Chapter 23: Balanced Scales
Naruto and Sasuke were having a slightly heated debate in the med bay.
"Look you're still injured, you still really are not in that great a condition to fight. It would be irresponsible of me to just let you charge right back into a huge fight while you're still healing," Naruto was telling his friend.
Sasuke paced up and down, "Well, I can't just sit here," he said, "I'll go crazy, wondering if you and the others are coming back at all, let alone in better condition than I am currently."
"We'll be fine. We all have each other's backs. But we can't fight at our best if we're busy worrying and looking after comrades, especially if they shouldn't be there. So please, do us both a favor and stay here. If you want to patrol and have lookout duty still, go ahead, be my guest, but do not push yourself and make healing harder than it already is."
"Fine, I'll make you a deal: I finish healing until the medics say I'm cleared for combat, then I'm on the first raven to the battlefield. Deal?"
Naruto hesitated, "Okay, fine. Deal. But if they don't clear you for combat, you don't come after us, and either way you take no unnecessary risks, got that?"
"Got it."
Naruto nodded and left. Sasuke sighed and sat down; the wound the tengu had given him certainly was causing no small amount of aches and pains, not to mention general annoyances.
Naruto walked around, checking to see that everything was ready. All of Lee's tanks were fueled and ready to go; all the AA reavers were fully loaded and charged, everything. This was it; the Zerg were finally outgunned. They finally had the advantage. He walked over to the air fields where the last of the ravens had just landed for refueling and refit. Over by the area that Talon Squadron called home, he saw Sai leaning against his raven. Naruto noticed that his friend had painted ravens on the wings and sides of his raven, distinguishing it from the others.
"Sai, are your squadrons ready to-," Naruto noticed just then that Sai was not alone. Sai and Ino were rather suspiciously close to each other, and them hastily separating did not help their case.
"Ummmm, am I interrupting something?" Naruto asked the pair of them.
"No, no. We were just discussing the plan and stuff like that. Nothing important," Ino said smoothly.
"Uhuh, okay. Sure. Sai, are all our ravens prepped and ready for launch?"
"Yes they are. I made sure each one was fueled and properly armed personally."
"Perfect. We're leaving in a few hours," Naruto turned to leave, but paused with his back turned, "Oh, and in case you'd forgotten, we haven't really gone over the plan yet."
He smirked at his friend's sharp intake of breath before leaving.
Next he found his alien friend on the fields, overlooking the training of his zealots and templars. Thanatos had his arms folded like he always did; it reminded Naruto of the young alien's late mentor. Though, the lack of scars did make him less intimidating than his predecessor. Thanatos looked over at Naruto's approach.
"The weapons your weapons master has invented are quite… imaginative," Thanatos remarked, "For the first time in my life I'm glad my warriors failed to kill an opponent."
"Well, for the record, I think that makes two of us," Naruto replied.
Naruto watched the protoss warriors with fascination; they were using their new weapons quite skillfully despite the fact that they had only had them for a few hours. He remarked that the aliens were swift learners. As he spoke, one of the zealots used one of the new weapons Tenten had invented: a whip-like version of the psionic blade. Naruto had attempted to follow Tenten's explanation about how she had made it possible for such a thing to be created here, but quite frankly, he was pretty sure the only person in that room who understood it was her. All he knew was that it worked, and from what he was seeing, it worked well. The zealot was able to use it to make huge lashes on the target, culminating in him wrapping the whip around the target and then pulling, slicing the target in two.
Across the way, a High templar was using an amplifier of some kind, something that boosted their psionic abilities without causing any additional strain on the user. Once again, it was all beyond him. The results spoke for themselves though, as a kinetic blast completely obliterated the target the templar was aiming at. Basic telekinesis was now going to be a serious addition to their arsenal. Not to mention the dark templar. Naruto watched in awe as they flitted in and out of sight, turning invisible seemingly at will, able to just suddenly appear behind a target and dispatch it effortlessly. Many were able to what looked like turn themselves into just huge blobs of shadow and teleport short distances as well as turn invisible. If they were able to do things like that, and these were skills they all had, he wondered how the Protoss had ever lost a battle, let alone their entire home planet.
