OOC: Man life can sure get busy. Better now, and here's some space-cowboy romping around to make your day more pleasant. :-D
IC:
“How far out are we?” David asked. The return trip to Domus seemed to be taking forever. The protoss on board didn't make it any more pleasant. The dark templar weren't so bad, when he could avoid thinking about the fact that they could be anywhere on his ship, but Asala....
“About four hours closer than when you asked me four hours ago,” Puck said patiently. “We'll get there when we get there.”
“I know,” David answered defensively. “I just want to get this over with quickly.”
“You and me both,” the sardonic reply came. “How goes things with-”
He was suddenly interrupted by metal clanging and clattering somewhere in the ship. David was instantly back on his feet and running towards the noise. Puck's voice came over his ear-piece. “No damage to the ship, but it looks like Haley is having a problem in the engine room.... I'd bring chocolate if I were you.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” he answered, breezing through the communal dining and kitchen area. A few minutes later he was jogging into the engine room, where Haley was screaming incoherently and throwing things everywhere.
He dived for cover as a toolbox came flying at his head.
“Hey! Haley! Cool it! It's just me,” he said, poking his head out from cover.
“It's that damned buzzing!” Haley said furiously. Her curly red hair was extremely disheveled and it looked like she hadn't slept in days. “It's everywhere! It's driving me insane.” She broke down and started crying.
David suddenly felt uncomfortable, and he didn't know how to respond. “Buzzing?”
“You can't hear it?” she sobbed, looking up at him with red eyes. “It's everywhere. Here. In the cockpit. In my quarters. I can't find out what it is, and it's making me crazy. It doesn't sound like anything I've ever known.”
She looked away, and continued muttering to herself.
David looked to the doorway again, hoping that he could find a way out of the room without setting her off. No luck. He would have to move directly into her field of vision to escape.
“It's okay. My ears ring like that sometimes too. It's been happening a lot since those protoss got on board. Maybe it's something with their telepathic stuff. I bet it's nothing to worry about.... Haley?”
Haley had stopped muttering and was staring intently into the engine. Suddenly, her hand shot out and grabbed one of her tools. Pointing it into the engine, she pressed a button, and the tool blipped on. "Scanning," it said in a deep male voice.
After a few seconds, it beeped once, and a tiny red dot appeared on the little monitor of the tool.
Thrusting the tool into David's hands, she dived into one of her tool-boxes, finally coming out with a little wand-looking tool.
"What's that?" he asked. "What did you find?" He looked down at the tool in his hands.
"It's a concentrated electrical pulse laser," she said. "It's useful for frying pesky little things... like nanobots." She pointed at the engine and fired.
"Haley wait!" David yelled. He didn't like anything with the name 'concentrated electrical pulse laser' being pointed at the engine of his ship.
He dived for cover, but instead of the explosion of electrical circuits he had expected, he heard a wave of electrical energy pass over him, and saw the shadow of Haley's flying body pass over him.
He got back to his feet and then helped Haley up. She was unsteady on her feet and kept trying to shake the spots from her eyes. After a few moments, David was satisfied that she would be alright, and picked up the scanning device.
He touched the little red dot, and it zoomed in to a tiny frame, showing a protoss robot. "Nanobots huh?" he muttered to himself.
“It's... gone,” he heard Haley say behind him.
“Good to hear that,” David said as he pocketed the scanner. “I have to talk to Vardanis.”
David could barely contain his fury as he quickly left the engine room and sought out the 'ambassador'. He had no idea why it was put there and in other places, but if Haley didn't know about it, then it wasn't one of his, which meant it could only be one of the protoss's. He was going to get to the bottom of this.
“Puck, call the crew to the bridge.”
“Is there a problem?”
“There might be. Make sure they are armed.”
{Is there a problem, captain?} Vardanis echoed, stepping out of the shadows in front of him.
Surprised, his pistol was out and pointed before he could think. Even faster than he could see, Vardanis forced his wrist up and pushed him against the wall. Reflexively, David pulled his second pistol hidden in the back of his shirt with his other hand, and stuck it into the protoss's ribs. Before he could fire, Vardanis's grip loosened and the protoss stepped back.
{You are fast,} the protoss said, {but I sense that you attacked out of surprise rather than intent. I apologize for startling you. I forget you humans are not as.... trained.... as we are.}
David reholstered both of his pistols, still trying to register what had happened. He had pulled a gun on one of the Imperial dark templar? Twice? And lived?
“What do you have to say about this?” he asked, pulling out the scanner and throwing it to the protoss.
Vardanis caught it and flipped it around to face him in the same motion. {It is a nanobot. One of Asala's, no doubt. She has a pension for such... gadgets.}
“It was hidden in the engine room,” David went on. “And Haley thinks there are more throughout the ship. Did you know about this?”
{I can assure you that I knew nothing of this,} Vardanis said.
At first, David wanted to argue, but then he forced himself to calm down. If Vardanis had known, he wouldn't have told him about it being Asala's.
{I understand your anger, captain,} the protoss went on. {She has breached your trust, and through her, we have. I will see that she removes her trinkets and I will personally see that it does not happen again.}
“See that it doesn't,” David answered, turning and walking away. After he was a sufficient distance away. “Puck.”
“Yes, captain?”
“False alarm. But tell everyone to remain on their toes.”
David made his way through the dining hall back to the engine room. As he entered Haley's domain, he noted that the room was still littered with the misplaced tools from before.
"Hello?" he heard her voice from the other side of the engine. It didn't waver in the slightest, and he was surprised to see her bounce around the engine to greet him. "Oh, captain!" There was no indication in her appearance or her attitude that she had been almost literally pulling her hair out only minutes before. He almost couldn't tell that she had been crying either.
"Are you okay?" he asked slowly.
"Never better," she said overly happily. She leaned in, her eyes narrowed, and her voice hardened. "And if you ever tell anyone, I will skin you alive and drape the bloody rags of your flesh on the nose of my ship."
David pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket and put it between them. "Tell anyone what?"
SoA:
-Haley discovers nanobots placed throughout Gambit
-David brings the evidence to Vardanis, demanding an explanation
-Vardanis says they are Asala's and then proceeds to reprimand her privately and she removes the nanobots
-Arrival in Sindiris is imminent
-Other random space-cowboy stuff. David almost gets his arms ripped off ;-)
Khalos lifted his arm. It obeyed sluggishly, as if it was tired of being experimented with all day long. He let it drop and watched it. His fingers -its fingers- moved slightly and then stopped.
He didn't trust the arm. It was more like a separate being that obeyed his orders than part of his body. Its pulsing brownish-purple skin reminded him too much of the zerg and the metal framework simply looked out of place on his organic body. But the greatest drawbacks were the reactions of his fellow protoss. They looked at the arm with disgust, even fear, and Khalos himself received no better treatment. Not only had he failed to keep Erana from the Order, he had also accepted a gift from the mortal enemy- the zerg.
And yet, he wasn't sure about having the arm removed. It felt special, something to be preserved, examined and used. And it set him apart from all other protoss, something which he took a disturbing amount of comfort in. It wasn't often that a protoss was "bestowed" with the characteristics of two other races.
The sound of a door opening shook him from his thoughts and he looked up from his chair to see Imperator Madran walking towards him. He was without company: this was a private meeting.
"{Nothing. Apparently a ragtag group of rebels can attack the most important location in the entire Imperium and the combined forces of the military and law enforcement cannot capture them.}"
Khalos maintained his silence. He knew that Madran did not like being interrupted, let alone argued with.
"{The situation couldn't be worse. We lose Erana and an entire fleet to wretched zerg and then we lose the Council to the damn rebels. And that's not all. We are losing Meron and Aris, Khalos. After a year of fighting, we're losing them. Hidron is down to its last defenses. The imbecile in charge apparently crashed his flagship into an Exiled carrier and now they are putting up some kind of futile resistance on the surface. I give them a week at most. Meron? Forget it. Ever since we withdrew forces from the two systems, the Exiled have been pushing and advancing. And for what? We can't even find the rebels with the extra fleets, let alone do anything to them. We essentially gave up Meron and Aris for nothing.}"
His rant apparently over, Madran stood in front of of Khalos, staring at him.
"{And you want me to do something about it?}" Khalos replied. Madran scoffed telepathically.
"{I don't want you to do anything. However, New Aiur seems to think differently. They are recalling you to Khasan. You are to depart immediately.}" With that, the Imperator turned around and left the room, as if the only reason he had come was to communicate his frustrations. Knowing him, that was probably the case. Madran was the kind of officer Khalos had mixed feelings about. A good tactician and strategist, willing to listen but prone to complaining about problems rather than solving them.
Still, for him to notify Khalos of his imminent recall personally meant that something important was going on. And with that thought, Khalos' mind immediately swung to the meeting he had with Odranos just before he left New Aiur.
He hadn't thought much of it once he had left the planet. Odranos was known for being slightly eccentric and cryptic and Khalos linked his behavior - his comments on the Council's "tragic flaw", the refusal to answer Khalos' question regarding the Council's competency - to these qualities.
But now, with the Council destroyed and the entire Imperium on alert, Odranos' comments had a much different meaning to them.
But surely, the Councillor had nothing to do with the bombing? Surely, he wasn't being serious when he criticized the Council? Surely, he couldn't have anticipated what had happened since their meeting?
But one question stubbornly rang through Khalos' mind: Why, out all sixteen Council members and their countless bodyguards and advisers, was Councillor Odranos the only one to have survived the explosion?
"It's a deal then?", the average height brown haired man asked the short black-hooded man. The short man nodded. In the background an overly large blond-haired military man silently watched the conversation. The short man held out his arm and projected a small screen for the average sized man to see. The taller man nodded as the screen displayed a collection of changing numbers and gave the short man a small disk. As he inserted it into what seemed to be his wrist-mounted computer, he turned off its screen and faced the brown haired man.
"So, any other interesting things you've got for me?"
"I don't think so, unless you're interested in going after the Wandering Tribes. The big guy talked to Amar... apparently we're gonna look for them past the Davir system. Setting off again immediately. Work work."
Adam grinned while saying the last two works.
"Gonna pass. It's been a while since I annoyed Doom in person, I think I should catch up on that. If you still have my communications device you should be able to contact me anyway."
"True. Either way, you'll be seeing us around."
"I don't doubt it."
With that, Kenny took off. Adam looked at Jack as he looked back. The eyes of the two met as they turned and walked away in the other direction.
SoA
-Garamar Brood sells the Protoss Rotating Shield upgrade to Kenny for 30 points.
-Murkag arrives at Domus and immediately takes off again in the direction of the unnamed red system three hexes below Idum. 9 ICs/days until arrival.
“Okay, you two, you know what you need to do,” David said as he stepped off his ship onto Domus. It felt good to be back.... Somewhat.... Okay, it wasn't so great. He was just glad to be able to get away from the protoss. “Get to it.”
He watched as Casey and Po'Nath dispersed into the crowd. The Imperials didn't want to make their presence known, but they had gone over every scrap of information with him repeatedly, drilling him on how he was going to get more information. As if he had never done this before.
He wasn't entirely comfortable leaving the ship in Leo's hands with the protoss on board, but he didn't have much choice. The Imperials couldn't really leave the ship without risking detection and/or retaliation, and he wasn't too sure he trusted them off on their own. Especially Asala.
Putting his doubts out of his mind, he set off to begin his own information gathering. He would just have to trust that Vardanis would keep Asala in check, and that Leo would stay calm. Okay, he wouldn't be gone that long. He just had to check out this one lead the Imperials had given him.
The Terrans that traveled with the cerebrate had used a transport ship to ferry them from the cerebrate's leviathan and Domus. If he could find out where the transport had originated, it give some clue as to Dagganoth's allies, or where he came from. It was a long shot, but longer shots had paid out for him.
He made a few calls on his way, setting up meetings with various information brokers. These meetings were easy, telling them what information he wanted and negotiating the terms. Some brokers wanted an up-front fee, others wanted to get paid based on the value of the information. David preferred the latter, because it ensured the brokers efforts. Can't get paid for flimsy or false information.
Then the waiting would begin.
SoA:
- Gambit arrives in Domus, and information gathering on Dagganoth commences
- Imperial protoss stay on the ship, out of sight, with Haley, Doc, Puck, and Leo
- Casey, David, and Po'Nath are doing the information gathering
Yatara's body strained with effort as she climbed the makeshift ladder to the top of the pole, where the nets were suspended. They were sensor nets, complex instruments designed to monitor the atmosphere, and a few minutes ago, the base's computer system had notified her of a malfunction which she had gone to fix.
She could have used a remote probe or other robot to investigate and repair the thing for her but, like any good member of the Wandering tribes, she followed the old rule of use-not-what-you-can-make-not: she would not use a remote probe until she could design and make one. That, and she couldn't resist the opportunity to climb up the pole and survey the area she and the rest of her team were investigating.
She did this now, sitting down on a narrow platform atop the pole to rest her muscles. All around her, extending as far as the eye could see, was nature: cyan-leaved trees, green grass she knew glowed at night and countless other fantastic plants she had never seen and couldn't wait to study.
And study them she would. That was the reason they were here. Big as the verdant area was, it was the only one on the entire planet: the rest was made up of huge oceans and barren wastes that supported no more than the most basic life. The fifty kilometer-radius area they were in was as different from the rest of the planet as the living were different from the dead. And they were here to find out why.
Yatara closed her eyes and nodded as if appreciating the scene and task before her and got to work. She stood up and began to walk from one net-supporting pole to the other using the narrow platforms that connected them. She kept an eye out for any damage or inconsistency in the thin, barely visible fabric above her but saw none.
Confused, she accessed her suit's personal data crystal to look at the report. "High Pressure Abnormality in Quadrant 3, Gird (6, 7)" it read. Yatara raised her head to look at the source of the anomaly but saw nothing strange. Confused, she was about to contact the rest of the small expedition to check if her equipment was malfunctioning when she heard a crackling sound coming from above her.
She whipped her head up in time to see a mass of blue sparks course through the net, making the sky beyond seem dim and distant. And then, with the sound of tearing fabric, the net gave in. For the briefest of moments, the discharged electricity allowed Yatara to see the outline of a large, winged form. A second later, it was gone. She screamed. --------------------
Yatara clutched her makeshift weapon tightly as she advanced down the corridor as silently as she could, her mind carefully shielded. The distance between her and the door at the far end of the corridor seemed to stretch as she came closer.
A distant sound came from somewhere else in the building and she crouched, her weapon at the ready. It wasn't even a weapon. She had merely disassembled a probe and turned its particle beam into a portable weapon. It wasn't powerful but it was enough to hold off the... things.
She waited, not entirely trusting any of her senses. When nothing seemed to happen after two minutes, she continued, albeit more cautious than before. She reached the door withing half a minute and found it to be locked.
She cursed, something she had become accustomed to doing in the past few... hours? days? weeks? She couldn't tell. All she really knew was that something had happened and that something had disabled the base's power crystals. Without the power, she couldn't open the door. So she cut through it with her particle beam, pushed it to the side and entered the base's control room.
As soon as she was inside, she pulled the door closed and, after changing the particle beam's settings, fused the door closed. Still not entirely secure, she set about piling the rooms chairs and other movable furniture against the door. Once she was done, she walked over to one of the many crystal computers in the room and tapped its core. Nothing happened.
Frustrated, she shook her head and activated the particle beam in order to dispel the gloomy darkness of the room. She crouched and reached down to grab the cables that connected the crystal core to the power supply. Using the particle beam, she severed the cables, grabbed them and stood back up.
She then turned off the particle beam and, using the little light that illuminated the room to see, took out the power crystal inside. She curled the power cables around the crystal and held it with one hand while touching the computer core with the other hand. Reciting a mental prayer, she reached out to the power crystal with her mind and activated it.
The crystal glowed blue and, thanks to the miracle that was protoss technology, the power cables wrapped around it received its energy and transferred it to the computer. The core suddenly lit up and, before the conscious part of her even realized, she was instructing it to send out a distress signal to any friendly ships. Then, as quickly as she had turned the computer on, she turned it off. She could not afford to waste the crystal's energy. She needed it... for the things.
SoA:
Yatara, a scientist that is part of a Wandering Tribe expedition to an off-charts planet, sends out a distress signal to other Wandering Tribes fleets after her expedition's base is overrun by... "things".
The system is the red system 5 hexes to the right of Ihan.
Casey stalked through the crowd of one of Domus's Bazaar's, trying to plan her next move. She had faced denial after evasion all day, just on the verge of discovering something. Then, suddenly, all of her informants dried up. They didn't know anything, but she knew that wasn't entirely the case. Something was going on. Someone was protecting this mark, this zerg. Someone high up in the food chain, but that didn't...
She shivered. Something was indeed going on. She stopped to admire a few of the trinkets at one of the stalls as she surveyed the street around her. She had learned to trust her instincts, especially when things weren't going her way. It only took her moments to identify the tail. It wasn't hard. The dirty-looking man, probably someones go-to muscle-for-hire, moved just a tad bit too quickly into one of the neighboring stalls, and pretended to admire the wares. Amateur. Casey started through the crowd again at a faster pace and heard the hustle and sounds of protest as the thug pushed his way through the crowd to stay on her. She listened for the crescendo of unrest to indicate the thug's pace, and when she felt sure he could not swiftly follow, darted for a darkened access into the abandoned mining tunnels of the asteroid.
The ghost moved swiftly through the tunnels as she turned on her night-vision specs with a thought, marking every turn and branch in the path carefully, lest she get lost, and moving almost purely on instinct. When she was certain that not even the most talented of tails, much less a cheap thug, could have followed her, she stopped and took in her surroundings. Casey found herself just inside what appeared to be some sort of Barracks or Union house, carved out of the rock, perhaps a place of residence for the Miners when this rock had still contained riches. All around her lay piles of blankets and refuse, some occupied by persons dressed in variations of the "tattered and dirty" motif. They all looked at her with identical expressions of anticipation.
"Excuse me," Casey said as she stepped back toward the exit, "I took a wrong turn, I'll just be going." The ghost turned to find herself face to face with another individual, this one dressed in the standard combination of nice, slightly worn, clothing and armored accessories that constituted the uniform of every self respecting business man on Domus. He was tall enough that they were eye to eye, despite her gear giving her an extra half a foot, and met her shocked expression with an almost lazy gaze of intense interest framed by his weathered face and long dark hair.
"No need to hurry off," the man drawled, forcing the ghost back into the room with a steady steps and the force of his presence, never breaking eye contact, "I've been looking for an opportunity to chat. I hear you have been looking for information on a ship?"
Casey could feel the trap closing shut as she broke the man's gaze long enough to avoid tripping over one of the huddled masses. All eyes in the room were fixed firmly on her, but not a one of them moved. Several seconds passed as she waited for someone to pull a knife or a gun, or the room to explode, but nothing happened, and she looked back at the man to find him still staring at her, a faint hint of amused expectation added to his intense gaze. She finally gathered up her thoughts enough to coherently formulate an answer, "Yes, A terran transport ship carrying -"
"Yes, I know of which you speak." The man interrupted her smoothly, "Someone had decided you do not need this information. My employer disagrees, so I will give it to you. Does this suit you?" Casey barely had time to nod before the man continued, "Good, you should go to the planet Barkanos, in the Davir system. The one you seek has allies there and you will certainly be able to find out more, if you can pry the information from the locals." The man grinned wickedly, and Casey got a distinct impression that his means of information gathering would not be pleasant. "Now leave, I would prefer that you are not tracked back to this place." He stated, moving quietly aside.
Casey did not need to be told twice. She left, sparing a quick glance behind her to see that they were all still sitting and standing in the exact same positions, staring at her. Casey tried to maintain a calm pace back to the crowded and spacious tunnels that contained the Bazaar. She found it hard not to run. Only when she made it back to the press and bustle of terrans going about there daily lives did she finally start to calm down. She turned her night-vision off, and started back towards Gambit and friendlier company.
SOA: Casey meets some unsavory character's in the slums of Domus, and receives from them information on Dagganoth's allies on Barkanos.
Murkag slowed down as he drifted into the unnamed system. As the Garamar brood slowly drew closer to its centre, the vague distorted message Dagganoth had been picking up since a day or two ago rapidly became louder and less warped. He could sense it relatively distinctly now, and even though it still wasn't crystal clear it seemed that this was as good as it was going to get in this system. Dagganoth took some time to scan all the planets in the system for any form of life in order to prepare against any ambushes, but the system seemed as deserted as some of the gas giants and asteroid fields Murkag had passed on the way. The closer the brood came to the Var'Shiri nebula, the less organisms it had encountered. After a moment of consideration, he directed his psionic attention towards the one Protoss aboard the Zerg Behemoth.
{Amar...}
{Yes, Cerebrate?}
Amar had taken to name Dagganoth by his classification rather than his name: though he had adjusted to life aboard a Zerg 'vessel' fairly well, he still had small issues with things like seeing Zerg organisms as specific, detached, organic beings.
{The disturbancce... have you noticed?}
{I have. It seems... stressed. It is hard for me to pick up, but I have noticed the signal.}
{Perhaps we can combine our effortss. Wait.}
Before the Protoss really understood what was about to happen, it was upon him. Dagganoth had given him a temporary psionic link to the sensing network of the Garamar brood. While it was in a way frightening, what Amar saw was also beautiful. It felt like he was looking down at some kind of 3D battlefield simulation while having an out of body experience at the same time. He was perfectly aware of Murkag and the creature's surroundings. He saw every planet in the system as clearly as Dagganoth did, along with additional visions shared by several Overseers that had left Murkag to do some preliminary scouting. He saw the Terrans, working out in their gym, and Bob Gentry experimenting in his laboratory. He saw - no, he felt himself standing on Murkag's stomach.
But most of all, he heard the distorted message ten times as clear as he had before - even if it was still twisted. It seemed to be a short, chaotic audio file, repeating itself on a loop. It cut off at the end, not properly finishing, and had clearly been recorded and transmitted in a hurry.
{It is definitely some kind of distress call. It is completely broken up; all I can make out is the word 'Help'. The rest is background noise. I can't tell if it's a battle or interference.}
{Then we sshould go and help. I hope you do not mind that we are disstracted from finding the Wandering Tribess for a while longer, Amar...}
{That may not be the case. I cannot identify the signal, but it is definitely Protoss in origin. With some luck we'll find some kind of information on whoever set this signal up - if we get to them in time.}
With that, Dagganoth fell silent as Murkag made a sharp turn and started making its way in the direction the signal was coming from.
SoA
-Murkag arrives at the red system beneath Idum and as it goes in Dagganoth picks up some kind of distress signal more and more clearly.
-Dagganoth briefly links Amar to the sensory network of the Garamar hive, allowing him to receive the signal more clearly. It appears Protoss in origin, and Amar can translate the signal which appears to be some sort of broken up distress call with only the word 'Help' being even vaguely audible.
-In response to the signal, Murkag starts moving in the direction of where it's coming from, which is the unnamed yellow system south of Aris. 2 IC's/days travel time until arrival.
Murkag again slowed down as he drifted into the unnamed system. As Garamar brood had followed its course the distress call had remained as clear as it was, though still not revealing any further information. While getting closer and closer to the apparent point of origin of the signal, Murkag slowed down even more as Dagganoth send out Overseers and carefully listened for any sort of psionic activity or life in general in the system. Though this constellation seemed just as empty as the previous one, something had happened to the Protoss in the call and Dagganoth was ready to react the second something happened.
Nothing happened, though. As Murkag glided closer and closer to the source, it became more apparent to Dagganoth that the source appeared to actually not be located on one of the planets in the system. In fact, it seemed to be located at a seemingly random point in space. After intently scanning the surroundings of the source, it became obvious that there were genuinely no lifeforms around anywhere in the system. As Murkag finally slowed to a halt, Dagganoth found himself looking at what appeared to be some kind of iron diamond with rods sticking out of it. As several Overseers flew in to provide a better look, Dagganoth managed to better identify the object: it was a seemingly metal version of a Protoss pylon with antennae sticking out, and the entire contraption was studded with crystals at various spots.
{Amar... What do you think?}
{I am not sure... it seems to be some sort of communications device, judging by the antennae. Can you give me a closer look?}
With that, two of Dagganoth's Overseers drew closer towards the object and floated next to it at face level distance. Amar got as great a detail as he was going to get and took a minute to study the diamond.
{This is some kind of communications relay. The material is definitely not Imperium nor Exiled Tribes. It might be Tama, but I don't think so. This could well be a construction made by those of the Wandering Tribes. It would make sense: we have now entered the Var'shiri nebula and most tribes have known for a long time that communications go haywire in here. This relay would be part of some kind of larger system they could use to communicate.}
{If it iss a relay, can we find the original ssourcce? The Protosss there will still need our assistancce...}
{That should be easy. There is a feed in it. Can you sense it? If we follow the relay's input rather than its output we should find either the origin of the source, or another relay.}
{Then our path sseems clear.}
SoA
-Murkag arrives at the yellow system beneath Aris and finds the 'source' of the distress call - Amar examines it through the eyes of Murkag and various Overseers.
-The 'source' appears to be a seemingly Wandering Tribes-made Protoss relay for communicating inside the Var'shiri nebula.
-Dagganoth decides to follow the input of the relay and thus sets course for the unnamed red system south of Meron. 3 IC's/days travel time until arrival.
