[OT] - Story thread: Xenology Resurrected

[Unknown_Enemy]

Xi-Chung’s Nest.
The thought band was still full of excited howling from the finding of the Parasite’s homeworld. Tigers of Eden had managed to break the strong defences of the Tirenda/Wisani warp point. Behind these lines lay the Xi-Chung nest, the source of their power. With more than 10 fortresses in orbit of their planet and a formidable planetary shield network, it would be a daunting task to storm the place. Nevertheless, it was a major step toward extinguishing their threat to the natural order. Major research efforts in shield depleting weapons and planetary bombs would be needed to cleanse the Nest, but victory was now within reach. Without their homeworld, the Xi-Chung power would be broken. However, the downfall of the parasites would be long in its coming, as two different supply bases would have to be build to allow a direct assault on their nest. Meanwhile, it was highly doubtful the aliens would stand idly while Eden’s children build up in force within strike range of their sacred homeworld. Indeed, the OverMind was considering unavoidable heavy losses with great sadness.
On the other side, this part of the campaign was proving the definite superiority of Void-Tigers in the field of warfare. Void-Hawks lacked the killer instinct for these duties. One by one, surviving veteran Hawks were coming back in orbit of Eden, to put themselves on hibernation, waiting for more peaceful times to awaken, but also allowing their battered hide to slowly regenerate.

Hungry KaneSS.
Somewhere in deep space near Urani warp point, a Hawk of Eden closed on a KaneSS population transport.
“Your attention please, I am One from Eden requesting immediate and direct communication with the captain of this civil transport. Waiting.”
A few minutes later, a hissing voice replied : “this is captain Trissi speaking, what do you want ?”
“I want 200 individuals of your species delivered in a container with enough supply to survive for 1 day. I also want speed in that transfer.”
“You are a warship, I see that. But you’re nothing compared to our military. I refute your threat, you won’t dare attack us. So begone or face KaneSS wrath.”
“You misunderstood captain. For 200 live adults, I’ll pay you 50 tons of top quality meat. You’ll also get a 10 tons bonus if the exchange is done in less than 24H. Any questions ?”
Ten hours later, the Hawk of Eden was flying at full thrust toward his Homeworld. In a sealed part of his stomach lay 200 KaneSS in cryogenic sleep. A few months later, all KaneSS specimens had been studied, their brains assimilated and their bodies dissected. After all, KaneSS life was cheap.

The OverMind found that once again, prudence had been the wisest choice. In fact, it all came down to the Project. To create a planetary mind, a bare minimum of 1 million individual was needed. Even so, such a newborn mind was barely able to merge with Eden’s OverMind, and Intelligence was not its strongest point. Time was needed for his parts to grow, as the OverMind was not a distinct specie, but a whole ecosystem gone sentient. Thus all constituent species had to reproduce at the same relative speed. Or, to put it mildly, if you wanted to accelerate the growth rate of colonies, all species had to be cloned simultaneously. Thus the Hive Mother Project. A new life form able to store thousands of genetic codes, a being whose gigantic body would be laying both on earth and underwater, a mother for thousands of different species, from animals to vegetal, from fishes to insects. Unfortunately, the Hive Mother needed a long list of rare nutriments to create its offspring. These had to be found on several planets. So far, the OverMind had not found a solar system able to support more than one Hive Mother at a time. The research work done on that project had been tremendous, and it also generated a myriad of smaller projects, like the KaneSS abduction. That Last one was used to understand more thoroughly their psychology, and prove a point : what the OverMind was seeing as “Accelerated Growth Project”, KaneSS would translate as “Unlimited Free Meat”. They would kill anyone or enslave anything to own such a food generator.

Unsurprisingly, the OverMind was very uneasy seeing itself from the Free Meat’s point of view.


REMINDER : we are using proportion mod, so homeworlds are the main source of power.

[ June 23, 2004, 13:14: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

[dogscoff]

On the edge of a broken crater, two suited figures waited outside a tiny, grey building. Eventually a doorway slid silently open, and the pair collapsed into it and were swallowed by the closing aperture. Mexa'renath'xe removed his helmet and took a deep breath. The air in his suit had been getting stale for the Last hour or so, and it seemed impossible that he should still be alive. His next instinct was to help his daughter, who lay unconscious on the floor beside him. He removed her helmet with trembling fingers and felt a crippling wave of emotion as he heard a stuttering breath from her. Then he slid down the wall of the airlock and passed out.

