“Our escort is ready, Jasi,” Captain Rynard informed the group, “They didnt send vatfresh this time,”

Jasmine and the others looked out to the sizeable contingent marching their way, they counted sixteen soldiers in total, marching in disiplined unison. For a moment Jasmine thought she had recognised them from Nako’s ship, but then wondered if she would recognise them even if they were. While they were mostly free to wonder around the designated engineers wing, they couldn’t really travel too far without a wider military escort.

Even the Engine Lords quarters were off limit without escort.

“They really are Clones huh?” Beau commented, sixteen steel coated rangers stood at attention. Their powerarmour accentuated with a bright green battle cape draped over their right shoulders and armed with melta-guns held over their left shoulders for support. No other identifiers could be spotted, not even a serial number off an assembly line, they were completely identical to each other.

Rynard stood out front, and the rangers immediately recognised his authority. The old dinosaur had been very happy to sit back and relax while under Namegiver Jasmines command, she did not demand much of him at all. So when Jasmine did need his help, he was happy to oblige.

“(Triangle formation! Escort at the ready!)” Rynard bellowed, the rangers, silently, turned in unison, flanking out to a pyramid and then waiting for further instructions.

Everyone turned to Jasmine, she stood frozen unsure of how to proceed.

“I’ll be taking up the rear Jasi,” the captain told her, leaning in to guide her, “You walk in the middle of the formation, they’ll lead us to where were going,”

“Thanks!” she whispered back.

Before taking her first confident stride, Jasmine looked to her companions, Beau, Spades, Xant and Ryo would be following in her step. She laughed to herself, this might be the first time she lead a procession, but it probably wasnt going to be her last. Might as well get the practice in.

“Okay,” she smiled, “lets go,”

The Engine Lords quarters were as intimidating as the creature itself, the entire place was racks and racks of large chemicals stashes. Open vats bubbled with organ-tech were monitored by engineers, ever attentive like bees in a hive, monitoring and recording the ‘growth’.

Viitoic sat in the middle of it all, surrounded by holographic surfaces, teeth clacking together in a bemused but ultimately frustrated expression.

“Jasmine, You forgot to mention that there was an actual xenomorph on the station…” Beau said quietly under his breath, staring at the creature in disbelief.

“A true monster,” Ryo muttered in agreement.

As the Engine lord noticed their presence he loomed over the smaller crowd. The Rangers abruptly parted their protective formation, Ryo and Beau stepped back, exclaiming in their shock. Jasmine stood her ground, she didn’t want to give him an opportunity to be an asshole.

“Engine Lord, I believe Lieutenant Commander Nako has sent our request for assistance through?” she forced herself to be nonchalant, not wanting to let him overwhelm her own emotions.

Viitoic’s six arms spread out to increase his intimidating frame, while his dozen spiderlike legs gracefully climbed over the terminal controls to better inspect his visitors.

“Well,” Viitoic chuckled, revelling in the human’s reactions, “what a diverse range of phenotypes your species has, I couldn’t have imagined how distinctly they present from one another-”

“So you will help us then?” Jasmine interrupted, ignoring the chills down her spine when Viitoic spoke, “I would hate to have walked all this way only to be told you couldn’t help,”

Viitoic chittered his teeth at the suggestion.

“It is never a matter of ‘couldn’t’, Namegiver,” the Engine lord postured, taking the bait “I suppose I could afford the distraction,” he peered at the new humans curiously, no longer interested in scaring them so much as studying them, “The lieutenant sent me quite a few requests, which ones were you hoping to fulfil?”

“All of them if possible,” Jasmine replied firmly, regaining confidence in her approach, “Ryo’s medication and translator is the most urgent,”

“Ah yes a custom translator,” Viitoic slid slowly past them, like a fat scorpion on its way to its next meal, “The fabricators are this way…”

The fabricators were as complex as any of the humans expected, instead of wires and microchips it was vats and tubes of glass, intersected with an entire wall of different chemicals and solutions.

“A new custom-configured translator,” Viitoic repeated, gathering handheld equipment, “such things only come once a dynasty, shall we begin the proceedings?” he asked brandishing terrifying-looking injection guns in Ryo’s direction.

“Exactly what do you think you’re going to do to me?” Ryo snapped defensively, almost instinctively stepping behind Beau.

“I’ll need to do a full scan of you of course, how else are we going to find the specifications to suit your needs?” Viitoic replied with glee, Xant stepped forward, cutting off Viitoic’s path with a dataslate in hand and an unimpressed scoul.

