Chapter 28: From the Shadows

It had been days since they arrived in the Tarsonis system, still waiting as the fleet remained concealed. It was supposed to all be so simple, Kerrigan thought to herself, at least that was how she felt when she'd pitched the idea to the others to convince them to go through with this plan.

Then, the observers they deployed to stealthily survey the planet's defenses revealed a harsh reality: the Psi Disruptor was even more well guarded than they had predicted. Nestled within mountain ranges, it was a formidable target well defended from both air and ground assaults. They drafted plans, considered various tactics, and looked at every option. But all that was left was the frustration of fruitless planning.

There was no way to sneak a cloaked strike force down to hit either the Psi Disruptor or the primary power generator located on the outskirts of Tarsonis city. Though they were able to send people and material down to the planet with cargo ships by bribing the Confederate officials in charge of inspection, spies reported that the power plant would be difficult to assault by ground with the little forces they could secretly bring to the surface. The UED spared no expense in securing Tarsonis and its critical infrastructure.

Now, Jim had called her over for another meeting, supposedly with new information. The same thing was said for the previous dozen meetings. Now to see what it was this time.

As she entered the room, she spotted Jim hunched over a console, his appearance haggard as he rubbed his eyes. Next to him were a few empty mugs of coffee. "Jim… are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he muttered. "It's just been a long day."

Even though she was restraining herself from reading his mind out of politeness, his attempt to put up a strong front was more than obvious. "Working hard is no good if you can't think straight anymore. You never used to do this. Before, it had always looked like you were taking it easy, even though we knew you were just as worried as the rest of us."

He shrugged. "People change. And things aren't the way they used to be. There's so much more at stake now than ever before. I can't keep acting the same way as I used to."

"That's true. All of us are different now. Everyone changes, but that doesn't mean that some things can't still stay the same."

He looked at her with a contemplative expression on his face. For a few seconds, he remained silent and she clamped down on the temptation to simply see what he was thinking. Finally, he answered. "Maybe. But we'll have to see what works and what doesn't. Once this war is over, maybe things can settle down again. We should focus on finishing our business here on Tarsonis first. Isn't it funny, things change but we're back here again."

Kerrigan's eyes narrowed. "It won't end the same way this time."

"Course not," Raynor said, leaning back in his seat. "I sure hope neither of us are gonna be left behind. But it feels a bit too similar. Attacking Tarsonis to let the zerg in. The survivors and people shipped in from offworld have already started rebuilding a bit. But we're not here to fight them."

"As long as they stay out of the way," Kerrigan looked Raynor in the eyes. "You know some of them are going to fight right? This isn't going to be clean."

Raynor sighed. "I know, but we'll have to do things the best we can. The sooner we can be gone from this rock, the better."

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him as another individual emerged from the shadows. "I suppose this is when we begin discussing our current task at hand?"

Raynor jerked in his seat a little "Damn it Zeratul, stop doing that. And how long have you been here?"

The old protoss simply decided to stay silent, exuding a sense of aloofness.

Raynor sighed. "Well, let's get down to business then. I might've found a way to get the blueprint plans for the power plant. There's just one issue."

"Might? What is that supposed to mean?" Kerrigan frowned slightly as she sensed Raynor's doubt.

"I've been reaching out tryin' to get some info wherever we can get it," Raynor said. "And an old friend of ours said they might be able to help us."

Kerrigan's eyes narrowed. "Old friend? You don't mean…"

"Yes, the former Magistrate of Mar Sara. After we parted ways they've been around a lot of places, mostly as a rogue agent. We've been working together on helping organize resistance movements on UED worlds. But in this case, they are only passing forward an offer from someone we both would rather not talk to."

"Arcturus…" Kerrigan's voice drew into a sharp hiss "What the hell does he want?"

"Apparently he's not too happy about being under the UED's thumb. He'd rather see them taken down a peg so he can try to wriggle free of them. He's offered to give us the info on the power plant his spies found and he said when the time comes for the decisive battle, he'll stay out of it. In exchange, he wants us to leave him alone and not come after the Dominion afterwards."

"You can't possibly be thinking of trusting him, Jim. How did he even know we're about to attack Tarsonis? He could just be setting a trap for us."

Raynor sighed. "I don't like the thought either, but do we have any options? Apparently Arcturus had predicted we'd make this move eventually and he'd long since got the info and passed on the offer in advance. If he wanted to rat on us, he'd have done it already."

