Web of the Clans

[Swix]

The purple, white and orange Norn kept right on going until they eventually came into sight of the village. It was mostly composed of small, primitive huts in which Creatures of all kinds where moving in and out. This was odd in itself since all three Creatures, the brutish reptilian Grendels especially often started trying to beat each other up. Not here though, but they did stop what it was they were doing to stare at the aliens. More than one Ettins insect like red eye turned towards their guns.

Brock stopped his jogging once he reached the edge, and instead began strolling through the throng. Whilst he stuck out like a sore thumb it seemed they'd gotten used to him. The other thing that stuck out was the large structure in the centre of the huts, obviously meant to house more than one or two Creatures within it, and Brock was headed straight towards it.

After the minutes necessary to get there the Norn opened the double doors to them. Inside was an overlarge living room, with miniature furniture and odds and ends of various junk scattered about, it looked like someone had been collecting them. At the far end of the room were three doors, leading to the communal kitchen and dining room, the communal bedrooms and the far smaller room that both Brocks alcove and scanner.

"If one you would like to accompany me, I can find your resources for you and perhaps see how your mothership is faring" Brock said as he turned towards them "the rooms a little small, I don't think you'll all fit"

With that, Brock walked into said room and activated his scanner again.

((Excuse me for that, but I thought you'd want to get the walking over with ASAP to push this along and it's really pretty static until this point anyway))

[Coolpikaaa]

Maybe it was instinct?
Maybe it was just obvious.


Coolpikaaa somehow knew he had just been very close to death. Luckily the lab drones in the station's infirmary had managed to bring him back to conscious.

He remembered sitting in his chair, then a flash, and waking up here.Or maybe it was just a dream again.He had decided to pass the time until the drones came back again by grasping at ideas why he felt so scared after waking up.

"Hey Kaz? You there?"Coolpikaaa called out to the darkness, rasping slightly.He really had no idea what was going on.

Not hearing any response, he went back to counting dots on the ceilling and feeling horrible.

-coolpikaaa

[Kazumaru]

~Hey Kaz? You there?~

Kazumaru froze mid motion, beginning to float away from the rail. When his senses returned, he caughed the rail with his leg and brought himself back to it.

The voice was distorted and strained, but the source was unmistakable.

Kazumaru's mouth opened, making the motions that a lip reader would identify as him shouting "Coolpikaaa!"

He loosened his grip on the rail, making it just enough to keep him on it, and kicked off of the station, back towards the airlock. He almost flew along the rail, at speeds fast enough that, if his grip loosened any more, he'd fly off the station and into the void of dark, cold space.

He knew he was getting close to the door- Easily identifiable, given the writing between the rails showing which way it was to the rails. Kazumaru spun himself around, being quite careful to maintain a constant grip, so that his feet were now facing the direction he was going. When he got to the airlock, he slipped his feet down, catching them on the indent just in front of the door, slowing himself down instantly and causing what he'd later realize to be an incredible amount of pain.

He reorientated himself so he would be able to fit through the door- Although he failed to realize that the panel was upside down, as was everything inside, in relation to him.

He hit the "Open the fscking airlock" key ((Truly labelled as such. I have no idea why.)) and the door opened after about five seconds. Kazumaru crossed the threshold, falling on his head when the station's gravity caught hold of him.He quickly righted himself as the door behind him closed. Another five seconds to repressurize the airlock, and the interior door slid open.

Kazumaru raced through the hallway, slipping past the evacuating crew. He slid past the door when he attempted to stop ((Seriously, think of the momentum a six even wall of water running at just above average human speed would have.)) The spirit turned around and jogged in, and stopped at CP's side.

"Jack!" he shouted. He sounded out of breath, even though this was technically not true.

"Yes, father?" The station's AI responded in his creepily happy voice.

"Teleport me and CP down to the lab."

"Dad, I don't think that's-"

"NOW!"

In a flash of light, the Pikachu and his spirit friend disappeared.

((So as to not take up incredibly large amounts of space with what's about to happen, we be moving to the ampitheater.))

