Chapter 10
The UED fleet arrived over Tarsonic, intent on wiping the planet clean of the zerg infestation. Since the UED's control over the overmind was still new, they were not yet able to make use of the overmind's broods to supplement their forces. However, the Psi Disruptor was the critical factor here, weakening Kerrigan's control over her zerg. The Psi Disruptor would prove far more effective than a slave brood, whose deployment would necessitate the Psi Disruptor's signal be directed elsewhere, as to not interfere with their control over the zerg.
The UED fleet was quite substantial, and Flash was aboard the command ship, ready to deal a knockout blow to Kerrigan. The UED forces began landing all around Tarsonis, with the largest group setting up their base near Kerrigan's fortress.
When the invasion began, Kerrigan marshalled her nearby forces to prepare to repel the assault. Despite Kerrigan still maintaining control over the Swarm, the Psi Disruptor was hampering her in other ways, beside the increased strain on her mind. With the communications between the zerg hampered, it was far more difficult to control faraway zerg. While Kerrigan was still able to control the zerg close to her effectively, it was much harder to manage her broods on the other side of the planet, and their reaction speed would be hampered.
This handicap was precisely what the UED was taking advantage of. Under Flash's management, the terran armies launched multiple hit and run raids against the hive clusters, picking away at the zerg forces. Kerrigan was forced to deal attacks on multiple fronts, and with the disruption caused by the Psi Disruptor, the zerg forces were unable to react in a timely manner toward the UED's harassment.
Sometimes, the zerg armies would arrive to a nearby hive cluster to destroy the terran forces assaulting it, only to find out the attackers have already left and now the other hive cluster which was undefended was now being attacked. Or, the reinforcements would be too late and would arrive to an already destroyed hive cluster. The zerg forces were being stretched thin in every direction and they were losing every engagement against the UED forces which were better led and organized.
As more and more hive clusters fell to the UED's assault, Kerrigan's frustration had reached its limit and she couldn't take it anymore. Taking her forces that had been guarding her fortress, Kerrigan led her army on the attack. She hoped to defeat the UED army besieging her primary hive cluster before leading her forces to defeat the rest of the attackers.
Not long after they went on the offensive, Kerrigan and her army came upon a small patrol group. The zerg pounced on the patrol group, with Kerrigan leading the attack personally as she vented her anger and frustration on the men in front of her. With an entire zerg army present, the patrol group didn't stand a chance and within minutes they were torn apart. Though their position was now exposed, Kerrigan led her army forward, intent on wiping out the UED attackers in a pitched battle.
Not long afterwards, a group of vultures struck at the side of Kerrigan's army, their grenades tearing through the zerg ranks. An enraged Kerrigan ordered her zerglings to pursue and surround the vulture group to tear them to shreds. Kerrigan watched in delight as the zerglings began catching up to the vultures. However, her hopes were soon dashed when numerous explosions occurred. The zerglings had ran into a field of spider mines which the vultures had prepared and the mines had devastated the zergling force. Then, the vultures turned around and wiped out the remnants of the zergings sent to pursue them.
Kerrigan seethed at the destruction of her forces, resolving not to fall into a trap again. There were a few more attempts at raiding the approaching zerg army, but careful control kept the zerg forces from taking significant damage. Scouting overlords made sure that the way ahead was clear of mines.
Finally, they arrived in front of a large UED encampment. The base was well guarded, fortified with bunkers, siege tanks, and missile turrets. However, the zerg army was vast, possessing many times the numbers. Kerrigan had her defilers cover the area with dark swarms, before sending in the ultralisks to assault the base.
The dark swarm obscured the vision of the area, and the UED forces were unable to accurately target the ultralisks. Though the tanks still managed to deal some damage because of the size of the explosions, the ultralisks were tough enough to survive the barrage. Once the ultralisks finally approached the bunkers, various spider mines activated. Several ultralisks which were in the front died from the multiple mine explosions, but there were yet more ultralisks behind them.
The ultralisk assault broke into the base, tearing down the bunkers and destroying the siege tanks. Once the base was opened up, the zerglings were sent in. The fast moving creatures tore through the scattered defenders inside the base. Kerrigan also entered once the defence was shattered, slaughtering any of the UED soldiers that came across her path.
Kerrigan smiled as she walked through the burning base, the screams of the defenders clearly audible as they died. She saw a small group of infantry ahead huddled together. As she came into view, the UED soldiers turned to face her, though they were quite terrified. The marines began shooting at her but she quickly dashed around, avoiding most of the bullets. A few struck glancing blows, but the shots were deflected off of her body's carapace.
The Queen of Blades dropped in from above, having climbed up a nearby structure. As she landed, her wings speared through a marine, tearing him in half. The rest of the marines turned around to face her, but she quickly moved onto her next target. A swipe from her claw tore apart the marine's face and then Kerrigan dashed forward, her wings tearing straight through a firebat.
The firebat's fuel tank exploded, bathing Kerrigan in flames. She walked out of the inferno, unperturbed while the remaining marines looked on in terror, as though they have seen a devil. After Kerrigan slaughtered the remaining resistance, the final marine turned and ran, but he was quickly dispatched by a wing to the back of his head. The medic, useless this entire fight as all of the marines had died instantly, sank to her knees in despair seeing the rest of her squad die. Then, Kerrigan finished her off by cutting her head off.
