Swarm: Night of the Infested 2
The waves of power that Kerrigan released as a result of her rebirth into the Swarm were eventually felt by Broodmothers across the galaxy. When they felt the intensity of Kerrigan’s power, they began to believe that following Kerrigan again would be a better course of action than working alone.
The first of the Broodmothers to give up the independence of her brood was Kilysa. She commanded a small brood that specialized in strong Leviathans.
Kerrigan gave her the task of destroying a Dominion military production hub on the planet Mistaff IV in exchange for reintegrating with the Swarm. Kilysa complied with her request and infested the planet.
After talking to everyone in the command chamber, she returned to her personal chamber to adjust her abilities. Sweetie went to the evolution pit to talk with Abathur.
When the evolution master sensed Sweetie’s presence, he came out of his hole. He patiently waited for Sweetie to give him the reason for her visit.
“I’ve decided to give my own series of demonstrations of new strains for some of the types of Zerg at our disposal.”
“You? Spinning sequences is complex work. Not specialized in such work.”
Sweetie smirked and said, “Remember who made you? Who designed you to conduct such work? Whose knowledge is now mine?”
Abathur was showing signs of anger, “You will not steal purpose!”
“Relax Abathur, I only intend to use these abilities on my own Brood. I have no intention of allowing the essences of Equus to be used by the Swarm. In exchange, your purpose as Kerrigan’s evolution master will remain secure. Deal?”
Abathur stared at Sweetie for a moment before relenting, “Very well.”
A few minutes later, Kerrigan entered the evolution pit to see what was going on. When Sweetie told her about her own demonstration of new strains, Kerrigan seemed eager to see what her partner in crime was capable of.
Sweetie didn’t bother to name the planets that she used. The first planet she used was for her Zergling demonstration. A large Dominion base was nearby and Sweetie only sent a small number of Zerglings. Once she infused the essence she wanted to use with the Zerglings, the creatures mutated into something else. While they had insect wings like the Hunter Strain, they were also colored differently from each other.
What Kerrigan and Abathur saw next filled them with fascination as Zerglings started budding off other Zerglings and more Zerglings started budding off the new and old Zerglings. The new strain that Sweetie created made use of the Parasprite essence to give them the ability to multiply in the field. She called it the Mitosis Strain.
When the Zerglings charged into the Dominion base, the rate of multiplication started accelerating until twenty became forty, forty became eighty then a hundred and sixty.
By that point, the defenders of the Dominion base stared at the display with bulging eyes and jaws wide open. They knew they were toast when they tried to fire several shots from their Siege Tanks to reduce the numbers only for double to replace the ones they killed.
The Dominion was wiped out within a minute. When the combat situation ended, the Zerglings that were created by budding were killed, leaving only the original few.
“Impressive, an ability that makes full use of their strength in numbers,” Kerrigan said.
“Large quantities of biomass needed for ability. Where does biomass come from?” Abathur said.
Sweetie explained, “The Creep provides the biomass initially which makes them excellent base defenders. They can still multiply for a time while off the Creep but need biological targets to continue fueling their ability. The budded Zerglings have a limited lifespan to prevent an issue of overcrowding.”
Kerrigan and Abathur accepted Sweetie’s explanation and moved on to her Roach demonstration. A squadron of Marauders were investigating a disturbance at a Dominion weapons plant. Sweetie had planted a number of Roaches inside the plant in preparation for her demonstration.
When the Marauders left the area where the Roaches were burrowed, the creatures surfaced and Sweetie went to work on their genetic structure. Once the essence was infused, the Roaches transformed.
The end result was a hunter green carapace with light blue spikes. When the Marauders heard the Roaches surface, they headed back toward them. The squadron was slightly confused on the altered appearance before the Roaches started attacking them with their acid saliva. The Marauders prepared to retaliate when they realized, to their horror, that their suits were hardening at the joints. A few hits with the saliva and the Marauders ended up prisoners in their own suits of stone. The saliva melted off the stone armor and melted the human inside.
“Saliva contains mysterious properties. Unable to identify,” Abathur said.
“The species I used for the Roaches is called a Cockatrice, who have the ability to turn their victims to stone with a gaze. I took that property and applied it to the Roaches’ acidic saliva to gain a secondary effect of petrification. I call this the Gorgon Strain.”
“Cockatrice? I thought those only existed in Terran mythology,” Kerrigan said.
“I have a feeling that my world has a number of creatures that humans call myths,” Sweetie said.
Sweetie moved on to her third demonstration. A large number of Banelings were deployed for the next demonstration. This time, the Banelings were faced with a Dominion base guarded by a wing of Banshees. The fighters had already spotted the Banelings and were moving in. Sweetie worked fast and by the time the Banshees arrived, the glowing suicide bombers were somehow taking to the skies. The Banelings had grown large insect wings to allow for flight.
