Perhaps the void gods are right? Let's give them a chance and put on a crystal crown. Trust me, it'll be fine.

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>>1509097
IT BEGINS

Holy shit!! OQ's creep is starting to spread boys!!!

>>1509097
Oh boy, sewer horrors. I can't wait to have those studied.

>>1509108
>>1509141
Creep sewer fight when? I almost feel bad for the humans of New Tokyo.

On other note. WTF her creep is literaly using the own planet against it's habitants. Does that mean she's making creep rain dow over the humans? And since her creep is black those that means ours is red? Does it mean we can literaly make blood raindown on our enemies?

>>1509156
SOON

>>1509185
That oil thing is OQ's creep (liquid) spore anon.

Oh good, I'm sure the Union will be happy when there's an OQ hive on their world.

FOR MOTHER

THERE'S THE QUEEN.

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>>1509097
Lee flicks his wrist at the console as the news stations flip from one to the next, waiting long enough for the camera to inevitably focus on either the orbiting Hive ship, or the fuzzy image of the Columbia as it sheds swarms of landing shuttles, a martian invasion siren blaring in the distance, or the scene of some kinetic strike somewhere on the surface as reporters follow PDF forces as they sift through the rare mound of rubble left behind in the fields of crimson glass. You are unsure if the site held some military significance, or if it was simply a stray slug, but the reporters waste no time surveying it, finding every chunk of structure that can be recognized as once being a building. He changes the channel again to see yet more starships, this time orbiting Path as they begin filing in through the local hypergate, mixed with footage of infantry divisions marching into open cargo bays in a rather obvious display of patriotism as the news ticker offers the highlights of newly announced retirement perks for military volunteers, as well as a full mobilization of reserve forces.

QNN offers an arguable more positive story, showing a number of short, rapidly cut interviews with various civilians across the Expanse, mostly within Bedrock as the camera shows empty merchant docks as debris and drifting docking cranes float in the entry way. Military forces can be seen, briefly, and over the shoulders of dock workers as they pile equipment and various cargo into waiting Union military transports. The news ticker skims by several headlines including Union officials 'no commend' regarding military egress in Expanse although the reporters seem to focus on the civilians being interviewed. Several mention the sudden evacuation of frightened merchants, most of whom with no form of legal regulation, almost openly advertising trade routes to and from Commonwealth space, an apparently common aspect of the relatively new port station. Others mention enlisted they claim to know speaking of immediate fallback orders, rumors of invasion, and wild theories of alien intervention. Each short interview ends with a request to speculate on the final decision of Parliament regarding the Hive demands, and if those interviewed are planning to stay or leave as a result. The answers are largely mixed, varying from those unable to afford transport, to those blindly shouting for the use of atomic bombardment weapons, to those claiming anything would be a net improvement over the current political structure. The only opinion lacking is a mild or uncertain one it seems.

The news anchor comments on the pre-recorded interview segment with thanks, and immediately segways into an advertisement for your interview, teasing the answers to questions that were never really asked, let alone answered, and it becomes clear his is selling it for more than you believe it is worth, but then again, what is your attention worth to them?
cont.

>immediately segways into an advertisement for your interview

Yes!!Yes! Good report humans. These QNN have some good speakers.

>>1509097
FOR M O T H E R
~~Daily~~ weekly reminder guy you´re late.
>>1509329
>QNN offers an arguable more positive story, showing a number of short, rapidly cut interviews with various civilians across the Expanse..

This seems good? Doesnt it?

>>1509329
>teasing the answers to questions that were never really asked, let alone answered, and it becomes clear his is selling it for more than you believe it is worth
Some things never change. As long as they dont try to fuck us for our good will then everything is going to plan. Y know, except the oncoming annihilation of Path. Thats a bit off the rails but really we can just make that go our way too. Anything that weakens the Union is good for us!

>>1509445
Let's just take Gill and our clones of this shit hole. Maybe we can bring the terrorist to?

>>1509453
Nah. Lets actually put in an honest effort of saving the planet. We don't actually know what the extent of the damage will be,

Dammit i'm late.

Daily reminder

>Raid OQ
>Read the locked memories of that thinker.
>Board a scav vessel for their FTL.
>Send a diplomacy team to earth.
>Build that new FTL prediction building.
>Take Reprive (I think that is the system that our mother made her last stand and it only has mining corvetts, it would be a great test for our raiding fleet.)

>>1509474
Yeah, I agree.

Frankly, I think we should consider telling Morgan about the OQ's creep spreading in the interest of mutual "sharing" of intelligence when he calls us about the lab disaster, the Union will find out about the creep soon and we can hopefully play this better/make the planet possibly survivable if we warn them now.

>>1509499
>Frankly, I think we should consider telling Morgan about the OQ's creep spreading
We shouldn't do that. We need to hide our actual power levels as much as possible.

>>1509499
>>1509474
I say let the Union taste their on pill. We already asked if they saw something strange to call us. Besides this might work in our favor once the creep comes out we can take that smith factory in the mix of chaos. We can even offer the terrorist a ride.

If someone should be warned about the creep is Theseus he might have insteances in the system.

>>1509499
No you stupid nigger we can't tell him until we have a way of knowing that it's there that we're willing to reveal. We'll just say we "detect" immediately after we make planetfall then set up a perimeter.

>>1509515
And we don't want to tip we have a ground one of their most populated world.

>>1509515
It's no secret we have been "observing" the humans through means they cannot detect. Warning them about the spores doesn't reveal any new information other than that we have been watching them secretly.

If necessary we can delay warning them until after we "see" the OQ's unexplored spore pod in the lab when our drones intervene.

>>1509523
If they are willing to play nicely with us we should play nicely with them. However I don't want to reveal the extent of our information gathering.

>>1509523
Theseus probably already knows about it if he has instances there.

He's currently in a joint research operation with the Hive concerning Obsidian Hive genetics and our initial findings of Obsidian Hive Creep came from his tests after his first encounter with the OQ

>>1509532
ou really tgink the humans won't start looking every god dam hole in every god dam planet they hold searching for a hidden hive? Try to think on the long run anon geez.

>>1509547
Yes he might. But even so we should just check with him. We can't know how wide is Theseus reach in every Union planet.

>>1509532
It reveals we are gathering detailed information on Path which more than enough to tip them off on something.

>>1509329
>planning to stay or leave as a result.

>blindly shouting for the use of atomic bombardment weapons,

So was that an "I'm leaving," or...

>>1509299
Wait, if they find out about a spore infection, what if they increase scrutiny on the sewers?

>>1509329
The report quickly shifts to a group of humans yelling over each other as they make various political talking points while claiming to debate the Hive's intentions as your speaker moves over to the projector.

"Human speaker quality has no consistency." Your drone chitters.

"Yea, we don't really have much quality control." Lee says. He flips the channel again to see a local news broadcast showing rows of individuals in restraints against a wall on the street as PDF forces drag them into a police transport. A drop trooper marches up and down the street as the soldiers and police cordon off the area. Debris is spread throughout the street and several buildings show fire damage, while medics tend to other protesters bleeding in the street as they are loaded onto stretchers. A headline flashes on the screen revealing six to be dead, with dozens more injured as a local riot became a war zone between two rival street gangs, forcing the police to deploy the military. The story is mirrored with several others, where criminals have used the chaos in the past days to settle old quarrels and start new ones. A ticker momentarily mentions a stolen holo-printer as it lists the long litany of damaged and stolen items along with the reported crimes, street fights, and shootouts that have turned several lower income districts into an inferno, literally in several cases, with fire bombs having been set off in a number of locations, and a hydrogen storage facility exploding.

