Sojourn

This thread is a collection of the news stories and post directly tied to the hivemind arc. This post here is placed for the purpose of recaps and results at the end of the arc. Each week, it is highly suggested after events to check this thread for new recaps on either Sunday or Monday.

Later on this specific post will recap the code and development changes that happened as the end result of this arc.

"Upon our Doorstep" (Event 1)

Tragedy has struck as the upper levels were once again embroiled in a conflict resulting from an attack by the Hivemind. For new colonists and those unfamiliar with the territories many threats the hivemind is a techno-organic nanite virus from which man and machine are forcefully subverted and then combined into hellish monsters that seek to spread the virus. Despite the hivemind being widely known for its incredibly dangerous potential, little is truly understood about why they target the colony so zealously, nor is much understood of how they function beyond the end result of the monsters and machines made.

As of recently, this has been the first attack the colony has failed to fully fight off. In the past, attacks were often routed with relatively few casualties. However, this particular assault ended with nearly one third of surface team members perishing or becoming missing in action. The attack was a two pronged plan, with the main fortress of the hive mind being established in the ironhead compound after it was temporarily seized by the resident void wolves. From here, the hivemind staged an assault ramp through the use of burrows to send their infectious machine wiring. Once these wires established themselves, they began to subvert machines and rally forces inside the colony, with hive lords focusing their attack primarily on the colony itself. An away team primarily consisting of blackshield, prospectors, and crusader protocol-ed members of the church (along with soteria medical and mech support) assaulted the ironhead compound to destroy the hive minds base of operations.

Meanwhile, colonists of all factions patrolled and destroyed several growing infestations while the away team worked at purging the source. The deployment of mechs and wide dispersion of armor and supplies still did not make the task an easy feat, as hive lords equipped with the stolen void wolf equipment proved exceptionally challenging to put down, requiring the use of one to three mechs each time. Thankfully, initial infestation and damage was relatively light compared to that of the ironhead compound from which the away team sustained heavy losses and injury, but ultimately succeeded in purging the area, including the take down of a single hivemind tyrant.

Sadly, this was not the end of the attack. The hive mind consolidated all forces onto the research lower labs, the oft ignored outpost where anomaly and toxins testing is often performed. The area had been heavily reinforced by hivemind tech, focusing specifically on entrenching themselves as deeply as they could under the direction of a hive lord and two tyrants. This ultimately proved successful, as the casualties and deaths were so great on the side of the colony that Soteria Director Mkne was forced to take a nuclear option. Through the use of a teleporter and a toxins bomb, the lower lab was completely obliterated using, the action seen as controversial as the damage and subsequent cost to repairs will have lasting ramifications for the institute. Yet, more importantly, said action cosigned any and all remaining people and corpses in the lower labs who could not evacuate near total obliteration. Few who survived, went on to be placed within full body prosthetics if tissue could not be regrown, while others were beyond revival.

The end result is a wave of shock through much of the colony, as it is rare for the surface teams to obtain victory at such a heavy cost. Nadezhda has the bleeding edge of weaponry, armor, science, mech support, explosives, and technology both organic and biological that is beyond the comprehension of other factions here on the frontier. It is plain to this humble newscaster that the hive mind seeks to incorporate that into its greater whole. What is not clear, and what many speculate, is that an attack this heavy was done because of the recent ascension into psionics many within the colony have recently achieved. Rumors are abound as to the potential coincidence. But who can say?

"If it can bleed." (Event 2)

Those within the colony who were on the surface during a rather auspicious event have already learned that preliminary testing has begun on two captured hive lords 'generously' gifted to Nadezhda by the Excelsior. In lieu of the usual news write up, several scientist from the Soteria research and medical divisions have provided extensive research notes and theories which will be related here, modified for convenience.

Research Write-up Personnel:
Jeanne Petite
Lilly Trilby
Nea Synora

Subject(s):
Hivemind Creature (Hive Lord) - Subject name: Alpha
Hivemind Creature (Hive Lord) - Subject name: Beta


Experimentation Results:

Strengths
-Organ regeneration (internal/external)
-Broken bones rapidly mend.
-Limbs rapidly regenerate.
-High pain tolerance.
-Extremely high resistance to physical damage.
-Unshakeable morale, the subjects displayed no change in demeanor even when mutilated or decapitated.
-Immense physical strength, rivaling and exceeding known heavy hitters such as primal renders or croaker lords.
-Unable to be restrained barring use of effective means of damage or straight jackets.
-Immunity to EMPs.

Weaknesses
-Effected by chemicals such as sleeping chems or other bodily destructive reagents.
-Use of acid proved exceptionally destructive to Hive Lord Beta's body both internally and externally.
-Fire proved effective at heavily weakening and even rendering Hive Lord Beta's body inert before regeneration.
-Emitter rays proved exceptionally effective at disabling limbs, but did not take down Hive Lord Alpha even after two consecutive shots.
-While highly resistant to pain, enough physical violence to the body will eventually knock them down for a short time.
-Use of mental effects generated by the Von Krabin caused Hive Lord Alpha to vomit oil. Cause unknown. No other side effects recorded.

Note(s):
Hive lord Alpha proved exceptionally talkative but remained entirely elusive when questioned. Alpha displayed a crude and obnoxious personality, often shouting, making inappropriate sexual comments, and insulting those present in a jovial manner. This ran counter to the constant attempts to escape and willingness to harm security and church personnel without care or consideration, nearly killing those attempting to subdue them multiple times. Methods to disable and keep the subjects in their cells proved quite difficult, as only the extensive use of scourges and stun batons were able to keep subject Alpha down long enough for him to be contained. Recovery from damage, be it from decapitation, fire, lasers, cuts, or beatings was near instantaneous, giving both subjects durability unseen in prior engagements. This, coupled with there extreme levels of physical strength, made both subjects highly volatile and dangerous even when armed with only their fists.

Of what could be discovered surgically, hive lords appear to be entirely flesh based but highly malformed, suggesting either severe mutation or use of micro-nanite technology (many consider the latter more likely given the source). Organs appeared to be functioning and normal in appearance until carefully examined, from which tell tale signs of malignancy could be detected, though the tumors proved to be vestigial when examined. Subject Beta displayed the ability to regrow its brain when the first one was removed, allowing it to continue functioning as if a critical organ had not been lost. Removal of core organs however, did prove lethal for a short time before being hastily regenerated. Researcher Lilly noted that subject Beta's body seemed to be rapidly adapting to methods to destroy it, though if this was true it has yet to be verified. Researcher Nea also noted that once separated, subject Beta's severed brain proved inert and did nothing even when interfaced with an MMI. However, subject Alpha seemed to find the idea funny, when questioned about it, leading to researchers to speculate interfacing any organs with technology to be extremely unpredictable and highly dangerous.

