and the plot thickens. in this one, Julia is absent. I'll bring her back next chapter, or maybe the one after that.
Turtwig, thanks :) I scared myself while writing that scene at parts, that's when you know it's good. speculation is of course always good. thanks for your comment about the confrontation scene. that was another very interesting part for me to write. i'm on vacation now, so updates will likely be shorter and/or longer, although I enjoy this story and need something to do while in the car.
Read and Review.
*** TOP SECRET, EYES ONLY BY ORDER OF ARCTURUS MENGSK. SECTION 5 ***
SUBJ. ALPHA DELIVERED TO CASTANAR FACILITY. OTHER SUBJ. DELIVERED TO TESTING. GENMOD TESTING TO COMMENSE IMMEDIATELY. INITIATE HEV GEN 5.4 ON SUBJ. B-M. INITIATE ON PATIENTS N-Z. COMMENDATION TO INSIDE AGENT ON THE ORDER OF 1.2 MIL. CREDITS DELIVERED. PROJ. HERCULES TO COMMENCE. ALL STAFF WILL BE TERMINATED UPON COMPLETION.
***END MESSAGE***
Raynor looks up after reading this. It was sent through a still-functioning bug in the computers that Alpha squad had set up. he comms Matt. "Matt, what do we have on Castanar?" he looks slightly startled at the question.
"Castanar? It's a beryllium storage facility." Raynor indicates the document.
"looks like there's something more there. They've sent "subject alpha" there for testing. The rest are still onworld, probably in the same facility they were raiding. I'm launching a rescue op on them, and then we move onto this Castanar place."
"Are you sure that's wise, sir? We've lost two teams to that place."
Raynor nods. "They think we're gone. Whoever this inside agent is, he's not back with us yet. We'll have a chance to get in undetected." Matt nods reluctantly. "Alright. I'll prep a team. We'll send Barren Zeta."
Matt nods. They're the strongest team they have left after Epsilon Theta, if not the most professional. "their mission will be different this time, the last team reported the danger was around the Administrator's office. We'll stay away from there for now."
Raynor chuckles "so long as we make sure they don't enter it trying to rob them blind, they should be fine."
Blaine Zenen and his squad were being sent in to help rescue some pansies who had managed to get themselves captured. Of course it was alpha squad, those show-offs were bound to get what was coming to them eventually, Them and those high-horsed holier-than-thou fools at Epsilon Theta. He snorts to himself briefly. Of course he was being sent in after them. He was the best. His squad was used to playing backup to him. He got a higher kill-count then the rest of those pretenders combined. Of course, for some reason his suit doesn't read that way, but he knows that's how it is. His man Rusty sets the charges, and the doors explode inwards. His team goes in shooting, not caring whether they hit civilians. There was loot to be had, and the dominion has more than enough. Of course, there is the main objective, but main is a very relative term to a man like Blaine.
"Alright boys, grab anything that ain't nailed down and keep moving." He laughs to himself then, this place is rich, all freaking sterile white and professional. Bah, this ain't real. Whatever, as long as he gets paid, and gets to take money, and do what he wants. They move through the halls, making no attempt to hide they are here. Firing off wild gunshots and shouting incoherently. Half the men are likely still, or newly drunk. That's good, they shoot better with a little drink in them, almost as good as one of those fancy ol' stimpacks. Finally, they reach one of the labs. Blaine kicks open the door, to show scientists frozen in the middle of their work. Blaine's fully automatic gun fires again and again, indiscriminately hitting experiment, scientist and equipment. He's in full battle mode, or full pillage mode as it were, and so decides spur-of-the-moment to turn on some victory music. Metal from the 21st century. None of these men have the IFF saying they are allies, which makes them target practice. They continue in this way for several minutes, and throughout several labs, their accounts growing conspicuously more full of credits as they move.
