Toby The Zergling

"Come on, Tobias!"

Alena decided to call the Zergling 'Tobias' and kept it as a pet. Elric was not happy but agreed that saving the life of his daughter was worth letting the strange creature to sleep under his roof for few nights. He was hoping that the creature would answer the call of the wild and leave. That didn't happen.

"Catch!"

The large leather ball flew and Tobias went and grabbed it. It had retracted its teeth somehow and caught the ball without blowing it up. It used to blow up the ball a couple of times before it learned to retract the teeth, and now Elric didn't have to fix the damn ball again. Elric sighed and turned back to his work.

Elric was the only blacksmith in the village. His hammer smashed at the hot red glowing bit of steel. The regular beats of his hammer rang clear in the crisp morning air. As Elric sweated in his hammering, he noticed that he could not hear his daughter. Putting the steel back in the fire, he turned. He saw Alena crouched down on a box and watching him, one hand stroking the head of the purring Tobias.

At first the strange dog-thing didn't eat anything for the first day. Alena got worried, so Elric carefully put some meat on the dog bowl Alena got for the Zergling. It stared at Elric for a while then devoured it. It was a scary sight, and Elric almost reached for the large sword he hung on the wall. Then he saw how the Zergling played well with Alena and kept bullies off her.

The surprising thing was that the next day, the Zergling had disappeared in the morning. Alena was almost crying and Elric was trying to calm her down when the Zergling appeared with a large dead boar in its jaws. It dropped the kill and lay down in front of Alena. Leaving his daughter to play with the creature, Elric called Hargen and others to discuss the situation. They decided to hold a little party with the boar.

The town drank and ate, and the boar was a success. Also, the men discussed the possibility of Ork attack on the village. They had fought off the Ork invasion a decade ago, and the scar of that war still remained deep. There weren't that many able bodied men left in the village from previous generation. Elric's father was the village blacksmith ten years ago, but he died fighting the Orks.

The last Ork attack was beaten off from the combined might of the Kingdom and the Guards of the King using their 'magic weapon' that shot beams of light. The Baron and his fellow noblemen were also impressive as their swords, crackling with sparks of lightning, cut through the tough Ork flesh with ease. However, it had only been a decade and the Kingdom had barely recovered.

The decision was eventually made and the village decided to prepare for it. Elric and his two apprentices were given wages and food to continue working at the smithy rather than doing other odd jobs. Other workers including the tanner and the carpenter worked with Elric in making spears, shields and armor. They knew from experience that simple wooden shields cannot block an Ork's attack.

In the last week, Elric had made a dozen circular steel plates which were sent to the carpenter's shop, where the carpenter would hammer down the leather-bound wooden shield part between two plates, which is then sent to the tannery to get the leather handles. The six shields were just the beginning. The village had a couple of swordsmen and they had a sword each, but that was it.

Elric brought out three more swords his father had made long ago from his attic and placed them in the temporary village armory. Elric had one of his apprentices to make the steel plates for the shields while the other made small rectangular pieces to attach to leather armors. Elric himself made swords. He made one sword every two days. Three swords were made for the village, so in total there were eight swords in a village with thirty nine adult men and eleven young men. It was far inadequate if the Orks attacked right then.

The silent fear in the hearts of these men did not discourage the younger children from enjoying their lives. Their current attention was on Alena's new pet. It was not like any other dogs or cats. It was big, and it had claws so big. Also, it scared hell out of all the other dogs and cats. Alena was the queen in the hierarchy of the children within few days of Tobias. Also the fact that Tobias regularly brought back game from the forest made him the favorite.

Meat was usually rare fare for the village of farmers and woodmen, but thanks to Tobias the men and women of the village got to eat more meat than they ever had before. Though unaware, Tobias had fed the village well with proteins for the muscle growth, and thereby contributed in the fight against the Orks in the months to come.

