HYPE

Right as I'm leaving for work. See you in 5 hours QD.

>>48264190
AYYYYY
THE FEELING IS A GOOD PAIN.

It's 01:14 am you crazy insect.

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>>48264190
On the dark, sunless world of Tenebris the eyeless monstrosity still stands, still motionless, atop the cliff leading into the mountain valley where the isolated research facility stands, a solitary light in the endless night. In the distance walls of thick dust and smoke billow into the near-vacuum and churn in the air like stormclouds. The marine transport in orbit spins its sensor arrays.

"Ground team, be advised, we have multiple large objects on an approach to the facility."

"More of those things?" The marine leader asks.

"Affirmative. Unknown number, but there's at least, uh... six, hard to tell through the dust though. Looks like it's mostly fine mineral powders. Scattering out thermals."

"Roger that. How do these sonic fences work, anyways? Like, does it kill them or..."

"According to the files, it causes a constant seismic vibration in the ground around the facility. It either causes them pain, or triggers some pavlovian response." There's a deep sigh over the radio.

"So they don't know why they don't like it, just that it works." The marine says. You hear in the distance as someone shouts down the hall.

"Yea, until it doesn't! How we know they're not gonna get over it? Figure somethin's hungry enough it'll put up with some annoying noises." A number of voices hush the marine as the squad leader speaks again.

"Well either way, what's their ETA?"

"They should get to about the same distance as the other one in an hour. At their speed, I'd say it would take them about half that to get the rest of the way to the base."

"Roger that Command." The leader says, his helmet cam pivots to the rest of the squad. "You heard the lady, we've got a deadline now. Unless any of you want to put some faith in that fence."

Your ships continue to observe the research facility, watching the billowing trails of smoke flow up from the ground as at least of dozen eyeless, gargantuan figures hurl their bodies through the low gravity.
cont.

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yeaaahh boi

Hive quest: Doom edition.

All the hype!

>>48264435
I reeeaaly wanna capture amd study one of theses creatures.

>>48264476
Seconded.

Loot all the wildelife when we're done.

>>48264435
>Unknown number, but there's at least, uh... six, hard to tell through the dust though.
>at least of dozen
At least what dozen?

So games on weekdays are a thing?

>>48264550
On a big enough cliff hanger they are.

>>48264522
The humans are guessing that at least 6 giant demon lava worms are heading towards the facility, while the Hive sees there are over twice that many.

>>48264522
the union tech is probably less reliable

>>48264568
>>48264572
I know that.

"Of" is not a number.

>>48264585
QD is putting on a thread on the weekday stop being petty.

>>48264568
>>48264572
The pirate sensors are probably even worse, so sending a shuttle has minimum risk.

Hooray, I've finally read through the entirety of the archives for this quest.

>>48264606
Congratulations.

>>48264606
Your prize it catching a live thread.

So two questions now that I've caught up.

1.) Why are we not nuking the ever loving shit out of the research facility?
2.) Why did we choose to have our Ambassador drone be another adorable speaker rather than a more eloquent and articulate drone? What impression are we trying to give humanity with this ambassador?

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>>48264435
"Ow!" Lee winces as he watches the holoscreen footage of Aral taken from the Angel. Elizabeth stands behind him with a small, slender object of organic bone in her hand, waving it carefully over his head.

"I keep telling you, stop thinking about it."

"I'm not! You look at this fight and tell me if you think I can wonder about some psychic skrewdriver." He says. Elizabeth rolls her eyes and adjusts her grip on the instrument.

"It's a tachyonic tuner. It's made of the same spongy, bone-like substance that makes up the primary component of a tachyonic relay." She says. "I made it because while poking in the brains of brain samples made from cloned cells is all well and good, at some point I need to actually poke around inside your head and see what's going on, and since you're currently far to sensitive to tachyonic emissions to read normally without you having a seizure, I made this to go about it with more finesse." She says. Lee jerks his head slightly as his face contorts in pain again.

"It still hurts." He says.

"That's because you're thinking about it. The more you think about it, the more your brain resists the psionic influence. I think I've figured out where and why the human brain falls apart, and I'm trying to nudge things back in place, as it were. At the very least, it should be able to help mitigate the side effects temporarily."

On the screen, you see the zoomed in view of the robotic agent smith open fire with a sun caster as Jackob bats away the condensed plasma. Lee nearly chokes as he takes a bite of his food.

"Hold your head still, or I'm going to call in some drones." Elizabeth says dryly.

>Inform Elizabeth of the details of the events on Tenebris
>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union
>Let them continue their work
>Other (write in)

>>48264766
I think we're not nuking the facility because it could make things worse. It's possible nuking the facility will destroy whatever containment is left.

>>48264767
>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union

>>48264767
>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union

>>48264767
>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union.
And a passing comment about ancient aliens man being right.

>>48264766
Blowing up the containment makes it worse.

The only thing we should nuke is the ship there.

>>48264767
>>Let them continue their work

They're making progress. At last. Exposition.

>>48264767
>>Inform Elizabeth of the details of the events on Tenebris
its happening right now we could use a second opinion

>>48264767
>>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union

Please mention ancient aliens man

>>48264767
>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union

>Inform Elizabeth of the details of the events on Tenebris

Why not both?
Also, Elizabeth may have some advice/an opinion on making first contact with the Union.

>>48264767
>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union

>>48264767
>>Let them continue their work

Wait. Can Gilliam ask if the ship guy can shoot at the silicon creatures with mass drivers?

They're pretty large aren't they?

>>48264767
>a small, slender object of organic bone
Thank god it's none of that artificial inorganic kind of bone.

>>48264767
>Inform Elizabeth of the details of the events on Tenebris
DOOM
seriously what are the chances that the union will do what it takes to stop a voidgate being opened?

>>48264767
>Let them continue their work

>>48264435
So these worms things are near sentient then and their being called in by the crystal to be uplifted?

>>48264767
>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union

>>48264840
>the Hive has space downloaded and watched millions of hours of film and Television, or at least read their plot synopsis on spacewikipedia.

>>48264767
>Inform Elizabeth of the details of the events on Tenebris

So.

Did we ever actually translate the Phantom language. The Thinkers were on that but it's not listed.

>>48264962
>I'm not gonna say it was the white queen
>But...it was the white queen.

>>48264956
I'm sure the Barren queen would let us know.

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>>48264767
>>Inform Elizabeth of the details of the events on Tenebris
>Other
>Leave our fortified bunker and move back into our proper throne room now that we've secured our space, meet Lee and Elizabeth personally.
>Inform them both that humanity was indeed the result of the White Queens efforts to genetically engineer a psionically resistant species aeons ago.

Just drop all the bombshells on them at once, not like we're going to get a better opportunity than this.

>>48264190
Hey it should be 24 hours since those flies cocooned into parasites inside our two newest adoptees now.

And we should have Decker integrated into the hive by now too.

