The Fury of the Swarm part I
Char
The Dominion who previously surrounded Sharku with weapons pointed at him was very confused. They were expecting the Queen of Blades, not some weird creature with wings and a tail.
Sharku looks at all of them before sinisterly smirking as he channels his psionic power, by using his right claw which glows as near midnight.
Underneath their feet, the soldiers feel something of what seems to be an earthquake, when all of a sudden, one of them looks down and notices something is not right.
"Something's about to burst out of the g-!" a black earth pillar pushes one group into the air, interrupting the soldier's warning.
The Dominion soldiers from the other group returned fire, as siege tanks started to bombard their crucial shells at Sharku. The Lord of Blades swiftly evades the first two shell explosions, while simultaneously deflects the other two, causing them to hit the other marines with friendly fire, unintentionally. As he gets closer to the tanks, he leaps into the air and plummets towards the ground where the siege tanks are nearby.
Sharku's left arm morphs into the Kaiser blade of an Ultralisk and slashes the first siege tank while crushing the other with his right foot. The Terrans are filled with fear, yet they are under their orders to repel the Zerg threat at any cost.
Sharku uses that advantage to shroud himself with a cloaking field of a Ghost. Many fearful grips hold on them, as the Terrans, speak with ramblings of anxiety.
"It took out our tanks!"
"Quiet! Can anyone see the unknown target? I've lost-!"
"It's over-!"
Then a wailing scream was heard, as the sound of a claw cutting through flesh and bone, with a bone snapping like a twig.
"Where'd it go?!"
"Get outta here! We're blind out there!"
"Show yourself you-!"
More screams are heard as more soldiers are cut down by Sharku's limb-morphing attacks. When the dust is settled, Sharku is phased into the real world as the purple grid figure appears before turning into a creature like a supercomputer.
Sharku now must find his pack and his elite Zerg, before the Terrans do. The Zergling carefully watches as Sharku leaves the battlefield, before running to the broodmother who's sent to investigate the Cerebrate's whereabouts.
After a few moments of waiting, Scarcezarla sees the Zergling moving towards her, once it's right next to her, it sends snarling chatter, telling her of what it witnessed.
"A pity that the Cerebrate survives the fall, and the Terrans ambush. Not that they would have succeeded anyway." Scarcezarla said with a minor disappointment, yet with slight satisfaction. "Still I will not disappoint the Queen if she says the Cerebrate is needed to survive, then so be it."
Warfield's base of operations
Raynor and the Terran Alliance, with the remaining resources they have, have successfully turned the general's outpost into a suitable camp. The Raiders' medics as well as the Dominion's own, patched up the wounded soldiers from the previous battle.
James Raynor went to the mission console, so he can watch the news as he usually does.
The news comes up faster than usual, as the screen opens up and reveals the same newswoman from before.
"This is Kate Lockwell reporting live from UNN," the newswoman replied, "Stunning news tonight as massive numbers of Zerg began pulling back to their main hive cluster on the planet Char. While they aren't giving up the worlds they've conquered, most of the aliens appear to be massing near the fiery planet."
Then, the screen changes into two visuals, showing Kate on the small screen, while simultaneously revealing a man with a brown suit jacket, covering most of his white shirt with a tie, "What could it mean Kate?"
"We really don't know Donny. We'll keep you posted with any further developments."
"I know what it means, and it ain't good," Raynor says with certainty.
He will worry about that later, as many marines we're still needed to recover more from the previous battle, especially Warfield.
"How are you holding up, General?" Raynor asks Warfield as his right arm is still injured.
He gritted his teeth in pain, "Damn poison. I told those pansy medics to lop off my arm so I can get back to the front." he sighs in disbelief, "Even so I'm in pretty bad shape."
General Warfield has fought against the Zerg for many, major battles, Yet Raynor has battled the Zerg a lot more, even going so far as to stand against the Queen of Blades and live to tell the tale or some that he heard of. He would have given the command to his higher-ranking officers, but since Raynor has saved his life, as well as most of his men, he figured it was the right decision to make.
"I've decided to hand over all the command to you." Horace knows that he'll be absent for a while until he recovers.
"I understand." Raynor accepts the temporary offer, "I know that it isn't easy for you."
"Easy?" Warfield chuckles, "Son…I'm getting off easy compared to what you got ahead of you. To reach the main hive, you'll have to choose… between taking out ground reinforcements or their air support. There won't be time for both."
"Don't worry, general, I'll deal with the Zerg." James Raynor replies with courage and determination. "First chance that you get, head back to the ship and get patched up, that's an order."
An order that Warfield cannot ignore before he leaves he let them know that he will monitor through communication.
On the barricade wall, Tychus was standing his ground while holding a machine gun turret, shooting any Zerg that gets too close, the Dominion Viking in walker mode firing bullets from its machine guns against what seems to be an endless swarm of Zerg.
"Lock and load, Jimmy-boy!" the ex-convict yells to his partner while holding the handle of the turret. "These blasted critters just keep coming, as what we've got here's the biggest turkey shooting the galaxy!"
Raynor decides to test his friend's respectful loyalty, "Hate to spoil all the fun Tychus, but we are going to start pushing towards their main hive cluster, pronto!"
Tychus then replied with a reason, "That's a tall order, old buddy! between Nydus Worms on the ground and that swarm of flyers overhead, we ain't in a position to push against anything!"
Raynor smirks with approval, "You're always an inspiration, Tychus."
Their next course of action is to destroy the Zerg advanced defences, yet something is amiss, the Hyperion cannot communicate, a mysterious falling meteor and that sudden ambush from the Nydus Worms before they're destroyed, whatever it was it cannot be good.
Unknown location
Narud is looking at each stasis capsule, doing everything he can to release his creations when they're at true perfection. He knows that everything is coming to fruition, the pieces of the artifact have been recovered by Raynor, will soon be unleashed on the Queen of Blades where she will be at the weakest and vulnerable, only then will she be eliminated and nothing will stop his master's plan. Yet he's more curious about an unknown creature who is responsible for the Dominion's elite squad going MIA.
He previously sent many Hybrids to retrieve them, but none have returned, disappointed Narud will never know what kind of a new Zerg breed is, but then he stops as he remembers something.
Back in the Brood War, Kerrigan was nearly close to taking control over the Swarm, yet the interference of the UED, including subjugating the new unfledged Overmind with Neurostim drugs, and using the Psi disrupter to continue harassing her forces. To defeat them, she needs unlikely allies, yet even with them on her side, unaware that she uses deception in the process, Kerrigan knows it will all be in vain if the United Earth Directorate is not weakened enough, although she's at war with the Cerebrates, she knows that she needs to require one to prevail against her enemies, so she silently searched for one of the Renegade Cerebrates whom might be very useful in her conquest, once she finds it she will use her psionic abilities to sever the psi-link connection and told it by serving her unquestioningly, and its life will be spared.
