Saturday, October 09, 2004
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Laurier Burelle -- Starcraft Fanfic -- "The Last of All Problems" -- Part 1
PG-13 (crude language, violence, mild suggestive themes)
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Completed
Summary: Two years after the Brood War, as Kerrigan prepares to slaughter her enemies for good, a problem arises...
Prologue
The dust had settled on the Kopruru sector, and the Zerg had emerged
victorious, defeating the UED, the Protoss and the Dominion during the Brood
War's bloody climax. It seemed that the Zerg and their leader, the infested
terran Kerrigan, were unstoppable. The Zerg's enemies lived in fear,
desperately trying to rebuild their defenses. A few Protoss had even deserted
the Conclave and the Dark Templar, choosing to go with the terran Raynor
instead. It had already been two years, and Kerrigan had rebuilt an
unstoppable strike force, ready to destroy her enemies once and for all. But
just when she thought it was over for her enemies, a problem now arose, and it
arose from the terran she had once loved
The Last of all
Problems
Chapter 1
Kerrigan was inside one of her Overlords,
seeming worried about something. It was understandable, since the situation,
though not desperate, was potentially dangerous itself: The renegade terrans,
led by a dashing knight in shining armor named Jim Raynor, had recently
developed a way to restore her infested minions to their former terran selves.
They only needed the presence of a person who actually remembered the one
infested as a terran well enough.
That infested person would simply wear a special
helmet on the head and memories of the patient's older self would simply be
channeled through it. Preceding it would be a wave of psionic energy to weaken
his or her mind defenses. That way, the rejection of seeing old memories would
be reduced enough to a measly 0.5%, in most cases eventually restoring the
patient's old self psychologically. Then, physically, the person would only
need a special treatment for a couple of months to be cured.
She knows, because those were the last images of
an infested terran that she had spent a year probing, which all ended by a
single switch being turned on, after which the helmet did its job well. In
fact, it could've almost comatosed her; if it were not for her cerebrate
Daggoth's timely interjection to cut her link with her minion.
Even though it would take a lot of psionic
energy, even her, the powerful and deadly Queen of the Blades, was still in
precarious position to be---cured.
She visited Mengsk, pretending to wish to
negotiate a peace treaty, while instead erasing every memory he had of her as
she had been, all thanks to her deadly psionic powers. Her cerebrates
criticized that move, claiming she should have killed him. But Kerrigan wanted
Mengsk to live, for now. He had saved her from the former Confederacy, and
now, finally, they would be even. Afterwards, with Mengsk out of the way, she
began hunting down the very last terran that remembered her as her older self:
Commander Jim Raynor, the terran she had once loved.
It was not easy, though. Raynor was smart,
strategic and cunning. She'd tracked him for years, but never had she been
able to catch a glimpse of him or his little group of terran renegades and
protoss units; he was as slippery as Mengsk if not better, somehow sensing her
presence a day away, even with the constant servitude of her spies amongst his
men that were now all purged by his new toy.
She was interrupted in her thoughts by one of
her cerebrates. It said,
"My queen, we have arrived at the designated
location."
"Let me guess, no terran or protoss ship
anywhere around. Am I right?" the queen answered in a bored voice.
"On the contrary, my queen. Our scouting units
have spotted a battlecruiser right in front of us. They say it looks like the
Hyperion!"
Kerrigan was starting to be excited. She was
sure that Raynor would be there. She immediately said,
"Get this overlord near the Hyperion's main
hatch, now!"
She then hurried off to get her old gun from a
box the old overmind had it put in. She glanced at it and smiled. All of this
was just an assassination. Only this time, she was the hunter, not just the
weapon.
Her slow, bulking overlord took fifteen full
minutes to reach the Hyperion's main hatch. With adrenaline pumping through
her infested veins, Kerrigan yelled out, "Raynor, get ready to die, you
b&*?%&*!!!"
She mentally ordered one of her mutalisks to
breach the hatch's door, but as it sent its glave wurm on it, the door blew
up, killing the mutalisk and shaking the overlord that Kerrigan was in.
She said to herself, "Just as I suspected. They
were expecting me." Then, the overlord she was in grabbed her with its
tentacles and threw her inside the ship. Kerrigan started dashing through the
battlecruiser, eyeing with anxiety the spot where the hatch's door had been
seconds ago, with an emergency door quickly closing up. What other tricks had
Raynor prepared for her?
Chapter 2: The Ship of Deception
Kerrigan, having just entered the battlecruiser,
noticed it wasn't the Hyperion, which the scouting units first thought it was.
Knowing the ship well, she started to realize that she'd been set up. Yet, she
wouldn't stop. She wanted to kill Raynor so badly that nothing would be able
to stand between her and her prey. Her twisted mind even acted out a scenario
where Raynor's decapitated head was next to Artanis and Zeratul's, plotted
nicely in her incubation chamber as a dazzling ornament in it.
Then, she started to tread carefully inside of
the warship, treating every door like a pressure-sensitive bomb. A few times,
she heard noises that sounded like embedded machine gun getting out of the
walls, but every time she turned to check, no guns were seen. "Perhaps I'm
getting paranoid", she thought, wondering if that's what Raynor wanted.
Because of her precautions, it took Kerrigan
almost half an hour to reach the center of the ship, at which point she
noticed a door that had the Captain's insignia etched upon it. Though it was
vaulted in neo-steel, she blew the lock away with her gun's armor-piercing
canisters and entered.
The dark queen was in a strange, dimly lit room.
Her analytical mind later wandered over the three corners of the room, hinting
its triangular architecture. There was also had a door at each wall, including
the one she came in from. The room seemed empty as she looked around it, with
her heat-sensitive eyes focused on the shadowy corners. A familiar voice
called out to her. She was puzzled, since she had not sensed anyone there.
