Author's Note: In the second part of the chapter, here is where I show another difference compared to the SC Canon. When Wings of Liberty first came out, the city in which Raynor made his broadcasts was only called Korhal City. They never said if Korhal City and Augustgrad were the same city or not, and they kept changing their minds back and forth, sometimes saying they were, sometimes saying they weren't. Eventually, they decided that Korhal City and Augustgrad were the same place, but I had written ahead on my fic before that decision. So in my fic, Korhal City and Augustgrad will be two different cities on Korhal.
To Blackhole1, this is where you and I portray Mengsk somewhat differently. At times my version of him can be a lot more arrogant, and vice versa. This was why I kept recommending to you in my reviews of your fic to have Mengsk leave the Imperial Palace in Augustgrad and actually face the public, because with the situation he was in, he can't expect to wait it out until the problem just fades away.
For those of you who have read 3 "The Dark Templar Saga" books, the first part of the chapter might offer some very interesting thoughts that I'm unsure if you thought about Khas in those books. Hopefully my thoughts here are something for you to think about.
As always, please read and review and I'll see you next time.
Chapter 71
Xel'Naga Caverns Entrance, Aiur
A mound of Aiur's sacred soil was dropped down onto the ground, as Furinax Protoss workers immediately tended to the task at hand. Vartanil was working with them, helping hundreds of his brethren in the task of camouflaging the entrance that granted access to the ancient Xel'Naga Caverns that lay beneath the surface of Aiur.
As in the case with himself only a few years prior, he had been astonished to know such a place had existed on their homeworld. Even the Dark Templar admitted to know very little, believing the sacred underground city to be mere myth. According to what he recalled from speaking with the female terran Rosemary Dahl in 2503, the Shel'na Kryhas did not have the slightest idea of something so sacred had still existed on Aiur.
They of course could not be blamed for it. By the time he and other Tal'darim Protoss had escaped through the Warp Gate to the Nerazim homeworld of Shakuras, Aiur had been so ravaged by battle that it seemed impossible that any trace of Protoss civilization could have survived. The Zerg had laid waste to every continent and infested every providence that they could find, and with the exception of Aiur's resources that the swarm used to strength its broods and hive clusters, nothing else was spared.
On the other hand, throughout Khalai Protoss history on Aiur, there had been very few records of cities and providences built beneath the ground. Indeed, none of the Khalai Protoss had ever believed that someday, they would be fighting to defend their homeworld, and they certainly did not anticipate that they would be forced to evacuate from it.
Once he had been manipulated by the Dark Archon Ulrezaj and had joined hands with the Tal'darim on Aiur, the sacred Xel'Naga Caverns had indeed provided sanctuary for them. Although the Zerg eventually stopped targeting the Protoss survivors on Aiur, there was no reason to believe that the vile creatures would not start it back up again as time passed. Still, the Zerg did not seem to know of the existence of the Xel'Naga Caverns either, and that meant that he and the other Tal'darim were mostly safe from them.
Still, it had not been worth it in the end to have become a pawn for their so-called Xava'tor. Reports from the Daelaam Protoss have confirmed that the remaining Tal'darim survivors on Aiur were being purged of the Sundrop substance that had corrupted their minds and cut off their link to the Khala. Although there was still no indication that they had any intentions of integrating into the Daelaam Protoss society, Vartanil was confident that it would only be a matter of time before they opened their eyes to the greater picture at hand.
Regarding the task of camouflaging the caverns entrance, it had come by decree of Hierarch Artanis to the Furinax leader Tabrenus after being persuaded by Urun and Mohandar. While the former Tal'darim had been disappointed in their current view with regards to the former Queen of Blades, Vartanil had been forced to concede to the logic of their arguments.
The Protoss from Urun's Auriga Tribe and Artanis's Akilae Tribe had both prided themselves as warriors, but their actions did not succeed in preventing the Zerg swarm from invading and then later overrunning the whole of Aiur. The Sargas Tribe of Protoss warriors and assassins, along with Velari Tribe reserves, and even the powerful Ara Tribe fleet had been added into the defense, but they had all ultimately failed in the end.
