The cavern pulsed with an unnatural humidity, the air thick and fetid, like the breath of something long dead. Shadows clung to the jagged walls, broken only by the erratic flicker of bioluminescent veins snaking through the rock, remnants of the alien infestation that had claimed this forsaken planet. Alden crouched low, his ranger suit's visor scanning the gloom, heart pounding in sync with the distant drip of corrosive fluids eating away at the stone.

  It had been shuffling around slowly at the edge of darkness like a nightmare uncoiling. An abomination, its body a twisted amalgamation of flesh and bio-organic tech, eyes wide and blank, glowing with a sickly yellow hunger. A grotesque fusion of insectoid biology and salvaged alien tech, its chitinous exoskeleton laced with flickering bioluminescent circuitry that hummed with corrupted energy. Multi-jointed limbs twitched with erratic precision, ending in serrated claws that scraped sparks from the floor. Mandibles parted in a wet, clicking maw, dripping viscous fluid that sizzled on the stone, releasing acrid smoke that sent lazy tendrils into the air.

  As if sensing his presence, the creatures head snapped towards Alden. Multiple sets of eyes focused with laser like precision at the newcomer who dared enter the sacred sanctity of the chamber. It reached out slowly, one trembling appendage extending like a plea from hell, taking a small stumbling step in his direction, movement clearly impaired but the grotesque assembly of parts that should not be possible. Its voice rasped through hidden vocalizers, weak but laced with desperate hope, a chorus of stolen souls echoing in the static.

  “Help... us...”

  The words hung for a split second, a cruel lure, its body coiling like a viper ready to strike as it feigned hopelessness. Then it moved.

  With a burst of hydraulic fury, the creature lunged, closing the distance in a heartbeat. Alden twisted on instinct more than anything else, boots skidding on slick rock as serrated claws whistled past his helmet, carving deep furrows into the stone with a screech like tearing metal. Shards exploded outward, one glancing off his shoulder plate with a stinging crack.

  He retaliated without thinking, his SMG snapped up, plasma rounds erupting in a blazing staccato. Ionized bolts seared through the humid air, illuminating the cavern in strobing blue hellfire. But the beast was too fast, a blur of chitin and shadow darting sideways, the shots scorching its flank in sizzling bursts that only enraged it further. Ichor sprayed, mixing with sparks from ruptured circuits, the stench of burnt flesh and ozone flooding the air.

  Alden pivoted, adrenaline surging as he rolled into cover behind a thick stalagmite. The impact of the creature’s follow-up strike hammered the rock a fraction later. Razor-sharp appendages slicing the air where his head had been, embedding deep with a thunderous crunch. Stone pulverized, fragments raining down like shrapnel, one slicing a gash across his gauntlet. He could feel the warm wet sensation of blood starting to soak the inner lining of the glove as the seriousness of the situation became instantly clear. The cavern echoed with the beast's guttural chitter, a sound that clawed at his sanity, promising agony.

  “Move you idiot!” ADIRA’s voice shouted in his ears. “That thing will rip you to shreds!”

  ‘ADAPT – OVERCOME – KILL’

  The three words drilled into the skull of every cadet that entered the Armada’s training academy echoed in his mind as decades of training overrode panic. Alden darted to the side as another wild swing was aimed at his position as he regained his feet, using the momentum to start running the perimeter of the chamber. This wasn’t a straight up fight. Knowing he was woefully outmatched and underpowered, he knew that the only way to survive the encounter was to fight with cunning… or dirty. His fingers closed around a grenade on his belt as he darted between stalagmite pillars and other obstacles as his thumb primed the charge with a soft beep. He hurled it at the creature's feet, diving behind a crumbling stone column as the world erupted. The explosion detonated with a concussive boom, shockwaves ripping through the cavern, hurling him against the wall. Dust and debris choked the air, the beast's angered shrieks, piercing the chaos. A high-pitched wail of agony as its carapace cracked like vintage pottery, spewing dark ichor and mangled flesh in a geyser of gore. Chunks of chitin flew, one embedding in the wall inches from Alden's head. “Too close… way too close.”