When he awoke, it took him several seconds to remember where he was. Eventually his cybernetics kicked in, rushing hormones and drugs through his system to bring him as close to alertness as possible. His daughter was still motionless. Xiati cybernetic improvements could only do so much, and he feared she was beyond any kind of help now. Her breathing was barely detectable, and he knew that under the suit she was missing an arm, casually torn off and eaten by one of those monsters. He tried to block out the flood of memories triggered by that thought, but he could not. He knew he would be terrorised by those memories for the rest of his life, but he took comfort in the knowledge that the rest of his life would not be long. The horror, the trauma of those Last few months had taken their toll, and even if help came, even if he somehow survived this and got back to Xiati space, he had nothing left to live for.

His family had been caged and kept like cattle in their own home, with nothing to do but wait as the KanesS brood who now inhabitted his house had picked them off, not one by one but piece by piece, limb by limb. Those who looked weakest and most vulnerable had been selected first, and every valiant attempt to defend his offspring had simply moved him closer to the end of the list. Every time he tried- and failed- to prevent the monsters from taking another one of his precious children, he knew that the inscrutable aliens granted him an extra few days of agonising life with which to witness their cruelty. His mate had simply given in, choosing death over torture, and had laid impassively and barely protesting even as they tore meat from her. Mexa'renath'xe had been envious, he had longed for death, and yet he had somehow never been able to submit to it. He had fought them whenever they came, and had even caught and killed a few of the younger ones with his bare hands. The adult KanesS hadn't seemed particularly upset about this, they had simply retreated, knowing that in the end, he would be too weak to resist.

Eventually, after an uncountable number of days or weeks or months, only he and his eldest daughter remained, she with a rough tourniquet about the bloody stump of her left shoulder. It was then that the fighting had started. Another group of KanesS had burst into the house and all hell had broken loose. Maybe they had come to rescue them; maybe some of these creatures were outraged at the behaviour of their fellows, but he doubted it. There could be no compassion, no mercy in those creatures.

Somehow, in the confusion the cage had been upturned and broken open, and he had managed to guide his daughter out of the house, avoiding the rioting that had suddenly sprung up around them. They had made their way to one of the dome's airlocks, where a few Xiati suits still hung. From there they had trekked for days over terrain that would have been impossible in anything but this moon's low gravity to an abandoned mining survey outpost. He had hoped against hope that there would be some method of escape here, driven himself on with the prospect of survival, but even as he conducted his fruitless search for food, water or transport, he realised now that he didn't want any of those things. All he really wanted was to die in peace, and to deny the filthy KanesS his flesh. However, he had a job to do first. This outpost had some communications equipment, and Mexa'renath'xe knew enough about it to send a message home. The atrocities committed on Pruli VIa would not go untold.

**************************************************

A tight phalanx of sinewy shapes appeared on the crest of the hill, their weapons reflecting not only the thin starlight that glittered beyond the transparent dome overhead, but the blazing fires of the buildings below. The troops poured down the hillside, the dusty rock unfamiliar beneath their ice-bred bellies. With their tails holding their lance-like firearms parallel to the ground, the serpentine soldiers looked for all the world like the striped shadows of their own guns, until one of them gave the order to halt and raised herself to her full height, coldly surveying the scene below. It was anarchy. Heaps of writhing, serpentine bodies slashed randomly at one another with razor teeth, tearing lumps of flesh from friend and foe alike, each one possessed by a consuming blood-lust. Others stood alone or in tight family clusters, defending their torched homes from all comers with guns, blades and bared teeth.

The leader of the infantry unit bit at her immediate subordinate's face, drawing blood for no reason other than to register her distaste for the disorder laid out before her. "Open fire." She yelled, and death spat indiscriminately into the warring crowd below. Many fights spontaneously ended in confused panic as the crowd dispersed, scattering for cover. Others were too overcome with their frenzy to think of survival and were shredded as aggressors and victims alike were seared and torn by the disciplined gunfire from the hillside. Within a minute it was over, and a bloody, steaming peace closed the latest chapter in the grisly history of Pruli VIa.

**************************************************

Kleesh threw the reports aside and twitched her tail in irritation. With hindsight, it had been inevitable. There had only been a limited number of Xiati survivors and homes up for grabs in the newly-conquered colony, but that hadn't stopped thousands of hopefuls from making their own way out there to try to take some of it for themselves. Access to the official colonisation starliners had been strictly controlled, of course, but an alarming number of private craft had taken the initiative and were ferrying KanesS from system to system by the million, leading to scenes like this one on the ex-Xiati outpost.

