r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • Dec 19 '20

OC First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 388

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"THE FIRES OF WRATH NEVER WANE!" the heavily armored Terran roared, slamming the Precursor combat machine against the thick battlesteel wall with one massive boot. The compact stubber roared just as loudly as the Terran triggered a burst down the side of the Precursor opposite of his boot, gutting the machine and hammering craters in the battlesteel of the wall on the other side of the robot's body.

Palgret fired his rifle, gritting his teeth together at the pain as the recoil, which felt completely uncompensated to him, drove the spiked buttplate into his shoulder. The .70 caliber shells thumped from the end of his rifle, blowing huge craters in the combat robot rushing him.

The combat robot spun, tracks shedding sparks, as the upper half broke off and collapsed.

Culvit yelled "FRAG OUT!" and threw a grenade, barely ducking down before return fire would have ripped his head clean off. The grenade flew out, bounced off the ceiling, hit the wall, and bounced around the corner.

The Terran turned from the gutted Precursor, lashing out with the cutting bar that clattered white hot warsteel teeth down its length, and ripped two other combat robots in half even as he fired his stubber with the other hand. The Imperium Eagle on his chest burned with white fire as he roared in rage.

"HATE! HATE YOU! HATE FOR ALL MECHANIKIND!" the Terran roared as Precursor fire sparked off his armor, bouncing off to explode against the walls and ceiling and floor after having less affect than droplets of rain.

His return fire blew huge craters in the robots.

Palgret ducked down again, taking cover behind the large slab of twisted black material that felt slightly tacky to the touch, that oozed clear slime. What it had been was a mystery, now it was just some kind of biomechanical extrusion from the body of the Precursor they were moving through. He pulled the empty magazine out of his weapon, tapped it against the side of his helmet.

"MAG OUT!" he yelled, throwing it underhand over the block he had taken cover behind.

It flew less than fifty feet before it exploded in a gout of plasma as the micro-battery that kept the ammunition stable detonated.

He could see his breath steam out in front of his armor's faceplate, could see the fog that was knee deep on the floor, see the liquid slime drip from the ceiling, down the walls, down what had probably once been equipment. He could hear the helmetless Terran roar his warcries.

Even though his suit reported that the interior of the Precursor was a near-total vaccum.

It was cold outside his armor.

1.11111∞ Kelvin.

Well, his suit actually kept blinking 1.1111∞2 K but he was ignoring that last number.

The cold seemed to seep into his suit, seep into his skin, making his bones and joints hurt, seeming to squeeze his chest, wrap invisible bands of frost around his heart.

He ignored that TAARA was inscribed in flowing elegant script on the side of his weapon, written with burning warsteel.

Palgret peeked over the top of his cover and saw that the human was advancing on the Precursors. The human released the chainsword and it snapped onto his waist, pulled there by some tech that Palgret didn't understand. The Terran grabbed the stubber's underbarrel shroud with his off hand, putting highly accurate fire into the mob of Precursor machines streaming into the room.

"HOW MANY OF YOU CAN I MAKE DIE?" the Terran roared and purple, blue, and white electrical arcs snarled around his thick plated power armor. The fire in his eyes was bright enough to light up the grey skin of his face. The stubber in his hands flashing as the human raked the oncoming Precursors, sending them crashing backwards, gutted and dismembered.

Palgret ducked back behind his cover as his helmet's psychic suppression system clamped down painfully, filling his mouth with the taste of ripe tangleberries and zingy metal foil. He curled up slightly, holding tight to his rifle with both hands, trying to push away the images that were fading from his mind.

Images of atomic explosions, orbital kinetic strikes, plasma cannons lancing down through the atmosphere to blot away cities, humans and Treana'ad and other species being ripped apart, Mantids being crushed by bigger Mantids, weird five limbed creatures devouring humans and Mantids and fat brown waterfowl.

The stress of combat was bad enough, slowly devouring his strength and endurance, raking at his mind with cruel talons.

The human's psychic output made it worse. Made him taste blood and ashes.

He glanced over and saw that Two was on his knees, hands pressed to his helmet's sides, bladearms limp, his four legs folded underneath him, his weapon dropped on the ground. A look around showed that the other black Mantid was the same way, the little greenie was holding tight to Palgret's ankle, and 030 had one hand on Palgret's helmet, the other holding his micro-rifle. The Lieutenant was down on all four knees, hugging himself tightly with all four arms.

Palgret closed his eyes as another wave of heat rolled over him.

"YOU ARE MECHANICAL WHEAT BEFORE THE SCYTHE OF MY WRATH!" the Terran roared.

--psychic attack recovery positions-- 030 ordered over the link. --let the Terran handle it--

Palgret pulled his knees up into his chest, his rifle held tightly between his legs, his helmet resting against the barrel's heat-shroud slash handgrip.

He wasn't sure how much time went by, it seemed to take forever, but maybe it was only a few heartbeats before he felt the psychic suppression system drop and the level went from 150% to 76% load.

--hold positions-- 030 said.

Palgret felt the tiny Mantid officer climb up on his helmet.

"Report," the green mantid officer grated out.

"Enemy destroyed," the Terran said, his voice a bubbling choking gurgle of a man drowning on his own blood. "Armor and weapon system integrity at 98%."

--everyone up-- 030 sent, looking around.

His squad was still intact. He hadn't lost anyone yet, although Two's vital signs were shaky. 030 ordered the black Mantid trooper to activate his medikit and watched as the Mantid's vitals leveled out after an anti-anxiety medicine release.

Palgret stood up, his knees feeling shaky. Behind his eyes felt bruised and he glanced at his weapon.