After a few moments of thinking. Narud realizes who or what that creature is in that photo, "Could this be the Cerebrate that Kerrigan has ordered its motives in the Brood War? And if it is, how is it still alive? I must know what kind of power it wields."
Narud will have to be patient for the result of Char invasion, he is confident enough that the Terrans will succeed in their tasks, he then continues with his cloning of the Hybrid, carefully lest they can be as feral as the Zerg without its overwriting will.
Hyperion, Char orbit
Matthew Horner was in complete shock, Zamara has explained the full history of the Cerebrates, how they are responsible for the Zerg conquering nine Terran worlds of the Koprulu sector. He heard stories of how the Zerg rampaged against everything and everyone until there was nothing left.
"I can scarcely believe it! As if the Queen of blades is bad enough!" Matt replied with shock and awe. "Zamara… Are you certain?"
"Yes," Zamara replied with certainty, "They're extremely cunning, I wouldn't be surprised if the Queen of Blades learns from them. Or in this case, destroy them and take their attributes as her own."
The captain noticed that Raynor, Warfield and the rest of the Terran forces are still on the surface of Char, who are completely unaware of the Cerebrate that has plummeted to the fiery world.
"We need to warn them on the surface! They must know what we're up against!"
"I couldn't agree more, unfortunately, the ship still needs minor repairs, as the communications are still malfunctioning," Zamara said as she predicted the minor conditions of the Hyperion.
Matt sighs, the preserver was correct as the communications were still offline, Swann however was about to tell Matt that he and Stetmann are heading to the surface to assist Raynor and their allies on their next task.
"I'll do what I can to get it functional as fast as I can, while Swann is away," replied the Hyperion mechanic man, though he is not as good as Rory Swann, he isn't going to stand there doing absolutely nothing as the Zerg wave is going to attack their forces on the surface.
Zamara, while successfully warning the Terrans about the Cerebrates, also has another reason for seeking this ancient Zerg. Something anonymous about it has got into her mind, something tells her that this Cerebrate possibly has a role to play a part in the prophecy, but she doesn't know what it is. Regardless, Zamara can wonder about that later, all she can do right now is wait for the Terrans to hopefully succeed on what the Terrans called a 'gambit'.
Char Surface, near the Dauntless Plateau
Sharku continues to walk to find the Strain Lords and his pack, so he can continue his quest to assist the Queen of Blades whenever possible. So far he found nothing, yet he must not give in to blind rage lest he will fall to his enemies, new and old.
Sharku continues searching for them for a few minutes until he senses a familiar Zerg nearby, he rushes forward to the scent until at last, he sees what seems to be his pack. As he moves closer to them, he sees Zarkus on top of what seems to be on top of the Primal Ultralisk, it didn't take him long to find out that it was Nargez fatally wounded, as the blood is spilled on the ashy ground.
Zarkus turns his head to Sharku, which he notices something unusual for the Primal Zergling, normally Zerg cannot feel anything emotion besides rage whatsoever, Zarkus is filled with anxiety as his friend is dying, normally the Zerg would feast on the dead to grow stronger, yet Sharku sees that Zarkus doesn't want to kill his amiable partner.
Zarkus is filled with desperation as he stares at Sharku like he's pleading for help, "Lord Sharku! These unknown primitives appeared out of nowhere, Nargez has fought as best as he could, but they've gravely wounded him with metal rocks coming from what seems to be an odd-looking trunk that they're carrying."
Before he engaged the Terran fleet, Sharku had transferred Zarkus and the rest of the Primal Zerg to Straxxus for him to take them to Char's surface. Sharku inspects Nargez closely, and can see that he's on death's door, he knows one thing, if Sharku cannot rejuvenate Nargez, he can attempt to bring it back from its grip.
Sharku clenched his claw into his chest, which in turn caused his claw to glow psionically. Zarkus gazes upon Sharku, wondering what he is trying to do.
After a few minutes of channelling, Sharku, now carrying glowing blue energy, looks at Nargez one last time before slamming it into the near deceased Primal Ultralisk. Within a few seconds, the wounds are rapidly sealed as Nargez slowly rises, as it was about to send a bellowing roar, Sharku, who sensed many Terrans nearby immediately silenced the primordial creature by smacking him, while simultaneously covered Nargez' mouth to keep the noise down.
Zarkus looked at Sharku and was about to go burst into outrage for whatever reason when Sharku immediately told the Primal Zergling to be quiet with his index talon in front of his toothy maw. Sharku then points to where he's looking, which in turn Zarkus sees Terrans below the cliff.
After a few seconds of spying on them carefully, Zarkus, Nargez and Sharku break their silence with a whisper,
"Lord Sharku, next time give us a little bit of warning before you do something stupid, you slugging slime!"
"You better be quiet Zarkus, lest we'll blow our cover and lose our advantage, I did what was necessary to make sure you don't get slaughtered!"
Sharku looks at the Terrans below, as he continues to eavesdrop on them, he suspects that his pack hasn't seen the Terrans before, so he decides to tell the Primals who these 'primitives' are.
"These.. 'Primitives' as you can see, are called Terrans," Sharku explains to his pack the situation, "They're our enemies," Sharku then turns his head to Nargez, "that should not be trifled with."
Nargez just glares at Sharku with the 'how am I supposed to know that?', before lowering his head with mild shame. Sharku turns his head to the unaware Terran group, to listen to what they're saying.
Sharku hums as he's listening to whatever the Terrans really are after, "Alright men, we have our orders from our lieutenant, we must stop the Zerg threat at any cost,"
As Sharku continues to snoop around, he sees one of the Terran soldiers talking about the incident of the lab from orbit that Sharku is all too familiar with, "The Queen of Blades is a considerate threat to mankind and must be dealt with immediately, we're fully aware of her psionic capabilities, which lead to a result of the deaths of our team who were sent to a lab which is being classified, but this I can assure you with a weapon at our hands, we just have a chance to eliminate her once and for all."
Sharku thinks with a hum, they're not talking about what I think they're saying, are they?
The Terran officer explains the crimes of what Kerrigan has committed, including the assassination of one of the generals in the so-called Brood Wars, a name that is all too familiar to the Lord of Blades. After explaining all of the other crimes, the officer now orders the Terran soldiers in groups to build the defences, scouts out for any Zerg ambushes, before planning their next move.
Sharku silently moves to the next molten area along with Zarkus and Nargez, while seeing what the Terrans are up to.
"Set up Psi disruptors on the cliffs, we need to make sure that the Zerg do not get the upper hand," the officer said
Sharku widens his eyes a little, as he had never heard of a different device in a lifetime four years ago. The only device that he's all too familiar with is the Psionic Waveform Emitter. Though he kind of understands that these Terrans know how to use psionic connections against the Zerg for years.
