Hyperion
Low orbit above Monlyth

The next stop for Raynor's Raiders was a Protoss shrine-world called Monlyth. It was actually a moon, but it held significant value to the now-defunct Protoss Empire due to the natural satellite's first living visitors. The Xel'naga's presence on Monlyth was brief, but they left evidence of it in the form of a unique artifact which the Protoss guarded before abandoning Monlyth centuries ago. Protoss still resided on Monlyth and the temple which housed this artifact, but...

"...now, don't get all sentimental thinking these Tal'darim are your old Protoss buddies, 'cause they ain't." Over at the bridge of the Hyperion, Jim Raynor was in the middle of a job discussion with his second-in-command Matt Horner, and his old friend and ex-convict Tychus Findlay. Findlay reappeared in Raynor's life after the successful liberation of Backwater Station, where the latter was surprised at how the former somehow managed to escape his supposed life sentence in cryogenic stasis. After filling him in on his tall tales of his daring escape, Findlay tipped Raynor off on the alien artifact being excavated on White Rock, as well as the job to snatch it. After holding out against the Zerg (which seemed to be after the artifact, though Findlay swore he didn't know and was just being the middleman for the job) and escaping from Mar Sara, Findlay had become as much a usual sight in the Hyperion as the jukebox at the cantina (if not as welcomed – Horner in particular frequently shows visible disapproval and distrust with Findlay, even with Raynor's assurances).

Of course, another reason why Tychus stayed aboard was that he was also currently their sole connection to his mysterious contact who gave (and paid for) the first artifact job: the Moebius Foundation. It was a surprise that a legitimate research group would even associate with an individual with Findlay's record, but the Dominion's ban on the alien goods trade made quite a few people desperate.

So much so that they were even prepared draw the ire of a much more technologically-advanced race such as the Protoss. There would be no diplomacy or bargaining here on Raynor's part: the Tal'darim are not the Protoss which Raynor fought alongside in the past, but were self-exiled fanatics. It was going to be another smash and grab.

This time, however, it would be with an added complication in the form of the Zerg Swarm. Led personally by the Queen of Blades herself, the Swarm was already setting up a foothold on the moon and pushing towards the shrine when the Hyperion stabilized in orbit. There was little time to act, but the Raiders had a special card up their sleeve if they need it.

Hyperion Launch Bay

The aforementioned cards didn't need to move out yet, though, so they simply waited at the Hyperion's massive launching bay and passed the time chatting and watching the Raiders' strike force prepare to deploy from orbit.

"So have you ever been on big operations like these before?" Kotori asked the two Shadowguards. Even though she and Honoka have been a part of the Raiders for a while now, the operations they've been involved in have mostly been confined to their home planet of Mar Sara, and mostly behind the lines in medical bays.

In contrast, Eli and Umi are seasoned covert operatives. "Not directly, no," Eli responded. "We have worked behind the scenes on some big revolts, though."

"But nothing special," Umi was quick to add.

Eli rolled her eyes and smirked in response. 'Just the usual sabotage, espionage, and assassination contract. Maybe the odd prison break here and there. Nothing special, right?' Umi blushed and lowered her head, and Eli giggled. The two medics' heads tilted sideways at what was going on. Eli noticed this and simply shook her head and smiled, at her partner's expense.

"Come on, we know you have some amazing stories!" Honoka said, leaning closer towards Umi. "It's alright to share them, right?"

"Umi-chan, please?" Kotori pleaded, doing the same and staring right at Umi with a pair of puppy eyes.

With how close the two girls were to her face, Umi immediately leaned back and turned her head as even more blood rushed towards her cheeks. "I-I told you, they're nothing special-!" She suddenly yelped and jumped forward as Eli discreetly poked her waist, and landed right into the arms of the two medics.

"Umi-chan~? Are you hiding another medical condition from us?" Honoka inquired with a rather playful tone in her voice.

"Do you need another checkup? We might need to move out soon, you know?" Kotori followed, her voice also sounding impish. The two giggled afterwards, and Umi put both of her hands on her face.

"Eliiiiiii...!" Umi whined, and the two patted her head afterwards. Both Eli and Umi could clearly hear what the two were thinking (and it caused the latter's face to heat up even more): 'Umi-chan's so cute!'

The Special Operations Dropship came back to the launch bay just then; however, they weren't here to pick up the four girls. Instead, a unit of soldiers wearing heavy-duty 5-4 Armored Infantry Suits - the heavily-modified variant of the CMC-660 configured to launch armor-piercing grenades - entered, and the dropship was off again in less than 5 minutes.

"It seems like we wouldn't be needed down there any time soon, huh?" Eli observed.

