Shrieker

*"Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky*

*It had the one long horn, one big eye*

*I commenced to shakin' and I said "ooh-eee*

*It looks like a purple eater to me"*

- "Purple People Eater", Sheb Wooley
## Tactical Information

* **Buzzing death**: The Shrieker is a flying infantry unit capable of causing mass havoc to tanks with its lance weaponry, rapidly cutting through vehicle armor while buzzing well out of the reach of most vehicles. Shriekers are also dangerous to slower moving aircraft such as helicopters, and if pressed into melee; can deploy hard light sheathes for their claws that let them tear through other air targets, tearing other flying infantry into bloody ribbons.

* **Buzz bomb**: Each shrieker carries a series of femtospore grenade to be used as the situation demands, hurling these deadly weapons at masses of ground troops that would otherwise prove to be a bother; being especially dangerous to infantry who prove quite combustible in the face of the grenades clouds of femtites.

* **Buzz off**: Due to their gracile construction, Shriekers are quite fragile by ecumenical standards, especially on a per credit basis. They are especially unfond of being subjected to ground flak and the attentions of air superiority fighters.

* **What's all the buzz about?**: The most elite Shriekers are trade their old Lance gun for the consideradly more powerful disassociation cannon. The cannon devastates virtually all targets and greatly increases the lethality of the Shrieker overall.

## Unit History

**Dearest Marcos:**

*Have I ever told you how much rain forest patrol duty sucks? Because I think it needs to be emphasized! Let me state this right now, I am Comm. Serrano of "Adscensio" and this is the worst posting in the Technate. The heat is unbearable in this gear and I'm left a sweaty drenched mess at the end of every day and the warden manning the right sponson tries playing peeping tom when I bathe. I swear I will knock his teeth out next time I catch him. Well, at least I'm in a tank with air conditioning and metal to keep out mosquitoes and worse most of the time. May the Lord take pity on those infantry men and women in heavy armor and thick dress.*

*Anyway, the reports said that guerrillas, either pagan or communist, had brought up tanks here and stole some equipment from International Inc. to make a fortress. Which Supervisor thought that bringing our own tanks into poorly explored jungles and marshes was a bright idea I don't know, but I do know he or she has a special place in Xibalba waiting for them. I cannot tell you how many times I had to wait for a recovery team to drag my vehicle out of the mud or pull us back up when we got stuck on some indigenous people's pit trap. We found we were passing through the territory of some native tribes and marked the location for the professional first contactors to handle when we couldn't find them in our guide to natives.*

*Our progress is slow but morale remains high overall. We have good men and women, a solid plan based on decent intelligence that while not telling who exactly we were going to be spreading civilization to, did tell us about how many unlucky disorderly elements we were going to be pacifying. And while they may be cunning and have access to heavy weapons, their ammo and fuel is going to be precious, and air support is never too far away. And the Supervisor is right, just thirty years ago any of the countries in our Combine wouldn't be able to dream of supporting mechanized forces deep in the rain forest. We have come far.*

**The Future awaits,**

- *Gloria Serrano*
*Some of the more superstitious members of our task force are afraid of the lights we see in the sky sometimes. Many of the less superstitious ones are worried but won't admit it. The gunner recounted the tale that dancing lights in the sky bring bad luck, but I had to stop him. I am all for intellectual discourse but he was scaring the wardens. I told them of how correlation does not lead to causation and reminded them of times when lights were seen in the sky but nothing bad happened. That calmed them down. Then the loader passed gas loudly and everyone in the tank howled with laughter. I think Jesús should cut down on the beans in his diet for sure. Hah!*

*One of the scouts spoke about seeing winged, somewhat humanoid shapes skittering through the canopy. Some had their doubts but three others vouched for her and they were all known to be honest and accurate with their intelligence. No doubt something for the investigators to ponder. More importantly, we came across an abandoned Reservist base, probably from the Guyana before it went silent, maybe the Allies were trying to sneak outposts under our noses? We stopped to investigate, and after some tests it was declared that the base hadn't housed a single soul in six months, and was probably hastily set up. Most of the defenses were placed northward for whatever reason, but despite the length of the absence of its occupants it was still easily usable.*

*We used it to bunk for the night and commandeered the remaining supplies. Then I saw the lights again. Dancing in the night sky like the fireflies you see in American movies. I reported the sighting to my superiors and went to catch some sleep.*

**Science shall light the way,**

- *Gloria Serrano*
*- Log of Ixivakiri Vzrag Zinran'ii.*

The Ecumene-Hive demanded that these Technocrat-Hive Drones be culled. I have heard this, and me and my brood shall obey. The Amarani reported that Technocrat-Hive drones sheltered in the husked Base-Hive of the Allied-Hive. I confirmed this, glory be to the Ecumene-hive and Councils. They slept, resting but not knowing the deathsting that shall pierce their Soft-Chitin. They had guard drones looking for enemies, buzzing and communing in their scentless, sparkless thirdspeak. They made rapid diaphragm contracts after passing thirdspeak words to each other. An expression of the reception of humor among the Human-Drones.

We signalled to each other with antenna-speak. The time to strike was now. We spread our wings and flew, moving swiftly into position. I threw a grenade, timing it to release the fire at the right moment to burn the drones of the Technocrat-Hive just as my hatchmates did the same. We took our demanded points and prepared our craft-stingers, just as the grenades exploded we fired the lance stings at their vehicles. Their drones burned brightly as we shot our stings into their vehicles. The lances degraded, destroyed their metal-chitin vehicles as we picked our targets. They were not to flee by orders of the Amarani. The life thread of many Technocrat-Hive Drones was cut. The Culler would feast on death-honey today.

One of them activated a skykiller walker before we could cut its life thread, and cut the threads of many Velkurak-Hive drones the Technocrat-Hive drones had collected our Death-honey, reparation was demanded. I flew at the skykiller walker, my wings beat furiously as I weaved past its four craft great auto stingers and at its control husk, shooting many times at the entrance I moved in and spilled the life-nector of the walker minder, my claws carving into his flesh before I silenced his craft-drone and withdrew to find more prey. Soon the Base-Hive was cleared, empty of drones. But the Technocrat-Hive Drones managed to bring about the escape of some of their number. We had to give chase.

We followed them into the jungle as they escaped. Drones huddled around a few treaded craft-drones seeking to make their escape. Rotorwing Craft-Drones sought to confound our pursuit, responding to electrospeak cries that were not suppressed, flying at us and firing their craft-stingers. We dispersed, but I am a Veteran Drone, as one of the Hive-mates went down, I rose from below and fired into the thorax of the craft-drone, crippling it as its Metal-Carapace burned. Another I ducked into the canopy again to face as it tried to drive my Drones away. I stood on a branch of a tree, and when it came near I jumped and used my claws to shred the craft-drone. The craft-drone minder drew his hand craft-stinger, he was fast, I was faster. I bit his throat and tore out the soft-chitin before pushing away from his Craft-drone.

With their craft-drones culled, we chased their last Drones. They did not go far, but they fought bravely. They did not show fear as we culled them, even when we culled their great treaded craft-drone their leader-drone emerged to fight. The female fired angrily, and wounded one of my drones, but we had vanquished their force. We moved to apply sedation so that they could be brought to the Void-Hives. They struggled but resistance was futile, we had our prisoners and we would bring them to the Void-Hives. There, when the leader-drone awoke, I asked for her name. She said "Gloria Serrano" and I replied "Vzrag Zinran'ii", she had served her hive well, and she will serve the Ecumene-Hive better.

Glory be to the Ecumene-Hive and the Councils.