The enigmatic voice echoed in crescendo, "Why,
if it isn't Sarah Kerrigan! How are you doin', honey?"
"Don't call me that!" she snarled, "Sarah
Kerrigan is dead, impertinent fool, and I am the Queen of blades, leader of
the Swarm!"
"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, sure took you a while."
Jim Raynor's voice said, nonchalantly.
She replied angrily, "Jim! Where are you? What
is this place? I demand that you answer me!!!"
"Calm down. Nothin' is going to happen to
youŅfor now."
"What do you mean, "for now"? Come out and speak
to me face to face, you jerk!!!!"
After she made that comment, Kerrigan looked at
the door on the far left, which opened. Then, she saw the one she wanted to
kill, Jim Raynor, who was coming out of that door and walking slowly towards
her. He looked expressionless and calm, as though he was prepared for combat.
In addition, he was wearing a thick combat armor, with a gun in his hands. He
said,
"What do you want to talk about, sweetheart?" he
teased, "And come to think of it, why would the Queen of Blades come in person
to investigate an abandoned battlecruiser?"
"Since you asked," her lips twisted a wicked
smile, "Jim, I know about this new treatment, I know that you can cure me. In
fact, I'd be ready to bet all that I have that you lured me here for that
reason. Am I right?"
"Clever as always, Kerrigan. Now, darlin', come
with me peacefully, or die." Saying those words, he took his gauss rifle and
pointed it at Kerrigan's head. "Now, are you coming or not?" he finally said.
Kerrigan deftly drew her canister rifle, but
darted onto the ground when Jim Raynor opened fire.
The Zerg Queen then did a gravity-defying
somersault into the air, barely touching the ceiling lights. In mid-air, she
quickly pointed her rifle towards Raynor's heart and fired. The canister
smoked out of the rifle and impacted an armored surface. "I did it!" she
thought. But after a few seconds, Jim Raynor started to speak in a fuzzy and
repeating robotic, inhuman voice. He said many things quickly, though only
this could be heard clearly,
"..WARNING! COOLING SYSTEM OFFLINE! SYSTEM
OVERLOAD! EXPLOSION IMMINENT!Ņ.WARNING!"
"Oh, ####," Kerrigan cursed shamelessly. This
wasn't Jim Raynor: It was a robot impersonating him, and it was about to
explode!. She ran for the door, but too late. The robot exploded, engulfing
Kerrigan and the entire room in bright flames. The force of the impact sent
Kerrigan flying through the wall of the room and on to the metallic floor of
the hallway.
It took hours before a hydralisk (sent by
Daggoth) could find her. When Kerrigan was carried back into the ship, her
cerebrate was astonished to see her so weakened. He asked her what had
happened, and she yelled vehemently in great anger, yet explaining the
situation, from the exploding door to the false Raynor. Then, she finished
with one comment:
"It took so long for your units to find me that
I thought you left me behind."
Daggoth's reply showed not indignation but he
sounded like he found it amusing that she made that comment. He said: "My
Queen, may I remind you of what happened the last time you thought I had
betrayed you?"
"No need to remind me. That was a huge mistake
on my part. But what exactly happened? You never told me."
"Why would you wish to know?"
"Because, I want to be sure you aren't on
Raynor's side."
"Sorry, my Queen, but I'd wish to keep that for
myself."
"If you wish."
Daggoth remembered the events only too well.
**Flashback**
Daggoth was desperate. The Overmind had been
destroyed and Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades and the Overmind's "protge", was
now claiming the leadership of the Swarm.
"This worthless terran does not deserve to lead
the Swarm." he said to another cerebrate.
"Daggoth, you must understand; our leader, the
Overmind, is gone," The other cerebrate said "and we are completely useless by
ourselves. Unless the Overmind would come back from the dead驅"
Daggoth interrupted him, "What if we would make
our own Overmind?"
"What are you saying?"
"You heard me. We could make our own Overmind by
fusing all of us together. We would gloriously lead the Swarm through a new
era. What do you think, Crass?"
"It may work. I am convinced. I shall gather all
of us as quickly as I can."
A few weeks later
Crass told Daggoth, "I gathered almost all of
us. There are still some of us who'd follow this weak terran."
Daggoth asked, surprised, "Why is that?"
"When I approached them, that fool Araq started
to interfere, saying that Kerrigan was the rightful leader of us all, that the
Overmind had left her to lead us, and that we would only cause great disaster.
That imbecile. He only follows her because he had to protect her while she was
in her chrysalis."
"Well, he does have a fair point"
"How can you say that, Daggoth? Weren't you the
one who got me into this in the first place?"
"Yes, butŅ"
"No buts. I will not let you back out now. And
do not expect you'll be able to go back to your weak terran leader. I'll
insure myself that you'll be known as a traitor. Farewell, weakling."
Daggoth escaped and left the Kopruru sector,
realizing that death awaited him would he even approach Kerrigan or the new
Overmind.
Time passes on, until the end of the Brood
war
Daggoth, angry and betrayed, had been hidden on
a distant, unknown planet, for years, trying to arrive to a conclusion about
Kerrigan. Was she worthy of trust or not?
"I cannot make a decision without seeing her
leadership. Even if it would be dangerous, I'll go back to her, for now, and
see for myself how well she leads the Swarm."
Feeling embarrassed about taking so long to make
such a simple decision, Daggoth went to Char, clearly ready to see what
Kerrigan could do. Upon his arrival, though, another cerebrate's voice echoed
in his mind, saying,
"I am Araq, second in command to the Queen of
the Swarm, Kerrigan. Leave immediately, or see my wrath!"
Daggoth said, "Araq? I am Daggoth, cerebrate of
the former Overmind."
