Chapter 3: The Quest for Uraj
"We've found the Uraj," Selendis said. "It is located in a mining encampment near a large terran outpost. We haven't been detected so far, but once we draw near their sensors will detect us. Artanis, shall I deploy our forces for the attack? I expect that you will want to lead them in combat?"
"I shall if it comes to that," Artanis said. "But it would be ideal if we could avoid confrontation. If the terrans can be persuaded to give up the crystal without a fight, it would make things much simpler for us. We can demand their surrender, and perhaps they will realize that it is not worth it to fight us."
"The terrans won't surrender," Kerrigan said. "The Dominion prides itself on protecting humanity from aliens. To surrender to them is unthinkable, especially as they have no reason to trust us. Besides, the ongoing invasion is just going to have everyone on edge. They are more likely to think that we are helping whoever is out there invade the planet. The only way past the terrans guarding the crystal is to destroy them in battle."
"It is true that the terrans will be unlikely to submit to us," Zeratul said. "They have their own sense of pride. While every effort should be made to avoid unnecessary loss, announcing ourselves brazenly will only cause us to lose our asset of surprise and make the battle all the more brutal. Instead, we must strike swiftly and carefully to make sure the terrans will not be able to respond to us taking the crystal. The most effective maneuver is to eliminate their command structure."
"A sound plan Zeratul, if the terrans lack leadership they will be unable to coordinate their defense and we can retrieve the Uraj uninterrupted." Artanis turned to Selendis. "Executor, can you plot a course for us to attack? We must accomplish our mission quickly before the terrans are able to muster a force against us."
"I am doing so," Selendis said. "I've located the enemy command center. The observers we sent up ahead have been able to roughly determine the layout of the terran base. The north of the base is situated near a cliff and is thus more lightly defended, with the command center nearest to the walls there. I suggest we attack from that direction using our shuttles."
"A small strike force will work best for this operation. Our main force can draw away their attention, but be sure not to become stuck in a prolonged engagement. Use hallucinations to cover our withdrawal. Meanwhile, I will lead a group of our best warriors to strike at the enemy's rear," Artanis said. "Zeratul, will you accompany me on this mission?"
Zeratul nodded. "Of course Artanis. With us together no foe can stand against us."
"Excellent, prepare our shuttle Selendis." Artanis and Zeratul began walking toward the deployment bay.
"Mind if I come along?" Kerrigan asked.
The two turned to look toward Kerrigan appraisingly. After a few moments, Artanis agreed. "Very well then, we shall see what you have to offer fighting with us."
The shuttles descended toward the snowy ground of Braxis. Below, the terran encampment was already in a state of activity as they moved against the distraction attack taking place on the south side. The smaller strike team of protoss landed near the edge of the cliff face, with the wall of the terran base only a short distance away.
Along with the warriors the shuttles brought several reavers, large bulky machines used by the protoss as siege equipment. As the reavers moved into position, the terrans manning the walls began to take notice as they prepared for the attack. However, gathering their soldiers near the wall in preparation for an attack proved to be more detrimental than helpful.
The explosive scarabs were disgorged from the reavers, quickly shooting forward over the icy ground as they moved toward the walls. A large explosion consumed the site of impact, blasting apart the neosteel structure and killing the marines standing behind it. Another set of scarabs followed shortly behind, clearing out the remaining rubble along with anyone who survived the previous blast.
Soon the smoke cleared, revealing a large gap in the walls. Beyond the gap, there weren't any terran soldiers left standing. The path was clear.
"Move forward quickly warriors," Artanis ordered. "We must strike before the terrans can muster additional reinforcements. They have been distracted, but it won't be long before more come to fight us."
The protoss quickly moved in, entering the terran base. There weren't many defensive installations here and the area was mainly filled with clusters of supply depots. With most of the guards having been called away to fight off the diversion attack, the area was rather deserted. It was rather quiet, with the only sound being the whirling of the fans on the supply depots.
