Book 4: Chapter 209: Clash of Hives (Pt. 1)

Book 4: Chapter 209: Clash of Hives (Pt. 1)

USD: 8 Hour contact mark with Hadenic forces.

Location: Nu Crateris, Hades, Heavens Fire II, Rexxor CIC

Heelers tentacles moved rapidly over his consoles as he directed his local units to focus fire on the nearby Hadenic creatures storming out of the narrow tunnels lining the line his flotilla had taken.

The Hadenics had been waiting for them, and had been ready.

He had expected this, but the sheer number of them was staggering. The short distance between their exposure from the tunnels to the ships meant that a single lapse in fire control would allow boarders the chance to swarm an unwary ship.

That had happened several times already; was already happening again as Heeler noticed a flock of the winged Hadenic things flare over one of the destroyers nearby, allowing a swarm of thousands of smaller creatures it had been holding to dive into the ships hull plate.

He directed a laser cannon from the Heavens Fire itself to scour the ship. The transport creature was turned into a falling, burning cinder almost instantly, but the damage had already been done.

Despite cooking the friendly hull with the energy, the little creatures had already bored their way through the hull and were inside the ship.

He could feel the rage and anger from his brothers inside as they began a battle of tooth and claw against the rotten flesh of their invaders.

Like the other boarded vessels, there would be no reinforcements coming to save them. One ship had already faltered and was falling back, its remaining defenders holding a delaying action at vital control nodes needed to detonate the ships reactor.

It did not please him to see his brothers lose a fight, but the ships destruction would be a necessary sacrifice. The Hadenics had not yet developed a method to usurp and repurpose the ships, but giving them one to study would be a disaster.

A growl escaped his shell as he shook a tentacle. Not that there would be any survivors to study it. It was time for them to die.

The end of the tunnel was near; the Hadenics had sealed it by growing their cancerous flesh over the entrance. To the point where it would be nearly impossible to breach it even with the fleets firepower.New novel chapters are published on

It will soon be time to move, brothers, Heeler broadcasted with his mind. There was a chorus of agreement, and the mental noise began to rise.

A combined surge of laser energy flashed out from the fleet, scouring an enormous crater into the tunnel blockage. Hundreds of waiting Hadenic creatures that had been waiting to ambush the landing force in the nooks and crannies screeched out as they were vaporized.

Heeler directed the ships to continue their bombardment until the lasers ceased digging into the blockage, the molten rock and flesh having turned into a slagged mess that was quickly beginning to cool.

Dropping a landing force into that months earlier would have been unthinkable, but their tactics had evolved alongside their enemy.

Such a slow speed was agonizing, but clearing a tunnel large enough for a central column of Rexxor to march through was a necessity.

All around them the sounds of combat erupted as the smaller brothers infiltrated the Hadenics tunnels and purged them of crawlers and other growing creatures, but the primary force was still waiting for the tunnel to breach the Hadenic Brain compartment.

Engineers crawled along the tunnel, rolling out the heavy super conducting cable from the Heavens Fire that connected to Heelers shell. The cable was a necessity, granting him local access to the dozens of Computronic modules that made up nearly half of the Heaven Fires mass.

Even if he held one module inside of his body, the others would amplify his abilities greatly.

And that was the only way they would be able to achieve the victory he sought.

A shrill telepathic whine filled the air, a sound that was only heard when the Hadenics were in a panic. Heelers tentacles shifted as he felt their mental braying turn into a shout.

The meaning of the mental noise was incompatible with the Rexxors mind language, but it still conveyed a message. The prey was near. It was afraid.

All around, the combat intensified, and Hadenic scurriers attempted to breach their tunnel head and halt the digging.

Automated emplacements combined with the turrets mounted on patrolling nestlings backs kept the creatures at bay, and the few larger ones the turrets couldnt easily handle were quickly dispatched by heavier weapons or the larger brothers themselves.

Heeler growled. If the computer mind had measured wrong, he would find a way to chastise it.

[Measurement: 220.3 meters to compartment breach. Acoustic sensors indicate a large force has gathered on the other side.]

The warriors began to crowd around him as more filed into the tunnel to await the breach. The evolved forms of the original nest triumvi pushed to the forefront, their large bodies and heavy armor best suited for the frontal assault.

Behind them, nestlings scurried, their small anti-personnel turrets gyroing around manically as their simple GAI units sought targets to engage. Even larger Rexxor armed with quills and other ranged weapons took up the rear, mixed in with piloted tanks and heavy weapons platforms.

Some of the Hadenics were the size of starships, so those platforms were key to taking them out from the ground. Each one had a massive railgun that could punch through battleship class armor plates while still fitting through the tunnel.

The ammunition was limited, however, and had to be ferried in by the smaller brothers that formed a chain to the tunnels entrance and the Heavens Fire II.

It was an intricate dance of flesh and steel, all bent towards the singular purpose of war and specialized for their enemy.

[Measurement: 100.2 meters to compartment breach.]

[Initiate: Hadenic Brain Compartment Breach Protocol.]