"General, if this creature, Loyd, has vanished from both our races scanners, than I am unsure whether I can rely on you in the field of battle; especially as it is your brightest pilot that has betrayed you," the Chancellor said, his hologram being projected in front of the entire council.
"Chancellor, I assure you, Loyd will be found and annihilated. His corps-mates are currently being interrogated and will give up his position in no time," one of the many politicians claimed.
"No, they won't. The hive mind, as one might put it, only works over short distances relative to the creature's size. They don't know where he is," the General said.
"Then, how did he rescue his bio-type from an underground base nearly twenty kilometers away? Explain that, General!" the same politician spat back.
"The link between a pilot and their bio-type CTAS is different. You remember that his bio-type was his sister, don't you?! They were linked when she was hurt! He could feel her die! Have you ever been put in one of those simulator pods, Mr. Politics?! If not, then shut up and sit down!" the General roared furiously as he tried to think of where Loyd may have gone.
"Perhaps you should sit down, General, before you scare away our friends here," the man, claiming to be Loyd's father, said with a hushed voice.
The General did so and the room remained silent until someone thought of something.
"Our scanners are unable to penetrate deeply into anything that's solid. Perhaps he fled to Olympus Mons? We couldn't detect him there."
"No, any cave system large enough for him to hide in is being mined out. Someone would have noticed him."
"Well, what about the shuttle? We know the creature grabbed it and piled on any large pieces of biomass. Did it have a tracker?"
"No, that shuttle was from before the swarm arrived on Earth. I'm surprised they managed to all fit inside that thing."
"We all saw how his sister, if that's what we're calling it now, healed whenever she ate one of those creatures. Can that Swarm creature do the same?"
"We have no way of knowing. The dust storm blocked any chances we had of tracking it visually."
"You can assume that all Swarm creatures have that rapid healing ability. The only thing they need is more biomass to contribute to the healing," the Chancellor informed them.
"Then, with as much biomass as he had the thing gather up… get every military asset currently available to set up a hundred-mile ring around Loyd's last known location. We could be looking at the birth of a new hive here on Mars."
"The planet you are on is not called that! Mars means something unimaginably horrible in my language. The planet you are on is called Gaithan Uls," the Chancellor said, annoyed.
"Forgive me, that is just what we humans have called it throughout the ages. We had no way of knowing what your people called this world," the man said, trying not to make eye contact with the hologram.
"I understand that, but you humans are an inferior race to us and I will not hear of my people's homeworld being called Mars ever again." The static-filled voice of the chancellor grew crisper and colder. "I believe our talk has gone on too long and I will take my leave so that I may begin the production of more ships. If your pathetic race is willing to drop to their knees and accept assimilation, then none of their blood shall be spilled. You have until your locations next sunrise." The Chancellor cut off communications with the council, obviously disgusted that he had ever thought they could be useful.
"Fire the planetary cannon at their home ship," the General said, his face in his hands.
"Sir, the planetary cannon was just destroyed! The gunship they sent as a relay just opened fire and annihilated it!"
"At this range?! How are we not dead yet? The blast from that thing being destroyed should've killed us!"
"Sir, the gunship just- the gun just vanished. There's a big hole where it should be. Half the mountain's missing!" the soldier said, panicked.
"What do you mean, soldier?! How can the side of an entire mountain disappear?" the General asked, jumping to his feet.
The soldier began to tremble but swapped his video feed over to the holographic projector in the center of the hall.
"That's what I mean, sir."
The General stared at the feed, the image before him sinking in.
"What kind of weaponry do those things have? What kind of weapon can make an entire mountainside disappear?"
The General fell back into his chair feeling fear for the first time in years. "What kind of monster did we just unleash on our citizens?"
The doors to the hall burst open as a figure stood there with his goggles reflecting the vibrant red light into the room.
"General, I think I found where Loyd went," Dr. Borya pronounced, walking into the hall and looking around at all the distraught faces. "And I presume I am too late."
