|| Apocalypse IC ||

The Black Ops team guarding the front of the rubble "base" engaged their active camouflage, and waited for the Horders to advance. Some of them were equiped with Plasma Rifles which would burn any flesh it hit, while others had energy swords to eviscerate any who engaged them.

The Horders advanced as the virus was released. They began to attack all the lifeforms that were visible. Suddenly three monsterous Drilosphats ripped out from the ground and began spewing acid everywhere.

The Black Ops soldiers weren't able to get close enough to use their swords due to the acid being spewed everywhere, but the ones with plasma rifles managed to bring down several of the horder squads before retreating back inside the rubble barricades to report to Commander Ne'Javik.

Several pairs of Jorro'kil Bulwark Soldiers slowly advanced, their hulking shields defending them against the Karthla Infection Ammo and slightly resistant to the acid being spewed by the Drilosphats. Then suddenly the Bulwarks soldiers stopped, and set down their shields in an upright position. The soldiers behind the emplaced shields all unholstered their ballistic pistols, and started to dodge in and out of the cover of their shields, firing at the oncoming Drilosphats and Horders.

The Drilosphats began to dig into the ground to create tunnels for the pods to leek into. One of them was destroyed. However the other two kept drilling into the ground and piercing out of it and ambushing enemies from behind their own lines.

The Black Ops regrouped for another attack on the oncoming Horder wave, assisted by the Bulwark soldiers. The sword-bearing units charged into the hordes of Horders, and elegently, "sliced and diced"

Suddenly a Raid Pod crashed right into the ground from the sky. The Karthla's wrath was only begining!

It burst open with green smoke and black goop. Many Krapreks and Fathers rushed from sockets in the walls. They got to their feet and bust open many hatches on the pod, pouring out soldiers.

This new horde would pose difficult for the Black Ops and Bulwark soldiers, and Commander Ne'Javik was already observing the battle via his Holo-table.

This was when Kau'Xen approached him.

"Ah, Commander Ne'Javik, right?" He said.

"Yes." Replied Ne'Javik. "Good, I'm Kau'Xen, that's with a K and an X. I've been trying to find any Jorro'kil survivors, I traveled here from the last intact city. I'm a JFO."
Said Kau'Xen. This got Ne'Javik's attention.

"There's still one city remaining? I woulda thought the Karthla would have cleared it out by now, I guess they're learning just how agressive we can get when we're angry. A JFO, you say? Hrm, think you could deliver an orbital gift to our Dominion friends out there?" Ne'Javik gesturded towards the outer rubble walls through which the sounds of battle echoed.

"No can do, my Z-P was broken by a Karthla Sniper." Replied Kau'Xen.

"Blast.." said Ne'Javik slightly dismayed.

Meanwhile.....

A Jorro'kil Black Ops had been traveling through a nearby collection of Karthla pods, killing off Hive Mothers. The Black Ops had now reached Neoma's pod...

Nobody was in the Karthla housing stalk, however, like all the others, it possessed multiple floors, some of them going up, others going down into the ground. This particular housing stalk had a total of seven floors including the one through which the Karthla entered. Nobody would be anywhere on one of the top floors. It was far too exposed for the Hive Mothers to dwell in. No doubt by the time the Black Ops Jorro'kil had defeated several of the Karthla, word would reach the others, and they would take precautions to keep themselves safe. Therefore, it was likely they were hiding deeper in the stalk's roots, where it would be dark, and difficult for anything without the eyes of a Karthla to see. There was also the issue of the nutrient slime, which was perfectly healthy for Karthla, but could likely kill a Jorro'kil. One would have to avoid it.

Thora could hear footsteps on the ceiling. Someone had entered the housing stalk. However, there was no way the footsteps of a Jorro'kil could be mistaken for that of a Karthla. The gait was all wrong, and it was very likely that this creature was not one of her comrades, Being the largest variant of all Karthla, a lone Jorro'kil had little chance of survival against her. It would be even more difficult fighting against her newly hatched brood. Even if he defeated Thora, he would then have to face Neoma and her own children. These two Hive Mothers displayed great intelligence, considering they had decided to work together, instead of think they could fight alone.

