Episode 47- things are happening… less smoothly than anticipated.
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Well, Jaruga was a little hard pressed to be useful. She can deal with small groups of Terrans, by hit & run tactics or close quarters combat. Protoss, well she didn't fight any yet, (apart from her Brother's implanet memories) but she foresaw a mixed front. It would all depend on the machines they would bring with them.
But Zerg? Jaruga's options were limited. They were always gathered en masse, attacked en masse, and never fled. Attacking alone would be an useless suicide, and she didn't have aby kind of support for this kind of thing. It really hit home, literally, that only the Po'Midorian Riders led devastating charges against zerg.
It was obvious that Cavalry counters Infantry, but the rest of Terrans were too obsessed with giant machines to be able to form any unit. Vultures were just too fragile, and wouldn't run over anything. Tanks had some potential, but they would need to be refitted into their more classic role. Goliaths? Ph-lease.
Melee combat, only on rare occasions. The Ballista on the boat? Out of range. Her remaining options? The belts with various tools all over her body. And, of course, her stellar bow. She left the laser musket with her chaperone. Now, with a bit of power channel, an arrow made from condensed, flickering flame would form. Tensing the string, Jaruga kept firing, at the flying zerg, the running zerg, the slithering zerg, and those annoying queens which kept spitting green sticky mass that coated everything.
The base was standing firm, the attack was being prepared, in the shape of increasing tank count. Duran was… somewhere. Bunkers were being constantly repaired, and Jaruga was sitting on her furry ride, trying to shoot those buggers. Unsurprisingly, it was going poorly in the air departament. With a charging tide of running zerglings, it was easy to hit and vaporize something. But when it came to those flyin buggers? Well, it was more like a lottery, with a very small chance to hit. Automatic targeting systems were winning in this case. To put it into perspective, Jaruga hit one, maybe two mutalisks, the turrets, goliaths and Wraiths took care of everything else.
Even if the hug was nice, there is only so much one can take. Patting her huggers side… or maybe stomach, Nahida said "I'am okay, you can release me now." But someone was stubborn, it seems. Deciding to use one of her favorite tools in conversation, the little girl clad in white and green said "Even if the baby's bird's first flight is always a failure, it still needs to take the first step forward towards maturity." Allegories, ah… she was a little rusty, but it was a skill worth polishing anew.
Her goal was accomplished. She was released from this pleasant cage… or that was what she thought. Before being able to see the face of her hugger, two big, strong hands sneaked under her armpits, and raised little Nahida high into the air. She was plunked on a mountain… no wait, it was someone's shoulder. A shoulder that was wider than she. Lowering her gaze a little towards the head adjacent to this shoulder, she saw a kind face of a woman.
That explained a lot. Nahida witnessed many snippets of maternal & paternal instincts, by it someone's dream, memory, current thoughts, or finally in reality. Though the last one was a very unclear conflicting memory. She remembered watching from a bird's eye. From squirrels, a small rat, and plethora of different small animals. She remembered possessing a lifelike puppet, but at the same time she remembered the same situations when she was walking just by herself, in person. But why would she possess something, if she could just walk out into the streets. But wait, she was imprisoned, how could she just walk out freely, it didn't make sense…
'Lesser Lord Kusanali!' An almost forgotten voice sounded in her head. Throwing her conflicting and muddled memories aside for now, Nahida looked towards her… familiars. The little fairies danced happily around in the air, constantly repeating 'Lesser Lord Kusanali' over and over. It brought her comfort, having at last this little bit of familiarity.
Finally, she directed her gaze towards the humans gathered around. Weren't they just the weirdest bunch she had ever (maybe) seen. Nahida didn't know any boar would let itself be ridden, and didn't know they came in sizes this big. And that big snow cat… witnessing one in such a hot and humid climate was completely unheard of. The riders themselves were… a somewhat glued together bunch. All had different sorts of weapons, helmets, and armors. You couldn't probably find two people alike in that group. The young girl at the head of that band, with an icy gaze, and probably icy personality looked… Almost what she imagined the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya would look like. One thing was sure, they all were warriors, and all were looking at her.
Scattered somewhere along this group, her eyes found a few unarmored people, though the spiky shield on one's man shield looked rather sharp. That woman in long & white long clothing was giving her some mighty calculating gaze.
Some young guy, also in similar robes, looked almost like one of the students from the Akademyia, the bags under his eyes especially supplemented this theory. The other two standing off to the side somehow strongly stood apart from the rest. The young guy didn't look too special, but the bearded old man looked like he could belong to the Hexenzirkel, if it accepted any men that is.
The two small girls resting against some rock excluded some… mystifying aura around them. Different from vision bearers, so maybe they hold power that was actually a birthright, instead of… Anyway, they had some interesting creatures with them, ones she never saw before.
