Hunger ached in the bellies of billions connected to a single mind. The great devourer not only saw what all their eyes could see and felt what they all could feel, from the masses of worm like recyclers that consumed and redistributed proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, to the elite and unstoppable chitin plated archon warriors and the signal bearers, weak but indispensable mobile brains that maintained solidarity, enabling many to act as one seamlessly. The hunger was painful on a grand scale. Larger members of the hive were beginning to cannibalize the smaller organisms, while simultaneously experiencing their prey's final moments. At last the first world with biological sign was in full view, a yellow globe orbiting a magnificent gas planet with spectacular rings. The beauty of this place provided a brief distraction from the terrible hunger. The previous barren worlds with their blue and green gas planet hosts were surreal but it had not witnessed beauty such as this since the universe was far younger. Thoughts drifted to its home. Its beginnings as a humble single celled eukaryote that grew and evolved the more hosts it occupied. It learned to manipulate simple hosts to enter more complex organisms. Then it began to manipulate those. Then change them. Soon it unified all life on its world, and it thought it had achieved its goal and there could be peace in unity. But it had overestimated its ability to maintain the balance of an ecosystem with every life form now under its control, and it had altered organisms to become more aggressive, dangerous, hungry versions of their natural selves. It only thought it was making them better. In its own hubris, it did not consider the long term consequences, and the lush, beautiful young planet, nearly the size of the blue gas world passed earlier, was slowly stripped down to a dry, gray shell. Biomass was aggregated into the first bio dreadnought, the strongest and most predatory of the host fought a bloody battle, feasting on each other until the ones remaining could fit aboard, and it began its ascent. It had out-evolved its own planet, and knew eons of hunger since. With each world consumed, its numbers grew and so too did its hunger. Then the stars began to become further apart. Life became rarer. It began to shrink its forces for eons more. It could not continue much further without feeding. The first dreadnought entered orbit of the yellow world and began releasing drop pods, organic chitin containers that protect the organisms within, releasing them when breaking on impact.
Valkira ordered the colonist civilians inside the facilities and military personnel to take firing positions on the flanks of the warmaidens. The attack force from above was nothing like they had prepared for, wholly organic. What had looked like bombs or missiles broke open on impact, with vicious predatory aliens skittering out. They were as vast in sizes and shapes as they were in sheer numbers, but all seemed to have a hardened exoskeleton, four ambulatory legs, two pairs of scythe like limbs to attack with, and elongated heads with multiple forward facing yellow eyes arranged in vertical pairs. They attacked with furious hunger. Wave after wave was shredded by the precise and coordinated automatic rifle fire of the Titan 1st infantry, disintigrated by the warmaiden's fearsome rail acceleraters and autocannons, or crushed beneath their steel boot, but the pods falling down became more and more. Service droids hurriedly rushed ammunition to the human soldiers, frantically slamming the magazines full of hypervelocity tungsten core .40 caliber rounds back into their smoking weapons. The rail accelerators of the warmaidens grew hotter by the minute, beginning to glow.
Valkira decimated alien after alien, her blade slicing through their armor like butter. Ripping her sword from the skull of one, she shattered another's with her elbow, whirled in a circle, cutting five more to pieces. Her rage built as these invaders continued their attack, not intimidated whatsoever. She became an instrument of terrifying mechanical violence, killing one after another, her metal body becoming completely soaked in greenish blue blood, alien entrails streaming from her frame like ribbons in the wind.
"WHAT ARE YOU AND HOW MANY OF YOU MUST I DESTROY" she screeched, and electrical arcs flashed from her body, setting some of the invaders ablaze. A sharpened chitin limb shattered on her back. She turned and another three shattered on her shoulders. "You are nothing" she said as she pressed her foot down on the now defenseless alien's head and crushed it under the weight of her steel, blue brain matter bursting forth.
The devourer had never faced an enemy so strong before. Robots were sure to be difficult, but this was more than a machine. It fought with rage and conviction of a prime warrior and the metal it was constructed of seemed indestructible. It's two asymmetrical black unblinking eyes the only features on a smooth metal head, the way it flies though its wings remain still, it was disturbingly inorganic, frightening even. There was something terribly unnatural about it. It cut cord after cord, and the swarm was diverted around it. It needed the fleshy soldiers but they positioned themselves behind the great machine guardians. Losses mounted and few enemies fell.
On the front line, the first warmaiden was overwhelmed, its weapons overheating, and multiple larger aliens tearing it apart, its human escorts swiftly consumed. The defensive line was steadily backing up into closer formation.
Valkira roared with frustration. The aliens fled from her, seeking easier targets. She looked above at the great black shape in the sky. "I'll show you" she said, and shot upward. On her way to the behemoth in orbit, she slashed open pod after pod, terrified aliens falling to their death in her wake. The chill of space cooled her overheating reactor. Her speed increased to maximum, she plunged blade first into the hull of the beast, never slowing as she punched a straight shaft through chambers of flesh and chitin, alien creatures, structural bones, and out through the other side. She looked back in dismay as the jet of gore spraying from the opening shrunk and stopped, the wound in the dreadnought healing in seconds.
They burrowed beneath the yellow sand. The defenders were disciplined and coordinated, and their machine guardians gave no ground. For the devourer this was a worst case scenario. While they remained engaged, the burrow was started to reach the non combative prey within their walls and attempt to flank the defenders.
