Author's Note: So in the past chapters I've only told of the Raiders on Tarsonis and Dead Man's Rock. But maybe a lot of you forgot that wasn't all the Raiders, just a small number of them. Most of the Raiders are actually still on Aiur and recovering from their battle with the Protoss against the Zerg there. I thought maybe it's time to turn back to them again, so that you know they haven't been forgotten or anything like that.
As always, please read and review and I'll see you next time.
Chapter 76
Raider's Base, Aiur
The lab doors slid open and Dr. Hanson turned around to see a few Dominion scientists walk in, accompanied by General Warfield. "General," she greeted. "I wasn't expecting company here."
"I'm sorry to drop in unannounced, doctor," the Dominion general replied. "But you have been doing your research on the relic for a few days now that the wounded during our battle on Aiur have been mostly taken care of. Raynor considered you a genius like no other, capable of learning the sciences faster than almost anyone he's ever heard of. I also heard that you spent a great deal of time aboard the Hyperion."
"It's true," Hanson said. "When the Agria farming colony was completely overrun by the Zerg, Jim and his Raiders came had helped my people. Casualties obviously were inevitable, but thanks to him and his troops, the vast majority of my people were able to reach the Colony Ships and escape."
"You certainly didn't seem to press the issue to him with regards to the Zerg virus outbreak on Meinhoff."
"His Raiders may be strong, but they still have limitations. I knew what could be achieved with the resources at Jim's disposal and what could not. It was for this reason that I only made slight mentions of the violence and disease happening on Meinhoff while he gathered more resources for his revolution."
"And how did you feel about that part?" Warfield asked.
"After I had learned of the transmissions on the Confederate adjutant about Mengsk's crimes regarding what really happened on Tarsonis, I too was furious, though I was greatly concerned about the backlashes and what would happen if Jim actually got that information to go public. Given all the rioting that happened after what happened on Korhal, well that part didn't surprise me one bit. Jim and Matt both told me this marked the beginning of the revolution where justice would finally be served."
"By that time a lot of my troops were still fighting to repel the Zerg invasion waves. Clearly the broadcast had a detrimental effect on them. Many didn't believe Mengsk could be so heartless, while others were furious at Raynor for sending the whole Dominion into chaos. Regardless of how you cut it, the fact is that the Korhal broadcasts had almost all of my boys greatly distracted from focusing on their task at hand of dealing with the Zerg. Not that it was unjustified or anything like that. Even I couldn't completely focus on dealing with the Zerg in the immediate aftermath of those broadcasts, especially given the fact that I was on Korhal when it happened. Mengsk specifically ordered me to stop Raynor from sending the message through the UNN towers, but he succeeded anyway."
"My feelings about what happened on Korhal are slightly mixed, even though I was glad Jim had accomplished his mission," Hanson said. "On one hand, we were in the middle of dealing with the Zerg invasion, so it was certainly not a good time to be fighting amongst ourselves. After all, you don't see the Zerg killing each other for positions of power. But on the other hand, I was glad to see that Mengsk being portrayed as a criminal and the public expressing their anger at him. Jim's actions on Korhal meant that everything the public believed in the Dominion turned out to be a lie, and that the emperor himself was actually a mass murderer instead of a savior of humanity."
"You didn't seem to favor the guy even before that," Warfield pointed out.
"Because he doesn't even seem to care about his own people," the doctor replied. "By the time Jim came to Agria, the defenses at the evacuation starport were just barely holding under the constant Zerg attack waves. If it weren't for him, even those would have been overrun, which would have allowed the Zerg to overrun the entire starport as well, and none of us would have been able to get off the planet alive. The same was true for the situation on Meinhoff, where the emperor chose to do nothing about the problem. It's almost as if he simply expected the problem to just fade away without lifting a finger, yet he still expected everyone to show unquestioning loyalty towards him."
Warfield nodded. "I know. Given that, the numbers don't exactly add up. I was still in retirement when the Zerg invasion began, but I was appalled to hear that Mengsk chose to just withdraw the Dominion fleet back so the core worlds would be defended, while leaving the fringe worlds to their fate."
