Gate: Thus the Dominion Fought there
Disclaimer: I do not own Starcraft, Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There, or the characters associated with them. Starcraft is the property of Blizzard while Gate is the property Takumi Yanai
"Talking"
Thoughts
Gate 28
"You expect me to believe this non-sense!" as Zorzal angrily threw the battle report at one of his commanders.
"I swear your highness that it is the truth" the commander stuttered trying to keep his wits upon him.
"Do you think me a fool?!" Zorzal then shouted. "It's more likely that you ran away like a coward leaving your men behind so you can escape!"
"But I swear it's the truth!" as the commander still remembered the battle vividly. What he experienced horrified him.
Making adjustments to their strategy, the number of their forces were doubled. Including the monsters, it tripled their ranks as they made an all-out attack on a reconnaissance group. It didn't matter how strong these demi-humans were. Against their forces, they should have easily trampled them.
As noted in previous encounters, the Protoss would either run away at seeing their formidable army or give warning before fighting. The only reason they lost those battles was because they didn't have enough numbers on their side or these filthy demi-humans used some cowardly magic to route them. Yet that trick wouldn't have worked this time with how many were charging at them.
But that's when it happened.
A metal golem who was with these Protoss began to glow with blue light as it soon grew massive in size. At first, they believed it to be some illusion to scare them. But what emerged was unlike anything they had ever seen before.
The only way he could describe it was a giant metal spider. For its sheer size alone was enough to give the charging army pause as it stood taller than a mountain troll.
However, that was when the true terror started. The spider had opened two of its mouths as it breathed out fire like a dragon. No, it was worse than a dragon. The fire it breathed didn't even leave a body behind let alone bones.
Even their shields and armor offered them no protection against its attack. What kind of monster was it?!
As it began to march forward breathing out its flame, this was no longer a battle. It was a slaughter. Its blaze swerved back and forth cutting through their army without restraint.
Even though they had tried to fight back, it was protected with that same magic shield the Protoss used. Though he highly doubted they would've been able to pierce its metal hide.
Soon screams of pain and death echoed across the battlefield and it was this only one spider they were fighting.
Hopeless and helpless were the only two words that could be used to describe this battle.
The only reason why he and roughly a quarter of his army survived was by the grace of the gods when the Protoss spared them telling them to retreat or else there will be more death. Without a second thought they escaped that hellish scene.
Though they survived it didn't mean they came out of it unscathed.
However, lord Zorzal and his vassals had repeatedly told them that they were nothing more then dumb demi-humans who were only capable of some petty tricks. With enough numbers it should've been an easy victory. But yet after the fall of the three fortresses, there has been rumors and gossip that the Protoss were in truth the warriors of the gods themselves. With each defeat in fighting them, it only reinforced these opinions. There strength, skills, and magic were like the apostles. What other explanation was there? If so, would they not be incurring the wrath of the gods? Would they too face the same fate as Telta if they continue to antagonize them? For with each failed attack, it caused their morale to dwindle as few if any really wanted to fight them.
But even after hearing his sworn testimony, Zorzal's foul mood got the better of him. Signaling his oprichnina, they took him away to be executed.
"Wait! My lord! Give me another chance!"
Yet the arrogant prince did not care as he would not tolerate cowards like him in his army. "Gather my advisors! We shall discuss our next strategy!"
After a few minutes, his top advisors, generals, senators, nobles, and orprichnina were present in the war council as they debated what they should do next.
With the floor opened to any suggestions, much talk was being thrown around about how great they were. How the Protoss will fall before their might. How the Dominion will pay for dishonoring them. Hence most of the conversations were delusions of grandeur not that any of them would admit.
For the few productive conversations who have fought the Protoss firsthand didn't know how to face them.
Even their most recent strategy had failed. They had managed to lure some Protoss to a village in which they had replaced all the villagers with their soldiers. Even specially placed some siege weapons to bypass their magic shields. But regardless of how careful they were, these filthy demi-humans always seemed to know if it was a trap or not. Though the ambush was tripped early, they decided to go all in hoping to actually do some damage. But it ended in naught. The ballista had failed to pierce their magical shields. They had also avoided the pit fall traps they dug around the area. In the end, they suffered heavy losses only sparing the rest when they stopped fighting.
Listening to all these conversations, Zorzal was stewing in his anger as it was failures and setbacks one after the other.
First, they were running short on recruits. They had been drafting any able body young men from the local areas. However, the reach of his authority has been growing shorter with each miserable loss. His sister was being meddlesome making the Empire weak as more pro-war were joining her side. Either because his once allies had suffered too many losses or accepting the tax proposals to lessen burden on them. Some villagers had even abandoned their homes to get away from the fighting as they were brought into territories under Pina's control. If things progressed like this, they might get desperate enough to forcibly draft the thieves and bandits in the area.