"Are your forces ready for departure?" Naruto finally asked.
"Nearly. We're waiting on the meeting before we do anything else though. Until then, we'll continue practicing with our new weaponry; we want to be as proficient as possible, even if the Zerg are on their last legs."
"Don't worry. This time, we have them on the run. We won't fail this time around."
"I'll believe it when I've seen it with my own eyes. Until then, I remain skeptical."
"Fair enough."
Naruto continued to check upon everyone, and found Temari visiting Tenten in the robotics bays. Temari was marveling some of the new weapons while Tenten strode about giving orders.
"Look alive ladies and gentlemen, we are burning daylight!" she was saying, "We leave in less than 10 hours; I want weapons distributed and combat ready. Double check that the tanks have received the upgrades they need, as well as the ravens. Hurry it up people, we're on a schedule here!"
"What's going on?" Naruto walked over.
"The new weapons and equipment haven't been distributed to the whole army yet, so she's trying to get everyone ready to go," Temari explained.
Tenten walked over, holding a very odd looking object. Naruto recognized it as Tenten's new weapon: the chakra pulse rifle. Somehow, the weapon took chakra and molded it into a bullet of solid energy, capable of punching through almost anything the Zerg could throw at them. Most of the army was equipped with one of these now, seeing as they were stronger and more efficient than anything else in their arsenal. Best part was the weapon was versatile; you could shoot it until the clip of chakra runs out and then switch to your traditional weaponry and jutsu's or in dire situations, use your own chakra and use it directly to power the gun. Ravens and tanks were now using these as side arms instead of the old flamethrowers. As Tenten had said, the flamethrowers served their purpose fairly effectively, but the Zerg now had too many heavily armored units for the weapon to remain viable.
Behind her, Naruto saw what was clearly a new tank being constructed; the turret was just being placed upon the body. The old flamethrower had been replaced by what Tenten called a "conventional ballistics" weapon, a weapon that used chakra to propel large projectiles at high speed – far faster than any shinobi was capable of throwing.
"Hey," Tenten greeted Naruto, "Come to check on us? Don't worry, you'll be fully equipped by the time you leave."
"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Temari asked.
"No, I'm not. I need to finish the modifications to the new hardware as quickly as possible, so I have no time to waste."
"Tenten, come on. The Zerg won't be able to stand up against the void rays and the Gantrithor. You can take a break. Relax for at least a little while."
Tenten looked at her friend in the most serious manner he'd ever seen, "Naruto, until you can guarantee that there will be no war tomorrow morning, my team and I will continue to act as if there will be."
A huge metal machine, much bigger than anything else Tenten had ever built, was being moved across the giant room via a crane. It had a similar bearing to an assault raven, but extremely well armored, and at least 4 or 5 times bigger.
"What is that?" Naruto and Temari asked simultaneously.
"Not finished yet," Tenten told them both curtly.
"Okay, yeah, fine, but what is it?" Temari pressed.
Tenten sighed, "It's called the Cobra. It's a heavy air-superiority combat platform, made to provide heavy fire support from the air. Our air power is lacking, and our ravens, while good, are light and not meant for sticking it out for large confrontations. These new ships can take and dish out huge amounts of punishment in equal measure, making them a lot more suited for long drawn out battles than the ravens."
"But, the Zerg didn't get huge air units until just recently," Naruto looked in slight awe, "How did you know we'd need to counter that?"
"I didn't," she replied simply, "I made a calculated decision based on what gaps in our hardware were the most pressing, and it just so happens I made the perfect choice. Unfortunately, I didn't have as much time to perfect their design as I'd have liked, so you won't be seeing them on the battlefield quite yet."
"There's another ship behind it," Naruto pointed out, "It's different from this one, so what's that one then?"