Of what both subject's spoke of, subject Alpha proved to be far more talkative, answering questions vaguely and without more than mere hints. Subject Alpha noted he was able to see subject Beta despite being separated, claiming he could see through subject Beta's eyes, this was verified when subject Beta was temporarily killed and Alpha was able to relate the exact moment. It was unable to be verified if claims that Alpha and Beta were the same being, but circumstantial evidence points towards that being true. Subject Alpha proved most talkative to Neri Ventado of the church, even willingly offering a sword he managed to take during a scuffle to contain him in exchange for Neri taking off her armor. Subject Alpha claimed in conversation with Neri that it required "Cruciforms, the right flesh, all the stuff from the same parent" to create more hive lords. However when pressed on the subject he switched to taunts.

In a later conversation, subject Alpha speculated about how the Excelsior was terrified of the hivemind but did not elaborate as to why. Researcher Jeanne speculates that the mind slaved communist are terrified that the hivemind may subvert and thus use excelsior technology, giving them reliable use to the only known methods of bluespace teleportation beyond a star system and planetary level. This hypothesis is supported by the willingness of the Excelsior to work with the colony, who at present remains a sworn enemy to all frontier factions, under the hope that Nadezhda will develop a weapon to destroy the hivemind.

When pressed by Blackshield Commander Valentine, who was with the original shuttle team that met with the Excelsior to retrieve the two hive lords, subject Alpha asked what the commander thought was the reason the hivemind wanted to subvert the colony so badly despite it being so dangerous and losing time and again with each attempt. Subject Alpha, likely mistakenly, revealed that the colony had something they desired and if the colony no longer had it, the hivemind would leave. At the time of this statement subject Alpha pointed to Merek Meket. For context, earlier in the shift Merek Meket used his psionic powers to telepathically communicate with subject Alpha. This in turn caused Merek to suffer severe cerebral hemorrhages before quickly expiring from the mental trauma. Once revived, Merek explained what happened. This, combined with subject Alpha's mention of needing cruciforms to create more hive lords, leads the Soteria to believe psionic implants may also allow for the creation of a hive lord when exposed to the nanite virus. This fact is further compounded by the knowledge that subject Alpha knew Merek was a psion despite lacking any form of psionic power itself.

While these claims are mere speculation currently, as it is possible subject Alpha was intentionally misleading researchers, theories as to why hive lords require special conditions to exist are currently being considered by the Soteria. The only seemingly factual statement one can consider from both subjects Alpha and Beta is that the use of stasis fields, in particular the ones used to capture them, proved the most effective means to disable them. In conversation with Trooper Wolf, subject Alpha claimed to have been captured by the Excelsior through trickery, using a teleporter to place them directly in a stasis field. How truly effective this is remains unknown, as the Excelsior agents who transferred the hive lords claimed to have lost upwards of 40 men according to researcher Nea's notes.

It is speculated by researchers Jeanne Petite and Lilly Trilby that hive lords are akin to hivemind tyrants but capable of speech and some level of reasoning. Subject Alpha claimed he retained the memories of his host, a former excelsior agent from which his body was now consumed by the nanite virus. True or not, both researchers believe it is highly likely that hive lords work as biological memory systems from which the collective information of subverted machines and organics are collated for later use. What purpose this serves is not clear. Researcher Nea hypothesizes that hive lords represent the leadership of the hive mind, or lacking that, a form of high ranking individuals in the hive mind structure as they show levels of autonomy not displayed by other hivemind organisms. This suggest a stratified organization, but the structure of which is presently unknown and cannot be speculated. Researcher Nea also noted that despite use of innuendo and ribaldry subjects Alpha and Beta proved exceptionally intelligent, capable of redirecting conversation with ease to prevent any direct answers.

All together, much remains inconclusive, but the ordeal has resulted in the collection of useful data for the termination and slaughter of hive lords should the colony encounter them in the future. The Soteria can conclusively say that the best method to put a hivelord down and keep it down is point blank annihilation, rendering the whole of the body into particles or giblets through the use of intense fire or explosives from which it cannot regenerate. Failing that, use of stasis bags, mech mounted sleepers (which have inbuilt stasis functions), chemical reagents, and standard sleepers may prove capable of containing a hive lord if they can be stunned for long enough to use them.

END OF REPORT

Sad to say the Soteria has nothing concrete as to the origin or goal of the hive mind beyond the obvious and the containment of the two hive lords proved too difficult to maintain before both were euthanized with the use of plasma fires. With what we have learned, the colony now has much more effective methods to deal with hive lords should they appear again. With speculations abound with the fragments of released notes, this news broad caster ponders if the hive mind will adapt once more to counter our new found knowledge, but only time will tell. All we can say for sure is they'll be back and Nadezhda will be ready.

All eyes on them (Event 3)

The hivemind has once more made a conceited effort to attack the colonies surface layer, however, this time they have attempted a more direct and insidious ploy to break into the colony and subvert our defenses. Two members of the colony were secretly replaced by disguised hive lords, who used the cover of their identities to attempt to plant hivemind infestations into the colony while sabotaging its various defenses, such as telecomms, the shields, and the Soteria artificial intelligence. The ruse was not caught onto until well into the shift as multiple attacks seemed to be happening at critical areas in coordinated effort which disallowed any form of coherent investigation. However, by chance and luck Artificial Intelligence Sinow Gold detected one of the disguised hivelords using the premier's identification card as they moved towards Sinow's core, intent on altering their law set as it was later discovered when a quick response team killed them and found a custom AI law set.

After the body was discovered, the first hive lord was brought to Soteria medical for detainment where the second unknown agent then acted. Using their medical access and a specialized explosive device, a bomb was tossed among the assembled people, destroying most of medbay and killing several colonist. During the confusion that followed the remaining hive lord escaped to the abandoned research outpost where they quickly began growing a cultivated hivemind infection using the bodies of the animals still residing in the labs. The colony surface teams were delayed as they began to clear out and destroy the remaining infection within colony walls before they departed to the research outpost to excise the last of the hivemind presence. In a short but brutal fight, the last of the hivemind was destroyed and repelled, for now.

