As was to be expected, there was more than a little difficulty dealing with the unification of the separate forces, given that Duke and the Dominion troops had been trying their best to kill the Raiders and Protoss no more than a few minutes ago. Duke himself, while more aware of the situation than his troops, was somewhat wary about the whole idea as we adjourned to the Command Centre.

"Just so we're clear. If I'm unhappy but willing to deal with the idea that I have to work with you to get off this rock, I'm very much unhappy with the idea of having to work with the Protoss, and way beyond that at having to work with her." He gestured towards Sarah, and I saw her wince. While I wasn't perhaps 100% comfortable with the idea myself, I knew and trusted Sarah, and that was more than good enough for me.

"Are you telling me you'd rather stay or fight alone?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "You've been mauled rather effectively, between us and the Zerg. While we've certainly taken some hits, we're also a lot better entrenched and have more fire-power left than you, including the only air support left here. We could probably survive long enough to get out of here. Could you?"

Duke gritted his teeth. "Way I see it, you're at least partially to blame for this whole mess in the first place."

"If you recall, I did try rather forcefully to convince you that coming here was a bad idea."

"Yes, you did." He replied. My eyes narrowed, there was something else in his voice that started ringing alarm bells. Before I could start to call him out on it, however, Ros burst into the room.

"You two had better come, we've got a problem."

Great, just what we needed. Following her at a run, we came across a scene that I had hoped not to encounter. A pair of Marines stood facing each other, weapons drawn and levelled at each other. Surrounding them was a loose circle of Marines and other Terrans, none of which looked happy. Further back, a group of Protoss looked just as unhappy about the situation. It would have been a simple matter to deal with, except that one was a Dominion marine, and the other a Raider.

That made everything a lot more complicated.

"What the hell is going on here?" I roared, striding towards the pair and drawing everyone's attention. To my surprise, Duke remained beside me, although whether it was to back me up or not, I couldn't tell. What was more disturbing was the fact that neither combatant lowered their weapon. That irritated me no end. Stepping up to the two, I glared at both.

"Drop your weapons. Now." I snarled.

The Raider glanced at me, then complied. Unfortunately, the Dominion soldier did not. Ramming his gun forward, he knocked out the Raider, then spun to face me. Behind me, I heard hundreds of safeties disengage, and more than a few psi-blades ignite. I could also feel Nova's anger burning behind me. If I had been more prepared, and capable of fighting back my instincts, then I probably would have stood there, gun levelled at my head, and tried to talk the man down.

However, over a decade of combat had honed my instincts too well. Right hand lashing out to catch the barrel of the rifle, I stepped forward, throwing my left fist into the man's faceplate. The man's inexperience was obvious, failing to react in time to either blow, and pausing to blink at the fact his rifle was no longer heading where he wanted it to, rather than trying to dodge the blow aimed at his face. The end result was that within the space of a few seconds, he was lying on the ground, staring up at me through his shattered faceplate, looking down the wrong end of his own rifle. I could see, in that split second, his eyes widen as he realised just who he had attacked. I also knew that it no longer mattered.

Aiming carefully, I fired, feeling the familiar recoil of the rifle thrust back as the round hit its mark. Dropping the rifle, I stared down at the Marine, who turned his head to see the small crater beside his head. I spoke softly, but there was no doubt that everyone around me heard what I said.

"Let me make this very clear. I can understand that you have some trust issues with us, just as we have with you. Given our recent history, that's understandable. It is also the only reason you are still alive. But this ends now. Without each other, we have little chance of getting off this rock. I don't expect you to like it. But I do expect you to follow orders from your superior. Right now, I believe that's General Duke and he at least understands that concept, as unpalatable as it is for both of us. Is there anything which is unclear about that? Because I will not tolerate any of my people being attacked, by anyone."

The man nodded, fear and relief apparent. Scowling, I stepped back and tossed the rifle to one of his comrades. Turning to one of my own officers, I gestured to the Raider on the ground.

"Sargent, get him to the infirmary. Patch him up, then keep him in custody for the moment. Captain Wythes, talk to everyone here. I want to know exactly what happened from start to finish. General, if you can spare one of your own officers to assist her, I'd appreciate it. I'll deal with our forces involved in this, incident, if you'll see to your own."

Receiving a nod from the man as he turned to give his own orders, I turned back to Ros. "Sorry to dump this on you, but we have to deal with this now, and I can't afford to give it the time it deserves at the moment."

She nodded. "I'll handle it, sir."

"Thanks."

As I re-entered the operations room in the Command Centre, my already rather sour mood not improved by the episode outside, Duke spoke up.

"You want my help to get out of here, and it benefits us both to work together towards that, I'll grant you. But I want something in return."

I spun towards him, my anger beginning to overflow. "Aside from your life, you mean?"

He nodded in acceptance of my point. "Yes, though I don't think that it will be anything too difficult for you, or that you would be unwilling to provide in any case."

That got my attention. "Perhaps you'd care to enlighten me, then."

"You told me that I wouldn't believe you if you told me about the Zerg and that they weren't what they appeared. You never really got to explain that, or how you learnt that."

I slumped into the closest chair. I had expected Duke to ask for plans for a Stingray or Temeraire, or something like that. This was completely out of the blue.

"Why? Why do you want to know?"

Duke fixed me with a serious stare. "Regardless of anything else, a lot of my boys are going to be more than a little nervous about the idea of working alongside you, given some of the people you have with you, and I can't say that I blame them for that."

A monkey could have worked out Duke was talking about Sarah, although the Protoss would likely feature in his thoughts as well. I sighed.