Sharku continues to listen through Terran's conversation with another, which caught him with the most interest.
"I'm aware of our precautions sir, but if we wait any longer, Kerrigan will strike at us at any time. We'll never get a chance if she kills us." replies the soldier.
"I know you really wanted justice, but we cannot get too careless. We must remain vigilant and steadfast." the officer walks to the Dominion soldier, in an attempt to calm him down, "I'm sorry about your fiance, but we cannot let our past and our emotions cloud our judgements."
The conversation continues, until the officer finally says the last words, "This I promise you, for your fiance, for the memory of General Duke," he reloads his weapon, "today we see Kerrigan dead."
As the two marines leave, Sharku, while in the shadows with Zarkus and Nargez, is chuckling at Terran's ignorance. "Foolish unknowing, ignorant Dominion! Little did you know that your emperor's orders that you're carrying will lead to your DOOM!"
His silent laughing was sadly short, as he saw Zarkus and Nargez looking at him confused.
"That's right you didn't know." he sighs as he begins to explain what the Terrans are planning, "These Terrans, who they call themselves the Dominion is preparing some kind of weapon that they believe will wipe out the Zerg on Char. If they get it to its functionality, they can destroy a brood with a wave of their hands."
Sharku then tells the Primals what to do next, to deal with the Terrans' tactics, "We must find a way to deny them a chance to tip the balance of power into their favour."
Sharku pauses for a moment, then continues to speak as the Primals were listening, "They're setting up one of those devices that also have this cursed psionic connection -"
Zarkus immediately interrupts Sharku, "Lord Sharku, did you say psionic connection?"
"Yes, it's the long term that I used for the device the Terrans carried. Why did you ask?"
"Here's the thing: The Primal Zerg do not have this connection." Sharku widens his eyes, as Zarkus explains the situation, "We do not need it, nor do we require it." Sharku thinks for a minute or two, then it gives him the idea. Why stand here doing nothing but watching, when they could destroy the Terrans with subtlety. If what Zarkus said was true, then this 'Psi disrupter' would be useless.
"Zarkus, I have a plan," Sharku said, "This will be an important lesson: how to survive dire circumstances."
Sharku, Nargez and Zarkus are now analyzing the situation, to stop the Terrans once and for all.
Mengsk's palace, Korhal
Arcturus was standing near a large window, watching at the city below, planning an alternative should his original strategy go haywire. As he continues to observe, he hears a communicator call, telling him that one of his followers is about what he saw during reconnaissance.
Mengsk turns it on, and it shows Lucifer on screen, "We have trouble."
Arcturus sits onto his chair, "Just tell me what it's all about."
Lucifer respectfully bowed before him then said, "We lost a lot of men to a new breed of Zerg."
Emperor Mengsk sighs, "Do you expect me to believe it? A single Zerg specimen is vulnerable by itself…" he quickly halts himself, before realizing the 'message' he received, "are you absolutely certain?"
"Indeed I am, emperor." Lucifer answered with confirmation, "You need to see this."
Lucifer pushed the button showing Mengsk the battle on the orbit of Char. From there Arcturus sees many battlecruisers blown to pieces by an unknown Zerg creature with wings and a tail. He had to admit, it is unlike any Zerg that he or any of his men have encountered.
After the message was sent, he expected that creature to be Kerrigan because she can massacre an entire squadron by herself. Yet seeing it destroying one battlecruiser gives Mengsk a sign that it takes time for the Queen of blades to eliminate one capital ship. So if it's not Kerrigan, who calls herself the 'Queen Bitch of the Universe', it has to be one of her minions, a big powerful one true, but one of them nonetheless.
" How unfortunate, but you know they're all heroes willing to sacrifice for humanity to prevail." Arcturus lectured.
"With all due respect, if this thing's left unchecked, all of our efforts will be for naught."
"Then, barricade the area and kill it, before it calls for backup." Emperor Mengsk replied.
As much as Lucifer wanted to object, he reluctantly agreed, "I'll carry them out the orders, and make sure it goes through."
Mengsk smirks as Lucifer gets the memo, "Once we've neutralized whatever she'll throw at us and be rid of her once and for all, we can focus on maintaining our control of the Dominion."
Lucifer looks at his majesty for a few seconds, respectfully bowing before Arcturus before the communications were off.
Mengsk then waits for a while longer for the final results, there are some 'obstacles' that could be a greater concern to his empire if left unchallenged. Yet he can set that aside for now, not when he's close to removing a thorn in his side for far too long.
If the operation was successful, he could use his secret agent to remove Raynor, to put an end to the rebellion once and for all.
Bucephalus, Char high orbit
Valerian ordered his crew to begin the repairs, so they can communicate with their allies as well as their own, while also warning them of a new threat on the surface.
Meanwhile, Sizadin was preparing his ship so he could get to the surface and aid whatever he could if the Terrans encountered the Cerebrate. However, as he's about to leave the Dominion vessel, he was stopped by psionic telepathy by Zamara.
"Sizadin, I've felt that you were successful in warning the Raider's allies of the Cerebrate?"
"Indeed I have, though I have to take precautions with the Dominion, lest they try to take some of our technology by force."
"Sizadin, there is something I should tell you a bit more," Zamara said with telepathy, "After I imprisoned Ulrezaj within the crystal one year ago, I received a visit from Zeratul. He told me that he discovered the prophecy of one who would break the cycle of the gods. At first, he believed it was the Overmind who was responsible."
Sizadin widens his eyes a little for the Overmind was mentioned, as he enters his ship to depart to Char, "That couldn't possibly happen! The Overmind died a long time ago."
"Yes it did perish, yet somehow it sparked a light about something or someone caused the Zerg to set a collision course on our people on Aiur. If this Fallen One that Zeratul spoke of was true, it could bring ill-tidings to the sector."
The Delaam warrior was surprised to hear about a new threat coming to do something terrible, though he did not know who or what this new threat was. All these years the only major threats that he and his people know are Kerrigan and the Zerg Swarm. Yet somehow he did think for a minute. Before he found the preserver, he aided Zeratul to uncover the other fragments of the Prophecy while he was searching for Ulrezaj's whereabouts. He didn't know what the Prelate had uncovered, all Sizadin knew is what he saw in the tablets. He first saw an image of the Hybrid, then a picture of an erupting volcano, before finally seeing the Hybrid battling against the Zerg creature which is revealed to be a Cerebrate.
Sizadin knows that he will find out soon enough, "Zamara, hate to break it up to you, but we can continue about this later. Right now I've got a Terran commander to save."
Sizadin ventures to the cockpit to start his advanced vessel to descend into the surface of Char. Unbeknownst to him, however, is that a ghost has entered his ship, to what he's doing no one knows.
