THE INFINITE BROOD (Starcraft/Supreme Commander Crossover Quest!)

[DragonCobolt]

You took the crystal, arching an eyebrow. "What do I do with this?" you asked. "If I was going to use it."

Rhianna Burke chuckled. "I believe Zeratul already taught you the basics."

She inclined her head. "Good luck, Commander."

You watched her go, beautiful gown shimmering. You sighed, then looked down at the crystal, tilting it from side to side. Behind you, Cr stuck his head from the robing chamber and let out a hissing craw.

"...I'm not going to kiss the princess!" you said, flushing and glaring at him. You stepped back in and grabbed the little 'ling by his horn. "How do you even know what kissing is?" You paused, listening to muffled noises, the faint connection pumped up by direct physical contact. Your brows drew in. "...the whole hive was...gossiping..."

You paused, the realization clicking through your brain.

"God, I almost want to let Amon keep the clusters."

***
​

An Aeon ACU looked elegant in a way that the Cybran and UEF models didn't. Silvery, slender, with curves and planes that intersected smoothly, creating an almost insectile formation - rather than the triangular torso and sharpened lines of the Cybran model, or the heavy bulk of the UEF's armor plated vehicle. You walked around it as it stood in the semi-spherical launch bay and eyed it, looking for a hatch of some kind, or loading systems. There were none. You looked down at the crystal in your hand.

Zeratul had taught you everything, huh?

You closed your eyes and...

God, still felt a little silly doing this. It was hard to overcome forty years of being unimpressed with research and reports on psychic powers - even after you had crushed someone's entire soul with your mental fist. It was easier when you had more pressure. But as you opened your mind, you felt the crystal coming into true in your hand. Then it glowed and the floor rippled beneath you - your eyes snapping open just in time to see a silver bubble wrap around your body. You felt the sphere lift, then shift from side to side...then it melted into the shape of an advanced looking cockpit - with crystaline controls, and a holographic projection system that matched the UEF's screens with clarity. You leaned back in the seat, feeling it adjust to your back, and straps slid around your body, wrapping you and pinning you down. You breathed out slowly.

"Well, that's fancy," you said, quietly, glancing down to see that the skintight Aeon combat suit you were wearing had plugged into the ACU's life support systems. You cracked your knuckles and started to familiarize yourself with the controls.

A chime came and a soft, feminine voice came over the line. "Greetings, this is tac-com for CZAR-1. We're preparing your quantum drop. You will be arriving near the city of Borealis, the capital of Braxis. The defenders have been contacted, but as they are Terran Dominion soldiers, I'm not sure if they quite understand what is about to arrive."

"Understood," you said. "We got any reports on the exact tactical situation?"

"The Zerg are mostly contained in the outlands - but their attacks on the city's defenses are growing exponentially. Primary strains are merely zergling and hyrdralisks, but the hive clusters are growing and are defended well enough that the Braxis militia can't hope to destroy them," Tac-Com said, her voice quiet. "This apparently is a standard modus oprandi for Zerg attacking fortified cities - defense in depth to build their numbers."

"Yeah," you said. "Okay, I'm ready for a drop."

"On five."

The count down began and you smiled, despite yourself.

Sarah was gone. The galaxy was burning. Earth, your home, was a cinder. Your friends among the Protoss had been snagged by some kind of...evil god from another universe. But you were in an ACU. And you were going to win. You felt it in your gut.

Because you had to.

The familiar lurch of a quantum jump smashed into your body. The ACU shook and rumbled as the nuclear-level detonation ripped out, sweeping outwards with a flare of white light and quivering, concussive force. The screens cleared and you saw that you were standing in a small valley, which had half-contained the blast. The ground around you was covered with charred Zerg corpses, and smoldering, blackened organic buildings. Gore dripped from several flattened trees, and boulders were smeared with red. You swung your ACU around slowly and spotted that Borealis was visible - only a few kilometers away.

"Huh," you said. "Looks like we landed right in a Zerg push."

The radio whirred and clicked and a gruff voice came over the line. "Unidentified...something, state your name and intentions immediately. You are almost in siege tank range, so make it snappy." Sounded like a woman. You leaned back in your seat and frowned.

"This is General Samantha Clarke, commander of Allied forces. I'm here to help."

"They just sent one walker to deal with a whole zerg infestation?" the woman sounded close to hysterical.

"You really haven't been keeping up with the news briefs, have you?" you snapped. "I'm in an ACU."

