...

Act I

The Path to Redemption starts with the First Step

Chapter 5

Fly me to the Moon...

Aiur

Sacred Homeworld of the Protoss

Saalok was Aiur's only natural satellite. The moon was very important to the Protoss. Not only because it was, very much like Ancient Earth's moon, responsible for strong tides, but also as a cultural and religious object. Its perfect symmetry and the bright white light it emitted during Aiur's nights had turned the moon into a symbol. And even though the Protoss no longer believed in fairy-tales, there were many strange things about this moon. For once it possessed a breathable atmosphere, something that should be impossible since there was no plant life on this moon or anything that could have created the atmosphere in the first place. The other thing was its nearly perfect shape. Some scientists believed that Saalok was actually placed in Aiur's Orbit, and some even went so far to believe that it had been the Xel'Naga's outpost when they had observed the young and brutal species. A few scientists had suggested that there was still Xel'Naga technology buried beneath the surface of the moon, waiting to be discovered by the First Born.

Whatever Saalok's secret was, now it was buried deep under tons of rubble.

And Zerg. Many Zerg.

It was strange, even though the Protoss had reclaimed their sacred homeworld, their moon was still infested with maybe billions of these creatures. They were leftovers from the Overmind's armada that had conquered the world years before. After the death of the Overmind, these broods had turned feral and no one had been able to either reclaim or purge them.

Routing these broods from the moon was nearly impossible. During the last few years, they had created so many tunnels that no one really knew how many even lived on the moon. And the Protoss had not the numbers to smoke them out. The only good thing was that these broods didn't possess any flying creatures like Mutalisks or even Overlords, so they were stuck.

Zerg, in general, were still a huge problem for the Protoss. Because the feral broods weren't only on Saalok, they were on Aiur as well. The planet was perfect for their needs: Plenty of biomass and a nice climate. They had thrived during the absence of the Protoss and even though they weren't nearly as powerful without a working hive mind, they had turned into the godmother of all pests. Only that cockroaches usually don't bite your head off. No, only Zerg Roaches do that.

Ever since the Protoss had reclaimed to Aiur, the feral Zerg had caused nothing but trouble. The Protoss were lucky, though, because right now their society was full of battle-hardened warriors. The different groups, the Khalai, Nerazim and Tal'darim, even the Purifiers, they were all fighting for glory and honor, and to prove who could slay the most Zerg in one day. But it wouldn't always be like that. You can't rebuild a society with only warriors, so the number had to be reduced. And who said that the current Overqueen Zagara wouldn't one day decide to finish what the Overmind had started?

This battle was not one that warriors could win. The Hierarch knew that. That's why he had tasked the Phasesmith Karax with finding a more permanent solution.

And the right place for testing out all kind of stuff was Saalok. It was the perfect secure environment. That's why Karax had moved to the only safe place on the moon: A small science-station floating above the south pole of the moon. From there, Karax was looking for new ways to kill Zerg...

Looking up to the star-filled sky, Sarah felt strange. Here she was, so close to her enemy's, well, former enemy's most sacred homeworld. Truth to be told, she had never set foot in Aiur. When the Overmind had attacked the Protoss, her "father" had sent her away. And in all the years that had come after that, she had never ventured to the Protoss's homeworld. As she turned around and looked at the planet beneath her, she had to admit: It looked damn pretty. It was so completely different from Shakuras, the only other Protoss world she had visited without trying to conquer it. Well, at least not at first.

Looking at the tiny world beneath her, she began to realize the whole magnitude of the war Amon had unleashed upon this sector. It wasn't just the Protoss, no. She could sense them, she could sense their hopes and their will to live on. But she did not only feel Protoss down there.

Zerg. There were so many Zerg. It was not just Aiur, the same could be said about Saalok as well. There were still billions of Zerg on both the planet and the moon. The sheer number amazed Sarah. Aside from Char, she couldn't think of any world with a higher Zerg-population. Not even the ancient birthplace Zerus was home to so many of her kind.

...their kind...

Ah, dammit.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" Izsha asked when she sensed her Queen's confusion. Even though Sarah was technically no longer a queen, Izsha still called her like that. To Izsha, she was, ahem..., and the actual quote: "You will always remain my Queen, my Queen." Truth to be told, it felt good to know that there was at least one soul out there who accepted her the way she was.

"Yes, everything is fine." Sarah lied. "I'm just admiring the view. I didn't realize that there were so many Zerg still left on Aiur. Huh, if my old self had known this, she would probably have tried to bring them back into the Swarm."

