Alan coughed as thick dust threatened to cut off his airways and vision. His mind felt muddled as the sounds of shifting ground and tremors shook his whole body. Next to him Shelley lay collapsed on the earth covered steel floor. Struggling to orient himself he had the vague thought that his plan hadn’t gone exactly how he had envisioned.

Wiping away dust he thought back on the start of the fight, which had initially gone well. The bugs drove right into the area where he’d helped set up traps and killing zones. They’d been cut to ribbons or burned in droves. The operation “roach hotel” had worked nearly flawlessly.

What he hadn’t planned for was the absence of the Queen and the surprise assault from underneath the buildings. This surprise had nearly overwhelmed them. Shelley and he had led the counter attack, killing off the bugs that had invaded from the ground. After the first wave, however, there had been sizable holes 2 and 3 feet in diameter in floor. This presented 1 challenge and 1 opportunity. First, was that it was going to be nearly impossible to stop the next waves when they came through those tunnels. On the other hand, Alan realized the possibility that the queen had buried herself in the ground to direct the assault from safety.

This begged the question, how to get to her? The solution, unsurprisingly, came from Shelley.

“What about that droid of yours? It can probably navigate those tunnels and deliver an explosive?”

“739?” Alan had looked at his droid. It had been there assisting the leadership during the assault and than supporting Alan in the counter attack. The Droid was quite tall, but despite its height, it’s joints were surprisingly flexible.

“Sir, I am quite able to navigate those tunnels quickly. I’m also equipped with sensors which allow for navigation in the dark.” He said with the greatest propriety and then to demonstrate he than lowered his height, and adjusted his limbs to resemble something more like a beetle.

“All right, what have we got to lose?”

After that, it had taken a only a few quick steps to equip him with a few high explosives which could easily timed and detached. All that was left was for him to make his way through the tunnels. 739 left without preamble and after that it became a waiting game.

They’d listened eagerly over the radio, hoping to hear any news as 739 relayed information about the tunnel system. Luckily, it hadn’t taken long before 739 had found a larger cavern and the queen. The clever monarch had hidden quite literally under his nose. 739 set the explosives and fled as fast as possible.

It was only a few seconds later that Shelley uttered, “If he is so close, wouldn’t the shockwave….” She didn’t even have time to finish. The explosion, which had rocked the building, had led to Shelley being knocked out and him nearly losing consciousness.

Alan continued to hack and cough as he moved over to check on Shelley. The shockwave of the continued to reverberate through the lower level of the building. Inspecting Shelley, her head was split, blood gushing next to her.

Kneeling next to her he injected her nanites to heal her wounds and to stem the bleeding. He rose and made his way to the barricaded door. As he moved to remove the large steel latch keeping it closed, he heard the sound of moving earth. Throwing open the door, he stepped out into the street. The dust was just settling. What looked like a massive horned beetle's head and half a torso, along with a few legs, were pulling a massive body free of the site of the underground explosion.

The only thought in his mind which crossed his mind was, “How did she survive?” Fear clutched his heart. Any beast that could survive that kind of explosion was likely ranked at C or higher.

Pressing the radio he called over all frequencies. “All units target the massive bug in the street, it's the queen. I repeat, target the queen!”

Raising his gauntlets he began firing off streams of concentrated VE energy toward the Queen. Above him he saw in the windows others open fire on the half stuck monarch.

The bullets and energy projectiles pelted her great skull, like hail on tin roof. Their weapons were ineffective against her thick carapace. This seemed to only drive her mad, as she continued to struggle upward more frantically. She let out a wail.

The shriek dizzied Alan as he struggled to try and cover his ears. Along with the wail afflicting his ears, Alan felt a sharp piercing sensation stab his mind. The pain was so severe his senses were completely cut off. The ringing in his ears ceased, but he could no longer see. Only blackness filled his vision and no sound reached his ears. He lost track of time. It felt as though he was in the void of space. Empty. Dark. the only thing to accompany him was a feeling of panic.

But just as quickly as it had struck the sensation quickly faded as his sight slowly returned, and the sounds of battle resumed, cutting off the panic that had briefly surfaced from the attack. Looking up at the still struggling queen. He mind barely registered that the Queen had used a psychic attack. It was confirmed moments later from the battle log that appeared.