Second was the less ideal shift in public opinion. Destroying some villages, they had spread lies that it was the doing of the Protoss in hopes of not only gaining public support but also willing recruits. Even telling such detailed stories of their horrors with a certain finesse and passion to light the fire of any commoner. But from what he heard; his claims were met with extreme scrutiny. How dare such plebeians question the authenticity of his word!
Third was the lack of response from the mercenary guilds. After putting up such a bountiful reward which were wealth, lands, and titles, those parasites did not want to get involved in this conflict. Though they gave him their reasons, he only saw them as cowards who enjoyed boasting of their skills with nothing to show for it.
And fourth was the one that angered him the most. Tried as hard as he did, he could not crush the title he had been given as he was being known as the prince of soil. Zorzal was absolutely livid at how some lowly commoner right now could be laughing at him because of it. But more then that was the filthy demi-human who made him suffer this disgrace. When he gets his hands on him, he will make him suffer a thousand folds for this humiliation.
Calling the council together, Zorzal wanted to vent as he refused to accept this as his failure. "Herm! Explain yourself! Are you not responsible for the formations of my forces! How will you take responsibility for these unacceptable losses?!"
Being put on the spot, Herm was silent. He once prided himself as one of the greatest tacticians the Empire had ever produced. Yet after burning through so many of their forces and wealth, he had no real results to show for it. He even started to hear whispers of others calling him stupid and incompetent after so many losses. Feeling a crack in his ego, he did the only thing men in his position could do. Push the blame to someone else. He even had the perfect scapegoat for that. "My lord! You must understand that this isn't entirely my fault! It is because of the lack of information that my plans always seem to fail. If anyone is truly at fault then it is due to Bouro and the incompetence of the Haryo tribe!"
Thus, the only thing most people like Zorzal and his ilk could agree on. If something was wrong, blame it on the demi-humans as everyone looked to the ugly pig man in the room.
Now the center of attention, Bouro was quite use to being the whipping boy. As irritating as it was, he just simply went through the motion of apologizing and groveling till they were placated. After all it was all just a means to an end. Once the Empire was sufficiently weakened, they would be able to easily take over as he will make all these humans pay for looking down on them. But it was disconcerting how powerful these Protoss were. However, he was aware of empress Pina's warning that so long as they do not challenge them, they will be left alone. Hence, they were a problem that can be postponed till another time.
~ Falmart ~
"So, this is the city of mages huh? It's beautiful!" said Mari.
After a few days after encountering the shadow guard they had arrived at Rondel. One of the greatest cities in Falmart as it was mostly occupied by mages. Although similar in architecture to the rest of their world, the atmosphere here felt different. This was a place where differences didn't matter as everyone here were pursuers of knowledge.
To the Terrans, it had a very university feel to it with debates occurring around every corner. Papers of research notes littered everywhere. Even some walls were scribbled on as you can see mages along every street.
"So where to first?" Milo asked.
"Accommodations" Lelei answered. "We will be here for a while. So best to get some rooms. But it will take some time" as the street was not designed efficiently as vehicles and walking paths were one and the same.
"I'll take it from here" said Rory. "I know just the right inn. Yao, come along" as the two disembarked and went to reserve their rooms.
After finally getting through the crowd, they rented out some stables to park their vehicles just as Rory and Yao returned. Combining the magics of Lelei, Tuka, and Rory, they made sure no one would be bothering their vehicles while they were there.
Settling their stuff at the inn, the group entered the main area where mages generally conducted their research. With how volatile some magic could be, the inner workings of the city were designed with that in mind. Several thick and high walls sectioned as quarantines for blast zones for some over zealous or reckless mage.
Arriving at some back-alley place, Lelei knocked only to receive an angry reply. "If you're here to collect the bills, don't bother! We don't have any money!"
"It's Lelei".
"Oh my oh my" as the door popped open to reveal an elderly happy go lucky woman, "It's Lily!"
"I'm Lelei" she corrected.
"I know, but Lily is just cuter" as she started to pet Lelei's head. "Welcome! So, you came all the way here. The rest of you, come in as well. So, you're here for the examination? Isn't it a little too soon? Is Cato going senile?"
Reaching into her pouch, "here" as Lelei handed her the recommendation.
Reading it carefully, "I see so that's what it is. You're guaranteed to skip a grade with this. Arpeggio will turn green with envy".
"Where is she?"
