Author's Note: Hey guys, I got the next chapter all readied for you. Didn't take too long for this one, and here you'll get to see some of the brutalities of the Dominion and everything. With Raynor moving into Tarsonis City last chapter, things will be stirred up rather quickly, and you'll see exactly what I mean.
In this chapter, the carnage begins...
Chapter 60
Paradise, Dead Man's Rock
Captain Bock watched as the Dominion marines worked their usual brutal methods in questioning the citizens of Dead Man's Rock. It didn't bother him one bit. In fact, there were more than enough cases where he felt the marines were being too lenient on the citizens. They were all scumbags, criminals, traitors, and murderers. In addition, as this planet is a lawless world, it meant that they were not on any terran faction or anything like that.
On the other hand, one could argue that most of the Dominion marines were once serial killers and psychopaths as well, but they are serving under a government who's goal is to bring peace and prosperity to the Koprulu Sector. The people here at Dead Man's Rock, on the other hand, knew nothing about law and authority. All they cared about was finding a means to get by with their lives, and more often than not that didn't seem to work.
Upon entering the outskirts of Paradise, one of the planet's main settlements, the public immediately reacted with fear to the presence of Dominion troops. This was not something that surprised him, and he took great pleasure in such a sight. For years, the emperor had portrayed the Dominion marines as the most feared fighting force ever known, and to see the average citizens tremble before them gave the captain great satisfaction in knowing Mengsk's portrayal was vindicated.
Around him, Dominion marines were holding citizens at gunpoint and demanding answers. His squad was in one of the local bars, and a smaller one at that. Bock was disgusted at the sight of it all. At least with the bars and taverns on the Dominion Core Worlds, there was a sense of order to everything. Here, it seemed regular bar fights were normal on an everyday basis, which was exactly what his squad encountered when they first walked in.
The bar's prostitutes were no better. All of them cared nothing for the outside world, only their own individual lives. Seemed like the only thing on their minds all the time were flashing their bodies to mobs of drunken men so that they'd get credits in their pockets. A few of them were actually mothers with their own children, their home in the very tavern they're dancing at.
Bock shook his head, disgusted. Who would have thought it was actually possible to raise a family of any sort at all on this toxic dump? The children would be considered pretty lucky to even reach their teen years, and if by some miracle they reached adulthood, they'd just be a new generation of scumbags and scoundrels for the planet's population.
It was among the reasons why he pondered if after they had gotten the information they needed and taken care of business here on Dead Man's Rock, would General Ridgeway authorize the usage of the Apocalypse-Class Nuclear Weapons anyway. It certainly wouldn't be a total genocide or anything like that. They had only been supplied with three of them for this operation, which is far from able to kill off the entire Dead Man's Rock population anyway.
Hell, it was unlikely it could really make this place any worse than it already is. Famine had been a problem on this world for as long as anyone could remember, and illegal activities were the only way anyone could get by. Only the most powerful crime lords could have a life that even came close to resembling luxury, and such efforts take years of work before it could be put into motion.
To that end, Bock was more convinced that such an action would actually help the people here. The deaths caused by the nuclear blasts would undoubtedly have detrimental effects during the short run, but as time passes the sudden drop in population would help balance out the starvation problems on Dead Man's Rock. This would be among the few times the mercenaries would prove to be a benefit, as the captain knew they did not have to deal with something authoritative governments had to contend with on a daily basis: politics and bureaucracy.
As mercenaries weren't bound by laws of governments, they could care less about the rules and regulations. Although Bock knew the laws were in place for a reason, even he had to admit at times they had made the system of taking action less efficient than they needed to be. Of course, the mercenaries' actions had an even bigger negative impact if they didn't succeed, but every now and then when they did, the benefits could be plain for all to see rather quickly.
Besides, the public wouldn't denounce the Dominion for taking such an action on Dead Man's Rock. Although the vast majority of the Dominion population did not have a full idea of just what things were like on the planet, the one thing that they could all agree on was the fact that it Dead Man's Rock was a lawless world, a haven for pirates, spies, and smugglers. Dominion propaganda had portrayed them as resistant to authority for years, and that they would eventually be swiftly dealt with. This meant it would be nothing like the near genocide the Confederacy had conducted against Korhal back in 2491, when virtually the whole Korhal population was wiped out. Back then, the people had greatly backlashed the Confederacy, but there would be no such backlash here with the Dominion.