"Daggoth? Impossible! You were one of the rogues
who fused into that other Overmind. The foolHis overmind got manipulated by a
terran force from Earth. Kerrigan stopped both easily, though."
"She vanquished an entire terran force AND the
new Overmind?" Daggoth asked, quickly realizing how
"In addition to the protoss."
Daggoth thought, "Astonishing. She's a better
leader than I thought."
Araq said, "What were you thinking?"
"Oh, hem, could you please announce to the Queen
that one of the first Overmind's best cerebrates has returned to her?"
"Of course. She'll be quite pleased."
**Flashback end**
Daggoth had been so lost in thought that he
didn't hear Kerrigan talking. She said:
"Daggoth? Are you listening?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes, my Queen. What were you saying?"
Kerrigan answered, clearly annoyed: "I was
asking if you had the blockade I asked for done."
"Yes, of course," Daggoth replied. "We have
placed a wall of Mutalisks and guardians everywhere around those planets, plus
some ground units as support."
"Good. Raynor won't have reinforcements. Has our
spy called yet?"
"No, my Queen. I think he'll do so soon,
though."
"I hope he hasn't been discovered...."
Chapter 3: The death of a traitor
Worried, Kerrigan said, "Daggoth, we have to
contact our spy right away."
Daggoth, surprised by Kerrigan's spontaneity,
answered, "But my Queen, what if he's with Raynor or another one of your
enemies?"
"Daggoth, I wouldn't talk to him. I just want to
check if he's all right. I just have a bad feelingŅ" Smiling, she continued,
"If he's on a meeting with Raynor, we'll be spying on our enemies anyway."
"Fine, then." Daggoth concluded as Kerrigan took
out a small communications switch, with the device placed on her lip and in
her ear. The whole lot had been taken from one of the infested terran bases.
Kerrigan looked at it and, smiling, turned it
on. Almost immediately, she jumped in surprise: It seemed as though Raynor was
yelling at someone. He yelled,
"YOU FREAKIN' IDIOT! YOU ALMOST JEOPARDIZED THE
WHOLE MISSION! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I SAID THAT THE GOAL OF THE MISSION IS TO
SAVE KERRIGAN, NOT TO KILL HER? AND YOU JUST GO AHEAD AND BOMB THE FREAKIN'
DOOR! NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT BEFORE I KILL YOU!"
A protoss voice then said, "As you wish."
Footsteps were heard and gradually faded out.
Another human voice said, "You have to admit
that your drone is what came closer to killing Kerrigan"
Raynor interrupted him: "Yeah, but that wasn't
its purpose, damn it! If only Kerrigan hadn't shot the cooling system, there
wouldn't have been a problem."
"Unless she'd have shot the fueling system in
the head."
"Okay, okay, I get it, Kirger. It's my fault, is
it? Why are you talking to me like I did something horrible, anyway?"
"You shouldn't have been this hard with him."
"Look, I know he didn't kill her, but it's not
like he didn't try. He actually tried to implant a mini-nuclear explosive
inside the drone! Good thing I caught him taking it from the armory. Anyway,
we got other things to discuss for now. Have you contacted the Protoss about
getting reinforcements?"
He answered: "Yes. There seems to be a zerg
blockade around Aiur and Shakuras. The Protoss have told me they have no way
of leaving those planets because the zerg, in addition to their blockade, have
actually taken control of every starport as well as all interplanetary
transport. In other words, our protoss allies are in too much of a tight spot
to be of help."
Raynor answered, "Damn. Kerrigan truly is a
royal pain in the @$$. So now, we have to do one thing that we haven't
planned: We have to contact any and all of the remaining UED ships, if they
weren't all completely obliterated. If we have to stand tall against the
entire Swarm, we'll need all the help we can get. I'll take care of that now.
You're dismissed."
Footsteps were heard but didn't fade out like
the protoss' footsteps, meaning the one who carried the communicator was
moving. After five minutes, the footsteps stopped and the noise of a door
opening was heard, followed by the noise of a door closing. The man who Raynor
had called Kirger then spoke:
"My Queen, were you listening?"
Kerrigan, on her side of the communications
device, answered: "Yes. Who was Raynor yelling at? And why?"
The man's voice answered, "Raynor was yelling at
Kalis, the leader of the protoss section of his fleet. It seems that he placed
a bomb on the battlecruiser's door even though Raynor gave strict orders not
to place anything on the ship to kill you. I think he..."
But he didn't have time to finish his sentence
that the noise of a door being kicked open could be heard. Kerrigan heard
gunshots followed by a comment by Raynor, "The @$$hole". He then followed in a
loud and clear voice:
"Kerrigan, I know you can hear me, wherever you
are. Listen: I don't want to hurt you, but if you want a war, you'll get it."
Kerrigan turned off the communications device
and sat down. She looked devastated at the loss of her informant, tears
forming in her eyes with incredible fury barely held back. Daggoth, worried,
said:
"Why are you being so emotional, my Queen? It's
not like you. Usually, you'd go thrashing around the room, destroying
everything you see. But now...."
Kerrigan answered before Daggoth even finished
his sentence, "My minions are so numerous that I'm losing my control over
them, especially with so few of you cerebrates left to assist me. Not only
that, but I'm going insane: I'm hearing voices, voices from the depth of my
mind. There's a part of me that wants Raynor to cure me." Kerrigan shuddered
at the thought. "And to put the icing on the cake, my only spy left in his
army has just been killed. Now, he could just try and sneak up on me and I'd
have no way of knowing. I'm losing control, Daggoth, and I'm afraid that I'll
take down the Swarm with me. Isn't that enough for you to understand my
reactions?"
