Part 2 and two concept sketches
The halls seemed longer and narrower as they backtracked quickly. Fright can do terrible and wondrous things to the mind. Shadows became monsters and the creaking so familiar to the Wraith following John turned into claw tipped foot falls. The home she had known all of her life took on a new appearance and became so alien to her that it set in her a fear so appalling it caused her mind to feel chilled.
John looks over his shoulder to see the Wraith walking with her hands on each side of her head like a horse’s blinders. He couldn’t blame her for not wanting to see what was inside those rooms they passed. He didn’t know much about Wraith and their family system, but assumed she saw them as sisters or at least liked some of them.
Her eyes met his briefly, pale blue shot with a pool of gold, before he turned to look where he was going. He had seen fear like that before. The look of all hope fading when he was taking shelter with two soldiers in the desert as bullets pelted the Hummer they had taken cover behind.
“Sheppard.” Rodney hisses from behind the Wraith, “Are you sure this is the right way?”
“Yes I’m sure, Rodney.” He replies, keeping his voice low despite the life signs still locked in the room. There was no reason for it other than habit and the feeling of doom hiding in the inky blackness.
“It just seems like its taking longer to get out of here than it did getting in.”
John shrugs, feigning absolute calm. In truth, he wasn’t so sure that he was leading them out. All the halls looked the same to him in the dark and the Wraith, who refused to look in any direction but at his back, was not helping.
“Hey,” He says, stopping and nearly colliding with the Wraith, “Do you know a short way out of here?”
“Yes.”
“What the hell? Why didn’t you say anything?” Rodney asks shrilly.
Without looking at him, she lifts both brows in a manner that reminded John of Todd, “I did not think of it. I assumed your leader knew where he was going.”
“You could have spoken up.” John says in a more friendly manner, noticing how her shoulders rolled forward defensively at Rodney’s voice. He didn’t want to risk her growing angry, as placid as she may have been so far, everyone has their breaking point.
“My charges are dead along with my Overseer. Directions were the last thing my mind would conjure up.”
“I’m sorry that happened, but you need to suck it up and cry about them later. Right now, we need to get the hell out of here.”
Her expression was unreadable as she looks at him and for a moment, John thinks he sees some flicker of that unstable anger he’d come to know Queen’s to posses. However, she simply lowers her hands and says: “Very well.”
Jennifer sees the flinch, the small quivering of her lips and flare of her nostrils as she looks around the hall. The air was thick with the smell of death and animal waste. It was overwhelming to her, and knowing a Wraith’s olfactory was several times superior, she could only imagine how terrible it was to her.
The Wraith’s eyes pass over her head, “We need to go back down this hall and take the second left.”
As they turn to follow the Wraith, John speeds up to join her at the lead. “Nice navigating.” Jennifer hears Rodney quip as the Colonel passes.
She frowns and watches the Wraith’s back to avoid catching any unwanted views out of her peripheral vision. She had seen enough carnage in her career to dull the shock of it all, but these were children.
As she scrutinized the Wraith’s movements to keep her mind off of the situation, her assumption that she had something like Marfan’s was shot down the drain. The movement of the robes began to reveal a body that was built slender and long limbed like a gazelle.
So absorbed in her thoughts she wasn’t aware of the Wraith stopping abruptly as she rounds the corner and walks into her. The fabric cushioned the blow, but it was still like hitting a wall.
“Sorry.” She apologizes quickly, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here?” John asks.
Jennifer steps to the side to see past the Wraith’s back. Not an arm’s length from John and the Wraith was a very familiar face in a not so familiar outfit. Todd inclines his head, “While you may not be surprised, I was not expecting you John Sheppard.”
“So, you don’t happen to have any idea about what went on here? Our lovely companion here was locked in a room when the shit hit the fan.”
Todd glances at the female, who stood at eye level with him. “I know no more than you do, Sheppard. My Hive received this facility’s distress signal two days ago.”
“The exit is there.” The female says, stepping past Todd.
“I’m going with her.” Rodney says as he raises his hand slightly to point towards the doorway.
“You can stay here if you want Todd, but we’re not going to stick around.”
“There are no survivors?”
“Just Olive Oyl over there.” John replies as Todd turns to follow him no further than a hand’s breadth between their shoulders.
As the door opened for the female the air seemed to become vacuumed out rather than whooshing in. The heat sucked all the moisture from John’s lips and eyes as he stepped outside.
“You don’t happen to have a dart nearby, do you?”
“I do not.” Todd says, squinting in the harsh light, “The erratic weather conditions are too much of a risk.”
