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Devastation Comes In Big Packages [Planetary Annihilation/Multicross SI]

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Leafy503 said:
Considering how much Raynor sips from that flask I'd say it's low quality/cheaply made/ possibly moonshine type beverage.
Plus it fits with the hick Terran theme.
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Jimmy has no idea what is in the flask. Swann brews it and the last crewman who asked about it was mysteriously 'promoted' to the Firebats
 
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106 - Sour Dreams
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    • 106 - Sour Dreams​

    The Raiders had been on Meinhoff for a week, and even in that short of a time the effects were outright miraculous. A good number of the refugees present had already managed to move on to the Core Worlds of the Dominion, to places where even Mengsk's jackbooted thugs couldn't justify abandoning them without effort. In truth, however, the vast majority, more than half had chosen instead to flee to Umoja. Ordinarily the smallest of the three major stellar terran nations would likely never accept such high numbers of new arrivals, but everyone knew that they were willingly settling people on multiple planets within their territory that were in the process of terraforming. Even though there were ships consistently arriving, as the zerg continued their advance, just as many were flying out. Some into the Dominion, racing to stay inside the slowly shrinking circle of their influence, most to Umoja, and a bare few even to the Combine. The sheer volume of supplies and aid from the Raiders in helping organize things had utterly dismantled the pressure cooker that had been building on the planet. And even though he had been present for all of it, had helped out in distributing supplies, all while filming for his next broadcasts, Michael Liberty was struggling to believe it.

    Unfortunately, the world wasn't going to sit around and wait for him to finish processing it.

    "Keep moving, keep moving! I want this water on that ship before it leaves for Umoja!"

    Michael just watched, smoking a cigarette, as James Raynor, wanted supposed terrorist, commanded his men to keep shifting crates down the ramps of the Hyperion. He wasn't dressed in his black CMC custom armor and was instead dressed in a rather dirty white t-shirt and a ragged vest, even his jeans were threadbare. That, and the single revolver on his hip opposite a flask, didn't come close to the picture of the maddened menace that the Dominion media portrayed. But then, Michael had known the man before the Dominion had even existed.

    "Big Ben, can you handle the rest of this?" Jimmy called out, drawing Michael's attention to the burly Mar Saran medic, the woman herself already the subject of a few interviews on his part when he'd learned of her leadership of the rebels of that planet.

    "Sure can, boss. No worries," she waved a hand and walked to the fore, her CMC armor hissing slightly as she took Jimmy's position, the rebel leader already on his approach.

    "Jimmy," Michael greeted with a nod.

    "Michael," Raynor nodded back. "You up for a drink?"

    "Probably shouldn't," Michael shrugged and looked over the insanely busy starport of Meinhoff. "Why not."

    After that, Michael let himself be pulled along into a blast into the past, striding along the Hyperion once more. This time, he wasn't trying to escape the ship, but was instead being escorted onto it. Instead of marines trying to bar his way, they were letting him through door after door. Instead of the Hyperion presiding over the monstrous destruction of Tarsonis, it was the herald and command center. Also, the cantina felt entirely new, or at least, he hadn't seen it when the ship was under the control of the Sons of Korhal. A few minutes later and the two of them were sitting at a table, bottles of beer in hand. There was a calm silence for a moment before he decided to break it.

    "I'll be honest, Jimmy, for a while there it seemed like the Raiders, the revolution, had stalled."

    Raynor grimaced at the truthful statement and then sighed.

    "I can't say you're wrong, Michael, but things have certainly picked up again, I'd say."

    "Oh certainly," Michael nodded and tipped his bottle towards the man before taking a swig. "This, especially. The Dominion can lie as much as they want, but you're literally throwing millions of witnesses at them who know your real character."

    Every ship that fled into the Dominion represented one hell of a lot of mouths.

    "I don't want them talking too loud," Raynor shook his head. "Mengsk isn't going to shy away from purging anyone who gets a little too rambunctious under his boots."

    It would have been nice if they lived in a universe where Michael could claim, definitively, that Mengsk wouldn't just purge the refugees in vast numbers if they showed too much open support for Raynor.

    It would have been nice if they lived in a universe where the billions of people on Tarsonis hadn't been torn to shreds by the zerg, too.

    "They won't, they know better than that," Michael hedged, "Plus, you asking them to be quiet about it probably helped with that."

    "We can hope," Raynor shrugged. "Still, I was surprised to find you here of all places."

    "I go where the stories are," Michael shrugged back. "We both fight in our own ways."

    "Hey," Raynor held up his beer bottle, "Amen to that."

    "Amen," Michael tapped his bottle against his friend's and they both drank deep.

    ====================================================================
    ​
    Two men swayed slightly as they stood in the Hyperion labs, examining a quietly floating thing of alien artifice.

    "So, what did you say this thing was again?" Liberty said as he lit up another cigarette and drank the last of his latest beer.

    "Doc said it was a sort of…memory storage device," Jimmy shrugged, his eyes slightly narrowed as he scrutinized the floating crystal. "An Ihan crystal."

    "That Zeratul gave you," Michael said slowly. "Zeratul the protoss."

    "Right."