Now, with only scattered pockets of Zerg resistance remaining on Aiur, both Urun and Mohandar recommended to Artanis that a different approach was necessary in order to safeguard the treasures of the Xel'Naga. Despite Kerrigan's actions in assisting them during the assault on the Overmind, there was no assurance that the ancient Xel'Naga artifact James Raynor had used on Char had truly severed her control over the Zerg swarm. Urun had voiced his concern about this matter when the former Queen of Blades had been brought before the Protoss Hierarchy, and Vartanil shared the Auriga leader's concern should another invasion of their homeworld occur.
For that reason, it had been recommended that instead of concentrating vast numbers of Protoss Templar warriors around the Xel'Naga Caverns, it would be better to simply camouflage the whole area and make it appear that there was nothing significant in that location. Some of the Protoss Templars had argued against this, as they did not fear battle, but Artanis quickly brought them to reason by pointing out that no matter how glorious it was to engage in combat, it could not be done for a lost cause. A high concentration of Protoss in the area would immediately give the impression to the enemies of the Firstborn that they were protecting something valuable there. If the Zerg succeeded in overwhelming the defenders and gaining access to the Xel'Naga Caverns, the whole matter of fortifications would mean nothing.
On the other hand, by camouflaging the entrance and having the whole area nearly devoid of Protoss would give the impression that there was nothing of value here, and the Protoss Templars eventually accepted this logic and reasoning.
This was certainly still not the case with the Shelak Tribe, however, and the same was true for many of the Dark Templar once word had gotten out of the existence of the Xel'Naga Caverns.
Having venerated the Xel'Naga for so long, Vartanil and the other Furinax Protoss had to fend off wave after wave of Shelak protests about sealing off such a valuable source of information, even though the intent was only for it to be temporary. Vartanil himself had been greatly questioned, as when he was with the Tal'darim he had set foot in the caverns, though not to its very heart where the giant Khaydarin Crystal was located.
Though his answers were only in bits and pieces, it did not take long before the Shelak Protoss concluded that the sacred Xel'Naga artifacts that lay within the caverns greatly exceeded in both number and importance compared to those that lay within the Cave of Relics. That had been the Shelak Tribe's primary location of sacred Xel'Naga treasures on Aiur, having moved them to that location during the Aeon of Strife so that they could be better protected from the other Protoss tribes.
Now, such a place was considered insignificant compared to the sacred Xel'Naga city built underneath Aiur, and many Shelak Protoss had wanted a chance to study the treasures that lay within immediately. According to the Khalai Protoss history records that had survived the Zerg infestation during the invasion of Aiur, the Conclave had known of its existence during its early days as the Protoss ruling body, but then forbade entry into caverns. However with the Conclave dissolved, some of the laws made to the Protoss people no longer apply, and the interest among the Shelak Protoss continued to grow.
The Nerazim tribes on the other hand also showed an interest in understanding the Xel'Naga relics within the caverns, but not to the same degree as the Shelak. This was because among the most bitter moments of Dark Templar history was their exile from Aiur. When Khas had created the psionic link that was later turned into the ordered philosophy called the Khala, the Dark Templar had refused to submit to it, and the Judicators deemed them traitors to the Protoss society and ordered their extermination because they were considered an embarrassment to the Khalai Protoss.
For that reason, there were those among the Dark Templar that grew uncomfortable to learn that it was from the sacred Xel'Naga Caverns that Khas had discovered the Khala psionic link in the first place. His philosophy did bring an end to the Aeon of Strife, but by now, after everything that both the Khalai and Nerazim Protoss have experienced at the hands of the Zerg, along with the Xel'Naga prophecy, there were those among the Dark Templar who couldn't help but wonder if Khas had been mistaken all those ages ago.
It was only with the energies of the Void that the Nerazim wielded that had allowed the Overmind to be slain. Had all of the Protoss submitted to the Khala, it essentially would have doomed the whole Protoss race as the energies of the Khala had proven to be useless against the Overmind and its Cerebrates. Of course, by the time the Khala philosophy had been created, the Protoss had not yet learned of the existence of the Zerg, so Khas could not be blamed in that regard.
However, Khas was also considered to be a prophet in Protoss history when he had spread word about the Khala across Aiur, and that meant that the Protoss who submitted to his philosophy believed that the Khala would bring to them a golden era for all eternity. After the fall of Aiur, an occasional few among the Nerazim had raised doubts about Khas and his intentions, and that led to great anger among the Khalai refugees, believing that the Dark Templar were going against everything the Protoss stood for.