"How strange," Zeratul interjected. "Why should he side with us over the UED? Currently his situation seems rather agreeable for him. Though he must answer to Earth, he still maintains some autonomy. By siding against his fellow terrans, he risks not only being branded a traitor, but also gives the zerg a chance to destroy the UED and then destroy him."

"I reckon he's hoping to see both sides weakened so he can come out on top," Raynor replied. "Have us knock down the UED but keep his own forces intact as an insurance policy. I can see it from him. After all, he said he'd rather see the sector burnt to ashes than to not be the one ruling it. That's why I think his offer is legit. All he cares about is himself. Without him backing up the UED, we'll have a much easier fight taking them down. We can't afford to not take this and Mengsk knows it."

"And in exchange, all we have to do is pretend we're friends afterwards?" Kerrigan's words were spoken with icy coldness. "Do you really think that he won't try to fight us again once he consolidates control again? It would be foolish to simply let him prepare for round two. He's already done enough to support the UED, best to sweep them all into the trash heap together."

Zeratul shook his head. "That would be most imprudent. My people are only concerned with ensuring the UED will no longer threaten us. If the other terrans are willing to stand aside, that can only aid us. Should we come to an accord, the protoss shall not break our word."

Kerrigan frowned. "Even then, I can still take the fight to him myself."

"And you'll have to do that alone." Raynor stood up and stared straight at her. "I told you last time not to do it, and look where you ended up. I'll tell you again. I will never again help the zerg take out the government I hate, no matter how bad it is. If you insist that we shouldn't make this deal, fine. We'll turn right around and head back to Aiur, fight the good fight and rescue whoever we can. Tell me, is that what you really want?"

Silence settled over them as the seconds dragged on.

The Psi Disruptor or Mengsk. Kerrigan remained frozen in thought as her emotions raged through her. Finally, she made her decision. "Fine. we'll take the deal. But now you tell me, are you really okay with leaving him in charge?"

"I'm not," Raynor said. "But if we're gonna remove Mengsk, it won't be by an alien army trampling over the humans who just want to defend their home. Even if somehow you take him down yourself, then in the future Mengsk is going to be remembered as a hero. History books will talk about how he heroically stood against the alien menace. A model for all future generations to look up to."

"Is that what you want?" he continued, shaking his head. "I want Mengsk gone as much as you do, but this is something that can only be done by the people themselves. I'll do my best to make that happen and there will come a day when I bring him down. Not alone, but with the help of everyone who fights for what is right."

Kerrigan's eyes focused on Raynor as she stared at him carefully. Her lips turned upward slightly. "That better be a promise."

Raynor nodded. "It is. I won't give up until it's done."

The two of them paused for a few moments, taking in the other's words and nodding in a shared understanding. Then suddenly, Zeratul finally cut through the silence "As it seems you have resolved your differences, perhaps we ought to return to thinking about our current objective. How are we to actually assail the power generator?"

"Ah, there is something," Raynor said. "Our old pal also knows the right people to bribe so that I can pass myself off as a maintenance engineer. And a lot of the people working down are old timer Confederate bureaucrats brought back from wherever they hid or scurried off. Shouldn't be too hard to give them a bit of special persuasion."


Despite having gone over the plan multiple times, Raynor couldn't help but fidget as the dropship approached the power plant. He had checked and double checked his disguise already and he had all the tools he needed to fit his profile as a civilian engineer. He wasn't alone though. Zeratul and several of his compatriots remained concealed in the dropship. They carried the explosives and were also there to help with any unexpected situations.

After the dropship landed in the hangar, he exited and was met by a guard.

"Hey there," Raynor said, waving his hand.

The guard ignored his greeting. "Identification card please." His voice was stern but also seemed quite tired with the monotony of his work.

Raynor pulled the card out of his cargo pants and handed it to the guard. He scanned it and the machine flashed red, letting out a beep. Raynor tensed as he watched the guard carefully, trying to gauge his reaction to determine whether or not the jig was up. If they had to resort to plan B, going in loud, then all bets would be off. They only had one chance at this.

The guard frowned and then wiped the card on his sleeve before inserting it again. This time, the scanner showed green. The guard looked up at Raynor's face carefully for a few seconds before turning back toward the picture on the screen.

