Hive Queen Quest 55.2

Space recoils around the Cortez as you examine the status of your agent. The ship scans the system, finding only the Valen activity as construction of the local hypergate continues. The ship begins to accelerate into the system through the thick debris fields as a leisurely pace. Commander Grey clicks the intercom at the side of her chair.

"Overwrite the safeties and begin pressurizing cargo bays twelve and thirteen." She says. There is an abrupt response from Calhoun.

"You do remember those are the ones with the breaches, commander?"

"Yes, exactly. I want the damage to this ship to look as severe as possible. Get us venting atmosphere as we approach the planet. We're an unscheduled arrival in a very sensitive system. We can claim we require air and water to top off our reserves, and a dock to perform repairs."

"Aye, I can heat up the thermal ducts in the cap too, get the water tanks bleeding a bit."

"Anything to make us look worse than we are." Grey says. "What is the status of that pod?"

"Loaded and ready to drop, although if I may ask.... why?" Calhoun says cautiously.

"You may not ask." Grey replies, and cuts off the channel. She turns to agent Devon sitting strapped in a seat by a terminal on the far way. "You may observe from here, but we will be leaving the dirty work to the ground team. Once we get close we can orbit around and perform a long range drop and let Mauser drift in from orbit while we coast through high orbit to the docks and launch a shuttle from the far side of the planet. We should easily be able to pose as a ship losing power, have Mauser land planetside to do his job while Calhoun keeps a holding pattern in the shuttle."

Welcome back to Hive Queen Quest!

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"A foolproof plan captain. You are oh so very cunning. I'm sure you will easily outsmart our foes."

PREPARE THE FLY!

Oh boy, it's almost time for the dropsuitbowl. Get hype!

Which begs the question, how was she supposed to approach Tannhauser without arousing attention in the first place?

"So what exactly is this extra cargo you're dropping in?" Devon asks. Grey looks back at the navigation display briefly.

"Insurance. The Council offered discretionary privileges, and if Lyle is out in the empty desert it is quit likely we will be able to engage him openly without risk of detection or collateral damage. If that's the case, I would recommend we pull out all of the assets we have available. We will continue scanning for any hint at his location on the surface as we approach, but if he's not within sensor range of the valen settlement we should deploy everything we have."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I would think you would know the answer." Grey says. "I was given access to Lyle's files just as you were. Lyle has experience fighting the best the Union has to offer, but last time he fought one on one and nearly died. This time, Mauser will be there for backup."

"You need council approval to do that." Devon says. Grey smirks as she clicks through various system diagnostics.

"I already have it. The only council members to vote no did so conditionally. Besides, we're broadcasting everything we're seeing directly to BFIHQ, relayed directly to the secretaries' terminals. If any of them wish to rescind their clearance they are free to do so at any point." She looks back at Devon from her console. "We won't be in orbit for several hours. Please, feel free to get some rest. I'll be sure to alert you if anything happens." She says, and Devon begrudgingly makes his way out of the bridge, having nothing to do there but sit quietly anyways, at least until they deployed.

Cont.

There are five flies on the Cortez. They should be hatched about now...

Is Decker keeping Coco contained?

Time for Michael to have tech support issues.

Would be a shame if that Q-COM broadcast was interrupted by someone.

I uh, I think they brought some fully modded soldiers.

Shit

Why doesn't Lyle just demand trial by combat for his crimes?

Oh shit, they have a Smith

Lyle and crew have hive tech, they're fine.
Fuck, did we send warriors with them?

Devon didn't ask what his boss's condition for deploying the Smith was?

I hope we packed the Angel full of hovering holo-cameras to capture this scandalous footage blackmail when the Terminator loses his skin.

And rob Lyle of his fair and visceral fight that he was so excited about? You are a terrible mother.

Terminator VS the Manbug
That'll get some good ratings

I'm all for keeping the smiths out though, fucking hell

I never said anything about Mauser.

Even if he did get adopted, which he won't, he'll drop too soon from now--he would still have to play his part.

If we send backup image hope we send the wasp with the broken jaw you know because it gutted Lyle just to troll him

A smith is being deployed on a Valen-Union joint controlled world, oh joy. This is going to be a fuckup of unbelievable proportions diplomatically.

Let's also put a few (dozen) cloaked ships in orbit as our own form of "insurance"

That would be absolutely sure to fuck up Killinger's plans, and completely wreck any ties between the Union and the Valen. Let's do it!

