A/N: The story begins on Aiur just like in Legacy of the Void. but will diverge to observe characters from all four Protoss factions. Additional focus will also be placed on the Terrans and occasionally the Zerg Swarm. This effectively creates an alternative plot line separate from the protoss campaign.
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Diasen was laughing to herself, "Oh dear. Those followers of Princess of the Swarm, if they're reading this, should really check out the story list on Howling Din's profile page."
A morose Val'idin glared tiredly at the blue-caped Lenassa, "What the hell are you talking about this time?"
Chapter 21: "Attack on Korhal"
-Korhal, Augustgrad-
"FIRE!"
The deafening booms of Drakken pulse cannons rattled the crew's skeletons and the metal frames of Sky Shield as the platform unleashed the might of Terran firepower. Several shots crashed into a destroyer and obliterated the ship entirely. Another destroyer retaliated by unleashing its destruction beam at one of the pulse cannons, melting and ripping them apart. Worse, more Tal'darim ships were warping into the battle while the Garrison Fleet comprised only a small fraction of the Dominion Core Fleet.
Despite this, Sky Shield and the Terrans were far from being defeated.
The platform itself was a flying mega-fortress sending out waves of wraiths and vikings, missiles, and artillery fire, creating a zone that pushed the Tal'darim away from the city through intense firepower and its sheer bulky presence. Then there was the garrison fleet of battlecruisers blasting away with all their armaments, and the numerous land-based forts each armed with surface-to-air cannons and multiple missile turrets. The sky was riddled with flak smoke, tracer rounds, and starfighters dueling Tal'darim scouts and interceptors. Under such intense Terran firepower a black-armored carrier was shot down.
But the Tal'darim were unfettered under the onslaught of shells and missiles, for they too unleashed their own slaughter of destroyer lasers and the swarms of carrier interceptors were able to overtake some Terran fighters. Red beams impaled battlecruisers and sent their charred hulls plummeting to the ground.
The most conspicuous of all was the large mothership casting its shadow over the battle. The larger Sky Shield dared to challenge it by focusing all its available weapons, but the mothership's shields were barely scratched. In return, the Tal'darim flagship fired its fiery beams of destruction and countless small energy missiles at the platform.
Sky Shield was built to endure the onslaught of any alien invaders. It held strong against the devastating attacks that blew off chunks of metal and debris, sending them falling to the earth...
A woman was crushed by falling debris.
People were already panicking when the black ships warped over the skies, and now that panic intensified as the sky fell on the streets. Some spaceship parts landed on people, others smashed into buildings, sending more chunks of concrete, metal, and glass showering on the terrified civilians.
Then the earth began to shake when the ships themselves crashed into the metropolis, crushing hundreds and collapsing the underground tunnels where people tried to escape.
Augustgrad's police and garrison soldiers were overwhelmed. Barely a minute had passed since the Tal'darim attacked, and not everyone managed to evacuate and escape the collateral damage.
Raynor witnessed the casualties wrought by the destruction from the palace. He cursed harshly, whipped out a communicator to contact Sky Shield, and shouted, "Sky Shield, this is Commander Raynor! We got ships falling on civilians!" He pointed to the distance, "MOVE THE DAMN BATTLE AWAY FROM THE CITY!"
"Understood, Commander!"
He was already running towards the palace shuttle bays when he switched the contact to the Hyperion. "Hall! Come in!"
The Hyperion's captain promoted after Horner's departure, Jessica Hall, answered immediately, "Yes, sir?"
Raynor did his best to speak whilst panting in his urgent run, "I saw warp prisms leaving the main battle, where are they headin'?!"
"Looks like the protoss are setting up a landing point outside of the city, they're transporting an entire army!"
Shit! "Attach the Hyperion with the soldiers on the ground, we'll be supporting them while our fleet takes care of the protoss warships!"
"Yes, sir!"
Raynor jumped into his trusty spec-ops dropship. Without any commands, the pilot already knew Raynor's intent and sped towards the Hyperion. In the mean time, Raynor contacted another person, "Swann! Are you there?!"
There was a brief moment of pause before Swann answered the line, "Ya caught me at a busy time, cowboy. But I'm happy to report all hands already in position lickety-split! Just tell us what you need!"
"Damn good timing! I'm headin' to the Hyperion to get suited up, but while I'm at it, get the Raiders on ground level to stop the protoss. Have the vultures ready to move out!"
"Vultures? Are you sure, hotshot? I can give ya somethin' better than those useless floatin' death traps!"
"You know I made it work last time, Swann! Just do it!"
"Alright, alright! But don't say I didn't warn ya!"
The dropship still hadn't reached the Hyperion. He called yet another person, "Austin! You there?"
Nathaniel's cool voice was quick to answer, "Yes, James? And before you ask, I took charge and am currently conducting the defenses on ground. And don't worry, I like to think I still got it."
"I hope you do. We're going to need your tactical know-how to stop the protoss, especially the Tal'darim, and buy time until the Core Fleet returns to Korhal. It's too bad we can't get you some easy practice beforehand."
"Don't worry, old friend... we'll win this battle just like old times."
"Good. I'll join you on the ground soon."
Raynor was already speed-walking through the Hyperion when someone else contacted him. Checking his communicator, he answered. "Nova?"
Nova's composed voice responded, "Commander Raynor."
"Where are you right now?"
"Getting the ghosts ready, but we don't have any orders so far. We already packed the EMPs as our present to the protoss. My squad will join you."
"Already volunteering, Nova? I was about to contact you on your whereabouts."
"I have some understanding of the Tal'darim and the way they think. You're going to need me on this one."
"Alright Nova, you'll be under my command this time again."
Nova was straight to the point, "We'll need some vulture bikes here ASAP."
"I'm way ahead of you, Blondie."
"Good. Then I'll keep an eye on the Tal'darim and disrupt their organization. They're aggressive and love to think fast, all we need to do is make them pause and hesitate too many times, it's the only way we'll be able to handle their destructive arsenal."
Raynor finally reached his black marine suit, "I'll be down there in a sec. Get ready to raise hell."
"With pleasure."
-Hyperion Brig-
"ALL WILL SERVE AMON!"
Tosh's frown deepened as he heard the same damn chant for the thousandth time from one of the many spectres locked in the brig, and he was among them.
It happened around the same time the reported Daelaam invasion of Aiur collapsed. First came the whispers, then a dark presence that tried to take over the minds of every single spectre, possessing most of their numbers. The corrupted spectres caused considerable damage until the the remaining sane spectres and Raynor's Raiders managed to round them up before Valerian called in Dominion ghosts.
It was the terrazine, somehow Tosh knew it was the culprit behind this corruption. The drug seemed to affect each spectre differently, and only a few spectres were able to protect their minds from the dark voice. Still, all the spectres were affected to some degree, so Tosh and Raynor agreed that they all needed to be contained as a precaution. Tosh joined the rest of his brothers and sisters in imprisonment.
How ironic. Raynor played a crucial role in liberating them from New Folsom, now he was their trusted jailer. Tosh would have preferred only Raynor's forces holding the spectres in confinement, but the Hyperion lacked the capacity to house large numbers of dangerous psychics, so most spectres were locked up at Dominion prisons in Augustgrad.
Tosh fiddled with his butterfly knife incessantly as he sensed the battle raging beyond his neosteel confinements.
The brig's main entrance opened. Tosh cracked his weary eyes to see Raynor in his marine armor standing in front of his cell.
