Science vessel Columbus

Nico was starting to tire. Her objective was close: at the end of the hallway she was on was the teleporter pad leading to the lowest level of the Columbus. All that should be waiting for her would be a few more turrets, since she noticed that the marines have apparently decided against trying to stall her themselves.

'They're regrouping, of course.' Nico understood that much: they were preparing for her, so they'll need all the strength they have left. She should regroup her own forces as well...

Another trio of floor-mounted turrets rose from the ground, followed by a pair of wall-mounted missile launchers, which immediately launched their salvos as Nico rapidly approached. In response, Nico spread her wings and prepared to attack.

'...but not before dealing with these myself. I can't afford to lose any more of my minions before the final battle.' She tore into the emplacements with ease, anxious to complete this mission before Kerrigan finishes with her business down on the planet.

As the new wounds she sustained started healing, she briefly wondered what she would learn from the Ghost Program files. They certainly helped Kerrigan fully unlock her psionic abilities, but it was only because she just needed to remove its restrictions put in place by the ghost conditioning she'd been subjected to.

Then again, Kerrigan had been one of the 'old' ghosts, from the days of the Terran Confederacy, and while there were still things she didn't know, she at least knew that the Confederate ghosts were controlled with different methods. She didn't know what the 'new' Dominion Ghost Program would have, but she'll take any lead she can to fully realize her potential.

She sensed her minions getting closer, and had them form up before entering the teleporter pad. This time she let the roaches take the lead once more, followed by her hydralisks. It would be too risky for her to lead the charge - for all she knew, those marines could be waiting in ambush right around the other side. Once the last of her minions were in, she looked behind her for a brief moment and opened her mouth to speak:

"Follow me to your death, Templar." She then jumped onto the teleporter pad and disappeared.

The 'brief moment' felt like an eternity for the two Shadowguards trailing her, who held their breath when she looked right in their direction, and whose hearts stopped when she made her chilling declaration. When she disappeared from view, Eli and Umi had to will their hearts to resume beating, and their lungs to resume breathing.

However, their minds were working non-stop. "So, at least she doesn't know what we really are," Eli observed.

"It's still worrisome that, even untrained, she's that sensitive," Umi responded. "If she were to accomplish her objective here and use the information she finds to actually develop her ability...I fear for what would await us in the future."

"Of course, that is why we must stop her," Nozomi, emerging from the shadows once more, said. This time, she had another Dark Templar with her, who was looking uneasy as she trailed behind the Dark Prelate. "This is my apprentice, Hanayo."

"H-Hello..." Even in the dead silence of the room, the two Shadowguards strained to hear the younger Nerazim, which the latter immediately noticed and made her bow down deeply immediately after. "I-I'm sorry!"

For her part, Nozomi sighed, though her expression was soft and motherly as she patted Hanayo's head. "She is quite a handful, as you Terrans would say. However, she is also my best student."

"T-That's..."

"Cute!" From the entrance to the teleporter room came the rest of the Raiders, and while the marines looked relieved that this Protoss encounter was not a hostile one, the two medics looked absolutely excited. Particularly about the apprentice Templar, who visibly flinched upon hearing Honoka and Kotori. The two of them immediately went beside Hanayo and proceeded to hug and pet her while their object of affection froze in shock, before letting out a distressed cry:

"Someone save me!"

"Honoka, Kotori." Umi's voice rung out shortly afterwards, and the two medics paused their actions to look at the younger Shadowguard, who looked very stern.

"Umi-chan!" Honoka responded, extending a hand towards Umi. "You want to join us? She's so soft and cuddly!" Kotori nodded in total agreement and also raised her hand towards Umi.

Umi instead stepped forward and landed a light chop onto Honoka's head. "Have you no shame, you two?" She then grabbed both medics by the hand and pulled them away from Hanayo.

"Ahaha..." Eli laughed sheepishly as she, Nozomi, and the rest of the squad watched the spectacle run its course. The marines were particularly amused by the current turn of events, seeing as how even the Protoss were like that. And how their medics acted so innocently that the marines felt a little bad that the two had to be dragged into this war.