Finally, they reach one with IFF positives. He avoids them as he shoots down everyone else, laughing maniacally and blaring his music. When they're down, he finally calms down a bit, and looks around at the IFF positives. They're in experiment cages, growing new limbs and getting all kinds of zergified. He chuckles and lets them out. The former experiments all move quickly, picking up the weapons from the fallen guards. None are any worse for wear from what had been done to them. Which is good, because Blaine doesn't want to put up any whining over, 'poor me I have a third arm.' He doesn't know which squad these men, and women, seeing two or three feminine forms interspersed, belong to, and doesn't care. His motto is "so long as the pay's good." And it's gotten him out of a few tricky moral dilemmas.
His new help goes with him as he raids the rest of the facility. He finds some people locked up in resoc tanks, luckily, because the more people he brings back alive the more money he can extract for his masterful services, the conditioning hasn't taken yet, and he busts them out. Then he leaves the facility, and finally turns off the blaring music. That's when he notices that the building he just left is on fire. He wonders briefly when that happened, then dismisses it as unimportant as he remembers his fat paycheck. Mission accomplished, and richer, he loads into the Medevac and leaves, still humming the last tune.
Zeke's current mood can be described in very few words. "What Just Happened?" the Resoc he can understand, and he's glad to not be a lobotomized zombie, but… a marine who's more mercenary than most real mercenaries, who's blaring music as loud as his obviously non-regulation speakers can put it, and laughing as loudly as he can isn't the ideal rescuer. He's met up with just about everyone from his Squad, but not Julia. After they blacked out, they all woke up in the different predicaments they were found in. Andrew, Mark and Blake have been infested. They're the worst of the group. Luckily Julia's treatment is holding steady, and they're still Human in Mind, or HIM as they've begun calling it. He goes through the Medevac that he's in and confirms that Julia isn't in it. Where could she be? He hopes she wasn't left in the Facility, as it is on fire. He knows he should probably be more concerned about this, but he's in a bit of a whimsical mood, both as a lingering remnant of the attempted Resoc, and as a direct result of his abnormal rescuer.
Back at camp, which has been set up covertly after their base was returned to orbit, he confirms that Julia isn't here. That's not good. He's heard some of the rumors about her on the ship, all good now. But seriously, some people have started setting her up as some kind of divine figure. Someone apparently got a little too close to the edge of Infestation before being rescued, and is a little mind-damaged. He can't think of any other reason to set her up as a saint. She's nice and all that, but it's not like she's walked on water. There are very rational explanations to everything she's done. Of course, that doesn't stop the raving masses. If she was gone, then there would be people lining up on a crusade to bring her back. He shakes his head bemusedly, what is this sector coming to? A few weeks ago, if he had been told that his best friend, and, if he was honest with himself, hopefully eventually something more, would be Infested, then break free and proceed to break an entire planet free as well… he'd have called the insane asylum. This whole thing is crazy.
He walks to Raynor, who is surveying the refugees. "Raynor sir, she's not here."
He nods. "I know, we've got reports that "subject alpha" was being transported to a facility on Castanar. We're deploying as soon as we can get out of here." It takes some time to set up any transport onto or off of Korhal. He has to use legitimate transports at legitimate times, or else the Defense grid would blast them out of the sky. Luckily, he has procured several "fully legitimate cargo freighters". One of which had promptly been rechristened Serenity. Everyone packs up, and heads out, jumping from the Korhal system before rejoining the Rebel Battlecruiser. There is silence in the halls. The main objectives were completed, but at a heavy cost, several more people had been Infested, and the entire thing seemed rigged. That's when he realizes who else isn't in attendance, Dave. The mission reports had already been released, and they talked about a double agent. Zeke immediately felt sure that it was Dave. That slippery little cretin had it out for them ever since Julia came back. He wasn't sure what he'd said to Julia after he woke up from his injuries on Tarsonis, but she had seemed to trust him. Now he is gone, and so is she. Everyone is in dire need of sleep, unfortunately. The realities of travel being what there are, there's no way to reach Castanar tonight anyway. So he throws himself onto his bunk and falls asleep.
