Chapter 29: Falling Capitol
Peristalsis and chemical stimulants moved Kay, taking him toward the destination that the nydus worm network connected to. The reason as to why he would return to the underground village that once belonged to the Hidden Water Spring Tribe was simple. A gilanian lovechief politely requested his presence, and Kay wouldn't be the kind of person to shirk off such a request when he had nothing else important to do. Besides, Kay believed that Gollog wanted Kragnon for some reason, and he isn't going to let Gollog have his way with him anytime soon.
"Really? So I take it that you're just one of those types of zerg that specializes as an ambassador?" Kragnon asked a changelisk.
A changelisk drummed its fingers across its body and creep, sitting next to a zergling that was resting besides it. The changelisk's appearance was 'slightly' different from its changeling brothers. One major difference between a changeling and this changelisk came down to their apparent size, with the changelisk being slightly bigger than the changelings. One minor difference between this changelisk and the changelings were the prickly thorns that extended and retracted from its pulsating growths on its head and body. "Well eh... I suppose we could be used for that purpose. But we would have to be in a disguise, firstly. Our temporary changeling cousins are far more disposable than we are, but our changelisk breed can last far more significantly, with a insignificant cost to bio-matter. On top of that, our normal appearances would easily scare children."
Kragnon nodded, impressed. "I'll have to admit, you do look like a creepy bunch, but I'm starting to see why Gollog would hate you guys the most."
The changelisk nodded. "True. I believe we have a changelisk already infiltrating into a city. It's called Gargantua Citadel. Heard of it?"
Kragnon furrowed his brow and looked down at the creep covered ground in thought. "It might be a place I already know of, but a lot of cities tend to change names often when a new ruler takes it over. Do you know where it's located?"
The changelisk nodded again. "It's one hundred and ninety kilometers west northwest from our position."
Kragnon nodded and furrowed his brow more. "One hundred and... Oh! I remember now! That city used to be called Big Wall, because the upper class and the lower class would live on different sides of the city's wall. Since it's a citadel now, it can only mean that Gollog must be very hard pressed in getting more cities aligned to his empire."
The changelisk tilted his head. "Interesting. Do many cities change their names when a new ruler comes to power?"
Kragnon huffed. "Yeah, it happens often. This is mostly the case when a slave-master comes to power in small bandit camps. To think that this happened in a large city like Big Wall though... Wow. Do you know who is in charge of that city?"
"A baroness by the name of Tak." The changelisk answered. "She is interested in gaining empire technology, but is trying to gain it through any other means than directly joining forces with the empire. We have... an agent on the inside of the walls, doing his best to supply her the means without endangering her relations to any other factions."
"Baroness, huh?" Kragnon said in an impressed way. "Not a lot of female leaders in gilanian history. Sounds very progressive."
"Why is that?" The changelisk asked.
"Because of the dominant male ego, I'd assume." Kragnon then sighed. "So uh... Where is Kay at, anyway?"
"He was at the city of power that Gollog calls Empire Capitol a while ago."
"Glitter Towers, huh? It's pretty far from here. I think it would take a few days for him to get back here on foot."
"He's back right now actually."
"Oh? He just got back? ... Wait, how did he get there so quick?!" Kragnon asked, surprised.
Kay entered into the conversation once he came into earshot. "Nydus worms, man. Don't knock it till you try it, but I recommend you hold your breath during transport. They have bad breath like you wouldn't believe." Kay had arrived and was now back in the underground village, recently emerged from the nydus network bio-structure. It took him a little less than half a minute between entering the nydus network at Empire Capitol, and then leaving the nydus network within the underground village.
Kragnon turned and stared at Kay in disbelief. He then shook his head and chuckled. "Chalk it up to strange zerg biology, right?"
Kay nodded, but then he changed his expression to interest. "So why did you summon me?"
Kragnon sighed. "Well, I have been up all night listening to the information network on raw data feeds, and I have finally came to a conclusion. I feel as though I should tell you about this."
Kay tilted his head and looked at Kragnon with a concerned stare. "Uh... Kay? What is it?"
Kragnon pleaded his fingers and leaned forward. "I have heard that you have been pressing heavily onto Gollog's forces for the past... five days, I believe? Well, I have came across some information that was very distressing."
"What is it? Did he grab a hold of one of your ancestors from your cousin's side or something?" Kay asked.