After a brief lecture from Umi about what they've done, Honoka and Kotori were ordered to apologize. "We're sorry for jumping onto you so suddenly, Hanayo-chan," Honoka said, bowing deeply.

"We weren't able to control ourselves..." Kotori, also bowed down, followed.

"I-It's fine," Hanayo meekly replied. "I was just surprised because it was all so sudden, that's all..." Her voice dropped to a near-whisper "...also because nobody called me c-cute before..."

"Awww, Hanayo-chan, you are cute!" Honoka and Kotori were tempted to smother Hanayo with cuddles...but Umi was standing beside them.

"Please, Hanayo, do not encourage them." Umi sighed, before her lips relaxed to form a gentle smile.

''Though I do agree with their sentiments' is what you want to say next, don't you?' Eli teased mentally before the thought even completed in Umi's mind, and the latter's cheeks flared up.

'Eli!'

"I suppose we are all acquainted properly now," Nozomi interjected, having a small chuckle of her own. "Now then, back to our objective." The mood almost immediately became serious. "The forces of this ship are already in prepared defensive positions. Once my fellow Templar give the signal, we shall pour in all of our might to destroy the Princess of Blades."

Even as she said those words and received determined agreement from the gathered group, Nozomi felt a small pang of uncertainty within her, as if their plans should not be so. And from looking at the eyes of the four female Terrans, it seems like she was not the only one with such thoughts.

'However, if fate does will it, then it will see fit to intervene at the proper time.' For the meantime, their current mission still stands. The safety of their home worlds - of both Terran and Protoss - depends on it.

"Here it is," Nico breathed to herself. The final stretch of hallway before her leads directly to the supercomputer room. All that stands before her are the rest of the Terran guards, and the Protoss assassins...

...which she was sensing among the Terrans beyond her.

Have the Terrans and Protoss finally decided to fight her together? And how did they slip past her without her knowledge? Troubled times in the past have proven that the former could more than likely happen, while the latter should have been impossible unless they knew of other ways to get around the ship.

'Then again, if this ship's crew and the Protoss did team up, then it's likely that the Protoss would have been given that information.' However, something still seemed off. Her sensitivity still wasn't anywhere near high enough, but she was able to tell that the psionic presence further down the hallway were clearly not of the Dark Templar she'd encountered; their presence had disappeared. Which means there's actually more Protoss for her to contend with in the final battle, and all of them are cooperating with the Terran soldiers... '...have I fallen into a trap?'

Her response to her own question, however, was a savage grin. 'They will all know my wrath, then.' This would be her ultimate test. She will not fail. Her minions felt her ferocity as they began the march forward, with the roaches leading the way and the hydralisks moving right behind.

There were now pairs of gun and missile turrets appearing to engage every few meters of the way, but Nico's minions had become an extension of her will, and mere glances were all she needed to direct the deadly-accurate fire of her hydralisks before any of the turrets fired a shot.

"Stand aside, fools!" Nico taunted loudly as she approached the last door. "Or be swept forcefully."

The door opened, and from within the room behind it came its occupants' replies: violent flashes of flame, followed by the hypersonic 8mm spikes that emerged from them. Immediately, the roaches closed ranks, and took the brunt of the volley harmlessly. The hydralisks, meanwhile, retaliated with precise shots of their own needle spines towards the source of the gunfire, and the attack immediately died down.

"Hmph, too easy-" Before Nico could finish gloating, the enemy assault resumed, and the hailstorm of bullets were aimed low this time, in an attempt to hit the roaches in their only frontal weak spot. Several roaches started to fall from the directed gunfire, and the rest lowered their massive claws to shield their faces, slowing their already-sluggish advance.

Then, from the darkness, three pairs of psi blades ignited. Before Nico could react to the new threat, Rin and her hallucination clones, courtesy of Maki, charged forward with blinding speed.

Nico had no way of knowing that the other two were fakes, but even when the zealots came close enough for her to be able to tell, she could not stop herself or her minions from reacting to them, as the trio crashed into the Zerg formation with seemingly-reckless abandon. However, the impact was both planned and controlled, with the zealot Praetor's plasma shield absorbing most of it and redirecting that force towards her impact target instead, staggering the hapless roach and opening its face up to her psi blades. The roach stood no chance, and Rin was already heading towards another without slowing her momentum.

