Chapter One: Picking Up the Pieces

Augustgrad was in ruins.

The UED had crushed the center of the city after bypassing the main defense grid via airdrop. A grueling battle had been fought between them. And then, when that was done, it had been wrecked again by a zerg invasion. The only consolation had been that the Queen of the Zerg had mostly avoided civilian targets.

Mostly.

The palace itself was a burned-out, smashed ruin. You could see it, even from the starport. As Serena stepped off of it, she found a familiar face waiting. Jim Raynor looked tired, bitter, and angry. His hair had grown a bit longer, and his face was somewhat more careworn.

Serena didn't blame him.

She was lucky to look just fine. In fact, she'd gotten a reputation for being a sort of statue. Unaging and cold. Some called her an Ice Queen, but she found the implication of the name wrong. She was made of steel, notice.

"Jim," said Serena, wondering what to say.

Tassadar was dead. So were Fenix and Duke and a lot of other people she'd never known. Most of her family had been slaughtered on Tarsonis; the rest were hostages.

"Serena, you're here. Haven't seen you since Aiur," said Jim, trying to be polite.

"Yes, well, Mengsk recalled me after defeating Schezar and the Overmind," said Serena. "Officially, the glorious Dominion destroyed both single-handedly while fighting off the evil protoss."

"And unofficially?" asked Raynor.

"Oh, I defied a direct order to rescue a group of protoss. Then I cooperated with their regional government to destroy both," said Serena.

"Sounds a bit more reasonable," said Jim with a slight smile. "What does Arcturus have against the protoss anyway?"

"Nothing," said Serena. "They're just a convenient scapegoat to blame all his problems on. I think he's keeping them in reserve for when we beat the zerg."

"You're kidding me? At the rate things are going, we could all end up dead!" said Raynor.

"Well, Arcturus loves to be prepared," said Serena with a sigh.

They talked about other things as they came to the car that had been prepared. Serena told Raynor about the battles on Antiga Prime and Torus. Both were going well against the zerg overall. Antiga Prime had more or less been purged under her instructions. Meanwhile, Torus was still a battleground under Warfield.

It was once they were traveling by car through the shattered streets that Serena got serious. "I heard about Fenix, Raynor. Did any of his forces survive?"

"Some of them," said Jim. "Mengsk gave them leave to move through Dominion space to get back to Shakuras."

Serena looked out the window and examined what she saw there. People were desperately working to patch up shattered windows and repair walls—armed guards on every street corner. Mengsk seemed to have solved the problem of unemployment via a draft. Drafting people into the military. That and into factories to build weapons for the military.

"Why are you still working for Mengsk?" asked Raynor suddenly. "After what he did to your family? I mean, I sided with him, but only to stop the UED."

"Why did you decide to pick a fight with him during an alien invasion?" asked Serena.

Raynor sighed. "Fair enough."

"Also, what are you doing here?" asked Serena. "You hated Mengsk. Why not just let the UED blast him."

"Kerrigan convinced me he was a better alternative," said Raynor. "Guess I was trying to reach her still."

"And now?" asked Serena.

"Now?" asked Raynor. "Now, I hate Kerrigan more now.

"Fenix, Duke, Tassadar, so many others. All killed by the zerg. And we ain't got the troops to keep going like this. My boys have stuck around with training his new recruits for pay. Figure we can at least give the people here a fighting shot."

"So, Mengsk may be a cold-hearted bastard, but an entire colony shouldn't have to suffer for that?" asked Serena, it all seeming familiar. How things changed while staying the same.

"Yeah," said Raynor. "Not that Arcturus has been talking to anyone. He's been holed up inside his office, making long-distance calls for weeks. I think he's trying to get some help from his old allies. , most of them have got problems of their own and don't have a use for him.

"Finally, he asked me to meet with him alongside you."

"My guess," said Serena. "Is that Mengsk has lost the core of his true believers. Many of his remaining allies are opportunists. The Confederate Squadrons bailed on the Confederacy; now they are trying to bail on him."

"And why are you here?" asked Raynor.

"Oh, I'm here because he's taking my family hostage," said Serena. "He already murdered my cousin Morgan to prove a point. That's one of the reasons I came out of hiding to help him. And I'm not willing to sacrifice them and a lot of innocent people so one bad person can get what's coming to him.

