Disclaimer: I do not by any means own Starcraft, nor do I make a profit from any activity relating with the franchise.
Author's note: First, I would like to thank all my readers for viewing my fanfiction! It is always great to see that people appreciate your work! :)) If you would be so kind as to give your opinion about this story, I would appreciate it. If it got you interested, you can always follow it! ;)
Still, I liked both the game and the story very much. Thus I felt I should develop part of it in a new way. The UED fascinated me and the perspective of a terran remnant group, light years away from Earth, with no chance of going back and having to confront an entire sector seemed to be a good starting point for a story involving both the original characters and some new, unique ones. I will try to stick to the original story as best as I can. However, remember that this is a fanficiton and not everything must go according to the letter.
Chapter 10: Unexpected intrusions
Deadman's Rock, a zerg attack got everybody on the run.
Admiral Marcu Andronic of the Argonauts was astonished to see that the zerg have returned. He didn't prepare for a fight with the annoyingly murderous creatures and wasn't really intent on engaging them until he was. Scanners indicated that the zerg task force amounted to around 500000 specimens, most of them flyers, but also ground units, in the form of zerglings, hydralisks and a few ultralisks. The Dominion and the local mercenaries were fighting hard to repel the ever growing numbers of the critters.
" Josef, I want to know where the heck are they being reinforced from! We won't be able to escape at this rate!" he ordered. He was alarmed, as his fleet was short of one vital ship: the Moonreaver, which left the other day, leaving the Decebalus, the Gladius, the Lancaster and the two Scorpio class battlecruisers- the Atlantic and the Burgas- plus the other 6 minotaur class, new ones that they built some time ago back in the Solaris System.
" On it sir!" the deputee officer answered and started tracing the zerg flyers, calculating their place of origin and their trajectory. " Sir, it seems that they are heading for Ethan Stewart's Palace, as you previously said. As for where they are coming from, scanners indicate two immense organisms far in space, protected by a rather sturdy escort. We will need to either cleanup the flyers or take down one of the monsters! It's your call!"
" This will not be my call alone! I want you's guys to hail the other ten captains. I will need their opinion on this subject as well. I won't get into a fight with the zerg just like that. I am accountable for your very lives and future, you know?" he added, before turning towards the holo-table.
5 minutes later, all of the captains have joined the meeting on the screen. Obviously, they voiced their concerns as to what kind of approach they were to take. Neither of the two choices was looking good, but they had to come to a conclusion. The commanders of the Scorpio and minotaur cruisers stated that their ships were built for engaging waves of flyers, not monsters the sizes of small moons. The Lancaster, the Decebalus and the Gladius, however, had a more advanced yamato cannon and concentrated laser batteries which allowed them to take on stronger opponents.
Not at all surprisingly, Mira Han and Black Knife entered the conversation immediately after the last of the arguments were voiced.
" Mr Andronic, we need your help in steming the zerg invasion. What can you do on your part?" Mira asked.
" Funny! I was about to ask you the same thing. Still, we are trying to figure out the best strategy. Can you lend us any help?"
" I might have four cruisers and a lot of wraiths, plus a few vikings. Can you do something with that?"
" Now that you've mentioned it, I will take our combined forces to space and destroy their mobile, living spaceport, or whatever this huge thing is!" he said, giving her the image of the gigantic zerg flyer. " Then you won't have to worry about them getting any reinforcements! Do we have an agreement?"
" Incredibly risky, daring, yet practicly fighting the enemy in the unknown... I think I like your style! Fine, I will go along your plan. My air forces are yours to command!" she stated and then shut down the conversation on her part. Only Black Knife remained.
" Admiral Andronic, I have information that Prince Valerian is leading the Dominion expedition that tried to capture Ethan Stewart. He doesn't seem to know that you are here and there's no reason to make your presence known to him. Still, on behalf of the Umojan Protectorate, I ask you to rescue his forces from the zerg onslaught!"
" Wow-wow-wow-wow-wow! Hold it right there! Why do I, I mean we, have to save Mengsk's son, anyway? He is nothing but a spoiled brat, incapable of doing anything right. It was bad enough that Angelina Emilian and her confederates weren't able to terminate both him and his mother and father!" Andronic commented. Shortly after, he was raised into the air by a mysterious force and was being slowly choked.
" Don't you ever say that! His mother, Juliana Pasteur, is in fact the opposite of Arcturus Mengsk. She was a high ranking umojan official that was caring both to her people and to her family. Being a sworn pacifist, she despised war and all its derivates. Seeing as she was the one that gave Valerian his education, it is safe to assume- and we have proven that to be a fact- that Valerian is more of a umojan than a dominion citzen. His relationship with his father is rather cold, except when the protocol or interest demands a closer bond. Even his archeological projects are somehow kept in check by Arcturus!"