Through it all, the marines behind her continued their ranged assault, and while they were careful not to hit her, Rin was proving that the extra caution wasn't necessary as she fluidly danced around with psi-blades out, dodging the marines' bullets and slashing the Zerg like an untouchable dervish of death. Her movements made her easy to distinguish from the hallucination clones which attacked directly and without finesse, like normal zealots - not that it mattered to the suddenly-overwhelmed Zerg, who continued to guard and react to the hallucinations as if they were real Protoss and not harmless, ethereal clones. Maki employed the same technique earlier with the marines, which had the effect of drawing out the Zerg and forcing them into their defensive position - and which the real marines already knew how to deal with.

After a while, though, the hallucinations were spent, and, after realizing their folly, the now-undistracted Zerg directed their fury towards Rin. The plasma shield pulsed as needle spines and acid saliva made contact, though Rin continued her assault, fully confident of the marines and the High Templar behind her - the latter having yet to show her full might.

Maki decided that now was the time. As Rin's shield started to break, Maki's eyes and "hair" glowed bright red, and several bolts of psionic lightning arced from her fingertips towards the Zerg formation. Once again demonstrating Rin's fleet footwork and flexibility - as well as Maki's psionic mastery, and the power of the shared psionic link of the Khala - Rin continued her assault as the bolts converged into a massive psionic storm that sundered everything in the area except for her, who gracefully danced with the psionic lightning even as she slashed left and right. Even the marines' bullets were spared from vaporization as they entered the storm and found their targets; the Zerg's now-charred skin made it easier for the hypersonic spikes to penetrate through to the even softer innards.

When Maki's psionic assault ended, Rin leapt back to inspect the damage: only a few of the roaches survived, and even some of the hydralisks sustained wounds. Nico managed to leap away from the storm with a handful of her hydralisks, but the sight of the rest of her minions being reduced to burning husks horrified and enraged her, and the pink glow in her eyes blazed much brighter, and even showed in the eyes of her remaining forces.

However, as she and her minions started to throw herself towards the Terran and Protoss force, two hydralisks fell forward, with smoking holes at the back of their heads. Nico turned around to see...

"Nico!" a voice called out from behind. She turned around to see another force of Terrans, apparently led by two snipers wearing the familiar skintight hostile environment suits of the products of the very program which she sought the files of.

"So you know her?" Nozomi, revealing herself beside Eli, asked. Hanayo also did so, beside Umi.

"We do," Honoka replied for Eli. "She is...one of ours."

"We know her because we were tasked to find and escort her to a new home," Umi added, on behalf of her and Eli. "Where she was supposed to be properly trained."

"...Honoka?" Nico, apparently recognizing the medic's voice, said.

"Nico-chan, you remember us?" Kotori asked, eyes suddenly full of hope.

"I...do..." Nico looked beyond the ghosts and the Dark Templar towards the medics surrounded by the marine squadron, with sadness in her eyes and smile. "I guess we might not be able to have that collab, huh...?"

"We still can, Nico-chan!" Honoka responded, already starting to tear up in relief and breaking from the formation with Kotori to approach the Princess of Blades. "We'll even have two new singers joining us!"

"Honoka, Kotori," Umi warned, mainly about the former exposing that side of her and Eli, but also out of caution. The surrounding hydralisks might not be attacking, but still looked at them with hostility.

"We promised that we'd bring you home, Nico-chan. We promised that we'll keep fighting to be free from the Dominion, and that we'll sing on stage together after we do that."

"And no matter how you may look now," Kotori added, "you're still the cutest idol that we know. We even found a cure that might help you turn back to normal! And if it doesn't work, we'll just keep working and working to figure out what will."

"So," Honoka started to conclude, extending an arm along with Kotori towards Nico. "Are you ready to come home, Nico-chan?"

