Author's Note: All right everyone. As promised, the next chapter is here. The battle on Aiur will also play its role in this story, that is why this chapter will focus on that as well as Kerrigan's redemption.

As always, please read and review!

Chapter 12

Outskirts of Scion Province, Aiur

"To arms, my brethren!" Selendis ordered, as the swarms of Zerg poured out from Scion province and headed towards them. While it was not as heavily defended as Antioch or the Overmind's final resting site, the number of defenders there nevertheless numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Interceptor after interceptor flew out of the Carrier hangar bays, and at a frightening speed, the frontal wave of the Zerg attack force was decimated. Zerglings fell by the hundreds, as the Roaches burrowed underground to avoid incoming fire. The Hydralisks tried to shoot down as many of them as they could, but more and more interceptors simply filled their ranks as others retreated.

"Mohandar, position your Void Rays immediately!" Artanis ordered from his command Mothership. "Do not allow the Zerg to attack our flanks!"

Protoss Void Rays opened fire with their prismatic beams, as the attacking Ultralisks continued to charge at the Protoss ground warriors. Some were able to make it through the gauntlet and engage the Zealots, but others were sizzled by the Void Rays and the supporting Colossi.

On the ground, thousands of Immortals were moving as fast as they could towards the province, but they were continuously held up by determined resistance from the Zerglings. The Zerg were indeed very quick learners. During the initial landings they had found out that the hardened shields of the Immortals do not activate against light attacks, and this was why they were able to survive the Ultralisks. This time, no attempt will be made by heavy units to attack them.

"Templars! Release your storm powers!" Mohandar shouted from his Void Ray.

Instantly, the skies above crackled with blue lighting. Zerg after Zerg rushed in, and most were killed. However, the Roaches that were moving beneath the ground survived, and they began to pop up from behind the Templars. With their fighting abilities sacrificed to better perfect the powers of the Khala, they were easy targets.

From above, the Scouts once again opened up with their photon blasters. As Roaches had no defense against aerial opponents, many of them were forced to fall back. The Templars advanced again, but more were killed by spikes rising from the ground beneath them.

"Bring the Observers forward immediately!" Selendis ordered. "Mohandar, eradicate the airborne Zerg!"

With the help of Scouts and Corsairs, Zerg Overlords and Overseers were shot out of the sky with shocking effectiveness. The Void Rays provided cover for them against the attacking Corruptors, and while the swarms of Mutalisks fared somewhat better, the fact that their glaive wurm attacks had only minimal range brought them into firing range of Stalkers and Sentries. Nevertheless, they continued to rush in hoping to overwhelm them.

As the Observers finally got within detection range, the towering Colossi opened up with their thermal lances. The Zerg Lurkers who mistakenly thought they were safe were mostly incinerated where they were, while others un-burrowed and crawled away, only to have their escape routes cut off by the force fields generated by the Sentries. With no offensive capabilities above ground, they fell victim to the Sentries' disruption beams.

By now, swarms of Banelings were charging towards the Colossi. The Immortals and Stalkers destroyed as many as they could from a distance, but there were simply too many. The Colossi too recognized what was happening and tried to pick them off from long range, but enough got through and smashed into their slender golden legs. The giant machines toppled to the ground, crushing Zealots and High Templars in the process, as all the while the Interceptors swarmed overhead, trying to provide an umbrella cover for their ground brethren.

As the Protoss continued to move ever closer to Scion, they began to come into contact with the Zerg creep more and more frequently. The Scouts did what they could to destroy the Creep Tumors, but the Zerg had laid a carpet of them towards every approach to the city. With the benefit of increased movement speed on the creep, the Zealots and Dark Templars were coming into contact with Queens. The Protoss warriors soon learned the new Zerg breeds were vastly more powerful than what they had encountered years ago, as their claws tore many of them apart.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Every Protoss knew what this meant: Nydus Worm transports were coming. Within moments, their suspicions had been confirmed. Worm after worm popped up from the ground, their mouths ready to open to unleash entire legions of Zerg upon them.

But all of a sudden, they were wrapped in giant white bubbles of energy. As the Protoss warriors looked up, they cheered as waves of Corsairs flew overhead. Immediately, Void Rays unleashed their prismatic beams on the hapless targets. When the disruption webs dissipated, all of the biological transports were a blazing ruin.

"Their worms are gone!" Mohandar announced. "Bring in the Warp Prisms!"

The dozens of the new generation shuttles flew forward, many of them immediately transforming into their phasing mode as a mobile psionic matrix. While some were shot down by Spore Crawlers moving into firing range, the survivors completed the transformation.