Thora gave a tiny tap on the floor, to alert Neoma, before facing the entrance to her floor, tensed, ready to strike. Her children readied themselves in a similar manner. She was going to see just how good this Jorro'kil was against guerrilla tactics. It wasn't a traditional method of Karthla to do an ambush, at least not to Thora's knowledge. She wasn't exactly the smartest Karthla out there.

If only the jorro'kil had seen the signs. The tiny lights in the sky. The unresponsive neighbours. If only the karthla had been aware. Their ignorance would be a weakness. If only they where prepared.

A small transmission drifted over ruined comm devices across the planet.

{it's alive! Oh my god it's alive inside him. Oh god. I can see it changing. No. No! Stay back!! Get away from me!!!}

If only they had cared. They assumed it was karthla. A simple karthla attack. When instead, it was far more horrific. Few on the planet had heard the rumours. Had heard the stories of planets devastated by the monsters. They never really believed. The universe was cruel but surely not that evil.

A second transmission drifted over the planet

{Its coming!! Can anyone hear me!! It's coming for you!!! Save yourself before the monsters find you! It's to late for me. The monster touched me. Its inside m- ~Crack~ Aaaaaaah!!!!}

The soldier who had been killing off the Podra mothers always managed to do it by using his active camouflage, a light-bending peice of tech which made the wearer extremely difficult to spot.

This Black Ops was a veteren in infiltration of Karthla pods, and knew that their would be no Karthla on the top floors, they would have gone down to the lower levels by now. So, his active camo still on, he silently leaped down a hole on the floor which passed as a door, and landed right next to a pool of nutrient slime. This stuff was gooey and deadly, if it was inhaled it would kill you, if it touched your flesh it would burn through it like acid, so for a Jorro'kil, especially a Black Ops on a mission like this, was high on the list of things to avoid.

The room he was in was large and dark. wet, dripping sounds could be heard, echoing through the level. pods grew on the walls, and puddles of nutrient slime and infection liquid littered the "floor."

An expert at manuevering around these hazards, the soldier silently crept through the level, advancing towards the nearby Karthla mothers and their children......

________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile......

Commander Ne'Javik was pacing around his Holo-table.

"Anything I can do to help?" asked Kau'Xen, standing next to the Commander.

"I wish there was, other than fight. We can't get in contact with any of the outside forces, the rubble here is disrupting any signals sent, plus there's some high-piched frequency being broadcast by the Karthla." replied Ne'Javik.

"Ah, I see......wait a moment. My helmet has an increased ability to recieve and send signals, effect of my rank, if it was connected to one of the COMM terminals somehow, couldn't he increased power overcome the signal blocks?" Inquired Kau'Xen.


Ne'Javik stopped pacing. He grinned ever so slightly. "That could definitely work, but the higher frequencies are dominated by the Karthla's transmissions. We could try a lower one." The Commander suggested.

"Yes, we could try to contact the Governer's office.." Kau'Xen's voice lowered to a whisper.

"Since those kinds of buildings and officials COMM's do use low frequencies much more over the higher frequencies...." the JFO's voice picked up again.

"Hopefully we'd be able to get some dropships over here to pick us up."

"Indeed." Replied Ne'Javik. "Only one way to find out."

He gestured toward a COM terminal.

Kau'Xen removed his helmet, walked over to the terminal, and plugged it in to a port on the side, holding it in place. He adjusted the controls to send a message on a very low frequency directed toward the last remaining City's Main Hall.......

A young jorro'kil boy stood on a small hill outside the survivor camp. It was bordered by a mountain range and buried in a deep forest. It was quiet. Calm. No karthla threats to nearby. They where trying to make a happy life. The memories of the karthla horrors stung deep though. It was a disturbing memory.

The little boy looked up to see a meteor break through the atmosphere with a shockwave. The heat burnt away parts of the rock and heated the air. It took half a minute to fall to the ground, where it crashed into a mountain. An explosion decimated the rock structure and singed the trees near it. The little boy stared in horror as the larger trees nearest to the mountain began to shake. The shaking was moving through the forest. A stampede. A stampede of monsters. Headed for the village. The little boy ran home but his legs wherent fast enough. He only made it halfway before screams echoed throughout the forest.

