Author's Note: The first part of this chapter goes back to chapters 24 and 29, where Felanis showed Zeratul the 6 vat hybrid creatures found in the Xel'Naga Caverns on Aiur, and they were then taken to Shakuras for study and analysis. I thought it'd be a good idea to turn back to them again, just to give an idea of what happened to them since their last mention in chapter 29.

When I looked back at the situation in Korhal City, I decided it was better to give the city mayor a slightly bigger role to play in the things to come, that's why I decided to name the guy, and let things play out from there. I wanted to show the resentment towards Mengsk begin growing more and more among his own people.

As always, please read and review and I'll see you next time.

Chapter 75

Shakuras

Dark Templar scholars continued to observe in awe, shock, and horror of the vat creatures. Despite having long since been mass recalled from Protoss Motherships on Aiur to Shakuras, the sight of Protoss-Zerg hybrids continued to horrify the Firstborn.

Besides them, Shelak Protoss expressed the same reaction. The Zerg were the most vile creatures the Protoss had ever known, and to see that their races had been merged together was considered to be unthinkable to even speak of, let alone occur.

This had led to many of the Nerazim to lash out at the Dark Archon Ulrezaj. By now, news had spread all over Shakuras that he had escaped his confines from the Alys'aril Nexus on Ehlna. Initially, there were those among the Dark Templar who had believed that his action four years ago in an attempt to exterminate the Khalai Protoss on Shakuras was evidence that he had been blinded by his hatred. Now, however, with confirmation that the Protoss-Zerg hybrids in vats as part of his experiments and kept within the sacred Xel'Naga Caverns underneath Aiur, both Khalai and Nerazim Protoss have declared him a traitor to the Firstborn, and to that of all creation in the universe.

Yet the Daelaam Protoss were left in confusion as to how such horrific creatures had been forged. According to the testimonies from the templar warrior Felanis, Ulrezaj had used the massive Khaydarin Crystal at the heart of the Xel'Naga Caverns in order to drain the life essence of both Zerg and Tal'darim Protoss. This was used as a means to enhance his immense strength, and he had done so similarly using the underwater energies on Ehlna as a means to restore his strength should he come to harm.

It was clear to the Firstborn that there was still much they needed to comprehend about the Khaydarin Crystal artifacts used by the Xel'Naga. Despite being a former Alysaar, Ulrezaj had gained much experience and knowledge on his own, and such knowledge had allowed him to merge with seven other Dark Templar in order to form a far more powerful Dark Archon than what the Nerazim can normally merge together to form. Because of the knowledge he possessed that others did not, it was certainly possible for him to find a way in which to develop the Protoss-Zerg hybrids.

Yet there were those who were not comfortable to trust the words of Felanis. Having been a Tal'darim himself and more thoroughly corrupted by the Sundrop substance, many had voiced concerns if he was being truthful with noble Zeratul on Aiur, or if he had simply gone mad.

Still, the Protoss Hierarchy seemed willing to give the former Tal'darim warrior a chance, and the same was true for all of the Tal'darim survivors that the Daelaam Protoss had located on Aiur. Almost all of them were greatly angered to learn that their great Xava'tor was in reality a Dark Archon, and had used them to capture Zerg specimens for his personal experiments and power gains. Despite their unwillingness to integrate into the Daelaam Protoss society, they had conceded that Ulrezaj was their enemy and would be willing to see that he would never again pose a threat to the Firstborn.

With regards to the six vat creatures that had been transported to Shakuras, it was quickly seen that they were a Zerg-based type of hybrid as it contained a significant amount of Zerg carapace, yet also contained elements of Protoss energy signatures of Templars and Archons on its body. While dormant in the containment vat itself, the Protoss had made numerous attempts to prod and examine it in the hopes of determining a weakness.

