DAMNIT! Just as I was getting answers the bug guy runs off and trashes the house in the process. I knew this was too good to be true.

Well aside from that progress on my skills is steadily increasing, I'm even dipping my toes into 2D animation, because as much as I enjoy drawing and writing too many ideas are swirling in my big head to just stick to these two skill sets. It is however taking as long as I thought it would, quality is always at the cost of time.

Now let's head forth with this chapter everyone, I'll just be cleaning up the mess on this end.


Chapter 37: Bel'shir Extraction

Janusar levitates through the green pastures of Bel'shir, scanning the area to make sure that the first geyser is clear of any hostiles, and so far, it is. He's honestly surprised by the fact, he would expect such a fanatic race to be all over the area by now, but he guesses that it's all about honor of somewhat based on the descriptions he and his brothers were given. Regardless they have a free target.

He waves down an SCV waiting at the top of an incline to come down, with the base fortified enough for the time being he alone can handle any aggression that comes to the mech while it's doing its job, especially with the void rays which is why he decided to partake in the mission despite him already going before.

He watches as the SCV reaches the geyser and places some sort of device on the origin point causing the surrounding ruins to stutter like an animal being awakened from its sleep, but he ignores it and keeps watch for any aggressors, but surprisingly there's still nothing, perhaps they're still gathering their forces. The pair went undisturbed for the entirety and their task and SCV eventually detaches the now full container of purple swirling gas and begins its accent back up towards the base. However, the hybrid decided to continue deeper into the jungle to look for any protoss forces to fight, but the comns device he carries rings it's now annoying tune and so he quickly pulls it out to answer the call.

"Janusar, the Tal'darim here have a foothold in this area, I suggest you wait for reinforcements." The commander Jim Raynor advises which the hybrid responds with an eyeroll before putting the device away. The protoss may be individually stronger, but he's sure that his strength can handle such foes.

It didn't take long for him to come across another Terrazine geyser guarded by a small force which consists of two zealots and a stalker watching away from his direction. With his target already being set as the closest zealot he charges up a psionic ball until the forces notices his presence, but by then it was ready and as the zealots charge at him, he lets his power loose. The sphere goes flying towards its target who doesn't even bother to dodge the shot as they collide causing the warrior's shield to dissipate from the sheer power it absorbed and halted his momentum. The other tries to close the gap but one of his psychic tendrils lashes out, nearly breaking the shield upon first contact, with the second slash cutting through what's left of the shield and ran down the zealot with a scorched trail and the zealot's death scream to showing that it made effect. What took him off guard for a moment was when his opponent disintegrated into a blue flash like a specter. Though he had read in on this trait, it's still a sight to see personally.

The other zealot was able to reach him by the time the other was defeated, but like the one before him, was quickly slain by Janusar with a tendril swiftly impaling through the chest and causing him to disappear as a flash as well.

The final member of the defense force pelts the hybrid's shield with pair streaks of blue energy, but to little effect, earning his attention. He retaliates with his own psionic bolts which hammers the quadruped mech's own shield with great force. It's shields soon collapse under the assault, but before the last shot would land it blinked out of sight to an unknown destination.

His eyes quickly search for the enemy to no avail, and deciding to pressure his now wounded target, heads towards the area where it once was. It was still quiet when he reached the area and it persisted to the point of unnerving the protoss-like hybrid. Usually when an enemy's quiet, it means that they're planning something, and he isn't liking that.

Just as he was going to move back to his ally's base, an energy bolt impacts his shields forcing him to turn around to see that the stalker is back, apparently gaining the nerve to engage him again. He was ready to finish this foolhardy aggressor when from among the foliage four zealots and four stalkers charge out with clear fury in their eyes. This would've been enough for him until a powerful beam of continuous blue energy lays down to his shielding, putting a strain on his mind. He looks up to see that a void ray along with two scouts have joined into the fray. Now with the combined pressure of these troops all set upon him, Janusar found it time to retreat, but the sheer amount of fire is making it hard to move.

Just as the combined fire was going to break through his defenses, he could hear a chorus of gunfire to his left and within seconds the attacking zealots were being picked off one by one lifting the pressure they brought off of him. He looks over to see a force of marines, marauders, medics, and the new goliath mechs, have intercepted the attackers and are laying waste to their numbers under a blanket of sheer firepower. The void ray above turned it's attention to the new force, but the missiles of the goliaths began to fly in droves towards the craft, and despite its retaliatory strike, it was not enough to stifle the projectiles that pounded through the shields and are hitting the hull.