The ship levitates from the metallic ground of the hangar bay before it thrusts its engines once the hangar doors are opened, then it flies towards the planet's surface.
The vessel moves recklessly fast as it enters Char's orbit, before slowing down as it lingers in the atmosphere until it lands with enough molasses speed onto its surface.
Warfield's base of operations
Raynor and the officer were in the middle of which one of the Zerg defences to wipe out before the assault on Kerrigan's main hive. Tychus walks towards them, so he can tell his old friend a slight reminder.
"You know, I've been thinking…"
"Scares me more than the Zerg..." Raynor replies with a slight concern.
"We're gonna have to take out these Nydus Worms before we can make a move on the main hive." The ex-convict didn't want to risk another surprised ambush, they were lucky to survive this when they're rescuing Warfield, "Them Zerg bursting up under us whether they please ain't exactly conducive to our health and well-being."
Raynor might have found a solution, so he turns to the officer on how to deal with this threat. "Well, placing charges at the right spots in their Nydus Network could flood the system with lava."
The officer thinks for a moment, before opening the channel to connect to Warfield, "Raynor might have found a way with the worm problem by using explosives on their network, so the lava can eradicate the worms for us. What's your take, General?"
Warfield thinks for a second, "It's dangerous, but it could work." The General agrees with that plan, however explosives alone cannot solve the second issue, "Bigger problem is still their fliers, even if we can move our units forward we wouldn't provide adequate cover when the skies are contested."
Raynor then decided to hear what Horace had to say, "Any suggestions?"
In turn, Warfield does have, "Intel shows eighty percent of the Zerg fliers nest on an infested platform hanging on low orbit. We take that down, we'll own the air."
"Hell, if this platform's so important, why don't we just nuke it," Tychus said.
Using a nuclear warhead would solve that problem if the nest wasn't too deep inside the structure. "The nests are burrowed inside the superstructure. Surface detonations won't do it. We need to land a strikeforce and take it apart piece by piece, it's your call Raynor."
James Raynor will now have to choose, take out the Nydus Worms, or the infested platform. He knows that his forces and the Dominion will have to deal with the other threat once one of their tricks is neutralized. If the Worms are destroyed, then a swarm of mutalisks and a new but recent Zerg flier called 'brood lords would harass his troops. With many squads of Vikings and wraiths, as well as a few support of battlecruisers and missile turrets, he could halt the Zerg aerial advance with careful positioning and tactics, yet Kerrigan might still have some new tricks under her sleeve, so he couldn't get careless. If the platform was torn apart, then the worms would be the remaining obstacle, normally he could send a medium strikeforce with a mix of banshees, thors, tanks and firebats to take out the worms before they can send reinforcements, but after that sudden baneling ambush that nearly cost him his men and the Dominion forces, he cannot take that chance.
"As long as they can use the Nydus Network, our forces are under threat. I feel for our flyboys, but shutting down these tunnels has to be our top priority."
Warfield understands Raynor's decision, "That's not my assessment, but I will defer. You're the expert here...Good hunting, Commander"
Tychus can't help but smile, as his friend goes for his offer, "Good call, Jimmy! Let's give the Zerg a lesson in how we do things 'Heaven's Devils' style!"
The three move to the mission console, which in turn shows the tunnels where the Zerg Nydus Network is located.
The Raiders Adjutant replies the briefing, "Deep scan analysis has detected three fault lines converging beneath this area." The console shows the location of three fault lines showing glowing lava underneath. "Detonation of seismic charges in all three locations will redirect lava into adjacent caverns."
Raynor then asks a question, "Any intel on what we're facing down there?"
"Negative, Commander. The intervening rock layers prevent accurate detection of Zerg bio-signatures, caution is advised."
Tychus suggests reinforcements, "We're going to need some more boys to carry the charges if nothing else."
Raynor remembered the first time he went to the caverns, it is there where Kerrigan emerged from the chrysalis, and barely survives the encounter with her Zerg forces and the snake-like centipede creature.
"I've been in these tunnels before," Raynor would not let his guard down, "The more guys we take, the riskier it gets. I would rather bring a smaller, more experienced crew than a whole regiment."
The officer then offers a squad, "Warfield suggests some of his men to you. You'll love them, they've decorated combat veterans with lousy discipline records."
"Sounds good, Officer," Raynor thanks the Dominion soldier's request, but he has to deny it, "But I've got my own crew for this." He then turns to where Swann and Stetmann are, prepping up their suits. "Besides, it does them good to get outside once in a while."
Then Warfield's portrait appears on screen, unveiling a small group of Dominion troops. "Some squads took cover in the tunnels during the landing, so you should be able to find reinforcements down there. I'll contact you if I detect their transponders."
Raynor looks at the general, and considers it, "Alright, you do that. but I can't guarantee anything. This is no rescue mission."
Outside of the Dominion barricade
Many Psi disruptors were constructed on the cliffs, just in case of a potential Zerg rush, or for an ambush on the unsuspecting Zerg. Captain Damian has received an order from his lieutenant to set up a barricade with a set of bunkers, turrets and siege tanks. From what he has heard, Kerrigan has had a new asset, which is the result of the loss of communications from the highly advanced ships and possibly wiped them out.
Not sure why they need more defences, they're fine with just what they have. Yet they must remain vigilant, whatever's out there is wreaking havoc on them and their allies.
Captain Damian has served the Dominion and its emperor since the fall of the Confederacy. For many years, the Dominion has endured much to overcome many challenges, like the sudden UED invasion which in turn Mengsk has been rescued by an unlikely James Raynor and the Protoss. He has retaken Korhal from the UED with the aid of Kerrigan, only for her to backstab him by killing Edmond Duke and destroying the base of operations. To finally managed to maintain order on their core worlds and many of the fringe worlds, denying any enemy of the Dominion to thwart their motives, with piracy, assassination attempts and more.
All of that changed when the broadcast was unveiled, now the Dominion has been fractured, many are questioning Mengsk, while some are furious about what Raynor has done. Regardless, he has his orders. His troops will hold the position in the plateau entrance and await further instructions. Yet, something is amiss, why hasn't the Zerg begun the advance?
Damian's question was answered, when he hears a familiar voice in comms, yet it's still in static, "Any Dominion...this facil...retreat to Warfield's...there's a new Zerg…"
"Come in? Come in! You're breaking up." Damian replies.
Damian hears another one coming from the comms, while more stable than the last, he can barely hear it completely, "Damian! Fall back! We've been assaulted…"
"Jonathan? Respond! SCVs get the communications working and find out what is going on?!"
He then hears a few soldiers screaming, as well as the remaining troops. He spent time searching for where that sound came from, when one of the soldiers said with the assistance of the sensor tower, "Damian, movement from the plateau!"
