Liin Terallo
and
Ova Ziss
pulled through for Mr. Usher on Dantooine and it was time for him to return the favor.
The facility was sure to be lost, and he already had accepted the loss of biomass for the planet, but he needed to put up enough of a fight to cost them, to put a seed of doubt into the Dark Empire's plans if they pursued the corporation further.
A wave of mercenaries drew closer, led by the ferocious assault of some armored and scaled ssi-ruuk mercenary, and were nearly at the blaster-scorched Crater that was the threshold into the main facility.
The light shut down. Backup systems from internal batteries lit up the interior in flashes of crimson, and power supply to the automated defenses and shielding faltered.
The well-dressed husk and several of the blaster- armed, weaker humanoid Husks stepped together, living flesh unwinding and melding together into a moderately sized prowler, lighter than a hulk, stronger than the fodder that was the bulk of the other husks.
"Alright, meatbags - let's do this" the pinstriped prowler said, just condensing biomass to the leg muscle and bone density and leaping up to the dark ceiling above, clinging to the dark surface ambush the incoming flood of mercs hopped up on combat-stims. Below the remainder weaker husk of the hive mind, dressed like security personnel, took cover and began firing their blasters at the invading flood of mercs.
WEST FLANK
Tags:
Xoff Chantin
,
Jakharl
The plasma rocket from Jakharl kicked up dust, ice, blood, and bone. It blasted through bone and chitin, blowing out a significant chunk of meaty biomass of the hulk, leave a semicircular crater a meter in radius on the side of the husk, exposing unnatural and alien organs within.
The hulk knitted the crater shut rapidly at the expense of more biomass, losing almost a quarter of its mass in one blow - that was not sustainable. Mr. Usher went on the offensive, sprouting dozens of prehensile tendrils of musculature from the crater that bone once protected. It let out a gurgling roar as it rushed the enforcers at the crest of the hill, blaster fire charring away precious biomass all the while.
The tendrils seized one of Xoff's enforcers and lifted them overhead - the bulky nikto tries to cut itself free with a spare knife, but Mr. Usher's hulk tore the enforcer in half, separating the pelvis and below from the ribcage and let the entails spill into the crater, blood and viscera grabbed by smaller tendrils to feed the biomass as the enforcer watched themselves be consumed by the hulk in horror during their final moments.
The two halves of the enforcer were hurled as with great force as projectiles, one at the fleeing
Xoff Chantin
and the other at the greater threat, the gank assassin
Jakharl
.
The hulk, barely recovering enough biomass to make up for the cost of sealing the wound, pressed its charge.
When the power went down, Mr. Usher diverted a force of husks with cheap blasters and security outfits to check on the droids near the generator and what they found was an army of insectoids emerging from giant insectoid Serpent-like worms carving a path of destruction through the infrastructure towards the scene of the battle. The husks combined didn't have enough biomass to form a hulk, and a prowler wouldn't be practical, mr. Usher coordinates them in unison with their weak humanoid forms and relied on the blasters, setting up hit-and-run ambushes with several smaller fireteams - the only advantage he had on this front was the instant communication and coordination of his hive mind - and with a lack of knowledge about the enemy, that may not even be an advantage against the insectoids.
Ambushes, traps, and several attempts to corner and consume the smaller, 5 foot tall insectoids to get a better knowledge of how they operated were a priority, otherwise the best he could hope for is to slow them down and buy himself time to fend off other front's as long as possible.
Mr. Usher combined one fireteams to intercept the leader - it would be no match, but a taunting match and duel might buy time. The denser husk, humanoid in shape, procured it's own polearm, a poleaxe comprised of an elongated spine and sharp bone blate with enamel serrations like the incisors of a tooth. Keratin to form claws as a spiked tip and rear hammer.
This warrior-husk approached alone through a path cleared by maneuvering the fireteams to lure insectoids.
Mr. Usher stood before the massive, glaive wielding insectoid that seemed to be their champion. He lifted his poleaxe in and issued a challenge in a choice of four voices speaking in unison,
"Fight me!"
The three starfighters were found out, and the hijacking shuttles were all spent. The majority of the mercenary shuttles fought only to distract the three and assist the drop ships in landing, and Mr. Usher had to come up with something. None of the starfighters were particularly well equipped. The more elegant, well maintained ships of the empire hung back - perhaps he could sow discord among the two.
Each Starfighter took to a different objective. The first took evasive maneuvers and rushed into the mercenary squadron to attack the personnel carriers, engines blasted away in the process, losing power to their blasters. In a gambit, the Starfighter flew directly into the personnel freighter acting as a criminal drop ship - if the pilot husk survived, mr. Usher would guide it inside and ambush the infantry - perhaps it could consume enough of the mercenaries that the reinforcements they expected were his husks instead. A risky maneuver.
The second starship disengaged, burning its engines hot to flyby the facility to the eastern flank. Mr. Usher hoped to buy enough time on the ground to provide air support against the insectoids of
XaraXunia
and the giant worms.
The third starship flew towards the Empire's fleet, a lone Starfighter containing a self-replicating ravenous hive mind. The chances of this having any effect were minimal, but if he could somehow hail the Empire's ships and dock the Starfighter, he might be able to take the fighting to the inside of their destroyers with their own troops.
Mr. Usher hailed the imperial comms with the consumed merc's starship. This would likely result in a quick destruction of the starship, but the reward was worth the risk.
Within the terrarium, the slightly larger than hand-sized critter connected to Mr. Usher's hive mind involuntarily convulsed, sympathetically feeling the pain of the Hive-mind with each loss of biomass, falling to its side and writhing at the precise moment the plasma rocket of
Jakharl
exploded.
The critter was under no serious harm, or risk of death, but Mr. Usher had given it simple receptors and reward receptors connected to drones on Mygeeto - a one-way means of communication to share the battle's progress without the logistical and ethical issues of having a biological eye and earpiece in Liin's study. An odd thing for the sithspawn Mnggal-Mnggal recreation to value, but somewhere in the hive mind was the remnants of the test subject of decades past, personality intertwined with the nether devil he hosted.
