Prologue
It has been eight tenuous years since the passing of the conflict known as the Brood War, as was commonly referred to by most of its Terran combatants.
Immediately after the Battle of Char, Kerrigan proposed a ceasefire with both the Protoss and the Terrans. Despite being depleted after the horrific fighting of the past two years, they were accustomed to her treachery. They finally agreed when the self-anointed Queen gave them an offer they couldn't refuse. The self-anointed Emperor recieved Kerrigan's severed right arm and Artanis recieved the remains of Raseac as an offering. Kerrigan sacrificed both as a sign of peace. Raseac had been the Cerebrate heading the Baelrog Brood, the Zerg Brood inflicting the most Protoss casualties on Aiur during the Invasion of Aiur, especially during the battle that killed Tassadar.
A fragile balance of peace existed between the three main factions remaining in the Sector. Mengsk began to reconsolidate the Terran Dominion, but without General Edmund Duke and in debt to his Kel Morian constituents, his rule did not extend much past Korhal and three neighboring worlds. Losing his control of the media, the truth eventually came out about the atrocities the SoK had committed during the Rebellion.
Confined to a few dozen Battlecruisers and a transient mercenary army of Marines, he is constantly at the mercy of migratory pirate militias, especially that of Commander Edward Melanti, formerly assistant Magistrate of the Chau Saran colony. Skymarshal James Raynor's elite band of fighters called "Raynor's Raiders" eventually joined with Melanti against Mengsk despite Melanti's hate for the Protoss and all those affiliated for their destruction of Chau Sara in 2499.
As a result, the other factions of the sector saw their chance. The remnants of Omega Squadron, the savage defenders of Dylar IV joined the only other anti-Confederate faction, the Kel-Morian Combine as their loyal and well-paid enforcers. Melanti managed to assimilate the finest Wraith squadrons in the quadrant forming an enormous mobile fleet capable of endless hit-and-run attacks on any enemy. The Umojan Protectorate, however, looked to the Protoss for protection. Forming an alliance with the Enclave, they became a trade partner supplying raw materials and resources for Protoss technology, almost becoming an honorary Tribe.
Artanis was now left the task of creating a new Protoss order without the influence of Zeratul, gone toward the stars, and the mourned Raszagal, thought to be the immortal Matriarch of the Dark Templar. The Furinax and Auriga Tribes, the weaponsmiths and spacefaring tribes were almost wiped out during the Brood War, and the Templar Tribe of Akilae had lost many of its greatest warriors. As a result, the Judicator Tribe of Ara assimilated the remnants of the Auriga, and an Eighth Tribe called the Xel'Tuhl, Protoss for "warriors from afar" was created, composed of the Dark Templar.
Unifying all Eight Tribes under the banner of a new Protoss Enclave, Artanis was chosen unanimously as the new Aljudicator of this alliance. Immediately, the Enclave set to work preparing and recouping its fighting numbers and lost fleets for the inevitable break in the eerie peace. Dnae'tak, a Shakuran Corsair pilot who had gained notoriety for helping the Auriga Tribe in the battle against the UED over Aiur, was put in charge of the new Enclave fleets including to combine Shakuran and Aiuran space vessels.
The Shelak Tribe, however, refused to join the new Enclave. They decided that with their newfound liberation from Conclave censorship, they would embark on the purpose they had been given before the Aeon of Strife. Guardians of ancient Xel'Naga texts, they decided to depart Shakuras and from the carnage of the Koprulu sector to instead search out the ancient race for salvation and answers, and maybe even find Zeratul on the way.
As for Kerrigan, she has taken advantage of this new peace to begin her Creep Initiative, her intention to put a Zerg prescence on every planet she possibly could. By the ceasefire terms, she could not touch planets under Enclave, Dominion, or Combine protection, but she spread her rule from Char, her homeworld, to Tarsonis and Aiur, chasing Melanti's fleets into the Brontes expanse. The stories that refugees carry back fleeing from occupied Zerg worlds speak of horrific atrocities of Kerrigan's attempts to accelerate the Zerg's pace of evolution by assimilating psionic humans as the Overmind did.
Renaming her Zerg Forces the Zerg Fold, she has every intention to assimilate and dominate any and all living things in the Koprulu Sector.
With the exception of a skirmish near Umoja between Zerg flyers and a Terran transport, which was resolved when Umoja was put under Enclave protection, there has existed an eerie peace between Mengsk, Artanis, and Kerrigan, the feared Queen of Blades, as each bides their time to watch who will break the calm first.
Though no one knows what has happened in the territories of the United Earth Directorate, one can only surmise that they have been watching closely and waiting....
But time grows short and again, war is at hand.
Chapter One Beginning of the Reckoning
The date is September 13, 2509.
Mengsk signing a Mutual Protection Pact with the Combine after a bloody civil war, has agreed to help the Morians should Kerrigan attack, and vice versa. Kerrigan, sensing the possibility of a unified attack against her newly acquired domains, has amassed 3 entire Broods, numbering 3 million strainlings on her space bordering the Dominion. Meanwhile, Artanis has decided it is time, long past time, to repay an old debt.
Location: Warp Corridor en route to the former Protoss homeworld of Aiur Time: 498th Concentric MegaCycle of Khas; Cycle 382.413
The azure void seemed to be eternally running from Dnae'tak's viewscreen. Moving in arrow formation, he led a 32-Corsair escort fleet cruising past the seemingly slow Arbiters to his starboard side. Trying to keep his thoughts pure, he tried not to show the least bit of emotion against the Ara pilots he was protecting. But he could not forget that it was an Ara Judicator that had ordered the death of his father centuries ago. He however, never minded the Aurigans. Their cavalier savagery had always interested him ever since he had weaved among the clouds over Aiur with them attacking UED Wraiths mercilessly.
With unease, he tried to keep his head straight ahead to stare at the space expanding before him in white streaks. Dnae'tak had a hard time convincing himself that he should be helping lead this assault, that it was his fate to do so. But he had to do it, for Artanis, and for his father. He too, like Artanis, had an old debt to pay, tapping a small receptacle under the command console. Now he had to believe his new direction was destiny, that it was his warrior's duty to do so. But he had a strange psionic feeling, deep within him, that something was in the way of destiny on Aiur. Raynor called it a gut feeling.
A dark blue orb with the sigil of the Xel'Tuhl began to glow and give off a chime. The grim-faced pilot knew who it was and activated it with a brush of his three-fingered hand.
"All pilots, warriors, and workers of the Protoss Enclave, activate your metapsionic transcievers.
This is Aljudicator Artanis to all ships.
We have come here to this one place from many other places. Some of you have come from the depths of Conclave space, patrolling our outlying territories only to discover the Zerg had stabbed at our heart. Some of you have come from our beloved home of Aiur, to awaken to the xenomorphic scum defiling our sacred temples. Some of you have come from the planet of Shakuras, dark wayward warriors, who helped our people find the light again in Aiur's time of darkness.
We have come to this one place to do what must be done. We are of one mind, of one body, and of one spirit. We are the mighty Protoss.
Our Umojan allies have wished us luck in our expedition, but they cannot come where we go.
This is a Protoss matter.
It is said that the one strength of the Zerg is the savage suicidal unity of their warrior strains. Upon this day, we shall fight them with our unity, our warrior's strength, the heart of our unity. We have been forged from different places in the universe, but we are Protoss.
You all know your separate tasks for one goal. We all know what must be done, what we must do to reclaim our home of Aiur. The next few hours will determine our unity, our mettle, and our honor.
When the Sun sets upon this day, it will set on Protoss standing upon Aiur.
Oron'natok. Attack!"
In nary a nanosecond, the warping space in front of him contracted and his Corsair was thrown back into realspace. Aligning his ship to the coordinates on his viewscreen, he saw at last destiny. The blue planet rose in his viewtime horizon, and he sensed a burgeoning sense of eagerness and relief from the warriors flying around him. Making a fist over the control orb under him, he sped his sublight engines as his wing followed him in. Behind Dnae'tak was another squadron of Scouts under the command of the new Aurigan leader, and his comrade, Yel'hsa.
But as he closed in on Aiur, Dnae'tak felt something wrong. His suspicions were confirmed when he recieved an alert from his controls, an uplink from the Observers the protoss had dispatched around Aiur weeks before. Immediately, he established a communications link with Yel'sha and Aljudicator Artanis.
"Prelate Yel'sha, I am detecting massive amounts of Zerg Overlords from the Observer scanners."
"I see it too, comrade. The Observers are showing at least 3,000,000 Overlords orbiting the entire planet of Aiur!"
"This is Artanis. My control sensors are displaying the same readout."
"Aljudicator, all the Overlords seem to be dormant. Their psionic signatures are almost nil."
"The Ara pilots seem to think they are discards or an orbital detection system. They should not pose any problem for our fleet."
"Contrary to what the Ara Judicators think, we should be cautious. The Overlords may be suicide flyers or some kind of trap."
"Prelate Dnae'tak, we cannot afford to waste time killing benign Overlords. They have probably already sensed our presence here. We must proceed with our attack plan against the Zerg Hives on the surface of Aiur. Once we have reclaimed the main continent of Sora, then we can kill off these accursed Overlords." "But we should prevent them from confounding our inbound Shuttle flights."
"Then order our Arbiters to place the Overlords within a stasis field for now until we can deal with them."
The large ships began to gather a blue current of plasma around the bow of their ship as it suddenly disappeared and reappeared around a cluster of Overlords until it hardened in what resembled a diamond-shaped cage holding them in Stasis.
"Now that the Arbiters have cast Stasis, we may commence our summoning."
".Very well, Artanis. I am as anxious as you are to rid the Zerg from Aiur. We can always eradicate the Overlords after we have dispatched the Hives on the ground. All of our invasion forces have already been informed of the telemetry and positions of the enemy." "So be it, Dnae'tak. Prelate Yel'sha, are the Aran Arbiter Contingents ready?"
"They are ready and stalwart to begin the next phase of the plan. After this, there is no going back..."
The sixteen lumbering Arbiters in tow suddenly stopped behind his ship, ready.
"This is Ara Tribe Judicator Re'Naxela. We are ready to initiate the transspace dimensional Recall. All non-Arbiter vessels stand clear of the rift."
Veering his Corsair a few hundred meters, he stared straight at the azure rift unfolding before him. Many Corsair pilots had a habit of squinting or turning away from a rift, out of superstition viewing a Judicator ritual might drain their dark powers. But Dnae'tak respected the powerful, and he finally began to understand the Ara as space convulsed around him like a rabid Bengalaas.
In a quick bright flash, the black expanse before him folded and suddenly spit out an enormous golden shining Protoss fleet of Carriers. For a second, Dnae'tak sat in awe as 64 refitted Protoss Carriers cut through space surrounded by the swirling rift of Arbiter Recall. As the blue rift subsided, he also saw resting behind the Carriers were 12 more wings of Scouts and Corsairs leading a massive group of Shuttles. That was, as the Umojans said, "the ace up our sleeve."
The job of the Protoss spacefarers was to obliterate Zerg defenses from orbit, but it was the job of its foot warriors to hold Aiur. The precious cargo of those Shuttles was the heart and soul of the Protoss people literally. Nearly two million Zealots, Dark Templar, High Templar, Dragoons, Archons, Dark Archons, and Reavers rested within the cramped hulls waiting for their chance to serve a bent but not broken dream.
Dnae'tak felt their bloodlust surging as the Shuttles closed on Aiur.
"All wings, destroy Overlord obstructions at coordinates Krypton by Covalence. Encrypt Shuttle Order Lithium, split into Helium Wing and Hydrogen Wing. One group is to land near the ruins of the Rishala Shelak Temple, and the second wing is to disembark on the outskirts of Scion Province."
Dnae'tak knew exactly why Artanis had ordered for the armies of Shakuras to land there. The Rishala Temple had been where the Overmind had manifested itself, and ultimately, where Tassadar had lay down his life to slay it. And Scion Province was where the Zerg had been in highest proliferation, where Fenix had first fallen.....
"Two hundred Microparallaxes and closing, Executor."
Dnae'tak knew time was at hand. Signaling his own attack wing, he led his Corsairs diving beneath the clouds. His wing had been ordered to lay down interference on the Orlphar Brood, mostly a defensive brood composed of air strains and Spore Colonies that was protecting the majority of Aiur's land surfaces, especially around Rishala, which was still a psionic hotspot.
Quickly, the spinning white clouds of Aiur receded as he decelerated his fighter to reveal the Rishala province. From archival records the Shelak had given to him, Rishala was a lush green land dotted with intricate stone- graven shrines to long-forgotten Xel'Naga ideals. The Conclave had allowed these to remain standing after the death of Khas as a reminder of the Aeon of Strife and our failure to inherit the birthright of the Xel'Naga.
Deep inside, Dnae'tak understood what this war had been about. Like two siblings without a parent, they were still fighting for which of the two was more fit to be recognized by the now ashamed and absent parent. Without a sense of pride or duty to the universe, all that remained was vengeance. Nothing else could drown out the pain of being alone without a home, without a true destiny, without a guide. Now the only destiny for the Protoss, like the Zerg, was vengeance.
Tapping the oval globe at the side of his console, he grew tense.
"Dnae'tak, worry of your family debts of honor later. Our honor to the Enclave is first and foremost."
"Affirmative, we must approach their spore colonies with the utmost care. We only have a three nanoparallax margin where they are in range of our Disruption Webs and they can open fire on us from the ground. All Corsairs, choose your targets well."
A hologram shot up from an orb in front of him, as he made a fist around it quickly declerating the craft. Another orb, this one blue, slipped out from his command console, as his scanners focused on a Spore Colony guarding an important ridge near the ruins of Rishala. In Protoss hieroglyphics, it gave a quick tactical readout. Quickly, he pressed the orb showering a blue stream of energy over the Spore Colony and Zerg units for a few dozen feet surrounding it.
Within a few seconds, nearly 2 miles of Rishala was blanketed with Disruption Webs as Corsairs cruised past them to make easy prey of wandering Overlords.
