Chapter 14: The Warrior of Peace
Duran, now completely treated, was now in one of
the infirmary beds. Sure, he felt much better, but his treatment was a mere
excuse to get information. He shrugged at what he had been forced to do to get
Raynor to trust him. It wasn't his style to act all weak and unsure of
himself. However, he got the information he wanted, as Raynor and Kerrigan had
come by to speak to him earlier. Kerrigan, though she was still in her
infested body, was looking completely different from before. She was smiling.
Not one of those sadistic, evil smiles, but a real, tender, happy smile. Duran
couldn't help but think that it wasn't Kerrigan; there were so many
differences with the one he had once known as the Queen of Blades. He
permeated Kerrigan's mind to assure himself of her identity, and what he saw
made him feel relief. It also showed him that Raynor wasn't the only "pig"
around.
Now, Raynor had left and Kerrigan was sleeping
in another bed of the infirmary. Nevertheless, Duran was still trying to
process the recent events and to grasp all he had discovered. From what he
knew, all of the K-sector's factions had united, except the Terran Dominion.
Even if now he was about to face an incredibly huge force, Mengsk wouldn't
surrender. He was too foolishly proud. Because of that, there would be a war,
which would cost thousands, even millions of lives. Duran was starting to feel
bad. His mission was precisely to avoid this kind of bloody conflict. A
mission he would need to accomplish at all costs.
**Flashback**
Duran, serving Kerrigan, was starting to prepare
for the final battle of the Brood War, but he felt something calling him,
something too strong to resist. Even though he realized that Kerrigan would
probably kill him for such an act of desertion, he left to answer the call.
Days later, he managed to reach to an aquatic planet of the source, which was
in an uncharted solar system. The planet contained a huge Xel' Naga structure,
similar to one in the Dark Templar home world Shakuras, with the difference
that it was hidden in a valley of green flora, with vines enveloping its walls
and doors.
Duran went in, anxious, but fearless for some
reason. As he climbed up toward the decrepit temple's tower, voices began to
stir whispers; voices that he deduced belonged to the architects of this
sacred temple. When he reached the top of the tower, a sudden overwhelming
sense of fear engulfed him. He needed to flee. He needed to leave now.
It was actually a Dj vu.
He paused for a long moment, until finally it
dawned upon him; it was similar to the temple summit where Atlantis and
Zeratul stood with the light and dark crystals during the Brood War. He had
never seen it, but somehow he knew.
Soon, the whispers stopped for a moment, then a
clear voice shook him. "Duran" The name echoed throughout the valley. "Duran"
The voices revealed themselves as the ancient
ones of the Xel' Naga, the ones who created the three species at war. Curious,
Duran wondered. Was humanity the product of the Xel' Naga?
They sensed his inquisition. "Indeed" It was as
if the word was spoken an ancient language and Duran, though he didn't know
why, understood effortlessly. It was so strange.
The Xel' Naga requested Duran to bring the three
species together, to protect the galaxy. They explained that it was their
original purpose to do so, as the K-sector was, according to them, in danger.
It was supposedly a threat that all species would have to face together. To
finish, one of the voices had said,
"You are our warrior out there. The warrior of
peace."
Duran did not understand it, but it was as if
every cell in his body told him to obey instinctively. It was as if the
genetic product cultured within him after millions of years of evolution was
beckoning him to learn and listen, with his undivided attention.
And so, the spirits touched him.
He stared into infinity, not caring if his eyes
were strained or his pupil had dilated significantly. A powerful psychic wave
surged throughout the temple, the globe, spanning across the entire solar
system, and who knows how far.
Duran had felt a sense of completion he had
never felt before, pride he would have never acknowledged in his human
ancestry. He was spirited, in a state of Elysium.
The former ghost operative, the former soldier
of Kerrigan, Samir Duran, was 'reborn'.
