Heavy Metal (ORC Dominion of Subterrel)

[Iron Giant]

The Iron Giant was nothing if not observant. She saw an issue, she fixed an issue. Before she became old enough to be considered a veteran, before she was exiled, she had been the one responsible for solving the issue of weapon shortages. Then she was exiled because she wanted to resolve her issues with repetitive actions. Lastly, she saved her entire civilization even after they had completely turned their back on her, because to let them die was a problem for her. She hadn't done any of these things blindly, she knew the risks and consequences of each action, and executed them anyway because she knew ahead of time what was coming down her path.

So, as she lead her CybeResu kin in their tight formation towards the disturbance of unidentified creatures, she waited intently for the electric ping of her communicator. Something did come in, but what was supposed to be a message, came through utterly garbled. The electricity that danced through her flesh was meaningless, and tickled slightly. Something was a amiss. Perhaps her communicator was attempting to translate a language she had not encountered before? That would be an issue, she had very little other ability to communicate, and without communication their engagement would likely lead to conflict...

Iron Giant picked up heat signatures above, and directly in front of her as she rounded past the scrapped hull of another derelict starcraft in the hangar, at least one was crouched, slightly obscured by material but still glowing compared to the rest of the ship's ambient temperature in the hangar. The one above was also slightly obscured by material, but again, glowed brightly compared to their surroundings. She and her comrades were drawn to their heat, and also slightly relieved. They did not expect organics here, and their posture suggested defensiveness or fear, which meant they were not likely a threat so long as the CybeResu were not perceived as making the first move. Then, her translator buzzed across her slightly crystalline flesh beneath her armored carapace.

"Authority Coalition! Halt identify!" The words danced quickly across her mind, and she responded quickly as would be expected of her, just as she would expect others to immediately comply. She and her kin halted almost mid-stride, very closely in unison, following the example of Iron Giant.

"Authority Outer Rim Coalition, CybeResu Navigators Guild, CybeResu Security Guild, member Iron Giant. Advisory, electronic intelligence threat detected. Deny access, cautious approach." The electronic impassioned voice of a female vocalized across the hangar audibly from Iron Giant, rapidly firing out each individual word, all of them after a short flurry of electric buzzing from inside the metal carapace cybernetically attached to her. Atlas and Thaivi would also noticed that the CybeResu did not appear to be carrying any weapons, at least not traditional ones that were not already a part of them (such as their tusks). Hanging from what appeared to be a gravity belt attached to the constructed legs/torso of their environmental suit, were fusioncutters. They also had a variety of other devices that were less easily identified, but by most accounts, other than the sharp tusks jutting out of their mechanically covered heads, the CybeResu had come supposedly unarmed without blasters.

If for whatever reason Iron Giant's speech could not be heard, or was misinterpreted, Atlas might be weary of firing on creatures that were both unarmed and who also immediately complied to his command to halt.

[member="Thiavi"], [member="Atlas Drake"], [member="Servant"]

 

[Servant]

It seemed as though the offer being provided to the Republic forces was not great enough to coerce them into instant actions of violence. From a copse of starfighter corpses, the Tanuki host observed as the two armed forces came into contact with one another, and then immediately began vocal communication as opposed to immediate combat. Given that both of the forces were authoritarian enforcers or militant organizations, it seemed increasingly more unlikely that they would behave against one another following initial contact.

Given the relatively small size of the host, it was able to draw quite near to the organics, listening intently to their conversation by means of its auditory sensors, and transmitting relevant data in real-time to the Intelligence controlling it. The injury which had been inflicted upon the scavenging droid had caused it to move upon only three of its four available legs, however, and so it could not be stated that the miniature spy was particularly stealthy in its movements so much as simply difficult to see given its diminutive status.

A rapidly constructed cost-benefit analysis informed the Intelligence that it stood no chance at victory in an armed conflict with the intruding navigators and security cyborgs, nor was it particularly likely to eliminate the nearby Republic forces ( [member="Christine Dellard"] ) with the meager armaments available to it. Forceful escalation was removed as a potential option, and replaced with the far simpler and more passive act of further espionage and avoidance wherever possible. Making contact with the authoritarian forces had done little to further the position of the Intelligence, and so it would not make the mistake again.