"Did you raise the matter with him?" Hanson asked.
"Just once, when he announced that I would be leading the Dominion forces to crush the Zerg threat. I told him that abandoning the Dominion Fringe Worlds was not a good idea as millions of people would be slaughtered by the Zerg. Mengsk's response was that given my military experience, I should know that sometimes it's necessary to make difficult decisions on the battlefield."
The doctor rolled her eyes. "You mean the concept of where a small sacrifice is necessary in order to achieve the greater good? General, I hope you know that concept has its limitations to it. It's one thing to sacrifice a few dozen lives in order to save the lives of tens of thousands. It's a completely different matter to sacrifice millions of lives in order to save billions more. The former you can call making strategic decisions in battle, the latter is nothing more than a complete disregard for human lives."
She held up her hand before Warfield could say anything. "I know when it comes to invading planets, the Zerg can move very quickly. But that's beside the point. I learned from Jim that Mengsk didn't even make the slightest attempt to look into the fringe worlds, which meant he could have cared less if everyone there got killed by the Zerg."
"I understand, but that's all behind us now," the general said. "The Zerg invasion is over, your people are safe and back on Agria once again, and we're in a position to weaken Mengsk's hold on the Dominion even more, maybe even topple him from the throne altogether."
"But that's not what you came here for," Dr. Hanson stated.
"Correct. I came here to see if you have found out anything new about that Xel'Naga artifact," Warfield explained. "It certainly took a lot of effort on my part to convince the Protoss to pull the fragments out from underneath their capital city of Antioch, and even now they're still not exactly pleased to see it in our hands for research and examination."
Hanson sighed. Jim had told her about this as soon as they began to head into Aiur's atmosphere. While the Protoss also had their share of researchers and scholars, they also had extreme fanaticism when it came to their religion and the people they worship. In this case, the ancient Xel'Naga had created them, which meant that anything and everything that had any relation to the Xel'Naga would be considered sacred to the Protoss, and they saw it as their mission to ensure that such treasures are well preserved and taken care of, namely in their hands. To see the relics in the hands of terrans certainly did not sit well with them.
To that end she could agree with them to some extent. Like the Protoss, humans by nature also sought out knowledge, and alien artifacts could certainly provide a wealth of just that. However it was more of how that knowledge was used that revealed the nature of humans. According to Jim, the Protoss right now are broken into two main sects: the Khalai and the Nerazim. The former did not have much ties to the Xel'Naga anymore, but would still safeguard any and all Xel'Naga artifacts from hostile intruders. The latter on the other hand still worshipped the Xel'Naga as their gods, and are obsessed with trying to understand the true purpose that the Xel'Naga had created them for. A great deal of them also actively sought out Xel'Naga artifacts and relics, a complete contrast compared to the Khalai Protoss.
In the case with this particular Xel'Naga artifact, the Protoss were even more reluctant to give them access to it given its destructive power. After Jim had told her of what it had done to the Zerg on Char, Hanson was inclined to agree. Nevertheless, upon their arrival on Aiur, her theories about the artifact being dangerous to Protoss as well were vindicated, a contrast compared to terrans, to which it seemed to have no effect on at all.
Still, the Protoss could argue that the relic could be turned into a dangerous weapon against them just as it had been against the Zerg, and Dr. Hanson knew that it wouldn't be long before they would demand that the terrans hand the artifact back for it to be in Protoss possession once more. Because of that, every moment she spent examining the artifact would be vital in order to learn of its capabilities and purpose.
"There has been little I have been able to discover about the artifact," she said finally. "In fragment form, they're inert, though are still harmful to the Protoss if they get too close to it."
"Does it have any effect on humans?" Warfield asked. "When that thing was fully assembled on Char and ready for use, Raynor explained that by being close to it he could hear strange voices and at time to time see strange visions that weren't supposed to be there. I don't know how exactly that's possible, but it seems to suggest we're not completely immune to whatever the artifact can do."
"I'm not sure about that," Hanson admitted. "I've been examining this relic for days and haven't experienced what you're describing. It's possible that this artifact affects each person differently. In the case with Jim, it's possible it was exploiting some sort of emotion he had with Kerrigan and was just messing with his head."
