by Andrew Gates
“You may rise,” Ikharus declared. There was something different about his voice. It sounded somehow weary, strained, damaged.
Sanja rose.
“Your Majesty,” she said.
Ikharus moved in his seat. The way he shifted seemed unnatural, as if it pained him just to move.
“I apologize for the delay. I understand you have been wanting to meet with me for quite some time.”
“That is right, your Majesty.”
“I hear you delivered the evolved-ones to the undercity and that they are currently under Kho Avan’s care, each with translator chips installed in their brains.”
“Yes,” Sanja confirmed, nodding. “I made sure everything was done just as you asked. I found them in the forest and convinced them to come aboard the transport. We were going to come back to space, but we were told to reroute. We tried stopping in another city, but it was not safe for us there either. Finally, we came here.”
“You acted accordingly, Kal Sanja. I appreciate all that you have done.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.”
“Please, do not thank me. You must know by now that I am not one for thanks,” Ikharus replied, waving his claw dismissively.
“Yes, sorry. I forget sometimes,” Sanja said. She paused for a moment and studied his legs, realizing that they were covered in bandages. “If I may ask a question, your Majesty? I know something is wrong. The undercity is on edge. I heard that there might be an attack. But I don’t know what the hell is happening. What is this all about?”
Ikharus sighed and shifted in his seat. He paused for a moment, then calmly nodded his head. It seemed that whatever he was about to say would not be easy.
“What you have heard is true. There has been an attack,” he confirmed.
“Who attacked us?”
Ikharus met Sanja’s eyes and leaned forward. He cleared his throat.
“The Hive.”
Sanja squinted, confused. Everything she had heard about the Hive suggested that they were fictional. Yet here the Supreme Chieftain was, declaring them as their legitimate enemy.
“The who?”
“The Hive,” Ikharus said again, as if repeating it would make it any clearer. “They are an old enemy, an ancient foe of our people.”
“Yes, I have heard of them, but I thought they were not real,” Sanja explained.
“As did I.” Ikharus lowered his gaze to the floor and let out a deep breath. “And I was fool,” he muttered to himself.
“So, the Hive is real?” Sanja asked.
Ikharus met her eyes again.
“Yes,” Ikharus confirmed. “That is what I learned on my mission. Not only that, but I also learned of their true strength, their true power.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean to say that I learned how they fight, how they think. The Hive fights as a single unit. Their minds are literally linked as one. That is what enables them to perform such complex maneuvers with instant spontaneity. The Hive’s mind is controlled by a queen. There is one queen for every planet they visit and when they arrive, the queen focuses only on the objective of ridding planets of their populace. They have done this time and time again like a parasite.”
“That’s… that’s horrifying,” Sanja said, her heart racing as she reflected on his words. She now understood why Ikharus was so late. He had much more important things to deal with. In fact, given this news, it was remarkable that he was even willing to take time out of his day to meet with her at all. “How can we even fight an enemy like that?” she wondered.
“I have given this much thought. It has been my focus for the last several hours. I have met with my generals, my advisors, members of Kreed Scion. As far as we can determine, Kholvaria no longer possesses enough organization, cohesion or resources to defeat this enemy. As you may know, the Chiefdom is more divided than ever.” Ikharus sighed and stared up into nothingness. “In this hour, our only chance of survival is to use the resources of Sorreveous.”
“Sorreveous?” Sanja repeated in a tone of disbelief. “But that’s the enemy.”
“Was the enemy. With a greater foe at our doorstep, we cannot afford to view the Empire as an enemy any longer. We need them. They need us. Trust me, Kal Sanja, this is not a decision I have come to lightly.”
Sanja took a moment to grasp all this news. She looked to the guards around the room, then back to Ikharus.
“Why are you telling me this?” she wondered.
“Though I do not trust you, I admit that you have done me no wrong. Your completion of this most recent task with the evolved-ones casts you only in a positive light. Therefore, I see no reason why I should withhold this information from you now. Moreover, I have kept you waiting all day. For this, I apologize.”
