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Friday, January 28, 2005
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Laurier Burelle -- Starcraft Fanfic -- "The Last of All Problems" -- Part 2
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...
Hawk: MANY, many apologies to Miss Burelle for taking so long.
Chapter 8: The escape
Raynor was doing a checkup on all the ships and
units on this assignment. They'd all have to be perfectly ready and perfect in
their execution. It was four days ago that Raynor had started planning this
operation and it had to succeed. It just had to. He continued his checkup.
The artificial cloaking device was installed on
the arbiter that would carry them and the escort (formed of three elite
wraiths) was as ready as it could be. Raynor checked on the ground units he'd
have with him. Three ghosts were silently getting ready, not showing any
emotion, like any good ghost. Three dark templars were looking nervous in
their corner, psi blades ready. Kalis was impeccably ready and was practicing
silent running, though he was already good at it. He had insisted on taking
part of this assignment, though he knew he didn't have the right to kill
Kerrigan. Raynor then looked at his own equipment. It was ready all right.
With a grin, he checked his plan over in his head. Kealer, along with a major
strike force provided by Mengsk (who still had a broken back), would occupy
the zerg on the west section of the base, while Raynor and the rest of the
extraction crew would go to the south of the base, sneaking past the main
defenses thanks to the weak point noticed on the satcom. They'd have four
hours before the cloaking mechanisms on Raynor and Kalis's suits would fail.
These four hours would be used to find and extract Kerrigan. Raynor didn't
know how he'd carry her back to his base, but he'd at least try.
Kalis walked towards him and said, with an
excited and nervous tone to his voice, "We are all ready for departure."
As Raynor silently walked towards the arbiter to
be recalled later, he swore that after that mission would be completed, he'd
retire from the military. To do what, he had no idea, though.
"This is it, Kerrigan. It's the final battle,"
He thought.
****
Kerrigan was sneaking towards the south end of
the base, but she didn't use the cloaking, mainly because she'd need all of
her energy to go through her main defenses and out of the base. When she
arrived at the weak point, she activated her cloaking, disappearing from view,
and started her escape. Mutalisks, guardians and scourges were over her, and
Hydralisks were around her, but she managed it and sneaked past the defences
in a couple of hours. When she arrived at the point between the defense lines,
something suddenly happened. Explosions were heard in the distance and the
zerg suddenly turned their attention to the western end of the base, sending
most units and all overlords to that location. Kerrigan smiled. She couldn't
have hoped for a better timing. She wondered if Jim Raynor was part of that
attack, but quickly dismissed that thought, knowing he wouldn't attack head
on. Before she knew it, she heard a faint machine sound. She focused her
psionic powers on her sight to locate cloaked units and was stunned by what
she saw.
A cloaked arbiter, escorted by three wraiths,
was placing itself atop an empty position. After it arrived there, it recalled
several terran and protoss units, including Jim Raynor himself. Kerrigan
suddenly felt happy. She finally had the best possibility for escaping right
in front of her. Or so she thought.
Kerrigan felt a strange feeling for wanting to
destroy everything. Her zerg instincts were still very much present in her
mind, and they were trying to take over again. Kerrigan, after many hard
efforts, managed to control herself again, though Raynor and his crew were
already in the base. With Raynor away, Kerrigan had to think quickly. How
could she leave? She then noticed that the arbiter and the wraiths had landed.
She quickly ran towards a wraith, pulled the pilot out and knocked him out
silently before he could speak. She then embarked on the wraith.
Knowing the basics on how to pilot a wraith, she
cloaked the wraith and escaped her base, imagining the reaction of her
cerebrates when they would discover of her escape. She then thought about how
she could contact Raynor. She preferred not to think about it now, as her zerg
instincts were surging again at the thought of that man. "Anyway, I'm safe for
now," she said to herself. But she was sure she had forgotten a small detail,
not knowing exactly what. A cloaked wraith's pilot, who was following her,
took his radio and turned it on
Chapter 9: The Beginning of the End
Jim Raynor walked over the blue-purple slimy wet
creep. Sneaking past its prodding sunken colonies as carefully as he could
with his state-of-the-art fashioned ZPI marine armor, he was somehow
undetectable. The ZPI armor, which stood for Zerg Pheromone Inducing armor,
was a scent camouflage that registered him as a zerg creature. But, as
resourceful as the combination of tech and chemistry ingenuity could be, it
was unfortunate however that there weren't many available, seriously limiting
the size of the force which could infiltrate the base. When Raynor was deep in
the Zerg hive, his com-link vibrated as someone told him through the
communicator,
"Sir! This is pilot GS-3. Get out of there!
Kerrigan ain't in the base. She KO'ed my colleague pilot GS-1 and stole his
ship. She seems to be headed towards Arenil. I'm going after her in cloak.
Over and out."
"Damn it," Raynor swore under his breath. He
switched on the wide-band frequency and commanded, "Boys, get outta there,
now!"
Raynor quickly exited the hive and capered to
the opened creep field. Somehow, his footsteps were slowed. He looked down and
eyed disbelieving at creep. It was sprouting out tiny tentacles, trying to
penetrate his leg armor. "What the hell?" he muttered, grabbing his handgun
into firing position and locking on with an audible click. He was about to
shoot, until he realized that it was harmless. Oddly enough, he prompted
himself to study it. The tentacles' needles oozed yellowish goo on his
titanium shoes. It wasn't acid, because if it wasŅhe wouldn't be walking now.
As he thought harder for a minute or two, it
finally hit him; the creep was nurturing him. The yellowish substance was some
kind of zerg protein. The creep thought of him as a zerg. It was creepy all
right.
The spooky part was how the hell he figured it
out in the first place. He didn't remember himself being a scientist, but then
-- here now. He was grasping at the zerg nutrient-dispensing tentacles.
