The hivemind is conquering for me?

”How is there nothing?” Aeletha spoke to herself. She had just finished a divination with her combination of tonics and was feeling a little loopy. Although, what she did was her ’quick’ divination, basically drugging herself to the point her Psionic existence was no longer constricted to her meat bag, allowing her to ’see’ clearer. Still, she could not find the individual who erased the names of those species from the archive.

This troubled her, as it meant that whoever it was, they are strong enough to change fate in one way or another. And not knowing of such individuals within her own Coalition prodded her brain all the wrong ways.

”Looks like I am going to have to pull out the big guns.” She muttered to herself and removed her sweat covered clothes as she proceeded to stand up. She was about to begin the preparations for a concoction that was going to take close to nine thousand hours to complete.

However, as she walked over to her supply closet, ignoring the light-headedness, she suddenly heard chiming from her desk. *Gasp!* ”Oh no!” Aeletha shambled over to her desk and picked up the communicator she could tell from the miniscule Psionic imprint that the caller was Apollo.

She took a deep breath in an attempt to expunge the side effects of her trip before answering the communicator. ”Archon Apollo, It is good to hear from you again. How was your day?”

...

”It was alright, not much done. We have been waiting for our robes to arrive so we can enter more parts of the College. We have just been having a relaxing day to acclimatise as jumping from planet to planet to moon in quick succession has been a little taxing. How has your day been? Did you manage to find the information about the Sepuudu?” I asked curiously.

Aeletha paused for a moment, her ears prickling with an unexpected delight. ’He has a very pleasant vocal range. Deep, yet not gruff with an underlying bubbliness about it... Most pleasant indeed.’

”Hello? Shit did I break it?” She suddenly heard muttered under his breath, causing a smile to break upon her face, before she recalled what he had just said and became sombre. ”Archon Apollo, I-

”-Just call me Apollo, I insist. My status as an Archon is more of a quality of life perk, I don’t actually need all the gravitas and zeal that comes with is.” I interrupted. ”Very well Apollo. Now, to answer your question, I am afraid I have some bad news. I personally went to the Archive of lost species today and to my surprise, the entries for the Sepuudu and a number of other species’ have had their profiles wiped clean. I am sorry, but I am unable to uphold your request. I hope you can forgive me.”

For a Starforged, a life debt was incredibly serious. Aeletha, even in her current state, felt this overwhelming obligation to see this debt fulfilled and acting as her saviours tech support didn’t really cut it. She was the Seer of the Coalition, something so small just would not rectify the debt.

”Oh, I see. I am sorry to hear about that. Don’t worry about it then, like I said, it was just a passing thought, not something I desperately need to know. Oh well. Thanks for trying anyway, I will call up again soon.” I said, prompting an end to the conversation, but from the crystal I heard a shriek. ”Wait!”

I was taken aback by the sheer intensity. I was even more taken aback that I suddenly developed a nose bleed. ”What the shit? What was that? Aeletha, are you ok?”

Aeletha covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes were wide open, bulging, threatening to fall out of the sockets. She just did a whoopsie. The Crystals used for this type of communication, compared to other forms of communicators, were carved from the same Psionically charged element known as Redoxuite. They had a property that in the simplest terms, made it so despite the absurd distance between the two splintered crystals, they could still commune with each other like they are together. This is what allows the untraceable communications as only those with a crystal from the exact same cluster could be used between one another.

Though that being said, Spartari are more lax with their communications and have found a way to alter the crystals in a way that if you add a certain frequency into your own communicator, you can add another to the frequency, allowing communicators to store that information.

Aeletha, in her drugged state, accidentally tapped into the connection between the two crystals and empowered her scream by accident. She didn’t want the communication to end just yet and she had acted foolish.

”I-I am fine Apollo, I am so sorry, I am in a tampered mental state and accidentally flared up. I am so sorry, are you ok?” She hastily asked. I nodded my head, the lack of visuals not stopping me. ”Yeah, I got a nosebleed and a bit of a headache, but the bleeding is stopping as I speak. Also it’s fine, truly. If you don’t get injured at least once when speaking to an entity capable of tapping into godhood, are you really talking to one?”

Aeletha’s eyebrow raised curiously as it sounded like Apollo was talking from experience, but she let it slide as more pressing matters needed attending. ”Apollo, are you sure there is nothing else I can offer to you instead? Money? Power? Information? Please, I feel obliged and I am willing to do anything~”

I looked towards the corner of my room in confusion. I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but the way she said ’anything’ sent a jolt down my spine. I didn’t comment on it however and simply replied. ”Look, Aeletha. I am grateful you wish to repay this debt you think you have to me, but you really don’t have to. But if you can’t accept that answer, can I hold onto this favour for a while? As things stand, I am beyond content.”

Aeletha grabbed onto one of her horns and began pulling. This Archon was infuriating. Humans were notoriously greedy. Especially the nobility. This Archon was the outlier in multitudes of conditions on top of this one. She did however take a deep breath and composed herself.

”Very well Apollo, I accept these terms, but please, do not hesitate to ask, the burden of owing you is tumultuous in my mind. I mean it, the moment you need something, you call me... Ok?”

I nodded... Again. ”Sure, that sounds great. If I need anything I will give you a call. Thank you, take care.”

After placing the communicator back into its sock, I walked to the ensuite to wipe the blood from around my nose. As I looked at myself in the mirror I couldn’t help but shaking my head as the absurdity of the situation hit me.

I was talking with the meal I accidentally let escape from Jewel and the woman acted like I was her saviour. The fact she was able to cause me damage from such a distance spooked me a little, but I was assuming the communicator had something to do with the reason she was able to do it. That was my gut instinct anyway and I trusted my gut.

It also told me that the Seer was not playing any games with me here. She genuinely wanted to repay me for saving her life, but honestly? Anything she had, I wager that my loving Hive wife, Jewel, had at least, thousands more.

Still, she seemed like a very pleasant alien. Not at all what I expected from a galactic leader. She seemed pretty down to the ground, talking to me with a respect that I mimicked. That would be my golden rule in the future. As I was basically an infiltrator to all species with my forever fixed alignment of hive supremacy.

But if someone or something treated me with respect. I saw no reason not to give that respect back. At least until the hive comes for them. I would never let her go hungry after all.

But with that said, a thought has been occurring to me recently. I want a place in the universe where I could keep my friends safe, like Janine, if they decided not to fight against Jewel when she finally had enough of pecking at her meals and went straight in.

That especially went for some of the cultists I have met. I wouldn’t want them to be devoured if they had not yet been converted into true bio forms by that time.

As I finished washing my face, I heard the front door downstairs open, followed by a loud thudding noise, footsteps running up the stairs, across the corridor and barging into the bedroom. Moments later, Orchid had run into the bathroom and began inspecting my face.

”Apollo-love, are you ok? Orchid smells blood.”