According to what Zeratul had seen from the Zerg Overmind's apocalyptic vision of the future, there were numerous Zerg-based type hybrids that assaulted the Protoss with the Zerg swarm as the Firstborn made their final stand. Although both Khalai and Nerazim Protoss were ultimately wiped out, Zeratul had confirmed that prior to that, the Daelaam Protoss had killed a number of these hybrids both Zerg and Protoss-based, before they were finally overwhelmed.

That meant despite their immense physical and psionic capabilities, the hybrids were still vulnerable. Whether this was true to terran weaponry or not remained to be seen, as word had also spread that James Raynor had encountered a Zerg-based hybrid within a terran installation, yet their weapons had little effect on it other than making it angry.

On the other hand, tissue samples taken from the hybrids had been thoroughly examined and subjected to test trials of Protoss weaponry. After conducting numerous tests, it was clear that the hybrid carapace was still vulnerable to the psionic and technological weapons wielded by the Firstborn, both Khalai and Nerazim alike.

Yet this was not to say that the hybrids could be easily killed on the battlefield. Despite the fact that these Zerg-based hybrids were only slightly larger than the size of a Hydralisk, their attack power far exceeded that. Even the massive Ultralisk and its deadly Kaiser Blades came nowhere close to the destructive power of the hybrids' claws. The new generation of Zerg Queens, Large Queens, and Huge Queens, all of them had been encountered during the assault on the Overmind's husk on Aiur, none of their claw attacks even came close compared to the destructive power of these hybrid Reavers as they were called according to the Overmind's vision of the future of Armageddon.

Only the most powerful of the Zerg ground breeds, the Brutalisk and Omegalisk, and later the Kraken as encountered on Aiur, could match or surpass the hybrid Reaver's destructive capabilities. However, all three of these Zerg strains were massive, slow, generally clumsy on the battlefield. In comparison, the hybrid Reavers seemed to be extremely fast and agile. In addition, because they also possessed energy shields similar to that used by Protoss warriors out on the battlefield, it meant that the hybrid Reavers were far more difficult to kill compared to the Zerg Brutalisks and Omegalisks.

Because of their smaller size, some of the Nerazim had argued that the hybrid Reavers could be suspended in mid-air via the Phoenix interceptor's graviton beams. While this certainly appeared to be a viable option, it still depended on the sheer number of hybrid Reavers that existed, and no one knew the answer to that. The same was true with regards to the limits of their psionic capabilities, as that too would determine how long the hybrid Reavers could remain suspended in mid-air. If they were powerful enough, and the Protoss examinations certainly seem to suggest that, then trapping them within a graviton prison may not be possible at all.

Zekrath looked on from a distance as the Khalai and Nerazim Protoss continued to examine the vat contained hybrids. While none of the Firstborn fully understood the purpose behind such monstrosities, Zeratul had made it clear that according to the Overmind's vision of the future, these abominations would be responsible for enslaving the Zerg swarm after the Queen of Blades had finally been killed, and together they were responsible eradicating the Protoss as the Firstborn made their final stand.

To the Shelak leader, it came as little surprise of the potential of the hybrids. Even before the Daelaam Protoss had mustered their forces to reclaim Aiur from the Zerg, Zeratul had informed the Protoss Hierarchy of the Protoss-based hybrid Maar that he encountered on the forbidden archive world of Zhakul, and how it alone had corrupted and enslaved the Zhakul Guardians and imprisoned the Protoss holy preservers and drained their energies in order to further enhance its own powers, as well as to preserve its own life when it came in danger of being killed.

If a single hybrid had the power to corrupt that many seasoned Protoss warriors, it was certainly possible for them to do similarly to the Zerg. Yet for all the examinations thus far done on the vile creatures, it would appear that the Fallen One that had been mentioned in the Xel'Naga prophecy had spent a great deal of time and energy on the hybrids. While they were still vulnerable to the weapons wielded by the Firstborn, there have not yet been any signs that any parts of their body were more vulnerable than others. In short, despite the fact that the hybrids were perverse creations, almost every aspect of strength from the Zerg and Protoss had been effectively molded together to forge a devastating biological killing machine.