"Dnae'tak, my Observer uplink has alerted me to a few dozen Mutalisks closing in on your vector. Have your wing ready to intercept them. They cannot be allowed to break our defense perimeter. We require enough time for our Carriers to move into position."
"Yel'sha, the Disruption Webs will dissipate within the microcycle. And if there are Scourges, we may not be able to protect the Carriers."
"Worry about the Mutalisks, Executor. The Carriers are closing quickly as we speak."
"Very well. En Taro Tassardar."
"None more appropriate a benediction. En Taro Tassadar."
Looking down, he understood exactly why. Here, the three greatest warriors of his time had trod these plains and defeated one of the greatest scourges in Protoss history. They had won, and it all seemed so simple. But the price of their victory was the loss of their homeland He remembered the somber emotions flowing in the regained psionic links as the refugees from Aiur streamed into Shakuras, in the millions. Now they faced a smarter and more visceral foe and all three of the heroes were either dead or exiled.
But it did not matter. As Tassadar had served, so must he, reasoned Dnae'tak. He turned his gunports to meet the Mutalisks. With anticipation, he awaited the scorpion-like monsters to close within range. Then, he left full havoc be wreaked on the mutations. In perfect concert and unision, his wing cut the Mutalisks to ribbons. After three waves were liquidated and fell to the ground in globs of Zerg remains, he could only show pride as he turned to his wing readouts.
Of his wing, most had endured some damage to their plasma shields, but they would regenerate within the microcycle. Only one had taken minimal damage to their port thruster. With alarm, he saw the danger beneath him. His victorious wing had descended too low to engage the Mutalisks, and if Yel'sha's Carriers did not destroy the Spore Colonies, his wing would be shot down by the dozens of confused Hydralisks under the Disruption Webs. His readout read out with cryptic montony, the countdown to when the Webs would dissipate, allowing the Zerg to retaliate. Dnae'tak read along to keep his nerve as he tried to climb higher, knowing he would run out of time.
"Zamani...."
"Tokurun...."
"Protii...."
"This is Executor Yel'sha, Interceptors have acquired and have begun fire on initial targets."
"Auirga Carrier Wing Sutannicnic reports destruction of all Spore Colonies in Grid Erixon."
"Auriga Carrier Wing Nocibur reports elimination of all Zerg Hydralisks in Grid Chromium."
"Xel'tuhl Carrier Wing Suitaroh reports elimination of all remaining Zerg targets in Grid Erixon."
"Well done, Yel'sha. My Corsairs will escort the Shuttles to land at the ramp at the main Rishalan mesa." "Trust your fellow warrior as if he was your plasma shield. Who said that, Dane'tak?"
"Yes, Adun, a warrior of Aiur, said it."
"This is Aljudicator Artanis. United we stand, divided we fall. How many nanocycles until the Shuttles land?"
"Three -mark- two eight."
"I will lead the assault myself on the Rishalan main Hive Cluster."
"Aljudicator, this was not part of the plan. Did you not believe that your visible presence in the air would lead our warriors against the Zerg?"
"Yes, but I also must return something for your beloved former Matriarch."
"As must I for my father. I ask not for myself, but for the sake of Aiur, that you stay your wrath if but until we have scoured the main Hive Cluster."
"Very well, Dnae'tak."
Dnae'tak remembered when Artanis first arrived on Aiur, walking among the cowering masses of Protoss emanating anger and determination. Both the older Shakuran and Aiuran Protoss thought Artanis an upstart runt, but his determination was one to be admired. For all that befell the Protoss, he never looked back, driving the Protoss to form the Enclave, to begin blending their powers and rebuilding their great fleets. Despite his short- sighted obsession with revenge, it was his day as anyone else's. Dane'tak remembered how much Artanis had isolated himself in meditation staring only at the Observer scans of Aiur for hours on end, as if transfixed in a lover's embrace.
"Cease your mindwandering, Executor Dnae'tak. The Shuttles are about to land."
"This is Templar Exar Kun. One small step for a Zealot. One giant step for Protoss."
"Make every psiblade swipe count. Carriers and Scouts, lay in a close orbiting escort position over our warriors geostaionarilly. Give them as much cover fire as possible. Corsair wings, use your remaining psionic channels and lay down a layer of Disruption Webs on the eastern cliff-face while our Reavers destroy the Zerg formation there."
"Affirmative, Aljudicator."
In earnest, his lieutenants sped even faster than him ahead to pacify the Spore Colonies jutting out of the once-sacred Rishalan terrain with a prominence that could only fortell malevolence. Again, a bluish fog of magnetic particles transfixed themselves in the air. For a few seconds, to Dnae'tak, they almost seemed to be dancing...
Dnae'tak established a direct uplink to the Observers orbiting Aiur, and ordered an idle one to focus in on one sole Dark Templar.
"Encrypt Observer Order Caesium. Geosynch Affix Scan Subject Xel'tuhl- Khashilar."
Within a matter of nanocycles and seconds, Dnae'tak saw how his brother was faring on his command screen. By Protoss military protocol, he could not personally contact Khashilar telepathically or otherwise, and any greater amount of emotion would distract Khashilar, so he simply watched with pride in his younger brother.
On Dnae'tak's holosimulcrum screen, a fuzzy cloaked figure leapt over a small shrub that was poking its branches up as Zerg Creep slowly disintegrated from the green ground. Swerving his head, the Dark Templar plunged his psiblade deep into the midsection of a Hydralisk, removing it as he turned with the grace of a ballet dancer, slashing the Hydralisk again across its spine. The purplish goo of the Creep showed the circular trail of the warrior around the now exterminated Zerg. Slowly turning, Khashilar saw a Corsair high overhead kill the last of the Overlords hovering over him.
"Accursed static", thought a frustrated Dnae'tak as he forced the Observer resolution to re-enhance itself.
Without having to worry about being entraped by the enemy, Khashilar gave full abandon to stealth and charged at a burrowed row of Lurkers underneath some Sunken Colonies. Stopping suddenly behind the Lurkers, he made a diving stab at the central Lurker before rolling back onto his feet and making a precision attack on the Lurker's protruding legs. An anguished cry and bits of the subterranean terror's tissue shot up from the ground as the remaining Lurkers began to panic.
With trained skill, Khashilar used the nano-hydraulics in his suit to launch himself 16 feet high into the air as the Lurkers frantically began to attack in random directions, damaging each other. With only three damaged and confused Lurkers remaining, the warrior landed bestowing a powerful horiziontal slash onto two of the Zerg the moment he landed, before tapping the weakest one killing it. Dispatching another Lurker to oblivion, the remaining one unburrowed and began to flee on its wiry legs, tearing up blades of grass as it went.
Some 300 feet to his left, the interweaving particles of the Disruption Web slowly began to rise and fade into the warm jungle air of Aiur as the Reavers just finished their bombardment of the Zerg Sunken Colonies defending the outer perimeter of the Cerebrate's defenses. Khashilar seemed to almost sense the panic of the Cerebrate within the Lurker as it ran headfirst into a Scarab dissipating its exploding innards onto an annoyed Khashilar.
Dnae'tak was almost amused, and was almost curious to have known how incredulous Khashilar must've thought the Reaver to make such a great albeit cosmetically misjudged attack.
Brushing off what appeared to be a Lurker tendon off his plasma shields with his Warp Blades, Khashilar charged again, this time, ahead of the Reavers slowly advancing on the plain. Underneath a swirling cloud of Interceptor fire, the strident Protoss found himself flanked by 17 fellow Dark Templar and Zealots. Without psionic utterance, or nary a nod, the warrior knew what had to be done as did his comrades. Dispatching a few hidden Zerglings with singular swipes, the small party charged up a ramp to begin attacking the main Hive Cluster.
Turning to his rear, he saw Dragoons beginning to scamper up the outer cliff face to catch up to the Reavers, and knowing that the final blow was to be struck, he led out a tremendous psionic yell that even the mindless Zerglings heard him.
"For the Matriarch!"
With renewed vigor, the bladed Protoss of two worlds worked in perfect unision, dashing between leaping Zerglings slaying them as they fell over the side of the cliff to their deaths. In the midst of the group, was a young Zealot from the tribe of Ara, appearantly some headstrong Judicator looking for as Raynor had called it, "a piece of the action." Somehow managing to slip on a large puddle of Creep, the inexperienced warrior found himself fending off 6 ravenous Zerglings hacking away at his Psiblades.
Without the slightest allusion to his emotions, Khashilar leapt at the lead Zergling minceing it in front of the other startled Zerglings. Backing away in confusion, Khashilar dispatched the other five in one swift combination move with his weapon. The relieved Zealot rose from his feet to thank the Dark Templar, though even he could barely see him because of the minimal Observer downlink.
"Th-thank you. I will tell my father of your bravery."
With solemnity, the Dark Templar turned to the Zealot.
"Men like your father killed mine. Tell your father of that too."
The Zealot gave a puzzled look as Khashilar suddenly turned with his Warp Blade above the Zealot's head. A seventh Zergling had been hidden under the Zealot, but Khashilar quickly diced it with one swipe. The alarmed Zealot powered up his Psiblades as he ducked expecting betrayal only to be answered by a Zergling head falling on his chestplate.
"Tell him that too."
Turning his attention again to the battle, Khashilar saw a small group of Hydralisks guarding some Lurker Eggs which were seemingly about to finish morphing. Behind them were two mutating Zerg buildings which also seemed to be on the verge of finishing. Following his instincts, the young Dark Templar began busily slicing at the hardened coccoon. His vigor began to break through the resistant carapace as the Egg lost its cohesion turning into a pool of cytoplasm. The other three Lurker eggs abruptly ended their mutation cycle and returned to their Hydralisk form alongside their escorts.
With puzzlement at why they would cancel when their Lurkers would be more effective against his comrades, Khashilar dug his Warp Blades into the Hydralisks which had began to advance on the clearly visible Zealots. In desperation to avoid being enclosed in a trap, the Dark Templar charged alone leaving the Zealots to begin attacking the Hive buildings. Khashilar was becoming so enamored with the slaughter as his fellow Templar were that he had ignored the Zerg buildings that had just finished.
At first in simple and trivial curiousity, Dnae'tak focused the Observer on the Zerg building. "Encrypt Observer Order Caesium Geosynch Affix Scan Subject Zerg Unknown Structure 1 Nanoparallax north of previous subject."
Violating tactical tradition, the Executor established a direct link to his brother.
"Khashilar, there are Spore Colonies that have just matured north of your position. Order your comrades to fall back lest they be skewered in a Zerg trap!"
Khashilar's eyes seemed to give a contemplative calm along with the rest of his body for what seemed the longest second in the world. Then the warrior whirled past the Hydralisks attempting to fire at him, and charged at the Spore Colony with all his might. The other Dark Templars sensing his gambit followed suit. The Hydralisks focused their fire almost solely on Khashilar who adeptly ducked behind the Spore Colony, his Warp Blade still dug deep into the now weakening monstrosity.
As the Needle Spines converged on the first Spore Colony, Khashilar seemed more at ease as he sensed impending victory. But with dawning dread, he saw behind the Hydralisks near the Zealots, a hidden group of Zerglings sprang up from the ground. Numbering at least 24, they threatened to imperil the Dark Templar as it charged with blinding effiiency. Khashilar was almost sure all was lost as the Needle Spines severed the leg of a now- crippled Dark Templar comrade when suddenly, a Corsair quickly descended above the small Zerg platoon.
A Disruption Web quickly materialized sweeping over the Needle Spines and their owners, as both were rendered docile. But Khashilar had by now lost all his shielding and had taken a Needle Spine to his ventral plating. Khashilar was the only Dark Templar who could destroy the two Spore Colonies now, as a Hydralisk who had escaped the Disruption Web's range fired a lethal barrage at Khashilar. A crippled Dark Templar threw himself into the path of Needle Spines.
At first, the Spines merely shot through the now broken reinforced armor of the warrior, but then the warrior began to shake. Cytoplasmic transfer fluid began to flow out of his chestplate, as the tremors shook off the torn cape of the Dark Templar. Then, the skin began to peel off as the warrior began to dematerialize. With a subtle but stirring wail, the Shakuran began to fade upwards, as if a homage to the Xel'Naga, fading from view. Just as the warrior died, Khashilar landed the final hit destroying the two Spore Colonies.
But Khashilar sensed another growing danger. The Corsair pilot casting the Disruption Web had done so prematurely, and the Web would expire prematurely. The Dark Templar huddled at the outer radius of the Web had hacked away at the few Zerg at the edge of the Web, afraid to go in deeper for fear of their weapons being rendered inert. All seemed lost. Khashilar heard some sporadic pulsing sounds behind him, and he knew he had won. Six blue orbs of energy silently flew through the air and slammed into the Zerg under the Web with a wrathful tremor. The Dragoons had arrived at last.
The Corsair quickly ascended again as Khashilar began to refocus his mind to regenerating his shields quicker. The Zerg Creep now liberated from its buildings began to flow everywhere as deep as a Protoss knee-tendon in some places. The few dozen warriors slowly forded this raging biological river back toward their target. The Zerg structures had been slowly regenerating in the brief reprieve the sacrifice their Hydralisks had bought them.
The small smattering of Zerglings guarding the remaining Spawning Pool, Hydralisk Den, Evolution Chambers, and Greater Spires proved to not even deter the raging Protoss warriors for more than a few seconds. The Zealots and Dragoons laid into the research structures with renewed zeal while the Dark Templars and Reavers methodically cut down the remaining mutation buildings. Khashilar was more comfortable with Reavers supporting him than the Aiuran foot soldiers. There was an old joke among the Dark Templar that the most level-headed Protoss warriors from Aiur were the robotic Reavers.
As the buildings exploded into a gelatinous waste one by one, the warband marched for the main goal of their objective. This was their battle, and their battle only. The Cerebrate of this brood had dispatched the majority of its warriors to Scion Province and the remainder to the air meaning that the path to victory was laid open. But Khashilar recalled that this the way the victory against the Overmind was won, and the Protoss had lost afterwards by a simple battle of attrition. He not only had to win this battle, he had to survive it.
