Disclaimer: I do not own Starcraft or its affiliates
Flight to a New World
Day ? Year 12
"Alexis? Are you there?" Scott called out, bending down as he ducked under the branch of another dead creep tree. "Hey, c'mon out! Krane's kicked the bucket, he won't be bothering us anymore!"
Silence. That didn't bode well in Scott's mind. But there was little he could do about that, save continually calling out for his little sister. Zestra thankfully had a rough idea as to where her reincarnation pod was, so the search wasn't entirely in the dark for Scott as he stumbled around, alone in the seemingly endless forest of dead trees. Maybe he should've asked Zestra to come with him...? No, it was far more important that she got the troops boarded onto the Leviathan.
He kept calling till his voice got hoarse, then he drained energy from the creep to keep calling. It never occurred to him to attempt using the creep to seek out his sister, but that was excusable for Scott's rather distressed mind. Logical steps to finding his family were shattered as desperation and concern overtook reasoning.
Where in the world was she?! There was no way the Lord of Blades would dare leave his sister behind in the dark! Scott took in a deep breath. "ALEXIS! WHERE ARE YOU?!" He bellowed, his voice echoing for miles around him. There was no response.
But then, he heard it. A sniffle. It wasn't a cry of response, or a shout of "over here!" Rather, it was just somebody sniffing their nose as if they had just been crying. Since Zerg units couldn't cry...that must be Alexis! "Hold on, I'm on my way!"
That one sound was more than enough for his sharp ears, as Scott nimbly made his way across, dodging tree corpse after corpse. Branches snapped and cracked as he paid no head to those obstructing his path, the Lord of Blades clawing his way through the dead foliage with little care to the ruckus and mess he was making. Eventually though, Scott stumbled as he broke out of the foliage and into a small cave opening. She was inside!
But then, his foot slipped on something and Scott stumbled, thrown off balance. He quickly regained his footing though and was able to avoid falling to the ground like a fool. "What the...?" The male Overmind muttered, looking down at the offending item, or rather, fluid. "Is this blood?"
His worries multiplying, Scott descended into the cave and found it to be very small, very discreet, very hidden. A perfect spot to hide a reincarnation pod, as Arthogious was certainly no fool. It wouldn't go completely unnoticed, but it would be enough for all intents and purposes.
Immediately, the Lord of Blades' eyes were drawn to a rather managed corpse of a Zergling near the entrance. It looked as if it had been eviscerated from the inside out, Scott noted as he kneeled and examined the wounds. There was no sign of any struggle or resistance, which meant that the Zergling didn't even know that death was sneaking up upon it. That was most concerning, as these units had the most acute of senses.
Then, a sniff. Scott's head snapped upwards as he rose back up, his eyes locking onto a single small figure in the center of the cave. Her knees were drawn up so as to block her face, but from the blonde hair alone, Scott knew. "Alexis?"
"Big Bro..." She didn't even bother to look up, instead just seemingly shutting her body off even more. "I...I-!"
"It's alright now Alexis. Krane is dead," Scott reassuringly told, cautiously approaching his younger sister. Something about her seemed...off. Was it because he hadn't seen her in a while? "Everything is going to be fine. Just-"
"Don't come any closer!" The Princess of Blades' muffled voice echoed throughout the cave as her older brother recoiled back, surprised by the sudden demand. "Just...just leave me alone!"
"What's the issue? You know that the two of us can overcome anything-!" Scott took a halting step forwards, and immediately regretted it.
A bloodcurdling scream arose from the small girl's body, a blunt show of psionic power as everything was blown away near her. The male Overmind found himself flying through the air and slamming into a cave wall as he was caught in the blast. He let out a grunt of pain before shakily getting back on his feet. "Alexis...?"
"Please, just leave me! I'm a goddamn monster!" Now, her head came upwards for a brief second before ducking back into her body, sobbing. But that was all Scott needed to see, a quick glimpse of his sister's face, and what he saw troubled him. No, it disturbed him!
And yet, he could not bear to mention it to himself, his elder sister, or anyone. He knew that this could only be resolved by Alexis herself, as she came to terms as to who she really was. So that was all he did, save a final few parting words to his crying sister, "I'll see you in a couple decades...hopefully."
O O O
"My lord..."
"I don't want to talk about it," Scott harshly ordered and the Broodmother flinched. She couldn't claim to understand familial duty, but she could understand when a coworker close to her was emotionally torn. Such was something that could perhaps be said to be a weakness of the Swarm.
The Overmind, having ensured that her line of questioning was discontinued, now turned to face the wide opening in the side of the Leviathan's belly. Right now, the two were in the main "command" room of the beast, a place where they could supervise any battle that could arise around them. A small pool of Zerg fluids was centered in the middle of the room, and it should very well be mentioned that this room was completely organic and fleshy. In fact, the entire inside of the Leviathan was made out of its flesh! It was a complicated, but brilliant organic system that this creature was created with, so as to allow troop transport and production.
However, the Leviathan was notoriously slow in comparison. Scott could already see how the Swarm's conquest of the galaxy become slow and gradual, as they were limited by the speed of their flagships. No matter though; the Swarm, once it came, was endless.