“Apology not needed, Supreme Chieftain,” Sanja replied, surprised that they were even having this meeting at all. “So… what is our next play?”
“Play?”
“You know, what do we do now? The Hive is real. They share a brain. You want to team up with Sorreveous. How do we do that? And once we team up with them, what do we do?”
Ikharus shifted in his seat and waved his claw.
“Many details have yet to be decided upon. The next direct course of action has yet to be determined. You must understand, it has been planet-cycles since we have had contact with Sorreveous. We cannot simply call them so suddenly.”
“But don’t you think-”
Boom! In that moment, a thunderous echo shook the room. Dust rained down from the ceiling. The overhead lights flickered off, then back on.
“Supreme Chieftain!” Vylan shouted as he darted toward the throne. The guard wrapped his left claw around Ikharus and raised his spear with his right. Other honor guards filed into formation around him.
“What is happening?” Sanja asked. She instinctively took a step backward, confused by the sudden chaos.
Boom! Another blast. Another shake.
Shouts emanated from the hall outside. Sanja quickly turned to face the door as it opened. More honor guards rushed into the throne room. Through the open doorway, Sanja could even see regular black-armored troops coming in behind them.
“I don’t understand. What is happening?” Sanja asked again. She turned back to the throne again.
“Enemy alert!” a black-armored soldier shouted as he ran inside, cannon raised. “We have aerial contacts descending on T’Dakho. They are assaulting the city.”
“Hive?” Ikharus asked as his guards rushed him out.
“Reports are unconfirmed, your Majesty, but we should get you to safety regardless.”
“I thought the undercity is the safest place,” Sanja said as the guards rushed around her.
“Not if the enemy is here,” the soldier replied. He waved the honor guards along. “Come, evolved-one. You should not be here either.”
Evolved-one, she repeated in her head. I have a name.
“Come,” a different guard said, pushing her along.
Sanja did as the honor guard asked, joining the group out into the hall.
More blasts shook the undercity, sending particles of dust everywhere. In some ways, the scene almost reminded her of the attack on the Atlantic Station. It seemed so long ago now that the Kholvari were the enemy, attacking the humans just like this. How the tables have turned, she thought.
“We have visual confirmation!” a voice cried out in the distance. Sanja did not even know who was talking. “The enemy is the Hive. Repeat. Enemy is the Hive.”
“They have found us,” Ikharus muttered in a tone of horror.
“Retreat to fallback location!” Vylan shouted, waving the arm that was not covering Ikharus.
Boom! In that moment, the ceiling ripped apart and everything went dark as a Hive ship crashed into the undercity from above. The smoldering vessel snapped to pieces as it collided against the thick cement floor, creating a crater several meters across and taking out nearly five honor guards with it. A newly-formed
hole to the surface filled this room with natural sunlight. The hole must have penetrated through several hundred meters of metal and concrete.
“Holy shit,” Sanja muttered. She was only a few steps away from the wreckage. “They shot the ship at us like a bullet.”
“That is the Hive’s way,” Ikharus confirmed. “Their ships are their weapons. They use lasers and plasma more to clear paths than to deal damage. Come, Kho Vylan, where is the fallback location?”
“It was that way,” Vylan replied, motioning to the doorway now covered in flaming wreckage.
Boom! Boom! Boom! More explosions echoed throughout the sublevel. Though she did not know what it meant before, she now knew that each boom signified another kamikaze impact on T’Dakho.
“Our exit has been compromised,” a black-armored soldier said, stating the obvious.
“Do you not see?” Ikharus asked. “The entire city is compromised. If the Hive is here, we have minutes to spare.”
Minutes. Those words were hard to grasp. Could an enemy really destroy an entire city in minutes? It seemed unbelievable.
The remaining guards must have thought the same, as they stood there silently reflecting on Ikharus’s warning.
“Kho Vylan, get me to a ship. We must abandon this place.”
