Selene couldn't believe what she agreed to.
But then again her life hasn't exactly been reasonable lately. It's been one extreme situation after another and her minds been racing day after day since she first saw Camden dangling that larvae by the tail all those months ago.
She was picked up by the Protectorate Universal Confederacy and turned into a weapon against the Zykra.
Then she was assimilated by the Zykra and used against the Protectorate.
When you added the resistance and a second sentient alien race to the mix... It got complicated.
And now she was being changed by a self-proclaimed controlled evolution specialist. Changing her body so that it would be stronger. Hopefully that's all Evo did. She didn't really have a choice. It was a surprise he agreed to maintaining her more human faculties to begin with.
Ku'senai likely didn't care all that much. The encephalon Zykra queen probably had other plans for her.
Selene considered all of this before submerging herself back into the glowing white pool. Ideas like fighting her way back to the Sequester and calling for resistance backup faded fast.
She'd have to play along. Be everything Ku'senai wanted. Until she got away. With Aboleth alive again. Then she'd plan. Whatever Ku'senai had planned for her? All Selene had to do was survive it.
Sleep pulled at her the moment she laid in the pool. And she allowed herself to succumb to it. Clinging to memories of her family, and what few friends she had on Endelon growing up. The aspects of humanity worth preserving. And hoped that Evo was true to his word and would allow her to preserve them.
About 2 days later...
"That is a big fucking... Thing." Riddick said from the command helm. He wasn't dressed in his beach bum attire of shorts and flipflops. Instead he was dressed in a crisp grey puck uniform.
Commander Desuran nodded. Taking a smooth drag off his cigar.
"Aptly put Agent... Agent Weasley—our asset is aboard?"
"That's what I sense. Our connection's been strong since you introduced us on Alexandria." a woman said. A tall white woman with very long brown hair. It was like a poofy brown hood draped over her shoulders.
"Helluva a contingency plan... Do you uh, do this with all the telepaths?" Riddick asked.
"Of course not. Agent Weasley's abilities dilute with the more psionic signatures she connects to. I had suspicions given Selene's heritage that she may turncoat and my intuition is almost always correct. I however did not expect this."
The bulky fleshy battle frigate was imposing ahead of them. Seemingly unaware of their presence. Which was a reassuring but not an unexpected result.
After all—they were aboard the Protectorates latest battle frigate. Equipped with specialized cloaking technologies as well as weapons that would be considered prototypes of prototypes to the laymen. It was rounder than most battle-frigates of this class and size. Sleeker. All black with blue tinted windows. A shimmering pattern of hexagons rippled across the surface with electric energy.
A regal man stood next to Agent Weasley and Agent Riddick. A very young white man in his late teens or early twenties. He wore a sleek black suit of silk with a red ascot and interior lining. His black hair was greased back down to his shoulders. And his blue eyes floated in black corneas. Dyed to give a more imposing, regal look that wasn't unusual in affluent social circles.
He spoke next.
"The Annunaki were very clear about regaining control over asset one. We're maintaining oversight on other assets, but we can not allow any to fall into Zykra control. Destroy the creature, kill the encephalon aboard. Secure the asset Commander."
"Of course sir. Where is the asset precisely, Agent Weasley."
The Agent's freshly ironed grey suit stood in stark contrast in her messy brown hair. She went to a console and drew a circle over the image of the caasiok.
"There."
"The Annunaki have assured us that the asset will survive the void of space." The young man dressed in regal attire said. "Anything around that circle can be safetly dealt with."
Commander Desuran nodded.
"If you say so sir. All guns prime to fire. Target anything outside that circle."
Dr. Bryant was in the pilots cabin.
Raymond was in the cargo-hold mustering the courage to confront the Zykra about Selene. Though logic routinely reminded him how thoroughly stupid that idea was.
Zephyr and Danny were speaking in the bunkroom about recent developments.
"Say you'll use the device to help her. Explain that you were worried Aboleth was brainwashing her against humanity. What can she do then?" Danny said. Holding his palms out toward the ceiling as if to say; 'it is what it is.'.
"At this point I'm tired of thinking about it." Zephyr grumbled. "Aliens should just leave us the hell alone. I'm almost missing the days when we were telepath hunters."
Danny was going to respond when explosions sounded and the ship lurched. It sounded like a boulder falling down concrete stairs. One after another in staccato explosions thundered all around them.
"HOLY FUCK!" they heard Raymond shout from the cargo-hold below.
Selene stirred awake by a rocking motion. A chunk of something soft fell into the pool next to her.
Huh...?
She opened her eyes blearily. Gazing at her surrounding through the white haze of the healing fluid. Evo appeared above her. His antenna twitched about wildly. His voice was muffled and panicked.
