Author's Note: All right, a slighter shorter chapter this time, maybe a bit boring than others, but it'll foreshadow events to come later on. This chapter will further explore the situation with the Protoss about Kerrigan's hopes of finding redemption. You'll see perhaps it's not a lost cause for everyone after all.
As always, please read and review and I'll see you next time.
Chapter 74
Bel'shir
Flying over the jungles of Bel'Shir, General Madison looked out from the window of his Assault Dropship. He had ordered the pilot to keep to a low elevation so that they could quickly dive into the jungle's thick foliage if need be. Unlike the Medivac Dropships, the Assault Dropship had twin rotary cannons and was capable of defending itself, but Madison hoped it wouldn't come to that.
All of the Ravens that had Wraith installed cloaking generators had to return to the BattleCruisers for engineering maintenance, and this meant that the general was flying without any detectors, and could be easily spotted by Protoss Observers.
Nevertheless, he knew this flight was necessary. Before the satellite had been blown out of the sky, the scanner sweeps had indicated that the Tal'darim air power on Bel'Shir was still substantial, certainly far outnumbering whatever air power his forces still had left. If they bring in the Scouts, Phoenixes, and Void Rays and deployed them against the Dominion ground troops, the infantry would last only a few minutes before being slaughtered. It was thus necessary to fly over the Dominion soldiers on the ground and give them the impression that the Dominion would still do everything in their power to protect them from the air in the event of a Protoss attack, which seemed more and more likely with each passing minute.
Of course, depending on the terrazine harvesting, it was still a race against the clock. With nearly 300 canisters collected, confidence was starting to increase, albeit very slowly, amongst the ground troops. There was now the hope that they just might make it off this moon alive after all. The more cautious ones, however, remained extremely pessimistic. The Protoss still had enough strength on Bel'Shir to wipe them all out in less than an hour, so speed was essential.
Madison concurred with this, and it was for this reason that he spoke once more with the SCV pilots about the terrazine harvesting, as well as the Dominion ghost operatives in opening up the altar seals. In the former's case, speed and efficiency had improved from when they first landed on Bel'Shir, but the latter's case remained unfavorable due to the constant psionic exhaustion, which greatly reduced the harvesting operation's effectiveness. According to the lead SCV pilots, at the rate of the harvesting was progressing so far, it would take at least another 12 hours to reach the 500 canister mark, although only 4 more to reach bare minimum of 400 canisters collected.
To Madison, the choice was obvious. He would shoot for just the bare minimum number of terrazine canisters that Mengsk had ordered him to collect on Bel'Shir, and then get his troops away from this moon. The jungles here may be beautiful, but to him and his Dominion troops, they only represented hell for all the fighting against the Tal'darim they had to do, and most likely would have to do again.
The general then looked out to see the tiny flickers of light besides his Assault Dropship, an indication of his Wraith escorts. He had made sure that not all of the Wraiths had their cloaking generators removed to be installed onto the Ravens as they had no offensive capabilities other than the seeker missile, and even that could be easily avoided given the sleek and agile design of the Tal'darim Scout and Phoenix interceptors. On the other hand, while the Wraiths' gemini missiles did not have the same punch compared to the Vikings' lanzer torpedoes, but its cloaking ability gave it the element of surprise, and that has proven itself time and again to be a formidable advantage in combat.
Even so, the element of surprise also quickly fades once the enemy is aware of your presence, and Madison knew that if the Protoss were alerted to the Dominion on Bel'Shir once more, they would scramble every aerospace vessel that could fly and come after them with it. There was certainly no possible way to handle them all. Indeed, the Dominion marines on the ground were now being forced to duck into the jungle's foliage more and more frequently due to Tal'darim Scouts flying over the altar positions. Clearly the Protoss knew that something wasn't right, even if they still had no idea that the Dominion were on Bel'Shir once more.
"General," the pilot suddenly announced. "The Wraiths have spotted another Protoss Scout flying over the altar area."
Madison gritted his teeth, as he stepped into the cockpit the join the pilot. "If this keeps up our SCVs will have to keep hiding from them and we'll never get the terrazine harvesting done. Contact the Wraiths. See if they can get that Scout to follow us instead."
The pilot looked confused. "I thought we don't want the Protoss to know we're here, sir."
