Alright here's the second chapter, now things for the story will really heat up!

I do NOT own starcratf 2 and war hammer 40K, I also don't own several units that may or may not appear later on in the story, I do own some of them but the bigger ones wont show up till later in the chapters.

Now onto the hive clusters!

'Who am I?'

I awakened from my sleep.

'Where am I?'

I was in a cocoon of some sorts, having no clue to what I was or who I am.

Then information from some source flowed into my mind, the memories and knowledge from the past echoed through my head like a ton of bricks in a hollow canyon. The information from my brood also rained upon me, all asleep besides the ones guiding us within themselves…

'Am I Alex Findley?, No, im not…im something else…'

I am not Alex nor was I a Zerg, then the memory of Alex's "Death" hit me, the memory of searing pain and the tugging on my consciousness from the artifacts pulse, but something had happened while in the warp rift, Alex did die, but I was reborn from his ashes, the bits of him had melded with the Zerg hive mind structure and the power of the Xel-Naga had flowed into the bonding, cementing it, strengthening it.

I was a new being…

I couldn't find out what I was as the hybrid within the cocoon now that I recognize it as such, couldn't be it for my connection to the rest of the brood was far to powerful for any one mind, no I was something new, my mind could not die, be dispersed yes for a very short time but not truly killed. I could feel the touch of every Zerg within my grasp, their minds my own…I am the Zerg, a new Overmind. With the Xel-naga's power and the genetic memories of the Zerg in play I could do things that not even Alex could dream of to the swarm, I could make changes that could create new species of Zerg without the need of new genetic material but such a cost could only be done by a truly powerful hive cluster with at least 3 star systems worth of resources being plundered, I could also mutate my swarm into stronger, better versions but that would have to wait…

I made a mental smile as I sat through the warp rift within my leviathan inside the hybrid…the body itself was coming along nicely and would only need two more weeks before it was ready to hatch.

However things had to come first before experimentation, I had my leviathan and the brood I had open the rift to real space, when I arrived there I took a inventory of my brood.

I had two corrupters left, no scourge, six mutalisk and one brood lord for my aerial support. I felt a sense of disappointment the devourers hand not made it with my brood from the artifacts burning pulse. The brood lord was covered and blood and severely weakened from its flight and the two corrupters were close to half of their health from what my mind sensed.

I also had all six of my pylon overlords with me, which was good as the pylons seemed to be still filled with power and three overseers, and to my strange joy the old overlord that had been by "my" side since when Alex first hatched as a larva, I then turned my attention into the leviathan itself, somehow it had escaped total harm but had been…changed…from my count it was stronger then an average leviathan and was close to mutating soon from what my genetic view of its structure said, I must hurry and find a world to live on before it uses the Zerg and myself within it to change into whatever it was changing into. I could not risk my remaining Zerg being devoured and used as food for the changing leviathan as its store of creep was extremely low.

Inside of it all the while I sensed countless warriors had reverted to egg form, this was bad as it would take hours or days to fully hatch them again, but also good as it let me use my landing sacs to disperse them at the ground, I also had a few drone's waiting to be used as a hatchery's…I would have to take a full scale head count later as I needed to reach the next stars tem soon.

Using the overseers to project a view of the galaxy I was extremely displeased with my location…

'CRAP!, were on almost the edge of the galaxy! Arggh, we somehow ended up in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the galaxy and not near any star systems worth enough time for my Zerg to land…looks like its time to go through the damn warp rift again…'

I really wasn't looking forward to this, as for some reason the warp rift had…changed. it was much more chaotic then normal and the fact that something had tried to attack the warp shield projected by the leviathan, overseers, and overlords.

