I do not own either Starcraft nor Overlord the anime... (Cries.) For that matter any other characters/material/etc that may or may not show up belong to their respective owners... whomever they might be. This story is for entertainment purposes only after all.

Rated M mostly as a precaution... that and I may be using the word fuck enough times to not only warrant it but potentially ruin it.

Journey through Dimensions: Of Metal and Bones

Chapter One: Fucking hell!

Unknown

... why is it so dark? Why can't I feel my limbs? Where's my voice? Why can't I breath? Wait, I'm not breathing? OH SHIT I'M NOT BREATHING?! AM I DEAD?! IS THIS HELL?! OH DEAR GOD I HOPE NOT! I MAY NOT HAVE BEEN THE BEST PERSON ALIVE BUT I SURE AS HELL FIGURED I AT LEAST HIT PURGATORY OR SOMETHING BEFORE THAT IF HEAVEN'S STANDARDS WERE THAT STRICT! WHY THE FUCK WOULD I THINK CONVERTING TO MORMONCY—I MEAN MORMONOLOGY... WHATEVER IT'S OFFICIAL NAME IS AS A REQUIREMENT TO ENTER HEAVEN! IT WAS A COMEDY SKIT FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLP!

Boot up sequence, engaged.

... Huh?

Booting completed.

... What?

Activating unit.

What is—oh look I can see now!

... this isn't my bedroom. Not in the fucking slightest. THIS WASN'T EVEN MY HOUSE! I'M IN SOME SORT OF GIANT HANGAR... THING! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—

Anti Gravitational propulsion system engaged. Directional Audio Communication System enabled.

"—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"

From my apparent place of rest I shot out and lunged forth into the open expanse of whatever futuristic territory this was with nothing more than the sheer panic being both my sole motivation toward moving at all and the closest thing I have to comfort at this point! Hell, maybe through blind luck—wait, what was that? Movement? No that wasn't movement but a glint of light bouncing off something shiny.

I came to a stop and swivel to take—wait, swivel? Where's my feet?

... I don't want to look but I got to. And looking down...

... dear God it's like one of those fps games where you have no legs! A shadow, yes, BUT NO LEGS! WHERE'S MY FUCKING LEGS! WHERE—HOLY SHIT! IN TURNING FURTHER DOWNWARD I'VE FLIPPED OVER AND NOW TURNING OVER IN A FULL 360! WHAT THE FUCK!?

OKAY! CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN ME! CALM THE FUCK DOWN!

OKAY! Ok-ay! Just breath...

Oh dear God I'm not brea—NO! DO! NOT! PANIC! DAMN! IT!

... LOOK FOR THE SHINY THING I JUST SAW EARLIER! SHINY MEANS REFLECTIVE! REFLECTIVE MEANS MIRROR! MIRROR MEANS CONFIRMING WHAT THE FUCK I TURNED INTO! MOVE!

And so I went!

Hovered, scooted, floated, whatever! I soon came upon what looked to be some sort statue... some sort of familiar—holy crap is that a zealot? The robotic version? It's a little less bulky than I remember on SC 2... a prototype or one of those concept models perhaps...?

... Am I where I think I am?

... With great reluctance I creep closure to the still construct and looked upon it's chromed steel-like surface. Already an image of what only could be myself shone back but I kept coming closer regardless to ensure that what I saw wasn't some warped image brought on by the natural curvature of the model's rendition of a protoss' body. Sadly as I came closer so too did the reflection. With each inch I hesitantly trekked the image became clearer and clearer as well as less deniable... whatever had happened... my body was no longer what it once was. Gone were my hands and arms. Feet and legs. Torso, face, hair, beard... gone. Whatever had happened when I went to bed last night and rendered me into what I can only assume to be a probe... A rather big one, kind of similar a SR's CID in appearance but a probe nevertheless with its stabilizer fins on the undersides of my body as well as a more decoratively placed one atop of my newfound 'head'...

