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Friday, January 28, 2005
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: Don't mind me, I'm an idiot.
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
Posted by on 01/28 at 06:05 PM
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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.
Posted by on 01/28 at 02:59 PM
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Saturday, October 09, 2004
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..."
Posted by on 10/09 at 12:13 PM
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Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Rating: R
Genre: War
Completed
In WWII, several Men take part in an insane attempt to destroy a German Machine Gun post.
The Machine Gun Nest
"Forward!" cried the captain, and we ran forward through the field. Almost
instantly, a barrage of bullets came zooming around us.
The noise filled the air, loud and repetitive, the blast of the machine gun
clogging out all other noise. It was hard to think.
It was D-day plus four. I was a corporal in the US army. We had broken
through on Omaha beach, and I had also survived several firefights with the
Germans. I had had my baptism of fire on D-day, so nobody considered me a rookie
any longer. Although I survived the invasion on the beaches, and several
firefights since, I was still scared sh*tless.
We ran on forward, and I could barely make out the figures at the end of the
field, crouched over a pile of sandbags and a machine gun, which was blazing
away.
It was a mad rush; it was my guess that the captain wasn't thinking clearly.
Four men to take out a machine gun nest. This was impossible. But we had to
follow orders.
"Hit the ground!!" Shouted the captain at the top of his voice, and I flung
myself to the ground with the three others, behind some shrubs and high grass.
The Germans stopped firing momentarily.
I looked to Sergeant Will Tate, who lay crouched beside me. On his filthy
face I could make out a look of pure determination. I respected that, and wished
I could show such courage.
The Germans began firing again.
Private Caparzo, who was to my left, muttered, "F*ck it."
The Captain was giving orders, I knew because I saw his lips moving, and he
was pointing. It seemed that everyone could hear him but me. He finished his
orders and put a new magazine into his Thompson. The Germans stopped to reload.
"Now!" He screamed, "Covering fire!! With that, Caparzo, Tate, and Williams,
the fellow who lay beside Caparzo, got up and ran forward like maniacs. The
captain and I remained, the captain firing away on his Thompson.
I held my rifle in my arms and fired several shots forward, to add to the
cover fire.
Suddenly, a bullet embedded itself in my helmet. I fell backwards clumsily.
The captain smiled, not taking his eyes of the action ahead of him, and said
"Lucky bastard!"
Now I was as scared as ever. I hugged the ground and closed my eyes, lying as
low as I could. The bullets zoomed overhead. I couldn't think, I couldn't hear,
I couldn't move. I opened my eyes to narrow slits and looked through the grass,
making sure not to raise my position.
I saw Williams' lying on the ground in a small depression, just ten metres or
so ahead, riddled with bullets. As Tate ran forward, I saw a bullet strike him
in the shoulder, and he fell on the ground.
Caparzo, realising the hopelessness of the situation, turned around and ran,
as the Germans stopped to reload. He ran as fast as a gazelle, dropping his
rifle near Williams' corpse.
I lay as still as a rock, and saw Caparzo hit the ground as the Germans
started firing again.
I wiped my face with my sleeve, and, noticing my stress and thirst, reached
over and felt for my canteen.
The German fire was strong, bullets zooming overhead, the sound filling the
air. My heart was beating like a brass band, and I saw with woe, the captain lay
on his back. Two bloody holes were in his forehead and chest.
"Oh god!!" I half-spoke, "Shit...oh no, no, no..."
I looked through the grass again, searching for Caparzo.
I spotted him in the grass ahead of me, his hands covering his head. He was
crawling slowly on his belly towards my position. Good, I thought, he was still
alive.
I observed the German nest at the far side of the field. It was only about
forty metres away from me.
I clasped a grenade from my belt. I knew that I had to die in honour rather
than be killed a coward.
I shot up and ran forward. It was like a miracle, as I ran forward, none of
the bullets hit me. I kept running, and screamed in rage at the top of my lungs
"Take this, you Nazi mother-f*ckers!!" as I flung the grenade into the nest.
I felt a penetrating, pain as a bullet went right through my hand and out the
other side.
Then I hit the ground, and covered my head.
The firing stopped and I heard the Germans at the nest shriek.
The grenade exploded, and did away with the soldiers and the nest. I looked
up, with my hands above my eyes to shield me from any dust. I was mighty close
to the nest when I threw the grenade, so I had a minor shrapnel graze.
Those Germans were dead, all right.
As I ran back, Tate called me from the ground. He was wounded in the shoulder
and the knee. I said nothing, and dragged him over my shoulder. ԓThanks..." He
managed, and he then went unconscious.
I lay him down in the grass beside where the captain lay.
"How's Tate, is he okay?" Asked Caparzo.
"He's been hit in the shoulder and in his left leg-he's out now." I replied.
"I'll take a look at Tate-you radio for some assistance."
Caparzo leant over Tate, and I took the captain's radio, and switched it on.
"Does anyone read me?" I asked into the radio.
"Roger, I read you. This is Captain Sam Smith of the 101st, over."
Came the reply.
