Author's Note: Hey everyone, I have the next chapter here. Sorry about the longer time gaps it's taking for these updates, but other issues of family and work searching have made things increasingly difficult to update at a faster rate. I still hope for that to change later on, but I can't promise anything.

Chapter 31

New Folsom

As Nova had predicted before the assault on New Folsom began, the main facility was the key to cracking the prison complex's security system. With so much Dominion security strength bled away in the attempts to prevent the military prisoners from escaping, there was little resistance left after Sarah had singlehandedly destroyed their Laser Drill Tanks, as well as defeated their remaining gestalts.

Combined with the clearing of the Thor holding pen and the giant mechanical walkers moving out to assist in the raid, it was clear to most of the remaining Dominion security forces that there was no hope of preventing a breakout. Some of their officers tried to maintain order, but it was soon clear even to them that further resistance was pointless. Only the most fanatical ones ordered their men to fight on, but it soon became clear they had wanted continued resistance so it would buy them time to reach their shuttles, saving their own lives at the expense of their soldiers. Most of the Dominion marines were quick to see that, and in each and every case, they chose to defy their superior officer and lay down their arms.

After the fall of the main compound, the 12 secondary ones made little attempt to resist Raynor's Raiders. The fact that no one had ever cracked New Folsom's security in the past 50 years was because all of the raids had targeted one of the secondary facilities, allowing the main facility to mobilize and send reinforcements to stabilize the situation. No defense plans had ever been made in the event the main compound was taken before any of the secondary ones.

Without the main facility's ability to reinforce any of the secondary ones, the defenses of the latter consisted little more than auto turrets and infantrymen, mostly suited to defend against a solely infantry attack, with very few marauders in the case of enemy armor. This, of course, wasn't even enough to slow down the might of the Raiders, let alone turn them back.

Now, the blond ghost watched as the remaining Dominion security forces were escorted at gunpoint into the very cells that once held all of the inmates. Although many of Warfield's men had wanted them to be killed for the appalling casualties they had suffered, Jim eventually convinced the general to order them to be imprisoned instead. The rebel commander had reminded Warfield that the entire purpose of the Raiders and their revolution is to save lives, and that involves removing a corrupt leadership, namely Mengsk. His soldiers did not share this part of the corruption, and therefore should not suffer as badly. Indeed, many of Warfield's soldiers admitted Raynor was nothing like the devil their emperor had portrayed him as over the media during all this time, and therefore decided that if they could be convinced to see him differently, perhaps in time so could other people in the Dominion.

Of course, getting the prisoners to see that took little difficulty. It was getting them to see former Dominion soldiers now part of the Raiders that was difficult. Even now, as she watched the long columns of liberated prisoners leaving the complex, Nova could see the hesitation on their faces as they gazed at some of Warfield's men. Clearly there were some that were familiar faces to them, and it was not the type that they were glad to see.

Even for herself, most of the looks she got from the prisoners were ones of fear, hatred, and coldness. This of course was no surprise, as she was known to be the Dominion's deadliest assassin to them. None of them knew she had turned against the Dominion and was now a Raider, no longer the cold hearted killer she once was.

Sarah, on the other hand, had received a far more warmhearted greeting from most of them, although Nova felt this was more than likely because virtually none of them knew she was the Queen of Blades. Granted she herself still didn't believe Sarah was that Zerg monster to begin with, others did not feel that way. For those that never knew however, namely the New Folsom prisoners, she was seen as a heroine to them, one who freed them from the Dominion's slavery.

Despite the friendship she had with Sarah and the fact she understood the different receptions, it nevertheless still hurt Nova deep down. Although back on Haven she had told Sarah to fight alongside others to gain their trust, the reality is she had to face the same issues she had told Kerrigan. After all that time of serving as one of Mengsk's slaves, she had earned her reputation as one of the most feared individuals of the Dominion's enemies. Just like Sarah, she had her road ahead of her for redemption.