"Green queen! Humans are attacking! I've had to halt the process at 94% completion! I could not delay any further!"
Shit. No time to think then. Code red situation. The kind of thing she'd been preparing for. Sudden violence.
The pool splashed outwards as she pushed herself up. Partly emptying. Which impressed her—but she didn't have time to think about it. The caasiok was dissolving around her. In fire and explosions.
"What's happening!?" she asked the tiny moth next to her.
He hopped into the air and fluttered to the work table he had the dead scantid on. Whatever he was doing to it brought it back to life. And it leapt from the table disappearing into the hall outside.
"You must return to your human vessel! The caasiok will not survive long!" he called out.
Selene's heart thundered in her chest. Her antenna had an electric feeling thrumming through them. The carapace on her armor had changed color. It was green- not purple and orange. Her flesh was blue and the carapace was green. A massive change in color pallet.
She didn't have time to ask about it.
But her senses were expanded. She could sense the humans attacking them. And there were two familiar psionic signatures. And a third that seemed to be...
Selene looked down the length of the connection and was surprised it was leading straight to her. She waved a hand through it as if it would disrupt it.
"Oh... Oh no.. Where is Aboleth? Is she awake yet?"
Evo grabbed her by the wrist and began to tug her towards the exit.
"Redundant! You must leave!"
She pulled her hand away.
"I'm not leaving Aboleth behind. Where is she?"
"The Praetorian is still growing, we must retrieve the embryo if you must salvage it! Follow!" he flew through the hall with a surprising level of dexterity and speed. Which Selene surprised herself in easy keeping up with and reacting as pieces of the caasiok fell from the ceiling.
They spoke on the way frantically.
"What is Ku'senai doing!? It seems like puck is kicking her ass!" she called after Evo.
"The humans meager prosthesis will not save them! But it is most unforeseen! Had the queen not used a caasiok of this kind we would not of been able to hold crucible in time!"
Ah. So this was a faster caasiok. Not a fighting one.
But that left Selene wondering. Was humanity more of a threat than she had thought? Could they actually stand up to the Zykra in a war? At least for awhile?
It gave her a weird sense of hope and despair. Since in a way she'd have to fight and beat them in either case.
Zykra were flooding towards the caasioks 'exits' in number. Scantids quickly grew wings and other Zykra flying variants like the vesporaxyn began to flood out of the caasiok. Like a bee hive that's just been hit with a stick.
"The asset it moving!" Agent Weasley shouted out.
"HOLD!" Commander Desuran ordered. The bombardment ceased. "Where?" he asked then.
"Towards the center!"
"Tssk... Scramble the jets—this battle just became a lot more surgical! Eliminate all hostiles but cease ordinance fire! Capture the encephalon if possible!"
The command deck erupted into a flurry of activity as numerous operators at desks began to give orders into their headsets.
Heavy metal doors on the battle frigate began to open slowly. Vibrant cyan boosters flared to life as jets lifted from the ground slowly.
Everyone—including Zephyr—ran into the pilots cabin to see Dr. Bryant preparing the ship for lift-off.
"What the fuck is happening!?" Raymond asked.
"What do you think dumbass!?" Danny said.
"Are we leaving? What about Selene!?" Zephyr asked.
They were all almost speaking at once.
"SHUT UP!" Dr. Bryant shouted. Then took a slow breath as the ships boosters activated; "..We're not leaving her." he listened for a moment as his initial panic haphazardly subsided.
"Listen- they've ended their bombardment. I'd wager that the caasiok took substantial damage, but we should be safe for now while the Zykra defenses hold. We'll reclaim Selene and Aboleth and use the ships cloaking to escape."
They all were staring at him. Stunned. Like deer in headlights.
They likely needed further explanation. Not that he owed them any. But he might as well while he waited for Ku'senai or Selene to contact him.
"We can surmise that judging from the lack of signatures being emitted from that battle-frigate they have been pursuing us for some time. Likely due to a telepaths ability to track psionic signatures. A rare ability, but one you mother had a variant of." he said, glancing to the Eriksons.
"When Ms. Carrington and I left Alexandria, commander Desuran might of anticipated her departure due to her families revolutionist history. And wanting to avoid losing a rare asset, assigned a telepath to track her."
"Why now??" Raymond asked.
That—Dr. Bryant was less confident about.
"...Perhaps... They were being patient to observe how our dealings with the resistance played out. Waiting until a meeting to strike, or something like this. No doubt they are surprised to find us meeting with Zykra. And are taking this moment to get to the bottom of things."
"We're so fucking screwed." Danny said.