Then the guard pointed at Raynor's backpack, gesturing for it to be handed over for inspection. Raynor handed the pack over, trying not to let his relief show now that the difficult part was over. Inside the pack were only some mundane tools, a bit of food, and some beer. Normal stuff for a worker to have.

"How've things been here?" Raynor asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

The guard remained silent as he searched through the bag. After finding nothing, he handed it back, along with a badge marking Raynor as a temporary worker. "You're clear to enter." The metal door slid open smoothly, and the guard waved him through. Behind him, his concealed comrades followed unnoticed. They stepped into a very plain metal hallway heading deeper into the building.

They were in. Now he just hoped it would all go according to plan. If they were discovered and trapped inside, no outside power could save them. They only had one chance at this, a quick in and out to plant the bombs on the power plant's cooling systems and blowing them up after they hop back in their dropship and fly off.

He quickly walked down the maintenance hallway, taking several turns in order to reach his destination. As he turned the corner, he saw another worker walking toward him. Raynor slowed down his pace, letting the other man pass him and turn the corner before he stopped by a door. Fortunately, the other man seemed to have a lot on his mind, paying little attention to Raynor as he passed by.

Taking one final look around to make sure no one was watching, he quickly stepped into the room. Inside was a vast network of pipes and valves arrayed across the grimey metal walls. Some water dripped from the ceiling, slowly pooling on the ground. Despite the heat of the room, the puddle wasn't evaporating very quickly because of the humidity.

After affixing a few bombs in the right places, he asked Zeratul whether there was anyone outside in the hallway. After waiting for him to give the all clear, he exited the room and began walking toward the next destination.

As he turned a corner, a guard in power armor on patrol walked past at the same time, now keeping pace with him. Chances were that the guard wouldn't find anything strange about him entering that specific room, but he couldn't risk it. Being discovered so early on would put him on a tough timer, and he only had one shot at this. And it would be suspicious to suddenly turn around or slow down his walking in order to fall behind. Instead, Raynor decided to strike up a conversation.

"Real hot in here ain't it? Wish they could spare a bit of power to cool this place down for us. They sure got more than enough."

The guard grunted. "Least you don't have to walk around in here every day. You've got it easy just coming here whenever we've got a special issue."

"Well, we all gotta stay hydrated." Raynor pulled two cans of beer from his bag. "Here, take one."

"Thanks man." The guard gulped down some of the drink. "Good stuff."

After walking a few more paces, Raynor spoke up again. "Hey, d'ya know where the nearest toilet is? I gotta take a leak after having these drinks."

"Oh, it's back there." He pointed down the hall and toward the corner. "Just take a right at the intersection."

Raynor nodded and walked off in that direction. After waiting for the guard to turn the corner, he headed back and slipped into the next room to rig it with the explosives. So far, things were going off without a hitch.

When he reached the third room, it looked much like the others. As he set down his pack and got ready to get to work, a head popped out from behind a machine. Their eyes met and the engineer had a look of confusion on her face.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She stood up fully, one hand still holding a wrench.

"I'm just here to take a look around and inspect things," Raynor replied. "Just checking up on things."

"No one's supposed to be working here except for me." The suspicion on her face didn't lessen even a single bit. "Hold on, let me call this in."

She reached toward her communicator and Raynor lunged forward. She reacted quickly, swinging the wrench forward to force him to move out of the way. Her arms were large and muscular and he knew she'd pack quite a punch in a brawl.

"Ah hell. You really are up to some shit." The engineer took the chance to grab her communicator. As she was about to activate it, she suddenly slumped to the ground, knocked out by an unseen figure.

"Thanks, Zeratul." Raynor spoke into the empty air. "We gotta get moving quickly. There might not be any cameras in the room, only the hallways, but it's only a matter of time before someone comes looking."

A heightened sense of focus came over him as began completing the remainder of the tasks, knowing that there was a strict timetable weighing down on them. Even as he finished up rigging the very last room, his apprehension remained as he packed everything up and left the room.

There seemed to be a bit more people around now, and it took some time before the coast was clear enough to leave the room. The hangars were on the other side of the building so it was going to be a bit of a walk to get there. As he walked, it felt like there were eyes constantly on him watching his every move, but nothing happened. It was just nervousness making him feel things.

With all these people around, no one was paying attention to just another face in the crowd. It wasn't long before they'd reach the place they came in, and then they'd be home free.

