Author's Note: Hey guys, the next chapter is here. I have to say, writing this fic has certainly been a wonderful experience. After more than 100,000 hits, I would like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed my fic, you guys have been great.
For those of you who had read the book Starcraft Ghost: Spectres, there will be elements of that book tied into this fic as well. If you haven't, well I'll try to put what I can to tie it into my fic as well.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Please read and review and I'll see you next time.
Chapter 55
Raiders Base, Aiur
"The losses we've sustained in helping the Protoss break the last major Zerg concentration on their world are substantial," Warfield reported to Raynor over the communicator console. "We may have won the battle thanks to your Protoss buddies unleashing their biggest warships I've seen, but it's going to take some time to make good the losses in men and material here."
"You'll have plenty of that, general," Jim assured. "The Protoss won't be needing our help to clear the remaining Zerg from Aiur, so this will be the perfect time for a little rest and relaxation for most of us."
"Will you be turning your sights back to dealing with Mengsk soon?"
"More than likely. By now I'm sure Mengsk has gotten all the rioting on the Dominion worlds quieted down and will have some plan in mind to regain control over the situation."
"Then I recommend we turn our sights back to Tarsonis again, Raynor."
"Why there?" Jim asked.
"The Dominion have been conducting constant salvaging operations there in the hopes to restore the planet to its former glory before it was completely ravaged by the Zerg," Warfield answered. "Your actions in stealing the Confederate adjutant from them is not going to change their minds about further salvaging. Before my recall to duty, Mengsk had made it clear that the whole of Tarsonis must be thoroughly searched in the event of further Confederate military secrets and technologies. Don't forget, the Dominion had discovered the Diamondback hover-tanks on Tarsonis just as your Raiders did, and it had been incorporated into their arsenal as well for mass production."
"Maybe so, but after the stunt I pulled off last time, it's not going to be as easy a second time," Jim replied.
"Even so, your actions had weakened Mengsk from his throne, and when I was off counting our losses sustained by the Zerg, one of my officers had intercepted an encoded Dominion transmission. It appears another Dominion battle group has been sent down to Tarsonis to conduct another salvaging operation."
"You think it if we seize it, it can weaken the Dominion even more?"
"No one knows for sure," the general answered. "All I know for a fact is that the battle group is relatively small, not suited for prolonged battle. It is stronger than the Dominion forces that restored power to the rail network, however. This would suggest that they're expecting you to raid them again, which would imply whatever they're trying to dig up is vital to the Dominion and they can't afford for it to fall into the Raiders' hands."
Jim nodded. With the addition of Warfield's forces and the liberated prisoners from New Folsom, the Raiders are now much stronger than just a handful of volunteers prior to the Zerg invasion. Besides, he had experience with stealing from the Confederacy during his years spent with Tychus, so stealing from the Dominion should be very similar.
Besides, with the threat of Armageddon looming over the horizon, the commander felt it may be necessary to unite the whole of the terran race against it in order to survive. For that reason, Mengsk has to go as quickly as possible so there would be no interferences from petty internal power struggles. If what Warfield said was true, then success here would drive another nail into Mengsk's coffin.
"All right general," he said finally. "I'll send some of our ships to Tarsonis to acquire what the Dominion are looking for there."
"If all goes well, it could set the stage for another Dominion riot on the Core Worlds," Warfield said proudly. "Mengsk may have been able to wiggle out of it last time, no way he's going to be able to do it twice."
Dominion Command Center, Bel'Shir
General Madison entered the hallways of the infirmary located in the lower levels of the Command Center. Personally he disliked having been called away from the Dominion troops on the frontline, as every gunman was needed in the event of a Protoss attack. He did not even understand why the doctors had contacted him in the first place. He never understood anything specific with regards to medical equipment. Had it been the case of a wounded soldier, that would have been another story, but the doctors had made it clear that wasn't the case.
As he walked down the hallway, one of the Dominion doctors greeted him. "General, we're glad you're here."
"So what's this all about?" Madison asked. "I don't see any reason for me being here. There hasn't been any fighting since we've landed on Bel'Shir again, so it's not like there'd be any casualties. Unless of course you're here to tell me that the ghost agents are not recovering the way they're supposed to."
"That's not the case, sir. Despite the psionic exhaustion they experienced from opening the terrazine altars, the ghosts are doing just fine. They're all in a reasonably healthy condition and as long as they're given enough time to rest, they will all fully recover and be ready to go back into the field."
"Then what's the problem?" the general asked. "No one has died yet, so everything should be just fine."
"There hasn't been any casualties yet," the doctor agreed. "But there could potentially be. The medical team called you here because we feel you might know something about this terrazine substance."