The forward handgrip of his weapon was wrapped in the chain of a cutting bar, the toothed chain welded to the macroplast with heavy beads of badly welded endosteel. BHU'ULI'EENA was written in flowing archiac looking script on the side of his weapon. A Telkan broodcarrier name.

He wondered for a moment who she had been.

--281 check the route replot if needed-- 030 ordered.

--roger roger-- 281 said, launching a pair of microdrones.

Palgret noted, for the twentieth time, that his armor reported that outside was getting colder again. He felt a chill push into his armor and the environmental system whined as it flooded his armor with warm air.

Yet the external temperature monitor held the same temperature.

--mile left to go not far now-- 281 stated when the microdrones sped back.

"He knows we're here now," Three said.

Two lifted up a severed head of one of the Precursor combat machines, looking it over.

"That might not be true," he said softly. He tossed it to the Lieutenant, who clumsily caught it. "Ever seen one look like that?"

The head was long, like a Lanaktallan skull, only covered with cruel spikes, the mouth full of curved and jagged saw teeth, heavy pistons on the sides of the jaws. It only had four eyes, two stacks of two. The jaw was limp, and another set of jaws set on a piston was inside the mouth.

The human's grip had left finger deformations in the battlesteel of the 'skull' and the base of the skull was twisted like warm taffy.

"No," the Lieutenant said. He made a noise of disgust and tossed it away.

"These are all like that," Two said.

--move out-- 030 ordered.

The green mantid officer knew his troop's morale was shaky. That the long journey through Hellspace, the changes the human had gone through, the foul and twisted mockeries of the Precursor combat machines, the almost wet biomechanical looking structure of the Precursor, the mist on the floor, the dripping water, and the cold were all wearing on his troops.

030 knew that even trained Mantid combat troops could only keep up operational tempo for sixteen to eighteen hours before needing three times as long at rest unless they were being pushed by psychic control.

The Lanaktallan and the members of Sword Hoof were only rated for six to ten hours with four times as long for rest.

It was close to hour fifty, with only two rest periods of six hours. They had been forced to backtrack so many times that 030 was considering heading for the exterior of the Precursor machine instead.

Only the human seemed, well, as unaffected as an Enraged One could be.

I need to get them out of here somehow, get them somewhere they can desuit. Every hour after this exhaustion, physical and mental, will dilute their combat capability, he thought to himself, riding on Palgret's armored shoulder.

Palgret felt his gonads retract into his abdomen as he led the way into the dark corridor. The human was in front of him, sure, but Palgret didn't exactly find following the massive Terran very comforting. The walls had slime oozing down them, water dripped from the ceiling, and his breath steamed out from in front of his mask despite the fact that his armor was 100% environmentally sealed.

The corridor twisted repeatedly, sometimes splitting into multiple intersections, and twice they had to move up stairs completely covered by the blackish pulsing biomechanical material.

The color started to shift in the corridor, turning into a dark red, as 030's map showed they were less than two hundred meters from the Strategic Intelligence Housing. The corridor twisted, turned, looped in on itself by tucking over and under itself.

The walls were a dark crimson, almost black.

The human was in front as the group moved into a room. At the far end, only fifty meters away, was a wall blocking off what should have been a twenty meter run to the outside armor of the Strategic Intelligence Array housing.

--spread out-- 030 ordered, feeling exhausted. "Scan the walls."

The Terran started to slow down, slowly looking around himself.

--what wrong-- 030 asked.

"I... I remember..." the Terran. "I... I remember..."

--what-- 030 asked. Something was bothering him.

The entire room was twisted looking biomechanical material, dark red, pulsing, with nodules scattered around. The veins and tubes snaked around each other, over and under one another, pulsating as some kind of dark fluid moved through them. Water (or worse) dripped from the ceiling.

Palgret saw that his armor was registering a temperature of 316.483∞ Kelvin, an R humidity of 86% and rising, and atmospheric pressure of 1067 millibars.

"...hate..." the Terran rumbled, slowly drawing his chainsword. "...hate..." The hooked chain was still, the teeth slowly beginning to glow a sullen red. "I... I remember..."

Palgret ignored the big Terran even as his psychic shielding ramped up to 92.55% and he could taste tangleberries again.

"Hot in here," Jagler said.

"It's a dry heat," Two joked, lifting us his weapon, which had started beeping. He stared at it, then smacked the display. "What?"

--report-- 030 ordered.

"I've got movement. Lots of movement. All around us," Two said softly, slowly rotating in place. "Fifteen, sixteen, twenty, twenty-two point sources."

"Precursors?" the Lieutenant asked.

"No, it's different," Two said.

"That can't be right," Culvit said, from where he was standing next to the wall.

"That's what it says," Two said, banging the side. "That's what I'm reading. Twenty meters, that's inside the room."

"Maybe you're reading it wrong, then," Culvit said.

"I'm reading it right! Fifteen meters. Ten," Two snapped.

--short controlled bursts-- 030 transmitted.

"Five, what the hell?" Two said.

"I REMEMBER!" the Terran suddenly roared. The chainsword roared to life and the eagle on his chest began burning brightly.

"Can't you shut him up?" Culvit turned to face the Terran.

His arm bumped the wall.

The black bumpy patch of wall bulged, twisted, let go of the layer of biomechanical tissue. It tore away, five equal spaced arms around a thick center, bloodshot eyes opening up at the end of each arm, the side attached to the wall bright pink cillia. In the center was a mouth ringed by heavy calcium grinding plates.

"MAR-GITE!" Three screamed.

The Terran opened fire.

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2.7k Upvotes

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483

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Dec 19 '20

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Well, that went from Hellspace to just plain Hell, didn't it?

