My consciousness swirled as I tried to maintain my hold on my identity... on my mission... on my control of my host. I lashed viciously at the the rising currents emanating from the human, but her power continued to flow past my feeble attacks. I was shocked and dumbfounded at how casually she seemed to be sweeping away everything that I had held dear. My broodmates and I had literally crawled out of the muck on a distant planet and then crossed the galaxy to spread the power of the Brood to this forsaken planet, but after all that this human... this enchantress...had wrested away my control in seconds.

------ Six hours earlier--------

It was dark in the crate, but I didn't mind. Coiling up tightly against my broodmates comforted me despite the inherent danger of our mission. Although the Hierarchy had been known to dismiss credible threats its forces might face when sent to hostile planets (as my packlet of broodmates had experienced firsthand), in this case it really seemed like the invasion of Earth was going better than the most optimistic projections.

My broodmates and I signaled joy when we arrived through the Straw and were told that our packlet would be sent on a mission accompanied by one of this planet's most powerful enslaved humans. Indeed, the presence of these super-beings had been one of the most intriguing--but also dangerous--aspects of Earth highlighted in the scout team's initial reports. There had apparently been considerable debate within the Hierarchy about whether the presence of such powerful beings represented too great a risk to the Brood. Ultimately, it had taken a rare edict from the Queen of All to break the deadlock and launch our invasion.

The shocking success of our infiltration had once again validated the supreme wisdom of our Queen of All. Rather than dooming our invasion, our resourceful infiltrators had been able to subdue and control one super after another until all of their so-called Heroic League served the Brood. After turning their powers against each other, our infiltrators next turned them against the planet's equivalent of the Hierarchy, and the complete subjugation of those leaders now seemed tantalizingly close.

In fact, our packlet had been assigned to that precise task: After our transit from the homeworld through the Straw, the knowledge of our mission had been relayed to my packlet by a powerful (but successfully enslaved) Super being. We coiled ourselves for transit and were hidden in a land vehicle until we reached a human knowledge transmission center. Soon, we would be deployed by the Super to infiltrate members of the humans' Hierarchy who were attending a commemoration. Once all of the attendees had been enslaved, we would leverage our hosts' roles in the human Hierarchy to assist the invasion from inside the humans' own command and control apparatus.

The members of my packlet were experienced infiltrators, having subdued and controlled sentient creatures during three successful invasions. While bearing some scars of our prior efforts, we also shone with confidence as the result of our prior successes: on every planet we had visited, the natives were powerful enough to easily shred our fragile bodies or intelligent enough to organize powerful forces against us...but on in every case our guile had ensured that the power and intelligence of those native species was soon redirected to serve our goals. Nothing we had faced before matched the power and intelligence of the super beings of Earth, though, so the fact that they now served us had been perhaps the most impressive victory in our Brood's history.

As we awaited the return of our enslaved Super, my broodmates and I signaled speculation and excitement about the hosts that would fall to our touch before the next day's dawn. While our packlet had unfortunately not arrived in time for the claiming of the Supers, the impressive social organization of the humans--especially those with higher status in their Hierarchy--practically guaranteed our team desirable host assignments. Our speculation and excitement flitted and coalesced across the packlet, and rose even higher when we sensed the distinctive neural aura of our Super as he returned and opened the vehicle's access port.

The enslaved Super (confusingly known to the humans as both "Starling" but also as "Hector Jones"... apparently we are not the only species that uses guile to achieve our goals!) had apparently been very successful in his recon: his aura practically crackled with energy and excitement as he opened the case. The Super touched one of my broodmates so that his master could quickly transmit an update to our orders. As the new information propagated between my broodmates, I learned that the plan had changed: Now--in addition to enslaving the gathering's conveners and attendees later this evening--we would also be enslaving a pair of researchers at the knowledge center. After waiting briefly for confirmation that the packlet had received and processed the update, the Super reached into the crate and quickly placed me and another broodmate into his clothing, then resealed the crate and vehicle.