“Awesome, well then, guys, it looks like we’ll be walking to the gate.”
“Spectacular.” Rodney mutters sarcastically.
As they walked, John suspected Todd wanted something from them. The Wraith was oddly compliant and hadn’t said a word as he followed them over the steep dunes. He watched him from the corner of his eye: “Nice suit, Todd. Never seen a Wraith outside of those trench coats except on the autopsy table.”
“That manner of attire is ill suited for this planet.”
“A sandstorm would rip the clothing from you in a second.” The female says from his left.
“You aren’t wearing one.”
“I am.” She replies curtly, lifting the heavy pale outer robe to reveal a sleek black suit similar to Todd’s. “All the rooms are supplied with them in case of emergency.”
“Why did you mention this? We could have used them too.” Jennifer panted from behind them, having a difficult time pushing through the sand.
The female looks over her shoulder and extends her left hand to pull Jennifer over the dune’s crest. “Little good it will do when the sand rips the skin from your face and hands.” She says when Jennifer takes that offered hand.
“Wouldn’t it do the same to you?”
It was Todd that spoke up before the female could, though her mouth had opened to reply. “No.” He says.
Jennifer saw the narrowing of the female’s eyes when Todd spoke over her, but it quickly washed away as the Wraith fell in next to her to support her over the next dune.
“It would be pertinent to walk along the crests. It will take longer but will require far less energy.” She says and Rodney voiced his agreement behind them.
John pauses at the top of the dune and looks back at the female, who had one arm under Jennifer’s to help her keep pace. “You said earlier, you don’t know the way, Olive Oyl.”
“I don’t, but you do. Can you not figure out how to navigate the dunes to return to the gate?”
“Well yeah…” he lied. In truth, he doubted he could. Todd might though. He looks at the Wraith, who stood an arm’s length from him watching the rest catch up to them. “Did you use an easier route?”
“You wish me to lead then, Colonel?” He croons in a manner that sent a shudder up John’s spine.
“Yeah, I do. I’d like to get somewhere a little cooler sometime today.”
Todd inclines his head and begins to walk along the lip of the dune. They all filed in behind him, John, Jennifer and the female, then Rodney who was checking the life signs detector every few seconds.
“Why does he call me that?” The female asks Jennifer in a low voice.
“Olive Oyl? Probably because you’re tall and thin. I don’t really like that name to be honest.”
“Nor do I. He calls that Commander ‘Todd’. Is it custom for your people to label us in such a manner?”
“Well it is nicer that just saying ‘Hey you,’ or just calling you ‘Wraith.’” Jennifer smiles up at the female. “You don’t look like an Olive Oyl though.”
She tilts her head and frowns at Jennifer, “What do you mean?”
“The name doesn’t fit you.”
“How about Helena?” Rodney wheezes behind them after jogging to catch up.
“Why Helena?” Jennifer asks, looking between her and the Wraith’s shoulders.
“After the actress, Helena Bonham Carter.”
The Wraith looks at Jennifer and tilts her head. “Who is that?”
“She’s an eccentric British actress. I did like The Theory of Flight.” Jennifer says absently, noticing the look of confusion that crossed the alien’s strong features. “Um, she’s an entertainer.”
With a nod of partial understanding, the Wraith returns her attention to their winding path. She didn’t appear to be bothered very much by the heat or the blistering sunlight. Her yellow green cheeks had paled to a gold hue as well as the bridge of her nose.
Jennifer wrinkles her nose and winces. Her nose was beginning to burn and she was pretty sure her forehead and chin were going to soon follow. While the female next to her, with her arm locked in her’s, smelled similar to cloves, Jennifer was sure she must smell awful to her.
Rodney reaches up and tenderly pats the top of his head. “Isn’t the military supposed to issue hats?” He mutters, squinting past the glare on the life signs detector.
No matter how many times he checked, their little dots were the only points on the screen. Part of him was glad, but then again, it meant nothing was alive out here besides them. He could see why, with how terrible it was. No vegetation, just big pointy rocks.
He looked up to see the Wraith watching Jennifer. He didn’t particularly care for all the attention the life sucking alien woman was giving her and picks up the pace to close the gap between them.
The Wraith glances back at him, “You are ill suited for laborious work. Why did your leader bring you?”
“Because Sheppard couldn’t figure his way out of a paper bag without me.” Rodney retorts hotly. He felt mildly insulted by the observation.
“Why is he your leader then, if he is incompetent?”
Before he could reply, Jennifer speaks up: “We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Where the Colonel lacks, Rodney and me make up for and vise versa.”