"It's called the Hammerhead. It's a heavy transport ship. Our transport ravens may be able to move infantry and basic equipment with unprecedented efficiency, but they can't carry larger weapons or vehicles. These will allow us to drop much larger ordinances and personnel, albeit at a slightly slower pace than the raven. Yet another design I did not perfect in time for the upcoming battle."
"Too bad it looks like we'll never see them in action," Temari shook her head.
"Maybe so, but better to be prepared for a threat that never comes than to not be prepared when one does, right?"
"Yeah, I can agree to that. I think from personal experience everyone at this base can agree to that."
"One question that I have is: When this is all over, what are we going to do with all this?" Temari looked seriously at Tenten, "It's not like the Protoss will be able to use them."
Tenten paused, seemingly at loss for what to say, "I…. I don't really know. I don't want to destroy them; I've put way too much of my life into these things to just tear them apart after this is all over. But…. They're too dangerous at the same time. The shinobi world isn't ready for things like this; the lands would tear each other to shreds to get their hands on this. They cannot be allowed to remain here. I just don't know where they'll go. Assuming any of it survives the war of course."
"Oh they'll survive the war," Naruto assured her, "They're more likely to survive this war than we are realistically."
"How very comforting," Temari muttered sarcastically.
20 miles out from the walls of Antioch base, a small patrol was scanning an area reported to have had movement just recently. But when the team got there, there was nothing there.
"There's nothing here," one of them complained to the captain, "If there was anything here, it's long gone now."
"We don't know that for certain," the captain told them sternly, "Spread out, if there's any zerg here, we need to find them and kill them."
The shinobi spread out as commanded, winding their way through the trees and brush. One of the shinobi took a look at the ground; there were odd tracks leading somewhere deeper into the brush. The tracks were odd. Too large to be zerglings, they had feet so they weren't hydralisks, not broad enough to be roaches, and certainly too small to be ultralisks. The shinobi followed the tracks until they led to…. A tree trunk. The tracks ended right at the base of a tree trunk. It took a second before it dawned on him to look up, but by then it was too late. The tengu was already descending right above him and there was no time to react.
The captain heard the huge thud from the tengu's landing, and rushed over. This tengu was bigger than those that had attacked Antioch just earlier. He attempted to make hand seals for a jutsu, but the beast whipped around with its tail, slamming him sideways into a tree. Dazed, the shinobi could see his teammates attacking the tengu, but the creature was fast and it was savage. One of the shinobi had managed to leap onto its back while the other two kept it occupied, but that was little help. An ice beam froze one of the shinobi's legs, and a gout of fire dropped the other. With a yell the remaining squad member buried a kunai deep into the creature's shoulder, the improved blade punching right through the armor all the way to the hilt. Screaming in rage the tengu reached behind and grabbed the ninja by the head and slammed him into the ground with bone shattering force. With another high scream the tengu strode forward and stomped onto the fallen human with all its power, crushing its victim before he had any time to react.
Staggering upright, the captain threw a shuriken right into the tengu's chest, burying it through the creature's armor. A huge blast of wind slammed the shinobi back into the tree, cracking the back of his head against the trunk, then again. In a last effort the captain pulled out a short sword and ran it through the alien's chest, right where the heart should be. The alien barely flinched, and twisted away, breaking the blade off at the base. Raising its hand, the captain saw the tengu was holding what appeared to be a handful of lighting, making a very distinctive sound. Wanting to make sure the job was finished quickly, though not necessarily cleanly, the alien aimed for the head.
Selendis was hunkering down in the metal hulk of her ship…. what was left of her ship. All around were the broken shells of an entire fleet; void rays, oracles, tempests…. every ship in the entire Golden Armada and more lay shattered, strewn across the landscape. Pain tugged at the Executor's hearts; each of those ships had a name and story, a history, as did every single member of their crews. All destroyed now – dead, just as the ships that once carried them. How much history, how many hopes and dreams, how many futures had gone down with those ships? Too many. Always too many.
