Chapter 10 - RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE

Raynor had set their next destination. The Hyperion and the Exodus soon came to a jungle planet of Bel'shir. Tosh said that this planet held some purple gas named Terrazine. The Tal'darim here kept it secured in shrines, as they called it a gift from their god.

Getting the gas was the easy part. The SCV and Cyberdisk Constructor can handle the collecting and transport. The shrines themselves were in plain sight too. The problem was the Protoss. Recon showed sizable air force. They won't let them get Terrazine that easy. Raynor feared that guns won't be enough, so he requested Swann to build a mech named Goliath.

Unfortunately, Gravac couldn't come up with an anti-air unit for the X-rays. They had to roll with whatever they had in their armory for now.

Truthfully, Naga could not believed that they would abduct people again. She and Gravac were in the torpedo bay, overseeing the work. Mutons were loading the abduction torpedoes into their slots, readying it for use. Biggs requested a live capture of Protoss specimens. Because they did not leave corpses on death, live abduction was the only way to do autopsy on them.

Many of the crew got the chill at that. Back when they were abducting Humans, autopsy was not on the list of study. Of course, Humans died during their attacks, so getting a body to do so wasn't an issue. This, cutting open a live being. Other than for surgery, this was too horrid and abhorrent.

But the option demanded it. They had to get one alive to study their anatomy.

A Muton had done his job. "All torpedoes loaded, boss"

"Get to your post" Gravac ordered. "Be ready to load the next after firing. Just in case he needed more"

Harmonic music of the local fauna was disturbed as the Command Centres landed and began expansion. Soldiers gathered at the exit point. Until they had a sizable force, the harvesting operation cannot begin.

"If you find a Protoss, try to keep them alive" Biggs requested. "I want a live one for study"

"Abduction torpedoes are armed and ready." Naga informed "Just mark the target and we'll fire it away."

Raynor shrugged at that. These Protoss were neither Daelaam nor Nerazim. It would be fine with the Tal'darim. Yet something about them wanting to make a live autopsy… unsettled him.

At the abduction torpedo part, Horner became suspicious. They had kidnapped a living thing before. Something was not right about these aliens. Clearly they had did something. Something bad. Something sinister.

He kept on digging on anything that he could find on the network about these aliens. He just hoped that it wasn't what he guessed they were.

Returning to the field, a few Protoss Scouts were heading towards them, just in time for Swann to show off the Goliath's anti-air countermeasures. Rockets flew from the launchers on its shoulders, bringing down the shield and soon the hull of the Scouts.

But even then, the Goliath took considerable punishment.

Ever since they lost the Archons and majority of their ships, Gravac found themselves weakened in aerial combat. Sure, standard plasma gun would be able to shoot them down, but just that won't be enough. According to the archives, given by Raynor's permission, the Scout was a basic Protoss aircraft. Surely, there will be something a lot stronger later on.

He looked into the Cyberdisk, and then the rocket launchers on the Goliath. Maybe he could… improvise.

A few minutes later, Raynor sent a SCV to the first Terrazine geyser. And of course, the act did not go unnoticed. A squad of Protoss was sent toward the target, roughly with 4 Zealots.

"Fire the torpedo!" Noah signalled into the comm.

Abduction torpedo was launched, landed just in front of the Protoss. The Zealots were recovering, a bit shock in seeing a new object. It then opened up and released green vines that wrapped around the Protoss. They fought the restraints, trying to break free with their psi-blades, but like with the Humans, it was a futile attempt. It wrapped more and more, and once the sedative agent kicked in, they were knocked out.

"Got it." Biggs grinned "Now haul them in. I have some test to run"

In the meantime, Noah sent a Cyberdisk Constructor to another geyser. Raynor was yet to finish on his end. "Harvesting two geysers at once. Bold move, commanders" Tosh commented with a slight grin. He liked the risk takers.

Soon, the SCV had collected the first batch and delivered it to the Command Centre. But that came with a bad news. The Protoss began to seal the altars.

Biggs watched as the first Protoss was put on the operating table. Restraints were clamped on its limbs, preventing movements as much as possible. And for safety reasons, this operation will be performed in the X-ray's equivalent version of a Psi-lab. Psionic powers were unpredictable. Who knew what the Protoss can do with it?