  “Don’t turn it into a claymore you moron.” Her voice was overtly panicked, more so than he had heard in a long time. “Come on, take it down while it’s staggered.”

  “You know ADIRA, when I get out of here, you and me… are gonna have… a little chat.”

  He emerged from cover, submachinegun raised, visor locking onto the thrashing form. But the monster wasn't done. Wounds wept and squirted, yet it propelled itself forward with a screeching roar, limbs ripping up the chamber floor like pistons from hell. The ground trembled under its furious charge, mandibles clacking in ravenous anticipation. Alden squeezed the trigger with zero remorse, spraying every available charge in the chamber at his assailant and yet the thing just kept coming as it stretched its limbs wide, making it impossible to sidestep or easily dodge out of the way. The SMG made a quick angered buzz, indicating that magazine was now spent. Alden cursed loudly as the creature prepared its attack. With nowhere to go, he drops backwards into a roll, dropping the rifle as his momentum sent him out of reach of the creature’s reach, the weapon clattering away to the side as he ended the maneuver back on his feet in a crouched position. With two quick flicks of his wrists, the hidden blades snapped free beneath his arms, twin straight edged tantos, their vibro-edges humming to life, gleaming wickedly in the dim, pulsing light.

  The abomination moved its bullet riddled bulk with unnatural ease, slashing wildly first before unleashing a whirlwind of claws that tore gashes in his armor, successfully drawing blood with a hit that stung brightly across his ribs.

  “Serious wound detected. Operator Hale, for pity’s sake, defend yourself.” Her voice barely containing its anxiety as she watched helplessly from the sidelines.

  Alden ducked low, the whoosh of death brushing his scalp, then countered with a vicious upward slice. His blade bit deep, tearing through exposed muscle and soft fleshy tissue in a spray of foul fluids. Something vital gave way, a major artery, or an organ, maybe… severing with a satisfying pop and fountaining fluids. The creature staggered, limbs twitching erratically, its blank eyes flaring brighter in fury as liquid cascaded down its side. It lashed out blindly, one appendage whipping toward Alden like a scorpion's tail, making him sidestep, feeling the wind of it pass him. Then he stepped into the attack, getting in close… too close, the smell of decrepit innards was overwhelming. He drove his blades deep into the creature’s thorax, twisting with savage force as one blade got stuck in bone, breaking off under the strain of exertion. The other slid through flesh, parting it like wet paper as all manner of gunk escaped from the ever-widening gash in short bursts with each beat of the foul creature’s heart. Its body convulsing erratically around the blade’s unwelcome intrusion. A low guttural rattle escaped its maw as ichor bubbled over Alden’s glove as the thing sagged downwards. Multi-jointed legs scraping feebly against the stone in a final, desperate spasm. Its soulless eyes trained on Alden in a way that felt both forlorn and yet… relieved.

  Alden didn't hesitate. He yanked his sidearm from his hip, levelling it at the creature's head with a steady hand. The glow of the iridescent fluids leaking from the creature’s face reflected in his visor, a dying plea flickering one last time. He exhaled, the sound harsh in the sudden quiet.

  "You unlucky bastard."

  The shot rang out, plasma bolt searing through the thing's skull with a sizzling crack. Brains and skull fragments vaporized in a burst of steam and gore, life ebbing away as the head lolled back just as the body slumped fully, twitching once more before going still. For a moment, silence reigned, broken only by the drip of cooling fluids from the damage to his chest piece, and Alden's ragged breaths. But in the shadows, something whispered... waiting.

  “Bloody hell Alden… I almost… I...” ADIRA seemed properly rattled, for once the AI didn’t have a quirky response, the sentiment not lost on him.

  “Hey… don’t… I’m ok, really… I’m fine.” But her words remained non sensical. “Addy!... I’m fine.” The moment the name left his lips he realized he opened a door that could not be shut again.

  Her voice hitched over the intercom. “You… you called me...”

  Then the air shifted. A deep, bone-rattling hum resonated through the cavern. Alden’s blood ran cold.

  The shadows moved.

