28 Chapter 28

Collins made his way towards the rally point in his beaten and battered mecha. The dominion forces had completely disappeared and Collins had seen no sign of them anywhere while he trudged forward trying to cope with everything that had happened. His whole unit was gone, 50 spartan mechas fresh off the assembly lines destroyed after being on planet for less than 24 hours. The only thing that mattered to Collins right now was completing his mission to get to the assembly outside the city. After that he could rest.

Collins continued for a day and a half without stopping. He knew if he stopped to rest he would fall apart and lose the battle he was waging with his mental health. 40 hours since his near death experience, he finally found the assembly point to retake the city. Collins breathed a sigh of relief as he marched forward waiting for the entry gates to open.

In his fractured mental state, he didn't notice the gates blown off the hinges, or the thick black smoke coming from within. As Collins marched through the gate in his mecha, his mind finally snapped to the present and he witnessed a massacre that put the one he was a part of to shame. There were bodies piled up everywhere he looked. Soldiers with terror stricken faces lying in the mud with dead eyes wide open in a river of blood. It was more than Collins could take and he finally broke down and passed out from fatigue and hopelessness.

Collins woke up and noticed several blips on his radar. Looking up, they were all Dominion mechas slowly approaching. Collins quickly went to find cover and observe. He realized too late that the Dominion mecha were here for him. He had no where to hide. Remembering the sacrifice of his old unit, the rage took over and he walked out from behind his cover, pulling both blades from their hangers on his legs. He took a fighting stance and waited.

A dominion mecha approached with the same halberd type weapon he had encountered before. Collins swung his right blade down and as it was blocked by the halberd, he reversed his grip on his left sword and spun right slicing a deep line through the cockpit of the Dominion mecha. The mecha fell over, with the pilot dead.

Two more mechas stepped forward with their halberds and went in for the kill. Both mechas executed a forward thrust towards Collins. Collins stepped forward, parrying both halberds with both his blades, once the Halberds were deflected, he took the right mecha by surprise and destroyed the left knee with a well placed kick. He quickly brought his left arm down with the cannon roughly attached and pulled the trigger pointing towards the mecha on the left. With a huge blast, the cannon tore the whole mid section of the enemy mecha apart. Simultaneously with the right mecha kneeling, he thrust his right sword through the middle, killing the pilot and destroying the mecha power core.

The cannon was a one use item as it completely dislocated the arm joint and power coupler. With a left arm useless and dangling, Collins stood ready to face the rest of his enemies. The Dominion continued to approach and Collins took them 1v1 and 1v2. He didn't know how many mecha he fought when the blow finally came. In his rage, he didn't notice the mecha that came from behind and took the top half of his mecha, right above the cockpit, clean off with a well placed swing of his halberd. Collins sat there as the lower half of his mecha crumbled to the ground.

Collins awoke to rough hands carrying him out of his mecha. He briefly recognized the adaptive camouflage uniforms belonging to dominion but was too tired and broken to care. He was taken out and laid on a metal table as another Dominion soldier stood over him, except this looked like an Imperial. He didn't know if he was seeing things or if it was really an Imperial standing there, that is, until he talked.

"Soldier, I know it's been hard. I can see the trauma on your face. The Dominion welcomes all, I'm going to put this neural link chip in the back of your neck and then you will understand. It's painful, but once the process is over you will never be alone and will be welcomed by billions of brothers and sisters. You will never want for anything again." said the nameless Imperial soldier with some sort of medical device in his hand.

"Brothers, turn him over so I can insert the implant"

Collins finally knew what the Dominion really was and everything clicked into place for him. The different species, the advanced technology, they stole from every race they enslaved furthering their own research and development. He struggled, but he knew it was all in vain. Finally giving in, he allowed them to insert the neural link into the back of his head.

[System has encountered an anomaly]

[System attempting to purge the anomaly]

[System unsuccessful]

[System attempting forced reboot]

[System un...succe....ss...fu..l]

With his system shut down, the neural link had free reign to take over his mind. Collins felt his sense of self slipping away, slowly forgetting who he was and what he was doing. With one last look around, the Major Collins of the Imperial Army was gone, and a new slave for the Dominion was born.

"What are my orders?" said the newly born drone.

"You will continue to serve the Dominion as a pilot, we have seen your resourcefulness and think you will best serve us in the same capacity" replied the nameless dominion soldier, still holding the medical device he used to insert the neural link.

"Glory to the Dominion, it is as you command" said the the old major Collins, not even a former memory of his old self left in his mind.