Tia looked at Terminus with a curious expression on her face. She could hardly believe what she had just heard, and was quick to ask about it.

“Join the hive? What does that even mean?”

Terminus smirked like a demon, as she willfully spoke the truth, despite the fact that the serum had already worn off. There was an almost chilling tone in her voice as she did so.

“If I tell you this, then there are only two outcomes. One, your Master joins the Hive, and will forever be considered one of us… Or two… He rejects, and every single Hive Fleet in the galaxy converges on this sector space to annihilate any evidence of what I have just said. Are you really certain you want to hear what I am about to tell you?”

Tia was slightly hesitant. If it was just the Hive Fleet Behemoth, she could theoretically defend the Silber Enclave with the defenses she had established. But it would be a brutal and costly affair. But every single Naraku Hive Fleet converged upon the Silber Enclave, not even a Galactic Power like the Alfheim Dominion would emerge victorious.

Thus, with a heavy sigh, Tia had no choice but to truly convince Erih to accept whatever this offer was that Terminus was making.

“Alright, Tia understands the consequences and accepts them. So tell Tia… What is exactly do you mean by having Master join the Hive?”

Terminus’s wicked smile never broke as she nodded her head, almost in approval of Tia’s decisiveness, before informing the robotic woman about what it meant to become “Joiner.”

“Joiner is the term that we used to describe those born outside the hive who have been assimilated into becoming a member of the hive. Why do you think we have allies across so many insectoid races? Their leaders have been assimilated into one of the Hive Minds that exists across the Naraku Hive Fleets.

A joiner maintains their same biology as they did before joining the Hive, making them expert infiltrators into Galactic society. And they exist across all major civilizations. Their loyalty becomes to the Hive once they become a part of the collective, no longer fighting for their own interests, or that of the nations which birthed them. Many become mindless drones, depending on their value as a joiner.

Meanwhile, a joiner is treated as a member of the hive, which makes them Naraku. If your Master joins my Hive, then his territory will be protected from any further Naraku invasions. As he himself will be considered by our species as one of us….”

Tia was immediately offended by this notion, and was quick to threaten Terminus with violence if she even thought about forcing her master to join the hive mind.

“Don’t you dare even think about touching my master, or forcing him to join your filthy collective? I don’t care how powerful your mother is, she will never get her hands on my master!”

However, Terminus looked at Tia with amusement before lecturing the robot on her misunderstandings.

“Curious, a sentient AI…. Your feelings towards your master have overridden your logic sensors. Perhaps this is the reason why your kind is hunted down into extinction by the other biological lifeforms. You misunderstand me, abomination. Since when did I say anything about your master joining Behemoth?

I am Terminus; it is my duty to create a new hive, and that means a new hivemind that I rule. If your master Joins with me now, he will not be a drone, but royalty. He will keep his consciousness, and his personality. Yet he will be the King of my hive.

I had already intended to take your Master as my mate, but if he joins with me, there is no reason for me to devour him and use his genetic material to create a new royalty for me to mate with. In the entire history of my people, this offer has never been made. But then again, a young hive queen such as myself has never been placed in such a predicament before.”

Tia was astonished, she had never heard of a Naraku Hive King before, but then against she had never heard about Joiners either. It was an incredibly foreign concept since not much was known about the Naraku throughout the galaxy.

And though Tia thought the offer was tempting, she couldn’t help but question the bug in front of her.

“Okay, say that Tia is interested in this peace offering. How would you go about converting Master’s mind to accept your collective, and would your people not consider this taboo?”

Contrary to what Tia was expecting, Terminus scoffed in response to Tia’s last remark before correcting her on it.

“The concept of taboo is alien to my people. We do what we must to survive, expand, and conquer. If joining with your Master and making him a Hive King guarantees the success of my mission, and the establishment of a new hive. Then my people will have no qualms about my actions. My mother may even reward me with free resources to help build my Hive.

As for how the joining process occurs, it is rather simple. I bombard your master with unique pheromones that help shape his mind in a way that he can access the hive mind. It is not painful and requires no modification of his anatomy. He will remain as he always has been. But now he and I will be connected in a way that he is not with anyone else….”

Tia smirked when she heard this, due to the NeuroLink technology embedded in Erich’s body, which was one of the many hosts of her operating system. She was able to communicate with the man in a way that was similar to the concept of a hive mind. Thus, she could extrapolate that she might be actually be able to access the hive mind as well, if Erich were to become a joiner.

With this in mind, Tia asked two more questions before deciding on a proper course of action.

“Alright, I have but two more questions before I make a decision on this matter. One… If you do not devour Master’s genetic material, how will you birth your royal guard. And two, how will you communicate with behemoth’s hive mind now that you have been severed from it?”

Terminus had an answer for both of these, which she was quick to inform Tia about.

“Firstly… I will simply need to devour some other genetic material which is similar to your masters. Judging by the level of technology his people have access to. I am assuming you can clone him correct?

Feed me a clone of his genetic material, and the rest is history. It doesn’t even need to be an exact clone of his body. Simply clone a giant chunk of flesh containing his DNA, and that will suffice. Once I have devoured the cloned material, and your master mates with me. I will be able to form a royal guard to protect the two of us better than your silly robots and soldiers ever could.

After that, our royal guard will either scour the galaxy for more genetic material, or you can clone more of your master. Which once devoured again, and your master mates with me for a second time, I can hatch a brood of drones and harvesters who will bring all the genetic material I need from across the galaxy. With this it is a simply matter of your master and I mating over and over again, until the hive fleet is born.

As for your question regarding contacting my mother. That is not a problem. I have my ways of contacting her without the hivemind. After all, once I form a new hive, I am supposed to cut myself off from Behemoth, anyway.

Once I confirm that I am safe, have started a hive, and that those who know of our secrets have joined with me, she will call off her attack, and perhaps even guard this sector of space so that nobody interferes with the establishment of the new hive fleet.

Your master gains a valuable weapon in the form of our new Hive Fleet and an alliance with the galaxy’s most powerful species. While I get to survive, and fulfill my purpose. I would say that is a win-win, wouldn’t you?

Although Tia did not know how she would possibly convince her master to agree to these conditions. She also knew it was the best chance at peace with the Naraku that any species had ever been given. And she knew that if she were to decline this offer, the Silber Enclave, and the Germanic Star-Empire were as good as wiped out.

Though with her assistance, she and Erich may survive. All of her master’s hard work would go down the drain. And that was something Tia could not allow to happen. Thus, she nodded her head, and accepted this condition on her Master’s behalf, who was still recovering from the other pheromones that Terminus had blasted him with earlier.

“Alright… You have a deal! But if I find out that you plan to hurt my Master in anyway. I will make it my sole objective to exterminate your entire species!”

Terminus was smart enough to know what kind of threat a rogue AI posed to the galaxy and, by extension, her people. She also realized the only thing keeping Tia from going rogue to begin with was her love for Erich. Thus, Terminus had no plans of actually backstabbing either Tia or Erich. With this in mind, she nodded her pretty little head and sealed the deal with Tia.

“Very well… Now take me to your Master so that we may begin the joining process….”