My old self. She blinked at those words, but then she just shook her head. Not now. And most definitely not here. She looked over to her Advisor and sighed.

"So, let's get started, shall we?" she suggested. Izsha bowed her head in respect.

"As you wish, my Queen. Though I'm still not sure what you hope to achieve by manipulating this...pylon." Izsha said before looking up to the giant crystal that floated only a half a meter above the ground.

"Like I said, Izsha..." Sarah explained. "...we cannot allow being discovered. The Protoss, well, I'm pretty certain that they wouldn't be very happy to see me. Especially so close to their homeworld." That was probably the understatement of the century.

"But why do we have to harm these broods?" Izsha wanted to know. "They haven't tried to harm us. I'm certain that they would follow you if you told them to do so." Sarah sighed again when she heard that. Not because she was angry at Izsha, but because she knew that what she was about to do wouldn't make any sense to any Zerg whatsoever. And unlike her, Izsha's thoughts were still that of a true Zerg. It would take time to make her understand.

"This isn't about the Swarm, Izsha." Sarah said. "It's about them." she nodded into the direction of the world beneath them.

"The Protoss, my Queen?" Izsha asked confused, to which Sarah nodded.

"Yeah, the Protoss. I've done them wrong. I know that now."

"You were Zerg. They were Protoss. This was meant to be." Izsha simply said.

Hmpf, if it only were that easy. Sarah thought. She remembered the words Ouros had used to convince the other Xel'Naga to choose the Protoss as a candidate for the Purity of Form.

"It's not about us, it's about them." she mumbled, repeating the dead Xel'Naga's words.

"It is not about us? I don't think I understand, my Queen." Izsha repeated her word before tilting her dark head to the side. Her huge, snakelike body rested on the bright surface of the moon. The changes to her appearance were rather simple. The most obvious change was, of course, the fact that the rest of her body was no longer connected to a hive of a Leviathan, but ended in a long, snakelike tail. It resembled the tail of a Hydralisk. Overall Izsha reminded Sarah of an old mythological creature from Ancient Earth's legends. What was the name again? Hydra? Gorgon, the one with the petrifying gaze? Medusa! That's right, she resembled the Medusa. The upper body of a woman, a very zergish woman, and the lower body of a snake, a very zergish snake. The huge tendrils that she had used as arms were still there, but she kept them behind her back.

Izsha's arms, that once had been grown to her body, were now free again and she could use them as she pleased. Izsha was now free to go, well, slither wherever she wanted to be. And truth to be told: She was pretty damn fast.

Even though Sarah was no longer Zerg, she still knew one or two things about spinning essence. And with her powers, it had been easy to change Izsha's body so she could accompany her Queen. She could have asked Abathur for help, but no one in their right mind would ask the gigantic slug for help. Besides, Izsha deserved something better than to be modified by Abathur.

Even without Abathur, Sarah had been able to make the necessary modifications to take Izsha with her. She knew how to manipulate a Zerg, she had done...

...done it...

...done it before...

...on that icy moon...

"Oh fuck!" Sarah suddenly groaned.

"My Queen, I'm not familiar with the concept of sexual relationship. And I believe that I lack the proper equipment." Izsha simply stated. "So I think I cannot help you with that." But Sarah's left eye just started to twitch. Some all-powerful being she was, with a brain that looked like a sponge. Only one word left her mouth.

"Niadra." She blinked one more time before pressing her hands against her face.

"How the hell could I forget about Niadra?!" she yelled at herself.

"She was the broodmother you sent on the Protoss science vessel on Kaldir." Izsha repeated the now obvious. "Ever since we lost contact, we have never heard from her again. Even now she remains lost." Guilt started to fill Sarah's chest. Great, another one of her failures she could add to the ever-growing list. By now she knew that she was far away from being almighty, so trying to solve this problem now was pretty much pointless.

"If you want, I can try to track her down." Izsha offered. For a moment Sarah considered to accept the offer, but then she shook her head.

"No, not now. What done is done. There's no point dwelling in the past."

Remembering the past is important. Even the mistakes we made. Taking the easy route will solve nothing, and you know that. a voice inside her head said. By now she knew that she wasn't crazy. It was something she had to live with.

"Of course, my Queen." Izsha simply said. Sarah knew that she would never question her Queen's thoughts and commands. But a part of Sarah wished that she would do exactly that. To tell her that she was about to lose it again. Frustration welled up inside Sarah's chest. She groaned and pressed her forehead against the cold surface of the pylon.