His was knocked out of his thoughts, however, when the scream of a woman was heard. Bock turned around to see one of the Dominion marines slam a local barmaid into the wall, his Slugthrower pistol aimed at her face.
"You're seriously trying my patience, lady," the marine growled. "If you think Dominion marines are just a bunch of morons, you're sadly mistaken. Now, I'm going to ask you again, where is Mira Han?"
"I swear, I don't know her!" the woman cried, only to receive a fist to her face. She fell to the floor, her nose bleeding.
"Don't lie to us," another marine spoke up, as he yanked the barmaid back up and slammed her into the wall again. "Mira Han has a very powerful mercenary fighting force on this planet. In fact, it's among the most powerful mercenary armies in the whole sector. It may be no match for the Dominion, but it's large enough. You expect us to believe you don't know a thing about it?"
"It's the truth! The people in this bar don't pay attention to these things!" The marine struck out, hitting the woman even harder this time. She sank to her knees, coughing up blood from her mouth.
"Your lies are just going to make things even harder on you," the marine said calmly. "Don't think for even a moment that we came here without the slightest clue about Dead Man's Rock. We know Mira Han based her forces at Deadman's Port."
"Then why come here? This is Paradise!" the woman gasped, still choking on her own blood.
"Because we also know that the people in this town have a bitter rivalry with those of Deadman's Port."
"That's only for the criminals!"
One of the marines nearby snorted. "And we're supposed to believe you're not? Look around you, lady. The whole planet is full of pirates and murderers!"
"Not all of us are like that!"
"So you keep convincing yourself," the first marine growled, his Slugthrower trained on her head again. "Now, given the rivalry, it's pretty clear the people of Paradise have to know certain people of Deadman's Port. Given how big a player Mira Han is, I'd say it's safe to assume you know something about her."
The barmaid struggled to her feet, trembling in fear at the gun pointed at her. "I swear, I've told you everything I know! Please, I have a family!"
"All you've told us so far is that you know nothing," Bock said, before gesturing to two Marauders nearby. Without a word, they turned around and exited the tavern. "Fortunately, we have ways to persuade you otherwise."
"What are you doing?" the woman asked in terror.
"The Dominion had learned very effective methods to get information out of people under interrogation," the captain answered, before the door entrance swung open. The barmaid gasped in horror. The two marauders came back inside, each holding two children by the throat and bringing them before her.
"As you can see, we have your four children right here in front of us," Bock said, before one of the marines pulled out his combat knife and pointed the tip at one of them. "If you won't give us the information to save yourself, perhaps you can be persuaded to save your children instead."
"But it's the truth!" she cried. "I really don't know anymore!"
Bock snorted. "Always have to be the stubborn one. Perhaps a firsthand demonstration of we mean business can change your mind."
With another gesture, the nearby marine holding the combat knife brought it down on one of the four children hard onto his wrist, cutting his hand right off his body. As the child screamed in pain, blood began to squirt out from his appendage.
"You bastard!" the barmaid screamed.
Bock chuckled. "You know, insulting a Dominion officer has its consequences too. Allow me to demonstrate."
The marine with the combat knife picked up another of the four children and slammed her onto a nearby table. Without the slightest hesitation and with the utmost efficiency, he cleanly cut off the little girl's right ear, leading to more screams of horror by the woman.
"Now maybe you'll finally start taking us seriously," Bock declared. "Because if you don't, then every time you give me an answer that I don't like, I'll simply have another limp cut off from one of your children. You know as well as I do that I can easily cut them out and leave them to bleed to death on the floor right here and now, so I suggest you cooperate or you're going to have to do a lot of burying soon."
Raiders/Mercenary Rendezvous Point, Dead Man's Rock
Sarah could feel the tension from everyone around her. It wasn't just from the Raiders and Warfield's troops, but also from Mira Han's soldiers. Upon exiting the Dropships, every one of them had been greeted by her mercenaries, though it was far from the pleasant reception anyone had been expecting.
Despite having been assured that there wouldn't be any hostile reception, the red haired ghost could easily see this was going to be no easy task. All of Mira's marines still had their trigger fingers steady on their AGR-14 Assault Rifles, while none of the marines with her eased their trigger fingers on their C-14 Gauss Rifles either.
She could easily see Matt was not coping well with this, having to deal with his wife in such a manner. Yet Kerrigan also saw that there was a major element of extreme uneasiness on Mira Han's face. Both of them were only a few feet from each other, standing in front of the troops they had each led here, yet neither one seemed to be ready to start the meeting. Both remained silent, somewhat lost in their own thoughts.
Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of waiting, the silence broke. "This is not what I had been expecting when you said you had new soldiers that joined up with your Raiders, Matthew," Mira said calmly.
"Yeah well neither was I for your welcoming party," Matt shot back. "Considering half the troops here were once part of Orlan's forces, I'm surprised they aren't itching for revenge considering what your boys did to him."
"They're smart enough to know when their strength is strong enough for such a matter and when this would be utterly suicidal," the pink haired woman replied. "They pose no threat to me. The troops you have, on the other hand, is a completely different matter."
The young captain folded his arms. "You want to know why there's Dominion troops as part of the Raiders."
"Your message has been clear for years, Matthew. It had always been to bring down the Dominion government. This was still the case when you were here last time, asking what was taking Orlan so long with the Confederate Adjutant. Am I supposed to believe you all of a sudden abandoned your revolution?"
"Of course not. You said it yourself that you had seen the Korhal broadcasts that sent the Dominion into disarray," Matt explained. "Unfortunately, after that we had to turn our attention to the Zerg to stop their invasion. Eventually it reached a point where we realized the only way to make that happen was to temporarily put aside our differences."
"So you struck an alliance with the Dominion?" Mira was not pleased. "I'm surprised by this of you. You distrusted them for years, what changed your mind?"
"I still do, but Raynor was right in that it was the only chance we were going to get when it came to stopping the Zerg. Needless to say, the casualties had been appalling in the Char invasion, but we succeeded nonetheless. Afterwards, well let's just say the Dominion troops that took part in the invasion finally saw that the Raiders aren't the terrorists they had been led to believe by Dominion propaganda all these years. They joined up with our cause and are technically no longer part of the Dominion anymore, and our revolution continues to topple Mengsk and his government."
"And you think the Raiders' reputation will get ruined if people see they're working with my forces," Mira stated, shaking her head. "You need a serious reality check, Matthew. Do you really think we're all the monstrous savages the media has portrayed us as?"
"Well your actions in killing so many of Orlan's troops certainly vindicated plenty of it," Matt grumbled. "Your people are far too ruthless. If it weren't for Jim's direct order to come here, I would have nothing to do with you."
"Call them ruthless if you like, the fact remains they're still soldiers. We still have discipline and a loyalty to each other that holds us together when the going gets rough. Otherwise, we'd be nothing but a pack of armed thugs bent on killing anyone we saw."
"Way I see it, you are nothing but armed thugs. I honestly don't see how the hell you'd function in a normal society if Dead Man's Rock suddenly became unavailable to you someday. You get on any civilized world, all of you would end up being either dead, in prison, or locked in insane asylums."
"And what makes you think you get to decide who is considered sane and who is considered insane?" Mira glanced briefly at Kerrigan, before turning her eyes back to Matt. "You've got the Queen of Blades herself here. I'm surprised you even allowed her to live after the Char invasion, let alone have her join your cause. Have you gone completely off the deep end?"
"Let's just say during our revolution, we came across events that a lot bigger than any of us had imagined," Matt replied. "Some of these things are so big, we need all the help we can get our hands on."
"So you're just going to trust her?" Mira was not one bit convinced. "After all the suffering and misery she caused, you honestly think she'd really help you?"
Sarah lowered her head a bit. The guilt of all the atrocities she had committed under the Zerg had not faded from her one bit, and she was once again being reminded of it all. And this time, she would have to bear it without any sympathizers. Much of the Raiders were still uncomfortable around her, and there was deep distrust still circling about among Warfield's troops. With Jim and Nova off to Tarsonis, there was no one around to defend her for everything she did.
The only one that seemed to show sympathy at all was Lieutenant Franklin, standing to the side with Warfield's marines. After saving his life on Agria and New Folsom, the man had developed a respect for her, although this wasn't shared by the men under his command. She couldn't blame them. After all the people she killed, families she ruined, and planets she destroyed as the Queen of Blades, even the mention of redemption only seemed to be wishful thinking.
Nevertheless, she would continue to press on. She had to show everyone in the Koprulu Sector that she was no longer the monster she once was under the Zerg. Whether they would accept it or not was another matter, but she had to send the message out.
"Well trust or not, it looks like I'm not going to have a choice in the matter," she heard Mira say. "Her mind's simply too powerful. Get on her bad side, and she could fry everyone's brains here with ease."