Zephyr stumbled backwards and flopped into a wheeled chair. Which wobbled backwards until it bumped into a console. Then she looked down at her guantlet.
"Can you do anything?" she asked it.
It didn't answer.
"How are you so calm!?" Raymond asked—grabbing Dr. Bryant from the shoulders and shaking him. Bryant had a steeled look in his eyes. He pushed Raymonds hands off him.
"I am calm because I have faith... Zykra Queens are some of the most powerful beings in all of existence. And there are two of them on this caasiok."
In the battle-frigates hangar an eager pilot had a jaunty gait as he approached a sleek triangle-shaped jet. Covered in black hexagons. He whistled a joyous tune.
"Oh boy! Here I go killin' again!"
Another pilot laughed at that as she clambered into her ship; "I wouldn't tease fate if I were you! Apparently their flyers can penetrate our armor!"
"Pfft, all I know is they better be twice as fast as they were on Lamda or I'm not going to have any fun!" he flipped the blue visor on his angular black helmet down and jumped into the single seating cockpit of the jet-sized craft.
Selene and Evo entered a larger chamber filled with eggs of varying shape and sizes.
One massive egg sat in the middle. It would barely fit in the 10 meter wide and tall cargo-hold of the sequester. And that was with some convincing.
"What are you turning her into? A fucking elephant!?" Selene cast an accusatory glare at Evo.
"..She is no longer dead." he gestured towards the giant egg. Then looked at Selene as if he expected praise or a thank you.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO MOVE THIS!?"
Just then at the far end of the chamber a several meter wide orifice opened with low squelching sounds.
Ku'senai emerged, trailed by strange looking Zykra of various shapes and sizes. From serpentine to spider-like. All sorts of waspish and scorpion like variants.
The bug-butler variant dangled from her shoulder.
"Brood. Will not. A-rrive. In time. We must. Cooperate." it spoke in painfully slow and staggered sentences.
Selene had no time to debate the bug-boy. Instead she reached out with her mind with the intent to communicate with the encephalon queen herself. Her eyes flared bright purple.
It was like diving into a pool. The essence of who she was—what she was capable of and what she wanted to do was laid bare. With certain ideas pushed to the front.
Survival. Escape. Rescue.
All these things were simplistic notions in comparison to what Ku'senai responded with. It overwhelmed Selene's senses and only confused her. It was like speaking in tongues. In entire battle plans and ideas. But gradually- like a parent speaking down to a child- it simplified. Restructured.
Became legible.
Images of Selene appeared. Of what she was capable of it she willed it. Unused aspects of herself. Of her telepath abilties. And her Zykra mind. Unutilized up to this point.
She saw herself crushing distant ships in the sky on some planet. Teleporting short distances. Conjuring entire Zykra from her own body impossibly. Various things—too many to describe in a single moment.
But she clung to one of these abilities and tried to understand it. Reimagining her empathetic powers to be physical connections and not just psionic ones.
To become both a kinetic and non-kinetic telepath at once.
And she also understood why Ku'senai was trying to teach her these things. Her Zykra potential. Numerous reasons.
To demonstrate that the Zykra were her true allies, and that she should fight for the superior lifeform.
She disregarded this message. But agreed with the other one.
That she should fight alongside her against this threat assaulting the caasiok. She could get on board with that pretty easily. If not to save Aboleth—but the Sequester and her friends aboard it.
All this took about a minute or two while the Zykra around them waited patiently for their communion to finish.
When they finished Selene looked away and followed them towards one of many of the caasioks exits.
They would fight. Weaken their attackers enough so they could limp away. Or Zykra reinforcements could arrive in time. For them to load Aboleth's cocoon onto the Sequester. They needed time.
There wordless alliance was decided with that evident fact.
Puck had no idea what they just brought upon themselves. Selene reached out to the psyphera variant onboard the Sequester and gave it a order. And on a distant red gas giant a new caasiok began to push itself off the planet's surface like a tick. Largely plated in brown and green carapace. With dark blue flesh beneath.
Would it arrive in time? Probably not. But it was far closer than any of Ku'senai's.
They would have to see just how capable these fancy puck weapons were.
Selene felt tremendous trepidation. Evo must've done his part and made her human feelings work even during her Zykra form... She sort of regretted that decision now. But she'd have to deal with it.
Based on what Ku'senai had just shown her mentally—her forces were already engaged with the Protectorate. There was no reason for her to wait for her slow bug ass. The quickest way to get over her fears was to face them now.
Selene broke out into a sprint and left the slow entourage of powerful Zykra behind.
It was time for her to make her debut. And show the Protectorate the one and only human Zykra queen.