The hivemind is conquering for me?

”Everyone, shut your cake holes and look this way.” A familiar voice declared. Fergus looked around the room as everyone became alert.

”Good. Skaja, we all accounted for?” He first asked, prompting her to reply.

”Yep, we have some extras too.” She said, not needing to point at the golden clad Pretorian.

”Fergus simply nodded. ”Excellent. Now before we begin. Know that this mission is hot. Really hot. You are, without question, going to be fighting Drakoshi. Anyone who is too pussy to deal with that, the door is right there. I will give you ten seconds to evaluate your life choices.”

Ten seconds passed and no one moved. Fergus nodded his head seeing that. ”Good. Now, one way or another I have trained everyone in this room so I know what you are capable of. So trust me when I say this mission is going to be rough.”

He then proceeded to reach into his pocket, pulled out a disc and threw it on the table in front of him. A holo-projection came up of a world. Only it was oval and not spherical?

”This Is Lleon T1 A planet on our southern border with the Drakoshi. Those eagle eyed among you will notice its odd shape. Due to its extreme Psionic nature, the planet has ended up losing its hydrostatic equilibrium. Making it a danger zone of dense pockets of gravity all over the planet.”

’No problem for me.’ I couldn’t help thinking about the mention of gravity.

”Despite the dangers that entails, this planet is a critical resource world for the empire for one simple reason.” Fergus continued before clicking a button and the projector changed to a different object. A crystal.

”This is Redoxuite. For those that don’t know, this is the crystal used for making communicators, especially encrypted ones. There are very few planets in our borders with the capacity to create these. Making this planet strategically impossible for us to lose. Hence we have been called to action, begged really.”

Fergus then switched to another slide showing an image of ships all around the planet.

”We are currently engaged in a constant naval battle with the Drakoshi, but as some of you might know, our ship tech is pretty matched and our weapons cannot break each other’s shields easily, leaving us in a stalemate. So, the only way to defend the planet is via land operations.

The Drakoshi have unfortunately made a foothold in the eastern super continent, but special forces and hordes of Phalanx are keeping them isolated for now, but this constant war will accelerate our enemies’ growth and with the constant reinforcements, it’s only a matter of time before a warlord arrives or is created.

Our mission is to join up with the special forces already on the planet and deal heavy casualties whenever and wherever we can. This expedition is going to take months, so prepare to kill your fair share of Drakoshi while there.”

”Yeah! Lets kill those grey fucks!”

”YEAH!”

No one showed fear in the room. This was a room of seasoned warriors and hardened elites. I felt a sense of species pride at their bravery and was honoured to be among them.

Fergus then stepped backwards and Skaja walked to the front. ”As usual, for newcomers, I will be squad leader for this operation. Does anyone object to this?”

Silence lingered in the room, an obvious answer. ”Good. Now, due to the severity of the mission and the fact that our special forces are involved, intel is going to be a need to know basis. I want no quarrel about not knowing details. I need you to trust my judgement when we are boots on ground. Understood?”

”Understood.” We sounded off in unison. Skaja then nodded at this.

”Good. Now, we still have two days here then it will be three days through a fast lane that will be opened for us. So spend the next few days preparing. Say your goodbyes, prepare your gear, fuck your partners. I’ll see you in two days.”

After saying that, Skaja stepped back and the group began to leave. As I was making my way to the door, I heard Fergus yell. ”Apollo! Hold up a minute.”

I gestured for my friends to wait outside before walking over to Fergus. Once everyone was gone, he walked over towards the armoury and asked. ”So, if my memory is correct, you are stupid rich right?”

”Uhhh, yeah?” I replied, confused.

”Good. That means you can buy my gift.” He said before walking into the armoury.

”Doesn’t a gift imply that it’s free?” I couldn’t help asking, but only got a laugh in response before Fergus walked back out with a wooden crate.

”I say gifts turn into bribes at 2000 credits or more. And I am sure as shit not bribing you, so open the crate and you will understand.”

With my curiosity peaked, I opened up the crate and I had never felt such love for a man before...

”Is that... Fergus. Are you sure?”

The man chuckled. ”Yeah I am sure. Apollo, you have come a long way in a short amount of time, but let’s face it. You are not a natural shot. So after our discussion last month over drinks and you mentioned your lost weapon... Well I got creative.”

Pulling the weapon out of the crate. I felt such happiness. It was an arm mounted, tri barrelled Minigun. the same exact colour of my armour. It lacked the plasma storage like my old weapon, but judging who made it, I had a pretty good feeling why.

”It took a bit of tinkering and a few sleepless nights, as most of my rifles only hold one shot after all, but this thing can store eight thousand of my stable Psionic bullets at once in its drum. Since you know how to make those, and you can create them within the drum, you basically have unlimited ammo. There are also three other drums in the crate so for an extended engagement you can swap out

I also went tri barrel for a slower RPM as you mentioned you used your last weapon in shorter bursts for crowd control. Don’t get me wrong. It still fires fast, just not as fast as I am assuming your old minigun fired.

I also took some creative liberty in the trigger seeing you will be using it on your armour. I am not quite sure how your armour works, so I have made the trigger based on two wires for now. You simply put them together and-”

*WHIR*

The barrels started rotating and I couldn’t help smiling. ”It’s beautiful.”

Fergus smacked my shoulder. ”It sure is. One of my most complex weapons yet. Now a word of warning. The stable bullets will shred through the newly made Drakoshi’s armour no problem, but it’s the bigger lads, those without the armour, where it will start to struggle. For that you can put your own bullets inside, I made the thing resistant to heat after all. And specifically made sure that your bullets can easily be adapted to a secondary internal insertion point which will amplify your own already powerful bullets. Naturally though you wont get the RPM factor with that and the minigun will act more like an arm cannon when you fire that way, so expect heavy recoil.”

My hands were exploring its sexy body. My fingers were all up in its nooks and crannies. I loved it. I wanted it.

”How much?” I asked.

”Twelve Billion.” Fergus replied. ”Research costs and the Psionic material adds up. I know it’s a lot, but-

”-Done.” I said reaching into my pocket and throwing my chip at him.

Fergus looked at the chip then back at me for a moment. ’Must be nice to be rich... Treating twelve bill like chump change... I should have gone into mining, but no. I chose this life and what do I have to show for it? A missing eye, a missing arm and jealousy for an eighteen year old man...’

Fergus sighed internally before smiling. ”Good choice. I will go and get my halfway.”

While he did that. I armoured up and looked at the place my minigun used to sit. The last one was a weapon of conquest. Taken from the first Psionic being I killed. This one was a gift. While both meant a lot to me, this one was personal. Specifically made for me and my Psionics in mind. I was going to cherish it.

Placing the minigun on my left arm, My armour, reading my surface thoughts, knew exactly how I wanted the gun to be mounted and operated. It integrated the firing wires into its biomass and once it was in place and sturdy.

*WHIR*

I activated the mechanism and shivered in delight as the barrels began to spin. ’Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.

Fergus then came back swiftly and was about to say something before being stunned. He knew figureheads were important to morale. And Apollo in that armour, in that pose. Minigun on one arm, his sword in the other. Fergus couldn’t help but think.

’He looks like a hero.’