A Swarm Unleashed

by RoyalStarlord

A man with amnesia had woken up in a desert oasis one day, and in a world he does not recognize. He also doesn't recognize his new form and role as a newly reborn zerg organism. But upon his rebirth, he was given the option to command the zerg swarm. (Revision in progress)

28. MB3: Darker Nights, Swarm Might

Chapter 28: Major Battle 3: Darker Night, Swarm Might

---

After gazing at the violet moon for a few more minutes, Gollog sneered and sighed before turning and heading back to the command tent. After entering the command tent, Gollog could see that many of the officers inside were busy doing the jobs they were assigned to. It was all simplistically easy with the way Gollog had things running. After all, the empire needed idle hands in order to create its foundation. But it took a firm and patient hand to train and discipline those idle hands to have loyalty to him.

He had built the Torus Chain Division as a type of police force to keep the populations in the various settlements and cities pacified of any rioting or defiance, or committed to defend vital positions that would hinder bandit activity and other kinds of illegal infractions. He had built the Crescent Arms Division to attack any enemy that would dare resist his rule or law, or take certain resources that wouldn't normally be created. He had built the Cube Research Division to make several dividends in researching new technologies that could empower his empire, and improve his existing technologies even further. Faddoh was personally involved with many of such contributions to his division. And he had also built the Pyramidal Guard Division. Its purposes was secret, even to the gilanian public. It was a division consisting of loyal protectors that Gollog had carefully chosen, which he had rewarded greatly for their service to him.

Gollog went toward the center of the command tent and spoke aloud. "Can someone call General Pallax for me? We need his input on this matter."

"Yes, my lord!" One of such officers shouted.

"And could I have eight officers stand behind me? I need to look professional in the presence of my second-in-command." Gollog said, sounding droll.

Eight of such officers temporarily removed themselves from their stations and stood at attention. Once they were behind Gollog, Gollog straightened his opalescent crowned helm and tried to look as presentable as possible. After a few seconds of time passed, Pallax's face showed up on a wide screen. He rubbed his scarred eye and grumbled. [This better be good, Gollog.]

Gollog bowed, but hissed at his general's rudeness. "It should be, Pallax. I have three commanders with me at the reestablished perimeter defense, and they are working hard to contain this monstrous threat. Which reminds me: I need to invite the other commanders to this call too."

Pallax sighed. [Is this going to be a conference call? Why can't I just come down there and meet you in person?]

Gollog shook his head. "These beasts are cunning, and I'd rather have you out of danger and NOT in the general vicinity of the zerg's main nest, since the largest zerg organisms we have identified are capable of striking down our magic wall projectors. Bring Guik into our conference call as well. I shall invite the other commanders on this matter."

[Oh gods, you're being serious. Fine, I'll invite Guik. If these 'razor fiends', as you call them, are as bad as you say they are, then I'll humor your concern.]

Gollog turned behind himself and pointed at three officers. "You, you, and you, go and find Commander Ralkan, Commander Kralluf, and Commander Faddoh."

The three chosen officers saluted and then ran off, obeying Gollog's command. Pallax turned away to type on a keyboard that was off-camera. Seconds later, Pallax returned and faced the camera in the call. [The message has been sent. Expect Guik to be here with us soon.]

Gollog nodded. "I take it you have already familiarized yourself with these zerg organisms?"

Pallax nodded. [I have went ahead and scouted the area where the type-B research facility was apparently 'overrun'. The zerg forces have stopped in their expansion attempts at Whisper Stones.]

Gollog narrowed his eyes and stared at Pallax. "Is there a reason why they stopped expanding in that area?"

[Put simply: Shenanigans.]

Gollog stared at Pallax before huffing. "Next time, make sure you record your actions, General."

Pallax bowed. [Yes, my emperor.]

Another face soon shared the screen, forcing Pallax's live camera feed to shrink horizontally and move to the side. A black armored gilanian with its face covered by a black, curved glass entered into the conversation. It bore the colors of black and purple, and wore a cloak that rested on its shoulders, separating at the middle of its chest to allow the world to see the armor beneath the cloak. There was glowing purple lettering on the black glassed face-mask, which read in the gilanian language as 'tired'.

[Ah, Guik. It's great to see you again.] Pallax said, almost smiling. [I trust that we are not disturbing you?]

She reached her left hand off-camera. Her mask changed its lettering to 'annoyed'. [These meetings are to be expected. However, had you listened to my advice, these 'zerg' would be easily dealt with.] A robotic, female voice answered Pallax.

Pallax shook his head. [I will, under no circumstances, use nuclear warheads, or charged particle warheads, to fight an enemy we don't understand. Even Faddoh was having trouble analyzing their abilities and weaknesses, and I would defer to his opinion on how to handle them.]

Guik's face lettering changed to 'disapproval'. [It is either that option, or re-activating the Kiln Keepers.]

Pallax shook his head and scoffed. Gollog decided to speak on this matter. "Be that as it may, we still have a problem with the local zerg population here. They are an invasive species that must be dealt with, and I don't care how harsh our methods must develop to ensure their complete annihilation. Bear in mind that I don't want to have to resort to activating certain protocols that would risk the destruction to several of my assets, and I don't want said protocols activated unless it is deemed necessary. Understood?"

[Yes Gollog.] Pallax answered. Guik's face changed its lettering to 'acceptance'. [Yes Gollog.]

"Why the hell do you need us here for?" Gollog turned around to see Kralluf and Ralkan entering into the command tent. Kralluf had exclaimed behind Gollog's back, whilst Ralkan stood behind Kralluf as he followed the silver and blue commander into the tent.

Gollog smiled and spread his arms. "I wish for you to participate in a meeting. It will have to be an impromptu council where we shall decide on the method to deal with the zerg organisms. ... A more important question, however: where is Faddoh?"

Ralkan interjected. "Faddoh said that he would join us shortly. Apparently, his tardiness is a result of a 'breakthrough' that he currently discovered."

Gollog sighed and pointed to a nearby officer at attention. "You. Tell Commander Faddoh that if he doesn't come here now, I am replacing him with someone else more competent."

Another officer nodded and hurried away. Kralluf crossed his arms. "So what's this about anyway?" Kralluf asked.

Gollog sighed. "To pull our resources together and looking for a way to eradicate the zerg, you fool." Gollog answered, walking away and acquiring a chair. Once he returned to the center, he placed the chair down and sat himself in it. Kralluf and Ralkan followed Gollog's example and got chairs for themselves as well. Gollog began speaking again once the two commanders seated themselves. "Now then... We shall wait for Faddoh to make up his mind. I doubt he would risk unemployment."

Kralluf paused for a few seconds before deciding to talk. "So uh... General Pallax, sir? Any news of your secret operation being done with?"

Pallax shook his head. [That is a matter that does not concern you, Kralluf. However, it should enlighten you to know that I have halted the zerg expansion indefinitely. I now see that the zerg infestation at your location is a more dangerous concern, compared to the gilanian bandit lord, Zero Wind.]

Guik shook her head, as the letters on her mask changed to 'pensiveness'. [It does not surprise me. I would kill such a character by my own hands if it meant getting my vocal chords working again.]

