Firstly, I'd like to apologise for delay in any updates. My job just got harder when my co-teacher quit, and was replaced by a very new newbie, who knows less about paperwork than I do.

In any case, I hope you enjoy these intermission episodes that will write in the next few chapters, but they are not just fillers. They contain many hidden clues and subplots that contribute toward the final ending and the surprising twist.

As for Stargate: Galactic Imperium, I thought I had updated a chapter but apparently I forgot about it half way through. I may be focusing on that for a while... so expect a new chapter of Galactic Imperium... in few weeks maybe?


Chapter 53 – Intermission Episodes 1

I am the Overmind.

I am the lord and master of the Zerg Swarm.

I am the ruler of many worlds. New Char was full of Zerg, and so were eleven worlds in the nine solar systems around New Char System. These solar systems were quite inhospitable. Only the New Char was a world among the nearest eighteen solar systems that humans could have survived without special technological effort. Yet, my Zerg were far superior survivors and they could live on worlds that humans could not. Volcanic worlds of toxic fume for air were nothing to my Zerg but they merely provided enough new minerals for my Swarm to feast upon. Desert worlds were easy thing as not even frequent sand storms could defeat my psionically protected Zerg. Ice worlds also provided certain charm for my Swarm, though I only colonized one such world near New Char for the crystal deposits in its crust.

I am currently operating a massive campaign of simultaneous invasion of the galaxy through a multitude of wormholes. Riax Sector was but one of such invasion, though it was a little more invested than others, but there were other sectors and regions of the galaxy that had equal or greater attention from me.

Although other regions of the galaxy had less schemes and plans involved in their corresponding invasion than I had done so with the Riax Sector, they were all very well-prepared. Certainly, the need to adapt to the Virus Bombs, the need to find out how exactly the Inquisition would respond, the need to know how the Eldar fight, and the need to know how Imperial Guards would fight were all good reasons to play a little upon the poor Agri-World of Argol II. Yet, other worlds were not so lucky as to have such leniency.

I turned my many gazes across the galaxy, and my consciousness expanded throughout the fabric of reality and seeped into the unreality.


Ultima Segmentum

Subsector Vatas

I looked to the galactic east.

Like so many others, Vatas was also a subsector beset by war and chaos.

Not long after the first handful of my scouts surveyed the subsector, I had commanded many Spylings to seek out knowledge. It was not as easy as it sounded, but I soon found myself immersed in the history of this subsector, and given the primary FTL-travel method of my Swarm, this subsector was a crucial staging ground for the rest of the sector and others around it.

My Spylings found out that, for nearly two centuries the subsector's six Imperial worlds had been fighting off the random and brutal raids of a Chaos Warband that had settled nearby.

Vatas Prime and the six Imperial worlds that stretched over the relatively large area of space were assailed by both the Chaos Warband led by a powerful Chaos Lord of Khorne as well as the Ork and human pirates. Although Vatas Prime was a powerful civilized world, it could not defend itself as well as its six neighbors against such numerous incursions.

The local Imperial fleet stationed on the shipyard orbiting the rocky moon of Vatas Prime had long attempted to fight off such attacks, but they were too few and too weak to combat the deadly raids. Human pirates were easy enough to scare off as the Imperial fleet maintained a strong fleet of capital ships including a Retribution-class Battleship, and three Battle Cruisers, four Cruisers and scores of lesser ships. Vatas Prime itself was defended by a stationary fleet of two Cruisers and nearly one hundred Escorts, including fifty Defense Monitors. Thus protected, only Vatas Prime was the only world untouched by the harassed by the constant raids.

Unfortunately, the lack of proper protection afforded to the other six worlds had brought terrible results over the two centuries. With the Imperial neglect so evident, these worlds were often forced to pay tributes to both the Chaos Warband and the Ork pirates so that they may be given relief from the constant threat of war. It was only when the Khornate warband finally clashed against the Ork Worlds that the current stalemate formed. Both the Khornate warband that settled upon a moon where a prosperous colony had once existed and the two Ork Worlds that had been united under a particularly cunning Warboss fought a terrible war of attrition against each other, replenishing their resources through increased piracy, while the Imperial forces of Vatas Prime began to grow enough to force the subsector into a three-way melee.

Yet, none of the three factions could have anticipated the Zerg.

The Zerg Wormhole opened up near the a nearby solar system not yet surveyed by the Imperium. The galaxy contained so many solar systems and planets, and the Imperium barely surveyed a tiny fraction of the planets, and controlled even small number. After all, there are billions of solar systems in the galaxy. This was one such solar system of an orange main-sequence star and three terrestrial worlds, three gas giants and a few scores of moons. These terrestrial worlds were planets humans could not possibly colonize. The first world was a red desert world of iron sand that swept across the planet's plains and hills at incredible velocity and temperature that nothing could survive. The second world was a rocky world of mineral-rich stone-mountains and rivers of heavy water flowing through the soil-less metallic flats. The third world was a truly barren world of no atmosphere but covered in such powerful electromagnetic field that all living things would be boiled alive.

One of the broods under a Hierarch named Lamias quickly colonized the second world of this solar system. A hundred Leviathans descended into the oxygen-rich atmosphere of that world, and within a surprisingly short period time, the Zerg covered the entirety of the planet. The fact that the level of oxygen and ozone was such that any human would burn out their lungs within seconds of exposure. My Zerg had to adapt as well, but it only took the death of few thousand Zergs to force evolution to add a new trait. It was from this staging ground that the Lamias Brood committed to the invasion of this subsector. Each day brought new fleet elements to the subsector, and the worlds and factions of the subsector were quickly set upon by numerically superior and greatly ferocious enemy. As a graceful strategist, the Hierarch Lamias learned under the master of stealth, Elric the Lord of Unseen. Thus the Hierarch followed the Path of Hidden Dagger, and it carefully moved its fleet and ground forces deep into the subsector.


Khorne really didn't care where the blood came from. That same policy applied to the behaviors of the Bloodletters of Khorne.