Lang emerges from a side passage, followed closely by a number of workers as he enters the embassy proper, and then guide him into the room where Lee sits.

"I think you have some visitors-"

"More Union officials, so many, will need more speakers soon." Your drone chirps. Lang checks his data pad again.

"Uh, no, not for you. For Lee." He says with some unease. "They don't seem to have any credentials so they were stopped at the security perimeter. Some group of rabble. We were about to send them away with the rest of the crazies we've been dealing with in the past few days, but they were peaceful enough and insisted to speak with the Hive." He shrugs, as if waiting to be cut off and told to send them away. "So we legally had to at least run it by you. After the lockdown is over the complex will be much more open to visitors, so security won't screen for anything other than weapons and contraband."

"Well what are their names?" Lee asks. Lang seems confused for a moment.

"I'm not sure, actually. There's a ceph, some taidarens..." He looks through the paperwork. "I was just informed they didn't have any paperwork, no media pass, and no active warrants." He seems to find something of interest as he scrolls through the list of information. "Ah, Zel...Zeli, I'm not sure-"

"Zeliphkqas?" Lee says with a strange, practiced click of the tongue. Lang squints at the word, spelled both incorrectly, and with some mixture of letters unique to the taidaren trade dialect.
cont.

>>1509713
Interesting, what is this. Lee's old friends?

>>1509713
>A ticker momentarily mentions a stolen holo-printer as it lists the long litany of damaged and stolen items along with the reported crimes, street fights, and shootouts that have turned several lower income districts into an inferno

Wait, didn't the Taidaren steal the printer and start a fire 5 days before the small scouting fleet arrived at Gemini and really started some fires?

Also right. The nerds have arrived.

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>>1509741
Were the only friend he needs

>>1509779
Die degenerate.

>>1509786
You would deny the love of the Queen?

HERETIC! DIE WITH THE OBSIDIAN WHORE AND THE COUCH-HATERS!

>>1509800
I only deny this >>1509779 faggotry.

>>1509751
>Also right. The nerds have arrived.

Well time to sgow that the hive cares for all species.

I wonder our taidaren in the sewers are doing? They must be having one great time with so much chaos.

>>1509779
I want to miggle in the human internet and see what arts they already have of hive drones.

>Inb4 hot smooch about a drone heavy warrior and a drone speaker.

>>1509490
How can it be daily when it's once a week, and sometimes not even that. Fuck you

>>1509888
It ain't my fault QDs schedule is chaotic.

>>1509896
It's not his fault his chest tore itself apart at the seams

>>1509751

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kIZH5TKnEeg

>>1509906
If it ain't my fault.
And it ain't QDs fault.
Then where's the cavebug?

>>1509930
Right behind you.

>>1509810
Don't be afraid of the ovipositor anon.

>>1509827
To show the hive understands the human concept of nepotism, you can give away a voucher to install some mimetic skin to Lee's Ceph friend and some exotic diseases exposure to the Taidaren.

>>1509932
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciL7OKWSu10

>>1509944
Let me put it to you this way.
Would you fuck your mom?

>>1509965
Id fuck YOUR mom

>>1509965
That's a very loaded question to ask someone that browses 4chan

>>1509977
4chan is practically neutered these days.

>>1509948
I wonder what the pale cepg think of the hive and what they will think if we fix their paleness.

>>1510038
I wonder how the race specifically designed by our enemies to worship things would react to us performing a miracle.

>>1509713
Oh right, we'll probably have to advise Lee on how much to admit WTF happened to him between the mission and the court-martial and the faked death and his new job.

Better to keep it vague and ix-nay on the overnment lab-gay for now. If that gets out the pastor's election is assured.

>>1510038
Hmm. If we offhandedly mention having fixed some pale Ceph and sent them back to Ceph space in the past, how rapidly would the Ceph tear themselves into so much calamari trying to root out all the "spies and unclean ones"?

>>1509986
You sound like a dispossessed /pol/lack anon.

>>1510080
Funny I've never gone on /pol/.

>>1509713
"I'm not sure." Lang replies. "I'm well versed in human and native trade language, but not taidaren."

"It's complicated and hard to pronounce." Lee says. "Humans can technically make clicks and whistles just fine, but the dialect uses a bit too many of them. Either way, Zippo and Sushi are old friends."

"Sushi?" Lang says simply.

"Well his real name is a pulsing beige with bits of green polka dots in it, but he had a job with a hibachi place before I left so everyone just called him Sushi." Lang nods and quickly leaves as he taps at the controls of his tablet. Your drones observe from their posts atop your embassy as a trio of taidarens march up the walkway holding a large crate in each of their mid-limbs followed by a ceph floating along in a rather outdated looking harness which struggles to lift another crate gripped in its tentacles. It hops up the street, floating only momentarily before it is drug down to the ground by its weight. Several workers quickly intercept them, hoisting the crate up with the ceph still atop it as its vocaliser voices its protest of your drones' care in their transport of the contents. They drop the ceph softly onto the floor of the entrance as it begins dragging the crate along the floor to the middle of the room, several more workers polishing the intricate floor behind it. The ceph flops on top of the large plastic box with exhaustion as it bubbles a thin foam from an expanding air siphon between its tentacles as the trio of taidaren quickly rush in and scatter.

"Fancy floors!"
"Many artworks!"
"Ryan has gone up!"
"Unless Ryan is actually bug-copy."
"Maybe bug-copy good as Ryan?"
"Lee took advice, married into big family."

The trio laugh, a series of rapid squeaks almost like a sneeze as their bone plates rattle like fine china on their faces as they bob their heads enthusiastically.

"Really?" Lee says. The three laugh again before continuing their rambling in the rather odd trade language dialect.

"You Ryan, or Bug copy?"
"They say you xenophilic weirdo now."
"Always did, just say it on news now!"

The three laugh once more as they place their boxes on the floor and tumble over themselves. Lee looks back to the speaker as it stands looming over them on its hind legs near the hall.

"Oh, this is Zeliphkqas, or Zippo. Thing one, two and three." Lee says as each of the trio let out a quick chirp in sequence. "And this is Sushi." Lee says as he points to the ceph, its vocalizer crackles with static.

"I make it and I am it." He says with a monotone synthetic voice. Your drone looks to Lee blandly.

"Oh come on. I do have friends you know." Lee grumbles. "Don't care what hit piece the media makes."

"That's not what your ex said on the Klaxon." Sushi says dryly.

"Oh come one, that's a rag and you know it!" Lee says back. Sushi plops his tentacles to the side of the crate as his harness lifts him into the air.

"So is she." He says. The trio begin snickering again.
Cont.

>>1510085
For the best

>>1510089
>"Unless Ryan is actually bug-copy."
Should we panic?

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>>1510089
>Lee took advice, married into big family.

I already legitimately love these guys.

>>1510112
I'm sure many others have come up with the bug copy idea anon.
Especially NotAlex jones.

>>1510112
"Not yet."

A pale Ceph called sushi? Dam that IS a bag of laughts.

The taidarens are the best.

>>1510112
Nah, these guys are alright. No one has any evidence of clones or replication yet. Although they will start to suspect given we have a relationship with the Cluster and the Cluster can perfectly imitate people...

>>1510074
Well if they use the palantir black crystals to obtain this offhand mentioned information. They could probably also use those to disprove it.

>"That's not what your ex said on the Klaxon."

"What is this ex-rag that is talking lies abpit the Lee? Should the hive kill it as a threat?"

