The small brown planet of X-5 had always remained a distant outpost of humanity’s pioneering efforts to colonize the furthest reaches of outer space. Though well provided for with an abundant source of fresh-water and amply stocked with hardy herds of ungulates that grazed on the planet’s native moss, X-5 was also home to frequent and devastating cyclones that would have greatly plagued any human effort to lay the foundations of a new colony in its dark soil. Moreover, X-5 was home to a savage race of ferocious insectoid creatures that had earned themselves a very grim reputation. Known collectively as the Shal, they were divided into bitterly feuding colonies that would dine with great gusto on their closest neighbors during the course of their frequent struggles for supremacy over contested frontiers that overlapped with those of bitter rivals. The peculiar nature of their fatricidal war-fare had over the millennia, given their cannibalistic fetish a most unique nature, elevating it to the status of a much favored tactic employed to erode the moral of an aggressive interloper. A victory gained from the successful abduction and devouring of an intruder’s most prominent warriors would naturally dull their urge to prolong a raid into enemy domain.
Both their existence and the presence of the terrible cyclones had combined to discourage human settlement in favour of other more docile lands easier to tame. For generations after the discovery of their home-world by humanity, the natives of X-5 lived without the fear of human colonization hanging over their fearsome heads.
But with the onset of 2159, came the relentless onslaught of the Marauder fleets, and humanity’s determination to flee the scourge of these terrible empire-builders. Desperate to seek refuge in the most obscure corners of the galaxy where the Marauders would not be tempted to pursue, at least for the next half-millennia or so, a band of Alliance military and civilian space vessels that had survived the initial Marauder slaughter, set course for X-5, hoping to ensure that by doing so, at least some rements of their race would survive.
As had been expected, their first makeshift camps were assaulted by bands of enraged Shal warriors, eager to devour
the trespassers that had landed on sacred hive domain. Fierce fighting ensued, but eventually ended with the decimation of the attackers as they found themselves unable to breach the human defensive fortifications. Shaken by the horrific death inflicted on their comrades, the surviving Shal warriors fled back to their hives, telling traumatised tales of the strange puny beings that wielded deadly weapons.
Over the course of the next two years that followed, more and more of the Sahal tribes found themselves in ferocious conflict as the humans expanded their first foot-holds in X-5. In a decisive stroke for the future of humanity’s final sanctuary, a massive disaster on one of the larger planets orbiting X-5 threw up a deadly asteroid field that would effectively annihilate anything seeking to safely trespass in the sector of galaxy occupied by X-5 and its closest neighbors. Human migration to this formerly outcaste back-water boomed, as thousands fled to a refuge granted immunity against the ravages of the Marauders. Within a few years, the new human nation of Zion had been estabalished.
Appalled by the human tide swarming over their foraging and spawning ground and despoiling them at a truly frightening rate, the aboriginal natives struck back.
The tribal hives that had been the most griveously affected by human encroachment, retaliated by despatching their warriors to ambush patrols of Space Marines guarding the outskirts of the closest human settlements. If successful, these would quickly end with the predatory Shal feasting off their wretched foes, with their ravaged remains subsequently left behind as a warning to the human settler population that their extended ‘‘raid’’ was over.
But they had tragically misunderstood the nature of these human intrusions, by failing to realize that these were very unlike their own feuds which had only revolved around temporary control over the best spawning and foraging grounds during the periodic cycles of mass mating and feasting typical of of their biology. The humans had come here to sink roots permanently in the soil of what they had claimed as their new home-land and refuge. Still tormented by all too recent memories of the Maruder destruction of earth, they would brook no challenge from anyone or anything willing to indicate that they would not respect humanity’s right to existence.
Horrific images of the aftermath of Marines eaten alive by ravenous Shal spread fear among the new comers that a second genocide was aimed at humanity. Paranoia became endemic, as did the growing consensus among the human population that retaliation must be swift and brutal if the barbarous Shal were to learn that the human race was not prey to be blatantly eaten as such, but were instead a hardened race of survivors that had no intention of allowing themselves to be passively destroyed. ‘‘Never again’’ had become the slogan of the new Zion state.
Collective punishment was the new choice of policy chosen to honor humanity’s will to endure. Artillery shells and missiles rained down on the hives that had been behind the attacks, slaughtering most of their populations within a few hours. Estatic settlement leaders were quick to appear in public broad-casts after news of the first strikes had been announced. Flush with righteous aggression, they announced that ‘‘Operation Extermination’’ was in progress. For the twenty Space Marines that had been slain, two hundred terrorist Shal had been eliminated. The savages would learn to leave Zion well alone in the future.
