After we return, the queen gives me a nod before she nods towards the group of guards surrounding us, prompting them to raise themselves from the floor and stand in a circle around her.
Suddenly, she begins to shudder. I watch as she lowers herself to the ground as the layers of overlapping armor on her abdomen ripple with powerful spasms.
This continues for a short while, with her breathing in and out with deep breaths, before finally, after a great effort from the queen, the spasms stop and the she collapses to the floor.
The guards back away, while a single guard emerges from behind her, carefully cradling a large, golden egg.
The guard carefully makes his way towards the head of the queen, who now lay on the ground, lacking the energy to hold her body weight, before carefully passing the egg to her.
She gracefully cradles the egg, holding it carefully within her forelegs, cooing in a soothing manner, before passing the egg back to the guard and nodding to me.
The guard makes its' way to me, until it stands directly in front of me. It holds the egg out towards me, offering me the chance to take it.
As I take the egg into my hands I get a much better look at it. Its' almost twice as large as the normal, being a perfect sphere almost two feet tall, with a golden, gem-encrusted shell, and much larger than the white eggs that cover the banks of the lake.
As I hold the egg, I can feel a warmth emanating from within, accompanied by the faint thumping of a heartbeat.
I look back to the queen and she nods again and I return it, before I begin to create a suitable vessel to transport the delicate egg.
I focus on my 14 foot tall armored body, concentrating on the nanites within my chest.
I slowly start to form a large two foot spherical cavity within my body, creating a soft bed of loosely bound nanites to cradle its cargo, until finally, I force my chest open to reveal the chamber and move in front of the queen, allowing her to inspect it.
She looks over the cavity carefully, even reaching inside with a clawed limb to test the cushioning before retracting it and giving me a nod of approval.
Carefully, I move the egg into my chest, placing it into its' temporary resting place until I could find a proper home.
After the egg is snugly cushioned within my chest, I reform my hardened armor around it, keeping it safe and sound for the time being.
As soon as the egg is enclosed within my body, the queen finally loses the little energy she had left and her body goes limp, with her legs crashing to the floor as her life begins to end.
The guards all surround her, pressing their bodies against her protectively as if this action might allow her a few more moments within this world.
I watch in somber silence as the mighty queen slowly slips into oblivion, soon to be nothing but a distant memory to the daughter I held within.
Suddenly, she raises her head to meet my gaze, offering me one last unspoken request before the light fades from her beautiful eyes and her head crashes to the ground once more.
"Please don't fail her."
As soon as the queen is gone, the rest of the Kryssik soon follow, with the entire swarm collapsing in a massive wave originating from the queen's body.
The wave travels throughout the entire cavern, with unseen Kryssik falling from the ceiling and splattering on the ground and the crystalline eggs around the lake crumbling to sand.
After the final Kryssik dies the cavern is left in absolute silence, broken only by the sound of my heavy footsteps when I move to touch the queens lifeless body.
The instant I place my palm against her head, nanites spread out across her massive body, covering every square inch.
After they cover her, they rest for a moment, making her massive body appear like a black shadow within the cavern, before beginning the absorption proccess.
As the nanites work their magic, her body slowly begins to shrink, until finally, all that remains is a massive, black pile of nanites connected to my arm.
I command them to return and as they do, I feel my weight growing over a hundred fold in response to the massive influx of mass.
I continue condensing the nanites, increasing the thickness of my armor to accommodate the extra mass before I'm left standing nearly 16 feet tall, with two inch thick black armor covering my entire body.
"You've acquired new genetic programming! Would you like to integrate this ability into your nanites? Results may vary."
Startled by the woman suddenly speaking, I jump nearly ten feet into the air, landing on the floor with a BOOM and creating a six foot crater around me.
"Uh.... yea I guess?" I say after calming down.
I suddenly feel an unfamiliar feeling, almost as if I could feel everyone's thoughts and emotions around me, with a strong feeling a fear and confusion from the survey team, and a tiny feeling of worry coming from my men at the vantage point.
As a ponder what exactly happened, the feelings gradually decrease until I can barely detect them, unless I actively think about revealing them.
"Integration successful! The woman says as she speaks again. "You've successfully absorbed the Kryssik Queen ability "Telepath"."
