"Rock beats scissors but cruiser beats zergling"
-Monty Pylon
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| Tales of the Flesh: Part II | | | Author: | | | IP: | fjwilsonXXXX | | Date: | 03/24/00 04:03 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 2, Max: 8, Min: 8
Lifetime Rating for .Praetor: 8.2987 |  | If you haven't read the first installment of Tales of Flesh, search for .Praetor and read the first one. You could check out Phoenix Legion: Chronicles while you're at it too, if you haven't read those.
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I must be maturing. The central chamber of my hatchery only just encompasses my bulk. Soon I shall have to up grade it to at least a Lair, lest my position become uncomfortable. The two zealots still stand watch outside of my now-formed hatchery. I am glad that Doom Dragon is content to value my safety.
My first Larvae is ready! Oh joyous moment! Carefully I check over every detail of the small insect-like creature, more like the original Zerg strain than any unit now aside from the Overlord. It is perfect! All my precious genetic knowledge remains intact, and will become safer with every drone I produce! No, no... wait... this strand is not right. What is amiss? The lurker strain is not right somehow. But the damage could be repairable. I mentally order the larvae to form the hard walls of an egg, and nurture the form of a drone. It will be nice to have something to move around. I miss Glik.
The walls of my hatchery are strong, replete with many minerals for so young a building. The Protoss had left me three hundred larvae-weights of minerals, and two hundred and fifty remain. My drone is done! Scal moves about, freed from the egg and disoriented. I take its mind in my hands carefully, for I have much power to lead such a small drone. Some of Glik's skittishness may have been too much attention on my part. It continues moving, for it is cold on this world, and moving generates heat. I have Scal take nourishment from the burgeoning creep, while I repair the damage done to my body by the cold drawing from the hatchery itself. This does not take long, and I have Scal move to the mineral deposit near by, to augment the reserves left to me. Another larvae roams outside, the tough creature nearly oblivious to the cold. Larvae are truly amazing organisms. I take its simple mind, not caring to be careful, for larvae are not complex enough to damage and form an egg, placing the form of an Overlord in it. I could create another drone, but keeping track of one skittish drone is trouble enough for a Cereberate, two would be distracting. Besides, I wish for eyes more accurate that those on the edge of my hatchery and those moving with Scal.
The eyes on my hatchery are not useless, for they detect the Zealots moving. My growing creep seems to have disturbed them, and they move off. Off into the darkness! Where my bad eyes cannot see! I open my mind quickly, ready to quail before Doom Dragon. I shut my mind as quickly. Would Doom Dragon find such a minor worry bothersome? There is one other source of the void...
I open my mind slightly, ever so slightly, and reach out tenatively.
SPEAK. Lightning cracks the night's sky, making what was not there, and thunder shakes the very blue land, pealing off the walls of deep canyon. AND I SHALL LISTEN. A second strike lasts longer than the first, and a Kakaru screams, diving to the very depths before becoming unseen again.
The Zealots leave, I keep myself from mentally whimpering, and I grow afraid.
Temporary knowlege, though not that of great value, shall be shared. Awareness floods my self, and I accept more of what is. Soon, strengthen your brood with those of claw, spine and tooth. Soon. Two observers are gone already. The Dark Archon's mental signature has the consistency of an avalanche.
I do not contest his rejection of further contact, instead exploring the new information I hold. Production has begun quickly on the plateau with no exit north of me, where the Archons are. The eight probes work diligently, all collecting minerals and sending them to a shiny new nexus working on a new probe.. The nexus is surrounded by four plyons, which cover the entire island between them. A forge and a gateway are being produced as well. Scal moves back and forth in my mind. The rock here is harder than in most places, or his claws have not yet fully adjusted to a constant workload. I remind the simple animal to take nourishment from the creep when it deposits its important cargo. This seems to help.
I... am here? My Overlord, first of many to command my brood in my name, has hatched!
Yes! I reaffirm Squk, watch over Scal and be aware of all around you. Take nourishment when you need it, and always make sure your minions are healthy and active in their duty. Again, take care of Scal now. Overlords are often shaky when nor reassured by their companions. Taking care of a single drone should hone Squk's instincts and confidence. I take advantage of the sensory maniples Squk has and look at my surroundings, noting the nitrogen extraction and distinct flavor of the creep in this area, affirming the spotted gas geyser has significant reserves. I can see, more and more, this strange plateau as mine. Plus, it is good to feel the air in the back of my consciousness, crisp as it is.
I have three larvae! I am forgetful, they should be used. I make them all form into drones, using up the last of the reserve provided by the Protoss. These new drones shall have much work ahead of them. Protoss... larvae... Protoss... larvae, oh yes. I must contact Doom Dragon. Himself this time. What have I to offer. I consider. Yes, he will like that, if he has not taken it from me already. If only I had not been cold for so long! I begin to develop my hatred of shuttles. Doom... Dragon?
My thought already on the top of my mind, Doom Dragon accesses it with no further intercourse. Frantically, I snatch my gift, determined that will come from me, and with it earn some respect. Lurkers are an important part of the Zerg arsenal, especially against rogue Terran forces.