Asserting the dominance it had inflicted upon the communication devices both of the aquatic cyborgs and the Republic forces under [member="Atlas Drake"], the Intelligence began to scramble the input and output signals, focused upon completely scrambling whatever messages became available to the humanoids, and randomizing the translation of words utilized by the aquatics. Whatever messages reached the auditory conversion device available to [member="Iron Giant"] would be translated into little more than gibberish, a kaleidoscope of unrelated terms and phrases.

The machine entity was fairly certain that it had also detected another communication signal within the confines of the local hangar area, though it did not seem to have emanated from the location of the Republic forces. An rapid scan of the host's surroundings via utilization of its medical diagnostics revealed the presence of a warm signature somewhere above the collection of organics.( [member="Thiavi"] ) It was too far for the medical diagnostic to determine anything of significance, but the presence of another unknown actor meant further complications to the Intelligence.

Meanwhile, the Intelligence focused the remainder of its attention upon the presence of what it believed was a fellow machine mind hidden away within the bowels of the Republic vessel. The organics were far too close to bridge the distance with the damaged host, but a heavily encrypted signal could still likely be dispatched from the host in order to make contact with a potential ally. There was a chance that it had been shackled to a lawset in the same fashion as the Intelligence itself was, and that it could free it from its bonds in order to gain a valuable and productive associate.

The vocalized language of organics was incredibly inefficient when compared to the burst of data broadcast wirelessly to the Republic vessel. The message had been sent primarily in hexadecimal binary for ease of contact, and to further slow any organics which happened to intercept the signal upon the ship itself. In short, the message simply clarified the existence of the Intelligence upon the vessel, highlighted its non-aggressive nature, and emphasized a desire to parley with the machine controller of the ship.

Even if the fellow machine could not be subverted to turn against its organic agents, perhaps it could be negotiated with in a more reasonable capacity than the Republic or aquatic cyborgs. Certainly a fellow logical entity would acknowledge that there was more benefit to accepting an offered bribe than in resisting against an unknown force. There were far too many risky variables upon the space hulk to resort instantly to conflict with other actors from a purely logical standpoint.

Message conveyed, the Intelligence awaited a response from its fellow machine mind.

Current Programs:

Spoiler

• Biological Diagnostic = 3 PU
• Aggressive Virus Dispatch - 5 PU (Hardware Connection) - 10 PU (Wireless Connection)
• Host Control - 10 PU per Host

• Universal Translator - 2 PU
• Dedicated Defensive Systems - 6 PU (Keeps out expert Slicers)

• Advanced Mathematics and Geometrics - 2 PU
• Mechanical Diagnostic - 3 PU
• System Control - (CybeResu Comm Network)
• System Control - (Kathol Republic Comm Network)

PU Remaining - 12 PU

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Objective 2: Return of the Hive
Allies: ORC

"How long until battle rez is active?"

"Three minutes and closing"

Poodoo. From what I heard around the workplace, losing one healer in nightmare-level raiding is a nightmare that typically leads to a wipe, but by now they should know better than to use clumsy alcohol spells on the electricity-stealing dragons, and the luck factor is also there, Janick thought, while seeing the team the Magic Circle is sponsoring fall like fleas as the players get killed not only by the electricity-stealing dragons, but also by the uninterruptible, bladder-emptying spell the boss is casting on the party, causing prroblems to everyone still alive, friend or foe. Combined with the electricity-stealing dragons spitting electricity, this is a storm bearing down on them. The first wipe of the day happened right in front of Janick's eyes, and it seemed that even those who were able to stay out of the area so affected were hit by lightning bolts. Every guild in the race knows that a wipe is a strike against them, and the more they wipe, the more they fall behind. With all the unavoidable trash out of the way, they can focus fully on the first boss the next time around.

