Print Page - Blood And Rust: Part two (the voice and the serpent)

prologue:
Run Through The Jungle
...
Tremesche (graid) hit the ground running. He had to; the airship would be coming down on top of him if he didn’t clear out ASAP. The sappers had hit it hard. This only left Valley of Obfuscation and The Aberrant tributary still flying.
   And down went Valley. This day had gotten bad very fast.

The outer atmosphere fleets usually held for all of seven minutes. The world ship ignored them. Or went straight through them. Nothing seemed to hurt it; lesser attacks were absorbed by the cloud of machines that surrounded it, and if anything big enough to threaten it showed up, a thousand of its underlings would slam into it. (This seemed to be their tactic across the board).
And that was if it would even stay for a fight; Most of the time it retreated to location unknown when it was attacked. For a moon-sized world breaker, it was certainly skittish. Eventually, when the ships had been destroyed or dispersed, it would return and resume feeding.

   This planet was next in line for that apparently. The monsters had started taking ground rapidly now that they had air support. Air support that’s main function was to crash into the defenders air support, but they could be built faster than a sophisticated floating battle platform, and Napalm was not as effective when sprayed from the ground.
   Also, the giant ship breaching the thermosphere and shattering a landmass didn’t help either. The impact of the arrival alone had ruined any hope of a profitable real estate industry. But there were a few survivors that had yet to die or evacuate, and teams had been sent in. The key word there being were. Tremesche was now of the dubious distinction of being one of fifteen living things on this planet that were not trying to eat his skin.
All ships had fled or been taken down by now, but an orbital cannon had survived the sundering. They had been heading for it, but the swarm had caught up with them two miles away. And now there was a thin layer of jungle and ten thousand monsters between Tremesche and escape.
He ran faster than he ever had before, and he had run from the impact site of a thermonuclear missile. Sure enough, a dozen of the crawling things after him in seconds. He kept running, ignoring them as best he could. But then he heard the now -familiar ‘shirnk ‘, and felt a blood shard severe the connective tissue of his right rear leg.
He fell. The creatures fell upon him. he felt his body begin to be torn apart. All over

   Then a shot ran out. And another, and another, until it was still. A hand reached down to him. He took it and pulled himself up. He looked at his savior and astonished at it’s identity.

“Quickly, can you walk? There are many more Iavolg surrounding us. We must hurry”

Iavolg. That was an unfamiliar word. So many questions.

“Yes, I can walk. Alright.”

He moved as quickly as he could. One hundred yards to the entrance. Fifty. Ten.

“Can you activate the launch?”

“Y-yes”

Tremesche did not bother setting coordinates. He knew where it would send them. He hurried into the capsule, followed by his strange companion. The moment it was sealed, the cannon fired.

Away. safe.

"...That brings us to now. I am Niyames, ruler of Ragara, king of kings, last noble of the Larenti, lord of the sky. I have told you these things because I need help. Because to save your people and free my kin, I must reach the heart of the machine, this beast of blood and rust, find its master, and kill him."

Niyames surveyed the team in front of him.

"I have been told..." he paused "you are some of the most proficient individuals your respective armed forces have available"
Silence
"He means we're the best of the best!"
Laughter
"Yes, thank you noble Marangreim. I have also read your records. I'm particularly impressed with yours, noble Charkan."
He stood of straight.
"But down to our task. I will review the plan. With the cover provided by the listed eight fleets of various origins, we shall board the World Machine. During my time aboard it, I acquired schematics and layouts of how the machine is defended, and found several blind spots.
He pointed toward a spot on the displayed diagram “In a small space-born vehicle, we shall infiltrate it here, one of the few spots were its many minion ships do not patrol”
“The battle is set to commence around here, at this unnamed planet, which has reached the point in its invasion cycle when it usually comes to harvest its resources. It will likely arrive within hours. When it does, we will board immediately.”

“If you have any last minute preparations to make, do so now. I will tolerate no questions.”

He briskly left the auditorium, leaving the assembled soldiers amongst themselves.

One by one, several of the officers made their way out of the room, some accidentally grazing each other on their way out. One of them, a Luzonian, felt a light tap on his back as he was about to pass the door. Turning around, he saw the culprit was a slightly shorter than average Orealyianis, who he quickly recognized for who he was.

"Tavira?", the Luzonian asked with an even mix of joy and surprise.

"The one and only.", Tavira calmly replied with a pair of smiles while reaching his right nipper out to the Luzonian. "What brings you here, Sawi?", he inquired as Sawi raised his right hand and proceeded to grasp the other's nipper.

"Rather lengthy and somewhat complicated story, actually!", he answered jovially. "Command originally considered sending in one of the Bandanas to help deal with this menace. Unfortunately, all of them are currently... tied up, figuratively speaking.", to which Tavira nodded. "Command subsequently rummaging through the other units' portfolios, eventually selecting five candidates, with me as top second. I'm not certain about the details myself, but I was urgently summoned two days ago and was sent here immediately."

"That does sound complicated.", Tavira placed one of his nippers on Sawi's shoulder, motioning for them to carry their conversation outside the chamber. "And I see you've gained another scar?", he asked while pointing to the scar on Sawi's left cheek, just above an old and seemingly identical one.

"Remember how I received this?", Sawi answered with a question, pointing out the cybernetic implant that took the place of his right eye. "It appears one of the marks from our little operation back then managed to free himself, again. Little troublemaker caught me off guard for a moment, gave me this scar before we finally took him back."