-------

As the Super briskly walked toward our targets' location, I tried to use the host's neural pathways to query his controller for information about our plan for subverting our targets. The controller's response was a brusque reference to standard infiltration protocols, which I acknowledged. I knew the packlets that were tasked with subverting the supers were among the most revered and accomplished in the entire Brood, but even those grizzled veterans had never faced such challenging hosts as Earth's Supers. Losing control of such a powerful entity would threaten not only the broodmates on Earth, but potentially the survival of the Brood. So I decided to respect the controller's need to focus on controlling their host. That said, I decided there would be no harm from using the host's nervous system to passively observe the controller's technique.

When I dipped into the signal flow, I was shocked. After decades of service across multiple planets and species, I had a great sense of the challenges any controller faces with sentient hosts. Even for the most skilled controller and the least resistant host, the struggle to control a host is a constant battle. Tiny tendrils of resistance and doubt spring up like weeds and must constantly be either snipped or shaped. The best controllers tended to be the ones who were most active, twirling and slicing and burning or transforming any foul tendrils before they could truly take root and grow; inattentive controllers tended to be mourned, not emulated.

In contrast, the Super's controller seemed almost supernaturally placid as he leashed the immense power of the Super. I was awestruck that the controller did not seem to be using the cutting strategy at all; instead, almost all of the host's thought patterns were being woven into a tight mesh with the controller's tendrils. As far as I could perceive, the host had been brought into almost perfect synchronicity and alignment with the controller's patterns. I had never seen such unity and peace between a host and controller, and I marveled at the skill it must have taken for the controller to so fully bring the Super's mind to heel. I desperately wanted to ask the controller about his technique, but realized we were now heading into a lightly-populated underground area and were likely approaching our targets. That suspicion was confirmed when the controller sent a quick "Be alert: approaching" message to us as we passed through several secured doors and neared two waiting humans.

As we neared the targets, I was increasingly impressed and appreciative of my assignment. Like the enslaved Super, the neural auras of both targets shone especially brightly and energetically. I looked forward to bringing one of them under my--and the Brood's--control and redirecting their shiny minds to serve us. As the Super gently put his hands into his clothing to grasp us, I sent a quick note of encouragement to my broodmate through his nervous system as I tensed my stinger and primed my venom sac. The super tensed, and then suddenly pulled us out of his pockets, turned, and threw us with great force.

After being prepared to sting and subdue one of the humans, I found myself completely unprepared for what had actually happened. Rather than flinging us at the uncontrolled humans, the Super had actually thrown us in an entirely different direction. As I smacked loudly against a hard, flat surface, I was shocked when a panel sprang shut, trapping me in an enclosure. I could sense my broodmate in a similar enclosure next to mine, and also that the humans and the Super were drawing closer. The male uncontrolled human was especially animated as he pulled out an electronic panel and began triggering changes to the enclosure. The most disconcerting change was the sudden appearance of several flexible wires and clamps, which seemed to be very strong and effective at constraining my motion. Try as I might, I could not apply enough force or change my shape sufficiently to squirm out of the restraints. As the human male approached even closer and placed his hands on either side of my enclosure, I tried vainly to threaten him with my stinger.

-----

Cecelia shook her head as Tim seemed drawn inexorably toward the parasite enclosure. "So I'm guessing this means you're good to go, testing-wise?"

Tim continued staring at the struggling parasite and did not answer. Starling looked at the scientist impatiently and asked, "Are you set up so that we can go? Cecelia and I need to start working on the other aspects of the plan before the parasites start to get suspicious. Do you need us for anything else?"

Tim again stared silently for several seconds, then quietly answered, "Oh yes, I believe I have everything I need now. Thank you for your help, Starling."

Cecelia looked over at the scientist and gave a quiet snort. "Great, WE will be back later to help with the later stages. I'll lock you and the lab rats in from the outside to make sure that we can get things back under control if one of your tests or experiments or such go wrong. Have fun with the parasites, Tim!" she said as she exited and Starling pulled the heavy blast door shut.

As the scientist continued staring at the parasites, the only sound in the room came from the hum of equipment, faint scratching noises as the parasites failed to escape their bindings, and soft mewling and whimpering noises coming from other, larger enclosures in the lab. As the scientist made several notes in his pad, he smiled broadly. "Fun," he thought to himself, "doesn't even begin to describe what we're going to be having here."

---------

This is part of my Fall of the League series. Although the story can be read in isolation, here are parts 1 , 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. This chapter is also inspired by the "unexpected detour" Prompt-a-week challenge by @TotemStorms