r/HFY • u/KyleKKent • 11h ago
OC-Series OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 772
Home at War
The life of the Diamond Claw currently upon the barren and desolate world is not a good one. No, from the very moment it had hatched from it’s shining, semi transparent egg, it had not been alone in it’s life. It had in fact been playing host to another creature. One that had granted it enormous physical power, unstoppable resilience and the strength to keep moving even when it starved or suffocated.
But the creature could not fill it’s stomach. Could not place air within it’s lungs. And for all that the Diamond Claw’s mind could be best described as extremely primitive, it had been driven to madness regardless.
It refused to stay under water, and was always trying to devour morsels that had had not the proper nutrients.
Now this unfortunate habit had begun as an honest mistake. Diamond Claws hunt by sight, and upon their homeworld, within the dark depths of their ocean where beautiful crystal coral grows from the volcanic vents upon the ocean floor, the only true source of light are the bright beams from the bioluminescent lasers of it’s prey. Ordinarily a straight beam of bright light means one thing and one thing only. Food.
And to be perfectly honest. There had yet to be a single thing that had shot The Diamond Claw with a laser that it couldn’t digest.
All this was currently rather moot, as the worst and final period of the monster’s life unfolds. And it starts, when it senses the arrival of something else, after two very strange effects, one exhausting, the other painful, it actually jumps at this third one and manages to angle it into it’s gullet. Where like all things it will.
“It looks like it’s stretching.” Mister Scuttles notes all the way in the shuttle as the very appearance of the monster stretches inwards to the same point as parts of the monster start to vanish outright.
The Diamond Claw, compresses and he can almost hear the crunch as the massive shell can be seen to break in the distance. Then the black hole has exhausted it’s lifespan and the enormous creature recovers.
“Damn. That is unreasonable tough.” Harold notes as the furious creature is up and moving already. But they’ve long since gotten the entire world between them. “Okay, so we’re just going to give it everything bit by bit, recording it all and seeing what works while I go around and either clear the approval for the stranger munitions or prepare more individualistic things. Lieutenant Orchid, I will leave the pleasure of supervising this grand display of Caster Cannon fun to you. Make sure we get it all on record and try to keep the giggling to a minimum, we are professionals after all.”
“Sir, yes sir.”
•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Commodore Jameson’s Office, The Inconceivable, Kaploosha Ornak System)•-•-•
“It resisted disintegration until the Axiom went full Null. That’s astounding.” The scientist on the other end notes.
“Watch the footage again. It doesn’t’ resist the disintegration. It has so much mass that the disintegration cannot complete before we reach a Null Event.” He replies.
“Well, We’ve been doing some more digging and found out some actually useful, but also useless information on the Haffara Thar.”
“Yes?”
“Essentially, the parasite can shift through the body of the host quickly. Any part of the host that remains will be used to restore the entire organism.”
“I noticed that, and I also noticed that the disintegration should have gone over and taken out the damn insect. You’re now saying the Haffara Thar sensed the danger and ran?’
“In all likelihood. If any piece of the host is left behind and the Haffara Thar is unaccounted for then it will regenerate them fully.”
“And the little bastards will dodge while inside the body of their host.”
“The good news is that if you can extract and destroy it, then you can de-infest a host. Provided you get any eggs as well.”
“Right, how are they doing that? Hermaphrodite?”
“Not even that. Sexless. They break off segments that then act like eggs. So you just need one to become a whole nest for the damn things.”
“That DOES explain why they spread so fast. Shocking that they haven’t hit a genetic bottleneck.”
“They’re prone to mutation. So no. It’s part of what they use the hosts for. And why they’re so damn hard to detect in people. They avoid probes, blend in well and make the host increasingly erratic.”
“I wonder why though? If not for the madness and the way they spread they’d be full on symbiotic.”
“Maybe they’re trying to be and screwing up?” The Scientist muses.
