Author's Note: Back in chapter 35, I was asked if I'd introduce Heart of the Swarm units, as they had been first revealed back in Blizzcon 2011. I had said that I'd find a way to make them work in my fic, but it would be a while before I get around to mentioning them.

This chapter marks the beginning of when Heart of the Swarm units make their debut, although it'll still come very slowly. It probably won't be until the really major battles before you see a lot of them all appearing at once.

Anyways, for those of you who had wondered why I chose to develop Nova's character, it was more than just because she definitely had a role to play in Heart of the Swarm. I always felt she should have her own identity and voice throughout the fic, as well as people she should come to care about, hence the reason why I introduced Mal Kelerchian as well.

This fic isn't going to put complete emphasis on her, though. This is still Raynor and Kerrigan's story, and they are still the main characters. If you really want to see Nova as a main character, I recommend you go take a look at the "Ghost Warrior" fic by "deathwing17". His portrayal of Nova is very well done, though his is at a different timeline. In his fic, Nova was still only a ghost trainee, whereas in mine she is already a fully trained ghost operative, so there are some minor differences.

Chapter 67

Ruins of the Citadel of the Executor, Aiur

Hundreds of Furinax Tribe Protoss were working hard in their efforts of rebuilding and restoration. With few Zerg legions left on Aiur, the Protoss craftsmen, artisans, builders, weaponsmiths, and technologists were finally given the opportunity to put down their weapons and perform their original duties. The remaining Zerg on Aiur could be left to the Templars to hunt down, and the Protoss fleets were monitoring their every movement, searching every possible corner they could see for possible Zerg hideouts. Reports were continuously pouring in of their success, though despite the fact that they knew the battle had been lost, the remaining Zerg continued to offer heavy resistance and there were still plenty of Protoss casualties.

For Vartanil, it pained him greatly to hear that more of his brethren were still being killed despite the fact that Aiur was practically in Protoss hands once more. His Furinax brethren shared this pain, as well as the frustration of the sheer tenacity of the Zerg, still unwilling to yield despite the fact that the end was clearly in sight. Most of them lashed out at the former Queen of Blades for this, blaming her for having evolved the Zerg in such a manner.

Of course, none of them fought alongside her as the former Tal'darim had, so Vartanil felt that they had little room to judge. However, he also noticed that a few of the Furinax Protoss began to distance themselves from him. Clearly they felt that such proximity to the Queen of Blades had corrupted his mind and judgment.

Others proved to be no better. Vartanil was particularly irritated by the constant flow of questions from Furinax Protoss regarding Kerrigan. Although most had stated that they only wanted to have a greater understanding of what she was like if James Raynor was correct and she was no longer the Queen of Blades anymore, the former Tal'darim knew better. With very few Protoss willing to forgive her for what she had done in the past, it was obvious that his fellow Furinax Tribe Protoss were questioning him because they wanted to understand her skills in combat, and what vulnerabilities she possessed.

As for himself, he had promised Kerrigan that he would make his appeals and recommendations to the Hierarchy for what she had done for them here. It was his hope that Artanis would be understanding, having fought alongside James Raynor in the past. Mohandar would be more difficult, but he had been present at the Alys'aril Nexus on Ehlna, where the terran Rosemary Dahl had assisted them against the Zerg and the Dark Archon Ulrezaj, saving the life of the Protoss Preserver Zamara.

In a similar fashion, this could be used to persuade Urun as well, as both he and Mohandar had agreed to monitor Kerrigan's actions on Aiur to determine where her loyalties now lie. His own leader, Tabrenus, along with the Shelak leader Zekrath, would be much easier to convince. The latter continued to show great interest and pride in the Xel'Naga, and Kerrigan's actions on Aiur may shed further light on the prophecy at hand.

With the opinions of five Hierarchy members, Vartanil hoped that this would be enough to overrule Nahaan, who more than likely would have executed the former Queen of Blades on the spot had the decision been left to him. He was clearly no better than the judicator Aldaris, who had his pride blind him from his reason as Aiur was overrun and infested by the Zerg.

