Sikkhat didn’t really have to be careful.

They had an immense amount of resources and time, provided the creature didn’t come back. There was no shortage of space due to the size of the ship they’d obtained, and they didn’t have to worry about injuries.

Still, as they watched the vaguely humanoid collection of fungus, spores, and randomly placed metal hurl itself into a bulkhead and explode, they wondered if they should perhaps switch their tactics up a bit.

They’d been trying to replicate the creature for longer than they knew how to count, and had been having no success. Apparently, infecting something and effectively manipulating its entire nervous system and brain was still significantly easier than building its own body.

Sikkhat turned their attention to the massacred juggernaut. Technically speaking, it’d been a constructed design, but it had been passed down through generational memory. They hadn’t designed it themselves; only copied what they’d been taught.

Although…

Following the generational memory carefully, Sikkhat built the juggernaut again. This time, they paid attention to the process, watching as it all came together.

It was a fascinating realization, that the juggernaut was made so well. At first glance it bore a close resemblance to the chargers, but in physical makeup it was entirely different. The metal Sikkhat had invested formed a sort of impact-absorbing skeleton, with dense layers of fungus covering it, overlapping and seamlessly sinking beneath and flowing over each other in a powerful armor.

With an objective in mind, Sikkhat brought a good amount of metal over to the testing area and dumped it in a pile.

They considered the pile for a long moment.

Now what?

Using the juggernaut to pick a long strip of metal up, they began to shave trimmings off, straightening it into a thinner, more shaped piece. Slowly but surely, it began to take piece, a serrated line of steel, slightly curved. They began to get excited, etching smaller markings into it, trying to bend it and see how it could get more flexible.

It snapped.

Frustrated, they tossed the scrap aside and chose a thicker piece. Flicking their claws furiously, they began to carve chunks off, shaping it into another straight piece. This one broke even quicker, and Sikkhat seethed.

Somewhere on the ship, the hull blew out. Several dozen of their troops were swallowed by the void before the automatic disaster prevention systems cut in. They barely even noticed the loss, too irritated by the lack of progress.

They were beginning to realize that this would be a lot harder than simply conquering a ship.

Forcing themselves to calm down, they grabbed another piece and started over. This one was a different type of metal than the earlier one, and Sikkhat was startled to find that it both cut easier and was more flexible. They immediately began hunting the ship for more of the new type as they concluded their work.

A few moments later, they held up the piece and examined it with great satisfaction. Several of the marines began clapping, and they felt distinct pride before realizing that the marines were still under their control, and therefore were clapping for themselves.

They felt a distinct sensation of… singularity. A missed absence of other presences. It was a strikingly painful and entirely unfamiliar feeling.

Shaking the sensation away, they decided to focus on the task at hand. Examining the piece carefully, they discovered that they hadn’t really decided what it would be used for yet… which meant it was useless.

Sikkhat was incapable of taking deep breaths, which meant they had little to no appropriate methods to calm down with. So they slaughtered a few of themselves, and that made them feel better. Sawing through bodies with sharpened bone was remarkably therapeutic.

Once they were done, they came back to the now-larger pile of metal and sifted through it, selecting the pieces they wanted. They couldn’t use the bones inside the Grineer marines - they were much too fragile for what they had in mind.

Over the next two hours, they painstakingly and with multiple tantrums created a metal skeleton which more or less looked relatively similar to the creature which had invaded their ship. It was crude and far from the intricate details and perfectly shaped curves of the invader, but it was tough and flexible, and so would work. At least for the first attempt.

Taking another look at the juggernaut, they meticulously copied the layered fungus and spores onto the skeleton until it could be moved, and then cautiously stood it up.

It stood stiffly in the center of the room, looking rather impressive in their opinion. After all, it wasn’t any infestation that could design their own body!

Unless they could. They hadn’t exactly met any of their… brethren? They felt no discomfort at the thought of destroying or absorbing any infestation they might encounter into themselves. If the opponent couldn’t withstand it, then that was their issue, not Sikkhat’s.

