Birds of Prey - Hetero Edition

Jaeger turned his head, his visor doing its best to filter out the orange glow of the flames, the hive ship beside him taking up his entire field of view. It was like diving next to a blue whale, how could something of this scale be alive?

There. He could see the thrusters that were spaced out along its flank, fleshy, flexible tubes that were belching jets of green fire. They were as much appendages as engines, able to flex and point in any direction, laid out in a vague S-shape along the hull. The thing's massive legs were tucked beneath its body, protecting its belly from the heat.

He could no longer communicate with Baker over the short-range radio, not with this Kraken between them. He would have to trust that his friend would come through.

Keeping one hand on the flight stick, he took manual control of the railgun with the other, his thumb finding the small joystick on his control panel. It required a finesse that was hard to muster while his vessel was shaking apart, and he had to keep his Beewolf's nose at about a two hundred degree angle relative to the surface of the planet. If he exposed the weapon to the heat of reentry, the mechanical arm would melt away in an instant, it was only designed to be used in a vacuum. Right now, the hull of his ship was the only thing protecting it.

The crosshair moved on his visor, and he tried to keep his head steady, even as the turbulence jostled him in his seat. It was like trying to thread a needle during an earthquake.

When the targeting reticle passed over one of the thrusters, he pulled the trigger, the railgun firing in burst mode in an attempt to make up for any inaccuracy. There was a flare of green fire, one of the thrusters erupting, popping like a blister and trailing chemical fuel that ignited into a burning stream. He had hit it! It had worked! The thrusters were volatile as all hell, they must be working overtime in an attempt to slow the hive ship's descent.

One down, about nine more to go. As he moved the reticle over to the next target, his vessel lurched, the hull temperature warning blaring in his ear. He turned it off with a voice command as he fought against the stick, his vessel threatening to level out and send him into a flat spin. As he returned his thumb to the targeting joystick, he reminded himself that he didn't need to destroy all of the thrusters, just enough that the Bug vessel couldn't slow itself sufficiently. If the hive ship was aware that it was being attacked, it was too large and too cumbersome to take any kind of evasive maneuvers.

He didn't have long, he had to get this done quickly. The railgun loosed another burst, Jaeger cursing as he missed, his frustration almost as difficult to manage as his rate of descent. He tried again, breathing deeply in an effort to calm his nerves as he aimed at the next thruster. Every instinct in his body, all of his training was screaming at him to pull away, every neuron in his brain knew how bad of an idea this was.

The next burst hit its mark, another engine exploding into a ball of green fire. This time, the hive ship seemed to shudder, was he hurting it?

He hit another, then another, at this rate his callsign was going to take on an entirely new meaning. As he took out more of the thrusters, and presumably Baker did the same on the other side, the hive ship began to fall faster. He had to gun his engine, further increasing his temperature to dangerous levels just to match speed with the thing. Soon, it would be falling too fast for him to keep up with it. It must weigh tens of thousands of tons, and its terminal velocity would be many times that of his own. The Beewolf was being pushed to its theoretical limits, the airframe shaking and the stealth coating starting to melt away to expose the naked hull material beneath.

Two more thrusters down, and the vessel began to veer off-course, turning slightly as it lost more and more control over its descent. He hit a couple more as fast as he could, the railgun barking as it tore through flesh and metal, burning fuel spewing from the wounds. It was pulling away from him now, he could barely keep up with it, the mammoth vessel falling in earnest. His instincts screamed for him to break off and recover before his hull melted around him, but he dove after it. He had to take out as many as he could, what if the difference between sending the hive ship cratering into the ground, and having it make a crash landing was one or two thrusters? He couldn't stop now, the fate of the planet might rest in his hands.

G-forces pinned him against his seat, too many alarms flashing on his HUD to keep track of. All he needed to know was that he was seconds away from burning up. He pushed on all the same, the hive ship was nearly through the upper atmosphere.

To his right, he saw a ball of flame rise and break away. His first assumption was that the ship was starting to come apart, but his HUD tracked it, tagging it with Baker's callsign. It seemed that his wingman was calling it a day.

