My breath came out in short, heavy gasps as I looked down on the dead Hive Lord. The sun was coming up, casting a white glow over the body. It didn’t twitch, it just lay stiff and motionless, the red and black tendrils that composed the body slowly losing their dark sheen.

I’d done it.

I’d killed the fucker.

I stood there for a moment, letting the roaring in my ears fade out and the adrenaline flush from my system. My hands shook. Belatedly, I noticed that there was a lot of noise coming in through my coms. I let Mary go first.

“What the fuck did you do, Lewis!?” yelled Mary over the intercom.

Ah shit.

I fucked up?

“Uhh… I might’ve killed a Hive Lord,” I replied sheepishly.

There was a pregnant silence. I felt like I was forgetting something. Like the fact that there was still a battle going on.

Ah shit.

I brought up the map in a blind panic, and then breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t broken through, thank God, but there was something very weird happening. It was almost as if –

“I don’t know how the fuck you did it, but I think it stopped them,” Mary said, awe in her voice, “for now, at least.”

The red dots were falling back. I hadn’t heard it over the noise from the coms, but the crack of assault rifles had gone silent, and the battlefield was quiet. I looked down the bridge at the defensive line. The militia were standing there, bewildered expressions on their faces, watching the backs of the fleeing Assimilators. It was telling that weren’t any victory cries or shouts of joy. They just stood there, shell-shocked.

But at least I didn’t fuck up, which was comforting.

“Bring me back up to date,” I grunted over the coms. I flexed my shoulder. It was really, really sore, like someone had decided to take a meat tenderizer to it. Or I’d rammed a stupidly heavy alien mountain lion with it.

“Well, it’s damn good that you killed that thing when you did, that’s for sure. The Worms had just cut through the southern flank, and the bridge was getting hammered without you there. They would’ve broken any minute. Camille saved our asses up in the north. Girl can fly drones like I didn’t think was possible.”

I felt a small glow of pride at that, then a larger burn of panic at how screwed we were.

“What are our losses?”

“Bad. We’re looking at a hundred and fifty or so dead, double that wounded. And that gunship of yours is completely out of ammo, according to Adelaide. She used it all trying to keep the southern flank together.”

That wasn’t good, especially the part about the Merlin. I glanced at the map on my HUD. The Assimilators had stopped a good way down the bridge. Out of range of the guns, but it looked like they were going to stick around.

I turned my attention back to my conversation with Mary, “How many of the wounded can fight?”

“Anybody that can stand and hold a weapon is going to be on the line,” she said grimly.

After a pause, I replied, “Okay. I’m going to check in with Camille. See if you can get the militia in some semblance of order.”

Mary growled back immediately, “The fuck do you think I’ve been doing you di-“

I cut her off and switched my coms channel to just Adelaide and Camille.

“Jesus Christ Sam, what happened to you?” Camille yelled, “You went completely silent on us!”

Man, kill a giant alien monster and suddenly everyone’s yelling at you.

“Y’know, went to the market, stopped to smell the flowers, killed a Hive Lord, the usual,” I said breezily, reading over the diagnostics. I winced. This Paladin was totaled. The gatlings were broken, one of the railguns was lying about fifteen feet away, and it was a miracle that the legs were functioning at all. I sent a mental command to bring over my spare.

“Killed a what?”

“Hive Lord. What’ve you been up to?”

“Trying to manage twenty drones on two different fronts,” she said, “You killed a Hive Lord? By yourself?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Camille hummed thoughtfully, “So they probably aren’t being led by a Matriarch then.”

I frowned. She hadn’t even taken the time to praise me before she went straight to Worm analysis. Typical. I sighed internally and replied to her, “Uh. What gives you that impression?”

“If a Matriarch was in charge, they wouldn’t have broken off the attack unless it was killed. The horde has probably split control between a few Hive Lords. One went down, so they’re reorganizing their command structure. We saw this same pattern in smaller raids during the war.”

I focused on a specific point in her explanation, “Hive Lords? As in plural?”

“Yeah. Small horde like this, I’d probably guess there’s one more in there, maybe two if we’re really unlucky,” she said grimly.

