Chapter 5: Protoss and Terran Unite!

Large clumps of snowflakes fell from the gray sky, adding to the snow in the settlement. The probes did not care. They continued to gather minerals and take them to the nexus, providing new material for future ships and armors.

An object with a white, lumpy top and a brown, pointy underside landed in the mineral line. Three probes stopped mining and stared at the "intruder". Emitting high-pitched growls, they approached the object and then zapped it at the same time, turning it into ashes.

Before the probes could resume mining, another object like the previous one landed in the mineral line. This time four probes attacked and removed it.

Three more such objects landed, causing the entire probe group to attack them.

"Come on, Brian, stop distracting the probes!" a marine said.

"But they're so hilarious when they fry the popcorn ..." Brian told him while throwing three more popcorn kernels into the mineral line.

"They're gonna zap us if they figure out who's throwing the stuff."

"Chill, Nathan, they're too slow to catch up to us. Hey, I wonder what would happen if they'd meet Smiley."

"He's an older model. They might see him as an intruder."

"Let's find out!" Brian said before running toward the Frigate.

Nathan shook his head. "Tsk, tsk ..."

"So, what's a spectre?" Tyrell asked while sitting at a table in the Frigate's cafeteria alongside Lin. Without his marauder armor on, he was a dark-sinned, burly man with stubble on his chin. His right hand had only the thumb, along with the middle and ring fingers while his left one had only the index and pinkie.

"A spectre is a ghost with enhanced psionic powers and better equipment," Lin said. "Moebius Foundation's scientists put us in containers and gave us terrazine, a purple gas that smells like copper. It … also makes ghosts recover memories that were locked up by the Dominion's Ghost Academy. I was transferred along with five other ghosts to Moebius Corps in exchange for one guy that the Moebius Foundation grew in a vat. Moebius Corps attempted to turn him into a ghost due to his somewhat high PI score, but he became extremely violent. They were glad to trade him in for us, even if we only scored between 5 and 6.5 on the PI scale."

"Heh, they're just as bad as the Dominion itself," Tyrell said, then looked at the three hamburgers on a plate on the table. One of them was half-eaten.

"They are part of the Dominion. Mengsk's son, Crown Prince Valerian, owns the Moebius Foundation."

"So this Valerian guy is your boss."

"Well, he wasn't directly leading the Foundation. Dr. Emil Narud is in charge of the inhumane experiments, the security, and the paramilitary unit. But ever since we've landed on this planet, he has stopped communicating with us, and someone else took his place. Someone with a strange voice. That someone has convinced everyone that he is our new boss, and that we will ascend once we die for his master. I have never seen him directly, but he has shown me what he calls 'glimpses of the future'. In those glimpses, everyone who opposed his master's will were erased from existence, while we stood by the master's side. I … don't really remember what the master looked like, but he was gigantic for sure."

Tyrell frowned. "Are you sure you weren't hallucinating due to the terrazine?"

"I don't know," she said, looking at her yet untouched cup of coffee. "But it is strange how so many of us have heard the same voice and were told of the same master."

The marauder finished his coffee, then said, "Baby, y'all have been brainwashed."

She sighed while resting her cheek on her left fist. "Sure seems like it."

At another table, Garf comforted Khar by hugging her and mentally sharing his feelings with her. From time to time, she would put her fingers in a cup of warm tea. She could not taste it, since she lacked that sense and a mouth, but she could absorb the water from the tea and enjoy the warmth.

More men and women sat at other tables in the cafeteria, eating or drinking and discussing about hot topics regarding the protoss they've just met. One such topic was about how protoss reproduce and how a human would be able to "get it on" with such an alien since protoss had no known orifices. Those kind of discussions annoyed Garf.

Tony sat at the counter, along with the other four men of his tank crew. "I wonder where Makatai went. I wanted to give him a few tips on leadership," he said.

"Who knows," a blond tanker said. "Probably was ashamed of his failure to protect the village."

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but then heard the sharp screeching of an annoyed robot. He looked around and saw Brian carry a yellow probe.