Before him, it stood towering over him like one of the towering artifact- towers the Shelak had brought to Shakuras. On the sides, pores spit out acid and cellular wastes. Four organic husks the width of a Carrier rose out of the broken crags in the ground. Hardened spikes of mutated cellulose adorned the four spires which seemed to be trying to reach for the sky as if to attack it. Between the four spires rested an almost cancerous gaggle of interlacing arterioles and lymphatic nodes pumping genetic information and Zerg necroplasm. The assimilated enemies of the Zerg flowed in the pulsing midst of this Zerg Hive as if crying out for vengeance. The warband struck.
As the Zerg Hive attempted to heal itself in futility, a Shuttle whistled over the heads of the Protoss. It swerved to within a few feet of the Hive and sharply stopped. A jet of pressurized air shot out from the transport, and from the bottom of its hull, exited an Archon and a Dark Archon.
"We have begun to break through the auxiliary defenses of the broods of the Rishalan Plains, Dark Templar. The Venatir Tribe has seen fit to spare a number of Shuttles to begin transporting more warriors here. My second half Sabm'Uhd has been watching your battle from the Observer downlink and desire to join you."
"We are honored an Archon has wished to join our humble crusade. I am but a humble Dark Templar. My name is Khashilar. I see you have summoned my two old comrades, Bh'mud and Rebu'mhd."
"Indeed, while we lack the wrath of your Warp Blades, we shall serve the Enclave with our powers. It is a pity there are no more Zerg targets which we can Mind Control."
"Stay your wrath, Dark Archon. The Zerg will send opponents. They always do. In the meantime, Archon Sabm'Uhd/Drae'ter, would you assist us in penetrating the thick armor of this Zerg Hive?"
"Surely as my energy burns."
The Archon had a solemn stature to him as it glided across the ground. Visible psionic energy rippled out of his body as it swirled around him. The bolts of energy orbited the greyish figure in the middle as if trying to flee the Archon. Sabm'Uhd/Drae'ter raised his arm as the energy gathered near his three-fingered hand. Channeling it into a funnel, it gave off a bright blue flash as it shot into the Zerg Hive with punishing results. The entire structure convulsed and writhed in pain as one of the Spires broke off from it and fell to the ground. A bubbling sac in the middle of the Hive exploded to answer another of the Archon's Psionic Shockwaves.
Finally, as the warriors ended their attacks, the Zerg Hive collapsed, falling into the evaporating Creep below it. Khashilar gave one final slash at the last Larva the Hive would ever spawn. He turned to see the Archon staring at him almost as if in admiration.
"The Venatir Executor has informed me that we are approaching the inner defenses of the Cerebrate on the other side of Rishala. We are ordered to rendevous with his forces for the final attack. If we slay the monstrosity, the Zerg will lose all organization and Kerrigan will lose her link from Char. All we-"
"We? No, Archon. It is the Dark Templar that wield the energies which will fell this monster. Your task will be to escort us there and then I will complete my part."
"So be it. We depart now."
"Inform your Venatir allies that we will arrive expeditiously."
"Even faster. Prepare for Recall."
"What? You did not inform me that we would be transported by some manner of Judicator tric-"
Khashilar was cut off in mid sentence by a vortex appearing between him and the Archon, then could only watch as it engulfed the entire group of warriors on the mesa. He tried to turn to see where his Dark Templar brethren were, but only to see a huge black expanse around him. With alarm, he noticed that the ground had disappeared from his hydraulic boots. Seeing nothing around him, he felt almost suspended in anti-gravity. His head suddenly went light as the vortex swirled menacingly around him, and he remembered why he hated Arbiter Recall when he had first been informed of it.
Then quickly, the vortex began to rise above him, as his surroundings reappeared. The Dark Templar found himself standing on rocky crags with his earlier companions. Finding himself disoriented, he almost began to fall but tried to pull himself vertical. He did not want to grant the Archon the benefit of seeing his weakness. After a few more seconds, the warrior's vision unblurred and he saw the Archon hovering in front of him. The Dark Archon had been solemn this entire time, and did not seem to be affected by the Recall at all. One would have to be mad, Khashilar thought to himself.
"We are to join the Akilae contingent while the two Venatir cadres will concentrate on nullifying its brood guards. Khashilar, you will lead the Dark Templar in the final assault on the Cerebrate."
"Very well. Bh'mud/Rebu'mhd, you will assist me."
The Dark Archon only gave a psionic nod of acknowledgement as it slowly followed Khashilar.
With some nervousness, Khashilar then turned and followed the Archon who threw himself into the battle, as a small gaggle of Zerglings unburrowed around him. Striking a Zergling down to the Archon's left, he marched past him. Another 3 Dragoons and 4 Zealots marched from the left, affirming their devotion to the charge. The Dark Templar almost showed his ire when he saw the sunken ravine that led to the Cerebrate.
"Why couldn't your Judicator masters have recalled us closer?"
"They thought there was a danger of falling into a trap if we did not clear any Zerg around the monster."
"But if we kill the Cerebrate quicker, then all the Zerg around it wouldn't matter regardless."
"It is NOT our task to question the Concl-the Enclave's decisions."
"We shall see."
Khashilar with the slightest hint of bitterness jumped into the ravine. The uneven rocks protruding in and out gave the ground a sinister look. Broken rocks gave evidence of recent Zerg burrows. Marching single-file, the party marched into the tiny canyon. One of the Akilae Zealots grew apprehensive with the eerie silence, turning his head at every small sound a pebble made. His feet crunched the decomposing dirt beneath him, as he tried to keep himself looking foward instead of sideways. Another Dark Templar, sensing something darker than himself, bared his Warp Blade as if to strike at the first sign of danger.
His torn cape sweeping the dust from the ground as he marched, Khashilar at last saw the end of the ravine.
"We have reached the end of the approach to the Cerebrate's lair."
"Unfortunately, the Observer downlinks seem to be running into interference here. I have no telemetry for the terrain ahead."
"This must be the best planned invasion of Aiur I've ever seen."
"Reclamation, Shakuran. Reclamation."
"Whatever you wish to call it, we have a problem. Someone must scout ahead."
"A Dark Templar."
"Why must it be a Shakuran?"
"You well know your dark arts have reached many Aiuran refugees as well. But we require a cloaked warrior to ascertain the terrain ahead of us." "I concur. But my cloaking orb seems to only at 93 percent efficiency."
"I will go, Khashilar. I am eager to serve the Enclave, and waiting in this accursed canyon is not my idea of it."
Khashilar eyed the Dark Templar, who had been so fearful of the dark canyon just before.
"Very well. May Tassadar be with you."
The Dark Templar eagerly leapt into out of the ravine and into the unexplored territory ahead. Khashilar and the Archon transfixed their gaze at each other.
"Where is our great Aljudicator Artanis anyway? I would've thought he'd be leading this assault himself."
"As did I. It seems he is heading the Venatir warriors against the brunt of the Cerebrate's defenses."
"The attack actually seems to be faring well enough."
"Yes, it lacks the boldness of a Conclave charge, but the Enclave shall do just as well with you Shakurans in the fold."
"If not at the least better. Zeratul and Tassadar were undomitable in their prime."
"You forget I fought alongside Zeratul on Aiur six cycles ago."
"You also fought against him seven cycles ago."
"You arrogant Shakurans would always hold every single Protoss on Aiur for the mistakes of the Judicators."
"The Judicators led Aiur and its host of warriors, did they not?"
"And you call us rigid. The Templar took no joy in clashing with Dark Templar. We did not even know of you dark ones."
"It does not matter. You came to our world and now you ask us to risk our lives to help you reclaim your own."
"As we risk our own. Templar ask naught for more from their comrades, from Aiur or Shakuras."
"That is why I am here. To show that we dark nomads can fight as well as you proud imperialists."
"You have fought well today, Dark Templar."
"As have you. That scout has not reported in yet."
"The psionic links are getting more strained the closer we are to that accursed Cerebrate. We should slay it as soon as possible."
"Where are our Reaver escorts?"
"They should be crawling behind the Dragoons within a fe-"
The Archon was cut off in mid-sentence as the Dark Templar Scout sprinted into the midst of the gathering with a shattered chestplate and near failing shields. He pulled a severed Sunken Colony tentacle out of his armor and slung it on the ground in front of the Zealots.
"I encountered some mild interference."
"Your task was to scout, Dark Templar, not to expend valuable time attacking everything Zerg in sight."
"They had detectors, Archon! I managed to retreat after escaping the grips of that tentacle."
"A task well done, brother. Now what of the terrain?"
"Yes, Khashilar. The Cerebrate is on a small hill surrounded by a few Lurkers and Mutalisks. From what I could see before the Overlords discovered me, I discovered 3 large towering sacs around the Cerebrate as well."
"Mature Chrysalii. Probably another of its vile creations." "It appears stealth is lost to us. We will proceed in a Intari formation and flank their defences with our Reavers."
"Very well, Archon. I, Khashilar will lead the second wave."
"Where is your Dark Archon brother?"
"Probably wandering alongside the Reavers. Let us begin the attack. For the memory of Aiur and the hope of Shakuras."
"I will fight to that."
Dashing along the eroded monoliths at the mouth of the canyon, Khashilar marched into the opening where a lake should have been. Instead, he beheld with dawning dread a giant sea of Creep churning down from violent crags of rock towering ominously over him. Straddling the rock behind him, he moved cautiously around the Overlords hovering over the Sunken Colonies in front of him. Without turning his head, he knew the Archon was behind him.
Flocking around Khashilar, the Zealots and Dark Templar marched toward the first Chrysalis guarded by a Lurker and two Hydralisks. They all knew that the Observer downlinks had read at least 24 burrowed Hydralisks in position, and the grand risk of an Intari formation on Zerg, directly on a Cerebrate no less. One miscalculation would mean the collapse of their deployment, but the warriors had been trained since they had been gestated.
Allowing his Warp Blades unbridled power, they attuned to a loud hum as the Archon channeled a powerful Shockwave crippling the Overlord twelve feet away. As it smashed the ground in a violent grunt, the footmen charged toward the Chrysalis. Four Zealot smartly surrounded one Lurker and slashed at it through the goo of the Creep as it quickly capsized. The Dark Templar dashed past the Hydralisk, slaying it as they passed it and immediately dug into the Chrysalis. With the Shakuran energies surrounding them, it dug deep into the Cerebrate's creation until it imploded in on itself spraying some small jets of Zerg cellular waste onto the unfortunate Dark Templar's shields in the front.
Looking up, Khashilar saw the large army of Hydralisks already running for his position. But instead of charging, the warriors held their ground ready to receive the onslaught coming towards them. The warrior could only smile as he imagined the confusion the Cerebrate must have been having. The Archon charged his arms ready to embrace any Hydralisks that did not fall into the Intari trap.
As the lead Hydralisk was within firing range of the band, the band began to step further and further back.
In front of them, a humming chime sounded as crimson smoke enveloped the group of Hydralisks. Suddenly, the confused Zerg were frozen in the reddish cloud of energy.
"The Maelstrom has bought us some time. Forward!"
The Zealots, some more bloodthirsty than the stunned Hydralisks, lunged forward. Khashilar only marched forward and allowed the Aiurans to wallow in their lust for battle. Once the Zealots were finished devouring their prey, Khashilar decided to remind them of their original objective.
"Now that you are finished reaping the gifts of my Shakuran brother's Maelstrom, we should regather our Intari formation upon the Cerebrate's main defenses."
The Cerebrate, having finally realized the danger it was in, had pulled back all its Lurkers from its Chrysalii in a desperate attempt to defend itself. But the Protoss had forgotten to slay one last Chrysalis in the melee. The veins of the eight-foot-tall shell shook the ground as it began to crack bringing forth a massive form covered in Zerg birthing gel.
"Torrasques. I hate Torrasques."
"We have a chance to slay it with minimal trouble. It is still mindless and not under the total control of a Cerebrate upon its initial spawning. If we can antagonize it, we can force it to charge into a Maelstrom and into our formation."
"Agreed. Dragoon Phelxis, fire one Singularity Charge, then retreat back to the cover of the Maelstrom. Remember that it cannot ensnare you however."
In the back of his mind, Khashilar knew how tough this was. A Dragoon walker, no matter how upgraded, could not outrun a Torrasque Ultralisk. It was a gargantuan of a mutated pachyderm whose sole purpose was to kill anything in range of its razor-sharp tusks. As the Charge detonated on the sullen Ultralisk, Phelxis desperately ran. The Ultralisk made one swipe, barely scarping the shields.
Phelxis was eight yards away from the Dark Archon.
The Torrasque scraped again, this time, able to destroy the meat of the Walker's shields.
Phelxis was five yards away from the Dark Archon.
The Torrasque wrecked the Walker's shield generator in one grunt, and cracked the servo on one of its legs.
Phelxis was two yards away from the Dark Archon.
Smelling a primal satisfaction and ignoring the commands of its Zerg master, the creation lunged at the Walker.
A Maelstrom mercifully closed around the creation, as Phelxis began to exact his revenge on the beast. Khashilar leaped in to support him as the Torrasque collapsed into the Creep under it.
"It will take me another 19 nanoparallaxes to recharge after that adventure, Dark Templar."
"One is all I ask of you. Now that the mutation is slain, nothing can get within range of our Reavers."
As Khashilar turned his head towards the Cerebrate, his words were confirmed by blue explosions detonating all around the Cerebrate. The Lurkers imploded under the pressure of fine Protoss craftsmanship.
"Remember, order the Reavers to cease fire once the Cerebrate is sufficiently damaged. Its actual death requires the presence of me and my brethren."
"Not for long. You know that the newly melded Lancers are the harmony of both our worlds." "But for now, the glory is mine, Archon."
Khashilar grimly walked the ground still soaked with Zerg Creep. Centering his gaze on the crippled Cerebrate, he circled the desperate creature. Already, he could sense its panic. As the Reavers crawled behind him, two Dark Templar that had been following the Zealots appeared to help Khashilar with the kill.