Sadly swerving to the left and right did jack to dissuade me that this was somehow not real. Neither did ramming the model; I could sense the impact, I even seen the flash of my plasma shields taking hit, hell, I could read the readout of the shield's percentage of its current charge, but I felt nothing...

... I been fucking Swarm of War'd... I DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER FINISH READING IT AFTER A SPELL OF TWENTYISH CHAPTERS!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"

XVX

Cybros, two hours later

Well, for better or worse I finally calmed down after 'running', floating, whatever around while screaming my head off the entire time. Kind of amazing really: no organic body, no need for breathing, no gasping for hair to keep screaming, no worrying about your vocal cords being torn up because of said screaming... it's kind of cathartic really. On second thought kind of scary too from its implications as well considering I've finally noticed the little clock on my little HUD. Two hours-ish, really? Well I suppose it's actually reasonable given the fact that I'm now a FUCKING PROBE now without a HINT OF AN EXPLAINATION... Fuck it. I've got slightly bigger problems to worry about.

It took me awhile but my memory was jogged enough to realize I was in Cybros's main floor. Or at least a more detailed version of what Artanis fought in while trying to activate the Purifiers. So far I hadn't so much as seen one purifier, protoss, or, thankfully, zerg about I can only guess one of two things apply to my situation at hand: either I'm on Cybros before the stasis field was deactivated by Artanis or after. I'm personally rooting for "before." From canon alone the more recent 'toss as a whole are just warming up to terrans at best with a few holdouts here and there, namely the older ones. Purifiers though whose personalities are were born from truly ancient protoss from who knows when, most likely long before the first human came to the Koprulu Sector? The most I can hope for is praying to God they would be willing to give me half a chance. Regardless though, this place, like any other place, is pretty damn creepy without people in it. Hell, I might be starting to understand that Tiny Guy, or whatever his name is, from Venture Brothers when he started going on about being alone in that room without even the ants as enemies to keep him company. At any rate I guess now is as good as any other time to experiment before I learn what I can do too late.

Alright, if I can get my probe body to move simply by flailing about on an emotional level, what happens if I put my mind to it? Let's see... is there a buil—Oh! Yes! Oh! Full arsenal as well! Good! Hey, what's this... A unit list? Wait, from the icons here it looks to be the purifier variant of the units available. Can I basically build units with this probe? Huh. Anyway first things first though. Every good base starts with—... and no minerals. Nor a Nexus to turn the minerals in to... real catch 22 here. Maybe if I pile them up into a stack, kind of like Ami did in the early days of her dungeoning career? Oh that reminds me, I need to finish that too... do I at least have access to the interne—no. Damn it. Alright, stockpile plan it is! Now to find me some minerals! Hopefully there's some in those corner base deals where the zerg built their forces during the game.

Ah ha! There it is! Now to enact Haphazard Plan #1! Now let's see if...

Mineral Extraction Protocol engaged.

Excellent! Now to—

Processing. Mineral verified. Activating Isolated Storage Network. Storing.

Huh? Wait what happened to—oh! I'm getting a reading for my mineral stockpile! So this thing is basically a mobile Nexus? Huh...

Mineral supply reading six minerals. Seven. Eight. Nine Ten... This might take a while.

XVX

And 101... 102... 103...

XVX

"Save the last pint for me boys (287 minerals...). Save the last pint for me (288 minerals...). I'll be home with the Book of Rule so you save the last pint for me (289 minerals...)..."

XVX

384... 385... 386... Almost there.

XVX

FINALLY! NEXUS TIME! "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Construction Procedure engaged. Allotting materials for requested construct. Warp Matrix, construction variant activated.

Bzzztzz!

"YES! YES!" IT'S SO UNEXPECTEDLY BEAUTIFUL IN PERSON! WHOO!

... and unlike in the game I'm not given something of a timer to—no wait, never mind. Had to dig for that one.

... this might take while. Back to work I guess.

"Come all ye young fellows that follow the sea (1). To me weigh, hey, blow the man down (2)..."

XVX

Warp successful.

Alright! Now let's...

...