"The Wraiths only have to fly close to it and that's it," Madison explained. "As long as they remain cloaked, the Scout won't be able to tell just who it is. We can get him to follow us for a while, and lure him away from the altars. Once that happens, the Wraiths can scatter and lose the Scout."
"As you wish, sir." The pilot entered a few codes into the terminal, and the cloaked Wraiths around the Assault Dropship broke off their escort.
"Land the Dropship in the jungle," Madison ordered. "The foliage will provide us cover so that we don't get spotted."
As they touched the ground, the communicator beeped. "General, it worked. The Protoss Scout is following us now. We're taking him towards the one of the waterfalls, relatively far away from the altars."
"Good work boys," Madison said, but then his eyes widened as he heard sounds of gunfire from over the channel. "Report! I said for you to lead the Scout away, not shoot it out of the sky! What the hell are you doing?"
"It's not us, sir! I think an Observer might have just joined up with the Scout! If so, then we have just been spotted!"
Madison slammed his fist down on the terminal. This was the last thing he needed right now. "What is your status?"
"We're all ok, sir, but we had to expend quite a few of our gemini missiles to shoot down the Scout."
"And what about the possible Observer?" the general demanded.
"We see it," one of the Wraith pilots replied. "It's been hit by one of our gemini missiles and has also gone down. It lost its cloak, so we can easily finish it off."
Madison rubbed his temples. Now that shots have been fired, the Tal'darim would soon be coming to investigate. It won't be long now before Protoss Zealots, Immortals, Stalkers, Sentries, and Colossi come storming through the jungle in search of the Dominion base. The most that could be done now was to delay this for as long as possible.
"Where exactly did the Protoss Scout ship and Observer go down?" he asked.
"The Scout landed in the lake near the waterfall," came the reply. "I'm pretty sure there's no way the Protoss pilot could have survived though. We gave his ship one hell of a pounding. The Observer drone is down near the lake, but not in it. There's fire coming out of its fried circuitry and everything."
"Pinpoint that location on the map immediately. One of you boys stay there and wait for the Dominion engineers to arrive," Madison said over comm-link. "And don't do anything stupid. The last thing I need is for even more shots to be fired. It's already going to take a miracle to salvage the situation now."
"I don't understand, sir."
"Well for the moment, we don't know if the Protoss pilot had been able to inform his buddies that the Dominion are still on Bel'Shir before you shot him down. Now assuming we get lucky and he hadn't, it won't be long before he fails to report to the rest of the Protoss. When that happens, they'll come to investigate. In addition thanks to the Observer now belching fire, the smoke is going to be a dead giveaway that something has gone wrong."
"We can put the fires out immediately, general."
"Do that," Madison ordered. "Once that's done, the Dominion engineers will come and take the wreckage of the Scout and Observer away, to be hidden in the jungle. Hopefully that'll keep the Tal'darim off our backs while they keep searching for their friend, as well as allow us to finish harvesting the remaining terrazine needed before the bullets start flying and everything goes to hell."
Aiur
Artanis listened carefully as both Tabrenus and Vartanil stated their points. The Furinax leader less so, given his lack of experience on the matter, but Vartanil proved extremely persistent. However, this also gave the Hierarch the impression that the young Protoss warrior was becoming far too optimistic about the overall picture.
Four years ago, when he and James Raynor fought against the Zerg during the Brood War, Artanis too had raised the issue of the Queen of Blades to the terran commander. Despite the actions that she had done, he could sense that Raynor was not fully convinced of the crimes Kerrigan had committed. Even after the shock of betrayal after the death of Fenix, Artanis still sensed that Raynor could not fully bring himself to blame her.
It had been a weakness that the former Queen of Blades had thoroughly exploited, but to say that such feelings and emotions only ran one way was certainly not as simple as the Hierarch believed. James Raynor had made it clear to him that when he first encountered Kerrigan having been infested by the Zerg on Char, she had slaughtered a great deal of his forces. However upon meeting up with him, she had instead given him to chance to leave Char with his life.
It certainly seemed preposterous that the Queen of Blades would have any comprehension of the concept of mercy, but this certainly appeared to be the case when she encountered Raynor. Even when she had shown her true colors during the Brood War and had noble Fenix killed on the planet of Korhal, James Raynor had made it clear to him that Kerrigan had the opportunity to have him killed there as well, yet she chose not to.