"No, I guess you can't." I tried to assemble my thoughts. On one hand, I was more than a little reluctant to share the story with Duke. I had no delusions that I might be able to get him to turn away from Mengsk, and so I certainly couldn't trust him with the complete story, or really even as much as I had told Sarah and Jim. On the other, we needed to get word out about the reality of the situation, and Duke might be able to reach areas we couldn't. At the end of the day, it didn't matter who the sector was united behind, as long as it was united, although I couldn't see Mengsk being smart enough to put everything aside and changing his behaviour and personality enough for us to agree to follow him again, ever. Besides, there was far too much history there for that to be remotely possible, whether the galaxy stood on the brink of ruin or not. I focussed back on Duke.

"You realise that I can't tell you everything." I stated.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

I snorted. "Haven't you ever heard the saying 'Some things are better left unsaid'? I haven't even told Jim and Sarah everything and you know how close we are. It's my burden to bear, and what you don't know can't hurt you. Trust me Duke, there is a reason why I can't and won't tell you everything. I'll tell you what I can, but you'll have to accept that there are things I won't talk about."

Duke didn't look happy but he nodded. "I can understand need to know, had to deal with it enough."

I managed a small smile. "You and me both."

For the next two hours, I talked about what we had found. From my suspicions on Antiga Prime the first time we visited, to Tarsonis and the chaos that erupted there, the battle at Shiloh and the revelations we came to afterwards, Sarah's abduction and the rescue mission which followed and finally the meetings with the Overmind and what we had seen at Sarah's transformation, as well as all the small isolated pieces of information that we had picked up along the way. Three things, however, I did not mention. Firstly, I left out everything about Terra Firma. While I knew that I had to mention the battle, and show at least part of it, I had no desire to clue him in as to exactly what we had obtained there, or some of the tactics we had used. Simply showing the Zerg being interested in Kerrigan was enough, and the comparison to the Psi Emitter didn't hurt either. Secondly, I never mentioned Louise in any way, and I had completely left out anything about our latest visit to Antiga Prime, and the dreams that she had used to communicate with us. While it did leave holes in the story, I knew that I couldn't risk filling them in. Finally, while I mentioned the Ghost that had been such an issue for us to deal with, and what he had apparently done to the Overmind, I didn't mention my suspicion that he served a far more dangerous enemy. The story was fantastical enough, and without mentioning Louise, I couldn't support that claim with anything like the evidence that I knew I would need. Duke sat there, occasionally asking questions to clarify his understanding of a point, but mostly just listened. Finally he spoke.

"You should get nominated for best writer for this year's awards."

I snorted. "Told you that you wouldn't believe me."

"Oh, I believe you alright. Even though there's gaps in what you've told me, you have enough evidence to back up the majority of what you said, and lying has never been your style. Crazy as it may seem, I can't come up with another explanation for what you have told me, and I doubt that I will. You're many things, but dumb isn't one of them and even you aren't crazy enough to do what I know you've done without a good reason."

I blinked, stunned beyond all measure. I hadn't expected Duke to take me at face value. He grinned at my astonishment.

"I'm not an idiot, you know. I do know how to look at things objectively." His expression turned grave. "I will have to share this with my officers, however. They need to know, or we'll have a riot before long."

I nodded, conceding the point. "I can't argue with that, but I would ask that you be at least as discrete as you can be."

He snorted. "Don't worry about that, the majority of people would laugh at me all the way to the asylum if I spread this around. Give me a couple of hours to fill my boys in. We also need to work out what we have to work with."

"About that. I need a favour."

Duke raised an eyebrow, but allowed me to continue.

"The only way we're going to have a chance here is to stay ahead of the Zerg. To do that, we need over-flights at regular intervals. The Observers that the Protoss have will help, but we can't get them past the defensive lines to penetrate far enough to be of much use. We need manned flights with daring and skilled pilots in capable craft to stand a chance at evading any hostile response and getting us the data we need."

"And you want me to lend you suitable pilots."

"If you have them and they are willing to volunteer. It's a high risk job, there's no denying that. I'm going to see who I can find as well, but we need everyone we can get."

He shrugged. "I'll see what I can do." He left, the door closing behind him. I glanced at the others, all mostly silent.

"What do you think?" I asked.

Sarah shrugged. "I couldn't read any signs that he was lying. There was more than a little fear and unease, though."

"So, he's rattled." Nova concluded.

"Makes sense. He's in deep now, and it's not something he's used to." Jim replied.

"Will he co-operate with us?" Tassadar asked.

I nodded. "He knows he has no choice but to. He knows that if we're right, this is bigger than anything we've ever faced before. He can't afford to fight against us, and definitely not right now." I sighed. "Jim, Tassadar, you heard what I said to Duke. We need top-level pilots. Can you work out who we have left that might qualify and see if they're willing?"

The pair nodded, turning to another terminal. Nova wandered over to me. "One thing confuses me a little. Why didn't we use the Arbiters?"

"Get recalled out, you mean? A few reasons. Firstly, the Arbiters weren't at full power, and even if they were, it would have taken more than one recall per ship to get everyone out. At full power, the delay might have been small enough to work with, but it's unlikely. Anything less, and it would be a near death sentence for those left, and Duke's men. Secondly, they couldn't exactly recall everyone nice and neatly back onto their own ships, it's called mass recall for a reason. We'd need a wide open space free of Zerg to recall to, and then we'd still need to board everyone. Such areas are a little thin on the ground around here, even the orbital platform is infested to hell and back. So, lack of space, and the Zerg would be on us too fast." I glanced towards Sarah briefly. "Finally, the Overmind trusted us to make sure Sarah not only gained control over her powers and new form, but also the Zerg. We're not going to be able to do that any better from anywhere else than here."

Nova frowned, considering my words. "Things never can be that easy, can they?"

I snorted, "You expected differently?"

Turning back to the others, I gestured towards the main screen.

"Let's work out exactly what we have and what we can do with it."

