3944/Hunting the Most Dangerous Bug

Hunting the Most Dangerous Bug
Date of Scene:	25 March 2016
Location:	Naturia
Synopsis:	A dangerous tyranid finds itself in the rare situation of being prey, as Sinon and Karian hunt down the final shred of a hive fleet.
Cast of Characters:	Karian Icefang, 649

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Sinon (649) has posed:
    Naturia is a great place!

    TThere are an assortment of weird and interesting nature worlds in this segment of the multiverse, but sometimes Sinon likes, rather than going to any one civilization in particular, just spending time doing... well, what she did on the night of her awakening, after the BoB.

    Namely, she goes out into the wide open spaces and just enjoys being superhuman, leaping from tree to tree, staring across huge vistas of creation with her <<Hawk Eye>>, and swinging from vine to vine with incredible strength. And even though this place is relatively uninhabited by humans, there are warpgates nearby to allow forest spirits pass to and fro to elsewhere in the multiverse.

    However, the weird way the warpgate network and time and space work may cause serious problems today...

    For example, what's to say that, many weeks ago when the Tyranids attacked Crispus, there was a gate that a falling tyranid spore by sheer chance dropped directly into? One that's been bouncing around the network since then, like grit in a big shoe, close to falling out any time now?

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian took time to share what he knew about the tyranids to his allies and friends. Today, however, he was moving carefully. He was helping to corral a Tyranid. Of course, his goal was to let another take the kill this time. "Remember, if you see it, flush it out. As far as we know there was only one spore, but we need to be ready." He instructs his fellows, ready to assist.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    Sinon is aware that Karian is here...? Sort of? The awareness of his presence is there in the back of her head, much as it is in the bottom of her HUD when she troubles herself to look at the GGO-style overlay she can virtually summon at her fingertips.

    See, back when there was a call to fight the tyranids on that faraway world, Kirito was there, but Sinon was not. Since then- despite what reassurances Eisen might give her- she has always been strangely ashamed of herself, always desiring some way to make up for not being there for him.

    As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for-you might just get it.

    Like an eggshape covered in overlapping plates and barnacles, a tyranid tyrannocyte - organic 'drop pod'- with a single occupant crashes into the top of a huge tree and falls all the way to the bottom, disappearing under the canopy and disturbing birds and lizards by the score.

    Yeah, she notices it.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Hearing the crashing, Karian knew where the beast was. He moved carefully, not sure what species it was yet. He hoped it was not a lictor, or else they would be the hunted. But his concern didn't lie for himself, but for Sinon. She had never faced a foe like tyranids, and this was truely a trial by fire.
    Where the pod fell, animals and lizards ran, yes. Likely they could already tell what manner of monster lied within. Sure as the sun rose, the pod would burst open, and the newest member of the hive mind would emerge. Though it would be more feral and unpredictable, with the loss of it's Hive Mind.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Fortunately...

    Sinon doesn't just have foolhardy ambition on her side. She, too, is an expert at survival... her self-imposed 'upbringing' in GGO gave her the kind of skill development that equals her Gatecrasher peers.

    "<<...Will it be able to sense us communicating if we use our radios?>>" she asks Karian. Sinon's examination of the various Tyranids on the Union database was brief, but she knows that even for aliens with no technology their weird biology could mimic many things.

    Down on the jungle floor of Naturia, what might be the last survivors of this hive fleet- both pod and occupant- are awake. It's certainly not a small tyranid fodder creature by any stretch of the imagination, but what powers could it display? Could it even grow and reproduce if it ate its way through this naturia salad bar?

    As Sinon skips from branch to branch above, trying to find the path it made as it fell and looking for the crash site, she really hopes the answer is 'no'...

Karian Icefang has posed:
    "Dependant on the type. But normally you can feel it scratching at your mind." Karian explains. He didn't feel anything yet, so he started to rule out some types. He doubted it was a Zoanthrope at this point, and other broods like that. "My money would be on a smaller breed...perhaps a warrior." He radio's back.
    Sure enough, the pod openned and the beast revealed itself. It's roar echoed out in the forests, and it looked around hungrily. It needed Biomass, and it was willing to eat anything that crossed it's path.

Sinon (649) has posed:
"Gross," is all Sinon has to reply to that. There's only room for two voices in her head.

    So, now the question becomes: what are we going to do about killing this thing? Well, first she's going to need to get a good look at the tyranid, and then at everything around her. The trick here, at least as far as Sinon is concerned, is to figure out where if anywhere it's going to start moving straight away. The tyrannocyte isn't going anywhere, so in theory she could just come back and shoot that thing with bullets until it's confirmably dead later, but you have to assume as a sniper if something can move, it will (even if it doesn't know you're sniping them).