“Exactly,” he says and finally gets close enough to the two that he could smell the strong scent both Jennifer and the Wraith were giving off. “Aren’t you hot under that thing?” He asks the Wraith.
She looks over her shoulder and down at him, “No. If I were not wearing it, I would suffer from the heat a great deal.”
He peeks past the two women’s shoulder to Todd. “He doesn’t seem too bothered.”
“He’s quite adept at not showing discomfort.” She says, and he thinks he hears just a little hint of something catty in that comment.
“He’s good at not showing a lot of things.” He mutters in agreement. Better to be on the woman’s side of something than be miserable. It was the least he gleaned from his relationships.
“You know him well?”
“Yeah…well not really; not in the buddy buddy sense that he and Sheppard seem to have, but I’ve worked with him.” Rodney shrugs and glances at the detector off handedly. “He’s good at what he does.”
The Wraith lifts a hairless brow and then both lift in that alien shrug. “I find it odd a Commander would come alone to the facility.”
He did too, and he was sure Sheppard felt the same. Rodney nods and comes to realize his earlier dislike of the female was just jealousy. She wasn’t that bad. Creepy, yeah, with that long face and strange eyes, but she wasn’t as intimidating as the rest despite her stature.
“You aren’t the only one.” Jennifer whispers. “I mean, he has what?” She pauses, “Usually two Hives with him, he could have sent a team.”
“The Commanders who visited to choose a Queen typically had a subordinate and at least one Drone with them.” She watches Todd’s back as he walked in front of them all, “There must be something he’s after that he doesn’t want his crew to know about.”
................................................................
This is my first concept of the alien werewolves. The infected human stock looks a lot different and much more ape like. I have yet to settle on a design I like for them. But hey, they don't show up till later, so I still have some debating time.
Warning: Nerdery and nudity in conte.
When I first got Starcraft I, like most early teen girls that were into scifi, made a mary sue character exactly like Kerrigan. Well, unlike the other girls, mine wasn't a vampire, or some emo with psychic powers. So, I revamped her and gave her more personality and character. Loads of references from the new concept art for Starcraft 2 was used. Goodness, zerg are complicated and so fun to draw.
I'm absolutely in love with the revamped Queen unit.
The old: images3.wikia.nocookie.net/starcraft/images/0/08/Queen_SC1_Art1.jpg
The gorgeous new: images2.wikia.nocookie.net/starcraft/images/d/d7/Queen_eggs.jpg
John looks over his shoulder to see the Wraith walking with her hands on each side of her head like a horse’s blinders. He couldn’t blame her for not wanting to see what was inside those rooms they passed. He didn’t know much about Wraith and their family system, but assumed she saw them as sisters or at least liked some of them.
Her eyes met his briefly, pale blue shot with a pool of gold, before he turned to look where he was going. He had seen fear like that before. The look of all hope fading when he was taking shelter with two soldiers in the desert as bullets pelted the Hummer they had taken cover behind.
“Sheppard.” Rodney hisses from behind the Wraith, “Are you sure this is the right way?”
“Yes I’m sure, Rodney.” He replies, keeping his voice low despite the life signs still locked in the room. There was no reason for it other than habit and the feeling of doom hiding in the inky blackness.
“It just seems like its taking longer to get out of here than it did getting in.”
John shrugs, feigning absolute calm. In truth, he wasn’t so sure that he was leading them out. All the halls looked the same to him in the dark and the Wraith, who refused to look in any direction but at his back, was not helping.
“Hey,” He says, stopping and nearly colliding with the Wraith, “Do you know a short way out of here?”
“Yes.”
“What the hell? Why didn’t you say anything?” Rodney asks shrilly.
Without looking at him, she lifts both brows in a manner that reminded John of Todd, “I did not think of it. I assumed your leader knew where he was going.”
“You could have spoken up.” John says in a more friendly manner, noticing how her shoulders rolled forward defensively at Rodney’s voice. He didn’t want to risk her growing angry, as placid as she may have been so far, everyone has their breaking point.
“My charges are dead along with my Overseer. Directions were the last thing my mind would conjure up.”
“I’m sorry that happened, but you need to suck it up and cry about them later. Right now, we need to get the hell out of here.”
Her expression was unreadable as she looks at him and for a moment, John thinks he sees some flicker of that unstable anger he’d come to know Queen’s to posses. However, she simply lowers her hands and says: “Very well.”
Jennifer sees the flinch, the small quivering of her lips and flare of her nostrils as she looks around the hall. The air was thick with the smell of death and animal waste. It was overwhelming to her, and knowing a Wraith’s olfactory was several times superior, she could only imagine how terrible it was to her.