Yet during the time Vartanil spent on Shakuras, he learned very quickly about the Void, the very energies that had embraced him when he was under the influence of Sundrop. Even now, the Nerazim still saw anything that tainted the Void to be considered unholy to them, and that included the light of the Khala.
The former Tal'darim pushed those thoughts aside as he saw his leader Tabrenus land his Phoenix interceptor nearby. Once he completed his work in the camouflaging of the caverns entrance, he would speak with him. The Furinax leader did not show too great hostility towards Kerrigan when she had been brought before the Hierarchy, but he still warned her of the precautions that the Protoss were taking against her. Vartanil hoped that by speaking with him, he could convince Tabrenus to relax such precautions so as to give the former Queen of Blades the impression that the Firstborn would not allow their emotions to completely blind them as has happened during the Zerg invasion of Aiur.
Korhal City, Korhal
Korhal City. Once, it was a great metropolis city on the Dominion capital world of Korhal. It featured high rising streets and architecture, along with blimps constantly flying over the sky with advertisements. Like the rest of the planet, the city had been decontaminated, modernized, and beautified in the four years after the Brood War. It was where Mengsk had placed the UNN Studios complex to serve as the main media branch for the Terran Dominion after all of its complexes had been lost on Tarsonis when the Zerg had overrun the Confederate capital world. It was from here that the UNN broadcasted to the public about the symbolic might of the Dominion as a shining beacon of hope to all of humanity from its enemies, and its will to protect them from the hostile forces of the Zerg and Protoss.
Unfortunately, that was the situation in the past. Now, almost half the city lay in ruins, a testament to the sheer power of the mighty Odin walker. The emperor had been furious to hear that the Dominion's great war machine had been hijacked by James Raynor had his rebels, and then used to wreak havoc on the Dominion military forces stationed in the city. The Odin itself had been designed to be so powerful that it withstood the attacks of almost everything the Dominion armed forces threw at it, its T800 Cannons capable of ripping apart Siege Tanks, Goliath walkers, and Diamondback hover tanks with relative ease, which meant that the infantry stood no chance against it whatsoever. Its hellfire missiles proved every bit as effective against the Wraiths and Banshees.
Only in the form of concentrated BattleCruiser attacks did the massive walker finally begin to falter, but Raynor had already prepared for that. In the form of massed Vikings, Wraiths, and Goliaths, his rebels had forced the Dominion BattleCruisers to retreat, despite Mengsk's orders to continue to attack and prevent the rebels from reaching their objective. The Odin's massive 330mm cannons had done its job on the city as well, as entire massive skyscrapers were now reduced to mere rubble and facades.
Even now, despite the fact that almost three and a half months have passed since the incident with the Odin, half the city streets were still littered with building rubble and wrecked vehicles, both civilian and military. The only things that have been removed were the bodies of the dead, though in many cases he could still see blood stains on the roads and streets. Thousands of people that used to live in grandiose housing complexes were now reduced to living in refugee camps, made up from the rubble salvaged from the city and hastily built into ramshackles and shanties.
The whole of Korhal City was now in a pitiful state, though Mengsk didn't mind this too greatly as he walked through the streets with his elite bodyguard and Dominion ghost operatives. He never truly favored the city, having only made occasional visits here during the four years in the aftermath of the Brood War, preferring the capital city of Augustgrad instead.
Even before the Terran Dominion existed, Mengsk had never been one to think much of Korhal City. During the days of the Confederacy, the capital city of Korhal had been the city of Styrling, a huge metropolis larger than that of Korhal City and comprised of much of the wealthy. The Mengsk Skyspire had been located there, the most massive building in the city and a symbol of the Mengsk Dynasty before Arcturus himself came to power. It had also been the location of the UNN Tower, headquarters of the Universal News Network before the city of Styrling had been destroyed in the nuclear bombardment by the Confederacy in 2491, along with virtually everywhere else and turning the whole of Korhal into a radioactive desert, which was exactly the reason that the UNN headquarters had been relocated to the Confederate capital of Tarsonis City instead.
By now, Styrling had long since been rebuilt, though not to the majestic scale it once had been. Mengsk never favored the Mengsk Skyspire there, as it was a constant reminder of his father Angus, who he despised. He turned most of his energies to the city of Augustgrad instead, making it far larger, modernized, and beautiful than Styrling had ever been.
