Gate: Thus the Dominion Fought there

Disclaimer: I do not own Starcraft, Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There, or the characters associated with them. Starcraft is the property of Blizzard while Gate is the property Takumi Yanai

"Talking"

Thoughts

Gate 32

The situation on the ground was stabilizing as Dominion forces had destroyed key Zerg locations in Sadera crippling their numbers and logistics.

Firebat teams were doing over time burning out any Zerg bio matter they could find. If there were any spare marines, they would switch out their rifles for flame throwers to help out with the clean up. They had to make sure that not even one larvae survived or else this nightmare would start all over again. Even Zerg corpses had to be properly disposed of.

Meanwhile the air battle was starting to settle as the combined forces of the Terrans and Protoss had decided the outcome.

With Sadera secured, there was one last battle still occurring in space.

The Daelaam warped in the purifiers canceling out whatever numerical advantage the Zerg had. For these mechanical warriors, death was unlikely if not irrelevant. Falmart was generating power similar to Aiur which modern Protoss technology was based on. With the power reaching this far out, the purifiers were able to fight uninhibited with fast regenerating shields, hull reconstruction, and in the chance of destruction just a simple re-upload of their consciousness into another waiting body for them to continue the battle.

Although Zerg seemed numberless on the surface, they still were a race like other races that needed resources to sustain themselves. Zerg fliers were finally thinning out giving everyone that much needed breathing room.

Though they could see light at the end of this tunnel, it was not the time to let down their guard. With his focus on the battle, Matt had not stopped issuing orders coordinating his fleet as technicians only relayed relevant information to him if it was a matter beyond their call.

"Adjust battlecruiser formations" Matt ordered. "Maintain your constant stream of fire within your designated coordinates. Heavily damaged ships will move to the back as repair teams handle patch jobs that are needed. All science vessels, deploy defense matrix and keep your nano-repair beams going. Keep your ships in the fight as long as you can. All ravens, rapid deployment of defense drones. Spit them out just as fast as you can build them".

At first a Zerg rush is always terrifying to witness. But without intelligence to control them, they were nothing but dumb animals running towards their deaths. With the Protoss keeping the bulk of the Zerg forces occupied combined with their support ships, damage to the Dominion fleet were strictly kept at a minimal.

Having more guns certainly helped as any available ravens constructed sentry and railgun turrets as they were latched to the battlecruiser hulls to close up any holes in their defensive firing.

~ Spear of Adun ~

Karax and his fellow phasesmiths had not stopped working as templars stood on guard to protect them while they worked.

"Reallocating pathways from solar core. Power should be restored back to this area".

"Crystal circuits are burned out in this section. Creating bypass to a separate junction. Rerouting power now".

"Energy is getting through. Charge is currently building up in the capacitor".

They just needed one shot to kill this beast. Being the one with the most battle experience, Karax had volunteered to take on the most dangerous task as he and others were working outside the ship with removing the slime and repairing the main weapon.

These phasesmith had to have courage on par of the templar going into this situation with tools rather then weapons as the Zerg were flying above them. Equally so was that their plasma shields were their only life line serving not only as their defense but also their life support. With the enemy at their door step, they didn't have time to properly get suited up.

But nonetheless they were guarded as a few stalkers and phoenix hovered around them to keep them as safe as possible. With enough time to work, they had completed their objective.

"Hierarch!" Karax called, "we've done all we can here. You'll have one shot. Make it count".

"Excellent" Artanis answered. "Retreat back into the ship" as he waited for all units to clear the line of fire. Once the moment arrived, "fire the solar lance!"

Deploying it's weapon, an intense beam of energy fired out as it struck the leviathan. But to insure the kill, the beam weapon didn't just pierce through it but swiveled to to cut it right in half. With it, the innards were open to the vacuum of space as all kinds of grotesque could be seen. Aside from it's own blood and guts spilling into space, random Zerg could be seen helplessly drifting being subject to the law of gravity. Though they couldn't hear it, they saw it. They felt it. The leviathan roaring in agony trying desperately to live, but soon enough it died as the damage was far too great to regenerate from. But from there was a domino effect.

An organism like that was not natural let alone biologically possible as it's super structure was beginning to fail. It's very body was subject to it's own gravity trying to keep itself together without tearing itself apart. With it dead, it could no longer adjust it's internal frame to compensate for such stresses.