Also, those crates are actually full of their minis collection isn't?
The nerds will show the hive the glory of war games!!

>>1510329
You know how it is with these things. It's like Hive creep. Kill one and 2 take its place.

>>1510329
"A rag is a scrap of cloth, often ex-clothing. An ex-rag would have to be ex-ex-clothing. Lee used to be in a romantic relationship with clothing?

...clothing is now banned from Hive space."

>>1510370
Can we have our flies quickly morph into mini's without giving the illusion away? I'm sure, if not, the hive could make dedicated miniatures easily enough.

>>1510387
>...clothing is now banned from Hive space."

>Ohmy.jpg

>>1510398
We have a hologram game room.

>>1510414
This.

>>1510414
It's even tactile.

>>1510089
The taidarens quickly run up each other's backs, like a set of nested ladders as the third reaches eye level with Lee.

"Who is big two-let tall bug?"
"Is this bug matriarch?"
"See? Zippo knew political marriage always best way to get good things." Lee lets out a sigh.

"I, know, alright look, this is the hive speaker. It's one of many, serves as an embassador for the hive itself, yadda yadda. It's a crawling imperator, but can talk." Lee says. "It's a collective intelligence. Surprised you didn't hear about it."

"Mother won't let Zippo leave much with the panic."
"Sewers in panic too, big rush for new thing!"
"Mother making us work extra to afford."
The three chirp in unison.
"Does Hive have shiny to borrow?"

"No, and you're not looking to borrow." Lee says. "Like that fifteen credits you still owe me."

"Still earning interest."
"Never agreed on due date."
"You are making great profit on credits!" Lee looks to each of the trio, lightly slapping the hand of the middle one in the stack as it seems to reach for a pocket at his waist.

"So what's in the boxes?" Lee asks. Sushi drones on with his synthetic vocalizer.

"You remember when your apartment was condemned and you said 'I'll be back for shore leave before it gets demolished' and then you decided to elope with alien ants instead so the Union blew up your apartment with all your stuff inside?" He says, flatly in a long, monotone statement. "Well, first, someone broke in and ransacked your place, then shot it up, then got shot in it, then killed some people in the hall." He continues. "We also found your minis."

"Zeppo wanted them. Thought you died."
"Good you did not."
"But sad. Figures worth lots."

"Really?" Lee says as he opens one of the crates and pulls out several cubes of foam encasing a large, tentacled beetle with a tube shaped tooth filled maw that seems to be devouring a greenish humanoid alien with the physique of a refrigerator.

"Sweet." Lee says. He looks up to your speaker as it examines the figure with confusion. "I'm just going to, uh, go catalog these." He says as he hoists a crate into his arms. He looks to the others and points his head to one of the doors. "This way. I'll see if I can grow some terrain real quick. We got a good holo-room otherwise." The group of aliens quickly rush behind him as they enter one of the side rooms. Your speaker watches as they unpack various small polymer figures into a chitinous table as holograms begin projecting along the surface of various landscape features.

>Speak with Lee's friends (write in)
>Let them goof off as you attend to other matters
>Other

>>1510460
>>Let them goof off as you attend to other matters
Let the nerds nerd for now. Can't come on too strongly.

>>1510460
>>Let them goof off as you attend to other matters

>>1510460
>Speak with Lee's friends (write in)

We must be best overly-doting-mother-of-friend.

"Can the Hive get you boys anything? Drinks, nutrients, colour-correction, a proper number of hearts?"

>>1510460
>Speak with Lee's friends
Hey Sushi you want us to fix your skin?

>>1510414
Good idea

>>1510460
>"Sewers in panic too, big rush for new thing!"
>"Mother making us work extra to afford."
I see what's going on there.

I'd say ask them if they want bio stuff done to them, but maybe it's too early for that.

>>1510507
Yeah I think it best letting them have fun for a bit

Might be able to have Lee drop hints about possible gene-therapy and biomods by showing off his own

>>1510498
Let the boys play first, then offers of gifts. Since they brought the gift of Lee's stuff.

>>1510492
>>1510498

Backing these write ins. Mother cares about her children's friends. Even (especially) her adopted children.

>>1510492
>>1510498
>>1510524
Also backing bug-mom

>a proper number of hearts
kek

>>1510556
Just don't let the Speakers do the surgery. We saw what happened with QD

>>1510460
>>Let them goof off as you attend to other matters

>>1510572
Does anyone have the pic?

File: HQQ.gif (2.95 MB, 555x312)

2.95 MB GIF

>>1509097

>>1510515
It's hard for him to show off his since they're specifically nonvisible.

Wait I guess there's the nanomesh you can see darkening the ribcage of his bare chest.

But yeah let them get comfortable first.

>>1510460
other
>join the game

>>1510649
>using the power of thousands of drones whose only purpose in life is to think and the Queen herself in a tactics based game
That's cheating, Anon.

>>1510663
but to be fair we would be doing other stuff at the same time.

>>1510663
Nah, cheating is reading their minds and using telekinesis to secretly fix the dice.

>>1510687
Cheating is having a thinker observe their moves and sending the information back in time through tachyons in order to already know what they're going to do before they do it, and how they'll react to the changes we make through knowing their moves already.
Also known as 4D-chess.

>>1510460
>>1510492
Backing this. Even taiderens deserve an appropriate number of hearts!

>>1510729
All our adopted children deserve an appropriate number of hearts! All (however many humans+taidaren+valen exist in the galaxy) of them!

>>1510460
Zippo begins rapidly unpacking from their own box. Various figures of freakishly muscular humanoid forms with a strange greenish-grey skin tone, all holding mismatched weapons made from scrap metal, or driving equally haphazardly built vehicles covered in banners marked with the seal of some small taidaren clan. There is some kind of fixed wing air craft made from what looks to be a mixture of plywood, sheet metal, and an industrial fan with a pair of over sized firework rockets strapped to the back with metal clamps and rope. Another is some large walker tank made from what looks to be a large oil barrel with chunks of steel welded onto it, with a large circular saw blade on one extended arm, and a hydraulic claw on the other. All of them are hand painted, crudely, with thick layers of bright red paint and an almost neon green trim smudged over the edges, with large globs of silver paint marking areas meant to be bare unpainted metal.

Sushi assembles each piece on the table with care from his own box, meticulously placing each one in what seems to be a pre-planned formation of sorts. The first is a large armored figure covered in spikes and strange looking symbols carved into its pauldrons. The next is some large spider tank with what looks like a set of impaled figures mounted along the chassis and a large, toothed face on the front next to a large cannon. Another is a small hunched over humanoid figure covered in abnormalities and deformed growths.

The ceph stops for a moment, his eye stalk twisting to examine your worker as it stands hunched over by the table, its ocular eyes level with the figures as it examines the meticulously brushed designs of deep purples and greens covering the figures, with gold and black trim and a faint darkish grey painted over the figures giving the impression of dirt and scrapes in the paint from old battles. One, you note, carries some kind of chainsaw sword, the teeth of the blade having the most minute specks of red covering it in an intricate pattern hinting at the velocity and direction of the weapon's teeth if it were to function. Even the eyes of the smaller hunchback figures are painted, with a glossy gleam in each one. Their banners are marked with a symbol you find incredibly familiar, although you note the differences time has given it. A written ceph word with six lines tracing from an elongated orb with a point on either end, with several more horn shapes curving out from the top. Lee smirks at the sight of them as the ceph slowly slides the figures away from your worker's inquisitive gaze.

cont.

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>>1510601
This one?

>>1510822
yiss. Thanks QD. I fucking love that one.

