Bugs Itch: The second Bug War

[Tassatul]

*Meanwhile. . .*

*Tassatul made his way to the innermost chambers of the base. To any outsider, it would seem he merely waltzed in, with little resistance. This was not so. The walls themselves recognized his bio-signs as an infestee, and allowed him access to the entire base. If somehow a non-bug had reached this far into the base, squadrons of bugs would be alerted immediatly to his presence*

*Finally, Tass walked up to the final door. The living film slipped away from the opening, and he stepped into the throne room of Kalzithlomarikan*

"It is good to see you, Tassatul" said Kal, his voice cold.

*Tass moved forward, and the swarms of small bugs on the floor scurried out of his way, forming a path to the foot of Kal's throne. The infested Cobra stood at Kal's right, holding a sizable sword (though not as big as the original's), ready to fight off any attackers. He glared at Tassatul*

Obviously a challenge. . .

*Tass glanced at Kal, and seeing the slight nod planted his feet and thrusted with with half-activated warp blade. Cobra reacted blindingly fast, blocked the assualt and forced Tass backwards*

"Aha! So well try it again, eh?" called out Cobra.

*Tass barely heard, but his eyes turns a shade redder and he attacked with both of his warp blades, slashing to the best of his technique, not worried about wounding Kal's "lackey"*

*Not that it would have been easy. Despite Tassatul's incredible strength and agility, Cobra always seemed to be right with him, if not ahead. Granted, Cobra could not fight him half-heartedly. Tass was no pushover. Both recieved an excellent workout from the battles, and they help to relieve their respective anger problems*

"Come now, is that your best?" grated Cobra during the fight.

I could crush him easy with psionics. . . but wheres the nobility in that?

*The two battled across the throne room, the bugs always scattering away, leaving the floor clear for the warriors. Soon, both had worked into a great sweat, and their moves were slowing ever so slightly, although to the normal eye still blindingly fast. Soon, Kal grew restless*

"Enough! Cobra, to me! Tassatul, report."

*They both returned to their positions, and Tass spoke up*

"I am. . . concerned about my former allies. They pose a considerable threat"

[BugHunter]

((ooc: Ok, I have returned!!! But why aren't we using the BugHunting, the Return thread? Well I guess I'll just post a short recap of what i had there before i go forward. But if you want a more detailed and more entertaining intro, I'd suggest reading or re-reading that thread. And more detailed info on my guys and the original race of bugs (which my guys deal with, they're not the new breed that Kal seems to have created) are, i guess, in some thread that has been archived...

So anyway, my characters are BugHunter, Light-Stepper and Young-Tusk. I have a group of 5 ships -- 4 corvettes and one Spawning ship. BugHunter and Light-Stepper are in the Hunting Star, one of the corvettes, which has been heavily upgraded since the first war. Young-Tusk is doing maintenance on the Swatter, another of the corvettes. The spawning ship is a bigger than the corvettes. Its used to keep a single Queen bug in lockdown while laying eggs for future hunts and with the past events of the first war, security has been hightened off the wall. The Spawning ship also houses all the other hunters that are not on active duty. Its kinda like a secondary clan HQ but its not the main HQ. BugHunter and his buds were overlooking a newbie bug hunt on a planet reserved for training. The 5 ships also orbit this planet. Then they saw that news transmission that everyone saw and went to investigate what was going on. And that pretty much brings us back to now. I'll just have BugHunter return to this training planet after discovering what was going on with that infested ship

Oh and one other thing, its just the bugs that seem to have survived right? We destroyed all the Pop-Ups?))

*BugHunter and the two other ships returned from hyperspace. He walks up and down the command center with a troubled brow over his head*

BugHunter: (to himself) How can this be, i thought we fixed this problem 2 years ago... ((its been 2 years, right?))

*Young-Tusk on the Swatter notices BugHunter's return and wastes no time in acknowledging them. The vid-link on BugHunter's monitors quickly turn on*

Young-Tusk: "Hey boss, welcome back! So what'd you find?"

BugHunter: "Bad news... Nothing but bad news... It seems that the problem we had with the bugs from before has come back to haunt us."

Young-Tusk: "Eh?"

BugHunter: "We might have to rally the clan again. I see nothing but a troubling horizon ahead..."

