Author's Note: All right ladies and gentlemen. Since today marks the 1 year anniversary of Wing of Liberty's debut to society, I think it's the right day to update the fic as well. This chapter will mark the foreshadowing of the fighting to come in the next chapter, so I hope you enjoy reading this one!

Chapter 24

Bridge, Shield of Aiur

"I do not understand, Hierarch," a Zealot said, confused. "The Mothership is the pinnacle of Protoss technology. The Khaydarin Crystal infused into its core grants it more psionic energy than any other ship in the history of the Protoss."

"You are correct, young warrior. However as I have experienced from fighting alongside the terrans, the sheer strength of one ship is no match for the overwhelming numbers of many. Although I must admit the Leviathans must be extremely difficult for the Zerg to hatch, and then breed to maturity and adulthood, they are still much easier to create in comparison to the Motherships we are to construct. Given their sheer size, it would take many Motherships to defeat a Leviathan. That is why a far greater and more powerful vessel is required, one that is capable of eradicating even the mightiest of the Zerg hive clusters within a short period of time. Our Motherships may have the planet cracker ability, but this only works on targets directly below the vessel. It would have little effect on flying targets such as the Leviathan. The new vessel that is being forged by the Furinax Tribe would have the power that rivaled our victory against the Zerg on Shakuras years ago."

Mohandar looked up from his console, immediately recognizing what Artanis was getting at. "You speak of harnessing the powers of the twin crystals Uraj and Khalis, Hierarch?"

"That is correct, Mohandar. Although the twin crystals were used to channel the energies of the Xel'Naga temple that scoured the Zerg from Shakuras, we had all known the combined powers of the Uraj and Khalis wielded the powers of the Khala and Void simultaneously. Mighty Tassadar had used both powers to defeat the Overmind, but despite his heroic actions, the dangers of combining the powers had clearly been seen. The Khalis had been known to the Dark Templar to be a potent weapon even before its usage on Shakuras, and there can be no doubt in my mind that the Uraj would have the same potential."

"But in both crystals lie energies far beyond what any one Protoss is capable of handling!" A Templar protested. "We Templars may have amulets carved from the Khaydarin Crystals themselves, but the energies within them are nothing in comparison to the might of the Uraj or Khalis!"

"I do not doubt that," Artanis replied. "But the Khaydarin Crystals are not a source of energy merely for individual Protoss warriors. We Templars use it has a means to enhance our psionic abilities, but the crystals are also used as an energy source for our great fleets. Before the fall of Aiur and the dissolution of the Conclave, the Protoss Judicators used to fly Arbiters. The ships have a Khaydarin Core forged into them so that their psionic abilities are increased. Our Warp Prisms' robotic cores have Khaydarin Crystals within them, so as to better improve their phasing capabilities in warping our warriors onto the battlefield. Even our Shield Battery buildings contain power from the crystals. It is from these crystals that grant the batteries their stores of psionic energy. As the Uraj and Khalis contain powers far too great for even a Mothership to control and properly wield, a mightier Protoss vessel is required."

"Do you believe this vessel will be ready to assist us in the oncoming struggle for Aiur?" Mohandar asked.

"It is difficult to say. From my experienced with the terrans, it is better to have the vessel properly tested through its trials to ensure what imperfections it may have be minimal in the event of battle. However the Zerg Leviathans may leave us with no alternative in the matter. This may have to depend on the part of James Raynor as well. His military forces must have been greatly weakened after the battle on Char, and I would expect him to use the time he has now to rebuild his fleet. We will adjust our plans accordingly when the time comes to assault the site of the Overmind. For now, we must continue to slay the Zerg scattered across Aiur. Once their eradication is complete, we will focus on the retaking of Antioch."

At this point, the transmission console suddenly blinked. "Hierarch, we are receiving a transmission from Executor Selendis," a Templar announced.

"Patch it through," Artanis ordered.

"En Taro Tassadar, Artanis," the female executor greeted. "My Observers have investigated the terran presence on Aiur, as you had requested."

"What did you discover about them?"

"I am transmitting the markings the Observers had found on their ships, buildings, and vehicles now, Hierarch."

The Protoss Hierarch looked carefully at the markings, and compared them to that of Jim Raynor's that Selendis's forces fought against on Haven. "These symbols are different from the warriors belonging to Jim Raynor. Rather, they appear to be similar to some of the ships our Observers had recorded during his invasion of Char. Jim Raynor had spoken to me about these belong to the terran military force known as the Dominion."

"Are they his allies?" Mohandar asked.