Its fins were longer than those of the probes of the Nerazim, and had blue tips. The probe also had two big green eyes and two smaller ones on top. Each of the smaller eyes had one even smaller blue eye above it and another toward the center of the probe's face. A blue line on the probe's bottom side of the face made it look as if it were smiling. On its back, it wore a sedge hat.

"Hey, Brian!" Tony said, "What are you doing to Smiley? You know he hates being picked up."

"I'm helping him make some friends," Brian said.

Tony stared in confusion as the marine left with the probe. "What?"

Frank tried to sneak back to his cyclone once again. It was there, in the forest, damaged but likely still able to move. He jumped into the seat and prepared to lift the vehicle's front so he could seal himself in and start the engine. Before he could push the button, he saw a hovering vehicle with sharp edges drive around his cyclone. "A diamondback? I thought they were all trashed when the Dominion was done with them."

"Stay right there!" the diamondback's pilot said. He wore a black helmet with lilac glowing lines on its ridges. A dark visor extended from the helmet over the pilot's eyes. Most of his face was covered by a three-hole balaclava. He had no arms, but his helmet allowed him to control the vehicle with his mind.

Frank scowled. "Great. Just great. I was about to get away, and then this guy decides to wander aimlessly through the forest and finds me."

"Not all who wander are lost," the diamondback pilot said, looking around. "Some of us are drunk."

"For fuck's sake … What do you want from me?"

"Hold your position and do not touch anything! I'm gonna call a medivac to pic us up."

Frank gritted his teeth. "Damn it!"

"Diamondback Connor Veis here! Requesting a medivac to pick up me and this … uh … hey, man, what's that thing you got there called?"

"It's a customized cyclone that can be piloted by a human."

"He says it's a cyclone," Connor said. "Come pick us up."

Frank sighed. If it weren't for that fool, he'd be out of there already.

Connor grinned at him. "Hey! Hey, cyclone! Hey!"

"What do you want now?"

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Frank."

Brian put Smiley next to the mineral line and pushed the robot toward the other probes, who stopped mining and looked at the unusual visitor.

"Yawa?" one probe said.

"Nyaaa!" Smiley told it.

The other probe nodded. "Yayayayaya!"

They all gathered around Smiley to inspect him, and then invited him to mine with them and take the crystals to the nexus.

"They seem to have accepted him pretty fast," Brian said to Nathan.

"Good," Nathan said. "Otherwise he'd be dead the moment they've surrounded him. I've seen some probes do that to a buddy of mine. Poor guy ... He never stood a chance."

The Lady in Black walked past the two marines. "Has any of you seen the prelate?"

"Uh, no," Brian said. "He just kinda disappeared after the attack on the village."

Smiley left the mineral line, shook his sedge hat off, then picked it up. He went next to the Lady in Black and put the hat at her feet.

She took a few steps toward Nathan and said, "If you see him, please tell him to order some cannons to be placed near the temple. I will go speak with your leader."

Smiley came up to her and put the hat at her feet once more. She took one look at him and then left. The probe picked up the hat and followed her.

"I think we should just get out of here before more of those Moebius Corps guys attack us," the blond tanker said to Tony.

"While that sounds like a good idea, I think there might be something good for us in this war."

"Tony, you're crazy," a tanker with brown hair and mustache said. "This isn't our war."

"I know, dude. But if they're all brainwashed like Lin was, we might be able to save some of 'em and get 'em on our side. If we wanna colonize a planet, we'll need as many people as we can get, and we better have a considerable army to guard our people."

The Lady in Black arrived in the cafeteria and overheard the discussion between Tony and the tankers. "If you want to save some of those terrans, take this." She threw him the plastic pill bottle with the jorium capsules. "You will need to give them a certain amount of capsules, depending on their symptoms. If you can reason with them, no capsule is needed. If they act confused and keep wanting to go against you, two capsules are needed. If they say stuff such as 'Glory to the master!' or mention anything about a master or death being freedom, or if they start hissing and screaming at you, give them four capsules. If they have red or purple glowing eyes or start levitating, put them to death."

Smiley came after her and put the hat at her feet again.

"Okay ..." Tony said, looking at the pill bottle.

"I am going to the mountains to search for the prelate," she said. "We need him here before those terrans attack again." Her body glowed bright green, and then she blinked out of sight.

