-Chapter 30-
-Evolution & Counter Attack-
Kerrigan stood atop a Overlord surveying the battlefield far below. After the death of Zasz his brood went mad from the psionic backlash of his death. And without any overriding will they started attacking anything and everything including each other. Glancing to her forces left flank Kerrigan saw a cloud of dirt kicked up by a explosion of telekinetic force. Nova had just killed a dozen Hydralisk and continued engaging the baserkering brood with the forces under her command. Glancing to the right flank Kerrigan spotted the twins enveloping a whole one kilometer area in flames incinerating all enemies within. They had fought their way through the besarking hords of the Garm Brood before Nova and Kerrigan showed up to exterminate the rampaging brood. And after taking a moment to recover they joined in on the hunt. Kerrigan felt somewhat envious of their pyrokinesis but after her evolution from devouring that hightemplar her own powers has grown considerably.
"Full charge" she ordered her main forces.
Zergling's, Hydralisk and Defilers who had stayed back until now charged towards the center of the Garm broods hive cluster. The Defiler proving its worth blanketing the battlefield in their dark swarm and blocking enemy line of sight, allowing ambush strategies where the open landscape would normally not allow. And their plague attack ate through many enemies armor and flesh given enough time compromising it so that Zerglings and Hydralisk could more easily finish them off making the battle that much more easy.
Though the leaderless brood had started massacring each other at first, as time went on they became oddly more organised and stopped attacking each other and instead only attacked other broods. The hive cluster even started pumping out more breeds if only random types and numbers. But after Kerrigan and Nova engaged the Garm brood under Daggoths order the Gram broods unit production and attacks became overtime more focused and organized. If they were allowed to exist on their own the Gram brood would become a major threat to the rest of the swarm.
Far below Kerrigans forces broke through the hive clusters remaining defenders while their main forces were distracted by both Nova and the twins flanking attacks. The few dozens of renegade Zerg that remained were quickly killed off. The Zerglings and Hydralisk under Kerrigans command quickly killed off the defenders with the Defilers backing them up from the rear.
Normally Kerrigan would have thought that the Defiler wouldn't be so useful but after seeing the results the gears of her mind started turning as she started thinking up new ways to make use of them.
With the last enemy defenders dead Kerrigans forces attacked the Hive cluster proper encountering the final static defenses. The Spore and Sunken colonies. Zerglings rushed the enemy sunken colonies easily evading their underground spear like tentacle attacks while Hydralisk sniped them from afar. And the Spore colonies were handled by the Defilers slowly eating through their bodies with their Plague attack. As the wave of attacker's overwhelmed it the Garm broods defenses crumbled. Soon after Kerrigans forces directly attacked the core hive cluster directly. Sensing their hive in-danger the remaining Garm forces retreated to their Hive only to be followed and wiped out by Nova and the Twins forces. The landscape was covered in bloody gore and viscera from the Garms forces destruction.
A short time later Kerrigan, Nova and the twins gathered at the former hive clusters location where Drones were already morphing into a new hive cluster.
"Five down a hundred to go." stated Nova.
Zasz, Garm brood may have been a small brood but in the swarm a brood numbering tens of millions was considered a medium size. And the Garm brood all though one of the smallest was still in the several millions with hundreds of Hive clusters across Char.
Kerrigan glanced back and up as reinforcements from Aegis main hive clusters arrived. Hundreds of Overlords filled with Drones, Zerglings, Hydralisk, Queens and Defilers landed around them. The Drones quickly got to work joining the rest morphing into new buildings or gathering biomass while the Queens coordinated the other breeds into defensive formations in preparation for the Rest of the Garm Broods counter attack.
"This will take a long time if we let them multiply too quickly," stated Danial. "We should strike their innermost Hive clusters with Guardians and Mutalisk to cripple or slow their production."
"I agree."
"Me too." said Lala and Nova.
They turned to Kerrigan who was still watching the new forces establish the new hive cluster beach head.
"We can wait a bit until then." said Kerrigan turning back to them. "If we hit them too soon with a air attack they will increase the number of spore colonies and be more troublesome later. We'll focus on containing them and creating a massive air force to wipe out their hive clusters in massive quick strikes so they can't react or adapt. And then pierce into their core hive's with our ground forces."
The commanders agreed on this strategy and split up to surround and isolate the Garm brood and limit their ability to expand and grow or to gain more resources while increasing their own by striping biomass from the Garm brood one unit and hive cluster at a time.
A day later a massive airforce of a Thousand Mutalisk and five hundred Guardians were ready. Looming over the landscape the thousands strong air-force simultaneously attacked ten Garm brood hive cluster's in the western plains completely wiping them out and opening a giant hole in the Garbroods defences. Kerrigan and her forces moved in building up more hive clusters while the twins attacked the surrounding enemy hive clusters that were already building up their air defense in response to the air attack to keep them from attacking the new beach head. Meanwhile Nova was leading multiple small forces in hit and run attacks that targeted Garm Spires and Greater Spires limiting their own air forces and keeping them from producing anymore Behemoths or Guardians. Daggoth had provided support by wiping out all Garm Behemoths and other forces in space while Kerrigan and her forces destroyed the Brood on the surface. Truth be told Daggoth could have wiped the renegade brood out by himself but with the Overmind still in a state of deep sleep the Oldest and most powerful Cerebrate was left controlling and leading the whole of the swarm and couldn't waste time dealing with a small renegade brood.
-3 days later-
A shadow cast over the final Garm hive cluster as a fleet of Guardians flew closer like a dark rain cloud. Spore colonies fired at the threat only for their attacks to be intercepted by formations of Mutalisk protecting the Guardians. The sky was a-light with explosions of bio weapons as the cloud of Guardians continued on their way. The spore attacks became more focused and concentrated as the Guardian's closed in on their target but such tactic was pointless as the Mutalisk were joined by Scourges. The living missiles accelerated from high altitude dive bombarding the Spore colonies at terminal velocity while they were distracted by the Guardians and Mutalisk.
Explosions echoed one after the other as the high-velocity living missiles impacted the Spore colonies until they were all gone. With the anti-air defenses eliminated the Garm brood sent what few Scourges it had to kill as many enemies they could. The Mutalisk again blocked the enemies desprit attack but a few Guardians still fell from the attacks of the enemy Scourges. But not enough. Opening their launchers the Guardians attacked bombarding the last Garm brood hive cluster all at once sending a deadly rain of bio-bombs slamming into the enemy base like a rain of bombs filled with acid. When the dust cleared the Gram brood were no more.
Then as Kerrigan smiled in victory the presence of the Overmind flooded back into the minds of the swarm.
"Behold, my long silence is now broken." declared the Overmind as it regained consciousness. "And I am made whole once more. The cunning Protoss have dared strike down that which was immortal. For the Protoss who slayed Zasz are unlike anything we have faced before. These Dark templar radiate energies much like my own, and it is by these energies that they have caused me harm."
The whole of the swarm continued listening to the Overminds words.