Tobias soon became a permanent fixture in the village within mere weeks. As the villagers got well fed and stronger, they preparation began to get well on the way. Within the month, much of the spare iron in the village had turned into shields, swords and spears as well as arrow tips, though the village needed more. 21 swords were made, and 16 spears and 11 bows were prepared while 8 leather armor with steel plates and 9 simple leather armor were ready, and 19 shields were prepared as well.

Hargen and Elric, the most respected men in the village decided to sell some of the meat that Tobias kept bringing in and buy more iron. Rest of the materials was easy find except for iron. The riverbanks were full of those tough reeds that requires sharp sickle just to cut, and they made the arrows. All they needed were the arrow tips. The women of the village kept making the arrows without the tips.

So, they sent a rider to the town of Hilgerd, where the Baron Hilgerd lived. The merchants lived in the towns, and sometimes they would send a convoy carrying various goods that villages could not make, including salt and iron. It would still be at least a month until the regular convoy would arrive but they needed iron right away. Hargen and Elric knew that they would probably get ripped off by the merchant, but the village teacher Thomus, the only man in the village who could actually write properly, wrote letters explaining things.

The rider would deliver the letter to the castle and then go to the merchant and ask for an earlier convoy. Of course, the villagers did not expect a wide-scale invasion of Orks but a minor incursion. They had no idea that the presence of the Zerg would change a lot of things.

XOXOXOXOXOXO

I enjoyed the several weeks spent in the human village as the Tobias the Zergling. Although the Spawning Pool, the Roach Warren, the Evolution Chamber and the Baneling Nest were already constructed, the only minions I could create were the Zerglings, Drones and Overlords. Fortunately, the Drones discovered deposits of sulfur and the Mutalisks found volcanic activities in the southern edge of the peninsula.

Although the volcanic gas wasn't as good as the Vespene Gas, they were once used as the evolutionary catalyst for the Zerg before they encountered Vespene Gas. Then mixing sulfur and a few chemical compounds with the liquefied volcanic gas would make it almost as good. The volcanic gas did contain a little part of Vespene, so that wasn't too bad at all.

The collection of those gases would be hideously difficult, but using the Overlords with transport capacity, I had deposited Drones in that area, and protected by the Mutalisks, they built a couple of Extractors in more stable areas near the volcano. Then, after the Drones finished collected the cocoons containing the liquefied gas, the Overlords would carry the Drones back.

After the first collection, I sent a few un-upgraded Zerglings and a Queen to oversee the protection of our gas source. I was not willing to risk a Hatchery there for mere two Extractors when there was a chance of volcanic eruption. Instead, I had the Queen plant a few Creep Tumors and then built a half dozen Spine Crawlers and three Spore Crawlers. The Zerglings were ordered to patrol the surroundings and protect the Extractors.

I realized that I needed to expand my base and expand the number of my minions to survive in this environment of low resources and no chance of reinforcement. Also, there was the chance of meeting Orks. I still regarded that encounter as a freak accident rather than think that I was in Warhammer 40K universe. After all, how absurd is that?

I thought that it was not so impossible for creatures that looked-like Gretchins to exist somewhere in the vastness of the galaxy. It was willing to admit that, and I was also willing to admit that the humans must be some special colony where they decided to abandon all technology, like the Amish in USA. That was the extent of my willingness to believe in Orks and space colony humans without technology.

However, the Zerg in me warned of possible hostile encounters. The Queen kept up the increased Larvae production while the Hatchery continued to produce Drones, Overlords and Zerglings. Within weeks, I had nearly a hundred Zerglings, though none of them had any upgrades. Since the gas were coming into play, albeit slowly, the upgrades and possibility of upper echelon units were not too far off.

The first use of the newly arrived gas resource was to create the Baneling Nest. In enough numbers, I could use them to clear out vast areas of forest and mountains for bigger Hive Cluster. The presence of Roaches was also an issue. The Roaches were powerful creatures, and if it was true that there were Orks beyond the Gretchins, I may need the bulky bodies of Roaches and their powerful attacks.

