-Chapter 37-


-Eye of the Storm-

-Gantrithor Bridge-

Tassadar and Artanis, stood in the Gantrithors bridge with Fenix and the others displayed on multiple holo-screens.

"Executor," Fenix stated." Our plan worked perfectly. The Zerg defenses are broken, and the way to the Overmind is laid bare. The time for our stand has come."

"Indeed," stated Tassadar." My friends, this is our final hour. Not all of us may survive the coming conflict. Yet death may be a blessing should we fail here. We seek to destroy a foe that has ravaged it's way across the galaxy consuming all in its path. And now it has reached the end of its long journey. The Overmind has come to destroy all that we hold dear and assimilate us into itself. And I say to thee, this shall not come to pass! Aiur shall not fall. Executor, I stand ready!"

"As do I." said Zeratul, the other Dark Templar at his back.

"I'll be joining this little party." said Raynor. "Guess It's time to see this through to the end. The Zerg have taken everything from me. My home, my world, my friends. I know that nothing I do can bring them back, but i'll be damned if I just sit on my hands and wait for the end. And all my men feel the same." off screen roaring and cheering. "I and my guys and gals want a piece of'em. Me and my Hyperion will be joining you all on the surface for this fight. And no butts Haruka i'm doing this!"

On screen Haruka shrugged saying nothing.

"Then let our actions speak for us!" roared Tassadar. "For Adun! For Aiur!"


-Surface of Aiur, Zerg Controlled Xel'naga Temple-

Nova walked the stone-metal hybrid halls of the ancient building. Her clawed feet echoing as she went deeper into the structure. She stopped at a large door with a small spiral insignia chest high. She placed a clawed hand on it and felt a small prick, slowly taking her hand off it as it glowed in a spiral pattern. The insignia retracted into the door as it split open and parted. The chamber beyond like all the others she had opened for the Overmind held a khaydarin crystal and glyphic script along the walls depicting various characters. But the ones in this room seem to be far more intriguing than the others. Nova didn't want to believe it at first but as she read the text and glyphs, (having learned from the Overmind) she saw that each one represented people she knew. Kerrigan, Raynor, Herself and her Terran family, even the Overmind and its current actions were all depicted on the wall. It was as if the Xel'naga who built this structure knew all that would come to pass. Looking to the last part of the writing Nova saw characters representing several Protoss, two Terrans their fleets and armies all fighting against the Overmind and its swarm. The out come of this fight was not shown as that part was taken up by a massive creature that Nova could only call a dragon. It was depicted standing alone so what it's meant to mean or represent Nova could not tell.

Hearing a noise from behind Nova turned back seeing one of the Overminds tentacles reaching into the chamber. It extracted the Khaydarin crystal and retracted back from where it came. Nova jerked her head to the left sensing through the Zerg hive mind that a large battle had erupted close by. A fleet of ten Carriers warped too Aiur's surface bombarding several Hive clusters to the southeast. To the northwest a Terran ship Nova recognized as the Hyperion entered the atmosphere and did the same clearing the way for a beachhead.

"Father, I'll deal with the Terrans and Protoss." stated Nova.

"I will deal with the Templar. My evolution is not yet complete, but soon will be." projected the Overmind.


-Templar Beachhead-

Artanis Carriers sweeped all aside as they took the area from the Zerg. Dozens of Probes and several Observers flew out of the hangers to the ground below. The Executor narrowed his eyes at the sight before him. Across the great expanse of flatland to where the Xel'naga templar stands He saw a great dome of swarming Behemoths orbiting around the Overminds cocoon. And above them was a upside down tornado of thousands of Scourges all flying out of the atmosphere to attack Selendis and Harukas fleets. While those two deal with the enemy in orbit and Fenix and Ko'toss would deal with enemy reinforcements on land. Leaving Artanis, Tassadar and Raynor to deal with the Overmind directly.

Artanis looked over at Tassadar standing beside him.

"Hopefully this will be the last battle we fight in a long time." said the Executor.

Tassadar nodded. "Truly that would be a blessing."

A holo-screen blinked on showing Aldaris with a reluctant expression.

Executor, Tassadar. This comes too late to you. But the Conclave has witnessed your defeat of the Cerebrates. They know now that they can not deny the necessity or valiancy of your actions. We sought to punish you while it was we who were in error. You represent what is greatest in us all, and all our hopes go with you. EN TARO- ADUN, brave sons of Aiur!

Meanwhile to the northwest Raynor watched the transmission.

"Wow. Does that mean they're going to send some back up for us?" Raynor asked sarcastically.

"We could only hope?" said Horner standing across the tactical table from Raynor.

"Let's get building so we can march on the closest Hive-cluster." said Raynor as he looked on the tactical table making decisions.

"We've got a force of Ultralisks and Zerglings coming in from the south!" reported Horner.

"Send the Kestrels out. And get the Wraiths on patrol. I want air dominance out there." ordered Raynor.

In the lower hangers located in the Hyperion neck section Kestrel and Wraiths pilots hopped into their cockpits strapping in. Their engines thrummed as the hanger doors opened revealing the desolated landscape beyond. The Wraiths gravity control units activated allowing them to hover in the air. The ceiling clamps holding them off the deck released and they jetted out the hanger followed by the Kestrels. The Wraiths flew higher while the Kestrels flew along the ground going as fast and as low they could. Thanks to the new telemetry(data) sharing system all units in the field shared their sensor data allowing the low flying Kestrels to see what the Wraiths high above could see without going through the commander first. The horde of Ultralisk and Zerglings stampeded closer to the Terrans base they heard the roaring of engines in the distance. The Ultralisk roared aiming its spore cannons at the approaching enemies and fired. It was quickly joined by all the other Zerg casting their spores into the air to shoot down the approaching enemy aircraft.

The Wraiths flying high up saw this and the data was swiftly relayed to the Kestrels. Seeing the storm of projectiles flying his way a Kestrel pilot banked right followed by all the rest. They flew several miles to the side flanking the barrage of Spores and closed in on the Zerg army as they shot in the wrong direction a moment. But by the time they corrected their aim it was too late.

"Let's burn'm all!" stated a Kestrel pilot pressing his bomb release button.

The Kestrels bomb bays opened releasing six cluster bombs onto the Zerglings below. The bombs split open releasing thousands of tiny bomblets each filled with napalm. The thousands of bomblets scattered all over the Zergs position igniting in a field of fire. The Zerg burned and screamed as their bodies melted from the burning gel covering their bodies. The rest of the Kestrels passed over head dropping their own ordinance, and all together turning several miles of land into a sea of fire several miles wide. Most of the Zerg including several Ultralisks died leaving only a token force to continue onwards.

From the Hyperion Raynor observed all this with a stern expression.

"Let's get a base up and running so we can get at those underground resource depots Tassadar told us about. Well need the resources to restock ammo and everything else," ordered Raynor.

"Yes sir," replied Horner.


-Artanis Base to the Southeast-

Photon cannons warped in as the unrelenting Zerg sent wave after wave at the Templar forces protecting the landing zone. The Fleet of five Carriers above fired their weapons in all directions as they were attacked on all sides by Mutalisk and Scourges distracting them from aiding the Templar on the ground. Type 2 Blaster Pylons warped in reinforcements from the main fleet in orbit who even now fought alongside the Terrans fleet as they held off the majority of the Zergs remaining space forces. The damaged systems of the orbital rings facilities did their best to aid the fleets with long ranged fire from their Tachyon spires but the heavy damage taken from the long drawn out battle with the Zergs fleets had taken its toll on them. But even still the few Templar left to man the rings defenses and systems did their best to aide in the defense of Aiur while keeping the orbital ring intact lest it fall onto the planet.

A new Zerg force consisting of Hydralisk, Queens, Defilers and Guardians approached from the central hive cluster. Artanis countered with a group of type 1 Blaster Pylons floating over a elevated hill with direct line of sight to the valley below. The Blaster Pylons sighted in on the new enemy force focusing on the Guardians opening fire. Their beams launched over the terrain cutting into the Guardians carapace from miles of distance. The Guardians scattered evading and counter attacking as best they could but most of the beam fire still struck them. Each Guardian died from two to three hits and once they were all gone the Blaster Pylons fire was directed to the Zerg ground forces forcing them to scatter and flee or burrow from the long range fire.