By now the choke reached a new level. With Esmeralda nowhere in sight for some reason, he had to break this confrontation somehow. Concentrating as much as he could on freeing himself, Andronic used all the willpower that he had. His whole being hurt more with each second, but he could feel a small spark that kept growing. Finally, Black Knife was pushed back a few meters and he was forced to release the Admiral. The shadowguard was amazed by what just happened and could not explain it.
" Ce maica măsii s-o întâmplat? Ferească Sfântul! (WTF just happened? God save me!) Andronic said, still shaken but no less surprised.
„ Was that a psionic push?" asked Josef while looking at his commander. He then sent a mental message to Esmeralda so as to get her here as soon as possible.
It took about three minutes for everybody around there to recover from the recent shock. In that time, Esmeralda also made her appearence. She looked pretty concerned.
„ Father, is there something wrong?"
„ Nu, nu, nu! it's just, I've...
„ He pushed me three meters by using his willpower!" Black Knife answered in his place.
„ What? But that means you've got...
„ Psionic powers? He most certainly does! I've unwittingly awoken them by gripping him by the neck! However, they need to be professionally assesed and kept in check. There's no telling if they will recede or increase in the future!" the shadowguard explained, but was sent flying into the wall behind him by the „ Rainbow Vixen".
Andronic, having recovered from his particular state of reverie, felt he needed to save the damn umojan. So he intervened:
„ Ok, we'll see what we can do about the prince. What about Braxis? Do you have some details on the target and plan we agreed upon?"
„ Yes! I will send them to you now. You will have to break this zerg blockade to escape though. Good luck and have a safe journey!" he said, logging out.
They did receive the inquired data in less than three minutes. They then had another short talk about the details of the plan. Reluctantly, all of them agreed that, now that they had Mira's Marauders on their side, it was better to deal with the gigantic zerg first.
The combined Argonaut- merc fleet began its flight out of the atmosphere. Their target was obvious. On the other hand, Andronic sent an elite task force comprised of Esmeralda, her ghosts and the Spartan Company, among others, in order to secure Ethan Stewart's domain( and the crime lord and dominion prince, while at it)
Aboard the battlecruiser Gray Tiger, head of the dominion expeditionary force.
A tall, seemingly imposing figure, all clad in a ceremonial metal armor, with decorations and ornaments to go with it. Blond, shoulder lenght hair, grey eyes and what would some call a perfect face. Indeed, to most of the ladies in the Terran Dominion, crown prince Valerian Mengsk was handsome and all but a few of them never wished to live with him. He had charisma on his part, intelligence as well, but, as opposed to his father, he was gentle in nature, a quality inheritted from his caring mother. Arcturus always tried to remake him into a copy of himself, yet he wasn't able to achieve much in that direction. One thing that Valerian learned from his father was determination, coupled with a bit of arrogance, nothing more.
„ Prince Valerian- general Jerome said-, we need to abort this mission! The zerg will overwhelm us if we don't pull out of here!"
Looking at the starmap, the prince could see that the ever growing waves of zerg flyers have begun their descent. His battlecruisers and fighters succesfully engaged most of them, but the constant enemy reinforcements meant that his troops's heroics will not matter in the long run. He had to retrieve Jake Ramsey and Rosemary Dahl as soon as possible, with or without their consent. They could not realise it, but he was their only way out of this mess.
„ I refuse! For now, it seems that the situation is manageble! Therefore, I see no point in aborting the mission just yet! Send some drop pods down to mr Stewart's domain and see what you can find out about our fugitives. In the meantime, keep an eye out for any transports that may try to leave Deadman's Rock. They may be stowing away or commandeering one, for all that we now!
„ Understood, your highness!"
„ Damnit Jake! What made you run away? Was it the protoss or something else? I really need to find out about your discoveries!" the prince thought to himself and then went to his rooms to enjoy a moment of peace.
All around the dominion battle group, thousands upon thousands of mutalisks, corruptors, brood lords, scourges, overlords and what else were swarming the polluted skies of Deadman's Rock. Laser shots, rocket volleys, bullets, both from Paradise's AA grids and Valerian's air force managed to somehow contain the zerg rush. What they didn't manage to shot down were the drop pods. No matter how careful or meticulous one may prove to be, those things were just too fast to be destroyed all at once. Part of them will always reach their target. Now, if there wasn't anybody to kill its contents right away, they may have a zerg infestation on their hands.
