The agent was not really sure what to make of the alien that was secured into the wall. The male nodded seeming to accept that answer at face value, though the agent was pretty sure that he would knew who she was after. After all, their were not many Princesses left among the Trixians...

Thank you. The woman looked around and could see there was only the one alien here and the animals. Do you know where they would be keeping the Trixians.

So these creatures cannot travel on their own. The redhead was a bit concerned that the had some sort of Queen that some way to control people. Wait if she is not controlling you, then who are they controlling.

“Everywhere and nowhere ...” he answered though he cast his eyes in the direction the other workers had eventually headed off in before flicking his eyes back.

“The walls are like a filing cabinet where they just keep someone until they need them. I guess they do not think I would be likely to be rescued so they place me here with the animals, it's fairly close to where I was before the Queen withdrew her contact from me/”

He considered her question as he gave it a little thought. “I'm not sure, just that all of this nest is here and I have never seen the Queen with more than one person at a time.

“Someone important is the answer, someone that could get them by … I wouldn't put it past the Queen to try to control the Princess but -“

He diverted his eyes then glanced back. “Though if she were going to do that she would have done that from the start, I was there when she was brought in and know she's closer to the Queen so you;ll run into stiffer opposition if you're not careful.”

The first question was not really an answer as far as the redhead was concerned. That just meant the Trixians were scattered everywhere through the Hive. The agent would have work cut out for her. At least she did have the tracking device.

The Hel’Corian explained that anybody that was currently needed was kept tied to the walls. That would mean that the agent would have to use some of the dissolving slime to free the Trixian royal.

Still the alien did provide Minerva some useful information, that he had never seen the Queen ever control more than one person. That part was probably true.

The thought about the Queen controlling Princess Octavia was scary but the pilot had a good point, she could have just brought the Princess in with her mind if she could do that.

I think I am going to run into stiffer opposition regardless of how careful I am. All I can do it do my best to mitigate it. The agent looked around just to make sure everything was all clear.

He was still stuck to the wall and he figured that unlike her target that he could not look forward to being rescued but still he revealed what he could of this place. He had been with the bugs long enough to know that they were called the Ashlyn and from what he gathered they were smart though he had not ascertained that they had grown more or less intelligent with their numbers.

Death could drop their overall intelligence but the hive had been large enough where it would take a large offensive action to reduce them to a point where they were simple again and even so the Queen was a special case and could direct them even if they dipped in intelligence the Queen could still give the illusion of intelligence with her direction. But if she had been removed from the equation and the numbers dipped …

The animals, well he had learned what they had been for though this or the species name would do little good for the agent. “They are smart or the Queen is and simply serves as their brain.” He was uncertain though.

Though Minerva noticed it first as she glanced about. Shadows, flickering shadows from the corridor the other Ashlyn left. “Shit.”

Others were coming. She had just enough time to hide again, the neutralizing slime being used on another animal before the pair of Ashlyn took the animal in the direction they had come, the path she had to follow unless she could figure something out with these tunnels and do a bit of exploring since that area seemed to be littered with high traffic. Or she would have to come up with an alternative to overcome this problem ...

The agent sighed, the Hal’corian seemed to belief that the creatures were smart. Judging by the map she had stumbled across, the conclusion had to be accurate. These creatures were smart enough to have independent thought and that made them dangerous.

It was then that something caught the corner of Minerva’s eye. The agent turned her head to notice that there were shadows approaching.

The redhead ducked into her hiding place once again. There were other Ashlyn coming into the chamber, they quckly surrounded another animal and began to use more of the neutralizing slime to free one of the animals. At least enough that they could carry the animal somewhere else. Minerva sighed realized that there were far more Ashlyn the further she went into the hive. The agent was going to have to move very careful and explore the less traveled tunnels to see if she could find some less crowded routes to the Princess.

Just in case, the agent pulled out her vial of the serum that Luna had made. Take agent exposed an arm to take the shot. It would hopefully provide some protection just in case the creatures did somehow caught her.

Managing to hide the Ashlyn retrieved another animal disappearing with it the way they had come. She soon assessed the situation and realized that she could not stay there. Slipping out of the chamber and back tracking a little she used the Serum to an exposed arm before moving along.

