The assault on the alien mothership in low orbit.
The captured transport vibrated as if it was about to disintegrate at any moment. We had managed to shoot down a Zephyrian reconnaissance ship last week, and Zhang, our technician, had gotten it to fly well enough to take us to the mothership.
—Two minutes to contact —Zhang shouted from the controls—. Prepare for impact!
We were thirteen. We had started with two hundred forty-seven, but alien anti-aircraft defenses had turned the rest into radioactive vapor during the ascent.
Thirteen against a ship the size of Manhattan. The math isn't on our side.
The mothership appeared before us like a mountain of metal and organic crystal. Its surface pulsed with light patterns that hurt to look at directly. Zephyrian architecture had always been a grotesque mix between the organic and mechanical, as if they had decided that the distinction between life and machine was irrelevant.
—Impact in ten seconds! —Zhang struggled with the controls while alien systems tried to take over our ship—. Morrison, I hope you have a plan once we're inside!
—The plan is simple: reach the core and blow everything to hell.
The collision threw me against the metal wall with enough force to activate my exoskeleton's impact dampeners. Around me, the sound of twisting metal mixed with my soldiers' screams of pain.
As the smoke settled, we were inside.
The Zephyrian ship's corridors stretched before us like the veins of some impossible organism. The crystalline walls pulsed with a greenish light that seemed to respond to our presence. Gravity functioned inconsistently, changing direction every few meters.
—Stay together —I ordered, activating my rifle's flashlight—. Zhang, can you access their systems from here?
—Negative, Captain. We need to reach the control core. It should be in the center of the ship, approximately eight hundred meters down.
(Eight hundred meters of hostile territory, with unpredictable gravity and alien architecture. Perfect.)
The first attack came from above. Zephyr Warriors materialized from the walls as if they were part of the ship's structure. Their bio-metallic exoskeletons gleamed with the same greenish light as the corridors.
—Hostile contact! —Miller shouted before a plasma beam decapitated him.
Combat in the narrow corridors was brutal. Our kinetic weapons worked, but the aliens had terrain advantage. They knew every inch of their ship.
Jackson disappeared in an explosion of light when he tried to flank left. Rodriguez was crushed by a gravitational field when the ship decided the floor was the wall.
One by one, my soldiers died.
When I finally reached the ship's core, I was alone.
The core chamber was impossibly vast, as if there was more space inside than outside. At the center, a pulsing heart of pure energy floated suspended between rings of liquid metal that moved in hypnotic patterns.
And waiting for me, as if he had known I would arrive, was Commander Vor'thak.
Three meters tall, exoskeleton that seemed to have fused with his flesh, eyes that glowed with malevolent intelligence. It was the first time I had seen a high-ranking Zephyr up close.
—Human —his voice resonated directly in my brain, without using sound—. Your species is extinct. Accept your end with dignity.
I checked my equipment. Ammunition: almost depleted. Exoskeleton energy: critical. Plasma grenades: three.
—I'd rather die standing than live kneeling —I replied, aiming my rifle at his center mass.
—Brave. Useless, but brave.
He moved faster than anything that size should be able to move. My first shot passed inches from his head when he changed the direction of gravity around him.
His fist impacted my chest with the force of a pneumatic hammer. I felt ribs breaking despite the armor. My exoskeleton's life support systems began failing one by one.
(Not like this. It can't end like this.)
I rolled aside when his second attack created a crater where I had been. My left arm hung useless, but the right still functioned.
I threw all three plasma grenades simultaneously.
The explosion enveloped him in white fire, but when the smoke cleared, he was still standing. His exoskeleton showed superficial damage, but nothing more.
—Are you finished?
He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me like a doll. Through my helmet's cracked visor, I could see his alien face up close. There was no cruelty there. Only absolute indifference, as if he were crushing an insect.
My vision blurred. Oxygen wasn't reaching my lungs. It was the end.
Then I remembered the Last Resort Protocol.
Every elite soldier carried an implanted antimatter bomb as a last resort measure. It had never been used because the explosion didn't discriminate between enemies and allies.
(But there were no more allies to protect.)
With my last drop of strength, I activated the detonation sequence.
—Last Resort Protocol activated. Detonation in ten seconds.
Vor'thak's eyes widened with something that might have been surprise.
—Impossible. Humans don't have that technology.
—Five seconds —I embraced him with my broken arms, keeping him close—. For humanity, you son of a bitch.
The light obliterated everything.