Ethan Stewart's underground hangar, a few minutes earlier.
Jake Ramsey and Rosemary Dahl comandeered the customised system runner that Stewart was „ happy to provide". Going through the ship's specifics more carefully than last time, the merc girl noticed that it also posessed a cloaking device and 4 long lasting, fully charged batteries to go with it. That was going to be their ticket out of here.
„ Why would the zerg come here too? This is something totally unexpected!" Jake pondered.
„ Must be that protoss girl in your head. Seems like she's getting a lot of attention from all the major players in the K. sector!" Rosemary answered. To her surprise, the protoss preserver, Zamara, didn't talk back, meaning that there was some truth to what she just said.
„ I only pray that you are wrong, youngling! If that I am indeed whom they are after, then we may be in a more dangerous situation than before. We must make haste!"
„ Sure! Just give me a minute to work my magic on this here's pilot board and we will have liftoff, she said, activating all the ship's systems and running a diagnostics check. Sighing, relieved that, for once, her former lover kept his toys in good condition, she turned the engines on and, after 10 minutes, steered the ship out of the hangar. As they gained speed, the cloaking device came online and Zamara concealed her psionic emanations, in order to stay under the radar of both races.
Whatever doubts about Rosemary's piloting skills were gone by now. The gruff mercenary girl managed to dodge laser fire, rockets, zerg, terran flyers and make her way towards space. Looking back for a few seconds, she spotted fifteen battlecruisers of unknown origin leave Deadman's Rock's atmosphere. Their destination seemed to be one of the gigantic zerg organisms looming over the planet menacingly.
„ Idiots! What could they be thinking? I'm just happy that I made it out of there! They must be out of their minds!" she spoke.
„ They may be fools, but they are brave nonetheless!" Ramsey nodded in agreement. „ They seem pretty organised too!" he conceded.
„ They have honour for that part. I certainly wish to help them in this endeavour, but I am bound to you and I cannot do so. Let us proceed!" Zamara told them telepathicly, using Jake to input Aiur's coordinates.
Back on the Gray Tiger, Valerian's quarters.
The crown prince tried to calm his nerves by reading books from his beloved domain: history and archeology, the latter especially. He was very interested by any artifact of foreign origin. After studying many ruins across the Koprulu Sector with the aid of his scientific expedition, he learned about a fourth race that once inhabitted those places. It was what the protoss called Xel'Naga. The khalai referred to them as gods, creators of the Universe and guardians of some balance that he had yet to understand. Impressive as it may seem, his knowledge on the subject was vast, yet minor, in comparison with what the protoss probably posessed in their anceint libraries and in the mind of those called „ preservers". One such specimen was uncovered by Jake Ramseu, one of his most trusted and skilled field researchers. Sadly, something happened inbetween their meeting before his descent and Jake's and Rosemary's departure from the Gray Tiger. He lost contact with them and when it was reestablished, they were chased at gunpoint, being accused of murder, mutiny and what else by the dominion troops under his command. He was informed that Ramsey had been somehow posessed by the strange protoss and had gone mad, taking the merc girl with him on his escape. Such information was rather dubious, but he had nothing to counter it with and needed to speak with the both of them.
Suddenly, his communicator started beeping at an alarming rate. It was the captain calling.
„ Yes captain, what is so urgent that you need to disturb me?"
„ My apologies, you highness but you need to see this right away! Please come to the bridge ASAP!" the captain said respectfully.
„ Very well, this had better be important!: Valerian told him. „ I will be there in a minute!"
Not losing another second, the prince began his walk towards the deck. He wasn't running, but he wasn't dragging his feet either. He had to keep up a composture, after all.
The doors hissed open and he stepped into the room, finding that all his officers were just sitting there, watching the big holo-screen.
„ Glad you could make it, sir! You may want to look at this!" the deputee officer stated, with her voice as low as a hummingbird.
Up until recently, their air forces were taking a pounding at the hands of the zerg. Their ground forces weren't doing any much better. Not one of their goals has been achieved yet and it seemed that they were not far from being overrun on both fronts. The secondary screens were overflowing with reports of mysterious soldiers cleaning up the city of Paradise. Ghosts, marines, firebats, even marauders were doing quite a good job, by the looks of it. There was another numerous goliath company that operated with improved machines. Their mechs managed to take down waves of mutalisks and scourges, giving his small fleet a much needed breathing space.
„ Who are they?" the prince asked.
„ We do not know yet. It would seem that that ghost in the purple suit is leading the bunch. She is very skilled, almost as good as our Nova Terra, your highness! But that's not all!" the captain added with emotion in his voice.
