Author's Note: I wasn't joking when I said I'd be updating faster on this fic for the time being. Unless something completely unexpected shows up, it is my intent for this to be the updating rate until I have a better idea on Heart of the Swarm's release.
This chapter will foreshadow things to come, so I hope you guys enjoy reading it. Please read and review and I'll see you next time.
Chapter 57
Osborne Port, Tarsonis
Kim was not pleased upon hearing Corbin's report. "How did UNN hear about this?" she demanded angrily. "This is a top secret salvaging operation and even I don't know the full details!"
"I believe it may be a matter of some marines having lost their judgment, ma'am," the Dominion officer answered. "You know how many of them love going to bars, taverns, and nightclubs and drink themselves silly in the process. Some of them are even foolish enough to do it right before their mission, no matter what importance Dominion high command stresses about the mission itself."
"So you're saying one of the women they chatted to might have been a UNN employee and their tongue simply slipped due to drinking so much alcohol," the colonel concluded.
"It's the only explanation I have, colonel," the Dominion officer answered. "The details of the Tarsonis mission had been encrypted, and UNN doesn't have the equipment necessary to decrypt them. If they had tried to hack into our systems, Dominion security would have caught it right away, and we found no records of any of that."
Kim sighed, disgusted. The military operation hadn't even gotten off the ground and already the matter of secrecy had been ruined. This was a terrible way to start the mission. If secrecy could be broken this easily by mere UNN employees, it would be a walk in the park for the Dominion's enemies.
"Where is Lockwell and her reporters now?" she asked.
"Dominion personnel have escorted them into one of the waiting rooms in this building," Corbin answered. "They seem eager to conduct interviews with us."
Kim snorted. "That's only because the bigger fish they want to fry isn't cooperating, lieutenant." Off Corbin's confused look, she continued, "After Raynor's actions on Char, about the only news available to report was the constant rioting problems happening all over the Dominion worlds. People lose interest if they hear the same thing for too long."
"What about the Char invasion?"
"The problem here is that it was a combined effort between the Dominion and Raynor's warband," Kim explained. "The citizens aren't stupid, Corbin. They all know in times of war, it doesn't matter how strong your forces are on the battlefield. It's how effectively you can use them that determines victory or defeat. Don't forget, Prince Valerian specifically praised Raynor for his actions on what happened on Char, saying that had it not been for him, the whole Dominion fleet he had assembled would have been slaughtered. Because of that, the public gave the respect to Raynor, while only seeing the Dominion military as a bunch of retards who understand nothing except point and shoot. You're the public relations officer, you should know how well we're faring with the public right now."
"It's very low in popularity," the Dominion officer admitted. "There are still a select few who are willing to show a little faith in us, but the vast majority and looking to put their trust into others."
"It's why although I don't like the fact that the UNN are here, we don't have much of a choice in the matter. We need to regain public support, and every little bit will help in that aspect."
Corbin gave a nod before speaking into his radio. "Send the journalists in here."
The large doors opened and Lockwell and the other UNN reporters were escorted into the larger room by Dominion marines. Each of them saluted Colonel Kim, and she saluted them back. "Go back outside and begin final preparations for surface deployment," she ordered. "I'll take it from here."
"I'm glad to see the Dominion officers have a higher decency than the grunts," Kate observed, before offering her hand. "It's good to meet you, colonel."
"Likewise, Miss Lockwell," Kim said, shaking her hand. "Don't mind the marines, they can be very narrow-minded, and a lot of them are not pleased that you will not longer fully support the Dominion in its news."
"Lieutenant Corbin told me similarly," the anchorwoman said. "I had hoped the Dominion military would have been able to understand I'm merely looking at other perspectives."
"So why come here? I watched your report on Agria and how the Agrian colonists praised Jim Raynor for his actions in clearing the Zerg infestation from their world and allowing them to go back home."
"The UNN has covered Dominion operations for the last 4 years," Kate replied. "Granted only a few of them have been military due to the silence from the Zerg, but now that war has broken out again, there are many who wish to see the Dominion in action, and to see if the military can truly back up his words in that the Dominion fleet would be able to decimate the Zerg in no time."