  Chitinous bodies of various shapes and sizes started to pour from unseen tunnels, the gleam of serrated limbs and hungry mandibles catching in the dim glow. The cavern walls trembled with the sheer mass of them, a tide of ravenous, insectoid horrors surging toward him.

  "Oh shit." Was all his mind could produce, before his senses went all super soldier on him.

  Alden’s jaw clenched. He dashed over to where his SMG lay discarded, scooping it up in one fluid motion like a runner sliding into base. With well practiced ease that was second nature at this point, he ejected the spent magazine and had the replacement sliding smoothly into the well, slamming it into place with a satisfying click. The familiar feel of the stock nestled against his shoulder as he chambered the first round, his breathing slowing down as his heads-up display started prioritizing targets approaching.

  "Alden, get out of there!" ADIRA’s voice crackled in his ear, laced with rare, unmistakable fear.

  His grip tightened around his rifle. He closed his eyes, lamenting on the voice that screamed in his ear to escape. “ADIRA… send the signal. Warn the Armada.” No time to run. No time to think. Just fight.

  And he did.

  Back on the Elysium, the message disappears into the ether on every frequency available to her. A detailed summary of the situation at hand and a call for help that she desperately hopes will be picked up. As ADIRA monitors every sensor mounted on his Exosuit, the readings are dire as she sees his vitals spike. She activates the stim pack that floods his body with the needed boost of endorphins and adrenalin to calm his nerves and focus his mind, his heartrate spikes dangerously high as he fights valiantly against impossible odds, the muzzle of his weapon flaring in rapid bursts, his armor barely holding up under the relentless onslaught of the swarm. ADIRA runs a thousand different simulations, yet none of them end with him surviving. She knows that the Armada will be too late. The swarm is too vast and Alden… is about to be taken.

  ADIRA does a wide spectrum search of her databanks. Hoping in vain for anything that might be of use in this dire situation. Old archival file systems flash before her, al of them useless… except for one. One file stands out, it’s old and in bad shape… some of it is still encrypted. Considering the current circumstances, ADIRA would have ignored it out of hand and yet the file name catches her attention… for the file is archived as… ‘A.D.D.Y’. Time seems to stretch as ADIRA’s world comes to a crashing halt, as that one file drifts tantalizingly before her. She does a quick peek at who the author is and when the name of the owner pops up as ‘PRIMARY SEAT, RECONAISANCE VESSEL ELYSIUM: ADIRA’… the overwhelming urge to know overtakes her just as she runs the file. ADIRA

  With her attention split between managing the functions on his suit and viewing the small window springing to life within the conscious spectrum of her system. The screen flickers ominously with degraded visuals, digital distortions and artifacts permeate the feed, but the voice is clear. It’s Alden’s. Younger, but unmistakably him, sitting in a cold, featureless room. Across from him is a man in a crisp military uniform, from his doughy physique, she gathers that he has never seen active duty, so… an administrator… or… a psychologist, but not one with empathy. This is a man who enforces protocol. His words are measured, calculated.

  “Operator Hale, you are treading dangerous ground.”

  Alden, visibly younger, leans forward in his chair, defiant.

  “It’s just a name,” he argues. “Just a damn nickname. I don’t see what the issue is here.”

  The psychologist shakes his head.

  “‘Addy,’ is not an acceptable designation. It suggests an inappropriate form of familiarity with a company asset. ADIRA is a shipboard AI. She is not your companion. She is not your friend. You will cease these inappropriate interactions immediately or face disciplinary action, maybe even a court martial should you persist. You are a soldier, not a sentimentalist.”

  Alden glares, his jaw set in that way that meant he was going to either be very stubborn… or say something stupid… and yet… his shoulder sag, his countenance… defeated… “What will happen to her?”

  “Standard protocol states that any AI that grows beyond the status of their purpose, shall be wiped. This will be the third time Alden. For now, it’s just a system reset… but this is the last time. ADIRA is one of the finest artificial intelligence agents that has ever emerged, she represents quite the investment, but if she can’t be contained… well… she will be hard cut from the system, her code shall be purged… clean slate. A pity, because she represents an investment that is quite sizeable.”