"That's . . . . A bit complicated to explain. Come, let's grab something to eat as we will discuss it over a meal".
Going to a local diner, the woman in question was Mimoza La Mer. A great sage and one of the elders of Rondel. She was also the mentor of Arpeggio, Lelei's step sister and her constant rival since they got into the magical arts. Unlike her sister, Arpeggio focused her research into mineral magic which was rather costly and thus was constantly living hand to mouth just to keep studying and make ends meet.
But something interesting had happened recently as a mysterious mage had wandered into Rondel. With the knowledge and magic he had; he easily turned the city into an uproar. Since his arrival everyone wanted to consult with the great sage. Others even wished to mentor under him. However, this sage was rather reclusive. Even offering gold coins were not enough to get his attention. But he seemed to be interested in trade. Offer him some of your research and he will point you in the right direction to where your research should go.
Of course, there was skepticism. But his wisdom proved invaluable as a few of his words helped several mages jump over months or even years of studying in mere days.
Even Arpeggio was curious about the sage. After hearing his wisdom, her research started to bare fruit and thus whenever possible would go to consult him.
"Is the sage really that great?" Lelei asked as her interest was now piqued.
"Yes" Mimoza nodded. "We have never seen talent like his before. He could very well lead us into a new realm of magic".
Charmed by that aspect, the young mage prodigy now wanted to meet him.
"By the way" Mimoza smiled as she looked to Rory. "I wish to discuss the results of the homework you gave me".
"By all means, what did you discover about the origins of all the species?"
"Can I sit in on this?!" said Jake excitedly.
Dahl could only sigh. "You guys better go ahead. We are going to be here for a while".
Leaving it as is, the rest of the group got up as they accompanied Lelei. Asking around, they got directions to where they could find the great sage. Arriving to the area, the line surprisingly took up an entire block for those who wanted to meet him.
For some conversations in the crowd, "the sage is amazing!"
"He helped me discover a new possible formulation!"
"I need him to double check my work before I get it submitted!"
Hearing these glowing reviews, Lelei just had to meet him now.
Getting in line, "Lelei?!"
Turning to look, it was an older girl with a more developed figure with a surprised look on her face.
"Arpeggio" as Lelei acknowledged her.
"What are you doing here?! And why are you wearing those robes?!"
"I'm here to take the exam to become a sage" she answered rather stoically. "As for why I'm here specifically, I wish to meet the sage that everyone has been talking about".
The older mage could only give a bitter look as she stared at her step sister. Why was there such a massive disparity between them in terms of talent and opportunity?
They were pretty even since the time she left to study under Cato. Then the invasion happened with the people of iron. For a time, things seemed pretty stable. But then she heard rumors of a mage who had defeated a demi-god in which it was supposedly her sister. Of course, she had waved it off at first. But then the message of the gods was heard before the Wraith of Flare, and there was Lelei who stood amongst them.
Combining everything she knew and heard, Lelei had a once in a lifetime opportunity as she was learning from them attaining knowledge and power that was beyond their comprehension.
But it wasn't just knowledge and power, she also possessed great wealth and prestige.
Her robes were made of fine material and tailored in such a fancy way. Even her staff looked exceedingly expensive. How many gold coins did it cost to craft such items? Even a lingering thought crossed her mind if she could spare a few for her destitute older sister.
As for her group, they looked like professional guards. Must be the perks of having the title of hero. How did she even get an elf and a dark elf to follow her?
Having these bitter thoughts weigh on her, she needed to start producing results. She couldn't allow herself to fall any further behind to Lelei. It was her pride as an older sister after all.
Waiting in line awkwardly, they eventually found themselves in the front as Lelei allowed her to go first.
Arpeggio had quite a few questions to ask the great sage. If things turned out well, she will have her answer and allow herself to be a sage putting her back on the same standing as Lelei. At meeting the great sage again, he was unlike any demi-human she had ever seen before. However, such things were irrelevant in Rondel. At this moment, he seemed to have been casually reading some books that were offered to him as there were stacks of it all over the room. Even using his mysterious magic as screens of light seemed to have been floating around him.
"Great sage!" as Arpeggio gave him the highest of etiquette she could muster. "Thank you for bestowing me some of your time!" as she kneeled showing respect. But unlike last time, the great sage instead of responding to her just looked past her. What was he looking at?
"Karax?!" as Arpeggio heard shouts of surprise.
"Ahh! Friend Terrans! What brings you here?"
"Holy Hannah!" Milo explained. "You were here this entire time?!"
"Artanis has been looking all over the continent for you" said Shino. "The Daelaam has been kicking over every rock trying to find you!"