    "I uh, I wasn't around for those parts…but I've heard things."

    "Zeratul's a friend," Jimmy said firmly, grunting as he threw back yet more whiskey. "I trust him."

    "Uh huh."

    It wasn't Liberty's fault, Jimmy knew that. The reporter's experiences with the protoss were solely with them burning worlds and attacking positions on the battlefield that he'd happened to be in.

    "And he was worried about some kind of darkness…"

    "Something like that. He was a bit vague," Jimmy sighed. "He was desperate for me to take a look at it."

    "And how does that work?" Liberty raised an eyebrow, going to drink again before realizing his bottle was empty. "You think really hard at it or something?"

    "No, you just touch it, at least that's what the Doc said."

    Liberty puffed on his cigarette and looked between Jimmy and the crystal.

    "Uh huh….so?"

    "So what?"

    "Have you touched it yet?"

    Jimmy grimaced and rubbed at the back of his head.

    "Well no. Just…haven't had a real spare moment recently."

    Liberty smirked and gestured around the lab, pausing momentarily at the large pulsating mass of flesh in one of the test tubes and the crackling sphere held up by glowing crystals in another.

    "Jimmy, I've never seen the Hyperion in as good condition as it is now. You'll be here at least a few more days helping people shift supplies and get refueled. And if this Zeratul said it was important…?"

    Jimmy sighed again and then drank the rest of his whiskey.

    "Okay, okay, fine."

    It was surely a combination of being significantly drunk and Liberty actually being right that finally pushed him to do it. Jimmy reached forward gingerly, looking back at an expectant looking Liberty, and then finally crossed those final few inches with his fingers and pressed them against the Ihan crystal.

    Raynor…

    Jimmy winced as the voice of Zeratul washed through his mind, the noise so pained and weary that it cut through the buzz of the whiskey in his belly. He stumbled slightly, which brought Liberty forward, his cigarette tossed to the ground as he reached forward to catch him. Which, inadvertently, brought his own fingers against the crystal, which subsequently had Liberty staggering as well as the crystal flashed.

    "Agh!"

    The hounds of the void are closing in…I impart my essence - my very essence – into this crystal…so that you will see what I have seen…and that the future…may yet have hope…

    And then the world went black for a brief moment, at least until two burning green eyes and the vaguest shape of Zeratul's face appeared before him.

    Then he saw – felt – was traveling through the stars. What was Raynor and what was the memories of Zeratul mixed and melded until he couldn't be sure where one began and the other ended. When the next words came, it felt as if they were coming from his mind, his throat, transmitted to…himself? Zeratul – he – spoke to the crystal, desperate and pained, to help Raynor – himself? – understand and see what had occurred. The search for the ancient prophecy propelled him into the Void, to planet after planet, even rogue planets in the darkness between stars, until finally he left the Korprulu Sector proper entirely. It was only by the most generous of definitions that he was on the barest periphery fringe space of the Sector, a remote world in a single planet solar system.

    Then he – Zeratul? – spoke the name of the world, just as Liberty did next to him, the two men frozen in half-crouch as the energies and memories overwhelmed them.

    =====================================================================


    ​
    Ulaan was an arid world. No, more than that. It held the dusty dryness of a tomb. Perhaps, in truth, because it was. There was a sense of ominous pressure to the entire place, pressing down upon my mind and body from the moment my ship passed through the atmosphere. It was curious, to feel it out with my psionic essence, and feel something that was akin to the ghost of an echo come back. The whole of the planet was not submerged by the Void, yet nor was it akin to the light of the Khala. In truth, I had only felt such a mixture, such a presence, diluted even by eons, in places that had been once traveled by the Xel'Naga. Ulaan, then, had indeed been touched strongly by the Gods. For all of that, however, I could not relax as I crept along its crevices and crumbling pathways of stone. There was something beyond myself on the world. Just what, however, I could not say. The depths and mysteries of the universe were infinite, after all.

    But, in time, I found what I was looking for…though it brought me little joy to do so.

    Eventually I discovered paths, or at least the ruins of them, and followed them into the depths of the world. At the ends of those paths I discovered the first of a number of shrines. The pictograms carved in the stone from so long ago should not have been so accurate, and yet they were. Such was the foretelling of the Xel'Naga. I was alone in the darkness, with only the light of my psi-blade to light my path, and yet even pressing a hand against the stone I could feel something more from within. Ideas, concepts, visions, compressed within the stone, reacting to my being.

    "The zerg swarm came," I murmured as I ran my hands across it, feeling the truth of the past in the present through the rock itself. "And the protoss rose against them, as the firstborn of the Gods."

    Then I felt the next impression of the stone, communicated directly into my mind as the Void danced beyond my vision, and felt a tremble go through my body. Was it true? Was it even possible? That the Xel'Naga which formed us, all of us, could return? No, more than that, were returning? The concepts locked psychically within the stone shook me as they came to me, one after another. And yet, just as powerfully they came, they stopped. The absence was sudden and bewildering, the stone of the shrine becoming simple stone once more, the powerful essence within gone somehow after communicating its truth to me.

    The Xel'Naga, returning? But for what purpose?