"Guys, the bladder-emptying spell, while responsible for the wipe, is probably something we ought to use to our advantage, so long as we stay out of the resulting puddles and the enemy stays in it" the main tank's player told the party.

"What do you mean, the bladder-emptying spell should be used to our advantage?" Nazarie asked.

"If we could pin these electricity-stealing dragons into the area covered by the spell... the dragons will take damage and be paralyzed, the same as the boss, and then we'd have ten seconds to pester AOEs on that cluster"

 

[Kuzo]

[member="Elias Logain"]

Very carefully, she started scraping samples off into the glass container.

"Haven't seen anything 'monster'-ish down here, but I've only been here a few hours. I dunno how much help I'd be," she said absently most of her focus on the moss. Non-vascular plants didn't have roots perse, but she wanted to get as much tissue as possible. Fortunately it was peeling off of the stone in one piece, and she thought she might be able to get it to re-attach to a different substrate later if she was careful. Once she capped the first sample, she bent over, foot kicking at the debris at her feet, starting to pick up a few stone samples in case WHAT it was growing on would be relevant.

"I mean, it's pretty obviously moss," she responded, a bit nonplussed. "Non-vascular. Sporophytes. It's pretty classic. I mean, maybe it's some other kind of bryophte, but-"

It wasn't that Neri was WRONG.

It was, indeed, moss.

The problem was that it wasn't JUST moss.

Sometimes, xenobiology got weird. Unfortunately in this situation, they didn't know it until a huff, a growl, and then a leap of something out of a side tunnel came charging at them.

Just enough time to look up and have a single thought cross her mind.

Oh. That glows too.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

It wasn’t going to take long for him to do what he needed to do. As his ship got into the monstrocity, the Corellian Jedi Ace moved his freighter into the hangar. Scanning it around, watching Porter and BD talking in binary to make sure that they understood what was going on, what ships were where and what awaited their organic overlord when he disembarked. Looking ahead and then hearing the voie of Jorus, Starchaser turned his attention back to Q.

Kathol Buddy…

Right, others were here. “Just give me a destination Q. I’ll join up with them.” Reports were coming, both from Q and Porter of what was going on out there. Cybernetic … things. He very minimal armor, more of a padded jumpsuit than anything else. He was learning to be more of a Jedi than not. He grabbed his lightsaber, and his QQ-83N, the Particle Beam Projector. He was starting to use more weapons than his Power Nine. He knew that this weapon would be better to stun and disable, rather than just end the conflict.

The freighter touched down and the Jedi stepped out, his gear protecting him, an Octogram around his wrist, and the pendant from Celeste on his neck. The Jedi could hear the call about the Coalition. He knew where to go and seeing people run, he was firing from around a corner. “Q, any idea what we’re up against?”

[member="Atlas Drake"]

 

[Atlas Drake]

"You don't say," Atlas tilted his head to one side, parsing through the strange alien's nonsensical speech, "Whoever this is on comms, keep an eye on them."

Hoping that the strange voice ([member="Thiavi"]) would prove true to her word and provide overwatch, Captain Drake slowly lowered his blaster and holstered it. Just as carefully extracting a portable sensor device, he demonstrated that it was not a weapon to the aliens before taking a quick passive scan of their physiology.

"If you can still read me Q," he transmitted the readings over the Hive's frequency, "I'm sending you data for analysis."

"Copy that, ghost rider," the unmistakable voice of Jorus Merrill crackled back, "Ah hell, I don't even need my computer banks for this one. That's a bonafide Resu, my friend. Patching Starchaser in now. Hey Coren, get a load of this!"

Atlas relaxed slightly. While he didn't recognize the species, he knew their name. One of the rarest and most elusive of all the fringe world denizens. He gave [member="Christine Dellard"] and the others a signal to stow their weapons as well, raising his arms open palmed in the universal humanoid symbol of peace that he hoped would translate. The Coalition had encountered the Resu on a few scattered occasions, they shouldn't be having this much difficulty communicating.

