Chapter 10: Aiur I
The time had come to deal the finishing blow to Amon. His last stronghold was the planet of Aiur, once the protoss homeworld, now an infested husk. It was here that Amon was reconstructing his body and it is here that he must be stopped.
The swarm had been preparing for this invasion and the time for the critical battle had arrived. A hundred Leviathans, all full of Kerrigans, arrived in orbit over Aiur. This was the main bulk of the swarm's forces and they were all gathered in one place.
Before they struck at Amon, they would first have to cut him off from reinforcements. The psionic matrix of Aiur, formed by the Khaydarin crystals in the planet, allowed the Golden Armada to warp back to Aiur quickly. It would have to be destroyed in order to delay the Golden Armada from coming to Amon's aid.
The power structure had three points of access, and by destroying them the psionic matrix would be disabled. So, the Kerrigans split up into three forces and went to attack each point.
The first power structure was located at the citadel of the executor in Antioch. The group of Kerrigans assigned to this point disembarked the Leviathans and went on the attack. The city was infested, occupied by zerg under Amon's control. The Kerrigans would have to fight their way through to reach the power structure.
They were met with scattered Zerg forces consisting of some zerglings, hydralisks, and ultralisks roaming around. These Zerg found themselves outnumbered by the swarm of Kerrigans which descended upon them in a flurry of attacks. The outlying zerg were wiped out and the Kerrigans progressed inward.
Then, they found their way blocked by a gate. The gate was strong and reinforced. Years of zerg infestation had not destroyed it. However, this was but a trivial obstacle for the Kerrigans. Pooling their strength, they launched a massive beam of psionic power at the gate which was quickly ripped apart. The zerg behind the gate were obliterated as well.
There were several spine crawlers ahead, and the Kerrigans leapt in and quickly ripped them apart. The spine crawlers could only manage a few feeble attacks which didn't do much damage at all. There were several nydus worms ahead, constantly spewing out reinforcements. The Kerrigans unleashed several psionic storms, clearing out the swarms of zerg in front of them. Then, they approached the nydus worms and blew them apart with psionic blasts.
The Kerrigans came upon yet another gate and once more they blasted it apart. Behind the gate were several swarm hosts, constantly spewing out locusts. The Kerrigans blanketed the area with psionic storms and the locusts were quickly disintegrated, along with the swarm hosts which spawned them.
The power structure was sealed behind thick doors. The Kerrigans unleashed a massive beam of energy which obliterated the door and the power structure behind it in an instant. With this, the first power structure was destroyed.
The second group of Kerrigans began their attack on the ancient temple grounds which housed the second power structure. The temple grounds were guarded by protoss forces. The Kerrigans went in and were attacked by a group of zealots, sentries and immortals. The immortals were quickly blown apart by psionic blasts and the zealots were impaled by the wing blades of the Kerrigans as they charged in. The sentries impotently fired their beams at the Kerrigans. The beams were laughably weak and hardly even tickled. The Kerrigans quickly disposed of the sentries with psionic blasts before advancing.
Next, there was a group of archons ahead. As the archons advanced, the Kerrigans bombarded them with psionic blasts, Even the mighty archons buckled and disintegrated before the power of the Kerrigans. As they moved ahead, the Kerrigans were suddenly hit with a wave of scarabs. The scarabs exploded and the concussive forced knocked back some of the Kerrigans, but they quickly recovered from their injuries. The Kerrigans located the reavers which were launching the scarabs, and quickly crushed them.
As the Kerrigans advanced, they were met with several colossi. The colossi began attacking the Kerrigans with their lasers, sweeping the lasers across the swarm. The Kerrigans launched a flurry of psionic blasts which destroyed the colossi. Now, they approached the final chamber which was guarded by hybrid.
When the gate was opened, the hybrid immediately reacted and charged toward the Kerrigans. The Kerrigans launched their psionic blasts and the repeated hits eventually took down the hybrids, which didn't even manage to get close to the Kerrigans. The Kerrigans blasted the second power structure with psionic blasts and obliterated it.
The uncontrolled release of psionic energy from the destruction of the power structures caused an unfortunate reaction. The Xel'naga caverns which housed the third power structure began overflowing with psionic energy. The psionic energy would even be able to slowly harm the Kerrigans if they stood in it for too long.
The third group was up against a time limit, but it didn't matter too much. There were a few scattered groups of zerg in their path, but the Kerrigans began dashing through, using their psionic shift ability to kill the swarms of zerg while also moving quickly.
Up ahead, there was a large cluster of spine crawlers along with nydus worms which were quickly pouring out reinforcements. The Kerrigans quickly dashed into the middle of the cluster, destroying much of the zerg in the path. They used their wings and claws to quickly begin slashing apart the spine crawlers and nydus worms.
