(bumping for screw-you-I-want-to-finish-this)

(If nobody posts, I'll start making stuff happen. That never goes well)

I dunno
Test our new found and perserve power
Look for it's origin?

>>12648097
We've devoured eleven humans already. What else would you have us do?

Its origin is certainly something to do with the thousands of Zerg we destroyed in the tunnel. Perhaps we...caught something from them?

rolled 6, 9 = 15

>>12648137
.... I don't think biology works that way

>>12648203
(Protip: Spoooooooooooooky Zerg Quest)

rolled 1, 8 = 9

>>12648237
Yeah yeah
Still, finding out what, if anything that we're capable of doing with this shit could prove useful. I hope there's a non-nomming function to it.
Or maybe we can take the time to reminisce and develop our backstory?

See if pisonic contact can be made with the Ghost, if so, see to what level. If to a sufficiently high level, proceed to mental spam in order to distract him/her.

>>12648285
We haven't tried anything besides devouring our soldiers. Come to think of it, Medical did seem brainwashed before we tore her throat out.

(What all do you want to know about the backstory?)

>>12648291
We aren't sure how psionics work. We've never been rated for it. We concentrate on Kilroy, down near the tunnel. We try pushing with our mind...and it's like we just noticed somebody breathing loudly in a room.

We can sense somebody downstairs, all steel resolve and grit. There are fainter breaths from the other soldiers. We wouldn't be able to pick one of them out in particular, but we can pick up the crowd.

>>12648329
...Well, that makes me feel less guilty.
Do we have any relatives?
Parents?
Wife?

>>12648398
Why don't we go and say high to our breather of steel and grit?

>>12648428
Our mother is alive on Tarsonis. She does not speak to us, since we were fitted with a neural implant following our court martial. Our father died on Antiga Prime. He was the personal assistant to a battlecruiser's Captain. This may be why we reacted so harshly to the Zerg downstairs. We have an older sister who was taken into the Ghost program years ago. We do not know whether she still lives.

>>12648557
Why were we court martialed?
What does our neural implant do?

>>12648623
>From previous thread:
>Assault. We were about 3/4 of the way through upper Officer training when we got into a bar fight. Broke a bottle over a professor's head. Got 5 years.

The implant used to buzz in our skull, suppressing violent impulses and generally conditioning us against behaviors that it deemed counterproductive to proper functioning in the Service.

Now, it sits on the floor of Medical's quarters, threatening to...hurt the foot of whoever steps on it?

>>12647865

I know that, on the last Spooky Zerg Quest, we were able to infect several marines along with Medical, the medic.

Did we, Dyles, infect them directly? Or are we able to now spread the "infection" through our zombie minion proxies?

Sorry for being late, work. I say we find out what having out thralls nom on people does to those people and the thralls.

>>12648676
We devoured them personally. We have never tried to consume a human by proxy. We don't know if that would work.

>>12648683
Who should we target? There is about an hour before the next shift change brings us another ten cattl--soldiers.

>>12648716
Can we avoid eating people?
At least until we better understand the process of enthrallment?

>>12648738
We can try. We aren't sure if we were compelled to consume Medical because we thirst for human blood, or if we merely reacted instinctively. We may have a need.

>>12648716

We're primarily on a military installation, yes?

While most of the people here are obviously combat personnel and the requisite military technicians to keep everything running, there's gotta be a handful of civilians here doing stuff like cleaning or somesuch who live in the nearby settlement. If we can nom by proxy, we might be able to spread our unique affliction around... although it might be hard to avoid suspicion if we nom people with families/lots of friends (we don't retain memories of the nommed).

Do we have access to a list of non-military personnel and where they live / workshifts?

>>12648761
It was because of the cheese pickup lines and you know it! Find a member of the support staff, there's got to be someone who isn't a marine on the line or a civilian in the city. Have one of the thralls, Medi probably, nom them to see what happens. Keep in mind that the noming will be done in with us and 2 of the thrall marines present in case anything bad happens.

>>12648780
There are about 75 military support staff on-base. Apart from them, a lot of menial tasks are completely automated, or only require input from civilian workers on an infrequent basis. With the governor organizing the evacuation proceedings, it is unlikely that any civilians are on-base.

>>12648780
My plan from the last thread was to nom the base, then hit the city, we still have plenty of time before the evac arrives.

>>12648780
>>12648806
Again- maybe we should be spending less time on nomming?
Perhaps we can be researching or installing new defenses?
Even if we are an abhuman mutant, we should at least defend ourselves against be nommed by the zerg

>>12648823

Damn this gritty, sci-fi, but surprisingly high standard of living universe!

Do we know where all the combat personnel are, as of now?

>>12648823
Support staff it is. I'm in the mood for communications guy. Can we check the medical logs to see if anyone is schedule to come in today. Might be able to claim that the exam had to be moved forward to make sure that there is time to do it. Cause Medi is so serious about her job.

>>12648806
Lure them to Medical how? The "exposure to sick-looking Zerg" excuse won't work for the support staff. They haven't been exposed.

>>12648837
Reports from Fallone and Kilroy indicate that the Zerg haven't made any move. We try to focus closer on them as they speak. We sense something under them. A deep thrumming behind their heavy breathing.

>>12648904
....
That can't be good.
A deep thrumming?
Like, a heatrbeat, or respiration?

>>12648837
The one tunnel (that I remember existing) into the base is currently guarded by 90 marines and 1 ghost, and the tunnel was collapsed. Also the zerg were moving kinda slow and weren't to interested in attacking, just kinda shuffling towards us. I was proclaiming zombie zerg, but it's vampire zerg virus.

>>12648904
Check if there is a routine exam already scheduled. If so, call them in early. If not we go with the 7th marine off that comes into sickbay in the next batch. The reason it's not first is that our 10 thralls will have to go back to the line if I'm not mistaken.

>>12648882
>Damn this gritty, sci-fi, but surprisingly high standard of living universe!

(Starcraft's got that down pat. Raynor's spent 4 years as a ragged outlaw who can barely afford to keep rust off his suit...but he has a fully-stocked bar and a suitcase full of superadvanced holomaps and shit. I figure it still sucks to be a janitor, but now it's because you have to clean out a week's-worth of military...filth...from the filters, instead of plunging each toilet)

In about 45 minutes, our thralls are due to relieve another 10 soldiers from duty by the tunnel. The support staff are primarily in CentOps, though the off-duty ones are in their quarters, presumably asleep or fornicating.

>>12648889
One of the Requisitions men is due for a physical this evening. Medical could claim that it has been moved forward.

>>12648991

Do eet!

But make sure that we don't have to BS any communications stuff later. These techies probably know very esoteric information that sees daily use/confirmation on their part.

>>12648991
It's like 05:00 right? At 10 an hour we'll have gotten all the marines at 15:00, so move reqman's appointment up.

>>12648924
It's more like hearing a room full of people talking, but you can't make out what any of them are saying.

>>12649056
We doubt the base will be requisitioning many things in the next two days. We invite this man to Medbay.

The armed guards are looked at askance, but Medical puts him at ease. She leans down near him with a stethoscope before she tears into his flesh. We feel the scream echo through us. Moments later, it is like a cloud recedes from our mind...minds.