"How are you holdin' up?"
"Not well, Mister Raynor."
"I've gotta make this quick. Are you able to join us? We could use your expertise against the Tal'darim."
"Even after forcing myself to withdraw from the terrazine, I can still hear the dark voice, as persistent as ever. The moment any of the spectres leaves their cell, they could slip their guard, and they will turn against you."
"Damn it."
With no time for further exchanges, Raynor left the brig, leaving Tosh to his exhausting meditation.
-UNN Emergency Broadcast-
This is Kate Lockwell reporting live on Korhal, which has come under attack by a surprise protoss terror fleet! Initial fears point to the Golden Armada invasion occurring throughout the sector, but the Augustgrad Garrison confirmed that the protoss attacking Korhal are Tal'darim. A highly dangerous, extremely violent subculture of protoss. Emperor Valerian issued an emergency recall order for most of the Core Fleet to return to Korhal immediately, and Admiral Horner is still returning from his visit to Deadman's Port.
To everyone listening in Augustgrad. Dominion high command warns that the bomb-shelters will not protect you from the Tal'darim. Evacuate in an orderly fashion and leave all your non-essentials behind! Seek protection in the inner districts! The Core Fleet will arrive soon!
-Augustgrad City Outskirts-
Augustgrad's defense grid contains three major rings of walls. The city Garrison was quick to station troops at the third outermost wall while the skies were choked with ships. Fifteen-story neosteel walls surround the expanding city's outer limits. While walls are mostly obsolete in 26th century warfare, they're cheap and easy to construct with modern engineering technology, could slow down ground attackers, and more importantly provide an illusion of security for the often paranoid populace. In fact, they proved surprisingly effective at stemming the tide of zerg attackers during Kerrigan's invasion of Korhal.
Nonetheless, it was a formidable piece of Terran engineering. A single mile of the wall carried hundreds of stationary heavy machine guns, detached 180mm cannons normally used on siege tanks, and several Drakken-cannons that can depress towards the ground. The face of the wall sported columns of auto-turrets. At the feet of the wall were rows of perdition turrets that could stop zerglings from climbing the wall for several precious seconds, and further ahead is a field of spider and widow mines.
Thousands of marines manned the parapets, waiting anxiously for the enemy miles away.
The sounds of deep rumbling engines turned their attentions to the back. Descending through the towering skyscrapers was the Archangel, a large and heavily armored viking that coursed at a modest speed, more akin to a gliding condor than a speeding eagle compared to its smaller standard cousins. Its metal frame snapped apart and reassembled itself; expertly landing on the wall at the end of its transformation sequence.
The soldiers were startled to focused attention when the superstructure shuddered from the six hundred ton impact of landing, but were even more affected from the Archangel's authoritative presence alone. The Garrison sergeant ran up to the metal giant, stood stiffly, and offered an equally strict and clean salute. "General Davis!"
Wearing only a domed helmet as an addition to her usual uniform, General Davis switched the interface of the Archangel's spacious cockpit from pilot controls to a compact tactical map. This is how she preferred to command all units under her command - keeping a close eye on the frontlines to prevent anyone from making excuses for their failures, and do some of the dirty work herself in the inevitable chance some idiot fails their job.
She increased the sensitivity of her external microphones and spoke dryly through her speakers, "Status report."
"All units on the wall are standing by, General."
"Good. We'll buy time for the rest of the army to barricade the streets."
She directed a long-range telescope attached outside the Archangel towards the enemy to take a closer look.
Giant warp prisms warped down hordes of black-armored warriors and their unusually terrifying thorny war machines. She's never seen protoss with such... barbaric aesthetics. Already she could assume these kinds of protoss aren't going to fight clean like usual.
"We will stop these damn aliens from crossing our border wall!" She reverted to pilot controls, but kept the tactical map and comm channels active to command the army at a moment's notice. "Kill these god damn xenos!"
A murderous howl of battle-cries echoed across the desert flatland. General Davis scowled after seeing the marines flinch from the noise.
They're not making a good show of themselves...
Then, they charged. A sea of black steel and red death surged towards the Terrans. The repetitive clanking of metal armor gradually intensified like some twisted medieval war drum.
The enemy were in range of their cannons and she didn't want to waste time holding fire. They have enough ammo stockpiled to spare. She shouted in comms, "All artillery, fire!"
The metal wall rang with shockwaves from the cannons firmly bolted to the walls, and Davis' shaking mech was repeatedly punched by the exploding air. She watched passively as the fireballs obliterated bite-sized chunks in the protoss ranks, and she allowed a small smirk to grace her lips after witnessing a towering Colossus crumple under a few Drakken shots and crush its comrades.
Then the ground itself turned to fire and shrapnel. Widow mine missiles and spider mine detonations lit up the desert, tearing the Tal'darim warriors to shreds.
Sadly though, protoss shields aren't to be underestimated, and the number of fallen Tal'darim was relatively paltry.
The mine detonations signified they were in range of small arms. "Open fire!"
The bark of gauss rifles drummed her internal speakers, and the entire top of the wall was decorated with a continuous string of blinking yellow lights from muzzle discharges. Davis herself blasted streams of chain-gun fire and missile volleys. The entire spearhead of the Tal'darim charge was shredded under such heavy overhead fire.
Yet despite the death and carnage, the Tal'darim did not stop or slow. Only a small percentage of the Tal'darim assault was killed in the initial fire stage of battle. The fanatics continued to charge at full speed.
'Foolish Protoss,' thought Davis. 'Such medieval tactics will make their extermination much easier.'
Suddenly, small bright red lights flickered in the distance, pointing some narrow laser beams at various targets on the wall, including the Archangel.
"What the hell?" She zoomed her vision towards the source of the red lights. The culprits looked like sentries emitting some sort of tracking laser, and near them were immortals arming not cannons, but an intimidating array of scatter guns.
Shit.
The modified immortals launched their energized projectiles that scattered over a wide arc across the sky, howling a god-awful twisted metallic whistling through the air, like alien fireworks. It was like in the old movies about medieval sieges where primitive archers would launch a spectacular volley of thousands of fiery arrows that lit up the sky. But this time, the Terrans could only stare in nerve-wracking anticipation of the raining plasma bolts hurtling towards them and what terrible damage they would do.
Turns out... terrible terrible damage.
The targeted section of the wall was completely showered. White-hot explosions melted steel and incinerated scores of marines in an instant. Several bolts exploded against the Archangel's front armor plating, and Davis was bombarded with serious damage alerts.
"Damn!"
Fortunately the sheer bulk of the wall prevented the superstructure from collapsing under the furious firepower. Nonetheless, people were screaming from the agony of plasma burns, and one of the marines, with one of his arms reduced to a black charred, bony stump at the elbow, even threw himself off the wall before a medic could try to fix him.
Davis ignored the scene.
A Tal'darim colossus charged a glaring red energy orb that caught the general's attention. In fact, all the colossi charged and unleashed their fire simultaneously. The wrathwalkers' charged blasts crashed into the Drakken cannons and some 180mm cannons, destroying many of them outright.
At this rate they'll tear down this wall in less than a minute!
To the horror of the defenders, the Tal'darim warriors began scaling the wall, grabbing onto all the metal deformities created by the vanguards' scatter-cannons. The marines and marauders aimed down the wall to knock them off the steep incline, but the heavy fire wasn't enough to stop all of them.
