Humans run every which way, carrying papers and digital devices in their arms. Your drone walks through the chaos with a steady stride as it enters the war room on Odin station. It is filled with screens showing various Union news stations, local intelligence reports, and numerous astrographic data of the region. Most of the news feeds are either lifeless, or are showing some obvious filler story involving local politics or a rerun of the previous few hours of coverage. A select few, the ones not muted, show various buildings belonging to the Union BFI as agents rush in and out of the buildings.
“It is as yet unclear what the root cause is, be it a Commonwealth attack deeper into Union space than the recent strike, a more robust incursion from the machine intelligence of the Unity, or some other event.” One news caster says. “We as yet have no indication supporting or refuting any specific theory at the moment, however there is a compete media blackout. The government has shut down almost every interstellar communication relay available, and there are reports of fleet assets moving to high alert across the system. The PDF has already secured major spaceports and are ordering an evacuation of all buildings within a ten block radius of local anti-orbital defense installations.” The reporter continues. Behind her is the entrance to the Parliament building, swarming with local PDF troops as barricades raise up from the street at regular intervals and a hovering tank slowly props itself up on several hydraulic legs. A PDF trooper shouts at her and several of them quickly move in, batting away the camera that cuts to static.
Welcome back to Hive Queen Quest!
>Archives http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Hive%20Queen%20Quest
>Twitter https://twitter.com/HiveQueenQuest
>Various pasta http://pastebin.com/u/QuestDrone
>FAQ ask.fm/QuestDrone
>Discussion page http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Quest_talk:Hive_Queen_Quest
>>48300749
Even the Commonwealth knows they fucked up.
>>48300749
For Mothers glory and the might of the Hive
Time for spooky space bugs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV_Cagi25O8
>>48300930
Some mood music to get us in the mindset of slaying eldritch horrors
>>48300749
Drones stream into the facility, cutting down guards as they fire into the seething swarm of chitin and blades surging towards them. You are growing closer, the source of the psionic signal and the gravitational distortions both coming from the pit in the center of the chamber before you. The readings become stronger, gradually but steadily, and with it, your connection to your drones begins to feel fainter, their minds struggling to hear you through the growing static of psionic interference.
Elizabeth stands on the bridge of your ship in orbit, watching the complex mosaic, given meaning only by the context provided by her own mental connection, and listening to the silent, mental battlecries of your warriors.
"Whatever he's doing, he's trying to speed it up. I'm not sure if the drones will be able to keep their connections at this rate." She says. You are unsure, but your drones are indeed slowing down in the mild confusion of the interference. "I should get to the surface. At the very least I can help organize things."
>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
>Refuse, keep your drones moving forward as they are
>Refuse, have your thinker-brained ghost beetles lead the charge in
>Other
>>48301033
>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
The dubs command it, we must not let things go bad.
>>48301033
>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
>>48301033
>>Refuse, have your thinker-brained ghost beetles lead the charge in
>>48301033
>Refuse, have your thinker-brained ghost beetles lead the charge in
>>48301033
>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
>have your thinker-brained ghost beetles as backup
>>48301033
>>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
Wish we had some of those quantum brained hybrids.
>>48301033
This!
This is exactly why I wanted those humans in there. We seriously need to get our own loyal human marines, that stay loyal even without little drone connected to their spine.
Anything that can cut our connection to drones is our biggest weakness.
>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
> have your thinker-brained ghost beetles lead the charge in meantime
>>48301033
Supporting>>48301069
>>48301033
>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
>>48301101
Dude, there were only like four marines, up to 12 at best.
>>48301033
>>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
I hope the doctors meet face to face soon.
>>48301116
Enough to do work on the reactor. Drones will have trouble, I think.
>>48301101
We have those. They're called quantum brains, geez anon. Ghost beetles have them.
>>48301101
I could support such a plan.
>>48301033
>Refuse, have your thinker-brained ghost beetles lead the charge in
Could we have our drones communicate by radio signals?
>>48301033
QD did our 99 do anything there?
>>48301121
Drones may have trouble this close to the crystal. Hopefully Theseus will be more competent if our drones start failing.. Of course, Big Momma may be able to help out our drones significantly depending on our rolls. I still think (and presumably agree) we have under-utilized human and hybrid brains. For example, non-psionically connected brains would have been able to detect the invisible natives on refuge. If we equip more drones with the ability to independently deal with problems (even beyond what a quantum thinker may be capable of), it could greatly increase our ability to pursue independent projects and rely on non-thinker insights.
>>48301167
Good idea for the future. In areas with crystal contamination we can have certain drones sever their connection to the hive and only respond to radio commands. It would greatly lower the rate of (or risk of) void god contamination.
>>48301033
>>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
It's a risk, but may be necessary without humans on scene. Let's clean up this mess.
>>48301192
We made it through basically all defenses effortlessly.
>>48301007
I listen to this during the combat bits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7iRoTqUvcg&feature=youtu.be
>>48301101
Only problem is if our drones lose contact with queenie, won't they start mindlessly attacking everything around them?
>>48301101
I'm actually a bit glad the marines did not witness our drones becoming disoriented and confused by exposure to the artifact and psionic interference. It could give the Union some very dangerous inferences about what our weaknesses are and why we actually decided to intervene. They may have thought that we only intervened to keep the Union from discovering a weapon that could effectively break down the hive order as opposed to for its destructive potential. However, if containment really is lost, I will certainly greatly regret not having decided to keep the marines on hand.
>>48301251
No they'll shutdown.
>>48301275
I'm recalling the feral drones we've encountered in the past that washed against us like a mindless wave in the past because of no leading mind.
>>48301251
Assuming our drones have basic animal intelligence then they probably have basic swarm mechanisms they'll do what the drones next to them do so they'll try to complete thier last known task but will loss tactical flexibility and focus
>>48301283
Those were because of the thinker dumbass. They were never actually feral.
