X Parasites invade Star Wars

[Molyneux]

StarSword already supplied the source for me (thanks StarSword), so I'll comment on the rest of it. The BSL is pretty huge, certainly it would appear to be bigger than the wrecks we see in Mos Eisley from the old colony ships. Something that big crashing on the planet is going to attract interest, at the very least the Jawa community is going to be crawling all over the thing. Besides, it's an entirely unknown ship that all of a sudden appeared above the planet and crashed on it, I'd wager that gets more attention then "Oh look, another wreck, send a patrol out." Also, again the Empire started tightening the reins on Tatooine given all the Rebel activity, something as strange as the BSL showing up is probably going to warrant a report to a higher up.

You're welcome.

But I just realized a problem with the whole scenario: the size of the space station, and thus the energy and chemical release of the crash. We've already seen that an uncontrolled starship crash can cause a planet to become uninhabitable: Honoghr in Dark Force Rising suffered biosphere destruction when a Rebel capital ship was shot down in orbit, though that was more due to the resulting chemical spills than the crash itself.

Tatooine barely has a biosphere to contaminate, but if I remember Metroid Fusion's cinematics correctly, the BSL was hollowed out of a large asteroid. The K-T extinction event on Earth is believed to have been caused by the collision of a 10 km asteroid, causing an estimated 96 teraton blast. I doubt the X would survive the impact of the BSL, and anyone within several dozen kilometers of the crash site will probably be killed instantly. And that doesn't even begin to cover the total effects.

...so we're dealing with a flawed OP scenario to start with. Maybe we could modify it so that the X don't wind up exterminated before the scenario even begins?

[ChosenOne54]

The BSL magically appears on Tattoine, the X survive.

[keen320]

All it might take is the X getting somewhere else before the crash is investigated.

Two nasty scenarios I thought of:
A: Enough X get to a moisture farm to infect the people there. If they can do it without a speeder getting away, it's unlikely word will get out. Moisture farmers don't seem to have a 911 service, and even if they call someone else, It could easily be discounted as a prank, especially when they are all seen to be fine the next day. The X hop in a speeder in their new hosts, drive to Mos Eisley, and get a seat on any transport off-world (not hard, as shown in ANH). During transit the X infect the crew/passengers. Infected passengers are dropped off to start a new wave, ship picks up new passengers before anything happens and lifts off for another planet. Rinse and repeat. If the X are careful they can make sure infections don't correspond with a ship they've already infected.

B: First on the scene/infected are sand people. A tribe is infected, then begins attacking local moisture farmers as usual to infect them. Coninues until you have scenario A, but with multiple groups entering Mos Eisley.

Also, if the X are mostly stopped, but some of them lay low, what if they begin another attempt as the Yhuzzan Vong show up? Because then everyone is well and truly screwed. Alternatively, they might happen to infect one of the Vong agents seeded before the invasion, and decide to wait for it (not sure when the Vong first sent agents).

[avatarxprime]

All it might take is the X getting somewhere else before the crash is investigated.

Two nasty scenarios I thought of:
A: Enough X get to a moisture farm to infect the people there. If they can do it without a speeder getting away, it's unlikely word will get out. Moisture farmers don't seem to have a 911 service, and even if they call someone else, It could easily be discounted as a prank, especially when they are all seen to be fine the next day. The X hop in a speeder in their new hosts, drive to Mos Eisley, and get a seat on any transport off-world (not hard, as shown in ANH). During transit the X infect the crew/passengers. Infected passengers are dropped off to start a new wave, ship picks up new passengers before anything happens and lifts off for another planet. Rinse and repeat. If the X are careful they can make sure infections don't correspond with a ship they've already infected.

Doubtful just because from what we've seen the X don't play like that; sublety doesn't seem to be their thing unless there is a clear and present threat (Samus Aran or Metroids) to them. From what we've seen of their behavior in Fusion, they'll start spreading out the second they have the chance. Also, there is the fact that most of them are pretty dumb, the intelligent ones (SA-X, the various Bosses) are unlikely to want to give up their more powerful forms unless they're trading up.

B: First on the scene/infected are sand people. A tribe is infected, then begins attacking local moisture farmers as usual to infect them. Coninues until you have scenario A, but with multiple groups entering Mos Eisley.