The first black-armored zealot leaped over the rampart sliced the first marine across the face in his path, then another before the other marines gunned him down.
But that was only one zealot out of dozens, then a hundred, that climbed the wall. Chaos ensued as the marines struggled to shoot down the protoss on the ramparts before they were cut down. Artillery pieces went dark as the crew panicked or were slain. Things worsened when Tal'darim high templars, ascendants, simply flew up the wall and torched entire battalions of marines in destructive psionic attacks.
Despite the dangerous proximity of the enemy, the terrans continued to battle on the wall. Marines were shooting wildly, sometimes even trying to bayonet a zealot however feeble the attempt may be. Marauders managed to blast some warriors off the wall, and firebat response teams torched entire sections of the wall in such close proximity.
Davis and the Archangel continued to battle even as the wall was being overwhelmed. She fired homing missiles that blasted ascendants out of the air, and gunned down long lengths of the wall with her chain-guns, punching visceral holes in Tal'darim and Terrans alike under the deadly fire.
"General!" screeched a marine that was chased by three zealots and ran towards the Archangel. "Help!"
General Davis gritted her teeth while turning the hulking, damaged viking and revved up her chain-gun.
"WAIT NO!"
He was in the way. Her first spray of bullets ripped him to shreds before annihilating the zealots charging and more from behind.
"The primitives are slaying many of our warriors in the assault," hissed Ji'nara.
The First Ascendant chuckled darkly and simply waved his clawed gauntlet dismissively, "The Terrans will weed out our weakest warriors while whetting themselves with a taste of combat. Let them deceive themselves into believing they are capable of standing against us... I will take pleasure in crushing that hope."
The Tal'darim do not order even their most worthless cannon fodder to just blindly bum-rush the enemy and die uselessly without serving their masters, even in death. The First Ascendant could feel the psionic energy from the souls of the fallen coursing through his body, and there were many of the dead to fuel his power. A red aura engulfed him as he charged his attack.
"Once I've done the deed, perhaps these fools will know better than to believe a mere wall will stand in the way of Alarak!"
Once his energy reached critical mass, Alarak fired a massive psionic beam that barreled straight for the wall.
The Archangel's warning sirens alerted Davis to a massive energy signature coming straight towards them. She whipped her head and saw the red, blinding light.
"Shi-!"
The beam rammed into the base of the wall, melting and drilling through several meters of pure neo-steel before slicing its way up towards the top. Davis hastily transformed the Archangel and flew out of the way before the beam could catch her.
A gaping gap had been cut through the wall, and attacks from the vanguards and wraithwalkers widened the breach.
'The wall didn't last as long as we hoped. So much for our trump card...'
Alarak ended his mighty attack, and showed no signs of exhaustion as he pointed towards the breach. "Move into the city my thralls! Kill all in your path!"
He marched with deliberate slowness as the rest of his minions surged eagerly towards the breach.
No one expected the wall to collapse that quickly. Only a small percentage of all marine regiments were in position at the next line of defense should the wall inevitably fall, siege tanks had just barely made it to set up siege mode, and the SCVs weren't finished constructing bunkers and other temporary defenses. When the breach occurred, the spread-out garrison rushed to prepare near the gap's location. There was one street that lead directly to the gap, and the Dominion decided this street would be the main choke-point to block the Tal'darim's direct access to inner Augustgrad.
Lt. Morales had an affinity for sensing the mood of the soldiers around her. She could tell that one of the many young dominion officers was waiting anxiously on the top hatch of a siege tank, staring tensely at the gaping wound in the wall that would let in the first wave of Tal'darim. She could also tell he was only recently promoted... probably only last month - the Dominion had a terrible shortage of experienced officers. This sorry young man must be terrified at the prospect of defending Augustgrad.
How unfortunate that Kerrigan wiped out many of their good officers after Mengsk concentrated them all to the desperate defense of Korhal, leaving only greens to take charge, and that does not instill confidence in the men under their command.
"Ma'am!" one of the marines cried, "Look up there!"
She followed the direction of his finger and extended her vision with her visor. Shock and horror chilled her spine, but she tried her best to maintain confidence among her ansty squad-mates.
The Tal'darim were throwing live soldiers off the wall. Marines, medics, unarmored artillerymen, their distant screams faintly echoed across the skyscrapers as they plummeted 15 stories before crashing into the fallen rubble below..
If there was one thing Rosa Morales could not stand, it was wanton cruelty. She was less afraid of dying horribly and more hopeful that the might of Terran firepower would kill many of these sick bastards.
The first wave flooded through the gap.
Hundreds of glass windows shattered from siege tank shockwaves and sprinkled harmlessly over the armored soldiers, and the concrete environment rumbled as pinpoints of explosions punched hard against the Tal'darim. It wasn't long before the marines and marauders were given the fire-at-will order.
Despite the volume of tracer rounds, ballistic explosives, and HE shells being thrown at the Tal'darim, there simply isn't enough firepower to stop the Tal'darim, and plenty of their warriors were closing in towards the front line...
Red arrows of plasma from vanguards flew over the heads of the Tal'darim and scorched the Terran front line with destructive results. The troops' morale quickly plummeted and Morales rushed to heal the few that survived the barrage.
"We need reinforcements!" screamed Morales. "Where is the rest of garrison army?"
Another battalion of marines and goliaths from another section of the wall was rushing as fast as they can to the breach. The commanding officer at the central blockade desperately requested immediate reinforcements, so they urgently ran to attack the Tal'darim horde from the side to help divert the assault's concentration.
"They need our help!" shouted officer Hayden Whitney, piloting a goliath, to her units. "Double time!"
The battalion rounded a corner to a long street that led directly towards the main road that funneled the Tal'darim from the wall-breach to the core battle line. Some warriors took notice of their approach and began charging them instead.
"We can handle this, open fire!"
The warriors came at a trickle and were simple pickings for Whitney's goliath's autocannons and her marine squads. Confidence was high, until her eyes barely spotted a black object charge and leap high over her marines and straight for her forward cockpit.
Her eyes widened in shock, and she croaked weakly, "Wha-"
The entire glass face of the goliath shattered and the walker crashed backwards into the ground, much to the shock of the battalion.
A blood-curdling cry they recognized as Officer Whitney's ripped through the air.
A tall, black armored Tal'darim with two prongs jutting from his back stepped out of the smoking goliath. He held out his freshly bloodied hand, which was clasped tightly around Whitney's skull and displayed her mutilated face for all the Terrans to see. Deep gouges were clawed across her face, with two running deep through where her eye-sockets used to be.
"H-Help me!," she spluttered through mangled lips, "Please!"
The marines were frozen in shock for those few tense seconds, unwilling to shoot and hit their still-living officer in the crossfire.
Alarak made one swift motion with his arm, and a black blade pierced through her chest, striking a gurgled scream from Officer Whitney.
Shocked to action, the marines no longer hesitated to try and blast Alarak to death. The First Ascendant threw aside Whitney's gutted body and crossed his arms together. An invisible psychic barrier caught the bullets mid-flight all around him, and the air grew tense with intangible energy and red sparks. Then, the energy reached its peak and Alarak unleashed a shockwave that sling-shot the hundreds of bullets back to the marines at deadly velocity.
Dozens of marines were perforated with countless holes and fell dead. With Alarak untouched, the survivors of the battalion fled.
Alarak recharged himself slightly with the pitifully weak psionic energies of the fallen Terrans and unleashed his Destruction Wave.
