This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/KyleKKent on 2024-11-15 22:51:49+00:00.

First

The Buzz on the Spin

Everything started to happen all at once. The only warning was a flicker in the portals as something else began homing in on their signals. Then massive armoured forms appear.

The forces from Octarin Spin that had already come through the portals react instantly. 652-3-5000’s eyes widen as a Cannidor in red and blue power armour smashes into the dark grey and green of the mercenary. Shoulder mounted plasma ignites and starts to power up.

“No!” He shouts as he KNOWS that kind of heat this close will flash cook several brothers.

A line of red traces through the air, growing wider as it moves. A beam of cutting light in the hands of Hoagie, moving too fast to be properly registered as the plasma weapons are sheered through and an angry glowing line is left on the armour. 652-3-5000 then flinches back as a Gathara sized rifle clatters against his chest and he fumbles for it. It’s a laser. Precise and powerful.

Hoagie can’t be tracked normally, just followed with the wide trail of light he leaves behind as he zips from mercenary to mercenary, sheering down and cutting plasma weapons wherever he finds them. Prioritizing the as yet unmade cycle beyond anything else. Beyond everything else.

“You are not…” A newly arrived Mercenary says and he swings the rifle at her in reflex. The weapon shatters like glass against it and he backs away a step. The armoured figure grabs at the overalls he’s wearing before a beam of light extends from the side of it’s head to illuminate his bones and feathers. Just in time for his left claw to scrape against it. “You cannot win.”

The trail of light returns and stops against the head of the meachanized armour and slowly starts to sink in in Hoagie’s grip.

“You may be thermally shielded, but this is designed for starship hulls.” Hoagie says as the outer layer of the armour begins to fail and he the hull cutter starts to sink in. “Ten seconds tops.”

He carves through the head entirely and there‘s a scream as the back of the armour cracks open and a mass moves out in a single movement before recombining into a female figure as the Slohb pilot of the mechanized armour reforms and then lashes out fast. Hoagie has already moved and gotten the hull cutter between them.

The fist of the slohb splits before it can impact the hull cutter and slams into Hoagie in two locations to send him skidding back, deactivating his weapon so that it doesn’t flail out and damage a pod.

The Slohb says nothing as she shifts around the pods too fast to easily track. 652-3-5000 watches in horror as he realizes the issue. His unformed brothers are hostages to the last. They need to be moved out. Now.

He reaches the nearest pod and starts disengaging it from the hull before hefting it, it weights ten times what he does, but the power he calls to his muscles makes the burden bearable… “Brothers! Bring the younger to safety! We cannot fight with them held hostage!”

There is movement as the living slime comes for him, but with her movement predictable Hoagie grasps it and sends a brutal charge of electricity through her body. She screams and goes limp. Unconscious or perhaps even dead. Hoagie pulls his hand out of the gel and flicks off the remains. He nods to 652-3-5000 and then reactivates his hull cutter before blurring away. He reappears stabbing it into the chest of another suit of mechanized armour and lifting it off the ground with it as the pilot tries hard to escape before the hull cutter pierces through them.

A Tret hits the floor bottom first before gathering herself and pulling out a coil pistol. The shot takes Hoagie in the gut and he slams down the armour on her in reflex. He staggers back while holding his stomach. His armour had saved his life, but it hadn’t been enough to fully stop the bullet at at most two meters range. It had mostly stopped it, but he still had a small chunk of metal embedded in his gut.

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“That was a terrifying moment.” Janet says.

“Is that what made the day unusual?” Observer Wu asks.

“One of the things. While my Daniel gets into a great deal of action, he rarely gets hurt. He moves too quickly and generally his armour stops everything. And that’s if his reputation or the swarm of Beezerkers with him don’t get people to back down immediately.”

“And where were they at the time?”

“Just showing up actually…” Sarkonic says with a grin that can only be seen by a slight bunching of the paint on the left side of his face.

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There is a massive swell of buzzing and a scream of fury as numerous Charbis fly in. A few dozen surround Hoagie as he tries to assure them that he’s fine, the armour took it and it’s just a bit of blood. But it’s in vain as they sweep him out in a massive group and the remainder start divebombing the incoming mercenaries with stabbing knives, cutting torches and chains to lock them up and down.

At this point numerous mercenaries are on the retreat and warping out. But those that do so coveredi n angry bee women… bring them with them.

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“At this point I have to confess, I don’t have much information beyond the fact that the mercenaries who were recalled to their ships ended up just making the problems much, much worse, because the Charbis could then start openly using their weapons without risking any hostages. Two gunships went down in the end, but from my understanding the girls used little beacons on themselves to swarm the things. All but those that were getting Hoagie to a medical bay were rushing the mercenaries and the sheer weight of fire they brought to bear swarmed over them all.”

“What happened to the ships?”

“Torn apart for parts. Of course hearing how the gunships were being counter boarded galvanized the mercenaries and of course the news that they were using the unborn men provoked the rest of the station. They were already almost entirely on our side due to the fact that me and my brothers had won our freedom with blood and death, all peoples respect something in some way. And in places like this, the will to be free is respected.”

“So that led to…?”

“Octarin Spin fully mobilizing. Every single sector showing exactly WHY they are not to be toyed with. The central Battleship was under massive bombardment in moments. The remaining eight Gunships were quickly boarded as their logistics ship had the greediest women from Sector Five rushing in to loot everything that isn’t bolted down, rip out everything that is bolted down and then take the bolts for good measure too.”

“Of course.” Observer Wu says with a slight grin despite himself.

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“Bring them to shelter sisters! Less they never have the chance to bless our beloved galaxy with life anew!” A small crusade of the Gravid Faith was marching through the cargo vessels and setting up interlocking shield walls and protecting the engineering crew as they removed the pods. Commodore Snarlmane had tried contacting the station again, but a chitin covered black hand had reached down from above and pulled her bodily away.

Two gunships had gone silent, a third was reduced to slag under massive bombardment and a third and fourth were shorting out.

The remaining three vessels were on full retreat, but the Gathara ships were in pursuit and laying in a massive bombardment of lasers, plasma and the occasional railshot to follow them to the Axiom Lane. They get winged and damaged, but are allowed to leave as a warning to anyone else that thinks a stunt like this is wise around Octarin Spin.

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“Remarkable. So what happened to those taken prisoner?”

“There weren’t that many. Mercenaries rarely surrender or are given the chance to. These were no exception.” Sarkonic says. “One could argue the adjustment that followed was harder. Clothing for us all, learning to move beyond the simple things were were programmed to be when we lie within our pods.”

“What were you taught within the pod? I’m struggling to understand why a large group of transparent men of enormous stature would be in mass demand beyond military applications. Or perhaps policing. But the fact your instinct with a rifle was to swing it like a club rather than fire it tells me that you weren’t intended to be a fighter.” Observer Wu states and Sarkonic nods.

“You’re right. We weren’t ready for violence. We were made to be art pieces. We weren’t given the full information as to who our… funder? The Customer? Whoever she was she wanted to look good. Every brother, and myself, came out of our pods knowing how to keep ourselves in shape, how to pose and how to paint ourselves artistically.” Sarkonic says. “What I’m using now is considered ultra-minimalist. Just a series of lines to outline where I am. Wearing this kind of paint is… downright compulsive.”

“So someone poured what must have been… potentially millions of not billions into making twenty thousand large burly men who are invisible, but compelled to highlight themselves with body paint?”

“Yes.”

“And when the men escaped they sent a mercenary force after them?” Observer Wu asks in an incredulous tone.

“Yes.”

“Quite the day.”

“It…

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1gs92xs/oocs_into_a_wider_galaxy_part_166/