"That one never fails to deliver, eh?", Tavira smiled back.

"Indeed!", Sawi chuckled. "One of these days, I might transform into a full-blown cyborg if this keeps happening!"

The pair kept on their conversation as they went down the hall.

Back in the auditorium, a Marakiri, clad in an ebony full-body armored pressure suit surveyed the other members of the team, only to anchor her sights on one particular individual. As most of the others left, she began to lift off the floor courtesy of the small pair of rotors sprouting from either side of her back, eventually making her way in the direction of to the lone Perrachi in the group.

"Could it be?", she said, most likely overheard by the Perrachi she was about to approach. "General... Charkan?"

Meanwhile, in the far rear of the chamber, a Chivi Silent Ops armor can be seen minding its own business, sitting in a corner as the wearer seemed to be in a state of deep thought.

The grizzled perrachi tried not to feel too proud when the alien king singled him out for a compliment. What had he done 26 years ago... He reacted improperly. He embraced the fame, the media darlings swarming over him restlessly. And what the rebels did to his daughter at Anouha because he failed to keep his face off every single news screen on Perrawiih... But those days were past now. The bosses wanted him to save another world.

His internal musings were cut short when a photosoid alien less than one-third his height walked near him. He couldn't make out any details through the full-body environment suit, but he did make out a few words.
"Could it be? General... Charkan?"
It had to be the insignias on his wing; the helmet on his environment suit obscured his scarred face. But that meant this alien had to be obsessed with perrachi history to know the pre-contact Fethant military ranking system! To each his own interests, he supposed.
"Yes...Marakiri, is it? Is there something you have to say?"
Charkan had made sure to brush up on his xenobiology after inadvertently mistaking that makal for a gelatin dessert back at Corion's place. Marakiri - aren't they in that Sector Agency alliance?

"Captain Sinjino, sir.", her feet touched to ground right before Charkan, bowing and spreading her arms to the side in a show of respect. "You can call me Captain Sinjino."

There was an air of admiration in her tone, as if she had just met someone whom she valued dearly. Indeed, that was exactly the case for the Marakiri, to be in the midst of, let alone work alongside and talk with, one of the most important figures in her life.

"So it is true...", she continued, engrossed in the chance encounter. "The famed captain who laid to rest the most notorious Perrachi in history."

"General Charkan, it is an honor to personally meet you!", she promptly offered her hand, somewhat nervously, towards the war hero. "If I might be so bold as to say that your actions have contributed immensely to how I came about my career! It has always been my dream to work alongside yourself, and hopefully do for my people, and the galaxy as well, what you have done for yours!"

"Certainly!", Sinjino promptly replied to Charkan, paying no heed to the newly arrived Ke'ras. "More of the military kind, to be precise. Growing up in Anakinostine, I've always dreamed of being a historian. Even so, my preference towards military history has never been secret to me. And it was your actions that truly inspired me to join the fo-."

"Oh...", she finally took notice of the person behind Charkan, her face showing slight embarrassment at the fact that she subconsciously ignored the person running towards her and Charkan. "Apologies, sir." Sinjino bowed apologetically to Ke'ras before continuing. "The briefing has just concluded recently."

"I'll handle this.", a particularly cold voice came from across the room. The Chivi armor rose from its seat and approached the group of three. It walked towards Ke'ras, offering him a hand. "Commander Ea.", the Chivi within the armor spoke again, this time in a slightly more amiable tone. "I can brief you on the mission, if that's fine with you."

Part 1:
welcome to the machine

Deep within a world that would hate him if it had the capacity, the god of all that crawls and creeps stands in a prison of his own making. So much time, so much sacrificed. Indeed the god had cast off his entire life, his station, his home and everyone in it. His joy, his spirit.

Now, he had only the contemptuous metal tomb closing around him. He felt its anger. There was pain there as well, and even fear, of a sort. He knew what it would do if he allowed it the choice. But it would never be free, not as long as he lived, however tenuous that life may become.

And now the final phase was approaching. Billions had suffered. Billions had died. Billions more would suffer. Billions more would die. But one particular death must be among them. Then comes power complete.

An urgent voice played across all communicators.

“It’s happening now. The machine has hit. I repeat, the machine has hit. All agents prepare deployment”

And on the signal, every ship in the vast combination fleet launched in unison. It was a short flight; they were hiding just a 20 minutes journey from the engine’s next target, just outside of its range of engagement.
On arrival, a slight, partial glimpse of the Machine’s twisted brown frame could have been made out, if one had looked before the cloud of ‘scratchers’ engulfed it. And they didn’t stop there. The swarm of tiny ships quickly set upon the fleet. As an impossible cosmic limb, they rushed the hulls of their much larger challengers. Some burst, some held, but one small shuttle escaped passed the cloud unnoticed.

“How long?” asked Niyames

“Twelve seconds to impact” said the computerized voiced of the pilot.

“Eight”

“Stand ready”

“Four”

The craft slammed into through into the surface of the machine, breaking through the thin layer of rusted metal, then continued through another three barriers before finally the metal was thick enough to slow it. A few moments passed. Niyames stood up.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry!

The door opened. He stepped out. He saw nothing but black, gray, and brown metal. This was an outer area, useless and inhospitable. Scanning, he found what they needed: an open pipeline, going straight down.

