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Chapter Six: Belly of the Beast
War Room
Imperial Palace, Korhal IV
"I've got several battlecruisers obstructing that thing's jump vector," Admiral Matt Horner groaned in frustration, "But even after taking that much damage, it's still got them all outgunned."
On the holographic display, the red disc that was the Dalek flagship slowly edged upwards out of Korhal's gravitational well and towards escape. The room's occupants watched in helpless silence as the Bucephalus pulled away after barely surviving a broadside from the battle saucer. The White Star was not so fortunate, the battlecruiser's icon and the eight thousand souls it represented simply winking out of existence.
"What about the Hyperion?" General Raynor motioned to the icon representing the ancient Behemoth-class warship.
"Dalek missile barrage broke its back," Matt shook his head sadly, "It won't survive a jump, and it isn't going to reach the Dalek flagship in time without one."
"It does have nuclear capability, though," the Doctor chimed in, "Three Apocalypse-class warheads, if I'm not mistaken."
"I'm not even going to ask how you know about those," Jim buried his face in his hands, "But as we've so clearly seen over the last few hours, nukes won't even dent that thing's armor, assuming we can even hit it at that kind of range."
"You have the Griffin, don't you?" the Time Lord countered.
"The Griffin?" Nova echoed.
"Top-secret project: rapid insertion and transport craft," Valerian explained, uncaring that he was divulging Dominion state secrets, "Stealth capabilities, atmospheric flight, and enough ordnance to support an entire Special Forces division."
"It's also half-finished and untested!" Jim interjected, "It'll be a miracle if that thing doesn't explode the moment it takes off!"
"And currently, it's the only thing you've got that can move a warhead from the Hyperion to the Dalek flagship in time," the Doctor stated simply.
Jim said nothing, instead turning towards his subordinates.
"Nova, Tosh, round up everyone you can and have them meet me in the high-security hangar in ten minutes."
Main Armory, Griffin
Thirty Minutes Later
With well-practiced ease, Jim Raynor climbed into the hastily-scavenged suit of Special Forces CMC armor. If anyone wondered what could possibly destroy his signature skull-visored suit while leaving him relatively unharmed, they kept their thoughts to themselves. As he slid the ballistic alloy shield home with a loud click, Sarah decloaked behind him with a gauss rifle clip in hand. It was a testament to her newfound abilities that she could selectively conceal herself, allowing only Jim to sense her presence.
"Bonded polycarbide spikes," Sarah held out the clip for him to take, "You'll still need to focus fire to get past their shields, but these will cut right through their armor."
"Handy," he offered her a faint smile, "Any to spare for my men?"
The former Queen of Blades wordlessly placed a clawed hand on a nearby ammunition hopper. The depleted uranium spikes stored within glowed for a split second before transfiguring into the dull bronze composite. Her other hand brushed against the store of "Punisher" components, though the shaped explosive charges looked no different once the golden light died down.
"A little something I skimmed off the Doctor's memories," Sarah explained, "I think he calls it Nitro-9. A bit more volatile than a Marauder's normal fare, but just one direct hit will blow a Dalek travel machine to pieces."
"Final headcount is at just over one hundred and fifty," Nova reported as she strode through the blast doors, "Two Spectre teams, a Ghost team, three Marine platoons, a Marauder platoon, and Tosh dug up a Goliath squad from somewhere."
There was a long silence when the Ghost operative looked up from the manifest to find the Queen of Blades standing mere meters away. Sarah seemed surprisingly calm at the sight of a laser sight trained on her forehead.
"It's okay, blondie," Jim unnecessarily stepped in front of his lover, the bulk of his CMC armor hiding her from view, "She's here to help."
"Who's here to help, sir?" Nova asked, brow wrinkled in confusion as she looked down at her drawn rifle.
I took some precautions, Sarah whispered into Jim's mind, Did you know there's a race that you can only remember when you're looking directly at them? Turns out it's not too hard to borrow that little trick.
"It's not important," General Raynor deflected, "Tell the men to dump whatever ammo they bought aboard and take what they need from here."
Jim and a once-again-cloaked Sarah shared a smirk at the Ghost's confused expression.
"R&D's cooked up something for us. Should pack a bit more of a wallop against Daleks."
Ursa Shipyards
Korhal System
While the main Dalek fleet ravaged Korhal, a small squadron had broken away to annihilate the Ursa Shipyards around the planet's moon. The debris field now served as surprisingly-effective cover for a pair of Sovereign-class battlecruisers as they harried the fleeing Dalek flagship. Lengthy bursts of laser fire splashed harmlessly off the saucer's golden hull, and the wreckage of destroyed ships and docking facilities absorbed the retaliatory salvos of missiles and beam weaponry.
Amidst the chaos, the Griffin emerged from tactical jump mere meters away from the Dalek flagship and slipped in through a hole in its armor.
Dalek Flagship
Thirty Minutes Later
"Exterminate! Ex-"
The Dalek's declaration was cut short by Sarah Kerrigan launching herself several meters forward and skewering it with a wingtip. The bony blade effortlessly slipped through the travel machine's shields and punched through the reinforced torso compartment. Jim tried his best to ignore the liquid leaking out as Sarah retracted her wing. A fusillade of gauss spikes perforated the travel machine moments later, hiding the evidence.
"This is Nova," the radio crackled to life, "Bravo Team has reached the drop zone. Looks like our hunch paid off: it's definitely a reactor of some kind."
"Acknowledged. Set the nuke and get out of there."
