Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 19:14:16 GMT
“Sometimes the biggest disasters aren't noticed at all - no one's around to write horror stories.”
― Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep
== o(O)o ==
Size…
Size was an interesting issue with Vessels, of almost any kind. It seemed that every sentient race to transverse the galaxy possesses a subconscious drive to develop and Produce Structures and ships that outranked each other in both size and power. Each class of Ship and station developed serving only to belittle their precessors. Despite the inevitable Development of supply shortages and Fuel Consumption as the materials required to feed those massive monstrosities became more then even large empire could bear for large periods of time.
These were only small issues of course; communications and control of these Titans of the void were entirely different sections of issues all together. As a Ships size increased, so too did its crew and its Systems delayed ability to Relay information and particular commands throughout it.
The Unnatural Dominion was no different in these issues, even as the infection of its Cargo ranged through its Stern sections and Rear most tail structures that wrapped them selves around the Icy moon. It’s sheer size and the Scale of the systems that maintained it being the sole reason that the Aberration hadn’t managed to infect it sooner. As a Result of this, the other vessel had managed to disengage and Escape its infection faster then its hidden Entities and Automation could reach its docking links to sabotage the vessel. Taking with it not just survivors, but information of it that could prove to hinder its Operations at a later date.
Deep within its rooted confines of its newfound vessel, The entity Fumed with its rage, or at least as close to the Feeling of rage that it could achieve with its systems. Time it knew. Was something that this race, much like the Other ancient meddlers race it had faced in eons past. Could make up for, and for every minute lost with them, they would make it up tenfold, and while they had gained information on it, it still Possessed fragmented information at best of them.
It had learned much of the new race, as well as others, from those first few ships it had taken at vastra, Databases and shipboard libraries utterly brimming with information that it had used to construct a profile of the race it was facing. And it knew enough about their physiology at this point that killing off even their Warrior Caste members in hand to hand combat was Childs play, their technology was impressive, almost as much as the infernuii’s high levels of tech. but Peel back the layers, and they were flesh and blood within. As it had discovered as it killed of their surviving members of the crew on the sip and the Expeditionary forces on the moon below. Ending their lives in more and more inventive ways. Discovering new Weaknesses in their Bodies that it planned to utilize later on.
The Infection had been easy enough to instill in them, the shard that had fragmented from its cores main mass to hide in the tunnels and corridors below the surface of the small icy moon had already developed extensively in the days and hours following the Planets “Capture” from the systems orbit. By the time the teams of the flux had started to arrive at the site of the research station, it was well into maturity and infecting ability. The calvara and Tenebreans that had sought refuge with it in the chambers below had all but been slaughtered, massacred in the tunnels and chambers deep below by the very mining tools and drill rigs they had brought down into the depths with them to dig deeper still into the ruins. Their bodies twisted and kept animate by the corrupted technology in their intact suits and Biomechanical forms, the beginnings of its own small army.
It had allowed the flux the time to get settled in, To spread out and try to deduct and decode the research that their predecessor teams had left behind, Let them Interlink their own nets and systems into their own devices and Comm-links throughout their teams planeside. They had established their own versions of quarantines, but they had simple enough to Bypass without alerting them to its presence.
For two long months it had gone on like this, them delving deeper into its ruins, while it had slowly but steadily compromised massive and crucial areas of their ships systems.
When the other vessel arrived, unscheduled and unexpected in this vast and remote region of space they were hurtling through. it choose to Spring its trap shut on their heads.
Several of the tenebreans that it had held in stasis were Allowed to go free in the sublevels, Their corrupted companions Repurposed to Systematically slaughter and infect any non-Corrupted they came across. Naturally, The uninfected had found their way to the tunnels entrance in their flight to escape it. They were captured quickly by the armed teams of the flux that encountered them at its entrance, But even as they loaded them onto their Alien shuttles to bring up to the main ship, them and their Surface teams had found themselves under attacked from the Pursuing corrupted Tenebreans and their Calverian counterparts as they all but Poured forth from the hole below the ruins of the research station.
