A Joytoy’s Journey to become a Hive-Queen [A SCS Fanfic]

Chapter 73 – What a day to be a Hive-Mind

“I can imagine that being a Samurai brings quite a lot of stress with it. Is there any advice you give your Samurai to help deal with that?”

“Informative: This unit is tasked with assisting the attendant Samurai, sometimes beyond the core prerogative. It is an important aspect of this unit’s core function. To that end, this unit believes that a proper balance between combat and personal life is mandatory.”

“Are there any ways you help with achieving that? Are there any specific aspects you would focus on?”

“Informative: This unit cannot give standard parameters, as the specific approach changes from Vanguard to Vanguard. In many cases the solution is simple and direct, requiring the Vanguard to simply take some time off. In some cases, however, it might require a more personalised approach according to the Vanguard’s personal preferences. Statistically that often expresses itself as the need for platonic or romantic connections with friends, lovers, or family.

Informative: This last approach is most often advised no matter the circumstances.”

“Are there any situations in which that isn’t feasible? I can very well imagine that there are some Samurai who have little interest in such things, considering how eccentric some personalities are.”

“Affirmative: Not all Vanguard have platonic or romantic relationships to rely on.

Informative: In such cases, this unit advocates for the selection and pursuit of a hobby of some kind. The specifics of said hobby vary wildly, but should, amongst other parameters, consist of time spent peacefully.”

“That sounds reasonable. What do you do in the worst case scenarios? When neither of that is applicable?”

“Informative: Worst case scenarios are quite frequent and widespread. Statistically, more than half of the Vanguard face such a situation in the first six months upon their selection. A fourth within the first month. Nearly ten percent within the first week.

Informative: This unit believes that the best way to deal with such a situation is the ANNIHILATION OF THE ALIEN SCUM!”

  -  Interview between Dr. Steven Johanson and OMYCRON, AI of the Samurai ‘Jericho’, 2057

Like a flood we broke into the outer edges of the inner circle. Antithesis rushed over, a horde of alien bodies trying to stop our advance. Big and small models were met with a wall of Hard-Light shields, courtesy of our Shield Carriers. War Drones and Hatchlings rained down fire upon the alien horde, obliterating the front lines with little difficulty.

This deep into the Hive the terrain had become treacherous, the antithesis not caring for human accessibility. The caves were far less flat, the ground often a ragged mess, most of the Hive biology climbing up rocky walls and steep inclines.

We did not care much for the hazardous terrain, our Hatchlings scaling the walls with ease. Now that they were upgraded with our esoteric materials catalogue, their claws were more than sufficient to dig into the rock, making traversal much, much easier.

Our War Drones formed the core of our combat lines, moving as one and laying down fire with their shoulder mounted Bile Spewers. With their three tails buried into the ground for stability, they presented a united front that made it hard for the antithesis to deal with.

One of the Silthens appeared deeper into the cave, surfacing just long enough to unleash a wave of potent toxins and clouds of nanite flesheaters. It was not enough to kill any alien, not even those nearby, but it was more than sufficient to sow chaos and to weaken the adversary.

With her task complete, the Silthen vanished once more into the safety of the underground, senses sharp for any bigger model trying to burrow closer. In her stead, the more combat focused Hatchlings jumped into the fray, many of the evolved ones that had already begun to specialise in close quarter combat.

With our new training they were a force to be reckoned with; even if they were not as durable as the Queen’s Guard, they most certainly could keep up in destructive force. 

A small delegation of Hatchlings started focusing on the bigger models, specifically the model Sixes, raining down hellfire on them with their new rifles. They could not kill the plants immediately, but the chaos that was added due to the sudden and focused attack was enough for the aliens to be unable to properly respond, which enabled our War Drones to shift their attack for a moment, decisively dealing with the leaders of the horde.

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Victory was imminent, swift and without any hesitation, but we did not push our advantage, forewarned by the Silthens nearby about the rumbling of the ground. Not long after a model Eight broke through the side of the cave, carrying with it another wave of new antithesis.

