Author's Note: All right everyone, now that Blizzcon has ended, I decided it's time for another chapter. For those of you who remember the secret Wings of Liberty mission "Piercing the Shroud", this chapter is meant to explain a little bit more of what took place there.
Personally I disliked the fact the whole installation got trashed and all the lab secrets went with it without any explanation whatsoever, usually you'd want more answers than that.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Please read and review!
Chapter 34
Aiur
"What treachery is this, Felanis?" A Tal'darim Templar demanded angrily. "You had forged the Tal'darim specifically to be separate from the Protoss who had betrayed us. Why do you ask us to join hands with them?"
"It is true that we were among the Protoss who had remained on Aiur after this world had been overrun by the Zerg," Felanis replied. "But remember, in times of war, not everyone can be saved. There would inevitably be the ones who will be left behind."
"They had abandoned us here on Aiur! They left us to fend for ourselves against countless Zerg, while they sought their own haven with the Dark Templar!"
"We had never planned to abandon you," Artanis explained. "It had always been our intention to retake this world from the Zerg one day, and that is happening as we speak. By now, the Zerg are being eradicated from Aiur, and the world will be purified once again."
"Aiur will never be pure as long as the Daelaam Protoss exist. You betrayed your own kind when you sided with the Dark Templar. To make matters worse, you are attempting to unite all of the Khalai Protoss with them. Have you completely forgotten that they had refused to embrace the Khala as we had? What makes you think we would want to have anything to do with those so devoid of the light of the Khala?"
"Have you not seen with your own eyes of the very characteristics of the Tal'darim, young Templar?" Zeratul pointed out. "You know that Felanis had formed the Tal'darim to despise the Dark Templar kind such as myself, yet you also heard what he had just told you about the truth of you Xava'tor was in reality a Nerazim. You claimed to hate our kind so much, yet in reality, you had worshipped one."
"This means that our leader Felanis is a traitor to the very foundations of the Tal'darim!"
"The Sundrop substance has corrupted you, just as it had corrupted myself. Ulrezaj knew I would eventually know of his true identity, so I was given greater amounts of it so that I wouldn't turn against him when I know the truth," Felanis explained. "To that end, Alzadar had done the right thing to turn members of the Tal'darim against me. We never should have been loyal to Ulrezaj after everything he put us through. But the effects of Sundrop are not irreversible, and it is possible for you to reestablish your link to the Khala once more."
"Alzadar had his addiction to it severed by the Shel'na Kryhas," Artanis explained. "And the Daelaam Protoss can provide proof that we are able to do similarly for other Tal'darim brethren, the warriors Vartanil and Korlendir among them."
"You must understand that the Sundrop substance is what Ulrezaj used to ensure our loyalty to them," Felanis added. "You have been subjected to greater amounts than others have, and that is why I know you are so untrusting of Daelaam Protoss here. But Artanis had provided me with proof that of the Tal'darim who had sided with Alzadar, some of them were able to escape through the once functional Xel'Naga Warp Gate on Aiur to Shakuras, the Dark Templar homeworld, after Ulrezaj and the Zerg had attacked the ancient Xel'Naga Caverns that the Tal'darim had been ordered to protect. Of the Tal'darim that reached the safety of Shakuras, many of them had their link to the Khala restored, and their loyalty to Ulrezaj completely severed."
"The Sundrop substance was designed to make you fearful and distressed, the Daelaam Protoss had seen that in the Tal'darim we had treated," Artanis explained. "When they had their linkage restored, many of them had explained that the Protoss of the Shel'nas Kryhas had discovered the same thing."
"We know the Tal'darim had been created from that tribe," Zeratul said. "I had returned to Aiur some time ago, with Hierarch Artanis and Executor Selendis."
"It just shows your unwillingness to save your people, dark one," the Tal'darim Templar seethed. "You left the Shel'nas Kryhas to their fate on Aiur because you felt they could not survive with the Zerg infesting this world, and therefore you had abandoned the Tal'darim to the same fate."
"It was Ulrezaj that had turned us against our Shel'nas Kryhas brethren," Felanis said. "When Alzadar turned some of us against him, the Shel'nas Kryhas still chose to trust us, allying with us and sacrificed themselves to allow some of the Tal'darim to escape to Shakuras."
"The Shel'nas Kryhas were inferior to the Tal'darim in the art of combat! We had far greater success against the Zerg infesting our world than they ever did!"