Ralkan huffed. "Damn bandits. It's like they get smarter every time a new innovative tech is presented to them. Breeding loyalty into the next generation is going to be difficult if this trend keeps going. But in other news, a lot of the older families are contacting me about an omen that came from their childhood stories. Many of the cities are in a panic, since the light provided by the hexagonal moon has been slightly darkened and tinted by a purplish color. Sadly, I am uncertain of the cause that altered it to glow that kind of dark shade of light."

Guik shook her head again, followed with her mask letters changing to 'unamused'. [Their fears are unfounded. We will have to remind them that silly superstition are never meant to be taken seriously. In fact, our artificial moon should not have the capacity to change colors. I believe that there is yet another factor that we have not realized yet, but it is too soon to tell what it might be.]

Kralluf grumbled. "Still, it gives me a bad feeling. It stinks worse than after the earlier smite of the zerg at this location. I say we take a charged particle warhead and put it into that hole. That should finish the little beasts."

"I'm afraid that would be quite impossible, Kralluf." Gollog, Kralluf, and Ralkan turned to see Faddoh approaching them, coming into view of everyone present as he entered the command tent. "I apologize for being so late. I was extending the sensing range of the long range seismic sensor equipment my team had brought here." Faddoh said, coming to a stop and standing next to Ralkan.

Guik's face-mask changed to 'serenity'. [Commander Faddoh. Welcome to the conference meeting.]

Faddoh stood next to the sitting commanders and emperor, and bowed. "Are we here to listen to my review of each zerg organism we have discovered and cataloged?" Faddoh asked.

Gollog gestured dismissively. "Later. We simply need to come up with several methods for eliminating the zerg organisms. It is the reason why I have assembled this meeting. Since you have studied, tested, and researched the zerg organisms already, we shall listen to your opinions, insights, and whatever relevant data that you have uncovered. After that, we will offer our suggestions relating to the extermination of the zerg. By my command, let this meeting commence."

Every commander and general gathered nodded together.

Faddoh sighed and began speaking first. "I'm afraid that exterminating these creatures, even using the most conventional methods available to us, will not help us to accomplish this goal as easily as we thought."

[How so, Commander Faddoh?] Pallax asked.

Faddoh nodded and continued. "These creatures exhibits an incredible capability of aggressive adaptation to a degree that I had not accounted for. I have introduced several poisons, diseases, viruses, parasites, most kinds of radiations, pesticides, and even lethal amounts of drugs to several samples and test subjects taken from within the defended perimeter. It appears as though every time we carried out a test to see if the specimens exhibited any possible weaknesses after exposure to our harmful elements, the specimens themselves develop a resistance, or even an immunity, at or after exposure of the harmful element. Once they were exposed to a harmful element during or after testing, however, I started noticing a trend. After the tests, I discovered the samples, no matter how small that was collected from the zerg organisms, eventually developed neural oscillations on their own. And further testing of different samples, even samples collected from a different zerg breed, such as a puker or a spine serpent for example, have revealed that they too have developed resistances and immunities related to all prior experiments. Thus, I theorize that the experimented zerg organisms and the cells in the samples collected for experimentation are capable of sending neural oscillated frequencies that send genetic information to the nearby zerg organisms, of which they will proceed to indirectly acquire the resistances and immunities that the experimented zerg and the samples have gained."

Ralkan seemed to have paled. "... D... D-d-does that mean a single zerg organism can rapidly evolve independently from the others, yet can share their mutations they developed from a distance?!"

Faddoh nodded. "I'm afraid so, Commander Ralkan. I'm afraid that the researchers I had brought here are doing more harm than good. Trying to find a weakness for the zerg is becoming quite the challenge for us, since the samples and specimens we collected simply adapts too quickly to our tests. I recommend using methods we have not tested on the zerg organisms, and then continually change those methods so that the zerg do not adapt uniformly. However, using basic, conventional methods of fighting these monsters, such as using weapons, artillery, and Gollog's holy smite attack, seem to be the most effective methods in killing these creatures, at present."

Pallax leaned forward. [What if we start running out of poisons and diseases to use against the zerg infestation?]

Faddoh took a deep breath and sighed, his LED face turning into a frown. "I'm afraid that outcome might occur all too soon."

Everyone paused for several seconds. Ralkan decided to speak up when no one else spoke. "What if... What if we are going about this the wrong way?"

Gollog turned to look at Ralkan with a raised eyebrow. "What about a wrong way?"

Ralkan leaned forward as he explained. "Listen. We're talking about using a lot of methods that would normally affect many animals, and even gilanians, by using biological warfare as a solution to our zerg problem. But, as Faddoh described, the zerg seem to be incredibly adaptive against biological weapons. What if, and hear me out on this, what if... what if we tried using medical micro-machines to kill them off?"

Kralluf sighed. "I don't like where this is going."

Guik's face-mask's letters changed to 'annoyance'. [Allow Ralkan to give his explanation, Commander Kralluf.]

Kralluf grumbled while Ralkan continued his explanation. "I'm thinking that if we create self-replicating micro-machines, fitted with scaled down magic armor tech, uses altar tech to create more micro-machines, draws energy from the zerg cells as a power source, and can project energy in a directed beam attack as a microscopic scalpel, I believe we could fashion an effective means to exterminate the zerg."

"I already hate it." Kralluf replied.

"Be that as it may, Kralluf, I think this might be our best option." Faddoh said, nodding toward Ralkan. "However, weaponized self-replicating medical micro-machines might pose a problem to the gilanian populations, so I think it should be designed to attack cells that only have the unique zerg amino acids that contain the special R groups, and focuses on targeting cells that produces an incredible amount of neural oscillations."

Kralluf shook his head. "It's not fighting though! We should just throw as many bombs as we can down that zerg hole and be done with it already!"

[Kralluf.] Pallax said sternly. [They have the capacity to burrow underground. How deep they can burrow is up to debate, but even Gollog's mighty smite power is incapable of rooting out every zerg organism under our feet.]

Kralluf turned to look at Pallax. "Just how far down are these zerg monsters?"

Pallax shook his head. [Unknown, but I know that Faddoh's scientists is working on extending the long-range seismic sensors to get a better image. With that said, however, we don't know how far the zerg infestation has developed at present.]

"Actually, we will be able to find out right now." Faddoh said, beaming at everyone with a confidant smile. "I have told my researchers to send me a live-feed of the modified long-range sensors and what they can map out. I have been notified that they can transfer the live-feed data to this conference directly."

Gollog nodded and gestured to the middle of the command tent. "Please share the live-feed with us, Faddoh."

Faddoh nodded back. The commander of the Cube Research Division raised his hand forward and projected a 3-D image of lines and some hollowed, craggy bags that were colored green, with orange dots that seemed to line the inside of the green lines and craggy bags. The top of this image had white dots on a green flat surface that looked like a miniature version of Red Mountain. "Currently, we are seeing all tunnel systems, colored as green, and biological movement, colored orange, that is a kilometer beneath us. The white dots representvGolden Star personnel and the location of our defense perimeter. Meaning us."

