The sky looked like it was burning as Vuxten sat down on a piece of broken plascrete. There was bursts of bright white light in the clouds now and then, often with black specks that would fall from the sky, some of the larger specks often transfixed by beams of light from the sky.

Vuxten had gotten used to the different types of humans. Marines were big, power armor or warborgs, heavily armed, and charged into combat, although they would stop to help to rescue people if the Search & Rescue needed help. Army, which were digging in to create bases and fortifications and used artillery, tanks, air support. Air Force, which supplies close air support, bombing runs, supply drops, troop transport. Navy, which provided dropships, supply runs, and were fighting in the near orbits of the planets as well as the rest of the system with the lighter ships. If was all wrapped up in Space Force, which had the heavy ships as well as other things that Vuxten didn't quite understand.

Vuxten understood more about the military than he had ever wanted to in the last three days. He understood what Close Air Support meant. He understood what Fire For Effect meant. He understood what Bring the Rain was. He also knew what Request Evac meant.

He'd learned a new thing.

Something that he had never wanted to learn.

He had been carrying a wounded Ikeeki female from the wreckage of a large habitat when holes had opened in the clouds, white cored red beams slicing down from the heavens, slicing into the streets, slicing into buildings.

Building had collapsed on both sides of the street, burying the street. He had thrown himself on the ground, covering the Ikeeki as the rubble fell around them. Two heavy chunks hit him, but he managed to stay on all fours, staring at the Ikeeki through his clear visor, willing his body to hold out, willing his armor to hold.

It had.

He'd been trapped in the rubble for almost an hour, till a purrboi oozed through the cracks between the rubble. The purrboi rubbed its whiskers and face on the Ikeeki, who slowly relaxed and started to smile, then laid between Vuxten and the Ikeeki.

IMPACT MODE

appeared on his visor and he felt the armor stiffen, the joints locking in place.

Vuxten relaxed, kind of hanging in the armor.

A few minutes later Sergeant pulled the rubble off of him, grabbing him and pulling him up. He felt armor come 'alive' again and helped carry the Ikeeki to the waiting dropship that had landed while he'd been buried. She had lost her legs, severed by rubble, but was calm, petting purrboi on her chest and smiling at it.

"You all right, trooper Vuxten?" Sergeant had asked.

"I am now," Vuxten had said carefully.

"You let me know if you start having problems. You were down there for quite a while," Sergeant said.

"I wasn't afraid," Vuxten said honestly.

"Why not?" Sergeant asked. He'd been worried about the little guy since the parking lot of the CorpSec building. His anxiety had been way too low.

"I knew you wouldn't leave me there, not while I was alive. I knew the purrboi kittykittys would come looking for me," Vuxten said honestly. "I was more worried about the Ikeeki."

Sergeant Ulganga nodded. "That's right. I'm glad you held onto that."

The dropship lifted off, the engines screaming as the heavy armored ship took off.

The other three humans came over, looking around.

"What happened with the ambulance?" Vuxten asked.

"The armor held. They rocked their way out of the rubble," Sergeant said. "Everyone on it is all right and on its way to the evac station."

"That's a combat evac model, Vux," Mixi said. "Not the first time something like that has happened to one of them. That's why the frame's got built in integrity screens like they use on the light torchship fighters."

"Oh," Vuxten said. He looked at the sky. The sun was setting and it was already getting dark.

He looked at the four humans with him. The others had remained at the evacuation station, unable to keep going. Vuxten had touched each of them when they had told him, then left.

He didn't care what happened to him. His family was safe, that was all that mattered.

"Devil Dogs were saying there's a whole shit-pot of the Precursors dropping onto the planet," Donovan said. Vuxten looked up and Donovan shrugged. "Just saying, man."

He was looking right at Donovan when it happened.

The beam of light, bright red with a silver core, went straight through the human's head, coring out the entire helmet.

Donovan had stood there for a second, then the suit just collapsed.

"CONTACT!" Sergeant yelled, pulling his rifle into play.

Vuxten scrabbled at his rifle but it was gone. He must have lost it when the building had fallen. He reached out, grabbed Donovan's weapon and ran up next to Sergeant.

SYNCHING visor kept flashing.

He could see them. Four of them running on articulated spiked legs that slammed deep into the pavement. Brownish metal, looking rusty or covered with dirt, or blood, patchy in places with something that Vuxten couldn't identify. They screeched as they charged, clacking metal claws and firing heavy lasers from top mounted cannons. Sergeant aimed his rifle, up slightly, and fired. The front of the lead one exploded, exposing wiring and pistons and all manner of internal structures.

READY!

Vuxten aimed at the other ones, not trying to get complicated, and started firing at the one that was still lurching forward, the front blown away.

Instead of the light thwap of his previous rifle, this one fired a thick silvery-blue beam. Where it touched the structure it blew big chunks of the metal into vapor and liquid. The first one went down. Mixi and Laker joined in, a Fido running up in Killboi mode, and the five of them kept shooting. The Fido's firepower made the difference, the heavy ramjet ring penetrators slamming through armor and machinery with equal ease.

It was over quickly.

Vuxten turned around, staggering over to a chunk of plasticrete, sat down, and looked in front of him.