And it wasn't just the starliner industry that had gotten out of control. Ever since Captain Shreekep's bucaneering adventures in that same system, a wealth of privately owned boarding vessels had taken to the stars with hopes of chancing upon a similar opportunity for profit and fresh meat. Most of them were clueless aristocrats or unrealistic entrepreneurs with only only the faintest understanding of running a spacecraft. Only one ship other than Shreekep's had yet managed to capture a Xiati craft, and most of the others had wandered so far from home in the search for prey they had run out of supplies and had to limp home on emergency power. A whole industry was springing up for supply vessels to come and bale them out before they became victims themselves, since the kind of enterprising pirates that flew these ships had no qualms about killing and their own kind.
Other raiders had started targetting Cue Cappan ships, resulting in all kinds of deliciously difficult situations for Shrikeesh's diplomatic office. Any satisfaction that his brought Kleesh, however, was outweighed by the problems this anarchy was causing for her. Quite apart from the costly and embarrassing piracy on her own ships, back on the homeworld, certain hysterical, liberal sections of the population- namely those that were now fanatically opposed to cannibalism and had long ago ad condemned Kleesh for the revival of the old ways on the colonies- had latched onto the chaos emerging in the colonies and their anti-colonial movements were gathering momentum. There had been several messy demonstrations and acts of violent protest there already, and it was just a matter of time before things got out of control. It had caused her no small amount of embarrassment with her royal parents, so she knew she had to act. A plan was formulating behind her cool eyes, and she allowed herself a small writhe of pleasure at the possibilities it opened up.

[ June 29, 2004, 15:02: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

[Raging Deadstar]

Great pieces of Writing from the both of you.

I was wondering if i should update the Xenology Story at spaceempires.net with the latest chapters. Would this be ok with the both of you?

[Unknown_Enemy]

Why should we object ?
There is no copyright on my stuff. Anybody can use it as much as he wants.

[dogscoff]

A very small update to whet your appetites for the major piece coming soon (tomorrow maybe?)

Note to U_E: These events happened a few dozen turns ago, but I don't think that will cause a problem with general continuity. I hope to catch up with current affairs in the next installment.

*****************************

KanesS historians debated long and hard over whether to call it the Second Battle of Pruli, the Third Battle of Pruli or the Fourth. It all depended on whether you chose to include the bloodthirsty boarding of the stricken ship or the massacre of the rioting colonists on Pruli VIa. A small but vocal minority even refused to acknowledge the conquest of the tiny moon, claiming that the Xiati colonists didn't really put up enough resistance to constitute a battle, but that particular crowd of spoilsports were quickly silenced. The one thing everyone agreed on though, was that this latest battle was by far the most spectaular. It was a desperate chase that ran around the system for weeks and unlike any of the previous conflicts, it was never clear from the outset just who would win. The Xiati had sent a small relief force to reclaim the stricken colony. They were immediately spotted by three KanesS buccaneer ships, who had been in the system following news that another Xiati explorer had been taken following the capture of the moon. No doubt it had been sent to investigate the distress call transmitted by an escaped colonist, found rotting and inedible in an abandoned mining survey outpost.

The three captains had been fierce competitors, and in the long, boring months waiting for more prey had almost taken to fighting among themselves. However, when they saw the size of the fleet they decided to form a temporary pact and split the considerable profits between the survivors. The troop transport alone- full of battle-suited and vengeaful Xiati infantry- would provide a small fortune in toys and meat for anyone who dared to unload it, if only it could be taken intact. All engagements between Xiati and KanesS so far had been single-ship skirmishes that had resulted in outright victory for KanesS, who would swoop in quickly, pounding the enemy with their cannons and doing their best to dodge incoming fire until they were close enough to deploy their boarding parties. Once the pirates had found their way aboard, the outcome was both predictable and grisly. With this in mind, the temporary alliance was confident enough to take on this fleet, despite being somewhat outnumbered.

Their confidence was shattered, however, when they discovered that one of the Xiati ships was actually a carrier.