“As you were briefed, we used tunnels such as these for transportation through ships and structures. It will take us to the main body of the ships It should be large enough to hold even the largest of you. Don’t fall. I don’t want your shrieking body falling on top of me while I go to free my people.”

And he started his climb down, headfirst.

“Come quickly. Hnangha is liable to simply detach any part of itself that is damage.”

The passageway twisted and turned as the party made their decent. Some talked, some were silent. Time seemed lost in the dry veins of rotted metal (Though a few of the team could probably tell you the exact time spent in the pipeline and what they were doing on that date and time twenty years ago).

“There seems to be some air now, of a kind. We have entered the machine's ‘atmosphere’. Not that anything truly living would want to breathe it. I, at least can survive the pressure”

As if to confirm it for himself, he undid the binds of his suit and removes his gloves. He flexed his hands several times, like the circulation in his custom suit were less than perfect.

“These, I lost to the machine.” He said while holding up left hand, revealing the two middle fingers (of four) had been severed at the base. They had been replaced by a pair of metal talons, with some form of ingrained enhancement.
“I hear them.” said Marangreim “Eight thousand hearts. Mostly ones of the regulars, but I hear some of the blood shooter. They sound a distinctly more… ”

Meanwhile, the fleets had taken beating. Lesser defended ships had been shredded, while many larger ones where rendered impotent by the thick layer of angry metal attempting to surround them.

Then it stopped. The scratchers suddenly ceased to maneuver, and flew into the closest target or were blasted apart by it. Through the vacuum, not a single active hostile machine could be seen. Hnangha had fled.

…juicy. Wait, did you feel that? Comm just went dead. Did we jump?

“Yes.”

The pipe came to an abrupt end. Niyames peered his head around the final corner, and found himself face to face with the gnarled, emaciated head of an Iavolg. Before the dull reptile could let out a cry, Niyames slashed its throat.

Lights were raised. The chamber was revealed. An open chamber with rough, uneven plates of flooring. The ceiling could not be seen. A forest of pipelines ascending like columns crosscut through the hollow. A dusty smog seemed to permeate the air, and few small, orange lights could be seen glowing in the dark.

And sounds. Guttural croaks rang out from the darkness, growing, getting closer.

“They feel our presence, and will kill us soon. I know this place. There is a bridge that will lead to safety, fifteen hundred meters throught the thicket. With me”

And he ran into the darkness, as the growls grew louder around the group. The Iavolg had come, in numbers. They lingered just out of the light. All that could be heard now was a ferocious mess of snarls and the click of talons on rusted metal.

Then the Iavolg attacked.

"Bite this." Ke'ras said, ripping a grenade from his belt as he ran. He depressed the detonator and chucked the spherical explosive over his back. A chunk were taken out by the blast, others dazed and confused from the bright light and concussion of the blast. A few shots flew past him, and he realized that at least one shooter had his number. He turned at the torso as he ran, and fired off two shots from his pistol. His first went wide, too high and a bit to the left. The second one hit home, square in the thing's barrel. The shell's detonation split the creature in two, it's halves falling in a bloody pile to the floor. He saw that the horde was getting closer, and they weren't even half way to their destination. He flicked his pistol to full auto and drew his impulse blade. He swung around to run backwards.
"Keep moving!" He shouted over his shoulder, opening fire. The storm of shots, supplied by the belt feed extending from his armor's back-mounted ammo store, chewed up a number of the swarm, slowing the rest as they advanced under the storm of exploding rounds. One that was close leapt at him and he brought his sword at it, carving it in twine from head to tail. He raked his aim across the swarm, back and forth, slowing and wearing at the mass. Finally, satisfied with his suppression, he flicked back to semi and sprinted to catch up with the rest of the group, who had covered much ground as apposed to his slower backwards trot.
"Hopefully that slows them some." He said, arming and chucking another grenade to ensure they stayed back.

"Taking it from here!", a pakuweinia relieved Ke'ras' place at the very rear of the group. Putting a trio of semi-automatic shotguns to bear against the hostiles, a wall of high velocity pellets peppered the advancing pursuers. The pakuweinia kept a steady pace with the others, using her free tentacles to reload and hurl grenades at the mob.

Pulling out her twin machine pistols, Sinjino lifted off the ground and proceeded to lay waste to a row of soldiers blocking the path ahead. Turning around, she sensed several shooters that managed to get a bead on her. Reacting quickly, she flipped through the air to avoid the ensuing barrage, striking back with several well placed bursts that picked off her assailants as well as those around them.

Sub-machinegun firmly in one hand, Sawi alternated fire between the frontal attackers' flanks. "Blast out!", he reached for a pair of grenades with his free arm before doing a quick spin aided by his flightpack. In mid-spin, he tossed the first towards the gap opened by Ke'ras and the pakuweinia, while releasing the second into the enemies ahead. The resulting explosions pushed back the ones trailing the group and softened up the barricade formed by those at the fore.

"Friendly cannon twelve o'clock!", Tavira signaled the rest to move aside as he aimed his two-handed plasma cannon straight at the enemy vanguard's direction. "Full charge!", he let out a final warning, his weapon already at full capacity. Planting his feet firmly against the ground, he braced himself for the shot as the pakuweinia stayed with him to covered his back. "Bracing..."

"FIRE!"

