Two/Three Hive Abilities

Two Hives: Umbra

A variation on the sporecloud, this remarkable ability is used for defense, not attack. The umbra is an orange cloud that lasts for ten seconds, and protects all friendly creatures and chambers inside it. The particles in the cloud seem to have disruptive kinetic properties. Incoming bullets and shrapnel are robbed of momentum, and are likely to bounce harmlessly off their target. A small percentage of projectiles in any given attack will slip through unaffected. Knives and grenades are also not affected: the mass of the marine is behind a knife slash, and a grenade's blast particles are so small and fast they slip through. However, LMG's, shotguns, HMG's and pistols all do a fraction of their normal damage. Alien weapons, puzzlingly enough, can pass out of the cloud normally. Besides personal defense, Lerks often use umbra to protect chambers, hives and other aliens during coordinated actions.

We would very much like to learn the composition of this cloud – various experiments have been proposed by TSA scientific personnel, all quickly rejected by field commanders.

Three Hives: Sporecloud

This insidious attack appears to come from nowhere, filling a volume of around 12 cubit feet with a corrosive cloud of spores. These spores appear to rot any foreign organic matter – thankfully, marine structures and turrets are unaffected.

Our best theory is that the Lerk fills its lung guns and fires a burst of transparent, utterly silent, bullet-shaped bubbles that impact the target area and react violently with the air. Lerks can fill a large area with these attacks, often while remaining hidden on some shadowed perch, or dodging wildly through the air. None but the heaviest armored marines can afford to stand within a sporecloud for more than a few seconds.