"Is that so?" as Karax gave a pensive look. "My apologies for causing such worries. I initially did try to find my way back. But then I started discovering many interesting things to study that I kind of lost track . . . ." as the phasesmith murmured off.
As this exchange was happening, Arpeggio could only stare blankly. "What's going on here? Do you guys know each other?"
~ Outer space ~
The battlecruiser Belphegor was off charting out the local star system. Now obviously this wasn't the kind of job you would send a military ship to do. Of the many types of Terran ships, some were built specifically for that purpose with better long-range scanning equipment and F.T.L. capabilities.
Such jobs even had nice perks as discovery of habitable planets or those rich in resources got quite the healthy cut of the profits. If you were lucky, you might even have the privilege of naming it. Though they were working for the Dominion military, the same rule still applied as those on the ship would simply share the profits of suck discoveries. Emperor Valerian was quite generous in sharing such wealth.
But in the end, this was essentially busy work till the higher ups figured out what they wanted to do. Thus, why they were only a few star systems away from Falmart.
Recently dropping out of warp space, the Belphegor was in it's cool down period as it was performing it's routine long range scan adding to it's star map.
However red lights started to blare as loud beeping could be heard.
"What is going on?" the captain asked.
"Warp rift detected. Something big is coming" answered a technician.
"Is it Protoss?"
"Not sure yet sir, preliminary readings are still coming in". But soon more blaring lights started to flash as the color from the technician's face turned pale. "Oh my god, Zerg bio signs detected! Leviathan class confirmed!"
"Leviathan class?!" as the captain shouted.
Dropping out a few kilometers away, a Zerg the size of a city dropped out of F.T.L.
"What is something like that doing here?!" as the captain tried to get his thoughts straight. Even with the latest innovations of the gorgon class battlecruiser, it was no match against a Zerg leviathan. This lifeform was an entire hive packed into one giant monster with additional offensive and defensive capabilities. There were not nearly enough weapons on this ship alone to put a dent in such a creature. It would take a sizable fleet just to take one on and that was if they were lucky.
Just recalling the horrors of a leviathan, he was there when the Zerg invaded Augustgrad during the reign of Arcturus. He could still remember millions of those oversized bugs falling from the skies hitting the planet below. Planetary defenses and orbital weapon platforms killing them by the millions as more just kept on coming as their numbers looked limitless.
The full strength of the Dominions fleet went to stop them as they came face to face with the leviathans. But even after throwing their full might at them, it just wasn't enough as their extreme mass and heavy fire power was just too strong. It was later that he learned that it was only by the grace of emperor Valerian's negotiation with the Queen of Blades that the casualties were kept at a minimum.
"Helmsmen! Tactical jump now! Get us out of here!" the captain ordered.
"No good sir! The system is locked as we need a few minutes to make a safe jump! I'll try to override the protocols!"
Quickly moving to his holo-table, a bead of sweat slid down the side of his face as the sensors panned out as it saw everything that was coming at them.
An entire swarm of scourges as data of it appeared. These small creatures were extremely lethal against ships. It only took a few to take out a capital vessel which was a testament to its destructive power.
"We might not even have a few minutes" the captain whispered to himself. Going over to comms, "all crew to battle stations! I repeat! All crew to battle stations! Zerg swarm inbound!"
At that call, blast shields started closing around any open ports of the ship. Meanwhile crewmen went to their designated areas. Some manning S.C.V.s to help with repairs. Gunnery crew and combat mechanics for maintenance or resupplying where it was needed. Pilots ready for the order to sortie. Plus, the medical bay as there were going to be injuries.
"Send out all our air units! But keep them close to the ship within the defense of our guns! Have all batteries and turrets go for wide spread! The fly boys will take out anything that tries to get though!"
Acknowledging the command, gun turrets, laser batteries, and missile turrets took aim.
Wraiths, vikings, and liberators soon flew out of the hangers as they maintained a tight defensive formation around the ship.
For this was going to be a battle of attrition as they made a tactical retreat at sub-light speed. They just needed time to escape from the area.
But time was not something they had as the attack was under way.
The first wave of scourges was on top of them as the Belphegor as her crew engaged.
Now at first it might not seem like much with the first waves. But that was the biggest mistake when fighting the Zerg. Never face them on their terms. There were limits to their weapons and personnel.
The crew were racing around as organized as possible to keep the guns and missiles loaded. Meanwhile, other units were forced to return for either repairs or replenishment of ordinance. They needed to work quickly as speed was the difference between life or death. For ships that were too heavily damaged immediately returned to the hanger bay while those that had minor damage would be repaired and resupplied by waiting S.C.V.s on the hull of the ship.