This one is certainly possible, except that such increased Tusken Raider aggression is likely going to be met with an Imperial response. Everyone seems to be forgetting that the Empire stepped up their presence on Tatooine following ANH, so any unusual behavior is likely to be written off as Rebel activity and any persons identified as being involved will be summarily blasted as being Rebel scum. Also depending on when that secret War Droid factory on Tatooine gets built, the X will have to deal with those too.

[Sela]

Not sure if I agree with that phrasing. The way it's said in the game (though I'd have to think a lot more before I could decide how well this correlates to what we later observe) the X are all clones that can kill and mimic their hosts. So it's not that the SA-X clone is a smarter X parasite; its the same as any of the other X-parasites.

Still, going by what we observe, you may indeed have a point. The free-floating x-parasites show zero foresight in their actions - acting very much like sophisticated motile bacteria that seek out raw materials and replicate by fission. After that the enemy 'X' act like we'd expect ordinary enemies to (most likely due to the fact that it's a game; but whatever). So when they are inhabiting a jumping frog-like creature they show that much intelligence; but when they inhabit the SA-X they show planning, foresight, reasoning, etc. etc.

So yes; avoiding detection as a species -while the wise thing to do- would be unlikely for the X to pull off. Especially given the odd behaviors we witness them pulling off in metroid fusion. For example: you swat an X-infected fly, suddenly there's a gelatinous parasite floating through the air....that merges with another fly .... that suddenly transmogrifies into a bird!


My question is how fast can X distribute themselves through the atmosphere? Becaues if they're crashlanded several hundred miles from any major city, then it stands to reason those X that infect intelligent hosts are the most likely to travel that distance on their own before the 'stray X' sweep over it. In other words - the parasite has a better chance of getting off-planet if free-parasites don't disperse rapidly enough to raise alarm. A remote site that's a hotbed of infection could remain a hotbed of infection with just the few 'intelligent-possessed hosts" being aware enough to try and get off planet to propagate the species (behavior we totally see them engaging in in Fusion).

[StarSword]

They distributed themselves throughout the station pretty rapidly. Except in the case of the desert zone (how appropriate!), the moment Samus unlocked security in an area, the X invaded.

Of course, Tatooine is much, much bigger than the station. Assuming Tatooine's population numbers are accurate -- I believe somebody said 200,000 settlers earlier -- and that Tatooine is the same size as Earth (surface area of 510,072,000 km²), that works out to a population density of 0.00039 people per square kilometer. That, of course, doesn't account for native life, but we know the planet is sparsely populated. If we add a million Tuskens and Jawas (a total guess, yes), total, it comes to 0.002 people per square kilometer.

These numbers still don't account for nonsentient life forms, of course. (I imagine the X would have a lot of fun with a krayt dragon.)

EDIT: Something else I just thought of. Apart from the "zombies" and the infected crewman who nearly blows up the station's boiler (and drops the wide-beam), Samus' ship's computer remarks that humans are just food for the X, because that form is too weak for combat. (Apart from the SA-X, security robot, and the Nightmare, all the serious combatants are infected animals.) It's heavily implied in Knights of the Old Republic that the Tuskens are actually humans, and since they enslave Jawas, they're probably even weaker. Just something to consider.

[Metahive]

Regarding stealth, nobody noticed that the X had taken over the entire wildlife on SR388 despite there being a huge research station in orbit and they didn't reveal themselves until Samus forced the issue by killing an x-copy on the surface. I think they didn't act stealthily on the BSL station because everyone already knew they were around so there was no benefit to hiding.

[avatarxprime]

Not sure if I agree with that phrasing. The way it's said in the game (though I'd have to think a lot more before I could decide how well this correlates to what we later observe) the X are all clones that can kill and mimic their hosts. So it's not that the SA-X clone is a smarter X parasite; its the same as any of the other X-parasites.

Still, going by what we observe, you may indeed have a point. The free-floating x-parasites show zero foresight in their actions - acting very much like sophisticated motile bacteria that seek out raw materials and replicate by fission. After that the enemy 'X' act like we'd expect ordinary enemies to (most likely due to the fact that it's a game; but whatever). So when they are inhabiting a jumping frog-like creature they show that much intelligence; but when they inhabit the SA-X they show planning, foresight, reasoning, etc. etc.