An orange mist settled over the forest. It wasn't a karthla mist. It was different. The little boy could feel his throat closing up. A monster came charging through the trees. It was orange with greenish veins. The creature looked like a Leprol somehow. The monster charged at the boy with the ferocity like no other. It was made of rotting, pustulous flesh and it's right hand was made of sharp honey fingers. It's left arm was covered in tendrils. Under it's skin, there seemed to be scurrying parasites. It was a horrifing monster that killed the little boy.


Six hours later...


A jorro'kil scout team had heard of the survivor camp and decided to investigate. Apparently, it was a civilian population with no military presence. This was odd. The military was everywhere. The four scouts slipped through the forest around the camp relatively quietly. A meteor had hit around the area so they where hoping there wasn't too much radiation. With the karthla infection, most comm frequencies where down. No one knew they where there.

As the four scouts neared the camp clearing, they noticed a thin orange mist. It wasn't the karthla clouds. This was a more fleshy colour. A putrid smell wafted around the trees and one of the scouts felt slightly sick. The smell of burnt feathers would sicken any bird. The leader motioned to the sick one, telling him to circle around. He did so. The sick jorro'kil, Jenti, skimmed around the clearing, his rifle raised. The silence was eerie. Well, the dying light didn't help. It made the shadows longer and darker. Moving shadows. Moveing? Something else was there. Something small. A rustling above. Jenti pointed his rifle at the leaves. Sweat dripped over his beak. Jenti felt breath on the back of his neck.

Screams in the dark made the scouts jump. They had entered the camp and saw bodies littered everywhere. Civilians by the looks of it. All ravaged by beasts. Blood was everywhere and that mist was thicker. A particular body was reaching for a knife on the table nearby. A scout saw movement behind himself. The body had moved. It was now reaching for the scouts ankle. Fear spread over his body.

"Sir! That bodies moved." he stammered
"Don't be... Stupid." the captain had seen it before. The body had moved. Then both scouts noticed a movement under the skin. The blue flesh was turning a sickly orange and the veins where erecting from the flesh. They stained green. Lumps of slesh grew on the bodies shoulders and hips. Three tendrils erupted from the forearm in a shower of green blood. But jorro'kil blood was blue.

"Stay away from the bodies!" but the captain needn't shout. Only two where left. The third scout was lying on the floor with an orange mutated corpse gripping his ankle with an orange taloned tendril. The bodies where alive! As the captain watched, all the bodies started to spasm and mutate. They all stood on shaky legs but they where learning. Their eyes where feral. Even the two dead scouts got up, their armour pierced by mutated flesh. Two corpses leapt on the captain, ripping at his armour. They ripped until they broke through and the captain died from the disease. The final scout tried to run but instead he fell. The corpses had his leg. He could hear s thunderous footfall as a mutated jadel strode towards him. One hand was some kind of organic rifle, the other was four tentacles. This one seemed intelligent. It levelled the organic rifle at the scouts head and an infectious creature shot out. He was dead in minutes.

At first, the only thing the terminal recieved was static. but then there was an audible, and almost intelligible noise. then, a plain and open "Hello?" which almost made Kau'Xen and everyone else in the makeshift base jump for joy.

"Hello?! Is anyone there?!" Kau'Xen inquisitively exclaimed.

"Yes, this is MP Commander Li'dos. Who is this?" asked the static-y voice.

"This is Kau'Xen, I'm a JFO, I was sent out to Jilvos to find any survivors, and I did. There's more than a whole platoon here, no civilian survivors though. We need pick-up, can you get any dropships out here?" He asked, excited.

"Yes, I think so. What is your position? We need to know exactly so we can plot the best possible air route which avoids the Karthla." Replied the MP Commander's voice.

"Ah, lemme check." Said Kau'Xen. He looked over his shoulder and yelled to Commander Ne'Javik. "Where exactly are we in the city?"

Ne'Javik half-closed his eyelids.

"Where the rubble is." He said, sarcastically.

Kau'Xen turned back to the terminal and replied to the MP Commander.

"Just tell the dropships to fly over until they see a fairly heated battle, we'll be on the other side of it inside a makeshift rubble base. " Said Kau'Xen.

"I see, we'll try to get a few dropships over there ASAP then." Said the MPC.

"Thank you. Really." Kau'Xen said, quite sincerely.

Commander Ne'Vaik had already started walking over to him. "Here, you'll need this." He handed Kau'Xen a regular Jorro'kil helmet, to replace the one he used to boost the terminal.