She dropped out of a gaping hole in the side of her ship onto the ground. Funny; the sun was high in the sky, yet there was nothing but shadow on this planet. The sun was just a decorative ornament here – its light never touched the surface. She looked around, but there was no one… no one alive at any rate. She was alone on a world covered by a veil of shadow, so far away from home. Even Shakuras had more light than this desolate, lightless world.
In the distance however, beyond the graveyard of ships, the unmistakable profile of Zerg creep inched closer and closer. All around the living ground came closer and closer, and the shapes of the zerg's flying monstrosities began flitting through the veiled sky. A sense of hopelessness and despair began to claw at Selendis's mind, and grip her hearts. She was trapped; nowhere to hide, and nowhere to run any more. The feeling that she had been running for an eternity was fading, replaced by the resignation to the fact that she would not be leaving this planet in this lifetime. The all too familiar sound of zerglings running, hundreds of them, could be heard in the distance.
It was at this point that Selendis took notice of the presence of something new. It seemed vaguely familiar, and yet it was more alien, more malevolent than the mind of any Zerg minion. She wandered around the outside of the ship, attempting to find the source of the presence. As she walked about, she could see the shapes of zerg minions, or were they just the shadows shifting? Must be the latter, or they'd have attacked by now... either that or they were just biding their time; toying with her. Around the sloped hull of her ruined ship, where the remains of several interceptors lay strewn about; she saw it. A huge, hulking figure, radiating psionic energy had its back turned to her; it was too busy ripping apart a downed phoenix to notice her. Selendis began to retreat, but keeping her eyes on the thing prevented her from truly watching where she was going, and she ran into a broken piece of metal, which fell with a loud clatter. Reacting, the monster rose to its full height and whipped around to face her.
Selendis's eyes snapped open as she woke up; the horror of that…. thing was enough to wake anyone up, even her. Whatever that thing had been, it wasn't natural, and it emanated pure evil, far worse than anything the Zerg had ever given. She shook her head to clear the image from her mind before heading out to the war room. When she got there, Mohandar was already waiting, looking just as troubled as she was feeling.
"Same dream?" Mohandar greeted her with a question, "You've been having them same as I have – I can see it in your eyes even if I am not connected to your mind."
"What are those things?" Selendis asked, "They feel like all that is evil came forth from the darkest corners of the galaxy and were put into a biological form."
"I do not know. I am certain though that Zeratul does, but has been unable or unwilling to make this knowledge known to the rest of us. When he finally returns, he will have to tell us what he knows."
Their conversation would no doubt have continued, but Naruto and the other shinobi leaders had all just walked in through the door. Naruto and the others stopped upon seeing the pair of aliens. They couldn't know what they were talking about, but it was pretty obvious they were discussing something that truly disturbed the pair of them.
"Um, are we interrupting something important?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
"It is nothing you need concern yourself with," Mohandar told them, "It is a private matter that only the Protoss need address."
"Huh….. okay."
"Do not worry, it will not be affecting our current situation," Selendis clearly spoke with more respect than Mohandar did, but really Naruto had not expected any other response. Mohandar had not fought alongside him or his shinobi at all yet.
"I'll take your word for it. So, do we have a plan yet?"
Shikamaru stepped forward, "Yes we do. And this time, we have a new target. Before, our plan always involved the destruction of the hive, then systematically wiping the rest out. We now know for certain that a single creature is leading these zerg: a broodmother. Kill the broodmother, and the rest of the zerg will either go berserk and go on a killing rampage upon everything around them, or they will simply fall dormant. There's been instances of both, so we're not exactly certain which will occur."
"Okay, then where is the broodmother?" Mei asked, "We can make a direct beeline through the hive to the broodmother's location, then I can flood the place in lava, or Gaara can crush the whole thing with sand, or something else of that nature and end this tomorrow."
"That is the problem we're having," Selendis told them, "My observers cannot locate the broodmother. She must be somewhere within the hive, where it is safest, but we cannot find her exact location. We must attack the hive cluster and do enough damage to force her to intervene directly. When she enters the fray herself, we can kill her and the rest of the zerg will soon follow suit."