Damian looks at a cavern from the west, and from there, he watches in shock as many spectral creatures with some Zerg features like bug wings of the Zergling come out from the western plateau, and they have eyeless sight.
"What is the name of-?! How many can Kerrigan make?!"
The soldiers did their best to shoot those strange monstrosities, yet they were too quick, as they lunged onto the Terran troops and started slashing and thrashing on the Terrans. Those who succumbed to the creature's claws were either turned into sparked corpses or trembling in terror.
Damian immediately disciplines his forces, "Everyone get into better positions and start firing on these beasts! We'll hold the line until I receive intel from our troops! I will not abandon them!"
The Dominion marines, firebats and reapers get into formations with medics in the back, the firebats using their flamethrowers to incinerate anything that gets too close, with marines giving them firing support, and reapers using proximity mines to keep the creatures away. Thankfully these spectral beings are not too beefy, though instead of the usual blood splatter, they just vanish like a puff of smoke.
The Terrans were in disbelief, they've been toyed by the Zerg, but how can they possibly use hallucinations like that, only the Protoss have the capability to unleash that. Yet somehow, these ones can deal damage as the real thing. That's not the only issue, however, like the one marine who's under the effects of the fear toxin, blindingly starts shooting in random directions like a crazed animal.
With a heavy heart, Damian requests to put him out of his misery, "Take out those who succumbed to that creature's claws. It's the only mercy we can afford."
A single bullet pierced the marine's head, which in turn falls to the ground dead. Suddenly, more terrible screeches and roars continued, warning the Terrans that another wave is coming.
"Into the bunkers, now! You'll be protected there, but only if we concentrate fire on the enemy!" Captain Damian commands his men.
As they man the bunkers, more of the spectral beasts come from the similar cavern, but within the bunkers, the Terrans will defend themselves with ease, 'cause the creature's claws cannot inject their poison on structures.
After they've cleared the wave, more screeches are heard, and the sensor tower is blaring off the scale, it could mean one thing, "Zerg incoming from the east!"
This time from the eastern plateau, the same spectral beings will enter the front lines, however, the Zerg brought some back-up, they brought roaches into the fold. This could be a major problem, while the Terrans are focused on the advanced ethereal creatures, the roaches are free to do major damage to these bunkers. Left unchecked, they will turn the bunkers into rubble, leaving the men vulnerable.
"They're coming from everywhere!" The medic wailed.
"Retreat to higher ground, where our first barricade is located." Damian requested to fall back. "The Zerg have claimed this area that we've lost."
The Dominion makes an immediate retreat to the first barricade, as they're past a large boulder, Damian orders the tanks to target the boulder, "Block the pathway behind us, we need this area secured."
"Yessir!" The siege tanks entered siege mode and with two to three crucio blasts, they successfully blocked the path for the Zerg to get through. Though he knew that it will not hold for long, it'll give them enough time to set up the defences for the next retreat.
As he ordered them to set up new defences, Damian tried to make contact with someone, "If anyone can hear me, my forces are on the way to Warfield but we'll hold the line until I can reach you."
Unfortunately, there was no response, "Still nothing? Damn it!"
Damian then gives the soldier the next priority, "Make sure the wounded are patched up and prepare the defences for their next attack. The Zerg are not done with us, yet."
They immediately start preparing new bunkers, turrets and psi disruptors at the small hills, while simultaneously setting up siege tanks behind bunkers.
"We must hold the line until we've restored communications to reach them. Get these defences running, we need spider mines to slow the Zerg down."
Once the defences are in place, Damian will have to make the next move. Right behind the first barricade is the pathway to the second barricade, but it is blocked by debris made of thick metal, recently fallen from orbit. If he uses siege tanks and thors, it could be able to breakthrough, but it takes about forty to fifty shots, and time is against them.
"Normally I would advise against using these machines that have not been tested for combat, but I'm out of options." Captain Damian sighs, "Bring forth the Laser Drill tanks. We need them to clear a path to our next barricade, and possibly to our main base. It is our best chance to contact our men there."
"But sir, Lucifer's orders are to set up barricades and kill the new Zerg breed, before it reaches the Queen of Blades." The Dominion marauder replies with content. "If we disobey that order, the Emperor will have our heads!"
"This 'new breed' somehow managed to outsmart us-" Damian countered when the adjutant stated a warning "Multiple Zerg bio-signatures detected."
"We are out of options, we'll either die trying or get into better positions so that we might have a chance." Without any arguments, Damian prepares for another defence, as four medivacs carrying each of the laser drill tanks. They are similar to the normal siege tanks, but it's cannons are replaced with a crystal spike that charges its plasma beam to cut through even the toughest of metal. Normally they are designed for mining rich materials. Yet with the impending Zerg rush imminent, these tanks are the only ones who can break through the debris with ease.
Of course, drilling takes time so Damian commands his troops to hold the line, "Defend the drill tanks, so that BOTH routes are cleared, or we'll have no place to run to."
The Zerg force has arrived with a swarm of spectral beasts, roaches, and hydralisks to assault the Terran defences, "We must maintain our defence for a staggered retreat, if Prince Valerian and Jonathan are still alive they will need us!"
The ethereal beasts moved into the front lines once again, with roaches and hydralisks behind. Luckily, the psi disruptors have caused any nearby Zerg to hinder their movement as well as their adrenaline, allowing the siege tanks to wipe out the ethereals clean and forcing the roaches to retreat by immediately burrow underground, unfortunately, the hydralisks receive no drawbacks as they continue to harass the disrupters with their needle spines.
"Captain, we have an issue, our psi disruptors are doing nothing against these hydralisks." the marine said with concern.
"What?! That's impossible!" Damian yells with disbelief, "Don't tell me they learn to adapt!"
After a few minutes of inspection, Damian can see that the hydralisks are indeed different, they're more prehistoric-like. Yet he cannot let it stand, so he ordered the siege tank to eradicate these new hydralisks.
The hydralisks immediately retreated after taking the blast from the crucio round. That is not the least of their worries as the screeching sound is heard once again. "Zerg incoming from the east! Watch out!"
Another wave of ethereal creatures and roaches appear to the east, as they venture to attack any Terran that stands in their way. "Push them back! The Dominion didn't come so far to be destroyed by monstrosities!"
Their attacks grow larger than before as the next wave is coming by both routes. The laser drill tanks are nearly done cutting through the metal debris when a marine screams with a warning "Ultralisk incoming!"
A gargantuan lumbering beast stomps toward, with thousands of jagged spikes on the back of its carapace, with Kaiser blades extremely sharp to cut through any material, and a strong hardened shield behind its head.
Damian realized one thing, hearing stories when he was a kid, it's none other than a Torrasque, "Keep that beast away from the drill tanks!"
The Terrans immediately fire their weapons on it. However as it takes the impact of the Terran weaponry, it launches forth multiple spikes and shoots on anyone who attacks it.