Fool. Topple Killinger, and an even crazier and more dangerous man just takes his place in Union politics.

What we need is enough blackmail to threaten to topple Killinger, and thereby get him into our debt and under our claw, scummy Valen-style.

Maybe we can make him desperate enough to force him to make a deal in person and get treacherously implanted, but that's a pipe dream.

>What we need is enough blackmail to threaten to topple Killinger, and thereby get him into our debt and under our claw, scummy Valen-style.

When in doubt, do as the space jews do.

We are no longer space goyim

>Implying we haven't been dreaming about crashing and burning Killinger's career since he was introduced as a character.

I agree... partially.

We already have info to blackmail Killinger (kidnapping hive diplomatic representatives, attempting to kill his chief political rival to start a war, etc). What we lack is proof that will be satisfying to those other than us, especially considering Killinger's influence in the media.

Long term, he is too untrustworthy to live. He has insulted us, attempted to enslave us, and made an enemy of the hive. We may be able to find use for him as he is driven to desperation, but Killinger must die. That being said, he could be a very useful tool indeed if he is properly controlled under circumstances of our choosing...

Crushing him underfoot and enslaving his spine to the hive and turning him into our puppet is far sweeter a victory.

Destroy him, and a worse evil takes his place. You can trust a selfish, corrupt man to be selfish, the corrupt can be bargained with, by definition. But a selfless man? A faithful believer? You can't trust them to do anything sane.

Geez. Every time I think we've got the upper hand and it's easy street, they do something that reminds me 'oh yeah, we have to sweat for this.'

We need to do something about their 'insurance'. Preferably with our own 'insurance' that doesn't reveal who we are on a bad note.

The twins rush back and forth from the ship to the large construction project set up along the sand dunes nearby, their environment suits protecting them from the heat that would likely kill them in a matter of hours. They drag a large conduit along the sand as the finishing piece, hoisting it up in the air as they stand one atop the other to reach the slot it goes in. Lyle is right behind them, a smile on his face as he drags a flimsy looking lawn chair with one hand and holds a glass of... something in the other. It smells like a mixture of motor oil and alcohol, and bubbles softly as a wafting smoke pours over the rim of the glass. A home-made substance made from a mix of common mechanical chemicals combined in a sink, toilet, or any other convenient water source known only on Helviti as Tartarus Whisky, and everywhere else as toxic waste.

He unfolds the chair with a quick flick of his forearm and plants it in the sand, taking a seat calmly near the large cylindrical device. Jackob and Dillon walk out in their suits as Lyle calls his own to stand close enough to give him shade.

"Kinda reminds me of home." Lyle says as he looks at the horizon.

"This place is a shithole." Jackob says.

"Yea, that's why." Lyle replies. He takes a swig of his drink and a deep panic runs through your parasite as it fights against the potent toxins.

"So what is this thing, anyways?" Jackob asks.

"Looks like a rocket launcher. Is this your brilliant trap? I thought you wanted to fight that drop trooper." Dillon asks. Lyle laughs.

"Na mate, this thing's too old and too clumsy to take down a pod. We're here to make a scene, so I thought I'd get some fireworks ready."

"This isn't what I think it is..." Dillon says with a sudden realization. "My god, how old is this thing?"

cont.

Agreed. Last time it took multiple point blank plasma blasts from a Colossus before we killed a smith. We need to be ready to provide at least equivalent firepower in support of Lyle and Co.

Ugh, don't remind me. Okay, people, we need a main plan, a plan B, and a PANIC button plan. any ideas?

We get caught up in our superiority complexes quite a bit, we tend to forget that humans play fucking dirty and use full mods when shit hits the fan.

Too untrustworthy to live, but too useful to die.

We'll never have another politician as uniquely exploitable as he is. It's our only real opportunity.

>He takes a swig of his drink and a deep panic runs through your parasite as it fights against the potent toxins.

If there's anything that'd put us on the bad end of a typical alien invasion storyline, it's that nasty habit of ours.

You know what would make this better?
If we opened communications with the union while this was broadcasting, or maybe after.

Oh if we're doing stealth hives now.

Don't forget we need to do some [Covert Infiltration] of some planet's PDF. We want at least some glimpses into the recruiting process of Parliamentary security forces that guard the representatives.

...Okay, no matter how this ends, we NEED to introduce ourselves to the Union YESTERDAY.

Are they charging up the weapons on the derelict Skyl ship we found earlier in the quest?