While not all the passages were free of the Ashlyn the ones on the outskirts of the hive did not seem to be interested in her but focused on the tasks that they had been assigned though she had noticed something that had not dawned on her at first not until it had occurred numerous times.

The Ashlyn stuck to the warmer tunnels and avoided the cooler ones. Managing to place that to the test it was easier to move about the tunnels unopposed. The Ashlyn were probably feeling confident that no one would venture into the hive while they had the Princess, a miscalculation on their part or simple arrogance?

The few she saw from the shadows seemed to behave like simple insects. Whether they communicated with some sort of hive mind or pheromones of some sort had gone beyond her understanding at present though she had to be more alert as the passages became a little warmer but still not as well trafficked as the last one.

The Princess was probably kept in a warmer passage though. To her surprise she had soon stumbled upon what she could only state was a treasure room. Necklaces, coins, artwork even vases and the like had been here. There were coins and even gems.

Each treasure had it's own unique pile and it had seemed that the creatures had collected these treasures from the castle. But before she had a chance to really look around a stream of green slime fired at her from one of the piles as she was late in identifying a worker that was present organizing the pile. It was not alone as the agent could see several other workers appearing from behind treasure mounds. It was almost as if they had set a trap for her if she had not known any better though these were all the smaller workers there were no soldiers amongst them, yet at least ...

Managing to hide the Ashlyn retrieved another animal disappearing with it the way they had come. She soon assessed the situation and realized that she could not stay there. Slipping out of the chamber and back tracking a little she used the Serum to an exposed arm before moving along.

It took a while Minerva to observe the tunnels and study the patterns of the Ashlyn as they moved from one tunnel to yet another tunnel. They seemed to be constantly avoiding some of the tunnels and going into others.

It did not make any sense at first for the young woman until she thought back. Some of the tunnels were somewhat colder than the others. So the Ashlyn seemed preferred the heat. The redhead smiled as she realized that she had a better way to avoid the creatures and perhaps even track the monsters.

The agent continued to observe the creatures as they went about their tasks. They really did not show any sign of intelligence as they interacted with each other. More like ants in a colony that some sort of intelligent monsters that other evidence had shown. Do they get smarter when threatened? Or is something else at work?

The agent moved down one of the slightly warmer tunnels, it did not seemed to be occupied. The agent hopped it would lead to a warmer tunnel and possibly the Princess. The last thing she was expecting was some sort of treasure.

There were piles and piles of treasure, each appeared to be unique in its own way. It was then that a stream of green slime came flying at her. Shit! There was a worker, no several workers. The soldiers would be here soon enough. Quickly she lowered her rifle and fired at the first one. The agent quickly moved as she knew the soldiers and workers would quickly try to corner her.

Coins flew up into the air as did body parts as the she fired at one of the workers. It was clear that this was an impromptu ambush seeing that there was the lack of soldiers but with the discharge of the weapon they would be coming, worse if she were close to the Princess they may be close too.

A stream of slime flew over her left shoulder as she fired again, the worker getting clipped in the head that erupted in a peach gooey substance. It was then that a tentacle wrapped about a leg and pulled her off her feet to the ground.

A worker had gotten behind her, a pair of retractable tentacles exited it's sides one of which had been entwined about her leg. It's mandibles open as it gets ready to spray her down with green slime but Minerva is able to roll onto her back, fire and end it's life before then.

Other patches of green slime narrowly miss her from other workers and it was clear that there were to many to fight even though they were just workers they had numbers and it would only be a matter of time before she ran out of places to hide.

Scrambling ahead she dashes down a nearby tunnel. Sure enough there were soldiers on the way scurrying down the tunnel in her direction. Fortunately there was no green slime flung at her then and she was able to take the soldiers out quickly since they did not have any cover and the workers did not pursue her. Just to regroup she had to duck into the cooler tunnels hearing the scurrying of soldiers as they headed to the chamber she just vacated.

I have found some of the prisoners though there are more … how is it on your end?