Murkag went through the same proceedings as in the previous two systems, having now 'perfected the art'. This time however, none of the scans or psionic outcries seemed to yield any result and it wasn't long until the Behemoth descended into orbit of one particular planet. The planet was peculiar in that it seemed to be completely uninhabitable; most of the planet seemed to house either vast oceans or empty deserts. The reason it merely seemed uninhabitable was because there was a small jungle located at the north end of it. This seemed to be where the distress call was coming from, and Dagganoth could track it to some kind of compound built inside of the jungle. Fifteen minutes later a swarm of Mutalisks, Overseers and Vipers flew out towards the surface. Another ten minutes later, as they were reaching the jungle, Murkag shot out ten spore pods towards an area just outside of the compound.
As one of these spore pods hit the ground and exploded in a cloud of goo, it revealed three humanoid figures.
"This has to be the most uncomfortable way I've ever travelled", Jack said to Adam and Amar as he took off his small rebreather. He was probably right; Zerg spore pods were usually filled with a gooey liquid that Zerg creatures could distill oxygen out of. It had to be this gooey so the traveling organisms could survive the fall onto a planet without sustaining damage. The Terran-Protoss crew had shared their drop pod with seven Zerglings and the experience was roughly similar to being underwater in a swimming pool. Except the water was gelatine, and there were Zerglings literally just floating around.
"Let's get moving", Adam said as the remainder of the spore pods landed and Zerglings grouped up around them. At the same time, shadows fell over the landscape as the fleet of Mutalisks, Overseers and Vipers got in range. As soon as the Overseers had vision, the Zerglings seemed to instantly change from their passive stance to a more aggressive stance, and a second later a number of them were in combat with what was seemingly some kind of invisible creature. Jack shot some bullets into the underbrush at the side of the clearing as Adam and Amar looked around, looking rather bewildered.
"Invisible creatures", Jack said. "They seem to be hostile."
The view through Jack's eyes was slightly different from what Adam and Amar saw; the parasite in his body was capable of receiving the Overseer's transmissions and transmitted them into his brain through his spinal cord. The jungle looked exactly the same to Jack, but there were a small number of strange cyan-greenish alien lifeforms around that could best be described as 'looking like a cross between a dog and a Zergling'. As the last of the strange band of small attacking creatures fell, the group started moving towards the compound.
They reached the complex not five minutes later, encountering several more of the aliens on the way. Though there hadn't exactly been a lot of dull moments, the group seemed perfectly fine in handling the aliens for now; they seemed more like aggressive wildlife than any kind of organized force. As the expedition reached the complex, Adam looked around. There were three buildings; one seemed to be the 'main' building and was shaped as a tower. The second mostly resembled what Adam knew as a Terran greenhouse, and the third didn't resemble anything Adam had ever seen before.
{It's a laboratory.}
Adam had almost forgotten why they had brought Amar along. All of the buildings seemed to have Protoss architecture, though Adam had had enough experiences with the Protoss to know that they looked different from the Imperium halls and buildings he had seen before. He also noticed a familiar sight to his right; a Protoss photon cannon. Adam wasn't sure yet whether it could be called luck that it looked inactive. As the Zerg airfleet took a defensive position around the base along with fourty of the Zerglings, Amar turned to his companions.
{Should we split up?}
"Too dangerous", Jack interjected. "We'll take a couple of Zerglings and go through the buildings together, one at a time".
With that, ten Zerglings split off from the main pack and looked at the three humanoids, expecting something - orders, by the looks of it. In the background, some more sounds of battle broke out as an additional alien seemed to have appeared from the jungle, attacking the Zerg forces. The search party quickly ran over to the greenhouse and stepped inside. They didn't need more than a minute between them and the Zerglings to sweep the building though, and figured there were no survivors or objects of value to be found. With that the party ran towards the laboratory and found that its door seemed to be shut and wouldn't open without power.
"Stand aside", Jack said as he raised his biosteel arm and pointed his built-in weapon at the door.
{Wait.}, Amar interjected. {We should try the main building first. We might be able to get the power on and won't need to blow up the building to look inside}.
"Fair enough", Jack replied, and the group made their way to the main building.
As they entered it through its main door (which was apparently left open), Jack took one last look behind him. He wasn't sure if he imagined it, but the alien attacks seemed to be growing stronger. Not only were the small hound creatures appearing more often now, but he also caught a glimpse of what seemed to be some kind of larger animal with fins or spikes, approximately the size of an elephant, trampling down on a number of Zerglings as five Mutalisks broke off from the fleet to help them out.
Once inside the building, two paths presented themselves to the group. In the middle of a relatively big room there was a staircase leading up, and towards the back of the building a hallway seemed to lead to both an elevator and a staircase down.
"Where would I go if I were a survivor?", Adam pondered loudly.
"Down.", Jack answered. "Unless you've got air support, which doesn't seem something these guys had going for them, you're going to be trapped if you go up a building. I wouldn't be surprised if the stairway down leads to some sort of escape tunnel".
As the group walked into the hallway Amar put his hand on a pad next to the elevator - absolutely nothing happened.
{I could've known. No power, no elevator. Looks like we'll have to actually walk down these stairs... how primitive.}
Adam and Jack threw eachother looks that revealed amusement as well as confusion and slight annoyance as they followed down a number of Zerglings down the staircase, somewhat dampening the sounds of what seemed to now be almost constant battle outside.
As Jack turned on his military grade flashlight the underground hallway lit up. There were a number of doors, some of them open, leading to what seemed to be simple storage rooms, but there were also two more interesting rooms: one was a lot larger and seemed to house some kind of huge Protoss power crystal while the other had seemingly served some kind of mining purpose; a tunnel was dug out along the side of one of it's walls.
"Hah, an escape tunnel!", Jack exclaimed. "Amar, am I right in thinking that crystal is some kind of generator? Can you see if you can get the power on while we see where this tunnel leads?".
Amar was already in the room by the time Jack was halfway through his question, and he immediately begun what looked like feeling the various edges of the generator and the panels on the wall surrounding it. As Amar was working in the power room, Jack and Adam stood in the hallway and looked at the tunnel. As Jack lifted his flashlight, he could see an immediate dead end after roughly ten meters. No escape route.
{I cannot fix this power cell. I understand the basic infastructure of the system but the technology is just too different... it would take me hours.}
The three exchanged looks. Adam reacted first. "Up the stairs, then".
As the group arrived once more at the ground level, the sounds of battle outside seemed to have intensified. A loud splash was heard as Adam looked up and saw a half-dead Mutalisk had crashed into one of the windows above. Shrieks of organisms that were definitely not Zerg could also be heard outside, and Adam could swear the ground had begun trembling.
"We better hurry this up, or we're not leaving...", Jack said.
With those words, the crew followed three of the Zerglings up the main staircase and quickly ended up in another hallway. The Zerglings wasted no time scouring every room, but most of them seemed to either be observation rooms with a lookout or simple laboratories or storage rooms. One door seemed to be welded shut. Suddenly, the group heard a cry followed by a loud thump and another splash; another dead Mutalisk was slowly gliding down one of the diagonal windows in one of the observation rooms. Jack aimed his weapon at the welded door. This time there was no objection by Amar; he too wanted to finish this up.
...
Yatara woke up to a loud bang. She was lying on the floor with her makeshift weapon in her hand. As she looked up she saw a a humanoid alien with what seemed to be a grossly mutated arm, surrounded by creatures she recognized only from images; Zerg. She had never personally encountered them but knew vague stories about how they searched to assimilate all other races and killed or infested what they couldn't absorb. Instinctively, she raised her weapon and fired a couple of shots at what she guessed to be some kind of infested lifeform. It shielded itself with its arm and shrugged off the effect of the puny energy discharges. It then walked over to her with three big steps, grabbed her arm, turned her on her back, took her gun and threw it away. Just as Yatara thought that this was her end, a Protoss figure appeared above her.
{En Taro Tassadar. You are safe.}
{What? But... the Zerg... ?}
{They are allies. But there is no time. We need to leave.}
This is the point where the situation dawned on Yatara. She had been hearing background noise since she woke up, but only now realized this was the sound of battle outside. In one quick motion she got up.
{Quick! The power!}
With that Yatara sprinted past the humanoid and its Zerglings, rushed down the ladder and quickly ran down to the power generator room under the building.
...
Dagganoth's crew followed her. As they got to the room, the ragged-looking undernourished Protoss survivor completely ignored her new companions and immediately started fiddling with some of the panels on the wall, which immediately started to light up and make all sorts of sounds. Adam, Jack and Amar were watching as Jack turned to Adam.
"I don't know what's up with her, but we're gonna need to leave. Can you hold her legs if I get her body?"
{So she interacts through... Yes! Of course!}
Adam and Jack looked confused as Amar sprung to action and joined the survivor in going around the room and interacting with the panels. One second later a terrible thump shook the building - something big seemed to have happened topside.
"Amar, DAMN IT, we need to go, NOW!", Jack yelled.
Just as Jack walked up to Amar and grabbed a hold of his shoulder, the Protoss crystal seemed to spring to life. With a quiet humm it lit up completely and sent sparks through what appeared to be some kind of wiring that had previously been invisible. As the underground level of the building lit up due to a multitude of lamps suddenly activating, Murkag could see a small blue sphere encompass the complex from his orbital position. At the same time the Zerg forces who had been fighting a losing battle against waves of the aliens saw that the aliens seemed to lose all interest and returned to wander around aimlessly.
Inside the power room, the Protoss survivor collapsed as she lost consciousness again.
SoA
-Garamar brood arrives at the origin of the distress call and finds a planet that is mostly uninhabitable, save for one area of jungle.
-A taskforce of 30 Mutalisks, 10 Overseers, 50 Zerglings, 4 Vipers, Adam, Jack and Amar goes down to the planet to explore the area. It turns out an unknown race of aliens has overrun a Protoss research base and in the struggles with this race Dagganoth loses 8 Mutalisks and 35 Zerglings.
-The taskforce eventually finds a female Protoss survivor who runs down to the base's power core and manages to activate it, creating a defensive sphere around the base and seemingly calming down the aliens who then halt their attacks. The survivor passes out after this happens.
Wychata Stealth Cruiser Deiliri Orbit, Rasalin System
“So... I’m a superhuman?” Nick asked.
“Well, close enough. The “human” part isn’t altogether accurate.” Arcus answered. “Follow me.”
The ghost walked out of the cafeteria and led Nick through the ship.
Now do we kill them? He asked himself.
No. They could be useful. He answered.
Arcus led them to the armory. He walked to a large black cupboard, and had to go through various security measures to open it - Fingerprint, voice and iris recognition, in addition to multiple passwords, and Nick was fairly certain a psionic test was in there somewhere as well.
Inside the cupboard - Well, calling it a wall was more accurate considering its size - was a black and blue ghost suit that looked very... Different. Unique. Special. The materials were very strange. Then there were many black metal weapons - Handguns, a sniper rifle, shotgun, hell even a sword.
“Your equipment.” Arcus said.
“Mine?”
“As I said, you were designed to be a ghost operative. And considering the problems and delays the project X ran into it before you were finally done, you shouldn’t be surprised that all your equipment is already ready. Try it out?”
“I find it somewhat odd that you trust me.”
“I can’t expect to earn your trust any other way, can I?”
We don’t trust him, do we?
Of course not.
So we kill him, yes?
Shut up already.
Nick took off his clothes and started putting on the ghost suit. Saying it fit perfectly was an understatement - He could feel the suit shifting to perfectly encase him. It was quite literally a second skin to him. It took him less than half a minute to put it on, and he couldn’t find any seams on it afterwards.
“How do I take it off?” He asked.
“Just try to tear it up.”
Nick grabbed his collar and tore it away, and the suit split up. He put it back into position, and it melded back into its original shape - his shape.
“Seems weak.”
“You underestimate your strength.”
“So... What next?” Nick asked.
“Well, the plan is to report to the Shadow Ops HQ on Onilon...”
“But?”
“I’m getting the feeling that isn’t your plan.”
“To be honest, part of me wants to kill everyone here.”
“Expected as much.”
“Then why did you let me come aboard?”
“I have my reasons.”
“So I take it we aren’t going to Onilon?”
“You tell me.”
“I’ll have to think.” Nick said as he took the sword out of the cupboard. “But let’s leave the system for now.”
You promised blood.
I didn’t. But I’m sure some will be spilled eventually.
The Arken Gallifrey Orbit, Myrym System
Keeva walked into the lab, and was surprised to find no liquidized apples all over the place.
“Did the apple thing finally work?” She asked.
“No.” Neal Smith said, sitting in front of multiple computer screens and analyzing data. “Gave up on that. Need to think about things a bit more before I continue those experiments.”
“Then what’s that?” She pointed at two sets of metal rings rotating around each other at opposite ends of the room with a blue light in the middle.
“Sort of warpgates or pylons.”
“Mind telling me what you’re doing if it’s not blowing up apples?”
“Research.”
“You either start talking or I’m going to slap you so hard you’ll forget your own mothers name.”
“Orphan.”
Keeva raised her hand.
“Alright, alright.” He said and turned away from the screens. “I’m trying to find out more about the warp matrix. Not the technology, but... The sort of warp dimensions. It might give me some insight into what I’m doing wrong.”
“And what’s up with those rings then?”
“I’m transferring information from one to the other. Just simple strings of data, some audio and video files, so on, so that I can see what happens to it.”
“Anything interesting?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. There’s some sort of static in the warp matrix. Like the background radiation of the universe. Just that the Warp Matrix did not undergo some form of Big Bang, and this static noise is far too irregular. I would say that it is remnants of old data sent through the warp matrix, small bits and pieces overlapping.”
“I don’t see how that helps you with anything.”
“It doesn’t, but it’s incredibly interesting. The data in the static is potentially thousands of years old, if not millions. Imagine what we could discover if I were able to decrypt and clean merely part of it - Images, sounds, even thoughts of ancient civilizations that came before us, the Zerg and the Protoss, perhaps even before the Xel’naga. We might intercept a history book. None of it is of real practical use, but... It’s just far too interesting to let go of.”
“It does sound pretty interesting.” Keeva had to agree. “Made any progress?”
“Kenny is devoting a lot of resources to spotting patterns and storing some of the static for future analysis, but even with all the processing power built into the Arken, progress has been somewhere between slow and non-existent. A couple of patterns popped up here and there, but it’ll be weeks at this rate before we can come to any conclusions.
“Cool.” She said and pecked him on the cheek. “Now, shower and lunch. Don’t make me make Kenny drag you again.”
Neal stood up, then saw Keeva’s shocked face.
“What?” he asked, confused.
“You actually stood up. Immediately.”
“Yea, all of this data is going to be stored anyway, I won’t miss anything.”
“And you aren’t going to blow something up or so?”
“No, shower and lunch.”
Keeva pinched herself.
SoA:
Nick's story continues
Dr. Neal Smith voluntarily leaves his lab for once
David impatiently drank the custom concoction in front of him as he waited for his contact to show up. It had been a frustrating few weeks. At first, things had gone smoothly. All his contacts came through, and said it shouldn't be hard to find information, with promises of a huge plot to unravel. Now, he hadn't been that optimistic, but he hadn't expected the delaying games that he was getting.
The only thing they had been able to run to ground was an obscure reference by one of Casey's contacts to a planet in the Davir system; Barkanos. It seemed like a long shot to him. And the last one had yet to pay out for him.
He glanced across the cantina to where Leo sat at the bar. Leo shook his head, and David bit back a curse. He couldn't see the door, but Leo had just confirmed that his man hadn't shown yet.
“You ah Captan Daveed,” a deep voice said behind him. It wasn't a question. This man knew who he was. David didn't recognize the voice.
“That depends,” he replied coolly. He shot back the rest of his drink, and as he slammed the cup back down to the table, his other hand drifted to his side-arm. “Who's asking?” He hadn't expected Krag to have the courage to send someone after him this soon. Especially if it was only one man. He looked over to where Leo sat at the bar. His friend was busy looking at the entrance.
The voice walked around him and sat across the table from him, revealing himself to be a black man in simple working clothes with a side-arm and a large knife on opposite hips. His hair was in long dreadlocks pulled back into a mess of snakes on the back of his head. He looked intensely at David with piercing black eyes.
“I, am no one,” the man said. “And -”
“Look, I'm expecting someone,” David interrupted, using the distraction to release his holster. “So cut the drama act, and get to the point.”
The man sat back in the chair, raising his hands. “No need to get trigger happy, mon. I come to give ya' a friendly wawrnin': You in dangerous waters, mon. Best be leavin' sleepin' beasts lie. Get mah point?”
“Who are you?” David demanded. “Who are you working for?”
The man ignored his questions and stood up. “No need to worry yaself with tha dealings above ya head. Best stick to what ya' bitty ship can handle.” The man walked past him and disappeared into the crowded cantina.
David stood up to follow, and was immediately met by a small man holding a bundle of papers.
“Oh! Captain David,” the man stuttered. “Sorry I'm late, I got held up.”
He looked over the man's shoulder, trying to catch the mess of dreadlocks as they moved through the crowd. Unsuccessful, he sat back down at the table.
“About time you showed up, Murray,” he started. “I was about to come break your knee-caps. I don't like having my time wasted.”
He watched in amusement as the man's small frame quivered as he sat down and placed the bundle on the table and slid it across to David. “Th-The stuff you asked for is waiting to be picked up.”
David picked up the bundles and looked through them slowly. Satisfied, he tossed back down to the table and signaled the bartender to send over two drinks. “And the information you promised me?”
Sweat dripped off the man's brow, and his eyes darted back and forth before he spoke. “I'm sorry man. I can't help you there. There's nothing.”
David pulled out his pistol and placed it on the table. “Murray,” he sighed. “You know I don't like it when you lie to me. Are we gonna have to have a repeat of the last time you lied to me?
“N-n-no!” the man cried, and David fought hard to keep the laugh underneath off his face. He hated pushing the guy like this, but he had an image to uphold from his days with Krag. “I... I just... can't tell you. I don't know anything, and if I did, I couldn't tell you.”
“Now come on, Murray,” he started and then stopped. After a second, he put the gun back away. “Okay, Murray. I understand. You did the best you could. Let me know if you find anything.... Now get.”
The little man got up and darted away into the crowd just as a girl came by and placed two drinks on the table. David paid the woman as a medium-built man sat across the table. Well aren't I just popular today? he thought to himself.
“What do you want, Matthew?” he asked, taking a sip of his drink.
The man ignored the other drink and leaned forward. He looked excited. “Hey, man. Word's been going around that you're getting into some seriously secret stuff. A lot of people aren't happy about it too.... I want in.”
“What makes you think I'm up to anything?” David asked. This day was getting just a little too interesting.
“Come on,” Matthew said. “I know you. You're looking to piss some people off, and I want to be there when it goes down.”
“You've got it exactly wrong,” he replied. “What have you been hearing I'm up to.”
“The details are sketch, but a lot of people are working to keep it that way. They don't even want people to know you're thinking about it, whatever it is.”
“Interesting.”
“So... What are you up to?”
David finished his drink, and stood up. “I told you. Nothing. I'm looking to not piss people off.”
His earpiece buzzed, and he clicked it on. “Captain David.”
“Uh, Captain?” Puck's voice began. “We've got a little bit of a situation.”
“You'll have to excuse me, Matthew,” David said as he picked up the bundle of papers, and motioned to Leo that it was time to leave. Once he started his way towards the door, he clicked his earpiece on once again. “Go on.”
“The 'Things That Go Bump in the Night' are getting impatient. You should hear what they have started suggesting.”
He sighed. “What are those imperious bastards cooking up now?”
“You'll want to hear it yourself.”
---
Gambit, Domus
“You are out of your mind!” David yelled furiously. “You can't possibly be serious. Do you really think that will work?”
{Of course it will,} Asala said calmly. {You humans are readily willing to give up information given the proper... encouragement.}
“That's not what I'm talking about. What you don't seem to realize is that this place thrives on information. Whoever we are against has a much better foothold than we do. If they were able to close up this information before we were able to learn anything, they'll notice if we go KIDNAPPING PEOPLE AND TORTURING INFORMATION OUT OF THEM!!”
{Only people with information worth gaining. It would do no good to question just anybody. And you underestimate our abilities,} Vardanis said simply. {We need this information. We must track down this cerebrate and see that it will not bring further harm to the Imperium. Your methods have failed. It is time to employ the other tools at our disposal.}
“No,” David said firmly. “I've got something. Dagganoth isn't here, and it's not likely that he would come here. Especially once his friends get word to him that we're trying to find him. But I've got a different idea. Might even bring the beast to us. Let me tell you about a planet called Barkanos, in the Davir system....”
SoA
-David purchases security upgrades for Gambit, bringing Gambit's Security stat from a 1 to a 2, and spending 3 points (total should be 10 now)
-David and the crew of Gambit is unable to gather any more information about Dagganoth other than an obscure story about Barkanos.
-Imperial ambassadors get uppity and impatient
-Gambit sets out for Barkanos (4 posts/days until arrival)
As the tiny space craft appeared, it was immediately dwarfed by the 3 larger ships. A pirate raider, a pirate patrol and a Tirion support class ship were together, close to a planet that was originally occupied by the Tirion Republic.
"I want communications opened with the 3 captains of their ships immediately." Ayra said as Forward Unto Dawn slowly made its way forwards.
"Already done." Lark replied as a holographic screen appeared above the star map. There was 3 people in total on the screen.
"Who the hell are you?" The man on the left said in a gruff voice. He seemed unshaven compared to the other captains.
"Oh quiet down Max, what could these 3 young ladies do that would possibly put us in harm?" asked the middle man.
"Well for starters, I could rip your mind apart piece by piece as you scream for release." Cygnus replied.
"Well, they sure seem to be arrogant." said the third and final captain.
"Fine, what do you 3 want?" The one called Max asked in quite a monotone voice.
"We 3 were hired to help you captains on this mission of yours. So who's the current commander here?" Arya stated.
'Well, we, um......" Max started saying.
"What Max is trying to say is that our commanding captain left for an unknown destination a few days ago without any word."
"And you've been here, for that amount of time, and haven't even picked a new leader?" Lark said in quite an annoyed voice, "Well do you at least have any idea of a plan of action regarding the occupied planet?"
"Well, the obvious solution is to attack the captured city, reactivate the orbital defense guns, and blast those outsiders to hell." Max said as he pointed to a map of the planet that showed the city, and the location of 3 orbital defense guns.
"You pirates only have 1 strategy, and in this case, it would lead directly to our demise. The outsiders have 6 of their ships over the planet, how do you suppose to deal with them hm?" the person on the right complained.
"Well, why don't you enlighten us on your plan Millers?" the middle man said with a hint of anger in his voice.
'Well, you see," Millers said, "If we could somehow beat their fleet, we could crush the captured city."
"Dammit Millers, we've been over this hundreds of times already, we aren't getting any backup for this operation."
The 3 captains continued to argue for the next 15 minutes until Lark finally broke it apart.
"Ok then, it seems that none of you are intelligent enough to do anything remotely useful so therefore I'm going to take over this operation." Lark said as she brought up a map of her own. "If we can get the support ship and pirate patrol ship down there to deploy their units then we can create a base of operations." The middle captain nodded his approval at that. "To do that, first we will have to have the pirate raider ship to draw their attention for a little while as the 2 others deploy and setup."
"No way in hell am I going to go up against their entire fleet in my Raptor." Max said as he shook his head.
"What, is the deadly pirate raider too scared to go up against some Outsider patrols?" Millers mocked.
"Fine, I'll do it, but you better hope I die Millers because nobody calls Max the dread a coward and lives."
"So its settled then, Max will first get the enemy's attention and drawn them away our landing location." Arya told them as she pointed to a small open area directly south of the city. "Then the 2 remaining ships will deploy their troops to set up a base and then switch places with the Raptor so Max can deploy his troops as well. Any complaints so far?"
"Yeah, how am I and Captain Stevenson there suppose to take on the outsider ships?"
"You're not going to. The enemy only has 2 ships that are fast enough to keep pace with the Raptor and your ships. All you have to do is get their attention by firing a few weapons and bolting off. Then just make as much distance as possible so the 2 outsider ships will decide the chase isn't worth it." Lark explained.
"What about the rest of the plan? What do our troops do once they hit the surface of the planet."
"You leave that to us." Cygnus said as the communications were closed.
"Finally, something to shoot." Lark said as she left the bridge.
SoA:
Half of the plan to take back 1 planet has been explained.
The field was littered with the bodies of countless alien creatures, their dimly glowing carcasses giving the scene an eerie appearance. Not that this bothered Yatara. She could barely contain her excitement as she walked among the dead creatures. There was so much to study! So much to learn! It was a dream come true! She reached down to touch one of the bodies, overwhelmed with curiosity, intent on divulging every secret it held. But as soon as she touched it, it began to disintegrate. She cried out and looked up to see that all the other bodies were decaying quickly now, too quickly to study. Despair and hopelessness overtook her and she ran towards the bodies in an attempt to examine them before they disappeared. In vain. They all disappeared, leaving behind nothing but an endless expanse of dirt.
Yatara abandoned herself to despair, casting down her head and remaining frozen in place. Then something grabbed her by her ankle. Alarmed, she looked down and saw a battered protoss holding on to her with both hands.