    "Do you come to save us, oh Gods? Or to destroy us?" I murmured aloud.

    Before I could contemplate further, the stale, nearly unmoving air of Ulaan twisted. Changed. An old, familiar stink passed in a half-dead breeze. It was accompanied, as well, by a pressure upon the Void around me, a weight against my mind. I spun where I stood yet was faced solely by the shadows and darkness of a dim cavern. Which meant nothing at all. I was an old warrior, and though confident in my abilities I knew well enough that there were powers that could conceal themselves from my sight. Within moments, my suspicions were proven correct, as zerg hydralisks slithered out of the shadows to strike at me. They were fast, and strong, and not nearly enough.

    But then, I, and their master, knew that.

    I felt her before she revealed herself more fully. That horrid pressure against my mind, against my very soul, a thing of carnage and venom and hate. She could conceal it, I knew, but there was no reason for it here. I would call it arrogance, had I not failed too many times in the past against her.

    "I knew you'd find your way here…eventually."

    Her every word dripped with acidic contempt, even as part of her essence casually attempted to flay my mind apart as she strode forth. I strained back, forcing the barbs to be blunted, even as I set my feet before her.

    "Your very presence here defiles this place, Kerrigan," I spat the name of my most hated enemy in the universe, watching the infernal glow of her eyes.

    Her eyes danced with madness, looking back and forth at something I could not perceive.

    "Can you hear them, Zeratul?" She asked softly, even while her mind continued to probe at my own. "Whispering from the stars?"

    The dust around her feet began to shudder.

    "The galaxy will burn with their coming…,"

    I ducked back through the Void, refusing to allow her to make the first move yet again. Perhaps, this was my chance. To avenge the Matriarch, to avenge so many lost and dead. To make right my failures of the past. This place was a tomb, and surely it could accommodate one more.

    "Perhaps…but you won't live to see it!" I declared as I leapt upon her.

    Foolishness. I know that now. Before I could strike even a single blow, she grabbed me from the air and held me, her presence and strength crushing me lightly enough to pain me but not strong enough to kill me. She could have, plainly, but instead whatever fresh madness that had come upon her compelled her to speak more.

    "Please," she scoffed, "Our petty conflicts mean nothing now." The glow of her eyes brightened further. "A storm is coming that cannot be stopped!" What might have been a smile passed her putrid lips. "Fitting that we should face it together."

    My fury compelled me, granted me strength, enough at least to strike. It was not a fatal blow, I had seen her regenerate from far more grievous wounds, yet the break in concentration was enough to allow me to pull back, to retreat to a safer distance. And, I will admit, there was some small amount of satisfaction in stripping one of her twisted wings from her, for a time. But the pain of her crushing might still reverberated across my body, shaking me out of the Void once more, forcing me to collapse to a knee.

    "Fate cannot be changed," she said it softly, and for once her suffocating presence ceased trying to snuff me out.

    All around the Queen of Blades, the zerg were beginning to swarm, in greater and greater number. I felt true despair, then. This sacred world was infested. It had been for some time, and yet I had not sensed it even when I had initially arrived. It had been made clear me to me, yet again, that I did not possess the strength to stand against her in open battle.

    "The end comes…and when it finds me?" she spoke casually as she regrew her wing, "I shall embrace it at last."

    "Moving a little fast there, aren't we?" A new voice piped through the cavern, drawing the zerg's eyes as well as my own.

    There, disturbingly close to where I had been only moments before, was another. My eyes widened even as I instinctively reached out with my mind, only to find myself rebuffed once more with a strength that baffled me. There, emerging from nowhere, a cloak falling in silence, stood another terran. Kerrigan's head tilted as the terran stood before her. A stranger suit of armor surrounded them from head to toe, similar only vaguely to the garb of the psychics that their race could marshal, their so-called 'ghosts' and 'shadowguards'. Dark purple lines glowed along glossy black, and in the terran's arms was a heavy rifle of a make I had never seen before that point. The terran floated above the ground in a manner I was largely only accustomed to seeing the high templar muster.

    "And who…are you?" Kerrigan drawled, her eyes narrowing.

    "Aw, you don't know?" The terran's voice was a strange thing, tinny and loud as it transmitted into the open air. "Didn't you just say you wanted to embrace me at last?"

    All that the Queen of Blades did was twitch, and a bolt of blinding psychic power fired out from her fingertips. I had thought to see the arrogant terran been blasted beyond the Void, only to stare as – along with Kerrigan – and see the terran still there. A large spherical shield of pure psychic energies surrounded her. The sprawling zerg swarm which had slowly crept into place all around her leapt forth, snarling and ripping and tearing, yet they could not find purchase either. A flash burst forth next, one that forced me to turn away and cover my eyes and shield my mind, and when I turned back I beheld a field of spilt gore and shattered chitin. The terran sniffed, making sure to do so loudly enough for it to echo around the cavern.

    "Nice! My turn," the terran said cheerfully.