"He's about to unleash the Kiln Keepers." Kragnon answered.
Kay blinked a few times. "... What are those?"
Kragnon sighed again, rolling his eyes. "They are self replicating peace-keeper robots that are programmed to be violent to all illegal activities. They were supposed to be programmed to keep the peace on planet Kiln, and are supposed to prevent further deaths caused by violence. However, their artificial intelligence is too adaptive for their own good, and they... simply put, went nuts. They changed their programs so much that if they caught any gilanians with any slighted aggressive act, then they would execute them with their own metal hands. Even sex was considered offensive to them, and the population in the later years declined at a staggering rate. It was only by their deactivation that the descendants were able to take Kiln as their birthright, later rebuilding their lives and procreating their numbers afterwards. And thus began the day where we had ascended from being mere prisoners."
Kay nodded. "Oh... So THAT'S what the Age Of Ascension is all about? It's the origin point of your recorded history from the day you achieved your freedom? That has to be a very important time for this world."
Kragnon nodded with Kay. "Yes, but we didn't fare much better afterwards. A couple hundred years later or so, there were many gilanians and their families that lived in the cool protected walls of defunct subset prisons. The manifestation altar technology slowly became defunct, and we had to resort to hunting and foraging off of the lands to feed ourselves. Most of the time that wasn't enough, prompting gilanian bandit gangs to form, which resorted to cannibalism and blood-letting vein drinking to survive on this hot world. Three hundred years later, Gollog came into the picture and ruined everything. Or made things worse, in my opinion. Over time, he had acquired an empire thanks to a technology that supposedly made him immortal. He now has more than half of the world eating baked sugar flakes out of his hands, while they serve him everything he could. Gollog has everything he ever wanted on a golden platter, and he's killing everyone on Kiln just to keep his plate full."
Kay nodded, understanding the situation. "So he either threatens to kill you, or rewards you with scraps if you become loyal to him. Yeah, I definitely want to find a way to permanently kill him."
"You might not get the chance to. Since Gollog is fixing to reactivate the Kiln Keepers, there's no telling \what they might do to establish their dominance over the gilanians. They might see the zerg as pests, and they probably will go on a crusade for your extermination." Kragnon paused before leaning forward and staring intently at Kay. "Please tell me as bluntly as you can. How far has your zerg forces spread?"
Kay paused, and slowly considered his options. After several seconds of time passing, he then nodded with a sigh. He pointed downward. "The zerg swarm have dug fifty kilometers below ground and have created several domes with enough space to support hatcheries. We then built several tunnel systems outward from those underground domes, and have carved and excavated more domes for more hatcheries." Kay then pointed upwards. "We have also succeeded in colonizing the surface of the artificial moon."
Kragnon nodded, sighing. "So that's why the moon is a... purple color for some reason?"
Kay carefully rubbed the back of his head, looking guilty. "It's a good source of light to draw from! Converting the energy into bio-matter and accelerant is hard to do on the surface, what with the lasers evaporating the creep fields."
Kragnon sighed again, and nodded. "And now I know this is what happens when you share the blueprints of altar technology to another species. Or even parts of an altar, for that matter."
Kay walked forward and furrowed his brow at Kragnon. "But then that sort of raises a question. How did YOU ended up with the altar technology?"
Kragnon looked up at Kay and sighed, but then smiled. "Would you believe that I had a friend that looked almost exactly like Gollog?"
"Could almost believe you. What happened?" Kay asked.
"Well... He convinced some gilanian empire scientists to send him a copy of the altar blueprints, as well as the necessary tools, materials, and parts that were needed to create our own manifestation altars. But we figured out a little later that the blueprints are designed to fail by default, since the design forced micro-machines to be infused in the hyper-fluid memory bags. In case the altar detects hardware tampering, or is used without the permission code that was given by the high-up empire gilanians, the micro-machines in the altar's memory bags would construct a beacon that would activate upon completion, which would then attract gilanian soldiers to wherever the illegally manufactured machine has been assembled. It's a surefire method of protecting your assets, I will say."
"Perfect way to track counterfeit altars, I'll admit. So how do the altars in your tower work without attracting the empire's attention?" Kay asked.
"The beacons are too weak to puncture through the kilometer of rock above us. No matter how noisy those beacons are, they cannot be heard down here." Kragnon replied.
