Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

[Zenath]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Spoiler

Willpower - 30/30
Combat and HP - 2 and 16/20
Explore and Stam - 6 and 19/30
Tech K-H and Knowledge - 11 and 9/10
Naughty and Lewd - 6 and 32/40

Combat (19) - 13+2 = 15, fail (lose 4 HP)
Naughty (21) - 7+6 = 13, fail (lose 8 Lewd)
Tech (20) - 8+11 = 19, fail (lose 1 Knowledge)

Carnassus just laughs, the sound echoing around the room and around Maria's head. The heavy rifle shots spray as she is yanked away by the grapple, some sparking against the metal walls and blast doors, some hitting the monster.

She doesn't even flinch. The armoured blades on the back of her arms just absorb the shots, little bits of bone, or whatever it was, flying. Then she charges, the bulky creature lunging across the room far faster than anything that lethal should move. Maria yanks at the grapple, desperately trying to dislodge it for another escape - and just as it comes loose, looks up.

Carnassus grins toothily. "Caught you." Then a clawed fist hammers home, and Maria is slammed into the wall, the breath knocked from her. The armour absorbs most of the damage, but she knows that the attack wasn't even a serious one. She was being toyed with.

As she struggles to breathe, Carnassus picks her up, pinning her to the wall one-handed. "You know, I really don't understand humans. How on earth do you have the hubris to consider yourselves masters of the galaxy? Oh, right. Of course. You breed like no tomorrow. Sometimes it seems all you're good for."

The red eyes look at her scornfully. "You're certainly no fighter, if that's the best you can do. So let's try you at something else." A long, razor-edged claw reaches out, and tears apart Maria's armour with a small effort, strips of metal peeling off like paper, until nothing guards her pale, quivering flesh from the alien predator. The blunt, befanged muzzle nuzzles against her stomach, her breasts, the hot breath making her feel exposed, more exposed than even with the insane surgeon in the sickbay.

"So delicate... so tender..." Carnassus giggles, her tongue flicking out, the long, prehensile tool squeezing at her nipples with surprising strength, the sensation hovering precisely on the gap between pleasure and pain. This is no precise, mechanical examination. These are the actions of one who knows a bit about how to stimulate human biology... and given the number of crew on the Storm, it doesn't take much guesswork to work out where she's been practicing.

"You... Maria... are mine..." A heavily ridged knuckle jabs against her sex, rubbing against it mercilessly, those lethal claws just close enough to generate fear, and yet far enough to be safe. "All... mine..."

 

[Termite]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Deja vu... Once again Maria was bound by her neck, her breath coming in short gasps, her left hand trying to support her lifted weight while her right is weighed down by the rifle she refuses to release. Even if the weapon couldn't break through that razor edged armor growing from the alien's back it was still better than trying to punch the damn thing in the face.

While dangling between Carnassus's fingers much too much like some captured rabbit that little speech on human hubris made the girl grit her teeth. She may not have met many aliens in her career, but every single one always complained that humans were all hoity toity and full of themselves. It pissed her off. She wanted to scream at the she-beast. She sure as hell wasn't like that, and neither was anyone she knew. It was always the snobs in the upper class who looked down on others, and they looked down on everyone, not just the alien species.

But before she could muster the breath for it one of those insanely dangerous looking claws caught an opening in her suit. Maria froze when it lightly poked her in the chest, the only movement the way she shivered as it slowly tore a path through fabric and steel without showing the slightest hint of resistance. Once again her mostly nude body was greeted by cold recycled air, the feel of the situation all too familiar even with Carnussus nuzzling up to Maria's bare stomach.

Captured, bare, being examined by something that could quite easily break her in two, Maria still thought she was going to become a meal. The "delicate" and "tender" comments didn't help much, and when that serpentine tongue poked itself out to taste her flesh she knew it wouldn't be long before one mighty chomp ended it all. She could only sit back and wait, that tongue flickering out every so often, brushing against her nipples, coiling around them, squeezing, pulling, stretching her flesh to exactly the perfect point before the release snapped each modest globe back into place leaving one wanting more while the other was lovingly...