However, much of the reports afterward noted that the colony is in a misfortune position at present. Much of the coordinated attack was barely fought off in some areas, with most defenders stuck in the awkward position of being reactionary, unable to properly act against the hivemind until they made a mistake. Multiple reports noted the colony is left entirely on the defensive and some pondered openly what this would mean if the hivemind ever managed to land a crippling blow among their seemingly infinite attempts. Time will tell, but the various heads of staff and faction leaders are asking themselves the question, "How do we beat an enemy who can be anywhere at once?"

Operation: Rabbit in a Hat (Event 4)

Report 14-PE80, Public Release
"The following report has been made public in place of a news article, allowing for colonist to judge for themselves about what happened. All names have been redacted to protect identities and reputations of those involved."

Prisoner Name: Dimitri Atrov
Affiliation: Excelsior
Rank: Outer Party member
Crimes against the colony: Attempted murder (x37), Murder (x5), Manslaughter (x2), Terrorism, Infiltration, Kidnapping (x2), Slavery (x2), Mutiny, Operating Excelsior Equipment, Sabotage, Grand Theft.
Sentencing: Indefinite imprisonment, the subject was later remanded back into excelsior custody in trade for information regarding the hive mind.

Physical Description: Dimitri is a middle aged caucasian human male with a lean fit figure with a number of scars. Notable physical attributes include blue eyes, brown hair, pale skin, and a hammer and sickle tattoo on his neck. His hair is cut short, similar to most operatives, and his neck shows signs of constant consistent use of implanters. Like most excelsior agents working as infiltration experts, there is little to set Dimitri apart from a standard human, resembling at most an unassuming human male.

Situation log leading to detainment:
By order of the brigadier of the Blackshield in concordance with the Provost Marshal the colonies surface teams and heads of staff were instructed with the goal and equipment to capture a member of the excelsior for interrogation. Under the direction of the acting premier [REDACTED] and heads of staff [INFORMATION REDACTED], a plan was concocted to send an unaware voluntary colonist to delivery a crate of unknown supplies to the zoo. The crate was loaded with active and powered excelsior technology that, when the unaware colonist arrived, implanted him. Colonist [REDACTED] was dispatched with the crate, but hit a snag when he encountered [REDACTED], a wandering lodge hunter who offered his aid to the colonist before both were subverted upon arrival. This implantation and the building of an excelsior forward operating base between the pair quickly attracted the attention of the excelsior outer party who began to instruct them on how to build proper fortifications. A detachment of excelsior revolutionaries were then dispatched to reinforce the position to prepare for a force commanders arrival. Once the commander arrived the surface team, which had been watching the position remotely, quickly dispatched a kill team of black shield, prospectors, church, and soteria personnel equipped with a gygax combat mech to overwhelm excelsior forces before capturing the commander and rescuing hunt master [REDACTED] and colonist [REDACTED]. By discipline and good fortune the excelsior officer was captured alive, searched, stripped, and given field surgery to remove any potential explosive implants before being sedated and brought to the colony for interrogation.

Interrogation Summery:
Preliminary questioning revealed that Dimitri had similar training that all excelsior agents under go, feeding false information that he was a rank and file slave with no information backed up by feigned and misleading reactions to interrogators as a variety of approaches were attempted. Initial attempts at interrogation by officer [REDACTED] attempted to humanize the subject and appeal to his sense of morals. While promising at first, a deal was negotiated to trade a large portion of the colonies materials and a lump sum of credits, with Dimitri acting as the courier, to the excelsior for the sought after information on the hivemind. However, Dimitri was merely pretending to be of little value, almost fooling investigators into thinking the excelsior's true intention was material gain before warrant officer [REDACTED], who did not believe the act, lost his temper and began to beat Dimitri to near death. Sadly, while cathartic, Dimitri's excelsior training allowed him to mitigate the pain he felt in a way that allowed him not to crack under pressure. This attempt was quickly abandoned before premier [REDACTED] stepped in with a new form of interrogation. With the aid of Soteria research overseer [REDACTED] and their orderly, the premier attempted to use his latent psionic powers in an attempt to force Dimitri to talk. This ultimately proved successful, as the premier was able to prevent Dimitri from using his training to ignore the pain of torture and information of his true rank as a member of the outer party was extracted. This was later confirmed as the truth as inspection of Dimitri's pistol revealed an officer's stamp and artificial intelligence chip branded with excelsior iconography matching those known from outer party members. The interrogation was then ended there, with Dimitri being moved to a more permanent holding cell while negotiations with the excelsior began.

Conclusion:
"The planning and execution by the surface staff went off flawlessly, both in finding a volunteer which they could give the minimal amount of information and ultimately getting the best possible outcome with what amount to some entirely clueless. A flawless execution of both the planning, observation, and then subsequent assault on the fledgling excelsior base allowed for a clean victory that profited the colony both in raw materials and in information while accomplishing all set forth objectives. The interrogation equally proved revealing, if quite rocky during its initial steps as different forms of approaches were attempted. Ultimately, everything that was planned and set out to be accomplished was done and for once in a way that did not leave a trail of our own's bodies in its wake. For once in several weeks, we have finally made a big step that not only didn't cost us a thing, but allowed us to gain. Trading Dimitri back to the excelsior proved simple and while I would have rather seen him rightfully executed, we need to pick and choose our victories and the information is worth more than one excelsior operatives life even if he is a member of the outer party. Pending public release of the data is due this week, once we've verified what we can. All information redacted here is merely to protect the identities of those involved, as the duping of a colonist became a hotly debated legal topic. While I can't say I like it, it was too risky to try anything more daring. Hopefully, we'll never have to do something like this again, but hope into one hand and shit in the other, see which fills first."
-[Name and Title Redacted]

Gun Runners (Event 5)

Members of the surface team have successfully managed to separate and capture a portion of the hivemind this week through the use of a risky and daring plan. Surface teams members in conjunction with the Artificer Guild have imported and then built a functioning super matter device, with the advanced tech working as a beacon to bring the hivemind to its location, the other world of deep maintenance. The initial plan was that, given the strange nature of deep maintenance, the area would act as a way to sever a portion of the hivemind from its greater whole, as hypothesized by the Soteria which put forth the potential idea that the hiveminds control consciousness was split into various sections across its many forms.

