Sammy led the squad as they advanced deeper into the middle level of the ziggurat. She had switched her utility weapon to a double shield that stood five foot tall and three wide effectively protecting them from any frontal attack. Behind her Jones and Han were positioned over either shoulder ready to fire forwards if needed. Rodriguez had scouted ahead, activating the cloaking upgrade on his armour while wielding twin blades that could kill silently if he had the opportunity or need. That left Elias as rearguard and support.

As a rough rule the ziggurat would hold ten of the highest power Swarm along with the Hive in the upper level. This number would then multiply by ten each level down from the top with the age, diversity and power of the Swarm decreasing at the lower levels. The thousand Swarm already killed on their approach meant the lowest level was quite empty as the elite squads moved in to map and clear the passages and rooms within. They found three stairwells up to the next level so Macon had selected three of the elite squads to clear the rest of the Swarm deeper in.

Knowing there would only be one way up to the final level and wanting to make the most of the company bonuses for kills within the ziggurat and killing the Hive Elias volunteered their group to carry on rather than remain behind and supervise the recruits with the salvage of the Swarm bodies. As they easily cleared the third room of another twenty Swarm he was feeling quite pleased with the decision.

"What are your battery levels?" He asked the group.

"Twenty on shield and fifty on armour." Said Sammy, prompting Elias to pass forward a spare.

"Seventy and seventy-five." Came the reply from Han.

"Thirty and seventy." Replied Jones.

"Damn Jones, what are you shooting at? There were only twenty of them. It's called aiming." Han fired back at him when he heard the numbers.

Elias tried not to join in with another easy insult at Jones and simply handed another battery pack forward with a shrug. He had another five spares and Rodriguez carried two for his cloaking so they should be fine. Thinking of Rodriguez Elias looked at the maze like internal structure of the level and looked at the options that were already mapped out by his scouting. The left hand exit from the room they were in was a deadend and he had not returned from mapping the right hand exit. So there was only really one choice, the only question being whether they waited for Rodriguez to return before carrying on.

"Let's carry on, only one way to go." Said Elias, pointing for Sammy to lead out of the room. Ten metres later, stood at a crossroads he regretted the decision. There was the sound of gunfire mixed with the hiss and click of Swarm coming from their left but leaving the crossroads meant potentially allowing themselves to be encircled or missing Rodriguez on his return. Given that they could easily leave a marker for Rodriguez, it was more the encircling that worried Elias. However, they were experienced enough to be able to read the sounds of a fight and knew this one was going in the Swarm's favour without help.

Knowing it wouldn't be long before Rodriguez returned Elias took a risk.

"Sammy, wait here and hold the corridor. Jones, Han - with me. Han take point, switch to melee."

The group quickly followed the instructions and found themselves heading down a roughly hewn corridor with several side passages leading off deeper in to the ziggurat.

"Fuck, fuck. This does not feel good." Said Jones, looking over his shoulders as they ignored the corridors to get to the fight ahead.

The first mistake was made by Han, who stumbled on a rough patch on the floor. One of the Swarm leapt at Han as he corrected his stance; hooking its central legs over his shield leaving the front pair free to attack. Just as the razor sharp pincers were about to connect, a blast from his right threw the creature backwards.

“Thanks Jones.” Breathed Han as he corrected his shield to stop the same happening again. “I owe you.”

“We will all owe each other before this is through,” Came the reply “but don’t count on a save like that again, I’m switching to melee. We’re too enclosed here.”

"Yeah, fuck that I'm switching to a bigger shield too." Said Han, switching to a tower shield similar to Sammys.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Aim right.” Shouted Elias as they ran into a room to find another squad already encircled by a ring of Swarm. Han acknowledged the suggestion and altered the angle of the group as the first of the larger creatures rushed to meet them.

Armed with a hammer and blade it lunged towards Han and hissed in anger as his power shield turned away the blow. Jones darted in to deflect the follow up made with its blade allowing Han to move further in and closer to the nearby trio fighting their own Swarm. Han continued to use his larger shield to protect against the hammer while Jones and Elias had to simultaneously watch their flanks and the blade the larger Swarm was wielding.

The slow crabbing towards their comrades suddenly freed Elias from watching his flank and allowed them to overwhelm the Swarm. Elias used his shield to defend from the blade and then was free to dart in towards the joins of the Swarm's exoskeleton. Soon the blade-like appendage had been amputated and the Swarm had no defence against more and more aggressive attacks to its body and head. Soon all the nearby Swarm were dead. Leaving all six of them trying to catch their breath.

“Thanks guys.” Came a voice on the general channel. Elias turned to see the member nearest him was giving a thumbs up. "We decided to split up to cover more ground, stupid idea in retrospect." He added before pointing around Elias's group and adding "Where's the rest of your squad?"