{You abandoned us, Yatara. You left us, youngling.}
Silent, she tried to wriggle out of the protoss' grasp but the grip was simply too strong and the body too heavy. She tried kicking with her other leg but found it to also be restrained. Another protoss was grabbing onto it. She looked up to see if anyone was around to help her but only saw other protoss. And these ones weren't on the floor: they were charging at her, murder in their eyes.
{Why, Yatara? Do you not remember our creed?} They piled onto her, crushing her with their sheer weight.
-
She woke up screaming, her fists clenched tightly.
{You are safe. Calm down.} Normally, the unknown protoss' words would have had the intended calming effect on Yatara. However, the accompanying surge of emotion did the opposite. One moment she was waking from a bad dream, the next she was being drowned in a torrent of emotions unlike which she had felt since her childhood. Startled, she shook and recoiled from the protoss, backing away from him and towards the other end of her bed.
The protoss seemed surprised by this and the flow of emotions ebbed. Quickly, Yatara closed off her mind, sickened by the violation of her privacy.
{H-how dare you?!} she screamed, outraged. The protoss in front of her seemed to freeze up and stared at her blankly. Yatara was about to scream at him again when the more analytical part of her mind kicked in: what was going on?Who was the protoss in front of her?Why was she acting based on ignorance?
{Who are you?} she asked after a minute of silence. The protoss seemed to relax at this.
{I am Amar of the Imperium, though I no longer hold allegiance to it,} he answered, again trying to force his underthought into her mind. She resisted. {Why do you close your mind to me?} he asked. {I am not your enemy.}
Yatara stared at the protoss that called himself Amar with a mixture of curiosity and revulsion. Imperium, did he say? Did they treat the Khala so perversely there?
{I am Yatara of the Wandering Tribes,} she finally answered. {It is not customary for us to share underthought with those we do not know.}
Amar blinked at this. {Underthought?}
{What you just did. The Khala,} she answered, bringing up the ancient term for what her people no longer referred to by name. Amar's eyes widened at this but he said nothing. Yatara guessed he was restraining himself from commenting, acknowledging the fact that the protoss before him was very different from what he was used to. She herself was doing the same thing: trying to understand the Imperial before judging him for his actions and tearing him apart for what he had done.
{It is clear,} Amar started after a while, {that there is much of the unknown to both of us.}
Yatara was about to answer but Amar interrupted her {Though I would enjoy learning more, I am afraid there are others eager for your attention. Follow me.} The Imperial rose and left the room. Seeing no other choice, Yatara followed.
-
Yatara first stared at the field of alien bodies before her, then focused on what Amar had called a zergling, as if trying to decide what to dissect first. She was still partially shocked and exhausted, but that didn't stop her from appreciating how much had changed since the indigenous lifeforms had attacked. There was so much to study! She had never seen any zerg before, nor any terrans for that matter, but this did not stop her from examining the beings as closely as possible while still being part of the ongoing conversation.
"You've never seen the aliens before?" one of the terrans, Adam, asked.
{If I had, I would not be so fascinated by them now. And we would not be in this situation,} she replied, crouching down to stare at one of the still glowing bodies.
{But how long have you been here? Surely you would have seen them in the time it took you to set up this facility?} Amar asked.
{Were they not invisible to our eyes, we surely would have. However, as you should know, they have a knack from staying out of sight.}
{Your sight. But your scanners? Your observers? Did you not examine the planet using technology? Why did you even set up such an elaborate research facility if everything could have been done using automated probes?}
Yatara almost snapped at the last comment but managed to contain herself. She rose and turned around to face the strange group before her: Amar, three terrans and the "avatar" of the cerebrate who allegedly controlled the zerg around her.
{And what makes you think we did not? The fact that I said they were invisible to our eyes? Do you not know that we of the Wanderers treat our technology as extensions of our bodies? That to us, our eyes are the sensors on our ships, the optics of our observers? What I meant, though now I see that I may not have been clear enough, is that nothing we did revealed these aliens. Which tells me one of two things,} here, Yatara switched to a more serious and straightforward tone, {Either, the aliens emerged from somewhere hidden when they attacked us... or they are completely invisible to protoss technology.} Amar seemed taken aback by this but the terrans showed no discernible reaction: all they did was move slightly and twitch their facial muscles in a manner Yatara found at once interesting and irritating.
{Our technology is the result of thousands of years of research and scientific discoveries, there is no way an isolated population of animals could-}
{Our technology functions much like we do. Psionically. I do not know if you, as terrans and zerg, are aware of this: every functional piece of our technology includes some kind of psionically attuned crystal at its core. You saw this firsthand when I activated the base's power core.} The terrans nodded, Amar merely stared at her. {Through personal experience and this evidence, I believe that the lifeforms have some way to shield themselves from psionics: I can detect them neither psionically nor using my physical senses.}
Her statement was met with silence. One of the terrans, Bob, raised his hand.
"Yeah but... don't we already know that?" he asked. Yatara nodded and looked at Amar. He stared back. She closed her eyes. And felt the idea dawn onto his mind.
{That's because they are not making themselves invisible but making us blind!} Before anyone could say anything, Yatara interjected, admiring her own idea.
{Precisely. You did not feel it. You were close to them for only a small amount of time. But I was defending myself from them for a duration I cannot even begin to judge: I felt their work. I experienced first hand how my own mind began to betray me, how seconds became eons and how noise became silence, how figures became shadows and rooms became galaxies. Because they are psions! They are psions and they can sense other psions and I know this because that is how they attacked and that is how I dispersed them: psionic interference! That is all there is to it. No technology, just mind games!} Her speech was met with considerably less excitement and emotion than she had hoped for and she began to wonder if she was making sense at all or if her mind had been permanently damaged.
"Good thinking. Sounds like an interesting theory, but assertions without evidence won't get us very far. Where is your proof?" asked the terran named Bob, whom Yatara had quickly identified as a scientist.
{All around you!} Yatara exclaimed and laughed- a real, protoss, laugh, one which only the Wanderers could reproduce. She spun around, procured a slim crystal disc from her still intact research bracelet, and set to doing what she lived to do: science.
SoA:
Yatara wakes up and is quickly introduced to Amar, Adam, Jack, Bob (who landed along with a group of Swarm Hosts on the terran transport ship) and the Garamar brood.
She explains her theory regarding the indigenous lifeforms: that they are psionics and that they can cloak themselves not by becoming invisible but by manipulating the minds of other living beings.
She then sets to collecting samples of the creatures for lab analysis, assisted by Amar, the terrans and the zerg.
If protoss could sigh, Yatara would have. Instead, she rubbed her eyes and shook her head from side to side. She was exhausted. She hadn't rested at all since waking up, instead doing everything she could to learn about the aliens they were dealing with. With the help of the terrans and the zerg, she collected and analyzed dozens of corpses, sequenced the genomes of all the aliens they could get their hands on and managed to construct accurate simulations of how the aliens worked. What she found was surprising.
{They photosynthesize. Just like us, protoss. Almost identically, in fact.} she told Dagganoth, Amar and the terrans as they met in one of the tower's observation rooms. {I am sure you all realized this through your own observations. But you do not understand just how similar their ability to photosynthesize is to ours. Large parts of their genome are extraordinarily similar to ours. It is almost as if we are related species.}
This seemed to bother Amar but he kept his quiet.
"So... they're like protoss animals?" asked Jack. Yatara laughed.
{No more than they are terran animals. Well, perhaps a bit more. They are similar to us but still vastly different. They also make less sense,} she answered.
Bob and Adam raised their eyebrows at this.
{They have mouths, but no stomachs, unlike you terrans. They photosynthesize and yet they have claws and mouths: tools to hunt and eat with. On top of that, they are psionic. This makes no sense. They photosynthesize, they don't need mouths to kill for food and yet they have them. And why have a mouth without a stomach? For defensive purposes? What are they defending themselves against? Themselves? Because we have not seen them attacking each other. From an evolutionary perspective, and you terrans should be better acquainted with this than I am, the creatures make no sense. I cannot even find any discernible sexual organs. It is almost as if...}
"Someone interfered in their evolution?" Bob finished off the sentence for her. She nodded.
"But who would do that? And why? Are you sure you're the first protoss to find this place? You haven't found any signs of zerg, right?" asked Adam. Yatara shook her head and walked to the window of the room, where she remained silent for a full minute, staring into the night that had fallen while they were working.
{Are you alright?}, Amar asked out loud.
{Something is not right. The plants usually glow at night. They should be glowing right now,} she answered.
At this point the Terrans turned their heads and realized indeed that the surrounding jungle had gone eerily dark. There wasn't a sound to be heard through the in-built speakers either - during the daytime the occasional rustling and cries could be heard from the jungle. With a few quick bursts of thought the Zerglings who had been sitting around the complex spurred into action as Mutalisks and Overseers flew in every direction. Ten minutes later Dagganoth adressed his crew.
{Something is indeed off. There are no more alienss in the jungle. There are some pits that seem to lead into tunnels, however.}
"Sounds like the aliens have moved underground, then", Bob suggested.
"If that's true, we've got a unique opportunity here... If we can blow up those tunnel entrances...", Jack interjected.
Yatara glared at him and seemed about to say something as Bob replied for her.
"We're not all cold-blooded killers, Jack. The reason we are all here right now is because of the desire to study the environment and its creatures."
"Hold yer horses friend, I'm not suggesting we bury the lot. However, if we fill in a couple of those cave entrances we can make sure they won't overrun this base again so easily. Besides, do we even have explosives?"
{We have loads as part of our tunneling equipment}, Yatara interjected, seemingly more content with Jack's new plan.
{Perhapsss...}, Dagganoth continued. {Though we should also see if we can find the missing expedition. There are four nearby pitss... set up explosives on all of them. I will send Zerglings through one of the entrances. Take some equipment and Swarm Hosts - we will set up outside of it.}
{If that is so, I have a suggestion for you, Cerebrate, though I do not know if you will be able to act on it,} said Yatara. {It has to do with the aliens' ability to detect us. I believe I have found a way to counteract this.}
As everyone but Yatara and the Avatar took off to get to their jobs, Dagganoth quickly went over the details. Now that Yatara had managed to figure out how the aliens were stealthing themselves, Dagganoth was able to use some of the aliens' DNA to mutate a new type of 'projection cortex' into the brains of his Brood that allowed them to counter the effects of the alien's stealth and even make them backfire, allowing the Zerg to stealth themselves from the aliens. It would lateron perhaps lend itself to even more breakthroughs, but was for now good enough to allow Dagganoth's Brood to deal with the aliens in a safer way.
-
About half an hour later the preparations had been made. Jack, Adam and Yatara had worked quickly to set up explosives at all the tunnel entrances near the base, and the entire crew was now collected outside the most eastern one. A makeshift workbench with basic equipment had been set up for Yatara and Bob to analyze anything interesting the Zerglings could find, Several Swarm Hosts were dug in around the pit to fill it with Locusts at a moment's notice and a group of Zerglings outfitted with newly mutated projective cortexes stood ready inside the pit to make their way into the tunnel entrance. Inside Murkag, Sarah and a biologist friend of her stood ready in the Behemoth's laboratory to perform deeper analyses of any data the surface sent through.
Yatara jumped a bit as without warning, the Zerglings ran fast but quietly into the tunnel. While the outside crew waited, Dagganoth looked through their eyes. It was a good thing his Zerglings were so fast - only a couple of meters past the entrance the tunnel immediately split into three and without hesitating the Zerglings split up to uncover every single inch of the place. After several more forks on each path several Zerglings begun to backtrack as they came upon dead ends. The tunnels only had one thing in common: all of them led downwards, deeper into the planet's crust. Because Dagganoth was controlling each of his Zerglings personally, they worked in unison as they darted through the system like ants, mapping it out within the cerebrate's brain.
It wasn't long before one pair of Zerglings stumbled upon something interesting; a green, faintly glowing crystal in one of the deeper tunnels. Since minerals were bound to be found in any deep underground environment, Dagganoth didn't give the crystal much thought until another pair of Zerglings ran into three of them in their own tunnel. And a third pair ran around a corner to discover at least eight of them lodged firmly into the tunnel's walls. With another quick burst of thought he opened up the eyes of the Zerglings to Amar and Yatara. Even if Amar felt a but queasy going through this psionic procedure a second time, Yatara lost her balance and had to steady herself on the research table to cope with the sudden flash of feelings and sensations she experienced. Dagganoth spoke.
{These crystals seem to increase in number as my brotherss go further down. What do you think?}
{I am unsure}, Amar admitted.
{We would need some proper analysis to say anything worthwhile.}, an eager Yatara said. {Can you get us a sample?}
Within minutes the Zergling pair had managed to dig out a firm chunk of crystal and just as they started their journey back to the planet's surface Dagganoth noticed something else interesting through the ears of another pair of Zerglings. There were vibrations in some of the deeper tunnels. He was unsure what these vibrations meant, but they were definitely there. As multiple Zerglings continued their journey, several more of them began to feel the tremors. Dagganoth had a hunch. As the piece of crystal arrived at the surface and Bob, Yatara and Amar started looking at it, Dagganoth adressed Adam and Jack.
{The upper tunnel levelss seem clear. Get in there and take some measuring equipment. And more explosives. Follow my Zerglings. I have a suspicion...}
With that the two followed in the Zerglings just as another pair made yet another big discovery: they had stumbled upon a large room filled with more green crystals in the walls. Several larger crystals ranging up to five meters in size were littered throughout the room. More importantly though, the entire room was filled with what seemed to be hibernating aliens. Dagganoth again passed on the sight to Amar and Yatara, who nearly fell over from the sensation they felt halfway through a close microscope examination of the piece of crystal they had found.
{Could you at least TELL US if you're going to do that?!}, Yatara now angrily lashed out at Dagganoth.
{I apologize. I did not realize it caused you ssuch discomfort. I did not wish to infringe...}
For a fraction of a second, Yatara felt real sympathy for the creature she was conversing with. What a strange life a Cerebrate must have; having emotions but being unable to understand them properly in others and constantly sharing all your sensations with hundreds of other creatures. She was however immediately distracted from her sympathy as she looked around the room with the aliens. They normally photosynthesized... could it be that they used these green crystals for this purpose while underground? She couldn't properly do her science up here. How much she would give in order to be in that cave.
{Again, I apologize. I will not let you put your livess in such danger until we know more about the aliens and thiss tunnel network.}
Some time later, Jack and Adam reached one of the trembling tunnels. As they quickly set up their measuring equipment, their readings seemed to confirm Dagganoth's suspicions: there were different tunnels running through the network with underground rivers inside of them. Jack and Adam didn't need Dagganoth's instructions to realize how much of a life saver this might be in the future. They quickly set up explosives in several of the nearby tunnels, ensuring the walls between the walkable tunnels and the rivers would be opened up if they'd explode and the tunnels would be flooded. Adam assigned the explosives to a secondary detonator (Jack holding the first in his pocket) as the two started making their way back outside.
At the same time, Yatara, Dagganoth and the Zerglings had finished up scouting the bigger room only to find that there were more downwards tunnels leading from it. As the pair entered these tunnels different pairs were finding similar larger rooms filled with aliens in all different directions inside the complex. They ignored the aliens for the time being and continued their ant-like scurry downwards.
As the Zerglings went further into the seemingly gigantic complex the trembling became more and more noticeable until it was accompanied by the unmistakenable sound of running water. This sound additionally increased up to a nearly ear-deafening level of volume up to a certain point, where the tunnels started making a series of bends and the sound seemed to completely fall off. Without warning the Zerglings ran around their corner and came to a halt as they suddenly observed an astonishing sight.
{You need to see thiss...}, Dagganoth immediately said to both the Protoss as the Terrans in his crew. He then opened up their minds to the Zerglings; something which was harder to do with the non-psionic Terrans but nevertheless still possible.
Laid out before them was a cave so big it dwarved the earlier 'large caves' with their five meter high crystals. This cave was at least hundred meters high and the Zerglings couldn't make out the top, where an enormous number of the flying aliens seemed to be asleep, hanging from stalagmites like bats. In the middle of the cave was an enormous crystal of at least eighty meters in height. Though it was also glowing and green, it seemed somewhat different from its smaller counterparts in that it had a more metallic look. The zergling's limited vision could just about make out tendrils and vines coiled around the very top of the crystal. On the floor in front of the Zerglings were literally hundreds if not thousands of aliens, all apparently hibernating.
No one spoke a word as more Zerglings arrived at the scene from several entrances. With some bursts of thought, Dagganoth sent a few of the Zerglings that had been carrying leftover explosives back where they came from in order to create a second safeguard zone. As Dagganoth's plan dawned on Yatara, she protested.
{You can't possibly mean to-}, she started.
{Not if it can be helped, no. But this may be our only chance at finding your exsspedition. We need to be as prepared as possible. If these alienss were to wake up they-}
{Alright, alright... just... give them a chance}, Yatara returned the favor.
The Zerglings that went back dumped their explosives as close to the walls as they could get them as the frontmost group set to exploring the giant cave, carefully and agilely avoiding the heaps of aliens they were passing through. Though there were still no signs of the Protoss expedition, there appeared to be several pools of water on the floor, seemingly so deep that the Zerglings couldn't immediately see the bottom. After carefully looking across the cave some more and finding nothing else of interest, Dagganoth jumped one of his zerglings into the pool.
After a good thirty meters of swimming, the Zergling reached the 'bottom' of the pit, which looked surprisingly strange - the last two meters of water in the pool behaved just like the water above, but wasn't surrounded with a wall: the water seemed to be suspended in the air, defying the laws of physics. As the Zergling jumped out of the apparently still stream and Dagganoth ordered the rest of them down, he surveyed the room before him. There were several relatively high (five meters) floating glowing pillars that appeared to softly hum as they bobbed up and down in mid-air. An odd thirty or so aliens of the type that Dagganoth had dubbed 'Hiver' were positioned on a platform in what appeared to be the very center of the room: these armadillo's resembled Zerg Infestors in their look but sported glowing spores all over their bodies and had tendrils sticking out of the back of their heads. The most interesting fact about these aliens was that they hadn't shown any fighting capabilities when encountered in the outside jungle. None had been captured or killed either: they no information whatsoever on the creatures. All the way in the back of the room was a plateau housing several humanoid forms.
As the Zergling ran closer Yatara let out a mental cry and immediately cursed at herself herself, thinking she may have awoken the Hivers in the room. She seemed to have completely forgotten that she was looking through a Zerglings' eyes. Nobody outside the pit really registered the cry as they noticed the nineteen seemingly lifeless, spore-covered bodies of the Protoss expedition standing straight up on the platform, dumbly staring into open space.
Dagganoth wasted no time as he quickly but quietly sent his Zerglings over to them and began nudging and poking them. When neither the Protoss nor the Hivers responded, two Zerglings quickly scratched the spores off one of the Protoss, who then immediately collapsed and fell to the ground. Dagganoth froze his Zerglings as he waited for a reaction from the Hivers. Nothing.
{Those spores are the same as located on the Hivers. They may be using some sort of psionic mind control on my team...}, Yatara said.
{Then we have only one option if we want to get your team out of there...}, Amar concluded.
Dagganoth made some careful considerations and decided that the time for action had finally come.
Yatara let out the mental equivalent of a sigh as Dagganoth's Zerglings got into positions next to the hibernating Hivers and the rest of the crew braced itself. When all Zerglings were ready there was one second of absolute silence before they all sprung in action and jumped at the Hivers. Some of them fell instantly to the Zerglings' sharp claws while others got up and wasted no time trying to scurry away. Desperately they threw additional spores at the Protoss but within a minute's time they were seemingly all dead.
Everyone looked at the Protoss who seemed to be completely unphased by what had just transpired. Just as Dagganoth started considering his other options and set the Zerglings to claw the spores of the remainder of the crew a light rumbling started that grew to a deafening noise in less than two seconds. Cries, tremors and movement could be heard all the way at the surface as the planet seemed to tremble. The aliens had awoken. As the eyes of the Terrans of the surface widened as they looked at eachother Dagganoth make a quick decision. Jack hesitated for a split second before pushing the button on his third detonator.
The Zerglings in the cave were nearly blown away by the noise. A series of loud explosions was followed by the rushing of water and hundreds of screams and cries. This scene dragged out for a couple of minutes when relative silence came back into the cave system. As the Zerglings got to work in dragging the unconscious Protoss into the still waterfalls they noticed the floating pillars had begun to glow and move more rapidly, almost as if they were under extreme stress. Dagganoth wasted no time in ordering his Zerglings to swim up the watery tunnel they had entered through, dragging the Protoss along with them one by one as they went.
As soon as they returned to the big cave it became obvious that it has flooded. The bodies of dead aliens were everywhere as there was a huge pool of at least five meters of water surrounding the giant crystal. A Zergling surfaced with a Protoss next to him as a wave of the flying aliens swooped down and cut the poor scientist's throat. Dagganoth immediately sent out a burst of new orders to his Zerglings who stopped trying to surface and frantically dragged, pulled and pushed the Protoss towards the nearest open entrance. As they reached dry and safe land in one of the tunnels they dragged the Protoss up on the land and immediately set to work in dragging them up the tunnel on their way to the surface.
As time seemed off the essence and the Zerglings efficiently made their way to the surface, several other things were going on. Fliers had appeared on the surface out of seemingly nowhere and Mutalisks engaged them at will. This time they had the advantage of being able to pick them off one by one however, and they seemed to be pretty much blind under the cover of darkness. As the earth roared and shook, the Terrans and Protoss packed up their equipment and started running their way back to the Protoss science base. Swarm Hosts dug out of the ground and followed them.
"Guess this must be what armageddon feels like", Jack shouted at Adam.
As the earth started to shake more and more violently the Zerglings finally emerged from one of the pits that luckily appeared to be close to the encampment, still dragging the Protoss survivors with them. Thirty meters further they met up with the running crew who quickly grabbed some of the still unconscious survivors and struggled their way to the encampment as Mutalisks were still providing air cover. Upon arriving at the camp the group immediately jumped into the Terran transport ship as Jack jumped into the cockpit. He released the handle of his Biosteel arm and it immediately degraded to its usual gauntlet-sized shape, which fell neatly next to his chair. As he looked around he saw several trees fall over in the background and shouted for everyone to hurry up.
With the Protoss survivors and most of the equipment inside, the Swarm Hosts roughly wandered into the aircraft, roughly bumping people and equipment alike to the side. Though it did not appear to fit, the remaining fifteen Zerglings ran at the aircraft and jumped at it, curling up into little balls to take up as little space as possible.
As Yatara recited a mental prayer Jack hit a couple of buttons in the cockpit and the aircraft slowly managed to life off. Being squashed against the window with his head, Bob saw the Protoss research tower crumble as the ship finally took off and went airborne. Five minutes later as the ship accompanied by the Mutalisk fleet had reached a comfortable attitude, the crew saw the entire jungle collapse inward on the planet in one huge explosion of dust and sound. Adam let out the sigh Yatara hadn't been able to earlier as in the distance a spot that appeared to be Murkag started growing.
-
An hour later everyone in the crew lay down on their beds as the damage salvaging begun by the ever efficient Zerg forces. Dagganoth had asked Yatara for help and he had told her to set a course for the planet of Rii in the Ihan system, which was known to hold the presence of one of the wandering tribes. Murkag silently took off in its direction as Adam closed his eyes: finally, he could rest.
SoA
-Yatara confirms her theory; the aliens' stealth is based on manipulating the minds of the beholders rather than cloaking the aliens themselves. Following up on this knowledge, Dagganoth spends 10 points worth of DNA to develop a 'Projective Cortex' mutation for all his Zerg units that allows them to use the same technique to make themselves invisible to the aliens. Since he now knows what he is looking for, he is now also able to make the aliens visible by preventing their mind control on the creatures in his Brood.
-Night falls and the plants in the jungle stop glowing. Mutalisk and Zergling scouting parties find various pits in the jungle leading to an underground cave network. 15 Zerglings go in find glowing crystals along with several larging rooms with hibernating aliens inside them. They also discover a secondary cave network that seems to house running water and end up placing tunneling explosives near various of them. They eventually find one incredibly big room with a huge crystal, hundreds of aliens and several deep pools of water on the floor that can be travelled through. These passages leave the Zerglings in a room with the seemingly brain-dead Protoss and several 'Hiver'-type aliens.
-The Zerglings kill the Hivers and Adam pulls the trigger on some of the explosives, flooding the larger room and killing the aliens. The Zergling 'expedition' then proceeds to drag the 18 Protoss survivors up to the surface after which all ground forces board the Terran transport ship and fly off as the jungle seems to collapse inwards completely. The Brood escapes with 18 unconscious Protoss survivors, no permanent damage, some Alien corpses and DNA, some leftover Hiver spores and blood, some crystals from the cave and the most essential protoss science equipment.
-Inside Murkag, Yatara informs Dagganoth of a Wandering Tribes-inhabited planet called Rii in the Ihan system. Murkag subsequently sets out for this destination. 4 IC's/days until arrival.
In a quiet moment, Dagganoth's thoughts were intruded upon by an unexpected entity. His message, despite having come a great distance, emblazoned itself upon the Cerebrate's mind as if in letters a mile high in bright Neon:
{ DAGGANOTH! YOU HAVE TRAVELED FAR, AND GAINED MUCH KNOWLEDGE. IT IS MY WISH THAT YOU APPEAR BEFORE ME. YOU WILL OBEY. }
or so it would appear to a terran mind. To the cerebrate, it was a simple fact. An unalterable truth of his existence. The Overmind had summoned him, and he would obey.