Because of their newfound flight capabilities, the Banshees were unable to fight back. The Banelings detonated on the crafts and melted through the metal, sending the ruined fighters into a nosedive into the ground.
The suicidal terrors moved upon the Dominion base and dive bombed the Dominion until the base was reduced to piles of acidic goo.
“Increased utility. Number of possible targets expanded due to flight capabilities,” Abathur said.
“I didn’t need to increase their offensive or defensive capabilities so I decided to use Pegasus essence to grant them flight capabilities,” Sweetie said.
When the demonstration ended, Kerrigan ordered the Leviathan to begin its month-long journey back to the Koprulu sector.
Before they left, however, the Swarm brought a Dominion communicator to Kerrigan’s attention.
The device suddenly activated and an image of Mengsk appeared above the communicator.
“The Queen of Blades. I knew you’d return to your true form. A monster. And I see the horse next to you decided to join you at long last.”
Sweetie had a wicked grin on her face. “I’m gonna enjoy breaking you and watching you scream in agony.”
“You’ll do no such thing, not if you care at all about Jim Raynor.”
“We’ll rescue him at some point. For now, I have to ask, how does it feel to be Narud’s pawn?”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Do you even realize that you’re funding an army of monsters that Narud plans to use to wipe out the entire universe, including you?”
“Those creatures were made for my protection. I am the one who pays for his research.”
Sweetie laughed hard after hearing the foolishness that came out of Mengsk’s mouth. Mengsk growled and ground his teeth at Sweetie’s behavior. When she finally calmed down, she continued, “The Moebius Foundation is nothing more than a cover for Narud’s universe-ending project. He’s playing you like a fiddle and you don’t even realize it. But don’t worry, Kerrigan and I will pay you a visit soon enough and put you out of your misery.” Sweetie deactivated the communicator for the time being.
During the journey, Abathur called Sweetie and Kerrigan to the evolution pit for another demonstration. This time it was for the Hydralisk. Sweetie and Abathur agreed to save time in the future by revealing their new strains at the same time.
Abathur went first. The first world was called Marek V. The hive cluster located there was under attack. The culprit was the Dominion’s infestation specialists: Prometheus Company.
Some old Impaler Colonies that were creations of the old Overmind were the targets that Abathur wanted to acquire. The Impaler Colony was said to be the precursor to Sunken Colonies which were precursors to Spine Crawlers.
Some Hydralisks were brought under Kerrigan’s control and were used to destroy the Impaler Colonies in the area. The essence gathered from the Colonies were incorporated into the Hydralisk genome. Once complete, the Hydralisks morphed into Impalers.
The Impalers used their long range capabilities to decimate Prometheus Company and their base.
Planet Cavir used to be the birthing colony for Daggoth’s Brood. The Brood was now feral since their master was killed at some point.
Kerrigan took control of some feral Lurkers and used them to deal with some feral Zerg. Kerrigan called on the services of Broodmother Kilysa to extract the Lurker Den essence for the Swarm while the Lurkers protected the Den from the feral Brood.
When asked why she didn’t simply control the feral Brood, Kerrigan responded by saying that she didn’t need Daggoth’s Brood for her plans.
It was time for Sweetie’s demonstration. Prometheus Company operated on another planet and was working on dealing with another hive cluster.
Sweetie saw some Hydralisks that just spawned from the besieged hive cluster’s hatchery and took control of them. She spun the sequences that she desired into the Hydralisk genome before morphing them into a new form.
Sweetie’s creation had eight legs connected together by a membrane. The neck was slightly elongated with scythe-like arms around the neck.
When Prometheus Company moved against the hive cluster, the creatures burrowed. What happened next was a large number of Hydralisk heads popping out of the ground next to the attackers. The group was startled into a panic as the many heads, at least five times more than the number of creatures that burrowed by Kerrigan’s calculations, attacked with overwhelming numbers.
The creatures retracted their heads and resurfaced before advancing on the Company’s main base. Once again the Terrans were startled into a panic as many heads attacked them. While the defenders were able to kill the heads, more heads popped out of the ground to replace the dead ones. Without detectors, the defenders fought a battle of futility until they were wiped out and the creatures were free to destroy the base.
“What do you call these?” Kerrigan asked.
“Scylla Strain,” Sweetie responded. “I used the essence of Hydras to make these.”
“The mythological creature that grew replacement heads every time one was cut off?”
“Eeyup.”
Kerrigan smirked. “I look forward to what you make in the future.”
Later, Sweetie was continuing her experiments on her Brood when someone she was expecting entered her chamber. “Ah,Ariel, come in,” she said.
Hanson shambled toward Sweetie. “What do you need?”