Daggoth said, "You are facing a great battle, my
Queen. Let us fight your enemies. You have your own mind to fight against.
Now, please get some rest."
"Ok. I'll follow your advice. Have Araq replace
you in managing of the protoss worlds' blockade. I have other plans for you. I
want you to try and hunt down Raynor while I am not there. Raynor is going to
try to find UED remnants, but he won't succeed, because my personal brood
eliminated every single one of them, so don't worry about him getting
reinforcements. I will be back shortly." Exhausted, Kerrigan left, eager for
some sleep.
"I hope so, my Queen," Daggoth said when
Kerrigan had left. I hope so..."
Chapter 4: Old friends, new allies
Raynor was standing angrily, his arm still
suspended in that firing position so that the pistol trigger was still
squeezed tightly between his fingers. His uniformed jacket was stained in
crimson blood. He looked down at the man who was once his trusted second in
command, Lieutenant Kirger, an officer that was now nothing more than a bloody
corpse. The traitor was caught contacting the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan.
Jim Raynor's heart pulsed with rage, even after
he'd killed him. The thought of emptying the entire clip just to quench his
intense fury filled his mind, but then, a concerned marine timely busted into
the room. He asked what was going on, a question to which Raynor answered
coldly,
"What just happened is that I just killed a
traitor. He got what he deserved."
"Sir!" the marine replied, "that's not the way
we usually treat traitors. Why did you do that?"
"Private, that's not of your business." He
snapped angrily, pausing a moment before he continued. "Anyway, help me carry
this b@$+@Ŭ!'s body into the incinerator," he finally said. The private was
surprised by the outburst, but nonetheless, he silently did what he was told.
They both carried the body to the incinerator and burned it down, with the
marine looking quite puzzled. The marine stood there as he watched his
commander walking away, banging on the steel walls due to his great anger.
As Jim Raynor walked back to his room, the
marine's words rang in his ear: "Sir, that's not the way we usually treat
traitors. Why did you do that?" It kind of ticked him off. He didn't answer it
at the time. He probably should have, but whatever the case, he knew the
reason. He was becoming as sadistic and merciless as his enemies. And the more
he thought of it, the more he yearned for this senseless war to end sooner. He
sighed and said to himself: "I should be more careful now. I never thought
Kirger could be a traitor. One thing's for sure: With today's events, I can't
be sure of everyone's loyalty. But one thing the traitor said was true: I've
been too harsh with Kalis. He's probably the most loyal of my men. Maybe I
should apologize."
Afterwards, Raynor headed towards Kalis' room.
Arrived there, he knocked on the door and said:
"Hey man. Sorry about earlier, but you had
disregarded a direct order. Can we talk?" Seeing there was no response, he
said, "Listen, I've got to speak to you, so please open your freakin' door,
you hear me?" The door opened and Kalis gave sign to Raynor to come in. He was
a Protoss zealot that was barely taller than Raynor, and his eyes were a deep,
dark blue. He was looking at Raynor with both guilt and anger in his eyes. He
said,
"If you are going to remove me from command, I
understand."
"Not going to happen," Raynor replied, "since
you're the most trustworthy manno, Protoss, I've got," he corrected. "More
than I can say for Kirger. I caught him contacting the zerg. In fact, I'm sure
he told Kerrigan about the new treatment."
Kalis answered, unable to believe it, "Are you
serious?" Raynor nodded. Kalis roared in a psionic crescendo, "The treacherous
fiend. Where is he now?" his protoss energy blades materialized in front of
the startled Raynor who almost reached for his pistol.
Perturbed, yet impressed, the shocked commander
quickly said, "Dead. Shot him in the face when he looked surprised to see me
as he was communicating with Kerrigan."
"I see." Kalis had a look of utmost disgust in
his eyes. "Who will replace him?"
"I don't know. And I have to do an announcement
to the crew right now. Are you coming?"
"Give me a few minutes."
After Kalis made his preparations, he and Raynor
headed towards the command room. When they arrived, Raynor took a radio and
turned it on, after which he announced Kirger's treachery and death to his
whole army. He also said that those wanting to become leader of the terran
section of the army would have to formally announce it to Raynor in the next
two days. When he finished his announcement, he said to Kalis,
"I need to talk strategy with you. You got a
while?"
"Yes, of course. What do you need to talk
about?"
"Well, do you have an idea for finding
reinforcements? And don't tell me to go to Aiur and Shakuras to see your
protoss pals. The zerg have got the protoss pinned down in that sector."
"How about Zeratul?"
"He's nowhere to be found."
"And what about the Terran Dominion?"
"If we try to contact Mengsk, he's dead.
Kerrigan doesn't go after him because he doesn't know about the new treatment,
but if we contact him, he's busted. Maybe if he communicated with us, it would
work. He does have an IJS (Interception Jamming System), so Kerrigan wouldn't
hear a thing if she were to intercept the communication. Anyway, other ideas?"
"The UED, maybe."
"That's what Kerrigan thinks I will do. But I
know that they're all reduced to cinders, so I won't look for them."
"And the..."
He was interrupted by a loud beep, which was
announcing an incoming transmission. Then a familiar voice said,
"Hello, Jim. It's been a while." Afterwards,
Arcturus Mengsk appeared on the screens near the center of the room. Raynor
said:
"Mengsk? How are you doing? Is your IJS
functioning?"
"My IJS?" Mengsk said in a surprised voice.
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"Because you'd be dead if it weren't."
"Mmm. Seems something heavy is going on here.
Looks like the rumors were true. I was well inspired to call you. Please brief
me in on the situation."
Raynor, still surprised, said, "Okay. Well, we
discovered a treatment that can return infested terrans to their older selves.