Most unfortunately for the future aspirations of the human race, the Shal were not cowed. The human mass slaughter of their brethren awoke raging passions in the hearts and minds of Shal already enraged by the unjust land-grabs inflicted on them. Killing and razing their way into the Shal home-land, these soft-skinned vermin had defied all norms of common decency by targeting hatchlings and brood females for murder. Even more painful was the fact that future generations of unhatched eggs had been lost as well to this ruthless, blind massacre.
And all this atrocity over what? The time honored slaying and eating of a handful of enemy warriors found guilty of raiding someone else’s land. The intention of the humans was clear. They had come to murder every living Shal, male, female, and child, so that they could seize every inch of Shal home-land for their accursed homes. But the Shal would never allow that. There would be no question of a human home land existing on Shal domain, not as long as a single one of their people survived.
A state existed now where Shal yearned for vengeance against humanity, and it simply screamed for the one who would arise to lead a successful resistance against the invaders.
That individual came along quite a bit sooner than many on either side of the conflict ever anticipated. Barely a month after that horrible day of infamy, the presence of a new force at work at became evident.
Rumours had begun circulating among the various Shal hives of a certain tribal elder that had amassed a vast stock-pile of advanced weapons in a secret lair where he was making preparations to launch a full-scale insurrection against the invaders. The excitement was immediate. Quickly summoning their young warriors to gather before them, fiery Shal elders and religious preachers declared that if the stories should prove true, every able bodied male was to gird himself for the upcoming war ahead.
The hopes of these orators were not to be disappointed. Strangers soon begun to arrive in hive domains, bearing postures that made it clear they were not the advance scouts of some rival raiding party, but were instead messengers come to deliver a message of great importance to the tribal elders. And their message had a lot to do with the upcoming war of resistance. That got them the audience they sought very quickly.
The envoys spoke of a gathering in the Craters of Fire, a hellish chain of terrain periodically ravaged by the noxious streams of lava and smoke that the volcanic peaks would sometimes vomit forth. There in those inhospitable environs, the first spark of resistance had been set alight.
A young tribal preacher by the name of Hsuuuu of the Nak hive, had been visited in his dreams by the Hive Spawner, divine progenitor of all the blessed insect races. In the dreams of Hsuuuuu, the divine Hive Spawner had been furious about the genocide of its people by the foul humans. So furious that it had selected a champion to safeguard what was rightfully the exclusive domain of the Shal, a champion who would ensure that the most beloved branch of the insect-like races would not be reduced to surviving as pathetic scavengers and thieves, destitute wretches increasingly forced to live off the refuse left behind by the human scourge as it moved to overwhelm the Shal home-land. Should the collective people of the Shal wish to preserve Shal dignity and freedom for their future generations, they would do well to answer the call of this sacred obligation and join the holy quest of Nak Hsuuuu to redeem the home of his race. Having set up camp in the heart of living fire, the champion was ready to receive the support of his people and inspire their hearts with a heat no less intense than the liquid fire running in rivulets around his strong-hold.
Displaying no hesitancy in swearing immediate oaths of allegiance to their new war-leader, the leaders ordered their most promising young warriors to accompany the envoys back to the Craters Of Fire in small clandestine groups that would avoid provoking the attention of ariel human spy drones patrolling the skies of X-5.
In the Shal langauge ‘‘Hsuuuuu’’ is a word that can be taken to mean either ‘‘warrior’’ or ‘‘teacher’’ depending on how it is pronounced. A series of rapid clicks and hisses, the importance of even the slightest inflection can never be underestimated when pronouncing a certain word in it.
Coming face to face with the fabled Nak Hsuuuu in his fiery seat of power, the Shal that had volunteered to become his righteous avengers soon came to learn that like his moniker, their potential saviour was both. A remorseless killer on one hand, and on the other, a powerful, charismatic figure capable of transfixing young minds with speeches extolling the virtue of war against the invader.