With that threat dealt with for now Artanis focused on establishing a beachhead while Tassadar dealt with the aerial threats. Artanis selected a area to warp in several more Pylons along with Tachyon spires. The Probes warped them in and the defenses swiftly opening fire on the Mutalisks and Scourges swarming over head. Their beams sliced through the Mutalisk and Scourges killing many with each blast. The Scourges counter attacked focusing on the new defenses, but as they did dozens of Photon cannons came on line and filled the sky with their energy bolts clearing the Scourges from the skys.

Gateways and Stargates warped in and with them more reinforcements of Zealots, Dragoons Reavers and Shield Reavers. All together they pushed the Zerg forces and the battlelines back-words. Probes warped in more Pylons from across the empire along with Photon cannons and more Tachyon spires expanding the defenses. The Executor was feeling confident in his progress. But then as if to undo all of that, four Behemoths warped in from out of know where directly over the base. They attacked the Carriers above them while dropped sacs filled with Zerg on the Executors base below.

Tassadar refocused several of his ships to kill the Behemoths opening fire on them while Artanis dealt with the newly Landed Zerg. Hydralisk attacked fiercely launching spines and spores at any Zealots they could as the Templar chased Zerglings down who were running around randomly attacking any target of opportunity they could get their claws on. Mostly Probes and Pylons. It was obvious to both Tassadar and Artanis that this was only a distraction meant to keep them busy. But at the same time if the attacking Zerg were not a joke and needed to be put down lest they do enough damage to significantly slow the Templars progress.

Though Artanis was a Executor he still felt the desire to fight with his Templar on the front lines, and this battle was no different. Artanis gave orders in rapid succession redirecting squads of Zealots and Dragoons to intercept the rampaging Zerglings and Hydralisk as they attacked anything they could. Several groups of Zerg were cut off, wiped out or lead into traps by carefully maneuvered Zealots and eliminated one at a time as Artanis temporarily redirected Photon cannon fire from the air to ground threats. Meanwhile in the sky the Behemoths fell from the sustained attacks as Tassadar's ships burning through their defenses, striking lethal blows. As the Behemoths died they landed on several buildings dealing significant damage, but it could be repaired. The corpses were a inconvenience but little else as the Executor rebuilt his defenses and replaced his Probes and Dragoons lost in the attack but no major damage was taken.

"Executor a massive wave of Zerg is in coming!" Tassadar warned.

Artanis scrolled his holo-screen to the north west sighting a massive army of Zerg several miles wide all marching in unison and organized formation taking advantage of each unit.

"I see them Tassadar. It seems that the Overmind is getting serious. I was wondering when it would begin fighting seriously."

"Indeed. Let us fight well, and to the bitter end," said Tassadar.


-Hyperion-

The ship shook as it took multiple impacts from Guardians circling around it. The ships laser turrets blazed firing crimson beams that burned through the carapace of the organic bombers bringing some of them crashing down. On the ground below Marines, Goliaths, Siege tanks, Bunker-turrets and Anti-air towers unleashed a barrage of projectiles at the Zerg attacking from the air and land.

"Shit-shit-shit!" exclaimed sergeant littlefield as he fired into a charging horde of Zerglings.

The creatures had died in such great numbers many of their corpses had already formed into small semi-circle wall around the Terran base.

"Reloading!" Littlefield shouted.

He reached behind his back to his spare ammo packs but found none. Realizing he was completely out of ammo. With a grunt of dissatisfaction and some fear he looked back to a literal pile of ammo a automated SCV had placed a few dozen meters behind him. Shouldering his rifle he walked back to the boxes and restocked sliding a fresh double drum mag into his Impaler rifle, chambering a fresh round. Looking back to the firing line set between four bunkers he already knew that their ammo reserves won't last if this keeps up.

"Raynor!" Littlefield said over the radio. "I hope you got a plan to make more progress quickly or else were going to run out of ammo faster then the Zerg will run out of bodies to throw at us!"

"I know I know. I'm working on it!" Raynor replied.

On Raynors end he and Horner were frantically ordering their forces around near constantly countering Zerg flanking attacks and aerial strikes on all sides.

"But there's too damn many of them! I've never seen this many Zerg before... Give us a minute will you." Raynor cut the line as he gave orders to a group of Siege tanks to redirect their fire to a incoming group of Ultralisks.

The Siege tanks and Ultralisks exchanged fire with the Ultralisks charging as they fired back. Then a series of large red beams rained down from the sky combining with the artillery bombardment. The Ultralisks fell one by one to the combined attack. The last one dropping just a half-mile from the base defensive line.

Raynor breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close. Matt how's our expansion doing?"

Across from Raynor Matt Horner gave a series of commands both on the touch screen and verbally.

"It's going well. The resource cache Tassadar told us about was a jackpot and should tie us over for a while. And the defenses are holding so... shit!"

Raynor looked at what was wrong spotting three medium sized mixed groups of Zerg closing in on the expansion base from three directions.

"I'm getting Zerglings, Hydralisk, Defilers, Ultralisk and a few Queens in that group." Horner reported.

"Commander Raynor two Behemoths spotted coming right at our main base from the west!" reported a crewmate.

Raynor and Horner cursed under their breath.

"Turn the ship around and charge the Yamato cannon!" Raynor ordered.

The Hyperion slowly pivoted around while the Behemoths accelerated towards the Terrans. The living bio-ships deploying flocks of Mutalisks and Scourges while firing super heavy spores and spines from its carapace mounted symbiotes. The Hyperions energy levels rose as it focused all of its forward mounted turrets on the new threats blasting away with its lasers.

"Commander two more Behemoths coming in from the east!" again reported a crewmen.

"Fuck!" cursed Raynor. "It's a trap. Well may as well shoot the ones in front down first."

The Hyperions weapons fired and fired shooting down dozens of Mutalisk and Scourges every second as its main weapon charged up. Then the rear turrets fired on the enemy Mutalisks and Scourges coming in from the east. The Ships weapons and targeting systems and crew were pushed to the limit as a dozens of Scourges broke through the point defenses striking the Hyperion on all sides. But the armor held with minimal damage thanks to the Psi-plating reinforcement the Dominion fleet got recently. Raynor and Horner held onto the tactical table as the ship shook from all the impacts.

"Where's that Yamato?" Raynor exclaimed.

"Yamato fully charged!" reported a crewmen.

"Then target one of those big bastards in front and fire!" explained Raynor.

Giant hull plates on the Hyperions nose slid apart exposing a giant barrel glowing with energy. A moment later it discharged shooting a bolt of screaming energy towards one of the Behemoths. In the fraction of seconds the Barnacle layer covering the Behemoths carapace burned and sizzled away followed by the carapace. The bolt of superheated ionized plasma just cut through the Behemoth instantly incinerating its insides as it passed in one end and out the other. The smoking and internally charred Behemoth fell from the sky quickly slamming into the ground.

"How much longer till the next shot?" asked Raynor.

"Not long sir. The ship got a overhaul while you were on Char so we don't have to wait as long." replied the crewmate.

"That wasn't a answer sailor!" said Raynor.

The crewmate in charge of firing the Yamato pulled the trigger of his control stick shaking the ship once again. On the display screens the second Behemoth coming from the west died like the first. The Yamato cannon was originally developed for the extreme ranges in outer space so the distances on a planet were practically at point blank range for the weapon allowing its damage to be far more the intended.

"That answer your question sir?" replied the gunner.

"Yes it does." replied Raynor. "Now swing us around so that we can deal with the other two! (Shaking from impact)"

The other two Behemoths closed in from the Hyperion's rear firing on the Terran ships stern(rear) with everything they had striking the Ships engines creating secondary explosions and causing the Hyperion to list to one-side.

"Engines 2 and 3 hit," a crew men reported. "gravity stabilizing systems unbalanced. Aiming the Yamato will be impossible now!"

Raynor and Horner cursed again.

"Move the ship to the south or well crash into the base below us!" shouted Raynor.