One of our Spotters jumped forwards, carefully staying behind our defensive formation. Boxes appeared around the little cat-like Hexclaw, and our points dropped for just a moment, before they were on the rise again.

We had decided that we needed some explosive additions to our arsenal, and since the Spotters were unable to utilise Chloe’s catalogues, we had obtained the Class I Single Use Esoteric Explosive Devices Catalogue for ourselves. It was sufficient for what we needed, which was to break open formations and lay down wide range area denial.

The Hatchlings picked them up, controlled by the whole, and soon the cave exploded with the sounds of multiple grenades, all of them carefully chosen to ensure that the xenos would be unable to move around properly. Some were frozen, some were doused in acid, some were trapped in expanding spray foam, others were lit ablaze by a substance that would not cling to our bodies.

It was the last straw, overwhelming the alien forces without any leadership in place. Limited to their swarming instincts, we could now easily decimate them in batches, dealing with one group after another with efficiency. The model Eight would be able to flee, but that was not much of a problem for Us, the only thing we had to be concerned about in that regard was the tunnel it left behind.

A tunnel we subsequently collapsed with the help of some of the explosives.

On the surface we observed the Hives below Us from the eyes of one of the Envoli Raptors. After our sudden change in approach, the Hive we were dealing with was starting to get overwhelmed. The other Hives nearby were so far not affected, which is why we had decided to send out the Feastmaster and her Reavers, together with some of our aerial units to sow some chaos.

One of Us was keeping in contact with the Family and the Samurai that were working on eradicating the Hive below Us, just to make sure that they knew what to expect. After our first foray into this new state of harmony, we had experimented a little bit, some of Us halfway emerging from the whole. Most of these were our non-combat drones, delegated to administrative tasks. It was not needed, really, we were more than capable of multitasking those things while we worked, but we wanted to know our limits and what we could use this new experience for.

It was no surprise that it was not as effective as doing things on our own, as a whole, with no degrees of separation, but that did not mean that this approach was without merit. People seemed less freaked out when someone a bit more distant to the harmony was conversing with them. It was very likely to do with the fact that we had not yet had much experience with being this in tune with ourselves.

Nevertheless, our Envoli drones began to start attacking the Hive next to our own, diving down and picking off any of the more dangerous models that appeared on the surface. In most cases that meant model Fifteens, but also included model Sixes, model Fives, any model Nine variants we could find, and the occasional model Eleven.

Those last ones were the hardest to deal with for the Raptors, while they could deal with them in a flock, most often the Glinthawks had to focus on them, and even then it was not a safe bet.

Sadly, not even our heightened unity changed much about that, it was not an issue of coordination with ourselves, and simply a result of the strengths and weaknesses of our drones and the antithesis models.

The Hive reacted to our sudden attack, something we had planned on, and a significant number of aliens were diverted towards the surface, just in time for the Feastmaster, her Reavers, and the Sabertooths to engage them.

Our Feastmaster had gotten as many upgrades as we could cram into her body, from Hard-Light emitters, to more resilient armor, small kinetic weapons, as well as a number of sensory enhancements that would make her job a lot easier. The biggest upgrade was a sort of biological railgun that she could use to decisively kill models up to the high teens, if she got the time to aim properly. This way, she and her squad were no longer forced to always engage in close quarters, making picking off stragglers so much easier.

Our Vultures moved in, picking up as much of the biomass as they could to return to the Corvette. Others deposited more of our forces nearby, enabling a continuous battle without the risk of losing too many bodies.

Not that we were without losses. The Medical Corp was nearby, moving between our front and the Headquarters as fast as the Juggernaut could take them, ensuring that we could handle as many injuries as possible. We had already decided that the first thing we would get after the Hive-Queen was done with her body modifications would be another set of medical drones. It would move Us closer to our limit, but it would definitely be worth it.

To that extent we had already planned on not replenishing certain drones if we could help it, to ensure we had the leeway we needed to make that a possibility.

