Chapter 31: Chains of Iron
Deep underground the major city known as Empire Capitol, the zerg were bolstering their defenses. But more importantly, the zerg were hunting after a certain commander that was holed up in the once-impressive bunker. But the bunker had been penetrated, and the treasure it guarded was now exposed. The changelisk disguised as Kay allowed Commander Ralkan to prepare himself with the limited time that was given to him. And now, Ralkan was going to try fighting and surviving the zerg that came for him. He could have escaped with the other commanders, but he seemed focused on being the last man standing in the city.
If it was a last stand he wanted, then it is a last stand he'll get.
The zerglings were the first to meet the commander in combat. Ralkan leaped upwards into the air and methodically shot at several zerglings in quick succession, making them vanish in a puff of smoke and ash that smelled like burnt meat. When that strategy didn't work, the roaches came forward. Their acidic spittle shot toward Ralkan. Those dangerous sizzling globs of death could easily kill a gilanian, or anything else equal to or weaker than them. Ralkan expertly dodged the spitting roaches and threw his knives into the heads and carapace of the zerg organisms, killing some of them quickly.
But this had given the zerglings the window they needed to rush straight at Ralkan, unimpeded by the eradication of his energy pistols. However, deft strokes from several, sharp, hidden blades also made short work of the zerglings, striking through their heavily carapaced armor with a kind of precision that was unheard of. Ralkan even used the deceased corpses of the zerglings to shield himself from the errant acid spits originating from the roaches. Kay became curious of the weapons he wielded. "How the hell are your knives going through zerg carapace? Are they made of some kind of super metal?" The changelisk disguised as Kay asked.
A 'shunk' sound went into the crown of a zergling, and it flailed when it was discarded. Ralkan turned toward Not-Kay and pulled his pistols out. "It's magic wall tech. Sharp fractals are generated on the outermost edges of the knife when it detects a collision, which separates the cells. It then enlarges and retracts into the blade, forming a pleated, bladed surface that effectively saws through, and separates, armor defenses from the inside-out. It's like a chainsaw that pushes itself into the wood of a tree."
Not-Kay nodded. "A perfect assassin's weapon. Hardly something a commander would wield."
Ralkan growled as he trained his energy pistols at Not-Kay. "Truth be told, I was a vicious little cutthroat that lived here in Empire Capitol. Back in those days, the elderly remembered the city by another name, calling it 'Glitter Towers' instead. I made my way to the top, even bypassing the heads of aristocracy as I made my mark as a soldier, and then as a colonel. But when Gollog noticed my talent, he gave me the opportunity to prove myself as a commander, and I have not regretted my promotion since then. But this kernel I built was supposed to help me remember where my roots started. Now, it has been desecrated by you and your monsters. It used to help keep me grounded in a past that was my origin, but not anymore. What is a safe house good for if I can't hide in it when the worst comes to pass, but to also become my tomb when an unassailable force decides to break in? Like city vermin chased into a corner, I came from these gutters, and I will bare my teeth at the serpents that dare hunt me down."
Not-Kay scoffed. "Criminy, now I feel bad that I have to be the one to shut you up! Since you mentioned snakes, I guess it's now time to introduce you to my hydralisks."
Ralkan tilted his head. "Hydra-whats?"
Not-Kay smiled and stepped aside. "The zerg organisms that you gilanians call 'spine serpents'. Enjoy!"
Hydralisks entered into the fray and gathered around Ralkan, hissing and taking positions slightly behind the roaches. After seven seconds of time had passed, the hydralisks fired their needle-sharp spines in quick succession at Ralkan, whilst Ralkan threw several knives, and shot beams of energy, at the hydralisks also intruding into his home. Ralkan tried to dodge the spines, but they traveled too fast to dodge normally, and he fell to the ground with grievous injuries. A spine embedded into his left shoulder and several into his chest and back, whilst two spines grazed across his forehead a couple times. "Ghuh! Dammit!"
Not-Kay walked up and hovered over Ralkan with a downcast stare. "Baring your teeth yet?"
Ralkan growled and stared back at Not-Kay with venomous eyes. He breathed in deeply. "INITIATE SELF-DESTRUCT OF MY DISCARDED KNIVES!"
Several explosions rocked the room that Not-Kay and Ralkan was in, resulting in every zerg organism being pushed around by forces that they couldn't identify in time. The knives that had embedded into, or killed, the zerg organisms were the product of sudden and severe destruction. Kay theorized that the knives were also bombs, having plastic explosives, or some other kind of explosive materials, installed in the hollow of the weapons. Something that can slice so well, and explode at the same time, is a type of weapon that Kay would have never thought to ever existed. It also sounded needlessly expensive and impractical.
