Gate: Thus the Dominion Fought there
Disclaimer: I do not own Starcraft, Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There, or the characters associated with them. Starcraft is the property of Blizzard while Gate is the property Takumi Yanai
"Talking"
Thoughts
Gate 40
"Quite a sight, isn't it?" a young man said to himself.
Roughly thirty years had passed since the Empire's civil war. Since that time a lot of things have changed.
The young man in question was walking around Alnus hill. To think this place at one point was a small trade town. But now? It had blossomed into a magnificent metropolis. The natives of Falmart would not have been able to achieve such a feat on it's own in just thirty years.
It would take quite a bit of context to understand everything till now. But the short and simple of the chain of events had started with empress Pina Co Lada. Her rule was stable, but it came with quite a few growing civil issues. With her amendments to the Empire's laws to be more inclusive of demi-humans, it was fine at first. For the young empress was trying to make up for all the terrible things her Empire was responsible for. However, she was trying to do too much at once. That meant spreading more of their limited resources. That in turn was creating tension with those who didn't have enough and those who wanted to keep what they had. Coupled with their long and turbulent history, things were starting to boil over.
Fearing the possibility of another civil war breaking out, if it happened it would truly mean the end of the Saderan Empire.
However that's when Emperor Valerian Mengsk intervened with a deal. A deal that would change the course of their civilization. This planet would be recognized as a Dominion world. In doing so came several perks. Aside from man power and logistical aid, the biggest thing was that their civilization would be uplifted by the sharing of their non-military science and technology to a limited extent. In return, they would need to follow their laws.
Of course their was a squabble from some nobles due to their pride. But ultimately they saw how pointless their complaining was.
Needless to say, Pina accepted the offer. Though her official title may have changed to planetary governor, it didn't change her original job. In fact, it actually expanded her power and control over the continent.
Now part of the Dominion, what came next was obvious. Falmart had become the key logistical backbone of the Dominion that in turn made it one of the richest and most well protected planets only second to Korhal. This was all thanks to the gate.
Making advances in their research, Dominion scientists had learned to control the gate. In essence, they now had their own gate network as they were able to open up doorways all throughout their territory allowing near instantaneous travel wherever they wanted and beyond. However travel was still limited as Falmart was the main point of transit.
But nonetheless, it made Alnus a central hub for commerce as you can find almost everything in the galaxy there to be bought, sold, or transported to another world. It's also why this world needed the extra protection. It certainly would be a bad thing if for example the U.E.D. ever came back and managed to capture this planet.
This all lead to remarkable developments as super structures and sky scrappers took shape across the continent.
For the natives, they had adapted to their new life style with little issue. Demi-humans and regular humans were now able to walk together in harmony. There were even quite a few interracial couples. Although there were some minor discrimination lingering around. Eventually it too would fade away with time so long as they kept them on the right path.
As the young man took in the scenery admiring how much things had changed, he looked to his watch as he needed to get moving again. Arriving at a cafe, he spotted a table with his friends who were a human, a bunny girl, and a volraden.
Seeing him, "hey Jin! Over here!" as they waved as the young man smiled softly and took his seat with them. "You're late. Guess an elf's sense of time will always be different from everyone else".
"Half elf" Jin corrected. "And it couldn't be helped. Had some things to take care of before coming here".
"Yeah yeah, let's start ordering already".
Waiting for their order, they read and shared whatever they found interesting.
(Random article)
Herm had recently released his autobiography. With the advancement of technology, a lot of folks took up to posting their stories wanting to share their culture and experience with everyone.
For the former strategist, aside from telling a story about his life, it gave a detailed record of his failure for following a power mad despot. There were many stories like his posted by other pro-war faction members. But a lot of them didn't learn their lesson repeating their mistake only to end up imprisoned.
