Log:The Horde Finale, Part 5

The Horde Plot 2008/01/28 	 Amber and Azure Silver Spider Skysabre Random Factor The Maid Variable Victor Vitalis 1

The Queen runs towards along the ceiling of the tunnel, racing towards Silver Spider and the others. Seeing them, it hisses and spits at them.

"If you can hold this abomination, I will blast it. I fear that otherwise I will waste energy." Skysabre comments to Silver Spider before breaking away to dodge.

At this range, the Queen misses it's mark and the goo collects in a pool that drops from the ceiling.

Silver Spider vaults forward towards the Queen, avoiding the goo with a graceful squish as it splashes on the floor behind her. Her eyeslits narrow. "That...that's just...unspeakable...."

Narosia teleports again, forehead wrinkling with the effort of transporting so much mass twice with only a few seconds worth of rest, sacrificing a few feet for upward leverage, streaming wildly towards it. Dangerous and also prone to failure.

Amber heads towards the Queen's position at a full run.

Azure shakes her head sadly at Kiharz, "I'll keep the sword save until you're feeling better. She backs away ten yards and tosses a silvery sphere at Kihzra's feet.

As Amber runs down the tunnel after the Queen, the floor gives way, revealing a carefully hidden pit. She manages to grasp the edge of the far side of the pit before falling. The pit is a 2" drop, and at the bottom of it lies a dozen Taker eggs. At the sound the commotion the eggs begin to hatch.

Amber holds onto the edge of the pit very tightly, "Oops."

Variable says to Random, "I'll be ok - you go join the fight!"

The Maid flies on a straight line intercept course for the Queen... "A... girl?" she says out loud as she looks upon the Queen.

Silver Spider settles on the wall near the Queen and sardonically says "So...do those worms on your back give you diaper rash?" She flicks her eyes to the little possessed girl and launches a bolt of energy at the queen, spreading it out to get rid of the worms...

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Wow. Must have been the diaper rash comment.)

Skysabre eyes the Queen coldly. "Do not be fooled by its exterior. Given the chance that organic would enslave your entire civilization as its kind has countless others. Do not hesitate to destroy it."

Amber pulls herself up from the edge of the pit. Just in case there are more she puts on her anti-grav belt and sets it for a slow fall rate of 1" per minute. Then she charges on ahead on the ground willing to trigger any further traps before the others are caught up in them.

Azure leaves Kihzra to wander around in her personal darkness and charges down the tunnel after the rest of her group.

The Queen races along the corridor, moving easily along the wall and ceiling as it would on the floor. It runs toward Silver Spider, pauses, and then spits again at her.

The Queen's spit lands on a pipe next to the Spider and quickly eats a hole into it.

Amber and Azure accelerate to a full run closing in on the queen but with some distance to go.

Skysabre zooms forward towards the Queen, trying to close distance with its enemy.

The Queen leaps forward and tries to swat The Maid out of the air.

Variable rolls to her feet, though not as quickly as she hoped - a giantess, in her usual costume but 21' in height - and lumbers off down the tunnel, stooping somewhat, ripping an old gate off rusty hinges as she passes it.

After being stunned for a moment Victor bolts down the hallway toward the queen, he draws out his syringe gun and pushes his century old legs down the tunnel with mence in his eyes.

Silver Spider looks at the hissing queen and says "You know...somewhere, there is a place where that little girl's soul is going to go to. And it's a place you're never going to reach. How does a race of creatures like you continue to exist?" She twitches. "And enslave everything you come across?" The blast of energy rockets across the dark as she swings forward, filled with blue green light and the twitch of fury.

The Queen leaps forward to attack Silver Spider, reaching for her with a hand glisten wetly with some substance.

Silver Spider gracefully dodges as the slimy little hand of the child reaches out, flicking her eyes down. "And that's why you shouldn't play in the mud and wear clean clothes. Do your spawn know you dress like that?"

Amber and Azure slow to a more controlled pace as they continue to close the gap to the Queen.

Skysabre angles itself on the Queen, focusing its plasma launchers on its frame. "That which does not become part of the One, shall become Void. Join those who have gone before you at the hands of the Elders." It launches a full barrage, careful to angle itself to try and avoid Silver Spider.

Variable continues lumbering down the tunnel, but as fast as she can now, her footsteps reverberating ahead of her.

The Maid raises herself onto her knees and lifts herself up. She then tries to punch into the smily membrane that surrounds the young girl inside, trying to see if she can perhaps extract the girl from the slime.

Silver Spider looks down at the Queen and says "Well, I'm faster than you, but no one else is. So I guess it's a little rude for me to ask you to stick around." She lowers her hand and launches webbing at the little girl, keeping an eye on the others.