Thinking about his men, he quickly com-linked and instructed them to stay calm
and continue on their exit.
After reaching a safe distance from the zerg
base, he and his men grouped together. Raynor called the arbiter pilot and
said,
"Commander Raynor here, tell Artanis that
Kerrigan's heading towards Arenil and in the meantime, beam us out of here,
will you?" he added.
"Understood, Mr. Raynor." The arbiter pilot
answered, as Raynor and his men disappeared into the swirling blue recall
energy anomaly.
Raynor arrived back at the place he first
arrived in the base. Then, he radioed Kealer.
"Immediate evac, Lieutenant! Kerrigan's going
towards Arenil. Go there now!"
"Arenil? Kerrigan?" Kealer said, surprised.
"Yes, sir!"
They reached Arenil half an hour later, after
ghost ship (GS) 2's pilot carried the pilot of ghost ship 1 inside his own
ship and left towards Arenil. When Raynor arrived on the lush green planet, he
glimpsed a couple of his wraiths as well as the pilot of GS-3, who was trying
to stand up. He said,
"OOOh ouuuchh "
"What happened to you?"
"Ohho oosh ..s-s-she kicked me uhh"
" What do you mean? Where'd she kick you?"
"Oooh, y.you don't want to know, sirŅ"
Raynor's eyes widened, then he blinked. ".IŅ
see," he replied with a large grin on his face 'my kind of girl' murmured
with a soft chuckle, then he shook himself. "Christ! Snap out of it!" He
looked up again and said, "GS-3. Did you see where she went?"
"I-I c-coo-ould uuuh have s-sworn s-hhe went
S-Sout--th, sir."
"errŅgood work. Zero Three Get back to base and
have the medics seeŅtheerrŅthe point of impact."
"WWWHATTT??????"
Raynor then quickly recalibrated his wristband.
"Kealer, ETA?"
"Two hours, sir."
"Good. Kealer! Prep up the guys. We are goin'
Kerrigan hunting."
****
In the middle of a beautiful forest, Kalis was
angry. If it was only his call, he'd incinerate Arenil with at least ten
thousand terran Nukes, just to insure Kerrigan's death. But he had orders,
strict ones, not to kill her. "Why do I always have to obey? I hate this..."
He thought as he brought down a large tree with his energy blades, sending it
timbering inches away for Jim Raynor. He was interrupted in his thoughts by
the clearly annoyed terran Commander, who approached him and said, "Listen,
Kalis. I know you hate Kerrigan, but if you try to kill her, I'll kill you
myself. Understood?"
"Yes." Kalis said bitterly.
"Good. Be ready at 2000 hours, because you and I
will be in the search party."
"Why wait until then?"
"So Kealer and the rest of the crew can arrive
and cover our asses -- we'd better be ready, just in case Kerrigan's luring us
into a trap. Come right now, I'll brief the plan to you on the way."
Raynor led Kalis to a quickly built camp, barely
made up of a few tents. Kalis followed Raynor into a medium-sized tent. When
he was in, he saw the rest of the extraction crew who seemed to deftly sprint
into a ritual salute. Raynor returned it and went to the center of the tent
and started the briefing:
"Ok, guys. Here's the situation: Kerrigan is on
this planet, and I've got solid info that she's in the southern woods for
some reasons. We have to find her, and use any non-lethal ways to bring her
back to our main base. Any questions?"
A ghost spoke up, "Do we have to expect a zerg
assault?"
Raynor answered, "A trap? Maybe. We gotta be
ready for anything. I don't know why she left her base, but there's a good
chance she's got a surprise attack force somewhere on this planet, so stay on
your guard."
Another ghost asked, "Any reinforcements?"
Raynor answered, "Yes and no. Our main assault
force will join us shortly, but they will only stay behind as backup just in
case there would be a zerg offensive. For the mission, we're on our own."
The first ghost spoke again, "What weaponry will
we have available?"
Raynor said, "When our main force will arrive,
you'll be able to get tranquilizer darts, to use on Kerrigan, and
carapace-piercing canister rifle bullets for any other threats."
A dark templar spoke, "You mentioned that we
would have to use non-lethal ways to bring her back. Can we hurt her enough
for her to fall unconscious?"
"Though it is not preferable, you can do so."
Raynor said, particularly disapproving that solution.
Kalis was a bit happier than before. Albeit he
couldn't kill Kerrigan, at least making her suffer a grievous concussion or
perhaps comatose her, either one would sufficeօfor now. He didn't hear the
rest of the meeting as he was thinking up possible tortures for Kerrigan and
when he was listening again, it was only to hear Raynor say, "Be ready for
departure at 2000 hours. You're dismissed."
When Kalis left after the meeting, he did a
little jog around the quickly built camp, during which he thought about how he
was going to act. As he was about to do his last round, he saw a small
gathering outside the compound. There were terrans who seemed to be watching
the sky and waving upwards, then it dawned on him -- the main force had
arrived. A large spacecraft, approximately half the length of a battlecruiser,
landed on the grassy landing field that was a forest opening. Immediately, he
went to the ordinary pig-iron colored cargo ship and picked up his life-saving
Protoss plasma shield battle armor from a special radiation containment box,
which he had left behind because of the loud static noise it constantly
triggers on dropship radiation monitors. He put them on and headed in front of
the tent in which the briefing had been done. He didn't want to be late. To
his surprise, the ghosts of the extraction crew were already there, waiting.
One of the ghosts asked him,
"He he... Since you're a protoss, I can't read
your mind, but since you're already there, I suppose you want to get Kerrigan
out of commission as soon as possible. Right?"
Kalis answered, clearly annoyed, "What if I do?"