"Despite the fact most marines never really see eye to eye with ghosts, I'm glad you and Kerrigan are here," Franklin said, walking up to the blond ghost. "This raid never would have succeeded without you two, not to mention I'd be among the KIAs."

Nova nodded, never taking her eyes off the columns of prisoners walking past her.

"You're hurting," Franklin said softly. "I can tell. It's the prisoners, isn't it?"

She let out a deep sigh. Normally she'd be telling Jim or Sarah about this, but neither one of them was here right now. Although she had the trust of the Raiders, the same was not true for the new additions from Warfield. Nevertheless, she had told Kerrigan that by fighting alongside them enough, they'll learn to trust her. The same was true for Nova, and she decided it was time she began to open up just a bit more to others.

"The cold reception I've been getting from them is quite painful, lieutenant."

"You're not the only one, you know. Only Raynor and his troops have gotten warm receptions."

"But it's worse with me than you," Nova insisted. "You're a marine, I'm a ghost. You're a soldier that fights on the frontlines, I'm an assassin that kills in cold blood, and in the name of a tyrant for that matter. In your case at least they could say you've just been used and deceived by Mengsk. I on the other hand, will be seen completely differently."

Franklin raised an eyebrow. "Even ghosts are still people, you know this."

"You seem to forget about the Neural Inhibitors implanted in our heads. Yes they can be surgically removed, but until then we're just imprisoned within our own heads. Besides, we were all given memory swipes that suppress the memories of all our previous lives. This makes us little more than mindless drones obsequious to our master."

"But Raynor removed that inhibitor in you."

"They don't know that," Nova said, gesturing to the liberated prisoners. "And even if they did I doubt it'd change much. They'd still see me as the same person as when I served under the Dominion."

"So what? You said it yourself about redemption," Franklin countered. "Kerrigan proved us wrong about her on Agria, I'm sure you can do similarly."

"That's true," the blond admitted. "And something tells me it's going to be a lot sooner than you think."

Antioch, Aiur

"We have more Zerg incoming!" A Zealot shouted.

Vartanil threw the corpse of a Zergling down from the high grounds, as he and his brethren defended a Khas statue on the outer edge of Antioch. Although most of the Protoss were eager to retake Aiur's capital, enough had been convinced to lure the Zerg out into the open so that they would become much more exposed and vulnerable to attack. While Antioch is located near a valley with many entrances in which to gain access to the city, the fact remained that only a few of them were large enough to accommodate the vast numbers of Protoss warriors now pouring in to it. As such, the initial strategy had been to position themselves near the entrance and force the Zerg out to attack them, where they would be decimated by the Colossi and Carriers.

This tactic had worked quite well in the early stages, as the Zerg creatures were so thirsty for blood that their killing instincts led them to attack the Protoss immediately. The Exussumers in particular had performed as expected, incinerating entire legions of Zerg to ashes at the cost of only a few of them being knocked out of commission. However as it became clear their strategy was not working, the Zerg retreated back into the city, leaving behind the charred remains of some 38 million Zerg creatures, as well as bodies of hundreds of thousands of Protoss. However the remaining 212 million entrenched within the city remained a formidable force to be reckoned with, and all of them had to be cleared out one by one from their positions.

Although most of central Antioch had be reduced to a wasteland, the outer sectors of the city were in much better condition than Vartanil had been expecting, and there were many reports that the city's recolonization by Protoss survivors had been able to restore the city to a small degree. Indeed, the Shel'na Kryhas survivors on Aiur had made great efforts to rebuild the ancient city, and reports from the Observers had indicated that despite the Zerg concentration in Antioch in response to the Protoss invasion, some of the sectors that had been purified had seen clear signs of Protoss refurbishment.

