Chapter 15

Aiur

The hybrid watched as Zeratul as his brethren go, before blinking away deeper into the jungle. When it was clear he was out of detection range, he entered a telepathic state.

"Master, it is as we had predicted. After the events on Char, the Protoss have arrived to take their precious homeworld back."

"That comes as no surprise to me," the Dark Voice spoke. Despite being countless light years away, the hybrid could hear his master as if he was right next to him. "They believe now that the Queen of Blades is dead, the Zerg are now scattered, no longer capable of mounting attacks or even an effective defense. Soon, they will learn just how wrong they are."

"I stand ready to obey, my master. As you had requested, I have kept the Zerg hive cluster in the vicinity in a relatively calm and quiet state. Now the Protoss believe that there is little chance of attack, and have thus far ignored them altogether."

"What is your status of control over them?"

"You need not worry, master. Now that I am in such close proximity, none of them can stray from my will. With but a thought, I can command them all to attack the Protoss in the area."

"The Protoss there are to live for the time being, my servant. Allow them to locate what they seek in the underground providence. If I am correct, their discovery will prompt swift action on their part to have them destroyed, not realizing that by now, they have grown to full maturity. Their actions will do nothing more than release them out into the Void, and that will increase my control of the Zerg on this world."

"You refer to Zeratul and his Dark Templar. The Protoss holding outside are of no relevance. Why should we allow them to live right now?"

"Zeratul had initially refused to abandon Karass on Ulaan, young one. It is only logical that he would not abandon his brethren in the dire times. His years of combat experience has made him powerful against the Zerg, and I do not wish for him to leave the caverns to tip the balance in the Protoss's favor. What he seeks beneath will be the end of him, forever denying the Protoss of their mighty warrior."

"Then what is your will, master?"

"Gather the Zerg forces in the hive cluster. When they are released from the caverns, the Protoss will be thrown into disarray. The time will then be ripe to strike."

Agrian Starport, Agria

Jim clutched his rifle as he walked down the trenches filled with infantrymen. He was originally supposed to stay on the BattleCruiser Helios, but the mounting casualties against the Zerg hive cluster had forced him to hitch a ride on a orbital drop pod down to the command center. Despite being battered elsewhere on the planet, the Zerg here remained defiant and continued to resist all further attacks to annihilate them.

He wanted to be down on Agria, but not here. Apparently Sarah's squad had taken a heavy beating against the Zerg near Lark's Crossing and was forced to barricade themselves in a power station nearby. He had wanted to send some of the Banshee patrols to help her, but they were all needed to provide fire support for the marines here. All he could hope for now was that Sarah could hold her own until he could finish the job here.

"What is the situation?" He asked a nearby officer.

"The outer defenses have been neutralized," the young man reported. "Our Siege Tanks have taken care of any Zerglings that have tried to overwhelm the Reapers. Their D-8 Charges have made short work of the Spine Crawlers, and the Vikings are successfully preventing their flyers from raining down on us."

"And the push to the hive cluster itself?"

"That's going to be a tricky one, sir. Almost all paths leading to it are extremely narrow, just enough for our Hellions to fit through. We can provide it with some marauder escorts, but the Zerg have positioned Ultralisks at the choke point exits, which the Hellion's flamethrower can do crap against. Similarly, those exits are spiked with Spore Crawlers, so any attempt to protect them with Wraiths will get shredded. We've tried to send Thors to blast a way through, but the Zerg destroyed many rock formations that caused a cave in from the adjacent cliffs. The paths are now too narrow for the Thors to maneuver, so they can't support one another effectively."

"The Zerg wouldn't be dumb enough to box themselves completely in," Jim replied. "Their Nydus Worms may help them tunnel underground, but those can't deploy Zerg the second they pop out of the ground. The Zerg have to be smart enough to have a safe place for the worms to pop up from the ground."

"The only wide path is just north of their base. We have detected a heavy concentration of Zerg larvae there, and the moment anyone gets close to check it out, they're hatched into Mutalisks to deal with them. We've tried sending Thors to that area as well to blast a way in, but the Zerg positioned Virophage buildings there. The slime those things are spewing out are slowing down our mechanical walkers dramatically, leaving them easy prey to the flyers since Thors don't have strong anti-air capabilities."

"Are there any Zerg units protecting the larvae?"