When the scores of Warp rifts formed all around the Chaos fleet of the Bloodnecks, the warband of Khornate Berserkers barely holding to the last remnant of their sanity. The insane warriors and slave-soldiers of the warband were suddenly drowning in blood, both of their own and that of the daemons that they were fighting. Despite the nearly one hundred Chaos Marines of Khornate-persuasion spread out across the fleet commanding well over a hundred thousand corrupted Guardsmen fulled armed with lasguns and wicked blades and axes, they were no match for the thousands of Bloodletters pouring out from every random Warp rifts that formed outside and inside of the Chaos vessels.

The brainless maniacs of the warband, particularly the Chaos Marines, were delighted indeed.

"Face my axe and die!" screamed an Aspiring Champion as he slashed across the neck of a Bloodletter.

The daemonic flesh tore asunder and bled profusely as the creature was made corporeal through the pure Warp energies spilling out from the rifts in reality. Even as it's corporeal form began to fail and its impossible organs shriveled in the face of its demise, the daemon attempted to slash its Hellblade, though the Aspiring Champion kicked the daemon back before turning around to hack another Bloodletter's back. The second Bloodletter to be attacked by the champion was busy thrusting its Hellblade into the chest of a Cultist only to find its spine severed and crushed into pieces by the whirring blades of the Chainaxe.

"Sa'korth! Come! There are more daemons here! To Khorne and to endless murders!" screamed yet another Aspiring Champion of Khorne.

Champion Sa'Korth howled in delight as he kicked a Bloodletter's legs from under it and then stomped down on its daemonic head.

"Do not take my preys from under my nose again, Belenor! They are mine! Their skulls shall be hanging by my side when this is over!" replied Sa'korth as he blocked a swing of a Bloodletter's Hellblade. "You dare interfere, daemon? I shall gut you for this!"

Indeed, Sa'korth kept his promise as he reached forth with his empty hand and punched it deep into the daemon's belly before pulling out a long string of guts made of crying faces of infants, tongues of snake and covered in dried blood.

The Champion screamed in delight as he pulled out the gut and then flung it like a whip to snare yet another Bloodletter, but this one was different. It was larger and it was grizzlier than others. It was indeed a Herald of Khorne, a true master of bloody battle even among the terrifying daemonkind. Perhaps it was the folly of Sa'korth, or the fact that most of the Chaos Marines and Cultists around him were dead, but Sa'korth charged at the Herald of Khorne, blinded by his own bloodlust. Though he fought well, it was mere five clashes of weapons before the Herald of Khorne beheaded the hapless Aspiring Champion.

The Khornate fleet was crippled with the first volley. I watched as the Warp rifts tore apart every living things within the ships. Some lesser ships fled into the Warp, abandoning their master below. However, most of the ships remained intact, only empty of living things.


Then thousands of Drop Sacs landed upon the desolate moon of Shavil IV and deposited tens of thousands of Zerg upon the desiccated cityscape upon which the Chaos Warband Bloodnecks have founded their temples of murder and slaughter. Laughing hysterically in delight, the Khorne Berserker Lord Har'crask the Twinaxe and his retinue drove forth his two million Cultists against the Zerg in a desperate and brutal urban combat.

The once prosperous civilized world, the moon of Shavil IV once called Sharavon by the locals before they were slaughtered, was made up of a large city that covered nearly 5% of the moon's entire surface. Its massive skyscrapers, wide and majestic buildings, well-maintained roads and highways, strong bunkers and deep trenches were nothing to the Bloodnecks when they came here two centuries ago. Sharavon's three hundred millions population was reduced one third of that former glory and rest were bred only to be either a Cultist or a sacrifice.

Long abandoned, the giant cityscape was but haven for the Zerg to infiltrate. Even as the two million-strong Cultist army filtered through the streets and broken buildings, the Zerg struck. Like their primary doctrine, the Zerg hid themselves well and carefully until they were at an advantage. There were no foolhardy attacks nor hit-and-run attacks. Only carefully planned ambushes and traceless scenes of former combat that left only the torn flesh of the Cultists. Hydralisks and Zerglings shot forth from the ground everywhere, surprising the unsuspecting Cultists, with Banelings exploded randomly everywhere. Infesters and their Fungal Spores exploded overhead, and Ultralisks rammed the Rhinos and other desecrated armored vehicles. Then like shadow into the night, they could not be engaged by the main strike teams of Chaos Marines, who had used their Cultists as bait but to no avail.

Still, the frequencies of skirmishes between my Zerg and the main Chaos forces began to increase as the days passed. I watched as my Zerg fought them hard. Their claws eviscerated the hapless Cultists as their fallen flesh slowly melted away within pools of acid that now ran freely across the entire city. Then I saw through eyes of a Hydralisk. Whenever a particular section of enemy's front was about to fall, a portal of swirling pool of blood appeared. From that horrid rift in reality came Lord Har'crask's strike teams, often led by the Chaos Lord himself and his retinue. In most cases, a single Chaos Terminator of Khorne would jump into the fray followed closely by a dozen Berserkers and a couple of squads of Chaos Marines. Given how my Zerg were also fragmented into small groups and spread out across the city, they were often overwhelmed by the sheer brutality of these Chaos Marines that swept all in their wake.

The worst was the appearance of Lord Har'crask the Twinaxe. He was escorted by four Chaos Terminators and three full squads of Berserkers as well as a dozen Bloodcrushers that charged through ranks of my Zerg. Lamias pondered at this situation from her new nest back on the nameless metallic planet. I could feel her gaze staring hatefully at the Chaos Lord, but she knew that her trap was ready. She would distract him thus, forcibly making the Chaos Lord spread out his troops beyond the giant Void Shield that protected the citadel dedicated to Khorne. Within that translucent red glow, the Chaos Lord was invulnerable against orbital fire. Within that vast field of impenetrable shield, blessed by the gruesome will of Khorne himself, even opening up Warp rifts by the Raidens' psionic bombs would do little. The Bloodletters would feel the blessed of the Khorne and would either fight or submit to the Chaos Lord. Fighting against the single-minded, murderous, bloody will of the Berserker Lord was okay for the daemons too, for Khorne cared not whose blood and skull that landed at his feet.