[The Clans]

Clan-Lieutenant 103 grinned behind his helmet, the ruse had worked perfectly, but the time for subterfuge was over, now was the time of war. Signalling to the soldiers, he pulled out his Planar-blaster and aimed it at Brock,

~Naive creature.~ he fired four shots. Behind him the soldiers took out their own blasters and aimed towards other nearby targets, firing hard, not a word was said.

----------

Taanookii chuckled to himself as two of Lily's daggers impacted harmlessly off its hard plates, he turned to face her, still laughing, however its laugh quickly stopped as it felt a sharp pain, the third dagger had embedded itself between two plates, this was followed by a hail of pain as shrapnel cut through its plates, dicing the flesh beneath. The Mechan fell down, already dead.

----------

~This is...typical. You attempt to save a planet from sin, and all they do is chase you in jungles!~ Clan-Priest 62's thoughts swirled around in his mind, his highly efficent squad had been forced to flee in front of lesser beings. What more, they seemed unkillable! Time for some divine intervention...

The Priest turned round,

"Stop!" the soldiers stopped automatically and regrouped, thank Y'han for discipline training. Priest 62 held his mace before him, calling out "Let these heathens fear the might of Almighty Y'han!" He pointed the mace towards where he believed Tel'Erusva's party would emerge from, a cone of fire erupted from it, setting fire to the foliage, and no doubt charring anyone in its path.

~I believe that solves our vermin problem.~

----------

Clan-Soldier 203 swore as Thresher's kick knocked him over, he scrabbled for his gun, while behind him Clan-Soldier 198 began to fire at Thresher. Finally Soldier 203 got is gun, he swung it round and aimed it towards Thresher,

"Die." he fired the gun.

----------

Clan-Lieutenant 122 swore angrily as Brackman's two drones came towards his disabled ship, he previous momentum from the teleport was lost, and the ship was sitting motionless, he diverted any power left towards weapons. The Pod-ship wheeled round, facing the drones, and began to fire, one shot...two...three...nothing, no more power. Three shots to count his life on, with two drones coming this way, and possible a massive alien mothership, the lieutenant didn't like his odds.

----------

The four Clan-Pod-Ships split up into equal groups, one maneuvered off away from Brackman's ship, the other powered down, staying before the Mothership as it streaked towards them. Lightning was still coursing between each ship, and a metallic green tint could be seen forming on the two Pod-ships that lay before the doctor's mothership.

Kamikaze warheads.

----------

The impressively large stone-like doors on the Clan-Mothership swung open as Clan-Theocrat 12, one of the powerfullest people in the Dominion strode through onto the main bridge. Ieclans and other races rushed around as they attempted to co-ordinate the different invasion forces, along with the space forces.

At his arrival, the Second in command, Clan-Seer 32 ambled up to him, unlike most Seers, Clan-Seer 32 was a Mechan, and one of the most intelligent at that.

"Loord Theeocrat, thee Alieen Mothershiip comes towardss uss!" Theocrat 12 clapped his hands together in an obviously happy gesture,

"Perfect, power up the defence grids, and activate the Planar Matrix. Ah, and also, send a squad to attack and destroy that space station, it would appear they have taken sides against us."

"Pood-shiips lorrd?" the Theocrat though for a moment,

"Yes, why not. Send a kamikaze in first, you never know what defences they have." The Mechan bowed his head, or rather, his body, before clambering off.


On the exterior of the mothership, four Pod-ships detached themselves, one streaked forward as fast as it could, lightning crackling around it.

[Cirrial]

The high pitched wail of the gaussers's cooling fans softly fades to a gentle hum. The air above the two gausser arms attached to Naine's exobody shimmers.

Naine adjusts the exobody's posture to a slightly more neutral pose, the gun-arms facing the ground.

[ Well, that was fun. What now? ]

Naine mentally sighs in relief. Goldie was just getting carried away after all.

Well, back to the Tower. And from there, in our technically invisible stronghold, we can plan a greater defense against this alien menace.

