Chapter 67: Infiltration and Planning

It hadn't been easy, but Kragnon had delicately explained to Baroness Tak why he needed to have a private meeting with Johnny. In his summary, he said that there was important information that Johnny's family had came across, and it was sensitive information that relates to the politics of the Golden Star Empire. However, he didn't reveal Johnny's 'true' nature to her, or told her how his 'family' is actually an evolving arthropodal collective of psionically connected hivemind aliens. Kragnon could only guess that Tak would not take such news very well if he shared such information with her. And Kragnon felt like he knew what it would mean for Johnny and himself if she found out about their relation to the zerg swarm.

Banishment.

However, the risk of banishment is easily outweighed by the chance to overthrow an oppressive government, and it was one that was ruled by an immoral immortal emperor. As Kragnon walked with Johnny and headed towards the 'storage room', Kragnon couldn't shake off a certain unsettling feeling that was creeping up his scaly back. This feeling started to manifest in the back of his head long before he finally asked Johnny the question he was hesitant to bring up. "So uh... I've been meaning to ask. Why exactly does your family need my help for? I think you have skipped some details on what is needed."

"An infiltration mission." Johnny replied, turning to Kragnon briefly as he continued down the sub-basement hall. "Sadly, we don't know the exact specifics on what we need for the infiltration. All we know is that we need your help to quietly enter a commander's headquarters, located within a fortress."

Kragnon stopped. "... Uh. Could you repeat that to me again? I think I wasn't listening to whatever crazy thing you just said." He said, with widened eyes.

Johnny turned again to notice Kragnon's expression. He then changed his tone and gestured to him in a reassuring way. "Whoa whoa, hey no! I didn't mean that you're LITERALLY going to infiltrate a fortress! We have absolutely no desire to put you in that kind of danger."

Kragnon sighed and chuckled, and then softly punched Johnny's shoulder. "Don't scare me like that, you ass." After the knuckled bump, Kragnon continued further into the sub-basement tunnel in front of Johnny.

Johnny smiled and shook his head. "I apologize. I must have forgotten that you hate surprises." After that, Johnny followed after Kragnon as they continued on their way to the storage room.

Minutes later, both Kragnon and Johnny had finally found the door that lead to where the meeting would take place. The door was opened slowly, which revealed a dark room that was filled with several industrial crates, set upon large shelves that elevated them from the ground. The floor was bare of any tile work, as per Johnny's reluctance to tell Tak what kind of tile design he would prefer to have installed in this room's floor. At the corner of the room, disheveled dirt formed into a soft mound as unrecognizable tracks lead in and out of this raised earth. Once the lights clicked on, it allowed Kragnon to see this storage room for himself. An impressed whistle escaped Kragnon's lips. "A bit cozy for my tastes, but it'll do. How long will it take for Kay to get here?"

"He's already here. Been waiting for you after you finished your krell egg mushroom wrap." Johnny said, scratching his chin.

"Really?" Kragnon said in a surprised tone. "He's been waiting under this room this whole time? Oh. I must apologize to him, and thank him for being so patient with me."

"Oh, he already knows that you are apologetic and thankful." Johnny said, walking forward and bowing before the raised dirt floor. "We all know."

The bare ground of softened earth started to shake and quiver, and a serpentine form slithered up and out of the ground as it was vibrated apart by billions of muscles, changing the soil's density and loosening it further. A shrylisk shook its face as it slithered out of the loosened dirt, and vomited out a face that Kragnon had not seen in years. Kragnon backed away to avoid the smell of bile, but he was still reunited with Kay once again, even after twenty years of seperation. As Kay left the maw of the shrylisk, he shrugged his shoulders and wiped away whatever cloying fluid had dried onto his person. He shook himself dry and took in a deep breathe. "Ah... You know what? It's actually quite nice getting some exercise on the surface for once." Kay then directed his attention toward the lovechief that he had not seen for a long while. A friendly smile beamed at Kragnon as Kay chuckled. "I have to admit, it's good to see you again. You even look a little grizzled for your age."

Kragnon nodded. "I would say so too. I'd also say the same thing to you, but the zerg are not exactly the easiest creatures to look at."

