I own nothing that is not original...
Thanks for all the reviews!
Sorry for the slow posting. I've been writing a lot of my Korean stories and that took most of my little remaining free time. However, I hope to get back into writing more of the Swarm of War, and return to writing the next chapter of the Stargate: Galactic Imperium.
Chapter 10
Inquisitor Pardia growled as he stared down at the corpse of another 'daemon hound'. He had suspected that there would be more daemonic creatures, but he did not expect so many to come at him. He had hoped to bring more men to this, but the army was late. The army was supposed to wipe out the village while the Inquisitor and his men searched for the daemon's summoner. Without that army, the Inquisitor had to improvise and that had cost him valuable men.
As he pondered, Captain Barridon came up to him along with Sir Ardigan.
"Lord Inquisitor, what now?"
Pardia turned, and saw the corpses.
"What can you tell me about these creatures, captain?"
Barridon looked down at the nearest corpse of the 'daemon hound'.
"These things are tough, but not unkillable."
Ardigan added his voice to the matter.
"Their hides seem to be some sort of metallic shell. Somewhat like the shells of the Orgri Turtles on the west coast, but greatly tougher and harder to pierce with sword."
Pardia nodded.
"Only the power sword was able to cleave it in half. What of lasguns?"
Barridon shook his head.
"The lasguns are more effective than swords but I doubt that a laspistol would be as effective. If we had more men with lasgun, then we would be more effective."
Pardia narrowed his eyes and thought hard. Then he turned to Barridon.
"Are we ready to depart?"
"We are redistributing the lasguns among the men. It's a pity those few warriors among the villagers damaged several of our holy weapons."
Pardia nodded.
"It appears that we need more men."
Ardigan shook his head.
"We have no more men, Inquisitor. The fact that the army has not been seen or heard would most certainly be evidence that they have been waylaid, by some baron already under the influence of the daemon, or the daemonic army itself."
"That is possible, Sir Ardigan, but I do have a few more men in my hand."
Pardia took out some sort of stubby pistol and fired it into the sky. A bright red flare shot into the air.
"A flare gun! I've only heard of them. Only the Inquistors and highest military officers are given such precious tool."
"Indeed, captain. Not even we used these often as the price of the ammunition is extremely high, and even with a fortune, it is hard to get more ammunition."
Barridon asked, his curiosity overwhelming his manners.
"If they are so useful, why do 'they' not make more ammunition?"
Ardigan answered.
"Who knows why do the Techpriests do what they do, Captain? They are mysterious bunch, and they seclude themselves in their tower and refuse to aid the King. Their belief in their 'Omnissiah' is bordering on heresy."
Pardia raised his hand, and Ardigan fell silent.
"I understand the views common among the Cultists, but it is the jurisdiction of the Inquisition as to who is heretic, sir knight. We have long deemed that the Techpriests are not heretics, and their value on this world is vital in maintaining human dominion of this world."
"Of course, Inquisitor. I misspoke."
"Not really, sir knight. They do 'border' heresy but not quite. If it is not for their valuable knowledge, they would have already been cast as heretics. However, they do produce and repair any technology we have, including the valuable lasguns and even more rare power weapons."
As he spoke, a group of men in black clothing appeared. The Imperial Guards and the Cultists drew their weapons but were ordered to stand down. The men approached the Inquisitor.
"We are all here, Inquistor."
"Good. Gentlemen, these are my Inquisitorial Troops. They will aid us in hunting down the daemon's master."
"Yes, sir."
The Inquisitorial Troops dressed very much like the Inquisitor except for all the medals and the hat. They all carried a laspistol and power sword, though obviously much similar and cruder design than that of the Inquistor.
Pardia looked at the forest.
"Lahor, take these creatures and head back to the Capital. My brothers need to understand the severity of our situation."
One of the Inquisitorial Troops nodded.
"Sergeant Yalde, prepare your men, we are heading into the forest."
I was staring at the humans. They had more men now. However, twenty six men were nothing, even with lasguns. I had plenty of Spine Crawlers around my Hive Clusters. The trouble was that it would still take hours for Toby to get to the nearest Hive Cluster and I had no more Zerglings to send at the moment.
Unlike the game, where a pair of Zergling is spawned in 24 seconds, the real Zerglings were spawned in nearly 24 hours. The Hatchery, supposedly created in 100 seconds, actually took nearly 200 hours, and much larger than it is in the game. The time differences aside, I had nearly a hundred Zerglings in their cocoons, ready to be born in several hours, but it would be too late to cut off these humans before they find the outermost Hive Cluster.
This was now a game of time.
The humans filtered through the forest. The 'daemon hound' was heavy and left clear footprints. The creature was obviously not smart enough to think about that. The Inquisitor and his men carefully yet quickly followed the trail, running at times to catch up with the creature. The men were better armed at this time as the weapons of their dead comrades were now in the hands of the living soldiers. Several Cultists were given lasguns which was obviously better than the laspistol.
For hours, they waded through the sparse forest, and sometimes climbing steep slopes for the shortcuts. Men were split into groups, rejoined, and split again as they followed the trail. They had the advantage in that they could climb, while the creature could not, particularly with the girl on its back. Then they heard the sound. It had been hours but they had finally caught up with the creature close enough to hear it. As they drew closer, they heard the girl.
She was crying, and they heard the sound of a stream rushing down the steeper slopes. The girl must have stopped to drink, and then burst into tears. The emotional trauma was actually welcomed by the Inquisitor. He had hoped to drive the girl with such panic and sadness that she could not cast any 'evil magic' on his men. It was obvious that the girl was still coherent enough to summon six more hounds but hearing her cry made them feel more comforted. At least she won't be summoning more creatures with that sort of mind.
The men silently climbed the slope, their swords and lasguns held ready to strike. Then Captain Barridon held out his hand to stop them. The creature and the girl were in a clearing near the streams. If they rushed out to slay or capture them, the creature would be able to flee with the girl. Carefully, Barridon raised his lasgun. At first, he aimed for the creature. However, he remembered his shots were useless against the other daemon hounds. If he could not kill with one shot, the chance would have been ruined.
At his nod, Sir Ardigan led his men around the clearing to cut off possible escape that way. The problem was that the creature and the girl may easily cross that narrow and shallow creek despite the rocky formations. Barridon breathed in deep, as was his ritual before a sniping shot. Carefully, he set the lasgun to its maximum setting and raised it. With deep slow breaths, he placed his finger on the trigger. His aim was at the creature's head, and then slowly he moved the iron sight toward the girl.
The girl was still crying, but it was almost over. Barridon's mouth dried as he felt the chance drain away by the seconds. Then the luck did not help Barridon. One of the men had stepped on a twig. The sound itself was not heard by the creature, but it did startle a bird on the ground. It was a common bird called the Stone Bird, and it pretended to be a small rock by hiding itself with its wings. When startled, however, it would flutter around and made very noisy sound. That sound made the creature to move just as that very sound startled Barridon to fire.
Buzzzzing!
With the sharp sound of air sliced through by the laser, the beam struck the side of the creature, clipping its wings, and hit the girl on the other side. She let out a scream and fell. The creature was infuriated, but as if directed by a superior intelligence, it flung the girl on its back with incredible use of its mouth, then jumped over the creek, disappearing into the forest on the other side.
Nobody blamed anyone, as their focus was now purely on capturing the girl and the creature. They crossed the creek and followed the trail of blood.
Shit!
The bastards hit Alena!
I hurried Toby along as he leaped forward. He was hit too, but it was only one of his wings that took any damage. The problem was that Toby was slightly unbalanced because of the damaged wing. Since he had been living with Alena for the last several months and his intake of Creep was low, his regeneration was not as good as a normal Zergling's would be.
I quickly thought about my options. I did have four eggs of Zerglings ready to pop, and I could send them but that would take too long since their birth was near the middle of the peninsula and my Nydus Network was not quite ready. The only move I could make at the moment was to hurry Toby along with my mind.
"There it is!"
"Shoot it!"
The humans fired at Toby whenever they could see the glimpse of him between the trees. None of them hit, but few of them hit close enough for Toby to change course. These men were good at their job. They were hunting Toby like cornering a rabbit.
Then I realized that I need not send attack units against these humans. I immediately sent as many Overlords as possible. Their speed was upgraded so it did not take too much time. As they dotted the darkened sky above the trees, they began to excrete Creep into the forest.
"What is this?"
"Inquisitor!"
"I'm fine! Keep chasing!"
I could hear their voices as they suddenly found themselves surrounded and covered by Creep. In fact, the Inquisitor was covered in it. He quickly took off his hat and cloak and shook the Creep off his clothes. He looked up at the Overlords, noticing them only just then.
"What... More daemonic creatures!"
I stared at him through the eyes of the Overlord. Perhaps he felt my gaze. He suddenly raised his laspistol and fired at the Overlord that oozed the Creep on him.
"Die, creature!"
"Inquisitor, hurry!"
"Damn it!"
The Inquisitor and his men stopped. They had just stepped on to more of the ooze that the daemonic floating creatures were spewing down on them. This time, the carpet of ooze was thick and all around them. Carefully, they moved forward, noticing the desiccated trees. When they finally exited the trees, they all gazed at the massive Zerg structures and numerous Drones, Overlords and the Spine and Spore Crawlers that dotted the Hive Cluster.
Barridon gulped as he turned to Pardia.
"Inquisitor?"
The Inquisitor was silent.
"Are these all daemons?"
Slowly, Pardia nodded, though there was some hidden uncertainty in his eyes.
"These must be the heart of the daemonic incursion. There!"