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>>48264767
The door flexes open and your speaker enters, scurrying up to the two in front of the holo-projector. The screen flickers and changes to show several pages worth of data on various Union activities. Lee seems visibly disappointed for just a moment before turning to your speaker. Elizabeth shrugs impatiently as she tosses the tuner to a desk.

"I assume this is important." She says as the gist of the topic at hand passes over her mind. "Right. I think we spoke about that briefly already."

"About what?" Lee asks. He looks at the pages of intelligence files your pods have assembled on the various Union political squabbles they have seen unfolding across the Union's innumerable news outlets as the chaos continues to build ahead of the elections. "If it's about the Union, I mean, I never really was that important until after I got back and that was... rather brief." He says.

"The Hive will be introducing itself to the Union soon." Your drone chirps. "You are currently the most appropriate." Lee's eyes widen.

"Wait, what? Again? I got a soldier killed the last time I was a diplomat, and almost died myself when I got back. What about Dr. Vaughn?" He says quickly. Elizabeth's antennae twitch across her scalp.

"I'm kept busy here. I have nearly unlimited resources, funding is not an issue, and the support of an entire empire to perform my research on a field of particle physics previously unknown to mankind." She says. "Or, I could have dinner parties with politicians and pet egos all day." She looks off to the side dryly. "I've had my fill of that already from my days on Chandra."

cont.

>>48264767
>>Inform Elizabeth of the details of the events on Tenebris
>>Speak with Lee about initiating relations with the Union
whynotboth.jpg

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>>48265301

>>48265369
>cont.

>>48265294
>She looks off to the side dryly.
Is she on the fucking office?

>>48265420
There are technically eyes in all the walls to turn and look directly at.

>>48265420
you are very nitpicky on QD's choices of words today, stop being petty

>>48265294
Top kek QD

>>48265454
dude I'm >>48264599 just though it was funny

>>48264599
That wasn't pettiness, that was clarification. Who knows what sorcery autocorrect wrought, he could have meant two dozen instead of one or half.

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>>48265294
"Wait, you worked on Chandra?" Lee says, then quickly changes the subject back as your speaker leans in close to him, as if trying to physically pry an answer out of him. "What about, uh, maybe Lyle, or one of his team?" Your speaker lets out a chittering howl as it attempts to mimic laughter. It seems to consider this an appropriate response, but several thinkers feel the noise was not quite accurate enough to be clear.

"No." Your speaker says.

"Well, what about... uh..."

"You are the most appropriate." Your speaker repeats. Lee stamers for a moment.

"Well, it's just, last time I was made a diplomat I sorta dropped the ball. Really badly."

"You warned the Hive of the threat, at risk to yourself." You remind him. He seems to shrink in his seat, unsure of himself.

"But not soon enough to stop it." He says, then looks back to your drone with curiosity. "Wait, I figured I'd be some kind of wanted criminal. You broke me out of some top secret black site lab that nobody would ever believe exists anyways." Elizabeth leans back on her limbs, folding them into something like a chair.

"Actually, you're supposedly dead." Elizabeth says. "I looked it over when you first arrived. The charges were tossed out posthumously and you were given an honorable discharge from the space forces, probably to try to smooth over the protests."

"I had protests?" Lee asks. "I mean, I heard them outside, but I thought they wanted my head." Your speaker quickly scrabes its claws together.

"It was a bit of both." You say. Several of the files on the screen enlarge, with passages of text highlighting.

"The Union requires a human representative. They will offer one to the Hive, or the Hive may present one as its 'citizen'." Your drone says as it points to the passage of law.

"Yea, makes sense I guess. You'd still, I mean, have a speaker there too, right? I mean, I don't feel comfortable talking on behalf of, uh, all of this." He says as he waves his arms around him.
cont.

>>48265454
You sound really oversensitive. That wasn't remotely bullying the QM.

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>>48265603
>"What about, uh, maybe Lyle, or one of his team?" Your speaker lets out a chittering howl as it attempts to mimic laughter. It seems to consider this an appropriate response, but several thinkers feel the noise was not quite accurate enough to be clear.
>"No." Your speaker says.

>>48265603
We send Lyle in when we want boom boom, not when we want a peaceful assembly.

>>48265674
Although it would be funny to put Lyle in a suit.

>>48265640
Could you imagine Lyle fucking Rodgers as our representative to the entire Union? To be fair, I doubt anyone else would be as able to make clear to Killinger what we think of him.

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>>48265674
>He doesn't want to read about the diplomatic misadventures of ambassador Lyle.

>>48265721
I need an omake. Now.

>>48265721
Oh god, Lyle with diplomatic immunity. Just, wow.

>>48265730
Lyle's political stance is walk loudly and carry the biggest nuke

>>48265721
He is his own bodyguard, no need for secret service

>>48265755
His face would light up with childlike joy and wonder once he heard those words

>>48265721
I want this now.

>>48265816
I can just imagine Elizabeth shaking her head at us as we briefly consider the merits

>>48265603
Can Theseus manipulate online communication and produce truther documentaries poking holes in the official report on Lee's death so that the revelation that he's actually still alive has more of an impact?

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>as this discussion continues, a faint tearing sound is heard
>small scraps of quest notes flutter to the floor around QD's desk, their contents forgotten

What're the odds Tenebris is going to be dragged to the Crystal's home base without our intervention? Or wherever those crystal fucks happen to be keeping the Ceph homeworld.
Now what are the odds the humans make a face when we tell them they already know where the Ceph homeworld is located: Hell?

We should see if Lee knows some way we can claim the right of command to the fucking mess Tenebris will become. Just so the humans don't try anything stupid and end up breaching containment.

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>>48265603
"Relax." Elizabeth says calmly. "You'll have your own personal teleprompter at all times, if you want."

"That sounded ominous." Lee says nervously. "Why did that sound ominous?"

"I said if you want." She repeats. "Although I would highly recommend it for the healing properties alone. I would also recommend you at least receive a basic secondary heart implant, just in case. You would be a political figure, after all."

"Alright." Lee says, nodding slowly. "I just... feel a little apprehensive about, you know, all of this. Everyone trying to kill me or capture me or blow me up or put mind powers in my brain or, blowing up my apartment. All I ever wanted to do was paint my painfully overpriced figures and roll dice to see if they managed to kill someone else's overpriced figures." He gets up from his seat and presses his hand to the side of his head, closing his eyes tightly as he rubs his fingers over his temple in a small circle.

"Okay. I'll do it. I'm not sure if I'll be all that great at it, but, I mean, I guess you can just tell me what to say." He says. Your speaker chirps loudly in affirmation as the holo screen flickers to show a number of files on various Union politicians and all the publicly available data on them, as well as a list of various implants and cybernetics.

>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>Offer all augmentations
>Recommend Augmentations (write in)
>Offer parasite
>Other

>>48265899
>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>Offer parasite
He needs to look outwardly human

>>48265899
>>Offer all augmentations
>Offer parasite

>>48265899
>>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>Offer parasite

>>48265891
Well, there is a point where diplomatic immunity stops applying. I think Lyle sped past that point at relativistic speeds a long, long time ago.