I already had nearly 14 Spine Crawlers and 7 Spore Crawlers all around the Primary Hive Cluster, so I was not too bad in defense, but they would not stop a flood of Ork army. I needed something to fight the Orks on equal terms. I thought that a combination of Roaches, Zerglings and Banelings would do the trick. So, I invested more Drones into the harvesting of gas and sulfur.

There were also two new mining shafts on different sides of the colony. The Ultralisk worked tirelessly to make the new shafts and the swarms of Drones continued to feed the Nutrient Pit with ores. Remaining Drones were also put to work clearing a path to south. I wanted to build a series of Hive Clusters between the volcanic southern part of the peninsula and the Primary Hive Cluster.

The cleared vegetations and killed animals were all dropped into the Nutrient Pit and Roaches were extra busy spewing acid into the pit. Sometimes the pit would swell up but I had the Hatchery draw more acid malt to digest. I continued to make more Drones and Zerglings, and soon I was able to make six Roaches. I needed some intelligence in finding where the Orks were.

I sent the Overseer in the direction of the Gretchin's appearance, and then sent it southward. The hills appeared. The mountains appeared. Then the sparse forest appeared. Then there were hills again and the Overseer saw something at the edge of another forest. It was a tiny dot from the sky. When Overseer descended a little and focused the eyes at the dot. It was an Ork base.

It was very similar to the human village in its size but it was shabby. It was made with rock, trees and bits of metal were stuck to the walls. It was messy and it was ugly. Also, it was filled with Orks. The Ork village was built in the forest and without actually clearing the forest. There were trees still in the base with Ork fungus growing on the fallen logs and mushy ground.

There were hundreds of Gretchins and scores of Orks. They didn't have guns, but they did have big axes and swords. They were grunting at each other and hitting each other with their heads. The head butting must be some sort of their crude ritual. I had the Overseer spit out a Changeling. With the Overseer focused on a Gretchin, the Changeling transformed into a Gretchin.

The Orks were preparing for a war. They probably were always at war footing but they were bustling for war. This was not triggered by anything but because they were Orks. These were not the Orks that I imagined. They did not have the Sluggas or Shootas. They didn't have tanks or Killa Kans. They were feral Orks. They were even more primitive than the humans.

The humans were also preparing for war. Although their preparation was weak and much less militaristic, they were organized. My Zergling inside their village, named Tobias by the girl now identified as Alena, noticed that the people were making weapons and men were using sticks to practice swordplay. They also sent a rider on a horse to somewhere.

XOXOXOXOXOXO

"Orks?"

"Yes, baron."

The young baron scoffed as he waved away the messenger. He sat in his plush chair and looked at his advisor.

"What do you think?"

The advisor, a man in heavy plate armor, raised an eyebrow and picked out a rolled map from the bookshelf next to him. He spread it out on the large table.

"This village... Village Polton is right at the edge of your fiefdom and at the edge of the Kingdom too. To the south west is the Dark Forest, and to the direct south are the Brown Hills, then the Brown Mountains and then the Orklands."

The young baron, barely thirty, had thin moustache and he stroked it gently.

"So the Ork threat could be real?"

The knight nodded.

"Yes, baron. It has been ten years, and..."

The baron picked up the thin dagger on the table and stuck it at the Orkland part of the map.

"What was it like? You fought the Orks ten years ago, Sir Beleth. You led my father's knights against the Orks in the Orton Valley and blocked their flanking move against the King's Army."

The knight nodded as he sat down across the baron.

"Yes... Yes, I did. It was glorious. It was truly a victory worthy of the God Emperor's name."

The baron cringed at the name of the Emperor.

"Don't tell me you are still one of those Imperialist Cultist."

The knight raised his eyebrows.

"You should be careful, baron. If you father was alive, you would have been flogged for your heresy."

"He is dead, and has been dead for a decade. I don't care what the King and the old nobles say. I don't believe that the God Emperor will save us from the swinging axe of an Ork. I know you don't believe that either, because if you actually believed that, then you would have chopped my head off years ago."

Beleth sighed deeply.

"When did you lose your faith so much, my young master?"

The baron's face darkened.

"When the vaunted God Emperor refused to save my father."

