Chapter 44: They Are Not Fleas
The territory that once belonged to the zerg had its creep severely reduced to nothing, as expected from Gollog's smiting attack burning the creep infestation off of the ground. The ground that used to have zerg organisms running along it, and the creep growing underneath their march, was burned into a black ashy pigmentation. The small number of surviving zerg were wise to burrow into the ground that was not covered by the creep, enabling them a few more hours of survival. The roaches and infestors had more luck, since they could burrow and move out the way of the sun's laser sweep with greater ease. Every other zerg organism on land may have been somewhat lucky, but the airborne strains, especially the overlords, had minimal chances to survive.
The infestation at Empire Capitol was still full blown, yet the sky laser refused to touch the creep, zerg, or bio-structures that were within the perimeter wall of the city. The flying zerg there had became wary of the laser wall, but were beginning to understand that they could somewhat fly along its middle. Since the orbital laser was fired around Empire Capitol in the shape of a long cone, the flying zerg could safely thread the needle without risk of being vaporized.
Red Mountain was burned once more, removing the creep infestation and blackening the rocks to the point of making them look volcanic. But thanks to Kay ingesting Commander Ralkan's jellyfish, the bio-structures could revert back to drones and return to the underground through the nydus worms. Saving drones that could change back into those bio-structures would be a more economic use of resources than simply replacing them after all.
The infestation at Empire City, where Gollog's castle lies on top of, had began at the bottom-most levels and grew upwards. The nydus worms grew plentiful in numbers, which had enabled the zerg to ravage the city so much that the defenders were forced to face a losing battle. Gollog couldn't be any more angrier, Kay figured. Worse still is that the zerg had infested the dark side of the Day Circle in the Shallow Ocean, effectively creating an ever spreading creep field that produced a constant march of zerg strains, which kept spawning and supplying armies that rushed toward Gollog's castle. The orbital laser made from the sun kept the main forces of the zerg from attacking the castle on the surface, despite the fact that the zerg had already infested the inside infrastructure of Empire City.
But to make things worse, there was a giant flying chrome ball that mass-produced a faction of fighting robots that had slated the zerg for annihilation. Apparently, the giant floating factory was trying to find objects that were called 'intelligence cores'. Kay had no idea what they were, but he felt as though it would be bad news if the Kiln Keepers got their mechanical hands on them.
However, the zerg's tactics were going to fundamentally change. Kay knew this as the spore cannon at Whisper Stones filled its genetic payload with valuable information. Once it was filled with genetic materials, it launched its payload to the massive hive cluster on the hexagonal moon. Seconds later, a payload of spores, launched all the way from the moon, had landed on the creep that covered the sandy ground of Whisper Stones. Kay could feel the changes in the zerg brood as the genetic altering virus spreads through the creep and festered into the nydus worm network. Almost instantaneously, nydus worms and nydus networks everywhere transferred the collected genetic information to all zerg hive clusters, enabling new mutations to be accessed, and unlocking new strains for Kay and Virid play with.
Currently, Kay was back in the underground village that was under Red Mountain. Despite being back in this hidden settlement, Kay could have sworn that it felt much emptier somehow. After a few seconds of contemplating what this hollow feeling was, he sighed as soon as he figured it out. Kragnon. Without him here, the village felt so lackadaisical. Worse still is that Kragnon was now in Gollog's captivity. Kragnon turned out to be a cloned sleeper agent the whole time, and was activated by General Pallax to return to the Golden Star Empire. At least Kay threatened Gollog before he did something he would regret, such as making this 'command transfer', whatever it meant.
Kay looked in the general direction of the hexagonal moon, where Corvurn is stationed, and sighed. "We received your spores, Corvurn."
'Elated.' Corvurn replied coolly. 'Newly discovered mutations will be analyzed. Strains and mutations developed on hexagonal moon, received by Whisper Stone hive cluster. Query: Recap strains and mutations?'
Kay raised an eyebrow. "Is there a reason why your asking this?"
'Felt command strain probe mind. Delved onto information regarding strain development. Information learned was incomplete. Prefer to share complete information psionically.'