I continued. "We have two men down and one man wounded, we require immediate
assistance"...
Posted by on 08/17 at 06:56 PM
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Genre: War
Completed
In the Irish Rising in 1916 against the British, a young Sniper lies in waiting on the roof of a warehouse.
The Sniper
The darkness had pulled itself like a blanket over Dublin City. Times were
tense between Britain and Ireland. A warehouse, dilapidated and abandoned, stood
opposite a bank on a dark street near the GPO.
A Kid lay on the rooftop. A .303 Lee Enfield rifle fitted with a sniper's
scope lay in his grasp. His finger waited, anticipant, on the oily trigger of
his weapon. 1916, the third day since the rising had broken out. He had turned
eighteen this year.
He had been drafted into a group of snipers, and been stationed around the
city. He found that he had quite a talent in sniping, when given a brief
tutorial by one of the older snipers. He was now one of the many snipers
stationed around the city. He was aware of several British snipers that lay in
wait for some sign of Irish activity, all posted on three different buildings
around the bank. One sniper on one, three on the other, and another lone sniper
lay down on a building just below the one Sean lay on, in a position he could
easily shoot him from. But something held him back. His youthful innocence, his
ignorance of the ways of a soldier held him from carrying out the duties of one.
The Kid noticed he freezing cold, and considered lighting a smuggled
cigarette. He removed one from the pocket in his jacket, and placed it between
his lips. He took out his lighter and lit.
The warm heat of the cigarette filled his mouth and throat.
Almost immediately several shots were fired from the lone sniper across the
street, and the bullets fortunately embedded themselves in the solid brick. Sean
spat the cigarette out and slammed down on it with his fist. The lone snipers
now knew his position, the one across the street and the one in the building
below him. He cursed his recklessness, and lay down as low as he could. The
sniper below him had to be taken out.
A feeling inside the Kid prevented him from taking his gun and shooting him.
He crouched down low, and peered stealthily over the edge of the building.
Through the darkness he could see the faint figure of a man, busy searching
in his kitbag, a long sniper rifle lying loyally at his side.
The man shifted his head slightly, and the Kid quickly withdrew his head from
view. He stayed still for a second and stared at the ground. The cold, eerie
midnight silence was the only sound.
All of a sudden, the tinkle of bouncing metal was heard. His eyes grew wide,
and he turned his head around to see a grenade, its metal shining malevolently
in the moonlight. He lay still for half a second, noticing the pinless-ness of
the grenade.
Without thinking at all, acting purely on impulse, he shifted his body,
clasped the grenade in his hand and flung it over the side of the building. A
scream came from the doomed British soldier.
The Grenade exploded halfway down, enough to do away with the British soldier
and to blow a mighty hole on the ceiling of the warehouse on which he lay.
The Explosion sent dust and tiny pieces of shrapnel flying, not to mention a
very visible blast. Immediately, the other British snipers began firing towards
The Kid's direction.
Fear and anxiety filled his mind. Would he ever get out of here? Would he be
struck with a fearful guilt for killing a man?
Suddenly, he was filled with a tremendous, fiery feeling. This war was his
time. Sniping his piece de resistance. All his body parts shook, his muscles
tightened. He was an Irishman and proud of it. Proud of the Country, willing to
do anything for it's independence and peace.
He mounted his rifle on the bars and looked through the scope. The British
soldiers had stopped firing, at least for the moment. He looked through the
scope and found the sniper above the shop opposite him on the street. He was
reloading his rifle and cleaning the scope, all in great haste.
The Kid aimed his rifle, his sweaty finger over the trigger. His aim was dead
in the center of the British Soldier's forehead. He waited.
The soldier put his eye to his scope and aimed his gun. The Kid was caught
off guard, and shuddered slightly as he pulled the trigger.
The 9mm bullet shot out of the barrel of his gun and zoomed through the air
at a speed of 250 meters per second. It reached the British sniper's scope and
broke through the glass., zooming right on through, it then penetrated the
eyeball, the impact pressure sending blood spurting out. The Bullet came to a
rest upon entering the brain and lay there.
The kid watched the British soldier slump over, dead, dropping his rifle on
the street below. He now brought his attention to the three snipers on the
building in the west of the area. He didn't take his time in capping off the
first sniper, taking aim and shooting him in the chest as he surveyed the area.
He winced and fell over the edge of the building. This alerted the other two.
They frantically lay down and got their weapons loaded.
Although he was on the tallest building, his being at least a storey over the
others, The Kid couldn't get a proper aim on them, with the light as it was and
with their frantic movement.
One of the snipers mounted his weapon on its stand and expertly aimed towards
the direction of the bullet, which had killed his comrade, had come from. He put
his eye on the scope.
The Kid, however, got him in clear view and pulled the trigger anxiously,
only to hear a disappointing click.
To his horror and utter dismay, he acknowledged that he had forgotten to
reload. He saw through his scope, the British sniper was aiming, directly at
him.
He immediately threw his body to the right, as the opposing sniper shot a
bullet straight through the air, hitting the Kid in the shoulder as he moved. He
fell on his back. A Piercing pain filled his left shoulder and blood gushed out
from his wound.
