In 417 of the Federal Era, interstellar scavenger Ryder huddled in the shadow of a rusted Zerg battlecruiser wreck🔦. His breathing mask was frosted with cold condensation, and when his fingertips first touched this cobalt blue blade, the biometric alarm on his wrist let out a sharp whine⚠️. This "Abyss Echo: Cobalt Bone-Eating Tactical Dagger of the Void Marauders" was a standard sidearm of the Zerg Expeditionary Force. The hollowed-out structure on the blade was not for weight reduction, but to store the Zerg's neurotoxin sacs💉; the holes in the grip still bore traces of long-dried alien biological tissue🦠. Ryder had seen records of it in the top-secret files of the Federal Military: Zerg warriors wielding this blade could control nearby parasite swarms through the neural link embedded in the blade, and even transfer their own consciousness into new hosts. Three years ago, the Federal Seventh Fleet was destroyed by a Zerg strike team equipped with these blades, and the entire crew was reduced to vessels for the parasites. Just as he was about to stow the blade into his bio-containment storage pod, the blade suddenly glowed with a faint blue light, and a low, insect-like hum vibrated from the depths of the wreck🔊. On Ryder's mask display, an unidentifiable biological signal suddenly popped up, its source directly beneath him, less than three meters away……