Chapter 3: First Contact
"..." Horner commented after watching Raynor leave.
'You say that Jim...but you've always found ways to forgive and move forward," Matt thought turning around and looking back at the monitor. 'Especially to Kerrigan.'
'On the other hand...I don't blame him for how he feels,' he continued then rotated to the left. Walking over to the central controls of the helm area, he stopped in front of them. Moving his hand, he clicked a couple of buttons to bypass the speakers going to the strategy war room. Pulling the left corner of his mouth to form a short frown, he pressed the intercom button.
'Hope all you need is to blow off steam.'
"This is Captain Horner. We have a new mission given by Commander Raynor. Raider teams Charlie and Delta, assemble at the flight deck battle ready on the double. Commander Raynor will be there shortly for your debriefing. I repeat, Raider teams Charlie and Delta. Assemble at the flight deck battle ready on the double. Captain Horner out," he ordered. Still hearing his voice magnify after ending the message, he saw the bridge crew turn to look at him.
"Set course to orbit Tyrador 3."
"Aye sir," the navigator answered and moved back to her controls.
"..." Matt spoke seeing the rest of the members go back to their station. None of them had questionable looks of the announcement. Looking down at his chronometer, he started counting the time to which Kerrigan would hail them from the change of course. Hearing a door hatch open, he glanced up to see Valerian exit the strategy room. Walking toward him, Horner put his arm down to his side.
"Finished with talking to Kerrigan?"
"Yes," the prince replied sounding neither pleased or discouraged. "She wanted to know where I stood when she invades Korhal."
"She still going after your father?" he asked.
"Vengeance seems to be her primary goal," the Dominion royalty informed then moved his hands behind him. "It was...a cold discussion."
"I can imagine sir...she is quite a powerful and influential person to have," Matt agreed with a head nod then looked to his left. "Anything from the Leviathan?"
"Not yet sir. The Zerg ship is maintaining its course and not matching ours," one of the pilots answered.
"What is going on?" Mengsk asked a little confused. Seeing the Captain turn his head back, his face was neutral.
"Raynor decided that a detour to Tyrador 3 was needed for resupplying. He also wanted to see if the research facility down there would provide any advantage information against the Emperor."
"Tyrador 3..." Valerian repeated then looked down a little in thought. "As far as I know...that planet was not even on my father's radar of places to gain power from. It was just a small depot for gathering materials and conducting a processing lab."
"I kind of assumed that much."
"Are we in need of supplies?"
"We have enough to get to Korhal...though if we are to battle the Dominion Empire there, it will use all that we have currently," Horner informed.
"I see...then that would make sense," the prince agreed with a head nod. Looking up at the man, he saw the officer glanced at his watch.
"Is something wrong?"
"I am wondering when Kerrigan will detect that we changed course," he explained then looked at him.
"...I will assume that you know I agreed to assist Kerrigan with battling the emperor," Mengsk stated then saw the Captain give a short nod.
"I did assume."
"Captain. We are being hailed by the Leviathan," the comms officer announced.
"Less than a minute," Matt remarked glancing back at his timepiece. Putting his hands behind him, he turned to the left.
"Patch it through to here."
"Yes sir."
"..." both men spoke watching the monitor. It changed from showing the data on the planet to the image of the Queen of Blades.
[Horner...why are you changing course to the planet near us?] Sarah asked sounding a little irritated and looking it as well.
"Hello Kerrigan," the Captain answered in a neutral tone. "We are needing of supplies prior to continuing forward."
[We don't have time for a detour...you have enough supplies on hand...unless what Valerian stated was false]
"He is not wrong," he continued and moved his hands behind him. "The decision to change course was not made by me, but the Commander."
[...] the Queen of Blades responded with a blink and stared at both of them. Seeing her eyes look down a little, an awkward pause occurred for a couple of seconds before the transmission ended.
"That...seemed to tame her," the younger Mengsk remarked then looked at the high-ranking officer. "Was that supposed to be the face of guilt?"