"So what is our first target?" The Lord of Blades asked, mentally signaling for the Leviathan to take off. "Have you found any planets of worth nearby?"
"We have indeed detected a planet nearby that I believe fits your request."
"Really?" Finally, Scott perked up at some news! "It's an ice planet?"
"Correct. Due to the close proximity of the planets in this situation, we should be there in a few days."
"Wow, that quick. Impressive. Alright then, let's go make our first conquest as Hive Fleet Basilisk!"
O O O
Day ? Year 12
Scott took in a deep breath before clambering in, flinching as the slimy fluids engulfed his body. But such was the nature of the Swarm and he quickly got over it, his breathing shallow as the drop pod's top closed up. Zestra, I'm ready. Are the rest of the troop prepared?
The vanguard units are indeed prepared, my lord. The drone wave is also ready.
Then I see no reason to postpone this any further. Begin the droops.
The Leviathan shuddered as small fleshy and organic pods began detaching from its sides, tentacles streaming behind them oval shaped containers in space. They looked so minuscule in comparison to the massive Leviathan that loomed above the planet in white. Already, the Leviathan was growing new pods to replace those that just been fired off.
The trip through the atmosphere was, in Scott's opinion, surprisingly comfortable. The pod was well protected against the intense heat of entering the planet, meaning that all he felt as something akin to a hot springs dip before the temperature drastically dropped as the pod entered the actual planet's air. Once the Zerg container exploded in the ground, the fluids inside the pod had gone luke warm; the Lord of Blades was very glad for that as he rolled against the snowy ground, eyes darting for any threats.
Around him, more pods were exploding as they impacted, the Zerg units plopping out and immediately assisting their Overmind. Information streamed into his head and Scott nodded slowly as he mentally signaled Zestra back on the Leviathan. All clear, send in the drones. We make our mark here!
O O O
Barely a few hours already, and a full Zerg base was in full motion already, mass producing units that would assist in subjugating in any possible native species on this world. Scott was most definitely please; even if they had encountered hostile action, the Swarm proved capable of following his orders to the letter, which would be important. Future planetary conquests may not have such a smooth opening.
"My lord." Scott turned to see Zestra approaching, the Broodmother making a brief curtsy before continuing. "Our Zergling scouts have found an...item of interest. I recommend sending in a strike force to investigate."
The Overmind quickly thought about this before shaking his head. "Well, our forces are still gathering, so I think that it should just be me and you. Gives us something to do while the Swarm warms up."
"As you wish. Shall I lead you to the discovery now?"
"Yes please."
Together, the two walked into the snowy wastelands, leaving behind the Zerg base and the creep area. Barely into it, a ferocious blizzard kicked up, all but obstructing Scott's view as he tried peering around in vain hope of finding the item of interest first, but Zestra knew the exact location and guided the duo perfectly. "There," She rasped as the two reached the top of a snowbank, giving vision to the valley below despite the harsh blizzard.
Scott sucked in his breath as his eyes scanned the massive thing in shadow down below in the valley. It had been years since he had last seen this, and even then, this thing was rare to find in actual execution. But there was no way he could mistake that oh so familiar shadow. "That's a Terran Battlecruiser."
"What?"
"There's another race out there..." Scott dazedly muttered, sliding down the snowy slope and slowly approaching the massive warship, placing a hand on its cold, metallic surface. "They are like us, or what we were before the Swarm. They...they are our foes."
"I was not aware that there could truly be any worthy competitor to the Swarm," Zestra scoffed, following her master down onto the Battlecruiser's level. "What can they offer to dash our hopes of conquest?"
"Things like this." The Overmind gestured to the starship in front of them. "What they lack up in organic capability, they make up with flexibility...what's this?"
On the side, covered in a thin layer of snow, was a name. It was barely noticeable if one were to look at the Battlecruiser as a whole, but at ground level, it was very much visible. Scott brushed away some of the frozen ice covering the name and read it out loud.
"Anubis."
A/N: Annnndddddd that's the finale for the Zerg Rebirth!
As always, here is my final thoughts/rants below, but you can skip that all. Just please remember to read the last paragraph!
To be entirely honest, I think that the Zerg Rebirth is the hardest one to write. The issue I consistently had was the lack of multiple characters that I could use to actually flesh out the Swarm's leadership. Hopefully though, as the Protoss Rebirth comes along, that will no longer be an issue and I should be able to make more out of it.
For the Tyranid part of the Swarm, I decided to opt with more allusions and names rather than physical units. It just seemed way too complex to actually link up various Tyranid units from the WH40K universe to Starcraft's Swarm, though you may have noticed me dabbling a bit in that earlier on. Overall though, I think that was the right choice.
Alright, now for final words: while I'm not afraid or embarrassed to call this a good story, I certainly felt that it is very weak compared to the Terran Rebrith. I apologize if you felt the same way. But as always, I'll leave it for you to review! Please, as always, review this final chapter and tell me how you felt about this story as a whole. Don't be afraid to let out all your feelings! I thank you for reading and hope that you will stick around for the Protoss Rebirth in a month's time.
