Chapter 183 - Epilogue: Part 7

　　A crushing sense of despair swept through Flo, drowning her in its depths.

　　The detonating Starships shined brighter than the sun of the planet they orbited, and each flash of light was another nail in their coffin. There would be no escape now, not for any of them.

　　Still, the humans endured. They fought against the endless tide of Vore, and with each moment they resisted, another Titan fell, and another section of their battle lines retracted. They were being surrounded now, assaulted from all sides by the Vore emerging from the Jump.

　　Praxis shouted with anger, slicing through a line of Vore with a lasgun from Prometheus` improved weapons. But he wasn`t able to save Oceanus. The Titan of Tish fired off a final salvo of pure blue light that burned through a Monarch before it was swarmed by Vore.

　　Cursing in frustration at the loss, Praxis pulled his Titan back while sweeping the battlefield with another crimson line of energy.

　　They were losing badly, and unlike when he fought them on the Dyson Sphere decades ago, there would be to fleeing this battle to fight another day. He hadn`t anticipated they would Jump behind their lines to strike the Starships. It wasn`t a tactic that humans would use.

　　The Jump disrupted shields and the systems of Mechs for a few moments, making them vulnerable to counterattacks. Evidently, the Vore didn`t have the same limitations. He hadn`t even been aware they could Jump. Their Monarchs had never displayed that ability in the past.

　　Perhaps it was another evolution on their part.

　　"Contract the line. We hold for reinforcements!" Praxis ordered, and the remaining Titans pushed closer together in order to cover the entire battlefield. But the losses were mounting, and they were stretched thin.

　　Pleiades crashed onto the back of a Vore Manta. Its broad back had become a home to both humans and Vore as they fought across it. Her shields had failed, and Flo`s cockpit had warning notifications across the terminal and her HUD.

　　The reactor of the Titan sputtered, interrupting the whining noise it had taken to making as it was being battered by the Vore, before evening out once again. The machine was at its limits, as was its Pilot.

　　She was filled with regret as she watched the Monarch drift slowly toward the surface of the Manta toward her. Katherine was gone, separated from her during the fighting. She didn`t know if her cousin lived, but she hoped she had survived.

　　One of them needed to make it home alive.

　　She regretted how she had left home and how she had treated her parents. Flo had just wanted to strike out on her own, to make a name for herself without the shadow of her father robbing her of her accomplishments.

　　And now she was going to die without ever seeing them again, without apologizing for how she acted. Her father had tried to warn her about the Vore, about what they were capable of, but she hadn`t listened. She thought he was just overdramatizing the war to keep her from joining.

　　She couldn`t believe how foolish she had been.

　　"I`m so sorry." Flo whispered to her parents` memory as the Monarch raised its hand and pointed at her Titan. She could feel it gathering its psychic energy to strike. The cockpit rattled around her as she tried to move it, but the systems weren`t responding correctly.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

　　Flo couldn`t escape what was inevitable.

　　From the side, a streak of crimson energy a dozen feet in diameter burned a hole through the Monarch`s head. Not satisfied, hundreds of knife-like feathers` slammed into its torso, gouging out holes in the Vore`s body before returning from where they came from.

　　"What-" Flo stammered, confused at the events as the Monarch collapsed onto the ground.

　　"Are you alright, Flo?" A familiar voice spoke through their communication channel. A Mech landed on the ground beside her. Lithe and winged, the Mobile Suit carried a long spear in its hands while feathers black with Vore blood returned to its outstretched wings.

　　A person appeared on her HUD, and Flo was stunned to see that it was her Mother. Marella, Duchess of Caledon, was here in Andromeda!

　　"Mother, what are you doing here?!" Flo exclaimed with a mixture of confusion and relief. Caledon was a decade and a half years travel away. How was it possible that she arrived to save her? Had her mother been on the Dyson Sphere without her knowledge?

　　"It`s alright, we`re here. We`re going to get you all out of this." Mare reassured her daughter.

　　"We?" Flo whispered as another Mobile Suit hovered in the space above them.

　　Its weapons were glowing as it unleashed streams of energy and laser fire at the Vore with supernatural accuracy. It singlehandedly drove back the Vore around them, a feat that even Flo and Katherine working together had not been able to accomplish.

　　"Protect Florine. I will lead the assault against the Vore. Everything will be fine. We are here." Kalen Caledon stated, his voice carrying over the universal channel. All across the battlefield, humans were stunned at the proclamation.

　　Kalen Caledon, who had been instrumental in defeating the Vore during their last encounter, was here with them again.

　　Flo watched as hundreds of Mechs in similar designs as her parents` models shot toward the Vore. With an unstoppable momentum, they carved their way through the creatures with their weapons. Everywhere these monsters appeared, the Vore died, and the human battlelines solidified once again.

　　"The Starships are destroyed, but they are not needed! We will never surrender, never retreat!" Kal shouted his encouragement as he obliterated another Monarch with the help of one of the other Titans. He was incredible. His skill with a Mobile Suit was unparalleled, as he seemed to be everywhere at once.

　　Any time it seemed that the Vore would overwhelm their lines or push their way through, Kal was there with a group of his pseudo-Titans. Soon, it was the Vore that were falling back toward the Hive. Even with their endless numbers, the Caledonian reinforcements were able to crush everything before them.

　　Five hundred pseudo-Titans were turning the tide of battle, but it still wouldn`t be enough. Soon, reactors would run out of power, Pilots would tire, and ammunition would deplete. They needed to strike a decisive blow before the momentum changed once more.

　　"Arm the explosive. It`s time to finish these abominations once and for all." Kal ordered, and Praxis grinned as he had Prometheus led a group of Mechs in arming the device and leading it forward. The Starship-sized bomb had been halted in the center of their forces, unable to move forward against the tide of Vore.

　　With Kal in the lead, the Caledonian pseudo-Titans punched a hole in the line of Vore. Clearing a path, Praxis and his soldier pushed the bomb toward the Hive. All the while, the crazed Vore tried everything they could to stop them.

　　Casualties mounted, and more Titans fell. The Vore destroyed thousands of Mechs, but in the end, the massive explosive was placed on the hard surface. Guarding it for a moment as the modified Engine began to thrum with power, Kal ordered his forces to retreat once it was ready.

　　The explosion was not nearly as large as what he had witnessed on the Dyson Sphere, but its proximity to the Hive meant that it was equally devasting. White light burned away everything it touched, vaporizing the Vore forces and the surface of the Hive.

　　Unlike the first time the Hive was destroyed, this time, the explosion drilled its way deep beneath the surface, forming a gaping hole in the Hive once its light faded. Like a wound, black liquid filled the bottom of the cavity. And at the deepest part, it touched upon the impenetrable surface of the orb that had escaped them.

　　Not willing to let the same thing happen again, Kal ordered his forces to attack the orb with everything they had. Hundreds of thousands of streams of bluish-white Lasgun fire, crimson PPC energy and missiles struck the surface of the black orb.

　　Despite not making a dent, it gradually heated from black to bronze until it glowed white hot. It was finally punctured when Prometheus used a concentrated blast of energy in the center of the orb. A gushing geyser of black liquid exploded out of the sphere, floating away into space as it emptied.

　　For the first time, Kal and the others saw what lay at the center of the Vore Hive.