"There's only a few dozen Zerglings, Roaches, and Hydralisks in the area, what are you getting at?"

"They fortified the area based on the assumption we'd go in with the heavy artillery. If we move in with infantry only, they won't suspect it."

"Sir, that's suicide! Without artillery support or air cover, you won't last 5 min there!"

"I've fought the Zerg for much longer than you," Jim assured. "I know what I'm doing. Just get me some infantry."

The marine officer sighed. "My boys aren't going to like this, Raynor. They're going to think you're going to use them for cannon fodder."

"Unlike your emperor, I do my best to protect the people I command, even those that were once my enemies." Jim replied, gesturing to his nearby Vulture that came with the drop pod. "Besides, I've got the technological ingenuity weapon necessary to protect them much better than they think."

The officer gestured for a group of marines, marauders, and reapers over. "You're the expert in dealing with the Zerg here, so I'll trust you. These boys will be yours to command for this mission. The marines have been given the special heavy gauss rifles instead of the standard type, with an integrated grenade launcher and heavier stopping power."

One of the marines snorted. "I don't care how good he thinks he is, he's still just one man. What does he have we don't?"

Jim smirked slightly, before walking back to his Vulture and pulled out his weapon. The marine's eyes widened. What the rebel commander held in his hands was a Mark XII Heavy Penetrator Commando Rifle. It was so huge that Raynor was forced to grip it with both hands. In comparison, the heavy gauss rifle looked like a child's toy.

"This bad boy can fire an HEV round that is capable of piercing the skin of even the strongest Zerg," Jim replied. "If things get too rough, you just lure them towards me, I'll do the rest."

He then opened a channel on his comm-link. "General Warfield, have the Thors positioned just out of range of the Virophages. Once we've destroyed enough of them, the Thors can just go in destroy all the Nydus Worms and remove the Zerg transport threat."

"You only have a short window to make that happen, Raynor," the general's voice came over the link. "Every 30 minutes those worms pop out and deploy more Zerg minions. I suggest you begin the assault as soon as those Zerg leave the worms. Be careful, this could be a one-way ticket. If you don't clear a path for the Thors when the 30 minutes are up, you'll be Zerg chow."

"Saddle up boys!" Jim ordered, as he returned to his Vulture and headed for his destination while the marines, marauders, and reapers all followed in Hellions. They hoped the rebel commander knew what he was doing. If his plan worked, the last Zerg stronghold on Agria will be eliminated and the planet will be free. But if his plan failed, none of them will live to see another day.

Larks' Crossing, Agria

Sarah stepped out on to the plains of the battlefield, alone. She knew she had made the right decision for Nova and the others to stay in the station. She had the strongest psionic signature, so the Zerg will be attracted to her. Still, she couldn't help but wonder of any of Franklin's boys will get too trigger happy and intentionally use the auto turrets against her. She sighed, knowing there was a very high chance of such a possibility as she still had a long ways to go to earn the trust of those around her, but at least she was on her way.

By now, night had fallen, and the red head was grateful for the cover of darkness as she did not have to rely on her cloak. True the silver psionically attuned hostile environmental suit did not blend in as well compared to the blackness of night, but the Zerg also have somewhat impaired vision under the cover of darkness. Thus there was no need to waste her psionic powers in cloaking as she hunted the Zerg.

As she gazed across the field, she saw numerous Zerg creatures in the vicinity. The Ultralisks as usual were at the head of the attack spear, flanked on their sides by Roaches and Hydralisks. The Zerglings brought up the rear, with some infested terrans at their flanks. However it was clear they were not attacking. Rather, they seemed to be scavenging, as they had lost track of their prey earlier. All they knew was the terrans were in the area, but did not have an exact location where.

She reached up to her comm-link. "Franklin, I've spotted the Zerg. They're less than a mile away from the auto turret defense system."

"Can you lure them there?" Came the reply.

"I'll take care of that," she said calmly. "You just get ready to fire when I do. The small Zerg should be easy prey."

"And the Ultralisks? You are aware the turrets are essentially pop guns against them, right?"

"Just leave them to me. Are you sure the back-up generators won't lose power?"

"Positive. My boys have checked them thoroughly. Most of them aren't even scratched. As long as no Zerg attack the station, the generators will be just fine."

A new voice came on the frequency. "Sarah, are you sure you can handle it? It's not too late for me to come and help you."