"It doesn't match the specifications i was-"

"Enough," you snapped. "Give me the tactical situation."

There was a short pause. Then the woman sighed. "Very well, General Clarke. I'm sending you our most up to date tactical maps."

You frowned as the images popped up. The city of Borealis, viewed from above, looked like most Terran colonies: There was an outer layer of fortifications that looked like they had been cobbled together out of their replicable storage units - the kind that could recess and extend outwards. Then, next layer in, there was the secondary layer: interlocking bunkers full of marines with heavy weaponry. Then, behind them, the tertiary (though, arguably, the primary) layer of siege tanks, deployed, prepped and supported by missile turrets. It was quite comfortable, but it could be overrun. You immediately felt the intensely UEF bred urge to start filling the interstitial spaces with shield generators, and...also, the intensely Zerg urge to...hmm...nydus worms...

Nydus worms in the back...mutalisks to overwhelm the missile turrets, sweep over the bunkers, target down the siege tanks, swarm the bunkers with zerglings...

You shook your head, slightly. While useful, that kind of thought was also...unsettling.

You rolled your shoulders and then scrolled the map back out. There were several hive nexuses spread across mineral rich areas of the planet - sprawling across glacier shelves and nestled into canyons - but they were all relatively small. The biggest of them had two hatcheries at most. You frowned, slightly, watching as new buildings bloomed into existence.

"Borealis command, why have you not attacked these hive clusters? They're defended, yes, but you have a reasonably sized militia force," you said.

"Our orders are to defend the city," the commander said, her voice prim. "Not to go on unauthorized attacks."

You pinched the bridge of your nose. The incredibly small and direct command structure of the UEF military was beginning to feel so, so, so nostalgic right now. It cut down on the number officers like this...

---
We're not in a battle yet - what's your opening gambit?

HEAT: 0/6

[ ] Begin nanolathing up a base with a focus on airpower (0 heat) [this takes some narrative time - the enemy will act]
[ ] Begin nanolathing up a base with a focus on ground forces (0 heat) [this takes some narrative time - the enemy will act]
[ ] Begin nanolathing and spawning to make a hybrid zerg/Aeon base (0 heat) [this takes more narrative time - the enemy will act a lot]
[ ] Immediately go on the offensive solo (0 heat) [this is immediate, the enemy gets no reaction]
[ ] Write In

Spoiler: Mechanisc!

Nanolathing a base means using your nanolathe miracle to make nested sparks for Economy Structures and Air Buildings or Land Buildings. Then you let them decay into Stickies, which you can spend to buy gear to support the mission. This costs 0 heat because it's diff 1 then diff 1+1 vs skill 2, since most of the nesting comes from your mass characteristic.

The spawning does the same thing, just you throw in your biomorphic spawning too! Which is...also... 0 heat because it's diff 1, then diff 1+1, then diff 1+2, then diff 1+3 but those last two use skill 4! RIGHT, you're REALLY GOOD AT THIS, I forgot!

but there IS still a cost in "sparks take time to decay", remember that

 

[DragonCobolt]

You narrowed your eyes, cocking your head slightly to the side. Your eyes flicked from screen to controls and your brows drew in, slightly.

A fulcrum, you thought. You were fairly sure an aggressive push now could short circuit this hive cluster before it got any bigger - and that would mean you'd have a thin margin of error. No base to fall back on, just what you could construct along the way.

Fine.

You grinned and programmed in the directions - and the ACU started to lope forward. It wasn't quite the completely in-tune sensation of running while wearing an infested ACU, but it was still faster than the UEF's lumbering gait. Your view showed the valley ridgeline, and then you reached the crest. Trees thundered and crashed around you as you emerged from the landing zone and came into view of the first of the hive clusters. There were two hatcheries, their bulbous shapes growing from the ice and snow, the creep sweeping slowly around them - covering clean and pristine white with sickly purple. Trees were being left to rot as the creep pushed out under them, uprooting and ignoring them as inefficient and useless biomass. Drones by the dozens were working the exposed mineral fields - taking the crystalline fragments into the hive to use it for growing bioforms. The vespine geysers in the area had been capped by pustule-like extractive organs, and the whole base was growing by leaps and bounds.

The base, fortunately, was relatively lightly defended - there were a few sunks here, there, and a smattering of zerglings. But you could see that eggs were beginning to grow in the heart of the hive. No matter how unnoticed you might feel - after all, no zerglings were sprinting your way - you knew that the hive cluster knew you were there. You weren't sure what was being gestated in those eggs...but you had some guesses. A swarm of Zerglings? Some Hydralisks to go with their initial smattering?