"All missile pods fire!" ordered Horner.

As the Hyperions missile pods opened unleashing volleys and volleys of homing missiles on the Behemoths and their escorts the Hyperion slowly drifted south while deploying its landing struts. It dropped lower and lower as the crew struggled to keep the ship level until touching down. The ship, everyone and everything on it jerked violently at it touched down on the great flat plans a mile south from the base.

Raynor groaned sitting on his be-hind, reaching up to the tactical table he pulled himself up. On the other side Horner held his head some blood dripping from a gash on his forehead. The rest of the crew moaned in various states of pain and minor injury but no one died or suffered serious injury.

"Status?" Raynor asked.

The bridge crew checked the ships condition.

"Engineering and engines are yellow. Their repairable but it will take a while."

"Life support is green."

"Weapons are green."

"Landing gear integrity yellow. Minor torque damage has been sustained but they'll hold. Damage across the ships primary hull armor is still almost non-existent but anywhere that's not psi-reinforced has sustained moderate damage That psi-plating upgrade is really something." stated the crewmate.

"Agreed," Raynor stated with a grin. "But what about the Behemoths?"

"The missile barrage took out all of their Scourge and Mutalisk escorts but the Behemoths are still incoming right towards us." reported a crewmate.

"Given their focus I guess they plan on crashing into us!" stated Horner.

"Why does that not surprise me." stated Raynor. " And whats the states of the expansion base?"

The Hyperion shutterd and shook from several direct hits. Raynor looked down on his screen seeing that the Expansion base was under siege from the three Zerg groups but was holding its own for the moment.

"We got help them or well suffer heavy casualties!" exclaimed Raynor, thinking.

There were a few moment's silence before a crackling of the radio brought a renewed hope.

"Do ya need a bita help boys!"

The voice was that of a woman's who neither Raynor nor Horner had met before.

"Who is this?" asked Matt Horner.

High above two Terran Battle-cruisers with spikes along their hull as decoration and some pink coloring baring a white triple pointed spiral throwing star insignia descended through the atmosphere.

"The names Mira Han. My employer a big wig from the new Dominion government hired us to give you guys some extra help with this little war you got going on. Besides this Overmind sounds bad for business. Can't have my future employers killed and infested no can I."

The two battlecruiser's slowed their descent and pivoted aiming their noses at the two Behemoths miles below them and fired their Yamato cannons. The twin energy bolts shot downwards blasting straight through Behemoths backs and into the ground below producing twin mushroom clouds. The clouds enveloped the falling Behemoths as the corpses crashed landed.

Mira Hans ships slowed down launching a barrage of missiles at the Zergs forces besieging the expansion base to the east. In minutes the siege was broken and the base was safe along with the resources buried underground. A screen on the Hyperions bridge blinked on showing Mira han and another blond haired woman with steel like eyes standing behind her.

"Thanks for the assistance. Help from mercs was the last thing I expected," Raynor admitted.

"Don't worry about payment." Mira said crossing her legs as she sat on her captains chair. "We were already compensated in advance. We also brought a few new toys for you from the Dominion."

On Raynors screen ten Dropships from Mira Hans ships landed at His main base off loading dozens of vehicles Raynor had never seen before. They looked like a hovering four sided diamond with a double barreled rail gun turret mounted on their backs.

"Their called Diamondback AFVs(armored fighting vehicle)," Horner chimed in. "Their prototype weapons developed by the Confederacy before they fell. After the Confederacy fell the Dominion found them and put them into further development and altered the design for mass production. You didn't hear about them because the development wasn't completed till a week ago." Matt explained.

"Lets put them to work then," stated Raynor. "Anything I should know about them?"

"There basically a faster more maneuverable, direct fire version of the Siege tank." explained Horner. "In their deployed mode their rate of fire in increased, but it does make them more vulnerable. Especially since they lack the Siege tanks armor."

Raynor smiled.

"I already have a few ideas for them."

Raynor ordered the Diamondbacks to patrol the area south of his main base while moving nine Siege tanks to the southern side of his main base and having them deploy into artillery mode establishing a wall of artillery. The Diamondbacks would use their speed to make quick raids on Zerg attack groups weakening them while the Siege tanks would finish them off. The same defensive tactic was used on the expansion base to the east along with Mira Hans who observed Raynors tactic and copied it for her own base currently being built beside Raynors expansion base.

Mira's two battle-cruisers held position over the Hyperion defending it from the constant Zerg attacks until its engines were fixed. Now air born again the Hyperion maneuvered over Raynor's main base once again. While Miras two ships moved over her base. A hour passed as the Terrans fought off the Zerg attacks and prepared for a counter offensive. Once the Terran commanders were ready they gathered in video conference.

"My forces are ready to move out Raynor." reported Mira on screen.

"Our forces are ready too." reported Horner.

"Good." said Raynor pointing too two Zerg hive clusters just north of the Overminds central hive cluster. "Here and here. This is where were attacking. Their just south of the plateau our bases are on and Tassadar told me that there are two more resource depots hidden underground in these locations as well."

"If we take that area then our main bases will be safer and we can directly attack the Zergs main hive cluster with artillery." stated Mira Han.

"If we just attack all at one i'm sure the Zerg will counter attack in kind," said Horner. "We should lure their main army out first and then destroy them. It will open a temporary gap in their numerical advantage for us to focus on their structures stopping their production of new units."

Mira smiled. "In that case my forces can serve as decoys in a faint attack. Raynor do you know where those resources caches were located?"

"There are four locations, here, here ,here and here." Two of the depots were located in the Hive cluster while the other two were farther west some miles west of the Hive cluster.

Mira Han hummed to herself as she thought. "The western location seems more defendable. If I establish a base there and keep the Zerg forces occupied then it will open the way for you to attack the western side of their defenses as they throw their forces at me."

"That's a risky move for a merc?" Horner stated in question.

"Oh don't worry about me suger im a big girl. I can protect myself." Mira winked at Horner giving him a shiver down his spine. "Though my men won't be able to fend them off forever."

"Use one of your ships to give the base extra defenses," suggested Raynor.

"I was already thinking of that. But moving my Barracks, Command Centers, Starports and Factories will be dangerous. If you protect my buildings while their moving to the new location they'll make it for sure."

"Diverting a few squadrons of Kestrels and Wraiths for the job shouldn't hurt our defenses to much. And to be sure we should use the Diamondbacks as well and send you some of our ground forces as back up." Suggested Horner.

"Good call Matt," stated Raynor."


-Northern Zerg Hive Cluster-

Nova stood beside her Hive structure as a formation of Overlords circled above her. All around her gathered Zerg minions running, slithering and shrieked as they prepared for the next attack.

"I know that's you over there Raynor." Nova mumbled to herself. "Stupid Kerrigan, I should have just ignored her and killed Him when I had the chance!" Exclaimed Nova slamming a clawed fist into the thick carapace of the Hive.

The Overlords over head sent her a ping indicating they saw lots of movement from the Terrans. Focusing Nova saw through the eyes of Her minions currently attacking the Terrans bases. Nova sifted through the data compiling the collective point of views from man dozens of Zerglings and Mutalisk. Through her minions eyes She saw one of the Terran ships moving southwest at the head of a procession of hovering buildings with air escorts. Shocked at first Nova then remembered a few Terran buildings can do that.

"Where are they going?" She thought.

Knowing that their going southwest Nova prepared a force of Mutalisk and Scourges to intercept the Terrans while in transit.

Perching atop the Spires and Greater Spires of Novas hive cluster, flocks of Mutalisk took off followed by swarms of Scourges. But this was just a distraction force. The main force meant to destroy the Terrans was a group of over fifty Guardians Nova had been saving for something like this. The force of Guardians resting in a underground cavern below Novas base roared eager to attack. Expanding their psionic anti-gravity field the large Zerg bombers lifted off from the cavern floor hovering up higher and higher leaving the caverns. Slowly they flew close along the edge of a plateau as to avoid Terrans sensors.

