The leader of the trio seemed to contemplate this information. “The slime does that?” The blue slime opened up some options for them which served better than battling their way though the hive. Individual the Ashlyn were were manageable but they had the numbers. This was a large foothold that they had already established this nest being on the large size and once they had their hooks in the matter became far more difficult to deal with so taking care of them now was probably the best way to deal with this threat.

“Back that way, further down the passage are some of our dead that weren't so fortunate with that last wave. You can take their clothes and whatever equipment that we left behind though after all this you are to turn it back over.”

“Why, there's no point. It will be vaporized when the bomb hits,” the two women stare at one another, obviously that was too much information and the captain shook her head in disapproval.

“My advice is to clear out of here as fast as you can. Follow the bodies back and you'll get out of here without a problem. Now we have a mission to accomplish.”

The three women proceeded onward and the trio would find four dead bodies among a shit load of dead Ashlyn. They had to be careful given the green slime that littered the area. One of the bodies was smeared in slime with some of her clothing dissolved. Here a fair amount of ordnance could be found. Four rifles, four pistols and a few grenades. Each woman had a metallic sphere that had three slots for fingers though these slots were all in a line and at the bottom of these holes were buttons that could be depressed … Rei would recognize the devices as Trixian short range communication devices that were quite old but cheap. One button was the on/off switch, another cycled through channels and the third depressed and held when speaking released otherwise. There was a smaller hole where sound passed out of it and one spoke into to relay their messages.

The medic probably had far better communications then this and these personal devices were probably used to keep in touch with one another.

The Hel'Corian pilot threw one a pair of the largest pants which were still a tight fit and squeezed into boots. It was better than nothing though he was unsure as to what to do about the hole for the tail though it was high enough up to not be an issue yet.

They could hear the clattering of many legged creatures as they approached, another wave of Ashlyn was closing in …


---


I will explain a knight in greater detail when we have more time. But yes, your hammer. It would not do having her naked though he could not touch her mind her would cloak her in clothes should anyone chance upon them until they could acquire some. He did not have the time to get what he really wished for this rescue throwing it together rather quickly though he did not mind observing her as she was though. He then looked to the collected weapons seeing if there was something appropriate for her to use before he drew energy pistol to them via Telekinesis handing it to her.

The best option for dealing with the Ashlyn would be in ridding them of their Queen. Without her they should be disorientated and unable to manufacture more of their kind. Getting rid of them then should be simple clean up that does not require such drastic measures as using missiles or bombs. In this way those people entrapped her can be rescued too and with the Ashlyn not being able to mobilize as efficiently I doubt they will manage to assemble waves of defenders but rather smaller far more manageable numbers.

If this is an acceptable course of action point out the way to the Queen if you know of it.



(we'll focus on Minerva and Rei at this stage for a bit)

The Trixian commander was surprised the former captives information. The Trixians must have been too busy with their assault on the hive to notice the effects of the blue slime. To fair given the number of the Ashlyn, the Trixian team probably had their hands full just trying to fight them. They probably did not have any to notice the blue slime effects. Of course, Minerva only noticed the camouflaging effects of the slime because it was the only way for the agent to avoid being captured by the spider.

The commander told them of downed Trixian soldiers behind. Minerva did not like the idea of stripping the dead, however beggars could not be choosers. She was just going to have to take what she could find.

It was then that one of the soldiers mentioned a bomb. Bomb what bomb? The agent wanted to ask more questions but the soldiers were already to move on.

The commander told the trio of escapees to head back the way the soldiers came from and then like that the Trixians were headed deeper into the hive. Poor Minerva knew that she could not follow them unarmed, for now the red head would have to retreat…

Rei sighed a bit of relief as Minerva allowed the trio of Trixian to move forward. The attractive redhead always willing to run to fight, but even the agent knew that there was not much could do while naked and unarmed. Reluctantly Minerva followed the Hel’Corlian and Rei back the direction from which the Trixians originally came from.

They found themselves in a chamber that where it was clear a large battle was fought. There dead Ashlyn everywhere with four Trixians laying among them. One of the women seemed to be caught up in green slime and by now most of her clothes had been dissolved. The trio began to look over the bodies to see what they could recover.

Rei quickly picked up a metallic sphere from one of the deceased Trixians. This is a Trxian communicator. It kinda of out of date but it will listen to what the Trixians are doing and maybe even communicate with them. It also will help us if we somehow get separated. The outlaw sighed as she looked at it. Unfortunately, I would not expect great reception down here. There are not really designed to penetrate rock and thick material. Its more to speak to teammates and a stronger communicator carried by one of the team. The platinum blond began to explain how the communicator worked as the others looked for weapons and clothes.
Rei looked over as Minerva put on a shirt. Being a military outfit it barely reached down to her hips and somewhat could double as a short dress.