Suddenly, a marine stumbled out from behind one of the supply depots, carrying a crate. His eyes widened as he saw the group of protoss in front of him. The crate dropped to the ground as he began reaching for his gun. But before he could draw his weapon, Artanis slammed him back into the wall of one of the supply depots. Knocked out instantly, the marine slumped to the ground while Artanis turned back to lead the group to their target.
As they emerged from the cluster of supply depots, Artanis saw a group of marines organizing, along with goliath walkers. "The terrans have gathered faster than expected. We must strike swiftly," Artanis said. "En Taro Adun!"
Artanis charged forward as the zealots alongside him did. The terrans reacted quickly, turning their fire toward the approaching protoss. Artanis's shield blocked the incoming shots, though some of the other zealots weren't as fortunate, their shields broken through by the weight of fire. Then, the protoss charge slammed into the terran battle line, turning into a chaotic melee as the zealots began tearing through the marines in close quarters while the terran soldiers desperately fired toward the enemy right next to them, while trying their best not to shoot their nearby comrades.
Several goliaths went down as the scarabs from the reavers detonated next to them, wrecking the large machines. With their mechanical support being taken out, the remaining terran soldiers withdrew as best they could, heading further into the base while a smaller group sacrificed themselves as a rearguard. Artanis took a few moments to reorganize his forces before heading deeper into the base. It seemed that after the skirmish, the remainder of the terrans had started avoiding them as no enemies barred their path forward.
Suddenly, explosions ripped through the back of the protoss force. The reavers had been destroyed by an attack from far away. "Retreat," Artanis ordered quickly. The protoss quickly turned around and withdrew, though not before another volley from the siege tanks tore through a group of zealots.
"The terrans must be aware of our location and have set up tanks to fire at us," Artanis said. "Executor, can you send our observers to locate the tanks?"
A few minutes later, Selendis responded. "I've located the terran artillery near the command center, but it is well guarded. The observer was taken out by a missile turret near the tanks, but before it was destroyed it gave us information about the position. Around the tanks there is a squadron of marines guarding them.
"With our reavers destroyed, we won't be able to take out the tanks from range," Artanis said. "We shall have to charge in quickly to minimize our losses from the bombardment before we destroy the tanks."
"Artanis," Zeratul interrupted. "Rather than expose ourselves in such a way, I can go on ahead and strike them from the shadows. While the missile turret near the command center will detect me once I reach them, I shall still be able to approach safely and once I am close the tanks will not be able to strike at me. While dangerous, I believe I can handle the marines guarding the tanks, as long as the position is not reinforced."
"If it's just taking out those tanks, I can do it," Kerrigan. "I can get close enough without being detected to wipe out the group with a psionic storm."
"Very well then Kerrigan," Artanis said. "If you can do so it would save us a lot of trouble."
Kerrigan vanished from sight as she cloaked, and though Artanis could vaguely sense her there at first, soon she had moved away and disappeared altogether. For a few minutes the protoss waited, keeping an eye on the roaming terrans who were looking to probe at them. Both Artanis and Zeratul were on edge with Kerrigan gone from their sight. All they could do right now was wait in the middle of hostile territory while fighting off the harassment from the terrans.
Then, a crackle filled the air as psionic lightning shot out from the tops of one of the barracks before descending onto the tanks some distance away. The psionic storm raged for only a few seconds, yet that was enough time for the siege tanks and the marines around them to be torn apart. The light show exposed Kerrigan's position and the remaining terran units in the area located the roof from where the attack originated. A stream of bullets soon focused on the area, kicking up a cloud of debris as the barracks was torn apart, obscuring the area from sight.
"Forward warriors," Artanis called out as they rushed forward. The scattered terran soldiers were unable to put up any significant resistance now that their support had been eliminated, and it was simple for the protoss to cut a straight path through to reach the command center.