>>1510809
>Taidaren play Orks
>Sushi plays Chaos

Goddamn nerds

>>1510809
>A written ceph word with six lines tracing from an elongated orb with a point on either end, with several more horn shapes curving out from the top.

Reminder that this is the Ceph sign for "demon" or "hive."

>>1510809
Come on Lee, pull out the 'nids. Make Mother proud!

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>>1510809
>Lee playing nids
>The taideren playing orcs
>The Ceph playing chaos
This is just perfect. Now I want to start playing ourselves, ideally Imperial Guard. Decent use of mass infantry assaults and tarpitting tactics, while still having access to the best artillery in the game. That suits our attitudes to warfare quite well.

>>1510864
>The human basically plays the Hive
>The taidaren play beefed up taidaren
>The ceph plays basically void-worshippers
>The Hive play humans with Hive-tactics
Fund it!

>>1510809
"The Hive has many things to offer guests." Your speaker says. "Nutrients, or drinks? Human sustenance is available from the main building."

"I am fine." sushi says. The trio of taidarens begin chirping with excitement.

"Lots of panic lately, no trash pickup."
"No taidaren here, trash not picked."
"Does building have dumpster? Good things in there, yes." They say. A worker quickly rushes out of the hive within the courtyard, scaling the wall and scurrying towards a dumpster some ways away before diving in, nearly trampling a pair of frightened assistants carrying a stack of paperwork.

"Do the guests desire anything else? Sustenance, biological improvement, additional organs?"

"What?" Sushi asks quickly.

"The Hive has mints. The human news speakers left them behind."

"The hive has organs?"
"Are they fresh?"
"Good sell price for fresh." The taidarens chirp. Your speaker returns the chirp in kind.

"The Hive has hearts. Many hearts for all species. You do not have enough, need more."

"Could you not offer people back alley surgery like that?" Lee says, and he turns to Zippo. "That's not an offer for a cooler full of hearts, no, you can't just sell them. It's an offer to get an extra one implanted."

"Do you have one?" The trio ask. Lee seems to hesitate for a moment.

"Uh, yea, but-"

"Zippo want too!" They chirp in unison. "And some to go. Can sell."

"This is an embassy, not a takeout." Lee replies.

>Offer cybernetics to them
>Offer a parasite
>Speak with them later
>Other

>>1510851
So the Ceph is unknowingly playing the hive.

Hahaha, that's great.

>>1510950
No, he's playing chaos warriors that worship the Hive, or ceph "demons".

>>1510950
>>1510957
He's like an edgy teen satanist

>>1510941
>offer cybernetics
FRIEND OF THE LEE, FRIEND OF THE HIVE!

>>1510941
Offer them the whole shebang, and a cooler full of hearts.

>>1510941
>>Other
Let's ask sushi if he want some mimic skin I think he could use it. Though I wonder if we could genetically modify him to have it.

>>1510941
>>Speak with them later
I say we let them think about it first, maybe tell them a little about what we're offering so they know what's on offer. In any case I imagine they'll want to catch up with Lee before taking any dips in our tanks, so let them play for a bit for now.

>>1510941
>>Offer cybernetics to them

No parasite because they'll get one from their Mom soon anyway and the Ceph would never accept

>>1510941
>Speak with them later
Stop being overbearing

>>1510971
No. We do need to suppress knowledge what we're capable of.

what thread do we talk to the union Parliament?

>>1510987
This is lee relaxation time and there going to bug him about us anyway

>>1510941
>Speak with them later
Just tell them a little then let them have their nerd battle.

>>1510941
>Speak with them later
"Enjoy your game. The talk of correcting your lacking evolutionary traits can wait until later. The Hive isn't going anywhere."

>>1510941
>Speak with them later

>>1510988
I highly doubt a cooler full of taidaren hearts will be more suspicious than giving them cybernetics. Besides from an onlooker it would be much more likely they stole them.

>>1510941
>>Speak with them later
Let them play their game, we can offer some gifts on the way out. Hopefully we'll actually remember to talk to them after they finish.

>>1511011
Actually anything we do here is likely to be leaked once they leave.

>>1511022
We'll duh, but if we'll be offering cybernetics to new Hive "citizens" (like extra hearts), that ability won't remain secret for long. I'm fine with allowing it to "leak" this way. As long as it doesn't come back to hurt Lee's friends.

>>1511011
I think a taideren showing up with a cooler full of taideren hearts would raise more unpleasant questions than answers, no matter how easy going their matriarch is.

>>1511034
>if we'll be offering cybernetics to new Hive "citizens" (like extra hearts),
I'll actually vote against doing that.

>>1511011
>>1511022
Good. Just admit it.

"Oh yes, the Hive provided a container of manufactured hearts. The Taidaren friends of the Lee were offered a gift. They requested many hearts, very sensible. The Hive appreciates critical organ redundancy. It is the wisest request yet made of the Hive."

>>1510985
They'll be getting a parasite from their Matron most likely. That's probably what they're buying from the "sewer Taidaren"

>>1511055
How about no.

>>1511053
Well it's not like we'll be denying our improvements to the humans (and others) that opt to join the hive, but yeah no need to make that common knowledge just yet.

>>1510941
>"Could you not offer people back alley surgery like that?"

We are technically indoors. And what's really wrong with alleys anyway? Are you impugning the hive's ability to prevent infection?

>>1511060
Yes... that's what I said.

>>1511064
We made it clear that's actually not the same as hive "citizenship" and the less people know the more their minds will "invent" new ideas of what could offer them.

>>1510941
>"Could you not offer people back alley surgery like that?"
Comparatively, it is human's surgery which is back alley. Humans have terrible medical facilities.

>>1511107
The difference between human and hive medical tech is similar to the difference between Newton's law of gravitation and quantum field theory. i.e. there's absolutely nothing remotely similar going on here.

>>1510941
>Speak with them later
"This is not a back alley surgery, it is high quality surgery. Better than you could get in a hospital. Have fun playing games."

>>1511177
Especially now that we can just kind of throw someone in a pod for a couple days and have their own biology do all the work if we feel like doing it slowly.

>>1511107
When we leave them to play their game we shold sound as if insulted by the comparison of the best medical care in the galaxy by far to some back ally human hack job. It will take us a while to "cool down" (until after the game)

>>1511107
What does Lee take the hive for, Taidarens?

>>1511187
that's inefficient. Better to implant a spinepal™ while they're in the pod, cure any and all ailments, have the spinepal™ begin infusing medical salve into their body, and maybe fix their whole "biological aging" problem. Such horrible design.

File: 1483409206169.png (1.14 MB, 993x989)

1.14 MB PNG

Oh my god this is amazing, these guys are amazing

Can we keep them? Please?

>>1511227
Of course. They, their friends and family, their friends and families, their friends and families, etc. along with their homeworlds shall be adopted.

>>1511227
Patience, child. All will be Mother's in time.

Is QD's captcha having issues again?

>>1510941
"The Hive may provide additional improvements to biology later. Better than human hospital. Best in galaxy. Better than nature." Your speaker chitters. "Please ask if the guests request anything. Ask anywhere. The Hive can hear you." It adds as the door flexes closed. The group sits in silence for a brief moment before Sushi breaks the silence.

"That was foreboding." He says.

"Eh, not really." Lee says. "There's just eyes and ears everywhere."

"They spy?"
"Have bugs in places?"
"Bugs have bugged the bug place!"