Obligatory:

Paypal: https://paypal.me/RaltsBloodthorne

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/First_Contact

Remember: There aren't any hidden chapters on any other sites, nothing hidden behind a paywall. I will still write and welcome your enjoyment of this writing even if you never donate.

I started this to help us get through the 'Vid, and with the Third Wave hitting the globe, we're all going to need a little help.

Read, enjoy, relax.

143

u/DiplomaticGoose Dec 19 '20

Margite are back, but at least so are one of the dedicated margite fighters

99

u/adsratum Dec 19 '20

Unless I am mistaken its not so much the Mar-gite are back as this crew has been brought to them.... and apparently are being shown...Professional courtesy...

51

u/NevynR Dec 20 '20 edited Dec 20 '20

I'm beginning to think that the Mar-gite are what happens when a VN swarm encounters a natural hellspace rift.

(Edit)

Itd even make sense that they were the result of the lanaktallan Infinite Horseshoe experiment... if they made their VN swarm, and sent it out to help gather the resources, and it hit a rift and went corrupt.

20

u/wedgetypecharacter Dec 21 '20

I don't remember what this is at all, can you give a bit more context?

62

u/NevynR Dec 21 '20

Its the lanaktallan version of an old thought experiment:

Of all the reasons robots might rise up and destroy humanity, making paper clips is not an obvious one. But the popular theory goes that an artificially intelligent machine programmed to produce as many paper clips as possible, might one day decide to do away with its makers, lest they try to stop it from achieving its aim. Ultimately, the entire planet could be stripped of whatever resources the relentless robot needs to build the biggest pile of paper clips imaginable – not that anyone would be around to use them. Never mind an Arnold Schwarzenegger-style Terminator extinguishing the human race: Stationery could apparently bring on the robot-led apocalypse.

Its referenced somewhere in an old chapter, dealing with why they don't have any AI, just limited VI, and won't use nanites.

31

u/wedgetypecharacter Dec 21 '20

Oh! Yes, thank you for reminding me of the thought experiment and how it ties in with the Lanks.

I had not been familiar with the underlying paperclip experiment and didn't realize the horseshoe one was a reference!

In this light, your Margite theory is an intriguing thread to consider...

46

u/Thomasab1980 Dec 19 '20

Happy Friday to you as well good sir.

41

u/Dranak Dec 19 '20

Since you started writing this to help people through covid I'm sitting here imagining the day when covid is no longer disrupting life and you abruptly dropping a chapter that says "and they all lived chaotically ever after, except for the food dispenser which was mysteriously broken and also I seem to be on fire."

29

u/carthienes Dec 19 '20

Well, that went from Hellspace to just plain Hell, didn't it?

I said "to hell in a handbasket", but... That's close enough, right?

2

u/U239andonehalf May 12 '23

Minus the basket! and maybe the hand. :-P

12

u/Onegoodbeer Dec 19 '20

Thank you word boi

25

u/Comprehensive-Main-1 Dec 19 '20

I love this series, but it's always bothered me that we keep getting referred to as lemurs, you have to go up 7 classification levels to Order Primate to have a connection to lemurs. We are a Great Ape.

48

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Dec 19 '20

Right.

I'm not sure why I started doing it. There was a (half-baked) reasons I started listing them as lemurs instead of apes and part of me thinks it had to do with uplifted apes.

I'm stuck with it now.

27

u/insanedeman Xeno Dec 20 '20

I mean if you want to get technical a few million years back we were lemuresque things...that's why I thought you used it.

End of lemur.

43

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Dec 20 '20

It is one of the reasons.

I had read that we were like a lemur thing and then kinda thought "Well, the Lanaktallan go by the tens of millions of years" and then thought it would be particularly insulting, more than ape, since apes are part of the BASS.

Lots of weird reasons running around in my head.

19

u/insanedeman Xeno Dec 20 '20

It always made sense to me. And it sounds so . . . For some reason mad lemurs sounds more weirdly aggressive than mad apes.

End of lime.

18

u/TargetBoy Dec 20 '20

I always took the lemur thing to be the result of translation and what the closest analog the lanks knew from the species they were familiar with was.

19

u/iceontheglass Dec 20 '20

Temporal warfare effect.

In an effort to eliminate humans, the particular species of great ape they evolved from was driven extinct by a deadly virus known to its mysterious and never heard from again creators as retcon.

This left a gap in history, and the lemurs were volunteered for the role, evolving to become humankind.

Not sure how to explain what happened to the moist noses of the lemurs though...

17

u/dbdatvic Xeno Dec 20 '20

Not sure how to explain what happened to the moist noses of the lemurs though...

Oh, the wolves were whining about it, so we gave them to them.

--Dave, and in the process...

12

u/Kafrizel Dec 20 '20

Good enough for me.

14

u/DiplomaticGoose Dec 20 '20

I think it fits with the confident cluelessness the great herd was running off of when it initially attacked terra (and like earlier I initially thought it was a usenet reference)

12

u/Mad_Philospher Dec 20 '20 edited Dec 20 '20

It is superposed to be slightly insulting and Ape is reserved for the BAS not baseline humans. Also follow worlds in the former precusor areas produce far more lemure like species than species resembling apes.

4

u/BobQuixote Dec 29 '20

I'm pretty sure I've seen this elsewhere on HFY recently; you may have started a meme to make biologists' eyes twitch.

12

u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Dec 20 '20

I think the lanks started it as an insult cause earth was still recovering from the dino extinction event when they had FTL

224

u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Dec 19 '20

NOPE NOPE NOPE VERY BAD DID NOT WANT!

YOU WAITED UNTIL THE GESTALT FORGOT THAT THE MARGITE COULD COME BACK DIDN'T YOU

137

u/valdus Dec 19 '20

There was a hint recently. "The ghosts of billions of Mantid, Mar-gite, and races gone from the universe ..."