Kay nodded. "Sound strategy. So these micro-machines. Can they be dismantled or disabled by an EMP pulse?"
"Doing so would damage some of the micro-machine components, but it would also completely wipe out all information from within the memory bags. The bags themselves contains several petabytes of information that the altar needs in order to function, and would be completely useless without it."
Kay nodded. "Oh! Kay. So is it possible for us to transfer the information from one bag to another bag that had its memory wiped, by using an autonomous download process?"
Kragnon scoffed. "If we could achieve that, then this technology would become more accessible to the public. The problem is the micro-machines. Once they transfer into the blanked memory bag, the blanked bag is just going to make another distress beacon."
Kay smiled. "Then how about a powerful magnetic filter to aid in the information transfer?"
Kragnon paused, then looked down in serious thought. "... Holy shit, I think you solved the second most biggest problem in all of Kiln."
Kay smirked. "And the first one is Gollog, I take it?"
Kragnon shook his head. "Yes, but I think Gollog would soon enough put you as number one on that list too."
Kay clapped his hands together. "Alright! Looks like Johnny has a little project he can do! Will that be all?"
Kragnon nodded and sighed. "Yeah, that's it for now. I might as well go to bed myself."
Kay walked backward and waved goodbye. "Sleep well. I'll try and find out why Gollog is immortal, while I'm fighting his empire."
Kragnon turned away and yawned. "Yeah yeah. And keep yourself a step ahead of Gollog if you can."
Kragnon entered into his tower, and disappeared from the sight of all zerg organisms. Apparently, he was able to get a lot more rest with the knowledge that Corvurn was not lurking around his tower. Which is a feat, since the zerg organisms are hardly things you can sleep comfortably close to. But sleep was never needed when it came to the zerg. They also had a deeper understanding among one another, a hidden camaraderie that was both silent and subtle. They had a hivemind intelligence after all.
Through that link in the zerg psionic hivemind network, Kay could see that Virid was doing well in getting her forces organized while he had his conversation with Kragnon.
The zerglings would be at the front of the attacking force, eager to meet their enemy in battle, and just as uncaring about their survival too. Behind them would be the roaches and hydralisks. By hiding behind the roaches, the hydralisks were provided with a wall of carapace that would protect them, whilst enabling them a means to attack distant enemies with impunity, thanks to their needle spines that can be launched from far away. Once the battle has been joined, the infestors, swarm hosts and brood lords would stay behind the lines of roaches and hydralisks, providing expendable infested gilanians, flying locusts, and broodlings to the front lines. The infested gilanians would be effective in shooting down the surveillance drones within the city in suicide runs.
Banelings, ravagers, lurkers, aberrations, ultralisks, overseers, mutalisks, corruptors, and vipers would come later into the fight. banelings, though having weak membranes that contained a dangerous acid that would dissolve themselves when ruptured, would also dissolve everything else around themselves. Ravagers have the capacity to end several enemies at once with their plasma discharge attack, and to a greater extent their bile discharge artillery attack. Lurkers might not have a very active role in the advance of the zerg forces, but they can easily deny vital areas from being retaken by ground forces. The aberrations, as always, would provide the necessary armor bonus to their adjacent swarm strains, and be able to slam down nearby enemies. The biggest hitters to attack the empire defenders would be the ultralisks, their Kaiser blades able to reduce even the most defended of structures into rubble and ruin. If it had to be said again, the ultralisks earned the reputation and respect of being the ultimate siege-breakers.
The overseers might not provide much to the battle, but their ability to produce changelings and changelisks would provide reconnaissance essential to zerg operations. That, and the ability to detect hidden enemies and locations were also beneficial. Mutalisks would enable the zerg to divide the attention of the empire guards at the heavily defended city, forcing them to either attack enemies in the air, or enemies on the ground, all the while being killed and split apart, in groups of three, by their glaive wurms. Corruptors would help assist in attacking any anti-air fliers, or any stationary building or anti-air turret systems, or giant enemies that might appear during the battle to come. And then there were the vipers. Their tongues could pull a great many enemies to an early demise, cloud their vision for the zerg's benefit, or damage several airborne enemies at the same time. The vipers only stipulation was that they had to feed on bio-structures in order to regain their energy, but the quick use of queen transfusion could assist the vipers to continually use the hatcheries as indispensable regenerating batteries to restore their spent energy.
