Walking back to the Liberator, I was barely paying any attention to where I was going, considering the briefing I'd just left and its implications was proving to be highly distracting. As I walked into the Liberator's tactical room, I was still turning the problem over in my mind when I saw the tactical display that my own AI, Jess, had produced. The most obvious aspect displayed was the Protoss fleet holding position above New Gettysburg. I sighed, the fleet was going to be a major complication to any assault, given we had no presence on the ground there. Looking closer, however, it became obvious that the Protoss were landing ground forces just outside the city. I searched my memory, trying to remember an occasion when the Protoss had chosen to engage the Zerg in a ground offensive, rather than bombarding them and any other life-forms from orbit.
"Jess, have we any records of the Protoss engaging in a ground war before?" I asked, unable to remember any instances.
"No, Commander. The Protoss have always only ever fought from orbit," came the quick reply.
So, a new situation to deal with. That left me with three big questions I needed answers to.
Why had the Protoss landed ground forces here?
Why was Mengsk so insistent on preventing them from destroying the Zerg base?
And most importantly, why was he so keen on Kerrigan leading the ground operation and Jim and Duke remaining on the Hyperion?
The last two questions were difficult to answer at this point, so I concentrated on the first. Over the next few minutes, Jess and I reviewed the scans of New Gettysburg, searching for a reason why the Protoss would choose such a risky tactic. We quickly confirmed that there were no high-level military targets or other Confederate facilities that might have held secrets or technology that the Protoss would likely be interested in. Given the technology of the Protoss, it was never likely to be the case but it was best to be sure. The next aspect of our search was targeted at the Zerg forces, searching for something unusual that the Protoss might have had an interest in. Again, nothing stood out.
Understanding the enemy's objectives are always key to victory in any engagement and not knowing why the protoss were here and acting as they were was unnerving. But when the impossible is eliminated and only the improbable remains...
"Jess, how close are the Protoss to the surviving Confederate positions?"
"The nearest position is 43.6km from the main Protoss base, although civilian positions are closer. Both however have the Protoss base between them and the Zerg."
...The improbable, however unlikely, must be the answer.
The Protoss were fighting a ground war in order to prevent the Zerg from attacking the Confederates and the civilian population.
Leaning back in my chair, the first flickering of light at the end of the tunnel began to appear. The Protoss commander had evidently baulked at the billions of terran lives that would be collateral damage in an orbital attack and so was trying to avoid such an extreme solution. Given that they were entrenched closer to the civilian positions, the odds were good that the Confederacy hadn't turned to them for help, an unlikely situation in any case. So the Protoss had willingly chosen to defend civilian lives against the Zerg. I became even less convinced that this mission was a good idea for the reasons Mengsk had given, but it might be a good opportunity to try and find out more about the Protoss, and maybe manage to save some lives, even if Mengsk didn't care for them.
For the next question, the answer was likely just as Mengsk had said, he didn't want the Confederacy to have a chance to escape. I could believe that, Mengsk's hatred of the Confederacy was legendary and I sympathised with him to a degree, but not to the tune of billions of civilian lives, thanks all the same. The last question was the hardest. Kerrigan was arguably the most loyal of Mengsk's inner circle, even more so than Duke now was. And yet he was knowingly sending her on a suicide mission while, it could be argued, keeping Jim and Duke out of harm's way. The only answer that made sense was that Mengsk either expected or wanted Kerrigan to die at New Gettysburg. But why? There had to be an element I was missing. As I heard the door hiss open behind me, I realised I might have a chance to find out exactly what.
Spinning around, I saw Jim and Sarah walk in, their expressions considerably less happy than when I had seen them before they disappeared the previous night. Sarah's slim but powerful frame radiated with tension and the beautiful features of her face that had been softened with rare pleasure last night were now back to their usual hard lines, with the chill practically radiating off her body. I didn't need to wait long to find out why. Predictably Jim was the first to speak.
"This is bullshit."
Sarah rolled her eyes, and shot back, "I heard you the first time Jimmy. It doesn't change anything, I'm still going down there."
"Funny, I never thought of you as anyone's martyr."
"Now, you're talking bullshit."
I cleared my throat before the argument got any worse. "Nice to see you two getting along so well." I smirked.
As expected, one pair of green and one pair of brown eyes snapped around with matching glares. I grinned for a second before becoming serious. "You do both have a valid point though. Jim, I think we do need to head down there." I held up a hand as Jim began to open his mouth, no doubt to voice his heated opposition, "But not for the reason that Mengsk have given us."
