He wasn't sure that the huge dragon could possibly have done anything other than swallow a face-hugger. Marek thought perhaps... maybe they're mistaken. Maybe they would just eat the things and be done.

But the security division assured him, yes, there were eggs in each of these massive creatures. The forest colored male that Marek first spoke with lay on his side, breathing with some effort.

"I've seen some amazing things," Marek said, "and from what the bios say about your people - aren't you able to heal? Or do... magic or something?" He waved his hand, wondering if maybe he had lost his mind. Magic? In this day and age? Well he had to believe it, he had seen it in one form or another in the last week or so here.

"I regret to say that I have never had that magic in me," the dragon spoke with a strangely wispy voice. "Once, I roamed a wood as vast as this ship, endless until flown over."

Marek prodded a little, got the name of this great male, an earth elemental user. "I'm sorry you won't return there, Kanesei," Marek said.

"It would be far too dangerous for my people..." Kanesei rasped. It was clear that his days were now numbered.

Marek had found the shell, the castoff husk of the face hugger that had fallen off the dragon, it was faded, almost the same as the one which attached itself to Choran.

Charess was still moulting, lingering in his resin shell within Marek's room. He could still be felt, mentally, and that was good. Their bond was strong, perhaps not as strong as Choran's had been, but certainly this would be a different matter. Xenos needed to be commanded, they needed to be told what to do. And Charess was told to wait where he was, Marek would be there -- sooner than he really expected.

With a strange thump, the massive head of the forest-colored Myrsilk hit the deck. And what came from his wide neck almost literally scared the crap out of Marek.

Sure, sure, it was the same shape as Charess' burstling form! But... It was massive! For whatever reason, though, Marek knew that he had to do something and quickly - a burstling of that size would gestate into ... well, into something as large as the Myrsilk itself!

Charess, back me up here, give me a hint... Marek sought out instinctive memories, things that certainly hadn't been present in Choran's mind! Using the same strength that allowed him to dominate and control Charess, then, Marek met the muzzle of the burstling that erupted from Kanesei, and summoned all his mental energy.

It took that much, possibly more than he'd even expected himself to have, but the forest-carapaced xeno - longer than Choran had been by far, and almost as tall just laying down - hissed with a disagreeable scent to its first breath. Lowered its head, blindly seeking some place safe to build its next nest.

"There," Marek said as well as mentally shouted. He hoped he wasn't messing up any telepath's day, all this mind-voice stuff was just about past him anyway. The burstling followed Marek's pointing hand, even though he couldn't see it. Above the carcass, then, a set of structurally sound rafters. They would do well. They would have to, otherwise there would just be nowhere that this thing could roost while it became something new.

And this time, Marek decided to name it early on. Once more in honor of the dragon from which it had come, Kenisiss dragged itself up and improbably began sticking itself to the walls.

"Yeah, this is all just a little weirder than I expected," Marek sighed. He would return to his quarters to watch Charess hatch, and begin proper training with a more or less sentient partner once more.

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