Displayed on the screen was footage recorded by a farm surveillance camera using an infrared detector: densely packed canine-like xenomorph creatures were advancing in the pitch-black night toward the silent farm. Those swift and savage xenomorph creatures were leaping as they surged across the gradually withering soil of Chau Sara like a tide, and their eyes, glowing orange and red in the darkness, made Augustus think of the Korhal wolf packs at midnight.
At first glance, this was no different from a winter wolf pack, except that the number of these Zerg was even more immense—so immense that the camera showed nothing but densely packed red heat signatures, as though a moving river of red continued forward.
The vast sea of Zerg swiftly engulfed the entire farm.
In the final footage, huge, throbbing masses of organic flesh, tumors, and pulsating tendons gradually covered the farmhouse, and hideous creatures mutated from local organisms, humans, dogs, and other livestock wandered about like drifting zombies or lost spirits.
"What in the world are these things? That thing we found on Vyctor V was only a few 'infants' of the Zerg." Jim Raynor looked grimly at those hideous xenomorph creatures on the screen.
"I'm afraid so," Augustus said. "They come from somewhere outside the Koprulu sector, and the Zerg that invaded Chau Sara are very likely only a small part of their vast race."
"This footage is from over a month ago; the situation on Chau Sara can only be worse now. And we also have reason to believe that Mar Sara has been affected as well, and may even have already fallen."
"The Zerg—or rather, they are an immense race composed of countless individual units, which is why we call them the swarm." Standing behind the generals, colonels, and the commanders of the special tactics strike units was Dr. Flanx, the xenomorph research expert under Augustus's command.
"According to our research, the swarm's social structure is more like that of a hive of bees. They possess an extraordinarily massive group, and each individual unit has its own identity and status within the race. The lowest-ranking units follow a strict hierarchy and division of labor under higher-ranking Zerg, and ultimately, those higher consciousness units converge into a single, enormous collective consciousness." The doctor's research carried the limitations of this era, but generally conformed to the actual situation.
"Layer upon layer of control, tightly unified. This is the Zerg; this is the swarm. The swarm's collective consciousness uses brainwaves, or in other words an ability similar to the psionic telepathy of Ghost operatives, to remotely control their race, making them an organic extension of the swarm's will," he said.
"The Zerg race is mainly composed of 'workers' and 'combat Zerg.' The former possess almost no aggressiveness and are responsible for harvesting and constructing organic buildings, while the body of the latter—every organ and every limb—seems to exist for the purpose of inflicting as much damage on the enemy as possible."
"You really think so?" Sarah Kerrigan, accompanying Augustus, furrowed her fine eyebrows. She recalled those Zerg she had seen in the past on Vyctor V. "The Zerg workers have sharp mouthparts and a pair of sharp, enormous pincers, and they can bite off a person's head in one snap. They can even spit poisonous spines, like firing quarrels."
"Uh—" Dr. Flanx had a fleeting moment of embarrassment. "What I mean is that Zerg workers have a hard time biting through CMC powered armor."
"More precisely, as long as it gnaws a few more times, it can pry open that suit of armor worn by a Marine." Kerrigan knew exactly what Dr. Flanx was really thinking. "'Hard' is only relative."
"The good news is that the C-14 electromagnetic rifle can penetrate the Zerg's sturdy chitinous shell." Dr. Flanx diverted the topic.
"The bad news is that other, more primitive firearms can hardly inflict fatal damage on these creatures." Kerrigan gave the other party no face at all; she had always been this straightforward—unless Kerrigan deemed there was a need for euphemism.
"The civilian automatic rifles sold on the market can injure Zerg Zerglings, but when facing Hydralisks, that's another matter… The people of Chau Sara at least still have the ability to resist," the doctor explained.
"Our understanding of this swarm—the Jörmungandr swarm—is still extremely limited. From the present look of things, the Jörmungandr swarm is very likely a force within the entire swarm responsible for reconnaissance and ground combat; its ground forces are mainly composed of Hydralisks and Zerglings, and its scale is quite enormous." He continued pointing at the screen as he spoke.
"You call these hundreds of millions of bugs a reconnaissance force?" At this moment, Hank Harnack, standing to the side, finally could not hold back.
"Are you saying we might not even be able to stop a reconnaissance force of the Zerg? I swear on my hair, that can't possibly be true."