"That's actually a good point, and one I also hoped you could answer," Warfield explained. "Because until we know exactly what this Xel'Naga artifact does, we don't really know just what it did to the former Queen of Blades. Yes, everything about her looks human again, but I've seen more than enough cases in my life where looks can be very deceiving."
"I was telling Jim the same thing on Haven. I for one am not sure the artifact fully reversed the infestation on her or anything like that. From the few tests I ran on Kerrigan there, it would seem as if the artifact had evolved her or something, though I can't seem to determine just what."
Hanson thought about it for a moment longer, before a thought suddenly came to her. "Can't you contact Prince Valerian and ask him? Jim made it clear that it was he and his Möebius Foundation that wanted this artifact so badly and reached out to the Raider to get it, so surely they have to have some idea."
"It's a possibility," the general admitted. "Unlike the emperor himself, that boy doesn't share his father's enthusiasm for the military might of the Dominion. Before the Zerg invasion, the two of them were rebuilding the Dominion to make it a rule of might, but Valerian also wanted it to be one of arts and sciences as well."
"That's his passion then." It was more of a statement than a question.
Warfield nodded. "The boy has a great interest in archeology, a complete contrast to the emperor. Though on the other hand, Mengsk did support him in such projects. Of course even Valerian is smart enough to know that his father had ulterior motives for doing this. Just take the Xel'Naga artifact you're examining right now. It's great for the arts and sciences, but it also has its military applications given what it's capable of doing to the Zerg."
"It would explain why the emperor supported his interests," Hanson agreed, shaking her head in disgust. "The guy hopes that if his son can find alien relics that could be used as weapons, the guy will just seize it for himself to get more power."
"It's one of the things I'm deeply concerned about what Valerian is doing," Warfield frowned. "It's not that his love for arts and sciences is a bad thing or anything like that, nor is it a bad idea for his intent to turn the Dominion into a wealth of arts and sciences. The problem is that after everything I've been through after what happened on Char, it's pretty damn obvious that some of these alien artifacts are not just toys to be put in a museum and displayed to the public. Hell, in some cases, you so much as even remove it from where you got it from and it could have disastrous consequences."
"You're saying his interest for archeology could be making things worse?" Hanson asked.
"It's certainly a possibility. The point is, in the greater scope of things, we don't know how things are all going to play out. All I can say for certain is that the alien artifacts exist for a reason. I don't know what exactly that reason is, but I'm pretty sure it's not along the lines to be taken by people who just wanted it on display to show it off to the public. I'm concerned that what Valerian is doing with his frequent adventures in obtaining more and more alien artifacts could eventually backfire on him."
"I'll agree with you there, general. Still, I believe you should contact the prince. I may be a quick learner, but I'm still just one person, and apart from the couple of weeks this Xel'Naga artifact spent aboard the Hyperion and what I'm doing now, I haven't exactly had a chance study it very closely."
"Neither has the Möebius Foundation," Warfield pointed out. "Don't forget, all their research on this thing had been done without actually being in its physical presence. You on the other hand have the advantage of actually seeing it up close."
"Maybe so, but I still can't really determine what this thing is capable of besides absorbing Zerg and Protoss energy. If the Möebius Foundation has anything else, it'd be best to know right away."
Warfield gave the doctor a curt nod, before turning about and heading towards the door. "I'll leave these scientists here to assist you in any way possible, doctor. I'll see if I can raise Valerian on Korhal, and ask him to send us all the data he's got on this artifact. It may not be much, but you're right, every little bit helps. I just hope the way we used it back on Char hadn't screwed things up in the greater picture."
"You really think that could have happened?" Hanson frowned.
"It's possible," the general answered. "Look, just because this artifact kills Zerg doesn't mean that's what it was designed to do. And it's pretty obvious that this thing wasn't meant to be used just as a means to turn Kerrigan human again. I'll be sure to let Valerian know that whatever his Möebius boys know about this thing, even if it's just theories and conjectures, it'd be best to tell us about it."
