Madeline positioned the devils alongside her CTAS for the next wave. Their massive energy rifles carved apart the next three waves of swarmlings. The only issue they were going to have was the fact that their batteries were running on empty with no way to recharge them before the next wave.
The swarm was getting desperate now. More waves were being stacked together and the radar showed Loyd had completely disappeared after tearing apart nearly a quarter of the larger creatures.
Both sides knew only two variables stood in the way of their victory. Numbers and the sun. The swarm needed to attack during the night when they thought the hybrids would be rendered nearly blind. The hybrids needed to increase their firepower or figure out how to recharge the devils' battery packs in a timely fashion. The swarm needed to finish the hybrids off before the Crystalids ship arrived on the first night after the new moon. The hybrids knew that a massive attack was on its way, they just didn't know when it would arrive. The previous wave had contained spitters that had managed to take out the radar.
"Madeline, we won't have the radar repaired for another two days. Do you even want to bother with it?" Griffon asked.
"This siege should be over by the end of tomorrow and then we set out for Moscow, where we should find enough scrap metal to return and finish the rovers. We need that radar for our trip there and back," she replied.
"Then, I'll swap the manufactory over to radar parts."
Jim sat staring at the map in front of him, wondering where Loyd could've gone in this time of crisis. He scanned over to a dark spot on the map and leaned closer. "Can you enhance this point for me?"
Madeline turned to where he was looking at and zoomed in on the dark spot.
Both of them inhaled sharply as they realized Loyd wouldn't be coming back for some time.
"He jumped over the waves of the swarm and is headed south according to the message in the sand," Jim announced.
"Alright, and how has his message survived this entire time without the wind caving in the words?" Tiny questioned.
"Because he didn't write it on top of the sand. He melted the sand into glass which our radar managed to detect from underneath three feet of sand because the acoustics are weird like that," Madeline explained cheerfully.
"That means he's using us as bait while he kills that monster at the south pole," Griffon noted.
Everyone took a second to think about that before coming to the same conclusion.
"Then, we'll be the best bait on this side of terra!" Madeline shouted, punching the air above her.
"It seems we'll have to be. I set up a smaller, much less powerful, radar for the time being and it looks like the swarm is now combined into one big creature. We've got nearly five thousand tons of flesh and bone on its way here right now. It'll be resistant to our lasers due to smoke and ash buildup. Those Crystalid reinforcements also don't have nearly enough power left to cut through it," Griffon explained to a stunned audience.
"And you're just now telling us about this?"
"Well, we only had the option to die until a second ago, so I didn't think it was very important."
"Tell everyone to pack up now. We're moving out as soon as everything is packed onto the top of the crawler."
Everyone turned to Argenti and Sara.
"That'll give us more time to shoot it as its relative speed will be reduced. Or we can simply try to outrun it."
"It's moving too fast for us to outrun it, but if we can move away while firing, I think we might stand a chance," Griffon mumbled.
"If it gives us a chance, I say we go for it. Jim turn on the speaker system."
A switch was flipped as Madeline pulled a microphone to her and took a deep breath.
"Listen up everybody! We've got a massive enemy on its way here and we don't stand a chance if we don't start moving soon. I need everything not currently inside the crawler stowed. This is an evacuation! All laser systems need to be positioned on top of the crawler where they can fire on the enemy as we head for Moscow." She inhaled again. "All Crystalids need to assist in the evacuation and our rendezvous point will need to be changed. Now get to work!"
The tension in the air exploded into a flurry of running feet as everything was picked up and stowed inside the crawler or bolted to the top. The razor wire was grabbed by the CTAS and crushed into little death balls. The laser platforms were picked up by groups of twelve of the kids and hauled to a loading elevator where it was taken to the top and even more kids carried it into position and bolted down. The explosive charges were set to a tripwire fuse so when the thing following them tried to follow, it would set the minefield off.
xX several thousand kilometers south Xx
Loyd was getting closer to the ocean. He could smell the salt in the air. Beast was getting nervous again as there would be more swarmlings over this next ridge. But once they had crested it, they found only devastation. The breeding apparatuses were all completely destroyed. A few humanoid swarmlings walked around the devastation with a mixture of burns and cut wounds. Loyd surveyed the carnage and saw something horrific. A group of nearly a hundred human bodies were piled up next to just as many destroyed CTAS. Those were all people from Mars, who had come on a mission to destroy the swarm. It sickened him to see such a waste of life. Even he had agreed that an orbital strike would've been more viable than sending this many humans to their deaths.
A flash on the horizon caught his attention just before a series of massive explosions tore the area apart. Another flash was followed by even more explosions. The human bodies were sprayed over a large area after a shell hit the pile directly. Loyd had seen enough and unfolded his wings.
Beast leapt into the air and flew at great speed towards the ship. It opened fire with antique anti-aircraft guns as Beast crashed into it, destroying one of its main guns. The humans aboard the ship stared in fear at the monster that had just landed on their ship.
"Where are you from?" Loyd questioned realizing the difference in technology.
"The monster speaks!" one sailor shouted before Loyd crushed him.
"Answer my question!"
"The southern ice field bunker. We've lived there for nearly a hundred years without the swarm realizing it," the captain of the vessel declared.
"Then you won't mind taking me in that direction, will you? I've got unfinished business with the leader of the swarm there."
The captain stared up at Beast for a moment "On the condition you exit your armored unit so I may speak with you directly."
"What leads you to believe you aren't?"
"The fact that you've got a hatch for a chest. And I've already had my crew scan your entire suit. There's nothing on it that we don't know about." The captain bluffed.
"Very well then. I'll disembark in just a moment."
Loyd's body regrew around his neurons over the course of a minute and was then covered in the bodysuit he had been wearing when he first left on this journey. He opened his eye to see Beast's chest open up and spit him out of the cockpit onto the deck of the ancient warship.
"You see me. Can we embark now?" Loyd asked, annoyed his head was exposed to the toxic atmosphere.
"How can you breathe without a respirator?!" the captain gawked.
"Genetic engineering. I'm more swarm than human as is my CTAS," Loyd replied, pointing over his shoulder at Beast.
Beast turned to face the captain and revealed his rows of jagged metal teeth with an unnerving smile.
The captain swallowed before returning to his control room and shouting for them to head back to the south pole.
Loyd sat down against the now destroyed turret and stretched. He'd been a neuron soup for so long it felt weird to have his body back. At least now he had easier transport to his target though.