A young Lady's Journey to become a Hive-Queen

“Samurai fashion is a bit of a mixed bag. Depending on personality or theme their style can vary greatly. Generally they can be categorised into three overall groups: The first doesn’t care for fashion, they just want the gear that best does the job and they don’t care much about the looks. Often these types are new Samurai who simply hadn’t had the time yet to care too much about looks. Rarely these kinds of chaotic designs persist into their continued career though, such as with Hodgepodge, a Tier 3 Samurai who has become well known for their utter disregard for fashion.

Secondly you have those who favour function over form, but still make sure that they at least follow an easy to identify theme.

And then lastly there are the fashion freaks, who can single handedly shift the flavour of the week with one simple shift in design.”

- “Samurai Fashionista”, issue 124, 2049

Luckily for us we were Samurai and after asking some people around we were immediately directed to some head honchos office and told to take all the time we needed.

“Yes, please, Cleopatra,” Jenna said, an unhappy frown on her face. She noticed my confusion and shrugged, “They got like half a dozen cameras in here. Really don’t need them watching me undress, Cleopatra deactivated them.”

That did explain things. I just shrugged, it wasn’t really that I cared too much.

Once inside I looked down at my clothing, then first got rid of my boots, then the armor. It had served its purposes, but truth be told it was a blessing to be rid of it, considering that it really wasn’t comfortable.

Once finally free of it I also got rid of my last remaining piece of clothing, the bra. At this point it was so sweaty that I really didn’t even want to attempt to clean it up.

“Well… I need to clean up. Do you have something for that?”

Certainly. From the Class 0 General Civilian Utilities Catalogue, Crystalwash. It is a rather potent cleaning agent that was designed to get rid of even the most stubborn dirt, without hurting your skin. Simply pour it over your head and rub it in for a couple of minutes. The chemicals will harden and fall off.

“Sounds fancy. How much?”

1 point per bottle.

“Grand, I’ll take two.”

New purchase: Crystalwash x2!

Points reduced to: 1625

I knelt down and opened both boxes. They were small things, rather wasteful honestly. Not that I cared too much, our planet was fucked anyways. I grabbed them both and made my way over to Jenna who was deep in discussion with her own AI, and rather uncertain from the looks of it.

“Here, will help you clean off a bit,” I said and handed her one of the bottles with a smile.

She looked confused for a moment, then down at my outstretched hand. “Uhm, thanks?”

“No worries. Just pour it over yourself and rub it in, stuff will do the rest.”

She nodded, then got lost in her own conversation again when she listened to Cleopatra. I just shrugged and wandered off to my own corner again.

“Well, Kaysa, I need clothes. Good ones too.” While I spoke I opened the bottle and poured it over myself as instructed. It felt… weird, similar to jelly but without the consistency.

“Not sure I need to focus on weapons, at least for now, considering I have the Pristine Fortress and the Reaver, especially once it starts churning out Hexclaws.”

That should hopefully not take long, considering the biomass laying around. I would also advise you to have the Reaver consume the Devouring Rose once it has starved. While its toxin would be nice to keep the antithesis hives in check, the biomass at hand is quite considerable and can easily be turned into an army if given the time.

“If I get that time,” I muttered, rubbing the weird jelly stuff into the more hard to reach places, “I don’t think we will be able to spend much time here. Even if we beat back the scourge, we need to figure out how to save the others, and the Reaver would be quite helpful for that.” I thought for a moment, “I think I’ll name it Snuffles.”

Perhaps you might want to consider obtaining more Progenitor Hexclaws, to increase the throughput.

“Maybe, not now though. I need clothes that can work as armor and that don’t look like that,” I said, throwing a thumb over my shoulder to the old armor Chloe had given me. It had done its job, but I really didn’t want to get something so ugly again.

In that case it might be a good idea for you to finally obtain the Class I Mythical Kitsune Catalogue. It has quite the broad collection of clothing items that could be upgraded to work as armor. They should also still retain their usefulness should you decide for body modifications later down the line. Of course, depending on what you wish to achieve with that there might be some things that won’t work well together.

“Talking about body mods, what kind of point cost can I expect? Generally speaking I mean, still not sure what I actually want from that.”

I waited while the weird Crystalwash stuff did its thing. It felt a bit fucky, something was happening with it, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

That is a rather hard question to answer. Roughly between eight thousand to thirty thousand points, depending on the goal you wish to achieve; you can almost certainly spend much more. As I have mentioned before, most Samurai usually use body modifications to make themselves more resilient, however some also use it to redesign their own body. You seem to like the Kitsune theme so far, perhaps you wish to imitate some of the things they are most well known for? It would be rather easy with the catalogue unlocked.

