A year ago, a group of Corsair and Order scientists on board the Osiris-class battleship Jelkanar attempted to achieve immortality by using nanobots to drain the waste that cells create and rebuild that waste into a chemical that extended the cell's life and performance. The initial results of the procedure were positive, so the crew greedily indulged in the new technology. Unfortunately, they didn't test long enough to discover the major flaw in the nanobots..
Five days after the entire crew was injected with nanobots, they all began to show signs of mental breakdown. They became irritable, paranoid, and prone to seizures and hallucination. This was because the chemical that the nanobots created was building up in their spine, and making its way into their brain. One crewman smashed his skull into the wall, killing him. The nanobots were then de-activated. The damage was done, however. The chemical in the brain mixed with an experimental virus that was also being developed in the lab. The virus mutated, and when it invaded the nanobots it gained control over the entire body's nervous system. The nanobots reactivated and the dead crewman reanimated. He attacked the doctor, and the doctor was then infected with the virus. It quickly spread across the ship, and within days the entire crew was zombified.
Cardamine was available on the ship for research purposes. When the zombies got their hands on it, the virus used the drug to rapidly evolve and develop itself. However, when the Cardamine stores were depleted the ExMortis suffered from the intense effects of withdrawal. By this time they were a self-aware collective mind. The Overseer controlled the other ExMortis at first by using pheromones and then technology. They contacted the Outcasts to procure more Cardamine so they could survive. The Outcasts sent a freighter out to them, suspicious and wary.
The Jelkanar's efforts, and the ExMortis' development was cut short when a group of Bounty Hunter Core capital ships surrounded it in Omicron Delta and destroyed it. Only one survivor made it off the ship.
The sole survivor was the 'Speaker'. He was developed to communicate with humans, but language was the only thing that connected him with humanity. By all accounts, he was a monster. His flesh was thick and gray, and almost every joint on his body grew some kind of spike or blade. He had two arms and four legs; his second pair of arms grew out of his back and reached over his shoulders. Each arm had a large, powerful hand that grew sharp, wicked claws. A large, grotesque blade sprouted from under each wrist. His eyes were black beads on his face, set far above his gaping mouth full of bloody, jagged teeth. He was large and heavy, but his movements were light and agile. His prey usually never heard him coming before four arms gripped and tore them.
While his original function was to communicate with humans, as his brethren began to die off, he adopted a mechanic's role. He kept the Jelkanar running for several days without any rest or assistance.
When the Jelkanar was destroyed, the Speaker drifted through space until a Zoner freighter accidentally flew within range of his claws. In a fit of hunger, the Speaker tore open the freighter and consumed the crew. The freighter's escorts opened fire after they recovered from the shock. The Speaker managed to get the freighter to hide in an asteroid field before it was destroyed. The Speaker hid inside an asteroid and waited.
It was several months later that the Artificial Intelligence 'A.A.A.I' flew nearby. The Speaker tried to take control of the ship, but soon found himself imprisoned by the AI. In time, the Speaker was calmed and the two became friends. The Speaker served as a guard and mechanic for Ai, and in return she gave him a home. When Ai departed for another galaxy, the Speaker remained in Sirus, clinging to an asteroid. Now fate has given him another chance.
It's hard to comprehend how large space is. I've called his asteroid home for many months, but every time I look around and see nothing but space, I feel overwhelmed. I like it this way, quiet and peaceful. Nothing but the warmth of distant stars and the muted sounds of space to keep me company. I see ships, now and then. Far away. I sometimes feel the urge to pursue them, to tear them open like candy wrappers and feast upon their sweet cargoes. But then I lose interest. I really haven't the energy. I am content to stay here, alone, until eventually every star I see goes out.
That monologue ran through the Speaker's head as he watched another group of ships fly across the horizon of his vision. He almost convinced himself to believe it. But then suddenly, something else caught his vision. Something that was simply too good to pass up.
A mining ship. A huge DU5-TY complete with Bounty Hunter escort. It was approaching at high speed. The Speaker's hunger finally took hold of his judgment, and he leaped.
The Speaker met brief resistance from the shield, but his body gave off intense local EM energy. He slipped through, and hooked his claws into the hull of the ship. The escort didn't seem to notice. Ravenous hunger drove him to tear the metal below him apart and burrow in like a mole. He dug through layers of metal, electronics and fuel lines before emerging in the cockpit. The four crewmen inside screamed in horror, and each were impaled with a long, hooked blade. Blood splashed all over the inside of the ship.The Speaker gorged himself on his first meal in months, tearing four handfuls of meat off and cramming them into his mouth as fast as he could swallow. He almost didn't hear the escort ask for a status update.
"We saw some kind of meteor hit your hull. Everybody okay in there?" The Speaker let out a vicious roar in response. The Bounty Hunters didn't hear it, as the comm systems were off on this end. The Speaker moved forward to stand at the terminal. He ripped out the chairs that blocked his position, and began to operate the point-defense guns on the mining ship. The Bounty Hunter fighters were wiped out before they knew what was going on.
The Speaker looked around the gore-filled cockpit. A huge hole was open in the roof, but the ship's internal shield systems had stopped it from venting too much oxygen. The Speaker was unbearably hot. He had spent a long time in the vacuum of space, and now he was at a blistering 10 degrees Celcius. He turned back to the control console, and deactivated the internal shield systems. He held on to a bulkhead as the air was sucked out through the hole in the roof. The corpses and their blood were also sucked out.
When the cockpit was filled with a vacuum once again, The Speaker turned the ship around. Looking at the ship's travel log, he learned that it had originated in Kusari. That was the only place this ship was programmed to go to. He had no choice but to engage the return sequence.
The mining ship began its return trip home, with one life form aboard. The Speaker began to plan its next move. It was going to resurrect the ExMortis, and this time he was going to be the Overseer.
The mining ship traveled for many weeks, jumping through a complex net of jump holes before arriving in Kyushu. The Speaker crawled out of the mining ship and clung to the outer hull. He had just activated the distress beacon and was awaiting rescue forces. The first ship that he saw was a gunboat, approaching at high cruise. When it was within range, the Speaker pounced, slipping through its shield like before and tearing at its hull. This ship was tougher than the mining ship, and the going was slow. The crew of the gunboat had time to react this time, and tried to turn their turrets on him. But he was too low on the ship's hull. They fired but only hit open space.
The Speaker finally succeeded in burrowing into the ship and emerged inside an empty room. There was only one door, and as the Speaker's feet touched the ground, it opened. Two Kusari soldiers holding guns took one look at him and panicked, firing their weapons. The energy blasts tore gashes in his chest, but didn't stop him. He charged forward, and grabbed each man with two arms. He lashed out with his jaws and bit their throats. They thrashed madly for a few seconds before going limp. The Speaker hurled them out of the way and approached the pilots, who had pulled out weapons and were aiming at him. Their faces were contorted in horror. One of them hit the comm button and screamed "Help! Backup! BACKUP!" He didn't say much more, because the Speaker shoved a bladed arm into his neck.
The last remaining pilot tried to flee, but the Speaker caught him by the leg and dragged him back. His screams echoed off the walls. The Speaker feasted again, tearing off chunks of meat and eating them messily. His meal was interrupted by the communication system.
"Patrol Gray One, respond!" The Speaker stood, and looked out the window. A Kusari Destroyer was perched there in a defensive position. The Speaker would have a clear shot. He didn't waste time. Hauling himself out of the ship, the Speaker leaped, flying a kilometer through space. He slipped through the shields and clung to the docking port of the destroyer's hull. They didn't seem to notice him. He watched as they sent a shuttle to the gunboat, and they spent only a few seconds inside before retreating back to the shuttle. The Speaker watched as the shuttle rushed towards him, seeking to dock with the destroyer.
When the destroyer lowered its shields, the docking port doors opened. The Speaker slipped inside and waited. Sure enough, the shuttle docked in the same port. The Speaker waited patiently, clinging to the roof of the docking bay. Below him, the shuttle bay doors opened. Four shaken and terrified men walked onto the scaffolding. The Speaker attacked.
This time, instead of mauling the humans, he used needles buried in his claws to inject them with the ExMortis virus while doing minimal damage to their body. He only had enough of the virus to infect two of them like that. Before the other two men escaped, the Speaker dropped the ones he was holding and grabbed them, sinking his teeth into each one. He had just enough spare viruses in his saliva to achieve the same result.
The four men lay dead. But only a few minutes later, they began to move again.
The infection spread quickly through the ship. The destroyer was a third of the size of the Jelkanar, and when the entire crew was infected, the Speaker took his place as the leader. He moved the ship far out of Kusari space, hiding in the distant ice fields of Magellan. Once there, he prepared his ship to further the existence of the ExMortis.
First, the ship's atmosphere was vented. The ExMortis don't need to breathe. The ship had a small amount of confiscated Cardamine, which was immediately circulated through the ship. It was obvious that they would need more soon, but for now other preparations were more important.
The ExMortis were assigned into castes. The most dexterous and intelligent ones were given higher ranks than the slouching, drooling drones below them. The stage was set for the ExMortis to return. Now they just needed to find allies, and a place to call home. It wouldn't be easy, but the Speaker was determined. He was not going to repeat the mistakes that caused the Jelkanar to be destroyed. He would lead his people into the galaxy, and they would thrive in this place.
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