“Understood, your Majesty,” he replied, immediately jumping into action and running a different direction down the hall. Naturally, Sanja and the others followed behind.
“Have Kreed Scion join me, along with Kal Flokh, Soh Saratti and the other evolved-ones!” Ikharus shouted.
“Your Majesty, that is a lot to ask. We cannot hope to assemble them all,” Vylan retorted.
“It is not a suggestion. It is an order. They must be saved, Kho Vylan!” Ikharus shouted again.
Vylan did not respond right away, but when he did, his tone was stern.
“Yes, of course, your Majesty. I shall contact Kal Jakhu now. Kreed Scion will see this task done.”
Sanja could hardly believe it. Ikharus was giving up just like that, as if the city were already lost. This hardened soldier, a warrior who hours ago left for combat in the middle of the night, now ran away from an enemy as if he had never seen the barrel of a weapon in his life. Sanja knew the Hive had decimated their fleet in space, but still, Ikharus’s behavior seemed out of character.
Was the Hive truly as powerful as he suggested? If so, that would make the Hive the ultimate power in the universe, and to think, with one mind controlling it all. One queen ruling the greatest army ever conceived with nothing but a thought, Sanja considered. There was something strangely seductive about that kind of power, that unlimited, unstoppable strength. The Hive was like an immovable object, crushing anything in its path without resistance.
Or so Ikharus seemed to think. Sanja was still skeptical herself.
Regardless of what was true or not true, Sanja continued along through the halls, following the lead of Ikharus and his entourage. The halls were dark now, but flames illuminated every corner, meaning they were never truly in complete darkness.
Boom! Boom! Boom! More explosions. Sanja was almost deaf to them now. They were coming so regularly.
“Any word from Scion?” Ikharus asked as they continued along.
“Yes, your Majesty,” Vylan replied, shouting as they moved. “Kal Jakhu received my message. She already has Soh Saratti and Kal Flokh with her. She and Kho Evirak shall meet us at the nearest hangar to our position, while the others secure the evolved-ones.”
“Good,” Ikharus replied.
Another ship instantly tore through the ceiling before them, casting rubble and fire throughout the hall and bringing several levels of structure down with it. Sanja stopped fast. Luckily, she was a far enough away from the impact that she was unhurt, though a Kholvari soldier closer to the site was pierced by debris. Scolding metal shards now stabbed through various points of his left arm.
“Holy shit!” Sanja cried out.
“Do not delay! Keep moving! The hangar is this way!” Vylan shouted.
It took a few seconds for Sanja to come back to reality, but once she did, she snapped back into action. Instinct took over.
Flames here and there caused the sublevel to get considerably hotter now. Certain sections of the floor singed the bottoms of her feet as she ran. But that only made her run faster.
Light filled the corridor ahead, but it was not the flickering orange of flames. This was a distinctly more natural light. As they rounded the corner, a massive crater stood before them. It must have been a hundred meters across, with a hole leading all the way up to the surface. The group stopped suddenly. Sanja immediately understood where the light was coming from as she gazed up to the sky, then down into the hole. A pile of nearly a dozen wrecked Hive ships lay splattered in the inside of the crater, whose bottom must have been a few hundred meters down. For whatever reason, it seemed this section of the city had been made a key target.
“Where are we?” Sanja muttered as wind blew against her face.
“This is… was the site of a surface level medical center,” Ikharus replied.
“A medical center? Are you certain?” Vylan asked.
“I am. Kal Flokh was its architect,” Ikharus stated matter-of-factly.
“Then our foe truly has no honor. The Hive attacks our wounded. They are barbarians.”
“No,” Ikharus replied, shaking his head and taking a few steps back. “The Hive is without any semblance of what we call honor. The Hive is an infection, a poison that must be stopped.” He paused, glanced across the crater, then looked back to where they had just come. “Is there another way around?”
“There is, yes. Come, we must go,” Vylan replied, pushing him back down the hall again.
