The infested awoke a few hours later, changed.

  Much like Selene in her Zykra form, they had an insectoid exoskeleton layered atop of their humanoid forms. The edges of the chitin plates were darkened black as if burned, that turned into a forest green towards the center. And the dark blue flesh beneath was very wrinkled with a smooth sheen across it. The edges of each plate were varied, sometimes warped, sometimes curved like a blade, or pointy like thorns.

  It was like a uniform. Their own gross, organic sets of enforcer armor.

  Their helmets were currently peeled back behind them, revealing veins of purple reaching out from the edges of their faces and hairlines. Faded green scales framed their faces as well.

  Visible variations existed between them due to their original body types, hairstyles, eye colors, and other traits like these.

  Jade came to, as many did.

  Her unshaved section of hair dragged across the carapace floor as she pushed herself up from the ground. She observed her clawed, gauntleted hands with curiosity as she stood. And saw herself in some carapace plates on the wall that were currently glistening in the moisture of the room. The reflection should surprise her, but it hardly did. Her dark green eyes scanned her face. The shaven part of her hairstyle, the white frosted tips, some things remained the same as before.

  But her memories were blurry, her emotions too, all of it seems a bit muted.

  Another near her- Jae-Sung, a lithe asian man, sat up near here instantly like a robot. His face calm with slight curiosity.

  They awoke almost all at once then. The room filled with activity as they all stood up and looked at each other.

  The burly dark skinned man with an entirely shaved head named Hensley-approached Jade, staring her up and down. His plates of carapace were larger and heavier looking.

  "How do you feel?" he asked. Much of the 'gungho' personality from before didn't seem to present itself now.

  "I feel like I don't need to think about how I feel." she said plainly, flickering the tips of her claws together. After a moment, she noticed he was still staring at her. So she continued to say; "I feel fine."

  He looked at his own reflection in the wet section of wall. "I feel small."

  The others seemed barely capable of speaking at all, with very little actual sentience behind their eyes.

  "Good morning and welcome to the rest of your lives, soldiers!" Selene announced as she marched into the infestation chamber once more. Immediately they all felt her authority, it was like the warmth of the sun on their faces.

  Jade felt no anger or fear towards the woman. But also couldn't think of a reason to say anything. She only waited patiently for orders.

  "No comments?" Selene asked as she looked at them curiously. She looked over to Dr. Bryant, with a forced polite smile. Who made a note in his tablet.

  "That's good... I guess. I did ask the Evolutionist to optimize you for combat, not to make you talkative. You there-say a sentence."

  She pointed to Jae-Sung.

  He was one of the more 'aware' infested.

  "I'm saying a sentence."

  She furled her brows in irritation.

  "Give me your opinion of your situation right now." she ordered.

  He considered this for a moment, then looked at her sternly.

  "I am content to serve, your majesty." he bowed eloquently.

  Selene beamed; "Oh, I like that! The rest of you do that too from now on when you finish speaking to me. You kind of remind me of Aboleth, speaking of which-time to meet your new commander."

  Selene turned to face the membrane door.

  A woman with a serpentine lower half and claws on her snake-hips slid into the room.

  The thin membrane door deformed around her as she did. Her hair was tied up into a bun, and she wore a coat that flowed all the way down her human torso. Not too dissimilar to the Protectorate uniform, but green, and there was a single gold pauldron on her shoulder to denote her rank. With gold trim in the fabric.

  Something they had manufactured before Selene purged her human side. She had to admit, it fit Aboleth well.

  "She'll also be responsible for seeing which of you- if any- are worth keeping around. Any questions?"

  The room of 3 dozen or so infested stared blankly at her.

  "Hmm... Maybe I took too much of your humanity, it's so hard to get the balance right..." she sighed. Then clapped her hands together; "Welp! ...This is boring now. See if any of these are worth salvaging, Ab. I'm going to meet with Dr. Bryant."

  Aboleth answered her monotonously; "It's my pleasure to serve, your Majesty."

  The gorgon woman waited until Selene had fully left the room before she spoke again.

  "Attack me all at once." She said then.

  Jade felt an electric pulse run through her body and she moved.

  Her chitin feet pushed her off the ground with impossible strength and grace, she punched through the air down at Aboleth. Who casually swept her away with her tail as if she was swatting a fly. Along with the five other infested who managed to move as quickly as she had.

  They tumbled across the floor, many landing on other infested soldiers.

  Hensley charged past them with other bruisers in their group.

  The claws on Aboleth's hips grew wide and swept in front of her in a wide arc, bisecting a crowd of them. Hensley had barely managed to scramble backwards in time. Purple blood spattered his face from his dead allies.

  "Embarrassingly defective." is all she said.

  Jade was hesitant to attack again. Not because of survival instincts, but rational reasons. It would be a waste. Why were the others throwing themselves at her like zombies? Why would their 'commander' ask them to commit suicide by running at her blindly?