"It's something I'm concerned about as well," Matt said. "However, Jim made it clear for the Raiders to work with her on this mission so we can better understand her and be able to trust her without him being here, and that's exactly what we're going to do."
Mira shook her head, disgusted. "I have to tell you, Matthew. If this is your way of trying to bring unity to the people of Dead Man's Rock, then by all means, you've succeeded."
"What are you talking about?" Matt asked.
"Don't tell me you didn't hear of Zerg assault on this world," Mira said. When she saw her husband shake his head, she sighed. "About a year ago, the Zerg had attacked Dead Man's Rock. Rumor has it that they were looking for a terran archeologist by the name of Jake Ramsey and a woman named Rosemary Dahl. Apparently the former had some really important knowledge in his head, and they were technically hunted by the Dominion as well. The Zerg attacked Dead Man's Rock and abducted Ethan Stewart, a major crime lord here."
"What happened to him?"
"This is only speculation, but it was rumored that the Queen of Blades infested him, turning him into his personal servant of some sort. Later, when he was unable to deliver on her expectations, she simply abandoned him to his fate and left him to die, deeming him a failed experiment and an unworthy servant to her majesty."
Sarah closed her eyes in guilt. Mira was right in that matter, and it only deepened the remorse within her. Even after the promises of rewarding Stewart for his services, she betrayed him and left him to die at the Protoss Alys'aril Sanctuary on Ehlna at the hands of the Protoss without even the slightest consideration. The only thing she deemed successful was the infestation itself, where she hoped to create more consorts later to serve her.
She had been a traitor to everyone, even the very Zerg species she commanded. The suspicion everyone had on her wasn't misplaced. She hadn't even placed much value on the Zerg swarm itself during her time as the Queen of Blades, let alone anyone else. Like so many others, there were times where she saw them only as expendable assets, to be sacrificed for the greater good, which usually meant her personal gain for power. Everyone else she had barely spared a thought on.
Then, to her surprise, Franklin suddenly spoke up. "Look lady, you can say all you want about what she did during her time with the Zerg. The fact is that she's trying to make up for everything she did in the past, if you'd just let her."
"And how would you know that?" Mira folded her arms.
"I was there on Char when we succeeded in restoring her to human form again," Franklin answered. "I had fought alongside her to clear the Zerg from Agria, as well as to liberate New Folsom Prison. In both cases, she saved my life."
Mira snorted. "Or maybe that's just what she wants you to think so you'd lower your guard."
"It's certainly a possibility, I'll give you that," the man agreed. "But she saved the lives of many of my men in both cases. I'd say it's safe to give her the benefit of the doubt that she's a different person now."
The mercenary leader was about to object when Franklin continued, "You said it yourself that she could have killed all of us with ease, yet she did no such thing. If she was still the same person as when she was the Queen of Blades, do you really think she would have even hesitated?"
"When you're dealing with a woman like her, nothing is ever certain," Mira said.
"Maybe not, but you said it yourself that it's not like you're going to have much of a choice in the matter. Look, we can debate this all day, or we can focus on dealing with the Dominion troops here. I don't think it's a difficult decision."
The pink haired woman nodded in agreement. "Fine, I'll accept that." With a gesture of her hand, her mercenary marines about faced and began heading back towards their heavy transport ships.
"Follow the transport ships, Matthew," she instructed. "I'm taking you to the inner city regions of Paradise."
As the Raiders and Warfield's troops began heading back to their Dropships, Sarah asked Franklin to remain behind for a moment.
"Thanks for doing that," she stated quietly. "I didn't think anyone would after all the suffering and misery I caused."
"We all have to put our trust in you at some point," he said. "I was wrong about you on Agria, though it still wasn't really sinking in back then. After what I saw you do back at New Folsom, it's pretty clear you're not like that Zerg monster anymore."
"Yeah well convincing these mercs isn't exactly going to be easy, assuming I even succeed."
"They'll say otherwise once they work together with you," Franklin answered. "Without Raynor around to convince everyone to give you a chance, it's pretty obvious someone else has to. Otherwise, just having everyone accuse you of being too treacherous to be trusted, it'd be just too much."
"I can only hope they'll trust me enough for it," Kerrigan said, as she followed Franklin up the Dropship ramp. "Even mercenaries are still people."