And finally, in the not far distance, she felt a partially kindred spirit. Nahida could see the silvery sheen of the hair, so similar to her own, but more importantly the Aranara floating beside her. Even if the little forest fairies weren't specifically created by herself, technically they were. Though distant, foggy memory not necessarily her own, she could remember the first Aranara. For it to speak to, well… anyone was as rare as… radishes growing on apple trees.
"Welcome to our patchwork yyy… let's call it a laboratory. Meet our head researcher and bioengineer, mister Bit." The infested in question turned around, looking at the newly arrived group. His eyes set on the prisoner, who seemed to ignore the conversation, and tried not to throw up again, judging by her inflated, green cheeks.
Turning back to his followers, Dobromir said "You can lay her down, now." Surprisingly, the prisoner was gently put against the wall, instead of being dropped. A big meaty arm patted her head lightly, and then the infested just remained standing close to the prisoner, her gaze wandering, probably the same as her mind. The captured woman just tried to stop her whole world from spinning. Her hands put against her temples at least tried to stop her skull from splitting in two.
Deciding to give her some time to be at least capable of hearing the conversations, Dobromir beckoned the only female zergling towards them. Now, standing across his buddy, he put his hands on his shoulders, receiving the same in return. "I have a request that is selfish, but at the same time very important. Look at her, she is a female, she should be given the dignity that comes with that gender occupation. Instead she is just bigger, a little more lith, and that's about it. I want her to look like you and me, but better." Some thoughts fell on his mind, causing to go silent for a moment.
"And certainly better than Kerrigan, a child should overcome her parent's weaknesses after all, even if Sarah wasn't really aware of the significance of her own factions." He turned his head towards Warta, looking into her glowing eyes. For now, they followed his color scheme, which was golden yellow in contrast to Kerrigan's sickly orange. He hoped it would change to something unique, different from all the zerg he had the displeasure of meeting. "I can't let Kerrigan's bad influence affect you. You are worthy of being so much more than just a mere minion."
He returned to staring into his buddy's eyes, waiting. The infected mulled it over, coming with a few different ways to deal with this task. "It will be a little challenging. A few methods came to mind, but the best would be revealed through trials and errors. There will be no danger attached."
Giving a nod of his head, Dobromir turned back towards the prisoner, who showed some kind of coherence. He walked towards the two and stopped a little before them. The prisoner looked at his face for a moment, but then disgust overcame her and she looked at the floor. Her escort mind was still wandering about, mostly unaware of the happenings around her.
"Your misandrism is so special that it simply must be preserved. Now, I think a few explanations are in order. The infected one behind me is Mr. Bit, he lost all of his mental faculties after infection, and only after some successful goading Kerrigan, she lent me a zerg expert who didn't fix his mind, just rebuild it from the ground up, mostly. He still lacks most of his memories."
"The one standing by your side is a normal infected, though I don't know how to restore or rebuild the mind, so I just slowly nudge her in the right direction. Look at her now." That was easier than looking at the filth before her. The unfortunate woman beside her was staring at nothing in particular, her eyes sometimes moving. "She's thinking, a step forward to being completely mindless. A typical infection usually is worse than a zergling, when it comes to any kind of thinking."
"Now, there is the Queen of Blades, maybe you heard of her, mayby you didn't. Anyway, she is a special case, because she is one of the strongest Terran psionics born in Koprulu sector, and the Overmind, the Biggest and Baddest of zerg, took special care to preserve her mind. Her mind is still wibbly wobbly, but that is probably the whole Ghost thing."
"Now, you have me. Contrary to all the others, my body didn't fight the infection, at all. Instead, it adapted and overcame, taming the infestation and strengthening my body with new, stronger blocks. Or at last, that is the dumbed down version that my good buddy Ariel was kind enough to explain to me."
"Now, you will be fortunate enough to be a test subject, helping us with the better quality of life for all those poor mindless infested. Now Mr. Bit!"
She jumped away a moment too late, because something very thin stabbed into her foot, making her fall flat on her face, again. Quickly turning around, she watched with quickly mounting panic at her leg, which surely would turn purple, soon following the rest of her body.
Five seconds and nothing happened. Ten, fifteen… One minute, two minutes… braving her disgust, she looked Dobromir into the eyes, growling.
"Instead of a very aggressive infection, you received a much milder one. I don't know how slowly it will spread, but we will see. And now." Mr. Bit walked over again, and stuck something around her wrist, then one the other end was attached to the infested woman beside her, connected by meat cord handing between them.
"I'll leave you be for now. You are free to enjoy our hospitality!"
