Chapter 12 - Regaining the Focus
After several minutes of travel, Kerrigan's shuttle pod landed on the surface of the planet. Getting out of it and surveying the land, she could see the facility in the distance. At the same time, the damage that the TGF thunderstorm created had made the area around the research lab harder to breath. With the scent of ash and feeling charged, there were fires burning over in that area. Seeing the escort pod touch down close by, Sarah waited for her platoon to come to her.
"..." she spoke watching the Zerg units exit out of the organic shuttle they were in. Seeing her, they crawled toward her. Once all were assembled, she addressed them.
"Survey the land leading toward the lone facility up ahead," the Queen of Blades stated and pointed. "Do not enter it until I command it. Go."
With grunts and hisses, her combatants commenced her orders. Watching them depart and traverse into the area leading toward the facility, her connection with them was still strong. There was very little interference as compared to before traveling down to the surface. Levitating and moving forward, Sarah focused her mind in detecting Jim's psyche. Trying for several seconds, there was only static.
'That must mean he is still down there imprisoned,' she thought. Focusing forward and leaning, she went faster towards the research lab.
'You better stay alive Jim.'
"Stop thissss nonsssense...Eeuuggeenneee," a dissected creature mimicked a dead friend's voice. Before it could continue, it's legs got blown off by a short burst of fire. Falling to the ground and screeching in agony, it heard heavy footsteps coming to it. Looking up, the ex-marine glared at it while pointing the rifle at it.
"Yyoouuu...don't have the will...traitor-" it said before getting its head blown off by a point-blank shot.
"..." Raynor reacted with a grunt.
Looking up and walking down a blood-stained hallway, the stench of death and gore filled the air. Reaching a certain intersection, it split off to lead toward two separate laboratories. Not caring of which path goes to where, he went to the left one. While doing slow sweeps, the environment started to lose a little bit of focus. Thinking his eyes were tired, he shook his head and kept pointing the rifle forward.
Seeing the imagery shifting in place, it was as if multiples of everything were overlapping one another. Regripping his weapon and clenching his teeth together, he pushed through disorientation. Cautiously walking forward, he started to see silhouettes coming from the end of the hallway. Not stopping to hide or find another way around, his right pointer finger got closer and remained steady on the trigger. Hearing the monsters groan slowly morph into human voices, all of them were from people of the past. When the details of them got clearer and he could see who they were, Raynor hesitated a little before opening fire at them.
Controlled single shooting of bullets, Jim mowed down the six figures from a distance. Keeping the gun forward and pointing at them, the environment tried to shift imagery to a landscape of greenery. However, it glitched badly and morphed back to the blood-stained hallway with body parts spread out on the floor. Walking up to the closest dead creature, it had taken the form of a childhood friend from when he was a kid. The thing decided to keep the mimic image and display a kid with a meaty hole in its left side of the head.
'...it is like...' the Commander thought moving on to the next victim on the floor. This one was of a school teacher back on Shiloh. Memories of being in the classroom ran through his head quickly before focusing on the dead creature. Part of the neck was blown off and had both Terran and Zerg blood oozing out of it.
'That Hybrid...searched my mind...' he continued. The next corpses were other people Raynor knew. One of them was of Swann. It was twitching and did head movement. Stopping in front of it and looking down at it, the doppelganger of his weapons engineer smiled and began to say something. Without hesitation, Jim aimed the rifle at its face and blasted it.
'...and is using...all who I knew...' the ex-marine pondered. Getting minor amount of blood splatter from the killing, Jim didn't flinch.
"YYYOOOOUUUU...MMMMOOONNNNSSSTTTEEERRRR..." the voice of Tychus ringed somewhere nearby.
"..." the raider leader reacted with immediately moving to the last corpse. Seeing his old friend on the floor without the blue colored power armor, the demented grin on its face made Jim mad. Getting next to him and seeing it was bleeding and lost a few limbs, Raynor lifted up his right boot and slammed it in the mimic's face.