But Virid held off her forces and enabled them to reproduce their numbers. After all, she was commanded to refrain from making mistakes that Kay would normally make. With the changelisks that have infiltrated into Empire Capitol, she discovered that they would employ an anti-siege weapon against her brood, and Virid had no idea what that weapon could be. But then there was another problem. Kralluf, in his custom six-wheeled desert platform, was hunting down the ultralisk that he had previously wounded.
Kralluf was at the front of the platform, looking over the vast desert area that was closed in by the zerg. Since this area was more closer to the tropic zone, it experienced more frequent rain than further south. Kralluf growled as he looked at the giant footprints that the ultralisk left behind, and he was growling because the zerg forces he was facing were a lot more dangerous to the empire than he initially expected. But still, he was one of those types of gilanians that didn't want to half-ass a job. He thought he could kill the ultralisk in one shot, but it stopped in its advance too soon and had its leg and one of its Kaiser blades torn off by his hammer instead. Kralluf wanted his hunted prey to be dead before his feet.
"KEEP GOING FORWARD, HELMSMAN! THE BEAST HASN'T WANDERED FAR!" Kralluf shouted. His booming voice kept the morale of his men high, and prevented them from mutinying or abandoning the desert platform. Besides, Kralluf had a big, axe-hammer-shaped solution for deserters. Their lives meant nothing to him, but he still needed meat-shields and manned turret positions to take down the massive beast. But if what Gollog said was true, then Kralluf didn't have long until the zerg organism became fully healed. He did witness a zergling regrowing its limb, after all! Kralluf furrowed his scaly brows when he saw something up ahead. Or to be more specific, a lack of something. "HALT! STOP HERE!"
[This is helmsman Marcyon. Permission to ask a question after this present question, sir?]
Kralluf rolled his eyes and grunted in annoyance. "Proceed."
[Why have we stopped here, sir?]
"Because the tracks stopped here." Kralluf answered. In front of Kralluf's custom desert platform, the deep footsteps had vanished completely. Smooth sands was seen in all directions, except for behind the desert platform and the end of the trail made by the vanished ultralisk. Kralluf could tell that he did not like the scene that he was currently seeing. For several seconds he muddled his thoughts together until he came up with a plan. "... Alright, here's an idea. I'm thinking that our razor fiend game is hiding right under the sand and in front of us. Throw a javelin sensor onto the ground. We'll deploy some automated turrets, and have the manned turrets link up with the seismic targeting system and the automated turrets. LET'S GO!"
The plan couldn't be any more simpler. Just dump a sensor and see if the ultralisk was anywhere nearby. Once several automated turrets were set on the underside of the desert platform, and the manned turrets underneath got ready to attack their hidden foe, Kralluf would give his command to deploy the javelin sensor. After several seconds of setting up the turrets, everyone was ready to continue the hunt. Once the javelin was casted forward, however, the automated turrets swiveled backwards and started firing at something directly behind the desert platform. This firing had the unintended side effect of an ultralisk revealing itself behind themselves. The creature quickly emerged from the sands and used its Kaiser blades to savagely slash at the back wheel-towers of the desert platform.
[TARGET IS BEHIND US! AIM AND FIRE! AIM AND FIRE!] [WHOA SHIT, THAT JAG IS HUGE!] [ORDERS, SIR?!]
Kralluf gritted his teeth and started running to the back of the desert platform, bringing out his hammer. "STALL IT!"
One of the ultralisk's primary Kaiser blades and foreleg were a lot smaller than its other. The wounds it gained from Kralluf was healing, but its limbs were still in the process of being replaced. Even then, its remaining Kaiser blades were still lethal, big, and dangerous, which tore through metal with a speed that only monomolecular thin edges of ultra hard bone was capable of unleashing in quick successive slashes. After causing massive damage to one of the wheel-towers and underside of the desert platform, the ultralisk then started to flee again.
Kralluf got to the back of the desert platform, but he was already too late. He growled again. "A cowardly beast, but it knows to retreat when it senses death. To be able to lick its wounds and still be so eager to fight makes it a very dangerous creature. FOLLOW IT LADS!"
[What about the javelin sensor? Should we pick that up?] [It got stomped on during the attack. Forget it.]
Kralluf sighed. "This thing might be smarter than it let on. Lads? What's the damage to our desert platform?" Kralluf asked his men.
