Author's Note: Hey guys, it's time for the next chapter. Now last chapter, I had given a slight teaser to the Zerg Kraken, but didn't really go too far into details about it. Here I will, and you can see just what they're capable of.

In addition I think many of you kind of took the ending of the last chapter somewhat in the wrong way, I never said anything that there'd be only one Kraken, and by giving many, it'd make the battlefield a lot more interesting.

Oh yeah, just so you guys know, the new Protoss units of the Vindicators, Purifiers, and Soul Hunters had not been forgotten, they're still mentioned here in this chapter. For those of you guys who forgot their description, just go back and look at chapter 22, I put their descriptions there.

Anyways I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Please read and review and I'll see you next time.

Chapter 47

Northwest Attack Sector, Aiur

Urun desperately veered his Phoenix interceptor away as the interceptor next to his was swallowed whole by the massive Zerg creature. According to the few Observers that were fortunate enough to escape the beast's debut onto the battlefield, the Zerg Kraken was a new addition to the swarm, having been assimilated into it after the Brood War. Yet this provided the Protoss warrior with little comfort as the scenes around him grew more and more grim.

At nearly 6000 feet tall, only the bipedal Exussumer matched the creature's size. But while the Protoss war machine was meant to operate on the battlefield in avoiding friendly casualties, the Krakens did not have similar qualms. Instead, Urun watched as the massive creatures rise out from the ground, killing its own Zerg allies in the process, before heading straight for the terran and Protoss warriors on the ground. Any Zerg creatures unfortunate enough to be in its way were simply crushed under its heels.

"Open fire, my brethren!" Urun ordered to his Phoenix interceptors. "Do not allow the creatures pass!"

His surviving interceptors did as complied, but this was of little use. Their attack runs and ion cannon blasts onto the carapace of the Krakens did little more than anger the creatures further. Using the tentacles mounted on their backs, they lashed out at the Protoss ships. The Void Rays called into area were all knocked out of the sky, their prismatic beams unable to intensify before they met their ends.

Even the terran BattleCruisers were suffering a similar fate. Despite being far more massive than the Krakens, they were foolishly flying at very low altitudes. This meant that they were within tentacle strike range of the creatures, and after fighting the terrans for so long, the Zerg had long since discovered the main weak spots of the terran capital ships. As the BattleCruisers moved much slower compared to the smaller terran and Protoss ships, they were easy targets.

With a hurl of their tentacles, the Krakens launched them deep into the hulls of the terran ships. For most, their armor stood little chance. The tentacles penatrated into their main power cores, and with an enormous explosion, the BattleCruisers fell out of the sky, as terran and Protoss ground troops scrambled to avoid being crushed from the falling debris.

The smaller terran ships called Vikings and Wraiths moved into position and opened fire with their missile pods, but like the Phoenix interceptor, they too had little luck. The surviving BattleCruisers launched their strongest weapons, the yamato cannon. But while a direct hit was able to knock the Kraken onto its back, the terran troops found to their shock that the massive Zerg creature was able to get back up and keep fighting.

Bridge, Shield of Aiur

"Sarah, what the hell are those things?" Jim demanded. "They're tearing the ground troops apart down there!"

"They are something I incorporated into the swarm a few years back," the red haired ghost answered with guilt. "After fighting the terrans and Protoss for so long, I figured you'd all have the impression that the Zerg never use any strategy other than overwhelming numbers. These Kraken creatures you're encountering was one of the ways I had planned to correct that, and take you all by surprise."

"My boys never encountered them before," the commander pointed out.

"That's because their evolution isn't complete yet. They have no understanding of collateral damage, and once they find suitable targets, they will trample anything in their way to get to them, even allied Zerg forces. I had sent some of them to Aiur to be positioned around the Overmind because I figured that if the Protoss ever returned in force to Aiur, the Overmind's corpse would be among the first places they'd strike. Thus the Krakens would then be awakened in the event of overwhelming targets so as to maximize the damage they can do."