"The emperor has his moments of arrogance," Kim admitted. "Combined with his influence on others, I hope you can understand why it had given the Dominion forces a somewhat grandiose attitude about others prior to the Zerg invasion."
"Then it came as a great shock to many of the troops that they were pushed back?"
"Among the main rules of war is that you must never underestimate your enemy, Miss Lockwell. I had watched the news conference that the emperor held, commemorating the 4 year anniversary of the Brood War. You said it yourself that it seemed wrong for the Dominion to devote its energies to hunt down Jim Raynor and should be focusing more on strengthening the fleets in the event of another Zerg invasion."
"And it would see my concerns had been vindicated," Kate folded her arms. "The emperor seemed to be giving everyone the impression that there was still plenty of time before the Zerg invasion, so dealing with the fleet could be pushed to the backburner while priority remained in hunting down rebels and terrorist groups. As a result when the invasion did happen, it seemed everyone was unprepared for it."
"You have to look at this in another way," the colonel stated. "I admit Mengsk's speeches might have been a little too arrogant for his own good, but this is also about the impressions it leaves on the public."
"What do you mean?"
"The emperor is correct about the sheer ruthlessness of the Zerg and the fates of those unfortunate enough to stand in their way. You've seen the reports of those who had suffered at their hands during the invasion."
Kate nodded. "During the emperor's inauguration speech when the Dominion was formed, he stressed about the terran race having to stand together against the Zerg menace."
"He also said strength lies in unity," Kim pointed out. "But only the minority of all terrans are soldiers, whereas virtually every Zerg creature is a vicious killing machine upon birth. The emperor knows that no matter how you carve it, we are vastly outnumbered by them, so the only way the terran race can survive is for everyone to stand together."
"What does this have to do with his arrogant attitude?"
"Give the sheer number of Zerg we're dealing with, you don't create a safe impression with the public if you tell them no matter how many of them you kill, it won't make the slightest difference. That would end up making the citizens fatalistic. You have to give them the impression that there is hope for them."
"Yeah well this has backfired with the Zerg invasion," Lockwell said, displeased. "The majority of the Dominion people now have the impression that the emperor's claims were nothing but hollow boasts."
"I assure you the Dominion would have taken the fight to the Zerg on Char had we just been given a little more time," Kim defended. "Prince Valerian simply beat us to it, though none of us had expected him to strike an alliance with Jim Raynor to make it happen."
"Well, others may be praising the rebel for his actions on Char, but they tend not to look at the whole picture. The prince may have said Raynor's actions had ensured that the invasion was a success, but the fact remained that it doesn't matter how skilled the man is. Raynor's strategy is only as good as the forces under his command, and I doubt he would have succeeded at all without the Dominion fleet behind him."
"That is true," Kim said proudly. "Despite his actions and claims, the fact remains that his Raiders are weak compared to the Dominion forces. Still, it came as a great shock to many of us that he was able to penetrate all the way down to Korhal and make those broadcasts. As the most heavily fortified Dominion world, we always thought few would have the nerve to even think about infiltrating the Dominion there, let alone try it."
"That is the reason why me and my news crew are here," Kate explained. "If the Dominion is truly being honest about helping the refugees in need in the aftermath of the Zerg invasion, then every military operation being conducted would be done to help them in that manner. There are billions of refugees who have lost families members and homes, yet have little place to go as the Dominion core worlds are still turning away the refugee ships that approach them. If nothing is done about the situation soon, their supplies will run out. They'll be starving due to the lack of food, and their ships won't have any fuel left to take them anywhere safe."
"I'm sure the emperor will take all that into consideration," the colonel assured. "He may be far from perfect, but he still has morals. That many refugees is too high a number for him to ignore, and he would be willing to provide them with the basic amenities to survive."
Lockwell was not convinced. "He was the reason behind the Zerg invasion of Tarsonis in the first place. More than 2 billion lives were lost because of that, and he didn't even blink."
"Mengsk knows what problems must take priority and what problems can be pushed to the backburner, Kate. With the way the Dominion public sees him right now, do you honestly believe he's just going to ignore the refugee problem and expects it to just fade away?"