Jaeger engaged his afterburner, if he could just get one more thruster...

He maintained speed with the hive ship, but it was falling so fast, the ground below growing more detailed as they entered the lower atmosphere. This was his last chance, after this, he would have done all that he could. His crosshair moved over one of the few remaining thrusters, and he took the shot, the nozzle erupting into a stream of emerald fire.

Jaeger hit his airbrakes, turning away from the doomed ship as it plummeted towards the surface of Valbara like an asteroid, and then his Beewolf shook. He looked over his shoulder as one of his airbrakes broke clean off, the view spotty and pixelated due to how many of his external cameras had melted. He lost an aileron on his right wing, then one of his tail fins began to disintegrate, the fighter falling into a flat spin as it came apart. He had pushed his luck, the ship couldn't handle what he had put it through, and now he was paying the price.

Trying to regain control was futile, the airframe was compromised, and he was traveling too quickly to risk ejecting. If he ejected now, the force of the air on his exposed body would tear him apart, ripping off his limbs like a ragdoll. He had to wait it out. The friction was still causing flames to tear at his canopy, pieces of his fighter breaking off and slagging, his suit constricting around him in an attempt to trap blood in his brain to keep him from losing consciousness.

He burst through the cloud layer, his lack of aerodynamics due to the damage to the airframe actually slowing him somewhat. What was left of the computer's sensors showed him his rate of descent on his HUD, most of the icons displaying error messages. Black smoke trailed behind him as more pieces were torn from his ship by the buffeting wind. He was going to be torn apart at this rate, or his fuel tank would rupture, and he would explode before he even hit the ground. He had to get out of this cockpit, but he was still going at near supersonic speeds. The longer he waited, the higher a chance he would have of surviving the initial ejection, but it also exposed him to more danger from the Beewolf breaking up.

Jaeger blocked everything else out besides the airspeed gauge on his HUD, his gloved hand hovering over the ejection button on his panel. Twelve hundred kilometers per hour, nine hundred, eight hundred...

An entire wing tore away from the fuselage, the Beewolf tumbling, and Jaeger hammered the button.

The canopy was ripped away as if a disembodied hand had reached down to snatch it, then the rockets beneath his ejector seat ignited, sending him shooting clear of the wreckage. The tearing winds hit him like a fist, Jaeger bellowing in pain inside his helmet as the world spun around him. He was still too high for his chute to deploy, the only sounds that he could hear were his own labored breathing and the rushing air, his visor now dark as it had been disconnected from the Beewolf's onboard computer.

He caught scant glimpses of the fighter as he spun, the wreckage losing more parts as it fell. The leaking fuel from the torn wing ignited, and what was left of his ship broke apart in a shower of debris, flaming scrap raining down towards the green fields far below.

After falling for another twenty seconds or so, his chute opened, Jaeger lurching and gritting his teeth against the pain as he was jostled in his seat. Everything hurt, he couldn't gauge the damage, he couldn't even feel his extremities right now in order to test if they were still attached to him. He just tried to focus on breathing.

As he slowly descended towards the ground, he looked down to see the wreck of the hive ship. Elation cut through his fog of pain, they had done it! It looked as if someone had upended a giant bucket full of chum and scrap metal across the plains, the main body of the vessel had carved a massive crater in the ground, and its innards were smeared across the landscape. He could make out the reinforced metal skeleton, which was still mostly intact, chunks of flesh and unidentifiable synthetic components hanging from it. Some of the massive, armored pieces of the carapace were still leaning against it from the front, while the rest had been scattered. Green flames burned where the chemical fuel had spilled, black smoke belching from some of the larger chunks. It looked as much like smoldering roadkill as it did a crash site. There was no way enough of the Bugs had survived to pose any kind of threat.

Jaeger was coming down close to the wreck, he could see Yilgarn's pristine, white walls a few miles away. As he neared the ground, mercifully clear of any of the larger fires, his seat deployed a small yellow raft that was designed both to cushion his landing and to prevent him from sinking in water. He touched down, the impact making him wince, and he unfastened his safety harness. As he rose from his seat, he was relieved to see that he could still walk. His injuries weren't so bad as to incapacitate him. He flipped up his visor, the smell of charred flesh wafting on the air, and then he climbed down onto the grass. He had never been more happy to feel solid ground beneath his boots.