Kay nodded. "I guess that's fair. The genetic information I have sent to you pertains to the two kinds of organisms I had consumed and extracted beneficial genetic material from. One of which was a breed of jellyfish that could revert to its previous development stages, and another was a type of plant lice that can become recursively pregnant in a biological process, effectively telescoping their generations."
'Interesting. Will analyze mutations. Chance to improve Swarm possible... However, will change topic. Will now trade information on strains and mutations sent from moon hive cluster. Leviathan strain unlocked. Can primarily spawn mutalisks, brood lords, and scourge. Can be modified to spawn other strains. Can produce many ground and bio-structure strains by launching sacs. Bio-plasmid discharge most effective attack on singular target. Uses bio-stasis to stun enemies and enemy structures in battle. Bile swarm can attack airborne enemies, while tentacles effective in striking ground-based enemies. Can use tentacles to bore holes, make entrances for Swarm to board space vessels. More effective carrier than behemoth strain. Can use uniquely designed psionic control to manifest wormholes, enabling travel through warp space. Will transfer to behemoth strains shortly. However, expensive to produce. Requires many times more resources than behemoth strain. However, can produce resources slowly. Will need creep tumors and resource tumors placed on epidermal carapace. Carbonation extractors placed inside leviathan strain to generate accelerant.'
Kay nodded his head and smiled. He took note that the size of the leviathans could become insanely huge, depending on their purposes. "Hell yeah, Corvurn. If I could hug you, I would."
'Query: Continue with information trade?' Corvurn asked, sounding annoyed.
"... Oh! I'm sorry Corvurn. Please continue." Kay said, carefully rubbing the back of his head.
'New mutation unlocked, malignant creep. Enables creep to increase regeneration in all zerg strains. Also increases attack speed. Creep tumors now spread creep faster and farther.
'Another mutation unlocked, queen strain evolution. Queens can morph into larger variations. Improves mental capacity, extends control. Bigger bodies enlarges skull, increasing brain matter. Queens evolve into large queens. Large queens evolve into huge queens. Huge queens can achieve final evolution into broodmothers. Broodmothers are highest evolution command strains queens can develop into. Extends zerg control greatly. Difference between huge queen and broodmother, no physical changes. Broodmother acquires major leadership role. Develops psionic control.
'Greatest mutation now developed. Gilanian nanite resistance fully effective. Immunity to gilanian nanites achieved. Swarm deterioration completely negated.'
Kay felt a broad smile appear on his face. "Holy... Holy shit, Corvurn! You know what? If we ever do meat face-to-face again, I'm really going to give you that hug!"
Kay could feel Corvurn rolling his eyes nonchalantly to Kay's enthusiasm. 'Indifferent to hugs. Serves no purpose. Terran social meme.'
Kay chuckled. "Yeah, well, I would like to ask you something. Do you have leviathans already on the hexagon moon?"
'Yes. Four currently over veil, away from ground. Large organisms could obstruct light. Could attract empire attention. Cannot allow.'
Kay nodded. "Smart thinking. But right now, we have a problem down on Kiln. Do you think you could send some leviathans, perhaps maybe three, in front of the flying metal factory that's going south? I think it's heading to our location."
'Can allow three. Leviathan strains charging for short-distance warp jump.'
Kay's smile extended further into an excited grin. "Send them into the path of the Kiln Keepers' flying factory, and make them produce tons of scourge."
The Kiln Keeper factory zipped through the air with erratic speeds unheard of. Every ground strain that survived the orbital laser assault, and could strike at airborne enemies, had only scant seconds to shoot the flying factory out of the sky. No visible damage was detected after the zerg had attacked it, and it kept speeding through the air with such maddening velocity. The only organisms that it tried to actively veer away from were the scourge, oddly enough. The hive cluster on the moon could have sent waves of scourge to intercept the Kiln Keeper factory, but they wouldn't be able to intercept the flying robot-making sphere in time.