"Let's hope Raynor was right about them," Franklin grumbled. "I still don't see them anything more than just cutthroats, so if that's true, working alongside them is going to make things very difficult."
Tarsonis City, Tarsonis
Kate Lockwell exited the Jitney vehicle with a few members of her UNN news crew. The rest of her news team were exiting the other Jitneys, while Dominion troops moved past them. Some of the marines, Reapers, and Marauders exited the Dominion personnel carriers, but others remained behind in their Stinger six-wheeled jeeps. Beside her, 12 foot tall Dominion Goliath walkers trundled past, and Dominion Hellions drove past her.
In front of her, Kate could see Colonel Kim barking out orders to the Dominion troops, as many of them began forming up into position.
"Is this all necessary?" the anchorwoman asked Lieutenant Corbin, walking up next to her.
"Right now we're only on the outer districts of Tarsonis City," he explained to her. "Our scans had indicated that a Zerg hive cluster is located right outside the city, so it's imperative that we have the option of moving fast and out of here, in case someone does something stupid and alerts the Zerg to our presence. That's why we brought in so many Stinger vehicles."
"What are they supposed to do?"
"These are actually very durable vehicles, Ms. Lockwell," Corbin answered. "It only takes one man to operate it, while one of the passengers can fire the 35mm High Explosive Cannon in the event of a Zergling rush."
"And that would get rid of all of them?" Kate asked nervously.
"Even if it doesn't, the Stinger is quite strong," the Dominion officer said confidently. "In the event the gun runs out of ammo and the Zerglings keep coming, we can floor it and squish right over them. The design does leave the occupants vulnerable to longer distance fire due to its lighter armor around the frame, but fortunately for us Zerglings don't have any ranged attacks so it doesn't matter anyway."
"You're wasting your time explaining to her, Corbin!" one of the marines from inside the Stingers shouted. "She'll have a better chance of seeing what these bad boys can do in action—"
Suddenly, the crack of a rifle was heard. The bullet pierced through the man's brain and the marine slumped forward, dead.
"Sniper fire!" a Dominion officer shouted. Immediately, all of the Dominion infantrymen on the ground began to panic, as no one could tell where the shot came from.
"It's coming from above!" Kim shouted, as an explosive round fired down from one of the dilapidated buildings, hitting one of the armored transports and killing everyone inside.
"Spray the buildings!" Corbin ordered, cocking his C-14 Gauss Rifle. Immediately, some of the Stingers opened fire with their 35 mm Cannons, targeting the ruins of every building with fire.
To everyone's disappointment however, they revealed no enemy hidden in the building ruins.
Kim immediately tapped her comm-link. "Give me status! Does anyone have a visual on the enemy?"
"Negative, Colonel," came the reply. "Whoever they are, they must be using cloaking equipment or something—" The voice was suddenly cut off by the crack of another sniper rifle fire.
"HQ, send Ravens to our position immediately!" a Dominion officer spoke into his radio, before turning to the rest of the troops. "Marines, use the Goliath walkers as cover from the snipers!"
But suddenly, another round fired from one of the ruined buildings, this time piercing the frontal hull of one of the Goliath walkers. Three marines who took place under it for cover were crushed as the mechanical walker toppled over.
At this point, another explosive round discharged, hitting one of the empty Jitney vehicles behind Kate and her UNN news crew. No one was injured, but the Jitney itself was instantly blown apart. As some of the UNN news crew ran for the other Jitneys, concentrated machine gun fire suddenly opened up and the other vehicles were riddled with bullet holes.
"They're coming from behind us!" one of the marines shouted, as a flyby of Banshees soared in from overhead. They unleashed their deadly payload, dropping incendiary rockets onto the Dominion troops' positions, killing even more marines in the process.
Kate stood frozen with terror, as did the rest of her UNN news team. Although many of her news broadcasts had taken her very close to the warzone, the fact remained that she had been relatively safe from harm. She could have chosen to move away from the battlefield whenever she wanted, that was never a problem.
This time, however, she was actually part of the battlefield, and the enemy was effectively trying to cut off their means of pulling out of the city. Being only a reporter and having no experience when it came to war itself, she could only stand paralyzed with shock and fear.
"We have to move!" Corbin shouted, pulling on Kate's arm towards one of the Stinger jeeps. "This way Ms. Lockwell!"
Her senses finally coming back to her, Kate sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her towards the jeep, with the rest of her UNN staff following behind.