Kay scoffed in a joking matter. "What are you talking about? My face happens to be the most handsomest out of all of the zerg organisms in my swarm." He said, flicking a few strands of his mock-hair from his face.

Kragnon chuckled and shook his head. "So I hear. ... I must ask you about something, if it's okay."

"Go ahead. You probably have some questions you wanted to ask me personally for twenty years now, and I think some of those questions deserve to be answered." Kay replied.

Kragnon nodded. "Kay. ... What exactly happened after you transported me from the underground tower? Johnny was hesitant to reveal anything to me."

Kay nodded back and sighed. "Urgh, man. That actually brings back some painful memories."

Kragnon tilted his head. "Uh... Should I ask a different question?"

Kay shook his head. "It's okay. I can summarize what I remembered from that day. If I remember correctly... After I dumped you into the mouth of the shrylisk and saved you from being captured, I tried to read the mind of the era agent that was sent by the Era Agency. Apparently, they were trying to do that 'reformat time' thing in an attempt to weaken the zerg on their terms. What was it called again? Temporary incursion? No wait, it's called temporal recursion. Anyway, the era agents and the Golden Star Empire were also being assisted by a guy called 'the Informant', so that might be a thing I'll have to look into later. After he figured out I could read minds, the era agent and I got into a fight, he had some shadow assassins from Gollog's Pyramidal Guard Division assisting him to defeat me, and then he ended up trapping me in something called a 'temporal tomb'. I can't remember what happened during my time being stuck in there, but I finally got out after twenty years."

Kragnon shook his head and raised his hands. "Wait... You somehow got OUT of a temporal locker's temporal tomb? How?!"

Kay paused and looked down at the ground. "... Huh. You know, I don't really know. It never occurred to me to remember what that solution might have been." Kay then turned to Johnny. "Johnny boy, could you please inform me on how I escaped the temporal tomb?"

Johnny bowed toward Kay. "Yes sir." After standing up straight again, he began his explanation. "But let me correct you first. You didn't escape the tomb. It broke down by itself. You see, the swarm had received instructions from the second evolution master, known as Corvurn Junior that was from the doomed timeline that Othafurn had came from, said that the means of your release from that temporal tomb would eventually occur on its own volition. The temporal locker device was broken down by the very forces it controlled. Kind of poetic in an ironic way. But alas, there were other forces that were at play. Baroness Tak and Lovechief Kragnon were trying to find ways to prevent the vacuum phenomenon from overtaking their citadel, but found no leads or information to do otherwise. Years later, they learned that there was a window of opportunity for them. They asked around for a group of researchers to sneak into the boundaries of the danger zone, past the zerg that surrounded the energy plant, and grant them a chance to analyze the anomalous properties at the very center of the red zone."

Kragnon shook his head again and furrowed his brow. "What? Are you saying that the temporal locker rusted so much that its temporal manipulation mechanisms failed?"

Johnny nodded. "That is correct. Yes."

"Huh... So... How does this relate to the research expedition that was sent to the middle of the Red Desert?"

"It was a diversion." Johnny answered. "You see, we eventually found out that we had somebody on the inside of the Era Agency's facility, and Corvurn Junior had also found a way to communicate with him. Using our own insider's knowledge, we were able to create a farcical plot that led the era agents to believe that the device your research team brought with them would cause the temporal tomb to shut down. There was a great battle that day, but the Kiln Keepers and Golden Star Empire soldiers still suffered even greater losses."

"I kind of want to ask about that, actually." Kay said, furrowing his brows. "How the hell did we get an insider inside the Era Agency in the first place?"

"Remember the era agent that was attacking you? He became infested with the zerg HEV. Corvurn Junior had heard about the temporal attack that was made on the underground village. Upon hearing that the era agent had suffered physical wounds, Corvurn Junior created an indirect psionic communication link with him. Apparently, the era agent that had attacked you was also a very high ranked agent." Johnny replied.

"I see. Then here's another question for you. What happened after the temporal tomb finally broke down?" Kay asked.