"The boys are gonna need the combat experience, after all," Jim Raynor said, approaching them. Right afterwards, the four stood up and saluted him. "Got an encrypted transmission for you two, from your boss. Head on over to the bridge."

The two operatives looked at each other. "Well, this is it," Umi said. Honoka and Kotori's eyes were downcast at the news. "We're not yet sure if we're going to be reassigned or simply asked for a status update, so don't feel down just yet."

Monlyth

Meanwhile, down on the ground, it was a bloody battlefield. When the Protoss Empire abandoned the moon, centuries before the current time, the Tal'darim chose to remain and tended to the shrines to the Xel'naga, including the one which housed the sacred artifact. The Tal'darim were no strangers to war, and were prepared to lay down all their lives in the defense on the artifact.

On the other hand, the Zerg Swarm numbered in the billions. A war of attrition against the Zerg was futile, as the Swarm would eventually overwhelm the moon through sheer numbers. Even as the Swarm was amassing just outside the shrine's grounds, the attacks were already relentless.

Of course, for Raynor's Raiders, the Zerg Swarm was seen as good news - as long as they outpaced them. The Zerg were naturally seen as the greater threat, so the Tal'darim focused the bulk of their defenses against them. This meant that it would take some time for the Zerg to actually reach the artifact first, and that the Tal'darim force facing the Raiders would be relatively small. This proved to be true upon execution - the new addition to the Raiders' arsenal, the Marauders, were highly effective against the bulk of the defending army because of their powerful armor-piercing grenades, even against the stone Zealot guardians which became animated as the Raiders closed in on the artifact - and the Raiders were able to reach and make off with the artifact, much to both the Tal'darim's and the Queen of Blades' dismay. The Raiders quickly retreated to orbit as soon as the job was done, leaving the Tal'darim defenders trapped in an ultimately futile stand-off against the unrelenting Zerg Swarm.

Kerrigan had hoped to grab this artifact, but, once again, Raynor's resourcefulness proved to be a particularly annoying thorn in the Queen of Blade's side as her Swarm overran the temple to find the objective within already gone. With this latest setback in mind, Kerrigan and her leviathan quickly took off to look for the location of the next Xel'naga artifact.

However, that did not mean that all the Zerg would withdraw from Monlyth. In her place, Kerrigan left a broodmother and her brood, and a mature chrysalis. The brood's purpose was simple: guard the chrysalis until it hatches, and then overrun the entirety of Monlyth.

Hyperion Bridge

It didn't take too long. Even as both the Terrans and Zerg entered warp space to go to their separate next destinations, the violent outburst of psionic energy when the chrysalis split open was felt very clearly when they re-entered realspace.

For most of those on the Hyperion, it was a dark and foreboding sensation. The Hyperion's sensors immediately picked up the emerging psionic signature on Monlyth, which nearly compared to Kerrigan's. For the psionics on-board, though, it was a much more tangible feeling as the wave of psionic energy hit them and brought them to their knees.

"This...power..." Eli said, as she struggled to get up. She and Umi had just been in touch with Umoja only moments earlier, before the psionic wave passed through their minds and temporarily incapacitated them.

"Are you girls alright?" Raynor asked, as he knew full well what the cause was.

"The spike in power was so sudden..." Umi said. Her vision was greatly blurred for a few moments, so shook her head before getting back up on her feet, then helped Eli get up. "Was that what I think it was...?"

"Afraid so. It's good that we managed to get away before that happened."

The two agents nodded. Umi suddenly had a realization. "Excuse us for a moment, sir," she said with increasing worry in her voice. Eli had the same thought, and the two quickly exited the bridge and headed for the sick bay.

The situation was as bad as they thought when they arrived. Honoka and Kotori were busy tending to the (thankfully minor) scrapes in the recent operation when the psionic outburst hit. The two suffered from searing headaches as their minds were overloaded, before going unconscious. The other medics on duty put them on their own beds and had just hooked them up to life support when Eli and Umi arrived.

"Will they be alright?" Umi asked.

"They should be," one of the medics on-duty replied. "Their vital signs are alright, though their breathing is weaker, and their brain activity dropped like a stone when they blacked out. They should reawaken soon."

"Thank goodness." Umi let out a long sigh of relief. "If it's fine...can we have a moment with them?"

Fortunately for them, the last combat casualty was quickly treated, so the other medics allowed the four some privacy. Umi stood vigil over the two while Eli kept an eye on their vital signs, which were still thankfully regular.

Some time later, they started to come to. "Nnhh..." Kotori groaned as the aftershocks of the splitting headache that attacked her earlier started. Her eyes were still getting used to the bright light hanging right above her, and they took their time adjusting. Honoka followed shortly after, but she announced her return to consciousness much more loudly, bolting upright from the bed with a loud shriek of pain as she felt her own headache return, with her body soaked in cold sweat.