But that lead to one more problem.

"Zerg leviathan has been dealt with. But it's orbit is starting to decay".

"It's breaking up into several different chunks. Some of it will burn up in the atmosphere. Hold on, running scenario now". With telemetry data coming back and ran through an adjutant, "oh my god. One chunk of it will not break up in time".

"Based on it's volume and mass with it falling at it's current velocity, it will hit the surface with the estimation of thirty-seven yotta joules of energy. We're looking at an extinction level event".

"How about the Protoss?!" asked Matt. "Can they do something about it?!"

"The Spear of Adun was too heavily damaged in the initial surprise attack in which it's taking all their available power to keep the primary mass from falling as well. They are sending all available units to help in anyway that they can".

Matt felt his heart cringe as he could not accept this outcome. Not after everything they did to defend this world only to end in naught. Evacuation was simply not an option. Going through any possible idea he could think of, the best they could do was try to break up the mass and reduce the damage to the planet. The damage would still be catastrophic. But having part of a world was better then a dead one.

"Have all ships fire at will. Battlecruisers will focus on the larger targets. Meanwhile have all air units on the planet intercept whatever we miss. Only take on targets falling towards civilian areas while everything else can be ignored for the time being".

Accepting their new orders, all battlecruisers fired their turrets at their new target. Several had to take the chance with their yamato cannon. But using such a weapon would leave their ships temporarily weakened by consuming a large portion of the ships energy reserves. Though time was of the essence, drastic times meant drastic measures. Conversion generators soon came online as a powerful magnetic field contained the nuclear reaction building up in the prow of the ship as it turned into a dense ball of plasma. Once sufficient power was built up they began shooting as the super heated energy blasted holes into the falling carcass.

With more of it they destroyed the higher chance of survival they gave to the world below them. However they questioned if they will truly make it in time. But that didn't mean they wouldn't try as they charged up the next shot.

~ Sadera ~

Viking, wraith, scout, phoenix, and void ray pilots scrambled to take out the falling pieces. Even a chunk the size of a soccer ball could still cause considerable damage.

These pilots had to be at their very best due to limited support.

On most technologically advanced worlds, there would usually be some form of a planetary defense network to help prevent such incidents. For Terrans, orbital defense platforms and surface guns could have easily shot them down. As for the Protoss, they could easily deploy city wide shields and defense guns rendering such cases inert.

But at the moment the only support they had were the few missile turrets the Dominion had built to fight off Zerg fliers.

~ Sadera ~

Pina could only helplessly watch as the capital was being ravaged by these demons.

But as powerless as she felt, she was still the empress. That meant fulfilling her duty to her people. She could have easily at any time escaped with the wyvern riders leaving the capital to it's horrid fate. But for love of country, she would not turn her back on those she could save right now.

The best way to lead was from the front.

Taking the rose order of knights, they carried out her commands with loyalty and conviction. As people were running for their lives, they guided them towards the inner rings of the kingdom were the walls were thicker and better protected.

For those that doubted her ability since the start of her reign now saw her in a new light. Instead of a weak cowardly woman who bent her knee to the enemy they now saw a strong courageous warrior who ran head first into danger to save those she didn't even know. Even lending a shoulder to drag the injured to safety. But what spoke more to her valor was doing all this without a weapon in her hand let alone the protection of her personal guards. Though her knights chastised her for her reckless action, she didn't care as she ran back into the danger once again to rescue more people.

As this went on it was a battle of attrition as these monsters were relentless. The only advantage they had were the wyvern riders as they were the only ones who could fight these demons off keeping the inner rings safe.

Bloodied and tired, Pina and the rose order could not keep up this pace. However her actions did not meet with blind eyes. Her show of true nobility inspired those around them to help in whatever way they can.

Even able bodied civilians who had never picked up a weapon or seen battle aided Pina and her knights as they too ran back out into danger to help wherever they could.

As all this was going on, the young empress felt a weight on the pit of her stomach hoping that her actions would not be in vain. If the Dominion failed to suppress these demons then they would have no choice but to unleash the wrath of Flare on Sadera to insure the demons could not escape. Though doubt lingered on the edge of her mind, she never lost hope in them.

A hope she was rewarded with.