"Yet shall their overwhelming pride be their downfall. Fore when the assassin Zeratul murdered Zasz, his mind touched mine, many of his secrets were made known to me. I have taken from his mind the location of the Protoss homeworld of Aiur which has eluded my eye for these hundreds of years. But no longer. But now is not yet the time to strike my children for in my awakening I have sensed my greatest prize Kerrigan has undergone a evolution. One all other Zerg have failed to achieve until now. Kerrigan."
"Yes father?"
"You have supped upon the essence of a Protoss and evolved. Now my suspicions have been proven correct. The energies of the Protoss Khala and the Zerg hive mind are much the same but still vastly different as they are like night and day and as such in compatible. However the mental energies of the Terrans are very much the same as the Protoss. Even though I knew of the psionic potential of the Terrans their power was feeble compared to the Protoss and were not yet ready to be harvested. Until you, Kerrigan were found with Nova. And now my grand plan can begin. Kerrigan, Nova, Abathur come!"
The spider slug creature quickly approached the Overmind with a great many of his fellow evolution masters who began preparing the process of evolution for the Overmind. Hours later they were followed by Kerrigan and her group who quickly returned to the Chars primary Hive cluster.
"What is your will father?" Kerrigan asked the Overmind.
"With your essence I will evolve and usher in a new era for the Swarm. But your power is still needed and your life preserved. Your life's blood will be transfused by Abathur and his kin into a my body and I will enter a deep sleep to evolve as I absorb your essence that is now intertwined with that of the Protoss, and gain the same ability to devour their Essence. And from this will I evolve the whole of the swarm and we will become... Perfected beings and rule over this galaxy and spread beyond its boundaries to the universe beyond. Daggoth, you will protect me as I remain with in my cocoon and when I wake again we will invade Aiur to sup the essence of the Protoss."
"Overmind." Stated Daggoth. "our enemies still remain on Char. We must ensure that the Dark templar can cause you no harm while you undergo you evolution. Aegis you Nova and the other Infested Terrans will deal with the Dark templar while I protect the Overmind, Abathur and the other Evolution masters while they work."
Abathur approached Kerrigan. "Extraction of essence will greatly weaken Kerrigan. But not kill. Prepare."
"If is the will of the Overmind I will gladly give my very blood to him." Kerrigan layed down and was surrounded by Evolution masters.
Nova watched as Kerrigans blood was extracted by Abathur and the other evolution masters before they altered it and transferred it into the massive body of the Overmind. She was somewhat jealous of Kerrigan but in another part of her mind she was glad that she didn't have to go through that and yet another part of her wanted to evolve like Kerrigan did. Wanting to become more than what she was now. And yet in another far corner of her mind she desperately wanted to see her sister Clara again. Nova upon realizing such thoughts shook her head, surprised at her own train of thought. But she has a mission to complete and quickly refocused.
"Aegis, Danial, La'la. Were leaving to hunt the Protoss."
Nova and her group left the primary hive cluster beginning their hunt for the Protoss forces on Char. With the taking of the land and resources formally belonging to the Garm brood the Aegis brood had swelled greatly in size and number. Thanks to her link with Aegis Nova knew of the distant hive clusters on Red stone 3. Now that the brood had multiple commanders Nova got a plan to divide and conquer.
"Aegis you go to Red stone 3 and collect reinforcements and resources from the hive clusters there while La'la, Danial and I search for the Protoss."
The Cerebrate nodded. "Very well. I will return when you find the Protoss or do you prefer me and the reinforcements to remain in the wings until needed?"
Nova thought a moment. "I'll call you when your needed. Gather your forces until then."
Aegis skittered off on his many legs towards a Behemoth from Daggoths brood since his brood has yet to spawn any of his own. Which upon thinking on realized it was something he needed to do. Perhaps while he's on Red stone 3. It is a rich pool of resources to draw upon for such a thing.
Leading a army of thousands of Mutalisk and tens of thousands of Zerglings Danial and La'la marched across the continent to the region the Protoss were last known to have occupied. Meanwhile Nova remained in the Aegis broods primary hive cluster while the others searched. There was no reason to go herself unless something was found. She also realised the need to have a safe method of transporting her forces and seeing the need to expand the broods power Nova ordered the morphing of several Hives and dozens of new Lairs. The waiting was annoying but time was a resource she could expand. While she was waiting for the Hives and Lairs to morph Nova decided to pay Kerrigan a visit.
Riding a Mutalisk over to the growing Cocoon of the Overmind Nova was surprised to see just how massive the form of the Overmind was. The base of the living structure was ringed by dozens of Evolution masters all tending to the cocoon. Nova observed them at work as she made two passes over the structure. Turning her attention to the surrounding area She quickly spotted Kerrigan in a Spawning pool that seems to have been altered for her use. Landing close by Nova could see that dozens of tubs connected to the spawning pool to the creep and extended all over the area.
"You awake?" asked Nova to Kerrigan resting in the green pool.
"Im... having to constantly create blood for the Overminds evolution." said Kerrigan, clearly feeling uncomfortable.
"It doesn't look all that comfortable in there."
"It's not. Have you found the Protoss yet?"
"No. But I have the twins and our faster breeds searching. Aegis is off world gathering more forces on Red stone 3 until we need him."
"Good. Your thinking about what you would need before hand. But don't over think. Hesitation can be a crippling thing too."
Nova nodded. "Understood. " Nova hesitated a moment as she thought about her next question. "There are plenty of Protoss corpses where you last engaged them. I wonder if I can evolve like you if I devour some of their essence?"
Kerrigan opened her eyes glaring. "Only fresh essence is viable. Don't eat the old carrion as it rots. We Zerg are predators not scavengers."
Nova felt a sharp pain in her chest at that comment. "Yes. Your right."
Kerrigan closed her eyes as more of her blood was extracted. "Anything else you wanted to ask?"
Nova watched as the tubes undulated as they pumped out more of Kerrigans blood. "No not really. I'll just have to find a worthy kill and devour it myself then."
Having nothing else to say Nova left returning to the Aegis broods core hives. By the time she arrived the new Hives and Lairs had started shedding their cocoons. Now having access to the whole of the Zerg arsenal Nova quickly started creating Nydus canals and Ultralisk caverns. In but a few hours over a hundred were completed and they began growing a small army of the giant beast's. Nova mentally went through a series of scenarios on the best and worst ways of using such creatures. Their heavy armor allowed them to survive damage that would easily kill other Zerg but they were limited by a lack of speed and no ranged abilities relying on their massive Kaiser blades.