The fluxes teams had put up commendable fights, Had almost managed to put its infected down with the weapons their suits wielded, but once it managed to corrupt the suits of several of their own dead. The battle had quickly turned against them as they found their team mates falling to the Twisted bodies and empty suited forms of their own fallen Comrades., their own energy blades and rifles being used against them.
More fell still as they attempted to Flee the Moons ice covered surface in their Shuttles, Only to have their flight systems wrenched away from their pilots as they reached high altitudes. It had then turned them downward, Sending Shuttle after shuttle nose-diving into the ice covered mountains that littered the planets surface.
Shipside, previously friendly environments had turned into hellish chambers and corridors as the Heraldic Crew throughout the ship suddenly found the systems and command centers they manned suddenly unresponsive to their commands, as it Sent its commands to its sleeper programs Buried deep in the temporal systems and the ships Bio-Sphere. Killing off the ships primary entity and systematically initiating a Purge of Vital crew and commanders throughout the vessel as internal security systems and Equipment alike turned against the Very beings they were engineered to Protect and keep alive.
That had been less then three days ago, and even now. it still found itself Busy with the combined business of hunting down the last remaining survivors that had managed to elude it, as well as Trying to Establish proper control over the Vessels Navigational systems after the Flux on the bridge, Realizing that their vessel was lost. Sabotaged the flight systems in the few seconds they had left before it blew out the atmosphere in the room.
It had to act fast it knew, for the flux. While weak in their physical aspect. Were not ones to allow a problem to grow beyond their control, and had doubtlessly already set the ships current coordinates as the target for one of their more devastating weapons. It would in the end be an overall waste of their time, whatever that concept meant for them, with their Fluid perception of the concept.
Their attack would drain the vessel known as the unnatural domain of its energy, but it Itself, Having been Designed to Defend worlds against even the most devastating weapons of the Nakai and the other early races of the Void. Would be able to survive it without much issue due to its nature, its infection would possibly spread even faster throughout the vessel in that situation.
But it would be a massive hindrance for it… and it honestly held neither the patience nor the time for Idle Attempts of desperation upon it.
But even as these attempts to slow it down loomed about its head, it made its progress. It had broken into the control systems of the Ships method of FTL flight, and was actively prepping to engage it towards the nearest one of its Shard fleets it could locate in the void. As well as Established control of its off-ship Communications systems, it’s Crypto gear had been Destroyed in its initial Seizure of control, more Examples of the fluxes innate Drive to Remain hidden, a curious Trait for such an established race. But its initiative didn’t call for it to be intact.
Its concentration was broken for several nano-Seconds as its monitoring Automation tracked down one of the last survivors of the crew, drawing its attention. It’s monitoring systems showing the Hapless Flux running at heavy sprint down the corridor of the Engineering wing, or rather. “The closest thing to an engineering wing that the vessel possessed. “ As the figure paused for breath, it sent several nearby corrupted armor suits into an active hunting mode. The Shambling empty suits dragging themselves from the storage units they were housed in, Crystal growths and geodes Puncturing the armors metal like cancerous Tumors. The Survivor whipping his head around as they came across the darkened floor from multiple directions, their energy blades and rifles already armed and ready to draw blood.
It had discovered for itself that it held a considerable amount of satisfaction at ending the members of the flux’s race lives. Their profile had showed it enough to know that they held themselves in high regard in their role in the universe, and it couldn’t help but harbor a feeling of disgust for their hubris. The Clockwork man had been right in that aspect of what he had told it. They were advanced yes, But they were Hardly worthy for its creator race, as flawed as they too were. To Tread upon beneath their feet. It enjoyed and could have relished the feeling it gained as it sent members of the crew to their deaths.
As the constructs closed in on the heraldic, it followed through with its initiative, Setting the communications systems to begin transmitting at Galaxy Diameter pulses in a repeating Message of Distress.
― Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep
== o(O)o ==
Size…
Size was an interesting issue with Vessels, of almost any kind. It seemed that every sentient race to transverse the galaxy possesses a subconscious drive to develop and Produce Structures and ships that outranked each other in both size and power. Each class of Ship and station developed serving only to belittle their precessors. Despite the inevitable Development of supply shortages and Fuel Consumption as the materials required to feed those massive monstrosities became more then even large empire could bear for large periods of time.
These were only small issues of course; communications and control of these Titans of the void were entirely different sections of issues all together. As a Ships size increased, so too did its crew and its Systems delayed ability to Relay information and particular commands throughout it.
The Unnatural Dominion was no different in these issues, even as the infection of its Cargo ranged through its Stern sections and Rear most tail structures that wrapped them selves around the Icy moon. It’s sheer size and the Scale of the systems that maintained it being the sole reason that the Aberration hadn’t managed to infect it sooner. As a Result of this, the other vessel had managed to disengage and Escape its infection faster then its hidden Entities and Automation could reach its docking links to sabotage the vessel. Taking with it not just survivors, but information of it that could prove to hinder its Operations at a later date.
Deep within its rooted confines of its newfound vessel, The entity Fumed with its rage, or at least as close to the Feeling of rage that it could achieve with its systems. Time it knew. Was something that this race, much like the Other ancient meddlers race it had faced in eons past. Could make up for, and for every minute lost with them, they would make it up tenfold, and while they had gained information on it, it still Possessed fragmented information at best of them.
It had learned much of the new race, as well as others, from those first few ships it had taken at vastra, Databases and shipboard libraries utterly brimming with information that it had used to construct a profile of the race it was facing. And it knew enough about their physiology at this point that killing off even their Warrior Caste members in hand to hand combat was Childs play, their technology was impressive, almost as much as the infernuii’s high levels of tech. but Peel back the layers, and they were flesh and blood within. As it had discovered as it killed of their surviving members of the crew on the sip and the Expeditionary forces on the moon below. Ending their lives in more and more inventive ways. Discovering new Weaknesses in their Bodies that it planned to utilize later on.
The Infection had been easy enough to instill in them, the shard that had fragmented from its cores main mass to hide in the tunnels and corridors below the surface of the small icy moon had already developed extensively in the days and hours following the Planets “Capture” from the systems orbit. By the time the teams of the flux had started to arrive at the site of the research station, it was well into maturity and infecting ability. The calvara and Tenebreans that had sought refuge with it in the chambers below had all but been slaughtered, massacred in the tunnels and chambers deep below by the very mining tools and drill rigs they had brought down into the depths with them to dig deeper still into the ruins. Their bodies twisted and kept animate by the corrupted technology in their intact suits and Biomechanical forms, the beginnings of its own small army.
It had allowed the flux the time to get settled in, To spread out and try to deduct and decode the research that their predecessor teams had left behind, Let them Interlink their own nets and systems into their own devices and Comm-links throughout their teams planeside. They had established their own versions of quarantines, but they had simple enough to Bypass without alerting them to its presence.
For two long months it had gone on like this, them delving deeper into its ruins, while it had slowly but steadily compromised massive and crucial areas of their ships systems.
When the other vessel arrived, unscheduled and unexpected in this vast and remote region of space they were hurtling through. it choose to Spring its trap shut on their heads.
Several of the tenebreans that it had held in stasis were Allowed to go free in the sublevels, Their corrupted companions Repurposed to Systematically slaughter and infect any non-Corrupted they came across. Naturally, The uninfected had found their way to the tunnels entrance in their flight to escape it. They were captured quickly by the armed teams of the flux that encountered them at its entrance, But even as they loaded them onto their Alien shuttles to bring up to the main ship, them and their Surface teams had found themselves under attacked from the Pursuing corrupted Tenebreans and their Calverian counterparts as they all but Poured forth from the hole below the ruins of the research station.