Not-Kay hazily got up from the destructive explosions that rocked his world, and many zerg organisms were either destroyed or destroyed further by the force of several knife-shaped bombs going off. Not-Kay looked around and made a low hiss. "Shit! Are you trying to put yourself into an early grave?!"
"Got nowhere else to go. Might as well put me in one right here!" A quick knife slice, and Not-Kay's head was severed from the rest of his body. After the attack, Ralkan looked down at his own knife and inspected it. He looked puzzled. "... You have a much softer neck than I thought."
Another Not-Kay appeared and entered into the room. "Don't think too hard about it." Not-Kay 2 said, slowly walking and closing the distance to Ralkan.
Ralkan paused before his eyes brightened widely. "Wait a minute. ... The... The infested gilanian at Forward Research Site B-22. He changed in front of a bunch of biologists and other researchers there. ... You're a facsimile, aren't you? A... A doppelganger?"
Not-Kay 2 ran forward and clothes-lined Ralkan, forcing him onto the ground and making a metallic clattering sound as his armor made contact with the floor. More zerg organisms filtered into the room, as the creep also started to grow into the room as well. Not-Kay 2 flexed his shoulder and arm in a circle before sighing, and then producing a bone-blade from his hand. "I told you not to think too hard about it."
Ralkan struggled to his feet, and aimed his energy pistol at the latest Not-Kay and obliterated him. Not-Kay 3 came into the fray and sighed. Ralkan looked behind himself and steadied his stance, and he growled. "If these monsters can assume the guise of another officer, then you represent a dangerous risk to all security checkpoints. And if that's true, then it would stand to reason that you would infiltrate our ranks. I just want to know one thing. How long have you survived on this world?"
A bone-knife emerged from Not-Kay 3's right arm, and he readied himself into an offensive stance. "It's obvious that you're gathering information. Is someone else eavesdropping into our conversation? I bet there is."
[Very perceptive, Kay.] Gollog's voice said, reverberating the room. [Or should I say, 'Faux-Kay'?]
Not-Kay 3 went forward and slitted Ralkan's throat, making him fall backwards and clutch his neck hard and firmly. Not-Kay 3 looked up and smirked. "Kay is fine, since I am here in spirit. Mind telling me where this 'shadow location' place of yours is?"
[How do you know of that?]
"Ralkan was sharing the codes to travel there to Kralluf before he used a MEM device to escape my zerg forces. In hindsight, Ralkan should have messaged the code, instead of blurting them out in earshot of the zerg." Luckily, Ralkan was completely forgotten by Not-Kay 3, giving him a window of opportunity to fetch a first aid kit looking case from under the desk, the same one he had pulled and equipped his weapons from. He was bandaging his neck and moaning when he applied several different sprays to several of his injuries.
[Is that so? You do realize that the MEM devices cannot transport you, or your creatures?] Gollog stated.
"And how are you to assume that I knew that?" Kay retorted.
[Because research onto your creatures has uncovered the fact that you overheard my conversation with Kralluf during the capture of one of your blade hounds.]
Not-Kay 3 nodded and crossed his arms. "Even though I am unable to see you right now, I could practically hear the gears grinding in your mind. Or is that the vein that is in danger of popping out from your forehead, due to your frustration with my existence?"
[The creature I am speaking with may be a doppelganger, but you and your master have yet to learn that emperors always deserve respect. Because if you don't respect them, then you will be cut down.]
Not-Kay 3 was exactly that after Gollog's sentence, thanks to a slightly healed Ralkan. A blade pushed through Not-Kay 3's chest, and it killed him. The changelisk turned into a puddle of goo. Ralkan grunted and sighed in relief. However, the hydralisks shot at his knees and elbows, forcing the commander to fall onto his back in a gurgled moan. The needle spines were simply too fast to counter.
[Ralkan, are you alright?] Gollog asked.
Ralkan grunted and shook his head.
[Oh dear. Well... I suppose I have no choice but to let you retire.] Gollog said with a gruff sigh.
"So you're going to leave your commander here to die? Sounds a bit cold to me." Not-Kay 4 said, walking into the room that was filling with zerg and creep.
[If he evacuated like a sensible person would, then I would have given him some leniency. But since he's so stubborn on remaining in the city he grew up in, I can't exactly deny his request.] Gollog replied.
After nodding, Not-Kay 4 decided to change the subject. "Then can you listen to my request?" Not-Kay 4 said, crossing his arms.