But remembering the Spore symbiotes Nova quickly allocated resources and the use of a evolution chamber to alter the symbiotes to match the Ultralisks size. After a hour of tinkering with the symbiotes essence Nova grinned as the new heavy spore symbiote cannon was completed. But they needed testing. Ultralisks started bursting from their caverns one after the other mere moments later, as if eager to be test their new weapons. However Nova quickly found a problem however. The spore symbiotes would normally use their own tendrils to crawl onto the would be host or be hoisted up by the host themselves. But since the new heavy spore symbiotes were so heavy and big and the Ultralisk lacked any hands, it wouldn't work. Brain-storming Nova the problem came up with a simple solution. Returning to the evolution chamber Nova started altering the Ultralisks caverns essance to include a chamber on top that could grow two Heavy spore symbiotes. After a few hours of working and waiting for their upgrade and growth to complete the Ultralisk returned to their caverns of birth to be equipped with the new weapons. The first heavy spore symbiotes were just recycled.
The four legged giants lumbered out of the caverns newly armed with their first ranged weapons pointing sky ard from both of their shoulders. From the data Nova could take from the swarms collective memories she learned the Overmind had created the spore symbiotes recently in anticipation their final attack on the Protoss. Still one of the Zergs main drawbacks were their lack of ranged attacks. Seeing this and wanting to expand on it she started altering the essence of the spore symbiote cannon creating a sub type that instead fires poison spines like the Hydralisk. Creating differing versions of it and the original spore symbiote cannon, one type for Zerglings and Hydralisk, another for the Ultralisk and a even larger version for Behemoths. Nova blinked in surprise that she didn't consider mounting any of the spore symbiotes on Overlords or Defilers. Re-organizing her thoughts Nova started testing her ideas out as there maybe a need for the new weapons in near future.
Danial sat atop a Mutalisk as it rushed over a mountain ranged hundreds of miles away from were Kerrigan first fought against the Protoss forces some time before. He and his sister had been slowly and meticulously searched the surrounding regions but has found nothing yet. After that they started expanding the search area and spreading their forces out like a spiders web. Either they would find the Protoss or the Protoss would kill the scouts. Either way their location would be discovered.
La'la walked along a volcanic mountain range with a escort of Hydralisk around her and Mutalisk flying over head. Looking down at the valley below La'la surveyed the landscape for any unnatural structures, also making note to look through the eyes of her Mutalisk as they searched the whole valley. Everything looked clear at first but then as a group of a hundred Zerglings exited the valleys far end to search beyond where they suddenly got cut off. Sensing their deaths. La'la tried making contact with them only to fail. Sensing that she's may have found a trace of the Protoss La'la called her brother and sent more of her forces in to investigate.
A few minutes later.
"What did you find?" asked Danial landing on the back of a Mutalisk.
La'la pointed across the valley. "I lost some Zergling;s over at the end of the Valley. There may be enemies beyond."
At the same time La'la's second recon force arrived where the first force had lost contact at. They looked around sniffed the ground as they searched for any clue. A little ways into a tight path leading between the mountains they found a pile of boulders and dirt which looked to be a landslide. The rocks had trace scents from Zerg under them. La'la saw through the eyes of her units and sensed what they smelled.
"It looks like a landslide crushed my units." Looking through her units eyes she surveyed the solid rock walls finding evidence of explosives. To La'la's knowledge the protoss don't use explosives. At least not in situations like this. Her information coming from the swarms collective memories going back many decades. However the blast marks and smell's were more indicative of Terran explosives.
"Brother I believe there are Terrans here. Perhaps aiding the Protoss?"
"What! We need to inform Nova about this."
A few moments later. Aegis brood primary hive cluster.
Nova watched as her new army of spore symbiote cannon armed Overlords and Ultralisk bombarded a hill blasting hundreds of creators across its surface. Danial and La'la had just reported to her.
"Terrans! Must be Raynor. I don't know how but it seems like he had made contact with the Protoss and teamed up it seems. Well they are on a hostile planet and wouldn't be able to survive for long without help."
"How should we proceed?" Danial projected.
"Use Mutalisk to scout farther ahead. I'll prepare my forces." Nova replied.
Nova turned to her Nydus canal's newly completed. Nova knew she would need to establish new hives close to the enemy if she was going to use the Nydus canal. Thinking up a solution Nova sent out orders to Drones in every hive cluster under her control, between her current location to the supposed location of the Protoss and Terrans forces. Drones quickly morphed and new Nydus connection points were established. Char already had a extensive network of Nydus canals under its surface but none in the regions the enemies supposedly were. But there were still many tunnels and hive clusters along the way, so it was still a good plan to expand and use them.
While the Nydus canals expanded the wing of Mutalisk the twins sent crossed the mountains quickly spotting several clusters of golden buildings in the distance. A beam shot through the sky annihilating one Mutalisk. Being more connected with it and seeing through its eyes Danial jerked in pain as the creatures body was vaporized instantly. He ordered the others to retreat but more beams shot them down in mere seconds.
"The Protoss are across the mountains. And they have Tachyon cannons."
"Meaning any and all air attacks will be nearly suicide." stated La'la.
"La'la, Danial. Just establish a hive cluster there and wait for me." stated Nova who had been monitoring the situation.
A few hour's later Nova arrived with a army of air and ground breeds. At the head were Overlords carrying Ultralisk with mounted heavy spore symbiote cannons. Nova landed at the small hive cluster at the base of the mountains the twins had started and ordered her Drones to begin constructing Nydus canals.
"Nova,"said Danial. "it's not like the Protoss are going to sit back and watch as we gather our forces. When we were guarding Zasz they appeared out from nowhere in a instant. Their stealth abilities are far more advanced than a ghosts."
Nova turned to Him. "I thought about that. Our best detectors are Overlords with antenne and Spore colonies. But there's also one more were not using to its best ability."
The twins shared a questioning glance. "And that would be?"
"Creep of course. I've played with its essence in the evolution chamber while on my way here and i've successfully added the spore colonies detection ability to new version of it while also making the creep more sensitive to intruders stepping on it. That is to say any none Zerg walking on it will set off a alarm. If we spread this new creep over the old kind and surround our hive clusters with it then the Dark-templar should be detectable."
"That sounds like a interesting alternative to the problem." stated La'la. "Also while we waited for you to arrive we scouted the valley beyond the mountains. It seems the Protoss have hunkered themselves down in a dead end valley. Only one way in by land and their anti-air defenses are deadly. I don't think we can get in by air power no matter how many we send in."
Nova turned glaring at the mountain separating her forces from the valley the Protoss and their Terran allies were hold up in.
"So they are forcing us to go in by land then. Bottle necking us as it were. We'll have to make use of the Nydus canal then."
Nova brain stormed a strategy to break through the Protoss's defenses. In the meantime they spread the new detection creep over the normal Creep while spawning more buildings and Nydus canals to bring in reinforcements. Then one hour after Nova arrived both the suns were at their highest. Glancing at them a moment while using a hand to block their blinding light Nova turned her gaze to the army arrayed before her. They numbered 100 Drones, 7000 Zerglings, 3500 Hydralisk, 200 Defilers, 100 Ultralisks, 150 queens to act as field commanders, 400 Mutalisk, 260 Guardians.
Nova wanted to have more forces gathered, but the Protoss may counter attack if they think the Zerg are being too slow to attack. She told the twins to establish a new Hive cluster across the mountains to the west while She dealt with any enemies in front blocking their path.
