Author's Note: It took me a while, but I've finally got this chapter finished. In the last update, I asked you whether I should add Gabriel Tosh or November Terra (Nova for short), with a few answers I've made my decision I'll add both of them for future chapters, thank you so much for the request. Now without further ado, enjoy
Dauntless Plateau, Five hours ago
The few Dominion troops are in a position to be on the lookout for a potential Zerg ambush. They scour the area left, right, up, down, in and out for any signs of movement. Suddenly, they stop moving as the radar has tracked movement activity.
"What is it?" the marine asked a question.
"I'm not sure." answers the second marine.
Unbeknownst to them, the broodmother is watching the Terrans from above. She finds it amusing for the Terrans to be filled with anxiety, as they do not know who or what is coming.
All of them hear low growls as a large creature, large as the size of an Ultralisk emerges from the shadows to attack. It is none other than Sharku, the infamous Lord of Blades. The Dominion are desperately trying to kill him, but he is too fast and powerful, as he turns his right arm into a kaiser blade of an Ultralisk, cleaving the Terrans in half with a single blow.
Sharku uses his right wing to halt the Dominion's assault, while simultaneously feeling their prideful arrogance claiming that they're about to celebrate what their emperor would reward them if they were the ones who dispose of the toughest abomination. Sharku smirks deviously, as he had made the Dominion fall right into his trap.
With a single loud chirp, the Terrans were the ones who were getting ambushed, as Nargez charged from the left ramming the Terrans like a charging bull severely injuring them in the process. As they try to recover, Zarkus leaped from the ledge, pounces on top of one of the marines and started to maul him to death.
The other Terrans immediately locked their weapons in a desperate attempt to get that creature out of the soldier before it was too late.
Just as the bullet ejects from the nozzle of the weapon, it was blocked with an interception by Sharku using his right wing as a shield, denying them any chance of rescue. The guns continued blazing for minutes until a scream caught the attention of both Sharku and Terrans. Bursting from the right side of the cavern, Aborath charges forward and starts slashing with his kaiser blades at any nearby Terran. The Dominion immediately returned fire on the Torrasque, yet not knowing that doing so would get them killed, as the large spikes retract from Aborath and strike at anyone who attacks him.
Out from behind Aborath were more Zerg that Sharku is all too familiar with. It was Morinfen, who had also taken some of the Primal Zerg with him to join the assault.
Together with the Zerg reinforcements, Sharku had decimated the Terrans with relative ease, by slashing them with his arm-changing kaiser blade, followed by whipping his tail, knocking down the mechanical walkers and allowing the Zerglings to attack the fallen walkers with no repercussions.
The Primal Hydralisks shoot their needle spines at the now shaken Terrans, questioning themselves why this familiar Zerg type remains unaffected by the Psi Disruptors. Within minutes the Zerg triumphed and nearly wiped out all of the Dominion offenders forcing the small survivors to retreat.
Sharku halts his forces from pursuing the Terrans as he looks at Morinfen and asks a question, "Morinfen, where are Straxxus and Krakilin?"
Morinfen replies with confirmation, "Lord Sharku, after you engaged the Terrans fleet, we were under assault by the Terrans on the surface." Morinfen explains to Sharku to analyze the situation.
"Krakilin managed to kill a few of them before drawing them away from the rest of us," Morinfen then lowers his head, as he's about to tell Sharku of Krakilin's whereabouts. However, he was interrupted by a feminine voice.
"Fret not, your mutalisk friend is within my care."
Sharku and Morinfen scour the area to find out where that voice is coming from. Aborath was the first to see something or someone coming from the left side of the cavern and growls as the broodmother walks to Sharku, telling him about Krakilin.
The Lord of Blades turns his head to see the broodmother who's standing near him eye to eye. Sharku broke his silence and asked the broodmother.
"Who, or what are you?"
The broodmother speaks, "I am Scarcezarla, the Queen of Blades have sent me to retrieve you Cerebrate."
Sharku was a little ticked for someone to call him that 'old name', but he was calm enough to maintain his anger. "I've figured she would send one of her loyal subjects when she's occupied with her task at hand."
Scarcezarla looks a Zarkus, Nargez and the Primal Zerg, "Cerebrate… where or when did you acquire these new Zerg?"
Sharku looks at Scarcezarla, knowing that Kerrigan and her minions do not know the history of the Primal Zerg, he decides that Scarcezarla will not know until he's ready, "I've… liberated them from the Terrans that would otherwise have been wiped clean by their weaponry." He looks at Zarkus and winks at him telling the Primal Zergling that Sharku got this handled.
Sharku then looks back a Scarcezarla and gives her a suggestion, "You will take us to the Queen of Blades so I can warn her what the Terrans are planning, and it is Sharku to you."
Aborath gazes upon Sharku and gives him a 'you cannot be serious?' stare. Scarcezarla looks at the Lord of Blades with a slight surprise, before reverting to her normal phase.
"Sharku is it? Well, Sharku, I would gladly guide you to my Queen, but the Terrans have blocked our route." The broodmother warns Sharku of the Dominion blockade, "They've set up a base west of the Dauntless Plateau, They seem to be desperate. While their motives are unknown, this pathway is unreachable."
"Not for long it won't." Sharku said with pride and determination, "Show me the location of their base."
Sharku looks at Scarezarla's brood trying to find where Krakilin is in any group of Zerg. Unfortunately, he is harder to reach, yet Sharku can worry about it later, right now he has a Terran base to destroy.
Sharku, his pack, Zerg elite, Scarcezarla and her brood have spotted the Dominion base. The Terrans have set up two barricades, each filled with bunkers, turrets, siege tanks, Psi disruptors and a whole lot of troops.
After a few minutes of far scouting, Sharku has found a way to breach the barricade but the base would be a whole other story. The main Dominion base at the centre will be a problem because it is heavily fortified.
Sharku began to think about how to drive the Terrans from the Zerg's soil when suddenly he sensed something or some creatures deep below the planet's surface. He suspected that these creatures were in deep slumber. They will need essence to survive when they awaken.
However, Scarcezarla interrupts Sharku's thoughts by speaking to him about what she's been doing before they met. "Along the way, my brood has captured many Terrans who are trying to warn the others."
Sharku gazes upon the captive Terrans where most of their bodies are covered in sticky slime denying them a chance to escape. "When did you manage to abduct them?"
"My Queen has requested it along the way. She has found uses for them." Scarcezarla explains to Sharku in an attempt to trick him, but he is not fooled so easily.
"Let me guess, She means to infest them to bolster our- Her forces to her arsenal."
Scarcezarla widens her eyes a little, before reverting to her normal stare. "Well, I assure you they're far different, we'll… convert them as soon as we get through the blockade."
Sharku has an idea to break through the blockade and potentially eradicate the Dominion base, "We will reach to the Queen, but under one condition: you and your brood will take directive to me-"
Scarcezarla interrupted Sharku with a mild scald, "You have not the authority to command me! May I remind you that I'll report to my Queen after all?"
Sharku counteracted with a heated argument, "Not in this situation, you're not! If my intelligence is correct, the Terrans somehow must have silenced our psionic communication with certain Zerg DNA from one of their bio-labs."
