Acid Burns

The Kerrigan had guided the behemoth to ultimate victory in the battle, at the price of
its wounds. Now she looked through its tired eyes, scanning the region for a suitable resting
place.
There, in the system ahead. A planet with a nitrous-oxygen atmosphere, and carbon-
based life. Life that the behemoth, and the thousands of zerg carried in the cavernous
membranes of its body, could consume to survive. To heal. The Kerrigan guided the behemoth
towards its destination.
After a time — an hour, a day, a week, a month? Time meant little to one so old — the
living ship entered the planet's gravity well. The drifting clouds were thick, obscuring the
terrain. When the behemoth broke through, it recognized some features. It had seen other
planets like this, with mountains and trees, and green covering the land. It had rested, once,
on a planet such as this. There would be rich proteins here, perhaps even mammalian life.
Life. Yes! The behemoth sensed biological heat clustered below. Instinctively it adjusted
its descent path towards the source.
* * *
Brach watched the raven feeds come in, and sent them to Lee. They'd both fought in
the First Contact War, and they knew what to expect. Zerglings, mutalisks, hydralisks... but
there was something else he didn't recognize.
"Major, what the hell are those?"
Lee left the main console to stand beside Brach and scan the static-worn images on
the feed. He pointed to a column of squat multilegged zerg scuttling over a layer of creep.
5