The relentless roar of plasma and shadow missiles reverberated across the battlefield as the Giza Mtuji's fighters and bombers hammered the Krymaloth, the ancient worm lashing wildly in its death throes. Explosions burst against its segmented carapace, and beams of energy streaked through the air, carving scars across the beast's massive form. But no matter how fiercely they struck, the creature fought with a primal rage rooted in millennia of designed destruction.
High above the chaos, Shailia clutched her comm-link, her voice calm but urgent.
"Giza Mtuji, this is Shailia. The Kazi are evacuating. Send transport ships immediately coordinate with Tano and the team on the ground. We need to get everyone off this planet now."
On her side of the channel, Tano also keyed in. His voice was calm but firm, layered with years of experience.
"Giza Mtuji, this is Tano. We're requesting immediate extraction for the diplomatic squad and the Kazi. Proceed with evacuation protocol now. The surface is unstable, and this beast isn't going down quietly."
A moment of static crackled, then the ship's reply:
"Copy that. Launching shuttles 10 minutes maximum. Hold tight."
Shailia and Tano exchanged a fleeting glance, knowing time was running out. There was no room for hesitation; every second counted as the Krymaloth thrashed against both their fighters' fire and the planet's fractured crust.
Victory at a Cost the support shuttles, sleek and shadow-cloaked, streaked toward the planet's trembling surface. As they descended rapidly, Saumu watched from the command deck, her brow furrowed as her senses picked up the chaos below.
Rivers of molten rock carved paths across the crust, volcanic ash billowed into the sky, and the entire planet shook with violent seismic activity. The Krymaloth roared one last, mighty cry a visceral sound of rage and finality before its colossal body lurched inward, collapsing upon itself.
Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the creature's final act an omnidirectional wave of energy unleashed in a desperate last-ditch effort to destroy everything. The surface erupted in cataclysmic devastation, igniting a chain reaction of nuclear-like blasts and tearing open fissures that crackled with radioactive energy.
"It was designed to do this," Kia's voice came through the comms with a grave tone. "A biological doomsday device, a failsafe embedded eons ago by the Silent Ones. Once awakened, it spreads destruction unstoppable a weapon of planetary erasure."
Saumu's fists clenched at the sight of the barren wasteland now spreading beneath her. This was no victory only the grim realization of what the ancient Krymaloth had been bred to do.
"Leave nothing behind," she ordered, voice cold and commanding. "Blast the remains, burn what parts of it can be destroyed. This world is forever lost an uninhabitable grave."
The last of the support shuttles piloted by her officers lifted off the surface, engines roaring as they tore free from the chaos and vanished into space, the planet's landscape melting into a steaming, radioactive wasteland behind them.
Reflections from the Command Deck as the fleet withdrew, Saumu looked back at the devastated world, shoulders tense with the burden of victory. Her eyes darted to the monitors showing the barren inferno what was once a thriving hive-world now reduced to a desolate, scorched ruin.
"We've neutralized the threat," she muttered to herself, voice hollow. "But we've paid a terrible price for it."
Beside her, Kizito stepped forward. His expression was grim.
"This was never a victory," he said quietly. "It was annihilation perfection in destruction, a test of our strength and resolve. The Silent Ones knew that this was the only way to keep this world from rising again."
Saumu nodded slowly, her heart heavy with the weight of her duty. She watched as the last shuttles disappeared into the void, leaving behind only ash and silence, a stark reminder that some enemies some secrets came with a cost far greater than victory.