Chapter 211 - Clash of Hives (Finale)

USD: ~12.5 Hour contact mark with Hadenic forces.

Location: Nu Crateris, Hades, Hadenic Hive

Nanite cohesion was a complicated process, and the times Heeler had truly been able to find time to experiment were few and far between. That didn’t mean that his MainComputer couldn’t accurately predict the required resources and computronics required for a given task.

The further from a computronics module a directed nanite was, the weaker the control mechanism was. Every nanite group formed their own small network, but if they fell out of control by the central node, they were implicitly set to self-terminate.

That was hard-coded into the very nature and makeup of his own being and was one of the few things that neither he nor his MainComputer could change.

That meant that any directed effect he wished to create would scale with the available modules and the distance from them. The more modules, the more nanites, and the more nanites, the larger his desired effect could be.

The Heaven’s Fire II was nearly thirty percent computronic modules by weight, forgoing much of the weapon systems and armor that would have been expected on a ship of its size.

The thick superconducting cable that connected him to the ship allowed for a nearly zero latency connection to the computronics. The fact that it needed to maintain a constant flow of coolant through its core made it slightly vulnerable, but half its mass was simply a protective, flexible layer of special alloy.

Heeler looked out at the chamber. The worms were dying under the barrage of railgun fire, but that had allowed the more distant flying Hadenics to close the distance.

Those creatures had weapons designed to take on starships that were fully capable of shredding the ground forces entirely.

One of the ship-creatures began to glow, then its body expanded into a massive balloon. Then it compressed.

A massive blast of energy shot out from its face, its entire body disintegrating as the beam carved a canyon through the Rexxor lines and ploughing into the wall of the chamber.

The molten rock flowed backwards into the chamber to form a pool of lava, and Heeler growled as he watched the warriors that had been near the blast burn.

He issued a mental command to hold the line, and then he moved.

The ground underneath him began to glow blue, the cloud of nanites that he had spread since arriving in the chamber going fully active. He had discarded the simplistic ANUF system that had been created for mother to easily understand her Avatar functions, and instead used his own direct interface with his MainComputer to direct the swarm.

It was something he understood on a deeply instinctual level.

The ground flexed and then turned into a moving wave, carrying him and his cable forward. Scythes of rock and stone converted into nanites at a rapid rate that resembled an uncontrolled rampancy.

This was anything but.

The wave had a singular purpose.

As he passed over warriors who had been cut off or pressed in their attack, the ground engulfed them before harmlessly passing over them, leaving them drenched in a thin layer of sand and terminated nanites.

The Hadenics were not so lucky, their mass being torn apart at the molecular level and converted into more fuel for his nanite swarm.

One of the flying Hadenics turned its spinal beam weapon toward him, committing its grotesque suicide as it fired.

The nanite wave polished itself, turning into a mirror that directed the laser back into the waiting Hadenic defenders.

The ground exploded upwards in a line of geysers that sent creatures small and large flying into the air. Worms were unearthed and shoved into the churn, but all of it was engulfed by the massive nanite wave that continued forward.

Spikes launched at Heeler himself, the enemy seemingly homing in on the focal point of the cataclysm befalling them.

Nanites swirled in the air, riding magnetic waves of their own making to snatch and assimilate anything and everything that came near until the wave was tall enough that the swirls could reach the ceiling.

The feeling of unbridled power coursed through his shell and Heeler vibrated as he rode the surging cloud forward.

The lines of nanites began to snap and arc against the nesting creatures that had been waiting to launch another wave of spikes.

Infiltrating nanites dug their way through the strata until the ceiling became an extension of his will, just another part of the nanite swarm.

The screeching of the Hadenic Hive Brain reached a crescendo.

The smaller spawn turned and began to flee from the chamber, showing for the first time, an inkling of self-preservation as their controller abandoned them.

It was the key moment Heeler knew had known would come.

The Brain was attempting to migrate to a new nest before it could be destroyed. Halting his nanite wave, he focused on the frequency of the mental noise and forced his MainComputer to match it with the opposite spectrum.

That wouldn’t likely stop the transfer, but it would slow it down tremendously as the signal was weakened.

Which meant that if he destroyed it quickly enough… that would be the end.

It took nearly the entire mass of nanites to maintain the signal blocker, but on the surface of the wave, small protrusions began to form. The superconducting cable was at its limits, and he could feel the strain inside his shell as processing went into overdrive.

There were limits to what he could control, but they were... temporarily surpassable if he was willing to suffer the discomfort.

Heeler raised his tentacle and gestured toward the brain with apathetic silence.

The response spoke for him.

A thousand nanite-formed railguns opened fire.

***

USD: 5 days since Ertan Fleet surrender and clearing of the orbitals.

Location: Meltisar, SRS Iron Horse, Captain’s Quarters

Alex sat at her desk, staring at the screen. The room was quiet, the only sound the soft hum of the ship’s systems tickling her ears. She was supposed to be sleeping, but she hadn’t been able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time since the battle.

Thea’s report had been a shock. Elis had been injured, and the 6th Fleet had been decimated. The Ertan had been defeated, but at a heavy cost. The 1st Fleet had been victorious, but only after she’d put the smart munitions forward and used them.

She’d been forced to use them.

Nearly an entire week of rescue operations and repairs had passed. It had provided plenty of time for her to think about what had happened.

On the Aegis, she had run rescue operations from the bridge. She’d volunteered to pilot a rescue shuttle, since there had been a shortage of pilots… But Nameless’ objections and Admiral Parks’ decline of her request had nixed that idea in the bud.

It wasn’t like they had been wrong; she wasn’t just a regular Ensign...

“Ugh,” Alex groaned, rubbing her eyes just to stand up and fall into her bed. It was a comfortable bed, unlike the bunks on the Aegis. There really had been no expense spared in retrofitting the Iron Horse.

The Aegis was unlikely to return to Meltisar for a while, being required out-system to coordinate the Fleets’ recovery efforts. Fleet Admiral Wilkes and Tia had sent the modified and updated destroyer to fetch her from the front.

Thraker’s broadcast had been a shock, and now her personal warship was without a Captain, although Commander Talbot had run the ship effectively.

Okay, she was technically the captain. But the amount of hats she was wearing was already starting to be ridiculous, and she had simply told Talbot to keep on running things like he had been since Thraker left command.

Then holed up in her quarters.

The flight time from the Aegis back to Meltisar was effectively over a day off from work. It felt like a week wouldn’t have been enough, and she hadn’t used the single day properly.

Pouring over reports, trying to find something that would make her feel better about the situation... she had found nothing.

Nameless has been completely silent, other than a few status updates or reports on the ship, and that made her feel worried.

Normally he had at least something to say about her actions or behavior, but he had been silent since the battle... since they’d left Meltisar.

It felt like a vice of angst was pinching her chest and was shaking her to the core. Even after they’d survived...

She hugged her pillow. They’d be back soon, and she’d get to see Elis and the others.