Author's Note: Hello again everybody, finally back with the next chapter. So, things are back to normal now, unless someone starts to annoy me again with the comments I've addressed earlier. Tell me what you think, and if you have any ideas or suggestions for how I write and/or for the story, please feel free to message me or leave a review.
Chapter 10: Zero Hour Day 1
"The Zerg are being rather quiet today," Xelios looked out from the walls of Konoha, "That's never a good thing."
"Why not? If they're quiet shouldn't that mean they're hesitant to attack again?" Kakashi asked.
"The Zerg don't operate like that. Their ability to hatch entire swarms in a few days means they should be attacking constantly. The only reason they wouldn't be that I can think of is they're planning something new. My guess: the Zerg are pouring their resources into new mutations to make themselves more efficient, and probably new strains to bring to the field in their next assault."
"So we need to prepare for something new huh?"
"Yes, and thanks to the spore crawlers all around their hive cluster, my observers can't get in close enough to see what that new strain is. We'll simply have to react as quickly as we can to whatever it is that they send at us."
Kakashi looked over at the state of the village; several buildings had been damaged, and the area around the gate still needed to be cleared. Naruto had gotten Captain Yamato out of retirement, thank goodness. The captain had been quite helpful in the rebuilding of the gates, and the strengthening of the walls. Yamato had put on a layer of wood 2 feet thick to help prevent new banelings and other Zerg from breaking through it easily. At least they would be ready for whatever the Zerg threw at them next.
Naruto walked past the rows of injured shinobi; so many had been injured or killed in the last fight. Tsunade and Sakura had been working frantically all day long trying to heal all the wounded. Naruto looked down; Sai was on a field cot two rows over. He was covered in bandages; a medical ninja was tending to him.
"What happened to him?" Naruto inquired.
"He landed pretty hard when he was shot down, and he took a particle disruptor shot in the shoulder soon afterwards. Also, during the retreat, a hydralisk managed to hit him in the back, and two of his ANBU were only barely able to drag him out of there."
"Will he make it?"
"Yes, but he'll be out for a while. I doubt he'll be battle ready for quite some time."
Naruto nodded. A sigh escaped him; they had gone from one fight to another, and still more people were dying or being hurt for it. Hinata came to his side, and took his hand comfortingly; their reunion had been very emotional. Naruto gave her a small smile in gratitude.
"Don't lose hope," his fiancée told him, "We haven't lost yet. We're still alive, and the village still stands. If we're inventive, and courageous enough, we can beat even the strongest foes. We beat Obito and the Ten-Tails; we can beat the Zerg too."
"We'll need some sort of edge to win. Sheer numbers is their game; we'll be slaughtered if we try to play by their rules," Shikamaru walked over, "Plans and strategies are good and all, but we need tools and people to use them to make a plan work. We've got the people, so now we need weapons that can help us even the odds."
"I think I might be able to help with that," a voice said behind them.
Naruto and Hinata turned to see Tenten walking towards them; Kakashi and Praetor Xelios were right behind her.
"I'm not going to be getting into any battles for a while," she continued, "I'm still recovering, but I can still be of use. Weapons are my forte; give me a few days, and I can come up with weapons that will be more effective than you could possibly hope for."
"You humans have proven to be very resourceful in the past; your innovative skills would be most welcome," Xelios nodded at her, "I'll introduce you to the engineers; maybe the lot of you can come up with something clever."
Xelios motioned for her to follow him, and the two of them left the hospital. As they did, Thanatos and two of his zealots came up.
"I hope they can invent something useful. I've heard stories of how inventive you humans can be from my master during training. He was often pushing me to be as resourceful as his mentor, Tassadar, and his human friend James Raynor," Thanatos said.
"The Praetor has fought alongside humans before?" Naruto asked.
"And against them. He's told me many stories of his battles from the human capital world of Tarsonis, to the Zerg homeworld of Char, to our homeworld of Aiur, and even the human's new capital world of Korhal."
"Huh, wow," Naruto said, nodding as he and Hinata moved on to visit the other wounded.
Onboard the Gantrithor…
Kakashi stood at the window of the ship's top observation deck, looking out over the open terrain. He sat down, in the window's ledge, reading a book; the view from up here whenever he looked up was quite beautiful.
"So, I see you've taken a liking to the observation deck," Praetor Xelios walked over, "Tell me, why are you reading here on the ship instead of in your village?"
Kakashi closed the book.
"Well, I enjoy exploring the ship for one, and for two, my favorite reading spot has a lot of traffic underneath it currently, so I needed to find a new reading spot for now."
"I see. There is something that has me confused; why is it that most of you have normal eyes, but Hinata has pure white eyes, and the boy Sasuke has red and black eyes? Where we are from, humans have different colored eyes, but not to that degree."
"Oh, you're talking about the Byakugan, and the Sharingan. You see, some shinobi families are born with certain optical powers, which physically manifest themselves as the different types of eyes."
"I am curious, what are these powers?"
