The Hivebust of Bravelle was a mission undertaken by Team Scorpio to destroy the Swarm Hive located in Bravelle.
Prelude[]
In 42 A.E., Colonel Victor Hoffman came up with the plan of using specialized Hivebuster Gear squads in order to destroy Swarm Hives from the inside using Venom Bombs created from the deadly gas recovered from the New Hope Research Facility. However, First Minister Mina Jinn insisted upon using DeeBees instead and the disagreement between the two forced Hoffman into retirement. Nevertheless, Hoffman put together a rogue operation with the help of Doctor Hana Cole and Major Donneld Mathieson. Mathieson helped Hoffman to select Team Scorpio for the mission: Lance Corporal Jeremiah Keegan of the Onyx Guard, Lieutenant Lahni Kaliso of the 81st "Brash" Brigade and Outsider Leslie "Mac" Macallister who had lost his family to the Swarm.
Transported to the South Islands, Scorpio helped Hana enhance her Venom Bombs with the venom of the Wakaatu in order to make them more effective against the Swarm. Once the new bombs and Adrenaline Injectors were complete,[1] Scorpio embarked upon a Hivebust of the Swarm Hive on Pahanu, a mission that successfully saw the Hive destroyed.[2]
After their success, Hoffman offered a Mac a new mission: to destroy the Swarm Hive in his home village of Bravelle, the Hive having destroyed Bravelle and the nearby town of Croya, killing Mac's entire family in the process. Mac accepted the mission and Keegan and Lahni chose to join him despite Hoffman offering to find replacements for them.[2]
Mac had Tak drop Scorpio in Croya due to his father making it so that COG aircraft couldn't approach Bravelle. As Scorpio made their way through Croya, they located Mac's old Rat Truck Mister Reliable which he repaired, but inadvertently drew the attention of the Swarm in the process. Scorpio were able to escape the Swarm in Mister Reliable, but wrecked the truck a few miles from Croya after an encounter with a Swarm Flock.[3][4]
Order of Battle[]
A Trip Down Memory Lane[]
As Team Scorpio continued down the road towards Bravelle, Keegan told the others about his time stationed in Halvo Bay working at a supply depot before he joined the Onyx Guard and Mac summarized that Keegan was a delivery driver which he realized Mac was right about even though Keegan had never thought about it that way before. Keegan told the other two about how that quiet before the storm was a strange time with people too afraid to make too much noise lest they draw the Locust to them.
Keegan explained that during the Destruction of Halvo Bay, he was guarding a supply depot when a unit of Onyx Guards arrived looking for supplies. Seeing that they needed help, Keegan helped the Onyx Guards out and after they survived, was recruited. However, Keegan was sent to Azura to protect high society such as Chairman Richard Prescott and survived the war because he was safe from it a thousand miles away from his brothers and sisters that were fighting. Keegan admitted that he didn't feel right most days that he was still alive which Mac agreed with.
Scorpio came across the wrecked vehicles from the the fight where Mac had lost his family. Mac admitted that he wished that he had a backup team the likes of Scorpio during the attack as it might've given the story a happier ending. Mac climbed into his old truck as Keegan tried to comfort Mac that he'd done what he could, but Mac felt that it didn't really matter as the story was written long before he'd had a say and that it was always gonna end that way. Mac retrieved his old Major Howl action figure from the truck and told the others that Bravelle was just ahead.
As Mac began walking towards Bravelle,[4] Lahni reminded him that she saw what happened during the ambush and that Mac's people had fought and made the Swarm pay for what they stole.[2] Mac shrugged off Lahni's efforts and told her that he needed to know how his story ended and walked away. Keegan told Lahni to let him and that he knew that sometimes you had to travel that path in your head for awhile and that it took a man time to find where he fit in the world after or if he even did anymore.
Shortly thereafter, Scorpio arrived outside of Bravelle and Keegan admired the beauty of it. Lahni suggested that once they wiped out the Swarm Hive, Mac could settle in the village again, but he refuted the idea as the Swarm had taken everything that had made Bravelle home to him. Mac stated that home was not about the place but the people which Keegan agreed with. Mac stated that having Lahni and Keegan with him was enough and that it was time to get payback on the Swarm in the company of good people.
Scorpio made their way through Bravelle towards the bunker, but Mac stopped the team when they arrived outside of his old house and went in alone, sat in his son's room, played with Dillon's Major Howl toy and looked at his old Major Howl and the Battlin' Ants! book. Outside, Keegan and Lahni discussed her time in the Brash Brigade hunting down the Locust survivors after the detonation of the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon. Lahni insisted that the bond they developed doing so was why she had to return to her unit. Mac emerged and informed the others that they were clear and that the road to the bunker was straight ahead. Lahni asked if he had found what he was looking for, but Mac admitted that he hadn't that day.[4]
Destroying the Hive[]
Reaching the old COG bunker, Mac opened the door for Scorpio and explained that it still had power because like the rest of Bravelle, they ran the power systems through their generator in the waterfall. Inside, Scorpio found out that the Swarm Hive had spread into the bay on the other side of the door.