I could see Lamias' predicament. Har'crask was a powerful figure. Even though he wore a finely crafted Artificer Armor, he still stood slightly taller even than his Terminators, and he oozed immense power not just of physical nature. The thickly bound muscles were one thing, but his naked forearms told of the horrific yet powerful mutations given to him by Khorne. Scales of bloody brass covered him entire body like a giant reptile, but these were not really brass but metal of Warp itself, formed and bounded to him by Khorne's immense will. Though he hated sorcery and magic, the God of Skulls was no stranger to using the nature of the Warp. I saw through my mind's eye that the bones of Har'crask was partially metal and partially pure Warp of Khorne's realm. I could only assume that the unreal fires that shrouded the metal from the Realm of Brass and Blood burned him from inside out, bloating his insane soul into further bloodlust.

Har'crask howled with each kill, as if it the blood of his prey quenched his thirst that no water or ice would quench. I felt Lamias trying several different methods, trying to slay this monstrous creature of no thought other than that of murder. All attempts failed. The one time that came closest to killing him was near the end of that campaign. Using Ultralisks, Lamias blocked the escape route, as the powerful creature fought against the vehicles of the Chaos Marines. Then a wave of Zerglings distracted the Bloodcrushers, leading them away to be ambushed by Mutalisks. The Chaos Havocs quickly sought to aid the daemons, but a well placed Warp rift with enough attention and energy brought forth a Warp portal directly connected to a Daemon World of Slaanesh. The cadre of Bloodletters went into frenzy as Daemonettes of Slaanesh poured out.

Surrounded and distracted, the Chaos Berserker Lord ordered his Terminators to make a path through a wall of hundreds of Roaches and Hydralisks, among them hid two dozen Hunters ready to take out the Terminators. Khorne Berserkers were let loose as they were led by the Terminators to slay all Zerg in their inexhaustible march. Then hundreds of Banelings shattered the ranks of Chaos Marines huddled around the bloody portal, shutting it down when a slave-psyker bounded to the portal was showered in acid. Cut off and his men too busy or too dead to guard him, it created an opening. Eight Hunters and eleven Hydralisks came out from the ground and assailed him. That was Lamias' mistake. Suddenly enraged and burning with indelible bloodlust etched into his corrupted soul and mutated bones, the Berserker Lord Har'crask the Twinaxe suddenly went completely mad with hate and ire.

Alone, he crushed and hacked and slashed through everything that Lamias had prepared for him. Bones, flesh, blood and carapace exploded outward from the endless lightning-fast swings of two daemon-possessed Power Axes. Crackling with crimson aura of the daemons' rage, the blades of the two axes slaughtered their way through my Zerg as if they were mere humans or something. I suppose it had greatly surprised Lamias too. She quickly withdrew once more, backing down from a critical power station that generated almost half the required energy for the city's remaining defense including the automated laser cannons that littered the outer regions of the giant city that blocked larger Zerg air units from landing. Another reason that Lamias attacked at the power station was that it powered the only fuel refinery remaining in the city. Once upon a time, there were three scores of such refineries that fed the city of all its needs. Yet, after two centuries, only one remained that fed what remaining technological infrastructure of the city that still held.

The Chaos Marines of the Bloodnecks could not rely upon the old and broken pipelines that linked the refinery and the main reactor near the Citadel of Blood God, protected by the corrupted Void Shield. Only series of heavily guarded and armored convoys could deliver the much needed fuel to the main reactor, passing through a fortified gate. Lamias assailed the gate four times, and failed each time, and the attacking of convoys was even more foolish as the three fuel tankers that the warband operated were individually protected by very powerful escorts of super heavy tanks. Throughout his long years in the business of killing Imperials, Lord Har'crask found himself in possession of many 'trinkets', a list of which included the Baneblade 'Soaking of Skulls' and the Macharius Vulcan 'Shredder of Flesh'. Escorted by six Leman Russ tanks of several variants with the two super heavy tanks as vanguard and rearguard, these fuel convoys were often tougher than the gate itself to assail.

I merely watched though, with no thought of intervening. It wasn't long before Lamias figured it out.

The warband was more than surprised when their main reactor exploded, spreading forth endless carpet of Creep from its ruptured fuel lines. Lamias had sneaked in a very small but very compressed seeds for the Creep Tumors of very virulent strain. These were developed as offensive tool to boost the Zerg movement along a particular paths in rough terrains. They weren't strong enough to feed Zerg hive clusters beyond the likes of Spine and Spore Crawlers, but they were small enough to sneak into the refinery's systems, and then transported by the fuel tankers to be delivered to the main reactor inside the shield. With the main reactor down, the Void Shield fell, and thousands of Drop Sacs fell also.

However, Har'crask wasn't as stupid as other Berserkers. Instead of repairing the main reactor, he sought to reclaim one of the geo-thermal power stations that Lamias' forces had overtaken. Destroying the structure would unleash dangerous volcano underneath the section of the city that could cripple over one tenth of the city and much of the Zerg forces, whose newly formed Hive Clusters resided right over such weakness of earth. Thus kept safe and operating, it provided the Chaos Lord a chance to power his shield again, and a chance to hack away at the Zerg. Lamias thought this a chance to slay the Berserker Lord, and she assembled what Reavers and Ultralisks she could must in time. Even as Har'crask and his retinue fought their way toward the power station, they were quickly surrounded by five Ultralisks and thousands of Zerglings and other lesser creatures. Still, the Khorne's warriors were powerful.


"Do the beating of your hearts echo the drums of war? Do you hear that sound? Do you hear Khorne calling your blood! For the Blood God!" roared Har'crask.

Riding atop his own Juggernaut, the Khornate Berserker Lord screamed as he charged along with his Bloodcrusher cavalry. Exactly forty nine Bloodcrushers and seven Berserkers on Juggernauts followed the Chaos Lord and they trampled through entire ranks of Zerglings to reach the large Hydralisk-like creature with enlarged skull. The Slayer, being the Swarm's evolution specialist, was developed and evolved into field commander to extend and intensify Lamias' control over the battlefield, and although it had allowed Lamias to micromanage the Brood it also gave an opening for Har'crask's forces in identifying command creatures.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Holding on to the Juggernaut with his armored legs, the Chaos Lord contemptuously flicked aside the spines fired by the Hydralisks guarding the Slayer. He felt keenly how his Juggernaut stained under his weight, as the weight of the corrupted insane soul bloating with blood and skulls dedicated to Khorne was far greater than any physical weight. He also felt the brass hoofs of the daemonic creature stomping upon a Zergling and he saw the nose-mounted blade of the Juggernaut skewered a Hydralisk right in the middle. Even as he quickened pace, the Slayer had finally noticed him.