With her defenses about to break, the people of iron appeared like a savior from above. A small army of warriors dressed in massive blue armor arrived as they reinforced them.

"We're here to assist your highness".

"Setting up sentry guns. This ought to keep the little buggers out".

"Take a break. We got this".

Seeing her faith rewarded, Pina wanted to cry. Even seeing the heavenly swords of the Dominion and Daelaam filled her with renewed strength as she was not alone in this darkest hour.

Feeling the capital rocked by the battle of the three races, she still stood firm.

But looking to the skies above, her eyes could only stretch wide open in shock as something was falling towards them. Something so impossibly big that it made mountains look like mere rocks by comparison. Seeing such a sight, she questioned "is this the end of Sadera?"

~ Sadera ~

Since the rescue attempt, Lelei had been fighting on the front line shoulder to shoulder with other Dominion soldiers.

If she were a normal mage she would have died some time ago against the Zerg.

In traditional warfare of this world, mages generally never fought on the front line. They would usually be in the rearguard with the archers and siege weapons as they supported the vanguard as they thinned out the opposing army. In rare cases they do join the front line they would have a small platoon protecting them as they cast their spells.

But as powerful as magic was, modern combat magic was not practical nor efficient as your enemy was not just going to wait around for you to finish constructing your spell.

This became more apparent with the appearance of the Dominion's vastly superior weapons and technology showcasing that in time magic will probably be obsolete if the trend steadily drifted towards science.

But nonetheless, she had been able to remain competitive so far after studying so much about their science. That in turn improved her magic considerably increasing the power of her destructive spells by quite a margin. Even her defensive magic improved after studying energy shield technology as she was able to create a dense hard light barrier.

With her magic stave that could also shoot ball bearings like a rail gun, it allowed her to fight off the Zerg till now.

But seeing the land turn dark, Lelei turned her attention towards the skies to see an overwhelming sight. Normally stoic and taciturn, despair couldn't help but appear on her face as a giant burning monster was falling towards them. Trying to logically reason a way to survive this, her mind had simply gone blank as all she could do was watch it happen.

~ Sadera ~

Tuka and Yao were at the perimeter line slowly advancing forward closing the net around these demons. For the volunteers still able to fight stayed close to the line as to avoid the repeat close encounter with the Zerg.

With morale renewed, the volunteers fought with more vigor as they were able to continue their rescue.

However that's when it happened as the massive falling demon was right on top of them.

"Is this the end?"

"After all we've done . . . ."

"Ah shit" were some of the basic things that were said.

It didn't take much for them to understand there was no escaping from what was coming. Even if they started running now, it was certain death no matter how far they ran. For all they could do was watch as it all went down.

But for some as they were filled to the brink with fear they just did the next best thing. That was to pray for at least one more miracle.

For the dark elves in particular, they believed in the people of iron implicitly that somehow or someway that they would bring victory once again.

"Do you think they can do it?" asked Tuka.

"All we can do is believe in them" answered Yao.

~ Sadera ~

Rory was resting as she sat on top of the downed thor. There were still some lingering toxins in the air. But it was starting to thin out.

Her body was still regenerating as the poison was still working it's way out of her system.

Taking slow and steady breaths, she observed as the Dominion soldiers worked like a bunch of busy ants each one with their own assigned tasks.

Some were attending their wounded.

Others were granting their last respects to their fallen.

Then there were those who were making sure the annihilisk stayed dead. Much to her surprise after taking a devastating attack from the thor she still saw some parts of it wriggling around a bit still trying to survive. She had only learned from Terran reports and seen videos of the Zerg in action. But seeing it in person, it fully sunk in how dangerous these creatures were thus why the Dominion reacted as quickly as they did to contain them.

At the moment firebats and any one who could use a flamethrower burnt up any piece of it they could find. They even repeatedly scanned the area to insure they didn't miss one speck of it.

"That was a hard battle sister" Giselle sighed as she took a seat next to Rory. "I really don't care to fight something like that again". The webbing on her wings were returning as she rubbed her stomach as she had recently reconnected her bottom half back on. It felt really gross having your entrails hanging out like that. But she was glad she was an apostle. Otherwise even if she had a hundred lives it wouldn't have been enough to beat a monster like that.

Staring down at the machine she was sitting on, she ran her hand across it's armor.

