Chapter 8 - Brewing the Storm
On the Leviathan, both Kerrigan and Stukov make their way to the docking area. After some travel through the organic ship, they saw the membrane door to the loading area. Getting near it, the fleshy hatch pulled away sounding like wet skin folding over itself. Passing through, both observed where the delivered cargo was. Heading towards the large metal crate, they recognized the markings on it to be a Dominion warhead.
"I do not sense any traps...do you?" the turned UED officer questioned walking to bomb.
"...no...I did not feel any intent from the ones that delivered the cargo...nor from Matt and Valerian during the end of the call," she answered.
Stopping a couple of feet away, Sarah lifted her hand and pointed her partial open palm at the deadly explosive. Seeing small orange electricity appear around her, it shot out and slowly encompass the delivered package. Once her power had surrounded it, she opened up her hand and spread her fingers outward. 3/4ths of the cargo separated into pieces and floated in the air. Setting them down on the floor beside the rest, the explosive was seen.
"Not a nuke...but still enough to devastate a fleet if directly hit to a ship's reactor," he remarked recognizing what kind of warhead it was. "Depending if there is any defense system for the facility below, this will destroy it in one shot."
"Which is not what you are planning on doing...that will run the risk of getting Jin killed being in there," Kerrigan commented then crossed her hands. "We need to make sure it can detonate in the atmosphere to make the super lightning that you mentioned."
"Though the destructiveness the Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes are not as concentrated in one area as a bomb would be...its natural power will be just as potent over a larger area."
"So like a cluster bomb."
"...more than a cluster Kerrigan...a blanket weather front of raw energy that will tear through land. It will gash through buildings like they were made of butter," Stukov informed beginning to walk around the payload.
"Given that you are so confident about this...how do we harness our power within it and have it not leave afterwards or cause the warhead to explode prematurely?"
"That...I am not too positive...to be able to withstand the power we have, the vessel attached to the bomb would need to be either thick skinned. Or, the vessel would need to perish from not being able to contain our powers."
"So something like a cocoon?" Sarah pondered in a thinking pose.
"Like the ones that the Zerg larvaes make before evolving...it would be similar to that," Stukov agreed turning his head towards her.
"..." the former Dominion Ghost responded. Bringing her right hand to her right temple, she engaged her psychic abilities.
"Abathur...hear me...come to me in the docking bay. I have a task for you."
"That creature...he served under the Overmind back during the war," he asked seeing her removed her hand from her head. "Despite its renowned allegiance to you...how can you trust it?"
"You paranoid Stukov?" Sarah asked with a small smirk. "That does not sound like you."
"It shouldn't matter to me now that I have been turned into a monster...but it doesn't mean I am not inhuman...that thing treats his evolution pit the same way the scientists did to me and others in that hell lab."
"I can understand...apparently he is the one that constructed me to become the Queen of Blades," the former Dominion assassin informed and looked off to the side. "Breaking my DNA down...tearing my limbs apart...inserting Zerg DNA and other components...reforming it back together to look more of what I am now...every time I see him...I have anger and hatred."
"Dah...another thing we share in common Kerrigan," Stukov agreed with a small head nod. Both heard the moving and folding of wet membranes nearby. Instead of coming through the doorway, the large blue Zerg with four arms and many legs burrowed out from a nearby wall. Climbing out, it walked its way to where the two were standing.
"Yes. Queen of Blades," Abathur spoke in a deep-set tone more than Stukov's.
"Abathur," Sarah began then gestured to the warhead she was standing near. "I need something of a vessel to hold mine and Stukov's power. And it needs to be able to release to detonate this upon my command."
"...hmmm...vessel containing Queen of Blades and Commander Stukov's energy...difficult...challenging..." the creature commented putting two pairs of hands together as if contemplating. "Purpose of vessel. To destroy on surface of planet?"
"No. To destroy this warhead while it is in the planet's atmosphere and trigger Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes," the ex-UED officer corrected.
"Hmm...odd request. Waste of biomass and material...Queen of Blades detonate Terran weapon remotely with power...so can Stukov."
"I do not care at the moment what you think if it is a valid or invalid reason. Just do it...or I will see what the evolutionary pit can do to you with me rearranging your DNA," Kerrigan threatened.
"..." Abathur reacted with just grunting lowly. "Very well. Require a piece of essence from both. Configure brood cocoon structure to withstand Queen of Blades energy and Stukov's energy...separately."
"Good," she stated then held out her arm.