Over the course of the next couple of hours, we all reviewed what we had and what we could do with it. In all, we had around 150,000 Raiders and Protoss fit for battle, in support roles or capable of filling either role. When it came to ground combat, we were not perfectly equipped, but we certainly had enough to hold the Zerg at bay for some considerable time. While most of our ground forces were infantry, we also had a fair number of ground vehicles and the resources and capability to produce more, and the munitions to supply them. However, our biggest hole was in air and mobile anti-air capability. We had absolutely no battle-cruisers or carriers left in orbit, and no real way of manufacturing any, even if they could be manned. The Arbiters had retreated with the fleets, leaving the Stingrays as our largest air unit, and we had just sixteen of them. Wraiths and Scouts were present, but in short supply. We had few Science vessels as well, but for the most part, we could compensate with the Observers which we could manufacture and deploy with ease. As for ground to air forces, Dragoons, Marines, Ghosts, High Templar, Archons and Goliaths were the only real means of combating an air assault outside of the base, and I knew we would have to go on the attack if we were to stand a chance. Marines would have to mass-fire to do much, leaving them seriously out-gunned and vulnerable. Ghosts, Archons and High Templar were far too important in other roles to rely on for such support. Dragoons were not the most effective of answers to an air attack, and producing more was not a simple task. Goliaths were our best option, but they too had their issues. We could build and arm them, but manning them was a whole different matter. I was familiar with the training requirements of the Goliaths, and they were rather extensive. To be able to retrain infantry to pilot them was a serious undertaking.

In short, we had a serious gap in our armoury and filling it was not going to be a simple task. When Duke brought his officers across a few hours later, he wasn't able to help much in that regard either.

"I'm afraid we're in much the same boat as everyone else. Ground combat, we can handle, but air and anti-air? We're rather short-handed there."

I grimaced. Jess had analysed the last set of images Matt had been able to take before he retreated, and at last we knew there was something worth hunting for. But without protection from aerial assaults, we weren't going anywhere any time soon.

In the end, it was Nova who hit on the solution.

"Can we make something to fill the gap?"

Everyone turned to look at her, stunned. Most of Duke's people had difficulty hiding their amusement, although Duke and two women, one of which had been the Ghost we'd spared, looked to be giving the idea serious consideration.

"You want to build something from scratch?" Duke's executive officer snorted.

I blinked, as Nova's idea began to gain some purchase in my head. "Who said we had to build from scratch?" Spinning around to face the centre console, I began to look at what we could make and man. Only one real option arose.

Vultures.

I had long despised the things, despite Jim's apparent love affair with them. I had found them too lightly armed and armoured for the sort of tactics I preferred. But perhaps this was the chance to redeem them somewhat.

Bringing up the Vulture blueprints, I began to expand on Nova's idea. "Our best chance would be to modify the Vultures to give them capabilities in other areas. With that, we might be able to side-step the whole problem altogether."

Duke considered the idea. "You do realise that that has never been done before, outside of a controlled weapons lab with known conditions. We have no idea how they will perform until they get put into combat, and that's assuming that we can even create them in the first place."

I nodded. "Perhaps. Only one way to find out." I turned to face Jess's avatar. "Jess, get hold of our top engineers and ask them to join us."

"Of course, Commander."

Duke frowned. "You really think it's possible?"

"The engineers retro-fit vehicles and ships with new components all the time. It's not that different to what we're talking about now."

"Hmm. Well, since we have some time, I asked around about what you were after."

I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't expected a response that quickly. Duke waved the two women I had noticed earlier over. Gesturing to the Ghost first, he introduced her.

"I understand you've already met Kara Vaessen. She's a skilled Ghost that recently joined us."

I interrupted, surprised. "Joined?" I turned towards her. "I was under the impression that Ghosts weren't permitted a lot of free will, certainly not enough to change loyalties on their own."

She smiled coldly. "No, the Confederacy was pretty strict on that count. I got lucky, if you want to call it that. My controlling implants were faulty, so I was able to escape their grasp, as well as keep a few extra tricks that they would have taken off me."

I looked at her, trying to evaluate her. After all, she had been shooting at me a few hours ago. A raised eyebrow was the only indication that she was examining my thoughts, but I had been careful to stay away from anything that might be dangerous in the wrong hands.

"You're willing to do something like this?"

She snorted and nodded towards Sarah. "All through the training, I got brought up on stories about her. Best of the best and all that. Then I heard the rumours about what happened to her at the Confederacy's hand, and a few things since. Suddenly aiming for the top doesn't seem to be that appealing anymore."

My eyes narrowed. "So why try to kill Sarah?"

She flinched, looking unsure. "I don't actually know."

Duke, able to read the storm that was brewing on my face, intervened. "Davis, despite appearances, we never sent a team to kill Sarah. They simply vanished, and the first we knew of where they had gone was when you all came bursting out of that hive, with Kara."

"Then why did you try and crash that battle-cruiser on us?" I shot back.

He grimaced. "Someone hacked our systems, even as they were failing. They gained control just as the Zerg hit us. We had just enough control to send out an emergency call, but that was it." Anticipating my furious and disbelieving reaction, he drew a data disc from his jacket. "The last moments from our data recorders. They'll confirm it, and I doubt we could make a forgery to get past that AI of yours."

I took the disc, still less than happy with what they were telling me. Turning back to the troubled Ghost, I replied, "How can you not know why you tried to kill someone?"

"I remember someone talking to me, then the next thing I know, that Protoss of yours is dragging me up from the ground. There's nothing in between."

"Nothing?"

She and Duke both shook their heads. "We've checked. You know we can review a Ghost's memories?" At my nod, he continued, "Despite the faulty implants, that function remained, but there is nothing of that mission at all. Even more concerning though, was that whatever took control of Kara and that team, it wasn't through the implants."

That rocked me back on my heels. That shouldn't be possible. But then, that was summing things up for our recent history.

She nodded, "No, it shouldn't be possible. But back to the point. Regardless of anything else, you could have killed me, or left me to die. You didn't. I'm good enough to do the flying you need and I owe you."

"As simple as that, huh?"

"Unless you have an issue with that."

"Quite a few, but none of which are enough to say no." I smiled slightly. "Thank you."