Bridge, Dominion Command BattleCruiser, High Orbit Over Dead Man's Rock
The door slid open, and Dominion officers saluted as General Ridgeway entered the bridge, having departed the Dominion base at the Toxic Slums on Dead Man's Rock and returning to his command BattleCruiser. One of the officers gestured him to the communicator console.
"I take it it's the emperor?" the general asked. Off the officer's nod, he sighed. "Patch it through."
Mengsk's face came on the screen. "And here I was thinking my Dominion generals are people of courage, Ridgeway. Now your troops are going to accusing you of abandoning them on the battlefield. Not exactly the best way to raise troop morale since now they're going to accuse you of saving yourself without even given your soldiers even the slightest thought."
"Actually, I discussed this with my boys down there. They accepted this as necessary for me to get back up in orbit. They may value their lives, but they also know that when it comes to battlefield losses, the soldiers can be replaced at a faster rate compared to officers. You kill off too many of the officers, their talents are lost, and then the only way to fill the gap is to promote younger people to their rank, which would end up being something they aren't prepared for at all."
"Be that as it may, I for one feel your troops perform much better with your presence at the base," Mengsk folded his arms. "Now then, what's the status of the enemy? Are the base defenses holding up?"
Ridgeway shook his head. "Not when you have Thors pounding at them, emperor. The bunkers and auto-turrets there stood little chance against their 250mm cannons, most were reduced to rubble in less than 30 minutes during the artillery barrage."
"And the air situation?"
"The BattleCruisers we've got are keeping the Raiders' BattleCruisers busy, but unfortunately it's also preventing us from using them to engage the smaller fighter crafts fighting for control over the sky. The mercenaries have the old Confederate Avengers and Kel-Morian Hellhounds, which can easily be shot down by our Wraiths and Vikings, but the Raiders have modern equipment just like us, and this is exactly the reason why we haven't been able to knock them down as quickly as we hoped for. The casualties in the air for the mercs are still appalling, that's quite obvious. But so far, it just hasn't been heavy enough to get them to break off the attack."
He shook his head and continued, "The problem however is that when you combine all the mercenary organizations on Dead Man's Rock, their air power is actually a lot more than what we had anticipated. This wouldn't have been a problem if they had no Raiders assistance, but that's not the case here. By the time I left the base to return to orbit, the mercenaries were slowly starting to gain control of the skies."
"What about on the ground? Your Thors should have been able to pound all the mercenaries to dust."
"Not in the face of all the Banshee attacks," Ridgeway said, frustrated. "The Thors don't have very strong anti-air defenses, they need Vikings and Wraiths to help them out in that manner, but they're all being used to deal with all the mercenary craft in the air."
Mengsk gritted his teeth in anger. "And how far have the bastards penetrated into the base?"
"They've already broken through the outer defense perimeter," the general reported. "By the time I left, the middle defense line was starting to crack as well. Because we never anticipated that the mercenaries would have the Raiders' support, the defense plan for the base focused only on the outer and middle lines. Very little effort was made to strengthen the inner defense belt, which means that unless the Raiders and mercenaries are bled to death in assaulting the middle defense line, the inner defenses would be quickly overrun. If that should happen, they would have a relatively clear path to the toxic waste disposal facility where the warheads are being kept."
"Do you believe that's what they're doing?"
The general nodded. "The mercenaries have been on Dead Man's Rock much longer than us, sir. So it's pretty obvious that they would know that the waste facility is the best place to hide the nukes until they're ready for deployment."
"I'll accept that, but what about your troops on the ground? Aren't they doing anything to hold off the advance? After all, even if the mercenaries are foolish enough just bury the facility, the Raider would be smart enough to know that we can just dig the nukes back out. Therefore, they'd have to send ground troops to try and retrieve them."
"The Grizzlies are doing their job in their bombing runs, but they're not exactly effective against the Thors. The mercenaries have access to Goliath walkers too, sir. Combined with those of the Raiders, they're making the job very difficult to inflict the necessary casualties. The Raiders brought with them plenty of Medivac Dropships, and their rapid deployment on the battlefield is the reason why the Grizzlies are not producing the results I'm hoping for."