Alert! You have been attacked by a low level psychic assault. Your senses have been overwhelmed.

Alert! Error! has been activated. You have adapted to the low level psychic assault.

What?! He’d adapted. That made no sense. He didn’t have long to think on it, as the Massive queen continued to pull herself out of the hole. Segments of her body rose slowly, as her legs pulled her out. She’d already managed to pull three segments of her elongated body from the pit.

She had stopped screaming, however, from the brief glance Alan gave to look up at the defenders above him it wasn’t good. They were completely defenseless. Some were unconsciously splayed halfway over the wall while others likely collapsed behind windows and on roofs. It was at that moment that she began to spray a viscous green substance along the wall of the building. From the hissing and burning on where it landed. It didn’t take him long to figure out she had a deadly spray weapon. Acid.

When the acid struck it quickly chewed through clothes and armor and did unspeakable things to their bodies. Even her own minions, stunned by the attack, weren't safe. It was a truly desperate measure. Consuming both friend and foe around her.

Unwilling to let the queen continue her assault Alan got on his radio, and turned to a specific channel.

“Dad, are you still next to the mining laser?”

“Yeah, son, we’ve barely hung on. But we’re still here.”

“I need one more shot. We’ve got to take out that queen!”

“Son, I don’t know. I might be able to give a short burst, but we’ve pretty much trashed this thing. Any more and she’d likely be toast.”

“Do it. We’ve got no other option.”

“All right, give me 60 seconds to charge it up.”

Alan grimaced as he looked at the beast turning up the earth in its desire for freedom. 60 seconds? The queen was likely to clear the blast in half that time. Desperately, Alan looked around. And realized he was the only one on the field of fire. Recognizing the desperate situation, Alan activated his gauntlets, and charged the nearest leg. He activated his VE reserves and slammed into the struggling leg striking at the joint. For a brief moment he feared that his efforts would have been in vain, however a moment later he felt the carapace beneath him bend, and heard the snap of tendons. The blow had pushed back the struggling leg, causing the queen to shriek once again. The leg, certainly bruised and damaged, nevertheless had strength enough to lash out, knocking Alan backwards across the field. He landed hard, and looked up to see the multi eyed queen glaring at him with hatred filled eyes.

She recognized him. More by his scent than anything. The man that should have been dead. He was the fiery devil. He had smashed and burned her children, and made her home uninhabitable. It confused her that he wasn’t dead. He should have been dead. Her children would not lie, they had hunted and killed him personally. But there he was, still living. Reigning down fire and pain. Her mind lashed out with all the resentment and hatred she could summon.

For a brief moment Alan felt it. He felt her hurt, her hatred. It felt more real and painful than her previous attack. It was more than numbness and pain, it was her feelings.

Alert! You have adapted to the direct low level psychic attack.

And then it was gone. The pain which had united them for the briefest of moments passed, as easily as the wind through the trees.

He felt relieved, and to Alan’s chagrin, he sensed somehow that she knew her attack had failed. She shrieked again, and continued her relentless struggle. Her movements quickened as she now had prey to devour.

Alan rose once again. Preparing his gauntlets, he tried to find an opening, but her hate filled eyes never left him. He felt they were challenging him, daring him to charge her, to come within the range of her sharpened claws.

He needed to act. She was nearly free. And in doing so might easily dodge the mining laser.

Alan thought quickly. Perhaps, he thought with some remorse that he could keep her pinned, if only for a few seconds. Long enough for the laser to cut her down. Even if it meant death.

He readied himself giving himself some distance from her. Preparing for death.

As it seemed she was about to remove herself from her half grave. A dreadful thought occurred to Alan. What was he doing? He was the lord of this area. His plans for Kragga, Shelley, and Earth’s future all hung on this territory. If he died at her hands, it was game over. She would win the war. He would lose his territory. He’d been fool enough not to even have a second in command should he fall.

His noble sacrifice would be short sighted. He couldn’t die here. Not like this.