"What am I even doing here?" she whispered to herself. The idea itself was pretty simple: To help undo the damage she had caused as the Queen of Blades. A simple thought. An easy thought. But the implications were, well, she had no idea where this would lead.

Now she hadn't been on Aiur when the Overmind had invaded the world. Like said, she had never set foot on this planet. Yet for some strange reasons, Aiur stood in the center of it all. There were several worlds that were important to Sarah because they had changed her.

Tarsonis, where everything had started. Now it was nothing but a dead husk. And just like Jim, she would never place a foot on that damn husk of a dead world again.

Char, now the Crown World of the Zerg. In a way, it was still her home. It certainly felt like home to her. The place where she had schemed her visions of a greater future, only to be sucker punched by the Terrans.

Zerus, the place of her rebirth. Where she had reclaimed her old powers. Where she had made a decision that had caused her to finally lose Jim for good.

Jim...damn. She exhaled with a loud sigh. Not a single day passed when she wouldn't think of him at least once. It was maddening. But she couldn't help it. Trying to remove him from her mind would only cause the same nightmare to begin all over again. And she still remembered how the other Jim, the one inside her mind, had sacrificed himself so her two halves could become one again. No, she had to accept this pain. It was now part of her and it would remind her of what she had lost, of what she had given away.

Korhal. Yeah, let's get back to the planets. Korhal had been the place where she had finally achieved her vengeance. Mengsk's death had set her free.

No, not Mengsk. Jim did that. He set you free. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Through all that time, Izsha stood next to her Queen and watched how Sarah tried to calm down again. Post-traumatic-stress? Anxiety-attack? Who knows, but the truth was that Sarah had issues. Every now and then she would space out and need some time to pull herself together again. She was a lot more nimble than she liked to believe.

She opened her eyes and looked at her hands. Golden hands. She blinked and watched how the hands stopped to glow and turned into normal skin. It was just a physical shape, she was aware of that. But it helped her. Sometimes, when she felt anger, she turned back into her old Zerg-self. As she now looked at her slender fingers, she wondered...

...couldn't she go back and see him again?

He deserves to be happy. But are you truly the one he needs? Or would you only abandon him yet again? Would you truly be able to stay at his side? the voice in the back of her mind said. And the voice was right. No, no matter how much she wanted to see Jim, no matter how much she wanted to apologize, it was better to stay away.

"My Queen, you seem to be in distress. Is everything alright?"

Good and reliable Izsha. At least you won't judge me, right? But if you were still your old self, would you say the same thing? Sarah asked herself and looked to the side until their gazes met.

"Izsha..." she began. "...may I ask you something?" Izsha blinked when she heard those words.

"Of course, my Queen."

"Your old self, your old persona...do you still remember anything about her, well, about you?" Maybe this was a foolish question since Abathur had designed Izsha strictly after the Queen of Blades specifications. But her creation had been a bit more extreme than usual. If there was such a thing as "usual" when a Terran was transformed into a Zerg.

"You are referring to the template that was used to create me?"

"Yes, the template." Sarah said and had to swallow hard. That template had possessed a name. Amanda Haley, once a human medic. She became another casualty of war. And that was a nice way of putting it. Amanda Haley had been infected with a modified version of the Zerg hyper-evolution-virus, that had turned her into just another mindless infested Terran. But she had been different, her genes had been different. After toying with the deformed creature for a while, the Queen of Blades had simply forgotten about her. Only some time later, when the leader of the Swarm had realized that she needed a special kind of advisor, she had pulled that creature out of the gutter and told Abathur to "do both his worst and best".

And Abathur had not disappointed his Queen.

Amanda Haley was no more. In her place, Izsha had been reborn, a new kind of Zerg. The same Izsha that now looked down upon Sarah and frowned.

"I don't have any memories that belonged to the template. My earliest memories are from the time when Abathur woke me up on Char. Why? Is there something you want to know about this Amanda Haley?" Sarah opened her mouth, but no word left her human throat. No, she had to stop thinking about stuff like that. It only pulled her down. And besides, she was still in enemy territory. She didn't wish to engage the Protoss, but she knew that they would throw everything they had against her should they find out she was so close to their sacred homeworld.

Perhaps it was foolish to come here in the first place. She wasn't even aware of the full extent of her own powers. And her limits. But she still remembered her Ghost-training and if there was one thing she knew more about than most others, it was infiltration. And one of the most important things about infiltration was to be as fast as possible.