>>48265899
>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>Offer parasite

>>48265899
>Offer all augmentations
>Offer parasite

>>48265938
depends how big the diplomatic stick is

>>48265899
Lee look at it this way now you can say the overly cliché line of "I'm afraid the rumors of my death were over exaggerated"

>>48265899
>>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>Offer parasite

>>48265899
>>Offer all augmentations
>>Recommend Augmentations (internal heart)
>>Offer parasite
If he really wants them he's free to any of our augs (perks of hive citizenship) but we will recommend the simple required implant for humans.

>>48265899
>>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
Lee has to look pretty for the cameras!

>>48265938
The point at which diplomatic immunity stops applying is the point where pissing off the other party does less damage than their diplomat has been doing.

So, we just need to present an immensely worse alternative.
>Oh, you're ejecting our representative? Such a shame. RELEASE THE SPORES.

>>48265938
In a galaxy far far away .... Tune in next week for "Lyle's Adramada Adventures" Saturdays at 630 am or your plantery equivalent

>>48265938
if we hang Lyle out on a hook and tell Killinger if he takes a bite we are going to fuck his world up would he really do it and try to pull an assassination?

>>48265899
>Offer parasite
>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)


Chemical fabricator and fermentation gut among them definitely. Want to be immune to poisons.

Also Electrostatic muscle grafts. What if someone tases him bro?

>>48265899
>>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>>Offer parasite
As long as he has Echolocation so he can eavesdrop on people who think they stepped out of earshot too.

>>48265899
>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>Offer parasite
He needs to appear human.

The only augmentations that really fit with that are
Second Heart
Chemical fabricator
Fermentation gut
Echolocation

I'm not seeing a great need for any of these, but I guess he can gain the ability to breathe any number of helpful gasses.

Mention to him that this will allow him to at least attempt to integrate back into human life, whereas here it's just clones and drones. Not the best of people to be playing not-warhammer with.

>>48265899
>Offer all augmentations
>Offer all parasite

>>48265721
>I doubt anyone else would be as able to make clear to Killinger what we think of him.

A parasite on K's spine would be able to.

>>48265721
>>48265742
>>48265816
I tried

>After a long day of work, Lyle Rodgers, Human Ambassador of the Hive, could only think about getting shitfaced with alcohol. And in his current line of work, alcohol is a must.

>But alas, not everything in life can go right; a warrior drone materializes from the hotel door and seizes the bottle of fermented Leeland Special from his grasp. Following behind the warrior was the Hive's Speaker, it's colorful carapace ablaze in distress.

>"What?" Lyle asks innocently. The speaker does not reply. Instead, it takes a remote and turns on the suite's viewscreen to a local news channel. It doesn't matter which since all of them are covering what happened.

>Caught on video was Lyle "ambushing" Killinger outside the parliament building, decking him in the face with a right hook, then proceeding to use Killinger's own arm to punch the politician's face in. A security officer moves to intervene, but Lyle looks at him and growls "Diplomatic Immunity, cunt." before going back to humiliating Killinger.

>The officer looks to Lyle's escort of warriors in confusion, who only return the officer with a look of bewilderment as the thinkers back in the Hive struggle between feeling euphoric joy and panic as they attempt to map out the consequences of this breach of etiquette.

>Lyle grabs the remote just as a talking head suggests that the assault was a metaphor of the state of the Union. He looks the speaker straight in the eye. "The cunt deserved it." Was all he utters before stealing the bottle back from the warrior.

>>48266018
OR we could just give him a fly with the full camo package that way they can't question his humanity and we get radio esdroping power as well

>>48266050
>proceeding to use Killinger's own arm to punch the politician's face in
hahaha Christ

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>>48266050
I haven't laughed this hard at HQQ writefaggotry since that smut fic went up. Post more, please!

>>48265899

>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>Offer parasite
>Other offer him a plasma blade

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>48264767
Why doesn't Elizabeth try the tuner procedure on the unconscious Earthlings' brains first?

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>>48266089
I didn't do that one but I'm pretty sure thats how It'll look if I wrote smut.

Does anyone have that WW1 propaganda picture with Germany threatening a country, followed by Britain, Russia, France and everybody else?
I have an idea for an edit.

>>48266050
Oh god 11/10
My sidea.

GAS THE SQIDS
NUKE THE WHALES
STAB THE MONKEYS
THE VOID IS WATCHING
[Spoiler]For mother

>>48265899
>Offer internal augmentations only (second heart, ect.)
>Offer parasite

Look on the bright side Lee. You'll get your very own lightsaber now that there's no danger of you cutting your own limbs off.

>>48266187
>Oh cool
>looks directly down empty hole

Boarding pod launcher from last year still isn't added to ship builder pastebin >>40747978

>>48266187
If we're giving him a light saber we also need to add a Privy coat and call him sith.

>>48266204
This is why we have clones and memory downloads

>>48266050
>witnesses report Lyle to have shouted "Quit hittin' yerself, cunt!" during the assault.

We should give Lee access to our credit account once he starts his diplomat job, we should have built up a good bit of cash by then.

>>48266319
"You can purchase all the overpriced figurines you want!"

>>48266332
huh.. wonder if we could mess with dice rolls via psionics. might make for a fun training exercise for lee at least.

>>48266332
nah, we just produce our own highly detailed figures

let him play with them in local shops to advertise glorious FormOther industries figurines, paints and skub

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>>48265899
Your speaker clicks its mandibles abruptly as Lee looks at the scrolling text.

"The hive parasite will provide continuous communication with the hive, healing abilities, and prevent aging." Your drone say. "As well as permitting photon blade use without personal risk." Lee quickly glances to your drone from the screen.

"You mean that thing Lyle and Jackob have?"

"I have one too." Elizabeth says. "The neural interface offers an excellent connection with the hive, even with my increasingly potent abilities." Lee looks over to her quickly and back to your drone.

"Alright." He says slowly, then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He looks back at your drone as he exhales. "Alright, screw it, just like when I wanted a neural port as a kid." He says finally. A moment later, a worker makes its way into the room holding a parasite in its claws. It writhes in its grip from side to side, thrashing its tiny legs frantically in the air. Lee's face becomes pale and you detect his heart rate accelerate. "You can, just, do that from a medical pod or something, right?"

Recommend cybernetics:
>Chemical fabricator
>Fermentation gut
>Electrostatic muscle grafts
>Echolocation
>Second Heart
>Other

>>Hive-dusting
>Fast
>Alternative methods of hive creep spore dispersal is investigated, using a mixture of the semi-automated hive expansion methods already in use and altering the genetic composition to be more autonomous in nature, allowing spores to be deployed from non-stationary sources such as aerial dispersal from drones or spacecraft, as well as air-burst spore bombs launched from orbit, allowing for hive creep to be deployed in a more aggressive manner

Didn't we have spore pods launched from orbit already? They're 100N each. >>42203854

>>48266385
>Second Heart.
>Echolocation.
Lee can decide if he wants anything else.