"This ability will allow you to feel the true emotions of biological creatures around you, and as you attune your mind, even allow you to communicate with the evolved form "Mind Space"."
This is amazing! I never thought I'd be able to absorb biological information, but thinking now it makes sense.
DNA is pretty much a biological version of programming, so if my nanites can strip molecules apart and alter them, it makes sense that they'd be able to strip apart DNA to read the code.
After completing my thought process, I turn to the sea of dead Kryssik within the cavern, spreading out my newly acquired nanites to cover all of them in a very thin layer of black fluid.
With my nanites being spread thin the retain my protective barrier around the egg within my chest, the absorption process takes far longer than it had with the queen.
Ten minutes later, after the nanites had finished breaking down the dead Kryssiks, I command them to return, increasing my already heavy body, by another 8,000 pounds.
I now weighed a total of 18,000 pounds, and causing the ground to quake beneath my feet as I through the now Kryssik free cavern to finally retrieve the survey team.
I call out to my men on the ridge, giving them the "all clear" and they ran down the slope to join me next to the survey team.
"Are you all right sir?" My Sergeant spoke with worry in his voice.
"We thought that queen was going to squash you! What the hell was that egg she gave you? And why did they all suddenly die?"
"I'm fine." I responded
"The queen communicated with me using some kind of telepathy. She told me she was dying, and I was able to convince her use all of her energy to produce one final queen egg in a desperate gamble."
"She somehow believed me." I said with a snarky tone.
"The stupid bug gave me the egg before dying and taking the rest of them with her."
I then shift the intact egg into my head before opening my empty chest for the men to see inside.
"I destroyed the thing immediately after she kicked the bucket, so we should be Kryssik free for the foreseeable future." I say, and finish with a laugh.
As I close my chest and shift the egg back inside my men look at me with awe, and the survey team looks at me with disgust.
"You bastard!" Their leader shouts.
"She trusted you with her species and you spat in her face!"
"The Kryssik deserve nothing but death." I say, lying through my teeth. "They're just bloodthirsty pests, leeching of the minerals the Federation needs."
I felt bad lying to the everyone like this, but I didn't know if I could trust the men on my team with the truth.
The Sergeant was going to have give a report on my combat effectiveness to the Federation when we returned, and I had a feeling they wouldn't look kindly upon the fact I had helped a species that had been a constant pain in their rear for the last twenty years.
After the survey team finished chewing me out, the men got them on their feet, before we headed to the lake and made camp for the night.
We gave the survey team some of our rations, and everyone dug in while I replaced the two anti-material rounds the men had shot at the queen.
The men all spoke idly, of homes far away, and the women who waited within, and the survey team quietly ate their meals as the Sergeant and I sat in silence at the edge of our gas campfire.
We both sat quietly, staring into the swirling flames until the Sergeant suddenly spoke.
"What do you want Lieutenant?"
"What do you mean?" I ask, looking up at him.
"Before this mission, I thought I had seen it all. I've been on hundreds of special assignments for the Federation, from Earth to Urtol, and witnessed indescribable power I thought was unparalleled."
He pauses before raising his head to meet my gaze with a serious expression on his face.
"But what you have is true power."
"You could be anyone you want, anything you want. I saw you easily charge through a army of monsters that would have ripped me to shreds, and emerge without a scratch on the other side."
"You tricked an ancient Kryssick Queen, sealing the fate of her species, and then absorbed an entire swarm." He finished with a hint of awe in his voice.
"I wouldn't exactly say I'm all powerful." I replied with a laugh.
"I'm sure this body has its' weaknesses as much as it has strengths, but I get what you mean."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"I guess I've never really thought about what I want." I continued.
"I went into this program only hoping to walk again, but now I'm stuck in a body with more power than I know what to do with."
"I figure I'll probably spend the rest of my life serving the Federation, however long that may be, and I think I'm okay with that."
"I'm sure they'll keep me busy, cleaning up whatever messes are left over from the war, but they've been accommodating so far, treating us like people more than lab rats."
As I speak, the Sergeant nods his head, taking in what I'm saying before he speaks again.
"You may not realize it, but you hold all the cards right now." He says, shocking me, before continuing.
