I was in the sac, ordering my minions about, when an overlord I had sent on a scouting mission suddenly screamed a telepathic warning. I immediately switched my mental perspective so as to see what it saw, and I discovered an entire protoss fleet descending upon Char, heading for a location not far from the nascent overmind. What's more, as I watched I saw a ship deviate from the fleet, heading instead straight for my hive cluster.

I panicked at first, and began ordering the creation of more defenses, before I was able to make out that the ship that had broken from the protoss fleet was actually a zerg overlord. At first I was confused, wondering if the protoss had somehow taken control of a zerg brood, before I remembered that Kerrigan had sought an alliance with the protoss so that they would kill the overmind for us. Suddenly, I felt like an idiot. Of course the protoss fleet was here to destroy the overmind. I just had never expected Kerrigan to succeed in her mission so quickly!

I swam out of the sac, and walked out of my hatchery to meet the approaching overlord. Kerrigan jumped out of her transport before the overlord had even slowed down, and she strode over to me with eyes that spat fire.

"This is incredible, Kerrigan," I said, smiling. "I never expected you to accomplish your mission so quickly!"

"Don't get too excited," Kerrigan muttered grumpily. "They're only here for a special crystal in a nearby cave system. They think it'll help them defend Shakuras from the renegade Zerg."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "So, they're not going to kill the Overmind?"

Kerrigan grimaced. "Not yet. I corrupted their matriarch, but I was only able to influence her to accept my help in their mission, not to join me on mine. They're too concerned with defending Shakuras to worry about the new overmind. But I'm hoping that once I help them destroy the renegade zerg on their planet, which we would want to do eventually anyways, I will be able to manipulate then into destroying the overmind."

I groaned. "So I got all excited for nothing. Oh well, it's still better than my first thought, which was that the fleet was coming to exterminate us."

"No," Kerrigan replied, "but I do need our forces. I'm going to help the protoss cut a hole through Daggoth's hive cluster to reach the crystal."

I nodded. "Very well. Whatever helps you secure their trust. I'll send the orders." So saying, I turned to walk back into the hatchery.

"Wait," Kerrigan called to me. "Tell me of your progress in your own mission."

I smiled and turned around again. "I have successfully morphed multiple Abathurs. I am ready to begin infestations, so by the time you come back with the protoss again, you should find many more creatures like us living here."

Kerrigan nodded. "Excellent."

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "I nearly forgot. For the moment, I've set the Abathurs to work on evolving the swarm. With so many of them, their progress is swift: they've already informed me that they created a new creature from the body of a hydralisk. They're calling it a 'lurker,' because it borrows underground, lurks there, then surprises enemy forces by shooting rows of spines through the ground into unsuspecting flesh. It's stealthy. I like it."

"Interesting," said Kerrigan. "It sounds like your mission is going better than mine. Keep it up."

"Thank you, Kerrigan. Now, shall I see to our forces?"

Kerrigan nodded, so I turned and walked towards the hatchery once again. Just before I entered the structure's cavernous opening, I glanced back at Kerrigan. She was watching me go with an unreadable expression on her face.

…

The next few hours saw me overseeing several battles against Daggoth's zerg. It was the first time we'd gone up against him directly, but he still made no attempt to contact me. I wondered if he was even still capable. In any case, his defenses suffered greatly as my minions poured through the volcanic cave systems that crisscrossed Char's underground, destroying every sunken colony and burrowed zergling they encountered. It felt strange to see protoss zealots and dragoons fighting alongside my forces. I kept having to fight back the instinct to attack them as soon as I caught sight of them.