>>48266385
>everything

>>48266385
>>Chemical fabricator
>>Fermentation gut
>>Electrostatic muscle grafts
>>Echolocation
>>Second Heart

>>48266385
>Chemical fabricator
>Second Heart
>Fermentation gut
>Echolocation

>>48266385
>Everything

And/or let Lee choose what he wants. In other words, we aren't "forcing" upgrades, Lee is completely free to choose everything (the recommended option) of his own free will.

>>48266385
>all five

>>48266385
>>Chemical fabricator
>>Fermentation gut
>>Electrostatic muscle grafts
>>Echolocation
>>Second Heart
Plus
>Sting Fingers
>Endoskeletal plating
for his safety

>>48266385
>Chemical fabricator
>Fermentation gut
>Electrostatic muscle grafts
>Echolocation
>Second Heart

Let him be able to veto anything he doesn't like.

>>48266385
Wait, endoskeletal plating is internal too isn't it?

>>48266385
>Second Heart
Lee decide

>>48266385
>everything we can shove into him. Gotta protect him

>>48266423
Spore pods allow you to launch spores from space to a planet, but the pods can still be intercepted or the landing zone attacked. The hive dusting requires a ship to enter the atmosphere, but is far harder to quarantine or remove, since it simply sprays the hive creep into the air over a large area.

>>48266521
A cropduster vs a missile strike?

>>48266505
Except the second heart. That is a obvious desing failure. That isn't negociable

>>48266512
Yes. I based the list off of the items that seemed to have interest in them. Endoskeletal plating is visible as subtle discoloration, like off-color greenish bruises beneath the skin, especially in the sternum and limbs.

We can't have ANY augments that make him look not-human guys.

It's common sense.

>>48266385
Second heart and Fermentation gut seem needed and Echolocation and Electrostatic muscle grafts if he wants them

>>48266497
I concur.

It occurs to me we could probably have an oxygen recycler implant statted up since we have that as an adaptation already.

>>48266573
His better

>>48266573
Yep, no non-human augments. That also means no eye changes. Lee's face has been all over the media for days/weeks. It can't look ANY different or people might claim it isn't the real Lee (among other things). People will probably claim our Lee is fake anyway, but at least we don't want to give them that ammunition.

>>48266608
yep

>Lee is officially introduced as the Hive's Ambassador
>Has to meet with Killinger on live television
>Shakes his hand
>Leans in, whisper
>"The Hive gives its thanks for the lesson on unruly cats."

>>48266704
>"The Queen sends her regards."

>>48265899
We should make some drones to play tabletop games with lee so he's less lonely. Also print all his figures and get him some really radical paint.

>>48266385
>Second Heart

Let him pick any other he would like to have.

>>48266704
>"Hail Hydra"

>>48266742
You know what would be awesome?
Miniatures made from Flies.
Or Flies masquerading as miniatures for Lee.

>>48266763
>"FOR MOTHER"
>Forgets to use inside voice

>>48266385
>Chemical fabricator
>Fermentation gut
>Electrostatic muscle grafts
>Echolocation
>Second Heart

Your speaker slowly orbits him as it scurries sideways across the hive floor.

"Second heart is also necessary. Fixing bad design." Your drone chirps. Elizabeth nods.

"Given that they cost virtually nothing to the hive proper, and under the circumstances, not insisting on the additional heart implant would be medical malpractice on my part." She says.

"Okay, okay, I hear how great this thing is all the time. I get it, redundancy is good for critical organs, but do you really think everything else here is, well, needed?"

"Yes." Your speaker says.

"I would consider most of the others to be quality of life improvements." Elizabeth says.

"Right, sorry, it's just, well..." Lee stammers for a moment. "My parents were never really that big on implants. The term 'mark of the devil' was used on more than one occasion, especially after the time I asked for a neural interface for my birthday that one year."

"The hive improves. If the Lee enjoys poor design choices-"

"Hey, I didn't say that." Lee says quickly. "Just that, I don't know, I just feel a little nervous about it."

"There is no need to be nervous." Your drone says. "You will be unconscious during the process."

>Recommend Endoskeletal plating
>Add other (write in)
>Do not

>>48266548
Yes, precisely.

>>48266332
>>48266367
Lee waits nervously at the head of the table, while your diplomat applies the finishing scribbles to a few loose sheets of paper. The twin monitors of Theseus and Heretic flicker to life as your workers finish connecting them to the provided relay and a Chitinous fabricator of your own, the fabricator immediately spits out several dozen pages into the waiting claws of another worker, who briefly scans them before they are snatched away by an extended robotic limb.

Theseus' robotic voice rings out from the speakers in his monitor.
"It is my understanding that only the game master and I may view my character sheet."
Lee attempts to stammer out a confirmation of this but your Diplomat glances up from its character sheet and talks over him.
"The Hive was unaware of this rule."

Distantly your pod above Zero One feels Unity readjusting their level of trust towards your newly created character.

>>48266788
>Do not

>>48266788
>Do not

>>48266788
>Recommend Endoskeletal plating
>Sting Fingers

>>48266798
Our pod over Zero One got black holed a long time ago.

>>48266385
>>Other
Let lee decid what he wants. That secondary heart is mandatory though.

>>48266788
>Recommend Endoskeletal plating

>>48266844
Damn, guess I'm due an archive binge. How did this happen? Surely we replaced it?

>>48266844
We sent another, along with an entire fleet and small colony I believe.

>>48266788
>Recommend Endoskeletal plating

>>48266788
>recommand the improvement

>>48266788
>Add other. Let Lee decide.

Would it be possible, by the way, to give Lee hidden photonic blades (lightsabers) in his palms/arms? I'm sure he'd love that even if he probably won't be in combat.

>>48266132
Oah shit, that was back in 2014? I think I promised a second edition right after, which makes me two years late.
I'm properly drunk, so I'll get right on it.

>>48266788
>>Do not
Also kind of sad lee won't be able to get drunk after this.

>>48266896
God bless you anon.

>>48266768
We could market them too. 'Living' figurines. Which would put tiny modded flies into millions of human homes as mini spy eyes.

>>48266898
Otsego not that he can't get drunk our drones can stimulate the effects of any drug it just stops the poison

>>48266788
>>Do not
I changed my mind.

>>48266788
>>Do not

>>48266880
Theseus discovered how to detect cloaked ships and shot it down without knowing it was us. After that we made a colony on 0-1 proper.

>>48267016
That was the reveal of his development of Gravity Sensors. I always figured he highly suspected the Hive and it's been kind of Theseus and Mom's little spy game they play with each other without revealing how much they have each other under watch.

Like the android delivering the passports to the Gemini hive

>>48266788
>Recommend Endoskeletal Plating
We can never keep The Lee too safe.

>>48267016
No, he knew it was us. He came and offered us the tech immediately after shooting it down and pretty obliquely mentioned it.