But what made Herm's story worth a read was it's focus. It was not about him making excuses, but rather making amends. Noting his luck unlike his fellow pro-war faction, it gave him a lot to think about. Having been there to the bitter end watching it all fall apart, he had no further wish for conflict and gladly accepted his banishment. He was now living the life of a simple fisherman. The old him would have complained about his lost honor and damaged pride. But with everything he's been through, he realizes how nonsensical it all was now.
Though he found peace in the end, he would forever carry the burden of his guilt for the hand he played in this civil war. For the minor bits of happiness he had in his life, he was proud his son wanted to restore their tarnished name by joining Pina's famed rose order of knights. But regrets that he forced his own child to carry his burden. He just hopes his story would dissuade future generations from making the mistakes he did.
(Random article)
The conference was about to take place as it happened once every year as all the leaders across the continent were invited.
With the changes made, Pina had opened up seats in the senate giving demi-humans a voice. They all shared this world together and thus they should all prosper in it as well. But due to the difference in cultural values and life spans, everyone had different wants and needs. Different visions to how they wanted to grow. Hence the need for these conferences to discuss domestic matters, allocation of resources, and trade deals. So far, it's worked out well for everyone with only minor conflict as that was just the nature of things. Though Diabo did well as a negotiator smoothing out problems that cropped up.
There was even a short video of Pina giving her usual opening speech before everyone entered the main hall to discuss the budget. Official records were also posted about the results of the year's meeting.
(Random article)
Depending on where you looked, advertisements were posted with all kinds of jobs opening up everywhere.
The moment this world was recognized as Dominion territory, a lot businesses were allowed to emigrate and develop the planet under certain guidelines due to the unusual situation.
But this also meant that the natives of Falmart were recognized as citizens of the Dominion. Though there was another continent on the planet with other intelligent lifeforms, it was a different matter for another time. Hopefully they could be assimilated without unnecessary bloodshed unifying the planet as a whole.
Irregardless, with it's new citizens, they were free to venture and live wherever they wanted throughout it's territory. That also meant on any planet throughout their domain. Thus it was becoming a common sight for regular Dominion citizens to see demi-humans working all kind of jobs with them whether it was military, industrial, or some kind of service.
Funny enough, there was an ad posted by Jake and Dahl wanting any brave explorers to investigate some newly discovered ruins on some other planet which contained buried knowledge and treasures. In some pictures, it seemed Shino, Milo, and Mari would be joining them on the expedition.
After a while as their order arrived, the group started to have a lively conversation.
Ethan Ramsey his human friend started first. "Kind of have to feel a little bad for that guy uhh . . . . What was the idiots name again?"
"Zorzal" answered Doug the volraden.
"Can't be helped" Ava the bunny girl shrugged. "Considering who's involved their hands are tied. But I certainly don't feel sorry for him".
The story of Zorzal has been repeated several times over the years and told in many different ways. The kind of stories where parents will tell their misbehaving children what will happen to them if they don't straighten up. But for the man himself, well things have certainly turned for the worse ever since the Tal'darim got involved.
By the time his reevaluation had come around to decide if he were to be allowed to die, Alarak the high lord of the Tal'darim would not allow it. The dark Protoss having witnessed the prince's miserable state had described it as high art. An exquisite one of a kind piece that must be preserved as destroying it would be tantamount to a travesty on the art world.
With the powers in play, the Dominion and the Daelaam wanted to avoid an unnecessary conflict. They certainly didn't want to fight one over allowing a horrible man like that to finally die.
However Alarak proved to be quite accommodating with his demands. He had gone through the trouble of buying this 'art' as he stationed one of his Tal'darim there to be it's curator. Though that was on the surface, it bellied the real horror Zorzal would now face.
For anyone who knew Zorzal personally knew how weak his willpower was. Thus the pain would've broken him long ago. But then came the nefarious purpose of the curator. Zorzal's memories were either edited or erased daily to maintain his ego to keep his suffering at it's peak at all times. The Tal'darim had even encouraged tourism wanting folks to point, laugh, and insult the former prince. For the many races and people that Zorzal had wronged, they did just that taking great pleasure in it.