It is the sacred obligation of every able Shal warrior to kill the human scum wherever its abode is found. Even if there was no previous quarrel with the invaders camped along your borders, it does not release you from the obligation that the omnipresent Hive Spawner has imposed on all Shal that remain true to their people. Your kindred in a neighboring hive still suffer grievously from the numerous opressions inflicted on them by the avaricicous intruder that has annexed so many expanses of sacred Shal domain. Obey divine will and take the war to the invader in your own lands, and you will be rewarded, if not in this life should you perish bravely in battle, then in the next where the Hive Spawner will take you into its vast embrace and name you one of his own personal warriors. Countless rewards await those that attain that hallowed paradise. For every human you slay and devour, know that you not only avenge the wrong done to your brothers and sisters, but also take the next step to ensuring that you own children will be spared future humilations of that nature. The main goal is to force every snivelling, lying, human into a Shal digestive system. Remove the humans and the Shal will demonstrate to all future interlopers forever that the most favored of the Hive Spawner will never meekly submit to mass slaughter and land theft.
The Nak doctrine as his human detractors and foes would later come to contemptuously term it, provided ample fodder to minds and hearts terrified and enraged by the not too distant prospect of finding their whole home-land swallowed by the alien human entity. No surprise then that many eagerly welcomed his call to all out war.
As the war leader of the Hive Spawner, Nak Hsuuuu did not disappoint either. He had spent two years building up his arsenal of advanced weapons, relying on the sympathies and outrage of Cracants, roach-like insect-like beings that were the more advanced and space-flight capable distant cousins of the Shal. All though most of the military autarchies of the various Cracant nations had been careful to maintain good ties with the fledgling human ‘‘nation’’ from the beginning of colonization,(supplying the demands of human industry with valuable energy producing Gor crystals was a very lucrative trade), many of their subjects were outraged by the numerous casualties inflicted on their brethren during the vicious ariel strikes that the repulsive mammals had unleased on them. Driven by the stories of entire broods of innocent hatchlings being incinerated by human bombs, many wealthy and devout Cracants had their minions smuggle weapons to Nak Hsuuuus’s movement one news of it reached their ears. Could they do any less where aiding the fellow children of the Hive Spawner was concerned?
For his part, the Hsuuuu was savvy enough to graciously thank his benefactors by proclaiming them champions of the Hive Spawner’s will. The value of his recently obtained arsenal was not lost on him, with he himself taking great care to attain great proficiency in their use as he trained along with his fighters under the vigilant eyes of a pair of Cracant military instructors contributed by his generous sponsors.
In the baking hot summer of September 2725, human kind learnt in a single brutal moment that their long running feud with the Shal had undergone a radical transformation.
As the night descended, bringing temporary relief to the human inhabitants of Zion, the long and carefully nurtured insurgency of Nak Hsuuuuu finally stirred itself into furious action.
Long range rockets supplied by Cracant donors slammed simultenously into several of the largest settlements built on former Shal land, causing several deaths among the residents, and more omniously, taking out most of the defensive barriers and the Space Marines manning them, guardians that had hitherto guaranteed these colonialists could live in peace without fear of falling prey to the murderously carnivorous tendencies of the Shal.
What followed next was the culmination of long repressed Shal resentment and hatred, thwarted rage that had finally manifested itself in the fifty Shal warriors appearing out the night’s shadows like their nightmarish, grotesque spawn. Moving with the terrible swiftness a Shal’s body is capable of concealing all too well, they stormed past the smouldering wrecks of the blasted fortifications and swarmed into the settlements, smashing into the closely packed homes of the town’s residents, slaying and devouring many of them with a bestial savagery.
When their gruesome work was finally done, the raiders departed, leaving a mass of partially eaten bodies dumped in the main plaza of the settlement. Not a random act of wanton barbarity but a clear message for Zion’s leaders:Every human was now an enemy, and as such to be eaten. Counter-genocide at its most stark and visible.
As the Hsuuuuu had so shrewdly foreseen, images of these butchered innocents were quick to fill the screens of human pod-screens when their defiled remains were finally discovered by a horrified Space Marine squadron making a routine patrol.
Once again humanity’s outraged wrath was swift and blind in its coming, with armies of Space Marines deployed against the Shal hives deemed responsible for this heinous crime, the hearts of these human paragons filled with the blazing desire to incinerate every living Shal in sight. After having consulted passionately with their civilian bosses, the generals had decided that any decision to only engage in retaliatory missile strikes as before, was insufficient in scope as an appropriate measure of response. Only the utter leveling and destruction of a number of entire hives could impress upon the barbarically iredeemable Shal mind that every human life was too precious to vanish into their slobbering jaws.
In this hope, they were soon stubbornly frustrated, as for the first time in humanity’s knowledge, Space Marines encountered guerilla bands of fanatical Shal wielding modern weapons not far inferior to their own. Slithering out from their cunningly concealed fox-holes hidden among the dunes to attack with impressive skill and speed, Nak Hsuuuuu’s fighters were soon inflicting heavy casualties on the Space Marines. And what did they care for the losses of their own warriors that had been vaporized by human laser tanks or ariel fighter-bombers? For every offspring a human female could deliver, a Shal would easily spawn a hundred. They had no worries about finding fighters to replace the ranks of those holy avengers cut down in these furious battles. The humans on the other hand must eventually come to the unwelcome realization that their own numbers could not support the cost of such a grim but ultimately futile offensive.
Once again, the Hsuuuuu demonstrated that he had great foresight.
Realizing that the grand death-blow they had envisioned was only causing them casualties the fledgling human nation could not endure, the generals ordered their bloodied forces to pull back. The images of slavering Shal firing laser rifles had been profoundly unsettling for them to witness. Obviously the brutes had come to like their meat cooked, or rather charred by laser fire.
Humiliated greatly by the sometimes sucidal but undeniable courage of Nak Hsuuuuu’s holy fighters, human political leaders once again chose to retaliate with a reckless cloud of missiles and shells that succeeded only in infuriating the Shal even further, as those that had had nothing at all do with the attacks were eliminated along with some of Nak Hsuuuu’s bunkers and weapon caches.
Stunned nigh out of their minds by the horrid disaster inflicted on their much vaunted Marines, the inhabitants of the outermost and least economically viable settlements abandoned them despite the best efforts of the human goverment to discourage it, thereby giving Nak Hsuuuu the opportunity of reclaiming a few square miles of Shal soil, a success that catapulted him to the status of a hero among all the children of the Hive Spawner in the process, both Shal and Cracant.
‘‘A Pan-Hive Hero?’’
Emboldened by his success and trans-planet celebrity, Nak Hsuuuu has been inspired to replicate his success by continuing his guerilla offensive against more settlements. As his fighters trade punches with Space Marines, he has become especially adept at channelling the near limitless hatred for humanity that swells as hundreds of Shal continue to perish in ham-fisted human reataliatory strikes against him and his guerilla army.
Undaunted by numerous assassination efforts directed against him and his top advisers by the human military, as well as death squads sent out by Cracant leaders furious at him for instilling subversive notions in the minds of the masses that their leaders are cowardly boot-lickers for intercepting occasional secret flights carrying weapons to their embattled Shal brethren, he rules with a ruthless hand, killing any moderate Shal leader that endeavors to come to an accord with the state of Zion about the future status of Shal sovereignty. A fanatic and hard-liner of the worst kind that, he yearns for the the complete destruction of the human-nation, seeing any possible compromise as an insidious tool that can only mean eventual slavery for the Shal race. Cracants too, are exhorted to maintain a similiar attitude, lest they end up in equally dire straits. For whether be they true or false, Nak Hsuuuu is very convinced in the victory that his dreams have promised him..
A vast, quivering mass of chitinous flesh, Nak Hsuuuuu resembles a grossly oversized maggot that looks every bit as formidable as it truly is.
Stretching for twenty feet long, his immensely thick body is covered with shiny black plates sufficiently sturdy to deflect phaser blasts from most hand-held weapons, while either side of his considerable length boast an array of fifteen powerful hinged limbs that end in thick curved claw like appendages that hold an array of advanced plasma
grenades and phasers.
But the most fearsome weapon of Nak Hsuuuuu rests in the monstrous, bloated head. A giant bug visage, it bears a prominent pair of mandibles, giant pincers capable of neatly severing a man’s body into two, from whose gore encrusted tips dangle the fleshy remains of many of Nak Hsuuu’s unpleasant repasts. The powerful stench of decaying flesh emanating from it is overpowering enough to cause a human to reel over, his lungs suffocated by the overpowering stench of decomposition.
A powerful array of advanced plasma explosives are strapped to his humongous body, and are timed to go off if he ever finds himself successfully apprehended or captured by his enemies. Being glorified as a dead hero who takes down his enemies with him appeals to Nak Hsuuuuu more than the fate of the dreadful human torture that the humans will surely inflict him should he ever fall into their hands.
Just as vital to him is the portable universal satelite device that enables him to broadcast his voice and image illicitly into almost every corner of the Cracant home-world. Who could ever suspect that minisucle pencil shaped object of being so potent a tool?