Chapter 8: The Battle of Char
It looked like there was a sea of zerg in front of Artanis. The one time that he had seen so many zerg before was on Aiur when they fought the final battle against the first Overmind. That creature had been far more terrifying, but back then he also had trusted comrades at his side - Tassadar, Fenix, even the terran Raynor. Now, many of them were gone, dead or occupied by duties elsewhere. Their absence was now felt more than ever and in their place was a new ally. Truth be told, Artanis was still very apprehensive about this alliance, but out of lack of better options this was the only way forward.
Above him, the fleet was already locked in combat with the countless zerg fliers. The zerg fell by the thousands, yet Artanis could also see a few lights fall from the sky as well. The zerg were almost upon them. The reavers were still firing into the hordes of zerg, killing many with each explosion of a scarab. Yet, there were still some zerg that survived and made it through.
Artanis activated his psi blades and charged into combat as the warriors around him did the same. A pair of zerglings in front of him were cut through immediately, and Artanis swiftly moved past, slicing through a hydralisk's spine in midair before running forward and cleaving the hydralisk in half. He became a whirlwind of action, killing any zerg that entered his path.
Around him, the other warriors were also killing their share of zerg, with the dragoons providing support from afar. Slowly, they were pushing through the swarm of zerg, leaving a field of corpses behind. Among those bodies were many protoss as well, though each had killed dozens of zerg before falling.
Suddenly, a haze fell upon the ground, obscuring the area. The dark swarm made it difficult to see, and frequently zerglings would jump out of the haze and attack. Just after he dispatched another group of zerglings, Artanis sensed a larger creature approach. Ducking to the side, he avoided a massive scythe of bone tore into the ground next to him as the ultralisk emerged from the haze.
Artanis jumped up, landing on the ultralisk's face and plunging his psi blade in. The beast roared, furiously trying to shake off Artanis. It almost succeeded for a moment, but Artanis was able to hang on and bring his other arm in to slice deeper. With another push, the ultralisk finally slumped onto the ground.
The dark swarm was starting to clear, and Artanis could see several psionic storms raging not far from him, no doubt destroying scores of zerg. With this opening, the protoss force charged forward and assaulted the first hive cluster, with the reavers blowing apart the sunken colonies at the perimeter of the hive, allowing for the rest of the warriors to charge in and finish off the creatures hiding within the hive.
Yet more zerg gathered in front of them after they had destroyed the hive. It seemed that they just kept coming. The protoss advance slowly came to a halt, and they struggled just to maintain their position.
"Executor, how fares the fleet?" Artanis asked.
"We are under heavy pressure from the zerg," Selendis said. "We will be unable to provide support to your forces."
"And what of our allies?" Artanis asked.
"We lost contact with the ship we sent," Selendis said. "Something must have happened to them. We have no idea about the status of our supposed allies."
"We can only trust that they will be here," Artanis said. "Otherwise this expedition is doomed."
Then, the zerg attacking them began drawing back.
The zerg hives were in a frenzy of activity, churning out more creatures constantly to feed them into the attack. Being far from the front lines, they were only lightly defended. Kaloth's zerg were moving toward the front, taking a path passing near many of these hive clusters. Without warning, these zerg turned and attacked. Many hive clusters were torn apart by the sudden onslaught, having no time at all to react.
"What is this madness?" Daggoth demanded angrily. "What are you doing Kaloth?"
Kaloth chose not to answer, continuing with this heavy task as he knew nothing he said could change the minds of any involved.
Daggoth continued attempting to communicate. "Has someone taken control of you Kaloth? You must try to resist."
Daggoth suddenly paused as he noticed that Kerrigan's zerg had emerged from her hives and were now going on the attack with her at the lead. Instantly, Daggoth's tone toward Kaloth turned venomous. "So you are being controlled by another, but out of your own free will. I had never questioned the Overmind's decisions before, but there is no doubt now that accepting that terran as one of us was a mistake. You are choosing to side with her? Over the rest of the swarm?"
Finally, Kaloth responded. "Forgive me Daggoth, I wish it didn't have to come to this. But the side that I chose was set since my birth."
"I know that you have spent your life watching over Kerrigan, but even you must see that this path is absurd," Daggoth said. "It is irrational for you to pursue this course. The cerebrates need a new Overmind. It is the only way for the zerg to stay united."
"Is it, Daggoth?" Kaloth said. "Or have you been so stuck in the past that you cannot see another way. The swarm can grow in other ways. Still, I agree with you that for me to take this course of action is not one that is founded in reason."
