The hivemind is conquering for me?

Shortly after Talia followed Janine out of Sophia’s booth, Gabrielle turned to Kathrine and asked. ”That Sepiida used to work for your mercenary company? Which one? If it’s the scythes then her behaviour would make a lot of sense.”

Kathrine looked away embarrassed that her mercenaries had developed a reputation. Especially after they were recently interviewed for their ’heroics’ on Alexandria. Kathrine then felt a knot in her stomach, remembering how some of her men sacrificed themselves for nothing after Apollo told her the truth. She may be a turncoat, but it still stung a little.

”Still though, that was an impressive, if slightly treasonous display. I will let it slide to help the investigation proceed smoothly.” Gabrielle said magnanimously. Sophia put on a fake smile towards the investigator. Despite her hair being purple like Apollo’s, Sophia had a really bad feeling about the woman and wanted her gone, the sooner the better.

”Thank you Investigator, please take a seat.” Sophia said as she moved to sit down, crossing her legs accidentally seductively as she sat down. Gabrielle frowned as she looked around the room, especially at Kathrine and Valerica.

”Lady Sophia. I was wondering if I could conduct my investigation of the Archon Apollo without the Lady Hyllus’ present. I have already spoken to both of them on the matter of the Archon and I would like to see if your information on the man is similar.”

Sophia raised her eyebrow curiously at the woman while Valerica furrowed hers. ”Gabrielle, what are you doing? Do you think my baby is up to something nefarious? I can guarantee on my family’s name that is not the case for soon it will be his once my friend in Olympus greenlights the adoption of a noble into another house.”

Gabrielle was at the end of her tether with this old hag. ’If she mentions anything about MY BABY being hers again, I will cull her shitty noble bloodline.’ She maintained her professionalism however and turned to Valerica.

”Actually, no. I actually believe Apollo Lambdason to be an upstanding citizen. However, I am simply doing my job.” She lied. She already knew her baby practiced outlawed science from Hailey, but she could care less about that. Besides, the queen accidentally pardoned him for that crime if Hailey’s verbatim was actually correct, so she would exploit that to help him in the future.

”My friends, it’s fine. I am sure our talks won’t get out of hand. Go to the bar and get a drink, I am sure this won’t take long.” Sophia said to the two Hyllus’, which prompted them to turn and leave, but not before Kathrine gave Sophia a knowing look.

Kathrine told Sophia almost everything she knew about Gabrielle. About how she worked for the Royal family. However, she did seemingly forget to tell Sophia about how Hailey fit into everything, but it was not that big of a deal as her niece did not even know what was going on.

After Kathrine and Valerica left, Gabrielle took a seat opposite Sophia. The two stared at each other for a moment, seemingly sizing each other up. After a short silence, Sophia smiled and suggested. ”How about a drink? Since we are talking about Apollo, why don’t we drink his favourite whiskey?”

Gabrielle smiled softly. ”Sure, just one seems appropriate.” On the inside however, she was undergoing a whirl of emotions, excited to learn about her son’s palette. After Sophia poured the drinks, she leant over and placed the glass in front of Gabrielle.

Gabrielle then picked up the glass and brought it up a few inches away from her nose and took a sniff, enjoying the scent before drinking. It was smooth with a fruity note, not what she expected, but she enjoyed it.

”Another?” Sophia asked, but Gabrielle shook her head. ”Very well. Since you have returned with Kathrine Hyllus’ blessing like I asked, please feel free to ask your questions. Be warned though, I am in my right not to answer any I choose.”

Gabrielle sighed softly, expecting this from a gang boss. ”Fine. I suppose I will start from the beginning. How did you meet Apollo Lambdason? My sources tell me that you claim he was engaged to you when he was born, but I do not currently believe that statement.”

Sophia smiled. It was time to lie once more, though with a lot of truth mixed in thanks to being a hive bioform. ”That is a lie, I will admit it. But it was one to help further his position as Archon of the fallen world. My family were present on Apollo-minor the day the swarm invaded. We were sightseeing in the outer-rim, not at all expecting to become a part of an alien invasion. Rich people problems am I right?

Anyways, as we were retreating though the city, we heard a baby crying. It seemed that it had been abandoned during the attack. My mother, the caring individual she is, could not just leave the baby there and took him with us.”

Gabrielle was forcing her eyes to not shed tears. She couldn’t. Not now. ”How did you- I mean, usually in such events, emergency shuttles are for military personnel only, how did your family get permission to leave with an unknown infant?”

This was one of the biggest regrets in Gabrielle’s life. She was delirious after just giving birth and thought hiding her baby was the best chance at him living. She was of course right thanks to Sophia’s family, but did she herself not foresee an alternative that could have got her baby off world with her instead?

”We had a few private ships with us. Only enough for our family and its guards though. An exception of course was a baby. They don’t take up that much room after all. Getting through the blockade of the swarm was easy as the planetary defence force had garnered most of the attention and our FTL drives were fast. Almost immediately after we entered space, we were gone. All of us safe.”

There were a few things Sophia lied about, Gabrielle was trained to weed out lies, but the majority was true. Her family saved her son. The only human born on the fallen world Apollo-minor.

Gabrielle suddenly pulled out a data pad from somewhere in her battle armour and began typing something, muttering to herself as she did so. ”Apollo’s status of being an Archon, though seemingly fabricated at first, does hold true. Being born on the planet means he is the last of its people, making it his, by claim...”

Gabrielle then put her pad down for a moment and with a deadpan expression asked. ”Tell me how you came to be Apollo’s Fiancée then?” A blush crept upon Sophia’s face as though remembering something sweet.

”That one is simple. My mother decided I would be his Fiancée the moment we found out about Apollo’s powers. Apollo developed his powers much earlier than most, so before sending him off to his teacher, we decided tying ourselves to such a talent was beneficial. Of course, I love him to pieces. The engagement was not just a contract. When he is deep inside of me it’s like our souls merge and become one giant existence of pleasure with the sole purpose of-”

”Please stop!” Gabrielle said hastily. She already had trouble coping with the thought of Hailey having dirty pictures of her baby and the fact he is currently in an unknown location with the pervert that took them. She did not want to think about this woman with her precious little baby. ’He should be mine! I mean- he is my son, I don’t want to hear about that!’

”Ahem.” Gabrielle cleared her throat after Sophia apologised for going a tad too much into detail. ”So, this teacher. Jewel I believe her name is correct? Do you know anything about her?”

Sophia sat back in her chair hearing this. The same pretty smile plastered on her face. A silence once more took over the room. Gabrielle waited a moment, but guessed it was a question Sophia did not want to answer.

She was about to move on, but just then Sophia spoke up. ”You won’t find anything on Jewel. There are factions outside of the core worlds your empire is simply not aware of. Jewel is powerful and elusive. A word of warning, don’t go looking for her, it won’t end well for you.”

Gabrielle narrowed her eyes a moment before they softened. Sophia was not threatening her. She was stating a fact. Gabrielle had been stationed in the outer rim for a few years early in her career and she heard nothing about any ’factions.’

”I know this is not about Apollo, but sate my curiosity for a moment, what are these factions you speak of?” Gabrielle asked curiously. Sophia had just opened her mouth to begin speaking when the door of the room suddenly opened and Gabrielle’s instincts went off, passively activating her Psionic ability.

It activated for a mere second before she was suddenly pacified. She was shocked as she looked over to the brown skinned woman standing in the doorway. Who upon noticing Gabrielle said.

”Oh? So you were the powerful presence I sensed. Curious... Also Hey Soph, I am back.”