From up high we kept an eye on Jenna. So far we had left her mostly to her devices, she was capable enough to do the job she had chosen to do. After our discussions about spending points this morning, she had shifted her approach. Where before she had sat on the upper levels of her fortress, raining down death with her bow, she had now delegated combat almost entirely to her Sentinels, opting to obtain more capable turret emplacements instead.

It left her free to pursue other tasks, which included more logistics focused support, as well as building out the fortress and the headquarters. The progress was slow, after querying Evelyn we found out that that was because of material constraints.

Jenna had overcome a part of that in an ingenious way. While she did not have the raw materials for her mechanical Sentinels, we did have more biomass than even we knew what to do with, and so she had started investing in hybrid forces, utilising partly biological technology.

The catalogue she had gotten for that was a strange one, from the looks of things. The designs it produced were a lot more aesthetically pleasing than our Hexclaws, and obviously much more focused on direct resilience than our own approach.

The resulting Sentinels looked a lot more lifelike, while still remaining mechanical soldiers. And the same went for her infrastructure.

It made her Fortress look a bit odd, especially when it opened and released the Legion Enforcer that so far had acted as the core of the installation. We were not quite sure what she had planned, but considering the movement of her troops, she had some idea of what she was doing.

Our Wing-Alpha, the voice who had chosen the name Kaori, opted to set one of the Vultures aside to help her with biomass gathering, sending her the surplus that we could make no use of in the immediacy.

While all of that was happening, the Hive-Queen was back at the Corvette, preparing to obtain her body modifications. After our talk with Chloe, we had decided upon getting them now. Chloe and Bobby were correct, we really had no reason not to do so, and having them later might be exactly what we would need.

Leaving her to her devices, we returned our attention back to the fight at the front, our Warleader just deciding upon our new course of action. With silent jubilation we once more dove into the fray, a flood of bodies crushing the antithesis forces in front of Us, leaving only destruction in our wake.

What a nice day to be a Hive-Mind.

I rubbed my eyes as I made my way to the broodmother room. Being this deeply immersed in the chorus was quite the experience. Not necessarily a bad one, really. It was quite comfortable in a way. But it was also a very stark contrast to what I was used to, and that made me want to focus on myself for a little while.

Emerging from it individually was a bit different than it had been up until now. With the rest of Us in harmony, it made listening to them far less coherent on the surface. Not that I had any issues understanding what they were doing, but, considering that they were paying attention to hundreds of things at the same time, it made trying to parse it a bit more confusing. Others probably wouldn’t understand a word of what we were talking about.

Personally, I still wasn’t entirely certain if I should go through with the plan to get the body mods. I wanted them, really, but there was still that nagging feeling that made me hesitant. Ever since the question about humanity was raised because of it, I felt much the same way as I had before we showed Chloe and Jenna what being a Hive-Mind was like.

The fact that that had turned out to be a woefully incomplete understanding didn’t help either. In a way I felt a bit overwhelmed at the sudden and explosive growth we experienced in that regard. To know what it really meant to be a Hive-Mind, it was a lot different from what I originally expected.

Actually, what had I expected? The chorus itself had been a bit of a strange experience, and it had been a bit jarring, but now that I thought about it, I couldn’t remember actually seriously contemplating what things would be like later down the line. Or that things could change and evolve at all.

It just… was, I guess. The chorus was there and it worked the way we knew it. We hadn’t much considered that that might change.

Chloe was right, getting the body mods shouldn’t change me, if becoming a Hive-Mind didn’t already. Well, it changed me, of course, that was part of the point, but not in the ways I was fretting over. So there really wasn’t a reason to worry. Then again, as was the case with so many things, some fears didn’t just vanish just because you had a rational explanation at hand.

With a sigh I shook my head. Junior was right, if things didn’t go the way we wanted to, getting my old body back wouldn’t be that hard to do. Some points, some time, and we could reverse the process. It wouldn’t technically be my old body, but it would be a perfect copy of how things had been before the change, and that was more than good enough for me to feel calmed by the idea.

