Starcraft Federation Versus Anziek Swarm

While Sophia’s flagship, the Aquaelie II, was on route to investigate a multiverse nexus, there were tasks that needed to be done before they arrived.

First, the evacuees needed to be cared for and relocated to another world, preferably one that was rich in the energies that the denizens were used to. Thankfully, the ship had a refugee section that housed a pocket dimension where the many species of the fallen Equus world could be stored thanks to the Protoss dimensional technology.

However, Sophia knew that even if the refugees were relocated to another planet, if the Anziek were roaming the multiverse in vast numbers, nowhere would be safe.

Hopefully her subordinates will be able to help ease the ponies and avoid a panic. Sophia did not need to deal with a bunch of panicked ponies right now.

Speaking of subordinates, two of Sophia’s best covert ops agents deactivated their stealth suits in front of her. Gabriel Tosh, a former pirate, was the leader of the Spectre class covert agents who specialized in sabotage and psionic assassinations. He appeared in his zebra form. Nova Terra, a former agent of the Dominion, was the leader of the Ghost class covert agents who specialized in intelligence gathering and sniping. She appeared in the form of a midnight blue pegasus mare with a blonde mane.

Using her nephew’s technological innovation and her mastery of genetics, Sophia and Ingram were able to create devices that were programmed with genetic templates. The devices were designed to function exclusively for the first person to touch them with their skin, automatically programming the original sequences into the device. Tosh’s device was programmed with the genetic sequences for a zebra and its anthropomorphic counterpart while Nova’s was of a pegasus and its anthropomorphic counterpart. Other sequences could be programmed into the devices should they become necessary. The devices were primarily used for the purpose of interacting with potentially xenophobic species.

...And as a fashion statement for the furry community aboard her colony ship.

For now, she needed to receive the reports from her subordinates, though she had a feeling that the headache she was anticipating had already happened.

“Report,” Sophia ordered.

Nova, being the dutiful of the two, was the first to report. “Ma’am, the refugees have been accounted for. Though some issues did occur while we were tallying the survivors.”

“Here we go…” Sophia thought as she rolled her eyes.

Tosh continued, “Some of the ponies were either really curious about de ship or nervous dat they panicked. Some even ran through a few corridors before we caught them. A certain infamous trio of troublemaking fillies didn’t make our job easy. There were also a few buzzing little black bugs who tried to sneak into restricted areas but dey could not mask themselves from our psychics, let alone the Protoss.”

Sophia pinched the bridge of her nose, knowing who that trio likely was. “Anything that requires my intervention?”

“No ma’am,” Nova answered, to Sophia’s relief. “All refugees have been rounded up and herded into the refugee room until we can find a new world for them.”

Sophia breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good, I have a meeting with the family soon and I didn’t want to have to deal with that headache.” She paused for a moment, “Anything else?”

Nova shook her head, “Nothing that requires your attention, ma’am. Everything else has been sent to Ambassador Valerian for review.”

Sophia was glad to be able to delegate the day to day operations to her three ambassadors, one representing each race in the Starcraft Federation. Ever since she united the Terran Dominion, the Protoss factions and the Zerg Swarm under one banner, she had created a powerful intergalactic empire. However, running such an empire would have been tedious and boring for her in the long run, so she put the general running of the Federation in the hands of three former leaders who had the patience to sit behind a desk.

Valerian Mengsk represented the former humans who had become so put off by the United Earth Directorate after they sent a second invasion force for the sake of reclaiming what they believed to be their colonies in the name of humanity, despite the fact that the colonies were composed of the descendants of humans that Earth had discarded centuries ago, that they fought what amounted to a space reenactment of the American Revolution.

That time, however, Earth was more than ready to meet the Dominion’s forces and would have subjugated the Dominion if Sophia hadn’t intervened and personally annihilated the invasion fleets. However, this had the effect of indebting themselves to Sophia who used the invasion as an opportunity to bring the Dominion into her forming empire.

When it came to integrating the Zerg, it was a simple matter of forcing Zagara into submission. It didn’t take much effort to find Alexei Stukov. Sophia negotiated with the infested human and agreed to be her ambassador for the Zerg in exchange for her sponsoring him as he wrote and published his series of sci-fi horror stories.

The Protoss were more complicated to integrate because of their various cultures and values. The Tal’darim were the easiest as Sophia’s superior skills and psionic prowess as well as her terrifying presence whenever she was in a sadistic mood made that faction fall in line. The Daelaam took some convincing since they had no reason to join her empire. In the end, Sophia had to challenge their leaders and many of their best warriors to a duel against her with her servitude to the Daelaam if she lost. The Protoss were overconfident with their odds and greatly underestimated Sophia’s skills. The Daelaam and their leaders, badly beaten, upheld their end of the bargain and joined the Starcraft Federation.

