The battlefield had gone still, unnaturally still. The Synapse Beast's corpse lay twisted in the gully like a broken tower, ichor still steaming from the crater Bear's final shot had torn through its skull. Soldiers leaned against barricades, rifles slack in their arms, some laughing in relief, some crying quietly where no one could see. The air smelled of ozone, blood, and victory.
For the first time in days, Sirius allowed himself a breath. Carbine X hung heavy at his side, its barrel scorched from hours of fire. Stone stood nearby, helmet off, his scarred face streaked with grime, shaking his head in disbelief. Bear's mech crouched behind them, one arm sparking but still upright. Shade crouched on the ridge, silent as a shadow, scanning the horizon with her scope.
ARI's voice hummed quietly in Sirius' mind.
> "Swarm coordination reduced. Local Hive forces in disarray. Probability of renewed attack within next four hours: 14%."
Sirius exhaled, almost smiling. "Four hours. That's a lifetime compared to what we've had."
But Shade didn't lower her rifle. She didn't even move. Her breath crackled over the comms, steady but tense. "Don't relax yet. Something's wrong."
Sirius glanced at her, brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
Shade's scope shifted, her voice colder. "The smoke in the east. It's not rising from fires—it's being pushed. Something's moving beneath it. And it's big."
The ground trembled again.
The tremors started light, like aftershocks from the Synapse Beast's fall. But then they grew. Loose rocks rattled, broken Hivebug shells slid across the dirt, and soldiers scrambled to their feet, instincts screaming.
"Contact?" Stone barked, snapping his helmet back into place.
"No… not contact," Sirius muttered, eyes narrowing at the horizon. The smoke thickened, swelling like a wave.
Then it split apart.
A monstrosity forced its way through the haze—a Hive Queen fragment. It wasn't the full thing, not the mythical terror whispered about in trenches, but even this shard of its brood-mind form dwarfed the Synapse Beast. Its body was a grotesque mass of armored plates, spined ridges, and pulsating sacs that glowed with eerie green light. Its limbs were long and jointed, tipped with claws that could shear a mech in half.
And its head—its shrieking, psychic head—was crowned with jagged antennae that sparked with psychic interference.
The moment it screamed, every helmet in the field buzzed with static. HUDs flickered, ammo counters glitched, turrets froze mid-turn. Soldiers staggered, clutching at their helmets. Some cried out as blood trickled from their noses.
Sirius dropped to one knee, gripping his skull. ARI's voice cut through the static, sharper than ever:
> "Warning: Cognitive disruption detected. Systems integrity compromised. Countermeasures required immediately."
Through the haze, Sirius forced his voice out, raw but steady. "Listen to me! Eyes on me! We've beaten every wave they've thrown at us, and we'll beat this too! Hold the line—hold the damn line!"
His shout broke the fog. Soldiers looked up, found him standing tall again, Carbine X raised like a banner. The comms lit with a ragged chorus:
"Hold the line!"
"Hold!"
"Kill the bastard!"
The Queen fragment shrieked again—and the battle began.
Turrets sputtered back to life, some sluggish, others glitching. FAWS techs sprinted to reset circuits, sparks flying as they forced systems back online. Infantry raised rifles, ammo counters flickering, some blank, some lagging seconds behind.
Stone's heavies rallied, their rocket fire streaking across the field. Explosions tore chunks from the swarm of lesser Hivebugs spilling from the fragment's shadow, but they kept coming, coordinated by its psychic howl.
Bear's mech staggered forward, one leg limping from earlier damage. His voice boomed across the comms. "I've got her attention! Renegade, tell me where to hit!"
Shade's scope flared, her calm voice cutting through the chaos. "Weak points glowing near the thorax, just under the secondary plates. That's where it's vulnerable."
Sirius' HUD lit with ARI's red diamonds. He slammed a mag into Carbine X and shouted into the comms, "All fire on the thorax plates! Stone, cover Bear's advance! Shade, keep tagging! Everyone else—protect the turrets!"