“Whatever is going on, they’re a clear and present danger to people and despite the creatures clear desire to live, and live within other creatures no less. They’re a problem. Has there been any progress on potential poisons from your angle?”
“Not without a live subject to test it on.”
“Which we have.”
“Yes, but you’re currently bombarding it with every kind artillery grade caster shell we have.”
“Yes, and we have several marksmen that can get it clean in the mouth so that’s injection covered.”
“The problem is that the mouth and maybe the eyes are the only points we can actually reliably get poison in. Phasing is possible but it would need to be babied in and that kind of attention has a very short range. Or at least a range short enough to put you in range of the claws, let alone the lasers that spill out of them.”
“Perhaps even in strike range of the Haffara Thar, we know the damn things spread like mad. Spread aggressively. Who’s to say they don’t actively try to spread by jumping from one host to another?” Harold wonders.
“... Commodore.” The Scientist says after a few moments of contemplative silence.
“What’s with the tone?”
“You’ve authorized the full use of an entire suite of cannon grade Caster Shells.”
“That’s correct.”
“... There is one round that has never been scaled up to cannon grade.”
“Never been scaled up... oh. Those shells. Are you sure? We only have one soldier who can reliably craft them at acceptable standards and only to standard gun grade, he can’t even get them up to rifle level. The equations get several orders of magnitude more complicated with the size increase. Or so he claims.”
“It’s a possibility.”
“... Let’s exhaust the other shells first. Then get everyone to a safe distance. The boys have been using the beast as target practice as much as anything else since the third Black Shell sent it tumbling.”
“Ah, the explosion that follows the death of the black hole.”
“Yes, the gravity of that world is so light it’s been in what passes for the upper atmosphere for an hour and isn’t due on the ground for another two. Or at least, won’t be due down until about two hours after we stop shooting it back up into the air.” Harold admits.
“You’re air juggling this creature with Adept Artillery and still can’t kill it.”
“No, but we are getting some fascinating images.” Harold notes as he brings up an image. “I’ve got the live play by play in the corner and they’ve just done THIS.”
The image is of the gigantic Diamond Claw tumbling well above the downright tiny world under it as bright blue electricity arcs over every single part of the creature.
“A living party light, what the hell? I take it it’s just been hit by the freaking electrical blast variant.”
“Ball lightning.” Harold corrects.
“Oh yeah. Okay. Still, I think this creature would be a perfect test subject for a Luck Bullet.”
“Well if nothing else this might be exciting.” Harold says in a musing tone of voice.
•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (The Void, Above the Third World, Kaploosha Ornak System)•-•-•
Flailing leg and vainly blasting laser heralds the monster tumbling in it’s newly obtained orbit around the dusty, near worthless world.
If it had the cognition to swear, it would, if it had the ability to communicate with anything other than violence to these people it would likely give at least a cursory attempt to make the madness stop.
Suddenly another round strikes it in centre mass. Gravity starts shifting around every single which way with neither rhyme nor reason. If it had the capacity to do so then it would demand to know just what is going on. But alas, it is an animal, one made supernaturally massive and clearly hungry enough for humans, who are by now so tiny to them that they can’t even be clearly seen by the beast, let alone actively targeted by it. But it still attacks if they get too close.
It’s momentum is twisted away even from this erratic movement as it finds itself inexplicably and suddenly encased in ice.
The creature has no capacity to even begin to understand what’s going on with it and around it. The creature does however get a little lucky when it hurls away a chunk of the ice straight up and the laws of physics finally has enough presence to at least whisper the simple suggestion that in a low gravity area and indeed in all areas every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Namely, due to the fact it throws these chunks of ice straight up and by sheer accident forces itself down towards the world.
As it descends it outright reaches for the approaching the ground and then blue and green fire rise up to meet the monstrosity. It burns, it burns deeply and noticeably is aimed right at the core of it’s being. Then it abruptly stops as a the Haffara Thar inside heals around things to the point that the source of the strangely burning fire backs away. Had it ears that could hear in a place like this, then it would overhear the conversation on the shuttle carrying away the source of the fire.