"All forces attack." ordered Nova.
The swift Zerglings dashed into the mountain pass charging at full speed as the first wave with the Hydralisk, Defiler's, Ultralisk, Drones and Queens close behind. A tied of claws and fangs poured out from the mountain pass scattering in multiple directions as the land opened up.
On a elevated hill a few miles wide and a few miles distant from the mountain pass a Templar officer stood with rows of dozens of Dragoons and a dozen Reavers arrayed behind him. His eyes narrowed at the sight if a flood of Zerg forces entering the valley.
"All forces attack!" he ordered
Dragoons opened fire spitting out a rain of thousands of white hot boltes while the Reavers deployed their explosive scarb drones and fired their back mounted cannon. Dozens of Zerglings were blasted to atoms but the vast majority of them were too scattered to be hit so easily. Detecting the threat, the horde of Zerglings changed direction collectively turning to the hill the Protoss were raining destruction at them from. Seeing the Protoss holding the high ground through the eyes of her forces Nova split the Zerglings into three groups. One group charged up the middle while two other groups flanked both sides of the hill splitting the Protosses fire three ways. Beams of burning energy and barrages of thousand's of energy bolts ripped into the attacking Zerglings as they charged up the hill. Nova watched as her forces were blasted and ripped to pieces one by one by the concentrated attacks and made almost no progress even with overwhelming numbers. The rapid fire spray of energy projectiles from the Dragoons covered a wide area at longer ranges striking many Zerglings. And the Beams of the Reavers instantly destroyed any Zerglings that grouped together too much. As the fighting went on a group of Guardians floated over the mountains unleashing a salvo of dozens of heavy spores before ducking back down behind them. The bio projectiles streamed through the mountains homing in on their targets eventually exiting the mountains and arching towards the Hill, raining hell on the Protoss position.
The templar commander was too concentrated on the Zerglings on land to notice the incoming air-born attack. Something impacted to his far left drawing the templar commanders attention. Four Dragoons had been blasted by a long range attack but were not damaged because of their shields. Then dozens more of the projectiles rained down all around bombarding the hill top for a solid ten seconds disrupting the concentrated fire on the Zerglings. When the dust cleared the Protoss still held the hill top and the number of Zerglings were dropping but many of the Dragoons shields had been reduced quit a bit. Taking in the situation the templar commander felt relieved that the attack would fail since the Zerg numbers were now too low to break through now. Then a resounding roar bellowed from off in the distance catching the Templar commander's attention. There surrounded by hordes of other zerg of differing types were three Ultralisk. Instantly the Templar commander knew how dangerous the giant beasts could be in close melee and so before they could charge up the hill he ordered all the Reavers to attack them.
But before he could beams lanced over head distracting the commander a moment from giving his order. They were Tachyon cannon beams from the main base. Following their trajectory the commander saw that they were firing at the tops of the mountain that separated the main Zerg forces from the Protoss. Knowing that their targets must be the Zerg Guardians that had attacked from extreme range before He refocused on the Ultralisk. But it was too late. The Ultralisk had used the momentary hesitation to aim and fire, launching their spore shells through the air in a long arch. But it wasn't just three shells but nine that bombarded the Reavers. The Reavers shields held for the moment as the Templar commander realised that two other groups of three Ultralisk were flanking the hill to the extreme left and right positions. Surprised that they could move so fast the Templar commander realised that they had used the cover of the Guardian's bombardment to kick up a dust cover and distract the Protoss defenders whose sensors were overly focused on the Zerglings who were the more pressing threat until now. The Reavers finally fired their beam's blasting large chunk's out of the Ultralisks armor and greatly wounding them.
For a moment the Templar commander was surprised by the Ultralisks having a ranged attack and worried that his Reavers would fall but was relieved that their shields held long enough. But then as if to compound the growing problems a pack of Zerglings appeared from nowhere attacking the Reavers from behind. Quickly killing one and heavily damaging another before the Dragoons turned around and annihilated the Zerglings. In that moment the Templar commander himself was struck by a hail of acid spore shells from the other Zerg accompanying the Ultralisks. It was then the Templar commander realized that every Zerg was mounted with smaller versions of the Ultralisks spore launchers. His shields only lasted a moment before flickering out and He was engulfed in a barrage of acid and hardened shells.
The collective bombardment from the reinforcing Zerg horde continued and became more focused concentrating on the Reavers. Reacting to the threat the Dragoons changed their targets striking many of the new Zerg forces wounding and killing them. But some of the Ultralisk remanind blasting away at the Protoss with their heavy spore cannons. The splash damage from the Ultralisk attacks eventually broke the Dragoons shields and they were reduced to scrap along with the Reavers whose shields were stout and strong but still fail to a continual bombardment. By the time the Zerg forces took the hill their numbers had been more than halved. The Overlords were the next to arrive flying at low altitude through the mountain pass and staying behind the hill and out of direct line of sight of the Tachyon cannons at the main Protoss base. They landed dropping off reinforcements bolstering the New beach head in Protoss controlled territory. Nova sent scouts over the hill but they were quickly killed by the long range Tachyon beams. They struck any Zerg who crossed over the hill but Nova noted the beams were only coming from the main Protoss base at the end of the valley.
Seeing a solution in the Nydus canal Nova told the twins to start scouting the terrain for any other places their forces could expand to. After a few hours and a few hundred dead Zerglings they found two more locations behind terrain obstacles that blocked the long ranged attacks from the Protoss defenses. One was directly to the west at the base of the mountains surrounding the valley and the other was almost beside a secondary Protoss base directly south. But it would be near impossible to establish a new hive cluster at the southern position without breaking through the second Protoss base first. Nova ordered the twins to focus on expanding their current defenses while she focused on creating a hive cluster and Nydus canals.
No sooner had Nova ordered the Drones to morph then Protoss air forces started harassing the newly taken hill and from a distance using their long range missiles. The Zerg counter attack was swift as every Zerg with spore cannons launched a wall of projectiles at the enemy aircraft. Nova knowing that that couldn't be the whole attack looked around at the surrounding areas through her forces eyes. She soon spotted a group of Dragoons in hover mode quickly making their way to the hill to join in the attack. Nova's attention was drawn up wards as two Scouts exploded in fireballs from the concentrated Zerg counter attack. She was satisfied and grateful she decided to give all of her units Spore and spine cannons. However her mood sowered when she realised that it was at the cost of not having enough time to give her forces any upgrades to their defense or attack abilities that were now available from the Evolution chamber, Lair and Hive structure's. Nova sighed almost face planing at her lack of foresight. But reality brought her back to her senses as her forces detected two more groups of Dragoons closing in from the west and south, quickly making their way to the Zerg beach head making the current battle ever larger.
