Week 6- The Fungal Continent and the Fungal Menace on the Dimension of Kyrpos

The Huge Fire Sea Sailer Warship landed on the top of an obsidian plateau overlooking Ar’yay Hive Queen’s largest population center on her new obsidian continent in Kyrpos.
It was not just any guest who Ar’yay greeted today. It was a representative of the HiveQueen’s council.
Ar’yay wondered if they were finally ready to have her replaced.
She had plans ready if that was their message.
Stepping from the Warship’s boarding ramp was a twelve foot tall Hive Queen clad in Red Fist Power Armor. Since the coming of Garmin Fe, all the Queens had begun wearing the costly power armor and life support device.
This queen was flanked by twelve Quall Warriors also in Red Fist armor.
Normally if this had not been announced, such a militaristic greeting would be construed as an act of war. But these were announced guests…at least for now.

Andara HiveQueen greeted Ar’yay HiveQueen respectfully and said, “Sister, I bring the greetings of myself and Kol Hagos HiveLord and a minority on the Hive Queen’s council. Who can call off your burning shadows, sister, I am not here to announce your execution or the arrival of your Hive daughter Lana Soregi. The Hive Queen Council is more concerned with pressing matters,” said Andara.

Ar’yay noticed the other HiveQueen’s Red Fist Armor actually had regimental markings. It wasn’t just power armor sold and bought on the blackmarket. It had been earned in service to the I.R.

“And what is so pressing that the Hive Queens send you to me?” asked Ar’yay, “What do they need from a rogue Hive Queen?”

“Nothing actually,” said Andara, “They are busy squabbling about how to counter the powers of Warmonger’s Hive King. Their arguments are circular and wastes of time. I come here with their permission, not at their behest. From one Hive Queen to another you should be warned about our tactical reports. From the east creeps the fungus of Michael Herbert Gilmour. Its spores are upwind of your position and they will be carried down upon your new continent. He has already consume one of the Makh islands and your old continent and turned it into a living mass of fungal matter. Our IR scientists have told us it is sentient matter in some way, and it has finally linked telepathically with Scientists Gilmour’s other habitats. It pulses with the same aura of an infant group consciousness.
I am here to offer my aid to you. 500,000 of my best Quall Sailors aboard my fleet of 200 Fire Sea Sailers. I have retired from I.R. Service, and this is all that remains of my fleet.
Days ago the fungus reached the small obsidian outcroppings only a mile offshore. Soon the clouds will begin to convert your new continent. Either I can aid you evacuate, or I can aid you in defending your home.”

Ar’yay laughed a roaring laugh, “Evacuate, I will not evactuate. I do not care if he is growing a fungal Hivemind out there. I will not retreat again from that puny scientist.”

This is a battle against a sentient continent-sized landmass which is covered in teleportation fungal hubs, and is loyal to the TRILAT and has a deep dislike of Quall.

Can you figure out a way to destroy a continent?

Just remember heat makes it grow faster!

This is primarily a rivalry between Michael Herbert Gilmour vs. Ar’yay HiveQueen.

This mission is open to All Players.

Post your plan to this mission on either the defenders or attacker's side here on this thread only. First person to post gets a single extra repost later to launch secret attacks, ambushes etc. All other players get one post only. This thread will be locked at 11pm E.S.T. on Friday June 10th. Only actions listed on this mission thread will count as locked in for player actions.

You are encouraged to set up threads in your own factions to discuss this matter.

Michael is actually perfectly content with the way things are going. Indeed, he's far, far more interested with developing a new strain of his fungus to survive within the lava itself, and hopefully be carried through the plane that way. It will also make it much, much more difficult to root out. The fact that the fungus had entrenched itself so completely in its current location was rather nice, of course, but that wasn't a main goal.

It should be noted that the fungal beds are not releasing anything toxic at this point, as per his agreement with Ar'yay earlier. He is not trying to annihilate anyone, and if it were to spread to the hivequeen's lair, it is entirely possible that nothing would happen. Of course, it could provide excellent leverage later.

As it stands, the fungus seemed to have only grown down to a depth of a few meters. He would also begin developing more aggressive strains of fungi to start burrowing far deeper than that as quickly as possible. Perhaps he would connect with a molten underground, which would again be contaminated by his fungi designed to survive magma itself.

Unlike his other habitats, the fungi here do not glisten with black ooze, or anything along those lines. Indeed, they look almost rocklike, with surprisingly hard exteriors, dotted with randomly oriented glassy spheres. Those motile elements that do exist seem to travel very slowly, as the heat of Kyrpos does a good job cleansing the network of any dead or dieing matter. Direct attacks against the network have not yet been made, though even the tangle of growing fungi itself seems to be capable of movement.

