Author's Note: Just for the sake of being April Fool's Day, I decided to put up the next chapter. This one is slightly shorter compared to the other chapters, but there are some questions I feel people might have had in Wings of Liberty that should be answered. This chapter is an attempt to tie up some of those loose ends, as well as give further character development.
As always, please read and review!
Chapter 4
Bridge, Hyperion, Deep Space
Jim nodded to Matt as he entered the Hyperion bridge. Sarah was still asleep in the medbay, and Stetmann had no clue just how much longer before she'll wake up. With the vast majority of the crew still drinking their worth of liquor in the Cantina, he saw no point in going there.
"We're receiving a transmission from the Bucephalus, sir," Matt gestured to the communicator.
"Patch it through, Matt."
"Commander, it is good to see you," Valerian greeted.
"So what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?" Jim asked. "Everything that's should have been done has been done already."
"For the most part yes. I will be returning to Korhal shortly to explain to the public what had happened here on Char. The broadcast recordings and transmissions I promised I would be sending to the public have already been sent. Just about every Dominion world will be receiving the news of your actions."
"You already told me that, kid. Anything new that you haven't said yet?"
"That would be concerning General Warfield."
"What about him?"
"As you know, your broadcast about my father's role in the Tarsonis genocide had left the general pretty shaken. He may not have liked you during the initial Char invasion, but he certainly seemed to have changed his mind."
"Let me guess, he doesn't want to return to the Dominion to serve under such a tyrant?"
"That, and the fact he feels it's much more beneficial to fight alongside a commander who actually knows the Zerg tactics and strategies, rather than a man who has just been winging it the whole time and hoping for the best."
"Sir, we should take this opportunity," Matt said eagerly. "As the commander of the Dominion fleet, Warfield would have important tactical data regarding the Dominion military. It will be of great value to us once our revolution against Mengsk starts up again."
A new face suddenly appeared on the screen. It was Warfield. "I am an honorable man, Raynor. Mengsk and I first met in the Confederate military and served under him before he led the Sons of Korhal."
Jim frowned. "What do you know about the Sons of Korhal, general?"
"As I'm sure you remember, when you had joined the Sons of Korhal, it had already won countless victories against the Confederacy, although were unsuccessful in toppling it. Let's just say I was their inside man."
"Mengsk never said anything about you during the time I served with him," Jim pointed out.
"That's because I wasn't an official member of his gang. It was I who provided Mengsk with the information he required about Confederate military strength and tactics that led to his success. My family was killed during the Zerg invasion of Tarsonis, and upon the creation of the Dominion, Mengsk promised me that by being a part of his military, I would be able to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. Now that I know it was the bastard himself that was responsible for my family's death, well let's just say you're not the only one with a bone to pick with him."
"I sure do appreciate that, general," Jim replied, before turning to Valerian again. "Well junior, it looks like all the loose ends here have been tied up. It appears you'll have no problem getting what you want of being a better man than your father."
"I'll take just a very small section of the fleet back with me to Korhal then," the young prince said. "The rest will be joining up with your Raiders now. Farewell, Mr. Raynor. We'll meet again in the future."
Jim turned off the monitor and turned to Matt. "Matt, take us to Haven. Dr. Hanson is the best expert on Zerg right now, and I'm going to be needing her help with Sarah's situation. Mengsk will have his problems with the media to deal with, that'll suffice for his suffering for now."
Unknown Location
In an unknown location, the Dark Voice seethed with anger at the recent events that had unfolded, before turning his attention to Samir Duran. "Do you have any idea the scale of the catastrophe this has brought upon me?"
"You give them too much credit, master," Duran responded humbly. "The terrans are utterly incapable of understanding the nature of our grand scheme. The Protoss have far greater potential in understanding it all, but they had foolishly denied themselves that opportunity due to their culture and their inability to change traditions."
"Don't you speak to me in such an arrogant tone, Duran," the Dark Voice said dangerously. "You failed me! Your awakened hybrids are supposed to have mastered the art of enslavement and destruction for my great plan! Your creation failed to assassinate Zeratul, even with a whole Zhakul tribe of Protoss at its disposal!"
"Maar was one of my first hybrids," Duran said, trying to assure his master that his creations are more than capable of carrying out their plans. "You knew the first ones had not fully understood the concept of combat alongside others. It was why Maar continuously attacked the base alone, when all it had to do was gather the Zhakul Guardians in force, and wipe out the intruders."
"Your hybrid was a failure, plain and simple! Not only did it fail to deal with Zeratul, it did not even succeed in preventing him from freeing the holy preservers! Now the Nerazim has succeeded in translating the prophecy and poses a further threat to my great plan!"
"With all due respect, master, neither one of us is innocent in this aspect. Both of us lacked the vision to see the specifics in the assimilations of the Zerg Swarm. Both of us failed to see the implications that Kerrigan would have posed until the destruction of the Overmind. Had we seen it sooner, the Zerg Swarm would still be ours to command."
The Dark Voice held back his desire to eradicate Duran for such an insult against him. As much as he hated to admit it, Duran was right. When the Zerg had initially taken Kerrigan into the Swarm, he corrected expected the Overmind to have her infested. As such, his orders to the Overmind had been the same as with all the other captured terrans: have them infested, and then use them to strengthen the Swarm. Even after the discovery of the Zerg attraction to certain terran beings, he saw nothing was wrong with the picture. In fact, the attraction to such emanations simply made the job easier for the Zerg to eradicate the terran species, and have their knowledge assimilated for his personal use.
As the emanations became stronger with other terrans encountered, the Dark Voice still did not change his order to the Overmind. After all, they still succumbed to the Zerg might, so they did nothing more than delay the inevitable. Although the 1st encounter with Kerrigan proved unsuccessful in her defeat, the Dark Voice quickly saw that her emanation was far stronger than any other terran yet encountered.
