Author's Note: All right everyone, was able to pull a little time out of summer school to get this chapter out. Not sure when the next chapter will come after this though.

Chapter 17

Xel'Naga Caverns Interior, Aiur

"This sanctuary is more than what I had believed it to be, great one," a Dark Templar commented, as he walked along with his Protoss brethren deeper into the caverns. "Even in myth, I could not have ever believed what secrets this place could hold."

"Indeed," Zeratul replied, leading the way. "Zamara had ventured into this sacred place before, but she did not have the luxury of exploring it. She had sought something within here that could save the life of Jake Ramsey, as her presence in his mind was slowly killing him."

"Is that what we are searching for, Zeratul?" Another Dark Templar asked.

"No, young templar. Our mission is to do more than just save lives as Zamara did. We are here to seek out answers that could help us against the greater threat ahead. I must admit this is extremely difficult, as Zamara had warned me the Xel'Naga city is similar to that of a labyrinth, with tunnels connecting to countless chambers, many of them near identical in appearance. If we do not tread carefully, we could be lost within here forever."

Zeratul paused for a moment, in deep thought. Clearly the Xel'Naga had taken precautions against those who they did not see fit to enter the holy grounds. At the secret rear passageway, all he had seen was a flat area with a plethora of Khaydarin Crystals. Had Zamara not taught him about entering the Golden Mean into the crystals, the secret passageway never would have been revealed. It had been clear to him then that the Xel'Naga had wanted the Protoss to continue to establish a link with them, even though they had abandoned them on Aiur. This only reinforced the theory Zamara had told him on Ehlna about the Xel'Naga's plans for the Protoss species. Although many Protoss brethren were angered that their entire race was meant to be part of the Xel'Naga experiment, there were some who were inclined to understand the true nature of these tests.

Now, however, after the fall of Aiur and less than a third of the Protoss population that once inhabited it still alive, there were few who were interested in their creators. Most were struggling to simply survive. However somewhere in this underground city lies further clues for the future of the Protoss race, and they must be discovered as soon as possible. Although Zeratul knew he could not determine its purpose himself, he could always return to Zhakul and allow the holy preservers there to handle the task. His Protoss brethren did not require his skill for the retaking of Aiur now that the Queen of Blades is gone, and if Zamara was right, then forces beyond his understanding had a task far greater in store for him.

"Prelate Zeratul, the psionic emanations we are detecting are becoming stronger the deeper we move in these tunnels," A Dark Templar announced. "Is the source of these emanations what we are searching for?"

"You're being foolish," Another Dark Templar scoffed. "The psionic signatures are coming from the Khaydarin Crystals found throughout the caverns. Did you forget about the very 1st chamber we had come across? The gem pillar in the room seemed to have been forged completely from Khaydarin Crystals. The psionic energy exceeded anything we had ever encountered."

"This one may be different. Most crystals we have been able to detect the similarities in the energy they give off, despite the fact there are a countless number of variations in the crystals, many of them we are still unable to fully understand its purpose or potential. The signal I am detecting now appears to be coming from a different source."

"You are correct, young one," Zeratul observed. "I too detect a different energy coursing through this place. Its emanation is still faint, but I feel I have felt something similar before."

"What could it be?"

"It would appear as if it coming from something living," Zeratul replied. He suddenly dreaded what could be in there, as the signature bore a similarity to what he had encountered on a dark moon, where he had first learned of the hybrid threat by Duran, before nodding to the rest of the Dark Templar. Immediately, all of the Lenassa Nerazims ignited their curved warp blades, while the Zer'atai ones ignited their scythe warp blades. "I cannot tell from this distance, which could only mean whatever that is giving off such a reading is very deep in the caverns. Brace yourselves, noble templar, we may not be alone."

Dominion Forward Base, Redstone III

"Sir, our landing and base establishment have both been successful," General Madison reported, on the communications channel with Mengsk. "We have met only minimal resistance, but that could change at any time given the Zerg's behavior after Char."

"Raynor's victory on Char did have its benefits on my end," Mengsk replied. "With the Zerg leaderless, it's not likely they can fight effectively anymore. You'll be able to steamroll right over them."

"Yeah well they still aren't dumb enough to blindly venture out into the lava," the general explained. "It's not like some of my boys are happy about coming to Redstone III. They may be relieved that the Kel-Morians have all left the planet, but fighting the Zerg and dealing with the lava surges still doesn't sit well."

"You can tell them they're to obey my orders, I have my reasons for this operation."

"With all due respect sir, the Dominion still has plenty of minerals at its disposal. Our industrial complexes may have slowed down a little on production now that the Zerg invasion has been stopped, but they are still working hard to drive the Zerg back. They have all the minerals necessary to make it happen. Why get the rich mineral crystals here?"

"It's not about the minerals for building weapons. I need it for my experiments. The Dominion does not have much rich minerals at its disposal. But if you had bothered to pay attention to the crystal fragment analysis, you would have known that each fragment also contains traces of jorium. That is the main prize, and why I need this mining operation to continue."

"I thought there was a whole stock of them on that Avernus Station!"