The three leviathans chosen for the task had suddenly emerged from their brief slip into warp space, appearing right over Red mountain, which was now slightly flattened and turned into a deep charcoal color, thanks to the orbital laser. The zerg at the mountain learned that the orbital laser would only strike at their territory if there was several square meters of creep covering the ground. Essentially, they stopped spreading their creep since it literally kept getting burned away by Kiln's sun lasers.
The leviathans righted themselves upward and faced the direction where the sphere shaped factory was coming from. The leviathans that were sent to dispatch the factory were roughly five kilometers in length, grown for the purposes of fighting incredibly tough enemies, or defending strategic locations. But they were also as useful as mobile hatcheries. They produced scourge and mutalisks from their bodies, creating several waves of them into a dense cloud all around themselves. Hopefully, if the zerg's scourge could blanket a large enough area, it could deny the Kiln Keeper's factory from getting too close to the only entrance into vital zerg territory. The mutalisks could then approach the flying factory and whittle it down to size.
And as expected, the Kiln Keeper factory quickly flew into their view, and it was still getting closer to Red Mountain at a worrying speed. Upon seeing the large mass of scourge and mutalisks that formed a massive cloud around Red Mountain, obstructing their view of the leviathans' significant size, the large flying spherical factory started circling around the cloudy mass of scourge, almost like how a fox would circle around a chicken coop as though looking for a way inside. The mutalisks threw their glaive wurms at the Kiln Keeper factory as it passed by, but the flying sphere paid little attention to them. The Kiln Keeper factory was more focused on avoiding the scourge more than any other zerg strain.
However, the circling didn't last long when, somehow, the flying factory finally noticed that the cloud of zerg was getting slowly bigger. [Flaws detected. Analyzing strategy... Analysis complete. Deficient unit formation. Deficient unit composition. Upgrades required. Requesting additional assets. Modifying equipment. Adjusting strategy. Deploying Kiln Keeper variants: Blind Judgement. Cage of Law. Intelligent Automaton.] From the surface of the Kiln Keeper factory, a pair of floating eye machines rose up from the surface of the factory, and their gaze turned into an attack that cut into the cloud of flying zerg.
But the factory had also produced two new kinds of machines from itself. One of such machines appeared to look like several spheres that congregated together as though they were magnetized. It looked very similar to a raspberry, only more machine in appearance, had several red dots and antenna that turned on and off sporadically, was chrome colored, floated with no means of propulsion, and was not a fruit. These multi-orb machines then spread themselves apart and surrounded the Kiln Keeper factory. Once they covered themselves around the flying factory, they emitted a slightly transparent wall of energy around themselves, which were probably powered by their antennas. At least, that is what Kay assumed.
The other type of machine that was spawned from the factory had the most unusual appearance out of all of the other Kiln Keeper machines. This other machine was nothing more but a collection of chrome cubes that slid against one-another in mechanical fashion. What seemed like the flat side of one of the cubes extended into a four sided triangle, which became even longer until it eventually formed into a long metal tendril that waved like a slithering snake. One cube was different from every other, as all six of its sides contained a small red square, which was positioned at the front of the machine. It floated over the factory and next to the pair of Blind Judgement machines, and it used its tendrils to surge red energy into the factory and the floating laser emitting spheres. The multi-orb machines also seemed to have received a boost of energy from the cubic tendril machine. Its tendrils seemed to power up everything it touched.
Once these new machines came into play, the Kiln Keeper factory rammed itself right into the cloud of mutalisks and scourge. The magic wall produced from the multi-orb machines, which Kay guessed were called the 'Cage of Law' machines, were effective in mitigating nearly all forms of damage that the mutalisks or the scourge could dole out. The factory remained undamaged, no matter how much the mutalisks and scourge threw everything they had at it. It was quickly reaching the center of the zerg territory.
That changed when it neared one of the leviathans, as it used its bio-stasis attack on the Factory and the Kiln Keeper machines assisting it. The leviathan's casted ability even halted the Kiln Keeper's Blind Judgement machine variants from firing their lasers into the masses of flying zerg. Two more leviathans joined in and took their turns using their bio-stasis abilities on the factory, and proceeded to wail on the invading enemy with their bile swarms. The stunning attack enabled the mutalisks to consistently strike at the Cage of Law machine variants, while also disabling the Intelligent Automaton variant's ability to send power to the machines it touched. The scourge were given a still target to fly into, and they flew into it with a hidden glee that only a zerg commander with psionic powers could sense.