"This means we must push the Zerg as hard as we can, put pressure on them to the point they become desperate," Mohandar nodded, "My fleet can push them to that point, but without support, we won't make it there. We'll need your ground forces to keep the ground clear to ensure our fleet reaches the target with minimal interference. If you can do that, our ships can keep the air occupied and provide aerial support for your forces groundside."
"It won't be easy," Shikamaru told them gravely, "I just received a report of a patrol being taken out by maybe 2 or 3 hostiles. A few of them clearly were killed by jutsus of some kind. Even if we have the upper hand, the zerg will not make things easy on us. Your support is sure to be needed."
"You keep the ground clear of anti-air, and you'll get all the support you need," Selendis promised.
Shikamaru nodded his thanks.
"There's still the matter of the hive," Ino put in, "Our observers were able to detect a large cavern situated directly underneath the main hive structure which has tunnels leading from it to many major buildings and expansions throughout the hive cluster and beyond."
"As we agreed earlier, Iruka and Baki will lead a team to the hive, go into this central hub and destroy it. Placing incendiary charges right at the mouths of all tunnels and then on the supports will make sure the fire shoots through the tunnels and incinerate anything that is in them or on the other side. Explosive tags on the support columns will cause the cavern to cave in, and the hive will collapse and be destroyed," Shikamaru outlined the targets on the holo-map.
"From there, the void rays will break off from the fight and begin purifying the area," Mohandar explained, "With the Gantrithor and the Burning Shadow dealing with the remaining hostiles on the fringes of the hive, and the ground forces holding the area, my ships can purify the areas where buildings once stood, then when we leave, the void rays will continue until the area is fully cleansed."
"What do you mean by 'cleansing'? Naruto asked suspiciously.
"The area must be cleared of creep, and we must ensure there are no zerg burrowed underground that can escape and rebuild the brood. To do so, we'll do a surface incineration. Don't worry, it will be controlled, and the land will recover within a few years."
"A few years?" Gaara echoed, "Is that truly necessary?"
"Please understand, the zerg are a tenacious foe. This is the only way we can be sure, and even then, it is still does not guarantee the full removal of the zerg infestation. But with a threat this severe, this planet cannot afford for any of us to take chances."
"Okay, so we have our plan yeah?" Shikamaru continued hastily before Naruto could reply, "Okay, then I'd suggest we all get some rest. It's going to be a very busy day tomorrow."
That night Hinata found Naruto looking out the window ruefully. She walked to his side and stared out the window with him.
"What is wrong?" she asked him.
"We missed it," Naruto said dully, "It came and went and we didn't even give it a second thought."
Hinata understood immediately, "Ah."
"We shouldn't be here right now," he continued, "We should be celebrating right now. We should be on our honeymoon, having the time of our lives, happier than we've ever been. Not….. this."
Hinata wasn't exactly sure what to say. Naruto walked away and sat on the foot of the bed.
"It had to be now. I know I sound completely selfish, but it just had to be now. Alien invasion and fiasco just HAS to happen not even 2 weeks before the most important day of my life. There's no such thing as a good time for this kind of thing, but really, the timing could have been a lot better than what it is."
"Hey, it's not - well okay maybe it is a little selfish, but that's normal. Don't worry, when this is over, things will be back to the way they were, and we'll pick up where we were before all this started."
"You sure about that?"
Hinata kissed her fiancée on the cheek, "What, you doubt my judgment? When has that ever been faulty?"
The next morning, Naruto was up just as dawn was rising. Rays of light were only just beginning to spread across the sky. The world was still asleep, but waking up with the promise of a beautiful day. Naruto looked down at Hinata, who was still sound asleep.
'It doesn't matter what has happened, I am still the luckiest man alive right now,' he thought to himself.
A while later, he found Gaara, Mei, and Thanatos waiting as the alliance forces assembled.
"Are we ready?" he asked them all.
"As ready as we're ever going to be," Gaara told him.
Naruto nodded at his old friend, "Well then, there's no time to waste. Let's get this done."