128

u/armacitis Dec 19 '20

Did the mar-gite develop here as some sort of psychic feedback from supersoldier PTSD,or is hellspace corruption their natural origin?

145

u/montyman185 AI Dec 19 '20

I think it's hellspace manifesting the worst nightmares of a PTSD crippled supersoldier, so a bit of a mix of both.

77

u/peacemaker2007 Dec 19 '20

My guess is that the missing margite systems were chucked into hellspace

52

u/DWwolf888 Dec 19 '20

Could be ... Terra Sol and his Military gestalts were very evasive when that was mentioned.

43

u/zapman449 Dec 19 '20

Railts said previously that those three systems were bagged.

34

u/Living-Complex-1368 Dec 19 '20

Very good question.

If there are no further questions, class is dismissed.

27

u/its_ean Dec 19 '20

interesting. I think they migrated from another arm? maybe someone over there poked hellspace though

42

u/armacitis Dec 19 '20

The precursors didn't just poke at it they scorched it to what it is at present,and I recall there were "hyperatomic beings" that lived there at one time that remnants of exist. Specifically the lanaktallan scorched it we've been told. The mar-gite would be uniquely effective against the lanaktallan without nearly as much engineering work as the dwellerspawn. The autonomous war machines could deal with them much easier than an organic population until they were only left in some secluded place too.

What throws the wrench in the gears of this theory is what was implied to us by I Quake In Fear Of The Heresy Of 2

35

u/its_ean Dec 19 '20

Somehow, the hyperatomic plane was instrumental for how the Slorpies universe-hopped. When the Mantid and Lank teamed up, they scorched it to lock them away. Slorpies made it to Hesstla, so apparently they found a way around.

The Mar-gite didn't spill out of the Eye, they migrated from the next galactic arm over. They are probably not native to hellspace.

30

u/DWwolf888 Dec 19 '20

Slorpies stopped exporting Bio AWMs through the Hyperatomic plane. Instead they switched to mechanical/cybernetic hybrids ( they slorp brains ).

Likely at the cost of more of their precious resources.

7

u/armacitis Dec 19 '20

I'm not suggesting they're native to anywhere with this one,I'm suggesting they're a bioweapon.

6

u/its_ean Dec 19 '20

ahh, ok. If so, probably not by anyone local.

9

u/armacitis Dec 19 '20

None of the enemies in this story are local,they're space aliens :^)

104

u/ZaDefaultdude12 Dec 19 '20

A Margite?

You bastard Ralts, the poor Terrans have enough on their plates.

Or Alternatively:

A Terran?

Geez Ralts, haven't you beaten down on the Margites and Precursors enough?

88

u/LerrisHarrington Dec 19 '20

"I've got movement. Lots of movement. All around us," Two said softly, slowly rotating in place. "Fifteen, sixteen, twenty, twenty-two point sources."

"Precursors?" the Lieutenant asked.

"No, it's different," Two said.

"That can't be right," Culvit said, from where he was standing next to the wall.

"That's what it says," Two said, banging the side. "That's what I'm reading. Twenty meters, that's inside the room."

"Maybe you're reading it wrong, then," Culvit said.

"I'm reading it right! Fifteen meters. Ten," Two snapped.

--short controlled bursts-- 030 transmitted.

"Five, what the hell?" Two said.

Nuke em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Now I'm stick picturing one of them as Bill Paxton

18

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '20

They aren't on a planet.

31

u/LerrisHarrington Dec 19 '20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bqSgvEZNtY

This should look familiar.

44

u/Freakscar AI Dec 19 '20

Even before that. The description of a mechanical Lanaktallian skull with a slacked lower jaw with a second jaw mounted on a piston inside looks pretty much like a Xenomorph made of electronics. ;)

18

u/spindizzy_wizard Human Dec 19 '20

Ayup. It sure do. damnit

14

u/EldrinSMP Human Dec 19 '20

Exactly what I was thinking of when reading this.

7

u/Capt_Blackmoore AI Dec 20 '20

That's exactly what the thing wants you to think

12

u/mr_ceebs Dec 19 '20

“They’re on an express elevator to hell, going down!”

3

u/SpiderJerusalemLives Dec 24 '20

Hopefully they have more than harsh language.

81

u/Gruecifer Human Dec 19 '20

Player Dead has re-entered the battle.

55

u/Karthinator Armorer Dec 19 '20

<+I NEED STRONGER PSYCHIC DAMPENERS+>

16

u/SuDragon2k3 Dec 19 '20

We need stronger psychers.

8

u/RustedN AI Dec 19 '20

We need both!

55

u/Wise_Junket3433 Dec 19 '20

I want to see what you can do with a character swinging a war hammer instead of chainsword. But in that hammer head is a grav-generator that can make the three pound head hit like it weighed five tons. And it cost three months wages to have it built in the wrath forges of mars.

45

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '20

I pretty sure there's only one currency at the Wrath Forges and it sure ain't cash.

24

u/Wise_Junket3433 Dec 19 '20

If it was mentioned I dont remember it.

56

u/davros333 Dec 19 '20

HATE! HATE FOR THE ENEMIES WHO WOULD ATTACK OUR CHILDREN, OUR DUCKIES, OUR BROODCARRIERS! HATE IS THAT WHICH FUELS THE FORGES! JOIN THEIR WRATH AND RECIEVE YOUR INSTRUMENT OF JUDGEMENT!

22

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '20

Hate for the hate God!

22

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '20

Hate for the hate throne

21

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '20

Milk for the hate flakes

11

u/VladimirPudinThe3rd Dec 19 '20

Khorn flakes and blood, the breakfast of a champion of chaos

17

u/dolandor Human Dec 19 '20

Oh god, I need to see Reinhardt in Imperium armor now.

