'How long ago were the events that just transpired...?'
"TAKE COVER! TAKE COVER! T- HEY! GET OUT OF-"
'When was the last time I have actually taken the chance to just... Think.'
SPLAT!
Reddish green blood splatter of what was once a proud, tall noble Religiosa Hive Commander. It's proud decorations of a silver-like material, it's expensive blue fabric that drape over it's whole body. Are now dyed by an ugly, sticky, and boiling liquid.
'How long ago was it again...? I almost couldn't remember how long it was...'
What was once a mighty, 1.7m tall crawler of the planet of Nickel. A strong, courageous, honourable nymph. Groomed for greatness, wealth, and power.
'Everything just happened under one lunar cycle... One lunar cycle. However, it felt like a solar cycle have just passed, it felt like I have just been reborn out of a eternal slumber...'
Blessed by the beautiful claws of the Grand Queen Religiosa herself, upon his inauguration and appointment of Hive Commander.
'I could not believe how little time has passed since I was cycled out for rejuvenation...'
Known to be of the prestigious Clan of Je'i, the patron vassal and territorial owner of the planet Nickel. A hive that kept on bringing forth geniuses and prestigious vassals for the Grand Queen's Grand Royal Navy and Army.
'I...'
Was now dead, with a kinetic projectile hitting square into his head. Through the protective shell and carapace of the Religiosa's natural armour and artificial armour they have worn over it. Due to it's thickness, the kinetic projectile's in-built sensor was delayed. The moment it went pass the armour, and through the head of the Hive Commander—
'Should have been dead.'
It exploded.
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"Here's your favourite phideas! They're still warm to the tongue you know!? You have no idea how long I... Hey, Molt, are you listening?"
The dazed Religiosa didn't hear the catering and cackling sounds of an excited female voice, right beside him. His blank eyes continues to stare of the distance of the beautiful pastures of brown plant life being grown for the farmed meat. Beauty and peace was infringed into his mind, that he could not look away from it.
"Molt? Hey, Molt! Are you listening to me? Are you looking at that stupid female noble at the distance again?! Hey! Are you listening?!"
He often wonders why the saying of appreciating his surroundings was always a key point in the elder's advices. Especially in religion as well, he may not be a devoted follower of the Grand Queen, but he kept on hearing that phrase of appreciating what's in front of him...
"Molt! ARRRGGHHHH!!! I'M GOING TO EAT THIS IF YOU DON'T LISTEN TO ME!"
He never realised how much he has taken his surroundings for granted. He never truly realised, despite his social position in his kind, he is blessed with prosperity and peace by Religiosa's blessings. He never realised how fortunate he was and how blessed he is with good companionship and food to eat on the stool, he never realised how difficult truly it was to not take those for granted.
"..."
Seeing that he didn't even reacted, the female Religiosa got enough of his ignorance and was about swallow the whole phidea in one go— when multiple large sounds nearby of falling equipment, rocked the room. Together of course, of how she saw Molt, cowering in fear and paranoia under the window, holding a broom with his stubby appendages. His small claws scratching around the wooden floor, his wings buzzing and fluttering like there was no tomorrow. Combining both, creates a unpleasant pitched noise for a Religiosa's standard, as he closed his eyes as tightly as possible to not let a single ray of sunlight to enter his eyes.
"Mo..lt?..."
The female Religiosa who watched in shock, immediately puts the food roughly on a nearby table like furniture, nearly spilling it, as she rushed towards the stricken Molt. Who continues to mutter words of barely a whisper, a prayer most likely as he kept on repeating; "Spare me a passage." A prayer usually for those of the dead.
"MOLT?! MOLT! MOLT! Are you alright?! Hey! Say something! Your scaring me! MOLT!"
Her screams and panicked fluttering of her wings weren't caught without anybody noticing. As few niks later, multiple Religiosas came in with a uniformed outfit. The same one the former have been wearing since the start. The female Religiosa unfortunately have to be separated from Molt, as he was taken to his quarters to stabilise. Much to the great displeasure for the female Religiosa.
"Head follower! What's happening with him?! I-I thought that he was fine after his service?! Wh-why is he a-a-acting like that?!" The Head Follower looked uneasy the mentioning of his condition, which only makes the female Religiosa more scared and anxious of the lack of a response.