'...against me...to break my sanity...' Raynor continued while raising his foot again and plummeted it back down in the creature's head. Feeling it give a little, he did another stomp. Leaning hard into his right foot when slamming it down, the being's head cracked hard. As if it triggered something in his mind, he retracted his foot and breathed deeply.
"...heh heh heh..." he chuckled a little. Lowering his head a little, he gave a tight grin and clenched everything up.
"You boys want to play hard," the Commander commented. Hearing distant roars both ahead and behind him, he put his hand on his face and swiped his hand to the right. Whatever was on his face, he smeared it on. Smelling the iron crimson with scents of Protoss and Zerg gore, he put his hand back to grip the underside of the handguard. Looking up and seeing more figures coming toward him, he aimed and proceeded forward.
"Sounds like fun...last man standing," Jim spoke and began firing.
"..." both Horner and Valerian remarked from watching the visual feed. Cycling the cameras to see if they could spot Raynor, their view was cut short and the monitor went static.
"The link I had with the facility sir was severed," the comms officer announced.
"What was the cause?" the Captain asked.
"Looks to be the main computer of the facility kicked back online. It started reading interference signatures again."
"Alright...give me visual of the surface."
"On it sir," the individual stated and proceeded with the command. After inputting a couple of codes, the monitor the two higher ranking officers were looking at produced a video of the surface.
"Feed is online sir, but there is also interference as well. Not as strong as before."
"That is fine," Matt remarked. Looking back at the monitor, it showed the partially scorched landscape around the facility. Detecting motion east of the building, it showed that it was Kerrigan and her escorts. Watching them making way to the research lab, a couple of times the screen froze for a second or two.
[Captain] Stukov called through the video-link that was still active. [We are detecting a large signature that is emerging from the facility. It seems to be of hybrid nature]
"Thanks Admiral. Get me a visual of building," he ordered. Both he and Valerian watched the surface video shift its focus back on the infrastructure. Coming out of the damaged areas, there was a blur of shadows.
"Nanos detected sir," a monitor tech announced. "...there is also a large bio-life signature coming from the main entrance."
Watching, the individual that came out made them all pause. It was Jim Raynor. Unharmed and unarmed, he was surveying the land around him. Turning his head to the left, it was as if he saw something. Looking down at the steps to go into the courtyard, he walked down them.
"That can't be...Jim can it?" the Dominion prince asked looking confused.
"Scans read that it is the hybrid...so it couldn't be," Matt answered though he looked unsure as well.
[Seems this hybrid shares the abilities of Naurd. A shapeshifter] Stukov informed sounding displeased.
"Naurd? You mean Dr. Naurd?" Valerian asked and saw the turned zerg nod his head. Sighing out loud, he crossed his arms over his chest and held his chin with one hand.
"Open a channel to Kerrigan," Horner ordered.
"...trying Captain...there is too much interference now," the comms officer mentioned. "Seems the main computer and the hybrid are the main sources of the interference now."
"Can you reach Kerrigan Admiral?"
[...no...I am only getting static] he answered after putting a hand to his right temple.
"Try hacking the main computer to get it to be disabled or enough to let its guard down."
"Rodger sir."
[...it would be easier to disable if a missile was launched...the main computer is on the 2nd floor of the building, yes?]
"It is...but we aren't sure the Commander down there is the real on or not...despite what the scans say," Valerian answered.
After covering much ground, Kerrigan got to the halfway point. She could see that the closer she got, the more destruction that happened during the hyperactive thunderstorm. Burnt vegetation, ionized air, and a sense of desertion from the living habitat. Looking at her escort zerg members, all of them seemed to be acting fine. Continuing forward, she observed the landscape started to get similar to how Char looks in some areas.
Getting to the outskirts of the structure, the environment started to look strange. Lowering to touch on the ground, she mentally messaged to her units to spread out and circle the building and courtyard. Hiding behind a large boulder, she peered from the left side of it. Staring around, everything looked undamaged. Confused and cautious, she kept at her position and focused on the entrance doors.