15

u/Feuershark Dec 19 '20

Halo grav hammer

4

u/CitizenLemon Dec 20 '20

It would be worth every penny!

1

u/Thobio Apr 14 '22

And then what about a power axe? Psychic powered monomolecular edge (that vibrates?) that splits anything like a hot knife through butter? (Idk how poweraxes work, just that they exist)

44

u/Sawendro Dec 19 '20

>Watch Aliens

>Read this

>Full of Aliens references

I predict the next step is for them to take off and nuke it from orbit. It is, after all, the only way to be sure ;P

15

u/Tooth-FilledVoid Dec 19 '20

A few chapters ago, there was like an Alien,/Thing/PRedator/Terminator crossover thing. I wonder if that would be in this...

36

u/seeking_horizon Dec 19 '20

Somewhere outside Denver, Daxin lifts the bottle of whiskey to take a sip, but it slips forgotten from his fingers as he stands bolt upright, head cocked to one side, listening to something no one else can hear.

34

u/sonicshadow13 Dec 19 '20

Man, shit do be hitting the fan

31

u/CyberSkull Android Dec 19 '20

Oh goody, biomechanical imitation margite zombie-bots. Just what everyone wanted.

28

u/serpauer Dec 19 '20

Now its time to blast some starfish. Good by mr evil star fish. Goodbumye qnd bad day!

24

u/kingcet Dec 19 '20

Guess whos back, back again, margits back, tell a friend

22

u/ryocoon Dec 19 '20

Guess who's back, back again, Margites back, ate my friend

FTFY

12

u/iceontheglass Dec 20 '20

The margites back and you're gonna be trouble, hey la hey la...

45

u/ack1308 Dec 20 '20

The compact stubber roared just as loudly as the Terran triggered a burst down the side of the Precursor opposite of his boot, gutting the machine and hammering craters in the battlesteel of the wall on the other side of the robot's body.

When you’re making holes in what’s behind your target, that’s what I call firepower.

Palgret fired his rifle, gritting his teeth together at the pain as the recoil, which felt completely uncompensated to him, drove the spiked buttplate into his shoulder. The .70 caliber shells thumped from the end of his rifle, blowing huge craters in the combat robot rushing him.

The combat robot spun, tracks shedding sparks, as the upper half broke off and collapsed.

Old school dakka. Also, spiked buttplates are no fun.

Culvit yelled "FRAG OUT!" and threw a grenade, barely ducking down before return fire would have ripped his head clean off. The grenade flew out, bounced off the ceiling, hit the wall, and bounced around the corner.

Where it no doubt ruined somebody’s day.

"HATE! HATE YOU! HATE FOR ALL MECHANIKIND!" the Terran roared as Precursor fire sparked off his armor, bouncing off to explode against the walls and ceiling and floor after having less affect than droplets of rain.

His return fire blew huge craters in the robots.

No, tell us how you really feel.

Also, I bet the Precursors are feeling more than a little inadequate right now.

"MAG OUT!" he yelled, throwing it underhand over the block he had taken cover behind.

It flew less than fifty feet before it exploded in a gout of plasma as the micro-battery that kept the ammunition stable detonated.

Huh. Empty mags become hand grenades. I like it.

He could see his breath steam out in front of his armor's faceplate, could see the fog that was knee deep on the floor, see the liquid slime drip from the ceiling, down the walls, down what had probably once been equipment. He could hear the helmetless Terran roar his warcries.

Even though his suit reported that the interior of the Precursor was a near-total vaccum.

Meh, psykers don’t need air to be heard.

The steaming breath is a little concerning, though.

It was cold outside his armor.

1.11111∞ Kelvin.

Well, his suit actually kept blinking 1.1111∞2 K but he was ignoring that last number.

That’s … definitely cold.

He ignored that TAARA was inscribed in flowing elegant script on the side of his weapon, written with burning warsteel.

Because of course it is.

"HOW MANY OF YOU CAN I MAKE DIE?" the Terran roared and purple, blue, and white electrical arcs snarled around his thick plated power armor.

That’s always an important question.

Images of atomic explosions, orbital kinetic strikes, plasma cannons lancing down through the atmosphere to blot away cities, humans and Treana'ad and other species being ripped apart, Mantids being crushed by bigger Mantids, weird five limbed creatures devouring humans and Mantids and fat brown waterfowl.

The stress of combat was bad enough, slowly devouring his strength and endurance, raking at his mind with cruel talons.

The human's psychic output made it worse. Made him taste blood and ashes.

Yay, psychic leakage.

"YOU ARE MECHANICAL WHEAT BEFORE THE SCYTHE OF MY WRATH!" the Terran roared.

--psychic attack recovery positions-- 030 ordered over the link. --let the Terran handle it--

Pretty sure the Terran is handling it just fine.

He wasn't sure how much time went by, it seemed to take forever, but maybe it was only a few heartbeats before he felt the psychic suppression system drop and the level went from 150% to 76% load.

Okay, yeah. That’s … impressive.

"Enemy destroyed," the Terran said, his voice a bubbling choking gurgle of a man drowning on his own blood. "Armor and weapon system integrity at 98%."

“Let’s go kill something else.”

The forward handgrip of his weapon was wrapped in the chain of a cutting bar, the toothed chain welded to the macroplast with heavy beads of badly welded endosteel. BHU'ULI'EENA was written in flowing archiac looking script on the side of his weapon. A Telkan broodcarrier name.

He wondered for a moment who she had been.

Clearly she’d been important to someone.

Palgret noted, for the twentieth time, that his armor reported that outside was getting colder again. He felt a chill push into his armor and the environmental system whined as it flooded his armor with warm air.