[Tassatul]

BugHunter said:

Then they saw that news transmission that everyone saw and went to investigate what was going on. And that pretty much brings us back to now. I'll just have BugHunter return to this training planet after discovering what was going on with that infested ship

((Well, almost back to now. There was a short jump from my being captured to Kal raising the army. I think we said like a couple of weeks. Basically, your return to the training planet could cover that))

BugHunter said:

Oh and one other thing, its just the bugs that seem to have survived right? We destroyed all the Pop-Ups?))

((I think thats the general consensus. Maybe they could have a special cameo appearance later in the rpg or something, if we felt like it))

EDIT:

BugHunter said:

But why aren't we using the BugHunting, the Return thread?

((I just figured that one out. Its because of the time jump I just mentioned between my capture and Kal's raising of an army. (Where the Wad(e) project stories were happening) So we just made a new thread for it, I guess.))

[Deimos]

((looks like I held this up again...))

*Just as Sho began to slow down a bit...a number of bright red targets came streaking across his holo-screen. He was able to tell from the flight paths that some these were fighters...as Cygnus dryly pointed out*

Cygnus: Captain...I wouldn't relax yet...the station has sent fighers out...not to mention that we've been locked on again by more missiles

Sho: Yeah...I know...let's see if i'm not as rusty as I think I am...

*Amidst the sound of classical harmonies, the Black Squall danced about the battlefield, diving in and out of fire as its remote defense pods encircled it like flies around a corpse, fiercely guarding their host*

Sho: okay...this is beginning to get on my nerves...let's see what they think of this...

*With a few swift hand motions, all the holo-screens surrounding Sho glew red...as the ship gave forth loud, bellowing creaks...Outside, a huge long-barreled cylinder came down from the bottom of the forward hull.*

Sho: Cygnus, all shield pods to full power, form barrier sphere formation...and fire the charged particle beam cannon!!!

*With that...the cylinder let loose a booming, near deafening roar...from which it flashed a bright light.Following, was a massive stream of energy that shot into the abyss of space, nearly missing the station...around the energy stream, the many explosions of fighter craft could be heard like fireworks within the control room...*

[Tassatul]

((Ha, just noticed my double post. wierd))


*Kal's Throne Room, Draconis*

"Hmmm. Of course, they shall have to be delt with" mused Kalzithlomarikan. "The very warriors who destroyed the pop-up empire must not be alerted to the growing power of the Swarm, nor of the infested minions"

"Certainly they care for me, Master. I would expect them to be searching, even now, for clues about my own whereabouts and those of the other Cobra. Perhaps, I too, should be searching for Cobra" replies Tassatul.

Kal: "We would be easier to dispatch when alone. I cannot waste your powers on such an effort. You are needed to command the troops. Our Cobra, on the other hand. . ."

*Cobra shifted at this statement. He was, of course, excited about getting the chance to destroy his other half, but also worried about the psionic powers that one controlled. What could he do about them*

Kal: "I have decided. Cobra, you are to take a small fighter and go in search of your other half. Make it quick, he must not be found by our "Prince of Bugs' " former allies. Tassatul, you must take the fleet and lure those same allies into their own destruction"

*Tass smiled in spite of himself*

"Perhaps I could, ah, increase the fleet's size while I'm at it?"

Kal: "Of course. Maybe the destruction of certain parties home planets would motivated them enough. . . Now go, we must move quickly"

[Cobra5]

Cobra ensures the others are through talking before speaking a word. Talking out of place was not one of his privlages.*

"Finding him will be easy enough. I have... bait. But what should I do when I find him? Do you want him alive?"

*Cobra recalled in his mind the last- and first- time he encountered his 'twin'. He had won out over his brother's psychic powers... however, the last screaming bit of sanity that remained of his humanity forced him to allow him to live. No such weakness would hinder him this time...*

- Meanwhile... -

*...*

*Even in his deepest meditations, Cobra could not find his sword. He needed it to focus his energies properly... like a lens for a light. It was as if something was clouding away its presence to him.*

"This is no use..." *He was lucky to get off of Draconis VIII. His infested twin had left him stranded and beaten on that godforsaken mudball. Some of the surviving townspeople helped him recover... but they partly blamed him for the problem, too. They had no idea what was going on. Neither did Cobra, really. A couple days after the whole incident, cops came to investigate the scene. It's strange- normally, they wouldn't have been patroling such an out-of-the-way area. But the presence of the Miltary and police forces of the area really seemed to be stepping up....*

*While the the cops were interviewing the towns people... and had their backs turned... cobra slipped into one of the Police fighters and left. Better the cops then him, after all...*

*And that's where he still was. The police cruiser. He had been wandering through the draconis sector, following a trail of vicious murders- who he could only assume to be his brother. Always a step ahead of the cops, but a step behind his twin.*

*Afetr he got his sword back... these people could rot for all he cares. He had no interest of saving anyone, or stoping any bug invasion.*

[Coral]

As the beam lanced forth, through the flyers, the explosions ripped them apart. But there was something different about the explosions.... They were bloody explosions.