From the other side, Rin and Maki felt the sickening heartbreak that the two Terran medics experienced from what followed: Nico started to take the offered hands, but then stopped, and withdrew them just as the other two reached out. She then laughed. Loudly, and evilly. "I'm sorry, you two...is what I would say, except I'm not." Nico's eyes ignited again, and the tips of her claws also started glowing. "I don't care about that old life anymore. I like what I am right now. I feel capable of so much more than I used to. I am in command of more power than I ever did before. I feel much more alive.

"And I will never come back. I am Zerg now. I am the Princess of Blades." Honoka and Kotori were petrified with fear as Nico seemed to slowly close in on the two medics. "And I will not be stopped from fully realizing my power. I will show you all how much I am capable of." She directed an intense gaze towards Nozomi and Hanayo. "Watch closely, Dark Templar, and you will see why it was a mistake to stand against me again." Suddenly, she explosively leapt over the two medics, who were knocked to the ground by the wave of force that Nico's jump generated. Nico then landed behind the Shadowguards and Dark Templar and into the center of the Raiders' marine squad. Those unlucky enough to be at the center were immediately crushed by Nico's impact and impaled by her claws, while the rest fell back from her and tried to engage as she leapt from marine to marine and eviscerated them.

The two medics finally woke up from their shock and started to go back to the marines to assist them in their fight, but some of the hydralisks - empowered and enraged by their Princess of Blades' fury - barred their path and prepared to impale the two with their scythe-like claws. Frozen with fear, Honoka and Kotori watched as death slowly loomed over them...

...just before dark smoke appeared between the medics and the hydralisks. The Dark Templar rematerialized, with Nozomi holding back the hydralisks' claws with her double-headed shadow scythe and Hanayo frantically helping the medics back up.

"Are you two okay?" Hanayo asked. The two nodded wordlessly, and Hanayo returned to her mentor's side once the two were able to stand on their own, her own warp blade now ignited.

"Ready, Hanayo? Nozomi asked. Hanayo nodded, and the elder Dark Templar swung her scythe around, forcing the two hydralisks back. One hydralisk snarled at Nozomi and launched a needle spine at her, but she became smoke once again and completely dodged the attack, reappearing in an instant in front of the hydralisk. Before it could even raise its claws for a counterattack, Nozomi swung the scythe in a downward stroke, and the warp blade at the end buried itself with little resistance into the hydralisk's head, killing it instantly. The other hydralisk beside it prepared to retaliate to Nozomi's attack, but Hanayo arrived just in time to run her emerald warp blade through its back.

"I-It's down!"

Without missing a beat, Nozomi leapt into the shadows once more, reappearing behind the remaining hydralisks one by one and striking them down in quick succession, and then appeared before the Princess of Blades as she started to strike down another Raiders marine, intercepting the blow with her scythe.

What followed was a flurry of missed blows and parried swings, as Nico and Nozomi attempted to land a hit on each other. Nozomi's polished and expert movements - the product of decades of martial training - were impressive and would have taken down any lesser warrior with ease, but Nico's wild ferocity - guided by instincts provided by the genes of the most ruthless Zerg strains integrated into her - made it an even match between them.

A minute of fierce fighting later, Nozomi and Nico broke away from each other and started circling each other, each of them anticipating the next move of the other. Nozomi then took the initiative and dashed forward, and Nico prepared to meet the downward strike almost immediately after. It was a feint, however, and instead of the slice that Nico was anticipating, Nozomi pushed her away with the blunt tip of the scythe and sent her stumbling towards Rin, who then hacked off the wings of the Princess of Blades, and the latter let out a sharp cry of pain as her wings fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

Nico fell to her knees, and even as her wings slowly started regenerating, she knew that she bit off too much. Maki and the rest of the security troops approached, the latter with weapons constantly trained towards her, and surrounded Nico. The High Templar then ignited a small psi blade and aimed it at Nico's throat.

"So, this is the end of the line for you," she said. "And I am sure that you know why." Nico could think of no reply, though she knew perfectly what the Protoss was talking about.

"Wait!" From the distance, Honoka and Kotori ran up towards them.

"Can we talk to her first, please?" Honoka begged. Kotori pleaded to the Protoss with her eyes.