>>48301300
So polite, cunt.
>>48301283
No, those were with thinkers. Without thinkers, drones just shut down. With thinkers, they'll try to accomplish their last order given to them.
>>48301283
That's not how it works you dumb-dumb.
Drones that were given the standing order of Defend Thing For Mother attacked? No shit.
Thinkers were controlling those probably.
>>48301308
Gotchya.
>>48301304
You can always try spacebattles if you want a hugbox where people don't insult each other like they're on 4chan or something.
>>48301033
>Allow Elizabeth to enter the facility under drone escort
"Have the drones push as far as they can until the interference becomes too much. I'll lead a swarm in myself." She says as she runs a wall that flexes open for her, and makes her way to a waiting shuttle filled with heavy warriors, wasps, and ghost beetles.
On the planet below, your drones continue to push forward, the warriors struggling to process everything around them through the haze of the interference. As they continue to press into the growing meat grinder, you have more of your ghost beetles move in along the flanks, scaling the walls and ceiling as the guards fall back to the choke point of the inner facility's entrance.
"I don't like the idea of you being so vulnerable." Elizabeth says as her shuttle departs. You feel dumbstruck at the comment.
"I'm fine. My alterations are more than just implants. I could hardly be considered human anymore with how much alterations my genetic structure has undergone. I have some theories I'd like to test out in that regard, but you, if whatever Emmerich is doing takes hold, your fleet could turn into a lighting rod. You have way too many relays here. Any mental attack would have a direct route to you."
"The fleet must be controlled." You say.
"Then keep one in the flagship of the fleet." She says. "But you don't need to do everything yourself."
>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
>Keep your redundant relays
>Other (write in)
>>48301338
Thanks anyways, cunt.
>>48301347
You're welcome, dumbass.
>>48301341
>>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
She has a point. A sudden mental attack could be debilitating.
>>48301341
>>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
>>48301341
>Other (write in)
Disable all relays. Allow Theseus to send commands to our ships via radio and to transmit data and images by the same medium. There is no need for us to risk relays in this arena.
It minimizes risk to us. We have far more fleets even if Theseus were to use his monopoly over communication against us (which he wouldn't do).
>>48301341
>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
>>48301341
>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
>>48301369
>>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
>>48301341
>>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
Didn't even know that possible.
>>Send in a medium relay equipped drone to aid Elizabeth.
>>48301341
>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
>>48301341
>>48301376
If we do disable all relays in our fleet except for one, can we please have our thinkers assigned to accept radio command relays from Theseus in the event of a worst case scenario and we have to destroy or disable our remaining relay?
>>48301406
We can put drones into hibernation stasis. Simple enough.
If you really are scared about losing control of drones while approaching these crystals, that's what quantum brains are for. And the AI allies.
>>48301341
>Keep your redundant relays
>>48301341
>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
I have a question do we have enough drones to over power the crystals psychic field I know our Drones can limit their tachyon emissions but can they do the opposite and increase thier tachyon emissions so instead of whispering thier screaming till thier sore
>>48301417
sure
>>48301341
>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
>>48301417
This works
>>48301417
Sounds like something a reasonable queen would do
>A Queen ever giving control of her children to another
I'm disgusted.
>>48301417
I like this.
>>48301482
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
>>48301341
You know, Elizabeth makes a good point. We've put way, way too many relays in our ships, when operating as a fleet that is nothing but a crippling weakness considering our enemies. All it takes is a single ship to get caught in a takyonic jamming field and our entire network goes down, everywhere.
>>48301482
Hey now we can trust Uncle Theseus to watch the kids for a little bit.If that smut is canon would it be step dad Theseus?
>>48301482
"MOM, she's my friend and she's helping me stop the void god"
"Jeez, you're so old fashioned."
>>48301417
Maybe we should just start including quantum relays in our fleet flagships just to address the possibility.
>>48301508
That's why we reinvented White Crystals.
They operate as fuse boxes on relays to shut it down in jamming events. Dat psionic fortification. >>38091889
>>48301460
We aren't giving control were telling our thinkers to accept military data from Thesus the thinkers our still operating to our orders
>>48301482
We can include a time limit. They will only do this for 12 hours before returning to Mother.
And this is just the kind of thing FTLComms with Thinkers on the other end are useful for.
They're the ultimate backup. No trust required in a third party.
>>48301376
>>48301417
Sadly, that is not biologically possible, as drones recognize their queen or friendly hive intelligences by the hive network. Radio, or any other non-psionic transmission method can send the fact ammount of data that is processed by a drone as it exports its higher brain functions to the rest of the hive. A thinker could be ordered to recognize a person and follow their commands, but such a command structure would be difficult at best, as the non-thought based communication lacks the detail the thinker otherwise uses to establish its standing orders.
Your drones cannot be hacked or tricked into serving anyone else, but they also can't be made to directly accept orders through non-psionic means. Thinkers can carry out orders without a queen's constant presence, and be told to follow the mental orders of another friendly, related queen or, in your case, psionic individual, but they would still struggle to parse out the details of anyone's verbal commands due to a perceived lack of detail and context.
>>48301562
This is a good thing. The slow crawl towards merging society with the non-hives must stop.
>>48301533
Which thread are you linking to?
>>48301562
Which is way I said we just allow them to take information and not orders
>>48301562
Then the only answer is Thinker-couriers that travel out of range of Mother and into range of other, jammed Thinkers, to convey Mother's orders?
>>48301585
It's thread 37.
http://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/38091704/#38091889
>>48301562
Okay.... Fair enough.
In that case I suggest we can give thinkers standing orders to GTFO unless countermanded by Elizabeth. Elizabeth herself can probably hitch a ride with Theseus if needed (I doubt he'd abandon his Mom to the void god), so even if her psionic abilities are disrupted we won't lose her abilities or resourcefulness altogether.