Within seconds, their psionic matrix abilities were used to maximum effect, as Stalkers, Immortals, and Colossi warped in from under their field. Because the Warp Prisms were immobile in this mode and has no defensive abilities, many of the Stalkers remained behind to defend them against Hydralisks and Mutalisks that successfully ran the gauntlet against the Interceptors and Scouts, as they surged across the battlefield to destroy the Protoss transports.

"Templars, Sentries, protect those transports!" Selendis commanded from her Carrier above. "Our reinforcements must get through!"

Some Templars continued to cast storms against the incoming Zerg. By now however, without being given a minute's respite, many were running dangerously low on energy, even with the assistance of their Khaydarin Amulets. As a result, the protective storms began to slacken, as Zerglings and Roaches poured through the gaps, assisted by the Queens.

With so many Queens fighting at the front, the Zerg attacks began to increase in ferocity. Now that the Protoss warriors were fighting on the creep themselves, the Queens could move with frightening speed to assist fellow Zerg in need. Of particular frustration to the Zealots and Immortals was their transfusion ability, which instantly pumped life into Zerg creatures that were near death at a small cost of energy to them.

Some of the High Templar that still had energy moved forward to assist, but many were killed Brood Lords patrolling above. The ones that remained unleashed their feedback ability, draining the Queens' energy to prevent the accelerated healing process to nearby Zerg, as Sentry units moved forward to defend the Templars from the broodling attacks.

More and more Sentries were warped in from the Warp Prisms, but most were forced to stay back to defend the transports as Ultralisks overtook the defending Zealots. Although Mohandar's Void Rays were keeping most of the behemoths from getting close, enough were slipping the net to force many of the reinforcements to defend the Warp Prisms. Some of the Corsairs continued to summon disruption webs to block them off, but with too many Ultralisks coming from too many different directions, this was taking a toll on their energy levels.

In the air, Mutalisks were being shot down by the hundreds by the Scouts, but the more durable Corruptors were able to get within range and spray them with a form of corrosive slime. This weakened the armor of the Scout ships, making them easier targets for the legions of Scourge that swarmed into them. Many were shot down by Interceptors, but the ones that got through downed one Scout after another. The Carrier pilots were now getting nervous, as the Observers had only detected moderate Zerg air units in Scion, and thus Urun's Phoenix Fleet was directed elsewhere. In desperation, the Corsairs were once again used as replacement Scouts while more were launched from the Motherships in high orbit above Aiur.

The ground forces were in a better position. Enough Sentries were able to join up with the frontal Protoss warriors, and together with the Zealots and Dark Templar, they were concentrating on destroying the Creep Tumors. While this inevitably put many of them within detection range of Spore Crawlers, the Zerg structures were not meant to survive if the creep beneath them is removed. As such, many of them were forced to lift themselves up and fall back. The Zerg Queens continued to provide support as they retreated, but by now many of them were wasting their efforts on hallucinations casted by the Sentries, distracting them as the real Protoss warriors continued to wreak havoc at their ground defenses. With the Spore Crawlers out of detection range, the Dark Templars were able to get up close to the Spine Crawlers and cut them to pieces. All the while, Overseers desperately tried to move within detection range, running the gauntlet of Stalkers that blinked back and forth to rapidly get within firing position to protect the Dark Templars.

One by one, the Overseers were being shot out of the sky, but others began to spawn Changelings. While not as powerful as the Broodlings from the Brood Lords, they nevertheless continued to harass the Stalkers, forcing them to divert their attention away from the Overseers.

This left the Dark Templars in a more vulnerable position, as they became detected by the Overseers. By now, most of the Spine Crawlers had been destroyed, but Zerglings and Roaches began to overwhelm them. The supporting Sentries tried to create as many hallucinations as they could, but there were so many Zerg that it made little difference.

"We must push on towards the province!" Selendis exclaimed. "Corsairs, destroy those Overseers!"

Once again, the outdated Corsairs vanished above the heads of the Protoss ground warriors and engaged the Zerg flyers with their Neutron Flares. While the damage is minor, it nevertheless drew the attention of the Mutalisks, as dozens of them rained down upon the Protoss ships. The Carrier Interceptors once again swarmed in, and within minutes the airborne Zerg had succumbed to the Protoss flyers.

"Executor Selendis, the Zerg are retreating!" a Templar declared, as more and more ground units reported the Zerg were falling back into the city.

"Well done, my brethren!" the executor said. "The paths leading to Scion are ours again. Now it is time to reclaim the province itself. What is the concentration of Zerg in the city?"

