Monlyth

Nico and her brood were off to a successful start. The entire subsystem was well on its way to becoming completely infested, which was helped immensely by the almost-total lack of resistance. Or other lifeforms, really: what local fauna there was on the other moons and planet were quickly consumed, their genetic sequences quickly discarded since they would be useless to the Swarm. The remaining pockets of Protoss resistance across the subsystem were dispatched in similar fashion, and hive clusters soon started covering the surfaces of the other celestial bodies.

Nico returned to Monlyth after the invasions. The Queen of Blades' orders were clear, of course, but Nico was still technically a newborn, and constantly leading from the front took its toll on her.

"So, Nafash, what's our next target?" she asked the broodmother upon entering the hive. Kerrigan didn't exactly specify targets for her, since Nico was basically given free rein. However, she needed a next step, and she figured that Nafash, being more familiar with the sector, would have some good ideas to offer.

Nafash bowed as Nico approached. "We have two options from here, Princess. Firstly, as we are very close to Protoss space, we can probe even deeper and assault the Protoss directly. Such an engagement would be the greatest test for our brood, and allow us to take the rest of the sector with ease should we succeed - however, the Protoss are dangerous, and with the Swarm split in two, we do not yet have the numbers to take them on without suffering heavily.

"Our other option is to invade isolated Terran worlds scattered at the fringe of their Dominion. These systems would be easier pickings, and would serve to strengthen the brood for the eventual confrontation with the Protoss. This path would also reconnect us with the rest of the Swarm, allowing us to more quickly eradicate the Terran Dominion before redirecting all of our strength towards the Protoss." Nafash had sensed Nico's agitation at the mention of the Dominion. The Queen of Blades also harbored some grudge against the Dominion, which translated to increased ferocity among the Zerg during attacks which she personally led against Dominion forces. Such might be the case here, but the Princess of Blades' hatred felt more than that.

The broodmother knew that the young Princess was a former Terran. Perhaps it was due to a lingering hatred...

"Right...I can't fight the Protoss in my current state yet. I need to get stronger...and I think a good warmup is in order." Nico nodded towards Nafash. "It's settled, then. Prepare the brood for departure. We'll pay a visit to some Terran worlds."

"By your command." Nafash bowed again, and soon enough, a Leviathan began its descent towards the surface of Monlyth.

The invasion would serve two purposes for the Princess of Blades: aside from making the brood stronger and larger, she was also anxious to unlock her full potential. The Queen of Blades gave some useful advice with this regard, based on her own experience: perhaps something in the Terran databases would give her the information that she needs.

It was just as well that Nico's psionic potential was still largely untapped. Because of it, the Spriritual Power and the Templar within managed to make a covert landing. They still had to pick their landing zone carefully, of course; despite the shroud of the Void wrapped around the ship, the powerful sensors of Zerg Overseers and Spore Crawlers would have caught them as they descended, and whatever backup they'd manage to call by then would arrive too late to save them.

When the ship landed at a secure location, the Dark Prelate and her apprentice exited the ship, while the two Khalai templar remained, their visual and psionic signatures still shrouded within the Spiritual Power. A thorough assessment of their situation was required before any other action could be taken, and it fell to the Nerazim to do this task. It was a well-suited mission for them: the energies of the Void which they wield would serve to hide them from the senses of most Zerg, and allow them to evade those which can penetrate their shadowy veils.

Nozomi moved deftly across the field, while Hanayo followed to the best of her abilities. It had been quite a while since the former had to exercise her powers, and despite the constant danger, she also felt some excitement. The latter was a lot more terrified of the entire situation, which was understandable considering that they were outnumbered several billions-to-one, and it required most of her focus to make sure her cloaking didn't break and to make sure that she kept up with her mentor.

Eventually, they reached a vantage point outside of the primary hive on Monlyth, where the psionic emanations of the new infested Terran was strongest.

"It looks like she's here," Nozomi whispered. Hanayo slowly nodded and looked around: no Overseers in the sky. They could observe in relative safety here, though Hanayo still scanned the area around them just in case an errant Zerg were to approach their location.

It would be a relatively quick wait for them: the entrance to the hive opened, and the massive broodmother emerged from it. Right behind it was a comparatively smaller and clearly-humanoid figure.

"Aha." Visually sharing many attributes of the Queen of Blades herself, right down to the bony wings and the armor-like carapace. However, this infested Terran was smaller, both in height and - 'Why did I even notice that?' Nozomi briefly wondered - bust size. The way her 'hair' was styled was also different from the Queen of Blades'. But perhaps the most significant indicator was the glow of her energy: a bright and vibrant pink...

Pink...

"Pink..." Nozomi repeated out loud, just within earshot of her apprentice. Where had she seen that? She tried to remember her recurring visions: nine silhouettes bathed in nine colors. All she could remember were her own and her companions'. She considered entering a trance, but dismissed it quickly. Doing so here would reveal her to the Zerg.

