Hive horrors desolate every world in the Se'Tar system before they come for Seht, home world of the Qugu. They split the sky above the great Mountain. Tomb Ships and Rippers spill from the tear. Endless, their assaults erode the diminishing might of the united Qugu armada.

Te'Qal commands all remaining Qugu fighters in one massive fleet. Thousands of war craft concentrated above Seht's planetary defense installations to secure their sacred Mountain groves. It was enough to deter a frontal assault, enough to protect the final stages of Seht's evacuation.

Hive and Qugu battlegroups skirmish just outside Seht's Karman line, just outside the range of hundreds of ground-based rail cannons. Te'Qal maneuvers the Qugu fleet to prod at Hive flanks without advancing on them. They must be cautious not to overcommit and be enveloped by the throng of Hive ships emerging from the tear. They want to draw the Hive outward from the planet to deter, to scatter, before folding back to the safety of their own defensive installations; larger destroyers exchange heavy fire with Tomb Ships, swarms of Hive Rippers chase dancing Qugu murmurations that beam searing fusion energy in twisting displays.

It is a distracting spectacle that will not last.

Below the blockade of war vessels, Qugu ark-ships gouge acres of grove land from the surface of Seht, lifting their sacred soil and ferrying it to the other side of the planet to await escort from danger. They prepare to journey to the last remaining gate, one that will take the Qugu to a new star.

Te'Qal manipulates tendrils within their command sleeve and watches large craft and individual combat-sleeve pilots fly in tandem; Te'Qal lives their experiences from the frenzy of battle to the deadened hopelessness of silence. They feel a warship buckling under axion bombardments, and focus their intent upon its battlegroup, weaving combat-sleeve fighters and shield drones between the warship and several aggressing Tomb Ships. Te'Qal projects their presence through the combat sleeve of a dead captain and leads a squadron on a counter run against incoming Hive Rippers. They assess the balance as the warship shifts deeper into the safety of their murmuration, to be replaced by fresher guns from the interior fleet.

"Why do they not commit their entire force?" Je'Gana asks impatiently, in concert with Te'Qal. Their ship poised near the center of the command fleet. "They must know by now their numbers can overwhelm our installations."

"They do not attack because they do not have to. They lay wait-traps to bleed us. Are you so eager?" Te'Qal feels Je'Gana's thirst for vengeance. "We defend the groves."

"And sacrifice Seht." Je'Gana's bitterness furrows Te'Qal's beak. "I feel them dying too."

Te'Qal lets the battle fade from their eyes and looks to the distant ark-ships collecting groves on Seht. "I once thought I was destined to avert this doom. But I mistook that guidance. I was only meant to prepare us for it." Te'Qal impresses this perspective onto Je'Gana through the Will-weaver. "Victory is never of singular meaning. Seht will burn. The Qugu may continue, together."

"If we press now…" Je'Gana pushes back, eyeing the growing reserve of Hive ships slipping through the tear. "Implode the Omen as we did above—"

A Hive flagship breaches the tear. A circlet of bleached white bone, shaped by death and cunning.

The strange ship moves to settle high above the Mountain of Seht, Tomb Ships change course to buffer its advance into the atmosphere as runes of jade flame burst around them, dissolving into obfuscating smoke.

Qugu planetary rail cannons open fire, shredding any Tomb Ships bold enough to skirt the atmosphere and position themselves between their flagship and Seht. Amidst the destruction, the Hive flagship begins amassing a singularity of soulfire at its hollow center.

In the chaos between rail-cannon volleys, Te'Qal sees a break in the Tomb Ship lines and directs hundreds of combat sleeves through the opening like a fusion spear. The ring ship releases legions of Rippers and their forces become entangled in battle, but enough of an opening is held to maneuver the armada's right flank into the gap like a fulcrum. Te'Qal applies pressure; hails of fusion beam energy trade blows with a storm of axion projectiles raining from the enemy ships. When evenly matched in numbers, Te'Qal's superior tactics pick the Hive forces apart. Their efforts pry the defensive Hive line open wide enough for the Qugu rail cannons to thread shots at the circlet-shaped flagship.

Te'Qal directs a command group to plunge below the Hive ships, pivot, and surge upward through their center to sever them from reinforcements. If they can isolate the flagship, hold it within range of their rail cannons for only a few minutes, it could be enough to bring it down and halt the assault.

For a moment, this idea holds true. The Hive forces are bisected. Their reinforcements rout and scatter as Tomb Ships fall to Seht's vengeful rail-cannon fire. Te'Qal is careful to keep their most distant ships close enough to recall to the main fleet should the Hive turn and counter.

The Hive flagship detonates its collected soulfire without warning, sending a shockwave through its own ships, the Qugu fleet, and the planet Seht. Hundreds of ships are lost in the wave, Hive and Qugu alike, while those that remain intact struggle to repower their systems.

On the surface of Seht, the Mountain quakes. Great slabs of encrusted stone slough from its sides and crash into the sacred death-groves below, burying the defensive installations and last few ark-ships still diligently working to save their ancestral grounds.

As dust settles, the Mountain shows a new face of deep black skin with carved trenches of resonating energy. A pulse blasts from the Mountain's base, razing the surrounding landscape and decimating the heart of Qugu civilization. The thing the Hive had torn from the Mountain groans as it slowly lifts into the sky, rising to meet the Hive flagship.

Te'Qal wrestles order back to the fleet and reconsolidates their forces, assuming direct control of entire battlegroups where necessary. The sight of Seht's upended crust burns into Te'Qal's memory. Gaps in the fleet meet Te'Qal with their absence. The silence from the surface washes over them. Te'Qal realizes they no longer feel Je'Gana. The old, lonely, fear trickles between beats of silence.

The invasion advances toward the rising, dark, pyramid that was once the Mountain. They blare roaring jubilation from their ships, howling at the desecration of the Qugu Mountain. As the Hive descend upon Seht, Te'Qal orders a retreat.

Frozen in extinguishing fear, in the silent scream of sacrilegious abandonment, in the paralytic end, the Qugu leave what remains of Seht to the Hive.