The Zerg defense was still underdeveloped and before too long the Dragoons reached the top of the hill and started attacking the developing hive cluster behind it. Three cocoons were destroyed before the last dragoon was destroyed. The loss of what would have been Hatcheries slowed progress but Nova had anticipated this before hand and had ordered five Drones to morph into Hatcheries, leaving two still intact. Minutes later the rest of the Ultralisks and the main body of the Zerg forces Nova had brought gathered behind the hill. Unfortunately because of the mountains and Protoss anti-air defenses no combat arial breeds made it into the Valley. But seeing as the Protoss base's were backed up right against a mountain range Nova took full advantage and sent half her air force of Mutalisk and Guardian's around the outside of the valley to the opposite side of the mountains. To a position just behind the southern Protoss base. All at once they crossed the mountains staying as low as possible without colliding with the cliffs and rocks.
The moment they spotted the Enemy base the Zerg forces opened fire as did the Protoss defenses. Any fool could tell that given the situation a aerial attack from over the mountains was a big disadvantage and so it came as no surprise to Nova that the Protoss defense's were prepared for such a attack, quickly firing on the assaulting Zerg air forces as soon as they cleared the mountains. Beams sliced through the air cutting through Mutalisk and Guardians as they bombarded the base from over head. All the Guardians and Mutalisk attacks found their marks and one after the other Pylons were destroyed bringing the Photon cannons defense and attack power down. But then the Tachyon cannons from the main Protoss base opened fire quickly killing several Guardians and scattering the airborne attack force. By the time the last Pylon was destroyed over half the Zerg flyers were downed. But the rest focused fire on all of the Photon cannons and any Dragoons or Reavers who joined in the defense. Once the last Mutalisk fell however the Protoss found themselves facing a second attack wave this time from the land.
A horde of Zerglings and Hydralisk backed up by Ultralisks who had broken passed the Dragoons attacking the main Zerg beach-head marched across the planes along the base of the eastern mountains using the forward Protoss base as a shield to cover their approach from the Tachyon cannons. The remaining Protoss defenders mainly consisting of Dragoons and Reavers gathered at the northern side of the base arraying in defense lines forming a wall against the on-coming attackers. Dragoon and Reavers weapons glowed as they charged up to fire. A moment later they unleashed a barrage of beams dozens cutting down half the Ultralisks in one salvo. But the Zerg forces were undeterred and if anything only sped up. A moment later the Protoss defenders fired again killing the last four Ultralisks in the attack group. However it was all apart of Novas plan to force the Defenders to attack the larger threats first allowing the smaller Zerg units time to get in close enough. It was true that the ranged heavy spore symbiotes of the Ultralisk were far more destructive but they were also slower to fire and had fewer ammo taking longer to grow more spores. On the other hand the smaller spore symbiotes of the Zerglings and Hydralisk had a far higher rate of fire and ammo regen allowing them to fire near continuously. And the semi tracking ability of the spores allowed them to home in on targets so long as they are in a certain cone of vision in front of the launcher and within range made it easy to just spam fire in a general direction and hit their targets even for a large force.
Almost as soon as the last Ultralisk died all the other Zerg opened fire showering the Dragoons and Reavers with a rain of explosive acid bombs. Another draw back the Ultralisk heavy symbiote cannons had was that they were also vulnerable to being shot down, but not a vast number of smaller projectiles al though a dense concentration of said projectiles would still be vulnerable to be shot down by shere merit of their numbers, but a few getting shot down meant nothing really.
Shields flared and rippled soaking up the damage keeping the protoss defenders intact as it rained spore bombs. Once again beams shot out from the over-charged Reavers and Dragoons cutting a swath into the charging Zerg lines, but even so the great numbers of the Zerg were hardly affected by the focused attacks. Seeing the situation has changed the Dragoons switched back to the normal default rapid fire mode. The barrals of the Photon cannons on their backs expanded a bit and started rotating with each barral charging up as they spun around. All at once they began shooting a continues stream of rapid firing white hot bolts into the Zerg lines in a scattered pattern maximizing their area coverage. This was much less accurate but when a horde of monsters is barreling down on you accuracy isn't as important as firing rate which was the very reason thie alteration to the Photon cannon became necessary.
As both sides fired at the other they started to take increased losses. Dragoon and Reavers shields went down allowing them to be struck directly, and their armor was pierced or started corroding more and more from the acide with each hit. And with every minute that passed the acid eventually reached their internal component's and as they did one by one they started shutting down dew to systems failure or exploded to damage done directly to their power core. The Zerg took heavy losses too as Zerglings and Hydralisk died by the hundreds. Showering barrages of Photon cannons ripped their flesh and bodies apart one direct hit at a time as the Reavers main weapons completely obliterated one or three Zerg in one shot.
But all in all that was just the first wave. A step behind the first wave of arial attackers was a second wave of Mutalisk and Guardians this time acting as escorts for a fleet of Overlords filled to the brim with reinforcements. This new force split up into two groups one drawing the attention of the new Photon cannons just warped in by the Probes and the second to focus on the Drones themselves. After the first attack the Probes had quickly started warping in replacements for the Pylons and Photon cannons. Three of each had been warped in so far so the anti-air defense of the base was still weak as a rain of bio missiles bombarded the Base a second time blasting away at the unshielded Drones and Quickly dropping the Photon cannons shields.
The second Zerg air force focused their fire with five Mutalisk or two Guardians on one target maximizing speed of their targets destruction even as the Tachyon cannons of the main Protoss base opened fire on them. The shields quickly dropped to nothing flickering out once again and the Photon cannons were destroyed quickly followed by the Pylons. By the time the last Pylon was dust the Overlords were landed and the Templar Zealots who had stayed back until now finally found a target to attack. Psi-blades sliced through flesh and carapace armor just as evolved bone blades sliced into gray flesh and golden armor.
Some Zerglings stayed back firing their spore symbiotes into the shields of the Zealots momentarily drawing their attention while other Zerglings attacked from behind with their fangs or blades, by passing the Zealots shields which only activate to block projectiles.
As she watched the battle drag on Nova thought it stupid to only have the shield activate for projectiles. Surely the Protoss could have the shield be permanently on as a kind of skin tight shield to cover the most vulnerable parts of the body or even psionically activated by the user to block a melee attack or form a shield over the fore-arm. Nova pondered the Protosse's reasoning a moment before giving up and chucking the flawed design to the Protoss society and warrior mentality. Still even with the two pronged attack the Protoss were holding their own, for the moment. Nova remembered just how powerful the Protoss were and if it wasn't for the lack of forces the Protoss could have wiped out her forces by now. From the collective memories of the Swarm Nova saw that the Protoss empire has attempted to annihilate the Swarm before. But because the Zerg are so good at mass production, reproduction and have the ability to live just about anywhere and can mine minerals and convert them into biomass efficiently the swarm could always recover their losses while the Protoss after suffering heavy losses in ground and space combat over several hundred years were relegated to relying more and more on mass produced AI controlled units like the Dragoon, Reaver, Intercepter and Observers.
A great many Protoss warriors dyed in the first wars between the two races and while the Protoss empire is vast and their numbers in the billions the reproduction rate of the Protoss race is quite slow which was why AI driven weapons became increasingly wide spread.