  No, she asked them to attack. All at once. But they weren't attacking her with all their might, or all at once.

  She looked down to her clawed arms again. Then balled her hands into fists as two keratin blades began to push out through her knuckles. It was difficult to understand with human words- but she felt like there were more ways to fully utilize her new power. Instinctually.

  Aboleth looked to her then, the first infested she even bothered to glance at.

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  "To me!" Jade called out, the human words sounded alien on her tongue now. Hensley and Jae-Sung looked at her, noticing how she had grown blades from her arms. They ran to her, but everyone else continued to attack at random intervals. Some dying in the process.

  Once they reached her, she looked between them. A flicker of excitement on her face. Or whatever the feeling was, it would be hard for Jade to describe. Initiative. Will. Authority.

  "We'll never win like this. Get whoever you can, beat them if you have to... Then attack on my signal."

  They nodded and fanned out across the room, often having to jump over and duck the tumbling bodies of other infested as Aboleth sent them flying. A decapitated head flew straight at Jade, and she smacked it down.

  She ran through the crowd and grabbed someone who seemed partly awake. A woman who had a cross still hanging from her neck. She pulled her back from making another futile charge against Aboleth and held one of her blades to the woman's throat.

  "Stop wasting my time. Attack on my command."

  "Okay..." the woman said. She seemed really out of it. They all seemed to be operating from a baseline of 50 IQ, Jade didn't feel much. But it was a bit annoying. She felt pieces of herself reassembling. Forming a cohesive consciousness. Something new, but familiar.

  Jae-Sung, Hensley and Jade went around collecting who they could. Slapping sense into them and getting them under control. Until Aboleth stood alone in the center of the room.

  "I gave a very clear order." she said, glaring at the infested that surrounded her. They were almost down to about half their numbers.

  Jade stepped forward. Barbs began to grow out of her body in different points. She held up her blades.

  "You didn't specify when. Now!"

  She charged with the others, as they all grew weapons from their bodies.

  Three days later...

  It was dead silent in the bunk room aboard the Sequester. Many heated exchanges and bitter realities had drained the life from the room.

  Raymond was lying down across from Danny who was leaning against the back wall on his own bunk.

  The events that led to their imprisonment played over and over again in their heads. As if there was some solution they were missing that could reverse their situation.

  But there wasn't. They were powerless as always.

  Danny had pulled Raymond aside that day at the jungle refinery and told him about the message Zephyr had sent, telling them take control of the Sequester and run. To even kill Dr. Bryant if necessary.

  He almost thought it was a bad joke at first but Danny was adamant that his sister would never joke about something like that.

  Dr. Bryant had overheard them somehow and sealed himself in the pilot's cabin before purging the life support from the rest of the ship. Then they woke up here.

  Hours after that Selene visited them and used her telepath ability. Everything got fuzzy after that—they both had missing memories now. Gaps of missing time.

  And since then they were passing the time here, left to wonder exactly what happened. Selene had seemed fine just the day before then.

  There was an infested person posted outside now who would take them to the restroom and occasionally gave them food.

  Raymond clenched his fists tightly again, pressure built in the bottom of his throat as he remembered the look on Selene's face that day when she had come back from the jungle. That bitchy, sardonic look. It wasn't her—it couldn't be.

  The smooth surface of the bunk above him was like an empty canvas to watch it all play out over again.

  Danny watched him from where he sat, a weary look in his hazy blue eyes.

  "We're fucked man, just accept it." he said sadly. His eyes drifted downwards "It's easier that way.".

  Raymond closed his eyes tightly.

  "It isn't her."

  He said remorsefully.

  "It's her now loverboy... Whether she finally fucking snapped, or some Zykra bullshit happened—this is our fearless leaders new normal... Psychopath tyrant bitch. What do people say about power? 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'?"

  Raymond couldn't blame him for being angry. They hadn't heard from Zephyr since the message she had sent. He was likely believing the worst had happened.

  Raymond was holding out hope that this was some kind of wild misunderstanding. That Selene had some kind of explanation.

  There was a knock at the door.

  "You boys decent?" a muffled voice asked. It was Selene.

  Raymond shot up instantly and stumbled as he ran to the door. He had to break through to her—to make sense of all this.

  "Selene! What the hell is going on? Where is Zephyr!? Why are we trapped here!?"

  He spoke with his face close to the door.

  It opened to show Selene standing their in her human form dressed in plain clothes.

  She wore a black polyesther jacket with a high collar over a white tank-top and brown shorts. White and purple high-top shoes. Her shoulder length hair was tied in a pony-tail. It was a bit like how Zephyr dressed, but that made sense considering Zephyr was basically Selene's fashionista.

  Danny began to sit forward now, seemingly interested in the fact that Selene was in her human form. And the question Raymond asked. There was an infested soldier standing outside same as always. His bug exoskeleton gleamed in the white light of the hall outside the bunk room.

