STAGE V: SOLDIER, WORKER, SENTRY

As the hive mind takes a hold of them at Stage V of their development, P. praepotens molt to assume specialized roles within their community.  
SOLDIER
Romantically referred to as a Warrior, a Soldier Xenomorph is the adult form of a Drone. As the alien matures, the creature’s dome loses its form and melds with the ridged tissues beneath it. The alien’s head begins to polarize and harden, forming an armored carapace. Blades will begin to grow from the Xeno’s elbows, and its hands will mutate into five-fingered claws, dropping the sixth digit. Blue-black in color, Soldiers are nimble and attack en masse. The Soldier’s tail has a barb at the end with a toxin that can cause paralysis in most known lifeforms. Once incapacitated, the Soldier will carry its prey back to the hive to be impregnated by a Facehugger.  
WORKER
The diminutive Workers build and maintain the hive. Also called Weavers, they produce and spin the resin of the hive with their long proboscis tongues, shape it with their hands and feet, position eggs near cocooned hosts, and feed and maintain the Queen. Physically, they are somewhat different than the other members of P. praepotens. Transformation from Drone to Worker will see an alien shrink to between 1.2 and 1.8 meters in height. Its skin will turn a sickly grayish white, while its tongue grows pink, elongates, and develops a funnel through which it will secrete the makings of the hive. Workers ignore threats within the hive and will run if threatened, leaving their protection to Soldiers and Sentries.  
SENTRY
After Scouts have secured a hive and a source of hosts, they mature into Sentries. Like Soldiers, their carapaces become ridged and armored. They are still incredibly fast and dexterous, with specialized gripping hands and feet that allow them to scale walls and ceilings with greater efficiency than other Xenos. Attuned to their Queen’s needs, they will back off or attack as she signals. Also called Defenders, Sentries will not hesitate to sacrifice themselves to keep hive invaders at bay and protect their Queen.  
CONTAINMENT AND TERMINATION PROTOCOL
As always, fire keeps Xenomorphs at bay. The non-aggressive Workers are easy to take down as they offer little resistance. A Soldier’s carapace is armored enough to shrug off regular ammunition rounds, but pulse rifles make short work of them. Soldiers tend to work in groups, overwhelming targets with sheer numbers. Because of this, it is possible to take out a large number of them with an area effect weapon, hopefully evening the odds a bit. Sentries will not leave the inner hive unless the Queen does, so stay out of there and you’ll easily avoid them. You know what? Just stay out of an alien hive. Period.  
 
“They cut the power.”
“What do you mean “they cut the power”? How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!”
— LT. ELLEN RIPLEY AND PRIVATE FIRST CLASS WILLIAM HUDSON

HIVE MIND

While a lone alien will operate well enough on its own, when half a dozen or more Stage IV Xenomorph XX121s get together, they begin to operate in unison. Add a Queen to the mix and they’ll molt to Stage V. It’s then that their coordinated movements become downright uncanny. While some theorize this is accomplished by the Queen through pheromones and other communicative stimuli, others believe it’s a cumulative hive intelligence. It would seem that the more Xenomorph XX121s there are in a hive, the more intelligent they become.
Genetic Ancestor(s)


Cover image: by DALLE

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