As if on cue, the doors opened and had a silhouette come into view. At the same time, there seemed to be a small blurry cloud that came out of several areas that were damaged on the facility. Narrowing her eyes and about to touch her left temple to send a message, the figure's details cleared out. Taken by surprise, she blinked a couple of times. Staring and seeing him look around, he turned his head to the left.
'Jim?' Sarah thought. About to reach out to him telepathically, her peripheral vision saw something. Freezing and looking to her left, there was nothing seen except the environment of the courtyard. Oddly, the normal scenery contrasted with how the temperature and air felt.
'There...is something else here...is it the nanos?' she wondered. Glancing back at the figure of Raynor, he began walking down the steps. Focusing on him again, she tried to figure out how he was not injured. Remembering feeling his mind being tortured, he looked rather calmed and composed.
[YOU ALWAYS WERE AFRAID...OF BELIEVING JAMESSSSS]
"...!?" Kerrigan reacted with a small recoil. She did another one from hearing a large sounding gunfire followed by flesh being ripped and blown apart.
[JAMES EUGENE RAYNOR...YOU GET BACK-]
[...] a male person grunted while cutting the person off with a burst of gunfire. It was followed by the sounds of reloading.
'...' the Queen of Blades responded with confusion. Narrowing her eyes, she placed her left hand on her left temple. About to call Jim telepathically, another volley of mental sensory came.
[YOU WERE#$% #NEVER ONE OF US...TRRAAAAAIIITTOOORRR] a semi distorted voice called in a mocking tone. It was followed by the sound of a large amount of compressed air being released. A second later, the sound of something impacting flesh hard came followed by a detonation. The explosion was accompanied by dying cries of creatures and gore being splattered heavily.
'That sounds to be inside the building,' Sarah thought. Removing her hand and looking in the direction of the building, she froze and blinked.
"Hello Sarah," a familiar voice called and stood a couple of yards away.
"..." she responded with staring at the person. "...hello Jim..."
"Are you my rescue party...again?" he asked with a confident smirk. His demeanor seemed off though he did not pose a hostile stance like before.
"...yes...how are you? Are you hurt?"
"A little roughed up by...the nanos here bringing back the dead," the ex-marine stated and rolled his right shoulder a little bit. "But nothing that a little firepower and explosives can fix."
"..." Kerrigan spoke staying cautious. "...how did you get out of your power suit?"
"When I landed and began scanning the land, my mind was...still preoccupied from what happened earlier. I didn't pay close enough attention to my surroundings...and then I got jumped by the nano-zombies."
"I see...how do I know you aren't infected with nanos Jim?"
"I haven't attacked you and am speaking freely," he suggested and lifted his arms to show an open gesture. "Isn't that good enough?"
"..." Sarah answered with not moving and still staring at him. In her cautious state, she felt the environment around her shift slightly back and forth. It was as if the image swayed only a fraction at a time. It got on her nerves really quickly and made her wonder what was really standing over there. Deciding to continue the questioning of who this person was trying to be, she slightly commanded her escort team to get into positions around them.
"What made you have a change of heart and mind?"
"What's that...darlin'?"
"..." she reacted with pressing her lips together. Seeing him still looking at her with the confident smile, it was almost as if he forgave her. His eyes did not show deception.
"You came here feeling betrayed...angered...and torn...now...you are back to your old self."
"..." the Commander said with a short release of air through his nose. Smirking a little wider, he put his hands on his hips and looked off to the side.
"...well...being trapped here a little gave me time to think...assess what was wrong...what was right...what should be the goal...what should I hold onto and let go," he explained then looked back at her with a small smile. "...I...let my emotions get the best of me...said things that were not necessary because of my own selfish wants and desires."
"..." the Queen of Blades reacted with surprise. As much as she wanted to feel happier about him being open, it didn't feel right.