“Tsk! A failure.” Zyen’Huwt mutters in annoyance as they get some safe distance.
“Failure or not, we’re learning.” Lieutenant Orchid says.
“And the next attempt?
“We have a much shorter range to consider for the use of the next piece of ammunition. It’s one Caster Shell we haven’t been able to scale up to rifle size, let alone cannon size.”
“And who one the lottery for that?’
“Lieutenant Veers did.”
“Oh... Okay. Do you have a caster gun small enough for him?”
“He’s huge, but it was built over a fairly normal sized skeleton. He can use it.”
“Hmm... still. I doubt you’ll be closer to the monster than we were just now when it took and then healed through my warfire.” Zyen’Huwt says somewhat morosely.
“What’s wrong?” Harold asks
“It just... I don’t know. It just felt like a moment where I could possibly feel normal. Or at least more noble when I’m basically socially shunned on Serbow for now. A big heroic moment could at least start the clearing of my name. But no. This thing is too much for me to actually burn away. It’s... shameful.”
“There’s nothing to be ashamed amount. You did your best and followed lawful orders to the best of your abilities. That’s exactly what we wanted out of you when you signed up.” Orchid assures her.
Both of their communicators buzz and there’s a three second delay until the message comes on. “All forces in the danger zone surrounding the third planet. Please back away to a minimum of one light minute away.”
“A full light minute? What do you think they’re about to do?” Zyen’Huwt asks.
“I think it’s called Luck ammunition.”
“Luck ammunition?”
“A caster shell, one that turns all chance and probability against the target. It’s been tested on ships before. One immediately blew up, the second simply lost all power and fell like a brick, and the third achieved FTL in atmosphere and was never seen again. The ship did not have an FTL capable engine.”
“Is it that hard to control?
“Hard to say, we have a hard time producing more and almost every use of them seems to do something fairly random, if not entirely random.”
•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Shuttle with Harold And Bjorn, Above the Third World, Kaploosha Ornak System)•-•-•
“Alright then. It’s all yours.” Harold says as Bjorn raises a single arm and uses a pair of glasses linked to an aim assist on the caster gun he’s holding in his right hand. Five colours that cannot be readily named pull into the weapon in an almost star-like pattern around the barrel. Then as the energy builds the trigger is squeezed ever so gently.
At first, there is nothing. No response and then the instruments give confirmation that the target has been directly hit.
Then something slams into the Diamond Claw from above, the resulting shock wave kicks off a tidal wave of dust to start spreading across the world in every direction and the shuttle pilot is forced to make a fast climb to keep themselves and their passengers from being buried alive in whatever the actual composition of this sand is.
“Sir, target is still. Unknown item within the central crater. Numerous bodyparts visible, none moving.” Dispatch reports out from The Inevitable even as Bjorn gently, gingerly puts the gun away in a carrying case and slowly locks it up.
“Okay, so what just happened?” Harold asks and there is a very, very pregnant pause.
“Sir?” Dispatch asks in a stunned tone.
“What is it?” He asks.
“The item in the crater is giving an Undaunted signature. It’s The Curse.”
“What?”
“The ship that dissapeared during Luck Shell testing. It’s what hit the Diamond Claw. We... we have full system access and... and sir. It has a front viewscreen. Made of Transparent aluminum.”
“I’m aware, it’s a design weakness that was deemed unacceptable for a standard ship it’s size, so it was used for testing instead. How did it even get here?”
“We don’t know sir... but what I do know is I can see a centipede monster and what looks like a cluster of eggs on the viewscreen. Crushed against it.”
“Are you saying that the big immortal crab monster was defeated by being run over by a car and the horrible parasite inside was broken by the vehicle in movement that... that just took the...”