"That's going to have to depend on how he sees the people," Kate replied. "When the Zerg invasion began, he had appointed General Warfield to lead the Dominion fleet to victory, and the public felt they were safe and the Zerg threat would be quelled in no time. Yet despite the general's actions, nothing of the sort happened. This is why the public is praising Jim Raynor as they felt he actually delivered the salvation the people had been waiting for, instead of Dominion politicians that promise everything and doing nothing."
"The Dominion intends to change all that, and this salvaging operation will be part of the plan," Kim explained.
"UNN has tried for years to get better insight on what the Dominion has been doing on Tarsonis, without any luck. Perhaps given all that's happened, you can give us some more information?"
Kim thought about this for a moment, before relenting slightly. "Although most people know about the destruction the Zerg had wreaked upon Tarsonis, there are very few in the military, let alone the public, who understands just how quickly a concentrated Zerg attack can overrun an entire world. In the case with Tarsonis, as billions of them invaded, it took only a couple of weeks. The vast majority of the Confederate military and their defenses were overrun within the opening days of the invasion, leaving its citizens to fend for themselves."
"The UNN covered that," Lockwell said. "Almost the whole of the Tarsonis population had been killed by the Zerg, many of them did not even come close to reaching an evacuation port."
"The rate at which Tarsonis had been overrun was something the Confederate military was simply not prepared for," Kim explained. "Despite the fact that they had known about the Zerg for years prior to this, it would appear the Confederacy had completely overlooked the sheer size of the Zerg numbers. They had proved to be far too arrogant into thinking their armed forces were strong enough to repel any threat, and no enemy of theirs would be foolish enough to attack them at their homeworld."
"What does this have to do with the salvaging operation?"
"The Confederate defenses were overrun quickly because no plans had ever been made for dealing with the Zerg on such a massive scale," the colonel answered. "However, despite the destruction the Zerg had brought upon to the planet's cities, it would appear they were not very interested when it came to terran technology."
"So you believe that technology could still be of benefit," Kate stated.
"Exactly, Miss Lockwell. Because the Zerg overran Tarsonis so quickly, virtually no one had the time to save that technology, or to destroy it to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. In some cases the Zerg had destroyed it themselves in their rampage, but in other cases they had left it intact because they didn't know what they had stumbled upon, and the technology has been left buried in the rubble ever since."
"But the technology is 4 years old," the anchorwoman pointed out. "And you just said the Confederates were too arrogant for their own good."
"The vast majority of them were," Kim agreed. "But there were a handful that were more cautious and felt this overconfidence and pride would eventually cause the whole Confederacy to collapse onto itself."
"Well their fears were certainly vindicated by the Zerg invasion," Kate grumbled.
"Regardless, eventually the Confederates gave in to their requests and devoted resources to fund their projects that would better defend the Confederacy. The status of them are uncertain. Some of them might have been completed, others might not even have gotten off the ground and are still in blueprint form or something. This salvaging operation will investigate more into that matter. Who knows? Some of what we might dig up may show Confederate projects way ahead of their time. If so, I'll submit my report to Emperor Mengsk immediately and let him know of my opinions on it. If all goes well, the Dominion will be able to better protect its citizens from future Zerg aggressions."
"Will you allow me and my news crew to come to the planet's surface with you?"
"Once we secure the area first," Kim promised. "Our salvaging operation will be focused on Tarsonis City, the Confederate capital. Before the Zerg invasion, it was a shining beacon of civilization and meant to be a symbol of hope to all of humanity. As the main seat of the Confederate government, it's obvious that the Confederacy's most important and top secret technologies would be located in the city's database. If there's anything the Confederate military had that the Dominion doesn't have right now, it's got to be located there."
Kerrigan's Hive Cluster, Char
The sounds of battle erupted over the ashes of Char as the individual Tal'darim continue their battle against the Zerg defenders. Prior to Ulrezaj's orders to capture live Zerg specimens, the toll taken on the Protoss warriors had been at an acceptable rate. Due to the ease at which the Zerg could replenish their numbers, there had been many cases where Zealots and Stalkers simply withdrew within their base parameters, where Roaches, Hydralisks, and Infestors pursued them, only to be cut down by the Photon Cannon defenses. And unlike the valuable templars, the Photon Cannons were highly replaceable, and Probes were sent in to immediately lay down additional ones for each one the Zerg destroyed.
However, the live capturing of Zerg made the task of the Tal'darim extremely difficult. Despite the news of the Aiur branch having successfully captured Zerg specimens for their Xava'tor, all of them knew they faced a completely different situation.
Aiur was the Protoss homeworld, and despite the fact some 5 billion Zerg still occupied it prior to the Zerg invasion, they hadn't targeted the Protoss survivors there for years and had also stopped reproducing their numbers. This meant that unless provoked, the surviving Protoss would be relatively safe as long as they hid from the Zerg.
On the other hand, Char was the primary base of operations for the Zerg swarm, and the Queen of Blades had made sure that the amount of larvae produced here would never cease and the swarm would continue to strengthen. This had been one of the fundamental orders she had issued since she assumed command of the Zerg, and despite her defeat by the hands of Jim Raynor, the order lived on. Observer reports from elsewhere over the primary hive cluster had confirmed continuous larvae activity from the Zerg hatcheries, and this made it extremely difficult for the Tal'darim to wear down the Zerg numbers.
To make matters worse, as orders were issued that the Zerg specimens must be captured alive, it forced the abandonment of the Carrier assistance. The robotic interceptor drones had proven to be especially effective at killing vast numbers of Zerg, but they had all been programmed to kill hostile forces on the spot, not to maim and then have Protoss warriors capture alive.
The same was true for the towering Colossi walkers. Their thermal lances had been very effective at incinerating the smaller Zerg, so only the Queens and Ultralisks had the carapace strong enough to withstand their power and still keep on fighting. The former was thus assigned to be among the top priority targets, as their slow speed off the creep made them extremely vulnerable. In addition, the Queens were among the few Zerg breeds that were rather sentient, and Ulrezaj had hinted that their capture would further facilitate his plans with the Khaydarin Crystal shards.
In the air, battle had continued as Protoss Scouts, Phoenixes, and Void Rays fought for air supremacy against the Zerg Mutalisks and Corruptors. Priority had been given to target the larger Brood Lords, as they were an easier target and slow moving due to the vast numbers of Broodlings they carry. However, as the Brood Lords had to be mutated from Corruptors first, this was not always easy to pull off. Tal'darim efforts to capture them had been continuously frustrated by the Corruptors' refusal to make such a morph due to the small numbers of Protoss ground warriors.
To compensate for this, many of the High Templars had been ordered to leave the safety of the Tal'darim base and make their presence felt on the battlefield once more. Along with the robotic Sentries, the High Templars continuously channeled their psionic powers to create hallucinations of Protoss Zealots, Stalkers, and Immortals, thus forcing the Zerg to believe there are more Protoss ground troops than there actually were.
As the Observer reports were indicating, in this the Tal'darim were succeeding. More and more Corruptors were being bred, many of them ready to morph into Brood Lords to take on the ground Protoss as only the Stalkers had the ability to return fire upon them. All it now took was a matter of luring the Brood Lords close enough to the High Templars, where they would then unleash their psionic storms and fry their muscles, forcing them to tumble out of the sky.
Fighting with the Tal'darim on the frontlines, Ulrezaj was so far pleased with the events that were unfolding. Although only a few Zerg specimens had been taken in and were so far insufficient for his plans, the Zerg had nevertheless been deceived. It was now only a matter of time before he would have enough Zerg at his disposal for him to harness their energies into the Khaydarin Crystal shards.
With regards to the Protoss energies, it would be an even simpler task. There were no signs of any of the Tal'darim that were willing to question him, and the Dark Archon was confident that a few of them would be willing to sacrifice their lives and energies for the greater good that he had promised them.
Bridge, Hyperion, En Route to Dead Man's Rock
Matt Horner looked out from the bridge of the Hyperion and sighed. In a few more minutes, the planet of Dead Man's Rock would be within visual range. It was not a place that he looked forward to seeing again, however. And it wasn't just because his mercenary wife Mira was on the planet.