  Selene wore a plain expression as she looked at Raymond, and glanced towards Danny still on the bunk behind him. The sardonic bemusement she wore the last time she saw them was gone. In it's place was indifference.

  She shrugged.

  "Zephyr's a bit tied up at the moment. Sorry I left you guys hanging, I've been busy. Got a hive to run."

  Raymond was flabbergasted.

  "W-why are you treating us like prisoners!? I thought I was your friend!"

  Selene gave him a sympathetic expression then, and put a hand on his arm consolingly.

  "Oh, Raymond... You're more of a pet. And it's either here or dead, and I figured you'd rather be here. It's not like I can have you running around after, well everything."

  Raymond felt out of breath. He took a few steps back uneasily, it was as if a monster was wearing Selene. It showed in the way she carried herself, the lack of any interest to connect with him.

  "Was it all a lie? Was this all some sick joke, you were just fucking with me? Ever since Alexandria? Or Endelon?" he asked, fragile and vulnerable.

  Selene flashed a half-smile at him; "Well, now it is. Whoever I was then is dead, Raymond. I was weak. Wasting my care and pity on those who would never do the same for me."

  Danny spoke quickly then; "Did you kill the colonists? I heard explosions that day."

  "Yep. Some ran off into the jungle but my hive will expand and hunt them down eventually. Planets only so big. I'm tired of pandering to humanity. Think about it, they take whatever they want. To hell with whatever species lived there before. Why shouldn't we? Fairs fair."

  "You didn't need to kill them." Raymond said, he had trouble even looking at Selene now.

  Selene's smirk faded from her face.

  "I'll give you two options. Well, 3." she put her hands into the pockets on her jacket. Then strode into the room, causing Raymond to have to step to the side out of her path. She stood between them.

  "I'm turning Endelon 2 into a prison colony for VIP humans I capture. If you want to stay human you can go there. Ooor, I'll make you guys into Aboleths. And I shouldn't need to tell you what option 3 is."

  "Why are you giving us a choice?" Raymond asked.

  Selene looked across her shoulder at him; "Like I said, I'm sentimental. I'm giving you a deal I would never give some random colonist, now don't you feel special? There's only one queen in the entire sector and she's looking after you. How about some gratitude? If I was you I'd be lining up to become an aboleth. Lot better than an infested, I'll tell you that much." she scoffed, gesturing with her neck towards the infested guard outside.

  As she spoke Raymond caught sight of Danny on his bunk, he was clutching a bolt close to his side. It was about six inches long. He had pulled from the bunk and sharpened on the floor.

  Raymond slowly shook his head at him.

  But Danny was past the point of caring. He launched himself from the bunk with the shank raised—stabbing down at Selene's neck. She made no effort to dodge. It sunk into the space between her clavical and neck. Red blood began to spill out onder her white tank-top and drip to the floor.

  "That's going to stain." she grumbled and looked at Danny with annoyance. "I guess it's option 3 then?"

  "You killed my sister!" he shouted and stabbed again, this time into the side of her neck.

  Raymond just stood in stunned silence, looking between the two of them as if it were a movie playing out in front of him.

  "I also killed your mom. So what?"

  "Zephyr was different! She only did what she had to! We looked after each other, you evil bitch!"

  Danny withdrew the shank and went for another stab. But Selene had run out of patience and pushed a hand against his face- pressing his head against the rim of the middle bunk next to them. He slapped and stabbed at her arm.

  Raymond's heart was beating painfully in his chest, the urge to throw-up rose in his stomach, his head felt fuzzy.

  "S-Sel-please. Don't. He's just-"

  Danny glared at Selene; "Do it... DO IT YOU CUN-"

  She jerked her arm to the side.

  'Snap'

  Danny fell like a marrionette that had it's strings cut. His head bounced off the lowest bunk before thudding against the floor. His neck was at an awkward angle.

  Raymond fell back onto the lowest bunk behind him, clutching the one above. Eyes wide. Selene looked down at him, a bit of the blood from her neck speckled across her cheek. Her eyes were filled with a magenta color now, though her human form was unchanged.

  Almost as if asking; 'well?'.

  He couldn't speak. A single tear ran down from the corner of his eye.

  Selene narrowed her eyes at him. Then she turned and strode from the room.

  "Jail it is then."

  She said as she left.

  The door shut and it's shadow fell on Danny's corpse. Raymond couldn't stop himself form looking at it. Fear, sadness, loss, familiar feelings from his past flooded him with a renewed freshness. Feelings he had thought he had gotten used to.

  He half turned and began punching the wall over and over again.

  "FERRUUUUUUCK!" he said through his teeth.

  Selene smiled softly as she heard his muffled breakdown outside.

  "Did you appreciate the show?" she asked under her breath as strolled over to a ladder positioned in the center of the room outside the hall to the bunk rooms. She chuckled as she entered the pilots cabin.