"Hey! Why are you looking away! Head follower! Tell me why is his condition like that? I thought he was freshly rejuvenated when he came back?! As an Alpha of the Ent Clan! Tell me what is going on!"
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The Head Follower buckled, so as the few others that are present on the hallway. Seeing this as well, the female Religiosa now knows something is up with Molt's condition, and stares intensely at the Head Follower. Her bright transparent, red wings fluttering aggressively, like a hercules beatle preparing to jump. Match with her beady eyes, that are being covered by hair like structures, rised up to show her intentions clearly.
It was obviously a sign of aggression and territorial predation. Before everything escalated however, a fellow follower intervened to stop the brewing conflict. As the last thing they need is a female Religiosa in a rampage. A female Alpha Religiosa that is.
"Follower Nile'ht! Please quell your anger! We have a valid explanation for this. So we beg of you to calm down, we are already lacking in numbers in this hive as is. Please calm down. He will just be fine, trust us."
Nile's eyes narrowed, but she gave in rather easily as her wings began to behave, as it is now just being raised in a certain cautious form. Her clicking of her large mandibles and gnashing have also went silent as a saddened look came over her. Her large claws dropping down as a sign of submission.
With the situation now stable, the fellow follower then gestured over the others to continue administering Molt, as he then looks at the Head Follower to guide Nile.
"Head follower, just explain her the situation. She hasn't seen him for a cycle after all, of course she would be agitated. Let's make it brief, we don't want any of the High Followers knowing of this conversation."
The mentioning of the High Followers caught Nile's attention, but she didn't say anything as the Head Follower urge her to follow to her Head Quarters. In which a building to house the followers of the Clan of Ent, is quite a nimb or two of a distance. Though their dwellings are much smaller when compared to the ones of the High Followers, it is a star's difference in size and quality. However, the long trek to the Head Quarters only fuelled her anxieties. Which is apparent by her wings buzzing.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Thoughts fuelled her mind, she obviously wanted to ask right then and now. However, the mentioning of the High Followers have keep her mandibles shut, as much as she wants to ask, if trouble brings towards her and Molt for the simplicity of asking his condition. Then it's not helping either of them, as the last thing she needs is to prolonged their separation with another unforeseen problem. However, she definitely have a vague idea on where all of this originates from.
And that is... The Grand Expedition of the subjugation of the Hu'mn species.
She has definitely heard about it, because it was broadcast to the ever living death their Deity can do so with her power. It has been announced half a cycle before they eventually reached the Luminous System, the Hu'mns apparent Home World, in which a cycle has passed, when they reached planet fall of Core Planet, named Venture. In which thankfully, there was a translation for it's alien word to their language rather quickly.
And since then, they have been on that planet for a cycle. Totaling the whole operation as 2 cycles.
Frankly, she could care less of the Hu'mns. As they aren't as threatening when compared to the other Worlders which are much closer to Excel, their home planet. Heck, she thinks the whole operation is a waste of pents, as the 3rd Worlder's rebellion have nearly costed them dearly. As despite what the news pertains, the 3rd Worlders almost got their star system that was colonised by the Religiosa, back to their hands. Her father and mother's relatives even died on that conflict, so the fact that her Deity conducted another Grand Expedition after the last one is rather... Ridiculous. It doesn't help that it is in an far away place, much, much farther than what was even anticipated to the Myrica's Zone. A common educational lesson of lifeless bodies of the stars. She was more interested in that than any costly subjugation of a Pre-FTL species, as she is more concerned on why Molt's condition is so...
Broken.
The reason she was so excited to see him return, aside from missing her long time friend, was also to hear about the Subjugation Fleet. As much as she dislike the useless conflicts, she definitely loves military ships! Especially since the one on the helm of the fleet was Grand Royal Admiral Lo'sent, a modern Hero and genius in the field of the 3rd Worlder's War of Rebellion. Of course she would be excited to know how Molt would witness such greatness of his military prowess in person! There is also the fact that 2 newest Line types were even on the fleet.