I shrugged, “I haven’t put much thought into it, really. I like the idea of being all cute, and pretty, and sexy, and stuff, but at the same time… I mean Chloe mentioned something about misdirection and stuff like that, right? Body doubles, Shapeshifting? I guess it would be fun to do, not sure how much use those will have when fighting off the hordes of aliens though.”

Seraphine, you have access to the Hexclaw Swarm Intelligence Catalogue. Any body doubles and any shapeshifting abilities you might get in the future can become quite potent weapons in your arsenal. Even if you disregard the more hideous appearances of the Hexclaws you could still integrate natural weapons into your look temporarily.

“I guess that is a point… Hm, put it on the list for future consideration. I still need to think more about that. Will make picking out clothing difficult though… Actually, scratch that. I doubt I will need or use the same kind of stuff I get now when I get to that point. I mean, you said it costs tens of thousands of points, right? Might as well get new and improved stuff then.”

Very well. In that case I do have some recommendations for you. How many points are you willing to spend on this?

“Good question,” I said, then looked down at myself.

At this point the jelly stuff had started to harden and was flaking off at different parts of my body. I had to shake some parts off, and use my fingers to comb through my hair a bit, although surprisingly most of the jelly came off really easily. Now fully clean I stretched lavishly. It felt nice to be clean again, even my crimson mane felt much less strained. Not quite like I had just given it a good wash, but it was the next best thing.

“I think for the moment call it… I dunno, 600 or so points for clothes. The Catalogue was 150, right? That means I will have what, 750 points remaining if I want to keep a hundred as emergency funds? Leaves me with more than enough if I need more gadgets.”

That opens up quite a significant amount of choices. For general protection you need some kind of armor; either full on armor, armored clothing, or an armored dress. Considering your preferences it also needs to look elegant with maybe a touch of sensuality thrown in, in which case I would recommend either the Mark II Moonlit Dress with fitting underwear and decorative pieces for 350 points, or if you prefer shirts and pants or skirts, the Mark II Nights Embrace Armored Blouse, plus either the Mark II Sinners Joy Armored Skirt, or the Mark I Summer Pants, ending up at 260 points. For the boots I can recommend the Mark III Nekomata's Grace Stilettos, which have weaponized heels, or if you are looking for something more casual, the Mark II Silent Runners, which are more focused on stealth, both at 200 points.

“That… is quite expensive for a couple of pieces of clothing. But I guess they do have their uses. Let me guess, they aren’t just some lightly armored pieces of designer wear, are they?"

Of course not. Let us start with the Mark II Moonlit Dress. It is a combination Item between your Class I Hard-Light Technologies Catalogue and the Class I Mythical Kitsune Catalogue. That means it can project a protective Hard-Light shield around you in case of emergency, but it is also capable of seamlessly switching colour, even limited stealth functionality. It comes with two bracelets and two earrings, plus sleeves for your arms, which have the same functionality as the dress.The bracelets work as variable Hard-Light emitters, focused mainly on defence of your person, while the earrings come with pre-installed nanite swarms, purpose built to find and close open wounds, as well as repair of the dress. The severity of the wounds and gashes they can fix is quite limited however, don’t expect miracles. They are mainly there to keep you looking pristine and ever beautiful.

“Damn… That is quite the sell, Kaysa. The rest? Are they similar in function?"

That would be the case yes, although minus the bracelets and earrings. They could be bought separately, which would cost 370 points for the entire ensemble if you go with the shirt and pants.

“Yeah… I was never one for shirts and pants, shirt and skirt sure, but I really like the idea of that dress. Put it on the list. The shoes?"

The Mark III Nekomata's Grace Stilettos are thigh high high heels that are focused mainly on protecting your legs and feet, while also capable of dealing some damage. The heels are preinstalled with a thagomizer, meaning that they can be lit aflame. They feature a cybernetically controlled balance system, which would prevent you from tripping easily, and will overall improve your balance. The balance system comes in the form of a tail that would attach itself just above your coccyx.

“Wait, a tail?" I asked, a little bit surprised. I tried to imagine myself with a tail and I had to say I did like that idea quite a lot.

Indeed. Don’t forget these items are meant to fit a Kitsune theme, it would be quite strange to find a Kitsune without a tail.

“I guess that’s true… Okay, so that would be… 350 plus 200, so that’s 550, plus the catalogue, 700 points then. That’s… Actually not that bad. I was thinking about finally getting that sensory system you recommended earlier, but I am not sure since in comparison it almost sounds cheap.”

If you are willing to spend an additional 90 points we could also go for the Mark III Twin-Ear Sensory Suite. It would still be a semi-non intrusive option with the help of an implant. The implant you got to control the Progenitor Reaver works well for this purpose. The Mark III Twin-Ear Sensory Suite would allow you to perceive sounds outside the human spectrum, navigate the world around you with sound alone, increase your balance, with additional support for the Mark III Nekomata's Grace Stilettos, send and receive long range communications, and change their appearance to a limited degree. You can also choose to turn them invisible. Quite the package if I do say so myself.