Kralluf pointed to a 3-D projected conical green object that was lowest to the floor. "What is that? Looks like an incomplete scan of an underground chamber."

"I'll get right on that." Faddoh said, looking up. "Jaknel. The long-range seismic sensors needs to be modified, so please extend the range to three kilometers. Thank you."

The 3-D projected seismic images shrunk to accompany the specified extended range. The green that was forming from the extended image was slightly out of focus, and there were fewer orange blips than before. But as time went on, more and more of the orange blips were slowly coming into existence as the green formations were being given more detail. A large, conical underground chamber was discovered, and it was filled with several orange blips inside it.

Ralkan leaned forward and squinted at the green chamber. "... That looks too artificial to be an underground cavern. I am willing to bet that the huge chamber we are looking at is the Hidden Water Spring Tribe's hidden village."

Gollog leaned forward to scrutinize his close, yet distant prize. "Hmm... So it is."

"Wait." Kralluf said, leaning forward, looking at the image closely. "I can see some green wire and orange wire things coming up. They seem to be spreading outward and downward. Can you extend the underground map further?"

Faddoh nodded. He looked up again. "Jaknel, extend range by another three kilometers. Thank you."

The 3-D image began to shrink more to reveal several blurry green shapes that was below the conical chamber. Several domes seemed to dot several places, but their positioning was erratic. The 'wires' of green and orange seemed to mesh together in a chaotic design. These lines and domes of green and orange still extended downward and outward.

"What the hell?" Kralluf said, looking at these new underground chambers in confusion.

Guik's face-mask's letters changed its lettering to 'confusion', whilst tilting her head. [What are those hemispheres?]

Pallax leaned in. [... Are those nesting areas for the zerg?]

Ralkan narrowed his eyes and sat back. "... Maybe they are the suburban complexes of the hidden tribe? ... Hopefully?"

Gollog paused for a long time as he inspected the images before him. Once his scrutiny lasted for eight seconds, he turned to his copper colored commander. "... Faddoh, try extending the range to ten kilometers."

Faddoh looked at Emperor Gollog and nodded. He looked up at the 3-D projected image of the underground caverns again. "Jaknel! Maximum range!"

The 3-D image shrank more, and several more blurry green domes slowly came into focus, the green and orange lines connecting to each of the domes. There was still lines of green and orange that extended below the domes, and there were incomplete domes at the bottom of the provided image still. This had made everyone present gasp.

Ralkan gulped before he spoke. "Kralluf. Tell me you have a warhead that can destroy these subterranean domes?"

Kralluf shook his head. "Not all of them. Even my best bunker-busting warheads would have difficulty reaching depths at five kilometers. These domes, of which I'm guessing are zerg nests, seem to extend past ten kilometers underground."

Pallax nodded. [Then it's obvious what we have to do next. We must fight an enemy that is staging under our very feet.]

Guik's face-mask's letters changed to 'apprehension'. [Guys?]

Gollog stood up. "Then I have no choice. I will activate the machine sentinel protocol. Faddoh, you work on the medical micro-machines that will destroy the zerg from the inside-out."

Guik's face-mask's letters changed to 'fear'. [Guys?]

Faddoh saluted. "As you command, my emperor! A self-replicating swarm of tiny robots shall be the zerg's undoing!"

Guik's face-mask's letters changed to 'contempt'. [Guys?]

Ralkan stood up. "I need to tell every Taurus Chain colonel to heighten their security to red status in all empire aligned cities."

Guik's face-mask's letters changed to 'annoyance'. [Guys?]

Kralluf stood up. "I guess I'll requisition as many warheads I can get before we're overrun."

Guik's face-mask's letters changed to 'anger'. [Guys?!] She said, her voice booming.

Everyone stopped as they turned their attention to Guik. Gollog narrowed his gaze on her. "What is it, Guik? Speak quickly now."

Guik pointed toward her audience whilst her face-mask's letters changed to 'remorse'. [I apologize for not addressing this sooner, but you are about to have a major problem. There are several orange lines rising up from several of the dome chambers.]

Everyone looked at the 3-D projected seismic map again. Guik was right. Something was happening below themselves.

Everybody stared at the seismic map and noticed that orange tendrils were growing upwards, as they were extending and reaching for the surface. "By my estimation, the orange lines will reach our position in around... five minutes." Faddoh said, sounding as though he was in complete awe.

Gollog took a deep breath. "SOUND THE RETREAT! ABANDON YOUR POSTS! ALL SOLDIERS, USE THE MEM DEVICES TO RETURN TO YOUR BARRACKS! ANY TASKS YOU WERE DOING, YOU PRIORITY NOW IS TO LEAVE THE PERIMETER DEFENSE! LEAVE EVERYTHING THAT IS UNIMPORTANT BEHIND! FORGET THE EQUIPMENT, JUST LEAVE IT! DOWNLOAD ALL PRIORITY DATA AND TRANSFER IT TO CUBE RESEARCH FACILITY S-01! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE ZERG BREAKS CONTAINMENT AND KILLS ALL OF YOU! MOVE!"

The announcement that Gollog made had certainly motivated the soldiers in the perimeter camp to try and escape the coming storm.

---

The five minute mark had passed, and the encampment that was formed around the defense perimeter still had a quarter of the total soldiers attempting to flee. They were still escaping, trying to use the MEM devices to make their getaway, but they were a little too late. The infiltrating changelisks, that came in from outside the encampment in their disguises, had already made several adjustments to their MEM devices, and their various other equipment. Subtle subterfuge and sabotage were excellent weapons for the zerg.

When the attack came, it came immediately. Several of the magic wall projectors were simultaneously shut down manually, just as the nydus worms, of which there were thirty that had pierced through the sand and rock under the empire soldier's feet, emerged from the ground all at once. Zerglings filtered out of the nydus worms to attack the compromised gaps of the projected magic wall, and wrecking everything else in their warpath. A few more empire soldiers managed to escape, but the rest had died by the gnashing jaws and slicing claws of the zerglings' rush. The aerial fighters tried their best to fight the ground forces, but they were struck out of the air by the anti-air capability of the hydralisks and queens that emerged from the nydus worms. The artillery positions were quickly overrun, which enabled the ultralisks unabated freedom to stampede on everything that wasn't zerg.

But by far the worst thing that had emerged during that attack were the blightbringers.

The blightbringers resembled fat, overgrown bug faces that waddled around on six stocky legs, and they had huge, yet chubby looking, mouths, two side mouths, and a spiked orifice at the top of their... heads? ... Bodies? Head/bodies? The creatures gurgled and growled as they vomited streams of acid that collected into puddles, easily wearing down defenses and dissolving screaming enemies. They also upchucked several eggs as they searched for enemies to attack. The blightbringers might not be able to use fungal growth or the neural parasites like the infestors could, but the blightbringers had an advantage that was superior to the infestors.

As the blightbringers puked several eggs onto the ground, there was one from each clutch was larger than the rest. After a short gestation cycle, the big eggs ruptured, and from them emerged a ghastly creature of vaguely humanoid proportions. The aberrations.