Smiley took the hat and left the cafeteria.

The blizzard made the forest's trees bend in the direction of the strong wind. This made it difficult for the Moebius Corps' fleet to fly toward the settlement.

"Why did this snowstorm have to start now?" a young woman piloting one of the banshees asked. "It may compromise our mission."

"A good pilot flies through any weather, Clara," the viking pilot with the grainy voice said.

One of the battlecruiser captains with a white mustache butted into the conversation. "I have an announcement to make. I am drunk."

The banshee pilot rolled her eyes. "This just keeps getting better and better ..."

A female stalker walked through the village, gathering the other stalkers. She found all but one. "Where is Gorgas?"

One of the male stalkers said, "He has been put in prison for breaking into Khar's bedroom three times despite the restraining order."

Indeed, Gorgas was inside a cell in prison, behind a force field, frowning. "Cold is the void ..."

Taking shelter in a cave during the blizzard, Makatai sat on a rock and pondered his situation. He wasn't the leader everyone expected him to be. He was not his father. The settlement's people will just have to choose a new leader, one much stronger than him. The Lady in Black might finally stop pressuring him into being a prelate. She would be a wiser, stronger leader than he could ever be.

Water dripped from the cave's stalactites, the droplets landing into a lake next to the prelate. The cave had become his secret place of meditation ever since he had turned 30. Now at the middle of his first century of life, he came here not just to meditate, but to think of his future.

He knew that the tribe's members would be furious once they would find out that their prelate had abandoned them. Makatai might no longer be welcome in the settlement after that, so he would have to live like a nomad. Journeying could be interesting, and he knew that many Nerazim split off from their tribes to choose their own paths in life. He had lost his four friends in the failed ambush, and then his father died too. The only living people he could consider friends were the two dark archons – who were once Alys'tor's four friends before merging – and the Lady in Black – the mysterious female protoss who appeared out of nowhere on the void ray in which he and his father traveled two years ago. However, even they would probably want nothing more to do with him after what he had done.

"It's not too late to come back, you know."

That voice. He recognized it immediately. "Lady, even Khor'kai can see that I am not a good leader. I have abandoned my people while the war is still ongoing. What right do I have that allows me to return to the settlement now?"

"The right to become a better leader," the Lady in Black said. "Sure, they will be disappointed in you for leaving like that, but we can't hold grudges while those terrans threaten to attack the settlement."

"But what can I instruct my people to do? Those savages are tearing through our forces with ease."

"Well, look at what we have on our side, and then think of how we can use that to our advantage."

Makatai thought of all the ships and ground troops of his settlement. The two dark archons stood out from the rest because of their ability to permanently control the minds of others. "If we can mind control the enemy's strongest warriors, we could turn them against their own kind. They will fear us for it."

The Lady in Black scowled. "Have you forgotten what your father asked of the dark archons?"

"My father may have been wise most of the time, but he is wrong about mind control. With it, at least we can get some use out of the members we remove from the enemy's army."

"Makatai, your father realized something about the enemy we are facing. He had a good reason to ban the use of mind control. It turns out that those terrans are already being influenced by something sinister."

"Why should that matter? We do not have dark archons for nothing!"

The Lady in Black's eyes started to glow bright green while Makatai's body became paralyzed and started to levitate.

Makatai wanted to scream, to struggle, to be released from the invisible grip, but he was unable to take control of his body. He was locked inside it.

"How does it feel, Prelate?" Lady asked. "Your body is my puppet. Your mind is silent to the world. You have no choice. This is exactly what some of those terrans are going through right now. Their consciences are clawing at their minds, yet the terrans will continue to follow their master's instructions until they become nothing but thralls in the eyes of the world, and tortured souls inside themselves. Do you understand now why your father did not want to let the dark archons use mind control on those terrans?"

The young prelate wanted to say yes, but his own brain refused to allow his thoughts to exit.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot hear what you're thinking. Nobody can. I could keep you as my thrall forever, and maybe turn you into the leader your people need, but I never was into this whole mind control thing." She smiled at him through her eyes. "Besides, it would be more interesting if you'd manage to become a good leader by yourself."

