Endless Hunger

Unknownst to the Arachnids The Enemy attempted to communicate. A hive mind it had no need to communicate amongst itself and no means to communicate with others, so it would never realise The Enemy attempted communication. Even if communication was possible the Arachnids wouldn't care anyway, all that mattered was to exterminate threats, and all other life was a threat.

The Arachnids continued to grow, all the time observing the movements of The Enemy. Clearly The Enemy did not appreciate the danger as they continued to move through local space, another enemy colony ship flying past an Arachnid colony. Perhaps the lack of action by the Arachnids lulled The Enemy into ignoring any potential threat. This was good for they would not be prepared. the lack of action wasn't from lack of intent, it just took awhile to organise a response.

The target of the enemy colony vessel was easily determined, a planet only one orbit from the Arachnid colony. Even as The Enemy passed by Gunboats were launched from the surface. Following the enemy ship's flight path they arrived soon after it landed. For The Enemy the planet was almost perfect, the atmosphere was compatible, the conditions were good. The Arachnids never gave a thought to what the newly arrived colonists might have been doing, all that mattered was that no defences were in place. Unopposed they bombarded the surface destroying over 30 million of The Enemy. The work done the Arachnids did feel some regret. Such a large amount of livestock could have been useful to feed the Arachnid colonies of the system but time did not allow for an invasion to be mobilised before The Enemy built defences, and unfortunately another colony ship of The Enemy was observed passing by. The same response was the only available option.

The enemy colony ship continued on observed. The destruction of the enemy colony had removed a threat but it had been a reaction at a time when resources could not be diverted to a more useful strategy. Now efforts could be planned to react with more advantageous tactics. The enemy ship occasionally avoided detection but as it flew further into Arachnid space it was picked up by Arachnid traffic. An Arachnid gunboat wave almost ran across it, and the hivemind had to resist their natural urge to destroy the intruder. The enemy colony ship next appeared in the adjoining system as an Arachnid colony vessel encountered it. Unarmed it withdrew but enoucntered The Enemy again soon after. The enemy ship was lost again but presumed to be heading for a nearby world. Nearby gunboats were ordered to observe it, but the hive mind was surprised when the ship instead attempted entry of yet another nearby system. The movement was illogical for travelling by a different route from the start would have been quicker. This time the hive mind could not interupt as the defending gunboats fell upon the intruder, destroying it.

The Arachnids had expanded in pursuit of The Enemy colony ship, that which had shown The Enemy to exist, but it had seemingly vanished. The Arachnids had colonised all available planets in the system the Enemy had entered but no colonies were found. It was possible, however unlikely, The Enemy colony was on the fringes of the system for the Arachnid ships that had pursued The Enemy had not explored those fringes. More likely it had passed though the remaining warp point in this system, if so it was stranded with the Arachnid realm between it and its original home. The Arachnids did not make a habit to pass through every warp point they found for there was always the possibility of new enemy to discover them. With the Enemy ship missing, and reconnaisance gunboats exploring the system fringe, it was the only remaining option.

An Arachnid ship passed through the Warp point and scanned for The Enemy. It detected The Enemy colony immediately. What it also detected were a New Enemy. Several swarms of their small craft were attacking the planet. The Arachnid ship was not prepared to attack them and so it withdrew. Now there were two enemy to deal with.

It is a PBW game. The real reason I have recently avoided attacking the first enemy is that he went on a business trip and it would be unfair to attack him while he is away, although he is actually overdue from returning. The second enemy is another player who also said he'd wait although he seems to think the absent guy won't be returning.

The Arachnids are from two of my favourite books, In Death Ground, and The Shiva Option. Anyone familiar with Starfire will know them. I've wanted to play with them for awhile.

http://www.starfiredesign.com/starfire/encyclopedia/arachnid.html

Well thankyou. I don't know how long it'll last. Last time I played a similar race 3 neighbours ganged up on me as soon as possible since when a body has cancer you blast it with radiation before it grows so big it consumes everything.

Yes, a rather startling one. I meant to write a story tonight but I haven't had time. I'll try tomorrow.

Space bent and folded. Flashes of amber light erupted as the hole in space opened. Slowly a massive hull slipped forth into the system. Close to half a million tons it dwarfed any other ship known. Warships of this era were small, sleek. Faster than this ship they also had to devote a larger percentage to engines. This ships wasn't built to fight. A colony ship, its hold was full of millions of breeders, and the equipment to begin the colonisation of an entire planet. But in this case colonising was secondary.

The Hive had nearly completed the colonisation of every available planet it had found. The Enemy's entry point had been thoroughly blockaded, ready to destroy any further intrusions, but the Hive was not prepared to just sit back and sit on the defensive. It knew where The Enemy was and so knew where to find, and destroy, it. No other option was imaginable.

It stood to reason that the Enemy would defend what was surmised to be its home system. No doubt many units would be waiting to destroy any attack. The Hive must know what awaited it though, and so a colony ship was sent through. If The Enemy was waiting they would most probably destroy the ship but its survival was secondary. It would find out what was there, maybe get a look at The Enemy system. The next wave would know how many ships of The Enemy there were and following standard procedure mass a force of such sufficient strength it would annihilate all opposition.

The Colony ship finished entry. It would take a few seconds to reset its sensors and any other race would sit in anticipation perhaps at any second to be destroyed as it sat helpless, but the crew continued to crawl amongst themselves powering up the ships systems with no thought for their survival, only to obey comamnds. No sudden death or violent explosions were forthcoming though, and the reason soon became clear. The warp point at this end was of the sort that blocked sensors. The Hive had seen the type before but had not imagined it would apply here. In retrospect there was no reason it shouldn't, but the Hive was not predisposed to flights of imagination. The Enemy could have sat all its forces on the WP, they could hang in space next to the Colony ship, and neither side would know. Perhaps, as stronger short ranged sensors showed, this was the reason why no Enemy forces were waiting. In that case forces could be placed just outside the area of the WP to stop any ships from delving further once they entered, but as the sensors reached outwards no such force was seen.

Scans were made of the system, and gradually a number of things became clear. Naturally the local star was the first thing to be seen, a solitary red dwarf. Next nearby planets would be detected. There were none, or at least none presently within range. Further exploration would undoubtedly discover them. The third fact to become apparent was the most startling. Unless they sat extremely close together the exact location of warp points were not apparent when entering a new system, but even if not seen their effect on the local system would be clear and their general position determined. There were none. This system, that which had been determined to be The Enemy home system, now verified as there was no other place The Enemy ships oculd have originated, had no Warp points besides the one the ship had just transitted, and that one was undefensible. The news was sent back by message pod before the ship proceeded further, its mission extended to find out as much about the system, before it was either destroyed, or the inevitable assault followed.