way hopping the creature would strike the panel and cut off the other creatures from leaving the hanger before it was too late.

SMASH! That tentacle would have hurt had it slammed into her the purpose was to draw the air out of her lungs as it did so though she evaded it for the time being. Sparks from the control panel causing it to spasm and fry as it dropped to the ground as the hanger doors close. By her more time she could hear Evelyn firing at the backs of the bugs drawing their attention away from the now sealed door back to the mostly nude and restrained captain.

She could barely angel the weapon well enough to fire it but even if she only managed to distract them for a few seconds then all the better for the Princess.

Of course she could hear the bugs that had been perusing her then saw them as they spilled into the corridor cutting her off from the direct route to the kitchens. There were other corridors though and the bugs weren't the only thing she saw. She first heard blasters and an explosion then saw another Trixian from around a corner.

It appeared that she must have gotten to an armory considering the bandolier of weapons she had. Lots of grenades, a grenade launcher, even a flame thrower. There was a wild look in her eyes as if she were enjoying this to a degree.

A hat tucked down over her blond hair as she fired away down a corridor then chucked a smoke grenade that way when there must have seemed to be too many of them. Only now did she notice the Princess as she turned that way.

Octavia heard the horrible noise as the tentacle slammed into the control panel smashing it uselessness. She looked behind her that to see the control panel begin to smoke signifying its death. The door began to close when Her Highness heard a burst of gunfire from the hanger. Evelyn must have been able to get her gun free and was firing on the Ashlyn inside the hanger. However any chance the pink haired Princess had to even free her was lost as the hanger door slammed shut.

The Trixian royal felt horrible about leaving the captain behind but she had to make sure that her sacrifice was not in vain. Octavia began to make her way to the kitchen, but did not get far as the corridor to the kitchen began to fill with more of the giant bugs.

The Princess hesitated and stumbled backwards trying to figure out what the door. Then the sound of blaster fire got the pink haired royals attention. She looked down one of the alternative corridors and saw one of her fellow Trixians fighting the bugs.

The blonde Trixian looked like she was straight out of foreign holovid action movie. She had a bandolier of grenades, a blaster with an underslung grenade launcher, and it even appeared that the female was armed with a flamethrower on her back. The Princess immediately began running towards the Trixian with the hat as the Ashlyn horde pursued her.

The blonde noticed it and quickly through a smoke grenade to cover Trixian royal's escape. We have to get to the kitchen and out of the castle. We can't go back the way we came there are simply too many of them.


A hat tucked down over her blond hair as she fired away down a corridor then chucked a smoke grenade that way when there must have seemed to be too many of them. Only now did she notice the Princess as she turned that way.

She was a kid well 18 or so … no military experience whatsoever but hours upon hours of playing video games. When all this came down she was just in the right place at the right time and got to an armory. Her eyes widen as she sees the Princess.

Gosh, she never thought she'd meet the Princess other than on the holo news and what not but to be face to face with her. She quickly assessed their options. Bugs back the way they came. Bugs the way she came from she looks around and tosses another smoke grenade at the closest of the bugs. She then snaps off a salute to Ocatavia.

“Roger.” And she hands the Princess one of her blasters and a bandolier of smoke grenades. “They don't like smoke. She strips a few weapons from her back then pulls out a shiv from who knows where. “I'm going to need a boost. We weren't all blessed with the gift of height.” She grins quickly opening up the ventilation system.

“We have to get behind them and I can't think of any other way.” She crawls into the vent, moves backwards and reaches down to assist the Princess. That doesn't work so well as her arms are too short so she crawls ahead a little, careful of the opening then let's her tail down so the Princess can pull herself up, the shiv trust into the vent to give her something to hold onto.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” she helps as the Princess climbs though once she's in the vent the young woman tells her to drop a smoke grenade to buy them a little more time then extracts her shiv and takes point.

It was when Octavia got closer to her savior that she realized that the blonde Trixian was fairly young. She had to be at least younger that the Princess, who was not that old herself. Maybe she was a new recruit.

Or with a salute like that she may not really like that she maybe not have seen any military experience at all. Still she quickly tossed more of the grenades at the giant bugs. It was not like the pink haired princess could be picky and the blonde Trixian was the one with the weapons.

The young Trixian handed off a blaster and what seemed to be a bandolier of grenades to her Highness, commenting that for whatever reason the creatures didn't like smoke. That good advice. Goddess! Where were you hiding that. The blonde had pulled out a shiv and asked for a boost from the Princess. Her Highness offered her hands and groaned as she helped the commoner up. She just did not have the experience of doing a lot of physical labor.

The young Trixian quickly got the vent in so she could climb up in the vent. The commoner reached down to retrieve the Princess, but Her Highness was just out of reach, so the blonde Trixian lowered her tail. The pink haired royal climbed up the using the tail quickly getting out of the corridor before the alien bugs could get to them.