WHAT THE HELL?! Maria's eyes shot open behind her helmet, the realization that she was being expertly fondled completely confusing her mind and body. She hadn't even realized both her arms were wrapped around her tormentor's wrist, rifle still in hand while the stock and barrel were supported by the still attached grapple on her left. Another flick sent her mind spinning for a second, and as she slowly regained her senses she knew her body was trying to anchor itself while it writhed under this entirely too enjoyable assault.

A small reprieve was given while Carnassus claimed her right of ownership, but soon it was broken by a single knuckle digging between Maria's already blooming petals. The intrusion was rough and insistent, and with her body already flooded by that licking earlier she felt like she was about to burst. If it weren't for those claws lightly bumping against her legs she probably would, but with those weapons so close her release was safely held back.

But this was a battle she was quickly losing, the loud moan she let out a sure sign of it. Without even realizing the finger torturing her was actually taking the brunt of her weight she soon learned the truth when a sharp intake finally filled her lungs. Her mind began to clear a bit right then, and with it the memory of the Doctor's assault reared its ugly head. The sickbay experience and the here and now, the two were too similar. Even with her senses losing ground she had to ask "Were...were you...waaaaAAAAtching?" obviously referring to the madman's exam even if she moaned that last bit.

In a far corner of her mind she heard a loud bang. A small flash across the room followed, and when Maria bothered to look she could see a small impact scorch near one of the uncovered portholes. Her mind focused for a moment, and soon after she adjusted her arm the tiniest fraction of an inch before firing. It was nowhere near being any danger to the alien, but the round struck the nearby force field, the properties of the field itself causing the bullet to bounce off its surface. The new trajectory should take it straight into that window she saw. If all went according to plan explosive decompression should be more than enough to get the beast to drop the human. It wouldn't last too long, some kind of cover or barrier would seal the breach in less than a second, but that should be enough for Maria to get clear and think of something else. She wasn't quite ready to become Carnassus's pet.

 

[Zenath]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Spoiler

Willpower - 30/30
Combat and HP - 2 and 14/20
Explore and Stam - 6 and 19/30
Tech K-H and Knowledge - 11 and 9/10
Naughty and Lewd - 6 and 28/40

Combat (19 - 2) - 13+2 = 15, fail (lose 2 HP)
Naughty (21 - 2) - 9+6 = 15, fail (lose 4 Lewd)
Tech (20 - 2) - 16+11 = 27, pass

"Watching?" Carnassus purred. "You and the good doctor? Of course. I was watching you the moment you escaped the initial ambush. I thought you might have promise."

She continues her relentless assault, her tongue lavishing its unwelcome, and yet oh-so-good attentions. Her attention is clearly focused on her task, and thus when the shot pings off the force field and through one of the portholes, she is completely unprepared, the explosive force yanking her away and giving Maria just enough time to dive and aim her grapple to try and escape again. As she does so, she notes some curious ripples in the force field defending Zaphron where the shot impacted. Some part of her brain stores it away, knowing that she'll be able to disable it later. If, by some miracle, she lives.

But the force field that snaps on, quickly followed by a conventional metal plate, ends the decompression, and Carnassus recovers fast, too fast. As Maria pulls the trigger on the grapple and begins to fly after it, a grip like iron grasps her ankle, and yanks. There is a horrible feeling of being torn in half, and then the grapple flies off her arm.

There is a feeling of intense dizziness as she is swept upside-down, being held in mid-air by the ankle. Somewhere she loses grip on the rifle, it landing with a clatter on the floor below her as she is hoisted up, her arms and one leg dangling limp.

"Nice trick, Maria." Hot breath washes over her sex, and she barely has time to process exactly what that means before the long tongue flicks out, lapping at her sex. "But you're still mine. You already know it. You taste so sweetly of fear..."