"Hierarch, we must order the Motherships into position at once!" A Templar exclaimed. "If the beasts continue like this, they'll push all of our forces back!"

"I concur, Templar," Artanis replied, before opening the channel to his Motherships. "Move in and intercept the Krakens, my brethren! We have come far to clearing the last of the Zerg from Aiur already, we must not be stopped now!"

Jim tapped his comm-link. "Matt, give me the position of the clouds in the sky, are they in position yet?"

"Not to the position you want, sir," came the reply. "It's still going to be an hour or more before they reach the ideal position for your plan to work."

"We may not have that long! The beasts down there are halting our advances across every sector! Even the yamato cannon attacks aren't stopping them!"

"Well what about the new Protoss machines? Can't they do something about it?"

"Yeah well let's hope the Exussumers can hold them at bay," Jim said grimly. "If they can't, there's going to be a bigger bloodbath than we think."

Western Attack Sector, Aiur

"Move, move!" Nova shouted above the chaos of battle. "Don't get dragged into this!" Channeling her psionic powers, she increased her speed so that she was able to run faster, but the other ghosts weren't as lucky. They did not have as much psionic energy as her, and given the massive size of the Krakens, many were squished beneath their heels.

The Protoss fared little better. Due to their hovering platforms, only the Vindicator proved fast enough to avoid being crushed by the Krakens. The Purifiers opened up with their energy lances and unleashed their deadly lightning attacks, but this did little more than cause minor pricks in the Kraken's carapace. The Soul Hunters on the other hand had no luck at all, their disruption energy cannons proving completely useless against the Krakens.

In the air above them, the situation was no different. With such a massive size, the Corsairs were unable to trap it within their disruption webs, and most fell prey to Krakens' tentacles as they were knocked out of the sky. Scouts and Phoenixes soon followed, their anti-matter missiles and ion cannon beams doing little more sending the beasts into an even further rage.

Even the massive Protoss Carriers were having little success. The Interceptors proved difficult for the Krakens to target, but the Carriers themselves were another matter. Despite constantly launching the Interceptor drones to battle, it took mass swarms of them from many Carriers to have a detrimental effect on the Krakens. While slower than most Zerg creatures, the Krakens still proved their speed and were able to close in on the golden ships before sufficient damage could be inflicted. Using the sheer power of their tentacles on their backs, they slashed at the Protoss ships. While less vulnerable than terran BattleCruisers, they nevertheless succumbed to the attacks, and many were knocked out of their battle positions, while others were forced to retreat to recharge their shields.

Nova watched in shock as some of the Krakens positioned their tentacles into a launch position, and some of them opened up like a Nydus Worm. Massive cocoons suddenly began launching from it. Some fell to the ground, others remained suspended in the air. The ones on the ground varied greatly in number. Some opened up to reveal Roaches, Queens, and Hydralisks, most of which immediately began to form attack positions. Others erupted into the Infestors, Ultralisks, Brutalisks and Omegalisks, where they charged towards the retreating terran and Protoss forces. The Infestors led the attack by launching their fungal growth spores, immediately slowing down anyone to be caught in it, where they were trampled over by the Omegalisks, while Ultralisks tore them apart with their Kaiser Blades. The Brutalisks dealt with the terran Dropships moving into position for faster evacuation of the ground troops, their ferocious spew attacks quickly able to eat through the armor of the terran ships and sent them plummeting to the ground.

Terran Hercules ships were sent in for better protection, but they stood no chance against a tentacle slam from the Krakens. In many cases this did not matter, as the aerial cocoons morphed into Corruptors and struck into the terran ships with their parasite spores. Others erupted into Brood Lords, and their swarms of Broodling Strikes turned marines, Reapers, Marauders, and Firebats into chew toys.

As Nova ran with the surviving ghosts, she heard it all on the radio chatter. Krakens were popping from up every sector, and every one of them reported the same results. All over the battlefield, the combined terran and Protoss assault have been stopped dead in their tracks and were reeling backwards.