Was it a simple matter of toying with her enemies as she had done to others? Or was there something deeper between them? Prior to her having been brought before the Protoss Hierarchy, Artanis had always believed it was the former's case, that Kerrigan took sadistic pleasure in seeing James Raynor suffer and wallow in guilt for everything that had happened. But now, after finally seeing what she was like without the Zerg infestation, the young Hierarch could no longer be as certain.
James Raynor clearly had an effect on her than no one else had, and what Zeratul had uncovered in Kerrigan's mind only further confirmed this. Before, Artanis had simply believed that whatever humanity that Kerrigan once had would have perished during upon infestation. Even if it had not, then it certainly would have during the four years she spent with the Zerg. However James Raynor had informed him of what had happened during the final assault on the primary hive cluster on Char, and how even before the Xel'Naga artifact had been activated that restored Kerrigan to human form, he had heard her telepathically call out to him, encouraging him to keep fighting.
Still, even if the Zerg infestation had never succeeded in destroying her humanity, there had certainly been no signs of that with regards to anyone else. Despite being a hero to the Protoss people, relatively few numbers of the Firstborn had any detailed comprehension of James Raynor and his relationship to Kerrigan. Most refused to even make the slightest attempt to comprehend this, and this was exactly the same way the Khalai Protoss felt towards the Nerazim long after they had been banished from Aiur.
This was something that now had to change. If what Zeratul had sensed about Kerrigan was correct and that her feelings for James Raynor were every bit as strong as his for her, then perhaps it was this feeling that had allowed her to retain her free will and sanity despite the Zerg infestation.
Unfortunately, this did not carry the weight as expected among the rest of the Hierarchy. James Raynor made it clear that he was the only one who had seen her personality prior to the Zerg infestation, and during the Brood War he had also admitted to Artanis that it was only after Kerrigan had been taken by the Zerg that he realized he had fallen in love with her. Nahaan had argued that as the terran commander had not realized his feelings for the former Queen of Blades until then, it was also possible that Kerrigan never realized she had feelings for him, assuming they even existed in the first place.
This was countered by the fact that Kerrigan had not killed him on sight upon her birth into the Zerg swarm on Char, and after what Zeratul had uncovered, Artanis was no longer convinced that Kerrigan never had feelings for James Raynor. If the strong feelings she had for him were real, then it was certainly possible that those feelings had allowed her to retain a measure of control over the Queen of Blades, however slight that may have been.
Of course, this was also based on the assumption that Kerrigan and the Queen of Blades were two completely separate individuals, and even James Raynor could not say that with absolute certainty, despite the fact he continued to believe it. Many Protoss already argued that this believe was nothing but wishful thinking, just as it was wishful thinking to believe that when the Zerg went quiet after the Brood War, they would never return.
Still, to look at events from Kerrigan's perspective seemed almost unthinkable. Most would feel that there would be nothing to look at, other than her ambition and thirst for conquest and destruction for all living things. Indeed, many Protoss were very uncomfortable when asked to see that there was more to the former Queen of Blades than merely a monster during her time with the Zerg.
"These are very dangerous things to ask of me," he said to Vartanil. "You had said it yourself that the Protoss Hierarchy must not be like that of the Conclave, which had been too corrupt for its own good. Because of that, despite my position as Hierarch, my power is far from absolute. It had been extremely difficult to convince the Daelaam Protoss not to execute Kerrigan on sight after we had confirmation of James Raynor's victory on Char. To now encourage them to see that she was never a monster to begin with would result in total chaos and we simply cannot afford the unity of the Firstborn to be destroyed."
"Perhaps, but what alternative do we have?" the young Furinax Protoss asked. "Even Kerrigan herself does not understand the specifics of her role as savior. We do not either, and unless there is a way to falsify the Xel'Naga prophecy, we have to accept her in this role. However I cannot see how this is possible if none of the Firstborn are willing to see her as anything other than a mass murderer. In order for Kerrigan to prevent Armageddon, she must be convinced that the Protoss are willing to accept the fact that she is capable of more than merely total destruction."
Tabrenus put his hand on Vartanil's shoulder. "That will certainly not be easy given her time with the Zerg and the atrocities committed in the past years," he said calmly. "It is unlikely that she will even be able to convince herself on this matter."