"I highly doubt the Federation truly grasps your capabilities, and you seem like a good guy, so I'm considering leaving certain abilities out of my report."
"I'll still be accurate about the combat report, and your absorption abilities, but I won't tell them about the egg your carrying in your chest right now."
"I don't have the egg, I destroyed it remember?" I said cautiously, scanning his face for any sign that he was bluffing.
He laughed before waving his hands.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. You're secret's safe with me."
I pause for a moment, considering the potential fallout the truth could have, before deciding to trust him.
"How did you figure it out?" I ask. "I thought I hid it pretty well."
"It was just a guess really." He responds. "I figured if the queen could use telepathy, she could see what kind of man you are and wouldn't entrust the future of her child to you if you wanted to destroy it."
I laugh quietly.
"Well, you caught me." I say. "But I would appreciate if you kept this between us."
"I understand." He replies. "Most of these men are new faces. I've only met a few of them before this assignment, and even for the ones I know, I can't truthfully say I trust them not turn you in for the slight chance of an increase in rank."
Having decided to trust one another, and after forming a newfound friendship, we continue talking for another hour until the Sergeant finally decides to get some sleep, leaving me to watch over the group of snoring humans.
As the night progresses, I gaze up at the sparkling bioluminescence on the ceiling of the cavern and ponder the Sergeants question.
What do I want?
I know that I want to stay with Mindal and Rathor, as they're the only ones I can actually talk to about our experiences in these new bodies, but I doubt the Federation will keep us together.
They'll probably stick to sending us on individual missions, having us quell rebellions or fighting in the next major war.
The Sergeant did have a good point when he thought the Federation was still in the dark about my abilities though.
If we kept the details of some of the more powerful features of this body secret, and figure out our weaknesses and how to counter them, we might be able to break free from their grasp before too long.
As I pondered my predicament, I was suddenly brought back to reality by the feeling of a very important passenger's heartbeat pulsing within my chest.
I'd been so wrapped up in my thoughts, I'd almost forgotten about the egg!
Now remembering I had another life to care for. Not just my own.
I had to figure out a way to find a safe world for the new queen, one far beyond the reach of the Federation, where she could safely rebuild her species.
Over the next few hours while everyone slept, I tried to think of a way to safely find a new home for the egg to no avail, until one by one, everyone started to wake up.
After sharing another quick meal with the survey team, we pack up our things and head up the embankment and enter the tunnel, heading back towards the bunker.
We travel back the way we came, with the survey team remaining silent, until after nearly the whole day, we finally arrive back at the bunker door.
As we approach the door, I notice the camera mounted to the top of the wall swivel to look at us, before with a pop and a groan, the door slides open to welcome us in.
On the other side of the door, the bunker's Lieutenant awaits us, surrounded by a hundred men pointing weapons at me.
"Who are you?!" He shouts. "I don't see Lieutenant Clark with your squad!"
I then realize I'm still in my massive armored form, not being able to condense the massive amount of nanites I now possess into my normal form.
Before I can think of an answer, my Sergeant steps forward to respond, quickly improvising an excuse for my hulking form.
"This is Lieutenant Clark." He said as he gestured towards me.
"We encountered heavy resistance, causing him to assume this form."
"Unfortunately there seems to have been some kind of malfunction, resulting in him being stuck like this."
After he finishes, the Lieutenant seems to think for a moment before telling his men to stand down.
"My apologies Lieutenant, we were a little startled when we saw such an enormous suit of armor approaching the bunker."
"Think nothing of it." I say as I wave my hand dismissively. "It was just a misunderstanding."
"Very well. Then allow me to escort you all to the cafeteria. You must be exhausted after your mission."
After he finishes speaking, we follow the Lieutenant to the cafeteria, and after leaving us to eat and regain our stamina, he leads the survey crew to the medical wing to check for any injuries they may have.
The survey team leaves us without offering a single thank you, only sending angry glares our way as they walk off.
Now being left with the cafeteria to ourselves, my men grab heaps of food, no doubt being hungry for some fresh food after two days of dehydrated rations.
After a short time, my Sergeant finishes his meal before excusing himself to go make his report to command, and leaving me with the men.