Alarak had even showed up to witness a bunch of bunny warriors pointing, laughing, or insulting his terrible state. The high lord quite enjoyed the intense cocktail of negative feelings Zorzal gave off.
Honestly Jin didn't really have much of an opinion on the matter. Zorzal's only hope at this point is that Alarak will eventually get bored and finally let him die. However he didn't think that was going to happen anytime soon.
"Oh yeah" as Doug gave a thoughtful look. "My dad will be attending the conference as a guard this year" as he then looked over to Ava. "Isn't your mom going too?"
"Yeah" she then sighed. "She's been pestering me into taking over for a while now as representative. But it all sounds so troublesome".
"It is an important event" Ethan added in. "And your mom is the queen".
"I suppose so" Ava sighed again. "But I don't want to be nailed down by such a job!" she complained. "I want to go traveling too!"
Ethan, Doug, and Jin could only give a strained chuckle. Summed up, bunny warriors were mostly a female race who lived in communities raising children together as a whole. It was just their nature to be whimsical as there was rarely anyone who could hold their attention long enough before they got bored and moved on as their interest was just to have children. Thus it was an extreme rarity to find a bunny warrior who would ever consider the idea of settling down.
But then came the story of Tyuule. After the end of the war and settling some minor affairs she had named Delilah as the new bunny warrior queen before going on a trip of self-discovery. But where she went was what surprised everyone. No one entirely knew how, but Tyuule was acquainted with a Terran mercenary group as she left with them on their ship. It was only a few years later that she returned. But she came back with a family having married one of the mercenaries and had many wonderful children together. Sharing her happy and rewarding experiences of traveling among the stars, it lit a curiosity in many of her tribe. Overtime this then led to the coining of the term among the warrior bunnies, 'if you got a ship you got a wife'. With a near infinite worlds to see out there and near infinite experiences, how could they ever get bored?
The only reason some of them came back to Falmart was to raise their children together.
"Yeah good luck with that" said Ethan as he shook his head. "Anyways" changing the topic, "did you hear the latest out of Rondel?"
"What latest?" asked Doug. "There is always something new coming from there nowadays".
In Rondel, the Dominion had set up a research base there as not only was it a location closest to the khaydarin crystals but also where the majority of mages resided. Quite a few projects spawned there.
One of them were genetic suppressant markers. They were implemented to prevent a Haryo situation again avoiding volatile mutations. If a child was conceived between two different demi-human races it would be a coin flip of which race the child would end up as.
The controversial resocialization program was also brought back to see if certain savage species could be civilized. This experiment would have decided if certain races on Falmart would face complete extermination or not. After a bit of genetic tinkering, species like the goblins and their corresponding branch races produced positive results. They were now more physically human like, far less aggressive, and speaks in a refined eloquent manner.
There was also a very ambitious attempt to study other universes that the gate had made previous contact with.
But the one that got the most attention was the miracle procedure that could extend your life by over a century. After decoding elf DNA, Dominion scientists were able to sequence the necessary patterns that created proteins that prevented the degeneration of cells. Thus it slowed a person's aging down significantly extending their life expectancy short of an untimely death. Quite a few people got this procedure done. Pina and Valerian were one of those people of note as after thirty years they still look youthful as ever.
Another thing that was worth some attention was project phantasm. Officially, it was a new attempt to create a next generation of ghost agents expanding their current capabilities. But ultimately it's true purpose was to push the boundary of human potential and usher in the next stage of their evolution. Something Lelei had taken a deep interest in and has become one of their top researchers.
But it was in relation to that to which Ethan shared what he read. "The apostle Rory is almost ready to ascend. Lots of folks over there are going nuts over the data".
"I'd imagine so" said Jin taking a sip of his drink. "Didn't the Protoss and Zerg want to participate in the observation?"