Raynor looks at the Ihan crystal, exhausted. Korhal was botched horribly, and they still have no idea how they were disabled, who the spy is, or what they'll find when they get to Castanar. All the groups had reported increased feelings of dread before their disablement, however. In almost all cases, it culminated in a feeling of "intense darkness and fear. Then nothing." Castanar, what is going on there? He sighs, and refocuses on the Ihan crystal. Nothing to be done about it tonight. He activates the crystal to see more of Zeratul's journey. He has a feeling that what he'll see today will have a very real and important impact upon tomorrow's events.
"Alright Zeratul, old buddy - you got your mysterious data. Now let's see what you make of it."
"my quest to decipher the Last Warning of the Xel'Naga led me to the Forbidden Archive world of Zhakul. Here, three immortal preservers guard ancient knowledge. Only they knew the cypher which would allow me to uncover the full meaning of the text I had recovered. I needed to seek them out quickly." Zeratul, with his allies, move into the abandoned structures that they had found on this world. The atmosphere is eerie. An air of fear laying heavy over the dark world. After some preliminary defenses are set up, one of the Zhakul guardians, inhabiting the shell of a stalker approaches the camp. It is wrong though, the metal used to construct it has been darkened, and it is lit with a strange green light. It quickly becomes evident that this Protoss, and likely the rest on this world, have been overcome by the same power which holds Kerrigan in its thrall. It has to be put down. then, an abomination, an amalgamation of Protoss and Zerg attributes awakens. The Preservers have been imprisoned by this horrifying being. This thing is a threat, and whenever he and his warriors beat it back, it just reforms itself around the energy of the Preservers.
The longer Zeratul stays, the more irrationally fearful he becomes. It's as if the Hybrid is influencing his thoughts, warping reality by its very presence. It may be, who knows what this false xel'naga is capable of. Nevertheless, he amasses an army of followers pulled in from Shakuras, and drives his way into its lair. He destroys the structures which are manufacturing equipment and refining minerals for these corrupted Protoss, and then breaks the crystals in which the Preservers are held.
When the Crystals are destroyed, the Hybrid falls to pieces, unable to maintain its form. With its dying words, it screams that it's master and father will know of its death. And that "He will hunt you through the stars. He will not allow anyone to interrupt His plans." When he is gone, though, the atmosphere of dread lifts, and the remaining dark Protoss flare suddenly and are purified, armor and skin returning to normal, and the sickly green light abandoning their skin.
The Preservers interpret the Cypher, decoding the warning of the Xel'Naga. Eventually, the head preserver comes to Zeratul. "we are finished. Come, and hear the last words of our Gods." He walks to a pool, where the three Preservers channel power. The surface ripples, and from within it a voice is heard, and a vision enters his mind. "we were the masters of the cosmos. The very stars bent to our will, but, we were betrayed from within, cast down by one of our own. He now plans to build himself up as an immortal, reforging the cycle after his own twisted machinations. Yet, there is hope still. If the Children of the cycle will overcome the darkness within them, and stand united, our Fallen Brother can be defeated. Heed this warning, our final children, for we leave now, and pass the Cycle, and your future, to you. Our brightest hope."
The Preservers look up from their meditations. Zeratul is unsure how he should take this revelation. His Gods are watching over him, even in death, but their message… to attain victory they must overcome the darkness within them and stand as one with the Zerg. The thought goes against everything he has felt. The Zerg are abominations, but they were created by the Xel'Naga. If it is what is required, he will do so. Zeratul looks up from his mental introspections. He comes to the conclusion that, if he is to stand with the Zerg to survive, then perhaps he may gin knowledge from the Homeworld. Aiur is in the grip of the Zerg, with the corpse of the overmind itself embedded in the surface. Such a great being does not die easily, and there may be fragments of Zerg consciousness within that may be useful in freeing Kerrigan from her mental enslavement. Knowing this, he departs the world, leaving the Preservers under the care of the redeemed Guardians.
Raynor inhales deeply as his mind disconnects from the Crystal. This threat is real, and is enough that Zeratul would overcome his hatred for Kerrigan to work with her. He's going to need help. Maybe the Revolution will be over by then, but either way, Raynor would commit his whole forces to that battle if Zeratul asks. This is getting big, and Raynor needs to know more before he moves.