'Jim was never good about being open...he bottled things up inside...even more so when he picked up drinking from what I have heard,' Sarah thought feeling her senses still alerted.
[...YOU...LEFT...ME...JIM...] a voice called mimicking hers. It sounded so close to hers, that the loud burst shot of a rifle made her flinch.
[AND ME TOO J-] another woman called followed by its head exploding from a gunshot.
[...daddy...Daddy...DaDdY #$% #$DADDY!] a boy called then began screaming. The child's bellowing was cut short by something heavy impacting it.
"Sarah?"
"...!?" she reacted with widen eyes. Not taking her sights off the person ahead of her, the sounds of someone brutally beating the boy's skull in ringed in her ears.
"...what?" Kerrigan answered after focusing on him than the mental sounds.
"You alright...you look...disturbed."
"..." the turned woman reacted with seeing movement around her. This time, it was her zerg escorts. They got into positions and stood by. The ones that were closest to her and the individual in front of her, lowered their heads and glared at the man.
"...were you able to gather information and materials that you sought coming here? What is the backstory to this place?"
"..." Raynor reacted with a smile and crossed his arms over his chest. "I can fill you in on the ride back...I can give you and your followers a lift...knock out two birds with one stone."
About to respond, the sound of an explosion was heard. Coming from the facility, it sounded as if it were close to the entrance area. It was followed by controlled single shots in which the impact of glass sounded. Following a moment of silence, another eruption occurred. Blowing out the sliding glass doors, a small rain of body parts, multi-colored bloods, glass, and metal fell down the short staircase from the entrance to the courtyard. As if on cue, a horde of people started running out of the entrance.
Hearing the sound of an assault rifle on full auto, bodies started falling down from the gunfire. Half of the two dozen individuals were mowed down with crimson holes through their bodies. The rest were either injured or barely escaped getting damaged. However, that was short live from hearing a soft air compressed blast from the entrance. Coming out fast and arcing down, the grenade hit the ground and detonated.
Earth and body parts flung up into the air along with the fire explosion. Kerrigan stared with shocked eyes watching the carnage of the large group of people. Feeling her zerg units shift their positions a little, the ones closest to the gore were very tempted to go and eat it. Shifting her focus to Raynor nearby, he had only turned 90 degrees to his left and looked left with his head. Not knowing what face he had, the aspect that he hadn't got out his Colt was peculiar.
Hearing sounds of heavy reloading and changing to a fresh clip, a figure started coming into view. Walking passed the damaged front entrance, a heavily blood splattered individual came out with the smaller size C-14 for ground marines without power armor. Noticing that there was a grenade launcher attached to it, it indicated who was the one shooting the facility staff. Focusing hard on the person with her vision, her mouth opened. Not believing who it was, he pointed the weapon in her direction. Seeing movement in her peripheral, she looked back at the individual that was near her and immediately froze.
Since leaving the 2nd floor, Jim's vision began to change a little. As if a distorted filter altered what he was seeing, it was pulling his nerves apart a little. The environment became a gritty haze of red as if in a low infrared vision. Objects and figures had outlines; however, the details of them became crude and enticed fear. Deciding that he couldn't trust anything in the building, Raynor held a light grasp of his humanity.
Sweeping the 1st floor, visuals of people from his past came at him repetitively. Crying out to him in pain and saying words of guilt towards his conscious, he shot them down. After the blowing up a group of five individuals that resembled the guys in his platoon during the Guild War, the Commander began to not listen to their words at all. Without question or hesitation, he began doing controlled headshots and continued sweeping the entire floor. It did not matter which direction they came from; Jim kept the assault rifle forward so that the crosshairs were always in his sight.
Reaching the lobby area, the front entrance doors were seen up ahead. Blocking the path to them were several dissected creatures. Aiming up a little and firing the grenade attachment, it launched the frag towards them. Impacting the floor underneath their feet, the explosion engulfed all of them. Being so close to the sliding glass doors, it shattered and blew out the glass towards the outside.