"From what I understand, the temporal tomb kept your psionic capabilities from extending too far from the center-most danger zone, called the red zone. I theorize that it might be an effect the time dilation had over your psionic powers, which began creating the vacuum anomaly, the randomized lightning storms, and the energy plant, or 'zerg flower' as it is more commonly known as. My hypothetical guess is that all those anomalies are a result of your psionic abilities bleeding out from your temporal tomb. To answer your question, I believe that the psionic energy that was being contained in the temporal tomb was unleashed completely when the temporal locker eventually stopped functioning, resulting in the devastation you had woken up in. Othafurn and Corvurn discovered you in the aftermath, and took it upon themselves to wake you up." Johnny answered.

Kragnon tilted his head. "But even if that is true, I can't see that being possible. The time dilation field has a nasty habit of removing and destroying matter all the way down to the molecular level, effectively making the existence of the matter cease."

Johnny smiled and rolled his eyes. "Well yes, you are correct on that detail. But what you failed to realize is that psionic energy is not exactly matter. It's energy that is produced from strong mental patterns that is externally released from a powerful brain."

Kragnon looked thoughtful as he placed a hand to his chin and widened his eyes at Johnny. "Really? But that would mean the energy made from Kay's psionic abilities can bypass the era agents' time dilation machines without risk of being removed from reality. A conductive material medium, which needs to be stationary when a time dilation bubble forms around it, is needed to allow the transfer of energy from one side of a time variance to the other side. But I don't see how that is possible, since Kay was stuck inside of a temporal tomb without any kind of conductive metals being stuck in the middle of the dilation's surface. How did he bypass the time dilation without risking too much damage to some kind of conductive metal, and without risking his own existence from being removed from reality?"

"Think about it." Johnny replied. "If you had an energy generator within a room, where time is sped up at ten times the normal speed, and there was another room that has several kinds of light sources that has its flow of time going at the normal speed, the generator would be able to create ten times the power, but at the cost of requiring ten times the fuel input. Since the swarm is biologically immortal, it would mean that Kay's psionic energy would be multiplied and remain consistent throughout his containment in the temporal tomb. Not only that, the psionic energy that Kay produced emits itself as what you might perceive as a field of awareness, which can also be concentrated into his psionic attacks. Now, since a swarm commander would have to strengthen his psionic control over a wide area in order to command the zerg organisms under his thrall, that same 'awareness field' can be multiplied by the time dilation effects and manifest itself as the vacuum, lightning, and energy plant anomalies."

Kragnon nodded. "I think I get it now..." He said, sounding impressed.

"... I'm afraid you lost me." Kay said, looking between Johnny and Kragnon in slight confusion.

Johnny and Kragnon looked back at Kay for a few seconds. Johnny bowed before Kay a second later. "My apologies, Kay. Shall we get to the matter at hand?"

Kay sighed and nodded at Johnny, and then directed his attention toward Kragnon. "Right. Kragnon, the swarm needs your help."

Kragnon sighed. "So I heard. All I was told is that you need to infiltrate into a commander's headquarters inside of a fortress. Correct?"

Kay nodded at Kragnon. "Pretty much. The problem with that, however, is I don't know which commander I am targeting, or in which fortress. But if I pull it off, I'll supposedly have the means to attack the sky rings."

Kragnon shook his head and groaned. "This is a pretty high favor you are asking from me, Kay. I mean... I don't even have Maiden to help me gather the information I need to help you."

"Oh." Kay replied. "Then if it's information you need, then maybe the zerg can help you?"

Kragnon blinked a few times at Kay. "Come again?"

Kay nodded and smiled. "Yeah. We can just access the hivemind and impart all of the information we have gathered in the past twenty years to you."

Kragnon stared at Kay for several seconds. "... So uh... Does it mean I have to set up several schedules with you so that I can be updated with the Golden Star Empire's tactics?"

"Erm... Not exactly." Kay said, carefully rubbing the back of his head. "You see, there is a faster way to do that. What we are going to do is have a specialist create a mental link with you and your brain. That way, you will be able to access all of the information we have gathered over the years, while we will learn all of the information we need from you at the same time."

Kragnon backed away from Kay. "Uh... That uh... That sounds VERY invasive to me. I'd rather have my mind to myself, thank you."