Mengsk gritted his teeth angrily. "Raynor destroyed it. I had tried to use reverse psychology on that bastard, and he didn't fall for it."

"Sir?" General Madison looked confused.

"I purposely fortified New Folsom Prison to force him to devote all his men to help with the breakout. This would have left Avernus Station relatively undefended, and my secret strike force standing by there would have made off with the jorium and terrazine goods while Raynor foolishly wasted his time on New Folsom. Hell, they could have even stolen the Psionic Waveform Indoctrinator right from under Tosh's nose."

"But Raynor never attacked New Folsom."

"Don't you think I know that? I even purposely deactivated Nova's neural inhibitors! By giving her a choice in the matter, it should have made Raynor think I was using deception tactics on him! He was supposed to have sided with Tosh, not her!"

"Were you able to recover anything, sir?"

"Nova had done a thorough job there. The jorium stockpile, the terrazine tanks, and the indoctrinator had all been nuked. Fortunately, I was the one who had devised Project Shadow Blade in the first place. I still have the blueprints for the indoctrinator, so another can be built soon."

"But the spectres turned against you! Reviving the project will cause them to rebel again!"

"Because of Tosh! Nova's actions have removed him from the picture, so now my plans can proceed forward just fine. That's why I need you to mine Redstone III as fast as you can. Bring all the jorium you can extract off the planet."

Just then, Madison's comm-link went off. "Sir, we've got Zerg movements detected!"

"Attacking?"

"They will be soon, sir. Our scouts have detected they're amassing their forces in their hives. We need to pull back the SCVs for mining right away."

Madison gave Mengsk a look, and the Dominion Emperor sighed. "Kill the Zerg quickly, general. It is essential I have the jorium stocks as soon as possible. They will play their role in my reestablishment of the Dominion once again."

"I'll take care of it," Madison replied, before switching off the communicator. "Order the Siege Tank battalions into position. If the Zerg think they can just walk into our base and kill everyone, they're about find out just how wrong they are."

Larks' Crossing, Agria

"My boys don't like this one bit, Raynor," Franklin explained to the rebel commander at a communications console, with Nova and Sarah standing nearby. "Apparently she didn't lose all her abilities after that battle on Char."

"Please," Jim scoffed. "There was no guarantee that artifact could have worked at all, I think it's a little bit too much to expect it to have worked perfectly."

"But this just reinforces the fact she's more dangerous!"

"She saved your life, lieutenant. You can at least be grateful for that."

"I am, but I can't say the same for my boys. They don't like this fast healing ability she's got. Makes her really hard to kill."

"That's a good thing," Jim pointed out. "I would have thought you'd trust her more by now."

"I do, but being able to fully heal up in seconds from a Hydralisk slash that should have torn her in half did not rest well with the others. We all know the fast healing rate the Zerg have, but this is considered extremely fast even by their standards."

Jim thought back to Kerrigan's encounter with Zeratul on Ulaan, and how quickly her severed wing regenerated. If Franklin was right, then her healing speed was faster compared to the other Zerg, and that was still retained. It made him think if the other Zerg abilities are present within her.

If she still had their physical strength, it would certainly make people even more uncomfortable. This would reinforce Sarah's original point of how others saw her, still as the Queen of Blades with merely a physical appearance change.

He felt it was wrong to try to explain to the Dominion soldiers the Zerg were not always the bloodthirsty monsters they are now, he was having a hard time believing it himself. To see the Zerg actually fight for noble causes would cause everyone to believe they have to be hallucinating. Still, due to the Zerg blood in Sarah, it would take very little effort to convince them that the power would eventually corrupt her and she'd become their enemy again. True, the Zerg had attacked her just as they attacked everyone else when they invaded Agria, but it wouldn't surprise Jim if people argued that Kerrigan let the Zerg attack her on purpose to make them think she no longer has any ties with them.

Now he was unsure how people would react towards her. Clearly putting a bullet in her wasn't going to accomplish anything, and her psionic abilities are as strong as ever. People would certainly be frightened of Sarah, but that was the case even before she woke up. Now that it's been confirmed that the Zerg blood in her could be awakened, there's no telling what she could do.

"Jim, we both knew something like this could happen," Sarah spoke softly over the comm, snapping the commander out of his thoughts. "Everyone knew of the Zerg DNA still in me, and while asleep, everyone knew it could also wake back up. You knew all along that blood was capable of doing something."

"Yeah, but I also don't want to give the boys the impression they can now use you as the bait to venture out in the unknown," Jim countered. "The fast healing rate doesn't make you invulnerable, and while I'm glad you're ok, this was just one circumstance. You know as well as I do that there's no guarantee this healing power would kick in every time you suffered physical harm. After all these years of fighting the Zerg, everyone's constantly been trying to develop weapons to find a way to counter this healing ability."

"I would know," the red head said bitterly. "The constant experiments I was subjected to during my time with the Confederacy was to find a way to bypass it and go straight for the mind, killing the Zerg that way. While some worked, it was hell on my mind, used as a pawn for their control and domination. There are times I honestly don't know just which species is worse: at least you don't see the individual Zerg fighting each other for positions of power."