She inclined her head as I turned to the other woman. She smiled, her stance almost reminiscent of Sarah in happier times, although she possessed a far slimmer build, brown hair and brown eyes. "Heard a lot about you. Nice to finally met you face to face."

I inclined my head slightly. "Have we crossed paths, then?"

She laughed clearly. "You might say that. The last time was at Dylar."

I blinked. "You flew the Hyperion through the shipyards. You were the opposing pilot."

She grinned. "So, good enough to meet your standards?"

"Good enough? I've never come across a pilot as good as what you showed that day. I was crazy doing that with the Liberator. Doing what you did with a battle-cruiser, well that's a hell of an audition performance."

Her grin widened. "Joanne Duke, reporting for duty."

I shook my head in disbelief. Of all the things I had expected, Duke having a child was not one of them. He'd kept that very quiet. "The hits just keep on coming with you."

The elder Duke laughed. "That's my daughter, all right. She was a handful to raise, especially trying to keep her hidden."

"I can imagine."

She bumped her father gently. "Behave."

I smiled. It was obvious that the Edmund Duke I had known, was nothing like the man he was with his daughter around. He became not just a real person, but someone I could actually respect, with her presence. Seeing the engineers starting to come in, I nodded. "Alright. I'll go through exactly what I need with you two later."

Turning to the engineers, I noticed how ill at ease they looked. "Relax, you're here to help us bounce some ideas around, not get keel-hauled for something you've done."

The relief on their faces was palpable, but vanished as soon as I continued. "How difficult would it be to modify existing vehicle blueprints and build them?"

The look of blank shock would have been priceless in any other situation. Finally, one of the Dominion engineers spoke up.

"Are you kidding? Nothing like that has ever been attempted before."

Nova snorted. "Everything's never been tried before, until it is."

The engineer continued as if he hadn't heard her. "Sir, we're field engineers. Give us a battle-cruiser or a siege tank, we can pull it apart, overhaul it and put it back together, better than new, no problem. But this, it just isn't our area."

I frowned. I was reasonably sure that it was possible to do, though I was no engineer. At the very least, it should be able to be considered. Before I could give voice to those thoughts, another engineer stepped forward, Sargent Meek.

"I know what you're thinking, sir. It might be possible, but we'd need specialised equipment and resources that I'm not sure we have."

I looked at him. "I know we have all the parts that we'd be likely to need, so what would you need to do this?"

He shrugged. "Top level AI, a design engineer and one of those construction design and modelling software suites that they always go on about. Without those, we have no chance. Even with them, it's not going to be simple."

"Is that all that would be needed?" Nova asked.

The other engineer snorted. "Is that all, she asks? None of those exactly grow on trees, let alone get deployed with front-line units. Top level AIs? You don't see them outside of top-level research facilities. Design engineers? The training involved is far more intensive than you might think. There's only a handful of them around, again, mainly in top-level facilities. And that software system? It's expensive, complex and very difficult to master. I doubt that there is more than a dozen copies of it in the sector." He scoffed. "You may as well ask for a planet in your hand, little girl."

Nova's eyes blazed. Fortunately, Ros interrupted before she could express her displeasure. "Commander, it occurs to me that we may actually have what we need."

Duke's eyes snapped towards her. "We do?"

She shrugged and gestured towards Jess. "Top level AI, you said? They don't get any better than Jess here."

"She's right." I confirmed. "You up for this, Jess?"

"I am perfectly capable of performing to the required standard, Commander." Jess replied somewhat haughtily.

Nova laughed, her irritation forgotten. "As if we doubted that."

Duke smiled. "So, top-level AI. What about the software?"

Ros's grin became feral. "General, we have two types of highly experimental prototype units here, and scaled down versions of such software are often left with them to help designers record real-life situations and how those units respond to them, to allow for modification with more accurate data. They may not be quite as advanced as the full versions you'd see in the design labs, but they are designed to take existing designs and modify them."

I slapped my head, annoyed that I had forgotten that fact. "Jess?"

"I am already searching the Liberator's data banks, Commander, but it would appear that Lieutenant Wythes is correct. I have found traces of such software within the data banks and I believe that we will be able to find the full system as she described there."

Ros turned back to me. "Two out of three. And as I recall, you and I did at least some of the design work on the Stingrays, including some modelling work with that very software, and there's at least a few other members of the design crew for the Temeraire's here as well."

My grin matched hers now as we turned back to face Meek, his expression as delighted as our own. "Three for three, I think."

He nodded. Leaning forward, he looked closely at the Vulture specs in front of him. "So, what do you need?"

In the end, we didn't just look at the Vultures, although we did spend a lot of time focussed on them. But almost every vehicle or ship we had, including some of the Protoss designs once Tassadar and Selendis started getting seriously involved, was reviewed, its capabilities discussed and the possibilities for improvement considered. Given that we had plentiful parts and resources, an expert team of engineers and some of the sector's best military minds all working to come up with ideas, I was confident that we could come up with what we needed. Jess had quickly found the software suite and Ros and I gave the engineers a quick lesson in its use. With plenty of ideas for them to work with and, now that they knew it was possible, plenty of will as well, things were looking up. As they, along with most of Duke's command staff, trooped out, still loudly discussing various ideas, I turned back towards Kara and Joanne, but held up a hand to stop them. Something else had occurred to me, which I wanted to discuss.

"You two were awfully quiet through all that."

Sarah and Jim jerked slightly, as they realised I was talking to them. Despite the chaos of the discussion, I had noticed that neither had really taken part, though they had evidently been discussing something themselves. I was more than a little curious as to exactly what was going on. Sarah was the first to reply.

"Given everything, I thought it was best to stay put of the spotlight."

I raised an eyebrow. While I could understand her opinion, to a degree, I certainly didn't agree with it. The sooner everyone got used to the reality, the better. Jim, seeing that I wasn't completely satisfied by the answer, chose to expand.