The former officer did the same thing and rolled up his sleeve to exposed more of his turned and mutilated flesh. Watching the blue Zerg crawl closer to them, a pair of hands went to each individual. Two appendages came from behind to act as a third arm going to both. Observing him carefully, the two had a small intention of hurting or killing him if his probing went towards lethal methods. Feeling mild pricks hitting their hands, the older zerg just stared and grunting. Having seemingly grabbed a handful seeing his hands close, they saw that there was not much in them.
"Collected enough material. Will go and process evolution of brood cocoon."
"How long will that take you?" Kerrigan asked lowering her arm to her side.
"Not long," Abathur answered and turned around. Crawling back to the burrowed hole, he entered it and was gone.
"While he is gone Stukov...tell me more on the plan and how this will create more powerful lightning," Sarah asked turning to him. Watching the zerg-man roll down his sleeve, he turned to her and began explaining.
Back on the Hyperion, both Matt and Valerian watched as the small cargo shuttle took the payload to the living Leviathan. Though they knew that Kerrigan was not going to do anything rash, it still put everyone on edge a little. Seeing the ship enter the Zerg spaceship, the opening for the docking area did not close on their transport. Seeing it back out then fully turn around, the tension at the bridge and hanger bay slowly calmed down. One of the bridge monitors called out when the cargo ship was back in one of the Hyperion's docking bays.
"At least that did not result in a potential battle with Kerrigan," the Dominion prince mentioned sounding a little relieved.
"Yes...for now," Horner added with a small head nod.
"I am still having doubts about what the hybrid Admiral mentioned as a way to break through the nano swarm...let alone giving them a warhead."
"The feeling is mutual sir...everyone is a bit on edge from the aspect that we gave the enemy a payload to severely damage the ship."
"Do you think they will follow through on their end?" Valerian asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"Kerrigan only has three focuses: revenge on the Emperor, save Jim, and lead the Zerg," Matt answered then headed over to the cockpit central control station. "Given that she is not leaving the Commander behind...her revenge on your father is not important...as of right now."
"You know...this seems like one of the common military tragic romance novel troupes that my cousin reads," the younger Mengsk mentioned following. "Seeing it happening to someone you know...is a bit surreal."
"..." the Captain remarked with a smirk. Stopping at the central module, he touched the monitor screen to change the window tabs being shown. It showed two different viewings. One of was of a close up of the Leviathan as it maintained it position in orbit of Tyrador-3. The other was the planet itself. About to retrieve technical data, someone spoke.
"Sir," an officer at a scanner station called. "Despite the interference in the atmosphere and surface, scanners are still able to obtain other readouts. So far, there have been quakes occurring on the surface."
"Where are the centers for those? Is it the plate tectonics or something else?" Horner asked as both men looked at the man.
"The research facility. All three so far have occurred in there within a relatively short time frame."
"Can the ship's scanners get through to see what is going on in the building?"
"Negative sir. The interference with the nanos is too dense to go anything further."
"Alright. Keep monitoring and update if there any more changes."
"Aye aye sir...also...Commander Raynor's power armor is still standing in the overgrown courtyard of the facility. There is no visual of him in it or anywhere around it."
"...?" both men reacted with confused faces. Turning to the monitor that was in front of them, Matt made a few commands till a visual of the surface appeared. There was a lower resolution along with a gray tint which would be explained due to the interference. Adjusting to the relative position of where the CMC armor's signature was, the two found it. As mentioned, the raider leader was nowhere to be found.
"Did he get out of his suit?" Valerian asked puzzled by the sight and fearing the worse.
"...based on the signal from his suit...he didn't," Horner informed more concerned than confused.
"Does that mean Jim got vaporized by an unknown source?"
"...the suit does not show that either...the log states that at the time we lost the visual, the Commander was in his suit. A second later, he was not...almost like he was pulled out of his armor," the Captain explained then squinted to read other data that was in the CMC's history log. Not finding anything of significance to explain, he stood back straight and looked deep in thought.
"I have heard stories of Jim's history in the military, as a marshal, and when he was in a crime syndicate," the Dominion royalty mentioned in a low tone. It grabbed Matt's attention as only his eyes moved to the right to look at him.
"Would his abilities and experience give any indication of him surviving...when an unknown force is using nanotechnology?"
"..." Horner answered with looking back forward. "Well sir...the Commander's experience and resourcefulness has gotten him out of many situations...this would be just another one on his list...if I placed any bets, the small quake readings are possibly him setting explosive charges."