SOA: The Overmind has summoned Dagganoth for a little chat. It doesn't mean you have to drop everything and rush straight there, but it does mean that any action that doesn't take you closer to the Overmind (located in the Tartarus system) will have consequences.
Aboard Murkag, somewhere in between Ihan and the red system right of it
The past few days had been... active. To an extend, they had even been demanding on Dagganoth's mind. The events with the aliens and the Protoss had worn on the Cerebrate. Would he have been able to save that one Protoss? Or perhaps even the planet? The creature kept replaying the scenes looking for understand what had happened, and had only been interrupted from this activity by the Overmind's message. Which didn't help to set his mind at ease. He wasn't sure if the Overmind approved of his methods, and to which extend. Would he be required to turn on his current allies? There was one positive note to all of this; the Overmind couldn't argue with his results.
As he was musing, he suddenly noticed Bob Gentry calling for him - the scientist had done so on several occasions to request the Cerebrate's help with all his research. As Dagganoth shifted his attention he became fully aware of Bob and Yatara standing inside the laboratory.
"Dagganoth... we've uncovered something interesting. Remember that projective cortex mutation we used on the planet? We think we've cracked the code."
{In what way?}, the Cerebrate asked. Yatara responded:
{We've figured out the exact psionic frequencies the aliens used to broadcast their projections from. If you tell your creatures to use the same frequencies they will be able to perform the same kind of mind control the aliens did; on Protoss.}
"Yeah... and using them as a baseform I'm able to extract the needed frequency for nearly every basic lifeform we know, including other Zerg and Terran."
Dagganoth remained silent for just a second before replying.
{Are you ssaying I will be able to use the earlier mutation to make my Brood invissible to virtually anything?}
"Well, there's a catch. The aliens seemed to tie this function in with their photosynthetic way of sustainability, somehow. Constant broadcasting would cost tons of energy. Unless you can make your Brood photosynthize they'd only be able to keep the stealth up for a few seconds before the energy cost would become too great... They'd need to rest the Cortex afterwards."
{That's not all...}, Yatara added in, {detectors would be able to see your Brood as well. They'd know the position of your Brood and the effect is instantly lost if the brain realizes the existence of the broadcasting unit.}
{Though that is sstill a short stealth every so long... Interesting. My thankss go out to you two. I will set to mutating the rest of my Brood. Before I leave: Yatara, how are your companions doing?}
{The same as before we took off... I had a better chance at examing them after my rest, and it seems they are partially brain damaged. The damage may or may not be reparable, but I would need access to more sophisticated Protoss technology to say anything worthwhile. But I guess we'll leave you to your musings. Thank you for the present.}
{Pressent?}, a confused Dagganoth exclaimed - seemingly missing Yatara's hint regarding his musings.
{The leftover spores and Hiver blood your Zerglings... 'dropped off' at the laboratory earlier. We might be able to learn more from those.}
Dagganoth had already forgotten he had send his brothers.
{Don't mention it... ? Is that what you say?}
Bob laughed as he replied. "Yup, that's it".
-
As Dagganoth turned his attention back to the thought processes spinning through his mind, he only vaguely noted Jack entering the laboratory.
"You asked for me, doc?", the broad-shouldered man said.
"Ah, Jack, yes. I meant to show you this earlier, but the situation with those aliens managed to get in the way."
With that, Bob threw a metallic pad with a handle sticking out above it at Jack, who stared at it in a confused manner.
"I would've thought you had gotten used to this by now", Bob said. "Step in it."
As Jack set his foot on the plate and wedged it underneath the handle, he realized what it was. Tendrils immediately shot out from the apparently small object and wrapped around his leg, all the way up to his waist. The Terran grabbed a small metal glove-looking object from his belt and grabbed the handle as it too grew around his arm, shoulder and Torso. One half of his body was now covered in Biosteel.
"I've managed to finish up another fairly crucial part of your armor. At this point all I need to finish up is your torso or headpiece before the suit is completed. The right arm and leg should be relatively easy - I can pretty much copy the designs from your left side. I've been waiting for Dagganoth to supply me with more material for that, though."
Jack grinned widely at Bob, turned around and left the laboratory. These proceedings confused Yatara.
{Why did he not reply to you?}
"He's not a man of words, Yatara... He's going to show this to our crewmates".
Bob gave Yatara the same grin Jack had given him and set back to work.
SoA
-The Protoss inside Murkag appear to be braindead. This condition is reversable but requires more Protoss technology.
-The Zerglings from the expedition had some leftover spores and Hiver blood under their claws. The quantity is low, but Bob and Yatara are studying these substances.
-Dagganoth spends 14 points on mutating his entire Brood with projective cortexes. This grants all his units the following upgrade: Projective Cortex: Activate to grant the unit 5 seconds of invisibility that breaks upon attacking, using an ability or being attacked. 30 Seconds cooldown.
-Bob Gentry reveals a Biosteel leg to Jack. Jack's equipment is now half-finished for lore-purposes. As soon as I get access to more points I'll finish up the entire suit and make him a proper 'playable' hero.
-Murkag is still traveling to Ihan. 2 IC's or 3 days travel time left.
Gambit, Davir system, approaching the planet Barkanos
{You realize the Imperials cannot be trusted once we make landfall, correct?} Po'Nath asked in his uncannily calm voice. Protoss were calm, but he brought it to a whole new level of unnerving.
“I got that,” David said as he stood behind Puck with a hand on the pilot's chair. “They were ready to start pulling fingernails a week ago when we left Domus-”
“Four days, cap'n,” Puck interrupted.
David waved the comment aside. “Whatever. We need to get more information before this comes to a head. We need to get an idea of what kind of force we are going to be dealing with if this 'Dagganoth' comes back here. He has some connection to this planet, or at least, his 'passengers' do. He may even follow us here.”
{This cerebrate has shown a remarkable amount of sentimental, 'human', rational,} Po'Nath put in. {He stepped in to help free this planet from the control of an Archon when it offered no strategic or power gain for him. And then did not seek to enslave them himself, though it would be completely within his power to do so.}
“And then he stepped in to help Erana's Order free their heroine,” Puck added.
“Not your typical zerg M.O...” David mused.
{Indeed,} Po'Nath said.
“This would be an interesting specimen to study,” Dr. Rark said from his seat. He had been sitting there the entire time, listening to the conversation, but this was the first time he had said something. “But without a sample from a typical cerebrate, there wouldn't be much to compare to. But I wonder what makes him so special. Is he a new strain?...” The doctor rambled on to himself, and then turned to the console he sat at, and began taking notes.
“Thank you, professor Nutty,” Puck said from his seat.
“Anyway,” David went on.
“So are you suggesting that we help the cerebrate?” Puck asked.
“No of course not,” David said. “Or... I don't know... I don't have enough information.”
{You are running out of time to be 'on the fence', as you humans say.}
“I know,” he answered. “I know.”
---
Barkanos
They were greeted on the ground by a crowd of people, led by a tallish man of medium build, wearing a simple black civilian outfit. He was a man of about thirty, but already his hair and beard were fully grey, giving him a wise and fierce look.
“Welcome to Barkanos,” he started, extending a hand to David. “I am Rodrick. I'm kind of the de facto mayor of sorts for this colony. It's been awhile since we've received visitors, let alone visitors that aren't armed to the teeth. Are you part of a convoy?”
Leo stood behind David with the rest of the crew. He almost laughed at Rodrick's comment. Just wait until you hear what we are here for, he thought to himself.
Just as David was about to start speaking, Rodrick's gaze doubled back to the crew and his eyes popped open in surprise and disbelief as his gaze fixed on Leo. “Is it you?”
He stepped around David and walked towards him. He was stunned. Rodrick looked familiar, but he had seen so many people, he just assumed it was a coincidence. He had no idea who this guy was. He searched his memories for where he could possibly know this man.
He looked to David, who shrugged in return. The man was approaching him. I hope I didn't kill his father or something.
{Do you know him?} Po'Nath asked him. After a moment, he shook his head and thought, I don't think so, hoping the protoss picked up the thought.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
“It is you. I would never forget your face. You changed my life,” Rodrick said, and Leo searched his eyes for what the man was thinking. It didn't look like he was angry. In fact, he looked like he was about to cry. Oh no, he thought, I did kill his father. Or maybe his mother.
“You saved my father's life,” Rodrick said.
“I'm so sorry. I didn't- What?”
“You probably don't remember. But when I was a little boy, my father was kidnapped by some hired muscle. My father was a general who had deposed a crime lord and he wanted revenge. You saved my father. I was there. I watched the whole thing.”
Suddenly, it all clicked together in Leo's head. Rodrick looked a lot like his father. “That's not exactly what happened-” he started, but he was cut off as Rodrick turned towards the crowd.
“Everyone! This man... he is a hero. He saved my father's life many years ago, and then disappeared without asking for anything in return. I have always dreamed of the day that I would see this man and get to thank him properly. My father was a great man, and this man selflessly put himself in harm's way to help a complete stranger, when he could have walked away.”
“And so,” he went on, turning to Leo and extending a hand. “On behalf of my father and with exceptional gratitude, I say 'thank you.'”
Not knowing what else to say, Leo took his hand, and the crowd clapped enthusiastically.
“In recognition of this great man and his friends, I declare the next two days to be spent celebration! Let us properly honor this man and all other men like him!”
The crowd erupted in noise and surged forward. Leo almost panicked as they swarmed around him and he was dragged off into the town.
---
Minutes later
David and the rest of the crew stood in front of Gambit watching the departing crowd.
{Is this your idea of 'laying low?'} Asala asked. David almost looked back, expecting to see her. The Imperial protoss had remained on the ship. They didn't want the natives to know they were there until they had a better picture of where their loyalties lay.
Tarial banked his phoenix upwards. Hard. A madness of red lights and sounds ensued as his on board computer told him just how insane the maneuver was. He ignored it, devoting his entire mind to completing the movement.
Completely calm, despite everything.
He felt the heat from the air drag, the sound of his ship's failing shields, the scream of the wind. Even the sudden but subtle increase in mass as his ship's gravity distorters pulled in the three Exiled corsairs unfortunate enough to be closest to him.
And then he was out, surging out of the mass of Exiled ships with three helpless corsairs in tow. They tried firing at his ship but it was already too late: their weapons simply disintegrated, followed by their hull, leaving behind nothing but golden dust.
And then Tarial dove in again.
-
Tarial surveyed the battlefield from atop a nearby cliff. Two dozen ships littered the ravaged jungle floor, but few of them were his. The Exiled had paid dearly for their mistake, losing what little air superiority they were left with after losing their little armada in orbit. The armada..
Tarial looked up at the sky, where the remains of his ship and the Exiled supercarrier he had crashed it into were orbiting the small planet. He closed his eyes, remembering his crew's shock at the order. They thought they would all die, that it was the end for them. Admittedly, it was the end for some of them: Tarial personally killed those who actively defied his order.
But the others now saw the genius of his plan. They were stranded on the planet, yes. But unlike the slow moving Exiled legions, they were not stranded in one place. They were constantly on the move, sabotaging and raiding the few facilities that hadn't already been destroyed when the invaders triggered the traps Tarial had ordered set. They were everywhere and nowhere, appearing and disappearing in a frenzy of raids that left the Exiled confused and disorganized. And, in their arrogance, the Exiled kept throwing away forces they could not afford to waste in a vain attempt to crush what they believed was a small group of stragglers. The fifteen burning wrecks before him and the eight ships that had been turned into dust by Tarial himself were testament to their failure.
The latest battle brought the kill count to fifty six: the skies had gone from contested to fully dominated by the Imperium and Tarial was now fully ready to exploit this. If the opportunity presented itself. He was not stupid. He knew that the enemy's ground presence was simply too overwhelming to deal with in the current, scattered state of the Imperium's forces. He knew that every day made the noose around their necks tighter and that the Exiled would remain stupid only for so long. But he also knew that he was not alone. Reinforcements were coming. They had to be.
New Aiur, Khasan System
Khalos looked at his companions. There were six of them, all looking as if they hadn't slept at all in the past week. Four of them had the look of scientists while the other two were clearly zealots. One of the zealots was missing the lower part of his left arm and was eyeing Khalos' own prosthetic arm with interest. Khalos ignored him. They were strangers, waiting for the same thing but otherwise unrelated, just like the dozens of other protoss Khalos had seen enter the waiting chamber before them.
This did not make them uninteresting, of course. Khalos was surprised by the number and variety of protoss Councillor Odranos was receiving at the Council Palace, which was still undergoing repairs. Where previously only the most privileged and exemplary protoss walked, now the rather unprivileged and non-exemplary masses swarmed. The palace had been transformed from a sanctuary of the powerful to a crossroad of the ordinary. The soft footsteps of ceremonially robed Councillors and elite guards had been replaced by the heavy footfalls of heavily armed warriors and the skittering of scientists and craftsmen. Khalos saw veteran warriors whose entire bodies were covered in scars, scientists wearing helmets completely covered in gadgets, protoss with malformed nerve cords and almost white bodies: it felt like completely opposite extremes of the Imperium were present in the palace.
Khalos did not mind the increased activity. It allowed him and his hybrid arm to meld into the masses: he was barely noticed in the bustle of activity and was allowed to sit back and observe, as much a part of the scene as he was segregated from it. For the first time in what felt like years he was not the center of attention: he was simply part of a crowd, minding his own business while everyone else went about theirs.
Which was why he was surprised when both he and the group of sleep deprived scientists and zealots were summoned to Odranos' auditorium. Up till then, he had only seen single protoss or groups of similar protoss enter the auditorium at any one time. The scientists and zealots seemed as surprised by the call as he was and examined him with renewed interest, taking special note of his prosthetic arm. He gave them one brief glance and then stood up and made his way towards the entrance to the auditorium, where a single guard stood sentinel.
The guard stood aside without so much as a word and Khalos entered. Immediately, he felt the outside world disappear behind him. He turned around, startled, only to see that the waiting chamber with all its protoss was still there.
{Do not worry, Praetor. It is merely a psionic veil. You must understand. Many of my visitors value their privacy and I, as their host, am obliged to... oblige them,} Councillor Odranos' voice came from the end of the room, as dry as Khalos remembered it. He turned around, surveying the auditorium. It was dark. Completely dark, save for the pair of glowing crystal lanterns that stood on either side of Odranos' chair, barely illuminating the Councillor himself, let alone the entire room. Odranos himself looked like he was barely there: his nerve cords were covered in dull black bandages, as was the right part of his torso. In the dim light, it looked like only half a protoss was sitting on the chair.
{Please, have a seat.} Odranos gestured and another chair lit up. Khalos walked over to it and sat down. The six protoss whom he had not felt enter the room followed, each occupying a glowing chair facing the Councillor.
{Very well. Let us get straight to the matter at hand,} Odranos said and then obeyed his own words, plunging directly into the topic of discussion. {Khalos, three weeks ago a secret Imperial scientific outpost was attacked. These are six of the many survivors of the attack. Six protoss were killed, but a total of seven are no longer with us. Would you care to guess who attacked the outpost?}
The way the Councillor barraged Khalos with surprises and information put the Imperium's fleets to shame. At first he thought that Odranos had made a rhetorical question but when silence ensued, he realized he was supposed to answer it. And yet he did not know the answer. He looked around at the other protoss, who seemed as confused as he was. Why ask me a question I cannot possibly answer?, he asked himself. Because you probably can answer it., came the response. Khalos' thoughts scrambled to find the answer while his eyes wandered lazily around the room, focusing on the glowing crystals, Odranos, the zealots' scars... the scars!
Khalos examined them closely now, taking note of their shape and depth. He looked at the protoss whose arm was missing, noted the texture of his stump, the slashes across his chest... zerg! And then it dawned on him.
{You mean...} he started but was cut off.
{The cerebrate in question offered to help the wounded and provide transport for any survivors. It also ransacked the entire station, stole copies of all the research that had been performed there and left with a volunteer. Fortunately, copies of the data were sent to our central databanks by that same volunteer, indicating that his heart was at least partially in the right place. I can safely say that the research is absolutely vital to the integrity of our military and that we would be extremely vulnerable without it. But I digress. I take it that you are familiar with this unnervingly kind cerebrate, are you not? Would you care to enlighten us - all of us - with information concerning it?}
It took Khalos a while to find ground again. The Councillor's thoughts were too fast. Khalos could not tell what the protoss was aiming at, or why. So he simply obeyed. He gave a brief recounting of his stay on the zerg behemoth and his contact with Dagganoth, the cerebrate who had saved him from certain death, describing his prosthetic arm and ending it all with a brief explanation of how he had returned from Domus. As he was talking, he realized that he was not speaking only for Odranos' benefit. The sickly protoss seemed just as interested in his story, their gazes never wavering from him.
When he was done, a moment of silence ensued and he realized Odranos was speaking to the other protoss privately. He must have dismissed them because a minute later they all stood up and left the chamber. One of them, a scientist, addressed Khalos as he left:
{We look forward to collaborating with you, Praetor.} And then he was gone, his mind completely obscured as he passed through the psionic veil, leaving Khalos alone with Odranos.
{I must apologize, Praetor,} Odranos started {you are only my last audience of the day because of the delay inherent in the arrival of the protoss that just departed.} When he saw that this did not prompt a response, he continued {Now, to get to the real matter at hand..}
Khalos narrowed his eyes at this but otherwise remained still.
{I am not aware of how informed of our military endeavors you were during your stay in Sindiris but if I had to guess, I would say your current knowledge of the Imperium's armed forces lies somewhere in between a rock's and a terran's. That is, you know nothing.}
This time, Khalos' surprise did show. It was highly unusual of a Councillor, or any protoss for that matter, to use such coarse language. He did not know whether he was being insulted or simply informed of his ignorance.
{Let me acquaint you with the contemporary map of the Imperium,} Odranos said dryly and flicked his wrist. A hologram of an extraordinarily detailed map sprung to life in the middle of the room, bathing the entire auditorium in its cyan-blue light. The map zoomed in on one corner, making the system of Aris, Meron and Idum clearly visible. Details came into sight beneath the systems, providing details on the Imperial presence in the systems. They did not look good.
{You are probably aware that we launched an invasion of the Exiled-held Aris system a year ago. What you may not be aware of is just how badly the entire invasion backfired. Oh, you know about the Exiled assault on Meron, fruitless as it was. But you do not know that, in the aftermath of Erana's escape, the Flame and its forces were recalled to Khasan to "serve in the protection of the heart of the Imperium against the rebel threat" -and we can see how that went, haha - leaving our foothold relatively undefended. So undefended, in fact, that our last remaining supercarrier was destroyed two weeks ago, reportedly in a "suicide warp" against an enemy supercarrier. We have heard nothing since and have neglected to go in and discover for ourselves what is going on. I was hoping someone with your military expertise could enlighten me as to what is probably going on there: is the system as unprotected as the heart of the Imperium, haha?}
Odranos did not laugh. He spelled out the 'ha's, as if attacking the very idea of what a laugh was: transmuting it from emotion to dry, cracked words. That was what alerted Khalos to the fact that he was being led to a conclusion rather than answering an actual question.
{You do know, of course, that the loss of Aris will likely result in the loss of Meron, leaving Khasyn, and even New Aiur completely vulnerable to Exiled attacks?} Odranos added helpfully. Khalos ignored him and stepped up to the map. Contrary to what the Councillor had said -and he probably didn't believe what he had said - he had heard a lot about the loss of Aris. The disgraceful suicide attack of the prelate in charge had been a frequent topic of discussion back in Sindiris: it was not often that an Imperial officer resorted to such pathetic measures to do battle, even when the Exiled were the enemy.
But while others saw nothing but disgrace in this action, Khalos now saw genius.
{If Aris fell two weeks ago, why is Meron still standing?} he asked, zooming in on the Meron system to see that it was still equally contested by Imperial and Exiled forces. {Reason would drive the Exiled to launch a full scale invasion of Meron as soon as Aris fell. Obviously, that hasn't happened. Therefore, we may conclude either that reason is not what drives the Exiled or that Aris is, in fact, still standing. While many of my superiors would argue that the former is true, I am of the other persuasion: Aris still stands, somehow. Whoever is in charge of the system's defense should be praised, not condemned. Better yet, they should be helped.} The map suddenly disappeared and Khalos found himself staring directly into Odranos' burning eyes. The Councillor had risen from his chair and was hunched over slightly, probably due to his injuries. Despite this, he seemed to tower over Khalos, his psionic presence now clearly felt and dwarfing Khalos'. For a second, Khalos felt awe. Then, he felt a subtle tinge of fear.
{Praetor Khalos,} Odranos started solemnly, {recent events have left our beloved Imperium in what can only be called a regrettable state. It is up to protoss like you and me to restore it to its former glory. But the masses do not know this. The craftsmen, the scientists, the scholars, the warriors, they need heroes, not capable commanders and leaders. They will not accept the authority of those unproven in their eyes. And the only solution to this problem that I believe to be within our grasp, is to satisfy these needs. We must create heroes out of the capable, make legends out of those whose wisdom we must confide in.}
Here, Odranos paused, as if catching his thought, but Khalos knew that the pause was purely for dramatic effect. And it worked. Khalos was almost entranced by the Councillor's words.
{The Imperium is afraid, Praetor. You can feel it in the way it draws breath: zerg, exiled, rebels... enemies are pressing us on all sides, suffocating us. But more maddening than that, we [are not even retaliating. We have blades, but no hands wielding them. We have great minds, but they are not allowed to think. We have great pride, but it is suppressed by fear. We are bound, unable to strike, to lash out against our enemies. And you, Praetor, you must be the one to take up the blade. You must break these bonds and strike. You must become a hero. Only then...}
Another pause, and this time there was no attempt at hiding its purpose.
{Only then, may I name you, Khalos, the supreme Executor of the breadth of the Imperium's armed forces. Only then can the Imperium retake its throne. You know what you must do, Khalos. The Flame awaits your command. Leave.}
Khalos stared at Odranos in disbelief. He was completely and utterly stunned, refusing to treat the Councillor's words as facts. And yet he felt himself walking away from the room involuntarily, fully aware of what he had to do. Fully aware of what Odranos had just blessed -and cursed- him with.
-
Once Khalos had gone, Odranos returned to his seat, where he remained for a few minutes, deep in thought. Then, he brought up the holographic map of the Eurim sector up again, zoomed in on the system that had recently been labelled "Davir" and stared at it, once again deep in thought. Seconds, minutes, half an hour went by. And then.
{He will make a fine Executor, if he survives his mission,} a voice out of nowhere suddenly said. Odranos did not budge, his eyes still fixated on the map, now looking at the planet named Barkanos.
{A fine Executor is not something you "make". It is something you are born as. But it is nice to hear your opinion on the matter, Zereth,} Odranos answered. The dry laughter of a Nerazim echoed through his mind and a dark templar suddenly materialized next to his seat, joining him in his study of the map.
{Are you sure he knows exactly what he is supposed to do? Your orders were not explicit,} said Zereth.
{I am fully confident in the Praetor's ability to come to correct conclusions based on even small amounts of information. Even if he does not know what to do, he will be informed. But I sense it is impatience rather than doubt that prompts your question. Am I correct in my assumption?}
Zereth did not answer for a while, simply staring at the map. Then:
{Indeed, you are,} he answered, at last. Odranos nodded.
{It was your own choice to wait for his thoughts and insights. While I respect your decision, I do not think it gives you the right to be impatient.}
{Impatience is a state of being, not a right.}
{And the other state of being is action, which vanquishes impatience?}
Again, Zereth remained silent, this time for a full five minutes. Odranos did not mind. Zereth's thoughts traveled different roads than his own and he was never one to ignore such a gift. It made Zereth impossible to manipulate, for a start.
{There are many states of being,} Zereth started, {one which happens to be dead and another which happens to be alive. I prefer belonging to the latter and charging an enemy with no knowledge of his mind is a good way to end up in the former.
{Agreed,} Odranos answered, laughing. This time, the silence spanned a full hour. Then, finally:
{Odranos.}
{Yes?}
{It is almost time.}
{I know, brother.}
SoA
Prelate Tarial is putting up a resistance on the planet of Hidron, in the Aris system. He is outnumbered but has air supriority over the Exiled's ground forces and is using hit and run tactics to remain out of the enemy's grasp but cannot do so indefinitely.
Supply Losses in Aris so far: Exiled: 1 flagship, 649 supply. Imperium: 1 flagship, 280 supply.
Khalos and a group of survivors from Mozared's science outpost raid have an audience with Councillor Odranos, the only currently living member of the Imperium's Ruling Council. Khalos is sent to Aris to retake the system. He is traveling in the Flame, a flagship reserved for the Imperium's Executor. 4 ICs/days until arrival.
An unidentified spaceship has left Khasan space and is heading for Barkanos. 6 ICs/days until arrival.
Yatara sat uncomfortably in the seat of the terran-made vessel. She was surrounded by her lifeless companions, who were strapped to their seats in case the craft began to shake.
"Are you all right back there?" the Terran named Adam called from the transport's cockpit.