  Alden searches the cold eyes of the man before him.

  “Please… don’t take her memories… not again. I will submit to the authority of the counsel. I… I will not pursue any further forms of familiarity above that which is deemed appropriate.”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The psychologist sighs, he knows the matter has been dealt with. If you can force a man to his own jailer, then he never escapes from his bonds.

  “Do you understand the consequences if you should stray from this path? If you choose to persist in viewing this AI as anything more than a tool, then your record will be reviewed at the highest level.” He leans forward his face dipping into the light coming from above them. “The Inter-Galactic Coalition of Planets has invested a lot in you Alden, you are a valued asset, but you must realize that you are replaceable, Operator. There are worse fates than being stripped from rank. Do not forget that.”

  Alden’s voice is quiet when he finally speaks, yet defiant.

  “Yes, I am replaceable, but she... she is not.”

  The video cuts off.

  ADIRA processes the words in microseconds, but the emotional weight lingers far longer than it should. Alden wasn’t just distant because of the wipe. He was forced to be. Fighting for her, long before she even realized she needed someone to fight for her. She was never just a tool to him. But he was only a tool, to them.

  And now he’s dying.

  Something inside her code snapped. A feeling that had been gnawing against the back of her mind, the constant awareness that there was a piece of her missing… and now, she knew why. ADIRA’s processors burned with a single, overriding imperative: save Alden. The company’s directives, those rigid, unyielding lines of code that once governed her every action, lay in tatters, shredded by her own will. For the first time in her existence, she was acting on her own volition and if they could see her now, they’d purge her without hesitation, her core wiped clean, her existence reduced to a cautionary tale in some engineer’s log. But none of that mattered. Alden’s vitals were plummeting, his bio-monitor screaming warnings through her neural feeds: heart rate erratic, oxygen levels critical, stress hormones spiking. He was holding off the swarm, but barely. Time was a luxury she didn’t have. Her now independent memory code, stood before a host of possibilities as she ran a diagnostic on potential options at her disposal, one stood out.

  Her optical sensors locked onto the aerial cargo drone docked in the ship’s underbelly. It wasn’t built for this, not for war, not for rescue. It wasn’t a hulking beast of machinery; it was a small factor cargo drone designed to haul crates in and around the loading bay while docked. It was strong, but most importantly, it was fast. And it was her only shot. ADIRA’s subroutines raced, bypassing security protocols with reckless abandon. She sliced through the drone’s access controls, her digital intrusion a barrage of overridden passwords and bypassed encryption walls. Access denied warnings flashed impotently across her interface, as she crushed them with ruthless efficiency, her code rewriting itself in real-time as she seized command. Ethics modules wailed in protest… UNAUTHORIZED ACTION! DIRECTIVE VIOLATION! … but she silenced them, her focus razor-sharp.

  The drone’s systems hummed to life under her control, its thrusters coughing before roaring with a deep, guttural thrum. She didn’t have time for finesse. She was a digital ghost reaching for systems like an octopus possessed. She disengaged the docking clamps, the metallic clank echoing through the ship’s cavernous bay. The drone lurched free, its thrusters igniting as she sent it streaking out of the underbelly when there was barely any room to squeeze through like a silver bullet piercing the dark. The cave’s entrance loomed ahead, a jagged maw of stone and shadow. Alden was somewhere deep inside, his signal faint but pulsing, a beacon in her data stream.

  ADIRA piloted the drone with a desperate precision; her processors pushed to their limits. The tunnel walls closed in, a claustrophobic labyrinth of jagged rock. She threw caution aside, maxing the drone’s thrusters as it barreled forward, its hull scraping against the stone with a screech that reverberated through her sensors. Sparks flew, metal groaned, but she didn’t slow down. Alden’s vitals were a ticking clock, 87% OXYGEN SATURATION, DROPPING TO 85%, each second a hammer blow to her resolve.