“Fucking lovely,” I grumbled as I rubbed at my eyes, stepping out of the Paladin and onto the cold concrete. My flight suit was insulated, but it wasn’t enough for a cold Colorado morning. The air bit at my skin, and I shivered. A series of loud footsteps announced the arrival of the spare Paladin. It was beautiful in the sunlight, the white and red paint immaculate. The shield on the front split open, beckoning me inside. I stepped in backwards, a practiced, smooth motion, and the Paladin closed around me. The HUD came to life, and the familiar readouts darted across my vision.

The Assault Paladin was great, in its own way. It felt secure, and it had enough firepower to level a small country, which was always a plus. But this Paladin, the original… well, it was something else entirely. I’d spent a good amount of life building it from the ground up, and over the past few months I’d practically lived in the thing. The new upgrades from Denver had only made it more natural to use. It could interpret my mental commands as if it was a part of my own body, and it moved like a dream. At this point it truly felt like a second skin.

The Paladin’s optics let me study the faces of the militia. They were forlorn, near broken. Blood spattered and bone-weary, exhausted and afraid. All of them knew what it was like to have someone they cared about die, it was almost impossible not to in the world we lived in. But I think that for most of them, this was the first time they’d seen death so close.

Camille was apparently watching my feed from Camelot, because she spoke as I stared at them, ““If… when… the Worms attack again... I don’t think they’ll hold. And they know it too.”

She was right. We were screwed six ways till Sunday. But if they gave up now, then there was absolutely no way we’d be able to put up even a flicker of a fight. They needed something to get them off their asses. Something more than just bullets and missiles and railguns. Something that would tell them that it was going to be okay, even if it wasn’t.

I looked down at the headless Hive Lord again. It had… deflated, for lack of a better word. It looked like an empty husk now, a shell of its former self. I reached down with a metal hand, and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. It was surprisingly light when it wasn’t thrashing around.

I strode towards the militia, letting my steps land heavily on the bridge. They echoed in the quiet morning, drawing the attention of the fighters. Behind me, I dragged the corpse of the monster, making sure that its body scraped across the ground. Tendrils flaked off it as it rubbed on the coarse concrete. In front of me, at the defensive line, the militia started to look up at the noise I was making. I saw whispered conversation begin to break out as I neared. I reached the spot where I’d made my stand earlier, Hive Lord still held tightly in my hand. I took a moment to look around at the surrounding townspeople. That’s what they were, really. Just ordinary people that were trying to survive, same as everyone else in this hellhole. Against the enemy that had torn apart the most advanced human armies that had ever existed, why would they think they could win?

I threw the corpse of the Hive Lord to the center of the bridge with a mighty heave. It soared in the air, propelled by the massive strength of the Paladin, legs flailing limply like a ragdoll. It smashed down into the concrete, skipping twice before eventually coming to a rest. The Assimilators nearest to it drew back, screeching their displeasure. I ignored them, and adjusted the coms to let my voice out into the morning.

“We can beat them,” I said simply, turning my head to look into the eyes of the men and women that huddled by sandbags, “they can die, just like anything else.”

I went silent, and stood impassively, arms crossed over my chest, staring down the horde. It might have been my ego talking, but I thought I saw the crowd stand a little straighter, and their conversations get a little louder. There wasn’t a storm of cheers for me, they didn’t raise their guns in triumph, but at least they were looking upward, not staring at the ground in defeat.

“Fucking showoff,” muttered Camille.

I grinned and switched my coms to the channel with just Camille and Adelaide in it again, “I deserve to be a showoff after that. Perks of the job, y’know?”

I’m sure Camille was going to fire off a witty comeback, but Adelaide interrupted before she could, “Sam, Camille. I have finished decrypting the Black Box. I know what they hid in Sterling.”

I closed my eyes, fearing the worst, “Alright, hit me.”

“It’s a Matriarch.”

I froze, tearing my eyes away from the tactical maps I’d been studying, “Excuse me?”

“More specifically, it is a Matriarch larva.”

My mouth hung open as I let that sink in. That was a lot worse than the worst I had thought of.

“Is it… alive?”

“I am not sure. According to the black box, the larva was in stasis when it was hidden in Sterling.”

“Christ. Where did they hide it?”