"So once again, you and I have gotten an offer we can't refuse."

"Hmm, it's like a reunion of our old command staff," said Jim. "Only Duke is dead, and Kerrigan ain't here?"

"Well, I'm sure Kerrigan is here in spirit," said Serena.

Raynor actually laughed at that.

In the end, they didn't go to the palace. They went to a smaller building that was well-fortified and heavily armed. Entering it, they were led by guards, checked for weapons, and brought into a room with a round table. At the far end of the table, Arcturus Mengsk was sitting.

His beard was a bit grayer, and he had a similar stressed look to Jim. However, there was a sort of rage in his bearing. It was one that went far deeper than mere moral outrage. Even so, he hid it when he saw them, and Serena suspected they were not the target. "Jim, Commander Calabas, I'm glad you could both make it."

"Cut the crap, Arcturus," said Jim. "We both know you don't mean it."

So they weren't pretending to like eachother.

"Whether I mean it or not, we have a serious problem," said Arcturus. "The Queen of Blades has killed Duke and your friend Fenix. The sector is falling into chaos. And now the zerg are establishing a new hive cluster on Korhal."

"And you want us to help you?" asked Raynor. "Again."

"Well, you were quite vocal about wanting Kerrigan dead, Jim," said Arcturus. "I thought you'd jump at the chance to strike against her."

"And how do you propose to destroy a zerg hive cluster with the shattered remnants of your army?" asked Serena, curious. "Most of the fringe worlds are keeping their troops in reserve; they don't want to go fight on Korhal. Morale is at an all-time low; your heavy weapons are wrecked and broken.

"Many of your officers are dead. And a lot of the ones that remain wouldn't find watching you burn. Also, your defense grid is shattered.

"Worst of all, the general consensus among a lot of people is that you got what you deserved. I guess you've got some favors stored up, but if you call them in now, you'll never be an Emperor again. Just a puppet dancing on your kingmaker's strings."

It felt good to say it. Mengsk deserved to hear just how totally he'd screwed this up.

"An accurate summary of how bad my situation is, Serena," said Mengsk. "But, neither of you are doing particularly well either. Your personal forces have been greatly weakened; your protoss allies have abandoned you. And you have a severe lack of funds.

"It seems to me that all three of us have hit rock bottom.

"So, why not cooperate to get out?"

"And how do you plan to get rid of the zerg with a broken army and a demoralized nation?" asked Serena flatly.

"In that, we have an opportunity," said Mengsk. "I took the liberty of sending a team of ghosts to follow Kerrigan to Tarsonis and observe events there. I also tipped the UED off to the location of her hive clusters. You can imagine that the UED was only too eager to avenge the loss of his comrades.

"Even now, his troops are descending on Tarsonis. When they strike, Kerrigan will have to focus her pet celebrate on defending against them."

"Kaloth is pretty damn dangerous," said Raynor, who had met him. "Nice for a cerebrate, but he's not the kind of guy you want to mess with. It'll be a toss-up between him and the UED."

"Who wins is not relevant to us at the moment. What is relevant is the opportunity it presents," said Mengsk. Typical for his attitude, if it didn't affect him, it didn't exist. "While Kerrigan is busy fending off the UED slave broods, she will have no one to command here. Kerrigan has only one cerebrate, and he cannot be everywhere at once. If we move quickly, we can destroy the zerg on Korhal before Kerrigan has a chance to come after us.

"And we'll be one step closer to vengeance."

"Well, that sounds like as good a deal as any of us are going to get here, Jim," said Serena.

Jim's cooperation really wasn't in doubt. Revenge and protecting innocent people were one and the same right now. "Fine. But we're doing this for Fenix. Not you. Let's go, man."

The preparations took a long time, or what felt like a long time.

It was actually only a couple of days. Serena ended up calling up all the militias she could from Korhal. At the same time, comsat stations were set to work scanning the zerg fortifications. The signal was a bit erratic, thanks to being put together from salvage. But they managed to detect the contents of the enemy force.

Heavy sunken colonies, but static defenses could be overrun. There were also a number of lurkers, but proper maneuvering could draw them out. Other than that, hydralisks and zerglings. The real problem was that Arcturus' forces didn't have much other than marine suits of low quality. More were being produced, but the heavy factories had been wrecked.