Scarcezarla widens her eyes mildly to Sharku as she asks, "How could you possibly-!"
"I've seen what the Terrans have done! They've experimented on the Zerg on some secret Terran station named the laboratory. If they somehow unleashed some kind of superweapon, they could wipe out every last one of our kind." Sharku replied with a statement.
Scarcezarla listens to a large detail that Sharku just points out, while simultaneously trying to scry into his mind. However, she could barely take whatever secrets Sharku has inside his mental capacities, as he peers into her mind as well.
Scarcezarla sensed some intrusion into her mind, she struggled to push back whatever is trying to pry through. Yet Sharku is too psionically strong, as he has temporarily paralyzed her for a minute. Sharku demands the Broodmother to just listen in.
"They must not be allowed to use any of our brethren against us! I assure you: We will get to our queen! Until then, You'll follow my will."
As the paralysis ends on Scarcezarla, she growls at the interference before relinquishing her temper, knowing while Sharku is on the same side she still wants answers. She motions her brood to let Sharku walk to Krakilin, who is severely wounded after he told her the Mutalisk strain lord's location.
After a short inspection, Sharku lifts his right claw which is now glowing midnight blue with a portion of his life force to bring the Mutalisk strain lord back from death's edge. After a swift but steady recovery, Krakilin with enough strength he has left, rises from the ground, wings flapping and finally a mutalisk screech which tells anyone that he has yet again conquered death.
It takes time for the rejuvenation process to bring the flying scout/assault alien warrior to a full restoration, Krakilin gives Sharku a report of the Dominion patrol at the front of the barricade near the plateau exit. Sharku knows a way to deal with them, but first, he tells Krakilin to rest for a while.
Scarcezarla decides to warn him of what the Terrans are after, "Sharku, the Terrans who have set up barricades earlier were attempting to stop what seems to be our Queen's asset. Though I've no verification of what it is they seek."
Sharku gazes at the broodmother with a smirk, after looking at the Terran captives as he spots one of them and uses his psionic mind search to uncover what secrets the captive is carrying on his mind.
"Well, fortune has been our side because I know what they're after." The Lord of Blades points to the Terran captive of whom he recently searched with his mind, "Bring forth that prisoner."
Scarcezarla looks at her hydralisk, who managed to keep the Terran captive constricted to ensure he doesn't escape, and motions it to bring the captive with him. It slithers slowly with the captive, who wenches in pain as it moves.
Once the hydralisk reaches Sharku, it moves its tail to the right, drawing the captive closer to the Lord of Blades. Sharku crouches down so that his large head will come at a suitable height.
"What orders did your emperor give you to carry out?" Sharku demands the answers from the Terran captive, who rebukes him by saying.
"You will get nothing from me! You abomination and Kerrigan are doomed to fail!"
Sharku chuckles, not being fazed by the Terran's feeble threats, "Yet you don't even know what happened to your fiance, do you?"
This causes the captive's eyes to widen, "How the hell did you-?!" he groaned a little, as the hydralisk's tail constricted him a bit to silence him.
"Look deeply into my eyes. You can see the murderer nearby." Sharku wanted the captive to think clearly before he could act. After a few seconds, the captive widens his eyes more as he realizes the one who slaughtered his fiance is right in front of him.
"D-don't tell me! You're the one who killed her!" the Terran captive exclaims.
Sharku smiles sinisterly, as the Terran finally gets the memo, "Yesss! I knew you're smarter than the coward who crowned himself 'Emperor of the Terran Dominion'"
The captive grunts in pain and anger at the uncomfortable situation, and the insult that Sharku just made about Mengsk.
Regardless, the captive maintains his defiance as hard as he can, "You'll never reach the Queen of Blades, disfigured clone. Our barricades are impenetrable against anything you throw at them."
Sharku on the other hand just stared at him, with no hint of fear, anxiety or regret. This irritates the captive, "How are you still calm, shouldn't you be nervous for a while."
However, those words are futile if he attempts to demoralize the Lord of Blades, "You'll soon be joining with that bitch!"
Sharku is once again not fazed by the empty threats of the captive, whom after a short pause he laughs slowly, very slowly, until he bursts out with hatred, "Everything annoys me the most, about YOU and Kerrigan!"
The captive ranted about Sharku's and Kerrigan's overconfident eyes, his ranting continues until the Lord of Blades shuts him up by stuffing a zerg slime gagging the captive, "You will soon realize: you cannot destroy me with mere weapons of whatever you wield!"
Scarcezarla looks at Sharku for a few seconds, she starts to sense some similarities between him and her queen. She begins to wonder: Is Sharku not one of the Renegade Cerebrates?
After a few minutes of interrogation, Sharku notifies Scarcezarla to send the captive back to where the others are. She motions the hydralisk carrying the gagged Terran to return with several captives. It slithers once more to the other Terran prisoners. Once it arrives, it uncoils and whips the prisoner toward the others, nearly knocking them out like bowling pins.
Scarcezarla asks Sharku the question, "How would you be able to deal with the Terrans?"
"I'll destroy their central base with the dormant creatures deep below," Sharku answered, "But the only way to do that is to awaken them."
The Broodmother warns the Lord of Blades: the Terrans have constructed Psi disruptors near the cliffs, and the Zerg will be vulnerable until they reach the barricade and possibly the main base.
Sharku immediately dismisses the possible concern, "This does not change anything, the Dominion has no idea what they're up against."
"But what of the Terran elite patrol, they could still be a major hassle," Scarcezarla said, while simultaneously testing him.
"Perhaps, but I've got a few tricks under my scales. They won't know what hit them."
Scarcezarla then suggests a small backup, in hopes to breach the Terran's defences, "I've also acquired these new strains that will aid you in driving the Terrans."
The Broodmother calls out a few of these unique Zerg that Sharku has never seen before, he asks with a hint of extreme shock as these new creatures come forth, "What the slug are those?!"
Scarcezarla gazes at Sharku with a 'don't tell me you don't know?' look. She reverted to her normal stance, as she replied, "These 'newly constituted' species are infestors. They should disrupt the Terrans with relative ease."
Sharku thinks for a minute before he gives her the directive, "I will gladly use them, but only when the time is right and necessary." The Lord of Blades spotted a small squad of Terrans who'd left the elite patrol. He grins sinisterly, this would be a fine moment to show Scarcezarla what he's made of.
Present time
Three marines began their search for their missing comrades, while also being on the lookout for a potential Zerg ambush. Unbeknownst to them, someone is waiting for them. Their search continues within minutes until one of them hears the sounds of skittering nearby.
One marine turns his head from left to right, trying to find out where the familiar sound is coming from. Then for a second, he spotted what seems to be three broodlings charging toward the group. The marine who spotted them earlier shoots his auto rifle at the broodlings before the rest follow.
Two of the three broodlings were shot down before the third one pounced in an attempt to maul the marine to death with a strange dark blue slime-like pincer claw. Fortunately for the Terrans, the marines blast the broodling to a bloody mess.
After a quick firefight, the one marine who shot the creature walks to where it had fallen, and lightly taps his armoured foot on the dead broodling, just to check if there's any pulse. Instead however is a twitching limb, before it ceases to resist as it is no longer a threat.