"The Dominion has been Jim Raynor's sworn enemy for quite a period of time," Artanis replied. "For years, even before the Zerg invasion, he had told me of his plan to topple this Dominion faction and restore freedom to the galaxy. However, due to the invasion and the threat of the Zerg, he and the Dominion had struck a temporary alliance to defeat the Queen of Blades. Now that Kerrigan is no longer the Zerg ruler, it would be likely that the alliance between them has also collapsed."

"Does this make them a threat to us?" Selendis asked.

"It is certainly a possibility. Friend Raynor had told me that the Dominion is also known for world conquest, spreading their influence to other worlds and gaining their trust and loyalties. Although there is very little evidence to suggest they would see us the same way they see the Zerg, caution is still necessary as we do not know how they will react to our presence."

"The Observers had picked up combat activity between them and our splinter tribe, the Tal'darim. It would appear their attacks have weakened them, as their base is on the move and moving away."

"The reports indicate they are not moving off Aiur," Mohandar said, looking at the recordings. "The terrans appear to be heading to the north."

Artanis observed the recordings with confusion. There was virtually nothing north of that location except small rivers and vast jungles. The scars of the Zerg infestation were still there, but the Daelaam Protoss forces have already been through the area. All the Zerg that once inhabited there had been eradicated, and all of the Observer reports from the fighting in that area had indicated there were no Protoss survivors at all.

"I do not understand, Hierarch," Selendis said, just as confused. "The direction that the terrans are heading is almost devoid of life. Even prior to the Zerg invasion of Aiur, there had been very few records of Protoss settlements ever in that area."

"There is nothing there but one of our ancient temples," Artanis said thoughtfully. "The Protoss Aiur Vanguard had defended it bravely during the invasion, but they were eventually overwhelmed by the Zerg, and the temple was destroyed. All that remains are just ruins, and it had been our intention to rebuild it once we have purified the planet."

"What could the terrans possibly want with that? The sanctuary and its treasures it once held have either been lost or removed. There is nothing for them to gain there."

"Nothing that we know of, anyway. Are the Tal'darim giving pursuit to them?"

"It would appear so, Hierarch. My Observers have detected the movement of Colossi heading north, also towards the temple ruins."

"Return to my position at once, but keep your Observers in the area, Selendis. Clearing Aiur of the Zerg is our first priority, but we must know what the terrans are after as well. Once we have scoured the veil creatures from Antioch, Jim Raynor's forces will be needed to facilitate in the clearing of the Zerg nestled around their deceased master, so we will wait for that. During that time, we will turn our attention to the terrans if they are still on this world."

Suddenly, a Templar transmission appeared on Artanis's communications screen. "Hierarch, we have detected increased Zerg activity from Prelate Zeratul's last known position. Admiral Urun and his forces are still holding to their positions, but the constant Zerg attacks have begun to take its toll on them."

Artanis nodded. "Prelate Mohandar, set course for Urun's location immediately. Zeratul had requested that what he intended to discover here on Aiur must never be defiled by the Zerg, we must ensure that."

"It will be done, Hierarch."

The Protoss Hierarch then turned his channel to the Mothership pilots. "My brethren, in a few more days the rest of Aiur will be in our possession once more. However the assault on Antioch will be our most difficult challenge thus far. We must bring in our mightiest ground war machines, ones that far surpass even the mighty Colossus in power."

"You speak of the Exussumers, Hierarch?"

"The very ones, Templar. When Executor Selendis had fought James Raynor on Haven, our Observers had recorded his forces had a hybrid machine known as the Viking. It was by the hand of this machine that had destroyed our mighty Purifier. It had become clear to me then that the Daelaam Protoss would require a machine with such capabilities. The information her Observers had recorded had been sent to the Furinax Tribe of the Hierarchy on Shakuras, and they had forged a machine far mightier than the terran Viking, able to burn entire Zerg armies to ashes."

"Why were we denied the chance to use them the moment we returned to Aiur, Hierarch?"

"As I had learned from the terrans, there are times where we must be careful in when to reveal our technology. The fact that the Zerg are now leaderless does not mean they are no longer able to think intelligently. Had we used the Exussumers then, we certainly would have annihilated the Zerg in the immediate area, but they would have prepared more accordingly elsewhere on Aiur. We had all known that eventually the Zerg would recover with the loss of the Queen of Blades, and therefore we have but one chance to take back our homeworld."

"We understand, Hierarch. The Exussmers are ready for deployment by our Motherships at your command."

"Deploy all of the Motherships transporting the Exussmers to the immediate vicinity of Antioch. They must be in position to strike when the time comes."

