The battlefield did not quiet after the second wave. If anything, the air itself felt heavier, saturated with Hive stench and static from scorched weapons. Smoke clung to the ridges, broken carapaces littered the valley floor, ichor steaming in the fading light. Soldiers reloaded in frantic rhythm, turrets spun back into standby, medics dragged the wounded behind barricades.
Sirius Blake stood at the command ridge, Carbine X gripped tight, HUD overlays flooding his vision. His throat was raw from shouting orders, but his mind burned with a clarity he hadn't known before. ARI's voice was calm in his skull, feeding predictions, highlighting gaps, marking potential burrow eruptions before they broke the surface.
> "Probability curve updated. Next swarm cluster incoming in seventy-eight seconds. Density: heavy. Estimated contact vector—northwest gully. Warning: anomalous synapse activity detected in subterranean channels."
Sirius' jaw tightened. "Anomalous how?"
> "Hive coordination patterns outside of known thresholds. Predicted emergence: new caste."
He spat into the dirt, steadying his breath. A new variant. Exactly what they didn't need.
"Alright, listen up!" Sirius shouted into the comms, voice echoing through battered helmets. "We've chewed through two waves already, and we're still standing. The next one's coming from the northwest gully. Shift the heavies there! Bear, get your mech braced on the ridge! Stone, your squad anchors the line! Shade, get eyes above and mark targets before they crest!"
Acknowledgments crackled back through static.
He didn't even notice the looks he got anymore—the way soldiers glanced at him with a mix of disbelief and trust. The tech genius, the rear-line madman, the so-called Renegade Blake was running the defense like a seasoned officer. And no one was arguing.
The ground began to quake. Dust shook loose from the ridge, rocks tumbled into the gully below. A low, thrumming sound echoed through the valley, not just noise but vibration, rattling teeth inside skulls.
Then came the swarm. Hundreds of Hivebugs poured out of fissures in the gully walls, scuttling over each other in their rush to overwhelm. Soldiers opened fire, turrets lit up, mechs thundered shells into the mass.
But Sirius felt it—something deeper beneath them, a pulse.
The Synapse Beast burst from the gully floor like a nightmare made flesh: a grotesque, towering Hivebug variant, taller than Bear's mech, its carapace ridged with pulsating sacs that glowed faintly with bioluminescence. Spines jutted from its back, crackling with strange electrical arcs. Its scream wasn't sound—it was a psychic blast that staggered soldiers, making ears bleed inside helmets.
A soldier dropped his rifle, clutching his head. Another fell to his knees, vomiting.
ARI cut through the psychic static in Sirius' mind:
> "Identification: Synapse-class Hivebug. Primary function: battlefield coordination and disruption. Its presence increases swarm cohesion by 61%. If not destroyed, probability of defense collapse: 87%."
Sirius gritted his teeth, forcing his voice steady. "You heard her. That thing's the brain of the swarm. Kill it, or we're finished!"
Bear's mech surged forward, stabilizers anchoring into the rock. "Target locked!" he barked, his voice strained with effort. Twin cannons thundered, shells slamming into the Synapse Beast's chest. Chitin cracked but didn't break.
Stone Varga's heavy infantry raised launchers, firing volley after volley. Explosions tore through lesser Hivebugs around it, but the Beast only shrieked louder, the psychic wave making some soldiers stumble mid-reload.
Shade's voice cut in over the comms, calm despite the chaos. "Renegade, I've got eyes on weak points—joints behind the spines, just under the carapace ridge."
Sirius' HUD lit up as ARI synced with Shade's marks.
"Stone, hit the weak points! Bear, keep its attention! Shade, keep tagging, don't miss a damn mark!" Sirius shouted, voice ragged.
He raised Carbine X and fired in bursts, the ammo counter ticking down steadily. His rounds sparked against the beast's armored limbs, doing little more than distraction—but distraction was enough.
Stone's squad adjusted fire, rockets hammering the marked joints. One detonated deep, blowing ichor in a spray. The Synapse Beast lurched, shrieking in fury.
Bear's mech seized the opening, cannons blasting at the exposed joint. Armor split, the leg buckled. The Beast collapsed onto one knee, still thrashing, still screaming.
Sirius bared his teeth in a manic grin. "Now we've got you!"
The swarm pressed harder, bolstered by the Beast's psychic command. Hivebugs poured from the gully walls in coordinated strikes, flanking infantry lines, swarming over turrets.
Sirius' comms filled with shouts:
"We're getting overrun!"
"Turret three offline!"
"Ammo running low!"
ARI's voice was urgent.
> "Recommend prioritizing the Beast. Without it, swarm coordination will degrade by 47% within three minutes."
Sirius forced his voice over the chaos. "All units, ignore the fodder! Focus fire on the Beast! Kill the brain, the body dies!"
Every turret, every rifle, every launcher turned.
The Shatterstorm prototype, hauled into battle by Stone's heavies, roared to life—dual barrels spewing a storm of slugs. The air turned to thunder, Hivebugs shredded in swathes.
Stone growled into the comms, "Storm's singing, Blake!"
Bear's mech staggered under blows from lesser Hivebugs, but still he kept firing, pouring everything into the Synapse Beast.
The beast shrieked again, another psychic wave rippling out. Soldiers faltered—but this time Sirius screamed over it.
"Hold the line! Ignore its screams! You've survived worse—now finish it!"
And they did.
Shade's final mark appeared on Sirius' HUD, a pulsing red diamond on the Beast's skull ridge.
"Blake, that's the spot. Put it down."
Sirius lifted Carbine X, breath steady despite the chaos. ARI synced recoil compensators, highlighting the aim.
He squeezed the trigger. One burst. Two. The rounds tore through the mark. The Beast reeled—then Bear's mech delivered the killing blow, a shell punching straight into the skull.
The Synapse Beast convulsed, ichor spraying in a grotesque fountain. With one final psychic shriek, it collapsed, crushing dozens of lesser Hivebugs beneath its weight.
The swarm around them faltered instantly, movements disorganized, strikes sloppy. Infantry counterattacked, turrets mowed them down, heavies advanced.
Cheers erupted over the comms. "It's down! The big bastard's down!"
Sirius lowered Carbine X, panting, sweat stinging his eyes. His grin was sharp, almost feral. "Told you we'd kill the brain."
ARI confirmed, her tone almost warm:
> "Mission success: Synapse Beast neutralized. Swarm coordination reduced by 61%. Probability of holding position: greatly increased."
When the guns finally quieted, the gully was a charnel pit. Broken Hivebug bodies piled high, the Synapse Beast sprawled like a mountain of chitin and ichor. Soldiers slumped behind barricades, exhausted but alive.
Stone clapped Sirius on the shoulder, leaving a streak of blood and ichor. "You're insane, Blake. But damn it, you're our kind of insane."
Bear's mech crouched, the pilot's laughter booming over comms. "Renegade storm, Renegade storm! Hells, you actually made that thing work!"
Shade's voice was quiet but edged with pride. "One more miracle, Sirius. But how many more do you have left in you?"
Sirius only grinned, eyes flicking toward the horizon. "As many as it takes."
But deep down, he felt it—that fight had been too close, too costly. And if the Hive could field something like the Synapse Beast, what else were they hiding?
ARI answered without him asking.
> "Caution: Hive escalation highly probable. Prepare for larger-scale emergence."
Sirius didn't smile at that. He only tightened his grip on Carbine X and stared into the smoke-filled horizon.
"Then let them come," he whispered.
The soldiers around him began repairs, tended to the wounded, and reloaded for the next wave. None of them knew what ARI had already calculated—that this was only the third act in a battle that hadn't even reached its climax.