The ghost answered, "Then you're like us. I
heard you want to kill her. Can you tell us why?"
Kalis cast an angry look at the ghost. If only
that man would have realized what he had asked, before a solid Protoss bare
knuckle connected with his face.
**Flashback**
"We need those reinforcements, Kalis!" A voice
had yelled in Kalis' mind.
It was a big battle. Fenix was under heavy
assault from zerg units, and so was general Duke. But the former was most
important to Kalis, as he and a group of zealots under his command were
heading to reinforce Fenix's base.
"I'm going as fast as I can! Try to hold for a
few more minutes!" Kalis answered to the voice, which belonged to Fenix.
"I'm trying!" Fenix replied. "But those zerg are
outnumbering us! We need your help now!"
Kalis continued to run towards Fenix's base, his
men close behind. Then a zerg aerial unit flew above him. He ignored it and
continued to run. But seconds later, he and his men were trapped in some sort
of gooey web. The aerial unit in question was a zerg queen.
"Curse those wretched things!" Kalis said,
trying to free himself from the web, which ensnared him tightly, preventing
any movement. Unfortunately, the web was too strong to be cut. He was less
than a mile from Fenix's base. Fenix once more talked to him,
"Kalis! What are you doing??? Where are you, for
Adun's sake? AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!" Fenix was interrupted, as an ultralisk
tore his dragoon shell casing. Kalis watched in horror as Fenix, one of the
great Protoss heroes, bled into a pool of blue liquid before his very eyes.
After Fenix's death, Kalis felt anger fill him,
like never it had before. A powerful psionic wave surged through him as he
psychically yelled, "Curse you, zerg! Curse you, Queen of Blades! You'll pay
dearly for this!"
Ashamed of not having been able to save Fenix,
Kalis deserted the protoss army, thinking he didn't deserve to be in it. Now,
he only had one true purpose: Revenge. That's what made him join Raynor's
raiders. That's what motivated him to keep fighting day after day. He was now
filled with rage; a rage that could only be stopped by Kerrigan's death.
**Flashback end**
Kalis didn't look at the time, and before he
knew it, it was 2000 hours, point at which Raynor arrived, shortly after the
dark templars. Raynor raised an eyebrow at the fallen nose-bleeding ghost
operative and looked at the eye-glowing Kalis. Suffice to say, he understood
more than the hapless ghost operative that if Kalis had not held back his full
Protoss strength, he would be calling for a body bag instead. He looked
atrociously tense as he said, "Guys, it's time to go. And can someone get a
medic to take care of that nosebleed?"
"This is it." Kalis thought. "Payback time.
Kerrigan, get ready to pay for all those wasted lives. Even if you don't die,
you'll live enough suffering for a lifetime."
Chapter 10: An Hallucinating Alliance
Raynor and his extraction crew headed for the
forest, hoping to find Kerrigan. Upon entering it, Kalis proposed, "How about
we split up? We'll find Kerrigan much more quickly."
Raynor asked, "But what if the zerg attack?"
Kalis answered, "We just have to stay at visual
range from each other. That way, we'll regroup quickly if there's trouble.
Besides, it will be easier to spot a zerg attack if our people are scattered."
Raynor answered, somehow a bit suspicious,
"Alright. We'll do that, then." Jim called, "All of you, split up, but stay in
constant radio contact. I want to know everything that's happening." He took
his radio and said, "Kealer. Set up an outpost here and be ready for a zerg
attack. Kerrigan's probably got some of her goons around."
"Yes sir." Kealer answered.
The crew nodded in unison and proceeded into the
forest. There, a linear formation was formed, each member combing every inch
of the jungle. Suddenly, Kalis and a Dark Templar felt a psychic anomaly. They
could not feel Kerrigan's, the Zerg Queen's, disturbing and violent aura
anymore. Instead, they felt the psyche of a distinct terran-like mind. The
dark Templar didn't care. Intrigued, Kalis decided to search for it: Perhaps
this terran might have seen Kerrigan. However, when he arrived at that aura's
location, he saw something rather unexpected.
There was no one to be seen. He was in a small
clearing surrounded by trees and plants. Kalis focused upon the aura again
only to detect another presence behind him. Alarmed, he deftly elbowed his
assailant behind, sending it crashing onto the ground. A few seconds later,
the translucent body of the zerg queen Kerrigan started to materialize in
front of Kalis.
He couldn't have been happier: his nemesis was
finally lying in front of him, struck down by his own hand. But as happy as he
was, Kalis was startled by the fact that the unknown aura to his realization
was actually the untainted terran Sarah Kerrigan's. He had seen her in battle
once and felt her untainted aura, which was now in every way similar.
Realizing that, he asked,
"Reveal your presence of mind, Queen of Blades.
Why do I still sense the old Sarah Kerrigan in you?"
She answered, smiling, "That's because I AM the
Sarah Kerrigan I've been before. Tons of things happened to me recently."
"What kind of things?"
"Well, it'd be long to explain, but let's just
say that I survived the overmind's mental conditioning."
"Please explain to me."
Kalis listened, intrigued, as Kerrigan told him
everything, from the voice in her head to her escape. When she finished, Kalis
asked,
"By Adun! Are you serious? Your mental
conditioning is truly broken?"
"Well, yes and no. I'm back to normal for my
conscious thoughts, but my reflexes and instincts are still zerg. In fact, as
soon as I see Jim Raynor, my instincts become uncontrollable, making me too
dangerous to bring back to your base while conscious. I think that I should be
unconscious during the trip, just in case. I also have a permanent link to my
cerebrates due to my zerg cellular structured neuron receptors." She pointed
at a precise point located in the middle of her right side. "Even though it is
removable, I lack the courage to cut it. And as long as I have it, my
cerebrates will be able to track me down in mere seconds."
