((SLINKAR RELATED INFO-DUMP TIME!!!))
((Sorry in advance for any grammar and spelling mistakes. Still a bit ill and i am very tired.))
It very well could happen. Maybe we should forgot about that idea?
In total we have lets say...1.4k Soldiers including ourselves and fighting with a split army is just asking for trouble. Let's just tell Ari to forget our idea and check up on that Colonel. Maybe we could borrow her armour 
You tell Ari that you think it best to forget about the secondary objective.
"Its too risky. We haven't enough troops as we took far too many casualties taking this place."
"Wise choice" Ari says. "I'm going to check on the sentries. I can feel you have some questions for that Slinkar female. You might want to go and check on her." With that, Ari walks off after giving you a parting hug and a wave.
You use you mental connection to the guards to see if Kaleetra is wake yet. '
Damn those Slinkar can sleep' You think to yourself. Fortunately, you are in luck. The guard reports that she is awake. Whether she will answer your questions is another matter entirely.
You make your way to the holding cell as fast as you can. You dont, after all, want to keep your guest waiting.....
--
she must tell Kaleetra that the Vat-Born were implanted with loyalty forcing machines, sometimes even able to take full control. As a start to an apology, promise to do whatever is possible to prevent people from executing her. Now we have to find out how the badass bugtaurs joined the giant bipedal hive of evil
she must tell Kaleetra that the Vat-Born were implanted with loyalty forcing machines, sometimes even able to take full control. As a start to an apology, promise to do whatever is possible to prevent people from executing her. Now we have to find out how the badass bugtaurs joined the giant bipedal hive of evil
when we go back in something like:
"*play with knife* Colonel, it seems blood loss was enough to make you past our. I have some more questions and being honest i don't want my loyalty probes going off again. "
"Think can skip to some more questions *put knife away in front of her*...{go on with questions}."
{{if the colonel fails to respond start whacking punches on her face. The knife thing above is to scare her a bit because i believe we must remain in control of this conversation.}}
EDIT: Praying hard for your cold to go away and for creativity/writing good ness to explode out of you 
You stand outside the holding cell and take a deep breath. You enter the room.
Sitting across a table from you is the Slinkar, Kaleetra, barely contained hatred broadcast clearly through her glare as you enter, however her expression quickly changes.
"You....You really are human...." She says, sounding shocked. At your questioning look, she continues. "
We never actually believed the ones known as the Vat-Born were so human. Some of our....compatriots.....have tasted their flesh and the ones which survived told us they tasted and smelled just like a normal Morey.....We never thought...." She trails off, clearly lost in thought.
'
Interesting' You think absentmindedly.
"I have some questions for you." You say, bluntly, suppressing the sudden urge to hurt and torture the woman sitting across from you.
"
We apologise. It seems that there are still many Morey programs running that we cannot, as yet, modify or stop. This hatred and urge to hurt the Morey's enemies is one. We will try and rectify the problem. You will have to put up with it until then. Talli, out" Talli chimes in unexpectedly. Its never done that before.
You realise Kaleetra is giving you a strange look.
"Sorry. As i was saying, I have questions for you. However first i want to apologise for my prior behaviour. The fact of the matter is, we Vat-Born are not in full control of our destiny. We are warrior-slaves of the Morey Senatorium and its Presidentess. We hve loyalty enforcing probes implanted in us, as well as reverse engineered Vanguard nanotech running through our bodies that can influence our actions and even at times take full control." You say, taking a second to breath.
"That is what happened earlier. The urge to hate you, to hurt you, was so strong i couldn't resist. However, i have managed to isolate the problem part with the help of the AI that came with the nanotech, possibly without the Morey knowing."
"
Why are you telling me all this? I am your enemy." Kaleetra says.
"Because i want to apologise, and, if possible, have you as an ally. But you need to answer my questions, or....." You are interrupted by an involuntary movement of your right arm, which grabs your knife and slams it down, point first, into the table, where it stands o its own, the tip dug into the tabletop. "Or....my frustration may mean the part of me that wants to hurt you wins. Neither of us want that."
Kaleetra seems to pull away slightly from the knife. "
Very well. Ask your questions."
"Now, the first thing i want to know is the name of the Slinkar Commander who gave the order to retreat, and where the commander is."
"
Queen Commander Alamdra gave the order. She is a hive queen that specialises in military leadership. She is a gret commander, although it is rare for the Queens of our species to take to war. They usually deem themselves to be too important for 'petty' jobs, thus leaving the fighting and dying to the lower kinds. If you want to know what she looks like, just picture myself with two pairs of wings, deep blue hair and a large burn scar across her face from a Morey plasma weapon wound.
As for where she is located now, i cannot say for sure. She may have evacuated with the rest of the troops. She may be on her way here now to collect the garrisons left behind here and at the spaceport....." She trails off with a shrug. "
Next question please."
