Intergalactic conquest with an AI

"Clearly," Voss replied, his voice a quiet storm. His gaze shifted to the screen, watching Rex and his troops battling their way through the sandstorm below. "You call these soldiers ’disposable.’ Do you think they’d see themselves that way?" Stay connected through мѵʟ

Leena straightened and answered. "With all due respect, Admiral, they are the first wave. It’s standard practice."

Voss turned to face her fully, his eyes hard as steel. "Standard practice or not, every soldier down there is trusting us. And that man you call a’reckless kid’ has earned the loyalty of every one of those troops. How many of our so-called ’elite’ would follow you into that storm without hesitation?"

Leena clenched her jaw, the tension in the air thickening.

Voss’s gaze didn’t waver. "Patch me through to the surface."

The communications officer stammered, his hands trembling as he connected the channel. Voss’s voice, calm but carrying an undeniable authority, boomed through the communications to Rex and his soldiers below.

"This is Admiral Kael Voss. To every trooper of Squad 201, know that your bravery is seen. Your grit is known. And reinforcements are coming."

Down on the surface, the exhausted, battered soldiers looked up, eyes widening as they heard the admiral’s voice echo through their helmets. Even Rex paused, a smile creeping across his face as he caught his breath.

"Now that’s what I call timing," he muttered, tightening his grip on his claymore. "Alright, Squad 201! Reinforcements or not, we’re taking down that worm! Let’s give them something to remember!"

With a battle cry that cut through the storm, Rex surged forward, his squad rallying around him. The sandstorm raged, plasma bolts streaked through the air, and the relentless warriors of Squad 201 charged ahead, knowing they weren’t alone and that their fight had finally, truly been recognized.

"So, how’d you pull it off, Cleo? How’d you manage to get the Admiral himself to send us backup?" Rex asked, still sprinting through the sandstorm, dodging bioplasma blasts that lit up the haze around him.

Cleo’s voice came through his helmet communicator, as calm and unbothered as ever. "I didn’t have to do much. Just forwarded him some video footage my drones have been capturing down here. Oh, and maybe included a few distasteful comments someone made about the courage of our ’expendable’ troops."

Rex laughed, narrowly sidestepping a plasma shot that singed the ground beside him. "And that was enough to get his attention? I thought the big shots up there saw soldiers as nothing more than numbers."

"Well, normally you’d be right. But Admiral Kael Voss, he’s different. Started as a mud-soaked rookie and clawed his way up to admiral. He knows what it means to fight on the ground." There was a hint of pride in Cleo’s voice, even though she’d never admit it.

"Ahhh, so he’s one of the good ones. Got it." Rex grinned, then added with a wink she couldn’t see, "Nicely played, Cleo. Brains and beauty are always a deadly combo."

Cleo’s sigh came through the comms, though he could practically see her rolling her eyes. "Focus, Rex. We may have reinforcements, but if Ys doesn’t reach that worm’s core before they get here, this whole operation could go sideways."

"True enough. Let’s just hope she makes it." Rex dodged another plasma blast and glanced at the sky, as if somehow he could see Ys in the distance, racing to finish her part of the mission. "Because if she doesn’t... well, at least we’ll go down in the history books as the bravest idiots to ever get swallowed by a giant worm."

Cleo’s voice crackled back with just a touch of dry humor. "I’ll be sure to make a note of it for your stone as your last words, Rex."

Rex laughed, charging forward through the storm with his heart pounding and spirits high.

On the other hand, Ys had already slipped past the worm’s gaping maw, her invisibility cloak keeping her hidden from the Khryssari guards stationed near its entrance. All they saw was a single Skydancer gliding straight into the massive mouth of the worm, only to vanish as if swallowed by shadows.

"Alright, let’s think." Ys murmured, tapping her fingers against the side of her helmet as she drifted through the beast’s winding corridors. "If I were a giant worm being used as a Khryssari transport, where would I hide my core?"

She closed her eyes, concentrating, reaching out with her mind to sense the pulsing energy that would give away the core’s location. Within moments, she felt a dense, throbbing mass of energy deep within the worm, surrounded by layers of armored tissue and fortified with bioweapons.

"Aha～, gotcha," she muttered, a grin spreading across her face. "Next time, don’t protect it so obviously～, it’s like leaving a giant neon sign saying Important Organ Here. Not very clever for a brainless worm." With a satisfied smirk, she adjusted her course, moving stealthily toward the core, her pulse quickening.

