The hivemind is conquering for me?

Despite what Willow just said, I gave her a squeeze and said. ”Oh wow. Hey guys. So glad you are ok, what are the odds of this happening?”

Rhea then walked forward and also gave me a quick hug, we were friends after all. ”Apollo, seriously, the fuck are you doing here? Did you sign up with the military? Why are you escorted by a Praetorian, speaking of. Praetorian, thank you for coming to our aid. Are you a part of the Praetorian squad present on the planet?”

Before I answered Rhea, Nerissa spoke first. ”No, I was not aware of others of my order here. I am here simply as a friend of Apollo.”

Those nearby heard that and began murmuring while looking at me. I however, realised now probably wasn’t the best time for chit chat as far away from the ridge I could still see remnants of Drakoshi watching us.

”Long story short, Serena Hyllus told us to come help some elites after we came in via drop pod. We should talk once we are safe.”

”Great aunt Serena? What is- No, you are right.” Rhea then turned away from me. Conrad. Grab everything we can, Zack, can you carry our dead back?”

The two surviving knights gave a Salute before moving their mechs.

”Everyone else. Get your shit and we need to go. The killing of war heroes won’t have them on the run for long, they will see it as a challenge.”

Rhea then put on her helmet and turned back to us. ”We have a safe way through the Gravity spike, but judging from what I just saw, you won’t have a problem with it. Just follow us anyway back to base. And Willow? Get off him.”

”Awww~” Willow said and rubbed my chest plate before putting on her helmet and walking away to collect her things.

The picking up of their items didn’t take long as there was barely anything left. I gave Nerissa a look and she nodded. If we didn’t arrive when we did, my step daughter, to be, would be dead...

...

The trek back to their base took nearly two hours. All the while no one uttered a sound. Every time I looked round Willow gave me an excited wave, but other than that, everyone seemed sombre. Looking towards the Knight that was carrying the fallen, at least nine members of their squad had died. And that was just at the ridge, who knows how many more they lost.

Onyx Sapphire And Sithrik still had not returned, but I knew they were fine. Onyx was probably really letting loose, though I doubt she would be using her other form.

Upon arriving at the base, I noticed the base itself was a massive fort structure with bunkers lining the perimeter and very, very big guns lining pretty much everything.

As we entered, those nearby stopped what they were doing and turned to us. Eyes were wide and I heard whispers about so many lost. As we walked down the path to the centre of the base, a man wearing Centurion attire stood in our path waiting for us.

His eyes glared over everyone present, going wide upon Seeing Nerissa and narrowing upon seeing me. His attention then turned towards Rhea as we got closer and spoke. ”A thousand Victories.” He saluted and the squad saluted back and he then asked.

”Commander Hyllus, Report.”

”All Weapon payloads demolished. The Drakoshi had very little firepower left and mostly chased us with melee weapons. We would have gotten away, but three silver pauldrons kept on calling in reinforcements. We continued to bleed losses on our retreat until we made it to the fallback ridge, at which point we were certain we were making our last stand. Until Psionic elites turned up to help and killed the silver pauldrons, allowing us a chance to finally fall back.”

Rhea then turned and pointed to Nerissa and I at which point I simply waved at the guy in charge.

The man then hummed and walked towards us. I got ready to say hello, but the man ignored me and spoke directly to Nerissa.

”Praetorian. Thank you for aiding my squad and killing our enemies. Have you branched off from the other Praetorian squad? Last I heard, they were four hundred miles away. However, I must state, although you are welcome here, your... Ally, is not. This is a classified base and only those with official authorisation are allowed on site.

He then turned to me. ”Forgive me, this isn’t personal, its orders. I am going to have to ask you to leave the base and return to whatever command you are under.”

Rhea looked shocked and Willow began to visibly vibrate in anger upon hearing that. The others present also looked surprised, the man had just saved their lives after all and was now being told to leave?

I however, had no problem with this. And was about to leave with no hassle, rules were rules after all, but as I turned, Nerissa grabbed my shoulder and pinned me in place.

”Centurion Cockburn, First of all let me state, I killed none of the silver pauldrons. My ally and his auxiliary here killed all three. And said ally is a Sentinel. Are you telling me you will not allow a sentinel in your base?”

Cockburn lost all the colour in his face as he turned to me. I was clueless as to what was happening, but the man bowed in a perfect ninety degrees before yelling for all to hear. ”Forgive me, I was not aware of your Sentinel status. Of course you are welcome in the base. You are free to use my accommodations for as long as you stay. And thank you for saving my Commander Hyllus’s squad.”

I looked around, everyone was looking at me weird now... ”Oh, um no problem. I won’t need your accommodations, I don’t think I will be here for long. Please, just go about your business. Nerissa, a word?”

I ignored the man’s salute before he went back to doing what he was doing as I pulled Nerissa to the side. ”So what’s a Sentinel and why am I one?”

...

After Nerissa told me what she had done and why, and more importantly why she kept it a secret till now, it being for her own satisfaction, I wasn’t mad.

Being a sentinel was apparently a big deal. So it was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one, especially since it gave me zero extra responsibilities for more status than my fallen Archon position gave.

Also ’Sentinel Apollo’ had a nice ring to it, even though it didn’t alliterate.

Shortly after I finished talking to Nerissa, the others were dismissed by their commander. I saw Rhea and Willow waiting for me off to the side and knew we needed a catchup. ”Ness, can you make contact with the rest of our group on where we are to meet up? I’m going to go talk to them.”

Nerissa nodded and began working on it immediately through her suit. I also took the moment to send the recall order to Onyx and Sapphire, as for Sithrik, I just hoped she was still with them so she knew where to go.

I then retracted my armour back into my arm, grabbing my minigun and the drum mags as I did so as they still were not fully integrated before walking over to Rhea and Willow. Getting a good look at them in the process

Not much had changed since the last time I saw the two of them. But compared to how I last saw them there was a striking difference.

Rhea was wearing a form fitting red gold and black complex looking armour with plated shoulders She wore very little leg armour, but I assumed that was for mobility considering she had the same combat technique as her mother and Grandmother, but it made her armour look more like a battle skirt.

She still looked radiantly beautiful at 6ft with her well defined nose, sharp jawline and red wavy hair, although that was a little messy right now. It didn’t surprise me though, she was a Hyllus and from what I had seen, all the Hyllus women were beautiful.

Willow was also stunning though I would admit. She was 5ft4 with her pink hair, that was longer than the last time I saw it. Her narrow light brown eyes, with her small nose, arched eyebrows and full lips were still a pleasant sight to behold. The only thing I noticed that was different is that she was a lot more outgoing now compared to when we first met when she seemed a little shy...

’Except for the last day when she started calling me her future boyfriend...’

Her armour was much simpler than Rhea’s though. A shining silver colour with black under armour and that lacked protection around her joints. It was also an armour meant for speed and manoeuvrability unlike my own which was meant to absorb damage.

I approached the duo with a smile on my face and stopped before them. ” So apart from what just happened, let’s start again in this environment. Hey, how have you been?”