The commanding officer with Lt. Morales heard the final death throes of Officer Whitney and saw the insane psionic wave that obliterated an entire street past the distant rooftops. No help was coming, and the Tal'darim were too strong, it was hopeless!
"Fall back!" screamed the officer.
"No!" shouted Lt. Morales. "Don't break the line!"
They were supposed to let the hellbats that were with them take the brunt of the Tal'darim melee assault and provide supporting fire, but already some marines, disoriented from their nerves, were all too eager to heed the order and begin the premature rout. The enemy weren't even that close!
It was too late, the hellbats blasted their wall of fire that lasted for a few seconds before the Tal'darim simply soaked the flames and cut down the mechs. A zealot even picked up a hellbat and threw him at one of the few marines that stood his ground, trapping him before executing the marine with a brutal stab of his blade.
"Crap!" Morales blasted a stun grenade at a zealot that lunged her. The line has broken! She raised her shield and pistol to futilely protect herself as a gang of zealots charged her, and fired.
A savage succession of explosions engulfed the protoss in hot ashes, and the death charge stopped. Lt. Morales' visor's IFF tracker detected a squadron of cloaked banshees unleashing furious carpet-bombings down the narrow street. The soldiers cheered, and Morales was quick to capitalized on the morale boost, "Now's our chance! Reform the line!"
One thin concentrated beam of electricity, almost like a single laser beam, pierced through one of the banshee's cockpits. The pilot was killed instantly and the banshee crashed into the buildings.
Morales' squad grew deathly silent.
More death beams pounced out of the thick smoke, taking out every single cloaked-banshee in a near-instant as they either exploded or crashed face-first, crushing their pilots.
"Oh no."
The smoke slowly cleared, showing one Tal'darim ascendant floating over the charred remains of only a few of his thralls. A solid, unscratched red plasma shield had protected from from the bombings, and his red eyes visibly pierced through the smog and into the hearts of the horrified Terrans.
"My my...
It took Morales a moment to realize the protoss was speaking to her mind, or rather all of their minds if the stunned reactions around her were any indication.
"You monkeys have an adorable primitive arsenal with which to defend yourselves." He held up a single finger, and at its clawed tip a small red energy ball was sparked, a mere speck that grew to a beach-ball, then ballooned to the size of a small house. "But it will avail to nothing against the power of Lord Shivar! Now die for Amon."
Morales and the Terrans unleashed their defiant gunfire that pinged harmlessly against his shields. A single surviving siege tank landed a direct hit, and a new dread befell them when the smoke cleared over the unscathed Shivar. Three towering wrathwalkers emerged from the dense smoke shining glaring spotlights from their bright blood-red eye spots, and the silhouettes of bloodthirsty red-eyed alien warriors weren't too far behind.
All morale shattered, and Morales knew they were fucked, "Retreat!"
Shivar laughed and bent his pointing hand forward, allowing the tank-sized psionic orb to fly over the terrans' heads. It outpaced the fleeing marines and electrocuted them, burning a gaping column of smoking corpses in the fleeing Terran formation.
There was simply no way the Dominion infantry could defend themselves against the attack. Morales hopped onto a speeding siege tank and urged the other closest marines to do the same.
A death beam speared through a marine's torso and into the tank, which exploded and threw Morales crashing against the asphalt. She strained to lift her top-heavy medic power armor back to a standing position, but a kinetic explosion from a wrathwalker's charged blast sent her flying like a ragdoll. She tumbled until she stopped and laid there in exhaustion, her immobile body forced to witness the scene around her.
One marine with a torn leg, clearly high on stims, was urgently scrambling to get away from a zealot. "No! Please!" He screamed as the gap in his armor's waist was skewered.
A marauder that tried to cover his comrades' retreat was rewarded with a death beam through the chest. Shivar's cackles echoed in her mind.
She couldn't save these soldiers, not with such dangerous enemies. She couldn't even get herself away from a zealot closing in to kill her.
A predator pounced the zealot out of her field of vision, and the robotic feline ravaged its pinned target with its titanium claws and jaws. A whole pack of predators ran past the fleeing marines and threw themselves recklessly against the Tal'darim zealots. Many of their exposed metal bodies were cut down, but then they all discharged their electric pulses at once, causing massive damage and halting the Tal'darim front line for a few precious seconds. This gave Morales enough time to retreat again as the Tal'darim quickly dispatched the predator pack.
Vultures and hellions bearing the symbols and blue color of Raynor's Raiders sped past the retreating Dominion regulars, with one black-armored marine leading the charge.
"Keep running!" shouted Raynor to the retreating marines. He then addressed his Raiders, "Ride out! We need to cover their retreat!"
"Commander Raynor!" called out Lt. Morales. She then saw yet another zealot try to attack her, and she pulled out her pistol again. "Oh would you all just fuck off?!"
She was about to fire her pistol until Raynor's vulture strafed sideways and rammed the zealot with one of the vulture's large thrusters. "Change of plans! We can't halt the protoss! Make sure everyone vacates the streets, the Hyperion'll begin bombardment soon!"
"Yes sir!"
The hellions strafed the Tal'darim charge, spraying deadly blue napalm before speeding out of blades' reach. The vultures were just as fast as hellions, but would waste more time constantly turning back and forth to attack with their forward facing grenade launchers; instead their purpose was to lay down spider mines that would safely detonate after the kiting hellions and vultures retreated.
A handful of warriors were blown to smithereens before Shivar took matters into his own hands. He charged and lobbed another psionic orb, this time lower to the ground where it coasted out of reach of the mines and scorched the tiny robots, destroying them harmlessly without triggering their explosive yield.
"Not fair!" cursed Raynor. The Tal'darim probably have observers detecting the spider mines!
One of the wrathwalkers blasted a hellion and vulture together in a single shot. More scattered fire from the vanguards rained over the streets. Raynor swerved and strafed in frantic yet deliberate motions free from friction against the ground, and he barely avoided getting scorched from the plasma explosions that melted the asphalt.
"Why did it have to be Tal'dar-"
A death beam flew straight for his head. Raynor barely ducked to the side, and the beam blasted off his shoulder armor instead. The beam missed his actual shoulder, but the sheer forces that destroyed part of his armor sent ripples of pain as the energies spread through his body. "SHIT!" He slammed the throttle and sped away with the surviving hellions and vultures from all the Tal'darim weapons being shot at them.
Shivar was laughing to himself as he pointed his finger and speared the vultures and hellions trying to dodge his surgical precision. "How fun! I do love a moving target!" He freely burned through his energy reserve to spam his beams, and simply sacrificed his supplicant retainers to recharge his attacks.
One of the Terran battlecruisers made itself apparent, shadowing over the fleeing terrans and staring down the Tal'darim charge. It was a rustic beast that clearly saw many battles in its intense lifetime. While the rest of Alarak's fleet was battling the Terran fleet, this old space whale chose to try and stop them.
"Bring it down."
-Hyperion Armory-
Swann plunged his power claw deep into a large wound in the viking's hull and ripped out a charred piece of hardware. "Fried power distributor." He tossed it aside. "Hey Kachinsky! I need another power distributor here pronto!"
The Hyperion suddenly quaked. The dwarfish engineer would have fallen flat on his butt if not for the countless previous times the ship took a hit that shook the entire vessel. He could tell that these impacts were particularly rough on his precious ship. "What the hell's up this time?"