Miles away the Terrans started launching laser barrages at the Mutalisk and Scourges as they attacked. Scourges scattered across the sky for miles flying in small groups of two to three as they charged towards the Terrans ships some striking as they overwhelmed the point defenses. While the Mutalisk flew in formations of five to ten as they attacked. The Terran ship at the head of the line of flying buildings fired its laser beams in all directions burning the Zerg from the sky. Then more Terran aircraft (Wraiths & Kestrels) entered the battle targeting and shooting down the Scourges and Mutalisk before they attacked the buildings.

Nova clicked her tongue in annoyance. The Terran aircraft were swift in their defense of the moving buildings defending them from any Zerg in their range around the battle-cruiser. Checking on the location of her Guardians Nova gave a wicked smile.

Still traveling along the edge of the plateau the Guardians all received a attack order from Nova. All at once they flew up and over the plateau's rim ascending higher and higher as they accelerated towards the Terrans in a multi-layer wing formation. Fifty Guardians all fired at once unleashing their combined fire on the battle-cruiser. Even though the Mutalisk and Scourges numbers had been reduced greatly they continued attacking the Terran ship along with the Guardians. The Terran ship took heavy fire from the Guardians sustained barrage. The ship started listing to one side as it took volley after volley of the Guardians fire. The Terran ship reacted firing volley's of missiles and lasers at the Guardians while keeping some of its laser turrets on the other remaining Zerg. Multiple Guardians exploded as they were struck by missile after missile and laser fire burned through their thick carapace. As the ship focused on the Guardians the Wraiths and Kestrels stayed focused on the Mutalisk and Scourges finishing the few that remained off. The Terran ship leveled its flight path out and fully focused all of its weapons on the Guardians. Laser fire, Missiles, slammed into the Guardians formation. More Guardians died but the rest started firing in a focused pattern causing the whole of the Terran ship to vibrate from the repeated impacts.

Nova watched as more of the Guardians were shot down leaving only two thirds of their numbers left, but their were still plenty of them. But still wanted to end things quickly She ordered the Guardians forwards to close the distance between them and their target. As the Guardians moved forwards their fire became more concentrated. In ones and twos weapon turrets on the Terran ship were destroyed from the heavy bombardment showered upon it by the Guardians. The ship started smoking in various places and its rate of fire dropped allowing more attacks to land. But then like a bolt from the blue a volley of projectiles shot several Guardians out of the sky. Nova searched for the source of the attack finding a group of high-speed land vehicles approaching from the north. She had never seen these types before and was quit at a lose as to how to counter them at the moment.

The Diamondbacks in focus groups of four fired again, and again. Each volley of combined attacks downing several of the Guardians every minute. Some of the Guardians changed targets counter attacking the Diamondbacks. Cracks of thunder echoed across the plains with each shot as the Diamondbacks fired their twin railguns, shooting some of the Guardians mini-scourges down in the process. As the Guardians attacks drew near the Diamondbacks used their speed evading, swerving to one side or the other, accelerating or decelerating. The Diamondbacks formation spread out and drew together before circling around in a large circular movement as they evaded the Guardians attacks.

Then as the Diamondbacks entered seven miles of the Guardians the first of them was struck and destroyed. Reacting the Diamondbacks turned east while continuing to fire. With another thunderous blast from their railguns more Guardians fell in quick succession. The battle-cruiser still in the fight launched another missile barrage downing another ten Guardians. With her ambush countered and her forces reducing in number Nova knew they would fail. Seeing as there was no point in losing them Nova ordered her few surviving Guardians to retreat back to her hive. As the Zerg retreated the Terran structures landed and started developing a new beachhead.


-One the Hyperion-

"Looks like you took some hits but all of the buildings made it." said Raynor.

On screen Mira han waved her hand dismissively. "It'll be fine. But that was the easy part. Hafta protect my new base now don't I. Why don't you sent some of your infantry my way and help my boys out a little."

Raynor nodded. "We got more than enough boots on the ground so sending a few platoons your way shouldn't be a problem for the moment."

"Appreciated," replied Mira ending the com line.

On the ground Sergeant Littlefield drank a bottle of water as his men rested. Then he received a radio call from Raynor.

"Jon are you and your men up for a little aide mission?" Raynor said over the radio.

Jon sighed. "What's he job?"

"Our new friends the mercs need a bit of extra protection as they get their second base up," explained Raynor.

The sergeant stood up. "Yes sure. We just need some transportation."

"Well good then." replied Raynor. "I'll have a few Dropships ready to transport you and your men along with some armored reinforcements. Guess you could use the extra firepower."

"Appreciate it sire," replied Littlefield.

The radio communication ended and Littlefield gathered his few dozen men. Soon after eight Dropships landed close by and they hopped aboard along with six other platoons and several groups of Goliaths and Siege tanks. The Dropships under Kestrel escort flew to Miras expansion base to the southwest dropping off three hundred marines, four Goliaths and two Siege tanks. Sergeant Jon Littlefield quickly noticed the odd spiked armor the mercs were wearing.

"What are these guys some post apocalypse movie rejects." joked Littlefield.

"Hey! those are my men your bad mouthing leatherneck!" a armored female merc explained as she walked up to the sergeant.

The voice sounded familiar to Littlefield but he could hardly believe that She would be here.

"L.Z. Breanne? that you?" Littlefield asked.

The merc walked up to the Sergeant. "Yes it's me. Glad to see your still alive Littlefield."

The sergeant was taken aback considering Breannes current affiliation with mercs.

"I would have never though a hard ass like you would become a merc?"

Breanne scoffed and shrugged. "Yeah! Well.. times change and the confederacy is gone. And I still gotta pay the electric bill so I joined Mira Han and her mercs. I've been training some of the rookies, did some small jobs and then Miras mysterious employer gave us this job. You would not believe how much its paying."

Littlefield gave a short chuckle. "Yeah I can bet. It's nice to see you."

"Your too."

Ultralisk roared in the distance.

Both Breanne and Littlefield barked orders to their men with the other officers gathering the Marines into two firing lines(one on their knees the other standing). The Siege tanks rolled on their treds to the rear guard deploying into artillery mode while the Goliaths took up positions behind the Marines and the Diamondbacks that were already there parked at the Marines flanks deploying into turret mode as the Mercs SCVs constructed Bunkers behind the wall of defenders.

"Lets try and all survive through all this," said Littlefield.

"Yeah! and in twenty years when we're old and grey we can tell old war stories to our grandkids," replied Breanne.

Littlefield glanced at Breanne.

"Is that a proposal?" he asked confused.

"What?" Breanne replied surprised at his wording.

The Goliaths, Siege tanks and Diamondbacks opened fire on the approaching Zerg forces at long rang. Siege tank shells blasted clusters of Zerglings and Hydralisk to pieces. Rapid fire barrages of Goliath gatling cannons ripped into the Zerg lines. And the hypervelocity shells of the Diamondbacks slammed into the Ultralisks thick carapace stunning them or exploding their heads when they got a lucky headshot in. The Zerg forces entered their Spore symbiote launchers range and returned fire showering the Terrans with acidic semi-armor piercing spore shells. Both sides took loses as one attacked the other. The Marines of Miras marauders and Raynor's raiders held their fire until the Zerg had reached the best range for their weapons to do maximum damage and then opened fire. Nearly six hundred hundred Marines all opened fired at once. There instant and withering firepower was so great they instantly killed hundreds of Zerg at the hordes front lines.

A hour later the sun started to sink into the horizon. The Terrans counted their dead as the Zerg forces rotted in piles of corpses around the base. The base defenses were now completed with groups of paired Bunkers now surrounding the base, each holding five to six Marines and upgraded with turrets and paired with Anti-air towers built in a outer and inner incircaling rings. The battle-cruiser also floating over head like a watch dog.


-Hyperion-

Raynor was taking a short break from the hours long battle. Standing in a hallway by a vending machine he chugged a soft drink. He thought back to that time months ago when he first reunited with Kerrigan and Nova after they were infested. He remembered that Kerrigan only let him go if he said he would never again fight the Swarm.

"Well... I guess your not going to hold back next time we meet Sara," mused Raynor as he sloshed around the liquid contents of the half empty can.

Raynors watch bepped. He looked at it and turned the alarm off.