For the time being, Vartanil focused on his current task at hand. Like many in the Furinax Tribe, he was an architect prior to the Zerg invasion of Aiur, crafting objects of beauty for the Khalai Protoss. Some forged Protoss armor for the Zealots and exoskeletons for the Dragoons, others built the infrastructure of Protoss cities, monuments, fleet vessels, and weapons for the massive Protoss fleets.

He was a completely different architect. His role had been in the carving of the light and dark wood of the shuwark tree on Aiur, where he would polish it until it was smooth to the touch, all for the sculpting of native beast statues to further decorate the mighty golden Protoss buildings. After his homeworld had been overrun by the Zerg, he continued to utilize his carving skills, this time in the form of spears, bows, arrows, and any other weapon that could be used to fight off the vile creatures. Though he eventually took up arms with the Shel'na Kryhas, he knew he wouldn't be a true warrior.

In the aftermath of what had transpired on Ehlna, the former Tal'darim decided that it was time to take on a different approach. As he settled on Shakuras, he saw that many Furinax Protoss had settled down in the refugee camps and resumed their original work as they had on Aiur. It was as if most of them had simply forgotten the devastation the Zerg had wrought on their homeworld, and he would have none of it. Vartanil had requested to be trained in the warrior arts by Protoss Templars, and they granted his request. Although he was still a long way from being a seasoned Protoss warrior, he had gained enough skills to effectively combat the Zerg, and this had proven vital in his role in reclaiming Aiur with the Daelaam Protoss.

Yet regardless of skill, the overwhelming numbers of the Zerg remained a serious threat, and even the most seasoned Protoss had little success against the Queen of Blades. Vartanil understood that if Kerrigan regained her power she could immediately become a threat to the Protoss people once more, and thus constant monitoring was necessary should that occur. The Ara Tribe Protoss continuously relied on this possibility to argue that she had to be executed now, regardless of the prophecy, for only her death would permanently remove the threat she could still pose to them.

This was something that had set Vartanil apart from most of his Protoss brethren, as they were unwilling and uninterested in seeing the events from Kerrigan's perspective. To him, the former Queen of Blades was now a shattered and broken woman. She had no desire for any more slaughter, yet the series of events continued to turn her away from that. Nor did she believe in any positive outcome once all of the ordeals pass. The way he saw it, Kerrigan was fighting to make amends to everyone she had hurt during her time with the Zerg, yet fighting on without hope due to the inability of the Protoss to forgive her for what had transpired in the past. It was certainly not a welcoming prospect.

To compound matters, he was unsure just what he could accomplish once he presented his case to the Hierarchy. He was less than 100 years old, and considered to be extremely young among all Protoss. Only Artanis shared his youth, and even the Hierarch himself was about 3 times his age. Thus he hoped that his leader Tabrenus could support his claims, but even that had its limitations. For the Furinax Protoss to participate in political affairs was completely unheard of during the golden days of Aiur. The Conclave would never allow such a thing. Even now, while the opinions of the Furinax Tribe are to be factored in and considered, the Protoss worker tribe continued to play a minor role in such affairs as there was still a long period of adjustment necessary into the new ruling body. Given that, with the Xel'Naga prophecy of such a scale and capable of affecting everything in the universe, the political inexperience of his tribe would clearly count against them and whatever opinions voiced would more than likely be considered secondary compared to the other tribes.

With barely a year's worth of experience with the new ruling body, Vartanil could only hope that the Hierarchy would be far more considerate compared to the Conclave. Nahaan would obviously oppose him, but he would consider it a victory if he was able to convince the others and reconsider their views on Kerrigan.

The young Protoss turned his head back to the task of rebuilding. He and the other Furinax Protoss were standing in the ruins of what was once the Citadel of the Executor, the floating headquarters of the Templar Caste that hovered over the capital city of Antioch. It was among the areas that remained in Protoss hands after the destruction of the Overmind, but was later destroyed by the Zerg after the Khalai Protoss had escaped to Shakuras.

The Citadel itself was connected to the Road of Remembrance, which stretched from Antioch to the ruins of a Xel'Naga temple. Like much of Aiur, the sacred path of ascension was also littered with the scars of war, and Vartanil and the Furinax Protoss have been ordered to begin its restoration. Long before the arrival of the Zerg, the Road of Remembrance was used as a ritual for the honored dead. Upon lying on a platform for one day, the honored Protoss dead would then be transported to the Xel'Naga temple.