Almost nothing was fully operational.

But, at last, the Dominion managed to scrounge up a fairly large army. Several fairly large ones, each one meant to attack a different hive cluster. Kerrigan seemed to have set up hive clusters near the major cities.

As to why Serena could only speculate, perhaps Kerrigan wanted to use the zerg to gain access to human forces. Forcing Mengsk to be a regional governor seemed like a humiliation she might try for. And she had mentioned wanting to rule the sector in the recordings.

"So what do we have to work with?" asked Serena when it came time to address the troops.

"I've called up as many of the regional militias as we can spare," said Arcturus. "We've put them around a core of the troops you brought back from Antiga Prime. Not the armada I would prefer, but it's the best we can do.

"They are not in a good mental state, and nothing I can say will reassure them.

"Raynor has agreed to assist us, but I've made no mention of the fact. I think you could use the revelation to boost their spirits a bit. It could get them ready to fight."

"How do you know I won't call for revolution?" asked Serena, curious.

"I trust you at least that far," said Mengsk. There was none of his confidence or charisma, he hardly spoke to anyone.

"Fair enough," said Serena. Then she looked out at the men assembled.

They'd been trained about as much as the men on Mar Sara. They were physically capable of doing it. But their faces... they weren't mentally fit. They were afraid, dispirited, and mentally broken from a string of nonstop defeats. Getting them here alone had been a triumph of the will on Mengsk's part.

"...No bravado is going to do the trick. Just coming here probably took a lot of mental effort," said Serena.

"You'll have to try, then," said Mengsk.

Then he went out onto the balcony and spoke, his voice carrying forth not just to this crowd but to several others. "Men of the Dominion, I realized we have all suffered grievously at the hands of the Queen of the Zerg. However, we must find the resolve to carry on. While we all mourn for General Duke, other officers may fill his place.

"No man in the Dominion is without another he may entrust to carry on his will.

"I give you, the hero of Antiga Prime, Serena Calabas."

Serena came forward and sensed how despirited they were. Some of them recognized her name, but we're cynical. Some wondered how much she was being paid and if she'd bail on them. Others speculated she might be planning a betrayal. But overall, they were hopeless.

"Soldiers of Korhal, of the Dominion..." said Serena, speaking proudly. "We've been having a pretty bad week." That got genuine laughter from them. The laughter shattered the hold of the despair, made it a bit more manageable. Now she could work at it. "Indeed, one could say that the Dominion has hit rock bottom. Our victories in the fringe worlds have only stopped us from total collapse. Many of those same worlds we helped are terrified of coming to help us now.

"When I talked to the government of Antiga Prime, they told me to my face that the Dominion was doomed. Then they offered me a job working for them.

"I turned it down to come here."

That got her some genuine credibility. Many of them had probably heard about the other worlds, and what she said checked out. But Serena could not have them focusing on her; they had to focus on themselves. "So, why are you here, in this place?"

The question confused her.

"Any one of you could have chosen to just not show up for this little call to arms. You could have stuck to your provinces and regions. You could have made some deals and told Emperor Mengsk to go to hell. Cut and run, and nobody would have thought less of you for it after this fiasco.

"So, why are you here?

"Maybe it's because you still believe in the Dominion. Maybe it's because you want to prove the Queen of the Zerg wrong when she declared you'd never rise again. Maybe you'd rather die fighting than live as the plaything to an infested dominatrix.

"It really doesn't matter, in the end.

"You have just saved the Dominion. You've won already."

This statement confused them.

"I'm quite serious," said Serena. "By showing up here, you have demonstrated that Emperor Arcturus has authority. If none of you had shown up here, it would be taken as proof that the Dominion was dead. A deplorable failed experiment by a raging narcissist. A deluded fool who got the sheep all worked up for a bit. Before all of them self-destructed in the face of their betters.

"So, if only for a short time, you have proven the Queen of the Zerg wrong. We're not dead yet."

They hadn't thought of things in that light before. It wasn't much, but they were thinking of it as a kind of victory. Now Serena had to get them to want more, to mobilize. "Now, I ask you, can you do it again?