"I don't know anything about that," Madison explained. "All Mengsk told me was that this gas will be vital to his plan in regaining control and putting an end to the Dominion unrest across the Core Worlds."
"After what happened here, I'm beginning to think the emperor is playing with something he doesn't fully understand, and that might be dangerous."
"What do you mean?"
"One of harvesting teams was bringing back a terrazine canister back to the Command Center. According to the SCV pilots and marine unloaders, everything was going well until one of the marines got a little sloppy and didn't support the canister weight properly. The canister fell to the ground, and when the men picked it back up, it had cracked just a little."
"Was any terrazine lost?" the general asked.
"Maybe a few drops," the doctor replied. "But that's not what's relevant here. The point is one of the marines opened his suit visor and inhaled the substance. It wasn't much, but it had an immediate effect on him, very similar to the stimpacks that marines use on the battlefield."
Madison paused in thought as the doctor continued, "As you know, the stimpack is an in-field chemical delivery system that is built into the combat suits of terran infantrymen. The stimulants they contain are commonly used by the military because person using it will benefit in terms of increased speed, reflexes, muscle density, and combat effectiveness. It does have the drawbacks of tissue damage, and that is why medics stay close to the infantry when something like that happens."
"So the terrazine substance is doing the same thing to that marine?"
"It's doing far worse than that, sir. Whatever this substance is, it seems to be far more potent than any stimulant we know when it comes to the side effects. Stimulants are supposed to be addictive, but that requires prolonged usage of it. On the other hand, the marine in the infirmary is screaming for more of this terrazine substance after inhaling just a tiny bit of it. The addiction effect is far greater than any stimulant the Dominion possess."
"Drug addictions are breakable, doctor."
"Terran made ones," the doctor corrected. "This terrazine is clearly not of terran origin, as we don't know what it's doing to that marine. He's clearly becoming extremely violent, and we had to sedate him so that he wouldn't start attacking medical personnel."
"Why would he do that?" Madison asked. "Dominion marines may be mostly taken from the prisons, but they're not stupid. Even they can tell the difference between friend and foe. The stimulants do have the ability to change that due to experience of mania, but that requires prolonged exposure to take effect."
"As I said, this terrazine substance is far more effective than that. What takes years of exposure from terran stimulants, terrazine seems to be able to do the same thing in mere seconds. Fortunately it's only one marine, and we have the situation under control for now."
Madison shook his head, clearly unhappy about the news. It was bad enough that their forces were already greatly understrength and were in no position to deal with concentrated Protoss attacks. Thus it was vital for everyone to remain as stealthy as possible in order to avoid detection.
If the doctor was right and this terrazine had all of the drawbacks of the stimulants, then exposure to it would affect the infantrymen's individual thoughts and judgments. This would make it extremely easy for some of them to act stupidly, and thus give away their positions to the Protoss.
"Do you think it's just him, or would the terrazine affect everyone else the same way?" the general asked.
"My theory is the terrazine would probably affect everyone differently," the doctor answered. "After all, no two terrans ever react to stimulants in the exact same way, and so far the terrazine seems to be having similar effects to the stims, just at a much more accelerated rate. Still, with most stims we see people having their mental judgment impaired after prolonged exposure, and thus terrazine can do the same thing. I don't think it's a good idea to put to the test how the terrazine would affect others."
Madison nodded in agreement. "Continue monitoring that marine's behavior, doctor. Maybe we can learn more about the terrazine substance that way. Prolonged exposure to stimulants means it could take years to break the addiction, let's hope terrazine doesn't follow the same path once you're deprived of it."
"The medical personnel will continue to monitor him until we feel he's back to normal, sir," the doctor replied. "In the meantime though, may I make a suggestion?"
"Of course," Madison nodded.
"I suggest you pull up some classified Dominion files in the past, general. I have a gut feeling there's more to the picture than we know. The emperor didn't tell you anything specific for coming to Bel'Shir for the terrazine harvesting, after all. I'm sure he would have told you that this is on a need-to-know basis and you didn't need to know, but after seeing what the terrazine does, I think we all need some more answers."
"You think Mengsk is hiding something from us about this terrazine?"
"All I know is that while the emperor is a difficult man to read, he wouldn't have sent all of us here and then kept us in the dark unless there's something he doesn't want us to find out. You know how this works, sir. The Dominion high command issues orders without giving any specifications, and the soldiers on the ground follow them, plain and simple. The picture isn't revealed to the soldiers until the higher ups feel the time is right, and in some cases the soldiers that did all the fighting and sacrifice are never told the picture at hand."
"Even if I ask the emperor about this, he's still going to say it's not something for me to know, doctor."
