Chapter 7

Raynor was standing on the burned earth of Aiur. Remnants of the battle, from grossly mutilated bodies to carapace fragments, were scattered everywhere. The battle there had been brutal. Raynor's raiders, alongside the main protoss force, had won it, but the casualties had been numerous. Raynor couldn't help feeling sorry for the friends and family of those who died on that day.

Raynor jumped in surprise, as Artanis and Zeratul were having an argument, with Artanis particularly angry, psionically yelling so loud at Zeratul that Raynor was sure that even Kerrigan could probably hear him. Seemingly, Zeratul didn't really approve Artanis' rise to power after the deaths of Aldaris and Fenix.

Lieutenant Kealer then approached Raynor, seeming not worried at all. He said,

"We showed those f#%#% $$holes who's boss here. Where do we go next?"

Raynor answered, "Don't know. By the way, what do you think about the strategy the zerg used?"

Kealer said, "Too spread out to be Kerrigan. She makes 'em fight in groups."

"I thought so as well." Kalis said, having just arrived. "Who do you think lead the assault if it wasn't Kerrigan?"

Raynor answered, "Probably a cerebrate. But that's not what worries me most. It's to think what Kerrigan was doing if she wasn't organizing her defense."

"Maybe", Kalis said, "she's out there preparing a major assault. We should stay on our guard."

Raynor said, "Ok then. Kalis, send some of our men to reinforce the protoss' defense perimeter."

"Alright." Kalis said. He then hurried off.

Kealer said, "Sir, by the way, if we're going after Kerrigan, we should send someone to investigate the weak spots of the main zerg base of Char. I propose sending some ghosts...."

"Too risky." Raynor said. "The zerg have an incredible ground defence. If the ghosts are spotted, and there's a good chance they will, they're dead. You're not to send anyone to Char or anywhere near it, understand?"

"Can I have a satcom done?"

"If you wish."

"Thank you, sir." Kealer said then left.

An hour later, Lieutenant Kealer headed towards Raynor happily. He was holding a piece of paper. Raynor then said:

"Heh, Kealer. Why are you in such a good mood?

Kealer answered, "Sir! I've had a satcom done on the zerg base. Here it is." He then handed Raynor the piece of paper he was holding. Raynor looked at it and Kealer said: "Look here, sir..." Kealer said, pointing at a small position at the south end of the base "...and you'll see there isn't any anti- air defence that can discover cloaked units. Cloaked wraiths could infiltrate there easily."

"But wraiths can't carry more than one unit. And after that weak point lies an entire anti-air arsenal, though there isn't a lot of anti-ground defense."

"If only our dropships could cloak, they could reach that weak point and unload a few units for them to continue going in the base."

"But our dropships are too big to install cloaking mechanisms on them. What if we'd use arbiters? They're a heck of a lot smaller and we could get more units there thanks to their recall abilities."

"Great idea, sir."

"I'll go ask Artanis if he can lend me some right now. You're dismissed."

Raynor then walked towards Artanis, who still seemed in a bad mood from his argument with Zeratul. Seeing Raynor, Artanis said, in a seemingly happy voice,

"En taro Adun, Raynor. Thank you for your great help. By the way, how is Arcturus Mengsk? I heard he has a broken back."

Raynor answered, "Damn right he has. A zerg spine came through the armor of his battlecruiser and basically broke his back in half. It's not his lucky day. He's in the hospital wing of our encampment. He should be fine, though."

"I am glad to hear that."

"Oh, by the way, I suppose you've heard about the current situation with Kerrigan and my troops."

"Yes. From what I heard, your medics created a treatment that could restore infested persons back to their older selves. And Kerrigan's going after you for that. Correct?"

"That's exactly it. Except right now, since it works with psionic energy, we do not have the resources to cure Kerrigan, who's probably one of the beings with the most resistance to psionic energy in the whole galaxy."

"You want to cure Kerrigan?"

"Yup. If we do, slaughtering the rest of those annoying zerg will be a lot easier, cause their leader won't be there to help. Anyway, I'd like to ask you two favors. First, can we count on you to give us access to all protoss technology if needed?"

"Yes. What else do you want?"

"Could you lend me a few arbiters, like two or three?"

"Arbiters? Of course. Can I ask you why?"

"They'll be a great help to extract Kerrigan from Char. That's all I'll tell you."

"Alright. I'll have them sent to you within an hour."

"Thanks, Artanis."

"You're welcome."

"Maybe this isn't going to be too long after all..." Raynor thought, heading back towards his encampment.

POV switch: back to Kerrigan

Four days later

Four days after becoming herself again, Kerrigan was starting to lose patience. She desperately wanted to leave, but every time she thought she was alone, a Hydralisk would be right behind her or a cerebrate would ask her for advice. She intentionnaly left a weak point at the south of her base, desperately hoping that Raynor would discover it, but up to date, it had been to no avail, as never did a terran or protoss force use that weakness to sneak in the base. She was walking around the hive since a few hours and she finally decided to take action.

"I've got to make it out of here, and it looks like I'll have to do so myself." She then cloaked herself and headed towards the weak point she had herself created.

"This is it." She thought to herself. "It's all or nothing..."