"So, you want me to cut it?" Kalis asked,
looking suspiciously at Kerrigan.
"Regretfully, yes. Unless I am mistaken, you
have your psi blades. Correct?"
After saying that, Kerrigan froze, seeming
terrified by something. Kalis asked, worried,
"What is it? Are you all right?"
"I am, but you and the rest of Raynor's raiders
are in trouble."
"Why is that?"
"Zerg are arriving. I can feel them."
"Can't you control them?"
"No... They seem to come from a renegade brood.
One thing's for sure, though: You're in trouble. There are around one thousand
of them. Oh, ####!" She said, pointing west, to the top of a nearby hill,
where a huge zerg ultralisk force was gathering.
"What the?" Kalis called Raynor psionically and
told him, "ZERG ULTRALISKS INCOMING FROM THE WEST!!!"
Raynor answered, panicking, "F%^*^%*& ####!!!!
EXTRACTION CREW! BACK TO BASE, NOW!!!!!!!"
Kalis started running back towards his base,
Kerrigan following him. Kalis asked, continuing to run,
"Why are you running away? Aren't they your
kind?"
"You idiot! It's a renegade brood! They'll kill
me at sight! I recognize this brood. They disappeared around the same time
Duran did. My guess is that he's behind this assault. Where are my broods when
I need them...Anyway, I need to go to your base. It's the only place in which
I'd be safe. But how can I enter?"
While she said this, Kalis felt something
strange. It was like his body wasn't his anymore, like he was only a spectator
of his own actions. He saw himself running towards Kerrigan and with one quick
motion, hitting her neck with a substantial force, enough for her to fall
unconscious. Then, the strange feeling disappeared and Kalis was now standing
in front of an unconscious Kerrigan. "What can I do?" He thought, a bit
confused, hearing faint yells in the distance.
"If she is truly Sarah, then by Adun, curse my
vengeance and let bygones be bygones. I shall return her to base, and pray
she'll recover." He then took her on his shoulders and sprinted towards the
base.
Around fifteen minutes later, Kalis, who was
still carrying Kerrigan, arrived at the base. It was not at all recognizable.
SCVs were putting the finishing touches to the barracks and missile turrets
swiftly with their fusion-cutters, as siege tanks were placed between them as
artillery. Goliaths were behind as backup and vultures were finishing to place
spider mines around the base. In the air, wraiths and valkyries were on the
front line, patrolling around the base, ready for any assault, while science
vessels were close behind, ready to use defensive matrixes.
Kalis looked around and saw Raynor in his
vulture, supervising all the work while placing spider mines around the base.
Kalis gently dropped Kerrigan to the floor and ran towards Raynor, who said,
"Kalis! I was starting to get worried. How come
you took so long?"
"I have recovered an old friend of yours. She's
right over there," Kalis said, pointing towards the unconscious Queen of
Blades. "I had to knock her out."
"Ok. Good job, Kalis. Thanks a lot. Hey you!" he
said, pointing towards a huge, bulking marine. "Lock her up in the supply
depot, and have a few guys guard her." he continued, pointing towards
Kerrigan's unconscious body.
"Sir, yes sir!" The marine said, as he headed
out to carry the order, a disgusted look upon his face.
Raynor turned back to Kalis. "By the way, our
scanners have scanned the incoming units. They are a massive ground force,
with a mixture of zerglings, hydralisks and ultralisks. Yet I saw them all as
ultralisks the same as you. What do you think happened, Lieutenant?"
Kalis thought for a while, and answered: "I have
once heard of a protoss tribe who found a way to do hallucinations on
themselves to disguise themselves as anything they wanted. Yet, they are
currently imprisoned for having murdered numerous other Protoss. You see, they
do not take critics about their style well, especially from some of their own,
who rather chose to leave them."
Raynor quickly headed towards the command center
right after Kalis finished talking. Kalis followed him quickly and entered the
command center. He asked the marine posted besides the door, "Where did
Commander Raynor go?"
The surprised marine answered, "To the comm.
room, I think."
"Thank you," Kalis answered. He headed towards a
door with "communication room" written on it and entered.
Raynor was speaking with Artanis, seemingly
about a very serious matter. Raynor said,
"Hey, I heard you imprisoned a protoss tribe
that could produce hallucinations on themselves. Do you know who I mean?"
"Yes. We know whom you speak of. You're talking
about the Salaha tribe. But know that they're not here: They escaped from our
prison and could be anywhere in the universe, for now."
Raynor said, "Well, we think those guys might be
here. You see, there's a zerg assault force heading towards my base and when
we look at it, we see only ultralisks, while the scanners detect a mixture of
zerg units. By the way, how can we differentiate if we're hitting the
hallucination or the real thing inside?"
"Simple, the hallucinations cause no heat..."
Raynor interrupted Artanis, "...meaning if we
could use infra-red sensors, we'll see them fine. Great! Thanks for the help,
Artanis."
"You're welcome, Raynor. By the way, if you
capture any of them, please bring them back into our custody."
"You got it. Bye!" Raynor turned off the comlink
and turned his radio on, saying to all his men:
"Ok boys! Listen up. A zerg assault is heading
towards us. The thing is that most of them are disguised as ultralisks. But
don't let that fool you, as most of them are zerglings or hydralisks, though
there are a few ultralisks. Therefore, I'm issuing infrared goggles to
everyone. Have them on at all times! And could someone ask Lieutenant Kealer
to report to my quarters ASAP?"
Raynor switched off his radio and turned around.
He saw Kalis and jumped in surprise, then said, "Kalis! Didn't see you there.
So, what's up?"
"I propose we keep an eye out for those
fugitives, just in case. They could even be in this base right now in their
illusionary form. Be careful!"