At his shout, the men looked at where Toby had stopped. Toby was still carrying Alena, who was bleeding. The Queen, though not the uber-Queen, used the Transfusion ability on Alena, with hurried modification to the healing enzyme so as to fit the human physiology. This would at least help Alena until Toby would get her to the uber-Queen, who was busy forming powerful healing enzyme designed specifically for humans.
"Inquisitor? What now? This is their base... I don't think we can destroy that structure with the weapons we have."
Pardia shook his head.
"No... That we cannot do at this time. However, we have seen their stronghold. We shall retreat for now, and we shall return with an army."
"Yes, sir."
Retreat? Who do they think they are? Do they really think that I, the great new Overmind, would allow them to simply stroll through my domain and leave unscathed?
They were awfully mistaken.
I had enough Zerglings born and burrowed all around them, and I even had two Hydralisks and a Roach. These guys were going to become MEAT!
Another set of possible mutations. These stats are for the StarCraft 2 and would not be directly translated into the story... because that would be silly.
Mutalisk - Guardian, Devourer
Gattlisk*
*Gattlisk:
Role: Air Unit - Air, Biological /
Production: 120 Min, 120 Gas /
150 HP, Regen 0.27 / 100 Energy, Regen 0.54 /
Movement: 3.75 / Armor: 1 / Sight Range: 11 /
Damage: 3 x 9 dmg - Glaive Wurms / Attk Range: 5 /
Ability: Focused Attack (3 sec delay, fires 9 Glaive Wurms at a single target, cost 25 Energy/sec, cd 15 sec)
Corruptor - Broodlord, Scourer*
*Scourer:
Role: Heavy Anti-Air Unit - Air, Biological, Massive /
Production: 150 Min, 150 Gas /
225 HP, Regen 0.27 / 0 Energy, Regen 0.00 /
Movement: 2.95 / Armor: 1 / Sight Range: 12 /
Damage: 1 x 20 dmg - Scourge Pod / Attk Range: 8 /
Ability: Swarm Pods (Fires pods that contain a Scourge that is released upon impact)
Ultralisk - Banelord*
Omegalisk
*Banelord:
Role: Heavy Ranged Assault Support - Ground, Biological, Massive /
Production: 100 Min, 100 Gas /
400 HP, Regen 0.27 / 0 Energy, Regen 0.00 /
Movement: 2.95 / Armor: Armored 1 / Sight Range: 9 /
Damage: 15 dmg (+20 vs armored) - Kaiser Blades, 2 x Explosive Baneling (20 dmg + 15 vs Light / Attk Range: melee, 8 /
Ability: Posthumous Banelings (upon death, Banelord spawns 12 Banelings/Splitterlings/Gorgelings)
Infestor - Nestlord*
*Nestlord:
Role: Advanced Infestation Specialist, Anti-Psyker - Ground, Biological, Psionic /
Production: +100 Min, +100 Gas /
150 HP, Regen 0.27 / 250 Energy, Regen 0.56 /
Movement: 2.75 (burrowed 2.25) / Armor: 1 / Sight Range: 12 /
Damage: 0 dmg / Attk Range: NA /
Ability: Burrow/BurrowMove, Neural Parasitic Link (same animation as Neural Parasite but has range of 18 and lasts for 30 seconds, can be cast on up to 3 targets at the same time, cost 50 energy), Fungal Infestation (same animation as Fungal Growth but double the cast range/the AOE/the damage/duration, total 16 damage per sec for 8 seconds, cost 50 energy), Psionic Drain (Drain's target's psionic or psychic powers or energy, drains 16 energy per second for 6 seconds and deals 8 damage per sec, cost 25 energy)
Queen - Matriarch*, Patriarch*
*Matriarch:
Role: Strategical Field Commander - Ground, Biological /
Production: +150 Min, +250 Gas /
275 HP, Regen 0.27 / 300 Energy, Regen 0.54 /
Movement: 1.25 (burrowed 1) / Armor: Armored 1 / Sight Range: 8 /
Damage: Psionic Spine 18 dmg (+18 vs Armored, Air and Ground), 8 dmg x 2 Psionic Claws (+8 vs Armored) / Attk Range: 8, 4 /
Ability: Burrow/Burrow Move, Creep Tumor, Spawn Larva, Transfusion, Spawn Broodling (same as Queen from Starcraft 1)
*Patriarch:
Role: Tactical Field Commander - Ground, Biological, Massive /
Production: +250 Min, +150 Gas /
375 HP, Regen 0.54 / 200 Energy, Regen 0.54 /
Movement: 2.25 (burrowed 2) / Armor: Armored 3 / Sight Range: 10 /
Damage: 4 x Psionic Claws 36 dmg (+36 vs Armored), Void Beam 5 dmg per sec (same as Void Ray attack) / Attk Range: 4, 8 /
Ability: Burrow/Burrow Move, Spawn Broodling, Ensnare (same as Old Queen), Psionic Storm (same as Templar's but double the damage)