Seeing a black mist being created near the massacre at the entrance, Terran researchers were being formed. The rate at which they were being made was startling fast. Frowning and proceeding forward tactically, at least two dozen creations were occurring. Aiming down the sights, Jim engaged full auto on the rifle and pulled the trigger. Mowing half of them down, his expression did not change hearing the death screams.
'How many of these things are there?' the raider leader thought. Angling the launcher up a little again and pressing the fire button, the explosive projectile flew through the blown-out windows. Seeing it hit the ground further up ahead, it seemed to get the rest of them as body parts could be seen going everywhere.
Continuing forward, he began reloading the frags in the launcher. Changing the ammo clip to the last full one he had, he pulled the bolt handle to load a bullet in the chamber. Getting closer to the short entrance hallway to outside, the environment began looking like Char though more hellish with a massacre. Scanning the environment, there were targets spread out. Looking down at the courtyard and to the left, there were two large ones. Staring at them, both of them became clear to which two Queen of Blades were seen.
"..." Raynor reacted with keeping his frown.
Walking forward, he kept the gun sights pointing toward the two. Going down the steps, he analyzed the Kerrigans in which both had auras. Unable to distinguisher between them, something about the one that was the closet to him made him stare harder. When he got within range of a close proximity of splash damage of firing a grenade, he stopped. Keeping the rifle pointed at the two, he watched them cautiously.
"Jim/Jim...!?" both turned women spoke in unison. Even the recoil was in sync and the tonality of their voice.
"...well now..." he spoke in a composed manner not taking his fingers off the triggers. "Isn't this a cliche of sorts."
"I'm the real one/I'm the real one," they proclaimed at the same time.
"..."
Watching their body movements, it was as if they were one person split into two separate bodies. Not wanting to deal with the headache this would cause, he took a gamble. Turing his weapon away and aiming at the building, he spotted an open hole on the second floor. Pointing the barrel well above the roof of the research lab, he saw blurrys of a black mist. Making small aiming adjustments, he pulled the trigger on the frag launcher. Seeing a grenade shoot out, it travelled up then arced down toward the facility.
Seeing that it was heading to the opening on the second floor, Jim glanced to the right at both of them. The Kerrigans didn't move and only followed the explosive projectile with their heads a little. Still acting at the same time, they were not focused on him directly. Taking the chance of an open opportunity, he reached for the small grenade he put on his vest. Taking it off the loop with his left hand, he engaged the button to arm it.
Moving his arm behind him while staring the twins down, he tossed the EMP frag hard. Seeing that it was flying to the closest one, the other Sarah shifted her eyes and saw it. Seeing her violet eyes glow, she lunged back far quickly clearing the length of a large truck. The one that stayed held out her left hand and caught it. Turning and pointing the rifle at the individual, he saw her smirk at him.
"Jim...this won't hurt me...you know that," she stated then frowned. "But it does hurt me that you don't trust me...even after I saved you...you try to kill me."
"..." Raynor replied. Hearing an explosion in the distance from where he aimed at, there was the sound of something combusting and breaking down of a terminal. Looking at the EMP in her hand, it started glowing blue.
"Sorry darlin'...let me apologize," he answered and pulled the trigger. Waiting to see the whiplash, it never occurred. Instead, a large size hole appeared on her forehead as to dodge the headshot. Seeing a small glitch and a faint black mist going in and out of the hole, it confirmed who this was.
"I had fun with thissss...game of ourssss," the hybrid spoke in its distorted voice. "But now...I have what I neeeeed."
"I'm glad I could entertain you," the Commander stated with a small smirk. "Let my friend give you a going away present."
"..." the creature reacted with turning its head to the right.
