//------------------------------//
// Infiltrators 
// Story: Changelings: A Summary 
// by HypernovaBolts11 
//------------------------------//

	Infiltrators are a subclass of soldiers who have reached maturity, and the most independent plebeian caste of changelings, spending most of their time away from the hive, only communicating with a hive mind once every few days to gather intel on their next target, collected by the spies. They are free to think as they desire, and will only return to the hive in order to distribute the love energy they've gathered and to fulfill their role in the reproductive process.

They will assist the hive if they can between missions, helping the workers tend to the younger changelings, keeping watch over the sleeping worker units, and showing new infiltrators the ropes of their job.

Upon receiving a new assignment, an infiltrator gathers as much information on their target as it can from the spies' intel, and make its way to the spy outpost where the target is most frequently spotted. It will be greeted by one of the spies, fed for a day or so while they come up with an alibi, and sent off on its mission.

The infiltrator will disguise itself in a way that fits its alibi, and go off to seduce its intended target, from which it will harvest love in any form it can. These missions can last for years, often with the infiltrator marrying its target, and living with it for several years, returning to the hive periodically to distribute the love it has collected.

When the infiltrator is sniffed out, the mission is over, and the infiltrator can do with the target as it pleases, often capturing it for the hive's use, or wiping its memory, or committing treason by refusing to return and accept another mission, keeping all of the love it has gathered for itself.

Traitors are often captured by a group of other infiltrators, who will also scoop up the target before it can expose the mission or get away, and bring them back to the hive. The traitor will be forced to give up the love it collected, and then beheaded, and the target will become a prisoner, feeding the workers and soldiers.

Some infiltrators develop a reputation of casting amnesia spells on their targets once they are discovered, and then returning a month or two later to feed on the same target all over again.

Whilst they are gathering love, infiltrators can also collect genetic material from their targets, which can then be introduced to incubating workers in the hive. If an incubator is carrying a drone, these foreign genes can be integrated into the developing drone's genetic makeup as a new mutation. This adds genetic diversity to the drone population, and is largely responsible for their wild differences.

This information prompted me to ask a particularly amusing question of my associate, "So... Which infiltrator decided to mate with a firefly?" This was, of course, referring to his ability to generate bioluminescence in his eyes.

He was much less amused by this than I was.