"This is something I have to do alone, Nova. I have to start proving that I can fight my own battles without hurting my allies. You just sit back and focus on the turrets. The second a Zerg is within firing range, you push the button."

Sarah turned off the comm-link and peered into the distance again. By now, the Zerg were already starting to head towards her position. With such a high psionic signature, it would have made no difference if she tried to dampen it or not. Fortunately, this time she wanted them to follow her.

She raised her rifle carefully, aiming at a Roach that was closest to her position. The cracking sound of a rifle shot was heard as the bullet pierced the creature's head, killing it instantly.

This immediately attracted the attention of the other Zerg, as they turned their heads around to see her, and roared in anger.

"Over here, freaks!" Sarah shouted, as she begun running towards the auto turrets, and the horde of Zerg monsters began chasing after her. Other infantrymen would have been running for their lives, scared out of their pants at this moment, but Sarah understood the Zerg better than just about anyone. Once they sense blood nearby, it tends to slightly impair their judgment, as they'll stop at just about nothing to feed.

Fortunately, her ghost training meant she had much higher levels of endurance in running, even though the standard marine could easily run the mile. Behind her, the Zerg had to start off slowly, as the Ultralisks couldn't run as fast as the Zerglings, yet they were placed in front. That did not make her journey a straightforward path, however, as Sarah was forced to run from tree to tree to avoid the Hydralisk spines being shot at her. This gave some of the Zerglings to get dangerously close to her.

Firing from her C-20 Rifle, she easily killed two of them as they attempted to close the distance, but a third one reached the other end of the tree she was hiding behind. Seeing a Roach also closing the distance and ready to fire, Sarah used her telekinetic abilities to raise the Zergling into the air. The Zergling struggled in protest, but to no avail its carapace was pierced by the Roach's acid saliva. In anger, the Roach burrowed underground and moved towards Sarah that way, but by now she was running again, towards the safety of the turrets.

With the help of psionic speed, Sarah was able to reach her destination rather quickly. It was only a slight drain on her psionic powers, as she only used it in bursts. She remembered she had used a similar ability when she was the Queen of Blades during combat, but this time she'll be using it the righteous purposes.

By now, the Zerg weren't far behind. In fact she was already taking cover behind a destroyed auto turret, partially hiding herself from view as the Zerglings closed in on her position and her comm-link went off.

"Sarah, we've got a lock on your position. The first Zerg units are within firing range of the auto turrets. Give us the signal when to proceed."

"Wait until I get as many Zerg in the area as I can, Nova," she said. "We have to make sure there's no chance for them to escape."

The suddenly Zerg roar from behind Sarah told her she had to make her move fast. The red head whirled around to see the Roaches and Hydralisks keeping their distance, as the Ultralisks came from behind to charge at her.

Sarah gritted her teeth in irritation as she knew the Zerg were fast learners. They had already seen auto turrets and are suspecting they had been led into a trap, so they're letting their heavy units do the work for them. Fortunately, they were dealing with the one person who had trained them in combat. She knew their strengths, but she also knew their weaknesses.

The ghost raised her arm and casted a psionic storm right in front of the Ultralisks. As they were charging towards her at full speed, they ran right into it. The roar of pain from the Ultralisks was compounded by the roar of anger from the flanking Zerg, as they immediately moved in towards Sarah. The red head fired an irradiation grenade from her rifle's attacked grenade launcher, as the Hydralisks shrieked from the radiation poisoning.

The Roaches, however, were not as foolish to stand still. Many of them immediately burrowed underground and moved towards Sarah to avoid the radiation, while some of the surviving Hydralisks began morphing into Lurkers and elements of Zerglings did the same into their Baneling morph. The completed ones already charged full speed at Sarah. Thinking quickly, she used her telekinetic abilities to lift the Baneling into the air and throw it at a nearby Ultralisk. The explosion blinded the Ultralisk, but Sarah knew due to its regeneration rate it'll regain its sight in less than a minute.

Other Banelings were getting close to her now. Some of them she shot with her rifle, but others weaved around and got through. Seeing the injured Ultralisk flail around desperately, Sarah unleashed inertia to force the Banelings back towards it, before firing a shot which set off an acidic explosion that crippled the Ultralisk for good.

"Franklin, enough Zerg are now within range of the turrets! Light them up!" She spoke into her comm-link.