“Hm… It’s expensive, but I think it would be worth it. I kinda wanna get better augs too, if I’m already at it.”

An upgrade of your basic augments is part of the Mark III Twin-Ears Sensory Suite. It was necessary for you to utilise it fully and has already been included in the price.

“Wait, so what would it cost without the augmentations upgrades?"

90 points.

“What if I spent a bit more on augs then? Call it… a hundred? Maybe a bit more?"

In that case there are some options available from the Class I Hexclaw Catalogue. For 80 points you could get an overall upgrade of your current suite of augmentations. For 100 points you can get additional features, meshing with the implant from the Progenitor Reaver, that would enable you to basically let all Hexclaw Units run independently from you, while still entirely under your control. It would basically offload the strain on your mind from having too many Units to the augmentations. There is one more expansive option, if you would like to hear it.

“Spit it out, Kaysa, I know you want to.”

The Mark VII Hexclaw Swarm Intelligence Singularity Legion Control. It costs 210 points. It does fully deliver for the price however. To begin with it would be comparable to the Military Grade version of low end Samurai Augmentations, with limited Cyberwarfare capabilities, a complete communications suite that can work in conjunction with the Mark III Twin-Ears Sensory Suite, a full control center for all your Hexclaw Units and any other drones you might wish to get, and can be upgraded to fully control Nanite Swarms. The main feature is a private network, with full virtual reality capabilities, including limited mesh dives, and a multitasking support software, enabling you to more or less split your attention, while still retaining full control over each part. Of course it would also improve your vision to include more than the human spectrum, as well as further improve on your balancing with integrated support for both your boots and the Mark III Twin-Ear Sensory Suite.

I was silent for a moment, a bit overwhelmed by the implications. “Damn, Kaysa, talk about sales pitch. Now I would feel bad if I didn’t take it. Bundle it all up, I’m sold.”

It is a pleasure doing business with you.

Class I Mythical Kitsune Catalogue unlocked!

Points reduced to: 1500

New purchase: Mark II Moonlit Dress!

Points reduced to: 1150

New purchase: Mark III Nekomata's Grace Stilettos!

Points reduced to: 950

New purchase: Mark VII Hexclaw Swarm Intelligence Singularity Legion Control!

Points reduced to: 740

New purchase: Mark III Twin-Ears Sensory Suite!

Points reduced to: 650

I laughed as multiple boxes appeared around me. Time to get suited up!

To start with I opened the box with the dress, simply because it came with underwear and that would be the first thing I should probably put on. Not because I disliked being naked, obviously.

The dress itself looked kind of plain, out of the box. Of course that changed the moment I thought about it and the entire thing lit up, gradually shifting through some colours including something semi-see-through, which was wonderful to know, before it settled on a nice purple colour with black and silvery accents. It fit the rest of my look quite well and it did match the colours I usually dressed myself in.

The cut was relatively simple, but masterfully tailored. At its lowest point it reached just over my knees, although that was only the tip of the dress. The asymmetric shape covered my right leg until just above mid thigh, while the left leg was entirely uncovered on the side, revealing the small piece of cloth belonging to my black panties. It meshed well with the sensual look and did challenge anyone looking at me to imagine the possibilities, yet it was chaste enough to not overly sell the sexy look.

A similar style was present around the chest area, which did have quite a bit of cleavage, but not enough to look slutty.

When I put it on it fit me very well, almost too well. Then again Kaysa had probably my exact measurements down to nanometer scale or something and had used some weird protector AI math fuckery to get the perfect lines done.

The sleeves were equally elegant. They hid away my lower arms, while keeping my upper arms bare to the shoulders. They attached at a very small point on the outside of my shoulders to the dress with a small magnetic clip, making them very easy to put on, while also strongly enough attached that I didn’t need to worry about accidentally ripping them down. The clips also doubled as small Hard-Light emitters that would prevent any attack from hitting me around my bare arms unhindered.

The bracelets and earrings were of course meant to complete the entire look, they looked stylish and elegant, but didn’t overshadow the design, rather underlining it. Of course the earrings were shaped like stylized fox heads, which looked quite nice.

Sadly I had to put my Pristine Fortress over my sleeves, which did look a bit out of place at first, but after adjusting the gear a bit I did manage to get it to fit in a way I liked.

Next up were the boots, which were just as nice as the dress. They generally followed the same design pattern and despite being quite durable looked more like soft cloth socks, rather than thigh highs. They reached just under mid thigh, which meant that there was this small little thigh window that I knew from experience was something most clients enjoyed to see.