"No doctor, you're not too late. If we can find and take out Loyd, then maybe we can strike a truce with the Chancellor," the politician from earlier said ecstatically.
"Well, you're not going to like where he is, if my hunch is correct," Borya paused taking a deep breath. "The Olympus Mons colony has several abandoned ore refineries that were marked for deconstruction around two months ago. They all fired back up around twelve minutes ago."
"He's inside the colony?!" the politician cried horrified. "Send every available soldier and weapons system there, immediately! If he gets anything useful out of those refineries, it'll be all over."
"Why hasn't he gone for the Greeley colony? Why hasn't he gone for more bio-mass?! Answer me, doctor!" the General roared. "Why is he choosing metal over organics? It takes him far less time to grow in strength by going to Greeley. So why would he go to an abandoned refinery district in Olympus colony?"
"I can't answer that question, General. I can only tell you that we no longer have a gunship problem," Borya stated calmly.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Loyd's father asked.
"Two projectiles of biological origin took out its advanced thruster systems and caused it to miss its target, taking out our cannon instead."
"Where was its original target?" the General asked, already knowing the answer.
"Around about where you're standing, Lord Whitley. The aliens apparently don't like you very much. We also have the wrong idea when it comes to how energy crystals explode." Borya sent the data to the projector which displayed the effect for all to see.
"When an energy crystal explodes, it sends out a large electromagnetic pulse. This pulse is strong enough to rip even the most stable molecules apart and send the remaining atom soup flying outwards at nearly the speed of light. That bright white horizon is caused by the fusion reaction that occurs when the atoms collide with each other. The crystal does not explode, but instead implodes, pulling only the energy from the fusion reactions towards itself. Once all that energy reaches the crystal, it starts breaking down into its base elements while canceling the most powerful explosion in the universe." The doctor stopped his slide show. "This all happens within a billionth of a second."
"Wait, where does all the fusion energy go? I thought that energy couldn't be created or destroyed."
"Well, that theory would still stand if not for the very existence of the energy crystal, which in its last moments of existence, only absorbs energy and ceases to output any power. The energy crystal's reaction also caused the armor crystal, the cannon was made of, to go through the same process," Doctor Borya replied.
"So, the aliens have similar energy technology to us. They have weapons that can completely annihilate anything we attack them with. They are further away from us than the earth, and finally, they think of us as an inferior race of organic mush. This war just gained itself two new fronts." The General stood and took out a pipe. "Gentlemen, we are fighting two species who can easily wipe out our entire population in a matter of days, weeks at the most. I think… No, I know we still need Loyd to hold off the Swarm so we can divert all of our attention to this new threat. These crystal beings will fall under the sheer military might of Humanity." The General stopped as the entire council hall erupted in applause and lit his pipe.
"Great show, now tell us your real plan," Lord Whitley challenged.
The building began to shake as a massive worm dug up into the center of the room, swallowing the projector. It slithered back down its tunnel, allowing a strange humanoid abomination to emerge.
"My master couldn't agree more with your plan, General. He only asks you to stop tormenting his corps-mates and give him complete access to both Olympus and Greeley colonies for the next few hours. He seeks to ascend the space elevator at Greeley after gathering enough biomass to survive the journey and finishing his mobile arsenal," the creature croaked.
"As long as no humans are harmed in the process and he gives us enough time to warn the Colonies police," the General replied.
"What?! You can't speak for the entire council on this matter, General! We will not be-" The politician was cut short as the creature shot a harpoon through his head and drug him back towards it.
"My master only sought permission from the General and authorized me to silence protestors. Are there any others?" The creature looked around and collected two more politicians who tried to run past Doctor Borya before continuing to speak. "Then, this conversation never leaves this room."
The worm reemerged and ate the three men whole, allowing the creature enough time to reattach itself to a small pocket on the side of the worm.
"Good day, gentlemen. I shall be taking my leave," the General said tossing his radio to the creature, who caught it. "Make sure you get that to Loyd for me. We've got a lot to talk about."