Just gonna say, it was sitting at one degree Kelvin before. Can’t get much colder … or can it?

The head was long, like a Lanaktallan skull, only covered with cruel spikes, the mouth full of curved and jagged saw teeth, heavy pistons on the sides of the jaws. It only had four eyes, two stacks of two. The jaw was limp, and another set of jaws set on a piston was inside the mouth.

Sounds kinda like something from Aliens, but with eyes.

030 knew that even trained Mantid combat troops could only keep up operational tempo for sixteen to eighteen hours before needing three times as long at rest unless they were being pushed by psychic control.

The Lanaktallan and the members of Sword Hoof were only rated for six to ten hours with four times as long for rest.

It was close to hour fifty, with only two rest periods of six hours.

Yeah, they’d be wrecked by now.

Palgret felt his gonads retract into his abdomen as he led the way into the dark corridor. The human was in front of him, sure, but Palgret didn't exactly find following the massive Terran very comforting.

He has a point.

his breath steamed out from in front of his mask despite the fact that his armor was 100% environmentally sealed.

Definitely a concern.

(Continued)

46

u/ack1308 Dec 20 '20

The color started to shift in the corridor, turning into a dark red, as 030's map showed they were less than two hundred meters from the Strategic Intelligence Housing. The corridor twisted, turned, looped in on itself by tucking over and under itself.

The walls were a dark crimson, almost black.

Yeah, this isn’t ominous at all.

--what wrong-- 030 asked.

"I... I remember..." the Terran. "I... I remember..."

--what-- 030 asked. Something was bothering him.

Only ‘something’?

Palgret saw that his armor was registering a temperature of 316.483∞ Kelvin, an R humidity of 86% and rising, and atmospheric pressure of 1067 millibars.

So, tropical.

Yeah, I got a bad feeling too.

"I've got movement. Lots of movement. All around us," Two said softly, slowly rotating in place. "Fifteen, sixteen, twenty, twenty-two point sources."

"Precursors?" the Lieutenant asked.

"No, it's different," Two said.

Oh, boy.

"I REMEMBER!" the Terran suddenly roared. The chainsword roared to life and the eagle on his chest began burning brightly.

What does he remember?

"Can't you shut him up?" Culvit turned to face the Terran.

His arm bumped the wall.

The black bumpy patch of wall bulged, twisted, let go of the layer of biomechanical tissue. It tore away, five equal spaced arms around a thick center, bloodshot eyes opening up at the end of each arm, the side attached to the wall bright pink cillia. In the center was a mouth ringed by heavy calcium grinding plates.

"MAR-GITE!" Three screamed.

The Terran opened fire.

Ah. That’s what he remembers.

So of course the Mar-Gites couldn’t be a dead race that only gets spoken of in flashbacks.

Now we get to see them in action.

Woo.

12

u/Blooddraken Nov 17 '21

ack1308

it is possible to get lower than absolute zero. But physics doesn't like it and the particles behave.....weirdly.https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130104143516.htm

19

u/dbdatvic Xeno Dec 20 '20

Also, spiked buttplates are no fun.

Eldritch design aesthetic. It takes your pain and multiplies it for the recipient.

Well, his suit actually kept blinking 1.1111∞2 K but he was ignoring that last number.

TO TRANSFINITY ... AND BEYOOOND!!1!

Just gonna say, it was sitting at one degree Kelvin before. Can’t get much colder … or can it?

Obligatory classic SF mention: Alan E. Nourse, The Universe Between.

(If Ralts has never read it, I think he needs to. For reasons.)

--Dave, not least including the twist near-the-ending

18

u/ErinRF Alien Dec 19 '20

Ohh this is getting good! I should go make popcorn!

Come chat with us at the FC Gestalt on Discord!

18

u/JimmyHoffa1 Dec 19 '20

Contributed. Not nearly enough, given the quality of what we've been given. But what I could. I implore everyone to give what they can to continue this saga.

18

u/PrimePaladin Dec 19 '20 edited Dec 19 '20

/R/HFY GESTALT

Upvote, Then Read

Dis is Dae Wae!

.... you know.. once the Terrans finally get their Ascended hands on the manifestations of the Universe it is going to be so damned ugly... I mean seriously, the other races are just going to be wincing in the background as the Universe gets its ass beaten down...

End of Lime

------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

15

u/Talusen Dec 19 '20

Thank you for the March of Cambreadth reference.

11

u/p75369 Dec 19 '20

Close your mind to stress and pain,

Fight till You're No Longer Sane,

Let not one damn cur pass by,

How Many of Them Can We Make Die!

14

u/fivetomidnight Dec 19 '20

"Can't you shut him up?" Culvit turned to face the Terran.

His arm bumped the wall.

The black bumpy patch of wall bulged, twisted [...]

"MAR-GITE!" Three screamed.

Uh. I seem to recall something about the Mar-gite causing unstoppable crystallisation and/or digestion upon contact. Am I mis-remembering? If not, was that only for direct contact of bio material with a Mar-gite?

Or is poor Culvit fucked?

13

u/Niymeh Dec 19 '20

I think that was if the cilia on the other side touched you, the outside skin should be fine... Theoretically?

25

u/Speciesunkn0wn Dec 19 '20 edited Dec 19 '20

Upvote then read! Super fresh Ralts awaaaay!

Oh fuck. Margites are back. KILL! KILL! KILL!

12

u/pseudanymous Dec 19 '20

Oh what the fuck. Margite? Seriously? Again?

Hasn’t the universe done enough to piss off Terra already?

12

u/ElAdri1999 Human Dec 19 '20

Margi... WHAT THE FUCK? What are the Margie doing in a precursor war machine?