"CRAAAAGH!"

Screamed and howling, the creature that stood nearly twice the size of a Hydralisk turned its glowing gaze upon the charging Chaos Lord. For a moment the orange glow of the Slayer turned purple as the Hierarch stared at the Chaos Lord via its four eyes. Shuddering, the Slayer raised its flaps like the Hydralisk that it was based on, and fired four spines glowing and crackling in psionic energy.

Boom!

The spines struck the daemon mount that the Chaos Lord was riding upon, and the Chaos Lord nimbly jumped off the creature.

"Weak and pathetic! You dared to presume to be my steed? I shall return your skull to Lord Khorne!" muttered Har'crask before bringing down his daemon-possessed Power Axe and cutting off the Juggernaut's head.

The Slayer did not lose a moment. It opened its jaw and sent force a burst of Phase Disruptor. Har'crask instantly turned around and blocked the incoming blast with its twin axes crossed against each other. The energy blast that should have vaporized large chunks of the target's body merely sizzled against the greater psychic power that Har'crask wielded as the Khorne's champion. Though not manifested as sorcery, the immense will of Khorne was with this Berserker Lord, and only the very exterior surface of his armor turned to metallic powder.

"Is that your best shot, bug? I will have your head! Do you hear the drums of WAR! FOR KHORNE!"

Knocking aside two Roaches that blocked his way, Har'crask charged at the greater Zerg creature once more. Beside him were a Bloodcrusher and a Berserker on Juggernaut. The Berserker quickly lost his mount as two Banelings came rolling from the side and exploded upon the creature. Fallen off the daemonic mount, the Berserker simply went on a rampage against the Zerglings that quickly surrounded him. Only the Bloodcrusher could keep up with the great Champion of Khorne.

Yet, even as he neared the Slayer, it simply vanished, leaving nothing but dust of soil into which it had burrowed. Leaving the Chaos Lord frustrated, the Slayer reappeared nearby, escorted by a new cadre of Hydralisks. Even as Har'crask cut off the head of a Zergling, he spotted his target once more, and turned to charge up the gentle slope. A Hunter entered the scene, and it slashed down at Har'crask with its glowing claw, to which the Chaos Lord parried with strong swing followed by the other axe heading toward the neck of the Hunter, but the hunter blocked the attack with its other claw before firing spines into Har'crask's face, only for the Chaos Lord to momentarily bend backward to evade the flying spine before resuming his posture at impossible speed. The warp-enhanced Chaos Lord resumed his attack on the Hunter, managing to break the Hunter's claw arms before sinking an axe into the Hunter's chest.

Leaving the wounded hunter for the two Bloodletters that came up to him, Har'crask sought out the Slayer once more. This time, he did not allow the Slayer's bodyguards to delay him. At his call, the ground shook as a Maulerfiend came charging, its body showing the remains of the Ultralisk that fought the daemon machine. Even with a piece of Kaiser Blade stuck in its side, the Daemon Engine was highly effective in slaughtering Roaches and Zerglings around it. The Lashers that wiped the floor with the blood of Zerglings were covered in thick blood as it had killed a lot more than it had ever done so since its creation.

"Craagh! CAAAAAW!" roared Slayer at the Chaos Lord.

"Oh! You challenge me? Then it is on! Your skull will be mine, creature!" replied Har'crask as he hacked aside a Roach, finally coming close enough for his axe to reach the Slayer.

He was again interrupted by scores of Hydralisks and two Hunters. In their numbers, they proved to be a threat for a Chaos Lord who had forsaken ranged weapons in favor of his two axes. Yet, the Chaos Lord not alone, and was still in possession of some good cards. With another command through his vox channel, he had summoned forth his reserves. Acrid smell of burning ozone followed the appearance of six Chaos Terminators, and they were fully Khornate. Chainaxes and Lightning Claws tore through the Hydralisks guarding the Slayer, and the Slayer was slippery.

Just as Har'crask reached the Slayer once more, it had burrowed deep again. Har'crask howled in desperate frustration as his rage began to boil and expand. He let out his anger against the new waves Zerglings and Roaches that reinforced that Hydralisks against the Terminators. Though they were powerful, the Terminators were outnumbered heavily, and Har'crask was forced to move alone as the Slayer appeared somewhere else.

"Stay still, worm! I will gut you and I will chew on your spines, you insect!" screamed Har'crask as he ran through the chaotic battlefield where every inch of the ground was filled with battling creatures and warriors.

"Come! Warriors, to me and to glory of Khorne!" bellowed the Khorne Champion, and he rallied to him five Possessed Chaos Marines, leaving seven Possesseds to fight off an Ultralisk and two dozen Roaches.

Har'crask ignored waves of Banelings exploding around him and among the Chaos warriors. Slaves were plenty in number and they died by their hundreds as cannon fodders while the elite Chaos Marines fought tooth and nail against the Zerg.

An Ultralisk charged him, and the five Possesseds blocked it, allowing Har'crask to reach the Slayer at last. The double claws encased in long glowing energy clashed against the daemon axes of the Chaos Lord. The Slayer was a massive creature, standing as tall as fully armored Terminator, and it was powerful. Each strike was as deadly and mortal as the next, and both side did not relent. From the Chaos Lord's attire, chunks of the brass-coated armor began to lose cohesion as bits and pieces were tore out or exploded, while the Slayer's carapace cracked and the Zerg blood began to flow.

Minions from both sides attempted to aid their lord. Four Chaos Marines came charging with their Chainaxes and Bolt Pistols while six Hydralisks came slithering. The Slayer roared as four bolt rounds exploded against its carapace, and Har'crask sought to take advantage of this momentary distraction by slashing at the creature's belly only to be interrupted by a Hydralisk tackling him to the side. The axe in his other hand split the skull of the Hydralisk that dared to interfere in the duel, but it was too late to stop the Slayer from skewering the offending Chaos Marine in the chest.