After a pause, Kralluf got his damage report. [The left rear, and right rear reel-towers-, Gah, I mean WHEEL towers, are in poor condition. We'll be dragging on them if we don't pick them up from the ground.]
"Then do so and make repairs as we roll after that jag. ... Gah, I MEAN RAZOR FIEND! ... And try not to stutter next time." Kralluf growled and clucked, holstering his hammer and going back to the front of the desert platform.
The giant desert platform raised its rear wheel towers for repairs, and then rolled around to follow the new tracks that the ultralisk had made. Rather than directly head for the circle of zerg organisms, the ultralisk tracks went in a completely different direction. However, the ultralisk managed to peek at the desert platform's weapon compliment. The artillery guns on the desert platform looked like they had a design flaw. It could change its pitch and angle the trajectory of fire without issue, but it could not swivel left or right by much. If Virid had to judge how far these artillery canons on Kralluf's desert platform could turn, it was possible for them to have a 25° horizontal turning firing arc. After another minute of Kralluf's hunting party continuing to track the ultralisk, they eventually spotted the end of its trail. However, Kralluf had wizened to this tactic.
"DRIVE TO THE LEFT OF THE TRACKS! HAVE A FLIER EQUIP SOME DROP-ABLE JAVELIN SENSORS!" By his command, scout fliers were manned and deployed, and the desert platform veered off of the trail of giant footsteps made by the ultralisk.
Even then, Kralluf's men were still uneasy. [Uh, sir? What's the purpose of this tactic?] One of his men said through the radio.
"Simple. The beast backtracked on its own tracks and burrowed under the sand, resulting in a very clever ambush. I'm thinking to start at the end of the tracks this time. Have the artillery cannons ready to fire at point-blank range." Kralluf explained.
[Point-blank?]
"We're going to try and shove an artillery barrel down its drooling face. Turn us about when we get to the end of the razor fiend's trail, and then drop the javelin sensors at the tracks on my mark." Kralluf ordered.
It took them a short amount of time to get the desert platform in position, and the scout fliers were deployed when they were fitted with the javelin sensors. But before the fliers could send down their sensors, the ultralisk emerged whilst the desert platform was still straightening itself to be parallel to the ultralisk's tracks. [Razor fiend emerging from the sands, sir! ... Is its leg getting bigger?!]
Kralluf growled and hissed. "I see its fast zerg regeneration has healed its wounds from our last engagement. Typical. GET OUR CANNONS READY! EVERYONE ELSE, FIRE AT WILL! SCOUT FLIERS, FOLLOW AFTER THE RAZOR FIEND AND RELAY COORDINATES FOR ARTILLERY BOMBARDMENT!"
[Command confirmed, Commander Kralluf. Circling the jag now.]
"Guh." Kralluf groaned.
The ultralisk limped away, and it was gaining speed due to its regenerating leg. But the fliers followed after it like vultures following after a weakened animal, and they would not break their pursuit of the beast any time soon. Kralluf's desert platform straightened itself out and aimed its artillery cannons. Once the coordinates were relayed, the desert platform's artillery cannons barked loudly, sending forth rounds that could level houses and buildings. The sent artillery ordinance missed a few times, but some had struck onto the back and on the skull-frill of the ultralisk's head.
[Uh oh. Commander Kralluf, be advised! Sky bats are approaching our position! One of us have been downed. We are forced to retreat!]
Kralluf grinded his teeth. "CEASE ARTILLERY FIRE!" A few seconds later, the artillery cannons became silent. "... Alright, lads. Follow after the tracks again, and assist protecting the returning scout fliers when they board back on our desert platform." Kralluf hated this. From the information that was gleaned by Commander Faddoh, he remembered him saying that these zerg creatures were apparently a hivemind that uses externally produced neural oscillations to communicate with each other. Such a means of telepathy seemed like a finer, and faster, method of relaying orders through an information network. But since the zerg had the capability to send mutalisks to assist an ultralisk, he was slowly getting the impression that he was being toyed with. But even then, he was still curious of the defenses being set up at Empire Capitol, and wondered how they could resist an onslaught from the zerg swarm. "I want a direct audio connection to Commander Ralkan. Set the call through my mobile radio transmitter."
[Yes sir.] One of the surveillance officers replied.