"Then why, Kaloth?" Daggoth exclaimed. "Why must you do this?"
"Because the alternative is one that I cannot accept." Kaloth sighed. "Sometimes there are things that rise above logical calculations."
"You are too far gone," Daggoth said with disgust. "She has her hooks in you completely, for you to be willing to go all the way with this. I shall entreat with you no longer then, traitor."
Kaloth turned his focus back onto the battle. The initial strike had done a lot of damage, but Daggoth was already reacting, directing the rest of the cerebrates to move their forces back to defend the infant Overmind. There would be no easy victory here. Now, Kaloth reorganized his brood and sent them on the offensive once more.
Kerrigan was already leading the attack, pushing in further against the fortifications around the Overmind. Progress had slowed as the enemy moved more minions to reinforce that area. His own forces took this chance to strike on other areas of the front, taking some ground and eliminating more of the enemy's hives.
The battle appeared to be going in their favor. If they kept this up, then it would seem that they would have victory in their grasp soon. It was easy, too easy. Daggoth's personal brood was nowhere in sight even as Kerrigan's army began drawing ever so closer to the Overmind. Where were the enemy's elite forces?
After thinking for a moment, Kaloth contacted Kerrigan. "I believe that Daggoth will be sending his elite warriors to kill you. He is truly infuriated now. Your position is currently exposed and is in danger of being cut off."
"Are you asking me to withdraw?" Kerrigan said.
"That would be the safest course of action," Kaloth said.
"Then we will have to face those enemies later. And then, we won't know where they'll attack," Kerrigan said. "How about this Kaloth, you set a trap for them and I'll lure them to it."
"That will be dangerous," Kaloth said. "Daggoth's warriors are ferocious and powerful. If you end up being trapped, then it will be difficult to escape."
"This entire venture was a risk," Kerrigan said. "If we avoid danger then we won't make any progress."
"Of course," Kaloth said. "Just be cautious."
"Tell me where you want them," Kerrigan said.
Kaloth took in the landscape in an instant and evaluated it. "There is a valley system to the northeast of your position. Lead the enemy there and I will have forces burrowed to ambush them."
"I'll get it done," Kerrigan said. She turned her focus back to the battle and soon saw the change in the enemy forces as the frontlines were being replaced with stronger and more ferocious breeds. Her own zerg forces were quickly losing ground now that they were faced with zerg sent from Daggoth's elite zerg. It was time to finish drawing the enemy into the fight.
Kerrigan stepped forward, focusing into the distance and shooting out a psionic storm. A hole formed in the line of zerg which slowly expanded as she swept the raging psionic energy across the battlefield. Then, a flurry of sharp spines shot across the battlefield and Kerrigan quickly ducked to the side and narrowly avoided them. Some of the hunter killers on the edge of the psionic storm's radius were hardy enough to survive, and now they retaliated as they turned their aim toward her.
At the same time, that display had led to Daggoth's army taking notice of Kerrigan, and they began moving to attack. More hunter killers began focusing their fire in that direction, and the mighty Torrasque was beginning its charge. Kerrigan realized that the flanks of her army had been broken through and the enemy zerg was beginning their encirclement. Time was short, and with the enemy clearly having locked on it was time to withdraw and bait the pursuit.
The enemy had sent the fastest of their zerg, the devouring ones, around the side to cut off the retreat. In close quarters combat, the elite zergling strain ripped through the hydralisks and caused the retreat to stall as the zerg on the backline paused to fight back against the attackers. The weight of fire was bringing down some, but the devouring ones were exceptionally quick, able to dodge attacks from far away and quickly close the distance.
The interference was holding them back, and the bulk of Daggoth's zerg were not far behind. Soon, Kerrigan arrived on the backlines and intervened to break the deadlock. A group of devouring ones rose up into the air under her telekinetic grip, allowing the hydralisks to shoot them. As more groups of devouring ones were taken out, Kerrigan's zerg were able to regroup and begin pushing forward again.
Kerrigan focused on another group of enemies in her path, using her power to freeze them in place. Suddenly, her side erupted in pain as several sharp spines pierced through her carapace. Dropping the zerglings in her grip she turned to look toward the attackers. Another group of hunter killers had arrived to reinforce the encirclement and they were beginning to fire upon her from a distance. The hunter killers outranged her own hydralisks, and already the attack was doing damage.
Kerrigan ducked behind an ultralisk as her wounds began healing. Examining the enemies, it seemed that their numbers were not extensive, though they held a positional advantage at the moment. After a moment of contemplation, she hopped onto an ultralisk, behind its head, and ordered it to charge forward along with several other ultralisks.