"And this only reinforces my point," the young Protoss replied. "It is a matter of trust and putting our faith in her. I know that this has had severe consequences in the past, but Kerrigan is no longer the Zerg monster we fought against. If she remains convinced that the Protoss would execute her for what happened in the past, then she would remain fatalistic about the overall situation and would be unable to perform her tasks ahead as effectively."
"You believe Kerrigan must be convinced that the Firstborn are willing to give her a chance at redemption," Artanis stated.
"This is a matter we must look into and carefully monitor the Ara Tribe Protoss," Tabrenus pointed out. "We know that Nahaan has sent his Ara people to send word to the other Protoss tribes and to convince them that it is worth taking a risk with the Xel'Naga prophecy. If this continues, he may be able to influence greater numbers of Protoss to seek retribution against Kerrigan before we have a chance to fully understand the greater picture, and you made it clear that the understanding of the prophecy must come first."
"The Dark Templar tribes will not be swayed by Nahaan's actions. Of all the Khalai Protoss, they despise the Ara Tribe the most as they were dominant in the Conclave, who was then responsible for having them exiled from Aiur. Zekrath and his Shelak Tribe will be of the same, especially since Nahaan is suggesting that the Xel'Naga prophecy should be disregarded as a whole. I will keep my Akilae Tribe warriors in check so they shall not be influenced by the Ara Tribe."
"And what of the Auriga Tribe?" Vartanil asked.
Artanis thought about this for a moment. "Urun's greatest concern is that Aiur shall no longer be endangered so that the Protoss society and civilization can be rebuilt here once the last of the Zerg have been eradicated. This makes him the most vulnerable to Nahaan's influence since none of us have any evidence to prove that Kerrigan no longer has any control over the Zerg swarm. I must admit that if she is still able to control the Zerg, however slight a degree that may be, it could greatly strengthen Nahaan's influence."
"I concur with the Hierarch on this, young Vartanil," Tabrenus said. "If Kerrigan regains control over the Zerg swarm, the Daelaam Protoss will be in danger once more. Despite her role in the Xel'Naga prophecy, she should not be allowed to interact with the Zerg too greatly."
"Whether she can still control the Zerg or not may be irrelevant," the young Protoss pointed out, turning his head to Artanis. "According to what you have told me when you had spoken to James Raynor in the past, he made it clear that Kerrigan was a noble warrior before the Zerg had infested her. This is no different than the days of the Conclave, both prior and during the Zerg invasion of Aiur."
The Protoss Hierarch looked somewhat confused. "What do Kerrigan's actions have to deal with the Conclave?"
Tabrenus suddenly spoke up, understanding what the young Furinax Protoss was saying. "The Conclave was a symbol of great power to the Khalai Protoss, but they had used their power ineffectively and caused Aiur to be overrun by the Zerg. If the ancient Xel'Naga relic that James Raynor had used on Char had removed the Zerg infestation from Kerrigan's mind and she still has some measure of control over the Zerg, it may be possible that she would no longer use them for such savage purposes."
"I do not see how this could be possible. All of our encounters have shown that the Zerg only exist to consume, assimilate, and destroy," Artanis pointed out.
"Which, according to the Xel'Naga prophecy, was their purpose after they had been altered," Vartanil argued back. "Their original directive was not to pursue the total destruction of the Protoss."
The Protoss Hierarch saw that this was clearly getting nowhere, and there was no point to argue any further without more clues at hand. "All right, Vartanil. I will see what can be done to the rest of the Daelaam Protoss with regards to your request. To keep Nahaan and his Ara Tribe's influence from spreading to the rest of the Protoss is a far simpler task, but you have certainly raised points that could be valid both now and in events later on. I sincerely hope that your fondness is not affecting your judgment on the overall situation."
Train, Tarsonis City, Tarsonis
Jim looked on at the UNN anchorwoman. He was still having a hard time taking it all in after Kate had informed him of her experiences at the planet of Candore and meeting up with Michael Liberty and the Knights of Freedom organization. A part of him still felt it could be some sort of trick after everything UNN has done in portraying him and his Raiders.