“I wish to make you an offer. I want to perform some alterations to your genetic code and give you a chance to at least look human again.”
Hanson was confused by what Sweetie said. “What do you mean by ‘at least look human’?”
Sweetie hesitated for a full minute before finally saying what she wanted, “In order to do this correctly, I have to replace your human genome with Changeling DNA so you can properly shapeshift into a human.”
Hanson was stunned by what Sweetie just said. “You want to take away the last of my humanity so I can fake being a human?”
Sweetie sighed, “Is being human genetically that important that you? Look at Kerrigan, she looks like a monster but she still loves Jim. She might have been genetically altered, but she’s still Sarah Kerrigan on the inside. I know that Lyra still loves me despite how I look.
“My point is, you are still Ariel Hanson, no matter what you look like. You’re still human on the inside even with the infestation and you will still be human in spirit even if I make you into a Changeling. Besides, even with what I can do, the process to remove your infestation would be a lot harder and more complex than simply altering your genetic code to something more compatible with Zerg essence. Do you think the risk of permanent genetic damage is worth being truly human?
“Anyway, I want to give you an opportunity. Sooner or later, I plan to return to Equus. I mentioned that our scientific knowledge could use some serious improvements. I plan to invite some brilliant minds to my homeworld to help spur the drive for scientific advancement. Your medical and bio-engineering knowledge would be highly beneficial to my people.”
“But, what about my family? While I don’t care much for my mother, I will miss my father dearly.”
“When the time comes, I will bring you to Haven to talk with your father. If you can convince him to live with you on Equus, that’s fine. You can still tell him what you intend to do so he won’t worry about you so much. If you refuse my offer, I can at least go through with the procedure to turn you into a Changeling so you can live with your father while able to hide your true form from everyone.”
Hanson thought long and hard about Sweetie’s offer. As much as she hated it, her mother was right about her needing to seize her life by the horns and decide what she truly wanted. If being a part of a project to advance science for a world that needed it would make a difference, she seriously considered taking it.
In the end, Hanson decided that she would take part in Sweetie’s project.
When the Leviathan returned to the Koprulu Sector, it was time to move against Mengsk. Sweetie, however, had another thought.
“We need to make sure that Narud doesn’t interfere with our invasion of Korhal. As strong as we are, we might be able to take him out of the picture.” Sweetie addressed Izsha. “Have you heard anything about Narud or the Hybrid?”
“One of our Broodmothers is picking up a strange psionic signal. It is Zerg, but not part of the Swarm.”
Izsha played the signal. “I know you seek to topple Mengsk. His alien soldiers, the Hybrid, are your greatest threat. If you wish to stop them, meet me at Skygeirr Station. I will send you the coordinates.”
Sweetie’s eyes went wide. “I recognize that voice! I haven’t heard from him ever since Jim turned him over to Narud after we reversed his infestation.”
“Sounds like the cure didn’t stick,” Kerrigan said.
The Leviathan set course for Skygeirr Station.
Kerrigan and Sweetie returned to the command chamber after waking from their slumber. They saw a person staring out at the station.
The person wore a black trenchcoat and a grey turtleneck. He wore a black glove on his right hand and wore black boots. His left arm was infested with Zerg tissue and he wore a black officer’s hat with gold decorations. The decoration was of a skull with wings as well as lightning bolts and a star.
“Glad to see you made it out of there alive, Stukov. Sorry we didn’t recognize Narud sooner. We could have saved you the torturous experience,“ Sweetie said.
Stukov chuckled. “Well, that was in the past. All that matters now is my own revenge. I plan to make Narud pay dearly for all the pain he brought upon me.”
Sweetie smiled. “Good, we came here to take Narud and his Hybrid out of the picture before we invade Korhal.”
“I will gladly provide any assistance I can to make sure that bastard gets what’s coming to him.”
After everyone said their opinions of Stukov, Kerrigan and Sweetie began their push into the station.
Stukov pointed out a lift into the depths of the station and that its the second most defended location in Dominion space.
Kerrigan decided that she wanted to use the Dominion marines against the defenders by bringing in some Infestors.
The defiling creatures planted a destructive Fungal Growth on some Marines which devoured the bodies within.
One Infestor moved to a nearby garrison and planted a Creep Tumor and released a Drone to mutate into a Virophage. Once the plaguebringer was ready, it started spraying the garrison with the Zerg Virus and infesting the Terrans within. The infested humans began advancing on the Dominion equipment.
A nearby Banshee was causing the infested some grief so an infestor launched a mind-controlling parasite that took over the pilot’s mind. The Banshee pilot began firing on a nearby Bunker.
The Infestors visited more garrisons to increase the waves of infested against the Dominion. Once the Dominion outpost was wiped out, Kerrigan and Sweetie set up their own hive clusters.