Mengsk did not look pleased. "What about the Spider Mines that your Vultures had laid on the defensive lines? You said it yourself that the Raiders and the mercenaries are hammering at the middle one, aren't those producing the adequate results?"
"Only in a few of the sectors," Ridgeway said in frustration. "For the others, well let's just say someone down there is ruining the entire defense plan."
"What are you talking about?"
"With the exception of the Thor walkers, the Spider Mines are very effective against just about any other ground target. The problem however is they've all been programmed to detonate once they have impacted with their target, whether it'd be marines, Marauders, Reapers, Firebats, Goliaths, Siege Tanks, Vultures, or anything else they come across. The key to their success depends upon making impact with their intended target. Until that actually happens, they're little more than paperweights."
Ridgeway then pressed a button on the console, as the battle on Dead Man's Rock continued to unfold. "Kerrigan is using her psionic abilities as some sort of barrier. I don't quite understand how the hell she's doing this, but apparently the barrier is so strong that it's preventing the Spider Mines from passing through it. Because of that, they aren't able to impact their targets, and therefore aren't detonating. Exposed out in the open, the revealed Spider Mines are easy prey for small arms fire."
The emperor looked angry. "And you're not capitalizing on this? While she's using her energy doing that she would be vulnerable to attack! I gave you an order to have her killed! Did you completely forget about that?"
"Of course not, but apparently despite everything she's done as the Queen of Blades, the Raiders and mercenaries fighting on the ground seem to trust her. She may be more vulnerable as you said, but there's also a reason why there's so many Raider and mercenary foot soldiers accompanying her. She's using her psionic abilities to protect them, so they're protecting her from my troops."
Mengsk shook his head in disgust. "I don't see how you can possibly say she is difficult to kill, Ridgeway. In case you forgot, she's human again. Whatever powers the Zerg gave her during the infestation process, they've all been taken from her. The alien artifact that was used on Char had permanently severed her connection and control to the whole swarm. She has no Zerg army behind her back anymore. With the exception of maybe James Raynor, everyone else wants her head on a platter for all the people she's murdered and all the suffering she's caused."
"I don't exactly care as to why the Raiders and mercenaries are willing to trust and fight alongside her," the general countered. "That point's irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what I see in front of me, and that's that they seem to be willing to trust her to fight against us. That's going to make her extremely dangerous, regardless of what's happened to her."
"Are you even listening?" Mengsk scoffed. "She's not the Queen of Blades anymore. She's as vulnerable as any other human being on the battlefield now. She's not going to be able to take hundreds of artillery shells fired from Siege Tanks and still keep fighting, not anymore. If one of them hits her, she'll die instantly."
"All right, assuming that's true, the fact remains that she was the Confederacy's fiercest ghost operative. Now, given the way she's been fighting down there, I'd say it's pretty obvious she hasn't exactly lost her touch from those days. You know as well as I do how deadly ghosts can be. It's exactly the reason why the Dominion ghosts are sent to do the most difficult Dominion missions because the alternative would the lives of way too many Dominion marines. This makes them extremely dangerous while fighting on the frontlines, regardless of who their opponent is."
"So what are you doing about the situation?"
"Right now I've given orders to my boys and kill as many of the Raiders and mercenaries flanking her. If we can eliminate enough of them, Kerrigan will be more vulnerable to attack, and hopefully by then we'll still have enough firepower left to finish her off."
Mengsk rubbed his chin for a moment. "Move some of your troops into the toxic waste facility, general. That's where you can trap Kerrigan."
"How so?" Ridgeway asked.
"As far as the Raiders and mercenaries are concerned, they only know the nukes are being hidden in that facility. They don't know the exact location in there," the emperor explained. "That means the mercenaries know they can't just kick the door down and go in guns blazing because a stray shot may end up setting the nukes off. Ghost operatives are trained to paint targets for nuclear strikes, and they're also trained to recover nuclear weapons to prevent them from falling into enemy hands and using it against the Dominion later on. Kerrigan would have to enter the facility alone to ensure that no one does anything stupid like setting off a nuclear bomb. Given the dilapidated state the waste facility is in, it'll be the perfect place to box her in and kill her."
