[Empire] 12 – First Contact Part 2

Approximately a week later, the Leviathan began its slow descent to Paris, giving humans plenty of time to gather and prepare for the Envoy’s landing, the name of the shell the Zerg Queen used to communicate with Humanity.

This time, the Envoy wasn’t the only thing to exit the Leviathan; the Envoy and four Brood Mothers landed by her side, having been delivered by other Leviathan tentacles. 

Humanity watched with abated breath as the five horrifying creatures stepped out of the appendage before lining up behind the Envoy with a seeming ease.

“We have come to talk,” the Envoy spoke with a slight stutter, having gotten the tone and pitch to a level that neared human, though its voice sounded neither male nor female.

A group of soldiers stepped forward stiffly.

“Follow us, Miss…?” The lead soldier asked, seeking a name.

“You may call this vessel the Envoy,”  the Queen spoke through the shell.

“Vessel?” Murmurs from the other soldiers. 

“Lead me to your leaders, this cycle nears its end, and we must prepare,” The Envoy spoke, despite lacking a mouth.

…

Although hesitant, the soldiers led the four organisms to a makeshift structure, modeled after the Eiffel Tower, to serve as a gathering place for the world’s representatives, as the Zerg.

Stepping upon a stage, before a few hundred humans along with the four brood mothers, the Envoy spoke.

“It is nice to have finally met our brother race after the last few centuries of searching for you, despite our excitement, we feel…confusion. Why have you not prepared for the threat of this cycle?” The Envoy asked with apparent disappointment.

Hundreds of questions echoed through the building as the various representatives began their questioning after the finishing of the Envoy’s question.

With no clear end to their yelling, the Brood Mothers stepped forward only to be commanded to step back as the Envoy stepped forward.

“Calm yourselves, brothers and sisters, we shall answer all of your questions, first, you,” the Envoy said before pointing at the Russian diplomat.

“What is your purpose here? Do you desire to conquer or exterminate the human race?” The representative asked in Russian, and the translator translated what he said to both English and French, then relayed it back to everyone in the room. 

The Envoy tilted its head like the diplomat had asked a stupid question.

“We seek the opposite, Humanity is our ally for the coming end of the cycle, your growth and the growth of the Protoss are paramount if we wish to defeat the Old Machines,” the Envoy shook its head before gesturing towards another diplomat.

“Cycle? Protoss? Old Machines? What are you talking about?” The UK Diplomat questioned with slight nervousness.

“Do you not remember? The Xel’naga should have placed the knowledge in your genetic memory?”

Seeing the confusion in the room, the Envoy seemed to slump a bit.

“This will take more time to explain than. What do you know?” Seeing just more confusion from the audience, the Envoy spoke again, “Something must have gone wrong for you not to remember…”

“To answer your questions, every fifty thousand to a hundred thousand years, a race of machines we have designated the Old Machines or Reapers have been wiping out all sentient life from the galaxy before waiting for new sentients to rise to begin the cycle anew. Our creator, a Xel’naga, created our three races to prepare for this cycle’s extinction and to fight back to end the cycle.” Before the Envoy could continue, someone interrupted.

“You mention something called the Protoss, was this the supposed third race?” 

The Envoy nodded, “Yes, to end the cycle, the Xel’naga made three races, Humans, Zerg, and the Protoss, and making us in its image, our races were designed for specific purposes in mind. We, the Zerg, were designed to harness the potential of Essence to the extreme, utilizing flesh and muscle, sinew and chitin. The Protoss were designed with Psionic Potential in mind, of the three, the Protoss would be the strongest individually especially when their Psionic gifts were honed to mastery, Humanity, was designed to act as a path of both Essence and Psionic while focusing more on a mastery of machines and industry than both the Zerg and Protoss,” once the Envoy was finished, it pointed to a diplomat.

“Psionics? What do you mean by that?” The American Diplomat asked, curious.

The Envoy raised its hand, where a spark of electricity shot out of its hand before dissipating in the air in the blink of an eye, “Psionics, the ability to manipulate the fundamental forces of the universe through sheer will and Psionic energy found in awakened Psionics. Psionic energy is also able to influence and manipulate the mind while providing many other abilities considered supernatural,” the Envoy explained, confusing the humans present even further. 

“We, the Zerg, do not naturally have strong potential with Psionic abilities, and even after centuries of effort, we have not come very far with our Psionic capabilities. This is where Humans and the Protoss will come into play, as both races can utilize Psionic energy far better than we can,” the Envoy explained.

“And where are the Protoss?” Someone suddenly asked. 

The Envoy was quiet for a few moments. “The Protoss were the first of us, and much to our misfortune, the Old Machine designated Harbinger, discovered the Protoss before they could develop space travel and destroyed their home world. I’m afraid that it is up to only our two races and the newly arisen races of this cycle to fight back against the Old Machines,” the Envoy remorsefully informed the humans present, which caused an uproar as the humans started shouting or asking questions and answers. 

“Do you have any proof of any of this?” Someone asked over the yelling, getting everyone to quiet down.

“I’m afraid we do not, however, what we do know is that just like with the Protoss and us, the Xel’naga placed you by a Protheans ruin of some kind to help jumpstart your species to the galactic stage, and if we are right, we have located the Protheans Ruins on your red planet, these ruins should have technology that would boost or supplant yours, but be warned, these caches are traps used by the Old Machines to direct sapients down evolutionary paths they know well,” the Envoy spoke before speaking of Mars, home to a supposed alien ruins.

“Who are these Protheans?” The French Diplomat asked.

“Protheans are not so much a species as they are a Galactic Empire that ruled over this galaxy in the last cycle, enslaving or assimilating whatever species they came across into their vast empire. The Xel’naga deemed the Prothean Empire not the answer to ending the cycle, so it sacrificed its life to birth our three races after the Prothean Empire was destroyed by the Old Machines.”

“But there is evidence of humans on Earth long before the time you said was the last cycle,” someone retorted, getting a nod from the Envoy.

“You are correct, the Xel’naga did not birth humanity, it instead transferred what remained of its essence and Psionic potential after making the Zerg and Protoss into your ancestors, or that is what we can gleam from what he left behind in our genetic memory as it saw potential in your race, perhaps that is why you do not contain the knowledge needed to help you in our cause?” The Envoy seemed to question itself before focusing back on the diplomats before it.

For the following three days, with several breaks, the hundreds of human diplomats asked their questions and made their inquiries before the Envoy made one more statement and then withdrew back to its ship.

“We will await your answer, our brothers and sisters. We ask for your help to end this cycle, but if you wish, we will do our best to hide and draw the Old Machines away from your home world to give you enough time to prepare for the cycle to come after ours.”