It was hours later, when I was overseeing the infestation of captured Terrans, when I finally learned what the UED had done with the disassembled psi disruptor parts: reassembled them somewhere. All of a sudden, I could not control my units anymore. Like a light bulb turning off, my psionic connections to everything on Aiur blinked out of existence. I could do nothing but sit and watch from my leviathan while most of the zerg I had reclaimed went feral again. Those few that I had retained control of immediately began to fight the ferals and were quickly destroyed.

I was barely able to hold onto my control of the leviathan and the units inside. Normally, giving psionic commands to my units was effortless, like speaking audibly. Now, it was like I was shouting underwater. The sound could barely travel, and when it did, it was muffled. The Leviathan amplified the signals like an echo chamber, however, and so I could continue giving vague commands to the forces onboard. But I could no longer command most of those outside the leviathan. It was definitely a setback.

I was pacing around in a panic, desperately trying to strategize our next course of action, when Kerrigan's overlord returned. She boarded the leviathan and rushed to meet with me.

"What happened?" she demanded. "I can no longer sense the parasite in the matriarch. We can't let them take Mengsk away from me!"

"The UED activated the psi disruptor after all, it would seem," I replied, annoyed at her priorities. "And we don't know where they reassembled it. I've been thinking about how to respond, but without control over any scouts, it seems we're dependent on Duran to solve this problem."

Kerrigan growled. "So what can we do? I refuse to sit back and watch our plans fall apart!"

"Me too," I said reassuringly. "The way I see it, there are two tasks we need to accomplish. One of us needs to go back to Tarsonis and assert control over as many of our Zerg there as possible before the army we built up destroys itself. The other one needs to convince Mengsk to lend us a psi emitter. That device should prove to be a sufficient counter to the disruptor to enable us to keep control of enough zerg to pose a threat to the UED."

Kerrigan nodded. "Sensible. I'm torn: on the one hand I get to lie to Mengsk's face about helping him in exchange for psi emitters, and betray him like he betrayed me. On the other hand, I don't have to pretend I'm okay with talking to that monstrous man again."

"I'll solve your dilemma, then," I replied. "You take control on Tarsonis. I'll talk to Mengsk."

Kerrigan chuckled. "Don't trust me not to lose my cool? You underestimate me, Cerebrate."

"Perhaps so," I conceded. "But it still seems the safer option. You are more psionically powerful than me anyway, so you have a better chance at getting your telepathic commands heard by our forces on Tarsonis."

"Fair enough," Kerrigan answered. "I shall depart at once, then. Meet me on Tarsonis once you have the emitter."

I nodded.

…

A few minutes later, as Kerrigan's overlord warped away, I commanded the leviathan to soar over the ruins of the UED forces into the Protoss warp gate. For the first time, I experienced Protoss warp travel. If Terran warp travel was like squeezing through a cold steel pipe, and Zerg warp travel like meandering through hairy intestines, then Protoss warp travel was like flying through a cave made of glowing crystal. It felt much more spacious, but also like bright diamonds were vibrating through my skull. When I emerged on the other side, my teeth ached as though they'd been played like a xylophone.

I looked out the Leviathan's eyes to scout the area. Upon noticing my ship, the Protoss escort flew away, returning to the rest of Shakuras' fleet. I suppose Kerrigan had told the Matriarch to give them orders to leave Mengsk for the Swarm. I worried about how she had justified it to them. If we made the Matriarch give too many strange commands, she would lose her credibility and be disobeyed when she told them to destroy the overmind.

Oh, well. I could worry about the overmind later. Now, I needed to worry about Mengsk. I used one of the specially designed organs in the leviathan's head to broadcast a video conference call to Mengsk's flagship, as it now stood alone, save for the giant zerg monstrosity, in front of the warp gate.

"Hello, Arcturus," I began. "Remember me?"

Mengsk's ugly face appeared on a fleshy screen in front of me. "Commander. I see the zerg thought death was too good for you."

"Heh. I'm far better off now than I ever was as a Terran. Really, I should be thanking you, Arcturus, for abandoning me to the Swarm."

"Well, that's reassuring," Mengsk commented snidely. "Now why have I been brought here?"

"We need your psi emitters, Arcturus."

"Why?"

"The UED found an old Confederate device. A psi disruptor. It's been preventing us from controlling our minions. With the help of your psi emitters, we can gather up enough Zerg to destroy the disrupter and confront the UED."

"And what are you offering me in return?" Mengsk sneered.

"Besides your life, you mean? Don't forget the UED would have executed you if we hadn't... let's say 'convinced'… the Protoss to help you. But I'll tell you what. Help us destroy the disrupter, and we'll help you retake Korhal from the UED."