Sanja knew she should follow, but as the Kholvari began to clear out, she took a few steps toward the edge of the crater and glanced out into the vast space before her, then up to the sky. Even from her low vantage point, Sanja could clearly make out the sight of swirling Hive ships twisting around the skyscrapers on the surface above. The tentacle-like formations squeezed their targets or blasted straight through them like a hot knife through cold butter. The sheer number of Hive ships filled the sky with a near blackout.
The sound of faraway Kholvari screams and cries filled the sky like a demonic choir. Echoes of snapping metal, collapsing buildings, falling debris, laser and plasma blasts were all mere background noise to the symphony of horrific shouts that filled the air.
Sanja found herself unable to look away from the sight before her eyes. She stepped as close to the edge of the crater as she could and stood motionless like a statue.
Suddenly a claw grabbed her left arm and pulled her back, instantly bringing her out of her trance.
“Kal Sanja, do not delay!” shouted the deep voice of a Kholvari soldier.
Sanja turned to face the black-armored warrior and nodded her head as she came back to reality.
“Yes,” she replied, “of course. Lead the way.”
“You are slow on foot and we do not have time to wait. Perhaps it will be easier if I carry you for the remainder of our escape,” the soldier said as he hoisted her up and onto the back of his shell.
Sanja did not fight it. She held her arms around his abdomen and gripped tightly. Within seconds, the creature took off down the hall, following behind the Supreme Chieftain and his hosts.
Just as Sanja’s soldier reconnected with the others, a perpendicular door opened next to them. Four Kholvari rushed through. Sanja recognized two of them as Jakhu and Evirak, but she did not recognize the other two. Sanja had been around the Kholvari enough now to know that one was female and the other was male, though the male looked significantly paler and weaker than the others.
“Kal Jakhu, Kho Evirak,” Vylan greeted as they continued along.
“Kal Flokh,” Ikharus added with a tone of gladness in his weary voice.
The female nodded to him kindly.
“Where are you going, Kho Ikharus?
The hangar is this way,” Jakhu said, wasting no time with greetings.
“Our route is comprised. The Hive destroyed that section of the hall. A crater now takes its place. We are taking an alternate course,” Vylan explained.
“Understood,” Jakhu replied as she lifted the mysterious male up onto her shoulders.
She is carrying him like he’s child, Sanja noted. How odd. Then she stopped and realized where she was, sitting on the back of a Kholvari soldier herself. Suddenly it did not seem so odd anymore.
“Come, we cannot waste time!” Ikharus said, waving them on. The group rushed along their route, not stopping to say anymore.
“Where is the rest of your Kreed? Are they still on route to the hangar?” Vylan asked.
“And the evolved-ones?” added Ikharus.
“Affirmative. They are all the way; the Kreed, the evolved-ones. They are taking a different route but will meet us at the destination, as planned.”
“Good,” Ikharus replied as they continued running. “Make sure they know about the crater.”
“Their route will not pass it.”
“Good.”
Smash! A Hive ship suddenly smashed vertically before them, forcing the group to quickly stop in place. Debris smashed against those in front, dealing brutal injuries, but nothing fatal. Instantly the hall was full of rubble and sparks. Everyone took a few steps back.
“Our routes continue to dwindle,” Vylan noted.
“There must be another way around,” a guard said.
Ikharus let out a deep breath.
“I tire of this constant game!” Ikharus said as he stood up from Vylan’s grasp and motioned to Sanja’s soldier. “You, soldier, fire your plasma cannon at the ship. Create a path for us!”
“Understood, your Majesty,” the soldier said.
He raised a cannon and fired away. Everything became hot. Sanja had to turn her head as the weapon’s blinding light lit up the room. After a few seconds, the blasts stopped and the scent of scorched metal filled Sanja’s nostrils.
Sure enough, the Hive ship was blasted apart. The group now had a clear path through the hall.
“Move!” someone shouted, though Sanja could no longer tell who had spoken.