One such aspect of its destructive capabilities came from its ability to create constricting slime around its vicinity. Many Khalai Protoss quickly saw its similarity compared to the Zerg Queen breeds during the Brood War, where such Queens used its ensnare ability to spray mucus on templar warriors and significantly reducing their combat speed and effectiveness on the battlefield. The constricting slime ability had also been discovered to affect Protoss buildings and temporarily preventing them from functioning, similar to the contamination ability by the Zerg Overseer where it sprayed its creep onto Photon Cannons and temporarily prevent them from firing.

Unlike the Queen's ensnare however, the constricting slime sprayed by the hybrid Reaver had been shown to be detrimental to nearby targets and making them more vulnerable to attack on the battlefield. This is very similar to that of the corruption ability by the Zerg Corruptor and the fungal growth ability of the Zerg Infestor, as in each case the Zerg creature would cover its target in biological tissue and render it temporarily weaker than normal, allowing it to be easily killed by Zerglings, Hydralisks, and Roaches, or simply infested by the Zerg swarm altogether.

Far more terrifying of the hybrid Reaver was what appeared to be the ability to assimilate DNA, where Protoss scholars who have examined the vat hybrids theorized that they have the ability to discharge a psionic tremor around themselves, and everything biological around the discharge radius would be affected, and their very life essence would be absorbed into the vile creature.

Yet this ability greatly concerned Zekrath in another way, as something similar had already been seen. According to the Daelaam Protoss Observers that had recorded James Raynor's victory on Char, the ancient Xel'Naga artifact that deinfested the Queen of Blades possessed a very similar ability, where it discharged the energy nova that proved lethal to all Zerg unfortunate enough to be caught in its blast radius. Yet when the artifact had fired its fully charged energy wave, it had absorbed almost all of the Zerg essence within the Queen of Blades and reverted her back to human form, as well as devastated all parts of the Zerg hive cluster that had been caught in its blast.

To this end, Zekrath was greatly concerned if the hybrid Reavers share more of a similarity to the Xel'Naga relic than the Firstborn would admit. It was not something that would be well received, but the Shelak leader knew that such a possibility could not be factored out.

It was for this reason that he had to return to the Xel'Naga temple on Shakuras. If the carvings on the temple walls could provide clues with regards to the hybrids, or even the Xel'Naga relic that had been used to defeat the Queen of Blades, it must be known to the Protoss people immediately.

Xel'Naga Temple, Shakuras

Upon returning to the Xel'Naga temple, the Shelak leader was once again greeted by the guardians Taarim and Korlendir. Both of them bowed in respect to Zekrath.

"Your humbleness here is not necessary," he said calmly to them. "Do not forget, you are the guardians of this mighty Xel'Naga temple. Here, I am merely a visitor who wishes to seek out more information."

"As do we, noble Zekrath," Korlendir replied. "You and the other Khalai and Nerazim Protoss on Shakuras have examined these hybrid Reavers that have been transported from the Xel'Naga Caverns on Aiur. Had I known of the true identity of our Xava'tor, I would have ignored his order to enter the massive Khaydarin Crystal chamber at the heart of the caverns, where he had placed these monstrosities."

"No one blames you for this, young templar," the Shelak leader reminded him. "You owe nothing to us. Rather, it is we who owe you for the suffering you had endured upon being abandoned on Aiur after it had been overrun by the Zerg."

"What have you discovered about the wretched creatures, these hybrids?" Taarim asked.

"Despite their perversion to all of creation, the examinations have not been well," Zekrath answered, as the three of them walked towards the Xel'Naga temple. "The Daelaam Protoss have been able to extract tissue from the dormant creatures without awakening them, and we have subjected them to weapons trials to determine any weaknesses. Unfortunately, the results have shown that these hybrid Reavers are capable of an accelerated rate of regeneration on their carapace, exceeding even that of the Zerg's rapid recovery rate, although their skin remains vulnerable to the weapons wielded by the Firstborn."