The group had not had long before Rei could hear the clatter of creatures nearby. Damn, the Ashlyn are approaching. Quickly the outlaw reached down and picked up some rifles. Take theses, it looks like we are going to need it.

The platinum blonde grabbed as many grenades as she felt she could grab safely before the Ashlyn came into view…

Though Octavia had much time to notice, she was suddenly covered in a simple tunic. It was an illusion and nothing that was really befitting a Trixian royal. However it did give the pink haired princess some modesty. In addition, a pistol came floating through the air due to Aegir. Unlike her clothes, this gun was quiet real and actually had some weight to it. It would give the young Trixian would some means of defense besides her purple defender. She did not much skill with the weapon, but she did not take her weapons training very seriously.

I would prefer to avoid using missiles and bombs as that would most likely kill anybody that is still down here. I guess taking down the Queen would be the best option. I think the this tunnel will take us to the Queen. However we should be careful as she has many guards there, so she could be quite dangerous. The Princess checked her pistol to make sure it was ready for use before she continued forward.

(Okay, sounds good to focus on Minerva and Rei for a while)

The hive had not been a huge one but it was large enough. They had managed to take the Trixians by surprise though all this determined fighting had whittled away some of their numbers seeing how they tended to fight in swarms. Yet in large numbers they were intelligent enough to establish a game plan when the situation fit and it was this group of Ashlyn that had been meant to cut off the avenues of retreat for the rescuers and eventually catch them in pincer attacks.

Their hive mind gave them the advantage of instant communication as orders were relayed and the information that one gathered was shared with the others. They were a vanguard to establish a foot hold for the others though if they failed to form one then the invasion would be called off. Hives rarely worked with one another save for coordinating attacks against the ashen but in a means to recover ashen tech that could be useful in the war effort they entered into alliances far easier.

The trio had a change to recover some equipment and work out how to use a communicator when the Ashlyn could be heard scurrying through the tunnels. In one direction they could see a bright orange red flash for a few seconds and more energy fire. There was a scream like that given off by a lobster being boiled alive then the sound of foot steps rushing away.

“They're circling about! The rear guard has been eliminated and I am all that is left. If not for the draft this area would be unsafe. I can hear others though moving to shaft seventeen. Smoke seems to effect them,” a voice came over the communicator. “We have 42 minutes girls.”

It was uncertain just how many got that message, perhaps it was because she was close to their position. It was getting a bit warmer though heat radiating from that area that lit up earlier and it seemed that the Ashlyn were now moving towards that area, perhaps attracted by others or that heat.


---


Understood.

Aegir gazed towards the passage. Thus far he had not been really challenged by the Ashlyn finding them easy to deal with though he did not have to deal with them in such numbers either. The hive was being attacked and it reasoned that the Queen would be well defended.

She was the lynch pin to all this though. If they could deal with her then taking out the rest of them should be easy enough, as easy as exterminators taking out pests. Taking the lead he advanced like a shield sticking close to the Princess as he traveled, watching the shadows as they moved, the fungus making things a bit easier to deal with as they moved on ...

Rei had wished the others could more quickly in their collection of equipment. The outlaw knew it took time to put clothes on and get the weapons ready, but time was of the essence. The platinum blonde looked around for any sign of the Ashlyn but fortunately they seemed to going elsewhere at the moment. The platinum blonde gave out a sigh of relief that the enemy had seemed to bypass them at the moment.

It was then that Rei saw a bright flash of orange red off in the distance. Her eyes barely receovered in time as she heard energy fire coming from that direction. It was accompanied by a scream that sound inhuman and horrible. As if something was being boiled alive. It sounded horrible, worse it smelled like it was close…

Minerva could hear the voice over the communicator explaining what was going on. There is some sort of rear guard? We need to hurry and try to get to them. If we don’t we will be cut off and surrounded by the Ashlyn. The agent readied her weapons as she prepared for the what was going to be a rough fight.

It was then that the agent noticed that the it was getting warmer in the tunnel they were in. She was not sure what was causing it but she knew what the effect was going to be. Prepare yourself the Ashlyn are approaching…

The rear guard they found was merely one person, either a lone survivor or someone left on her own. The tail indicated that she was Trixian and the Ashlyn could be heard moving about as the trio approached the source of the brief light.

As they grew closer it grew more difficult to breath, the air was thinner and that and the warmth had an oxygen tank on her hip. On her back was a flame thrower and all about were dozens of charred Ashlyn, some still twitching, a few picked off by the rifle she was now using.