>>48301632
That or just find away to have the stronger psychic powers so it's the other guys that have to worry about it
>>48301632
The problem there is that jammed drones can't even communicate with each other without a physical link like in the parts of out ships.
>>48301637
from >>38091889
>Psionic fortification
A strange mixture of organic components assembled into a crystalline matrix, the strange white crystals not only can serve as a kind of memory storage device, but also as a component in a psionic relay. When incorporated into a drone, it replaces the portion of the brain maintaining the psionic link to the queen and serves as a mixture of fuse and signal booster, allowing the relay to broadcast to drones suffering from psionic jamming, and can protect itself from jamming by cutting off its ability to receive thoughts.
The process of installation does not cost anything, but requires a white crystal be implanted into the selected relay to function.
>>48301637
>A strange mixture of organic components assembled into a crystalline matrix, the strange white crystals not only can serve as a kind of memory storage device, but also as a component in a psionic relay. When incorporated into a drone, it replaces the portion of the brain maintaining the psionic link to the queen and serves as a mixture of fuse and signal booster, allowing the relay to broadcast to drones suffering from psionic jamming, and can protect itself from jamming by cutting off its ability to receive thoughts.
The process of installation does not cost anything, but requires a white crystal be implanted into the selected relay to function.
Oh wow, we need to put that on our flagships.
>>48301637
>http://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/38091704/#38091889
Cool. I had forgotten about that. Aren't white crystals (a necessity for psionic fortification) a highly limited resource, though? Do we have enough to equip our entire fleet with them.
>>48301656
Not true. Their range is shortened. Otherwise several options QD gave us wouldn't have made sense. Like
>Activate your psionic disruptor and send in ghost beetles under thinker command
Not to mention he explained this.
>>48001027
> Thinkers are able to command drones to a very, very limited extent while being jammed, and such commands are iffy and unreliable at best as it essentially just tries to shout over the jammer at the other drones, typically with mixed results. Moderate relays will have greater success, but are limited to tactical range, essentially, and can only effectively communicate with drones within the immediate area. Advanced relays become largely non-functional, and essentially shut down to avoid spreading the jamming signal to the rest of the hive.
So a Thinker with a moderate relay is decent at controlling a squad of drones.
>>48301341
>Disable the relays in your fleets, save for one
"If you think anything bad is about to happen, destroy the relay." Elizabeth says. "I can get back to the ship and even if I can't get through the interference the ship's should return on their own."
You ponder the idea of giving over your forces to your shipboard thinkers, and simply watching the events unfold from Theseus's server ships, although doing so would make you blind to the psionic signals within and render you ignorant to the vast majority of the events unfolding. As Theseus continues to have his own mechanical drones systematically purge the facility, you become keenly aware of his blindness to the true danger of this base. An ignorance that likely ensures his safety for the moment, but prevents him from being able to offer any real assistance at the moment, his drones being unable to sense or interact with the mounting danger. You don't like the idea of watching, being unable to interact with the battle or even witness the most critical parts of it, but it may at least offer some additional insurance in the event of failure.
>Destroy your last relay, and give control of your drones over to your thinkers
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
>Other
>>48301678
They aren't valuable we learned how to make them the limited resource our void crystals since you need them to fire the superweapon
>>48301699
>>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
We've already got the failsafes, we need to see this ourselves.
>>48301678
Actually at this point I think we can manufacture our own white crystals.
>>48301699
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
Keep the relay ship some distance away from the planet, have Theseus beam updates via lasercomm to it.
>>48301699
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
We're going to turn into the Zerg Overmind->Cerebrate->Overlord hierarchy, aren't we?
>>48301699
>>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
>>48301699
>>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
>>48301675
>>48301678
I assume we already have those in all our advanced relays, as we have long since learned how to make our own memory crystals and they cost little. >>39014974
>>48301699
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
>>48301699
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
There's such a thing as acceptable levels of paranoia. Doing otherwise goes past the threshold.
>>48301699
>>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
>>48301699
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
Or if Destroy your last relay, and give control of your drones over to your thinkers wins go see what the Commonwealth is thinking about
>>48301728
No, ya fool.
That defeats the entire point of keeping it, that's no better than Theseus sending us updates over his A-grade FTLComms.
The whole point of sticking around is to be connected to what's going on in the heart of the facility, for as long as we're able to keep our eyes open here.
There's no benefit if we're not at least barely within range to cover the facility.
>>48301699
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
Give thinkers standing orders to destroy the relay unless they receive a countermanding order every 10 seconds. A temporary disruption shouldn't lead to a total loss of command and control, but anything longer and we risk the entire relay network potentially.
>>48301699
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
>>48301699
>Keep your one relay for now, and destroy it only in the event of mental attack
The doors to the shuttle flex open, and Elizabeth leaps out in the low gravity, quickly carrying herself along with her weaver limbs as her escort charges in with her. A moment later, the marine shuttle lifts off nearby, quickly accelerating into orbit.
Your drones struggle to reach your mind, their vision cloudy to you as they charge into the inner facility. It is a brightly lit room, filed with various instruments and devices, but the details are lost to you as your drones struggle with the guards. Your ghost beetles are poised to strike as your warriors have reached the edge of where their minds remain competent, and await your command to dive into the dark, lonely void outside of their mother's guiding mental influence. You can feel it. A twinge of fear in their thinker minds. Injury, death, the unknown, all of them meaningless concepts, but to leave the queen, even for a moment, is the only thing that could ever make your children hesitate. They steel themselves for that loneliness.
>Have your ghost beetles attempt to find an alternate way in and flank the humans inside with Elizabeth
>Have your ghost beetles charge in through the door ahead of Elizabeth
>Other(write in)
>>48301862
>Have your ghost beetles attempt to find an alternate way in and flank the humans inside with Elizabeth
They spooky for a reason.
>>48301862
>>Have your ghost beetles attempt to find an alternate way in and flank the humans inside with Elizabeth
>>48301878
We could split them. We brought enough.
