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But while the Moturin Compound would resist the Khul’s attempts to enter, at least for a time, there were other small residential buildings nearby. Though Jace had sent the AIs to strengthen their defenses, unlike the Compound, there were no great shields that would keep them safe. The Khul would be able to get inside.

Jace could almost imagine it now. The Khul, finding their way into the Moturin Compound blocked, would take prisoners. They would release those prisoners if only Jace would be handed over to them. They wouldn’t infect a living soul so long as they had the Pilot.

That would be a lie, of course. Even if they turned him over, at least, one of their kind would secrete themselves on Haseon, in Ylore’s secret places, and infect the populace. It would be an unforgettable lesson for the Alliance: nowhere was safe and nothing could stop the Khul.

So there was only one course of action: none of the Khul could live. And those Hives above? They had to be utterly destroyed too. Then he’d have to do something about the Master Gates. But first… death.

“Jace?” Thammah called, using his name instead of title. “We really need to not have that happen. Haseon as a grave world--”

I won’t let that happen, Thammah, Jace assured her. We won’t. Now, I need you to guard that residential block. It’s the nearest one to the landing site. They’ll head there first. I know I likely don’t have to say this, but none of the Khul can live.

“Understood, Pilot,” she answered grimly.

We need to make them pay for doing this, Jace said, both to her and himself.

He heard--or more like sensed--her pulling back on the yolk and the deepening growl of the Paladin’s engines as she landed in a small square just outside of the nearest residential building. She set the ship to fire on any Khul that approached while she grabbed a draagves, rahir and some proximity mines and a belt full of chemical grenades that would eat through the Khul’s outer shells.

Never leaving the ship without those again, Jace thought.

Thammah hustled out of the ship and down the gangway. She set up the proximity mines all around the front entrance. Any Khul who made it that far would likely end up without some limbs.

The entrance was covered by a half-moon shaped section of calcanth. Once she was done mining, Thammah jumped up, grabbed the lip of the calcanth and pulled herself up onto the top of it. Then she laid low and rested the stock of the draagves on the covering’s edge. She was ready for whatever was going to come.

A curtain twitched open in one of the apartments up above. Jace immediately connected with the cameras and comms in that unit. He witnessed a female Thaf’ell he guessed to be a mother take down a rahir from where it proudly was resting on a stand. She unsheathed the glowing blade and looked across the room at her young daughter. The little girl was clutching the curtains as she peeked out into the street. The look on the mother’s face was one of determination. She would die before she’d let the Khul get to her daughter. Thammah and the rest would ensure that didn’t happen.

“Pilot, how many Khul are there on the planet?” Khoth asked.

Jace relished the sound of his lover’s voice. It calmed and anchored him. Ah, fifty remaining after Thammah’s run, or wait! Actually, 49 now after the doc’s kill.

“Fifty?” Jace heard Khoth’s dad breathe the word as he also shared the locations of the Khul with the control room as well as with Khoth and the others. “So many in one ship. That is not normal, surely!”

He’s right. It’s not normal, Jace, Gehenna informed him.

The Khul must have stuffed those ships to the gills. Wanted to make it harder for us to kill them all in time, Jace realized.

“It does not matter how many the Khul send. We will defeat them,” Amana’s voice was firm, but he heard the desire to be out there, doing something instead of just watching.

“But to have so few against so many!” Khoth’s father was understandably worried.

I’m sending everything we’re doing to the ground troops, Jace told them.

“We could send troops out,” Amana suggested.

No, two big reasons. We lower the shields, even for an instant and the Khul could get in. Second, the more people you send, the more chances the Khul have to infect someone. We can handle this until more help arrives, Jace told her, and he sincerely hoped that was true. If that changes, I will let you know.

“We will need to keep track of our kills and where those Khul are at all times,” Khoth said.

No problem! Got it covered! Jace assured him. The AIs are tracking and tagging. We’ll know everywhere they go and what their vital signs are.

“What is the plan for us?” Typhon asked.

I’m going to be dropping each of you off near a cluster of Khul. Jace said as he powered through the air, hiding his mech body behind as many tall buildings as he could.

“We normally fight in pairs,” Khoth said and he grimaced.

Because if one person gets infected the other will handle it? Jace guessed carefully.

“Yes, Pilot,” Khoth answered.