Still, the rational part of him told otherwise. After the way UNN had portrayed him for so long, he had completely discarded the fact that not everyone in the network was a mindless drone and completely obedient to Mengsk. It was a very similar mentality he had when he was on Mar Sara, shortly before the Zerg invasion. After fighting the Dominion for so long, he just didn't believe there was anyone in the Dominion that didn't favor Mengsk.
That Lockwell didn't fully support the emperor could also be turned to his advantage. If she was telling the truth about the change in policy as she declared on the news, then it could change the Dominion public's view on the Raiders, as well as that of Mengsk and further weaken his hold, perhaps even shatter it completely.
He had already agreed to give the female reporter a chance to see how she will take matters, but even so he was somewhat concerned for her safety. To speak out against the emperor was technically considered treason, and during the invasion of Char, Warfield had confirmed to him that thousands of arrests had been made on Dominion core worlds due to the public rioting against the Mengsk.
He looked at Kate in the eye. "It's not that I don't want to believe you, Ms. Lockwell. But despite the change in policy, UNN is technically still a Dominion media branch. Looking into the views of other factions is one thing, but speaking out against the emperor is quite another."
Kate was about to object when Raynor continued, "I saw your UNN broadcast right after what I had done on Korhal. You were in the middle of broadcasting of the corruption in the Dominion government, but then the Dominion security shut you down."
"That just proves the emperor is obsessed with stifling others," she insisted. "If you've got nothing good to say about him, you can't say anything at all."
"It also gave me the impression that the Dominion security was going to throw you in a prison cell," Jim said. "I saw the news of how Mengsk retreated to his palace and refused to give further comments to the public. However before he disappeared from view, he continued to insist that the evidence broadcasted against him were merely concoctions."
"He has a point there," Nova added. "If you were allowed broadcast your news about the corruption, I'm pretty sure the Dominion military would have sent ghost operatives out to have you assassinated, then make it look like an accident. Trust me, it's not as uncommon as you think. Ever since Jim helped me recover my memories, I remembered who other ghost agents are assigned to kill Dominion public speakers who voice their doubts and dissatisfaction against Mengsk. We're the ones who deliver the bullet to the guy's head, then the Dominion security forces come in and make it look like it was either an accident, or it was one of the Dominion's enemies that did this."
Kate was taken aback. "You really think the emperor takes that violent of a step simply for journalistic integrity?"
"Tell me something," Jim said calmly. "I'm sure by now you've heard of my raid on the New Folsom prison complex."
"I have, I just didn't get to do the story because other news teams beat me there first. They were going there for hours about how you and your Raiders set loose all the prisoners there and how this has unleashed a nightmare for the Dominion military now that they have to go put them back in their cages again."
"A lot of them were just philosophers and free thinkers," the commander replied. "Nova told me about how those were the people that spoke out against Mengsk, but due to their reputation, he couldn't kill them on the spot. As a result they were simply sent to New Folsom to rot to death. Believe me Ms. Lockwell, if Mengsk couldn't kill you to shut you up, he would have simply done the next best thing and put you in a prison cell and let you rot."
"He probably would have had he known that you had given the Knights of Freedom that footage of what happened on Candore," Mal added. "You said it yourself that Major Hawkins declared you a traitor to the Dominion right then and there. I had watched the news myself about that and how the Knights of Freedom aired that footage during the two year anniversary of Mengsk's inauguration as Dominion emperor."
"We technically still could now," Kim said, coming back into the train car. "The Dominion is the defender of terran civilization, Ms. Lockwell. If you had gone on with the news about Dominion government corruption, you would have been portraying us as nothing but mass murderers and homicidal maniacs."
"Kim, the Dominion had been founded on a lie," Raynor said. "You and the rest of the military had only been led to believe you were fighting for a righteous cause, and you still are now. There are those at the Dominion high command who probably are aware of this, but they continue to delude themselves into thinking it's all for the greater good."
He turned his head back to Kate. "You have to remember that back in year 2500 when the Dominion was created after the fall of the Confederacy, people had been led to believe that the Zerg had attacked the Confederate capital world of Tarsonis en masse. That wasn't a lie, but they had not been told as to why the Zerg attacked Tarsonis. Given that they tended to invade worlds and kill entire populations, the general belief was that this was just part of their nature to conquer and destroy worlds, and this was exactly why it was so easy for Mengsk to hide the truth about what really happened."