>>48301862
>>Have your ghost beetles attempt to find an alternate way in and flank the humans inside with Elizabeth
>>48301862
>Have your ghost beetles attempt to find an alternate way in and flank the humans inside with Elizabeth
>>48301862
Don't you mean quantum brains?
>>48301862
>>Have your ghost beetles attempt to find an alternate way in and flank the humans inside with Elizabeth
Infiltration is their forte as is independent thinking and situation analysis. Tell them to shut out psychic contact (to avoid false orders from void god) and pursue their calling. They still have very basic abilities to communicate with each other outside of psionic links right? Primary command is still to shut down the reactor safely if at all possible. Do that, and they can return to mother.
>>48301862
>>Have your ghost beetles attempt to find an alternate way in and flank the humans inside with Elizabeth
>>48301862
>Have your ghost beetles attempt to find an alternate way in and flank the humans inside with Elizabeth
Please give me 2d100, best of 3, first for the beetles, second for Elizabeth and the drones assigned to her.
Rolled 7, 80 = 87 (2d100)
>>48301952
FOR MOTHER!
Rolled 88, 55 = 143 (2d100)
>>48301952
For sister?
Rolled 20, 11 = 31 (2d100)
>>48301952
Uweh
Rolled 79, 23 = 102 (2d100)
>>48301952
Make mother proud.
>>48301977
Pffft, useless thinker.
>>48301966
Bruh.
>>48301964
>>48301966
>88, 87
Not bad
>>48302022
>87
Anon...
>>48302072
>88, 80
My bad. Still.
>>48301966
>double dub rolls
>on a post ending with dubs
>>48301977
>with another dub post under it
>>48302022
>and another dub post replying to it
Well it seems that /s4s/ is in cahoots with the dice gods today.
>>48301952
Your drones climb along the exterior shell of the facility, quickly finding a mixture of sealed doors and scaffolding mixed with various ventilation shafts and maintenance corridors. The chamber is like a building built within a building, the shell of power conduits and layered metal struts offering a tight squeeze as your ghost beetles work their way through the maze of small chambers and air vents, and they flicker, and then fade from your mind as the growing psionic signal's deafening cry drowns out their thoughts. Outside, at the door the guards are using as a choke point for your drones, you exchange fire with the humans. Chitin slugs and metal shards fly past each other in a brutal exchange of fire.
Elizabeth makes her way to the outer chamber, and quickly closes in to the door, her mind granting you some level of view of the foggy, static filled space within, offering some relief to your drones in their attempt to hear their mother.
"I think I can already confirm one theory of mine." She says. "The implants that give me the same abilities as a relay also seem to be fortified, at least partially, against psionic disruption." She closes in and sends a heavy warrior ahead, its bulk shrugging off the attacks of the guards within as wasps swarm out from behind it. She quickly leaps forward and takes cover behind the heavy warrior as it marches forward.
The room ahead is a circular chamber, lined with regulators and control panels covered in various readouts and subsystems. All of it is directed over a large pit, its sloping wall flowing down to the floor where an arrangement of machines is placed around a large, metallic sphere. The sphere itself exudes psionic energy, its metal casing spinning rapidly in a projected magnetic field that holds it suspended in the air. Around it, other spherical devices are situated, the light bending slightly around them as they twist spacetime as lighting arcs between their magnetic rings.
Cont.
>>48302249
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUCGocEAD2k
>>48219765
>"A misfire." You hear someone shouting in the background as the marine repeats himself flatly. Someone is yelling, something about a voice down the hall. "Someone had a weapon malfunction is all. Fired a few rounds into a wall."
What squad even had the misfire, squad one, two, or three.
We just met squad one.
Was the misfire a lie to cover up that a soldier shot at a hallucination they had due to the nausea field. Why would they lie. And which soldier was it, did we meet them and his squad leader.
>>48302249
The humans slowly fall back, moving from one line of cover to another. Elizabeth dives from behind the heavy warrior to her own cover near the ledge, catching a quick view of the reactor below. Technicians in radiation suits examine the machines as they hum, seemingly ignoring the attack around them.
She turns her attention back to the battle as several guards fall back to another line of cover, and the minds of several ghost beetles echo through the static disruption.
"Kill things! Kill for Mother!"
There is a flash, a momentary blur of motion as several forms flash out from the ceiling on top of the guards. There is a momentary scream as their tails whip up and then down, ripping through the armor to the soft flesh beneath and spraying blood across the consoles around them. Another guard turns around, taking aim to the drones and sends a quick burst of fire in their direction, ripping into the carapace of one drone's tail as it pulls its bloodied maw free of the gaping hole in the armor and chitters in rage.
As the guard fires again, a lender, spear like limb comes down on his shoulder, and another two through the torso as Elizabeth brings her limbs striking down on the guard. The human turns to look, his arm swinging his weapon in her direction as she grips his wrist, crushing the cluster of bones with a loud popping noise as if bringing a bag of potato chips, and pulls him in closer. A short, conical spray of acid erupts from her mouth with a short hiss and she spins him around as his helmet begins to melt inwards, holding his impaled torso up as makeshift cover as she charges the distance of open ground to a wall of computer terminals ahead, and then tosses the flailing, smoking body into the guards ahead. As she slides behind the computer terminals, the ghost beetles charge ahead, quickly bringing their mandibles up and into their soft, poorly armored throats and throwing them to the ground with a wet, gurgling thud.
Cont.
>>48302390
It's "possible" that the misfire was really just a misfire caused by stress and hair trigger weapons. Proper paranoia dictates, however, that we thoroughly examine all survivors for taint before release.
>>48302404
Kerrigan.jpg
>>48302404
That's our daughter
>>48302438
>>48302429
Damn straight.
>>48300749
Omgomgomgomg hqq is back
>>48302488
where the hell have you been?