At least the Protoss didn't possess any sewers, so this was better than most other infiltration-jobs she had done in the past.

Enough sulking, let's get this show on the road.

Sarah pulled her head back and looked at the pylon. It was the only pylon in the vicinity and perfect for what she had planned. She put her hands on the cold crystal and opened her mind.

When her mind connected with the crystal, she suddenly felt much calmer. It was as if she would dive into cold water. Like all her sins were washed away. She knew it was only temporary, but it was enough for her.

Because in the end, nothing would be able to wash the blood off her hands...

As she dived deep into the pylon, she was amazed how powerful this crystal was. She had never really thought about the crystals the Protoss used. They possessed impressive abilities, yes. But nothing that was truly useful to the Zerg.

...and the Terrans of course.

Damn, why was it so hard to think of herself as a Terran woman? She hesitated again. Was it because of him?

"My Queen?" Izsha said.

"I know. Get ready, I'm going to change the pylon now." Sarah took a deep breath and then forced her own, almost endless psionic energy deep into the huge crystal. These pylons, they were amazing. She wondered if the Protoss truly understood their true nature. Those crystals weren't just crystals. They were like organisms. Complex. Ever changing. Alive.

Sarah had realized that when she had returned to Ulnar with Izsha. There were still some pylons lying around and she had taken a closer look. She didn't even know why she had done so, she had seen thousands of pylons and blown up at least hundreds of those things. But now everything was different. It was as if she could see right into these crystals. And what she saw...

No, there was no chance that the Protoss were aware of the full potential of these crystals. If they knew, there would be no force in the galaxy that could stop them. Not even the mighty Swarm. Maybe the Protoss had to reach the next step in their evolution to finally unlock the crystals' full potential. Or maybe they would never find out. Either way, Sarah could use that for her own plan.

The blue pylon started to pulse as Sarah's energies started to change it. It was not unlike a computer and she was adding some new lines of code. In reality, it was far more complex though, like performing a brain-surgery with two wrenches instead of arms from across the room. While being drunk. Sarah knew what she was doing though, at least she hoped that. She had tried this with the pylons the Protoss had left on Ulnar and she had blown up some of them by accident. Okay, she had blown up all of them except for the last one. But now she knew how to do it, at least in theory.

The pylon started to react and soon its color began to change. It turned from a pale blue into a bright purple. Like said: She always looked better in purple. In her mind she could see how the crystal started to open itself, allowing more of her essence to enter its structure. She was like a virus, changing it from the inside

You have to understand the difference between changing something and corrupting it. You of all people should know how important it is to distinguish these two things. the voice in her head said.

"Not now!" she snarled.

"My Queen?" Izsha asked as she sensed Sarah's anxiety, but Sarah only shook her head.

"It's nothing. Get ready, I'm opening the pylon now." Then she opened her eyes. They emitted pure energy and for a moment the pylon absorbed it all. "Now!" Sarah said and Izsha closed her eyes before starting to sing her song...

Many people, both Terran and Protoss alike, only saw claws and teeth when they looked at Zerg. The thought that the Zerg could possess something like art was completely out of the question for these people. But the Zerg did possess something very beautiful. It is something only Zerg could see. Or to be more precisely: Only Zerg could hear it.

If someone would ask Sarah what it feels like to be part of the Swarm, she would tell them about their song. The song that was everywhere. It was like music and colors combined. It surrounded all Zerg, went right through them and connected them to each other. It was the grand song of the Swarm. There was no sweeter melody. Nothing the Terrans or Protoss could come up with even came close to the beauty of that song. The first time Sarah had heard it was when the Overmind had turned her into its daughter. Its voice, his song, part of it still lingered in the back of her mind. It was like a warm, gentle voice singing to her, telling her what glory would wait for all of them. And a part of her missed the fact that the Overmind wasn't there anymore so it could sing its song to her.

After the Overmind's death, Daggoth and the others had tried to sing their song, but it hadn't been the same. So the Queen of Blades had tried her luck. And her song had been beautiful. Now it was Zagara's song that filled the minds of the Swarm, or at least the Zerg in this place.

Sarah closed her eyes again as she listened to Izhas's song. To anyone without any Zerg-background, it was nothing but screeching sounds in one's head. But to Sarah, it was the sweetest melody she could imagine. It was a song that could calm down even the twitchiest Zergling, one that turned even the most bloodthirsty Hydralisk into an obedient pet. Izsha's song started slow, but soon it became louder and started to reach out to all the Zerg on this strange moon.