In response to the attack, the Dominion began releasing a special gas that was designed to kill Infested Terrans. Kerrigan and Sweetie as well as the other strains were immune to the gas.
During the time that the Gas was being released, the Dominion were launching counterattacks to deal with the Virophages. Sweetie handled the more distant garrisons by destroying the incoming Medivacs before they could drop their cargo. After scouting their immediate area, Sweetie discovered a retractable bridge that the Dominion may use as a shortcut into their hive cluster.
Anticipating a future attack from that venue, Sweetie created a few Scylla and made them burrow at one end to make sure the bridge was defended.
With Kerrigan spreading the Creep toward the Dominion forces, Sweetie spawned a number of her Zerglings to support Kerrigan in her next attack.
As the Infestors infested more garrisons, Sweetie spawned more Scylla to protect each location from Dominion attacks.
Infestors added heavy hitters into the fold by infecting the pilots of ships and mechs with parasites. The Dominion were slowly being overrun with or without the gas.
The Dominion were unfamiliar with Sweetie’s Scyllas and focused on killing heads which proved to be a fruitless endeavor. Sweetie’s Zerglings overwhelmed the Dominion defenses with massive numbers while the Creep continued to spread, feeding the Zerglings.
As per Stukov’s request, Kerrigan infested the Science Facilities to gain access to the biomass within.
When all of the available garrisons were infested and well defended by Sweetie’s Scyllas, there was nothing the Dominion could do against the vast numbers of Zerg and infested but retreat deeper into the facility and try to hold off the Zerg from a lower level.
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My thoughts on Ali's strains... Well...
On the Paraling strain, (the parasprite zerglings), I have a few thoughts. One of which is the fact that I would love to see a picture of one. Another thought is that perhaps this would make aggressive tumoring more useful.
As for the Gorgon strain, again, I would love a picture. Also, I think that it might be a bit less effective on Protoss. Especially if it only petrifies solid objects.
Onto the Kamikaze strain, I think you already know what my first thought is. As for strategic value, don't normal Banelings morph from Zerglings? If so, can Kamikaze strain Banelings morph from non-primary Paraling strain Zerglings? That would be both awesome and terrifying.
Well, here we are with the final one I think, yes, this is indeed the last. The Scylla strain Hydralisk. I will ask for the same thing as the past one's. Picture please. As for my useful input, well, I can see them doing good with Paralings in hive cluster defence, especially if non-primary Paralings can morph into Kamikaze strain Banelings. That would overwhelm the ground forced while also providing plenty of extra force power to translate onto anti-air. As for offence, well, if the Gorgon can perform AA then the Scylla strain Hydralisks can provide heavier support while the Paralings focus on tearing everything light or medium to shreds.
These were just my thoughts on them though. But really, I want pictures.
9788824
I wish I could. But I would have to get an artist to draw it because I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag and I don't have money to commission one. For now, you'll have to live with a description.
Also, yes the Banelings can spawn from non-primary Paralings. The Roaches, unfortunately are still ground only. I altered their saliva, not the pressure needed for projectiles.
Will there be a Carybdis strain?
9789089
I had to look up what that was.
9789105
Wait!?! ou didn't know the old proverb "To sail between Scylla and Charybdis."?
9789647
Never in that context. Thank you for teaching it to me, O wise Master.
9789836
*in best fack chines sage vioce*
It is the douty of a teacher to teache, is it not?
That is probably the most terrifying of all of them.
The Dominion test subjects for the Zergling strain was eaten by a rainbow of flesh
Evolution at its finest. Without any restricting forces like a game would have... Sweetie will be the unchallanged Swarm Queen.
Narud is screwed
Time to end this asshat 
Guess the dominion is going for the 300 tactic. Hold supperior numbers in check via a choke point... To bad they can literally melt there way into the facility via bainling spam to the roof...
Masterfully craftet chapter
9788824
Hm... Attack with the life time limited zergling while the original mutates and blow in the enemy faces up... Love the idea ♡
9789836
Every day we learn something new. If were lucky
9848661
Zerg rush at its finest...
9939068
At least there was beauty in there bloodcurdeling end
Magnificent chapter. Evolution or tech? Than again its more Assimilation over own Tech development...
Even if he wanted, unless he can warp away I don't see Narud even having the option to escape.
Narud is to be worm food very soon. Unless the Swarm can feed on it and evolve further?
Kerrigan or Sweety Swarm would sure benefit from Xel Naga DNA.
As this point Mengsk probably only has a realistic chance to make it out alive via a body double or a humble life on a fringe world after plastic surgery.
Alas his pride will not allow for it.
I feel always anticipation re-read/listening to the chapter. Great entertainment ♡