Even as the Slayer eviscerated the Chaos Marine in question, Har'crask charged it. Furious shoulder-charge knocked the Slayer aside and the Chaos Lord was about to perform a glorious coup de grace when he was struck by Hydralisk spines. One almost hit him in the right eye, and another came so close to his primary heart. The three Chaos Marines that came to aid the Chaos Lord launched into action and fired upon the Hydralisks, and gave enough time for Har'crask to finally sink his axes into the belly of the beast. The Slayer was slain.

Yet, he did not know that the Slayer was but a costly bait. He was now separated from his escorts. His Possessed Marines were tackling masses of Ultralisks and Roaches, while his Terminators were challenged by Hunters supported by the Infesteds, spawned from several Infesters. The rest of Chaos forces under Har'crask fought against waves after waves of Zerglings, and the vehicles of armored divisions were stymied from actually entering the battle by fields of Banelings and Ultralisks as well as Banelords upon the nearby hills raining down their acidic payloads. Even his daemonic forces were blocked by the three Hybrid Destroyers and psionically charged Zerg creatures under the hybrids.

In the air, the Chaos forces employed many aircraft stolen and desecrated from the Imperial forces. Dozens of Thunderbolts and Lightnings vied for air superiority against the wings of Mutalisks and Gattlisks, while the powerful squadrons of Vulture Gunships covered in horrific defilement fired their weapons against the Corruptors and Devourers. Yet, against the numerically superior forces, the Chaos air force began to lose ground, and more and more vehicles exploded or fell to the ground.

At first Har'crask thought he had won, but now he began to realize that his armies were divided and unorganized against a mightier force. It riled him up more than anything to even imagine a defeat. He screamed in insane gurgles as he attempted to charge at the nearest Zerg creature. Lamias had other ideas about that. Immense explosions rocked the Chaos Lord as three Hybrid Reavers appeared, summoned directly from the Hive Cluster by the sheer power of the Hierarch.

"Guards! To me!" shouted the Chaos Lord, and understanding that their master has called them, the Terminators teleported to Har'crask.

With crackling ozone filling the air, six Chaos Terminators appeared and stood beside their master against the Reavers and scores of Zerg creatures that now surrounded them.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the Chaos Lord was cornered for the first time in the campaign. Again, his rage exploded and the Berserker Lord whirled into the thick of it. Entire ranks of Zerglings, Roaches and Hydralisks died at his hands. Still, he was unable to overcome the three Hybrid Reavers even with the aid of the Terminators.

The battle was finished. Chaos Terminators were torn apart, armor and all, and even the mighty inexhaustible rage of Har'crask could not affect anything when his arms were torn off and melted down by acid. He raged on, frothing around his fanged mouth, though he was armless and helpless. The moment that the Hydralisk skewered the Chaos Lord's skull, I intervened.

-Lamias, hear me.-

"Overmind? I obey. Command me."

-Retreat from this moon. Leave no trace of our victory here. Let the remaining Chaos forces survive for now. They have been weakened and they are leaderless. They are of no concern... however... make sure that there are no survivors within the fleet. I want there to be a floating tomb of empty ships as a warning. I want the name of the Swarm to strike fear in the heart of all living things.-

Lamias paused at this strange request. In fact, I wasn't utterly sure why I commanded her to do this. This must be one of those secret projects that I have hidden even from my own conscious self to guard their secrets against future Eldar incursions. All I knew was that I needed the fear to drive my enemies before us. Although...

"I obey, Overmind."


While the Chaos Warband was fighting in insane delight, the two Ork Worlds were also visited by the Swarm. When the Zerg fleet appeared from the thick asteroid field in the solar system, the Ork fleet responded, chasing after the smaller Zerg fleet only to find their vessels trapped within the millions of asteroids flung at them by the psionic powers of the Swarm used at fleet level. As the Ork fleet was being bombarded by the asteroids, the real Zerg fleet approached the two Ork Worlds from another vector. Leviathans descended into the low orbit by their dozens, and spewed forth millions of Zerglings and hundreds of thousands greater Zerg creatures. Ultralisks roamed by their hundreds, hunting and fighting equally numerous Squiggoths, while the Zerglings tore at the Gretchens and Ork Boyz who were surprised by the sudden appearance of enemies.

Like the Khornate Warband, the Orks were delighted too. They were pleased for battle, and they rallied around their minor Warbosses and Nobz, while their great Warboss Shakgrot Ironsnik drove his entire retinue of five hundred Nobz and his subordinate Biker Boss Ugfang Red'un led his thousand-strong Ork Biker Boyz to chase down the droves of Zerglings. Flak explosions filled the skies, and bullets filled the air as the Orks fought the Zerg with everything they had. The Zerg losses were incredible. Though seemingly so primitive, the Orks were well-prepared for war.

On the capital world of the Ork empire, a world of lush jungles and harsh terrain, Orks formed crude cities set up atop massive low mesas and covered those areas with their horrible weapons. Each Ork city was set up with hundreds if not thousands of flak cannons that were often scavenged and looted Autocannons. Being Orks, they made the Autocannons into something more powerful though much less uniform. Some were five Autocannons strapped together with a single Lasgun with extra power used as a guiding beam, while another type of flak was made of an Autocannon that fired Squigs whose mouths were stuffed with explosives. There were some Lascannons too, equally debased and changed to suit Orks' Kulture. Whatever the case, the anti-air defenses of Ironsnik's empire was palpable. Thousands of Drop Sacs were eviscerated in the air, and only few arrived on the planet, and hiding into the deep jungles to set up their own Hive Clusters.

A red world that fulfilled the Orks' need for mineral resources was the other Ork world. Although its population but a fraction of its neighbor, there still millions of Orks on the surface, centered around an ancient automated mining facility. From that place, Orks have spread out and settled in scores of smaller walled fortresses, fighting off the giant Sand Spiders that spit toxic phlegm and could chew up Orks with their sharp fangs. The Zerg were delighted to come to this world, for it had many things that Zerg wanted such as a new specimen to collect the essence. Unfortunately, the automated mining facility was protected by a powerful energy shield impenetrable to anything that Zergs could throw at, and was protected a set of six very powerful energy cannons that fired bright green lightning bolts that would shred any Zerg in its range and arc. Lamias ordered her minions to land outside the energy cannons' range, setting up several Hive Clusters and rebuilding an army as most of the Leviathans that approached the red planet were obliterated within hours.