There was a voice in her head, Aegir of course. Long range telepathy? Perhaps he had done something to communicate with her over greater distance. He could possibly ruffle through her mind to look over any secret or memory if he washed and she knew from experience that he had vast powers over the mind so perhaps he was limited with her being further away and could not influence her.

With the Serum working through her system she could hear buzzing nearby from the passage she vacated though it grew no closer at least not yet ...

There were coins flying everywhere as the spontaneous battle erupted all over this particular portion of the cavern. It was fortunate that there were no soldiers here though the agent knew they wouldn’t be alerted by the combat.

Minerva let out a scream as she felt a tentacle wrapped around her leg and pull it out from under her. The redhead went tumbling to the ground just as a stream slime just went over her shoulder and hit harmlessly behind her.

The ADD agent spun around to see what had grabbed her. One of the workers was upon her releasing more of it tentacles even as it mandibles were wide open as it was about to spray her down. Minerva was able to fire off the burst from her rifle, killing the creature.

The young woman quickly moved up to her feet. Quickly the redhead did a head count of the workers in the room. It was the more that should even expect to hold off and if she was careful they would quickly overwhelm her.

The agent retreated down another tunnel that was nearby. Quickly she stumbled to the upon soldiers that were coming to investigate the battle that had occurring. A sweep of her rifle was the quickly down the creatures in her path. The agent moved on, quickly diving into one of the cooler tunnels. There she could take a moment to regather herself and try to salvage the mission as best as she could.

I only found one alien, no Trixians. Although the Ashlyn seem to be more numerous here, so they must be guarding something important.

The young woman froze up for a moment as she heard buzzing nearby, but it was not coming any closer. That meant she had a little bit of time to figure out which rough would lead her to the Princess.

I see. I have found a few of the prisoners though not the lion's share just yet. Be careful. She was at the edge of his sensory range and he could sense the excitement from her recent conflict. Perhaps that had been the reason why he had contacted her,who could say.

For the moment she was safe and could regroup a bit though the Ashlyn seemed to have a huge weakness that she exploited or thought she was anyway for this many gathered Ashlyn made them aware of this blind spot and so the workers were dispatched by the Queen, their blue slime working to dissolve the green that held the creatures fast and soon the agent could hear the howls echoing through the tunnels seemingly from nowhere but everywhere at the same time.

It was a chilling sound that worked against the stone but it made her aware that something was coming, something that was not an Ashlyn but sounded far more bestial in nature.

This time there was no Aegir contacting her as the two were out of range by that point.

The Ashlyn shifted and moved as they attempted to anticipate what tunnels she was likely to take though soon enough Minerva could hear a clacking sound and at least a dozen luminous green eyes on the ceiling of the passage she had just wounded the luminescent glow of some of the fungus displaying that there was some sort of man sized spider up there that was coming her way.

If she had a strong understanding their were ants that shared their colonies with spiders and was that the case here? Regardless it appeared as if she had another problem though she quickly realized that it was not just the one either as another spider appeared at the other end of the corridor coming this way though this one moved along the floor.

Aegir seemed to have found some of the Trixian prisoners. [i]There were smart to spread out their prisoners it force the Trixians to hold off an attack. It would make that much harder to rescue them all as well.

The agent took a moment to catch her breath as she assessed the situation. For the moment the agent was safe in this colder tunnel, but the redhead could not stay here forever. Eventually the Ashlyn would come to find her and besides, the redhead had still not located the missing Trixian princess. All of sudden a series of howls interrupted Minerva’s thoughts. It was as though a hornet’s nest had arisen, and it was coming from everywhere in the hive.

The noise however seemed to be more bestial, like the redhead had managed to awaken some of monster or monsters that the Ashlyn had been keeping on a leash. At the same time the agent could not hear Aegir in her head. Was she out of range or was the Ashlyn jamming him somehow?

The agent knew it was time to move, she gripped her rifle and began to move out. It was then that the redhead hear some sort of clacking sound behind her. Minerva looked behind her and to her horror she saw what appeared to be a dozen glowing dots moving towards her from the ceiling. As it they came closer, it became clear that they all belonged to a monsterous giant spider.

