Iron Stars - undra-alpha-autopsy

(I think Gurk offered the services of the Gudrun zoo for this since he has prior experience dissecting Undra and we have all the facilities but happy to discuss alternatives if people would prefer)

(Zoo is fine, Ithink thats a good fit, just wanna know whos' coming to our little shindig)

(Frewayne will be there of course.)

(Venser would like to follow up! Not much help with science but I can help if we find psionic stuff.)

(Gurk, not sure if you wanted to describe the zoo sort of as you;re picturing this TL4 work space or not, up to you, if you doth not have the spoons I can write us in)

It's a sunny day at the Gudrun zoo and the park is full of visitors. Gurk leads the team past the new Terezinho exhibits (where brightly coloured and deadly leapers flit between the trees), past the aquarium (where the Rawhani Blue impassively surveys a group of schoolchildren) and past the Wolf Beetle pen (who, predictably, start buzzing angrily as soon they realise Gurk is nearby). The research facility lies ahead of them. "This will be our third autopsy of an Undra creature, following our investigations of the wolf beetles and the warriors. The autopsy of the warrior was what led to our first mission to Savita, in fact." The dissection lab is in the basement of the facility, next to secure holding pens and racks of cryogenic freezers. Just about every tool and scanner that can be acquired on the open market is here, along with a remote link to the Tortie in orbit should the zoo's lab require additional input. There is a slight inrush of air as they enter: the lab is under negative pressure to prevent any escaping gases or contaminants. "I can summarise the results of the previous autopsies if you like, but they're on file," Gurk says. "Or we can begin immediately."

The zoo was an impressive sight and as he passed by the exhibits, Frewayne's gaze lingered on the creatures for a second. That was all that he could afford in order to stay in step with Gurk and not delay this. Frewayne shook his head in response to Gurk once they had reached the lab. "I've already read the results prior to heading to Savita. I wanted to have a base understanding how the Undra operated."

"Alright," Gurk says. "Let's start with a surface inspection." (looking for how much damage it took from us and unusual surface features not present on other Undra) (edited)

(heal.int)

(12)

This is the first Undra that is more bipedal and humanoid as opposed to similar to spider or crab. You’ve caused much harm to it but Bullet impacts and laser burns are easy to see and mark out. The wings are not a unique feature, nor is the spindly ranged weapon but they are rare among the Undra. This type of wing is unique , specially crafted to allow lift given the creatures increased bulk

(what would folks like to look for first? Gurk can handle the slicing and dicing! Last time we found the brain pretty useful but could start with anything)

(Brains are good)

(Did we want to do anything before we cut right into it?

(I think Gurk would like to see the hands. If this is an attempt at making a humanoid Undra he wants to know about if they have opposable thumbs, whether they could comfortably manipulate the controls of a starship/computer or similar TL4 kit) (edited)

The creatures do have thumbs. Their fingers are elongated with an extra knuckle's length of finger on each digit, but they are similar to human hands,

(Gurks happy with that and happy to move on to exploring the brain!)

(Anyone want to see anything before we do that ?)

(I'm good.)

(just gonna allow venser an opportunity to catch up)

( @Aurelia | Venser no rush, just wanted to let you know we started this)

(how do you wanna do this Gurk? anything before we cut in?)

(I think the first big thing for him is to try and examine the brain and see how the psychic burnout patterns compare to those of the warriors to see if it is more/less powerful in the hive effect. If that's scanning great, but if it needs to be invasive he's happy to get chopping)

Scanning the head shows the pattern of burns across the brain, the burns are consistent with psionics who are capable of using telepathy. Anyone can receive telepathic contact, and the burns only occur with those capable of using it. The Alphas were capable of low level telepathy among one another, and the lower forms of Undra.

Gurk compares the scans side-by-side. "This means, more or less, that they can control the weaker creatures. Those controlled become fearless, organised, and much more dangerous. Trying to find a way to break the control was the reason behind our first trip to Savita, in fact. "I am not a psychic myself. Is there anything you would like to investigate around their psionic abilities?" (Frewayne - happy to dig into whatever here but seems like there's maybe a lot to learn!)

Frewayne scratched his chin pensively while listening to the explanation and reviewing the data himself. His brown eyes narrowed and cleared his throat before asking, "How similar to a human brain does this alpha brain seem? I am just spitballing here but it seems like the alpha types might be a secondary nervous center. If you equate a hive to a large creature, the queen represents the central nervous system. Broadly controls the hive but the hive is too large for fine movement. The alphas would be secondary nerve clusters designed for fine control of limbs and extremities, relaying instruction from the center while being able make independent decisions based on external stimuli." He points toward the burn marks of the scan and then continues, "I don't have the ability to torch so I am not sure I would have similar damage to my brain but, if these are burns from torching and, if they are, does that mean alphas are fully realized psychics? Could that mean we could reverse engineer this to artificially induce MES abilities or enhance existing ones?"