>>48302488
He's been back for a bit.
>>48302404
Everything about this fight is brutal.
>>48302598
I know, I'm kind of surprised Elizabeth is going for the kill instead of just shooting them up with paralyzing agents.
>>48302636
She's admitted she doesn't really see herself as human anymore, and she's got most if not all the stuff she wants and needs with us.
I think she's losing a majority of her sense of empathy when it comes to humanity in any manner that's not purely scientific.
Also these guards are infested so she doesn't want to take chances.
>>48302663
Good point. I feel we should mention to her that she still is human, her augs and the impact of her growing her own medium relay. That really only effected a small region of her tissue and genetic code, the rest of it definitively human. I mean, for her own mental well being, this sort of change in mental image away from her entire species can't be attributed entirely to her implants.
Is 4chin kill?
>>48302404
She runs forward, passing the drones with her limbs clattering along the metal floor, gliding her body through the air light flight in the low gravity. A guard swings his weapon up to face her, firing as one of her limbs spears both arms together and jerks the weapon to the side, firing it into a computer terminal, and she unsheathes her claws, digging both deep into the human's throat, lifting him into the air and sending him arcing away in the low gravity, trailing blood as he falls in slow motion as your drones swarm over him.
The rest of the ring of consoles and control panels loops around, tracing the chamber of the reactor to a small, sealed office on the far side of the ring. Elizabeth spits acid along the hinges, and a heavy warrior grips it in its claws, ripping it clean from the wall as she moves in flanked by your ghost beetles.
Standing calmly behind a desk is a man in a dark blue skinsuit. He holds a pistol in his hand, but at his side, hanging by his hip. His mind flutters from topic to topic, like a radio with a broken dial, his signals impossible to read coherently. He looks at Elizabeth with mild concern, and places the pistol on the desk.
"So, you're here to kill me." He says. "And you clearly don't need a gun to do that." He adds as he looks to her clawed hands slowly drip with dark crimson over the green muscle fibers of her arms. Her weaver limbs twitch to a threatening posture, pointing to him as they coil and tense, and her antennae flicker along her scalp within her hair.
cont.
>>48302710
Honestly, I'd disagree in that. IIRC, mice and chimpazees both have technically very minor genetic differences in relation to humans. A little goes a long way.
If I were to meet her on the street, so to say, I'd certainly call her 'humanoid', but not 'human'.
>>48302710
Why?
>>48302758
I am VERY tempted to request an Interrupt Option and tell her to not waste time with his prattling, gut him, and stop this.
But...damnit. I'm worried he's gonna drop some bullshit on us.
>>48302758
>warriornid xenomorph
why
>>48302793
Judging by the adaptations you provided it, your ghost beetle does look quite similar.
>>48302758
He's stalling. He's been trying to buy time for the portal to open already and thinks we're demons. Kill his ass and shut down the machine.
>>48302819
If I remember right the old Void dominated Skyll referred to the Hive that fought against them as Demons
>>48302851
Hm. If that's the case, then who are these 'trillions' he's prattling about us dooming?
>>48302758
>>48302758
"You know full well this is on your head. Their minds are already long gone." She says.
"But their spirits were pure." He says quietly.
"How do I shut down the reactor?" Elizabeth asks quickly. Emmerich simply lowers himself into his seat, and grabs a small glass from his desk. "Winston!" She shouts. He looks up, a crack running along the class in his hand.
"Patience is a virtue." He says. "Although your tone certainly does bring back memories. Your fall certainly did nothing to help your temperament."
"You don't have any idea what you're doing!" She says. "I don't want to risk making things worse by blowing it up, so tell me how to shut it down, or I'll-"
"What, read my mind? Rip the thoughts right out of my puny little brain?" He interrupts. "That is doubtful. You see, while you have taken the path of darkness, I have seen the light. A terrible fall before the great return."
"I don't have time for this. I didn't have time for your nonsense when humanity wasn't about to be destroyed, and I certainly don't have time for it now." Elizabeth says as she begins to move towards Emmerich. He places his glass on the table calmly.
"You think you are fighting for humanity, while drenched in the blood of your fellow humans?" He says. "And you used to call me hypocritical. No, you have chosen your path, you have taken of the forbidden fruit and-" Elizabeth brings her weaver arm out and it lands firmly in Emmerich's shoulder, pinning him to the wall that sends a large replica painting of some ancient religious scene smashing to the ground in slow motion. He lets out a shout of agony.
"Any other day I would be willing to at least humor you," Elizabeth says, "but not today." Emmerich clenches his teeth as he looks down at her.
"You seek to deny humanity their salvation!" He says.
>Sift through his mind for the answers you need
>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
>Destroy the power conduits feeding the reactor
>Other
>>48302902
The whole of Union space, probably. He seemed to have messanic ideas of introducing humanity to the crystals.
>>48302851
Yep. And the Ceph still refer to the hive as demons, albiet unknowingly. The Ceph have been slaves to the void god for so long their "biblical" symbol for demon is actually an ancient hive symbol.
>>48302912
>>Sift through his mind for the answers you need
This is some Tesseract Marvel shit going on
>>48302912
>>Sift through his mind for the answers you need
And if the ghost beetles are capable of the following while Elizabeth is preoccupied,
>>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
>>48302912
>>Sift through his mind for the answers you need
Time to Xavier this shit
>>48302912
>>Sift through his mind for the answers you need
Yeah, he's corrupted. 'Rip the thoughts right out of his puny little brain' indeed.
>>48302912
>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
That first one seems dangerous, so I'll go with this one.
>>48302912
>>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
>>48302912
READING HIS MIND IS A BAD IDEA
>>48302912
He's baiting us. He has been more exposed to the crystal than any others. Do not look through his mind under any circumstances.
>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
And
>Other: Radio the marines and ask if they had any instructions on how to safely shut down the Reactor
>>48302912
>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
>>48302912
>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
Yeaaah no sticking our tachyons into the crystallized shits.