He stooped to retrieve a bullpup XMR from its place in the housing of his ejector seat, checking the magazine and the battery. It was a survival weapon, intended to protect pilots who landed in hostile territory. It only held sixteen rounds, and there was no scope on it, but it was better than using his fists.

There was a patch of forest not too far away, and so he began to limp towards it, appraising the mess around him. The landscape was barely recognizable, the main body of the hive ship rising up like a new mountain maybe a quarter mile away, pieces of meat and metal strewn all over the place. He navigated around a hunk of sickly looking flesh, what looked like they might be optical cables protruding from it, keeping an eye out for survivors. The Bugs were hardy, and it was entirely possible that a few might have survived the crash.

He glimpsed a glimmer of orange, aiming his weapon at a prone Drone. It was unmoving, its carapace cracked and one of its arms missing. There were a few more bodies nearby, draped over the fragments of their vessel. The hive ship would have been packed to bursting with Bugs, full of soldiers preparing for the ground invasion.

A short distance away he came across a different caste, its red shell shining like a ruby under the Valbaran sun. It looked like a Replete, the bulbous, transparent sack of fluid on the lower abdomen that they used to store food for the other Bugs had been ripped open.

Movement caught his eye, and he pointed his carbine at a pile of wreckage, watching as a Drone pulled itself free. It was almost torn in half, dragging itself along with its four arms, but it raised a plasma pistol at him despite its injuries. A crack rang out as he shot it in the thorax, the alien going limp. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a Drone at all, but a male. It still had the guards on its back that protected its gossamer wings. This must have been the Queen's hive ship, there was no other reason for winged males to be present.

He continued on towards the safety of the trees, pushing through the pain as he limped along. He was having trouble breathing, and there was a stinging sensation in his chest, one of his lungs might have collapsed.

As he crossed the open field, leaving the majority of the wrecked hive ship behind him, he heard a noise like rending metal. He turned, looking back, the sound was coming from some kind of fleshy pod amidst the wreckage. It was large, maybe fifteen feet around, vaguely sphere-shaped and coated in layers of carapace and metal. Some kind of internal organ, maybe?

An arm broke through its surface, far longer than that of any Bug that he had ever seen. Its shell was an iridescent purple, catching the light as the three fingers twitched. A second arm emerged, there was a creature trapped inside the ball, and it was clawing its way out. Jaeger made for the forest as fast as his injured limbs could carry him, but it was too far away. The fleshy sphere tore open like a giant egg, and out stepped something huge.

It had the same body plan as a Drone, the same segmented limbs and armored thorax, but it must have been twelve feet tall at least. It had massive, reinforced thighs to carry its weight, its upper pair of arms longer than a man was tall. Its neck was long and near as thick as its torso in order to support an enormous skull, like some kind of regal headdress, the ridged structure larger than the hood of a car. It was flared into a rough triangle, the creature's face at the nearest point, and the tips of the crown tapering into rounded bulbs. Extending from the forehead was a horn more ornate and elaborate than those of the Drones. It must have been at least three or four feet tall on its own, branching out like an antler from a moose or a stag. This one wasn't wearing a helmet, and it stared at him with large, expressive eyes. He saw intelligence, recognition, and fury.

The Queen freed herself from what must have been her chamber as he scrambled for safety, the alien stumbling through the wreckage on her powerful legs as she gave chase, her insect mouthparts grinding as she chittered and hissed. She was stopped abruptly, lurching as if something was pulling at the back of her head. Jaeger saw that she was still connected to her pod by some kind of fleshy cable that trailed behind her, like a thick length of glistening intestine. She reached behind her crown with one of her long arms and tore it free, clear fluid splashing on the charred grass as the organic cable fell to the ground. Now unleashed, she continued her pursuit, clambering over what remained of her flagship as she fixed her eyes on him.