[If it's to call off the Kiln Keepers, then it's too late for that. Once unleashed, they will carry out their programming until the programmed conditions have been met. They have been programmed to not rest until all zerg organisms on Kiln have been eliminated, and I will make sure that they will attain that goal. You have no hope of stopping them, Kay. No hope at all! By the powers of my divine might, I'll-]
"Shut up already! I wasn't going to request that!" Not-Kay 4 shouted, going to Ralkan's desk to inspect it.
[... Oh? What IS your request?]
"Die."
A chuckle perverted the air. [I can't die, you idiotic fool! What makes you think I still can?]
"Because asking how you can die is less fun than finding the answer out for myself. And I don't take requests from dickheads." Not-Kay 4 pressed the end-call button once he found it. Once Gollog's voice no longer perverted the air, Not-Kay 4 circled Ralkan's desk and approached the wounded commander. "Tsk tsk tsk. Seems like you have nowhere else to go, huh?"
Ralkan grunted, his throat still heavily bandaged from the wound he suffered prior.
"Hmm... He expects me to kill you... But instead, I have a much more insidious plan in store." Not-Kay 4 said with a grin.
"Looks like you're in for a treat." The real Kay said, coming into the room and approaching Ralkan. Kay walked to the commander of the Torus Chain Division and knelt down next to him. He then placed a gentle hand onto the temple of Ralkan's head. Ralkan shifted his vision between the fake Kay and the real Kay, unsure of which one is which. "... Destroy this entire bunker, but leave this patch of creep the commander is on intact. I have a brain to look inside of." Ralkan widened his eyes and struggled, but he was forced down and prevented from moving or resisting any further. Electricity formed from Kay's fingers and Ralkan convulsed immediately when the arcing energy grazed his scales.
The zerg organisms did as they were commanded, and started disassembling the bunker from the inside. It took several minutes, but the bunker was finally reduced to rubble and small rivulets of acid. However, there were some prizes that was looted from the busted bunker. A hydralisk carefully carried an aquarium next to Kay, which happened to contain some unusual animals inside, looking like small, gelatinous medusozoa that were smaller than marbles. In layman's terms, jellyfish.
However, Kay learned from Ralkan's mind that those jellyfish were special, and were exotic animals that wasn't normally found on Kiln. Sadly, Ralkan doesn't know from where they came from, only that they were a gift from Gollog himself. It was an unusual piece of information that Kay thought was interesting, and decided that transporting them to the main hive cluster in the underground village could benefit the zerg. "Virid, I found some cool animals. You think Corvurn will like them?"
'He is currently ill, and won't be able to process the organisms you found.' Virid said, sounding bored.
"... Oh fucking shit, he tried eating the infected overlord or queens, didn't he?" Kay rhetorically asked, sighing.
'He has made progress. The usually degenerative effects of the anti-zerg contagion has decreased by forty percent. The overlord was lost, but the queens are able to provide Corvurn with enough genetic information to work with. However, he is too focused on his task to help analyze your specimens.'
Kay rolled his eyes. "Oh fuck, really? I forgot that he was on the moon. Huh... Well how am I supposed to mutate the swarm without an evolution master close by?"
'You could eat the organisms yourself, and absorb the genetic information through ingestion.'
Kay paused. "..."
'Need someone to hold your nose?' Virid offered.
"Uh... You'd really think that would work?"
'No. What is that animal anyway?'
Kay reached into the aquarium and plucked three jellyfish out of the water. They went limp in his hands, and became very stringy where the tentacles drooped down. "They are jellyfish. Apparently, it's one of the many kinds of gifts that Gollog gives to his commanders. These little critters apparently have the ability to regress into their larval stages. At least, that's what I learned from Commander Ralkan's mind when Gollog told him about them."
'Kill him. He is now useless to us.'
Kay looked down at the fallen Commander Ralkan. He twitched occasionally, as drool flowed from his mouth. His blood mixed in with the creep that slithered under him and got into his wounds. Several seconds later, his chest started to pulsate and contract wildly. He didn't exclaim in pain however, since his brain was too altered from Kay's forced mental probing. He convulsed a little however, but that lasted for only a minute. Kay sighed and shook his head. "Nah, I don't think so. If he wants to remain here, I'll let him. Though I'm not sure if his brain will ever return to normal."
'I am sure his brain will be fine the way it is. What I am not sure of is letting him stay down there without some purpose to accomplish. His wounds is being festered by the creep. He will become part of the swarm soon.'