The agent spun to look the other direction. There was another giant spider moving to literally pin her in place. Minerva knew she had to act now if she was going to make it out. The agent threw a smoke grenade behind her to confuse the spider behind her. She immediately charged to new spider while firing her rifle at it. Once she had disabled it she could run past and into a new tunnel or chamber where she could begin her now hurry search of the Princess.

The smoke grenade did well to provide her cover from the first spider the rifle turning on the second and with pinpoint accuracy she was able to hit it though a single shot did not seem enough as it took multiple shots to disable the creature though as she did a stream of spider webbing shot out from the smoky portions of the corridor though it was a blind shot it was close hitting the area that she had just vacated.

These did not seem to be the creatures that let out that howl though but there was little time to dwell on that as she hurried along. Down another cooler passage she did not have to worry much about the Ashlyn at present though there were now the spiders that had been sent to check the cooler passages.

But as she continued she could hear the scurrying of her latest problem. Fortunately there did not seem to be many of the spiders so she still had it a bit easier as she moved along. The Serum protecting her for the time being at least against the aphrodisiac of the drones. Though she realized that the Princess was going to be in a warmer area then these passages, these though allowed her to move through the nest a bit easier.

But that blood curdling howl increased, something had picked up her scent and was getting closer now … the Queen could control one being at a time and was this thing it? Something that wasn't as bothered by the cold?

It had a black caprice, a four armed insectoid creature with mandibles appeared up ahead staring at her for a second as it screeched in such a manner that she would have guessed it was some sort of mammalian predator.

After this screech, which seemed a little different then before it charged straight at her without any fear possessing it as it came. The shuffling of the spiders could be heard as they began this way ...

The agent ran through the smoke as she moved to close the distance with one of the spiders. She fired her gun, the spider square in its head. However to her surprise, the creature was still able to move. The agent fired again and again as she moved closer to the creature, until it finally quit moving. The agent had continued move, which was fortunate as spider webbing had hit a spot she was standing at just moments before.

The agent quickly moved down the cooler passage hoping to move away from all the attention she was receiving. There was no sign of Ashlyn due to their love of warmer temperatures. But these spiders, they simply kept coming. The spiders seemed to immune the cold, the perfect companions to heat-bound Ashlyn.

The agent could hear the creatures scurrying behind her. The redhead looked ahead but there was nothing ahead of her, at least she could continue to run this direction. It meant that she would have to keep moving down the cooler tunnels, not the warmer tunnels she wanted to move down. It meant that the agent would not be able to go rescue the Princess. At least not until she had lost the spider that were following her.

A howl that made Minerva’s blood run cold made the agent stop in her tracks. She had heard it before but now it was much closer. It slowly dawned on the agent that the creature was closing on her from the front.

The creature towered of the redhead agent. It had massive mandibles as it studied the lone woman for a moment. Then it screeched as it charged towards Minerva giving her little time to act before it was upon her.

The agent had little time to think. She quickly threw a grenade just in front of her to obscure herself from the monster in front of her. As the grenade began to spew smoke, the agent fired from the center of the tunnel and then moved to the side. With luck the creature would move right by her and at least for a moment would block the spiders behind her.

Earth and smoke cascaded into the corridor as the grenade went off obscuring the beetle like creature for a moment though it was still rushing forth the blast of the grenade going off behind it with some earth shrapnel hit it in the back or it's caprice.

The shot hit it square on though the energy weapon washed over the exoskeleton though it did pass her by. She felt the rush of air sweep over her though it turned, mandibles clacking giving away it's position in the corridor as it reached out with it's senses to perceive her in some fashion but for now it stood there, barely a scorch mark on it though the concussive force of the grenade did cause the shrapnel to crack the exoskeleton if only barely ...

Smoke filled the tunnel once more as the grenade filled the corridor. Despite the hindrance of the smoke, the giant creature continued its charge at the lone female expecting to reach her whether it could see her or not.

A shot hit the creature square on but seemed not to make any effect on giant monster, Minerva ducked as the creature swung wildly as it moved through the smoke and pass the redhead. Almost at once the agent began to make her way down the corridor. The young woman looked back it had some damage to the back of its exoskeleton. The agent lined up a shot fired, hoping that it would be able to penetrate the weakened armor if it hit in the right spot…