"Well, the Sharingan allows the user to copy any jutsu an opponent uses, so the wielder of the Sharingan usually has multiple techniques copied from many opponents. The Byakugan has a set of multiple abilities; they allow far-sight, seeing great distances without effort, as well as almost 360 degree vision. They can also use x-ray vision, allowing them to see their opponent's chakra points, which was a great advantage when we fought each other."
"Excellent, those abilities will prove most useful against the Zerg. The Zerg are constantly evolving and changing, so any type of advantage we can get needs to be utilized to its fullest."
Kakashi looked over at the scarred Praetor; the way he spoke just screamed experienced.
"Tell me Xelios, how many times have you fought against the Zerg before?" Kakashi asked him.
Xelios looked at Kakashi, slightly surprised; it had been a while since there was anyone who didn't know enough to be able to ask such a question and not appear unintelligent.
"I have fought against the Zerg in almost all major battles since the beginning of the Great War, and all the way to the end of the Brood War 4 years ago," he replied.
"The Great War and the Brood War? What happened during those wars?"
"We lost," the Praetor said simply, "Despite our best efforts, and for all our advanced technology, the Zerg proved to be more than a match for us. Their unlimited numbers and their unceasing ruthlessness crushed all opposition, and my race barely survived."
"How could your people have lost so badly that you barely survived?"
"During the Great War, our homeworld of Aiur was lost to the Swarm. The Zerg devastated the planet's surface, destroying our temples and cities, and slaughtering all in their path. Out of all those that lived on the planet, only 30% survived and managed to get off world."
"I'm sorry. I wish there was some way we could help," Kakashi said.
He felt slightly awkward at this; what were you supposed to say when someone tells you a vicious alien race came and slaughtered everyone they encountered on their homeworld and forced them to flee? Any response seemed hollow and inadequate.
"I know the pain of losing one's home," Xelios told him, "The hopelessness and despair of knowing you can never return to the place you lived your life …. it is something no one should have to suffer. I will not allow your people to feel this pain, even if it means the death of me."
"Considering we're not even part of your race, it's surprising that you would be willing to put the lives of your warriors on the line for us, even with that reason."
"The Executor I served under during the Great War, Executor Tassadar, once told me that all lives are worth saving. Whether those lives be Terran or Protoss should not, and does not matter. He died defending these ideals, and I will follow his example."
"I can see why they made you Praetor," Kakashi down at the Protoss base far below.
On the ground a line of bulky, golden machines were walking out of the camp and towards Konoha. They had 4 legs, what looked like pretty heavy armor, a top section that could easily fit a human inside, and two large arms. They all looked like big walking juggernauts.
"What are those things walking down there?" Kakashi asked Xelios.
Xelios walked over to the window to see what he was pointing at.
"Those are our Immortals; Protoss warriors that have fallen in battle have the option to have their remains placed into the robotic shells so they may continue to serve our people. Those that did were considered heroes; valiant warriors who dedicated everything they had and were to safeguard our race. They used to be called dragoons, but after the loss of the shrine that made them during the Brood War, we could no longer make them. The remaining dragoons were refitted to better serve our needs, and became the immortals," he explained.
"But you can't make more of them?"
"Until recently, the immortals were a dying breed of warrior; their numbers dwindled without any means of creating more. As they fell in battle one by one, we feared the noble warriors who had chosen to become immortals would become extinct. In a gamble to recover the technology, to ensure these mighty warriors did not go extinct and be lost to us forever, I led an expedition back to our shattered homeworld. We lost many brave warriors cleansing and defending the shrine, but we recovered the knowledge we needed, and Protoss on the Dark Templar homeworld of Shakuras built a new shrine in the capital. This ship now has such a shrine built into her, and it is fortunate that there is, because your shinobi have forced us to make dozens of new immortals. By the end of this conflict, it is likely the fallen here will become the next generation of dedicated heroes."
"So, what is their function exactly?"
"They provide heavy-fire support; their shields are specifically engineered to withstand powerful blows, and have heavy fire-power themselves. Their twin phase disruptors are extremely effective, as they will prove against the Swarm."
"You Protoss have a lot of tricks up your sleeves don't you."
"Oh don't worry; now that our robotics bay is back online, we'll have even more surprises on the way. We'll show the Zerg we're not easy prey soon enough."
The two of them stared out the window; the sun was just beginning to go down over the horizon. As the sun set, a patrol of phoenixes flew overhead. Back in Konoha, Naruto was relieved that the day had been less than eventful. The sun slipped behind the trees and was lost from view; the first day was over.
….
Miles away in the Zerg hive, a broodmother watched as her lieutenants performed their experiments. The Queen of Blades had created her for one sole purpose; to destroy the Protoss. Her brood would be prepared; they would serve again, and fulfill the wishes of their Queen. Her minions will slaughter every single Protoss on the planet, destroy their ships, and when they are done with that, this world will become part of the Swarm, just like all the others before it! Nothing will stand in their way; all will be assimilated into the Swarm, or they will die.