"I must say that the people of iron are truly a frightening enemy. However they do make quite the incredible ally. I wonder if they would let me have one of these golems?"

"Huh?" as Rory looked at her as if she was stupid or something. "Why is that?"

"You saw how powerful this golem was, right?!" Giselle exclaimed. "Even the common iron wands used by their soldiers are quite powerful. More powerful then anything I've seen in this world. But then they would probably tell me no . . . ." she smiled bitterly.

Looking to her briefly, the dark apostle gave a soft chuckle. As Giselle looked to her curiously, the two apostles saw a darkness cover the land. Looking up was a massive burning carcass falling towards them.

But more so, small parts of it were hitting the kingdom at ballistic speed. The Dominion and Daelaam air units were doing their best to intercept them while ground forces fired off their anti-air missiles. However there was just too much falling towards them in a wide range. Hence some of it was getting through.

As a result the damage to Sadera was getting worse by the second.

Some buildings were cut in half causing them to implode.

Others wiped out entire blocks in several different sections of the kingdom.

The worse destruction created impact craters shattering the foundations of the area around it.

But this was only a small taste of the devastation is store. For what came after would leave no one left standing. At least most of them . . . .

Though their duty was to prevent events like this, Rory and Giselle were powerless against the coming disaster. They probably might survive the cataclysm, but this was a failure beyond comprehension. A destruction that could destabilize the garden if not outright kill it. Like some of the natives, all they could do now was pray to their deities for a divine intervention.

As precious moments ticked off the clock, Rory and Giselle felt something course through their very souls. For something powerful beyond their ability to comprehend had draped it's presence over them. Though overwhelming it felt . . . . Kind. In the midst of it all, the two apostles saw a bright light appear in the skies.

~ Sadera ~

John was not afraid to die. After the life he lived, it didn't matter. For the only purpose that gave him a reason to go on was to repay his debt for what he felt he owed. Though he resolved himself to death, he turned to see his father give a whimsical smile.

"It's all on you now darling" said Jim.

Confused at who he was talking too, John felt severe pain as if his brain was on fire. A presence so blindingly powerful it caused his body to ache. But concentrating, he closed off his mind as he then looked to where the presence was coming from. Up there in the skies, he saw a silhouette of a woman made of light.

"Is that . . . ." as John now stared not daring to miss a moment.

~ Sadera ~

Matt could only feel regret at his failure. The fleet had done all they could as they only at best were able to disintegrate twenty percent of the mass. However it was not nearly enough to stop what was coming. The best he could do now was save as many people as he could get through the gate.

"Sir! Something just appeared on our sensors!" shouted a technician.

"We're picking up a psionic waveform. The adjutant is going crazy! It's never seen anything like it!"

"What the hell is it?!"

Having available ravens broadcast what they saw, everyone in the command center for that one moment were left completely shocked as it was someone they expected never to see again.

A woman who was notorious throughout the Koprulu sector and perhaps beyond it. For she was both a destroyer and a savior to them all.

Finding his voice, Matthew Horner muttered her name. ". . . . Kerrigan".

~ Sadera ~

Sarah Kerrigan.

Formerly a human ghost agent.

Formerly the queen of blades and leader of the Zerg.

Now she is Xel'naga. A void based entity that exists beyond the concept of time and space. Beyond reason and logic.

A being that maintains the clockwork of the universe.

For why she was here this day at this time on some insignificant planet among millions in the universe, she could make a list of many reasons.

Either paying back a debt or granting a favor. It didn't really matter as it was just a reason to be here. A reason to give herself permission to be here.

Though she practically existed as an all powerful being, she remained humble as she never forgot where she came from. Down below, she felt everyone of their thoughts and feelings. Such small and fleeting lives as they were there one moment and gone the next.

But it's what gave life meaning because you only had that one life to live.

As the corpse of the leviathan was falling towards them, she was only able to bring a fraction of herself onto this plain of existence for a limited time. Anymore she might cause unnecessary harm to the lowers. But this one moment was all she needed as it literally was a wave of her hand.

With that one flex of her power, the mass turned to a harmless sparkle of light. It's very structure broken down on the subatomic level and scattered as if it was disappearing right before their eyes.

Like a miracle for those who prayed below their wish came true as the disaster had passed just so suddenly.