"Well..." He said finishing the can off, crushing it and dropping it into a trash can nearby. "Let's get back to it."

Raynor reentered the bridge, taking up his normal position by the tactical table with Horner.

"How's things going?" He asked.

Horner looked up at Him.

"As good as can be expected." Horner replied. "The merc forces held off the Zerg attack and are quickly building up their second base, even while the Zerg send multiple waves at hem. And the Protoss are holding their own, but haven't made any significant progress yet. The Zerg have been hitting them the hardest. And our fleet in orbit is taking a beating too, but Haruka is holding her own up there with Selendis and the Executors fleet. But...!"

Raynor finished Horner's thought.

"But if we don't start making progress soon were going to run out of steam."

Horner looked Raynor in the eyes.

"Yeah."

"Well then." said Raynor turning his attention to the Tactical display table in front of him. "It's time to go on the offensive."

On screen Raynor looked through the forces he has been gathering and building using the resources the underground Protoss depot provided. Engineering Bays converted the raw minerals into ammo and parts to build more units and the Tech Labs allowed the creation of Diamondbacks with the data Mira provided on them. It also took time for the Siege tank drivers to learn to use the Diamondbacks effectively in the VR-simulators. But now Raynor's forces number forty Diamondbacks, Fifty Vultures, Thirty two Siege tanks, Thirty Goliaths, Twenty nine Wraiths, Twenty five Kestrels, fifty six Dropships and over five hundred Marines, not counting Miras mercs and the three battle-cruisers.

"Sir another major wave of Zerg forces are attacking the mercenaries base again." reported Horner.

"This is it," stated Raynor. "Get our forces in the Dropships and prepare to move the Hyperion. Were going all in."

Horner and some of the other bridge crew glanced at their leader. All eger to end this battle.

"Yes sir!" replied Horner.

All over the main Terran base hundreds of Marines marched into the Dropships followed by Siege tanks, Goliaths and Diamondbacks. Overhead Wraiths and Kestrels lifted off and flew in guard patrols around the base as the fully loaded Dropships took off and the Vultures followed on land. The only vehicle able to keep up with the flying battle-cruisers given their speed. The small fleet of Dropships followed behind the Hyperion as it aimed its bow(nose) towards the Zerg hive cluster and accelerated. Patrolling flocks of Mutalisks and Scourges quickly spotted the fleet and changed direction to intercept the Terrans. The Wraiths fired their lasers burning the Scourges from the skys long before they could get close, and the Hyperion joined the counter attack vaporizing the Mutalisks in short order with a barrage of laser fire. The Hyperion, the Wraiths and Kestrels, the fleet of Dropships and the Vultures following below them, all approached the end of the Plateau. As the Hive cluster came into view Raynor ordered the Yamato cannon to charge up.

More Mutalisk and Scourges arose from the Hive cluster attacking the Terran forces. The Hyperions laser turrets and missile pods fired. The Mutalisk returned fire while the Scourges accelerated to kamikazi themselves into the Hyperion. Wraiths and Kestrels joined the aerial fire fight exchanging weapons fire and lives with the Zerg air forces. The battle went on for several minutes. And then.

"Sir Yamato fully charged!" reported the crewmen.

"Target the enemies Hive structure to the west." ordered Raynor.

The Hyperions nose dipped down slightly and to the right directly aiming at the center of the northern most Hive cluster and its core Hive structure at its center. A split second later a burst of energy launched from the Hyperions nose speeding directly towards its intended target. A second later the core of the Hive cluster was engulfed in a starburst. Raynor closed his eyes a bit turning his head away as the burst of light subsided and a mushroom cloud rose-up in its place.

"What's the damage?" asked Raynor.

There was a moments delay.

"Damage to the targeted Hive and the surrounding cluster is at 56.4% with approximately 42% casualty rates on Zerg forces in the area." reported Horner.

"Land the Dropships just below the Plateau and cover them." Raynor ordered.

Moments later the Dropships all landed disgorging their cargo of infantry and armored vehicles over twenty minutes and then flying back up to the Hyperions hangers. Moments later a warning alert blared on the bridge.

"What's that?" exclaimed Raynor knowing its a alert from a internal alarm but wanting to know what caused it.

"Zerg intruders in the upper rear decks, hallway 22." reported a crewman.

"How did Zerg get onboard?" questioned Horner.

"It has to be her." stated Raynor.

"Who?" asked Horner feeling a little confused.

Raynor turned to him. "Nova."


-Several Minutes Ago-

Scourges streamed towards the Terran vessel with Mutalisk all around them. Some were shot down while others got closer. Three Scourges flew in a spiral formation constantly rotating around a central point as they rocketed towards the Hyperion. Laser fire and missiles flew in all directions as Terran air-craft engaged the Zerg air forces. Both sides took casualties as explosions filled the sky and melting aircraft hit the ground. But the three Scourges skirted the boundaries of the battle zone avoiding direct confrontation while they flew higher maneuvering directly over the Terran ship, and then they shot down at their top velocity. A pair of the Hyperions laser turrets pivoted up firing at them. They evaded the turrets anti-aircraft fire for several seconds. Then one of the Scourges was shot down followed by another. Then the third Scourge impacted the ship but only mildly damaged the psi-plated reinforced armor.

Nova rolled onto her feet from the fall from the Scourge. She had been raiding it and jumped off at the last moment.

"That was dangerous, But i'm here. Now how do I get into the ship?"

Nova walked across the Hyperions outer hull making her way to the rear elevated section of the central hull on the back. There she spotted what looked like armored observation deck. She spewed a burst of acid from her mouth which quickly ate through the armored shutters exposing the windows. With a single slash of her wing blades Nova shattered the windows and entered. She walked to the back of the half circular room and slashed through the airlock door meant to separate the observation deck from the rest of the ship so as to avoid hull breach's. Nova stopped at a four way hallway intersection and looked down the other three paths. Down one she spotted two security cameras and took them out with spine shots from her wrists launchers. Moving down a corridor she turned the corner and instantly spotted a Terran in full CMC armor guarding a door mere meters way. Nova backed up behind the corner and reached into a green sac on her lower back pulling a baseball sized parasite out. She placed it on the wall and it silently creeped across the ceiling making its way over the Marine's head. Once over the Terran the Parasite extended tendrils from its back and into the Terrans helmet. The tendrils excreted a micro amount of acid to burn through the air tight seals.

A moment later the Marine jerked in pain as the tendrils pierced into his skin injecting him with a paralyzing agent. The Marine stopped his struggling and fell over with the parasite landing on his helmet as it was pulled down. Nova walked over to the Marine as the parasite continued extending its tendrils into the man's brain. As Nova watched the Marines reactions His hands moved and He stood up. He looked at Nova and smiled.

"Mas,steer" He said in broken english.

"Ok know i'm impressed." Nova chukled. "Glad to see one of Abathur's more odd creations were useful for a change. I should tell him this new parasite works like a charm." thought Nova.

She picked up the parasite, placing it back into the sac. "You, show me to the engines." She ordered the mind infested Marine.

The Marine nodded and walked away. Nova followed him down several corridors to a elevator and they took it deeper into the ship. However the Elevator stopped at a level along the way and as the doors opened a crewman stood their shaking in fear as he stared into the eyes of the Infested Terran.

"Hello there." said Nova.

She reached out grabbing the man with her clawed hands.


-Armory 5E-

Robotic arms moved around Raynor encasing him in CMC 450 EP modal. The last chest plate was placed completing the suit. Raynor raised a arms noting the sleeker and more compressed design. The armor plates on the outer sides of the limbs were thicker with the suits sections on the inner side of the body was thinner allowing more flexibility. Feeling lighter and more mobile Raynor exited the assembly room and grabbed a prototype C-15 shotgun based of the C-14 impaler. It had a more blocky cashing frame over the top and sides of the barrel with high capacity drum mag and but a stock that held a on board battery that the suit could recharge allowing the weapon to power itself for limited periods.

"Nice," said Raynor loading the C-15.

Suddenly a nearby display screen blinked on showing Haruka.

"Raynor, I see your using the new prototype armor."