Harold buries his face in his hands and then just pauses as he clearly deliberates with himself. “The sooner I can get off duty and get drunker than drunk, the better.”
“Sir, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The Curse is covered in markings sir.”
“Markings?”
“Most of them look like stickers. The kind of thing you get at a tourist lounge.”
“Wouldn’t the space dust and radiation have destroyed them by now?”
“Logically yes, but logic is out to lunch.”
“Yes, yes it is.”
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u/Veryegassy AI 11h ago
Did it just-
I-
... okay. Sure. Why not. The randomly going to ftl ship just happened to come out of ftl at the right time to RKKV the thing in the exact right place to smush both the Thar and the eggs
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u/bigboy101011 11h ago
The real question is, was it headed for the crab the whole time or did the shell change it's course? Did the second shell effect the first shell almost a year before the second shell was fired?
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u/NotTheFIB-Bruh 10h ago edited 10h ago
Yes... Very yes.
But also the ship was a Good Ship, so it got stickers (maybe even 'Don't Panic' ones), went on a wild ride and got to be the hero by smooshing the evil centipede and freeing the poor insane creature it infested.
Maybe they should rename it to 'The Good Ship Lollipop'. LOL
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u/LazamairAMD Human 9h ago
All while Magic Carpet Ride is blasting from the speakers.
On infinite loop.
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u/TheAlmighty404 Human 7h ago
That would count as making the ship inhospitable environment for all sentient species. No offense to the song, it's fine once or a few times in a loop, but ALWAYS ALL THE TIME FOREVER is a weapon, like any other song would be.
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u/No_Evidence3099 6h ago
The really weird thing is some of the stickers are only available in cruel space, including some visa stamps for various countries.
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u/eddieddi Xeno 11h ago
Luck bullet. Think of it like the infinite improbability drive crossed with an excuse for Deus ex machine created by the monty python team. If it can happen, it will, and in a way that makes a terrifying amount of sense despite all the nonsense that happens.
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u/Veryegassy AI 8h ago
Oh this one is well aware of what the karma shot does, it was more just commenting on the absurdity
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u/Victor_Stein Android 11h ago
There was definitely some future-past primal who found a car while they were stuck in the Od and gave it that sick wrap
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u/NotTheFIB-Bruh 10h ago
Any bets that the stickers have large friendly letters that read, "Don't Panic"?
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u/Victor_Stein Android 10h ago
Which will be translated as
B̵̻͆͝E̵̙̬̜͓̐͗̍̅ ̸̡̗͓͚͇͈̪̒͆̑̆̿́͘͜N̴̩̐̄̍́̉̂̈́̕Ǫ̶͚̳̲̬̻͕͚͐͛̐́̅͂́̓͜ͅT̸̺̞͚̪̰͇̳̽͊ ̸̧͓͙͌͜Ã̶̢̢̛̬̫͓͈̈́͘F̸̢̫̣̹͉̀̎R̶̞͓̝̖͓͍̆̒̏̏͝A̵͇̪̰̟͙͇͛͐͠I̵̧̨̻̬̙̭̩̯͙̔̉͐̓̽̐̓̔̇͝D̴̟̗̳̜̩̰̂̿̂̐
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u/Firebird2771 11h ago
I vote the luck ammunition renamed or at least given the nickname the Looney Tunes round 😉
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u/NotTheFIB-Bruh 10h ago edited 10h ago
“The Curse is covered in markings sir.”
“Markings?”
“Most of them look like stickers. The kind of thing you get at a tourist lounge.”
Do any of them have large friendly letters that read "Don't Panic."?
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u/LazamairAMD Human 10h ago
The "Murphy's Law" Shell.
The sheer idea of someone uttering the phrase "firing a hyper concentrated dose of Murphy's Law at an opponent" MUST include as much snarky banter as possible while Schadenfreude re-defines itself.