Seeing as the battle was dragging on for to long and that the main attack forces were being wiped out Nova decided to send in reinforcements even though the battle with the Dragoons and Scouts were ongoing but going in her favor for the moment. Roaring a fresh group of Ultralisks charged into the Dragoons lines blasting away at them and the Scouts as they charged through the Protoss blockade.
As the Ultralisk neared the Protoss base the remaining Reavers in the defense line saw them and took aim, but the few remaining Mutalisk above countered attacked under Novas order, attacking the Reavers from above. Their already weakened shields flared more and more from the two pronged assault of air and ground before failing. Seeing the opening Nova ordered the Ultralisk to focus fire on them. Heavy spores flew through the air arching gracefully before striking their targets. The heavy impacts knocked some Reavers on their sides and others had a large hole blasted into their sides, while still others lost their main weapons leaving the with only their Scarabs as a means of attack.
Seeing the tide turn in her favor Nova had the remaining Guardians attack the Dragoons whose defense line was just barely holding. A group of the last semi-saucer shaped living crabe bombers called Guardians swung around firing eight spore shells at the last line of Dragoons, just as a beam blasted one of them in half followed by a second. The Heavy spore shells impacted along the Line of Dragoons sending many flying and out right destroying others on impact. With the last Protoss defenses gone the main Zerg attack force rampaged through the base ripping everything to pieces and slaughtering the few dozen Zealots that guarded it.
"Well done Nova."
Nova's eyes went wide surprised to hear from Karrigan. "Kerrigan. I didn't think you were watching?"
"I am. But beware the Dark-templar. They are unpredictable."
"I know that. I've already come up with a new security system to detect them and spread it across my base."
"Have you shared this with Daggoth or the other Cerebrates?"
Nova suddenly cursed herself. Of course the Dark-templar would go after Daggoth. But thankfully Aegis was off world at the moment but that left Nova herself and the twins alone as the commanders of the Aegis broods leaders on Char while Kerrigan was indisposed for the time being.
"I'll send you the Data on the new creep so you can grow it around the Overminds cocoon and the primary hive cluster. It may be a stretch but the Dark-templar may attack you while you and the Overmind are vulnerable."
Kerrigan chuckled. "Your thinking more broadly now. Good. I may be unable to move at the moment but im still able to do this much at least."
"Take care of yourself." projected Nova.
"Just annihilate the Protoss little one."
Kerrigan still soaking in her pool of green liquid felt a little board. She decided to taunt the Protoss a little seeing as one of their main bases was just raised to the ground, so she sent a telepathic message.
"Once again I grow board of slaughtering your servants. Has the mighty templar lost their infallible courage?" she projected to the Protoss expecting Tassadar to respond. Kerrigan waited for a response but was surprised when another responded instead.
"Well spoken, Concubin of the Zerg. I am Zeratul, Dark-prelate of the Nerazim. Though we walk in the shadows do not think we lack the courage to stand in the light. You would do well to abandon this attack."
"I see, you must be the one who killed Zasz. However Zeratul. You seem over confident in your abilities. And for your information I am not actually the one leading the attack against you and your allies. That would be my second in command and her own subordinates. Know this. Once i'm back on my feet and my Cerebrate commander returns you will know the true meaning of despair."
Kerrigan cut the connection and thought a moment. She asked Daggoth to open a warp gate to Redstone 3 so she could get in contact with Aegis.
Meanwhile to the west of Nova's beachhead in the valley both Danial and La'la had just crossed the mountains and arrived at a plateau overlooking the valley. Behind them were a small army of Zerg prepared to create a second beach head in the Valley's northern mountain range. Little did they know that they were being stalked by Dark-templar who watched them from the cliffs above.
Zeratul watched as the Zerg forces below moved through the mountain pass. Taking note of the two infested Terrans leading them in front.
"Master Zeratul." said Zerion. "Should we attack now, lest they leave the tight confines of the mountain pass."
Without moving Zeratul ignited his neon green warp blade quickly followed by the other dark-templar. "Strike true and fast."
In a instant Zeratul blinked away through the shadows re-appearing on the cliff wall a distance below. Kicking off the stone wall he launched himself at the closest Ultralisk and blinked a second time landing right on its back. The beast noticed nothing until Zeratul blinged his warp blade into the beasts brain killing it instantly. Without even uttering a sound the beast fell dead crushing two Hydralisk in the process. Instantly the Twins felt the death of one of their Zerg and turned around to find the attacker. It was chaos as dark-templar blinked around the battlefield slaying Zerg in one or two strokes of their warp blades.
"Dark templar attack!" shouted La'la.
"Just as planned then." said Danial confident.
Zeratul swung his warp bladed splitting a Hydralisk in half. And another behind him raised it's blade to kill the protoss. But before the blade could swing down Zeratul blinked again and was no-where to be seen. Confused the Hydralisk looked around a moment before being impaled from behind and bisected upwards. Looking around Zeratul saw that his kin were winning but his instincts told him of danger unseen. His gaze meet that of the two infested Terran a hundreds of meters away watching as their forces were butchered. His instincts flared again at the fact that they seemed unperturbed by the attack on their forces. Whatever the case they were enemy leaders and therefore priority targets. Cloaking Zeratul moved through the blood shocked battlefield soon reaching the twins location. He moved to strike at them. But a instant later the sound of explosions above drew his full attention. Looking up he saw the stone cliff shatter as heavy spores impacted it one after the other.
"Retreat" projected Zeratul.
Dabri and boulders started falling on both Zerg and dark-templar forces alike but sensing the falling rocks and heeding the warning from their leader the dark-templar blinked away before being crushed unlike the Zerg.
The Dark-templar were already retreating from the danger zone blinking away as hundreds of Zerg yet alive were crushed by the tide of falling stones and earth that continued to fall. After the rocks stopped falling the twins picked through the battlefield looking for any dark-templar corpses but found none.
"Disappointing." said Danial. "We failed to kill any of them and collect their essence."
La'la pushed a boulder over exposing the crushed body of a Zergling. "It's irritating that we wasted so many of our forces for nothing."
La'la looked up at the cliff side that had been bombarded by Guardians from long range then turning to the west observing a flock of Overlords and Mutalisk flying low to avoid the long range anti-air fire arrived. The new reinforcements landed deploying a army consisting mostly of Hydralisk with Zerglings, Drones, Ultralisk and a few Hunter-killers mixed in. The twins linked with the Overlords and spotted a faint but odd energy disturbance that could be the Dark-templar. The energy disturbances were a mile distant and were a few dozen in number roughly equaling the Dark-templars numbers. La'la ordered the Mutalisk to fire on the energy disturbance's. The Mutalisk turned flapping their wings as they hovered in position and fired a few times each. The energy disturbances disappeared a moment before reappearing a distance away just before the Mutalisk attacks blasted the ground where they stood a moment ago.
Zeratul watched as the Mutalisk attacks blasted craters in the ground where he and his warriors stood only moments before. "It would seem the Zerg have developed a method of tracking us." said Zeratul as he eyed the Zerg commanders. "We will attack another time and place."