"Sooner or later, the Zerg will become humanity's greatest enemy. If the Terran Confederacy still hasn't awakened to this fact, then the ones who will suffer are those ordinary people," Augustus said.
"The Confederacy fleet did nothing?" The one speaking was Horace Warfield, who had just rushed over from his flagship, the Iron Justice, and his expression was far uglier than that of anyone present.
"According to earlier intelligence, after the Mar Sara campaign, in order to prevent the embers of rebellion from rekindling, the newly appointed planetary governor's government implemented a strict year-long military-control policy, including curfews and blackout regulations. At least one naval squadron was stationed in the Sara system, and in the end they just watched?"
"From the looks of it, I'm afraid so." Augustus let out a sigh, his face heavy with worry.
During the time Augustus had stayed on Umoja, the Zerg had not yet invaded the Sara system, and it was only after he arrived on Tyrador IX that he received this news. What had happened at the Umojan Cerberus Polar Research Station accelerated the swarm's invasion speed, leaving Augustus on pins and needles.
It was highly likely that the Zerg vanguard had already reached several star regions near the Koprulu sector long ago; it was just that they had no interest in the humans they had come into contact with, focusing instead on plundering the genetic and organic biomass of life from other star regions. Yet Kerrigan's appearance had accelerated their process of invading the Koprulu sector, causing the first large-scale Zerg invasion to be moved up from the year 2499 to 2491.
Kerrigan still knew nothing of this, and Augustus did not intend to tell her. Whether or not these events had happened, the Zerg would come sooner or later.
"Looks like we're all far more anxious than the Confederacy," Raynor also said with a sigh. "Elizabeth and her family are all worried that Mar Sara will meet the same fate as Chau Sara; many in our army are Mar Sarans, or even Chau Sarans."
"Damn it, did the Confederacy really decide to let them die just because Mar Sara resisted them? Even if that's the case, the people of Chau Sara are innocent. They never took part in the uprising and knew nothing about it."
"Let them stop worrying," Augustus said firmly. "I can tell them with certainty: if the Confederacy military turns a blind eye to the Sara system, then we will be the ones to save the people there."
"I knew you would say that, Augustus. We can't possibly turn a blind eye to those people who are suffering, not to mention that the people there once supported us," Raynor said. "You're the only one in the entire Koprulu sector who would do something like this."
"Heh—everything fears comparison." Tychus Findlay, who was observing those Zerg, had absolutely no sense of justice or sympathy; such things had always been completely foreign to him. When Tychus looked at something, he often saw it more from the angle of gains and losses.
"Just watch. The Terran Confederacy disregards human life and lets those Federation citizens who are being slaughtered fend for themselves. Meanwhile, the Korhal Revolutionary Army descends like angels of justice, saving those Mar Sarans who have completely lost all hope in the Confederacy." Tychus chuckled in his deep voice.
"Guess what will happen after that? Those Mar Sarans being chased with their asses on fire by the Zerg will absolutely be grateful to us. By then, the revolutionary army becomes the savior of the people, while the Terran Confederacy's forces are the cowards who stood idly by and the accomplices of the Zerg butchers. Sometimes, without comparison, there is no harm~"
"Damn it, we're not saving those people so they'll be grateful to us," Raynor shouted angrily at Tychus. "If it weren't for us, I really don't know who those poor people could rely on."
"But can we really save the people there before the Zerg completely destroy the Sara system?" Kerrigan said with worry.
"If you ask me, bugs are just bugs; shoot them once and they'll die," Tychus Findlay said carelessly. "Even if God stood before me, I'd still want to see whether He could take a bullet. If He couldn't, then let those damn bugs eat a nuke!"
"A big one!" Harnack shouted in addition, his uniquely sharp voice sounding very much like that of a villain.
"How many of our people do we still have on Mar Sara?" Augustus asked Kerrigan.
"A total of over a hundred guerrillas and four Marine Corps brigades—about twenty thousand people," Kerrigan replied.
"In addition, the revolutionary navy is already arranging for the Umojan Protectorate soldiers transferred to our Farstrider mobile base to be deployed to the Sara system. At present, this mobile base carries about twenty thousand Umojan Protectorate troops."
"This is far from enough," Augustus said. "What we still lack are the ships to evacuate the people."
"Order the fleet to prepare for warp. We have to go help the people of the Sara system."
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---