Southeast Attack Sector, Aiur

"We need to get to cover!" Sarah shouted, as she and the surviving ghosts retreated away. Vartanil and the remaining Protoss followed suit, many of them cursing the former Queen of Blades for evolving such a powerful Zerg creature that was now wreaking havoc upon them.

The slow moving Immortals didn't stand a chance. A successful tentacle strike was enough to flatten their exoskeleton, while the Stalkers were unable to blink away fast enough due to the sheer size of the Kraken tentacles. Only the Sentries and High Templars were keeping them alive, both of which were constantly using their Hallucination abilities to make false replicas of both terran and Protoss alike. However even this was not met with major success as the Krakens simply increased their tentacle attacks, smashing anything that moved on the ground, even their own Zerg brethren.

Sarah turned around to fire at the Roaches that were pursuing them, only to see that Vartanil was still caught behind, as four Zerglings were trying to yank him back, back towards the deadly range of the tentacles. His psionic blades easily cut some of the Zerglings apart, but others simply moved into to take their place.

"Keep moving," Sarah told the ghosts. "I need to help an ally." With the Krakens pursuing them from behind, there was no need for the extra convincing.

Without another word Kerrigan cloaked and headed back towards the Protoss warrior. Luckily for her, there were no Zerg Overseers present. With the terran and Protoss forces retreating all along the battlefield, the Zerg saw no need to spot for cloaked units as there wouldn't be any foolish enough to stay behind.

Channeling her psionic powers, she lifted a Zergling up and threw it backwards. It was able to get up immediately, only to be trampled over by a charging Ultralisk. Sarah threw a fragmentation grenade, landing right in front of the Zerg creature. As it exploded, it softened the earth beneath it, causing the Ultralisk to stumble a little. This gave her the break she needed to unleash a psionic storm on the beast. As it roared in pain, Sarah fired from her C-20 Canister Rifle at the other Zerglings.

Vartanil yanked another Zergling off of him, as he suddenly felt he was being pulled away by an unseen force. Sarah decloaked herself, seeing the need to conserve her psionic energies.

"Come on, we need to get out of here," she said quietly.

"I can see the rest of my brethren were quick to judge," the Furinax warrior said. "It would appear you truly have changed since your time with the Zerg."

Sarah shook her head sadly. "I'm just making up for what I caused you and the rest of the Protoss, nothing more. You might be convinced I'm different now, but your leaders won't."

"Give them time, young Kerrigan," Vartanil said, as they ran to join up with the others. "You have done your contributions to helping us retake Aiur from the Zerg. Once this world is ours again, I will make my appeal to the Hierarchy about what you had done for us here."

"It'll never be enough. Billions of Protoss are dead because of me. Your homeworld has been reduced to infested ruins because of me. Your culture is in shambles and the evacuated Aiur survivors are living in refugee camps on Shakuras. Getting your world back won't sway your people one bit about me."

"Not all of us have allowed our hatred to blind us from our reason," the young Protoss warrior said, as they passed by the bodies of terrans and Protoss, all having been slaughtered on the battlefield. "James Raynor was right in that there is clearly still good in you."

Sarah nodded as they joined up with the other Protoss warriors and terran ghosts. "We have to force the Kraken to follow us," she announced.

"That shouldn't be difficult," one of the ghosts said bitterly. "Looks like they're gathering their strength to stomp right over us now."

Sarah gazed upwards, looking for signs of the Protoss Motherships. "We've all seen what the Motherships can do, people. We just have to draw the Krakens into an open area. The Motherships can fly over them and fry them from above."

"That's not likely, Sarah," Jim's voice over the radio spoke out. "These Krakens might be thirsty for blood, but they're not stupid. They're not going to venture anywhere out in the open because they'll know we're trying to draw them into a trap."