Up ahead, lay the final power structure. The Kerrigans quickly bombarded it and the power structure fell. With this, the psionic matrix on Aiur was no more. The tide of psionic energy overflowing the caverns was still far behind the Kerrigans, but in order to get out they had to go back through them. The Kerrigans dove into the psionic energies, protected by the shields powered by their psionic power. Although the psionic energies were damaging, the Kerrigans had vast amounts of psionic power and were able to hold back the damaging energies until they escaped.
Now that the psi matrix was destroyed, the Kerrigans regrouped to strike directly at Amon. Atop the corpse of the overmind, Amon's body was born. He absorbed the void energies around him to power his body. The void shards located in the area were creating void rifts that summoned Amon's minions from the void. Also, the void shards were granting Amon power and the had to be destroyed in order to strike at Amon.
The Kerrigans approached the first warp rift which was spewing out Amon's thralls. There were terran, zerg, and protoss all together. The Kerrigans unleashed powerful psionic storms, blanketing the area around the void shard in order to destroy all of the units being spawned. They then focused their energies on bombarding the void shard. After being targeted by intense bombardment, the void shard shattered.
The Kerrigans moved on to the second void shard and hordes of immortals and colossi appeared from the void to attack the Kerrigans. The Kerrigans threw out massive amounts of psionic blasts, tearing apart the enemies. Then they focused their attacks on the void shard which was quickly destroyed.
Amon then summoned up a fleet out of the void. There was a mix of carriers, void rays, and battlecruisers. The attacking fleet swooped in to bombard the Kerrigans but the Kerrigans grasped the ships telekinetically and crushed them.
The Kerrigans advanced upon the third void shard and they were met with a collection of all races. There were siege tanks, immortals, and ultralisk. The Kerrigans blew them apart with repeated hits with psionic blasts. Then, the void shard crumbled as the Kerrigans attacked it.
Upon reaching the fourth void shard, the Kerrigans decided to simply focus their power into a massive beam. The beam struck the void shard and the void shard began cracking apart under the power. Although the void shard was powerful, it was nowhere near enough to stand up to the combined power of all of the Kerrigans.
After the fall of the fourth void shard, Amon began sending massive groups of void entities to attack the Kerrigans. The Kerrigans threw out psionic storm after psionic storm and soon even the numberless void entities were pushed back.
The Kerrigans advanced upon the final void shard. It was well guarded with many colossi, battlecruisers, carriers, and ultralisks. The Kerrigans were beset by the great tide and although the psionic blasts killed many, there were still some that got through. They inflicted some minor damage to the swarm but Amon's thralls were eventually all taken out and the final void shard fell.
Then, Amon's host awakened. It let out a powerful beam of void energy which ripped through the ranks of the Kerrigans. Amon's attack was so powerful that it instantly vaporized the Kerrigans in its path, whose psionic shields were unable to withstand the focused beam. The swarm of Kerrigans immediately turned their attention to Amon.
The Kerrigans focusing their power into psionic beams that went toward Amon. The psionic beams tore into Amon's flesh, but he was powerful. Amon let out a roar and he charge forward. His stomp crushed dozens of Kerrigans under his feet every time he took a step. His arms reached out and grabbed Kerrigans off the ground before crushing them in his hands. The Kerrigans screamed in pain as Amon killed them. Amon went on a rampage, leaving a trail of dead and severely wounded Kerrigans behind. Still, the Kerrigans persevered in attacking Amon and their attacks began drilling through his body.
As Amon's outer body began peeling off and his inner core was being torn up by the psionic beams, he let out a wave of void energies which obliterated the Kerrigans surrounding him. Then, he continued to stomp Kerrigans into the ground and rip them apart with his hands. Despite all of this, the Kerrigans continued to focus their attacks on Amon and soon Amon's body fell. The remaining Kerrigans all gathered above Amon's corpse and fired a massive beam of psionic energy which obliterated the entire area. Amon's body was destroyed utterly.
The Kerrigans rested after their battle with Amon and recovered from their injuries. Amon's resurrection was thwarted.
A few hours later, the Golden Armada arrived at Aiur. They were still under Amon's control and moved to attack the Kerrigans. The Kerrigans rose up into space to fight the fleet. The carriers and void rays began attacking and the Kerrigans responded with their own attacks. The Kerrigans were able to use their psionic powers to protect themselves from the worst of the attacks and their regeneration was enough to handle minor injuries.
The Kerrigans swooped toward the Golden Armada and began directly attacking the ships. One by one, the carriers buckled under the attacks of the Kerrigans. The void rays had their delicate systems crushed by sheer psionic force. Even the motherships found themselves surrounded and destroyed. Soon, the Golden Armada was no more and the last of Amon's great fleets was destroyed.