(This is info you both would have just because of the Academy being open about certain things. If you're a psychic, and maybe to a degree magical, channeling MES through your mind always burns a pathway. Academy training teaches you how to route these powers along the same pathway every time so you dont damage other parts of your brain. Torching is just indiscriminately firing off your powers, so your whole mind eventually is fried )

5:56 PM

(Literally burning yourself up)

(can we identify from our skills whether they are more or less powerful than the warrior creatures, and how? Gurk is thinking similarly to Frewayne since they didn't go crazy when the queen died)

(I think we'd need a metapsion to get an idea of the power level, that's a lot more nuanced than a strictly medical sort of skillset)

(I think Venser mentioned being a metapsion so could maybe pick that up later if they’re around!) Gurk keeps poking and scanning, looking at the control and audio visual centres of the brain. For now his key interest is in establishing whether it has enough fine motor control to apply the humanoid hands to controlling tools - such as ship controls or engineering equipment.

The hands and nerves connected to them could do those types of things. The question of if those beings have the intellect or ability to recieve and execute the kind of training needed to do it is another question

(this may be a long shot, but you can often learn things from the comparative size of the brain vs the body and how areas of the brain compare to each other, so .... Does it look like it has a large brain relative to its body size? Does its equivalent of the neocortex - which seems to be associated with intelligence in mammals - seem large, or large compared to the other Undra?)

(this is something ill have to do some irl research on ,but I will get back to this soon)

(Also would be interested in what would be the genetic similarity of alpha to human.)

(Or Taros!)

(lets get a heal/int or a know/int Frewayne, your choice)

(3)

There is only human dna here, this strain has not consumed a taros and managed to make it back to the reclamation pools within the hive. You’re not sure the exact breakdown or genes

"Interesting that there's not more Taros in it given their interest in Crane," Gurk says. "I suppose that's further confirmation they were after expanding the brain and psychic ability more than anything else. "I think we may have exhausted what we can do with the brain for the moment. Let's see what else we can figure out." (Gurk would like to know if this creature can independently reproduce or if it is "drone" like many of the other Undra creatures)

There is nothing on an external examination of the body suggesting humanoid sexual organs. It is unclear from the outside if it is capable of reproduction through some other means, or if it is a eunich drone like many of the other Undra forms.

"I wonder if we've learned everything we can from the brain and surface analysis for the moment," Gurk says. "How about we start peeling back the layers?" (Gurk is suggesting we take some high quality images for later reconstructionthen start opening up the interior of the body to see what we find)

Frewayne nods and adds, "I am curious to see how the wings are meant to operate."

This generation of wings allows for limited gliding when winds are strong but looks to be an early generation of wings not quite up to the task of carrying the full body weight of the Alpha for sustained flight. The bone structure is the right shape but the membrane material and supporting muscles seem to be too weak

"Interesting," Gurk says. "I wonder if the wings are to aid combat, or to help spread the Undra to new locations?" He begins opening up the body cavities, trying to gauge the maturity of the specimen from the muscle density, bone structure, and strength. (so he wants to know whether it looks like it is still growing, or is an "adult" for its type)

This creature is an adult for its type. It has one primary brain and this brain is responsible for controlling the entire body. Since it is dead, you are not sure what lobes or hemispheres control what, and it is too removed from baseline human to make a guess at what is wired to where.

(Frewayne, Gurk's thinking for the rest of this is: -Get a good look at the interior to see if it has any unusual abilities not visible from the outside -See if it has the ability to reproduce, or any kind of pouch to transport eggs/larvae whatever -Take blood samples/bone samples so we can analyse whether there are any substances it depends on to survive or weaknesses we could exploit -Put everything together and try and figure out why the queen bothered making these in the first place -Pack the body up and take costs so models of it can be made for the zoo's Planetary Destruction exhibit Is there anything else not in there you'd like to do? I know I'm posting a lot so if you want to take the lead for a bit go ahead!)

"Could be a matter of duplicating the capacity of the equipment that the Undra managed to obtain," Frewayne suggested after the discovery. "Obviously, they created some form of weaponry to used. I'd be interested to see how that functions and whether there are other organs that might duplicate tools or weapons hidden in this body."

(Im watching, happy to go into any of the bullet points or anything Frewayne has next)

Gurk lays out the scalpels, saws, and laser cutting tools and begins the long process of extracting the internal organs. Each is carefully labelled and located in its own jar, while the myriad fluids are gathered for further analysis. At each step the imagers photograph the samples and the interior spaces. “Let’s see what we have then,” Gurk says. (bullet point 1 - any organs duplicating tools or weapons as we would understand them? Anything unusual or unexpected in the internal structure?)

The alphas were carrying weapons that drew from tubes and ducts in their bodies to fire acids and other toxins at enemies. The alphas also had long talon like claw fingers similar in construction to the claws of their more traditional spider like cousins

Learning this from the alpha's body, Frewayne let out a sigh and said, "Well, the upside here is that they didn't really incorporate captured technology in their bodies. I suppose that means their probably a fair bit from being able to achieve spike travel on their own."

