Ch 28

Parker, to his credit, wasn't idle and didn't go back to sleep despite it being practically the middle of the night for him. As soon as he woke up, and saw me (I even had the cheek to wave at him before disappearing), he immediately set off to recall all units to base just like he said he would. His head of security, Colonel Quaritch kicked up a fuss, but Parker cited some emergency code thing and that some VIP's would be showing up on base at 1200 today. I left as they started talking logistics that were quite frankly, boring, even if part of their discussion did involve the possibility of a near limitless supply of Unobtainium.

I teleported back over to my Leviathan to think about things. My Queens were still having a field day picking apart what knowledge they could over the shoulders of the base personnel. I would've warned them not to try logging into the system themselves with someone else's credentials lest there be some anomaly logged for why so and so appeared to be in two places at once, but Asura figured that out on her own somehow. Something to do with a security brief she overheard and passed along to the others.

So in the meantime, I've got my Leviathan, and that of my Queen's Leviathans all to myself. I contemplated going on a knowledge spree along with my Queen's but I decided against it. That kind of thing didn't really interest me like it does them. Looking around for somewhere to sit, I had to sigh though. Something has to be done about this ship. A good seat or a bed would be nice. Heck, just being able to look at walls that don't look like the inside of a person's intestines would be great. Just standing around is not my idea of a good time, and laying on the floor is out since I've had quite enough of the small layer of wetness coating everything. I can only be glad that it isn't slimy. Not even my Hives are quite like this.

Then again, this all could've been fixed if we'd already upgraded that one final level I imagine. Getting my hands on a few Cerebrates, and assigning one to be the Zerg's Geneticist would be great, although the idea of only having one seems foolish in the extreme. The crazy part is that with the exponential rate that my Swarm has been expanding in my home universe, I could've upgraded to level five weeks ago. Yeah, that's right, 500 trillion mana is easy energy right now. If I had that kind of cash flow… I had to shake my head at that though. Energy for the Zerg might as well be money, considering we're limited to what we can do without it, nevermind the fact that we have so much now it'd be next to impossible to use it all up.

Still, I don't really feel comfortable upgrading that 'final' level until this situation is resolved between Eywa and the humans. So it looks like I'm stuck with wet floors for the next 8 to 10 hours. Sighing, I can't help but wonder what's the point of having a creation ability if I can't make a simple chair with it? I've almost half a mind to go steal Parker's bed. It's too bad that I can't just shapeshift up some furniture…

I sat up abruptly, wide eyed, from where I'd laid on the floor. Why can't I just shapeshift up some furniture? I added that ability to the majority of the swarm for disguising purposes and to allow the Creep to generate its own light ages ago! Well, if Shapeshift can alter physical properties like that, why can't my Leviathan do the same?

Grinning in anticipation, I commanded my Leviathan to teleport out of sensor range of the humans and maneuver behind one of the other planets. That done, I took a deep breath and set to work. Like an artist with a canvas, I had my Leviathan Shapeshift its appearance in real time as I imagined what I wanted my command ship to look like. Gone are the moist intestinal walls to be replaced with gleaming white bulwarks with inlines of glowing blue patterns and runes, with an arched ceiling, with a ribbed appearance to keep that almost biological feel to it. Gone are the wet squishy floors to be replaced by a deep red shag carpet that would keep its appearance after being stepped on. Everywhere I went, I borrowed aesthetic ideas from the Protoss, Alterans, Atlanteans, and even the Xenomorph's to keep that sort of biological feel to it.

I kinda went wild with it, changing parts of the ship's interior to follow a certain style depending on what its function is. For example, the largest room where my Hives and hatcheries are got formed into a cross between Minecraftia and the forests of Pandora, even borrowing some elements from elvish lore and making the Hives inside look like giant trees with technology seamlessly interwoven in them.