Makatai was given back control over his body, and then found himself dropped into the lake. He swam back to the surface and got out of the water, shaking to get most of the drops off. "I shall think of some other way to deal with the transgressors then."

"Hey! Hey, Frank! Hey! Hey!" Connor kept trying to get Frank to react, but the cyclone pilot just slouched over the counter in the cafeteria. He got closer. "Hey, Frank! Hey! Hey! He-he-hey!"

"Will you quit doing that?" Frank said, pushing him away.

"Hey, wanna have a drinking contest with me?"

"No, go away!"

"C'mon! Drinking contests are fun!"

"No, they're not! They just get you shitfaced!"

"Scared that I'll beat you at it, Frank?"

The cyclone pilot sighed. "Fuck this shit …" He pointed at Connor. "Alright! You're on!"

Khor'kai entered the cafeteria while carrying three naked protoss newborns in his arms. "Khar! Look! Your brothers and sister have hatched!"

"Oh!" Khar said. "I thought they were going to hatch two or three days later. This is so unexpected … I am sorry that I missed your hatching, siblings."

The three hatchlings looked at her with their wide, green eyes full of curiosity. One of them looked at Garf and tried to reach for him with a little hand. It had short claws.

Garf didn't mind, so he gently grabbed the little hand with his thumb and index finger and shook it while smiling.

"He will be your brother-in-law, Garf," Khar said.

Khor'kai scowled at that reminder, but tried to avoid making a rude comment regarding the stubborn terran.

Khar closed her eyes. "If only Mother were here to see them ..."

Tony sat alone at the side of the counter opposite to where Frank and Connor started their drinking contest. He turned around to look at the protoss babies. He had never seen any before. They were similar to human newborns, except that they didn't have mouths, noses, and ears, and they were already born with what might count as long hair – the nerve cords. Their skins were lilac, a trait that seemed to be passed down in their family.

"I think Smiley's broken," Brian said after bringing the probe in. He made sure to carry its hat too.

The robot kept making whining sounds while its two big eyes' lenses were slanted downwards.

"I think that's called being sad," Tony said. "What happened? Did the other probes reject him?"

"Nah, they were fine with him. I don't know why he's acting like this all of a sudden."

"Well, take him back to his basket. He'll probably feel better later."

"He's a robot, Tony. They either work or break down."

"We'll get Magellan to check him later. Now he has his hands full."

The battlecruisers, vikings, and banshees were closing in on the settlement. As bad as the snowstorm was, it helped them hide their presence from the Nerazim and other terrans. The master was guiding them toward the enemy. Everyone's suffering would come to an end soon. Very soon. The master promised.

Makatai stared at his reflection in the lake's water. He could see his prelate attire thanks to the green light generated by a … fire? How did Lady manage to make a fire in the middle of a cave, without using any wood or other materials? That didn't matter that much to him. What did matter was that his people were still expecting orders from him, and he had not informed them of his leave. He could contact them through his psi link, but it would be a cowardly thing to do. Returning to face his people again would be the right course of action.

The Lady in Black stared blankly as her antennae were raised. She stood like that for a few seconds before lowering the extensions. "Prelate, we must return to the settlement at once. The terrans are launching a new attack. They will be there soon."

"I have taken everything into consideration. I know now what I must do. I shall return to my people, and we shall do everything we can to end this war with as little bloodshed as possible."

"That's the spirit!" she said.

Makatai stared at her with his eyebrows raised. "What does that mean?"

"Never mind. Let's go, Prelate."

Tony and Brian ate steaks at the counter while Frank and Connor were drunk and singing Terran Up the Night together.

"Looks like they've warmed up to each other pretty fast," Tony said while pointing at the cyclone and diamondback pilots with his thumb.

Brian chuckled. "Well, Connor finally got himself a drinking buddy."

An explosion shook the Frigate's walls, prompting the people inside the cafeteria to stand up.

"Hey, boss," the wraith pilot said over the station. "We have six carriers at our doorstep, and they don't look friendly, judging by the Yamato cannon blasts they've shot at the Frigate. Oh, and they have six vikings hiding behind them."

"Battlecruisers?!" Tony said, his eyes going wide.

"Yep. They're all over me."