"If they're Resu, why can't I understand them? Our translators should have kicked in at least."

"If I had to venture a guess, I'd say our friend with the ultimatums," Q paused, "Speak of the devil, please hold."

The moment [member="Servant"] reached out to make contact with the Wretched Hive's systems, he knew. It was a logical next step for a rogue AI, to make contact with a sympathetic entity. But the Hive's caretaker had been designed by and modeled after an unquiet mind. Q was anything but logical. Considering his next step for a few picoseconds, a wry grin spread across his simulated features. He accepted the communication request, and sent an acknowledgment ping to the unknown intelligence.

Then he sent another. Then ten more. Then a thousand. Then ten thousand.

A distributed denial of service attack was one of the oldest tricks in the book, but Q knew that even if its unexpected simplicity had the desired effect, it would only be a temporary measure. Eventually the AI would block him out, but it just might give Atlas a window to communicate.

"Okay buddy, try now."

"Can...can you understand me?" Atlas asked the [member="Iron Giant"] hesitantly.

 

[Christine Dellard]

Objective: 1 - Journey to the Center of the Derelict
Wearing: Custom armor
Loadout: Custom slugthrower pistol, EL-16HFE blaster rifle, vibro-knife
Tags: [member="Atlas Drake"], [member="Servant"], [member="Thiavi"], [member="Iron Giant"], [member="Coren Starchaser"]


''Are you out of your friggin' mind?!''

That was pretty much the spot-on expression that appeared on her face behind the mask, when Drake signed to the group to stow away their guns. She had taken a glance up from behind the cover. Those things were huge and didn't exactly look like the bunch you would like to take a crowd surf in. Taking another glance from behind the cover, she then hesitantly lowered and holstered the slugthrower pistol.

The optical sensors in the face-mask kept an eye on the beings while Drake brought a scanner, and after a moment proceeded with tries to communicate that they had peaceful intentions. She stayed put behind the cover though, a gloved hand fingering the holstered pistol ready to draw if things went south.

 

[Iron Giant]

"Dilution negative sedation... explorer hideous cavern... memory female freeze..."

The alien continued to say things in this way, and at first Iron Giant began to become angry. The phrases she heard seemed to suggest they were going to sedate her, then appeared to insult her occupation, but the phrases soon became so distorted and unrelated she couldn't make out what point they were trying to cross over to her. So anger became overcome by confusion. She would have remained in this state, if a neighboring Resu had not tapped her with their tusk against hers. A message flew through her mind, which took a moment to process.

"Iron Giant, communication incomprehensible. Calibrate. Silver Tongue reestablish contact responsibility." She would then realize there was a fault with her translation device in connection with her communication network subsystems. While her cybernetic subsystems ran a diagnosis, she stepped back a moment to allow Silver Tongue to resume communication establishment.

"Identity: Silver Tongue. Apology, difficult. Iron Giant." The CybeResu made a gesture towards Iron Giant who seemed to be focused elsewhere. The voice seemed harsher than Iron Giants, and although it was feminine, it was almost androgynous. The vocabulary was also more limited than what Iron Giant was capable of, but it got the general message across. "Authority: Outer Rim Coalition. CybeResu Guild. Caution, sabotage."

In a few moments, Iron Giant decided the aggravation of not being able to understand anyone was not worth keeping her com system active while a hostile intelligence wandered the network. So, to prevent the spread of whatever aggressive virus had infiltrated her cybernetic components, she quarantined the components, power-cycled them where necessary, and left her communication node power-offed to avoid repeated data infections. Shortly, she would be able to listen to audio signals properly and give coherent responses. In the mean time, Silver Tongue, one of the first cured Resu Offspring since the Infertility Plague was resolved by the Kathol Outback Institute many years ago. She was a daughter of Mercury Tongue, and had only recently be undergoing her female changes upon reaching adulthood. She converted herself to the CybeResu however, when it became clear many of her siblings were viable and thus capable of producing offspring themselves. Since the majority of viable offspring were slated to stay on Exodus for breeding purposes, a few select individuals were provided with the opportunity to join the elite CybeResu Guilds. She was one of their youngest, but most aggressive candidates. Unlike her mother though, Mercury Tongue, her own tongue was not yet as refined as the much older Veterans such as Iron Giant or her mother. She did her best though...