He heard a pathetic warbling from the Cerebrate.
"Please. I never attacked a Protoss during the Great War. I was enslaved to serv-"
Finding what appeared to be a telepathic node, a Dark Templar severed it before the Cerebate died under its blade. But Khashilar sensed something else, like an afterthought from the dying being.
Almost a sense of happiness or satisfaction.
Maybe some Zerg had shreds of honor or something more sinister, reasoned Khashilar.
"Dnae'tak, you can stop watching over me now. Tell the Aljudicator that the Cerebrate has been slain. Advise him that we request an immediate Recall, along with our dead to the next attack coordinates." "Very well. I believe our mutual leader will dispatch your comrades to the outskirts of Molar Province to dispatch some Zerg mining clusters while my wing is to slay some Infested Terrans and Guardians on the other side."
"Then should you not be higher in altitude? I can see your craft getting closer as if to land."
"I am halfway to Molar Province. That is not my Corsair, nor any Corsair I am aware of." "Refresh your Observer downlink."
"There seem to be no Observers over the Province you're in. The Zerg must have neutralized all of them."
"Can you order a few to redeploy to our province?"
"Very well. They should be arriving within a few nanoparallaxes." "It's the Overlords. The ones that escaped our Stasis, they're coming closer to Aiur."
"How many of them, brother?"
"All of them it seems, Khashilar. This is strange."
"What is their vector?" "They seem to be simply hovering closer and closer to the surface."
" That is..strange. But we cannot be bothered with their pittance of an air defense. "
The following few hours almost seemed to be monotonous as both Dark Templar and Corsair brother trod and sailed over their home. The small pockets of Zerg resistance almost seemed like a counterpoint to the masterful symphony of conquest Artanis had created. Kerrigan had already been busy with the Terrans allying against her, he reasoned, and because of the threat they posed, she would not spare warriors to reclaim a planet that posed little value to her.
Within another day, they would begin warping in more Khalai workers and Probe drones to start resettling Protoss warriors in their ancient clan and caste homes. The weary Dark Templar raised his hand over an orb quickly contacting his brother.
"Dnae'tak, we have defeated the last of the Zerg garrison here and Artanis will begin authorizing your Corsair wings to start slaughtering the patrolling Overlords.'
"I am glad. To have those horrors hovering over us when our comrades begin returning would be a sick pall on the day of this victory."
"The majority of the Overlords should be coming out of stasis within the microparallax."
A few wings of Corsairs and Scouts had landed on the surface already, and Dnae'tak took the time to re-unite with his brother and Shakuran-in-arms. Guiding the sleek craft over the smooth hills of Aiur was no trouble compared to the surprising crags that Shakuras often offered. Finally, as he closed in on his brothers' homing signal, he found a clearing to land the craft. Slowly, it descended to the earth like a Kakuru of war until it gave the grass a silent thump. Dnae'tak dismounted from the Corsair as its hovering turbines cooled from the action of the day's battle.
Knowing that he was not, but feeling like he was, Dnae'tak trod on the grass of Aiur as if he was the first Protoss to had seen it since the Exile. This is what Zeratul must have felt, he thought. He felt as if he was only fifty years old again trodding the seemingly familiar though alien grass. Shakuras was almost as if a twilight desert compared to this shining world. Now he knew why Zeratul and his comrades had so stood by Aiur, it wasn't the people; it was the land itself.
Dnae'tak continued as he soon found himself surrounded by a dozen or so other Protoss Corsair and Scout pilots searching this province. It seems as if I may have some new neighbors, he joked to himself.
"En Taro Adun, brother."
"Well met indeed, have we found our father's old temple parish?"
"I know that his home was seventeen microparallaxes that way, but the Zerg made a duty of razing the temples beyond ruins."
"Damn, it could take a decaparrallax to relay a data request with the Ara Templar Archives."
"Fortunately.I was able to triangulate the temple location by accidentally.placing some data into some of the Observers before we departed for Aiur."
"I see, and this data has placed the location exactly?"
"Affirmative. It is six microparallaxes to our rear. There is a minor ridge depression, but that is all." "Then let us not delay.":
"You have the container of our father's remains?"
"Yes, and the myrrh to accompany the ceremony."
"I am surprised you had even brang that. Father was not one for ceremony, especially archaic ones."
"His life certainly deserves some ceremony. This was his last wish, after all."
Without another word, they grimly hiked the remaining short distance. Soon, they came upon a clearing. It still bore stains of Zerg creep and scorch marks of Interceptor fire from a Protoss carrier. On Aiur, a Protoss warrior's temple was more of a home than his own residence. It represented the roots of your ancestors, and the legacy that the Xel'Naga had bestowed upon them, the power of form and to finally, succeed them.
In the silent clearing, Dnae'tak lay the container onto the ground. Then he pressed a small button on it, as it gave a small flash and passed it to his brother. In stoic fashion, he pressed the same button, as it gave another small flash, recognizing the self-destruct authorization that only members of the family could authorize. Then the device began to give an excited buzz as it gave a noisy awakening and started to levitate. The hovering cylinder jettisioned itself high into the air as it finally exploded like a fireworks display of blue energy.
The pair of brothers looked to see two other explosive displays a few decaparrallaxes away from them. It seemed many warriors were being laid to rest today.
As they started back to their craft, they noticed a looming shadow over them and the familiar psionic emanations of the Zerg suddenly returned. A Zerg Hydralisk unburrowed spewing forth the dirt that hid it while another leaped from an Overlord that had been hovering over them. With a thundering sound, the Hydralisk landed on the ground with a vicious snarl that could make a Reaver cringe.
"Zerg! How can there still be Zerg?!"
"IT'S THE OVERLORDS, THEY ARE A TRAP!"
Quickly, Khashilar powered up his Warp Blades and slaughtered a Zergling that leaped at him while his brother began to work on a Hydralisk. Khashilar answered his brother's attack with a second attack destroying the creature. Looking above them, they saw a Zerg Queen that was escorting the Overlord.
"That Zerg Queen may not be able to attack us, but we should return to our Corsair to slay it in any event." "There may be more of them."
Dnae'tak's thoughts were interrupted by an emergency transmission on his communications link. Tapping it on his armor, he could only listen in horror.
"This is Aljudicator Artanis to all forces. The Overlords that we put in Stasis, the ones we thought harmless, were in fact hiding Zerg warriors. We are reading at least four million three hundred thousand and sixty three Zerg warriors that have landed. The Ara relays estimate another nine million inbound in the transports.
All Protoss Templar, find your commanders and battle your way to the landing zones. We must consolidate our forces.
Akilae, task your aerial squadrons to lift off the surface and slay as many of the Overlords as possible.
The Ara will begin recalling our stranded Templar and putting some of the Overlords in stasis until the Akilae can place them in stasis."
"How could we have possibly blundered into this, Khashilar?" "It seems you will have to return to your Corsair. I will rendevous with my attack group, Dnae'tak."
"No, you will be slain by the Zerg before you can even see your closest comrade. Come with me!"
"This is not up for discussion! We have our duties to the Enclave first and to our family second!" "I will not let you fall in this desolate place where our father falls! I will not have your death on my hands, your death to avenge!"
As the brothers argued, the Zerg Queen that had been following them suddenly dove down and spit out a brownish gob of organic waste at Dnae'tak. The waste latched onto the stunned Corsair pilot and began to eat through his armor through his rear armor. Suddenly, the gob dove into Dnae'tak's body as he could only fall to the ground in writhing pain.
"Brother! What manner of Zerg sorcery is this?"
"It is.a.Broodling. Within the microparallax, it will kill me and I will be the.unwilling pro..genitor..of..two Zerg Broodlings." "Damn. I will not have your death on my hands! Perhaps the Ara can recall this thing out of you or.."
"The.only..way is for a ..Dark Archon...to pre..perf..perform Mind Control, but ..it must be done now before.he cannot isolate it.from my uninfected cells."
"There is none, and we cannot simply meld and perform it on ourselves. Come! I will carry you to your Corsair."
"If.If.."
"Do not speak, brother. Save your strength to battle that accursed infection."
"If..all it took was for me to die..to convince you to go to the safety..of my..Corsair.I woul.have..asked a Queen to ...Broodling me...before."
"Your humor is ill suited for the situation."
"So.is my.armor...You would think.they would..make these things...Broodling.proof."
With quickness, they had cut through the thick underbrush to arrive at Dnae'tak's Corsair. Suddenly, a pain began to emanate from where Khashilar had severed his nerve cords as a Dark Templar. Like a screeching sound, it spread. Then he noticed it in his brother as well.
"Is this a side effect of the Broodling? Is it infecting me as well?"
"No..it is a psionic.emanation..focus."
"But what Protoss warrior would be impolite enough to force their thoughts upon us?"
"It.is not..Protoss."
Despite the building pain in his cortex, he managed to drag his brother on board the fighter to open a psionic channel when the pain began to surge twofold. But as he concentrated on the pain to purge it, it began to make a sound like static. He managed to instinctively contact Bh'mud/Rebu'mhd, the Dark Archon that he had met earlier.
"My Comrade, you must help my brother purge a Broodling that he has been stricken with."
He only received static.
"Bh'mud/Rebu'mhd, please respond!"
Static.
"We..cannot help you.a..psionic emanation is paralyzing us."
"I felt it too.. It sounds like a voice."
"We cannot help your..brother..we and a pair of Zealots are surrounded by a horde of Mutalisks a continent away from you..Unless the Arbiters recall us, we are doomed..We have expended our last..Maelstrom to keep them at bay for now."
"My brother and I can fly our Corsair to rescue you!"
"There are.too many..of them..The emanation is getting."
The Dark Archon's transmission was cut off by the pain doubling as it forced Khashilar to collapse in pain. Soon, it began to form a female voice.that of a Terran..
"Sorry about the feedback there..I can tap into Protoss mental frequencies, but speaking on them is another matter altogether.
This is Queen Sarah Fitzpatrick Kerrigan of the Zerg Fold to all Protoss invaders. Your sudden, malicious, and undeclared attack on the planet of Aiur is an act of War. I don't care if you had it first. It's mine now, and it will stay that way forever.
I'm glad you could all, especially Artanis, enjoy my trap. Right now, I am sure you are all fighting in some brave attempt at honor, so I will get to the point. There are twelve million Zerg warriors on the surface of Aiur, and I have dispatched three million Mutalisks to intercept your pathetic fleet of Carriers. Believe me when I say, you have no chance at victory except for retreat or surrender.
I'm sure you will take neither."
Khashilar fell to the ground as the pain finally subsided.
"This is Aljudicator Artanis.
I am reading less than 100,000 Protoss warriors remaining on the surface. We have managed to evacuate..one million out of..three million that we read on the surface before our attack. Our outer Observer net is reading the presence of the exact amount of Mutalisks that Kerrigan predicted.
I have already ordered for our Arbiters to be recalled to Shakuras so they can begin further dimensional recall of our remaining shuttles here. Unfortunately, we cannot.."
he paused as a feeling of pain rippled through the psionic transmission
"cannot.rescue the warriors stranded on the surface. Even if I were to order the Akilae and myself to hold off the Mutalisks to our deaths, our Arbiters do not have the necessary energy to recall everyone back to Shakuras because they have not had time to recharge since the initial attack.
The sun will set on you proud Protoss warriors..standing on Aiur..after all.."
Artanis paused again before he could continue.
"..after all...You will be the finest of us all.May Aldaris, Tassadar, and Adun forgive me...I am truly sorry."
Khashilar did something he had seen an Umojan do once in consternation. He slammed his fist into the bulkhead of the Corsair. His brother, who had been silent in his pain, but aware of the events, began to struggle to tell Khashilar something.
"You.will..have..to pilot..the Corsair..back to the Recall point...alone.."
"What? You are coming back with me!"
"No.they..will hatch...soon.Leave me here on A..on Aiur."
"We can find a Dark Archon or some Khalai who can-"
"You kn.we are.doomed...if I die...and those monsters...hatch...while you...are piloting.." "Then I'll pilot faster!", yelled Khashilar with frustration.
"You.cannot.pilot faster.than me..brother..never coul."
The Corsair pilot fell to the floor clutching his chest.
As Khashilar leapt to assist him, Dnae'tak quickly pushed his brother to the floor. Leaping up, he waved his hand over the Corsair's auto pilot orb. The Corsair brimmed with energy as it began to levitate off the ground. The side hatch that the two had boarded the fighter in began to close as an alarm chimed.
The stunned Dark Templar rose to his feet as Dnae'tak threw his body out of the Corsair.
As he leapt to grab Dnae'tak, the hatch closed in his face abruptly and he only heard one last psionic message from his brother.
"It had.to be this.way..Fight on..but do not.avenge m..Father is eno.ugh.May Adun be wit.."
The Corsair had now levitated a few feet into the air and Khashilar was knocked on his feet again. He made his way to the pilot's chamber and activated the navigational reticle.
As the small ship rose to the Recall Point, he could only feel a sadness that seemed to slowly take over him. Unable to speak, he could only turn on the main transmission band for all Corsairs.
"This is Prelate Yel'sha to Shakuran Defense Relay.
The gates of Aiur are not held. Repeat. The gates of Aiur are not held."
END CHAPTER ONE
Author's Notes: I hope this is not a violation of any website policy, but I thought it prudent to add a few notes to help with the absorption of this novel. First, it was originally intended to play out as a Starcraft campaign mission of the same name. But Drums of War will be turned into a modification with all-new units, graphics and the like. This novel is to accompany the modification. I may still make single-player missions for the modification, but it remains to be seen how much I will make.
There are also many who will debate the plausibility of the prologue, but from the way it seems, Kerrigan is a Machiavellan Terran tactician first, and a Zerg second. Even though she won at the Battle of Char, or the last level of the Brood War campaigns, she was still outnumbered and needed time to regather Zerg forces, who had lost somewhere around a quarter of a billion, with 50 million in the UED assault alone.