Her invasion was thwarted, her victory had been denied, but a little personal revenge was still within her grasp.

He realized that he wasn't going to make it to the forest before she got to him, steeling himself as he turned and shouldered his rifle, firing at her. The slugs punched through her purple carapace, leaving small holes that leaked pus-colored ichor, Jaeger squeezing the trigger until his magazine was empty. If the slugs hurt her, she didn't show it, ignoring the cluster of wounds on her torso as she barreled towards him with rage in her blue eyes.

As she came within a hundred feet of him, a sound rang out, a low-frequency pulse that made Jaeger's blood run cold. It came again, reverberating through his bones, he could feel it vibrating up his very spine. It was like a musical sting, like whale song, and it filled him with a primal dread that surpassed even his fear of the Queen.

She stopped in her tracks, turning her massive head as she searched for the sound's source. By the time she noticed the Teth'rak that was charging towards her, Jaeger had dropped his rifle and was already running, trying to ignore the pain in his legs as he made for cover. He looked back to see the giant animal rounding another far-off patch of forest, covering the distance alarming quickly on its three-toed feet, its coat of orange feathers raising like the hackles of an angry wolf to display the red coloration beneath. It opened its massive jaws, exposing its serrated teeth, releasing another heart-stopping call.

The Queen turned to meet it, extending her four arms as if she meant to wrestle it to the ground, but the speeding monster rammed into her like a feathery freight train. She might be large, but her size and more importantly her weight paled in comparison to that of Valbara's apex predator.

It used its head like a battering ram, smashing into her thorax and sending her crashing to the ground, momentum carrying it forward as it skidded to a halt. She dug furrows into the earth where she fell, screeching as she tried to ward it off with vicious strikes from her long limbs, but she couldn't free herself. One of its legs was pinning her, its weight cracking her shell and its claws leaving deep welts in the glossy material. The Teth'rak opened its powerful jaws, its pearly teeth flashing as it brought its head down and closed its mouth around her upper body, encompassing it almost entirely. Jaeger was able to hear the snapping sound even from a distance as the pressure splintered her shell as though it was no more durable than a walnut, her natural armor counting for naught as the Teth'rak crushed her like a hydraulic press.

Her eyes widened as the realization of what was happening hit her, her long fingers clawing at its feathers, and her mandibles waving as the beast began to shake her like a dog with a chew toy. The leg that it was standing on tore off at the hip joint as it pulled, so monstrously strong that even the Betelgeusian Queen came apart like pulled pork in its maw. It was impervious to the blows that she was raining down on its head, her struggling futile. It released her for a moment as she tried to shield herself with her arms, pulling back before lunging again, getting a better grip with its foot-long teeth. It sounded almost like wood splintering as it pulverized her exoskeleton to get at the meat within, the feathers on its patterned face matted with her bodily fluids as she finally went limp.

By the time Jaeger dove into the cover of the trees and turned to look back, the Teth'rak had already dismembered her. He watched as it tugged violently to tear off one of her segmented arms like a restaurant-goer pulling the leg off a crab, shaking the limb back and forth. It apparently found her distasteful, releasing the limb and reaching down to bite her motionless body a few more times for good measure.

With the Queen dead, it didn't matter how many Bug ships and soldiers were left, the hive had been sterilized. They could no longer replenish their numbers, and they couldn't found a colony. Their invasion had been thwarted.

The Teth'rak lifted its head into the air, the ornate plumes that ran down its back raising like the feathers of a peacock as it shook the ground with a triumphant pulse, standing atop the ruined body of the Queen. Jaeger slipped deeper into the forest, leaving the grisly sight behind as he vanished into the shadows.

***

Jaeger stumbled through the trees, trying to stay downwind of the Teth'rak. He hadn't seen head nor tail of it since the encounter at the crash site, it probably had more important things to do right now than chase tiny humans around. He was following the wall as best he could while keeping to the patches of dense forest. He knew that there were four gates, one for each cardinal direction, but he had no idea where he was relative to them. The wall was circular, so logic dictated that if he kept walking, he'd come across one eventually. He wasn't sure what he'd do next, maybe knock?