"Noted, lieutenant. Dismissed. I must head
towards my quarters. I don't wanna keep Kealer waiting." With that, Raynor
departed.
"With them involved, this is not going to be
easy," Kalis thought. He was the one who had arrested the Salaha, and he knew
their power. As he looked at every other unit, he thought that some didn't
look normal, but dismissed that thought. "I'm becoming paranoid with them. I
have to get ready for the battle." He then headed towards the cargo to get his
equipment, knowing more than anyone that this battle would be hard. Very hard.
Chapter 11: The End of an Alliance
Raynor was in the command center, supervising
the defense preparations. Kealer was besides him, impatiently waiting for the
battle to start. Raynor radioed one of the base's technicians,
"What's the ETA of the enemy forces?"
"Thirty minutes at max, sir." A man answered.
Raynor then said, "All SCV's must return to the
Command Center immediately. I repeat, all SCV's must return to the Command
Center." Raynor turned off his radio and asked Kealer, "How is Kerrigan
holding up?"
"The boys say she's awake, sir. They think she's
a bit calm, though, especially in those circumstances. The Ghost operatives
sensed that she's hiding something. Shall we interrogate her, sir?"
"No, I'll take care of that."
Raynor headed towards the supply depot Kerrigan
was in. He saw Kalis in front of the door, looking quite nervous. Raynor asked
him,
"You are looking nervous, Kalis. What's wrong?"
Kalis answered, "Nothing, I'm fine, sir." He
paused for a brief moment, then continued, "Sir, if you're here to interrogate
her, I advise you to forestall it."
"I wanted to go ask her a few questions. What's
the problem with that?"
"For your own safety, don't."
"I don't see the problem. Unless...Kalis, are
you hiding something from me?"
"It's a tale quite long to speak of, but if you
want a short version, your presence may endanger her and yourself."
"Okay. I'll take your word for it, Kalis. But
when this is over, I want you to give me the full explanation of what's going
on here."
"Noted, commander." Kalis said, relieved that
Raynor would stay outside. Shortly after going back to the command center,
Raynor took his radio, adjusted the frequency and said,
"Private, I want you to interrogate the
prisoner--" Raynor whispered, turning to glance at Kalis- "ŗAfter the
lieutenant is gone, is that clear?" he added.
****
Kerrigan had just awakened. She was in a supply
depot and five marines were around her, guarding her. She asked,
"Where am I? What happened to me?" she croaked.
The marine who had carried her there did not
reply to that. Instead, he gave her an icy cold glare.
A few moments later, Jim Raynor spoke in a
guard's radio. The marine listened for a moment and said, "Yes sir!" He then
said to Kerrigan:
"Kerrigan, Commander Raynor has a few questions
for you."
"I understand. Go ahead." answered Kerrigan.
"Are you the one who sent that huge force on our
base?"
"No. It seems to be a renegade brood."
"Why do you mean by renegade brood, who are
they.???."
The interrogation went on for a while, after
which artillery fire was heard outside, soon followed by the sound of a zerg
stampede and gauss rifles fires ringing through the air. The marine which had
been interrogating Kerrigan contacted Raynor and said to the other guards,
"Ok, guys. No matter what happens, we're to stay
and protect Kerrigan at all costs. Is that clear?"
"Sir, yes, sir." they replied in unison.
A few minutes after the beginning of the battle,
someone very familiar spoke to Kerrigan in her head, saying: "We will aid you,
my Queen."
Kerrigan said, surprised: "What the? D-Daggoth?"
****
"Damn! That last wave was rough." Raynor said, a
bit shocked by the sheer size of the huge attack. "Damage report!" he added.
Kealer said, "The losses were minimal. We've
still got 90% of our wraiths. Our tank squadron was pretty beaten up, but
their artillery fire held our defenses together. Other than that, ten goliaths
are gone, along with three marines casualties. Also, we have several
structural damages, as at least five bunkers were destroyed, not to mention
the military personnel in it.
"All right." Raynor said. "Send all our SCVs, I
want everything repaired ASAP. No breaks, and I mean it this time."
"Yes sir!" Kealer said.
Raynor turned towards Kalis.
"Well, it's a good thing the men had their
thermo-goggles or we would've been zerg meat. Anyway, do you still remember
how you nailed those hallucination-guys? Do they have any more weakness?"
"Well..."
Kalis was interrupted as alarms sounded all over
the base. Raynor asked Kealer:
"What the hell is happening here?"
"Sir! There are more zerg incoming from the east
and the west! What shall we do, sir?"
Raynor did not reply to that. "F#$#% zerg."
Raynor cursed. He then received an incoming transmission. It was from the
marine guarding Kerrigan. He said,
"Sir! Kerrigan has something to tell you! I'll
pass her the radio." A few seconds later, Kerrigan spoke,
"Jim! The zerg from the east and the west are my
broods. My cerebrates want me out of here!"
Raynor swore under his breath and said,
"Ok. Kealer! Are we gonna hold together?"
Kealer answered, seeming bitter,
"I doubt it, sir."
"Ok. Time to put our evacuation plan I told you
about in motion. Get our dropships out here! We'll evacuate from the south.
Until the ships arrive, we'll have to hold them off as long as we can. I'll go
now."
Kealer answered, "Me too. Just give me time to
fetch Mengsk's "Zippo" firebats, they'll toast them."
Kerrigan said, "What do I do?"
Raynor answered, "Honey, you just be cute and
stay put. You're their target. And unless my men are in trouble, we won't be
serving you to their silver platter yet."
Kerrigan answered, exasperated, "All right."
Raynor turned off his radio and headed out of the base.