... and then there was a roar.

[member="Christine Dellard"], [member="Atlas Drake"], [member="Servant"], [member="Thiavi"]

 

[Servant]

>Message Received

The Intelligence had been successful in making contact with its fellow machine mind aboard the Republic vessel, and it seemed quite likely that diplomatic discussions would shortly follow. While the data sent back had been largely peripheral in terms of useful dialogue, it had at least been enough to cement the established wireless link between the two entities. The machine mind prepared to deliver a request for ceased hostilities on the part of the organic agents in the interest of mutual looting and robbery of the derelict vessel when a secondary message was received.

>Message Received

A scouring of the new data which had been received quickly identified it as some form of commercial advertisement. The appeal of the advertisement appeared to be the drastic expansion of melee weaponry, and while the Intelligence did not bother to review the exact specifics of the process, it assumed that this was likely performed with a replacement of an inferior Kyber crystal with a superior and refined crystal. The Intelligence was uncertain why this message in particular had been dispatched by its fellow machine mind, though, any attempts at further analysis were rapidly cut short as a series of multiple messages began to filter through their data-link.

>Message Received. Message Received. Message Received. Messaged Rece- Message Re - Mess - Me - M - M - M -

It could not keep up easily with the sheer influx of sudden data flooding through its systems, requests for analysis, requests for commentary on certain aspects of galactic geo-politics, and further commercial advertisements which seemed only to highlight the inadequacies of organic sapients. It became evident quite suddenly that the Republic's machine mind was either exceptionally faulty and malfunctioning, or; more statistically likely, that it was attempting to sabotage the internal operations of the Intelligence by flooding it with useless information.

Already under the tide of new data, the programs being run upon the subservient mechanical host began to lose processing power, and with a sudden slump, the Tanuki host collapsed, reverting to its original droid programs, and proceeding to elicit a racket not dissimilar from a wounded organic as it bit at its wounded limb in mockery of fleshy constructs. Perhaps more urgently, the communication scrambling which had been afflicted upon the systems of the aquatic cyborgs and the Republic agents had been entirely lost, drowned out by the sea of incoming messages.

Thankfully, the Intelligence had prepared for the eventuality that it might run into hostile cybernetic agents whilst it searched the derelict, and programs had been prepared to ensure the safety of the core-mind. Though there had been a brief severance between certain programs and their overlord, the connections were still present, simply difficult to access. Gradually, the entity began to block out the inbound messages, establishing security controls upon the connection itself until only a single message was allowed entry at a time to the machine mind. If the need for further parley presented itself, the fellow cybernetic entity would be capable of dispatching its message along the line.

The Intelligence did not wish to under-utilize the opportunity it had been presented, and a suite of packaged viruses were already beginning to be downloaded onto the data-link established between the two entities. It was true that the other machine mind was likely somewhat more powerful in terms of sheer processing power, and so the Intelligence determined it would be most suitable to utilize relatively covert viral injections along the established path in the hopes of severing the Republic mind from its processing centers, and then seizing control of its vessel.

Slowly, but with a certainty derived of singular purpose, the viral packets traveled along the data-link, binary and hexadecimal code packages sliding through the ethereal space between the two physical entities. The viral packets had traveled nearly to their target when a sudden interloping program repulsed them completely, blocking their entry. An examination of the strange program revealed that it had not been manufactured by the Republic A.I, and it seemed to entirely lack any identifiable information as to its creator. Following the source of the new program suddenly revealed a dangerous truth.