"With them involved, it made data collecting much easier. The Protoss got better toys and the Zerg are simply better at genetic sequencing. Under the arrangement, all findings will be shared".
"It's nice that the three races are getting along. Still some skirmishes here and there. But better then what it was from before by a landslide".
Ava then chuckled as she heard the story too. "Though it was funny when the Protoss came back to Rondel. I heard the twins got nervous. Oh how the mighty have fallen".
Doug could only shrug. "It's to be expected. Ironic even. Years of begging for blessings of the gods and now they are the ones begging for worshipers. Seeing as the Dominion can provide cheap and reliable services, could it have ended any other way?"
With the coming of the new era of this world came the decline of the old. Specifically those of the 'gods' of this world. Thus the void entities had to make a choice. Either find a new purpose or fade into obscurity. None of them dared to contemplate the idea of seeking conflict. As exampled by Hardy and her apostle, their reckless actions now had real punishable consequences. That was the least of their concerns with a Xel'naga now observing them as well.
Thus after thirty years, worship for most of the gods had faded away. After the truth had been revealed that the gods had been purposely keeping them technologically stagnant and at constant conflict, aside from the fanatics the general population was outraged at this betrayal. Thus nowadays, it was rare to find any believers anymore. However it didn't stop the 'gods' in trying to gain worshipers in whatever way they could. But they were painfully aware that if they cross any line that displeases the Dominion they would not escape Hardy's fate.
But in this new era, there were two entities who were still around in the public eye one way or another. One was Wareharun, the goddess of the forest. So long as nature was left alone, it didn't care. The other was Lunaryur, the god of music. Art and inspiration was something that will never become obsolete no matter how advanced technology gets.
As the group of friends continued their chat, the door bell rang as a dark elf woman walked in. She was dressed in a highly decorated Dominion uniform. Upon sweeping the room, her eyes glowed as a happy smile stretched across her face.
Feeling the aura in the room change, Jin heard the whispering of other patrons noting her beauty and charm. But seeing the reaction of his friends as they gave devious looks, "oh no" Jin grunted to himself.
"There's my baby boy!" Yao exclaimed as she gave her son a deep hug.
"Ugh . . . ." Jin reflexively sighed. "Hi mom. Would you please not do this in front of everyone? I'm over twenty years old now. You do remember that right?"
"But in elf years you're still a baby. That still makes you my baby boy!"
Jin could only sigh again. Due to his half nature, he did age normally in a human sense. But by the time he hit his teenage years, his aging slowed down significantly. It would take about a century for him to look like a grown man. But till then his friends got a kick out of seeing his discomfort whenever his mom showed him too much affection.
Speaking of his mom, Yao was career military reaching the rank of captain. After all these years she easily had enough qualifications to be commanding her own battlecruiser. But ultimately she passed up the promotion as she didn't want to give up piloting having becoming an ace at flying a banshee and leading her own squadron.
"Even though I just got back I won't be able to stay long" said Yao. "Just got word of some pirates causing trouble along the coast. I'll be heading out soon to go deal with them".
Understanding what she was trying to say, "I don't really need auntie Tuka to cook for me. Besides isn't she at the conference right now? I can take care of myself".
"But aren't you going to miss me when I'm not home?"
Jin could only give a sour look as he thought about a darkly dressed man in specter gear. "Please come home soon dad . . . ."
Parting ways with his friends and mother, Jin thought back to what he was doing earlier that day.
Like his parents, he too was part of the military. Mainly special forces on highly classified missions or situations that requires the utmost of discretion.
He had worked pretty hard since he was young. His father was still considered a hero among the dark elf clans as he wanted to live up to that image. Though his parents wanted him to live a peaceful life, it seemed he had inherited traits from his father's side of the family not being able to turn a blind eye to injustice.
For his many years of service to the Dominion and a few side projects, he'd like to think he had lived up to that ideal.