"That may well be," Artanis replied. "But it takes more than battle alone to define the Protoss, you know this. Once Aiur is cleansed of the Zerg, we will be able to take first steps in rebuilding our civilization."
"Do you believe us for fools? We shall never join the Protoss who had so openly sided with the Nerazims!"
The Hierarch clenched his fists in frustration. Felanis wasn't lying when he said how difficult it would be for the Tal'darim survivors on Aiur to join hands with the Protoss. Although no fire had been exchanged between his protectorate guards and the Tal'darim warriors at the Tal'darim base, there had been only minor signs of success of the Protoss fanatics coming to terms.
"If you will not join hands with us, we will not force you to," Zeratul said. "But consider this: despite the vast numbers of Zerg we have killed on Aiur, hundreds of millions still remain. You know that no matter how strong each individual Tal'darim warrior is, he cannot prevail indefinitely against an unlimited number of Zerg attacks. You are right to hate us for abandoning you on Aiur when we could have saved you, but we are trying to make up for our mistakes in the past now."
"Then what are you asking of us?"
"Even if you hate the Khalai Protoss for joining hands with my brethren, we all face the Zerg as our enemy on Aiur. Every Protoss warrior is needed in the reclamation of our world. The less we fight each other over ancient traditions, the faster Aiur can be restored. If the Tal'darim are not willing to join with us, at least consider a temporary cease to hostilities between our own kind. You are the largest group of Tal'darim on Aiur that we have found, and it is our hope that you will at least accept a temporary truce while we all purge the Zerg from our world."
"You speak the truth about the Zerg, Zeratul. We have known for some time that it was necessary to unite the individual Tal'darim tribes on the planet in the event the Zerg decide to wipe us out. They are clearly a greater threat to us right now, so we will honor this request for the time being. Our scouts will send word of this to the other Tal'darim tribes on Aiur."
Artanis watched as the Tal'darim warriors turned away from them and returned to their base, before turning to Zeratul. "It did not go well as I had hoped, my friend."
"It was too much to have believed the Tal'darim would have joined us at the first persuasion," the dark prelate answered. "We have nevertheless achieved a starting step though, as we no longer need to fight our own brethren while we scour our world of the Zerg."
New Folsom
Even before Jim reached his destination to the underground factory on New Folsom, there were already the signs of the Dominion's brutality towards its prisoners. As he was walking down the tunnel, descending deeper and deeper underground, there were cases where the stench of the dead reached his nostrils. Warfield had informed him that prisoners were worked to death to produce the Dominion's weapons of destruction, but being so close to actually experiencing it was quite another matter altogether.
It had only increased the urgency that Mengsk needs to go as soon as possible, and the commander had every intention to return his focus to the revolution once he was done helping the Protoss on Aiur.
By the time he reached the factory entrance with the other scientists and engineers, he found Sarah already waiting there for him, along with even more scientists and engineers. Apparently whatever Mengsk was planning here, it required a bigger development team than he had expected.
"Commander Raynor," one of them greeted. "I'm Dr. Saunders, lead scientist for the secret projects that the Dominion have been developing here. We're thankful for your rescue."
"There's no need for the formalities," Jim replied. "This place had been one of the more brutal aspects of the Dominion, and it had always been my intention to come here and bust the cages open."
"Your timing couldn't have been better. Colonel Winters treated the prisoners here horribly, refusing to show even the most basic humanity towards them. Many of them he deliberately starved to death simply for his own sadistic pleasure."
"He got his end of the stick," Sarah said. "He won't be able to chew solid food for a long time to come after I broke his jaw, along with some of his other limbs. The guy will have all the time to think that over while he rots in a cell, waiting for the next Dominion ship to come, and then face Mengsk's judgment for his failure."
"This is why I hope you're willing to trust her," Jim said. "She may have done terrible things as the Queen of Blades, but that influence is gone now, and she's not a threat to you anymore."
"We're willing to," Saunders replied. "She had personally freed us from our cells, and most of the prisoners have praised her for such heroic actions."
"Good, then if you please, open the factory door. Sarah told me you were working on some Dominion project that involved Zerg biology and Protoss technology, so I want to see what it is."
Saunders gestured to a nearby scientist, and he strolled over to the console next to the door. "It's not anything gruesome or grotesque, if that's what you're worried about. It was meant to find a way to save the lives of Dominion soldiers out on the battlefield."