Sarah enjoyed the song for just some moments before she remembered what she had to do. There wasn't much time and she didn't want to lose this opportunity because she dwelt on past memories.

Nostalgia was such a bother.

She channeled her thoughts and used them to open an access for Izha's song to enter the crystal, to merge with its matrix. The moment she did so, the pylon changed its color again, glowing in a bright yellow. She could have done it herself, she still remembered her own song well enough. But she didn't want to do it for several reasons. Like said: The Protoss didn't know that she was so close to them and she wanted it to stay that way. If she would sing her song, they would only sense her psionic footprint. Such a cold term for something that felt so beautiful. Izsha was not the same she used to be, and her song didn't reach out that far. Yet it still had its very own beauty to it.

It didn't take long for the feral Zerg to answer Izsha's call. In the end, they were still servants of the Swarm, they craved for someone to tell them what to do. And even though only a small fraction of the Zerg actually started to move, Sarah could sense how hundreds of thousands began to close in on them.

She had to hurry.

Izsha's song continued the entire time. It was like background music. But now Sarah had to concentrate. When the pylon had "recorded" enough of her song, Sarah pulled her mind back. But not before implementing another protocol. Something that the Protoss weren't even aware of the pylons could do. Maybe it was a mistake to show it to them. It could be used to cause horrible tragedies. Yet she blocked those thoughts out. Now was not the time to hesitate. Izsha's song finally ended and she remained silent for a moment before turning her attention back to Sarah.

"My Queen, the feral Zerg are on the move. They will arrive shortly."

"Yes, I know." Sarah replied. "Get ready, we're about to move out." She only had to finish implementing the last protocol. The pylon started to glow, it pulsed and started to, well, sing.

It was Izsha's song. It was a perfect replica of Izsha's song. When the last protocol was in place, Sarah made a step back and sighed.

"That should do it. Come now, we should leave before-" she wasn't able to get much further when a bright light appeared behind the pylon. Someone had just warped in.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" a Protoss voice suddenly echoed through their minds. Both Sarah and Izsha looked to the side.

Right next to them stood Karax, looking at them in shock.

Phasesmith Karax was perhaps the only person who was glad to be so close to millions of feral Zerg. From his office inside the research station that floated above the surface of Saalok, he studied the data the sensors was sending to the station.

"Karax..." he remembered the words of Hierarch Artanis. "...as long as Zerg remain on our sacred homeworld, we will never be able to truly move on. We have more blades and cannons at our disposal than ever before. But even then we won't be able to get rid of these creatures. If strength and determination will not grant us victory, then perhaps knowledge and ingenuity will. So I am ordering you...no, I'm asking you, Brother: Find a way to free our home from this scourge once and for all."

Brother. Karax was far too humble to admit that, but he felt pride in his chest when he remembered this word. The great Hierarch had called him brother. The Phasesmith couldn't imagine anything greater than that. And so he had drowned himself in work. Saalok was the perfect place to start his research. If something would go wrong, it wouldn't cause any damage to Aiur.

Ever since Artanis had sent him here, he had worked non-stop on finding a solution. He was relentless, much to the disdain of his research staff. Most of them were now on Aiur. They needed a break. He was no fool, he made sure that they didn't work themselves to death. But to him, this work was so much fun! Every day he learned something new. And he truly believed that knowledge was its own reward.

They had started by studying the full extent of the moon's infestation. Unfortunately, it was bad. It was impossible to say how many Zerg were on the moon. By now the Protoss knew that the Zerg had created huge networks of tunnels and hives beneath the surface. Some in his team said that there could be millions, others even went so far to say that it had to be hundreds of millions.

Karax wouldn't be surprised if there were actually billions of Zerg under the moon's surface. Artanis had called it a ticking time-bomb, even though Karax had no idea what that meant. Protoss's bombs didn't tick, they just exploded.

At first, they had tried conventional methods: Plasma-bombs and automated weapon systems. But it had been too slow and tedious. They had to lure great numbers of Zerg to the surface in order to kill them. The problem with that was that the Zerg only went after living creatures, not drones made out of metal. So even though some Purifiers had volunteered to help their cause, they hadn't been able to do much.

The next attempt had based on the same idea, only the other way round: Purifiers and automated machines had transported huge amounts of explosives deep underground and blown the tunnels up. But the speed with which the Zerg created new tunnels was simply unreal. They were a formidable foe, both for warriors and scientists alike.