Now, with most of the Zerg finally expelled from Aiur, the rituals would begin once more. Millions of Khalai and Nerazim Protoss had given their lives to see their homeworld reclaimed, and each and every one of them would travel down the Road of Remembrance, their services to Aiur forever honored. The Xel'Naga temple itself would not only be restored, but also expanded so that it would be able to house the bodies of the dead, every one of them firmly believing in their cause.

Dead Man's Rock

Mira could feel the tension from the individual mercenary leaders as their faces appeared on the video screen. They certainly had reason to. Prior to the Zerg assault on Dead Man's Rock a year ago, a conference with every mercenary leader on the planet was completely unheard of. Even now, such meetings were considered extremely rare, and only the topic of the Zerg was discussed.

This was clearly not the case here, and Mira wondered if any of them would listen to reason. With regards to dealing with the Zerg, there was little difficulty in getting the mercs to see reason. The Zerg were all consuming, and if an invasion took place, they would infest the whole planet and leave no one alive and standing in the end. The Dominion, however, was a completely different matter. There were certainly those who believed that the Dominion leaders would listen to reason. Others would be intimidated by their modern military might and thus would believe it would be better to simply strike a bargain with them. There were those who wanted to have nothing to do with the Dominion, and would do just about anything to get their ships to leave Dead Man's Rock, regardless of what price has to be paid.

Uniting all of them together to go up against the Dominion was going to be a daunting task, and Mira knew it. Even admitting that she had the modern technologies of Raynor's Raiders to back her up may not be enough to sway them. Most already knew that she was married to Raynor's second in command, but that meant little to them. They were all aware that Matthew wanted to have little to do with her, and therefore it seemed unlikely that the Raiders would come to her aid. Even in the unlikely case that they do, all of them knew that the Raiders would never help her for free, and many would be very uncomfortable about the price that would have to be paid for such an alliance, even if it's only a temporary one.

"I'm glad to see you all decided to accept my invitation," she began. "I know such a gathering is rare, but we do face an emergency situation right now."

"We all heard the Dominion announcement, lady," one of the mercs stated. "In less than 48 hours from now, if we don't tell them where you are, they'll turn Deadman's Port and Paradise into radioactive craters."

"I'm surprised no one has given you up yet, Mira," another said, disgusted. "When the Dominion comes here in force, it's not exactly a smart idea to mess with them."

"Maybe not, but they're too deceitful," the female mercenary leader replied. "I called this meeting so that we can temporarily put aside our differences and work together against them."

One of the faces on the screen roared in funeral laughter. "You're completely insane or you think we are, Mira. Now let's be honest: what exactly do you hope to achieve by doing this?"

"It's called sending a message," she answered. "We're going to show the Dominion that they can't just come here, push us around, and expect us to bow before them and give them whatever they want simply because they've got guns pointing in our faces."

"Tough talk, but your words are hollow. You know as well as we do that our equipment is far too outdated compared to the Dominion's. Dead Man's Rock is a dumping ground, not a modern industrial planet. Whatever new equipment we can obtain in years, the Dominion can do the same in a matter of days, if not sooner."

"He's right," another merc perked up. "Don't forget, other than Orlan, your mercenary force is the strongest on the planet. We have heard the news that James Raynor had come to the planet a while back, where you and his Raiders defeated Orlan. Now his mercenary force has joined with yours, making yours the strongest on Dead Man's Rock. If yours isn't enough to deal with the Dominion presence, what makes you think ours can do any better? We'd all be slaughtered to a man long before we can make even the slightest headway against them!"

"Not if we have the proper backup," Mira assured him. "My husband Matthew Horner is currently on the planet, and he has brought with him a battle group of Raynor's Raiders. Unlike us, they have better weapons and technology, most of which are every bit as advanced as those of the Dominion."

"And why the hell would your husband help you?" Another face on the screen snorted. "You and him got married simply because of some card gambling game. If he had known the prize was your hand in marriage, he would never have even joined. You can argue all you want about how the marriage is official, but that doesn't mean Horner will accept such a thing."