"Impossible to tell. All of our Observers have been shot down by Spore Colonies. It is clear that their anti-air defenses are very strong."

"Not strong enough against the might of the Protoss! We will remain here for now to gather our strength as our reinforcements arrive. Tomorrow, we shall cleanse the Zerg from Scion once and for all."

Mohandar was sending orders from his Void Ray to the Sentries on the ground. "Protect the remaining Warp Prisms at all costs. The Zerg are just as sneaky as they are ruthless. We have lost many valuable prisms today. We cannot allow the Zerg to stem the flow of our warriors to the battlefield."

Raiders Fleet, High Orbit Over Agria

Jim watched from the bridge of the Helios as the rest of the fleet joined them in high orbit above Agria. Orbital scans have indicated that while the Zerg on the planet's surface were no longer expanding across the planet, there's no sign of them giving up any territory either. Sarah had explained that when it became clear the race to the Xel'Naga artifacts had been lost, she had lost interest in attacking all over the sector. Without the order for further offensives or expansions, the Zerg simply reverted to a standby phase, defending themselves from attackers, but do nothing more until a new order is issued.

Now that she was no longer infested, Sarah speculated that it's entirely possible that all the worlds the Zerg had invaded will be awaiting further orders from the Queen of Blades. If none come and no hostile invaders arrive, they'd probably remain passive.

Warfield felt if that was true, then they could take their time to plan for the retaking of the planet. He had already agreed to Dr. Hanson's request not to use nuclear strikes against the Zerg. While the colony had been overrun, orbital scans had indicated that the Zerg had little interest regarding the botanical and wildlife preserves. The same was true of the colonist huts and buildings, as they were not living creatures and thus there was no use for them. Although many of the domes, huts, and other buildings had been infested by the Zerg creep, enough remained that the Zerg seemed to have ignored. The buildings are no longer operable as the colony's power grid had been damaged during the Zerg invasion, but if power could be restored, they could still provide the bare bones of living and settlement. Ariel felt this would be the best starting point for her people to return home once the Zerg had been cleared, and Warfield was inclined to agree.

Marines, Firebats, and Marauders were already being loaded onto the Medvac dropships, hundreds of them ready to be launched from the battlecruisers upon receiving the order. Sarah and Nova had a Medvac that stood out somewhat from the others, as it was needed to be sign to allied forces that it was carrying special cargo. Jim ordered such special Medvac have different engines compared to the standard ones, as they're too loud and would alert the Zerg too soon in the case of covert missions. Nova had wanted to use an orbital drop just like she had in helping Jim against Tosh on Avernus Station, but he recommended against that as the drop pods could hold much less people in comparison.

It's not that Jim didn't believe in Nova's capabilities, especially now that her psionic power's full potential had been unlocked, but the one thing the Zerg usually has on their side is quantity. As he had learned after fighting the Zerg for so long, individual strength alone isn't what's important, it's being too heavily outnumbered. And unlike the new soldiers the terrans possess, the Zerg creatures become vicious killers upon birth.

As this was not a covert mission, he had ordered marine, firebat, and marauder escorts for the two ghosts, much to their annoyance. Neither one of them were too used to fighting on the frontline, and Nova felt they'd end up being a liability problem. Jim wasn't one bit surprised by this. With so much special talents of their own, ghosts tend to treat the low leveled infantrymen with greater arrogance for having no talents at all. Nevertheless Sarah had convinced her that it was necessary for such escorts, and that Jim was just looking out for her safety.

While Warfield believes clearing the Zerg out shouldn't be much of a problem, Jim couldn't help but think back to the visions seen in the ihan crystal Zeratul had given him. The 2nd vision had clearly shown a hybrid that enslaved the preservers and enslaved their guardian tribe, while the last vision had shown the entire Zerg swarm being enslaved by such monstrosities. Although the last vision was still years into the future, it had shown the presence of thousands of these hybrids. Although he didn't know if they had already awakened or not, the last thing he wanted was to discover a hybrid had come down to Agria and taken control of the Zerg there.

For Raynor, staying on the bridge was something of great reluctance. Warfield wanted to be on the frontline himself, fighting with his soldiers, but he too remained on the bridge of the Helios. In Jim's case however, it was entirely different. He continued to suffer the fear of something happening to Sarah just like what had happened on Tarsonis, and it shook him to the core. Nova had already promised him that she'd keep her safe, but in war there's no assurances of anything.

"Raynor, it's time," General Warfield said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "The battlecruisers are descending to low orbit over the planet as we speak, ready to launch the dropships for deployment."