    So, for the first time, with glowing eyes, Sinon looks down for realsies at it- a being more alien and dangerous than anything her world could even imagine...

    And then she takes a breath, and it just becomes a moving target to her.

    Time to find a stable branch to snipe it from.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian moved in, his men flanking around to keep it pinned in. "Aye.." He responds to Sinon. He waits for her to get into position before moving any further.
    Meanwhile, the warrior breed leaps at the nearest source of biomass it could find, tearing into it with scything claws and truely horrifying sounds. It then began eating, and likely giving the sniper a good chance to study it's alien form.

Sinon (649) has posed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvXVrjrgDEY
    Shooting it Out - Yuki Kajiura
    Sword Art Online II - 2013

    Sinon hates that thing down there. She understands why most Imperials react with such visceral, immediate rancor at many of the aliens in their world- because there is absolutely nothing relateable or redeemable about that creature down there. Hunchbacked, with a small plated head, but nevertheless an unmistakeably insectoid appearence- and yet, just enough of it that looked like an animal, like hooflike feet and gorilla-esque arms- to make it revoltingly unlike anything familiar.

    Sinon mentally goes over her inventory- she doesn't expect that just one shot, even from her namesake weapon, will take this thing down immediately.

    No, instead she knows that even though this tyranid is in the sights of her Hecate II, a creature like this won't die from one shot- or rather, even if it would die, it would still move and fight long enough to still be a threat.

    Which is why, even as she fires her first spectacular shot, in the sweet spot between the tangling branches and hundreds of leaves- she knows that this will be the first strike of a dangerous fight.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian hears the gunshot and knows that things just got started. "Move, now." He and his soldiers kick their movement into high gear and start closing in.
    The Warrior recoils from the shot and is sent flying back from the impact. It looks up at where it came from and hisses at Sinon. It then starts to slither away, only to come under the powerful sounds of bolter fire.

Sinon (649) has posed:
"Karian!" Sinon calls across her radio, not using her hands to do it of course. Hands need to be holding guns right now. "I've engaged it!"

    That's all she needs to get the cavalry involved, and as soon as the tyranid begins to move she's immediately looking ahead of her in the direction it's moving in.

    Almost as an afterthought, she fires a snapshot off at the mycetic spore from a handgun before she goes- just in case it can produce some of those dangerous spore-filled gases she read about, a sucking chest wound should stymie that sort of foul play.

    And then she's moving into another position, trying to get ahead of the tyranid warrior so that she, Karian and the other marines can surround it.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    "Engaging!" Karian calls back. He moves to counter and block the alien as it runs back towards Sinon's position. Of course the pod was stymied and unable to produce spores. Meanwhile, the warrior was trying to cut down trees and other debris in order to block it's persuers.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    How much tree can one warrior cut if a warrior could cut trees? Doesn't have the same ring to it. Well, it's still a legitimate question, especially since Sinon was moving through those trees. Destabilizing one of them- or even one that's next to one she's on- shakes her suddenly, moving a branch away from her grasp, and she's forced into a sudden drop, her hands tearing past small branches and bark before she finds purchase again.

    She's stable, but her hands are shocked and numb. Boy, now would be a bad time for that wounded creature to spot her, am I right?

Karian Icefang has posed:
    The warrior looks over and spots Sinon. It charges at her...only to find a HUGE wolf standing guard over her. Karian's Thunderwolf Ygdril was watching over her. His fangs were bared, but he was the decoy. Karian comes from seemingly nowhere and tackles the warrior down to the ground. "Sinon....Take the shot!" He shouts, trying to elevate the beast.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    The greatest drawback to being a gunman is that, even moreso than people who use a sword- and can still hold their weapon if one of their digits is pain- the trigger finger is the most relevant one. And right now, Sinon is in a lot of pain...

    But she's not going to let something like pain be a barrier to her.

    Even if it is a lot, sure.
    Even if she's dislocated some other fingers.
    Even if she's swallowing the fear she's been feeling ever since this began...

    But this too is the process of moving forward.

    As soon as the bullet line directs her shot, she crunches the muscle in her hand and squeezes the trigger on Hecate once again. This one will destroy it for sure.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian lifts the warrior up and....the round pierces right through and down it's body. It expires with a nasty sound, and a howl from Ygdril. "Good shot." He says to Sinon. He tosses the body off and walks over, ruffling her hair and offering a hand.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    Sinon dismisses Hecate back into the space of her inventory, making her way down the tree. And she gets a hairruffle!

    "Ha... we really did it, didn't we? Thank you for letting me help you with this, Karian. It means a lot to me."