"That's because I had assisted him as well. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say I too had a hand in the Korhal broadcasts that threw the Dominion into disarray."

"Then that gives the Dominion even more reason to have your head on a platter!"

"Which is all the more reason I'm calling for unity here," Mira answered. "We need to all work together to deal with the Dominion troops on the planet, at least for now."

"For what purpose? The Dominion is here for you, not us. If we assist you, we'd be added to the targets list as well."

Mira rolled her eyes. "Then you're admitting your cowardice, too scared to take them on."

"Better to be a coward than a dead man, Mira. Dead Man's Rock is a lawless world. The Dominion never really cares what happens here, so whatever you did must have really pissed them off. Now they're all here for revenge, which you know you can't defeat them yourself, so you're calling on us just so you can save your own skin."

"And what would you people have done if you were me?"

"Personally, I never would have helped the Raiders in the first place," a mercenary leader said. "We've all known for years about them rebellion against the Dominion. Anyone found to be helping them would be punished by the Dominion, like being shot on the spot. And according to you, your assistance was responsible for all the rioting that happened after the Korhal broadcasts, so I'd say it makes perfect sense for the Dominion to make an exception and come to Dead Man's Rock for you."

"You're acting like Dead Man's Rock would remain free from Dominion authority indefinitely," Mira shot back. "What evidence do you have to prove that? What if someday the Dominion came and decided to turn this world into an authoritative planet? What would you guys do then?"

"That's self explanatory, lady. We'd simply get off this place and find ourselves another merc haven."

"Then you have a very narrow-minded view of the Dominion. If you ever bothered to pay attention, it's that they aren't going to stop until just about every planet, moon, and maybe every asteroid in this entire sector is under their rule. You guys can run all you want, but sooner or later, if you want your independence, then you'd have to fight them."

"Not necessarily," one of the leaders spoke out. "We could simply sit back and wait for the factions like the Kel-Morian Combine or the Umojan Protectorate to deal with the Dominion instead."

"Can you honestly count on that?" Mira asked. "What if they don't? Or what if the Dominion manages to defeat them?"

"There's still Raynor and his Raiders. They've been rebelling against the Dominion for years, everyone knows that. We could just let them do the dirty work for us."

"Now you're just being plain stupid," Mira snorted. "All you're thinking about is strategy, not logistics. You honestly think a revolution against the Dominion can be done without cost? Every operation that we've all done, no matter how small, all requires resources at our disposal to pull it off. You really think the Raiders are an exception to all this?"

"What are you getting at?"

"During Raynor's previous visit here when I helped him defeat Orlan, he made it clear to me that the payment to buy my loyalty wasn't exactly cheap. His Raiders had been squeezed of resources in the past few years, and it made their revolution quite difficult. Thus the price I had given him was considered to be a very steep one."

The mercenary leader shook his head in disgust. "You're not going to let this go, are you? You're just going to keep pestering us until we agree to help you fight the Dominion forces here."

"I'm asking all of you to take your forces and come into proximity of the battle once the bullets start flying," Mira corrected him. "Whether you choose to join in or not is irrelevant. However, I'd like to make one point very clear. If the Dominion forces win, then Dead Man's Rock will lose its most powerful military defense force. Once that happens, what's to prevent the Dominion from turning back on their word and using the nuclear weapons on Deadman's Port and Paradise anyway?"

As she saw that most of the mercenary leaders were murmuring amongst themselves, Mira knew that she had made her point. "If nothing else, I suggest you think about that. If my forces are defeated, yours would crumble with ease before the Dominion military. You'll be at the mercy of the Dominion, and so will all of Dead Man's Rock. You know as well as I do that there is no guarantee that they would honor their claims, especially given the way in which how they see this world. If they choose not to, well let's just say those cities are going to be very quiet neighborhoods for a while."

Without another word the female mercenary turned off the communicator. She hoped that those last statements would finally get the other mercenaries to consider her proposal.

Tarsonis City, Tarsonis

Jim breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Nova's face appear on the portable communicator screen. "I'm glad to see you're all right, Nova. Last thing I needed was a report from the fly boys saying that you got eaten by the Zerg."