The scouts on the other hand are being engaged by the marines, and like the reports said, their ground attacks are abysmal enough for the medics to keep them alive. The stalkers though kept their attention on him to his annoyance and he could feel the bolts impacting his skin for the first time. This was when the marauders joined in to tear through their shields, and wanting retribution for their actions, Janusar joins in in their destruction, picking off the ones that blinked away so that their reprieve was short lived.

Within seconds the battel was over, and he gave himself a mental sigh for the fact that the commander was right, as much as he doesn't want to admit it.

Another SCV comes in and begins extracting the terrazine from the ruins, this was when the device rang yet again and when he answered it was Matt Horner on the other side this time.

"Janusar, the Tal'darim are trying to seal off a geyser, head over there and stop them, sending the coordinates now." Upon the mini map the red warning tag of the event flashes which is on the other side of the area.

Knowing the stakes at hand he picks out a couple of medics, a few marines and marauders, and a pair of goliaths to come with him on the journey while the rest hold off the incoming attackers here. They transverse across the green forests as fast as they could, surprisingly avoiding all other forces in the area. They did, however, come across some sort of Protoss device floating just above the ground, something that the device pinged as something they should gather. It will have to wait though as they are growing short on time and he doesn't want any setbacks on this mission.

They come upon a clearing and sees that a couple zealots, a stalker, and a void ray with scout support are guarding a probe that is setting up a barrier over the geyser itself, not if he can help it.

"Cover me." He ordered before beginning to lock on to the machine like a sniper to a target.

This had garnered the attention of the defenders and they charge towards their location, but the soldiers did exactly as told and got between them and the hybrid. Gunshots fill the air as Janusar stays focused on the probe, aiming to end this in one shot, and once he felt that the attack was ready, he sent the orb flying towards its hapless target bypassing the defending Protoss and making contact with the probe. It combusts into a blue fireball and the shield it was setting up instantly dissipated into a blue mist saving the geyser for themselves and allowing him to refocus on the others.

Though the ground forces and the scouts were being finished off, the void ray above is giving the marines trouble as it kills them one by one and the marauders and medics are completely helpless against it. All that can stand against it are the goliaths currently trying to kill the large craft, but one is already taking serious damage and he could see two more coming in from the distance with three scout escorts. He doesn't particularly care for the lives of the terrans, but even he knows that losing them will prove troublesome, so he'll need to do something and fast.

He was about to engage the ship when his eyes catch something in a short distance away from them that contains a large blue crystal taller than even him surrounded by floating pieces of metal. It's a pylon, a structure said to provide power to protoss structures by unknown means.

What if…

He quickly approached the structure only to nearly run into the shield as it fizzled up by his presence.

"Of course." The reports also told that everything about the protoss had shields which includes the structures. But if such a thing where to stop him then he and his brothers would've never escaped from that accursed station.

He floats halfway up the pylon and let his own psionic energy flow through his hands and pressed them against the shield causing it to flare up in response. He intensified his power, wanting the energy that he could feel being stored inside. Eventually the shield gives way and he immediately pierce the crystal with his light tendrils. As he begins to siphon the crystal, he could feel a great amount of power flow into him, so much so that within seconds he disconnected from the structure as he could feel his entire body heat up and vibrating from the immense amount of power to the point of being nauseating. He needs to let it out now.

He turns back around and fires a psionic bolt that is now heavily augmented by the newfound energy turning it into a ball of pure energy that actually stood a chance on damaging the craft which it did upon impacting the main body turning it into a bright blue fireball that sent the now two halves of the craft crashing into the ground. He turns to the reinforcing ships and created three orbs of pure psionic energy that orbited around him before being thrown by their owner in high speed. They all hit their mark and the scouts all instantly explode upon impact leaving only the now unprotected void rays.

He then senses that the flyers weren't the only forces coming towards them as seven zealots, four stalkers, and a new bulkier walker called an Immortal that would tear the marauders and the remaining goliath apart along with the support.

This time he's the one who gets in between the Protoss and their target and upon focusing his energy lets out a powerful wave of psionic energy that kill all of the zealots and heavily damaged all of the walkers. Not waiting for them to recover he raises his tendrils like snakes waiting to strike and lets out small but concentrated beams of psionic energy that he uses to strafe the survivors cutting each one in half, even the mighty immortal feel prey to the attack and was cut in two.