So yes; avoiding detection as a species -while the wise thing to do- would be unlikely for the X to pull off. Especially given the odd behaviors we witness them pulling off in metroid fusion. For example: you swat an X-infected fly, suddenly there's a gelatinous parasite floating through the air....that merges with another fly .... that suddenly transmogrifies into a bird!

I would note that all X that take the form of an important (i.e. Boss) character are visually different from their normal brethren, indicating a change in the nature of the X itself. The behavior thing should be tied to the host, but not in the "I emulate what I eat" way you're saying. The X absorb all the knowledge of the host, so if an X eats an intelligent host then it gains that intelligence. Not so much that it acts as the host because it absorbed it, but since it absorbed the host it is capable of acting like it. They also take the intelligence, DNA, etcetera or their host with them for subsequent hosts. That is why the SR388 species we see have new/different capabilities and behaviors from their Metroid II incarnation. The X inhabiting them are modifying them to make them more combat capable. Also, I again would note that the X are capable of some level of group think, like deciding to self-destruct the station to kill Samus or using their ability to absorb energy to steal data before Samus has the chance to get it.

Of course, Tatooine is much, much bigger than the station. Assuming Tatooine's population numbers are accurate -- I believe somebody said 200,000 settlers earlier

Yeah that was me, the Wookieepedia page on Tatooine gave that population estimate. Also, that apparently includes the Raiders and the Jawas .

200,000

■70% Humans
■5% Tusken Raiders
■5% Jawas
■20% Other

Oh, and the diameter of is 10,465 kilometers (again Wookieepedia) so it's surface area is 343,880,946.5 km2 with a population density of 0.00058 people per km2. Not exactly much better, but hey the X are now slightly better off with finding new hosts.

Regarding stealth, nobody noticed that the X had taken over the entire wildlife on SR388 despite there being a huge research station in orbit and they didn't reveal themselves until Samus forced the issue by killing an x-copy on the surface. I think they didn't act stealthily on the BSL station because everyone already knew they were around so there was no benefit to hiding.

The BSL wasn't there the entire time since Samus scoured SR388 clean of Metroids. Besides, since Metroids were built to be the X's natural predator their population would have been quite small initially and then would have experienced population growth from there. Since they are only visible when not currently occupying a host, it's possible they would have remained undetected since an X would eat a host, produce copies of itself that appear like the host (taking the behavior of SA-X as the example) and would likely blend in with a natural resurgence of the SR388 indigenous population with the great and terrible Metroids gone. As to them not hiding on the station, it tend to look at it as run away population growth. A few X end up eating every last bit of organic matter existing on the station and converting it all into new X biomatter in a day or so. Likely the free floating X were simply looking for new hosts since they were the product of too much replication given a massive infusion of new resources.

[Metahive]

The X deliberately enforced their population growth on the BSL station, one of the first missions there is undoing their tempering with the environmental controls that sped their reproduction up. As for the BSL's presence over SR388, it must have been there quite a while considering they had already a full collection of its fauna within Sektor 1. Since none of them were X-copies (there are even still some uninfected left when Samus arrives) they must have started their operation shortly after Samus cleansed the planet of metroids and made it "safe" for scientific exploration.

[StarSword]

200,000

■70% Humans
■5% Tusken Raiders
■5% Jawas
■20% Other

Oh, and the diameter of is 10,465 kilometers (again Wookieepedia) so it's surface area is 343,880,946.5 km2 with a population density of 0.00058 people per km2. Not exactly much better, but hey the X are now slightly better off with finding new hosts.

Given that, as I noted earlier, they mostly ignore humanoids in favor of dangerous flora and fauna, I don't think they're really any better off. Adam (Samus' ship computer) surmised that the crew of the BSL were food for the combat forms, since the only once-humans Samus ever encounters are the "zombies" in parts of the main deck, and the crewman that tries to blow up the boiler.

On the other hand, Tatooine doesn't have much in the way of flora and fauna either. Going through all the critters we've seen, we've got the dewback, ronto, and bantha for herbivores, and the krayt dragon, wraid (KOTOR), and sarlacc for carnivores. Tatooine does have some plants (not only are they canon, there's no other way for it to be inhabitable), but nothing along the lines of the wacko flower-thing that clogged up the BSL's reactor.

*light-bulb*

Scenario question: Are we assuming that the X are released only in gelatinous form, or that some of the combat forms survive the BSL's arrival on Tatooine? The critters from the desert zone might do well there, if nothing else.

[avatarxprime]

The X deliberately enforced their population growth on the BSL station, one of the first missions there is undoing their tempering with the environmental controls that sped their reproduction up.

So maybe their replica of SR388 wasn't as good as they thought and the X needed to change it to make it better? Maybe the X learned from all the humans they ate that they could increase their reproduction rate by doing that? The point is they went out there, consumed a ton of biomass, and started trying to replicate as fast as they could and were hardly subtle about it.

As for the BSL's presence over SR388, it must have been there quite a while considering they had already a full collection of its fauna within Sektor 1. Since none of them were X-copies (there are even still some uninfected left when Samus arrives) they must have started their operation shortly after Samus cleansed the planet of metroids and made it "safe" for scientific exploration.

I don't know about that. Considering the BSL was apparently a general purpose research station (all the other Sectors including the secret Lab) it doesn't necessarily need to have been there soon after. Only the most recent (those taken once Samus got there) samples had been infected with X based on what the Cyber-Adam tells Samus. We also know that at some point either someone ferried over, or the BSL went ahead and met up with, the Bottle Ship to retrieve Ridley's corpse and Nightmare. They also needed to get their store of Metroids at some point. There are obviously points in time where the BSL station had other things to do then monitor SR388.

Given that, as I noted earlier, they mostly ignore humanoids in favor of dangerous flora and fauna, I don't think they're really any better off. Adam (Samus' ship computer) surmised that the crew of the BSL were food for the combat forms, since the only once-humans Samus ever encounters are the "zombies" in parts of the main deck, and the crewman that tries to blow up the boiler.

The exact quote is:

I believe the X only infected the humans for knowledge... That form is too weak for battle. I am sure the others were merely food for the X...

The X ate the humans for their brains, once they had the knowledge they simply used their biomass to make more X. Note that the first target of the X was the station crew. They wanted to know what was going on before they did anything else.

[ComradeClaus]

My first thought upon seeing this was too think of the Death Seed Plague/ Drochs from Planet of Twilight (Barbara Hambly ROCKS!). Very similar in many ways, EXTREMELY dangerous, especially since they become more intelligent upon eating more, they can even control the weaker members of their kind & extort other sentients. (as well as draining life, they can also transfer some to a colleague)

Also, if "life-draining" like the metroids is the only way to kill an X, would Ssi-Ruuvi entectment tech work?

Also, the Ing from Prime 2 can morph & posess other life, even corpses... and machines. An Emperor Ing fused to a Star Destroyer would be a terrifying foe.

[StarSword]

My first thought upon seeing this was too think of the Death Seed Plague/ Drochs from Planet of Twilight (Barbara Hambly ROCKS!). Very similar in many ways, EXTREMELY dangerous, especially since they become more intelligent upon eating more, they can even control the weaker members of their kind & extort other sentients. (as well as draining life, they can also transfer some to a colleague)

They do have similarities. They also have major differences. Drochs don't mimic their hosts, they just kill them. Also, X parasites apparently aren't photosensitive, as evidenced by the BSL's desert zone in particular.

And I agree: Hambly's entries in the EU are among the best (though my favorites are still Stackpole and Allston's work in the X-Wing series and I, Jedi). Shame she only wrote two. I wonder if the Traviss entries would be better thought-of if they'd hired Hambly instead. Gah, that's a whole 'nuther thread.

Also, if "life-draining" like the metroids is the only way to kill an X, would Ssi-Ruuvi entectment tech work?

That's entirely possible. It's extremely hard to weaponize entechment, however. The only proven way to entech someone at a distance, for instance, is to use a Force-sensitive as a relay. Therefore I doubt it would be of any use.

Also, the Ing from Prime 2 can morph & posess other life, even corpses... and machines. An Emperor Ing fused to a Star Destroyer would be a terrifying foe.

Irrelevant comment is irrelevant.