As Valerian raised an eyebrow, the deputee officer intervened:
„ You should take good look above us, your highness! You might be surprised by what our scanners indicated!"
The prince made his way to the windows and stared into deep space. He spied upon the battlefield, trying to figure out what they were talking about. It didn't take him long to notice the 15 battlecruisers that cleaved their way towards one of the zerg giants.
„ I don't know who that is but he is certainly doing us a favor! Do not shoot at him or the ground forces. Just stay focused on our mission for now!"
„ I only hope that we could find them in time before my father or anyone else gets their hands on them! he thought to himself, not realizing that Jake and Rosemary were just above them, leaving the atmosphere. Nor did he realise that Zamara caught that trail of thought.
The protoss preserver was perplexed by the prince's thoughts, but they could not afford to wait and see what his real intentions were. Right now, they began their journey to Aiur, secretly hoping that the zerg have left the planet in the last three years.
Space above Deadman's Rock, aboard one of the zerg space ships, named „ Leviathans"
Sarah Kerrigan was personally supervising the invasion of Deadman's Rock and the capture of that strange terran/protoss hybrid she sensed not long ago on the appearently lifeless world of Nemaka. A very powerful, yet fading protoss signature drew her and the zerg to that rock like moths to a light bulb. When she got there, she could sense the presence no more. Instead, she felt that it had somehow merged with a terran, creating a most interesting specimen that she would love to dissect and analyze. So would her creepy, unbelievably smart scientist, Abathur, the one who made her what she was now.
The queen's chamber in the Leviathan had eerie, green and yellow lights. The walls, the floor, the roof, the doors, everything was made out of pure flesh, well, whatever the zerg called it. Creep was there too, so those onboard may survive in the cold, lifeless reaches of space that lay between the planets.
She felt the power she had over the Swarm and over the entire Koprulu sector. She had no rival, for she was the Queen of Blades, ruler of the zerg and menace of the protoss and terrans. Still, some distant thought kept bugging her. It was as if some kind of threat was looming over not only her head, but over the entire universe. She didn't know the origin of that particular thought, but it just won't go away. on top of that, a last directive from the Overmind beckoned her to prepare the Swarm for some imminent invasion, one of the likes she had not seen or fought before. That couldn't have been the UED invasion, for that was too easy of a nuisance to deal with. Some good old fashioned manipulation and careful strategy took out the best the Earth had to sent against her. Granted, she had to give some credit to James Raynor, her former love, who really believed that she was back after the death of the Overmind. Turning his feelings against him was easy. Strangely, she could not bring herself to kill the man. Was it for his naivity? His apparent love for her? There was a small force in her mind that kept her at bay when he was around; her last bit of humanity. From there, everything went fairly smooth. She approached the dark templar matriarch, Raszagal for help, claiming redemption. Silently and with a true artist's grace, she bound the protoss leader of Shakuras to her will, therefore gaining the support of Zeratul and Fenix. Mengsk had a role to play too. She obviously and nonchallantly discarded them when they reached the end of their usefulness. Fenix died and so did Edmund Duke, Raynor fled with his Raiders and Mengsk wasn't with his main forces, regretably. However, the most peculiar ally of hers was Samir Duran, former confederate lieutenant fighting for the UED, and one of the very few succesful infested terrans in the Swarm. His help had proven invalueble in more than a few battles and she came to rely on his help. But, as mysteriously as he apeeared, so did he disappear in the heat of the main battle above Char. She and her only loyal cerebrate faced off the combined firepower of the UED, Dominion and Protoss fleets, eventually destroying them or forcing them to retreat, thus gaining supremacy. One thing she really enjoyed was giving the UED a head start to retreat and then setting a trap for them on their way back from Earth. Almost 100 battlecruisers and their adiacent fighters have been thoroughly decimated by her scourges, corruptors and mutalisks. Whatever scoundrels managed to land on nearby planets were quickly hunted down and consumed. And, with that, the earthlings were taught a lesson in manners.
The queen fell to her knees, great pain striking her head like a thousand spikes. She was utterly confused by this sudden event. What could have happened in such a short time? The terrans certainly didn't have the firepower to beat her back. If by some unbelievable divine grace, they had it in them, they were lacking in organisation. Her eyes went wide after she exited her room and headed to her Leviathan's head. That spot offered her a perfect perspective of the battlefield. Was it not for the fact that her psionic index reached 12 and she could practically feel every zeg organism under her command, she wouldn't believe that her other „space ship" was about to die.
„ Who dares incur the Queen of Blade's wrath?" she asked and the entire ship shook because of her voiced anger.