Such technology was unknown to them, and they were amazed to see dozens of miniature ships emerge from the larger one and fly at them, inflicting terrible damage in a multitude of small hits. Although their ships easily outclassed the capital ships, the KanesS were woefully unprepared for these tiny, nimble targets. Only their thick armour offered any kind of defence. It was a bitter struggle from that point on, and when it became clear that the Xiati would destroy any captured ship, delicate boarding maneuvres were considered too risky in such a life-and-death situation. After a great deal of carnage and destruction, the Xiati capital ships were all utterly destroyed, and a few homeless fighters harrassed the damaged pirates as they fled the system. Eventually these few vagrants retreated to the system's other warp point to await either rescue, or destruction.

The wounded ships KanesS limped back to the nearest repair facility with no booty to show for their efforts, while repair and supply ships hurried in to offer them their overpriced services. Meanwhile, as the news of the battle's ambiguous outcome spread, weapons developpers were already working on improved anti-fighter targetting systems that pirates throughout KanesS space were queuing up to pay for.

[dogscoff]

OK, here it is. I hope there's at least someone reading this...

*****************************

An insistent wheezing sound issued from the vast bulk of the bladdergart as it gradually deflated, echoing around the frozen cavern like the whisperings of the unfortunate creature's ghost. Shreekep chuckled from atop the dripping mass.
"I have to admit I'd thought I'd sampled everything the new domains had to offer," he said, still squirming himself clean of oily gore, "but you've really surprised me with this one. Quite delicious."
"It's natural that an adventurer like you would be more familiar with the northern systems than the southern ones."
Shkimsk replied, carefully keeping any sense of satisfaction out of his voice. "These red bladdergarts are from the polar regions of Daran II. They're as stupid as they are tasty, you only have to imitate their calls and they swim right to you."
"You're right, I've never been to that end of the galaxy. Much too quiet for my taste, but it obviously has its charms. Perhaps I should think about some investments there." He adjusted his balance slightly as one of the
beast's internal membranes gave way and a fresh flotation chamber began to vent rudely. "Say, it must have cost you a fortune to get this thing shipped all that way."
Shkimsk waved his tail casually and tried hard to make his denial sound nonchalant. If anything, the word "fortune" was an understatement, but he had the measure of Shreekep and knew that this lurid display of wealth would impress him. Shkimsk had understood this as soon as he had heard the pirate wanted an audience fee from him- coming from anyone but royalty it was an outright insult, although Shreekep had mitigated the affront somewhat by offering to share the kill with its donor. Even with Kleesh's influence, it had taken considerable funds, organisation, coertion and bribery to seal off and flood an entire starliner compartment- room that could have accomodated over forty thousand paying passengers- so that this creature could be transported alive to Marfak IX, one of the colonies nearest the alien borders. Still, it would be worth the expense and the wounded pride if he could just
bring Shreekep onto their side. He was an icon, a figurehead for the adventuring spirit that was the appeal of the colonies, and his co-operation was crucial to their continued success. "So now that we're fed, let's talk business," Shreekep said. Shkimsk made a sound of agreement as he plugged one of the bladdergart's noisier punctures with his tail, then settled himself down. This, according to the old KanesS proverb, would be the real meat of the meeting.

"It concerns the Xiati." He began. "As you know, they aren't at all happy with us."
"Well, I'm quite happy with them." Replied Shreekep. "As should you be. I've made my name hunting them, and it seems to me that your own little adventure on Pruli VIa was the turning point in yours and Kleesh's little empire."
Shkimsk bared his teeth in displeasure. It was all true enough, but the use of the word "empire" was a dangerous one. He and Kleesh had already assembled and deployed their own private army in the conquest of Pruli VIa, and what they were about to propose to Shreekep would amount to little less than a private war-fleet, and that's enough to make any monarch nervous. Kleesh might be the effective ruler of the empire's colonies, but her parents wouldn't be king and the queen if they hadn't retained the power to crush any potential rebellion, even if they had never left the homeworld themselves. Besidess, The prosperity of the colonies depended on a steady flow of colonists from the homeworld, and that in turn depended not only on the goodwill of the monarchy but on public opinion, and nothing makes the gerneral public more nervous about travel than a fully-fledged civil war.