Hurm.

Either way, you had to get to work before the big guns got into play - you didn't spot the organic infrastructure that would really support any of the big forms - but they had a few spires, which were the exact sorts of things that would nest mutalisks...

You got to immediate work scoping out your options.

---
HEAT: 0/6
XP Value: 10
Danger: 0

ENEMIES: Sunken Colonies (Diff 5, Damage[Speed] 4[1]), Zerglings (Diff 4, Damage 1, Speed[Size] 3[1], People[Size] 3[1])

I know it's a short update, but, one of the issues with being on the ball is the bad guys don't have much for me to describe!
Firstly, your tactical genius trait lets you narrate some advantage, so, what is it?
[ ] Write in what your Tactical Genius spots (mineral deposits to use, abandoned material, flanking opportunities, tunnels, whatever you want)

Next, we've got some bad guys! They're relatively easy, so, the actual mechanics of your plan matter less then the narrative. So, just describe what you'll do, and it'll work out
[ ] Write in how you take down this small hive

 

[DragonCobolt]

Author: Sorry for the delay! my brain was just like, "nah!" for several days!

You saw that your course had brought you near to a ridgeline that was just perfect. Your teeth skinned back into a feral grin as you maneuvered your ACU towards the ridgeline. As snow bloomed under the heavy weight of your treads, the Zerglings started to hiss and chitter. They thronged, then rushed towards you - then burrowed. People who had never fought a zergling before might wonder how on earth anyone might get caught by a burrow ambush, but the thing was...Zerglings could move under the ground. They weren't as fast as a properly evolved roach, but they didn't exactly stop. When a zergling burrowed, they could be anywhere in a massive area - nearly a square kilometer of space. And it wasn't like they made it very obvious where they were. It took highly specialized sensors to spot the minute vibrations that they used to claw through even dense earth and stone.

Still.

They had guessed your motions wrong.

On Earth, there had been a General, of the old Roman Empire, named Belisarius. His doctrines had been repeated by other clever generals - and it had become a rather standard UEF tradition. It was why the shield generators were so prominent, why your artillery was so effective. And while the Aeon didn't have the same level of defensive technology, you were pretty damn sure that it would work here too. This basic trick had been the centerpiece of fighting on Traxis and Alpha Centauri and Pollux: Take an area that the enemy simply couldn't let you keep, then force them to come to you.

It wasn't quite as dramatic as the mother of all geothermal power sources or an orbital railgun cargo launcher, but this ridge would do qutie nicely. Your ACU slowed and stopped and you aimed the nanolathe at the first spot of land - and blinked as the underslung device sprayed a wide, spreading puddle of glistening gray glop onto the ground, then stopped. You looked down at the controls, but everything seemed to be functioning as it was meant to be.

You lifted your eyes and saw that the puddle was beginning to self assemble. Nanobots, working without supervision or suspension in a nanolathe beam. It meant they had to be networked individually and in cross-communication with one another and the resource pipeline of your as of yet piddling little baes. That fact sent a shiver down your spine. It was like standing too close to the lathe of God. Under your breath, you whispered. "Jesus Christ, Princess."

Still.

It had its advantages. You fired another glop of self-assembling nanorobots, then another, and another.

The zerglings - the hive cluster as a whole - began to realize the issue as sleek, impossibly slender Aeon structures rose from their grey puddles. The final droplets of the nanorobotic liquid resolved into paintjobs and lines of green wiring that ran into the ground. The Aeon Eruptor class mark one turret had been pretty nasty to run into from one side...and you were quite pleased to see that the same was true in the inverse. Concentrated graviton waves rippled through the air, expanding into a crescent that seemed almost totally harmless right up until it struck the approaching Zerglings and turned a wall of them into expanding clouds of red mist. Your nanolathe started to slap down a pattern of power generators behind the line as the hive started to mass more zerglings - eggs springing into being as the larva morphed.

It wasn't going to be enough.

As the energy plants started to come online, you checked what exactly the Aeon overcharge cannon was. You had been expecting something somewhat similar to the antimatter cannon that your ACU had used - but Aeon commanders tended to avoid getting into the thick of it...and the UEF's primary confrontations had been first naval then nuclear. So, there hadn't been much chance to see their ACU's mix it up in the thick of it. So, instead of an antimatter pellet launcher...you were a bit surprised to find that it was called a quantum implosion beam.