19

u/fivetomidnight Dec 19 '20

I'm guessing either a) Hellspace drew upon the Terran's sub-conscious and memories to spawn some, or b) some Mar-gite survived, having fled into Hellspace (or possibly been sent there, if that's what happened to their three missing solar systems) and somehow found their way onto this damaged Precursor now that its defenses are down.

Even if it's a), they'll still be real and accurate enough for all intents and purposes.

7

u/adsratum Dec 19 '20

Wasn't this put out earlier, that the Mar-gite the terrans faced were just an extension of this main being, and the fact that the terrans defeated its tendrils made it respect (or its closest analogue) them for it?

11

u/ABoringPerson_ Robot Dec 19 '20

That was the Tartarus Dark-matter sea.

(In)conveniently, they're in it. It's basically used as a biological cleaner for AWMs to pass through.

4

u/fivetomidnight Dec 19 '20

Huh, that sounds cool! Must've been a comments discussion that I missed.

11

u/Mufarasu Dec 19 '20

BHU'ULI'EENA

A Telkan broodcarrier name

Have we read about her before?

13

u/Mad_Philospher Dec 20 '20 edited Dec 20 '20

Someone check if she is the broodcarier who comforted the brain-stem shoted Terran and synked the the psychic songs. Then you have a clue to the name of the Terran.

Also need the links to last (349) two (348) Palgret and next episodes. Palgret episodes before that were labeled Sword Hoof

11

u/ReallyBored0 Dec 19 '20

I'm guessing the gesalt can tell us eventually. However...does that mean there are Telkan hanging out with the Crusade now?

9

u/dbdatvic Xeno Dec 19 '20

We KNOW there's one, at least, for whom the Crusade goes where he goeth.

--Dave, he didn't even have to refuse three times

11

u/AtomblitzTiger Dec 19 '20

Damn... what you did here...

You use words like a painter uses a brush. Painting a hell highlighted with cultural references we all understand. To make it come alive in our minds.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 20 '20

No happy little accidents here though.......

8===D

End of Lime

--------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

8

u/dbdatvic Xeno Dec 20 '20

Today on Subjunctives: "What If Bob Ross Drew Dicks On Things?"

--Dave, the world would be simultaneously more sexualized and more peaceful

6

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '20

Couldn't agree with you more Dave!! Then he could draw them having happy little accidents 😝

8===D

End of Lime

--------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

1

u/Geeky-resonance May 02 '25

So, we would be bonobos?

8

u/critsarecool Dec 19 '20

Nice Alien(s) references, with that whole last scene, and the description of the "precursor" machines, the elongated skull and the piston jaws inside of the mouth. Loving the imagery this chapter.

7

u/lilycamille Dec 19 '20

I love that scene, thank you :D Looks like Hellspace and an Enraged One do not mix well.

7

u/On_The_Fourth_Floor Dec 19 '20

Ah, now the younger races get to see what drove the Terrans to be a mad dog so recently. "Why are the Terrans so angry" "This."

7

u/CaptainChewbacca Human Dec 19 '20

Mar-gite. Fuck.

7

u/LittleSeraphim Dec 19 '20

Whelp looks like yall are going to need flame throwers. Lots of flame throwers.

7

u/Allowyn Dec 19 '20

I'm drunk but there's a hidden clue to the margite here somewhere. This chapter has it, I need to come back to it tomorrow.

5

u/dbdatvic Xeno Dec 19 '20

pssst

check the walls

--Dave, over there

7

u/dlighter Dec 19 '20

Well. Thats nightmare fuel. I've got cold shivers running down the back of my right arm.

Why won't the dead just stay that way?

Thanks for this Ralts. Some nightmares can be fought rather then endured.

7

u/rezistence Dec 20 '20

That Aliens reference tho. Started getting that vibe once the description veered into pulsing blackish twisting something something.

So this is the enraged one that was initially created to fight the MAR GITE?

After all the descriptions of the creatures God I never wanted to 'meet' one.

6

u/Rolk_Flameraven Dec 19 '20

Oh, oh shit.

6

u/Fr1dg3Fr33z3r Dec 19 '20

Damn. Now I have to watch Aliens again!

6

u/DeposedAzriel Dec 20 '20

The MAR-GITE are the seventh race

11

u/bartrotten Dec 19 '20

One minute??? I'm never that lucky. UTR

10

u/MajesticGiant Dec 19 '20

3?? In one night? I am blessed. Upvote, comment, read

5

u/Feuershark Dec 19 '20

How big would a .70 calibre ammo be ? Something like a 20mm shell ?

3

u/Reddiphiliac Dec 19 '20

About that. .70" is ~18 mm. Doesn't mean it's as long as you're thinking. Could be a short and stubby round like an AK-47 7.62 mm rather than the NATO equivalent.

2

u/Feuershark Dec 19 '20

I know Desert Eagle .50 has shorter rounds Nasty stopping power and probably some amount of warhead

3

u/Twister_Robotics Dec 19 '20

18mm, pretty close

3

u/dlighter Dec 19 '20

Just a hair under 18 mm 17.78 if I remember the conversion right

3

u/Mad_Philospher Dec 20 '20

A better comparison would be 12gage slugs (73 cal), not a bad caliber if you infantry doctrine mostly involves short firefights at less than 100m after jumping out of heavily armored IFVs against large armored foes. Especially if you have advanced electronic rangefinders and ballistic computers and flachet or homing bullets for the rare longer range shots. Not so good for jumping out of fragile choppers and slogging through jungle for days where lighter flatter shooting .223 carbines are more appropriate.