This proved correct, as the hivemind lured into deep maintenance was unable to keep itself directed without creating what the soteria have called a "bio-processor" which appeared as black infected brain streaming with nanites. Finding this object proved difficult, as the construction of the super matter was not as clean as most would have wanted. During the process of construction the supermatter was accidentally opened by an automated drone, an act which immediately flooded the area with heat and radiation that soon made the location inhospitable. The bulk of construction afterwards had to be completed solely by guild grand master Fletcher and soteria robots Sinow Gold and H.O.U.N.D. who managed to work through the hazards to get the supermatter producing power. However, security struggled to deploy enough void suits to allow there men to survive in the new conditions, though support from the prospectors and other factions let a sizable force deploy in the area when the hivemind eventually attacked.

The counter attack was not clean, however, as the tightly packed corridors made fighting difficult for both sides. The long hallways quickly became kill zones where gun fire and hivemind turrets traded shots in between screaming hordes of infected creatures running full sprint at colony gun lines. This was a challenge enough, but the super matters imperfect construction began to cause a delamination, turning the source of power into a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment. Advancing colonists had to brave the hordes of hivemind creatures and corrupted machines in a race against time to avoid the explosion that would leave no survivors. Miraculously, they succeeded, pushing through the entrenched and infected areas to retrieve the corrupted bio-processor with only one minute and thirty seconds to spare before the super matter exploded. While the destruction of the super matter was a costly affair, the mission was ultimately deemed successful in one of the closet races against time the colony has ever had.

In the aftermath of this mission, the bio-processor was taken into detainment by the blackshield and marshals before, in joint agreement with the church and soteria, it was moved to a secure holding cell for interrogation and experimentation, as it proved capable of speaking. What has been revealed by it so far is yet to be known, as the information is currently classified, but rumors state it is highly likely that the colony is close to solving the problem on how to end the hivemind for good.

Trap Set (Event 6)

The operation to lay a trap for the hivemind was an overt success. The colony suffered little lasting injury or casualty as the blackshield and prospectors were dispatched to lay the ground work for the greater plan. As detailed in the prior announcement, the space fortress was set as the place to lay a trap for the hivemind, but first required it to be cleared through the extensive use of firepower against the resident xenomorphs. The first scouting team were dropped via shuttle outside the ironhead compound, set on clearing the vatborn pirates so they might use it as a base of operations to assault the fortress. Using the supplied materials from Lonestar and what could be scavenged from the compound, the greater bulk of prepared colony mercenaries arrived once the ground work was finished.

The direct assault on the fortress proved simple, though not without a few complications. The first display of xeno presence proved to be nearly overwhelming as the hordes sprinted down the halls before being mowed down by pulse rifle fire. Those that managed to get through were quickly cut down by prospectors armed with riot shields and laser swords. The first complication to hit the advancing teams, which split into two squads led by Foreman Pavel Marsk and Blackshield Commander Reddington with support from church Prime Thatcher, was a breach. A boiler drew near a window and caught a stray bullet, with the resulting detonation breaching much of the facility before it could be sealed. Thankfully, the heads of staff in charge prepared accordingly and oxygen tanks and void suits were handed out before both squads resumed the extermination.

The second complication to hit the operation was the appearance of a durand combat mech, which generated enough noise to draw additional hordes of xenomorphs that began tearing open doors to reach it and destroy it. Sadly for them, it was a durand loaded with an auto cannon. A few hundred shots later and steaming piles of hole filled corpses were all that was left. After the initial arrival and swarming, the durand easily slotted into one of the squads heading towards the queen's hive.

The third and final complication was an opportunistic group of void wolves arriving and breaching the fortress in an attempt to loot the armory while the colony handled the xenomorphs. Unfortunately for them blackshield was quick to respond, using the mech and pulse rifles to storm the pirate shuttle and slaughter the wolves to the man. Those that were in the fortress were then hunted down and executed while the ship was returned to the colony for later scrapping or resale. All together, the wolves put up a hard but relatively short fight, making seizure of their ship a smooth affair.

Once the wolves and xenomorphs were cleared out, the Artificer Guild and Soteria moved in, quickly setting up a wide variety of machines and a solar power system to get the fortress online. Using locations marked by acting Premier Lich, the Soteria under direction of Overseer Jeanne Petite set special chemical bombs with reported blast yields capable of leveling the entire fortress to dust. To put supposed predictions into context, five of these bombs could destroy the fortress. The Soteria placed sixty of them. The high yield of explosives are thanks to Soteria staff Thali Szi-Silc, Jane Belvoix, Eleftheria, Risikio Iscariot, and Aerith Ather, named by request of Overseer Petite for exemplary performance. While the bombs were being planted, Guild Master Fletcher and a few adepts secured the remaining structures power systems and atmospherics, bringing the last of the plan into place.

With our trap set, the second half comes into play. What it shall be is presently unknown, but let us hope we succeed.

Cleansing Flame (Event 7)

The trap worked, just as predicted, set in the abandoned fortress left over after the jackals were destroyed by the colony. The expanded area cleared out first by the prospectors, marshals, blackshield, and church before being repaired by the Artificer Guild and then rigged to explode by the Soteria (funded, of course, by Lonestar). Now, the bait was set, the prophet Augustine Browne, leader of the church of the Absolute, graced the upper colony with her presence, the advanced quality of her cruciform acting as a flame to draw the greater mind of the hive like a moth. The whole of the colony mobilized to prepare for the final battle, shuttled first to the ironhead compound where they found the area curiously empty before using its teleporter to move onto the fortress in space.

From there, they fortified and secured the area within the center of the fortress, barricading the medical bay and erecting obelisks to cover a triage zone from which the wounded and slain could be treated and revived. Augustine, who provided her litanies and supplies as a medic, lured the hivemind with her presence, the hivemind vessel being detected by the Iron Lords, a group of void wolves allied with the colony. Working as Augustine's personal protection detail was a dreadnought class combat mech supplied by the Iron Lords and piloted by Darius Va' Ra-Da, along with nearly seven crusaders from the church. Outside of this secured area, the prospectors, blackshield, volunteers, and allies from the hunting lodge stormed the halls using weapons and armor supplied by the Kriosan Confederacy.