Only, for it to work, a person with reminiscence of the infested person as a
terran has to be present. Anyway, it's long to explain. By the way, is it true
that Kerrigan erased your memories of her older self, just in case?"
"I don't know what memories you are talking
about. And what do you mean by older self?"
"####. Then she did. She's getting really
dangerous. Anyway, forget about it. Now, to continue with what I was saying,
we discovered that treatment, and I'm the only one with memories of Kerrigan
as a terran. And if we cure her, the main zerg leader will be out of the way.
But to do so, we'll need help from the protoss. Now where were Kirger's
mapsŅah, there they are." He then clicked on a button and holograms
representing Aiur and Shakuras appeared in the center of the room. They were
completely surrounded by red dots. He then said: "The red dots represent the
zerg blockade which was placed around the protoss home worlds of Aiur and
Shakuras recently. If we are to get help from the protoss, we'll need to
obliterate that blockade. For that, I'll need all the ships you've got."
"I see." Mengsk answered. "But my fleet won't be
able to destroy that many zerg air units. If only my air units had the power
of siege tanks, it'd be another story, but..."
"Sir. I have an idea!" Kalis said. "Let's use
your dropships!"
"What?" Mengsk and Raynor said together, and
Raynor continued, "Are you nuts, Kalis? They don't even have weapons! They'll
be slaughtered!"
"I don't think you understand my point." Kalis
said. "If we put two siege tanks in siege mode in each, with only the cannons
sticking out of the cargo doors..."
Mengsk said, "Why, young protoss, you are truly
a master strategistwell, for a protoss anyway. I think it'd work rather well.
We should start to adapt our dropships right away, because we'll need to
hermetically close the dropships for that plan to work. We don't want our
siege tanks sucked in space, do we?"
Raynor said, "I agree. Let's do the assault on
the blockade in three days. I'll take Shakuras and you'll take Aiur, okay?"
Mengsk answered, laughing, "Calm down, Jim.
You're too nervous." He then returned to a serious tone. "If we are to
succeed, we'll need all our units to open fire at the same time. We absolutely
need the element of surprise. We'll open fire exactly at 1400 hours in three
days around Aiur and I advise you to do the same for Shakuras. By the way,
don't forget ground units to take back any building the zerg would have
conquered."
Raynor concluded, "We have an agreement. See ya,
Mengsk." He turned off the screen, turned towards Kalis and said: "Go and warn
all troops under your command to prepare for battle, and especially your air
units. I'll warn the others." He headed back towards his office with a huge
battle ahead of him.
His preparations were nothing special, other
than the fact that his new terran section leader was Lieutenant Dan Kealer, a
very violent firebat with very direct strategies. He was enthusiastic at
becoming such a highly ranked officer, but he made it clear that he'd always
hang out with "the boys", as he called the other subordinates.
It seemed like only a second had passed since
the discussion with Mengsk when it was the time of the battle. Raynor was now
in the Hyperion, at 1359 hours, ready to give the order. Little did he know
about the huge repercussions this battle would have on the entire galaxy...
Chapter 5: the battle for the protoss
Raynor was looking at the time, counting the
seconds until the time of the battle. All of his ships and his arranged
dropship-siege tank hybrids looked ready. 20 seconds before 1400 hours, he
said,
"Ok, boys and girls. All of you open fire at my
signal."
Constant radio traffic was ringing in Raynor's
ears, but he didn't care, as the Hyperion was now locking on to a group of
guardians, yamato gun ready.
10 seconds. "This'd better work." a wraith pilot
said.
9 seconds. "All air units have a lock on the
enemy." That was Dan Kealer, inside his own battlecruiser.
8 seconds. Raynor said. "To all the arranged
dropships' pilots." 7 seconds. "Open throttle towards the planet at full speed
at my signal to counteract the shots' recoil." 6 seconds.
5...4...3...2...1.... 1400 hours. Raynor yelled:
"OPEN FIRE! FIRE AT WILL!"
The Hyperion opened fire towards the enemy
guardian group in front of it, obliterating it with its Yamato gun. With a
little smile, Raynor looked outside to see how the rest of his crew was
faring.
The arranged dropships were doing great, their
blasts simply tearing the zerg to pieces. The wraiths and valkyries were
lethal as well, the mutalisks' wings simply desintegrating at the contact of
spread missiles, as the twin ones easily destroyed their bodies. 75% of the
blockade was destroyed and Raynor's raiders were destroying all that was left,
with the zerg too taken by surprise to do a serious counterattack. Raynor
could hear lots of comments like "This is going to be easy" on his radio.
Raynor could only agree, until he saw what was coming out of the planet at
lightning speed.
Scourges, in packs of hundreds, even thousands.
Raynor quickly ordered all unoccupied units to take them down. Valkyries went
to meet them head on, destroying most of them in bloody explosions with their
halo spread missiles. But around fifty of them sneaked past and headed towards
the Hyperion. The crew aboard was panicking, desperately trying to shoot them,
but they only managed to destroy a dozen, while around twenty managed to take
a run towards the wraiths, destroying most of them in explosions of blood and
metal. Raynor knew he was dead. He closed his eyes, waiting for the scourges
to hit his ship, but anti-matter missiles came out of nowhere and obliterated
the scourges. Raynor turned around to see what happened.
A squadron made of corsairs and scouts was
heading towards them, destroying all the zerg in its way. From one of them
came a communication. The protoss speaking was none other than Zeratul:
"En taro Adun, Raynor. I heard that you were going to attack that blockade, so I
thought I could be of help. Are you going to take care of Aiur's blockade
afterwards?"
"No." Raynor answered. "Mengsk is doing so right
now. I think he's nuts. He's risking to be killed by Kerrigan just to attack a
blockade himself. Though it IS true that if my new second in command would
have lead the attack, it probably would have been a disaster. He's way too
reckless, but he's one HELL of a fighter."