Ridgeway gave a nod of acknowledgement. "I will pull troops to the facility immediately, emperor."
"Don't fail me, general," Mengsk warned. "Kerrigan has been a thorn in my side for too long. She should have been disposed of back on Char, but Raynor ruined my plans. Luckily for us, she decided to show herself on Dead Man's Rock, and we now get another crack at this. I suggest you make sure that this one doesn't slip through our hands. If it does, well who knows when we'll get another opportunity."
Kerrigan's Hive Cluster, Char
Ulrezaj looked on at the sights of the new Zerg creatures before him. The Dark Archon was somewhat split on the feelings he was having in the aftermath of the results of the newly forged warped Khaydarin Crystals. On one hand, the results had yielded what he had expected in enhancing the Zerg swarm. However on the other hand, when it came to actually creating entirely different Zerg strains, the results had not proven to be as successful as he had hoped for.
In terms of the enhancing the individual Zerg creatures from their original strains, the warped Khaydarin Crystals had proved to be a remarkable success. Many of the Zerglings had been greatly enhanced, and their genetic strands were now identical to those of the Devouring Ones, a special genetic breed of Zerglings that had proven itself time and time again to be much more effective compared to its original counterpart. The same was true of the Hydralisks, many of them now matched the genetic strands of Hunter Killers, with increased size and thicker carapaces, which made them extremely deadly on the battlefield.
With regards to genetically enhancing the Ultralisks to Torrasques, it proved to be more difficult. Compared to the genetic codes of the Roach, Hydralisk and Zergling, the Ultralisk's genetic code was significantly harder to replicate. While still used in mass numbers by the Zerg swarm, the Ultralisks were less abundant compared to the smaller, faster, and more agile Zerg breeds. Although the warped Khaydarin Crystals had proven themselves successful in breeding a few Torrasque-type Ultralisks, the Dark Archon felt that the current specialized breeds for the Ultralisk in the form of the massive Brutalisk and Omegalisk, as well as the more agile form of the smaller Pygalisk would be adequately suited to the upcoming battles ahead and continued efforts to successfully breed the Torrasque form of the Ultralisk was not necessary.
Instead, Ulrezaj had focused his energies on one of the major weaknesses the Ultralisk displayed in the form of its lack of agility or maneuverability on the battlefield. The massive beast was known to trample over allied Zerg creatures in order to reach its destination more rapidly, but the Dark Archon knew from his experience in dealing with the Zerg, the vile creatures were far from mere cannon fodder to be expended for the greater good, and for that reason it was better to find a way to preserve the lives of some of the Zerg creatures in order to ensure that they would be even more formidable on the battlefield.
In the case with the Ultralisk, the warped Khaydarin Crystals had greatly improved upon this, and Ulrezaj was able to incorporate such features directly into the Zerg larvae so that future Ultralisk breeds would be able to share the same enhancements that the warped Khaydarin Crystals had brought upon.
By exposing the Ultralisks to the combination of Zerg and Tal'darim energy, it had now been successfully given what is considered to be a burrow charging ability. Originally, the Dark Archon had hoped to enhance the Ultralisk to have the burrowing capabilities similar to that of the Roach and being able to move underground while burrowed. This would allow the massive Zerg creatures to pop up from behind enemy positions and easily tear them apart with their Kaiser Blades. Unfortunately, the results had fallen short of expectations, and while the Ultralisks were now finally able to move while burrowed, it was only for a relatively short distance before they were forced to return to the surface.
However, this had been compensated by the sheer ferocity of their unburrowing ability in resurfacing from under the ground. Rather than unburrowing normally as other Zerg creatures would, the Ultralisks would instead charge up out of the ground in a form of an attack. To test out this theory, Ulrezaj had used some of the Tal'darim Colossi walkers to participate in such trials.
The results had proven highly successful. Rather than getting within range of their Kaiser Blades, the Ultralisks now burrowed once they were within striking distance of the massive walkers. By burrowing beneath the ground, they were able to avoid the Colossi thermal lances. In addition, by their charging attacks while popping up from underground, the Ultralisks were able to get within close range of the Colossi and thus gain the advantage due to the latter's ineffectiveness against such close range targets.
