The hivemind is conquering for me?

I looked at sweet Orchid for a moment my eyes full of love as I did so "what made me want to give you pleasure? It was the fact that we were surrounded by all this beauty." I made a gestured into the air "And yet all you could look at was me. It just made me appreciate you more then I thought possible and it made me want to show my affection for you in a way I thought you may enjoy."

leaning up I aimed to kiss her which she responded in kind. After parting lips Orchid asked rather seductively. "Is there anything Orchid can do to show her affection for you." while saying this her hand was running down my torso before grabbing my member. "well of course if you are so inc-"

I was interrupted by rustling coming from the nearby foliage. not even wasting a second Orchid and I got up and reached for our weapons. Orchid melded out her armour while I was left feeling the breeze. Out of the bushes emerged a group of Ker\'mins around 15 in total they were haggard and looked half dead. Upon noticing us their eyes went large in fear.

By Orchids body language I could tell she was ready to pounce on a fresh meal but I gave her posterior a quick squeeze and a quick relay saying don\'t.

Upon seeing we weren\'t going to attack them, one of the Ker\'mins, presumably the leader of the group stepped forward. "Do you speak our tongue outworlders?." I nodded in response, a gesture she seemed to understand. "Good then you should come with us. The cursed swarm has invaded and It wont be long before they reach this place.

We are heading far into the jungle in hopes that when the reinforcements arrive from one of the neighbouring planets we may yet live." From Orchids micromovements I could tell she wanted to gut all these Ker\'mins right this instance. relaying my emotions calmed her down before I responded. "I appreciate your asylum offer truly, but you see." I grabbed Orchid by the shoulder intimately.

"We are from a Warrior species, My wife and I cannot run from a battle we know its coming it is heresy in our religion. Now you good folk run who knows we may be able to defend your rear for long enough for you to survive. good luck to you all."

The Ker\'mins looked at us in confusion while they have many subjugated species in their empire, the locals of this planet have never heard of these aliens and their strange customs. "Very well if we cant convince you we hope you survive the coming battle.

And one more thing," The female Ker\'min said while blushing "Although monstrously impressive, it is uncustomary around here to keep your reproductive appendage on display. Would you consider covering up?" letting out a small chuckle I responded. "sure we were just taking a ceremonial dip here, I have some clothing over there. Now enough dawdling you good folks be on your way."

With that the Ker\'mins went on their way, not without a few of the females taking glances before doing so, once they were out of earshot Orchid turned to me in confusion. "Why did you let them go love?" expecting the question from Orchid I responded "They were civilians Orchid.

That may mean nothing to you and the hive, which I\'m fine with I\'ve always said I would never try to change your way of doing, but to me they were no threat they were innocent. I may be ok in taking a soldiers life as it is their duty but the civilians just now, all they wanted was to survive. I could not in good conscience take that from them."

Orchid looked at me like I was speaking gibberish. To her prey is prey It matters not if they wish to fight or not they would still get devoured. But understanding that her mate is a complicated alien even after all these years she was fine If he was picky about his hunts She would love him all the same and that is all that mattered to her.

With the romantic ambiance of our little pool ruined I decided just to take a casual swim. I was glad I still knew how despite the lack of doing so for years. Orchid spent this time doing her favourite hobby, watching me. with her hand on her knees she watched as I goofed around for a good 10 minutes. I could feel the tension from the previous battles wash away from me with each passing second.

It didn\'t take long till our hidey hole was interrupted again I Wasn\'t paying attention this time as I was doing lengths and Orchid just gave a casual glance before aiming her sights back towards me. From the bushes the Ker\'mins originally arrived from a lone drone emerged.

It was a scout, they are small in size only around half a meter their body structure is similar to a scorpion with a cephalothorax and an abdomen but the have no pincers or tail. their main objective is to well scout an area if it thinks prey or something else is worth priority eating is nearby they will let off its strong pheromone gland indicating to the rest of the hive to spring into action.

Upon noticing Apollo the drones basic mindset felt joy and was ready to send out its pheromones to allow the rest of the hive to feel its joy. before it could though, It got an Order from a superior caste.

"COME HERE"

It didn\'t even need a second before it started scuttling towards Orchid. upon arrival Orchid picked it up and placed it onto her lap. In such close proximity to a higher caste, the scouts basic mind shutdown and entered a standby mode awaiting further instructions.

I wasn\'t sure how long I was swimming for but It felt so nice to do something different for a change I was just giving it my all, I was surprised I was only just starting to feel fatigue though as it must of been at least a few hours. the sun was well past its zenith in the sky but that being said daytime on this planet was 27 hours.

Realising my own thoughts a felt a little bad leaving Orchid to the side for so long I stopped swimming and looked over to check on her. On her lap was a bug. I realised straight away it was a scout and let out a small sigh.

Wading my way towards Orchid I asked "How long has the little one been here?" "Aabout 90 minutes my love." letting out a sigh, I got to Orchid and took the scout from her and placed it back on the ground to do its own thing. "Come lets leave before the rest of the hive arrive.

I cant see this place be destroyed, it would really hurt me." This place has become special to me, Not the location per se, but the memory. \'I want to remember this place as it is now, not as it will become.\'

Orchid didn\'t quite understand my sentiment, but she could understand that the memory of this place was special to Apollo. It was special to her as well. It was the first place her mate had given her such great pleasure. She would never forget that. It was a place she watched her love act silly in the water, bringing a smile to her face.

She would never forget that and, It was a place where she learnt more about her darlings views on attacking prey species. If she was to remain by his side in his future explorations and not be a bother for her darling, she would have to remember that.

After drying off I put my clothes back on and re equipped the arm of the power armour, Orchid relayed to the scout to resume its duties. Once it had received the Order it let out a huge cloud of orange pheromones that if I am remembering correctly smells like pears.

It wouldn\'t take long for more bio-forms to reach this location so with its job done the scout picked up the scent of a group of prey and started following that. Despite being relative one minded the encounter with Apollo-mate was seared into its mind.

Being able to stare at Apollo-mate for 90 minutes was the best time of its life and during its tracking, the ingrained images of apollo swimming would give it some pep while it hunted and tracked its prey.