[ Hey, Naine, if we're not from this world, and we've fought some of its inhabitants in the past, does that make us an alien menace? ]

Er... um... Let's just go to the Tower, okay?

The exobody whirrs, beeps, and the unmistakable sound of engines powering up swooshes across the immediate area, and the exobody begins to rise, hovering inches off of the ground, before soaring into the air like the flying machine it now is.

It streaks over the skies, flying in a calculated curve, a faint vapour trail following it.

[rosebarks]

Lily looked at the mechan then smirked. "Ha, that's right I can't be taken advantage of that easily!" She said as she looked around. "Uh....Now where are the other ones, I doubt it was the only one." Se said thinking out loud to herself before she shrugged and went to try find a few more or help a group or two out.

[Swix]

Brock had only just got the scanner working again, training it on the alien ships moving around the Space Station since he figured the soldiers would probably want an update first. He was about to turn around and tell the single one that had followed him in when he felt something hit him in the back.

'In the back!' he thought, as a second blow struck, then a third and a fourth 'at least the Borg don't hit you in the back, they come out straight and tell you exactly what their intentions are'

Blood and mechanical fluid flowed freely out of the wounds, as they'd managed to hit some of his Borg circuitry as well. Unfortunately, though he'd raised his shield when he'd first seen them, it didn't protect him from the blasts. Not yet anyway.

The oddly coloured Norn began to slowly slide down with his biological eye phasing in and out of focus, he could hear terrified screams of the other Creatures outside as well as another, far more familiar voice screaming in anger.

'No, I won't let you do this' he thought, focusing his mechanical eye on a certain green button on the console 'I won't let them hurt the others'

He hit the button with his white, robotic arm forcefully, causing a countdown of twenty seconds to appear on the screen. A forcefield blocked each doorway, whilst a dampening field activated to prevent any teleportation, trapping him and anyone else inside the building along with him.

It was a last ditch effort on his part, an emergency plan he'd set up if the Borg ever came back for him. But it would do just as well for these invaders.

Brock managed to twist himself around as he came to rest, fixing the Lieutenant with his mechanical eye as he smiled in an odd way, clutching the staff convulsively in his right arm.

"I was once known as BorgNorn Seven Two Five" he informed the Ieclan in front of him "I am the Heir to the Creature God of Peace, and I won't let you hurt my people"

The countdown hit ten seconds.

"I'm sorry, Grarg"

~And I'm sorry Linda~
_____________________________________________________________

The familiar scream was from the Dusky Grendel who'd followed them in, in the form of a fly like creature. She'd twisted and changed, beginning to grow as soon as she'd seen the leader raise his weapon at Brock. She'd only just resumed her true Grendel form when the Lieutenant fired, caused her scream of rage and fear. Brock was her friend, and they were trying to kill him after he'd offered to help them.

The tattooed reptilian dived towards one of the soldiers who'd decided to fire at an Ettin sleeping on the couch with his gun, she was going to try to take his legs out under him.

It was about then that the forcefield came into effect, trapping the Grendel inside as well. She didn't even hear his apology, as the screaming from outside drowned everything else out. Only a single Norn had managed to run out of the building with his life, the rest were dead or dying after the soldiers had shown their true hand.

[Intyalle]

~~Tel'Erusva~~

Just up ahead, I spotted the fire speeding through the bushes.
"Ah shi-"

Then it hit us, and I found myself suddenly and forcibly jerked into the body of the only unharmed AP, Mist. Looking through Intyalle's... not eyes, she had no body, but concept of eyes, I saw her still at the scene of my not-quite-death, resurrecting bodies. Fortunately, I was first and I gratefully slid back in out of the racket of all the other APs being crowded into one mind.
I looked up at Intyalle. "Shall we keep going, do you think? Or just leave it and hope Agarwala doesn't set off after them again?"
Intyalle thought for a moment. "I think they are bad news, but should we try get rid of them or avoid them?"
Melanaur was the next revived. "Go after them," she said firmly. "We don't really have that much to lose, with Mist off being a safe place to rendavous if Tel'Erusva dies too. Killing al of us at the exact same time is difficult for anyone, and with Mist so far away I doubt they'll manage it."
"Fair enough. You two go on, I'll revive the others."
I nodded and Melanaur and I trailed after the group, only a few minutes behind.