The aberrations stood on four thin insect legs, and a humanoid torso was situated on a quadrupedal form. Their faces appeared scaled, similar to that of a gilanian, but everything else downward, especially starting at the new mandibles that were on the sides of their chins and the heavy cyst growths on their backs, is where the similarities to the gilanians ended. The aberrations seemed slower than most zerg organisms, but they have the unusual ability to passively bolster the carapace of the zerg organisms that were near them. They were dangerous support units for the zerg. And they were dangerous melee attackers to any armored unit, even when they were so slow when traveling on foot.

In but a span of five minutes, the soldiers tried to evacuate. But in the span of under a minute, the encampment was taken over by the zerg.

Kay emerged from the hole in the ground, finally taking in precious breaths of fresh air. "Ahh~! Oh how I love the smell of victory."

Virid emerged from the hole as well, looking around and noticing the destruction her brood had created. "I can only smell blood and exposed organs." She replied.

Kay turned to look at Virid, raising his eyebrow at her. "... How can you smell without a nose?"

Virid huffed. "The swarm under my command can smell for me. I don't need to have a nose to know what the smell is like. Haven't I told you this already?"

Kay nodded and turned away. "Oh. Kay. Hivemind. I keep forgetting about that."

"Shall we spread our creep on the surface once again?" Virid asked, tilting her head.

Kay nodded again, and walked toward the various equipment and tents that was left behind. "We'll spread it at the same speed as before. However, our expansion efforts underground will have to keep increasing. All our hatcheries on the surface will have to be dedicated to creating airborne zerg from now on. We don't have a lot of time, and we will lose our window of opportunity once the sun comes back up. Also, we need to see if we can incorporate the empire's equipment and weapons into our swarm."

Virid followed after Kay, even though the creep-less ground made her walk more slowly than normal. "A sound plan of attack, but I must ask. Why do you need the gilanian empire's weapons and equipment? I even recall you taking the emperor's MEM device in one instance."

It was true that the changelisks sabotaged many tools and devices, but much of the equipment was left alone when the zerg attacked the perimeter encampment. Kay leaned down to pick up a communicator device, inspecting it as he did so. "Because, Virid, sometimes the best weapon to use is your enemy's. Fighting fire with fire, as some would say."

Virid shook her head. "We do not have the means to fight against Gollog's smite attack during the day. And on top of that, the swarm has no need to evolve complex dexterous appendages. We grow claws and spines for our weapons."

"Yeah... But I am trying to think of a way we could counter Gollog's empire using the tools we took from them." Kay said, looking around for more things to inspect. "Have the drones collect everything and put it in a pile in the village. If there's a chance we can use this tech against Gollog, then we might get the upper hand. Whatever these 'Kiln Keepers' are, they sound like bad business."

Virid cocked her head as she picked up a rifle. "But the swarm have no use for weapons. Or tools. Or anything technological."

Kay rolled his eyes and smirked. "Everything is a tool, Virid. If something is a means to an end, then it can be considered a tool. Even the zerglings are tools for any kind battle. Even people can be used as tools. If you want to expand your vision, then you have too look at all of the possibilities available to you. If you can look at everything as a tool, and figure out a way to use them as a means to achieve your goals, then you would be able to gain several advantages in war in the long-term."

Virid shook her head again. "You are making this 'vision' thing sound so simple, even though I still don't understand what it means to me."

Kay sighed. "Kay, well, I don't know how to help you then. I can't magically make you smarter by adding brain matter to your already thick skull, or whatever."

"Corvurn has the ability to do that." Virid replied.

Kay paused. He turned to Virid and stared at her for a few seconds as he just learned that little piece of trivia. "... Huh. I didn't think he COULD do that."

"Corvurn is an evolution master. It's within his capabilities after all." Virid said, scuttling back to the safety of the already expanding creep.

As the drones scurried past the magic wall projectors, turned the walls off and disassembled them, they went about picking up anything that looked useful and transported such objects into the hole in the ground. Kay looked up toward the sky and sighed. "Well I hope he's making sure to not infect himself with whatever that infected overlord has. I don't want to end up making another evolution master if he ends up contracting the anti-zerg contagion."

"Agreed." Virid said, bowing and taking the rifle with her.

It will hopefully be a long night, tonight.

---

Gollog reappeared in a large city, which he had named Empire Capital. It used to go by another name once upon a time ago, but such a name was lost to the annals of time. Huge, tall, cylindrical buildings rose as skyscrapers that jutted straight up from the ground. Between the buildings, vast open spaces filled with trees and grass could be found growing under them. Surrounding these buildings and the foliage was a massive, circular wall that was thirty meters high and thirty meters wide, and several turrets and soldiers could be seen on the outside, inside, and at the top of the wall. This massive wall had contained a courtyard and several of the cylindrical buildings by a diameter of one thousand meters. However, much of this land was populated by soldiers and various other vehicles, some of which currently unknown to the zerg.

A vehicle with continuous tracks crawled along scarred paths it must have made several times during its patrols, and it bore several weapons that was supported by six rotating limbs. Two sets of its limbs had strange looking weapons that could shoot in various directions over long distances, but one set of such limbs were specialized in melee combat exclusively. Its face was covered with a grill, and six lenses could be seen poking out of this grill. Its chest bore a metal plate that had several scorch marks around the sides. Its purposes appears to be for some kind of heavy peace-keeping role. Perhaps some kind of robot that can fight in a crowd?

Another kind of robot was also seen buzzing above the dirt roads and grassy plains, and going in and out of the cylindrical towers. Some were similar to the scaled-down fliers that were found in the underground village, but they flew and zipped around with purpose. These hover-drones had four spinning rotors, and a tiny jet engine that propelled them forward. It's main body contained several camera lenses that enabled it to see in all directions. Four rotating wheels were under its rotors, while a giant wheel was under its main body. On top of the hover-drones had what looked like bifurcated solar panels.

Gollog strode forward and exited a large, copper cube structure that had green accents all around it. Soon after Gollog left the cubic building, Faddoh, Kralluf, and Ralkan followed after him. The hovering hover-drones quickly circled Gollog when he appeared, but he kept silently cursing to himself under their scrutiny. "Razza frazza frackin jaggin zerg."

Ralkan walked forward hurriedly and matched Gollog's quick pace, walking next to him. "Sir, are you sure that we need to resort to using the Kiln... I mean, the robots you mentioned? I heard that they treated our ancestors quite horribly!"

Gollog growled. "Gods-damned no-good purulent infestation. Fuck them, fuck them, fuck them."

Kralluf ran up and held Ralkan back with a hand to his shoulder. "It's useless, Ralkan. When he gets this mad, he shuts himself off from any outside input. He's gonna run on his own autopilot until he calms down."

Ralkan shrugged the hand off his shoulder and turned to Kralluf. "Am I the only one here that has to be the serious one?! I might be the lowest ranking commander in all the four armies, but by the gods I feel like I'm the only one trying to cover up the mistakes that everyone else is responsible for! And now, we're knee deep in shit and are in incredible danger!"

A punch quieted Ralkan, delivered by Kralluf and right onto his face. The blow was forceful enough to make Ralkan fall to the ground. "Don't panic in the eyes of the public. You're already making a scene."

