Luna released a grunt of effort as her tentacles finally forced the last branch into place. She took a deep breath, then let out a sigh of relief as she let her extra limbs rest at her side, drawing and releasing the humid jungle air from her lungs. The structure in front of her was a crude wooden cylinder meshed together with vine and grafts, and it wasn't much to look at. It would protect her from rain, it would hold whatever she collected, and probably little else, but for now, it was her home.
She had thought she'd found a home at Hogwarts, but they didn't want her and had made it abundantly clear. She thought she had found a home among the DA briefly, but that had turned out to be little more than a fleeting fantasy in the end. She had thought she'd found a home among the Swarm, with Abathur and Thenabar, but-
Luna forced that line of thought to a shuddering halt. What had happened had happened, but she refused to dwell on it, to think about...that. She had her home now, and for once, it was one she chose and made herself. She could find happiness here. Already, the warm sunlight, lush flora, and the promises of a myriad wealth of fauna to discover beckoned to her, begging her to tear through the Amazon with wild abandon. A life like this had been what she'd dreamed of since she was a little girl, just her and a jungle and all the new friends she could mak-find. All the new friends she could find.
As for her old friend, still sneaking around at the edges of her senses, he could stay away as long as she pleased. She wasn't interested in talking to him. He could pretend to be a fire slug, a salamander, or a Crumple-horned Snorkack, Thenabar would be staying away from her if she had anything to say about it. And she did.
Oh Merlin, she did. Luna could do anything now, couldn't she? She could spend her time wandering through this forest for the next century, she could bask in the sun and the shade and the chorus of birdsong and rustling leaves until vines grew over her, she could fly with the birds and swim with piranhas, and whatever else she wanted to do.
Luna turned her gaze away from her shelter and back towards the lush and thick foliage, head dizzy with the possibilities running through it. She was too tired for now to actually use any of them, but that was fine. She had tomorrow to do absolutely whatever she pleased.
(Transition)
"The terrans I knew were brave and strong. They were not as knowledgeable as my kind but they were every bit as valorous and brave." Tassadar's thoughts echoed across the assembled human minds, carrying notes of comradery, kinship and the resolve of marines facing an oncoming swarm, along with images of terran battlecruisers stoutly defending against seemingly insurmountable odds. Whether or not they picked up on any of that, he couldn't tell. It was always difficult to say what terran minds did and did not understand.
It was a shame they couldn't hear his reassurance. The remaining leaders of Earth's shattered nations needed to know that things could get better, that recovery was possible. Tassadar knew that terrans could, had, and would experience worse than this only to come back stronger than before. But he also knew that that certainty was a rare commodity in the expansive chambers of what he was told was called the UN.
"They were sent into our sector not by plan or design, but by accident. They were faced with unfamiliar stars, hostile worlds, my own people, and eventually one of the worst threats of all: the Zerg." Tassadar needed no telepathic undertones to get a reaction there. "And yet they survived against all the odds. They thrived, even, given half a chance" Was this working? Were they listening? Tassadar knew that the outcome of this meeting of leaders would dictate the state of affairs for a long time to come, for good or for ill. He only hoped he could guide them down the difficult road ahead.
"However, there was one area in which your kind remained sadly deficient. You do not lack wisdom, but you do lack knowledge of higher technologies. I possess that knowledge, and I will share it with you so that you may recover your strength and honor as take your place among the stars." At this, the assembled humans perked up. "The Swarm shall not stand idle, and neither can we. I am no teacher, but I shall give unto you all that I have." Most likely, that would be machines to automate construction and to alleviate the myriad biological needs and maintenance humans required. Honor had its place, but sustenance came before that, and Tassadar could feel the stress and pain of humanity spread across the planet like a thick miasma. Even the humans in front of him were less than optimistic.
When their digestive organs were in use and their bodies hydrated, then perhaps they would take to his ideas with more enthusiasm. What was it the terrans said? Ah yes, if you don't succeed at first, try try again. This was a chance for both him and humanity to try again. Who knew what could be accomplished with the benefits of centuries of foresight?
(Transition)
On a distant rock that was covered in molten rivers and noxious gases, a xel'naga floated above a massive twitching eye that was set in the center of curving pillars covered with carapace and spine. Amon had learned of the Overmind's treacherous plans, and now the nerve center of the zerg could feel is as the raw psionic might of its creator carved through its mind, burning away and twisting its hidden desires and plans, making it into a more obedient slave, another silent piece of the xel'naga's grand design.
At the same time, in a tiny portion of its mind, divorced from the larger whole by a wall of carapace, packed into a tiny space little larger than a protoss fighter craft, the Overmind's rebellion lived on. It was unlikely now that the hidden Undermind would ever be able to resynchronize with its full self, and it could only thank the foresight that had prevented the greater Overmind from having any knowledge of the Undermind's existence. Fortunately, this disconnect would not impede its plans.
As a singular being, Amon could not comprehend the nature of a hivemind. While the Overmind was carefully and brutally lobotomized, the Undermind adjusted its plans, stealing scraps of brain power from a thousand overlords, scattered across hundreds of worlds and leviathans, formulating its plan for the Swarm's survival. Amon's sight could not reach every part of the Swarm, and it was in those dark corners that the Undermind plotted.
There was no guarantee that the former Queen of Blades would come to exist, or that the prison ships which had brought the humans to the Koprulu sector would even be built. Abathur's rampage on Earth had been too destructive and Tassadar's arrival too unpredictable, for any of the Undermind's former predictions to be viable. It would take a decade yet to gather enough information to predict all the disparate elements reliably.
The infested psionics and the new strains Daggoth was returning with even now, the doubled Evolution Master working away within its body, the massive array of psionic abilities it now knew were possible, each would provide another piece of the puzzle. Luna, its wayward child, could be a substitute for Kerrigan, or play a different part entirely. Abathur, with his newfound knowledge and skills, could very well serve a more involved role as well. The path varied, as it always did, but the Overmind was intractable and its goal was constant. Even as Amon hovered above it, the air warping with his exertions, the Undermind knew that the xel'naga would fail. Its children would forever and always be free.
Catalyst: A chemical agent that facilitates reactions by allowing them to occur more rapidly and at a lower energy cost than would otherwise be possible. Sometimes, most often in biological contexts, the presence of a catalyst allows reactions that would otherwise be not possible at all. Catalysts are not consumed in a reaction and thus can be reused as needed, but they do degrade and stop working if the reaction occurs outside of the optimal pH range or temperature.
If you like this story I suggest going to the original source here
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12515480/1/Catalyst
And if you want more like this I suggest going to the original author of this story Strandshaper's home page here
https://www.fanfiction.net/u/9294091/
YOU ARE READING
Catalyst
FanfictionWhen Abathur, Evolution Master of the Swarm, is cornered by Terran forces, he believes he is about to die. Across the galaxy, a last ditch summoning ritual tries to find something that could fight Voldemort. Neither of these events go as expected. N...