While the Bloodnecks were at fault for using their Warp portals as main mode of transportation across the subsector in order to maximize surprise factor, they were simply unable to withstand the Zerg fleet without their own fleet elements. Orks, on the other hand, didn't need a defending fleet to fight the enemy fleet. Even with weapons on the planets themselves they could fend off attackers, even those of Zerg's caliber. Still, they didn't know the Zerg. Having established Hive Clusters, it wasn't long before the Zerg began to swell again in number, and Ork patrols in the jungles of the Ork capital world or the within the deep valleys of the red planet began to disappear.

"Wot agan? Wot ya meen dat Colfang's city disappeered?" asked the Warboss Ironsnik to his second-in-command, Ugfang Red'un.

"Tis tru, boss. Ma bika boyz go dere and all ded!" exclaimed Red'un in excitement.

The Warboss smiled too.

"Den dem bugz is still around? Heh... Den its WAAAGH!"

So simple were their minds. I watched from various points of views as Lamias desperately maneuvered her surviving Swarm on the ground to regain a proper foothold. At first, it was difficult as the Warboss dispatched the Biker Boss Ugfang Red'un and his powerful pack of Ork bikers to deal with each Zerg attack, and their agility proved fatal to several Zerg army groups.

I momentarily pondered if I should intervene, but Lamias wasn't stupid. She managed to distract the Orks enough with their ranks of Zerglings and handful of greater Zerg units. As she was forced to set her Hive Clusters in areas with very little source of catalyst chemicals to replace the much-needed Vespene Gas, she could not muster masses of Roachs or other units beyond the Zerglings and Drones. However, her gambit had paid off, and she was able to capture an Ork fuel deposit full of volatile chemical. Mega Drones harvested the entire stockpile of chemical barrels, and it was enough to form an army of Roaches, Hydralisks, Swarmhosts, Infesters and a handful of Defilers. She quickly evolved the Hydralisks into Lurkers as she needed Lurkers, Defilers and Infesters to catch those nimble Ork bikers.

She lured the bikers by exposing one of the outlying Hive Clusters. It looked totally legitimate despite the fact that Lamias had just created a small Hive Cluster as a bait using all the excess minerals she had been collecting thanks to having a vast army of Drones that she was forced to birth before chemicals were available. The Warboss immediately dispatched Red'un and his bikers to the bait Hive Cluster. Even as Red'un slew a Zerg Queen and her retinue of Hydralisks, he roared in triumph, thinking that the Queen was the leader of the Zerg. He was wrong. His Bikers were suddenly covered in thick fungal growth

With her new army, she had begun a new tactic to strike the Orks down. She began to grow and produce more Lurkers and Infesters from the resources that would normally have produced Roaches and Hydralisks. Infesters expended their entire energy reserve to firmly hold the majority of Ork bikers in place while the fungal infection weakened the Orks themselves. By the time that Red'un had came to his senses, Lurkers were tearing his Bikers into small pieces while the small number of Defilers cast Plague, the virulent bacterial and viral disease of Zerg origin quickly breaking down the Orks and their bikes. This was one of the reasons that I had such attention paid to Argol II since I had learned of the Virus Bombs' existence. Using the Life-Eater Virus bomb, I wished to force my Swarm to evolve into something far more dangerous than they are right now. I hoped that my Swarm would soon adapt and learn from the Life-Eater Virus so I can bolster so much of the Swarm's viral weapons.

Even as the powerful Zerg bacteria broke down both their flesh and their wargears, the powerful spines of many scores of Lurkers came like waves of violent stormy sea. Ork bikers never stood a chance as their only real advantage in agility was negated by the sprays of Fungal Growth while their bikes were trashed and their weapons ruined by the all-encompassing danger of the Zerg Defiler's Plague, and finished off by the endless waves of Lurker spines. Once caught in that trap, the entirety of the that bait Hive Cluster came alive to assail the Orks. Four Nydus Worms exploded out around the rear of the Ork army while hundreds of Zerg clawed out from the thick Creep around the Hive Cluster.

Ugfang Red'un was not such easy target even when he was ambushed. He rode up a specially made 'bike', if such thing could be called a bike. He was already a massive Ork to begin with, but he was clad in pieces of looted Chaos Marine armor, and to sustain that weight Ork Meks had to build him a special bike. The fact that it was basically the size of an Imperial Guard Chimera or the fact that it had four Gretchin-controlled Big Shoota turrets as well as his two forward-arc Dakkaguns and two rocket pods or the fact that had engines remade from an engine part ripped out from a Thunderhawk, could do very little to describe how dangerous Red'un was. Ugfang Red'un was still rampaging through ranks of Hydralisks and Roaches even after his Warbike was half-ruined. He tore out one of the Dakkaguns and held it in his left hand to spray the bullets while chopping away at the Roaches with his Big Choppa. The whirring teeth of the chainsaw mechanism growled dangerously each second as he slashed and hacked at the Zerg.

However, he was increasingly at disadvantage. Though more than half of his bikers had survived initial assault, each passing minute reduced the number of Orks quickly. By the time Ugfang Red'un was breathing raggedly after taking on an Ultralisk and barely surviving, he realized that he was alone. He was facing a dozen Hydralisks, three dozen Roaches and hundreds of Zerglings not to mention two Ultralisks. The Ork Warbiker Boss roared his last as the Hydralisks tore him to pieces with their spines.

I watched all of this unfold with some interest. I knew immediately that the fall of the Ork Warbiker was a major victory for Lamias, but it wasn't complete. She still needed to deal with the actual Warboss of this Ork Waaagh!, and Warboss Shakgrot Ironsnik was defending his 'kapitol' with his personal Gargant 'Da Supakruncha', four Stompas, over a hundred Squiggoths mounted with some armor and weapons, three hundred Deffkoptas and almost a hundred Bommers of various types. Many looted tanks and other ground vehicles also filled his vehicle depots that dotted the largest Ork city on the planet, populated by well over five million fully grown Orks and at least twenty million lesser Orkoid creatures including the Gretchins and Squigs. Against these, Lamias could do very little until she could muster a greater Zerg army.