Just then, there was an announcement through the entire building. "The facility is now under lockdown. Suspected saboteurs are present, armed and dangerous. Staff should remain in hiding and wait for security teams to eliminate the threat."

Pandemonium erupted as the other workers in the area ran in every direction, scrambling for empty rooms to hide in.

"Shit." Raynor's face hardened. "If we're gonna be getting out of here, we'll need to disable the air defenses so we don't get shot down trying to fly out. The security room isn't far from here, we gotta capture it.

Zeratul and his compatriots followed Raynor as they ran down the hallway, remembering from the blueprints where to go. But soon, he saw the hallway up ahead was blocked off by a thick blast door. They didn't have the tools to break through quickly.

As he crouched by the corner of the hallway, Raynor got a mental nudge from Zeratul that there were people coming up behind him. He turned around and saw several guards in power armor approaching. He noticed one of them was the guy he shared a drink with earlier.

"Shall we eliminate them?" Zeratul asked telepathically.

"No," Raynor thought in his head. "We can use them."

"Hey, you're not supposed to be out here," one of the guards shouted at him.

Raynor put on a frightened appearance as he shook in faux nervousness. "We gotta get out of here," he stuttered. "We're all gonna die."

"Calm down son, what did you see?" Now it was the guard from earlier questioning him.

"It was protoss," Raynor blurted out. "They killed a whole group of people in an instant. I ran as fast as I could while they were distracted with the rest. We can't fight them, we gotta run."

"Protoss, here?" The guard sounded shocked. "How did they get in? Never mind that, we'll hold our ground here."

"It's not going to be enough with just us." Raynor was frantically waving his arms. "We gotta get away and group up with some reinforcements. Otherwise we're toast. We don't have much time."

The group started displaying some nervousness. "I don't think the five of us are enough," the guard said. "I sure don't plan on dying here guarding this damn place. Let's get behind the door and wait for some reinforcements."

The guard walked up to the keypad and typed in a code to open up the blast door. After they all scurried through, the door closed and they were able to let out a sigh of relief.

"Phew, we're safe. Let's wait for some backup first," the guard said.

"Yeah, let me find some help." Raynor quickly ran off down the hallway.

"Hold on, we can just call-"

Raynor ignored what the guard was saying as he continued running and then turned the corner. He knew the guard would assume he was just spooked and they wouldn't come chasing after him when they were expecting to be in a fight any minute now. A minute later, he arrived at the door to the security room. "We gotta get in there and take over quickly," he whispered under his breath to Zeratul and the others. "Don't damage any of the computers."

He opened the door and walked in casually.

"Hey, you're not allowed in here," the soldier inside the room said.

"You guys need to send help," Raynor exclaimed. "We got protoss heading for us and they're gonna get through the door."

"We already heard the report from the guys at the door," the officer at the console said. "Wait, you're the guy who reported that? What did you see? It shouldn't be possible for them to get past our sensors."

"Well, maybe they used some spooky magic tech of theirs," Raynor replied.

The man looked skeptical. "Something about this doesn't seem-"

Suddenly, the people in the room wobbled on their feet and fell over.

Raynor was briefly surprised by the suddenness of it, and realized that it must have been his invisible friends who had done something. "Whoa, was that you?" he whispered into thin air.

"Merely a minor trick to overwhelm weak minds," Zeratul replied. "They shall not be a concern for some time."

Raynor nodded. "That was good, they didn't have a chance to cause a ruckus. But their absence will be noticed soon by the others."

He stepped up to the computer console which was still logged into the security network. From here, he could see all the cameras showing the patrols all running around the building. On another side of the screen he saw the panels for the facility's defenses. He disabled the lockdown, opening up all the doors. He also made sure the missile turrets wouldn't shoot down his ship. With his job done, he shot up the consoles so that no one else could change the settings.

"Let's get the hell out of here," he said as they exited the room. He glanced to each side furtively, checking to make sure there was no one around. The group he had run into earlier would definitely be confused by the doors opening up and he didn't want to have to answer any questions. Luckily, he didn't need to pass by them again to get to the hangar bays.

The guards would definitely be in a state of disorder now that there was no one to direct and coordinate them, but there was still the chance that they'd run into some and a loud fight would attract attention and get everyone headed in their direction. He couldn't afford to be too careful though. The longer they took, the more time there was for reinforcements to get called in.