The most obvious thing that popped out was Line 1 Type: Justice High, a specialised Line 1 ship that is built around shields and speed, sacrificing some weapons and armour for a compact and sleek, beautiful warship. It even possessed 4 Main Lower PDS on the lower carapace, which is one of the strongest in the generation. To the point, she even argued that they were functionally better than the ones on the Line 0 Type: Metys. Of course, people dislike her on that, including Molt. Of course, not forgetting the Line 2 Type: Kolkana X, the newest one of the Line 2s that is built around speed and firepower, making it the deadliest in first strike battles. Of course, there is also the Line 10 Type: Excel, the fleet carrier, the biggest of the warships present. She was even jealous that Molt got to be in the army to witness all that, the only reason she is not eligible because she is an Alpha. An important asset among Clans to be sent into the battlefield.
"..."
Which makes one wonder, if they have the best of the best present, then how did Molt ended up like that? She has never heard of other rejuvenated returnees acting like that, it was Molt the first one she have seen acting so... Scared. Molt, despite their massive height difference of 1.6 claws and her 2.4 claws, is by no means a coward. He may be no noble, but he is by no means a egoistic. Physically he is even weaker than the average male Religiosa, because of his different strands. He is born as a flexible type, and not a combat type, but he is no means a runner, but a stubborn idiot. He is not fearless, but he is far from traitorous or uncaring.
There is also the fact that the Grand Expedition have accomplished multiple victories because of their tactics and bravery of their newly appointed Hive Commanders.
She doubts the last one, but if the rest are true, doesn't that mean they are loosing? And they are just lying? Of course, it is doubtful that they are lying, because that means treason to the Grand Queen and beyond the Grand Royal Admiral's principles. If those are not the possibility, then how can anybody explain why Molt is in that state?! It can't be that they lied about rejuvenation, because that means the Grand Army will be dismantled for that kind of quality! The Grand Queen herself even vouched for them, if they failed that expectation, then a purge would occur! She just can't understand why is Molt is in that state!
Luckily for her, her intense buzzing has been interrupted with Head Follower tapping her shoulder to bring her back to reality.
"Get inside, please make sure to lower your voice once we're in. We... Don't want any unnecessary attention right now."
With that, she silently got in after steeling her resolve. Hoping, that may be, he could still be fine. Hoping, that Molt could be alright after some treatment...
Unfortunately for her however, it seems be that fate has played a cruel joke on her old friend.
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Megaclaws - Unit of measurement for kilometres
Claws - Unit of measurement for metres
Line Type - Class of the ship (i.e destroyer class, cruiser class, etc.)
Scratchers - Religiosa Artesian
Line 3 - Religiosa Light Cruiser Type
Rider - Religiosa pilots
Knits - Unit of time of hour
Lifter - A lift or elevator
Seekers - Religiosa camera term
Line 1 - Religiosa Battleship
Line 2 - Religiosa Heavy Cruiser
Line 6 - Religiosa Corvette
Line 10 - Religiosa Super Carrier
Plasma Directional Stations - Protected Plasma Glass Domes
Fissile Engines - Fission Powered Engines
Cycle - 1 year
Lunar Cycles - 29.5 - 30 days
Planetary Cycle - 1 day
Nimbs - 1 minute
Niks - 1 second
Carapace - Religiosa nautical term for Hull
Nymph - a term for Religiosa youngling
Shipmaster - A captain of a ship
Hive Commander - A General of more than 1 million troops
Iron rings - A term for massive amounts of satellites
Fleet Shipmaster - Equivalent to a Captain or Commodore controlling multiple ships
Hive - A informal term for any location or area with high population.
Swarms - Equivalent to a clan, team, group, etc.
Nymph seekers - Equivalent to a Drone
1 unit - About 8.2 m/s (Earth's gravity is 9.8 m/s & Venture's gravity is 9.94 m/s)
Phidea - a bug like herbivore mammal that mainly eats saps of plant life
Alpha - A female designation for a very powerful Religiosa; Mostly being attributed to combat attributes and status, closely stereotyped with knighthood
Follower - A Religiosa term for a human equivalent of a; Subordinate, servant, subject, etc.
Pents - Religiosa currency; about $1.02 - $1.08, if by the standards of modern day (2024) currency
Myrica's Zone - The mythological Deity of Death; it is also being used as Dead zones, the Human equivalent of the Edge of Space