The Wraith’s eyes pass over her head, “We need to go back down this hall and take the second left.”
As they turn to follow the Wraith, John speeds up to join her at the lead. “Nice navigating.” Jennifer hears Rodney quip as the Colonel passes.
She frowns and watches the Wraith’s back to avoid catching any unwanted views out of her peripheral vision. She had seen enough carnage in her career to dull the shock of it all, but these were children.
As she scrutinized the Wraith’s movements to keep her mind off of the situation, her assumption that she had something like Marfan’s was shot down the drain. The movement of the robes began to reveal a body that was built slender and long limbed like a gazelle.
So absorbed in her thoughts she wasn’t aware of the Wraith stopping abruptly as she rounds the corner and walks into her. The fabric cushioned the blow, but it was still like hitting a wall.
“Sorry.” She apologizes quickly, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here?” John asks.
Jennifer steps to the side to see past the Wraith’s back. Not an arm’s length from John and the Wraith was a very familiar face in a not so familiar outfit. Todd inclines his head, “While you may not be surprised, I was not expecting you John Sheppard.”
“So, you don’t happen to have any idea about what went on here? Our lovely companion here was locked in a room when the shit hit the fan.”
Todd glances at the female, who stood at eye level with him. “I know no more than you do, Sheppard. My Hive received this facility’s distress signal two days ago.”
“The exit is there.” The female says, stepping past Todd.
“I’m going with her.” Rodney says as he raises his hand slightly to point towards the doorway.
“You can stay here if you want Todd, but we’re not going to stick around.”
“There are no survivors?”
“Just Olive Oyl over there.” John replies as Todd turns to follow him no further than a hand’s breadth between their shoulders.
As the door opened for the female the air seemed to become vacuumed out rather than whooshing in. The heat sucked all the moisture from John’s lips and eyes as he stepped outside.
“You don’t happen to have a dart nearby, do you?”
“I do not.” Todd says, squinting in the harsh light, “The erratic weather conditions are too much of a risk.”
“Awesome, well then, guys, it looks like we’ll be walking to the gate.”
“Spectacular.” Rodney mutters sarcastically.
As they walked, John suspected Todd wanted something from them. The Wraith was oddly compliant and hadn’t said a word as he followed them over the steep dunes. He watched him from the corner of his eye: “Nice suit, Todd. Never seen a Wraith outside of those trench coats except on the autopsy table.”
“That manner of attire is ill suited for this planet.”
“A sandstorm would rip the clothing from you in a second.” The female says from his left.
“You aren’t wearing one.”
“I am.” She replies curtly, lifting the heavy pale outer robe to reveal a sleek black suit similar to Todd’s. “All the rooms are supplied with them in case of emergency.”
“Why did you mention this? We could have used them too.” Jennifer panted from behind them, having a difficult time pushing through the sand.
The female looks over her shoulder and extends her left hand to pull Jennifer over the dune’s crest. “Little good it will do when the sand rips the skin from your face and hands.” She says when Jennifer takes that offered hand.
“Wouldn’t it do the same to you?”
It was Todd that spoke up before the female could, though her mouth had opened to reply. “No.” He says.
Jennifer saw the narrowing of the female’s eyes when Todd spoke over her, but it quickly washed away as the Wraith fell in next to her to support her over the next dune.
“It would be pertinent to walk along the crests. It will take longer but will require far less energy.” She says and Rodney voiced his agreement behind them.
John pauses at the top of the dune and looks back at the female, who had one arm under Jennifer’s to help her keep pace. “You said earlier, you don’t know the way, Olive Oyl.”
“I don’t, but you do. Can you not figure out how to navigate the dunes to return to the gate?”
“Well yeah…” he lied. In truth, he doubted he could. Todd might though. He looks at the Wraith, who stood an arm’s length from him watching the rest catch up to them. “Did you use an easier route?”
“You wish me to lead then, Colonel?” He croons in a manner that sent a shudder up John’s spine.
“Yeah, I do. I’d like to get somewhere a little cooler sometime today.”
Todd inclines his head and begins to walk along the lip of the dune. They all filed in behind him, John, Jennifer and the female, then Rodney who was checking the life signs detector every few seconds.
“Why does he call me that?” The female asks Jennifer in a low voice.
“Olive Oyl? Probably because you’re tall and thin. I don’t really like that name to be honest.”
“Nor do I. He calls that Commander ‘Todd’. Is it custom for your people to label us in such a manner?”
