Kacht-Til sat in the dirt, her single antenna flinching. She had no eyelids to blink, so when she regained her sight, she focused on her sight. Normally, her siblings would have torn off her antennae completely. She had managed to keep one intact when they threw her from the ship, and now she knew it still worked.

She looked around for the predators that had interrupted her own hunt. The creatures were nowhere to be seen, so she sheathed her Ka’thra weaponry and flexed her wings again. They felt better, but she would need to give them more time.

Kacht-Til’s belly rumbled. If she had not moved and found food now, she might not have had the energy to do so again. She avoided using her senses; however, she feared that should she open herself up again, she would wind up catatonic. Most banished Ka’thra did not last long; it was rare, in fact, that the banished would even continue moving. Kacht-Til had seen others’ memories of the banished as if becoming disconnected. Their antennae severed, killing them, leaving only shells. Biologically speaking, they remained alive. Their stillness came from the severed connection, leaving them with no will to move, fight, or even care for themselves.

So why is it that Kacht-Til still moved? She shouldn’t even be able to fight, yet something deep inside her consciousness drove her forward. Something that remained relentless before a flood of hopelessness.

She clicked her mandibles in frustration and walked off, avoiding her thoughts and focusing on foraging. She opened her senses bit by bit, flinching and blocking her antenna out at the slightest touch. It was an unsteady dance, her perception inching further and further out. It was an exercise she found tedious but brought her back to her days as a pupa. The exercises her superiors instructed her on taught her how to better utilize the connections the hive practiced. Now, she had to work against what she had learned.

She was essentially walking with her eyes facing the ground, not looking for what she could stumble into. It took time, but she began to improve as night fell and she found food. There were some berries that seemed edible. She was not taught how to forage but knew it was an ability her ancient ancestors possessed.

She stopped as she sensed something completely different in the forest. It was cold and smelled of the hominids' technology. An enemy craft was nearby. It was massive, broken, and phantom with no crew she could sense. She thought it best to avoid it for now, continuing her search for food.

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As the sun set, she began to hear new sounds. Gone were the sounds of birds, and in its place, the wings and legs of her kin scraped against their bodies, creating a symphony in the dark. Kacht-Til sat and ate from the berries she had collected. She looked up at the celestial bodies that blanketed the sky, covering the stars. She was crouched atop a fallen log, staring from between the trees as she allowed her wings to dry.

A slight shift in the space around her alerted her to something nearby. Before she could react, she felt something smack against her integument. She reeled backward, propelling herself further into a roll to spring back up, weapons at the ready. As she did, however, she felt an attack against her senses, a single word that blinded her.

DISSENTER

She rolled out of the way of plasma fire, feeling her exoskeleton warm despite her distance. She opened her senses once more and saw three of her kin. Blocking a swing from their weapons, she grabbed them with free hands. She wrenched the limbs free from their sockets, their weapons still clenched. Her kin did not react, instead charging their ranged weapons. Kacht-til responded by throwing the limbs at them. It did not harm them, only serving to bounce off their exoskeletons and distract their aim. She unfurled her wings and lifted them, using them to help her jump. She still couldn’t fly but could move a fair distance if she continued leaping.

She eyed the right trajectory and threw her disc out, aiming for the soft joints in between. It arced through the air, turning in a circle as it landed sharply into the forearm of her sibling. As she landed, she took off running. Kacht-Til knew she could not outrun her siblings without her wings, but perhaps she could move the fight somewhere in her favor.

She retraced her steps as her siblings followed her in pursuit, veering back in the direction of the crashed enemy ship. As she got closer, she eyed the wreckage.

The hominid hulls were made of metals, and she saw some chunks of those metals hanging by threads of their technology. Kacht-til dove underneath them and inside, holding up her second disc at the ready. She felt them outside, following the pheromone trails she had left behind. She counted ticks of time in her head, then flung the disc the second she saw the green glow of their weapons.

As her siblings crouched through the doorway, the disc cut the threads that held the metal chunks. They fell onto her siblings, crushing them against the ground as a green bolt fired at her.

The last thing she sensed was their pained warnings as they cried out to the Hive.