Ralkan stared at Kralluf, rubbing a struck cheek. But then he got up and patted the dirt off of his uniform, sighing. "You are right. As usual. I sometimes hate that about you, you know."

"You're the smart one when it comes to public relations." Kralluf said, pointing at the hovering hover-drones. "Chances are, one of these things is piloted by a spy that's spying on us, and I'd rather carry this conversation someplace more private than here."

Ralkan sighed and bowed. "I hope that you can forgive me for my outburst. Sharing this secret information to the public would not be good to all parties involved, and to parties uninvolved."

Faddoh walked up to the two commanders, crossing his copper arms behind himself. "We may have to tell them soon, however. These monsters we have been facing these past few days are well beyond our ability to squash. For the moment, I suggest following Gollog's orders. I shall be busy at Research Facility S-01. You may reach me whenever you need me. Simply go through the MEM device at Research Facility A-01, and shift on over to my office."

Faddoh and Ralkan turned and nodded at Faddoh. Faddoh bowed back, then turned and returned to the copper cube research facility. Kralluf turned toward Ralkan and pointed a finger at him, speaking softly. "Don't think this is over yet. Lose your cool again, and I'll floor you."

Ralkan sneered and narrowed his eyes. "If we weren't such self respecting commanders in Gollog's empire, I would kick your face in."

Kralluf smiled venomously. "And if that were to be the case, I'd punch your belly so hard, you'd vomit."

A klaxon suddenly broke the aggressive camaraderie between the two commanders. They wildly looked around, wondering what the sound of distress was. Many of the soldiers that were either idling or making their patrols looked around with surprise or held their helmets to listen to their orders better before running towards a direction. They all eventually started running in the same direction. Even the treaded robots and many of the miniature flier and hover-drones flocked with the soldiers.

"The hell is going on?" Kralluf asked.

"Don't know. Officer!" Ralkan replied, and then shouted to a passerby. He motioned over to a Torus guard, and the guard walked over to them when he noticed that he was being summed by his commander. Ralkan stood tall. "What is your name?

"Officer Pettan, sir!" The guardsman said, saluting.

"Well, Officer Pettan, can you tell me why the klaxon for the security alert is going off?"

"It's not a drill, sir! That's for sure!" The officer shouted. "Someone reported that there was a HUGE beast that's fourteen and a half feet tall is coming directly from the south! It wrecked a dune-boat, but we now got scouts following it and they say that it's coming here! They say that it's close enough for us to see it, sir!"

Ralkan and Kralluf turned and gazed at each other in surprise, and then began following the crowd.

Ralkan pulled out a thin plastic sheet from his person as he ran with the crowd. "Connecting to the surveillance-drone network."

Kralluf scoffed and shook his head, also running with the crowd. "You go and be a wuss. I'll get a good look at everything on the wall."

Ralkan scoffed and shook his head as well. "Absolute madman."

It wasn't long before both Ralkan and Kralluf saw what was causing the security alert. Kralluf had to run up a set of staircases and pushed several soldiers out of his way. He came to the edge at the top of the wall. Ralkan had beaten Kralluf to the punch using a surveillance-drone, and gasped when he saw what was causing the alert.

An ultralisk was stampeding towards the walls of Empire Capital.

It was a huge, almost colossal beast, yet its massive size seemed to have limited its speed to a degree. But it was now here, and it was closing the distance to the capitol. After half a minute of it approaching, it was already being fired upon by the guards and automated turrets that were on the sides and top of the wall. The ultralisk grumble and growled, looking like it was becoming agitated by the concentration of gunfire being applied to its hide. The ultralisk responded by using its massive Kaiser blades at the closest turret emplacements and at any of the guards that were there at the wrong time. The giant beast's Kaiser blades began cutting gilanians and defensive sentries in half with great ease in a dance of slaughter and destruction. But the guards at the top of the structure were easily out of its reach. The ultralisk grumbled, but it carried on attacking at any enemy that it could reach. Anything that had lingered within the ultralisk's reach was sliced, stabbed, cut, cleaved, and smashed.

Kralluf gazed at the monster with surprise, but his smile quickly became broad and excited. "Ralkan! It's one of those big ones! It's going counter-clockwise along the wall and attacking the turret emplacements and guard stations!"

[I think Commander Faddoh called them 'razor fiends'?] Ralkan answered from one of the nearby surveillance-drones, apparently connecting to it in some way and talking to Kralluf.

"Oh yeah, I remember now. Gollog was the one that came up with the name. I'm going to head it off. Tell your guys to stay away from its tusk things." Kralluf said, running and pushing gilanian guards out of his way.

[Acknowledged, Commander Kralluf, but I'm not so sure that those blades are its tusks. What is your plan?]

Kralluf reached behind himself and grabbed an axe-bladed hammer that was slung on his back. "I'm gonna thump it."

[You're going to fight for once? This aught to be good.]

Kralluf ran ahead of the ultralisk that was grazing its Kaiser blades onto the turrets and guards along the outer wall. After running several more meters, Kralluf then struck the ground with his hammer, and positioned his hammer so that the hammer's handle was pointed slightly upwards at an angle. Kralluf then looked behind himself and used his thumb to measure the distance between the ultralisk and himself. "That's one of the many differences between me and you, Ralkan." Kralluf said, stepping onto his hammer and gripping the handle tightly. "You like your traps, but I have a preference for something heavy to throw around."

[Rolling my eyes, here.] Ralkan said.

After he was done with his preparation, Kralluf readied himself for his attack. "KINETIC LAUNCH!" Instantly, Kralluf was launched into the air at a blinding speed, reaching nearly a hundred and twenty meters into the air. Kralluf adjusted himself in the air and saw that the ultralisk was going to be directly below him soon. The ultralisk noticed the yell and looked up, as though it was interested with the new challenge that was presented to it. Once Kralluf started descending, he readied his hammer once more. "MULTIPLY DENSITY, TIMES ONE HUNDRED! KINETIC IMPACT!"

The moment that Kralluf had landed his hammer on the right shoulder of the ultralisk, the ultralisk's foreleg was sheared off completely, followed by its slightly smaller right Kaiser blade as well. The 'kinetic blast' also managed to launch the ultralisk, which forced it to land fifty meters away. Kralluf not only severed two limbs from an ultralisk, but he was also able to create a small crater using his hammer and his own body as the projectile, which acted very much like a heavy-massed object. Eventually, Kralluf climbed his way out of the crater he made to inspect the damage he caused. He smiled when he saw that he had weakened the ultralisk.

The ultralisk was already limping away with its remaining legs, hobbling for safety to escape Kralluf's hammer. Kralluf couldn't help it as his ego enlarged, prompting him to taunt the fleeing creature. "Yeah! You better run! You are a complete wuss! If you know what's good for you, you would let yourself bleed to death! I'm going to hunt you down, and take your razor as my trophy! Ha ha ha ha ha~!"

[Are you done?] Ralkan asked, a surveillance-drone flying down next to Kralluf as it spoke with the Torus Chain Division's commander's voice.