No, they decided, infestation was not brethren. Simply slightly less offensive enemies. The only creature they even remotely wanted as an ally was the one that had annihilated them so easily, although they’d likely spend more time trying to figure out how it worked than actually cooperating with it.

Returning to the task at hand, they made the body clench its hand into a fist. The motion was painfully slow, and they would have sighed if they’d been capable.

While their control over the body was frankly pathetic at the moment, they could already tell that it would be better than any of their other soldiers. Possibly even the juggernaut, although the body inandof itself was useless at the moment. They needed to get a better hang of how to control it.

It was an entirely different experience from manipulating the marines, or even the juggernaut. The marines and chargers and whatnot already had brains and muscle memory and a dozen other factors which made them as easy to control as moving their own spores. The juggernaut was almost autonomous from them, but they could still direct its actions to a major extent.

The body they’d designed was more like the spores in terms of control. Sikkhat had absolute dominion over what it did, which opened up a massive amount of potential, but also meant they had to figure out how to walk and fight all on their own.

With an exasperated sigh, they got to work.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The body lurched forward and clumsily clawed down at the marine in front of it. They devoted the most miniscule possible amount of effort towards dodging, and succeeded with time to spare.

Sikkhat was beginning to lose hope that they’d ever be able to replicate the flawless, flowing movements and devastating strength displayed by the invader. They had been trying to improve on the body for a full day with absolutely no progress to show for it - if anything, it’d gotten marginally slower.

What was the issue? They couldn’t figure out what the problem was! Did it lie with the design of the body or the control they exercised over it?

Their frustration hit a boiling point, and another half-dozen marines went down to their own tantrum. Slowly calming down, the seething infestation decided to genuinely stop and think about it.

Every marine and charger on the ship froze as Sikkhat devoted the entirety of their considerable mind towards finding the solution. Without the noise of controlling over a thousand Grineer, they gradually came to a conclusion.

They couldn’t exercise suitable control over the body without dipping more of their focus into it than normal. An amount that could potentially consume a dangerous amount of their spores.

They didn’t do it because they worried at all… but they decided to go ahead and make a few more spore pods, planting them in hard-to-reach places. No reason not to be careful.

With that out of the way, they did the infestation equivalent of taking a deep breath and began… well, infesting the body. They sank so many spores beneath the mycelium skin that it became more Sikkhat than the entirety of the rest of the ship combined.

When the body expanded its senses, it was no longer a singular entity.

It was Sikkhat.

And this time, when it clenched a fist, they felt strength.

Turning their head… no. Its? His? Her? Sikkhat had no idea what to call themselves when they were so seamlessly merged with their bipedal host. To control a marine was to bend a finger, to control the juggernaut was to move a hand, but control the body they now occupied was movement incarnate. The marines were varied and inconsistent, the juggernaut a blunt instrument to be wielded, but to use this body was art. How could they even begin to compare the experiences?

They bent their knees and then straightened, and lightly bounced from the ship’s floor. The power lying in their legs was immense, reinforced by thousands of layers of fungus and steel. Moving over to a marine, they made it try to dodge and then kicked it simultaneously.

The marine had not moved an inch before Sikkhat’s leg slammed into its chest. The impact shattered the marine’s armor and nearly punched through the rotten flesh beneath. The marine itself was jerked backward and hurled into a bulkhead. A meaty crunch followed.

Taking a step forward, they nervously took a step forward, and then another. In mere moments, they were running circles in the ship, gradually gaining in speed and confidence as they moved. The matte gray surface of the walls turned into a blur as they sped, power in every step launching them across the floor.

Recalling the invader’s flowing movements, they selected one of its most memorable jumps. A low slide that propelled them into a spinning corkscrew into the air at incredible speed and height, permitting them to nearly fly.

Sliding across the ground, they gathered strength in their legs, braced themselves, and then launched upward. Their left leg tangled with the right, sending their corkscrew into an awkward angle, and they crashed into the ceiling a split-second later.

Falling to the ground, they felt several pieces of metal inside them bend dangerously, and they hastily solved the problem by compressing the fungus around the limbs.

Lying on the ground, Sikkhat came to the conclusion that movement like the invader’s would not come to them quite so easily.