Chapter Five: Assault on Scion

Next, we have Mojo.

Mojo was the other Praetor of Aiur. He was half the reason there was an alliance between the Dominion and Khalai. If he hadn't had a run in with Schezar we might have never gotten a chance to help fight the zerg on Aiur. I hate to think what might have happened then.

I hate to say it, but I don't have a very firm grasp on Mojo's character. I only met him a few times and he didn't wear his personality on his sleeve like some others. He was a professional, focusing on what needed to be done and going about it in the most efficient way. I do know that he was of a Judicator Caste family and so was protoss nobility in a way.

Although he did not inspire passions like Fenix or blind admiration by Aldaris he could be relied on to get the job done. And sometimes that is what you need more than any flowery speech.

Liberty's Report, volume IV.

It was the last bastion of protoss resistance in Scion. The streets of the city were packed with worker caste protoss. They were going about erecting defenses. Zealots patrolled the perimeter with dragoon escorts. Above them, a fleet of scouts landed beneath the morning light.

Artanis followed Aldaris to a meeting ground. There he came before a protoss dressed in the armor of a Praetor. He was smaller than Fenix, but that was to be expected. Artanis put his hand over his heart.

'Executor Artanis, this is Praetor Mojo.' said Aldaris.

'I have heard of your defeat of the terran Schezar.' said Artanis.

'And I of your victory over Kaloth.' said Mojo 'You are the first to have defeated him.'

'It could not have been done without the valor of all protoss.' said Artanis.

'Well spoken.' said Mojo.

At that moment a lithe female protoss of medium height approached. She was dressed in battle armor. Artanis was surprised and he sensed similar surprise from her. 'Selendis, I was not expecting you here.'

'I was assigned to hold the last of our settlements in Scion.' said Selendis 'Many of our brethren have fled to us for shelter after being driven from their homes. My hope is that they may return there when we have finished.'

'As is mine.' said Artanis.

'Our hopes for the future must wait. The now calls us.' said Aldaris. 'Our observers report that the hive clusters have poor air zerg have yet to face the true might of our fleet. To this end, Artanis will establish his forces on the cliffs above. When the zerg defenders are committed Mojo will move his scoutships in for the assault.'

'With your permission, Aldaris, I should like to bring my own scout to the fray.' said Artanis.

'To each their place, Artanis.' said Aldaris 'You and Selendis must keep the eye of the Overmind fixed on your forces. Only then can our strategy succeed.

'Go forth brave warriors of Aiur. And suffer no zerg to live.'

'Adun be with you.' said Mojo.

Then Mojo departed to his scout and his pilots with him. As one of the long golden vessels arose into the air. Their antigravity thrusters were humming. Artanis watched them fly off, then looked to Aldaris. 'Judicator do you believe that the Spear of Adun will really turn the tide?'

'It will stem it for a time.' said Aldaris 'But fear not. The Conclave has other plans in motion.'

'May I ask what they are?' asked Artanis.

Aldaris remained silent. 'You have read the records of the purifiers?'

'The defective machines? How could they be of help to us?' asked Artanis 'They turned on us and had to be sealed away.'

'Yes. It is my hope to create a leader for them.' said Aldaris 'One who could bind them to his will and draw their forces to the aid of those they were created to serve. As we speak preparations are being made.'

'A risky gamble.' said Artanis.

'Much must be risked in war.' said Aldaris.

Artanis turned his attention to setting up the defense of the city. It was a lengthy process, but many photon cannons were warped in to help stem any tide that might come. And many more troops were arriving from the Conclave even as they worked.

Even so, he sensed the zerg mustering beyond the borders of his sight. And their numbers were many. It would be a bloody fight.

Serena did not need this right now. She stood on the walls of Antioch looking out over the swampy fields. Looking up in the midday sun she saw her worst fears realized. She saw Karax approaching, bursting with enthusiasm and pride and she didn't like it at all. She'd had all she could take of protoss pride these past few days.

'Commander, I have received word from the Conclave.' said Karax 'They have granted me the authority to provide your engineers with schematics for some of our basic technology. In exchange for an explanation of yours. However, we will not reveal our more advanced weaponry.'

'Fair enough.' said Serena 'Emily could you take Karax here to the engineering bay? Tell them I want them to reveal everything they know about their weaponry.'

'Yes ma'am.' said Emily.

'I'll go as well.' said Liberty 'This kind of event really should have someone to document it.'

'Okay, have fun.' said Serena.

'My thanks commander.' said Karax. 'This generosity will not go unnoticed.'

'…What a bunch of saps.' said Tychus 'If they wanted to learn about terran tech they only need to salvage some machines. Tinker around a bit.'