The fluxes teams had put up commendable fights, Had almost managed to put its infected down with the weapons their suits wielded, but once it managed to corrupt the suits of several of their own dead. The battle had quickly turned against them as they found their team mates falling to the Twisted bodies and empty suited forms of their own fallen Comrades., their own energy blades and rifles being used against them.
More fell still as they attempted to Flee the Moons ice covered surface in their Shuttles, Only to have their flight systems wrenched away from their pilots as they reached high altitudes. It had then turned them downward, Sending Shuttle after shuttle nose-diving into the ice covered mountains that littered the planets surface.
Shipside, previously friendly environments had turned into hellish chambers and corridors as the Heraldic Crew throughout the ship suddenly found the systems and command centers they manned suddenly unresponsive to their commands, as it Sent its commands to its sleeper programs Buried deep in the temporal systems and the ships Bio-Sphere. Killing off the ships primary entity and systematically initiating a Purge of Vital crew and commanders throughout the vessel as internal security systems and Equipment alike turned against the Very beings they were engineered to Protect and keep alive.
That had been less then three days ago, and even now. it still found itself Busy with the combined business of hunting down the last remaining survivors that had managed to elude it, as well as Trying to Establish proper control over the Vessels Navigational systems after the Flux on the bridge, Realizing that their vessel was lost. Sabotaged the flight systems in the few seconds they had left before it blew out the atmosphere in the room.
It had to act fast it knew, for the flux. While weak in their physical aspect. Were not ones to allow a problem to grow beyond their control, and had doubtlessly already set the ships current coordinates as the target for one of their more devastating weapons. It would in the end be an overall waste of their time, whatever that concept meant for them, with their Fluid perception of the concept.
Their attack would drain the vessel known as the unnatural domain of its energy, but it Itself, Having been Designed to Defend worlds against even the most devastating weapons of the Nakai and the other early races of the Void. Would be able to survive it without much issue due to its nature, its infection would possibly spread even faster throughout the vessel in that situation.
But it would be a massive hindrance for it… and it honestly held neither the patience nor the time for Idle Attempts of desperation upon it.
But even as these attempts to slow it down loomed about its head, it made its progress. It had broken into the control systems of the Ships method of FTL flight, and was actively prepping to engage it towards the nearest one of its Shard fleets it could locate in the void. As well as Established control of its off-ship Communications systems, it’s Crypto gear had been Destroyed in its initial Seizure of control, more Examples of the fluxes innate Drive to Remain hidden, a curious Trait for such an established race. But its initiative didn’t call for it to be intact.
Its concentration was broken for several nano-Seconds as its monitoring Automation tracked down one of the last survivors of the crew, drawing its attention. It’s monitoring systems showing the Hapless Flux running at heavy sprint down the corridor of the Engineering wing, or rather. “The closest thing to an engineering wing that the vessel possessed. “ As the figure paused for breath, it sent several nearby corrupted armor suits into an active hunting mode. The Shambling empty suits dragging themselves from the storage units they were housed in, Crystal growths and geodes Puncturing the armors metal like cancerous Tumors. The Survivor whipping his head around as they came across the darkened floor from multiple directions, their energy blades and rifles already armed and ready to draw blood.
It had discovered for itself that it held a considerable amount of satisfaction at ending the members of the flux’s race lives. Their profile had showed it enough to know that they held themselves in high regard in their role in the universe, and it couldn’t help but harbor a feeling of disgust for their hubris. The Clockwork man had been right in that aspect of what he had told it. They were advanced yes, But they were Hardly worthy for its creator race, as flawed as they too were. To Tread upon beneath their feet. It enjoyed and could have relished the feeling it gained as it sent members of the crew to their deaths.
As the constructs closed in on the heraldic, it followed through with its initiative, Setting the communications systems to begin transmitting at Galaxy Diameter pulses in a repeating Message of Distress.