"I'm not that easy to kill, Jim," she replied.

"I know that, but you're only one person, and the Zerg are plenty."

"I had help," she admitted, as she stepped aside and another man's face appeared on the display screen. "Jim, I want you to meet Mal Kelerchian. He was the one who saved me when the Zerg had me trapped."

The commander looked at the man for a few moments. "Ah yes, I remember now. He was the one who helped you into the Ghost Program, and you have saved his life a few years back from falling rubble on Tarsonis."

"Raynor, how do you know all that? Those memories belong to Nova," Mal said, not pleased. "It's not your business to probe into all that."

"I was there with her when the Protoss helped her recover the memories of her past life," he explained. "Say what you will about privacy and secrets, but there's also something called breaking points. We all have them, and from what I had seen, there were things that were simply not meant to be endured alone."

The wrangler let out a breath of air, not pleased, but unable to dispute it either. "Nova believes that I could have a better purpose by joining with you and the Raiders. Right now, I'm just not sure. I may not be Mengsk's fan, but your actions in causing entire Dominion worlds to riot after the Korhal broadcasts weren't exactly favorable either."

"It's regrettable," Raynor admitted. "But it was the only way to send the message through. With the entire media under his control, nothing anyone says there would make a difference. Until he starts losing control of the people's trust, this rebellion is the only way to go."

Kelerchian sighed. "Nova wanted me to come and stay with your Raiders for a while, see things from your perspective."

"If nothing else my boys would keep you safe, Mr. Kelerchian. The Zerg will be hunting both of you."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Zerg have a psionic ability that can sense psionics," Jim explained. "They're attuned to anyone with psychic emanations. The higher your psionic signature, the more likely they can sense you. Both you and Nova are essentially becoming a magnet for them. Sooner or later they'll locate you, and there's no way you can hide your signatures from them forever. Your best chance is come to me and my boys, and we'll all fight the Zerg together."

"He's right, Mal," Nova said quietly. "If nothing else, at least consider that. There's too much Zerg in the city right now, we can't fight them all alone."

The wrangler's shoulders sagged a little, but Jim saw in his eyes that he conceded. "All right, Raynor. I personally don't like to leave my place, but then again since arriving on Tarsonis there's never been a Zerg incursion of this scale into the city. I still have my doubts, but Nova trusts your judgment, and I trust her."

The rebel commander nodded. "I'll transmit the coordinates that me and my boys will be heading to. You two can meet us there."

He turned off the communicator, before turning to one of the officers walking alongside him. "What's our status right now?"

"Given that we were left in relative peace throughout the night, I'd say that was a relief," came the reply. "That rest was badly needed, and now most of the troops are ready for battle again."

He nodded in understanding. The night's rest had done much to help regain his troops' strength. The ammunition factors were not much of a problem, as Hercules ships had sent down more during the night. Enough sentries had the energy to remain awake and be on guard, and the Zerg had left them in relative peace and quiet.

Now, all of them were tracking the Dominion troops in the city. Last night, their positions weren't too far from the Raiders, having holed themselves up in a dilapidated hotel. However by morning, reports from Banshees had indicated that the hotel had been emptied, and the Dominion troops were gone. There was no indication that they had left the city, however, and thus Jim gave orders to locate them immediately. If the Dominion forces went into hiding, then the Zerg would focus only on his troops, and that would be a disaster.

In retrospect, it may not be too far from what the Dominion's strategy would be. Raynor knew that the Dominion troops were fully aware their military strength wouldn't be enough to defeat the Zerg here, so it would be better to let someone else deal with the problem instead, namely him. And while he was occupied with the constant Zerg attacks, the Dominion troops could proceed with their mission on Tarsonis with little risk of interference.

He would have none of it, and this was exactly the reason why he and his troops were now heading for the central train station in the ruins of downtown Tarsonis City. Some of Warfield's officers indicated that despite the Zerg devastation caused on the planet, the Dominion did go some ways in their restorations. Among the most vital places to restore were the rail networks, both inside and outside Tarsonis's major cities. This would then allow Dominion troops to reach from one place to another relatively quickly, and thus would speed up whatever salvage operations they conduct on this world.