That's... strange. It's like my mind is in two different places yet fully cognizant... Is that the word? Feels right. I think. Anyway! It's as if I'm both the probe and the Nexus at the very same time... Hm...

Let's see. Move the probe about randomly and activate the Nexus' production line at the same time? Let's give it a go!

Resources allocated. Construction commencing.

Yes! I can do both without so much as being dizzy! Now let's see what happens when a new probe enters the field. Wait. Let me take a good look at that... Huh. Apparently in my haste I've deigned to build an old school version. The kind found in SC 1. I wonder, are there others? Yep. There are others. Normal probe we all know and love, Servitor and Master? What's the Master Probe—oh! Interesting. Apparently that's the body I woke up in! But what exactly is the Servitor one for? Let's build that one next.

Ah! Probe's done! Neat! Now let's see if I can direct this one without much attention. Auto pilot gathering as it were. And away you go buddy.

Hm. A little strange. Aware but not consciously controlled per se, kind of like breathing. Yet I can if I so wished. Some sort of subroutine perhaps? Let's see... Yep. There's what I can only assume to be some sort of basic AI operating it in my place when I'm not consciously moving it it seems. Now let's see it's little build list... Not anywhere as extensive as the Master type apparently. Nor can it directly absorb materials like the Master class. Interesting. A helluva lot cheaper though. 1000 Minerals, really? In comparison the other two are 50 a piece—drone's done!

Now let's see what we have here. Not a builder or even a collector apparently. Ah! A repair function! I always found that one sorely needed for the protoss. Anyway. A little tractor beam to pick up and move objects... What's this? An attack laser? Let's see—

Pew-pew!

Yep. Attack laser. Or attack photon, whatever. Varying power levels too. Maybe it's more of a utility laser, like to cut things or carving. Now that I think about it that would make sense given the whole bit on the Spear of Adun where those probes were cutting off nerve cords. Now that I think about it didn't Karax have attack probes like these? They look kind of similar... Meh. Not important, for now at least.

What next... Gateway? Gateway. after making more probes of course. Wait a sec... Yep. I can only build the old school models. I guess for all intents and purposes I'm working with an older network. Probably based on the time period just before the Purifiers were shut down. Interesting. Eh, it's not as if it's going to stop me at any rate.

Resources allocated. Construction commencing.

That might get old real quick...

At any rate, how much do I have left... Enough for a gatew—Damn it! I forgot the assimilators! Let's get on it shall we?

Construction Procedure engaged. Allotting materials for requested construct. Warp Matrix, construction variant activated.

Bzzztzz! Bzzztzz!

Ugh. Alright with that out of the way-ahheeey aannnd I'm back to a pitiful amount of minerals once more... fuck.

... sigh.

XVX

Warp successful.

Alright. I have a burgeoning fleet of probes collecting both minerals and vespene gas on my behalf. I Made myself a pittance of servitors to at least provide a sad but token amount of defense on my behalf. I also thankfully had the mind to make a pylon before I bothered with the gate. AND NOW I HAVE MY GATE AT LAST! HAHAHAHAHAHAAA! FACES ARE GOING TO BE CHOPPED AT THIS...

Wha?

That can't be... Where's the zealots? The dragoons? The templars? This doesn't... wait a minute. GATE! It's a GATE, not a training facility like in the game! It's suppose to shuffle troops through, not make them! Doh! Okay, okay... So essentially I don't have anyone affiliated with me to utilize the gate should I command it. I guess if I want an army I would have to build some sort of production facility? Let's take a look at my menu here...

Shipyard? That definitely wasn't... Right. NOT IN A GAME ANY MORE! Got to get that through my head!

Still though... the more I look at it, the more details I see. While I can't say I know how the protoss usually build their ships, by looking at the schematics this seems to be a more automated process...

Hold on... wasn't the nexas building probes an automated process.

Son of a bitch.

Despite not needing to my probe body turned to stare at the nexas the moment I confirmed that it was indeed a manufacturing plant for not only probes but mechanized soldiers as well.

Resources all—

Stop that!