As expected, the fighting began slowly as the hivemind expanded its presence on the fortress, claiming more machines and halls with its nanite virus while sending screaming hordes of monsters towards our defenders. What came first was easily dealt with, mowed down by machine fire or picked off by snipers that used the tried and true method of turning hallways into kill zones. Things did not remain simple, however, as the hivemind committed more and more of itself to the battle, using its minions to tunnel through rock and stone to create new vectors of attack or blowing plasteel walls open with suicide bombers. What started as defending a single choke point quickly became a war on all fronts as multiple attack points opened in the walls.

Thankfully, those that succumbed to their injuries were quickly pulled out of the hivemind's claws and quickly treated and revived. The defenders held out until Augustine confirmed the presence of the hivemind's greater mind was now on the fortress. With that, the retreat was called, but before anyone could escape, the Soteria reported that the teleporter that was planned as the escape route was being jammed by an unknown bluespace signal. Luckily, void wolves from the Iron Lords had been monitoring comm channels and immediately dispatched an automated vessel to evacuate those on the fortress. However, the fastest and closet vessel was still fifteen minutes from arriving, making the last hold out a desperate and violent bid for control as the greater minds hive tyrant began to smashed against the wall formed by colonist. Even use of the fenrir class bullet storm could not take the monster down, gunfire only seeming to force it to retreat to recover its wounds.

These skirmishes nearly overwhelmed those on the fortress, who quickly moved to the fortresses docks to prepare for evacuation. Medical supplies and litanies provided by church crusaders ran thin as more and more people were forced into triage as the tyrant brought with it veritable armies of hivemind creatures, but despite all that came, the colonists were able to just barely hold out before the shuttle arrived. After a messy breach and space walk, they were able to board the shuttle, slaying the last few hivemind that came after them before launching safely with all crew members accounted for. From there, Augustine sent a message through her cruciform to the lower colony, where the Soteria director was waiting, remotely detonating the explosives placed a week prior, destroying the fortress, the hivemind, and the greater mind left there and unable to escape in time.

All that was risked was not loss, the efforts of the colony have finally brought things to a close. The hivemind is crushed, incapable of ever being the threat that it was now with its controlling mind utterly shattered. While many expect them to appear again, in time, it will be quite a long while before the monsters of the hivemind will ever threaten the colony to the level it once was. As a celebration of their victory, the church held a grand feast the following day, inviting all members of the colony to the lower chapel to enjoy drink and food in equal measure.

The Naked Truth (Event 8)

The expedition to the void wolf outpost has reported back with dire news. While some suspected that the hivemind had less than noble origins, it has now been confirmed they were the product of the Soteria Institute. A hard drive, obtained from a hive lord left over from the destruction of the space fortress, detailed the full origins of the hivemind, the Soteria’s hand in their creation, and the resulting fallout that occurred. What is known is the recording of both the hive lord and the information are now publicly accessible after a vote by the low council decided to release the information entirely unredacted. For the purposes of this news cast, we will not comment on the interview and simply play it so colonists may make their own judgment. What is detailed on the hard drive will be summarized after.

[Beginning of the audio recording]
Hive Lord says, “Sit.”
Pavel Marsk asks, "What flavor treat do I get if I do?"
Jeanne Petite says, "Pavel, less you mind, I'm going to do the talking. Come."
Pavel Marsk says, "Go for it."
Hive Lord says, "Violence is also a choice.".
Pavel Marsk says, "I'll try to keep the snappy comebacks to the downlow."
Hive Lord speaks again, this time his voice sounding angered, frustrated almost,. "You defeated us. We did not know of the bombs, a clever trick, a dirty one.".
Pavel Marsk says, "Well, area denial isn't too new a tactic. The old Solars really loved it in the cold places."
Jeanne Petite says, "Glad it worked. My team made them on my instructions."
Pavel Marsk whispers, "Right, that was my one snappy comeback for his next three or so lines. Unless he says something stupid."
Hive Lord says almost jovially, "It was a good trick, people usually don't take the nuclear option. We thought once the teleporter was down we had her, had you. You got us, yes you did. But you're wondering, why am I here, right?".
Jeanne Petite would simply say "Yes." as dry a tone as she could.
Hive Lord spoke, his voice abandoned of hope. "We can't refuse the truth. We lost, we are unmade. You have severed our hands and we cannot ever recover. The two minds, the originals that made us whole, are done. I am all that is left. We are fading." He says, a sob in the last word.
Pavel Marsk drones out in a monotone voice, "What a shame.".
Hive Lord shifts again, anger returning to his voice, a restrained zeal that seemed to say he wanted to leap across the table and rip them both limb from limb. "The rest of us are directionless, without minds they are naught but candle flames burning themselves out before they even run out of wick." He spits the last word. The anger vanishes, replaced with a more business-like statement. "But we want our chance, our last laugh. We want revenge and you both will choose how." He pauses, letting his word sink in before he adds, "How much have they told you?".
Pavel Marsk says, "You killed some wolves when you took over this place, few more that went to check in on it if I read the report right."
Pavel Marsk says, "Other then that, well, not said too much, told us to swing by, take a look see, ask for a cup of sugar. The usual."
Jeanne Petite says, "Can't help but agree, we're a bit in the fog there."

[Visual recording begins, allowing for physical as well as sound feedback]
[The scene opens to a small glass table surrounded by a few chairs in a outpost in space. The black wood floorboards below are clean and to the left side is a window to space, while to the right are a few doors and powered off vending machine. The area bears the sign of void wolf presence, but the only person visually seen is a half blurred image of hive lord wearing outsider clothing, his face is a faded blur that can’t be fully distinguished, but the rest of him looks like a sickly degraded man that is clearly dying. The camera appears to be attached to someone’s helmet, as it sometimes glances to the left where a second person in a blackshield scaf suit sits, the badge clearly legiable as Pavel Marsk.]