On the other hand, Jim knew that if he and his boys reached the station first, they would be able to spot the Dominion troops on the ground almost just as effectively as the Wraiths, Vikings, and Banshees could from the air. It may also provide them with a faster means of escape from the Zerg should their attacks become too much for his troops to handle, as well as denying the Dominion troops the opportunity of a quick way out should they find themselves in a similar position.

"Commander, how far are we away from the station?" a marine asked.

"About 10 to 15 miles away from the main transit hub," Jim answered. "Let's pick up the pace, people. If the Dominion boys are there already, then we've got even less time than we think. We'd have to fight them and the Zerg, as well as deny them any chance of a quick escape."

Dominion Weapons Test Lab, Korhal

Dr. Evans steeled himself as the Dominion emperor's face appeared on screen. "Emperor, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Your new technologies are going to be incorporated into the Dominion armed forces after all, doctor," Mengsk replied candidly. "They may not be exactly what I am looking for, but right now time is not exactly on my side anymore. Even I am forced to improvise."

Evans was not too pleased with this answer, nor had he been fully satisfied ever since the weapons development project got off the ground. Even as one of the head figures of the Dominion special weapons projects divisions, it had certainly taken a lot of effort out of him to persuade the emperor to proceed with the development of newer and specialized weapons for the Dominion.

Mengsk had convinced himself that with the Zerg having been silent for years, there was still plenty of time to build up the Dominion fleet. Resources were used elsewhere to rebuild the Dominion empire, and to hunt down rebel terrorist groups like Jim Raynor. Prior to the Zerg invasion, his requests to proceed forward with weapons development were rarely listened to. During the occasional times that they were, the emperor had only devoted a small fraction of resources to it. Clearly Mengsk believed that the existing weapons in the arsenal would do just fine against the Dominion's enemies.

While this belief may have been vindicated, the fact remained that the Dominion Armada was still too small in size to deal with a full scale Zerg invasion. Thus when the vile creatures began their attack on the Dominion worlds, everyone was caught completely off guard. Evans understood the emperor's actions to pull back the fleet and defend the core worlds, leaving the fringe worlds to fend for themselves. It was a very simple military concept that most people understood: the need to sacrifice a few in order to achieve success.

However as the Zerg invasion continued and world after world became infested by the Zerg, Evans felt that this concept was being pushed to its limits. Although he perfectly understood that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, to send entire populations to their deaths to protect the core worlds just seemed too much.

He was far from the only one. As the UNN reports flooded onto the media channels of how the Zerg had overrun the fringe worlds and the death toll was in the hundreds of millions, many of his fellow research staff began to feel that the emperor was not doing his duty to better protect his people. The way that the Dominion core worlds turned away refugee ships only added reinforced their belief in Mengsk's lack of responsibility.

And even as the Zerg invasion continued, the amount of Dominion resources poured into his special weapons project had only increased slightly. It seemed that the emperor continued to believe that the Zerg successes so far were nothing but a series of minor setbacks. Only when the Dominion public began to riot in the aftermath of the Korhal broadcasts did Evans finally receive greater amounts of resources. To him, however, this wasn't really a matter of Mengsk having changed his mind, but rather as a sign of securing loyalty. Even the emperor wasn't so foolish as to believe that the public would turn a blind eye to the broadcasts, and thus it was vital to keep as many people on his side as possible.

Although Evans was still struggling to determine if he was doing the right thing in the greater picture, he also knew that for the time being, the main efforts had to be focused on the immediate threats. Despite Prince Valerian's announcement of the success of the Char invasion and the defeat of the Queen of Blades, he and his research team had been repeatedly told that the war with the Zerg was still far from over. This was a complete shift in the message as the Zerg invasion began, where Mengsk announced on UNN that with General Warfield in command of the Dominion fleet, the Zerg would be beaten back and crushed in no time at all.

For Evans himself, while he disagreed with quite a few things with the emperor, he concurred with him about the threat of the Zerg. As such, despite the continued negative media broadcasts about Mengsk and the Dominion military, he and his research team continued their efforts to build and perfect the Dominion special weapons.