I carefully and gently planted a suggestion in her mind, and she followed that intuition to begin raiding outlying Ork cities and consumed not only Ork flesh but their entire city of metals and chemicals. One by one, smaller Ork cities fell as none of the fallen cities could muster enough strength to defend against an army of Zerg. Red'un had been Ironsnik's enforcer, and it was the roar of the thousand-strong Ork bikers and the threat of the Warboss that the bikers had carried on their backs that had forced the scores of Ork cities to heel. Now, the Biker Boss was dead. The rising tension between the Ork cities over the lost influence of Ugfang Red'un aided in Lamia's design. Several factions arose among the Orks as the Nobs with great influences began coveting a place beside the Warboss or perhaps hoping Ironsnik may die in the coming conflict.

Of course, Ironsnik was no fool and he allowed nothing and no one challenge him. He had unwittingly taken advantage of Lamias' distraction as the campaign against the Chaos warband neared its peak. As Lamias paid greater attention to the last stage in the campaign against the forces of Chaos, her control over the Brood on the Ork worlds were delegated to a Patriarch, three Hiveseers and a dozen Overseers. With the Zerg command becoming less singular, the assault on the Ork forces began to show problems. I could have intervened, but I did not. I wanted to see how it all unfolded.

Ironsnik was smart for an Ork, and he noticed the pattern immediately. He began to utilize his superior air power to his advantage, while sending out large mobs to quell any challengers to his rule. He spent the next planetary week stomping so many lesser bosses of different cities. His hordes of Ork Nobz and thousands of Ork Boyz would clash against the mobs of lesser Warbosses, whose own forces maintained significantly less technology and less vehicles. It appeared that Ironsnik had hoarded all the advanced technologies that his Big Meks had developed. The only bosses who could resist the Warboss to any degrees were the Mek Bosses or those who maintained decent number of Mekboyz.

A Mega Nob who ruled a city built near a major iron mine challenged Ironsnik by uniting several Ork towns, fortresses and cities under his own banner. The newly rising boss was called Gitbasha, and he quickly grew into his own, thanks to Lamias actually taking a step back from attacking his new holdings. I was rather impressed that Lamias had figured out the Ork politics in such short time. Even as she assailed the Chaos Lord's forces great distance away, her commanders made sure to attack Ironsnik's forces just enough to give chances to the challengers.

I was pretty sure that it would not amount to much, but it would still give Lamias enough time to build up her Brood on the Ork worlds while she wrapped up the Chaos forces. Indeed, her forces had quickly taken hold of the second Ork world, and its few meager Ork fortresses were quickly isolated and unable to call for help while the main Ork world was embroiled in civil strife. It was a good move on Lamias' part, making the Warboss distracted. He would be a formidable opponent to deal with if he had truly united all the Orks under him once more.

Even as her Brood continued to attack the mining planet of Orks and wore them down little by little, the war between Gitbasha and Ironsnik continued to escalate until there was a full-scale war between them. Gitbasha allied himself with a Big Mek 'Cogbutch' and the Stormboy Nob 'Jumpastompa', forming a coalition against the great Warboss. Although they were still outnumbered two to one, it was going to cause plenty of damage to Ork forces when the dust settles, and Lamias was waiting for it.

Perhaps Lamias was lucky. The Ork civil war was still on by the time Har'crask was slain and the Chaos warband defeated. The main Zerg fleet and army entered the Ork's solar system but they were not noticed by the Orks too busy fighting among themselves. Even the Ork fleet had split itself down in the middle and Ork ships were firing upon each other when the Zerg fleet materialized over the red world. With its cities and fortresses isolated and under siege, the red world could not resist the arrival of more Zerg without its defense fleet. Although their massive cannons and hundreds of turrets attempted to fire at the incoming Drop Sacs and landing Leviathans, the Orks on the red planet began to fall.

By the time that Ironsnik finally beheaded Gitbasha after Cogbutch betrayed the newcomer, the Brood was ready to assail the main Ork world.

Next nineteen days were filled with so much war and battle that Orks were delighted beyond their wildest imagination. Then another fourteen days passed to reveal how the Orks were losing. One by one, each of the outer Ork cities fell, and its inhabitants destroyed and devoured. They noticed the 'gunk' on the ground began to cover everything. Entire farms of fungi died as the Creep consumed them whole, and thousands of Squigs drowned in that thick ooze before the Gretchens realized the danger to their herd. By the day thirty-two, only the mighty capital city of the Ork Warboss Ironsnik remained.

The siege was on. Hundreds of Banelords fired their Baneling-bombs into the Ork city defended by thousands of flak cannons and many scores of point-defense weapons made up of stolen Imperial tech. With all the surviving Orks being holed up into a single massive metropolis, the Ork capital brimmed with well over a hundred million Orks, actually outnumbering the besieging Zerg forces four-to-one, but Orks were losing thousands of their number each day while the Zerg army was reinforced by their thousands. It was but a matter of time before the Zerg army surrounding the Ork city would outnumber the defenders, and when that moment came, Orks would fall.

That did not sit very well with the Warboss, and he began to use his head. He attempted to break through the siege first to connect with other Ork cities, which he had presumed still surviving despite being blockaded. A dozen Battlewagons, hundreds of Looted Tanks and thousands of lesser vehicles poured out from the half-dozen gates around the walls of the Ork city, and laid waste to the Zergs surrounding it. Thousands died on each side as the Ork Boyz escorting the vehicles could not survive that waves of Zerglings and Roaches. However, the Warboss made a critical mistake in thinking other cities had survived.

By the time that the Ork armored columns had reached other Ork cities, they only witnessed Creep-covered ruins, and some even had Zerg Hive Clusters being morphed into existence. They attempted to purge as many Zerg from the ruins but each city and fortress visited by the Ork vehicles only brought their morals lower. More than that, each ruined city contained many Zergs, particularly those of anti-armor persuasion. Ultralisks with Psi-Blade upgrade, Hydralisks with explosive acidic spine mutation, Defilers and Infesters full of psionic energy to cast their Plague and Fungal Growth, and thousands of Zerglings and Roaches to throw themselves into the treads of tanks, and all of them began to take a toll on the Ork armors. Each visit to fallen Ork cities reduced the number of Ork forces little by little, and by the time the armored column had returned to the capital and pierced through the blockade to re-enter the city, there were less than one third of its original number.