"Reassuring, as far as it goes," Gurk says. "Let's see if they're adapted to spread the hive across planets." (bullet point 2 - looking for the ability to create eggs, give birth, carry spawn around, anything that would allow the alphas to grow a hive in the absence of the queen)

After reviewing the internal cavities of the body it looks like these alphas were strictly combat forms meant to protect the hive from dire threats. The Undra are remarkably adaptable and there are many places within the now well cut open body that could be re shaped or re used to house eggs, spore, so or some other method of hive propogation on worlds where conditions are right, but you are not sure what those variables might be.

"This makes sense," Gurk says. "Crane and I originally went there to try and find a way to break the connection between the higher and lower organisms. So if these are fighters "hardened" against breaks in the network - as we saw after the queen died - it would make sense that's their primary purpose." He turns to the various jars of fluids and goop and begins chemical analysis. (bullet point 3 - looking for any unusual elements in blood or other fluids that might make such organisms easier to track or kill, anything that could be used to poison them, any rare substances that must be regularly consumed to survive)

(heal/int)

(9, used the expert reroll)

The blood is m ore heavily oxygenated than most humanoids need in order to support the enhanced bulk and many organs inside the creature.

7:20 AM

In the past, bombings that includded water absorbing or air absorbing qualities such as spores from Gudrun's trees caused havok among undra swarms

Gurk takes detailed notes on all of this and cross-references against the bombing runs so any future visitors to Savita will be aware of this feature. (Frewayne, do you want to poke into this a bit more or move on to trying to sum up what we've learned?)

(I think the only thing that really needs more researching is the psychic capabilities of the alpha be we need metapsionics for that.)

(Righto!) "So, to sum up," Gurk says, "it looks like these were a direct response to our attempts to develop psionic countermeasures to the Undra control. While very adaptable they don't currently seem to be made to travel through space or use advanced tech. Our fluid analysis shows a number of ways that we could counter them in the event of any other trip to Savita. Further analysis will have to wait until a metapsion is available for the job. Does that about wrap it up?" (there's one more thing he wants to do after this, but if we're happy with our conclusions that's all there is left to do)

(I'm good to do what the group wants to do)

Frewayne nods and agrees, "That's about the gist of it. Though the development of the Undra alpha worries me. Even more than a queen would. They may not have the potential to reach space, they are getting a bit too humanoid and my concern is that the day may come where an Umbra alpha with digits capable of fine motor controls comes to be and hijacks a ship. They are already extinction level threats to life on planets where they have hives only limited by the fact that they remain trapped on the planet as its ecosystem dies. That limit might not always be there to protect is."

(I was looking back at my notes ... I thought IC we were under the impression the other Undra strains had all lost their queens and so Savita was either the last refuge of them, or the last known refuge. Does that reflect what we think to be true at the moment? EDIT: the queen also specifically referenced the deaths of the others as a reason not to trust us dirty bipedal types) (edited)

(We don't know any other worlds whjere they're present right now to the best of my knowledge,but we do have a lot of pl anets explored. Currently all known nests have had their queens wiped out. We don't know if there's a level in the hierarchy higher than the queens or where the undra collectively come from)

7:42 AM

(or how they've spread to multiple worlds)

(Ok, I'll summarise where we are IC then) "With the queens we were aware of dead and the mechanism of them crossing to new planets unknown, it is definitely a worry," Gurk says. "We can advise the Void Wardens of all this and maybe get them to send out a warning if there's unusual activity on Savita. Someone should probably try to clear up the planet permanently, but there's so much going on in UNW space now finding that someone will be hard." Gurk begins packing away some of the equipment - all that is left to do is take scans necessary to make holographic and mechanical representation of the creature for the future "Planetary Destruction" exhibit.

(could make clearing out Undra planets a void warden mission)

(that would be good! Should one of us post in their channel or is that not needed?)

(I went and added it to their list of current missions, which is the most recent post, so we're good there. I just mentioned it so you knew what I was doing with the info)

(great! If getting the holographic/mechanical scans are done, I think that's it for Gurk ... anything left to do on your side Frewayne?) (edited)

(All good here.)

(Sounds good. Close us up gurk)

With the body removed, and decontamination concluded, the autopsy and dissection is at an end. "I'll notify the psychic academy of our findings, in case anyone there decides to take this further. "All in all I'd call this a good result - nobody died, we freed Crane, and we now have some more ideas of how to combat these creatures if they cause any further trouble. "In the meantime, feel free to enjoy the rest of the zoo's facilities and exhibits as much as you like. And if there's anything I can help out with in future, give me a call."

1

Frewayne shakes his head while also raising a hand to wave dismissively. "As much as I'd like to sightsee," he began to explain, "I've some loose ends to tie up on Phegeus, check up on the leviathan on Sumati-2 among other things. Besides, I have a raptor that's likely very ready to get out into the wild again so relaxing is not likely in the cards."

(3xp 5000 credits)

9:24 AM

(to each of you)

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