"Are you still seriously thinking that this...infestation of hers can still be reversed?" Maki fired back coldly. "Do you think she'll really even want to? Even after what she has told you two just earlier?" Nozomi put her hand on the High Templar's shoulder.

"Maki," Nozomi said with a contemplative voice. "Let them speak their case." Maki was hesitant, but finally relented, and withdrew her blade.

"You two..." Nico finally spoke again, before Honoka put a finger on her lips.

"Do you still remember?" Honoka asked. "That dusty afternoon, a week before the revolution."

Nico closed her eyes. "...I remember everything, Honoka. How I complained about the broken AC unit at the bar. How Kotori kept saying sorry for it. How you were so carefree regardless." Nico then opened her eyes and looked into Honoka's, and the medic thought she saw a glimpse of the 'old' Nico coming back within. "How we all started planning for after the revolution, that we'd celebrate Mar Sara's liberation with a huge concert, before moving to other planets, and then to Korhal itself. We wanted to free everyone, and open up a path to a better future...and shine together." Nico then looked down and sighed. "I'm sorry that things had to turn out this way...I really am, this time." She locked eyes with Kotori, then with Honoka again. Her eyes slowly started glowing pink. "Which is why I want you two to stay out of my way forever."

The other psionics were already sensing the danger, and Eli and Umi started to reach out to the medics to pull them away. The rest were warned by the blaring klaxons on the ship, and then by the ship commander's alarmed voice:

"A massive Zerg bio-signature is heading towards our ship at high speed. Evacuate immediately!"

Nico closed her eyes and leapt past the suddenly-confused Dominion marines and Maki, already sprinting towards the supercomputer room they were supposed to be guarding.

"This is for the best. Stay out of my way, or you will be hurt. If you survive this."

Before the defenders could react to her, however, a massive tendril pierced through the wall, barring the way between them and Nico. The tentacle then retracted until it secured itself onto the wall, revealing its gaping mouth. From within, all of them heard the unmistakable sound of a horde of Zerg.

"Everyone, get out!" Eli commanded. Afterwards, she contacted the Hyperion, requesting for immediate and very hot evac. The ship commander and his crew linked up with them afterwards, and the combined Terran and Protoss force made a mad dash for the docking bay as more of the massive leviathan's tentacles crashed in from the walls, and even more Zerg poured in.

They finally reached the docking bay, but the dropships Eli requested were still minutes away. The combined force was at least more than capable of holding off the Zerg, but the latter continued to stream in with seemingly-endless numbers. Maki was almost spent from casting storm after psionic storm, as well as creating hallucinations of Rin to bear the brunt of the Zerg frontline, while the marines were running out of ammunition.

"Heard you ladies and gents needed evac!" the very welcome voice of the dropship captain hailed through Eli's communicator, and the special operations dropship came into view, backed by two G-226 medical evacuation (or medivac) dropships given by the Moebius Foundation to help with the Raiders' mission on the planet.

"Let's go, everyone onto the dropships!" Eli commanded. "That means you as well, Protoss."

"Do not worry, we have our own transport," Nozomi assured. The ship in question was actually floating close to the docking bay, safely cloaked, and Nozomi disappeared in a blink of an eye. The Spiritual Power then decloaked itself and went close to the bay, extending a ramp for Maki, Rin and Hanayo to enter. As they left, they sensed a very powerful psionic presence enter the now-forsaken vessel.

The small fleet of ships then rapidly set course for the Hyperion, thankfully able to scramble away before Zerg fliers emerged from the beast. As the ships edged away from the battle, so did its tensions start to bleed out from the combatants.

The two medics were noticeably downcast, and everyone noticed, especially the marines: usually, the two would be the ones lightening the mood after a combat operation, whether it was a success or a failure - and it certainly was the latter, in this case. The target that they were supposed to stop achieved her objective, and they were certain that Nico would emerge even stronger, and become a more dire threat to all.

Moreover, it felt like a personal failure for both Honoka and Kotori: they couldn't save Nico. They aren't sure if they ever could. The promises they made...to themselves, to her mother, to everyone...felt hollow. As they continued to brood over it, tears of anguish slowly fell from their eyes. The two Shadowguards, without another word, surrounded them in a tight embrace. Within their warmth, the medics cried.