"We have to move further into the city now!" Kim shouted, running to get into one of the Dominion transports. "Goliaths, provide anti-air support and knock those Banshees out of the sky!"
As the Dominion transports struggled to get their engines started up, the mechanical walkers opened up with their hellfire missiles.
Tarsonis City, Tarsonis
"Jim, it worked," Nova reported from one of the ruined buildings, brandishing her C-20 Canister Rifle. "Your Banshees are giving the impression that the withdraw route out of the city has been cut off, and it looks like all the Dominion troops are moving deeper into the city."
"Don't give them all the credit," Jim replied. "You did real good yourself with the sniping and killing some of the marines. You certainly sent the message of fear through them."
"You're not so bad yourself with that Mark XII Heavy Penetrator Commando Rifle of yours. I knew it was strong, but I didn't think a single shot could cut through the Goliath walker's frontal armor."
"The walkers had to be mass produced, that's why they had to be made cheaply. The frontal armor near the pilot's visor has be thinner than the other places since that's where the pilot needs to see."
"I'm surprised by you, Raynor," one of the marines commented. "We always thought of you as a desk commander who commanded troops from afar."
"You seriously underestimate him," Nova said smugly. "He's a soldier just like all of us. Just because he's led his Raiders for some time doesn't mean he's lost his touch on the field."
"Only thing I didn't really expect was the presence of UNN reporters," Jim observed. "You'd think such a Dominion military operation would be something kept secret."
"They usually are, sir," a Marauder explained. "Even during the occasional times were we allow UNN coverage, they barely get to scratch the surface, and sometimes are never told the whole picture."
"So what made that change this time?"
"Well, everyone has limits to their patience, the UNN reporters and journalists are no exception to this. Most of the time they swallowed our reasoning of these military operations must not be publicly broadcasted or our enemies might be able to intercept them. If they do, it would have even further consequences. Of course, there were plenty of times where it wouldn't have really mattered, but we felt the media was digging too far into everything, and some of those things were simply not for the public to know."
Raynor snorted. "I'm sure many of those cases were simply because your emperor didn't want his people to know he made another discovery that he might be able to exploit and turn into a source of power to feed his lust. Still, I can kind of sympathize with the UNN people on the ground down there. You take away the media branches, the public wouldn't have any news to the outside world at all. With the Dominion military being so secretive about everything, eventually the people would get tired of all that and demand news and answers, instead of just being kept in the dark all the time."
Just then, a riddle of autocannon bullets whizzed past, causing many of them to duck for cover while killing a marine nearby, his body falling down from the ruined building rubble and tumbling down onto the street below.
"These Goliaths need a serious lesson in respect," one of the Marauders said angrily, before speaking into his radio. "Banshees, blow them apart!"
As the Banshees flew in low to unleash their backlash rockets, the Dominion Goliaths repeatedly fired up into the air with their hellfire missiles. Most were of no avail, as the Banshees pulled up just in time to avoid them, while their payload rained down on the mechanical walkers, destroying the majority of them.
However, one of the Goliath walker pilots proved to be a better shot than others, and was able to lead one of the Banshee planes right into the path of its line of fire. Before it succumbed to the other Banshees, it was able to let loose a hellfire rocket that hit the Banshee in its right rotor engine. Immediately, the plane caught on fire, as it tumbled out of the sky and fell towards the ground.
To Jim's shock, the downed Banshee tumbled and right into the direction of the Zerg hive cluster outside the city. He prayed it would land far enough away so that the Zerg wouldn't notice, but it proved to be wishful thinking. As the Banshee exploded in a fireball upon colliding with the ground, the rebel commander could hear the screams of Zerg creatures who had been unaware of its presence, and thus got incinerated in the process.
Almost immediately, movement activity on the radar spiked exponentially. All over the Zerg hive cluster, Roaches, Queens, and Ultralisks began to assemble together, whilst Zerglings and Hydralisks began to scurry towards the city perimeter.
"Everyone, follow the Dominion forces into the city right away!" Jim ordered, as Nova and the others immediately began to move down from their hiding spots in the ruined buildings. "We have to find a place to hole up and establish a defensive position!"
"Think they'll go after just us and not the Dominion troops?" a marine asked nervously.
"Well there's enough Zerg in that hive cluster to kill both our forces," Raynor answered. "Come on, let's get out of here. The Dominion just stirred up the hornet's nest, I sure don't want to be around when the Zerg arrive at this place."