Slowly, the giant metal doors opened, revealing a vast open space in front of Jim and Sarah. As the lights turned on, Jim was at a loss for words.
Before him stood the assembled figures of thousands of warbots. Although smaller in comparison to the Thor walkers and the A.R.E.S. warbots, Raynor knew that looks could always be deceiving.
Even Sarah looked impressed at the ingenuity of these machines. She had grown to respect the power of the warbots that had been used against her on Char. Though not as fast or agile as the Roaches or Hydralisks, the Thors had played their part in defending the Xel'Naga artifact against her at the primary hive cluster. She had personally went down to the terran base to claim the artifact herself, but the continuous artillery barrages from the walkers eventually forced her back.
"We had known of the superiority of Protoss technology compared to our own, as well as the superiority of the Zerg physiology," Dr. Saunders explained. "Although the Dominion isn't really at war with the Protoss, we're clearly not on friendly terms with them. Mengsk had wanted weapons to be developed to even out the odds in the case war does break out with them."
"You aren't the only ones," Jim said. "Stetmann was trying to do the same thing for weapon systems had tactics for the Raiders."
"We know of Egon Stetmann. He was one of the scientists who worked for the Dominion on Tyrador III, also to incorporate Protoss technology into Dominion weapons. Apparently he turned away from them."
"Well obviously," Jim scoffed. "Stetmann found out those implants were being forcibly put into prisoners right here in New Folsom, you really think he was just going to ignore it?"
"Of course not, and this is why Mengsk eventually changed the nature of future projects. He didn't want to lose any more scientific minds, so the warbots you see here are completely mechanical."
Jim nodded. It was similar to when he had fought alongside the Protoss a few years back, and he had seen how they relied on numbers of war machines to avoid the loss of Protoss life.
"The difference though, is that while we may not be in the class as Stetmann in terms of technical knowledge and ingenuity, we had a major factor on our side that your Raiders didn't: the resource factor. I'm sure Stetmann would have been able to produce far more complex things to help you in the invasion had he had that."
"What I don't understand is how this project of yours was kept under wraps the whole time," Raynor said, looking at the warbots. "These are clearly very impressive feats of engineering you got here, how could not even the rumors of it have leaked out?"
"Like the Thor which had been developing since the end of the Brood War, the Dominion had intended to build special versions of them, bigger and stronger, to support them on the frontlines. This has been under the name Project Thor, but its mention had also attracted the attention of the Dominion's enemies, and that was how the Umojan Protectorate had learned of the Odin heavy walker was being developed at the Simonson Munitions Factory on Korhal. It was why the Odin had to be transferred to the Valhalla Research Center."
"And it did them squat," Sarah said. "For all the Dominion's defenses, Jim was able to steal the Odin from them anyway."
"True, but the point is after the discovery of the Odin's existence, Mengsk specifically ordered that the warbot projects done here on New Folsom was not to be given a project name at all," Dr. Saunders replied. "This obviously made it difficult for people to know what we're talking about at times, but it certainly decreased the risk of security leaks to the Dominion's enemies."
"So how exactly are these warbots supposed to have incorporated Zerg biology and Protoss technology?" Jim asked.
"What you may not have known is that some of the scientists you see here were part of the research team on Castanar. Mengsk's order to terminate everyone who ever worked there was only partially true. In reality he had planned to use this liquidation as a cover up, so that the ones who he felt were too valuable to be killed were transported elsewhere."
Jim rubbed his chin, beginning to understand. "So some of the scientists and engineers here were involved in the development of the secret weapons I had encountered in that lab?"
"Those weapons had been around before that Protoss-Zerg hybrid was transferred to the installation," Saunders assured. "My team was appalled to see such a thing, but we at least didn't have to be part of the team in trying to replicate it. Mengsk knew how dangerous that creature would be if it got loose, so my team had been ordered to build special weapons to put it down in the event that happens."
"You also said you had studied the creature itself," Sarah said, folding her arms. "I didn't go reading your mind because I believed you then, was I wrong?"
Off Jim's look, Dr. Saunders sighed. "My team was involved in studying the hybrid as well, but it wasn't for purposes you think it is. We all know how dangerous the Zerg and Protoss are individually, so it comes as no surprise that something with the combined strength of both species would be far more dangerous. We studied it for weaknesses, places on its carapace that might not be as durable as other spots. Other scientists used captured Zerg and Protoss specimens, although with no success."