>>48302912
Searching his mind can't be safe at all, I don't want any kind of connection to those crystals things he has in his brain already.
>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
>>48302946
Second this one here. For all the past posts about caution just reading his mind seems to ignore it
>>48302912
>>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
Hmm....>>48302931 here. I AM worried he might be screwing with us, but...eh...gah, alright.
Changing my vote from that to >>48302946's combo.
>>48302912
>Sift through his mind for the answers you need
>Other
"The salvation has already been offered to others before you, and when they attained it they learned it was nothing but enslavement and searched for release, so they rebelled, and when they failed choose to die free instead"
>>48302912
I already voted, but guys, reading his mind is an obvious trap. He clearly knows about the psionic potential for us to "rip thoughts from his puny little mind." He is also clearly such a slave he would have no problem sacrificing himself for the void god. If his mind could be read successfully in order to shut off the reactor safely than he would have killed himself to prevent that knowledge from getting out. Vaporize his ass with plasma (I don't want to even study a brain that corrupted), and figure it out ourselves.
>>48302978
Changing
>Sift through his mind for the answers you need
To>>48302946
>>48302912
>Search the office and attempt to figure out the reactor yourself
Please roll 1d100, best of 3.
>>48302946
>>48302982
You're right about it being bait, but i just realized he could be trying to infect us so the void god knows where we are, just like the scarred queen warned.
>>48302930
Yeah veto my mindreading vote
Rolled 24 (1d100)
>>48302997
FOR MOTHER!
Rolled 79 (1d100)
>>48302997
For Mother!
Rolled 99 (1d100)
>>48302997
FOR MOTHER AND AUNTIE ELIZABETH
Rolled 86 (1d100)
>>48302997
For Mother.
>>48303010
Rolls are on point tonight
>>48303010
>Auntie
THATS SISTER ELIZABETH but still good job drone
>>48303010
Hell Yeah!
FUCK YOU VOID GOD. ELIZABETH AIN'T HAVING NONE OF YO MINDGAME SHIT.
>>48303010
Hooooooly Mother.
Sister Elizabeth did well.
"Oh hey, a step by step instruction manual on how to work this thing. Neat!"
Rolled 95 (1d100)
>>48302946
This. Or just straight up ask those on the ship or Windsor through the FTLcom. No, don't ask, demand and threaten.
>>48302997
You know, I'd be down with making Elizabeth seem like she's in charge. But have the drones always call her something consultant. Sister Elizabeth or Mother Elizabeth or something. Make it seem like she uplifted us.
>>48303056
Elder Elizabeth.
Technically true that she's older than them.
>>48303056
Great Sister Elizabeth? Doesn't blaspheme us while being accurate, AND a symbol of higher authority.
>>48303056
Eh, that wouldn't really fit with the "Elder Wisdom" we really want to reflect when talking to younger space-faring races like the humans. It is suitably trollish for the Queen certainly, but I'm not sure it entirely fits with what we want to come across as. We can definitely act and treat her with respect and a degree of deference, however.
This thread feels so slow compared to usual. Where is everyone?
>>48303056
Nah, I'd rather downplay her involvement for the cameras. They are the children of the queen, no more, no less.
>>48303130
it 4:30 a.m. man
>>48303056
No. On both accounts.
Carnotar Chimeras
Basically Hive Kaiju
>>48302997
The drones tear into the room, ripping through desk drawers and cracking open filing cabinets, finding seemingly endless mad scribblings of text and sketches of indecipherable meaning as Elizabeth quickly begins looking through the computer terminal in Emmerich's desk. The holographic screen displays innumerable files and folders.
"I suspect you're mind is so far gone I may as well gaze directly into a Void shard." She says as she skims the folders as quickly as she can. Emmerich laughs as he holds the spear of a limb pinning him to the wall behind her.
"The wicked always fear looking into the light. It reveals their sins." He says with shallow breath. "I pity you, I really do, but someone had to fill the role and fall to the darkness for the second time, and from your wicked consorting with the demons, I will break the seals, and call forth the end of this fallen world." He lets out a quick shout of pain as Elizabeth adjusts the limb in his shoulder, and he continues. "All of the fallen worlds. Don't you see? This is a good thing! Wars and rumors of wars, the horsemen on the march across the stars! This is the time! It was always meant to be opened here and now! Ah!" He shouts again as the arm twists sharply in his shoulder again.
"Here." Elizabeth says quickly as a holographic schematic appears in the air above the desk. "What even gave you this idea?" She asks as she reads over the data. Emmerich smirks with the pride of pious humility.
"How did Noah know how to build the ark?" He says.
cont.
>>48303279
Not surprised.
>>48303279
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgFWO83UMcQ
A pain shoots through the minds of you and Elizabeth both, and she turns to the window to look at the reactor below. The floating sphere in the center opens, sliding into a lotus as the segments fall away, spinning faster as they do so, revealing the shimmering, ever moving Void shard within. It seems to crack, creaking as parts of it reach out, growing, expanding in small, sudden bursts of growth like roots of black obsidian. In the center, deep within, further than it should be able to go, there is a distant presence. I faint thought from a mind, rushing closer.
"We don't have much time left. The power taps need to be shut down, I have the sequence here!" Elizabeth thinks, calling to your drones as the shutdown sequence runs through her mind. It is lengthy, but even the slightest misstep could send the singularities critical. "If those things go off, I have no idea what would happen. It may shut it down, it may rip open a hole in spacetime, there's no way to tell, but we would at least be able to do it faster." She adds, sensing your reservation on the matter.
>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
>Overload the power taps and send them critical
>Other (write in)
>>48303303
>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
>>48303279
>"How did Noah know how to build the ark?"
Considering the integral role the hive has played in the evolution of humanity, and our Mother's virtually unmatched psionic abilities (implanting desire to build the Psionic Cannon and care for the relay to Commenwealth scientists), I don't think Emmerich really wants a serious answer to that question.