Captain's Quarters, Hyperion, High Orbit Over New Folsom

Jim opened his eyes groggily. For the first time since Tarsonis, he fell asleep not haunted by the nightmares, nightmares that tortured him for years, and that he had thought he conquered by excess drinking. But in reality, he had made no progress at all, and they had tested him to his very limits when Kerrigan had led the Zerg swarm in the invasion once again.

Only when he struck the alliance with Valerian did he finally begin to face his past, and to understand what had to be done. But even that had been strained on Char, during the time he had defended the Xel'Naga artifact. Although the defenses had held despite Sarah's personal intervention, seeing her as the Queen of Blades only made his heart ache even more. Even after he had gotten her back, he was continuously haunted by the fear of seeing her become infested again. The last 4 years had been absolute hell on him seeing her as the Zerg infested leader, and he didn't know if he could handle something like that happening a second time. It had been why although he made few objections for Sarah going back into the field again, the fear of losing her become almost too much for him to bear.

Now, after what had happened last night, all those thoughts had vanished. Sarah knew everything about how he felt about her, and she accepted him for who he was. He heard her thoughts to him, that she would never leave him.

Jim opened his eyes fully, to see Sarah resting on his body, her face smiling up at him. He gently brushed aside her fiery red hair, soft as silk to his touch, revealing her emerald eyes and pale face. And he suddenly realized he had no doubt she would be the savior of all. After all the fighting he had experienced against the Dominion as well as the Zerg, he had lost virtually lost hope of kindness and compassion, and had given in to the coldness of cruelty. He had been on the verge of accepting it, but Sarah wouldn't. She had brought his humanity back the same way he brought hers back, refusing to see him suffer any longer.

Kerrigan gently traced her fingers along Jim's face. "Now do you understand the preciousness of life, Jim? It is why we have to revel in it and cherish it no matter the cost, regardless of how painful that may be. You taught me all of this during the time I've known you before I had been taken by the Zerg, I'm just helping you remember it all."

Jim held Sarah closely to him. She was right after all. During the times they fought under the Sons of Korhal, he had seen her coldness to others eventually soften, especially to him. And last night, it had confirmed everything he had wanted to believe: her feelings for him were every bit as strong as his for her, but like him she just wasn't ready to admit it just yet. She had been afraid, afraid to let him into her life so deeply because she knew if she let that happen, she wouldn't be able to let go. It was exactly what he had felt about her, and he knew as long as he had Sarah, he would have everything he would ever need.

"You're so precious to me, Sarah," he whispered softly to her. "You lost so much already, a victim to some of the cruelest matters this universe could offer. Yet you were able to regain so much back."

Sarah brushed her fine mane of hair away from Jim's face, savoring the feeling of warmth against her. "I want to regain it back with you. You're everything I could ever hope for. You gave me something no one else could: a measure of peace. It was something I had wanted long before I was part of the Sons of Korhal."

Jim nodded, holding her tightly against him. "I will always be here for you, Sarah. That will never change again."

"So what now, Jim?" she asked. "What is our next step from here?"

The commander looked out the window for a moment. "In a few more hours it'll be time for us to strike at New Folsom. Nova will be leading the raid."

"Then I'll go join her," Sarah replied. "Two ghosts are always better than one."

Xel'Naga Caverns, Aiur

"What is all this, Felanis?" Zeratul demanded, looking wide eyed at the corpses of Khalai Protoss in the chamber.

"These bodies are the result of our master Ulrezaj and what he had asked of the Xava'kai," the Templar replied. "He had occasionally asked for Tal'darim volunteers to go with him for tasks which he did not specify. They were never seen or heard from again after that, and now you see the results, among the other functions of the vast Khaydarin Crystal you see before you in draining the very life essence out of the Protoss."

Felanis then pointed to some of the bodies. "The Xava'kai had remained loyal to Ulrezaj to the very end. Among the most favored ones he had killed this way were Rukashal, Tervoris, and Azramith. Of course, the crystal is capable of killing more than just Protoss, and that is why you see the Zerg bodies present as well."

"And what could Ulrezaj possibly want with both Protoss and Zerg essence drained in such a manner?" A Dark Templar demanded.

"Did you comprehend nothing from the creatures in the vats I had shown you, Nerazim? Ulrezaj never intended to have the Protoss or Zerg energies kept within the Khaydarin Crystal. Rather, it was his intention to merge the energies together to create a completely new type of creature, one that I do not understand."

"I do," Zeratul said, turning his sight towards the vats again. "These are Protoss and Zerg hybrids, I had encountered them before."

"You know their real purpose?" Felanis asked.

