We should carry on ruining worlds that belong to Dyles near this system, in accordance with the plan I put forward last thread. Misdirection!

Also, do Gorn and/or Warbrate feel we can meaningfully hit several systems at once? That would help.

>>17967339
Is there anything left of the shuttle?
We must find what we can and return it to Labbrate for analysis.

>>17967408
Second.

>>17967339

Scouting time. Warbrate got a funny psychic feeling when we found and then killed Medical. Start sending cloaklords to every one of Dyles's systems and see if we can feel anything similar.

In the meantime, start sending scouts to all the nearby systems Dyles held. We need to see how large a radius Medical's death affected his hive consciousness.

Finally, if there are any survivors from Dyles's fleet or on the planet or moons, capture them for study.

>>17967412
>>17967339

Seconding seeing if we can scrape any genetic material of tadpoles up.

It isn't as great as capturing a live one and infesting it, but we might be able to learn a few tricks from attempting to grow our own tadpoles via Zergy genetic engineering using Dyles-DNA.

>>17967408
It depends on the system. Many backwater planets have fallen. It's unlikely those are very well-defended.

>>17967412
It would be tough to separate the shuttle's debris from the other twisted hunks of metal from this battle, but we're sure it could be done. Any organic matter was probably vaporized.

(Also, somebody roll 1d100)

rolled 85 = 85

>>17967525

Rolling.

>>17967525
Let's hit some backwaters at the same time, then. Early colonies are investments that haven't paid themselves off yet, which to my mind makes them some of the best targets.

>>17967484
>>17967498
>>17967556
Scout around: 1
Scrape tadpole goop off of this system: 2
Blow up some suburbs: 1

bump?

Are we set on collecting samples, then?

>>17967904
It appears so.

>>17967904
I love samples!

>>17967904

Looks like it.

To clarify: Are we only going for whatever scorch marks are left of medical, or are we going for anything that might still be alive in the system?

>>17968010
I dunno. What do you guys want to do?

>>17968059

I doubt there's anything left of Medical, so look all over the system. There must be at least a few pockets of survivors we can grab.

>>17968010
>>17968059

We have enough assets in the system to probably do both.

Have the ground forces start combing for comatose/unresponsive Dyles-infected units. Bind them and/or cripple their ability to do anything harmful (i.e. ensnare in goo or break limbs if necessary). Collect dead Dyles-infected units, decapitate them, and store their heads in secure storage.

Have Overlords and Observers in the system start combing the debris for remains of the Dyles-infected Medical.

>>17968159
We land forces on Pizda II's moons, and then pull the overlords back to sift through the floating wreckage.

Roll 2d100 to see how that all pans out.

>>17968059
Grab whatever we can.

rolled 36, 49 = 85

>>17968236

Rollan

rolled 91, 10 = 101

>>17968236
Let's see what we get!

rolled 2, 15 = 17

>>17968236

They see me rollin'...

rolled 62, 86 = 148

>>17968236

BIG MONEY

>>17968294
>>17968296
In space, the overlords manage to bring together a large percentage of the shuttle's wreckage. However, all genetic material appears to have been destroyed in the explosion.

On the ground, we find that there are many infected Terrans slouched against walls or laying face-first on the ground, some searching around with dead eyes or pleading wordlessly. All around us is a feeling of psionic probing.

(*sigh* No. I can't fix your laptop without more information than "blue screen." And yes, it is most definitely something you did)

>>17968652

Isolate some of the terrans and try psychically dominating them. If that fails, mind crush and hand them off to Nargil and Labbrate

>>17968652

Tech-support once again? CA?

Show them the XKCD tech support flowchart and have them do it themselves.

>>17968699
SCIENCE! Kinda, but still SCIENCE!

>>17968766

Mind crush should always be a part of our scientific method.

>>17968699
Yeah, seconding.

After science I still totally want to go blow up the suburbs.

>>17968755
Nah. I pawned it off onto people who will charge money. I don't get paid for this, but somebody might.

>>17968699
>>17968766
>>17968797
Roll yourselves 2d100 and cross fingers.

rolled 69, 90 = 159

>>17968837
Rolling for SCIENCE!

rolled 6, 46 = 52

>>17968837

Rolling again.