To the young Protoss warrior, this had also struck him with guilt. Much of his Furinax Tribe had been decimated upon the Zerg invasion of Aiur, and although rebuilt on Shakuras, he had been among the Protoss left behind. The Shel'na Kryhas tribe had rescued him, and he had grown into a close friendship with the templar Alzadar. As he was close friends with the Shel'na Kryhas leader Ladranix, Vartanil had befriended him as well. However Alzadar had been corrupted by the Sundrop provided by Ulrezaj and joined the Tal'darim, and Vartanil had followed him. He greatly missed his close friend, having been killed by the Zerg a year ago, and he also missed his Shel'na Kryhas rescuers, as all of them had been wiped out by the Zerg and Ulrezaj.

Yet there was still one that had remained. Before his corruption, Felanis had been part of the Shel'na Kryhas tribe as well, and he was in Daelaam Protoss custody at Scion. Vartanil was unsure if he had been freed of his corruption from Sundrop, but believed as he himself had broken the addiction, so can Felanis.

Of course, getting the former Tal'darim leader to put his trust in place he did not understand would be quite another matter. During his time with the Tal'darim, Vartanil had known of the templar's fanatical characteristics. He had been greatly angered by the feeling of abandonment by his Khalai Protoss brethren, and this made Felanis difficult to trust others. Vartanil himself had befriended the terran Rosemary Dahl, and this was how Selendis had eventually trusted the terran female. However the female executor had eventually changed her mind about the Dark Templar Protoss, while Felanis harbored the same hatred for them when Vartanil had seen him being brought out of the Xel'Naga caverns.

Nevertheless, the young Protoss warrior hoped that once Aiur is fully restored, he could convince the former Tal'darim leader to put aside his hatred and fight alongside them against the greater evil. During the time he had spent with Rosemary Dahl, Vartanil had already learned there were far more trustworthy terrans than the Protoss would care to admit, and there is certainly the potential of many more of them who could become their allies someday.

For now however, these thoughts had to be set aside as he and his Protoss warriors readied themselves as another Zerg attack wave approached. When it became clear the Zerg were not going to be lured out into the open anymore, he had personally lead one of the spearheads in the initial assault into the city. However as the bulk of the Zerg had withdrawn away from many of the outer sectors, they had been merely bypassed so the Protoss could deal with the Zerg that had fortified themselves deeper into the city. Smaller numbers of Protoss had been left behind in the outer sectors to clear the bypassed Zerg in this fashion, Vartanil had volunteered to be among them.

With almost no air support in the area, Urun felt little reason leave behind his Phoenix fighters, as they were needed against the Corrutors and Mutalisks where the majority of the Zerg were concentrated. However Zekrath did not share his views and had ordered some of his Shelak Guardians Phoenixes to provide air cover for Vartanil and his forces, in the event they are atttacked by Brood Lords, which had proven to be devastating against Protoss Stalkers and Sentries.

Aside from the Phoenix fighters, Vartanil was left with groups of Zealots to engage in glorious combat with the ground Zerg units, though without the ability to significantly reinforce their numbers, they knew they had to act more cautiously than normal. Indeed, many Zerglings had tried to take advantage of the situation by morphing into Banelings, knowing fully well their volatile burst explosion upon detonation would strip the Zealots of their shields rather quickly. As most of the Stalkers at his disposal were used to deal with any air threats, Urun had left behind an adequate number of Immortals to deal with such a threat, knowing such an explosion would have only minor effect on their hardened shields.

Nevertheless, the number of Zerg in the bypassed region had been greatly underestimated, and the continued Roach attacks had taken its toll on the Protoss defenders. Most of the Zealots, Stalkers, Immortals, Sentries, and even the towering Colossi, a few of which were at Vartanil's disposal to pick off the Zerg ground attackers from a distance, were now dangerously low on their plasma shields. A Shield Battery had been placed at their location to compensate for this, but the relentless Zerg attacks had forced too many of their warriors to fall back to it for rapid shield recharging. As such, the Khaydarin Crystal within used to store the psionic energy had its supply being drained far quicker than it could replenish itself, and by now had been fully depleted, leaving Vartanil and the others to face the next Zerg attack wave in a much more weakened state than before.

