Interstellar Age



The second battle for the world of Suebi continued to rage on, as the Germanic citizens fought with everything they had to ensure the survival of their world. Now that there was some hope to cling onto, they would hold the line, or die trying. Victory or death, there was no alternative. And because of this, the Naraku had an increasingly difficult time making their way through the war-torn ruins of the fortress world.

A Naraku swarm tyrant towered above the nearby buildings as it continued to lead the members of its swarm forward in a relentless onslaught of the Germanic fortified positions. However, just when it was about to attack the trenches, a total of five antimatter missiles were fired from a nearby position and bombarded its rock hard carapace.

No matter how much the bugs may have evolved within their current brood, such overwhelming firepower was not easily defended, and because of this, the mighty swarm tyrant was reduced to nothing but ash by the time the explosion cleared.

Yet, the soldier bugs were not deterred and continued their advance towards the trenches, where the Germanic defenders desperately fired their plasma rifles and cannons towards the oncoming swarm. Hoping that they had enough firepower to mow them down. And while some of the Naraku were reduced to ash, the majority of them got through this wave of fire completely unscathed.

Because of this, the Germanic defenders unleashed their chainsaw bayonets, and clashed with the monumental bugs in the trenches. It was easy enough for the soldier bugs to pierce through the flak jackets of the militia members, but power armor was made of sturdier stuff, and so when a soldier bug came across a Star Marine, they would have a much more difficult time piercing through the mighty defenses that these brave men wore.

A Star marine slashed his chainsaw bayonet at a nearby soldier bug's head. And though the hostile insectoid caught the bayonet in his mouth, he was shocked to find out that he could not snap the weapon in two, instead the chainsaw bayonet continued to power on through his mandibles, cutting them apart, before working their way through the head of the giant bug.

Blood and brain matter spewed out across the place, both of which were acidic and splashed onto the trenches, and the Star marine's armor alike. Despite this, the power armor did not immediately disintegrate, instead the personal energy shields had caught the brunt of the splash and slowly dispersed the corrosive substances.

Upon seeing more of his comrades being torn apart by the soldier bugs, the Star Marine reached over to a nearby weapons rack and grabbed hold of a heavy flamethrower. Which would normally be wielded by a team of men, but in the arms of a mighty star marine, it could very easily be wielded by one person.

The man then lit the trench line on fire, which was now nearly devoid of all sentient life. And in doing so, bathed the entire area in a napalm like substance, which cooked the bugs alive inside of their own shells.

As if having gone mad from the slaughter, the Star Marine began to laugh aloud as he taunted the soldier bugs who ran out of the trenches scurrying on the ground in an attempt to put out the star-like flames which reaped their souls like an angel of death.

"Burn motherfuckers! Burn!"

However, the man's fun did not last long, as the thunder of rockets filled the air, while the large ballistic missiles quickly fired from their launchers and towards the trench line with was about to be completely overrun by the bugs, despite this lone star marine's efforts.

Upon seeing that death was nigh, the star marine raised his arm and saluted his battle brothers before saying his last words.

"Only in death does service end..."

The moment after the star marine had said these words, thousands of antimatter ballistic missiles landed on the trench line, and exploded in a sea of fire and smoke, consuming all live within the region. Whether it was Naraku, or Germanic.

---

The battle continued to rage on the surface of Suebi. But in orbit, within the Naraku Kingship, the Hive Queen gazed upon the last memories of her fallen children and shrieked with rage. The second assault had been going on for nearly two weeks now, and yet these damned bipedal humanoids had still not shown the slightest sign of defeat.

Contrary to what the Hive Queen was expecting, the Germanic army was crazy enough to bombard their own positions once it was clear that they were about to be overrun by the devouring swarm. Only to reinforce those exact positions with another wave of soldiers immediately after wiping out all life within it.

The Germanic soldiers did not flee, nor did they cower in the face of death. Instead, they went out in a blaze of glory. This was simply maddening to the Naraku. Normally they would be able to outnumber any enemy they came across by virtue of the Queen hatching another brood during the battle, but this world had trillions of men, women and children on it, each of which voluntarily gave their lives in its defense.

The fact of the matter was that after slogging through half of the Empire, fighting battles just like this, the Naraku Hive Queen could no longer replenish her losses at a satisfactory rate. For once, this war of attrition was completely in the favor of the enemy. Who seemed to never tire of fighting and killing her children.

If she did not do something soon, then it was only a matter of time before her swarm was repelled for a second time, and this could not be permitted to happen. Thus, the Hive Queen could only sigh in defeat as she decided to use her nuclear option. For the good of the hive, she would lay another queen, and the two of them would produce the next brood together.

But if she did this, then she would not have long to live herself. Something which would put the entire hive fleet in danger, especially in the long term. Regardless, the Hive Queen gave the orders to her generals that she should not be disturbed as she began the process of laying the egg of another Hive Queen.

"Under no circumstances am I to be disturbed. Instead, I want you all to do everything you can to win this battle. For if we do not, then it may very well be the end of our Hive Fleet...."

The Generals each paid their respects to their Queen, and just when she was about to seclude herself, she received a signal from the hive mind that something monumental had happened. Causing the female insectoid to screech in fury, as she cursed her adversaries for their cleverness.

Since the hive ships which the Naraku lived on were all living beings themselves, the Hive Queen could tap into their consciousness, and see what they saw. Naturally this meant she had instantly become aware of the fact that the Germanic and Oni navies had just jumped out of quantum within the Suebi system and were heading directly towards the world to support those brave men, women, and children who still defended the planet from certain death.

Knowing that she would not have the opportunity to lay the egg of the next queen, at least not until this battle was over, the Queen furiously called out to her Generals to begin their attack on the Germanic and Oni navies.

"These clever fiends have begun their attack right when I was about to go into seclusion. Very well, we will see if their resolve to survive is as fierce as those who still fight in the world below. Kill them all! Every last one of them!"

The Naraku Generals each bowed before their queen, before doing as she had commanded them to. Thus, while the world of Suebi desperately struggled to survive, the second wave of the devouring swarm. The Naraku hive fleet had begun to engage what remained of the Germanic Navy, and their Oni allies.

The bugs were completely unaware that the Germans had detected the Hive Queen's presence onboard the King Ship, and were now going to give it their all, in one last gamble, to destroy the Queen, and by extension the hive mind of the swarm.

One way or another, the final battle between the Hive Fleet Terminus and the Germanic Star-Empire was about to begin. And both sides were determined to fight to the last man to see who would survive.

---

I want to take this moment to thank you all for your the support which you have shown Interstellar Age so far. As of this chapter, the novel is currently contracted. So for those of you who are reading this, I will be warning you in advance that I will be locking the chapters at 54 and above from now on. Thank you all for reading Interstellar Age, and I look forward to getting back to a normal schedule now that the holiday weekend is over!