It was at that time that the wantabee soldier told Octavia to throw one of her many smoke grenades down into the hallway to cover their retreat. The Princess did so as the Trixian retrieved her shiv and took point. You have my thanks....By the way, I do not believe I have gotten your name yet.

“I'd shake your hand but it's sort of cramped in here and I can't turn around,” so the young woman offered her up a tail to shake. Apparently the commoner didn't know too much about etiquette and not touching royalty.

“You can call me Pi though the name is Pina. Let's go.”

She lead them thought the vents recalling the layout of the castle quite well it might have been a good thing she had been on the Princess' side seeing that she knew the castle better than her minus all the cool secret passages Octavia hoped. Then again it was easy enough to know where the vents went right?

She exited into a slimmed hall that looked safe enough. They had been hearing the scuttling of bugs behind them somewhere and were more restrictive in their movements where Pi thought they'd have a better chance in open spaces again.

Though she was unaware of several things, one being that the settlement outside had been attacked already by the scouts and that the hive mind allowed then to communicate to send an invading force against them during their scouting.

There were no male prisoners to gather though the Ashen started to round up male live stock to use to their advantage as they replenished their numbers. The Queen's eggs would incubate within them until it was time.

Pi guides the Princess along. Taking point and serving as an advanced scout more o less. She might not have known too many hand signals but the sign for halt, the clenched first and the come here gesture were pretty easy to follow. Eventually though they come to the kitchen and Pi advances first. She makes the signal for her to halt then holds up three fingers point in three different directions before she slowly backs out of the room.

“Three of them in there, two Anx (dog) sized ones and one about half that size but there's a servants exit right there that leads out to the side of the castle were you can access the front or rear of the place with ease.”

Octavia was a bit shocked to be offered a tail to shake, having to be asked to shake her hand was scandalous enough, but to shake someone's tail. Let us not worry about handshakes for now and just concentrate on escaping first.

She shook her head as she tried to control her voice. It is good that I have met you Pi, I would probably be lost without you.

It was surprising at how well the commoner knew the castle, it had just been laid down a little more than a month ago and it seemed that Pi knew it like the back of her hand. Octavia still had trouble with some parts of the castle, it was really only the secret passages she knew very well.

The two Trixians soon found a hall that had looked relatively clear. The sounds of skittering behind them made it clear that some of the creatures had made it up and into the vent, the Trixians would just have to take their chances in the small hall.

Pi continued to lead the Princess through the castle as they attempted to move silently to the kitchen. Suddenly the blonde held up her hand gesturing for Octavia to stop. Her Highness leaned forward as the blonde explained why they could not get into the kitchen. The Servant's exit? I didn't know the castle had a servant's exit. Please lead the way, we need to get out of here before it is too late.

“Alright, we'll worry about it later,” Pi said mot even realizing the slight. She seemed smart enough but turned away from the Princess in that ventilation shaft didn't grant her any sort of visual clues to go by either.


“Shucks … I have no idea what I'm doing but you can thank me later if I get you out of this mess your Highness.”

They continued on and while they might have been able to deal with the three Ashlyn their position at least would be given up not to mention if they were here there were probably more in the courtyard making for easy reinforcement easier.

“Yeah, whoever laid out this castle must have been a fan of the Castle Strauss game. The layout is practically identical. Some of the secret passages have been changed though, I haven't found many of them save for the simple short cut ones for the staff ...” She explains as they make their way of.

It takes some back tracking here and there to avoid the Ashlyn but near the banquet hall they come to the service entrance.

Little had either been aware that they had been seen at the kitchen but the Ashlyn chose to set a trap for them rather than launch an immediate attack. Their numbers were already closing in on them, tightening the net so to speak so that it was only a matter of before they achieved their objective.

The Princess only nodded unaware that Pi was not really paying attention. Yes, getting out of here would be the important thing.

Having to deal with the Ashlyn was more than the Trixian royal wanted to deal with at the moment, she had a hard time shooting down the ones in the hanger even thought it had literally meant her freedom. She was in no mood to fight more of them, though she knew she was going to have to as some point.

Castle Strauss? Octavia had never heard of the game. She was concerned about the idea of her castle being developed similar to a video game. It would seem to be a poor design choice from a security stand point, however, here it was serving a vital purpose as it allowed the commoner to lead the royal around.

Soon the pair of Trixians were able to make there way to the service entrance. Okay good, it doesn' t appear to be any of those strange creatures around. Let's get out of here and to a space craft before its too late.

“Yeah, Castle Strauss. It's a horror survival game where all these things chasing you down and you had to evading or hiding from them until the end of that level when you had to confront them.

“It's not exactly like the game though, only three of the secret passages are the same and only the servant ones that connect rooms to one another.