{The accommodation could use improvement. But I am fine.}, she answered. That was all they said during the short flight. She had already input the correct coordinates into the ship's computer and was sure the Terran could find his way regardless. The Wanderer's only settlement on the planet was hard to miss: it was all one huge building, with an enormous central tower and multiple smaller towers branching away from it. Yatara observed it from the transport's windows, with only faint recognition: like most other Wanderers, she had spent little time on the Tribes' planets.
"Do I land anywhere specific?" asked Adam.
{No. Just occupy the closest landing platform.}
"Roger."
A minute later, they landed and opened the ramp leading into the back of the ship.
{Please remain in the ship.}, Yatara said and then got up and exited the vessel. Outside she found herself face to face with a group of three protoss. She knelt before them and bowed her head.
{Yatara, of the Warplight. I request your assistance.} She gestured towards the insides of the ship where the other protoss were clearly visible. She looked up to see the head of the group, an old Nerazim, nod his head and gesture with his right hand. The two protoss behind him turned around and made for the nearest tower. Yatara rose.
{Nar'An, of Rii. Welcome, Yatara. Do inform. It has been many centuries since I last saw a foreign ship above our planet,} Nar'An turned around and made for the central tower, leaving Yatara with no choice but to follow.
{Await my return.}, she told Adam.
-
The Protoss looked at Murkag with looks of confusion and awe as well as curiosity as the creature opened up its mouth and a group of Terrans stepped out. After Yatara had told Nar'An the whole story Dagganoth had landed his Behemoth in a nearby clearing. Adam had accompanied the two Wanderers as they led a group of Protoss there in order to use the site as a meeting and exchange ground. As his eyes darted across the field in front of him, Nar'An now also saw that the Terrans were carrying equipment that seemed very familiar to him. His suspicions were quickly confirmed as Adam turned to him.
"We lost a lot of your equipment in the earthquake, but here's what we managed to save."
{Thank you. Our equipment is valuable to us.}, Nar'An replied as he walked over to the Terrans carrying the equipment. He let his eyes slide over the items they were holding and took his time to observe all of it. After some time, one of the Terrans held out a small object to Nar'An but rather than taking it he looked at it carefully before turning back to Adam.
{What kind of payment do you seek?}
"Payment?", Adam raised his eyebrow. "It's your equipment."
{And you saved it. Along with many of our brethren.}
"But we only did what any decent person would have done... there was a distress call..."
Adam's words trailed off as Nar'An looked at him as if he were stupid.
{And that merits reward. Are you refusing our gratitude?}
"No, no! Definitely not... It's just... we're not exactly used to people wanting to repay us for doing services to them any self-respecting creature would have done anyway."
{No? It must be an unforgiving universe out there.}
"I guess it is... Well, if you insist..."
With that, Adam walked over to Nar'An and the group of Terrans as they started to make an inventory of all the equipment and research samples.
-
A couple hours later, the deals had been struck and the stories shared. As Murkag was getting ready to take off to continue Garamar Brood's journey, Nar'An and his Wanderers stood opposing Adam, Jack, Yatara and Amar. Nar'An looked at the strange band.
{Thank you for all of your services... May the stars watch over you on your journey.}
As Adam opened his mouth to reply on Dagganoth's behalf, the Cerebrate let his voice be heard for the first time since the Brood had arrived on Rii and beat Adam to it.
{Wandererss... You are truly a unique speciess. Your curiosity seems unparalleled, and I hope your discoveriess may serve you well. Like the Terrans I've met before you, I would count you as friendss as well. I understand why Amar wants to stay with you.}
{Actually...}, Amar started. {I have decided to stay. While the Wanderers seem worth living amongst, I do not think I am going to have as big a chance at researching new phenomena anywhere as I would while traveling with you, Cerebrate.}
Nar'An now looked at Yatara, who seemed to be on the verge of saying something. Yatara directed her thoughts at all the participants of the meeting.
{I wish to stay as well... While I am extremely grateful for the time I have spent here, I do not feel I would belong on Rii. My destiny lies elsewhere.}
{Sso be it... I hope we can make you both feel like real members of our Brood...}, Dagganoth responded.
Yatara sneered quietly. She never said she wanted to be a member of this Brood. She kept the thought to herself as the group boarded Murkag and the creature took off. Nar'An and his crew silently watched it as it left orbit and flew into space.
SoA
-Murkag lands on Rii and Yatara informs Nar'An, the leader of this particular Wandering Tribe, of what happened.
-The Terrans and Amar meet up with a group of the Wanderers. The Terrans return the unconscious Protoss to the Wanderers along with the equipment they managed to save and most of the samples they took on the Jungle planet. In return, the Tribe shares supplies and technology with Garamar Brood worth 31 points (8 for the crystals, 8 for the Alien corpses, 3 for the equipment, 8 for the rescued scientists, 4 for the Hiver blood and spores).
-Yatara doesn't seem very happy with Dagganoth for some reason...
-Murkag leaves Rii again after the visit and sets a course back to Domus. 10 IC's/Days until arrival. 1 IC/Day until Murkag leaves the Var'Shiri nebula and communications start working again.
“You’ve been in here a while.” Arcus said as he walked into the pitch black storage room, in the middle of which Nick said in meditation. “Two days, to be exact.”
“And?” He asked without opening his eyes, not sounding too happy.
“My bosses are beginning to realize something is wrong.” Arcus said. “They’re searching for us. If you don’t make a decision on what to do, I will.”
“I see.”
“What were you doing here all the time anyway?”
“Thinking.” Nick said. “Mostly about how broken life is nowadays.”
“What do you mean?”
“Life is trying to destroy itself. They are even willing to create new lifeforms, monsters, like me to achieve that goal - The destruction of another life form.”
“Life’s shit, what can I say?”
“Yet it doesn’t have to be. While I may have been created to destroy, they have also created perfection - A combination of the three dominant species. We do not know much about the Xel’naga, if they existed, but there was one theory that I found interesting - That the Xel’naga were an ever reincarnating and evolving species. They would modify the genes of lesser lifeforms, like the ancestors of the Zerg and the Protoss, and make those species advance. But the Xel’naga’s life cycle doesn’t last forever: They die out. But the new races they created were outfitted with the ability to merge, combine. They would have to get past their differences first, they would have to evolve psychology so that they would not only accept the other species in their community, but inside their very genes. And so the Xel’naga would be reborn, from the genes of a couple of new species mixed in with their own original genes, and the cycle would begin anew.”
“Interesting theory.” Arcus agreed. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“I am a human with the best genes of both the protoss and the zerg, who are supposedly the descendants of the Xel’naga. Life has reached the technological level to reach perfection, but as I said before: Everyone is trying to kill everyone. We may technologically be able to ascend to the next form, to perfection, but life is not ready to accept that yet.”
“I take it you want to do something about that?” Arcus asked, interested.
“Are you?”
“Honestly, I don’t have any plans of my own. But I am sick of people treat each other nowadays - Everyone is fearing attacks from the Zerg or Protoss, fearing another war. And once that day comes, the Arken will leave even more planets in shards. Don’t get me wrong, I was trained to kill and will continue to do so. It is hypocritical, but I am not going to change. But I might as well have a cause to kill for.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to stop killing.” Nick said. “Control is extremely difficult to achieve with pacifism, and control is what this sector needs. Life has been free for very long now, but as we see they have only caused destruction. It is time to put an end to that.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“We try to control the chaos, to nudge it into the right direction - If we do it well, eventually the chaos will be too organised to still be chaos, and that would be the first step to ascenscion, perfection. As for what we do immediately - We need to be a force to be reckoned with. I believe the crew is good at infiltrations?”
“I’ll tell the captain to set course to the Outsider systems, their ships should be easy to take over.”
“Good.” Nick said and smiled. He liked having a man with a similar mind to his.
It probably isn’t that similar. He said to himself.
Shut up.
Can we finally kill somebody? The kitchen lady seemed tasty to me.
We will get to cause enough damage soon, don’t worry.
Just outside the Var'Shiri nebula close to the Lidrim system
Adam had just gotten out of the jacuzzi in his makeshift bathroom, still both amused and amazed that one even existed aboard this Zerg behemoth. As he dried himself up and put on some clothes, he noticed a faint buzzing from the corner of the room. As Adam walked over there to check what it was, he recognized the object as the communications device Kenny had given him in what seemed years ago. As he picked it up and pushed a button, Kenny's voice came through:
"About time someone picked up... we've been trying to reach you for ages. Entered the Var'Shiri nebula, I take it?"
"You can say that again", Adam replied. "We found the Tribes, and more... in the end we had to set up a rescue expedition to save a bunch of them".
"Yeah, keep the niceties for later, Sparkles. We've got an unsavory looking Terran asking around about Dagganoth. He may be in with some more unsavory looking fellows, too. Ended up leaving in the direction of Barkanos."
"What?!", Adam exclaimed, shocked and confused.
"You heard me. We're not sure who the big guy got upset, but something's going on."
"Hang on Kenny... I need to talk to Dagganoth.". Kenny could clearly hear the discomfort and fear in Adam's voice.
Adam lowered the device and turned, not fully knowing why - it wasn't like he could really 'address' the Cerebrate or look at him. As he opened his mouth, he heard its voice in its head.
{It's alright, Adam. I shall not give up on Barkanoss...}
A minute later Kenny heard Adam's voice again, seemingly reassured by whatever Dagganoth had said to him.
"I've talked to Dagganoth. He wants to help the people on Barkanos, but we aren't in a position to do so. He wanted me to ask you to send ships over there to protect the colony and keep whoever's after us there so we can talk to him. He realizes we cannot offer much compensation, but at this moment you're our only hope."
Kenny remained silent for a few seconds before replying. "Well, we don't like people sniffing around our business, and I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea if we kept him grounded until you deal with that."
"Thank you Kenny... I appreciate it. We appreciate it, I mean."
"I'll deduct it from your next paycheck.". With that, Kenny disconnected the call.
SoA:
More Nick Reyd Stuff
Dagganoth changes course to Barkanos; 5 ICs/days until arrival
A Pirate Patrol is sent from Domus to Davir, 4 ICs til arrival, it will attempt to keep the Gambit grounded. All the crew knows is that they got wired a large sum of money to do so from person called "Adam" - Pirates don't question large sums of money.
OOC: Man life can sure get busy. Better now, and here's some space-cowboy romping around to make your day more pleasant. :-D
IC:
“How far out are we?” David asked. The return trip to Domus seemed to be taking forever. The protoss on board didn't make it any more pleasant. The dark templar weren't so bad, when he could avoid thinking about the fact that they could be anywhere on his ship, but Asala....
“About four hours closer than when you asked me four hours ago,” Puck said patiently. “We'll get there when we get there.”
“I know,” David answered defensively. “I just want to get this over with quickly.”
“You and me both,” the sardonic reply came. “How goes things with-”
He was suddenly interrupted by metal clanging and clattering somewhere in the ship. David was instantly back on his feet and running towards the noise. Puck's voice came over his ear-piece. “No damage to the ship, but it looks like Haley is having a problem in the engine room.... I'd bring chocolate if I were you.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” he answered, breezing through the communal dining and kitchen area. A few minutes later he was jogging into the engine room, where Haley was screaming incoherently and throwing things everywhere.
He dived for cover as a toolbox came flying at his head.
“Hey! Haley! Cool it! It's just me,” he said, poking his head out from cover.
“It's that damned buzzing!” Haley said furiously. Her curly red hair was extremely disheveled and it looked like she hadn't slept in days. “It's everywhere! It's driving me insane.” She broke down and started crying.
David suddenly felt uncomfortable, and he didn't know how to respond. “Buzzing?”
“You can't hear it?” she sobbed, looking up at him with red eyes. “It's everywhere. Here. In the cockpit. In my quarters. I can't find out what it is, and it's making me crazy. It doesn't sound like anything I've ever known.”
She looked away, and continued muttering to herself.
David looked to the doorway again, hoping that he could find a way out of the room without setting her off. No luck. He would have to move directly into her field of vision to escape.
“It's okay. My ears ring like that sometimes too. It's been happening a lot since those protoss got on board. Maybe it's something with their telepathic stuff. I bet it's nothing to worry about.... Haley?”
Haley had stopped muttering and was staring intently into the engine. Suddenly, her hand shot out and grabbed one of her tools. Pointing it into the engine, she pressed a button, and the tool blipped on. "Scanning," it said in a deep male voice.
After a few seconds, it beeped once, and a tiny red dot appeared on the little monitor of the tool.
Thrusting the tool into David's hands, she dived into one of her tool-boxes, finally coming out with a little wand-looking tool.
"What's that?" he asked. "What did you find?" He looked down at the tool in his hands.
"It's a concentrated electrical pulse laser," she said. "It's useful for frying pesky little things... like nanobots." She pointed at the engine and fired.
"Haley wait!" David yelled. He didn't like anything with the name 'concentrated electrical pulse laser' being pointed at the engine of his ship.
He dived for cover, but instead of the explosion of electrical circuits he had expected, he heard a wave of electrical energy pass over him, and saw the shadow of Haley's flying body pass over him.
He got back to his feet and then helped Haley up. She was unsteady on her feet and kept trying to shake the spots from her eyes. After a few moments, David was satisfied that she would be alright, and picked up the scanning device.
He touched the little red dot, and it zoomed in to a tiny frame, showing a protoss robot. "Nanobots huh?" he muttered to himself.
“It's... gone,” he heard Haley say behind him.
“Good to hear that,” David said as he pocketed the scanner. “I have to talk to Vardanis.”
David could barely contain his fury as he quickly left the engine room and sought out the 'ambassador'. He had no idea why it was put there and in other places, but if Haley didn't know about it, then it wasn't one of his, which meant it could only be one of the protoss's. He was going to get to the bottom of this.
“Puck, call the crew to the bridge.”
“Is there a problem?”
“There might be. Make sure they are armed.”
{Is there a problem, captain?} Vardanis echoed, stepping out of the shadows in front of him.
Surprised, his pistol was out and pointed before he could think. Even faster than he could see, Vardanis forced his wrist up and pushed him against the wall. Reflexively, David pulled his second pistol hidden in the back of his shirt with his other hand, and stuck it into the protoss's ribs. Before he could fire, Vardanis's grip loosened and the protoss stepped back.
{You are fast,} the protoss said, {but I sense that you attacked out of surprise rather than intent. I apologize for startling you. I forget you humans are not as.... trained.... as we are.}
David reholstered both of his pistols, still trying to register what had happened. He had pulled a gun on one of the Imperial dark templar? Twice? And lived?
“What do you have to say about this?” he asked, pulling out the scanner and throwing it to the protoss.
Vardanis caught it and flipped it around to face him in the same motion. {It is a nanobot. One of Asala's, no doubt. She has a pension for such... gadgets.}
“It was hidden in the engine room,” David went on. “And Haley thinks there are more throughout the ship. Did you know about this?”
{I can assure you that I knew nothing of this,} Vardanis said.
At first, David wanted to argue, but then he forced himself to calm down. If Vardanis had known, he wouldn't have told him about it being Asala's.
{I understand your anger, captain,} the protoss went on. {She has breached your trust, and through her, we have. I will see that she removes her trinkets and I will personally see that it does not happen again.}
“See that it doesn't,” David answered, turning and walking away. After he was a sufficient distance away. “Puck.”
“Yes, captain?”
“False alarm. But tell everyone to remain on their toes.”
David made his way through the dining hall back to the engine room. As he entered Haley's domain, he noted that the room was still littered with the misplaced tools from before.
"Hello?" he heard her voice from the other side of the engine. It didn't waver in the slightest, and he was surprised to see her bounce around the engine to greet him. "Oh, captain!" There was no indication in her appearance or her attitude that she had been almost literally pulling her hair out only minutes before. He almost couldn't tell that she had been crying either.
"Are you okay?" he asked slowly.
"Never better," she said overly happily. She leaned in, her eyes narrowed, and her voice hardened. "And if you ever tell anyone, I will skin you alive and drape the bloody rags of your flesh on the nose of my ship."
David pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket and put it between them. "Tell anyone what?"
SoA: -Haley discovers nanobots placed throughout Gambit -David brings the evidence to Vardanis, demanding an explanation -Vardanis says they are Asala's and then proceeds to reprimand her privately and she removes the nanobots -Arrival in Sindiris is imminent -Other random space-cowboy stuff. David almost gets his arms ripped off ;-)
Planet Sindir, Sindiris System
Khalos lifted his arm. It obeyed sluggishly, as if it was tired of being experimented with all day long. He let it drop and watched it. His fingers -its fingers- moved slightly and then stopped.
He didn't trust the arm. It was more like a separate being that obeyed his orders than part of his body. Its pulsing brownish-purple skin reminded him too much of the zerg and the metal framework simply looked out of place on his organic body. But the greatest drawbacks were the reactions of his fellow protoss. They looked at the arm with disgust, even fear, and Khalos himself received no better treatment. Not only had he failed to keep Erana from the Order, he had also accepted a gift from the mortal enemy- the zerg.
And yet, he wasn't sure about having the arm removed. It felt special, something to be preserved, examined and used. And it set him apart from all other protoss, something which he took a disturbing amount of comfort in. It wasn't often that a protoss was "bestowed" with the characteristics of two other races.
The sound of a door opening shook him from his thoughts and he looked up from his chair to see Imperator Madran walking towards him. He was without company: this was a private meeting.
"{Nothing. Apparently a ragtag group of rebels can attack the most important location in the entire Imperium and the combined forces of the military and law enforcement cannot capture them.}"
Khalos maintained his silence. He knew that Madran did not like being interrupted, let alone argued with.
"{The situation couldn't be worse. We lose Erana and an entire fleet to wretched zerg and then we lose the Council to the damn rebels. And that's not all. We are losing Meron and Aris, Khalos. After a year of fighting, we're losing them. Hidron is down to its last defenses. The imbecile in charge apparently crashed his flagship into an Exiled carrier and now they are putting up some kind of futile resistance on the surface. I give them a week at most. Meron? Forget it. Ever since we withdrew forces from the two systems, the Exiled have been pushing and advancing. And for what? We can't even find the rebels with the extra fleets, let alone do anything to them. We essentially gave up Meron and Aris for nothing.}"
His rant apparently over, Madran stood in front of of Khalos, staring at him.
"{And you want me to do something about it?}" Khalos replied. Madran scoffed telepathically.
"{I don't want you to do anything. However, New Aiur seems to think differently. They are recalling you to Khasan. You are to depart immediately.}" With that, the Imperator turned around and left the room, as if the only reason he had come was to communicate his frustrations. Knowing him, that was probably the case. Madran was the kind of officer Khalos had mixed feelings about. A good tactician and strategist, willing to listen but prone to complaining about problems rather than solving them.
Still, for him to notify Khalos of his imminent recall personally meant that something important was going on. And with that thought, Khalos' mind immediately swung to the meeting he had with Odranos just before he left New Aiur.
He hadn't thought much of it once he had left the planet. Odranos was known for being slightly eccentric and cryptic and Khalos linked his behavior - his comments on the Council's "tragic flaw", the refusal to answer Khalos' question regarding the Council's competency - to these qualities.
But now, with the Council destroyed and the entire Imperium on alert, Odranos' comments had a much different meaning to them.
But surely, the Councillor had nothing to do with the bombing? Surely, he wasn't being serious when he criticized the Council? Surely, he couldn't have anticipated what had happened since their meeting?
But one question stubbornly rang through Khalos' mind: Why, out all sixteen Council members and their countless bodyguards and advisers, was Councillor Odranos the only one to have survived the explosion?
SoA
Talk and character development.
Domus, the asteroid city
"It's a deal then?", the average height brown haired man asked the short black-hooded man. The short man nodded. In the background an overly large blond-haired military man silently watched the conversation. The short man held out his arm and projected a small screen for the average sized man to see. The taller man nodded as the screen displayed a collection of changing numbers and gave the short man a small disk. As he inserted it into what seemed to be his wrist-mounted computer, he turned off its screen and faced the brown haired man.
"So, any other interesting things you've got for me?"
"I don't think so, unless you're interested in going after the Wandering Tribes. The big guy talked to Amar... apparently we're gonna look for them past the Davir system. Setting off again immediately. Work work."
Adam grinned while saying the last two works.
"Gonna pass. It's been a while since I annoyed Doom in person, I think I should catch up on that. If you still have my communications device you should be able to contact me anyway."
"True. Either way, you'll be seeing us around."
"I don't doubt it."
With that, Kenny took off. Adam looked at Jack as he looked back. The eyes of the two met as they turned and walked away in the other direction.
SoA
-Garamar Brood sells the Protoss Rotating Shield upgrade to Kenny for 30 points.
-Murkag arrives at Domus and immediately takes off again in the direction of the unnamed red system three hexes below Idum. 9 ICs/days until arrival.
Gambit Cargo Hold, Domus docking bay
“Okay, you two, you know what you need to do,” David said as he stepped off his ship onto Domus. It felt good to be back.... Somewhat.... Okay, it wasn't so great. He was just glad to be able to get away from the protoss. “Get to it.”
He watched as Casey and Po'Nath dispersed into the crowd. The Imperials didn't want to make their presence known, but they had gone over every scrap of information with him repeatedly, drilling him on how he was going to get more information. As if he had never done this before.
He wasn't entirely comfortable leaving the ship in Leo's hands with the protoss on board, but he didn't have much choice. The Imperials couldn't really leave the ship without risking detection and/or retaliation, and he wasn't too sure he trusted them off on their own. Especially Asala.
Putting his doubts out of his mind, he set off to begin his own information gathering. He would just have to trust that Vardanis would keep Asala in check, and that Leo would stay calm. Okay, he wouldn't be gone that long. He just had to check out this one lead the Imperials had given him.
The Terrans that traveled with the cerebrate had used a transport ship to ferry them from the cerebrate's leviathan and Domus. If he could find out where the transport had originated, it give some clue as to Dagganoth's allies, or where he came from. It was a long shot, but longer shots had paid out for him.
He made a few calls on his way, setting up meetings with various information brokers. These meetings were easy, telling them what information he wanted and negotiating the terms. Some brokers wanted an up-front fee, others wanted to get paid based on the value of the information. David preferred the latter, because it ensured the brokers efforts. Can't get paid for flimsy or false information.
Then the waiting would begin.
SoA:
- Gambit arrives in Domus, and information gathering on Dagganoth commences
- Imperial protoss stay on the ship, out of sight, with Haley, Doc, Puck, and Leo
- Casey, David, and Po'Nath are doing the information gathering
Uncharted Star System
Yatara's body strained with effort as she climbed the makeshift ladder to the top of the pole, where the nets were suspended. They were sensor nets, complex instruments designed to monitor the atmosphere, and a few minutes ago, the base's computer system had notified her of a malfunction which she had gone to fix.
She could have used a remote probe or other robot to investigate and repair the thing for her but, like any good member of the Wandering tribes, she followed the old rule of use-not-what-you-can-make-not: she would not use a remote probe until she could design and make one. That, and she couldn't resist the opportunity to climb up the pole and survey the area she and the rest of her team were investigating.
She did this now, sitting down on a narrow platform atop the pole to rest her muscles. All around her, extending as far as the eye could see, was nature: cyan-leaved trees, green grass she knew glowed at night and countless other fantastic plants she had never seen and couldn't wait to study.
And study them she would. That was the reason they were here. Big as the verdant area was, it was the only one on the entire planet: the rest was made up of huge oceans and barren wastes that supported no more than the most basic life. The fifty kilometer-radius area they were in was as different from the rest of the planet as the living were different from the dead. And they were here to find out why.
Yatara closed her eyes and nodded as if appreciating the scene and task before her and got to work. She stood up and began to walk from one net-supporting pole to the other using the narrow platforms that connected them. She kept an eye out for any damage or inconsistency in the thin, barely visible fabric above her but saw none.
Confused, she accessed her suit's personal data crystal to look at the report. "High Pressure Abnormality in Quadrant 3, Gird (6, 7)" it read. Yatara raised her head to look at the source of the anomaly but saw nothing strange. Confused, she was about to contact the rest of the small expedition to check if her equipment was malfunctioning when she heard a crackling sound coming from above her.
She whipped her head up in time to see a mass of blue sparks course through the net, making the sky beyond seem dim and distant. And then, with the sound of tearing fabric, the net gave in. For the briefest of moments, the discharged electricity allowed Yatara to see the outline of a large, winged form. A second later, it was gone. She screamed.
--------------------Yatara clutched her makeshift weapon tightly as she advanced down the corridor as silently as she could, her mind carefully shielded. The distance between her and the door at the far end of the corridor seemed to stretch as she came closer.
A distant sound came from somewhere else in the building and she crouched, her weapon at the ready. It wasn't even a weapon. She had merely disassembled a probe and turned its particle beam into a portable weapon. It wasn't powerful but it was enough to hold off the... things.
She waited, not entirely trusting any of her senses. When nothing seemed to happen after two minutes, she continued, albeit more cautious than before. She reached the door withing half a minute and found it to be locked.
She cursed, something she had become accustomed to doing in the past few... hours? days? weeks? She couldn't tell. All she really knew was that something had happened and that something had disabled the base's power crystals. Without the power, she couldn't open the door. So she cut through it with her particle beam, pushed it to the side and entered the base's control room.