He refocused on the void rays which have caught up to the battlefield and are already readying their weapons. With no time to attack he goes on the defensive and puts up an invisible barrier across the entire battle group which appears just in time to catch the two beams before they hit his allies. The combined firepower however does put a notable strain on his abilities and he would've broken under it if it wasn't for his newfound power.

"Focus them down!" He demanded causing the remaining marines and goliath to shoot at one of the ships.

But when their projectiles passed through the shield, they were coated in some sort of psionic energy which upon contact with the ship have caused more damage than before. Its shields flared upon the attack, but it didn't give, and the strain from the two ship is starting to get to him and even his newfound powers aren't going to save them for long.

It was when a barrage of missiles came from behind him that begun to turn the tide in their favor. He looks back to see that almost a dozen goliaths have joined them in the attack, and with their attacks being bolstered by his shield they were able to punch through the ship's defenses and begin pelting the hull of the ship. It tried redirecting it's attack in response but a few additional goliaths came and it was damaged it to the point of critical failure causing it to burst into blue flames and quickly into a large explosion leaving the remaining ship alone.

Now with the strain of the attacks nearly gone and with plenty of the energy to spare he localizes the shield and focuses all his energy on combating the ship's beam, one of which has now lost its initial power boost, and begins to push it back. Combined with the support of the mechs the shield gives way giving Janusar an idea. With his remaining power he forms two orbs that are larger and much more powerful than the ones before and launches them towards the ship among the missiles already in the air with the intent on hitting one spot in particular: the crystal near the front of the ship. Once that's destroyed the ship will be defenseless if the information is accurate enough.

The two orbs streak past and worm their way through the projectiles like birds of prey as they make their way towards their target. They spun around the beam as they close in creating a spiral pattern just beyond its border until they both converge into its source creating a large explosion and as predicted the beam immediately dissipated and even crippled the ship as seen by it's three rotating prongs beginning to shiver like an injured animal. The ship is completely helpless as the immense hailing of the terran force's firepower bring it down at last.

As the last ship plummets towards the ground, he too descends as he feels a sort of fatigue completely foreign to him until he hits the ground, all four limbs hitting the floor and his vison spinning and blurred. Once his sight begins to clear up, he could see from his arms emanate trails of smoke rising towards the air and along with it comes a sizzling sound like that of burned metal and a stinging sensation he could feel all across his being. His body is literally venting all the excess heat out of his body.

It seems that he pushed his body to its limit this time, and it's probably best to avoid doing so in the future. But to think that's what he's capable of does excite him despite his pain, even if his mouthless face isn't showing it. So much potential to be had.

After recovering from the last battle, he gets back up to see that the terrans have moved on and are already extracting from the geyser. With the number of forces present he reckons that they're good enough on their own and decides to break off into the forest to scout ahead for the next geyser.

Despite his size he was able to weave around the trees with ease until he came upon a clearing in the foliage, and within it he sees another geyser, and this one is guarded by three zealots and two stalkers, more than the first one. They must be getting wise to their intrusion, but that won't matter. Even though his shields are still weak, his body and mind are well prepared.

With a tendril he slices a tree as swiftly as the wind itself and grasp the body before it had the chance to even tip over lifting it up into the air. With expert precision he throws it sideways towards two zealots that weren't fast enough to get away and were crushed to death by the object. The stalker that was in the way on the other hand was able to react in time and blink out of the way leaving the tree to crash right into the side of the shrine. With the element of surprise gone he springs forth from his hiding place and begins to focus on the stalker that just blinked, taking advantage of its cooldown of the ability. The remaining zealots and stalkers charge in but with like the ones before he lashes out at the former with his tendrils, drilling into one and swiftly slashing another.

All that's left now are the stalkers who are all now opening fire on him. He continues to focus down on the original one, and without a way to evade, it was finished off with a few well placed psi bolts. The other two though still have their blink and will prove to be annoying, but he had thought of a way around that. He unleashes a psionic wave that hits the two walkers which flung them in the air and giving him enough time to close the gap between the two, placing himself right between where they're going to land. The moment they do he drills a tendril through each one at the same time, killing them both in a clean fashion.

With the area clear, he turns to the geyser itself and observes the swirling purple gas ascend up towards the sky and dissipating at a certain height far above his own. Just what is so valuable about this gas that both the terrans and the protoss are fighting over it? He must take a sample for study.