Spores are released from large bulbs at the top of tall stalks. They germinate quickly on exposure hot surfaces, and seem to grow mainly from silicon oxides, taking a fair portion of their required carbon from the air. The ecosystem has developed to the point where certain fungi are not able to break down the rocks by themselves, and only subsist on dead and decaying fungi. It is those species that would likely be able to actually grow on most living matter, and they were probably what inflicted the most damage on the pit mongrels.

Recently, strange nodes would begin appearing at branchpoints in the network. They do not seem to release spores, and they do not seem to move. Their purpose is unknown.

Taking a deep breath of the hot humid air, Captain Hafendurum enjoyed the taste. The air before a battle always tasted a little sweeter than normal air. He wasn't quite sure why but even within his Red Fist Power armor the air was just better. He stood on the command deck of their new Bastion Siege Strider and had to marvel a bit at the human technology. It certainly added a bit of flavor to the standard attack methods. The strider was flanked by 20 IR siege tanks as well all preparing their artillery cannons to fire at the target. Of course these weapons were useful but on their own they wouldn't be enough. The Captain smiled, his men did the final touches by artificing the ammunition with chill, the attacks would strike at the enemy from afar and shut down their technomatic parts. They were deployed on a small island off the coast of the primary Quall Hive. The island was named Gorback'en and would be the staging ground for the attack.

Along with the Artillery tanks there were twenty Anti-air Striders with Helios Cannons provided by Sector General Palomedes to protect the Bastion also provided by him and the tanks provided by Sector General Deer before the man became a total insufferable ass.

In addition to this artillery the mothership "Flaming Justice" shall fire its EMP missiles at the Fungus from far above the blast zone. It shall keep its Raptors and Striders in reserve in case anyone tries to interfere with the operation.

While the bombardment was taking place the signal would be given to the forces positioned underneath the fungus to activate their shadow and chill artifacts to strike at the Fungus from below. They had been patiently waiting for weeks for the order, preparing to lay a foundation of chill in order to prevent the Fungus from simply burrowing below thus avoiding the bombardment.

The enemy was smart, they prepared for an attack by flame, fire made the filth worse, now with Chill the disgusting fungus would meet its match.

As the EEF has agreed to deploy Drones to scan the lava sea to locate the submerged fungus, once located, the fleet of Andara HiveQueen will use their control over fire and heat to split the lava sea that is covering the fungus and expose it. Once the fungus is no longer under the lava sea it shall be bombarded by EMP and vampiric blast to both kills the technomatic parts of the fungus and to suck the life out of it.
Before the lava is returned to its normal position Red Fist commandos will be deployed to spread fleshworms to devour the remains of the fungus. Once they have eaten the fungus the lava will be put back to destroy the fleshworms.
This tactic shall be used on the fungus on the land as well. Fleshworms shall be deployed after the bombardment to devour all the remains of the fungus then afterwards the Red Fist Commandos will absorb the nightmares to eliminate them. Fire will not be used just in case the fleshworms develop some of the characteristics of the fungus after consuming them.
Also on the field will be 2,000 Red Fist Commandos with artificed chill weapons and 5,000 Quall Warriors with Chill rifles and acid pistols. The fungus seemed to ignore Quall N'Drone and only infect Pit Mongrels and Flayers so it seemed safe to deploy these warriors. They would move in after the bombardment and fleshworms to inspect how much of the Fungus was destroyed, and if the chill bombardment was effective use their rifles and acid pistols to clean away the remaining fungus. If the chill wasn’t effective the acid pistols will be used to kill the fungus.

As a final precaution 800 Quall Interceptors were on patrol to protect the operation from anyone who got too close. Their orders were to warn others away and only fire if they looked like they would interfere with the operation.

All in all Captain Hafendurum felt that the plan was good, he closed his eyes and gave the order to proceed to the Hive, and he would do his Queen proud. The Operation had been long in planning, and the fungus had to go. Its only purpose was to make life impossible for anything but itself, and that was an abomination. Knowledge, culture, history all gone forever, so much lost to existence. No one survives to remember the victims. This is an abomination; this fungus represents pure destruction and shows the evil of the Unity, the fungal planets were evidence of this. Soon the Pit Mongrels and Flayers of the Quall would be able to breathe easily knowing that this disease would be stamped out.

Sector General Deer stood before his former commanding officer and snapped into a tight salute. The Quall Queen's bovine face did turn into its version of a genuine smile. Her top left hand returned it.
"Andara HiveQueen, it has been many years Sir," said Sector General Deer. His voice was full of genuine love."