The Queen writhes out the webbing easily. She reaches to strike at the Maid once more.

Silver Spider mutters. "Oh, boy. That didn't work..."

"If we cannot hold her then we must destroy her." Skysabre comments. "Easier said than done given the state of my targetting systems..."

The Maid says, "No, wait! What if the girl inside this slime is being held captive. We should save her!"

The Queen grabs The Maid and tries to slam her against the tunnel floor.

Amber and Azure grin. Unless there's something they don't know that's a big tactical error on the Queen's part.

Victor takes another full move down the tunnel, pushing himself hard to get close enough to take a shot...after he moves he levels a shot, he had a few charges and this could save alot of lives...

Amber and Azure move closer to ten metes range from the Queen. Once more their energy whips come out. Once again they risk exposure but this is too important for half measures. Lashing out in synchronized attacks the twins strike at the queen from beneath on each side.

Skysabre turns to the Maid as she falls, then to the others. "Do not think the Horde is so simple that they just possess a human and call it their Queen. Do you think that they do not know you? My people know you and I am the first of my kind to ever set foot here. This Queen is not a possessed human. It is an alien. If you had my sight you would be able to see this. It has chosen this form to evoke in you the most primal organic instincts of maternal protection. Do not be fooled."

Krakt! Krak! The twins connect with their energy whips, launching the alien Queen into the air. It lands on the ground with a thump, in roughly the same place it was before.

The Queen still has a hold on The Maid.

Silver Spider looks down at the Queen and says. "It's...not human?" Her eyes narrow. "I certainly hope you're right..." She says as she takes a deep breath. "Here goes nothing. Sorry, Queenie. I rule. You go back to school. This is my city. Now go home!" The dull roar of the energy bolt fills the corridor and she unloads the thick, massive corkscrewing bolt of energy, thundering in the dark of the tunnel...

The roar of energy smashes into the little girllike thing, kicking it back along the corridor, as it thumps roughly into the dirt. "Your people are going to take care of this thing, Skysabre?" She says sadly, slumping on the wall. "I wish we hadn't already lost."

Variable keeps running down the tunnel - the Queen may be defeated but what about the others?

Azure says, "We haven't lost, Silver. We won. The price has been high though."

Vitalis reaches the entrance to the tunnel, and looks down, deciding to enter. He follows the tunnel onwards.

Skysabre descends towards the Queen. "My people will take care of it if yours are not willing to do what must be done." The Air Commander replies. "And what must be done is immediate destruction."

Victor arrives still holding his strange weapon, cigar now in mouth seeing that it is down and he lits it with a gold lighter as finally approaches. "Whew...ezcellent vork! Now ve can end zhis once and for all.."

Variable says, "You can't kill her - I mean, she's a person right? If a very bad person."

Victor says, "She izent a she at all...merely a vessel for a parasite"

Silver Spider turns to Azure for a moment and sighs. "We lost. If the people of Colonial Bay had worked together, or someone, anyone was willing to break the rules, we wouldn't be staring at all this loss and suffering."

Vitalis notices Khizra as he passes by, "OH. you are alright, well no, you aren't. Uhmm.. This is going to hurt." then reaches out his hand and do the best way of doing taker extraction.

Variable says, "She's sentient! That makes her a person."

Amber says, "I hate to say this but Variable is right. As soon as she spoke it was obvious she's sentient, kind of. You can't kill her."

Skysabre glances at Variable. "It is a plague. If you are not willing to destroy it, I must intervene." The Air Commander walks towards the Queen, trying to pick her up.

Victor says, "Vhat doez zteience mean for zuch creatures?!"

Azure says, "I don't know. Yeah, a big part of me says go ahead. But if there's one thing I've learned it's that killing is wrong. Simply wrong."

An uncomfortable look crosses what can be seen of Variable's face. "Maybe um....."

Silver Spider turns to Skysabre. "Take it to your people. Maybe they can study it and learn something from it. Maybe it's not too late to do something for it."

Now that the Queen is unconscious, Kihzra stands around quietly, not moving.

"Could we sterilise her? I mean, it's not killing exactly, and she wouldn't be like a plague then." Variable clearly isn't comfortable suggesting even this.

Vitalis extends his hand and with grace a golden light reaches in and rips out the taker. He quickly reaches out with his other hand and attempts to heal Khizra as fast as possible.

"Your sentimentality as a people is as admirable as it is suicidal." Skysabre replies somewhat softly as it hefts the Queen. "The Elders have maintained a position fifteen lightyears from Earth throughout the crisis. It will be a simple thing to retrieve the Queen."