He was the child emerging from his mother's
womb, having to breathe life for the first time, so intense that his legs gave
away and his knees caught the floor, and finally he broke into a storm of
tears.
Even if the cold wind blew across his face on
the temple summit, he was still weeping, as the night's light shone on him.
Finally the first light of day dawned on his
face. He tasted his salty lips, as his tears had dried. He had been kneeing
for hours on a solid rock pavement. Sure, his knees ached, but it didn't
matter, as the voice of truth was very present in his mind. He had found it.
He did not need to think, nor doubt those words from his creator. This was his
birthright, his fate. Duran had been endowed with a celestial mission, one
that he would live to accomplish, as he went to find allies.
Duran started by getting one of Kerrigan's best
broods to follow him. Soon after, he freed the imprisoned Salaha tribe from
the prison planet Termanot-pulah. Then, he heard of the battle on Char. Though
he didn't have many allies, he went there with them, determined to stop this
war once and for all. He saw Kerrigan escape in a wraith, followed her, and
tried to bring her to him by mind-controlling Kalis when he was near her,
though the protoss warrior took control of his body again just in time to take
Kerrigan back to the terran base, leading to events he only knew too well項
**Flashback end**
Duran, though his mission was nearly complete,
just couldn't find a way to take Mengsk out of the picture. He was too strong
mentally to be mind-controlled, he never would be alone in a vulnerable
position and all his troops always had a special psychic-deflector chip
surgically placed in their heads. Besides, he had let the Salaha go, as they
had accomplished their part of the deal, while his renegade brood was far
away. "Damn it." He thought, "The only way to make it would be to sneak inside
his mansion and shoot him, but even that's impossible: his mansion's so well
equipped; even a mosquito would have trouble sneaking through." He then lost
patience and yelled out loud: "This is impossible!"
Kerrigan, which was looking as though Duran had
just woken her up with his yelling, said, "Ghosts aren't supposed to be afraid
of some difficulty. Duran, aren't you supposed to be one of the best? Anyway,
about whatever is that hard, do what you want but let me sleep." And with
that, Kerrigan lay in her bed and tried to sleep once more. She couldn't and,
noticing that, said, "How about I help you out? I can't sleep anyway."
Duran nodded and explained everything to her,
causing her to open her mouth in awe. She said,
"Wow. Now this is big. I can't stand that
treacherous moron either, so count me in." After she said that, they both went
to take their things and headed out of the base. This would be hard, but
Kerrigan was right: ghosts aren't supposed to be afraid of anything.
****
Kalis was thrashing around his quarters. How
could he have not guessed that Mengsk wanted to kill all of Raynor's Raiders?
First, he fails to guess Kirger's true allegiance, and now this. This time,
though, it wouldn't be Raynor who would take care of the traitor. Kalis
promised to take care of it himself, not knowing the consequences or caring
about his own safety. He ran to the door of his quarters, opened it, and saw
Zeratul waiting in front of it. Zeratul said, looking suspiciously at Kalis,
"En Taro Adun, Kalis. Now, did I
not say that you should never go out on your own? What are you intentions?"
"What do you think? I want the head of the
terran emperor Arcturus Mengsk."
Zeratul sighed and said, "It is unwise. Do you
not know that Mengsk's manor is heavily guarded?"
Kalis calmed down and answered reluctantly "No.
I do not think of such things."
Zeratul sighed once more, "Yet you still want to
kill him. Indeed, we all share this deep hatred for the treacherous emperor.
But stop acting like a terran! You mustn't let anger blind you. You can't kill
him alone. To do so, you'll need help. My help." He said, a glow in his eyes
showing his will to fight.
Kalis nodded, as eager to fight as Zeratul was,
and walked out of the base with him. Destination: Korhal.
Chapter 15: Duran's stand
The transport slowly made its descent onto the
desert sands of Korhal, permeating through the atmosphere, registering as a
legitimate Dominion dropship to of all of Emperor Mengsk's spy-satellites on
the northern hemisphere. Two terrans looked extremely tense, but focused,
concentrating their energies on their hallucinogenic presence, a little trick
taught to Duran by his rogue protoss allies.