"I am well, but I have heard the Polar Expanse has fallen into disrepair since I left," She said.

Sector General Deer bowed his head in shame, "I failed you and all that you taught me, Andara Hive Queen."

"But you seemed so proud of your work against the Unity Core last year?" asked Andara.

"I Did," said Deer, "But while my balls were being crushed by the Board of Directors, the Estrain took over a third of the Polar Expanse. That was my failure. I should have."

One of her four hands came up and pressed to his lips silencing him.

"Oh Sanford, why don't you join the Horned Dogs?" asked Andara, "I could make you my General."

"No, you would make the host to the Quall N'drone who would be your general," said Deer in anger. Their ideas of love always clashed in these moments.

"Andara because you are here I will stand by your side. 500 Starfighters, Chaos-Class, have been heat shielded to allow them to fight here for you, to protect your fleet of Leyas Airships. They will lay down their lives for your team's survival and success," said Deer.

"The HiveQueen's Council say you don't like Ar'yay HiveQueen," said Andara HiveQueen.

"I don't like she spits on me with her words and deeds. She disregards and disrespects the red uniform and all who wear it. She views us as slaves," said Deer angrily. He was so angry flames actually appeared behind him.
"She is old news anyway. Her hive will have a new queen soon enough, and hopefully that one will at least appreciate all the I.R. Officers that have laid their lives on the line for their Quall comrades."

"And vice versa," said Andara in agreement.

"Out of respect for you," said Deer, "I will send in 500,000 Brethren Furies with Liquid Nitrogen sprayers to help clean up the surface continent. Once Ar'yay confirms all clear on the surface, the Furies will place charges and prepare to blow the living continent into bits. At that moment 200,000 Quall N'fel will be prepared to open energy bridges linked to energy bridges into 10% of the TRIDENT Missile Ships I have in orbit over TRILAT worlds. They will redirect this fungal threat back on the people who birthed it."

Deer signalled to an I.R. Mothership with full compliment replaced by Chaos Starfighters. Its Domebusters and missiles would be filled with Acid Ammo and Liquid Nitrogen Tipped Shells. It would protect him, and he was staying by Andara Hive Queen's side. He would never let the TRILAT harm her. He would wear simple lightweight but strong armor and carry a bandolier of Liquid nitro grenades, Riot grenades and Acid Grenades. He would carry 10 nanite syringes and his service pistol filled with Zela bullets.

Ooc
He also had a box of I.R. RPGs and I.R. Ablative Rockets. He was thrilled he hadn't been in such a viceral battle in ages. It was so viceral. He assigned three Quall N'fel to keep a protective aura and lava walk on him.

"Taste Rocket Death you screwed abomination!!!"

le-a Hive queen looks at krypos in disgust with these Fungi taking over her once beatiful home. She has nothing but contempt those responsible for placing these fowl Fungi onto her homeworld. Le-a Hive Queen when she sees the sea separate will be sending in 5,000 of red fist commandos to bombard the Fungi with chill life and vampric blast. Le-a will wait till after the bombardment to begin her attacks.

Jacob Simmons looked out over the landscape and realized no one would believe him if he could tell his friends and family where he was standing. The small island of Gorback’en had been converted into the forward operating base for the op. He looked out over the sea of lava in awe.
Their mission was even stranger. Fight a bunch of plants, at the same time all the briefings indicated this thing was more dangerous than any grass had the right to be.
Blackheart had come through an energy bridge with 2 Vespa freighters and 20 fighters. The Quall had cleared a long landing strip for them and now the freighters had parked, one converted into a command center, the other a mechanics bay.
The fighters were lined up neatly getting their final inspections. The Tzira and earther mechanic crews were checking and double checking everything. Near the end of the runway was a re-amring pitstop with racks of liquid nitrogen missiles and common parts. The mechanics there looked tense, their job began once the strikes began.
The fighters would be split. The first half would support the naval operation, they would torpedo or dive bomb the fungus with liquid nitrogen bombs once the quall split the seas.
The second half would support the ground assault dive bombing any particularly resilient patches once the hands across krypos style assault began.
The EMP ICBM would be reserved for any TRILAT fleets or for a ground EMP attack if the Hive queen called for it. The only condition was the command freighter needed to verify air and ground were clear before launching.
The final element was a nighthawk with crew that would act to pick up any downed pilots. They had been lent chill bolt pistols normally reserved for STRIKE operators. as well as space suits. Hopefully the nighthawks machine guns were effective against the weeds. If they were called out to the field they would also collect small samples in airtight heavy containers.

