Welcome back my public; I now continue to write after a holiday of writing. Just for a point of reference to those who seek to flame, Jim Raynor didn't just take military people with him, he also took civilians who did not feel the need to be ruled by Mengsk. By the way, this chapter will contain my idea of Xel Naga.
Disclaimer: I do not own starcraft or any of its concepts. All I own is Khaled and other things I made up.
A week after we left the scene of our last Zerg encounter, our navigators announced that a planet had been found in a quiet corner of the galaxy, less than a day away. As we approached the planet, I headed through the command centre towards my room. As I passed Bens door, I realised that he had not left his room since we had launched off from Kosmor 3. I pressed a button at the side of the door to open it, but Ben had locked it from the inside. I called in to the room to tell Ben that I was coming in, and then used my vast mental capacities to spring the lock open. The door immediately sprang open.
I looked around as I stepped in, and quickly saw Ben. However, he looked different from when I last saw him. Not different as in like an infested Terran, but enough for it to be obvious. He was about an inch taller, and his eyes were slightly larger and keener. His skin seemed slightly transparent. All these changes were minor, but what really got my attention was that the mental emissions, that all living things emit, had changed dramatically.
"What's up with you?" I asked suspiciously.
"I don't know. I must be having an allergic reaction the ultralisk blood that splattered all over me a week ago." he replied
"Speaking of that, why did you fell the need to attack the toughest Zerg around with nothing but a sword?"
"No reason" said Ben nervously.
"And whats even more stupid is the fact that even re-enforce titanium alloy will shatter on the hide of an ultralisk, but your weapon seems to be unscathed!"
"I don't know, I swear!" replied Ben.
"Well, I think I'll just check a more reliable source" I stated, then flew into his mind.
As I pushed my mental self into Bens mind, I took more notice of the changes to his mind-frame. When we first met, it was a confused and unstructured wreck. Now it was ordered, controlled, and above all, aware. It was clear that now, every action I did in here would be well known by him. Ignoring this fact, I moved through to view what was going through his head as he fought the ultralisk. However, just as I was about to access the memory, a mental current drove me back through his life towards his early days.
When I managed to break free of the current, I was looking at a memory of when he was six, though mentally, he was almost as old as in real time. His parents had recently been killed by a confederate raid on his house, and he had heard that they would be sending experimental soldiers called ghosts. He looked around for any people, but the coast was clear, so he ran across the street towards an abandoned house. Just as he was about to reach it, however, he ran into something invisible. He was then picked up by his collar by this invisible person, whom he realised must be one of the ghosts he had heard about. An invisible gun was pointed to his head, and he prepared himself for death. Suddenly, everything froze. The sky went dark, and a mysterious Voice called Ben's name.
"Who's there?" he asked nervously, as the voice seemed to come from everywhere.
"My name is not important," replied the Voice. "I will make you an offer. Either come with me, and bind yourself to an unbreakable oath of service, or be left to the hands of the being who is in possession of you."
"Are you saying you sent it to catch me?" asked Ben.
"No, I merely offer you a chance to escape." Replied the Voice. "Anyway, will you agree to my terms?"
"Yeah, ok." Said Ben. When he said this, time continued from the point. There was a flash from the air, then a suddenly visible hand let go of him. When Ben picked himself up, he saw 2 halves of a man, between which stood a sword that could clearly slice through re-enforced steel with the same effort as butter. As Ben touched the sword, its physical shape changed to that of the one I saw used on an Ultralisk. Reality then started bending, in the Voice spoke, saying, "do not be alarmed, I am just taking you to my plane of existence." When reality hardened again, it then said, "I am now going to transform your Physical self into something stronger and better, you shall feel odd for a moment, but that will pass."
"Are you sure?" asked Ben. "I mean, wouldn't changing my shape change my personality?"
"No, your mind shall remain the same, only quicker to react to circumstances." With that, Ben's body began to change shape, when stabilised, I recognised it as a younger, but more fully formed, version of what I saw Ben to be at the start.
"Just a question," said Ben, "Who and what are you? And what is it you want with me?"
"My name is private," answered the Voice, "as is the name of my species. However, others in the universe call us the Xel Naga. As to you, I have saved you life so as to have someone capable of fixing up a mistake made by us"
"What mistake?"
"Well, a long time ago, someone carelessly discarded a set of Genes. When we came back to view the Protoss we had worked so hard on, they were losing thousands of their number to this bundle of genes, called Zerg. That's where you come in."
"Ah, ok. So where do I start?"
First you must be trained, then I shall give you some jobs to do."
I skimmed through several years of training with a blade sharp enough to slice the strongest substance easily, and senses so refined that guns never miss, sneaking is impossible and the slightest pressure recognised, as well as a mind so concentrated, he could tell whatever anyone who entered his head was doing. I also flashed through visions of assassinating everything from infested terrans, disguised as normal people, to political tyrants who's plans would be a benefit to the Zerg, if they came through to success. Then, I came to one that was very important. He had been given the mission of assassinating Arcturus Mengsk before he could give the order to sent one of the greatest potential minds into the clutches of the Zerg. Ben crept through the compound, almost completely undetectable due to an almost complete lack of life signs. After a large search, he identified the room that all of Mengsk's orders were coming from. He knocked out the guards stationed around the door, then slashed it open with a single blow of his sword. However, as he slashed the area in the dark room that was supposed to hold Arcturus Mensk, he realised that the room was a decoy, placed to halt all attacks made like this one. By the time he could identify the area that the true signals were coming from, the orders had already been given to leave Sarah Kerrigan to the mercy of the Overmind. He hung his head in disappointment, then was teleported to the 7th dimension, where the Xel Naga was deeply disappointed.
"Your failure to stop Kerrigan's descent is going to be the greatest blunder in the history of the universe." It said. "Due to this, I will send you back to live in Terran society, returned to a normal human, until such a time that you can redeem your mistake."
Several confused memories flashed by of living as a civilian, watching in dread as the Queen of Blades destroyed planet after planet of humanity. Then, it came to the part where he met me. I saw thoughts that had been voiced then opened onto the scene of our most recent battle with Zerg. At that point, his senses had drastically improved, giving him the realisation that he would soon go back to the way he was. He had done his bit in the battle, then locked himself away as to avoid discovery of his true form. Knowing the rest, I exited to the solid dimension.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that Ben had come right up close to me.
"Can you promise not to tell anyone what you know?" he asked
"Sure!" I replied. "I'll even create an illusion so that you can enter society"
Ben was about to reply, when a message come over the loudspeaker
"Attention all personnel." it said. "It is now safe to come out of the command Centre. Accommodation had been made for civilians, and all high ranked military is to come to assist with the LTCS (long-term-com-stat)"
"Do we count as high ranked?" asked Ben
"Probably." I replied. "Anyway, they would need someone to help maintain the LTCS, and I have better knowledge then the best SCVs."
After forming an illusion over Ben, we exited the primary command centre, and headed over to where the LTCS was placed. We arrived, just as it was turned on. At first, I thought something was wrong, as I couldn't see the Zerg. Then I realised that they had been moving. When I located them, I found them in an area that used to belong to the Terran Empire. Not only that, but they were fastly moving to remove the rest of it. As they destroyed a planet per second, I began to feel a rage that had not been experienced since I first realised my mental capacities. The more billions of people that died, the greater my rage became. As the last lonely outpost collapsed, I lost control. The last thing I heard before all blanked out was Ben enquiring as to if I was ok or not.