Please contact me on the Star Alliance forums at or use the email link in my profile. I am also reachable on AIM at TaosparkWeb
It has been eight tenuous years since the passing of the conflict known as the Brood War, as was commonly referred to by most of its Terran combatants.
Immediately after the Battle of Char, Kerrigan proposed a ceasefire with both the Protoss and the Terrans. Despite being depleted after the horrific fighting of the past two years, they were accustomed to her treachery. They finally agreed when the self-anointed Queen gave them an offer they couldn't refuse. The self-anointed Emperor recieved Kerrigan's severed right arm and Artanis recieved the remains of Raseac as an offering. Kerrigan sacrificed both as a sign of peace. Raseac had been the Cerebrate heading the Baelrog Brood, the Zerg Brood inflicting the most Protoss casualties on Aiur during the Invasion of Aiur, especially during the battle that killed Tassadar.
A fragile balance of peace existed between the three main factions remaining in the Sector. Mengsk began to reconsolidate the Terran Dominion, but without General Edmund Duke and in debt to his Kel Morian constituents, his rule did not extend much past Korhal and three neighboring worlds. Losing his control of the media, the truth eventually came out about the atrocities the SoK had committed during the Rebellion.
Confined to a few dozen Battlecruisers and a transient mercenary army of Marines, he is constantly at the mercy of migratory pirate militias, especially that of Commander Edward Melanti, formerly assistant Magistrate of the Chau Saran colony. Skymarshal James Raynor's elite band of fighters called "Raynor's Raiders" eventually joined with Melanti against Mengsk despite Melanti's hate for the Protoss and all those affiliated for their destruction of Chau Sara in 2499.
As a result, the other factions of the sector saw their chance. The remnants of Omega Squadron, the savage defenders of Dylar IV joined the only other anti-Confederate faction, the Kel-Morian Combine as their loyal and well-paid enforcers. Melanti managed to assimilate the finest Wraith squadrons in the quadrant forming an enormous mobile fleet capable of endless hit-and-run attacks on any enemy. The Umojan Protectorate, however, looked to the Protoss for protection. Forming an alliance with the Enclave, they became a trade partner supplying raw materials and resources for Protoss technology, almost becoming an honorary Tribe.
Artanis was now left the task of creating a new Protoss order without the influence of Zeratul, gone toward the stars, and the mourned Raszagal, thought to be the immortal Matriarch of the Dark Templar. The Furinax and Auriga Tribes, the weaponsmiths and spacefaring tribes were almost wiped out during the Brood War, and the Templar Tribe of Akilae had lost many of its greatest warriors. As a result, the Judicator Tribe of Ara assimilated the remnants of the Auriga, and an Eighth Tribe called the Xel'Tuhl, Protoss for "warriors from afar" was created, composed of the Dark Templar.
Unifying all Eight Tribes under the banner of a new Protoss Enclave, Artanis was chosen unanimously as the new Aljudicator of this alliance. Immediately, the Enclave set to work preparing and recouping its fighting numbers and lost fleets for the inevitable break in the eerie peace. Dnae'tak, a Shakuran Corsair pilot who had gained notoriety for helping the Auriga Tribe in the battle against the UED over Aiur, was put in charge of the new Enclave fleets including to combine Shakuran and Aiuran space vessels.
The Shelak Tribe, however, refused to join the new Enclave. They decided that with their newfound liberation from Conclave censorship, they would embark on the purpose they had been given before the Aeon of Strife. Guardians of ancient Xel'Naga texts, they decided to depart Shakuras and from the carnage of the Koprulu sector to instead search out the ancient race for salvation and answers, and maybe even find Zeratul on the way.
As for Kerrigan, she has taken advantage of this new peace to begin her Creep Initiative, her intention to put a Zerg prescence on every planet she possibly could. By the ceasefire terms, she could not touch planets under Enclave, Dominion, or Combine protection, but she spread her rule from Char, her homeworld, to Tarsonis and Aiur, chasing Melanti's fleets into the Brontes expanse. The stories that refugees carry back fleeing from occupied Zerg worlds speak of horrific atrocities of Kerrigan's attempts to accelerate the Zerg's pace of evolution by assimilating psionic humans as the Overmind did.
Renaming her Zerg Forces the Zerg Fold, she has every intention to assimilate and dominate any and all living things in the Koprulu Sector.
With the exception of a skirmish near Umoja between Zerg flyers and a Terran transport, which was resolved when Umoja was put under Enclave protection, there has existed an eerie peace between Mengsk, Artanis, and Kerrigan, the feared Queen of Blades, as each bides their time to watch who will break the calm first.
Though no one knows what has happened in the territories of the United Earth Directorate, one can only surmise that they have been watching closely and waiting....
But time grows short and again, war is at hand.
Chapter One Beginning of the Reckoning
The date is September 13, 2509.
Mengsk signing a Mutual Protection Pact with the Combine after a bloody civil war, has agreed to help the Morians should Kerrigan attack, and vice versa. Kerrigan, sensing the possibility of a unified attack against her newly acquired domains, has amassed 3 entire Broods, numbering 3 million strainlings on her space bordering the Dominion. Meanwhile, Artanis has decided it is time, long past time, to repay an old debt.
Location: Warp Corridor en route to the former Protoss homeworld of Aiur Time: 498th Concentric MegaCycle of Khas; Cycle 382.413
The azure void seemed to be eternally running from Dnae'tak's viewscreen. Moving in arrow formation, he led a 32-Corsair escort fleet cruising past the seemingly slow Arbiters to his starboard side. Trying to keep his thoughts pure, he tried not to show the least bit of emotion against the Ara pilots he was protecting. But he could not forget that it was an Ara Judicator that had ordered the death of his father centuries ago. He however, never minded the Aurigans. Their cavalier savagery had always interested him ever since he had weaved among the clouds over Aiur with them attacking UED Wraiths mercilessly.
With unease, he tried to keep his head straight ahead to stare at the space expanding before him in white streaks. Dnae'tak had a hard time convincing himself that he should be helping lead this assault, that it was his fate to do so. But he had to do it, for Artanis, and for his father. He too, like Artanis, had an old debt to pay, tapping a small receptacle under the command console. Now he had to believe his new direction was destiny, that it was his warrior's duty to do so. But he had a strange psionic feeling, deep within him, that something was in the way of destiny on Aiur. Raynor called it a gut feeling.
A dark blue orb with the sigil of the Xel'Tuhl began to glow and give off a chime. The grim-faced pilot knew who it was and activated it with a brush of his three-fingered hand.
"All pilots, warriors, and workers of the Protoss Enclave, activate your metapsionic transcievers.
This is Aljudicator Artanis to all ships.
We have come here to this one place from many other places. Some of you have come from the depths of Conclave space, patrolling our outlying territories only to discover the Zerg had stabbed at our heart. Some of you have come from our beloved home of Aiur, to awaken to the xenomorphic scum defiling our sacred temples. Some of you have come from the planet of Shakuras, dark wayward warriors, who helped our people find the light again in Aiur's time of darkness.
We have come to this one place to do what must be done. We are of one mind, of one body, and of one spirit. We are the mighty Protoss.
Our Umojan allies have wished us luck in our expedition, but they cannot come where we go.
This is a Protoss matter.
It is said that the one strength of the Zerg is the savage suicidal unity of their warrior strains. Upon this day, we shall fight them with our unity, our warrior's strength, the heart of our unity. We have been forged from different places in the universe, but we are Protoss.
You all know your separate tasks for one goal. We all know what must be done, what we must do to reclaim our home of Aiur. The next few hours will determine our unity, our mettle, and our honor.
When the Sun sets upon this day, it will set on Protoss standing upon Aiur.
Oron'natok. Attack!"
In nary a nanosecond, the warping space in front of him contracted and his Corsair was thrown back into realspace. Aligning his ship to the coordinates on his viewscreen, he saw at last destiny. The blue planet rose in his viewtime horizon, and he sensed a burgeoning sense of eagerness and relief from the warriors flying around him. Making a fist over the control orb under him, he sped his sublight engines as his wing followed him in. Behind Dnae'tak was another squadron of Scouts under the command of the new Aurigan leader, and his comrade, Yel'hsa.
But as he closed in on Aiur, Dnae'tak felt something wrong. His suspicions were confirmed when he recieved an alert from his controls, an uplink from the Observers the protoss had dispatched around Aiur weeks before. Immediately, he established a communications link with Yel'sha and Aljudicator Artanis.
"Prelate Yel'sha, I am detecting massive amounts of Zerg Overlords from the Observer scanners."
"I see it too, comrade. The Observers are showing at least 3,000,000 Overlords orbiting the entire planet of Aiur!"
"This is Artanis. My control sensors are displaying the same readout."
"Aljudicator, all the Overlords seem to be dormant. Their psionic signatures are almost nil."
"The Ara pilots seem to think they are discards or an orbital detection system. They should not pose any problem for our fleet."
"Contrary to what the Ara Judicators think, we should be cautious. The Overlords may be suicide flyers or some kind of trap."
"Prelate Dnae'tak, we cannot afford to waste time killing benign Overlords. They have probably already sensed our presence here. We must proceed with our attack plan against the Zerg Hives on the surface of Aiur. Once we have reclaimed the main continent of Sora, then we can kill off these accursed Overlords." "But we should prevent them from confounding our inbound Shuttle flights."
"Then order our Arbiters to place the Overlords within a stasis field for now until we can deal with them."
The large ships began to gather a blue current of plasma around the bow of their ship as it suddenly disappeared and reappeared around a cluster of Overlords until it hardened in what resembled a diamond-shaped cage holding them in Stasis.
"Now that the Arbiters have cast Stasis, we may commence our summoning."
".Very well, Artanis. I am as anxious as you are to rid the Zerg from Aiur. We can always eradicate the Overlords after we have dispatched the Hives on the ground. All of our invasion forces have already been informed of the telemetry and positions of the enemy." "So be it, Dnae'tak. Prelate Yel'sha, are the Aran Arbiter Contingents ready?"
"They are ready and stalwart to begin the next phase of the plan. After this, there is no going back..."
The sixteen lumbering Arbiters in tow suddenly stopped behind his ship, ready.
"This is Ara Tribe Judicator Re'Naxela. We are ready to initiate the transspace dimensional Recall. All non-Arbiter vessels stand clear of the rift."
Veering his Corsair a few hundred meters, he stared straight at the azure rift unfolding before him. Many Corsair pilots had a habit of squinting or turning away from a rift, out of superstition viewing a Judicator ritual might drain their dark powers. But Dnae'tak respected the powerful, and he finally began to understand the Ara as space convulsed around him like a rabid Bengalaas.
In a quick bright flash, the black expanse before him folded and suddenly spit out an enormous golden shining Protoss fleet of Carriers. For a second, Dnae'tak sat in awe as 64 refitted Protoss Carriers cut through space surrounded by the swirling rift of Arbiter Recall. As the blue rift subsided, he also saw resting behind the Carriers were 12 more wings of Scouts and Corsairs leading a massive group of Shuttles. That was, as the Umojans said, "the ace up our sleeve."
The job of the Protoss spacefarers was to obliterate Zerg defenses from orbit, but it was the job of its foot warriors to hold Aiur. The precious cargo of those Shuttles was the heart and soul of the Protoss people literally. Nearly two million Zealots, Dark Templar, High Templar, Dragoons, Archons, Dark Archons, and Reavers rested within the cramped hulls waiting for their chance to serve a bent but not broken dream.
Dnae'tak felt their bloodlust surging as the Shuttles closed on Aiur.
"All wings, destroy Overlord obstructions at coordinates Krypton by Covalence. Encrypt Shuttle Order Lithium, split into Helium Wing and Hydrogen Wing. One group is to land near the ruins of the Rishala Shelak Temple, and the second wing is to disembark on the outskirts of Scion Province."
Dnae'tak knew exactly why Artanis had ordered for the armies of Shakuras to land there. The Rishala Temple had been where the Overmind had manifested itself, and ultimately, where Tassadar had lay down his life to slay it. And Scion Province was where the Zerg had been in highest proliferation, where Fenix had first fallen.....
"Two hundred Microparallaxes and closing, Executor."
Dnae'tak knew time was at hand. Signaling his own attack wing, he led his Corsairs diving beneath the clouds. His wing had been ordered to lay down interference on the Orlphar Brood, mostly a defensive brood composed of air strains and Spore Colonies that was protecting the majority of Aiur's land surfaces, especially around Rishala, which was still a psionic hotspot.
Quickly, the spinning white clouds of Aiur receded as he decelerated his fighter to reveal the Rishala province. From archival records the Shelak had given to him, Rishala was a lush green land dotted with intricate stone- graven shrines to long-forgotten Xel'Naga ideals. The Conclave had allowed these to remain standing after the death of Khas as a reminder of the Aeon of Strife and our failure to inherit the birthright of the Xel'Naga.
Deep inside, Dnae'tak understood what this war had been about. Like two siblings without a parent, they were still fighting for which of the two was more fit to be recognized by the now ashamed and absent parent. Without a sense of pride or duty to the universe, all that remained was vengeance. Nothing else could drown out the pain of being alone without a home, without a true destiny, without a guide. Now the only destiny for the Protoss, like the Zerg, was vengeance.
Tapping the oval globe at the side of his console, he grew tense.
"Dnae'tak, worry of your family debts of honor later. Our honor to the Enclave is first and foremost."
"Affirmative, we must approach their spore colonies with the utmost care. We only have a three nanoparallax margin where they are in range of our Disruption Webs and they can open fire on us from the ground. All Corsairs, choose your targets well."
A hologram shot up from an orb in front of him, as he made a fist around it quickly declerating the craft. Another orb, this one blue, slipped out from his command console, as his scanners focused on a Spore Colony guarding an important ridge near the ruins of Rishala. In Protoss hieroglyphics, it gave a quick tactical readout. Quickly, he pressed the orb showering a blue stream of energy over the Spore Colony and Zerg units for a few dozen feet surrounding it.
Within a few seconds, nearly 2 miles of Rishala was blanketed with Disruption Webs as Corsairs cruised past them to make easy prey of wandering Overlords.