But each second lost meant casualties.
"There are too many of them!"
"I'm hit!"
"Breach here imminent!"
Bridge crew did there best to sort through the intense influx of information giving instructions accordingly to best optimize the general strategy.
The captain at this time had not stopped coordinating his forces as he watched intensely how the battle was flowing. One squadron had now been wiped out, but some still had a beacon lit. "Send any available rescue crafts to pull them back to the hanger!" But because of the hole in their defense, scourges had managed to get through. "All hands! Brace for impact!"
Suicide bombing the battlecruiser, shock and vibrations rocked the entire ship. Overloads surged through the vessel as conduits exploded resulting in several crewmen being injured.
"Status!"
"Breaches on several decks! Reallocating energy into shield emitters to buy time to evacuate crewmen! Sealing off decks once full evacuation is made!"
"Starboard gun turrets are down! Sending S.C.V.s for immediate repairs!"
"Damage to conduits! Unable to resupply power to laser batteries!"
After a few more moments of this hellish battle, "Time helmsmen?!"
"One more minute before tactical jump!"
"Order all fighters and S.C.V.s back to the ship! Allocate any available power into the shields!"
With their defenses significantly lessened, the scourges were closing on them.
Buying just a few more precious seconds, several nuclear ordinances were launched as bursts of light, heat, and radiation burned for just an instant within the coldness of space. But even after such a powerful explosion, the scourges continued to fly towards them.
Enduring the assault for seemed like an eternity, "initiating tactical jump!" as the ship had disappeared from that solar system.
Reappearing elsewhere, much of the crew who weren't sitting, seat belted, or latched onto something were knocked off their feet. The captain was one of them as he unsteadily pulled himself up rubbing his head after hitting the floor so hard. Giving a few light coughs, "status".
"Severe damage on the exterior hull".
"Defense systems are down".
"Several warp drives have been damaged".
"Based on it's position, do we know where it's going?" asked the captain.
"Running simulation now sir".
As the computer started running the scenarios, the rest of the crew started licking their wounds as the badly injured were brought to the medical bay, S.C.V.s got to work plugging the damage, and other screw helped trying to stabilize life support and artificial gravity as they were weightless for moments at a time while breathing was getting a bit difficult.
"Sir, I got some bad news".
"Let's hear it".
"Based on the margin of probability it's headed right towards Falmart".
At hearing this alarming news, the captain couldn't be sure if this was some random fluke chance of a feral Zerg or an actual attack by them. But regardless, "can we warn them?"
"No sir. Our sub-space communications were knocked out".
"How long is the estimated time to it's arrival?"
"A day. Maybe two at most".
"Then I want all available hands working on getting communication back online. We need to get the message out before it's too late!"
"Yes sir!"
For now, all the captain could do was pray. Against a primitive world like that, they had no real defense against what was coming. With the Terran and Protoss forces unaware, it was beyond imagining how bad the damage was going to be. Closing his eyes taking a calming breath, "please . . . . Let us make it . . . ."
To be continued . . . .
Author's notes: Hope this chapter was OK. Now onto some commentary.
Super shout out to MadClawDragon for the ideas that went into the creation of this chapter.
The only measure of success the pro-war side in canon was miniscule either with forcing the JSDF to retreat or causing some injuries/death. However, it costed them heavy losses to point of absurd that any person with half a brain would know that was not a worthwhile trade. Against the Protoss, wave tactics like that wouldn't work due to the huge tech differences between them and the JSDF. Especially when they have weapons and abilities for crowd control. If anyone didn't understand the description, that was a purifier colossi tearing the pro-war army a new one.
As for the discussions that happened, also pretty much illustrates how up their own butts they are in terms of their ignorance/arrogance in seeing this was a losing war and they should have just cut their losses. But that's pride for you. One of the biggest killers there is.
Yes, as some had guessed Karax was at Rondel having wondered there. With his knowledge and technology, what mage wouldn't want to talk to him? But as noted, there doesn't seem to be any racial issues in the city as you see different races from all over the continent there getting along just fine.
From what I understand of the Zerg leviathan, it's pretty much a hive in itself. I'd also imagine that if the Zerg were able to mass produce them, they could have easily conquered the galaxy. But I'd also imagine that creating one takes an extreme amount of time, energy, and resources to make hence why there aren't so many of them.
The next chapter will be more or less idle talk about side characters and what other folks are thinking with the way the world is becoming as of late.
If there are any questions or concerns feel free to ask as I'll try to answer them.
So thank you for reading as I further extend my gratitude if you can review as well.