“In the basement of a house on the western side of town.”

“Those fucking idiots,” I hissed.

Why did I feel bad about letting them get murdered again? Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to hide a goddamn Matriarch in a civilian population center? If I died in this godforsaken place, I was going to come back as a ghost just to piss on their graves.

“So… They’re probably not going to give up and go home, huh?” I groaned.

“I would assume not.”

I thought for a few seconds, then snapped my fingers, a plan forming, “Here’s an idea. Why not take the Matriarch… and put it somewhere else?”

I was pretty pleased with it.

“Not exactly how I would’ve phrased it, but yes, that is what I was thinking as well,” Adelaide said with a sigh.

I nodded, excited, “We can even use it as bait. Take the Merlin, lead them to an open stretch of ground, drop the larva, then we use the station to blow them straight to hell.”

Camille cut in, “No! We can’t.”

“And why the hell not?”

“That thing is the holy grail of Assimilator research. There’s so much we could learn from it. We could discover how they reproduce, how they communicate.”

“Camille… how the hell are we going to get it out?”

“I don’t know. But honestly, Sam, it would be worth letting this town burn to the ground to study that Matriarch.”

“You don’t mean that,” I said quietly.

For a while, she didn’t respond. Then, “I think I do. If we can get what I think we can out of this Matriarch larva, it could be what saves us. What saves humanity.”

There was a tense silence before Adelaide spoke up, “We can still use it as bait without destroying it. If I take it onboard the Merlin, I can fly it over the horde. If we mark a target zone for the station to fire at, it will just be a matter of timing to get the horde at the right place and the right time.”

I frowned, “’Just a matter of timing?’ That’s understating it a bit. We have no idea how the Worms are going to react. We’ll know exactly when and where the impact will be, but having the Assimilators be in the kill zone at the right time is going to be tricky, to put it mildly.”

“I can do it,” Adelaide said with confidence in her voice.

I hesitated, then relented, “Fine, I trust you. It’s not like we have a better plan right now anyway, and just getting them out of Sterling would be a victory. Let me get in contact with Mary, I’ll have her send some people she trusts to load the larva onboard.”

“Urgh. I wish I could go there myself. Who the fuck even knows what those idiots might do to it,” Camille complained, the thought of the disgustingly vicious alien monster getting damaged apparently too much for her.

I rolled my eyes, “I’ll tell them to be extra special careful.”

I radioed Mary and caught her up to speed with what was going on. I hadn’t told her about the station yet, so I filled her in on that too.

“Your girlfriend wants to… keep it?” She said, flabbergasted.

“Yeah. I honestly don’t know why I’m still dating her.”

“… Alright. I’ll send Mike and Wade over to the coordinates you sent over. Just make sure that you –“ she stopped midsentence, “Hold up. I’m seeing some movement from the Assimilators.”

I looked up. Across the bridge, on the other end of the bank, the Assimilators started to move. It didn’t look like they were attacking, yet, more like they were reorganizing. Must’ve be the new command structure Camille was talking about. They flowed like water as they moved. Not a single one bumped into another, despite the fact that thousands were crisscrossing at the same time. Even when they came in the millions, they always moved as if they were one creature. That’s what made them so deadly.

But there was something very odd happening with them. Instead of splitting into the three-pronged attack pattern that they’d had before, the horde of Assimilators were breaking in half. They streamed towards the both sides of the bridge, leaving a gap in the center. I squinted at the rapidly widening gap, and saw what was between them. My heart stopped in my chest.

“Oh fuck,” Camille whispered.

Out of the sea of Worms came three massive shapes, walking slowly onto the bridge. They towered above the rest of the Assimilators, lords over their subjects. With each step, the tendrils that composed their bodies contracted and loosened, rippling in the sunlight. Clouds of fog billowed from their gaping jaws.

Hive Lords.

The centerpiece of the trio was a familiar evil, the werewolf like monster than I’d fought in the abandoned nest. It’s long, forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air, and its long tail whipped back and forth as it walked. I could see the claws on its feet sink into the concrete as they landed on the bridge. Flanking it were two Worms that looked identical to the mountain lion who lay headless in the center of the bridge.