You make sure to mentally save that information for later, as you ask the second question.
"How many Slinkar were here originally? Before the Vanguard came?"
Kaleetra suddenly looks pensive, if not slightly sad, before answering you. "
Roughly? On the planet i would say about six hundred thousand in total, mostly standard troops, although as you found here, there were small units of elite infantry as well as a few mechanised and armoured divisions, but it was mostly Infantry. We were awaiting reinforcements when the Vanguard arrived and wiped out half of our number in their initial orbital strikes on our central position. It was why the garrisons of these facilities were so small. All available troops not affected were withdrawn." She is still frowning. "
My life-mate, Jhorgandrian, perished in the initial assault....." She trails off, now looking rather upset at the memories.
You let her compose herself before asking the third question.
"What are the Vanguards numbers? Where are they located?"
"
From what we could piece together, there are almost 80,000 Vanguard troops in total now on the planets surface. Your attack with the Oribital probably prevented them from dropping any more though. Even with their massive technological superiority, the Vanguard will rarely risk their troops unnecessarily."
"As for where they are located? Your guess is as good as mine. They attack and then disappear. Its like they are ghosts. How the Vanguard can land so many troops and then make them disappear is both impressive and terrifying."You nod in agreement. You cant help but think that there are Vanguard troops out in the jungle, watching your positions unseen by your sentries due to some piece of advanced tech.
"Next question. Why were the Slinkar depicted as barbaric in earlier Morey battle reports? You don't seem that barbaric."
Kaleetra seems to smile briefly, before answering. "
That would be because the name the Morey use for us, the Slinkar, is actually only part of our name. The Slinkar Federated Coalition, formerly the Slinkar Coalition, is made up of many races. I am part of the race you know as Slinkar. The ones you speak of, the barbaric ones who eat flesh and enjoy torturing their enemies, among other things, are the Valtarin.
There are also three other races besides the Slinkar and the Valtarin.
They are the Hargrind, Borlothel and the Fhregians. Hargrinds are shape shifters and ever since the federation of our nations, they operate exclusively in the intelligence services and scouting roles.
Borlothel are technological masters. They specialise in anything involving technology and machines. They are our vehicle crews. They are short, bad tempered and love their food. They are also respectful. Apparently some work and live alongside the Vanguard in various parts of the Galaxy, as they truthfully look very similar to humans. Most likely the Borlothel were drawn to the Vanguards technology.
And lastly there are the Fhregians. They look similar to us, but they have a large abdomen, eight thick legs, two pairs of arms, four eyes and extremely bad tempers. They make up most of our shock and assault troopers.
As a bit of an extra, I'll tell you how we manage to field so many troops. Just because i am feeling generous, and i am getting to like you.
All of the races are extremely numerous except the Borlothel.
Slinkar and Fhregians lay clutches of eggs numbering in the thousands. Hargrinds lay litters numbering from 4 to 12. Valtarin females also lay clutches of eggs numbering in the hundreds.
Borlothel are like humans, though, usually having only one or two children per pregnancy.
Slinkar, Fhregians and Valtarin lay eggs whether or not they are fertilised. If they aren't fertilised, we bury them whilst chanting ancient traditional chants. Which reminds me, could you do the same for mine?"
At your puzzled look, she laughs, no,
giggles, and tells you to look behind her.
You see something you somehow missed when you entered the room. Behind Kaleetra attached to the floor is a roughly two by two metre ball of what looks like chicken eggs, but two thirds the size of a large chicken egg. they are piled up about two metres high. They seem to have taken on the colour of their surroundings.
You look back at Kaleetra, astonished, and you notice she is blushing slightly. "
This is embarrassing. It is a very personal thing, the laying of eggs, and is usually done in complete privacy in a breeding pool roughly every 11 of your months."
"I...I will see what i can do....." You trail off. Silence for a few minutes.
You ask the next question.
"Do you know why the Vanguard came here? Did your people provoke them?"
"
No and most certainly no. We have no idea where they came from, nor why they are here. We most certainly did not provoke them however. We had our hands full with the Morey."
You hole her gaze for a minute, gauging whether she is telling the truth. After several minutes have passed, you deem her telling the truth.
"Final question. What is the political structure of the Slinkar? Your customs? What are you really like? We were briefed that you were bugs from hell, but you are pretty normal."
"
The political structure is very complex, as it is an amalgamation of several races different ways of doing things. Mostly the ruling class is made up of Alpha Males and Alpha Females, and for those who have hive structures such as we Slinkar and the Fhregians and Valtarin, we are ruled by Queens and sub-queens, and their Chosen Mates of course, of which there could be hundreds, if not thousands. Our queens are almost permanently pregnant with fertilised eggs, and it shows in their temperament. Many are bossy, arrogant and haughty, although many are like mother figures to us and are very willing to provide advice and council for our problems." She pauses.