"Based on how the Commander feels and what occurred on the Moros...probably."
"Do you think Kerrigan will try to reason with Raynor?"
"Try?...yes...successful at persuading him...doing so now will probably not be wise," Matt replied looking back at the monitor. "Comms. Give me a visual of the hanger bay."
"Sending visual now Captain," the officer replied and began inputting commands.
"Who is assembling for the drop on Tyrador 3?"
"Two teams. One to gather and process materials. The other to scout the research lab. Hopefully those men assemble quicker than Jim does."
"He would leave without them? That doesn't sound like something he would do given his position," Valerian commented.
"Let's hope that is the case," Matt stated with a grim expression.
Down at the weapons bay, Raynor got into his black CMC-400 Powered Combat Suit. To his surprise when Sarah came to bust him out of the Moros, his personalized moveable armor was not dismantled or stripped apart. Despite that, he had asked Swann to run scans over it and do a quick check to see if anything was planted. Even to the chief engineer's puzzlement, the powered unit did not have anything abnormal in it or much damage to it. Taking his word and bypassing the pull in his gut, he decided to put it on.
'Back in the saddle,' Jim thought with a small smirk.
Feeling better being in the suit again, everything powered on and was functional. Grabbing a standard C-14 gauss rifle, he loaded it and grabbed spare ammo clips for it. Attaching one to the holding clip on the side of the firearm, he placed the other in a holster space on the right-side hip of the power armor. Feeling ready, he started heading toward the hanger that was through the large gates up ahead. Getting halfway there, he received a transmission call with no know number ID.
"..." he responded with continuing to walk. Narrowing his eyes, he accepted the message and saw a small comms window appear. Forcing himself to not stop, a rigid face occurred on him.
[...hello Jim...] Sarah spoke to him having a softer expression than what she gave both Matt and Valerian. [How are you feeling?]
"..." the Commander answered with giving a slow blink. Resisting himself to look at her with anger, he took a deep breathing in and out through his nose.
"...hi Sarah...I'm fine..." Jim spoke in a neutral tone. "What can I do for you?"
[Horner informed me that you are going to Tyrador 3]
"Yes."
[Valerian agreed to assist me with going to Korhal]
"How nice of him," he remarked with a tense tone. Reaching the gates, he passed through them to enter the enclosed flight deck.
[He also stated that you have enough supplies already to reach Korhal] she spoke not raising her tone or cowering away. She noticed that he was not stopping or looking at her from the video feed.
"Oh...he did?" Jim commented feeling his face beginning to frown. "Is there a problem with resupplying?"
[The sooner we attack Mengsk, the lesser chance he has to gather more troops and arsenal] Kerrigan explained.
"You are probably right," he commented then spotted the assembly of two teams. Changing direction, he continued forward toward the other soldiers in powered combat armor.
[...] the Queen of Blades spoke looking down a little.
"..." Raynor said glancing at her. Seeing that her eyes were closed, he narrowed his at her. Knowing what she would be doing based on her mannerisms when she was a Ghost, he focused back at his raiders and felt agitated.
[...Jim...I can't sense much human life down there...but there is something strange there...it is faint]
"There is a research lab there. While a team of boys gathers materials, I'll lead the scout team into the facility," he informed trying not to look angry at the men.
[Tyrador 3 is a barren wilderness Jim...if there were resources down there...they would have been stripped when it was abandoned] she reasoned.
"The Dominion don't just give up their little outposts for no reason," he countered stopping. Seeing the two raider groups geared up and ready, he gave a general nod to them. About to address them, all of them suddenly made cringing faces. Blinking from being startled, everyone else on the hanger seemed to be mimicking the same motion.
"Ahh...something is...invading my head," one spoke shaking his head hard.
"What's...happening!?" another stated sounding a little spooked.
"Commander...I can't...think straight," a soldier commented dropping to one knee.