"...I would agree...I don't believe he would go down easily," he responded feeling a little more assured and telling himself to have a little more faith.
'For something down there to remove men out of their power suits without triggering a fault alarm...is not comforting,' Matt thought feeling a bit grim. 'Hopefully you are still down there Jim.'
Continuing to jog down large and wide hallways, Jim was trying to get away from the stalking pursuer. He was still surprised that the creature recreated everything from the bank heist including the spider drones. Seeing the hallway turn to the right up ahead, he re-gripped his firearm. Getting to the corner and stopping, he peered around it. Seeing the coast was clear, he rounded the corner and entered the passageway quickly.
"...#&$...WHERE...ART...THOU...UUUURRRRRKKKKK..." a loud digitized voice echoed from the hallway behind him.
Picking up the pace a little, Raynor scanned the environment. Not comforting, the illumination was dim casting shadows in too many places. Up ahead, he saw that there were doors down the corridor. The closer he got to them, he noticed that all of them were open. Hearing a deep humming noise like heavy machinery that was running inside, he tensed up his face. An audible groan emitted to his left followed by quick dragging movements. Feeling adrenaline kick in him again, the Commander ready his gun.
Seeing a different dissected creature in his peripheral, he took a quick glance at it. Seeing it to be more like a zergling, it was just the lower body of one. In a grotesque fusion, the head was replaced with the upper half of a Protoss warrior's body waist up. Seeing a signature slit down the middle with inners falling out, there were cybernetic attachments to the being's head. Watching it open its inhuman mouth, it roared at him to what sounded like agony and hate.
"Shit," Jim spoke out loud then sprinted forward.
Passing by the other doors, similar monstrous barks were heard reverberating against all the walls. From the intensity vibrating his insides a little, he breathed harder and pushed even more. Seeing a faded large red cylinder on the wall with a hose coming up on the right, there was a staircase entrance at the end of the passageway. Rushing past the fire extinguisher, the sound of a group of fast heavy crawlers were getting closer. About halfway to the escalating steps, Raynor pivoted 180 degrees on the ball of his left foot.
"Eat this!" he claimed loudly.
While falling backwards, he aimed his gun at the red cylinder. Only realizing that it might not be pressurized, he took a chance. Firing a shot, the trio of monsters were near it. Upon impact, the small tank ballooned out rapidly then exploded. Catching the three creatures, it knocked two of them to the ground. The nearest one got its right arm and parts of its side torso ripped off.
Grunting from hitting the deck, Jim quickly got up. Turning around, he continued running towards the stairs. Hitting the panel to open the door hatch, it slowly opened. About to swear at it, a wave of angry roars came at him making the hairs on his neck stand on end. Holstering the gun and not turning around, he bent down. Gripping the bottom of the door, pushed with his legs and pulled up with his arms to try and lift it.
"Come on, come on, come on!" he muttered quickly through clenched teeth.
Feeling it give a little and open more to crawl through, he swung his legs through the opening. Not looking back from feeling the environment rumbling from the pursuing monstrosities, he tried pivoting his body to the left. Putting his left arm down and pushing on his elbow, he brought his legs towards him and to the right. Now parallel to the door, he rolled left to be fully inside. Sitting up and pointing the Colt forward with both hands, he locked onto the inside door panel.
Firing a bullet at it, the electronic panel blew out and sparked. Just as that happened, the experimental hybrids were at the door. One of them had gotten on the floor and began crawling in. As if the safety mechanism broke, the hatch went down and slammed into the upper back of the creature. Not even letting it scream or squirm, it crushed the thing with bones snapping loudly. Dying instantly, its eyes popped out as blood flowed out with a gush.
Backing away quickly to not get splashed, Raynor breathed hard hearing them ramming the door hard and viciously. Getting up despite feeling he needed to stop and just rest, he turned around and walked quickly to the stairs. Reaching for the left arm rail, he kept the revolver in his right hand. Climbing up the steps, the Commander kept looking back at the way he came. Hearing the muffled shouts and slams, it only brought him mild comfort.
'Where is that thing?' he thought going up the next flight of steps at a turnaround. 'It has been quiet...doors don't keep it at bay.'
Reaching the top of the stairs, the raider leader stopped and felt a little winded. Going to the left wall and putting his back to it, he put his hands on his knees to just breathe. Focusing on the ground, he listened for anything that wanted to approach or attack him. After what felt like a couple of minutes, his breathing rate started to slow down. Getting off the wall with his weapon at the ready, he proceeded to the hatch door.
