Prelude
The Swarm of War
'Why is everything dark?'
James suddenly noticed that everything around him was pitch-black and he couldn't see anything. The only thing he could feel were the gentle rhythmic heartbeat like vibrations that surrounded him. His body felt weird and he could not feel his arms or legs.
Then the heartbeats that surrounded his body quickened and James felt a tremendous pressure all around him. Like squeezing toothpaste, he felt himself ejected from wherever he was and fell down some sort of a slope. He felt his body rolling down a steep slope but he did not feel much pain. It was actually rather fun as if it was a water slide or something.
It was when he hit the ground that he noticed he could twitch his eyelids... or so he thought. His 'eyelids' suddenly opened without warning and disappeared into his body. He felt the thin opaque films being removed from his eyes and his vision clearing.
What he saw shocked him more than anything ever in his moderately short life. He saw a massive structure made of dark purple flesh that continuously squirmed and pulsed with life. James tried to gulp, but quickly found that he could not. In fact he didn't seem to have any saliva glands or anything that produced any sort of such a secretion.
To make matters worse, he found that he couldn't breathe like he used to. His mouth seemed to be doing all the breathing and he didn't have a nose or nostrils. He didn't have a tongue or a set of teeth but he had several small tentacles in his mouth that seemed to be as strong as human fingers.
Panicking, James attempted to move his head, and he felt his entire torso, without any arms, moving. His legs moved, except he felt about four pairs of short, stubby claws that were positioned very much like those of a caterpillar. James shuddered inside as his head slowly twisted and looked at the creature right next to him.
'Oh! Oh... Ah... SHIT!'
These could have been no proper words for the shock he just received. He was right next to a large worm, which was alarmingly similar to the Zerg Larva.
'This must be a dream.'
That particular denial disappeared quickly when something hit him from the side. James turned as quickly as his worm body would allow. He was staring at a Zerg Drone that just burst forth from a cocoon. A piece of that cocoon had hit him.
As James stared, the Zerg Drone moved away, staying above the ground with the help of rapidly vibrating wings. Stunned at the reality that just hit him, James attempted to confirm his dreaded suspicion. He rolled his body and attempted to take a look at his own body. In his eyes, a long worm-like body of a Zerg Larva appeared. Inside the new body, James screamed.
'WTF!'
James Raynor was just a nerd.
Well, he wasn't THE James Eugene Raynor, but he always aspired to be... at least while he was playing Starcraft II as a Terran.
James Malcolm Raynor was actually rather pleased with his name ever since Starcraft came out and became so popular. His high school friends, particularly his Korean friends, who previously had called him 'James', started to call him either 'Jim' or 'Raynor', which was gratifying after the unexciting life he led in his young years.
James really enjoyed Starcraft even though he wasn't a South Korean, and he played rather well. His first choice among the races were the Zerg, and he was really fascinated with that race of aliens. The Protoss were slightly humanoid, but the Zerg were something else.
Such bestial and alien appearance of the Zerg has appealed to him so much. Starcraft has opened a new horizon to this nerdy boy who enjoyed playing Magic the Gathering. He didn't like console games and the only PC game he had before was SimCity 2000, which became lame after James got his hands on Starcraft.
Over the years he continued to play Starcraft. Throughout his high school life he played Starcraft and Starcraft only. He didn't play any game made by Westwood, just because he thought that Westwood was somehow a rival of Blizzard, the famed maker of Starcraft.
He also enjoyed Warcraft 3 when it came out. He did play a little of World of Warcraft and Diablo series, but his attention was always on Starcraft. When the news of Starcraft 2's development hit his ears, he was over the moon in anticipation and excitement.
It took a while as he awaited the new game with the utmost patience. He didn't really care for all the storyline made up by the series of books published by some random writers. He wanted to play the game, and watch the cinematics.
He got one of the first copies of Starcraft 2 and immediately began to devour the campaign while enjoying the multiplayer games. He also enjoyed watching the battles played out on Youtube. It was Youtube that sparked the change in his life.