"Okay… First Protoss subject ever…" he murmured. Live autopsy was never done before. He could barely hold his emotion.

The Protoss soon woke up and tugged at the restraints. "Seems like they are much more resilient to sedatives" Biggs noted.

"You!" The Protoss spoke "Release me now, you foul creature!"

Biggs could feel his sadist coming. When he was still a Sectoid Commander, he was really mad. He controlled a XCOM soldier to kill their own twice. He laughed at that, but it was his brother's death that snapped him to retirement.

And that feeling was rising.

"No" he said. He then pulled out a scalpel. "Why don't we stay a bit longer…?"

In the hallway, the crew could hear loud wailing and curses echoing all the way from the lab. No one dared to investigate at all.

Only the last two canisters to go, and one was on the move. Hauling done by the Cyberdisk Constructor was much slower due to their nature of movement. The Protoss Scouts were catching up.

Gravac grinned. "Noah. I'm dropping in our new Cyberdisk. Meet the Cyberdisk Flak Cannoneer.

A Cyberdisk descended from the orbit. It unfolded itself, revealing that it carried another set of cannons. These were modified plasma flak cannons. Although inaccurate and weak, the fast fire rate and area of effect should wear the shield down quickly.

And it did. The shield was removed quickly, leaving its hull exposed to pure firepower.

"Thank you, Gravac" Noah appreciated. "Now we can deal with their aircrafts"

The job was done. The team left Bel'shir in a hurry, as the Protoss were chasing after rather quick. A jump was all it took to lose them.

But Horner had an announcement to make. Someone had informed him. It was about Tosh. "Sir, I've received an encrypted transmission from an untraceable source" he said "It claims that Tosh here was a part of a classified operation called Project Shadowblade. They use Jorium and Terrazine to enhance Ghost's powers"

"It's true" Tosh nodded, unfolding his switchblade with profession. "We are called Spectres. Next generation Ghosts"

Raynor glared at Tosh. "And you are going to tell me all this when?"

"We all have our secrets, Mr. Raynor" Tosh replied "Doesn't mean I'm any threat to you"

"Maybe not" Raynor answered. Clearly, distrust was still there. "But whoever sent that message could be. Matt, anyway to verify the transmission?"

"No sir. But it does end with 'I'll be in touch soon'" Horner spoke.

"It's Mengsks" Tosh claimed "Trying to turn us against each other. Don't let him"

"I'll let it lie for now" Raynor replied. "At least until I find who sent out this transmission. But I'll be keeping an eye on you Tosh"

"You can try" Tosh said. And then he cloaked away and walked to the cantina. He perched the second floor as usual, watching the bar down below.

He began to think. Only a few would sent that message. He knew one Ghosts that would be the messenger.

"I see you had gain yourself some trust issues" Noah, out of nowhere, spoke just behind him.

Tosh didn't react much, as if he knew the Avatar was always there. "Yes…" he grumbled. "I may need your help"

"What assistance do you require?" Noah asked.

"Called it an insurance." Tosh answered. "I'll tell you more if you agree"

Noah nodded. "I'm listening"

The volume of the conversation then went to whispers. Once they finished discussing the deal, Noah nodded and left as Raynor came and chat with Tychus. He was about to talk to Tosh after that, but...

"Still don't trust me, brother. Until you decide, ain't nothing to discuss"

Autopsy report: Protoss

By Head Scientist Biggs

Carefully cutting them open while sustaining their lives was proven a challenge. Failure will be the lost of subject as the body evaporated away.

They do have organic traits: the organs, the tissues, the cells. Only significant trait was that all of these had psionic in the mix.

Clearly, all Protoss are born psionic, like the Ethereals and Sectoids. How powerful? That's a question for later.

Gravac Armory report

New Unit unlocked: Cyberdisk Flak Cannoneer

Cost: 150 Minerals, 75 Vespene

I've modified the Cyberdisks to aid an anti-air defense. Human's flak cannon design intrigued me. Firing a timed explosive to erupt in mid-air to damage the aircraft with its fragmentation. Since plasma grenade rarely do fragmentations, improvises are needed.

Now, it fired a metal canister that held the plasma grenade. The blast should be enough to break the canister apart, creating fragments to spread.

Gravac Construction report

New Building unlocked: Augmentation Centre - Build robotic/vehicle units here. Require Cloning Facility