Many marines were caught with many reflective spines, crippling them in the process, they screamed in agony as one of them cried, "MEDIC!"
Medics and medivacs picked up the wounded soldiers and move them out of harm's way. When at last the drill tanks have finally cut through the debris allowing Damian and his forces to retreat to the second barricade.
"We have limited time to prepare before they return. Fall back to the second barricade, and ready the defences."
Damian then orders the drill tanks to slow the Zerg advance, "Drill tanks, set up tripwires while we fall back."
The pilots did as the captain requested. The tripwires function the same way as the spider mines, but they detonate when any nearby enemy is close, and those who survive the blast will be hindered temporarily. They have no choice but to leave the previous defensive structures behind, as the Torrasque and the Zerg decimated the barricade like a tide of blade, acid and spine.
Damian and the soldiers, including medics, marines, firebats, marauders, siege tanks and laser drill tanks, successfully reached the second barricade, "Jonathan, this is Damian, are you still alive? We'll hold out as long as we can, but we won't be able to wait forever."
His troops knew the drill: set up more defences to keep the Zerg back, and patch up the wounded as well as repairing the tanks, they're needed at full strength.
Damian has taken a few marauders and medics to scout for any teams who're scattered across the battlefield. Indeed, the Dominion captain has found one of the teams, but they are under attack by the same Zerg force that somehow breached the outer outposts. Damian and his squad have rescued them in time before the ethereal Zerg decimated them.
"Come with us! We need you to push them back!" The soldiers do not question Damian as they know if they're gonna make it out alive, they will fight with everything that they have.
The Dominion captain and the soldiers return to the second barricade, and once heightened the defences they've made, Damian tells his men and women medics to watch for movement, while he examines another pile of scrap metal. After a quick inspection, he realizes he's going to need more drill tanks than he has.
Damian knew it would cost him more resources to request more tanks to do a desperate escape. Normally he could just defend this position with the four laser tanks that he had earlier, but because of the sudden Torrasque joining the assault with the strange ghost Zerg creatures, it could turn a barricade into rubble in no time. He was lucky when the first debris was cleared, but he cannot take any chances. With no other option, Damian requested more drill tanks.
"Send in more laser drill tanks that we can afford to break through the huge pile of debris. Push them back, so that our exit route has been cleared, and keep those drill tanks intact!"
As more medivacs drop off more drill tanks, they immediately start to drill on huge metal debris, while simultaneously the Terrans listen to the horrible screeches of the Zerg, "Defend the laser drill tanks, or we will be overrun by the Zerg!"
Another wave of Zerg is approaching the second and more secure barricade. Hundreds of spectral Zerg beasts moved to the front lines, with roaches and Hydralisks on the back, the Dominion will do everything in their power to keep the Zerg at bay. Siege tanks continue to bombard their shells against the large wave of Zerg. While some of the roaches have perished by many blasts, the survivors manage to burrow immediately to rejuvenate their wounds swiftly. The spectral beasts who are caught in the blast will dissipate like puffs of smoke, yet somehow many of them managed to slip past through the defences and start attacking with their claws onto some of the marines.
They writhe in agony as the toxins of the spectral have injected them within their veins, some of the medics, however, having learned when they're once part of the UED use their restoration to cleanse the men of the toxins before the damage become irreversible.
Their defence was seeming to be going well as the Swarm could barely get through the tight corridors. Fortune doesn't gain them any favour for long, however, as the sounds of Mutalisks, Corruptors and Scourge are contesting the skies.
Damian notices the Zerg fliers heading towards the barricade and knows that if these flying beasts assault the barricade, they're in big trouble. Although they have many missile turrets and marines as anti-air, unless they focus their fire on one of the Mutalisks at a time, they will be overwhelmed quickly. Fortunately, many reinforcements arrived to provide support with Goliaths and Vikings. "Perfect timing, the Zerg are using their fliers now to overwhelm us."
Vikings in their standard fighter mode were capable of dealing with the winged beasts, while the Goliaths, though were designed to eradicate the heavy armoured aerial targets like the Brood lords, are capable of taking a few hits from the spectrals, as the toxins also do not affect the mechanical vehicles.
However, many screeches have echoed through the halls once again, as Damian knows what's coming, "Zerg threat incoming from the east!"
The same spectral beings entered the front lines, yet before they engage the Terrans however, many of them begin to change, as they grow larger and larger, before they grow some wings and begin to take flight.
"Are you serious, these things can fly now?!" exclaims the marine.
The flying spectral serpents begin their attack on the Vikings, not only in an attempt to destroy them but to support the Mutalisks, but that's not the only thing they have to worry about, as the ground shakes indicate that the earth bursting worms is about to arrive underground.
The worms immediately burst underneath, unfortunately, it's located near the laser drill tanks. This could be a major problem, if the Zerg managed to destroy any or all of the tanks after popping out of the worm's mouths, the only escape for the Terrans was death itself.
"Kill those worms quickly, we cannot allow them to destroy our drill tanks!" Damian gives a new priority in the defence: slay the Nydus Worms before they destroy their critical targets, as the laser drill tanks are more vulnerable to enemy assaults a lot more than the original tanks.
The Dominion's first half of the siege tanks start shelling against the worms before they start pumping out more Zerg, while the other half will remain focused on pushing the Zerg assault back, but it only becomes more intense as the worms just spew out broodlings. These little critters must be dealt with swiftly as the worms, or they will lose a chance to escape this hellhole. The siege tanks were successful in destroying the worms
"Captain Damian, our Vikings and goliaths are doing as best as they can, but the brood lords are pounding us!" the soldier exclaims, as he makes a suggestion, "I advise using some of the laser tanks to exterminate the brood lords, to prevent them from harassing us with broodlings!"
Damian thinks for a second, he had never seen what a Laser Drill tank is capable of. Yet by ordering one or more of these tanks will slow down the drilling process on the rubble. He now has a difficult choice: delaying the cutting, or risking losing all in a desperate defence.
"Two drivers of the laser tanks, focus fire on the brood lords, while the rest remain focused on the debris. Everyone else, push them back, we cannot let them overrun the area!" Damian ordered his men to drive the Zerg back, which in turn, they immediately carried them out without question. Two of the laser drill tanks turn their cannons on one of the brood lords each and start charging up their weapons. Within seconds after completion, the laser beams pierced and incinerated the brood lords like a knife through butter one by one.
With those threats out of the way, they immediately resume their cutting on the debris. The flying spectrals are a major problem as they fly with swift speed, and start attacking the Vikings with their teeth and claws. The Viking pilots look to their right and immediately barrel rolls just in time before the ethereals land their talons on the flying machines. They immediately fire their missiles on the flying spectrals, before resuming their assault on the Mutalisks and Scourges
As the chaos continues, Damian and his troops decimate many roaches and mutalisks as best as they can, yet these ethereal Zerg creatures and the strange Hydralisks attacks have grown more intense, and the defences cannot hold any longer.
"Hold fast! We are the sword and shield of the Dominion!" Damian boosts their morale.
The desperate defence has held enough time, as the laser drill tanks finally managed to cut through the debris.
"The drill tanks have broken through! Retreat to our base and strengthen it!"
Damian, marines, medics, firebats, goliaths, vikings and two squads of tanks venture through to reach their main base with the Zerg in pursuit.
"Drill tanks, stall them and cover us!"
The laser tank drivers placed more tripwire mines as they tended towards the squad to reach their main base, the Zerg who were caught in the blast are slowed vastly, allowing the Terrans to reach their destination safely.
However, as they reach the heart of their base, Damian sees that they're Zerg in the base as well. A swarm of Zerglings, Roaches, normal Hydralisks and Mutalisks are attempting to destroy the Command Center and the production structures.
"The Zerg are attacking our base! Clear them out!"
The Dominion troops have fired their weapons on nearby Zerg in a desperate attempt to stabilize the base. "We cannot risk losing our base to the infestation. Destroy the Zerg!"
Within minutes, the Terrans wiped out the Zerg forces, with firebats incinerating the Zerglings, marines shooting the hydralisks with their C-14 rifles allowing the goliaths to finish them off with their autocannons, marauders and siege tanks to decimate the roaches and Vikings to blast the mutalisks out of the sky.
With their base secured, the SCVs are now on duty to repair the structures to keep them fully functional. While the repairs were on the way, Damian received a transmission. "Captain Damian, why the hell are you not at your post?!"
Damian groaned knowing exactly who it is, "Lucifer, with all due respect: this 'new breed' somehow unleashed a new trick up its sleeve!"
"How could you possibly make up an excuse, by leaving a barricade nearly empty-!"
"That's the thing! The barricades have been wiped out!
"Impossible!"
The argument came to a halt, as something or someone has hijacked the communications. They would suspect that the infamous Queen of Blades would psionically hack the transmissions just to taunt or instill fear on her enemies, yet the voice belongs to someone who's far more manlike and more reptilian-like.
"Guns and mechanisms," it speaks to the Terran leaders telepathically, before sinister chuckles. "Why do you not fight with acid, tooth and claw?!"
Then many voices from the comms from the other Dominion troops, "Damian, we're ready to reinforce you, but we're under attack from a new breed of Zerg!
"We got movement! Mother of Mercy, what are those things?!"
"Any outpost on this net, any outpost on this net, we need fire support! We need it now- AHHH!"
"If we don't get into a better position, we'll be unable to drive them back and -" Damian was interrupted by Lucifer who admitted that he made his point, the lieutenant would remind the captain what the orders are. The same thing the Emperor has told him.
"I'll allow that, but under one condition: your orders are to make sure this new breed must not reach the Queen of Blades at any cost."
Damian, irritated for being lectured to, has no choice but to carry on, "Yes lieutenant."
With the communications cut from Lucifer, Damian will give his troop his true alternative, having doubts that the standard order will come to fruition. "Attention men and medical staff, we'll make our final stand here!"
He will hold this position with whatever resources he has to receive full com-link to Jonathan, "I've sacrificed too many soldiers during the First Great War and the Brood War, I will not abandon Jonathan!"
Damian knew immediately if Jonathan or his squad made contact with him. He ordered the remaining laser drill tanks to higher cliffs to set up defensive positions. "Laser Drill tanks, set up your position at the cliffs if accessible to drive, your firepower is needed if we're able to hold momentarily."
"Yessir!" The drivers responded with confirmation, while simultaneously Damian gathered some marines, goliaths, marauders and firebats to find any teams and rescue them before the Zerg wiped them out.
As the medium squad marches forward to the west, in turn they've spotted a small team who are under assault by the spectral Zerg. Damian and his squad opened fire on the Zerg and saved many team members as best as they could.
Meanwhile, the laser drill tanks are in position upon the cliffs, so the Dominion's anti-air defences are strengthened efficiently. Damian also requested to set up bunkers, turrets and siege tanks possibly around the laser tanks for ground defence.
Damian and his squad have saved many as he could, as a force of marines, many heavy tanks and marauders and firebats have successfully retreated to their base. Once they get there, they waste whatever time they've left to build bunkers on each chokepoint.
As they finished building the last of the defences, a terrible screeching echo was heard.
"Steel yourselves! The Zerg have renewed their assault!"
The Terrans were very fortunate enough to sustain themselves long enough, but right now this may be their last stand.
The first wave of Zerg rushes towards the Terrans are the swarm of Zerglings, Hydralisks, Mutalisks and Corrupters with the transmute ability to morph into Brood lords.
The Terran siege tanks fire their crucio cannons on any nearby zerg ground army. Many were blown into bits before they got too close, the Zerglings who did however were roasted and crippled by the flames of the firebats and the slowing concussion grenades of the marauders.
Yet the Zerg attacks are growing larger as right underneath the tanks and bursts above ground are large sneaky bulbous slug-like creatures, with five eyes on the left and right side of its face, many tentacles latched into the bottom of its face acting as many mouths, thick flesh cavities which stores green pods, on the back of its carapace head is a large posterior stinger and large sturdy spider-like legs giving them a decent speed when above ground. The Dominion scientist dubbed them 'Infestors'.
half of the Infestors spit out pods which land right near the bunkers, which in turn bursts open and out of its shell comes forth the infested Terran. The Infested, while clumsy, can prove to be a major distraction, as a quarter of the Infestors shoot out a stinger attached by a tentacle to target the tanks.
The siege tank pilots, who were unfortunate, started screaming as the parasitic stinger latched in the nervous system before it found the connection to the victim's brain. Then the screams stop after a few seconds of silence the words that the pilots would say: "Assimilation successful."
The dominated tanks immediately fire at the bunkers, eradicating the SCVs and rendering the bunkers into a weakened and blistering state.
Damian yells with a directive, "Kill the Infestors before they destroy our base with our tanks!"
The ghosts immediately aim their C-10 rifles and start to snipe the Infestors, many of them were shot down with a few hits, the few survivors with rapid speed, burrowed underground to dig through to escape. The Vikings unleash the torpedoes against the Brood lords and Corruptors, which most of them were completely wiped out, those who are unscathed have gotten smarter by spreading out and engaging their prime targets.
The Corruptors spew out the slime on the Vikings, coating them to weaken their armour allowing the Mutalisks to move towards them, in an attempt to wipe the fighter jets out of the skies.
The Brood lords are launching the broodlings at the ground forces before many of them were decimated by the Laser Drill Tanks. Within minutes of guns blazing, claw slashing, spine shooting, and dying screams of both armies, the Dominion were successful in pushing back the Zerg, whom of which were forced to retreat after sustaining heavy losses.