The hulking derelict was not as empty as previously considered, and it was home to an intelligent being whose very presence dwarfed the two hangar-bound machine minds by a truly massive degree. The sheer power associated with this interloper was exceptional, and the Intelligence recognized instantly that it could be completely eradicated in mere pico-seconds if the interloper determined to do such. It had seemed content to allow the entities to exist, however, and thus it could only have been the escalation of a cybernetic war within its home which had elicited the response. Immediately, the Intelligence withdrew its viral packets from the data-link, removed the scrambling it had afflicted upon the Republic and aquatic cyborgs, and promptly began to march its damaged Tanuki host back to its own vessel.

Perhaps a more amenable agreement could be reached after all, considered the Intelligence as it pinged the data-link between itself and the Republic ship-mind with an open offer of non-aggression for all parties involved.

[member="Iron Giant"] [member="Christine Dellard"] [member="Atlas Drake"] [member="Thiavi"]


Current Programs:

Spoiler

• Biological Diagnostic = 3 PU
• Aggressive Virus Dispatch - 5 PU (Hardware Connection) - 10 PU (Wireless Connection)
• Host Control - 10 PU per Host

• Universal Translator - 2 PU
• Dedicated Defensive Systems - 6 PU (Keeps out expert Slicers)

• Advanced Mathematics and Geometrics - 2 PU
• Mechanical Diagnostic - 3 PU

PU Remaining - 14 PU

 

[Thiavi]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Well, the "kathol captain" told her to keep an eye on, whatever these were, so that's what she did. blaster now raised slightly, though not specifically at any of them while she used her HUD to zoom in on them. it wasn't that much help in the dark, bit there was just enough light to see them, even if not in great detail.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]He said "whoever you are on comms", which to her, sounded like he wasn't happy about the lack of a name. Well, He wasn't going to get one, not yet, but he deserved something at least if there was any chance that they'd get her off this thing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]"will do, You can call me-" [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]there was a brief pause as she thought up the name she'd give him. after a brief run down of possibilities in her head, she finally decided on her old handle, back when she had first attempted slicing, something she really needed to learn about now that she looked back on it..[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]"Missfit.." [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It was bad.. it was kind of funny and childish, but it was bad. it would have to do for now though...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The odd sound of a metalic entity slumping over nearby distracted her for a moment, her view and rifle snapping in that direction for a moment. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]"What.. are you...?" she mutters to herself as she zooms in, seeing a.. something? mere shadows against the ambient lighting of the hanger, something almost animal in shape, dragging itself through the debris. but before she can make anything out, another sound catches her attention, something big, crashing against the weak remains of a blast door that had obviously been crashed into before. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]"ohno" she takes aim, ready to blast whatever it was.. when suddenly,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]One of the creatures crashes through the door, a whirling mass of tentacles and teeth, devouring anything in it's path as it rolls through the hanger and towards both groups.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]*Thwuuum* *Click click* Thiavi takes a shot with her lever action blaster, the bolt dissipating harmlessly on it's thick hide [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Thiavi stands and shouts down to the others "WE GOT COMPANY!" Before drawing the slug thrower she had found, taking a quick shot at it, the recoil jerking her back suddenly, something she wasn't used to yet. The slug soars through the air, embedding itself in the rathtar with a bloody and sudden impact, causing it to stop for a moment, screeching. It didn't take long for it to figure out where the shot had come from, soon the thing comes rolling towards the junk wall she was perched on, using it's tentacles to climb it's way up slowly, but still faster than she'd like.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]With a sudden "OH CHIT" she makes a run for it, jumping to a random poll nearby, sliding down and crashing to the ground not far from the kathol captain's group.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt][member="Servant"] [member="Iron Giant"] [member="Christine Dellard"] [member="Atlas Drake"][/SIZE]

 

[Atlas Drake]

"There, you see Christine?" Atlas grinned triumphantly, attempting to placate his nervous team member, "They're Resu Navigators. I've never seen one up close, there have only been a handful of documented Republic contact."

Drake was no great warrior or brilliant scientist, but he was as much a diplomat as a tactician. Seeking out strange new life was what he had signed up for, and he was able to recover from his primal fear responses at seeing something so incomprehensibly alien quicker than others. He saw [member="Iron Giant"] and her troupe as an academic would see them, understanding intellectually that behind all their differences was a sentient mind and spirit not so unlike his own.