He gets close to the swirling pillar and reached a hand into the purple mist to gather the essence when he felt a large portion of it enter his skin almost immediately surprising him, and it didn't take long for him to start feeling something strange again. His vision went blurry again and became nauseous, but this time because his senses became heightened and it was jarring for him. Sounds he couldn't hear before along with a gradual ringing were now inside his mind, the air around him suddenly felt like an ever shifting blanket constantly rubbing harshly against his skin, and the light that was once normal for his eyes to catch is now unbelievably irritating to them causing him to squint heavily. He held his head as it began to throb as a result and mentally groan at the pain.

As he backed away from the geyser he heard something approach to his left shortly before he heard a burst of energy pierce the air and two beams heading straight towards him. In a split second a tendril blocked both of the projectiles before they hit him, then he tore a rock off the shrine and threw it at his assailant. The stalker blinked away in time to and unknown destination, but thanks to his senses being enhanced he quickly tracked it down just as it fired another shot at him which he intercepted with a tendril again. He tears two large chunks off the shrine and hurled one after the other at the walker at deadly speeds. They both made contact as the first one shattered the shields like a hammer while the other crushes its shell, killing it quickly.

He watches the wreckage as his sight begins to return to normal, but not before an image flashed before him briefly revealing something dark, cold, and empty filled with a great hatred that made him shiver to his core before flashing back to the real world once more. He shook his head to remove the slight ping of dread that lingers on and turned back to the geyser. So that's what makes it so important, it's some sort of drug that enhances the senses at the cost of the mind's stability, especially in large enough doses. Now he really wants to study it.

He outstretches his hand and lets his psionic power gather up the gas into a sphere, making sure that none of it come into contact with him to prevent another episode. After taking a almost a full minute of extracting the Terrazine he pulls back and observes what he has: a highly concentrated amount of the element all cooped up in a transparent psionic ball, enough for him to conduct an adequate amount of experiments on it. Perhaps even with the gold minerals collect on Redstone, it can't be a coincidence that the terran named Tosh also requested for these to be collected as well, there has to be some ulterior motive to the man.

He floats back into the forest as to retreat back to the base for now to recover after what he experienced today, only then will he return back to the fray once again.


10 Minutes later

Within the bridge of the Hyperion, Jim Raynor watches alongside the specter Tosh through a holoscreen of the operation currently going on upon the surface of Bel'shir. So far, the collection of the terrazine is progressing well despite the resistance of the local Tal'darim forces, especially with the help of Janusar. Who knew he could hold out against two void rays at the same time, that's a hybrid for you.

"Indeed, they have been a great help so far, but for how long?" Tosh said, seeming to have read his mind to his annoyance.

"You're one to talk Tosh." Raynor responds, still remembering of a recent message from an anonymous individual exposing Tosh as being a specter from the now terminated Project Shadowblade, as a result he's been more suspicious of the man as he isn't telling everything about himself.

"But we're both humans are we not? At least we know how we work. But these hybrids are something else, that one even gave me a rather sharp look last time we came across each other." He gestures over to Janusar who is currently on the screen.

"Gee, I wonder why."

"What I'm saying is to be careful, I can feel their power growing every day, even from here. One day they'll be too much to handle, even for ya mister Raynor. Some of your crew think this as well."

"You let me worry about that, let's just focus on the mission." His retort seems to have settled things as Tosh doesn't respond and just looks back at the screen which prompts the commander to do the same.


I believe that StarCraft players in general, even I at one point, don't really know what kind of threat the void rays actually possess in lore due to the game's balancing in both scale and stats. I've searched many sources for the void ray's actual sizes and holy hell they are big. That's why I think that Raynor's statement about the goliaths being useful against them actually makes sense, no number of marines were going to fair well against it.

First is the review response:

Emoryjmorrill: Thanks for the kind words my man, hope to see you in the next one.

Now for the Trivia of the day:


"Devices that use electricity are actually using natural gas. That's right, many electric power plants use natural gas to generate electricity. It is estimated that by 2032, 80 billion cubic feet of natural gas will be needed per day to power more than 400 million homes." (quakeenergy . com)


Dang, that'd be a lot of gas, I guess it's a bigger part of our daily lives than I thought.

Well with anther chapter done, I once again thank you all for reading my story and I hope you all have a great day or night wherever you may be.

Wait, who's knocking at my door at this time?