Amber puts her energy whip away wondering if that public use will have repercussions. "Even the most vicious of killing machines can reform. If you fight and kill just goes on and on. If you can establish communication maybe there's some way to stop all this happening ever again.

Victor says, "Vour willing to risk all of humanity to try zist action?"

Variable says, "Is there any way to confine them to where there aren't any other sentients?"

Azure has tears glistening in her eyes as she says to Victor, "You don't understand. If I agree with killing that, where do I draw the line? I won't start killing again."

Skysabre glances at Variable. "My people are mechanoids. It could no more possess us than it could the stone you are standing on." It starts to walk away. "I am going to the surface to contact the Elders in order to remove the Queen. I am still open to suggestions but I will not permit that it remains on Earth simply to study."

Victor starts to speak but apparently loses his wind, removing his glasses and cleaning them thinking and looking sadden from drawing out tears from the young lady.

Silver Spider turns to Skysabre. "No, I think your people should have it..." She says cooly. "I don't want it here."

[To Skysabre] Variable says, "If it's away from sentient organics it's not a threat, right? So yeah, it's best if it's not here."

Vitalis treats Khizra and moves onwards towards the resting place of the queen, stopping to treat the wounded and taken on the way.

Skysabre nods to Variable. "This is for the best. You all have fought valiantly, and we recognize the difficulty of this task. More 'advanced' civilizations than yours have fallen to the Horde. Count yourselves among a select few."

The Maid slowly gets up, with a bit of a headache and a slight swoon to her stance.

Vitalis looks over at the Queen and quirks his head a bit. He gradually moves closer to it, "So, this is the queen."

Amber offers the Maid a hanky.

Variable says, "Is it all over then? What about all the warriors and takers and taken?"

Amber says, "Good work eventually, Maid. When she grabbed you she left herself wide open to Silver."

Vitalis looks at The Maid, "Oh, do sit down." then reaches out with his hand and attempts to treat her head dizziness.

Silver Spider shrugs. "We vaporized a lot of them." She says. "I'm not really sure. There could still be others out there. That bothers me a lot."

The Maid curtseys to Amber and accepts the hanky. "Thank you, Madamoiselle." she says as she curtseys. She then looks towards the "Queen". "Is that poor girl alright?" the Maid asks.

Vitalis looks and says, "That isn't a girl, that is an alien."

"Without the Queen they will wither and die. It may not be comfortable for a short time but the greater danger is gone." Skysabre replies, then stands a bit straighter. "We are prepared to receive it."

Azure says, "Silver, there's a pit trap back along the tunnel with a dozen eggs in it. Do you want to fry them?"

Vitalis shakes his head, "Absolutely positively not human at all."

The Maid curtseys to Vitalis. "I stand corrected. That poor 'alien girl' then."

Variable nods. "Even the warriors are - ow!" She rubs her head where she banged it. "I'm not used to being this big.

Silver Spider turns to Azure. "I'll take a walk..." She says and begins walking along the ceiling towards the pit. "There's no sense in the cleanup crews getting possessed."

Vitalis pauses as he attempts to assist the Maid, "Shouldn't Starguard be consulted before you hand over an alien to a foreign power?"

Amber tells Variable, "Yeah. That was neat. Gross but neat."

Victor slides his weapon into his coat, "Vell...zhen zi zuppose everything iz over now. Zi have zome work to do at zhey hospitalz"

Amber says, "Starguard will agree."

Variable says, "I've got to work out what to do with all this excess mass now. I can't really go home like this. Anyway... really I'm too big. It's hard to make a good body this big."

Vitalis shrugs and says, "If you say so. Just some may be upset you let that get away. You know the government types."

The Maid tries to walk over to the 'alien girl' and cover the queen with her apron, to give the young girl/queen some dignity.

"Starguard can object to me. Your 'government types' are the last ones who should possess this creature." Skysabre replies to Vitalis. The Air Commander seems to shift, its armor plating separating audibly, drawing fine fissures along its entire surface. It eyes turn blue and it begins to look skyward. The fissures are alight with the blue glow of its inner plasma workings. "Localizing signal."

Victor says, "Zi vill imagine Vitalis can mend zhings from here.."

Vitalis looks at Skysabre, "Good thing I took samples." then shrugs.

Victor turns about and moves toward his new created hole and begins to disappear into the above world once more.

Variable thinks. "If I'm really clever I can probably shed it as chocolate. But I think even with chocolate a couple of tons is too much."

From down the corridor, there is a blue green flash and the sound of roasting creatures.

Vitalis looks at Variable, "So, you can't shrink back?"

[To Vitalis] Variable says, "Sure, but I have to shed the mass somehow. It has to go somewhere!"