Second attempt by the Warboss to break the stalemate was to commit his sizable air force. Hundreds of aircraft took to air and rained down death to Zerg, or at least they had attempted to do so. With so many anti-air defenses of other Ork cities now silenced, Lamias was quite willing to commit her own fliers to the battle. Thousands of Scourges tangled with the Orks' fliers, and they met an embarrassing end as they could not deal with the massive damages caused by the Scourges. Then Mutalisks, Gattlisks, Guardians and Brood Lords assailed the city, laying waste to the outer defenses that could not strike the long-ranged fliers while there were simply too many Mutalisks to wipe out. In fact, tens of thousands of Mutalisks and Gattlisks died, and since they all had Posthumous Acidity mutation, which turned their rent flesh into pustules of highly toxic acid that reacted against several types of atmospheric gas particularly oxygen.

Since it took a couple of seconds for the torn out flesh of the Zerg fliers to morph into bags of explosive acid, it was quite effective in literally raining down acid against the Orks. The sacs of acid exploded after reaching critical mass, and they sizzled in the air only to shower the Orks in their exothermic reaction. The acid burned hotter than boiling water, and though it didn't amount to much in small amounts, the build up of heat by massive amounts of such exothermic reaction set things aflame. Fuel tanks and other flammable materials caught fire and soon a large chunk of the Ork capital's outer areas were burning.

Lamias took this chance to ram the walls and gates with her Ultralisks, several of which had grown to full size during the campaign and even a leader appeared amongst them. An Ultralisk that had given itself the name 'Amok' came into existence after it had slaughtered its way toward a minor Warboss of an Ork city. It was already near its full growth when it was sent with six other Ultralisks to break the will of the large Ork. Other Ultralisks had been slain but Amok had not only survived but it thrived in the endless slaughter. Its mighty Kaiser Blades were utterly soaked in Ork blood even as it chewed off the great Ork's head and devoured the soul. The consumption of so many souls had finally caused its evolution, and perhaps it was the eating and biting through a rank of Weird Boyz or it already had such potential, but it had evolved powerful psionic abilities.

Fully gaining sentience, I took notice, and communed with it. Then I granted it immortality. Anything other than immense psychic or psionic attack would allow Amok's Essence, now closely tied to my own consciousness, to return to me. As long as I had his Essence, I could always remake him with ease. In any case, the massive Ultralisk with four full-sized Kaiser Blade with serrated edge and natural Psi Blade took command of his fellow Ultralisks and rammed into the Ork city. The flames that Amok spouted from his maw allowed him to wipe out any remaining infantry defenders.

The Warboss was not giving up. He sent the remaining armored divisions against the Brood. Tanks and other crude Ork vehicles fired everything they had against the Ultralisks and the inevitable march of other Zerg creatures. Also, many millions of Orks that resided on the outskirt of the Ork capital came rushing out from every cracks and holes. The melee was terrible, and though many Ork tanks were destroyed, the presence of nearly a hundred Killa Kans and Deff Dreads took a grievous toll on the Brood, forcing Lamias to fall back until the besiegers could be reinforced.

Next few days saw more such actions, each Zerg push greatly weakening the Ork resistance.

Warboss Shakgrot Ironsnik then did something no one could have foreseen. Even I was quite surprised when the large hill upon which his massive fortress-tower stood exploded. From the exploding dust and rocks appeared a massive vessel of almost-emerald color with dark hues and metallic gleam. Strange runes and lines were etched across its surface even as it rose higher into the air. It was a giant pentagonal pyramid on top with very long pentagonal prism, whose pentagon cap was significantly smaller than the base of the pyramid, reaching so far down that I was amazed at the size of the thing. The height of the thing was easily six kilometers or more, and even the prism section was at least a kilometer on each side.

Strange energy energy weapons fired from the edges of the pyramid's underside. Bolts of bright emerald lights shattered upon the surface of the planet and incinerated my Zerg along with any remaining Orks. The Warboss was scorching the planet, and even as the cyan-hued energy shield that enveloped the massive vessel brooked no attack from anything my Zerg could throw at it. Not even the Warp Rift attacks of the Raidens would find purchase as the energy shield seemed to block such Warp attacks, allowing the Warp Rifts to form outside the shields. Lamias and I watched as the daemons hack away at the shield even as they were crushed by it. Then as a final insult, the tip of the pyramid fired a bright green arc of lightning that fired a dozen Leviathans in the high orbit before flashing out of existence.

Although curious about the ship, I was no longer interested in Lamias campaign any more, and veered my attention from her. I only received vague report afterward.


According to Lamias that while the pirates were easily cast aside, the Imperials quickly retreated every military assets to Vatas Prime, withdrawing support from the Feral Worlds and Feudal Worlds. The Zerg ignored the six outlying worlds and focused the fleet strength against the defenders of Vatas Prime. It was a difficult fight as the two fleets wrestled four solar-day cycles. Having won a Pyrrhic victory, the Imperial fleet returned with most of their strength greatly weakened. Yet, by the time they had arrived, the Swarm had already landed on the planet using hundreds of thousands of Drop Sacs to field their ground forces.

Lamias deliberately took out the two major factions in the sector before the Imperial holds. Both the Chaos Warband and the Ork Empire had fallen to the Swarm. Without any interference from either greater factions, the Imperial forces in the sector could offer very little resistance. Subduing Vatas Prime was not a hard campaign, albeit a long one. It took almost two months before every human on the planet was slain. Only then, the Zerg moved upon the six Imperial worlds, none of which had the technology or the strength of arms to resist the Swarm.

Then the Lamias did something unexpected. Personally landing in her vaguely humanoid form, the Hierarch Lamias on these worlds and spoke with the lords and leaders of these worlds. They surrendered and submitted themselves. In return for taxation in the forms of tributes of psychic potentials and minerals, these worlds were guaranteed safety under the Zerg rule. Vatas Prime and other conquered worlds were quickly turned into Zerg Worlds, full of Zerg whose number quickly swelled.


END OF CHAPTER 53