"Damn it! Attention Frigate gunners! Bring out the side cannons and fire at the cruisers!"

Three cannons came out of the left side of the Frigate, from the blue area just above the text. They were fired simultaneously, and the shots exploded, dealing severe damage to all six battlecruisers.

"Attention, enemy battlecruisers! Those were warning shots. Do not approach or fire at our people or the protoss, otherwise I will be forced to order another round of shots. Trust me, you don't have enough armor to take them."

While two of the battlecruiser captains chose to tell Tony to die and called him a pitiful creature, the captain with the white mustache said, "The master has promised good vodka for this. Doesn't matter if I kill you or I die."

Tony saw an opportunity there. "Dude, we got good vodka for you. You don't even have to fight for it."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, just stop shooting at us, land that cruiser somewhere, and join us. We got a freakin' cafeteria-bar over here!"

The other five battlecruisers turned against the drunk captain's ship and shot it without hesitation, killing him and its crew. Pieces of debris fell between the trees.

"This ain't good," Tony said to Brian while looking at a screen in the cafeteria. It showed video footage of what just happened outside. "They're taking down their own members at the slightest sign of interest in switching sides."

"Die, you pathetic creatures!" a woman with purple glowing eyes said, her image appearing in the bottom right corner of the screen as transmission incoming from one of the battlecruisers.

"Die, die, die!" a young man with similar eyes said, his image replacing the woman's.

Three other men hissed as their faces were displayed next. The same strange eyes they had were a clear sign that they were already too far gone.

Tony frowned. "Oh, boy. I hoped to never again be responsible for the death of people who are being mind controlled. But here I am, having to make the same harsh decision."

Brian put his left hand over Tony's right shoulder. "I know you hate this, man. It would be great if we could save those poor chumps, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do."

"I guess this is one way of saving them," Tony said. "Since there's no other way … Attention Frigate gunners! Fire at the battlecruisers! They're already doomed."

The cannons fired, and the battlecruisers were hit, exploding and crashing over the forest.

"Well, now there's enough metal for the 'toss to use," Brian said, "if they'll ever need it."

Tony looked at the screen, seeing what remained of the enemy's fleet. "It's time to deal with the vikings."

The wraith and valkyrie kept the vikings away from the Frigate, but they did not know that five of the six cloaked banshees dropped spectre agents at the edge of the Frigate's detection range. The five spectres used their rifles' lasers to paint the targets for the nukes. Five blinking red dots appeared close to the Frigate.

"Boss, you might want to get rid of those ghosts before they nuke our ship into oblivion," the wraith pilot said.

"I've an id'a!" Garf said before he left the cafeteria.

Raven rested inside the science vessel. He was painted blue, and instead of the Moebius Foundation symbol – which looked similar to the atom symbol but with its two side hoops raised a little higher – he now sported an emblem of a ship's steering wheel on each wing's root. His moment of peace and quiet was over the moment he saw Garf enter the room. "Why are you here, UED scum?"

Garf went to a computer near Magellan, opened a word processor application, and then proceeded to type.

"He says he wants to pilot you," Magellan said after reading what Garf wrote.

"Access denied. I do not want to end up inside a frozen lake again."

"He says your detection ability and your turrets would be useful against the spectres that are trying to nuke us."

The five nukes landed and shook the frigate.

"Uooooh!" Garf yelled. He typed something again.

"He says, 'Please, Raven! They're nuking us all! Magellan can pick you out of the lake anyway, if I don't keep my word.' "

Raven lowered his fins. "I know I will regret this, but fine. Get in."

The wraith was chasing a viking above the Frigate, doing all it could to not let it land.

"You are dealing with the best pilot in the world here," the wraith's pilot said.

"I call bullshit," the viking pilot said. "I am the best, and I'll prove it!" He fired at the wraith, who cloaked and avoided the torpedoes.

A scan allowed the viking to see the wraith, and they both clashed midair, trying to push each other.

"Your armor is crap. No wonder the Dominion replaced wraiths," the viking pilot said.

"At least I got cloaking and I don't need to transform to shoot ground targets."

"Guys!" Tony said over the station to both the wraith and the viking. "This is a war, not a dick measuring contest!"