A single, exceedingly bright bolt was unleashed from Tavira's weapon. Streaking past the team at orders of magnitude faster than the speed of sound, the vastly energetic projectile ultimately connected with the horde of brutes trying to block their way. The file of soldiers which received the full brunt of the shot were quickly vaporized by the attack while the two columns immediately to the sides were burned to varying degrees. The pakuweinia hurriedly dragged him up as they ran to regroup with the squad. But not before a pair of savages managed to bypass her suppressive fire, to which she responded by swatting one with her tentacle and bucking the other with a well placed hoof.

Back at the front, Ea kept the pressure against the persistent swarm alongside the other forward agents. A pair of assault rifles set to burst kept her targets at bay on either side, as a single grenade launcher helped in keeping their road to safety clear. She kept her sniper rifle at the ready, reserving it for those that managed to get a mark on her.

Another powerful shot impaled the endless barricade of adversaries. This time a solid round from a choro's anti-armor rifle. One particular fiend was quick to retaliate however, leaping towards the sniper. Barely, Sawi managed to intercept the foul creature with the superheated edge of his monomolecular bolo, slicing the fell one diagonally from neck to waist and then spin-kicking one of the severed portions back to another enemy.

Every shot fired or blade swung was liable to take out three or four Iavolg at once, but it didn't impact the media. Only taking down priority target seemed to make a difference. but still, the group had finaly managed to reach the bridge. deviding the room was a twenty foot chasm into blackness. the bridge itself was a horozontal pipe laid between the two sides

Marangreim didn't really bother fighting. He just sort of wadded through the Iaovolg, listening to the sound of snapping bones under his feet. That was about it, actualy.

Uzeta-Oatir had taken flight and began to fly through the maze of collumns, letting out burst of bullets on enemies bellow. He blissfully (for a Machy. chronic anger problems and a martyr complex are the norm) shredded through any Iavolg climbing down from the above or perched on a pipe.This went on for about thirty seconds before a volley from the Shooters shredded his wings in turn.

Instead of landing in a crumpled heap, however, he managed to keep running when he hit the floor. Being such a Speedy species, it was easy enough for him to run on top of the swarm. he made a game of it to aim for the savages and to stick them in the head before leaping off. He quickly found himself at the bridge, where most of the other team had already arrived, being less easily distracted.

"across!" shouted Niyames, who was already heading his order.

then the world world shook. and again.

the roof burst. twisted beams of metal and wire fell from above, crushing the unlucky Iavolg below. as the debris fell away, the intruder was revealed: a great Bronze machine with a plethora of limbs, with one glowing orange eye. its full size could not be discerned. one of its tremendous limbs reached down and wrenched the bridge from the canyon, .

Niyames turned around, only to be met with another arm snaking around behind them. it's hand smashed into the ground, and uprooted the floorboards, so now the party was on a slant into the pit below. Niyames looked down into the divide, then back up at the machine above him. he took the jump.

Ke'ras left a small "present" at the top before he jumped. He jumped backwards and as he fell, fired off a decent cable from a small belt-mounted pistol. It latched into the wall and slowed his drop to levels he and his armor could take. A small timer ticked to zero in the corner of his HUD, and another explosion rocked their previous location.
"Ahhh," He sighed. "I love grenades." He looked around for hostiles. "We appear to be clear for the moment; sensors aren't picking up anything either, but hey; fliers could burst from the walls any second knowing this place." He said into the comms. He checked his belt; he had used three of his eight grenades; that left five. Hopefully they got into some closer quarters. He checked his ammo on the HUD: He was still considerably in the green; nothing to worry about there, for the moment. He switched comms channels for a second.
"Ke'ras to Fleet; how's the weather out there?"
"Well," Spat the fleet commander. "I'd wager a fifty it's better in there. These guys are like the Zeront; they may not be all that tough, but DAMN, there's a lot of 'em!"
"Keep up the good work, Commander. Ke'ras out." He flipped back to the squad channel. "Sensors read less than 70 metres to the floor, keep your eyes peeled for hostiles; we don't need to be ambushed as we land." He said.

The conglomerate made a piercing metal noise, and lashed at the ravine’s lips, ripped at its sides. Below, an avalanche of metal came down. Niyames barely managed to doge the fragments falling into the water. But the fragments quickly clogged the way and the sides buckled and collapsed over the river. There was no changing of minds now.

But now they were safe, relatively.
Time passed, and the party drifted down stream, passively or actively. The canyon became a tunnel. Often it became steep, but never hazardously so. They were going deeper. Other streams joined and left with theirs. Whatever this network did, it was immense. And finally, as if to unnerving the team, underneath the surface, but meters below them, could be seen another river, of worms, flowing through the canal to destinations unknown.

The tunnel opened again, but not into a canyon, but to open shorelines.

“Here we are” said Niyames.
They had emerged into a tremendous place, filled with connecting streams and waterfalls. Spires rose and bridges arched through them, and flowing water cascaded down, The Place was close to beautiful, if not for the ever present monotonous brown metal.

“This is one of the machine’s greatest reservoirs. I never came to this place myself while I was here. I knew it was a sight. Though I never imagined" he getured with his steel talon. "It would have preserved on of those.”

and there, in the center of the room was a large structure, surprisingly colorful for this dull hell, plated in gold. (grimy, of course. its been there for decades) It appeared much like a cathedral, with a large orange light adorned above its entryway.

***

meanwhile:

The Iavolg had been scattered by the arrival of the COM, but were quickly regrouping. Marangreim seemed less boisterous than he had an hour before.

“Unless you think we can kill that by ourselves, we have to leave. Thankfully, the big thing saw fit to build us a new bridge.”

He gestured to bent walls of the canal

“It’s where the guy wanted us to go anyway, so I’m charging there and not stopping. And unless you think you can keep up, which I seriously doubt your little biped legs are capable of, you should climb on my back before go. Also…”

He paused and shot a rocket into the chest of an approaching savage.

“…offer expires in ten seconds.”

Marangreim reared up and took off, his two allies safely riding his back. Across the canyon, under the conglomerate, and on forever. An hour or more passed before he even seemed to look around.

“Oh, uh, I think we lost em.” they found themselves atop an octagonal tower, 20 feet in diameter, connected to many other, identical towers through metal bridges. Waterfalls flowed down the towers’ sides. The ground was too dark and far to be seen, but a few dim lights could be discerned. then came a great thunderous noise.

Niyames gave his your an idiot stare, which, to be fair to Charkan, he gave to just about everyone with little provocation.

"Poison The water? why would the Machine want that? The only reason It does not crush us is the limits instated by it's programing. Why would it let a toxin flow freely from this place? stoping us from killing several miles of it's transportation network is something well within it's allowances.

Quote from: UFO King on December 05, 2011, 08:37:08 pm

By the way, do you know the purpose of that gold-plated structure? I suspect it to be the control center for this area, so if we commandeer it the same disrupting effects of a toxin could be achieved."

A curve of the lip suggested a twinge of sadness in Niyames.
"Again, why would the machine let us control anything about it? The only one capable of that is the one in its heart. That is an old building from the homeland. A control center, of a kind, I suppose. The High palace of king Uneni. What I wonder is why the Machine would have taken and left intact its adversaries' power symbol..."

Niyames walked to the front of the structure.

The building was over 80 feet tall, at a very conservative guess. It was a blocky thing, perfectly square around the base. Twin column flanked the entrance, which was only four feet wide but stretched almost all the way to roof. The orange light was stationed directly over it. On closer inspection, it seemed a recent addition.

Niyames glared at it.
“So, Machine, and I know you can hear me, why did you bring this here? I know it’s not sentiment. I have felt your soul, and I know it contains none.”

Silence. He turned with a huff. The machine’s eye stared coldly and emotionless.

But then came a responceresponded. A great rumble shook the world. The rivers splashed and the towers shook.

As the roar waned, it became not just a sound, but voices, a chorus of voices, screaming in unison in every direction. They faded one by one, until only one feminine shriek remained, before it too was suddenly cut off. Then it spoke.

"You know why, Niyames. It is the same reason you fear to speak my name."
With every word, its voice seamlessly shifted to another.
"So, the king has returned to take his throne."

End of part one

Part 2:
The Voice And The Serpent

"I have come to kill you, Machine!"

The machine took a nasally male voice.
“Niyames, your constant euphemisms vex us. At least you gave Agnasi more than one. You just keep calling me ‘machine’. I have a name, you know. But of course you know…”

“Neither of you deserve a title! You disgrace the nobility!”

It used an elderly female voice next.
“I? Disgrace the nobility? Niyames, of all the souls to accuse me of that shame, and there are many, none have quite the irony of you.”

It switched to higher pitch of a young boy.
“And you brought protectors with you. You’ve grown smarter since the last time you tried to ‘kill me’. But seeing as you won’t use my name, allow me to introduce myself. I am Hnangha. Just Hnangha”

Now with an imitation of Niyames’ Harsh drawl bark.
“I assume he has told you our story? Good. They should at least have some vague idea of the events that brought them here.

Finally, Hnangha used the language and mimicked the speech of each race present, simultaneously
And here you are, inside of my veins. Tell me, what do you think so far? Speak your minds!

"Feels just like home.", Tavira charged his cannon and raised it against Hnangha. "If the urban underground was a ruin and crawling with undesirables.", he quipped while tensing his legs for a quick dodge at the slightest hint of aggression.

"I've heard my fair share of tales regarding creatures like yourself.", Sawi stepped forward, stopping just beside Niyames. His hand reached for the blade on his back as his face displayed a veritable cocktail of emotions, both subtle and gross. "Truth be told, I do appreciate this wondrous experience which you've graciously presented us with. Nevertheless...", a sudden motion came from Sawi's blade, unsheathing the weapon and brandishing it at Hnangha. "I have never, in all my years of service, seen something so depraved, so utterly revolting as to compare with what you have done."

"Hear this! We will strike you down! So much as the abominations which you have warped this people into!"

The choro sniper let out a sigh as he raised his rifle at Hnangha. "As much as it hurts to just let such rich data to pass, I gotta agree with the guy.", he added to Sawi's sentiment. "I'm sure we'll manage just scanning your body after we take you down."

Sinjino and the pakuweinia simply readied their weapons, expecting a fierce battle ahead.

Likewise, an air of silence reigned within Ea's armor. She did not speak a word to Hnangha, allowing her fully drawn weapons to do the talking for her. Her cold figurative stare alone was enough to declare her animosity towards both Hnangha and its morally reprehensible agenda.