"I know," Kerrigan said quietly. "The only way I can see it to work is to use the Exussumer walkers to lure them out. They'll keep chasing after the Protoss walkers and focus solely on them, while the Motherships can sneak up on them and burn them alive."

One of the Protoss Zealots roared in anger. "You wish to use the most powerful weapon in our arsenal as mere bait?"

Artanis's voice was suddenly heard. "We do not have a choice in the matter, Templar. The longer we delay, the more of our brethren will be killed by them, and we cannot afford to lose more warriors on the battlefield. As Hierarch, I hereby order the Exussumers to be moved into position to provide the trap against the Zerg menace."

"Jim, what about the BattleCruisers with the dry ice cargo we got from New Folsom?" Sarah asked into her radio.

"They're almost ready to make their move," the commander answered. "Everything is just about in position, and we'll unleash hell on the Zerg."

Kerrigan's Hive Fortress, Char

Ulrezaj hovered and moved deeper into Kerrigan's main hive. Despite being the main fortress for the Queen of Blades, it still shared similarities with the standard Zerg hatcheries. It was a massive network of tunnels as far as his eyes could see. The organic walls moved inward and outward as if it was breathing. This of course was no surprise to the Dark Archon, as all Zerg structures were essentially massive organisms, and this hive was no exception.

Embedded within the biological walls were countless Zerg larvae, but Ulrezaj was not intimidated. With the Queen of Blades gone, there was no one left to give orders to them anymore. And while Kerrigan may have issued them directives for defense, it would appear they had been given few instructions on how to react should their hives be penetrated. Perhaps it was the arrogant belief that no one would be foolish enough to actually enter a Zerg hive and destroy it from within that led to the non-responsiveness of the Zerg.

Nevertheless, the Dark Archon remained alert. His Tal'darim forces were holding their defensive positions outside of the hive cluster, but he was alone in here. Ulrezaj had no doubt that there would hostile Zerg forces searching these tunnels, especially after he had blasted several Drones with his dark psionic shockwaves. His shadow tendrils were lashing at the biological walls, but the hive's regenerative properties were remarkable. Within seconds of receiving damage, the organic layers would cover themselves back up Zerg larvae began spawning from them again.

It was exactly for this reason that he had ordered the Tal'darim to eliminate as many Zerg Spires as possible. They contained the genetic codes necessary to breed Zerg Scourges, and Ulrezaj was vulnerable to their plasma metamorphosis attacks. As the tiny Zerg flyers were so easy to breed and with countless larvae present, the Dark Archon knew if he was surrounded in the tunnels by them, he would not last very long. His dark psionic energy blasts were able to kill vast numbers of them, but they could all be replenished very quickly. To make matters worse, at such a massive size and shadow energy emitting all around him, he could be easily spotted by the Zerg.

Fortunately, like the Zerg, Ulrezaj was also a fast learner. It had all began when he was only an Alysaar student at Ehlna, and he had spent time at the Alys'aril Nexus and reading from the forbidden Wall of Knowledge. It was from that knowledge that gave him the ability to learn how to become a Dark Archon by merging with multiple Dark Templars, as well as the ability to stabilize the Dark Archon energies so that he wouldn't burn himself out and dissipate as the other Dark Archons had in the past. Even the Archons merged together by the Khalai Protoss had yet to achieve such mastery as he had, and Ulrezaj knew it would continue to assist him in his endeavors. The ability to teleport over long distances was also among the secrets he had learned upon reading the Wall of Knowledge, and it was with that ability that he was able to secretly return to Elhna again and again without allowing his presence to be detected by the Alysaar.

Initially, such journeys proved to be necessary as Ulrezaj required the underwater energy nexus there in order to maintain his energy. However, during his quest to reach Zamara, the female Protoss Preserver had channeled the moon's nexus of energy and imprisoned him within the Khaydarin Crystal she was to be transferred into. Until he was freed by the Dark Voice, the energies from Ehlna continued to course through the Khaydarin Crystal he and Zamara had both been sealed in.