He sprinted towards the console and brought up the ship's telescoped cameras. The Hyperion's many electronic eyes showed a spreading zone of fire and destruction occupied by the Tal'darim, and within that zone were many towering wrathwalkers, each firing charged blasts that reached the Hyperion even at high altitudes. Each charged blast tore bite-sized chunks, and they were stacking up fast.
"Colossi that can shoot the sky? That ain't right... That's cheatin'! You genius protoss devils are cheatin' bastards!"
"The Hyperion's takin' a beating, Cowboy! You gotta take out them black colossi or I'm gonna hafta turn her around!"
Raynor cursed to himself. "Just tell Captain Hall to pull back the Hyperion and keep their air units off our backs. We'll handle things below! Also get the orbital scanner ready!"
"On it, boss!"
He swerved his vulture to dodge another charged blast. Some reinforcing liberators transformed and fired their high-powered cannons at the Tal'darim, easily punching through zealot shields, but the wrathwalkers out-ranged the liberators and simply blasted the stationary vessels out of the sky. More vanguard scatter shots streaked across the sky and scatter-bombed the narrow street, where the vultures and hellions had less room to dodge.
'Those combat walkers are being a huge pain in the ass!'
The former marshal spoke to his suit's comms, "Nova! Is your team in position?"
"We're in position, Commander."
Delta took a deep breath, waiting with tepid anticipation in executing their plan. She was part of one of several ghost teams position on the rooftops sidelining the central avenue where the battle was taking place, but they were positioned further back to avoid detection from Tal'darim observers, which were already detected by the Hyperion's orbital scans and fed directly to her visor's IFF system.
"You're ready?" asked Pierce, who held his rifle tightly.
Delta waved one of the EMP grenades she would fire from the muzzle of her canister rifle and offered a nervous, toothy grin, "As ready as I'll ever be."
"You already know what to do."
"I know."
Nova's voice resounded in their comms, "Once the teams close in, you'll all be detected by their observers. Pierce, you better make the shot count or else you'll all die if the Tal'darim can retaliate."
Pierce dialed the settings on his rifle's scope, "I'll make it count."
The channel then switched to Raynor's voice, "They're in the zone! Execute the plan!"
At Raynor's signal, Delta and Pierce sprinted across the rooftops towards the battle, followed by other ghosts. They leaped across gaps and scaled other rooftops with their enhanced agility, and they closed in to the tall wrathwalkers towering over the buildings.
Delta tried to distract herself from the robotic titans, instead she focused on their first target: the tiny observers leading the Tal'darim charge. Soon they were in range, and all the ghosts aimed their sights.
One of observers swiveled its cold robotic red eyeball to the side, straight at her.
The auburn-haired ghost rushed to adjust the electronic fuse for the EMP to detonate at the right distance, raise her rifle, and focus on her aim. At least she didn't need to be precisely accurate, just close enough...
A wrathwalker flashed its red-spotlight towards them and began charging its red orb promising total annihilation, and the ghosts had almost no cover.
Observers are still large, car-sized machines. One canister shot usually wouldn't be enough to disable an observer - you needed to hit it at the right weak spot. They were all superb marksmen, but there's always that ever so slight chance that even one observer would continue to function, and that would spell their death. 'Please make the shot. Pierce'
Delta fired her EMP, and Pierce timed his aimed shot right after her's.
The EMP exploded in front of her targeted observer, visibly knocking out its shield. Almost immediately after the observer tried to halt itself, Pierce's sniper shot pierced through the observer's eye, sending the robot crashing. To Delta's relief, the other ghost teams achieved the same success, now all the observers were disabled or destroyed.
The wrathwalker fired its charged blast. Delta cloaked and barely tumbled out of the way just in time, feeling the super-hot particles singing her back and sides.
"Execute the next phase!" ordered Pierce psionically.
Nova's voice sounded in comms, "Prioritize targeting those Tal'darim high templars. They're the biggest threat!"
Delta and other ghosts reloaded their EMP grenades and blasted the Tal'darim wrathwalkers. The electromagnetic explosions rippled along their thick shields, causing them to thin and short-curcuit, but their powerful shield-generators still held firm. However, more EMPs were launched at the warriors near the feet of the much larger wrathwalkers, often completely erasing their shields outright.
Lord Shivar shivered with silent rage as he felt his powerful shields weaken from these strange blue attacks, "What's this? These primitives managed to conceive electromagnetic weapons... powerful enough to affect Tal'darim shields? How quaint."
He blasted a random spot at the rooftop ledges, but he was completely blind to the cloaked terrans that continued to fire those annoying weapons.
This is the closest these monkeys have come to damaging him... No matter.
He sacrificed a few more supplicants to recharge his shields and fell back, seeking to avoid anymore surprises the Terrans might have in store. "Impudent cretins."
Delta had blown off the heads of an ascendant when a hellish whistling noise droned louder and louder, and she whipped her head to see multiple red plasma bolts flying in an arc straight towards them. "Take cover!"
The vanguard scatter shots smashed into the tall buildings, creating mass fiery blossoms of red plasma and fiery explosions. Several ghosts were agonizingly vaporized, others were blown off the roof and fell screaming in the Tal'darim masses.
Delta was almost swept from the roof by one of the explosions until she dug her gauntlets into a sheet of steel, dangling above the sidewalk lining the vast road. Two other ghosts were in similar predicaments, hanging onto an exposed steel beam and concrete respectively. Their cloaking devices were momentarily disabled from the shockwaves.
Tal'darim stalkers quickly took advantage of their vulnerable state and fired their deadly shots. One nailed a ghost in the back, and she was already dead when she fell on the asphalt below. The second ghost was obliterated by a psionic orb from one of the ascendants, and the ensuing explosion caused Delta to slip from her grip and fall screaming.
Pierce caught her from the floor below and pulled her in before the window was showered with energy attacks. She re-calibrated her cloaking device and sighed, "Oh my god! I owe you one Pierce!"
The building continued to shudder and fall apart from the vanguard's destructive firepower. He threw her a spare rifle, "Keep blasting those EMPs Delta until these bastards finally quit! The reaper teams are beginning their attack!"
Flames trailed from the backs of the packs of reapers, crazed trigger-happy killers that blazed past the ghosts and dived from the roof edge straight towards the hordes of Tal'darim warriors with chem-fueled suicidal gusto behind their jumpsuits.
"Here comes the pain!"
"Hit and run!"
"Geronimo!"
They took obligatory potshots to quite feebly scratch the wrathwalker shields as they descended, but once on the ground, the reapers began their devious work.
They dashed straight at the warriors and blasted them with an onslaught of spiked uranium rounds against the exposed shield-lacking protoss as the surviving ghosts continued to harass and bomb them with more EMPs. The reapers nimbly kited the Tal'darim warriors, and even in crowded conditions the reapers used KD8 charges to blast and knock back their pursuers before they were cornered.
The wrathwalkers were still operational though, and even as the reapers danced around their stilts and tried to break the hard shields, the titanic war machines continued their onslaught against the broken Dominion lines. One wrathwalker crushed and impaled a distracted reaper under its sharp legs, and it continued to fire at the retreating Hyperion.
Delta re-positioned herself, took aim, and easily blew off the brains of an exposed ascendant. She reloaded and dealt the same death blow to another ascendant. She contacted Nova, "All the Tal'darim high templars are down."