Seems that standing before Wit was a mute protoss. Now, one basic thing about the protoss. Are they connected by Khala or not, weak or strong, the protoss can cast out their voice in a small range around them, like speaking only without mouth. How Wit knew? Well, experience, and he asked. Besides, they were a rather talkative bunch. Now, the one standing before the shroomy demi-terran seemed to understand that her one person audience couldn't read the protoss symbols. Reaching this rather obvious conclusion, she turned her head to the side, gesturing at her nerve cords…
Well, you can't expect a race without a mouth to know how to show that they cannot speak. But the situation at the back of her head explained some things… Khalait 'tribe' had full one nerve cords, you know the drill. The Nerazim 'tribe' had cut nerve cords, sometimes embroidered with some shiny endings. They did it by themselves. The female protoss didn't have one or the other. Only very short, and rather small little spikes jutted out of the back of her head.
"Hmmm… Can you understand what I am saying? Nod your head if yes." Well, it would work, if she had something called ears. Instead, she just tilted her head.
Deciding against wasting the time given on useless gestures, Wit just called over the nearest protoss walking by. "My honorable protoss friend, can you spare a minute?"
The honorable part probably did the trick, and some protoss clad in more casual clothes (not armor), walked over. "What do you require, valued Ally?"
"Can you translate? I'am afraid I am incapable of reading someone's mind, or reading protoss text for that matter. Would you be willing to help me with my guide over here?"
The protoss looked at her, then asked "What is your task?" She stood still for a moment, before the probe started generating a text. The temporary translator read it over, before saying "Apparently, she was instructed to lead honorable Ally around, but wasn't told it wouldn't be one of her own kind."
He turned towards his caller. "I'll add that she can't project her thoughts at all. It's impolite for a Protoss to look directly into someone's mind, but reading her thoughts is the only possible form of natural talk that can be achieved. Now, I am sorry, but I need to make sure that half of our base won't explode just because of one wrongly calibrated warpgate. It certainly happened before…" He muttered hurriedly walking away. The two followed him with their gaze for a moment, before looking at each other again.
After a minute of silence, Ziemowit decided to take off his mask, just so she could see the raised brew. His apparent guide put her hands behind her back, looked a little to the side, and started to make a little circling motions with her left foot. Color Wit surprised, the abashed look was very similar to the terran one, just without the red cheeks, eartips, and specific mouth grimace.
It would be a big hurdle to overcome but… Tam Ta Ra Dam! A shroom! The ones known for massive networking, and sometimes even whole planets of mycelium connecting with other worlds which were alike. He didn't hold the answer, he was the answer, or well, would be.
Ziemowit slowly levitated forward, only to put a hand on her shoulder. When she looked at the floating shroom, the opportunity was taken advantage of. Something slapped the back of her head, and attached itself. It was… a blob? Hard to tell without seeing it. She tried to grab it with her hand, but Wit instead just grabbed her shoulder tighter, and shook his head as if saying no.
Deciding that any change in her life would be better than just being stuck in limbo, she waited with the proverbial bated breath. After a few moments, the blob started to elongate, and stretch down with part of it still attached to the back of her head. And then, something unexpected happened. Some kind of small disturbance appeared in her mind, like her head could feel a delicate blasts of air, never heard before. Was that sound?
Slowly, she became aware of the soft murmurs of many feet, the slow hum of working machines. Her marveling was stopped abruptly as she heard a voice. Other protoss sometimes spoke to her directly into her mind, but it always came with an overbearing presence. This time, there was no sensation, no discomfort, she just heard…
"Is that thing working? Helloooo can you hear me?" She looked at him abruptly, her eyes barely glinting before, now they were shining like two moons. "Y-yes?" She thought out, incredibly unsure.
Dobromir levitated a few paces back, looking at her with a masked gaze. "Now, I am not a miracle worker, and I can't make the mycelium do something outside its scope of possibility. Currently, you can only connect to the other shrooms, which includes me and… other, normal shrooms, if you could understand them at all."
The protoss decided to touch the new growth, and she felt something smooth, and a little slippery. Grabbing it, she moved a part of it towards her face, inspecting it with scrutiny. It was a lot of very thin and almost see through strings, which were intertwined with each other, to finally resemble something similar to the protoss nerve cords. Turning to him, she said "T-thank y-you." The braid remained over her shoulder, ending somewhere around the middle of her chest.
Even if small, it was still an incredible step forward, considering that no protoss was invested enough to help her any more than linking her with a robot commander module, so she could communicate through probe.
"Now with our communications problems dealt with, you can show me around the base without any problems, am I right?"
One thing was especially evident, there really wasn't anything controlling those zerg. Sure, they weren't feral, but there was zero to no coordination. Really, they were very close to attacking each other, but it seems the freshly born Overmind didn't do anything beyond that.