"..." Raynor reacted with a startled blink from feeling something come upon him. As if a heavy weight was being pressed on his mind, concentrating began to be difficult. Cringing and trying to figure out was happening, he looked at the video feed. Seeing she had put one hand on her right temple, her eyes were glowing. The sight made his blood boil and surpassed the tension of the strain.
"What are you doing?" he asked gravely barely keeping his composure.
[Preventing you and your team from doing a foolish errand] Kerrigan informed. [Jim...listen to me...if we go together right now, we can end Mengsk and-]
"..." Jim barred his teeth in anger. Cutting off the video feed, it did not stop the psionic attack that the Queen of Blades was doing. Looking up at his men, they were slowly succumbing and kneeling to the ground. With half having hands on their heads, the emotion inside of him crescendo. Feeling adrenaline pumping through him, he sternly looked at everyone.
"Abort the mission! Get out of the hanger bay! That's an order!" the Commander barked loudly. Everyone in the space turned to him and saw him point to the gates of the weapons depot.
"Don't just stand there! Move it!" the raider leader shouted harder and glared at everyone. "Go! Go! Go!"
"Aye Aye sir!" the men and women responded loudly. Getting up with strained faces, they began hustling to the neighbor large chamber. Watching the last technician rush to the gates, Jim turned around. Seeing his special ops dropship several yards away, he gripped his C-14 rifle hard and walked forward. Reaching halfway to his ship, the mental strain increased.
"DAMNIT SARAH!" he yelled feeling rage eating him.
Not caring about protocol, he muscled himself and ran to his space craft. Opening up a comms to it, he voiced a command harshly. The hatch ramp from underneath the vessel disengaged and began to hydraulicly descend toward the deck. Getting an incoming comms message, it wasn't from the Queen of Blades. Opening it, he was at the beginning of going up into the dropship.
[Commander, Horner here. There is a high psionic attack coming from-] he stated with alarms sounding in the background.
"I'm in my ship Matt. Open the hanger bay doors," Jim ordered trying to not sound too mad.
[I saw video feeds that everyone is out of the hanger. Are you just going to-]
"Damnit Horner! I said open the god damn hanger bay doors!" he stated getting pissed off quickly. Reaching inside, the hatch began to ascend till it closed and locked itself air-tight.
[Commander. I would advise-] the Dominion prince began to say. The men heard a loud metal thud that echoed on the other end of the call.
"Shut it junior! This isn't your ship!" Raynor sternly spoke. Getting into the cockpit, he sat in the pilot seat and began activating the controls. All the lights of the ship turned on and the engines began to do a slow start burn.
[Captain. The Leviathan is changing course and heading toward our ship] an officer spoke in the background.
[...Jim...going in by yourself isn't safe...you know that] Matt informed with a serious tone despite the small chaos that was occurring around him.
"As far as I know...she is acting like the enemy," the Commander began. Taking control of the joystick and push leveler, the space craft began to lift off the deck. Turning to the massive sliding doors, he began to rev up the engines more.
"If I am her target, then heading down to the planet will divert her attack off the ship and the crew."
[You don't know that for sure Jim] Valerian countered.
"..." the ex-marshall responded with clenching his teeth and glaring forward. "Open...the hanger bay doors...I will not repeat myself again."
[...yes sir...] Horner spoke neutrally. [Open the hanger bay doors]
[Opening hanger bay doors sir] one of the bridge members announced.
"..." Jim commented seeing movement.
Waiting patiently for the massive slabs of metal structures to slide open, it exposed the vastness of space. In the foreground, Tyrador 3 was seen below with its pale colors of blue, green, tan, and specks of red. Seeing enough clearance, he punched the thrust lever forward. Feeling the immediate burst of acceleration, the dropship launched out of the hanger bay. The massive organic ship came into view to his right. Observing it closing in, he veered to the left and continued his rapid descent to the planet.
"..." both the Hyperion Captain and Mengsk responded after the comms closed to the single dropship. Seeing on the monitor it leave out of the hanger, it rocketed toward Tyrador 3. Focusing on the Zerg ship, it suddenly stopped and was turning to follow Jim's ship.
"Psionic-attack from the Leviathan has deceased sir," one of the monitoring soldiers remarked from his station.
"Keep monitoring and be on standby for all battle stations," Horner responded.
"Yes sir."
"So Kerrigan's attack was just to prevent him and the other soldiers from leaving the ship," Valerian remarked.
"Looks that way," Matt agreed without nodding his head.
"Raynor won't accomplish much if he is just going in by himself."
"He will probably scout the area and provide detailed field information," the Captain informed then touched the display monitor. It changed to a projection course of what flight path the dropship was taking. Based on the estimation, it would be landing on the outskirts of both the mineral field and the research lab.
"I have a feeling that she will hail us to go retrieve him," Mengsk commented though did not sound completely firm on it.
"She won't."
"How can you be sure?"
"Given the choices she has made so far, she does not want to completely sever ties with the Jim...despite becoming the Queen of Blades again," Matt explained. "Once he touches down and leaves his ship, then we will try establish communication with him."
"I see...treating this as a mission will reset him, I am assuming."
"Not entirely...but it will be something to get his mind off of current events."
On the Leviathan, Kerrigan felt a massive amount of Terrans leaving the hanger bay area. With the exception of one, she saw it was going in the opposite direction. Focusing more of her psionic strain, the individual continued. Recognizing it and feeling who was the person that stayed, she took a chance. Increasing her power slowly, she was attempting to cause Jim to succumb or pass out. However, she felt his hurt emotions were fueling him to keep him awake.
'...Jim...please stop...' she thought to herself. Pressing her lips together from feeling that the space craft had turned on and was hovering, she debated on gambling again or not.
"My queen, the Terran ship is opening its doors," Izsha, the humanoid-zerg advisor to the Queen of Blades, commented. "Only one ship is active and is preparing to depart."
"..." Sarah commented. Feeling the dropship leave the Hyperion quickly, she stopped her telekinesis powers. Closing her eyes for a little bit, the glow from them stopped. Opening her eyes and staring out of the viewing port she was at, the Zerg queen watched the single space ship descend to the planet below.
"I sense only one Terran on that ship. Shall I send scouts and pods to pursue and capture him?"
"...no..." Kerrigan answered quietly continuing to watch. "We will wait before retrieving him."
"My queen...I feel much conflict and pain...how badly did your personal matter end?" the central nerve organism to the ship asked.
"..." Sarah responded with tensing herself up and kept looking out. "...do not ask me that again...Izsha."
"...very well my queen..."
"Kerrigan," someone to her left called. Turning her head, she saw the zerg infested Alexi Stukov approach her. The former admiral of the United Earth Directorate stopped and peered out the same viewing window.
"What was the purpose of preventing the Terrans from gathering resources for the battle with Mengsk?"
"The longer we wait...the more that Mengsk will gather and increase his army," the Queen of Blades replied turning back to the space in front of her.
"The only one that is going to Tyrador 3...is Jim Raynor, yes?"
"...that's right..."
"Strange...I feel faint odd signature down on the surface," the former UED officer spoke as his eyes glowed. "Is there still a research lab down there?"
"Yes there is...why?" Sarah answered the turned her head back to him.
"It is not a hybrid monstrosity...though seems similar. However, there is no characteristic of Naurd's work down there," he informed then looked at her. "It is just a feeling."
"I feel the same...I can't tell if it is danger or just a presence of a large lifeform."
"To what I have witness of battles with Commander Raynor, he is quite formidable leader as well as a soldier on the battlefield. Him going alone is not as concerning as a regular grunt," Stukov commented.
"I agree," she said then turned back to the fading image of the dropship. Staring at the general location of where the research lab was, the strange presence kept nagging at her. Her gut seemed to grow into a knot the more she thought about.
'...I don't like this...'