And probably failing

rolled 33, 17 = 50

>>17968837

rolled 79, 68 = 147

>>17968837

MIND QUAD POWERS, ACTIVATE!

>>17968875
>>17968878
We begin to bring our psionic energies to bear on the Terrans' minds, and find them like tangling vines, trying as much to wrap themselves around us as to let us through. It is a frightening experience, and we react almost instinctively to slash their bonds off of us.

In the minutes it takes for us to grapple with this experience, Dyles' consciousness attempts to reconnect with his progeny. The reaction he has to discovering our presence not only connected to them, but actively causing harm to them as well, is panic and rage. A rolling wave of it crosses through the system, and where it touches, the infected Terrans die as their parasites fatally hemorrhage.

The wave doesn't affect us in any way, thankfully, but we do hear a sort of echo from a system in UED space called Maroger. There aren't any listed colonies in that system, though. That's odd.

>>17969135

Cloaklords away!

>>17969135
>>17969162

How far away is the "Maroger" system?

If it can be accomplished in a reasonable span of time, we may want to send a detachment of cloaklords/Dropbservers there.

rolled 35, 26 = 61

>>17969135
Quick! Build an array to redirect multiple carrier beams into a single beam!

>>17969135
Voting for cloaklords as well.

>>17969233
>>17969380
>>17969162
Agreeing with sending a recon force to this system.
Let's see what Dyles is hiding.

>>17969162
>>17969233
While Warbrate pulls our forces away from Pizda (no sense leaving them where Dyles can find them, after all), a cloaklord leaves from Lutrious toward Maroger.

When it arrives, it finds the system's young star still surrounded by a rather large circumstellar accretion disk made up of a caustic mix of gases. The overlord actually needs to stay clear of denser pockets of the gas as it investigates the system. After about an hour of searching, it discovers a large gas refining station. As we watch, four freighters arrive and dock with the station. It does not have any UED markings, and doesn't match and configuration we've seen before.

>>17969135

Let's see if we can collect the parasite corpses, though. There's a lot of crazy shit we could potentially pull off by putting Dyles-parasite DNA into Zerg cells.

>>17969525

Guessing this is how Dyles terraforms his planets.

We have a new target.

>>17969364
(All you need is a focusing crystal approximately the size of Germany!)

>>17969525
I suggest we tell the UED about it, and that we're going to send a strike team.

This will get them to search their own sector more closely, spreading their forces more, if we want to attack them at any point.

>>17969585
Maybe to worldship knows how to make one that big. Also, what would firing a carrier beam or yamato at that young star do? How about a dozen?

>>17969608

Seconding telling the UED about it. Include some snapshots of the station.

>>17969631
Once again, my understanding of astrophysics is inadequate to answer a question. I'd assume that would just be extra fuel, ultimately. Even young stars are fuckin' huge.

>>17969647
Do we want to tell them we're going to handle it, or just tell them about it and see if they deal with it?

>>17969739
Tell them we're going to deal with it, see if they try to persuade us not to.
It'll let us know if this is something that the UED wants to keep secret or not.

>>17969739

See about gathering some of their forces for a joint strike. The UED can feel like they're contributing and they may be less eager to fight us later after fighting alongside us now.

>>17969760
>>17969781
Last bit: You want to talk to the ambassador with the holographic toupee, or try for somebody else?

>>17969934

Call them up. If Hairpiece answers, demand a different representative on the grounds of him being a prick

>>17969934
I'm for somebody else. See what their diplomatic corps is like.

Also, I think I've got why Cerebrate is so...un-Zerg-like.
We're made to think outside the box, to come up with unconventional solutions, to solve practical problems.
But if we win, by assimilating or eating everyone else, there'll be nothing for us to do, no problems to solve.
And that's why we play at this farce of diplomacy and keep the Morians alive.
Jimmy was right; we really are like a cat playing with a cockroach.

>>17969971
Until we try to infest the next nearest galaxy, which we now have the technology to reach and an inkling that the Xel'Naga have probably visited at least once. We have a future, as a race, we just have to get our shit in order here before we move on.