"And yet they appear to be impervious to the weapons of our terran allies," Tarrim folded his arms. "It means the task of defeating the hybrids has been forced upon the Protoss."

"Do not be so quick to underestimate them," the Shelak leader pointed out. "Remember, mighty Tassadar may have sacrificed his life to destroy the Overmind, but James Raynor and his terran warriors had assisted us in defeating the legions of Zerg that had allowed such an event to be successful. This is clear proof that the terrans are still a formidable opponent despite the inferiority of their technology compared to the Protoss."

"And yet their technology has proven to be ineffective against the hybrids."

"As in the case with the Protoss, the terrans' technology has its limitations. The creation of the hybrids is something that would appear to be beyond the capabilities of Protoss technology, so it should be considered a blessing that the creatures are still vulnerable to our weapons and can be killed by our warriors. This was how mighty Zeratul had defeated the hybrid Maar on the archive world of Zhakul when it had enslaved the Protoss holy preservers."

"And it is for this reason that the apocalyptic vision seen by the Overmind is taken seriously," Korlendir said, catching on. "If the hybrids could corrupt Protoss, then they should also have the ability to corrupt the Zerg."

"This is why despite the continued denial from our fellow brethren, it would appear that the clues Zeratul had uncovered from the Overmind appears to be more and more valid, and the Hierarchy itself is growing concerned about the threat of the hybrids. That these six vats contained ones here on Shakuras have so far been our only true source of evidence short of speculation has only increased our worries. It is for this reason that everything that can be known about them must be discovered at the soonest possible time. If greater numbers of these hybrids awaken from distant moons and stars, we could very well face a threat far greater than the Zerg had ever posed to us."

Zekrath stepped into the temple with Taarim and Korledir and continued, "It is for this reason that I hope that you have been able to successfully translate more of the writings and texts on the walls of the Xel'Naga temple. Have you uncovered anything other than the functions of this particular temple?"

"Some of the texts translated have shown what the Firstborn have already discovered ourselves," Taarim answered. "What we have translated pointed out to the Xel'Naga temple on the planet of Nemaka. The temple itself was surrounded by hundreds of sacred Khaydarin Crystals, and many of the Dark Templar expressed enthusiasm to recover the ancient artifacts of the Xel'Naga there."

"It was from there that the terran Jake Ramsey had found the Protoss preserver Zamara," Zekrath said. "She had landed there due to her attempt to escape assassination by a fellow Nerazim of the Dark Archon Ulrezaj. According to noble Mohandar and Executor Selendis who had seen this Jake Ramsey on the Dark Templar sanctuary of Ehlna, he had a passion for discovering ancient lost technologies and civilizations, though nowhere near to the extent of the Dark Templar scholars here on Shakuras. According to them, before Jake Ramsey had discovered Zamara from within the Xel'Naga temple on Nemaka, he had been leading an excavation operation on the planet of Pegasus."

"That world also contains an ancient Xel'Naga temple," Korlendir stated. "It was among the texts here that we have translated."

"Zeratul had informed us that through Zamara, he too had learned of the existence of temple on that world and traveled there himself," the Shelak leader told him.

"What did he discover?"

"This is something he has yet to share in explicit details with the Hierarchy," Zekrath said, and Taarim could see a slight hint of frustration on his face. This came as no surprise, as the Shelak leader greatly valued knowledge of the Xel'Naga. "Zeratul has made it clear that what he had discovered at the Xel'Naga temple on Pegasus, along with the Xel'Naga prophecy on Ulaan and further clues provided by the Overmind is to be shared with more than the Firstborn. He believes that James Raynor should also be known the picture that he had uncovered."

"You mentioned that James Raynor was among the first that mighty Zeratul had informed the Xel'Naga prophecy about," murmured Taarim.