-Earlier-
Nova was just about to enter a special-ops dropship to be deployed at the front lines when a courier ran up to her, lugging a large narrow case "Wait, Agent Terra! I bring an urgent delivery from General Davis."
"Make it quick," snapped Nova.
The courier dropped the case and handed her a datapad containing a recorded message. Nova played the recording, and Davis appeared on the screen.
"Agent X41822N. I will make this short. Because you are one of our finest agents, I have handpicked you to field test our new weapon prototype, which you will find contained in this case."
"A new weapon? I always like new equipment." It was true, new equipment means better technologies that allow her to do more than previously possible. She was quite used to receiving these presents, and they never failed to satisfy her requirements.
She unlocked the case and opened it. The blonde ghost's expectant face contorted in a surprised scowl upon her discovery; she reached down and picked up...
A sword. An ordinary dull-grey metal blade.
"What?..."
A sword. What the hell is she supposed to do with a sword?! Truthfully she actually wanted to dabble in swordsmanship, but more like a hobby, and not when she's about to fight the protoss. No sane person would even dare challenge the protoss to close-quarters combat.
Nova was trying to not be completely skeptical, for it would be way out of character for the humorless Davis to pull a prank. Was there at least some utility to this weapon?
"This is the monomolecular blade. The first of its kind. A prototype energy sword which utilizes its user's psionic energy to hone its edge to a single-molecule's width, using nano-tech materials that respond to simple telekinetic properties. As long as you use your psionics to keep the sword in shape, it will never blunt, and it is sharp enough to slice through all known armor compositions. Based on our tests, it will even cut through protoss shields.
Do not inquire on the weapon's development, that is classified information. Once this battle is over, you are to return the monomolecular blade to me. Until then, do as you will. You will need every advantage against the protoss."
That was the end of the recording.
"Damn it."
She lightly traced the blade's edge with her thumb. Surprisingly, even with the smallest pressure applied the blade still dug through her metal gauntlet as if it were thin air; barely slicing into her skin. This blade was absurdly sharp.
What about the sword's supposed psionic properties? There was no visible switch anywhere, so Nova probed the weapon with her mind, unsure what exactly the "on button" was supposed to be. After some psychic prodding, the blade glowed with a brilliant bright blue. She was suddenly aware of the most minute molecules at the very tip of the sword's edge and focused them to form the sharpest shape they can be. She tested the swing, feeling a pleasant satisfaction as the broad blade traveled seamlessly through the air.
This is a damn cool sword... but it's still useless!
Davis probably wasn't exaggerating that the blade could even split through protoss shields, but Nova would have to deal with their psi-blades and weapons that could vaporize her in an instant before she could land a single hit. Honestly, she'll probably only use this sword as a last resort if the Tal'darim get up close and personal, and even then her odds of survival would be slim at that point.
The comm in Nova's visor ringed on her channel to Raynor, and a rustic yet jovial voice made itself heard, "Hey, uh. Am I speaking to Nova?"
"You're Swann, right? What do you want?"
"Relax, gal. Just called to pinpoint your location and deliver our little present to ya. Raynor wanted you to have this."
"Have what?"
A drop-pod landed smoothly near Nova, containing what she assumed was Swann's 'present'.
'This better be more useful than a sword,' thought Nova. She opened the hatch and pulled out a large, bulky... jet-pack? It looked exactly like the jump-packs used by the reapers, with two large jets on each side of the backpack with the harness.
"I was workin' on this schematic for Tosh's boys to use. Sadly he and his spectre buddies are all out of commission, so we figured we'd at least let you make some use of it. It's basically the same as the reaper jet-packs, but with far better control, more thrust, and it can synchronize with your ghost-suit. That means you can control this with your mind. Pretty neat eh? You can't cloak, but Raynor says you can use this to gain some distance from the Tal'darim and keep pace, cause them protoss hit hard and fast, and you definitely want to be faster than these guys."
Nova was already fitting on the harnesses as Swann continued to speak. She smiled. Now this is a useful gadget. "Mobility against the Tal'drim. I like the sound of that."
"Thought you would! Maybe in the future I can scrap together a smaller, more compact version. For now, you'll have to work with this clunky bastard."
"I'll make it work."
"Now that's the proper attitude, Ace!"
"Ace?"
Swann ended the transmission, leaving Nova to test out her control over the jet-packs. True to Swann's word, the metal aerodynamic flaps and the thrusters themselves responded to her psionic signals, just like the sword.
Nova took another look at the useless blade.
Maybe she had an idea to use this sword to its fullest potential.
-Present-
Nova spent several precious minutes of battle time just to acclimate herself to the complex aerodynamics, lest she get herself clumsily killed mid-flight. Fortunately, she quickly got the hang of manipulating the dual fuel-thrusters and the rudders that controlled the direction of her flight, and she crammed in more practice while speeding straight towards the battlefield.
A second wave of reapers leaped from the rooftop, and Nova quickly joined, blazing to battle with her reaper jetpack and brandishing the shimmering blue energy sword. Flame trails often licked at the back of her legs, but the hostile environment suit was designed to resist scorching temperatures. Without a proper mask like those worn by reapers, the wind whipped against her face and hair, but she ignored the biting air-friction to focus on maintaining flight control and picking her targets.
Her legs landed on the side of a billboard and she ricocheted straight towards one of the wrathwalkers with an adrenaline-fueled shout.
Her feet slammed against the powerful red shields as her legs telekinetically dispersed the impact of her charge, and with her momentum she plunged the blade. The sword punctured the barrier like glass in a violent spray of plasma particles. The shield flashed and flickered furiously around the wound in an attempt to seal the breach.
Incredible! The shield definitely put up some resistance, but she was still able to punch through with relatively minimal effort! She was certain not even psi-blades had such an easy effect cutting through plasma shields.
Nova slid down the shield, causing a massive tear before she kicked off. Sadly the damage was minimal and the walker's massive shield generators easily sealed the narrow incision Nova made.
She pressed her comm button, "Commander Raynor. I need you to deal with these colossi shields before I can take them out!"
"Hold on, Nova. The big guns have just arrived!"
Raynor had been making sure the men made it to relative safety before he could rally them again to help the reapers that were quickly dying off while delaying the Tal'darim warriors. A huge object suddenly flew overhead; he drifted and spun his vulture back to stare with relief.
Many of the Dominion marines stopped as well to watch a hercules dropship drop a compressed thor, which unfurled from its cube-like shape in a cloud of hot steam and emitting a ton of mechanical noise. It stood tall and encompassed three-fourths of the entire avenue's width, crushing streetlamps and shaking the concrete jungle with every footstep.
Never before have the beleaguered men and women been so relieved to hear one single phrase:
"THOR IS HERE."
The thor was a big and conspicuous target standing defiantly against the Tal'darim, and the first wrathwalker was quick to fire a charged blast, slamming straight into the giant terran mech. From the marines' perspective, the thor's rear shadow was surrounded by a bright red flash of violent light that illuminated the reflective metal buildings, and they feared the worst for the thor pilot.
The thor stumbled, but it did not topple. Heavy composite neosteel-ceramic armor absorbed the energy blast's raw power and dispersed it throughout the machine, emitting a noisy hiss of steam from the mech's vents, and any energies that couldn't be safely dispersed was traded for several blown and incinerated chunks of plating. Huge flames and melted neosteel covered the thor's wound, but luckily heat-resistant kinetic mesh protected the thor's internal machinery from being fried by the intense energy blast. The cockpit itself was singed, cracked, and warped from the sheer temperatures forced upon it, but the pilot was none worse for wear.