As soon as she was inside, she pulled the door closed and, after changing the particle beam's settings, fused the door closed. Still not entirely secure, she set about piling the rooms chairs and other movable furniture against the door. Once she was done, she walked over to one of the many crystal computers in the room and tapped its core. Nothing happened.
Frustrated, she shook her head and activated the particle beam in order to dispel the gloomy darkness of the room. She crouched and reached down to grab the cables that connected the crystal core to the power supply. Using the particle beam, she severed the cables, grabbed them and stood back up.
She then turned off the particle beam and, using the little light that illuminated the room to see, took out the power crystal inside. She curled the power cables around the crystal and held it with one hand while touching the computer core with the other hand. Reciting a mental prayer, she reached out to the power crystal with her mind and activated it.
The crystal glowed blue and, thanks to the miracle that was protoss technology, the power cables wrapped around it received its energy and transferred it to the computer. The core suddenly lit up and, before the conscious part of her even realized, she was instructing it to send out a distress signal to any friendly ships. Then, as quickly as she had turned the computer on, she turned it off. She could not afford to waste the crystal's energy. She needed it... for the things.
SoA:
Yatara, a scientist that is part of a Wandering Tribe expedition to an off-charts planet, sends out a distress signal to other Wandering Tribes fleets after her expedition's base is overrun by... "things".
The system is the red system 5 hexes to the right of Ihan.
Casey stalked through the crowd of one of Domus's Bazaar's, trying to plan her next move. She had faced denial after evasion all day, just on the verge of discovering something. Then, suddenly, all of her informants dried up. They didn't know anything, but she knew that wasn't entirely the case. Something was going on. Someone was protecting this mark, this zerg. Someone high up in the food chain, but that didn't...
She shivered. Something was indeed going on. She stopped to admire a few of the trinkets at one of the stalls as she surveyed the street around her. She had learned to trust her instincts, especially when things weren't going her way. It only took her moments to identify the tail. It wasn't hard. The dirty-looking man, probably someones go-to muscle-for-hire, moved just a tad bit too quickly into one of the neighboring stalls, and pretended to admire the wares. Amateur. Casey started through the crowd again at a faster pace and heard the hustle and sounds of protest as the thug pushed his way through the crowd to stay on her. She listened for the crescendo of unrest to indicate the thug's pace, and when she felt sure he could not swiftly follow, darted for a darkened access into the abandoned mining tunnels of the asteroid.
The ghost moved swiftly through the tunnels as she turned on her night-vision specs with a thought, marking every turn and branch in the path carefully, lest she get lost, and moving almost purely on instinct. When she was certain that not even the most talented of tails, much less a cheap thug, could have followed her, she stopped and took in her surroundings. Casey found herself just inside what appeared to be some sort of Barracks or Union house, carved out of the rock, perhaps a place of residence for the Miners when this rock had still contained riches. All around her lay piles of blankets and refuse, some occupied by persons dressed in variations of the "tattered and dirty" motif. They all looked at her with identical expressions of anticipation.
"Excuse me," Casey said as she stepped back toward the exit, "I took a wrong turn, I'll just be going." The ghost turned to find herself face to face with another individual, this one dressed in the standard combination of nice, slightly worn, clothing and armored accessories that constituted the uniform of every self respecting business man on Domus. He was tall enough that they were eye to eye, despite her gear giving her an extra half a foot, and met her shocked expression with an almost lazy gaze of intense interest framed by his weathered face and long dark hair.
"No need to hurry off," the man drawled, forcing the ghost back into the room with a steady steps and the force of his presence, never breaking eye contact, "I've been looking for an opportunity to chat. I hear you have been looking for information on a ship?"
Casey could feel the trap closing shut as she broke the man's gaze long enough to avoid tripping over one of the huddled masses. All eyes in the room were fixed firmly on her, but not a one of them moved. Several seconds passed as she waited for someone to pull a knife or a gun, or the room to explode, but nothing happened, and she looked back at the man to find him still staring at her, a faint hint of amused expectation added to his intense gaze. She finally gathered up her thoughts enough to coherently formulate an answer, "Yes, A terran transport ship carrying -"
"Yes, I know of which you speak." The man interrupted her smoothly, "Someone had decided you do not need this information. My employer disagrees, so I will give it to you. Does this suit you?" Casey barely had time to nod before the man continued, "Good, you should go to the planet Barkanos, in the Davir system. The one you seek has allies there and you will certainly be able to find out more, if you can pry the information from the locals." The man grinned wickedly, and Casey got a distinct impression that his means of information gathering would not be pleasant. "Now leave, I would prefer that you are not tracked back to this place." He stated, moving quietly aside.
Casey did not need to be told twice. She left, sparing a quick glance behind her to see that they were all still sitting and standing in the exact same positions, staring at her. Casey tried to maintain a calm pace back to the crowded and spacious tunnels that contained the Bazaar. She found it hard not to run. Only when she made it back to the press and bustle of terrans going about there daily lives did she finally start to calm down. She turned her night-vision off, and started back towards Gambit and friendlier company.
SOA: Casey meets some unsavory character's in the slums of Domus, and receives from them information on Dagganoth's allies on Barkanos.
Unnamed red system beneath Idum
Murkag slowed down as he drifted into the unnamed system. As the Garamar brood slowly drew closer to its centre, the vague distorted message Dagganoth had been picking up since a day or two ago rapidly became louder and less warped. He could sense it relatively distinctly now, and even though it still wasn't crystal clear it seemed that this was as good as it was going to get in this system. Dagganoth took some time to scan all the planets in the system for any form of life in order to prepare against any ambushes, but the system seemed as deserted as some of the gas giants and asteroid fields Murkag had passed on the way. The closer the brood came to the Var'Shiri nebula, the less organisms it had encountered. After a moment of consideration, he directed his psionic attention towards the one Protoss aboard the Zerg Behemoth.
{Amar...}
{Yes, Cerebrate?}
Amar had taken to name Dagganoth by his classification rather than his name: though he had adjusted to life aboard a Zerg 'vessel' fairly well, he still had small issues with things like seeing Zerg organisms as specific, detached, organic beings.
{The disturbancce... have you noticed?}
{I have. It seems... stressed. It is hard for me to pick up, but I have noticed the signal.}
{Perhaps we can combine our effortss. Wait.}
Before the Protoss really understood what was about to happen, it was upon him. Dagganoth had given him a temporary psionic link to the sensing network of the Garamar brood. While it was in a way frightening, what Amar saw was also beautiful. It felt like he was looking down at some kind of 3D battlefield simulation while having an out of body experience at the same time. He was perfectly aware of Murkag and the creature's surroundings. He saw every planet in the system as clearly as Dagganoth did, along with additional visions shared by several Overseers that had left Murkag to do some preliminary scouting. He saw the Terrans, working out in their gym, and Bob Gentry experimenting in his laboratory. He saw - no, he felt himself standing on Murkag's stomach.
But most of all, he heard the distorted message ten times as clear as he had before - even if it was still twisted. It seemed to be a short, chaotic audio file, repeating itself on a loop. It cut off at the end, not properly finishing, and had clearly been recorded and transmitted in a hurry.
{It is definitely some kind of distress call. It is completely broken up; all I can make out is the word 'Help'. The rest is background noise. I can't tell if it's a battle or interference.}
{Then we sshould go and help. I hope you do not mind that we are disstracted from finding the Wandering Tribess for a while longer, Amar...}
{That may not be the case. I cannot identify the signal, but it is definitely Protoss in origin. With some luck we'll find some kind of information on whoever set this signal up - if we get to them in time.}
With that, Dagganoth fell silent as Murkag made a sharp turn and started making its way in the direction the signal was coming from.
SoA
-Murkag arrives at the red system beneath Idum and as it goes in Dagganoth picks up some kind of distress signal more and more clearly.
-Dagganoth briefly links Amar to the sensory network of the Garamar hive, allowing him to receive the signal more clearly. It appears Protoss in origin, and Amar can translate the signal which appears to be some sort of broken up distress call with only the word 'Help' being even vaguely audible.
-In response to the signal, Murkag starts moving in the direction of where it's coming from, which is the unnamed yellow system south of Aris. 2 IC's/days travel time until arrival.
Unnamed yellow system beneath Aris
Murkag again slowed down as he drifted into the unnamed system. As Garamar brood had followed its course the distress call had remained as clear as it was, though still not revealing any further information. While getting closer and closer to the apparent point of origin of the signal, Murkag slowed down even more as Dagganoth send out Overseers and carefully listened for any sort of psionic activity or life in general in the system. Though this constellation seemed just as empty as the previous one, something had happened to the Protoss in the call and Dagganoth was ready to react the second something happened.
Nothing happened, though. As Murkag glided closer and closer to the source, it became more apparent to Dagganoth that the source appeared to actually not be located on one of the planets in the system. In fact, it seemed to be located at a seemingly random point in space. After intently scanning the surroundings of the source, it became obvious that there were genuinely no lifeforms around anywhere in the system. As Murkag finally slowed to a halt, Dagganoth found himself looking at what appeared to be some kind of iron diamond with rods sticking out of it. As several Overseers flew in to provide a better look, Dagganoth managed to better identify the object: it was a seemingly metal version of a Protoss pylon with antennae sticking out, and the entire contraption was studded with crystals at various spots.
{Amar... What do you think?}
{I am not sure... it seems to be some sort of communications device, judging by the antennae. Can you give me a closer look?}
With that, two of Dagganoth's Overseers drew closer towards the object and floated next to it at face level distance. Amar got as great a detail as he was going to get and took a minute to study the diamond.
{This is some kind of communications relay. The material is definitely not Imperium nor Exiled Tribes. It might be Tama, but I don't think so. This could well be a construction made by those of the Wandering Tribes. It would make sense: we have now entered the Var'shiri nebula and most tribes have known for a long time that communications go haywire in here. This relay would be part of some kind of larger system they could use to communicate.}
{If it iss a relay, can we find the original ssourcce? The Protosss there will still need our assistancce...}
{That should be easy. There is a feed in it. Can you sense it? If we follow the relay's input rather than its output we should find either the origin of the source, or another relay.}
{Then our path sseems clear.}
SoA
-Murkag arrives at the yellow system beneath Aris and finds the 'source' of the distress call - Amar examines it through the eyes of Murkag and various Overseers.
-The 'source' appears to be a seemingly Wandering Tribes-made Protoss relay for communicating inside the Var'shiri nebula.
-Dagganoth decides to follow the input of the relay and thus sets course for the unnamed red system south of Meron. 3 IC's/days travel time until arrival.
Unnamed red system beneath Meron
Murkag went through the same proceedings as in the previous two systems, having now 'perfected the art'. This time however, none of the scans or psionic outcries seemed to yield any result and it wasn't long until the Behemoth descended into orbit of one particular planet. The planet was peculiar in that it seemed to be completely uninhabitable; most of the planet seemed to house either vast oceans or empty deserts. The reason it merely seemed uninhabitable was because there was a small jungle located at the north end of it. This seemed to be where the distress call was coming from, and Dagganoth could track it to some kind of compound built inside of the jungle. Fifteen minutes later a swarm of Mutalisks, Overseers and Vipers flew out towards the surface. Another ten minutes later, as they were reaching the jungle, Murkag shot out ten spore pods towards an area just outside of the compound.
As one of these spore pods hit the ground and exploded in a cloud of goo, it revealed three humanoid figures.
"This has to be the most uncomfortable way I've ever travelled", Jack said to Adam and Amar as he took off his small rebreather. He was probably right; Zerg spore pods were usually filled with a gooey liquid that Zerg creatures could distill oxygen out of. It had to be this gooey so the traveling organisms could survive the fall onto a planet without sustaining damage. The Terran-Protoss crew had shared their drop pod with seven Zerglings and the experience was roughly similar to being underwater in a swimming pool. Except the water was gelatine, and there were Zerglings literally just floating around.
"Let's get moving", Adam said as the remainder of the spore pods landed and Zerglings grouped up around them. At the same time, shadows fell over the landscape as the fleet of Mutalisks, Overseers and Vipers got in range. As soon as the Overseers had vision, the Zerglings seemed to instantly change from their passive stance to a more aggressive stance, and a second later a number of them were in combat with what was seemingly some kind of invisible creature. Jack shot some bullets into the underbrush at the side of the clearing as Adam and Amar looked around, looking rather bewildered.
"Invisible creatures", Jack said. "They seem to be hostile."
The view through Jack's eyes was slightly different from what Adam and Amar saw; the parasite in his body was capable of receiving the Overseer's transmissions and transmitted them into his brain through his spinal cord. The jungle looked exactly the same to Jack, but there were a small number of strange cyan-greenish alien lifeforms around that could best be described as 'looking like a cross between a dog and a Zergling'. As the last of the strange band of small attacking creatures fell, the group started moving towards the compound.
They reached the complex not five minutes later, encountering several more of the aliens on the way. Though there hadn't exactly been a lot of dull moments, the group seemed perfectly fine in handling the aliens for now; they seemed more like aggressive wildlife than any kind of organized force. As the expedition reached the complex, Adam looked around. There were three buildings; one seemed to be the 'main' building and was shaped as a tower. The second mostly resembled what Adam knew as a Terran greenhouse, and the third didn't resemble anything Adam had ever seen before.
{It's a laboratory.}
Adam had almost forgotten why they had brought Amar along. All of the buildings seemed to have Protoss architecture, though Adam had had enough experiences with the Protoss to know that they looked different from the Imperium halls and buildings he had seen before. He also noticed a familiar sight to his right; a Protoss photon cannon. Adam wasn't sure yet whether it could be called luck that it looked inactive. As the Zerg airfleet took a defensive position around the base along with fourty of the Zerglings, Amar turned to his companions.
{Should we split up?}
"Too dangerous", Jack interjected. "We'll take a couple of Zerglings and go through the buildings together, one at a time".
With that, ten Zerglings split off from the main pack and looked at the three humanoids, expecting something - orders, by the looks of it. In the background, some more sounds of battle broke out as an additional alien seemed to have appeared from the jungle, attacking the Zerg forces. The search party quickly ran over to the greenhouse and stepped inside. They didn't need more than a minute between them and the Zerglings to sweep the building though, and figured there were no survivors or objects of value to be found. With that the party ran towards the laboratory and found that its door seemed to be shut and wouldn't open without power.
"Stand aside", Jack said as he raised his biosteel arm and pointed his built-in weapon at the door.
{Wait.}, Amar interjected. {We should try the main building first. We might be able to get the power on and won't need to blow up the building to look inside}.
"Fair enough", Jack replied, and the group made their way to the main building.
As they entered it through its main door (which was apparently left open), Jack took one last look behind him. He wasn't sure if he imagined it, but the alien attacks seemed to be growing stronger. Not only were the small hound creatures appearing more often now, but he also caught a glimpse of what seemed to be some kind of larger animal with fins or spikes, approximately the size of an elephant, trampling down on a number of Zerglings as five Mutalisks broke off from the fleet to help them out.
Once inside the building, two paths presented themselves to the group. In the middle of a relatively big room there was a staircase leading up, and towards the back of the building a hallway seemed to lead to both an elevator and a staircase down.
"Where would I go if I were a survivor?", Adam pondered loudly.
"Down.", Jack answered. "Unless you've got air support, which doesn't seem something these guys had going for them, you're going to be trapped if you go up a building. I wouldn't be surprised if the stairway down leads to some sort of escape tunnel".
As the group walked into the hallway Amar put his hand on a pad next to the elevator - absolutely nothing happened.
{I could've known. No power, no elevator. Looks like we'll have to actually walk down these stairs... how primitive.}
Adam and Jack threw eachother looks that revealed amusement as well as confusion and slight annoyance as they followed down a number of Zerglings down the staircase, somewhat dampening the sounds of what seemed to now be almost constant battle outside.
As Jack turned on his military grade flashlight the underground hallway lit up. There were a number of doors, some of them open, leading to what seemed to be simple storage rooms, but there were also two more interesting rooms: one was a lot larger and seemed to house some kind of huge Protoss power crystal while the other had seemingly served some kind of mining purpose; a tunnel was dug out along the side of one of it's walls.
"Hah, an escape tunnel!", Jack exclaimed. "Amar, am I right in thinking that crystal is some kind of generator? Can you see if you can get the power on while we see where this tunnel leads?".
Amar was already in the room by the time Jack was halfway through his question, and he immediately begun what looked like feeling the various edges of the generator and the panels on the wall surrounding it. As Amar was working in the power room, Jack and Adam stood in the hallway and looked at the tunnel. As Jack lifted his flashlight, he could see an immediate dead end after roughly ten meters. No escape route.
{I cannot fix this power cell. I understand the basic infastructure of the system but the technology is just too different... it would take me hours.}
The three exchanged looks. Adam reacted first. "Up the stairs, then".
As the group arrived once more at the ground level, the sounds of battle outside seemed to have intensified. A loud splash was heard as Adam looked up and saw a half-dead Mutalisk had crashed into one of the windows above. Shrieks of organisms that were definitely not Zerg could also be heard outside, and Adam could swear the ground had begun trembling.
"We better hurry this up, or we're not leaving...", Jack said.
With those words, the crew followed three of the Zerglings up the main staircase and quickly ended up in another hallway. The Zerglings wasted no time scouring every room, but most of them seemed to either be observation rooms with a lookout or simple laboratories or storage rooms. One door seemed to be welded shut. Suddenly, the group heard a cry followed by a loud thump and another splash; another dead Mutalisk was slowly gliding down one of the diagonal windows in one of the observation rooms. Jack aimed his weapon at the welded door. This time there was no objection by Amar; he too wanted to finish this up.
...
Yatara woke up to a loud bang. She was lying on the floor with her makeshift weapon in her hand. As she looked up she saw a a humanoid alien with what seemed to be a grossly mutated arm, surrounded by creatures she recognized only from images; Zerg. She had never personally encountered them but knew vague stories about how they searched to assimilate all other races and killed or infested what they couldn't absorb. Instinctively, she raised her weapon and fired a couple of shots at what she guessed to be some kind of infested lifeform. It shielded itself with its arm and shrugged off the effect of the puny energy discharges. It then walked over to her with three big steps, grabbed her arm, turned her on her back, took her gun and threw it away. Just as Yatara thought that this was her end, a Protoss figure appeared above her.
{En Taro Tassadar. You are safe.}
{What? But... the Zerg... ?}
{They are allies. But there is no time. We need to leave.}
This is the point where the situation dawned on Yatara. She had been hearing background noise since she woke up, but only now realized this was the sound of battle outside. In one quick motion she got up.
{Quick! The power!}
With that Yatara sprinted past the humanoid and its Zerglings, rushed down the ladder and quickly ran down to the power generator room under the building.
...
Dagganoth's crew followed her. As they got to the room, the ragged-looking undernourished Protoss survivor completely ignored her new companions and immediately started fiddling with some of the panels on the wall, which immediately started to light up and make all sorts of sounds. Adam, Jack and Amar were watching as Jack turned to Adam.
"I don't know what's up with her, but we're gonna need to leave. Can you hold her legs if I get her body?"
{So she interacts through... Yes! Of course!}
Adam and Jack looked confused as Amar sprung to action and joined the survivor in going around the room and interacting with the panels. One second later a terrible thump shook the building - something big seemed to have happened topside.
"Amar, DAMN IT, we need to go, NOW!", Jack yelled.
Just as Jack walked up to Amar and grabbed a hold of his shoulder, the Protoss crystal seemed to spring to life. With a quiet humm it lit up completely and sent sparks through what appeared to be some kind of wiring that had previously been invisible. As the underground level of the building lit up due to a multitude of lamps suddenly activating, Murkag could see a small blue sphere encompass the complex from his orbital position. At the same time the Zerg forces who had been fighting a losing battle against waves of the aliens saw that the aliens seemed to lose all interest and returned to wander around aimlessly.
Inside the power room, the Protoss survivor collapsed as she lost consciousness again.
SoA
-Garamar brood arrives at the origin of the distress call and finds a planet that is mostly uninhabitable, save for one area of jungle.
-A taskforce of 30 Mutalisks, 10 Overseers, 50 Zerglings, 4 Vipers, Adam, Jack and Amar goes down to the planet to explore the area. It turns out an unknown race of aliens has overrun a Protoss research base and in the struggles with this race Dagganoth loses 8 Mutalisks and 35 Zerglings.
-The taskforce eventually finds a female Protoss survivor who runs down to the base's power core and manages to activate it, creating a defensive sphere around the base and seemingly calming down the aliens who then halt their attacks. The survivor passes out after this happens.
To-Do Cantina, Domus
David impatiently drank the custom concoction in front of him as he waited for his contact to show up. It had been a frustrating few weeks. At first, things had gone smoothly. All his contacts came through, and said it shouldn't be hard to find information, with promises of a huge plot to unravel. Now, he hadn't been that optimistic, but he hadn't expected the delaying games that he was getting.
The only thing they had been able to run to ground was an obscure reference by one of Casey's contacts to a planet in the Davir system; Barkanos. It seemed like a long shot to him. And the last one had yet to pay out for him.
He glanced across the cantina to where Leo sat at the bar. Leo shook his head, and David bit back a curse. He couldn't see the door, but Leo had just confirmed that his man hadn't shown yet.
“You ah Captan Daveed,” a deep voice said behind him. It wasn't a question. This man knew who he was. David didn't recognize the voice.
“That depends,” he replied coolly. He shot back the rest of his drink, and as he slammed the cup back down to the table, his other hand drifted to his side-arm. “Who's asking?” He hadn't expected Krag to have the courage to send someone after him this soon. Especially if it was only one man. He looked over to where Leo sat at the bar. His friend was busy looking at the entrance.
The voice walked around him and sat across the table from him, revealing himself to be a black man in simple working clothes with a side-arm and a large knife on opposite hips. His hair was in long dreadlocks pulled back into a mess of snakes on the back of his head. He looked intensely at David with piercing black eyes.
“I, am no one,” the man said. “And -”
“Look, I'm expecting someone,” David interrupted, using the distraction to release his holster. “So cut the drama act, and get to the point.”
The man sat back in the chair, raising his hands. “No need to get trigger happy, mon. I come to give ya' a friendly wawrnin': You in dangerous waters, mon. Best be leavin' sleepin' beasts lie. Get mah point?”
“Who are you?” David demanded. “Who are you working for?”
The man ignored his questions and stood up. “No need to worry yaself with tha dealings above ya head. Best stick to what ya' bitty ship can handle.” The man walked past him and disappeared into the crowded cantina.
David stood up to follow, and was immediately met by a small man holding a bundle of papers.
“Oh! Captain David,” the man stuttered. “Sorry I'm late, I got held up.”
He looked over the man's shoulder, trying to catch the mess of dreadlocks as they moved through the crowd. Unsuccessful, he sat back down at the table.
“About time you showed up, Murray,” he started. “I was about to come break your knee-caps. I don't like having my time wasted.”
He watched in amusement as the man's small frame quivered as he sat down and placed the bundle on the table and slid it across to David. “Th-The stuff you asked for is waiting to be picked up.”
David picked up the bundles and looked through them slowly. Satisfied, he tossed back down to the table and signaled the bartender to send over two drinks. “And the information you promised me?”
Sweat dripped off the man's brow, and his eyes darted back and forth before he spoke. “I'm sorry man. I can't help you there. There's nothing.”
David pulled out his pistol and placed it on the table. “Murray,” he sighed. “You know I don't like it when you lie to me. Are we gonna have to have a repeat of the last time you lied to me?
“N-n-no!” the man cried, and David fought hard to keep the laugh underneath off his face. He hated pushing the guy like this, but he had an image to uphold from his days with Krag. “I... I just... can't tell you. I don't know anything, and if I did, I couldn't tell you.”
“Now come on, Murray,” he started and then stopped. After a second, he put the gun back away. “Okay, Murray. I understand. You did the best you could. Let me know if you find anything.... Now get.”
The little man got up and darted away into the crowd just as a girl came by and placed two drinks on the table. David paid the woman as a medium-built man sat across the table. Well aren't I just popular today? he thought to himself.
“What do you want, Matthew?” he asked, taking a sip of his drink.
The man ignored the other drink and leaned forward. He looked excited. “Hey, man. Word's been going around that you're getting into some seriously secret stuff. A lot of people aren't happy about it too.... I want in.”
“What makes you think I'm up to anything?” David asked. This day was getting just a little too interesting.
“Come on,” Matthew said. “I know you. You're looking to piss some people off, and I want to be there when it goes down.”
“You've got it exactly wrong,” he replied. “What have you been hearing I'm up to.”
“The details are sketch, but a lot of people are working to keep it that way. They don't even want people to know you're thinking about it, whatever it is.”
“Interesting.”
“So... What are you up to?”
David finished his drink, and stood up. “I told you. Nothing. I'm looking to not piss people off.”
His earpiece buzzed, and he clicked it on. “Captain David.”
“Uh, Captain?” Puck's voice began. “We've got a little bit of a situation.”
“You'll have to excuse me, Matthew,” David said as he picked up the bundle of papers, and motioned to Leo that it was time to leave. Once he started his way towards the door, he clicked his earpiece on once again. “Go on.”
“The 'Things That Go Bump in the Night' are getting impatient. You should hear what they have started suggesting.”
He sighed. “What are those imperious bastards cooking up now?”
“You'll want to hear it yourself.”
---Gambit, Domus
“You are out of your mind!” David yelled furiously. “You can't possibly be serious. Do you really think that will work?”