Sophia stopped reminiscing about the formation of her intergalactic empire and entered her flagship’s family conference room. Ingram was already in his seat waiting impatiently for the meeting to begin because he wanted it to be over as soon as possible so he could return to his workshop and resume designing new inventions.

Fifteen minutes passed as Sophia monitored a panel that indicated that the other family members who would be attending were ready to begin the conference call. Ingram sat with his head on his right hand while he was drumming the desk with his left. He quickly sat at attention when the family head registered on the panel, indicating that the meeting was about to begin.

Four holographic transmission devices around the table activated to announce the other four members of the Craft family who will be attending the meeting. Four holographic representations of the family members appeared from the devices.

Kyubis, the head of the family, was a blue anthropomorphic fox with ten luxurious tails and wore a Shinto priestess outfit with blue baggy pants and carried a metal staff with the top being a large golden ring that had a figure of a fox in the center. The ring was adorned with five smaller golden rings on either side of the figure. She was also Sophia’s daughter.

Across from Kyubis was a figure that appeared as a human female with pale skin and snow white hair. The armor she wore was ebony colored while the gauntlets, boots, and her belt had a skull design on them. Other places depicted faces in agony. On her back was her rune-etched sword that had numerous sharp branches along the edges. The hilt had the design of a head impaled by swords, spears and a large dagger that also served as the blade’s handle. Thanatas appeared to be in the middle of stitching together one of her fleshy abominations while appearing to have time for the meeting.

To Thanatas’ left was a male blue anthropomorphic rabbit who appeared to be sitting behind his own desk in a business suit while displaying a posture that would make one believe that he was conducting a job interview with someone. While Sophia’s brother, Sigmund, was a successful business entrepreneur with influence in markets throughout the omniverse, his passions lie with his skills as a bounty hunter with an impressive record in capturing dangerous individuals as well as marksmanship skills that surpass his sister. He was also Ingram’s father.

Finally, across from Thanatas was her own daughter who had a slender build and was covered in a black exoskeleton that was not unlike that of a crustacean. She had crawler legs growing from her shoulders and her hair was made of purple tentacles. Periodically, slitted eyes of various colors or fanged maws would open and close all over her body either to blink or to yawn. Many members of the family found Violetta’s mentality questionable while they also questioned whether or not she was manipulating their minds or not. The eldritch horror always loved to feast on the minds of people who had completely lost themselves to madness and while she said that she would never feast on a family member’s mind, some still do not trust her to this day.

The ones attending the meeting were those who trusted Violetta to keep herself in check. Even the eldritch horror would never do anything to get her sent to the family disciplinarian. Nobody wanted to endure a session from her.

Kyubis took a deep breath before she began, “We will now begin this meeting to discuss recent events. I am glad to see that all of you could attend this meeting. It is unfortunate that many of us were unable to attend, but our duties take precedence. Sophia, you may begin your presentation.”

Sophia rose from her seat and wandered around the room to present her findings. “I was in the middle of scouting the Equestrian worlds throughout this multiverse while seeking a world that we could use as a headquarters for us while we were here. I had come across a promising candidate, one where we would need Kyubis’ diplomatic skills to establish our foothold for our exploration of the many Equestrian realities.

“Unfortunately, any plans we may have had for this world were cast to the astral winds when numerous dimensional rifts opened. Emerging from these rifts were a race of reptilian-like creatures who seemed intent on mindless destruction given their behavior. They are referred to as the Anziek. My analysis revealed that they are intelligent but seemed intent on multiversal destruction for some reason.”

Kyubis closed her eyes in thought, “Hmm, this is ill news indeed. Your use of the word ‘multiversal’ means that they may be capable of freely traveling the multiverse like we can. If that is the case, then this will not be the last time we see these creatures. What is your genetic analysis?”

“After I consumed one of them--”

“How did they taste?” Thanatas asked.

“Like chicken,” Sophia deadpanned. “Anyway...after I consumed one of them, I discovered a number of interesting traits. Their reproductive capabilities show that they are compatible with most intelligent species as well as a genetic override ability that replaces one parent’s traits with the Anziek’s traits. Effectively creating a clone of the Anziek parent. The Anziek also have a rapid maturity period, something that I plan to use for my Swarm. I could significantly reduce Ultralisk incubation periods with this trait. I also plan to make use of their armored hide traits to make my Zerg more durable.