"Honoka-chan...?" Kotori, feeling more concerned for Honoka, asked weakly, and she struggled to get up from the bed, when a pair of hands firmly grasped her shoulders and gently pushed her back down.

"Don't," a familiar voice spoke softly. "She's alright. You're alright. But you two need to rest."

Something blocked out the light above, allowing Kotori's eyes to see more clearly, and there was Umi's face hovering above hers. There were tears in the ocean-haired girl's eyes, but also a small, relieved smile on her face. Umi then turned her attention to the bed behind her, and Kotori's eyes followed.

"U-U-Umi-chan..." Honoka rasped shakily, while Umi held her tightly and rubbed her back.

"It's alright, Honoka. You and Kotori are safe." Honoka suddenly couldn't help herself, and she threw her arms around Umi and burned her face into her chest. Umi flinched slightly, but her hand quickly moved to Honoka's head to caress it gently.

"Umi-chan...?" Umi heard from behind her.

"Yes, Kotori-" before she complete her inquiry, Kotori's arms were already around her waist, and Umi felt her tear-stained face on her back. Umi was taken aback at first, but then turned slightly to wrap her other arm around Kotori. The three quietly stayed that way for a while, with the only sound being the muffled sniffles of the two girls beside Umi.

Eli, on the other hand, was leaning on the wall in front of them and watching them with a small smile. At the back of her mind, though, she was also worried. The wave of psionic energy was very powerful, and its source was known to the four of them in this room. Quite possibly one of the most powerful psionic signatures to be recorded, and its origin was Terran.

Was.

The Queen of Blades alone is a force to be feared, and not just because of her total command over the Zerg Swarm. With a second-in-command with comparable capabilities, however, the situation has just become much more dire.

Monlyth

When the Chrysalis hatched, the broodmother in-charge of the fragment of the Swarm on Monlyth was clearing out the rest of the Tal'darim on the temple grounds. She and the rest of her brood, through her, clearly felt the surge of power from it, and the attacking Zerg were sent into a ravenous frenzy that amplified the destruction they wrought on the surviving Tal'darim. Those that were around the chrysalis instinctively backed away as if being pushed by a physical force, and when the wave passed, all seemed to bow towards it.

"Welcome, Princess of Blades," the broodmother spoke with reverence as the creature within stepped out of her brief abode. In many ways, the Princess of Blades bore a striking resemblance to the Queen, which mostly her human physique but with several heavy modifications: her body was adorned with a tough carapace which resembled a skin-tight suit, her hands resembled particularly sharp claws, she bore claw-like "wings", and her hair became a bundle of dreadlock-like antennae. Compared to Kerrigan, though, the Princess had a noticeably smaller figure, and her "hair" seemed to be arranged in what looked like a pair of pigtails which closely matched her old hairstyle. Most notably, however, was the color of her eyes, which burned a very intense pink.

Nico Yazawa looked at her "reborn" self. She remembers very little of her life as a Terran, but she remembered enough to be able to make the comparison between her human and infested forms. She let out a disappointed scowl when she saw that her chest hasn't changed at all, and right after, she heard laughter from within her.

'Ah, you're finally awake,' Kerrigan, systems away, observed. 'Well, I believe you already know your purpose here.'

'Yeah,' Nico replied, 'rather casually,' Kerrigan thought. It was a strangely refreshing change of pace, however, so she didn't interrupt. 'Lead this brood and clear out the rest of the moon, and then the rest of the system.'

'Good.'

Nico stretched her arms, and her wings opened as well. She then looked at the broodmother. 'Well, you know what the Queen ordered. Let's burn the rest of this system for the Swarm.'

'As you command, Princess.' Almost immediately after that statement, the entire brood mobilized once more, and Nico herself led the attacks on the remaining Tal'darim strongpoints on Monlyth. Soon after, hive clusters were established, and preparations were made to take over the planet Monlyth orbited, as well as its seven other moons.

Nico's orders were simple: she will form and command her own Swarm from here, and she will conquer this system world by world. After that, she was free to choose her next path, but she had an ultimate goal, set by Kerrigan as her primary directive to all of the Zerg Swarm: the entirety of the Kropulu Sector shall be infested, down to the last moon.

It was the start of a new dark chapter in the sector's history.

A/N: Okay, so this took way too long. I'd been in a very severe writing slump since November. I actually had half of this chapter written after the previous one when I just...stopped. I don't know. It comes and goes.

But that's for another time, and I know it shouldn't be an excuse. I'm back, and I'm ready to escalate the current state of the Koprulu Sector. More are on the way - and not after two and a half months this time, I promise.