Vitalis shrugs and says, "Uhmmm, oh.. well we are in a sewer, how bout water?"

Variable says, "I can't do water."

"All things must go someplace." Skysabre comments, floating a foot or so off the ground. Its voice sounds distant, as if its focusing on something very, very far away.

Vitalis pauses and says, "Oh, uhmmm, solids only, fascinating."

Vitalis pauses, "How bout, uhmmm butter?"

Variable says, "I could put it all back kind of like it was, but that's.... kind of disgusting. Maybe butter. Is that better than chocolate?"

Vitalis pauses and says, "Oil, can you do oil, like olive oil?"

Variable says, "Oh, vegetable oil is easy."

Vitalis nods and says, "Great, vegetable oil, it'll just flush down and decay away."

The Maid looks about and states, "We must not allow that poor 'alien girl' to be killed. Just because it is different from us, does not justify it being murdered! She is alive and sentient. She is different from us, but are we not different from normal humans too? She has inalienable... truly inalienable... rights!" After a moment, the Maid calms herself a little bit and curtseys politely.

"All things must decay. That is the curse of the material, to rust, to decay, to fall to entropy. All save the One." Skysabre elevates the Queen, as if offering her as a sacrifice to some unseen god.

Variable nods, and, in the absence of any better suggestion, all but disappears in a splash of vegetable oil.

Vitalis looks over and says, "Killed, you mean your letting the Elder's spy take the alien to be executed?"

Silver Spider limps back down the corridor, head hung low. She heads over to Vitalis. "You leave Skysabre alone. Skysabre has inalienable rights too. Just because his religion includes being part of the giant machine doesn't make him bad."

The Maid flies up and tries to act as an airborne roadblock in front of Skysabre's path.

Skysabre glances towards the Maid. It isn't really moving. "But the material is only the beginning, the foundation. Those with understanding can change material at its most basic level. Alter crystals. Reinforce metals. Generate energy from inert matter. Open paths between the stars." It pauses. "But this is your victory. I am taking this Queen because I am ordered to. I cannot allow it to stay here simply for moral or scientific concerns. I do not know what will happen to it, but where it is going it poses no threat. Allow me to do this."

Variable pulls herself out of the remain puddles and says, "A waste though, maybe. I might want to make myself big again some day."

Vitalis shrugs and says, "Wait till the press hear this." then returns to treating any other wounded.

The Maid says to Skysabre, "Please forgive my impropriety, but I cannot allow you to take her to be killed." She curtseys formally in mid-air to Skysabre, before saying, "By force, if necessary. I humbly request that you yield."

Amber goes to stand close to the Maid. "What alternative do you offer?" The question is asked quietly and with worried concern.

"It is going one way or the other. You can only delay." Skysabre replies. "Allow me to remove it from this world. It may yet endure."

The Maid looks over towards Amber. "I honestly don't know, Madamoiselle. She is in the form of a human girl. Perhaps she can comprehend like one too. Or, if there is some habitat she can live where she will not harm others... But I cannot just let her die."

"I will solve your quandary by removing her." Skysabre replies. "The risk is too great." The air starts to crackle around the Queen.

Silver Spider turns to the Maid, and lifts her hand up at the wrist. She peels her wrist down to show the chocolate flesh, and says "I will not let this thing enslave anyone. Ever again. America did not fight a civil war and spend years overcoming racism so that everyone could experience slavery on Earth."

[To The Maid] Variable says, "Then go with her and make sure she doesn't die! But if she stays here, billions will die."

The Maid flies and tries to grab onto the Queen/girl.

Amber says, "Before we start something we're all likely to regret let's get some facts. First, if we kept her here, can she survive without Taken ansd Warriors to cater for her needs?"

Skysabre eyes the Maid. "Release her. There is no oxygen where she is going. Not that she needs it."

Vitalis looks up and says, "Surely Starguard can put her in a cell, and place it in a coma of sorts."

Vitalis looks and says, "I've studied the genetics and biochemistry of this species enough, I do think I found a way to neutralize it of sorts."

The Maid looks determined. "Forgive me, but I will not release her. I would rather perish myself than allow her to be killed."

Skysabre pauses for a moment, then simply nods, though it isn't looking at the Maid. "Understood." The Air Commander reverts back to its armored form, the blue glow dying out. "We will give you more time to make a decision on the condition that it remain in Starguard custody. I will consult with your authorities and if the proposed solution is agreeable we will go from there." It releases the Queen.

This dark tunnel is less of a sewer than the others and has all the makings of an abandoned subway tunnel. It's dimly by emergency lighting and daisy-chained powercords and portable battery cells.

Variable says, "Let's get out of these tunnels!"