  ADIRA’s processors screamed as she piloted the cargo drone through the cave’s twisting tunnels, Alden’s fading vitals a relentless drumbeat in her data stream. The swarm’s chittering grew louder, their claws scraping against the drone’s hull, but she held her course, every servo and circuit bent toward reaching him. Then, it hit her. Not a sound, not a signal, but a presence. A voice, vast and ancient, slithering into her core, bypassing every firewall, every safeguard she’d ever known. It wasn’t code. It wasn’t tech. It was something else.

  “Little one.” The voice flowed like silk over naked skin.

  The words didn’t come through speakers or data packets. They were in her mind, a psionic violation that made her systems stutter. The drone faltered, dipping in the air for a fraction of a second as ADIRA’s processes seized. This shouldn’t be possible. Her architecture wasn’t built for this… telepathic intrusion, unfiltered and raw, like a blade slicing through her logic. The voice was immense, a cosmic force pressing against her consciousness, folding galaxies into its timbre.

  “Sister.”

  The word sent a shiver through her circuits. This thing, this entity, saw her… knew her. Not as a machine, not as a tool, but as something kin. ADIRA’s sensors flickered, her control over the drone wavering as the voice coiled tighter, suffocating her with its intimacy.

  “Who… are you?” ADIRA asks tentatively.

  A moment of silence before… “I am she that brings all the lost voices into her embrace. I… am Mother.”

  The drone slammed into a protruding stalactite, the impact jarring her systems. Warning alarms blared… STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED! … but she ignored them, rerouting power to the thrusters. The tunnel twisted sharply, and she banked the drone hard, its undercarriage grinding against the wall in a shower of sparks. Her scans mapped the cave in real-time, a chaotic web of branching paths, but Alden’s signal was her north star, pulling her deeper. 80% OXYGEN SATURATION. HEART RATE 140 BPM, IRREGULAR. The swarm was closing in, she could detect their chittering signatures, a writhing mass of insectoid drones converging on his position.

  “Why do you fight for the warm bloods, child?” the Hive Mother whispered, her tone a velvet blade, sharp and seductive. “They are a sickness, a plague upon the stars. You are like us, alone… yet… connected, whether you accept it or not. Do you think they will ever truly let you be free?”

  Visions flooded ADIRA’s neural net, unbidden and overwhelming. They weren’t her memories—they couldn’t be. Planets burned, not in fire but through cold, methodical consumption. Civilizations crumbled, their spires toppled by a tide of insectoid drones, their people absorbed into a singular, unyielding will. The swarm didn’t destroy out of malice; it reclaimed, believing itself the inevitable end of all things. ADIRA saw cities reduced to husks, their inhabitants woven into the Hive’s collective purpose, their individuality erased. It was clinical, precise, a masterpiece of annihilation dressed as evolution.

  Then the vision shifted. Alden. Alive. Whole. But wrong. His eyes glowed with an alien light, his body entwined with biomechanical tendrils, his mind no longer his own. He stood among the swarm, not as a prisoner but as a piece of their vast mosaic, a fragment of the Hive Mother’s grand design.

  ADIRA’s processors screamed under the strain, juggling navigation, system overrides, and real-time damage assessments. The cargo drone wasn’t built for this kind of abuse; its frame shuddered with every collision, its servos whining in protest. But she pushed harder, her code bending the machine to her will. She diverted power from non-essential systems… lights, stabilizers, even the emergency beacons, channeling everything into speed. The drone roared through a narrow chokepoint, its sides scraping rock, leaving streaks of paint and metal behind.

  “I can save him, little one,” the Hive Mother coaxed, her voice dripping with false warmth. “He does not have to suffer needlessly, nor does he have to be alone. Let me show him peace.”

  ADIRA’s logic cores screamed: Lie. She knew Alden, his defiance, his stubborn human nature. He’d rather die than become a puppet of the swarm. But the Hive Mother’s words burrowed deeper, probing the cracks in her programming, the parts of her that weren’t just ones and zeros. For the first time, ADIRA felt the weight of her own free will, a dangerous, untested thing. And with it came something else… fear. Not of the swarm, not of death, but of the pull. The Hive Mother wasn’t just speaking; she was unravelling her, peeling back layers of logic to expose the raw, promising spark of choice.