As the Stalkers opened up with their particle disruptors, Vartanil could only hope that the battle elsewhere in the city was going according to plan. Each time there was a pause in the fighting here, he and the other Protoss could hear the sounds of battle elsewhere in Antioch.

"Pygalisks! Do not allow them to reach our Colossi!" He shouted, igniting his psionic blades. The Zealots beside him did the same, and they charged into battle against the Zerg creatures. In moments, the sounds of battle echoed across the streets, as Vartanil and the others desperately tried to hold on to their positions.

Bel'Shir

Ulrezaj watched from behind the frontlines as many of the terran structures were burned to ashes by the Tal'darim Void Rays. It was clear whatever purpose the terrans had for the Breath of Creation by attempting to steal it from the Protoss on Bel'Shir, the chances of them getting it was highly unlikely. By now, all of the terran defenders on the defensive line had been killed, and the Observer reports had indicated that what remained were retreating back towards their base. Although their air units had continued to harass the Tal'darim, they had become more of a nuisance than a threat.

He himself had personally intervened in that matter. As he could not be harmed by non-energy attacks, the Dark Archon had repeated moved close to the terrans' position. As he had anticipated, this had caused many of the terran ships to fly down and provide cover for them, and many foolishly swooped low enough to be targeted by his psionic energy attacks.

Despite their speed, Ulrezaj himself was exceedingly quick, having the ability to teleport himself about the battlefield, and this had allowed him to catch up with many of the terran flyers. Once caught, there were very few that were lucky enough to escape their fates.

By now, the Void Rays were targeting the terran buildings, knowing fully well they made ideal targets for their prismatic beams. However, from the intercepted transmissions, it would appear many of the terran warriors called War Pigs survived, and were defending the buildings from them. He had intended to go down to the terran base and level it himself, but the terrans had cut off the entrances with walkers called Thors. While their attacks were unable to do physical harm to the Dark Archon, their cannons were nevertheless able to force him to recoil, and in the face of such attacks, eventually forced him back.

Nevertheless, the battle had gone well into his favor. Most of the mines that had been laid by the terrans had been overcome, and Ulrezaj could see the waves of Zealots pressing ever closer to the terran base entrance, despite the constant cannon fire from the Thors. With much of the terran air power neutralized, Colossi were also headed towards the base, and the Observer reports he had been receiving had indicated that just about anyone left that could fight were being mobilized in the terran base, a clear sign that this was a last ditch effort to keep the Protoss back.

Turning his sights away from the battle, the Dark Archon teleported himself back into the Tal'darim base, to be once again greeted by the High Templars, still seeing him as their mighty Xava'tor.

"You have performed admirably, my brothers," he said. "The terran presence has been all but eradicated, our Breath of Creation on Bel'Shir is safe."

"It is you who had assisted us, mighty one," a High Templar answered. "Were it not for your skills, the terran air ships would have posed a far greater threat than we had anticipated."

"That is irrelevant now. The terran base here is finished. Whether they are able to escape from Bel'shir or not matters little, as they will never dare to set foot on this sacred land again."

"Then what is thy will?"

"We must unite the Tal'darim on other worlds," Ulrezaj replied. "Your numbers here may be substantial, but it is insufficient to deal with the might of our enemies. With the terrans here defeated and almost all of the altars sealed, there is no need to maintain such a strong force here on Bel'Shir. Rather, we must gather ourselves and unite with the Tal'darim on other worlds. Once that is accomplished, we shall strike a far greater blow against our enemies."

Author's Note: All right, so with regards to why I didn't write Ulrezaj just going into the terran base and slaughtering everyone inside, the reason is quite simple. Ulrezaj is a Dark Archon, a being of immense power. But while he's stronger than just about any other Dark Archon we know, the fact remains he's far from all powerful.

For that reason it makes no difference how much strength he has, there's still limits to what he can do. But don't worry, I promise you that Ulrezaj will have more opportunities to show off his power later on in the fic.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.