Suddenly, the general alarm sounded. Apparently low orbit was considered enough by Zerg standards as territorial invasion, as hundreds of Mutalisks and Corruptors were flying up to greet them.

"All laser batteries open fire on the flyers!" Warfield ordered. "Tear them apart!"

Some of the battlecruisers opened up with plasma torpedo attacks. As most of the Zerg flyers were grouped closely together in believing they can get in close enough before Yamato Cannon strikes, many of them were incinerated by the new discharge.

However, the Zerg were quick adaptors. Immediately the flyers began to spread apart, forcing the battlecruisers to disperse their fire. With so many attacks from so many different flanks, many of them began reporting heavy damage to their hulls, while others suffered system failure and plummeted to the surface. Jim ordered the ships to concentrate their fire on the Corruptors, who had begun spraying the capital ships with a form of corrosive slime that weakened their armor.

"Deploy the Vikings immediately!" Warfield ordered, as thousands of Scourges were picked up on the scanners. "Don't let them close to the battlecruisers!"

Within minutes, hundreds of the mechanical hybrids flew out of the launch bays, their lanzer torpedoes tearing apart the tiny Zerg flyers. Enraged, more and more Mutalisks veered off their course for the battlecruisers and headed straight for their new targets. But due to their low attack range, many were shredded before they had a chance to launch their glaive wurm spores.

But once again, the Zerg's overwhelming numbers played their role in the battle. More and more Mutalisks simply filled their ranks, as one by one the Vikings began reporting power loss to their systems. The ones still unscathed were fighting hard, but many of them were forced to withdraw to the hangars due to shortage of ammunition. This left the Mutalisks free to turn their attention back to the battlecruisers, much to Warfield's frustration. Wraiths were deployed to assist in the air battle, but they were not as effective as the Vikings and many of them were unable to last as long when they were under Corruptor attack.

Fortunately for them, the orbital scans for the Zerg infestation on Agria proved to be accurate. Because no Xel'Naga artifacts had been found on Agria and that it's only a small farming colony, the Zerg made little attempt to reinforce their positions on the planet once it had been overrun. As such, the scans indicated that aerial Zerg numbers were relatively small compared to the ground units. With hundreds of Mutalisks and Corruptors being shot out of the sky every minute, the flyers were dwindling faster than the Zerg expected. They had recognized this, and had begun to pull back to the planet's surface.

"We've driven them off, well done boys," Warfield announced. "But that was just the easy part. Now we have to drive the Zerg off the planet."

Jim pressed a button on the communicator console. "Escort the dropships down to the planet's surface, and do it carefully this time! Last thing we need is another catastrophe like on Char!"

Luckily, there were no more Zerg flyers to oppose them this time. From the orbital scans, it would appear that they had all pulled back to their main hive cluster on the planet. Although numbering in the hundreds of thousands, this was considered relatively small by Zerg standards. As such, all of the dropships were able to safely land on Agria, and all their cargo unloaded without a hitch.

Surface of Agria

Sarah looked out of the dropship's window in anticipation. She was on Agria with Nova and the squads of marines, firebats, and marauders Jim had assigned to them for protection. After so long, she was fighting as a ghost again, against the Zerg. Although after training with Nova at the firing range had removed most of her fear for them, a deep part of her still wished she had talked Jim out of the escorts.

She understood the need for protection given the prophecy, but she had enough blood on her hands already as the Queen of Blades. The last thing she wanted was another encounter like that where she ended up hurting her allies. To that end, she wanted to go out there alone, but Jim pointed out the fact that if she still feared infestation, going out alone would mean no one would be there to stop it. He already had Dr. Hanson standing by in the drop pod hangars to be sent to the surface at a moment's notice should something like that happen, as he refused for her to simply pull the trigger on her head.

"It'll be alright, Sarah," Nova said softly. "We'll clear the Zerg out of Agria in no time. Both you and Jim are a little paranoid, although it's completely understandable."

"All right people, we've touched down," the pilot declared. "Ahead of you is the open battlefield. Give them hell!"

The ramp descended and the marines, firebats, and marauders quickly scurried out, ready for battle. Sarah remained behind for a moment, taking a deep breath in anticipation of what's to come.

"I've caused enough human deaths already," she said softly to Nova. "They may be assigned to protect me, but I have an obligation to protect them as best I could. I don't need to read their minds to know many of them still see me as the Queen of Blades, so I have to prove them wrong."

Nova nodded, before picking up her rifle and walking down the ramp. "We all have to do our parts."

Sarah took one last deep breath and picked up her rifle as well to join the rest of the squad, many of them eager for battle. She hoped Jim was right in that she could find redemption.