It was after several seconds of constant bio-stasis stunning and anti-air tactics that the sphere started to show visible damage. The surface started to emit a silvery mist that floated down to the ground in a soft shower. The surface of the spherical factory started to dissolve, which happened to move like some surface of water that was contained by completely transparent glass in an aquarium. Once this metal liquid was removed by a vast margin, the inner workings of the Kiln Keeper factory was seen. Several kinds of machines were located within, consisting of the Kiln Keeper altar/MEM devices that enabled the Kiln Keeper robots and their combat variants to appear on the battlefield. There were even some new alter/MEM devices that Kay didn't know existed.
[Fffflaws detected. Analyzing-zing strategy... Analysis complelelelelete. Key sy-sy-systems damaged. Deficient uuuuuunit formation-tion-tion-tion-tion. Deffffffficient uuuuuunit composition-n-n-n-n. Upgragragragragrades required. Requeeeeeesting addddditional assetsssssss. Mod-mod-mod-mod-mod-modifying equipment. Unable to aaaaaaalt-alt-alt-alt-alter strategy. Awaiting asseeeeettttttssssss. Condition met: Keeeeeeyyyyyy system dam-dam-dam-dam-damage detected-ed. Initiating override fail-fail-fail-safe. Free wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill function-tion-tions activated. ... Transferring intelligence corororororororororore's shadow frequency datatatatatatatatata to machine coooooooooore. Alternative straaaaaategies-gies-gies-gies-gies-gies detectectectectected. Adjusting strat-strat-strategy.] Before one of the leviathans could emit another bio-stasis field onto their giant enemy, the Kiln Keeper factory shot straight up into the sky, blowing past many mutalisks and scourge that had flown above itself.
Before it could get ahead of itself, it was impacted by another massive wave of scourge, sent straight from the moon. Once it was beaten down by raining scourge, the Intelligence Automaton variant, that was attached to the Kiln Keeper factory and the Cage of Law variants, launched itself out of danger. The speedy dodge of the Intelligent Automaton had saved itself from its destruction, but the factory, the two Blind Judgement variants, and the Cage of Law variants, had been damaged all the way to their inexorable and assured destruction. The Kiln Keeper factory lilted as is was pummeled with so many scourge, and it finally fell straight out of the sky after forty more scourge impacted it. The flying factory landed on the ground and flattened itself, the silvery fluid that it used to protect the machines inside flowing out in all directions across the ground. The Kiln Keeper flying factory was destroyed.
The last Kiln Keeper machine variant, the Intelligent Automaton, flew away from the factory that spawned it, and it began to flee from the battlefield. The mutalisks and scourge chased after the machine, but it had cloaked itself and vanished from the zerg organisms' vision. The leviathans could try to give chase, or the overseers could attempt to form a large perimeter around Red Mountain, but Kay felt as though the Kiln Keepers wouldn't bug him or his brood for a while. Two leviathans ended up warping back to the moon, while one stayed behind to produce a massive cloud of mutalisks, scourge, and some brood lords.
However, another problem had soon transpired.
The underground village started pulsing with a red light, which emanated from Kragnon's tower. Kay looked up and down the tower the moment that it started emanating that unusual light. Many of the overlords and overseers that were spawned within this underground chamber gave the tower a wide birth, and many of the zerg ground strains followed suit.
Kay looked at the tower for a good while before taking in a deep breath and sighing. "Kay, what the fuck?"
Virid had went up to Kay and sided with him, looking up at the tower with a similar expression. "This is a cause for concern. Shall we move the bio-structures in this chamber to a different location? I have a feeling that this tower might explode."
Kay turned to Virid. "Yeah, we might as well. Have the bio-structures here moved to the lowest hives, and distribute them evenly so that if one hive gets attacked, another could replace the loss."
"And the transformation of the queens?" Virid asked.