"No." Lee replies. "I mean literally. Eyes and ears, like the organs, grown in the walls, the ceiling, goddamn everywhere. Look, see that?" He points to a small cluster of sensors set into the ceiling, glowing softly with bioluminescence. "Sure it's a lamp, but it's one that can see and hear."

"Bug-eyed bug bugs!" The taidarens chirp as the door flexes open again and a worker scurries in covered in what looks like a mixture of various condiments and stale noodles holding a smashed half of a melon rind filled with a number of decaying meat and moldy plant matter. Another worker follows it, sweeping the floor behind it as it drips a foul smelling liquid as it hands the trio the melon, which begins to sag, as if melting, as it is placed on the floor beside them, sending the contents spilling over the side as they begin spearing the contents with their proboscises happily.

"Can you not splatter that garbage?" Lee says. "I mean, actual garbage, really. You know this is why you kept getting banned from stores. They see you walk in slurping up a dead rat like a juice box, of course they ask you to leave."

"The Hive is nice."
"Good things here. Very ripe."
"Rat did not smell. Greg was lying to disqualify Zippo for bringing lunch."

Your speaker exits into the hall, striding elegantly down the hall to the small balcony of the second floor overlooking the main foyer. Its legs shake for a moment with unease as its claws scrape at the floor for a moment as it begins to float through the air, and descends down to the first floor where the holoscreen can still be seen with the news channel set to mute. It shows an aerial view of the Parliament building as the headline reads in large text Classified security meeting growing heated. "shouting heard outside": Sources say. You observe the news feed directly as the reporter discusses what little unverifiable data there is.

"We have a number of sources within the government who are telling us we should be expecting a final decision on the Expanse ultimatum soon, possibly by the end of today. We've heard a number of reports that shouting could be heard from the waiting room just adjacent to the Parliament chambers, however it was unclear as to what exactly is being discussed. In addition, an emergency meeting of the advisory council has been called. Such meetings are rare, and calling one to order in the middle of a session of Parliament is even rarer still.

cont.

>>1511283
Hopefully, having not one but TWO government black-ops facilities studying things found in the expanse go into lockdown due to shit they can't contain which will kill everything in the facility and the surroundings, convinces the parliament that MAYBE, just maybe, they should listen when the bugs say "stop trying to jam a fork into the cosmic wall socket, damn it! Also, we're taking away all your forks, period."

>>1511283
Huh, so we mastered telekinesis then?

>>1511327
Speakers have wings, no?
If not, then yes, we're bug Jesus now.

>>1511283
>Classified security meeting growing heated. "shouting heard outside": Sources say
Morgan is getting sick of this shit.

>>1511344
>"THIS IS THE THIRD SECRET FACILITY IN A SINGLE WEEK, CONRAD!"
>"IT'S THE BUGS! THEY'RE BEHIND EVERYTHING! THEY HAVE IT OUT FOR ME!"

>>1511327
Days ago, that's not really news.

Helpful for stumbling in that ridiculous two-leg pose. So impractical.

>>1511351

>Vast cosmic hive-mind capable of reaching across unfathomable distances and crushing planets with it's mind alone
>Uses it's vast cosmic power to keep a speaker standing upright because bipedal designs are horrible and why would nature do this jesus christ you poor humans.

I realize, in retrospect, that a benefit of forbidding anyone except the (human) representative from meeting in Morgan's office is that it also means that the Valen (and now the hive) can't read his mind.

But we really need to talk to Windsor directly. We need to know the exact number of "Expanse and Ceph artifacts" they've found, when and where they were located, and a precise accounting of where they've been stored in that timespan.

We need to know what planets have potentially been exposed to Them. And whether any of the crystals from Project Moonraker are missing. And that Windsor isn't lying.

>>1511389
thankfully, Lee is as good a conduit for our majestic self to interact with Windsor's mind as any of our speakers are, so we can browse through his mind to our content if Lee ever gets a meeting with him.

>>1511407
>thankfully, Lee is as good a conduit
Lee can't have a moderate relay, which would be visible and out of place on a human.

>>1511283
"Such meetings are typically only held among members of the security council and the secretaries of relevant positions. This means calling one in the middle of a session forces either the session to recess, or the session to continue without a critical number of individuals with highest level security clearance." The reporter continues. "The fact that such a meeting has reportedly interrupted a classified closed doors session regarding the ultimatum is concerning many experts, who are forced to presume that the topic of such a meeting is more critical than the vote of the ultimatum. Others have claimed this may have something to do with the invasion of Mars, however matters of war are dealt with almost exclusively through the secretary of defence, with any issue in need of Parliamentary approval being discussed in an open session involving only security council members. Our sources have verified that this emergency meeting has called the entirety of the secretary advisory council. This will be the first time such an emergency meeting has been called in the public record since the Battle of Sol a century ago." The reporter holds a finger to her ear for a moment, listening to something as the video cuts to a line of warry looking assistants and legal experts filing out of the Parliament chambers.

"Wait, wait, this just in, we've received word that the Parliament no longer has a quorum, and all individuals without highest level clearance have been ejected from the chambers."

The door to your embassy flexes open as Lang swings himself in from the walkway outside, his face sleek with sweat.

"Where's representative Lee?" He asks.

>He is unavailable at the moment, you may speak with the speaker
>The Hive will send for him
>Other (write in)

>>1511427
>He is unavailable at the moment, you may speak with the speaker

>>1511427
>He is unavailable at the moment, you may speak with the speaker

>>1511427
>The Hive will send for him
Sorry buddy, you'll have to wait a few minutes to play with your toys.

>>1511427
>>He is unavailable at the moment, you may speak with the speaker

>>1511427
>He is unavailable at the moment, you may speak with the speaker

>>1511427
>>He is unavailable at the moment, you may speak with the speaker
It's not every day he gets to see them.

So the meeting is presumably about the Thing on Path.

>>1511427
>He is unavailable at the moment, you may speak with the speaker
but if they really insist on only seeing
lee then
>The Hive will send for him

>>1511496
this

>>1511456
Funny thing is that Cluster is a relatively minor problem we could even say "Oh you're freaking out about Cluster I thought it would something worth worrying like the black queen's spores are consuming one of your planets."

>>1511496
Bah. The only things the humans -need- a human representative is when forming legally binding agreements, to avoid misunderstandings.

If something is so urgent it can't wait until tomorrow, it can't be about signing something into law, so they don't need Lee.

It has to be something that is imminently endangering human life as we speak, so they can't be picky.

"Oh, you woke him up. The hive will go and return him to his peaceful hibernation you disturbed."

>>1511510
I would back saying that.

>>1511427
>>The Hive will send for him
This is actually big enough to warrant interrupting a game involving miniatures.

>>1511523
Obviously, many of us disagree with that sentiment

>>1511516
Although, it might be that we should send some quantum brained warriors and workers, secretly boarding a human ship that departs from Gemini.

Since a hive ship landing in New Tokyo will raise a lot of questions in the public that neither of us really want at such a sensitive juncture, and everyone would be watching what building the drones go to. But if they can be slipped in discreetly...

>>1511523
Only in the Union's eyes.

>>1511539
Well to be blunt this is out of lee league, we been having him play good guy to our bad guy

And it seems this conversation will need us being full bad guy

>>1511496
supporting

>>1511496
Supporting. Although a Speaker should come with Lee in that case.

>>1511539
Wait, you didn't even put in your vote yet, 742H9EaT.

>>1511549
Not necessarily. We can say "we told you so" all we want, but we also want the humans to be glad they called the Hive to intervene. We want them to think, after this is all over, "Wow, that was painful, but I'm glad we called the Hive in when we did or it could have been way worse." The next time there is a major disaster (and come on, this is the Union, it's only a matter of time), we do not want them to hesitate to call the Hive to assist. Next time we may not have a spine-pal agent on the inside.

