This post started off as a one-off response to a writing prompt in the Freewriters Community. Then I wrote a part 2 (with the outcome literally determined by a coin toss).

But that naturally leads to a part 3, which is where this short series comes in (now resumed after a month of serious mojo-shortage...). I felt that doing it in just one post really wouldn't give enough time to build up a bit of suspense 😀 Enjoy !


![LWiEPFPd9ibh719EDKul--0--djb6s.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alonicus/AJbiVAe3CSUkRKi1xKE1QjsxnFy9u9sUy9TvzjFRymMhJqFcYdDjknm6yEquGLD.jpg)
*Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio*

BrownASP-Brigadier Garrad shook his head, perplexed.

"You've created quite the conundrum, Governor."

"How so ?" Governor Dafang looked at the ASP officer, turning his gaze away from the churned gravel patch on the floor with it's slight pink tinge. Until a few minutes ago, that had been where Mr Garnes had been standing. His former deputy and self-proclaimed replacement.

"You've presented us with a previously unknown lifeform with a communal mind, which holds over us the threat of something remarkably like a doomsday device which could be activated at any time of their choosing."

"The Spineders just want Meranda and themselves to be left alone. That's all." Dafang wondered how he could get that through to Garrad.

"We've only got your word for that. What if, at some point in the future, your Spineders decide to try to take over. Or just that the Empire is too much of a threat to them ?"

There was no opportunity to reply, however. On the other side of the office, Admiral Maraz's wrist communicator buzzed harshly. Three sharp, rapid buzzes, then a two second gap followed by the same three buzzes repeated.

All three of them knew that alarm; it was highest priority. The discussion stopped dead in it's tracks.

Maraz looked down at his screen, his face tense. As he did so, tension turned to deep concern.

"We've got a problem. A big one. One your Spineders can't help with."

Garrad and Dafang looked at the admiral, waiting for clarification. He gave it, his voice grim.

"An Einheriar raiding squadron has dropped down out of Planespace, less than two hours away. I've got just the fifty ships of my personal squadron.... make that forty nine ships. They outnumber us three to one."

Garrad looked at Dafang quizzically. "If your Spineder friends infect living creatures to get them to join this hive mind you speak of, they're going to be defenceless against a non-living bunch of psychotic war machines, aren't they ?"

His heart sinking, Dafang nodded. He started to mentally transmit the problem to the hive mind, wondering if the debate about the relationship between Meranda and the Empire was about to be rendered irrelevant.
 









![Shipwalla.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/alonicus/48TKGLxFJHP29mnZtQWKbYHvmLfK2x2e4LQqFPSuxVioedMKU4GUBco3m9kxrHggDx.jpg)


Previous posts in this series;

* https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@alonicus/24-january-2025-mariannewests-freewrite-writing-prompt-day-2626-mother-love - the post that started it all, and introduced the spine-spiders
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/escape-from-the-caves-of-meranda-iv - the sequel, where the science team escapes back to base and recommends the planet not be colonised. They were too late.
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-1 - we meet the Governor Dafang and get the first hints that the colony isn't going to plan
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-2 - Governor Dafang takes a trip to the Greenfields settlement, only to find it is not there any more
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-3 - a fractious meeting of the co0lony's government, and a worrying foreshadow
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-4 - this is where things start to really go sideways for the colony
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-5 - Doctor Helen Thwaites returns to Meranda to reveal the cover-up
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-6 - Garnes tries to arrest Helen, and gets told to go away
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-7 - Meranda Base finds itself surrounded by a broad band of patterns
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-8 - Mr Garnes makes his move
https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-9 - Mr Garnes' juniors aren't impressed by his self-promotion
https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-10 - Wardek breaks Dafang out of prison, but Doctor Thwaites is swallowed up by the ground.
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-11 - The fugitives use micro-drones to find out what Garnes is up to.
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-12 - Dafang finds out that Wardek was actually a senior NCO in one of the toughest units the Empire has
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-13 - Captured by Imperial Marines
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-14 - A whole battlecruiser goes missing
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-15 - Helen Thwaites makes a re-appearance
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-16 - Helen delivers the Spineders' demands
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-17 - Helen and Dafang go underground to meet the Spineders
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-18 - Dafang wakes up to find he's been absorbed into the Spineder hive mind
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-19 - The return to Meranda Base
* https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-20 - Garnes gets what's coming to him