You know, I hope we find more living dead Skyl on this world or others at some point, if only so we can see the look on their face when we show them that their race has been revived and is now completely free from the taint of the Crystals.

Agreed, but do it in a way to fuck with them

I think the ship blew up, thought there might be a crater left which we could use.

That ship consumed itself.

And I can't believe we didn't capture them and the crystal for study to find out how to kill them without destroying the crystal, and how it was keeping them alive despite their best efforts.

Ohhh what is it?

"Colony war era surplus." Lyle says. "Earth Confederacy mobile planetary defence launcher. It came with the original munition too. One-fifty kilos of badass strapped to an anti-matter rocket. Guidance is shit cuz of all the shielding it needs, the rocket's all muscle, one of the least efficient thrusters ever made, and just standing near the launch can fry ya like an egg." He says.

"Jesus fuck, man, so why are you setting up this antique death trap next to us?" Dillon shouts.

"Launches by rail. Sends the missile a good six, seven kilometers away before the thrusters fire." Lyle replies. Dillon looks over the launcher dumbstruck.

"You've been carrying around a century old nuclear warhead, strapped to an anti-matter goddamn thruster, and you're going to shoot it out of a fucking rail cannon? My god, you're fucking insane!"

The local star begins to turn a slight shade of purple, and wobbles slightly like spinning pizza dough as Lyle takes another long drink of the sludge he claims is a beverage. "Yea." He says. There is a loud beep as the twins get the launcher operational and the machine begins tracking the Cortez as it slowly approaches the upper atmosphere of the planet. Lyle pulls out a set of welding goggles and puts them on, grinning like a child as the launcher begins slowly turning to track its target.

A moment later there is a loud bang, and a telephone pole sized chunk of metal flies from the launcher like a blurred streak only visible to the finely tuned sensors of your suits and the ship itself. Dillon dives behind a dune as the missile quickly becomes a small dot on the horizon.

Cont.

Yeah, with OQ knocking at their back door as soon as this fight concludes (and has it's 20min of fame on air) we can introduce ourselves. We'll have to take some acknowledgement for the fight, however. If we play it right we can spin the aftermath very effectively. Otherwise, news of our arrival could very well completely overshadow and make irrelevant anything that happens in upcoming battle. We need this dirt to stick to Killinger.

Can't stop laughing

>You've been carrying around a century old nuclear warhead, strapped to an anti-matter goddamn thruster, and you're going to shoot it out of a fucking rail cannon?
Yup, that's Lyle

That better not destroy the cortez in one shot.

Lyle you glorious fucking lunatic!

Dillon, jumping isn't going to save you if it were dangerous.

Let alone jumping behind SAND.

The toughest substance known to man, surely.

>...and welcome to JACKASS!

The cortez does not have stealth tech, i am retarded.

Holo-vid recorders where? Twins please record this. For posterity. Lyle will want these memories preserved for all time.

We should have seen this coming.

We literally did, we are inside Lyle's head.

Why would we ever want to stop it?

I can just imagine the queen laughing then saying oh by the way they brought a smith

Say, have we warned Lyle about the smith yet? Given his past history, he may have his own personal insurance policy for such a repeat occurrence...

Warn lyle bout that smith backup.

THESEUS GET THE CAMERAS!
IT"S SHOWTIME!
We are recording this and broadcasting it, right?

Yeah...yeah we should do this soon.

...

>soon.
>not now.

LYLE's HIVEVENTURES
rated R, starts Friday
I'd watch it.

PANIC button is we nuke the site from orbit and/or drop a nano-disassembler warhead or any of our other superweapons on the site. Union takes the blame for the fallout, and we reconstruct Lyle and his mates back at the hive with all memories intact. Except for Dillon. Poor guy didn't get a parasite, so any body we recreate won't have his full psychological profile. Damn shame.

youtube.com/watch?v=jlxmKsTvcLg

IN TODAY'S EPISODE OF LYLE'S HIVEVENTURES!
LYLE VS THE CRYSTAL GOD!
LYLE, PEST EXTERMINATOR!(OQ)
LYLE, ANNIHILATOR OF SCAVS!

