Pipe Roaches

Malice and Menace

Mouse shot up and turned her attention to the heap of twisted metal on the far side of what appeared to be a cave. A foul stench assailed her senses through a crack on her visor. She removed her helmet and rushed forward, tossing aside chunks of steel and rubble. It wasn't long before she found him.
Oracle groaned as she cleared the debris around him, but he didn't move. "That wasn't fun."
"I'm so sorry," She replied, tossing another chunk of metal to the side. She took note of the metal plate. From the way it looked, she assumed it was holding him down. "Are you okay? Do you know where we landed?"
He shook his head. "I'll live. As to where we are, My helmet's fried. Yours?"
"Same, that, or we're too far down to receive any data."
'I can't feel my legs." He said. He wasn't in a panic. His tone made it sound more like a declaration of fact, an unavoidable truth.
"What do you mean?"
"Well," he began, groaning as he worked his hands around the debris and removed his helmet. "The rest of me hurts bad. My legs don't. That tells me all I need to know."
"We can get you some prosthetics, what matters is that you stay alive."
He gave a lighthearted chuckle. "It's going to take more than just you to get me out. Go get help."
"We don't know how deep we are, Matt. That's not a good idea."
He winced and grabbed at his side with a growl. "At least drug me. This hurts pretty bad."
Mouse reached into a sachet on her side. She retrieved her med kit and opened it. Sifting through the bandages and antiseptics, she found the syringe and a bottle of pain killer to fill it. "I'll give you a little extra. It'll help you sleep. Pretty sure the plate cut you in half, but it's also stopping the bleeding. We might be here a while."
He pointed to her arm. "What's that?"
She smiled. "I got nicked by some debris. Don't worry, I'll take care of it." She drove the needle into his arm and listened as he gave a sigh of relief moments later.
"That stuff is scary." He said, already dozing off.
"It'll take an act of god to wake you while it's in your system. You won't feel a thing. Sleep. Let me take care of it. It's my fault were down here."
She stepped back from the rubble and went to work on her arm, injecting some of the painkiller to make it easier. She applied the antiseptic, removed shards of metal, and wrapped it in a tight bandage before putting her suit back on.
Only then did she care to really look at where they ended up. The fleshy roof should have been a clue. It wasn't just a cave. It was a pipe roach den. It looked abandoned, but was still filled with grime and filth.
She retrieved her rifle and kept watch, but her eyes were heavy. She nodded off several times before succumbing to a drug fueled slumber.

We have many strange forms of life on Safeharbor. Some are actually quite similar to that of Earth. The pipe roach is an insect, a mantid. Named for its reputation of being a pest, the pipe Roach is one of the most common creatures encountered on the surface, it's also the most hated.

The pipe roach shares many similarities with mantids back on Earth. They are not one and the same, however. They're dangerous. Adult pipe roaches are a threat to everyone who encounters them, and more than capable of dragging humans to their death.
Any creature that favors the inhospitable depths of safeharbor should be handled with caution. Luckily, the only humans who come into frequent contact with them are the Wayfarers of Homebound .

Anatomy

Like with mantids on earth, pipe roaches have large, triangular heads equipped with mandibles. They also have two bulbous compound eyes, and a pair of antennae. Their bodies are long, and come with a pair of beautiful wings.
This is where the similarities end. Their mandibles are capable of chewing through steel, and they often do so to make their nests. Their "raptorial legs" are bladed, rather than spiked. These blades can cleave through a human in combat armor with ease. Older pipe roaches are also intelligent. They are able to plan attacks on prey, able to strike when their meal is most vulnerable.
On the surface, they range in size from 7 mm to 20 mm. They get bigger though. The pipe Roach has a bizarre life cycle. They begin on the surface and work their way down the levels and into the depths. The deeper one goes, the bigger they are. The largest recorded was 15 feet from end to end.

Food

Pipe roaches are attracted to sugar and meat. They often prey on creatures equal to their size. The smallest will hunt insects, juveniles will prey on stray dogs and cats that wander too close, and the largest hunt for much bigger meals. When a meal can't be found easily, they often prey on each other.
On the surface, they tend to swarm around piles of trash and filth, another contributing factor to their name. Homes must be kept spotless if one seeks to avoid drawing in a freshly hatched brood.
Their craving for sugar makes them particularly threatening to Safeharbor's apiaries. Beekeepers routinely check for pipe roach infestations, not only to protect their stores of honey, but the bees as well.

Civil war

Pipe roaches are crafty, but they are a creature unsuited for intelligence. They can't communicate nor can they use tools. One odd behavior reported by Homebound is their tendency to have wars between different broods and species.
The species of pipe roach is determined by the colors and patterns of their wings. This acts as a primitive form of heraldry. It is even suspected that brood queens exist, massive monarchs whose broods began with them.
The wayfarers stumble on their battlefields from time to time, and it's usually a grisly scene. The victors feed on the bodies of the dead, pipe roaches of all sizes gathered for the feast. Despite this, they never dwindle in numbers. It's always mating season on Safeharbor.

Life cycle

A brood will begin life on the surface. They tend to stay close together, not just to protect one another but also to have a ready supply of food should there be none in their immediate vicinity. In the span of three years, they will grow into juveniles.
Juveniles hate the harsh light of our sun. Their eyes become more sensitive, which makes them better suited for the dark. They burrow down, the entire brood seeking shelter in the depths. Juveniles often live alone, depending on how skilled they are finding food. Rarely do you see an entire brood unless one of their wars is about to begin.
Adults will likely never touch the surface again, unless it's to breed. Even then, they only breed at night. As they age, they lose the ability to produce and lay eggs. This can take decades, at which point they venture as deep as they can go before becoming crazed beasts that strike at anything that moves.

It was a dreamless sleep, as if Mouse was suspended in the infinite void. Her arm was starting to hurt again. It burned, disturbing what little sleep she was trying to get. She resisted the urge to wake, and the drugs made it easy. The burning was faint, a minor inconvenience.
She felt movement, as if something nudged her arm. She resisted the urge to wake, and the drugs made it easy. It was probably all in her head.
She felt it again...
Her eyes snapped open to the sight of a pipe roach perched on her chest. It nibbled at the wound on her arm, and had been for some time.
It was massive, at least as tall as she was. It's weight bore down on her and prevented her from rolling away. She screamed, grabbing a rock and bashing it against the creature's head.
It gave out a shriek, and fell to the side, its legs dancing about. Mouse raised the rifle and aimed as it regained its balance. She pulled the trigger and a white flash filled the room. The crack of each round echoed off the walls. The rounds made contact, killing the creature.
She heard a shriek from the far side of the room. She looked and saw another towering over Oracle, its bladed arms shielding its eyes. The flash blinded it. It flailed about seeking a way out of the cave.
Mouse fired again, a perfect shot through its head. The creature fell, its bloodied mandibles chattering when it hit the ground.
She didn't take her eyes off the bodies until they stopped twitching. Even then, she fired into both just to be sure. She leaned forward and stood up. She was afraid to look. She knew what would be there, how it was her fault. She didn't want to face it, but she forced herself anyway.
Oracle's body was in shambles. Most of the meat was picked from the bone. She let out a flurry of sobs as every consequence came to mind. His wife, his business, his now fatherless child. The only thing that could bring a fraction of comfort was that he didn't feel a thing.
She looked at her arm, a chewed up mess far worse than it was before. Why did she have to be the lucky one?
She searched for her med kit, doing everything she could to fight the tears. She found the contents of her kit scattered about the cave. Oracle's kit was likely crushed under the debris. She had no way to fight infection. Perhaps she wasn't that lucky after all.