As staff from the bunker come and go for their designated meal times, they sit around us and listen to the men weave wildly over exaggerated tales of heroism and exploded Kryssik.
Eventually the Sergeant returns, offering me a quick nod before sitting with the men, joining in with stories of his own.
After they finish their meals, and once the last of the staff return to their posts, the bunker's Lieutenant returns to guide us the the armory to drop off our weapons and ammo with a very surprised armorer.
"You guys didn't use a single bullet! I knew your little stories about thousands of Kryssik were made up!"
When he finishes the men just laugh before following our guide to our lodging for the night.
After making sure we settle in all right, the Lieutenant leaves us to our own devices and heads of to retire to his own room for the night.
The next morning he greets us before leading us to the cafeteria once more to enjoy breakfast, and after the men finish their meals, he leads us back to the hangar and to our ship.
"I want to congratulate you again on your successful mission Lieutenant." He says. "The loss of the survey team data would have set the Federation mining effort here back by months if you hadn't recovered it."
"Happy to help." I say. "I'm always glad to be of service to the Federation.
After our exchange, the men and I all board the ship, with the floor creaking noticeably as I step onto the ramp.
As the ramp closes and the ship lifts off, it seems to struggle slightly, no doubt weighed down by my increased mass, before finally succeeding in taking flight and we sail through the sickly green Urtolian atmosphere, that I can't help but feel a sad sort of longing for, as the planet slowly becomes nothing but a dot.
Within a few hours we're back at The Lab, having landed safely in its' familiar white hangar once again.
The Colonel awaits us, greeting us as we disembark, and seeming very surprised at my now armored appearance.
"Geez what did they feed you down there?" He said staring up at my massive body. "You must have grown at least four times in size!"
"We had a couple developments during combat which resulted in me assuming this form." I explained, telling the partial truth. "It seems like I'm stuck like this for the time being."
"Very well." The Colonel responded. "If it can't be helped then there's not much we can do about it. You're going to have stay above ground though, as I don't think you'll fit in the elevator."
As he finished speaking with a sharp laugh, I simply nodded in return before he beckons me to follow him.
I offer a nod of respect to the Sergeant, which he returns, and we part ways when I follow the Colonel, my heavy steps thumping against the floor as I walk.
As we walk through the glass hallways once more, I have to bend over to stop my head from hitting the ceiling, as the Colonel fills me in on how Mindal and Rathor's mission went.
Apparently they arrived back at The Lab a whole day earlier than me, having swiftly found and dealt with an infestation of insects that feed on metal by rusting it with their spit called Spenik.
According to the Colonel, after finding the swarm of insects, they boringly used a flamethrower they had brought to burn them, but I knew they had probably left a few details out just as I had.
We continue walking for a while as I tell the Colonel all about my adventures, leaving out several key details, until we arrive at the large, central building that held the bunker elevators.
Instead of leading me to the elevators, this time we head to a staircase at the side of the lobby, leading to the floor above.
We journey upwards to the next floor, before walking down yet another white hallway I have to bend over through, and stopping at a door with wooden panelling.
The door opens by itself, and the Colonel gestures for me to enter, and I duck beneath the doorway, feeling a familiar jolt of electricity as he follows behind.
The room is quite spacious, with a ceiling almost twenty feet high, allowing me to stand at my full height.
The decorations are quite familiar, being the same as our common room within the Lab's bunker, albeit having been made to a much nicer quality.
The three couches in the center of the room were made of quality leather now, and released a wonderful aroma that circulated the room.
The table in the center was carved from a single block of expensive mahogany, with brass inlay creating a pattern of scattered lighting across its' surface.
The beautiful table however, was laying in pieces on the floor, with the two culprits seated on the couch acting like nothing was amiss.
"Mindal and Rathor!" Screamed the Colonel after noticing the demolished table. "What did I tell you about destroying the furniture?"
"Just because the Federation has authorized your mission deployment and given you certain freedoms, doesn't mean you can destroy my quarters!" He said as his hands waved angrily through the air.
"We didn't mean to sir!" Spoke Mindal with a mischievous look in his eye. "We were only trying to improve our capabilities to better serve the Federation!"
He looked towards Rathor, who simply nodded along to his statement, before standing up and moving to greet me.