A further test had been conducted by using the Protoss Sentries. Since arriving on Char, among the common tactics while dealing with the mass hordes of Zerg was to utilize the Sentry's force field ability, and this had led to entire legions of Zerg being slaughtered on the battlefield. It was a simple matter of using adequate quantities of force fields to box the Zerg attackers within a contained area. Once this had been accomplished, Protoss Colossi, Immortals, Stalkers, Sentries, and Void Rays would unleash their thermal lances, phase disruptors, particle disruptors, disruption beams, and prismatic beams to attack the Zerg creatures from a distance and reduce them to ashes.
However with the burrow charge ability of the Ultralisk, such a tactic was rendered significantly less effective. As proof of this, the trial results had shown that the force fields used to box the massive Zerg creatures in were above ground, which meant that by moving under the earth, the Ultralisks were able to bypass the force fields and pop up from the ground to take the Sentries by surprise, and the smaller Protoss robotic drones stood little chances against the Ultralisks' Kaiser Blades.
Attempts had also been made to incorporate the burrow charging ability into the massive Brutalisk and Omegalisk beasts, but this had proven to be unsuccessful. Both creatures dwarfed the Ultralisk in size, and although there were some improvements to their speed and maneuverability on the battlefield, the burrow charge ability eluded them. Nevertheless, it was not a significant loss. Both creatures were more difficult to breed, so the granting the ability to only the Ultralisk would prove sufficient in the battles ahead.
To improve upon the Zerg Lurker, Ulrezaj had taken characteristics of the massive Brood Lords and using the warped Khaydarin Crystals to combine their DNA with that those of the Lurkers. The resulting creature was a four legged beast known as a Swarm Host. In comparison to the Lurker, the Swarm Host's physical appearances initially would give the impression that its performance would be relatively the same. While able to move at a faster rate than the Lurker, the Swarm Host also possessed a thinner carapace and therefore could be subdued on the battlefield more quickly. In addition, despite combining the DNA of the Brood Lord with that of the Lurker, the Swarm Host still shared the Lurker's weakness in that it had no defensive capabilities whatsoever while it was above ground, and could only attack while burrowed. To compound matters, the Swarm Host could not attack directly on its own, a stark contrast to the Zerg Lurker.
However, this was compensated by the one characteristic that Ulrezaj had improved upon in the form of the attack range. The Brood Lord constantly used its Broodlings to strike at targets on the ground, and they had proven to be devastating to Zealots, Stalkers, Immortals, Sentries, and Colossi. While the Brood Lord itself had a limited attack range, the Broodlings themselves could crawl towards their targets and attack.
The same was true with the Swarm Host. Once burrowed into the ground, the creature possessed the ability to spawn Locusts from the massive sac on its back. As in the case with the Brood Lord, the Swarm Host's sac was capable of continuously breeding the Locusts, and like the Broodlings, they too were capable of crawling rapidly towards their targets.
What made the Locusts more effective, however, was their improved carapace. While the Broodlings were extremely dangerous in swarms, they were little more than a minor annoyance individually, lacking the durability to withstand punishment from the psionic blades of Zealots. The Locusts on the other hand had been subjected to Zerg and Tal'darim energies of the warped Khaydarin Crystals, and this gave them enhanced durability and thus a greater chance to kill their targets before succumbing to enemy fire.
DNA combination had also been done to create a new form of Zerg flyer in the hopes to replace the lumbering Brood Lord. Unfortunately, Ulrezaj's hopes that their DNA could be combined with that of the Mutalisk were dashed due to their incompatibility. Nevertheless, the Dark Archon had found an alternative to all this by combining the DNA of the Brood Lord with that of the Zerg Infestor, as well as one of the more rare Zerg creatures that existed within the Zerg breeds: the Defiler.
