Swarm, Part 3

Finale of Swarm

 

Part 3 �" The Last Command

 

Fleet Admiral Knoah looked over the gathered heroes and thought to himself that it wouldn’t be enough.  Assembled before him was the entirety of The Knights’ Republic.  Every single knight answered his call without hesitation and arriving within minutes. 

 

A large video screen lit up underneath them, comprising the floor of the tactical command room in which they assembled.  In a very complete and concise manner, Admiral Knoah laid out the situation.

 

The Akkadian Knights had fallen and most were trapped on the Moon.  Two were on the way, yet he asked them to hold back and wait for his call.  The Asteroid was no mere rock hurtling through space.  It was a hive-mind collective of creatures intent on turning the planet into their own personal feeding frenzy and they had less than an 30 minutes before they arrived. 

 

Discussion opened up between the various admirality and NCOs present about how to best deal with the situation.  The tactical data provided by Caledonia gave the Knights a good idea how tough their opponents really were and few of the Knights possessed the power to really deal with it.  The team needed a plan. 

 

Admiral Raizo Hattori stepped forward with an idea.  If it was truly a hive-mind collective, dealing a fatal blow to the controlling mind would throw the entire hive into disarray.  The mass at the center of the hive must contain that mind and, if he could get to it, he could attempt to kill it. 

 

The plan was risky, but presented the only opportunity the team could agree on that stood a chance.  Fleet Admiral Khoah gave the command and within minutes the team had flown up out of the base, some in vehicles but most under their own power, and had assembled at the edge of the stratosphere.  Looking up, they could easily see the mass falling towards them.  The surface contained millions of individual creatures, giving it a watery appearance.  It was noon, and the mass began to pass before the sun, blotting it out and turning day to night. 

There were so many.

 

Much to the Knights’ horror, the mass began to change shape and slowed down.  It began spreading out in the four cardinal directions, sending tentacles comprised of hundreds of thousands of creatures to the four corners of the globe.  At the same time, a fifth wave headed straight for the heroes aiming for the heart of Superhero City.  The daylight was now gone.  The sheer gravity generated by such an incredible mass of creatures was causing the atmosphere to churn and storm clouds began forming below the heroes. 

 

Fleet Admiral Khoah looked at his assembled Knights.  A quick nod told the team to go into action.  Looking back, he realized it might be his last command to the assembled warriors.

 

Captain Atom, flanked by Dark Heart and StronArm led the way.  They flew straight into the mass of creatures flying towards them and carved a hold straight through the center.  Two of the beasts were incinerated on contact, with most merely diverted out of the way.  The Sanctum Knights and the Asgard Knights fell back to attempt to stop the wave from reaching the city and the battle was joined.

Following the Reverent Knights closely, Fleet Admiral Khoah took the Templar Knights on what would be their last team action, straight up the center of the cloud of creatures towards the mass in the air above them.  As they got closer, they could finally make it out.  It resembled a gigantic squid, each of its hundreds  of tentacles sporting massive pods resembling eggs.  There were hundreds of thousands of these eggs running up and down the length of each tentacle.  In the center was a large, bulbous and eyeless mass.  That was the target. 

 

The Royal Knights rocketed forward.  A contingent of the creatures broke off and assaulted the team.  Vickous, D, The Red Death and Yourlasthope diverted to face them but were hopelessly outnumbered.  Hopefully the sacrifice would give Admiral Raizo Hattori enough time.  Drax and Fleet Admiral Khoah continued on with Admiral Raizo Hattori.  They reached the creature as a second contingent of beasts rose from under it to face them. 

 

These were different than the others.  They were larger and had spiked carapaces.  They immediately shot a volley of exploding projectiles at the team and set up a perimeter around the hive-mind.  Drax threw himself in front of the blasts, shielding Admiral Raizo Hattori with his own body.  He fell to Earth as three of the beasts descended upon him.

 

The rest surrounded the two Admirals in a spherical trap, slowly closing in.  They couldn’t get past the beasts.  The plan was failing.  Fleet Admiral Khoah tapped his communicator on his throat, praying that it would not be too late.

 

Below him, he could barely see the remainder of his team and the Reverent Knights.  They had been forced into a collection and were being circled by thousands of the creatures.  The circle was closing.  Caledonia had caught Drax and was desperately looking for a way out, to get him to safety.

 

Below them yet further, the Asgard Knights, Celestial Knights, Infinitely Lethal Knights and Shadow Knights were nowhere to be seen and the wave of creatures was moving unstoppably for the city.

 

Just when all seemed lost, a bright light exploded above the elite creatures blocking his way.   Quantum Elemental had reached the scene with Vexator and had positioned himself behind the creatures blocking the Admirals’ way.  He let out a massive radiation burst on all spectrums and disoriented the creatures, creating a hole for the heroes to ascend towards the mass above them.  While Quan sustained the EMP blast to keep as many of the creatures disoriented as possible, Vexator ran interference for Admiral Raizo Hattori as he charged the hive-mind. 

 

Admiral Raizo Hattori reached out and touched the hive-mind.  Their consciousnesses collided.  Admiral Raizo Hattori focused all his effort into one simple command:  “sleep”.  The large creature spasmed and shook.  So did Admiral Raizo Hattori.  As one, they both went limp and began falling from the sky.

 

The masses of creatures descending upon the planet instantly broke and began flying in all directions, disoriented and lost.  Most turned and left back to space.  Some went towards the planet.  Many others began falling, apparently affected by the same command to sleep.

 

Vexator swooped down and caught Admiral Raizo Hattori.  The hive-mind and thousands of the creatures entered the atmosphere at an incredible speed, becoming a collection of fireballs before splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean. 

 

The assembled Knights threw up a collective hazzah!

 

Epilogue…

 

The moon is lifeless for a reason.  There is no atmosphere, and the gravity isn’t strong enough to hold one even if the gas was present.  The dark side was freezing, never seeing the light of day or the warmth of the sun.  It was silent.

 

Eron and the remainder of his team were quietly sitting in the control center of the moon base, waiting for the last breaths to come.  The systems on the old base had died with the loss of energy.  It only took minutes for the temperature to drop to a level below freezing.  With the exception of Zildoran, who could withstand the extreme, the remainder of the team put on their suits once again in an effort to stay warm and the little air they had was running out.  None of them dared to speak for fear of running out completely.

 

It was then when they heard a rapping on the window outside. 

 

Looking out, he saw Quantum Elemental and Vexator.  They were carrying the remains of the Defender.  The hull had been fused shut and it was apparently pressurized. 

 

He could hear Vexator in his mind, “don’t suppose you could use a lift home by any chance?” 

 

Eron could only smile.  “Remind me to tell Crazy Calvin that his base sucks!”