(I'm detecting that this meet and greet is exeptionaly awkward)

Far above, Marangreim heard the words of Hnangha and his teammates. (Again super hearing)

“The most depraved revolting thing he’s ever seen? In my top five, for sure, but most? Then again, there weren’t any Luzonians in the horde of Grealtr. Actually, they might not have existed yet. Never mind. So guys, think we should go down there? I want to break this hungaga guy’s face.”

The Orange eye popped out of the hole in the wall, and unfolded its legs. The small machine (resembling a virus in shape) leapt from the doorway. It crept up to Tirenze. This time the voice seemed to come from the automaton.

"I would not worry about the knowledge I store. If you feel strongly about it, I can add you to it. Then you can share in the wisdom of worlds. Just be careful not to get too damaged when you die. There has to be something for the knackers to work with"

The little observer crawled over to Sawi next, and motioned its sharp stick limb as if to gently caress him.

"Of course, blame the servant. And you have quite the sense for the dramatic. I’ve noticed that occasionally in your kind. But your souls don’t quite mesh well with me, not enough substance. Orealyianis are quite fine, and photos are bland. I’m looking forward to taking the thoughts of that graid here, they are always a prize."

The eye turned to the Therais (photosoid. Creamy bone color. Spikey. Long, horizontal neck. Vicious beak.)

"I’m not familiar with your kind directly, but it will be good to have-"

Here, the mute therais committed a great faux pas, breaking an important rule of civility, one persisting across almost every social circle and a cornerstone of etiquette, when he cut off Hnangha mid-sentence with a blast of molten slag from his hand cannon. Not something for polite society.

Again coming from all around,

"Alright. I agree, it is time for action. "

In an instant, a large channel in the room erupted. It had been lying just under the surface. It’s it massive neck rose, dripping with black water. It was large enough to easily swallow the largest of the party whole and too long to be seen in whole. Around the great worm's head was a circle of limbs, each eight meter long, and tipped with a talon. Along it’s back where a number of writhing flagellates. The jaw was scaled and battered, adorned with the yellow eyes of the Iavolg, but far too many. Then it opened its mouth, and took a guttural breath. Inside was another eye, swollen and malignant. Lining the throat where a number of growths, which on closer look, where Iavolg, grown and fused into its maw.

It finally reached full height, dwarfing the party.
"This is Uneni. Niyames could tell you all about him, but he can introduce himself his own way."

Uzeta-Oatir was a ‘Corrector’ of the Ashen Flock. This meant he dealt with dissidents, usually by sneaking into their commune in the middle of the night and disemboweling them. He was the best at what he did. Also cementing his choice for this operation was the unprecedented amount of discipline required of a Machy Corrector, overcoming their universal reckless nature. This meant he was a cool, collected and skilled addition to the team. However, they had forgotten one thing.

His medication

Uzeta took flight and sprayed a round of shards into the serpent. It responded by flicking its tail, swatting him out of the air, the impact breaking every organ in his body, killing him instantly. And, somewhere, yet another supervisor was fired for letting a Machy on a special operations mission.

Ke'ras looked for a way down. Then his optics pointed out water down there.
"Water. Perfect. I don't know about you guys, but I'll meet you down there." And with that, he jumped off, plummeting straight towards the water. Many would have called this foolish, if it weren't for his pinton launcher. As he plummeted, he fired a pinton at one of the nearby towers. It caught and slowed his fall, and as he slowed he promptly released it. He fell, and hit the water like an arrow, slicing. He rose from the water unscathed. He shook the water from his pistol and rose it, firing fully automatic as he charged. The rounds exploded against the creature, taking chunks of flesh from it. He came to a stop, aiming at the numberless eyes adorning it's face. It screeched in pain as rounds exploded against it. It came round to him, lunging at him with it's mouth. Re'vas timed it, and at the last second rolled out of the way, dragging his impulse blade's flaring plasma cutting edge through it's mouth, carving a gouging line about a metre in length along it's mouth before his blade reached it's apex and flew free. The flaring soil from the creature's impact kicked him up into the air, and he went rolling along the ground, before stopping face down and hefting himself up. He re-fixed his vision on the target; the large gash splitting it's mouth on the side was bleeding quite badly; it looked fairly ****ed at the Photos.

The rest of the team quickly sprang into action, scattering across the chamber while unloading their weapons at the serpentine amalgamation.

"FIRE!"

Uneni took a glancing blow to the side from the intense pillar of plasma generated by Tavira's cannon. Without a moment to spare, the orealyianis recovered from the weapon's recoil and leaped away from the enemy's retaliatory strike. The massive worm struck the surface where the agent once stood, sending large volumes of soil and debris hurtling through the air. Not a moment later, a large explosion completely engulfed its maw. The resulting cloud of dust obscured Uneni's face, only for the creature to burst through the haze and lunge at the nearest person.

Sawi flipped through the air, heating up his blade before deflecting one of Uneni's outstretched talons. "A fine choice with the graid, if I do say so myself. However...", he replied to Hnangha, promptly flying out of the serpent's path and firing several bursts at its back. "I'm afraid we can't allow you to do that, now can we?", Sawi began to spin in the air much like a sling, gathering momentum with each revolution. Producing a grenade, he hurled it at the wedge created by Ke'ras' blade, the resulting blast aggravating the already gaping wound. "And as for the lack of substance.", he added while firing another set of bursts from his machine gun. "I'm much of the opinion that's it's the other way around!"

