Chapter 32: General and Baroness

The world's sky turned to day again, and a giant laser ravaged the lands that the zerg captured. The entire outer perimeter of Empire Capitol was cleansed of all zerg organisms, and prevented the zerg from expanding their creep outwards from there on. The Kiln Keepers, oddly enough, were unaffected by the orbital laser wall, simply passing through the high-intensity energy attack and meeting the zerg in combat at the capitol's border. Several spine crawlers and spore crawlers were situated as close to the laser wall as possible, and were used to fight the invaders. Hydralisks, roaches, infestors, and swarm hosts defended from the intruding robots. Apparently, these robots had some kind of invisible bodily membrane that made them resilient to the laser wall they were passing through. But this magic armor was easily bypassed when a small amount of penetration compromised their armor, and they crumpled in seconds when their crown was split open with either a needle spine, impaler tentacle, compacted fang or other types of weapon projectiles. The roaches, locusts, and spine crawlers focused on the ground forces, while the hydralisks, infested gilanians, and spore crawlers shot down any flying Kiln Keeper. This battle was forced into a constant standstill.

The main hive cluster suffered even more losses as the smiting laser, raining down from Kiln's sun, ravaged the forces on the ground. Thankfully, the zerg ground strains had receded back into the safety of the underground tunnel systems. That, and the zerg air strains decided to fly the coop, so to speak. The smiting laser didn't seem too focused on tracking every individual flying organism, and each overlord, overseer, mutalisk, corruptor, brood lord, and viper, had the oportunity to fly from Empire Capitol's airspace. One out of five overlords would transport queens, and they would periodically deposit creep tumors, with the assistance of the overlords, to help spread the creep beyond zerg established territories. Sure, the newly extended creep fields would be struck by a smiting laser a few minutes later, but the overlord carrying the queen within itself would be long gone afterwards.

There was only one area where the creep hadn't continued spreading, or was attacked by Gollog's sky laser. Ever since Pallax came to the area and threatened to bombard the place with particle missiles, the zerg hive cluster at Whisper Stones refrained from extending horizontal control of their territory. But even if they couldn't spread any farther, it didn't mean they couldn't bolster their defenses. A line of spine crawlers circled the entire zerg territory, placed so closely that not even a small zergling could squeeze between the sentry organisms. Spore crawlers also formed a tightly packed line behind the spine crawlers, being able to detect hidden enemies and providing an impressive anti-air attack against any airborne foe that dared tried to intrude the above airspace they defended.

The hive cluster at Whisper Stones had no enemies to fight, putting the zerg organisms there into a moderately bored state. Sure, there was one or two shryik serpents that wanted to test the zerg defenses, but they were easily ended and provided little entertainment for the hive cluster. But that changed when they noticed a familiar golden and red figure approaching a faint line in the sand that was created a day ago. General Pallax strode forward in confidence, but his expression was hard and rigid.

Upon stepping at the line, he waited patiently there for a minute. The spine crawlers and spore crawlers uprooted themselves and made an opening into the zerg owned territory. Several zerglings surrounded a carapaced, humanoid character with bony wings. This was yet another changelisk disguised as Kay, since Kay learned that being outdoors during daylight hours was currently hazardous for his health. Kay stopped his approach to Pallax when he reached the edge of the creep. Not-Kay sighed. "We finally meet, General Pallax. To say that it is a pleasure to meet you would be equal to that of a little white lie."

Pallax crossed his arms and grunted. "The feeling is mutual, Kay. I heard from sources that you have the ability to summon lookalikes to act in your stead. Is this one of such that I'm talking to right now?"

Not-Kay shrugged with a cocky smirk. "Acting in my stead, as you said. Did you know that exposure to the sun risks laser-related deaths? And I thought skin cancer was bad enough!"

Pallax smirked with Not-Kay. "Well, you did antagonize an immortal emperor. Not many people are able to anger Gollog and live long enough to tell about it. But it is a shame to know that you are not really here with us."

"Yeah, like I would ever fall for being a genuine gentleman while the whole world of Kiln goes to war with the zerg." Kay said sarcastically. "Civility degrades the efficiency of fighting, while evolution dictates the survival of an organism, or their collective species. The zerg, on the other hand... Are nothing more but a collective of several of the most fittest many species."

Pallax tilted his head and raised his eyebrow. "... So the zerg are not just some animals, but more like a... conglomerate collective of several assimilated species, connected by a hivemind. You and your zerg are more likened to a faction of reptilian insectiods with a hierarchical command structure."