The two were watching the pentagon-shaped
militaristic fortress grow larger and larger as the slightly tanned ghost
peeked at the overlord's internal eye receptors, slightly perturbed at the
sight of hundreds of siege tanks, blocks of military barracks, and fifty or
more Goliath units patrolling the compound vigilantly; all surrounding the
castle-like mansion at the centre of the impenetrable fortress. Arcturus
Mengsk's secret stronghold was no more a secret, all thanks to Duran's spies.
The enigmatic Samir Duran smiled and spoke with
sarcasm, still disguised by his hallucination,
"What a fun hike this will be. First, I'll have
to avoid the guards that I can see. Second, I'll have to avoid the heat
detectors that I CAN'T see, not to mention the multiple motion-tracking 50mm
gun turrets, which are surely around. All that with the one infested ghost who
enslaved me and seriously thought of killing me."
Kerrigan sighed and said, "Fun indeed. By the
way, let's just communicate psychically to avoid being heard."
Duran nodded as a door opened, allowing him to
get out of the dropship, followed by Kerrigan.
The technicians and pilots on the spaceport
stared at the illusive scene as the drop-bay doors opened and two lowly-ranked
officers came out. The two then walked towards Mengsk's mansion in a casual
manner. Half way there, one of the officers took his heat-detecting goggles
and put them on, though he seemed not to like them much, as he mentally said
to his partner,
"Kerrigan, those goggles itch, not to mention
they make me look like a complete moron."
Kerrigan smiled and said, "What else is new?
Now, please stop complaining and start looking around for those
heat-detectors!!! You-know, you never fussed like this when you were my
slave." she added, with a wryly smile on her face.
Duran grimaced at his former master for a
second, then scanned around the area. Before he could say anything, though,
something grabbed the two and prodded a sharp object against their necks. One
of them whispered,
"Kerrigan! Duran! By Adun! What are you doing
here?"
The clandestine warriors let go of Duran and
Kerrigan, who turned around and saw that the ones holding them were actually
Zeratul and Kalis. Duran smirked and answered mentally,
"I think you should answer that question
yourself, but I'd be ready to bet all I have that you want Mengsk's head. Am I
right?" The two protoss warriors nodded. Duran sighed and continued, "Well, it
seems we're here for the same reason. Let's just go together. Ah, by the way,
I didn't even feel your heat as you approached. How did you do that?"
Zeratul answered, "Simple enough: temperature
inhibitors. They're common among the Dark Templars; after all, we're all about
stealth, aren't we? Nonetheless, I brought two spare ones, just----'in case',
as you would say. Would you care to use them?" Zeratul took out two
disc-shaped devices.
Kerrigan smiled and answered, "Why not?"
Duran and Kerrigan took the shields from
Zeratul's hands and put them on, causing them to be engulfed in dark blue
light, which became translucent seconds later. When they were done, Kalis
said,
"Well, since we are ready, let's go." He then
started to dash through, but Duran held his arm and shook his head as he said,
"Those guys have more than just heat detectors.
They have motion-tracking guns. And YES, they can see through cloaking." He
added, seeing Zeratul was about to ask something. Duran continued, "We'll need
to snipe them off from afar, unless you'd rather dash at 100 kilometers a
second to make them overheat."
Kalis moaned and told him, "Alright."
Duran and Kerrigan, thanks to Duran's
heat-detecting goggles, sniped off the metallic spider-like devices plastered
on the ground in no time at all. They sneaked past the guards easily and
arrived in front of the mansion itself. When they arrived, Duran mentally
spoke to the others,
"Okay, people. We're here. I know you're feeling
useless, guys." He said, looking at Zeratul and Kalis "Ņ.but we'll have to
snipe Mengsk off. We can't just barge in there. When he'll be dead, though,
all this base's alarms are going to go ballistic. How do you intend to leave?"