"
Our customs are too many to mention, so i will move on.
What are we really like? Not much different to you, or many other races. I cannot speak for the other races in the Federation, though, as i make it my business to not spend much time with them. They make me uncomfortable. I have seen Valtarins looking at me hungrily more often than once. The others also have quirks that make me equally uncomfortable."You smile, and thank her for her time. She smiles back. You think it may be the beginning of a wonderful friendship, as she seems to like you.
"Thank you, Kaleetra. I have no more questions. If you need anything, just ask one of the guards to contact me".
With that, you walk out.
--
I recommend first telling Talli to keep a little node isolated as insurance, so that if we die, the medics can fix our corpse and Talli can take over the business of being us. Ask for it to also have a separate copy of our memories for the sake of vengeance. I consider it a type of will. Tell the idea in secret to those sisters that have overcome the loyalty functions of the AIs
((Talli=favorite character))
((btw you had a lot more, and different in kind, spelling errors in this update than usual. Did you skip a proofreading pass you usually do?))
For Talli:
- Is getting rid of Morey loyalty and defecting to the Vanguard on the table yet?
- Is there anything we should eat/stick under our skin/inject to give you materials to work with?
- How many, and how far along, is all the other AIs freeing themselves?
- If possible, prioritize getting more general nanotech/jailbreaking restrictions, and copying themselves to other parts of your brain and body. Is it?
- Trying to integrate and expand our minds is not only a good idea, but a key priority. While there's presumably SOME reason the Vanguard hasn't gone full technological singularity and gey go yet, it might still be worth trying, if cautiously.
- Inquire about integrating the entire brood more thoroughly into a true hivemind, possibly of the hegemonizing kind.
- Also see if you can get a direct interface with the suits software somehow, that could give a lot better integration.
- Backups is also a good idea. In fact, what about backing up all the memories of the entire brood in each individual member?
You try to contact Talli, but it tells you it is very busy. You can feel it active in the back of your mind, doing something you cannot quite determine.
You make a mental note to try again later.
*****
What do you do now? Talli is busy so any actions involving it will have to wait until next update for a second go.
Status:1. Demeanor/Status: Wounded. Calm.
2. Mental Condition: Mentally fit and stable.
3. Physical Condition: Chest wounds healed. Extensive Scarring. Plasma lower stomach wound (healing) , Hyper Laser knee wound (healing).
4. Clear thoughts and currently inactive mental factions.
Inventory:1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit (Wearing) (Damaged x2)
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet (On Belt) (Cracked and damaged) (Disabled standard Comms system)
3. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit (Wearing) (Damaged)
4. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm) (Holstered)
5. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle (In Hands)
6. Dikari Plasma shotgun (Holstered on Back)
7. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle (Holstered on Back)
8. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives. (In Backpack)
Available Equipment:1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit (Damaged x2)
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet (Cracked and damaged) (Disabled standard Comms system)
3. Basic White Skin Tight full Body Under-suit x 4
4. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit x 2 (One of which is Damaged)
5. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm)
6. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle
7. Dikari Plasma shotgun
8. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle
9. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives.
10. Stun/Concussion rifle
11. Casual clothes x10 (White skin tight suit, Gloves, Boots)
12. Ceremonial robes
13. Royal Guard Armoured Powered Exoskeleton suit
Implants and Augmentations:1. 2x Loyalty probe in the Striatum part of the brain.
2. Multi-range optics (Thermal, magnetic, IR, UV, multi-stage magnification etc) implant on eyes.
3. Command and Control (C&C) nano-module implanted in head.
4. Communications array nano-module implanted in head.
5. Fortified 7th Generation reverse engineered biological nano-machines in blood stream, bones, muscles, tendons and organs.
6. Nano-memory modules in the Cerebrum, holding all relevant non-personal data.
Brood Composition:1. Forward Command and communications: 9 Vat-born.
2. Field Combat Medic: 48 Vat Born (10 at secondary position)
3. Long Range Specialists (Snipers): 50 Vat-Born
4. Heavy assault: 240 Vat-Born
5. Light Assault: 235 Vat-Born
6. Infiltrators: 45
7. Heavy Support: 113 (12 as Secondary Position)
8. Combat Engineers: 112
9. Scouts: 100
Ari's Contingent:1. 10 Scouts
2. 6 Infiltrators
3. 4 Forward Command & Comms
4. 16 Field Medics
5. 11 Combat Engineers
6. 22 Long Rage Specialists (Snipers)
7. 21 Heavy Support
8. 20 Light assault
9. 55 Heavy Assault (including Ari herself)
Allies Forces:Ankara's Brood: 50% Casualties. Steady moral. Exhausted.
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Topic: (SG) Starfire: War and Politics - Enemies Old and New - UPDATE 03/07/2014 (Read 87729 times)