Kralluf beamed a smile as he turned to face the surveillance-drone, flashing it a thumbs up. "Ye of little faith. That fucker now knows well enough to not fight our capital city head on from now on."

[This is the zerg we are talking about, Kralluf. If anything, we should be prepared for any... Ah! COUNTER-ATTACK!]

The surveillance-drone zipped forward, past Kralluf's head, and impacted with a zergling that almost pounced on an unassuming commander, shocking the organism with the surveillance-drone's built-in taser. Kralluf looked behind himself and growled. "The blade hounds are here now? Terrific. How did it sneak up on me?" Kralluf said, coming up to the zergling and smashing its skull in with an overhead strike, using the bladed part of his hammer.

[The razor fiend must have been a distraction. You should retreat back to relative safety inside the capitol's wall.] Another surveillance-drone with Ralkan's voice said. [By the way, Gollog wants to have a chat with you.]

Kralluf rolled his eyes, dragging his hammer behind himself with chunks of zerg flesh embedded into its blade. "Is he going to talk through the surveillance-drone, or is he coming to me?"

"The latter, you fool." Gollog said, descending from the top of the wall and landing softly next to Kralluf.

Kralluf turned to Gollog, paused, and then bowed. "My emperor. Are you finally out of your funk?" He asked.

Gollog narrowed his gaze at Kralluf. "Impressive as your feat was, it is obvious to me that these monsters have reached farther from their territory than I'd first thought. Especially those razor fiends." He said, looking at the pulped leg of an ultralisk.

"It's surprising something that big began its journey from its nest and managed to come straight here to our capitol city." Kralluf said, looking around and finding the lower-left limb of a Kaiser blade. After finding it, he decided to knock his fist on it. It sounded dense, almost as though it was pure, compact bone. "I really want to hunt it down and have its tusk as a trophy."

Gollog patted Kralluf on the shoulder, but he did not smile. "It may return if it is not slain. But if you truly wish to hunt it down, then you have my permission. Bear in mind that it would be a great shame if you died."

Kralluf looked up at Emperor Gollog. "You're letting me hunt that thing, sir?"

Gollog nodded, and smiled. "I am about to summon the Kiln Keepers soon. I wouldn't want them to have all the fun, after all!"

Kralluf stared at Gollog for a long while before nodding and smirking. "Lets just hope that those Keepers keep their hands off my razor fiend trophy."

"Be careful, Kralluf." Gollog warned. "The zerg organisms have displayed the unusual power to regenerate lost limbs seconds. This ability has been displayed by the blade hound you once captured, and I don't doubt that the razor fiend has this ability too."

Kralluf turned away from Gollog to stare at the distance, looking at the shrinking speck on the horizon that was the surviving ultralisk. "Looks like I'll be getting a hunting expedition together for this one." However, another interruption came between Gollog and Kralluf. "... Oh hell, another blade hound!"

Kralluf and Gollog could see a zergling emerging from the far line of desert bushes, which ran straight towards them. The zergling was eager to get its teeth and claws bloodied with the prey it found. Gollog walked forward to intercept the zergling, clenching and flexing his gauntlet heavy hands a few times. The zergling went ahead and attacked the closest enemy, which happened to be the emperor. Gollog reached out with both of his hands and quickly broke the neck of the zergling before it managed to lay a claw on him. Gollog then punted the creature several meters away, which flailed as though it was still alive. "They have indeed spread far, it seems."

Yet another zergling came forward, and it growled as it approached Gollog. Kralluf stepped forward this time. "KINETIC BLOW!" A single swing later, and the zergling was reduced to pulverized and bloodied chunks that was launched into the sky. The pieces that remained convulsed slightly before becoming completely still. Kralluf sighed. "I'll get a team ready soon. May your divine power over Kiln last forever."

Gollog bowed before Kralluf, whilst Kralluf did the same. Kralluf then got onto his hammer and launched himself over the wall again, whilst Gollog remained behind. Two more zerglings came out of hiding seconds later, and they began to quickly approach the lone emperor. Gollog sighed as he brought his hands out. "I SUMMON FORTH MY DIVINE SWORD AND DAGGER!" Gollog snatched two objects out of the air as they materialized from nothing.

The pair of zerglings did nothing against the emperor, since their claws passed through only air, or passed though Gollog and did no damage whatsoever. Gollog swung his divine blades with centuries of practiced accuracy, felling the two zerglings. Four soon came out, but Gollog wasn't worried in the slightest. A quick circling sweep of his sword had cut through the legs of the zerglings that surrounded him, and a deadly jab of his knife pushed into each of theirs skulls and twisted violently, going through hardened carapace and cranial bone as though it was tinfoil! Eight zerglings came to inspect the battle, and six rushed after the emperor, despite his apparent non-physical presence. They were unable to destroy Gollog's manifested form if they couldn't find and kill his cloaked projectors. Or dream-light hover-bots, as he calls them. Kay liked the former name for them better.

When Gollog was finished cutting down the six zerglings with unnatural ease, he turned to see two cocoons that had replaced the two zerglings. Gollog raised an eyebrow as he slowly approached them. "Hmm? This is fairly new. Blade hounds that turn into eggs during a hunt?"

[Careful, my emperor.] A nearby surveillance-drone with Ralkan's voice said. [Faddoh said that these creatures could cocoon themselves to become a stronger organism. He cited in his notes that blade hounds can transform into bursters.]

Banelings hatched from the cocooned zerglings after several seconds had passed. Gollog blinked a few times in surprise, backing away from the explosive zerg. "And so fast too!"

[These are suicide organisms, emperor! Touch them and they will explode with scalding acid!]

Gollog nodded toward the surveillance-drone. "Then use your toys to dispatch these death balloons, Ralkan."

[As you wish, my emperor!] Ralkan replied. Several surveillance-drones started to circle over the banelings. One of such surveillance-drones accelerated at one of the banelings, intent on colliding with the enemy zerg with a kamikaze attack. Oddly enough, the baneling exploded instantly, which melted the nearby hover-drones that tried to do the same. Its brother decided to burrow into the ground, pushing away sand and grassy tufts as it did so. The ground above it vibrated for a second and then settled, which seemed to remove any traces of zerg activity on the surface of the sand.

Gollog huffed after seeing the banelings vanish beneath the ground right before his eyes. "Easy to scare, these bursters."

[Multiple contacts!] Ralkan shouted. A wave of several banelings filtered from the faraway bushes. They began rolling towards the emperor.

Gollog paled slightly, making his yellow and albino skin even more colorless. "I think it's time to fly out of this confrontation." Gollog said, hovering upward and getting off of the dangerous ground. The banelings quickly gathered and rolled around, circling underneath Gollog. They became a swirling ball-pit of death as they followed after the floating emperor. How these things could roll around and not get sick of the constant, and unusual, means of travel, Gollog would not be able to understand. In fact, Gollog was feeling as though he was getting motion sickness watching the orbs of acid going around and around and around in their dizzying display.