Kay gestured to Kragnon. "It'd be alright, kragnon! You don't even have to be infested by the Hyper-Evolutionary Virus. I have a specialist that is capable of linking her mind with yours, and it will enable us to share information with each other in the most efficient way possible. You just got to place your forehead on hers and... Well... It's basically like breathing."

Kragnon shook his head. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline. My private thoughts will remain private, and I wouldn't want it any other way."

Kay sighed. "Come on, don't be a wuss." He said, reaching for Kragnon.

Kragnon reacted immediately by backing further away from Kay. "And I said no!"

Kay paused for a few seconds, but then he slouched and sighed when he realized what he was doing. "... Alright. Fine. Have it your way." He then pointed at Kragnon. "But please reconsider my offer. If you consent to the mental link, you would have access to a wealth of information that you cannot possibly imagine. As we will through you too."

Kragnon sighed as he kept his distance from Kay. "I'll keep that in mind."

Kay walked away from Kragnon and looked down at the ground as he began his contemplation. He didn't know what he was trying to do with Kragnon at that moment, but he shifted gears when he began to realize that he was acting on zerg instinct. He had nearly forgotten his humanity at that moment. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Well... Even if we can't do a mental link right now, my swarm still needs to infiltrate a commander's headquarters, which I think happens to be in a fortresses. Any ideas on how that narrows down my options?"

Kragnon took a sigh of relief. "Well... I can definitely think of a few targets that matches your description."

"That so?" Kay replied. "What are my options?"

"Hmm..." Kragnon said as he began pacing again, looking as though he was deep in thought. "... From what sources I can gather from the gaka berry vineyard,-"

"The whata vineyard?" Kay asked.

Kragnon stared at Kay flatly. "... It's an expression." He shook his head. "Anyway, I have heard that the commanders under General Pallax's command have taken residence in some of the flying fortresses that are floating high in the sky. Using an energy efficient engine that produces anti-gravity fields that keeps the structures afloat, the flying fortresses are considered to be the Golden Star Empire's second greatest technological marvel. I know that there are two commanders that are in the sky fortresses, Ralkan and Kralluf, but I don't know where the other commanders and General Pallax are stationed. I would say that their locations are considered classified."

Kay nodded. "Alright. That does narrow it down a bit. But that still means I got to figure out which of the flying fortresses contains the headquarters of one of the commanders, and how to get into them."

Kragnon smirked. "That shouldn't be too hard. There are soldiers and engineers that are stationed in those flying fortresses. Last time I checked, an army needs food in order to fight. I can't think of a better way to infiltrate into a fortress than through their shipments."

Kay nodded again. "Kay, that does sound good to me. But then there is another glaring issue I forgot to mention." Kay pointed up at the ceiling. "There are a series of orbiting mega structures that have the capability to detect the psionic signature of a zerg organism. If I was on the surface right now and I scratched my nose, they would know about it."

Kragnon's face became very pale. "... Uh... Would that mean that uh... that we are currently in danger?"

Kay shook his head. "Not really. I have noticed that their sensor network has difficulty detecting my minions that are either buried, or in an underground chamber. The sand and soil itself seems to block their ENO field detection network quite well."

Kragnon tilted his head. "ENO?"

"An acronym for 'external neural oscillations.' Think of it like an insect nest using pheromones to control the hive and guide each insect's actions, but replace pheromones with telepathy." Kay explained.

"Ohh... I think I get it." Kragnon said, nodding. "Hmm... Have you considered using clay armor?"

Kay took his turn to tilt his head. "What?"

"Clay armor." Kragnon explained. "You said that the sky rings' ENO sensor network has a more difficult time detecting your zerg organisms under the ground. You could shape clay into pieces of armor that you could equip on your zerg monsters. It should make them more difficult for the sky rings' sensor network to detect them."

Kay thought about it for a few seconds. Using something as brittle as clay might be risky... but it might be a viable option. "Never thought to tack on artificial armor on my zerg before... Hmm! But even then, that still means I have to figure out which commanders' headquarters I need to infiltrate into, and find out which fortress they reside in. If I chose the wrong one, then the other commander is very likely to catch wind of my actions. I'd lose the element of surprise if I failed."