The battlefield lit up.
Carbine X barked with precision, rounds hammering into the marked plates. Stone's squad unleashed coordinated volleys, rockets and slugs slamming into glowing sacs until ichor sprayed like fountains. Bear's mech staggered into close range, unloading both arms into the thorax until green fire erupted from the cracks.
But the Queen fragment lashed out.
A claw swept across the ridge, smashing a turret into scrap. The psychic scream pulsed again, and soldiers collapsed in its wake. Ammo counters blacked out, helmet HUDs shorted, and comms filled with static.
"Systems failing!" someone cried.
Sirius' teeth clenched. "ARI, reroute counters to emergency protocol!"
> "Acknowledged. Syncing all Carbine X telemetry to optic helmets. Emergency redundancy engaged."
HUDs flickered, stabilized. Ammo counts reappeared. Soldiers gasped in relief as their vision cleared.
And Sirius shouted again: "Back on your feet! We're not done yet!"
Three hours bled into the fight. The Queen fragment refused to fall. Every time a plate cracked, more Hivebugs poured from vents in its body, throwing themselves into the fire to protect their brood mother.
Turrets overheated. FAWS techs collapsed from exhaustion trying to keep them running. Medics screamed for more stretchers. The lines wavered, buckling under the unending tide.
Stone's voice roared across the comms, half fury, half despair. "Renegade, we can't hold this forever!"
Sirius stood atop the ridge, armor scorched, helmet cracked, but his eyes burned with fire. He raised Carbine X high.
"You're right. We don't hold—we break them!"
He jumped from the ridge, rolling into the dirt, sprinting toward the Queen fragment. Bear's mech loomed beside him, Stone's squad covering his advance, Shade's rifle cracking with every shot.
Sirius skidded to a stop within spitting distance of the beast, leveled Carbine X, and emptied an entire mag into the glowing thorax wound. Sparks and ichor exploded outward.
"Bear! Now!"
The mech's cannon fired, a thunderous boom that ripped through the cracked plate. The Queen fragment screamed, staggering, ichor spilling in rivers.
But it didn't fall. It raised one massive claw, psychic energy sparking, ready to crush them all.
Sirius' comms crackled, voices overlapping—medics, infantry, even logistics officers.
"Renegade, get back!"
"You'll be killed!"
"Fall back, damn it!"
But he didn't move. He stood his ground, Carbine X smoking, eyes locked on the monstrosity.
"Listen to me!" he roared into the comms. "This is it! Everything we've built, everything we've trained for—this is the fight that decides if humanity lives or dies! I don't care if it's the Queen herself—we stand, we fight, and we survive!"
The soldiers roared back, a chorus of defiance.
"Stand!"
"Fight!"
"Survive!"
The lines surged. Infantry charged, rifles blazing. Turrets rebooted and opened fire, streams of tracers cutting through the dark. Rockets streaked across the sky, smashing into the fragment's remaining armor.
And Bear's mech leapt—one last desperate strike, slamming its cannon into the thorax wound and detonating point-blank.
The explosion rocked the valley.
Smoke and fire swallowed the battlefield. The Queen fragment shrieked, staggering back, its body cracking, ichor pouring in rivers.
For a moment, hope surged. Soldiers raised weapons, cheering.
Then the psychic scream returned, stronger than before. Helmets shattered with static. HUDs glitched violently. Some soldiers dropped their rifles, blood streaming from their ears.
ARI's voice cut like a blade into Sirius' mind.
> "Cognitive disruption at maximum. System integrity at risk. Warning: total collapse imminent."
Sirius staggered but steadied himself, forcing his voice through the comms.
"Eyes on me! Ignore its screams! We've beaten every wave they've thrown at us, and we'll beat this too! Hold the line—hold the damn line!"
The soldiers rallied, their roar drowning out the Queen's psychic howl.
And as the smoke cleared, the Hive Queen fragment loomed, cracked and bleeding but still alive, towering over them like a mountain of hate.
The real battle had only just begun.