The heels weren’t too high, but high enough to give me an inch or two in height, and surprisingly stable. I had to actively try to trip before I could bend my ankle, probably the balance system at work considering how the boots themselves tried to prevent me from falling. I loved it immediately. No need to worry about running in heels anymore.

The tail was… an interesting experience. Full fur that felt almost real, and it snuck under the dress in just the right way to hide what needed to be hidden, yet looked rather provocative when I was sashaying, I thought.

Once I had fully clothed myself and inspected my new look as well as I could I opened the next box, which contained the Sensory Suite. True to its name the Mark III Twin-Ears Sensory Suite came in the form of two large and fluffy fox ears that I had to place on my head. The fur was of course the same shade of red as my hair, similar to the tail. Once placed I could feel them shift and move until something attached itself to my scalp and held fast. No matter how I moved they didn’t move from their place on my head.

It was a sin that I didn’t have a mirror to admire myself in, but considering the utterly slack jawed look Jenna was giving me, despite her best attempts to hide it, was indication enough that I looked extremely good. Awesome!

Last but not least I had the augmentations upgrade, which… looked a bit sketchy.

Take the two disks out of the box, and place one on your forehead, and one on the side of your neck. Next take the needle and inject the contents next to each disks. Lastly, take the eye cover and place it on your eyes. You need to keep your eyes open during the operation, which the cover will help you do.

“This… sounds like quite the intrusive operation," I said, slightly unsure.

That’s because it is. You shouldn’t feel much pain, nor should it interfere with any future biological changes, unless you fully want to switch to an animal-like form, in which case some upgrades to the Mark VII Hexclaw Swarm Intelligence Singularity Legion Control would be in order.

I took a deep breath, then prepared as I was told. “Here goes nothing."

Then I felt a sudden, but short pain, before my sight went away. That had me panic for a moment, before it returned, although changed.

You can now remove the disks and the eye cover.

I did and… the world… looked different. Not a lot different, it still had the same kind of general look to it, but it looked sharper. Then my sight shifted and I could suddenly see… heat. Then even more.

You are now capable of perceiving things far further removed from the normal human spectrum, plus some additions like limited X-Ray vision. Your sight should be as sharp as it is possible for your brain to comprehend as well.

“Damn! You weren’t kidding when you said this shit is worth it!" I said, examining everything around me. Switching through my different forms of vision I could see… a lot. Jenna already looked pretty good with my new eyes, but now I was able to see her body temperature, her heartbeat, blood flow, and even skeleton if I felt like it. It was amazing, even if a bit freaky.

“Uhm… Could you stop staring?" she said, slowly covering up, even though she was already fully dressed in her own new getup.

“Oh, sorry! I was checking your blood flow out! Just got new augs and they are crazy good! I even have X-Ray vision!”

That earned me a scandalous look.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. I can see your skeleton and such, not that kind of X-Ray vision.”

She didn’t seem convinced.

I snorted and focused back on my normal vision, fully taking in her new outfit.

It was similar to mine in terms of flavour, although more armoured and in an entirely different style. She had gone full Egyptian Queen or Pharaoh, with sandy browns, whites, and purple and golden accents. It was very much in line with the remainder of her theme, but it did have some more modern looking cuts as well, especially the armor bits. It all accumulated with her looking like a believable modern rendition of the Pharaoh’s of old.

The dress was a bit revealing, yes, but not in a sexual way. In fact, it managed to show a lot of skin in a very elegant and majestic fashion. While I had more of a seductive look, she looked like a Queen on a throne.

“Wow… You look really nice in that," I said, and I meant it.

“Thanks… Yours is quite fitting too.” It was hard to pick out, but she seemed genuinely happy at the compliment.

“Thanks! I really like it!" I beamed, then tilted my head, “But hey, weren’t you focused on Sentinels and such? Didn’t you get more of those?"

“Yeah, I plan to, but I can’t well get them in here, since they are quite large. I mean, I could, but I thought I’d wait until we were outside.”

“That makes sense. Ready to head out then?" I asked, with an excited gleam. I couldn’t wait to show off my new look!

“Uhm, sure. Aren’t you going to get more weapons though?"

“Nah, I got my Pristine Fortress and Snuffles, who can make more Hexclaw thingies later. Just need to be patient.”

Talking about Snuffles, with the new augs I could now perceive its… hers? I decided on hers, since the Reaver was all about birthing new Hatchlings. Anyway, I could now perceive her perspective separately, while still retaining my attention on my own senses. It was a bit of a fucky feeling that I would probably need to get used to, but it already made controlling her quite a lot easier. Who knows, maybe one day I would fight the xenos side by side with her. That thought made me grin. I couldn’t wait!