Not-Kay clapped his hands and pointed at Pallax. "Right on the dot! So uh..." Not-Kay placed his hands on his hips. "Are we just going to talk here? Because I was under the impression that you wanted to talk to me about something. You announced as much last time you were here."

The general smiled and nodded. "Indeed, indeed. I nearly forgot about that topic. Thank you for reminding me." Pallax changed his facial expression back to being hard and rigid. "I wished to talk to you about a certain person that you have in your... company."

Not-Kay raised his eyebrow and scoffed. "Well, I didn't expect this curve-ball. But he shouldn't be of any concern to you."

Pallax sighed and shook his head. "Lovechief Kragnon IS of my concern."

Not-Kay raised both of his eyebrows and his smirk disappeared. "... You know his name?"

Pallax nodded. "Believe me, he an I had some history together. If you tell him that Thoughtlord Pallax sends his regards, then he will understand. Of course, I am assuming that he has been released from the cold-pod that he was hibernating in. And seeing your expression, despite being so alien in its features, I can confirm that he really has been released from his cold-pod."

Not-Kay crossed his arms and stared at Pallax. "You're a smart one. Seems like you got me at a disadvantage here."

Pallax smiled. "You're not the only one that is an expert at subtlety and reading hints normally missed by others. Some of your expressions are unknown to me, but a hint of gilanian gestures does bleed through at times."

Not-Kay sighed, and looked up. "Appropriating mannerisms from another culture tends to do that."

"Well I am glad to know that Kragnon is okay. That, or not turned into one of your pawns, converted by those spawners of yours." Pallax said.

Not-Kay scoffed. "Still though... This is news to me! I didn't know you had history with Kragnon! How did you two ever meet? How are you still alive eighty years later? What was it like eighty years ago?"

Pallax shook his head and frowned. "I don't have time to answer every question. Just know that if Gollog ever knew that we had this discussion, he would stop at nothing to kill both of us."

Not-Kay sighed and nodded. "Alright, alright. Then how about a question?"

Pallax folded his arms behind his back. "Proceed with the question."

Not-Kay pleaded his fingers. "Kay... Why is Kragnon so important to Gollog?"

Pallax sighed and looked down. "I honestly don't know... Even I have been trying to find that out for many years. I will say this though." Pallax looked up and gave Not-Kay a stern glare. "Emperor Gollog has activated the Kiln Keepers. It's only a matter of time before they kill every one of your zerg organisms, and return to their duties of containing and imprisoning the gilanian people."

Not-Kay scoffed and chuckled. "What are they going to do? Blow up Kiln?"

Pallax stared at Not-Kay in a deadpanned manner.

"... Oh xel'naga, they'd really do that?" Not-Kay said with his face paling.

Pallax blinked. "Uh... Yes. They really can do that. What is a xel'naga?"

Not-Kay sighed, hand-waving Pallax's question. "Oh, just some ancient space-squid people that are revered as gods or whatever. But uh... Wow. That's actually pretty bad for me and my swarm."

Pallax tilted his head. "Space-squid people?" He said in confusion. After three seconds of pausing, he shook his head. "That doesn't matter right now. I have a proposition for you."

Not-Kay sighed again, looking a little depressed. "Proposition? Not sure if it would matter, but go ahead and tell me what it is, I guess."

"Keep Kragnon out of Gollog's hands in any way you can. If he acquired Kragnon, it's possible that Gollog will find out about my involvement with him, and he will terminate my position. Worst of all, Gollog hinted to me that he would remain in power for a longer time still if he obtained Kragnon. I can't let that happen."

Not-Kay nodded and paused. "... So why is he important to you?"

Pallax shook his head. "I'm afraid I have spent too much time here already. Continue as you were with whatever you are inclined to do, and act as though that we have traded barbs, or discussed about conditions of your territory. But do not, under any circumstances, disclose the information you have learned to empire forces, or anyone that cannot be trusted. Is that understood?"

Not-Kay smirked. "I'll do it under one condition."

Pallax sighed. "Which is?"

"Tell me what the shadow location is." Kay asked.

Pallax snorted and smirked. "It's a place where a special MEM device is located. The location constantly shifts around, and is difficult to reach without the code. The shadow location is part of an even bigger complex, known as 'The Sovereign Crypt'. The crypt is believed to be where Gollog's still-alive body resides, and is where his mind is located. The technology he has there is to be capable of projecting an avatar that can physically manipulate the material realm."

