The first thing he noticed was the thick mess of sludge underfoot. The once familiar silver walls of the Dauntless had already begun their conversion, now cased in a strange unnatural black resin. His ship. His home now belonged to something else. The Nirimor of old had always been tenacious but their fatal flaw of deep-rooted individuality often broke their forced unity. That was the purpose of Great Minds. It through force of will brought mental order to organised chaos and gave the Mortans something they often lacked. Purpose. This variant, named by the Terrans as Deterrent, needed none of that. It acted with a ruthless efficiency he had never seen before. They had easily overpowered him and his fellow officers not long after the ship crashed. They had also been far more merciful to his men. He had expected the same fate but their sudden subservience and silent agreement had left him more than a little anxious. The two Mortans dragged him to what was once Hydroponics. The place where they once grew food was now the core of the Deterrent Hive. Its tendrils left no spot untouched. The two Mortans in their joint silence dragged him to the central platform and released their hold on his arms. He flopped before the tall imposing creature in front of him. A Patriarch or Matriarch?

It faced him. Its gaze looked sympathetic if that were possible.

"You look surprised?" The distorted voice made the silence all the more unsettling as it spoke to his mind. The oppressive will made him shake in place. "The Deterrent needed me to set the ball rolling but I'm not enough to make this work. That's where you come in."

"If you're going to plant me then do it. Stop wasting -"

He began levitating as suffocating pressure was pushed against his throat. The Kaskari tried clawing at nothing attacking their throat but the Creature simply forced their arms down.

"If I intended for that you wouldn't be granted an audience. The truth is, there is one other mind in this world that moves against us. It seeks affirmation from our joint master. Thus I need a Great Mind to subjugate it."

"I'm just a Lieutenant. Surely the Captain would be a better choice…"

The Creature let go and the Kaskari collapsed, gasping for air. "The Captain gave the orders yes… but you were his will. His guiding hand. That's why I wanted you and why he rots in the medbay. A great deal many threats move against us. Time is not on our side. You will guide us to our final victory."

"I'm just one mind."

"Soon you will be many."

It took him a minute to realise what this Creature was referring to. He had been so caught up in the current state of Hydroponics he failed to spot a growing pile of corpses.

"I'm surprised you didn't just plant them."

"Not everyone needs to be converted and some can serve other purposes. We are all one being in the end. We just have to come together. Convergence is inevitable."

A group of Mortans referred to as Spitters arrayed themselves around the body and with their open palms fired the strange black substance at the bodies. It took little to no time at all for it to become a massive pile of sludge. The Spitters broke their circle and went off in different directions. The slimy mess crawled its way to the Lieutenant and tiny little stubbed arms reached out on mass. To make this process seamless, the Creature held them in place with their mind. The various parts of the slimeball now attached themselves to its new host and he could do nothing to stop himself from being swallowed by it. He screamed but those too became muffled leaving behind a suffocating silence.

"Our minds will soon become linked. Our Great Mind will rise to meet the other. Though it may be far away, it will fall to us… or perish."

The Creature turned away from the writhing mass as tendrils from the floor and ceiling found purchase on its body. The sudden lunge from the black mass staggered the Creature forward but it soon straightened and felt its reach grow. Entering a trance-like state it found the rats heading towards medbay.

"I see you, Vadir Kor. There is nowhere on this ship where you can hide. I see everything. Wherever you hide. Wherever you go. We will find you. Resistance is futile."