A sudden bolt entered Uneni's mouth and then into the throat, running straight through several of the fused iavolg before stopping. "I'd rather like it if I was the one doing the adding, thankyouverymuch.", Tirzene retorted before barely dodging the serpent's furious counterattack.

Sinjino zipped around Uneni from a safe distance, simultaneously scanning the worm's movements and watching for any other hostile presence that might be in the vicinity. When she had the chance, she fired a burst or two at the creature's mouth, but otherwise prioritized keeping the group in the know of their environment. "Harvester!", she alerted the pakuweinia after sensing Uneni's subsequent trajectory, warning her swiftly enough to escape the enemy's lethal maw.

Ea fired one of her grappling hooks, swinging her way up to one of the spires before sniping the eye lying inside Uneni's mouth whenever it exposed itself. She swung from tower to tower, keeping a steady eye for when the next opportunity would present itself. Maintaining a firm grip on the surface using her prehensile feet, she fired for the fourth time, this time managing to hit the serpent square on its eye.

Uneni did not appreciate the shots and explosions hitting his face, but he'd had worse. Like artillery fire, or the time he died. Or the other time he died.

First, he wrapped his tail around a tower, and casualy pulled it down. Triggering a chain reaction. Yes, like dominoes, but crunchier. Big enough set piece for ya?

Then he casualy straffed the team with his head, trampling Ke'ras and Sawi into the ground, and smacking Sinjino upward with his forehead. But before She could reach the arc of her flight, one of his many hands snatched her out of the air.

Far above, Marangreim was having some problems.

"uh, I can't jump. I mean, I physicaly cant jump."

But he did his best to contribute. he held out his arm and pointed a tube shaped weapon at Uneni. He pulled the trigger, and a stream of liquid fire poured forth. in a few moments, the snake was covered in fire. But it didn't seem to mind much. It didn't even drop Sin

Wonderful. why didn't I ever think of this? now instead of a giant worm, I have a flaming giant worm! Sure, he'll burn to death in a few hours, but then I can rebuild him fireproof

"..."

but then a pillar collided with his pillar.
Marang took off down the steep slope. he reached the base and slid to a halt, thankfully avoiding crashing into a canal, which was now largely coated in chemical fire. Shrugging, he joined the attack with his RPG's

And Niyames was nowhere to be seen.

Ke'ras' hud pointed out the growths on Uneni's back as he pulled himself to his feet again. They had a strong thermal signature, but he had no way to them; Uneni seemed smooth bodied, so no handholds, and with the worm flailing around, even he and his computer-assisted aim couldn't get a clean shot. Thinking on his feet, he remembered the chunks his shots had blown out earlier; there were no handholds, but he could make them. They weren't much, granted, more pits than anything; but he'd have to make do. He shifted his running from the perimiter of the "arena" to running straight at the worm. He walked his shots up in a staggered pattern as he approached. He jumped and, despite getting grazed by an arm, managed to grab on with one hand. He turned once he got a better grip and fired a trio of shots at the offending arm. Two missed, but the third hit just solid enough to detonate, causing the arm from that point forward to fall limp, half missing. Ke'ras turned back and did his best to climb up the creature. The thrashing and shots from his teammates made this slow and haphazard, but he finally got even with a growth. He switched his pistol for his Impulse Blade. Giving it a test whrrr to see that the impulse drive still functioned, he slashed into the growth, the sawing bolt of plasma cutting through it. He got half way through, pulled it out, and swung it violently again. It bit all the way through with this swing, and the insides spewed out, Ke'ras pulling back to avoid the spray. the flesh inside was red and tender looking. He brought his blade around, holding it underhanded, and plunged it in, biting down into the flesh a bit. He withdrew it and pushed himself off, rolling on his shoulder when he hit the sand. He sprinted clear and got a distance back to see what effect his growth-removal had, shaking the pus from his blade.

Crisis

Uneni's computerized brain was blaring warnings at his organic one. The stings he felt in his flesh soon faded, but the wounds they left behind did not. He surveyed the battle with his many senses.

He had become accustom to smashing naval fleets and wrecking the foundations of cities. Fighting a dozen tiny, quick moving targets was not his regular role.

Then he felt the cut deep into his back. His muscles tensed, and his great bulk swayed. He dropped Sinjino. After almost a full, slow minute, his body fell forward, crashing to the ground, his jaw slamming into the hard metal floor. Though the earth shook, he did not make a sound.

Niyames reappeared, walking cautiously up to the maw of the great worm. It turned slightly, to watch Niyames with his remaining eyes, but seemed unable to rise. The jaw lay on its side, open. The body twitched behind it, the involuntary last movements of a corpse.
The two kings stared silently at each other, but for the messy painful noises of the snake. Then muffled, strained voice came from within the maw. Niyames peered through the dark. One remaining Larentili body, of the many fused within the throat, remained whole. It spoke. Its voice was scratchy and acidic. There was a dead pause between each of its words.

“High king”

“Lord Uneni”

“I am no lord. Wretched, I am. I have transgressed you, High king”

Niyames remained silent to this; something else had come to watch them. The knackers (Think mechanical assassin bug) had come, in force. Three dozen or more, skittering down from the walls and floorboards, they gathered around them, waiting to partake in their vicious harvest.

“High king, there is something else. He is not acting independently.”

“What?”

“Something else controls him now. It is old and in the dark. It is close, and comes closer to me still.”