Upon going through space, Jim felt the strain on his mind become lifted. Feeling himself able to calm down, all of his muscles relaxed which made him stop glaring. However, his emotions were still raw. Reaching orbit, he continued going down. Instead of thinking about what happened and the several thoughts it triggered, Raynor just focused on flight entry. The scenery of going into the atmosphere and seeing the rapid change of colors seemed to distract him enough.
Reaching the peaks of some high clouds, the surface was getting closer. Go through them, he was able to see what was on the ground while flying toward the research lab. There were signs of old establishments, but they were abandoned to the wilderness. Seeing much movement, the figures moving around were the creatures of the land without much human intervention. Seeing a cleared plain section, that was where the beginning of the facility grounds started.
'Alright,' the commander thought looking at the readings and scans. 'Atmosphere is breathable though it is recommended to keep the face visor on.'
'Overgrown weeds...vehicles left in their positioned spaces and cover with vegetation...and no lights seen in the lab,' Jim continued.
Since getting into the clearing, he slowed down his ship to just be hovering above the relatively cleared landing zone. Going down, he kept scanning around to see if something was going to show up when touching down. Reaching the surface and feeling the ship do a small bounce from landing, he unbuckled himself. Closing the visor, he picked up his rifle and headed to the hatch. Activating the mechanism to open the door, he watched it begin to expose the land.
Once fully open, the raider leader proceeded out of the dropship. Stepping foot on the ground, he did slow sweeps to view everything. Seeing the research facility roughly a quarter of a mile away, he checked his firearm. Seeing that it was functioning and loaded, he held it in the pointed down position and walked forward towards one of few buildings seen. Only making it a third of the way towards it, he was getting a comms call.
"..." Raynor reacted with frowning a little. Telling himself to reset, he sighed through his nose. Not caring who the call was from, he patched it through his speakers.
"Raynor here."
[Horner here sir. Touch down went smoothly?] he asked sounding a little concerned.
"It went fine," he responded not feeling as annoyed.
[What do you see out there?]
"The lab is there, but looks like nobody is home," the commander explained continuing forward. "Does appear to be abandoned...in a deserted way. Only thing growing here are the weeds."
[...that does seem strange...Valerian does not know of any record that indicated an abandonment of the research facility by the Dominion] the Captain informed.
"Sure does seem strange," Jim agreed. Making the halfway point, his gut was starting to feel uneasy. Halting and re-gripping his ranged weapon, he panned slowly to the left and right. Taking a quick look at the CMC-400 suit's environmental scans, it did not read anything abnormal.
[...Ji...ther#$%#...ans re# $%...ur di...] Matt's voice was cutting in and out before being dropped.
"...shit..." he remarked. Aiming the rifle forward, there was still no visual of anyone or anything coming at him. Slowly doing a 180, there was movement of wildlife. Not concerned about that, Jim focused near and far to see if there was anyone staking out a position. Seeing nothing, he heard another comms call. Engaging it, it was from Kerrigan.
"Raynor here."
[Jim. Something is down there. It just suddenly appeared near your location] Sarah stated sounding tense. [I've already sent scouts and pods toward your location. Do you see anything?]
"Negative," the raider leader replied. Ignoring the reinforcements she was sending, he focused on what was around him. About to turn back around, his gut pulled harder. Feeling that someone was standing relatively behind him, the suit scans still stated nothing was around him.
'Damn...there is probably a jammer somewhere nearby,' he thought tensely.
Debating on what he should do, he decided to pull a stunt. Engaging the thrusters on the back of the powered combat armor in a short burst, he lurched forward. Doing a forward roll on the ground, he pivoted himself to be oriented in the opposite direction. Shoving the muzzle of the rifle forward, he kept in a kneeling position and aimed. Seeing what was standing behind him a few yards away made him stared with wide eyes.
[...You know...for the most wanted man by the Dominion...] a familiar voice came through the comms. [Ya ain't too hard to find]