After several seconds of circling, the banelings burrowed under the sandy ground at the same time, seeming as though they had a shared will that connected their minds into a single entity. Gollog was safely in the air, but he pouted when he gazed at the now seemingly safe ground. [I think I need to tell the Torus guards to set up seismic sensors on the outer perimeters of their positions. All empire-aligned cities will need to be notified of this. Be right back.] Ralkan said.

Gollog sighed, flying away from the booby-trapped ground. "What in the world is the zerg's next trick going to be? A monster-launching monster?" He didn't notice the fell roar from the distance, since the sound of his own voice drowned out the faraway noise.

---

Gollog should have been more careful with his aloud wording when the zerg are present. The mutalisks could fit the description that Gollog had described quite easily, but the brood lords felt like a more fitting description of a 'monster-launching-monster' to Kay. A nydus worm had already erupted from the ground two and a half kilometers away from Empire Capitol, and several drones and queens filtered out of its maw, creating hatcheries in a slightly curved line. Once the hatcheries were created, spine crawlers and spore crawlers were positioned closer to the city on the creep that was established. A nydus network was established next to the nydus worm, which enabled quicker deployment of several more nydus worms in the immediate area.

Once more nydus worms were established, more hatcheries, spine crawlers, and spore crawlers were morphed near them, until forming a semi-perfect ring around the city. The nydus worms would be busy delivering the land-based zerg units, whilst the airborne zerg units would be hatched from the hatcheries or from the main hive cluster that was south southeast from Empire Capitol.

The ultralisk that was sent forward had proved very useful in distracting the guards, its grating Kaiser blades scratching on the surface of the defensive wall was simply too noisy and distracting for the guards. Had they diverted their attention to the horizon, they would have detected the growing zerg forces. As a result, they were too blinded to notice the nydus worms circling their capitol. Should they try to emerge closer to the capitol, they would have been easily targeted and killed. Morphing nydus networks and spawning nydus worms far from their lands would make it less likely for the zerg to be detected. But as of now, the nydus worms were delivering their zerg organisms close to enemy territory.

Soon, overlords, overseers, mutalisks, corruptors, brood lords and vipers populated the sky quickly. Drones, zerglings, banelings, roaches, ravagers, hydralisks, lurkers, infestors, swarm hosts, ultralisks and queens quickly gathered in a large circle and formed their ranks. Their numbers slowly grew more and more as hungry, predatory eyes of several breeds of zerg watched the city with insatiable bloodlust. Once the circle was complete, the zerg would begin their march and commence their attack.

Kay emerged from the established nydus network, feeling the cool night air in his lungs once more in the same night, but at a different location. The defensive perimeter that was set around Gollog's precious city shall suffer the wrath of the zerg, and Kay would do so with a similar efficiency that was close to Emperor Gollog's merciless tactics. But instead of a giant laser wall that killed everything as it closed in, the zerg swarm would close in and kill everything loyal to the Golden Star Empire within this established circle. Kay sighed happily. "This is going to feel completely therapeutic once this night is over."

Virid emerged from the nydus network that Kay used, and then inspected the environs around herself after she arrived. "... What do we know of this city's infrastructure?"

Kay shrugged his arms. "Dunno. The changelisks that traveled to this area, using the form of zerglings, noted that the entire facility is completely surrounded by a wall."

Virid cocked her head and stared at Kay. "... Why would you have our changelisks assume the form of zerglings?"

Kay sighed. "I needed them to have a speed advantage to scout out the terrain. Don't worry though, I had them transform into desert animals, lone hermits or hobo gilanians when they were alone."

Virid seemed impressed. "I can see why changelisks are much more important than changelings. And I wouldn't have thought of turning a changelisk into a zergling to cover more ground."

"Changelings have their purposes too." Kay replied. "But fast recon is something that could be vital in certain situations, but there were no overseers in our immediate area. Zerglings were a lot faster, so... I had the changelisks disguise as our own zerglings to spread our awareness farther." Kay said with a smirk.

Virid nodded. "I see. So you merely created and used the changelisks to embark on this long-term reconnaissance, instead of using the temporary, yet free to spawn, changelings for their usual means of short-term reconnaissance. Hence why the nydus worms were quickly created in this area."

Kay turned to Virid. "Don't get me wrong. Changelings have their own uses too. Hell, inexpensive reconnaissance in a dangerous area is something I would approve to have. The changelisks are fairly cheap to make, but they have the advantage of living indefinitely longer. Also, losing them wouldn't disadvantage us in the long-term too badly."

"I had not considered that." Virid said, nodding her head more. She then stood next to Kay. "Shall we attack?"

Kay crossed his arms. "When will the assault ring be formed?"

"Within ten minutes, if my math is correct."

Kay grinned in a predatory manner. "Keep producing air strains and delivering ground strains here. Once the ring of hatcheries is complete, have the queens deposit their creep tumors at the inner, and outer, edges of the circled perimeter of established creep. After that, we will attack. ... Hmm?"

Kragnon seemed to be bugging one of the zerg organisms, and is wanting to talk with Kay again. This was awfully weird, since un-infested gilanians needed sleep during this time. Virid turned around, also aware of the Lovechief's presence. "What does Kragnon want this time?"

Kay shrugged, turning and heading back for the nydus worm. "No idea. You want to deal with things here?"

"I would be honored to, Kay." Virid replied, bowing.

Kay smiled. "I'll leave it to you then. ... Oh, and try not to do anything I wouldn't do. See you later." Kay said before he disappeared into the nydus network.

Virid turned and looked at the city in the center of the nearly complete assault ring. Empire Capital was soon going to have a very tough time trying to survive. Soon, the capitol would be filled with death. If Virid had lips, she would smiled a most salacious smile. Of course, smiling did not add any tactical advantage to a battle, so lips were quite unnecessary to the swarm.

But what did add to a tactical advantage was a numerical advantage.

The ring of hatcheries was finally completed, and the queens went to work making their creep tumors and resource tumors. Several carbonation extractors were also created, while several more drones transformed to fill their new purposes as immobile bio-structures.

If Gollog could summon his smiting magics to defend against this new incursion, he would win an impossible victory. Sadly it can't be done, for it was still nighttime. But perhaps the 'Kiln Keepers', as Gollog calls them, might turn the tide of battle? Only time would tell.

As of now, however, Virid would now marshal the forces she was given command of. "Feel the fury of the Swarm!"

---

Elsewhere, Ralkan was joining Gollog on a walk to the giant copper cube, which was called A-01 by Faddoh some time ago. Once Gollog stopped, Ralkan noticed that Gollog was also sighing. After a few seconds of hesitation, Ralkan felt like he needed to ask what was wrong. "... Sir?"

Gollog turned around, his eyes a duller color of emotion than normal. "I'm afraid we'll have to part here. Protect this city with all of your willpower, if you can." He said, putting a shoulder to Ralkan.

Ralkan slowly saluted and nodded. "Uh... Yes, my emperor. Should I ask General Pallax for additional resources?"

"You may." Gollog replied, nodding and giving Ralkan permission. "I shall be off now to summon the Kiln Keepers. May the gods have mercy on our souls. Especially my immortal soul."