"And that's why I recommend you find some files on your own, sir. We need more information about this terrazine, and I have a feeling the emperor already has some idea what it really does."
"That'd be disobeying an order from the emperor, and few people can do that without facing the consequences."
"With all due respect general, you already disobeyed an order from him when you ordered us to evacuated the moon of Bel'Shir even though he had expected you to stay there and fight it out. It's just a little information to see the Dominion has encountered this terrazine substances before, it's not anything unreasonable."
Madison sighed. "I'll do what I can, doctor, but I can't promise anything. In the meantime, please keep me updated on any and all behavioral changes on the marine. We need to know what we're dealing with here."
Tal'darim Base, Char
The Tal'darim warriors bowed in obedience as Ulrezaj returned to their established base on Char. None of them questioned his actions, as they firmly believed that his actions were something they would not be able to understand. Nevertheless, many of them showed surprise when they saw their Xava'tor carrying the fragments of Khaydarin Crystals with him.
"It is a further sign that the Zerg swarm has continued to strengthen just as we are," Ulrezaj told them. "The Protoss on Aiur had foolishly believed that only the Firstborns would be able to harness the power of these sacred artifacts that the Xel'Naga had left behind. It had proved to be a fatal mistake for countless numbers of them."
"Their pride blinded them, mighty Xava'tor," a High Templar stated. "The Tal'darim would never have ruled out such a possibility, however slight it may be."
The Dark Archon was impressed by their ability to listen to reason and logic, but he knew there was still a ways to go before the Tal'darim would be able to become the warriors he pictured.
Despite their corruption due to the Sundrop substance, the fact remained that all of the Tal'darim were once Khalai Protoss. While the substance had cut off their link to the Khala, it did not change the fact that unlike the Dark Templar who never embraced the Khala, the Tal'darim once did.
Thus despite being embraced by the Void now and developing Dark Templar techniques, the Tal'darim were still a long way from fully becoming Nerazims themselves. For instance, although some of the individual Tal'darim are able to cloak just like the Dark Templar can, the Tal'darim cloak is not as effective as it is not permanent. As a result, the cloaking technique was not something that could be fully taken advantage of during the heat of battle.
A far more important matter is with regards to the Khaydarin Crystals. Although Ulrezaj knew that there were few Nerazims today that are aware of how to use the sacred Khaydarin Crystals for memory storage, none of them had ever forgotten about Alys'aril Nexus on Ehlna. The Sanctuary of Wisdom was simply too valuable to any Dark Templar to forget, as it housed the entire recorded history of the Nerazims.
However, the Tal'darim knew of no such thing as they were all Khalai Protoss once. They understood nothing of the ways of using the Khaydarin Crystals to preserve Dark Templar knowledge. It was for this reason that the Nerazims placed a far greater priority in locating the sacred artifacts of the Xel'Naga.
As such, the Dark Templar tribes had gained greater knowledge and understanding about the Khaydarin Crystals compared to their Khalai brethren. Ulrezaj had quickly learned that it was for this reason that the Khalai Protoss had often turned to Nerazim expertise when it came to the restoration of the Protoss military might against future conflicts with the Zerg swarm.
This was not to say the Tal'darim Protoss before him were useless in understanding the Khaydarin Crystals he had brought to the base, but the Khalai Protoss were far too used to working with larger Khaydarin Crystals which are then carved into smaller crystals and used for their ships, weapons, and buildings. There were very few cases of working with mere crystal shards and actually assembling them into the larger form necessary to provide sufficient power to Protoss structures and spacecraft.
For this reason the Dark Archon was unsure if the Tal'darim had the knowledge necessary to assemble the shards together to re-forge the Khaydarin Crystals. They were not needed at all in order to create the warped Khaydarin Crystals, but they proved too vulnerable to him in the past and Ulrezaj had no intention of repeating the same mistake.
Nevertheless, this was a matter that could at least be addressed later. The immediate priority was the matter of refinement. Due to the experimentations the shards had been subjected to by the Queen of Blades, there was no telling what sort of impurities the Zerg biomass had done to them. Ulrezaj had long since knew the Khaydarin Crystals were capable of enhancing the Zerg every bit as much as they could enhance the Protoss, and Kerrigan would have devoted much of her efforts to harnessing the power of Khaydarin Crystal shards to her Zerg minions. This could mean the shards have already been tainted with Zerg energies, and the Dark Archon needed them in their purified state before the crystal assembly process could begin.
"Great one, what is thy will?" A nearby Zealot asked.
"The wretched Queen of Blades has tainted the ancient relics of the Xel'Naga," Ulrezaj replied, gesturing to the crystal shards. "In order for me to proceed forward with my plan, these Khaydarin Crystals must be purified of their Zerg essence. I entrust this task to the Tal'darim to do."