'It takes time to learn a machine by trial and error.' said Serena 'And they don't have that. This way they can have it all explained to them at once.'

'Fair enough.' said Tychus 'How do you go about fooling mind readers anyway?'

'I was taught some techniques.' said Serena 'I'm a low level psychic so I know a thing or two about defending against mind reading.'

'Well, why couldn't he read my thoughts?' asked Tychus.

'He probably assumed that you were an idiot with no understanding of our technology.' said Serena 'Also I think protoss have a harder time reading other species minds.'

'Why?' asked Tychus.

'Well as far as I can tell they are constantly connected to every other member of their race.' said Serena 'They are already reading the minds of their whole species. As a result our thoughts probably get drowned out.'

'Right.' said Tychus.

'Mr. Findlay, why don't you find something useful to do?' asked Serena.

'Fine.' said Tychus 'I'll go check the defenses. Again.'

Finally, alone Serena looked over the newly made marshes. There would be a lot of work to do here once victory was theirs. If victory was theirs.

At that moment Fenix approached. 'Friend Calabas-'

'Don't call me friend Calabas, Fenix, it makes you sound like an idiot.' said Serena 'Friendship is by nature informal. It isn't a title that can be given to someone. You're either friends with someone and don't need to say it, or you aren't.'

'Very well.' said Fenix 'I have a question regarding your species.'

'Yes what is it?' asked Serena.

'From what I have learned the terran population sent to the Koprolu Sector was only a few million. Many of those died from starvation and the elements.' said Fenix.

'Yeah that's us terrans, dying like animals for centuries.' said Serena.

'This being the case, how is it possible that your species numbered more than twenty billion? I believe that was the estimate given by our observers?' asked Fenix 'Such growth in numbers would require each couple to have dozens of children.'

'Well that's because it wasn't just those three ships.' said Serena 'They were the vanguard, meant to establish the initial colonies. From there more colonists would arrive a few years later or a month at a time. The idea was to get rid of all the undesirables on earth. The UPL was practical like that.

'Anyway, the other fleets were programmed to follow the course laid out by the ATLAS system. When that went screwy they ended up heading for Koprolu.'

'Then it was not the only fleet.' realized Fenix.

'No. There were a whole bunch of fleets which arrived afterward.' said Serena 'The people who came on those arrived at an intact colony and were able to survive better. The end result was that we were several billion in number afterward.'

'Surely the UPL of Old Earth would have sent troops with you.' said Fenix.

'Well, that's the funny thing. Each fleet had a ship dedicated to carrying the troops and the officials who would rule the colony.' said Serena 'And every single fleet that arrived had that ship crash and blow up with no survivors.

'Call it a coincidence but I've never really bought it. As far as I can tell someone or something, went out of its way to sever the connection between us and Old Earth. Probably for the best.' Then she noticed that Fenix was looking out across the marshes with flaring eyes. He was radiating grimness.

'What is it?' asked Serena.

'Our observers are picking up zerg movement on the perimeter.' said Fenix 'I fear we may come under attack soon.'

'Right, I'll rouse my troops.' said Serena. 'We'll hold them.'

She hoped.

Within the cockpit of his scout, Mojo kept his mental connection with the rest of his flight close. On they went, flowing over verdant grasslands and great forests. Their scanners were picking up the zerg forces descending on Artanis' position. He prayed the young Executor could hold out.

'Praetor,' said a pilot 'we are approaching the eastern zerg hive.'

'All scouts prepare antimatter missiles and increase to attack speed.' said Mojo, practicing what he preached.

The forests sped by far faster now and soon he saw the ruins of an ancient protoss city rising up. Not long ago it had been great. Now everyone who once dwelled there had fled or been killed. And overhead he saw many small creatures lining it. So there was better air defense than expected.

'Be wary my brethren.' said Mojo 'The zerg have scourges. Prioritize them as a target. Once we've dealt with them we'll lure the mutalisks away from the city. We can then engage them where the zerg cannot use their ground defenses.'

'Are you sure they will pursue us, Praetor?' asked a pilot.

'I am.' said Mojo 'It is a rare zerg that does not rush to battle. We will exploit this.'

Soon they reached the scourges. The beasts rushed them at once. Mojo and his pilots unleashed their antimatter missiles. They landed amidst the scourges and exploded into a brilliant display of pyrotechnics. Almost all the scourges were destroyed, but one slipped through. Before it could be shot down it collided with one of the ships next to Mojo and exploded. The scout careened downwards and crashed amid the abandoned buildings. A moment later there was an explosion of blue flame.

Mojo felt a twinge of regret. One more brother dead. And on came the mutalisks in great numbers.

