Birth of the New Swarm

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own StarCraft, Blizzard Entertainment does. If I did, I would have lots of money and could spend all my time writing these fanfics.

Summary: What happens when a geek from Earth is reborn into the Zerg Swarm and given the ability to create his own Swarm? He redefines his new Swarm and moves it closer to perfection while watching the events of Starcraft. Takes place from SC2:WoL and forward. Inspired by The Swarm of War by VexMaster and East Bridge's The Zerg Swarm. Title needs some work.

A/N: In the beginning scenes, and possibly throughout the story, I will use words to enunciate sounds and feelings as the main character adapts to new and possibly confusing surroundings. I hope that does not bother any of you readers.

Rating and CONTENT WARNING: M for sexual and intimate scenes, blood, and violence. Basically if you are a teenager or older, and have gone through sexual education or you can withstand this. DO NOT read if the idea of sex being written, reading sex, and sex before marriage offends you. No offense, but I really don't need people leaving me angry reviews because "I did not warn them about the sexual content", or they took offense at my heavy language, or their parents walked in and saw what they were reading. I love and welcome reviews as well as constructive criticism, but not hate reviews.

Note: text in normal "" is people speaking out loud. Text in bold and "" is the Zerg Swarm, Terran or Protoss telepathic communication. Text in '' is internal thoughts.

Darkness.

THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP.

Consciousness. I have regained consciousness. 'I have regained consciousness?' I thought about that….That implied that I lost consciousness at some point. I do not remember that happening. I know my name 'John….my name is John Kilgore—yes it is an absolutely BADASS name', where I was born in the United States, where I live….I remember…everything about my normal life and normal family. 'Where am I?'

THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP.

'That sound….it sounds like a heartbeat, but very loud. I concentrate, anda m able to make out another, louder heartbeat. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. 'Is that my heartbeat perhaps?'

Darkness encroaches all around me, then I realize that I can feel muscles, 'my eye lid muscles perhaps?' pushing down. I try to open them. 'Success!' I can see, sort of. Everything is diluted, but I can make out red flesh colored curved walls, less than 3 feet in front of me. 'Well this is….tight.' Then I gained another sensation, a constant one that feels like something is covering me. 'I am immersed in a liquid….that would explain everything being diluted' but something is wrong. Correction, two things are wrong.

My body does not feel normal—I try to move my arms, and I don't move. In fact, I have lost all sensation in them. 'OH SHIT….were my arms cut off? Or have I lost control of them, now doomed to walk around with two useless pieces of flesh and bone limp by my side?' I somehow stay calm despite my confusion. 'This is all some kind of bad dream, I will wake up soon enough.' The second thing that is clearly wrong is the liquid does not feel like water, it is much more viscous. I try to twist my torso to the left. 'Success again!' I manage to rotate myself a little to the left, watching my vision change to match. More red fleshy walls are in front of me. 'What the hell is going on?'

THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP.

All of a sudden, I heard words echoing in my mind, loud echoing words, with a slight male tone to them. "NOW CHILD, IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO JOIN THE SWARM. BE BORN." I barely have time to think, 'the Swarm? It can't be' before something shifts. Something….moves. SQUELCH! THUD! The fleshy walls seem to expand and contract. THUD! I am suddenly pushed roughly from…what I think is roughly behind and above me downward. SQUELCH! THUD! This happens several more times before I am roughly pushed against something fleshy below me with a hole in it, but not big enough for me to pass through. The commanding voice booms in my head "USE YOUR BODY CHILD. ORIENT YOURSELF FOR BIRTH." I try to move more, but all I can do is rotate left and right. Nothing else works. Then, I feel something….wrong.

THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP.

I feel the sensation that something is watching me. "ODD. YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED YOUR KNOWLEDGE DUMP. TAKE IT." Then I know….lots… and see as much. In the space of milliseconds, I see millions of videos, of the clearest quality that not even a video camera can create, from a perspective so exactly like mine currently is. Sensations flood into my brain, all of which I also recognize and somehow am able to match to each video. Finally, I am flooded with information, not like images with text in them, but in a way I can't exactly comprehend. I just….know the info that I didn't have a few minutes ago. The best thing is, I now know how to move once again. I don't stop to ponder the impossibility of the occurrence, I am just glad I have a way out of...wherever I am.

THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP.

I bend forward, like I would on a diving board preparing to do a jump, and begin moving rapidly in thrusts. As a result, I speed down, towards the hole. SQUELCH! THUD! The thrusting movements of whatever is around me aids me, pushing me into the hole, while I can feel the fleshy walls constricting behind me with each thrust. SQUELCH! THUD! The hole is barely big enough for me to move into.

As soon as I completely enter, the hole 'no, the tunnel….' closes behind me, and the walls began to constrict around me, almost exactly the feeling of being wrapped in a way too tight, thick blanket, only if the blanket were made of flesh. SQUELCH! THUD! 'There! Daylight!' Ahead of me and down the slanting tunnel, maybe ten to twenty feet, I can see a crack of daylight through the fluid which is traveling with me. This sight heartens me, and I increase my efforts. 'Almost there….'

THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP.

SQUELCH! THUD! Less than five minutes later, I reach the end of the tunnel and deliver one last, powerful push, still aided by the walls around me, and the end of the fleshy tunnel part for me. SQUELCH! THUD! WHOOOOSH! I am thrown out of the tunnel and get propelled down a fleshy feeling slope to the ground. The ground greets me with a dull sound. SLAP!

Reality sinks in my mind. 'Did I just get….born? WTF?' I twist my body to the left and right, surveying my surroundings. Everything is dark and light purple. 'Excellent! Purple is one of my favorite colors so whatever is going on should be enjoyable.' I look to my right, and would have screamed, if my new mouth was capable of screaming. A long worm, slightly segmented, skin colored in multiple shades of purple, with tentacles around the mouth, multiple eyes and white spines extending out of the left, right and top parts of each segment. This only describes one creature: 'A Zerg Larva? WHAT THE FUCK?'

Reality set in a second time. 'Being….born, my body being different, the voice, seeing all the different memories, the worm…. There is only one explanation for all this. This is the Starcraft universe and I am a ….Zerg Larva!' I turn around and what I see confirms my theory: a gigantic, circular, towering, purple mountain, with spines, flanges, spikes, and most importantly, three tubular pipes, falling and curving along the surface of the structure, widening as it travels, down to the bottom, where each boasts a large opening, one of them dripping with fluid into a pool on the purple, soft ground. 'It's a Hatchery! That fluid is probably my….my birthing fluid—what I grew in and what nurtured my body.'

I am stunned by these revelations. 'How did I get here, the last thing I remember was being at home…then I was in one of the Hatchery's….uteruses, I guess.' As I ponder this, the possibilities flood into my mind. I can create and command my own Zerg, that is, if I become a Drone or an Overlord. At that moment, the voice returns. "CHILD, IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO TAKE THE FORM WHICH YOU WILL SERVE THE SWARM IN. MORPH INTO A DRONE, AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. OBEY." At the same time, I get an image of a Drone in my head, just like a minute ago when I got all that info and videos put into my head.

A few seconds pass, and nothing happens to me—the voice, 'an Overlord,' I get from the stuff that was dumped in my head. 'Taskmaster and basic flying transport of the swarm.' Because of the knowledge it has given me, I know the voice pattern of Overlords. The Overlord does not speak to me again, and the feeling associated with the Overlord being in my mind disappears. And yet I am still a Zerg Larva, no egg or cocoon has formed around me. I feel….the same as I have felt ever since gaining this body. An amazing thought hits, 'I have free will. A Zerg would have just obeyed and instantly morphed into a Drone. Better yet, the Overlord can't force me to do anything.'

As the realization of what I am and the opportunity that I have sets in, glee, excitement and happiness fills me. I resist the extreme urge to roll around the creep in my new body or try to move as fast as this body can, as that would be very bad for the intelligent strands of Zerg to see. Zerg Larva do not roll around or try to set a new Larva speed record. Instead, I try to turn my head, finding that the multiple eyes of a Larva give me a much wider and taller sight radius then I had in my human body. 'On the subject of my human body…' I miss my parents, our house, all of my things, and my life, but since there is currently no way to return, I accept that the Starcraft universe will be my home for a while.

On the plus side, I will get to watch the Starcraft series develop and proceed, depending on when I have arrived and been born. However, it would be incredibly stupid for me to remain a Larva for forever. Besides the fact that I can be killed effortlessly by any Terran or Protoss invading this base, eventually I and my lack of mindless obedience to my superiors could have the unfortunate effect of attracting the attention of a Cerebrate, the Overmind, one of the Brood Mothers the Queen of Blades created, the Queen itself or even worse, the being who called himself Duran, who could suspect something is off about me and report it to whatever master he serves; who is either the rogue Protoss Dark Templar and then Dark Archon Ulrezaj or even worse, the Dark Voice.

Suddenly, I feel a peculiar sensation in my midsection, a feeling that echoes. 'Huh? I am hungry?' I check the Larva knowledge given to me by the Overlord, which confirms my suspicions. I bend my head down the slight distance to the ground and eat some Creep. It tastes….delicious, like the best, healthiest food, with some grittiness mixed in and it smells great as well. It also has a bread like composition, as I can see the small holes in the Creep below me. I eat for a few minutes, according to the nifty mental clock I now possess, then I stop when I feel full. Apparently, I can accurately tell time down to the second now. My mind has no problem judging exactly

I know I have to act fast to but I want to test out the mental powers of the Larva before I shed the Larva body for good. I know that every Zerg has some sort of psychic ability due to their connection to the Swarm. I draw on the knowledge given to me and imagine mentally pushing my mind outwards. 'Oh wow!'It seems like I have gained double vision. I can still see through my physical body, but I can also see a massive web of white see through tendrils, similar to what I imagine the neural conduits the Goa'uld/Tok'ra symbiotes use to connect to their hosts in Stargate SG-1 look like, flowing outward and downward from a point in a curved cylinder cone shape.

An infinitesimal amount of lights cover the "web", brighter than the ones below them. All are purple—the primary color of the Swarm. At the pinnacle of the cone, the brightest light of all shines. 'The Overmind? Or is it Kerrigan?' I hesitantly try to feel the bright light to determine who it is. As I do so, a bright light at the very lowest level of the cone stretches out, extending a tendril of light towards the being at the top. 'Must be me in the `web`', I think. 'Wait….A bright light? I am different than all the other Zerg Larva….' Despite the knowledge I have been given, I still make a crucial mistake, and I know it as soon as I do it.

I reach my mental self out and touch the unknown leader. The powerful mind seemed to shudder for a split second, I know because I get a massive sense of unease, and then I recoil, retreating back across the Swarm to my mental self at the bottom of the cone as fast as I can, hoping that I have been fast enough to correct my mistake, though I probably haven't.

The Queen of Blades POV, Present Time: Char, Central Hive Cluster

The Queen of Blades, the Overmind-crafted persona of the infested Sarah Kerrigan slumbers on her organic massive throne, her massive bone wings resting on soft organic ledges that stick out from the throne, grown specifically for her wings. Of course, Kerrigan is not just slumbering, but directing the Swarm through her Brood Mothers and Overlords. Her concentration is distracted when she feels a mental probe hit her. As quickly as it appears, it is gone, before Kerrigan can follow its mental presence.

'Who dares?' Kerrigan is stunned, and intrigued. The massive Hunter Killers that guard her in the massive throne room feel her mood and hiss, scanning the room for threats, before Kerrigan mentally calms them. The being behind the probe does not have the female tinges and specific feel to their minds that would indicate it to be Ishza or one of the Brood Mothers, an Overlord was at least millions of times weaker than the invader and no other Zerg creature possesses the intelligence, never mind the fact that it was explicitly forbidden in every Zerg at birth, to probe her mind. 'The being is immensely powerful, and foreign. And yet….it is inside my Swarm and I did not feel it appear' Kerrigan muses. As the supreme leader of the Zerg Swarm, the Queen is connected to every single Zerg organism at the same time and can feel what they are doing constantly. The idea that something could be inside her Swarm and not be immediately identified by her should be impossible. 'Perhaps it is an agent or servant of the dark threat that I have felt approaching since the end of the Brood War that has managed to join the Swarm without my knowledge.'

'At present however, the being seems too scared or hesitant to try anything against me. Finding it can wait', the self-declared Queen decides. 'Right now I have my return to the Koprulu sector to finalize. I will see you soon Jim.'

John Kilgore's POV, Present Time: Unknown Location, Hive Cluster

'So, it is Kerrigan' I anxiously wait for Kerrigan's mind to find me and attack me or try and control me. Nothing happens, no attack is launched, no Queens or other Zerg arrive to kill me. I breathe a mental sigh of relief, and return my attention to studying the Zerg "web".

The more I look at the "web" cone, the more I learn about it and the more it looks like….'The Swarm is divided into sections….no, Broods. Just like it is in the games, and each brood is led by a Brood Mother. The Swarm is arranged with the brightest, more powerful strains and the leaders at the top, the dimmest and least powerful at the bottom. And yet, I, a very powerful being, exist on the lowest level of the Swarm. I am an anomaly in the Swarm, because it is the mind and the strain of Zerg together that usually determine where a Zerg exists. This can work to my advantage since I want to remain hidden from Kerrigan. She would never suspect that I am hiding where I am since she usually only focuses on and communicates with the upper echelon of the Broods, the Brood Mothers, Queens, and Overlords.

I then try another experiment. I send my consciousness out towards an Overlord that I sense near my body. However instead of lightly touching it, I shove my mental self into the Overlord's mind and watch as my bright light streams into the Overlord's light. Now my mental vision speeds into the light of the Overlord, and I see an image of an Overlord, with my bright light hovering above the oblivious Overlord. I press down `into the Overlord's head, and suddenly my Larvae vision is replaced by an aerial vision of the Hive Cluster where I reside. Now, I can also hear the distinctly male toned thoughts of the Overlord in my mind.

"Queen to Hatchery Spawn Larva ratio has fallen drastically with the morphing of the two new Hatcheries. Ratio is below 1:1 minimum acceptable ratio. Compensation for this is required. Hatcheries, spawn one Queen each. Larva, morph into four Drones and begin mining at most mineral saturated location closest to this Hive Cluster immediately." I watch in fascination as the Overlord seamlessly commands the Zerg below him. It is utterly thrilling. Here I am in the FREAKING Starcraft universe, as a Zerg, watching the Swarm work and communicate. I mentally shake my head in awe.

I then notice something, in the mental Zerg "web". My mental presence is inside the Overlord's brain, but does not cover all of its surface and interior. I am merely an observer. 'I wonder what will happen if I do THIS….' I send my mental consciousness out, expanding myself into the Overlord's brain. Instantly, the Overlord's thoughts remain, and the complete knowledge how to operate and control an Overlord's body floods into me. I experimentally have the gas sacks release a bit of gas, causing my borrowed body to descend a few feet I then realized that it would be very bad if the Overlord realized what had happened and release control. The Overlord then continues on like nothing has ever happened. The consequences and possibilities using this ability gives me do not escape me.

'I can transfer myself, my consciousness into other Zerg and control them…hah.' This vastly expands my options no matter what form I choose to morph into. 'Now, I can form my own broods, controlling them through the Brood Mothers, Queens and Overlords, while staying undetected by Kerrigan! Once Kerrigan is de-infested by the Xel'Naga artifact, I can break free and disappear, allowing my new Swarm to grow and gain strength.' I am quite sure what I am thinking of is possible. After all, what would be the point of sending me here if the being that brought me here didn't give me this ability, the ability to survive through creating more Zerg and controlling them?

I allow my fantasies to take over. I have always wondered what it would be like to be the Overmind, or a new Overmind, in control of billions or more of an amazing, diverse biological race. I have extensively planned what I would do if I was in the position I am now in and thanks to whatever higher power which chose to grant me this amazing opportunity, I now have that ability. I am NOT going to shun it or mess it up. The Starcraft universe is never going to know what hit it….

On Earth, I came up with a few logical reasons that Blizzard never published as to why Sarah Kerrigan's infestation in the Chrysalis via the hyper-evolutionary virus succeeded, creating an absolutely stunning infested Terran female, when the millions of humans later infested by effectively the same hyper-evolutionary virus became slobbering, tentacle faced, weak infested Terran Marines and humans.

One of my reasons was that the vast populations of infested Terrans were not placed in a Chrysalis like Kerrigan or her brief consort, Ethan Stewart. Kerrigan simply did not have the resources to do that for every infested Terran, thus lowering the success rate considerably. Something about the Chrysalis manipulates the genetics of the target much better and slower, over a period of days instead of hours. Instead, the hyper-evolutionary viruses used on planets like Meinhoff and Haven, were modified to quickly infest the humans in a matter of minutes or hours, resulting in a lower success rate and a more imperfect result specimen. This was proved by Dr. Hansen's infestation in the result of choosing to aid the Protoss in the Haven missions in Wings of Liberty.

Another reason was that I believe the vast, powerful mind of the Overmind manipulated Kerrigan during the early stages of her infestation in the Chrysalis, creating the persona of the Queen of Blades. This was reinforced by what I had read on the Starcraft wiki. In addition, Kerrigan only created the new Zerg Brood Mother and Queen strains reluctantly, fearing that she would be overthrown, while never creating more intelligent infested Terrans through the use of Chrysalises. This last bit of information again came from the Starcraft wiki. Thus Kerrigan was able to use a wide, larger infestation approach on Meinhoff and Haven without creating infested Terrans that might attempt to overthrow her—though she was the most powerful non-Protoss psychic in existence in the Koprulu Sector, so that was considerably unlikely. This was a particularly weak reason Blizzard used when I thought about it.

I will do better. I want to incorporate the Terrans and Protoss into my Swarm, show the galaxy that it was the Dark Voice, the Overmind controlled by the Dark Voice, and the Queen of Blades that made the Swarm do what it did, not the Swarm itself. And then…what? I don't know, but it is way too early to be thinking that peace between the three races and my Swarm would happen. The Zerg will be known as the murderer of billions for a long time.

Refocusing on the present, I see through the Overlord's vision a peculiar sight, a Larva that is not moving at all. Larva always move around the Hive Cluster, never staying still for more than a few seconds. Even when they were still, they still moved in some way. And then it hits me. 'That is my Larva body….shit. Mind controlling other Zerg causes my consciousness to leave the Larva body and it to freeze. I had better not do that again for a while….it is a telltale sign that something is seriously wrong with me and that means attention that I do not want if I want to survive to create and grow my own Brood.'

However, learning more about the Zerg Swarm and how I am different from most Zerg can wait. It is time, I decide, to morph into a useful Zerg strain. A Drone will be the most useful Zerg to morph into, as it has a huge amount of versatility, but it is also vulnerable because if it's lack of combat effectiveness. It also makes a lot of sense to morph into what the Overlord has ordered me to morph: a Drone. An Overlord is particularly vulnerable to air-air and ground-air attacks and I can always create a Queen body from a Hatchery, so morphing into a Drone and then morphing into a Hatchery is the best option from many aspects.

With that settled I take my first complete look around the base. Many Hatcheries, several Lairs, and a couple of Hives are intermixed with the different research buildings and many Spine and Spore Crawlers. Seeing the Spine/Spore Crawlers and the new look of the Zerg buildings confirms what seeing only Kerrigan and Brood Mothers in the "web" of the Zerg Swarm told me. 'So, it is sometime after the Brood War, when Kerrigan began developing and using the new Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty units….excellent! This means that my Larva body contains the genetics of every Zerg breed Kerrigan has developed up to this point. My Zerg will be as advanced as Kerrigan's. I will just have to get the new Brood Mother models/genetics, Abathur, Izsha's and all of the new Heart of the Swarm unit's DNA when we reach that period. I hope that I have or can secure the genetics of Leviathans and Behemoths. They are some of the only Zerg that the games don't explain how to create. They are also a big key to the success of my plans.'

I then concentrate on the image of a Drone. The effect is instantaneous. SQUELCH! I hear a squelching sound, can feel liquid being pushed out of my body and then I see it run down in front of my eyes, a dark purple color. My body begins to vibrate, increasing in frequency and magnitude, yet it is not a discomforting feeling. Within seconds, it is more viscous and I begin to lose the ability to see far. The liquid solidifies and forms the cocoon around my body, preventing me from moving at all. 'Here goes nothing', I think, before everything goes black and I lose vision.

The next second, the "web" reappears. 'That's it…. I am sick of calling it that. The….Swarm Vision or Swarm Sight is a decent name.' With nothing else to do while my Larva body morphs into a Drone, I relax and watch the Swarm through the renamed Swarm Vision while testing what else I can do with it.

A/N: So, thank you for reading! I hope I this chapter was any good. If you don't mind, tell me how you though the chapter was, whether or not my OC character John seems to be, and whether making the Overlords speak English was a good idea. I will also gladly take ideas for future chapters, though no guarantee I will implement them.

On the subject of the Overlords speaking English, think of that being a modification whatever being sent John into the Starcraft universe made so that John would have an easier time interacting with the Overlords and Zerg. No, I don't think the Overlords speak English, and even if they did, their ability to would be extremely limited due to their basic intelligence.

Finally, I apologize for the title to the story. I tried to come up with a better title, but nothing came to mind. I will probably have another chapter up next week or the week after. Once again, thanks for reading and please take a minute to review.

Thanks,

"Wearenotgoauld"