"Thanks, but why would I need-" Kau'Xen looked over to see his helmet sparking and smoking.
"Ah. thanks." Kau'Xen put on the helmet, and gave Ne'Javik a salute.

Now all they had to do was wait, if they had any time left to wait..

Father Dorlus came into the battle. He passed the fallen body of Gorlox who was dying on the pavement. Winged Karthla emerged from the pod and horded the sky. He saw the entrance to a makeshift base. His small red eyes squinted. Green puss and acidic drool emitted from his jaw. He shouted with a mighty screech and led many winged Karthla through the battle.

The Black Ops and Bulwark soldiers were starting to become overrun by Karthla, so retreated somewhat nearer to the rubble base's entrance. But then came Father Dorlus and his winged Karthla.

To meet this new threat, out of the rubble base came a Jorro'kil Ultra gunner. the eight barrels of its gun started to turn, and then from them came dozens of rounds of bullets, fired in the dierction of Dorlus and the winged Karthla...

Thora hissed, she couldn't see, but she could hear. She heard footsteps. "Now, my children," She hissed in the language of a Karthla, "See how the Jorro'kil is in this room, and we cannot see him? No, but we can hear him. Listen carefully, and maybe one of your attacks will hit him. First thing's first. Tell him we know he's here" She said. With this, she inhaled deeply, and gave the loudest roar possible. "JORRO'KIL!" She snarled at the top of her lungs, with any luck alerting any karthla within earshot. With this, she lashed out towards the entrance, moving about with no specific pattern, and then jumping into her slime pool. She wasn't super smart, but she was better at combat, and almost all the karthla knew what slime did to Jorro'kil.

Meanwhile, Neoma listened to the roar above, and quietly slipped deep into her slime pool, her children following suit. They submerged themselves until only the red eyes were visible, if one paid close attention. Nobody could reach them there, and if Thora was defeated, Neoma would make the intruder pay for killing her best friend.

Zor'dtas evaded Thora's sudden lash, and the following splashes of nutrient slime. He hadn't pulled out his energy sword yet, as it's bright blades were visible when activated, even if the user had active camo on.

The Black Ops elegently jumped, grabbed the roof and made himself a hand-held out of the wet and easily moldable roofing, then jumped down in the direction Thora. He activated his energy sword, and prepared for a lethal parry......

Thora, seeing no other option, took a breath, and sank down completely into the pool. The sword would still probably cut her, but for the Jorro'kil, there would be no raft for him to stand on. No Karthla Hive Mother to stand on to keep him from being burned by the slime. She hadn't had time to take a breath, so she would have to surface eventually, but nobody could stop gravity.

Meanwhile, Neoma felt increasing anxiety, Oh, please, please be okay... She thought, worried. She had been in every invasion with Thora. She couldn't bear the thought of an invasion without her. She knew that her methods were taboo, that they repulsed other Karthla, but Thora didn't care. She had been with her friend every step of the way. Even Karthla needed to feel at some point that they mattered. What was life without a purpose?

Dorlus charged through the soldiers killing many. However about three of his own were killed. Twelve more still followed. With his tendrils he ripped many open and was heading towards the makeshift base ready to kill.

The Kardesh infection had grown. Plants and animals had been infected and mutated to form new broods of carriers. The plants had grown and fused with pure condensed viral matter to make a wall. A high, circular wall had grown out of organic matter, around the initial impact zone. Organic weaponry sat at various points across the wall and huge organic towers separated different areas. It had been copied from an infection on a medieval world so the castle formation was added to memory.

The mountain of impact had grown a huge organic structure. It appeared as a demonic fortress bursting from the mountain but with a slightly alien feel. Huge towers made the main body and tentacles sprouted from the core. The entire area was added to the fortress. A whole ten mile, circular area had become a Kardesh fortress to begin the assimilation of the planet. All this was possible due to the lead infectees link with the master form, the only sentient infected. The disease could strategise.

Just when it seemed that the Karthla were about to break through, four Jorro'kil dropships descended down to the battle below and gave assistance to the defenders with laser fire at the oncoming Karthla Hordes.

Their rescue had come.