Meanwhile, out in the swirling sandstorm, Rex and his troops had managed to rendezvous with Carlos and his armored division. The tanks and armored vehicles were covered in sand and plasma scoring, but they were still rolling strong.

"Baldy!" Rex shouted, grinning under his helmet as he caught sight of Carlos. "So nice to see your shiny scalp in this damn sandy hell."

Carlos barked a laugh. "And I’m grateful you’re wearing a helmet so I don’t have to see that sissy face of yours!"

The two men exchanged a quick fist bump, their troops taking a rare moment to catch their breath as plasma blasts briefly paused.

"Alright, jokes aside, what’s your situation, Baldy?" Rex asked, glancing at the battered tanks and sand-covered soldiers surrounding Carlos.

Carlos gave a weary sigh. "Lost contact with four vehicles. Pretty sure they’re gone by now. How about your end?"

Rex turned and gestured to his ragged troops, sand-streaked and exhausted but still standing. "What you see is what I’ve got left. Cleo’s still using the Aegis Sentinels to sweep for anyone who’s lost out there in the storm."

Carlos nodded grimly. "So, are we sticking to the plan or waiting for reinforcements?"

"We’re sticking to it. If we don’t draw the swarm’s attention and keep them busy, Ys won’t have a clear shot at the core. We need to kill that worm before the reinforcements even get here."

Carlos gave a short, approving nod. "Alright, I’ll have my guys load up your troops on the hover tanks. We’ll get them close enough for the next push. Tell ’em to hold tight, since these Skydancers don’t stop coming."

Rex turned to his soldiers, his voice booming over the storm. "Alright, you heard him! Get on the tanks; take a breather if you can. Just keep an eye out for those damn Skydancers!"

The exhausted troopers scrambled aboard, grateful for a moment of rest. Rex, however, waved off Carlos’s offer to hitch a ride.

"I’ll keep going on foot," he said with a smirk, giving his shoulders a stretch. "Still got plenty of energy left."

Carlos shook his head, laughing. "Show-off."

"Hey, you gotta keep the muscles pumped! The ladies love it," Rex said, flexing his arm with a mock-serious expression. "Besides, I’m eating more these days; I gotta burn it off somehow."

Carlos rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Just don’t get yourself killed showing off. You know, us normal folks actually like the cover of an armored tank."

As they continued forward, the soldiers behind them couldn’t help but notice the way their leaders bantered, tossing jokes and insults back and forth like it was just another drill.

For the troops, it was oddly comforting, a reminder that even in the middle of this brutal sandstorm, with bioplasma raining down and death at every corner, their captains weren’t rattled. They were focused, ready, and unshaken.

And somehow, watching Rex and Carlos crack jokes as they marched toward the towering worm on the horizon, the troops felt their own courage rising.

The sandstorm may have been blinding, the plasma bolts deadly, but as long as they followed these two lunatics into the heart of chaos, they felt unstoppable.

The path toward the worm only grew more brutal with every step. Swarms of Skydancers filled the air, their wings buzzing like a demonic symphony as they dove toward the hover tanks. The soldiers clinging to the tanks’ armor had become makeshift turrets, firing at the Skydancers with relentless desperation.

For every bug they took down, it felt like two more emerged from the storm. Despite their best efforts, the casualties were piling up, and the tanks’ armor was starting to show the scars of relentless plasma fire and clawed assaults.

Rex and Carlos pushed forward, undeterred, though even they could feel the weight of the onslaught. The tanks kept plowing through the sand, cannons booming, sending volleys of plasma at the K. Warriors surging forward like an endless tide.

The Khryssari warriors showed no fear, no hesitation; they just kept coming, intent on tearing through anything in their path.

One of the K. Warriors lunged at Rex with a massive claw, the strike powerful enough to shatter armor. But Rex met it with his bare hand, gripping the creature’s claw mid-swipe with a steely grin. He then wrenched the claw back with a brutal twist, snapping it off cleanly.

Without missing a beat, he spun, using the severed claw as a weapon, impaling an incoming K. Warrior through the chest. Then, with a single fluid motion, he drew his massive claymore and finished off the creature with a deadly, precise swing that cleaved it in two.

Carlos, meanwhile, was blasting his way through the Skydancers, his hammer swinging in wide arcs, crushing exoskeletons and scattering alien limbs with each blow.

The troops around him fought tooth and nail, holding the line as best they could, even as the enemy pressed closer, emboldened by the dwindling numbers of the human forces.

Amid the chaos, Cleo’s voice crackled through their communicators, cold and clear as ice.

"Guys… It’s too late. The reinforcements have arrived."