At that moment she cleared the last of the hole. Her massive frame, the size of two buses end to end, towered over him. With some satisfaction he saw the rear two segments of her elongated body were mangled and bloodied, as if they’d been through a meat grinder. It was clear their bomb had worked. She apparently had already been significantly injured. Not that it gave him much comfort, as he wondered how it would be if she were at full strength.

Rising above him, she readied herself to cross the distance to get to him and kill him.

He heard the fateful scream. But this time, it didn’t come from the massive queen. His eyes widened in amazement as Cura leapt from the top floor of the research facility. A glistening spear in hand striking the bony plate of the creature. Unlike Alan’s attack, her spear easily passed through hardened carapace, toward the soft flesh underneath. Cura’s battle yell, was followed by the Shrieking and writhing of the beast and it desperately clawed the gnat which had stung it so painfully.

Alan watched in awe, as Cura seemed to wrestle the beast for a few precious moments, before she too was suddenly overwhelmed and cast off, thrown into a blown out window of the adjacent building.

The queen, incensed beyond all reasoning, turned once again toward Alan. Blind fury in her eyes, they spoke to Alan, as if she were saying how could such small fleshy animals cause me, the most noble and powerful of creatures, so much pain and suffering.

She moved to strike. Her full weight charging to maim and tear Alan apart.

His full attention was set on the monster in front of him. He was so focused that he nearly missed the 3 pings on his radio receiver. Almost not hearing the signal he dove to the ground at the same time he heard the high pitched whirring of the far off tower. Moments later, a beam of green light streaked above him, striking directly into the rearing body of the massive queen.

The cutting laser didn’t make a blasting sound as it cut through flesh. It instead was nearly silent. Only her screams and the sound of charring flesh and flashing fire across her body indicated that the laser was doing its grizzly work. It worked quickly, at times piercing multiple segments, and removing great masses of flesh, legs, and anything else that it happened to cross, before it’s work was done. When it finally finished, the far off whirring was replaced by a small explosion. And the shrieks of the once proud queen were now only muffled hisses.

Alan walked cautiously up to the still breathing monarch. The laser had scored along her torso, cutting her in half, it had then trailed up, removing nearly half of her remaining body, vertically. Had the laser not cauterized as it went, Alan was sure she would have bled out, leaving nothing inside of her.

As he moved closer she twitched, causing Alan to jump. She’d turned her once glorious head, now nearly half removed, toward him. Eyes still filled with hatred…and defiance. He felt her thoughts in his mind. They screamed at him, cursed him, unbelieving of the fate that she’d been dealt.

Alan had thought he knew what loathing was before. Especially when he’d thought back on his ex-girlfriend. But this was different.

He drew back his glove, bashed in her head, half telling him that he was putting her out of her misery, and half unwilling to admit his own discomfort at the thoughts she had of him.

It took him a few blows before her voice was silenced, and a few more more to be sure. In the end though it was the Cosmos notification that finally convinced him to stop.

Notice: Queen Komaxa of the Hive has been defeated.

Notice: Queen Komaxa of the Hive is a monster species of the bug variety and is unable to assign a second in command. Therefore she is no longer able to continue the war.

Territory Notice: Alan’s Territory has been triumphant over Queen Komaxa of the Hive. Congratulations Alan for your victory.

Alan was suddenly overwhelmed with more and more notifications, outlining the information of the battle and the rewards. He put them all aside, unwilling to look at them for the moment. His thoughts flashed back to the end of the battle. The hostility of the queen, Cura’s leap through the air, and Shelley being knocked unconscious. Shelley…

He rushed back to the still open door of the mess hall when Shelley greeted him at the door. She looked haggard, hair strewn about her, and dirt stained clothes. However, her face seemed untouched by the dirtiness of battle, she wore a broad smile, with eyes glistening in delight. “We did it!” She ran up to him, giving him a hug. He hugged her back, and hoped she didn’t mind the stench of the bug still lingering on his fist.

At that moment he had no words. How could he tell her that her one action had pushed back the lingering voice of the queen and her hatred. That he’d felt more invigorated in that moment than he had felt in days. That it was all he could do not to sit down and cry from the exhaustion of it all. Instead he just basked in that moment.