Dozens of Kardesh crabs where prowling the infection zone. The impact point had grown into a towering fortress on the mountain side with it's own defence Walls and organic war machines. The surrounding area had grown spires of it's own. Fifty or so towers streached to the orange clouds that covered the sky nearby. Other structures where also forming. Some never before seem. As the Kardesh hadn't encountered the karthla, the master form was intrigued by the purple monsters. Was cloning a viable option for the infection? They already converted those infected, would more troops be nessissary?

A new defence design had arisen. Dotted around the Kardesh territory, large pits seeped infectious substances. These pits where designed to eject extremely fast scavenger forms to destroy air assults. Not the mile long behemoths. The metre long monstrosities.

At the main Kardesh wall, a gap appeared. Disks of organic matter rolled away to reveal a horde of Kardesh hounds. The dogs ran through the hole and out into the world. The bounded over the terrain and killed any creatures they passed. The bodies the stood up and mutated. The horde of infectious dogs kept going, not losing soldiers and yet, still adding to the Kardesh ranks. They moved like a cloud, sweeping over the land, leaving it sick or dying. As the hounds reached a cliff. The front form stood on two legs. It morfed into a Leprol form. Now the horde had a leader. Each dog could only morf once so now this one was stuck.

The horde looked down on a jorro'kil town recovering from a failed karthla attack. They'd never see the dogs coming.

The Black Ops, Bulwarks, Guards and remaining Soldiers piled into the four dropships that landed inside the rubble base. Still fighting the hordes of Karthla that chased after them even as they boarded the dropships, the Jorro'kil made a narrow escape.

Some of them unfortunate enough were killed before they could get inside the dropships, and were hastily devoured by the waves of oncoming Karthla.

When they did finally escape, it was a relief for some that seemed too good to be true. Maybe it was.

Kau'Xen had boarded the third dropship after Commander Ne'Javik did so for the fourth.

After the dropships were clear of Jilvos for some time, one of the pilots in Kau'Xen's dropship picked up something on the ground radar.

"This is strange, I'm picking up movement down on the ground, but I can't see anything. Wait....wait, I can see something now, what are those things? They don't look like Karthla, and they don't look like one of ours..."

The other piloted suggested to him that they sterilize the area around the town.

"Perhaps.......Alright, let the explosives go." He said. The other pilot complied, and off dropped the bombs. several seconds later they exploded on the ground, which Kau'Xen could faintly hear, as they were flying low enough.
The bombs were a lower class of mortar that Kau'Xen himself had designed. His expression turned to a mix of curious and almost grave, although his helmet concealed this.
He suddenly hoped they would be returning to the last colony much more than he already had....

The hounds where battered but still some survived. The ten survivors mother into the newest monstrosity. Kardesh tanks stood on the cliff. They streached their organic blades and roared a roar of s thousand voices. The Kardesh gas seeped from their bodies and formed clouds in the sky. The clouds drifted over the village below and descended on it's inhabitants. The jorro'kil screamed as they mutated into oozing monsters.

The tanks looked at the dropships almost quizzically. Each one aimed their organic cannons mounted on their shoulders. They roared again and bombarded the dropships with balls of Kardesh flesh. Many missed but a few hit the first dropship and worked their way inside. The tanks roared again as the village stopped it's screams and roared back. Another settlement was claimed. The inhabitants still looked like jorro'kil civilians but orangey and covered in lumps of flesh. Some of the tanks started to stamp and fire again as the clouds of gas drifted slowly towards the dropships. Letting that gas to close was obviously unwise. The tanks stopped seeping it as it was only exchange from a morf but still, it was deadly.

(that's what you get for attacking my dogs)

(You're way too attached to your dogs)

The Dropships took evasive action and adjusted their altitude to a high ascent.

The first dropship which was hit by the Kardesh blobs had been knocked slightly off-course. They infective blobs burrowed in towards a heat source, believing it to be lifeforms. It was however, a high powered jet engine which, when the blobs wandered too near, burnt them up.

Later....

The quadruple set of dropships finally reached the last remaining city. The soldiers inside the transports cheered when they saw it.

As the dropships landed, Dorlan stopped in his tracks and turned around yelling at the hordes. They retreated. Dorlan new that more reinforcements would come and now was the time to begin the digging and the blotting.

All of the monsters ran back retreating and soon escaped the battlefront area.