"We were discussing an alternative solution to our problems."

That caught me by surprise. I wasn't sure straight-away what exactly they could have come up, but the answer hit me quickly. It was Jim and Sarah talking about an alternative. An alternative that they didn't seem to keen on sharing with people generally. There could only be one possibility, and it was one that had been in the back of my mind as well.

"I can see why you're not exactly advertising it, if you're thinking what I think you are. But it is something we need to explore, I think."

The others looked at me in confusion. I rolled my eyes and waited for them to get it. Duke was first.

"You are out of your mind." He exploded.

I stared him down. "It's something that has to happen sooner or later. I don't think any of us like it, least of all Sarah, but it has to be done."

Joanne looked between us. "Little lost here. Mind explaining what you're all on about?"

I sighed. "Sarah and Jim are suggesting we try and get some Zerg reinforcements."

She blinked and utter silence reigned for the next minute. Finally, she spoke. "You're barking."

"That is true."

"You are completely and utterly crazy."

"That is also true."

"It's insane, too high a risk for a small reward."

"That is not true. If anyone can take control of even a part of the Swarm and use it safely, it would be Sarah. Long-term, we need to be thinking along those lines anyway, so if it's at all possible and," I turned to Sarah, "you're willing to do it, I think we need to try."

She nodded. "Jim and I had come to the same conclusion. I can sense a small hive cluster just north of our position. It's not well defended yet and we might be able to take control of it."

I raised an eyebrow. "You think you can do that?"

"One of the tricks the Overmind taught me, along with sensing the Zerg and their intentions."

"Their intentions?"

She nodded grimly. "They are massing. I can't tell where they're planning to attack yet, but they will come, and soon."

That piece of news was unwelcome, but not overly surprising. Although, if things worked out, we might be able to use it to our advantage. Nova evidently caught at least some of that thought.

"What crazy idea are you working on now?"

I gave her my best innocent look. She, of course, didn't buy it.

"Jason." She growled.

Chuckling, I grinned. "Well, as it happens..."

I explained what I was thinking. By the end, Jim and Joanne were in stitches, Nova's grin was as big as mine and even the Protoss seemed amused. Sarah was contemplative, while Kara and Duke were simply shaking their heads.

"I'd almost forgotten what working with you was like." Duke commented.

I turned my grin on him. "Good thing that I can remind you, then. You think it will work?"

Sarah nodded slowly. "The timing is the key part, but we've pulled off worse before now."

"It does have its risks, though." Duke commented.

"I know, but all that sitting behind our lines is going to do is whittle us down and wipe us out. The only way that we will stand a chance is to be daring. And let's face it, who would ever expect us to try this?"

Selendis gave a delighted laugh. "He has a point. No one would ever expect something this crazy. Not even the Zerg."

"So, we have a plan. You'll need a few squads to pull it off, but that shouldn't be too hard to manage. It's the last stage that I don't like the most." Duke mused. "As Sarah said, the timing is the key and we'll have to do that on the fly. By then, the Zerg will know what we're up to and be well and truly pissed."

"Perhaps, but they can only focus their attention on us so much at a time. We've got a chance, and if we're fast enough, then we can pull it off."

"Besides," Jim chuckled, "making it up as we go along is what we do best."

Of course, we needed one big thing to happen before we could put the plan into action, which was completely out of our control. But there was still plenty of other things to do first. Beckoning to Kara and Joanne, Nova, Ros and I led them across the base to the Liberator. Despite my desire to keep information about the ship out of Dominion hands, I knew that the pair were going to have to find out more about it if they were to be of any use. As we walked, I signalled Jess to gather the other pilots that had volunteered for what I had in mind, and have them meet us on board as well. Joanne smirked as we reached the ship.

"Finally get to see inside this piece of junk."

I grinned back. "This 'piece of junk' kicked your arse as I recall, including the old and decrepit pilot flying said piece of junk."

She shot back, "Must have had a good day."

"Keep telling yourself that." Ducking through the airlock, we headed for the tactical room, and I was pleased to see the others already waiting. Quickly making introductions, I moved on to the meat of the discussion.

"All right. As you know, what ships we have left here are all we have for air support, and the Stingrays are the only capital class ships we have left. That means that the recon work we'd normally do from orbit is going to have to be done with them."

"So, I take it we won't be working from orbit, then?" One pilot asked.

I shook my head. "Take too long to get up there, and it's hardly beyond the Zerg's reach."

"Why Stingrays? The Observers the Protoss have would be much better for recon, given they're always cloaked. Even Wraiths would be a better bet."

"Not for this. For short range recon runs, I'd agree with you, but we need to get deep behind their lines. The defences that the Zerg have set up are too tight for an Observer to find a way through, and the Wraiths aren't tough enough to be able to run the gauntlet. Stingrays are the only ships fast enough, powerful enough and strong enough to have a chance at making the runs we need, and even then, it's going to need the best of the best."

That sunk in quickly as they took my meaning. Outrunning the air forces and surface to air rounds was difficult at best, which was why I was planning the way I was. With luck, the Stingrays could do some serious damage to the ground defences, especially if we could provide them with some support, and then outfly the Zerg flyers as they took their readings. It was dangerous, but we had no choice, given what we needed to know. I was just thankful that we still had all of the Stingrays left. More than anything, they were our ace in the hole, and we were going to have to rely on them if we were to succeed. I brought up the last set of scans that the Hyperion had taken.

"This is the last lot of data we managed to get from orbit. What we need is to chart the differences in Zerg positions, strengths etc, deep within their lines, so we can gauge what we're likely to have coming." I indicated an number of odd shaped signals on the scans. "We're especially interested in these, and the defences around them."

"What are they?" Kara asked.

"We're not completely sure, but we suspect that they are a key part of the Zerg command structure." Nova replied. "The Overmind referred to organisms called Cerebrates, and we think that's what they are. Obviously, they are targets of opportunity if possible, but returning with the information and keeping the ships as intact as possible is the priority."