The whole planet was nothing but a gigantic dumping ground and scrap yard, and an extremely miserable one at that too. At least with junk yards on planets like Brontes II were still maintained by reasonably experienced and disciplined people. On the other hand, the ones that cover most of Dead Man's Rock were mostly neglected, except in the event to strip down some of the metal husks of ships and vehicles and use them to construct buildings.
That is, if you could call them buildings. The trip to Dead Man's Rock last time in order to retrieve the Confederate adjutant had only confirmed Matt's suspicions: most of them were completely dilapidated, and there were very few that looked to be in much better condition compared to the ruined Confederate buildings on Tarsonis, and some of even were in an even worse condition.
Nor were many of the buildings permanent. As a safe refuge for mercenaries, criminals and mass murderers, rioting was very frequent on the planet over many different issues, and living space was certainly among them. A man could find himself in a staying for the night in ramshackle hotel, only to wind up dead in the morning as the building would collapse onto him during the night. And even that was still better compared to the other outcomes, which included mobs bursting into the hotel and murdering everyone they could see just to steal scraps of credit for themselves.
Given that, the captain wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if just about everyone went about their business, if one could call it business, with the impression they were under the barrel of a gun the whole time. It probably wouldn't be too far from the truth.
To compound matters, this time he had no choice but to deal with Mira. Last time he was able to stay in the background and let Raynor do all the talking to his wife, but the rebel commander had decided to temporarily split away from the Raiders on this dual mission. He was far away aboard the Helios, accompanied by a few of Warfield's other BattleCruisers, and on his way to Tarsonis with Nova, while Matt was given the command of the Hyperion and also some Dominion BattleCruisers to deal with the situation on Dead Man's Rock.
A further matter that greatly frustrated the young captain was the fact that Raynor had instructed the Raiders cooperate with Kerrigan on this mission. She was currently alone on the lower decks of the ship near the drop pods, though Matt was unsure if there was going to be a need for an orbital drop at all.
He saw the logic and wisdom behind Raynor's decisions, of course. The commander knew that despite everything that had happened since the Char invasion, many of Warfield's Dominion troops were still uneasy about being under his leadership. As such, Jim felt it was necessary to prove himself without the presence of his Raiders at his side, so that the Dominion soldiers would be better convinced of his intentions of laying it all on the line in the name of freedom and justice. Furthermore, both he and Nova had their own demons to face on Tarsonis: Jim remained traumatized after what happened to Kerrigan at New Gettysburg almost 5 years ago, while Nova had been permanently scarred after her family's assassination in the Tarsonis capital.
With regards to assigning Kerrigan to the Raiders for Dead Man's Rock, Jim had explained that it was a matter of building trust. Despite the female ghost's actions on Agria, New Folsom, and Aiur, the commander could easily see that the vast majority of the Raiders still possessed a major element of fear for her, and many still harbored a deep hatred after everything that had been done during her time with the Zerg.
For that reason, Jim felt it was necessary for trust to be built in another way. So far, most of the Raiders had only trusted Kerrigan due to the commander's orders to work alongside her. However, Raynor knew that this couldn't be kept up forever, and thus it was necessary for her to earn the trust beyond him. So far, the only ones apart from Jim that seem to fully trust her were Nova and Dr. Hanson. Everybody else, including Matt, still suspected that she could still be the Queen of Blades and could still be manipulating them to suit her own purpose.
Now, with Jim far away and no longer able to give specific orders for this mission, it was up to Matt to decide for himself how best to utilize the forces under his command, including Kerrigan. This too had made him uneasy, as he knew the female ghost was fully aware of the distrust around her.
The lack of people to speak to on this issue was yet another problem on his mind. Dr. Hanson had remained behind on Aiur to tend to the casualties sustained during the assault on the Overmind, though she insisted that a second reason to remain was to leave a better impression on the Protoss. This was something the captain understood, as the Queen of Blades had left a terrible scar on the Protoss people, and more female terrans were needed to convince the Protoss that not all terran females were bloodthirsty monsters bent on the destruction and suffering of others.
