The hivemind is conquering for me?

After weeks of perpetual raids and skirmishes, today was the day. Yesterday as we were scouting the surroundings of the Drakoshi outpost we spotted something. A massive gap in their defences.

Without supply to meet their demand, the Vim generators had gone offline. The entire base was exposed. It was the time to wipe this section of the planet out.

The plan was simple. Everyone except myself had headed east. There they would act as an anchor. Fighting for as long as they could, drawing away as many Drakoshi as they could so my job could go smoother.

I was nervous though. Not because the plan had flaws. No. The plan itself was tactically sound. The main issue I currently had was that in my hand I was carrying a small sphere with contents inside that could kill me instantly if I damaged the casing.

Fortunately, with Astra coming more online with every piece of electronics we brought to it, we had managed to find out more information about the material and how to activate the Antimatter bombs.

The short and simple answer was that as long as it didn’t have contact with flesh, it wouldn’t begin its biological protective disintegration which would then lead to big kaboom. Fortunately once more, my armour didn’t count as skin despite being what it was. All the metals within its biomass were enough to not cause kaboom on contact.

Coming up to a lip in the terrain, I cleared my thoughts and looked around, making sure I was still in the clear. My plan now was simple.

At the other side of this lip was the outpost. I was going to use my legs at full power and torpedo myself hundreds of meters with them and a mix of my Gyrokinesis in the mix. Once inside I will drop the Antimatter bomb carefully onto the ground alongside a bundle of grenades before doing my best to peace the scene. Hopefully before A Drakoshi spots what I dropped. Though they would most likely just try to shoot me, which was the best case scenario in this instance.

The others would already be engaged by now, fighting to give me the best chance possible, so there was no chance I was chickening out now.

Still I could feel my heart racing. Wishing I still had a combat stim I took a big gulp of air before my legs muscles began to expand beyond normal human anatomy.

Taking a few more deep breaths I was soon ready and gave myself a nod.

Like a bullet I fired ahead with dangerous speed only to force myself to stop by applying enough Gyrokinesis to almost crush myself to prevent disaster.

I then scrambled to my feet, shielding the bomb behind my back before I hastily yelled with unintentional Psionic amplification.

”Don’t Shoot!”

In front of me were a few hundred Phalanx, all their weapons trained onto me. I was confused at what I was seeing as I began to look around. The Drakoshi were nowhere? Only Phalanx and Spartari forces?

”But they were here yesterday? Where did they go?” I muttered, dazed by the situation.

”Identify or you will be shot!” I heard yelled back at me and I suddenly came to.

”Sentinel Apollo Lambdason. Go find someone in charge and tell them I am here. I will wait.”

Half of the forces present instantly lowered their weapons while the other half looked at those breaking protocol.

”It is him!” I heard a voice silently proclaim.

”I saw that armour on the battlefield months ago!”

”Rumours from up high is he has been fighting the Drakoshi solo for months. It’s why we have had no more attacks apart from a few light skirmishes.”

”It can’t be. He would be dead by now.”

The Phalanx began to murmur amongst themselves, only a few of the stricter ones keeping their weapons pointed at me.

I fortunately didn’t have to wait for long until I saw a duo of familiar faces. ”Baldwin. Cockburn. Good to see the two of you are still alive and well.” I greeted first, removing my helmet.

The moment I was recognised, Cockburn shouted. ”Phalanx, disperse!”

Once the soldiers got back to their duties, Cockburn and Baldwin saluted before the former spoke, ”My lord. It is with great humility and respect that I stand before you today. Once more your actions of taking the fight to the Drakoshi have saved countless lives these last months. Our thanks is beyond words.”

Baldwin then followed up, ”The disruption of an entire clan by a select few Psionic elites has caused a snowball effect across the ranks. Because of you, we hit maximum defensive capabilities in no time, allowing soldiers to be sent to other fronts. My lord. It is without doubt, your actions in this small region of the planet have tipped the balance of power of this war heavily in our favour. How you managed to survive behind enemy lines as long as you did is beyond me, but know that if you like it or not, your name is now known as a war hero without dispute.”

I went to scratch the back of my head due to the compliments I was receiving only for me to shout, ”Oh shit!” As the orb in my right hand almost made contact with my head.

Instantly putting my helmet back on, I took a deep breath, prompting Cockburn to ask, ”Lord Sentinel? Is everything alright? What is that device in your hand?”

Looking at the orb, I decided it was best not to let them know what I was holding, for everyone’s sanity. Plus I didn’t want Spartari having these at all.

”Lochagos, Centurion. I must away! I shall be back shortly. With you securing this portion of the battlefield. I have to change some tactics to make sure you can continue to progress forward safely. Set up a command tent for me in the former outpost. I shall be back within the hour.”

The duo saluted without question as I then proceeded to turn back around and make a runner for the bunker. Making my way inside, I was greeted by Astra.

”Apollo? Why are you back so soon? Did something go wrong? You still have the antimatter bomb in your hand.”

Walking towards the armoury I explained. ”Phalanx took the region. The Drakoshi just left. Without resistance. Something is off. The Drakoshi love to fight too much to do a runner. Especially a whole clan. Oh and Astra. When I leave, power down everything you don’t need. We need to keep you as a hidden weapon until the end of the war. Otherwise Spartari will begin to scrap you for parts and I can’t have that.”

”Understood. Thank you for protecting me, Apollo.” Astra stated as I placed the orb back in its floating storage.

”No, thank you Astra. Because of you, my friends and I had a place to rest and recover in safety. I will repay you back a thousand fold. For now though, this might be goodbye for a while.”

”Goodbye, Apollo. I hope for your safety in your war to come.”

...

Once Apollo left Astra’s insides, she felt like something was missing knowing it would be a short while before registering another lifeform again.

Astra immediately began to do what Apollo specified. She began lowering her power output. Defences went offline alongside a myriad other systems. However, not everything was turned off...

As per Apollo’s previous orders. Onyx had been given second in command. Apollo specified to treat her orders as though they were his. So that is what Astra was doing. Everything powered down except the data banks to remain operational... And also, the engines.

...

As I arrived back at the former Drakoshi outpost, word must have gotten out to look for the sexy bug armour as the Phalanx gave me no hassle this time... Or it might be because I didn’t appear in front of them with the pace I had done so earlier.

Either way I managed to pass through the outpost unimpeded. At eight feet in my armour, I definitely stood out, but after the events of the first siege, I was used to the attention at this point. Mostly.

The Phalanx were in the middle of setting up another base, but even those in the middle of working took a moment to stop as I passed by. Thinking about Rhapso and the promise I had made, instead of running away from that awkward feeling of reverence. I attempted to embrace it.

I could feel my ego screaming at me to reign it in, but I had to admit it did feel a little bit nice to be recognised.

’Though being on the side-lines is still way better 100%’ I thought as my ego pummelled back my vanity.

As I continued my stroll, I then suddenly heard yelling. Not regular yelling of the Phalanx as they did their tasks. Rageful yelling. Curse words. Pure spite, hate and malice in every word. Following the sound over, it was no time before I found the command tent and entered like a screaming match wasn’t occurring.