Franklin raised an eyebrow. "You're saying they're better than us?"

"She has a point," Nova explained. "The Zerg may be ruthless, but at least they are a unified whole. You don't see any internal conflicts along with them. Sarah is merely saying if we are to survive, we have to put our differences aside. We all have to stand together."

"I was just about the say the same thing," Jim said over the communicator. "I know there's still plenty who don't trust Sarah, but this isn't about her here. It's not about me, it's not about any one of us individually. This is about the survival of the entire human race. Whatever this new threat is, if it wins, it'll kill everyone: the terrans, the Protoss, hell even the Zerg will die from it. None of us are strong enough to fight this alone, we all have to unite."

"Fighting alongside cutthroats that kill for money is hardly something I feel comfortable with," Franklin replied.

"I know how you feel, lieutenant. But you know as well as I do that desperate times call for desperate measures. This isn't an idealistic world, so obviously we have to make decisions that are we would consider going against our morals and ethics. The mercenaries I have may not have the morals and ethics like you and I do, but they're still people and even they are smart enough to know they'd have to strike strange deals with people they don't like to survive."

"All the mercenaries are exactly the same. They're fighting for themselves, and they aren't going to fight unless they can get something out of it. The longer they fight with you, the higher the price they're going to be striking."

"Mercenaries are still soldiers," Raynor countered. "Soldiers may be trained to obey orders, but they're not mindless drones. They have thoughts and consciences too. Yes they won't have as good morals and principles as the regular troops, but that doesn't mean they can't be influenced by them. The battle on Char had already convinced plenty of Dominion soldiers that I'm not the rebel your emperor made me to be. If I can get your boys to change your minds about me, I'm sure I can do the same for the mercs."

Xel'Naga Caverns Entrance, Aiur

"Admiral Urun, we have a Star Relic incoming!" A Templar announced.

Urun frowned. The majority of the Dark Templar warriors had pledged their services to the retaking of Aiur. All over the planet they had fought bravely against the Zerg and exterminating them. Those that did not come to Aiur had remained on Shakuras to protect the Protoss brethren still there from hostile invaders. Although the fleet had only minimal contact with Nerazims on Shakuras, there had been no reports that the Dark Templar homeworld had been subjected to hostile attack. It was also unlikely for internal conflicts on Shakuras right now, as the Khalai and Nerazim Protoss have agreed to temporarily set aside their differences while the task of retaking Aiur was at hand.

Similarly, it was also unlikely to be a Protoss rogue faction. The Star Relic ships were of Dark Templar design, and the only Khalai Protoss that had ever been so close to becoming like them were the Tal'darim. After their previous encounter on Aiur, it was clear that the Tal'darim were scattered and gravely weakened. It was highly unlikely they had any strength left for offensive operations.

Even if they did, Urun knew he already had an advantage at his disposal: Vartanil. He had once been a Tal'darim warrior, but unlike the rest of his brethren, he had managed to sever his connection to the Sundrop, thus freeing himself from corruption. It has been he who had helped Urun when the Tal'darim had attacked them, and thanks to his knowledge of the Tal'darim strengths and weaknesses, they had emerged victorious with only minimal losses. Thus if the Star Relic was hostile, the only other possibility was the Fist of Ulrezaj, but this seemed unlikely as well, as most of them had been defeated by Zeratul near Shakuras.

"Contact the ship immediately," Urun ordered. "I do not believe it is hostile to us, but we cannot rule out that possibility."

Suddenly, a voice came over Urun's communications channel. "Adun Toridas, Admiral Urun. I am Ataldis, one of the Alysaar Dark Templars of Ehlna. I bring news of the utmost urgency on behalf of the preserver Zamara."

"We are honored by your presence, noble warrior," Urun said calmly. "Zamara is one of the few Protoss preservers we have left and from Prelate Zeratul, we had learned about the conflict that had transpired on Ehlna. What is the dire news you bring?"

"This message is from Zamara herself, but it is for Zeratul only. Where is he?"

"He has gone into the caverns below. He had informed us of his journey to Ehlna, and that Zamara had convinced him to seek out answers in this sacred Xel'Naga city. I do not know what exactly he intends to locate there, but I do know it will play its role in the upcoming struggles to come. We are to remain and protect the cavern entrance from any hostile intruders that may pervert this holy land."

"Then I shall remain at your side and assist you should such an event occur," the Dark Templar replied. "Zamara had informed me that what Zeratul will discover on Aiur will provide further clues regarding the prophecy he had uncovered on Ulaan. However, I bring news to him of another mighty threat on the horizon, one that was thought to be extinguished, but now has risen once again."

Author's Comment: I had gotten the Heart of the Swarm information released by Blizzard just like a lot of people did. Although some of that information conflicts with what I have, I want my readers to know that whatever I can incorporate based on that, it will be into this fic.

For the parts that I cannot however, that is another matter. This fic had been started based on what I knew about Heart of the Swarm then, not what I know now, so if it does not connect the dots like the real Heart of the Swarm, now you can understand why.

As always, please read and review!