"Talking about recklessness," Zeratul said in a
low voice, "I heard you have young Kalis leading the protoss units of your
army. Never have I seen such a reckless being among us protoss. I strongly
advise you to supervise him very closely, because if ever he would act without
thinking as he usually does, the consequences could be disastrous..."
"Sir!" Lieutenant Kealer interrupted Zeratul.
"The entire Zerg blockade is now obliterated. Nothin's left of 'em."
"Good." Raynor answered. He then took his radio
and said: "To all non-modified dropships! Head towards the surface of the
planet immediately. All wraiths must immediately escort them. I repeat! All
non-modified dropships must head towards the planet and all wraiths must
escort them." He then turned off his radio and said to the crew,
"Ok, guys. Let's go towards the planet as well.
Ready my vulture bike!"
When Raynor arrived on the surface of the
planet, he had the Hyperion's cargo doors opened and zoomed out of them with
his vulture. He could then see the situation on land.
Protoss units were already doing a serious
attack, as Zeratul had taken his dark templar to fight the zerg on land. But
unfortunately, the zerg weren't taken by surprise by this assault. It wasn't
rare to see a dark templar die in a cloud of smoke, mainly because of the
presence of overlords above them. Zeratul said,
"Scouts! Attack the overlords!"
The scouts moved in while the overlords,
completely unarmed, tried to run away from the fearsome protoss ships.
Unfortunately for them, the scouts were too quick and the overlords were
quickly blown away by the protoss' anti-matter missiles.
Raynor's raiders attacked the zerg head on, with
Kealer in the front line, Raynor and Kalis by his side.
"YEEE-HAAWWW" Kealer said, after burning a
nearby hydralisk's face, "Let's barbecue!" He then burned a zergling to a
crisp, a sadistic look upon his face. Kalis, in his zealot uniform, sliced two
zerglings' heads in half. He had a sadistic look upon his face. He definitely
liked killing the zerg.
Meanwhile, Raynor, in his vulture, stared in awe
as an ultralisk headed straight towards him. He immediately started running
away from that deadly behemoth, but it continued tailing him. Raynor then had
an idea. He planted a spider mine, which blew right under the Ultralisk's
belly, killing it instantly. Satisfied of his victory over that ultralisk, he
ran over a couple of zerglings. He then used them as a ramp to go straight up
in the air towards a guardian which was aiming at Kealer, landing a spider
mine right on the guardian's head, gruesomely destroying it in a huge
explosion. After landing back on the ground, Raynor then saw something that
made him rejoice.
An entire army of zealots and dragoons came to
attack the zerg. The zealots rushed to join the battle and engaged them in a
shocking rear assault while the spider-looking dragoons crawled in, casting
explosive energy over the zerg randomly, hidden safely behind the zealots. The
swarm started running purposelessly around in panic, and most of them were
easily destroyed. After the battle, a high templar went to meet Raynor. He
said,
"En Taro Adun, terran. I am very pleased with
the help you have given us. But why did you help us? And also, are my eyes
betraying me, or are there protoss warriors among you?"
"Your eyes aren't betraying you." Kalis said.
"There are a few of us who have joined this terran's army. He has helped us
protoss very much in the past. His name's Jim Raynor."
"You're Jim Raynor?" The high templar said,
looking at Raynor, surprised. "I have been spoken highly of you by many.
Please consider you and your army as our guests. Of course, we could help you
in any way we could."
"Funny you say that." Raynor said. "Cause that's
exactly what I want. You see, we..."
But he was interrupted by a communication by
Mengsk, "Jim? Are you there?"
Raynor answered, "Yeah. I'm here. What's up?"
"Well..." Mengsk was interrupted by a huge
explosion. He continued, "We're in a lot of trouble here. We easily took out
the blockade, but they had a huge ground army and they ambushed my men. We
need reinforcements right now!"
The bearded commander was smiling wryly. Why?
No. I could let him fry, like he had let Kerrigan to the Zerg. He mused to
himself, a big grin on his face. He blinked and paused for a moment, and
slowly, his grin began to fade. He blinked again. "I'm no turncoat.", he
muttered inwardly. "Ok." Raynor answered to the com-link. He turned towards
Kalis and said, "Kalis! Go tell every one of your units to get ready to go to
Aiur. Since we took this side of the interplanetary gate, it shouldn't be a
problem to get there. Kealer, go tell your guys to prepare as well."
"Yes, sir." Kalis and Kealer answered before
quickly leaving.
"We'll help you." The high templar said. "We
want to save our homeland." In a resolute voice that indicated his decision,
he sent a powerful psionic message, "KHALAI! GATHER."
"And don't think you'll get rid of me!" Zeratul
said. "I care about my ancient homeland as well. Besides, I want to see how
Artanis is doing as leader of the Protoss." He added, and then he too reached
out. "DARK BRETHRENS, GATHER!"
"All right then, we'll take 'em down together."
The relented Raynor finally uttered, and then he simply rode his vulture into
the ramp of a dropship that timely landed, having honed into his pickup
beacon. The docking claps retracted as the dropship gracefully maneuvered into
the air while the Protoss looked on. Soon, corsairs, shuttles and even terran
dropships landed together on the surface.
Raynor alighted from his bike and sauntered to a
window by the dropship's hull. He looked through it. Seeing thousands of tiny
dots flocking towards the nearest spacecraft, he said to himself. "This might
work after all." His face plastered on the dropship window, from an external
view, grew further and further away as the ship grew smaller and smaller as
well. It was until the dropship was reduced to a dot-like firefly in vertical
flight. The dot exited the planet and flew into the fleet of battlecruisers in
standard orbital formation. Hence, a battlecruiser broke from formation and
simply swallowed the dot.