We weren't as close, then, since we hadn't met Heritic yet, so the Unity wasn't exactly in approval of us having a spy probe eavesdropping on their chatter.

>>48266788
>Recommend Endoskeletal Plating

>>48267075
Why don't they just fuck already?

>>48267108
Because they both lack the ability to

>>48267125
>Bio-digital interface – An extendable umbilical made of an elastic strand of nerve tissue.

>The user can pull the elastic fiber from the port, where it can extend to a total of half a meter, and can plug into standard Union data ports to allow quick and efficient data transfer.

>>48267155
That's actually a really good idea. I support it.

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>>48266788
>Recommend Endoskeletal Plating

"Right, I just meant that-" Several workers bump into Lee's legs, scooping him up onto their backs as they quickly carry him down the hall. "I can walk you know!" He says.

"Lee will feel better, be better!" Your speaker exclaims as it follows the small herd of workers. "Make better at walking too!" Elizabeth turns off the holo-screen with a thought.

"His condition is progressing." She thinks. "I don't think his proximity to the hive is helping any. I think I've come up with a new idea, but it's still rather invasive. Not as overt and obvious as my own mutations, but it would still require some slight genetic alterations and implants throughout the brain."

[New Special Project unlocked]
>Basic Psionic Implantation Prototype
Using as simple of a procedure as possible, the basic infrastructure needed to receive and interpret mental signals is implanted into the brain, while gene alterations are done to improve the sensitivity of human neural cells to psionic signals, allowing the human brain to process and understand psionic information, however, the inability to control or broadcast its own signals limits the implant's function, preventing it from helping to resist hostile psionic influence, although it is more adept at detecting such attempts. The implant itself is largely undetectable, appearing as a number of large tumors within the brain where neural tissue has been augmented to allow for psionic processing, and the minor genetic alterations may cause slight skin discolorations along the head or neck, similar to a bruise or faint birthmark in appearance.

>Recommend the procedure
>Do not
>Other

>>48267125
>>48267155
Ever seen Lawnmower Man?

>>48267210
>Recommend the procedure
For the Hive and Science!

>>48267210
>>Recommend the procedure
if this keeps him from dying

>>48267210
>Recommend the procedure
Then make a slight mention of having found another queen and that ancient aliens man was right, then go back to void fuckery.

>>48267210
Recommend the procedure

>>48267210
>recommand
JUST MAKE HIM MOTHER LIKE SON

>>48267210
>>Recommend the procedure

>>48267210
>Recommend the procedure

Huh, I thought we had voted to not recommend the Endoskeletal plating or to let Lee decide...

Oh well, I don't particularly care anyway.

>>48267210
>>Do not

Don't we have two other subjects to test it on?

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>>48267168
You support having sex with Theseus?

>>48267210
>>Do not

>>48267356
>he hasn't read the smutfic from long long ago
Where were you when Theseus gave Mother the D(ata)?

>>48267210
>do it

>>48267356
Oh, wasn't paying attention to the links. Thought it was just a suggestion to give Lee the implant.

Rolled 63 (1d100)

Getting a bad roll out of the way seeing as it looks like we'll be rolling for the procedure soon.

>>48267356
We already received the D(ata Stream).

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>mfw realizing that the Queen could have a bank of hundreds of thousands of thinkers dedicated solely to erotic fantasies at any given moment if she felt like it, throbbing with the sensations of a million drones equipped with the most sensitive and myriad genitalia the Hive can create

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>>48267492

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>>48267210
>Recommend the procedure

Elizabeth nods at your silent affirmation. Your speaker walks back into the room, picking up the empty bowls of nutrient paste on the nearby table.

"I will oversee the procedure myself. It should be relatively simple given how advanced your medical technology is, and I've already tested the underlying theories on the two humans from earth. The implants are essentially just an augmented version of my little tuner here, but adjusted to be an integrated implant within the brain, based largely off of the physical alterations my own brain has undergone. The only real difficult aspect of it was trying to figure out exactly what it was in the human genome that caused the reaction to tachyons. I still can't find any logical explanation for such a thing to ever actually evolve."

"The genetic alterations by the White Queen are the cause." Your speaker says.

"But humanity has never encountered a Queen before you. Such an encounter would have to have occurred-"

"Fifty thousand earth years ago." Your speaker adds as it gathers the bowls and walks away. Elizabeth watches it leave as it turns around at the door. "Estimated." It says, then scuttles away as the door flexes closed. She pauses for a moment before rushing to a pile of notes on a desk, a clawed finger extending a needle like nail that quickly begins scribbling in her notes.

>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth
>Leave her to her work
>Other

>>48267210
>>Recommend the procedure

>>48267578
>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth

>>48267578
>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth

>>48267578
>>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth
>And Theseus, and Heretic.

>>48267578
>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth

>>48267578
>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth

>>48267578
>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth and Theseus as well how's the old machine running these days

>>48267578
>>48267623
Supporting this

>>48267623
This

>>48267623
>And Theseus, and Heretic.
Adding this to my vote.
>>48267623

>>48267623
Adding this to my discuss vote.

>>48267578
>>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth
Supporting this >>48267623 too

>>48267636
Supporting, I want to chat to Theseus

>>48267578
>>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth

>>48267578
>>Leave her to her work
Let us proceed. More scary stories around the campfire.

>>48267623
Supporting, pull Elizabeth into our mind to mind cross conference call. This'll be cool

>>48267578
Maximum cheeky.

>Discuss the events of Tenebris with Elizabeth

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>>48267578
Elizabeth continues to write in her notebook, an odd looking thing made from a slightly greenish aquaphobic paper with a chitinous cover.

"I had suspected for some time now, at least after understanding the more nuanced knowledge of the hive's mastery of genetic alterations. I just never quite believed it was so deliberate. I-" The visual image of the surface of Tenebris enters her mind as you beam her the relevant data. She recoils her hand from the notebook and shuts her eyes as her face contorts in frustration.

"How do they keep doing it?" She asks, rather loudly. "I think they manage to find the limit of insanity they keep proving me wrong!" She gets up from her seat, breathing deeply. "I suppose I can't speak very sternly in that regard, given my own record, but really, I feel like even I was more cautious." A speaker walks back in with a chitinous cup of coffee and hands it to her. She takes it and quickly. "Aren't I?" She says abruptly. The drone nods quickly. She sighs as she takes a sip of the drink.

"We need to stop it, obviously, but we need to be very careful in how. We don't know what could set the thing off, and who knows what would happen if it was set off." She places the cup on the table and begins walking out into the hall.

"I can perform the procedure after Lee has healed from his surgery, just keep him in the pod."

"Where are you going?" Your drone asks. Your mind echoes the quandary into her mind as well.

"I'm getting to a ship, and going to Tenebris." She replies. Your drone lets out a loud, long squealing noise. "I know, you already have ships there and blinking in more could reveal them, but you're going to need to go in and fix the mess they made, and there won't be any stealth involved in that. When that happens, I can blink in myself and land via shuttle if needed, but I want to at least be on hand to oversee the drones, or, in the worst case, at least be able to blink the fleet back if it gets disconnected."
Cont.