It was fortunate that there were only two entrances to the room where they had fought the Swarm and that the new group had cleared everything other than the direction Elias had come from. They shared the mapping data which updated Elias's display showing over two thirds of the level mapped. Given that they were heading in the same direction all six joined together to clear the side passages back to where Sammy was waiting.

"I like the look Han, very stylish." She said, gesturing to his shield that mimicked hers.

"It's actually quite useful, but you know I prefer something with a little more oomph." Replied Han, pulling apart the two grips so he was dual wielding smaller shields and then switching them into pistols that he span around his index fingers.

"Mine's bigger." Said Jones, switching back to his rifle again.

"Cut the chatter guys, we have a job to do and I'd rather spend tonight back at Greenway than explaining to Macon why we need to spend a night out here finishing off." Said Elias.

"Just tell her that finishing off takes some of us a little longer than others." Came the quick reply from Han.

The whole group laughed as Elias ignored him and checked in with Rodriguez for another update to the map. It turned out Rodriguez had bumped into the third squad on clearance duty so they now had the whole floor mapped and the final chamber leading up to the upper level was down one of the corridors where Sammy had been waiting.

"How many Swarm in the last room?" Elias asked.

"Maybe fifteen, mostly standard but a couple of Spitters by the stair." Rodriguez replied.

"That it? Are you sure?" Elias checked.

"Yeah. Have those Spitters got you riled up? They're all we have seen that is higher level or specialist, probably just an early mutation rather than a higher level Hive." Said Rodriguez.

Elias nodded in reply, he was probably right. There had been nothing else that was actually a challenge so far. Going in with the extra men from the other squad would help, if those were the actual numbers it should be quite simple to take the room.

"Which company are you boys from?" He asked politely to the newcomers.

"ReCid." Came the reply from the one Elias presumed was the leader of their squad. "Look, I know why you're asking and we're only contracted to clear this level anyway. From the look of you you're here with Xanon Corps. It's them and Cloud Six that are bankrolling this operation we were just here to make up the numbers."

"Read my mind," said Elias "we need the Hive for a bonus so no offence if we don't take you up with us. You want to join on the fun in the final chamber though?"

"Hell yes." One of the other men in their group said.

After a brief discussion on skills and positions the whole group sped down the corridor and into the chamber leading to the top level. Elias and Jones focused on downing one Spitter each, not a particularly hard target now that they weren't protected by the dome. The others spread out and overwhelmed the Swarm with gunfire. It was a bit of a disappointment compared to the more exhilarating fights in the smaller corridors and rooms.

Elias sent Rodriguez up to scout the top layer of the ziggurat. He wasn't surprised that the layout of a big open chamber quickly pinged back onto his map. Given the Spitter mutation the Swarm were going to try and defend from afar. This might have been a good tactic against other Swarm Hives but would be useless against his squad with energy weapons. There was enough space on the stairs for Elias and Jones to join either side of Rodriguez. Kneeling three steps from the top gave them the perfect angle to shoot down all the Spitters before they even had to consider ducking to avoid a retaliatory attack.

They swept into the room. Elias left and Jones right while Rodriguez continued to cover from the stairs. They checked the room was clear before allowing the others up into the room.

"Where is it then?" Said Jones. "I always wanted to see a Hive in the flesh."

Elias waved him over to look at a bloated Swarm that was glaring at him with a keen intelligence behind its eyes. They watched as it tried to copy the rearing motion of the Spitters but with too heavy a head instead ended up drooling acid onto the floor in front of it instead.

"Amazing really. With all that strength and ability that all the others follow commands from this." Spat Jones.

"Can't deny it works." Said Elias. "They built all this up in a season. Greenway has been there, what, five years and it's only twice the size." He raised his rifle and shot several rounds into the Hive's head.

"Come on, there's another bonus for taking the Crystal intact, anyone want to give it a go?" Elias asked, looking up towards the fist sized crystal that was hanging from the centre of the ceiling giving off a faint blue glow.

"Let me." Said Han taking a grapple rope out of his pack and starting to swing it around to gain momentum. He managed to hook the grapple in behind one of the support struts that held the crystal in place and then climbed the rope so he was in reach of it. He prised it loose with great care.

"Fucking cracked. Ah well." Han shouted down as he shimmied down the rope. "Not worth it anyway."

A Hive attuned Crystal didn't really have any extra value than as a collectors item and they were notoriously easy to break. It was often easier to shoot down to destroy the dome rather than take the effort of bringing it out whole. The real prize in the room would be any Shards that the Swarm had collected and left ready to feed the Crystal. The group did little more than a quick sweep to find the stash before sitting down to rest and wait for the clean up crew to arrive. As a company contracted team they were working for a wage, not percentage cut. It wasn't worth the hassle and mess of trying to harvest any minor Shards from the higher level Swarm in the room. Leave that to someone lower down the payscale.