"Dnae'tak, my Observer uplink has alerted me to a few dozen Mutalisks closing in on your vector. Have your wing ready to intercept them. They cannot be allowed to break our defense perimeter. We require enough time for our Carriers to move into position."
"Yel'sha, the Disruption Webs will dissipate within the microcycle. And if there are Scourges, we may not be able to protect the Carriers."
"Worry about the Mutalisks, Executor. The Carriers are closing quickly as we speak."
"Very well. En Taro Tassardar."
"None more appropriate a benediction. En Taro Tassadar."
Looking down, he understood exactly why. Here, the three greatest warriors of his time had trod these plains and defeated one of the greatest scourges in Protoss history. They had won, and it all seemed so simple. But the price of their victory was the loss of their homeland He remembered the somber emotions flowing in the regained psionic links as the refugees from Aiur streamed into Shakuras, in the millions. Now they faced a smarter and more visceral foe and all three of the heroes were either dead or exiled.
But it did not matter. As Tassadar had served, so must he, reasoned Dnae'tak. He turned his gunports to meet the Mutalisks. With anticipation, he awaited the scorpion-like monsters to close within range. Then, he left full havoc be wreaked on the mutations. In perfect concert and unision, his wing cut the Mutalisks to ribbons. After three waves were liquidated and fell to the ground in globs of Zerg remains, he could only show pride as he turned to his wing readouts.
Of his wing, most had endured some damage to their plasma shields, but they would regenerate within the microcycle. Only one had taken minimal damage to their port thruster. With alarm, he saw the danger beneath him. His victorious wing had descended too low to engage the Mutalisks, and if Yel'sha's Carriers did not destroy the Spore Colonies, his wing would be shot down by the dozens of confused Hydralisks under the Disruption Webs. His readout read out with cryptic montony, the countdown to when the Webs would dissipate, allowing the Zerg to retaliate. Dnae'tak read along to keep his nerve as he tried to climb higher, knowing he would run out of time.
"Zamani...."
"Tokurun...."
"Protii...."
"This is Executor Yel'sha, Interceptors have acquired and have begun fire on initial targets."
"Auirga Carrier Wing Sutannicnic reports destruction of all Spore Colonies in Grid Erixon."
"Auriga Carrier Wing Nocibur reports elimination of all Zerg Hydralisks in Grid Chromium."
"Xel'tuhl Carrier Wing Suitaroh reports elimination of all remaining Zerg targets in Grid Erixon."
"Well done, Yel'sha. My Corsairs will escort the Shuttles to land at the ramp at the main Rishalan mesa." "Trust your fellow warrior as if he was your plasma shield. Who said that, Dane'tak?"
"Yes, Adun, a warrior of Aiur, said it."
"This is Aljudicator Artanis. United we stand, divided we fall. How many nanocycles until the Shuttles land?"
"Three -mark- two eight."
"I will lead the assault myself on the Rishalan main Hive Cluster."
"Aljudicator, this was not part of the plan. Did you not believe that your visible presence in the air would lead our warriors against the Zerg?"
"Yes, but I also must return something for your beloved former Matriarch."
"As must I for my father. I ask not for myself, but for the sake of Aiur, that you stay your wrath if but until we have scoured the main Hive Cluster."
"Very well, Dnae'tak."
Dnae'tak remembered when Artanis first arrived on Aiur, walking among the cowering masses of Protoss emanating anger and determination. Both the older Shakuran and Aiuran Protoss thought Artanis an upstart runt, but his determination was one to be admired. For all that befell the Protoss, he never looked back, driving the Protoss to form the Enclave, to begin blending their powers and rebuilding their great fleets. Despite his short- sighted obsession with revenge, it was his day as anyone else's. Dane'tak remembered how much Artanis had isolated himself in meditation staring only at the Observer scans of Aiur for hours on end, as if transfixed in a lover's embrace.
"Cease your mindwandering, Executor Dnae'tak. The Shuttles are about to land."
"This is Templar Exar Kun. One small step for a Zealot. One giant step for Protoss."
"Make every psiblade swipe count. Carriers and Scouts, lay in a close orbiting escort position over our warriors geostaionarilly. Give them as much cover fire as possible. Corsair wings, use your remaining psionic channels and lay down a layer of Disruption Webs on the eastern cliff-face while our Reavers destroy the Zerg formation there."
"Affirmative, Aljudicator."
In earnest, his lieutenants sped even faster than him ahead to pacify the Spore Colonies jutting out of the once-sacred Rishalan terrain with a prominence that could only fortell malevolence. Again, a bluish fog of magnetic particles transfixed themselves in the air. For a few seconds, to Dnae'tak, they almost seemed to be dancing...
Dnae'tak established a direct uplink to the Observers orbiting Aiur, and ordered an idle one to focus in on one sole Dark Templar.
"Encrypt Observer Order Caesium. Geosynch Affix Scan Subject Xel'tuhl- Khashilar."
Within a matter of nanocycles and seconds, Dnae'tak saw how his brother was faring on his command screen. By Protoss military protocol, he could not personally contact Khashilar telepathically or otherwise, and any greater amount of emotion would distract Khashilar, so he simply watched with pride in his younger brother.
On Dnae'tak's holosimulcrum screen, a fuzzy cloaked figure leapt over a small shrub that was poking its branches up as Zerg Creep slowly disintegrated from the green ground. Swerving his head, the Dark Templar plunged his psiblade deep into the midsection of a Hydralisk, removing it as he turned with the grace of a ballet dancer, slashing the Hydralisk again across its spine. The purplish goo of the Creep showed the circular trail of the warrior around the now exterminated Zerg. Slowly turning, Khashilar saw a Corsair high overhead kill the last of the Overlords hovering over him.
"Accursed static", thought a frustrated Dnae'tak as he forced the Observer resolution to re-enhance itself.
Without having to worry about being entraped by the enemy, Khashilar gave full abandon to stealth and charged at a burrowed row of Lurkers underneath some Sunken Colonies. Stopping suddenly behind the Lurkers, he made a diving stab at the central Lurker before rolling back onto his feet and making a precision attack on the Lurker's protruding legs. An anguished cry and bits of the subterranean terror's tissue shot up from the ground as the remaining Lurkers began to panic.
With trained skill, Khashilar used the nano-hydraulics in his suit to launch himself 16 feet high into the air as the Lurkers frantically began to attack in random directions, damaging each other. With only three damaged and confused Lurkers remaining, the warrior landed bestowing a powerful horiziontal slash onto two of the Zerg the moment he landed, before tapping the weakest one killing it. Dispatching another Lurker to oblivion, the remaining one unburrowed and began to flee on its wiry legs, tearing up blades of grass as it went.
Some 300 feet to his left, the interweaving particles of the Disruption Web slowly began to rise and fade into the warm jungle air of Aiur as the Reavers just finished their bombardment of the Zerg Sunken Colonies defending the outer perimeter of the Cerebrate's defenses. Khashilar seemed to almost sense the panic of the Cerebrate within the Lurker as it ran headfirst into a Scarab dissipating its exploding innards onto an annoyed Khashilar.
Dnae'tak was almost amused, and was almost curious to have known how incredulous Khashilar must've thought the Reaver to make such a great albeit cosmetically misjudged attack.
Brushing off what appeared to be a Lurker tendon off his plasma shields with his Warp Blades, Khashilar charged again, this time, ahead of the Reavers slowly advancing on the plain. Underneath a swirling cloud of Interceptor fire, the strident Protoss found himself flanked by 17 fellow Dark Templar and Zealots. Without psionic utterance, or nary a nod, the warrior knew what had to be done as did his comrades. Dispatching a few hidden Zerglings with singular swipes, the small party charged up a ramp to begin attacking the main Hive Cluster.
Turning to his rear, he saw Dragoons beginning to scamper up the outer cliff face to catch up to the Reavers, and knowing that the final blow was to be struck, he led out a tremendous psionic yell that even the mindless Zerglings heard him.
"For the Matriarch!"
With renewed vigor, the bladed Protoss of two worlds worked in perfect unision, dashing between leaping Zerglings slaying them as they fell over the side of the cliff to their deaths. In the midst of the group, was a young Zealot from the tribe of Ara, appearantly some headstrong Judicator looking for as Raynor had called it, "a piece of the action." Somehow managing to slip on a large puddle of Creep, the inexperienced warrior found himself fending off 6 ravenous Zerglings hacking away at his Psiblades.
Without the slightest allusion to his emotions, Khashilar leapt at the lead Zergling minceing it in front of the other startled Zerglings. Backing away in confusion, Khashilar dispatched the other five in one swift combination move with his weapon. The relieved Zealot rose from his feet to thank the Dark Templar, though even he could barely see him because of the minimal Observer downlink.
"Th-thank you. I will tell my father of your bravery."
With solemnity, the Dark Templar turned to the Zealot.
"Men like your father killed mine. Tell your father of that too."
The Zealot gave a puzzled look as Khashilar suddenly turned with his Warp Blade above the Zealot's head. A seventh Zergling had been hidden under the Zealot, but Khashilar quickly diced it with one swipe. The alarmed Zealot powered up his Psiblades as he ducked expecting betrayal only to be answered by a Zergling head falling on his chestplate.
"Tell him that too."
Turning his attention again to the battle, Khashilar saw a small group of Hydralisks guarding some Lurker Eggs which were seemingly about to finish morphing. Behind them were two mutating Zerg buildings which also seemed to be on the verge of finishing. Following his instincts, the young Dark Templar began busily slicing at the hardened coccoon. His vigor began to break through the resistant carapace as the Egg lost its cohesion turning into a pool of cytoplasm. The other three Lurker eggs abruptly ended their mutation cycle and returned to their Hydralisk form alongside their escorts.
With puzzlement at why they would cancel when their Lurkers would be more effective against his comrades, Khashilar dug his Warp Blades into the Hydralisks which had began to advance on the clearly visible Zealots. In desperation to avoid being enclosed in a trap, the Dark Templar charged alone leaving the Zealots to begin attacking the Hive buildings. Khashilar was becoming so enamored with the slaughter as his fellow Templar were that he had ignored the Zerg buildings that had just finished.
At first in simple and trivial curiousity, Dnae'tak focused the Observer on the Zerg building. "Encrypt Observer Order Caesium Geosynch Affix Scan Subject Zerg Unknown Structure 1 Nanoparallax north of previous subject."
Violating tactical tradition, the Executor established a direct link to his brother.
"Khashilar, there are Spore Colonies that have just matured north of your position. Order your comrades to fall back lest they be skewered in a Zerg trap!"
Khashilar's eyes seemed to give a contemplative calm along with the rest of his body for what seemed the longest second in the world. Then the warrior whirled past the Hydralisks attempting to fire at him, and charged at the Spore Colony with all his might. The other Dark Templars sensing his gambit followed suit. The Hydralisks focused their fire almost solely on Khashilar who adeptly ducked behind the Spore Colony, his Warp Blade still dug deep into the now weakening monstrosity.
As the Needle Spines converged on the first Spore Colony, Khashilar seemed more at ease as he sensed impending victory. But with dawning dread, he saw behind the Hydralisks near the Zealots, a hidden group of Zerglings sprang up from the ground. Numbering at least 24, they threatened to imperil the Dark Templar as it charged with blinding effiiency. Khashilar was almost sure all was lost as the Needle Spines severed the leg of a now- crippled Dark Templar comrade when suddenly, a Corsair quickly descended above the small Zerg platoon.
A Disruption Web quickly materialized sweeping over the Needle Spines and their owners, as both were rendered docile. But Khashilar had by now lost all his shielding and had taken a Needle Spine to his ventral plating. Khashilar was the only Dark Templar who could destroy the two Spore Colonies now, as a Hydralisk who had escaped the Disruption Web's range fired a lethal barrage at Khashilar. A crippled Dark Templar threw himself into the path of Needle Spines.
At first, the Spines merely shot through the now broken reinforced armor of the warrior, but then the warrior began to shake. Cytoplasmic transfer fluid began to flow out of his chestplate, as the tremors shook off the torn cape of the Dark Templar. Then, the skin began to peel off as the warrior began to dematerialize. With a subtle but stirring wail, the Shakuran began to fade upwards, as if a homage to the Xel'Naga, fading from view. Just as the warrior died, Khashilar landed the final hit destroying the two Spore Colonies.
But Khashilar sensed another growing danger. The Corsair pilot casting the Disruption Web had done so prematurely, and the Web would expire prematurely. The Dark Templar huddled at the outer radius of the Web had hacked away at the few Zerg at the edge of the Web, afraid to go in deeper for fear of their weapons being rendered inert. All seemed lost. Khashilar heard some sporadic pulsing sounds behind him, and he knew he had won. Six blue orbs of energy silently flew through the air and slammed into the Zerg under the Web with a wrathful tremor. The Dragoons had arrived at last.
The Corsair quickly ascended again as Khashilar began to refocus his mind to regenerating his shields quicker. The Zerg Creep now liberated from its buildings began to flow everywhere as deep as a Protoss knee-tendon in some places. The few dozen warriors slowly forded this raging biological river back toward their target. The Zerg structures had been slowly regenerating in the brief reprieve the sacrifice their Hydralisks had bought them.
The small smattering of Zerglings guarding the remaining Spawning Pool, Hydralisk Den, Evolution Chambers, and Greater Spires proved to not even deter the raging Protoss warriors for more than a few seconds. The Zealots and Dragoons laid into the research structures with renewed zeal while the Dark Templars and Reavers methodically cut down the remaining mutation buildings. Khashilar was more comfortable with Reavers supporting him than the Aiuran foot soldiers. There was an old joke among the Dark Templar that the most level-headed Protoss warriors from Aiur were the robotic Reavers.
As the buildings exploded into a gelatinous waste one by one, the warband marched for the main goal of their objective. This was their battle, and their battle only. The Cerebrate of this brood had dispatched the majority of its warriors to Scion Province and the remainder to the air meaning that the path to victory was laid open. But Khashilar recalled that this the way the victory against the Overmind was won, and the Protoss had lost afterwards by a simple battle of attrition. He not only had to win this battle, he had to survive it.
