Chapter 46

xX two weeks later Xx

"So, we finally finished the first miner. The only problem is that the last attack crippled the primary drive train on the habitat unit." Loyd took a deep breath before continuing. "We don't have enough time to get the drive chain repaired before the next major attack and the Beast is still sulking after that last battle."

"So, wait, that monster you made behind my back, is sulking?! Why the hell is it sulking?!" Tiny questioned.

"Well, when you implant more than one brain in something and all of them seem to have anger or hormonal issues, shit happens," Loyd answered annoyed.

"So, this thing of yours is unstable?" asked Tiny.

"Yes, but that's not why we're here!" argued Loyd.

"Why don't we send the miner ahead and drop the storm? Make those monsters think we abandoned the hab unit and then finish repairing it with a small group who stays behind in some airtight containers? That way we can solve our issues all at once," Sara suggested, leaning back in her chair.

"The only issue is if they decide to tear the hab unit apart. We'd have to wait for another horde that could just go through the halls. We also wouldn't be able to leave any food or water or they'd just have them start tearing through stuff looking for more anyways," Griffon stated.

"That'll give them at most two days to fix the drive train and catch up with the miner!" Charlette protested. "No one can pull that off, even with the nanolathes!"

"No, Jim and Reinhold can pull it off. We wouldn't even have to leave a fully functional CTAS for them either. We still have that one that the outer colonies tried sending to us, don't we?" Loyd asked.

"We do but its left side is completely crippled and we don't have enough material to repair it," Michelle answered.

The group all stared at the halo map in front of them and kept thinking.

"That leaves one option." Loyd leaned back, even more annoyed. "We abandon the hab unit and build a new one later. Maybe we come back for it if all else fails."

Everyone knew it was the only option but none of them knew what to do without the refineries aboard the hab crawler.

Jim smirked. "How'd it come to this? We were winning two weeks ago and now we're low on materials, food, water, and that's not mentioning the mental strain we're putting even the kids through."

"That's a good question. And I think we all know the answer." Griffon eyed everyone.

"We got cocky and let our guard down," grumbled Madeline.

"Time to hit that reinforcements button isn't it?" Argenti asked from the doorway.

Loyd's head fell in shame. "We forgot to lock the door again. We really are slipping."

"Well, she has a point. That beacon could be our only hope right now," Jim said.

"All in favor?" Madeline asked, raising her hand.

Sara looked at Loyd who refused to raise his hand and sighed, looking at Griffon and Jim's raised hands. She knew Tiny was too proud to request reinforcements, which left the vote tied with her being the deciding vote. Sara looked back at Loyd who simply glared into thin air.

"You're the deciding vote and you know we need help," Madeline explained.

"I know but we have to think about what happens after the war ends too. If we ask for help now, we'll have to give up some of our reclaimed space or even worse, technology, to anyone who helped us."

"You're really going to let that decide your vote? There might not be a future for any of us if we lose here! If you don't vote with us, you're going to be sorry when the swarm eats all of us!" Madeline screamed.

"Then… I…" Sara froze, thinking about what would happen if the swarm did get past the CTAS, "can't say no."

She held her hand in the air as Loyd got up and stormed out of the room.

"Then we use the emergency beacon and wait for reinforcements. We'll have to drop the storm for them though," Madeline started to explain.

Argenti watched as Loyd walked down the hall to the hangar, stomping furiously. She turned back to the conference room as Sara ran past her, tears streaming from her eyes.

"You going to leave as well, Tiny? Or are you going to help us now that we've finished voting?" Madeline asked.

"I've got something to finish on the hab if we are going to drop the storm so I'll get out of your way."

Tiny walked past Argenti, the blue fading from his glow and being replaced by green.

"Can I do anything?" Argenti asked.

"No, we don't need anything from you. Why don't you go help get everything ready for when the storm drops?" Jim asked.

Argenti sighed and walked down the hall after Loyd.

xX somewhere with less conflict… hopefully Xx

"Prime Sentient, we have damage one of the machines the enemy has been working on! I believe they will have to leave it behind when they move on to find more food and water."

"What about the other machine? Was it damaged at all during the last attack?"

"No, the swarmlings were unsuccessful in damaging the second machine. However, the enemy did lose control of their demon during the battle. Several of the other controllers also believe they saw the shadow of the precursors around several of their newer fighters."

"How can they have the support of the precursors?! All life has fallen out of favor with the precursors!"

The advisor fled as the Prime Sentient rampaged.

The new cloning bays that had been found under the ice churned out more swarmlings by the day. All they required to operate was seawater thanks to their solar fields and fusion colliders. The new swarmlings were far smarter than any before them and stood on two legs with four slender arms that ended in three-clawed hands. These new swarmlings built more cloning vats and solar fields while the creatures that poured out of the newly constructed cloning vats looked and acted more like the standard swarmlings and were sent to fight the invaders.

xX back to Mars Xx

"General are you certain that the complete nuclear annihilation of the Earth is truly necessary?! We didn't come all this way just to destroy our homeworld!" the outer colony's representative proclaimed.

"After the council was destroyed and we found Loyd's sleeper cells throughout every single one of our colonies, it is in humanity's best interest to annihilate him. Not to mention we will also be killing the swarm in the process," the general declared.

"Then I only ask you to delay your strike until the outer colony's troops have a chance to try and retake Earth without the use of nuclear weapons."

"You get one month before the bombs are launched and another week before they make it to the planet. Don't push your luck though, these things will destroy anything within the same range as the moon."

"That's more than enough time to retake Earth and then some."

xX to Jupiter Xx

"Commander, the humans plan on trying to kill the swarm and these new hybrids they claim to have made as a counter to the swarm. They also seem to have killed the Chancellor that was here as well but we do have reason to believe he had gone insane or even worse, had become corrupted." The observer stopped speaking as the commander raised his hand.

"If the humans managed to kill the Chancellor, then he must have been corrupted. As for this whole ordeal with their homeworld and the swarm, we will simply wait and observe while we continue extracting the materials we need to repair our ships. Now, continue your report."

"Understood. The hybrids appear to have gone rogue and are currently dropping the storm that they have been sustaining over the past fourteen cycles. Their genetic makeup is nearly identical to that of the swarms, with a few additional chromosomes. That concludes what we've learned about the hybrids. The swarm is growing in numbers exponentially through the use of an unknown technology we believe they found on the Earth. It is not in our records if the Swarm has ever used technology in the past." Again, the observer fell silent as the commander raised his hand.

"That will conclude your report for now. We will sit by and observe whether the humans are a trustworthy ally or if we need to take the side of the hybrids. The swarm must be destroyed or they will spread throughout the cosmos once again. And if all else fails, we will drain this system's star."

"Yes, commander!"

xX back at the hybrid base Xx

The water and food supplies were all transferred to the miner, while another battle raged in the depleting sand storm. A larger swarmling managed to break through the wall of sand and turned towards a group of heavily armed children, who all stared back in disgust. The swarmling charged the children. It only made it halfway to them before it was impaled by a massive spear. The children had made a ballista turret to deal with anything that managed to make it through the storm.

The miner began to rev its engines as the battle grew closer. The children had grabbed all the food and almost all the water from the hab unit by the time the battle made it within the clear zone.

Two of the CTAS were missing limbs, while another had been ripped completely in two; it's pilot dead. The other two CTAS were heavily damaged and were dragging the dead CTAS back while fighting off the last of the swarmlings. None of the five of them went undamaged this time.