Which… might be a bit strange. As far as we knew, the Hive-Mind process was irreversible, yet somehow that didn’t bother Us as much. Not being able to reverse that just didn’t seem to matter at all, which in a way should be rather alarming. It changed our mind, in some strange ways, and that was typically a much more terrifying thought than a change in body would be.

I was by far not touchy on the idea of cybernetics, for example. Hell, I’d even played with the idea of maybe trying to get some cybernetics to replace some bits at some point. Sure, that was mostly wishful thinking, no way could I afford quality augs before I became a Samurai, but the thought remained.

But I was kind of terrified of my mind changing by excessive implants, or maybe even a dependency on the mesh or whatever other bullshit might happen. Yet, the Hive-Mind upgrade hadn’t really elicited that kind of reaction, even though it was much more intensive.

This worrying wasn’t helping at all. We had decided that we would go through with it, and so I would. Even if only to get off our asses and start going into the direction we had set for ourselves.

Deciding that I wanted to take a moment for myself, if only to calm my nerves, I walked through the broodmother room and into the pool room. Keity was already waiting for me, helping me undress before I settled myself into the hot water.

This was going to be an extensive change for me. Originally I only wanted some minor body mods, but after learning about the whole shapeshifting thing, things had quickly started to balloon quite heavily. By this point I would be replacing pretty much my entire body.

Pushing my worries aside, I closed my eyes and simply enjoyed the feeling of the hot water, calming me down quite significantly. It’s only been a couple of days since I became a Samurai, yet so much has changed already. And soon things would change even more. It still felt a bit surreal to no longer need to worry about so many of the things that had kept me up at night for the past few years.

Not to mention all the things I had kind of become numb to.

I still wasn’t quite sure what to do with my life now, though. Junior had said that my wish to remain a Joytoy didn’t make much sense in the grand scheme of things. I didn’t need the money any more, and, really, I could do whatever the hell I wanted. I had Chloe as my girlfriend, maybe Jenna would join eventually, so I couldn’t even argue that I couldn’t get my libido taken care of otherwise. Not that that would be a worry once my body mods were done in any case.

With all that said, though, there was some part of me that still wanted to continue. For so long I wanted to change the life of the Joytoys, to make the job into something they could be proud of. Something I would enjoy.

Not that I didn't enjoy it up until now, but there was a difference there, and now that I could do all that, stopping felt like a complete non sequitur. I could fulfil all my wishes, why would I decide to do something else now?

Another reason were the other Joytoys. I didn’t want to leave them behind, even if I could still easily keep an eye on things. Maybe it was a stupid notion, but I did feel responsible. So, yeah, I would carry on.

Outside of that, though? I really wasn’t sure what life would bring. Too many things were still in flux, the redlight district, the gangs, the department that I was planning to create, I wasn’t even sure what I would do when we were done here. I was free to do whatever, but I was missing some direction in my life. The well known routine was gone, and it made me feel a bit lost.

Maybe there were other projects I could tackle? We could rebuild the redlight district entirely, fix the old and broken buildings, maybe help the undercity more directly, make sure people were safe and cared for. 

Maybe we should think bigger? If we could get the Inner City to takes Us seriously and to actually invest in the Outer City some more, that could go a long way to rebuilding. On the flip side, we really didn’t want to deal with the Inner City folk, nor the bullshit they would inevitably try to push for.

Then there were the Hives we were dealing with. I couldn’t remember who had told Us, but someone had said that the Family wanted to rebuild the area, make sure xenos couldn’t nest there again. Once we had time to deal with the whole limiter thing, that would certainly be something we could take care of, or at least help with.

If they wanted to put down a fortress that might be more of a Jenna thing to deal with, but if they wanted to just keep an eye on the place we could totally make that happen. With all the flora around, we could even try and make our own biomass farm out of it. Not that we were lacking in biomass, but we wouldn’t always have aliens to munch on, and really, we didn’t want to raid the surrounding wildlife too much either.