Before him, it stood towering over him like one of the towering artifact- towers the Shelak had brought to Shakuras. On the sides, pores spit out acid and cellular wastes. Four organic husks the width of a Carrier rose out of the broken crags in the ground. Hardened spikes of mutated cellulose adorned the four spires which seemed to be trying to reach for the sky as if to attack it. Between the four spires rested an almost cancerous gaggle of interlacing arterioles and lymphatic nodes pumping genetic information and Zerg necroplasm. The assimilated enemies of the Zerg flowed in the pulsing midst of this Zerg Hive as if crying out for vengeance. The warband struck.
As the Zerg Hive attempted to heal itself in futility, a Shuttle whistled over the heads of the Protoss. It swerved to within a few feet of the Hive and sharply stopped. A jet of pressurized air shot out from the transport, and from the bottom of its hull, exited an Archon and a Dark Archon.
"We have begun to break through the auxiliary defenses of the broods of the Rishalan Plains, Dark Templar. The Venatir Tribe has seen fit to spare a number of Shuttles to begin transporting more warriors here. My second half Sabm'Uhd has been watching your battle from the Observer downlink and desire to join you."
"We are honored an Archon has wished to join our humble crusade. I am but a humble Dark Templar. My name is Khashilar. I see you have summoned my two old comrades, Bh'mud and Rebu'mhd."
"Indeed, while we lack the wrath of your Warp Blades, we shall serve the Enclave with our powers. It is a pity there are no more Zerg targets which we can Mind Control."
"Stay your wrath, Dark Archon. The Zerg will send opponents. They always do. In the meantime, Archon Sabm'Uhd/Drae'ter, would you assist us in penetrating the thick armor of this Zerg Hive?"
"Surely as my energy burns."
The Archon had a solemn stature to him as it glided across the ground. Visible psionic energy rippled out of his body as it swirled around him. The bolts of energy orbited the greyish figure in the middle as if trying to flee the Archon. Sabm'Uhd/Drae'ter raised his arm as the energy gathered near his three-fingered hand. Channeling it into a funnel, it gave off a bright blue flash as it shot into the Zerg Hive with punishing results. The entire structure convulsed and writhed in pain as one of the Spires broke off from it and fell to the ground. A bubbling sac in the middle of the Hive exploded to answer another of the Archon's Psionic Shockwaves.
Finally, as the warriors ended their attacks, the Zerg Hive collapsed, falling into the evaporating Creep below it. Khashilar gave one final slash at the last Larva the Hive would ever spawn. He turned to see the Archon staring at him almost as if in admiration.
"The Venatir Executor has informed me that we are approaching the inner defenses of the Cerebrate on the other side of Rishala. We are ordered to rendevous with his forces for the final attack. If we slay the monstrosity, the Zerg will lose all organization and Kerrigan will lose her link from Char. All we-"
"We? No, Archon. It is the Dark Templar that wield the energies which will fell this monster. Your task will be to escort us there and then I will complete my part."
"So be it. We depart now."
"Inform your Venatir allies that we will arrive expeditiously."
"Even faster. Prepare for Recall."
"What? You did not inform me that we would be transported by some manner of Judicator tric-"
Khashilar was cut off in mid sentence by a vortex appearing between him and the Archon, then could only watch as it engulfed the entire group of warriors on the mesa. He tried to turn to see where his Dark Templar brethren were, but only to see a huge black expanse around him. With alarm, he noticed that the ground had disappeared from his hydraulic boots. Seeing nothing around him, he felt almost suspended in anti-gravity. His head suddenly went light as the vortex swirled menacingly around him, and he remembered why he hated Arbiter Recall when he had first been informed of it.
Then quickly, the vortex began to rise above him, as his surroundings reappeared. The Dark Templar found himself standing on rocky crags with his earlier companions. Finding himself disoriented, he almost began to fall but tried to pull himself vertical. He did not want to grant the Archon the benefit of seeing his weakness. After a few more seconds, the warrior's vision unblurred and he saw the Archon hovering in front of him. The Dark Archon had been solemn this entire time, and did not seem to be affected by the Recall at all. One would have to be mad, Khashilar thought to himself.
"We are to join the Akilae contingent while the two Venatir cadres will concentrate on nullifying its brood guards. Khashilar, you will lead the Dark Templar in the final assault on the Cerebrate."
"Very well. Bh'mud/Rebu'mhd, you will assist me."
The Dark Archon only gave a psionic nod of acknowledgement as it slowly followed Khashilar.
With some nervousness, Khashilar then turned and followed the Archon who threw himself into the battle, as a small gaggle of Zerglings unburrowed around him. Striking a Zergling down to the Archon's left, he marched past him. Another 3 Dragoons and 4 Zealots marched from the left, affirming their devotion to the charge. The Dark Templar almost showed his ire when he saw the sunken ravine that led to the Cerebrate.
"Why couldn't your Judicator masters have recalled us closer?"
"They thought there was a danger of falling into a trap if we did not clear any Zerg around the monster."
"But if we kill the Cerebrate quicker, then all the Zerg around it wouldn't matter regardless."
"It is NOT our task to question the Concl-the Enclave's decisions."
"We shall see."
Khashilar with the slightest hint of bitterness jumped into the ravine. The uneven rocks protruding in and out gave the ground a sinister look. Broken rocks gave evidence of recent Zerg burrows. Marching single-file, the party marched into the tiny canyon. One of the Akilae Zealots grew apprehensive with the eerie silence, turning his head at every small sound a pebble made. His feet crunched the decomposing dirt beneath him, as he tried to keep himself looking foward instead of sideways. Another Dark Templar, sensing something darker than himself, bared his Warp Blade as if to strike at the first sign of danger.
His torn cape sweeping the dust from the ground as he marched, Khashilar at last saw the end of the ravine.
"We have reached the end of the approach to the Cerebrate's lair."
"Unfortunately, the Observer downlinks seem to be running into interference here. I have no telemetry for the terrain ahead."
"This must be the best planned invasion of Aiur I've ever seen."
"Reclamation, Shakuran. Reclamation."
"Whatever you wish to call it, we have a problem. Someone must scout ahead."
"A Dark Templar."
"Why must it be a Shakuran?"
"You well know your dark arts have reached many Aiuran refugees as well. But we require a cloaked warrior to ascertain the terrain ahead of us." "I concur. But my cloaking orb seems to only at 93 percent efficiency."
"I will go, Khashilar. I am eager to serve the Enclave, and waiting in this accursed canyon is not my idea of it."
Khashilar eyed the Dark Templar, who had been so fearful of the dark canyon just before.
"Very well. May Tassadar be with you."
The Dark Templar eagerly leapt into out of the ravine and into the unexplored territory ahead. Khashilar and the Archon transfixed their gaze at each other.
"Where is our great Aljudicator Artanis anyway? I would've thought he'd be leading this assault himself."
"As did I. It seems he is heading the Venatir warriors against the brunt of the Cerebrate's defenses."
"The attack actually seems to be faring well enough."
"Yes, it lacks the boldness of a Conclave charge, but the Enclave shall do just as well with you Shakurans in the fold."
"If not at the least better. Zeratul and Tassadar were undomitable in their prime."
"You forget I fought alongside Zeratul on Aiur six cycles ago."
"You also fought against him seven cycles ago."
"You arrogant Shakurans would always hold every single Protoss on Aiur for the mistakes of the Judicators."
"The Judicators led Aiur and its host of warriors, did they not?"
"And you call us rigid. The Templar took no joy in clashing with Dark Templar. We did not even know of you dark ones."
"It does not matter. You came to our world and now you ask us to risk our lives to help you reclaim your own."
"As we risk our own. Templar ask naught for more from their comrades, from Aiur or Shakuras."
"That is why I am here. To show that we dark nomads can fight as well as you proud imperialists."
"You have fought well today, Dark Templar."
"As have you. That scout has not reported in yet."
"The psionic links are getting more strained the closer we are to that accursed Cerebrate. We should slay it as soon as possible."
"Where are our Reaver escorts?"
"They should be crawling behind the Dragoons within a fe-"
The Archon was cut off in mid-sentence as the Dark Templar Scout sprinted into the midst of the gathering with a shattered chestplate and near failing shields. He pulled a severed Sunken Colony tentacle out of his armor and slung it on the ground in front of the Zealots.
"I encountered some mild interference."
"Your task was to scout, Dark Templar, not to expend valuable time attacking everything Zerg in sight."
"They had detectors, Archon! I managed to retreat after escaping the grips of that tentacle."
"A task well done, brother. Now what of the terrain?"
"Yes, Khashilar. The Cerebrate is on a small hill surrounded by a few Lurkers and Mutalisks. From what I could see before the Overlords discovered me, I discovered 3 large towering sacs around the Cerebrate as well."
"Mature Chrysalii. Probably another of its vile creations." "It appears stealth is lost to us. We will proceed in a Intari formation and flank their defences with our Reavers."
"Very well, Archon. I, Khashilar will lead the second wave."
"Where is your Dark Archon brother?"
"Probably wandering alongside the Reavers. Let us begin the attack. For the memory of Aiur and the hope of Shakuras."
"I will fight to that."
Dashing along the eroded monoliths at the mouth of the canyon, Khashilar marched into the opening where a lake should have been. Instead, he beheld with dawning dread a giant sea of Creep churning down from violent crags of rock towering ominously over him. Straddling the rock behind him, he moved cautiously around the Overlords hovering over the Sunken Colonies in front of him. Without turning his head, he knew the Archon was behind him.
Flocking around Khashilar, the Zealots and Dark Templar marched toward the first Chrysalis guarded by a Lurker and two Hydralisks. They all knew that the Observer downlinks had read at least 24 burrowed Hydralisks in position, and the grand risk of an Intari formation on Zerg, directly on a Cerebrate no less. One miscalculation would mean the collapse of their deployment, but the warriors had been trained since they had been gestated.
Allowing his Warp Blades unbridled power, they attuned to a loud hum as the Archon channeled a powerful Shockwave crippling the Overlord twelve feet away. As it smashed the ground in a violent grunt, the footmen charged toward the Chrysalis. Four Zealot smartly surrounded one Lurker and slashed at it through the goo of the Creep as it quickly capsized. The Dark Templar dashed past the Hydralisk, slaying it as they passed it and immediately dug into the Chrysalis. With the Shakuran energies surrounding them, it dug deep into the Cerebrate's creation until it imploded in on itself spraying some small jets of Zerg cellular waste onto the unfortunate Dark Templar's shields in the front.
Looking up, Khashilar saw the large army of Hydralisks already running for his position. But instead of charging, the warriors held their ground ready to receive the onslaught coming towards them. The warrior could only smile as he imagined the confusion the Cerebrate must have been having. The Archon charged his arms ready to embrace any Hydralisks that did not fall into the Intari trap.
As the lead Hydralisk was within firing range of the band, the band began to step further and further back.
In front of them, a humming chime sounded as crimson smoke enveloped the group of Hydralisks. Suddenly, the confused Zerg were frozen in the reddish cloud of energy.
"The Maelstrom has bought us some time. Forward!"
The Zealots, some more bloodthirsty than the stunned Hydralisks, lunged forward. Khashilar only marched forward and allowed the Aiurans to wallow in their lust for battle. Once the Zealots were finished devouring their prey, Khashilar decided to remind them of their original objective.
"Now that you are finished reaping the gifts of my Shakuran brother's Maelstrom, we should regather our Intari formation upon the Cerebrate's main defenses."
The Cerebrate, having finally realized the danger it was in, had pulled back all its Lurkers from its Chrysalii in a desperate attempt to defend itself. But the Protoss had forgotten to slay one last Chrysalis in the melee. The veins of the eight-foot-tall shell shook the ground as it began to crack bringing forth a massive form covered in Zerg birthing gel.
"Torrasques. I hate Torrasques."
"We have a chance to slay it with minimal trouble. It is still mindless and not under the total control of a Cerebrate upon its initial spawning. If we can antagonize it, we can force it to charge into a Maelstrom and into our formation."
"Agreed. Dragoon Phelxis, fire one Singularity Charge, then retreat back to the cover of the Maelstrom. Remember that it cannot ensnare you however."
In the back of his mind, Khashilar knew how tough this was. A Dragoon walker, no matter how upgraded, could not outrun a Torrasque Ultralisk. It was a gargantuan of a mutated pachyderm whose sole purpose was to kill anything in range of its razor-sharp tusks. As the Charge detonated on the sullen Ultralisk, Phelxis desperately ran. The Ultralisk made one swipe, barely scarping the shields.
Phelxis was eight yards away from the Dark Archon.
The Torrasque scraped again, this time, able to destroy the meat of the Walker's shields.
Phelxis was five yards away from the Dark Archon.
The Torrasque wrecked the Walker's shield generator in one grunt, and cracked the servo on one of its legs.
Phelxis was two yards away from the Dark Archon.
Smelling a primal satisfaction and ignoring the commands of its Zerg master, the creation lunged at the Walker.
A Maelstrom mercifully closed around the creation, as Phelxis began to exact his revenge on the beast. Khashilar leaped in to support him as the Torrasque collapsed into the Creep under it.
"It will take me another 19 nanoparallaxes to recharge after that adventure, Dark Templar."
"One is all I ask of you. Now that the mutation is slain, nothing can get within range of our Reavers."
As Khashilar turned his head towards the Cerebrate, his words were confirmed by blue explosions detonating all around the Cerebrate. The Lurkers imploded under the pressure of fine Protoss craftsmanship.
"Remember, order the Reavers to cease fire once the Cerebrate is sufficiently damaged. Its actual death requires the presence of me and my brethren."
"Not for long. You know that the newly melded Lancers are the harmony of both our worlds." "But for now, the glory is mine, Archon."
Khashilar grimly walked the ground still soaked with Zerg Creep. Centering his gaze on the crippled Cerebrate, he circled the desperate creature. Already, he could sense its panic. As the Reavers crawled behind him, two Dark Templar that had been following the Zealots appeared to help Khashilar with the kill.