The female reported nodded slowly. "A lot of people did say that Mengsk strove against the Confederacy and then the Zerg conveniently destroyed the government he fought against. I guess no one ever considered the possibility that the two events might be linked together."
"Exactly my point," Jim said. "Mengsk led almost everyone in the Koprulu Sector to believe that his Sons of Korhal had saved as many people as they could, and this made him the savior of humanity from the Zerg. He was then praised by the people who did not realize what had really happened, and this was the reason why the people continued to worship him for all these years. Now that what I had broadcasted on Korhal had proven that he was not the savior as the people had been led to believe, and instead a mass murderer who was responsible for the genocide on Tarsonis to begin with, well let's just say it really shook the belief people had in the Dominion."
"The people at UNN were shocked as well, Mr. Raynor. Even the Mengsk loyalists had nothing to say about it except hope that the evidence couldn't be true because they refused to believe that their emperor could be that cruel."
"There are a lot of things too cruel to be listed when it comes to him," Raynor replied. "Some of them are staring you right in the face. Just look at all the refugees in the aftermath of the Zerg invasion. Even now, your emperor is still ordering that the Dominion core worlds turn them away."
"Dr. Hanson of the Agria colony told us about the refugee staging area on the planet of Meinhoff," Nova added. "Turned out there was a huge Zerg infestation virus that threatened to kill them all, yet the Dominion chose to do nothing about it. If it weren't for the Raiders, the whole planet would have gotten infested."
"You're acting like we chose to ignore the problem altogether," Kim said, frowning. "We did no such thing. We merely needed a little time to prepare, that's all."
"I'm sure that's what you keep telling yourself," Jim scoffed. "That and you convinced yourselves that the Zerg invasion had to be dealt with first, only then would you turn to helping the refugees. Given that you didn't even take the fight to Char as I did, who the hell knows just how long the refugees had to wait before help from the Dominion arrived."
"You didn't take the fight to the Zerg yourself, Raynor," Kim countered. "The Dominion fleet backed you and your rebel group up. We were the ones responsible for defeating the Zerg, all you did was stand on the sidelines."
"Warfield said the same thing to me right before the invasion, portraying me and the Raiders as cowards. When it was all over, he praised me for what I did, and so did many of his troops. You honestly think I alone could have corrupted that many Dominion troops into doing my bidding?"
"Given everything that's happened, I'd say that's certainly on the cards, but nothing you say or do is going to lure me and my troops in," the female colonel stated. She was about to go further when her radio went off.
"Colonel Kim, we're approaching the salvaging destination," one of the Dominion engineers reported.
"What about the Zerg?" she asked.
"They've fallen behind, though orbital scans confirm that they're still after the train you're on. A small number of them have turned around and went back to other parts in the city, but there's still nearly 20,000 Zerg hot on your trail."
Kim looked over at Raynor and Nova, sighing as she realized she had no choice in the matter. "Very well then. Have our boys deploy alongside those of Raynor's. We'll use the rubble from the city to set up a defensive perimeter to channel the Zerg into killing zones and ambush points."
"That won't hold the Zerg forever, ma'am."
"It doesn't have to, soldier," Kim answered. "We just need to hold the position long enough for the engineers to restore power to the rail network that leads the train to Giddings Station. That place is a starport that takes passengers to the orbital platforms for further transport. During the days of the Confederacy, passengers used the station all the time to reach the orbital station of Osborne Port."
"But Giddings Station is a civilian starport, colonel. It wasn't designed to handle military traffic, especially not in the case with the Zerg in pursuit."
"Try looking into Tarsonis Starport," Nova piped up. "It's much bigger than Giddings Station and is located close by. Its main purpose was for cargo shipments, but it's much bigger than Giddings Station and can handle more people for evacuation."
Off of Kim's confused look, the blond ghost rolled her eyes. "Now that I recovered my memories, I remember my life in Tarsonis City when I grew up, Kim. I know this place pretty damn well, and unlike your emperor, I'm not the type to abandon people, especially not to be eaten alive by the Zerg."
Kim sighed as she spoke into the radio. "Do as Nova suggested. Clear the rubble on the rails leading to Tarsonis Starport and restore the rail power leading there as quickly as possible. We'll salvage whatever technology we can from this area, and that'll be the end of the matter. I want to be out of here before the Zerg overrun the whole city."