"Ha!" The thor pilot growled as he pushed the shocked thor back to a proper standing posture. "Next time bring your A-game toss'!" The thor leveled his hammer cannons, slammed open the flaps over his missile launchers. "Eat lead!"
Thunder rocked the air when two huge shells crashed against the first wrathwalker's shields in an explosion of flames and billowing smoke. Swarms of missiles peppered the protoss war machine, almost enveloping the entire shield dome in ash and blackened steel sheets.
The last of the reapers was gutted and cut down, and the Tal'darim zealots charged straight for the thor.
Raynor revved his vulture, "Now's our chance! Give'em hell, boys!"
The rebel commander sped past the thor's legs. The routing Dominion soldiers were momentarily stunned to see Raider hellions and vultures zoom around the thor and audaciously charge back into the fray of the Tal'darim death ball. Vulture frag grenades shredded exposed Tal'darim bodies, and some bikes even trampled individual warriors in high-speed rams with their sharp front armor. Searing hellion flames melted swaths of Tal'darim, fusing armor and flesh to bone.
The marines stopped running.
"They're doing damage."
"We can kill them!"
"Get behind that thor!"
"Activate stims!"
"Follow Raynor!"
Lt. Morales shouted a rousing battle cry as the closest marines charged back to battle. An incredible ripple effect with the comm's universal channel suddenly flooded with rallying cheers to Raynor. Soldiers saw their comrades returning to fight, and even more regained their morale and herded together in one united rally to fight.
A shower of drop pods landed behind the thor, providing a team of elite War Pig marines and Hammer Securities marauders to join the battle.
"Bring it on!"
The marines and marauders flocked around the thor, using its sheer presence and bulk as assurance for protection against the Tal'darim's destructive abilities. They all unleashed their furious spray of bullets against the Tal'darim, with hundreds of rounds lighting up the first wrathwalker's shields alone.
Another charged blast barreled straight towards the thor and destroyed its shoulder, amputating one of its arms. Yet the thor continued to defiantly fire with its other arm, and the marines stood their ground.
Under such powerful, sustained terran firepower, the wrathwalker's shield finally collapsed, and the walker visibly stumbled as metal slugs dug into its armor. Eventually it was torn apart by the thor's hammer shots and marauder grenades, and it collapsed with a smoking hole where its head used to be.
Raynor pulled out a heavy SMG in one hand and fired as he continued speed around with his vulture in the crowded battlefield. As he was focused on saving one of his marines from getting sliced by a zealot, he failed to notice another zealot charging straight towards him, jumping and raising his blade to strike Raynor from behind.
Nova flew by at near-blinding velocity and sliced through the zealot in a split-second with the force of her flight and inhuman speeds. The monomolecular blade easily cut through the plasma shield and straight through the protoss' waist, and his top half fell screaming as the ghost continued her onslaught. Her legs continuously kicked off the ground to keep her flight nimble and oriented, and in a streak of blades and blue steel she cut down three more zealots before blasting straight up.
She flew higher and higher until she stopped mid-air, training her eyes on the second wrathwalker below, which was the next one to lose its shields. A burst from her jetpack blasted her downward, and in one single spin she sheared off one of the wrathwalker's legs. It still stood even with one leg disabled, so Nova broke off her dive before she crashed into the ground, circled around, and cut off another leg. Now balancing on only two limbs, the walker tilted and crashed into the buildings.
"Perfect," said Nova to herself.
Only one wrathwalker stood in the streets.
Raynor contacted the thor pilot, "Bring it down!"
The thor leaned forward, allowing its four dorsal cannons to shift forward and point straight at the last wrathwalker.
"Hammer of the gods!"
The beautiful drumming of 250mm punisher cannons, dropping heavy shell casings that cracked the road, drowned out all other noises as the last wrathwalker crumpled under the destructive barrage.
Never before have the Tal'darim witnessed an inferior race take down their prized wrathwalker death machines, it was enough to force some pause in their ranks, while now it was the Terrans who were eager for blood.
Nova flew to Delta and Pierce's position. She telekinetically dulled the monomolecular blade's edge so she could safely sheath the sword to a scabbard tied to her waist. "Good work."
More hellish whistling signaled the start of another scatter barrage from the Tal'darim vanguards further behind the front line, blazing straight towards the terrans on the streets.
"Not this shit again..." said Pierce.
The terrans had just regained their confidence and were about to chase down the Tal'darim with Raynor's Raiders and the MVP Dominion thor leading the charge, only to receive another furious pounding from Tal'darim artillery.
Raynor would have been incinerated by a dangerously close-up explosion if not for his marine suit shielding him from the heat and energy. He was knocked off his vulture, and had to be helped to his feet by Lt. Morales. "Are you okay, Commander?"
"I'm alright."
"Let's get you patched up behind that Thor."
Raynor stumbled behind the Thor, which stayed in its position to protect the infantrymen recuperating from the attack. "We've got to take out those damn Tal'darim immortals." He tried to activate his comms to no avail, "Damn. My line to the Hyperion's down."
Morales handed Raynor an emergency communicator from the array of tools she kept behind her shield. The former rebel leader nodded his thanks, "Swann. If you're available this time, have the Hyperion fire a yamato blast against those Tal'darim immortals. They're shelling our boys and we should've stopped them a long time ago!" Seriously!
"Don't worry Cowboy! Your buddy Nate's dealt with the other colossi that were blasting the ship. I can swing by and pop a yamato shot! That'll take them off your backs!"
The Hyperion finally closed in to everyone's relief and unleashed its ATS lasers down the street, keeping the Tal'darim from attacking the disorganized Terrans. "One yamato coming right up!"
The bright glowing blue disk at the front of the Hyperion turned to a blazing orange, charging a miniature sun that distorted the air with its raw, untamable power and crackled with glee to burn through everything it touched
A deafening blast of sound had Nova and many of the terrans cupping their ears in pain from the sudden noise.
It wasn't the sound of a yamato cannon firing.
And it wasn't supposed blot out the sun, casting a dark red shadow over the entire city block...
Time seemed to slow for the Terrans as they all held their breath and stared with absolute dread at the sky. Nova and the ghosts, the worn-out marines, Raynor and Morales. It wasn't just them too... every Terran in that city region fighting the Tal'darim stopped to stare with slack jaws and wide eyes.
Red hexagons flared out and dissipated after the Tal'darim mothership, which had been dueling Sky Shield far, far away, warped straight above the breach in the wall, but it was still wide enough to cover the Terrans under its underside. It painted the whole world a sickly blood red with its ambient lights alone, and its white spotlights were almost taunting them with beams of harmless white light in stark contrast to what they all know this enormous vessel can actually do.
No one screamed or barked orders. No one responded.
There simply wasn't time to react from their shock and fear.
Huge black and red beams burned a dark red fiery path through all the major streets where the Terrans blocked the Tal'darim. Thousands of terrans were torched in alien flames that vaporized their armor, flesh, bones. Those caught in the epicenter of the beam were spared with quick deaths. Others caught near the edge were instead charred and mutilated in half-dead, half-charred bodies. Armored vehicles melted and overheated internally, cooking their pilots alive. Glass, concrete, steel, they all melted and exploded from the sheer forces destroying everything in its path.
And one of those beams was traveling down the central highway where they fought.