[The Clans]

((Please excuse our...extended leave. This invasion does not rank high in our priorities))

Clan-Lieutenant 103 rolled his eyes at Brock,
"And another, I'm heir to this, heir to that. I'm part of this empire, this republic, this society. I serve this and that." suddenly his voice grew hard,
"When will you people learn?! I don't care who you are! I'm trying to kill you! I couldn't care less whether you were a BorgNorn, whatever the hell that is, or whether you're heir to some false god!" he aimed his blaster at Brock,
"You'll soon be dead, so why should I care?" he fired it.

Outside, the soldier attacked by Grarg fell hard as his knees buckled as the Grendel attacked him, his gun fell some distance away, the other soldiers were too busy to notice him,
"Damn lizard! Get the hell of me!" he roared, pounding his fists any part of Grarg he could reach.

----------

Clan-Priest 62 stared disbelievingly as he heard Tel'Erusva and her group following them. Would nothing destroy these heathens?! He needed to act fast,
"Assemble! Prepare weapons, fire on sight!" before him, the remaining soldiers aimed their guns at the bushes they had come through, ready to fire.

[Dr. Gustaf Brackman]

((I am somewhat confused, Clans. The 'no-name' ship that was disabled by the EMP is the one my two drones were heading for, not Lieutenant 122's pod, and I'm not sure why his craft has lost power. But hey, your loss, not mine.
I will edit accordingly if I misunderstood, and if the damage I display being done to my vessels is not adequate or appropriate.))

Brackman cringed, watching two of the Clan pods refuse to move from his ship's path. There was only one reason why they would make no attempt to evade. He frantically ordered what cannons whose firing arcs permitted to try and blast the two ships out of the sky, but to no avail. The behemoth had too much momentum now and the cannons were too large to ever hope to aim or avoid in time. The scientist ordered his warship to turn sharply, but it was too late.

If the pods had not been ordered to self-destruct on impact, they would have surely bounced harmlessly off the Mothership's energy shielding. But upon detonation, the sudden release and huge magnitude of planar energy disrupted this protective shell, allowing the full force of the explosion to rip open a sizable breach in the left side of the ships foremost section; the 'nose' for lack of a better term. One of the front cannons was also hit, and the force of the blast flung it violently from the ships skin in a shower of sparks and flame from the severed power conduits. It now tumbled haphazardly towards the CSS.

Had the vessel been constructed to be pressurized, the damage could have been much more severe from the resulting decompression. But this ship was designed for non-organic lifeforms, which conveniently did not require atmosphere to function. No sooner had the wound in the hull been created, than a swarm of insect-like droids within the chambers buzz to action, clambering about with no sense of 'up' or down' and commencing repairs. It would take time to completely undo the internal damage and replace the lost turret, but the breach itself would be closed in minutes.

On the bridge, an angered and slightly shaken Brackman scowled and gave orders to the drones left behind his ship. The two that had pursued the EMP-disabled Pod opened fire, their total of eight guns (one on each long face of the slightly geometric, generally rectangular drones) spewing shots of blue, flaming plasma directly at it. Just as they did so, a planar blast streaked in between them. Then a second hit home one one of the drones...and the third completely disabling its relatively weak shielding and ripping through its hull, destroying it in a spectacular fireball.

Now, Brackman didn't like it when someone destroyed one of his ships. It was time to show the Clans he meant business. The remaining frigates set their sights on the Clan Pods in the vicinity of the CSS. Each would experience the foul taste of an EMP torpedo. With a thud, the ordinances were launched in synchronization from the Drones, each heading for its own target...

Brackman's Mothership continued to plow forth towards the Clans flagship. It would soon be in range...

[Swix]

Brock smiled at the alien in front of him, how strange this was. He thought he should be more afraid but he wasn't, in fact he felt quite peaceful.