{Of course it will,} Asala said calmly. {You humans are readily willing to give up information given the proper... encouragement.}
“That's not what I'm talking about. What you don't seem to realize is that this place thrives on information. Whoever we are against has a much better foothold than we do. If they were able to close up this information before we were able to learn anything, they'll notice if we go KIDNAPPING PEOPLE AND TORTURING INFORMATION OUT OF THEM!!”
{Only people with information worth gaining. It would do no good to question just anybody. And you underestimate our abilities,} Vardanis said simply. {We need this information. We must track down this cerebrate and see that it will not bring further harm to the Imperium. Your methods have failed. It is time to employ the other tools at our disposal.}
“No,” David said firmly. “I've got something. Dagganoth isn't here, and it's not likely that he would come here. Especially once his friends get word to him that we're trying to find him. But I've got a different idea. Might even bring the beast to us. Let me tell you about a planet called Barkanos, in the Davir system....”
SoA
-David purchases security upgrades for Gambit, bringing Gambit's Security stat from a 1 to a 2, and spending 3 points (total should be 10 now)
-David and the crew of Gambit is unable to gather any more information about Dagganoth other than an obscure story about Barkanos.
-Imperial ambassadors get uppity and impatient
-Gambit sets out for Barkanos (4 posts/days until arrival)
Forward Unto Dawn, Bridge
As the tiny space craft appeared, it was immediately dwarfed by the 3 larger ships. A pirate raider, a pirate patrol and a Tirion support class ship were together, close to a planet that was originally occupied by the Tirion Republic.
"I want communications opened with the 3 captains of their ships immediately." Ayra said as Forward Unto Dawn slowly made its way forwards.
"Already done." Lark replied as a holographic screen appeared above the star map. There was 3 people in total on the screen.
"Who the hell are you?" The man on the left said in a gruff voice. He seemed unshaven compared to the other captains.
"Oh quiet down Max, what could these 3 young ladies do that would possibly put us in harm?" asked the middle man.
"Well for starters, I could rip your mind apart piece by piece as you scream for release." Cygnus replied.
"Well, they sure seem to be arrogant." said the third and final captain.
"Fine, what do you 3 want?" The one called Max asked in quite a monotone voice.
"We 3 were hired to help you captains on this mission of yours. So who's the current commander here?" Arya stated.
'Well, we, um......" Max started saying.
"What Max is trying to say is that our commanding captain left for an unknown destination a few days ago without any word."
"And you've been here, for that amount of time, and haven't even picked a new leader?" Lark said in quite an annoyed voice, "Well do you at least have any idea of a plan of action regarding the occupied planet?"
"Well, the obvious solution is to attack the captured city, reactivate the orbital defense guns, and blast those outsiders to hell." Max said as he pointed to a map of the planet that showed the city, and the location of 3 orbital defense guns.
"You pirates only have 1 strategy, and in this case, it would lead directly to our demise. The outsiders have 6 of their ships over the planet, how do you suppose to deal with them hm?" the person on the right complained.
"Well, why don't you enlighten us on your plan Millers?" the middle man said with a hint of anger in his voice.
'Well, you see," Millers said, "If we could somehow beat their fleet, we could crush the captured city."
"Dammit Millers, we've been over this hundreds of times already, we aren't getting any backup for this operation."
The 3 captains continued to argue for the next 15 minutes until Lark finally broke it apart.
"Ok then, it seems that none of you are intelligent enough to do anything remotely useful so therefore I'm going to take over this operation." Lark said as she brought up a map of her own. "If we can get the support ship and pirate patrol ship down there to deploy their units then we can create a base of operations." The middle captain nodded his approval at that. "To do that, first we will have to have the pirate raider ship to draw their attention for a little while as the 2 others deploy and setup."
"No way in hell am I going to go up against their entire fleet in my Raptor." Max said as he shook his head.
"What, is the deadly pirate raider too scared to go up against some Outsider patrols?" Millers mocked.
"Fine, I'll do it, but you better hope I die Millers because nobody calls Max the dread a coward and lives."
"So its settled then, Max will first get the enemy's attention and drawn them away our landing location." Arya told them as she pointed to a small open area directly south of the city. "Then the 2 remaining ships will deploy their troops to set up a base and then switch places with the Raptor so Max can deploy his troops as well. Any complaints so far?"
"Yeah, how am I and Captain Stevenson there suppose to take on the outsider ships?"
"You're not going to. The enemy only has 2 ships that are fast enough to keep pace with the Raptor and your ships. All you have to do is get their attention by firing a few weapons and bolting off. Then just make as much distance as possible so the 2 outsider ships will decide the chase isn't worth it." Lark explained.
"What about the rest of the plan? What do our troops do once they hit the surface of the planet."
"You leave that to us." Cygnus said as the communications were closed.
"Finally, something to shoot." Lark said as she left the bridge.
SoA:
Half of the plan to take back 1 planet has been explained.
Unnamed Planet in System below Meron
The field was littered with the bodies of countless alien creatures, their dimly glowing carcasses giving the scene an eerie appearance. Not that this bothered Yatara. She could barely contain her excitement as she walked among the dead creatures. There was so much to study! So much to learn! It was a dream come true! She reached down to touch one of the bodies, overwhelmed with curiosity, intent on divulging every secret it held. But as soon as she touched it, it began to disintegrate. She cried out and looked up to see that all the other bodies were decaying quickly now, too quickly to study. Despair and hopelessness overtook her and she ran towards the bodies in an attempt to examine them before they disappeared. In vain. They all disappeared, leaving behind nothing but an endless expanse of dirt.
Yatara abandoned herself to despair, casting down her head and remaining frozen in place. Then something grabbed her by her ankle. Alarmed, she looked down and saw a battered protoss holding on to her with both hands.
{You abandoned us, Yatara. You left us, youngling.}
Silent, she tried to wriggle out of the protoss' grasp but the grip was simply too strong and the body too heavy. She tried kicking with her other leg but found it to also be restrained. Another protoss was grabbing onto it. She looked up to see if anyone was around to help her but only saw other protoss. And these ones weren't on the floor: they were charging at her, murder in their eyes.
{Why, Yatara? Do you not remember our creed?} They piled onto her, crushing her with their sheer weight.
-She woke up screaming, her fists clenched tightly.
{You are safe. Calm down.} Normally, the unknown protoss' words would have had the intended calming effect on Yatara. However, the accompanying surge of emotion did the opposite. One moment she was waking from a bad dream, the next she was being drowned in a torrent of emotions unlike which she had felt since her childhood. Startled, she shook and recoiled from the protoss, backing away from him and towards the other end of her bed.
The protoss seemed surprised by this and the flow of emotions ebbed. Quickly, Yatara closed off her mind, sickened by the violation of her privacy.
{H-how dare you?!} she screamed, outraged. The protoss in front of her seemed to freeze up and stared at her blankly. Yatara was about to scream at him again when the more analytical part of her mind kicked in: what was going on? Who was the protoss in front of her? Why was she acting based on ignorance?
{Who are you?} she asked after a minute of silence. The protoss seemed to relax at this.
{I am Amar of the Imperium, though I no longer hold allegiance to it,} he answered, again trying to force his underthought into her mind. She resisted. {Why do you close your mind to me?} he asked. {I am not your enemy.}
Yatara stared at the protoss that called himself Amar with a mixture of curiosity and revulsion. Imperium, did he say? Did they treat the Khala so perversely there?
{I am Yatara of the Wandering Tribes,} she finally answered. {It is not customary for us to share underthought with those we do not know.}
Amar blinked at this. {Underthought?}
{What you just did. The Khala,} she answered, bringing up the ancient term for what her people no longer referred to by name. Amar's eyes widened at this but he said nothing. Yatara guessed he was restraining himself from commenting, acknowledging the fact that the protoss before him was very different from what he was used to. She herself was doing the same thing: trying to understand the Imperial before judging him for his actions and tearing him apart for what he had done.
{It is clear,} Amar started after a while, {that there is much of the unknown to both of us.}
Yatara was about to answer but Amar interrupted her {Though I would enjoy learning more, I am afraid there are others eager for your attention. Follow me.} The Imperial rose and left the room. Seeing no other choice, Yatara followed.
-Yatara first stared at the field of alien bodies before her, then focused on what Amar had called a zergling, as if trying to decide what to dissect first. She was still partially shocked and exhausted, but that didn't stop her from appreciating how much had changed since the indigenous lifeforms had attacked. There was so much to study! She had never seen any zerg before, nor any terrans for that matter, but this did not stop her from examining the beings as closely as possible while still being part of the ongoing conversation.
"You've never seen the aliens before?" one of the terrans, Adam, asked.
{If I had, I would not be so fascinated by them now. And we would not be in this situation,} she replied, crouching down to stare at one of the still glowing bodies.
{But how long have you been here? Surely you would have seen them in the time it took you to set up this facility?} Amar asked.
{Were they not invisible to our eyes, we surely would have. However, as you should know, they have a knack from staying out of sight.}
{Your sight. But your scanners? Your observers? Did you not examine the planet using technology? Why did you even set up such an elaborate research facility if everything could have been done using automated probes?}
Yatara almost snapped at the last comment but managed to contain herself. She rose and turned around to face the strange group before her: Amar, three terrans and the "avatar" of the cerebrate who allegedly controlled the zerg around her.
{And what makes you think we did not? The fact that I said they were invisible to our eyes? Do you not know that we of the Wanderers treat our technology as extensions of our bodies? That to us, our eyes are the sensors on our ships, the optics of our observers? What I meant, though now I see that I may not have been clear enough, is that nothing we did revealed these aliens. Which tells me one of two things,} here, Yatara switched to a more serious and straightforward tone, {Either, the aliens emerged from somewhere hidden when they attacked us... or they are completely invisible to protoss technology.} Amar seemed taken aback by this but the terrans showed no discernible reaction: all they did was move slightly and twitch their facial muscles in a manner Yatara found at once interesting and irritating.
{Our technology is the result of thousands of years of research and scientific discoveries, there is no way an isolated population of animals could-}
{Our technology functions much like we do. Psionically. I do not know if you, as terrans and zerg, are aware of this: every functional piece of our technology includes some kind of psionically attuned crystal at its core. You saw this firsthand when I activated the base's power core.} The terrans nodded, Amar merely stared at her. {Through personal experience and this evidence, I believe that the lifeforms have some way to shield themselves from psionics: I can detect them neither psionically nor using my physical senses.}
Her statement was met with silence. One of the terrans, Bob, raised his hand.
"Yeah but... don't we already know that?" he asked. Yatara nodded and looked at Amar. He stared back. She closed her eyes. And felt the idea dawn onto his mind.
{That's because they are not making themselves invisible but making us blind!} Before anyone could say anything, Yatara interjected, admiring her own idea.
{Precisely. You did not feel it. You were close to them for only a small amount of time. But I was defending myself from them for a duration I cannot even begin to judge: I felt their work. I experienced first hand how my own mind began to betray me, how seconds became eons and how noise became silence, how figures became shadows and rooms became galaxies. Because they are psions! They are psions and they can sense other psions and I know this because that is how they attacked and that is how I dispersed them: psionic interference! That is all there is to it. No technology, just mind games!} Her speech was met with considerably less excitement and emotion than she had hoped for and she began to wonder if she was making sense at all or if her mind had been permanently damaged.
"Good thinking. Sounds like an interesting theory, but assertions without evidence won't get us very far. Where is your proof?" asked the terran named Bob, whom Yatara had quickly identified as a scientist.
{All around you!} Yatara exclaimed and laughed- a real, protoss, laugh, one which only the Wanderers could reproduce. She spun around, procured a slim crystal disc from her still intact research bracelet, and set to doing what she lived to do: science.
SoA:
Yatara wakes up and is quickly introduced to Amar, Adam, Jack, Bob (who landed along with a group of Swarm Hosts on the terran transport ship) and the Garamar brood.
She explains her theory regarding the indigenous lifeforms: that they are psionics and that they can cloak themselves not by becoming invisible but by manipulating the minds of other living beings.
She then sets to collecting samples of the creatures for lab analysis, assisted by Amar, the terrans and the zerg.
Unnamed Planet in System below Meron
If protoss could sigh, Yatara would have. Instead, she rubbed her eyes and shook her head from side to side. She was exhausted. She hadn't rested at all since waking up, instead doing everything she could to learn about the aliens they were dealing with. With the help of the terrans and the zerg, she collected and analyzed dozens of corpses, sequenced the genomes of all the aliens they could get their hands on and managed to construct accurate simulations of how the aliens worked. What she found was surprising.
{They photosynthesize. Just like us, protoss. Almost identically, in fact.} she told Dagganoth, Amar and the terrans as they met in one of the tower's observation rooms. {I am sure you all realized this through your own observations. But you do not understand just how similar their ability to photosynthesize is to ours. Large parts of their genome are extraordinarily similar to ours. It is almost as if we are related species.}
This seemed to bother Amar but he kept his quiet.
"So... they're like protoss animals?" asked Jack. Yatara laughed.
{No more than they are terran animals. Well, perhaps a bit more. They are similar to us but still vastly different. They also make less sense,} she answered.
Bob and Adam raised their eyebrows at this.
{They have mouths, but no stomachs, unlike you terrans. They photosynthesize and yet they have claws and mouths: tools to hunt and eat with. On top of that, they are psionic. This makes no sense. They photosynthesize, they don't need mouths to kill for food and yet they have them. And why have a mouth without a stomach? For defensive purposes? What are they defending themselves against? Themselves? Because we have not seen them attacking each other. From an evolutionary perspective, and you terrans should be better acquainted with this than I am, the creatures make no sense. I cannot even find any discernible sexual organs. It is almost as if...}
"Someone interfered in their evolution?" Bob finished off the sentence for her. She nodded.
"But who would do that? And why? Are you sure you're the first protoss to find this place? You haven't found any signs of zerg, right?" asked Adam. Yatara shook her head and walked to the window of the room, where she remained silent for a full minute, staring into the night that had fallen while they were working.
{Are you alright?}, Amar asked out loud.
{Something is not right. The plants usually glow at night. They should be glowing right now,} she answered.
At this point the Terrans turned their heads and realized indeed that the surrounding jungle had gone eerily dark. There wasn't a sound to be heard through the in-built speakers either - during the daytime the occasional rustling and cries could be heard from the jungle. With a few quick bursts of thought the Zerglings who had been sitting around the complex spurred into action as Mutalisks and Overseers flew in every direction. Ten minutes later Dagganoth adressed his crew.
{Something is indeed off. There are no more alienss in the jungle. There are some pits that seem to lead into tunnels, however.}
"Sounds like the aliens have moved underground, then", Bob suggested.
"If that's true, we've got a unique opportunity here... If we can blow up those tunnel entrances...", Jack interjected.
Yatara glared at him and seemed about to say something as Bob replied for her.
"We're not all cold-blooded killers, Jack. The reason we are all here right now is because of the desire to study the environment and its creatures."
"Hold yer horses friend, I'm not suggesting we bury the lot. However, if we fill in a couple of those cave entrances we can make sure they won't overrun this base again so easily. Besides, do we even have explosives?"
{We have loads as part of our tunneling equipment}, Yatara interjected, seemingly more content with Jack's new plan.
{Perhapsss...}, Dagganoth continued. {Though we should also see if we can find the missing expedition. There are four nearby pitss... set up explosives on all of them. I will send Zerglings through one of the entrances. Take some equipment and Swarm Hosts - we will set up outside of it.}
{If that is so, I have a suggestion for you, Cerebrate, though I do not know if you will be able to act on it,} said Yatara. {It has to do with the aliens' ability to detect us. I believe I have found a way to counteract this.}
As everyone but Yatara and the Avatar took off to get to their jobs, Dagganoth quickly went over the details. Now that Yatara had managed to figure out how the aliens were stealthing themselves, Dagganoth was able to use some of the aliens' DNA to mutate a new type of 'projection cortex' into the brains of his Brood that allowed them to counter the effects of the alien's stealth and even make them backfire, allowing the Zerg to stealth themselves from the aliens. It would lateron perhaps lend itself to even more breakthroughs, but was for now good enough to allow Dagganoth's Brood to deal with the aliens in a safer way.
-About half an hour later the preparations had been made. Jack, Adam and Yatara had worked quickly to set up explosives at all the tunnel entrances near the base, and the entire crew was now collected outside the most eastern one. A makeshift workbench with basic equipment had been set up for Yatara and Bob to analyze anything interesting the Zerglings could find, Several Swarm Hosts were dug in around the pit to fill it with Locusts at a moment's notice and a group of Zerglings outfitted with newly mutated projective cortexes stood ready inside the pit to make their way into the tunnel entrance. Inside Murkag, Sarah and a biologist friend of her stood ready in the Behemoth's laboratory to perform deeper analyses of any data the surface sent through.
Yatara jumped a bit as without warning, the Zerglings ran fast but quietly into the tunnel. While the outside crew waited, Dagganoth looked through their eyes. It was a good thing his Zerglings were so fast - only a couple of meters past the entrance the tunnel immediately split into three and without hesitating the Zerglings split up to uncover every single inch of the place. After several more forks on each path several Zerglings begun to backtrack as they came upon dead ends. The tunnels only had one thing in common: all of them led downwards, deeper into the planet's crust. Because Dagganoth was controlling each of his Zerglings personally, they worked in unison as they darted through the system like ants, mapping it out within the cerebrate's brain.
It wasn't long before one pair of Zerglings stumbled upon something interesting; a green, faintly glowing crystal in one of the deeper tunnels. Since minerals were bound to be found in any deep underground environment, Dagganoth didn't give the crystal much thought until another pair of Zerglings ran into three of them in their own tunnel. And a third pair ran around a corner to discover at least eight of them lodged firmly into the tunnel's walls. With another quick burst of thought he opened up the eyes of the Zerglings to Amar and Yatara. Even if Amar felt a but queasy going through this psionic procedure a second time, Yatara lost her balance and had to steady herself on the research table to cope with the sudden flash of feelings and sensations she experienced. Dagganoth spoke.
{These crystals seem to increase in number as my brotherss go further down. What do you think?}
{I am unsure}, Amar admitted.
{We would need some proper analysis to say anything worthwhile.}, an eager Yatara said. {Can you get us a sample?}
Within minutes the Zergling pair had managed to dig out a firm chunk of crystal and just as they started their journey back to the planet's surface Dagganoth noticed something else interesting through the ears of another pair of Zerglings. There were vibrations in some of the deeper tunnels. He was unsure what these vibrations meant, but they were definitely there. As multiple Zerglings continued their journey, several more of them began to feel the tremors. Dagganoth had a hunch. As the piece of crystal arrived at the surface and Bob, Yatara and Amar started looking at it, Dagganoth adressed Adam and Jack.
{The upper tunnel levelss seem clear. Get in there and take some measuring equipment. And more explosives. Follow my Zerglings. I have a suspicion...}
With that the two followed in the Zerglings just as another pair made yet another big discovery: they had stumbled upon a large room filled with more green crystals in the walls. Several larger crystals ranging up to five meters in size were littered throughout the room. More importantly though, the entire room was filled with what seemed to be hibernating aliens. Dagganoth again passed on the sight to Amar and Yatara, who nearly fell over from the sensation they felt halfway through a close microscope examination of the piece of crystal they had found.
{Could you at least TELL US if you're going to do that?!}, Yatara now angrily lashed out at Dagganoth.
{I apologize. I did not realize it caused you ssuch discomfort. I did not wish to infringe...}
For a fraction of a second, Yatara felt real sympathy for the creature she was conversing with. What a strange life a Cerebrate must have; having emotions but being unable to understand them properly in others and constantly sharing all your sensations with hundreds of other creatures. She was however immediately distracted from her sympathy as she looked around the room with the aliens. They normally photosynthesized... could it be that they used these green crystals for this purpose while underground? She couldn't properly do her science up here. How much she would give in order to be in that cave.
{Again, I apologize. I will not let you put your livess in such danger until we know more about the aliens and thiss tunnel network.}
Some time later, Jack and Adam reached one of the trembling tunnels. As they quickly set up their measuring equipment, their readings seemed to confirm Dagganoth's suspicions: there were different tunnels running through the network with underground rivers inside of them. Jack and Adam didn't need Dagganoth's instructions to realize how much of a life saver this might be in the future. They quickly set up explosives in several of the nearby tunnels, ensuring the walls between the walkable tunnels and the rivers would be opened up if they'd explode and the tunnels would be flooded. Adam assigned the explosives to a secondary detonator (Jack holding the first in his pocket) as the two started making their way back outside.
At the same time, Yatara, Dagganoth and the Zerglings had finished up scouting the bigger room only to find that there were more downwards tunnels leading from it. As the pair entered these tunnels different pairs were finding similar larger rooms filled with aliens in all different directions inside the complex. They ignored the aliens for the time being and continued their ant-like scurry downwards.
As the Zerglings went further into the seemingly gigantic complex the trembling became more and more noticeable until it was accompanied by the unmistakenable sound of running water. This sound additionally increased up to a nearly ear-deafening level of volume up to a certain point, where the tunnels started making a series of bends and the sound seemed to completely fall off. Without warning the Zerglings ran around their corner and came to a halt as they suddenly observed an astonishing sight.
{You need to see thiss...}, Dagganoth immediately said to both the Protoss as the Terrans in his crew. He then opened up their minds to the Zerglings; something which was harder to do with the non-psionic Terrans but nevertheless still possible.
Laid out before them was a cave so big it dwarved the earlier 'large caves' with their five meter high crystals. This cave was at least hundred meters high and the Zerglings couldn't make out the top, where an enormous number of the flying aliens seemed to be asleep, hanging from stalagmites like bats. In the middle of the cave was an enormous crystal of at least eighty meters in height. Though it was also glowing and green, it seemed somewhat different from its smaller counterparts in that it had a more metallic look. The zergling's limited vision could just about make out tendrils and vines coiled around the very top of the crystal. On the floor in front of the Zerglings were literally hundreds if not thousands of aliens, all apparently hibernating.
No one spoke a word as more Zerglings arrived at the scene from several entrances. With some bursts of thought, Dagganoth sent a few of the Zerglings that had been carrying leftover explosives back where they came from in order to create a second safeguard zone. As Dagganoth's plan dawned on Yatara, she protested.
{You can't possibly mean to-}, she started.
{Not if it can be helped, no. But this may be our only chance at finding your exsspedition. We need to be as prepared as possible. If these alienss were to wake up they-}
{Alright, alright... just... give them a chance}, Yatara returned the favor.
The Zerglings that went back dumped their explosives as close to the walls as they could get them as the frontmost group set to exploring the giant cave, carefully and agilely avoiding the heaps of aliens they were passing through. Though there were still no signs of the Protoss expedition, there appeared to be several pools of water on the floor, seemingly so deep that the Zerglings couldn't immediately see the bottom. After carefully looking across the cave some more and finding nothing else of interest, Dagganoth jumped one of his zerglings into the pool.
After a good thirty meters of swimming, the Zergling reached the 'bottom' of the pit, which looked surprisingly strange - the last two meters of water in the pool behaved just like the water above, but wasn't surrounded with a wall: the water seemed to be suspended in the air, defying the laws of physics. As the Zergling jumped out of the apparently still stream and Dagganoth ordered the rest of them down, he surveyed the room before him. There were several relatively high (five meters) floating glowing pillars that appeared to softly hum as they bobbed up and down in mid-air. An odd thirty or so aliens of the type that Dagganoth had dubbed 'Hiver' were positioned on a platform in what appeared to be the very center of the room: these armadillo's resembled Zerg Infestors in their look but sported glowing spores all over their bodies and had tendrils sticking out of the back of their heads. The most interesting fact about these aliens was that they hadn't shown any fighting capabilities when encountered in the outside jungle. None had been captured or killed either: they no information whatsoever on the creatures. All the way in the back of the room was a plateau housing several humanoid forms.
As the Zergling ran closer Yatara let out a mental cry and immediately cursed at herself herself, thinking she may have awoken the Hivers in the room. She seemed to have completely forgotten that she was looking through a Zerglings' eyes. Nobody outside the pit really registered the cry as they noticed the nineteen seemingly lifeless, spore-covered bodies of the Protoss expedition standing straight up on the platform, dumbly staring into open space.
Dagganoth wasted no time as he quickly but quietly sent his Zerglings over to them and began nudging and poking them. When neither the Protoss nor the Hivers responded, two Zerglings quickly scratched the spores off one of the Protoss, who then immediately collapsed and fell to the ground. Dagganoth froze his Zerglings as he waited for a reaction from the Hivers. Nothing.
{Those spores are the same as located on the Hivers. They may be using some sort of psionic mind control on my team...}, Yatara said.
{Then we have only one option if we want to get your team out of there...}, Amar concluded.
Dagganoth made some careful considerations and decided that the time for action had finally come.
Yatara let out the mental equivalent of a sigh as Dagganoth's Zerglings got into positions next to the hibernating Hivers and the rest of the crew braced itself. When all Zerglings were ready there was one second of absolute silence before they all sprung in action and jumped at the Hivers. Some of them fell instantly to the Zerglings' sharp claws while others got up and wasted no time trying to scurry away. Desperately they threw additional spores at the Protoss but within a minute's time they were seemingly all dead.