Oleifera struggled in her mind, ruffling and misting dusts of microscopic choates where she lay. She had devoted herself to the builders, but still harnessed rage for what the Burning Ones had done to her. She made every justification for her actions, but that was what they were, justifications. They did not enlighten her of keep her on the path of the builders.

She had sent the little nippers on their mission. The mission the choates were designed for. She had sent them all. Thousands upon thousands to circle and avoid the conflict with the fungus. They wanted the heads of Quall N'Drone, but most of all they wanted a Queen's Head. Unity said all he needed was a sample and heads were samples enough. Any nipper that captures a head from the colony will gingerly pass it back and continue nipping gleefully. The last in line will take it back to the ally base by hopping on the bottom of the lava sea. Extra nippers will be devoted to securing and guarding a Queen's head should it be nipped.

Palomedes could not be there personally he was too busy leading the fleet against the Estrain. In spite of location, he would still help his allies without question.
The fleet of 300 starfighters would be devoted to protecting Ar'yays Striders from counter attack from above and 25,000 Brethren would protect them from below. Four IR Missile Ships will cloak and zoom in to rescue any allied leaders who are in danger.

10 IR Gunships (heat shielded)
2 Heavy Frigates and 100,000 additional Brethren will be assigned to help Ar'yay


50,000 Brethren Betas armed with Missile propelled grenades will protect the coast of Ar'yays new continent. They will focus on Enemy starfighters and aircraft.

20,000 Quall Nfel cloned hybrid soldiers will be firing their leyas chill pistols into any new fungal growths before they can spread to Aryays continent. And using conversion to heal any injured Quall Allies.

Black-Gamma: "Oh yeah. Gonna shoot me down some Quall N'Drone scum."
Red-Alpha: "No your not."
Black-Gamma: "What do you mean I'm not?"
Red-Alpha: "Your not."
Black-Gamma: "Listen, I know that we aren't actually here to engage in full combat. I have no idea why. But dude, captain says if one of those Red Fist bastards gets close I can take a pop. Its sure to happen!"
Red-Alpha: "But your still not gonna shoot one down."
Black-Gamma: "What?! Are you saying I'm not a good enough shot?"
Red-Alpha: "Nope, I'm not saying that at all."
Black-Gamma: "Good, cause I am a damn good shot. You should recognized that."
Red-Alpha: "I do."
Black-Gamma: "So tell me then, why do you think I'm going to miss my chance to shoot at somethin'?"
Red-Alpha: "Cause we already agreed, I'm in the gunners seat and your piloting."
Black-Gamma: "...oh."


[4 Arcturus Warships, 4 Unity Dreadnoughts, 6 Armigers, and 50 additional Sagitae fighters will take position over the Fungal mass outside of the combat zone as a show of force. They will not engage but rather simply be present. This has a two-fold goal. First, it will slow down their operation if they care to stay outside of weapons range (time is on our side). Second, it will draw greater numbers to the front lines, drawing attention away from the flanks. Iron Republic forces will not be engaged at any time. Quall forces with valuable gear, such as red fist command armor are open to attacks should they stray too close. That said, they will do nothing to give the Iron Republic reason to think we have violated our treaty. All force is implied, not delivered.]

The Da'uhnb of GAST would arrive on Kyrpos. They would use their teleport to deposite Anti Fungal grenades. 250 Da'uhnb would be grenading the isles of Makh. 1,500 Da'uhnb would be grenaders for the fungal continent. 1,000 for preventing the spread of spores using the grenades airburst style.

Most important- the Quall queen Ar'yay will be targeted with light leyas so her position is marked for enemy attack. 100 Da'uhnb will be doing this while they themselves are obscured.

10 Da'uhnb with grey tracker rifles will tag her if taken by TRILAT so GAST soldiers can track her in TRILAT hands. then GAST soldiers will follow to containment locations.

1600 rabble and 400 replicators landed and quickly found MichaelHerbertGilmour. One steps forward and says, we are to be of assistance, and Lt. Ryuk believes the best sort of training can be had in the field. We are gaining experience with the leyas, and are ready to help you as you see fit. What are your instructions?

Admiral Yr would grab Ryuk on the way to MHG and tell him, "You don't just visit the scientist! Next time greet him early! Let us take the battle to some Quall."

Chill Life Bombs would be hurled across the length and breath of Ar'yay's coastline. 2000 of them. They would be hurled by 200 Giant Nightmares riding on the back of Fire Sea Aquatic Nightmares. There were two Nightmares to each Fire Sea Aquatic Nightmares.

They would attempt to get close so Frost Generators inside nightmares will affect surface.