5...

The fifth shot did not make contact with Brocks fur and underlying skin this time, instead it hit Brocks still activated Borg shielding that had finally adapted, causing a green ripple in the air in front of the Norn as it harmlessly dissipated off the Creature.

4...

"You don't understand" Brock said to the Ieclan, his voice as calm as a summer breeze despite his injuries.

3...

"I should try to make you, but there's not much time"

2...
_____________________________________________________________

The Grendel cried out in pain as several of the soldiers punches hit her tough black scales, even though they provided a little protection her Dusky skin still hurt.

"No" Grarg cried as saliva began to froth around her fangs "You hurt Grargs friends, Grarg hurt you!"

The reptilian then continued her assault by attempting to batter the Ieclan with her powerful forearms and muscular tail. The 'Nature' part of her wasn't going to allow this, not without a fight.

[The Clans]

((We apologize once again for our absence. All hostile rebellions have been crushed, this invasion shall restart immediately.))

Clan-Theocrat 12 cheered silently as he saw the kamikaze ships rip through the enemy Mothership's hull. However, he frowned as he noticed the drone's start to repair it. Disappointed that the breach in the hull hadn't apparently killed off the crew, he barked out more orders,
"Prepare the Planar Matrixes for fire! Power up defensive grids full!"

----------

Three of the four Clan-Pods near the CSS halted suddenly as the EMP torpedos impacted on their hulls, disabling their propulsion systems. One however, eschewed the torpedo, launching countermeasures as it flew away and towards the drones, firing madly at them.

----------

Clan-Lieutenant 103 gave a laugh,
"So what is it? A self-destruct?" he didn't care whatever was happening, all he was concerned with was killing Brock. Smiling crazily, he fired more shots at the Norn.

Clan-Soldier 379, pounded by Grarg, swore loudly, before suddenly cutting off into a agonised scream. His armour, not designed for heavy hand-to-hand, had splintered, and the Grendel's punches had driven those shards deep into his eyes. Blue blood flowed out the broken armour as his body went limp, dead. Two soldiers had seen this, and they proceeded to shoot the obviously dangerous reptile.

----------

Clan-Lieutenant 122 sighed resignedly as he watched the drones fire at his ship,
~That'll teach me to go around conquering worlds...~ behind him, a raging inferno erupted as the plasma shots breached the hull.

[Swix]

Brocks odd smile remained fixed only the alien as his shields filled his vision with harmless green ripples thanks to the adaptability of Borg technology.

"That's the countdown" he affirmed.

1...

"but the rest you'll never know" Brock finished as he closed both his liquid brown eyes, whilst his grip let the staff slip away. The Norn missed the items disappearing act however thanks to this.

"Self-destruct sequence activated" the mechanical female voice informed them all as the purest green glow began emanating from Brocks alcove, the scanner panel, and the floor. This whole communal dwelling had been wired by the ex-Borg to blow up with devastating effect to those inside. Bodies would be charred beyond recognition if not outright vaporized, the radiation emanated from it would melt even Brocks robotic parts. But the forcefield would protect the majority of the population whilst containing the explosion within.
_____________________________________________________________
The black, rabid looking reptilian looked at the thing below her with no remorse as it screamed and died. But her hesitation cost her dearly when the other soldiers within the room fired at her, causing the Grendel to look at her wounds with uncomprehending red eyes.

They then focused upon the others as she emitted a low growl with bared teeth, the last sound she'd ever make in her lifetime.
_____________________________________________________________

Outside:

Pandemonium raged as Creatures of all species ran away from the building containing the invaders, as well as two of the creatures that claimed to be from a more advanced civilization. It was one of those same creatures that had warned them what the alarm meant, so they scurried as far away from the central communal complex as they could possibly go before it happened.

The green glow increased exponentially within and without, until it reached the point of intolerance.

A muffled sounding BOOM could be heard for miles across the moons surface, yet the only building that suffered any damage was the one that contained a Grendel, a Norn and a group of invading aliens.

It was nothing more now than partially melted, smoking rubble.