Chapter 515: What you want is not what you get. {3}

Cleo’s golden eyes shifted from the strategic overview to meet his gaze. For a nanosecond, the river of code in her pupils flickered, as if performing an instantaneous, private calculation on the idiocy and potential of the idea.

"Your direct intervention would provide a measurable boost to squadron morale and local combat effectiveness," she stated, her voice still cool.

"However, the statistical probability of a capital ship weapon lock focusing on your unique energy signature increases by 1,200%. It is an inefficient risk at this stage of the engagement." She paused, tilting her head just a degree. "The battle does not yet require its king, Rex. Only its commander."

She gestured, and a holographic schematic of his personal fighter, the Judgement, materialized between them, its systems all flaring green, eager and ready. "But if you are asking for my logistical preparation, the Judgement is prepped, and the launch bay is clear. The choice, as always, is yours."

Rex raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips. "So you got me a fighter just to tell me not to go? That’s a whole new level of overprotection." He leaned closer to the holographic schematic. "How does it even work? Do I ride in it, or...?"

Cleo looked at him for a moment, her expression unchanging. "The interface is simpler for you. As you are only half-Kaelzar, a full neural link is impossible. However..." She glanced at an Imperial Maid unit, which offered a silent bow and glided from the bridge.

Minutes later, the maid returned, carrying a set of sleek, unfamiliar devices. Rex picked one up, turning it over in his hands. "And these are...?"

"This is how you will pilot the fighter," Cleo explained, her tone even yet charming. "Think of it as an advanced simulation. It should keep you... entertained. I have observed your restlessness. Boredom is your primary motivation for wanting to launch."

A caught-out chuckle escaped him. "Alright, you got me. I am bored." He fiddled with the controller. "But are you absolutely sure you don’t need me down on the planet? I could lead the ground counterattack..."

"No." Her single word was final, delivered with a composed stillness that Rex knew all too well. This was her immovable object to his unstoppable force. Normally, he’d resort to bribes or charm, but the steel in her golden eyes signaled this decision was absolute.

With a sigh of pure defeat, Rex retreated, sinking into the command bridge’s auxiliary sofa. He powered on the controller, a faint, glowing interface springing to life in his lap. For now, he would play the part of the good, patient commander.

Beyond the reinforced viewport, the nature of the battle shifted dramatically. The Void armada, having tested the fleet’s defenses, began its true assault. Massive, spined transport vessels bulled their way through the Kaelzar fighter screen, weathering the defensive fire to disgorge their payload toward the planet.

The bombardment of the hive city began. But this was nothing like the surgical, targeted strikes of the Kaelzar. This was annihilation. From the upper atmosphere, dark beams and kinetic rods rained down, not on fortifications or power grids, but on everything.

Towers that had stood for centuries vaporized in silent flashes. Residential spires, transport arteries, and public plazas were indiscriminately shattered, the upper hive dissolving into a spreading cloud of dust and debris. It was not an invasion; it was a systematic erasure.

From the lower hive, the world was ending from above. A deep, rolling thunder, the sound of the upper hive being unmade, sent a terrible shock to the very foundations. Dust and debris rained down through the cavernous layers, and the air got filled with the screams of collapsing infrastructure.

"What in the actual hell...?!" General Valerius shouted out, his voice cutting through the panic. His answer came not from the sky but from the ground, as the first Void pods shattered open around his position.

The creatures that emerged were nightmares of fused biology... the gangly, predatory silhouette of a starved human grafted onto the powerful haunches of a beast. Their backs were armored with jagged, chitinous spikes, and their elongated arms ended in claws that scraped sparks from the rubble.

But worst were their heads that were empowered with powerful, distended maws lined with row upon row of needle-like teeth, snapping blindly at the air.

While lesser men froze, Valerius burned with fury, not fear. He erupted from his command tank, a noble-grade energy sword blazing to life in one hand and a laser pistol in the other. A searing red bolt took the nearest creature in its open mouth.

"What are you all doing!?" He shouted out furiously at his stunned soldiers. "FIGHT BACK!"

As if summoned by his command, one of the creatures lunged for him. Valerius didn’t retreat. He pivoted, his Tier-3 cybernetic limbs humming with precision, and brought the energy sword up in a furious arc. The blade passed through the creature’s torso without resistance, cleaving it into two sizzling halves that thudded wetly to the ground.