“I also discovered that they are capable of using magic, but the trait is recessive. If my analysis of one of their lesser specimens is accurate, then while the trait exists in all of them, it is rare for the trait to be active and even more rare for one to be active and powerful. For those categorized as the latter, they could pose a challenge even for us.”

Kyubis nodded, “Thank you for the report. Ingram, what have you learned about their technology? I heard reports that they have such.”

“If you can even call it that,” Ingram snapped. “Those savages have been using technology that originated from cultures that most definitely did not come from them. I can only conclude that they had been plundering realities that they razed once they wiped out the population. A bunch of savage locusts is what they are. Sophia’s Observers revealed that they at least know their way around a forge but that’s about it. Technology plunderers are the worst kind of people I can imagine.”

Sigmund sighed in disappointment, “If these Anziek are as Ingram described, then they may be nomadic and will have no civilization of their own to speak of, which means no economy, no market, no profits to be made off of them.” He shrugged, “Oh well, if anyone posts a bounty on them on a per head basis, I wouldn’t mind getting involved in the hunt if the pay is good.” He sighed again, “Sadly, if they are as numerous as claimed, then few, if any, realities would be able to afford that kind of a bounty, unless it were the rare ones.”

Kyubis let out a sigh, “Thank you for that, Ingram and Sigmund.” She knew that the inventor’s passion for innovation was such that most of his respect went to his fellow inventors. He always viewed thieves of inventions as the worst kind of scum and of those he encountered ended up a bloodied mess somewhere. Sigmund is often motivated by money but at least when he gets paid for his bounties, the money goes to some charity since he likes to keep his business profits separate from his bounty rewards. “I would like to find a way to keep the Anziek from recovering their numbers so quickly after losing so many because if what Sophia said about their reproduction methods is true, then we need to slow their population growth as soon as we can. Any suggestions Sophia? Thanatas?”

Thanatas thought for a moment and looked at Sophia who was looking at her with a smirk, telling her that she had the same idea. “I might be able to work with Sophia in order to create a virus that could do something about their reproductive abilities or inoculate their future victims with a vaccine to prevent more Anziek from being born, but we need more samples of Anziek tissue in order to begin working on a strain that will effectively counteract this ability.”

“Very well, I will leave you two to that project. Our time for this meeting grows short and we still need to address the issue about the rare Anziek who Sophia believes may prove an issue for us. In this case, it may be prudent to seek out powerful individuals outside of our family who may provide assistance with the coming conflict. I would like for Violetta to peer into the void and search for any individuals or organizations who might be able to provide assistance.”

“Hooray! I get to be useful!” Violetta cheered. “The eyes will see all throughout the multiverse and gaze upon all, short and tall. I might even find my next meal in the process.”

Kyubis chuckled, “Just try not to eat them if they prove useful to our cause. Of course, we also count on you to protect our minds in case we run into people who try to invade our minds.”

Several of Violetta’s mouths smiled, “Of course, I always spice up my next meal by showing their frail mortal moral minds a small glimpse of what lies beyond the veil.”

“Then it’s settled, Violetta will seek out individuals while she guides Sophia towards them. If the situation calls for the assistance of one of the family then do not hesitate to call on us. Sophia will be in charge of the campaign against the Anziek so be sure to follow her orders. Is that clear?” Everyone nodded. “I will relay this to the other members. For now, continue your course and inform me of any significant changes to the situation. This meeting is adjourned.”

The holographic devices deactivated which left the room to its two remaining occupants.

Ingram rose from his chair and left the conference room to head back to his workshop. Sophia exited the room after him and stood outside the door awaiting who was coming.

She didn’t wait long as a pool of inky black liquid separated from her shadow and gathered into a circular shape. From the pool rose what appeared to be a female human with long purple hair and wearing one of her officer’s uniforms with a blue jacket and a long, blue skirt that partially concealed her boots which looked like they were writhing.

Violetta wasn’t an idiot, she knew how terrifying her true form was and was a master of illusions and plenty of ways to tamper with one’s mentality. She needed to assume a human form to get around the ship without freaking out Sophia’s troops and by association, angering the admiral.

“Alright Sophie, lead me to a place where I can get nice and comfortable so I can peer into the void, preferably a room where many of your troops visit.”

Sophia deadpanned, “You know my answer to that.”

Violetta shrugged, “Worth a shot, lead me to your darkest and most isolated room as you wish.”

“Hope you like the brig,” Sophia joked.

“My favorite place on any ship?! You really know how to spoil me,” Violetta quipped.