Kay shrugged and positioned the jellyfish above his head. "Well... When in doubt, you can always try out new tactics or strategies with him. Me for example, I am going to eat raw jellyfish for the first time in my life. Not many terrans eat jellyfish, so this is going to be a weird experience for me." Kay dropped the jellyfish into his mouth and swallowed hard. The gooey creatures went down without too much issue, but the stinging tentacles did tickle his throat. He coughed a few timed before spitting salty water from his mouth. "Blugh, tastes like fish snot."
'You have consumed the organisms. Good. Now all you need to do is extract the genetic strands from them.'
"... I'm not sure how to do that." Kay said, raising an eyebrow and patting his abs.
'... I think you will understand better if you contacted Corvurn, since manipulating evolution is his greatest strength. I'll be busy with spreading our forces across the deserts and lands for the moment.'
Kay rolled his eyes. Taking Virid's advice, he focused his mind on a distant character that was far away from Kiln. Using the plethora of overlords in the reserve behemoth to connect to the evolution master, he was able to contact Corvurn without ever having to travel to his location. However, Corvurn seemed to be in worse condition than Kay had originally thought. Corvurn looked more thinner than normal, and his cysts and eyes looked sunken and tired. At least he had his own patch of creep to subsist on. He shared this patch of creep with several queens, an evolution chamber, and a hatchery, though all of them have been infected with the anti-zerg contagion. The queens were healing each other, the hatchery, the evolution chamber, and Corvurn as quickly as they could, despite their deteriorating health. There were also a few queens that suffered before they died, but the rate of deterioration was slowly being adapted to. "Wow. Corvurn, is that you? You look like a drug addict."
Corvurn looked up at Kay through the mental link. 'Kay? Confused. Why contact evolution master?'
"Oh, I just wanted to ask you to help me with something. Did you eat something bad?" Kay asked sarcastically.
'... No? I mean... Did I? Can't remember. Body and mind hurts. Difficult to work.'
"I heard Virid say you were almost done figuring out a way to counteract the illness that the overlord and queens contracted. Any closer to your goal?"
'Remember now. Yes. Progress made. Forty three percent reduction in deterioration. Infectious contagion of overlord and queen strains discovered.' Corvurn reported.
"Oh! Well that's good news. Do you know what it is?" Kay asked.
'Nanites with altar technology, magic armor technology, and weaponized laser technology. Very advanced. Zerg regeneration negated. Results: deterioration of zerg flesh. Queen transfusion keeps healthy. Zerg evolution close to gilanian nanite immunity. Zerg regeneration may follow afterwards."
Kay blinked a few times. "... Corvurn, did you just say 'nanites'?"
'Correct. Microscopic machines. Advanced design. Technology difficult to resist, adaptation slow. Mechanical. Despite difficulty, not impossible to form resistance, or immunity. Making progress.'
"... Wait... Uh... Um... This means that... Wait..."
'Something troubles command organism Kay?' Corvurn asked.
"... Commander Faddoh said that he would be busy making anti-zerg micro-machines. But... This doesn't make any sense."
'Confusion. Explain?'
Kay sighed. "Ask Virid about it. Right now, I want to ask you on how I can access the genetic information of the jellyfish I ate."
There was a long pause. 'Uncertain. Command organism Kay wishes to function in evolution master role?'
"Uh... Yes? Virid said I could do it, but I didn't know how to. I just wanted to know how you did it."
'Swarm hivemind connects minds. Psionic link shares awareness. Used fully, can share experiences, skills, memories, talents, and knowledge. Focus mind to mine. Know power of evolution master.'
Kay nodded, then concentrated on the contents of Corvurn's mind. It's disturbing to realize from Corvurn's perspective that he doesn't see every creature as individuals, but reservoirs of DNA that could be analyzed, and then improved on. Corvurn's mind was incredibly disturbing to look into, but Kay endured. More importantly, Corvurn had developed both the skills and knowledge to manipulate the strands of DNA of an organism. With that knowledge becoming shared between his evolution master and himself, Kay then used his own body to dissect and manipulate the DNA of the jellyfish he just ate.
After a minute of doing this, Kay felt as though he found what he needed. "Ooh... That tingled a little. Almost felt like a bunch of butterflies appeared and started dancing-BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Kay suddenly vomited clear jelly in a projectile vomit, releasing his jellyfish snack on the zerg organisms, and onto the creep that was closest to him. Kay wiped his mouth and spat out the foul fluid. "Kay... that was... a lot worse than what I expected to happen!" Kay said, grimacing.
'Mutation should be developed. However, unable to review mutation. Current condition requires adaptation. Continue communication with Virid. Continuing with own task.'