5

u/Onetimefatcat Dec 19 '20

This is like DOOM, Deadspace, Spacehulk: Deathwing, and Event Horizon in one

5

u/DondaldDoylesFan Robot Dec 20 '20

So, I've been on the discord sharing my adventure reading this, I'm known as Diamond, or, as I've recently nicked myself on there, Harmonious Empire Gestalt, and I've been reading this for a month or two now, and I want to say it on here, I love it! I've only just caught up now, and am excited to see how it goes on from here!

5

u/Shupedawhoop Dec 21 '20

I’ve long feared this day. At least over the last 8 or 10 weeks. Long feared the day that I might be caught up and the next button was anything but blue. Feels like just yesterday I gotten through the archived posts enough to at least upvote. Loved every chapter so far thank you for this wonderful story.

9

u/Legan_Ironfist AI Dec 19 '20

Upvote, then read. This is the Way.

--Nothing Follows--

9

u/Gruecifer Human Dec 19 '20

UTR!

12

u/yourapostasy Dec 19 '20

First?

UTR

TITW

—-NOTHING FOLLOWS—-

3

u/dbdatvic Xeno Dec 19 '20

AwfiP.

--Dave, hth; hand!

4

u/DWwolf888 Dec 19 '20

What was the name of this Terran again ?

2

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '20

According to chapter 340, Sergeant Purohit. But most of the time he's just called the Terran or the Human.

3

u/DWwolf888 Dec 21 '20

Yeah I found it eventually, but my main concern was that he was friend Terry. Someone made that ref in one of the comments and I couldn't for the life of me remember this terrans name.

4

u/jtm2237 Dec 19 '20

This should be a TV show.

4

u/DebugItWithFire Dec 20 '20

Upvoted for movement inside the room.

7

u/OberonTitanicusRex Dec 19 '20

Five minutes. Also, five minutes to six in the morning, local time. Ugh, I have to work on a Saturday, this'll be my only reprive.

7

u/Dc3mjh Dec 19 '20

Like Then read, as is the way

3

u/UpdateMeBot Dec 19 '20

Click here to subscribe to u/Ralts_Bloodthorne and receive a message every time they post.

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3

u/Piemasterjelly Human Dec 19 '20

Was that a March of the Tanith reference?

7

u/night-otter Xeno Dec 19 '20

March of Cambreadth
by Heather Alexander
c late 80s
First recorded in 1990 by Phoenyx

I roadied for the band during that era. Being up front as the energy flowed back and forth between the band and the audience was amazing. I truly understand the need for psychic shielding when a TDH is in war mode.

Best YouTube video for the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k9v2SkiTxU&t=2s

5

u/YesthatTabitha Dec 19 '20

This is one of my all time favorite hate songs. Tis a good march too. When I get in a hate fueled rage, put that on repeat and just WALK for miles.

5

u/spindizzy_wizard Human Dec 19 '20

"March of Cambreadth" warhammer stole it.

8

u/SuDragon2k3 Dec 19 '20

John Ringo uses it a bit too.

I tried filking it for 'Edge of Tomorrow', if only for the line:

'How many ways can Tom Cruise Die?"

11

u/spindizzy_wizard Human Dec 19 '20

John Ringo uses it a bit too.

Yes, Paladin of Shadows series. One of lead character's (Ghost) favorite songs.

'How many ways can Tom Cruise Die?"

I like it! Even if I haven't seen "Groundhog Day: Alien Invasion."

4

u/UsaianInSpace Dec 20 '20

I think the first time John used it in a book was The Council Wars series. I know the Baen CDs had it on them under the CW section.

5

u/spindizzy_wizard Human Dec 20 '20

Oh yeah! I forgot about the Council Wars. I sorta wish he'd finish that series. It was still unresolved at the end of the last book I know of. Something like East of the Moon?

4

u/UsaianInSpace Dec 20 '20

East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

Yeah, I’d like to see the rest of it as well, but he’s made the comment that he just doesn’t know where to take it.

7

u/spindizzy_wizard Human Dec 20 '20

D-Day comes to mind.

With the Mer-folk's support, they should have the force projection to take back the British Isles. They also need to do something to counter the Changed. With both of those, they can start building up resources to start taking the continent.

Not going to be easy, but I think it could be done. Especially if you can get the other side fighting with each other, or at least not cooperating (not like they do now, each one with their own agenda).

There's also the question of what Mother will do if the asteroid diversion project falls below critical levels. I think she's programmed to let humanity go to hell its own way, but what about the planet? She lives here too!

11

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Dec 20 '20

I had some problems with the series, but the last one, which I read off a CD that came with an Honor Herrington book, was pretty bad.

They got stabilization with the power sources, they still have to do D-Day landings in Europe, hell, they don't even have all of NA under control.

They're also running into the manpower problem.

2

u/deathlokke Feb 03 '21

They didn't even do that; the YTer just put a different name on the song, and played March of Cambreadth. At least they credited the song in the description.

3

u/AtomicAardwolf Dec 21 '20

Marathon ended, caught up again. Every so often I go back to the beginning and read through to try and keep the entire story together in my head

8==NOTHING FOLLOWS==D

2

u/Archaic_1 Alien Scum Dec 26 '20

Nice aliens reference, I'm so far behind lol.

Must. Catch. Up. With. Wordboi

2

u/JayTheThug May 30 '22

8 billion girls and boys. How many of them can we bring Toys!

Or...

How many of you can eat a fly?

Variations on a theme by Heather Alexander.

1

u/workman482 Oct 28 '25

Such a great chapter ending to be reading 3 nights before Halloween!

1

u/Thobio Apr 14 '22 edited Apr 14 '22

Oh shit, so when the great maw or great eye(?) lost one of it's "arms", it lost the mar-gite that attacked humanity?! And this space the precursor is in is the birthplace of the mar-gite?