If she could just focus... the rifle is still within reach...

 

[Termite]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

For a moment she thought she was free. Carn was busy dealing with recovery while Maria was already anchored. But as the woman started reeling in her cable she saw a large swirl of movement near her leg. Before she could even react something grabbed her ankle and pulled with enough force to stop her dead. With two equal forces pulling in opposite directions there had to be a focal point. The loud pop near her ear told Maria it was her shoulder, and before she could even move a searing pain shot through her system as if someone had injected molten lave directly into her spine. She screamed like some feral creature, the pain of a dislocated shoulder aggravated by that force still prying at the very soft and far more fragile tissues holding her arm in place. It was an act of mercy when the armor holding the grapple decided to tear away.

Hanging upside down and in intense pain Maria didn't give her captor time to do much before she grabbed whatever she could be it limb or torso and used that muscled body as a wall to drive her shoulder back into its socket. Three times she did this, each impact ending in a grunt of anguish until the familiar crunch of bone sliding by bone brought one more strained grunt that echoed of growing relief.

Hanging upside down, blood rushing to her head, relief washing over her, she no longer cared about anything. Hell, her mind couldn't even focus on where she was. The rush to pop her shoulder back into place always left the woman drifting on the very edge of consciousness, even if she didn't remember the wall she used to fix herself was the thing that nearly tore her arm from her body. All she did now was hang where she was and let her mind drift for a bit, whatever sensations she felt nothing more than a wave in the pool while she tried to understand what was sitting on the floor under her.

In this weird hazy world she was now visiting the girl heard a faint melodic voice just before a warm breeze blew past her crotch. Such an inviting sensation against her skin, that warmth spreading from her core once she felt something moist slide between her folds. In her dazed state she began to think back to a couple of lovers, those two willing to take their time as they worshiped her temple, their tongues tracing long, languid paths and enjoying every drop of honey they could find. But this tongue, oh God, this tongue put them to shame. It felt like it never left her, an impossibly long tongue that folded on itself and lovingly caressed BOTH of her petals at once. And that tip. With each pass it teased her entrance, the faintest of touches barely piercing her slit and lightly striking her exposed clit before diving down for more. She could feel her lips opening on their own as if begging her mystery lover to plunge right in. This was perfect. This bliss she received was only being enhanced with each passing second, her body awakening to a pleasure she had never known, her eyes just basking in the warm glow as she finally focused on...

A rifle? Reality struck her hard in the face. Before she even realized she was hanging by a foot her right hand went for the weapon, her body stretching to give her just a bit more flexibility before she grabbed it and aimed it right between her legs. Her left arm was acting as a brace, the protest it made at being used only serving to remind Maria what had happened as she ignored the pain and checked her aim. Carnassus was right there, and even if she could block high velocity projectiles with her armor one clean shot to the face should melt that bitch's head clean off her shoulders.

 

[Zenath]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Spoiler

Willpower - 30/30
Combat and HP - 2 and 10/20
Explore and Stam - 6 and 19/30
Tech K-H and Knowledge - 11 and 8/10
Naughty and Lewd - 6 and 28/40

Doing pretty well so far, no catastrophic rolls...

Combat (19 - 4) - 9+2 = 11, fail (lose 4 HP)
Naughty (21 - 4) - 15+6 = 21, pass
Tech (20 - 4) - 4+11 = 15, fail (lose 1 Knowledge)

As plans go, it was a good one, but there was a problem. In order to get the rifle to a point where she could point it at Carnassus' head, Carnassus would see it. And see it she, did, pulling back sharply and hurling Maria across the room like a rag doll, with an angry snarl.

The impact against the wall seriously hurt, but it jolted her back to reality, away from that happy place that that long tongue took her. And despite the pain, for a moment, Maria feels elation of a different kind. Carnassus had reacted with fear. And if something could be afraid, it could be beaten.