>>48303303
>>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
Only option left.
>>48303303
>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
Situation's volatile. We could end up making it worse by overloading them, or just speed up the timetable. If we fail to shut them down properly, we're about as equally fucked. If we succeed...
>>48303303
>>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
Hey, can we get Theseus to send some bots in here to help us? Tech is really more his thing than ours.
>>48303303
>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
>>48303303
>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
>Get Theseus to help too
>>48303303
>>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
>>48303331
Yes we could use some Theseus help here
>>48303303
This>>48303331
Is a good idea
We really do need to get some hybrids with the best gear the hive can make to be our black ops, possibly under command of Lyle or Jackob in the future
>>48303303
>Have your drones go through the process of shutting down each power tap
"Each one is a heavily modified power tap, using far more canderon at a much more unsafe level of output, with each one existing in an overlapping gravity field focused on the center. If we power them down separately, the whole thing will rip apart and who knows what will happen. They need to be stepped down gradually simultaneously." She says. There is a loud, sharp ping, like a cracking of glass, and the crystal of the void shard begins to crack across its surface. A small sliver falls inward, falling into an endless void as if a universe existed in the tiny object, and there is a sudden sound of wailing. The windows of the inner facility shatter, the shards flying in and around the reactor as the human technicians below begin to stammer, and then collapse to the floor. More slivers begin to fall inward into the shard as it crumbles into itself, slowly expanding, as if leaking shadow.
"Where's Theseus?" Elizabeth shouts over the deafening noise. "His drones aren't affected, he could help!"
>Wait for Theseus to send several drones to assist (will boost roll, but take more time)
>Have the drones shut down the reactor now
>Other (write in)
>>48303390
>>Wait for Theseus to send several drones to assist (will boost roll, but take more time)
>>48303390
>>Wait for Theseus to send several drones to assist (will boost roll, but take more time)
I would rather have it come down to the last second then speed up the problem
>>48303390
>>Have the drones shut down the reactor now
Cannot put this off, crystals about to blow.
>Begin evacuating the site of anything and anyone valuable
>>48303390
>>Wait for Theseus to send several drones to assist (will boost roll, but take more time)
>>48303372
The metal skin combo with the medium carapace would be cool.
>>48303390
Also just to be sure, we looted a lithovore or two right?
>>48303390
>Wait for Theseus to send several drones to assist (will boost roll, but take more time)
Time to gamble
>>48303390
>Wait for Theseus to send several drones to assist (will boost roll, but take more time)
Please roll 1d100, best of 5.
Rolled 21 (1d100)
>>48303438
Rolled 28 (1d100)
>>48303438
For mother!
best of five oh christ
Rolled 78 (1d100)
>>48303438
FOR MOTHER, HOLY DATA AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BLACK ROT
>>48303438
FOR MOTHER!
>>48303390
>>Wait for Theseus to send several drones to assist (will boost roll, but take more time)
I won't want to trust our drones with perfect technical coordination with communication failing. If Elizabeth thinks Theseus can help (and has time to get there), that's good enough for me.
We can still move our drones into position to start shutting things down, right? If Theseus takes too long to arrive (for whatever reason), I hope we will still be able to pull off an extemporaneous shutdown.
>Deleting rolls.
I'm lazy, but imagine there's a smug loli right here.
Rolled 77 (1d100)
>>48303438
>>48303447
OH THANK THE LORD!
>>48303453
I didn't delete a roll, 4chan is acting weird
Rolled 89 (1d100)
>>48303438
FOR MOTHER
(Please no 1's)
>>48303468
You did good son, reeeal good, maybe even the best.
Rolled 67 (1d100)
>>48303468
You done good, child.
>>48303466
Be honest your on a mobile
>>48303477
I'm not mate
>>48303477
It's entirely possible. I've had some weird issues in some threads lately.
>>48303477
What was his roll, I just missed it.
>>48303453
>>48303466
>>48303477
>>48303480
>>48303499
>>48303502
It seems there's no roll being deleted, although desuarchive's currently only gotten the 21 roll down. If any were deleted, we should see it on desuarchive.
But yeah, 4chan's mildly bugging out. I bet the Void is behind it!
>>48303512
desuarchive just updated, and absolutely no rolls were deleted.
http://desuarchive.org/tg/thread/48300749/
It goes:
>21
>28
>78
>77
>89
>>48303520
We know we were just poking fun
[waiting intensely]
Okay 89+ whatever boost Theseus gets us. Hope that's enough...
Guys.
Guys!
GUYS.
I'm motherfucking spooked right now.
>>48303581
Maybe the boost was 5 rolls instead of 3? It certainly helped if that was the case, but will it be enough? WILL IT BE ENOUGH?
>>48303592
KEK.
Nice bait. But you can take your post back to the chum bucket.
>>48303438
The mechanical drones rush through the burning and crumbling rubble of the facility around you, moving as quickly as their mechanical legs and pulse jets can take them. They arrive, guided by your drones to the required locations as Elizabeth explains the task.
All the while, the shard continues to spin, its surface rippling as slivers of itself wall into the growing maw. Slender wires of twisting nothingness reach out, grasping at the air around it as the bodies of the humans lift up and begin to stream into the gaping maw, their bodies eroding as they pass the threshold as if decomposing to dust in seconds. Deep within, further down than you care to look within the opening maw, is a light, faint and miniscule but growing.