But now he wanted to take a slight vacation.
He had been requested as part of a security detail for an off world experiment called project corridor. After studying the gate as long as they have, they wanted to try to expand it's functionality with being able to dial different gates from other locations. Not that it would diminish Falmart's gate for being the original but also the most powerful gate in the network. It was just a matter of increasing convenience.
They still needed to build up the infrastructure and other foundations to begin such an experiment. But months and years were like seconds to minutes to someone like him. But still it would be a nice break after all the work he put into making a safer galaxy. Though villainy did pop out like weeds, he trusted his colleagues to do their part.
As day turned to night, Jin hummed to himself as he stared to the stars above. With a calm look, he gave a small smile before chuckling a bit. "Well, let's see where life will go from here".
The end . . . . Maybe?
Author's notes: And that's the end of the this story. Hoped it was alright covering any loose ends that I had laying around. Now onto some commentary as there are a few things I'd like to go over.
Also super shout out to MadClawDragon for sticking with me till the end finishing this story.
Got into a discussion with another author about a new story idea in which I found the idea intriguing. It would be a crossover story between Starcraft and Summon Japan. But with everything that has happened, it could exist as a sequel story to this one as it would save time for me needing to re-explain magic. The LN for Summon Japan has gotten pretty far, but it's incomplete as it's the only reservation I have about writing it.
Rather it's a huge hang up I've always had about writing anything which is becoming a slight problem with my other fanfic. Although the purpose of fanfiction is to write any kind of story you want in relation to a fandom, I respect it's canon material as I want to understand all the pieces on the board before committing in order to avoid a mistake I can't fix later down the road. When I understand all the who, what, where, when, why, and how that happens in the canon story, it gives me a better understanding from a logical perspective to how ripples of different choices will effect the overall narrative in the end to avoid plot holes.
Then there are some stories I can't write about because of what I do and don't know about it.
An example were some folks requesting a crossover story with Gate and the Warhammer 40k universe. On one hand, I wouldn't be able to write such a story that could stand up to the scrutiny of fans of the 40k universe because I don't know the story inside and out. But on the other hand, is the problem of what I do know. Respecting true canon of the 40k universe, the war would be over in one day short of a few exceptions. For the more evil aligned races like the Tyranids, the Necrons, the Space Orcs, or god forbid any of the forces of Chaos, the war will be over day one. I'm not sure how the Eldar would react. The Tau would definitely try for diplomacy first before going into any serious military action. However the Imperium is strictly dependent on what planet the gate decides to open up on. If it's some outer rim backwater unimportant world then the Imperium will be slow to act as it's whatever forces were on the planet will have to defend it. But if the gate opens up on Holy Terra of all worlds then depending on how great the heresy, either the Astartes will be sent to subjugate the world or otherwise declare it exterminatus.
Thus I only had two ideas for such a crossover. One I would name 'Gate: Why the Saderans should have stayed home'. It would be an anthology with each chapter for each race on how badly they would destroy everything on that world. The other idea I had was the Imperium capturing the apostles and hooking them up to the golden throne as they discovered their regenerative power could revive their god emperor. Problem here is no one knows what will happen when the god emperor is revived and how it would tip the power balance of the 40k universe.
As much as I would love to write a story of a Halo crossover with Starcraft with the Dominion intervening in the battle of Reach saving the planet, it comes with two problems. First, I don't really want to deal with Halo fanboys as they are super aggressive in defending their franchise if they appear weaker to any other scifi franchises. Secondly, I wouldn't really know where to go from there as the Halo story is still not finished as there are some skeletons in the closet that the Forerunners had tried to keep buried.
I've also had a few Mass Effect requests. But sadly I never played the games and I only know surface level facts about it's lore.
As usual, if there are any questions or concerns feel free to ask as I'll try to answer them.
So thank you for reading as I further extend my gratitude if you can review as well.