>>17969951
>>17969971
A man with short brown hair and a slightly messy goatee answers our hail. "Greetings, Cerebrate. Ambassador Melville is unavailable right now. I'm Diplomatic Secretary Card. Is there something you want to talk about?"

We deliver a brief report of the worlds we've purged so far before coming to Maroger, and inform him of our plans to destroy the station.

"Just a moment, Cerebrate. If this station isn't of UED design, then it might be worth the risk to try capturing it intact. Who knows how many species these parasites might have destroyed before they reached us? This could provide valuable intelligence."

>>17970245

Unless hes offering robotic troops to storm that shit, we'd outright refuse.

Capture runs too high a risk of infection and loss of a part of the swarm.

>>17970245
He does have a point.
And our Zergleks have proven to be excellent in boarding actions.

I say we capture it, but the UED has to provide naval escort for our boarding teams.

>>17970302
>>17970329
Yes: 1
No: 1

What's the plan, fellas?

>>17970329
This sounds good, especially since we have at least 12 of them since last time, perhaps more now.

>>17970329

I'm down with that

I think we should storm it, pilfer anything interesting, then we charge in to capture it with the UED and have it self destruct.

>>17970534
I sometimes forget that we're not actually on the UED's side. We coudl totally incorporate this into the zerglek idea.

rolled 5, 8 = 13

Board it with zergleks. Also, how is our current stock of them doing?

>>17970329
>>17970394
>>17970418
We agree to board the station, provided the UED sends a fleet to secure it from external threats. Card nods.

"I think I can arrange for that. I will confer with Admirals Sagan and Torvalds and get back to you within the hour."

We are put on hold, and immediately have The Girl From Ipanema stuck in our heads. Such is life.

Forty-two minutes later, Card, Sagan and a round-faced man who seems much more comfortable with his receding hairline than Melville come back on the line. The new man, presumably Admiral Torvalds, speaks.

"We've given the matter some consideration, and we agree to your terms. If you get rid of all the creatures inside, we'll get rid of the ones outside. I want to make it clear, though, that we are sharing the station's information, and as it is in UED space, it will ultimately belong to the UED. This will not be a Zerg outpost."

>>17970624
A nice, round 15 of them are ready for action.

(I hesitate to mention that we could also have Terminators, but there are still some issues with controlling them)

>>17970658
(Once we clear it, we delay the UED's teams as much as possible before be activate the self-destruct and blame it on Dyles)

>>17970658
>>17970678
Go along with it, and since we'll be the only ones inside of the station, have our Zergleks simply slag things of interest after we either download all of the data, or we create a bigger chassis that the Zergleks will use, where they can hide interesting biological samples in the increased space.

And have Cyberbrate keep plugging away at those Terminators.

>>17970658

Agreed. Let's find a place to meet up and get going.

>>17970678

Save the terminators for later, no need to have them go haywire and blow up some important electronics or machinery

rolled 35, 3 = 38

>>17970658
"Do not worry Admiral. It was never our intention to keep it for ourselves. We have chosen to proceed with this operation not because we care of whatever parcels of meager knowledge are within but rather to respect you as allies. As it stands, we zerg are not much for such philanthropic pursuits as to preserve dead races and this station has no material value to us. You have my consent."

We are mighty space slugs, so I figured I would add a bit more loft to it. We aught to start letting the vassals/future-vassals know who is the supreme space slug around here, but also to continue our good will towards them so they don't get too uppity.

Also, yay zerg quest.

>>17970678
What kind of issues? Also, be on alert, something about this operation seems off, can't put a manipulation appendage on exactly what it is.

>>17970728
(If you roll high on a d20, Cyberbrate might have an idea about that)

>>17970696
>>17970728
You might want to decide on this screwing-the-UED thing beforehand. Switching plans partway through is rough.

rolled 17 = 17

>>17970836

They see me rollin', they hatin'

rolled 10 = 10

>>17970836

Vote no on screwing the UED. I we try to make it look like an authentic sabotage, we're going to have to sacrifice all of our boarding forces to do it.