We now exist inside both Dyles and Medical, but we don't feel full, like we did when we devoured the others. The corpse stands, healing slowly like those before it.

rolled 8, 7 = 15

>>12649082
Again I have to ask if this is really a smart idea?
Do we need to risk exposing ourselves?
Also, would having all these thralls be better then actual, thinking Marines?

>>12649143
(Alternative suggestions?)

rolled 4, 9 = 13

>>12649130
So, wait, do we retain the memories of those nommed?
Their personality?

>>12649130
Do we Medi's knowledge now? I figure that since we are now 2 minds it will take more noming to feel full, and the nomming must be equal.

>>12649168

From our experiences with 'Nomming Medical the Medic, no. We can only control them, but don't appear to know how (or if it's even possible) to access their memories or expertise.

>>12649164
Clearly we form an anti-war dance troupe. We shall be the talk of Xenta!

>>12649168
No. None at all. We remember nothing of Medical's life.

Though our newfound psionic senses can detect something or other from her.

rolled 9, 7 = 16

>>12649164
Well, instead of converting people willy nilly, I would say that we should, at the moment, keep the use of our powers at minimal levels.
I don't like the sound of the "People speaking in a room," that probably warrants investigation. Or some way to further collapse the tunnels
Isn't there anything we can do that doesn't involve the destruction of minds? Perhaps focusing our psyonic powers to greater levels- see if we can exert telepathy or pyromancy.

>>12649214

>Medical Psionic(?) Resonance

Try to concentrate on it. Try to discern what it is, or even try to commune with it.

>>12649247
We focus our consciousness at the strangeness behind our mind in Medical. We hear a reverberation of a scream. It is...the mind of the requisitions officer. It screams its knowledge! With enough psionic pressure, we are able to squeeze a memory from it!

The requisitions officer learned to fire one of those old bows (the ones with arrows) from his father when he was eight. When his father congratulated him for hitting the center of the target, it was the happiest day of his youth.

>>12649216
(We could focus our consciousness downward at that. We're not sure whether we'll be able to make anything out...)

>>12649303
More searching of our consciousness, we've got nothing better to do for half an hour.

>>12649323
We make more progress discovering who the requisitions officer was over the next half-hour. The guard change goes smoothly. We now have ten sets of eyes on the line. Fallone seems to be rigging the seismograph to an alarm in case there is measurable movement. Kilroy looks very suspicious, but even he doesn't seem to be sure of what.

Attempt to devour the second shift?

>>12649303

Try to get more useful stuff from the 'nommed Req. Officer!

If we have leftover time, try to focus on the thing below the Tunnel Marines & Kilroy. If it's like a lot of people talking in a room, there must be a voice that stands out more than the others; try to see what we can discern from that one (if possible).

>>12649365
Nom the second shift, and the third and fourth. Past that is optional.

>>12649409
Use Dyles, Medical, the requisitions officer, or some combination?

>>12649378
While we are not engaged, we try to make sense of the thrumming sound from beneath the line downstairs. Having soldiers nearby seems to make it easier.

It sounds hauntingly familiar, but it is a jumble of noises. It is chaotic, like hearing a hundred conversations. A thousand. Tens of thousands.

Set the zerg free, they gave us this gift, we should walk as brothers!

The plan should be as follows:

Blitzkrieg anyone still at the site and om nom nom until everyone is dead or a thrall.

"Requisition" some more high-yield explosives.

Explode the tunnel mouth with expendable thralls who are pretending to be under attack.

Ambush investigators, make more thralls.

Laugh maniacally at the rush of power you feel.

>>12649458

>Chaotic nonsense noise

We can listen to the voices... but would it be possible to try to say something to them? Maybe they could talk back if they knew someone from the outside could hear them.

>More Nomming

What does a requisitions officer do anyhow?

>>12649458
Since they're just marines, we should do the nomming. We we're able to take marines down before using those patches. So we do it just like before. What would happen if we had reqman nom medi. Just one bite out of a nonvital, non visible place. Maybe we can get medi's memories that way.

>>12649516
A requisitions officer orders supplies and is in charge of distribution to the various soldiers and is usually of high-ranking NCO rank or a low-ranking commissioned officer.

rolled 10, 1 = 11

>>12649458
How familiar?

>>12649468
>>12649458

How many combat personnel are currently watching the tunnel right now?

Also, are Kilroy & Co. really far deep into the tunnels? Or are they still hanging around near the entrance?

>>12649516
>What does a requisitions officer do anyhow?
His job is to requisition (order) supplies from Confederate Command to be delivered during the next supply drop. Since the base is being abandoned, his job is now basically to sit on his ass until evacuation.

>Can we speak to them?
What would we say?

>>12649527
We arrange for physicals, as before. We use the Dyles body to consume the marines.

>Eat Medical
(Gonna need a second if you want to do that)

>>12649547
We can't place it, but it's like hearing a recording of something you once heard in person...

>>12649588
Counting Kilroy, there are 91 soldiers guarding the collapsed mouth of the tunnel, 10 of which are mindless thralls to our will.

>>12649592
not EAT Medical, just have Requisition take a bite out of her calf. If nothing happens it should just heal. Though we can hold off o doing that with medical, or we can have Requisition nom someone privately and then have that person nom Requisition.

>>12649614
We need to draw them off and kill them off in small groups, murder-movie style.

Now, since the soldiers are all probably tired/hopped up on a cocktail of crazy pills to stay awake, they should be easy to lure around to nom inconspicuously.

Actually, we're still in charge!

All we need to do is to have a thrall set of a small explosive charge somewhere, send some infected mixed with non-infected to investigate, rinse and repeat..

>>12649592

>speaking to the voices

Hrm... Kilroy seems suspicious. If he's a ghosty-type person, he probably knows that something psychic is down there and is picking up on it a bit.


Exert our mind to the tunnels below. Try whispering out for Kilroy in particular. Gauge his reaction.

>>12649652
Wait that's n how it should be set up. We'd have to nom a staffer, then have Requisition nom that staffer after, to ee what happens. We must save medical... and the SCV pilots.

>>12649614
Whoa. Sorry. 81 guarding, 10 of which are thralls. 10 are off-duty, in the process of being nommed. I'm going insane.

>>12649677
>Psionically contact Kilroy

Needs a "second" to happen.

>>12649696
There are no SCV pilots here. This base isn't approved for any additional constructions. There might be a civilian SCV (lower quality than the military-grade ones, of course) or two out in the city.

>>12649656
Small groups huh. Like say 10 individually every hour. In a secluded place... like the med-bay. The only problem is Killroy. Might have to get him soon, he just might figure out what's going on.

>>12649725
I'll second contacting Kilroy.

We can be all "Dude, sup"

And he can be all "WTFing fuckballs"

Then, we go "BADGER CUNT DICKS" and eat him.

>>12649741
(Well, every three hours. It took us about that long to eat the first group, get out of our armor, go meet with the governor, then discover we had psionic powers)

>>12649725
The civilian SCV pilots must be saved! Also, psionically contacting Killroy is a bad idea, he might figure out its us, and we should be able to do thing. So, I think it;s a bad idea. Nomming him is a better idea, also is it just the one memory from requisition, or can we get more by trying harder?