A minute later, hundreds of firefly-like dots
exited from the planet as well. And then the entire battlecruiser fleet
mobilized and intercepted them anxiously.
"Sir!" Kalis and Kealer said, having just
arrived. Kalis continued, "All of my units are ready for departure." Kealer
then said: "Same here."
Raynor then said, "Alright, then. Let's go!"
After which, the space cruisers stayed in standby for a full-scale fleet
hyperspace jump.
Chapter 6: A hard return to reality
It had been three days since Kerrigan had left
her loyal cerebrates in charge of the Swarm. Raynor and Mengsk seemed to have
joined forces, each of them attacking one of Kerrigan's blockades. Araq, the
one left to organize the blockades, was starting to panic. Shakuras had
already fallen back to the protoss, and Aiur was barely standing tall against
Mengsk's huge army. But the worst had yet to come for the zerg.
Yet Kerrigan didn't know any of this, as she was
attempting to rest, following Daggoth's advise, though she hadn't gotten much
rest. Another presence in her was constantly speaking to her, saying things
like "You should go back where you belong." constantly keeping her awake, but
never had it taken any visible form, until then.
Noticing the other presence seemed to have left,
Kerrigan attempted to sleep, which would be the best way to forget about her
troubles. But as she fell asleep, instead of sleeping, she felt transported.
"Is this a dream?" She thought, as she was transported to the very bottom of
her mind. In that place, she was surrounded by darkness; A dark light, which
seemed to hide something. Then, the voice Kerrigan dreaded to hear came to her
ears, saying,
"Who are you, Kerrigan?"
"Me? I am Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades and the
leader of the Swarm" Kerrigan said proudly.
The voice answered, laughing, "In other words, a
mindless warlord with no real purpose other than destruction. No, no. That's
not who you are."
"Who am I, then?" Kerrigan answered, becoming
more and more annoyed.
"You're...me." The voice said. Then out of the
darkness came a human being, which Kerrigan recognized as her older self.
Kerrigan said, frightened,
"Wh-What the?"
"I am your true self, your human conscience and
feelings. Look at yourself, Kerrigan, at the person that you really are!" The
voice said. Then, a bright flash appeared and illuminated Kerrigan's entire
mind. Now, the dark light had gone, revealing the walls of Kerrigan's mind,
with memories of her older self all over them. From memories of her training
to the fatidic moment of her capture, she could see everything. Never had she
been so shocked in her entire life. She said, frightened:
"Wha-what are those memories? I never saw them
before."
"Well" the voice said "the overmind has sealed
your true memories and has replaced them by lies." With a smirk, she
continued, "Per example, how do you remember Jim Raynor?"
"As someone who shot me in the back by leaving
me to the zerg." Kerrigan answered, bitterly.
Her older self shook her head. "Wrong. Raynor
didn't want to leave you out there willingly. On the contrary, he wanted to
go, but Mengsk didn't allow him to. All of those memories that you had of your
former comrades were false. But the ones you see here are true. Now stay here
and look at these memories until you truly understand yourself."
Kerrigan looked in alarm at all her old memories
and said: "But this is going to take a lifetime!"
"Don't worry. It won't take you long." The other
presence said, before leaving Kerrigan, who was now looking at her memories.
There were so many memories that it was like reading all the books of a
library. But the more she saw, the more she understood who she was. As she
went on, she felt herself betrayed: The Overmind had hidden so much from her!
But the other presence had been right: It took her mere hours to see it all,
as though time had slowed down to help her. When she finished, the other
presence came back, asking again the fatidic question, "Who are you,
Kerrigan?"
"I am Sarah Kerrigan, terran ghost formerly
under the command of Arcturus Mengsk. But now, I have an infested body." She
finished in a bitter voice.
The other presence then said: "If you want to
completely become yourself again, you know what to do..."
"I think so..." Kerrigan answered.
"Then farewell, Kerrigan." The other presence
said, smirking, before leaving for good.
Kerrigan then awoke. She got up and started
thinking. If she would become herself again, she would need Raynor's
treatment. But if she went to him directly, he could think of it as a trap.
Trying to find a solution to this situation was giving her a headache. Araq,
who communicated with her telepathically, interrupted her in her thoughts,
"My Queen! I have sour news. The planets of Aiur
and Shakuras have been taken back by the Protoss. Also, from what I
understood, Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk were part of the group who
destroyed the blockades. Come quickly!"
Kerrigan thought that she'd better act as usual
for her cerebrates not to suspect her. She then hurried off, quickly reaching
the command room of the hive, where Daggoth and Araq were waiting for her.
Daggoth said, sounding tense,
"I am sorry to interrupt your sleep, my Queen,
but the situation is extremely desperate. Not only have the blockades fallen,
but also, when we tried to reinforce the blockades, we sent most of the rest
of our forces to their deaths. We are unsure of what to do. What are your
orders?"
Kerrigan, who was barely containing herself from
going ahead and killing both cerebrates, answered, "Start rebuilding the
defenses of the main hives of that sector, but order the broods not to engage
the terrans. Raynor's going to be on the offensive now, so we have to be ready
for him. Order the hives of this base to send reinforcements to that sector,
as well. Now if you'll excuse me..."
"My Queen, if I may..." Daggoth said, "Have you
finally decided what you would do?"
"Yes, Daggoth. I have." Kerrigan answered,
clearly annoyed.
"What is it, then?" Araq asked.
"This is a stupid question. What, in your
opinion, would be my decision if I would be here speaking to you?" Kerrigan
said, seeming angry, before quickly leaving.
"She seems to be back to normal." Araq said to
Daggoth after Kerrigan had left.