Raynor placed some extra clip mags into his ammo belt before turning to the screen.

"It's nicer looking than the older mode, But is it any better?" He asked.

Haruka shrugged. "It's just armor. Like anything its as good as the one who uses it. Also, don't Die out there. Nova was inexperienced before, but now shes got a few batttles unde her belt. And then thers her Zerg enhanced body. I would prefure it is you only captured her."

"Capture her? You even know what she did on Char? And what do you even care about her anyhow?"

"Shes im portant. Your important. It would be more convenit for everyone if you only defeated her and captured her. That was why I had that suit and gear ready for you."

"Does this have any thing to do with you and Ellen. Because im getting really fed up with you twos plan's moving others like were just chess pieces for your own amusment."

Haruka shook her head. "I know you don't have much reason to trust the two of us but once the Overmind is defeated we'll come out in the open about our intentions."

Raynor Scoffed.

"We'll see."

Raynor turned around picking up several grenades and a large heavy shield. Exiting the armory four Marines in the older bulker CMC 400 stood at attention.

"Come on we got a Zerg to hunt."


-Elevator 4S-

Nova watched the elevator doors open as the infested crewman and Marine stood in front of her. The two of them stepped out looking around before ushering Nova forwards down a hall. They made several turns before arriving at a heavy bulkhead door with the words Reactor 2 above it. The infested crewman used his bio-metric ID to open the door. The door opened because his infestation only affected his brain and at that only to a minimal level. Nova followed them into a large room with a massive machine taking up the whole wall directly opposite the entrance.

"Hey your not supposed to be in here!" exclaimed a Marine guarding a reactor control station manned by several engineers.

The Marine was not alone as Nova senses and could see several more Guards standing around the room all looking at the two Terrans infront of her.

"Hey whos that behind you?" one of the Marines shouted.

Nova had no intention of being stealthy but she had had something of good luck at the moment considering she had not run into more guards. But any semblance of stealth went out the window when Nova steaped out from behind Her Infested Marine and fired a ball of psionic energy at one of the Marines exploding his chest and flinging him back ten feet.

"Shit its the intruder!"

The Marines and infested Marine fired at eachother killing the crewman in the cross fire. Nova jumped behind a piller forming another psionic attack.


-Hallway 4G-

Marching down a hallway after getting a alert to Novas location Raynor recieved a radio message from Horner.

"Sir were pushing the Zerg back and both of Mira Hans ships have joined in on the attack. If things keep going well we'll take the hivecluster in the next hour."

"Roger Matt. Your keep things moving and I'll deal with our intruder."

"Be safe commander," said Horner.

"Thanks."

Raynor and his men round a corner and heard the echo's of distant gunfire.

"Come on!" Raynor exclaimed as he and his men sprinted down the hall following the sound of combat.

Moments later the noises stopped and Raynor feeling uneasy checked with the security room.

"Whats happening?"

In the Hyperions Security room five men watched walls of monitors showing over a hundred rooms all over the ship.

"Sir the intruder is hold up in Reactor room 2. She killed the guards and is now doing something to the engineers...(One of the infested engineers pointed to the camera) Shit!" the Security officer exclaimed.

"What happened?" asked Raynor.

"She destroyed the security cameras. We can't see her now."

"Got it, you know how many hostiles?" asked Raynor.

"It looks like just the one infested Marine and three engineers last I saw." reported the security officer.

Raynor and his four Marines stopped at the closed bulkhead doors to Reactor room 2 and were joined by ten more Marines coming from the opposite way.

"Sir, what's the situation?" asked the squad leader.

"Two hostiles. Possibly more" said Raynor. He paused thinking on how he should categorise Nova. "Both armed and Infested by the Zerg. Ones a Marine the others a psionic user."

"Shit! this is going to get tricky" one of the Marines stated.

Raynor took in a deep breath. "They maybe our former crewmates but their infested now. Do what you have to do..."

Raynor was interupted by a computer voice.

"Warning! Reactor 2 will melt down in 5 minutes." the voice warned.

"Shit!" Raynor exclaimed. "Alright men lets get to it."

Raynor and the other fourteen Marines burst into the room and were immediately fired upon by four heavily infested Marines. The shots bounced off Raynor's shield as he pushed forwards aiming his C-15 shotgun and pulled the trigger. A heavy slug flew out of Raynors weapon slamming into and piercing the chest of one of the Infested Marines. The slug exploded obliterating the marines upper half, leaving a lower half standing there. To Raynors right his men were cut down by his former men now infested. But the numbers mattered and more of Raynor's men focused fire downing half the infested Marines. Raynor fired two more times blasting the arm off another infested Marine and blowing the head off another. The last armless Marine was quickly cut down there after.

One the hostiles were dealt with Raynor marched to the controls giving them a look. The reactor plasma containment was set to overload creating a internal plasma explosion.

"Sir we got the intruder and several infested Engineers making their way to reactor room 3" reported the Security officer.

"You all deal with the situation here. I'll go head our saboteur off at her next target." said Raynor.

"Wait sir you need at least some back up!" said the squad leader.

"No. I'll move faster on my own."

Raynor turned around and marched out passing several engineers who rushed to the controls to stop the melt down. Once he was outside Raynor broke into a full sprint dashing down the hall. He quickly reached the elevator to the upper level where Reactor 3 was and hit the button. The door opened and he was soon moving quickly up. As soon as the door opened he again dashed down the hall following the onboard HUD map in his helmet. He had just missed Nova at Reactor 2 but he was not going to miss her here.

"Sir She's at reactor 3," warned the security officer. "But she's in a fire fight with guards I had sent to all the other Reactors."

More gun fire echoed from down the hallway as Raynor listened.

"Has she breached the bulkhead door yet?"

"No but the guards aren't holding out very well. I expect her to gain entry in the next minute." the Security officer reported.

Raynor pushed his speed even further denting the floor with the force from his steps as he launched himself forwards more like leaping then running. There was a explosion just as Raynor rounded the corner and spotted a pile of shattered and broken Marine bodies laying at the foot of the now demolished door to reactor 3. Raynor ran through the smoke spotting Nova on the other side. She instantly turned around and attacked. Raynor rolled away as a psionic orb flew at where he was moments before exploding. Raising to his feet Raynor fired at Nova. She held up her arm catching the projectile in a telekinetic force and sent it flying back at Raynor. He held up his shield tanking the explosion. They both shared a moment looking into the others eyes. But Raynor glanced to the reactor control room where the infested engineers were trying to break in. His eyes returned to Nova as she knew what He was going to do next.

Raynor pulled a grenade from his belt and chucked it off to the side. Novas eyes followed the momentary distraction before returning to Raynor. Knowing the longer she waits the sooner Terran reinforcements would arrive Nova attacked sending a wide telekinetic force flying at Raynor in a attempt to crush him. The moment Raynor saw that objects were flying ay him he leaped twenty feet rolling to a pron (laying on belly) position and fired. Nova dodged out of the way and counter attacked. Raynor rolled away barely getting out of the first blasts range and getting to his feet. As he ran he pulled out the second grenade and tossed it high in the air. The grenade split into six slices that scattered over Nova. She caught the slices with her telekinesis and turned to Raynor intending to throw them at him before they exploded. But in that momenent Nova was electrocuted and she momentarily lost concentration. Looking down to what shocked her there was the a small four legged robot with a casing looking like a grenade.

Nova realised it was the grenade Raynor had thosed before. Fearing what the split grenade would do she turned to it just as the pieces flashed emitting a bright light with type of psionic static that gave Nova a raging headache. The momentary distraction was long enough for Raynor to load a special Ragnite tipped round into his C-15 and aim at Nova. Holding her head with both hands she felt excruciating pain that disrupted her abilities. She was just turning back to Raynor when he fired. The Ragnite tipped slug slammed into Novas chest and blasted out the other side leaving a large hole in Her torso. Dropping to her knees Nova felt the headache subside. Blood leaked from the open wound as several organs were exposed to the air. Raynor not wanting to hesitate fire two more shots blowing off both Novas arms. Severely wounded and now armless Nova flopped down onto her back. Bleeding and crippled. Nova moaned in pain as her bladed wings jerked and spasmed as the pain hit her. Her evolved Zerg biology was all that was keeping her alive at this point.