A hail of spines flew through the air, and though most of them were blocked by the armor plating on the ultralisk, she still had to occasionally deflect a spine heading toward her or a softer spot on the ultralisk. The hunter killers packed a bigger punch than ordinary hydralisks, and one of the other ultralisks actually fell under the weight of the attacks.
Finally, they reached the enemy and the ultralisks plowed through the line of hunter killers. Kerrigan jumped off of her ride and began tearing into the enemies near her, while the rest of her army began moving in with the hunter killers distracted. The bulk of the enemy army was still in pursuit, so after breaking through, Kerrigan continued to lead her army away.
Daggoth's zerg pursued Kerrigan with a single minded determination, intent on her destruction as they chased her down. Daggoth sent his minions toward the flanks, boxing in Kerrigan and pushing her into the direction he wished. However, Kerrigan was hardly passive here and forced her army just far enough to skew the direction of movement toward her destination. Finally, Daggoth's zerg pursued her into the branching network of valleys.
Eventually, the chase ended as Kerrigan and her army were being driven into a dead end as the enemy barreled down upon them. Suddenly, scourge swooped down from alcoves in the sides of the cliffs, wiping out swaths of the enemy fliers. Meanwhile, queens emerged from the caves and ensnared the army with sticky webs while defilers came from the ground and covered them with plague.
At this moment, Daggoth realized the predicament his army was in and immediately ordered them to withdraw. However, the ground behind them was now filled with lurkers and a new army had appeared, coming out from scattered hiding places in the rest of the valleys. An attempt by the trapped zerg to force their way through was unsuccessful, with even the Torrasque taken down by repeated attacks. Meanwhile, Kerrigan and her army turned around and attacked from the other side, and the two sides came together to seal the destruction of the trapped zerg.
"That should be a significant portion of Daggoth's standing forces in this region," Kaloth said. "Now we should be able to take the offensive without worry, at least until further reinforcements arrive for the enemy."
"Then we can't waste time," Kerrigan said. "We have to go at this with everything we got."
From the shadows, Zeratul gazed down at the creature in the depths of the cave. It had been quite the challenge making it this far. He and his comrades had waited outside the hive, looking for an opening. Once the amount of zerg had decreased, they were able to employ a diversionary attack and then sneak through. Now, they were inside the chamber in which one of the overmind's cerebrates resided.
Stepping through the shadows, Zeratul moved ever closer to his destination. Zerglings scuttled across the creep covered ground, sniffing about to look for intruders. It was simple for the veteran dark templar to avoid them. Finally, he stepped out of the shadows in front of the cerebrate. The hydralisk next to him reacted, but it was already too late. Zeratul reached out his arm as he activated his warp blade, the energy cutting straight through the hydralisk's head the moment it formed.
Then he struck, stabbing deep into the flesh of the cerebrate just as he did to many before. The creature writhed and flailed for a few moments as its mortal shell died. Then, Zeratul saw the spirit of the cerebrate. Focusing the void energy into his blade, Zeratul made one more cut, ending the creature forever.
Around him, the brood degenerated into chaos as the zerg fought one another, now bereft of intelligence and direction. With his job done, Zeratul slipped out of the chamber and withdrew. Now it was time to deliver the news.
"Artanis, I have eliminated one of the cerebrates," Zeratul reported.
"I noticed many of the zerg on the front lines fall into chaos," Artanis said. "Good work Zeratul, you have made our fight ahead easier. We shall soon be approaching the last bastion of the Overmind."
When Zeratul returned to the main protoss force, he found them assailing the plateau upon which the Overmind resided. Their warriors were climbing up the slopes as the fleet bombarded the zerg at the top. However, a flock of zerg fliers attacked and with the help of the spore colonies they drove the fleet back. A rush of zerg came down and the protoss were overwhelmed, retreating back once again.
The protoss retaliated with another bombardment from the reavers, smashing apart the zerg attack force and destroying some more of the defenses. The fleet returned, picking away at the spore colonies at the perimeter and baiting a group of mutalisks into chasing.
"How goes the battle, Artanis?" Zeratul asked.
"The defenses around the Overmind are formidable," Artanis said. "But we hold the upper hand and it will only be a matter of time before we are able to break through."
Suddenly, Selendis interjected. "Artanis, the sensors are picking up a large amount of zerg approaching from the north. Their numbers greatly exceed ours. What shall we do?"
"We will do what we must," Artanis said.