Even so, the emperor still would have preferred the old Korhal capital during the days of the Confederacy rather than having to visit Korhal City. To him, most of the city meant virtually nothing, and the only reason he ever bothered to look into matters about the city at all was because of the fact that the UNN Studios complex was located there.
Nevertheless, it had been necessary to make his presence felt in Korhal City. Korhal was the Dominion capital world, and James Raynor's actions in the city had sent a message to the Dominion people that the capital world was far from invulnerable as they had once thought. Indeed, in the immediate aftermath of the Korhal broadcasts, although rioting had become rampant throughout the Dominion Core Worlds, there was also the factor of fear. Mengsk had boasted for years that Korhal was virtually untouchable by the enemies of the Dominion no matter how strong their attacking force was. If a mere terrorist group had the ability to cause this much damage to Korhal City, the people of the Dominion were greatly concerned as to how much of the emperor's boasts were truth, and how much was just wishful thinking.
It was certainly not a sight that Mengsk had wanted to see as he continued to walk down the streets with his bodyguards, while Dominion ghost operatives prevented the city's inhabitants from getting too close to the emperor. Not that this stopped the wave of pleads and protests, however. Clearly the people of Korhal City had been expecting him to come to their aid the moment Raynor and his terrorists withdrew from the planet due to the damage they had caused with the Odin heavy walker.
It was obvious to Mengsk that the people of Korhal City had expected a lot more out of him in terms of damage relief. The Dominion fringe colony worlds were one thing, being located so far from Korhal itself, but here was the Dominion throne world. Back in 2503, when Gabriel Tosh and his Spectres had attacked the Korhal Palace in Augustgrad, the building itself had taken a beating from the Spectres and Dominion ghost operatives battling it out. Yet once the attack was over, he had spent efforts to clean up the damage and repair the damage done. Within barely a week, Korhal Palace had been restored to its former state, as if the attack had never even happened to begin with. Given that, the Korhal City inhabitants had expected him to do the same thing, yet all these months had passed and nothing happened. Clearly by now the people were starting to run out of patience.
Not that Mengsk particularly cared what the people here thought. Their anger and frustration towards him meant nothing as he was the emperor and it's not like they could simply march into the Korhal Palace in Augustgrad and protest. Still, a visit was needed in order to prevent the whole city from rioting. Personally, he wouldn't have really cared about that, but despite his indifference to Korhal City and its people, Mengsk knew he couldn't afford an insurgency on Korhal. Such an action would inevitably cause panic throughout the Dominion Core Worlds. If a few speeches were necessary in order to raise the city's morale and confidence, then that's the way it had to be.
It shouldn't be all that hard. After all, it wasn't his fault why Korhal City is in its pitiful state right now. That credit went to Raynor and his terrorist group. The only thing he had to do was make a public speech to the city's people and make sure that they focus their anger and rage towards him instead, and that exactly what he intended to do as he walked with his bodyguards towards the city square.
Like many other parts of Korhal City, the city square had also greatly suffered from the Odin attacks. Most of the streets there were total rubble, and the parks that featured beautiful trees, plants, and flowers were now nothing but charred ash. The ones that were fortunate enough not to get burned to the ground were all uprooted, many of them having collapsed onto the few streets that were still functional and impeding traffic for both vehicles and pedestrians. It was in the city square that the Odin had gone rogue and the Dominion armed forces realized that the massive heavy walker had been hijacked. For that reason, Mengsk felt that the city square would make the perfect choice for his speech, as that was ground zero, the epicenter where all of the chaos that Korhal City had been subjected to had went down.
The Dominion emperor remained confident that his speech to the people would solve everything. They were nothing compared to his intellect, and were easily deceived and manipulated. Once he had succeeded in getting Korhal City under his belt, he would proceed to do the same with the other Dominion Core Worlds.
"Emperor, we are approaching the city square now," one of his bodyguards said, looking around. "This city sure has seen better days."
"It has indeed," Mengsk replied. "Well, let's just get this show on the road. The sight of this city had disgusted me even before the Odin incident, and it disgusts me even more now. I'll make a brief speech, and then we'll be out of this dump in the blink of an eye."