It was dark already. Still raining, the rain streaking and staining the plasticrete and everything else a sticky black. The clouds overheard still glowed red, with fires burning inside.

But he didn't have eyes for that. He stared at the ground.

Vuxten just stared at the human's body. It was just limp, the meat of the neck cauterized and smoking. He could see melted metal and circuitry in the stump. He just stared. He couldn't believe it had happened. He'd seen an Overseer shoot a human in the head with a heavy ion pistol with no effect, but that beam had passed through his head without even stopping.

He didn't think it could happen.

He sat on the chunk of plasticrete, just staring.

Doc struggled up to the top of the pile of rubble, kneeling down next to Donovan. He looked up and shook his head.

"Brainstem hit, took out his SUDS. If they bring him back, he'll be a canner for sure," Doc said softly.

"Is he dead?" Vuxten asked.

"I'm sorry, Vux, but yeah," Doc said, standing up.

He didn't think that could happen.

Vuxten knew he was crying, thick tears that oozed down his furry face.

All he could do was stare at Donovan's body.

He didn't think that humans could die.

"You OK, kid?" Sergeant asked.

Vuxten looked up, opened his mouth to say no.

A bright flash lit the world. White, blinding. Vuxten's vision cleared just in time to see it. A roiling cloud of red and black rising from the city center.

Another flash. Another. And another. Yet another.

One final one, for good measure.

Five 1.2 MT nuclear blasts, surrounding a 12.5 MT blast in the center, the outer ones detonating in a star pattern around the center, increasing the damage, maximizing the force.

The Precursors had reached down with atomic hammers to strike the city center.

The shockwaves, overlapping, increased in strength by the others, smashed into Vuxten, knocking him off the hill of rubble like a giant had kicked him in the face. He bounced twice, caught air, and slammed through a building, the glass and plasticrete shattering around him. He bounced off something hard, fell, and smashed into the street.

His armor pulled his limbs into a t-pose. He blacked out.

--------------------------------

Brentili'ik sat in the forest clearing, on a comfortable rock, using it as a chair, looking at the broodcarriers around her. Many of them had wounded humans in their arms, stroking them gently, nuzzing them, crooning to them. The humans had been wounded on the same planet her husband still fought to protect. Brought to the hospital ship, and sometimes, when the wounds were severe enough, brought here.

Brentili'ik had seen how much the broodcarriers liked humans. Humans were warm, humans smelled nice, humans loved.

'love human good human safe human' a broodcarrier crooned her song to a human. He had no injuries that were apparent, but he moved slowly, stiffly. His skin was pale and he was bald. He stuttered when he talked, had problems remembering, and cried often, putting his face in his hands and weeping while a broodcarrier would try to soothe him.

He was sleeping, held gently by a broodcarrier, who covered his chest protectively with her fluffy tail. His name was Donovan, he had been shot through the head by a Precursor and it had damaged something that made it so he was traumatized even after the Confederacy had somehow saved him.

Major pinged her datalink.

"Please come in," Brentili'ik said over her still slightly tender datalink.

The leaves rustled behind her as she watched a broodcarrier pet another human who was laying on her lap. The human had been injured by radiation that had attacked his DNA, making regeneration of his limbs a long and painful affair as his cells had to be cleaned. The human came to the broodcarriers to be held after each gene therapy session.

The broodcarriers sang to him and stroked him until he went to sleep. Brentili'ik had learned humans healed the most when they slept.

"Brentili'ik, I need you to brace yourself," Major said.

Brentili'ik swallowed, wondering what it was. Another badly wounded human? A podling that had been saved against all odds? A weeping broodcarrier heavy with eggs and clutching orphaned podlings, its fur still crusted with the blood of its mates.

The last month weighed heavy on her shoulders.

Citizenship is a heavy burden.

"I am ready," Brentili'ik said, slowly turning around.

At first, she could not believe it. She blinked, staring, then rubbed her eyes. Then rubbed her eyes again, still not believing what she was seeing.

Vuxten stood there, next to Major.

He looked awful. The fur around his eyes and jaw was silver. One eye was cybernetic. His leg was in a traction brace to keep the bone straight and still. He was missing an ear.

He looked terrible.

He looked wonderful.

She flew off the mossy rock she always sat on, running to him. She grabbed him in her arms, sure that this time, like all the others, she would wake up with empty arms.

Instead, arms went around her, squeezing her, one arm weaker than the other.

"I am home, my love," Vuxten said, his voice rough, raspy, but still his. "I am home, and I'll never let you go."

--------------------------

V CORPS (OLD METAL)

System cleared of Precursor threat.

Request relief and rotation.

-------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

TERRAN CONFEDERACY CITIZENSHIP AGENCY

The attached names, numbers, genetic codes are all new citizens, with the full rights, responsibilities, and privileges thereof.

>SEARCH: VUXTEN-68934-6221-527194

1 RECORD FOUND - Full Citizen. Terran Confederacy

>SEARCH: BRENTILI'IK-827149-2356-156132

1 RECORD FOUND - Full Citizen, Terran Confederacy

---------NOTHING FOLLOWS-------

MANTID FREE WORLDS

We welcome our Telkan brothers to the fold.

Our dreamers and prophet-singers and seers welcome you.

Freedom, horrible horrible freedom awaits.

May you find its nectar sweet.