Warfield too had remained on Aiur, along with the vast majority of his Dominion battle group and the liberated New Folsom prisoners. They were not participating in clearing the remaining Zerg from the Protoss homeworld, however. Instead, the general was assessing the losses sustained so far and to continue to build up the fleet so that they would have a better chance to prevail when the fighting returns to the Dominion once again.
The vast majority of Aiur was in ruins, its cities, providences, and industrial complexes little more than dilapidated remains. Nevertheless, since the Protoss had returned in force to reclaim their homeworld, small sectors of Aiur had been restored to a point where it could once again support life, though it was still a far cry from the glorious days of the huge golden cities that the Protoss had built prior to the Zerg invasion.
Still, the Protoss had been grateful of the terran assistance, and had restored what remained of the terran construction yards on Aiur to working condition once more. Matt had been surprised to hear that the complex had not been completely destroyed by the Zerg 4 years ago, when it had been used to produce the forces necessary when Raynor rallied the Raiders alongside Tassadar's fleet to destroy the Overmind. Apparently the Zerg had lost interest in it after Aiur had been abandoned and the Protoss refugees used the last functional Warp Gate to escape to Shakuras.
Now, what remained were nothing but the bare bones of a construction complex, and Warfield planned to get his engineers working on it day and night so that it could be fully restored to working condition. It would be a daunting task, but general believed with the resources at their disposal, it could be done relatively quickly and allow the Raiders to continue to build up their fleet to challenge the Dominion armada.
Matt turned his thoughts back to Dead Man's Rock as the lawless planet finally came into visual range. Despite the fight will be against the Dominion once again, it was not something he completely looked forward to. Although he had asked Raynor frequently about before the Raiders' full attention returns to toppling Mengsk, working alongside mercenaries just felt wrong from his perspective.
It was for this reason that he felt very uneasy about Jim's actions in hiring mercenaries for his cause when the Zerg invasion began. To the captain, their skills and abilities may have counted for much and contributed to many of their successes on the battlefield, but the fact remained that their morals and ethics were still a critical factor. The Raiders' actions against the Dominion during the train robbery on Tarsonis, stealing the Odin walker on Valhalla, and making the broadcasts on Korhal had confirmed that the Dominion too were hiring mercenaries, where they had been encountered in the form of War Pigs, Devil Dogs, Hammer Securities, Spartan Companies, Siege Breakers, and Hel's Angels.
For that reason, Matt had continuously been concerned about the mercenaries with the Raiders. After all, they didn't care about taking sides or anything like that, as long as they got their credit payment at the end of the day. Given the lack of funds prior to the Zerg invasion, the captain felt that the mercenaries Raynor had hired for his revolution had actually stayed with the Raiders was little short of a miracle.
Still, he felt their attitudes had changed little even after everything that has happened. As long as they were paid well, nothing else mattered to them. And this made them even more likely hiring targets by the Dominion. The rioting across the Dominion core worlds meant the military was now desperate for major success, whoever their opponent may be. That meant that the Dominion fleet could use all the help it could get, including mercenaries to do its bidding. Dead Man's Rock is full of them, and that did not comfort Matt in the slightest bit.
He snapped out of his thoughts, however, when the communications console beeped, and three Wraith interceptors decloaked in front of the Hyperion.
"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from them," one of the bridge crew members announced.
"Patch it through," the young captain ordered.
A mercenary's face suddenly appeared on the screen. "Captain Matthew Horner, we are here by decree of your wife Mira Han."
"Don't remind me," Matt grumbled. "Anything useful you have to report?"
"Please follow us, captain. We're under orders to escort the Hyperion and your other ships down to the surface of Dead Man's Rock."
"Where exactly are you taking us?"
"A safer location where you and your wife can speak face to face. She did not want to do it over a comm-link because she was concerned about the possibility that the Dominion might be monitoring the transmissions and pinpoint your location from it."
Matt sighed. "Then I'll make this brief and comply before this transmission gets traced."
Without another word he turned off the communications console, before nodding to the bridge officers. "Follow the Wraiths and take us down to the planet's surface immediately."