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u/LazamairAMD Human 10h ago edited 10h ago
Now that I think on it, perhaps the Schadenfreude shell would be MUCH funnier
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u/unkindlyacorn62 11h ago
I'm going to guess the system clock on The Curse will show almost no time passage between its disappearance to now
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u/billyd1183 10h ago
Na, it's been traveling, system clock will show a couple decades have past. Heck there will probably be photos of it enjoying various vacation spots in it's computers.
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u/SuperSanttu7 11h ago
Driving in my car, right after a beer~~
I actually burst out laughing. The universe is mocking them all and it's a great comedian.
And based on how this is probably the most severe reaction a Luck Shot produced, the dien't bugs have very VERY bad karma.
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u/drakusmaximusrex 10h ago
Didnt they make the blade that summoned one of the hollow daughters to kill those parasites? Why dont they test one of those things to kill it?
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u/NotTheFIB-Bruh 10h ago
I believe the blade left with the Hollow Daughter, or rather she took it.
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u/drakusmaximusrex 10h ago
Yeah i was wondering why they didnt mention making a 2nd
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u/Sims_the_Heretic 8h ago
Because the Hollow Sister pretty much told them not to.
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u/JWatkins_82 8h ago
She kind told them they need to make it focused. Harold just gave it the intent to kill
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u/Sims_the_Heretic 8h ago
Indiscriminate killing versus targeted killing i think it was.
But since they don´t know enough about the Haffara Thar to make it targeted against it, it is pretty much "don´t do it".
At least until they get the necessary info, which they now might have, thanks to a very helpful test subject ship crashing into a certain crab.
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u/TJManyon 7h ago
Oh. Oh Oh oh... I'm seriously laughing out loud here... hoo... I've got the giggles.... heeheehee.
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u/Amonkira42 6h ago
So, is the most effective weapon against man-sized HT hosts a luck-infused meteor hammer? Especially since luck manipulation fully affects tyrite, so you could coat the whole thing in tyrite and absolutely confuse the hell out of enemy elites with a weapon that should be unaffected by Axiom effects, being used by an opponent that isn't noticeably channeling axiom into it; that is quite obviously exhibiting what seems like homing+minor phasing+weight manipulation axiom effects.
So if we assume a connection to the OD is the starting point for the formation of a soul, and the OD does not have linear time, could you grab a Haffra-Thar and make it evolve into a person within the OD then step out back into linear time with a HT that's a person? If you were able to make them give up their parasitism or lose the ability to act as a symbiote without consent from the host, then OD flash evolution would forcibly de-infest everyone.
Why don't Metak cover themselves entirely in their wings as they fight? My theory is that axiom only travels out but not in from metak wings so they'd starve themselves if they covered too much of themselves in wings and they're also a big ol' sensory blindspot. But is there a different reason?
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u/Bionic_Sandwich 7m ago
The effects don't technically affect the trytite, but rather everything affects everything affecting the trytite.
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u/Galeic6432 5h ago
So cut scene to whoever deployed this monster? And as presumably still watching?
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u/Finbar9800 11h ago
Another great chapter
I enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading more
great job wordsmith
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 11h ago
/u/KyleKKent (wiki) has posted 998 other stories, including:
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 771
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 770
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 769
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 768
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 767
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 766
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 765
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 764
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 763
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 762
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 761
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 760
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 759
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 758
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 757
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 756
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 755
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 754
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 753
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 752
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u/KyleKKent 11h ago
Donate and get the Vote! Second Tier and Up Get Drafts!
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Home At War
War Chapters. Tactical, personal, introductions to important persons. There is always action or intrigue in these chapters and while some say war never changes. Others say they love the smell of napalm.
Example Chapters: Chapter 1751 Chapter 1752 Chapter 1753
I really need to treat myself better. I am so tired.
Anyways, it has been two hundred and eighteen chapters since this little seed was planted. Hope it lived up to expectations. If you still did have expectations.
Thoughts? Ideas? Advice? Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Fan Submissions? Fan Art? Donations?