"The Zerg are gathering!" Hanayo observed, shaking Nozomi out of her thoughts. Hordes of Zerg started converging towards the hive, and gathered around the broodmother and the infested Terran. Nozomi and Hanayo saw why a moment later, when a massive shadow engulfed the area...

"The Leviathan!" The massive spacefaring creature slowly descended from the sky, and flocks of airborne Zerg began entering it. When the Leviathan touched down, the Zerg on the ground started entering as well, along with the infested Terran and the broodmother.

"It looks like they're going to move out," Nozomi said. "Let's head back to the ship." Hanayo nodded frantically, and the two of them made their way back to the Spiritual Power.

"Nozomi-chan! Kayo-chin!" Rin called as they entered. "The Leviathan landed!"

"I'm sure they know that already, Rin," Maki retorted. "What did you see down there, Prelate?"

"The Zerg are preparing to move out," Nozomi said. "Along with the infested Terran, who seems to be leading the brood."

"What do we do from here?" Hanayo asked. It was obvious that they'd need to relay their findings, but from there, what was their next course of action? Nozomi, Maki and Hanayo looked to the leader of the expedition.

"Eh?!" Rin almost forgot that she was the leader. "Well...maybe we should follow them?" Which was dangerous, though it made sense. They need more information about infested Terran and her capabilities. And they had to know where the Zerg were headed. If this brood was going to head towards Protoss space, the four of them had to send out the information immediately.

Nozomi nodded. "Alright." The Spiritual Power was quickly prepped for takeoff - the ship would launch shortly after the Leviathan, and would carefully trail the beast towards its destination, wherever that might be.

High orbit above Monlyth

It was not just one Leviathan. Two more appeared from the other side of the moon, and another two came from the planet Monlyth orbited, and they all rendezvoused with the first one, making for a total of five Leviathans - which also amounted to billions of Zerg. This would be a very rough fight for the Golden Armada should the Leviathans head towards Shakuras.

Fortunately, based on the directions the beasts were facing, the Protoss would be safe from invasion...for the meantime. It looked like the Zerg were preparing to head towards Terran worlds instead.

"That would actually suit our mission," Maki noted. "We'd be able to observe that infested Terran's capabilities without necessarily putting ourselves in danger." It was a little cold and selfish, considering that they would be putting Terran lives at risk. But they had to put theirs first, since their actions may save much more.

"Looks like the Zerg are preparing for warp travel," Nozomi observed. A large wormhole appeared in front of the leviathans, and the monstrosities slowly entered. Maki activated a star map, and was quickly able to figure out where the Zerg would strike. Nozomi prepared the Spiritual Power for travel across the Void once again, and when the wormhole closed, the Nerazim ship had also disappeared.

Meinhoff

One of these worlds is Meinhoff, a Fringe World and one of the main territories of the Kel-Morian Combine. On the outbreak of the Zerg Swarm's massive mobilization across the entire sector, the Terran Dominion withdrew its forces to protect the Core Worlds, leaving the Fringe Worlds mostly defenseless. A mass exodus of refugees to the Core Worlds shortly began afterwards, though not all colony ships would make it very far. Those that managed to get away from the Zerg set course for Meinhoff, and used the planet as a staging point to get to the Core Worlds. The entire planet's population skyrocketed within days, as colony ships from other Fringe Worlds converged onto Meinhoff in the hope that they would be provided safe passage into the Core Worlds. Agria's colonists, fortunately, managed to secure a spot for their own, though they were still camped close to refugees from other worlds.

With so many people, however, the issue of overcrowding reared its ugly head. Deaths from food and water shortage both on the planet and in the orbiting colony ships that couldn't land started to pile up, and the resulting controversy forced the KMC to stem the tide of refugees. The Dominion's inaction didn't help matters, as the Dominion Fleet mainly kept to the Core Worlds to repel the invading Zerg.

What's worse, however, was that the sheer density of refugees on Meinhoff made it easy for epidemics to erupt. The worst of them, however, started spreading shortly after Agria's colonists touched down: the Zerg hyper-evolutionary virus.

The virus was the primary method of Zerg infestation, which had started years ago during the First Great War, when the Zerg and Protoss first made their presence known to the Terrans. The Zerg were in need of a psionic species to assimilate to give them an advantage over the Protoss. The Protoss themselves, the most powerful psionic species in the sector, were immune to infestation, and the Zerg scoured the sector in search of another species with high psionic potential. This they found in the Terrans - or at least a limited population among them. The first strain of the virus was rudimentary, and most of its victims turned into mindless and hollow drones due to genetic incompatibility, rendering their psionic potential null. Only one victim became a successful example: Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades herself. When Kerrigan became the leader of the Swarm, she refined the virus further, resulting in at least one more case of a successful infestation. That the subject of that infestation had been considered a failure was unimportant since he died anyway, but Kerrigan became confident that she could repeat the process, and made further attempts to make the virus even more effective, as well as to create different strains for different situations. All she needed were test subjects.

