Spiran Heart of the Swarm
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Minor edits 3-11-2020.
Just as Kerrigan is about to make the final push to crush the combined might of Raynor's Raiders and the Dominion fleet, the Xel'naga artifact in the center of the Terran base completes its charge cycle and sends a destructive wave through her entire Swarm on the planet of Char. The last thing she sees is her arm carapace dissolving. An unknown amount of time later, Kerrigan wakes to the sound of Zerglings attacking something and her eyes snap open to see she is almost entirely returned to her naked human body, only her psionic nerve cords showing signs of lingering Zerg DNA. More importantly, she is in a desert surrounded by a pair of idle Drones and twelve Zerglings battling low flying Alcyone fiends (not that she knows that is the name of the bird-like creatures), as well as drake type creatures that breathe fire, wolf-like monsters nearly as fast as the Zerglings themselves, squat plants that spit seeds, a rather persistent roc type monster, a few large worms reminiscent of Nydus Worms, and various small machines that look to have been salvaged from somewhere. Half remembering something from her time as the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan sends a minor psionic command to the Zerglings and nearly bursts into laughter as they continue to kill the various hostiles but break dance instead of fighting properly.
Having confirmed she can still control at least small groups of Zerg, Kerrigan prompts one of the idle Drones to spawn a Hatchery. A bit surprisingly considering the lack of usual resources, the Drone immediately forms a large cocoon that provides incidental shelter from the blowing sands of the desert. Over the next few hours, Kerrigan considers if she wants to take advantage of her return to a mostly human form, despite the eventual need for clothes, or if she will risk her mental clarity in an attempt to return to a fully Zerg body. She still isn't quite sure what she will do as she enters the completed Hatchery and commands the remaining Drone to start collecting Biomass. One thing is certain – without the Zerg that entered the desert with her, she would be dead by now.
Not wanting to rely on the original twelve Zerglings for protection from the local wildlife, Kerrigan commands the first Zerg Larva to mutate into an Overlord and the next six to mutate into Drones. When the Drones hatch, one is ordered to mutate into a Spawning Pool while the rest gather Biomass, mostly in the form of insects that look like fireflies and appear in place of a corpse when the wildlife is killed. Still uncertain about retaining a human body, Kerrigan orders the spawning of an Evolution Chamber along with another twelve pairs of Zerglings as soon as the Spawning Pool is complete. Just as the Zerglings hatch, bringing the total number up to 36, primitive weapons fire peppers the wildlife and the Evolution Chamber cocoon.
"Fyed! Vulic uh dra ghufh veahtc. Dra Cyht Fumv esbucdanc caas du pa tavahtehk dra utt cdnildinac vnus dra veahtc fa yna suna vysemeyn fedr. (Wait! Focus on the known fiends. The Sand Wolf imposters seem to be defending the odd structures from the fiends we are more familiar with.)" a young female voice says before a group of twelve Terrans dressed for the environment emerge from the blowing sands and focus their gunfire on the wildlife.
"Thanks for the help, but I'm sure my Zerglings could have dealt with the wildlife until I could grow more permanent defenses," Kerrigan says to the humans as she emerges from inside the Hatchery, not even considering the little detail of still being nude partially because the Creep extending from the Hatchery suppresses most of the sand, and partially because she is used to being nude after several years as a Zerg. A quick psionic scan pulls the names of the various wildlife among other world data from the minds of Rikku and the other Terrans of the faction known as Al Bhed.
"Fuf, dra Oajuhedac yna kuehk du zicd MUJA oui. Zicd frana tet oui lusa vnus? (Wow, the Yevonites are going to just LOVE you. Just where did you come from?)" a man named Cid comments as the twelve Al Bhed cautiously remove their protective gear to reveal more casual clothing that you might expect at a small-time machine shop or, in the case of Rikku and the other females, clothing you would expect at a beach.
"You kind of forget about clothes when you live with the Zerg for a decade. Not like the Yevonites will be in a hurry to invite anyone on this island to dinner," Kerrigan replies just before the Evolution Chamber bursts from its cocoon.