"If it were, Helga could vouch for me, right hun?" the wraith pilot said.

"Jack, you naughty boy!" the valkyrie pilot said while keeping the other five vikings away.

"I'll either get rid of you now, or I'll go to Valhalla where I'll get everything I want," the viking pilot said. "I win either way."

"Hey, man," Brian said to the viking over the station. "I know your boss promised you a lot of stuff, but you can have all the booze and food you want if you join us. We even got hot babes. We also got a few guys, if you swing that way."

"In Valhalla, I can get tenfold of that!"

"Valhalla's not real, man. You can take our offer, or you can risk losing everything for what may be an empty promise. You choose."

The viking pilot stopped pushing the wraith with his ship. After thinking for a few seconds, he said, "Alright, I'm joining for the ladies!"

The other five vikings tried to shoot him, but were shot down by a goliath who came out of the Frigate.

Garf flew Raven out of the ship and went to search for the spectres. They ran into the hovering banshees.

"Auto-turret engaged," Raven said as he placed a turret under a banshee. He threw three more, making the banshees scramble. One of the ships wasn't fast enough and was shot down.

Lin saw the raven's live video feed on a monitor in the cafeteria and noticed a familiar code – B-7 – on the banshee that had just crashed. "Sis!"

"What's the matter, Lin?" Tyrell asked.

"My best friend piloted that banshee! Come on! Maybe we can save her!" Lin said before leaving the cafeteria in a hurry.

The banshee pilot was barely conscious among the wreckage, keeping her eyes closed. She could feel every broken bone in her body.

"Sis!" a familiar voice said. "Clara!"

She opened her eyes at the mention of her name. "L-Lin ..." She saw a human figure through her blurry vision.

"Sis, can you hear me?" Lin asked. "We need to get you into a medivac."

"Betrayer!" Clara said, then showed her gritted teeth.

"No, I'm not betraying you. I'm saving you. You are being manipulated by–"

"You chose to suffer. F-fine by me. Where I'm going … there won't be any pain."

Lin grabbed Clara's bleeding left hand. "Hang on, Sis! Stay with me!"

Clara could see the sky darken as a ship approached. Her vision was also fading to black.

"The medivac's almost here, just stay with me, Sis. Please."

Tyrell, in his marauder suit, came to see if Lin was safe. He found her at the side of the unconscious banshee pilot.

Unfortunately, Clara stopped breathing, and the medivac staff could not resuscitate her.

Raven spotted the cloaked spectres, but he was out of energy, so he could not manufacture a new turret yet. Two male spectres kept firing EMP shots at him while the other three spectres – two women and one man – painted the targets near the Frigate for the next three nukes.

Garf didn't know what to do.

"Go snipe them, you idiot!" Raven told him.

"But I … I ha' nevr ..."

"You are a ghost. You are supposed to be good at sniping humans and aliens. I am giving you a good view of the enemy. Do. Your. Job."

"I can't!"

"They would shoot you in a heartbeat."

Garf started to shake. "I n-neva k'lled. I …"

"You Earth people are all just a bunch of pansies. Welcome to the Koprulu Sector, where it's kill or be killed."

The wraith and viking wanted to attack the spectres, but the banshees were causing too much trouble to allow the two ships to leave the Frigate's side.

From the shadows, Makatai struck like a whirlwind, killing the three targeting spectres before the nuclear missiles could land. With no one to direct them, the nukes exploded above the forest, away from the settlement. The other two spectres were allowed to run away.

"I have returned," Makatai said, his cape fluttering in the wind. He used his psi link to contact the Frigate's captain. "Tony? I humbly request your aid in this war. Together, we could save these terrans from the control of their vile leader."

"I'm all for saving these folks, Makatai," Tony said. "We'll help you guys, but we'll mostly be providing defense. You and the other 'toss should focus on the offensive, because if we end up taking heavy losses, we're leaving. Can't risk the lives of my entire crew, ya know."

The prelate nodded, looking into Raven's camera – about which he learned from Garf's mind that it was sending footage to the Frigate. "Fair conditions." He raised his fiery warp blade toward the sky. "Let our forces unite!"

To be continued.