The hivemind is conquering for me?

”What do you mean you don’t know? You said ’queen’ and Grimshank had a reaction? What was that?” Yacob questioned a little intensely as he stepped forward.

”Hey! If Apollo said he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know! Back off, Yacob!” Gabrielle said standing in front of me defensively. I grabbed her shoulder gently and she spun around instantly.

”I appreciate your stance Gabrielle, but I was telling him the truth. I have no idea. Every other word was gibberish, but I don’t know, I heard the word queen come from his mouth. It was like ’gwpshh’ or something odd like that, but I just knew what it meant. Sorry Yacob, I wish I could be of more help.”

”Hmmm~” Yacob hummed before flashing me a massive grin. ”Oh well, that alone is huge for my own research. We finally know one of the words of their ’elite’ language. The young Drakoshi cannot speak it, only those of considerable strength and stature are capable so we hardly get a chance to study it. This... This is a breakthrough! I will be passing this along to a higher authority after further confirmation.” He then turned to the others, not fixating on the matter for long, the opposite of what I would have done, and called out.

”All right everyone, come back. Grimshank is down and out for the count for the next few hours. He was never breaking out in the first place, you were always safe.” After waiting for a moment for everyone to come back, Yacob smiled and asked. ”So, anymore questions about Grimshank? You can ask as we walk to the biopsy room. Oh, and anyone with a weak stomach you can leave now. Just return in eight days for the little expedition I have planned. It’s only a day trip, information about it will be sent to your dorms as well. Now, for everyone else that wants to see a Drakoshi’s insides follow me.”

...

On our way a few interesting questions were brought up such as what that gas was? Apparently it was a seriously powerful nerve gas. As Yacob put it, it was sort of ’turbo illegal’ to use in general, but he had academic dispensation. The amount used could kill millions of humans, but would only knock Grimshank out for a few hours.

Another interesting question was Drakoshi naming. Quite obviously, Grimshank was not Grimshank’s true name. It was a nickname the Drakoshi had given him. Due to his mystery background, they only knew the nickname and not his true name. Though almost all Drakoshi go by their nicknames, though sometimes their true names were also their nicknames like the formerly infamous war titan, Gazik the undefeated.

’Gazik? That sounds familiar? Where have I heard that before?’ I thought momentarily before getting distracted by Yacob once more.

”Ok everyone, go through those doors. They will take you to the observation room. Oh, very quickly, who here has a science or medical background and would like to enter the surgical suite with me?”

My arm shot up so fast that I almost dislocated it. My intensity was noticed by a lot of people, forcing some of the others that had raised their hands to put them back down.

Yacob chose two others before he could no longer ignore my intense aura and also chose me. After giving a fist pump of victory, I turned to Gabrielle and smiled with unbridled delight. ”See you in a minute!”

...

Gabrielle watched her son run away through a separate set of doors with a smile on her lips. That was the most adorable thing she had ever seen. He was so giddy. However, her next thoughts were dreadful.

’Uh oh, I’m going to have to teach myself science now. Ugh...’

A few minutes later she was sitting in the observation room alone before someone sat next to her. ”Hey Gab Gab, I hope there are no hard feelings from before? I didn’t mean for you to um... Do whatever it was you did. Sorry for bringing up ’him’.”

Gabrielle closed her eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath. ”It’s fine. And I am sorry for scrambling your Psionics. You didn’t deserve that Zeph.”

Zephina gasped in shock. ”Did my Gab Gab just apologise? I said you had changed, but fuck me I didn’t think that much. That’s scary levels of change right there.”

Gabrielle then laughed softly. ”Shut up before I pop you in the teeth.”

Zephina then raised her hands up in victory. ”There she is! I knew you were still in there. Means you haven’t changed that much! Or was you just saying that for Mr Yummy?”

Gabrielle sighed. ”No, Zeph. I have gone through a great deal of shit since our last meeting. I’m not who I was. I’ll never be that woman again. I don’t want to be either. For the first time in years I am actually happy, despite what my fractured mental state might suggest.”

”Well I’m happy you are happy. I’m just happy you are alive. I tried looking you up about ten years ago you know? Apparently after you and... You know, survived whatever it was you survived. You just disappeared from records. How come? Also when did you get your Psionic powers? How crazy is that? The two of us from our little orphanage are Psionically gifted?”

”I’m not legally allowed to answer any of the questions you just asked me Zeph, let that be your answer.”

”Spec ops, got it.” Zephina declared a little too loudly before wrapping her arm around the back of Gabrielle’s chair. She then leant in and whispered. ”Aren’t you going to ask me about how I got my Psionics? I wasn’t always eight feet tall was I?”

”I assumed you would get to it at some point, you do tend to just talk until you are forced to stop.” Gabrielle said neutrally, as she continued to look towards the surgical sweet, waiting...

”Busted! I just wanted the excuse to start yapping. So get this. Setting: Military base Gogoh 89098 planet- Mulnith. Location. Galactic north, more specifically, the voracious tear.”

Gabrielle finally turned her head, with her recent near death experience at Orolo, the voracious tear was something she took great interest in.

”The base was completely ransacked. The bugs had breached and swept over everything. A Basilisk warrior had petrified me and ran me through before being shot in the head. Dying on top of my body. I was left there for hours.

I was then reminded of my own life a time later when the basilisk was removed from my body. I felt relieved despite the pain for a moment before seeing the sight of one of the lesser warriors. It was scavenging. The fight had gotten far enough away for safe scavenging to begin. Well, it definitely noticed I was alive, but it didn’t seem to care about putting me out of my misery. No, it began munching on my leg.”

Zephina’s face turned pale. ”I still remember the pain. Its sharp teeth munching on my leg like a juicy mutton chop. I remember my voice being so hoarse that I couldn’t even scream as it devoured me alive...

I still have no idea how I didn’t die from shock, but after it finished Ms dearly departed left leg, it wanted to dig right in on right leg and I felt a rage overcome me like I had never had before. With a strength I never had before, I lunged at the overgrown cricket and ripped its head off its body. I then immediately lost all my strength again as a group of at least a dozen began running in my direction to finish me off, but then through sheer dumb luck. A knight squad did a hot drop at my location to retrieve some classified research and saved my life.

After recovering, my growth hormones went out of control and did not stop growing for three straight years until I stopped at this height, but then my growth has ever since been making my muscles stronger. Psionics is freaking awesome in that regard. I don’t even have to try and I get stronger! Haha! Aren’t I great?”

Gabrielle smiled bittersweetly and rested her hand on Zephina’s left leg. ”I am sorry you had to go through that. I too have my own reasons for hating those creatures.”

Zephina laughed loudly. ”Yeah, those bugs don’t get enough attention. They really should be considered more dangerous than the military deems them to be. But hey! It’s not all doom and gloom. Because of my lost leg, I get to have a collection of nifty Metal legs, check it out!”

Zephina then raised her pants and sure enough she wasn’t walking on air, a metal augmented leg was present. A very high tech one at that. ”Looks expensive.” Gabrielle commented, prompting Zeph to lean in and whisper.

”Actually I got it on the cheap. The gang war on Euc 4. The tech faction lost miserably and if you can get into the right channels, augments are being sold like candy. If you need anyone that needs some metal, let me know. I got a connection now.”