"That... that was unavoidable."

"So you have said many times."

There was silence. Then the baron spoke again.

"If this is going to be a big attack, then we should be prepared. If this is going to be like the last invasion, then we need to send word to the King."

Beleth shook his head.

"He was reluctant to commit his troops then, and he would be now. Last time, he saw both fiefdoms in the south destroyed before he sent this army. Now we are the forefront of this war."

The baron stroked his beard again.

"Tell me about the Orks."

Beleth nodded.

"Well, Baron Orlando, the Orks are ferocious creatures. They are strong and fast. They love fighting and some of the bigger ones carry boomsticks that fire metal balls with large explosive booms."

Orlando blinked.

"They have gunpowder?"

"Not many boomsticks but they do seem to have some gunpowder."

"If that is true... we need cannons. Do you think the King will provide them?"

Beleth shook his head.

"No... the King will not share them. Neither he nor any of his ancestors have shared their 'magic' weapons with anyone but their closest nobles."

"Who would help us against gunpowder weapons?"

"Hmmm... Duke Hest or Count Faridin may provide their Guards. The King's Imperial Guards will not budge, particularly with the young Duke Galav unifying the northern nobles against the king."

Orlando sighed.

"We should at least prepare for ground attacks. What can I afford?"

"I think you should talk to your Chief Butler, but you have nine fief-knights and they have total of about a hundred well armed men with sword and armor. You have twenty-two armored knights and myself, sixty swordsmen, one hundred ten spearmen, thirty five archers and two hundred eighty men-at-arms with their own weapons."

Orlando frowned.

"How many horses beyond the knights?"

"Fourteen horses in your stables, but I think we can get about thirty more if you can pay for it."

"This is going to cost me a lot..."

"Yes."

"If what you told me about the Orks, then I will need to arm the two hundred eighty men-at-arms with good weapons and armors."

"Then train them."

"Yes.

"That's all money. I am not one of those wealthy eastern barons. I don't think I can actually afford all that."

"Then you will see your fiefdom fall at the hands of the Orks."

Orlando shook his head.

"That I cannot allow. Send words to anyone willing to listen. I need their support fighting the Orks. I am their fence, and it's damn time that they help fix it."

"Yes, my lord."

"Now, I got to practice my sword again."

XOXOXOXOXOXO

The merchant's convoy came, but it did not come alone. It came with unhappy visitor. The merchant convoy of four caravans was headed by a man on horse and ten well armed men. The horsed man was wearing pompous clothes and carried a rapier. He was the most unwelcome man in most of the fiefdom. He was the tax collector.

As Elric and Hargen greeted the convoy, their face hardened to see the tax collector. The village chief, the old man Volran, one-armed warrior who wielded an axe, came out at the word. The tax collector got off his horse and faced the chief. Although the chief was about a head taller and full of muscled despite nearly forty years old body, the chubby tax collector held his head high.

The chief bowed his head.

"Master Nellus, you grace us with your presence much earlier than expected. The harvest has not yet begun."

Nellus the tax collector scoffed.

"Well, I will come back again at harvest, chief Volran. I am here because of the special tax."

"Special tax?"

"Oh, yes. Thanks to your warnings about the impending Ork invasion, the Baron Olrando has issued special tax decree."

"What?"

"We are drafting special tax. You are to hand over ten swords, ten spears, five bows and ten suits of armor. Also, I am drafting ten of your youngest adults."

Hargen and Elric had to grab Volran back from hitting the taxman. Volran breathed deep.

"Master Nellus, does the Baron not realize that our village will be at the very front of this Ork attack? We need every man and woman defending the village? In fact, we should be asking the Baron for men and weapons. Now, you want to take weapons and men from us?"

Nellus was quick for a chubby man when he drew his rapier. The narrow blade stopped right in front of Volran's neck.

"Any sign of refusal could easily be interpreted as a sign of rebellion, chief."

When Volran nodded, Nellus sheathed the blade. Then he saw Alena and Tobias watching from behind. Nellus frowned.

"What is that creature?"