>>12649758
(Alrighty, then)

We reach out to Kilroy in particular. It's like finding the wheezing asthmatic in a room full of people breathing.

We attempt to press into his mind enough to speak...

From our thralls' eyes in the lower chamber, we see Kilroy jump to his feet, gripping his gun.

"ON YOUR FEET, MEN! There's some kind of psionic shit going down!"

We have a second to try something before he goes on.

(And Alpharius...if one of our 10 men tries to eat his trachea in front of the 70 other marines, they'll blow his ass to kingdom come. You can still suggest it. I'm just saying)

>>12649775
(Sorry, too late)
We squeezed many memories from his thoughts, like juice from an orange. His childhood, his resocialization, and some of his career. We could probably operate the ins and outs of a requisitions officer's job indefinitely on this information.

>>12649814
Nothing?

>>12649814
(I do my best and worst plans when I'm halfway asleep.

I remember helping orchestrate Mensks' ultimate trollage nodding off in my chair, and around the same time I was considering making grimdark barbie horse adventures as a setting.)

Assign several thralls specifically to escort him around the corner out of sight of the rest of the marines where there will be delicious cake (trachea).

>>12649814

>Kilreaction

We could try to have one of our thralls ventilate him with some gauss rounds. That'd probably kill him if he's not aware right now, but that'd be a dead giveaway that something's *very* wrong, even if we succeed.


Could try some other psionic shenanigans, but I'm not too sure if that'd help overly much either.

If we leave everything alone, he could point out the thralls sooner or later. While he might be a ghost, the other marines might be suspicious that he wants to kill the other members of their marine corp.

>>12649814
So, having a thrall nom someone gets us a decent amount of information (most of it useless but still) so Killroy needs to be nomed by a thrall, might as well be medical. The problem is the now he's looking for something. Let's pick a random nonthrall marine and see if we can't make him start bleeding from the eyes or something (psionically of course) if we can let's do that to more of the non thralls, He's expecting a psionic attack so let's give him one. Most importantly we do not call down there immediately, it'd be terribly susspicious if right after some psionic stuff start we suddenly call.

>>12649859

We should arrange to do something like this.

Ask through one of the thralls if it's "one of them protoss guys" that's doing all the psionic hoo-hah.

If none of the other marines ask what to do, have another of our thralls ask what the hell do we do now.

>>12649859
(Grimdark...Barbie...horse adventures? That seems to make less sense than a Grimdark Scifi Mario Brothers...though I've recently come to appreciate that the Super Mario Bros movie is exactly that. It increases in quality under that microscope)

Two of our thralls run to Kilroy.

"Is this the kinda thing we can shoot?"

Kilroy seems to come back to reality a little. He looks from one marine to the other confusedly for a second, then laughs.

"No. Not yet, anyway. Maybe...but it was like it was looking for me, specifically..."

"Maybe we oughtta move you away from the center 'a the group, if you catch my meaning?"

Kilroy nods. If something is targeting him, he understands that he should not be dead center of the only group of marines on-planet if it strikes. The two guide him into the next room.

Omnom?

>>12649891

Also try to see if we can do psionically-induced pain wracking or bleeding in one of the random grunts.

>>12649901

Like another Dopplegangery quest that was the source of much NOMMing, let us continue the revered tradition of OMNOMNOM-ing powerful people. With Kilroy.

>>12649901
Nah, he prolly has super-reflexes and shit. A mere two thralls may not be quite enough to pin him down.

Have one of the thralls start acting crazy and aggressive, and force Kilroy to shoot him.

Then, other thrall accuses Kilroy of killing his fellow soldiers. Loudly.

Make sure other thralls show up to lend credence to this claim, and basically turn every other marine against Kilroy.

Since we're in charge, we can cuff him and 'take him out back to be shot' and then nom his spooky ass.

>>12649942

On second thought, do this.

We do not have crazy stats gained from nomming several different types of animals and gaining their powers.

>>12649859
In retrospect, leaving Mengsk relatively alone, and using the Sons of Korhal as cover to destroy the Dylarian Shipyards would have been the smart move. Mengsk destroys the Confederacy... somehow cause we stole his psiemitter plans, and makes a very weak Dominion. But 2 guys in power armour can take a wiry guy by suprise, but if he cloaks they're fucked. Fallone should be contacting us soon to say that Killroy is going nutty.

>>12650025
I regret nothing. Surely trololo'ing Mengsk to the max was worth losing the Overmind, Auir, over half our brothers, and putting a very clever human in charge of a highly alert Confederacy, right?

>>12649942
>>12649973
One thrall grasps his head, and mutters to himself. Kilroy gives him a cockeyed look. He shakes a little, then rushes at Kilroy, ready to melee with the butt of his rifle.

Kilroy ducks out of the way, swings off of the upper arm of the power armor, and draws his pistol while in the air. He swings back around, his right arm hooking under the thrall's helmet. He unloads his pistol.

Our consciousness notices the thrall's pain, but does not feel it. The thrall's mind blurs, blackens, and then falls away. It is dead.

We watch from the other eyes as blood erupts from the other thrall, and the armor collapses. Kilroy's right arm and pistol are coated in blood, stopping in a crisp line at his elbow. The other thralls, several other marines, and Fallone come running.

After a short bit of discussion and argument, we have Kilroy sent up to our office, escorted by two more thralls (there are now only 7 at the tunnel), handcuffed, to discuss what happened.

(NOW omnom?)

>>12650086
Sure but we also: destroyed the dylarian shipyards, the psidisruptor, mengsk, duke, protoss warp capability, and stole an arbiter. I say it's a fair trade. And Kerrigan isn't out to kill us.

Why are we doing this, though? This expansion of ourselves. Do we hunger for it? Does it just sound cool as hell?

>>12650142
Yeah, now we OMNOMNOM. No reason not to at all, and we might be able to squeeze some interesting things out of this ghost.

>>12650142
Now is OPTIMAL omnomnom.

Make sure to have him disarm himself before trying anything fun involving yourself biting him.

>>12650146
>>12650086
Hey, now. Focus. This thing's gone on far longer than I intended. Side discussions won't help. :P

>>12650142
So Killroy will be in our office, bound, and surrounded by our thralls? If so, OMNOMNOM!

>>12650142

Tentative vote for nomming in such a way so that we can retain access of Kilroy's expertise.

No. Wait. Evil monologue, THEN we nom.

Wait! Killroy needs to be nomed by a thrall, he might have intresting stuff in his head! Fetch Medical! She noms him! I want ghost knowledge! I'll save all further reminiscing about regular zerg quest for wednesday then.

>>12650175
>>12650183
As soon as Kilroy enters your office, his eyes shoot open. He jams his head to the side, activating the wide-band function on his comm unit.

"IT'S DYLES! THE MASTER SERGEANT'S COMPROMISED! HE'S--"

A sharp crack to the jaw from a power armored fist puts a stop to that quickly, but not quickly enough. We feel a tremendous scowl pour across Dyles' face. While Kilroy is still recovering from that, we launch at his throat. Within moments, he is ours.

