Chapter 103: Tendril Touching
30 minutes later after having a pleasant conversation with genuine people, I was left alone to enjoy an actual meal I went and ordered. Not sooner than when I sat down, Kathrine entered the hall looking around curiously. Upon finding me, she strode over and sat next to me.
"That was a long 5 minutes." I threw out casually. "Yes well, a lady's 5 minutes is longer than to be expected." Kathrine said before clicking her fingers over to the kitchen. Two women brought Kathrine her food before bowing and leaving us to ourselves. "What? I'm adjusted to a certain standard of living." "I did not say anything." I replied with a smile.
Kathrine and I sat in silence enjoying our meal for a moment before she spoke up once more. "Handsome, what do you know about your armour? I was looking at it last night and I could not determine its species of origin."
Finishing chewing my food, I sped up and responded my practiced story. "My carers over the years told me that my fathers men found a derelict ship that just appeared through a collapsing wormhole. The ship itself was deteriorated beyond repair, but the cryogenic capsule that had my armour inside of it was still pristine." I paused my story to see if Kathrine was believing it.
Her eyes indicating she did as she peered intently at me. "The armour itself requires telepathy to use at peak efficiency, another one of my abilities for you." I said with a wink. " Otherwise it is incredibly unwieldy." "Wait, wait!" Kathrine exclaimed. "You're a telepath? So you can constantly hear the voice inside my head?"
Spartari humans do not generate psionic Telepaths often. The treacherous coalition has quite a majority however so they are perceived negatively by spartari. "No, I have enough control over my ability that I can only hear a persons thoughts if I want to..." I grabbed Kathrine's hand indicating I wanted to prove something to her. "Do you trust me?"
Kathrine was extremely cautious in nature. the amount of illegal things she has done has made it so her trust was hard to come by. However, the man in front of her, a fiancée of one of her rivals, She for some reason did. "Y-yes." she whispered meekly. The trepidation releasing her from her noble mannerism.
I smiled comfortingly at her. "You are Psionically gifted so you have a mental barrier around your Mindspace that protects from telepathic probes. Here feel." Kathrine jolted in her seat as she felt something touch something deep within her. "If I was attacking your mind, You would begin to feel extremely disorientated.
what you felt then was the shock of realising your Barrier is active, It happened to me years ago." I continued to prod with my psionic tendrils, watching her face for any signs of pain.
After her jumping stopped as her barrier realised these tendrils were not threatening, I continued. "While my telepathy can read minds if I were to pierce your surprisingly sturdy Barrier, The limitations of that thinking is small.
Kathrine was about to ask what I meant before another shot of electricity shot down her spine. This time however, was out of pleasure. With a sadistic smile watching her squirm I commented. "I am currently massaging Your Mindspace's defences. The stimulation, since its new to you should feel amazing."
And it did, Kathrine was on the brink of screaming out, but being in public made her compose herself. I was also unaware that my Origin was working passively again behind the scenes making the pleasure increase.
The massage went on for only 10 seconds, but to Kathrine, it felt like hours as she got lost inside of the pleasure. As she was about to scream out, losing herself fully, not caring for those around her did I pull my Tendrils back. Kathrine's panting caused a few faces a couple of tables away to look over and I did not wish to sully her reputation.
"That was... How long did you have me under your spell?" Kathrine asked as she brought herself together. "It was only 10 seconds, but It will have felt like longer don't worry its perfectly natural." Kathrine raised her eyebrows at that remark.
"Your ability is more dangerous than I thought handsome, but maybe not in the way I originally thought." She said as a smile grew on her face as she grasped my hand.
Maybe I wanted to finish my made up story, but the 'fuck me eyes' she was throwing my way went straight over my head. "Yes , so as I was saying, With telepathy the suit links with my Mindspace and I can use it basically becomes a part of my body. I had been able to use it before my Psionic awakening, but afterwards... the difference in capabilities was the difference between each edge of our galaxy."
Kathrine was fascinated. The Spartari went in the direction of metal implants to improve a persons form, to use external means by linking them with your mind was alien, yet fascinating to her. "Would you care to give it a test run?" Kathrine looked at me questioningly. "Don't worry you wont have to link with it, Ill use my head as a relay, but you will hear my thoughts while your inside.
Psionic Jargon stuff, I wont bore you with the details." I said waving my hand.
Kathrine was touched by my offering. The trust to share such an advanced piece of tech with someone you have not known for long moved her as her heart beat elevated. "I-I-I would love to!" She said as she took me by the arm and dragged me off to her room, which caused some rumours among the mercenaries that saw the spectacle to begin to spread.
Unaware at how my actions struck her, as to me the suit was not really tech, just an extension of the hive and billions more could be made for me, I let her drag me back to her room. Once inside, I walked with her to the wardrobe, but she stopped at the doorframe. "What's wrong?" I asked at her behaviour. "Don't laugh, but those purple orbs feel dangerous to me." Kathrine replied.
"Oh yeah that makes sense, to open the suit, it requires a small sacrifice on the users part." Kathrine took a defensive stance behind her door frame. "Nothing serious, just a good amount of Psionic energy." I said and relayed enough to open the front fast.
Kathrine entered deep into the room and felt uncomfortable looking at the interior of the power armour. It did not seem metallic and looked strangely organic. "I thought you may react like that. From what I can tell its from extensive research over the years, its a metal, organic hybrid. sounds gross sure, but there's no smell or anything weird." I said lying as I knew exactly what my suit was.
Kathrine wanting to look strong and not grossed out, stepped closer to the suit and eventually placed her feet inside. "I don't think we took in my size, you are much bigger than me." Kathrine said as a lot of free space was evident. "Its smart fitting, Once it shuts on you, It will adjust to your tight form. Just let me know when you are ready." I said.
Nodding her head, Kathrine braced as suit began to envelop her. It shrunk in certain places and in height. As Kathrine was looking out of the suit, she heard a voice. 'Hmm, why did the suit get curvy?' "Apollo?" Kathrine spoke aloud. 'Oh the link established, I hope its not unpleasant for you, just let me know if it does. Ok, I've never seen anyone else use my suit before so try moving.'
It felt uncomfortable to her, hearing a voice that was not hers inside her mind, but she followed Apollo's instruction. Moving her hands and legs while looking at them awkwardly. She was surprised to find no discomfort or unwieldy aspects to the suit. "It is surprisingly lightweight for its size." She said as she began to strike some victory poses. 'Hah! Well I am assisting remember.
The movements respond to the link it has if I were to stop my-'
Kathrine's hands that were up above her head, suddenly and violently dropped to her side. A sense of dread began to fill her as she could not move an inch no matter how much she tried. "Apollo?" Her voice quivered slightly. Then, the unbearable weight relinquished and she could move again. 'Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to show how much heavy lifting I was doing.'
A little rattled after being trapped in the humanoid shaped coffin, Kathrine decided she wanted to leave the suit. A breath of relief escaped her mouth when she was standing in open air once more.
Still the thought that Apollo's mind could actively move the Armour easily baffled her. "Just how strong are you?" She asked curiously.
I smiled. Being surrounded by the hive all my life, I had not realised how far I have come compared to standard and even augmented humans. I could still be taken down by plenty of gunfire sure, but individually?
"Very."