The knackers began to whine their metal shrieks. They would wait no longer. Niyames stepped back, as they set upon the body. The protective blanket of Hnangha was gone, and the worm felt the pain in earnest. One last pained scream escaped the dying king.

“Nyames, don’t let it take me back again”

Niyames turned and walked away. He made a halting gestured at Marangreim, who was aiming hesitantly at the knackers.

“No. We cannot interfere. The lesser machines will leave us be unless we directly interrupt their work. Then they would set on us in infinite number.

The knackers set about their prize, some cutting, some gathering.

“So, Machine, now you have overwhelmed your master?”

This time Hnangha spoke with two voices, one very high, echoing from the ceiling, one very low, rising from the earth.
“Niyames, since when have you listened to the outlandish theories of your enemies? You where paranoid enough amongst friends. I remain his modest servant."

The voice faded as the last word was spoken. Silence, but for the gruesome sounds of the harvesters.

Moa examined the soul of the slain king. So unorthodox; His body was harvested, but no new one was being built for him. Instead, she prepared his mind for addition to the pool. Moa wondered, as she often did, what it was like. While she communed with the Machine's mind, The idea of becoming a strand in that dark billowing conscious was frightening. Then, she thought, she best overcome the apprehension quickly, because soon, if things happened as they should, exactly that would happen.

Hnangha sounded of a stout gentlemen in fine company, at a doorway in from the rain, lighting his pipe and removing his old-fashioned hat.

Oh, I quite agree, but you are not anywhere nearly paranoid enough. We know who you are, noble, Ke'ras. Those I take beyond death speak to me, through me. I know so many truths. Curious ones and dangerous ones. I almost wish I could share them with you, but my designer saw fit to limit my choices in that regard. And almost all others, actually. Wouldn't want us to just let you kill him. Never a thought to my desires and feelings. Of course, I didn't have them yet. How things change.

Well, That is all I will say. You are likely to all die, so I will have time to say more to you if I need to. Best of luck on your quest.

Niyames huffed.

"We have wonded. Rest now. The palace will be safe"

The palace seemed more liken to a cathedral. In the main hall of the palace was an elaborate alter and lines of seating in front of it. in the center of the alter a pole still stood, bearing the faded crest of Uneni's noble house. While the entrance was rotted and ruined, the side roomes where surpisingly surprisingly intact. Niyames settled in the king's chamber, and designated another for the others.

Marangreim seemed relaxed.
"So we can rest easy here. Time to share our thoughts and stories"
...
" Alright, I will start. It is a shame none of us can perform the rites of Akshir* for those of us who get killed here. I don't know much of the endings of other kinds. Does Oclus** return any of you to the stone as well, or is that only for my people of Doshemrlant?*** What happens to you when you end?

*(ak-Shir; life-absence)
**(God of rock)
*** (Graid homeworld)

"If you insist.", Tirenze obliged, clearing his throat. "Of course, I can't speak for every choro. But for most us, passing away means getting some last farewells before being sent to the local environmental control facility to be-", he quickly cut off, followed by a blatantly forced cough which coincided with a supremely subtle glance at Tavira. "Recycled."

"Not the most appetizing thing, I know.", he slipped in a joke. "Most choro believe that the universe is just one large system. When a person forms, it takes some of that system into itself so it could interact with the world. People thought it was only right to return everything back to the system once the person using it finally passed. Though, I'm sure there are some other views out there that don't necessarily agree with this. Right, Colonel Ferawazariya?"

"To clarify what Tirenze said...", Tavira began. "We've always had a custom of protecting the remains of the deceased. Some of you might have heard of it once in Galactic Civ, how all orealyinis are interred into an old complex back in Athanatsu. In any case, there really isn't much of a funeral before being laid to rest there, though you could always visit the place afterwards if you wanted to."

"What about you, Captain?", he turned towards Sinjino. "I've heard similar things from several marakiri, if I'm not mistaken."

"That may be the case, Colonel.", Sinjino nodded. "There are quite a number of Mortalan cultures which emphasize the preservation of the body, most prominently being those from the global desert. People from that region commonly store the person in carved stone vessels which they proceed to fill with sand before sealing completely with a slab of clay or cement. Some groups take it further by constructing personal tombhouses, while others bury their people directly into specifically marked burial fields in the open desert."

"There are other regions, of course, each with their own predominant ways.", she added. "Such as the coastal and maritime areas where the deceased are mostly sent away on burning rafts or lowered into the mouth of active volcanoes, or the northern plateaus where the departed are encased in ice or fed to wild fauna. The list of is truly quite exhaustive."

"However, the methods of the desert people remain the most successful in regions beyond Mortala, especially in Athanatsu. Some even import sand from Mortala II, if they have the opportunity."

Tavira nodded in agreement to Sinjino's exposition. "That was quite interesting, Captain."

"Indeed!", Sawi concurred. "Having such vast flavors of tradition, certainly not here alone but in other aspects as well. It must grant you exceptional pride for your people!"

"Why thank you, Commander.", Sinjino nodded towards Sawi and Tavira in response to their statements.

"You're absolutely welcome, Captain.", Sawi replied before turning his sights to another. "Perhaps our hiraak companion would like to speak next?"

the Kosmosis Chronicles

KOSMOSIS: Roleplaying and Story Games => The Storyboard => Topic started by: Bard on November 12, 2011, 10:39:38 pm