The Zealot gave a gesture of obedience, as several High Templars came forward and accepted the shards and began moving them towards the Nexus for purification.
"Another phase of my plan will require the presence of the Zerg," Ulrezaj continued. "Due to the vast numbers of Zerg on Char, this will not be an easy task as I require Zerg specimens to be captured alive."
"For what reason do you require living Zerg specimens?" Another Zealot asked. "They are our sworn enemies, only meant to be killed!"
"It is something that will have its beneficial results," the Dark Archon assured. "However, this is not something I would expect you to understand just yet. You will be informed of the nature of my plan in the future."
The Tal'darim warriors before him gave their signs of approval. "We shall begin mobilizing our forces at once to capture the Zerg specimens you require, mighty Xava'tor."
"Concentrate your efforts in capturing for me the largest and fiercest of the Zerg strains, if possible," Ulrezaj ordered. "The mightier the Zerg creatures captured, the greater my chances will be for my plan to come to fruition."
Outskirts of the Raiders Base, Aiur
From a distance away, the hybrid watched as some of the terran ships took off from the ground and into the sky, heading upwards towards Aiur's upper atmosphere.
Not all of the terrans had left Aiur though. When James Raynor had arrived on Aiur, some of his forces had held their position in high orbit, while others had descended down to the surface of the planet. However, when the Zerg concentration around the mass of the Overmind had been broken, the situation had changed. The terrans had quickly let down their guard, and he had seen more terran ships land on Aiur's surface. The total number of warriors James Raynor had brought with him were still insignificant compared to the number of Protoss though, and while the terrans and their weapons had gone silent after the Zerg forces around the Overmind had scattered, the Protoss had remained focused on the task at hand, and their forces continued to hunt down the remaining Zerg creatures that infested their homeworld.
Despite the fact that the remaining Zerg forces on Aiur were continuing to dwindle, the Protoss victory here was only a temporary setback, and the hybrid knew it. The Zerg creatures could all be easily replaced, the terran and Protoss warriors could not. No matter how heavily the Protoss fortify Aiur, another Zerg invasion would easily break their military might.
The only factor left was Kerrigan. The hybrid had sensed her psionic signature aboard one of the terran ships departing Aiur, and it confused him. She had come to Aiur to seek out answers from the Overmind's rotting mass and obtain further clues regarding the Xel'Naga prophecy, yet now she had left Aiur without doing so. To the hybrid, it did not seem logical.
Duran's voice suddenly spoke into his mind at that moment. "It is not something you should be concerned about, my creation. This departure will only be temporary."
"How are you so certain of this, master?"
"Only the Overmind itself holds further clues about the nature of the Xel'Naga prophecy, something even the Protoss do not fully understand. They too will intend to explore its nature once the remaining Zerg are cleared from Aiur. Similarly, Kerrigan would not dismiss this prophecy given her role in it. In time, she will return to Aiur to seek out answers. When that time comes, she will be lured right into our snare."
"That may not be easy," the hybrid pointed out. "With each passing moment, the Zerg forces on Aiur are rapidly dwindling. Even if I can find a way to gather all of them together, the broods are simply too weak to withstand the might of the Protoss fleets now."
"You need not gather all of the remaining Zerg," Duran stated. "Only a small number of them are necessary for the snare to work."
"I do not understand, master."
"With all of the Zerg forces scattered across Aiur, the Protoss will be forced to devote much of their energies to hunt them down and eradicate them all. This will force them to stretch their forces rather thinly, and will give you the opportunity to gather some of the scattered Zerg creatures. This is what you will do, but only gather them to a point where the Protoss will not deem them any significant threat. This will prevent the Firstborns from using their fleets against you as they will think the Zerg survivors are too weak to cause any harm. However, this is only true against vast numbers of Protoss, and not in terms of individuals."
"By then the Protoss will have more than likely wiped out most of the remaining Zerg on Aiur," the hybrid stated, starting to catch on.
"You are correct, young one. By now, with all of the hatcheries, lairs, and hives destroyed, the Protoss know there is no longer any way for the remaining Zerg to replenish their numbers, each one killed will be gone forever. Therefore, once the Zerg numbers on Aiur drops below a certain threshold, I believe the Protoss will lower their guard and caution. It will give you and the Zerg survivors you gather the easy chance to avoid detection by them."
The hybrid bowed in approval. "I will leave at once to begin gathering the survivors, master."
"Be sure to position them closely together," Duran advised. "It will not be too long before Kerrigan returns to the Protoss homeworld. When she does, she will fall directly into our trap."