It was a perfect occasion for a group of Terrans armed with choices, but it also ironically restricted Jaruga's capabilities by a big margin. She just continued shooting her arrows, sitting on her foxy ride, who was standing on the top of some Siege Tank. Speaking of which, there were maybe twenty of those miracle workers, pounding one of the zerg's hive clusters to the ground. The high cliff face made this particular task a breeze.
The bulk of zergs forces in this particular base was immediately pulled by the first impacts of artillery fire, and then immediately torn apart by the next salvos aimed at them. Any stragglers, by it roundbound or flying, were quickly shot down by the rather sizable troop of marines, goliaths and a squadron of wrights. And of course medics keep everyone alive.
Jaruga wasn't really doing much, but maybe that was for the best. No complicated plans, no advanced strategic minds battling each other, just organization winning against chaos. With hands trembling like crazy, she lowered her bow with a sigh. Even pulling an ethereal sting was taxing, and with a real warbow… that monstrosity would punch through Ultralisk's hide. Problem is, a warbow would be twice as long as she was tall. And don't forget the incredible amount of strength one would have to use. Willing to still contribute somehow, she cast with her hand something over the Sige Tank's cannon. The next projectile left a fading orange streak after it, and adding to the standard explosion a small lake of fire formed the impact side.
Rather quickly the zerg base vanished, amidst the explosions and small pockets of fire that ate away at every living thing only to fade when their job was done. Other hives would be tougher nuts to crack, but nothing a little Terran organization wouldn't be able to deal with.
After a bit of staring at each other, the more important persons took a few steps forward. Finally, when the group stood before the little girl perched on a big shoulder, they took turns introducing each other.
First was a certain bloke with a massive spiky shield. "I'm Mayor Morales, I lead the colony of Po'Midor. I'm glad that we didn't come too late."
Next to take a step forward was a certain vial slinging scientist. "I am his wife, the lead scientist of our little planet. I hope some fruitful research will come out of this."
This time, a little different person gave the introductions. With a little bow, the old wizard said "I am Merlin the 13. I, on the other hand, am one of the sages of the round table, situated on the Earth, ancestral homeland of Terrans."
The last one to speak was the young man traveling with the old wizard stereotype, who with a quick head nod, started "I am Arthur the 13, apprentice of this old coot."
'Ekhem.' The 'old coot' in question gave him a side glare, it seems it wasn't the best place for this kind of banter. But, the little girl's gentle smile growed a little bigger. Before saying anything, she turned to the mountain of a woman.
Noticing the curious gaze, the matron smiled and said "I am Magnolia, I lead the orphanage on Po'Midor for all the poor orphans our agents find in their missions." Her voice was full of warmth, like a soft sun's rays during a pleasant day.
Satisfied, the little person turned her face to all of them again. She was wearing a white & green sleeveless dress, which reached to just above her knees. From her particular elevated sitting position, a white pantalons were also visible. In her hair, a few green ornaments shaped like leaves softly glowed with inner light. Her feet were bare, only some leafy bracelets adorned her ankles. When she turned towards them, a soft, and sweet sounding chime of a little bell was heard. Unseen from their current perspective, there really was a small bell, attached to the back of her dress.
"I am… Nahida, simply Nahida. It's very nice to meet you." Her voice was gentle, yet so full of kindness. The beaming smile she sended their way made at last two spectators feel warmth in their hearts.
Butting into an ongoing conversation wasn't very nice. That's why the aranara waited until the introductions stopped to make their way forward. The autumn colored and pudgy aranara with mustache and cane floated forward. 'Lesser Lord Kusenali. I'am sorry, but the Vana is in terrible shape now. Dangers are running rampant, and if not for those kind Nara, you could get hurt.'
Aranakin, also autumn colored, but lean and 'young' also flew over to her. 'Lesser Lord Kusenali, only we Aranara, and the Pairi in the desert remain. The Golden Nara Siblings taught us that as everyone needs some companionship, you should go with the Kind Nara and live a happy life with them. This hurt land would only hurt you in kind.'
Authors blah blah:
For once, I actually have some idea when it comes to earth. Thinking up ideas for something so unknown isn't a piece of cake you know.
And the protoss… Oh boy, they are almost exclusively shown in battle situations, or some basic politics, no city tour, no colony showcase, nothing. I understand why so many fanfiction writers avoid the inside of protoss civilisation, they have no idea what to write. I barely have any idea, but we will see how it goes.
Zerg are truthfully very easy to write, they fight or rest. Anything other comes from the leaders, which is more of a character description than a race one. Which means zerg can do anything, as long you find good enough reason.