Train, Tarsonis City, Tarsonis
Jim could feel the tension among everyone in the train car. According to the reports from his Vikings, Wraiths, and Banshees, the Zerg were indeed still pursuing after the train, but most of the ground forces simply couldn't run fast enough to keep up. The flyers were a different matter, but his flyboys assured him that they would keep the creatures busy. So far the reports have been good news, as the train had only been subjected to a few minor Mutalisk attacks, and the armor plating on the train cars had lived up to its reputation and only minimal damage had been achieved.
The Nydus Worms that the Zerg use for transport were of little use in this situation. With the added thrusters the Dominion engineers added, the train was moving too quickly. By the time the Zerglings, Hydralisks, Roaches and Ultralisks exited the worms' maws, the train would already be too far away. Only the Zerglings had the best chance of catching up, but they lacked the ranged attacks compared to the Roaches and Hydralisks. As they could not get right next to the train, no progress could be achieved.
Both he and Colonel Kim had ordered some of the marines and Goliaths to position themselves on the top of the train cars. His own troops quickly obeyed, but Raynor could clearly see signs of resentment on the faces of the Dominion troops. It didn't surprise him one bit about that though. Out on the train cars, the marines would be completely exposed, with only the Goliath walkers to hide behind for cover. However, given the Goliaths' size, it also meant that they could not maneuver very effectively on top of the train car, so putting too many of them up there would become a liability problem instead. This meant that most of the work had to be done by the marines, and this was a bitter pill to swallow in the face of possible concentrated Mutalisk attacks.
As for the rest of their forces, they were put into different train cars, with some of his own occupying one, and Kim's occupying another. The same was true for their vehicles. Luckily, the train they were riding in was once a Confederate freight train, and that meant it could carry large quantities of cargo. During the golden days of Tarsonis, the Confederacy had constructed an intricate rail system in Tarsonis City, both for cargo transport as well as civilian and military uses. Most of it was now rubble due to the Zerg, but enough had been restored for efficient transport and travel.
The only military equipment that had to be mixed together were the Thor walkers. Unlike the Dominion, the Confederacy never developed a mech of such scale. As such, none of its ground transport vehicles were designed for it. Although some of the transport train cars were able to accommodate the heavy weight, it was obviously not their intended purpose. Great care had to be done to ensure that the Thors did not overstress the train cars, and high priority was given to the marines to protect them in the face of concentrated Zerg attacks. Neither he nor Kim's troops were particularly happy about mixing the Thors together, but eventually they agreed that there was simply no choice in the matter.
On the other hand, the command structure to both sides did not share this segregation. While it had been necessary troops under their command to do so in order to prevent them from killing each other, Jim knew that this couldn't be done for the commanding officers. It was no different than during the Char invasion. His Raiders were mostly separated from the Dominion troops until they had to fight together once they successfully reached the surface, but he and General Warfield had to interact with each other face to face. Granted, this had been helped since he and Tychus rescued him and his troops from the Helios crash site from the Zerg, but he also knew that this would have been the case even without such a rescue.
For that reason, he knew a similar action had to be done with Colonel Kim. Obviously the circumstances were different this time around, but it still had to be done. She and the public relations officer Lieutenant Corbin sat across from him, Nova, and Mal Kelerchian, while the UNN anchorwoman Kate Lockwell along with her journalists were sitting away from them.
Lockwell was unsure as to what to say in this situation. Granted she had wanted to do an interview with Jim Raynor, but to have both him and Dominion troops in the same room was something she had not been counting on. And adding to that was the massed Zerg attacks, which only made things even worse. Sure, she reported news of Zerg attacks, that was nothing new, but many of those reports had been done in the aftermath of the devastation brought about by the Zerg. Given the four years of silence from them after the Brood War ended, there had not exactly been an opportunity to conduct interviews with Dominion troops on the frontlines. Even if she had, she and the rest of the UNN news crew would have been positioned well behind the fighting troops, relatively safe from the Zerg attacks, and in any case she would have been given the opportunity to get on a Dropship and be transported away from the battlefield if she chose to.
Here, there would be no such luck. According to the reports from both Kim and Raynor's officers, Zerg flyers were still flooding into the city ruins. Attacks have been made on the Zerg hives, but this has so far only slowed down the Zerg numbers, not stopped it. Some of her journalists have quietly argued to her as to why they had not doubled up their efforts, but the UNN anchorwoman knew that the Zerg always had the numbers on their side, and neither terran force could prevail in a war of attrition.