"Unlike myself who only recently seen the terran, Zeratul and him had fought together against the Zerg even before the Brood War. It is clear that James Raynor is to be trusted, despite the feelings he still harbors for the former Queen of Blades."

"The only new discovery we have uncovered with regards to the Xel'Naga temple on Pegasus was the fact that it was described as a luminous, glowing green, wild temple. In comparison, the temple here on Shakuras is considered to be organized, planned, and structured." Korlendir shook his head. "Beyond that, we have made little progress on the translations of the texts on the temple walls."

"It nevertheless proves that we are heading in the right direction," encouraged Zekrath, nodding his acknowledgement to the rest of the guardians of the Xel'Naga temple. "If you continue your efforts, I am confident that you will be able to uncover the answers that the Protoss seek."

He then turned around and began heading towards the exit. "I shall now take my leave and return to Aiur. By now, most of the Zerg presence there should be eradicated, and we will finally be able to uncover further clues from the corpse of the Zerg Overmind. If you uncover anything new on the temple walls, inform the Daelaam Protoss on Aiur immediately."

Korhal City, Korhal

Mayor Kirkwood rubbed his temples and sighed in frustration at his desk as the Korhal City officials gave him the reports on the latest developments in the city and its immediate surroundings. Emperor Mengsk had left the city 3 days ago, and had assured him that he would do everything in his power to prevent the situation in Korhal City from deteriorating further. Yet for all of the Dominion emperor's boasts, there had been virtually no changes whatsoever within the city.

Kirkwood had requested that a minimum of 25,000 tons of food, fuel, and medical supplies be sent into the city on a daily basis and that would help reduce the levels of rioting and theft throughout the city. Yet after 72 hours had passed, only a total of 40 tons of supplies had reached the city, far below even the most minimal requirements. To compound matters, 29 out of the 40 tons of supplies were vespene gas supplies, which were not the primary concern of the inhabitants given the fact that the Odin attacks had reduced entire streets to rubble. Despite the efforts to clear it, traffic for civilian vehicles remained a severe problem.

Only 7 tons were food supplies, and this was nowhere close to feeding even the slightest bit of the whole Korhal City population. Yet to tell the people of the food arrival would spark even further chaos within the city. There was obviously no way to hide the fact from them that the relief supplies had fallen far below the minimal expectations and requirements necessary. Perhaps in the short run of a few days there was a chance, but certainly no longer than a week.

The same was going to be true of the medical supplies, which were obviously too little to make much of a difference to the continued number of wounded from the overcrowded hospitals. All of his officials had made it clear that unless the food supply flowing into Korhal City accelerated dramatically and immediately, the small scale rioting within the city would eventually become total riots, and the police force would have no way to control it.

Yet to keep this from the Korhal City inhabitants would be even worse. While a few of the wealthy people in the city devoted what resources they still had left to help out the common people and make their lives a little bit better and more convenient, the majority of them did little to integrate themselves with the city's population, usually tending to have an attitude that they were above the common people. In the occasional times of scarce resources during the four years of peace following the Brood War, such wealthy people of Korhal City did nothing to ingratiate themselves with the inhabitants.

Now that they had no choice in the matter, it was obvious to most that the wealthy people having been reduced to living in the ghetto would immediately jump at the opportunity for supplies to secure better living conditions and provisions for themselves, while completely ignoring the welfare of the other inhabitants.

Of course, the rest of the city inhabitants would never allow such a thing to occur. Having lived in non-luxurious conditions compared to the wealthy people for so long, it meant that they would take longer to recover, relief supplies or not. If the wealthy got their hands on the supplies first, Kirkwood had no doubt that the Korhal City police would report cases of homicide against such people.

In either case, the mayor had a very sympathetic view for the entire city population, not just the wealthy people. Granted many of them had lost almost everything in the aftermath of the Odin attacks, but with the exception of a few, the vast majority of the wealthy did not take the easy way out and commit suicide. It was Kirkwood's hope that the relief supplies would be distributed evenly among the population to ensure equality and that everyone would be given a fair share of the amenities to survive. The rich would not be favored over the poor, and vice versa.