The three marines chuckle in amusement before they hear another screech, followed by another and several more. Every one gaze on the left and right sides of the cavern to figure out where the sounds are coming from.
They keep their guard up for minutes until one marine at the centre widens his eyes with dread as many unknown creatures start approaching. The last two marines follow suit as they lower their weapons as fear has tightened its grip on them.
Near the cavern entrance, the only one who can hear these wailing screams was a male spectre of the Dominion, his name is Jonathan. He wondered what was making all this racket. His answers are clear when he sees a silhouette approaching him and the squad.
As the silhouette reveals itself, Jonathan widens his eyes for a second once he sees a creature that no Terran has ever seen before. The marauder is about to walk towards something, believing it to be a fellow Terran, but Jonathan puts the marauder to a halt by using his left hand to block the way.
What the Terrans did see, however, is some kind of what seemed to be an infested Terran, but it has glowing midnight blue talons, wings folded into a cloak, a long tail with its end shaped like a mace, it's a head shield-like hood which protects part of its neck, glowing midnight blue eyes, black pincers connected to its jaw, and a toothed maw covered by glands.
Jonathan preps his armour-piercing sniper rifle and closes the visor on his helmet, while simultaneously warning his squad,
"Prepare yourselves."
The strange creature started to unfurl its wings while at the same time glowing the same midnight colour, channelling whatever psionic energy it is using.
Suddenly a swarm of ethereal Zerg runs past the creature as it roars ambushing the Terrans, who are now surrounded by these spectral Zerg. Jonathan shoots any nearby Zerg who got too close using his rifle, before switching to his combat knife and beginning his timely swings on the spectral broodlings to deny them a chance for the kill.
The rest of the squad begin firing their weapons on any nearby strange Zerg with firebats unleashing their flamethrowers, and marauders blasting their concussion grenades, not realizing that the Spectral Zerg are hallucinations, as they're used for distraction allowing the real Zerg to dish out some damage.
The first ones who joined the assault were the slug-like species who in turn emerge from the ground and spit out a green gooey slime ball which explodes on impact when it reaches those who are very unfortunate to get caught in the blast. The slime entangles a few of the squad while at the same time eating away the metal armour and flesh alike.
The marauder who was among those who were caught in the slime struggled painfully to get out of the Zerg snare. Yet, it is all in vain as the real Zergling pounces at the marauder along with the few others, to begin the slaughter.
Then another strike came after the first, where more of the squad got glued on by the slime before Jonathan freed a few of them after slicing the attackers with hand-to-hand techniques by using his rifle with the careful aim to remove the root.
The fireball, who's now free, unleashes a blast wave of fire, incinerating and annihilating any Zerg who got too close. The second slug-like creature emerges behind the firebat and launches a tendril with a parasitic needle, to control his movements and turn against his allies.
Jonathan's defensive attacks were halted as the slime roots him as well. Looking at the situation which is now grim, he uses much of his strength to break the slime and kills two of the slug creatures, one from his rifle and the other with his right foot squashing it.
Jonathan has saved as many of his squad as he can, before attempting to escape. Yet the Zerg are at large in number, as they surround the Terrans and slowly go for the kill. However, as the Zergling was about to use its claw on its prey, a volley of void projectiles appeared out of nowhere and with a green blinding explosion, a few Zergling were roasted, while the surviving ones were pushed back. Jonathan and the rest of the squad turn around and look up to see a silhouette of a humanoid figure, yet more alien.
The surviving Terrans didn't know who or what it was trying to do before it immediately motions Jonathan and the Terrans to escape quickly while it deals with the Zerg.
With no hesitation, Jonathan ordered his remaining squad to retreat while at the same time shooting at any nearby Zerg who got too close. After a few seconds of tactical retreat, Jonathan caught up to where the humanoid figure was located, which turns out to be a Protoss.
He and the Protoss warrior were discussing what to do next, like getting many Dominion forces to a more secure location as quickly as possible so they have a better chance to eliminate the Zerg threat once and for all.
Before they depart, the Protoss warns Jonathan and his squad not to engage a new enemy until he comes back with more reinforcements. Jonathan will do his best to contact his brother about the new directive along the way.
Sharku unleashes his psionic power to create a swarm of ethereal Zerg to overwhelm the Terrans, while Scarcezarla will provide support with roaches. The Lord of Blades sees that the Terrans were holding the line, as persistent as ever, he knows that they'll reach their limit in no time.
As their bunker was demolished, the Terrans retreated to their first barricade and turned a large boulder into a pile of rubble blocking the Zerg's path. He knows that it'll take six hours to destroy the rubble with what he has.
Sharku immediately calls to his Torrasque for his directive, "Aborath, clear the rubble for us. so we can push the Terrans even further."
Aborath obliges his lord with it and starts tearing down the rubble. Once cleared Sharku orders Aborath to wait for his signal. "Once the Terran Psi disruptors are weakened or destroyed, invade the barricade and tear it into rubble."
"It shall be done, Lord Sharku."
Sharku sent forth his swarm of ethereals to harass the Terrans, with roaches providing support sent by Scarcezarla. Then with a couple of loud chirps, Sharku sends his Primal Hydralisks to destroy the Psi Disruptors.
Scarcezarla did have doubts about this assault, she had seen what the disruptor can do: slowing their advance on any nearby Zerg leaving themselves vulnerable to enemy fire. So why does Cerebrate, who calls himself: Sharku, go for the straight assault when the enemy can hold off the Swarm with relative ease.
Her doubts slowly begin to fade, as Scarcezarla notices earlier about the ethereal Zerg. According to what she's witnessed, the ethereals, while can do as much damage as the real thing, they're in fact: hallucinations. She also noticed the new strain of Hydralisks is still in good condition, despite being near the psi disruptor's aura.
With the Terrans mostly focusing on the hallucinations instead of the absolute army, and the new Hydralisks decimating the psi disruptors, this engagement goes a bit more smoothly than she could have imagined.
Sharku quickly pulled back the Primal Hydralisks as they were taking fire from a single blast of the tanks' crucio cannons. When he sees no more of the psi disruptors, he gives Aborath the signal the torrasque is waiting for.
"Now Aborath! Tear the barricade apart!"
"With pleasure!"
Aborath charges forward to the now desperate and slightly frightened Terrans, who start shooting their C10 gauss rifles at him. This leads, however, to be assaulted by Aborath's spike carapace reflection, as most of the marines are severely injured and require medical attention.
Within minutes the first barricade is wiped out by Aborath and the Zerg Swarm, the Torrasque reports to Sharku that the first blockade is removed but the Terrans have escaped to the next barricade.
Sharku tells Aborath to fall back for now and await further instructions. Scarcezarla then notifies Sharku of what her scouts have seen.
"Sharku, my scouts just spotted Terran outposts, who were in vulnerable positions. If you can destroy these outposts before its soldiers reach their main base, we should have an easy time whittling down their defences."
Sharku thinks for a minute or two, before he replies, "Yes, they could be a major hassle if they're left unchecked. If time permits; we'll destroy them and take out their guards."
After a few minutes of assembling his ethereals by replenishing his energy reserves, Sharku was about to land another assault, yet Scarcezarla had brought more of her brood to assist his attack as she requested the Zerg fliers for assistance.