"Because I already know what the Queen of the Zerg will say when she learns we gathered here;

"'How sad, they actually think a militia of fringe yokels can stand against the swarm. I guess I'll have to remind Arcturus to know his place.'"

Serena had watched the footage of Kerrigan's meetings with her command staff. Her gloating had been... informative. "That's all you are to her.

"An extension of someone she hates. Your lives, your families, and friends are an insignificant statistic. Everything you love and value is nothing more than trailer trash to be swept away in the name of progress.

"So, are you ready to prove her wrong?"

There was a scattered, murmured answer. Not loud enough.

"I can't hear you, marines," said Serena. "ARE YOU READY TO PROVE HER WRONG!"

"YES MA'AM!" came the reply.

Now they were motivated. Ready to fight and do the impossible or die trying. Now Serena had to give them a challenge. "Good. Then we can get down to business.

"Our situation is bad. But not unsalvageable. You see, the Queen of Blades does not regard you as any threat. So she has not left any of her higher strains here; they are mostly focused on fighting the UED. That means we have the opportunity to retake Korhal and deal them a major blow.

"If we win here, it will prove that the Dominion is not dead.

"Remember Duke.

"Remember Fenix.

"Remember everyone you have lost to the swarm.

"We will avenge them.

"You all have your orders; carry them out. And, by the way, I'm not asking you to fight for your nation. I'm asking you to die for it."

Cheers came from the men, raising their guns in salute as their faceplates closed on them. When they'd come in here, they'd been ragtag draftees hardly kept in place by knowledge of impending doom. Now, now they were an army.

A poorly trained army. But it is an army nonetheless.

It was after the speech when they began to make plans for the assaults. As they did, Arcturus looked at her. "...You always had a talent for motivated people who were on their last legs."

"It's a talent," said Serena.

"Why didn't you mention Raynor?" asked Mengsk.

"If I told them Raynor's Raiders were coming to support them, it wouldn't help," said Serena. "Maybe it would give them the confidence to fight this battle. But they'd just say it was because he was backing them up.

"They needed to decide to fight the zerg of their own volition. Because they chose to, not because Jim Raynor would be holding their hand. Also, not mentioning Jim Raynor gives me another opportunity to lift their spirits."

"I see your point," said Mengsk. "I'm going to go organize the supply lines and try to salvage what I can from the wreckage. We... we all have our duties."

"Excellent," said Serena. "Raynor should be arriving soon. I'll meet him."

As Serena went to meet Raynor's Raiders as they landed, she thought about all the attack plans that had been set up. Raynor's Raiders would be a huge asset as a solid core for the army. Even so, Serena found how strange how well she worked with Arcturus.

Perhaps she had become a thing of steel.

As though she were one of those Adjutants that existed to provide service.

And Serena further realized she did not hate Arcturus Mengsk. At all. It was a truly surreal experience for her. By all accounts, she had every reason to. He'd abused her trust, used her to destroy her homeworld. Many of her family had died because of him, many people she knew.

But then, the Confederacy was far from innocent. No one was.

And Arcturus Mengsk had already paid for his crimes. He'd seen the Empire he spent his life building shattered twice. Now he was reduced to relying on people who had every reason to loathe him. And he could only trust them because of blackmail.

Once, Mengsk had been great.

Now he was a pale shadow of what he'd been, and Serena found she pitied him. He'd already paid for his mistakes, and he'd spend the rest of his life paying for them. Adding further humiliation and pain was a waste of resources.

Either way, Raynor's Raiders arrived in force. They came marching in disciplined ranks with high-grade weaponry. Serena went to meet them and saw Raynor's marine suit was on him. "Raynor, where's your bike?"

The skull faceplate peeled back. "My bike got wrecked on Aiur. Last time I fight an infinite number of zerg to hold a warp gate.

"So, I'm walking with the marines."

Serena nodded. "Excellent. Go and reinforce the Dominion troops with your own."

"You got it," said Raynor.

Serena then went to her command center and opened a channel to the entire army. "Gentlemen, we have good news. Our armies are far stronger than we anticipated.

"Raynor's Raiders assisted us in taking back Korhal. With their assistance, we should find our job quite a bit easier."

Serena could feel the silent cheers. And she realized that the coming battle was a chance to save not just Korhal but the Dominion. "We're not out yet."

The refounding of the Dominion was about to begin.