„ My Queen, unknown terran faction allied with mercenary groups have attacked the other leviathan. They seem to be well organised!" Izsha, her zerg version of an adjutant, spoke.
„ Then release all the flyers we have! i won't stand and have this mockery of a leader make fun of me!" she ordered with a fierce tone in her voice, before she got back to her rooms.
The Decebalus's deck, a few minutes prior to the Queen of Blades's headache.
„ Alright, I want us to keep a spaced formation. I want to avoid any possible collisions and we also need to maneuver, once we hit the beast with all our might!" Andronic ordered. The immense zerg organism was spitting some kind of eggs that evolved into mutalisks and scourges. On top of that, it posessed pretty long tentacles that would surely do some unforgettable damage to his fleet if they won't be take great care.
After the battlecruises distanced from one another to the point that they had more than enough space for themselves, they performed a short distance warp jump, coming into the range of the enemy „spaceship".
„ All batteries, concentrate your firewpower on the roots of the tentacles. With some good luck and marksmenship, we could cut them off pretty easily! Also, launch 80% of the fighters. Tell them to keep the smaller zerg flyers from hitting us!" the Admiral added.
The zerg certainly didn't expect this sneak attack. They were in disarray, but he knew better than to relish in his victory. The critters were famous for their rather quick battlefield adaptability and he wasn't stupid enough to throw away his advantages.
Vikings, valkyries, wraiths of all kinds, models and colours took to space, making mincemeat out of the zerg waves. The H. . rockets made short work of the scourges, while the vikings took down the mutas and the wraiths shot down any corruptor or overlord that got in the way. Good thing they packed a damn lot of ammo, for they really needed it.
The zerg spaceship recovered from the shock and used its tentacles to smash around 20 unlucky vikings to pieces. A few wraiths followed soon after. The other Argonaut and mercenary captains started worrying and Andronic had to find a way to bring the pain to the enemy.
„ Nice job guys! We got them softened up! I want to all of the cruisers to unleash their Yamato cannons on the son of a bitch! Disintegrate the beast!" he ordered with much determination in his voice, therefore raising the morale of his warriors and allies.
Not a second later, the captains began shouting their own orders to their officers. The cruisers got into position, aiming for the organism's head and middle. The blasts followed soon after, bringing unimaginable destruction upon the enemy. The spaceship was ripped in two, with more than 70% turned into a bloody, useless pulp. The laser batteries and the rockets took out whatever remained of it, dealing a serious blow to the zerg Swarm and shattering its ranks for now.
„ Sir, the other zerg mothership kinda thing is turning towards us! What should we do?" asked Josef all worried.
„ Easy! We take out whatever flyers we still have around us, then make our way towards the planet and link up with the other forces. I believe they won't fire us, seeing as we just saved them the trouble of fighting half of the invasion force!" Andronic said calmly.
And that is what they did next. After 15 more minutes of clearing a pathway to the planet, they recalled the fighters for repair, restock and refuel. They then rewired the power to their enignes and shields and took the ships down to the surface, keeping ahead of the lumbering monster that was on their tails.
The dominion battlecruiser Gray Tiger, head of the task force.
General Jerome insisted on keeping the prince on the bridge, as it offered the best perspective of the battlefield. The ground forces were making progress in their fight to purge the zerg and reach Stewart's domain, but the zerg were fighting fiercely and were getting constant reinforcements. That made his job a little bit harder and even with prince Valerian's good nature and patience, he couldn't risk prolong the operation if it proved to be pointless. The ghosts they sent reported that there wasn't any protoss presence on the planet. Scanners indicated that fights were still raging across the crime lord's domain, but no trace of the fugitives whatsoever.
Valerian feared the worst. The duo( or trio) could be either dead or next to death. They may very well have escaped the planet somehow and warp jumped to a random location, where they were to lay low for a while. There was also the small possibilty that they have been captured by the zerg and taken aboard one of their giant „ vessels".
„ Sir look! That merc force obbliterated the giant zerg and is making its way towards us! Shall we open fire on them?"
„ Open fire on our unexpected saviour? It would be rather foolish and rude of me to do that, general!" the prince commented. „ No, I want us to provide them with cover fire until they reach the relative safety of the planetary defences. We will then proceed as the situation dictates it, am I understood?"
„ Yes, your highness!" the general bowed and got to work directing their forces.
The unknown battlecruiser force was closing in real fast and the zerg were not that far behind them. Seems like the critters didn't take lightly to losing one of their gigantic „ ships" to a mere terran force. All the better, prince Valerian thought. Perhaps he could somehow persuade those guys to work for him in the future.