“Sadly I haven't found any of the others your Majesty and can't assist you in that regard,” she just didn't seem to get the security risks even if the game was very old at this stage it had been one o her favorites.

The two eventually make their way to the service exit. It looks clear though the Ashlyn wanted it to appear so as others from the Hive continued to close in on the pair they made their way half way through the room before Pina through a shoulder into the arm of the Princess knocking her aside as a stream of green slime narrowly misses the pair from the worker on the ceiling closer to the door that they had entered from. He is not alone either. Two drones and a soldier happen to be there as well, the soldier dropping from the ceiling and coming straight at the pair, tentacles whipping from it's sides as it tried to grasp the target with one.

The drones flew straight at the pair, small stingers extracting from their thoraxes while the worker rests on the ceiling waiting for a clear shot with a stream of the restraining slime as it maneuvers on the ceiling to better position itself.

A moist tentacle from the soldier wraps about the Princess' ankle as it gets close enough. It is quick as it races forward with the need to carry out the orders of the Hive.

Octavia blinked as the blonde Trixian explained to royal that the castle was designed off a horror survival game. Fortunately the fact that it was design to help people evade and hide from monsters that had enable the pair to make it this far.

Well I doubt we are going to have to deal with any more secret passages. We just have to get out the servant exit and get to a ship. We can worry about how the castle was designed another day. The royal began to move towards the exit.

There it is...let's get out of here .... Octavia had made it halfway through the room when she was suddenly was knocked aside by the commoner. The pink haired princess hit the floor a blast of green slime sprays the floor next to her. The Trixian royal barely had the chance to the stand up when suddenly a large version of one of the bugs dropped to the floor in front of the pair. Already a pair of the flying bugs came charging straight down at the pair of women with their stingers ready to the strike. Worse still the smaller of the bugs was already positioning itself for a second spit of slime.

Octavia brought up her blaster and fired at the pair of drones closing in on the two nubile Trixian bodies. To the frightened royal, they appeared to be the biggest threat to the pair. She failed to notice the moist tentacle until it wrapped around her ankle. With a scream, the poor pink haired princess tumbled to ground a second time in as many moments. She could only hope that she would create an opening for Pi.

Crap! Pina could see more of these things bursting forth from hiding places. Workers and some soldiers that streamed forth though the royal saw nothing for the mind altering illusion had no effect on her.

Pina could hear the skittering ant though the bugs had learned that the Princess was immune to their ability to generate altered perceptions they realized that the other Trixians were so lucky and any distraction assisted them.

Thus Pina fired randomly, some shots going into nothingness with some coming close to real bugs.

Not being the best of shots the Princess missed the two drones as they scattered in opposite directions. Her aim is further thrown off as the soldier jerks her off of her feet as it approaches.

Things look bleak but the altered perceptions on Pina come to haunt them as Pina uses a smoke grenade believing that they were being overrun she catches the soldier and a drone in it, the smoke dazing them and while the soldier still holds her it stands there making an easy target for the Princess. The effected drone lands and stops evading making for an easy target though the other drone skirts around the smoke while the worker, who has it's gaze obscured, fires a green stream of slime at the Princess though not being able to target her the worker misses again.

“NOOO!” Pina screams as the illusion gets the better of her as green slime smears over her body.
She drops to the floor and struggles against the illusionary restraints while in her mind her clothing is rapidly being dissolved as the thinks advance on her prone body.

“Run Princess!”

Octavia shots miss by wide margins as her lack of practice made it difficult for her to hit the nimble drones. Being dropped by a tentacle still wrapped around her leg made any aiming even more difficult as she now attempted to kick her leg free. However as inaccurate as her shots were, Pina's shots were worse. It was as if she was firing wildly and blindly across the room. Nothing of the blonde Trixian's shots even threatening range of one of the bugs.

Fortunately, the commoner had the sense to thrown another smoke grenade. It obscured most of the creatures attacking the pair of young Trixians but it also served to daze the creatures. One of the flying drones was forced to land as it struggled with the smoke. Another stream of green slime missed Her Highness as it sprayed just over her head, the creature's aim thrown off by the smoke. Taking advantage of the opportunity the Princess fired her blaster at the silhouette of the largest of the creatures, the one whose tentacle was wrapped around her ankle. She could only hope that she could hit the creature before its friend's slime finally hit home.

Octavia hears Pi's scream as she dropped to the ground. The pink haired princess looked confused as her blonde companion struggled and writhed on the floor even though nobody was attacking her. It took a moment for the Trixian royal to realize what was happening based on Evelyn's experiences fighting the creatures earlier. It's just an illusion Pi. Fight it!!! I need your help. The Princess turned to fire again into the smoke. She had no idea that one of the drones had managed to evade the smoke and was now circling on her and Pi.