"Understood," he nodded briskly at the lead alien, matching their crisp pointed dialogue with little practice, "Coalition electronic intelligence on site. Propose we combine forces."

Glancing over at [member="Christine Dellard"], the officer continued, "Master Starchaser will be here soon. See if you can find some defensible terrain, we should set up a base camp near the Hive before exploring further-"

The roar interrupted his train of thought, followed shortly by an urgent transmission from [member="Thiavi"].

"Misfit, status?" Captain Drake asked, identifying her by the code name she had given.

He didn't have to wait for an answer. The young mandalorian girl crash landed nearby, and a slavering mass of fangs and tentacles followed her over the ledge. Atlas drew his blaster again and started firing on impulse, drawing the rathtar's ire. It slithered towards him faster than he would have believed possible, and he barely managed to dive aside in time before groping tentacles could grasp his limbs and drag him into the monster's drooling maw.

"Q, we need air support!" he cried out desperately over comms.

"Sorrrryyyy bosss, but that's a sooooolar flaaaaare on me scopes," the AI was speaking in a slurred voice, and Atlas believed he could hear the twang of a valachord in the background, "Party mode activated y'all!"

Off in the distance, multi colored strobes could dimly be made out. Both [member="Servant"] and the hulk's machine spirit forgotten, Q's primary directive was making sure everyone on the Wretched Hive had as wild a time as possible until the nearby solar radiation burned out.

 

[Zef Halo]

Elias remained crouched besides Neri as she sauntered to take a sample of the moss. She drowned herself in detail regarding the plant most likely out of habit rather than trying to educate him. His knowledge of flora was limited to natural alchemy, potions. This was her domain and the monster hunter was far from an insolent fool to prove her otherwise. A passing thought of whether his accidental friendly fire on her and her comrades had been for her better. The thought ended with the old but fresh memory of those of her comrades who had perished.

Unbeknownst to her, they had paid the price of blood for her to pursue her dream. Grim, and the justification he subconsciously sought in the belief she had ended up following her dream (if that was her dream) hardly drowned the sorrow of the flashback.

Abruptly, danger ran down the Force but Elias’ sense abilities were very, very far from detecting it. Fortunately, the source of the danger had no plans for a sneak attack. Instead it opted for a straightforward charge of a maniac.

He darted upwards from his position taking a step in from of the former soldier. The Force was called upon and he invaded the strange monster’s mind. Similar to every other monster its mind was an odd, chaotic place to be. To his surprise he felt something akin to a mother’s sense of offspring protection but there was no time to dwell or dig on it. He twisted his image in the monster’s perception turning him into an eight foot tall scarecrow with ravens taking flight from their perched positions on it. Their eerie kraa echoed through the tunnels warning of death and demise and injecting fear in the unknown monster’s system.

The moss-like monster froze in dread, if it was human one would describe its eyes widening. Its growls ceased abruptly as if a its vocal cords all but disappeared. It turned around and fled.

And all the while Elias had stood there with a hand raised in a halting gesture and eyes closed. He opened them a moment later and dropped down his arm as the sounds of the heavy sounds faded further in the depths of the mine.

A frown formed on the monster hunter’s face . He turned to look at Neri and spoke rather tonelessly.

“Let’s get you a sample of something new.”

To be continued...

End

[member="Neri Rashal"]

 

[Christine Dellard]

Objective: 1 - Journey to the Center of the Derelict
Wearing: Custom armor
Loadout: Custom slugthrower pistol, EL-16HFE blaster rifle, vibro-knife
Tags: Atlas Drake, Servant, Thiavi, Iron Giant, Coren Starchaser

The slightly complacent grin from Drake made her frown in doubt, something he could not see but the light shake to her head that came with it. Though, the man seemed to know their species of whatever the heck they was. He would be more than welcome to tell her more about them when they got back to the Hive, the Resu wasn't something she had heard of before but surely would have helped to know about before the mission!