Daggoth answered, "Wait and see, Araq. I have a
bad feeling about this..."
Back in her room, Kerrigan exhaled deeply.
During the last few seconds of the meeting, she was so angry she almost
planted her claws in her cerebrates. "I have to calm down" she said to
herself. "If I kill them now, it'll be hard to escape. I have to think of a
plan..."
Chapter 7
Raynor was standing on the burned earth of Aiur. Remnants of the battle,
from grossly mutilated bodies to carapace fragments, were scattered
everywhere. The battle there had been brutal. Raynor's raiders, alongside the
main protoss force, had won it, but the casualties had been numerous. Raynor
couldn't help feeling sorry for the friends and family of those who died on
that day.
Raynor jumped in surprise, as Artanis and
Zeratul were having an argument, with Artanis particularly angry, psionically
yelling so loud at Zeratul that Raynor was sure that even Kerrigan could
probably hear him. Seemingly, Zeratul didn't really approve Artanis' rise to
power after the deaths of Aldaris and Fenix.
Lieutenant Kealer then approached Raynor,
seeming not worried at all. He said,
"We showed those f#%*#% @$$holes who's boss
here. Where do we go next?"
Raynor answered, "Don't know. By the way, what
do you think about the strategy the zerg used?"
Kealer said, "Too spread out to be Kerrigan. She
makes 'em fight in groups."
"I thought so as well." Kalis said, having just
arrived. "Who do you think lead the assault if it wasn't Kerrigan?"
Raynor answered, "Probably a cerebrate. But
that's not what worries me most. It's to think what Kerrigan was doing if she
wasn't organizing her defense."
"Maybe", Kalis said, "she's out there preparing
a major assault. We should stay on our guard."
Raynor said, "Ok then. Kalis, send some of our
men to reinforce the protoss' defense perimeter."
"Alright." Kalis said. He then hurried off.
Kealer said, "Sir, by the way, if we're going
after Kerrigan, we should send someone to investigate the weak spots of the
main zerg base of Char. I propose sending some ghosts...."
"Too risky." Raynor said. "The zerg have an
incredible ground defence. If the ghosts are spotted, and there's a good
chance they will, they're dead. You're not to send anyone to Char or anywhere
near it, understand?"
"Can I have a satcom done?"
"If you wish."
"Thank you, sir." Kealer said then left.
An hour later, Lieutenant Kealer headed towards
Raynor happily. He was holding a piece of paper. Raynor then said:
"Heh, Kealer. Why are you in such a good mood?
Kealer answered, "Sir! I've had a satcom done on
the zerg base. Here it is." He then handed Raynor the piece of paper he was
holding. Raynor looked at it and Kealer said: "Look here, sirŅ" Kealer said,
pointing at a small position at the south end of the base "and you'll see
there isn't any anti-air defence that can discover cloaked units. Cloaked
wraiths could infiltrate there easily."
"But wraiths can't carry more than one unit. And
after that weak point lies an entire anti-air arsenal, though there isn't a
lot of anti-ground defense."
"If only our dropships could cloak, they could
reach that weak point and unload a few units for them to continue going in the
base."
"But our dropships are too big to install
cloaking mechanisms on them. What if we'd use arbiters? They're a heck of a
lot smaller and we could get more units there thanks to their recall
abilities."
"Great idea, sir."
"I'll go ask Artanis if he can lend me some
right now. You're dismissed."
Raynor then walked towards Artanis, who still
seemed in a bad mood from his argument with Zeratul. Seeing Raynor, Artanis
said, in a seemingly happy voice,
"En taro Adun, Raynor. Thank you for your great
help. By the way, how is Arcturus Mengsk? I heard he has a broken back."
Raynor answered, "Damn right he has. A zerg
spine came through the armor of his battlecruiser and basically broke his back
in half. It's not his lucky day. He's in the hospital wing of our encampment.
He should be fine, though."
"I am glad to hear that."
"Oh, by the way, I suppose you've heard about
the current situation with Kerrigan and my troops."
"Yes. From what I heard, your medics created a
treatment that could restore infested persons back to their older selves. And
Kerrigan's going after you for that. Correct?"
"That's exactly it. Except right now, since it
works with psionic energy, we do not have the resources to cure Kerrigan,
who's probably one of the beings with the most resistance to psionic energy in
the whole galaxy."
"You want to cure Kerrigan?"
"Yup. If we do, slaughtering the rest of those
annoying zerg will be a lot easier, cause their leader won't be there to help.
Anyway, I'd like to ask you two favors. First, can we count on you to give us
access to all protoss technology if needed?"
"Yes. What else do you want?"
"Could you lend me a few arbiters, like two or
three?"
"Arbiters? Of course. Can I ask you why?"
"They'll be a great help to extract Kerrigan
from Char. That's all I'll tell you."
"Alright. I'll have them sent to you within an
hour."
"Thanks, Artanis."
"As you terrans say, 'you're welcome'."
"Maybe this isn't going to be too long after
all..." Raynor thought, heading back towards his encampment.
__________________________________________________________________________________
POV switch: back to Kerrigan
Four days later
Four days after becoming herself again, Kerrigan
was starting to lose patience. She desperately wanted to leave, but every time
she thought she was alone, a Hydralisk would be right behind her or a
cerebrate would ask her for advice. She intentionally left a weak point at the
south of her base, desperately hoping that Raynor would discover it, but up to
date, it had been to no avail, as never did a terran or protoss force use that
weakness to sneak in the base. She was walking around the hive since a few
hours and she finally decided to take action.
"I've got to make it out of here, and it looks
like I'll have to do so myself." She then cloaked herself and headed towards
the weak point she had herself created.
"This is it." She thought to herself. "It's all
or nothing..."
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