After several seconds of time passed, Kralluf was able to talk to Ralkan directly. "Are you there, Ralkan?"
[Yes, I'm here, Kralluf. What can I do for you?] Ralkan replied.
"Nothing you can do, intrinsically. More like what you are able to tell me. How are your defenses?" Kralluf asked.
[Several more automated turrets have been set up on the outer wall. Anti-riot bots are positioned behind, on top of, and on the outer perimeter of the walls. Pallax has sent us the help we requested and we are in the middle of setting them up. With that said, I think we might stand a solid chance in defending our city.]
Kralluf shook his head. "Don't count your blessings just yet. You still got to outlive the fight, by any means necessary."
A sigh from Ralkan was heard. [How's your hunt going?]
"Terrible. Never expected to fight something that's as big as a gods-damned tall, low-end mansion. But I am fixing to kill this thing, and I will not stop till I do." Kralluf said in a determined tone.
[Shaking my head here. You know that I won't think of you any less if you retreated from this skirmish.] Ralkan stated.
"Can't do. The principle of a hunt is for the hunter to kill his prey. I can't let an animal limp away, since my own honor as a hunter would be tarnished if I called it quits early. I already wounded the creature, Ralkan. I intend to follow through." Kralluf sternly said.
Ralkan sighed again. [Do what you must, I guess. Live well, and run with pride. Canceling call.]
Kralluf grunted. His desert platform crawled forward, despite the damage done to its rear wheels, yet still following the disturbed sands that detailed the passing of a massive monster. Kralluf eventually noticed that his desert platform was nearing the creep that slowly grew across the ground. He grimaced when he noted the smell. "Guh. Smells like wet mold."
[Sir, our quarry's tracks is covered by some kind of purple slime on the ground. I can't find the trail.] [We don't have to follow the trail anymore. Razor fiend is in visual range, sir!][Oh! Uh... Nevermind then.]
"Location?" Kralluf barked.
[Starboard bow, sir. It's... standing there, looking at us.]
An ultralisk was indeed staring at the general direction of Kralluf's desert platform. It waved its Kaiser blades around and grunted loudly.
"... Feels like that thing is taunting me." Kralluf said, hissing. He unholstered his axe-hammer weapon and pointed his weapon at the ultralisk. "GET IN RANGE OF THAT RAZOR FIEND AND FIRE AT WILL!"
At that instant, the ultralisk in the distance reared its front legs for a split second and then galloped forward. Kralluf's desert platform didn't need to get in range since the ultralisk was charging them. The artillery cannons fired toward the ultralisk, the ammunition dealing damage to the massive beast at a negligible degree. The artillery rounds managed to damage its upper left Kaiser blade and remodeled much of its face before the ultralisk dug and grazed its massive offensive weapons all over the front left wheel-tower. The automated turrets and manned turrets did their best as they retaliated against the huge monster.
[ANOTHER RAZOR FIEND ON OUR LEFT! AIM PORT-SIDE!] And by then, another ultralisk had unearthed itself from beneath the sand and creep, which proceeded to attack the middle-left leg. Kralluf was all too understanding of the situation now. Plus, he thought that this monster in particular looked familiar. The entire desert platform suddenly tilted to the left as an ear-piercing sound of bending metal was heard. Kralluf was thrown to his side, and he felt a piece of himself feel as though it died. His custom desert platform was disabled. [ALL LEFT WHEEL-TOWERS ARE DESTROYED! COMMANDER KRALLUF, WHAT ARE OUR ORDERS?!]
Kralluf got up and dusted himself off. "Evacuate through the MEM devices, Helmsman Marcyon. Spread this command to everyone that they should leave the area. I'll provide a distraction to our monsters." Kralluf looked up and saw a familiar ultralisk, and he slowly recognized it. The ultralisk looked down and narrowed its baleful gazing eyes, emitted a low growl, and stomped its right foot a few times. Kralluf smiled as he got his hammer ready. "Alright you big, fat, fucking ugly monster. You got your damn leg back, but you look like you're still pissed about losing it to me. You want a piece of me next?"
The ultralisk gave its answer with a massive roar as it stomped the ground.
"LET'S GO THEN! RAAAAAGH!" Kralluf shouted in a warcry, running forward and facing the ultralisk head-on.
A/N: You know, Kralluf kind of reminds me of a krogan from the Mass Effect games. '3'