Vermin

A rather 'fun' weekend has just been cut short for me because the idiots that manage these shitty, low-rent Omegan apartments apparently forgot to do something. They forgot to put in measures to protect against vermin. And not just any vermin. The type of vermin with claws, more teeth than a turian, and the ability to shrug off a boot to the face.

Vorcha.

It was to my delight that when I entered my home last night only to be attacked by a small (either a runt or there is a litter somewhere) screaming creature that had hidden itself under one of the trashy tables I dragged in. A tussle ensued as I tried to get the thing off my back as it tried its damnedest to tear my plates off and gouge out my eyes. And it nearly succeeded at doing the latter if I hadn't slammed my back against the wall hard enough to probably crack a plate anyway.

It scurried off after that (its either hiding somewhere in this apartment still (doubtful there isn't much furniture here to hide under) or it snuck out through the vent it apparently used to get in here in the first place) and I only have two questions right now because I see an opportunity.

1.) How valuable are vorcha? I'm not suspecting a 'very', but I assume the Pack would pay something (though I suspect they raise their own anyway leaving that a doubtful)

2.) How much can you make offering your services to clean them out?

Vermin not being cleaned out! Vermin success, they everywhere. Everywhere. Vermin make lots of little vermin; some die, but others replace. That how life works.

Vorcha good at being vermin.

Turians good at being vermin too, if you Screaming Death-Claw.

I will not deny that your species isn't a wonderful success in evolution, your only flaws being a pitiful lifespan, but you are still vermin and infestations still need to be removed.


Oh how wrong you are.

Some vorcha once stowed away on our ship.

It didn't take much to pay them to join us, they basically accepted guns and some armor as payment. They died pretty quickly, granted, but hell, they sure had a lot of fun trying to tear apart some mercs, so I've gotta give em credit.

As for removal strategies, just offer them some food and throw it outside if they're young and stupid.

Don't let them start planning, that won't go well for you.

This would more likely just encourage them to return for more later, these creatures only understand that one language every species knows: violence.

Stygian, I believe your first question is answered by the very description you attach to vorcha. How much are vermin worth?

Nothing.

Perhaps to few, but those few are not at hand to relieve you of the trouble.

As for your second question, I can refer you to few associates of mine on Omega who can deal with the infestation.

I am more concerned with making credits and dealing with the problem myself. Not with the hiring of others when I am already eating louza out of a can.

It's worked for me. Hell, I once did it and they were stupid enough to run out the airlock.

But if that's not viable for you, I would recommend establishing dominance - as you said the only language they understand is violence, and beating the shit out of them.

Oh, and flood the vents with something to get em out.

Managing Vorcha for Dummies

Oh shut up I'll get to your questions at the end, calm down. This is to give you some groundwork. The thing that you need to understand, first and foremost, is that vorcha exist in a chaotic, self-reinforcing cycle. Large populations grow, develop, fragment, and reform rapidly. A colony can produce dozens of offshoots over the course of a single year, and each member is basically fed and strengthened on the inherent violence. Oh there's no doubt that it works quite well for them but ultimately it means two things: one, to get them to a place where they're actually useful they need to be broken out of that cycle and substituted into an environment that you define. And two: where there's one "feral" vorcha aka the kind that will literally claw your face off and gnaw out your innards there will be more. And given how in most colonies or Terminus worlds they can get up to five percent of the population (it's something closer to like ten percent on Omega but that's off that hacked together post-War Census data so who knows how good it is) and disproportionately concentrated in destitute and abandoned areas that means potentially a lot more. It was that fine specimen of batarian affability who said it best
Vorcha become progressively more intelligent and capable the more self sufficient they're forced to be and the more their environment is no longer dictated by the cycle. Though going off how you described the one in your apartment I'd suspect it falls in the latter category.

Which means that you need to seal that vent, contact your "management" (not even slumlords like the idea of dozens of angry vorcha coming out of the sewers; they don't pay rent and try to murder all your actual tenants), and bunker up while they take care of it.

Not enough to be worth your trouble. You need training, experience, and equipment like submission nets, cryocasks, or bonding agent to take one alive and intact (and you need them intact because nobody's going to buy a half lamed vorcha). And even then you'd probably be hard pressed to find a buyer: Pack tends to draw from the vorcha bloodlines already woven throughout the command structure and they'll take in new populations on their own terms, most people in the market for one are going to pick them up from one of Omega's established bloodlines; not one off the street. If you had any experience in the matter and were looking for a skirmisher or loyal bodyguard I'd recommend that you take it on yourself if you were going to do anything with it. But uh...you don't so I won't.

A fair bit actually but that's mostly because nobody really wants to do it since, you know, it involves regularly having hyperadapted members of a species whose naked skin can blunt accelerator fire try to gnaw off your extremities in a succession of lovely lovely venues. Like sewers. Or dead spots. Or mining tunnels. Or decrepit arcologies that are just tetnus waiting to happen.

vorcha live in pak wik an dum. prtekshun meik saft an lazi. tu comfrbl. lon vorcha best uv best. alon an heitd. sufrn'z claz meik betr. srongr. smrtr.

What.

I believe he said that 'vorcha that live in packs are weak and dumb. That protection makes them soft and lazy, too comfortable.' And that 'lone vorcha are the best vorcha because'.... I don't get the next bit, but then 'make better, stronger, smarter.'

But I'm attempting to read vorcha typing, so I could be entirely wrong.

... alone and hide.

sufrn'z claz... sounds like Sovereign's class. is it talking about reapers?

it sounds like some of the guys at my bar just before we close.


hey Styg, ask that 'BOSS' guy around here, he sounds like he gets a kick out of stomping vorcha.

"Alone and hated, suffering makes them strong."

Most likely a spiritual sentiment. Very romantic.

Its been done.


This is having the opposite effect it probably should be having. Omega life is starting to get real dull, a lot more dull than I think it should be considering its Omega. But its been a constant downturn in excitement (and jobs) as of late. So yeah, I will do the vorcha hunt. Nothing else builds a solid reputation than doing the work no one else will do.


No.


Nothing romantic about vermin I am afraid.