Some cried in joy as their prayers were heard.

Others weren't sure how to react as all they saw was just a ray of golden light.

But the world was saved and that's all that mattered. Taking a moment smiling to the world below, Kerrigan returned back to her domain.

~ Sadera ~

The command center was completely silent as all they could do was watch what had happened.

Feeling all that stress lift from his shoulders, Matt flopped back onto his chair as he breathed a sigh of relief. He then started issuing orders having the fleet clean up whatever was left of the Zerg before standing down as they refocused their effort to whatever was needed on the ground.

After issuing his commands he could leave the others to take care of the rest.

Taking a deep calming breath, he didn't know just how far her powers reached let alone if she would hear him. But if nothing else, "thank you Kerrigan".

To be continued . . . .

Author's notes: Sorry, very busy with RL issues that took immediate priority and also side projects I wanted to attend too. Anyways hope this chapter was OK and onto some commentary.

Special thanks to MadClawDragon for the help.

Doing a little research, the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs hit the planet in an estimation of 0.3 to roughly 50 yotta joules of energy. The more you know.

This chapter was basically multiple perspectives as it was leading to the final event. This will also be the last time Kerrigan will be appearing in the story. The next chapter will cover the clean up and what will happen next.

As noted a few chapters back, I believe in theory a purifier cannot be killed if it has near infinite power to use with fast regenerating shields and body reconstruction. Like the Geth from Mass Effect, they could just move the consciousness to another waiting body to keep fighting. When I think about it, I'm not sure if they can actually be beaten outside of gaming mechanics.

Also noted in previous chapters, Protoss plasma shields seem to also function as a life support system when in hostile environment. But I do think they should have an equivalent to a space suit. Otherwise it seems like a terrible idea to over rely on that one technology not going wrong in such situations.

I only have a general idea of what the insides of a leviathan looks like. Aside from everything you'd find in a Zerg base, I'd imagine as a living creature it would have some rudimentary organs. Namely a nervous and digestive system. As noted in Zerg biology, they still do need to eat. No idea what a leviathan would eat out in space. Also as noted, there is a limit to size as the physics of such a thing is not possible without it tearing itself apart with just simple traveling. So I'd also imagine it has some sort of internal mechanism to compensate for such stresses.

I'd like to think this is what Pina would do in a situation like this. After meeting an advanced civilization, she became more open minded and less prideful understanding that there was more to life then what she thought.

As noted by Lelei both here and in canon, magic can grow pretty strong so long as the wielder understands the true principle behind it. It's why magic in their world is not that powerful because they misunderstand basic principles of physics and chemistry to really use magic to it's real potential. But also as noted, Lelei understands that science and technology makes magic irrelevant as it's able to reproduce it more efficiently at a lesser cost. But in regards to this story, I'm still thinking about it if magic will become a dying art or will become something more like for research.

The people of Falmart still believe in their superstitions. So not far fetched if they start praying.

In canon, Giselle takes a fancy to modern weapons at seeing them take down a dragon. Hence why she wanted either a gunship or a rocket launcher. Thus why I figured she would do the same in wanting to get her hands on Terran weapons. But also in canon being a young apostle, she became arrogant due to her demi-god status only being humbled after being forced to work as a waitress in the diner to pay off her debt. I'll go into it later how Giselle mellowed out after her capture.

I'm still not sure how their reactions work in relation to void based entities. Not even sure if they can exist on this plain of existence without causing problems. The only cases I'm aware of are Narud/Duran and Amon needing an appropriate physical container that can allow them to exist on the third dimensional universe. But using Hardy as an example, I just used that as a base for Kerrigan to make her appearance briefly to help with the problem. But those unique individuals were in for a ride which caused John/Rath, Rory, and Giselle to react the way they did.

From what I understand, Xel'naga are not necessarily a species but rather a title. With each cycle of the universe, two species that represent purity of essence and purity of form will come together as they in time will become one race as they will take on the mantle of Xel'naga. With that responsibility to rewind the clockwork of the universe to begin again when all the stars die out. Kerrigan exists as an oddity due to Amon trying to crash the system thus why her current existence was a desperate last gamble. But nonetheless, I'd imagine that's how powerful your average Xel'naga is.

So thank you for reading and I further extend my gratitude if you can review as well.