He heard a pathetic warbling from the Cerebrate.
"Please. I never attacked a Protoss during the Great War. I was enslaved to serv-"
Finding what appeared to be a telepathic node, a Dark Templar severed it before the Cerebate died under its blade. But Khashilar sensed something else, like an afterthought from the dying being.
Almost a sense of happiness or satisfaction.
Maybe some Zerg had shreds of honor or something more sinister, reasoned Khashilar.
"Dnae'tak, you can stop watching over me now. Tell the Aljudicator that the Cerebrate has been slain. Advise him that we request an immediate Recall, along with our dead to the next attack coordinates." "Very well. I believe our mutual leader will dispatch your comrades to the outskirts of Molar Province to dispatch some Zerg mining clusters while my wing is to slay some Infested Terrans and Guardians on the other side."
"Then should you not be higher in altitude? I can see your craft getting closer as if to land."
"I am halfway to Molar Province. That is not my Corsair, nor any Corsair I am aware of." "Refresh your Observer downlink."
"There seem to be no Observers over the Province you're in. The Zerg must have neutralized all of them."
"Can you order a few to redeploy to our province?"
"Very well. They should be arriving within a few nanoparallaxes." "It's the Overlords. The ones that escaped our Stasis, they're coming closer to Aiur."
"How many of them, brother?"
"All of them it seems, Khashilar. This is strange."
"What is their vector?" "They seem to be simply hovering closer and closer to the surface."
" That is..strange. But we cannot be bothered with their pittance of an air defense. "
The following few hours almost seemed to be monotonous as both Dark Templar and Corsair brother trod and sailed over their home. The small pockets of Zerg resistance almost seemed like a counterpoint to the masterful symphony of conquest Artanis had created. Kerrigan had already been busy with the Terrans allying against her, he reasoned, and because of the threat they posed, she would not spare warriors to reclaim a planet that posed little value to her.
Within another day, they would begin warping in more Khalai workers and Probe drones to start resettling Protoss warriors in their ancient clan and caste homes. The weary Dark Templar raised his hand over an orb quickly contacting his brother.
"Dnae'tak, we have defeated the last of the Zerg garrison here and Artanis will begin authorizing your Corsair wings to start slaughtering the patrolling Overlords.'
"I am glad. To have those horrors hovering over us when our comrades begin returning would be a sick pall on the day of this victory."
"The majority of the Overlords should be coming out of stasis within the microparallax."
A few wings of Corsairs and Scouts had landed on the surface already, and Dnae'tak took the time to re-unite with his brother and Shakuran-in-arms. Guiding the sleek craft over the smooth hills of Aiur was no trouble compared to the surprising crags that Shakuras often offered. Finally, as he closed in on his brothers' homing signal, he found a clearing to land the craft. Slowly, it descended to the earth like a Kakuru of war until it gave the grass a silent thump. Dnae'tak dismounted from the Corsair as its hovering turbines cooled from the action of the day's battle.
Knowing that he was not, but feeling like he was, Dnae'tak trod on the grass of Aiur as if he was the first Protoss to had seen it since the Exile. This is what Zeratul must have felt, he thought. He felt as if he was only fifty years old again trodding the seemingly familiar though alien grass. Shakuras was almost as if a twilight desert compared to this shining world. Now he knew why Zeratul and his comrades had so stood by Aiur, it wasn't the people; it was the land itself.
Dnae'tak continued as he soon found himself surrounded by a dozen or so other Protoss Corsair and Scout pilots searching this province. It seems as if I may have some new neighbors, he joked to himself.
"En Taro Adun, brother."
"Well met indeed, have we found our father's old temple parish?"
"I know that his home was seventeen microparallaxes that way, but the Zerg made a duty of razing the temples beyond ruins."
"Damn, it could take a decaparrallax to relay a data request with the Ara Templar Archives."
"Fortunately.I was able to triangulate the temple location by accidentally.placing some data into some of the Observers before we departed for Aiur."
"I see, and this data has placed the location exactly?"
"Affirmative. It is six microparallaxes to our rear. There is a minor ridge depression, but that is all." "Then let us not delay.":
"You have the container of our father's remains?"
"Yes, and the myrrh to accompany the ceremony."
"I am surprised you had even brang that. Father was not one for ceremony, especially archaic ones."
"His life certainly deserves some ceremony. This was his last wish, after all."
Without another word, they grimly hiked the remaining short distance. Soon, they came upon a clearing. It still bore stains of Zerg creep and scorch marks of Interceptor fire from a Protoss carrier. On Aiur, a Protoss warrior's temple was more of a home than his own residence. It represented the roots of your ancestors, and the legacy that the Xel'Naga had bestowed upon them, the power of form and to finally, succeed them.
In the silent clearing, Dnae'tak lay the container onto the ground. Then he pressed a small button on it, as it gave a small flash and passed it to his brother. In stoic fashion, he pressed the same button, as it gave another small flash, recognizing the self-destruct authorization that only members of the family could authorize. Then the device began to give an excited buzz as it gave a noisy awakening and started to levitate. The hovering cylinder jettisioned itself high into the air as it finally exploded like a fireworks display of blue energy.
The pair of brothers looked to see two other explosive displays a few decaparrallaxes away from them. It seemed many warriors were being laid to rest today.
As they started back to their craft, they noticed a looming shadow over them and the familiar psionic emanations of the Zerg suddenly returned. A Zerg Hydralisk unburrowed spewing forth the dirt that hid it while another leaped from an Overlord that had been hovering over them. With a thundering sound, the Hydralisk landed on the ground with a vicious snarl that could make a Reaver cringe.
"Zerg! How can there still be Zerg?!"
"IT'S THE OVERLORDS, THEY ARE A TRAP!"
Quickly, Khashilar powered up his Warp Blades and slaughtered a Zergling that leaped at him while his brother began to work on a Hydralisk. Khashilar answered his brother's attack with a second attack destroying the creature. Looking above them, they saw a Zerg Queen that was escorting the Overlord.
"That Zerg Queen may not be able to attack us, but we should return to our Corsair to slay it in any event." "There may be more of them."
Dnae'tak's thoughts were interrupted by an emergency transmission on his communications link. Tapping it on his armor, he could only listen in horror.
"This is Aljudicator Artanis to all forces. The Overlords that we put in Stasis, the ones we thought harmless, were in fact hiding Zerg warriors. We are reading at least four million three hundred thousand and sixty three Zerg warriors that have landed. The Ara relays estimate another nine million inbound in the transports.
All Protoss Templar, find your commanders and battle your way to the landing zones. We must consolidate our forces.
Akilae, task your aerial squadrons to lift off the surface and slay as many of the Overlords as possible.
The Ara will begin recalling our stranded Templar and putting some of the Overlords in stasis until the Akilae can place them in stasis."
"How could we have possibly blundered into this, Khashilar?" "It seems you will have to return to your Corsair. I will rendevous with my attack group, Dnae'tak."
"No, you will be slain by the Zerg before you can even see your closest comrade. Come with me!"
"This is not up for discussion! We have our duties to the Enclave first and to our family second!" "I will not let you fall in this desolate place where our father falls! I will not have your death on my hands, your death to avenge!"
As the brothers argued, the Zerg Queen that had been following them suddenly dove down and spit out a brownish gob of organic waste at Dnae'tak. The waste latched onto the stunned Corsair pilot and began to eat through his armor through his rear armor. Suddenly, the gob dove into Dnae'tak's body as he could only fall to the ground in writhing pain.
"Brother! What manner of Zerg sorcery is this?"
"It is.a.Broodling. Within the microparallax, it will kill me and I will be the.unwilling pro..genitor..of..two Zerg Broodlings." "Damn. I will not have your death on my hands! Perhaps the Ara can recall this thing out of you or.."
"The.only..way is for a ..Dark Archon...to pre..perf..perform Mind Control, but ..it must be done now before.he cannot isolate it.from my uninfected cells."
"There is none, and we cannot simply meld and perform it on ourselves. Come! I will carry you to your Corsair."
"If.If.."
"Do not speak, brother. Save your strength to battle that accursed infection."
"If..all it took was for me to die..to convince you to go to the safety..of my..Corsair.I woul.have..asked a Queen to ...Broodling me...before."
"Your humor is ill suited for the situation."
"So.is my.armor...You would think.they would..make these things...Broodling.proof."
With quickness, they had cut through the thick underbrush to arrive at Dnae'tak's Corsair. Suddenly, a pain began to emanate from where Khashilar had severed his nerve cords as a Dark Templar. Like a screeching sound, it spread. Then he noticed it in his brother as well.
"Is this a side effect of the Broodling? Is it infecting me as well?"
"No..it is a psionic.emanation..focus."
"But what Protoss warrior would be impolite enough to force their thoughts upon us?"
"It.is not..Protoss."
Despite the building pain in his cortex, he managed to drag his brother on board the fighter to open a psionic channel when the pain began to surge twofold. But as he concentrated on the pain to purge it, it began to make a sound like static. He managed to instinctively contact Bh'mud/Rebu'mhd, the Dark Archon that he had met earlier.
"My Comrade, you must help my brother purge a Broodling that he has been stricken with."
He only received static.
"Bh'mud/Rebu'mhd, please respond!"
Static.
"We..cannot help you.a..psionic emanation is paralyzing us."
"I felt it too.. It sounds like a voice."
"We cannot help your..brother..we and a pair of Zealots are surrounded by a horde of Mutalisks a continent away from you..Unless the Arbiters recall us, we are doomed..We have expended our last..Maelstrom to keep them at bay for now."
"My brother and I can fly our Corsair to rescue you!"
"There are.too many..of them..The emanation is getting."
The Dark Archon's transmission was cut off by the pain doubling as it forced Khashilar to collapse in pain. Soon, it began to form a female voice.that of a Terran..
"Sorry about the feedback there..I can tap into Protoss mental frequencies, but speaking on them is another matter altogether.
This is Queen Sarah Fitzpatrick Kerrigan of the Zerg Fold to all Protoss invaders. Your sudden, malicious, and undeclared attack on the planet of Aiur is an act of War. I don't care if you had it first. It's mine now, and it will stay that way forever.
I'm glad you could all, especially Artanis, enjoy my trap. Right now, I am sure you are all fighting in some brave attempt at honor, so I will get to the point. There are twelve million Zerg warriors on the surface of Aiur, and I have dispatched three million Mutalisks to intercept your pathetic fleet of Carriers. Believe me when I say, you have no chance at victory except for retreat or surrender.
I'm sure you will take neither."
Khashilar fell to the ground as the pain finally subsided.
"This is Aljudicator Artanis.
I am reading less than 100,000 Protoss warriors remaining on the surface. We have managed to evacuate..one million out of..three million that we read on the surface before our attack. Our outer Observer net is reading the presence of the exact amount of Mutalisks that Kerrigan predicted.
I have already ordered for our Arbiters to be recalled to Shakuras so they can begin further dimensional recall of our remaining shuttles here. Unfortunately, we cannot.."
he paused as a feeling of pain rippled through the psionic transmission
"cannot.rescue the warriors stranded on the surface. Even if I were to order the Akilae and myself to hold off the Mutalisks to our deaths, our Arbiters do not have the necessary energy to recall everyone back to Shakuras because they have not had time to recharge since the initial attack.
The sun will set on you proud Protoss warriors..standing on Aiur..after all.."
Artanis paused again before he could continue.
"..after all...You will be the finest of us all.May Aldaris, Tassadar, and Adun forgive me...I am truly sorry."
Khashilar did something he had seen an Umojan do once in consternation. He slammed his fist into the bulkhead of the Corsair. His brother, who had been silent in his pain, but aware of the events, began to struggle to tell Khashilar something.
"You.will..have..to pilot..the Corsair..back to the Recall point...alone.."
"What? You are coming back with me!"
"No.they..will hatch...soon.Leave me here on A..on Aiur."
"We can find a Dark Archon or some Khalai who can-"
"You kn.we are.doomed...if I die...and those monsters...hatch...while you...are piloting.." "Then I'll pilot faster!", yelled Khashilar with frustration.
"You.cannot.pilot faster.than me..brother..never coul."
The Corsair pilot fell to the floor clutching his chest.
As Khashilar leapt to assist him, Dnae'tak quickly pushed his brother to the floor. Leaping up, he waved his hand over the Corsair's auto pilot orb. The Corsair brimmed with energy as it began to levitate off the ground. The side hatch that the two had boarded the fighter in began to close as an alarm chimed.
The stunned Dark Templar rose to his feet as Dnae'tak threw his body out of the Corsair.
As he leapt to grab Dnae'tak, the hatch closed in his face abruptly and he only heard one last psionic message from his brother.
"It had.to be this.way..Fight on..but do not.avenge m..Father is eno.ugh.May Adun be wit.."
The Corsair had now levitated a few feet into the air and Khashilar was knocked on his feet again. He made his way to the pilot's chamber and activated the navigational reticle.
As the small ship rose to the Recall Point, he could only feel a sadness that seemed to slowly take over him. Unable to speak, he could only turn on the main transmission band for all Corsairs.
"This is Prelate Yel'sha to Shakuran Defense Relay.
The gates of Aiur are not held. Repeat. The gates of Aiur are not held."
END CHAPTER ONE
Author's Notes: I hope this is not a violation of any website policy, but I thought it prudent to add a few notes to help with the absorption of this novel. First, it was originally intended to play out as a Starcraft campaign mission of the same name. But Drums of War will be turned into a modification with all-new units, graphics and the like. This novel is to accompany the modification. I may still make single-player missions for the modification, but it remains to be seen how much I will make.
There are also many who will debate the plausibility of the prologue, but from the way it seems, Kerrigan is a Machiavellan Terran tactician first, and a Zerg second. Even though she won at the Battle of Char, or the last level of the Brood War campaigns, she was still outnumbered and needed time to regather Zerg forces, who had lost somewhere around a quarter of a billion, with 50 million in the UED assault alone.
Please contact me on the Star Alliance forums at or use the email link in my profile. I am also reachable on AIM at TaosparkWeb