Following the events of The World Tree, Episode 371 'War in Heaven':
http://worldtreemush.com/index.php?title=Scene&scene_id=371

     The Venomian Dropship sped away from the Ivory Tower floating in space. The monkey man Pavel, Star Wolf fighter pilot by trade, piloted the craft. In this, he was saving those within its walls, rescued -- with only seconds to spare -- from a monstrous fate far worse than death. For some, their blood pounded in their ears; they were tired for doing so little, exhausted after an encounter that lasted less than a minute. Twisted perverted masses of flesh and bone poured out of one of the laboratories with little warning aiming to claim them all for their bounty. For its bounty. There was no time to discuss or negotiate. There was only enough time to survive -- survive an encounter with Them. With It.

     The Infested. How cruel.

     The Infested are the victims of an ever-spreading techno-organic parasite singularly known as the Infestation which is a biomechanical pathogen originally created by the Orokin in order to combat the Sentients, an artificial race from the Tau System. While its actual creation remains a mystery lost to time, the effects are obvious. In fact, the most horrific aspect of the Infestation is that your flesh or machinery doesn't just become integrated, but your consciousness, too, to a degree. The oldest and most powerful Infested notably speak in plural.

     They are Legion. We are the Ultimate Existence.

     Wolf O'Donnell is one of the individuals aboard the craft speeding off to rejoin the fleet of Star Wolf ships setting up a perimeter around the contaminated space station and the Grineer Ship and Corpus Ship still attached to it. He remains standing, far too infused with adrenaline to dare sit, and leans against one of the walls with a forearm while he leans in to press his forehead against the smooth cold surface. He stares blankly ahead, looking at nothing in particular, while the others present recover in their own ways.

     All for Us. All things in the universe will be Ours.

     Wolf clenches his fist over and over with a squeak of his glove each time. The palm of that glove had begun to burn from the massive overheating of firing his sidearm repeatedly during the holdout. As if following suit, he also squeezes his eyes shut.

     All for Us. All things in this universe exist for Us.

     It wasn't the Infestation that bothered the middle-aged space pirate, but it was something similar. Very very similar. Too similar. It had only been two years since the invasion that very nearly destroyed Lylat. While the Great War fought by Doctor Andross against the Cornerian Alliance always sticks in mind as the worst war ever seen, that is only because it was a star system-wide civil war. Two years ago it was a very different story. It was an invasion. It was The Invasion.

     The Aparoids. How unfeeling.

     The Aparoids were a seemingly cybernetic-insectoid race that were able to assimilate and control both technological and biological things through a process called Aparoidedation and were extremely lethal for any living creature to encounter. To this day, the scars remains: sections of cities are still being rebuilt, entire settlement populations were wiped clean across the planets, families were torn apart, people were assimilated, memories were absorbed. The Aparoids would even use the memories and thoughts of those so gained in order to trick others out of defensive hiding. The scale of devastation is entirely unfathomable. Were it not for the introduction of parallel universes through the World Tree, the Lylat System may have taken much longer to recover.

     You will not resist Us. You will join Us.

     As much as Wolf tries to hide things, coming face to face with something that immediately brought to mind the sheer horror of the Aparoids is absolutely sickening. The worst part is that Wolf has little idea just how similar the Infestation and Aparoids really are, but that green-feeling knot in his gut tells him that those creatures were the same type of Hive Mind abomination that were inflicted upon his people.

     "Heh. My people..." he mumbles as his thoughts race and his inner emotions boil like a caustic soup. Since when were the people of Lylat ever anything to him? They sure didn't feel that way about him. They...probably never would. He'd probably never-

     Bow before Us. Submit to Us.

     Likely a jarring surprise to those present on the ship, Wolf draws his arm back from the wall only to drive his knuckles back into it in anger. "Hrrr-UH!" He breathes heavily, eyelids open, and turns away from his spot to stomp past the others toward the front of the shuttle. "Shut up," he snaps at nobody in particular before following up with an under-the-breath, "I don't need your sympathy," knowing that others can tell he's clearly distraught.

     Wolf O'Donnell takes a seat beside Pavel, who says nothing, before turning on ship comms. "Lord O'Donnell here. Status update," he requests through demand. The next meeting with those creatures, those Infested, will not have the same effect on him. He will help end them the same way he helped end the Aparoids and their Queen:

     Through cold hard killer instinct.