Space Station 13

The Dren

A month had passed since they had infiltrated the Central station and everything was  going according to plan aside for the two young cadets who were still missing. Zarina sat in front of her computer in the doctor's office looking over the days reports from their informants at central station. As usual, everything was spot on. They had implanted five more girls, drone hosted two more guys and had plans for more that day. So far that made 163 alien-to-be inhabitants out of the 1200 on board. Not to bad for one months worth of work.

Zarina was quiet confident they could take over the station within the year if they kept it up. Zarina typed away at her keyboard, writing her own report for the doctor and inputting the information into her own records.  As she finished her report and hit the print button, the sound of an Alarm had sounded.

"Urgent! Incoming call" rang the voice from the computer behind her, the yellow words it spoke flashing on the screen. Zarana jumped straight out of her chair and ran to the door ,yelling for the doctor that was on the other side of the med bay putting away supplies.

"Doc! Hurry! Call from central" she yelled, backing away from the door. What usually took a good solid minute or two, took 5.3 seconds for the doctor to run through the door to answer the call

"hey doc, we have a BIG problem." Brenden, the doctor on central, said. His breath was heavy, sweat dripping from his brow, looking very troubled.

" what is it Brenden?" The doc asked firmly, gabbing his seat from behind him without looking, his eyes glued on the screen, and sat down., A tone of concern in his voice.

" Sir, three girls were brought into the med bay last night, they were found  unconscious, around the ship. One was found hidden in the botanist lab, another in the store room of the mess hall."

The doc nodded rubbing his chin. " do the girls have anything in common, that you can see of?" He asked.

" two of the girls are blonde Sir and I don't mean platinum blonde but like amber waves of grain blonde, the other girl was wearing a yellow jumpsuit. Also all of them have the same Star like scar at the base of their spines."  the two doctors locked eyes, with the look on both their faces it seemed that they both suspected the same thing.

The doctor slammed his hand down on the table again then turned away from the screen rubbing his face. " Brenden! How in the Fuck did you end up with a Dren on board!" He shook his head in disbelief " not only are all the host supposed to be in hibernation but we never authorized for a Dren host to be sent!"

Brenden looked just as distressed as the doctor. " I do not know sir. I have been investigating since I found out. None of the Atherions had an answer and so far none of the drones have seen or heard anything"

Rubbing the back of his head, he turned to face the screen again, laying his hands on either side of the keyboard " figure it out! This could cause us the whole mission! Fix this!" he said sternly and hit the end button on the screen before Brenden could say another word. " well fuck!"He grumbled to himself.

Zarina had been standing behind him the whole time listening in, completely naive to how serious this all really was. " doc?" She said carefully behind him "what is a Dren"

"Dren are a feral race, they produce one of the main sources of food for their kind. But because they are Feral they are impossible to reason with." He started typing on the computer before him as he spoke " surely he's already taken his first victim, and if he did it's too late, she will already be pregnant" he shook his head and pulled up the Dren's file with a picture.

It was divide into three parts, a big wasp like head with big round black eyes, and two antenna atop its head. Next a large thorax where it's long six bee like legs,  along with one set of black human like arms and Two pair of wings hung at its back. Lastly was it's bulbous abdomen where the large stinger curved inward between two long semi human looking  black throned legs. It's black and yellow body covered in fine hair that stood straight up.

Zarina gasped, she now could see why it said they were dangerous at the top of the page. "Like bees, they have hives, gather pollen, and produce a honey like substance.  But unlike bees they have a king instead of a queen and he, unlike a queen, breeds with his concubines instead of the general populace of the hive. A king will have a harem of mates from 8 up to 20 depending on how big the hive is and generally find his mates from another hive. Considering though there is no other hive on the station,I suspect he had marked those that give the appearance of their females."

"So he has marked the girls to be his concubines?"She asked curiously.

Nodding, he said " Yes! They will inject they prospective mates with a kind of venom that renders their chosen target immobile and in a unconscious state till they can return to claim them."

" but why not just take them with at the same time?" Being inquisitive to learn and understand.

" It is unclear, but I do suspect he's already taken his first victim, and if so he will not return to the others till he is done matting the first. They may be big creatures but they  also can only carry one mate at a time. It won't be long till he returns for the others" he shook his head "once he claims his mates, there is no getting them back, and that is exactly why this is such a big deal. The girls can't just all of a sudden disappear or they will put the station on high alert and launch an investigation. If they do they will find out exactly what is going on under their noses. "

Zarina nodded understanding exactly what he was getting at now.  She now rubbed her own chin in thought. " this is quite a predicament" the doctor nodded and started to type away at the computer. 

"So there is  no speaking to the Dren? Reason with them about the seriousness of the whole mission that includes them?" She asked.

Shaking his head, the doctor responded, " as I said, they are feral, the act of communicating with them is nearly impossible. They act on instinct rather than rationality. Though meticulous creatures with a very complex system, they talk in hums and clicks that no one, including the queen has been able to decipher it."

Zarina bit her lip and started to think again, beginning to pace the room as she did. She stopped in her tracks the moment she had an idea. "Perhaps doc, we could have Brenden send a report back to command at central, that there has been a case of the Black thorn fever, considering its symptoms include loss of bodily function and paralysis. Explain in his report that this is what all these girls have, making sure to include any other missing girls saying they are all under quarantine in the med bay. Include that the fungus that is linked to this illness has been found in the area of the hive. Insist on having a specific crew, our drones, be the only ones to seal off the area. This helping contain the Dren king as well as protect our mission. The Captain will initiate quarantine protocol, keeping everyone away from the general area.  Let the king take his chosen few, then seal up his area and report back that the girls sadly did not make it and had to have their bodies cremated as to keep the virus from spreading. This will save us the explanation to where the girls disappeared to. What do you think?"

The constant tapping of the doctors  fingers on the keyboard came to a abrupt halt, his chair slowing turning to face Zarina. He looked shocked, " Zarina" he said slowly, " you are...." He paused and jumped up grabbing Zarina's face in his hands, " an absolute genius!" He kissed her on the for head, " I think that just might work! I've got to get ahold of Brenden and relay this to him." He swiftly went back to his computer to call up his associate.

Zarina smiled happily, quite happy and impressed with herself. She only hoped her plan worked.

Notice: the story about the girls On central Station and their encounter with the Dren will be posted to the other book if your interested.