Raynor continued running down the hallway, the pounding of his heart and the sound of his breathing echoing in his ears. They were already in the same section of the facility as the hangars, there were only a bit more to go. As he approached the hallway intersection, he heard the heavy clanging of metal boots against the floor.

A brief look around revealed there weren't any alcoves or rooms that he could hide in. With no time left, Raynor put his back to the wall and hoped that if he was spotted, then Zeratul and his folks would be on top of things. A fight would get messy, but hopefully they could get away before the sounds of gunfire drew people over.

A few dozen men in power armor thundered past the perpendicular hallway. Where they were going, Raynor wasn't sure, but he was glad they had their eyes set elsewhere. Only when their footsteps faded into the distance did he let out a sigh of relief. Checking one last time to make sure they weren't spotted, he closed the distance to get to the other side then continued on his way to the hangar.

The few technicians in the hangar were shocked when he suddenly barged in and raised his gun. "Everyone against the wall!" he ordered.

After a moment of hesitation, they followed his command and he went to his dropship. After taking another glance to make sure none of them were going to pull anything, he got in along with Zeratul and his people and they prepared to quickly take off. Once Raynor strapped himself into the seat and took off, he could finally let out a sigh of relief. The explosives were remotely detonated and the power plant would soon melt down.

"We are fortunate to have done well." Zeratul reappeared as he walked up to Raynor.

"No kiddin'. They almost had us there." he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

Zeratul nodded cautiously, "Now we must hope the remainder of our plan succeeds. Once the planet's primary communication hub loses power, our fleet will begin jamming their satellites to cut off communications for the planet. We will only have a limited window of time to complete our task before the UED realizes something is up and sends reinforcements."

"The defenses here are certainly nothing to scoff at. But we've had tougher fights." Raynor said. "Besides, our main job here is done, it'll be up to Kerrigan and her zerg to do the heavy lifting in the battle."

"I shall hope that this success has come soon enough for those on Aiur." Zeratul's somber tone contrasted with the victory they just achieved. "They are no doubt using their full effort to survive against the UED attacks right now."

"Fenix will be fine, he's got to be." The clenching of Raynor's hands betrayed a nervousness inconsistent with his confident words. "They'll need more than that to take him down."

Suddenly, a flashing alert caught his eye. Raynor looked down and swore. "Damn it. There are enemy wraiths closing in on us, coming from the military base around the Psi Disruptor. They're demanding that we land our ship and surrender. We're not going to be able to make it orbit in time."

"Then we must land and evade them on the ground," Zeratul said. "It shall be our only chance for survival."

"I'll take us into the city," Raynor said. "I still got some of my boys there with the military equipment we smuggled in. They were ready in case we failed and they had to resort to our Plan C to cause a ruckus to distract the UED. If we hide out in the ruins on the edge of the city, we can try to hold out for a bit."

Though the city had been repaired to some extent as it was repopulated, the fringes still showed the damage of the zerg invasion. With it being abandoned, it was a good place for his men to hide in. Now, it would be their holdout.

He sent out a message to his people on the ground as he began to fly the dropship down. But there was still some distance to go, and the wraiths were gaining on him. Raynor gripped the steering controls tightly. Even though he wasn't a professional dropship pilot, in his days as an outlaw he often had to get out of a tight situation. Now, he'd need to put those skills to the test again.

Seeing the dots showing the missiles drawing closer, he swung the ship to the side. The metal creaked from the sudden movement and the loose items on the floor crashed against the side of the cargo hold. Trails of flame streaked past the side of the ship, visible from the cockpit as the missiles narrowly passed by.

Raynor gritted his teeth as his palms grew sweaty. The next set of missiles were already coming. The ship shook as he pulled it into another evasive maneuver, barely dodging them again. Leaning forward in his seat, he pitched the ship downward into a dive. The wraiths gave chase, intent on forcing them to either land or crash.

Just then, a set of missiles came from the ground, fired by goliath walkers. The missiles struck the pursuing wraiths, knocking them out of the sky. Raynor slowed down as he approached the ground, eventually bringing the ship to a halt right by the goliaths. After landing, he got out to greet his men.

"We gotta head underground into the bunkers," he said. "They stayed solid during the zerg invasion, so they ought to let us hold out for at least a while. We're in the middle of hostile territory, trapped with nowhere to go. The enemy might send everything they've got after us. But we're gonna fight, and we're gonna make it out okay. We survived Char. We survived Aiur. We won't let this rock take us down."