Ignoring the screaming pain in her arm, ignoring the gnawing need that Carnassus was helping to grow in her loins, ignoring the pounding of her heart, she raises the rifle and squeezes off several shots, trying to aim for the unarmoured sections of the monster's body.

She's fast, though, swiftly bringing her armoured blades up to block her head and stomach. She's clearly frustrated, however, not advancing much - or at least, not forwards. Too late Maria realises her target - the lights.

It is suddenly very dark. The only light coming from the flashlight on her rifle, the gentle glow of the force field, and the dim ambience from the portholes.

"Maybe you do have teeth after all," the voice purrs. "Bravo. The question is... do you know how to bite?"

 

[Termite]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Spoiler

And since you said "no catastrophic rolls" the law of averages should kick in right about now. Thanks for jinxing me.

For a moment she felt like she had blacked out, every single nerve in her body shutting down after crashing into that wall. But that look in the monster's face, that surprised look that made the beast snarl, that look opened her eyes. Her body had bounced off the wall, but her hands and knees caught her fall before she landed face down on the floor. Her rise was a bit slow no thanks to her left arm still screaming at even the slightest use, but rise she did. Her body ached, her arm felt like it was tearing itself a part, her heart raced just seeing the massive beast while her excitement trickled down her leg at what that she-thing could do, but Maria just grinned behind her mask as the barrel of her weapon was soon level with her target's face. Beyond the fear, beyond the need, one fact had taken root.

Carnassus was scared.

Maria was no longer facing some invulnerable, indomitable abomination. Carn was just another living thing, strong and dangerous of course, but still just a living thing. Every creature in the universe always had some flaw, and Maria had finally found two that belonged to this thing. First, it was very vulnerable. It may have armor that can deflect particle rounds as if they were nothing more than BB shots, there were plenty of open spaces where that armor couldn't cover. The predator couldn't help but react, those razor-like plates having being brought around to cover the less than protected flesh underneath. Another shot was taken, this time aimed at the soft underbelly, and once again the alien had to react. With each successive shot the woman found another exposed patch and forced Carn to protect herself if she wanted to remain intact.

All was going well until the alien started moving up. The human kept her pressure going the entire time, but something about this new tactic didn't seem right. It wasn't until that enormous body blocked one of the overhead lamps that Maria finally realized the hunter's intentions. In an instant whatever lighting had been flooding the room was destroyed, the only sources of light coming from the terminals, the portholes, and especially from the nearby energy shield. Even then it was hard to see much of anything, and given that Carnassus was a predator she could probably stalk Maria in this low light for hours on end. That wouldn't do, so the woman simply brought her left hand up to that helmet and pressed into a small depression on the side. With the integrated thermal filter online Carn's very large and very warm body stood out against the pale blue environment, and Maria resumed her assault as if nothing had happened.

It was a mistake to ignore human ingenuity. Now Maria just had to force the beast to make another.

 

[Zenath]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Spoiler

Willpower - 30/30
Combat and HP - 2 and 10/20
Explore and Stam - 6 and 19/30
Tech K-H and Knowledge - 11 and 8/10
Naughty and Lewd - 6 and 28/40

I worked out you'd need to roll something like four 1s in a row to lose at this point xP But my jinxing skills evidently need work, becaaaaause...

Combat (19 - 6) - 13+2 = 15, pass
Tech (20 - 6) - 6+11 = 17, pass

But another mistake wasn't needed.

Perhaps she wasn't used to fighting prepared and fully equipped humans, maybe she was overconfident. Whatever the reason, when Maria raised the rifle again and shot directly at the figure as it lunged forward, with lethal silence and speed, the shot wasn't blocked.

Carnassus screamed, spinning away as the blast hammered into her vulnerable stomach. She hit the wall, hard enough to make it shudder, and then crumpled into a heap.

Maria hesitantly stands, then unloads a dozen more shots into the monster. Blood sprays from the vulnerable sections, and then Carnassus falls still with a hiss, finally dead.

Then she remembers that it isn't over. Zaphron is still to be dealt with. With a few well placed shots, the force field explodes.