At this moment a goliath turned the corner, coming over to investigate the commotion. Upon seeing the gruesome scene in front of him, the pilot gasped in shock before turning his weapons toward Kerrigan. However, the Queen of Blades had already dashed toward the goliath, slipping right under it where the goliath's weapons couldn't reach. She tore a hole into the bottom of the goliath before climbing in. The pilot spun around in his seat, losing control of his bowels once he saw the frightening being in the cockpit with him. His eyes went back and forth trying to find an escape, but there was none. Then, his thoughts were quickly cut short when his head was severed from his neck.
As Kerrigan climbed out of the goliath, she examined the scene in front of her. The last of the defenders were being finished off, and the base was in flames. Kerrigan smirked in delight. Her thoughts were filled with her hopes of finally ripping apart these upstarts with her bare hands as she sent their invasion force packing. Once the remainder of the base's defenders were killed, she collected her zerg and set off once more, eager to kill off the rest of the UED attackers.
Up ahead was a long valley, and on the other end of it was the first place the UED had landed and set up a base. They had sent the bulk of their forces to besiege Kerrigan's fortress, and by shattering this force, she would be able to retake control of the planet. The terran commander had chosen a good location, Kerrigan thought to herself. It was a defensible location and there were many opportunities to place traps in the valley.
However, Kerrigan would not be so easily fooled by such tricks. She sent overlords to scout out the entrance of the valley. Only once they had made sure that there were no dangers did she finally lead her forces in.
As her forces went further into the valley, Kerrigan was vigilant in watching out for traps. Though she knew the situation was urgent as hive clusters were continuing to fall all around Tarsonis, she also knew that caution was of the utmost importance.
As they approached the end of the valley, the first signs of resistance were spotted. Tanks were positioned on the cliffs overlooking the exit to the valley and the ground below as filled with spider mines. Attempts to diffuse the mines with individual zerglings was ineffective as the tanks would kill the zerglings.
Kerrigan decided to finally make use of her air forces, sending in flocks of mutalisks and guardians to assail the tank positions. However, it seems that the UED commander had expected this, as the moment the mutalisks began moving, a fleet of valkyrie frigates flew in to intercept the mutalisks. In addition, science vessels soon followed, protecting the siege tanks with a defensive matrix. Then, the science vessels began irradiating the mutalisk flock, quickly decimating their numbers.
Kerrigan quickly pulled her forces back. After taking heavy losses, she knew that there would be no way to break through the defence. So, she gathered her forces and began the retreat. However, as the army reached the other end of the valley, they discovered that it was now fortified by UED forces that had seemingly come out of nowhere.
The cliffs were now filled with tanks, even more than the other side of the valley had. In addition to many spider mines, the entrance was also guarded by an army of ground forces. It seems that they were now trapped in the valley.
The zerg forces charged forward, desperate to break through and escape. The tanks began firing, decimating the zerg charge. The ultralisks made it through the tank fire but died to the spider mines. Dark swarm helped, but with the sheer volume of siege tank fire, there was simply too much damage being dealt. Even the few zerg units that had managed to get through the minefield were killed by the army waiting on the other side.
The valley was filled with a thick haze, the dark swarm obscuring all sight of what was going on underneath. The the tanks continued to fire, raining death on the passing zerg forces. However, unnoticed by the UED forces was a figure climbing up the side of the valley. The valkyries were on patrol for any flying units, so they didn't expect an attack on the tanks that were on the cliff.
Finally, Kerrigan revealed herself, leaping into the tank formation. At first, no one knew what was going on. The tanks continued to fire into the valley, not yet having noticed the threat in their midst. Then, tanks began exploding as Kerrigan ripped through them, tearing them apart with her wings and claws.
The tank regiment fell into total chaos as everyone looked around to find the attacker. Kerrigan was practically a blur as she danced among the tanks, killing them one by one. The tanks began to fire at Kerrigan, but the bulk of their attacks missed, dealing more damage to the other tanks than they did to Kerrigan. Though Kerrigan was hit by shrapnel from some tank shots which hit close by, her carapace was able to block the bulk of the damage. Even the injuries she sustained when being hit by a tank round directly regenerated without much issue.
With the tanks taken out of the fight, the zerg forces were able to charge forward without fear. The UED forces guarding the valley were taken by surprise by the zerg advance, and they soon began taking many casualties.
Flash looked upon the battlefield in annoyance. He hadn't expected Kerrigan to intervene at the end. With the situation deteriorating, he ordered his forces to withdraw. Still, the operation was a major success. Though some of the zerg forces had escaped, they had sustained massive casualties, and the zerg army was only a fraction of the size it once was. Meanwhile, operations on the rest of the planet were continuing to be successful.
Kerrigan was utterly infuriated. Her armies were shattered and there was no longer any hope of holding Tarsonis. Damn the UED and that Psi Disruptor! Kerrigan was pushed into a corner, and she knew it, though that fact greatly irritated her. There was only one thing that can be done. Kerrigan gathered up all of the zerg that were at her disposal, abandoning all of the hive clusters on the planet as the swarm gathered in her fortress.
Looking out over the approaching UED forces, Kerrigan made one final statement. "You may have won here, but I'll be back. And next time, there won't be a Psi Disruptor to save you. When I return, you best run for your lives, as once I catch you, you will all suffer a fate worse than death."
Finally, Kerrigan boarded an overlord along with as many of her forces as she could carry. The fleet lifted off, traveling away from Tarsonis. The forces that remained on the ground would hold back the UED for as long as they could.
As Kerrigan began leaving, the UED fleet moved to intercept. Swarms of mutalisks were thrown at the UED fleet, buying Kerrigan time. The Swarm fled, the rearguard sacrificing themselves for their queen. With a bitter feeling in her heart, Kerrigan departed Tarsonis.