No doubt Shreekep understood all his, and perhaps also understood that he effectively held the balance in any such conflict. Kleesh had no warships of her own, except for the landing craft used to invade the Xiati outpost and a number of support ships, and any attempts to procure warships directly would look too much like a potential coup. On the other hand, their majesties' government- backwards as ever- had no real fleet to speak of, although they were finally beginning to remedy the situation. No, the only real armed KanesS presence in space was the legion of privately owned buccaneers, lone entrepreneurs who preyed on lost and helpless ships. They had no allegiance except to themselves, but they all looked up to and respected Sheekep, who had popularised the pirate lifestyle. He had risked his first fortune when he invested all of it into his ship, and then had founded a second one on the capture of a Xiati explorer craft. Although his ship still prowled the borders, he paid someone else to take the helm these days, while he himself had taken to teaching. His "ship training" facilities on Marfak IX and Catia IV had been popular and profitable, and had done a great deal to remedy the staggering ineptitude shown by many of the first buccaneer crews. Dozens of small trade ships- Xiati, Cue Cappan, Norak, Drukshockan and KanesS- had fallen victim to pirates since the establishment of the academies, as well as a second explorer and even a small Xiati warship.

All this ran through Shkimsk's mind as he considered his reply to Shreekep's observation.
"You're right, of course. The Xiati have benefitted both of us, but now they threaten us. I'm sure you'e heard about the First Battle of Pruli*? If not for blind luck we could have easily lost the colony. Quite apart from the exports we get from Pruli VIa, it's become a symbol of the whole colonial lifestyle. To lose it would be more than just embarrassing."
"So you've come here to ask me to defend your precious colony? You want me to rally a few ships to hang around the Pruli warp point and fight off any righteous Xiati invaders? I have to say it all sounds rather dull."
Shkimsk coiled languidly while flashing a warning glance to one of his servants, who was obviously finding the smell of the bladdergart's flesh almost too tempting to resist.
"Really, Shreekep." Replied Shminsk, with just enough condescension in his voice to make the buccaneer bare his teeth. "You're supposed to be an entrepreneur, an opportunist. Why should we settle for simply defending our assets when we can procure new ones. The auctioning of Pruli VIa was a massive success, and the subsequent rioting only proved that there is demand for more. And there is more- beyond the Pruli warp point there are systems full of worlds, all occupied by the Xiati. We've taken one, we can take more. We won't be able to surprise them again like we did in Pruli, but we've already seen what a few buccaneer crews can do to Xiati warships. Imagine what an entire fleet could do. No, Shreekep, I want you to build a fleet of buccaneers and go through the Pruli warp point."

"Foolhardy." Said Shreekep at Last. "We have no idea what forces they may have ammassed on the other side of that warp point. We could be destroyed in an instant." There was no thought of cowardice in either of their minds. The KanesS are a race of opportunistic scavengers, who prey on the weak, the dying and the unsuspecting. They have no pretensions of bravado. Shkimsk was ready with a reply. "We have procured some information. One of the Overmind ships came through the warp point and made a little deal with one of our starliner Captains. It gave us some very precise information about their forces, and if you can get five or six captains to follow, we will crush them utterly. I can provide repair ships, supply tenders and a minesweeper. We'll bring along extra prize crews and expand the fleet as we capture enemy ships. Eventually we'll have the pick of their colonies, and you will have a significant share in the venture. It will be a feast."

A long silence followed in the darkness, broken only by the now-gentle exhalation of the gigantic corpse on which the two KanesS sat, measuring one-another with their precise sonar sense.

"I will consider it. I have some other business to look over before I can make a decision, and I will expect a sixty percent share, but I will consider it. The rewards would certainly be ample, but the risks may be too great. Now, leave me to think, and I will let you know in due course."

Shkimsk slithered off of the bladdergart and left, annoyed that he should be dismissed like some servant, but at the same time confident that the pirate's appetite had been sufficiently tickled by the offer. He would come, and the Xiati would fall into their open mouths, and Kleesh's position as first heir would be utterly unassailable.


FOOTNOTES:

* The battle-naming debate was finally settled when the First Battle Nomenclaturists made a surprise return from obscurity and gained the support of their peers with the suggestion that the previous three engagements be named the First, Second and Third Slaughters of Pruli**. Historians are now ferociously debating whether or not to revise the rest of KanesS military history and reclassify all previous conflicts as either "battles", "slaughters" or "feasts".

** It is likely that the timing of the suggestion- just before lunch after a particularly appetising morning's debate- contributed as much to its success as its content.

[dogscoff]

*cough*bump*cough*

[Raging Deadstar]

I'm reading it And I'm enjoying it Dogscoff. Very much so, the KanesS are one of the most itneresting empires i've read about in a fanfiction. And i'm sure I'm not the only one Reading.

By the Way, I updated the Copy of this on SpaceEmpires.Net

[dogscoff]

By the Way, I updated the Copy of this on SpaceEmpires.Net

Thanks

[TerranC]

We want more! We want more!