But now the entire base believes we are...something.

>>12650237
(Hint: You're not just Dyles, now. You're also Medical. You only sensed something strange about Medical, which led to you noticing the soul of the man she'd eaten, when you focused on her mind from Dyles' mind)

>>12650238
Well, throw Killroy in the brig. Head down to the tunnel and talk to Fallone. Ask him in private if Killroy was acting funny before the incident. Act just as confused as anybody else.

>>12650238
Too bad for them that the only person really specialized in stopping people like us just died.

Lock ourselves in our office after booting our thralls out, and begin our grand puppet play to take over the marines on-base.

Firstly, let's have one of our thralls (call him Timmy for now) suggest to the (non-thrall) marines that they split off into pairs and trios and patrol around for a bit to insure that nothing surprise them.

Alternately, have a group of 5 thralls decide to go to the armory to take weapons, and have them bring a small number of non-infected with them to infect upon arrival.

>>12650238

>Base believing ghost guy

The hell they are!

Kilroy's our thrall now. We can stage something that makes it look like he tried to kill us and kill the other two thralls. Call for backup, have us control Kilroy make it look like he hacked/broke free of the cuffs (they gotta be hackable somehow), shot our guards, and tried to murder us. He's a psi-sensitive ghost person, and Intel probably knows about the psionic presence down below. If anyone was at a risk to become compromised first (hypothetically speaking, if we didn't), it would be him, even if he was trained.

By the by, were we able to nom his knowledge? We could draw upon that to help us bluff.

>>12650286
>>12650319

Maybe a combo of these would be best for bluffing.


>>12650296

I do agree with the armory and patrol thing. However, we don't want to appear too conspicuous. Remember, Intel is going to raze this colony right after the evac. We want at least one thrall to make it out of here alive and past the debriefing.... or at least grab a dropship out of this colony into an obscure part of space.

>>12650319
And in the brig we can have him muttering about how he knows that the Sergent Major is really a robot in disguise, and thew the walls are really made of cheese. Make it so it looks like he just snapped. Ghost are known to be a bunch of homicidal crazies.

>>12650319
>By the by, were we able to nom his knowledge?
SEE
>>12650257

Kilroy is one of ours, now. His neck is healing, as usual. Fallone is shouting over the comm for a sitrep.

The other marines look confused, and very, very nervous. The conversation is split.

"The Sarge's whacked?"
"Sarge? Nah. It's that ghost. Nuts. Damn psychics."

anyone else suspect that the thrumming we detected from the others is a sort of "spooky sense" that allows us to detect prey/things with heart beats?

alternatively, could the thousands of thrummings we detected a while back be in fact the thousands of zerglings that were going to attack?

is this now a hivemind (thrall marines) vs hivemind (spooklings) war or can we somehow jack the zerglins' minds and add them to our expanding army?

>>12650438
(You guys should really be reacting faster, or shit's going to happen on its own)

>>12650438
So, after we clean up this mess, we hop into Medical and look into Dyles' mind to learn about Medical and Killroy. Also, kill one of the marines in the office, lock Killroy up in the brig, have him raving mad. Tell Fallone that id any of the men have doubts about you they can talk to (the two dead marines) or Killroy (who should be in the brig screaming about how there are spiders under his skin. Damn crazy ghosts.

>>12650438
did his psychic mind taste better? i dunno, just curious

>>12650486
Have marines nom on zerglings? I like the idea, but wonder about practicality.

>>12650523
i was thinking more on psi-based forced hijack w/o needing actual risky physical contact, but i must admit, the image of zerglings being reverse nomed by terrans actually appeals to me. in soviet russia?

>>12650397

>Kilroy staged insanity

Muttering about how the walls/earth are speaking to him, how he must get down below, something is waiting for him down below, etc. along with all that.

But first, make it look like Kilroy attacked us in our office. I'm sure ghosts have all sorts of tricks for stuff like that, even when cuffed. Have our thralls escort him down to the brig and "guard" him (we can let him out/stage an escape at anytime and cloak him, allowing us freedom to explore). Give a sitrep to Fallone, make it sound convincing; ask him if he noticed Kilroy acting weird earlier, then proceed on to business as usual. Ask for a report on the current state of affairs, as far as the base/tunnel goes, etc.

>>12650560

Once we have everything here under control, have Kilroy stage an escape and have him start noming the population. Then that'll give us an excuse to enforce a police state and we can start noming the population en masse.

>>12650515
The scream was louder, now that we think about it. We feel much more full.

>>12650495
(seeing as this is the only plan...)

Fallone is about to lead a charge up to our office when Dyles' voice comes over the comm.

"Bastard went nuts as soon as he got into my office. Snapped Fergie's neck clean. Private Jintao clocked him across the face, though. Knocked him cold. I'm having him put in the brig. Medical to my office with a lift for Private Ferguson."

"Sir, he said--"

"I heard what he said. You want to talk to him about it, you can talk to him in the brig. Through a nice set of iron bars."

We have removed the ghost, and circumvented his work to out us. What now? Continue with enthrallment as per usual? Psionically investigate Dyles' mind? Psionically investigate the thrumming beneath the complex? Begin devouring the civilians? Some mixture of the above?

>>12650494

Also, check if Kilroy has an implant like we did. Remove it when we safely can.

>>12650601

I say we try and communicate with the zerglings. Even a simple 'sup?'-'yosup' might be informative.

>>12650601

I'm all for investigating what's down below. Should be easy enough to send a troupe of Marine-thralls to patrol the tunnel. Reach to it with our mind(s?) as well; try to make clear to whatever down there that we can hear it and we acknowledge its presence.

The Kilroy escape and civilian omnomming seems like a good plan too. Make it so!

If we have spare time, investigate Dyles' mind.

>>12650601
Investigate Dyles' mind! Must know more about Killroy! Medical would be nice too, but LEARN ABOUT KILLROY! He might have some knowledge that will help us with being a stronger psionicaly active individual.

>>12650549
(In Soviet Zerg Quest, Terrans infest you!)

>>12650625
(This was suggested earlier. My response is the same: Say what to those voices?)

>>12650602
Ghosts have an assortment of implants and modifications done to their minds. It's no wonder so many of them die before adulthood, with how jury-rigged their minds are. Removing them would be risky.

>>12650156

Why do we do this? Because now it's about survival.

>>12650646

Or learn about Kilroy, or whatever WE currently are. Whichever is more productive! Augh! Decisions at this late!

>>12650639

Keep any non-thralls here to guard the halls, and send only thralls after kilroy.

"We can't send everyone out, there are still zerg down there!"

Meanwhile, continue with enthralling marines.

>>12650652

To the voices:

We can hear you. What are you? Are you the same as us (as the vampiric-hivemind thing)? Did you cause us to become this way?

>>12650639
>Marines into the tunnel

The tunnel's entrance is collapsed. It would take at least a day to dig a power-armored-man-sized hole through, and then there are the Zerg to deal with.

>>12650646
Looking (psionically) out from Medical's mind, we peer into Dyles' mind.

We are inundated with the echoed screams of tens of thousands. It is a rushing torrent of thoughts and knowledge, churning and moving.