“We won’t need to start entirely from scratch,” the good doctor insisted “I have the dimensions of Jasmine’s translator, it will be a refitting and a calibration, nothing more extensive than that.”

Viitoic growled disappointed, his tentacle snatching the dataslate from Xants hands,

“I’m sure there could be room for improvement.” He muttered, “prototypes always need improvements…” The tentacle hovered over the fabricator vat, finding the right slot to insert the dataslate in. The dataslate made a satisfying ‘click’ and almost immediately the plans for the translator appeared before them in a hologram.

As Viitoic and Xant examined the alien organ onscreen, Jasmine realised one advantage alien tech had over humans. The dataslate fit perfectly into a ‘fabricator’ and instantly loaded up the exact plans they needed, they seemed to work together seamlessly, what it lost in function they made up for in compatibility.

“Oh very clever,” Viitoic complimented, “You’ve sliced both Zenthi and Princess grade Arvas translator sets together to withstand the frequency in/output.”

“That would be Doctor Yusa’s work, I am simply the mediator,” Xant replied humbly.

“It shouldn’t take too long to grow,” Viitoic said, placing the orders for the machine to do its work, “you said you needed an external medication? Is this a regular aplication?”

“It will need to be taken every 24[hours],” Jasmine confirmed,

“Then I can add it to the translators functionality,” Viitoic replied off handedly “cut down on the inefficiencies of your physical template,”

“We will need this,” Xant held out a small scrap of paper, “a variant of the chemical compound,”

Viitoic chatted his teeth together, drawing up the frame work for the chemical string but leaving the actual chemical compounds blank in.

“Without you telling me the chemical combinations I might as well be staring at Umin’gi scratchings,”

Xant rather sheepishly turned to Ryo, who begrudgingly stepped forward naming the common names of the compound structure. Viitoic looked closer at the compound and then let out a shrill laugh, making everyone step back.

“Oh how curious,” he smiled sadistically, “I currently have almost 200,000 [litres] waiting to be administered into ‘The Defender’, how curious that your species would need to manufacture such a chemical, I was under the impression you tinkered with artificial tech,” the sneer on the word ‘artificial’ was clear and direct.

Xant’s ears flattened while Jasmine and Ryo looked to each other and had to ask the question.

“The Defender? Is that a ship?!”

“Yes, the Knight Commanders Dreadnaught in fact.” Viitoic’s large pulsing head turned to the side, “Why would you need industrial-grade Shipbrain fluid?”

Jasmine could barely believe the words coming out of her mouth, the scale of their biotech was mind boggling, “Our brains produce industrial freq… ” .

“Yes…” Xant followed her lead, Stepping in to allow Jasmine to recover from the small realsiation, “to prevent the industrial freq Ryo’s brain produces from clashing with his conscious thought. The human species has not been optimised-”

“-Not yet,” Viitoic licked his teeth, “i can only imagine the possibilities of a truely optimised humanity, it is all very interesting…” the conversation was cut short once Viitoic had finished inputting the new addition to Ryos translator, he wouldnt need to ‘take’ a prescribed dose, but rather have the translator itself produce it naturally, like adrenaline or insulin.

“There, any other altercations before we being the growing process?”

There was an exchange of looks.

“No,” Jasmine replied, “that is everything,”

“Excellent,”

Viitoic reached for more chemicals, and the humans watched him work first hand.

The fabricator started with a singular cell structure, multiplying at an insane rate, while the engine lord feed the growing structure with various proteins and ph stabiliers. Adjusting the tanks ambiotic fluid as the stem cell structures gave way to clumps of organ tissue and nerve endings. It began to take on the more familiar shape mere minutes after they had started, long red tendrils twitched and spasmined as Viitoic injected the last chemical directly into the organ, stabilizing its growth. Finally the vat flushed the tank with fresh fluid as the fabricator ‘pinged’ after completion.

The engine lord presented the organ to the humans with pride.

“Well…” Jasmine gulped, “that was horrifying,”

“Afraid of what you don't understand? Most fledgling species are...” Viitoic chuckled.

“Oh no… I understood.” Jasmine whispered, unable too look away. Ryo and Beau both stared at the vat, the organ floating freely, moving in its fluid.

“I want to be put out,” Ryo swiftly informed Xant, who nodded understandingly.