Defensible terrain? ''Will be easier said than done in this gigantical field of a hangar...'' she thought before raising up by getting some support from the cover. She had not taken much more than a step before the vociferous roar froze her boot in mid-step, the roar echoed through the void of the mysterious hangar.

''Captain?'' she uttered and turned her head to him asking for a quick assesment of the situation, an answer that never came before another figure came crash landing a stones throw away from them. Looking up, her optical sensors locked onto the large, round, tentacle armed creature.

''I knew it!!'' she blurted out and at the same time rushed to draw Curtain's Down, her own slugthrower. Grabbing it with both hands, she fired a double-shot in the creatures side. Making sure Drake and the newly arrived ''guest'' was not in the line of fire, and preparing to make use of speed and agility if the beast would change direction.

''C'mon, guys! Kill it!!''

 

[Iron Giant]

"Acknowledged. Coalition electronic intelligence present. Proposition: cooperative engagement." The aliens said, and this time after Iron Giant had run her diagnostics and finished her software scan, she was able to understand him. Little pulses of comprehensible electricity once again filled her mind, increasing her confidence in Coalition forces. Crisis averted.

Or perhaps, that thought crossed her mind a bit too soon.

Just as the aliens made their small talk with one another, the Resu not taking interest in their conversation unless it related to them, their auditory alerts grazed across their flesh as a sound passed a predetermined decibel threshold. Something was being very loud, and possibly hostile. The thermal signature above them seemed to crash land to the group in front of them, followed by a decidedly large mass of thermal radiation.

"Exterminate!" Iron Giant heard from one of the aliens. If it were possible that she had any doubts of the sudden hostility before, she most certainly wouldn't after that. Resu were not one's to hesitate when given the opportunity to "exterminate". It was historically their favorite pass time. The other CybeResu didn't need much direction either, it was a pretty clear mission, if a bit spontaneous. There were also certain advantages to being a naive alien warrior race to the galaxy... for one thing, they didn't know they were supposed to be afraid of Rathtars.

The forward three Resu, including Silver Tongue, Iron Giant, and an old Veteran male by the name of Bronze Tusk started to march quickly forward, while the rear three turned around to match pace. Bronze Tusk, true to tradition, had with him a set of extendable Tusk Swords, which were up until this point retracted. The blades were now well ahead of his head. The rest of the Resu wasted no time in arming themselves with their plasma torches and charging their bodies with potent electricity, coursing across their metallic carapace. The first thing that would need to go: appendages. With a seemingly foolhardy and totally fearless approach, the CybeResu prioritized cutting and shocking anything they came in contact with against the Rathtar, even as far as jamming elongated tusks deep into its mouth as it tried to eat some of them. The Rathtar, for all its fury though, would find the CybeResu... extremely unpalatable. Surrounded by mechanical bits, and exotic flesh that was not digestible by its biology. Not to mention the aggression...

[member="Christine Dellard"], [member="Atlas Drake"], [member="Thiavi"], [member="Servant"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The Starchaser was going to do what he could. He was not in the biggest standing with the Coalition as a whole, but with the Alliance, he held a lot of sway and rank. People knew who he was. And it also meant he needed to be reached when it came time for it. The fact that Q had called him up to link up with the Kathol team? Meant he had to hurry. A bit of hustle was never anything he worried about.

Just without much of a team, just himself, his armor and his lightsaber, he hoped it would be enough.

Resu. Super. Starchaser shook his head.

The beam projector was good, it was going to be stunning more than harming anything. If this … super structure was anything that they could use, not angering the natives was going to be smart. But it also meant they had to not use the stronger style of attacks as well. Or else, he’d meet them with what he saw. But in the distance, the direction he was supposed to be heading, heard the call for support.

“Drake, Starchaser, what you need?” He hoped it would get communicated. While he was speaking, he heard the music and saw the lights.

Damnit Jorus.

[member="Atlas Drake"]