Esmeralda's perspective.
She had been fighting the zerg forces for a while now. Street by street, quadrant by quadrant, her troops were gaining ground against the critters in what could be called an amazing operation. At the forefront of the attack was her and her ghost regiment, Penumbra. They sniped all the dangerous targets from afar, paving the road for the waves of marines, medics and firebats. Right after them came the goliath combat walkers, both Argonaut and Spartan in origin. The mechs were adept at taking out flyers with their long range Lanzer torpedoes. Add to that the fact that all such UED machines were equiped with Charon Boosters and any brood lord, overlord mutalisk and what else would be running for his mama. On top of that, the autocannons were no joke either. They could easily mow down zergs, hydralisks, even those new creatures called roaches.
Dodging a hydralisk spine, Esmeralda used her psionics to crush the damned animal into a crumbling building, destroying it altogether. She then proceeded to hunt any stragglers, accompanied by her 40 ghost operatives.
„ Thank God for those Hekate class suits!" she made a mental note to herself. The energy cells were very useful for a prolongued conflict. But it was the anti-gravity device that gave them an edge in a fight with most if not all enemies. The ability to lower the gravity in a certain area for about five minutes allowed them to escape impossible fights, traverse great obstacles or confuse enemies.
So she jumped, or, better said, floated in mid air and shot whatever lay beneath her. So did her other ghosts. Leading by example certainly had its advantages, both in terms of morale and personal gratification!
Resistence was getting fiercer the closer they got to the crime lord's domain. Using her magnifying goggles to spy ahead. It seemed as if most of the mercenary groups pulled back to the mansion, and even there they were taking heavy casualties. That only meant that the zerg were looking for something( or someone) that resided in that lavishly decorated building.
Her battle group had begun to take casualties. A few of the goliaths were to brave for their own health and followed three brood lords so as to destroy them. Instead, they were overwhelmed by large groups of burrowed zerglins and hydralisks. Also, there were the unavoidable marine and firebat casualties and accidents, but all of those were still acceptable. Ammo was still plentiful, although it had decreased tremendously and she ordered them not to shoot blindly.
Three roaches were on their way towards her and no one was around to help her. A worthy challenge, fair enough. She aimed for the closest one and pulled the trigger.
*click*click*click*
„ You've got to be fu**ing kidding me! she said throwing her weapon aside. It had no more than four bullets in the magazine and even so it jammed in the middle of the fight. That's what you get when you do some after-market mods on your toys!
So, an unorthodox measure was required. She closed her eyes, concetrating her psionic power into her hands. Small sparks of energy appeared and started growing, to the point that they were twice her size. She then opened her flaming red eyes and sent the psi lightnings at the incoming roaches. They got caught into the energy net, unable to escape. Life was literraly seeping through their carapace. And so, they were beaten, no bullets used at all.
Proud of herself, the „ Rainbow Vixen" requisitioned one of the merc canister rifles. Lucky for her, it was a modern model, so the ammo was compatible. She was soon joined by her other ghosts who had finally secured the perimeter. After receiving their damage report and asessing the situation, Esmeralda ordered half of her forces, and that included all the goliaths, to remain outside, while she, 30 ghosts and part of the marines, medics and firebats entered the building.
Inside they found a total mess. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, every room and everything had been given a rough shake. Bullet holes, terran and zerg remains were splattered all across every possible place.
„ The damned insects sure did a number on this place! Be on your toes people, as we are not alone here!" she told them and moved past the wall of marine bodies that „ guarded" the top stairway to the second floor.
Sweeping through the corridors, they encountered more than a few zerglings and hydralisks, nothing too complicated to take out of the picture. What worried her, however, was the fact that the crime lord and his guards were nowhere to be seen. That could only mean that they retreated somewhere.
The best way to deal with this situation was to hack into the palace's network and watch the surveillance footage from a few hours ago until now: skippingly, of course( no one would have the patience or time to look through them carefully). Finding a terminal wasn't too difficult, neither was getting into the network and finding the footage. It seemed like whoever was in charge with the security was either awful at his job, or was betraying Stewart. She was inclined to believe the latter. She pressed the „ fast forward" button and witnessed what happened a few hours before.