The mechanical drones take their places, quickly cycling through the stages of shutdown, steadily decreasing the gravitational distortions in perfect synchronization as your drones slowly begin to collapse. Elizabeth examines one of your warriors, sending her thoughts through its mind only to receive static. Another stumbles, struggling to focus on your thoughts, until its thoughts begin to meld, jumbling into a blur of drunken nonsense, and it collapses, its mind winking out of your consciousness. Others begin to drop to the floor, some twitching madly, others screaming with alarm as their minds claim to feel the intruding mind of a rival hive, the inexorable sensation of a command from something that is not their mother sending them into a debilitating fury. A ghost beetle finds itself inching closer, its limbs twitching back and forth as it becomes unsure of what to do with its current orderless state of inaction, and there is a soft pop, and it drops to the ground like a puppet tossed to the floor, the contents of its quantum brain oozing through several splits in the carapace of its head.
cont.
This is some Event Horizon level shit right here.
>>48303602
>>48303602
Nono no no nonono
>>48303602
Looks like we'll have to burn whatever drones we have near the epicenter. Hopefully Elizabeth is alright.
Remember, don't look towards the light!
>>48303602
>>48303602
Shut down the last relay. Abort mission. Leave it to Elizabeth and Theseus. Tell Heretic to get his ass here and help. And please kill that asshole Emmerich ASAP. Time to PANIC!!!!!
>>48303640
>>48303602
I knew we delayed too long. Why didn't anyone listen?
It was fun
>>48303602
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyoQhAoiDUA
"Get the shuttle ready." Elizabeth says as she begins to retreat to the outer doors. The drones attempt to follow, most of them tripping or reducing ot a pathetic crawl, while others twitch on their backsides as their legs together with their last moments, their simple minds trying to grip to what they believe is a spinning room, whirling around them as their minds crumble and wink out. As the last few of your drones begin to fade, you see something, a shape, like a face begin to emerge from the gaping maw of the crystal as the threshold begins to slowly shrink as the gravitation decreases. A silvery, sleek form reaches out, its shape shifting into strange contortions that don't seem to be possible, moving in impossible directions and illogical shapes that are fundamentally wrong.
Elizabeth reaches the shuttle, leaping into it almost before the seal of its umbilical cuts away, the door sealing inches behind her.
"What about Emmerich?" Theseus asks. His words are relayed to Elizabeth.
"Forget him! Just get us out of here and shut down that reactor!" She shouts as the shuttle lurches into the air and quickly accelerates to orbit.
The horrific, twisting fluid, like flowing mercury, begins to reach out, its form growing hands and claws and tentacles and wings, thrashing and probing at the air around it. Several robotic drones open fire, their lasers lashing out to the silvery skin, and twisting along it like a reflection, tracing its form until a mouth forms along its surface and the light arcs back from the momentary maw, lancing the drone in half.
Along the top of the twisting shape, something like a drill forms, with too many sides and not enough edges, and begins ripping through the ceiling with incredible speed as hypervelocity anti-armor slugs impact its strange, perfectly reflective hide, halting in an instant and dropping to the ground without so much as a ripple.
cont.
Alright, now maybe we should think about getting that annihilator warhead ready.
>>48303723
This too, shall pass...
Guys, I think the roll wasn't good enough.
Theory:
The enemy is a higher-dimensional being that perceives what we consider to be conventional life as a pest infestation.
>>48303723
Well, fuck. I guess the 89 was not enough.
Give all ships orders to jump out of system ASAP and shut down the backup relay. If we are lucky it won't trace us back to Leeland for some time.
>>48303723
This...is what failure feels like.
>>48303723
Aaaand Annihilator Warhead!
>>48303723
might be time to begin work on the Psionic Canon
>>48303723
A moment later, the top of the the facility explodes, blossoming like a flower as the growing shape stretches up like a massive plant, reaching to the sky. Mouths open along its surface in silent screams, and beams of light lance out, slicing at the swarming Skyl ships and Unity cruisers. A beam of white light reaches out, burning through the several meter thick hull of the damaged server ship, slowly tracing a line from one corner to the other before the entire ship separates, slowly drifting apart into two halves, freezing and burning gasses bleeding from within as the crumbling hull segments pour unity drones across space.
More faces begin to form, contorting in agony as they melt and twist across the surface of the ever moving shape, and it begins to erode away, lurching back sharply as if tugged by some other force. Arms form, reaching out and clawing at the ruined frame of the facility and dragging chunks with it as it falls in and away, the reactor reduced to a single, shrinking point of light glowing like a star in the reactor chamber before vanishing into the imploding facility.
You detect no traces of gravitational distortions. Even the psionic presence of the shard is gone. The small dwarf is silent once more, the server ships scrambling to salvage the two drifting halves slowly bleeding to death in orbit.
Somewhere deep in the recesses of your mind, like a distant memory somehow forgotten, you can feel it. A weight, as if something were pressing down upon you. A gnawing, pestering itch inside your mind, granting no information and making no demands, save for one, all too clear understanding.
Something is watching.
>>48303723
So Theseus seems to be immune to the effects of these things.
>A silvery, sleek form reaches out, its shape shifting into strange contortions
>The horrific, twisting fluid, like flowing mercury
Some sort of liquid lifeform. I wonder if that is the true form of the void crystals or another slave race.
>>48303772
Oh god, oh god we all fucked up. We fucked up really, really badly.
>>48303772
>>48303772
I hope the peanut gallery saw that.
>>48303772
Your fleets begin their withdrawal. Your craft take what their holds can carry from the server ship wreckage, passing them along and dumping them into Zero One for recovery. Cruisers do the same, shoveling scrap and semi-functional server banks into the two remaining server ships until their holds are full, and they consume the rest, projecting their singularities over the drifting hull fragments until only a cloud of debris remains, and they fold space out of the sunless system.
Your forces quickly dwindle to the minimum, a small fleet watching over the orbiting marine transport. The crew wait in somber silence, their bridge having displayed the events on the surface on the tactical displays.
>Release the crew and let the ship go on its way
>Detain the crew further (write in)
>Other (write in)
So the void gods got into our head.
Well, fuck.
>>48303806
>>Detain the crew further (write in)
They are now captives who must be screened for any contamination.
>>48303806
>>Release the crew and let the ship go on its way