"So, we have to break through the Zerg lines, collect as much data as possible, do whatever damage we can and then break back out again? And rinse and repeat until bored and then some?" Joanne asked.

I nodded. "That's about the size of it."

She shrugged. "Sounds like fun. When do we start?"

I smiled. "Once we've got our anti-air defences sufficiently established that we won't need to rely completely on the Stingrays. You'll fly with Ros, Kara, run with Nova. They'll get you both up to speed. The rest of you, keep to your standard assignments. Any questions?"

One pilot raised his hand. "For the record, this is a suicide mission, isn't it sir?"

I grimaced. "You could probably argue that, yes."

He grinned. "Good. We seem to do better when we're doing those."

Ros snorted. "Fair point there."

I nodded. "All right. Stay in contact, but try and get some rest. I'm hoping that we won't need to call on you soon, but I do want to start those runs in the next day or so, and I want you all at your best. Dismissed."

I'd tried to put it off, but I knew I couldn't ignore the events of the morning. Duke felt the same way and met me outside the Liberator. Together, we headed towards the barracks, discussing the morning's incident and how we needed to react to it. Thankfully, we both agreed on a course of action very quickly. As we entered the barracks and headed towards the detention section, my mood soured as I considered exactly how I needed to respond. Ros had done her usual quick work and given me a full run-down of the incident before the discussion with the engineers. What she told me was not pleasant in the slightest.

The Raider had apparently started the confrontation, referring to the Dominion by various unpleasant and insulting terms. While I couldn't really find fault with the facts of the Raider's diatribe, agreeing with at least some of the sentiments, I did have major issues in the fact that he had chosen to do so within hearing of the Dominion forces, evidently hoping to provoke a fight. I was more than a little furious that he had continued to compound the problem. When the Dominion Marine, having overheard the remarks, approached him, asking for an apology, he not only refused, but further irritated the situation, insulting and threatening the Marine.

As much as I hated to admit it, despite the fact that the Dominion Marine had not backed off, it was my guy in the wrong and up to us to ease the issue and the tension that had been caused. So I wasn't in the best of moods when I entered the detention section and saw the two combatants in their cells. The Raider gulped, obviously realising just how bad things were for him. I nodded to the Dominion Marine.

"You want to take him somewhere else for the moment?" I asked Duke.

He nodded grimly, gesturing to the guard to unlock the cell before roughly grabbing his arm and dragging him off somewhere. I turned back to face the Raider.

"What exactly do you have to say for yourself?" I said coldly.

He muttered and mumbled unintelligibly. What little patience I had left was fast evaporating.

"When I ask you a question, I expect to be able to understand the answer. Now, answer the question."

He straightened slowly and looked me in the eye. "I was out of line in expressing my opinions, sir."

I raised an eyebrow. "Out of line? Insulting, belittling and threatening an ally, even a temporary one, is more than just 'out of line'."

He snorted. "They'll never be an ally, sir. They are useless f-"

My temper had finally reached boiling point and the parade-master's voice that I had once had directed at me as a raw recruit came blasting out of my mouth.

"DO NOT FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" I roared. "YOU WOULD THINK THAT YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND JUST WHAT POSITION WE ARE IN RIGHT NOW! YOU WOULD CERTAINLY THINK THAT YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND JUST HOW DEEP A HOLE YOU'VE DUG FOR YOURSELF."

I took a deep breath, attempting to get my temper under control, before continuing. "Have you, by some sheer fluke, managed to not comprehend the fact that there are quite a large number of Zerg around us, that would like nothing better than to wipe us out? Have you missed the fact that there aren't that many people here to defend our position. Have you not comprehended the fact that, right now, we are rather short on allies and fire-power and we need absolutely every man and woman we can get? Has it escaped your grasp of common sense that causing trouble with someone that is currently helping to guard your back is, in practically anyway imaginable, a rather bad idea? Are you that short on brain power?"

The glare that he was shooting at me was cold, but I knew that if looks would kill, he would almost certainly have be fried by the intensity of my own.

"Believe me, I have my fair share of issues with the Dominion, but there's a couple of things to consider. Firstly, the majority of the problems that we've had with the Dominion, and the Confederacy before it, haven't been caused by the soldiers taking orders, but the absolute corrupt and morally bankrupt arseholes that are running the show. While the soldiers have their share of blame to answer for, it's ridiculous to start trouble for the sake of it. Secondly, as I said, we need each other if we're going to get off this rock, because the only ones that benefit from us fighting each other are the Zerg. So the only ones you've helped by doing what you did was them. Finally, your actions not only reflect on you, but your squad-mates and us all. You were unprofessional, arrogant, rude and a top-notch moron, and now I have to clean up the mess you made."

By the end of my tirade, the man had been reduced to a shuddering mess. Disgust was all I had for him right now. Movement behind me alerted me to the return of Duke's return with his Marine and one look told me that they had heard at least part of my dressing-down of the man. I shook my head, still furious.

"I think I've said all that I care to to the pair of you. You happy to stick with what we agreed, General?"

He nodded. "I think it will teach the pair of them a valuable lesson."

"Good." I gestured to the guard to release the Raider and he shuffled over to beside the other Marine.

"The pair of you are assigned to kitchen and latrine duty and whatever else we can come up for the next month, together, whatever shit-kicker duties we can come up with. The only reason you're not in a cell or worse is that we can't afford to waste people right now. So you two can free up someone who is actually better at dealing with reality to do your jobs. Report to the mess for orders." My voice dropped in temperature. "Now, get out of my sight."

Neither man took any convincing. Once they had gone, I slumped against the wall and looked across at Duke. "You'd think I was used to dealing with things like this. I'm sorry about this."

He shrugged, philosophical about the situation. "We both knew that this was going to be a problem. Better to deal with it now than let it fester."

"Yeah, like we don't have enough to worry about." I straightened. "We'd better get back to it. The Zerg aren't going to wait around for us to get ready for them."