Seeing the humanoid Zerg thrust her hand forward, all of its limbs seized. Blinking and feeling lifted up into the air a couple of feet, it could not move nor its nanos. Lossing its ability to keep the Queen of Blades image, it went back to its original form. Thinking that would cause Kerrigan to lose grip, the invisible grip around it strengthened. About to speak, the glowing blue grenade in its closed hand began flashing rapidly. Oddly it did not explode, but instead sent out a massive electromagnetic pulse.
"GGG#$%AAAHHHH!" it roared in agony.
Instead of blood pouring out of many wounded openings, a black vicious liquid began leaking out. As if responding to the EMP grenade, the previous explosion in the facility went off again twofold. Blowing out a massive part of the exterior of the building, computer components, electronics, and heavy metal machinery barfed out of the destructive hole. Hearing a piercing buzz in the air, Jim cringed audiably and went down to one knee.
"Jim!" Sarah called out to him a distance away. Keeping her grip on the thing and about to head towards him, he held up his hand.
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE SARAH!" he shouted in what sounded more like agony than anger at her. "GET YOUR ZERG AWAY FROM HERE AND DO NOT FEED ON WHAT'S ON THE GROUND!"
"...do not feed what's one the..." the Queen of Blades repeated to herself.
Standing where she was, the environment in front of her and around her glitched hard. Mentally telling her brewed to flee away and get somewhere behind her, many fast movements were seen fleeing their positions. Focusing back at Jim and the thing, the landscape began degrading. The greenery transformed into rot and decay with destruction and crimson to fill everything else. Feeling her eyes widen when everything stopped evolving, the land was a sea of black and red massacre with Char's environment setting.
Hearing someone coughing, she focused on the raider leader. Seeing blood come out of his mouth and nose, it was paired with the same vicious black liquid. Letting her psionic grip go and dashing through the air to him, the massive monster fell to the ground with a wet splat. Kneeling down to him and putting a hand on his back, he was very warm. Looking at his face, he was baring his teeth and grinding them.
"... #$% #$...ha...haaaaaaaaa#$%#...doessssssssss...it hurt...Jimmmmy #$%" it asked using Tychus's voice.
"...yyyooouuu..." Raynor spoke gravely. Spitting the liquid in his mouth to the ground, he stood up. Ignoring that Kerrigan was near him, he slowly walked closer to the hybrid. Getting to be a yard away from it, he aimed the C-14 at its head.
"...S...O...B..."
"..." the creature reacted with changing its face to the deceased Terran marine. Smiling cruelly at him, a lit cigar materialized out of its mouth.
"I made a deal with the devil Jimmy," it spoke still having strength in its voice. "SSShe diessss...I go freeeeee...but you chossssseee...to ssssaave a creature of genocide...didn't you...old buddy."
"..." Sarah reacted with blinking in surprise. Moving her boney zerg wings a little, she prepared herself to strike it down if it tried to assault them.
"HAHAHAHA!" the hybrid laughed changing its voice and face to Emperor Mengsk. "And now...you have become a devil yourssself...haven't you Jamessss Raynor?"
"...we all have choices to make...I made mine," Jim reacted with controlled anger. Flipping the trigger mode to auto, the thing grinned evilly at him.
"Damn ssshame...tell me...how'ssss Lydia and John thesssse dayssss?"
"..." Raynor reacted with pulling the trigger hard.
Unloading the entire magazine, he held onto the rifle at point blank range. The hailstorm of bullets ripped the hybrid to pieces as its body parts of multiple blood colors flung high and wide. When the rifle sounded it was empty, the Commander tossed the weapon to the ground. Pulling out the service handgun, he continued firing at the dead corpse. Even though its face stayed as Mengsk, it was past the point of recognition.
"..." Kerrigan reacted with watching the painful scene. Feeling how torn and filled with hatred Jim was, it was also strangely comforting at the same time. It was as if another connection they shared from seeing him go through some psychological torture that similar to what happened to her.
"...Jim...?" she called.