Sharku looks up to the sky to see the Zerg fliers and notices a few of them are different. The first two he sees were all too familiar, a swarm of Mutalisks and Scourges, but one of these creatures had a unique appearance: for starters, these strange creatures have tendrils representing their many tails, three pincer-like claws forming a triangle position surrounding its beak-like maw. Scarcezarla called them Corruptors.
Part of him is not surprised by the Corruptor's ability to morph into different creatures. A few years earlier, Sharku had seen Mutalisks mutate to Guardians when he and Kerrigan were in combat with the Protoss led by Tassadar. Yet many of the Corruptors have mutated into something that he also had never seen before, but also some similarity with them.
Calling them Broodlords, these flying beasts have blistering sockets, carrying small sacs which will pop out those familiar small critters. Sharku knows that these critters are broodlings. Originally they were spawned by the Queens of old from their choice of victims, who would die in an instant when caught in first contact.
Nowadays these Broodlords will use them as living projectiles, which will deal additional damage to their prey with their claws after the broodlings are launched. The Broodlords' bombardment continues until a sufficient Terran reinforcement starts to turn the tide with these new ships Sharku has seen these flying machines in low orbit before he plummets to the surface.
To counter their attack, Sharku uses his energy reserves to enlarge a few of the spectral Zerg, granting them wings and allowing them to take flight against their aerial forces. Scarcezarla immediately calls in the Nydus worms in an attempt to deny the Terrans a chance to regroup. While Sharku keeps the Terrans at the barricade distracted, he sends Aborath and a few of the Primal Zerg to the Nydus worm the broodmother has summoned to send another Nydus worm onto one of the Terran outposts.
After a few hours of the battle, with guns blazing, claws slashing, worms popping from the ground and spitting out any Zerg to continue their assault. The Terrans have pushed back once again, though the Zerg have lost a few Brood lords to the laser drill tanks in the process. Thanks to Scarcezarla's assistance, the Zerg have breached the Terran's main base in a desperate attempt to get rid of the Terrans once and for all.
Yet the Dominion wiped out much of the Zerg forcing them to retreat. Scarcezarla moves towards Sharku and was about to scold him for allowing the Terrans to reinforce their base. Sharku immediately counteracted the Broodmother by stating his real reason.
"Sharku! You allowed the Terrans to strengthen their base! This is how you-?!"
"Let me remind you: I intended to annihilate any threat to the Zerg!"
Sharku cancels his spectral Zerg summons, allowing him to rejuvenate his energy, Scarcezarla soothes her inner rage though not understanding why the Lord of Blades wouldn't simply just wipe them out completely.
Sharku looked her in the eyes and gave her a smirk. Scarcezarla stares at him in confusion as if: what is he smirking about? Then she realized what Sharku had said before the Zerg attacked the Terrans.
"Keep the Terrans occupied for as long as you can," Sharku replied, "They will soon be food for the creatures below."
Once his energy is restored, Sharku channels his right claw in what seems to be his attempt to awaken these creatures. After a few hours of conflict, Sharku has finished channelling his psionic energy and slams his right claw to the ground. As the ground trembles, there's a sudden pause before a loud crack is heard.
Sharku and Sarcezarla look to their left and see what seems to be a gargantuan worm rising at one of the Terran outposts. It's kind of similar to one of the Nydus Worms, but instead of releasing Zerg forces, this worm is focused on offensive capabilities. It breathes molten acid on the Terrans before they can react. Once the worm's breath attack is finished, it senses whatever ruckus sounds are coming from and burrows from where it came.
Then more rumbles appear one after the other, as several outposts were under assault by the new worms before they submerge and start to deep tunnel towards the Terran main base. Scarcezarla looks at the chaos with awe.
"My Queen didn't tell me of these worms before."
Sharku gazes upon the Terran base with a sadistic grin, as he knows what's gonna happen next. He turns his head to the Terran captive he interrogated earlier, walks to him and clutches his claw on the Terran's head.
"You will watch this!"
Sharku released the Terran from his grasp, before turning his gaze on the Terran base once again, he then psionically taunts the Dominion for using their guns and machines to fight for survival instead of tooth, acid and claw.
The rumble gets louder and louder, as Sharku prepares a speech, "Let all who would oppose the Zerg Swarm! Especially those who would continue their futile struggle! Shall face its eternal wrath by we who are willing to unleash: THE WORMS OF CHAR AND ASH!"
The only thing the captive can do is scream, which is more of a muffle thanks to the slime covering his mouth. The conflict continues to endeavour with the Zerg led by Scarcezarla keeping the Terrans at bay until one gargantuan worm emerges from the ground, consuming one of the Terrans before incinerating the rest with its breath weapon.
It immediately destroyed a couple of drill tanks after it used an offensive deep tunnel before submerging back underground as the rest of the wyrms followed in destroying the rest of the base. A few squads were attempting to escape the slaughter and were successful despite Sharku blocking their path with his world blockade and a large number of Zerg attempting to wipe them out.
Sharku moves towards the captive who is now in total despair. The Lord of Blades kneels to speak to the Terran, "You have time to consider your thoughts."
Sharku then turns to Scarcezarla and nods letting her know that the captives are all hers. As Scarcezarla and her brood were about to escort Sharku and his pack to where the Queen of Blades was, he senses that someone is calling him from the ruins of the Dominion base.
Sharku turns to where the signal is coming from, when Scarcezarla sees him gazing upon the ruins and wonders what he is doing, "Sharku, there's no time for delay."
Sharku turns to Scarcezarla once more, "There's been an alternative to our destination. Aborath, Zarkus and Nargaz and my… New Brood with me."
Scarcezarla was about to retort, when Sharku immediately said to the others, "The rest of you will follow Scarcezarla as she takes you to Queen Kerrigan. Go!"
Scarcezarla relents as she motions her brood to escort the remaining brood of Sharku to Kerrigan's hive cluster knowing that she will be disappointed for not bringing the Cerebrate with the broodmother. "I'll join you after I've made an audience with one of the worms."
"Very well then, I'll notify the Queen of what transpired here, and await your arrival."
Scarcezarla and the rest of the Zerg brood including the Strain lords left the battlefield, while Sharku, Aborath, Zarkus, Nargaz and his Primal Pack ventured forth near the centre of the ruins. Once they reach here, they waited for minutes, until at last the gargantuan worm emerges very close to Sharku who barely managed to stand on the ground while the others who are unfortunate are pushed aside by the shear force, yet thanks to their swift recovery, Aborath, Zarkus and Nargaz managed to stand up.
Sharku realized that the gargantuan worm is the leader, as it lowered its head after it used its roar. Within minutes the worm leader recognized the one who awakened it and its brethren, as Sharku is the only one who is very close to the worm. It then makes loud but low snarling sounds for the other Zerg, yet Sharku can understand what the leader is trying to do.
The communication continues with both snarls and grunts until it ends with the worms burrowing underground. Zarkus walks to Sharku to ask him a question, "Lord Sharku, these worms look like the ones on Zerus, do you know-?"
Sharku interrupts Zarkus respectfully, "They are Nydus Destroyers. These creatures were made during the post-Brood War after the Queen of Blades had absolute control of the Zerg Swarm."