After dealing with the Marines, we all found ways to keep ourselves occupied. I had quickly noticed on my return that she had disappeared and no oe was quite sure where she'd gone. It didn't take a genius to work out she was feeling more than a little out of place. Finally, I managed to work through enough of the mind-number minute details that were the bane of my job, shoved the rest off to Ros and Duke, who were very effusive with their thanks for the added workload, (or at least so I assumed, not staying long enough to actually understand precisely what they were yelling at me) and went looking for her. After a few minutes, I managed to find her at the top of a relatively private small hill, well inside our lines but not actually manned. I sat down, looking over the rather hellish landscape and Sarah slowly sat beside me. I gave her a soft smile.

"Been a hell of a time, these last few weeks."

She snorted. "You're telling me. If you'd told me two months ago that we'd be in this position, I'd have laughed you out of the airlock. But now…."

She shuddered and leaned in close, wrapping one of her arms and bone wings around me, careful to keep the very long and sharp claws that now ended her hands from piercing me. I followed suit, putting an arm around her shoulders. The pair of us stayed that way for a while, simply taking a degree of comfort from the other. While an observer might have thought that there was love between the pair of us, I knew that it was simply a sibling bond that we had forged through months of battles and shared experiences. She was the little sister I always watched out for, and I was the big brother she could count on to watch her back. No matter what else had changed, that had not. She chuckled slightly, evidently reading that much in my thoughts. Finally she spoke again.

"I'm scared, Jason."

"Can't say that I blame you, Sarah." I replied. "Still, I know I've said it before, but I don't think anyone else would be able to have gone through what you have, and still be sane. You're strong, stronger than you think, and not just because of your new choice in fashion, as awful as it is. I mean, really? Stilettos and body armour? What on earth was the Overmind thinking when he suggested that?"

She actually laughed, the kind of full-blown sound of pure delight and amusement that I hadn't heard from her in some time. She gave me a quick squeeze.

"Trust you to find the holes in other people's ideas."

I shrugged. "It's proven to be rather useful over time."

She nodded, her smile fading. "You do remember what you promised, don't you?"

I shivered. That was one conversation that I really wasn't keen on thinking about again. "Yes, Sarah. I know what I promised and I will stick to it. But if you expect me not to try to do everything else first to avoid that, then you're crazy."

"I know, but you may not have that option." She drew my attention towards her, looking into my eyes. "Don't ask me how I know, but I do know this. You are the only person that would be able to stop me. Not Nova, not Jim, not even Zeratul or Tassadar. You."

I snorted. "Those psionics of yours make that pretty unlikely, Sarah. That's a major advantage that you would have in any fight against me."

"Maybe, but you dealt with that Ghost well enough, despite that dis-advantage. If not for my bad timing, you'd have killed him."

I shook my head. "I'm not so sure of that. Something about that guy doesn't add up. He managed to take control of the Swarm, including the Overmind. No human Ghost is powerful enough to do that, not even you and Nova. Even the Protoss wouldn't be able to pull that off. So he either is a lot more powerful than anyone thinks, which is likely given what we've seen of him, or he had another means of control, a backdoor if you like, into the Swarm and the Overmind. Either way, he's a lot more dangerous than he seems. He took me lightly, and very nearly paid a high price for it. He won't make that mistake again, and if you and I were forced to fight each other, I doubt we'd take each other lightly either."

She inclined her head, conceding the point. "Still, there's no reason why you would have to face me in close combat. You're more than capable of finding an alternative way of dealing with me."

"I really don't like this fatalistic tone of yours right now."

She withdrew from me and gazed out over the landscape. "I can feel it, you know. The Overmind being pushed into a corner, slowly but steadily suppressed. I can feel, well whoever the hell that Ghost is, tightening his grip on the Swarm. The Overmind is fighting, but mostly his strength is being used to try and shield me from the effects, otherwise I'd have to fight a lot harder to stay in control. It's only a matter of time until the Overmind either succumbs or we manage to kill him. What happens then?"

That, I had to admit, was a very good question, and not one I really had an answer to. But it was something that I knew we would have to work out. She nodded, seeing my indecision.

"Still think that I'm being fatalistic?"

I sighed. "I can't blame you for feeling that way. I'm not even sure what I could do to stop it. But I do know that we won't let you fight it alone."

She smiled slightly. "I know. But this is one fight I'm not sure you can help me with."

"That isn't going to stop us, and you know it. Won't matter how long it takes, we'll find a way."

She nodded. "I know." She sighed. "Can you do something for me?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"I want to see if you can still keep up with me." She gave a small grin that I well remembered. I groaned, but got to my feet, helping her up.

"I couldn't beat you before. Not sure how you think I will now."

"I've got Zerg genes now, remember? You were holding back, because you were afraid of seriously hurting or killing me. Not so much of an issue now."

I shook my head. "Still don't think this is going to work out well for me." Still, I took up my position, sword ready. "Why close-combat, by the way?"

She shrugged. "I know you're good enough to take me at long range, and I'd never see it coming. Work on the weaknesses first."

I grimaced, then gazed at her, activating my psi-screen. I wasn't foolish enough to think I had a chance of a cinder in snow against her, but that didn't mean I wouldn't try. I took a moment to try and work out a tactic. If it was just her claws, then I would at least have the advantage of reach on her. But those wings, complete with nasty claw points, had a much longer range than my sword, so there, too, I was at a disadvantage. Still, she had to be getting used to her new body, so I might just stand a chance.

Without warning, she practically flew at me, claws and wings extended, almost faster than I could follow. The only things that saved me from losing there and then were the finely-honed combat instincts I had developed over years of practice and, I suspected, the fact that Sarah as pulling her punches. Barely ducking under the blow, I rolled, using my sword to deflect any blows Sarah might have tried. So much for her getting used to her new body.

