Bug Hunt

Game date: 10/8/2020

 So yes, I bought actionwear, and a plasmer rifle, neither of which saw much use.  I shall elucidate.

It was apparent from the outset that I would not be the best choice to lead a hunting expedition.  In the first place, I have never stepped foot outside the Border (if you don't count that little incident at the benefit concert).  Secondly, everything I know about antkegs comes directly from Katrya.  So my first move was to delegate this particular mission.  I indicated that Mauger or Katrya should take command, and Mauger didn't want it.  

We headed out.  And by "we" I mean everyone.  Even the minors wanted a piece of this action.  They had begged their parents for the right to carry weapons, and amazingly enough, were granted the same.  I'm not sure that would have happened in Ellie's case if they had witnessed her enthusiasm upon operating Frank's turret-mounted cannon.  

Where was I?  Oh, yes.  

We set out in vans toward the southwest gate.  The team now has three vans among all members, although only the stolen one counts as anything like community property.  Mauger and I shared that one, with me driving.  Katrya drove Frank (of course), with Vamir and EllieRocks manning a cannon each, and Ryatt somewhere in there.  Varfana drove her hardpanel, with Aru riding.  My drone, and Ryatt's, rode on top, preserving their batteries.  We had purchased several coolers of ice for the purpose of preserving the antkeg meat, and they rattled noisily as we left the smoothly paved streets.

Once out of the gate, we traveled southwest, where we were most likely to encounter the insectoids.  Along the way, our caravan passed a different type of oversized bug, one with many body segments and far too many legs, and tentacles covering its mouth parts.  It was devouring the corpse of some odd mammalian creature, which looked as if it possessed six legs in life, but was now a shadow of its former self.  The bug skittered off as we approached.  Mauger pointed it out to Vamir, indicating that its tentacles contained a paralyzing venom.

Katrya chose that moment to tell everyone what to expect, with Mauger supplying color commentary -- much to her annoyance, I think.

"Shit," she said, "Lesson time.  Who has not been in the Dark before?"

Apart from herself and Mauger, that would be...everyone, which would make her bit of profanity not only appropriate, but also prescient.  Aru didn't even know what she was talking about.  She was taking in all the blank stares when he piped up with, "You mean, with the lights off?  I don't sleep with them on."  

Had it been anyone else, I would have thought that they were joking.  It's the kind of joke I wouldn't be above making, myself.  But Aru is so...straightforward, and earnest.  I'll put it this way: if it turns out that he's having us all on, he deserves an award for his performance.  

Katrya said, "You don't..." and stopped for a moment, blinking.   Then she just said, "Wow," and shook her head.  I wonder if she cursed Fate for bringing these babes into her life, or me for making them her responsibility (however temporarily)?

Then she went on, perhaps at a slightly lower level than she had originally planned.  "Okay, simply put, all stories are real. If something hears us, it will try to kill us. If something -feels- us, it will try to kill us...."

"So we need to be ready to kill it first," Mauger interjected.

Katrya immediately contradicted him.  "If you see -anything- -not- interested in us... do. NOT. engage."

He then said, "If we tell you to duck, shoot, or run, we MEAN duck, shoot, or run."

There was a moment of silence.  I glanced at my video link.  Katrya's eyes were closed.  She looked as if she had a headache, or something.  I experienced a moment of indecision.  Should I say something?  Mauger had the chance to lead this mission and passed it up; yet now he was behaving like a co-leader.  At least.  On the other hand, if I interfere too much, I'll never see how well Katrya handles things on her own.  

Vamir chose that moment to ask a question.  A good question, I thought, so I took it as a sign to stay out of things a little longer.  "Is stealth an option down here, or should I not bother?"

I checked the video again.  Katrya was staring daggers at Mauger (well, or at me; we're in the same van, but I'm fairly sure it was him).  She said, "No."  Then, addressing the entire group, "That creature we just passed. The dead one, six legs, much fur. Memorize its remains. If you see one, quietly say so. Do -NOT- draw their attention."  Another deadly glare in our direction.  Finally, she turned toward Vamir, answering his question with a chuckle that came from deep within her throat.  "Stealth is the only way to survive for long."

She turned her attention back to the tunnels.  Apparently the lesson was over.  Mauger added, "You should take some glare lessons from my mom," but she didn't answer.  

Then followed three hours of driving through tunnels.  Three hours of silence, save for ice settling inside insulated coolers.  We didn't see so much as a slug-bunny.  (Well, I assume so.  Unless they can disguise themselves as rocks, that is.  How the hell would I know?)  