    I stumbled back as massive swathes of the cavern tore themselves into the open air. Dozens of massive rocky protrusions became unmoored from the floor and ceiling with violent wrenches, three of them the size of the ancient colossi. I stared at the unashamed, impossible psychic strength of a mere terran, and it seemed even Kerrigan was surprised by the unbridled power on display. But I would not know for certain, for as soon as they were ripped into the air, they began flying down with wild speed directly upon Kerrigan. Before even the first rock reached her, I could feel the Queen of Blades begin lashing out, the Void shuddering with the force of it. The cavern would not survive the coming clash, a child could sense that much, let alone myself. I could not know the result of their battle, yet neither could I remain as a witness.

    The prophecy was yet uncertain, my understanding incomplete. There was surely more. There had to be some inkling of hope. I had to believe that. And so, though it may have shamed a prouder warrior, I turned from the ongoing fight and turned back to my course, clambering deeper into the ruins. Behind me the cavern shuddered and broke apart, and I found myself turning back one last time before I ascended out of sight as new but familiar sounds boomed out. There, I beheld the zerg swarming up out of the depths, only to be combatted now by terran troops. Marines, they called them, as well as some of their primitive vehicles unveiling themselves.

    Truly my sight was clouded on this world, that I could not sense the presence of the zerg nor even the terrans.

    Even worse, it seemed that as below, so above, for as I clambered to what I had thought to be relative safety I could hear the sounds of warfare. Primitive terran weaponry of all sorts chattered and boomed against screeches and hisses from hundreds of zerg throats. When I finally emerged onto the next level, I beheld a war, one involving such numbers and ferocity it seemed impossible for me to have failed to recognize the sheer mass of terran minds. The zerg, perhaps, I could understand, for Kerrigan had long ago proven her abilities in deceiving the Nerazim, but the terrans managing to conceal themselves from me was a quiet sore point in the depths of my heart. How could I not have sensed all of these minds? There was little time to pause and self-recriminate, however, I needed to keep moving. Neither group seemed to have noticed my presence, especially as I focused upon the Void and cloaked myself with practiced ease and began to move across the battlefield.

    I knew these terrans not, they bore not the mark of James Raynor, nor the Dominion, or even any of the other lesser terran nations and groups. Their emblems were unknown to me, and so too their character and purpose. Though they fought against the zerg now, I cannot say whether they would aid me or find me as a foe as well. As such, I could only watch as these black and purple armored terrans fought and died against the zerg. They had come in considerable force, both of them, but just as so many times in the past, the zerg were beginning to overwhelm their enemies with sheer numbers. Though I must admit, the terrans were giving battle with valiant effort, silent even as dozens of them died, firing without pause even as they were torn apart.

    There was more to the prophecy, I was sure of it now. It had taken a few moments to truly internalize it. Now I knew, not simply out of desperate hope, but because something within me, something I had gained by reaching the shrine told me so. That there was more, more to be learned at other shrines. I could sense them in the distance, cloaked in shadow, essences that resonated with that which I had taken within myself. So I stalked forward, as quickly as I could. Leaping across chasms through the Void, all the while watching as more and more terrans and zerg arrived. I beheld a trio of terran tanks be stomped to pieces by an ultralisk, wraiths crashing as mutalisk acid brought them low, and spore crawlers and spine crawlers set aflame by terran troops. Perhaps the zerg beheld me through the spore crawlers and overseers, but I cannot say. They were all too engaged with the open threat of the terrans to assault me out of the odd zergling and hydralisk.

    With good fortune, I reached the first shrine quickly.

    Unlike the one I had beheld when I arrived, this one was…more. I could feel the energies pulsating within, and they released with violent emerald light as I reached out with my mind! I felt knowledge be thrust upon me, yet it was buried past my consciousness with an ease that seemed impossible. Furthermore, the energies that suffused me salved my aching pain, energizing my body and mind in one. Even as the shrine went silent and lifeless, its purpose expended, I could not fully perceive the fragment of the prophecy given to me. I would not even be able to begin understanding it unless I had all of the prophecy, I knew it. It was while I contemplated that when I was forced to leap through the Void to safety once more, my instincts and psionic defenses screaming out a warning. No less than a second later the entire shrine was pulverized from below.

    The terran psychic from before was flying upwards, having been thrown with immense force upwards through the rapidly crumbling earth, Kerrigan snarling as she flew up after her. Bolts of psionic energy were exchanged through the air between the two, several forming from the tips of Kerrigan's wings and others from the air around the terran's head. Her rifle cracked out several shots, each projectile burning with light. The sound of the Queen of Blade's screech of pain as they burned holes through her torso was deafening. At the same time, the psychic's strange armor bore scratches and dents, but surprisingly no truly damaging tears or rents. There were no pithy exchanges, no words spoken between them. Only the deadly silence of a duel. I saw all of this in but a handful of seconds before they disappeared from sight once more, Kerrigan accelerating and tackling the terran directly through a cavern wall and elsewhere in the cave network.

    I had not thought myself to be surprised too swiftly again yet was once more when I came upon more of my kind battling the zerg further on. Stalkers, brothers of Shakuras, firing up against zerg flyers. These, I felt compelled to aid, especially when hydralisks uprooted themselves from below and began attacking them. Between us, the enemy were cleansed, though the sound of battle was ongoing now in all directions. We had but a moment to exchange word and thought, our minds already mingling in communication. Not as the Khala would bind, but with choice and free will.