I realised the only way I was going to stand a chance was with a plan, and I needed some distance to come up with one. Sarah, however, was having none of it, slashing and moving almost too fast to see.

It was official. I was well and truly screwed. Her speed was incredible, her strength unbelievable and her senses were evidently beyond exceptional.

Her senses...

In that instant, I had a plan. Granted, it wasn't much of a plan, but it was all I had. First, though, I had to distract her, take her by surprise. She obviously thought I'd be able to go harder on her. Time to test that.

Unleashing the guns built-in to my suit, I fired a quick burst across her face. She flinched back, shock apparent and stared at me. Evidently, she hadn't expected that. Taking advantage, I lashed out with a quick side kick against her leg, dropping her to one knee. I saw the wince of pain and her eyes lock onto mine. In that moment, I sealed my visor and lightly tossed the armed flash-bang I'd managed to draw in front of her face. The concussion sent the pair of us flying in opposite directions and I heard her scream, both in pain and fury. Staggering back to my feet, I looked around for her, but I couldn't see her. I was more than a little confused by that, until the realisation hit me.

Could she still cloak?

As I felt something slam into me, wrapping itself around and squeezing, I found my answer. Sarah de-cloaked in front of me, her wings wrapped around me and giving me absolutely no room to move. Her face was furious and alien and for a spilt second, I feared she'd lost control of herself. Suddenly she seemed to snap back, blinking in shock as she took the situation in. She released me instantly and turned away, her face ashen. I stepped up beside her as she started shaking.

"I nearly killed you." She whispered, horrified.

"No, you didn't." I argued.

"Jason, you can't know that. You can't know what-"

"What you were feeling?" I interrupted. "Oh, I know, Sarah. I saw your face and I saw you recognise everything for what it was. If you were going to kill me, you'd have done it. Even subconsciously, you realised I was a friend, despite what I tried on you." I grimaced. "I'm sorry about that."

"No, I'm the-"

I put a finger on her lips. "That's enough. I provoked a reaction and you reacted instinctively. But you stayed in control of yourself. You proved me right, Sarah Kerrigan. That, more than anything, is what matters." I drew her into a hug. "Never doubt yourself, because we never will." I cracked a grin. "Beside, that little embrace of yours was rather interesting. Think of what you could do with Jim like that."

She began to calm down as I talked and snorted at my last comment. "He would go for something like that, wouldn't he. I have to admit, that was a good idea of yours. It threw me off balance for a moment. You're getting better."

I chuckled. "We'll see." As we moved away, I saw her stiffen, and I knew it wasn't anything to do with our little duel. Her eyes went unfocussed, before looking back on to me.

"They're coming."

(Author's Note)

Finally! No, I'm not dead, just been an interesting few months. I've really got to kick myself back into gear on this, so I'll try to do better. Still, you've got a nice long chapter this time, longest I've ever done. I hope you all enjoy it.

Now, I know that bringing in new character this late is probably not best, but I've been planning this for some time, so I hope it works out for you all.

Now, reviews.

Matthew, yes Duke does seem to like crashing his cruisers, and he'll be crashing at least one more during this story.

EXpertUS, yes Zeratul's death did have a major impact, as did the loss of Shakuras. Did I like it? Not one bit. Will I follow the same path? Unlikely, but not impossible. Truth is, Zeratul and Selendis are my favourite Protoss characters, with Lasarra close behind, so I have no desire to kill them off. How I go when we get to LoTV, well that's ages away, so who really knows.

Silver, yeah, I loved writing that quote. Mass Effect is another good series and I pull some occasional things, like quotes, to put in. I've snuck a few others from various places into the story, including at least one Doctor Who reference. If you haven't spotted it, go back and find it, it's hard to miss.

Idea, I agree, that was one thing I hated about LoTV. Just as there's no Raiders without Jim, or Zerg without Kerrigan, there's no Protoss without Zeratul.

Capo, yep, I was bringing in others early, so why not him. Made sense, at least to me. As for the captured Ghost, she'll be around for a while too. I've tried to explain the reasoning behind not using the Arbiters, but really, as much as I want to get off Char, they had to be stuck there for a while to make everything else work.

Timber, thank you.

Sterata, thank you and you're welcome.

Uber, it's fine, I played LoTV shortly after and you didn't spoil too much for me. Still some plot holes, including what you mentioned, but no one is perfect, especially Blizzard.

Metalon, I certainly hope to. Zeratul's too much fun to have around.

Allen, I admit I was kind of keen to get to the action at that point. I've kind of slowed down and balanced it more now, possibly too far the other way, but I think it works at the moment.

Mudaship, Spectres will definitely be in the story, but probably not until WoL, given I don't want to bring in Tosh too early. Thanks for your follow-up PM and I hope I've answered your questions.

Darth, I did warn you. Expect to see Fry next chapter and tell him to make out his will.
As for the Vulture run, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I admit there is a bit of a problem with distance, but I think I've said before that the base did get moved to a more distant, but better strategic location. I might go back and edit it later on and make it clearer. I must admit, I expected you to pick up on Duran early, so nice to know I can fool you on occasion. The duel is OK, I guess, I might edit it later too, but thanks.
Now, Duran and the Overmind. Firstly, the Overmind is a construct of Amon's, so Amon likely has back-doors into its mind to control it. Secondly, Duran is not only a loyal and trusted servant of Amon, but also a Xel-Naga in his own right. Therefore, he has a fair amount of power, even outside the Void, and knowledge of how to control the Overmind. Does taking the Overmind over, for the most part, still sound that unlikely?
I did my best with Infested Sarah, but I do miss things on occasion. Hopefully, I've remedied that here, but I will keep it in mind. Sorry that Zeratul didn't get a look in here really, but I do like your idea and it will come up soon.

Dreddman, good to hear.

Oyshik, sorry I've taken so long, but real life does have a knack of meddling with things. Hope this is worth the wait.

Ok everyone, enjoy the chapter while I work on the next one.

Until next time.