TBoB - Book 7 - Epilogue - Cleanup Crew (Patreon)

The single Model One-O flapped its skate-like wings, just barely clearing the last mountain peak before its final location. 

It had been a hard journey. Out of the thousands of identical Antithesis that had spawned at the same time, and attempted to flee the mortally wounded hive, only one had survived the relentless attacks of the human vanguard attacking the hive and the anti air barrages from the dozens of ships patrolling the area.

If the little flier had been alone it would have easily cleared the mountain top, but this one had a passenger. A single Trilobyle shaped passenger; The great shaper’s last attempt to establish a foothold for their kind. It took damage from the shrapnel during its escape, and by carrying the extra weight it had completely exhausted itself, but despite the hardships it had made it to the intended destination.

As it glided lower, heading towards the location that was burned into its brain. A stealth hive hidden deep within this valley, obscured from orbital scans by several rocky outcroppings and a large overhang. 

It didn’t have enough energy to land correctly, so instead it slammed into the rocks right outside the entrance, then folded its body around the tiny passenger. The Model-One knew its life didn’t matter, only the passenger needed to survive. 

The pair tumbled several times, leaving a bloody trail behind them, before finally skidding to a stop. Once they had, the Trilobyte shaped genetic messenger pushed its way out of the mangled embrace of what was left of its ride and skittered into the tunnel. 

The Model-One-O had done its job, now the messenger needed to perform its own and re-awaken the hive, supercharge its development, and hopefully develop a replacement for its host form. 

It only got a couple feet into the tunnel when something stepped out, blocking its advance. Before it could even register what it was, a massive fuzzy foot smashed down, splattering the Gene Tender’s last gambit.

“That’s what you get for hurting my friend,” Bob growled, before rubbing his foot against the cave wall in order to scrape away the remains.

[I crushed the thing, it came crawling right through the main entrance, like the boss said,] Bob declared over the network.

[Good. Fuck that thing,] Bandit replied. [After everything the boss has been through the last few weeks, I’m glad we can put an end to its final remnant. I can’t believe the stupid thing ran straight into us.]

[Well, the Tender probably didn’t know the Boss had ordered us to sweep this area in case it tried to escape back this way,] Deadbeat said. [I’m just glad we were in the right area when she contacted us. I just wish I’d been at that entrance, so I could have delivered the finishing blow myself.]

[It wasn't satisfying,] Bob grumbled. [I didn’t even need to punch it, just step on it. I wanted it to fight back.]

[The important thing is you took care of it,] Bandit said. [And now that it's gone, all we need to do is finish cleaning up here and we can head back to Bear Force One to check on Heavy.]

[That’s right, so stop slacking off. Let’s get the charges placed and goopify this thing,] Deadbeat said. [It’s time to head home.]

[Yeah,] Bob muttered, stepping out and staring at the cloudless sky. A small smile spread across his muzzle. [Let’s go home.]

It's a short one today, but hopefully satisfying. Early on I'd spread the seeds of the squad combing the mountains, and toyed with the thought that the Tender escaped again only to run into a massive Bear based gunline. That didn't feel satisfying (and the story stretched on WAY longer than I expected) so I went for this instead. A small reminder of what they were doing, and actually wrapping up the Gene Tender arc. At least, for now. :)