Aborath growls in disgust, though he must keep his emotions in check, less it will jeopardize Sharku's plan for the Hybrid. "Yet their power while effective was a little weak in comparison or so I've heard, and so they were left below in deep slumber, never to be seen, heard or used again. Yet with the threat of the Hybrids and their master still lurking in the shadows, we might need for them." Sharku knows that for these Nydus Destroyers to grow stronger, they require more biomass.
Nydus Tunnel Network, Char
Raynor, Tychus, Swann and Stetmann in their armoured suits are on their way to their first target: the first fault line. Raynor, in addition to his weapon: the Mach 12 canister rifle, also got a motion scanner to detect any hostile Zerg presence nearby. Sure enough, there are Zerg near the entrance: a spine crawler, two Hydralisks and a roach, but they're in the position of a straight line. Raynor had a surprise waiting for them.
"Let's introduce these boys to a little Terran ingenuity - the Mach 12 penetrator round!"
After a second of charging, the weapon shoots a round that pierces anything that reaches contact. The Zerg defenders, even the spine crawler, were decimated by the blast within a heartbeat.
The Elite Raider squad moved forward and encountered another Zerg blocking the way. Raynor uses another penetrator round, which in turn many Zerg were wiped out, and cleared out a few stragglers.
They encounter another pack of Zerg, and Tychus decides to try out his new move.
"Quit hogging all the fun, Jimmy! Let me try out these shredder grenades…"
Tychus picks up a grenade container from his belt and chucks it at the group of Zerg. They were torn to shreds by a shrapnel blast, only a few Zerglings are unscathed just to be blasted by the combined fire of chain gun rounds, sniper shots and concussive blasts.
Stetmann in the back was keeping the rest in good shape, with his highly advanced suit with rapid healing rays to keep the pressure on. The Raiders move forward once again before they cease as Raynor picks up the motion tracker, which is now beeping like crazy.
"The motion detector is off the scale!" Raynor saw Zerglings in a great magnitude, a single shot of the penetrator or a blast of the grenade would be inefficient to stop them, "Swann, what say you get that turret of yours set up before we advance?"
Which Swann does, "No sooner said than done, cowboy. Just stay behind old 'Flaming Betty' here and let her take the heat."
Swann places a portable turret, and it deploys at a rapid pace. It functions similarly to a sentry turret, but it is heavily armoured and equipped with a flamethrower. With the Zerglings focusing on Flaming Betty, the Raiders make short work of them, with another shot of the penetrator, in case a few stragglers were resilient to the flames of the turret.
The Raiders were halfway to the fault line, and after clearing more Zerg on their path, a transmission was called, "Raynor, can you hear me?"
Despite some interference, Raynor can understand who is talking, "I read you, general. Go ahead."
"Some of my men are nearby, they're pinned down. Help them out and they'll join you."
Although Raynor did say that this is no rescue mission, liberating more of the soldiers trapped will increase the chance of success, even though the risk is high with more troops. The Raiders managed to wipe out more Zerg presence including the grotesque aberration and five spine crawlers.
Once cleared, the Raiders went to where what seems to be Warfield's men are, yet what they found is so much more, as one of the men from the Dominion in different marine armoured suit percepts the Raiders.
"Raynor?!" The soldier widens his eyes before he laughs with excitement, "Hot damn! Damian, they've sent the big guns for us!"
"Yess– well. What can I say?" Stetmann said.
One of the soldiers walks closer to Raynor, he wears a similar suit as the marines but with a blackjack card on his right shoulder and carries with him a 260 – pulse rifle.
The marine, who is named Damian, replied, "When I heard we would receive assistance, I didn't expect the most wanted fugitive would come to our aid."
Raynor then replied, "We can worry about that later, right now stick with me and my boys and we'll make it through."
Damian wondered why would the general entrust the criminal to lead the charge, regardless he will have these answers soon enough, as he and the Dominion were following the Raiders, Swann replied.
"Jimmy, you need stuff fixed, I'm your guy. This crawling around in caves… that guy I ain't."
"Swann, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you're scared," Raynor said with a tease.
"Yellow. I knew it." Tychus joined in.
"It ain't that. Just weapons and tools, they make sense to me, caves and Zerg, just ain't my cup of tea."
"Well. I-I'm scared." Stetmann gulped.
Damian looks at Stetmann in question, "What are you scared of?"
Immediately the Scientist yelped, as the Zerg rise to ambush the Terrans.
"Open fire!" Raynor exclaimed, as Swann immediately set up Flaming Betty to get the Zerg's attention, allowing the Terran force to engage.
The Raiders and the Dominion squads destroyed much of the Zerg in the front while securing their flank as the Zerg attempted to do a pincer strike. Once secured they move closer to the fault line, destroying more Zerg in the process, including roaches, Hydralisks, Zerglings and aberrations.
Once near the ramp, four Nydus Worms appear in rapid succession and start pumping out broodlings to engage the Terrans. However, just before Raynor begins to shoot a piercing round, or Tychus throws a shredder grenade, five to six void green projectiles land right next to the worms before exploding into a bright flash. After a few seconds, the blinding flash fades away, all that was left was a pile of void ash from where the Nydus worms were.
Swann exclaimed, "I didn't do that!"
Raynor could only think of one thing that was capable of performing that stunt, and soon enough the one emerging from the shadows like a ninja appearing from the dark clouds is a Dark Templar.
Many Terrans are confused about what the Protoss is doing here, but Raynor moves closer and asks, "Sizadin? What the hell are you doing here?"
The Dark Templar now named Sizadin turns to the Rebel commander, "Same reason as you. It's a good thing I've caught up to you in time."
Raynor was about to ask the Protoss dark warrior about what was happening on low orbit, "Do you have any idea what caused this sudden interference?"
Sizadin replies with confirmation, "The Zerg have received unexpected reinforcements and started attacking your fleet and the Dominion fleet from the rear. If I had not intervened, you wouldn't be able to receive support from your captains."
Raynor thinks for a moment, as Sizadin explains his encounter, "Despite my best efforts, the new asset has some new tricks which in turn shut down the communications before it plummets to the surface."
Raynor began to understand the connection during the beginning of the invasion, from the communications lost to the large Baneling ambush, it all makes sense now.
Sizadin decides to assist the Terrans, "I can provide you support to hinder the Zerg advance, allowing you to finish them off before they have a chance to retaliate."
Raynor, now clear of his thoughts, intends to invite the Protoss to his squad, it's been a while since fighting alongside one of the highly advanced alien armies. "I should have to say this before, but welcome aboard."
With Sizadin joining the party, they moved to the cavern area where the first fault line is located.
Raynor gives Swann the order, "This is it. Swann, I've marked the fault line with a flare plant one of the charges near it."
"You got it, cowboy." Swann starts setting up a detonator charge, which contains a nuclear hazard symbol on top of the device. It takes time to detonate, so Raynor said to the Terrans to get into defensive positions.
"We got to defend the charge until it's armed. Watch all points, boys."
Damian was hesitant for a second before he gives his men the command, "You heard him! Defensive positions, let's move!"