Some Tal'darim were part of his research-team, too. Truth to be told, he had been surprised when Alarak had offered some of his scientists to help Karax's cause. But the leader of the Tal'darim simply said that his people always looked for new forms to kill their enemies. He was as ruthless as he was bloodthirsty.

The Tal'darim-scientist were surprisingly calm and controlled. And they possessed extensive knowledge when it came to bioweapons and everything that caused a lot of pain in general. Even though Karax had initially refused to use such means, he had finally relented and agreed to use a modified Zerg-virus. The first test had been promising, but the Zerg had adapted to the virus and now their defilers even used it as a weapon.

Sneaky little devils.

Then the Nerazim had tried their luck. They had used the powers of the Void, and Karax had to admit that he had no idea what exactly his dark brethren had done, but it too proved to be pointless. It was like running against a huge wall head first over and over again. Only that the wall was made out of flesh and blood, teeth and claws. The only good thing was that this wall didn't strike back.

Working with such a colorful team was an inspiration. And truth to be told: Karax still had a lot of ideas. He would find a solution. They would find a solution.

As he went through the last week's results, he shook his head. From the scientific point of view, there was little hope that they could solve their little Zerg-problem by conventional means. They could kill as many Zerg as they wanted, they would simply reproduce faster than Protoss could end them! And it was not only that. The Zerg on Aiur had started to mutate and some of them were now part of the ecosystem. Fascinating, but he hadn't told the Hierarch anything about that yet. He knew that Artanis would like to hear that.

He looked at one of the monitors that showed several structures on the surface. Most of them were pylons, they were powering all the sensors and plasma cannons that protected the facility. He looked at the screen and suddenly saw two figures standing next to a pylon and looked back at the data. He still had to decide wherever they would use...

...wait...

He looked back up at the screen. Figures? His eyes widened in shock. He couldn't make out any details, but there were people down there!

Oh no, this is bad! he thought. He pressed a button on the console right in front of him.

"Amita, are you there?" he asked. It took some moment before a female Protoss answered his question.

"Yes, Phaseshmith. What can I do for you?" she asked. Amita was one of the Nerazim-scientists. Calm, controlled and with a keen intellect.

"Amita, who is currently on the moon's surface? I have not allowed anyone to go down there." Venturing to the moon was always risky, but two Protoss wouldn't stand a chance down there. Whoever they were, they were either uninformed or reckless.

"Phasesmith, the entire team is on the station. There is no one on the moon's surface right now."

"There is, Amita. I'm looking at them right now. I cannot make out any details, but there are two people down there!"

"...understood." Amita said. "I shall contact the Golden Armada, maybe they can send a shuttle to pick them up." she suggested. Only then Karax saw how something happened.

"What is that?" he whispered when the pylon on the screen suddenly started to change its color from light blue to a deep purple. He had never seen anything like that before.

"Amita, are you seeing this?" he wanted to know.

"Pha...smi...can't...brea...up..." The connection started to break up and he looked at the console right in front of him. Suddenly all the sensors showed new data.

"This cannot be right." Karax simply said. Looking back at the pylon, he blinked in confusion. The now purple pylon started to pulse. The sensors on the moon started to go crazy. The pylon changed its color again, this time it turned yellow. Yellow and purple pylons? He had never heard anything about that. The crystal matrix usually changed its colors when the psionic energy around it changed. But he knew of no faction among the Protoss who used these energies.

"Warning, Zerg-movement detected." an automated voice suddenly caught his attention. He looked at his console and his eyes widened in shock.

"Oh no. This is not good." The sensors showed huge numbers of Zergs. They were suddenly pouring out of their caves. And they were heading towards the pylon.

Those two Protoss were in mortal danger!

"Amita! Amita, if you can hear me: Can you teleport these two out of there?"

"..." Only static answered him.

"Amita!"

"..." Nothing.

"Oh, this is not good. Not good at all." What should he do? Try to contact the Golden Armada on his own? No, there was no time for that. He had to act! He was still a Protoss, he would not watch how these two would fall victim to the Zerg. Karax turned around and hurried to the transporter. His lab had his very own warp-transporter, so getting from A to B wasn't much of an issue. He entered the right coordinates and stepped on the blue glowing transporter field. Perhaps it was foolish to risk his own life. Many people depended on him. But that hadn't stopped Artanis either when he had thrown himself into one fight after the other to protect his people. Now, Karax was not Artanis, he was aware of that. He wasn't a strong and fierce warrior.

But he could run really fast!