“We can absolutely put you out for the surgery, but,” the doctor lowered his head sadly, “you will need to be awake for the calibration,”

Ryo have a short “tsk”, but ultimately acceded.

“Fine…”

“I will make it as as quick and uninvasive as possible, your comfort will be my priority” Xant reassured the troubled human.

“Did the good doctor imply that he will be doing such delicate surgery?” Viitoic inquired.

“Dr Xant has experience with Humans, translators and otherwise,” Jasmine stated, “and seniority takes precedence does it not?”

Viitoic did not like having to concede to her logic, no matter how correct it was.

“I shall stay to observe, should the citizen doctor find himself out of his depth…”

“I wouldn't advise that,” Xant informed Viitoic, “Human freq can be very unstable, I recommend that you and your engineers vacate to a safe distance-”

“My engineers can leave but i shall be staying,” Viitoic insisted, “it is MY domain,”

Ryo turned his back on Viitoic and stated quietly to Xant.

“I want it done fast, get us away from that thing,”

Xant nodded in return.

“Of course,”

“Hey,” Jasmine stood on the other side of the table, “well be here the entire time,”

Beau rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“You know I wont let anything happen to ya,” Beau replied, and leant in with a whisper “and I’ll let loose if they try,”

That garnered an understanding nod from the teenager, he knew the man meant it.

Ryo laid down, closing his eyes.

“Count backwards from 10,” Jasmine instructed.

“10, 9, 8, 7-”

-*-

Ryo woke up suddenly in a very familiar and unwelcome position.

His body, numb upon a steel table, looking up at an alien ceiling unable to move. Panic began to set in immediately, if not for a warm hand holding his.

“Hey, its okay,” Jasmines voice was calm, caring squeezing his hand tighter.

“Is it done?” he asked, thankful his skull was still attached.

“Not yet,” she said softly, “We cant calibrate it properly without triggering an episode,”

Ryo cursed, he tried to move but, his body was completely paralysed.

Panic began to set it, trauma from the previous exact scenario set his brain into flight mode.

“I want off this table, I don’t care about the translator I cant go through this again,”

Jasmine nodded her head, turning to Xant.

“Xant, give him the stimulant, we can try this a different time,”

Xant was hesitant,

“But calibrating it would insure it never happens again-”

“I WANT OFF THIS FUCKING TABLE NOW!!” a blast of cold, sharp freq struck everyone in the vicinity. It felt like being stabbed by glass shards,

Jasmine snapped at Xant, a frustrated command.

“Give him the stims and get him upright!”

Xant couldt ignore the request, he reached for the stimulant to get the humans body moving again while Ryo’s translator let off increasingly dangerous freq pulses.

‘I WANT OUT GET ME OUT! I DON’T WANT THIS, MAKE IT STOP!” and as Ryo became more desperate, Xant could feel them returning…

A black bug skittered across his gloved hand.

Xant snatched up the chemical calibrator, tuning the input of the organ to filter out the unwanted signals. The Industrial freq was overwhelming Ryo’s entire brain, flooding his consciousness with debilitating hallucinations, and the translator was projecting it all out into the open.

Then there was a horrific, shrill cry.

“Infestation!” Viitoic began thrashing about as fast as his lumbering frame would allow, “infestation! contamination! I’ve been compromised!!” He was hysteric, arms and teeth bared he dived for the source of the hallucinations. Rynard intercepted the Engine Lord, tackling him to the ground, and restraining all six of his arms.

“Hurry up doc!” The captain shouted, “I cant hold him without damaging him!”

“I’ve almost got it!” Xant screamed in reply, using all his concentration to complete the calibration, “I just need a little more time!”

Jasmine closed her eyes squeezed Ryo’s hand tighter, and began humming, trying to recall a strong, happy memory.

Soon, the dark shadows of his psychosis began to fade, making way for the bright sunshine.

A never-ending blue sky and a white powdered beach…

There was no one else, just sky, sand and surf…

A cool wind blew on his face, he could feel the warm sand under his fingertips...

It was nice...

Xant calculated the last freq block on the translator, the black bugs, the shadow and the ever-present cloud of dread faded into nothing. He practically tossed aside the device once it was done, then gently administered the stims allowing Ryo’s body to move once again.

“Jasmine, you can release him.” the doctor said softly.

She slowly unclenched her hands around Ryo’s, as soon as his body began to move, Ryo sat up as fast as he was able.

His head was silent, no voices, no shadows, no dread..

The nightmare was over