Unit construction notifications deactivated.

... huh.

... As the zea—Sentinel. Apparently it was named a sentinel. Anyway, as it was developing with a queue of four others behind it I look to my build menu once more and select the Cybernetics Core even as I simultaneously eyed both the dragoon and the... Prototype Anti-Infantry variant Dragoon? Okay then. Let's give this a whirl then. Rename: Stalker.

New name designation authorization required: Would you like to rename the Anti-Infantry Dragoon Variant as Stalker? Y/N.

... I have not actually read . I've seen it on TV Tropes when scrolling through the self insert page, got curious and clicked on it (or at least that's how I remember it), but I have not actually read it. Was she remotely as annoyed by this as I am right now? Yes.

Confirmed. Anti-Infantry Dragoon Variant is now renamed as Stalker.

Hm. Now that I'm thinking about it maybe I shou—oh wait, no internet. Guh!

Sigh.

At any rate...

Construction—

No notification!

Bzzztzz!

Construction Procedure notifications disabled.

XVX

An hour later

Despite the shocking size of the ship level I found myself in there was sadly not much room to actually build myself a shipyard to make ships. Needless to say I learned better than to make Stargates lest I repeat my little fiasco with the gateway. That didn't stop me from warping in other structures though. For all it's wonders my Nexas/Manufacturing Plant couldn't build the parts to the more sophisticated and advanced designs of the stalkers and the dragoons, thus necessitating the use of a Cybernetics Core. Likewise the forge was needed to make Photon Cannon parts. Interestingly enough while the Forge was of the old design the cannons were of the newer design, so I guess they salvaged something from the program then given the turrets in SC2. The Robotics Facility was of the old design too. While not in of itself a problem, I cannot help but be a little perturbed by the fact that I couldn't make immortals. Colossi, yes. Shuttles as well. Interestingly enough no reavers though. I guess they came after the program or something like that. But overall this was definitely hammering in the point that I was working with old designs here. Old but functional at least.

For better or worse I began to truly explore the ship I was stuck in with my growing army. Old abandoned work stations littered the walls here and there with more models of potential designs that evidently weren't implemented into the Purifier Program. No sign of the zerg, thank God. The Nullifier crystals were still intact so I got lucky on that front too. I guess all I can do at this point before Artanis and his crew show up is hold down the fort. To that end I began constructing bases on the other mineral clusters barring the one at the middle where Artanis will show up. Or bound to, either or. At any rate I did surround it and other locations with powered photon cannons just in case the zerg showed up. At the very least I would have some warning as to what would happen. On a related note my gateways finally came in handy when they connected with each other, allowing me to funnel troops between locations both at the bases and my more outlying posts...

Hmf...

I guess... I have nothing better to do until then... Just... exist and tinker until then... I hope they don't leave me here too long.

Even with the fact that my consciousness was split between the probes, the buildings and even the now patrolling units of sentinels with their dragoon/stalkers compliments, I felt the need to swerve the master probe from one side to another as if I were turning my head, hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe, there was someone else there to take the edge off this encroaching sense of isolation place upon me. But there was not a soul in sight for either my probe's 'eye' to see nor any of my 'soldiers' to glance upon.

"... Spaceman out here on my own," I half hum to myself to stave off the silence no amount of stomping metal feet to dispel whilst I roamed my 'menu' for one of the more unheard of units to start observing and experimenting with. "I am alone. In solitude I'm free, through space I roam..."

A/N: As is a growing trend for me, this idea got stuck in my head and wanted out. Unlike other cases however I felt more inspired to write this one... Though to be honest I admittedly kind of got the idea from The Swarm of War by VexMaster, yet the idea itself didn't truly kick in until I recently began to play SC2: Legacy of the Void once more for the fun of it.

At any rate this story in particular is the first of my first intended series, broken up for the sake of making it at least marginally easier to keep track of as well as to somewhat emphasis what crossovers they would be focusing on (both planned and whimsical, suggestions are welcomed). I honestly hope it goes well.

Anyway...

Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds.