AVARICIOUS WYRM

you slump into the control cavity of the warbody, protective ivory petals sealing around you. your skin stings as questing tendrils wriggle underneath, combat hormones flooding your blood, artificial nerves seeking a pilot to complete their circuit and - all of a sudden your perception unfolds beyond yourself in a way it never has before. from your throne at the center of the universe, everything unfolds beneath you, nothing is hidden. your prey scrambles, thinking it can hide or run - you smell hot blood sloshing under skin and you begin to salivate. your steel claws strain against their housing, your rocket launchers chitter excitedly among themselves. you are majestic, and you cannot imagine how you lived so long as the weak unprotected thing you were before.