He thought whether he was an expert soldier or a fool. Looking on the bright
side, if he hadn't moved, that bullet would have hit him in the head.
He lay on his back and groaned. Such pain. This was his first taken bullet.
He came to his senses and bandaged his wound, ripping the bandage with his
teeth. He felt moisture underneath the bandage, but was sure that the blood had
stopped. He waved his arm a bit, to see how practical he would have to be. It
hurt, a lot, but was not utterly unbearable. The Bullet hadn't gone deep, and
hadn't damaged any of his main cables.
The Kid was in serious danger now. He leant over and checked his rifle. If he
were out of ammo, he would have low chances of survival. Luckily he had three
extra magazines packed. And he also had his revolver if the need came to use it,
and a bowie knife if needs came that desperate.
He reloaded his weapon with one hand, and tried to hold his rifle in the
sniping position. Good, he was able to hold it properly without awful pain. His
aim was a bit shaky, but he could manage. He peered over the edge. The Snipers
on the other side of the street were taking it easy, thinking he had been shot
dead.
The Kid propped his rifle and aimed, and cleared his mind. One of the
soldiers was drinking from a flask, and his attention was elsewhere. The other
sat with his gun in his lap. He would take him out first, him being the more
prepared. If the drinking soldier was shot, this fellow would have his rifle up
in a second, ready to shoot.
He pulled the trigger and shot the soldier in the chest. He dropped his gun,
his arms shot sideways with the impact. Lingering on the edge of death, he
looked like Jesus on the cross. This was a crucifixion with bullets.
The Kid shot another bullet to kill him, it hit through the bottom lip, and
the back of his head blew out.
He fell backwards.
The Drinking soldier abandoned his flask and rifle, choosing to flee for his
life. The Kid shot several clumsy bullets after him, missing him each time, and
he lost view as the soldier jumped onto a ladder and descended.
He waited. There were no more snipers in the area, and the fleeing sniper was
no longer under his responsibility.
He gathered his things, and left behind any unneeded items, such as his empty
flask, used rounds, and a newspaper he had brought to pass the time till
nightfall.
He slung his rifle over his back, and headed for the stairs. He walked
through the 3 floors and left through a side entrance, into a dark alleyway. He
stood and looked around; there was no sign of any activity. He walked down the
alley, and out onto the street.
Bang! A pistol sounded almost right beside the Kid, but the bullet embedded
itself in the butt of his rifle. He swung himself around to meet the British
soldier, pulling his piece from its holster. Another deafening gunshot sounded
as the soldier shot the revolver from the Kid's hand, sending it flying
backwards. He yelled at the top of his voice, acting purely on instinct, running
like a madman towards the British soldier, and shouldered him extremely roughly
in his chest. The soldier struggled, winded, and shot a bullet into the air. The
Kid kicked the soldier, who remained quite calm although he moved frantically,
and unleashed a series of blows to his face and torso with his fists, knocking
the soldier's revolver to the ground.
The British soldier was several years older, about twenty-seven, and the
Kid's strength was not strong enough. The soldier tripped him to the ground, and
grunted as he whacked the Kid viciously.
He quickly retrieved his revolver from the ground amid the beating and aimed
it towards the Kid's face.
The Kid struggled, pulled his knife from the scabbard, and tripped the
soldier by his legs. The soldier gasped and fell forward, landing directly on
the Kid's upturned knife. The knife plunged through the soldiers gut, embedding
itself to the hilt.
The look in the soldier's wide eyes was hellish. The eyes were as wide as
saucers. The pupils turned into dots, all color leaving his face. He gasped.
They remained in that position for three seconds, and a drop of blood dripped
from the soldier's lip. To the Kid's amazement, a look of complete peace came
over the soldier's eyes, and his body slumped over to the side.
The Kid rolled over, shifting the heavy corpse. He sat beside the dead
soldier, immobile for the moment, a tear of shock and stress flowing down his
cheek. Amidst this skirmish the blows had affected his shoulder wound. The pain
increased dramatically, and he passed out.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Kid came back into consciousness several hours later, in a daze. He
noticed the gentle rocking of a truck. Maybe the British had captured him, or
maybe he'd been found by his own troops. Relief spread through him though, when
he heard two soldiers beside him speaking in Dublin accents.
He sat up and felt his wound, bandaged up and still in pain, although much
less.
"Hey, Mick, this fellowҒs woken up at last." said a soldier beside him.
" Where am I? Where are we going?" managed Sean.
"We're in a truck, an we're on the way to the Jacob's Factory, and there
you'll be all fixed up."
"...Okay...."
"You're some sniper for your age, lad." he continued, "It's thanks to you
that this battalion wasn't killed back there where we found you."
But Sean couldn't acknowledge this, as he was already asleep. He descended
into a dream in which the war ended and Prime Minister Asquit and Michael
Collins shook hands.
The soldiers from both sides went home to their families and friends, and
life was something that could be called peaceful.
Posted by on 08/17 at 06:17 PM
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