Recognizing that they probably didn't have long, Scorpio donned their Adrenaline Injectors and Mac explained that the bunker went down ten sublevels. However, the Outsiders had looted the supplies from the first seven levels and never came across the Swarm so the Hive had to be deeper down. As Keegan wondered how long they would have to wait before the Swarm showed up, three Snatchers arrived. Scorpio then allowed themselves to be captured by the Snatchers.[4]
Podded by the Swarm, Mac dreamt of his son which Lahni and Keegan witnessed through their connection due to being connected to the Swarm Hivemind by the pods. Awakened by his injector, Mac cut himself loose as did Keegan and Lahni but was left consumed with memories of the deaths of his family and friends in the Swarm attack. Mac told Lahni and Keegan that they were all that he had left along with all of the pain he felt and Lahni told him they were going to do something about it. Keegan set their Venom Bombs and as they started to leave, declared that the destruction of the Hive would be for Dillon.
With their bombs set, Scorpio began fighting their way out of the Hive through the Swarm forces defending it. The Venom Bombs detonated and engulfed the Hive with its gas as Scorpio fought their way towards the surface. Scorpio successfully made it to the surface and slammed shut the door leading deeper into the bunker behind them. However, in the vehicle bay, they encountered a Warden.[5]
Although Scorpio quickly opened fire, they were unable to harm the Warden who struck at them with his Breaker Maces, sending Keegan and Mac flying. The Warden wounded Mac's leg and Keegan's chest when Keegan attempted to come to Mac's aid. As the Warden prepared to kill Mac, Lahni jumped on him from behind and stabbed the Warden in the neck with her Combat Knife, wounding him. Enraged, the Warden grabbed Lahni by the throat and held her in front of him as Keengan opened fire with a Snub Pistol and Lahni kept stabbing at the Warden.
Getting an idea, Mac ordered Keegan to keep the Warden busy and as the Swarm creature strangled Lahni, Keegan managed to shoot off the Warden's helmet and wound him in the mouth. Enraged, the Warden released Lahni and charged Keegan who continued firing and ordered her to get out of there. As the Warden got face to face with Keegan, he ran out of ammunition and was about to be killed by the Warden. However, Mac drove one of the Rat Trucks in the bay at the Warden, rammed him through the bunker wall, outside and into another wall below. Mac told the laughing Warden that he'd stolen Mac's life and that "his name was Dillon" before stabbing the Warden through the left eye through the truck's shattered window, killing him.
Lahni helped Mac out of the truck and reassured him that Mac got the Warden and saved her and Keegan's lives. Although Lahni didn't know how to feel about Mac being her personal hero,[6] he told her that they were even for Lahni saving him from his Pod when his injector failed on Pahanu.[2] All injured by their fight with the Warden, Scorpio helped each other limp away as the gas from the Venom Bombs emerged from the bunker, having completely destroyed the Swarm Hive.[6]
Return to Croya[]
Mac led Lahni and Keegan to a garage where the car he and Amanda had rebuilt together was stored. Mac told the others that the car was largely responsible for Amanda leaving him and that Dillon was the only collaboration that they ever had any success with. Although Keegan considered the car a success from looking at it, Mac revealed that it was only a bucket of rust with an overhauled engine when Amanda stole it from him. While Mac could make things run, Amanda could make them look good. With a five mile drive back to Croya and an injured leg, Mac offered Lahni the chance to drive which led to Keegan complaining when she drove like a maniac.
Approaching Croya, Scorpio spotted Swarm still alive on the ridge and realized that destroying the Hive didn't kill the outside Swarm, thus proving wrong[6] Hana Cole's theory that destroying the Hive would kill all of the Swarm connected to it.[2] As a result, Lahni and Keegan knew that it meant that they would have to go after more Hives.
Mac drew the others attention to the Swarm Flock that they had previously escaped[3][4] approaching from behind. Stopping, Scorpio opened fire on the attacking Flock and managed to destroy it, completing their mission.[6]
Aftermath[]
Team Scorpio was extracted by Tak in his King Raven Mark 2. On the King Raven, Mac admitted that although he had expected to have some relief from destroying the Hive, it didn't really feel any different to him. Dillon was still gone but in all of the madness, Mac had found a way to hold him again where he was not just a memory anymore but alive, even for a moment. Mac informed the others that he intended to stay and continue helping Hoffman to destroy Hives because every time he did, Mac got to see his boy again. Mac asked Lahni and Keegan, all that he had left in the world, to stay and help him and they both agreed.[6]
Appearances[]
- Hivebusters (First appearance)
References[]
| Battles of the Swarm Invasion | ||
|---|---|---|
| 42 A.E. | Rescue of Fort Umson (Ambush of Fort Umson · Assault on the Stroud Estate · Mission to Fort Reval · Battle of Osmium Mine Bravo · Mission to the Tollen Dam · Skirmish in Speyer · Assault on the Tollen Dam) · Skirmish in the Wilds · Ambush on South Village · Mission to Fort Umson · Mission to Orzabal Crater · Mission to South Village · Mission to Azura Research Facility · Evacuation of Settlement 2 · Ambush of Bravelle · Ambush of Croya · Ambush of Holdstead Croft · Ambush of Five Pines · Ambush of Pasco's Village · Mission to Great Seran Rend · Skirmish on the Jacinto Plateau · Ambush of Riftworm Village · Second Mission to New Hope · Incursions in Kadar Valley · Mission to Mount Kadar Laboratory · Mission to OZP-11 · Battle of Old Ephyra · Skirmish in Pahanu · Hivebuster Offensive (Hivebust of Sanctum · Mission to Weilehi · Mission to the Wakaatu Nest · Hivebust of Pahanu · Mission to Croya · Hivebust of Bravelle) | |