The twins watched through the Overlords senses as the odd energy disturbances departed leaving the area.
"It seems they left." said Danial.
"Still at least we confirmed that the Overlords with Antenna can sense them if only in a limited way." said La'la. " The energy disturbance left behind by the Dark-templars can be sensed by the Overlords if only barely, but they don't recognize them as enemies. Must be why they were able to get the drop on us when they killed Zasz. I'll let Nova know what happened and update the Overlords threat recognition to include the new energy disturbance created by the Dark-templar."
Danial turned around to a Ultralisk hopping on it's back quickly joined by His sister. "Lets establish a second hive cluster. It will open a new attack route to the main enemy base."
Roaring all at once the fresh Zerg army army charged across the mountain side.
Back at the main Hive cluster beach head Nova listened to La'la's report. Noting the information concerning the Overlords. The last Dragoon had been dealt with and the Scouts had retreated so the threat to the beach head has been dealt with. Now finding some time to think Nova decided all her current forces should undergo a morph to gain upgraded armor, claws, Fangs and ranged attacks for both air and ground breeds.
Realizing she should have done it sooner Nova reprimanded herself over the matter. She decided that she may as well upgrade all her forces not just those here on the battlefield. The majority of the Aegis brood Outside the valley underwent a evolving morph that put them into a cocoon for a time. Their bodies underwent a metamorphosis enhancing their armor, melee and projectile attacks. Even their spore symbiote projectiles would be enhanced adding a hardened armor piercing shell to the projectiles tips. However at the same time the Protoss deployed a massive counter attack from their main base, and it was all directed at Novas beach head coming right through the middle of the valley. Using Zerglings to scout the enemies disposition Nova counted fifty Dragoons, Twenty five Reavers, Sixty four Zealots and a rear support force of Probes?
Nova leaned her back against the Hatchery crossing her arms in thought. "Why would they send Probes?" she wondered.
Nova got her answer when the Protoss army stopped at the center of the valley and the probes started opening warp and moments later a group of Tachyon cannons appeared.
"Shit!" exclaimed Nova as she ordered her forces currently creating a new hive cluster at the recently destroyed Protoss base to retreat or burrow.
Moments later the Tachyon towers glowed with energy as two Pylons warped in. Novas heart dropped as they fired their purifying beams at her forces incinerating Ultralisk, Zerglings, Overlords, Mutalisk and Guardians in one hit. They only took a moment to recharge before discharging their energy again. More Tachyon cannons and Pylons were warped in as the current ones bombarded Novas forces left out in the open. More and more of them were warped in and before too long the Protoss had their own fortress in the middle of the Valley. Luckily they still didn't have line of sight to her main hive cluster at the beachhead but Nova knew that the current offensive was doomed if she didn't eliminate That fortress of fire and death. Nova sighed as her last Guardian was blasted out of the sky while it tried retreating behind the mountain's it had first came through during its attack on the secondary protoss base. Thinking a moment Nova decided that it was time to use those Nydus canals she had been intending to use. And since she had just upgraded all her reserves forces outside the valley she has a considerable force now. The only concern was weather or not they could arrive in time. The forces at the hive-cluster just outside the valley were close but they like the rest of her forces were currently undergoing their metamorphosis and Nova didn't know how long ity would take. She would just have to hold on until they were done.
-6 Hours later-
Nova ordered a full assault on the attacking Dragoons to the west. Showers of spore fire and spines raked the charging Dragoons depleting their shields and slowing their progress a bit. A Dark-templar blinked just behind Nova but the Overlords floating along the ground behind the Hive cluster had sent her far warning to their approach minutes before. Nova ducked and rolled sending out a wide area telekinetic blast that sent the dark-templar flying into a bed of creep. Its sensitive nerve endings sensed presser and the lack of Zerg essence. Unable to see the enemy herself Nova was reliant on the Overlords and Creep. Feeling the enemies presence through the creep Nova sent another telekinetic blast this time blasting the unshielded dark-templar to pieces.
Nova took a moment to scan the area making sure it was clear of any and all Dark-templar. With a weak grin she looked down at the stump of her severed arm and back at the stump of her left wing blade. Nova looked around walking through a field of dead Zerglings and two dozen dead bisected Hydralisk. Among them ten dead Dark-templar. Finding what she was looking for Nova picked up her severed arm and placing it against the arm stump. She infused the gap between the two halves with psionic energy boosting her regeneration speed, fusing the two halves together once again. Flexing her arm and her fingers Nova looked back to her wing stump as it slowly grew back. After few minutes of looking and she found her severed wing but decided to just eat it to recycle the biomass.
As she munched on her own former appendage Nova gave a dispassionate mental order to the Drones. With a focused motivation they swarmed over the area gathering up the bodies of both Zerg and Dark-templar. Nova took one protoss corpse to eat later but she unfortunately could not risk being forced into a evolution as the battle raged all around her so instead she refocused on the one sided battle at hand. She remembers what had happened to Kerrigan when she ate the Essence of a high templar and it would be a death sentence if it happened to her right now.
The Protoss had created a new full scale base on the western side of the valley after destroying the second Zerg beach head to the south east. Those dame Tachyon cannons had remained in the center of the valley keeping her main forces in check even with upgraded forces coming in from the Nydus canals. But the vast majority of the Aegis broods forces were still a distance away via Nydus canal so the only thing she could do for the moment was hold out.
Reavers supported by Zealots moved in from the south hoping to cross over the hill and attack Novas base directly but their march was stopped by a artillery barrage from the fifty remaining Ultralisk Nova had first created. Their heavy suppression fire blasted the gathered Reavers and Zealots to dust in but a few minutes and were the only real thing keeping the Protoss from over running the Zerg beach head in the valley. Even if they individually have a slow rate of fire in large groups even the Ultralisk heavy spore cannon symbiotes can bombard targets with continues fire. The only downside was that they needed a significant supply of resources to fuel the ammo production.
The battle continued on like this for another hour and even though the twins were able to establish a second hive cluster in the northwestern mountains they were countered by the new Protoss base on the valley's western side. Nova recognized it's placement there as a counter to any attack from the north and was also meant to reinforce the Tachyon cannon fortress in the center of the valley. The Zerg forces were pinned and couldn't make any kind of offensive moves. If it wasn't for Nova equipping all her units with spore cannons giving them a long ranged attack then she may have already lost her beach head or even her life by now. Nova checked the reinforcements from the main Aegis broods forces expecting them to arrive in another few minutes at least. But just as Nova was getting hopeful more Scouts were spotted flying high over head. The few Overlords Nova was able to get in the valley flying along the ground through the mountain pass all began detecting multiple wings of protoss Scouts incoming on fast approach from the main Protoss base.
"Dame its just one thing after another." exclaimed Nova as she took cover under a Lairs shadow.