Besides, we don't even know if whatever is on that station is even valuable

rolled 49, 74 = 123

Screw with the UED in a non-destructive manner. Snag any real goodies and leave the things we cant sneak out where they are.

>>17970888

Also seconding not screwing the UED over. Not yet, anyway.

>>17970888
Yeah, we shouldn't screw over the UED in this particular case. Not enough time to properly set up the sabotage. Don't want to half-ass it.

>>17970899

That probably goes without saying.

>>17970872
(I'll allow it)

Cyberbrate shows us designs for a ship it's come up with. It's little more than a big metal block with engines, about the size of a Terran dropship. It contains the receiving equipment necessary for Cyberbrate to signal it from long distances, and enough transmission equipment to control thirty Terminators within about a square mile.

The problem, it tells us, is that if the ship is destroyed, or the Terminators wander out of range, we will lose control of them. Since we've been afraid to let them have any autonomous programming, this would mean they would shut down. Also, intense interference could decrease the range or even scramble orders.

It believes it can have ten of these and the Terminators to go with them in time for the raid on Maroger, but won't have time for any testing, obviously.

>>17970989

Pass, we'll test them later under more controlled conditions. Supported Zergleks work well enough for boarding actions as it is

>>17970989
No, I don't think we should use experimental, unproven technology in a raid that could prove to be important.

We'll use the Terminators on a colony world or some other place where our loss of control over them will not be disastrous.

>>17971038
>>17971051
(They'd be all kinds of tested if you guys had come up with this way back when you were begging for Terminators. :P )

Alright, so just Zergleks, then?

>>17971217
Yep. Just Zergleks and the Cloak-lords to transport them and the Mutalisks to escort them.

>>17971217

No on just zergleks. Send them in with support, same as last time

>>17971243
>>17971246
(Mkay. 3d20 for initial boarding!)

rolled 12, 14, 2 = 28

>>17971367
Let's see how we do.

rolled 9, 1, 9 = 19

>>17971367

Rolling

rolled 10, 6, 1 = 17

>>17971367

Also rolling.

rolled 1, 2, 1 = 4

>>17971367

rollin'

rolled 6, 8, 15 = 29

>>17971367


THE RAPE TRAIN HAS NO BREAKS!

>>17971381
>>17971395
The UED has the station surrounded when we arrive. Dyles' retaliatory strike hasn't hit, yet, but we're sure one is coming. The landing bays are sealed, of course, but that doesn't stop us. Our zergleks break through in several locations and, flanked by gausslisks, they move inward. The atmosphere inside the station is laced with corrosive gases, but they are faint enough not to damage the station, and thus not to damage us. Terrans would require protection and an air supply.

The resistance is light for the first few minutes. A voice echoes over the station's intercom, and through our mind. It is a male voice, but we don't recognize its owner.

"You have already destroyed one of us. That is one too many. We shall not be defeated so easily."

An ominous rumble comes from the lower decks.

One of the zergleks has managed to locate an elevator shaft that seems to span most of the station.

>>17971801
Find an alternative route. Attempt to hack into the computer systems along the way.

>>17971801

Disable the elevator so we can take the station room by room

>>17971832
So far, we haven't come across any central computers. Most of the rooms appear to be personal quarters. There have been a few inactive personal systems, but nothing that appears to be networked. The elevator's controls are clearly wired up and down the shaft.

We don't recognize the language or design of anything.

Further searching reveals two more elevator shafts, though one doesn't seem to reach quite as far, and a crawlspace, presumably for maintenance.

>>17971935
Have a pair of gausslisks guard the crawlspace and have the Zergleks take the other elevator down.

rolled 11, 17, 16 = 44

>>17971801


So wait a damn minute.

They sent us in there, without a PROPER Station map? What the fuck.

That's like telling an assassin to murder someone at a business party and only giving them "He is wearing a black suit" as a description.

>>17971958
Station map? We don't need no station map.

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>17971958
(We were the ones with the intel...)

>>17971801

"One of us"?

Interesting. Perhaps Dyles, as he expanded his consciousness and nom'd more people, found that it was very difficult to maintain a hold on all of his thralls by himself. He might have created "cerebrates" of his own, complete with limited autonomy/personality/distinct consciousness, to alleviate that burden and help him concentrate.