"Yes, they are tools of the apocalypse, the end of all things. I had seen their power first hand when I faced one on Zhakul. They must not be taken lightly."

"Then we should destroy the ones here immediately, Prelate Zeratul!" A Dark Templar said, raising his warp blade.

"I know their destruction is vital," Zeratul said calmly. "But let us not be too hasty. The creatures we see now look very similar to the ones present in the apocalyptic vision we had all seen. From that, we had known how powerful they are, and how difficult they are to kill. Right now, however, they are in hibernation. Although emanating psionic energy, they are currently dormant."

"You ask us to allow them to live?" The Dark Templar asked.

"I ask that they are not to be destroyed here. While the hybrids are extremely powerful, every creation is far from flawless. These creatures must be what Zamara had asked me to locate in this sacred sanctuary. We will bring the vats out to the surface for examination for greater weaknesses in these monstrocities. They will be eradicated once we have learned what is necessary."

Prison Complex Exterior, New Folsom

Nova smirked as Sarah emerged from the metallic drop pod to join her on the outskirts of the prison complex. "I see someone's had quite a night," she commented, looking at Sarah's slightly disheveled red hair.

"It was you who said for me to bring the old Jim back," Sarah replied, smiling at the thoughts of last night herself. "I simply did just that."

"Great, appeal to his testosterone of all things. The Hyperion is full of men with that," the blond ghost said, shaking her head. "Even Jim is no exception to this."

"Trust me, Nova. I already knew that within a few seconds when I first met him on Antiga Prime. A simple mind probe was more than enough for me to see him as a pig, but at least he was a competent pig."

"Whatever, let's just get this mission on the road."

Nova's comm-link then went off, as Jim's voice was heard. "All right Nova, we've got the intel for you and Sarah. The place is still locked down tight and it's going to take a huge force to break in now."

"The New Folsom securities were specifically designed for that," Nova replied. "The constant crust instability made flanking attacks impossible, so everyone knew attacking it would have to be done head on. That's why the security defenses are built to channel your forces into killing zones. Even with everything you got at your disposal the casualties will be appalling."

"Any suggestions on how to get around it?"

"The defense system was never intended for small groups of attacks, and a talented few in the right place could find a way in."

"All right, then it's going to have to depend on you and Sarah to do the work."

"My thoughts exactly, Jim. You keep your forces to the rear, we'll call on you if it comes down to emergencies. Sarah and I will lead and clear the way."

"You sure you're ready for this, Nova? We've detected large concentrations of Dominion ghosts as part of the security force too."

Nova snorted. "Before joining the Raiders, I was the strongest Dominion ghost there is. All the other ghosts have taken their training based on me, and I've even been called to New Folsom a few times that very reason."

"You trained the ghost operatives here?" Sarah asked, incredulous.

"Exactly. Too often Mengsk felt their performance levels were too crappy by his standards, so I was sent to improve them. Half the ghosts in the security force are as skilled as they are because of what I did for them. Since I was the one who trained them, I know all their strengths, as well as all their weaknesses."

Matt Horner's voice came on Nova's comm. "Our intel has shown there are over 1.8 million prisoners in the whole complex right now. The complex is divided up into one main prison facility, housing around 40 percent of the prisoners, and 12 secondary facilities containing the rest."

"The main one has the strongest defenses," Nova explained. "No assault by anyone in the last 50 years has ever succeeded in even coming close to cracking them, so Sarah and I will deal with that. Once we take care of that, the rest of the facilities will fall like dominoes."

"It appears most of the military cell blocks are also located in the main prison facility."

"I'll get their cages open," Sarah offered. "They may not be so trusting of Nova, but I'm a different matter. The security guards will have their hands full dealing with the prisoners while Nova and I push for the main entrance."

"It's settled then," Jim commented. "You two ready for this?"

"We're striking another blow towards Mengsk and his corrupt government," Nova said, cocking her C-20 Canister Rifle. "Of course we're ready."

Author's Note: For those of you who do not know, Exussume in Latin means "to burn". In the future chapters, you'll see the new Protoss war machine in action.

As for the reason why I decided to give the Protoss such a war machine (since this one is not based off any canceled Blizzard ideas or anything), well that idea is a nod towards Guardian54's fic "Supreme Commander: Koprulu Sector", and once again, it was somewhat based off the Haven missions.

I felt it was wrong that terrans learn off Protoss technology and nothing ever happens the other way around. By now the Daelaam Protoss are smart enough to know that some terran weapon ideas could also be used in their own arsenal, and I didn't want to deny them such an opportunity simply because of old fashioned traditions.

Anyways, I hope this chapter was enjoyable for you guys. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter.