14081/Brood Invasion: Buildup

Brood Invasion: Buildup
Date of Scene:	20 January 2022
Location:	Skrull Empire
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon
Tinyplot:	Brood Invasion

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Star-Lord has posed:
In the weeks since the invasion began, the Raken system and the border worlds along the Shi'ar border have been the primary target for Brood invasion fleets. The main body of the Hivefleet remains in the Raken system... but there have been reports of sightings further 'east' along the galactic borders going towards the Skrull Empire. This activity is recent, and doesn't match up with any known Hivefleet movements.

Something is definitely up, and the Brood are being uncharacteristically covert about it.

With no resources to spare but what Peter can 'acquire' from Fleet Command with Rockets help, Peter has made the call to go check it out in the Milano. There wasn't any need for the entire team to follow up on what is effectively a hunch by Peter though, and the others have stayed on Raken 3 to help with the war effort while Peter and Rocket head to the Xersis system, where the last sighting has been.

Enroute to the system via hyperspace to avoid detection using jump points, Star-Lord sits on the helm of the ship, watching the galactic map hovering in hologram form above, "None of this makes any sense. You ever heard of Brood being sneaky?"

Rocket Raccoon has posed:
    Although sometimes wary of these hunches, Rocket would be the first to agree that, for a humie, Quill is disproportionately correct when compared to random chance. And that is pretty much the standard of intelligence they have these days about the invasion, so, eh, what the hell? Plus it was a good excuse for the diminutive bounty hunter to be elsewhere for a little bit, while the questions about a certain Shi'ar shuttle having been purloined from the repair line die down a bit.

    "Quill, none of this has made sense so far, why they gonna start making sense now?" Rocket is strapped into the co-pilot chair, eyes glued to the sensors and reactor controls. Keeping the Milano ghosting in below detection treshold took quite a bit of effort and concentration. At least sixty percent of his total concentration, in fact, so he only has less than half to devote to tactical speculation. "But if I hadn't seen 'em with my own eyes in the Raken System? I wouldn't have believed ya these were Brood. Where's the days they just showed up and started blasting? Y'know? The good old days."

Star-Lord has posed:
Peter just... stares at Rocket at that point, "That's exactly what they did in Raken: jump in and start blasting. Granted, it happened after they coverted shut down the listening posts." He conceded. Then, he frowned, taking out a coin and flipping it casually... the gravity causing him to nearly drop it once. "These aren't usual tactics. Do we have a new Queen we're dealing with? I mean, they haven't changed much for millions of years and people are still terrified of them."

Rocket Raccoon has posed:
    "Or they finally ate something smarter than them." Rocket speculates, with a shrug. "Was gonna happen eventually. But where'd they get all the hardware?" Quite possibly his focus on the sensors is the mental equivalent of flipping a coin, or doodling something on a scrap piece of paper. He hasn't quite reached the point of exasperated boredom yet... there'd be more unfinished weapon projects on board if he had.

    "What if we're doin' this backwards, Quill?" It's a bit of a lightbulb moment, possibly something in the ream of sensor data has flicked a few random neurons and sent a thought into high speed, but Rocket frowns where he sits and seems to be working through a tactical problem even as he speaks. "So, Brood ain't exactly smart, right? Never been a problem before 'cept for the whole body snatching horror stuff. In the end, big whoop, just send a few cruisers with big guns and wipe 'em all out, right?"

    Now he finally half turns, to look at Star-Lord and gesturing in his direction. "You just said these ain't their usual tactics. So, whose tactics is it?"

Star-Lord has posed:
"Brood aren't mindless idiots, Rocket." Peter replies with a clear exacerbation to his voice, "They just have an overriding hive mind that forces them to be blaster fodder." He sighs, "We need a telepath to find out, right now, we're just chasing ghosts hoping to find one to track down."

Rocket Raccoon has posed:
    "Eh. They act like mindless idiots, same difference." Rocket shrugs again, changing frequencies on the sensor sweep to make sure they're not leaving any trail behind in this part of space. That would be... bad. "How 'bout your girlfriend? Don't she read minds?"

    Dropping.
    Topic.

    "Anyways, I'm just curious, y'know? They ain't actin' like Brood, so who are they acting like? I'mma need to have another look at that tactical data from the last month, there's somethin' I'm missing."

Star-Lord has posed:
That girlfriend crack gets a heavy sigh from Peter, "No. She stores solar energy and fires it like energy bolts. Kori has nothing to do with mental abilities." Peter mutters, "Wish Adam were around."

Then, he flips a switch on his console, and the hologram switches to an overview of the Raken system, "All here. What do you need?"

Rocket Raccoon has posed:
    Half a dozen jokes about reading minds and being with Quill queue themselves up and end up going unspoken. There is time for levity, there is time for banter, and there is time for serious work. Granted, the latter is fairly rare in the Rocket mindset, but it happens just often enough that this little ball of furry rage is more than just a pretty face.

    Or, at least, a face.

    "Been looking at it the whole time, an' I just thought o' sumthin'. Standard Brood tactic's to swarm the place, assimilate what they can an' get out before the balance goes negative, right? Well, if they ain't doin' that, what are they doin'?" Okay, nothing new there then.

    Flicking his own console to standby, Rocket swivels his entire seat to face the hologram, peering at it. Now he has a hundred percent of his mental faculties to bring to bear, which is possibly scarier than any weapon he might be able to devise. "An' I don't mean, what's their goal, 'cause we ain't gonna figure that one out until we know more. No, point I'm makin', Quill, is nobody just invents new tactics when you've been doin' the same thing for a few thousand years. Look at the Shi'ar. Reason we could run ring 'round them if we wanted to is 'cause you an' I, we improvise. Extemporize. Make flarking stuff up if we hafta. Your average Shi'ar tactician, he can't do that, 'cause there's rules of engagement they follow that's so old by now they've got collector value. Play me back that assault on Raken IV, from the first moment the Brood got detected in the outer system. Speed compression twenty cycles per tick."

Star-Lord has posed:
"They have to deal with their neighbors. We have to deal with the universe proper." Peter agrees, then, he looks to the hologram and hits play as requested.

Raken 4 plays out exactly as the Brood usually do: Overwhelming force followed by a massive assault. What's new is the Shi'ar willingness to torch the entire planet to deny the Brood it's use.

The Hivefleet is still overwhelming the Raken system, but there's just a bit more caution in comparison to the Raken 4 siege now.

Rocket Raccoon has posed:
    It's almost frightening how much concentration Rocket suddenly brings to bear on the tactical data. His eyes barely blink as the recording plays out, focusing on different part of the assault as it happens, then suddenly flicking to another set of coordinates seemingly at random. After a few moments, he even starts to talk to himself, reciting seemingly incoherent facts and major engagements as they happen, when they happen. "Erga Flats... Tashin Heights... Lake T'Neth... Dugat Spaceport... Genesset Desert... Three point fallback there, as per friggin' usual, goodbye western continent... battle for the evacuation fleet, big boom, an'..."

    Blink.

    "The frick?"

    As the recording continues, Rocket motions for that last two ticks to be played back. Again. And again. And again. Every time it repeats, a seemingly random shuffle of ships and assets throughout the system, his eyes narrow a bit more. And then he's actually rubbing his eyes, digging the heels of his palms into the sockets and stroking back the fur of his face in one long exasperated movement.

    "Frickin' fantastic. Hey Quill, know I said the Brood act like mindless idiots? I'mma take that back now..."