Kay nodded. "Yeah, you do that." Once Kay focused his mind on the zerg that was with him, he immediately noticed the changes to their already available traits. Apparently, the zerglings, roaches, and hydralisks have acquired another kind of state of transformation they can go through, but Kay was unsure on what it did. After focusing on a single zergling, roach, and hydralisk, they began forming cocoons around themselves. They apparently needed half of the resources needed for their spawning for this new kind of transformation. Except for the zergling, since it seemed to only need a quarter of the required bio-matter.
A few minutes later, the cocoons for the zergling, roach, and hydralisk exploded in a splash of fluid. ... They had turned back into larvae.
"... What?"
Kay went ahead and turned the larvae back into the respective zerg strains they were before. If Kay were to guess, he must have found some kind of transdifferentiation trait that enabled the zerg organisms to revert back to their larval stage. When Kay expanded his mind, he found out that the other zerg organisms were slowly developing this new mutation. Every bio-structure could now revert to previous stages of their growths, turn back into drones, and further regress into larvae, or in the case of the hives or lairs, could revert back to previous evolutionary forms. Even lurkers could become hydralisks again, and brood lords can be corruptors once more! However, this trait didn't seem to be carried over to the queen organisms for some reason. It made sense since the queens were produced from hatcheries, lairs, and hives, and do not mutate from larvae. But would it stand to reason that the queens used to be broodlings that thrived inside of the larvae production structures? Kay could assume that, but he couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly proud of his feat within the heat of the moment.
'Kay, are you responsible for this mutation?' Virid asked.
"Uh. Yeah, that I am." Kay replied proudly.
'It seems like a definite improvement... But I believe we can make use of it to great effect. Especially since the zerglings can now double their numbers.'
Kay chuckled as he noticed that the single zergling that he commanded to revert into the single larva had spawned into two zerglings. "Oh no, now our zergling forces are self-multiplying." Kay sarcastically said. "Even though this would require a creep field for the larvae to mutate in."
'As I said, this mutation seems like a definite improvement. Also, it requires half of the resources it takes to mutate the zerg strain into a prior form. Not only that, regressing a zergling into its larval stage has its gestation peiod halved, compared to the time it takes for a larva to spawn into a pair of zerglings.'
Kay nodded with a smile. "So if we wanted to move to a different planet altogether, we could revert our bio-structures into drones, and carry them to the new place! Or maybe into new tactical locations?"
'The organisms you have ingested are very strange. Where did they come from?'
"As far as I know, Kiln only has freshwater lakes and rivers on the surface. Chances are, they're either underground animals that lives in subterranean saltwater lakes. However, Emperor Gollog might be the only one to know more about them than we do. Even Ralkan doesn't know about them since he accepted the gifts and asked no questions about them. Either way, we can directly ask Gollog about it later, if we get the chance. Think we should send the genetic information to the hive cluster on the moon?" Kay said, approaching the aquarium the jellyfish were contained in.
'Corvurn would appreciate it, but he is indisposed at the moment. ... I recommend sending a spore once Corvurn's biology has increased his nanite resistance to ninety five percent. Hopefully, his regeneration will restore his weakened body.'
"I'm concerned about him, Virid." Kay said, picking up the aquarium that contained the jellyfish and walking away from the brain-dead Ralkan. He approached the nydus worm that had erupted a short distance away from him minutes ago. "But at least he'll have a project he can play with. Say, how is it looking topside?"
'The Kiln Keepers are already engaged with our forces, but we are driving them back. They are an unusual... Foe?!'
PANIC!
Kay and Virid had completely forgotten about Gollog's smiting attack that leveled the playing field. And just when the zerg were getting the upper hand against the Kiln Keepers! Kay sighed dejectedly and stood there. "Virid. Make sure you spread the zerg forces as fast as you can."
'Our underground efforts will develop and continue as normal. Many of our airborne strains have left the creep territories before the sky laser bombardment limited our progress. Many will be hunted down, but our infestation of this world will become absolute.'
"Virid. We are not supposed to harm any gilanians that are not joined with Gollog. Instead, we should persuade them to be on our side. And no, I don't mean we infest them. We have them join us in an allegiance to fight against the gilanian empire." Kay reminded Virid.
'... I understand. I dislike this new strategy, but allies are a commodity that is hard to come by these days.'
Kay nodded, and proceeded into the nearest nydus worm. "Kay, that's good to know. I'll drop the aquarium off at the underground village. Afterwards, I have a date with the general."
Pallax did say that he wanted to meet Kay today, after all.
A/N: Jellyfish that can regress into their previous stages of growth? Where have I heard that from?