Zeratul answered, "Easy. My corsair and Kalis'
scout are both landed nearby."
Duran said, "Good. Kerrigan, you know that place
a bit, right?"
Kerrigan said, "Yeah. It's his father's old
mansion. When I was his lieutenant, this was the place of choice for strategic
meetings. Needless to say, I know this place by heart. His office should be
there." She pointed towards a window, at the second floor. "Now, let's go!"
Duran readied his rifle. Kerrigan shook her
head. "No, Duran, contrarily to what you had planned, we can't snipe him off."
She continued, seeing Duran's disappointed face. "There are trees in front of
his office's window, so we have no clear shot. You see them like I do. You
know, I would like to see you do it, Duran. So" She looked at Zeratul and
Kalis "you two won't be so useless after all." The two protoss warriors
nodded. Kerrigan continued, "Now, can you use your psionic powers to reach
that window?"
Kalis shook his head and Zeratul nodded.
Kerrigan sighed, "Okay, then. I'll have to go with Zeratul, just in case. My
powers alone aren't enough to get me up there, but those legsŅ." she pointed
towards her infested legs "are powerful enough. Duran, Kalis, you are our
look-outs." The two nodded, though they seriously looked annoyed of letting
others take care of Mengsk.
Kerrigan and Zeratul ran towards the trees and
leaped over them, exerting much force onto their legs. They grabbed onto the
window perfectly, and then peeked. Mengsk was looking at some documents, and
he didn't see them arrive. Kerrigan told Zeratul mentally,
"Take out the guards. I'll take care of Mengsk."
Kerrigan cloaked and Zeratul, cloaked as well,
navigated his way to a balcony nearby, shortly landing in front of the door.
Somehow, the red goggle-wearing guards spotted him and reached for their guns,
as Zeratul sprinted towards them. They poured rampant fire with their C-14
Gauss Rifles, connecting with the dark templar's shield, but the Protoss
wasn't about to take any more of this. He deftly somersaulted into the air and
literally flew over them, unleashing two deadly swipes of his blade. With
that, the guards' heads rolled onto the ground.
While the dark templar fought off the guards, Kerrigan tightened her mighty
claws and then threw herself in the window, crashing through the glass,
acrobatically landing on her feet in a cat-like grace. She raised her canister
rifle, the red dot of the targeting laser pointing at Mengsk's head, and
fired, piercing the head like butter. At that, Zeratul told Kerrigan,
"The fiend shall reap what he sows."
Kerrigan didn't answer. She was looking at the
body of Mengsk. For some reason, it looked as though electric sparks were
coming out of the impact. Also, there was no blood. Kerrigan realized what
happened. She said: "Oh, no. Not again" She pulled Zeratul by the arm and
jumped out of the window, with Zeratul following her close behind. He asked,
"What exactlyŅ" A loud explosion from Mengsk's
office interrupted him. In surprise, he said, "What in Adun's name?"
Kerrigan said: "A drone with Mengsk's
appearance. I had a bad experience with something like that before" They
landed, as Duran's voice interrupted her. He said angrily, "Aren't you
supposed to be stealthy? What was that explosion?" Kalis continued. "If you
wanted to activate the alarms, mission accomplished." The four warriors stood
while all the alarms went off. Duran yelled: "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!" The
four dashed away but quickly, Mengsk's entire guard was in front of them, with
Mengsk seemingly right in the middle. Duran sighed and said,
"How can we leave?"
Kerrigan said: "All of us can cloak, except
Kalis." Kalis interrupted her: "Wrong. Raynor lent me an artificial cloaking
device a while ago and I forgot to give it back." Kerrigan continued: "All
right, then. With the temperature-blocking shield and the cloaking, we should
be fine to reach our scouts and corsairs. Now, let's go!"