Mauger called for a halt when we came across some dirt piles, which didn't look like anything special to me, but I didn't question it.  I readied my weapon, but kept one hand on the wheel and both eyes open, while he and Katrya examined everything.  

Eventually he pointed upward.  Several antkegs had tunneled in from above and were clinging to the
tunnel walls -- the dirt was from the holes they had made.  At last we had targets, and may I say, we wasted no time...targeting them.

At least, most of us did.  A couple, myself and Katrya specifically, elected to concentrate upon evading the insectoids' attacks, rather than initiating any of our own.  I do not know her reasons, but my own came from a relative inexperience with firearms in general (I have trained on a shooting range with my pistol), and absolutely none with the new rifle in particular.  As Mauger pointed out when we left for the gate, he's a better shot, and I'm a better pilot.  This is a truth, and the day I cannot accept a truth is the day I will know I have become my father.  So I drove, evading oversized pincers and streams of acid.  

Varfana also drove, but she chose to fire as well.  Her first couple of shots went wild, which is actually to be expected when one tries to multitask so.  

This battle strategy worked well, so far as I can tell (I haven't reviewed the playback yet), and it took
most of my attention, but I caught something that has been simmering in the back of my mind since:  Ryatt also fired upon the bugs -- but he did not use a rifle or pistol.  He sent a ball of radiant energy toward one of them that did not originate from any weapon I know of.  I spared more than a glance over toward Frank, as much as I could without losing sight of our enemies' actions, and as near as I could tell through darkened windows, the kid was coding.  Hacking ambient energy and sending it at a target.

I'm going to have a long talk with him about that.  He's been holding out on me.

We killed seven of them, in all.  Near the end, a couple of antkeg tried to retreat, and I took that as a cue to switch to an offensive strategy.  If we can get one or two more, all to the good, right?  So I stopped our van and took a shot.  My rifle misfired somehow, slamming me back into the seat and knocking the wind out of me.  When I stopped seeing random flashing lights, I made a mental note to bring it back for service.  The thing is brand-new and there should be a warranty!  

While I'd been gasping for air, Mauger had already jumped out of the van and was directing field-dressing of our kill.  I volunteered for sentry duty instead (again, knowing next to nothing about any anatomy beyond "here, have a bandage," but also, my ribs hurt), and directed Maggy to sentry mode as well.  No one had so much as cracked open a claw before Parker was warning me about subsonic vibrations in our vicinity.  I opened my mouth to sound a warning, but Katrya beat me to it.  Note to self: Foxkin ears must be very sensitive.  She was shouting over the comms for us to load up what we could and leave.  More antkegs were burrowing into the tunnel

So much for my bruised ribs.  I left the drivers' seat and helped stuff oversized bug carcasses into available cargo space, all the while keeping one eye on the tunnel ceiling.  If I see so much as one antenna peek through, I thought, I'm (pardon the expression) bugging out.

Didn't happen, though.  We got all six bodies loaded (yes, we killed seven, but one was just...goo) just before they broke through, although not by much.  To make matters more interesting, one of the buggers looked decidedly different from the others.  As in, "glowing under its own light" different.  I sincerely hoped that everyone had enough sense not to shoot at that one, at the very least.  

Nobody shot at anything.  As the three vans accelerated back the way we came, Katrya asked if anyone noticed exactly how many of the antkegs were of the new-and-improved variety.  I hadn't counted, but I I told Maggy to switch the camera to rear-view so we could tally them up while maintaining a full retreat.  Three.  Just like the number of licks to get to the chewy center of a Sparkle-Pop.

We outpaced the pack of live crawlers and made it back to the Compound, only stopping to change powercells in the AU van once (I haven't modded it yet, but will).  There, before I even got a chance to visit the 'fresher, Mauger read a new message from the Autochef: The antkegs  are to be delivered as intact as possible, to the Crystal Pilot.

There followed a brief discussion on the exact definition of terms, i.e., how quickly is acceptable, and how intact is "intact as possible?"  We really had wanted to get some acid glands for Vamir.  We considered just keeping one whole corpse for ourselves, claiming that was the sum total, but considering that this suggestion was made within range of the autochef microphones, I doubted such a prevarication would pass.  I said that we could probably get by with extracting one or two of the glands, since that was all we needed, and before the conversation could proceed further, Varfana had done it.  Just reached in and plucked the thing out, neat as you please.  

When I found my voice again, I thanked her and asked her not to do it again, at least not without ample warning.  She placed the organ into one of the coolers.  Carefully.

And now we have to deliver these giant bug carcasses to one of the fanciest restaurants in the city.  I wonder how that will go over with the maître d'?

..::Kai::..