Quorum Vos knew before seeing the scene that it was hivemember Squorus Noxium who crashed his damn ship into the Arctic. Mainly because Squorus Nox was the only void-damned fool in their ranks who ignored warnings, but secondly because of multiple past incidents with humanity. Vos thought the Council should’ve expelled him the moment a poor human was found onboard as an accidental stowaway, but Squorus raked in too many resources for the Hive to be fed to the Great Winged One, their beautiful and terrifying Queenking. Though, it did not mean Vos could not wish he was.

The High Council had explicitly ordered their Subjugators not to meddle or travel near high-sentience systems, and to only take resources from systems that weren’t advanced enough to fight it. They were simple rules. But apparently they weren’t simple enough for Squorus Noxium. No, he just had to be an embarrassment to the Hive.

Now at least 15 humans were swarming the remains of his ship— not to mention it was an _expensive _ship_, _the latest obelisk line of Voyagers. This would cost the Hive dearly. Unfortunately, since the ship was the newest of its line, it was also the kind most commonly piloted by either rookies or fools that the Council liked to blow precious resources on. And thus, humans immediately recognized it for what it was from years of spottings. They were searching for signs for the Hive’s existence. But, luckily for the Hive, Quorom Vos was very good at his job, and had already infiltrated humanity’s ranks.

Being a lower-ranked Invader Hiverian, Quorom Vos was forced to take a dinky little orb Voyager to Earth, but he supposed it was better than taking a cramped, outdated Rover-class cube to Earth as Invaders did in the younger years of their Empire. However, he did dream of one day

He studied the humans and learned their ways for a century before he allowed himself to integrate, for he was not the type to, as the humans said so eloquently, _half-ass _things. Vos had his disguises down to a fine art.

So, when construction worker Michael Schmembert showed up to work to clear the unidentified ship out of the snow, no one suspected he wasn’t who he said he was. No one suspected that he was in actuality, Quorum Vos.

The Earth’s sun beat down on them all as the humans worked, and Quorom Vos couldn’t help but feel he should’ve been paid more for his work as he pretended to labor with them in freeing _Squorus’s_ crashed ship from the snow.

Void, if Squorus wasn’t already dead, he would rip his thorax in half. Her Holy Horridness, The Queenking, could keep his leftovers. Excuse his sacrilege, but she had already gotten more than enough from their conquests over the years.

This, while simple protocol, was for _him. _It was_ special. _He even whistled a jaunty human tune as he made his way inside the Voyager ship. Quorom Vos kept himself low and quiet as he skittered over to the captain’s chair, holding the lighter with a tendril rather than the human hand, wanting to really _feel_ it as he lit him ablaze. It wasn’t every day that an Invader got to burn a Subjugator.

But, as always, Squorus ruined the moment— his body wasn’t even there.

Vos flicked his tongue in the air only to smell smoke regardless. Hastily, he shoved the tendrils and lighter back into his outer shell.

“Hey,” a human’s buzzing voice came from behind him, forcing Vos to shove the tendrils back inside his own shell. “What are _you_ looking for in here, Mike? You’re on the _outdoor_ crew.”

Quorum Vos worked his new vocal cords, twisting the sides of his mask’s mouth upward into a smile. “I got curious. Don’t tell the boss, will you?”

The human snorted. “Hey, I’m not supposed to be smoking here either. You don’t tell him and I won’t, get it?”

“Got it.” Quorom Vos forced air through the vocal cords, imbuing it with a laugh. Despite both specifies being somewhat similar in structure, there was still the faintest of differences, and laughter was one of them. Hiverians chittered. Humans forced air and sound together into a mish-mash of amusement, stretched out an exhale and spun it around into a snort. Twisting his expression into a frown to signal disappointment in the way humans did, he said, “Isn’t there supposed to be somethin’ here?”

“Yeah, but the damn labs took it.”

“Labs,” he barely managed not to hiss, feeling his eyes behind the mask slit. “Damn. Must’ve been something weird, then. Who took the vermin?”

“Natura,” the human took a long drag of his cigarette, and its eyes narrowed at him. “You sound awfully aggressive there, Mike.”

He fixed his expression. “I’m just… disappointed. Since I was a kid, I always wondered what a real… alien would look like.”

“Guess we’ll both keep wondering, huh?” The human said, and Quorum Vos nodded.

“I’m gonna head out.”

The human waved him off, still smoking inside the damn ship. Rotten things. Vos never knew why such things were a universal habit, but he intimately understood the pleasure of burning something and tearing it down. He would’ve gotten that special joy had the human labs not taken his quarry.

So, while he did not delay in placing the bombs on the ship, he did delay in setting them off until the number of humans there was low. Quorum Vos did not get the satisfaction of burning his ship, only another task— breaking in to the labs.

Earth’s moon was high in its sky, and the world was dark. Quorom Vos almost missed the moons and stars of home, hung over their world of two planets crashed together, made into one stronger whole. The Hive was more than necessary for the survivors of the Great Union. The orbiting rival species became one, and in some cases quite literally— their own Queenking was the rulers of both worlds, together in one body and mind.

When he broke in, he only killed 3 of the guards. He mercifully erased the memory of the ones he could.

Quorom Vos took a special delight in setting Squorus ablaze.

Walking away from the burning body, Quorum Vos hoped either a promotion or a day off was coming his way.