>>1511584
Sometimes people don't feel the need to vote for something (especially if it seems overwhelmingly tilted towards one side). I don't in every option that comes up. Sometimes I'm OK with any of the actions!

>>1511496
>>1511506
>>1511550
>>1511580
>all the first post in the thread

Man the extra nice guys are late.

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>>1511427
"The Lee is not available. You may speak with the speaker." Your drone says.

"Well, follow me quick. There's a situation." He says, and your speaker moves through the door in three swift strides of its folded legs, following close behind as he walks a brisk pace, glancing nervously from side to side, as if not wanting to be seen. He reaches the nearest entrance, and the guard quickly stands aside as your drone ducks to enter, falling to all fours so as not to scrape the ceiling. You keep watching the news as the video feed cuts again, now showing, with a slight delay, your speaker entering the parliament building.

"We, hold on, we're getting footage now. This is live at the Parliament building where what appears to be the Hive embassador entering the building. We don't see the human representative but-" He cuts herself off as she listens to her ear piece. "Yes the ambassador is alone." He says, quickly listening to something else. "The ambassador is being lead into the building by Alex Lang. He's the assigned legal assistant to representative Ryan Lee, and was the original choice for the Union's provided representative. It is unclear what exactly this means at the moment, however no non human has ever attended an emergency meeting of the council in the history of the Union. We will continue to monitor the situation-" the reporter continues to go on, rushing herself as she recites various facts, statistics, and details of the minatine of Union politics.

Your drone is quickly led into the main chambers, walking past a number of legal experts and assistants who quickly show growing concern on their faces as an armed guard opens the door for you to enter the main chamber. You walk past the makeup room, and the door is already open for you as you enter, your drone stretching up to its full height.

The holograms of a few individuals in the assembly flicker in their seats, while in the center of the chamber, is a small desk where Morgan stands leaning against its surface. The flickering holograms of the rest of the council sit next to him.

"We have a situation." Morgan says.

Cont.

>>1511590
Yeah, we don't need to be threatening. Cluster is playing the bad cop FOR us already.

We're here to reel in the loose cannon who plays by their own rules.

>1511427
>a line of warry looking assistants and legal experts

Wait, wary-looking or weary-looking?

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>>1511600
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

>>1511600
Oh hey we're in range of reading Morgan's emotions again. This should be fun.

So, none of the high-clearance representatives were here in person?

>>1511600
>"We have a situation."
"Clearly."

Huh, if we send a secret delegation of drones on human ships to Path, then they ride that human ship with the Cluster back to Djin.

Then the drones get off with Cluster to hook up with the main mass under the ice and maintain communication with them.

We might want to smuggle parasites inside some warriors or something if that expedition team is still alive and we want to change their story in any way after our hybrids find them.

>>1511600
We could let Lee know we're handling this, just as an aside. So he knows its happening and being taken care of so he can be with his friends

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>>1511600
"This speaker has been told this." You say. "Do humans use repetition for emphasis?"

"It's about the Expanse. Specifically, something that was discovered there some time ago, which is currently creating a containment issue." He says, his mind rushing to worst case scenarios and apocalyptic events. Flashes of atomic fire and mass panic ripple through his mind like the waves of a stormy sea.

"The Hive has explained this!" Your drone chirps. "The Expanse is dangerous! We explain this and the humans still tamper with this danger! This is why you must leave!"

"I know. Just listen." Morgan says quickly. "We discovered it before your ultimatum, and after the attack on Path, a number of recovered specimens from the enemy fleet were recovered and transported to a research facility. The Expanse specimen was brought there as well, since we believed it was an unknown caste of Hive drone. As it turned out, it was not. We have this recording-" Windsor looks angrily to Morgan as he speaks.

"You don't have clearance to release that." He says.

"Stuff it." Morgan snaps back. "Play the goddamn recording, Jack." Windsor and Morgan share a long, angry gaze, and then Jack clicks a button off screen, his arm dematerializing in the process. The air shimmers as a projection appears showing the containment area of the lab on Path. You see the cluster hunched over the body of a hive drone, rapidly consuming it as it drags it into its bulk. You watch in silence with the others as the cluster smashes through the gate, through a hail of weapons fire and panicked, agonized screams as it swipes its claws over the security team.

>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous
>You have awoken it from its ancient slumber, we must act quickly or the world is lost!
>You disrupt the sleep of the Hive's ancient ally, and then try to kill it!
>Other (write in)

>>1511747
>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous

>>1511747
>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous
"Well, being as you are, the Hive supposes it *would* be dangerous to you."

>>1511747
>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous

>>1511769
No stating as a fact that OQ spores are growing, come on.

>>1511747
>a number of recovered specimens from the enemy fleet were recovered and transported to a research facility. The Expanse specimen was brought there as well, since we believed it was an unknown caste of Hive drone.
"That is not 1 situation, that is 2.

>>1511747
>>You have awoken it from its ancient slumber, we must act quickly or the world is lost!

Maybe not so melodramatic, but the gist of this. We don't want to be a dick about it and I don't think we should share that we have relations with this species already

>>1511782
oh wait, I suppose we should add "the Hive thought that debris from the battle over Path had started growing into the Black Hive's infrastructure."

>>1511788
Why not? They don't have to know where we know this from. For all they know, we found out about it from a note the White Queen left.

>>1511747
>>Other (write in)
Are there any other secret laboratories related to the Expanse you wish to admit to while we're here, before more minor nuisances like this occur?

>>1511747
>>You have awoken it from its ancient slumber, we must act quickly or the world is lost!

This, with a smattering of
>>You disrupt the sleep of the Hive's ancient ally, and then try to kill it!

We are not "allies" and we need to make that completely clear. However, we are both ancient and the situation is extremely dangerous for the humans. Let them know that we are outraged with how they treated a colleague of long standing without toning down the risk the humans have exposed themselves to. After all, we cannot necessarily ensure the world is not lost without intervention and the Cluster is certainly capable of destroying Path.

>>1511747
>>1511775
Seconding this.

>>1511747
>>You disrupt the sleep of the Hive's ancient ally, and then try to kill it!
>You have awoken it from its ancient slumber, we must act quickly or the world is lost!
tell them it is ally but that it will consume them until contact is made with it by us as it does not consider humans anything but flesh

>>1511747
>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous
Although it is troublesome we'll tall to them. probably will have to listen to onr of thier lectures again

>>1511747
>>You have awoken it from its ancient slumber, we must act quickly or the world is lost!
>>You disrupt the sleep of the Hive's ancient ally, and then try to kill it!
>>Angry hive noises

>>1511762
>>1511775
It serves our purposes to play this up anons, it puts the Union further on the political defensive and gives them a powerful incentive to ask for our help. The more distress we display the more incentive they have to react in a way we want them to.

>>1511800
Cluster doesn't want to destroy/consume the world, it wants to get off the world and come back to where it was frozen to update the main cluster about the situation.

>>1511747
>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous
"This would simple to take care of since we made a deal with it long ago"
And now that I think of it we could also drop the fact that the White hive did meddle with human genetics.

>>1511747
>>You have awoken it from its ancient slumber, we must act quickly or the world is lost!

>>1511747
>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous
also backing this >>1511769


>Do you have more things hidden in rooms, Things of ours that you withhold from us when we come in peace? How is hive supposed to be friendly if humans hold hive things under non-hive care.