Gollog turned around and headed for the research facility, entering into it and disappearing to somewhere. Ralkan gulped and sighed. What he wouldn't give for a stiff drink. However, his day would be further ruined by the next thing he wouldn't have expected, or didn't want to have happened. When these words were shouted to him, his heart had sank to an all new low. A feeling of dread accompanied this prior emotion, followed by sorrow, anguish, fear, betrayal, spite, grief, and panic. The most strongest emotion out of all of them was panic. And the words that were shouted at him?

"Scouts are reporting zerg organisms spotted two and a half kilometers away from the capitol!"

Ralkan looked up with wide eyed surprise. He shouted back at the guard relaying the information. "FROM WHICH DIRECTION?!"

"Everywhere, sir! North, east, south, west, and every combination between!"

Ralkan paled as his eye twitched, but he also chuckled to himself and slumped in his posture. "... Ha ha hah hah hah... Looks like I have my job cut out for me. I think I'll have to warn Kralluf about this first." He reached into his own person to fish out the plastic sheet he had used previously. He pressed his thumb on it and it darkened, with several lights that later became active on its surface. He fiddled with the lightened buttons until he saw the image of Kralluf. It appeared as though, from a floating perspective, he was getting ready for a hunting expedition with another group of gilanians. "Kralluf, there is something I need to tell you!"

[Is it more important than my hunt for the razor fiend?] Kralluf asked. He turned around and looked straight at Ralkan from the image on the plastic sheet.

Ralkan shook his head. "We are surrounded by zerg organisms, Kralluf. I suggest you escape from here and find a safer location to command your forces!"

Kralluf shook his head. [I was given permission to hunt down a razor fiend I didn't cleanly kill. I'm not going to turn this down, Ralkan. I'll come back to you once I'm done, alright?]

Ralkan shook his head. "B-b-but Kralluf!"

[Bye.] A deft swing of his hammer shorted out the feed of the surveillance-drone.

Ralkan stood there, dumbfounded. He lost the strength in his arms and they flopped downward, one hand still clutching onto the sheet of plastic that could somehow connect to the flying hover-drones. After several seconds of brooding, Ralkan straightened his posture, breathed deeply, and furrowed his brow and expression. It was at this moment he knew he needed to be strong. "... Right. Time to call Pallax." He directed his attention to the sheet of plastic again and fiddled with the lights once more. After a few seconds of passing, General Pallax was later seen on the sheet of plastic. "General Pallax, sir. This is Commander Ralkan of the Torus Chain Division, requesting reinforcements to aid in the defense and evacuation of Empire Capitol."

The image of Pallax glowed from Ralkan's plastic sheet, and the general nodded to his request. [As you wish, Ralkan. What is the condition over there?]

Ralkan sighed. "We are completely overwhelmed here. The zerg have established a circular perimeter around our city, and we don't have the means to protect ourselves with the resources and assets we currently have stationed. The zerg are two and a half kilometers away from our position, surrounding all our sides."

Pallax raised an eyebrow. [Interesting. In any case, more MEM devices shall be transported through the type A facility at your city. Use them for the requisition of officers and equipment that you'll need. I shall allow full permission to use anti-siege vehicles and installations within your city border. Use them well. If you feel that the city will be taken over, there is no shame in using one of the MEM devices to escape.]

Ralkan shook his head. "There is also something else. Gollog has given Kralluf permission to hunt down a razor fiend while in these conditions. Could you try and extract him out of this area? Or maybe assist him?"

Pallax sighed. [He's on his own, I'm afraid. You know how he is about leaving things half-finished. He has never accepted my help before, and he's not going to ask for assistance either. He'll do fine on his own. On the other hand, it's you I'm worried about.]

"... M-me?"

Pallax nodded. [You were born in Empire Capitol. Chances are, you'll die defending the capitol to your last breath. And I know that you will, since you are so attached to that place. It is for that reason which is why I am giving you the assistance you will need. Will that be all?]

"... Y-yes sir." Ralkan said, saluting, almost dropping the plastic sheet piece of technology.

Pallax saluted back. [Die well, commander. Survive, if you can.]

Ralkan sighed, putting the plastic sheet back into his person. Ralkan then took a deep breath and bellowed his orders to everyone. "EVERYONE! CLEAR THE COURTYARDS! WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO USE ANTI-SIEGE TACTICS IN OUR DEFENSE OF THIS CAPITOL! SET UP MORE TURRETS ON THE TOP AND OUTER LIP OF THE WALL! MOVE THE ANTI-RIOT BOTS UP THERE IF YOU HAVE TO! HELL, YOU ALSO SHOULD PUT THEM OUTSIDE THE WALL! WE'RE GOING TO PROTECT THIS CITY DOWN TO THE LAST MAN, AND I DON'T WANT ANY SLACKERS, PROCRASTINATORS, OR SLOWPOKES DRAGGING EVERYONE ELSE DOWN! IF I FIND YOU LOAFING OFF, I'LL PERSONALLY THROW YOU OVER THE WALL! OUR PRIORITY IS TO PROTECT EMPIRE CAPITOL, AND PROTECT THE CITIZENRY AND FACTORIES UNDERNEATH THE ACCESS TOWERS! VIGILANCE REWARDS YOU WITH PRECIOUS SECONDS OF LIFE, BUT ANY LAPSE IN CONCENTRATION WILL RISK AN EARLY DEATH! GO FORTH, SOLDIERS AND GUARDS OF THE TORUS CHAIN DIVISION! SECURE OUR HOMES, AND PREVENT OUR ENEMIES FROM TAKING WHAT BELONGS TO US! MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!"

The guards in the entire city quickly got to work in fortifying their positions, installing new automated turrets and creating new fortifications that would help provide additional defenses against the invading zerg. The men were pumped up, and they repaired some of the damage that the ultralisk had caused, with the promise of using anti-siege weaponry seeming to make them work even more harder.

But Ralkan had doubt settling into his heart once more. He knew too well that they couldn't possibly be prepared for what was coming for them. Ralkan turned away and headed for one of the access towers, entering into it and disappearing from the surface of Empire Capitol. Its main structures was located below ground, where high classed civilians and important underground farms were maintained and carefully managed. Below the civilian population floors, Ralkan would descend into his own personal facility, where many kinds of equipment in bulk would be stored for his use. It was secured in a secret and secured place. It was there at the lowest floor that he has made his home, and he would go there to retrieve one special object that he considered as the most important item in his possession.

But after that, he would prepare for one last final battle.

---

A/n: ^ Ten thousand words plus, wow. :V

Anyway, to recap on the names that the gilanians had given for the zerg units:

drone = floater

spine crawler = whipper sentry

spore crawler = barnacle sentry

overlord = drifter

overseer = ocular

changeling/changelisk = doppelganger

queen = caretaker

zergling = blade hound

baneling = burster

roach = puker

ravager = bombardier

hydralisk = spine serpent

lurker = ambusher

infestor = spawner

infested gilanian = pawn

blightbringer = greater spawner

aberration = greater pawn

swarm host = pest carrier

locust = pest

ultralisk = razor fiend

mutalisk = sky bat

corruptor = slayer

brood lord = scratch launcher

broodling = scratcher

viper = cloud licker