A greedy look appeared in Mengsk's eye. "Hmm... a tempting offer. What assurances do I have of you fulfilling your end of the bargain?"

"None, of course. But refuse, and you won't be useful to us any longer." I let the implicit threat hang in the air a moment. "You won't get a better offer than this."

Mengsk was silent a moment. Perhaps he was wondering if he could get his ship into warp travel before I could attack and cripple it. He couldn't. Finally, he sighed. "I see that you're still a persuasive speaker. All right, Commander. I'll lend you some emitters, but this had better be worth it."

…

A few hours later, Mengsk and I returned to Tarsonis, and I set about gathering as much Zerg as I could with the emitter he lent me. I found I could channel my psionic commands through the emitter, using it as a conduit to amplify the strength of my telepathy, allowing my orders to travel over most of the planet despite the interference of the disruptor. I also found that Kerrigan had done an excellent job of stemming the damage, and between her psionic power and the emitter we soon had control over most of the zerg on Tarsonis again.

Kerrigan and I were in the Leviathan, discussing what to do next, given that we still didn't know where the psi disruptor was now located, when an Abathur slithered over to us.

"Evolution completed," he announced.

I turned to regard him. "Oh? Have you solved the reproduction problem?"

"Negative. Still evaluating. However, have created voice attached to leviathan. Inspired by Terran adjutant, but superior. Species name: Izsha. Will show."

I detected Abathur sending some sort of signal to the leviathan, and then before my eyes a tentacle emerged from the fleshy ceiling. No, not a tentacle - it had a face.

"Cerebrate," said the face-tentacle thing in a high buzzing voice. "It is a pleasure to meet to you. And you, my queen," she added, turning to Kerrigan. "My name is Izsha."

"Interesting," I said, walking around the tentacle. Now that I looked more closely, I saw it had a humanlike torso as well as a humanlike face, complete with little bony arms, currently pressed up against its chest. What was more interesting was that, instead of hair, it had giant tendrils flowing down from the top of its head. As I watched, it moved the tendrils around, giving the impression that they served as additional, more useful arms. A very odd creature.

"What can you do?" asked Kerrigan, taking the words out of my mouth.

"I am unsure. I am still learning," answered the creature in her voice that was somehow both feminine and buglike.

Abathur cut in. "Senses swarm. Stores information. Disseminates information."

"Ah, so she can inform us of what is happening with the Zerg, even when we are not concentrating on them?" I asked.

"Correct," Abathur answered.

"Handy," I observed. "But I don't see how that will help us with our current predicament."

"I will serve in any way–" Izsha began to reply, before she interrupted herself. "Warp signature detected. An overlord is returning."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Why would–" and then I realized. "It must be Duran!"

…

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Duran stood in front of us once again. What was more, he was dragging a smartly-dressed but also bleeding and unconscious human.

"Who is this?" I asked, surprised.

"This, my friends, is the UED vice admiral, second-in-command of the UED fleet, Alexei Stukov." Duran answered proudly. "He is the one you have to blame for the activation of the psi disruptor."

"What happened?" Kerrigan demanded.

"Patience," Duran replied. "I will tell all. When I abandoned the fight on Aiur to allow your brood through, Stukov immediately warped to where his forces had secretly reconstructed the psi disruptor. He had disagreed with the plan to destroy it that I had proposed, you see, and gone behind the Admiral's back in preserving it. I was able to convince the Admiral that he must be a traitor, and the fool assigned me to track Stukov down and kill him. I did this gladly, shooting him in the heart of the psi disruptor, and then I attempted to overload the installation's reactor to cause it to explode. It seems the Admiral had a change of heart, however: his men shut down the reactor in time. It appeared he no longer trusted me, so I doubled back, grabbed Stukov's body, and left. I figured the vice admiral might be useful to you. Perhaps he knows secrets about how to take down the UED and their psi disruptor."

"It seems we have much to thank you for, then," I responded. I looked again at the bleeding man. He didn't seem to be breathing. "But if Stukov is dead, what use will he be?"

Abathur had slithered over to the body and begun inspecting him. Now he spoke. "Brain preserved. Most tissues intact. Can reanimate through infestation."

"Wait, wait, wait," I protested. "Infestation can reanimate the dead?"

"Infestation can reanimate the mostly dead." Abathur corrected.

I blinked. "Alright Miracle Max, then get to work infesting him. We'll see what help he can offer."

Abathur peered at me through his four green eyes. "Name: Abathur."

I sighed. "I know. It's a joke. There's this classic movie I saw as a kid… nevermind. Get to work."

Abathur bowed. "I obey."

"Now, where is the psi disruptor located?" I asked a smiling Duran.

"On the planet Braxis, where the UED invasion began."

"Then we know our next target." I declared.