    "Brothers," I called out to them, "What has brought you to this desolate world?"

    "Greetings, Exalted One," their leader bowed the legs of his walker, "We are in service to High Templar Karass. He is nearby."

    Strange, yes, but I could not deny being heartened by the presence of my brothers. And a High Templar? Perhaps fortune had decided to favor me, just this once.

    "I am gladdened to hear it, though we should keep moving to reach him."

    "Agreed, Exalted One. I am Ledress," the leader of the stalkers said as we began to move forward. "I had not expected to see one such as you here, much less the terrans."

    "I am on a quest for a prophecy," I told him as we struck down a group of zerglings, "One that, I hope, may provide a path towards salvation. As for the terrans, I have no inkling as to the reasons behind their presence here."

    "Then it is even more imperative we reach High Templar Karass," Ledress said with determination, "He will surely aid you."

    We fought on where we were compelled to do so but moved past more than a few fights between the terrans and the zerg.

    "I do not recognize their emblems, Exalted One, yet they fight the zerg with considerable ferocity," Ledress commented as we passed one such battle.

    "Neither do I," I related as I cut down another hydralisk, "But we must remain cautious of them."

    "Of course, Exalted One. But perhaps-,"

    The stalker was silenced by the growling engines of terran siege tanks as many of them pulled out ahead of us. Unfortunately, for once they were not pointed towards the zerg, but rather directly towards us. Some of the stalkers crouched, their energies poised to teleport, but I held out a hand. I cannot say for certain why, but my intuition was rewarded as the tanks did not fire. Instead, a terran pilot emerged from within one of them and called out to us. I could not sense their mind, nor see their face through their concealing uniform and armor, but their voice was clear and stringent.

    "Hey! Protoss! Dunno what you're doing here but watch out! There's a hatchery up ahead!"

    Despair welled up within me, as well as outrage.

    "She intends to truly infest this world, then," I growled, a noise echoed by the stalkers around me. "And what of you, terrans? What is your purpose here?" I said louder.

    "Uh," the tank commander paused, "Sorry, internal MannCo operational details are classified for non-clients. Which uh, means you, protoss."

    MannCo.

    I had not heard of such a group before that moment.

    "Anyway, we gotta go, so…if you're coming this way, try to wait until we've engaged the zerg hatchery and then move on, yeah? We're not cleared to engage protoss so you shouldn't have any trouble from us." They said before ducking back inside their tank.

    All of the siege tanks swiveled about on their treads and then began storming down the path, but we did not immediately follow them. I could feel the questions rising in my brother's minds.

    "I have never heard of this MannCo, but then I have scoured the Void alone. What of you, brothers?"

    "I cannot say we have either," Ledress said, glancing about at the other stalkers who similarly shook their heads. "But if they speak true, they are not out enemy this day."

    "We shall see," I shook my head. "We can at the least see if they spoke truly. Let us follow them and continue on our way. The next shrine is near."

    My fears, unfortunately, were realized. The siege tanks were firing at the hatchery, even as the zerg washed over them. Marines and 'firebats', as the terrans named their troops, were present in great number. The fight was considerable, but there was still a path through. I could feel the power of the shrine just a short distance away. Far too close to the hatchery for comfort. Thankfully, the power of the terran tanks was enough that the disgusting living structures of the zerg were being blown apart. Here, now, I could not deny my inclination. To let the terrans die in such number in attempting to cleanse the world was too dishonorable for me to stand.

    "Come brothers, let us aid them!" I called out and leapt to do just that.

    "By your lead, Exalted One!"

    It was not as fighting alongside James Raynor in the past. Not in the slightest. The soldiers of MannCo were disciplined and, aside from the one tank commander, utterly silent. As they fought, as they died. I assumed they were communicating on their primitive communication systems, for they were exceedingly well coordinated despite taking grievous casualties. Still, the hatchery was soon destroyed, along with all the other zerg nearby, and the revolting creep began to wither and die. The terrans did not even pause momentarily to mourn their dead, and instead immediately moved to deploy elsewhere on their ships, leaving me and my brothers on our lonesome at the sight of the second shrine. The second fragment was no more comprehensible than the first, though the energies it released once more healed my newer wounds, as well as those of the stalkers.

    Still, despite all that was occurring, I could feel the flame of hope burning brighter in my chest.

    Though it was tempered by the sound of rock being torn apart on a tremendous scale. Nearby, behind us where the hatchery once rested, came Kerrigan and the terran psychic once more. The rifle was gone, now, but had in turn been replaced by a blazing white blade of energy from a strange guard-less hilt. The two battered one another, lifting and throwing chunks of rock and flesh and metal. Blasts of blinding lightning and sheer kinetic force brought about by psychic intent flew this way and that, shattering their surroundings further. The terran's helmet had been scored, directly across the face, though not deep enough to reveal anything, while Kerrigan's body was already in the midst of healing numerous wounds. Beneath them erupted a massive nydus worm, which belched forth an entire swarm of mutalisks which joined in on the fight.