I definitely didn't leave the outside alone that's for sure. Popping back out and eyeing the Leviathan critically, I changed its appearance on the fly, twisting a piece of metal there, adding some contours and shape there. The end result is a gleaming white ship with bright red trim that looks like a cross between the Andromeda Ascendant and concept art for the Protoss Carrier in Starcraft 2 before it was released. I studied it critically, then nodded, satisfied with my work. The Leviathan actually had to take on a lot of mass to make all the changes that it did. Originally, I'd have put it at about the size of Manhattan island. Now, it'd probably fit snuggly inside Lake Okeechobee. As for where it got that mass, I've no idea.

It couldn't have converted energy to mass could it? I know that the Zerg can already convert mass to energy in the form of nutrients and minerals into mana, and then uses that energy to excite growth as a form of energy to mass, but it had to get that mass from somewhere, usually from the Drone or the Larvae it sprung from, explaining why they're so dense. This though… the Leviathan couldn't have drawn more mass from an outside source, and direct energy to mass conversion is impossible last I checked. Maybe it just redistributed the mass it already had available? Wouldn't that weaken the Leviathan as a whole though?

How to test it though? I could just try and tap on it harder and harder until it causes damage, but thanks to the Adamantium armor upgrade, which I honestly have no idea how that works on an atomic level to allow complete negation of physical damage, it wouldn't matter how hard I hit the Leviathan. even if it spread out to paper thin, so long as it's outer shell kept the properties of Adamantium armor, which my Leviathan has, nothing will scratch it. Doesn't change the possibility of damage to the interior though, since concussive force could still rattle the interior of my ship around, kind of like if you grabbed a piggy bank and shook it around, the kinetic force would cause the pennies inside to rattle, even if the force exerted isn't about to crack the bank's porcelain shell.

That noted, I doubt there's any way my Leviathan could make every surface in its interior and exterior have the properties of Adamantium armor with the amount of mass it has available. I don't want to make my ship look cool only to have my Leviathan die from brain damage or internal hemorrhaging, since no matter how much I change its external appearance, the Leviathan still needs to maintain some biological functions in order to remain alive, even if one were to convert its blood vessels to metal wall piping, or convert its brain to a computer mainframe, or nerve endings to electrical wiring. There's just too little mass to make it all have the properties of Adamantium. Not unless I were to sacrifice a few rooms and their decorations, and redistributed space to allow the Leviathan to return to its original size.

Sighing, I do just that. Don't get me wrong, being as big as Manhattan island is still pretty impressive, but still, having to downsize my ship to conform to limitations after having gone on a creative spree kinda sucks. Giving my ship another once over, I contemplated the color scheme. Unlike other people, my favorite colors tend to change with my mood. I don't have a set favorite color really. Right now, I'm kinda of in a white and red mood, though I imagine if I were on the war path, pitch black and demonic red would be more appropriate. Well, my Leviathan is a living creature, and this is my ship. I'll just let my Leviathan choose what color it wants to be based on my current preference. I steadfastly ignored the fact that I technically just turned my entire ship into one giant mood ring and teleported onto the bridge.

The bridge looks more like a really comfortable sitting room with a giant wrap around window to the outside, even though it's not really the outside, since the room is actually located just a little bit in front the brain/mainframe of my ship, which I relocated to dead center in the Leviathan when I rearranged everything. I don't really need the window since I can see everything my Swarm sees, but it seems a nice aesthetic touch. With just a mental command, the couch I had sat down on reclined and a foot rest came up, like a giant elongated Lazy Boy Recliner.

Grinning, I took a moment to just sink into the cushions and relax. Other than being bundled up in a pile of warm bodies, this is the first touch of human comfort I've had since this whole adventure began, and I can't help but take a moment to revel in it.

Still relaxed, I gave the order for my ship to cloak and take us back into orbit around Pandora. Flicking a glance towards the human ship, The ISV Venture Star, floating in orbit next to us, I wondered if I shouldn't name my Leviathan now that it's a proper ship? Not that it wasn't before, but it just seems appropriate. Several names come to mind of ships I'd named in the past in my imagination, but that wouldn't work since those names apply to those ships. Not this one.