When he was outside, he turned his radio on
again. He started adjusting the frequency and suddenly stopped as he
intercepted a conversation. He heard a marine say,
"Yes, we'll eliminate him and Kerrigan after the
mission."
Arcturus Mengsk's voice was heard afterwards,
saying,
"You better. Jim's been a problem to us for far
too long. He has to be eliminated as soon as possible. If you--"
Raynor turned off his radio, too disgusted by
Mengsk's attitude to hear another word.
"I should have known. This joint combat troops
alliance was a big ####. So, the turncoat Mengsk wants Kerrigan and me
'out' again. Damn you, Mengsk. You'll pay for this. But, why did you forget
your IJS?" Raynor turned once more his radio on, called Kalis and said,
"Kalis? There's a change of plans. Go get
Kerrigan immediately. After that, go see the arbiter who recalled us here and
wait for further instructions."
Kalis answered, "Understood. I'm going now."
"Good luck, Kalis." Raynor said as he waited for
Kealer, who came out a few minutes later, with all his firebat equipment on.
He said to Raynor,
"Sir! I'm ready to go, and Mengsk's Zippo guys
are already on the front line!"
"Come with me, Kealer. We need to go away from
here right now."
"How come?"
"Follow me, and I'll tell you. For now, you only
need to know that Mengsk's turning against us again." After Raynor finished
speaking, Kealer and him dashed away towards the arbiter Raynor had borrowed
from Artanis.
Chapter 12: A Needed Departure
Kerrigan was inside the supply depot, walking
around nervously. One of the marines guarding her said,
"Hey, zerg face! Stop moving around!"
"Shut up!" Kerrigan said, a nervous tone in her
voice. The marine looked particularly irritated with that response. He lost
patience and hit Kerrigan hard on the back of the head with the butt of his
Gauss rifle, causing her to fall down, unconscious. Another marine said,
"You @$$hole, we have to protect her for now."
The first marine answered, "Yeah. Like I care.
We have to kill her when this is over anyway. How about getting it over with
now? We could say she escaped using her psychic power thing, while in the
meantime, we bury or burn the body."
The other marine, along with the rest of
Kerrigan's guards, seemed to find this idea particularly interesting, but they
didn't have time to say their opinion, as a psionic storm engulfed almost all
of them, killing them instantly. The only remaining marine couldn't escape,
however, as a canister pierced his heart, with another bursting through his
skull soon after. Standing in front of the corpses of the dead guards were a
high templar and none other than Samir Duran.
Duran had a wide smile when he saw Kerrigan,
completely knocked out. He said,
"Thank you very much, Tarrat. Thanks to your
great work, our goal is right in front of us."
The tall, dark-looking high templar answered,
"We're even now, Mr. Duran. Now, shall we?" Tarrat paused, when a familiar
voice was heard behind them, saying,
"No, you shall NOT!"
Kalis then appeared in between Duran and the
very surprised Tarrat. He swung his psi-blades at Tarrat's throat, but Tarrat
dodged quickly and fell on his back, breathing heavily.
Kalis heard an audible click behind him, and
Duran said, his rifle pointed at the back of Kalis' head,
"A real warrior like you should know never to
forget an opponent, even if he isn't of your species."
"You won't kill me." Kalis said, confident.
"Why is that?" Duran asked, annoyed.
A ghost's voice was heard besides Duran, saying,
"Cause even a powerful infested ghost like you
won't survive three armor-piercing canisters fired at your skull." Three
ghosts then de-cloaked, their guns pointed to Duran's head. They were the
three ghosts of the extraction crew.
Tarrat tried to summon a psionic storm, but he
felt a blade pressed against his neck as a cloaked dark templar said,
"Definitely not a good idea."
Duran cringed at his failure to get Kerrigan. He
said to Kalis,
"You idiot. Do you have any idea what Mengsk
will do to her when you'll have finished your mission?"
"He'll let us turn her back to her terran self."
Duran had a small smirk, "On the contrary, he
wants her infested DNA. With it, his new genetically enhanced soldiers will
come after all of you and obliterate you easily. And when he'll be done, he'll
kill her."
Kalis frowned, "Nonetheless, I'm leaving."
Duran looked surprised, "What do you mean?"
"Commander Raynor told me to get Kerrigan and
leave this base. With what you just said, I think it's because this is
Mengsk's strike force. For what reason did you think I came here?"
Duran laughed and said, "Well, your leader is
well informed. Anyway, we have the same goal, so I won't get in your wayŅfor
now." Duran pressed a button on the side of his suit, and a swirling energy
engulfed both him and Tarrat, making them both disappear seconds later.
Kalis looked at the members of the extraction
crew, blessing the moment he thought of taking them with him. Kalis glanced at
Kerrigan for a second and then turned the crew, instructing,
"Alright. Scour the area for Mengsk's
subordinates while I take Kerrigan away. When I'll leave the base, I'll give
you further instructions."
The crew saluted and went outside to patrol the
area. Kalis was thinking, "Great. I once more have to save the person I hate
the most. Why do I do this?" He then took Kerrigan on his shoulders and headed
outside the base, after which he ordered the extraction crew to go to the
arbiter's location, before heading there himself.
Upon his arrival, he saw Raynor, Kealer and the
pilots of GS 1, 2 and 3 who had escorted the arbiter on Char, with GS-3's
pilot gritting his teeth, as though he was feeling great pain. After Kalis and
the extraction crew arrived, Raynor spoke,
"Listen up, guys. Since you're the only Raynor
Raiders in this camp, I have to talk to you. Here is some bad news. I
intercepted one of Mengsk's communications in which he clearly said he wanted
to kill me. In other words, he's turnin' on us and we're dead if we don't
hightail it out of here! That's why I wanted you to come here. Up-link
yourselves on the arbiter's recall programming." The men did so, and Kalis
took care of programming Kerrigan. She was still unconscious from the marine's
vicious hit. Raynor, after noticing this, asked Kalis to go see him. He asked,
"Kalis, why is she unconscious again?"