Given the uniqueness of the psychic emanations, it had been theorized that should a certain threshold be reached, it would be possible to control individual Zerg. Upon looking back, the Dark Voice saw that his greatest error was his claim that such a theory was utter rubbish, as it was his belief the Zerg could not be controlled by a non-Xel'Naga being.
Nevertheless, he had learned that something seemed to set Kerrigan apart from the other terrans. In terms of psionic powers, the Zerg possessed nothing more than telepathy, allowing the individual minions to communicate with one another, and the same applied to different strains. But just as the Zerg Swarm had assimilated the terrans to learn more about them and use what they had to their advantage, so too did the terrans to the captured Zerg.
Although nowhere near the ability to assimilate and understand like the Zerg are able to, the terrans nevertheless researched and experimented on individual Zerg in the hopes to learn more about them. It was from these experiments, carried out by a terran force known as the Confederacy, that the Dark Voice first learned the terrans had discovered the Zerg attraction to psychic emanations to certain terran individuals. Kerrigan was among the terran test subjects, and whereas most of the Zerg responses were minimal to the subjects, the response to her was far more active and specific.
It had become clear to him right then and there, that there was something this terran possessed that attracted the Zerg. Even so, attraction to the Zerg is one thing, being able to dictate them is quite another. Thus even after her assimilation into the Swarm, the Dark Voice still saw her as a pawn compared to the other infested terrans, just a much stronger pawn.
However, as her power continued to grow in the Zerg Swarm as the Queen of Blades, it became clear to him that the Overmind was giving her far more power than even that of its cerebrates. By the time of its death on Aiur, the Dark Voice finally saw its plan for Kerrigan. But by then it had been too late. His control over the Zerg Swarm had been lost, and for years he had fumed at the inability to take command what had been rightfully his from the very beginning, and to complete what should have been done eons ago had he had the means to.
"There is one benefit to be gained from all the events that have transpired," he said finally. "After ages of searching, my ascension is finally within reach again."
Duran nodded. "I will not fail you, master. As we speak, more of my hybrids are developing."
"What of the awakened one?"
"It is ready to do your bidding. It has already been sent its designated location, per your instructions."
"Good. Once it arrives I will personally give it its specific orders. It may have proved to be a success on its previous task, but after your failed hybrid on Zhakul, I remain skeptical about its next objective."
"It will be a success, master. They will never stand a chance against it."
"They had better not, Duran. My patience is wearing thin. The Zerg Swarm will be mine again."
"It will be, master. All we need now is a little more time. Your millennia old plan is on the verge of fruition."
"Time is also starting to turn against us, young Duran. You cannot speed up the other hybrids' awakening process without removing some of the perfections I had so painstakingly forged into their making. I will not allow more failures like Maar again."
"Then perhaps we should reconsider the replication process once more. We have more than enough samples to create an entire army of them."
The Dark Voice growled angrily. "Your duplication of my greatest creations turned them into reckless psychopaths! It was my understanding that they would retain the ability to obey my commands!"
"The accelerated cloning process is still imperfect," Duran defended. "It will take a certain number of failed cloning experiments before a perfected version could be created. It is still a quicker process compared to creation of the original hybrids."
"I will not allow a hybrid army on the loose that has no self control! I need them under my command to enslave the Zerg Swarm!" the Dark Voice seethed. "I showed you leniency by not terminating your cloning experiment after your initial clone failed, and by simply discarding it rather than killing it myself!"
"At least reconsider, master," Duran pleaded. "The cloned hybrid isn't completely useless to us. It still share a residual psychic link to both of us, just like all of your original ones do. And while we can't give it commands, we can still track it, and see what it does."
"That is true," the Dark Voice admitted. "I must say I was surprised to see the terrans take such an interest in such a creature. Though I cannot say the same for their further experimenting on it when they have virtually no understanding of it at all."
"That is the nature of all terrans. All they want is more power, no matter where the source comes from. They are utterly incapable of realizing there are certain powers simply beyond their control or even their narrow understanding. It is with satisfaction that we now see the creature rampaging about, destroying the remains of the lab on Castanar."
"This Arcturus Mengsk you speak of who appears to be trying to replicate the clone is exactly the reason why the terrans in this universe must be purged! My creations may be under my command to enslave and destroy, but I never once attempted to control them so completely! I may be considered perfection in comparison to the Zerg, Protoss, and Terrans, but even I am not flawless! That is why my hybrids are still given a choice to reason and question some of my minor directives at times, even if they are only aware of the choice on a subconscious level! The wretched terran creature, on the other hand, prefers to see everyone around him without thought and reason at all!"
"This is why I ask again for your consent in letting me proceed forward with my replicating experiments again, master," Duran pointed out. "Terran technology is inferior compared to Protoss technology. You saw it yourself, for all the terran attacks on the hybrid clone at Castanar, the result was negligible to it. A whole army of them would wipe out the terran race before they could even see what is happening!"
The Dark Voice paused for a moment, before nodding to Duran. "Very well, young one. You may proceed with the cloning experiments again, but it is to be done my way. None of the completed clones are to be awakened without my express knowledge or consent. Should I choose to awaken them, those that could not be controlled are to be discarded onto terran territory."
"Thank you, master," Duran bowed and turned to leave, before the Dark Voice stopped him.
"But know this, Duran: if they cannot be controlled, their only purpose to me is for the eradication of the terran species. Once that is completely, they will be destroyed. I suggest you perfect the clones quickly."
"Of course," Duran replied. He had a great deal of work ahead of him now, but at least he was allowed to proceed. As he walked away, he couldn't help but wonder how the cloned hybrids would fare against the more cunning terrans they had encountered.