And the Second Great War - a.k.a. the current conflict which she instigated - became the perfect testing grounds. Already she had a successful subject with her, Nico Yazawa the Princess of Blades, and she was eager to test it even further. Meinhoff became the perfect target for one of the strains, which was the most virulent so far. Through spores scattered across population centers, several settlements became ground zeroes for the infestation, and many of their inhabitants rapidly mutated into zombie-like infested Terrans, which were quick to overwhelm what security forces the settlements had and spread the virus even further. Not even buildings seemed to be safe, as infested growths bursted out from several structures that were also covered by infested spores.

Hyperion Bridge

The unique circumstances of Meinhoff, however, quickly revealed a flaw in the strain, at least for the "living" affected. It wasn't exactly a glaring one, but it was one that would need to be addressed at some point, and, at least for the Raiders, something that would give them an advantage on the ground.

"It looks like they burrow underground by day and emerge only at night," Dr. Ariel Hanson noted as she looked at the holo screen showing the infested terrans. "The virus must make them vulnerable to the high UV output of Meinhoff's star."

"Then we'll hit the infested buildings by day and protect our base at night," Jim Raynor said. "Don't worry, Doc - we'll contain this thing."

The Special Ops Dropship quickly deployed to send down troops to secure a forward base. Included in this force were field medics Honoka Kousaka and Kotori Minami, and Shadowguard agents Eli Ayase and Sonoda Umi.

Jorgentron
Meinhoff

There would be no light moments here. "Our singing won't work on them, huh..." Honoka said forlornly, as she stared at a distant cluster of infested buildings of the Jorgentron settlement from atop an elevated platform with the other three.

"Sometimes this is our only option," Umi said. She was not new to violence, as was her partner. However, even she would readily admit that they were fighting an enemy like nothing they'd encountered in their years of service. "This particular strain is too dangerous to simply leave alone."

"If only there was a cure for this..." Kotori lamented. It might be wishful thinking at this point: not even the Protoss were able to create a cure that could permanently reverse the effects of Zerg infestation. The virus simply mutated too quickly to allow any sort of remedy to keep up.

"Well, the Protoss already tried," Eli replied. "The effects were only temporary: the nano-tech serum started to degrade after a period of time, and by then the Zerg had already developed immunity to it."

The two medics made resigned nods in response. The primary reason why they became medics despite their psionic potential was that they wanted to save people. It was unavoidable that some could not be saved, though, and while it haunted them from time to time, it also strengthened their resolve to rescue as many as they could from the brink of death. With each life they saved, their hope of a peaceful future after their revolution affirmed itself.

But this...was not what they wanted to see. Men, women, and children, still living, still breathing...still mentally trying to fight the madness that has plagued their bodies in vain...it felt unfair that these people had to suffer this kind of fate, and have only one way out. Maybe. There might still be hope...but will it arrive in time to rescue these souls?

"Nightfall approaching," the four of them heard the Adjutant announce over their comms earpieces. Sure enough, they saw Meinhoff's blue star steadily sink below the horizon, and, through their tactical ghost visors, the Shadowguards saw the ground staring to stir.

"They're emerging," Umi reported. "Let's get into position." There are two entrances into the base, at the north and southeast, and both of them had been hastily fortified with bunkers. The Raiders will have to hold off the incoming horde until dawn breaks, and attempt to destroy the infested buildings at sunrise. The two Shadowguards split up and proceeded to position themselves on elevated perches at each entrance. The two medics, meanwhile, would link up with the mobile strike group, currently at the north side. They'll swing between each entrance as needed, and will be the ones to move out once the sun rises.

The sun rises and sets quickly on Meinhoff, so the Raiders can't afford to waste any time.

A/N: So, a bit of info of the Starcraft 2 campaign is in order here, to clear things out for those who've also played the campaign, as well as for those who might seem confused at where our Raiders are going around.

The storyline of Wings of Liberty contains branches. How these branches are developed is entirely up to the player: they can go through branches and play certain missions in an order which they see fit (usually depending on what units they want unlocked first, since playing through most missions will unlock units and customizations for said units), though they'll eventually converge. I'm basing this on my own playthrough of the campaign, which, so far, started three branches at this point, though [SPOILER ALERT] this particular branch will be finished after a chapter or two.

I promise I'll turn these out more quickly. I've been finding less time with writing (mainly because of SIF and *cough* Granblue - I'm not sure if I'll write about that; we'll see), though I've been recently trying to pick up steam again. I have started on the next chapter as of publishing this, so hopefully it won't be as long a wait.