The battlefield had barely settled from the first clash when the ground began to rumble again. Smoke rose in thick curtains, drifting over the broken earth where Hivebug corpses lay in steaming heaps. Carbine X rifles cooled in trembling hands, Shatterstorms vented heat through glowing fins, and turret barrels clicked as their feeds reset. The soldiers of the Terran Defense Corps, soaked in sweat and ichor, let themselves exhale.
For a moment, only a moment, there was silence.
Then Sirius Blake's voice crackled over the comms, sharp and unrelenting.
"Don't relax! That was only the first wave! Reload, reset your lines—this isn't over!"
His words cut through the haze like steel. Some of the infantry cursed, others groaned, but they obeyed. Mags slammed into place, power packs swapped, medics dragged the wounded behind barricades. A few soldiers muttered that Blake was paranoid, that maybe the swarm had spent itself. But then the tremors came again, stronger this time. The ground split in jagged seams. Dust plumed upward.
Hivebugs poured out.
They came thicker, faster, in coordinated bursts. Not just drones this time—armored chargers with spines that rattled like sabers, shriekers whose cries rattled helmets and made stomachs churn, burrowers that vanished beneath the earth only to erupt beneath squads' feet. And behind them, tank-class Hivebugs lumbered forward, massive shapes blotting out the horizon.
"Contact! They're heavier this time!" Lieutenant Carver shouted into the comms, his voice strained.
Sirius slammed his fist against his console in FAWS command, eyes locked on live feeds. "All heavies, shift fire to the Tanks' legs and underbellies! Infantry, conserve your ammo—only joints, only eyes, nothing else! Shatterstorms, sweep the clusters before they close the distance! Turret operators, reroute power to sector three! Move, damn it, move!"
Orders rolled out across the lines, sharper and faster than most officers could manage. And yet the soldiers listened. Even the seasoned veterans, men and women who had fought since before Sirius was born, adjusted their fire patterns at his word.
The storm began again.
Twin Shatterstorms roared, sweeping arcs of lead and fire through swarms of drones. Bear Ivanov's mech opened up with its cannons, a thunderous double boom echoing across the field as a Tank staggered under the impact. Stone Varga's heavies braced their shields and unleashed concentrated volleys at the weak spots Sirius had drilled into their minds. Infantry squads advanced and retreated in perfect rhythm, their Carbine X rifles chattering with precise bursts.
And yet the Hivebugs pushed harder.
Casualty reports began to pile up. "Sector Five breached!" "Medics, multiple down in the east trench!" "Ammo running low in Carver's unit!"
Sirius' jaw clenched. His fingers flew across the console, his eyes tracking dozens of feeds at once, ARI whispering calculations only he could hear.
"Turret Twelve, switch angle seven degrees east. Carver, shift left, you're wasting ammo on armor plating. Sergeant Hale, hold your fire until they close—make every shot count. Medbay, brace for influx, keep priority on abdominal punctures. Keep moving, all of you! You've drilled for this!"
And the line held. Barely.
In the medbay, Whisper Kade barked at orderlies while her hands worked furiously over a soldier's torn leg. "Get me more coagulant packs! And tell Blake if he wants me to save them, he better keep the Tanks off my doorstep!"
Back on the front, Shade's recon team reported over the comms. "Blake, swarms circling north. At least forty—no, fifty—charging."
"Copy," Sirius said, his tone steady though sweat dripped into his eyes. "Redirect Stone's squad north. Bear, rotate your mech twenty degrees and prepare your shoulder cannon. I'll cover the breach."
Stone's gravelly voice cut in. "Cover it? With what, Renegade? You're not out here."
But Sirius was already moving.
He sprinted from the command hub, Carbine X slung across his chest, three micro-mags rattling at his belt. Techs shouted after him, some calling him insane, others just shaking their heads. He didn't care. His boots pounded against the dirt until he reached the ridge where the swarm threatened to collapse the line. Soldiers were panicking, their rounds chewing harmlessly into Hivebug armor.
Sirius raised his rifle, his voice booming over the comms. "Focus fire on the joints! Three shots max, then switch targets! Watch your ammo—make it count!"
He squeezed the trigger. The Carbine X spat precision fire, every round aimed at a Hivebug's knee joint. Chitin shattered, the creature toppled, and infantrymen finished it with controlled bursts. Another bug lunged—Sirius fired three shots into its eyestalks, then shifted to its legs. Soldiers followed his lead, their chaotic fire transforming into methodical rhythm.
The Tank loomed next, massive and lumbering, its armored shell absorbing volley after volley. Bear's mech staggered backward, its plating dented from a glancing strike.
Sirius dropped to one knee, his voice raw as he shouted. "Target its joints! Underbelly! Don't waste another damn bullet on the armor!"
He fired, every shot ringing true. His Carbine X rattled against his shoulder as sparks flew from the Tank's underside. Bear roared over the comms, "Got it!" and unleashed a salvo from his mech's cannons. The Tank buckled, legs shattering, before collapsing with a ground-shaking thud.
Cheers erupted across the comms. Soldiers who had been on the edge of breaking steadied themselves, inspired by the sight of Renegade Blake fighting beside them.
For hours the battle raged. The second wave pressed, but Sirius' orders kept the line together. He directed fire, reinforced breaches, and calmed panicked squads with a voice that never wavered. Every moment of training, every invention, every sleepless night at his workbench led to this. And the soldiers knew it. They trusted him.
By dusk, the battlefield was a wasteland of ichor and shattered carapaces. The second wave had broken. Hivebug Tanks lay scattered, their hulking corpses smoking. Soldiers staggered back to trenches, armor dented, faces streaked with grime and blood, but alive.
Sirius lowered his Carbine X, chest heaving, his body aching in ways he hadn't known it could. His hands shook from adrenaline, but his eyes were steady.
Colonel Maren's voice came through the command channel, ragged but proud. "Renegade Blake… you kept us alive today. That was no small feat."
Sirius let a grin tug at his lips. "Just doing what needed doing, ma'am."
He wiped sweat from his brow, then turned toward the horizon.
Because even as the soldiers cheered and medics dragged the wounded back, the ground still trembled.
Scouts reported deeper seismic activity than before, vibrations that rattled teeth and churned the earth. ARI's voice whispered in his mind, calm and clinical.
"Warning. Anomalous seismic readings detected. Probability of larger Hivebug strain surfacing: 89%."
Sirius' grin faded. He looked at the soldiers around him, bruised but smiling, thinking the day was theirs.
He whispered into the comms, his voice grave. "Wave Two is over. But Wave Three is coming. Stay sharp. The real fight hasn't even started yet."
And for the first time, the cheering soldiers fell silent.