Two-one-thousand. Three-one-thousand.” Jack counted out as we waited.
Nothing.
“Well, we can officially tell the IC that was a bloody dud,” Trinity’s clipped British accent was icing on the cake.
Swinging around with my rifle, I took a look. The Hive were doubled over in silent screams, hands covering their ears. Two vomited, several stumbled into one another. They were disoriented and scrambling, confused. The DPG was working…on the Hive.
Except the beast wasn’t affected. He stood, hands in fists at his sides, staring me straight in the eye. Shaking. He was shaking, but not reacting as the other Hive were. I couldn’t explain the way the DPG worked and I didn’t want to take the time now to figure it out. But, it was obvious it was set up to fuck with those fully integrated and the beast’s response proved there was still some Atlan left.
Jack peeked around behind me and yelled for the others. “Take them all out. Now. Shoot to kill. Open fire.”
The rest of the unit raced up the corridor behind us and it was like shooting fish in a barrel. The beast took a hit to his shoulder. His leg. His hip. The rest of the Hive Soldiers, mostly Prillon warriors converted by their evil Integration Units into Hive servants, were going down easy. But not the beast. Killing an Atlan in beast mode was difficult, but I’d never seen one take so many direct hits and stay on his feet. Hell, he acted like we were shooting paint balls at him.
I didn’t want to kill the beast, but I had no doubt, if he were in his right mind, he’d prefer death to the condition he was in now. I’d been a Hive prisoner, faced the possibility of being turned into a mindless drone. The reality was beyond terrifying. I had fought alongside enough of the other alien races to know their warriors felt the exact same way I did.
Even my sister’s mate, the Atlan Warlord Dax, had spoken of it on many occasions. No one wanted to end up covered in Hive tech, mind not his own.
It was a fate worse than death. And this poor Atlan? He needed to die for his own good.
“Hit them all. Trinity, you’re with me. Focus your fire on the beast. We need to take him out.”
The Hive Soldiers were falling fast. It took three or four shots to take them down, but they were still frozen, paralyzed by the new experimental weapon vibrating at their feet with a strange, high-pitched whine, like the buzz coming off high voltage electrical wires. My team and the Prillons inside the other room fired without mercy. Some of these Soldiers were once Prillon warriors, or Trion, or human. Hell, I had no idea where they were from. Some had oddities that I assumed had come from halfway across the galaxy, in a world I’d never seen or heard of.
We all knew death was better than being a Hive. Not only was the existence hell, but we would be turned into killing machines. Killing Coalition fighters, those we’d fought beside until the Hive took over.
And a mindless beast could destroy entire ships. There was a reason they built containment cells on their home world. Executed unmated beasts after a certain age. They were one-man wrecking crews.
I shot the beast, dead center in the chest. A merciful kill shot to his heart. He barely swayed.
“Jesus, what did they do to him?” Jack came up on my left, Trinity on my right and we all aimed at the beast just as he lifted his huge hands and removed his helmet. Most of his face was covered in silver, but there were pieces of him showing through. Dark eyes. Not silver.
I lifted my rifle for a headshot and his gaze locked with mine. Sane. Himself. Desperate. Hands at his sides, he dropped the helmet on the floor and waited for me to kill him. What the hell?
I hesitated.
“Kill me, Mills.” The deep voice rumbled, but not with threat. It was a plea. And how the hell did this Atlan know my name?
“Do it now. I am Warlord Anghar. Kill me.”
“Shit. Angh?” My body turned to stone. This was Warlord Nyko’s friend. Nyko’s best friend and commander. I’d served with him for two years and hadn’t known he’d been taken by the Hive. Fuck. Shit. “Damn it. Hold your fire.”
I glanced to Trinity and Jack, the raw pain I saw in Trinity’s eyes a shock. Jack, however, looked at me like I had lost my damn mind.
“As soon as that signal goes down, he’s going to be gone. You know that.” Jack grimaced, his rifle still aimed. Steady.
“I know. But he’s in there.”
“Don’t you shoot him, Jack. Don’t you fucking dare.” Trinity lowered her rifle to the side and shot one of the remaining Hive Soldiers standing behind the beast. We’d wiped them out. Almost all of them.
The beast stared and I stared back, searching my mind for answers. There had to be a way to save him. If Angh was in there, fighting against the Hive integration that took over almost all of him, then there was no way I could take him out. He deserved better. He deserved a chance at life.
The signal from the DPG faded and what was left of the Hive regained control.
Which wasn’t much. Two Soldiers. It would have been nothing, an easy clean up, except for the beast.
With a roar, he turned and ran away from us, tearing through what was left of the doors so he could enter the room where the Prillon crew had been trapped.
“Take care of those two, retrieve the DPG and make sure the rest are dead,” I ordered as I followed him in. Warlord Anghar. Christ. What a mess.
Our Prillon teammates hadn’t wasted their resources. All around the edges of the room they’d set up barriers and defensible positions. But nothing was going to stop the beast.
“About time, Mills,” Captain Dorian yelled, standing up to fire at the beast from behind a capsized table on my right.
The beast roared and advanced mindlessly, swinging his huge fists like wrecking balls. So much for his lucid moment. Whatever was left of Angh wasn’t in there now. He was a drone. A servant of the Hive.
I knew the Atlan warlord was still inside him, somewhere. He’d shown himself. Briefly.
Everything had gone according to plan, everything except this. “Don’t shoot.” I held up my hand and gave the order as the rest of ReCon 3 flooded the room.
“The rest are dead,” Jack reported and I nodded as the Prillon crew stood from their hidden positions and every single ion blaster and rifle in the room was pointed at the beast.
“Hold your fire,” I ordered again, just to be clear.
“What the fuck are you doing, Mills?” Dorian bellowed at me as the beast advanced on him.
“Trust me.” I caught my friend’s eye. “Keep him occupied, but no head shots. Body shots won’t kill him. Draw his attention. I need some time.”
“You’re insane, Mills.” But the big golden Prillon warrior nodded and took a step back, firing at the enraged beast, careful to aim at his shoulders. His thighs. I had no doubt Dorian didn’t realize it was Warlord Anghar. The beast’s face was practically unrecognizable. Even then, I only knew Angh through Dax and Sarah. The Prillon had probably never met the Atlan. The fighting teams
