Starcraft

Chapter 2: Severance

The entire command stared at the image in utter silence, physical and mental. It took a while for Khar’azul to respond to the cerebrate, for he never expected it to ask for such.

“You may be aware of the peculiarity of your request cerebrate. Give me a good reason why we should not exterminate your brood right now, and a much better reason to grant you… refuge, as you say.” Khar’azul found the words difficult to say. In the name of Adun! A Zerg cerebrate together with his brood asking for Protoss protection!

The cerebrate responded. “I understand the incongruity of this situation, Executor. I beg you not to assault us, for as you may see, I doubt that we can make a chink in your fleet, so I have no reason to be an aggressor. Furthermore, your scans can verify that only half of this brood is composed of the Zerg strains that you know.

Wegarus privately contacted Khar’azul. “It is true, Executor, hard to believe as it is. By mass, this brood only has 53.4 % identifiable Zerg strains. The rest register as confirmed lifeforms, but are unrecognizable.”

Khar’azul narrowed his eyes and addressed the cerebrate. “Cerebrate, the more we don’t know, the more dangerous the situation is. That alone can warrant the extermination of your brood.”

“I realize this, Executor. I would now clarify that I seek your protection against the Swarm, who are actively hunting our brood as of now and would not hesitate to kill all of us should the opportunity arise.”

Khar’azul was taken aback. A renegade cerebrate? Clearly, this is an extremely unusual case. “Clearly, you have not yet given me an answer why we should provide you with refuge. You have given me only worthless reasons. Tell me why you deserve our protection. Tell me what would merit your brood to be marked by your fellow Zerg, to be hunted down by the Queen of Blades.”

Yazzu flinched at the mention of the name, his huge form suddenly shuddering. “To succinctly say it, our brood has been infected by a retrovirus that is immensely detrimental to the Swarm.”

This meeting is full of surprises that the experienced Khar’azul never expected in his lifetime. By this time, he had accustomed himself to be told more of these surprises. Renegade cerebrate, unidentifiable Zerg, a brood hunted down by the Swarm, a retrovirus, what more could come?

“Pray tell us how this retrovirus caused all of this.” Khar’azul assumed a meditative stance and closed his eyes to focus on what the cerebrate would say.

“Executor, basically the retrovirus was found on a new planet that our brood had been scouting. We were looking for new species to assimilate, hopefully to result in a better strain to overcome your rapid technology advancements during the past century or so. The focus was for a flyer or spacefaring species, in order to overcome your by now extremely powerful fleet. ”

“On this planet, we found none of that. But we discovered a ground species, extremely powerful, so much that 53 Zerglings we sent after 4 of these creatures were easily killed. I decided that this species would be a powerful boost to our ground forces once assimilated. I had some of these specimens captured and put into a chrysalis.”

“However, once inside the chrysalis, our assimilation failed. The species apparently had inherent viruses inside them that protected them from genetic damage and manipulation, through retroviral mechanisms. It seems that the virus exists in the host cell as a retroviral copy of its host’s entire genome, as well as a separate genome that contained several potent proteins that were later to become our downfall.”

Khar’azul had already flashed a mental command to the psi communications Templar to record the conversation. No doubt this would be a wealth of information about the Zerg. Yazzu rambled along in his tale.

“We did not investigate the matter urgently upon learning of the failed assimilation, and dumped the chrysalis upon severing the neural and circulatory tubes that linked it to our brood. Of course there are numerous species that failed the assimilation. The only exception was that a few hours after dumping, some of my Overlords reported that all of the creatures broke free from the chrysalises, and ran towards their grounds.”

“This was the one and only case where a species survived a failed assimilation. The entire brood was in an uproar. One of my Overseers recommended that I contact Kerrigan and inform her of this. This I did and she told me to wait at the planet as she would be coming to see this intriguing creature for herself. As for myself, I started to research upon the remains of a creature that I had ordered my hydralisks to hunt down and kill, no doubt at a great loss. It was here that I discovered the virus with the double genome set. Of course, I was intrigued about the possibility of such creature with such inherent virus strains, and at the same time, wary. No doubt that this posed some danger to the Swarm due to the failed assimilations.”

“By then, Kerrigan was scheduled to arrive in 10 days. It was then that we first felt the effects of the virus. During the assimilation, the system of the creature had recognized the Zerg genome as an intruder and thus released the virus to counter-attack, sneaking into the lifeblood of the brood unnoticed. The first effect was the weakening of the psionic control network that I held over the brood. The absolute obedience that I enforced was gone, replaced by questions and the pursuit of individual goals. A great many Zerg were killed during that time, most of them by inter-strain battles, Zergling vs. Hydralisk, Defilers attacking Ultralisks.”

“By that time, all control that I had over the brood was gone. It took a while for me to implore them to stop and restore peace in the brood. Yes, I implored them. Gone were the mindless beasts that overran entire star systems in the name of the Swarm. Right before my eyes is a group of creatures with minds of their own. They recognized fellow Zerg when of the same strain only. Zerglings to themselves only, Mutalisks with the Guardians and Devourers, and the others as well. I engaged them in conversation and coupled with flashbacks from our collective memory, I showed them who and what they are. They gradually understood that I was the de facto leader, and that they can live harmoniously with each other.

“I hastened to learn more of the virus. I discovered that the first set of genes served as a back up to the original creature’s genome, where in case it was damaged, it would produce a new one based from the retroviral genome and completely dispose of the damaged genome. It also codes for the trigger for virus replication.”

“The second set was a shorter genome, but albeit more flexible. It is modified from time to time to combat genome attackers, much like an immune system that recognizes its previous attackers. The genome codes for proteins that are designed to remove and excise the attacker. In this case, the attacker was the Zerg genome. The basic Zerg genome that caused all the alterations in the assimilated species and codes for the massive psionic Zerg receiver protein that is present in the brain of any Zerg, continuously produced during its lifetime, to ensure eternal submission to the will of the Swarm. At least to the psionically strongest being around.”

“Now this virus, once spread through the brood by means of the creep and circulatory tubes, began to produce the protein and new virus copies in the infected cells. It does not destroy the host cell, rather it is released through liposomes, fat globules that easily pass the cell membrane and now contain more copies of the virus. The protein inside the host cell now proceeds to rip out the Zerg part of the host genome.”

“This caused the destruction of the psionic control link that I held over them, because the psionic Zerg receiver protein is not synthesized anymore. Aside from that, all new Zerg that were born were not the monstrosities that you encounter. Rather, they are born as the original species before their assimilation. For example, Hydralisks are now born as the grass-runner of Slothien. This has significantly reduced our fighting capability.”

“I was already faced with this problem, and seeing no other alternative, I contacted Kerrigan and told her to stay away, that the virus can cause such effects as I have said. She became very angry and apprehensive. She and all of us cerebrates conferred on how to deal with the matter. She eventually decided to come and study the virus, as the same time destroy my brood using long range fighters. I struggled to accept the eventual destruction of my brood, but consoled myself, for I was aware that at any time Kerrigan can invade my mind. Then three days before Kerrigan was scheduled to arrive, I felt the virus strike me. In a moment of what I can only describe as transcendence, my psionic link to Kerrigan was severed.”