"MOVE!" Nova forcibly grabbed Pierce and Delta's arms and blasted away before the passing heat could burn them.
The thor that tanked the brunt of the Tal'darim assault and protected the foot-soldiers stood helplessly as it was engulfed by the beam, its pilot's sunglasses reflecting blinding red light, "RAGNAROK!"
The pilot was killed instantly.
-Hyperion bridge-
Captain Hall nearly jumped from her skin when the mothership suddenly warped right up in their face, "OH FUCK! Emergency warp!"
The Hyperion abruptly interrupted the charge up for its yamato cannon. The ship's neck began to dangerously heat up.
"Energy's blocked and overloading! Circuit breakers failing!"
"Just warp!"
The ship vanished in a flash of green light just before two beams hit the empty air where it used to be.
The three ghosts stared back in horror as the beam didn't even touch some of the other ghosts on the roofs and still inflicted serious burns through their heat-resistant suits.
"R-Raynor was in there," croaked Delta.
"Oh my god," said Pierce, knowing the consequences that would effect the Dominion military as a whole if they found out.
Nova cursed a long string of expletives in pure rage towards the mothership high up in the sky. "God damn it! I"m so sick of the Tal'darim being too damn strong!"
The beam stopped short after passing through the thor, sparing the other Dominion units that were manning the freshly constructed bunkers and backed by new siege tanks.
But for the Dominion soldiers manning the central highway, hearing the horrid moans and painful screams of their dying comrades, their horrible epiphany came quickly as they watched the scene unfold before their very eyes. "H-How?! We can't stop that!"
"Where's the fucking core fleet?!"
"They took out Raynor!"
"OH shit!"
"They killed Raynor in a single attack!"
"Run for your lives!"
Not even the commanding officers could do anything to stop their men from breaking. Bunkers were abandoned. Siege tanks sped away. Everyone was running away.
News spread in the comms, and what followed was the total collapse of Dominion morale.
Alarak stood atop one of the taller skyscrapers and watched with sadistic satisfaction as the Wrath of the Ardent wreaked destruction on the hapless terrans. The humans' resistance was admirable, but ultimately foolish. He could sense the fear that was rife throughout the city, it both excited and disgusted him.
"Well done, Ji'nara. You finally realized dueling with that useless Terran flying fortress is a wasteful endeavor and put our mothership to better use here."
"To be fair, my liege. I was given the impression our warriors would be able to handle the terrans without my assistance."
"Unfortunately it appears both you and Shivar are fools for underestimating the terrans. Alas, our glorious highlord Ma'lash wishes to retrieve the artifact. It would not bode well if we crossed him... for now. Release the bloodhunters, hunt down their survivors."
"Will we have provided enough diversion to steal the artifact?"
"Do not presume that my plan will fail, Ji'nara! The terrazine-addicted terran will fulfill her purpose. In the mean time, I shall tend to our 'prisoners' and incite the terrans to rash action."
He chuckled to himself with dark glee. "Oh I do love it when a plan comes together."
-Spear of Adun-
Vorazun ran to Artanis at the arkship's bridge. "Hierarch! Korhal is besieged by the Tal'darim!"
"What?!" shouted Artanis. "Did your scouts report this?"
"No," Vorazun. She fiddled with a panel and had the Spear of Adun lock onto a Terran signal. "Listen to the Terran news orator."
A female terran wearing black came on screen, looking noticeably frightened and disheartened despite her attempts to keep a calm face, "-thousands of soldiers killed in an instant, and just as many civilians captured by the Tal'darim. The Garrison fleet barely managed to push the Tal'darim terror fleet away from the city skyline, but falling debris have claimed thousands of lives. And worst of all, the Dominion high command just announced the crippling death of-"
Artanis closed the UNN channel as he hastily contacted Valerian to gain some better context. "What is going on?..." He mumbled to himself.
An unnerved Valerian came on screen. He and Artanis recognized each other from the time they agreed on a non-aggression pact to end the cold war after Kerrigan overthrew Arcturus, "Artanis! Thank goodness you called. All our known contacts to you through the Golden Armada and Shakuras were rendered useless! We didn't know how to reach you!"
"Young Valerian. Are the Tal'darim attacking Korhal?"
"Yes!" said Valerian with a hint of frustration. "We've managed to evacuate most of the city and form a perimeter to block the Tal'darim land army with our military, but they've just unleashed a devastating attack that wiped out our vanguard! We don't know how we can stop them from causing further destruction!"
"The Tal'darim must be seeking the Artifact!"
"I've studied the Artifact, and we all know how valuable the Artifact is to our long term goals. Fortunately it is still in our possession, and it's unlikely they'll managed to defeat the rest of the Garrison before the Core fleet arrives. All we're trying to do is limit the damage they can do."
"Hold them for as long as you can. My Templar are on the way."
"Good. We really need your help. Our forces are woefully demoralized after the untimely death of Commander Raynor."
Artanis' armor suddenly felt cold, "Raynor... perished?"
Valerian's face fell, "I received the report barely a minute ago. He was vaporized by a Tal'darim energy attack. He's gone."
A tense silence permeated the golden bridge of the Spear of Adun as the news was processed by all the protoss. Vorazun and Karax was stunned to silence, and she watched Artanis standing stiffly with his head low to the ground.
The Heirarch clenched his fist with a bone-crushing tension. He turned his blazing blue eyes to Karax, and spoke with a low, restrained voice.
"Set course to Korhal, now."
A/N: Here we go. Over 11k words of battle filler from a badass Terran perspective.
When we play Starcraft battles, we never have to worry about our battlecruisers or carriers crashing onto our own armies and causing collateral damage... what if that was the case?
God I love Tal'darim. In RPG terms, I like glass cannons who do a lot of damage, DESTROYING THE ENEMY, while skirting the fine lines of death as the enemy tries to catch you. For me, a good defense is an all-destroying offense. I main Alarak on Co-op missions.
Lore-wise, I always thought the thor was an example of rule of cool whose niche can easily be fulfilled by other more cost-efficient units. That is until I read the thor's page on the Starcraft wiki specifically for this chapter, and turns out they utilize a lot of cool technology that keeps them competitive in the Starcraft universe. Then again, the lore also said ultralisks had monomolecular blades which are not what we observe at all, so we'll take it for a grain of salt. Regardless of my skepticism on the thor's practicality, I still think it's a damn awesome mech.
This took so long because it's easy to describe how deadly the Zerg are or how powerful protoss weapons are, but then I have to figure out how strong Terran weapons would be against Protoss with the likes of the Tal'darim. Ultimately, it's up to the reader's imagination to decide how strong the race's combatants would be against each other, and I hope I've presented a balanced depiction.
Also I wanted to convey a sense of dread in fighting the Tal'darim, and how horrible it truly is to be on the receiving end of protoss weapons from a human perspective. I hope I'm not wimpifying the Terrans, I simply wanted to convey how terrifying the Tal'darim could be. Don't worry, the next battle will place the Terrans in the spotlight.
Also, btw, this isn't the "Battle of Korhal" as we know it, with Moebius burning everything and with so much destruction going on that Horner and Valerian stroll through the war-torn city afterwards and mourn the loss of life. That battle will happen eventually, this is simply another battle to add to the story.
Thank you for reading, and please leave a review! Also I'll try write chapters to continue So What Now? and The Pursuit of Happiness. It seems that a fair number of people like the latter story, and I wouldn't want to put it to waste.