The hivemind is conquering for me?

After watching the Archon and his entourage ascend from her landing zone, Milanna sighed deeply. She knew what she had done was extremely petty. ’I mean, he didn’t know I was in love with her first!’ She thought to herself before looking over to her desk.

A smile bloomed on her face as she simply decided to act like the event never happened and could now call her princess! She wasted no time now and activated the crystal as she sat down.

Mere moments later, the beautiful face of her princess graced her presence once more. ”Hello Hailey, how are you doing?” She said overly giddy. Hailey remained emotionless as she stared at Milanna.

”I assume you have news for me, I am currently in faculty orientation and although my station allows it, I don’t want to be rude.” Hailey said with a mild sharpness on tip of her tongue, warning Milanna that this better not be a waste of her time.

”Oh, Sorry Hailey. I won’t keep you long. I am just letting you know that Archon Apollo stopped by to refuel his ship.” Milanna said, getting yet another kick in the gut as the side of Hailey’s lips broke her Icey façade for a moment in excitement.

”I see. Thank you for informing me Milanna. I appreciate you doing this for me. By the way, did you have a chance to talk to Apollo? Did he seem healthy to you? And, um. Did... Did he mention me at all?” Milanna wanted to die in that moment.

Hailey’s eyes became so cute and vulnerable at that moment, she secretly wished she could pluck them out and keep them in a jar so she could stare into them in her free time. With her inner thoughts staying just that, she replied. ”No, the Archon was only briefly here. A simple greeting and that was it. And for his health? He seemed healthy. Very tall, back straight, nothing that would indicate illness.”

”I see. That’s good. Thank you Milanna, now I have to go.” Hailey then cut off the call, leaving Milanna alone in her office with a bittersweet feeling. Her Princess’ thanks meant everything to her, but she was thanking her over the location of a man...

She needed to come up with a plan to convince Hailey to fall in love with her soon... And from Hailey’s current state, very soon.

…

After Hailey put away her communication crystal and closed her thanks thanking the universe that Apollo had seemed to cure himself of his decay. It had been eating away at her even though he said he would be fine. After the brief relief, she joined up with the rest of the new staff in the orientation. She had of course studied here at the college before, but a few things have changed since then.

Such as the newly built wing the group had just entered. The deputy headteacher then explained the new addition. ” Roughly two years ago, we received a grant that allowed us to begin... Harbouring exotic lifeforms so we might better understand them.”

As the group walked in, it was almost like a zoo, only most of the creatures were Psionic in nature and kept in serious confinement conditions. As Hailey was walking past. A fist about the size of her torso smashed up against the transparent material that acted as a viewing station.

Some around her flinched back in shock, but Hailey simply looked up at the Drakoshi with a deadpan expression as it screamed to her in a very broken Spartari accent. ”You let me out! This no way to exist! Let me die In battle!”

Hailey remained calm as the thing screeched at her and only smiled with a smug satisfaction when the grey skinned waste of life began coughing as a sleeping agent began pouring into its room.

Hailey turned to the deputy head after the beast began snoring and said with a mild impressive tone. ”You managed to capture a warlord alive? That is genuinely impressive, they usually fight to the death, and beyond that as I’ve seen one continue to act like nothing was wrong with its head blown off for a good five minutes.”

Suddenly, just as the deputy head was about to reply, a creepy laughter emerged as a weaselly man appeared behind the group. ”A-he-he-he-he-he-heee~ You should have seen ol’ Grimshank here when he was brought in. He was more chains than flesh. Inside and out. Apparently a whole battalion of Phalanx was lost in the pursuit of understanding our foe better. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten!”

It was obvious that whoever this man was, his patriot act was full of shit. A moment later, the deputy head walked over to the man and stated. ”Everyone, this is your co-worker Yacob Petrotis of the Petrotis noble lineage. He is the one in charge of our exotic guests.”

”Calling them guests implies they are here on their own terms my dear. He-he-he~ No, our little test subjects are our enemies. Aliens. Powerful creatures that with great studying, we will learn our foes’ weakness and prove once and for all why we humans of the great empire of Spartari are to become the rulers of the universe!”

”...”

”So what creatures do you have here?” A voice from the back of the group asked, causing the man to smile. ”Oh? Why all our enemies of course. Of the feral, animalistic variety and the so called ’civilised’ variety. If you can name an enemy of ours or a threat we know of, it is most likely here.”

As the group began naming off random species’ in curiosity, Hailey wondered for a moment. She knew of many great threats to Spartari, but only one had caused so much damage to the ones close to her in her life.

”What about the swarm?” She asked curiously, causing Yacob to turn her attention to her. ”Hmm, I feel like I recognise you miss... No bother. The enemy of the Galactic north... Sadly, I’m afraid to say we do not have any specimens alive in our little collection. Whenever we capture one of those big bugs, even if we fully restrain them so they are incapable of movement, or put them into a coma, they always die on the voyage. It is tedious, but they are just locusts eating away at the edge of our field. We will deal with them when the time is right.”

Hailey frowned at the man’s outlook towards the Swarm. Many of Spartari’s civilians do see the swarm as what Yacob just described. Locust. A pest. Not worth their time. Hailey knew differently. They destroyed entire worlds. Ripped families apart.

However, judging what Gabrielle recently went through on Orollo, She suspected a change was coming in the north. It felt like just a matter of time until the public’s opinion switched.

Hailey was pulled out of her thoughts though by the deputy headteacher saying. ”Ok everyone, next up the Library. I ask though you are all respected teachers who know better, to keep your voices down. Students will be studying inside.”

As the new teachers entered the library, some of them were stunned by the sheer volume of the multiple floors of just bookshelves everywhere, while the majority had a look of nostalgia on their faces. Of their time absorbing all the knowledge they could while they were students here

”Now as teachers, you have access to all floors except the restricted section at the very top of the library.” A member of the group that was looking up the floors noticed a crowd multiple floors up. ”What is going on up there?” He asked, causing the Deputy head to frown. ”Ugh, I am going to kill these students. Come on, I might as well show you.”

As the deputy headteacher began climbing a set of stairs she began. ”We currently have a special guest with us at the college. A Praetorian by the name of Nerissa. No one but the headmaster really knows why she is here, but I have been told she is simply waiting for someone.”

A string of murmurs broke out between the teachers while Hailey smiled. She enjoyed the Praetorians’ company, her lack of words made her presence not feel forced. She only really talked to Apollo, but they did exchange pleasantries here and there in the short time she helped care for him during his Psionic decay.

After climbing multiple stories, those that were not enrolled in the college in the past secretly grumbling about the stairs not all being in the same location causing those familiar to laugh, the group finally made it to the floor with all the hubbub.

Once the deputy head scared off all the Students with threats of using forbidden powers such as genital distortion and sudden onset endometritis, She flicked her hair back and pointed to the golden armour clad warrior flipping through books with a purple haired woman next to her.

The teachers were fascinated and observed what the Praetorian was reading. The title of the book was in a language not known to current Spartari, so they turned to the woman next to the praetorian, for if she was allowed to be next to her, she must be equally impressive.

Life tends to disappoint though, as the woman was reading a book called. ’How to be a good mommy.’