Mary had seen them too, if the string of profanity that came over my coms was any indication. But it could have just as easily been directed at the massive gathering of Assimilators accumulating on the riverbanks, inching towards the water. They’d swarm over the river in minutes, and descend on the weakened defenders.

My brain raced, trying to think about something, anything, that would get us out of this mess. Three Hive Lords up the center of the bridge, nearly four thousand on each flank. Only eighteen-hundred militia left. We couldn’t hold all three fronts like this, with our forces split into three. The northern and southern flanks would be ripped to shreds by that many Worms with the numbers they had. The best choice would be…

I heaved a sigh. So that was how it was going to be, huh?

“Alright. I want the bridge battalion to fall back and split into two units. One is going to reinforce the northern flank, one to the southern,” I paused, then continued, “I’ll handle the bridge.”

“That’s insane,” retorted Mary.

I snorted, “Oh? Any other ideas? The flanks will break in minutes with that many Assimilators going at them. With the Merlin out of ammo, they’ll need the extra manpower and weapons. Besides… It’ll be easier for me to fight if I don’t have to worry about being in the crossfire.”

“This still seems like a bad idea,” Mary argued, “They’re baiting you into this. They could’ve sent one Hive Lord to each front. All of them going for your position means they want to take you out of the fight.”

“You’re probably right,” I conceded, “But again, it’s not like we have any better ideas. If we hit them with the station right now, we’ll be in the impact zone. I’ve gotta buy some time until Adelaide can get them away from Sterling.”

“But… bah, fuck it, you’re too stubborn to listen to me anyway. I’ll make sure we get the package on the Merlin. Just do your best not to die.”

I smiled a little in my suit, “You too.”

The Hive Lords continued to amble forward. They moved with a loping gait, slowly approaching my position. I started to walk forward as well, leaving the militia behind me. They’d already started to head to the other positions. My Paladin picked up the audio of some arguing to stay behind and help me, but for the most part they were happy to get away from the terrors that were coming towards them. I didn’t blame them, honestly.

“Hey. Sam,” Camille’s voice came in over the coms.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” I replied. We didn’t have to say anything else.

I kept my pace, moving with sure steps towards the monsters. The voice in my head that had been screaming at me to turn around and get as far away as I could was dormant now. It was kinda funny; I wasn’t nearly as nervous going up against the Hive Lords as I had been before the battle. It felt right, in a way, that this is how the battle would end, it felt like this was the way it was always going to be, the way it was meant to be. I passed the corpse of the Hive Lord I’d killed, and my thoughts drifted to the graduation ceremony, when I stood in a lifeless oval office. There was something that the last president of the United States had told me, all those months ago. It hadn’t really stuck before, but I think I understood it now.

I reached behind me, and my hand found the handle of a shield. I gave a mental command, and the bindings that held it in place released. I slid my arm through flexible metal strap, and my fingers tightened around the grip as I brought it to my side. The grip was magnetic, making it far harder to dislodge, and it could rotate at a thought, allowing me to change direction the shield was held at. There was a larger gap between my arm and the back of the shield than there typically would be, about a half foot or so. It was a smaller kite shield in design, simply painted: red around the rim, and solid white in the center, forged from an incredibly strong metal alloy taken directly from the armor of alien battleship.

A Paladin wasn’t just a warrior, nor a weapon. A Paladin was more than that.

I drew my sword, the magnetic holder on my back letting go with a just a hint of resistance. The sunlight glinted off its length. It was on the shorter side of things, in the rough proportions of a gladius but scaled up to fit a Paladin, utilitarian in design with a very simple cross guard and a wide blade. Not the flashiest weapon, but that was fine. The Hive Lords had a much longer reach than I did; if I was going toe-to-toe with them, I’d have to stay very close, which tossed the longsword out the window. The sword was made from the same material as the shield. It was left unpainted, a dark matte grey, and it was sharp enough to cut through hardened steel like butter. The weight of it was comfortable in my hand as I rolled my wrist, tracing the sword in lazy circles at my side.

I had to be more than Samuel Lewis, more than an engineer, more than a terrified man in a suit of armor. Right now, I had to be the beacon of hope.

I stood alone in the center of the bridge, sword and shield held beside me, and faced the Hive Lords that stalked towards me.