The incoming Scout's consisted of three groups. One coming head on and the other two flanking from the east and west. Gathering all her remaining Hydralisk and Zerglings in reserve Nova filled the sky with spore's and spines. Scouts returned fire launching antimatter missiles and unleashing a stream of photon blaster fire racking the Zerg defenders lines. Spores traced lines through the air following the golden fighters finding their marks and little by little the Scouts shields dropped. Nova checked the progress on the Dragoons and Reavers seeing that half had been disabled or destroyed and the rest were struggling to make any progress as individually they were now taking more fire and the shear impact force from the Ultralisks attacks knocked them back a moment. But as the battle dragged on the Zerg forces lost more and more of their forces reaching the breaking limit. The Nova sensed it. The Nydus Canals at the beach head and to the west protected by the twins both started releasing reinforcement's.
The ground shook and quaked as a sea of Zerglings flowed out openings. The reinforcements in their tens of thousands charged passed the hive clusters defenders straight into the fray of battle. Dragoons, and Reavers fired into the tide of Zerglings backed up by Scouts from above. Their attacks killed scores of the Zerg reinforcements but the upgrades they had obtained greatly improved their survivability lowering the number killed if only a little. But all the fire power the Protoss could muster mattered little as more and more Zerglings just kept flowing out from the Nydus canals in their hundreds joining into thousands. The tide of fangs and claws poured around the hill onto the attacking Protoss machines burying them as they moved onwards to the Fortress standing in the valley's center. The Tachyon cannons glowed firing dozens of beams into the rapidly approaching tied. In sweeping strikes the beams killed hundreds of Zerglings in mere moments. But in reaction the Zergling flood scattered spreading their great numbers out across the land The number of them killed by individual beam strikes lowered to mere dozens per hit or lower. The land itself looked as if it was moving and was closing in on the fortress likes a great hand crushing a bug. Dozens of Photon cannons activated covering the surrounding land in a wall tens of thousands of white hot energy bolts. But with the tide turning Nova took the offensive moving the remaining 36 Ultralisk in range of the fortress. More Ultralisk emerged from the Nydus canals joining the attack. Now with a 108 Ultralisk Nova attacked the Fortress with everything she had.
As Beams of atomising light erased the existence of wave upon wave of Zerglings while a battalion of Ultralisk fired at the protoss Fortress, focusing wholy on the Probes and Tachyon cannons. Shields rippled and flickered from the overwhelming barrage and the force of each impact. But still the Protoss stubbornly held their ground firing back and focusing on the Ultralisk artillery forces killing them in twos and threes with concentrated beams burning through their heavily armored carapace. More reinforcements arrived consisting of Zerglings and Hydralisk armed with spore and spine symbiote cannons. Hundreds of acid shells and spines bombarded the fortress joining the Ultralisk attacks. The already weakened shields of the Protoss forces weakened even faster until one after the other they failed. Armor and shells of metal melted and deformed under the continues barrage until the fortress started falling. First the left wall of Tachyon cannons and Photon cannons was destroyed and tide of Zerglings rushed in overwhelming the Zealots guarding the fortress interior. The Zerglings didn't waste time trying to attack individually but just leaped onto their prey biting onto arms legs or just bashing into anything in their way. Probe's were targeted directly as they were far too much trouble and any Zerglings close enough attacked the Pylons with a mad fervor rending them to pieces. The Zealots slashed and hacked as fast as they could but try as they might their heroic stand mattered little as the zerg forces simple flooded the fortress hollowing it out from the inside like a flood of army ants literally covering their prey.
As the Fortress fell Nova breathed a little easier. Sensing a presence behind her Nova turned to the sight of Kerrigan riding on a Zergling. "Kerrigan! I thought you were needed fore the Overminds evolution?"
"They don't need my Essence anymore. And it looked like you needed some back up."
Nova was glad her superior was back in action but was wondering and greatly worried about something. "Can you tell me about Aegis. I tried contacting him but I can't get make a connection. Did something happen?"
Kerrigan gave blinked turning to the hill that separated her from the main threat the Tachyon cannons at the main Protoss base. "I don't know. It's as if hes been disconnected from the hive mind. Whatever the case is he's not our immediate priority at the moment."
Understanding Kerrigans words Nova refocused on the task at hand. "Ok. Until the Protoss forces are dealt with we can't worry about him then."
Nova and Kerrigan both felt a sudden tingling sensation as a group of Dark-templar crossed over a field of Sensor creep just a few hundred meters away.
Raising her right arm Kerrigan formed a compressed Psi-storm. The orb of concentrated lightning buzzed and flashed as it coiled in Kerrigans hand. Casually Kerrigan aimed in the direction of the Dark-templar and launched her attack. The lightning orb flew over the hive cluster landing just outside its edge. In a flash of light the psi-storm expanded to 100 meters wide greatly wounding the Nerizem warriors. Falling to one knee they felt the power of the Queen of the zerg. Moments later a few Hydralisk showered them with spines. With the distraction dealt with Kerrigan and Nova focused on finishing off the Protoss forces. With the whole of the Aegis brood flowing to this one valley reinforcements were not a issue so the only thing to do was to use them. The collective heads of every Zerg in the valley were raised as they received their order.
"Dark Prelate Zeratul. Hear me. I said you would feel Despair. And hear it is." said Kerrigan. "Kill them all."
Kerrigans order was meet with the roaring and shrieking of tens of thousands of Zerg as they stampeded across the valley. All charging at the closest Protoss base. Even the twins were filled with fury as they charged headlong into the western Protoss base. Like the destruction of the fortress before what followed was a mere massacre. With their numbers alone the Zerg forces rushed into the Protoss forces. Photon cannons and Tachyon cannons mixed with Dragoons and Reavers and Scouts buzzed over head raking the sea of Zerg with their photon blasters and antimatter missiles. But no matter how many Zerg they killed there were always more. Soon the whole valley was flooded by a army numbering in the many hundreds of thousands. Every Protoss base defense structure and unit was firing as fast as it could as a literally swarm of enemies surrounding them on all sides. The valley's ground became stained red from the blood and bodies of Zerg and Protoss alike.
One hour later it was done. Every Protoss in the valley was dead and all the buildings that once gleamed golden were ripped to fragments. However Kerrigan was not wasteful having the Drones gather up the Protoss corpses so that they could be brought to the Overmind to aide in his evolution. Now that the Overmind had evolved from Kerrigans essence he could now ingest the essence of the Protoss and evolved further. However it seems the main Protoss forces had escaped as their are far fewer bodies then what Kerrigan expected.
"It seems both Zeratul and Tassadar have escaped." said Kerrigan as she watched the Overlords lift off carrying the Protoss corpses.
Nova walked up behind her. "It also looks like Raynor and his forces escaped too. But we don't really have much evidence that says that he is with the Protoss."
Kerrigan glanced over her shoulder to Nova. "He's with the Protoss. Of that I can assure you."
Nova lifted her arms a bit shrugging. "How can you be so sure?"
Kerrigan smiled looking up at the clear sky. "Because. He's a survivor."
-Chapter End-