A rifle she brought to attention as she heard noise but the cooking bodies provided a good deal of illumination and well honed skills allowed her to recognize that these were not Ashlyn … nor were they Trixian though she could not mistake the clothes that were worn or the equipment, namely the communicators.

“I was unaware that there were others in the region,” not that she had the option of taking back the attack, as brief as it were. “I was getting worried that I would have to do this by myself. It doesn't seem likely that I can hold this position for long. Orders are orders though … who are you?

[color=#BF0000]“The way back is clear, but I'm not sure for how long I can hear them trying to circle about.” There could be small tunnels that they missed or the Ashlyn could leave via other tunnels and come down this one behind her. She could still hear them moving about though the immediate area was clear.

The trio soon found themselves in what looked around seemed a scene out of hell. Everywhere there was fire in this area. It was difficult to breathe as the fire seemed to have consumed most of the oxygen in the area. And it was quite hot from all the fires, which would surely draw more Ashlyn in to this particular chamber.

It was then that Rei noticed that there was a humanoid among all that fire. The female had a rifle ready to bring to a firing position, though it was the back on her back that seemed to be a source of the flames. They appeared to be tanks which meant she had used a flamethrower. The tail gave her away as a Trixian.

I am Rei. I had been asked to help in the rescue but came across these two prisoners of the Ashlyn. The platinum blonde did not want to stay her much longer she just wanted to get out with Minerva.

I am Minerva Rocha, an agent of the Alien Defense Directorate. She looked at her gear she had recovered as well as the partial uniform, We recovered the from some of your fallen comrades as we attempted to escape.

The agent seemed to be concerned about the situation. How many soldiers do you have in this hive. It seems like it would be very risky that to leave just one person here to keep the route of retreat open for the rest of your force.

The woman seemed to disregard the gear, there were bigger things at stake here after all and she took stark of the trio. She pondered Minerva's question quickly. “Still alive? Maybe two teams … I've lost radio contact with the others. Maybe eight others.

“There were others with me further back that way but with the last wave they didn't make it.”

The bugs burned easily enough but the drawback of the flame thrower meant that the lack of oxygen it generated in an area sort of made it a last ditch weapon. She had her orders though she looked towards Rei.

None of the three were Trixian which had been odd but she had at least seen Rei around. “You're here to hep? You can secure another way out of here. I cannot abandon this position but if another route was secured ...” She left off there though none had been aware that the Queen was unleashing her secret weapon now on the intruders not yet aware that Aegir and Octavia had been steadily making their way to her.

Before Rei could say anything, Minerva spoke up, We will need to secure it quickly as possible. Some of the other tunnels are cooler than this one, it would be safer to secure a route through one of those.

We are going to also need to restablish contact with those others so they know of the new way out. The agent was begin try to regain control of the situation to keep it from getting out of hand.

Rei sighed, she knew miss goody two shoes would want to do what she could do to save the Trixians. Minerva was almost wired that way to do what she thought was right no matter what. Now Rei had to play along for the moment if she wanted to remain on the Trixian good side.

Eventually Rei began to use her training as a former agent, Once we establish an escape route, we should jury rig that flamethrower so that it is dumping out flames here. These creatures seem to be attracted to the heat. It would probably mask our escape route for a while. Hopefully long enough for Rei and Minerva escape, the platinum blonde thought to herself.

Sparks nodded in agreement. It all sounded good and she appreciated the hep seeing that she was no tech and of course her basted orders kept her grounded. If one thing she was real anal about fooling her orders.

Pointing she relaid what she could to the others. “They headed down that way.” glancing to a tunnel the Hel'Corian looked back at the three women.

“As a pilot I had to do my own maintenance most of the time when stuck out in the boonies or behind enemy lines when I had no crew. I think I can rig the flame thrower up..”

“Great. If you were to do that. There isn't enough oxygen about to get more than another bast or two out of it here as well.” She eyed the communicators. color=#BF0000] “Not the most effective of devices but if you get a bit closer you should be able to make contact. Tell them the plan, that G4 is probably a better escape route. Tell them you were in touch with Sparks and it's getting a bit warm here.”[/color]

Minerva nodded her head as she turned to the pilot, You should stay here and assemble the flamethrower. It should be remotely operated ideally. The agent thought about Sparks comment a bit more as she was thinking about. If the flamethrower sucks all the oxygen out of the area after you too get clear, so much the better. It will make it more difficult for the Ashlyn to pursue you.

Rei and I will be able to alert the others. Minerva immediately began moving down the tunnel that Sparks pointed out. It was G4 correct? We makes sure they receive the message.