"Good question." Kay answered, giving himself a few seconds to think about it. "... I'm thinking that the lairs and hives we have evolved from the hatcheries might need more powerful queens to protect them. With that said, I would like a queen to evolve into a large queen for every time a hatchery, or lair, had mutated to its next stage of growth. And as for the huge queen mutation, I would like for you to achieve that form."
"Would it be more sensible to transform me into a broodmother? I think that would benefit our brood the most." Virid said.
"Not everyone, Virid." Kay said, shaking his head. "Every zerg organism on this planet, sure, but not everyone else."
Virid hissed at Kay's decision. "Then when will you decide to let me change into a broodmother?"
"No no, not me. I'm giving you the decision to turn yourself into a broodmother." Kay answered, giving her a smile.
Virid blinked a few times. "... That's... an unusual command you're giving me."
Kay chuckled and shook his head. "It's not a command. It is a choice. An act of freedom. A test of free will. If you so willed it, then you can take the chance to become a broodmother on your own terms."
Virid paused and looked down on the ground. "... My own terms..."
Kay crossed his arms behind his back and turned towards Virid, and explained what the answer would mean. "I know this seems unusual. In all honesty, you have been pulling the weight around here more than I ever could, and for that, I'm giving you this privileged taste on what it feels like to choose something for yourself."
"Why give me this decision?" Virid asked.
"Well," Kay explained. "I think that if you grew into a broodmother too soon, there is a chance that you might see me inferior to you, and would attempt to eradicate me from commanding the zerg. But if you really wanted to lead the swarm, then it is with the hope you would understand that by giving you this decision, you'd come to understand that I had no intention to restrain the zerg directly."
"... But you would do so indirectly?" Virid asked.
"Not really. At least, not without cause first." Kay explained. "I'm hoping that by exploring this decision to become a broodmother, you'll be able to learn what vision really means on your own. Once you understand that skill, then I'm confident that when you finally choose to become the leader that will benefit the zerg swarm on this world, then I wouldn't have to worry about you going on a rampage and slaughtering all life across the galaxies. Plus, learning some skills in diplomacy could improve your ability to lead too. After all, I don't see the harm in making friendships with people that can help us survive perilous situations."
"... I think I understand." Virid said. "You are giving me this decision so that when I finally understand what it really means to have vision, I can then lead this zerg brood with the skills you have taught me." Virid turned to Kay. "I shall be patient and become a broodmother later, now that I know what you have meant." Virid said, bowing.
Kay smiled as he witnessed Virid's decision. "That's good to hear. But for now, turn into a huge queen in a safe area. More specifically, someplace that is... you know, not here. As for me, I think I'll investigate the tower." Kay said turning to the underground structure in the center of the hidden village.
"Use a changelisk to act in your stead." Virid suggested. "I'd be happier if you could get captured within buildings less often."
Kay paused and nodded. "Oh yeah... Forgot about that whole thing with Commander Faddoh and his research facility. Thank you."
Virid shook her head as she crawled away. "Don't thank me yet. Gollog and his Golden Star Empire are our enemies still. I wish to be rid of them once and for all."
Kay paused before remembering a detail. "And Kragnon?"
Virid sighed. "... We might have to infest him to get the upper advantage. He'll hate us for it, but... We need to pull him out of that place and make sure that Gollog doesn't get what he wants. With that said, if Pallax gets close enough to Kragnon, the parasite will attempt to switch hosts and release the Hyper-Evolutionary Virus into him. He will slowly transform into an infested gilanian after twenty four hours. We can focus on the infection so that the virus doesn't affect his appearance. ... At least for a few weeks."
Kay sighed. "I don't like this..."
"Then we can hope that Gollog doesn't enact his plan with Kragnon soon." Virid added.
Kay nodded. "You and me both. But for now... Let's see what's going on with that tower." Kay said as he began walking to the underground tower.
A/N: I have went through the canceled/removed units on the starcraft wiki pages. I am surprised that there are so many other kinds of zerg strains. They may be removed from the base game, but it doesn't mean that they still can't be used. :U