'The scourges are destroyed, withdraw at once.'

Swerving around in midair the ships retreated. Their engines outpaced the mutalisks by a wide margin. The mutalisks pursued and were soon beyond the reach of their spore colonies. At once Mojo turned around again and they clashed.

Antimatter missiles landed among the clumped mutalisks and killed many in seconds. But many more came on and hurled their spines at the scouts. Mojo felt several impacts on his shields, weakening them as he shot down a mutalisk.

A mass dogfight ensued and Mojo sensed several of his brethren fall. But those that did had a better chance of survival crashing down into the forests below. And the mutalisks that fell were far greater in number. He directed his craft to destroy two of them who were pursuing a failing scout.

Finally the last of the creatures were destroyed.

'Excellent work.' said Mojo 'With the mutalisks destroyed we will not move on to the main hive. Remember that if your shields begin to falter to are to withdraw to the rear of the formation.'

The scouts rushed onward toward the hive. They fell on the spore colonies which unleashed acid on them. But their shields were strong and the spore colonies were badly placed. Mojo and his brethren were able to gang up on them one at a time. Whenever one of them becomes too badly damaged he would draw back.

It was too easy.

'Incoming hydralisks.' said a pilot 'They must be sending reinforcements.'

'Destroy the spore colonies then worry about them.' said Mojo.

They finished the task quickly and went to meet the hydralisks. As it turned out the creatures had done a poor job of establishing their formation. They were easily destroyed piecemeal. Mojo did not even lose any of his forces.

He opened a channel to Judicator Aldaris. 'The spore colonies are destroyed, Judicator. We're moving in for the kill.'

'Excellent work Praetor. The main zerg offensive has been repulsed. However, we have received reinforcements from the Conclave.' said Aldaris 'I am dispatching them under the command of Selendis to destroy the western hive.'

'Should we not wait to consolidate our forces?' asked Mojo.

'Our expedition is a calculated risk.' said Aldaris 'If we fight here for long the zerg may launch another assault. Haste is our ally in this.'

'Very well.' said Mojo.

On the battle went. But there were no more upsets. A few scattered zerg hydralsisk arrived and had to be repulsed. For a few hours, they burned every structure and killed every drone they could find. And finally, as night was coming on they had purified the city of all the zerg within it.

'Judicator the hive is destroyed. ' said Mojo 'With your permission I will take my flight to assist in the destruction of the western hive.'

'Granted.' said Aldaris 'However you are unlikely to find much remaining.'

So ended the battle of Scion. Artanis felt a bit of disappointment that he hadn't been able to join in the air assault. However, he understood that Aldaris wished for Selendis to have her own chance at glory.

When the zerg had been utterly purged Judicator Aldaris opened a connection to the fleet. 'It is done. Scion has been purified. Well done all of you. You have brought great honor to the Templar caste on this day. In so doing allowed the people of this province to reclaim their homes.'

At that moment another presence made itself known. It was Fenix and his mind was filled with panic. Fenix never panicked. 'Executor! Antioch is under attack by overwhelming Zerg forces!'

'Praetor, you must hold your position for as long as possible.' said Aldaris 'Fight on, brave Fenix. And know that the gods watch over you.

'En Taro Adun!'

'Mojo return your ships back to Antioch to assist.' said Aldaris 'Artanis draw back your forces to Antioch at once. Selendis you will remain behind with a garrison and guard against any more assaults.'

'What of the offensive?' asked Selendis.

'It will have to wait. If Antioch falls the Heart of the Conclave will be left exposed.' said Aldaris 'Fenix must hold or our entire strategy will fail.'

Artanis had a horrible feeling that the fate of Aiur might be determined today. And he wouldn't even be there to see it.

Authors Note:

And plot hole filled in today is the terran population of the Koprolu Sector. The idea that they somehow went from a few million to twenty billion is ludicrous. It needs some explaining.

See {I think} Raynor says that Kerrigan killed eight billion people. Other statistics say that the terran population at the time of Starcraft II is twelve billion. So how do we account for this?

In several ways. First I'm going to assume that Kerrigan didn't really kill eight billion people. Raynor was instead giving the zergs kill count as a whole to Kerrigan. This being the case Tarsonis represents a large part of the calculation. Second I'm going to assume that he was including protoss in his estimations of people killed. That being the case Aiur also represents a large chunk of those dead.

Based on this we can assume that the worst casualties of the great war took place on Tarsonis and Aiur. This also makes Kerrigan getting off scot-free somewhat less of a wall-banger. At least this way she was less destructive than the Overmind. And mostly went after military targets.

Of course, that just makes her even worse in Heart of the Swarm.