Swann examines the three choke points, and notices a good spot for his flame turret, "You know one of these choke points will be a good spot for Flaming Betty. Where do you want her, hotshot?"
Raynor suggested putting Flaming Betty between the two choke points on the north, so it could cover both points. The first wave of Zerg of a few Roaches, Hydralisks and Zerglings came from the north, which was decimated by a shredder grenade thrown by Tychus.
The first of the Nydus Worms emerge from the ground only to be picked off by Raynor's penetrator round. After a few seconds, another worm pops out, before it was eradicated by Sizadin's swift void slash. A pack of Roaches prepares to attack but were wiped clean by Tychus' machine gun, Raynor's armour-piercing rifle, and Sizadin's void blade while being distracted by Flaming Betty.
Then a low gurgling growl was heard, when the aberration marched forth towards the Terrans, "My singularity spike should slow it down."
Sizadin throws what seems to resemble a shuriken, but infused with void energy at the creature which is now embedded by it.
A few seconds later, it detonates causing massive damage to it, and its movement becomes sluggish, leaving itself vulnerable to enemy fire.
About twenty seconds later, the detonator is fully armed and ready. With no hesitation, Raynor, Swann, Tychus, Stetmann, Sizadin and the Dominion reinforcements (including Damian) rushes deeper into the cavern.
"The charges are ready to blow. Get the hell out of here!"
With the Squad out of the furnace, the Zerg made one last attempt to destroy the detonator, but it was all for naught, as the detonator explodes killing all remaining Zerg in the area and leaving a fault line into a gaping hole as molten lava erupts from it.
Raynor commends his men, "Good job. That's the first charge, when we get all three, the chamber would be filled with lava."
They've entered the next cavern to where the second fault line is, but there is a sizable Zerg force blocking the way. Lo and behold there are indeed Zerg there but instead of Zerglings, it is replaced by infested Terrans.
Stetmann, after a quick inspection realized who these corrupted Terrans were, "Oh-oh lordy… this must be where they take their prisoners."
"And infest them," Raynor finishes the sentence, "There's no helping these guys. We got to put them out of their misery."
As they begin to wipe out the infested, a slug-like creature spits out a slimy eggshell, providing the infested with reinforcements, "Watch it! Infester pods!"
"Light them up!"
"I'll stun it with my Void Prison, denying the Infestor a chance to retaliate!"
Swann warns the party of the Infester's spawn-infested pods, while Tychus unleashes his chaingun on nearby infested, and Sizadin activates a large bubble with void encasing the Infester allowing Raynor to eliminate it with another penetrator round.
They move carefully and just as expected, there are more infested nearby.
"Damn you freaks are ugly! Let's waste them!"
Tychus chucks another grenade and Sizadin unleashes a volley of void missiles wiping the horde with relative ease. The infested refugee was unable to say anything before being blown apart. The squad pushed forward as Tychus explains the infestation situation. "Sure are some ugly suckers down here."
As they approached the next horde, it has many infested marines along with the remaining infested. One of the marines spoke.
"You're too late!"
"We need a good spot to hole up, or we're going to be Zerg chow!" Swann exclaims, as Sizadin gets into position to perform another void charge, when Raynor used another shot to wipe out most of the infested, allowing the Protoss warrior to finish off the infester and the other Terran troops to clean up the rest.
They pushed forward and killed any Zerg that stand in their way, including the aberration, however, they hear many screeches, Raynor knew whose sound belongs to them.
"Watch it, banelings! Don't let them get too close!"
Sizadin had a different idea in mind, "Leave the banelings to me."
Before Raynor could tell him to retreat, Sizadin vanished and all the Terrans can hear are rapid slashes before the Zerg movements came to a halt. A second later, Siziadin appears as he sheathes his warp blade resulting in numerous explosions of the banelings killing no one, save for their Zerg allies who're unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast.
All the Terrans were surprised at what a single Protoss would do to that stunt, "Damn!"
"How did he manage to wipe out the banelings without getting splashed over?!"
"I don't know, but I'm glad he's on our side!"
Stetmann, being a smart alec said with certainty, "That was great and all, but we better make sure to not get splashed over by those things."
"Thanks for the advice son, now shut up." Tychus sarcastically replied.
The Raiders, Dominion and Sizadin move forward when Raynor picks up another signal from Warfield,
"Come in, Raynor? I'm detecting survivors of another squad nearby. Find them and rescue them."
"I'm gonna guess that last part was 'rescue them' ." Raynor sighed, he cannot deny the general's request otherwise.
"Hell and I thought we were gonna play poker with them." Tychus joked around.
However, as they get closer to the survivors, Tychus notices a small magnitude of Zerg trying to flank them.
"Ambush! They're behind us!"
Fortunately, Swann set up a Flaming Betty turret to absorb the blasts of the banelings' acid suicide attack, allowing the rest of the squad to mop up the Zerg ambush with a mix of shredder grenades, penetrator rounds and melee slashes of the Dark Templar.
Once the dust settles, the squad managed to save a few survivors of Dominion firebats and medics by removing the Nydus Worms.
"Great to see you guys." One of the firebats sighs in relief, while the second firebat warns the group, "The cavern ahead is full of worms, so we gotta be careful."
"Ah, worms. Right" Stetmann said.
The Raiders squad, Dominion squad and Sizadin continue moving toward the second fault line when they hear the sounds of Nydus Worms emerging from the ground underneath, Raynor gives the command.
"They're only getting started! Move up by twos! We got to blast them back!"
They slowly pushed hard, even with the Incinerator gauntlets and the reinforced armour for the Firebats, Sizadin's blink 'n slash combos, the Zerg's continued assault hindered their prey's advance, as Tychus warns the group as an Ultralisk burst up from the ground, and an aberration trying to flank them.
"We've got a hundred tons of Zerg incoming!"
Sizadin immediately encased the Ultralisk into a dark green bubble, "I've placed an Ultralisk in a void prison. Bring it down!"
"That voodoo work on the behemoths too? Nice!" the marine exclaimed.
Sizadin pretends not to be irritated, and instead enlightens the Terran, "It works on anything and anyone."
Within seconds the Ultralisk falls, before the Terran squads and Sizadin push through the worm gauntlet, until finally, they're near the second fissure.
Stetmann breathes in relief as he says with a hint of excitement, "Zerg is so fascinating. I wish we knew more about their physiology."
Tychus muses with a simple answer, I know all about them. Put a bullet in them. They die."
"Wait until we face one that requires a blade to stick into them." Sizadin points it out.
"Well, that's not exactly-"
"Shut it you three." Raynor cuts the chatter, telling them to focus. Sizadin just shrugs it off, while Stetmann was left confused for a second.
Swann immediately puts another charge, "Same as before: set up a perimeter, and don't let anything reach the charge while it's arming."
Damian orders his men to do the same, as Raynor commanded. Swann sets up Flaming Betty to cover both paths located on his right. Simultaneously, many of the infested humans emerge from their left, which were mopped up by firebats and marines.
More infested Terrans appeared, followed by an aberration going for the assault. Sizadin uses another singularity spike on the grotesque creature, allowing the Terrans to finish it off.
After a few seconds of holding the line, a sound of bellowing roars was heard.
"Damn, earthquake!" Tychus exclaimed.