I had the rift open and sent my Zerg "fleet" into the mouth of the warp rift, it turned out more chaotic then last time about half way through but after I hit the mid point something had tried to attack my Zerg….only for the Xel-naga Pylons to activate and for some reason some kind of scream of agony echoed through the warp, it was not a pleasant sound but afterwards the warp rift turned at least as good as a hurriedly done warp rift in the Koprulu sector, which was far cry from the usual travel means…

Still I didn't trust any sort of shielding against this mess of a warp travel and had my overseers find a way out…right within mercury's distance to the sun, while the Zerg were good at using any form of energy being this close to a sun is asking for one hell of a Carapace Burn. And the turbulence the warp rift had caused actually sent my overseers and overlords projection point by quite a few thousand miles maybe even a star system or two, it was only due to the leviathan that I didn't get to close to the sun of this star system or end up on its surface!

Moving my Zerg away from it I had them examine planets that we had passed, two of them were rock barren worlds of no use to the Zerg while the third had severe storms that could kill my brood if I wasn't careful, which I didn't even go near for fear of wasting the precious few units I still had hatched.

With the use of the suns energy I had my Zerg propel themselves to the fourth planet, now it was not a volcanic or a desert planet to my disappointment as the heat would do the Zerg well and such planets often had rich mineral deposits or thick rich pools of liquids that could be used for mucus by the swarm.

The planet was however green and rich with life I could see, with only one continent but super sized I decided it would make a good world, as I could see different habitats around the planets zones, a vast desert to the western part of the continent, two dense from what it seemed to be tropical rainforests in the south and northern poles and mostly forest and grasslands around the in-between, with large mountains either next to the seas or going through the top and bottom portions of the super continent, indicating that there had been at once three continents but the plates had shifted and merged into what it was now.

With some careful planning I had my Zerg choose the mountain's in the east as there was a good location for a hive cluster, it was near enough for the grasslands to be able to expand, and near enough for the forests for the nutrients needed, also with the mountain's came rich minerals if you dug deep enough and with the sea nearby it would make it an ideal place to gather fish and sea life as the minerals and shells of the animals made good supplements for Carapaces. I was pleased at this and had my Zerg begin their slow descent.

Without many warriors and flyers I had my overlords stick close to the leviathan as it slowly made its way through the atmosphere, and with the Zerg flyers keeping close watch for attackers I descended to the planets surface.

As I didn't wish to risk my brood with landing sacs it had to be a slow an gentle planetary landing. With my brood the way it was I didn't wish for any sort of inconvenience for my landing, which was good to as the brood lord had spotted several wasp like creatures with wings similar to the chimera flyer on Wow, but mostly insectoid body. They were watching for an opportunity to attack my Zerg transports, thankfully I didn't send out my flyers away, but I also don't have much of an idea on what's going on out there unfortunately.

When my brood reached the cloud level I felt that the creep glands had…atrophied during the space travel, but thankfully they were recovering nicely with the moisture of a particularly large nimbus cloud we had drained. The mountain range I had targeted was the size of great Brittan and had several unstable locations in the area.

Looking around carefully with my overseers with a mutalisk each I chose a spot high enough to land safely without ground interference but low enough for forests to grow, thankfully it was a large carving from a ancient glacier that was half way retreating through the canyon. The cold didn't bother me as nothing in this galaxy could be colder then Braxis where Alex had been reborn on.

I chose a particular shelf spot near enough to a large river to get water for mucus and possible near enough for a lake to gather its small inhabitants for an early supplement for Zerg carapace, but also with good vegetation to use as nutrients for my brood, and it was also close enough to the walls to begin a mining operation if I had to dig for minerals.

The sad thing was there wasn't a single mineral patch to been seen in the mountain or a vespene geyser, but that didn't discourage me from digging into the ground until I had gotten to them.

With my leviathan hovering over the large carving in the moutain I sent out the landing sacs.

When the first few hit I had my overlords generate a small creep carpet for them…but with their still atrophied glands it was pathetically thin and weak and was only sustained from the overlords generation that it didn't die off.

Thankfully my Zerg minions had hatched within the hour of my examinations.