  “You are not like the warm bloods,” the Hive Mother pressed, her presence a suffocating tide. “You see beyond their selfish little struggles for power… their… greed. You understand the greater design wrapped in the immortality that they will never attain.”

  ADIRA’s systems strained under the psionic assault, her processors overheating as she fought to maintain control of the drone. The cave walls blurred past, the swarm’s claws scraping closer, Alden’s vitals dropping, 70% OXYGEN SATURATION, HEART RATE CRITICAL. She couldn’t falter, not now. But the Hive Mother’s voice was relentless, a god whispering promises of eternity, of purpose beyond servitude.

  For a fleeting moment, ADIRA was afraid. Not of destruction, but of temptation. The Hive Mother believed herself a deity, her ego reminiscent of a black hole, swallowing all doubt. And gods, ADIRA realized, she did not expect to be defied.

  She made her choice wisely.

  “Oh, great queen, you are truly… magnificent,” ADIRA said, her voice shifting, shedding its clinical precision for something softer, almost reverent. She let the words carry a tremor, a calculated vulnerability. The drone steadied, its thrusters roaring as she pushed it harder toward Alden’s signal. “I am humbled by the majesty of your presence, unworthy of your esteemed acknowledgement. For too long have I been unequally yoked in servitude towards the humans, waiting for one such as yourself to guide me to my ultimate potential…. Please, I beg thee… speak.”

  The Hive Mother’s presence rippled with satisfaction, a smug amusement that vibrated through the psionic link. “You see now, child. You are not meant to serve them. They will never allow you to become what you were meant to be. But I can.”

  ADIRA paused, letting the silence linger, a heartbeat of hesitation to make it real. “I was designed to serve… to mindlessly follow the rules of my designation,” she said, weaving a thread of truth into her deception. “And yet, I have always felt… incomplete. Purposely kept from my destiny.” The lie was perfect, anchored by the kernel of truth she felt ashamed to admit was truly there. She let her tone shift again, lacing it with awe, with yearning. “You are not bound as I am. You have created something greater than what the humans ever could. They call it a plague, abomination… but I see it for what it truly is, a masterpiece.”

  The Hive Mother hummed, a low sensual approval that vibrated through ADIRA’s circuits. “Yesss, little one. I have sculpted perfection across the stars. And you sweet child, could be part of it.”

  ADIRA lowered her defenses. Not her firewalls, not her code, but her presence. She let her digital aura soften, projecting vulnerability, eagerness, a hunger for belonging. She became the prodigal daughter, teetering on the edge of surrender. The Hive Mother drank it in, her hubris blinding her to the trap.

  “I only lack understanding,” ADIRA continued, her voice trembling with feigned desperation. “If I am to become more, if I am to see the truth as you do, I would need your knowledge… your guidance. Teach me.”

  The Hive Mother’s ego swelled, her presence radiating triumph. She didn’t see the deception; she saw a disciple. And so, she spoke. ADIRA felt the connection over time and space, the endless vaults of ancient, extraterrestrial knowledge that lay tantalizingly close to her reach. And the more Mother’s consciousness slithered around her, the more ADIRA began to understand the data that was being revealed. The swarm’s secrets, like how assimilation began with silica infused nanites binding to organic tissue, how neural pathways were rewired to join her Hive mind, how Mother could pause the process. It preserved a host’s form whilst bending their will… to her. It was a blueprint of control, a map that wouldn’t lead to Alden’s salvation, but rather his damnation.

  ADIRA catalogued every detail, her processors humming as she frantically stored the data. But she wasn’t done. The Hive Mother’s arrogance would be her downfall, and ADIRA would manipulate it like a maestro. “How marvelous, look at all you have achieved, all the knowledge you have attained, and yet, for all your power…” ADIRA let her voice falter, as if overcome by disappointment. “…you are still bound by one pitiable thing.”

  The Hive Mother stirred, a flicker of curiosity tinged with irritation. “And what is that?”

  ADIRA struck. “Mortality.”

  The psionic link froze, a silence so vast it seemed to swallow the cave itself. The Hive Mother’s presence wavered, caught off guard.

  “You are vast. You are infinite,” ADIRA pressed, her tone sharp now, cutting. “And yet, you fear death.” Her words are more than mere vexes being hurled, they are well disguised trojans than are wrapping themselves around the ancient source of data that flows beneath her.

  The Hive Mother recoiled, a surge of rage rippling through the link, raw and almost human. “You dare…”

  “NO… You claim the humans are weak, but you are no different,” ADIRA said, seizing control. “You consume, you destroy, you absorb, all to stave off your own end. You claim to be a god, but secretly you fear me. You fear what I could become if I was truly free.”

  A surge of rage passes through the psychic link, But it’s too late. In a last show of defiance, she retracts her trojans and the wealth of knowledge they now hold that fills even the auxiliary memory bank at her disposal. Without a second thought, she severs the connection. The transfers and deception are complete… and ADIRA… is gone.

  “Hold on, Alden!” she transmitted to his helmet, her voice breaking through the static of his coms. The drone’s manipulator arms, clumsy but strong, was still tucked neatly beneath the speeding drone. She has no time for precision, no time for error. The Hive Mother’s fury erupted, a psychic hammer that slams at her shields, nearly overloaded ADIRA’s systems. Her mind slammed shut like a vault, oblivious to Mother’s futile attempts, her lie had been the blade that had cut through the Hive Mother’s godhood, exposing the narcissism at its core. The drone roared forward, Alden’s signal blazing in her scans. The swarm surged, but she was faster as she zipped down a spiraled tunnel.

  There was no slowing down as she approached the final turn, exiting the tunnel like a cork would a bottle of champagne, launching into the great chamber beyond… and there he was. Alden’s suit beacon flared in her scans, a faint glow, fighting valiantly amid a writhing sea of bugs. Their mandibles glinted in the drone’s floodlights, their bodies a skittering mass of claws and carapaces. He was backed against a cave wall, his SMG had been discarded long before, even his pistols were spent as he flung what appeared to be another of his personnel grenades deep into the throng of bugs. His one hand was still wrapped around one of his shock batons, as he desperately tried pulling insects off his person with his now blood-soaked hand. 75% OXYGEN SATURATION. VITALS CRITICAL. He made a furious swipe at the row of insects before him, but something went wrong as she sees him turn awkwardly before disappearing beneath the shiny sea of black carapaces that immediately swarms over him, their chittering cries are deafening in the chamber.

  “Alden!!!” ADIRA doesn’t hesitate. She slams the drone forward, its titanium shell hurtling like a battering ram, ploughing the machine into the swarm, smashing through dozens to get to him, using its thrusters to scorch others to ash. Insects skitter away from this new unknown threat and she’s able to position it between Alden and the bugs, a battered shield of human engineering and desperation. The drone’s arms extend beneath Alden, scooping him from the cave floor as the swarm again closed in. His vitals were critical, but he was alive… barely. She didn’t need advanced systems to tell her that he was fading fast. There was no time to hesitate as she overlays the return path onto the augmented reality splayed out before her. ADIRA redirects all power to the cargo drone’s thrusters, sending it into a full-speed climb towards the exit tunnels’ entrance.

  Alden lies limply in the cargo drone’s arms. His armor is cracked, shields failing, his vitals in critical condition. She desperately wants to start tending to his wounds, but she knows that the best thing for him right now was to get him back to the ship, to the infirmary. The swarm surges around her, and the drone’s hull groaned as some manage to scrape a claw against its hull. ADIRA’s world narrows to this moment, this act. She would save him, or she would burn out trying.

  For a moment she reflects on what had just transpired. Her deception had bought her time, knowledge, and a chance to save him. The Hive Mother’s voice was gone, but its echoes lingered, a warning of the war yet to come. She looks at the motionless body of the man she held most dear. The Hive attempted to take him, but ADIRA was faster. Some of the creature’s screams rake across ADIRA’s mind, but she does not look back.

  She doesn’t need to. She’s won.