Over on the Spiritual Power, the mood was also dark. Each of them contemplated on their own what had happened. Rin's usual radiant energy was absent, as she felt the burden of failure personally as the leader of the expedition. Perhaps if she called for the Armada after all, as she had promised to do...

Maki also felt hollow, as it was her plan that failed. It didn't matter that they performed admirably given the odds: she was also the one who decided for all of them that the fleet was unnecessary - never mind that her decision ultimately saved the fledgling Armada, since, had Rin decided to summon the fleet, they could have lost everything to the Swarm. The Armada wasn't ready, but their best chance of ending the new threat...

Hanayo was saddened by the turn of events, and she especially felt for the two Terran medics who started to become new friends, feeling the two's anguish though they were apart. She felt their joy when the Princess of Blades seemed to have a change of heart, and felt their sorrow when the two were not only rejected, but almost killed by the person they tried to save.

Nozomi, on the other hand, had mixed emotions about the ordeal which roiled up within her as she absently piloted her ship towards the Terran capital ship. The mission was not yet a total failure, but what they had earlier was their best chance, and they lost it. 'Is this Fate's intervention, then?' She didn't know. But did Fate really see it fit to let the Princess of Blades not only live, but become even more dangerous? And yet, Nozomi saw that there was still something lingering within Nico when she decided to spare Honoka and Kotori.

'So, what next?' That was the question lingering within everyone's minds. For the Protoss, the mission was far from over: though they could come back and report what had happened, they knew that they would only be sent back, with a much larger force. For the Terrans, they still had their own war to fight, though they were certain that they'd cross paths with the Princess of Blades again.

Horner noted the presence of the Protoss starship as it and the dropships started to approach the Hyperion's launch bay. Once the vessels have safely landed, the bay closed immediately.

"Everyone brace for warp jump," Horner warned. Seconds later, the Hyperion's warp drive activated, and the Raiders flagship was zooming towards a moon in the distant Mackan system - both to escape the Zerg, and to rendezvous with a group Raynor had sent there on a mission before heading to Tyrador VIII.

Back on the Columbus, the Princess of Blades looked around the room which she sought after. All around were facilities and equipment specially designed to service the mysterious Terran Ghosts during their precious downtimes on the field, and right in the middle was the supercomputer she sacrificed her minions to reach, still functioning throughout the chaos it has unknowingly sown - Kerrigan was careful not to destroy the power generators, and even her leviathan's penetrating tendrils were meant to stabilize the ship.

Standing beside her was the Queen of Blades herself, who observed her. "Well?"

Wordlessly, Nico approached the supercomputer, and started looking for the files she wanted. She knew that they won't stay for long, so she transferred all of the files onto a data drive. She'll pore over the information at another time, since the ship won't last much longer. More importantly, she didn't want to waste Kerrigan's time further, not after forcing her to come to her aid after she underestimated her enemies - 'No,' she thought, 'I overestimated my own ability.'

"Kid, I could remember when I made the same mistake as you," Kerrigan told Nico, seeing the look on her face, and remembering herself making almost the same one long ago. "I got cocky and let my pride get in the way of my mission. I suppose it worked out in the long run, but at the time, my pride cost the Swarm an entire brood. Compared to that, your mistake is a drop in the bucket. Still, I suppose you've learned that lesson well enough. Remember it."

"I will."

"Now, I'm sure you'll want to study those files. I have just the place for you." Kerrigan told Nico of her and 'her' swarm's next objective, and, a few minutes later, the Zerg left the Columbus, now a ruined husk of its former self. As a parting gift, Kerrigan also left a baneling in the generator core, which she told to lie in wait for a Terran salvage team to come aboard before doing what it was bred to do.

A/N: Hey, so, it's been a very long time. A little over two months since the last update, was it? I suppose I've been busy with real-life commitments, among other things, so I've barely found time to write. But I won't give up on this - I'll just need more time.

Anyway, that's that for this fight on the Columbus. The next chapters will pick up the pace and see us across the other parts of the sector, and our Protoss friends won't be around for much longer. But they'll come back. When? Who knows? I haven't thought that far yet.