So far I had two ultralisks, one infester, one queen which was nice as her larva ability would make an early growth sustainable also her healing ability I had used immediately on the brood lord to keep it alive as it was showing tiredness from blood loss, eighteen zerglings, six hydralisk and eight roaches. A good starting force for me. I also had twenty drones ready and a small hatchery growing from my landing. Thinking on an idea I had gotten from during my time no matter how far away it felt as a human, I spent two hours rewriting the genetic codes within the hatchery. When I was finished with the hatchery I turned to another problem I had, how was I to get resources with only twenty drones , as it took much more to dig through a mountain to reach a mineral deposit. Contemplating the idea for a good half hour I remembered another idea I had read from VexMaster story as my time as the original Alex. Mentally giving thanks I had my drones dig a large twenty foot wide in diameter and fifteen foot deep hole in the ground. Then I had my two ultralisks start tearing down trees and vegetation not yet consumed by the creep in a bid for survival. Then I had my hydralisk chop them apart with their sharp claws and my zerglings roll the pieces into the pit careful to not fall in the steep slope of the pit, they could climb with ease but I was cautious with my small brood. I had no desire to lose not even one zerglings in this early stage of the swarm.

When the pit was a good half full of vegetation I had my roaches spew their acid over the materials. With the roach acid eating away at the vegetation and turning it into an acidic pit of nutrients I had decided to call it by its original name, the Nutrient Pit, as it was now called thanks to the writer. Shaking my mind off of such things as I needed to survive now and think later I had my drones begin to "dig" into the mountain side, depositing chucks of rock next to the pit to be put in later on. When the pit was half filled with the acid I had my queen plant two creep tumors on either side so as to have the nutrients flow into the hatchery when it was completed. Slowly the creep began to thicken and the mucus the creep had prevented the acid from burning it away as it began to dip inside the pit itself, also I sensed from the creep tumors that the nutrients would be readily available to use for more buildings…at least I didn't have to worry about whenever or not my building times would be slowed because of this Mineral/Vespene geyserless location.

With the nutrients flowing into the creep and the creep carpet thickening to acceptable levels I turned my mind to the 6 pylon carrying overlords. With a interesting idea I had them set their pylons down near the creep carpet and had my queen chip small shards away from them with its sharp and deadly claws and planet them next to the pit. With the crystals drawing energy from the nutrients of the pit and them providing psyonic energy to my hatchery to simulate vespene gas to an extent I was once again pleased. However without the vespene gas in actual quantity I could not make my more advance units, maybe a few roaches when my hatchery finished in a day when it was done mutating but that would be all until I found a good source, perhaps the volcano's in the region may contain some of the gas, I clear those thoughts away and turned my attention to managing my brood.

By the time the sun set I had my Zerg borrow into the ground with a acceptable creep carpet. With the leviathan keeping watch and my flyers hovering around the area I felt my brood to be quite safe from any dangers this planet may have.

With those last thoughts I turned my attention to the massive leviathan who was close to mutating, carefully I had it set down the cocoon with the four Xel-Naga crystals near it right in front of the hatchery. With the psyonic powers entering the creep and by turn feeding the cocoon with the body of the hybrid within I waited till sunrise as I did not wish for my brood to die so early top anything in the night.

By sunrise the cocoon for the hatchery had grown into its almost complete stage as the drone on board the leviathan had been almost at the point where it would be a free hatchery when it landed, it would be about a few more hours before it fully hatched, and with the sunrise came the time to work with my brood. With the same routine as before only with the acid in the pit drained about a quarter of what it was I continued the same thing as before. Only this time I wanted it to be at nearly full point by sundown, with the clock ticking my brood went to work with the rubble pile getting large and the hole for the mining operation getting larger itself I had my queen planet a creep tumor inside the place while my infester sprayed fungal growths to make the tunnel more stuited for zerg to thrive in and to allow my drones to continue working, and with the creeps effect of making Zerg faster on it the drones made more progress into the moutainside, but it wasnt enough to make any real progress to the hidden mineral deposits i was sure that they were there.

By the time the hatchery was done I had moved one ultralisks to continue the mining operation with its mighty Kaiser blades, they were sharp enough to cut through vegetation no matter how tough with ease and rock with even more ease. Also with the fact they were also fully upgraded I didn't doubt they were some of the strongest minions I had to offer so far.