>>48268008
Woah woah, slow down. At least wait for a full fleet with battleships to escort you.

>>48268008
>wants to go to Tenebris
>our daughter wants to go to the literal portal to Hell

NO NEIN NYET NON NEJ NEE NEYN

>>48268008
Great, that means we HAVE to blow up the Marine ship. At least tell us what you plan on doing there.

>>48268008
I'm a little fuzzy on my hive tech. Do humans need augs to use a drop suit? Cause if she can use one and is insistent on going, she should take one.

>>48268071
How quickly can we spawn a colossus with a person-carrying pod inside of it?

Cause she ain't going anywhere near the fucking system without at least that much personal armour.

>>48268008
>>48268008
Stop her. This isn't just the crystals business, this could possibly be our introduction to both the union and the valen. I like Elizabeth but I do not trust her with these matters.

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>>48268008
"That is not the source of disagreement!" Your drone says emphatically as a wall flexes shut in front of her. She spins on her heel.

"Look, I get it, I'm very helpful and not disposable, but look at me!" She says, flexing the limbs across her back menacingly. "I am perfectly capable, I'm already well integrated into the hive network, but I have my own mind. This thing is just as potent at psionics as you, if not more so, what if it disconnects you to the fleet."

"The ships are equipped with thinkers."

"And what if something worse happens, something the thinkers can't figure out? We have no idea what we're dealing with, but we know one thing for sure, redundancy is beneficial to survival. At the very least, I'm that redundant control point." She says. "Obviously, I'll bring in plenty of backup, but still, I should at least be in orbit."

>Allow her to go under escort
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet
>Refuse to allow her to go
>Other

Could we get Theseus to help out here? I'm unsure what Elizabeth thinks she will be able to do that drones cannot. While I would like to see her in action, this could open her mind to the void gods which is turbo-bad. Literally the worst.

>>48268141
...Wait, what happened to discussing this with Theseus and Heretic?

>>48268141
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet

>>48268141
>Refuse to allow her to go

>>48268141
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet

>>48268141
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet.

>>48268141
>Refuse to allow her to go
>Other
Ask the unity to send in a fleet then
Give him the stealth tech if we have to
This is to important and the his ships arent going to get brainwashed

>>48268141
>>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet
heavy, heavy escort with the heaviest armor we can put on her.

>>48268141
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet

>her fleet

Gotta love how we aren't even considering the possibility of sending her without an entire fleet as an escort.

Speaking of, we have ten heavy battle fleets just waiting around, what say we send about five of them with her? I know it's not very many, but we can't bring all of them or else the humans'll definitely notice something.

>>48268141
>>Refuse to allow her to go
Nothing about you qualifies you as a field agent Vaughn, your Augs notwithstanding

>>48268141
>>Allow her to go under escort

Fuck's sake

>>48268156
Lizzy is right there.

Thes & Herry need to be contacted and might be busy with other shit.

>>48268141
>>Allow her to go under escort

>>48268141
>>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet

>>48268141
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet

>>48268156
Mostly just a limitation of perspective. It does seem that there is plenty of support for giving everyone the full briefing on the Union's latest attempt at doing something painfully irresponsible.

>>48268245
Please they need to know

>>48268141
>Allow her to go under escort
Blinking in later could be too late.

>>48268245
Normally anons want to pester them over every little thing, but we are looking at something that we're possibly weak against, and they aren't. They should be informed, even if it's just through an "email"

>>48268141
>>Refuse to allow her to go
THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN

>>48268141
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet

"You are not redundant. You are an individual."

>>48268141
>>Allow her to go under escort

>>48268156
It's not that urgent, let it go.

>>48268320
MAN, that would sound weird coming from us.

>>48268320
I like this.

>>48268290
It's obvious that nonhive life can also be corrupted. They are still weak. There's no indication if the hive is more or less weak to corruption.

>>48268141
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet

Still send hybrids and other covert personal bodyguard escorts with her. Keep heavies and other warriors on her ship for backup.

>>48268333
I've been trying to talk to Theseus and Heretic about things for a few threads and my write in got the votes to do so, when it was just ignored. Sorry if I seem a bit annoyed.

>>48268445
>>48268245

It doesn't seem QD isn't doing it, just that he isn't doing it /yet/.

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>>48268141
>Allow her to go, but have her fleet wait and only blink in if and when the hive reveals itself on the planet

Your speaker chitters quietly as the wall flexes open again.

"Only if intervention is needed." You say. She nods. "But you are not redundant. You are Individual."

"Thank you, I think. Don't worry, I'll be carefull, I just want to be there just in case." She says, and quickly makes her way to a shuttle.

The massive hulk of the new drive ship looms over the various outstretched scaffolds. A digital warcry echoes through the the fleet, cascading by radio over the system as a swarm of warships begin flowing around the ship. You detect its Rip Drive powering up as you desperately attempt to calm Heretic down. You sense Theseus's ships transmitting something to the massive drive ship before the vessel begins to power down its drive systems, although the fleets remain in formation, ready to funnel through the portal the moment it opens.

"Mission critical! All effort placed on prevention of gravitational agitation of artifact!" The voice is still its typical monotone, but there is a very clear underlying panic to it, the voice crackles with errors as the radio transmission flutters out to your pods nearby like a cracking voice. A radio laser projects back and forth between the ship and a nearby server ship, and then he continues. "Violent destruction of object could result in unanticipated consequences. Deactivation is required. Immediately."

You detect a number of server ships break their orbit over Zero-One as gravity begins to contort within them, their own drives spinning up and preparing for departure.

"After deliberation with Heretic regarding the nature of the situation, three server ships with full planetary assault armament are ready for immediate deployment at your request."

>Tell Theseus to invade the facility
>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in
>Tell Theseus not to attack
>Other

>>48268516
>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in

>>48268516
>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in
Okay, i'm willing to believe Heretic when he thinks this is serious.

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>>48268516
Theseus may be the best option to attack and shut it down.

But not yet.

Maybe spacefold his server ships to get closer to the star system, how fast is his space fold drive? He never said.

>>48268516
>>Tell Theseus to invade the facility
Heretic has a fairly narrow focus; If this is panicking him, it's about to get ugly.

Okay, okay...fuck, I'm not sure what's best to do here.

If we send them to attack, they're gonna freak out because oh-no, Unity. And we may or may not be able to keep them from being controlled?

If we go in with them, there goes our bargaining with the Union- that's out the door.

If we tell him not to attack, that's a big risky loss of forces.

Thoughts?

>>48268516
>>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in

Uh guys, Heretic just shit his pants. I think we need to shut this damn thing down

>>48268516
>>Other
Have him wait to attack on our signal.

Maybe we can have him attack on his own, without us. We don't want the Unity connection to the hive revealed.

>>48268516
>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in
Let's also send a shuttle to the planet to collect wildlife and deploy a drone team to try and contain the artifact.