A new sun appears in the sky, casting harsh shadows along the dunes as the rocket's matter-antimatter reaction suddenly and completely annihilates itself in a controlled reaction like a miniature big band directed out the back of the ancient anti-orbital missile. A shockwave hits the ground, obliterating a formation of dunes several kilometers away and quickly approaching the launcher. The wall of whipping wind and sand impacts, only slightly dimming the artificial star of antimatter in the sky above as it slowly fades back to normal. The sound of the missile shattering the sound barrier as it climbs into orbit is drowned out by the screams of the universe as the rocket obliterates its fuel reserve with as much totality as is physically possible.

"Sensor Spike!" Mordey shouts from his terminal as Devon tries to make his way back to the bridge at the behest of Commander Grey. The ship lurches hard to the side in response. "I'm picking up hard radiation across the spectrum, it's loaded with antimatter, commander!"

"Zero in on that location and launch the pods!" Grey shouts. "Calhoun! Get the shuttle out before that missile gets in range, I want you clear of the blast zone before we open up with PD!"

cont.

>like a miniature big band
And I thought I was the only one who played Captain Blood!

"What in the hell is going on?" Devon says. Grey snaps back to him.

"Get into a seat, right now, and get ready for evasive maneuvers. We have an incoming missile." The ship lurches again as the shuttle launches and two drop pods free themselves from the hull of the ship. The Cortez then swings hard to the side, sending Devon's face whipping into a wall and cracking something in his nose.

"Readings are... unusual. This thing's unstable."

"Just like the man who fired it at us." Grey mumbles. "Lead it away from the pods and the shuttle, and then open up on it. Agent Devon, I'd recommend you man a PD console." Devon turns around and shimmies his way into a seat, his hand cupping his nose as blood flings from it in the zero gravity with each course adjustment.

"What were you saying about keeping things nice and quiet?" Devon asks.

"Not now! You can comment on the attention we get once we're not about to die." Grey snaps back. "Mordey, bring us about and keep us drifting, I want the cap taking the brunt of the radiation." The ship jerks sharply again, pulling Devon almost out of his seat as the ship flips over to point at the incoming missile.

"It's still accelerating. Commander if we keep moving at at least one-fifty gravities we can pull around it."

"And it will catch us in the blast. This is a short range anti-orbit missile. Colony war model if my guess is right. The warhead is almost just a delivery system. Any fuel it has left will be sent flying after us, that's a high orbit anti-matter dispersal. Shields or no, I doubt this ship could survive that." Grey says as she clicks through several consoles at her seat. Weapons come online and the sensors target the incoming missile.

cont.

We really should take over desmond and a-295 before the humans set bases there.
Tannhauser as well, but make it hidden and wait till the Valen have a fully functional gateway there and build up there so that when we take it over it's ours, or at least within our control.

Man how do we not have more antimatter tech if we had a sample aboard the Angel all along?

Something a little smaller scale than the Immolator might be nice.

I really like to think that we're sending these visions from Devon to Lyle on the planet, who's just giggling like retard like the rest of us as he watches the mayhem his POS missile is causing.

and expand coreward as well, before the Scanvengers take everything.

"Fire at will!" She says, and the auxiliary turrets of the Cortez shake the ship's hull until Devon is sure it's about to break apart. A buzz of the comm distracts him for a moment as Jacquees shouts over the sound of rotary cannons buzzing the hull's structure.

"Commander, we have guns running hot! The power system's still damaged, it can't keep us going like this for long."

"We won't be running for long." She replies. "One way, or the other."

A vibrant star erupts into existence in the sky, dimming Aral's natural stars for a short moment as the planet is bathed in hard radiation.

"Was it a hit?" Jackob asks. Lyle shrugs.

"Don't much care. Didn't need to hit 'em, just make a mess." He says. A moment later there is a buzz of static as Coil's synthetic voice comes through the raido.

"There are multiple incoming objects." He says. Lyle lifts his welding goggles and looks up as the missile's glow fades, squinting as if trying to see the objects in question.

"How many?"

"At least three."

"Debris?" Jackob asks. Dillon shakes his head.

"Not this quickly, no way. Must have been launched from the ship.

"Detecting one shuttle, and two drop pods breaking low atmosphere." Coil says.

"Wasn't there supposed to be one drop trooper?" Dillon asks. Jackob seals his suit and stretches his arms.

"Well, now it's more of a fair fight, ain't it?"

>Have them intercept where the pods land
>Wait for them to arrive and set an ambush
>Other (write in)

>>Other (write in)
Have Lyle take point, he's pretty good at this whole 'murder' thing

>Wait for them to arrive and set an ambush

>>Wait for them to arrive and set an ambush
If at all possible nearby some Valen structures to cause maximum collateral damage to them. I want to make this really hurt Valen-Union diplomatic ties.