"I don't know. She was already like that when I
arrived. Here is something you must know, sir" Kalis then explained to Raynor
Duran's attempted abduction and the information he had gotten from him. Raynor
said, after Kalis finished:
"Well, that explains why Mengsk's troops in this
base haven't turned on us yet. They need me to keep Kerrigan alive and hold
off the zerg attack. In any case, I'm gonna disappoint him, 'cause we need to
reach the rest of my troops on Aiur ASAP."
The arbiter pilot interrupted Raynor and said,
"Sir, all the men have been up-linked on my
arbiter's recall function. I'll open a warp to Aiur as soon as I arrive."
"ETA?" Raynor asked.
"Ten to twenty terran minutes."
"Ok. Thanks." Raynor turned towards his men and
said:
"Guys, we gotta pretend we're doing everything
to hold the zerg attack, except for Kalis, who'll continue taking care of
Kerrigan until further notice, therefore staying in this forest. We'll be
recalled in 10 to 20 minutes. Understood?"
Kalis nodded and took Kerrigan on his shoulders
once more and headed deeper in the forest. The rest of Raynor's men seemed
completely shocked, not only by the sudden departure, but also by Mengsk's
betrayal. Raynor thought this was typical Mengsk attitude. Betraying his
allies as soon as he's done with them, like they'd only be pawns.
Fifteen minutes passed slowly, as Raynor's men
were pretending nothing had happened, while the zerg attack clearly became
much less ferocious. After that time, Raynor and his men, located all over the
base, were each individually engulfed in a swirling blue energy. Seconds
later, they disappeared from the surface of Arenil to land on Aiur shortly
after. Raynor opened his eyes, only to see a shocking siteŅ
Chapter 13: A Time of New Alliances
Raynor gaped at the base with horror. It had
been nuked.
Corpses were lying everywhere and medics were
rushing to soothe the wounded people who screamed with pain, some mutilated
beyond recognition. All the buildings were scorched and torn by the raw power
of the impact. Raynor was feeling as though he was going to be sick from such
a sight. Samir Duran's voice was heard on his left, completely calm, saying,
"This is what'll happen if Mengsk gets
Kerrigan," the voice echoed.
Raynor jolted in surprise. He looked around and
saw Samir Duran on his left, a rifle strapped on his back.
Angry, Raynor said, "YOU! What is this?"
Duran answered, simply,
"Don't worry. This isn't your base." He then
pressed a few buttons on his wristband and the site of the destroyed base
faded away, showing a metallic dome. Duran continued. "This was just a
simulation. I needed to show you this to make you understand the current
situation." He stopped talking, as Raynor was looking around for the
extraction crew, which was unfortunately not there. Seeing that, Duran said,
"Your extraction crew is with your main force on Aiur, and so is Kerrigan. I
only transferred your recall here to have a word with you. We both want
information. I only want an exchange."
Raynor, tense, said, "What information would you
have for me?"
"Well, first, Kerrigan's mind is that of her
older self, for one. It's no longer influenced by the zerg." Hearing this,
Raynor said: "Yeah, right. Do you have any proof?"
Duran smiled and answered, "How come Kerrigan
didn't try to leave your base when you had her?"
"She didn't want to get killed by the guards.
That's why."
"That's ridiculous, she is the most powerful
entity in the Kopruru sector. And you're telling me she's afraid of your
guards? Alright, then why did she seem panicking when she told you her
cerebrates wanted her away?"
"WellHey, how did you know about that?"
"I have ears that can hear you from miles away."
"What???"
Raynor seemed surprised that Duran could hear
that far. "Then again", he thought, "maybe those ears aren't his. Maybe he has
a spy." Duran smiled and said,
"I don't have a spy. Your communications are
easy to intercept, Raynor, especially by shooting the base's IJS. It's as
simple as that."
Seeing Raynor's puzzled expression, he
continued, "By the way, you of all people should remember ghosts could read
minds. With one of the memories that I just sawŅKerrigan is right. You ARE a
pig."
Raynor smiled, embarrassed, but something was
bothering him. He asked, "If Kerrigan is back to normal, how come Kalis wanted
me to stay away from her?"
"I eavesdropped upon his brief conversation with
Kerrigan. For what I heard, she still has her zerg instincts, which are
particularly deadly when she sees you. I can't blame her. You've been torn in
her flesh, but at the same time, her humanity," he paused, staring at Raynor's
perplexed face, "Indeed, she still has feelings for you. Because of it, she is
resisting her zerg instincts as we speak." Duran paused to let the fact sink
into the speechless Jim Raynor.
Duran stared pensively at him for a moment. Jim
Raynor shook his head and responded with a small nod.
"It's your turn to explain something," Duran
told Jim Raynor. He paused a moment, seeming to choose his words. He then
looked at the terran commander and continued, "That treatment your medics
created. Can it remove all zerg mental conditioning?"
"The nano-mach restores them to their original
human DNA, and with that, all zerg thoughts and instincts are out. So, yes."
Duran said, "Do you think your medics could help
me?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I have eluded myself from the control of my
former masters, but even now I am struggling with the zerg mental
conditioning, though I can think freely for now."
Surprised, Raynor answered promptly, "Okay. My
crew's going to help you out if you want. Head towards Aiur anytime you..."
Before he could finish, he felt as though he was again being recalled. He
disappeared from the metallic dome, to really end up on Aiur seconds later,
near the extraction crew who looked panicked. Kealer asked Raynor,
"Sir! Are you all right? How come you weren't
recalled with the rest of us?"