Not-Kay raised his eyebrows. "Hmm. Sounds troublesome. Even my zerg have problems trying to access any of the MEM devices."

Pallax backed away. "That's your problem, yes, but not mine. I need to go now."

Not-Kay blinked, but then smiled and waved. "Next time we meet, how about we trade word documents and ask each other's some questions through them? Might that be a better use of your time?"

Pallax nodded and smiled. "I suppose so, Kay. As of now, however, we must part. Goodbye. And remember: Try not to expand your forces here beyond the line I made. We don't want to make our enemies suspicious."

Once Pallax turned, he proceeded to slowly abscond from the area, leaving the zerg's field of awareness. Once Not-Kay was unable to see the gold and red general, the spine crawlers and spore crawlers went back to their defensive positions and rooted themselves in place. The real Kay, carrying an aquarium to the hidden underground village, felt as though he should be suspicious of the conversation that took place. Kay wasn't sure with what he should be suspicious about, but a nagging feeling began to haunt him afterwards.

Kay entered into the hole that was created in the underground tower's wall. The drones no longer came into this place, though they did once filtered into the first floor to gather metals and hydrocarbons from the manifestation altar, which had long since been reverse engineered into a biological process. Kay gently handled the aquarium, careful not to drop his live cargo. "I hope Kragnon doesn't mind getting some new pets. Speaking of Kragnon... Maiden? Where can I find the lovechief?"

[Query detected. Lovechief Kragnon can be found inside of the council chamber.] Replied the computer AI of the underground tower.

The walk to the council chamber was uneventful, but when Kay finally entered into the council room minutes later, it was clear to him that something eventful was occurring inside. One of the walls inside the room was lit up by the recordings of several camera perspectives. Each rectangle displayed a zerg organism that was documented by a recording device, both from amateur and professional hands. Much of the screens were also filled with gilanians in professional suits and dresses, looking to be like news anchors that delivered the news to the populace of Kiln. Several of the more quicker zerg strains were easily seen from several different perspectives, while others still lagged behind. Kay gently placed the aquarium on the table and looked at all the screens. "Uh... Hi, it's me. Are you investigating something?"

Kragnon turned around, staring at Kay with worry. He sighed. "I'm just looking at the news. The information network is blowing up. A lot of people, both in the empire and unaligned cities, are in heavy discussion about the appearance of your zerg creatures."

"Appearance?" Kay said, taking a seat and watching all the rectangles on the wall. "Hmm. Looks like everyone is in a panic. Though, to be honest, that's to be expected, since the zerg are scary creatures. Perfect for psychological warfare. The unaligned cities should be fine, but uh... Not so much for the empire cities."

Kragnon huffed. "Gollog has released news to the public that he has unleashed the Kiln Keepers on your zerg, Kay. The public are in a frenzy, but many of the nonconformists that were forced into laboring for Gollog's empire are now rebelling."

Kay tilted his head and carefully scratched it. "So uh... Is that good?"

Kragnon walked up to Kay and flicked his forehead. "No, Kay! It's very bad! Gollog hates rebellions with a passion, and he would go out of his way to eradicate entire low-income populated areas in each city! Each low-income area is often heavily populated with nonconformists that are always used for slave labor!"

Kay rubbed his forehead, feeling annoyed. "Easy with the flicker fingers, Kraggy. You know what happened last time." Kay said, with a growl.

Kragnon shook his head and stared intently at Kay. "I am being serious here! Gollog, and those that are loyal to his name, would be killing any rebels they find, and they will be getting away with it. With less lower-class workers, the empire would resort to using the middle-class, and they would be drafted to train, perform, and work in harsh conditions. And this all happened because of you, the zerg, the insults and threats you directed to Gollog, the destruction of Glitter Towers, and now the activation of the Kiln Keepers!" Kay flicked at Kragnon's forehead in a deft motion. Kragnon's head jutted backwards, while his face grimaced in pain. "OW!"

Kay growled. "Remember when I said I would only attack gilanians loyal to their empire AND Gollog himself? I am still upholding your request, but this just means that Gollog is willing to get his hands dirty in order to achieve his goals. Sure, he would cull the poor and have the middle class subsidize his factories and military forces, but those are casualties I can live with. You could bitch and moan to me all you want about wanting to try a more peaceful method of taking down the gilanian empire, but really, you'll just be wasting time."