Of a far greater surprise to her were the actual troops under Jim Raynor's command. She had been expecting his Raiders, but instead she found out that most of the soldiers under his command were former Dominion troops. They had been under the command of General Warfield during the Char invasion. This was something she didn't see coming. Lockwell knew that during the invasion of Char, both Raynor and his Raiders and the Dominion troops faced a common enemy and therefore would work together to fight them, however grudgingly. With the Queen of Blades defeated, however, there was no longer a need for such an alliance. While she didn't expect the Raiders and the Dominion forces to kill each other in the aftermath of the invasion, she had expected them to go their separate ways, and that the next time they encountered each other, it would not be as allies.
That Warfield's troops joined hands with Raynor came as a great shock to her journalists as well, and it provoked even greater anger Kim's troops, many of them accusing them of being traitors to Dominion and having broken their oath. Others were disgusted at the fact that Warfield's troops had lost any honor for siding with a despicable terrorist, while still more were furious at Raynor himself, accusing him of turning soldiers of the Dominion against them to add more numbers to his Raiders and therefore make his job of spreading chaos throughout the Koprulu Sector an even easier task. Not that the anchorwoman believed it herself, but she was curious as to know what could have turned Warfield's troops to side with Raynor. Most of the Dominion soldiers struck her as arrogant and narrow-minded, so it seemed odd that they would side with the rebel commander in such a way. General Warfield may have ordered it, but that only brought up the question as to why the Dominion general had chosen to join hands with Raynor and his Raiders in the first place.
To Kate, there were a lot more questions than she thought she would be asking, but she also knew she had to do this very carefully. The sheer silence in the train car only added further strains on her tension, as did the fact that all the military personnel around her had their fingers twitching on their firearms' triggers. While she believed that Raynor was a rational man, the fact remained that hatred was capable of affecting one's judgment, and the smallest spark here may cause that explosion.
Yet she knew if neither side spoke up, she may have to herself. Otherwise, the tensions here would soon reach breaking point.
Toxic Slums, Dead Man's Rock
"Everyone, the Dominion base is coming into visual range now," a mercenary pilot announced. "The Dominion general's offer expires in 42 hours from now, so it's likely that the nuclear warheads are still inside that waste processing facility."
"Looks like our infiltrator ghost was right about the fortifications," another observed, looking at the silhouettes of the missile turrets that positioned themselves in a ring around the base.
At this point, Mira's voice came over the radio. "What's the status of our ground forces?"
"They're less than 5 miles away from reaching the artificial mounds," the pilot answered. "Same goes for crossing into the hazardous zone for the toxic waste area. Once our Ore Loader and Mining Scout trucks get past that point, it's going to get very dangerous for the troops on the ground even without enemy fire."
"Then let's hope this can be done quickly," the female mercenary commander replied. "Give it everything you've got once the bullets start flying."
Horner's voice also came on the line. "Your troops may need to stay a little longer than you think, Mira. Once Kerrigan gets into the facility and disarms the warheads, we need to get the weapons out of the building right away. Otherwise, even if we level the base, Dominion stragglers might go back in and reactivate them. And just sealing up the facility entrance won't cut it. The Dominion can just dig the warheads back out."
"That won't sit well with my boys, Matthew," she warned.
"No, but it's all going to depend on how the assault goes," the captain answered, before changing the topic slightly. "Will the other mercs on Dead Man's Rock join in for this assault?"
"I don't know," Mira admitted. "I made it very clear to them what may happen if our assault fails, so hopefully they'll come to their senses and give us a hand. At the very least I'm hoping they would send a few observers to see how everything progresses once the attack begins."
On one of the modern Dropships, Sarah watched as the Raiders came into range of the Dominion base. Clearly the Dominion forces had been alerted to their presence, as in the distance she could see the silhouettes of Dominion Vikings, Wraiths, and Banshees coming to intercept their forces.
The Dropship pilot opened up a channel to the mercenary Hellhounds escorting them. "It looks like the Dominion decided to come to us instead. Everyone, get ready to roll out the welcome mat."
One by one, the Hellhounds' laser batteries lit up and opened fire on the incoming Dominion ships.