Duran shook his head. "Go without me. I have to
take care of something."
Kerrigan said, angry, "You idiot! I know what
you want to do, but you'll get killed!"
Duran answered, "Like I care." Kerrigan looked
at him. For some reason, a strange glow was in his eyes, a bit like the
protoss, but somehow stronger. He continued, "War has torn everyone apart for
far too long. It's time to end it." He paused as he looked into the others'
faces, and added, "Go now, guys. And in the future, face threats together.
Fight as one." Zeratul and Kalis seemed confused, but Kerrigan understood. He
had told her about the "threat" that would arrive. She told the two others to
follow her. Duran smiled. He walked in front of Mengsk's army, not even
bothering to cloak. He yelled out,
"All right, Mengsk, you @$$hole! Come out and
face me!!!"
Mengsk's men were confused at first, but a voice
came from behind them, saying, "Alright. I'll face you like a man, though
you're hardly one anymore." Mengsk's men split into two lines, letting Mengsk
go through. As he arrived in front of him, Duran spat on the Emperor, a
disgusted look upon his face. To Duran's surprise, the spit hit something
solid in front of Mengsk. The latter smiled and said:
"As bad as before, are you? He he. Thanks to my
shield, I just saved my shirt. How amusing." He laughed.
It was Duran's turn to smile. He placed his palm
in front of him, and suddenly, a ray of lightning shot out, hitting the
shield, which shattered into one thousand pieces. Seeing this, Mengsk's men
pointed Duran with their weapons, ready to shoot.
Then, something seemed to awaken in Duran. He
could feel intense energy within him all surging to get out. He went blank.
His eyes drowned into blue flames, his face became rippled with his bulging
nerves and he spoke, in an inhuman, powerful voice,
"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN US? WE, THE XEL NAGA,
SHALL YET BE REVEREDŅ.YOUR IMPERTINENCE SHALL BE PUNISHEDAND..."
Duran opened his hands, "YOUŅSHALLSEEŅ" he
gathered energy in them, "OURWRATH!" His hands opened and a blinding blue
lightning escaped for his palms, engulfing him, Mengsk and Mengsk's guards.
Mengsk shielded himself with his arm from the lightning, but it touched him.
His body dramatically turned into a pale husk as every cell in his body
responded freakishly, as if into the lightning's ancient command. He gritted
hard into agonising fear as he watched his hand and his entire body consumed
by a thousand blisters, and screamed, "What is this? WHAT IS THISS--
NOOOOŅuhkack ," he was cut off by the disintegration of his vocal cords. His
blisters burst into pockets of fire until finally a fiery death greeted him,
along with his men.
Duran, with a sadistic smile, closed his hands,
and the power closed in on the ones, as Mengsk and his men were razed into
white ashes onto the ground.
After the light disappeared, Duran realised he
was dying. The power had given him more than he bargained for. Pain, strong
pain, filled his body, which had been burned badly by the thunder. He couldn't
move. Even the slightest attempt to move his finger felt like torture. It was
only a matter of minutes before he'd die. The familiar voice of the Xel' Naga
then spoke in his mind once more,
"Well done, great warrior. Your mission is
successful."
Duran answered, gritting his teeth at the pain
he felt, "Yeah, like I'll live to tell the taleŅ"
"Great warrior, the reason you are dying is that
your body was not powerful enough to handle the power you have been given. Yet
don't be disappointed. Many others of your species would have died long before
you did. You fought well. We are proud. Now, it is time for you to rest."
"And what'll happen to you?"
"Do not worry. We've found someone else who'll
help us, now that you'll be gone."
"Who?"
"It is not important. Just rest for nowand
forever."
Duran didn't say anything as he fell to the
ground; the lightning's burns had finally killed him. And as the coldness of
death crept into his body, a smirk carved in his lips. His mission was
accomplished, his life was completed, and he would now rest in peace.
The end
