Pancake finds "Starbeetle"

<snip>
Davie stopped firing for a moment, and heard someone running down the corridor
behind him, passing him by for the flight deck. Whoever it was, Davie guessed
they hadn't noticed him in the turret.
<end snip>

Who: Justin Pancake
Where: Blue Dwarf, flight deck
When: Before Davie got to the flight deck

Justin ran up to a Starbug and paused alongside it to catch his breath. He was
looking for a ship, a ship that the SpaceCorps sergeant had told him was in this
Flight Deck. Something he said would be obvious.

Justin looked around, still leaning on the green Starbug. Nothing was standing
out as abnormal.

Until he felt the hull of the Starbug move.

"What?" Justin jumped back in shock. The skin of the JMC Starbug was crawling,
and the Starbug started to grow taller as if extending its landing struts. Then
it started to walk towards him.

Justin leaped out of the way in shock. Never before had he seen a Starbug walk.

"What?!" He shouted as the Starbug started chasing him. The green legs of the
starbug moved synchronously and fluidly, not in a mechanical way. Justin
scrambled on top of some barrels so he was level with the Starbug's windows and
tried to stare in. He couldn't

The Starbug came really close to him and stopped. The windows narrowed and it
was then that Justin realised they weren't windows at all...

They were eyes.

This wasn't a normal Starbug. It was alive.

It looked so similar to a normal JMC Starbug, it was the same shade of green, it
had the same three spherical compartments, the last being larger than the other
two. It had the same markings and JMC logo, but on closer inspection Justin
realised these were branded onto the ship's 'skin', like the way cattle is
branded. Instead of being labelled "Starbug" as usual, this was called
"Starbeetle."

The ship turned, exposing some rockets which looked natural too. As the
Starbeetle turned, a waft of smell hit his nose. "Pffwoooor!" He said, gagging.
The rockets were obviously some sort of natural orifices that expelled gas.

The starbeetle moved back, and they stretched out. The two ridges on its back
parted, exposing two semi-transparent wings, like a ladybird or beetle.
The wings flapped furiously, far too fast for Justin to see them as anything
other than a blur.

Justin was in love. "You're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen." He
said.

The Starbeetle turned and looked at him through its two dark eyes. Then it
turned and exposed a small door that allowed him to climb aboard.

"This is amazing!" He said. "The JMC really know what they're doing!"

Onboard the starbeetle was a damp and slightly sticky place. Justin didn't need
reminding he was inside a living creature, it was like being swallowed by a
whale. He trudged over the sticky floor into what looked like the cockpit, where
the only mechanical item was a TV attached the the ceiling. Attached was a
post-it note.
"Turn me on." He read, and immediately pressed play.

"Hello Mr Pancake!" Said a familiar voice. It was Willy Eckerslike, boss of the
JMC. "I hope you like Starbeetle, it's one of the many advances we've made since
working with the Hymenoptera. You wouldn't believe how powerful we're going to
be once we start growing more ships like this. Yes you heard me right, we can
now 'grow' ships. That'll help us beat this recession!"
Justin groaned.
"What I need you to do is still the same though." Eckerslike said gravely. "The
Hymenoptera queen is in danger. If she gets killed, the alliance is off, and
there'll be no more ships like this one." Eckerslike help up a graph of
projection sales figures plummeting into the ground.
"You HAVE to stop Jay Chrysler." He said.

The video went blank and Justin looked around for a seat. A gooey tongue thing
moulded itself into a place for him to sit. It was gross but Justin didn't seem
to mind. He sat down and the ship started to read his mind.

"Up up and away!" He said.

Starbeetle flew out of the Blue Dwarf, and sailed past the Hymenoptera ships in
the area. They didn't seem to mind it being there.

Out of the seat grew two pustules, pumping with gooey yellow puss that he could
see just beneath the skin. Justin watched as they grew into arms that wrapped
around him, holding his body in place.
"Oh good, seat belts!" He said, and then noticed another sharp stick growing out
of the seat behind him. It looked like a single claw.
"Hey what's that for?"
It moved quickly, stabbing down at his neck, piercing the skin and burying
itself deep inside. He screamed in pain and shock. "What's happening?!"

After a few moments of panic and struggling, a sense of calm came over him. It
was a feeling Justin had been waiting for his entire life. He could feel the
hive mind of the Hymenoptera.
"Relax Justin." Said a female voice. "This is the voice of the Hymenoptera
Queen."
Justin didn't know what to say. He was star struck.
"I...I... you're having a laugh!"
"No this really is the Queen. I can speak through all of my subjects. Your
species is so skeptical!" She said. "But useful."
"I... yes... well... how can I help?" He said.
"There's a ship. One of our own that was turned against us." Said the
Hymenoptera. "I believe your people call it the Vespidae."
"Amber's ship?" Justin said.
"Yes. The being known as Amber is the only real threat to us. I want you to
eliminate her ship."

In Justin's mind he could suddenly see what the Starbeetle could see. He was
flying through space, he could control everything just by the power of thought.
He saw the Vespidae in the distance attacking the Hymenoptera platform.

Justin turned the Starbeetle towards it and started firing.

<OOC - Tag Amber, can you protect yourself from Starbeetle? Hymie ship vs Hymie
ship!>