Unfortunately, this depended on the Dominion relief efforts, and so far Kirkwood has been extremely unimpressed. To try and evenly distribute the 40 tons of supplies to the local population would achieve virtually nothing, as he would be hearing requests from the inhabitants for more supplies in less than an hour afterwards.

The only good news about these supplies would be that the vespene gas could be used as a means to help the homeless stay warm at night, but even then this would be extremely dangerous. Some of the homeless have already tried this method by draining the vespene gas out of vehicles, the rubble strewn streets made it too difficult to navigate with them. The siphoned vespene was then used to start fires to keep warm at nightfall, and for cooking during the daytime. Unfortunately, as some of the homeless had discovered to their cost, vespene gas proved to be highly flammable, and unless done very carefully, there was a very probable chance that people could accidentally set themselves on fire. This had been confirmed by the Korhal City's hospitals, as some of the patients in the wards had suffered third-degree burns.

This problem was being rectified by people who had greater expertise on handling vespene gas, and Kirkwood had been relieved to hear that recently, these people had been teaching others on how to better handle the vespene and to avoid such incidents.

While the mayor was glad to hear that there were times where the people stuck together, the overall picture continued to become more and more gloomy. While he had agreed with the emperor that the people of Korhal were a civilized society, this was based on a number of assumptions. Among the most glaring ones was the fact that the machines were running and relief came in the face of immediate danger. For more than three months since James Raynor had used the Odin war machine to devastate the city, virtually no relief had come and the city's machines were badly mauled. In the absence of these two critical factors, the picture began to change dramatically.

All over the city, the civilians' morale were steadily deteriorating. Reports were coming in more and more frequently as the local population cursed the emperor for his promises of relief, most of which were now being seen as nothing more than hollow words and not to be taken seriously. The shortages of food meant that ration thefts were starting to become a severe problem amongst the civilians, and the exploitation of the helpless people was becoming a very real possibility. In one of the reports, in one hospital wing, a slightly injured patient who still had the ability to walk stole hospital rations from other patients who had suffered injuries too great and had to be confined to bed.

One of his officials leaned in close to Kirkwood. "Sir, you can't avoid the locals forever. We can tell the people that you're holed up in your office trying your utmost to help out everyone in the city, but sooner or later they are going to stop buying that story."

"I know that, but without an increased supply rate of from the Dominion, what more can I do?" the mayor said, shaking his head.

"Do we know if more Dominion transports are on their way to the city now?" another asked.

"I've been trying to contact them for hours without any luck," Kirkwood said, frustrated. "It's been the same for the past few days, and now they're getting tired of me pestering them all the time."

"But this is the Dominion throne world! What could possibly be more important than helping out the people right here on Korhal?"

"Even I don't know the answer to that. All I know is that the rumors are circulating about how the emperor is abandoning his own people right here on the throne world."

"Do you believe that, sir?" Another official asked.

Kirkwood let out a sigh. "I sincerely hope it's not true, but all the events have certainly pointed in that direction. It's not that the emperor hasn't provided any relief at all, but they're so small in scale that it's almost negligible."

"So what do we do? The people may not have much faith in the emperor right now, but a lot of them still trust you to bail them out of this mess."

"And I still have every intention of doing just that," the mayor replied. "I'll give the Dominion relief effort another 24 to 48 hours. If more relief supplies come into Korhal City during that time, great. If not, I'm going to contact other cities on Korhal. They all know what happened here, so they are fully aware of what my people are going through. Hopefully, that'll be enough to get them to send us the supplies needed to maintain order around here and prevent total chaos from breaking out."

"Even they take time to transport the food supplies from across the planet, sir."