He stood over a wounded soldier clutching a bleeding leg. "On your feet, soldier! Even if it burns, you stand and fight! Or you lie there and become their next meal!" He provided covering fire with his pistol until its power cell died with a hollow click.

"Tsk. Trash." He holstered both the discharged pistol and his sword. In one fluid motion, he wrenched a heavy, tripod-mounted rotary cannon from its emplacement. His enhanced frame handled the massive weapon like a standard rifle. He braced, the barrels beginning to spin with a rising, electric whine.

He found his target, a scuttling knot of the creatures. "FUCKING DIE!"

The cannon roared to life, a deafening, meaty sound that drowned out all other sound. High-caliber shells tore into the pack, exploding the nightmarish forms into gory fragments of black chitin and viscous fluid. The creatures shrieked, a sound of pure, alien agony, as Valerius scythed them down.

High above the chaos, atop the silent, mountainous form of a Mauler Juggernaut, Cleo observed through the eyes of her secondary body. The wind tugged at her uniform, but she was utterly still, a statue amidst the bedlam. Streams of data, casualty reports, ammunition expenditure, and enemy density vectors scrolled in her peripheral vision.

"My lady," said an Imperial Maid unit beside her, her own heavy plasma rifle held at a ready position. "We will not intervene? Projections indicate the native forces will be overrun in forty minutes and five seconds."

Cleo’s gaze remained fixed on the figure of General Valerius, a tiny point of defiant light holding back a tide of darkness. Her response was cool, analytical, and final.

Cleo’s gaze remained fixed on the crumbling left flank of the Hive City defenses. She glanced at her battle maid unit, her synthetic voice calm amidst the distant roar of combat. "Not yet. If we intervene prematurely, they will perceive our aid as a new attack. The conflict could devolve into a chaotic three-way battle, compromising all tactical coherence."

A holographic screen, dense with data, and a keyboard of a thousand luminous keys materialized before her. Her fingers became a blur across its surface. "I am reprogramming our combat units to classify the Hive City defenders as neutral entities. We will advance only when we have established a definitive tactical margin and a clear line of engagement."

The battle maid’s optical sensors pulsed with soft light as it processed the order. "Understood, my lady."

On the battlefield, the situation deteriorated. The defender’s left flank was being consumed. A relentless tide of Void creatures poured from the shattered upper levels like a flood of claws and teeth that suggested two horrific possibilities: either a desperate, failing battle was raging above, or, more likely, those levels had already been silenced, their populations converted into this seething, downward rush.

Thirty minutes of unceasing combat had whittled the proud Hive City defense force from a legion to a beleaguered pocket of five thousand souls. Even General Valerius, a roaring pillar of fury and plasma at the front, could not stem the endless tide. The line was buckling.

"JAX!" Vance’s scream cut through the din as he saw his companion hurled through the air by a Void creature’s swipe. Jax hit the ground with a sickening crunch of armor and bone, skidding to a halt in a cloud of dust.

Dazed, pain flooding his system, Jax looked up. The world seemed to slow. Three of the horrors were already upon him, their muscled limbs propelling them forward, their massive jaws unhinging as they lunged for his throat and limbs. The stench of rot and ozone filled his nostrils.

"Ah... hell," Jax slurred, raising a broken arm in a futile block. "This... is really gonna hurt."

The leading creature’s jaws snapped shut, but not on flesh.

With a loud sound of piercing metal and a hydraulic hiss, a silver spear tip erupted through the creature’s chest from behind. It was followed instantly by two more precise strikes, impaling the other beasts mid-lunge.

They were yanked backwards, off of Jax, and discarded like grotesque toys. Standing over him, forming a perfect, immovable triangle of protection, were three Aegis battle units. Their polished armor was streaked with black blood, but their optical sensors glowed with a steady, clean gold.

The synthetic, amplified voice that then echoed across the contested plaza was one the defenders had learned to dread. Now, it rang out like a clarion call.

"Allied neutral forces, consolidate your line. We will hold this position."

From the ruins behind them, ranks of other Aegis units marched forward in flawless synchronization, their weapons rising as one. The mechanical saviors had arrived, not as conquerors, but as an unexpected, unwavering wall against the Void.