Now we know why the thrumming sounded familiar.

Attempt to locate a single thought in this chaos?

>>12650678
The echoing voices shout to you. They seek a host. They seek a mind. They need a master. The master of before is gone. Nothing remains but silence and waste.

>>12650683
Killroy, we must find Killroy. Then we can try to catalog and sort the voices into 'rubbish' and 'should take a look at'

>>12650706

>To: Voices
>From: Entity formerly known as Dyles, Medical, etc.
>Subject: Re: MASTERHIVEMINDNEEDHOST

Ask them WHO and/or WHAT their master was before. Try to assert/focus them to be as specific and descriptive as possible. So tired of mysterious aliens being mysterious!

Also, tell them that we are a bit of a hivemind ourselves. Would they be willing to have us be their master?

>>12650706
Well then... a Master it is.

>>12650706

I presume these are the zerg.

Talking in the long term, after we've nomed the populace, but how about we load them into storage crates in place of the normal evacuated equipment when we get extracted?

>>12650736
The voices below don't respond with anything coherent. Just the same, over and over.

Need host. Need Master. Master before gone. All is Silence. All is Waste. Need host. Need Master. Master before gone...

>>12650713
Casting about in the screams within, you locate Kilroy's soul, screaming in echoes. You begin twisting it like a wet rag, wrenching thoughts and memories from it.

they're looking for a new master, i'm not sure why we shouldn't give them one as soon as possible. After all, we aren't the only one's who've become spooky marines are we? better us controlling a 30,000 strong zergling army than them i say.

should also give us enough leverage on the other vamprines. demonstrate superiority to ensure place at the top i say!

>>12650805
also, since our ghost was a psychic before, talk psionically to the zerg via him. maybe it'd amplify whatever message we have? i seem to remember psigifted having a bit of power over zerg, what with the overmind and cerebrates being psionically gifted beings themselves

>>12650805

The problem is we don't know if, and by what degree, our control over our human thralls will be diluted if we do this. 30,000 zerg is good, but we should at least have nommed all the officers in the marines before we do, so no-one has the authority to alert anyone about us.

>>12650805
>>12650839
Try to assert control over the 17,000ish Zerg trapped in the tunnel?

>Enscur partners
Captcha has said its piece. Now, if only I knew what it meant...

>>12650805
Thought we took care of the other possibles. But, since Killroy went 'nuts' we could probably get Medical to go down to the line and check each marine there to make sure. If any of the marines are starting to show signs have her send them up to the medbay and nom then into line.

>>12650792
hey guys, this sounds like a good time to say to the zerglings that we're the fucking master now, all hail, etc.

>>12650861
We could easily have Medical tell Fallone to send up one marine at a time for a quick psychological evaluation...

>>12650858
Well, if they break through, then let's dominate them. Untill they actually pose either a threat or a useful commodity let's ignore them and focus on getting useful information out of Dyles' head

>>12650894
That works too. Better actually, as now we could nom all the marines quickly.

If we play it safe enough that we manage to infest all the other personnel on base without anyone in town finding out, how long would it take to dig out the tunnel?

I say we should use the time before evac arrives to explore just what sort of things were going on down there.

>>12650926
We initiate the process, squeezing a little bit of psychobabble and regulation out of Medical's soul.

We return to attempting to gain psionic knowledge from Kilroy's soul.

The voices within swell and sway, like a hurricane inside our thoughts.

The voices below wail and plead, like a whirlpool beneath our consciousness.

>>12650959
See:
>>12650683

Suddenly, the Zerg below may not be a concern.

(Reminder: Evac in 34 hours.
Estimated time of complete marine enthrallment: 4 hours
Estimated time of complete base enthrallment: 5 hours)

>>12650976
We squeezed Requisition for all he was worth right. So we could do his job, but well could we make that thrall act like him before he was a thrall?

>>12651048

Keep nomming marines, but do our best to learn everything from Kilroy.

>>12651061
Nom during psych evals. Someone just went crazy down there, better make sure no one else is going to go crazy, right Fallone?

>>12651058
We probably haven't got everything. His close friends and family would probably notice a difference. If we focused intensely on squeezing everything we possibly could from him, we might be able to simulate him satisfactorily. It would not return his personality, though. We would be acting like him.

<><><><>

(I'm not really planning on giving anything in particular from Kilroy aside from just upgrading your psionic understanding accordingly. Repeating "Squeeze Kilroy" isn't helping. Just sayin')

>>12651048
so we're leaving? with out exploring the possibilities of controlling the >>12647865 oddly sick-looking zerg who we may or may not be able to use to infect the rest of the zerg swarm with whatever it is we have a long with infecting the rest of humanity?

bummer.

>>12651094
Improved understanding of psionics stuff was all I really expected from Killroy, stupid ghost training and conditioning. But, if squeezing allows use to make thralls act enough like themselves to fool people who don't know them (like the evac personnel maybe) then that's good enough. Mandatory pychevals for everyone who has been near that tunnel, pronto! Nom then when they get there.

>>12651094

Search Kilroy's mind for everything he knows regarding what experiments went on here, and what intel is REALLY planning on doing once they get here, and what they've told him.

>>12651101
(34 - 5 = 29 hours post-enthrallment before evac. 29 - 24ish = 5ish hours post-digging to explore the tunnel. Maths: they come in handy!)

>>12651149
The base was experimenting on zerg. Evac will pickup everyone, and then blow the hell out of the planet. File it under massive seismic event.

Well then after the base is infected, let's get that tunnel dug out ASAP!

>>12651149
From what we've gathered, Kilroy was a member of the Ghost program. He was getting on in years (somewhat of a rarity), and was given a semi-retirement project by Intelligence: unofficially managing the operations on Vyctor. His mission was to keep an eye on the commander and the tunnel, and to take command if things went south.

He was informed that the Fujita Pinnacle was a destroyed research facility. Black Ops. Experimental Ghost training. Exotic Xenozoology. When the Zerg showed up in the Koprulu Sector, he was updated that some (though not all) of that last had been experimentation on captured Zerg.

It made his nuts shrivel to think of Zerg just a brisk walk away.

>>12651164
yey!

can we experiment on just how close we need to be to our thralls in order to maintain the connection? asking because we might be able to multitask things throughout multiple planets, eventually.

>>12651193
For 5 hours of exploring a massive complex that has no map, and is undoubtedly full of dead ends. That's a great idea, especially since that facility was blown to hell by the Sons of Korhal. I doubt there's anything useful in there that survived... well besides our little nommin plague. Our time would be better spent noming the civilians. Better ensure our survival.

>>12651212
So he's had no contact with intel beyond that?

Ok, that's good, that should mean they won't glass us from orbit.

See if we can't take control of some of the zerg.

>>12651226
Experiment how?

We don't have any ships, and it would be a waste to just send a thrall out into the cold to die when Intelligence bombards the surface.

<><><><>

(You guys can totally vote to fast forward if you're just going to wait to consume and dig...)

>>12651247
Screw these zerg! They don't have thumbs! Or even a love of musical theater! I say leave them alone. Nom base, nom city, in that order.