In the end, the battle was fairly uneventful. The new overmind's control over his forces was very weak, and he relied almost entirely on his defensive placements, never sending out a force of his own. The protoss quickly found the crystal they were looking for, a giant blue thing, and sent one of their robot workers to carry it back to their fleet. Once it was safely in their possession, they began to load their shuttles with their troops again, before launching them to rejoin their fleet in the sky. Kerrigan returned to her overlord, taking with her three prototype lurkers. She had expressed interest in keeping lurkers around for help defending herself, should the need arise, while using their unique ability to keep them hidden from the protoss, so I had ordered an Abathur to lend her some. When Kerrigan and her lurkers had finished boarding, Kerrigan shot me a telepathic instruction me to carry on with my own mission—as though I needed her approval—before ordering her overlord to return to the protoss. As I watched, the whole fleet rose of out the sky, entered orbit, and warped away from Char. I was left staring into space with a heavy heart.

…

While I worked on replenishing my minerals and morphing my army, I wondered which planet I should invade first. I couldn't risk invading a well-protected planet like Korhal or Moria. Even if I could punch past their defenses, I wouldn't be able to survive the retaliatory strike from the planet's allies that would surely come. At first I was thinking about looking for Terran survivors on Tarsonis. Another group of zerg there wouldn't raise any eyebrows. But there was no guarantee I'd even be able to find surviving Terrans, while there was a guarantee I'd have to fight a lot of renegade zerg.

While I was contemplating, an Abathur approached me.

"Information for you," he announced.

"What is it, Abathur?"

"Plans completed for new strain of Zerg. Designation: Leviathan. Massive space-faring transport. Can hold and control whole army without help of overlords."

"It amazes me how fast you work, Abathur. And the Leviathan sounds really useful. But where will you get enough biomass to morph such a massive creature?"

"Can cannibalize structures. Take biomass from hatcheries, spawning pools, others."

"Hmm. A heavy cost, but might be worth it. Impressive work. Convey my gratitude to the rest of the Abathurs."

The Abathur nodded. "Further information for you."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What is it?"

"New army in Koprulu sector. Name: United Earth Directorate. Origin: Earth. Goal: Unknown."

My eyes shot wide open. "What?! An army from freaking EARTH has arrived here? That doesn't make any sense! How do you know this?"

"Army encountered by Dominion. Dominion radio channels reported on encounter."

"Hang on, how can you listen in on Dominion radio channels?"

"Alter frequency of telepathic signals. Hear radio like hear hive mind. Cerebrate can too. Will show."

The Abathur telepathically sent me instructions for mentally adjusting whatever organ was responsible for receiving telepathic signals to allow it to receive radio signals as well. I remembered now that Zasz had broadcast Duke's radio signal. This must have been how he had heard it.

When I'd finished following Abathur's instructions, I heard a terran woman's voice. "-you, Donny. We still await further information on the mysterious fleet, claiming to be from Earth, encountered at the Dominion outpost world of Braxis. In more uplifting news, colonists are returning to the planet of Mar Sara, recently invaded by zerg and incinerated by protoss. Kel-Morian prospectors began the recolonization process nearly a month ago, when they discovered that the protoss attack had imbued Mar Saran minerals with strange and valuable properties. Now, the surviving colonists who had once called Mar Sara home are returning there in droves. Emperor Mengsk famously saved these colonists when the late Confederacy abandoned them to die. Today, Mengsk gave his blessing to the recolonization effort, making the following imperial proclamation…"

I turned off my radio receiver when I began to hear Mengsk's voice. I had no desire to listen to his propaganda. I was still grateful for his help in evacuating the colonists from Mar Sara, but even then, even when I was working for him, I knew why he had helped us. He was never interested in our lives. He just wanted to look better than the Confederates.

"Thank you, Abathur. You have been a great help to me."

The Abathur respectfully dipped his bulbous head and took his leave.

So, there were now terrans on Mar Sara again. Undefended terrans. Terrans no one would be surprised encountered a zerg colony that miraculously survived the protoss bombardment. Terrans I knew and liked, and therefore terrans with whom I wished to share the glories of infested life. Perhaps most importantly, terrans that, if infested, would make Mengsk look really bad. I knew my target.