Kragnon rubbed his head and found drops of blood. He then looked at Kay with an angered expression. "Kay. I am concerned about the people of this world. They deserve better than to live in the conditions they are in now." Kragnon looked down and sighed. "... But I suppose all wars always chances the risk of loss. Words are for the mannered, but actions can surpass civility."

Kay tilted his head and raised his eyebrow. "... Did you mean to say 'actions speak louder than words?'"

Kragnon took his turn to tilt his head. "... That's a rather shorter version of the expression I used. Quite eloquent actually."

Kay shook his head. "I didn't come up with it. Inversely, you could also say 'words hold more weight than actions.' But uh... Enough semantics, I actually want to tell you something."

"About the fish tank?" Kragnon asked.

Kay shook his head. "Not right now. I have a message from someone you might know. He says he knows you."

Kragnon crossed his arms and fixed his face into a confused expression. "Someone knows that I'm alive?! Who is it?!"

"A guy named Pallax. He said he was a Thoughtlord before he ascended to the rank of General in Gollog's empire. I think he's playing as a double agent that's on our side. Not sure why, but he said he had regards he wanted me to send to you on his behalf."

"... Pallax? THE Pallax that I knew?" Kragnon's eyes widened by such a degree, they almost resembled the size of figurative dinner plates. Kragnon slowly looked down to the ground and muttered.

Kay watched Kragnon with curiosity. After several seconds had passed, Kay decided to intervene. "Hey uh... Kraggy? Wake up." Kay shook Kragnon's shoulder to get him out of his funk.

Kragnon shook his head. "All this time and he's still alive? How?!"

Kay shrugged his shoulders. "I tried to ask him that, but he said he didn't have time. Sorry."

Kragnon sighed, and turned to Kay. "I'm afraid I have no choice but to be more active in this war of yours, Kay."

Kay was so surprised by Kragnon's announcement that his jaw dropped. "... What?! I don't know why you're having this change of heart, but I'm not sure if I want you running around on the surface. It's dangerous up there right now!"

Kragnon nodded. "Obviously. However, I already have a plan for that." Kragnon said, walking out of the council chambers. Kay tilted his head and followed after him, unsure with what kind of plan that the lovechief had developed.

Johnny, the changelisk that had infiltrated into Citadel Gargantua, and into Baroness Tak's palace, was quietly working on his projects. He was building a makeshift terminal of a crude design, which had several keys already installed into it. A sealed glass panel was installed onto the side that could open and close, and the machine was now finally working. However, it was not done with its purpose just yet. As of right now, he was slowly creating two fluid-less memory bags using the limited technology that he had.

He had worked through the whole night to get where he was, and the process was incredibly slow. But at that moment, he was close to his goal, and he would accomplish his goal, as he promised to do.

Once the second hyper-fluid memory bag was completed, a knock on the door disturbed his work. "Come in!" Johnny shouted, looking up to see who or what distracted him.

Tak entered into Johhny's workshop with a sway in her step, followed in by three bodyguards that followed behind her. She stopped when she saw Johnny, her eyes widening in surprise. "... Johnny? Have you been working all night?"

"Yes, my ladyship." Johnny said, making a short bow before continuing with his work. "I'm sorry if I am giving you a cause for concern, but I really needed to get this done."

Tak walked up to Johnny and hovered over his shoulder. "Hmm... Wait, you have a couple of hyper-fluid memory bags already?! Where did you get those?!"

Johnny covered his ear holes and sighed. "Not so loud please. It's still early in the morning."

Tak blinked. "Uh... I apologize. But how did you get those?"

"I didn't get them, I made them." Johnny answered, fishing the second completed memory bag out from the makeshift altar.

Tak smiled widely. "Oh. Well that's good news! That means we can go ahead and create more manifestation altars. When will the prototype be ready for mass production?"

Johnny shook his head. "It's not quite ready yet, my ladyship. True, I made two memory bags, but they don't contain the hyper-fluid or the information we need. I already converted a few of the transistors you have given me into the memory bags, but that process took a whole night to complete. I still need atom generators, atom recyclers, a few more atom manipulators, and a memory bag with its information intact. I'll then need the use of a powerful magnet, a heavily shielded enclosure consisting of copper, aluminum, and nickle foil, and a shunted information transfer cable to download the information from the empire memory bag, to my custom dummy memory bag."

Tak widened her eyes again. "My goodness, such an involved process!"