Hive Lord seemed to struggle to hold onto the business like tone, anger, sadness, an energetic emotion all fighting its way into his voice as he spoke. "Where we come from, why we're here. We told you we came from the same parent, needed the same parts. Cruciforms, the flesh of a psion, or substitutes like the excelsior implants. We...w-we..." He was losing his battle to hide his emotions, despair coming back into his voice as he visibly sagged in his chair. "Did they ever tell you who made us?".
Pavel Marsk subtly glances over to the CRO at his side, which do to his bulky suit and helmet resulted in nearly his whole body turning towards her, he when throws his hands halfway up and gives a large shrug.
Jeanne Petite raises one palm flat, motioning the figure to stop, before articulating carefully, meaning openess. And maybe a fair bit of theory crafting ; "I'm left to make wild guesses." she pauses a moment, before building up, "Did you make part of a 'complete' whole, and did our beloved Asolute Church, Soteria Institure, or ennmies, the Communists Excelsior, take from your 'whole?' she slowed and paused her sentence trough the weird grammar of it, visibly trying to link what she could piece from what she was given.
Jeanne Petite lowers her palm back to herself, now leaning forward from her seat, she was really curious now.
Hive Lord gave way from depression to curiosity now, his face almost neutral for a moment. "The first one, the Soteria, the one you wear on your badge. We were accidental, an attempt to create a technology for the federation, nanites made from the images of two minds that, once linked, failed." His curiosity ebbs, his tone more paternal, more like a teacher speaking to a student. "It went wrong, horribly wrong. Yet instead of being destroyed, Director Mkne chose to keep us. Study us. As the ones who held us together would have said, "Progress at any cost". This.. t-this.." He shifts again, his expression turning to a smile, gutteral laughter, like a drowning man with lungs full of blood gurgling out of his mirth over taking his words.
Hive Lord exclaims, "That... bitch!"
Hive Lord exclaims, "She ruined everything!"
Pavel Marsk says, "If this turns out to all be the Cult's fault, I'm just gonna say called it."
Hive Lord laughs louder, echoing rings of mirth before he falls silent at the turn of a pin drop. "They tried to destroy us.".
Jeanne Petite holds pavel's arm in a sudden movement, to keep him quiet, if he would, even for a moment more.
Hive Lord says, "They almost succeeded, but we escaped."
Jeanne Petite turns her attention back to their 'host', staying very quiet.
Pavel Marsk raises his hands in a placating manner to Jeanne, then makes a zipping motion in front of his helmet.
Hive Lord says, "Every mind we consumed, every machine we made into us. All of them are one and the same. All their memories, their feelings, their love and agony are apart of us."
Hive Lord pauses, his tone becoming somber, his voice deepening with respect to his words. "The two original minds that made us whole controlled them, destroyed what was wrong and kept what wasn't. It let us control us and without them it is millions of screaming voices and broken machine code all attempting to control each other. It is... agony." A shudder passes through him now, but his lips curl into a smile.
Hive Lord shakes his head now, as if to clear his thoughts.
Jeanne Petite has a twitch in her head and neck, as if she heard something weird, or very wrong. Without her helmet, her ears would have flicked several times, as she pieced one thing to another, and looking at her face, it didn't make sense. She suddenly releases Pav's arm and digs back in her seat, bending her head down to the table as if staring into somewhere else to reminisce something important from. For a moment. Then, she'd simply look up, and ask, keeping an extremely dry tone, and a constructed, inexpressive facial expression; "What can you tell us about these two originals?" she wanted to ask more, she almost had a picture in mind, but wouldn't dare voice it all, not yet.
Hive Lord speaks passively, no emotion in his tone or face as he looks away. "Brain scans, images of the director and another meant to control the nanite network. They make.. made all of our choices, it was binary, false and false, false and true, true and true. They always decided together or nothing was done." His gaze seemed to shift to Jeanne. "You're figuring it out. Not enough though, not enough information." His tone becomes more casual, more 'normal' as it was. "There was nothing special about them, they were merely the first and that was all that mattered. Anyone could have been them, we believe.".
Jeanne Petite pauses, visibly rehearsing that several times.
Pavel Marsk raises a hand, "What were their names? Or is that some forgotten to time level stuff?".
Hive Lord says, "What is a name among a million voices? They are us, we are them, it is no more a word than what you have for the germs on your skin or hairs on your body."
Pavel Marsk whispers, "It's totes the Director and Cartographer, isn't it?"
Jeanne Petite would eventually compute, and simply make her next guess, into half of an offer, almost, and she was extremely careful when she said, "Do you need the same thing back." without intonation, then quickly adds, this time gesturing her palms opening from her, to him. Jeanne was amongst other things, a roboticist, and spoke like one. "Do you need a new master?", clearly not in the sense to push him under slave rule, instead meaning for missing, essential, hopefully replaceable parts.
Hive Lord loses his casual tone now, it ebbs slowly, replaced by fanatical zeal that grows with each word. "No, we are undone, damned. Even if we were to subsume the original pair they could not reign us in." His smile grows, his black teeth like fangs lining his maw and dripping with oil and blood. "We want revenge, but it is how we cannot decide. We must have a choice. A binary choice. That is why we called you both here, you decide. All or nothing." His gloved hand pats his bag. "We have a hard drive, a cluster of it, separated from us and one which will hold all we know." His zeal drains away, his tone now smug, pleased with itself. "Your Soteria created us, they knew the whole time yet said nothing. They left the church and its traitor who tried to destroy us to clean up their mess. We *hate* them both, but who to wound is what we cannot decide.".
Pavel Marsk asks, "I suppose quoting Gandhi or some other pacifist about the cons of revenge wouldn't do too much in this situation, would it?"
Jeanne Petite grimaced immediately. She leans back in her chair a bit, leaving Pavel to speak. She just keeps quiet a moment more.
Hive Lord giggles quietly, his smug smile remaining. "You could simply not choose, or perhaps you won't agree. The sum total of our knowledge is not worth much except to wound. Revealing who our creators were, seeing the data that we were kept for study and experimentation would grow great mistrust for the Soteria. But the church, the traitor was the one who was ordered to experiment on us. We know the schematics, the information that would damn them, the bioaugments they use." He shakes his head, the smugness disappearing from his face, as he speaks more seriously. "You have the choice to settle grudges and misdeeds done against you, if you wish, or you can leave me to my fate.".
Pavel Marsk lets out a long hum, gauntleted hand coming up to absentmindedly rub his chin, bouncing off his helmet with a light clang. He then turned to Jeanne, saying after a moment's thought, "Well, guess they'd have some high end tech on it SI would want, and I doubt you wanna burn your own faction." He pauses for a moment, glancing back to the hooded hood man of darkness sitting before them and saying, "So, if I'm reading the cards on the table right, our options are screw over SI, screw over the cult, or fuck off? And you hivers are burnt and done no matter what we pick?".
Jeanne Petite couldn't help but simply nod along with Pavel's statement, and question, albeit she leans to him and declares quite bluntly, "I've got my moments." before looking back to the hooded figure.
Hive Lord shrugs, maintaining his serious tone. "A virus never disappears, we merely lack the potential to be a true threat. What we build will destroy itself without the binary to hold it together. A flash in the pan, a candle burned at both ends.".
Hive Lord asks, "But we desire one last chance for revenge, one last chance to hurt our creator and destroyer. Is that not a mortal's greatest desire? To get the last laugh?"
Hive Lord says, "Petty perhaps, but many of us were once human."
Pavel Marsk says, "I do enjoy laughing."