    Your hope – Kerrigan's voice burst across my mind, tight with pain and fury – is an…illusion, old fool! I will –

    "Eyes on me, Sarah!" The terran shouted, screaming with effort as another psychic eruption bloomed outwards which exploded the dozens of mutalisks surrounding them.

    The light of it was nearly blinding, not simply to my eyes, but to my mind as well.

    "Exalted One, we must flee! More zerg are swarming the area!" Ledress' urgent plea cut through it, aiding my focus.

    He spoke truly. The nydus worm may have died, but its body was still a channel through which a tide of zerg poured through. Perhaps, if the terrans were not here and openly battling the zerg, we might have endeavored to move more carefully, but we could not spare the effort or energy.

    "Then let us be off!"

    Still, as we did so, I directed my thoughts behind us to the ongoing fight.

    I will never give up the fight so long as there remains hope, Kerrigan. If you were truly able to read my mind so easily, you would know this!

    The only response was another unearthly howl of outrage.

    On we rushed through Ulaan's depths. A nuclear eruption staggered us at one point, one just in the distance, where many terrans and zerg could be seen. By the time we reached them, having slain an entire group of banelings on the way, there were barely any survivors left. All that remained was a handful of terran marines, who nevertheless stoically marched on. They did not acknowledge us, even as we emerged from the Void and followed them, to where the bulk of their forces were. Or had been, at least, as by the time we reached them there were only corpses left behind. But I could see the reasoning behind it, though my heart ached at the death of so many at the zerg's hands. The target of MannCo was clearly the hatchery which was now little more than shredded and irradiated meat. At the least, the terrans knew better than to leave any such structures behind if at all possible. The marines barely acknowledged us before a dropship came and flew them elsewhere.

    "These terrans…something about them makes me uneasy," Ledress noted as we moved on, "I cannot figure out what, precisely."

    "I understand what you mean, brother," I said back, "Their minds are strange. Clouded from my sight, somehow."

    The result of the terran psychic's effort, much as how Kerrigan had concealed the zerg?

    The thought was…disturbing.

    Thankfully, we soon reached our next destination. Even from a distance, I could feel the considerable power of High Templar Karass, and that of his warriors. Though I was Nerazim, the strength of the Khala was intriguing in its own way. I sensed his mind reaching out to us, politely and honorably exchanging customary greetings long before I saw him with my eyes. By the time we got there, I was granted the welcoming sight of a great many warriors being teleported in by way of warp prisms.

    "En Taro Tassadar, Prelate Zeratul! I am High Templar Karass," he bowed his head as he turned to face me, my unspoken question driving his next words. "My force tracked the Queen of Blades to this world – yet we know not what she seeks." His expression and aura darkened momentarily. "We also did not know of the terran presence here, but it seems…extensive. They have provoked the zerg, and already a portal has arisen through which the greater Swarm comes."

    My heart was both buoyed and sank at his words.

    "Time is short, then," I said rapidly as I walked to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. "I was drawn here, and Kerrigan as well I suspect, by an ancient prophecy. I must recover it before her."

    Though I was not connected to the Khala, the truth of my words was potent enough. The High Templar simply nodded firmly and turned back to his troops.

    "It will be an honor to fight alongside you, great one. Lead on!"

    Though my spirit swelled at his words, the universe – as ever – appeared to have other plans. Before us was arrayed a significant zerg presence, with many of their deadlier forms present amongst them, simply waiting for us to charge in. Before we could do so, however, vast explosions began to ripple out across Kerrigan's forces. The stereotypical mushroom cloud of the primitive but admittedly powerful force of terran nuclear missiles rose up again and again amongst the zerg. The force of it caused great cracks in the ground and rocky ceilings and walls, buffeting us all with the blast wave of each weapon.

    "The terrans have made their move," Karass declared, eyes narrowing. "Do they wish to prevent us from the prophecy as well, Prelate?"

    I shook my head. Though I had not seen from whence the nuclear weapons had been launched, it must have been from close by.

    "The terrans seem entirely unconcerned with my presence, only with that of the zerg. Here, now, I shall not question our fortune. We must move forward as swiftly as possible!"

    What might have been a tremendous battle became not one at all, for few zerg had survived the numerous explosions. Of those handful of survivors, none were any further than a few breaths from death. It was oddly anticlimactic, but no sooner had that foolish though crossed my mind than more nydus worms were bursting free, though by that point the shrine was already in sight. The forces of Karass, unbloodied and untouched by the previous zerg defenders, were able to slaughter the zerg without much difficulty at all.

    "I can sense…something within this shrine, it is true, but I cannot grasp what," Karass said uncertainly after we had regrouped.

    "I suspect that it can only be truly understood by possessing the previous fragments, my friend," I clasped a hand to his shoulder. "Be watchful, this should not take long."

    This time, it was different. The moment I stepped forth, I could feel what had been placed within me reaching out, recognizing the familiar essence within the last of the shrines, and connecting there. All of a sudden, the veil was lifted from my eyes, and the truth of the final fragment was revealed to me!

    "It speaks…," I strained to speak as the energies – the knowledge - flowed through me, "It speaks of one who shall…'break the cycle of the gods'…"

    And just like that, the comprehension ended.