"The hell was that? Wasn't that all our flyers?" in a raspy voice, said Zraask. "I can't believe this. If they aren't stupid, they know whose shootin' em up. And have we come CLOSE to damaging them? I dont think so. Goodbye." and then Xaax stared as his own commander sliced a needle through his heart. Maddened, Zraask took controls at the Gunning controls. "What are you doing? MOVE IT!" he screamed at the guards, who prompty scurried away to their posts. He turned on the small radio, and mustering his best human-like voice, said "Unieerdintifeed vizzel, Pleeze ieerdintifee yerself, yer hev proovt a woosy advisary." and feeling to embarrased to continue, stopped, and turned off the radio.

"Give 'em hell."

[Deimos]

*After firing the Charged Particle Beam, a communications screen projected into the holo-sphere where Sho had shut down Battle Mode through a mental command...*

Cygnus: "Cap't...sorry about this, but in our haste of battle...err...the communication jammers weren't activated..."

*Staring at the holo-screen with a glare*

Sho: "You...have got to be kidding..."

*The holo-screen then emitted a shrewd barely understandable form of english...but Sho was able to pick up on something along the lines of an indentifying request*

Sho: "...indentify myself eh?...hmm...Cygnus, patch me through.........Malendrome Station this the QuasarDestroyingUltimateinSpaceCombatVehicleMarkXIVDeathDealingUberFastSuperlight
MilitaryProjectSecretClassifiednumber7theOblongSupreme"

Cygnus: "...why is it that I fear for my future..."

[Tassatul]

(())

*Tesseract, Draconis Sector*

*Tassatul sat in the captain's chair, enjoying himself. Soon, the fleet would move on their latest target, and mediumly populated planet just ouside the Draconis sector. With the scattered defences on the rim of the Imperium being no match for the infested Swarm, the planet would soon become their newest outpost and breeding grounds. Eventually, a queen would be situated somewhere on the planet, and the ranks of the Swarm would bulge again*

*One the the thousands of drone bugs on the Tesseract scuttled up to Tass. Reaching, he picked it up and felt with his mind for its message*

Fleet ready -- engage planet -- fleet ready --eng. . .

"Well then" Tass said quietly, then in a louder voice: "Attack"

*There was a short pause, then- the attack was underway. Infested ships, such as the Tesseract, unleashed their combined human and bug weapons in a fury, destroying many of the planet's man-made sattelites in seconds. Hundreds of thousands of specially bred flyers pummeled into the atmosphere down to the planet's surface, where, upon hitting the ground, would open up to release bug shock troops, and more importantly, Infestation bugs*

*A thought jarred into Tassatul's mind*mechanical ship -- right flank -- mecha. . .*A picture formed within his mind, obviously a representation of the ship. A Kaiou-Tur Warmonger!*

"Message to the right flank- we must have that ship! Repeat, capture, do not destroy!"

*He then interfaced with the ship itself, and send orders to have it intercept the Warmonger. He wanted to see it for himself*

[Deimos]

((I thought i'd try helping this relaunch )

*Ten Minutes pass and nothing could heard over the communications line after Sho made his rather ridiculous calling...and thus, Sho and Cygnus plot a quick and efficient plan of action...*

Cygnus: "Sir...they've cut contact...and according to my sensors...I believe they're going to prepare for another assault"

Sho: "Is that right? well...seeing as they have yet to attack, and nothing is coming our way...fire forward reaction thrusters! give me the fastest 180 degree turn you can- and throw the primary thrusters on full!!!"

Cygnus: "We're retreating sir? I mean...this just doesn't seem like you- not to mention that they fired first"

Sho: "That may be true, but, I simply don't feel like it right now- so put em' to our backsides and get us into lightspeed!"

Cygnus: "yes Sir!"