Seeing that the entire clip in the pistol was emptied, Raynor kept pulling the trigger. Shaking a little, he stopped pulling it after the fifth dry fire. Slowly lowering his arm to his side, he dropped the gun to the gore stained ground. Awkward silence passed between them as he kept staring at the mutilated corpse and she stared at his back. Stepping closer to him to be beside him, she looked at his face. The sight of silent tears going down on his face made her feel frozen for a moment.
"..." he spoke breathing jagged a little. "...my ship...is over yonder...along with my...suit."
"..." Kerrigan responded. Feeling the emotional pull of wanting to comfort him, he began walking forward before she could move.
"I'll give...you and your zerglings...a lift...to your ship."
"Jim...wait."
[My queen. Do you hear me?] Izsha called.
"..." she answered with watching Raynor not stopping as he continued forward. Curling her fingers to form fists and pressing her lips together, she began following him. Moving her left hand to her temple, she responded.
"I hear you Izsha."
[My sensors have detected that the interference on the planet's surface has been removed. It has enabled me to reach out to you and see a visual of surface below. I have also detected the large lifeform is no longer living]
"Yes...Jim and I took the hybrid out."
[Kerrigan] Stukov called. [What happened down there? It is as if Char and Hell combined into one]
"..." she responded look at the Commander's back. Noticing something up ahead, it was his power armor that was still in one piece.
"It is a long story...but seems that there was a main computer that was sustaining and acting as a command post for the nanos...as well as keeping the hybrid alive."
[I see. What of Commander Raynor?]
"He is alive...he was the one that destroyed the computer. Both of us killed the hybrid," Sarah answered while telepathically ordering her zerg units to follow her. All of them began rushing toward her after her message. Once in close proximity to her, they slowed down to match her walking speed.
[Impressive. The act of killing a hybrid without power armor will only bolden his command amongst his crew and soldiers] the former UED officer mentioned. [Captain Horner has also been trying to reach the Commander. Is Raynor's ship destroyed?]
"No...we are traveling towards it now. Izsha. Informed the Hyperion that we will contact them after boarding Jim's ship."
[Very well my queen] she stated.
Letting go of touching her temple, she looked back at the raider leader. Seeing him stop at the power armor, it was still standing and relatively not damaged. Appearing that there was someone inside of it, Jim opened the visor to show there was no one. Going to the back and seeing him open up a small panel, he initiated something. Hearing a loudspeaker engage, it stated about engaging a full systems analysis and clean.
Turning away from it, he continued walking in the same direction as before. About 50 meters away, his drop ship was seen in one piece as well. Though the environment went back to being of greenery and forestry around them, the heavy blood splatter of Jim contrasted with it. His crimson boot prints became lighter as he proceeded toward his spacecraft. Shaking her head internally, she followed him again.
After reaching the ship and boarding it, Jim engaged the thrusters. Leaving her zerg in the holding bay, they lied down and waited tensely. Joining Jim in the cockpit, he didn't say anything to her.
"Are you okay to fly her?" she asked to strike a conversation.
"If muscle memory serves me well...I should be able to," he replied. Watching him, he seemed to be showing the signs of being past the point of exhaustion. Going to him and putting a hand on his right shoulder, he turned his head as if to listen.
"Why not I pilot her? You can rest...unless you don't trust me."
"..." Jim responded with pausing a couple of seconds. Turning his head back forward, he slowly stood up.
"...fine..." he stated quietly. Moving out of the pilot seat, he went to the co-pilot chair. Sitting down, he put his head back on the headrest.
"..." Sarah commented taking a seat. Activating the controls, she engaged the ship to lift off the ground.
"Did you want to pick up your armor before..." she began to ask then looked at him.
Raynor had passed out. With the blood on him and the residue of crimson coming out of his nose and mouth, it gave her a small start thinking he died. Ignoring any hailing communication, she got out of her seat. Getting in front of him, she saw that he was breathing shallowly. Using her psionic power to tend to any wounds that he had, a small orange haze clouded them. Dissipating shortly after, he looked less in pain and his breathing seemed to be easier. Concentrating on doing a very weak energy blast toward his face, it removed most of the blood splatter on it.