Raynor holding his C-15 breathed bearly believing it was so easy. He was impressed with the weapons Haruka had provided him with and could only wonder where she got them from. Haruka and Ellen were both giant enigmas. Shaking off suck thoughts Raynor turned around and killed the infested engineers before slowly approached Nova. She curled up into a ball sobbing as the blood drained from her wounds as the taser robot scutteled around her like a crab. When Raynor came close the robot walked over to him, folding back up into a grenade. Pocketing the grenade bot Raynor stood over Novas heavily wounded form. He suspected that the second grenade whose slices had fallen to the ground had done some kind of mental damage to Her. Thought his suspicious were purely based on the effect he saw that it had on Nova. It was probably some kind of Psionic flash bang or something Raynor thought.

Moments later ten Marines entered the room. All of them surrounded Nova and kept their rifles trained on her.

"Sir you ok?" asked the squad leader.

"Yeah, im fine. Get her to the holding cells and chain her up with something heavy and strong."

The squad leader hesitated at that.

"Uh, Sir shouldn't we kill her?"

Raynor looked at the wounded and near dead teenage girl he meet just months before. Nova jerked shifting her head at Raynor for a moment. He remembered that she was forced to become what she is. And if a cure for Zerg infestation could be made from her then it was worth the risk. He just had to make sure she was properly restrained.

"No, Wer'er keeping her alive."


-Gantrithor-

Tassadar gave a relieved sigh. The last of the massive Zerg attack wave was gone.

"Reform the fleet, Ready the Purifier's," He ordered.

The remaining 4 ships in Tassadars fleet rejoined into a proper formation charging up their main weapons. In the far distance passed the Overminds hive cluster Tassadar saw the Terrans fire their own heavy ship weapons leveling a large portion of the hive cluster they we're attacking.

"Purifiers ready to fire sir," reported a Templar.

"Target the closest Zerg hive cluster and make sure the blast radius overlap." said Tassadar.

The carriers realigned their noses targeting four spots at the closest hive cluster, three locations at the outer edges of the cluster and the forth in the center. Each point covered in structures.

The bow(front) of each Carrier glowed with power and a moment later discharged. Four golden orange beams raced through the air dropping lower and lower as they flew at their targets. With a calamitous impact that generated a momentary blinding flash the four beams struck their targets annihilating the hive cluster in one move. Tassadar regretted not doing so sooner when he first landed but if the first waves of Zerg weren't dealt with they would have surely destroyed the whole of the Templar forces. But now the whey was clear for a full counter attack.

"Zerg hive cluster is destroyed." Reported a templar.

"We will continue firing upon the Behemoths protecting the Overmind from here," said Tassadar. " and leave the ground attack to the Executor."

The rest of the bridge crew nodded and continued their jobs.

One the surface at Artanis base the Executor saw the major hive cluster that has been attacking from the start burning. Glad the obstacle was removed Artanis now concentrated on his offensive. It was thanks to Tassadar sacrificing a large part of the fleet that the Templar position held its ground against the Zerg onslaught. But now that the Zergs offensive has lost steam the time to strike was now.

The last of the remaining Templar ground forces still waiting on ships in-orbit and elsewhere were warped to the surface of Aiur to end the battle in one massive charge. 2000 Zealots, 562 Dragoons, 227 Reavers, 50 Shield Reavers, 31 Type 1 Blaster Pylons, 22 Type 2 Blaster Pylons all gathered in regimented formations out side Artanis main base. This represented the last of Templar land power on Aiur. More could have been pulled from across the empire but such would have weakened the defenses there. Artanis was a reluctant to do such as even if Aiur is lost so long as Protoss survive there's a chance to win another day. Artanis stepped out of the Nexus walking down the large ramp to the ground below. He walked through the rows of his Fellow Templar as the fleet above blasted away at the Behemoths defensively orbiting the Overmind.

"TEMPLAR!" Artanis shouted his telepathic voice reaching for miles. "Today we fight not for glory. Not for religion nor politics, and not for Honor. Now we fight for our mere survival. And I say NO to oblivion. What say you?"

All as one the whole army shouted. "NO! NO! NO!" raising their psi-blades into the air.

Artanis finely determined that this was the day he lead from the front line broke into a sprint. Reaching the head of the army he had nothing else to say but this.

"Follow me!"

All as one the Templar army charged forwards moving across the plain. Behind the army Zeratul, Zerion and the rest of the Dark Templar watched.

"We follow from the shadows," Zeratul said.

The Dark Templar all cloaked disappearing from sight.

Artanis had his army move northeast following the plateau that blocked the direct path to the Overmind. The Templar army split into three groups as they moved cautiously up a plateau and across it, and were soon besieged by multiple flocks of Mutalisks and Guardians. While the army was shielded by both the Type 2 Blaster Pylons and Shield Reavers the Dragoons and Type 1 Blaster Pylons counter attacked. The fierce counter-attack killing off 1/3rd of the enemy flyers before they even got close. After a protracted defensive battle the last Mutalisk fell dead as the Templar army descended the plateau. The smoking remains of the southern most hive cluster destroyed by the Fleet was but a few miles before them. Looking skywards Artanis and many of his Templar saw the weapons fire from the fleet illuminating the night sky as the energy bolts streaked through the air striking the formation of Behemoths circling around the Overmind like living shields fell in ones and twos from the constant barrage leaving the Overmind itself more and more exposed.

Following a dry river bed north The Templar army moved north from a smaller plateau. Eventually arriving at the Overminds Hive cluster. It was here Artanis felt a grave threat and stopped his army changing into a defensive state. Mere moments later Zerg erupted from all around the Templar army. Zerglings and Hydralisk in the thousands charged out from the surrounding hills and plateaus, followed by Defilers and Queens. Artanis ignited his blades quickly slaying four Zerglings and two Hydralisk. The Dragoons and Reavers moved out of the Shields firing at the charging army followed by hundreds of Zealots. Type 1 Blaster Pylons fired at the rear lines of the charging hordes rending their formations to pieces, while the Zealots, Dragoons and Reavers held the main Zerg forces at bay. Preventing them from physically attacking the Shield Reavers and Type 2 Blaster Pylons. If they were to fall then the whole of Artanis army would be vulnerable to long range or aerial bombardment.

The battle raged for hours and as it continued the Templar fleet cut the number of Behemoths protecting the Overmind down more and more till but twenty remained.

A group of Hydralisk fired at Artanis but he psi-dash jumped into the air swinging his twin psi-blades as he landed beheading two of the Beasts. And with three more strokes the rest fell to at his feet. In that instant Artanis blood ran cold as the bellowing roar of a large number of Ultralisks echoed from all around. Looking to the tops of the surrounding hills and plateau's Artanis spotted no fewer than two hundred Ultralisk. The beasts leaned forwards beginning their charge down to the Templar below.

"All Type 1 Blaster Pylons focus on the Ultralisk's." ordered Artanis.

A moment later all of the Type 1 Blaster Pylons started focusing their fire on the Ultralisks killing several dozen before they could even reach the bottom of the river valley. But soon they entered melee rang and smashed sliced and crushed their way through Zealots and Dragoons. Reavers joined in the attack and with the majority of their heavy weapons platforms all attacking the giant creatures they started falling in greater number much faster. Still it was a difficult fight as the Blaster Pylons and Shield Reavers started falling one by one. 1/3rd of the prototype weapons fell before the last Ultralisk fell, and by then over 2/3rds of the rest of the Zerg army was also gone.

Half a hour later.

Artanis pulled a severed claw from his leg and looked around. His army was wounded but not broken. 1/3rd of his forces had been lost in the extensive fighting but they still had a high spirits. Artanis using one of his cloaked Observers observed the state of the main Zerg hive cluster. Rows and rows of Sunken colonies lined the perimeter along with hundreds of Zerg of all kinds. It looked as though half the remaining Zerg army was what attacked them leaving the other half to guard the cluster.