"Glad to see you made it back in one piece Lieutenant!" He said with a smirk. "We started to worry a little bit when we got back before you did."
"Although, it looks like we didn't have anything to worry about." He says as he eyes my new form.
"I made some improvements." I say with a laugh. "Things got a little hairy, but everything worked out for the better."
"All right enough chit-chat." Interrupted the Colonel. "I already told these two buffoons the good news, but you still need to hear it Lieutenant."
"The Federation has officially declared the Officer Project a success."
"The higher-ups seemed to be very impressed with your combat results and have now authorized the next phase of the project to begin."
"Next phase sir?" I ask. "I didn't realize there were multiple phases of the project."
"It's a government run program, of course it has phases." He replied. "Now shut up so I can finish explaining it."
"The Officer Program has two phases, the development phase and the deployment phase."
"The purpose of the development phase was to find suitable candidates and test the combat effectiveness of the nanites after a successful transfer, which we completed without issue."
"After completing the development phase, the new soldiers, namely you three, will be officially dubbed Federation Officers and given special leeway to represent the Federation and its' interests."
He stops before turning and pointing at me. "Congratulations, you're now a Federation Officer. Do your best to uphold the values and integrity of the Federation." He says before continuing.
"Next comes the really fun part."
"The Federation has been scouring the galaxy for hundreds of years, looking for any new planets that may hold useful resources."
"The Federation doesn't need super soldiers to build mines and factories. What they do need are useful genetics to help improve the Human genome."
"That's where you come in."
"The Federation recently found a planet dubbed X153E 50,000 light-years away, and home to a race of humanoids capable of manipulating the magnetic field of their planet to create feats of unimaginable power."
"You three will be sent on a brand-spanking new model of warship, capable of faster than light travel, to invade and subjugate the populace by using any means necessary."
"Although the Federation would prefer a peaceful integration, they're not apposed to you using force, so they leave the decision of how to carry it out, in your hands."
"You'll all be leaving in one week, accompanied by your respective squads that were assigned to your last mission, and will travel for three months before arriving at the planet."
"The Federation is willing to give you as much time as you need. When the planet has been conquered, all you need to do is activate the ship's automated return home protocol, and the Federation will send the first reinforcements to garrison the planet."
"The Federation thanks you for your service gentlemen, and with out further ado, I need to go find a replacement table."
He then abruptly exits the room, stomping angrily away, and leaves me in stunned silence, looking down at a smiling Mindal, and an unreadable Rathor.
"What do you think?" Asks Mindal. "Isn't this great!? The Federation is sending us off to a whole new civilization! It'll be like going on vacation"
This was indeed exciting, but there was one problem with the Colonel's speech that left a bad taste in my mouth.
I quickly use the new ability I gained from the queen to create a telepathic link between the three of us before responding.
Mindal and Rathor both look surprised as I quickly explain the new ability, informing them that we should speak through the link to keep our words away from any listening ears.
"Have you ever known the Federation to wait patiently for something it wants?" I say.
"I highly doubt they're going to give us an unlimited amount of time to finish our mission, and when they come knocking to collect, they won't be carrying a message of "peaceful subjugation"."
Mindal seems to ponder this before responding.
"Even with the threat of impending doom hovering over our heads, the Federation will still be fifty thousand light-years away! We'll have plenty of time to do whatever needs to get done."
"If they built one ship, they can build more." I counter. "I wouldn't bet on distance giving us any kind of protection."
Silently observing until now, Rathor finally speaks.
"What if we subjugate the planet, but also fortify it against an orbital invasion?"
"I'm sure that if we work together, we can easily accomplish it before the Federation starts sniffing around."
"What about our men?" I ask. "I trust my Sergeant, but I'm not completely confident in the rest of them."
"We saved our men's lives more than once during our mission." Said Mindal. "I trust that they won't betray us if what they believe what we're doing is the right thing to do."
"And even if you can't trust them completely." He continued. "You could always keep them in the dark until you know for sure where their loyalties lie."
After listening to him I nod, believing that would be the best choice of action before speaking again.
"All right, Then if we're all in agreement, let's figure out what we need to do to thwart the Federation." I say and we start to put our heads together to formulate a plan.