Johnny nodded. "It is. After that, however, we can begin working on creating altar prototypes, and then mass produce as many altars we'll ever need. The only issue is the energy requirements needed to power the altars, but that shouldn't be a problem when we manifest solar energy collector panels."

Tak shook her head and sighed. "We can't get those. Gollog has decreed on marshal law that solar collector devices are illegal."

Johnny turned to stare at Tak. "... What? Why?"

"Long ago, it helped many poor income families provide light and resources to those less fortunate. It was thanks to the manifestation altars that building the solar radiation collectors became feesable." Tak explained. "However, Gollog thought it was an exploitable resource, and tried to impose a tax rate to those that used the solar collectors. Despite how free the energy was, a lot of people ended up outsourcing their solar collectors made by other companies instead. Sensing the decrease in voucher profits, Gollog then made a ban on all solar collecting devices. Apparently, free energy was something that Gollog didn't want for his people, because it was energy that couldn't be monitored easily. In fear of this ban, everyone switched to using alternate methods to generate energy. Boilers, oil burners, watermills, geothermal power stations, and perpetual motion generators became the norm, but it didn't suit the high power requirements to activate manifestation altars."

Johnny looked down and sighed.

Tak patted Johnny's shoulder and smiled. "But we do have the energy to power your custom manifestation altar here."

Johhny looked up at Tak with astonished eyes. "Really?"

Tak nodded. "We have power crystals that can supply all the energy you'll ever need."

Johnny blinked and tilted his head. "Power crystals? What are those?"

Tak began explaining. "They are artificially created power sources, discovered by Gollog's empire scientists a hundred years ago. However, a few secrets got out and nonaligned gilanian populations gained the ability to create their own power crystals, using the manifestation altars themselves. It's a simple thing to make using the altars, but using them as a power source requires a complicated process. Thankfully, I have a team of engineers that I can rely on that manages my power crystal's energy output."

Johnny smiled broadly. "That's very good! It would mean we can use that as a means to create reliably efficient manifestation altars at a quicker pace. Definitely beats using an atom recycler to recycle the air as fuel for the altars."

"But I have to ask." Tak said. "Where on Kiln did you managed to get an atom recycler and an atom generator?"

Johnny shook his head. "I didn't. I simply used the atom manipulator to pluck the neutrons, protons, and electrons from the air itself, and simply reassembled the atomic building blocks into the memory bags. Sadly, it took me a long time to construct just one custom memory bag. The hyper-fluid would be a little more difficult to make, since it's used as a coolant for the neuron circuits. If you can get me the atom generators and atom recyclers, then we can create the hyper-fluid easily. After that, all that is required is an intact Golden Star hyper-fluid memory bag."

Tak sighed. "I suppose another trip to the black market is necessary. Rubij has been working so hard trying to find a functioning memory bag for you."

Johhny nodded and smiled. "Is that so? I suppose I shall craft him a gift as a token of my appreciation. But I uh... I don't know what he likes."

Tak giggled and rubbed Johnny's shoulder. "I am sure he will appreciate the sentiment! Between you and me, he loves gourmet sweets. I often catch him taking a nibble from the pantry when he thinks nobody is looking."

Johnny chuckled and smiled. A minute later, a fourth bodyguard entered into Johnny's workshop, clacking his heels at the company present. "Baroness Tak. I have returned with good news. A slave-master has entered into the black market and is selling empire technology. I suspect that he might have what we need."

Tak turned to her bodyguard. "Excellent work, Rubij. Have you contacted the seller that we are interested in buying our item?"

Rubij nodded. "Yes, Baroness Tak. He has agreed to prevent certain items from being sold to any other client in the black market, and has also agreed to allow you to inspect his wares for purchase. However, he did say that the original price of the items went up by twenty five percent, as per black market rules and regulations."

Tak silently cursed. "And since this might be the memory bag we need, I'll have to pay a fortune in vouchers. ... But this should be beneficial to us in the long run." She turned to Johnny and looked at him with a warm smile. "Johnny. Would you like to visit the black market?"

Johnny got up from his seat, brushed himself off, and then bowed to Baroness Tak. "It would be an honor, my ladyship."

Tak bowed back as her smile beamed even more. "Fantastic! Now then. Let's see if we can find you some drab, worn clothes to help you fit in."

After that, much of the noon was spent with Johnny going through raggedy clothing so that he could travel to the black market in an anonymous guise. Johnny was indifferent to the experience, but Kay couldn't help but feel excited for him. Kay wondered what Johnny would discover in the illegal marketplace.

A/N: Twist!