As it turned out, for an ascendant Xel'naga, reducing an entire Dalek fleet to its constituent elements lay slightly beyond the realm of casual actions. Coupled with the uncontrolled release of energy, Sarah had exhausted most of her available power. Though she still had enough left to rip through an opposition the Daleks threw their way, her relatively-weakened state forced the Dominion to rely on more primitive means to destroy the fleeing battle saucer.
"This is Tosh," another voice entered the channel, "Alpha Team is in position. Warhead armed and ready for detonation."
Jim held a fist up, and the Marines and Marauders accompanying him instantly halted. He extended two fingers, motioning towards either side of the armored door before them. The Marines wordlessly complied, pressing themselves against the wall as the Marauders readied their grenade launchers. One of the Marines dashed forward, attaching several detpacks to the blast door before returning to his spot against the wall. A silent countdown began.
Three.
There was a faint whir as the Marauders' autoloaders spun up.
Two.
The Marines closest to the door gripped their gauss rifles more tightly.
One.
Jim spared a glance to the side to see Sarah's wings rise to an attack position.
Zero.
The explosives detonated, leaving a hole large enough for two CMC-suited Marines to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder. The Marauders sprang into action first, their speed belying their bulk, and pumped dozens of armor-piercing grenades into the opening.
"Maximum extermination!" a deep voice boomed as the Daleks within returned fire, the deadly beams striking three Marauders square in the chest.
"Go! Go! Go!" Jim roared as he bound over the corpses and rushed into the breach.
Between the smoke and the cacophony of the frantic firefight, the Terran soldiers were forced to rely on naked eye and motion sensors to find their targets. The new ammunition proved quite effective against Dalek travel machines, a devastating surprise that won the boarders several early engagements, but even the improved CMC suits used by Dominion Special Forces provided only minimal defense against gunstick fire. The former rebel leader flinched as the Marine next to him caught two beams to the chest and dropped dead without so much as a yelp.
"Carriers are down! Carriers are do-" the high-pitched buzz of Dalek gunsticks cut off the Marine's panicked announcement.
A pair of Marines lagged behind the rest, forgoing their gauss rifles to push a trolley bearing an Apocalypse-class warhead. Both Marines now sported smoking holes in their chests.
"Somebody get the detonator! We lose that and this will all be for nothing!"
"An atomic warhead?" the Supreme Dalek condescendingly boomed, "Your plan is futile! We shall return to Skaro, and the full fury of the Dalek Empire will descend upon your pathetic Dominion!"
"Focus fire! Aim for the eyestalk!"
The remnants of Jim's team crouched behind what little cover they could find, mostly destroyed travel machines and the corpses of their less-fortunate comrades, and poured bonded polycarbide spikes and Nitro-9-infused grenades into the Supreme Dalek. To their horror, the surviving Terran soldiers realized the crimson Dalek's travel machine boasted much higher specifications than its subordinates'. Its shields effortlessly absorbed the incoming barrage while its gunstick scythed down the Marines and Marauders.
"Xel'naga essence detected!" the Supreme Dalek announced as Sarah leapt above the Terran soldiers, her wings and claws poised to attack, "Maximum extermination!"
The surviving Dominion Special Forces soldiers had no time to react as the Supreme Dalek overcharged its already-horrifically-powerful weapon. Sarah had only started her descent when the last soldier fell, a massive chunk of their torso outright vaporized. Her head snapped back as the Supreme Dalek struck her with its plunger arm. Sarah's blade wings swung forward, and her eyes widened in surprise as they disintegrated against the Dalek's shields.
"Your essence is Xel'naga, but your body is still Zerg!" the crimson Dalek boasted as it bought its gunstick to bear.
Jim regained consciousness to the sight of Sarah screaming in agony as Dalek beam weaponry punched through her psionic defenses and pierced her torso. Golden light filled the wounds, and her flesh flowed back together within moments. She gave the Supreme Dalek no chance to retaliate, aiming her attack straight at the travel machine's torso. Sarah's face twisted up in pain as her clawed hand met the Supreme's shields, her carapace disintegrating and regenerating thousands of times a second. Gritting her teeth, she pushed through the shield and gouged through the armor. Her fingers wrapped around something fleshy, and she squeezed.
Sarah's eyes flashed gold, and for one brief second before its mind was ripped apart, the Supreme Dalek understood why the Koprulu Sector had feared the Queen of Blades.
"Yep, still hurts," Jim groaned as he glanced down at the hole in his armor.
Sarah turned to face him, a questioning eyebrow raised.
"The Doctor says you brought me back a little too well," the man chuckled as he leaned down to retrieve the detonator, "I won't age, and I'll just piece myself together again if I'm killed. Looks like you're stuck with me, darlin'."
The moment was ruined by the entire ship rocking and Nova's voice.
"Sir, the Daleks are spinning up their drives!" the Ghost reported in a panicked tone.
"Tosh, Nova, gather your men and get back to the Griffin!" Jim ordered without hesitation, "My squad's down, but I've still got the nuke! If we detonate just as this ship jumps, the stress should tear it apart."
"Yes, sir," the two psionic operatives reluctantly obeyed.
"Griffin is clear! I repeat, Griffin is clear!"
Jim said nothing as he closed the warhead's control panel. Sarah wrapped her slim arms around him as he thumbed the detonator switch. A steady beep echoed as the countdown began.
"Jim," Sarah bit her lower lip nervously, "Do you believe in me?"
"Always," he answered without hesitation.
"Good," she touched her forehead against his, "Because, right now, I don't."
Jim scarcely had time to wrap his arms around Sarah before a bright flash enveloped them.