Kerrigan reappeared, dropping down beside the protoss as they approached the command center. "I just took out the remainder of the marines guarding the command center, though I saw some more reinforcements coming. We'll have to finish this quickly."
"Good work Kerrigan," Artanis said. "Next we shall have to break the communication systems in the command center in order to prevent the terrans from coordinating a response once we go for the Uraj. Ideally we can shut down their sensor network too, but I am admittedly not familiar with the systems of these terrans. Will you be able to handle it?"
"Of course," Kerrigan said with a smile. "Now what would you be doing without me?"
"Probably blowing up the missile turrets rather than disabling them," Artanis said.
"Right, well see you in a bit then," Kerrigan said, entering the command center while the protoss prepared to repel the terran counterattack.
The command center was in a state of turmoil. None of the officers had expected that they would be attacked from behind without any warning, and that the attackers would slice through the defenses so quickly. The artillery had gone dark, and while this could have been communication difficulties, with other squads vanishing as well, what was happening was clear. For all they knew, the enemy could be at their door this very moment. Unbeknownst to them though, the enemy was already inside.
"Damn it, the military headquarters in Boralis still hasn't responded. Our distress calls aren't being picked up." The commander sighed. "The protoss could be here any minute now. We won't be able to hold out much longer."
"There is no hope for support then?" the aide asked. "We have been abandoned?"
"Who knows what is going on. If it was a communications failure at a time like this, that would truly be unfortunate. Though I worry there is more afoot." Turning back toward the console, he made one last attempt to contact the headquarters.
This time, there was a response. "Outpost Zeta-3, report your status."
"The outpost is under attack, and there isn't much time before we are overrun. You need to send support immediately. We are being attacked by a sizable force of Protoss and they have breached our defenses. Please, you have to send reinforcements or else-"
The door to the inner room of the command center blew open. The commander spun around but saw nothing. One by one the men around him dropped dead in rapid succession, cut in half. Now that he was looking more closely, the commander realized that there was a blur moving through the room, but before he could do anything, he found himself suspended in the air.
The communication window was closed and multiple other tabs opened up on the screen as Kerrigan dropped her cloaking and sat down at the control panel. The commander realized in horror that the zerg creature that infiltrated the command room was entering the correct passwords to shut down the defenses of the base and locking out communications.
Finally, Kerrigan stood up, her work completed. Psionic energy sprang from her fingertips, frying the equipment in the command center. Then, she snapped the neck of the last witness to her work and stepped out.
"It's done, let's get out of here now," Kerrigan said.
"Our shuttles are ready," Artanis said. "We can proceed to the evacuation point where we arrived."
Exiting the base occurred without incident. There was hardly anyone left in the area they attacked from, and the soldiers in the rest of the base were in a state of chaos, with no one knowing where to go. Soon, the protoss were able to go toward their real goal, the Uraj crystal.
When Artanis arrived to oversee the extraction, the protoss had already secured the area and was searching the dig site for the precise location of the crystal. The terran miners had been rounded up and disarmed, and a pair of zealots stood watching the prisoners. Throughout the search no terrans came to interrupt them, as was planned.
Finally, a probe had returned with the Uraj crystal. "The crystal is secure, we will be returning to the fleet shortly," Artanis informed Selendis. Soon, the mining encampment faded away into the distance as the shuttles lifted off from the ground.
"There are no terrans pursuing us," Artanis said. "That is strange, I would have expected a response by now."
"During your battle, I observed combat taking place elsewhere on the planet," Selendis said. "It seems the other terrans that are invading have already managed to take the upper hand."
"Then at least we shall be undisturbed," Artanis said. "The Uraj has been safely acquired and our mission on Braxis has been successful."
"You have done well, Kerrigan. There is more to you than it seems. Perhaps I have misjudged you," Zeratul mused.
"Given our history, I can't say I blame you," Kerrigan said. "The job is done, and that's what matters."
"Indeed," Zeratul replied. "Now should fortune favor us, the rest of our mission will prove similarly simple."