Within the blink of an eye, the surrounding auto-turrets around her sprung into life, unleashing their deadly payload on the Zerg creatures. With so many Ultralisks still not fully recovered from Sarah's psionic storm, they were unable to close the distance as gauss bullets rained down on them from the turrets. Sarah added the fire from her rifle as most of the Ultralisks desperately tried to close in on her.

Once again, Kerrigan used her powers to create a psionic barrier to force the Ultralisks from getting close. Although this proved successful, the burrowed Roaches simply moved under the barrier and headed straight for her. Scowling in frustration, Sarah reluctantly dropped the barrier to deal with them. She knew the Roaches couldn't fight while burrowed, but the Lurkers certainly could, and they too were almost within range of her.

Sprinting away, Sarah saw some of the Lurkers make their move. But they weren't targeting her. Instead, they were using their subterranean spines on the auto turrets. Since there were no detectors nearby, the turrets could do nothing against them. With the Roaches now popped up from under the ground and chasing after her, Sarah had no choice but to fall back to the second line of defense turrets as those in the first line were destroyed by the Zerg.

"You have to get rid of those Lurkers!" Franklin's voice spoke over the intercom. "Those turrets won't last long against them!"

"I know," Sarah said grimly, as she threw a fragmentation grenade, killing several Zerglings in the process. "You just concentrate fire on the other Zerg, I'll deal with the smart ones."

The remaining Ultralisks by now had recovered enough to charge again, as the ghost desperately tried to slow them down by firing irradiation grenades from her grenade launcher. Given their size, this did little more than anger the Ultralisks further, as all the while the Lurkers began moving towards Sarah again.

Thinking quickly, Sarah aimed her grenade launcher at the Ultralisks' eyes and fired. As this was one of the few places on their body without thick carapace, the Ultralisks were instantly blinded by this. Without their sight, they began stumbling about, as Sarah used her telekinesis to push the Lurkers into their path, where they were trampled to death by their superior counterparts.

Suddenly, a Hydralisk spine whizzed past her, just narrowly missing her face. In her attempt to deal with the Ultralisks and Lurkers, a lone Hydralisk was able to sneak past Sarah. She raised her rifle to shoot, but the Hydralisk raised its scythe arm struck, instantly cutting her C-20 Canister Rifle in half. But any attempt to capitalize on the matter backfired, literally, as Sarah pulled out her Flak Pistol and fired into the creature's abdomen. As they carried explosive rounds, the explosion killed the Hydralisk instantly, and sent its body flying back across the battlefield, while the other Zerg continued to press against the auto turret defenses.

Sarah breathed a sigh a relief, suddenly grateful for the C-14 Gauss Rifle that Franklin had given her. The Flak Pistol wasn't meant for combat situations like this, and if ammo ran out, she'd be fighting with just her psionic powers alone.

Carefully, she withdrew the marine's weapon from her back and tapped her comm-link. "Hey Franklin, I ought to thank you for your donation."

"What happened?"

"Some Hydralisk trashed my rifle, so now I'm fighting with yours. Hope you don't mind."

"Well I knew giving it to you would come in handy one way or another. Hope you can handle it, though. It's not as versatile as your ghost rifle, I know that for a fact."

"I'm a quick learner when it comes to weapons," she assured, before suddenly frowning as she saw some of the auto turrets stop firing. "Why are they stopping?"

"The morons that built this defense system based it under the assumption no one could get past the first line. Most of the ammo were thus given to the auto turrets there. Now my boys are being forced to fire in shorter intervals to conserve ammo for the second line turrets."

"Well there's only a few Ultralisks left, so it shouldn't be a problem," Sarah replied, scanning the battlefield. The Zerg were regrouping further away, ready to make one final push towards her.

"Let's hope you're right. I still don't know how many Zerg got killed already. The second line isn't meant for such a concentrated attack, so if there's still enough Zerg to fight, you're going to have to do most of the killing."

"Don't you worry about it," Kerrigan assured, cocking the C-14 rifle. "Your boys gave me enough ammo for this. Just keep the bullets flying one more time, and I'll finish the job."

Author's Note: For those of you who didn't catch it at the beginning of the chapter, the hybrid mentioned here is the same one that had been mentioned way back in chapter 4 (so if you have forgotten, please re-read that part). This hybrid will play its role in the story later on, so please be patient on that.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. Please review and I'll see you in the next chapter.