It had been clear that the Defiler had been mostly phased out in the Zerg swarm by the Infestor, though the occasional creature still existed, and such was exactly the case when he and his Tal'darim forces had assaulted Kerrigan's hive cluster on Char. The Defiler itself contained the DNA of other Zerg breeds, and uses them to synthesize virus-like biochemicals that were dangerous even to allied Zerg units. On the other hand, the Infestor's fungal growth ability showed no such hazard to its allies, and perhaps it was for this reason that the Queen of Blades had shown greater preference for the Infestor.
Nevertheless, Ulrezaj used the warp Khaydarin Crystals to combine the genetic strands of the Defiler and Infestor together, and then incorporated them into the Brood Lord. The end result was a winged creature known as the Viper, which was significantly faster in flight speed compared to the Brood Lord, though not as fast as the Mutalisk. In addition, unlike the Brood Lord, the Viper had no offensive capabilities of its own, but the combination of Defiler and Infestor DNA had greatly made up for this.
From his own experiences in dealing with the Zerg four years ago, Ulrezaj had known that on the body of the Defiler were countless organisms that feed off one another, yet the creature had the ability to launch them all at its Zerg allies. This would then create a temporary protective cloud of organisms known as the Dark Swarm and shielding any and all Zerg creatures within it from harm. By incorporating Defile DNA into the Viper, it had resulted in a similar ability known as the Blinding Cloud.
Unlike the Defiler's Dark Swarm, the Viper's Blinding Cloud was not to be used on allied Zerg creatures, but rather against the enemy. To conduct test trials, Ulrezaj had experimented this ability on Tal'darim Sentries. The Blinding Cloud also comprised of mass swarms of tiny organisms, and this greatly reduced the effectiveness of the Sentries' disruption beams and limiting their range. The Dark Archon was confident that this would allow Zerglings and Ultralisks, both of which had no ranged attacks, to quickly get within range and tear their enemies apart.
An equally devastating ability was taken by incorporating Infestor DNA into the creature, specifically the neural parasite tentacle attack used by the Infestor. As Ulrezaj had seen upon arriving on Char, the Infestors had continuously used this ability against the Protoss Sentries and Colossi, corrupting their design and turning them against the Tal'darim. By incorporating this feature into the Viper and enhancing it with Zerg and Tal'darim energies from the warped Khaydarin Crystals, it had resulted in an abduction ability for the Viper.
Utilizing a fiendish tentacle that had an even longer range than that of the Infestor, the Viper had the ability to latch the tentacle onto units and pull it towards it. As a testament to its strength, the Dark Archon had experimented this on the massive Protoss Colossi walkers, and the Viper proved suited to snare even these massive machines. Ulrezaj quickly saw the potential in this ability as many of the Tal'darim had testified that when they had fought against James Raynor, many weapons within his arsenal only possessed ranged attacks, and would be ineffective if the Tal'darim warriors had gotten within close range.
Both the Swarm Host and the Viper had already been incorporated into the Zerg genetic codes, allowing the Zerg larvae to mutate into these formidable creatures. The next step was to commence field trials with the warped Khaydarin Crystals on the mass legions of Zerg at Kerrigan's hive cluster and converting their loyalty to Ulrezaj instead.
It would certainly not be an easy task. Despite the successes of creating more powerful Zerg breeds, the amount of Khaydarin Crystal shards that the Tal'darim were able to assemble into full Khaydarin Crystals had proven to be less than expected. Only 3 such crystals were formed, a large primary one and two secondary ones. It was thus unknown how effective they would be at taking control of the vast numbers of Zerg here on Char.
Nevertheless, Ulrezaj refused to give up hope. He knew that his master's plan relied heavily on the control over the Zerg swarm, and as long as Kerrigan remained alive, those plans could remain in jeopardy. It was thus vital to regain control of the Zerg in any way possible, and that was exactly what he intended to do on Char. If the Zerg here could be converted to obey him, the rest of the creatures on this volcanic ash world could also be forced to obey his will, and that of the Fallen One's.
Without another thought the Dark Archon telepathically ordered the Tal'darim to bring the warped Khaydarin Crystals out of the base and into the open ash fields of Char. It was time to gain control of the Zerg once more, and this time, he would not be stopped by anyone.