When the particles of his body were accelerated to lightspeed, he felt a strange sensation of vertigo. But only for a short moment. He blinked and shook his head when one second ago he was still inside his lab, the next one he stood on the surface of Saalok. He turned around and could already see the yellow pylon. It was clearly visible, like a beacon in utter darkness. He was just a few hundred meters away from the pylon. The warp-teleporter was on auto-mode. It would warp him back once he gave the signal. But first, he had to save these two fools!

As he hurried towards the pylon, he couldn't see the other two figures in the distance. They were standing on the other side of the device. But when he reached the crystal, he suddenly stopped.

"What...is this?" he said in disbelief. The pylon, it was brimming with energy. He had never seen anything like this! His scientific curiosity was immediately sparked. But the warning system of his suit said otherwise.

"Warning, there are Zerg-organisms in the vicinity. Please evacuate to safety immediately." He had to hurry! Running towards the pylon, he went around and looked at the two figures. When he saw them, his eyes widened in shock.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" he yelled. The two figures looked over to him in surprise. He didn't remember them. One was a rather small Khalai. It was a woman and she wore the golden robes of a judicator. Strange, her clothes reminded him of the deceased Judicator Aldaris. Next to her was a much bigger Protoss, a pale Tal'darim with white skin and a pitch-black armor. She too was a female. He didn't remember those two, but when he yelled at them, the Tal'darim immediately prepared to strike at him.

"No!" the smaller one said. "Don't! He's harmless." she ordered the other one. Karax blinked in confusion.

"What...who are you?" he wanted to know. The smaller one looked at him and suddenly he felt something strange inside his mind. Suddenly he felt so calm. Like everything was alright.

"Forgive us, we're not, uhm, from around." the smaller Protoss said. "My name is...Sa...Lo...Ka? Saloka! And this is my, uhm, friedn Izsha...ra. Izshara!" the smaller female Protoss said. Izshara simply bowed her head in respect.

"Saloka? I'm sorry, I've never heard those names before. Are you...are you..." he blinked when his mind became so very slow all of the sudden.

"We're scientists. Just like you. And you are?" Saloka wanted to know while her eyes fixated him.

"Karax! Forgive my manners!" he said with a happy tone in his voice. "Phasesmith Karax, at your service! So you're fellow scientists? Of course, you're fellow scientists! Yes, now I remember, you were supposed to arrive here some other time!" Solaka nodded at those words. Karax didn't realize what was going on. It wasn't his fault though. How could he have known who he was really dealing with? And he wasn't a fully fledged warrior and didn't possess the mental strength of a Templar. When Sarah started to manipulate his mind, it was surprisingly easy.

"Warning, Zerg-organisms are approaching. Please evacuate to a safe distance." his computer warned them again. Karax blinked in surprise.

"Right, I forgot! We have to leave now! Zerg are coming this way, we have to warp out of here!"

"We do?" Solaka asked. "Really?"

"What? Of course we have to! They will kill us otherwise!" Karax said. He pressed some buttons on his command-wrist and activated the transporter. Only that nothing happened.

"What...wait a moment." he mumbled before activating the transporter again. And again nothing happened.

"This can't be right." he simply said.

"Warning, Zerg-organisms are approaching. Please evacuate to a safe distance immediately!" the computer warned again. But no matter how many times Karax pressed the recall-button, nothing happened.

"Something is wrong. Something must interfere with the warp-transporter. Maybe the pylon? Did you do something to that pylon?" he asked.

"We tweaked it a bit." Saloka simply stated.

"Tweaked...it? I don't understand. What did you do?"

"You can see for yourself. Here they come!" she pointed at something in the distance and Karax's eyes followed her gesture. And when he saw it, his eyes widened in shock.

The Zerg were coming. Their numbers flooded the flat surface of the moon. There were so many of them! The last time he had seen so many Zergs he had watched from the Spear of Adun how Amon's troops had attacked the temple on Shakuras. So many. So, so many...

Karax wasn't able to do anything but pressing the buttons on his computer over and over again. But nothing happened. He turned around, maybe he could hurry to another pylon, maybe he could simply run away. Running away from the Zerg was a foolish thought, but he had no other idea. When he turned around, however, he could see Zerg on the other side as well. And on the left. And on the right. They were coming from all directions!

"What...what have you done?" he wanted to know. Suddenly Saloka seemed very pleased with herself.

"Don't worry, Karax. Everything is under control. I'm here to help. You have to trust me with that." But Karax wasn't in the mood to trust her with that. Instead, he stumbled backward and fell to the ground. Maybe a fierce warrior like Selendis would have stood her ground, but he was no warrior! He could see them now. Zerglings, Hydralisks and even some more exotic creatures like banelings. Oh by the ancestors, he would be ripped apart!