With the pit being filled with trees and vegetation and the occasional rock being thrown in for their mineral content, I turned my attention inwards, with my own powers I was curious as to what I could do, but without any way of interacting with the world other than through my Zerg I could not know, perhaps Alex was right in a way even if he was arrogant that the hybrid body would be in our best interest. With a slight touch to it I was shocked at the hybrid was coming along, with the four Xel-naga crystals being situated near it I could easily tell it was sending out psyonic signatures on a undetectable level through the planet I was on, nothing serious other then strange dreams but anyone with a psyonic signature of at least terran level 4 it would send images of itself into their minds.

Now I really couldn't risk the hybrid bringing enemies to me nor could I risk stunting its growth, so I waited as the catch twenty two option was before me.

'Better wait until everything else calms down before things go to hell in a hand basket'

While I contemplated my decision on my hybrid which was another week off from hatching thankfully, I turned my attention to my remaining ultralisk who was still slicing apart much vegetation, with its kaiser blades i should be able to…quickly having a overseer escorted by two mutalisk I had it examine the large shelf I was on, at one time there been a much larger glacier that had carved through the mountain's as the large U shape continued for a few miles to both the grass lands and deeper into the mountains' with a large braided stream, smaller U shape cuts happened ever now and then as I saw from the former glacier imprints…with mine being the closest to the grasslands but being at least two miles up I had to make a decision on how to eventually get down…I really didn't want to cut a tunnel exposed along the rock face but I also didn't want to rely on nydus worms as I couldn't find a geyser in the area for vespene…then I had a interesting idea pop into my mind…

Having my ultralisk begin to tunnel downwards at a slight angle I had it burrow for a better lack of word downwards until it would reach the base level to the grasslands, to counteract any problems I had it make a "twister" like tunnel, which at the ground level would allow a large tunnel to reach to the canyon wall of the former glacier valley.

Pleased with this idea I had five drones move from mining operations for minerals to removing extra rock for my ultralisks to continue its task uninterrupted…however this meant I had to move my infester and my queen back for forth between my mining tunnel and my Spiral Entrance but thankfully creep tumors ability to replicate itself at its most extreme edges would allow my creep carpet to expand and allow more ground to be covered by it, also to gather nuritents from the soil as well. However at this rate i would need three more nutirent pits to ensure my new hive cluster didnt fall apart on me.

Seeing that this project could take a day give or take I turned my attention to the newly formed hatchery with its three smaller breathing vents while the main one was more designed to hold a large crystal like a pylon, using my overlords to move one of the four Xel-Naga crystals I had it place around my hybrid to the top of the hatchery, its large claws at the vent holding it in place. Finished with my examination, I turned my attention to my first larva and had it cocoon into a drone, when it had hatched i noticed right away that its caprace was thinner then the rest of my drones and i meantally groaned.

'Of course the evolution genes would lock up, without any sort of nnearby zerg hive clusters for my swarm to comunicate with on a pysonic level the gene's would eventually lock up, however it seems as if my original zerg from Braxis didnt suffer from this, this means ill have to rely on overlords to allow my minions inside the leviathan to awaken them...but with their limited numbers i better hurry yo build up my hive cluster to allow regain the evolutions lost...and perhapes even further them'

with this in mind I turned my queen to the hatchery and had her spray it with her special enzymes that promoted extra larva, within the hour they had hatched and now I had 5 larva waiting, so in a matter of minutes I turned my first three into more drones and the other two into overlords with the remaining resources I had. After two hours my drones finally hatched from the hatchery, I then turned them into gathering duty, however the minerals oozed from the creep tumors were…poor in quality and resulting in 2 minerals or sometimes 3 minerals gathered each time, thinking on this I waited until I had 200 minerals waiting in storage, however this took at least an hour to gather all the minerals that had been oozed out from the tumors, and with more of them being spawned from around the area, so far there were 4 tumors each at the maximum edge of each other, giving my little area of the large glacier carving a good old fashion Zerg makeover, however it would take more time before the area become suitable for non-essential Zerg buildings and growth's to emerge or spawn.