Casting my mind about, it's not hard to come up with a designation for the ship. Considering its function as a Mobile Hive, it'll be a Leviathan Class Zerg Carrier. Now just what to call it? The first flagship of the Zerg… a grin crosses my mind as a few names cross my mind, namely White Base and The Enterprise. No, I want something unique to match a unique ship. Let's not rip off already existing ships.

Let's see… Terras? No, sounds like terrace. Why would a ship be named after earth and sound like a patio anyway? Maybe I could name it after Minecraftia somehow… Minas… Menith… now it just sounds like something from Lord of the Rings… what about naming it after one of the old Zerg? I always thought the name Daggoth was kinda cool, and the original Daggoth was the original Overmind's right hand and most powerful Cerebrate. Not to mention Daggoth's Tiamat Brood was not only the largest, the most powerful, and the one charged to protect the Overmind itself… he had Hunter Killers. Any mission from the original Starcraft game where I had Hunter Killers available from Daggoth, I knew they'd end up mowing down any and all resistance, and I never lost a single one. Those things were so bad ass…

That settles it. From now on my ship will be known as The Daggoth. The Leviathan Class Zerg Carrier, The Daggoth. Speaking of Leviathan class, I turned my attention to the other Leviathans in the swarm, as well as the Hives, and what I did to the creep in the Daggoth. I sent out a mass order, and my Queen's Leviathan's changed appearance, though there color scheme's are solid white until my Queens see fit to change it. As for my Creep, I've now changed it to take the properties of whatever it covers at the time it's covered, though it'll still glow. The Testificates of Minecraftia now have their plants back, only they'll still be just as filling as the Creep was. As for the Hives, I kinda made them look like a cross between gleaming white Cathedrals and Alteran city ships, such as Atlantis, which will be appropriate once I find a way to let my Hives fly.

Tack onto that that all spots of Creep that don't have anything on them now grow replicas of the Pandoran/Minecraftia/Elven forest I made inside my ship, and the barren rocks and moons are starting to look downright colorful and develop their own atmospheres. "Brilliant…" I whispered to myself, looking over it all. My new Swarm. No longer do the buildings look like exposed organs. I'm particularly glad of the new appearance of the Evolution Chamber, now that it no longer looks like a turd with a growth on it, but rather a nice white pyramid with gold trim and reflective glass sides. The Hives still have those tusks though they look like white crystal spires now.

For the rest of the buildings, I chose designs similar to that of Protoss and Alteran architecture. Most of the units I left alone though, until I can give more thought on their appearance. I did change the Mutalisks though so now they no longer look like flying curled worms with dragon wings. They now look like white Protoss Scout ships crossed over with Terran Vikings in that they can now turn into a walker form to allow the ability to land, and Overlords now look like a heavily altered Protoss Shuttle with crystal spikes fluidly flowing behind it like a jelly fish. Larvae I also heavily altered to that of a self propelled seed, with all its mass concentrated into a crystal about the size of an acorn, allowing it to simply fly with the Mind Over Matter ability. I did something similar with the Banelings, making them slightly larger, and colored green rather than white.

As for the rest of the Zerg, other than giving them the appearance of wearing armor that can change color based on what the Zerg happens to be doing, I left them alone. Once I'd finished, I gave a start at how much time had passed. Won't be long now until 1200 hours and it's time to make my first official appearance among the humans of Pandora. Sweeping my gaze over the lot of the Swarm, I couldn't help but smile. The Zerg are truly mine now. You would barely recognize any of them as the harbingers of death that they once were. Taking a half dozen Hydralisks with me, all gleaming in their white armor, looking similar to the Sengheli of the Convent, I waited until the time is right, then teleported down to the base.

-END CHAPTER-

Overmind mana – 2500/2500

Real Estate:

7 Planets

14 Moons

0 Satellites

Zerg Sentients:

1 Overmind

6 Queens

Races Met:

Testificates – Vassal/Friendly

Eywa – Vassal/Friendly

Humans (Avatar) – Neutral/Neutral