Colonel Adamaeus Zaphron slowly turns the chair to face her, glowing gently in her thermal vision. "That... that wasn't supposed to happen."

He's sweating. "She's invincible. Just faking. Get up, alien. She's threatening me! Come on, get up!"

(Yes, you've won. Just the final story threads to tie up )

 

[Termite]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

What? This was...unexpected... Maria was damn near sure she'd have to trap the alien somehow, maybe even get her near one of those portholes so she'd get stuck in one once it was blown open. But there she was, the mighty Carnassus blown into a wall as Maria had been so many times already, cradling her stomach while she screamed bloody murder.

"So, I'm yours? Is that right...? I'm just some little PLAYthing, a PET for you to enJOY while you FUCKED me INTO SUBMISSION?!" With each screamed word that rifle slowly tore Carnassus apart, each shot burning through that leathery hide as Maria balled her fear and rage into righteous indignation. Even after all that there was still a shred of life in the crumpled mass of flesh on the deck, and Maria slowly approached until she was just outside the nearly dead creature's reach. "How does my fear taste now?" One final round ended it, the microslug shot into the beast's open mouth. Maria didn't stay to watch her head explode or melt or whatever would happen to that thing's unique body. It was gone. She didn't need to worry anymore.

Four more shots could be heard, these punching into the field the Colonel hid behind, each one specifically aimed at the corners. Whatever stress they caused fed directly into each generator, and soon enough their overload caused the shield to collapse and explode, the brilliant flash probably the last thing Zaphron saw before he too was thrown into the darkness. It was his time to be nervous, and when he practically screamed for his bodyguard a metal hook latched onto and impaled the arm that held his cybernetic hand. Before he could scream it pulled him from his chair and left him sprawled on the floor. The moment he bothered to try and defend himself the familiar light from a military rifle turned on mere inches from his face. "Do anything stupid and I'll make sure a coroner will never be able to identify your body. Sit up."

The grapple that nearly tore Maria's arm clean out of its socket was now binding Zaphron, and with that out of the way she finally wandered around until she found the switch for the emergency lights. Now that she could see she finally took that helmet off, her rear now planted firmly in a comm terminal. She dove right into the computer, hacking her way through systems and giving herself full control of the ship before making sure Zaphron's permissions were completely and utterly purged. Following that she contacted the closest Confederate operations center and sent a complete and uncut recording of everything her helmet had recorded during this mission. She hesitated at that. Some points were far too embarrassing, but she wanted to make sure they had an unedited recording that couldn't be accused of tampering and falsification.

The Storm was far too damaged for Maria to get up and running, but she didn't care. The bridge was safe, the military was on its way, and now that they knew what was waiting for them they could rip through those Altered and retake the ship. Zaphron's treachery would be revealed to the world, and it was known wide and far that traitors faced a fate far worse than death. Of course whoever made it to the bridge would find a very naked technician, but it was a small price to pay to see Zaphron get what he deserved.

 

[Zenath]

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Zaphron said nothing, did nothing to defend himself as she snarled in his face. There wasn't a sound on the bridge, save for her own breathing, and the gentle beeping of consoles.

"Well played," he said, suddenly. "It would seem that I've failed. My masters won't like that."

There is something odd in his voice. Before she can turn from the communications panel, there is a sharp thud, and Zaphron falls dead to the floor.

As she snatches her rifle, seeking the source, she sees the ragged hole where his heart had been, and the gently glowing barrel concealed in his sleeve. He could have shot her, but chose to commit suicide instead, perhaps knowing that there was no escape.

As her gaze passes over the bridge, it comes to rest on Carnassus, and her heart skips a beat. The monster has vanished, without a sound, leaving only a pool of blood, and on the wall, written in red letters, the words, "You're still mine..."

The bridge is empty. No way Carnassus can be hiding.

She slowly draws herself into the chair, shivering.

Rescue can't come fast enough...

THE END... for now...