Unfortunately, they were not yet at the stage that he had hoped for, and he had no choice but to explain that to the emperor.

Mengsk frowned. "What do you mean not all of them are ready yet?"

"Sir, you told me earlier that the special weapons my team are developing are considered secondary compared to what Dr. Saunders's team were doing at New Folsom," Evans explained. "You may not have given me the details, but you said it yourself that it involved something regarding the S.E.T.H. Warbots or something like that."

The Dominion emperor shook his head. "Raynor and his rag tag rebels raided the New Folsom complex. By the time Dominion forces had arrived, they found him terrorists had done a number to the place. All of the surviving security forces were in prison cells, while all the prisoners were freed. The neosteel production centers, processing facilities, and the munitions factories have all been nuked, and there's virtually nothing left to salvage. The underground factory where Saunders's special weapons were being built had also been destroyed. And finally, it's been confirmed that Raynor used explosives and made the neosteel mines collapse on themselves. It'll be months before we can even resume the mining for neosteel, let alone its production. In short, the whole New Folsom industrial complex is in complete ruins, and any progress made by Saunders and his team has now been lost."

"So you're shifting the priority to my team," Evans stated.

"I had not counted on Raynor to turn his rebellion back to the Dominion so soon," Mengsk admitted. "The place was meant to channel entire invading armies into killing zones, but as his so-called Raiders had access to ghost operatives, they were able to find a way around that. The loss of the S.E.T.H. Warbots and their schematics is by no means a fatal blow, and neither is the loss of Saunders and his research team. However, it does set back new Dominion weaponry development for at least a few years. With the Zerg threat still present, there is simply no time for these setbacks. Every effort must be made to compensate for what had happened."

"My teams will double our efforts in the weapons developing," the doctor promised.

"What exactly is wrong with them anyway?"

"The Shredder automaton is very dangerous to the Zerg," Evans explained. "My team had taken the Zerg's burrowing ability and incorporated some extent of it into the automation. This makes the Shredder able to partially plant itself into the ground, and pull itself back out and move to a different location if there are no enemy units nearby. Unfortunately, studies have indicated that the Zerg have a greater resistance to radiation than humans, so we had to put in vast amounts of radiation for it to generate to deal with the Zerg. The problem is that this much radiation would be lethal to Dominion units in the Shredder's vicinity, and we cannot beat the Zerg in a battle of numbers. Because of that, my team is still hard at work in programming friendly proximity into the Shredders, so that they don't end up killing our own forces if they're within range of the radiation."

Mengsk did not look pleased, but it seemed like he accepted this, at least for now. "What about the Warhound walkers? With the loss of the S.E.T.H. Warbots, these will have to be used to compensate for the weaknesses in the Thors."

"Their cannons have proven to be especially capable against ground targets," Evans agreed. "Goliaths, Siege Tanks, and Diamondbacks could take very little pounding from them. Only the Thors can, but the Warhound's agility compensates for that. Unfortunately, these cannons don't seem to respond very well when loaded with high explosive rounds, so the Warhounds won't be very effective against enemy infantry."

"I thought you said the Battle Hellion would compensate for that," Mengsk pointed out.

"That's true, and it's the only one that is fully battle ready right now. My team added additional neosteel plates onto the Hellion scouting car and fitted it with a more advanced infernal flamethrower. The transformation process is similar to that of a Viking, where the Battle Hellion would become bipedal. In this form, its armor plating will allow it to withstand greater punishment on the battlefield, and its flamethrower can incinerate all but the most heavily armored targets nearby. The schematics for them have already been uploaded to the Dominion factories, and many of them have already churned out hundreds of Battle Hellions."

"Send the schematics to more factories," the emperor ordered. "I want production stepped up on them. In the meantime, I'll be taking a group of the new Hellions for their first test trials."

"Where will that be?" Evans asked.

"The lawless mercenary world of Dead Man's Rock," Mengsk answered. "The locals have proven to be quite uncooperative, and they need to be taught a valuable lesson about who's in charge around here. These Battle Hellions will be the perfect candidates to do just that, and the people there will tremble in fear at the might of the Dominion once we reduce a few of their towns to cinders."