Underhill War

Military action

Just another bughunt.

The Underhill war was a one year and three month conflict fought in stages against a devouring swarm of man sized insects on Gudrun. The insects were legion, controlled by a network of hive minds, and were capable of engineering specialist organisms within hours to counter tactics used against the hive. They were close to being the undisputed masters of the planet, though the Taros Confederacy had been barely succeeding in holding them back prior to the arrival of humans.   Sub-Director Luminar fell victim to them in the third day on planet, as the colony still reeled from the events of The Scream. His limp body, filled with underhill poison, was found by a small team of explorers, checking into why the engineering team sent that way had not reported in. In setting up a solar farm, they had stumbled across a cave where a new offshoot of the hivemind was growing.   The small nest was purged quickly, and in response, a large underhill counterattack consisting of 300 drones was sent at the colony. Some wished to evacuate, but others stood and fought. Josef Freevan organized a team to fire rifles from the backs of speeding trucks. From above, Jaxton Ryder sent video of underhill spearpoint attacks, so troops could be quickly re-routed, and finally, the colonial militia, many armed with only scrap metal shields, and crude hand weapons, stood against the bugs in a determined phalanx. Victory was won, but there was a cost.   Sub Director Azog, with some help from Matthew Hunter, worked tirelessly, combining salt, water ravenous spore samples from the nearby rapidly growing spore trees, and a bit of genetic tampering, into a dirty bomb that was dropped into the large nest close to the colony. The device worked, though a kill team of Silvano Mazzio, Seung Whittaker, Valeria Perez, and Matthew Hunter encountered an underqueen down below. Wounded, she still put up determined resistance, nearly bringing the hive down on her with her death throes.   Her final efforts failed, and the first samples of the psionic conducting crystals were found during excavations later.   Other nests were discovered, and dealt with, the most serious being the Admiralty's island to the northeast, and secondly the nest near Vapormills, that had grown to a truly massive size. Seung Whittaker led a valiant defense of one such Taros fort, built to interdict movements from the hive, and led a counterattack in, killing a fully developed underqueen with the help of his Task Force.   The final blow came as the first full year on planet dawned. A large sea attack, supported by air elements launched a massive offensive against the psionic hivemind's overqueen and her island lair. Spore defense towers were obliterated with well placed charges, planted by Silvano Mazzio, and the ground element fought bravely despite being outnumbered dozens to one.   Roused into anger, the queen sent half of the admiralty's ships to the bottom of the ocean, where they remain today. Her 150m long body lies on the beach, rotting further every day, now a feast for the thousands of feral drones and warriors she left without higher function.   In year 1, month 3, Arimoto found a new, proto-nest of cloakers in the woods near Rebirth. It remains uncertain of the underhill threat is gone for good.