*With Sho's orders, the Black Squall performed a smooth 180 turnaround in space...and fired its primary thusters with the Malendrome Station at its heels...quickly fading into the vast darkness of space, and jumping to warp-level*

Cygnus: "we've cleared the Malendrome Station and its territory, approaching target speed for lightspeed jump in t-minus 15 seconds"

Sho: "dang...and I thought they'd like QuasarDestroyingUltimateinSpaceCombatVehicleMarkXIVDeathDealingUberFastSuperlight
MilitaryProjectSecretClassifiednumber7theOblongSupreme...took me a whole five minutes to come up with that...oh well..."

[Coral]

A small corvette sized ship departed the station. It looked like some sort of passenger vessel, but on the inside it was an organic type of vessel, with all the creep purple stuff (AKA, "Purple Crap"), which covered everything. And it had a number of missiles, and a healthy crew of bugs, itching for a bug war. Upon exiting the station, it immediately headed for the "Oblong Supreme" ship, with ITT identifying it as a news ship, and lots of ECM going on.

[Deimos]

*not too long after leaving the station, everything turns quiet aboard the legendary pirate vessel...Black Squall...but...that was ruined just a few seconds before achieving lightspeed*

Cygnus: "Sir -i'm picking up a large signal approaching at mid-speed...looks like a modified corvette class... they've given chase!"

Sho: "really now? *smiles* well- how long to lightspeed?"

Cygnus: "We're at 7 seconds- the probability of their catching up is 45%- you're plan of action"

Sho: "so...alright then...release the decoy barrage!"

*From outside, the Black Squall could be seen jettisoning about twenty or so small pods- each flying in every which way- without any sort of pattern and emitting their own radio tracking signal and jammer field*

Sho: "If they manage through that...then they deserve to catch us, but til then- keep at full speed!"

[Cobra5]

How should I go about finding my twin?

*He thought about this for a moment. Though he was physically strong, without his other half, he was psyonically weak. And in the bug order, those without psyonics are simple drones. Soldiers to be ordered about by supiriors.*

*Of course, he never questioned his place. Kal and Tassatul would command- and Cobra would obey.*

I do have the sword, still... so soon enough, he should come to me.

*Cobra's sword, too heavy to be lifted by physical muscle alone, was their main implement of training while they were still one person. It had grown to be a part of him, and was the focus of his powers.*

*Cobra's twin, the psychic element of the pair, could use the sword as a focal point to magnify his powers- which is why he stole it.*

*It wouldn't be long before his psychic twin came looking for it. Untill then... he just had to build up some attention...*

*Cobra mounted the postal frieghter he stole a while back. It was largly untouched by the infection- a relativly worthless ship for their needs. Cobra would use it to get to a populated planet, there, he would 'make some noise'. As the athourities closed in, who would stand no chance, either his twin would hear about- or be wanted for the crimes. Either way, they would meet, and the true infestation could take place...*

[BugHunter]

((ooc: I dont know where to send my hunters... and what happened to the thread that held all our character sheets for this rpg?))

[Tassatul]

*The Kaiou-Tur Warmonger sped across space, desperatly trying to evade the Swarm. Tassatul supposed they had no chance, taking into account the massive size of the infested fleet. Flyers engaged the Warmonger, distracting and hindering it while the capital ships could come within range. The Tesseract was one of the faster ships, and quickley came withing hailing distance*

"Set up a comline. I wish to talk to their commander"

*Tassatul had a strange twinge in his psionic powers, something unintelligable*

What was that. . . perhaps I should be on my guard

*Meanwhile, the Warmonger was completely surrounded. It drifted idlely in space, as if it didnt care about the ravenous hordes waiting to infest the crew*

"Tassatul, the comline is in place. Their commander will recieve you now" said an infested underling.

Tassatul spoke: "This is the Tesseract. What is your business here, Kaiou-Tur?"

Over the system com **Tassatul? Have they taken you as well?**

"How do you know my name, scum?" replied Tassatul.

**Don't you even remember your past live? Where you served with honor instead of power this greed for power?**

"I have asked you a direct question! Greater beings than yourself have been destroyed for insolence to me. Answer my question!"

**It is only Agrithno, your once truest friend. I only came to see if the rummors were true. As they are. Perhaps we'll meet each other in Hell for what we both have done, but not today, brother**

*Before any of the bugs or warships could respond, the Warmonger dissapeared. Or rather, popped out of existence.

"Damn! Agrithno seems to have fixed the pop-up technology. We must have it. . ."