>>48268516
>>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in

Also, I think we're just gonna have to shove the humans aside for this one. Make contact, tell them why they're dumbasses, and fix the problem ourselves whether they want us to or not.

>>48268516
>>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in

>>48268516
>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in

>>48268516
>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in
Yeah, that's the plan. Lets see if crystals are weak to three brands of strike fleets.

>>48268581
We have our stealth fleet blow the union vessel to shreds before our allies reach the planet.

>>48268608
I agree but i want to benefit as much as possible from the situation so i want to postpone intervention until the marines continue to find weird spooky shit while our drones find the artifact.

Just so we are all on the same page, this is also going to be seen as an announcement to the Union that the Hive is buddy buddy with the AI.

>>48268516
How long until our forces are ready? If it's more than a few minutes, send them on ahead. Otherwise a group jump would work better.

>>48268581
Server ships should have some jamming, right? For everything but quantum, and that takes time to send. So drop in and jam the crap out of the human ship until it can be blown out of the sky.

>>48268671
I feel like we don't have time to bullshit around.

>>48268676
Yeah, but it's partially our fault for waiting so long to say hi, so we're just gonna take our diplomacy lumps and try to save the material universe.

>>48268676
Not if we can kill all the witnesses before the message ca get out. Which reminds me, we should trade with Theseus for relay scrambling tech after we're done here.

>>48268696
This.

Maybe we could get the Union to cooperate considering how much is at stake?

>>48268725
>Not if we can kill all the witnesses before the message ca get out
That completely defeats the point of letting the humans see the mess.

>>48268656
Either this or cuttin all its communication systems and capturing the vessel.
We don't want too many witness, but marines shooting us wont help at all in this situation.
Not sure what to vote, but we need robots down there.

>>48268516
>But you are not redundant. You are Individual
Well actually she is redundant. We can just make a clone her.

>>48268656
Obviously. Nuke them Mirage-style, and they won't even have the chance to say what's attacking them.

Nothing of value will be lost.

>>48268744
Except they have already seen enough to at least know that it's more dangerous than previously assumed from the 6 bodies, more discoveries and a sudden loss of communication will just scare them even more.

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>>48268516
>Have Theseus wait and attack with your forces when they move in

The server ships charge their drives and hold position, waiting for your signal to engage, their holds filled with unknown warmachines of who knows how many varieties and designs.

"Assault forces are locked onto the astrographic coordinates provided, and upon your signal will be able to enter within thirty light seconds of the facility. Estimated chance of FTL collision at this range with either the planet or each other is nearly sixteen percent." He says.

"Command, we found it!" Someone says over a radio. The marine squad examines a large door labeled as the control center for the sonic fence. It is dented, and covered in scrape marks. "Pry it open. We need to get in there."

"Yea, and it looks like something wants out."

"Stow it."

One of the marines produces a large mechanical device and jams it into the side of the door. Sparks begin to fly from it as it slowly begins slicing open the door.

Cont.

>>48268741
It would be nice but I don't think we have the credibility to do it. Maybe they'll do it out of schadenfreude, but at that point we'd be getting humans and their slow slow politics involved. Meanwhile we have two battlegroups on the way all ready

>>48268696
Don't be ridiculous.

They would never have listened to a polite request to stop researching THE PATH TO UNLIMITED POWER AND ALSO CANDY.

Also Emmerich is going rogue. They are already trying to shut it down. Them trying to shut it down last week would result in this exact same situation even faster.

Asking nicely does jack shit.

>>48268776
>The marine squad examines a large door labeled as the control center for the sonic fence. It is dented, and covered in scrape marks. "Pry it open. We need to get in there."
>"Yea, and it looks like something wants out."
YOU FOOLS

>>48268793
Guess we're just gonna have to help the commonwealth with the war against the union then just tell them the dangers of the research path.

>>48268829
I can only hope.

>>48268776
>Something wants out
>Shut up

HELLO DOOM, WE'RE MARINES.

>>48268776
I know we have loads of fleets [awaiting orders], but that means the do random useful things in lieu of just standing around, right? Do we actually keep some amount of forces on permanent standby for stuff like this?

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>>48268776
Here we go.

>>48268776
Wait. Why did they want the control center for the sonic fence.

>>48219562
>"Yea, that's uh... command, what is that?"
>"The reason the sonic fence is kept up. You may want to check on the fence's status."

> "Squad two, get the power back up. Three, you're on sonic fence detail."

Oh that was why. Just a checkup.

>>48220252
So why hasn't Adam of squad two reported any power results yet. They got there first.

>>48268725
No need for trade. Even humans have quantum scramblers.

We can buy a warhead at Deep Song and save our research for something Theseus has a monopoly on. We shouldn't waste it on things we can get on our own like we did fusion power.

>>48268869
Yes. When a fleet is awaiting orders, its ships are either patrolling, serving as trade ships to ferry the occasional materials that can't be easily teleported for whatever reason, or are in dock to refuel or repair minor travel damage. Regardless, they are all ready to blink into combat at a moment's notice.

>>48268776
What's the diameter of this research facility in meters?

>>48268725
Wait, do we need Quantom scambling? I thought we researched a tech that let's us reconnect quantom relays without making a new pair.

Man, DOOM vs. Aliens.

...sounds like a movie someone would make which would get a lot of hype then bomb horribly.

>>48269100
You remember how well Alien VS Predator turned out? And then they made the "sequel".

>>48269122
EXACTLY.

>>48269122
>tfw you like AVP

Shit even my mom likes it

>>48269100
>DOOM vs Aliens, Terminator, and Space Dragons

>>48269162
I mean...I GUESS it's okay if you know absolutely nothing about either franchise going in.

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>>48268776
The door splits in two and three marines rip the pieces out of the wall, their move-assisted armor straining until it pops out of the wall socket and flops to the ground slowly in the low gravity.

"Alright, clear the room, I want to know what made that dent and I want it shot." The squad leader says. His helmet cam pans into the room as his flashlight illuminates a darkened chamber, poorly lit with the soft glow of the control terminal. A figure stands in the middle of the room in tattered clothes, shivering. The squad leader signals the squad to stand back.

"Hold on, we have someone here." He says over the radio. He points forward and one of the marines slowly moves up, his weapon held up but away from the figure as the others center their light. It's a human woman in a technician's jumpsuit, tattered and covered in blood. The metal airtight collar intended for helmet attachment has been torn off, the suit hanging across her shoulders. The gloves and boots are missing as well, with a large hole in the arms where data pads are usually sewn into the sleeves, the cloth torn just bellow the elbows, which are covered in scrapes and bruises, frostbite covering most of her visible limbs.

"Interstellar Marines. We're here to help, what happened?" The marine asks. The woman lowers her posture, as if flinching away from something. By her feet is a pool of frozen blood where a body is mangled into a bloodied heap. The body is in a similar jumpsuit, with similar damage but far more severe, and the skull has been torn open, small glints of reflective, blood covered plastic shimmers where the components of a neural aug once was deep within the lump of pink tissue.