    "Most ominous. If-," Karass was cut off by the sound of nearby explosions and zerg screeches, our combined force turning as one.

    There, on a rocky ridge which was already becoming enveloped by creep, came Kerrigan. She was wounded, powerfully so. One of her wings was torn off once more, the other crushed and crumpled. She stalked forward even with a massive gaping wound in her side, the chitin and flesh melding and regenerating around her legs. But the light in her eyes was entirely undimmed, and in one of her hands she clutched the terran by the face, dragging them kicking and struggling along with her. Kerrigan huffed as she beheld us, her eyes narrowed.

    "You might…," she paused and grunted as her wings straightened back out, the other regrowing once more. "Peel away the prophecy's layers, Zeratul – but you cannot outrun the doom that awaits us all! Not you," she sneered down at the terran and began squeezing tighter, "And not you," she hissed down at them.

    "That's a matter of opinion!" The terran shouted before curling into a ball and letting loose with a prodigious amount of psychic force.

    Kerrigan's eyes widened even as her arm began to shatter, forced to let go as she was thrown away along with a number of other zerg. The terran, on the other hand, leapt forwards, towards us, landing in a crumpled roll before rising to her feet. If slightly wobbly, at least. She was muttering in a terran language I did not know, but I could taste the anger and frustration in the air, it practically boiled off of her. For a moment, at least, before Kerrigan's scream of fury reached us all, and the terran lifted her head.

    "Okay. So, guess I was wrong, and Mann was right. She is damn near the most powerful psychic ever. At least my armor held up," the terran spat bitterly. "But you, Zeratul, need to get out of here."

    "Hold," Karass floated forwards, holding an arm out between us. "Identify yourself, terran, and-,"

    "We don't have time," she hissed, the formerly smooth and featureless pane of her helmet ravaged. "That wasn't enough to put her down, not by a long shot. You, all of you, need to get out of here. We've already destroyed the other shrines, we won't let her get the rest of the prophecy."

    My shock was…considerable. As was that of Karass, if I judged the emanations of his mind right. But even now we could hear the sound of hundreds, thousands of zerg on the way. The very earth was shaking with the force of their coming. And throughout it all, the star-like burning presence of Kerrigan, her fury extravagant and extensive in its breadth.

    "Get the hell out of here, protoss!" The terran shouted.

    Many dropships flew forth from out of my sight, deploying a significant MannCo force directly between us and where the zerg were coming from. There were even a number of terran aircraft present as well. Blasting their way forward from nearby, the exit from the shrine was briefly filled with terran troops that also arrayed themselves in defensive posture.

    "Zeratul, I-," Karass began, his intent clear even before his words.

    "That means you too, Templar," the terran called over her shoulder while other MannCo marines brought her another rifle similar to the one I had seen her wielding earlier. "Today, MannCo is making the sacrifice play."

    "But…why?!" I could not help but ask in frustration. "Why are you-,"

    "You little worm!" Kerrigan's thunderous voice drowned out all else, voices both telepathic and audible.

    The terran simply half-turned to me and gently pushed me towards the exit. All of us, in fact, zealots, templars, and stalkers alike.

    "Get out of here," she said simply.

    On the ridge came Kerrigan once again, the very air shuddering and breaking with her fury. Zerglings without counting came leaping down, while dozens of hydralisks slithered amongst them. Stomping forth were far too many ultralisks, mutalisks and overseers sweeping forward through the air.

    "We've got a few troops left, making sure your ship is okay," the terran said over their shoulder. "So please, get the hell out of here?"

    My burdens weigh heavily on me, but leaving the terrans to die was one I had not expected to have to suffer. Yet it is one I shall, for the prophecy was fully within me, yet I could not yet begin to fully decipher them on my own. I knew it, and Karass did as well. We could not allow Kerrigan to gain access to the prophecy, and the terrans had already done their best to deal with it. The signs of their sacrifice drenched the corridors back to the Void Seeker, whole swathes of them lay dead where they had fallen against the zerg. But the path was clear, for all that it was carpeted by the dead. Two terrans remained alive, pilots of the vehicles known as goliaths, and no sooner had we arrived than they moved back the way we had come, to the audible battle still ongoing.

    "Prelate, allow us to accompany you on your mission," Karass announced as his warp prisms arrived to take his troops to safety on his ships. "This prophecy is too important to be left untouched."

    "I am grateful for your aid, High Templar," I bowed my head to him. "I know of some who might interpret the fragments: the Preservers of Zhakul."

    "They are wise and learned indeed," Karass nodded his head. "Then we must be swift."

    I boarded the Void Seeker, and was joined in orbit by Karass' carrier, our two ships swiftly seeking to escape not just the planet but the entire system. The carrier had already come under attack thrice, and it was only the terran ships which were combatting the Swarm that had preserved it. I had come to Ulaan to find it a tomb, and now it was swiftly becoming such again. When we exited the system, I could only feel regret at the sight of multiple massive explosions rippling across the planet…

    ========================================================================
    ​
    "And that's all we saw," Jimmy finished, still rubbing at his temple with one hand, the other squarely clutched around a bottle of beer.