A strange mercenary girl and her friend, a scientist or researcher by the looks of it, had an argument about the same crime lord's intentions. The guy was very skeptical about him, even hostil, one might say. Also, he kept citing some kind of protoss presence in his head, calling him or her Zamara and claiming that it could read minds, which was kinda freaky. Protoss never shared their abilities with terrans and from what she could tell, it was impossible to merge the two races like that. Gestalts were totally different from this „ Jake Ramsey" and their abilities didn't work this way. Nevertheless, they ended their conflict and made their way towards an underground hangar, where they were greeted by the crime lord and his dangerous bodyguard, Phillip Randall. She almost forgot about him. He too was nowhere around. A fight ensued, the crime lord and his former girlfriend engagin in a gun fight, while the other two started their own martial arts deathmatch competition. When the valet finally managed to get the upper hand, that Jake Ramsey unleashed some kind of psionic attack, or protoss origin, obviously, which instantly killed his enemy. Ethan Stewart was blackmailed into giving them his ship and was then shot in the chest and right shoulder and left to die on the hangar floor, while they made their escape in the ensuing chaos. A few minutes later, a team of merc medics reached him and took him to the nearest medbay, where they began to treat his gunshot wounds. After that, the zerg barged into the mansion, but them security teams managed to keep them at bay. There was no other security footage. It was either deleted or the system was shut down at that time. Both situation seemed very strange.
Seeing as she had no other choice, she liberated the credit deposits, requisitioning no less than 180000 credits for the Argonauts, and reunited with her other half of the forces. Strangely, the zerg ground and air forces were pulling out faster than one would imagine.
„ Commander, it's me! We secured the mansion but there's no trace of the crime lord. We found some very interesting information amongst the data disks. I am sure you would like to see it as soon as possible!" she reported to Andronic on her official tone.
„ Acknowledged! Proceed with the sweeping operation while I send the Lancaster and some shuttles to retrieve you and your forces! Commander out!" Andronic answered likewise.
Onboard the Queen of Blades's Leviathan.
The leader of the Zerg Swarm was practically fuming. Her anger reached new levels, for she had never been humiliated like this. Losing a battle to a ragtag band of mercenaries that somehow got mingled with the Dominion. Her prize managed to escape her cluthces, even though her zerg were right behind them. She watched through a mutalisk's eyes as the system runner left the hangar and cloaked itself. Obviously, they then avoided combat and warped to a random location. Even so, that didn't stop her from invading the crime lord's domain. The place was bound to contain some evidence of the route the duo would take, or at least of their intentions. That is when her forces stormed the mansion, made their way through the elite, fanatical, merc defenders, until they reached the aforementioned underground hangar. Empty, of course, the place didn't offer many clues. However, three of her hunter-killers found a rather infamous crime lor who would certainly hold valueble information inside his precious head. Strangely, she couldn't read his mind. That usually meant that she was dealing with psionically gifted people. It cost her 100 overlords that acted as a fleshy shield, in order for the hunter killers and their pray to safely retreat to her Leviathan.
When the transport reached „ the hangar" , Kerrigan went to her geneticist's evolution chamber. The creepy, spider-like creature that gave her her infested form would have to perform the process once more, albeit on a different person.
„ Queen wishes to speak? Must mean something important is at hand!" his cold voice spoke, as he descended from two floors above, careful not to drop any eggs or „ sequences" as he called them. Big green, yellow, red and purple tissues, claws, spikes, eggs, liquids, creatures of all kind, most of which were either dead or soon to be, littered the entire chamber. A mad scientist's lab indeed!
„ I do! We will be having a very important guest. He might be posessing psionic power and I think you know what that means, don't you?" she asked with a grin.
„ It means I've got new essence to add to the Swarm. Infestation mandatory!"
„ That's what I've thought. I'll send him to you right away!" she added and then left for the „ hangar".
A cocoon of sorts, the size of a man, was being hold by one of her hunter-killer hydralisks, while the other two beasts fell in line behind him. The Queen of Blades mentally ordered them to take it to thge evolution chamber and then went on to order a very shameful retreat, although she promised herself that once she finds that protoss/terran hybrid, she would return in full force and take a much needed, sweet tasting, revenge.
The Decebalus's deck, shortly after the last Leviathan „ warp jumped".
„ Woohohohoooooo! We just beat the Queen Bitch of the Universe!" cheered Josef and high-fived with all officers on deck at that moment.
Andronic wiped the sweat form his forehead and brought himself to smile. That could have been much, much worse. If Kerrigan wasn't after whatever she was after, then they would probably dead by now, or at least running for their lives. He had seen her fip battlecruisers to bits with just her psionics, not to talk about her leading a frontal attack on Augustgrad and literally slicing through their defenses with her claws and blade wings. He had hoped that she could be avoided, at least until he had built up a sizeable, powerful fleet, to have by his side in a fight with the terrifying nightmare that was the zerg. She would undoubtedly return in full force next time and he could only hope that he and his Argonauts will be prepared.