James was going through a series of videos on Youtube when he clicked on a wrong one. That video was a comparison between Starcraft 2 and Dawn of War 2. James did not know about the Warhammer 40K before this video. Surprised and impressed by the Dawn of War 2's graphics and the appearances of the Tyranids, James began to research the Warhammer 40K.
Now, he had two obsessions; Starcraft 2 and Warhammer 40K. Eventually, James decided to buy his first Warhammer 40K models. He used up most of the money he saved over the previous several years, splurging it on the plastic models. James really didn't have a life.
He bought the Warhammer 40K Rulebook, templates, Hobby Starter Set, Codices of Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Ork, Eldar, Chaos Marines and Chaos Daemons and Tyranids. He also bought a Battle Force box for each of the races, and being a fan of the Zerg, he bought several more Tyranid models to fulfill his desires.
James never realized that his obsessions and lack of self-control would cause his end. As he laboriously carried his massive boxes across a crosswalk, he did not see that the green light had turned to red, and a car had just turned the corner. Its view blocked by a van parked illegally near the corner, the car had struck James.
James did not even see the car that hit him.
'So... I was carrying my 40K models, and I was crossing... the road. Huh... so... I died... and... I got reincarnated as a Zerg Larva? Well, that is convenient.'
James had rather quickly accepted the truth of his current situation. After all, he liked the Zerg as a race. Now, he got to be a Zerg, although he did fear mutating into some random Zerg creature that would be thrown aside as cannon fodder.
'Well, I hope I turn into something like an Ultralisk. It would be cool to be an Ultralisk, and I won't die that easily as a huge monstrous creature with massive tusks.'
However, his priority was the sudden pang of hunger he felt within himself. James momentarily wondered what to eat. Then he noticed how his fellow larvae were eating the Creep beneath them.
'Uggh... this looks disgusting...'
Eventually, James gave up and used his mouth tentacles to scrape up some of the Creep. The Zerg Creep was the foundation of a Zerg colony. It fed the Zerg creatures and it sustained the structures, which were also living creatures.
'Actually, it's not bad... a bit like tasting a coin, but the texture is a bit like jelly.'
James began to eat the Creep more actively as his hunger took over him. When he was full, he looked up suddenly, as he recognized the sharp change in the lighting of his surroundings. He remembered it being brighter with a distinctly yellow sun up high in the sky, but now it was evening with the sun nearing the mountains.
It was only then that James also noticed a slight change in his body. He felt heavy and large. Also, he seemed to have eaten a lot of Creep and the area immediately around him was almost stripped bare. He quickly moved away, moving his tiny legs to remove himself from the evidence of his deviancy. The other larvae seemed oblivious to James' actions, however.
James noticed that he now had two more pairs of legs, which was unexpected. He was slightly more elongated than the rest of fellow larvae and thicker as well. He felt strong and full of energy, and also unsettlingly full of stuff. It felt as if he has overeaten himself.
'Could I be one of those special Zerg? Maybe I will become a Hunter Killer! Nice!'
It was the next day when something finally happened to James and its surroundings. In the morning, James saw a large body of the Queen from Starcraft 2 hastily moving toward the Hatchery where James and his fellow larvae belonged. The Queen sprayed green mucus on the Hatchery and James saw four cocoons, which looked like large pus-sacs, growing on the Hatchery.
While the new larvae were forming, James saw that his brother Larva was in a fetal position. It had bit its tail and was being slowly covered by Creep. Then, the Creep that covered it began to bloat and turned into the familiar shape of the cocoon. James became curious about that process as well as becoming increasingly curious about what will happen to him once he is turned into another Zerg creature.
Suddenly, a loud voice shouted inside his head. It was like listening to a large beehive, then the buzzing sound suddenly turning into a voice. James could not translate it into English, but he instinctively knew what the voice wanted him to do. It wanted him to turn into an Overlord. Overlords were the providers of control for the Zerg race. They were like mobile transmitters to maintain strong control over the myriads of lesser Zerg creatures.
Now, James did not want to become an Overlord. He knew that Overlords were useless in combat, particularly if this was Starcraft 2. An Overlord wasn't even a natural detector in Starcraft 2. Resigned to the fate of obscurity and mediocrity, James waited to be turned into an Overlord. Yet, nothing happened.
Another hour or so passed and the voice kept telling him to become an Overlord, but still nothing happened. During that hour the cocoon from the Larva next to him had changed appearance slightly, the metamorphosis inside it progressing. It was then that James understood his power. He could resist the command of the Hive!
'Does this mean I can turn into any creature I want? Wow... What should I become?'
The problem was that he didn't know how to turn into the cocoon to become a new Zerg creature. His mind obviously didn't work like the rest of the Zerg, otherwise he would have already turned into a cocoon. James pondered his options and considered his future. He needed to learn to mutate quickly or the others may notice that something is wrong with him, or some enemy might attack the colony. After all, there were the Terrans and Protoss who would not hesitate to kill him.
James munched the Creep as he thought hard about mutating. Then he noticed how the other larvae mutated. Taking the risk, James coiled his body and grabbed his tail by his mouth.
'Wow!'
When James bit his own tail, he was suddenly flooded with incredible waves of information. His vision has changed. It was as if James was Neo after he was blinded by Smith within Bane's body. James could see the pulsating life energy of the Swarm.
James opened his mouth and let the tail go, his vision fading back to normal. He paused as he processed what he just saw. In the vision, he felt as if he was surrounded by tentacles, each representing a Zerg creature he could mutate into. He saw a Drone and an Overlord, and the tentacles that represented them spawning from his own body while the tentacle for the Zergling was coming from the nearest Spawning Pool.
If he had a human face, he would have smiled.
He pondered his move. He could turn into a pair of Zerglings. That path would possibly allow him to have two bodies and some offensive capacity. However, he knew that Zerglings would die very fast if he was against the Protoss or Terrans. Since he had rejected Overlord, he now only had the option of turning into a Drone.
James had then considered the possibility of becoming a Hive, which would allow the construction of every Zerg structure and every Zerg unit. He would be stationary but he would be safe. After all, Hatcheries and their upgrades are well defended by the Swarm.
With that decision, he once again bit his tail. In his vision he chose the tentacle of life energy that represented a Drone, and he saw the genetic makeup of the creature represented by thousands of tiny threads of light. That wireframe of a Drone rushed toward James and James lost consciousness.
'How long was I out?'
James groaned as he opened his eyes again. He was inside a sac, which took a few moments for James to realize was his own cocoon. The cocoon was tight and his new wings and claws were crumpled together. Then before James could grab hold of himself, the cocoon burst apart.
James blinked his new eyes. He now had three pairs of eyes and the two front claws were his arms. It was weird. Also, the Drone was connected differently than the Larva. James instantly recognized that he was now able to know how much mineral and gas was gathered by this colony. The amount was not in the nice clean units seen in the games, but he felt how much there was, and how much of it was filling up the Creep.
Gathering a clawful of Creep, James began to eat it as he spread the new vibrating wings that kept him afloat. It appeared that the Drone's body had some sort of biological anti-gravity generator that kept most of its weight off the ground. The rest was done by the wings. James, quick to adapt to his new body, decided to follow a Drone that just sped past him.
It took a few minutes but James had successfully followed the other Drone to the side of a hill. If James had vocal cords like a human, he would have shouted 'Eureka!' but all he could scream was the sound of a Drone. What he saw was amazing. He saw massive crystals all along the hillside. Some were big and some were small but they were all there in their blue brilliance.
Curious, James approached one of the crystals and tapped it with his claws. The crystal felt a bit like glass. James looked around and saw other Drones mining the mineral crystals. Eager to try it out, James attempted to vomit, which seemed to be the thing that others were doing. Light brown liquid suddenly gushed out and spread over a chunk of the crystal.
James hesitantly tapped the crystal again with his claws, and unlike before, the crystal cracked with sharp sound. The mineral crystal had faults all over the body, and the liquid he shot out seeped into those microscopic cracks and widened them. James gnawed at those cracks and eventually broke off a chunk of mineral crystal. Happy about his first mining experience, he returned to the Hatchery and dumped it there.
Being a Drone, James had access to more information. He was now sharing some of the vision of others, although he had a suspicion that other Zerg creatures could not do the same for some reason. Ignoring the strangeness of that, James began to eat more Creep, hoping he could mutate into a Hatchery of his own. He knew that the Drone's body could contain enough minerals and gas to turn into a Hatchery and then to spread the Creep and spawn a few Drones.
Since he didn't really want to build a Hatchery near the existing colony, he decided to start his own somewhere far enough to not be disturbed yet close enough to call for help if someone attacks him. Accessing the Zerg's shared mind, James was able to locate an area of yet-to-be colonized flatland full of trees but with decent mineral deposits.
It was during this accessing that James found out a couple more things about himself as a Zerg. He could access the Zerg's shared mental links whenever he wanted, and he was on Aiur, the abandoned homeworld of the Protoss. This made James cautious to venture out alone. Although the Zerg dominated this world, the psionic impact of the Overmind's death had scarred the Zerg grievously.
It was only with the recent influx of genetic material and Overlords from the Primary Hive Cluster on Char that Kerrigan was able to exert some influence over the Zerg on Aiur. If it wasn't for that, James could have easily been killed by a random Zergling or something. Fortunately, James was lucky to be reborn at the right time.
Another thing James noticed as he moved about the colony was that he was able to influence some of the lesser Zerg creatures. Obviously he had more individuality and will than a normal Drone or Zergling. It did not work against the Queen or the Overlords, who were obviously more attuned to the voice of the Swarm, but the Zerglings were relatively easy to manipulate.
Eventually he found twenty or so Zerglings who weren't doing anything and convinced them to follow him. He understood that had Kerrigan been on Aiur or her control been any stronger, he would not have been able to this. In any case, he let a dozen Zerglings scout out the surroundings while the remaining ones would escort him to the site for the new colony.
The Zerglings reported no enemy in immediate area. So, James headed toward his Hatchery site. Once at the right location, he buried himself slightly under the ground and lost consciousness.
As a Hatchery, James was able to sense everything in a wide area - almost as if he was actually playing Starcraft 2 as a Zerg player. Another thing he realized was that he was in direct control of his Larvae, and they only had a genetic link to the rest of the Swarm, therefore completely and solely under James' control.
He also found that he could instantly transfer his consciousness to any Zerg creatures or structures of his own. His colony quickly grew in size and number, and in this early stage of the colony, he was able to directly control a dozen Drones without problem.
Feeling mentally taxed after his fifteenth Drone, he spawned an Overlord, which had a little mind of its own, though it was still completely enslaved to James. Through the Overlord, much of the Drones' actions became automated. He no longer had to micromanage the prosperous colony.
Within a couple of weeks from the initial colonization, James was able to spawn and control five Overlords and forty Drones, all dedicated to the gathering of minerals and raw materials. They would even hunt native animals once in a while and dump the meat into the Hatchery. Like a good Zerg player, James managed to create the basis of a good strong economy.
When his fifth Overlord saw six Protoss civilians and two Zealots wading through the jungles to evade the main colony, James had sent the rest of his Overlords to assess the situation. As the vision of the Overlords showed him the status of the surroundings, James immediately changed his tactics.
Previously, he has been operating under the assumption that Aiur was safe for him as the Protoss have all but fled. He was not entirely correct in that as there were still many Protoss who have been cut off from the Warp Gate, including those who would later become the Tal'darim.
James reacted quickly to the presence of the Protoss near his own position. A new Hatchery was built near the Vespene Gas sources and a Spawning Pool and Evolution Chamber. Although the Evolution Chamber was an old strain of DNA, it worked just as well. Also, James had several defensive structures built, although they were old style Sunken Colonies rather than the new Spine Crawlers.
With the presence of the Spawning Pool, James was now able to create Zerglings. After six more Overlords were created, James morphed forty eight larvae into Zerglings over the next two weeks. Letting half the Zerglings guard the Hatcheries and the other half scout the jungles for any Protoss settlement, James began to play the 'game' more properly.
Unlike the computer game, there was no 200 population limit. James quickly developed his new colony into a mighty Zerg Hive Cluster. His first Hatchery became a Lair and he had two other Hatcheries. He had two Spawning Pools, two Evolution Chambers, a Roach