The Zerg were so fast, they reached them in mere moments. Karax crawled backward until the pylon was right behind him. He could hear their screams and hisses. Teeth, claws, and spikes. And those eyes, those red-glowing eyes! Oh by the Ancestors, why did this have to happen to him?

"Don't worry. They won't kill you, Phasesmith." Saloka explained to him. He looked up at her in confusion. She just nodded towards the Zerg.

"Look." And so he turned his head around and blinked.

"What...?" he mumbled surprised. The Zerg, they had stopped moving. They had stopped and now they were standing all around the pylons.

"But...how? Why are they not attacking us?" he wanted to know. It was true, all the Zerg did was to stand around the pylon and do, well, nothing.

Except drooling.

"You might wanna' stand up, Phasesmith. And you might want to step away from the pylon. The show is about to start." Saloka said. He looked up to her but was simply too confused to do anything about this whole situation. He looked at all these Zergs. There had to be tens of thousands, all gathered around them. Even a whole armada of Zealots would be in trouble against these numbers. Yet all the Zerg did was to stand there and do nothing. No, that wasn't right. They all looked at the pylon. Saloka looked over to her companion.

"I guess it's time. Are you ready?" she asked. The Tal'darim bowed her head.

"Yes, my Queen. However, I would appreciate it if we could end this quickly." Karax had no idea what the Tal'darim was talking about. And why did she call the Saloka Queen? She wore the robes of a Judicator.

But all questions seized to be of any importance when suddenly the pylon behind him started to change again. Its color turned from yellow to purple once more and it started to pulse. But it was not just the color, suddenly he could feel how raw, pure energy started to flow through his entire being. He lacked the proper words to describe how he felt. Powerful? Almighty? Yet also scared and insecure. It felt like emotions, like an endless ocean of dreams and nightmares. He saw Zerg before his inner eye, more Zerg than he had ever seen, even more than had been on Shakuras or that were currently surrounding them. But they weren't the enemy. They bowed their head to him, ready to smite his enemies whenever he demanded it.

There was more. Pain and betrayal. He had been betrayed and he had betrayed. He felt shame for what he had done. And confusion, so much confusion. But in the middle of it all was just one thing. A face. It was a Terran face. He had seen it before, it was a man. He had never met this man in person, but he knew him, the Hierarch considered him a friend. And any friend of the Hierarch was his friend.

James Raynor...

He felt sadness and fear. Once Raynor would die, he would be alone. All alone for the rest of eternity.

Karax couldn't handle all those emotions and images. As the pylon started to channel Saloka's, no, Sarah's energies, it pulsed faster and faster. Soon it glowed as bright as a thousand suns...

And then it discharged.

It started with one purple lightning. It shot out of the tip of the pylon and formed a huge arc. It smashed into a group of Zerg a few hundred meters away. They were fried immediately. Another lightning appeared. And then another one. Arcs of pure, purple light started to hammer down on the Zerg who did nothing. They didn't run away, they didn't burrow. They just stood there and died.

Sarah watched the carnage before looking over to Izsha. Their disguise had worked on Karax. To him, they appeared like Protoss. But Sarah was no fool: This Phasesmith was highly intelligent, but not very experienced. And he was rather gullible. She doubted that someone of Artanis's caliber would fall for this trick. That's why she had to stay as far away from Aiur as possible. But even then she would have to venture there eventually. Looking over to Izsha, she could see the pain in her advisor's eyes. She put her hand on Izsha's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Izsha. But it has to be." Izsha simply lowered her gaze.

"Yes, my Queen." she simply said.

Izsha...Sarah sighed. Why did she only cause pain to the ones close to her? She would make it up to her. Somehow.

The pylon discharged all that energy and turned the Zerg into crispy meat. It was brutal. Yet there was not a single scream, no anger at all. The Zerg simply died. The whole carnage lasted only a few minutes. When the pylon was finally empty, Sarah turned around and looked at it. It was still purple. It would stay this way until it had recharged. And then it would do the same thing again. Calling out to all the Zerg by singing Izsha's song. And then it would fry them all again. A mere pylon. The perfect anti-Zerg-weapon.

When the show was finally over, Karax got back on his feet and looked up the pylon and then to the two fake Protoss. His eyes were wide open.

"You have to tell me how you did this!" was the only thing he said.