"Actually, there is a way for us to find out which flying fortress contains which commander." Johnny spoke out as he walked up next to Kay. "In the twenty years that you have been stuck in the temporal tomb, nine thousand flying fortresses had been constructed by the Golden Star Empire. However, each fortress has been personalized by the fortress commanders and fortress commodores that is in charge of them. Some are of simple design, meant to be used in battling against our swarm, but the more extravagant flying fortress' are often owned by aristocrats, and are often protected by other escort flying fortresses."

Kay sighed. "Commodores, uh? Isn't that a rank a step above commander?" Kay asked.

Johnny nodded. "Indeed so, but it is a rank reserved for the aristocracy in the gilanian empire. They bought themselves enough protection to save their own scaly hides, or had connections to powerful people that enabled them to have their own flying fortresses. If anything, the rank of commodore is treated more as a joke to the military personnel within Gollog's empire."

"Aristocracy?" Kay repeated, tilting his head. "Hmm... You know, greed can be a very dangerous weakness that can be easily exploited. Are these empire aristocrats rapacious?"

Johnny nodded again. "I can think of several that will rob someone of all of their vouchers, and sue them for not having enough vouchers to take from them."

Kay smiled at Johnny. "That gives me an idea. If we can find a way to trade information for the locations of the commanders' headquarters, then we'll be able to narrow down which flying fortress we need to infiltrate into. We can offer an aristocrat what he wants, and then we will gain the info we'll need from the trade exchange after the exchange has been made."

Kragnon stepped in. "I don't think that's very wise, Kay. They can turn a profit just as easily from some other kind of business, and the commanders, General Pallax, or Emperor Gollog will trade everything at their disposal for the information that is leaked. And on top of that, what kind of resource can your zerg swarm possibly offer to the aristocrats?"

"Whatever they so desire, plus leniency." Kay answered.

Kragnon paused and blinked his eyes for a few seconds. "... Come again?"

Kay began to explain. "Some of the zerg bio-structures has the capability to create raw materials. Gold, copper, silver, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, argon, cobalt, nickle, carbon, and platinum are only some out of all of the materials we are able to make. We can also combine those materials to make water, steel, and other kinds of complex molecules and alloys. How do you think we are able to spawn so many zerg organisms?"

Kragnon tilted his head as he stared at Kay. "... How... is that even possible? Do you have access to your own self-made manifestation altar?"

Kay chuckled. "Actually, I had Corvurn reverse engineer one of the altars in the underground tower you used to live in. And not only that, we did that in a different timeline too. It took a bit of time for him, but he learned about the complex functions and exotic materials within an altar, and found a way to incorporate those functions and materials into an organic process. In essence, we have biological manifestation altars that can produce whatever materials we need. However, they cannot create objects of complex designs, like knives, or clothes I guess. I don't really see knives or clothes being very useful to my swarm though."

Kragnon paused for several seconds, almost as though he had a hard time understanding what Kay had just said, or was having difficulty believing him. Either way, he sighed and shook his head. "But then that leaves me with another question. What do you mean by 'lenience?'"

Kay placed his hands on his hips as he sighed. "As it stands, I have made enemies with the Golden Star Empire and their allies a long while ago. They would be met on the battlefield or preyed upon in the darkest corners of this world, and the zerg swarm will seek them without hesitation, and slay them without mercy. But with that said, I am willing to make amends by granting certain members of the gilanian population a way to survive the zerg swarm. If they reject Gollog's rule over them, and renounce their loyalty to the Golden Star Empire, then I will spare them my wrath."

Kragnon shook his head. "I don't see that happening any time soon, Kay. The empire and the zerg have been at war with one another for well over twenty years now. The aristocrats will very likely dismiss such claims."

Kay looked at Kragnon with a disappointed expression. "Really? Aw." Kay then shrugged and sighed. "Then I guess it's death for everyone that is our enemy, and those that sides with them."

Kragnon gestured to Kay with urgency. "But uh... I think there still might be people that are willing to reject Gollog and leave his empire. Many aristocrats and colonels often have servants and slaves performing cleaning and cooking duties within their flying fortresses. I'm willing to bet that if we get enough of them to mutiny against their masters, then it might further distract their soldiers and guards from detecting your of infiltration."