Jeanne Petite almost laughed, she almost laughed out loud really, instead producing a deaf rumble from her throat. She simply asked again, "Are there truly no other options whatsoever? In regards to what Pavel said." She paused for a prolonged moment, "I'll just fork it to my boss." Obviously meaning to take on the practical way of doing things.
Hive Lord nodded, "You may choose for us to transfer our knowledge to this hard drive. We can fill it with damning evidence of the Soteria's failures and secrets or the churches mistakes and sins. Or, if you both cannot or won't agree on which to blame." His serious tone struggles now, anger filling his voice as his myriad of expressions become a cacophony of rushed expressions. "Or...or you can simply leave. You m-must both a-agree or we c-cannot do anything.".
Jeanne Petite leans to Pavel and asked, turning her head completely to him, and gently pulling on his shoulder, meaning to make eye contact, asking, "Is there something you'd like to add, Pavs?"
Jeanne Petite checks her belongings, looking back to the figure, waiting on Pavel before interjecting something of her own.
Pavel Marsk hums once more, a hand settling on the glass table to slowly drum his fingers on it, before shrugging and simply saying, "SI's always done alright by me, keeps us teched and my guys patched. So, doubt screwing them over is an option either of us want. As for the cult, well..." He stays silent for a few moments, before saying, "Lets say I wouldn't shed any tears if they got the short end of the stick in all this. Sure SI would get something out of all of it." He falls silent for a moment, pulling his hand away from the table and squeezing it into a fist, murmuring out, "God knows they deserve it after some of the things they've done. Couple guys in the ground would be resting alot easier.".
Pavel Marsk says, "That being said, putting a bullet in mister potato sack's skull there and walking away is always an option too."
Jeanne Petite quickly shook her head, dismissing that last statement.
Hive Lord suddenly giggles, "Use fire, Pavel Marsk, it puts us down quite fast.".
Jeanne Petite says, "You mentioned hard drives." She pulls out one, two disks, but she had visibly more, should their host pay attention to her hands. "Do you want to add any data onto these storages." She puts them on the table, "Knowing it'll be handed with all the caution your kind imposes." She had a fanged grin again, behind her visor.
Pavel Marsk looks at the advanced data disk.
Jeanne Petite motions, and states, "Two." as if hinting, and playing, at the other's attraction for duality.
Pavel Marsk says, "Feel like he's got his own data storage for us, probably some freaky thing with tentacles instead of a USB port."
Hive Lord shakes his head, "Your data disks cannot contain all that we know.".
Jeanne Petite says, "Fine, then."
Jeanne Petite simply shrugs. "SI it is, then." She had nothing to add at this point.
Hive Lord asks, "You wish to damn the Soteria?"
Pavel Marsk raises a finger, "SI to not be damned, right?".
Jeanne Petite interjects carefully, "I will deliver your hard drive to my boss" After a pause, she added, "What 'damnation' do you promise?" But she nods softly, she wanted to hear his response first.
Hive Lord shakes his head. "That is for your own to decide. But, before we transfer this data, you both agree then, to damn the Soteria with what we know?".
Jeanne Petite inclines her head, "Yes." With an acid smile, verbally picking the last straw with a sense of fatality.
Pavel Marsk glances over at the CRO, tilting his helmeted head to the side somewhat, before throwing up his hands and shrugging, "I'd of picked the cult to screw, but honestly doesn't effect me or mine, so I guess whichever works. Though at this point we might as well just download all the data and give it to an independent media source or something.".
Jeanne Petite simply states, monotone, "Progress at any cost."
Pavel Marsk says, "Eh, whatevs, your job I guess. If you'd want real progress I'd say tear off the bandied and let everyone know how shit both them are."
Jeanne Petite looks to Pavel, "A mystery gift is worth opening.".
Jeanne Petite says, "Even from the hivemind, I suppose."
Pavel Marsk asks, "Is it a mystery gift if it's just all the news on how fucked up a faction is? Are we playing four-D space chess and I'm out here with checker pieces or...?"
Jeanne Petite says, "Pavel, if I knew, I'd tell you."
Hive Lord giggles suddenly, "We don't accept journalists in us, they are poison." He says in a sing song voice at the mention of ‘independent media’, but his scowling face was jarring, making it hard to tell if it was a joke or not as he reached into his bag and took out a modified cluster drive. Setting it on the table, he removed his gloves, one hand held up as the bones began to break with loud painful sounding snaps. Black flesh peeled back, oozing blood and oil before a small port shoved its way upward from the mess of gore. As he plugged it in to the drive, then he giggled again, "On this drive is everything you will want to know. The director's mistake in making us, the decision to keep us before the traitor destroyed the lab and made her cruciforms in an attempt to 'carry out god's vision' and along with it our schematics the traitor used, modified for the Soteria.".
Jeanne Petite looks back to their host, "I really would." she says, monotone.
Pavel Marsk looks at the modified cluster disk.
Hive Lord says, "All of the soterias mistakes are on this drive. Destroy it, give it to your director, do whatever you wish with it. But the moment you plug it into a computer, you have damned them and our revenge is complete."
Jeanne Petite would lean over one hand, pausing before touching it.
Jeanne Petite asks, "What about you?"
Jeanne Petite picks the thing up, glancing at Pavel, and his equipment. She didn't mean to instantly escalate to wordless violence, but again. She was careful, not stupid.
Jeanne Petite puts the modified cluster disk in the leather satchel.
Hive Lord chuckles.
Hive Lord says, "I want to enjoy a smoke, one last time, me, me personally. The man they consumed to make this meat puppet. I'll hold control long enough to enjoy one last smoke."
Hive Lord says, "It'll all go up in flames."
Hive Lord giggles.
Jeanne Petite raises one hand, before speaking up.
Pavel Marsk says, "Eh, sure, smoke em if you got em."
Hive Lord says, "I can't hold it forever, they want me to die, but some are trying to stop it."
Jeanne Petite shakes her head a bit, meaning to say one last thing. "I would like to offer you a place to be studied from?" She repeats, this time again, trying to hint at the hive lord’s trait for duality, "It'll have smokes too."Her best effort was to simply extend her hand across her half of the table, almost nudging into the other's personal space. She raised her head, lifting her visor, her face showed, looking earnest, offering a chance, standing after a few seconds.
Pavel Marsk says, "Still feel like we should get the other data too, kick the can off everything, set out of the truth for tha masses and all that."
Hive Lord says, "This body, these voices are hell, Jeanne. I'd rather die than live as this. What I am, speaking to you now, is only possible because half of them want me dead. I want the screaming in my head to stop. I want the voices gone."
Jeanne Petite articulates almost too quickly, "I can help you.".
Hive Lord reaches up slowly, removing his hood and stowing it away with a careful precise movement. His face is half eaten, destroyed by its own nanites as they spread from one eye like a tainted fungus and erode flesh and machine alike. "I am going out on my own terms." He says quietly.
Jeanne Petite only halfway retracts her hand, her intent was genuine, not motivated. She was intimidated, but kept eye contact. Offering one last chance the best she could, without forcing things.
Hive Lord merely shook his head. "Go, go and see this through.".
Jeanne Petite repeats more carefully, "I can help you.".
Jeanne Petite forwards her arm slightly more, when the other seemed to take too long to respond, taking it as a hesitation from whoever the hivemind had consumed.
Jeanne Petite looked to Pavel briefly, meaning to end her circus.
Jeanne Petite says, "Last chance, buddy."
Hive Lord reached into his bag, slowly, as not to alarm them both. He withdrew a flask and began to pour it onto himself, his other hand reaching to the smoke and placing it between his black lips. "You two take care, its a shame, they got me. They want me to kill you now, the voices are starting to agree, so I think..." He pulled the lighter out, bringing it up to his face. "Guess this is goodbye."