"How did you understand any of what Pops said? You didn't answer where you came from by the way," Rikku says in mild surprise.
"I'm guessing you've never encountered psionics before. Fiends are lower than any animal I've come across in my life, but once you got close enough to filter out the background noise, I read your minds to learn of Spira and its cultures. I usually stick to surface thoughts though which give me a running translation of what you are saying as well as your true opinion of me," Kerrigan answers as she uses the external interface of the Evolution Chamber to study the essence from the Pyreflies and integrate it into the available strains of Zerg. "Oh, and you'll never believe where I came from since it isn't anywhere on or in Spira."
"I've certainly never heard of the Zerg anywhere on Spira... Or this icky mold that is spreading from your main building," Rikku says as she notices the Creep lightly clinging to her sandles.
"That 'icky mold' is called Creep and is produced by the primary structure of a Zerg hive to transfer nutrients to all other Zerg lifeforms," Kerrigan says as she finalizes the strain mutations for now and commands the production of a Swarm Queen. "Once I have a Swarm Queen or two, they can spawn Creep Tumors to extend the Creep further. I should probably spawn more Drones and mutate them into Spine and Spore Crawlers, the semi stationary defenses for a Zerg Hive Cluster."
The Al Bhed return to their home while Kerrigan gets the Crawlers in position and decides to restore her Zerg body while researching more Zerg strains. In the following months, while mutating her body inside a Chrysalis, Kerrigan uses fiend essence to restore the Nydus Worm, Roach, and somewhat surprisingly, Mutalisk strains in addition to using Sand Wolf essence to increase the attack speed and health of Zerglings while streamlining the spawning process to hatch three Zerglings from a single Pyreling, the improvement over the old Larva strain that now spawns from both the Lair and all Zerg corpses. As her metamorphosis finalizes, Cid runs into the Hive Cluster in a panic.
"Kerrigan! Rikku nyh ehdu syzun dnuipma yd dra Baaj Niehc. Bmayca caht y knuib du naclia ran. (Kerrigan! Rikku ran into major trouble at the Baaj Ruins. Please send a group to rescue her.)" He says as he approaches Kerrigan's cocoon.
"I will go to her personally with a squad of Mutalisks," Kerrigan replies in the dual-tone of a powerful psionic speaking verbally as she bursts from the cocoon and flies on bone wings directly towards Baaj escorted by six Zerg flyers. Behind her, the Roaches and Zerglings chitter at Cid's gob smacked expression as a Drone and two each Spine and Spore Crawlers load into an Overlord that pairs with one of the new dedicated detector strains named an Overseer, escorted by another six Mutalisks.
On reaching Baaj Ruins, Kerrigan directs her escort to establish a perimeter around the slowly sinking wreck of Cid's Loveboat on loan to the salvage team. Kerrigan herself dives into the water and lashes out with bolts of psionic energy at the massive squid-like fiends known to be an aquatic form of Sin Spawn that surround the Al Bhed machina ship. In surprisingly short time, Kerrigan demolishes all five Sin Spawn while her escort deals with a few dozen Sahagin and a handful of Sin Scales. Meanwhile, the Overlord drops off its cargo at Baaj Temple while its escort deals with a rare Geosgaeno fiend.
"I'll handle Cid and my Swarm can handle the salvage job from here as well as get the Loveboat back to Home. Get your salvage team into the Overlord and we can meetup with the Psychs in Luca. I heard rumors your cousin will be passing through for the Blitz tournament during her Summoner Pilgrimage Rikku," Kerrigan says while integrating the new essence into the Swarm.
"Oh pooey, better let Pops know we are taking charge of Operation: Summoner kidnaping," Riku says with a raised eyebrow at Kerrigan's lavender bone wings and full body lavender veins on her still mostly human appearance as the rest of the salvage team enter the Overlord with looks of mild discomfort.
AN: Thanks for reading and please review.