>>1511810
Agreed. Also, if the main cluster wakes up and starts independent "diplomacy" with the humans it will quickly become evident we do not consider this a minor event at all. Best to treat this seriously from the start.

Posted this in the wrong thread.

Quick question, why aren't we mentioning the OQ spores? They're going to find out about the creep either way.

>>1511747
>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous

>>1511812
But they don't need to know that.

>>1511747
So state it is smarter than them and they need to talk with the cluster?

Aka it can be stopped by tossing some cows at it and giving it a ride out of the system

>>1511797
No we should meant that Cluster isn't a real problem and hive ship debris landing on their planet would be a real problem.

>>1511840
We have no proof to show them unless we want to reveal our covert hive

>>1511747
>Is this all? We feared you found something dangerous
"Oh, them. Yes, we can come and take them to their home."

>>1511843
What about our experiences with hive creep outside of Path? Like with Theseus or in Refuge.

>>1511747

Supporting:
>>1511800
>>1511805
>>1511810

We can explain the seriousness of the situation without being overly dramatic.

As fun as it is for our speakers to be doom sayers that would not be necessary in this instance. However, playing down the seriousness of the incident is very much NOT in our interest here and would be even more counter-productive than over-reacting.

>>1511824
I agree that we should mention the OQ's spores. Hopefully they'll be a chance to vote on that later.

>>1511810
We don't want to disincentivize them confessing to their sins at the same time.

We might've already reached peak moral outrage, and we can only show this new, additional potential outrage to this tiny minority of high-security clearance people.

>>1511849
Five Server ships. All destroyed by spores.

>>1511861
It was just the one, wasn't it?

>>1511856
Morgan himself is playing it up FOR us.

I mean, we just have to consider that an entire planet of humans being consumed by clusters is fairly small potatos on our personal threat scale. Not that it's genuinely not dangerous on their scale.

>>1511873
"This is a dangerous situation..."
"Y-you're a big hive!"
"...for you."

>>1511859
Suffice it to say they're not going to confess their sins under any conditions unless their territories are under immediate threat. Which in this case, they are.

What they've done here is placed one of their own core worlds into a position of potentially existential threat by moving a specimen of one of our ancient allies, taken without permission from territory we now claim, onto it. We have every reason to be outraged, and they have a very good reason to be pissing themselves over the fate of Path right now.

>>1511821
>it will quickly become evident we do not consider this a minor event at all

How in the world will it. Him awakening a hundred or a thousand years early isn't technically that huge. And it's only one cluster of thousands.

Since cluster agreed to letting us interfere after being notified, to maintain our ruses and subtle games with the humans, cluster would probably agree to at least maintain our lie of what happened if he ever talked to these puny meat-animals.

>>1511866
Nope five if I remember correctly.

>>1511894
We already have every reason to be outraged at them, for something far more disastrous. We already played the moral outrage card.

If being angry about existential threats isn't enough, adding being angry about this isn't going to make a whit of difference, especially as you have a very tiny audience in this meeting compared to all of Parliament.

"So inconsiderate, rude, to wake them up from hibernation 100,000 years early. They will of course be very hungry. We will ensure they go back to sleep.

Thank you for contacting us about this. If you had not it could have been very dangerous... for you.

Hm, with no psionic network to connect them, we'll have to travel through the entire facility to be sure we gathered every cluster together before leaving.

We should probably notice the OQ ship fragment that way.

>>1511899
>How in the world will it.
This is a major offense to us for a number of reasons. The first is that this a major violation of the rights of a race that were once our allies and are arguably the closest equivalent to a peer still in existence for us. For that reason it would behoove us to respond to the abduction and experimentation of one of it's members in the same way we would if it were a drone of an allied hive or one of our own.

Two, this entire fiasco is demonstrative of the most rampantly dangerous and self destructive tendencies of the Union government; medling with ancient alien shit they have no understanding of. The very same impulse that resulted in the disaster at nowhere, I remind you.

Three, because by showing this adds insult to injury and outrages us for the very same reasons we're ordering them out of the Expanse, it adds pressure on them to pull out of the region and to. Stop. Fucking. With. Stuff. From. There. Seriously. This is clearly a point they haven't yet learned, so we need to hammer it home yet again.

So yeah, by showing our outrage we can advance our policies toward the Union on every front, so we should be taking advantage of this. Honestly, do you even interstellar politics?

>>1511978
Seems to make sense

>>1511978
Biggest danger of showing outrage is the next time they don't call us when there is a fuck up.

I agree we should be angry with how they treated a fellow primordial, however, and that we need to let them know we are treating the situation extremely seriously.

>>1511978
Outrage we would only be showing to a tiny minority of Parliament and over something the public doesn't know about?

It would be more effective to blackmail them with this later once cluster is safely off of Path.

>>1511978
We can be stern about it, but flipping our metaphorical titties won't be great, especially here in a closed session.

>>1511747
If we do go the "we feared you found something dangerous" route, can we please, make it clear this is something still dangerous to the humans. Maybe say something like.

>"Don't worry, we have a millions of years old non-aggression pact with them. They won't harm the Hive. They would probably consume your planet, though...


>hmmm, maybe we should talk with them before they do that."

By the way guys. Cluster isn't an ally he's actually a neutral party.

>>1512012

We still need to be stern here, and not treat the situation as a fucking joke. This is a fellow ancient being of immense power and the Cluster will probably blame the Hive for waking them up early (since the humans are technically Hive weapons). This is a major diplomatic incident with another major power. We need to treat this emergency with the appropriate gravity while still appearing calm and collected.

>>1512039
We should clarify that we have a non-interference/non-aggression pact with them to the Union rather than an alliance if it comes to that.

>>1512023
Actually it'd try to consume every who stands in the way of its goal (getting home).

>>1511978
So get angry like a distressed parent, not like a doomsday scientist.

>>1512040
>This is a fellow ancient being of immense power

And therefore can handle themselves just fine, let's be honest. He would've gotten out and home on his own eventually on a trail of blood.

I mean we could act outraged, or play it off like a child annoyed a very old acquaintance by shouting loudly when he was sleeping. You could justify either.

>>1511993
>>1512008
>>1512012
Seems to make sense

"That is a primordial cluster. They are an ancient spacefaring species of shape-shifters from a distant sector of space. A number of them have been in hibernation in the Expanse for some time now. It would appear that you have disturbed their slumber. We ask that you turn over the cluster to us so that we may return it to its kin and for you to cease meddling with powerful relics in the Expanse."

>>1512059
We're kind of both, honestly. This is a time for tough, stern love for the children who can't seem to stop playing with our WMDs.

>>1512091
>our WMDs.
Hold on there, sparky, Cluster has no part in our war.

>>1512059
Exasperation might be better. Because seriously, what is with the Union and messing with dangerous things from the Expanse? This is the third time this as happened. Everyone would be better off if the Union would just cut it out.

Basically, our kid has hit a baseball through the neighbor's window. Again. Frustrating, but not really worthy of full on anger.

>>1512097
All WMDs in the expanse are now hive WMDs, at least as far as the Union government is concerned. If they can't figure out how not to drag a dark god of destruction into our reality they won't be able to identify the origins of the relics left in the expanse.

Captcha killed QD?

>>1511747
"That that all?" You ask. There is a stunned silence. "The Hive had believed there was a truly dangerous situation."

"What would you call this then?" Windsor says tersely.

"An inconvenience." Your drone chirps. "The Hive understands how such inconveniences would pose a threat to humans, however."

"So you know how to stop it?" Morgan asks.

"How?"