"Another body here." The marine says as he continues to approach the woman. "She's muttering something." He says over the in-helmet radio.
cont.

>>48269162
I love AVP in the pulpy, excited inner child kind of way.

>>48269194
Dont turn your back on that woman
She going to kill you

>>48269194
>I love AVP in the pulpy, excited inner child kind of way.

Exactly, I got to see Xenomorphs fighting Yautja.

It fills that niche nicely.

>>48269162
The first one was okay, the sequel was an abomination though.

>>48269194
Fingers ON the trigger for this one, marine

>>48269194
>all the tech stuff's been removed

Dunno if that's good or bad for bringing Theseus in.

>>48269241
>The first one was okay, the sequel was an abomination though.

ugh it was terrible

>>48269194
...Yeah, they're about to get jumped on/attacked by Possessed Ones.

Get ready to head in there, drones.

Makes me wonder if the demons would consider our drones weird ass abominations in comparison.

>>48269194
"Can you hear me?" The marine asks as he reaches out and lightly places a hand on her shoulder. She screams and ducks to the ground, looking up after a short moment at the marine. Her eyes widen in horror.

"It's alright!" The marine says, and holds up a hand to her.

"No! No no!" She says, trying to shout but only a strained whisper emerges. "Can't move. Can't run. Quiet, quiet! There's still here!" She says, moving back and tripping over the nearly frozen corpse, slowly slumping to the ground in the low gravity.

"The hell is she on about?" Someone asks. The helmet cam you're watching from the squad leader quickly scans the room, switching to thermal scanners. The sensors pass over several subtle variations in heat throughout the room.

"Nick, get me a status report on the fence, emergency power should at least have the console online, and clear this room, dammit."

You watch as the marines fan out in their metal clad suits, the woman frantically fighting to get away from the marine as he tries to calm her down.

"Sir, the fence is up, but it looks like it's been damaged. The frequency is destabilized."

"Which means? You're the tech guy here."

"The seismic vibrations use a very specific frequency, essentially echoes through the ground. If the frequency is knocked off, you can pump as much juice in it as you want, it still won't be as effective."

"So it's doing jack shit right now?"

"No, it's just, not guaranteed to work. It's not going to keep them as far away, and it may have some holes in the coverage, or not be effective against every kind of... whatever the fuck you call these things."

"Oh god!" Someone shouts. The squad spins around as one of the marines examines something behind a large wall of equipment. Some massive lump of dark, black flesh, slick like oil and shimmering like polished metal. Small, slender tendrils hang from its oblong body like matted hair, and a thick, black paste oozes from its body from a massive hole in its body.
cont

>>48269488
Welp. Tell Thesesus and Heretic to jump in now.

>>48269488
>Some massive lump of dark, black flesh, slick like oil and shimmering like polished metal. Small, slender tendrils hang from its oblong body like matted hair, and a thick, black paste oozes from its body from a massive hole in its body.
AAAAAAAAAAAAH

>>48269488
>It's happening

>we still adopt that pile of black jelly flesh as our child

File: 1412007345539.png (1.02 MB, 1019x881)

1.02 MB PNG

>>48269488
>Some massive lump of dark, black flesh, slick like oil and shimmering like polished metal. Small, slender tendrils hang from its oblong body like matted hair, and a thick, black paste oozes from its body from a massive hole in its body.

>>48269488
Alright...MOVE IN.

>>48269524
>>48269580
Wait for it to attack, then move in.
(Winston needs good footage.)

>>48269488
Okay, so it's time to move get our asses in there. Do we try to talk to the Union about it or just blow the ship out of the sky before it can get a signal out, grab the void shard and glass the site?

>>48269613
Ignore the orbiting ship and just dive in. Maybe tell them to stand aside before they rip reality a new one.

>>48269613

My feelings are essentially>>48269627

>>48269488
Fuck QD. I'm in bed with the light off and you're too spoopy AF

>>48269613
If we can blow the ship up, we can cut off the QCom connection with Winston.

>>48269601
Winston? Why?

>>48269613
Nothing truly terrible has happened yet.

This is just one of the things from outside that made it inside the fence, and seems to have been slain.

> a thick, black paste oozes from its body from a massive hole in its body.
Assuming that's blood-equivalent.

The dangers to personnel are irrelevant. The longer these marines investigate, the more data we have on what our priorities are when we move in. We need more information on what to do to actually stop this fiasco. We still don't know.

The invasion of creatures from outside isn't really too horrifying for us, that's just more things to dissect for mother.

>>48269655
Or we can just use the tech we have that let's us reconnect a severed Q-com to another relay.
>>48269659
So he knows fucking with the crystals leads to demons.
Not expecting him to stop research, just introduce safety and containment measures that will delay it.

>>48269613
Blow it right up. The Union should be painfully aware they fucked up bad here, let's just kill em all to prove the point.

Why are all of you panicking? Nothing had even happened, quit being dramatic. Just wait a bit, christ....

>>48269488
"It dead?" The squad leader asks. A marine inches up to the hulking mass of tangled limbs and fires a burst into it, chipping at the flesh like rock.

"Yea." He says.

"Alright, so we know the fence isn't working. Get it back up to full goddamn yesterday, and let's make sure no more of these things are-" A panicked scream cuts him off. The squad turns back to the terminal, where a three meter tall hulk of flesh rolls over the console. It is a lumpy orb, with no defining features of orientation. You quickly count thirteen limbs, each an almost knife like spear covered in hooks and waggling, finger-like claws, with each arm branching out of the body at random points, bunched up together, sharing a joint in some places, while others are more widely spread. Between the limbs, short, wispy tendrils whip into the air, clearly offering it some form of vision although you have no idea how. It moves with frightening speed, displaying the perfection of locomotion evolution has bestowed up it in the miniscule gravity of the dwarf planet, and brings a spear-like limb down on the marine, pinning him by the leg. He pulls out his sidearm, firing into the creature as an orifice opens like an aperture and begins to glow.

"Open fire!"

The marines rip into the beast. Its limbs come down on the marine, ripping into the metal armor with a surgeon's practiced precision, dissecting the man alive as its mouth spills a thick, bubbling tar into the suit's openings.

"Jesus christ, kill it!" Someone screams. The hail of fire slowly chips through the creature's hide, spilling more of the thick tar on the floor and sending a rusty smelling smoke billowing into the air as the metal begins to bubble like boiling soup. The marine twitches as his suit begins to loose its form, and the limbs of the creature stab into it, quickly draining the sludge. It stammers, righting itself on a new limb as one gives out, and then begins to lurch forward towards the rest of the marines.

cont.

>>48269731
So how do we kill this thing?
Sufficient application of plasma? bullets don't seem to do the trick.

>>48269720
...you were saying?

>>48269750
Engage in melee.

>>48269765
That seems rather counter-intuitive.

>>48269731
Can we get winston's first reaction to demons.