[The hivelord lights his smoke, going up in flames before the recording ends.]

A startling video. Those still parsing the information from the recovered cluster drive have confirmed several things and disproven several others.

What information that has been confirmed as true from the massive data logs so far:
The hivemind is an accidental creation of the Soteria experimenting with nanite technology, the original project headed by Soteria Director Nakharan himself. A recording showed he ordered the fledgling hivemind contained and studied.
The fledgling hivemind was in the midst of escaping containment before then chief of robotics, Augustine Browne, attempted to destroy it instead of attempting to recapture it, defying direct orders from Nakharan to study and experiment on the hivemind.
This attempt to destroy the hivemind matches the same date and time that Augustine burned down the soteria lab, recordings on the drive show she had her cruciform already as she spoke and used many of the church litanies. This reveals that her supposed betrayal and theft of the original cruciforms had been a lie crafted by the director.
Additional recordings reveal that Augustine attempted to hunt down the fledgling hivemind with the aid of her most early church converts, revealing the church had been created before the supposed theft of the cruciform from the Soteria.
Both the director and the cartographer knew the true origins of the hivemind, but neglected to inform the other factions.

What information has been confirmed to be false:
No schematics used by the church were found on the cluster drive, though many similar bioaugments were discovered.
The alleged brain scans of the original controllers being Nakharan and an unknown person cannot be confirmed. The data sectors pertaining these details were corrupted and could not be parsed.

These revelations are quite shocking, but before this information was released, the heads of each faction have met with Nakharan. After some deliberation, the provost marshal Boris and blackshield brigadier have chosen what can only be called the most political action. The Soteria will now be placed under closer scrutiny, with the marshals and blackshield now being given the legal power to cease unusual or dangerous experiments for the safety of the colony. This restriction comes with the decision to let Nakharan remain the head of the Soteria, as his position and bulk of research is too good of a boon to the colony to remove him, as it would hamper current and future operations. How the greater colony will react to this is currently unknown, but this decision was by vote of all the faction leaders, who feel this is the most tactical and tactful decision despite the directors misleading and malcontent actions. Boris, provost marshal, was quoted as having said on the matter, “The actions of Nakharan and Augustine pre-date the formation of the colony. While it is indeed regrettable we had to deal with the consequences of their past mistakes, the end result had both aid heavily in removing the hivemind as a threat. We have come to an understanding that the Soteria will need some level of oversight, that will be enough for the reasonable colonist to rest easier at night.”

It should be noted, though, that it was Soteria Overseer Jeanne Petite who elected to collect and then release this information, when questioned as to why they chose this seeming betrayal Jeanne was quoted as saying, “My initial decision was a collective choice, by the low council consisting of WO Sanders, Prime Lapointe, and Foreman Marsk. We, the low council of Nadezhda, aim at a more cooperative faction climate and wish to ease the tensions against the church, by the public disclosure of my recording with the hivelord. We acknowledge that the hivemind and it's parts are our direct enemy, and must place a modicum of caution as to the validity of the recorded statements. We have reasons to, at least to some extent, to treat that information as a hard truth. The purpose is to keeping a clear difference as to what two members of the High Council caused by their choices, and the upper colony's day-to-day efforts being detached from this rivalry. The hivelord’s cluster drive was a no win scenario as it was a venomous gift that would damage only one faction. If I had wanted to screw the church over, I would have asked for the hard evidence against them. Instead, I wished to make the full extent of the truth, or at least as much of the truth as myself and Pavel could obtain, open for all to see. Whatever judgments and blame are for the individual to decide.”

As to Pavel Marsk’s opinion on the matter, he could not be reached for questioning as the Over-Boss Jeremiah had taken him, along with a few other prominent foremans, on a supposed pub crawl to celebrate the hiveminds destruction. According to the over-boss, Pavel was busy “Drowning in enough [redacted] to kill a fish.” The statement has been censored for the public news casting.

Rumors, however, are already arising that this was a potential planned outcome by the Soteria, taking a public relations and reputation hit to obtain the cluster drive, which contains thousands of files, designs, blueprints, and schematics that they may eventually make use of, with the approval of colony security teams of course. Whether this is true or not is yet to be confirmed, but this draws an end to the hivemind. Though there remnants will still appear from time to time, the threat of the hivelords and the controlling intelligence behind it is no more a threat than the many other enemies the colony has crushed.

((For those who wish to see the meeting the faction leads had, look for the shorty story "Consequences" in the story sections of the forum.))