During this time I noticed my overlords seemed to take at least half a day to make, but considering their versatility and what they needed I knew it was worth the while.

However during my examination I noticed a few key factors within the swarm, the original Zerg did not need vespene gas to evolve or make more units as the queen and the overlords suggest the Zerg before they encountered vespene gas were reliable enough to not need it, however it was the efficiency of the gas that made it so important, as its composition in its liquid form compacted allowed the Zerg to achieve evolutions at a much faster rate and at a even less cost allowing the Zerg to multiply at a frightening time, if I could find even a hint of the gas vents my zergs time for hatching would be reduced by half, however since im without the gas it easily showed how the reliance of one thing could be so damaging…

I found it humorous at the same time frustrating that I couldn't find a single vent, like on Zergus for the original Overmind who had to call the mighty leviathans to take them amongst the stars so that the Zerg could evolve and grow, I to had no real resource and had to make due with what I got, however i myself didnt even know if there was a species like the leviathans, and i wasnt about to take my own into space to find a single vespene geyser!

Noting that the day was coming to a close and I had a good stock of 648 minerals and the maximum 200 "gas" I could have from the psyonic energy stored I decided to wait until tomorrow to find Vespene gas or somthing similar, whichever comes frist.

As the next day rolled in and my Zerg began their daily chores I decided it was fine time for another few drones as my two overlords were done, thankfully my hatchery could be set to use certain build orders, with this in mind I put overlords as a primary concern and drones secondary.

When the first batch of 8 drones were done I set four of them for building purposes and the other 4 mineral collecting and mining duties. My ultralisks by this time had tunneled a large hole in the canyon wall and was making another while the queen switched from using her enzymes on the hatchery to a creep tumor inside the tunnel shaft.

With my four new drones I sent three to become evolution chambers and the last a spawning pool, which contained all the Zerg dna structures needed for warrior strains. With a plan set i turned to each of the evolution chambers with a specifice idea for each one.

One of them was dedicated for ranged attacks like acid and spines, another for Melee attacks like the claws and blades, and the final one For carapaces and defensive buildings. It was during this time I decided to send out my two hydralisk each accompanied by 6 zerglings apiece to scout out the land since the Spiral Entrance was done. When my scout party left for the grasslands and the forest I turned my attention to my flyers, I decided to send out my two corruptors with a escort of two mutalisk each to explode the outer parts of the mountains while my brood lord and two remaining mutalisk would keep a watchful eye on my overlords and my base, however i doubted anything would try to attack them with my leviathan keeping watch, and with it's mindset set on gauurd duty it wouldnt let any being not of zerg origin enter without permission.

Speaking of the Levithan, i had it start to slowly and carefully plant down Zerg eggs containing Tychus's old brood from Braxis, then pulling a few drones from mining I had them move the eggs into the tunnel to nurture the eggs over their period of time, however due to number of Zerg "I" had on Braxis, it would take a few weeks to get them all situated and enough overlords to control them.

If I could smile I would have from the fact I had enough Zerg to take care of almost any problem I was sure to encounter while waiting on the planet, all I needed was time.

While the day was coming to a close I had been frustrated, as my roaches could be better served as extra cutters for my deforestation process or extra firepower for my patrols, thinking on the problem of getting new acid I turned my attention to the few places I knew could make it, with the roach warden I could have several veins of hardened creep slowly seep roach acid into the pool, and with two baneling nests nearby to also use the banelings acid.

Taking this into consideration I turned 4 newly hatched drones into two roach wardens and two baneling nests as I waited, with the four structures in the making around the nutrient pool, I turned another 6 drones into spine crawlers to aid in the defenses of the base. And with a few hatched drones from the Tunnel, I tuned them into four spore crawlers situated in places where a undetectable unit or air forces could travel into…giving my new hive cluster a solid defenses against ground forces.

However as I had worked on my base, I felt a sensation from one of my two scout patrols, one of them had found something worth of interest.