[Multiversal Empire] 2 – Precursors

A week has passed since my awakening, and my Drones breached the surface three days ago. With that time, I have learned much, and the Swarm has only grown even further. The tunnel system had massively expanded, creep lining all of the tunnels. More nesting chambers were created, adding more Hatcheries and spawning pools. I had my drones scouting the surface above, searching for signs of life, signs that I found nearby immediately in the form of ruins. 

From what I found, our Hive was beneath a gigantic city; one made of a material I did not know and of an architectural design I did not recognize, at least until I went diving into my old memories from my previous life.

It was the architectural style of the Protheans, a precursor race of the Mass Effect Universe, a Universal-sized Empire that dominated all of the races of the Milky Way Galaxy in its time before the Reapers wiped them out, 50,000 years before it became Mankind and the rest of the Galaxy's turn to be cleansed. 

With the threat looming over me and the likelihood of the Reapers trying to indoctrinate me and the Swarm for their own purposes, like they did with the Rachni, I started working ten times harder in the expansion of the Swarm. If it came to it, I would be able to fight back against the Reapers and their forces with what I had for days, maybe weeks if I played my cards right, and not wanting to give up an advantage, I had my idle drones begin making more elaborate tunnel systems to give my Hive a bigger fighting chance.

If I were in the Mass Effect universe, I'd need to prepare. The Citadel Council would no doubt try to exterminate us as soon as they learned of our presence and likeness to the Rachni. Depending on my location in the Galaxy, I'd either have plenty of time to grow the Swarm or be forced to relocate, but how? 

I do not have the knowledge nor essence to make anything close to a Leviathan, nor do I know how to make any Zerg that could survive in space, let alone have FTL capabilities. Perhaps I could find a cache of technology on this planet? Maybe Eezo could be used as well; it would be just enough to make an FTL-capable engine that could get me out of the system.

...

As I sent a portion of my basic Zerglings out to scour every possible nook of the city, I began to experiment with the genetics and blueprints I had available to me. I wished to see if I could make creep tumors without the need of a Queen to hasten the growth of the Creep, which had slowed down vastly since the great expansion of the tunnel network had begun. 

At first, the fruits of my labor did nothing but make a mound of quivering flesh that died within an instant after creation, but with each generation, I improved my design.

It took a week of straight and constant effort, but in the end, I made something resembling a creep tumor, only much larger than it should have been. Perhaps with more time, I'd discover a way to make them smaller but keep relatively the same effectiveness, but for now, I focused on something more important. My Zerglings encountered the local wildlife in the form of multiple species of critters.

The first was an avian creature, extraordinarily territorial and around the same size as an American Eagle from my old world. They had the size, speed, and strength to carry my Zerglings up into the sky and drop them to their deaths, where they'd feast on the corpses of my Zerglings. The second was some form of bipedal lizard with short and stubby arms and an elongated face and snout with a maw of razor-sharp teeth; these creatures seemed to travel in packs of three or more and constantly fought with other packs in the city. The third was a venomous arthropod that resembled centipedes. It would wrap around its prey and crush it while it sunk its rows of fangs into it. However, it was a solitary creature and proved to be the largest prey for the avian predators.

There was also a substantial and diverse population of rodents, insects, and other forms of Fauna and Flora, but those first three were proving to be the most significant problems around and the most dangerous for my Zerglings.

I had found no other signs of intelligent life, so I was beginning to think I had awoken in a Prothean world that had not been discovered yet, but I was careful with my use of the Swarm, keeping underground and to the shadows. Once I had the chance, I'd have a few packs of Zerglings begin hunting down the predators for their essence, but it would likely be difficult due to the toughness of the prey.

The Avians stuck to the sky, the bipedal lizards tore apart my Zerglings with ease, and the arthropod centipedes had a chitinous carapace that was resistant, if not immune, to the natural weapons of my Zerglings, but that was fine. The Swarm would overcome any challenge thrown its way.

...

When the night arose, I sent out nearly a hundred Zerglings from the Hive to hunt down whatever came across their paths, ranging from the small vermin scrounged for food scraps to the bipedal lizards. It didn't take long to get results, as the Zerglings I sent out quickly found prey.

One Zergling lunged from the shadows, its maw swallowing a strange-mouse-like creature with scales; at that moment, the Zergling froze before twitching as its body changed at the genetic level. Scales began to rapidly form on the surface of its body, the Zergling taking the best trait of its prey and assimilating it into its body. 

This happened in other areas as well. In but a few hours, my mind was flooded with new essence, the essence that I began to incorporate into the base of the basic Zergling strain—scales, serrated claws, thicker bones, thick hide, fur, better eyes, and more. I could even use the essence I received to make a flight-capable Zergling if I felt the need for it.

As I watched and observed the changes happening to the Zerglings I sent out to hunt; I realized that my Swarm was more like the Primal Zerg than the Modified Zerg Swarm controlled by Kerrigan. The more essence and traits my Zerglings gathered, the larger, more dangerous, and more cunning they became; some I even felt the minds becoming more intelligent, nothing close to true sapience, but increased cognitive function, pattern recognition, and intelligent behaviors.

I used this to my advantage, using these more powerful Zergling strains and having them lead packs of eight, directing the lesser evolved Zerglings in any fights. This way, I could see how well my Zerglings would perform in groups and against stronger animals. There were so many new strains I could experiment with; I could not wait, and with these new strains, perhaps I could start experimenting with the ideas I had.