„ Sir, why do you look as if we've just lost? We kicked her arse for God's sake!" Josef shook him from his distant thoughts.
„ If only that were truly so! I fear that this is only the beginning! We might be seeing more of this monster in the future. But you are right, we may as well celebrate!" the Admiral answered with a growing smile on his lips, although his worries couldn't be completly hidden from sight.
They opened up bottles of champaigne, wines of all sorts, and all of them drank in honour of their victory, wishing each other the best. Not a minute later, Esmeralda bursted through the doors and went on to hug her father and kiss Josef, before she too took her glass of french champaigne. The other captains joined the party via holo-screen and they all had a good time for the next 10 minutes, until they were interrupted by an unknown video call.
„ Ah, mama ei de treabă! Nu se poate bucura omul de moment!(What the hell, can't one man enjoy his moment?)" Andronic swore, before he laid down his glass and retook his composure. Who is the caller and what does he want?"
Josef searched through the community clearence files, while Esmeralda tried to hack into the signalling vessel's database to find out who it was. It didn't take long for the pair to identify the respective ship as the Gray Tiger, headed by none other than crown prince Valerian Mengsk. Evidently, Andronic chose not to show his face around the prince, for he might connect the dots with what had happened to New Sydney. Apart from that, keeping your identity secret from your second worst enemy's son seems like a good idea at the moment.
As such, Marcu Andronic removed his proud UED captain's coat and replaced it with a casual one, no decorations or insignias whatsoever. Also, he donned his favorite mask, one which resembled a red scorpion and a blue cobra, locked together in eternal combat. He told the other officers to stay out of sight or at least go about their business without showing their colors or anything else. So, in about five minutes, the image of Valerian Mengsk finally patched through a secured, non traceable server, guarded by Esmeralda herself.
" Salutations, mercenary commander! I am crown prince Valerian Mengsk and I wish to express my profound gratitude for helping us fight the zerg back!" the royal began his speech.
" Indeed, you would have lost that battle, were it not for our immediate help. Tell me, crown prince, why is the Queen of Blades after you? Or, better yet, what was she looking for down in Ethan Stewart's mansion?" Andronic spoke with a somewhat different voice, undoubtedly trying to hide as much about himself as possible.
" Very well, since me and my subjects are indebted to you, I shall enlighten you! We were tracking one of my scientists. He encountered what we call a protoss "preserver", practically a living database of their people. By some means we do not know, the two beings merged and have gone rogue, aided in their escape by a very capable mercernary woman. Me and my forces tried to subdue them, but we were unable to do so. We tracked them to Deadman's Rock, where they sought refuge under mr. Ethan Stewart. I arranged for a meeting with him, but that is when the zerg arrived. I believe they managed to escape in the ensuing chaos!" the prince confessed, much to Andronic's surprise, as he got the mental confirmation from Esmeralda that Mengsk's son was telling the truth.
" That may be so. But tell me your highness, what is the true reason behind calling us?" Andronic pressed on, a bit ironic by the way.
" You are resourceful indeed, commander...
" Tamasino!" Andronic answered with a nickname.
" Commander Tamasino, as I have stated, you have proven yourself to be quite the leader. Taking out the zerg like that certainly impressed me, to say the least. What do you say? Would you care to work for me?" Valerian asked with a winner's grin on his face.
Hello, my dear readers!
The situation is getting more complicated with each passing day.
Schnitt left for the Solaris System and the formerly kel-morian troops might get into conflict with their UED coleagues.
Raynor left to gather the rest of his Raiders for the imminent invasion of Braxis, for which they would act as scouts and bait.
Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, wants to get her claws on Jake Ramsey and Zamara, but Marcu Andronic's quick and precise intervention turned her back, for the moment. She won't forgive the terran for this, even if she doesn't know who he really is.
Valerian Mengsk, driven by his natural curiosity and scholar atitude, wanted to gather as much knowledge as possible. He doesn't wish to hurt Jake or Rosemary or Zamara, but an unknown force working with him or behind his back isn't so sympathetic. Seeing as the mysterious mercenary force( the Argonauts) saved his task force, he is seriously considering hiring them for this endeavor.
Many thanks to warchief for discussing future updates via PM. It really helps me to know other people's expectations and opinions, for it may very well help me lay down the next chapter's scenario!
As usual, I am open to suggestions via PM or reviews. Do not be afraid to speak your mind, my fellow Starcraft fans!
Please follow or favorite the story if you like it ;). Seeing it being read gives me the determination to continue writing.
Have a nice day!