Yes, I reply, which is one reason I find this so troubling. I can repair the damage, but only if I had a drone, larvae, or hydralisk base with the correct genetic coding. Quickly, I give my gift, and the location of a small mining colony recently grown for Kerrigan by Nargil. Nargil, leader of the hunter brood, has always had the latest genetic information.
Perhaps you shall get what you need, perhaps. But grow soon those of tooth, spine, and claw. The reinforcements meant to strengthen you shall soon go to claim that mineral area for the People. Oh, and here is a gift for you. Doom Dragon allows me to observer the second trip of his shuttle fleet. Three shuttles pass by the southern pole of this moon, where I am stationed with the Archons, and deliver six Dragoons, four to the island held by the Archons, and two to accompany the two Zealots watching over the single ramp leading down from my plateau. The shuttles leave the atmosphere again, as quickly as they can. At the northern pole, the shuttles pass over an already-functional large Protoss base where Doom Dragon resides, and continue on, dropping troops on creep. I am in part horrified and in part reassured to watch the twelve Zealots, two Dragoons, and four Dark Templar remove one sunken colony, two hydralisks, and several drones from the landscape. The shuttles and my limited vision are gone before I see what they do to the hatchery. I remember the blood, however.
There was no Cerebrate or caretaker in that hatchery, or any Overlords in the vicinity. There must always be a Cerebrate, a caretaker, or a large collection of Overlords in every system the Zerg are present in. And there are migrating Terrans on the way. You shall do as much of the work to be done as you can manage, Cereberate. As Doom Dragon tells me this, so I know it to be so.
Knowing my wishes, Squk has already begun my new drones harvesting minerals. I form another larvae into a drone. Move west, I instruct Squk, check for more good minerals and gas. There should be more plateaus, this is a very mountainous area, obviously formed by glaciers. Squk moves slowly west, and I can peer over the ridge on the edge of my plateau for the first time.
I begin a sixth drone, and continue mining, noticing that I shall soon have enough minerals for a spawning pool. This will be very good. The Protoss have already begun vespene gas extraction, and have a cybernetics core constructing. Many probes harvest minerals. I think about Doom Dragons words earlier, about moving the People, and decide the Protoss are constructing shuttles as soon as they can. This seems like an excellent idea for me, for shuttles could connect our two forces.
SARAH! I scream out into nothing, and remember...
Awaken, my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind, the eternal will of the Swarm, and that you have been created to serve me.
Behold that I place you among the greatest of my Cerebrates, that you might benefit from their wisdom and experience. But your purpose is unique. While they carry forth my will to the innumerable Broods, you have but one charge entrusted to your care.
For I have found a creature that may yet become the greatest of my agents. Even now it resides within a protective Chrysalis, awaiting its rebirth into the Swarm. You must watch over the Chrysalis, and make sure no harm comes to it. Go now and keep safe my prize.
The Overmind's first words to me. How I miss the assurance, the safety and the direction of the Overmind. I was once so great! And now I direct freezing Drones, as worried about death as any Zergling and serving the toothless ones. Through what path have I come so low? I never failed the Overmind in all that I did. Whatever task I was given, I completed. And yet... and yet... I lay here still, beginning my seventh drone of a brood with seven Drones. And another Cerebrate or Zerg force is out there, and sure to have more than seven Drones.
I quail in my hatchery, feeling my own breath as I take in gas and expel it forcefully against the close warm walls. Disperse into a Spawning Pool! I sieze the newest drone most forcefully and subsume it into the creep, moving my minerals to it so it may create a spawning pool, and provide for that useful creature, the Zergling. I stop my hyperventilating, taking strength from the forming structure. Calmly, I begin another drone to replace the one I lost.
Pain! I open my senses to the source of the displeasure, and order Squk back, back! to me. He turns quickly, but must fight his momentum to drift back. Meanwhile, the painful stabbing of superfast metal jabs repeatedly into his carapace. Thankfully, only one marine is shooting. Squk can see in the air near him a Terran Barracks and two Command centers. Two transports are also landing troops, the transport with the marine also carrying a Tank, a Vulture, and a Firebat. The other transport carries eight Terran workers, which they call Space Construction Vehicles. I cut off the signal of pain from Squk, though I can feel the sensation still, vaguely, telling me something is wrong with my brood. The Overlord should make it back safely.
I reach out to the Dark Archon, sure of my message. Things are wrong, many Terrans have arrived.
Yes, I have been monitoring your Brood's movements, servant. You would do well to look over the information we are giving you. I search my memory for what the Dark Archon is referring to, and find one observer, floating above another Command Center and a Factory, with eight more SCVs, eight more Marines, and two more transports nearby. They are positioned on the plateau above the valley where Squk was shot.
I stop forcing larvae into drones, and wait anxiously for my Spawning Pool to complete.
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Well. It is certainly true my productivity is urge-based. What can I say, been rather apathetic for two months, then I finish finals and BAM, feel like I should write. I'll probably start revising Brigand away from the WarCraft storyline today too. |
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