[Multiversal Empire] 16 – A Decision to be made Part 1

[2,151 Words]

[A/N: Next chapter will feature a jump]

Time, so much yet so little in the grand scheme of things. With the Zerg put into a full-war state of economy, it was expanding far faster than any other race could ever hope to achieve. Still, the drawback in that strength lay in another weakness the Zerg could not overcome: technology and advancement. The Zerg did not possess the engineers and technology that Humanity had developed over decades, leading them to have to learn and experiment in various directions to compensate for their shortcomings now and in the future.

With Humanity and its homeworld/home system found, the Zerg began to expand their colonial efforts in a spherical orbit around Crèche while reinforcing the 'arm' of Zerg Space that stretched from Crèche to Earth. To keep up with its growth, the Queen began to focus more on Macro-development while leaving her Brood Mothers specific tasks and goals that would help the Zerg as a whole.

With the Zerg's exponential growth capabilities, the Zerg Queen wished to have control over a total of fifty systems by the end of the Earth year and be on its way to doubling it within the following year to a hundred systems, luckily the Zerg had an advantage in that case over the residents of this galaxy who were all pre-pathed to use and rely on the Mass Effect Gates, they had a realiable if slow method of FTL, Faster than Light Travel in the form of their Slipstream Core. Meaning, while the races of this galaxy were limited to the reaches of their Mass Effect Gates, the Zerg could expand in all directions instead of being forced down a path designed by the Reapers to make culling them at the end of the cycle faster.

The Zerg colonized the six closest solar systems around Crèche and were being pumped with resources to make them viable and usable by the Zerg sooner. Asteroids and Ice belts were utilized to rapidly terraform planets at a low cost in terms of time and patience. At the same time, specialized Zerg bioforms were mutated and morphed into beings to fulfill a set of goals the Zerg had in mind.

The first bioform designed for full-scale use by the Zerg was called the 'Carriers,' Zerg Bioform ships that were designed to carry an extreme amount of gases gathered from Gas Giants and transported to planets and systems that could utilize the variety of gases for various purposes or projects. The Bio-form had around a dozen 'gas pouches' to store specific gases, and through a tendril, could deliver these gases safely and securely to any Hive that needed them; however, storing all this gas inside a single bioform has led to some explosive accidents. 

As it turns out, storing a large quantity of compressed gas inside an organism that produces great heat may lead to some combustive activities, resulting in damage to one of the newer Hives on a Desert World. Measures were being taken to fix this issue, but it would take time to fulfill them. The first option theorized was to make the 'gas pouches' detachable to prevent similar catastrophic mistakes from happening in the future, while another idea theorized was to increase the thickness of the tissue durability of the Carrier in full, but would end up costing twice, if not more than three times, the resources to morph said Gas Carriers.

Another Zerg bio-form in development was named 'Huner-Seekers,' an anti-personnel and ground infantry bioform that acted as a living 'cloud' of Zerg Bioforms capable of shredding, dispatching, and tearing apart any ground target without tough enough armor. They were modeled after the Collector Hunter-Seekers, but instead of acting as a capture tool, these 'Swarms' would be clouds of living death capable of hitting hostile planets and wiping out entire enemy divisions for little cost or effort.

The problem was implementing such a strain while giving it the capabilities to do such tasks. Pheremons were implemented to provide the Swarm's specific objectives and directives that a Zerg commander could employ at a moment's notice. Commands like attack, capture, shred, destroy, nest, wait, ambush, and more, depending on how much effort the Zerg wished to place into the Hunter-Seekers. The problem was that the Reapers could likely create a counter-agent pheremon that could give them control over such swarms and use them against Zerg-allied forces or the Zerg themselves. Considering that, the Hunter-Seekers were placed on low-priority for future development. They had their resources cut down to the management of a single Brood Mother and her group of Flesh Crafters.

The third and most complicated Zerg bioform under development and experimentation was called the 'Solarite Harvesters,' Zerg Bioforms designed to interlink with other Harvesters and form Dyson Swarms at a safe distance from the surface of local stars to obtain a staggering amount of radiation and energy to be transported or used by the Zerg Hive worlds and Colonies. However, there were many technical difficulties with the Solarite Harvesters, as they were unable to handle the sheer amount of energy and radiation emitted from a typical star, and the damage such energy and radiation cause to organic life over time.

The fourth and most recent Zerg bioform under development was named Changlings, the Zerg's answer to espionage and counter-intelligence against any threat from Alien nations and the Reapers themselves. The Changinglings were being designed with the capability of Flesh Crafters in mind, freely able to manipulate their appearance and biology if enough biomass was in their possession, while limiting what the Changinglings could do to prevent a sort of 'Flesh Tide' scenario of a Changling losing control and becoming an all-consuming mound of flesh. Once the Zerg obtained anti-introduction data and information, they could then use the Changelings to infiltrate allied or hostile Nations and begin rooting out any Reaper operatives or Reaper-indoctrinated agents, while also directing the foreign nations along a path the Zerg desired.

Speaking of the Zerg's interaction with Humanity, the Zerg bioforms in the Enclave on Earth were being actively morphed and reshaped to become more humanoid in appearance and appealing to the human eye, to facilitate easier diplomatic missions between the Zerg and Humanity. As it turns out, while there were a great many unsettled by the Zerg's natural appearance for the various castes under its control, most castes caused an innate fear in Humanity that triggered their fight or flight instincts, as several incidents have proven.

However, there were some notable human exceptions to the attractions between the Zerg and Humanity. For example, many Humans seemed to adore Drones and Zerglings to an unusual degree, many human individuals requesting smaller and less conscious versions of the Zerg caste as 'pets' or 'companions,' though there were also voices wanting to explore a 'deeper' relationship between Zerg and Humanity, a relationship and connected that while it could cause an increase in relations with Humanty, could cause just as profound seperation beween both races.

Many also seemed curious about whether Zerg-Human hybrids could come into being if such relations did occur, a fear that the Zerg addressed by stating that all Zerg Castes are sterile unless explicitly designed to be otherwise. This led to the Zerg also having to explain that most castes are designed to fit a 'female' statue and personality rather than a masculine one, and that even then, the Zerg biocompatibility would allow for Zerg to 'choose' or 'be' whatever Gender they so desired at the time. 

Of course, this led to many critics using such knowledge against the Zerg as something 'unholy' and not created in 'God's image,' which led to the Zerg Brood Mothers on planet having to work overtime to learn Human culture and ideologies, which led to the discovery of the more zealous of Humanity and their staunch objections against the Zerg as a whole dirtying their 'Garden World.'

Many also disputed the claim that the 'Reapers' existed, if at all, and argued every possible point or fact that the Zerg knew to be true. However, the Zerg left such naysayers behind, as it was considered futile to waste resources arguing valid details and points with Humans stuck in their ways, and instead spent the resources and energy to have productive conversations with more willing and agreeable Human Nations.

Nations such as the 'Reformed Korean Penneasuia' that was formed after the remaining sections outside of the Enclave of North Korea were fully incorporated into the lands of South Korea, and the nation known as Japan, which were considered to be realists and dreamers alike by the Zerg Queen. While the other countries around the world were skeptical and continued asking pointless and redundant questions, Korea, Japan, and Poland were the leading Human Nations in the talks between Zerg and Humanity.

To such an extent that those three countries decided to establish permanent 'Ambassies' in the Zerg Enclave, where they hosted dozens of staff and diplomats to learn, speak, coordinate, and learn from the Zerg. The Zerg freely shared what they knew about the Reapers and the tactics they would employ, stating that all they knew was gathered from the Last Xel'naga and stored in their genetic memories.

The Zerg also began to hint that Humanity was not the only other race besides the Zerg currently in the Interstellar stage, and that the Zerg knew there were different races out there, races that they were keeping their distance from in case of the Reapers having indoctricated them and infiltrated them already, instead using their resources to expand and grow till they could no longer do so.

When questioned why, the Zerg answered rather directly, "We do not know who or what other races could live out there, nor for how long. The only race we can trust with our existence and mission for now is Humanity as our Sibling-Race, until these other races prove themselves capable of focusing on the eradication of the Reaper Threat, the Zerg will keep its distance and evolve, readying itself for the War in Heaven."

This led to one Diplomat asking the obvious, "If you trust us as your Sibling-Race, how come you refuse to share everything with us?" 

"Because you are not ready," The Zerg Envoy answered directly and harshly.

"Humanity is a confused and jumbled mess of consciousnesses and wills, while the Zerg are all unified under the Zerg Queen. While Humanity does not yet know what it wants, the Zerg have come to terms with our purpose in life and goals," the Envoy continued her explanation, looking at teach Diplomat and Nation Leader gathered in the Enclave, "If or when Humanity decides to stand by our side against the Old Machines and Destroyers of Cycles, the Zerg will do its share what its knows about the enemy and what it has learned since awakening in this Cycle."

"However, if Humanity still doesn't know what side it stands on come the War in Heaven, the Zerg feel it's better to be safer than sorry and keep what useful information it has against the Old Machines to themselves so as not to waste the opportunities they have that could deal a harsh blow to the Old Machines," the Zerg Envoy and therefore a vocie of the Zerg Queen explained to all the humans present at the meeting.

With each passing day and each bit of information Humanity learned, more and more were taking sides on which front they would take, would they choose to join on the side of the Zerg as their allies in the War in Heaven against a near unbeatable foe, or would they choose to remain in seculsion and cast off the Zerg in hopes of surviving this cycle and continuing to the next.

Despite two months having passed since the construction of Zerg Enclave on Earth, and ten months remaining on the deadline until the Zerg will hear of the Human decision, several Nations had thrown their hats in the ring. They offered to join the Zerg in their War in Heaven, regardless of the decisions of the other Human countries, in exchange for the Zerg's help and assistance in preparing themselves for the War in Heaven.

Despite the good news, the Zerg declined, stating that they would wait until the end of the year and hear the collective response of all humanity. The Reformed Korea, Japan, Poland, and the Mexican Republic all threw their hats in the ring, ready to fight against death itself for daring to threaten Humanity's continued survival, with many other nations also debating on whether to join the coming fight or not, including the superpowers of the world, who were stirring from their stagnation.

Then, the strangest thing happened: either due to the presence of Psionic Energy or the Zerg itself, several Humans began displaying signs of Psionic Awakening and Potential, and Humanity was not prepared for such individuals to arise just yet.