This was of course to be expected, as the Khaydarin Crystal the Dark Archon was sealed in had been carved from the giant Khaydarin Crystal within the Aiur Caverns and thus was far more powerful that the Khaydarin Crystals on Ehlna. In fact, Ulrezaj had used the giant Khaydarin Crystal as an alternative means to help stabilize his Dark Archon energies. Yet after he had been freed from his imprisonment, the Dark Voice had assured him that due to the time he had spent imprisoned in the Khaydarin Crystal with all of Elhna's energies coursing through it, he no longer needed to return to underwater nexus to stabilize his energies. This left Ulrezaj free to proceed with his master's plans without the need for sustenance.

Such past experience had made Ulrezaj extremely capable in almost all situations, and he was able to anticipate the Zerg search patterns within the hive complex he was in and avoid them. There were still the occasional smaller Zerg creatures that he ran into, but they were no match for his dark psionic shockwave abilities. As he continued to move forward and towards the hive's main chambers, the Dark Archon could sense psionic signatures emanating from the organic rooms. From what he could sense, it would appear whatever was causing the psionic signatures proved to be stationary, yet extremely familiar to him. The energies certainly were not of living creatures of any kind, and this proved to Ulrezaj that Kerrigan had stored something else in her hive to facilitate in the swarm's evolution.

Soon, he had reached an opening in the labyrinth of organic tunnels. It wasn't the heart of the hive, but it was certainly among its main chambers. In the distance, Ulrezaj could see Zerg drones transporting materials into the center of the chamber. What they were could not yet be seen, as they were covered in the Zerg Creep, but the Dark Archon did not have to see it with his own eyes to know what they were transporting. Despite the biomass that was covering it, it still gave off a shining blue glow that shined through the Creep.

Duran's voice suddenly spoke into his mind. "That is your prize for your services, Ulrezaj. It is not what I seek, but I believe it would assist us in our endeavors in the future."

"Where exactly is what you seek?" the Dark Archon asked.

"You are nearing the heart of the hive now, young one. Once you reach the central chamber, there will be an opening that leads deep underground. The Queen of Blades may have been arrogant, but she had taken precautions in the event her hive on Char was subjected to attack. Deep underground are where some of her mightiest Zerg creatures are located. You will find what I seek there."

Overmind's Corpse, Aiur

From afar, the hybrid watched as the Zerg Krakens wreaked havoc on the terran and Protoss forces. While few in number, they still proved more numerous than the new Protoss war machines that had entered the battlefield. Even they were withdrawing, like the cowards the Protoss truly were.

The terrans fared much worse. At least the Protoss showed some form of courage on the battlefield when faced with impending doom. The weak terrans on the other hand fled at the first sign when things do not flow their way, and the Krakens would take full advantage of that.

Of course, he could already see the massive Protoss Motherships moving into position. Clearly they were trying to lure the Kraken beasts out into the open, where they would be subjected to the Motherships' energy blasts. Despite their immense power, the Kraken was still considered very tiny in comparison to the Mothership, and the golden Protoss capital ships possessed far superior firepower compared to their Carriers. Under such circumstances, the Krakens would not last very long.

Fortunately, the Protoss were still banking on the assumption that the three massive Leviathan creatures stationed close to the Overmind's husk would only be used for defense, and that was about to change.

Reaching out with his mind, he touched with the Overlords and Overseers positioned near the massive Zerg flyers. "The terrans and Protoss are retreating all across the battlefield, just as I had anticipated would happen. Now it is time to devour their last hope. Unleash the power of the Leviathans and lay waste to the Protoss Motherships. Without their mightiest ships at their side, the Protoss will have nothing left to stop our onslaught, and the terrans even less so. They had come to Aiur in the hopes to reclaim their homeworld and eradicate the Zerg, this is where they shall see their hopes and dreams crushed by the might of the Zerg swarm."