>>12651247
actually, lack of contact with the higher ups could be a bad thing. they start thinking that things have gone really sour down here and glassing from orbit commences.

we might need to keep at least the governor un-nomed for the time being for that.

>>12651244
Second this.

>>12650600

Shall we do it this way?

>>12651244

Multitask, son! While the tunnel is being dug, infest the civilians. We don't all have to go down in to the tunnel to explore, just send a small team. If they don't make it out in time, well most of the infested can get evac'ed.

New thought! Can we find the minds of the 2 dead thrall marines? Is so don't bother digging. Those zerg will have the minds of a decent number of people, probably a few of the scientists from the facility, so it'd be a simple matter to bring the zerglings into the fold, and then just leave them there in the tunnel afterwords.

>>12651283
(Though, of course, if you had 17,000 burrow-capable Zerg to help, it wouldn't take 24 hours...)

>>12651247
He's filed regular reports, and had evaluations and the like, but it's been pretty quiet.

Standing orders are to contact Intelligence if the commander won't. SOP in this scenario is to evac the Terrans if there's no sign of infection, and to blow the ever-living shit out of Lockston, the land over the tunnel, and the Fujita Pinnacle to prevent Zerg or any other experiments from escaping.

Now that Kilroy's been compromised, Intel will have to evaluate whether or not the situation is secure enough to allow an evac before the bombardment begins.

>>12651244
(Hint: You have the voices of 13,000 creatures that lived in that facility for 5 years romping around in your head)

>>12651293
aside from the thumbs part, neither do our thralls. mindless zombies right?

the zerg on the other hand have at the very least shown signs of intelligence what with their communicating "need master" and such.

I agree though, nom base asap. Nom city too. Via use of vampiric zerg bites or via our thrall marines, I don't really care. Can we set them on auto pilot with a "nom as many as you can" command and focus on other things while that goes on?

>>12651324
The dead are there, but their souls are...quieter. It's more of a moan than a scream from them. The one that died first is a little less enthusiastic than the one that died later. As you listen, they both become a little quieter.

>>12651328

Reiterating: Attempt to control the zerg.

See if we can't find a voice that knows the layout of the complex.

>>12651307
The Governor is a patsy. We're the only ones who can contact Intelligence, and they're the one that sent the evac. So the only person who can contact the higher-ups is us. Though the Governor is planning on complaining to the political branch, even though that wont do any good.

>>12651353
The Zerg inside, or the Zerg that are still alive?

>>12651356
i take it back then. nom him as well.

that said, am i the only one that realized just how fatal these zerglings have become (if they're actually vamplings?) they don't need to hack and slash to kill anymore. just 1 bite, suck blood, and not only did the zergling eliminate a target, it added 1 more to your thrall numbers...

have we just potentially become a greater threat than even the zerg swarm under kerrigan?

>>12651353
An out of date layout due to collapses. Better to find a voice that was part of the research teams. Screw going in when we could just probe the dead.

>>12651377
controlling the zerg inside (sickly zerg) pretty much ensures we eventually gain control of the rest of the zerg swarm any other zerg getting into a scuffle with our "little zerg pack" of 17,000 will inevitably get bitten and fall under our sway,

provided of course that we manage to get the zerg in the tunnels under our control first.

>>12651377

Both?

>>12651379
But... Kerrigan doesn't control the Swa... wait I said I'd save talk of the regular quest for wednesday. And once the base is taken, well, we can rewrite history. Killroy got infested along with some marines and staff. Managed to contain it. Isolated the facility. The civilians are not infected, can't say for sure if anyone on the base has been.

The the "not" infected civilians are evacuated while the base and everyone in it is bombed from orbit. Keep in mind we (meaning our body hivemind will be with the civilians.

>>12651421
Body jumping hivemind, not the body known as Dyles. That will be in the base.

>>12651417
(Glorious)

We seize the swirling vortex of minds inside Dyles' head, churning it and twisting it to our will. We press them against one another, sifting through memories and thoughts as inhuman as our own have become.

The Swarm. The Overmind. Separation. Static. The Small Master took control of the lost Zerg. The Small Master brought peace to their troubled thoughts during the Upheaval that destroyed the cages. They made new Zerg. They spread. But the Small Master could not survive alone. It wanted a Great Master, as the Zerg wanted it. The Small Master died, and the Zerg came here to seek a new Master. We are their Master, now.

The images are disjointed, muted, chaotic and sometimes childish. They are fading faster, now that we have pressed them. But they are not the only voices.

We reach down into the tunnel, and accept Mastery over the 17,000 Zerglings there. Their thoughts coat us like an ocean. We nearly lose our perspective in the torrent. It is life and death, chaos and order, all in one. It is like a hundred thousand orgasms pressed through three million papercuts and broken ribs.

It is...tolerable

Recap:
We're in the process of noming the base followed by noming the city. We would then wait for the evac during which we may or may not take control of the zerg (can we try this now seeing as nothing can stop the noming of the base and city?)

After evacuating our MC along with our human thralls via transports, I suggest not noming the transport pilots at least until we get to wherever we're being evacuated to (space outpost, much larger ship or directly into another planet).

Do we have a plan on how to get past security/clearance/medical checkups or will we just nom through whoever's trying to confirm we're clean and have those new thralls declares us as hazard free all the way?

>>12651421
Slight change of plan. The "not" infected civilians will be transporting as many of the zerg with them as possible.

(FAST FORWARDAN!)

Approximately 5 hours pass, and the base is ours. The Zerg below are ours. They could easily displace the stone in minutes, allowing us to release them or explore the base with marines (alternately, we could leave them down there to explore the base, since they'd cause a teensy bit of trouble up above).

If we wish to begin devouring the city, we have 29 hours.

Also, our consciousness is still contained purely within Dyles and Medical.

*sigh*

(HINT: You're not getting Zerglings past Confederate Intelligence checkpoints under Chancellor Kingston's anti-Zerg policies. That's just silly, and you know it)

>>12651505
Well then we clearly need a new repository in the civilians. I'm thinking any civilian SCV pilots. Who would expect a powerful entity such as us to reside in an scv?

>>12651467
interesting. I somehow suspected that controlling the zerg would be more difficult and require something, like say the the ghost, and that controlling more zerg would require more 'human minds' in the hive mind, psychic or not. oh well, makes things simpler for us i guess.

don't use the lings to take control of the city just yet. they'd panic and we can't risk having anyone telling anyone else about what we're doing down here. subtle city noming please. if we need a few of the zerglings to scare/ herd the city folk into the base for easier noming, then so be it.

>>12651526
>>12651527
Strategy for nomming the city?

Comments on what to do with your 17,000 Zerglings?

>>12651514
WELL< THEN I guess we'll just have to go into the city and take controll of the communications facility. Then send the zerglings into the city to nom everyone (assuming that zerglings noming results in thralls) also ensure that we have a few receptacles for out mind in the civilian populous. Pull the zerg back to the facility and follow >>12651421 In the intervening time hunt down every scientist voice we have and pump it for information.

>>12651527
also delegate a few (300?) zerglings on scout duty to scour area for any other zerg.

noming civilians will get us the scv. our terran resources are thus pretty much safe what with transports inbound. time to see if there are overlords or any other means of transportation (from the city or do we need to make one?) that will get us even a few of our vamplings out of planet glassing threat.

>>12651584
So, use 300 Zerglings to explore the facility?

>>12651582
>>12651527
You guys seem to disagree as to whether you should flood the streets with Zerg or not. Also, on whether you should convince Intel that the Zerg are still in the tunnel or have them glass the compound and hope they let the civilians go.

You should clear that up.

>>12651584
The SCVs are not military grade, they can't do much of anything, I just have a special place in my heart for the scv, Tarsonis Union of Construction And Manufacturing Personnel and all that. But, I don't think there are any overlords in an underground base.

>>12651564
noming the civilians via lings is out of the question for now as we haven't tested zerg noming mechanics so let's do that first. via an unsuspecting civilian or a yet unomed terran in the base, i leave up to the others.

it doesn't seem like we need to prove if lings can nom other zerg into becoming thralls as the fact that there were 30000 vamplings under one small master seems to confirm it for us already.

thoughts on city noming:
if lings can nom terrans into thralls, use thrall marines to take control of the city's communication centers as TUCAMP suggests then send lings into noming frenzy.

Since I doubt we'd need all 17000 lings for this though, I stand by my suggestion of sending a few of the lings to survey our surroundings and the others' suggestions of scouting the tunnels.

>>12651658

Maybe scare everyone, so we can instigate a Police State?

>>12651658

if lings don't work that way... well, it's gonna be a long night of noming for our base thralls.

>>12651658
(REWINDAN', then. Just a tiny bit)

Fallone is the last Terran left in the base that is not ours. We have taken the Zerg into us. We could use the Zerg to reopen the tunnel, and see if they can devour Fallone.

>>12651683
yes please.
>>12651681
i agree. force the city into martial law to make it easier to cut of all communications coming, going and within the city. also, have the governor by our side before starting city wide noming in case we manage to think of an 'evil monologue' that suits the occasion

>>12651683
DO IT! If it doesn't work then we'll have to seize the communications facility, and then send marines to nom every single civilian. 98 Marines for 2,000ish civilians... it will take a while.

>>12651708
(Eeeeeeexcellent, Smithers.)

Fallone is standing up to go to his psych evaluation when there is a rumble. The entire room shakes as dozens of still-sickly-looking Zerglings leap forth from the ground and charge directly at him. He attempts to fire, but is overwhelmed. The other marines do nothing.

We relish the taste of his blood as one of our Zerglings tears out his throat and drinks. We hear his scream across its mind as our consciousness expands to fill the mind of the Zergling, adding it to Dyles and Medical. We are now one consciousness across three minds. We are sure we would feel less full, were 30,000 souls not swirling about our minds.

>>12651754
Fantastic! Have the Marines take control of every facility in the city capable of sending a signal out. Then send in a few hundred zerglings. Have the zerglings coral some of the civilians so that they can be converted into places to house out mind, especial the scv crews, janitors, and other menial labor.

>>12651754
a few questions about noming mechanics

noming another terran does not add their consciousness to ours. it merely fills a hunger. noming a psi-gifted individual is more filling.

does our hunger grow? do we get full (i.e. a limit to nomage of terrans per day?)

zerg mind swimming in our mind has not affected us much aside from the oddly sadomasochistic, yet strangely erotic feeling when we first took them in?

>>12651801
The marines march out. Under the guise of assisting in preparations for the evacuation, they seize control of the only two communications beacons in the city.

Moments after these are secure, thousands of Zerglings pour out of the base. Their footfalls are deafening. They devour many, but leave more for us. Our consciousness spreads over the minds of many Zerglings. We corral Terrans into smaller groups, ripe for selection.

Meanwhile, a small group of several hundred Zerg cross through the tunnel back to Fujita. This takes some time.

>>12651818
oh wait, medical's consciousness remains intact?

>>12651837
Nom one civilian in each group, then have that one nom all the others. How many civilian mind roosts would that give us? Also how does the city look damage wise? A few thousand zerglings rinning in and terrorizing will likely cause damage. That would have to be covered up before evac gets here if we're going to convince them that the zerg didn't get out.

>>12651818
>noming another terran does not add their consciousness to ours. it merely fills a hunger. noming a psi-gifted individual is more filling.

Yes.

>does our hunger grow? do we get full (i.e. a limit to nomage of terrans per day?)

We felt satisfied after devouring Medical. We were full after the first ten marines. Accepting 17,000 new souls at once was a mind-blowing experience we will probably never feel again.

>zerg mind swimming in our mind has not affected us much aside from the oddly sadomasochistic, yet strangely erotic feeling when we first took them in?

We can't be sure. We have changed so much since we were merely Dyles, human and bitter at the early hour. We can't be sure just what we are, anymore.

>>12651857
>Medical's mind is intact?

Inasmuch as any thrall's mind is intact, screaming in the back of our minds. She is, however, one of our vessels, the brains that specifically carry our consciousness and not just a mindless meatpuppet.

The essence inside of her is the same as that inside Dyles, or inside dozens of Zerglings, now.

>>12651882
There is little damage that cannot be dismissed as caused by the rapid evacuation plans. We set to repairing that, first.

We increase our vessels. There are at least two dozen vessels carrying our consciousness, now, and all 2,000 of the citizens are ours. We pull the Zerg back into their hole, lest they be seen from orbit.

The detachment of Zerg has reached the Facility. What should they search for?

>>12651887
so they're like containers then? something akin to cerebrates minus the personalities... which if i remember correctly, the cerebrates only developed after having a big enough swarm under their control.

ok thanks for clearing that up. i agree with sir TUCAMP's suggestion of noming operandi. subtle zerglings for less collateral damage? working in the dark, stalking, in small packs. infiltrating vents, ducts etc. reminds me of the movie aliens actually, which would make the quest much more in keeping with the "spooky" title

>>12651909
The primary datacore? But zerglings don't have thumbs. SEND A FEW TUMBS! Er... I mean marines.

>>12651909
search for files regarding the experiment i guess.

the city damage can be excused with "a few of the zerg got in" i think. have 1 or 2 lings pretend to be dead around those areas for added effect maybe? they wouldn't really register as alive anyway considering they're now spooklings. maybe a have couple of terran thralls do the same?

>>12651959

Seconding this.

>>12651959
The Zerglings locate the central datacore (what's left of it) relatively quickly. Most of the equipment is smashed, degraded, and unpowered, but a few consoles are still whirring. There may be something left to find, here.

>>12651959
thirding it
>>12651987
those would make for excellent ambush troops for when the need may arise

>>12652000
(They would also prove to Intel that the Zerg escaped and contaminated the city. Continue with this plan anyway?)

>>12652030
oh yeah, scrap that idea then

>>12651987
Fix everything obvious, small stuff can be glossed over. Under no circumstances are we to say that there were zerg near the city. Killroy was Intelligence's specialist. If there was infestation, he would tell them, but we can't really pretend to be Killroy, so he has to be declared dead for the purposes of evac. But Intelligence might decide to play it safe and nuke everything that the zerg got into. So, ensuring that they believe that no zerg got near the city is paramount.