Raynor, however, knows that Char has no natural seismic conditions. That could only mean one thing.
"That's no 'quake- it's Ultralisks!"
Three Ultralisks came charging, two moving to the Terran's right which Flaming Betty keeps them busy with its flamethrower, and the third one coming to their left, which Sizadin uses his void prison to put the beast to a halt, allowing the marines to and firebats to soften the creature, allowing Sizadin to finish it off.
They hold off the Zerg to keep them at bay until the charge is fully armed. Everyone moves to the next cavern entrance which is blocked by Zerg pudistiles.
As the infested tries to deny the Terrans and Sizadin their escape, Tychus yells, "Let's get the hell outta here!" he chucks the grenade on the pudistiles, clearing a path to retreat.
The Zerg make a desperate attempt to destroy the charge, but it is all for naught, as it blows up with a nuclear mushroom bomb cloud weakening the fault even more.
"Just one more charge and we're getting ourselves a Nydus barbeque. Stay sharp boys." Raynor confirmed the progression.
Sizadin begins to understand what Rayner and the Terrans were planning to do, "You intend to remove one of their galactical transport capabilities…"
'A bold move' he said in thought. Sizadin noticed that if Raynor succeeds in weakening the last fault, they will need to evacuate the cavern before the lava engulfs the Terrans and himself, as well as the Zerg.
"Once we've dealt with the Worms, we can focus on neutralizing the Queen of Blades."
They entered the third cavern, and nearly everyone noticed that Raynor is receiving a signal.
"We got company, Jimmy?" Tychus was the first to respond.
Raynor shook his head, "No, I'm picking up something… but it's stationary. Eggs or larva maybe?"
"Careful now, this could be a trap," Sizadin warned the Terrans.
True to his word, the eggs pop open when the squad gets too close, first, there were Zerglings, then there's the infested with the Infestor supporting the Zerg. The Terrans and Sizadin cleared them out. Once the area is secured, Swann would point out some suspicion about the eggs.
"You know, the way these eggs all hatched… it feels like they're waiting for us."
Sizadin nods in agreement.
"There's a strong likelihood that another Zerg creature was controlling them," Stetmann confirms the suspicion.
They cleared another cluster of eggs popping out more Zerg as Tychus growls as the Infestor tries to flank them, only to be scorched by the firebats.
"Gah. Whatsoever popping those eggs is going to be in a world of pain when I get a hold of them!"
The squad and the Protoss warrior were about to clear out a third Zerg nest when Warfield contacts the rebel commander again.
"Raynor, another squad is near your position. Their situation sounds dire. Proceed with extreme caution."
Warfield's advice is no joke, right behind the Zerg nest in front of the Terrans is a massive creature similar to an Ultralisk but about the size of a Brutalisk.
Sizadin suggests a tactical solution, "I'll focus fire on the massive abomination, destroy the eggs quickly, then assist me when you're done."
Raynor accepts the request, "Alright boys, you heard the Protoss. We've gotta clear the eggs and help him rescue the squad. Let's move!"
Damian couldn't believe his eyes, the most wanted criminal he had to work alongside with is encouraging him and his men to see it through, and the Protoss ensuring their survival. He can set that aside from now on.
"Over here! Help us!"
"Alakor de zhakan!" Sizadin attacks the creature attempting to wipe out the squad behind the rocks, while the Terrans attack the eggs before they can assist the Nerazim to destroy the creature.
The creature ignores the attacks of the Dark Templar and starts focusing on the trap marines behind the rubble. Raynor, his team and Damian and his team successfully cleared out the eggs, including the spine crawlers guarding them, and focused their firepower on the massive beast with the assistance of Sizadin.
However, the beast destroyed the last of the rubble leaving the Dominion troops vulnerable.
"Oh god! Game over, man! Game over!"
Fortunately, the beast can do nothing as it takes too much damage before it falls dead on its tracks.
One of the marines sighs in relief as they gather their combat shields. "Thanks, man! I thought we were goners."
"You ain't safe yet." Swann pointed out.
They know that until they get out of the cavern, they're still in the danger zone. Swann planted a final charge as Raynor gives him the command, "Swann get that charge deployed. I've got a bad feeling about this place."
The last fault line is surrounded by dozens of eggs, Swann replied, "All set, cowboy. Once the charge goes off, we need to be a long way from here."
Suddenly an echoing screech is heard from the same corridor, "What the hell was that?"
"We're not alone," Sizadin warned.
After a few seconds, the Zerg creature emerges, it resembles an evolution of an old Queen from the Brood War, who is on the ground than flying in the air. It goes to one of the nests and starts popping out the infested.
"Damn, she's popping eggs!" Tychus exclaimed.
"We've got to take her down, there's no way we're leaving the charge while she's around!" Raynor gives the order one at a time, "Raiders, focus on the Queen, Dominion takes out the eggs before she can call reinforcements. Sizadin…"
"On it!"
Sizadin will concentrate on supporting the Dominion with most of the eggs, then helping the Raiders kill the Queen. The fight is nearly at a stalemate with the Terran Dominion destroying the eggs, while the Raiders focus their attack on the Queen. The Queen retreats after taking a major chunk of injuries, before emerging once more to the other nest, and starts summoning reinforcements.
"She's going for more eggs! Stop the queen before she gets to them!" Swann exclaims.
The assault continues with more of her 'children' perishing, as the Queen takes another chunk of damage, and retreats again. Now infuriated, the Queen emerges once more and unleashes a psionic blast, which stuns any of its foes nearby. The blast, unfortunately, awakens the remaining Zerg from the eggs to hatch, who now start to destroy the charge, or would have had Sizadin didn't intervene. He cleaves on the Zerglings and slashes on the Infested. Once cleared, the Nerazim warrior moves to assist the Terrans against the Queen.
The Queen was about to strike on the Raiders, who have just recovered from the psionic blast, when all of a sudden, it screeches in agony as it was assaulted by rapid slashes of void energy. Sizadin have weakened the Queen enough for the Terrans to finish it off, as it was torn apart by shrapnel and a penetrator round.
Stetmann examines the corpse of the queen, to see any life signals, "No life signs…" he breathed, "She's dead, Jim."
Nydus worms ruined the moment of reprieve, in one last desperate attempt to kill their prey, "Us too, if we don't get the hell outta here!"
Swann had an agreement, "The charges are counting down, of course, we've got to go! Here, Betty will keep them busy."
The engineer sets up Flaming Betty to distract a majority of Zerg before he and the rest move to what possibly be the final cavern to reach the exit.
A huge explosion was heard as the final charge successfully destroyed the final fault line. With nothing holding the natural molten lake at bay, it slowly starts to rise as Tychus notice it on the way.
"Aww, hell! The lava's rising!"
"That was the whole idea, Tychus, now run to the extraction point you idiot!"
With the lava flooding the cavern, the Terrans and Sizadin will leave a few Zerg nearby allowing the lava to finish them off.
"Let's get outta here! Double time! Go go go!" Raynor commands his troops.
"You heard him, if we delay we'll go down with the Zerg!" Damian encourages his squad that were rescued by Raynor.
"I'll stall any Zerg who would try to slow us!" Sizadin replied.