Earth had precious little flora and fauna left as it was. We didn’t want to add to that.

I was interrupted in my thoughts, when I heard the door open. Opening my eyes I turned, finding Jenna walking over with a smile.

“Hey there,” she said softly in greeting.

“Hey. Taking a break?” I replied, giving her a smile of my own.

“In a manner of speaking. Right now there is little I can help with, I’m just waiting for my forward base to finish replenishing itself. And since you wanted to get your body mods, I thought maybe I can keep you company a bit.”

“That would be appreciated, yeah. I saw what you did with your things, quite a fascinating idea with the biomechanical Sentinels.”

She chuckled, then let Keity help her undress, before she joined me in the pool. “Yeah, I should have thought about that earlier. They’re by far not as efficient or powerful as you are, but it should help with the resource constrictions. I do have some plans to solve that issue in the future, but that’s still a little ways away.”

“Oh?” I asked, curious what she had planned.

“Cleopatra mentioned asteroid mining. There are a lot of resources in space that haven’t been tapped into yet. But it will take some time to get the tech to get there, and then even more time until the first transport would get back. I even thought of maybe building a space station, once I’m advanced enough to do that.”

“You think big, huh,” I said with a small grin. “But big is good. Any idea what you’d need for that?”

She thought for a moment, before waving her hand so and so. “I could technically do it at Class II, but that’d be 250 grand at the very minimum, just to get started, not including all the doodads I would need for it. If I do this, I have to do it at scale for it to make any sense. And that is costly. Class III would be better, since I then can start teleporting the stuff back reliably and cheaply.”

“Damn. That’s a lot of points.”

“I’m hoping I can get started after this expedition. I’m already sitting at well over a hundred k, so maybe I’ll have enough once I’m done. Unlikely, since I want to finish upgrading the Corvette, but it would be pretty cool if I could get started already.”

I nodded at that, having resources like that would indeed be helpful. It did beg the question, though. “Why space? Couldn’t you find some resources here?”

“Oh, I could. But, believe it or not, it’s actually easier to do it from space. Most of Earth’s mineral deposits have already been exploited, and those that haven’t are nearly always already in the hands of some corp or another. I’m not going to start working with them, and I’m also not going to just take it away from them. Space needs a steep upfront cost to get the whole process going, but afterwards it’s pretty hands off, and it can be scaled as much as I would want to. There are already some Samurai who have a similar approach, even if they are in the minority.”

I laughed. “I never even thought about that. So, you're gonna become a miner then?” I asked with a smirk, before my expression turned a bit more thoughtful. “I’m not quite sure yet what I want to do after all this. Even if I continue to work as a Joytoy, I won’t have the same schedule as I did before, and I have never really thought about what I want to do outside of that. Being a Joytoy is kind of the only thing I ever did or wanted.”

“I mean, it’s not like we’re in a rush, right? You can take your time to think about it. And I would bet that soon you’ll have your hands full trying to keep the gangs from imploding. So far things have kept quiet, but there is a lot of change happening in the redlight district, and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tries something, once they’ve had some time to adjust and consolidate.”

“Fair enough. Well, that’s in the future, anyways. For now we have to deal with the Hives. And my body mods.”

She gave me another warm smile, “I can keep you company for a while when you do that. You already know what you want?”

“Oh yeah, we’ve gone over that a couple of times. Just a bit anxious, is all. It’s going to be a massive change.”

“You’ll be fine, Sera. I doubt that getting a new body will change you too much.”

That made me giggle, “Chloe said the same thing.”

“See?” She gave me one of her teasing smirks.

“Yeah, yeah… Okay, Kaysa, what do I need? And how will all of this work?”

Kaysa activated my amulet and the nanite body formed next to me. “Very well. Let us begin with the basic method, before we go over what you will need to obtain. This will take a moment to get through.”

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