Jim shook his head in frustration. As much as he hated to admit it, the doctor had a point. Battles are not won without knowledge of the enemy, and while a hideous thing, he knew it was necessary to know more about these creatures if they were to have any chance of defeating them. His encounter with it on Castanar clearly showed their weapons had no effect on it other than make it angry.
"My team had been informed about your raid on the Castanar installation, and how that creature eventually destroyed virtually the whole lab complex. You got to see firsthand just how powerful that hybrid was."
"It's true," Raynor admitted. "Even the Dominion experimental weapons did nothing against it, but at least my Raiders were able to make off with some of the weapons. Stetmann has been working hard since then in the hopes to replicate them."
"I can help you in that matter," Saunders said calmly. "My team had developed the secret weapons you had found at the lab."
"But the chrono-rift device was based on alien technology!" Jim protested. "How did you create such a thing?"
"So was the experimental plasma gun you found in the lab," Dr. Saunders replied. "As I said earlier, you weren't the only one trying to incorporate Zerg and Protoss features for your equipment, the Dominion wanted the same thing. The experimental plasma gun was based on Protoss encounters the Dominion had. Although it was rare as we're technically not at war with them like we are with the Zerg, the occasional times we had encountered the Protoss had allowed us to see one of their biggest war machines. They call it the Colossus, and it was devastatingly powerful against even the Thors. However they made it, their heat beams could turn just about anything Dominion ground troops could throw at them to ashes in seconds."
"You wanted to reverse engineer something like that," Sarah stated.
"Along those lines. A few of the wrecked ones were brought to Dominion labs for analysis, and my team was ordered to produce weapons on both large and small scales that could rival it. The plasma gun in the Castanar lab was the smaller scale type, and after it had proven to be a success against the Zerg specimens there, we were ordered to produce the weapon on a mass scale. It was among the other reasons why my team had been transferred to New Folsom. This is a volcanic planet, and the heat from the magma if incorporated into the plasma guns will make them even more powerful."
"Then, I guess I should thank you for leaving some of those plasma guns at the lab," Jim said quietly. "I had to rely on them and the chrono-rift device very heavily to escape the lab once the hybrid was loose."
"The chrono-rift device was somewhat based on Zerg units, as well as the hybrid creature itself," Dr. Saunders explained. "Most of my team did not appreciate turning the creature's abilities into Dominion weapons, but most of us feared Mengsk and what he would do had we refused."
"It's all right, I can understand your fear. My hopes are that my rebellion will get most of the people to stop fearing the bastard. Now, what did you do to create the device?"
"You may not have known this, but some of the Zerg specimens stored in the lab were Infestors. The Dominion had learned early on that these Zerg creatures had some sort of fungal ability that can stop anything dead in its tracks."
"I had evolved the Zerg in such a way," Sarah said, still guilty about her actions. "It was meant to slow down large scale attacks or prevent enemies from escaping."
"From what my team learned about the hybrid, it appeared it had a similar ability, spraying some sort of slime around itself. Anyone unfortunate enough to get caught by the slime will have his movement greatly hindered. From those two characteristics, combined with the Protoss specimens held in the lab complex, my team was able to engineer the chrono-rift device. It wasn't capable of hurting anyone, but whoever was caught in its field would have had his movement slowed to a crawl."
"Well, at least it wasn't anything sick like the cloned subjects I saw in the vats," Jim said, shuddering at the thought of those abominations. "Seemed like Mengsk was trying to create a whole army of hybrids without even having the one he had under his control. It just shows you how greedy he is for power."
"The warbots you're seeing in this factory is his backup plan," Dr. Saunders explained. "You wanted to know more about the project, so allow me to show you want these things can do."
Tal'darim Fleet, High Orbit Over Char
"Mighty Xava'tor, what is the purpose we are here?" A Templar asked. "Char is a purely Zerg infested world! There are none of our Tal'darim brethren here!"
"I did not come here for that," Ulrezaj replied. "There is something down on the surface of the planet, something that I must gather. You may not understand it immediately, but it will play its role in the upcoming events ahead."
Without another word he turned to the Mothership command console core. "Initiate surface scans of the planet Char. Locate Kerrigan's primary hive cluster."