The only Zerg that refuse to move from their 'blockade' were spine crawlers, a few Zerglings, Hydralisks, Infestors and Roaches trying to stall the Terrans. The squad and the Nerazim warrior decimated them, leaving the eggs to add fuel to the fire.
The Zerg's final attempt to bring their enemies down with them is two Ultralisks in the front and Zerglings from behind. The Terrans and a single Protoss flushed out whatever attempts the Zerg can pull off, as the Ultralisks were destroyed by penetrator rounds, shrapnel grenades and rapid slashes of void energy, while the Zerglings were picked off by Flaming Betty, as they finally reached the extraction point in one piece.
"Hot damn! Nothing like a good old fashioned knock-down-drag-out-brawl!" Tychus mused.
"Look at all those caves crumble. Ain't sorry to see them go." Swann breathed with relief.
"Wow. We sure killed a lot of them! I'd bet they're really scared of us now! Of you." Stetmann commented.
"Never underestimate an assassin who has a longer lifespan who can still, how do you Terrans say it: Throwdown with the best of them!" Sizadin speaks his mind, as Raynor finishes his words.
"Alright, let's see how the boys held up while we were gone."
Damian wishes to give Raynor his gratitude for the assistance, "Raynor, you have saved many of my men along the way, you have my thanks."
Raynor accepts the captain's thanks, as the transmission kicks in, meaning the Hyperion had the communications established. "Hyperion to Commander, can you read me?"
"I hear you, Matt. What is the situation?" Raynor replied, feeling relieved that the communications are online.
"After our communications were restored, we tried to get any Dominion to retreat to Warfield's forward base to stand on a better ground-" Matt said, when he receives another signal, "Hold on… Sir, there's a Dominion outpost near your position, and it is about to be under attack by a powerful Zerg we haven't seen before."
"Alright, we'll notify them, evacuate the area, then we'll arrive at Warfield." Raynor closes the channel.
"What is it, cowboy?" Swann asks a question.
"It appears there's an outpost nearby, that is about to come under attack by what seems to be a 'powerful Zerg'"
"Kerrigan…" Damian growled.
"Or worse," Sizadin said otherwise.
The group then left the rubble, once a cavern now join into a lake of fire.
Dominion outpost
A row of missile turrets was constructed around the outer rim of the small base, attempting to stall whatever was inside the stormy clouds, the Dominion forces are getting into defensive positions to engage what was coming.
The squad of Raiders and the Dominion have ventured to the entrance, which is blocked by many Dominion guards. "We've got this under control, you will return to wherever your post is located."
"Don't you understand?! Whatever it is, it will destroy your positions within minutes! You need to-" yells the familiar voice that Damian was hearing.
"Jonathan?"
Jonathan turns around to see his brother, who finally escaped from the attack, but he also saw Raynor, the rebels and a familiar Protoss. "Damian! You made it! But why is Raynor- "
"We need a way to get inside, and warn them about the imminent threat and get them to a more secured location," Sizadin stated the situation.
"Easier said than done, but unless we gain access from one of their officers we're in no position of entering."
Raynor examines the defences carefully from his view, it would be suitable to hold off a swarm of Mutalisks and Scourges, but this is about some powerful Zerg they're talking about.
However the soldier approaches the officer, telling him the situation, "I think our Adjutant is malfunctioning, it keeps saying: unidentified psionic waveform detected."
Sizadin paused for a sec, he notices something familiar in high orbit, a being responsible for nearly destroying an entire fleet, only to blackout communication by his intervention. Stetmann notices Sizadin thinking along the way.
Raynor, Tychus and Swann noticed the same as well. Sizadin's mind immediately snapped, as he realized who or what the soldier is talking about.
Sizadin moves closer to one of the guards and attempts to persuade him, "You need to let them through, I don't think it would be good for any of us."
"Who gives you an author-! Protoss, here?!" exclaims the soldier, as he was surprised to see a Protoss, thought to be a Dominion marine speaking before he turns to see Raynor, his raiders and the Dominion troops.
"Wait a second! Raynor?" However before the marine can react, Sizadin interrupts after Jonathan explains the situation, "This is no time to argue! The Adjutant warns you of the imminent threat heading in your direction!"
"The Terran's right. I know all of this because I've fought against it in low orbit, which in turn caused the powerful psionic waveform, far greater than the previous, to short-circuit your communications."
"You're saying that the psionic waveform is far greater than that of the Queen of Blades?"
Sizadin nods, as the Dominion soldier says a question.
"We can either continue arguing, and possibly fall, or we could stick together and have that situation sorted out." Raynor gives the soldier a choice.
He thinks for a minute or two before he sighed as he answered, "Alright then, I'll allow you and your troops to enter, but know this: If you ever intend to retaliate against us, we will finish what we've started."
Raynor nods, he kind of expected that many Dominion soldiers are still loyal to Emperor Mengsk before he, the raiders, Sizadin and Damian's and Jonathan's troops enter the facility.
At the infrastructure of the command centre, they enter the control room where the battle map is at the centre of the room. Once inside the Terrans and Sizadin are about to discuss what to do next.
Much of the Dominion was surprised to see the rebels and a Protoss in the facility, yet what they're more surprised about is that the Rebel Commander is also inside.
Looking at the battle map, Raynor and Sizadin did see the fortification of the outpost with missile turrets, bunkers filled with marines and ghosts, with wraiths and Vikings in positions.
In front of the Terran structures is one red exclamation point surrounded by a circle line. The Dominion begins to question: what are the criminal and the Protoss doing here? Why did the soldier bring them here? However, the alarm was sound, as the Dominion adjutant is saying: "Warning, unidentified psionic waveform approaching."
"The Adjutant needs some hotwiring, it should-"
Sizadin interrupts the soldier immediately, "If it was the Queen of Blades, it would take time like ten minutes to take out three battlecruisers."
"What are… Wait, you're saying that something or someone is stronger than her?!" the Dominion marine asked.
However, the 'unidentified psionic waveform' is getting closer to the outpost as the Terrans speak. Raynor whispers to Sizadin a question, "Do you know what it is?"
Sizadin nods, "The Cerebrate."
That name is something Jim Raynor wishes he would not want to hear, the Raiders also notice something is amiss, as the storm is getting louder.
Suddenly a loud bellowing roar echoed from the stormy clouds in front of view. A sound that is unnatural for any Zerg they've encountered. After a few seconds of waiting, the forces of the Dominion spotted a glimpse of a silhouette lit by the flash of lightning. It's large, larger than before they've ever seen a Zerg creature, flying at maximum speed. As it starts to emerge from the clouds, the colonel gets the men into positions, starting by warning them of the creature's arrival.
"Eyes up! The enemy approaches!"
Once emerged from the clouds, the creature's features have been revealed: it has a long tail with a spear-like tip, large beating wings, it's head has a pincer claw on the left and right side of its face, attached to its head is a shield-like carapace of an Ultralisk with a cobra-like hood underneath, claws on each arm, and its eyes glowing midnight blue dimly.
"Activate the missile turrets!" The Dominion missile turrets are online, locked and loaded. "Fire the rockets!"
The missiles eject from six slots of each turret, heading straight for the unknown creature, who in turn glows its eye very brightly to perform a counterattack.