Kay paused, but then nodded at Kragnon's suggestion. "Kay. Then I guess it's only death for just our enemies, and not to the dissenters." Kay formed a fist and landed it in the palm of his other hand. "So to break this plan down into parts, what we need to do first is make a trade with the aristocrats regarding information to the location of one of the commanders' headquarters, and tipping them off that there is a secret way to surpass being targets to the zerg swarm. Once we get the info we need, I'll prepare some armor materials that will block my swarm's psionic signal and stow away in some shipments that will be delivered to one of the commander's headquarters. Once I'm inside, I'll paw around in their belongings until I find what I might need, and then hightail it out of there. Sounds good?"

Johnny nodded. "It sounds like an excellent plan, Kay." He then bowed toward Kay. "I am sure that the others in the swarm tetrarchy will agree to... Hmm?"

Kragnon raised an eyebrow at Johnny. "... To... What? You kind of stopped mid-sentence."

"I noticed it too." Kay said, suddenly turning and flexing his hand into a claw shape towards the door they entered through. A yelp came from just outside, and a short gilanian was revealed from the corner of the doorway as he was psionically pulled toward the members of a meeting that was supposed to be private. He seemed to wear some kind of formal attire that was custom made. It was almost as though he was part of some royal family. "I noticed the eavesdropper that was listening to our conversation."

Kragnon's eyes widened as he realized who it was that Kay had pulled from the doorway, and leapt toward the short gilanian. "DON'T HURT HIM!" Kragnon shouted as he covered the short gilanian with his body and hugged him closely.

Kay and Johnny tilted their heads at the odd display. "... Kragnon, do you know this spy?"

Kragnon slowly looked at Kay and hesitated to answer. "Uh... Yes. I do." Kragnon looked down at the short gilanian that he held in his embrace. "Why did you come down here?!"

"I-I-I'm sorry! I was curious, and you were being very weird this morning! And I mean WEIRDER than usual. Like, REALLY weird. So when you asked for privacy with Johnny, I knew that something was going on. So... I followed you."

"Dammit Kragak, this is a dangerous thing you did. If your mother found out about this, then I won't hear the end of it from her." Kragnon said to the short gilanian.

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are. Just don't tell your mother about this."

Kay looked at the two gilanians with a confused expression. "... Kragnon?"

Kragnon stood up and placed his hand on the short gilanian's shoulder. "... Kay. This is... This is pretty awkward for me to disclose, but... Oh dammit, this was not supposed to happen."

"Dad, why is there a zerg thing here?" The short gilanian asked Kragnon.

"Dad?!" And that was when it had dawned on Kay. The short gilanian named Kragak wasn't just an eavesdropper. He was also a resident of Baroness Tak's palace. And to top it off, he was Kragnon's son. The littler gilanian definitely seemed to have Kragnon's facial structure, and didn't have the albinism that his father had. But there also seemed to be a tint of a redder color on his yellowed scale patches. "Hold on a second. Who's the madam you sired with?"

Kragnon sighed as he turned to Kay. Complex emotions were bubbling inside of him right now, and Kay could tell that they were a mixture of several kinds. Anxiety, terror, and paternal feelings were the primary emotions that Kragnon was experiencing at that moment. He gestured toward Kragak. "A lot can happen in twenty years, Kay. In those twenty years, a love has sparked between me and Baroness Tak. But enough of that. I need to sort something out with my boy." Kragnon turned to Kragak. "Son, I need you to go to your room and never speak about this. I'll be with you shortly."

"Why?" Kragak asked. "What happened between you and that guy? What does Johnny have to do with this?"

"Just go, son. I'll tell you about this later. Just promise me you won't tell this to anyone. Not to your mother. Not to your sisters. No one. Got it?"

After some hesitation, Kragak nodded and slowly left Kragnon's embrace. "I promise, dad." After that, Kragak turned and immediately began running out of the room and away from their sight.

Kay carefully rubbed the back of his head. This had turned out to be a VERY awkward visit.

A/N: BWAH?! 8U