(So, mess with the computers, or fast forward to the battlecruiser arriving?)

>>12652056
Mess with computers, probe scientist voices, then evac. We just might end it tonight.

>>12652046
yeah, just realized that too. we should have enough time to fix the damage too, what with effectively having the whole base + city (sans thumbs sent for data pickup) as working manpower.

i'm really curious as to what that data will tell us.

>>12652056
are they still gonna enact a scorched earth policy? if yes, we might want to consider having the lings cooperate with each other to dig in deep enough. having a few survive would be handy, even if it'll take some time before we get back to this part of the galaxy to fetch them. (like when we get a fleet of our own... oh yes, undead spacefleet)

>>12652089
I like it. Burrow you zerglings! Your are the claws that will pierce the magma.

After sifting through damage warnings, power warnings, and data corruption warnings, we finally arrive at the data.

There were hundreds of Xenozoological experiments going on at the time of the Facility's destruction, most of them relatively innocuous. One of them, however, was just called "Psi Tadpole."

Apparently, a deep space exploration shuttle returned from a distant star system with half its crew in constant convulsions from a pair of alien tadpoles that had latched onto them like leeches and would not let go. They appeared to have fused their teeth to bone, making their removal incredibly dangerous.

Upon realizing that the tadpoles were of unknown origin, the Confederate medical authorities turned the entire crew over to Intelligence Branch. They were brought to Vyctor for study. Two died from their exposure. The pilot was exposed with their tadpoles. He died days later. The last absorbed the tadpoles, but began weeping and shouting of loneliness, controlling none and being uncontrolled.

It screamed for a Great Master, for Empties.

In time, the survivor became known as the Tadpole Man. It wasn't original, but Intelligence isn't known for being clever.

It was measured and studied, its odd psionic potential kept under an inhibitor for fear that it would convince its jailors to let it out. The scientists posited that it was part of some kind of Gestalt consciousness, and that if released, it would attempt to breed a larger consciousness. It would destroy them all to recreate its home conditions.

The last entry is nothing more than a warning that the psi inhibitor had been destroyed, with an automated distress call initiated.

>>12652132
they don't have to dig THAT deep... do they? if there really isn't anyway to save some lings, i guess we'll just have to get one of the thralls to bite some encountered zerg in the future to be able to subdue not only terrans, but the zerg swarm.

indeed, in soviet russia, terrans infest you

>>12652196
Well, not to magma. That'd be silly, we'd burn our zerglings, but deep enough that orbital bombardment/the bases self destruct wont touch them.

>>12652219
ok, dream of undead spacefleet landing on a scorched planet to summon thrallings from deep beneath the planet to aid in campaign to assimilate the universe not yet crushed? anon is happy. proceed

So, when the evac arrives what should we do?
I think we should have Dyles explain how the zerg got through, Killroy dies, but they were driven back. And the Governor McTasteyface should also contact the evac to complain about how they weren't given enough time, how the military didn't even help, and how Chancellor Kingston will be hearing about this, just like McTasteface did before being a thrall.
>kaput ructons
Yes captch those ructons are kaput

Plan to have all of our lings "attack" us as we are evacing, hurrying the process and hopefully letting more of us slip past undetected.

>>12652264
Wait, would the evac know what Dyles' job was on the planet?

A signal chime comes across Dyles' comm unit. It's on the Intelligence band.

A man in the uniform of an Intelligence Officer comes up on the HUD's video comm.

"Master Sergeant Dyles, what is the situation? Are the Zerg contained?"

>>12652276
No. No lings are to be seen or heard. Don't want anyone to get suspicious, they might check the civilians, and we can't have that. The military personnel are expendable. The civilians are not.

>>12652291
Wait, how did Killroy contact Intelligence?

>>12652149
the parasitic tadpoles remind me of the original zerg parasites that the cerebrates sort of descended from. any connection perhaps?

>>12652264
pretty much any actions that will make them think we're still normal like this. hopefully we don't encounter any paranoid types in the incoming battle cruisers.

actually, let's hope the "evac" is real and the BCs aren't coming to just exterminate everything/experiment's been abandoned.

>>12652291

Yes sir, the zerg are fully contained and we are awaiting evac.

>>12652315
Actually, I suppose it doesn't matter.
Managed to push them back. Lost 2 Marines and Killroy was driven insane. He's actually what took out those 2 marines.

>>12652315
I think intelligence just decided to contact us on it's own. couldn't contact killroy since we declared him dead, and we're the current topbrass this side of the planet.

>>12652315
He didn't. Kilroy is our thrall.

The signal is coming from orbit. The battlecruiser is here.

>>12652317
(eh, kinda. Amphibian instead of insectoid. Psionic instead of biological. Munching on humans. Nothing's original anymore)

>>12652342
But Killroy hasn't been declared dead. We'd have to tell Intelligence that, but I don't know how they contacted Killroy, so to be safe we should pin the 2 dead marines on him, and say he went insane.

>>12652354
no biggy, if the zerg parasite existed in this universe, what's to say that another species evolved in a semi-parallel way right? it's a big place.

>>12652354
I meant how did he contact Intelligence before he became our thrall, as he did have semiregular contact with them. But, I realized he can stay crazy in the brig as far as Intelligence is concerned.

>>12652056
whale doing lets make KILLROY one of out consciousness house's

>>12652291
We managed to blow the tunnel, which bought us some time to prepare. The tunneled through the mess though. We haven't seen any new zerg for a while. Seems 30k was an overestimate, more like half that. Only casualties were a mercenary and 2 marines. Mercenary went crazy while the zerg were digging and took out 2 of my marines. Locked him in the brig in case you wanted him.
>>12652420
Sadly we have no one left to nom on

>>12652354
there are still plenty down there but they aren't getting out

>>12652451
until the ships pick us up. weh eh eh eh eh

"Zerg are contained, sir," Dyles responds. "The stress was too much for Kilroy, though. He snapped. Killed two of my marines. I've got him in the brig, babbling about moons playing Frisbee or some stupid shit. We're all fine with leaving him here, after what he did."

The officer pauses for a moment.

"Confirmed. No other signs of infection? No odd behavior? Odd appetites? Incessant scratching?"

"No, sir. We've given everyone a thorough physical examination and a small psyche screening, just to be sure. Didn't want to take any chances."

"That's damn good work, Dyles. You keep that up, and you'll make officer by the time your sentence is up. Shuttles are inbound. Prepare for evacuation."

We acknowledge. We're not sure if the Officer sees our malevolent grin or not. He would mistake it for relief to be escaping Vyctor, anyway. That's a close emotion. But we are not escaping Vyctor into the open arms of the Confederacy. We are being unfettered from Vyctor, and released onto the unsuspecting flesh of the Confederacy.

Our time is just beginning. This has not been our story. This has been the prologue.

Archive:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12647865/

Hooray! Now I can go to bed and be awake in 3 hours!

>>12652502
Mayor McTasteyface returns! Also SPACE TADPOLES!

>>12652526
Writing the ridiculous tags at the end is almost as much fun as the rest of running the quest combined, in my opinion.

Alright. See you guys Wednesday!