"...I'm sorry...Jim," the Queen of Blades whispered. Placing her right hand on his left cheek, she gave a sad smile. Leaning forward, she gave him a hug while pressing her head against his.
"...I promise...to get Mengsk for you...I won't lose you again."
After transporting themselves and Jim's power armor back to the Hyperion, a transport pod from the Leviathan was sent over to retrieve Kerrigan and the escort zerg team. Traveling back, both ships began to change course. Heading towards Korhal, they proceeded forward. In the medical bay of the Terran battlecruiser, Raynor began to stir awake. Opening his eyes and seeing a familiar ceiling, a face came into view.
"Glad to have you back with us Commander," Horner stated with a small smile. "How are you feeling?"
"..." he replied with slowly sitting up. Grunting, he held his head a little.
"I'm doing...alright," the raider leader answered with a tired voice. "So I passed out."
"Yeah. Kerrigan transported you, your armor, and your ship back. Still kind of surprised all three of you were still in one piece."
"...yeah...tell me about it," Jim agreed and took his hand away from his head. "Where are we heading?"
"Korhal...Kerrigan is still going after Mengsk."
"..." he spoke with a neutral face. "I take it junior wants to ensure he is there to take over when everything is said and done."
"That is a blunt way to put it," Matt said and put his arms across his chest. "What exactly happened down on Tyrador-3? When the scanners weren't getting any interference, it was carnage on the surface."
"...that facility...was another bio-weapons lab ran by the Dominion," Jim informed. Getting off the bed, he felt a little sore everywhere. "Instead of it being a hybrid plant of Zerg and Protoss...it was a hybrid plant of all races using nanos to construct, deconstruct, and sustain the experiments."
"Dear god...is that why...they all look mutilated?" the captain reacted with surprise.
"All Frankenstein's monsters...the classic mad scientist's path."
"What happened to all the staff?" Horner asked getting next to Jim's side. Both began walking out of the med-bay and began slowly walking down the hallway.
"All were killed and used as part of the experiments," the Commander answered sounding neutral.
"...how did they conduct these...experiments?"
"Through dissection while alive and awake...Dominion soldiers looking for reassignment away from the front lines were sought as the perfect guinea pigs," Raynor answered. It stopped Matt in his tracks and became wide eye.
"There was only one sentient being there that succeeded through the experiments and fusion of nanos," Jim continued. Stopping and turning around, he answered with a blank face. "A Dominon marine...who possessed shapeshifting and could read your mind without you knowing it."
"...that...that can't be-"
"Can't be true? You are quite right Matt," the raider leader agreed with a head nod. However, he stared hard at the Hyperion Captain.
"There was no humanity down there...only bio-weapons...programmed machine killers...using psychological warfare to get the job done...essentially the perfect weapon for war."
"..." he responded with looking down and tense. "This is just another atrocity against Arcturus...and his quest for power."
"Yes," Jim replied closing his hand into fists. "Another reason to take him out."
"...so does that mean you will participate in the Kerrigan's battle for Korhal?"
"..." he replied staring back at the Captain. Sighing through his nose, he turned around and began walking away. Horner followed him and caught up with him.
"I don't know Matt...I just don't know," he stated. Putting his hands in his pockets.
"...I can't fathom what you experienced down there on Tyrador-3..." the high rank officer began putting his hands behind him. "...but Kerrigan did come up with a plan to infiltrate when neither her forces or ours could get through the interference...we came up with a super weapon to initiate a lightning storm that scorched the ground and damaged the facility."
"..."
"If I may be frank sir...knowing you...you will come around to a decision...you've risked a lot to just get Kerrigan back...and she risked herself to get you back as well."
"..." Jim reacted with a sigh. "...I guess I can't hide that..."
"So what decision have you already made?"
"...we both have a common goal...to kill Mengsk," Raynor answered as the two headed towards the bridge.