"Duran intercepted my recall and we had a little
chat. He might come by later. If he does, do NOT kill him or hurt him in any
way."
Kalis quizzed, confused, "Why?"
"He wants to get rid of all of the mental
conditioning the zerg gave him. Well, that's what he says, anyway. By the
way" Raynor said, looking around, "Where's Kerrigan?"
A female medic spoke behind him, saying, "Sir!
We currently are preparing her treatment. In fifteen to twenty minutes, she'll
be treatable."
Raynor said to the medic, "Good. Give her the
maximum dosage of nano-machs. With her infested DNA, we gotta be ready for
anything. Get it done, doctor."
The medic saluted and headed towards the
infirmary. Raynor asked Kalis to go see him. He asked,
"Duran told me what you were hiding from me.
Kalis, why didn't you tell me about the fact that Kerrigan's gotten her human
thoughts back?"
Kalis explained, carefully, "First, I didn't
have time. Second, if you would have known, you would have insisted on seeing
her, even though her instincts would have caused her to kill you. It was
forŅ."
A marine had just arrived. He interrupted Kalis,
"Sir, there's a problem over at the east of the planet. Mengsk and all of his
men have just left without notice." The marine then headed back towards the
command center.
Raynor swore under his breath and said to his
two lieutenants, "You two, organize the defenses. Tell the guys not to let a
single dominion unit in. Also, Samir Duran is not to be harmed in any way and
he will have maximum, but supervised, access to the base, is that clear?"
Kalis and Kealer nodded and went to organize the
defences. Raynor turned to the three ghosts and the three dark templars of the
extraction crew and said,
"You guys just have to head towards your
quarters for now. I'll contact you if I need you. Dismissed."
When everybody was gone, Raynor tuned his radio
and said,
"To all of Raynor's raiders. This is commander
Raynor. I have multiple announcements to make. Let's start with the bad news.
Mengsk is after us once more and he'll stop at nothing to try and kill us.
Because of that, we'll reinforce security around here. Lieutenants Kalis and
Kealer are in charge of that. Now, for some better news, we managed to catch
Kerrigan. We'll get her treated today, though she'll still look like a zerg
for at least a month. So, don't be surprised if you see her around and do
not-I repeat- DO NOT try to kill or harm her, no matter what the Zerg have
done to you or your loved ones. Commander Raynor, over and out."
Raynor headed to the medical facility. The head
medic saluted and guided him to the treatment room. Kerrigan floated in green
liquid, a helmet plugged onto her head. Her eyes were closed. She was ready to
be treated. Raynor sat in a chair, and a helmet was firmly placed on his chair
by the head medic. Raynor looked around and saw Dark Archons assisting the
medics, plugging different wires on themselves. They would provide the
necessary energy to weaken Kerrigan's mind defenses.
"Begin." The head medic said, pale, crossing her
fingers.
Immediately, Raynor saw the Dark Archons
releasing their energy. It came through the wires and hit Kerrigan head on,
who winced from the pain. Raynor then felt as though a part of him was being
taken. He took a deep breath and saw Kerrigan holding her head, screaming with
all her lungs. The Zerg instincts had been very firmly implanted onto her by
the Overmind.
Then, suddenly, she stopped screaming. She just
wept, trying to calm down. Her body was still infested, but any trace of her
conditioning was gone.
"Begin treating the body." Raynor said.
"NO!" Kerrigan yelled. "Justleave me like
this."
"What?" Raynor said. "Are you serious?"
"Yes. IŅcan still control my broods. Please, let
me keep this body" She fainted, exhausted.
"Put her in an infirmary bed." Raynor said to
the medics. "We'll respect her wishes."
"Yes, sir!" The medics quickly carefully picked
her up. As she was being carried, Kerrigan said faintly:
"Thank you."
****
Five days later, Duran arrived on Aiur. He
landed his scout (which he stole when he freed the Salaha tribe) on an orbital
station, on the frontier of the Protoss home world Aiur. With wide eyes, he
noticed a mixture of zerg, protoss and terran forces guarding the planet. He
said to one of the terran guards,
"Ah, excuse me, but can I pass? Raynor's been
expecting me. I'm Samir Duran."
The marine radioed Raynor. Afterwards, he said,
"Raynor says you can pass. Follow me, sir. I'll take you to the medical
facility."
Duran nodded and followed the marine into a
transport, which brought him to a huge building with a red cross on it. No one
really remembered what the red cross meant, but all terrans knew it as a sign
of a medical institution. Duran went in the building. The marine followed him.
Duran said,
"No need to follow me everywhere. I can do it
alone from here."
The marine answered, "Sorry, sir. I have my
orders."
"Great." Duran thought. "I'll have to wait
before collecting information. Well, I can at least start with him." He turned
to the marine and asked,
"By the way, how come zerg, protoss and terran
units guard this planet?"
"The terrans are, of course, us, Raynor's
raiders. For the protoss, this is the protoss home world of Aiur, so it only
makes sense they have some of their people guarding it. And for the zerg,
well, Kerrigan, from what I've heard, after getting treated for whatever was
in her head, decided to keep that f$/%?*& zerg body. So, she still controls
her broods and she sent a few of 'em to guard us and her, since she's here, in
this infirmary."
Duran smiled. He never could have guessed that
the situation would be this good. He didn't have much left to do, as the last
remaining problem was Mengsk. He'd never agree to follow Duran's plan. "Bah,
I'll think about it later. Right now, I'd better just get treated. It'll be
easier to think without that blasted mind conditioning." And with that, he
went to see the medic on duty, luckily having met her before while serving in
the Confederacy, and he got treated, though for a reason he didn't want to
explain, he wanted his body to stay infested, for now.
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