"The Hive must retrieve it. Human technology is insufficient for containment." You reply. "An attempt to do so may lead to further escalation of the inconvenience."

"Well we wouldn't want to be inconvenienced any further, would we?" Anderson says from the far end of the table. "Jack, you've let this go to shit. I'd say I agree with their technological assessment."

"Nathan, stay out of this." Windsor replies. "You've already cast your vote, you're not needed here anymore, go count your coins."

"So you can go and pull some other tragedy out of your ass and send the entire Union back into depression, if we're lucky?" He shouts. "Fuck you Jack. Get your division sorted, then come beg for your funding when you're done." Anderson says, and his image winks out. Windsor looks back to your speaker, then steals a glance to Morgan.

"So you say you just want to pick it up and off you go?" He says. "Even if we don't understand it, I hope you at least can appreciate that we may hesitate to hand something over to someone who does. You may consider us primitive, but we still have enough sense to not just blindly hand over something that could kill us."

"It is killing us, goddamnit!" Morgan says.

"We don't even know what it is!" He replies. "What is this thing? A weapon? An alien intelligence? We know it's bioengineered and is on about the same level as you biologically. Give me something else to work with here."

"What we know is the Hive knows how to deal with it." Morgan says. "You drop a fuel rod in the middle of a bronze age town it's going to kill everyone. If you drop one in the middle of Capital Square, we know how to safely handle it. Even if it is a weapon, we're clearly more likely to kill ourselves with it than if they have it, assuming they can't make their own if it is.

"Well that's what I want to figure out!" He snaps back. "What is it?"

>Write in

>>1512142
>"The Hive must retrieve it. Human technology is insufficient for containment." You reply. "An attempt to do so may lead to further escalation of the inconvenience."
kek

>>1512142
"A member of a very old race that has been sleeping until the appropriate time. It is not the appropriate time. Waking it up is bad!"

"Also, there are many more of its kind across space. You would not be giving us something we cannot acquire ourselves."

>>1512142
>It was asleep until you woke it up. However we know it may be one of the weapons left behind of old by our distance family. You should not be poking around and need to stop it while you have a chance. We love humans but humans are not smart enough to keep touching fleshy things.

>>1512154
Perfect.

>>1512142
>>1512154
Supporting this.

>>1512142
"An ancient neighbor of the Hive, ordered to sleep until Ragnarök has ended. It would wish to return to its kind and presumably resume its sleep."

>>1512142
"A member of a very old race that has been sleeping until the appropriate time. It is not the appropriate time. Waking it up is bad!"

"It is also not a thing but a space faring species that is gauging your abilities and telling its brethren as we speak"

"This is a job for speakers and your actions give it right to claim damages unfortunately"

>>1512142
Actually, we could be cheeky, since we have them by the tail here regardless.

What is it? "Not yours to control."

>>1512142
It is an ancient ally of the hive. One that you have shown grievous disrespect for in your handling of. We have told you to stay out of the Expanse, for good reason. And yet here we are once again, with ancient artifacts of impossible value, stolen from us and unleashed upon yourselves by your own incompetence.

We will draw our ancient friend from your world, away from your ignorance and cruelty. And then you will leave the Expanse and never return to it. You have caused enough pain and death through your meddling there.

>>1512142
One of the three born of the Ancients,

>>1512154
>Waking it up is bad!"

Well, I guess... "waking it up is inconvenient."

>>1512142
A bomb

>>1512170
But it's not an ally.

>>1512170
It's not an ally in any way.

>>1512183
How about a contemporary?

>>1512142

Backing >>1512154

We can return this creature to its sleeping "comrades," if you have not awakened them too. If we do not assist here, however, it is likely that the creature, in its hunger, will consume a significant portion of the population of your planet, as the Hive's mutual non-aggression treaty does not extend to humanity.
>>1512170
It is not an "ally" and we should not call it as such.

>>1512142
"The thing you dug up was our mothers, sisters, cousins hives old friend from before we fled the galactic core. They are probably going to ask for copies of the old memory albumns but other than that the Cluster is harmless. You should be happy we are here to talk things down. The Cluster is not as fond of 'light touch' relations with lesser races."

>>1512201
Why not just call it what it is: "A fellow primordial species."

That's mysterious and powerful sounding enough the Union won't want to fuck with it or us.

>>1512215
kek
>>1512217
I like this

>>1512142
>blindly hand over something that could kill us."

I mean the hive has a fleet in orbit, did you think the hive did not already possess the capability to kill you?

Humans seem slow on the uptake.

>>1512142
"One of the three primordial races that has decided to sit out the conflict between the other two by going into hibernation. It takes no sides, and planned to remain in hibernation until the war is over.

It is neither yours nor the Hive's to control, but as it takes no sides, it respects the Hive's influence. It will seek to go back to its parent cluster. The Hive can assist by bringing it back, and explain that it should not be involved with Humanity. Where did you find it?"

>>1512217
Backing "fellow primordial species"

>>1512252
>"One of the three primordial races that has decided to sit out the conflict between the other two by going into hibernation. It takes no sides, and planned to remain in hibernation until the war is over.

That tells the Union too much. They may attempt to talk to the Cluster about the war. It's unlikely they would be successful, but the risk is such we shouldn't make it a possibility.

Also:
>Where did you find it?
Implies we don't already know, since we should probably know where the creatures are if we have the experience in the Expanse we claim. We can outright say we will return it to its fellows on Djinn.

>>1512252
"Also, its master of biology exceeds the Hive, although it appreciates our engineering."

>>1512268
>They may attempt to talk to the Cluster about the war

>implying they will try to talk to the Thing that's killing them all

We're going to need to give the Union a briefing anyway.

>>1512142
I like >>1512217 . Maybe sprinkle in a little bit of the other stuff of "They were sleeping" "Now they are awake" "Hive should take the reigns on this as the others wake."

>>1512268
>We can outright say we will return it to its fellows on Djinn.

We should say that after meeting the cluster and he presumably 'tells' us where he was sleeping.

There is a possibility Djin is not the only human-inhabited system with sleeping clusters somewhere hidden.

Humans told "do not play with relics in the expanse" humans once again ignore sensible option and play with relics from the expanse"

As to your questions as to is it sentient or a weapon or bioengineered the answer is, yes.

If humans would.like their planet to remain there's for much longer they would do well to allow the give to intervene as IT will not recognize your species as being a relevant form of intelligence worthy of communication.

>>1512269
We don't know either of those things for sure yet.

>>1512327
I like the direction of this here.

>>1512142
"It is a member of an ancient race which has slept until the appropriate time. This is not that time. The humans have awoken it early." Your speaker says. "They were the Hive's peers, and the humans force us to speak with them on your behalf."

"This thing is space fairing?" Windsor says.

"It is, like the Hive, a primordial species which has existed in the Expanse since before human kind had left your world. They are not for you to control." You say. "If the Hive had chosen to destroy you, we would not need such a weapon. We have chosen to speak with you and you should be honored. You should hope they do not consider it beneath them to do the same now that you have interrupted their slumber. Allow us to retrieve it and return it to its greater self, and we shall speak to them as your sponsor."

>Mention the Hive has engineered races in the past
>Mention the Hive and Cluster have a history of seeding and tending to life on planets
>Mention the Hive has genetically engineered humans
>Leave out the details
>Other

>>1512367
>>Mention the Hive has engineered races in the past
>>Mention the Hive and Cluster have a history of seeding and tending to life on planets
Hah, now the shoe is on the other foot. We're representing the Union to an unfathomable eldritch horror space faring race.