>>17971953
So, we're planning to head down?

>>17972040

Disable the elevators first, but yeah

>>17972006

Have our overlords do a sensory pass over the station (or whatever a Zerg equivalent is for a scan). See if they can detect any lifeforms on the station, and if so, see if they can record their movements and their position relative to our boarding party. We might be able to get a rough map that way, or at the very least some advance warning of where hostiles will be.

So uh, what's our zoanthrope up to?

The asshole isn't returning my calls.

>>17972074
There are several humanoids on the uppermost deck, and a somewhat large contingent of life forms further down where the rumbling came from, but we're having trouble determining how many, or what kind.

>>17972061
We sever the controls and our zergleks begin their descent. Fifteen decks later, they reach the bottom of the shaft. They burn through the door, and come out onto the refinery floor. Hazard lights flash everywhere, and an exposure alarm blares from a gas tank as its maintenance port opens and gas pours out. Four figures shoot up out of the tank and into the rafters.

Roll 4d20

rolled 2, 5, 18, 20 = 45

>>17972198

Dunno why I'm rolling, I been rolling shitty for weeks

rolled 17, 13, 13, 6 = 49

>>17972198
The dice just like to see suffering.

>>17972219
>18, 20
>Rolling for the enemies

(Yikes.)

Four humanoid creatures drop from the rafters onto one of our zergleks. Two are immediately burned away by the zerglek and its immediate neighbor, but the other two manage to tear the metal shell off of its domed top, exposing the creature inside to the elements. One is vaporized, then, but the other releases a small torrent of poison into the casing before leaping again into the rafters and out of sight.

The damaged zerglek screeches sickeningly, and dies. It is the first of its kind to die.

Five more exposure alarms sound, and more of the creatures crawl or leap free.

(I'm going to go with 7d60, for this round. If we get survivors, I'll call for another)

rolled 48, 48, 32, 59, 43, 25, 40 = 295

>>17972324
Oh great. What now?

rolled 50, 33, 48, 16, 26, 8, 23 = 204

>>17972324

You'd think getting a Zerglek killed would deter me from rolling

>>17972331
>>17972365
The creatures rain down on our zergleks as one. Our fire eventually vaporizes most of them, but four of the zergleks are torn open. Of those, two are killed. We don't know how long the remaining two can survive exposed to this gas, but we aren't optimistic, especially with the increased density with all those tanks open, which is starting to impede their movement. We bring them back into the elevator shaft in an attempt to get them to safety.

This leaves 10 zergleks as the last tank's hatch opens.

(Roll 5d20. This has epic potential)

rolled 12, 9, 13, 19, 5 = 58

>>17972420

We really should move up some of our support forces to take those hits in place of our valuable zergleks

rolled 1, 5, 5, 6, 19 = 36

>>17972420
Uh oh.

>>17972452
They can't fly down elevator shafts.

>>17972576

They should be strong enough to climb down the sides of the shaft though

>>17972452
(I'm going with this, rather than >>17972455, because it makes the fight more awesome, despite how funny it would be if he just botched right out of the gate)

The creature that flies out of the tank moves at blinding speeds, far faster than our corroded zergleks can account for. Within two seconds, it has grabbed one of the zergleks and physically lifted it, pummeling another against a wall with its comrade before using its still-active frame to block the fire from the other zergleks. Throwing that one aside, it leaps onto the front of another, tears its frame open in one motion, and releases a large, powerful tongue from its mouth, which wraps around the weak organic being inside the zerglek and crushes it into a milky paste.

Thankfully, this is the extent of its damage. the remaining seven zergleks reduce the humanoid creature into a quickly-dispersing plasma cloud before it can move on.

Environment alarms blare, but the sound we hear is the piercing psionic wail emanating from where the humanoid was, echoing through our minds.

We begin moving the zergleks out of the area. The bridge ought to be a less hazardous environment, now.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/17967339/

(We're definitely not finding a better place to stop than right there. We should be fine for the regular time next week)

>>17972655

Filthy parody of a cerebrate #2 down, very nice. We should be able to take the rest of the station without incident.