That earned me Sarah's immediate wrath. "What?"
Turning back to the display, I walked them through what Jess and I had deduced about the Protoss's intentions.
"Pretty thin evidence," was Jim's comment.
"Maybe," I replied, "But, at the moment, I can't come up with another reason why they'd be on the ground."
"You may have a point," Sarah allowed, "But this doesn't explain why you think Mengsk is wrong."
"Sarah, when your principles mean that several billion people will die because of your actions in order to gain such a small amount, it may well be that your principles are wrong," I replied. "At this point, it's not really going to matter whether the Protoss destroy the Zerg or not, the Confederacy is still more than likely finished. Killing several billion people to make sure of it is pointless and putting an entire strike force at risk by placing them between two hostile armies is not a smart strategy if you want that force to survive."
"Mengsk knows what he's doing. We can deal with the Zerg after the Confederacy and the Protoss. He'll come around, I know he will because, well, I just know he will. I am a ghost, remember?"
"I'm sure he does know what he's doing. That's part of the problem for me though."
"Oh? So what's the rest?"
I looked Sarah in the eye. Given that she was the most powerful Ghost in existence, she likely already knew what I was going to say.
"Does Mengsk have a reason to want you dead?"
Silence echoed through the room for a few seconds, before Sarah started laughing.
"You're joking right?" she managed to get out.
A few more seconds went past before she stopped laughing and took in my expression.
"You're serious?"
"Deadly." I replied. "Mengsk was very keen on you and I running this mission. He knows this is in all likelihood a suicide mission. I know he wouldn't mind seeing me out of the picture, I've been too vocal with my opposition to some of his ideas, especially the Psi-Emitters. He obviously doesn't care about the human cost to get this done. If that's the case then he must be at least prepared for you not to survive this either."
Grim silence fell across the room. Jim looked from Sarah to me and finally spoke.
"You really think that Mengsk would leave Sarah to die?"
"It's a possibility I can't discount. Sarah hasn't exactly been quiet about the Psi-Emitters either. I could be wrong and I hope I am, but I'd rather not find out the hard way that I'm not."
Watching Sarah's face, I could see the barest flicker of pain, fear and panic before she got her face back under control, but it was enough to make my heart sink. There was obviously something in her past that would be enough of a reason for Mengsk to want her dead. What I'd outlined was at least possible in her mind. A quick glance at Jim told me he had noticed as well.
"Sarah?" Jim asked softly.
Almost too soft to hear, she spoke, "He said he'd forgiven me for it".
Jim and I waited in silence. Finally she spoke.
"Do you remember how Mengsk's family was killed before he took over the Sons of Korhal?"
"Sure," I replied. "It was always said that a group of Confederate..."
I trailed off as my mind connected the dots.
Confederate Ghosts had killed Mengsk's family.
At the time, Sarah had still been forced to serve the Confederacy.
She was the strongest Ghost that had ever lived.
What was the chance that she had been part of the team that had killed Angus Mengsk as well as his wife and daughter?
No bet.
Looking at Jim, I could tell he'd worked it out as well. His look of horror and fury was plain to see.
Finally I spoke. "I think we may have a very good reason to be worried."
Jim nodded. "So now that we're in this mess, how do we get out of it?"
That was, fortunately, a question I had an answer to.
"We need to be seen to be carrying this out. I never intended to do this quickly, the risks were too great, but we need to take this slower still. So firstly, we need to get the base up and running, and defences established."
Sarah nodded, none of this was out of the ordinary, we'd done this plenty of times before. Turning back to the display, I pulled up the overview of New Gettysburg, with the positions of the Zerg, Protoss and where our base was to be established. Pointing to a location 5km south of our base, I continued, "This mineral deposit is our next target. No one else has claimed it yet and I want some distance between us and the Zerg. Defensively it's not ideal but it's a lot better than having the Zerg on our doorstep. Once that position is established Sarah, I want you and all our forces not required to hold the Zerg back to relocate to that position."
She nodded, a spark of light coming back into her eyes. "That should give us a better chance of mounting a counter-strike if the Zerg should try and swarm us."
"Right," I replied. "We'll need to get some ghosts ready to deploy, and I also want some battle cruisers and nukes ready as well. Air power and massive striking capability is going to be a must. But I want to try something tricky before we have to fight the Protoss."
"This should be good," Jim chuckled.
I grinned in return and turned to Sarah. "How hard would it be to sneak into the Protoss base without killing anyone of them?"
(Author's Note)
I know it's taking a while to get to the action, but it should be here next chapter. As always, reviews are very welcome.