A new threat approached the defensive line. A massive titan of an alien, towering over even the warmaidens galloped forth, the ground shaking. Two warmaidens fired their rail accelerators, one blasting a shallow hole in the beast's armor and one severing a bladed limb, but the creature only doubled down on its approach. Within striking range of the two warmaidens standing between it and a platoon of infantry, it raised its remaining three limbs.
A sickening crunch rang across the battlefield. Valkira, falling like a meteor, drove her blade and feet into the head of the titan and detonated its skull against the yellow sand, soaking the two unbothered warmaidens in its fluid. A human soldier vomited, his comrades laughed at him, and they all cheered and raised their weapons in salute of their beloved protector, their morale bolstered.
"Die you filth" her electrical arc voice coldy spat.
Never had an archon warrior been fallen. They were the largest, most ancient, and strongest organisms at its disposal, many with the hive since its homeworld. The light being machine just slayed a being as old as the star its worlds orbited. The shock of its death rang through the hive and many mouths shrieked the cry of pain it never had time to release..
A second dreadnought entered orbit and began releasing pods.
Nathema sped through the cold of space, the lightship carrying an elite executor contingent - her 100 finest justicars and 200 saviors growing smaller behind her. Her sister, the colonists and warmaidens needed her help. She just knew. Nothing was faster than her save light itself. She effortlessly sidestepped dust particles that would destroy a ship and severely damage her at this speed with her .1 nanosecond reaction time. Her sister was brute, unstoppable force, but Nathema was blinding speed and impossible precision. She passed great Jupiter, feeling the tug of its gravity make a futile attempt to pull her in. Soon, the rings of Saturn came into her view. She calculated that Titan was on the opposite side of the planet.
Warmaiden and human soldiers alike steadily backed up into tighter formation, the tide of hostile aliens intensifying. For each one that fell, two took its place. Worm like creatures began devouring their dead, some being eaten by aliens on the field after, others inflating with gas and floating up like a balloon.
"Resource scavengers" Valkira cursed. She never stopped, her blade, feet, fists violently destroying her enemies, but their numbers only kept growing. She took to the air and began focusing her attacks on the drop pods. Aliens began falling helplessly through the air, some taking out others on the ground as they impacted.
The devourer was growing desperate and began to feel dread and doubt. The defending force was being forced into a corner, but losses grew as the tighter lines concentrated their firepower. It had the burrowers working their way underneath, but by the time they emerge, they will be right on top of the defenses. It had a responsibility to feed and care for its family and sending them to their deaths for nothing pained it greatly. It felt life after life go dark before the fury of the winged metal guardian. The one who burns without light and rages without blood, the one that tore through a dreadnought without slowing down. It defied its understanding. That metal head with only asymmetric black lens eyes began to instil great fear. While the organic soldiers and their machine guardians were fighting from afar as intelligent races tended to do, this one met fury with fury, its blade ending life after life, its hardened metal body seemed invulnerable to attack.
Captain Li stood guard over the colonists. "I hear something under us" a little girl cried. "I'm scared." "Everything's going to be ok" he said.
Nathema rounded the bulk of Saturn, Titan coming into view.
"We need to evacuate, my lady" the voice of General Rostov cracked in Valkira's com set.
"The enemy's numbers are too great, we must pull back to Mars to resupply and repel the invaders from that point.
"I have sent signal to my sisters. Begin boarding procedures, get the civilians onto the lightships."
"Forward to the hangar, we're evacuating." Captain Li said, moving the civilian colonists, mostly scientists and refinery workers from the barracks back outside. They had about 100 yards to the hangaf doors. Gunfire sounded nonstop, a deafening chorus.
Aware of her warmaidens' weapons overheating, Valkira plunged downward to the intense battle below. With several vicious whirls, she sliced through the enemy's flank, cutting down tens of invaders per second, giving a moment for the warmaidens weapons to cool. She looked above to see a bright blue light pierce the yellow clouds, growing brighter rapidly. "Nathema," she thought.
Nathema braked her descent, slowing to a smooth landing next to her sister. "The enemy is numerous, we are evacuating and pulling back to Mars." Valkira reiterated. "I'll thin them out." Nathema replied. She darted off, dispatching aliens with frightening precision. Zipping from alien to alien, she deftly decapitated them one by one, several per second. Then she heard screams. The civilians...
"They're coming from out the ground" cracked Captain Li as he began firing on the hostiles emerging from the burrow. The civilians frantically sprinted for the hangar. The slowest four were run down and quickly torn apart. He reloaded his weapon and barely shot down an invader charging straight for him. Then something unexpected happened. In an instant, every alien on the ground fell apart where it stood. An eerie silence was followed by cheering infantry.
Nathema immediately moved toward the sound of the distressed civilians. She was met with the sight of four people torn to pieces by the enemy, and something snapped. She alone moved, friend and foe still and silent. She frantically cut through every alien chasing the evacuees. She blitzed through the open tunnel, killing every enemy inside, came out the other side, and flanked the motionless invaders, cutting nearly every last one down before a wall of sound and the movement of her allies indicated time once again flowed. More pods fell every second, but she'd just slaughtered every enemy on the ground.
Valkira was dumbfounded at what she'd just witnessed. Her sister had torn through time itself, her kills all falling to pieces simultaneously before her eyes. The colonists and soldiers boarded the lightships, then the warmaidens.
Nathema instructed her reinforcements to rendezvous at Mars.
The black silhouettes grew smaller behind them. The bio dreadnoughts were far slower than the lightships co designed by Gluona and Jenessa.