"I know," Kirkwood said, sighing. "Send word out to all of the bakeries that have received either little or no raids from the locals. For those that have their own security, make sure that those measures are increased. Inform the bakeries that their bread loaves are not to be sold to the citizens until they're at least 2 or 3 days old. This way, the bread could be sliced thinner and therefore it might last longer. It's only a stop gap solution, but hopefully it can achieve something in the short run."

Tarsonis City, Tarsonis

Jim walked along the frontlines, giving encouragement to his troops, all of whom remained uncomfortable fighting alongside Kim's soldiers. During firefights with incoming Zerg attack waves, they could be counted on to perform their duties at hand, but the tensions sank right back in the moment there was a lull in the fighting.

He saw that Colonel Kim herself was not exactly a commander who refused to put herself at risk either. Like himself, she too fought on the frontlines against the Zerg, and Raynor had to admit that her leadership had certainly held her troops in line despite the going becoming more and more rough.

The Zerg certainly weren't making defending their position any easier. Despite the vast amounts of rubble in the city to make artificial barriers, they could be easily destroyed by the heavier Zerg creatures. As the last attack had shown, this was exactly what had happened when the Zerg spearheaded the attack with Ultralisks in an attempt to quickly smash through the barriers. A few of them took longer than expected to break through, but the majority of them stood little chance against the massive Zerg beasts. Both he and Kim had ordered that Spider Mines be laid near the barriers as an added defense, but the Ultralisks' thick carapace and rapid regenerative abilities had allowed them to push forward considerably before they were finally brought down under a hail of autocannon fire from the Goliath walkers.

The Reapers had made excellent use of their explosive D-8 charges that continued to slow down the attack of advancing Roaches, while the Siege Tanks had made short work of the mass hordes of Zerglings. Only a few of them were able to get through their artillery barrages to reach the marines, and they were quickly mowed down by their C-14 Gauss Rifles.

"Sir, we may have a bigger problem to this than we thought," one of the Banshee pilots spoke to him over the communicator.

"What is it?" Jim asked. "We're holding up just fine right now against the Zerg. True we can't keep this up forever, but as long as the engineers do their work and get the power to the rails back online, we can get out of here very shortly."

"The Zerg seemed to have caught on to that, sir," came the reply. "We're seeing more and more Mutalisk activity in the air, but they're not aiming for you."

"So where are they headed?"

"They're attacking the rail network, commander. It seemed like they've finally smartened up and know that there's little chance of catching up with the train, so they're trying to cut off your escape routes. We've been doing what we can to protect the rails, but the Mutalisk attacks have been getting heavier and heavier."

Raynor scowled in frustration. "How much damage are we talking here?"

"Well for the time being, the railway leading to Giddings Station and Tarsonis Starport are both still functional. The Dominion engineers had certainly done their work in the restoration on the network here."

"Very well," the rebel commander said. "Send me the exact coordinates of these attacks. I'll dispatch more engineers to the area immediately if the rails suffer any more damage."

"Right away, sir."

Jim transmitted the coordinates to the engineers on the field, before speaking into the communicator once more. "Anything else unusual to report?"

"Well, we have also detected mass concentrations of Overlords dropping Zerg Drones around the rail lines, although I don't understand why. Drones have extremely weak attacks, they can't cause any harm to the whole rail system."

The commander thought about this for only a second. "No, but they can move rubble onto it to block us, and Tarsonis City is full of that. Send word to the rest of the flyboys. Any Zerg Drone spotted near the rails is to be killed immediately. We cannot afford for them to cut off our escape route."

"Commander, sir!" One of his officers came running up to him and saluted.

"Take a moment to catch your breath, soldier," Jim said calmly to him. "You have something to report?"

"Yes, sir. As you are aware, we are positioned right at the excavation area where the Dominion had hoped to unearth more Confederate military secrets and technologies."

"I take it that something has been found," Raynor replied. "What is it?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself, sir," the officer answered. "Please come with me. I think this is something you have to see for yourself."