Stopping in front of it, he looked through the viewing window. The hallway beyond it was vacant and mildly illuminated. Reaching for the access panel, he hit the open button. Watching the hatch go up normally, there was no one on the other side. Putting both hands on the gun, Jim walked forward cautiously. After a certain distance, the door closed down.
"..." Jim reacted from hearing a wet scrunch a bit behind him. Turning around and pointing the revolver forward, nothing seemed amiss. Looking at the ground where the hatch closed, the bottom door frame had changed a bit to look organic. As if staring at it triggered something, the corridor slowly started to change.
'...what the heck is there?' he wondered. Backing up while continuing to train the weapon forward, a growing sense of the building becoming alive came. As if bacteria were infecting the walls, it slowly started webbing the walls, ceiling, and floor at a consistent pace. Turning around and breaking into a small jog, he was outpacing the spread rate.
Going down the hallway a bit of distance, he came to a 4-way intersection. Seeing no directory, he stopped in the middle and looked down each passageway. The one to his left did not show anything out of the ordinary. Down the middle path, nothing was observed to be seen as threatening. However, a sense of eeriness was felt the longer he stared. Shaking his head, he turned to the pathway on the right.
The walls down the passageway were twitching as if they were alive. Door seams that outlined where each room were started swaying like seaweed in an ocean. Blinking and staring more, the hallway began to tilt as if rotating to the right. Pressing his lips together, Raynor turned back to the previous one. Seeing everything still again, only the ominous sensation remained.
'...though I don't see anything...there is something lurking down there,' he thought.
Look back to the first one, there was stillness and calmness. Shaking his head, he wondered if it was the aftereffects of the hallucinogenic or toxin that the shapeshifter gave to him. Thinking about it, he did not feel a loss of balance or his vision becoming altered. Deciding to move and not be a sitting duck, Jim jogged down the left hallway. Getting away from the intersection a few yards, there was glitching white noise behind him.
"#$JJJJJJJiiiiimmmmmmm#$% " the monster called before its tone got lost in static.
"..." the former marshal answered with a small frown. Not looking back, he went faster down the narrow corridor. Passing through the doorway at the end, he entered what seemed like a testing facility.
Not wanting to waste time pondering, he did feel like he was going into a corner. Feeling his gut was telling him no, he took a brief look for anyway around the chamber space. Finding no way around, it looked like going through the laboratory was the only way to get through. Hearing the creature down the hallway, it was accompanied by organic sounds of slithering and groaning. Bypassing the high risk of a trap that he will put himself in, Raynor rushed into the testing facility.
Upon entering, he pointed his gun forward and scanned the environment. Seeing that this had the same mild illumination as the floor below and the previous hallway, nothing appeared to be stirring. Tensing his face, he tried to go through it as quietly and quickly as possible. Passing by many desks and tables, there were too many shadowed places to make him feel comfortable. Making it through the main space, he headed toward the second room.
Noticing a door panel, it gave him a sense of brief security. Passing through and immediately engaging the access module, the sliding door closed. Hearing the locks activate, something heavy and hard slammed into it. Immediately jumping backwards and training the Colt at where the impact was heard, something was slowly protruding from the door. Seeing it slowly morph into a face, it was as if the creature was meta-morphing into the door.
Backing away while keeping his crosshair on the thing's head, digital cackling was heard in the background. Hitting a table by surprise, it moved making a loud rubbing noise. Feeling sweat dripping down his back, Jim felt the knot in his stomach continue to be present and increase. Watching the shapeshifter get what looked like half of its form protruding from the door, it was also stretching the walls connected to it as well. The yellow eyes pierced through and stared directly at him.
"...T#$H#$E#$R&E!#A#R^T(T$!#H!&O!$%!U..." it spoke after its mouth slowly ripped open the elastic metal material.
"..." the ex-marine responded. Cocking the hammer back on the revolver, he kept aiming at the face of the shapeshifter. Continuing to back up with slow and even steps, it helped him keep a steady hand. His foot hit something solid which seemed like a wall of some sorts. About to go diagonally to go passed it backwards, he heard faint voices coming from it.
"...!?" Raynor reacted with shock. Freezing in place, it was the sound of a child from the past.
"...no...no it can't be..." he muttered in denial weakly. Slowly turning around, what was behind him was a viewing glass to an observation room. Completely turning around and seeing what was inside, he began to shake his head slowly and in small movements while in disbelief.