“Well it is nicer that just saying ‘Hey you,’ or just calling you ‘Wraith.’” Jennifer smiles up at the female. “You don’t look like an Olive Oyl though.”
She tilts her head and frowns at Jennifer, “What do you mean?”
“The name doesn’t fit you.”
“How about Helena?” Rodney wheezes behind them after jogging to catch up.
“Why Helena?” Jennifer asks, looking between her and the Wraith’s shoulders.
“After the actress, Helena Bonham Carter.”
The Wraith looks at Jennifer and tilts her head. “Who is that?”
“She’s an eccentric British actress. I did like The Theory of Flight.” Jennifer says absently, noticing the look of confusion that crossed the alien’s strong features. “Um, she’s an entertainer.”
With a nod of partial understanding, the Wraith returns her attention to their winding path. She didn’t appear to be bothered very much by the heat or the blistering sunlight. Her yellow green cheeks had paled to a gold hue as well as the bridge of her nose.
Jennifer wrinkles her nose and winces. Her nose was beginning to burn and she was pretty sure her forehead and chin were going to soon follow. While the female next to her, with her arm locked in her’s, smelled similar to cloves, Jennifer was sure she must smell awful to her.
Rodney reaches up and tenderly pats the top of his head. “Isn’t the military supposed to issue hats?” He mutters, squinting past the glare on the life signs detector.
No matter how many times he checked, their little dots were the only points on the screen. Part of him was glad, but then again, it meant nothing was alive out here besides them. He could see why, with how terrible it was. No vegetation, just big pointy rocks.
He looked up to see the Wraith watching Jennifer. He didn’t particularly care for all the attention the life sucking alien woman was giving her and picks up the pace to close the gap between them.
The Wraith glances back at him, “You are ill suited for laborious work. Why did your leader bring you?”
“Because Sheppard couldn’t figure his way out of a paper bag without me.” Rodney retorts hotly. He felt mildly insulted by the observation.
“Why is he your leader then, if he is incompetent?”
Before he could reply, Jennifer speaks up: “We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Where the Colonel lacks, Rodney and me make up for and vise versa.”
“Exactly,” he says and finally gets close enough to the two that he could smell the strong scent both Jennifer and the Wraith were giving off. “Aren’t you hot under that thing?” He asks the Wraith.
She looks over her shoulder and down at him, “No. If I were not wearing it, I would suffer from the heat a great deal.”
He peeks past the two women’s shoulder to Todd. “He doesn’t seem too bothered.”
“He’s quite adept at not showing discomfort.” She says, and he thinks he hears just a little hint of something catty in that comment.
“He’s good at not showing a lot of things.” He mutters in agreement. Better to be on the woman’s side of something than be miserable. It was the least he gleaned from his relationships.
“You know him well?”
“Yeah…well not really; not in the buddy buddy sense that he and Sheppard seem to have, but I’ve worked with him.” Rodney shrugs and glances at the detector off handedly. “He’s good at what he does.”
The Wraith lifts a hairless brow and then both lift in that alien shrug. “I find it odd a Commander would come alone to the facility.”
He did too, and he was sure Sheppard felt the same. Rodney nods and comes to realize his earlier dislike of the female was just jealousy. She wasn’t that bad. Creepy, yeah, with that long face and strange eyes, but she wasn’t as intimidating as the rest despite her stature.
“You aren’t the only one.” Jennifer whispers. “I mean, he has what?” She pauses, “Usually two Hives with him, he could have sent a team.”
“The Commanders who visited to choose a Queen typically had a subordinate and at least one Drone with them.” She watches Todd’s back as he walked in front of them all, “There must be something he’s after that he doesn’t want his crew to know about.”
................................................................
This is my first concept of the alien werewolves. The infected human stock looks a lot different and much more ape like. I have yet to settle on a design I like for them. But hey, they don't show up till later, so I still have some debating time.
Warning: Nerdery and nudity in conte.
When I first got Starcraft I, like most early teen girls that were into scifi, made a mary sue character exactly like Kerrigan. Well, unlike the other girls, mine wasn't a vampire, or some emo with psychic powers. So, I revamped her and gave her more personality and character. Loads of references from the new concept art for Starcraft 2 was used. Goodness, zerg are complicated and so fun to draw.
I'm absolutely in love with the revamped Queen unit.
The old: images3.wikia.nocookie.net/starcraft/images/0/08/Queen_SC1_Art1.jpg
The gorgeous new: images2.wikia.nocookie.net/starcraft/images/d/d7/Queen_eggs.jpg