With a Heart of courage and hope Artanis charged towards the Zerg forces, followed by his army. As one the Templar army moved like a flowing river of gold armor and blue energy crossing several miles as wave upon wave of hundreds of Zerg projectiles arched through the air showering them. Even under such a barrage they were undeterred slammed into the Hive cluster like a great wave. Sunken colonies shot countless spiked tendrils up into the bodies of Templar, Zerglings and Hydralisks clashed into attacking and wrestling with Zealots as they battled and killed each other. Ultralisks stomped through the congested battlefield roaring and swinging their kaiser blades while Dragoons and Reavers blasted them again and again. Blaster Pylons obliterated the Sunken colonies in rapid succession as the Reavers sonar reviled their cores locations underground. The battle was brutal and many fell on both sides, but as it went on the cloud cover overhead parted in the night sky above, letting Aiurs moon of Saalok cover the land-scape in its silver glow, casting shadows and giving everything a dim white color. As the pale moon-light covered the battle field the tide shifted and Artanis and his templar broke through the last of the Zergs outer defensive line and beginning a purging any and all Zerg bioforms. Dragoons and Reavers focused fire together annihilating whole bio-structures in mere moments before moving on to the next and then the next. What few Zerg remained were no match for the Templar as they ripped through hive cluster eventually reaching the Massive fifty story high cocoon of the Overmind itself. The giant egg shaped cocoon was covered in carapace with cracks in between its armor plating glowing like magma from a volcano with a dozen curved claw like structures jetting up wards and curving inwards like extra shields.

Standing before the Overmind itself Artans felt both rage and awe at the creature that had both become the only thing that had matched the power of the Protoss empire and massacre countless billions of his people. Lowering his gaze Artanis saw the giant building like corpses of the Behemoths that Tassadar's fleet had killed. The Overmind was quit the tactical genius as even in death the fallen Behemoths shielded the Overmind from the ground forming a morbid ring of bodies that prevented the Templar from proceeding any closer. But undetured Artanis raised his arm motioning forwards. All at once the entire army of Dragoons, Reavers, Type 1 Blaster Pylons all focused their fire power at the Overminds cocoon shooting over the wall of bodies. The barrage slamed into one side of the cocoon vaporising tone of matter in seconds. The carapace of protecting the Overmind slowly ate away and soon enough it gave way.

At the same time to the north Raynor's raiders and Miras mercs gathered their three battle-cruisers over the remains of the northern hive cluster. The three ships charged their yamato cannons and fired obliterating almost half of the northern half of the Overminds hive cluster. They then deployed Wraiths and Kestrels to bomb the remaining Zerg forces. Minutes later the Hyperion and the other two ships unleashed a combinde laser and missile barrage on the Overmind.

Seeing through his Observers Artanis curved his brows as if smiling if he had a mouth. The sight of their two races unifying against the Overmind and its swarm filled his heart with pride as both a Templar and a Protoss. As it was attacked on all sides the Overminds cocoon cracked and parts split away from the main body as large pieces were blasted and burned off and at last the Overminds form was exposed. Zeratul and his Dark Templar jumped to action running passed Artanis before just blinking up to the top of the Behemoth corpses.

"Hold fire!" Artanis ordered.

His telepathic voice reaching even the Terrans.

On the bridge of the Hyperion Raynor heared the mental call.

"Hold your fire!" He ordered.

Miras visage appeared on the tactical table.

"What? why stop now were hammering that thing?" The merc leader questiond.

"Because our Protoss allies told me to thats why." stated Raynor.

Mira only shrugged and waved her hand. Moments later her two ships stopped their attacks along with the Hyperions.

As the weapons fire from both the Templar and Terran fleets ceased the Drak Templar began their climb. Blinking up to the side of the Overminds shell, plunging their warp-blades into its sides before blinking to a higher position repeating the process over and over until leaping over the shattered cocoon shell and stood upon the white flesh of the Overmind still developing into its next form.

"Your have raged and rampaged across the galaxy Overmind," said Zeratul. "But on this moon lit night your life ends."

All at once the Dark Templar pierced the Overminds form with their emerald glowing warp-blades. Ghostly energy bolts lashed out from each warpblade arching Void energy across the surface of the Zerg swarms master.

Far away on a plateau a Phantom from Ellen's Azure swarm watched the events unfold sending a psionic signal to a Overseer waiting in high orbit. The Overseer warped to the surface as the Overminds cocoon shuddered.

Across the Koprulu sector Ellen sat in her throne eyes closed focusing fully on the Overseer. She saw everything from its highly evolved eyes and sensory organs knowing what would happen next.

"Just like I thought." Ellen said allowed.

Over Aiur in the battle-cruiser Gjallarhorn Haruka sensed a Overseer warp close by. Focusing her own mind she connected with it and saw what it saw and connected with Ellen.

"Its as we feared. The Overmind has evolved to a state that the Dark Templars power is not enough to kill it."

"Which means I'll have to get involved." Ellen projected.

Back on the surface of Aiur the Overmind shuttered and convulsed from the Void energy the Dark Templar were attacking it with. Then as if to shatter the illusionary hopes of the feeble ants biting at its feet the Overminds shuttering stopped and He gave a deep resounding telepathic laugh that echoed in the minds of everyone.

Raynor grabbed his head as the laugh gave him a headache. "Agh! what the?"

Mira held her head with both hands. "Fuck! fuck! fuck!"

Jon Littlefield held his armored head as Breanne collapsed to her knees both moaning in pain with everyone around them.

In orbit Selendis sat in her command chair holding her temples as the laughing gave her a splitting in headache.

On the surface of Aiur a fifty miles from the Overmind Fenix and a squad of his Templar groaned in pain some falling to their knees, some collapsed and others with stood the mental anguish as the pain surged in their minds leaving a confused and un effected Ko'toss to only watch in horror.

On the Gantrithor Tassadar narrowed his eyes as the pain of the laughing echoed in his mind.

"No It can't be!" Tassadar said as he felt a great worry for Zeratul and his Dark Templar.

The Overminds form started shifting below the Dark Templars feet like a moving mountain. And Zeratul in all his long years was both perplexed and afraid.

"Ah! It cannot be. The Overmind. It..."

"The Overmind is Moving!" exclaimed Zerion as he spread his feet to balance.

"We must flee or it will crush us!" said Zeratul.

All at once the Dark Templar blinked away rapidly shifting from one point on the collapsing walls to another as they fell. In moments they were all out of the cocoons remaine's and standing on one of the dead Behemoths. Turning back Zeratul's eyes widened as the Overminds giant form rose up overshadowing him and the others. The white membrane split sliding off and revealing the new titanic form of the Overmind. It's new armored form now stood on two thick digitigrade legs a semi-humanoid torso with two arms ending in massive claws. It's wide elongated head extended forwards from the shoulders with a dozen orange glowing eyes, some on the front top and sides, and a wide maw extending from the tip of the head to the shoulders. Three pairs of armored limbs shaped like claws unfolded from the Overminds back, with massive crystal eye at their center, burning bright orange with a pitch black cross shaped iris that had a bright red inner core. The cracks in between the Overminds armor-plates glowed the same burning orange as the crystal eye on its back. As the Overmind raised its form taking in the surroundings its tail swiped side to side, the dozen's of blades along its side making a slicing noise as it sweeped back and forth.

"I am...complete!" Roared the Overmind unleashing a massive psionic shockwave.

The shockwave sent the Dark Templar flying but as they moved through the air one by one they blinked to safety. Artanis and his army was knocked to the ground and Raynor and Miras ships were pushed around, having to fire their RCS thrusters to keep from colliding. Tassadar's fleet struggled against the psionic force thoshing them about but soon stabilized.

"Incredible," said Tassadar both surprised and dismayed at the Overminds new power. "Not even the Void energies of Zeratul and his Dark Templar could slay him."

-Chapter End-


Note

Sorry about the cliff-hanger but I think this chapter is long enough. Plus the next one will see us get back to the real main character of this story. I just did the StarCraft 1 arc like this so the other characters could have some screen time and to explain the repercussions of Ellens actions in the past as well as the differences in this universe verses the original Starcraft universe.

See you next chapter and thanks to everyone reading and enjoying this story.