    Matt, Swann, Hanson, Stetmann, and Tychus all stared back at him from across the cantina table. They had found him and Liberty collapsed on the ground, apparently having gone missing for a couple of hours while staring into the damn crystal. It was only now that he and the reporter had been allowed out of the sick ward, both men immediately heading to get a drink. The questions had started the moment they'd woken up in said sick ward, but Jimmy had deferred until he had at least some alcohol in his belly to try and burn away the cold terror that the strange memories had left him with. Tychus seemed the most wigged out of all of them, a nervous sweat trickling down the side of his face as they'd explained what they had seen.

    "It's so strange," Liberty said, reaching out with one hand and clenching it. "I keep thinking that I can…I mean…," he scoffed, "I remember being Zeratul. Those were his memories. I didn't understand it all, I don't think a human brain could, but still…," he waved his fist around back and forth, and it took a second before Jimmy recognized it as the way that Zeratul might have used his psi-blade.

    "Yeah, I know what you mean," Jimmy groused as he drank the rest of his beer.

    "So…what, exactly, does this mean?" Matt asked, his expression grim.

    "End of the universe stuff, it sounds like," Swann shrugged, sitting back in his chair. "Seriously weird juju, boss."

    "The capacity for mental impression capture and communication transfer is astonishing!" Stetmann piped up, practically vibrating in his seat. "I mean, the implications – the possibilities! I – I just…wow!"

    "That's one way of describing it," Doc murmured. "Jim, are you sure you're all right? To have gone through what Zeratul did, I'm…I'm not even sure what I should look for to tell if you are or aren't," she said softly.

    "I am not all right," Liberty pointed out. "I'm a reporter. I don't do the fighting thing, not like that. I fight with words, not…not psi-blades and 'Void prisons' and what have you."

    "I don't think you should be messing with that thang at all, Jimmy," Tychus shook his head vigorously, "How do you know that you won't just wake up one day all blue and without a mouth if you keep poking at it?" He paused at the look the three scientific types were giving him. "What? If it's putting them protoss memories into him, how do we know it ain't doin' other stuff?"

    "Tychus," Doc placed a hand against his armor, "That's not how Ihan crystals work. They're rare, certainly, but they are documented."

    "I'm just saying," Jimmy's old friend continued, "I've seen movies about this sorta thang, you go in for some memory stuff, next thing you know turns out you're a replicant! Or…hold on," he paused and screwed up his face in thought. "No, that's a different one. But still!" He insisted.

    The conversation rapidly turned to movies at that point, at least for a little bit.

    "Jim," Matt spoke up, his quiet voice nonetheless cutting through everyone else. "Are you thinking of going back in? To the crystal's memories, I mean."

    Jimmy frowned and rubbed at his jaw.

    "I…think I might have to, Matt. Zeratul was desperate for me to look at that stuff. Plus…," he trailed off as Yuriko Thirteen walked into the cantina.

    Yuriko Thirteen with a very, very recognizable rifle on her back.

    "I think those memories might have more than just some answers for Zeratul in them," he murmured.

    The MannCo operative paused as the door to the cantina opened back up, a bottle of beer in her hands. She turned her head, just slightly, looking directly at him before winking and then stepping through.
     
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    • its alive hall the author for coming back from the grave during these time's :D
    nice chapter and having the team learn some of the history and learning that the universe has a new big baddy in it
     
    I love how more raw the memories are and showing how weird experiencing them would be.

    Can't wait to see other ways Mann interfers and helps out.
     
    Made my day to see an update here.

    My favorite Planetary Annihilation story, which is in the midst of a plot arc in one of my favorite universes, updates unexpectedly?

    I loved the fight between thirteen and the Queen of Blades. Even as powerful as Thirteen has become she wasn't strong enough.

    I think I remember most of what was going on, but now I want to reread this story to make sure.

    I am so heavily anticipating the interaction between the Raiders and MannCo. Both with Thirteen and with Captain Mann. I really hope we get to see the events to come.

    Thanks for the update, torroar!
     
    Man, I wonder what the last protoss mission in WOL-Devastion will look like? Will Mann Breakout the Death star? Sounds awesome. Also Yey Templar Karass lives. He was cool.
     
    It's nice to see this updated thanks for the chapter. Had to refresh my memory but I remember this story for my much higher interest in the girl he picked up from command and conquer rather then the actual commander.
     
    I had feared this dead for good after the report of the HDD failure previously. I'm glad it's live.

    ...

    Hell yeah. It's about time. :p

    Also, will Yuriko reveal more? I can barely wait. Or will she troll...

    "I'm thirteen Raynor. That was twelve."
     
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    Quick question. What's the policy for omakes on this story? I've kind of had the idea of an intelligence bio by various respective agencies on Guy/Mann/etc that's about 90% speculation and 10% facts because of how little evidence he leaves behind but the aftermath.
     
    Mashadarof402 said:
    Quick question. What's the policy for omakes on this story? I've kind of had the idea of an intelligence bio by various respective agencies on Guy/Mann/etc that's about 90% speculation and 10% facts because of how little evidence he leaves behind but the aftermath.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    99.9% of the time, I'm open to others contributing whatever they like :).

    Canonicity wiggly depending, of course, but still.
     
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