Well.

That sounded fun.

As the Eruptors continued to pepper the zerglings, which were rushing forward in thicker and more desperate clumps, you maneuvered your ACU around the back of the outcropping. You started to thump forward, limbs whirring and clunking as you thumbed up the QIB's main power charge. The ACU started to let out a slow, steady whine. You moved past the cliff as the zergling stream thinned to a trickle, the drones working hard to try and match automatic extractors and fusion power plants. But there were still the sunks. You moved faster - and a tentacle burst from the ground and smashed into the side of your ACU's shoulder.

You were flung left in the straps, grunting hard. Your grin, though, was feral.

"Gotcha!"

You thundered towards the sunks and brought the arm to bear. You fired and a blue-white beam shot out of the arm, going significantly slower than the speed of light - after all, you could track it. It intersected with the ground between the two main sunken colonies and an orb of white light expanded outwards. You winced, turned your head aside - then looked back at the wreckage...and saw that a glossy, mirror perfect hemisphere had been scooped out of the ground. It was rapidly filling with blood as the creep around the edges looked severed, veins and arteries spurting into the hole.

And from there?

It was all clean up. Your laser swept the drones in half and your nanolathe slapped down several turrets into the un-creeped hole. Their turret heads peeked out of the top and graviton waves rippled outwards and smashed apart organs. Soon, the creep was crumbling up and dying and a full third of the Zerg forces on Boreal were dead and gone. You had a little smile on your lips.

Things were going well. And the enemy hadn't even had time to re-

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The sounds reverberated with the distant tininess of something very far, and very large. Your brow furrowed while the Dominion radio coms crackled to life. "General Clarke, three-" Boom. "-no, four protoss ships have appeared in low orbit. Uh, they're capital class ships, ma'am. But...but they're emitting a very strange energy sig-"

The communications crackled off. A moment later, the image of Artanis appeared on your screen. His eyes were glowing with a red light and his normally deep, almost jovial tones were overlaid by a rippling, familiar voice.

I knew you'd show yourself sometime, Clarke.

"Amon," you growled.

That would be General Amon, human, he said, his voice dripping with scorn. Now, I believe your choices are to either butcher your comrades, or to surrender unconditionally. Either way, I think I've won here.

Your eyes flicked down to the console. You frowned, thinking furiously. The Way...the Aeon used a system similar to the Nerazim's psychic powers to push out Amon's influences. Could you somehow...replicate that on a large scale with the Zerg? You'd have to defend the biomass with one hell of a base...but there was a Dominion headquarters right here, perfect to situate yourself in. If you could manage to create a hive-mind that could counteract Amon's control, the Golden Armada would be freed. Or, at least, this part of it would.

Of course, that'd involve surviving a full on attack from a spacefleet that could glass an entire planet, backed up by whatever tricks the Xel'naga had brought...and Zerg allies. It'd be like being swarmed and outgunned, all at once.

...but thinking of the Nerazim reminded you of Zeratul. He had tried to slash off Artanis' pony-tail, his connection to the Khala.

There was a faster way to do it.

It'd just require getting past the Protoss controlled by Amon, the Zerg controlled by Amon, through a capital class plasma shield, and onto the bridge of a Protoss flagship, then face down the single greatest swordsman of the Templars.

Choices, choices.

---
HEAT: 0/6

What do you do?

[ ] Turtle up and prepare the disruptor (30 XP battle)
[ ] Face Artanis, blade to blade (30 XP battle)
[ ] Write In (30 XP battle)

Spoiler: Mechanics!

I'd say the spark for the cliffside will be expended to give you +2 to your defensive actions

So, building the PD turrets means using your nanofabrication miracle to bump their people down to 1. Since they're coming to you, their speed doesn't matter for this kind of defense! So, you need to beat people 6(Diff 4) with your Nanofabrication 2, +2 for your sparks! So, that's 6 heat to do so!

Then bzapping the sunks means taking an action to use your nanofabrication to build up Mass 6(Mass6(Mass 1)) to represent the power generators to overcharge your gun as a diff 1+1 action. Vent down to 6 for just as planned!

The sunks slap you for 5 hit sparks, but your durability means their damage does NOTHING.

Then with 0 heat and a +12 makes it easy peasy. Bzap!

Regen slaps away their hit sparks.