Damian noticed that something is amiss: there is no sighting of the spectral Zerg, yet somehow the radar is blaring like an alarm. This is a sign that the Zerg are sending another wave, "The Zerg are coming from the east!"
Fortunately, because the eastern side was more focused, the SCVs had enough resources to rebuild any defences that they've lost. The Infestors are attempting to sneak behind the tank to dominate them again, but with the aid of the missile turret's detection, Damian ordered the ghost to neutralize the infestors, by shooting an EMP missile on the nearby infestors. The EMP blast, while not lethal to biological creatures, has nearly sapped out all the energy of the infestors, forcing them to retreat to safety.
"Drive them back! Use everything you got at your disposal!"
The Dominion just did that, though the Zerg are endless in numbers, the Terrans are a bit well prepared for the next wave, with siege tanks bombarding the swarm to provide support for the soldiers in bunkers. However, it grows more intense as the next wave approaches after clearing the second wave.
Damian widens his eyes a little as the third wave is trying to flank from the rear, "They're attacking behind us!"
The third wave is somewhat similar to the first two waves, but the Zerg had brought some back-up that will possibly wipe out the defences if not dealt with, that could only mean one thing: Banelings!
"Don't let these acid bombers get too close!" if it weren't for the support of the laser drill tanks, the Zerg would overwhelm the base within minutes. However, as the Dominion continues with their resistance, forestalling the Zerg assault, the ground suddenly rumbles once more. The Terrans suspect Nydus Worms would emerge and start pumping out more Zerg.
Suddenly the rumble stops for a minute, then after a minimal of silence, except for the Zerg offensive, the planet's crust bursts with a loud crack, as a massive worm appears underneath the group of marines who are now scattered all across the area.
One marine turns around as he recovers from the seismic blast just in time, to see a gargantuan worm up above. It has a mouth with four glands close together with six orange glowing eyes staring at a marine. Then it opened its mouth which caused the glands to split open and swallowed the poor soldier who went into a small shriek as he was consumed.
Damian and the rest of the Dominion could believe their eyes, as this is the first time they have seen a new type of worm-like that since they first encountered the Zerg four years ago.
Damian, after a few seconds of shock and horror, then commands his forces to attack, "I don't know how the Queen of Blades has acquired this new worm, but it must not breach our defences, cut it down!"
All nearby marines, marauders and siege tanks opened fire on the worm, yet its carapace is extremely thick as if it can withstand any type of punishment. The worm turns to many of the Terran forces and starts to rear back as it's about to release its nasty breath attack.
A marine looks at the creature, as its belly starts to glow yellow, but he realizes too late as it breathes out an acid that burns like a wildfire spreading to the forest.
"OH SH-!" it's the only words he could say before he was engulfed and incinerated as the worm annihilated the marines and marauders into charred corpses.
Then the worm with rapid speed caught the sight of a source charging the weapon and it immediately submerges underground.
"Where the hell did it go?!"
The goliath pilot, now filled with anxiety, quickly turned to directions left and right until the Dominion listened to the familiar crust popping, as the worm had emerged right next to the laser drill tanks.
"Stop the worm before it destroys the drill tanks!" Damian exclaimed.
One of the drill tanks was demolished when the worm burst through, the other who was unfortunate fell to the molten lake. The worm was about to eliminate the third drill tank when it was bombarded by the incinerating projectiles of Dominion banshees. The worm made a tactical retreat by disappearing underground to where no one has gone before.
Yet that is the least of their worries as more of these worms emerged near their base. The Dominion is now even more desperate as the Zerg now have the advantage. Yet Damian's morale has given the Terrans enough courage to press on. "We hold the line until Jonathan has contacted us! Stem the tide!"
The Dominion defiantly stalled the Zerg as long as they could for five minutes, yet they're down to only ten to fifteen of whatever troops they have.
Just when all hope seems lost, the communications have returned to functionality, as Damian received a transmission. After an hour of desperate defence, Jonathan has finally replied. "This is Jonathan to any surviving Dominion troops. We barely escaped the Zerg ambush."
Damian sighed with relief, "You live! Tell me, brother, what the hell has happened? How did the Zerg break through?!"
"I've underestimated the power of the new breed. If it weren't for the aid of the Protoss, we would never have lived to tell the tale."
Protoss assisting the soldier of the Dominion? That is unusual and unexpected.
"During our escape, the Protoss said that Prince Valerian had restored the communications and ordered any Dominion to fall back to General Warfield's base. He believes we found a way to stop that creature once and for all." Jonathan says with confirmation.
"You don't have to tell me twice, brother! My troops are on our way to Warfield, we'll meet you there." Damian replied.
"Stay alive brother."
Same to you."
Once the link is closed, Damian now prioritizes the next directive, even if it means disobeying Lucifer's orders. "We can no longer contain this area. Abandon the base!"
With no other choice, Damian and his squad immediately make a full retreat, leaving the base to fall to the Zerg within minutes. Several Zerg have caught their scent and rushes to them to make sure no one gets out alive.
Damian and his troops are now fighting to the last man to get to Warfield safely. However, as he ventures to what seems to be a shortcut to their destination, their path is blocked by a wall of molten rock as someone has somewhat stopped their escape route.
"What the-! The size of that-! Jonathan, Our way to you is blocked, we'll have to take the other route to reach you!"Damian replies with concern.
"Move quickly! The Zerg have taken over the area as well." Jonathan says with hope and determination to make sure his brother would escape as he has.
"We did not defy and defeat the Confederacy to be devoured or infested by foul abominations! The Dominion forge their own destiny!" Damian says with one final vigour, as they shoot any Zerg that gets too close to get to their rendezvous.
The Zerg continue their pursuit as they try to flank the Terran to surround them. "Push them through! Do not let them stop you! Keep moving, or they'll crush us!"
With one final push, they reached the nearby cavern and started blasting the rock to block the Zerg to end the chase.
With a successful escape, they take a moment to breathe and patch up as Damian opens the channel to make contact. "General Warfield, this is Damian. We've taken heavy casualties, but we can reinforce you. We'll be there shortly."
However someone else has activated the channel, as Lucifer who is now more vexed than before, yells at the captain, "Damian, I gave you an order to destroy the breed no matter the cost! Who do you think you-!"
Damian had cut the link, he didn't need to waste time arguing with the lieutenant. "I've had enough of his suicidal orders."
He knew the risks of such disobedience would be dramatic, but he would worry about that later, especially with the squad that he's with.
Meanwhile back at once, the Dominion base is now a pile of rubble made of heated metal, the worms who were fully awakened are now feeding themselves on many corpses of the fallen. They continue eating, when one of them turns its head to the source of something or someone is responsible for their reawakening.