>Other (tell them about the smith)

Near a settlement?

Sure, it'll put them more in the Valen's debt... but some Valen might start interfering with the battle on either side and put somebody into their debt that way, with the gift of supporting fire.

>Wait for them to arrive and set an ambush

No, leave the Valen out of this. I'd much rather they build up the gateway infrastructure for us, since we'll be taking it, of course.

>>Wait for them to arrive and set an ambush

>>Wait for them to arrive and set an ambush

>A vibrant star erupts into existence in the sky, dimming Aral's natural stars for a short moment as the planet is bathed in hard radiation.
Ah, no perspective from the Cortez!

Damn your dramatic scene transitions.

Do you roll for the impact this is having on the ship?

Might it knock out the A-class relay with radiation? Are they vulnerable to that?

>>Wait for them to arrive and set an ambush

The gateway is in orbit. I'm talking about mining infrastructure or habitation, like that artificial lake we saw them building when we first scoped our Aral.

But how did our small egglayer and its children in MIchael's room handle the G-forces?

Could set up a secret base on the planet and then make it official when we open up diplomatic relations with the Valen.

"Coil! Take her up and out, keep my baby out of the fight unless we need her." Lyle shouts as he stumbles out of the half-sunken lawn chair and hauls himself into his suit. It quickly envelops him as he tosses the goggles and his empty glass into the sand. The Hel's Angel dicks up sand as the Huey and dewey leap up the loading ramp and the ship descends into the air, its hull shimmering until it becomes a spectral ghost, its figure betrayed by the heat and the swirling sand making it seem like a thick silhouette of heat rays and dust floating into the sky.

You send the knowledge of what you have seen from the Cortez, and Lyle tenses.
"They got more than just a drop trooper coming." He says. "Get up on that rock formation, we can set up a good position there for an ambush." He points to the small rocky formation behind them and with a mighty buzzing of his suits wings he is sent into the air, landing firmly on the top of the formation. The other two enter a sprint, hurling themselves through the air with speed far beyond the potential of any human, augments or not.

Some time later, there are two loud booms above, and two lines of contrails streak down from the sky, their braking thrusters firing as they come down nearby. A moment later, one explodes, segments flying in all directions.

"You see that?" Jackob says. Lyle nods and plants his feet in the rock.

"Mid-air drop. They can be tricky to pull off. You pull the pins on the pod before you land and use the jump jets to go in hot." He says, and the rocket pods along his shoulders unfold as the weapons in his arms prime to fire.

>Fire missiles and force him out of the sky
>Target the second drop pod before it deploys
>Focus fire on Mauser as he approaches from above
>Other

I would wholeheartedly agree to such a plan. But for now, one of the major objectives of this fiasco is to get the Valen as pissed off at the Union as possible. What better way to do that than to have Mauser or one of their deranged full mods cause untold amounts of property damage to their holdings in half assed attempt to wrangle a wanted fugitive? This is one of the reasons we decided to have this showdown on this particular planet, remember.

>The Hel's Angel dicks up sand
l-lewd...

>Target the second drop pod before it deploys
The less support the Smith has the better.

>>Fire missiles and force him out of the sky
This sounds safer than letting him strafe our boys and I want the full mod intact so we can dissect it, so let's do this.

>let Lyle do what he thinks is best
He IS the professional.

>Fire missiles and force him out of the sky

>>Fire missiles and force him out of the sky
The smith...blowing it up now, would lose out the fun footage of it we could get up close.

>let Lyle do what he thinks is best

>>Fire missiles and force him out of the sky

>Fire missiles and force him out of the sky
Good point

I actually agree, but it could backfire, and we are making enough of ruckus as it is, so I'd wait to see how this goes first.

>Fire missiles and force him out of the sky

Please roll 1d100, best of 3.

It's already 4:30 for me and I have work in the morning, so I think I will need to end it on a cliffhanger for now. Hopefully I should be able to get a short 55.3 thread set up this week before the next proper thread, otherwise we will resume right here next week.

I'll try to get one up on friday if I can.

This is a friendly reminder before it gets too late:

1. We need stealth colonies in a bunch of places.

2. We need our patrol corvettes with G-sensors actively hunting out the nigger queen.

3. We need to expand our colonies, particularly at Farcast and Wonder (I believe it's wonder, the Builder's big space city)

4. Scout new planets with pods.