Everyone looked at the Protoss who seemed to be completely unphased by what had just transpired. Just as Dagganoth started considering his other options and set the Zerglings to claw the spores of the remainder of the crew a light rumbling started that grew to a deafening noise in less than two seconds. Cries, tremors and movement could be heard all the way at the surface as the planet seemed to tremble. The aliens had awoken. As the eyes of the Terrans of the surface widened as they looked at eachother Dagganoth make a quick decision. Jack hesitated for a split second before pushing the button on his third detonator.
The Zerglings in the cave were nearly blown away by the noise. A series of loud explosions was followed by the rushing of water and hundreds of screams and cries. This scene dragged out for a couple of minutes when relative silence came back into the cave system. As the Zerglings got to work in dragging the unconscious Protoss into the still waterfalls they noticed the floating pillars had begun to glow and move more rapidly, almost as if they were under extreme stress. Dagganoth wasted no time in ordering his Zerglings to swim up the watery tunnel they had entered through, dragging the Protoss along with them one by one as they went.
As soon as they returned to the big cave it became obvious that it has flooded. The bodies of dead aliens were everywhere as there was a huge pool of at least five meters of water surrounding the giant crystal. A Zergling surfaced with a Protoss next to him as a wave of the flying aliens swooped down and cut the poor scientist's throat. Dagganoth immediately sent out a burst of new orders to his Zerglings who stopped trying to surface and frantically dragged, pulled and pushed the Protoss towards the nearest open entrance. As they reached dry and safe land in one of the tunnels they dragged the Protoss up on the land and immediately set to work in dragging them up the tunnel on their way to the surface.
As time seemed off the essence and the Zerglings efficiently made their way to the surface, several other things were going on. Fliers had appeared on the surface out of seemingly nowhere and Mutalisks engaged them at will. This time they had the advantage of being able to pick them off one by one however, and they seemed to be pretty much blind under the cover of darkness. As the earth roared and shook, the Terrans and Protoss packed up their equipment and started running their way back to the Protoss science base. Swarm Hosts dug out of the ground and followed them.
"Guess this must be what armageddon feels like", Jack shouted at Adam.
As the earth started to shake more and more violently the Zerglings finally emerged from one of the pits that luckily appeared to be close to the encampment, still dragging the Protoss survivors with them. Thirty meters further they met up with the running crew who quickly grabbed some of the still unconscious survivors and struggled their way to the encampment as Mutalisks were still providing air cover. Upon arriving at the camp the group immediately jumped into the Terran transport ship as Jack jumped into the cockpit. He released the handle of his Biosteel arm and it immediately degraded to its usual gauntlet-sized shape, which fell neatly next to his chair. As he looked around he saw several trees fall over in the background and shouted for everyone to hurry up.
With the Protoss survivors and most of the equipment inside, the Swarm Hosts roughly wandered into the aircraft, roughly bumping people and equipment alike to the side. Though it did not appear to fit, the remaining fifteen Zerglings ran at the aircraft and jumped at it, curling up into little balls to take up as little space as possible.
As Yatara recited a mental prayer Jack hit a couple of buttons in the cockpit and the aircraft slowly managed to life off. Being squashed against the window with his head, Bob saw the Protoss research tower crumble as the ship finally took off and went airborne. Five minutes later as the ship accompanied by the Mutalisk fleet had reached a comfortable attitude, the crew saw the entire jungle collapse inward on the planet in one huge explosion of dust and sound. Adam let out the sigh Yatara hadn't been able to earlier as in the distance a spot that appeared to be Murkag started growing.
-An hour later everyone in the crew lay down on their beds as the damage salvaging begun by the ever efficient Zerg forces. Dagganoth had asked Yatara for help and he had told her to set a course for the planet of Rii in the Ihan system, which was known to hold the presence of one of the wandering tribes. Murkag silently took off in its direction as Adam closed his eyes: finally, he could rest.
SoA
-Yatara confirms her theory; the aliens' stealth is based on manipulating the minds of the beholders rather than cloaking the aliens themselves. Following up on this knowledge, Dagganoth spends 10 points worth of DNA to develop a 'Projective Cortex' mutation for all his Zerg units that allows them to use the same technique to make themselves invisible to the aliens. Since he now knows what he is looking for, he is now also able to make the aliens visible by preventing their mind control on the creatures in his Brood.
-Night falls and the plants in the jungle stop glowing. Mutalisk and Zergling scouting parties find various pits in the jungle leading to an underground cave network. 15 Zerglings go in find glowing crystals along with several larging rooms with hibernating aliens inside them. They also discover a secondary cave network that seems to house running water and end up placing tunneling explosives near various of them. They eventually find one incredibly big room with a huge crystal, hundreds of aliens and several deep pools of water on the floor that can be travelled through. These passages leave the Zerglings in a room with the seemingly brain-dead Protoss and several 'Hiver'-type aliens.
-The Zerglings kill the Hivers and Adam pulls the trigger on some of the explosives, flooding the larger room and killing the aliens. The Zergling 'expedition' then proceeds to drag the 18 Protoss survivors up to the surface after which all ground forces board the Terran transport ship and fly off as the jungle seems to collapse inwards completely. The Brood escapes with 18 unconscious Protoss survivors, no permanent damage, some Alien corpses and DNA, some leftover Hiver spores and blood, some crystals from the cave and the most essential protoss science equipment.
-Inside Murkag, Yatara informs Dagganoth of a Wandering Tribes-inhabited planet called Rii in the Ihan system. Murkag subsequently sets out for this destination. 4 IC's/days until arrival.
In a quiet moment, Dagganoth's thoughts were intruded upon by an unexpected entity. His message, despite having come a great distance, emblazoned itself upon the Cerebrate's mind as if in letters a mile high in bright Neon:
{ DAGGANOTH! YOU HAVE TRAVELED FAR, AND GAINED MUCH KNOWLEDGE. IT IS MY WISH THAT YOU APPEAR BEFORE ME. YOU WILL OBEY. }
or so it would appear to a terran mind. To the cerebrate, it was a simple fact. An unalterable truth of his existence. The Overmind had summoned him, and he would obey.
SOA: The Overmind has summoned Dagganoth for a little chat. It doesn't mean you have to drop everything and rush straight there, but it does mean that any action that doesn't take you closer to the Overmind (located in the Tartarus system) will have consequences.
Aboard Murkag, somewhere in between Ihan and the red system right of it
The past few days had been... active. To an extend, they had even been demanding on Dagganoth's mind. The events with the aliens and the Protoss had worn on the Cerebrate. Would he have been able to save that one Protoss? Or perhaps even the planet? The creature kept replaying the scenes looking for understand what had happened, and had only been interrupted from this activity by the Overmind's message. Which didn't help to set his mind at ease. He wasn't sure if the Overmind approved of his methods, and to which extend. Would he be required to turn on his current allies? There was one positive note to all of this; the Overmind couldn't argue with his results.
As he was musing, he suddenly noticed Bob Gentry calling for him - the scientist had done so on several occasions to request the Cerebrate's help with all his research. As Dagganoth shifted his attention he became fully aware of Bob and Yatara standing inside the laboratory.
"Dagganoth... we've uncovered something interesting. Remember that projective cortex mutation we used on the planet? We think we've cracked the code."
{In what way?}, the Cerebrate asked. Yatara responded:
{We've figured out the exact psionic frequencies the aliens used to broadcast their projections from. If you tell your creatures to use the same frequencies they will be able to perform the same kind of mind control the aliens did; on Protoss.}
"Yeah... and using them as a baseform I'm able to extract the needed frequency for nearly every basic lifeform we know, including other Zerg and Terran."
Dagganoth remained silent for just a second before replying.
{Are you ssaying I will be able to use the earlier mutation to make my Brood invissible to virtually anything?}
"Well, there's a catch. The aliens seemed to tie this function in with their photosynthetic way of sustainability, somehow. Constant broadcasting would cost tons of energy. Unless you can make your Brood photosynthize they'd only be able to keep the stealth up for a few seconds before the energy cost would become too great... They'd need to rest the Cortex afterwards."
{That's not all...}, Yatara added in, {detectors would be able to see your Brood as well. They'd know the position of your Brood and the effect is instantly lost if the brain realizes the existence of the broadcasting unit.}
{Though that is sstill a short stealth every so long... Interesting. My thankss go out to you two. I will set to mutating the rest of my Brood. Before I leave: Yatara, how are your companions doing?}
{The same as before we took off... I had a better chance at examing them after my rest, and it seems they are partially brain damaged. The damage may or may not be reparable, but I would need access to more sophisticated Protoss technology to say anything worthwhile. But I guess we'll leave you to your musings. Thank you for the present.}
{Pressent?}, a confused Dagganoth exclaimed - seemingly missing Yatara's hint regarding his musings.
{The leftover spores and Hiver blood your Zerglings... 'dropped off' at the laboratory earlier. We might be able to learn more from those.}
Dagganoth had already forgotten he had send his brothers.
{Don't mention it... ? Is that what you say?}
Bob laughed as he replied. "Yup, that's it".
-As Dagganoth turned his attention back to the thought processes spinning through his mind, he only vaguely noted Jack entering the laboratory.
"You asked for me, doc?", the broad-shouldered man said.
"Ah, Jack, yes. I meant to show you this earlier, but the situation with those aliens managed to get in the way."
With that, Bob threw a metallic pad with a handle sticking out above it at Jack, who stared at it in a confused manner.
"I would've thought you had gotten used to this by now", Bob said. "Step in it."
As Jack set his foot on the plate and wedged it underneath the handle, he realized what it was. Tendrils immediately shot out from the apparently small object and wrapped around his leg, all the way up to his waist. The Terran grabbed a small metal glove-looking object from his belt and grabbed the handle as it too grew around his arm, shoulder and Torso. One half of his body was now covered in Biosteel.
"I've managed to finish up another fairly crucial part of your armor. At this point all I need to finish up is your torso or headpiece before the suit is completed. The right arm and leg should be relatively easy - I can pretty much copy the designs from your left side. I've been waiting for Dagganoth to supply me with more material for that, though."
Jack grinned widely at Bob, turned around and left the laboratory. These proceedings confused Yatara.
{Why did he not reply to you?}
"He's not a man of words, Yatara... He's going to show this to our crewmates".
Bob gave Yatara the same grin Jack had given him and set back to work.
SoA
-The Protoss inside Murkag appear to be braindead. This condition is reversable but requires more Protoss technology.
-The Zerglings from the expedition had some leftover spores and Hiver blood under their claws. The quantity is low, but Bob and Yatara are studying these substances.
-Dagganoth spends 14 points on mutating his entire Brood with projective cortexes. This grants all his units the following upgrade:
Projective Cortex: Activate to grant the unit 5 seconds of invisibility that breaks upon attacking, using an ability or being attacked. 30 Seconds cooldown.
-Bob Gentry reveals a Biosteel leg to Jack. Jack's equipment is now half-finished for lore-purposes. As soon as I get access to more points I'll finish up the entire suit and make him a proper 'playable' hero.
-Murkag is still traveling to Ihan. 2 IC's or 3 days travel time left.
Gambit, Davir system, approaching the planet Barkanos
{You realize the Imperials cannot be trusted once we make landfall, correct?} Po'Nath asked in his uncannily calm voice. Protoss were calm, but he brought it to a whole new level of unnerving.
“I got that,” David said as he stood behind Puck with a hand on the pilot's chair. “They were ready to start pulling fingernails a week ago when we left Domus-”
“Four days, cap'n,” Puck interrupted.
David waved the comment aside. “Whatever. We need to get more information before this comes to a head. We need to get an idea of what kind of force we are going to be dealing with if this 'Dagganoth' comes back here. He has some connection to this planet, or at least, his 'passengers' do. He may even follow us here.”
{This cerebrate has shown a remarkable amount of sentimental, 'human', rational,} Po'Nath put in. {He stepped in to help free this planet from the control of an Archon when it offered no strategic or power gain for him. And then did not seek to enslave them himself, though it would be completely within his power to do so.}
“And then he stepped in to help Erana's Order free their heroine,” Puck added.
“Not your typical zerg M.O...” David mused.
{Indeed,} Po'Nath said.
“This would be an interesting specimen to study,” Dr. Rark said from his seat. He had been sitting there the entire time, listening to the conversation, but this was the first time he had said something. “But without a sample from a typical cerebrate, there wouldn't be much to compare to. But I wonder what makes him so special. Is he a new strain?...” The doctor rambled on to himself, and then turned to the console he sat at, and began taking notes.
“Thank you, professor Nutty,” Puck said from his seat.
“Anyway,” David went on.
“So are you suggesting that we help the cerebrate?” Puck asked.
“No of course not,” David said. “Or... I don't know... I don't have enough information.”
{You are running out of time to be 'on the fence', as you humans say.}
“I know,” he answered. “I know.”
---Barkanos
They were greeted on the ground by a crowd of people, led by a tallish man of medium build, wearing a simple black civilian outfit. He was a man of about thirty, but already his hair and beard were fully grey, giving him a wise and fierce look.
“Welcome to Barkanos,” he started, extending a hand to David. “I am Rodrick. I'm kind of the de facto mayor of sorts for this colony. It's been awhile since we've received visitors, let alone visitors that aren't armed to the teeth. Are you part of a convoy?”
Leo stood behind David with the rest of the crew. He almost laughed at Rodrick's comment. Just wait until you hear what we are here for, he thought to himself.
Just as David was about to start speaking, Rodrick's gaze doubled back to the crew and his eyes popped open in surprise and disbelief as his gaze fixed on Leo. “Is it you?”
He stepped around David and walked towards him. He was stunned. Rodrick looked familiar, but he had seen so many people, he just assumed it was a coincidence. He had no idea who this guy was. He searched his memories for where he could possibly know this man.
He looked to David, who shrugged in return. The man was approaching him. I hope I didn't kill his father or something.
{Do you know him?} Po'Nath asked him. After a moment, he shook his head and thought, I don't think so, hoping the protoss picked up the thought.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
“It is you. I would never forget your face. You changed my life,” Rodrick said, and Leo searched his eyes for what the man was thinking. It didn't look like he was angry. In fact, he looked like he was about to cry. Oh no, he thought, I did kill his father. Or maybe his mother. “You saved my father's life,” Rodrick said.
“I'm so sorry. I didn't- What?”
“You probably don't remember. But when I was a little boy, my father was kidnapped by some hired muscle. My father was a general who had deposed a crime lord and he wanted revenge. You saved my father. I was there. I watched the whole thing.”
Suddenly, it all clicked together in Leo's head. Rodrick looked a lot like his father. “That's not exactly what happened-” he started, but he was cut off as Rodrick turned towards the crowd.
“Everyone! This man... he is a hero. He saved my father's life many years ago, and then disappeared without asking for anything in return. I have always dreamed of the day that I would see this man and get to thank him properly. My father was a great man, and this man selflessly put himself in harm's way to help a complete stranger, when he could have walked away.”
“And so,” he went on, turning to Leo and extending a hand. “On behalf of my father and with exceptional gratitude, I say 'thank you.'”
Not knowing what else to say, Leo took his hand, and the crowd clapped enthusiastically.
“In recognition of this great man and his friends, I declare the next two days to be spent celebration! Let us properly honor this man and all other men like him!”
The crowd erupted in noise and surged forward. Leo almost panicked as they swarmed around him and he was dragged off into the town.
---Minutes later
David and the rest of the crew stood in front of Gambit watching the departing crowd.
{Is this your idea of 'laying low?'} Asala asked. David almost looked back, expecting to see her. The Imperial protoss had remained on the ship. They didn't want the natives to know they were there until they had a better picture of where their loyalties lay.
“It's... all part of the new plan,” David said.
{What's the new plan?} Po'Nath asked privately.
I have no idea, he thought to himself.
SoA:
- Arrival on Barkanos
- Apparently Leo isn't as heartless as he seems
Hidron, Aris System
Tarial banked his phoenix upwards. Hard. A madness of red lights and sounds ensued as his on board computer told him just how insane the maneuver was. He ignored it, devoting his entire mind to completing the movement.
Completely calm, despite everything.
He felt the heat from the air drag, the sound of his ship's failing shields, the scream of the wind. Even the sudden but subtle increase in mass as his ship's gravity distorters pulled in the three Exiled corsairs unfortunate enough to be closest to him.
And then he was out, surging out of the mass of Exiled ships with three helpless corsairs in tow. They tried firing at his ship but it was already too late: their weapons simply disintegrated, followed by their hull, leaving behind nothing but golden dust.
And then Tarial dove in again.
-Tarial surveyed the battlefield from atop a nearby cliff. Two dozen ships littered the ravaged jungle floor, but few of them were his. The Exiled had paid dearly for their mistake, losing what little air superiority they were left with after losing their little armada in orbit. The armada..
Tarial looked up at the sky, where the remains of his ship and the Exiled supercarrier he had crashed it into were orbiting the small planet. He closed his eyes, remembering his crew's shock at the order. They thought they would all die, that it was the end for them. Admittedly, it was the end for some of them: Tarial personally killed those who actively defied his order.
But the others now saw the genius of his plan. They were stranded on the planet, yes. But unlike the slow moving Exiled legions, they were not stranded in one place. They were constantly on the move, sabotaging and raiding the few facilities that hadn't already been destroyed when the invaders triggered the traps Tarial had ordered set. They were everywhere and nowhere, appearing and disappearing in a frenzy of raids that left the Exiled confused and disorganized. And, in their arrogance, the Exiled kept throwing away forces they could not afford to waste in a vain attempt to crush what they believed was a small group of stragglers. The fifteen burning wrecks before him and the eight ships that had been turned into dust by Tarial himself were testament to their failure.
The latest battle brought the kill count to fifty six: the skies had gone from contested to fully dominated by the Imperium and Tarial was now fully ready to exploit this. If the opportunity presented itself. He was not stupid. He knew that the enemy's ground presence was simply too overwhelming to deal with in the current, scattered state of the Imperium's forces. He knew that every day made the noose around their necks tighter and that the Exiled would remain stupid only for so long. But he also knew that he was not alone. Reinforcements were coming. They had to be.
New Aiur, Khasan System
Khalos looked at his companions. There were six of them, all looking as if they hadn't slept at all in the past week. Four of them had the look of scientists while the other two were clearly zealots. One of the zealots was missing the lower part of his left arm and was eyeing Khalos' own prosthetic arm with interest. Khalos ignored him. They were strangers, waiting for the same thing but otherwise unrelated, just like the dozens of other protoss Khalos had seen enter the waiting chamber before them.
This did not make them uninteresting, of course. Khalos was surprised by the number and variety of protoss Councillor Odranos was receiving at the Council Palace, which was still undergoing repairs. Where previously only the most privileged and exemplary protoss walked, now the rather unprivileged and non-exemplary masses swarmed. The palace had been transformed from a sanctuary of the powerful to a crossroad of the ordinary. The soft footsteps of ceremonially robed Councillors and elite guards had been replaced by the heavy footfalls of heavily armed warriors and the skittering of scientists and craftsmen. Khalos saw veteran warriors whose entire bodies were covered in scars, scientists wearing helmets completely covered in gadgets, protoss with malformed nerve cords and almost white bodies: it felt like completely opposite extremes of the Imperium were present in the palace.
Khalos did not mind the increased activity. It allowed him and his hybrid arm to meld into the masses: he was barely noticed in the bustle of activity and was allowed to sit back and observe, as much a part of the scene as he was segregated from it. For the first time in what felt like years he was not the center of attention: he was simply part of a crowd, minding his own business while everyone else went about theirs.
Which was why he was surprised when both he and the group of sleep deprived scientists and zealots were summoned to Odranos' auditorium. Up till then, he had only seen single protoss or groups of similar protoss enter the auditorium at any one time. The scientists and zealots seemed as surprised by the call as he was and examined him with renewed interest, taking special note of his prosthetic arm. He gave them one brief glance and then stood up and made his way towards the entrance to the auditorium, where a single guard stood sentinel.
The guard stood aside without so much as a word and Khalos entered. Immediately, he felt the outside world disappear behind him. He turned around, startled, only to see that the waiting chamber with all its protoss was still there.
{Do not worry, Praetor. It is merely a psionic veil. You must understand. Many of my visitors value their privacy and I, as their host, am obliged to... oblige them,} Councillor Odranos' voice came from the end of the room, as dry as Khalos remembered it. He turned around, surveying the auditorium. It was dark. Completely dark, save for the pair of glowing crystal lanterns that stood on either side of Odranos' chair, barely illuminating the Councillor himself, let alone the entire room. Odranos himself looked like he was barely there: his nerve cords were covered in dull black bandages, as was the right part of his torso. In the dim light, it looked like only half a protoss was sitting on the chair.
{Please, have a seat.} Odranos gestured and another chair lit up. Khalos walked over to it and sat down. The six protoss whom he had not felt enter the room followed, each occupying a glowing chair facing the Councillor.
{Very well. Let us get straight to the matter at hand,} Odranos said and then obeyed his own words, plunging directly into the topic of discussion. {Khalos, three weeks ago a secret Imperial scientific outpost was attacked. These are six of the many survivors of the attack. Six protoss were killed, but a total of seven are no longer with us. Would you care to guess who attacked the outpost?}
The way the Councillor barraged Khalos with surprises and information put the Imperium's fleets to shame. At first he thought that Odranos had made a rhetorical question but when silence ensued, he realized he was supposed to answer it. And yet he did not know the answer. He looked around at the other protoss, who seemed as confused as he was. Why ask me a question I cannot possibly answer?, he asked himself. Because you probably can answer it., came the response. Khalos' thoughts scrambled to find the answer while his eyes wandered lazily around the room, focusing on the glowing crystals, Odranos, the zealots' scars... the scars!
Khalos examined them closely now, taking note of their shape and depth. He looked at the protoss whose arm was missing, noted the texture of his stump, the slashes across his chest... zerg! And then it dawned on him.
{You mean...} he started but was cut off.
{The cerebrate in question offered to help the wounded and provide transport for any survivors. It also ransacked the entire station, stole copies of all the research that had been performed there and left with a volunteer. Fortunately, copies of the data were sent to our central databanks by that same volunteer, indicating that his heart was at least partially in the right place. I can safely say that the research is absolutely vital to the integrity of our military and that we would be extremely vulnerable without it. But I digress. I take it that you are familiar with this unnervingly kind cerebrate, are you not? Would you care to enlighten us - all of us - with information concerning it?}
It took Khalos a while to find ground again. The Councillor's thoughts were too fast. Khalos could not tell what the protoss was aiming at, or why. So he simply obeyed. He gave a brief recounting of his stay on the zerg behemoth and his contact with Dagganoth, the cerebrate who had saved him from certain death, describing his prosthetic arm and ending it all with a brief explanation of how he had returned from Domus. As he was talking, he realized that he was not speaking only for Odranos' benefit. The sickly protoss seemed just as interested in his story, their gazes never wavering from him.
When he was done, a moment of silence ensued and he realized Odranos was speaking to the other protoss privately. He must have dismissed them because a minute later they all stood up and left the chamber. One of them, a scientist, addressed Khalos as he left:
{We look forward to collaborating with you, Praetor.} And then he was gone, his mind completely obscured as he passed through the psionic veil, leaving Khalos alone with Odranos.
{I must apologize, Praetor,} Odranos started {you are only my last audience of the day because of the delay inherent in the arrival of the protoss that just departed.} When he saw that this did not prompt a response, he continued {Now, to get to the real matter at hand..}
Khalos narrowed his eyes at this but otherwise remained still.
{I am not aware of how informed of our military endeavors you were during your stay in Sindiris but if I had to guess, I would say your current knowledge of the Imperium's armed forces lies somewhere in between a rock's and a terran's. That is, you know nothing.}
This time, Khalos' surprise did show. It was highly unusual of a Councillor, or any protoss for that matter, to use such coarse language. He did not know whether he was being insulted or simply informed of his ignorance.
{Let me acquaint you with the contemporary map of the Imperium,} Odranos said dryly and flicked his wrist. A hologram of an extraordinarily detailed map sprung to life in the middle of the room, bathing the entire auditorium in its cyan-blue light. The map zoomed in on one corner, making the system of Aris, Meron and Idum clearly visible. Details came into sight beneath the systems, providing details on the Imperial presence in the systems. They did not look good.
{You are probably aware that we launched an invasion of the Exiled-held Aris system a year ago. What you may not be aware of is just how badly the entire invasion backfired. Oh, you know about the Exiled assault on Meron, fruitless as it was. But you do not know that, in the aftermath of Erana's escape, the Flame and its forces were recalled to Khasan to "serve in the protection of the heart of the Imperium against the rebel threat" -and we can see how that went, haha - leaving our foothold relatively undefended. So undefended, in fact, that our last remaining supercarrier was destroyed two weeks ago, reportedly in a "suicide warp" against an enemy supercarrier. We have heard nothing since and have neglected to go in and discover for ourselves what is going on. I was hoping someone with your military expertise could enlighten me as to what is probably going on there: is the system as unprotected as the heart of the Imperium, haha?}
Odranos did not laugh. He spelled out the 'ha's, as if attacking the very idea of what a laugh was: transmuting it from emotion to dry, cracked words. That was what alerted Khalos to the fact that he was being led to a conclusion rather than answering an actual question.
{You do know, of course, that the loss of Aris will likely result in the loss of Meron, leaving Khasyn, and even New Aiur completely vulnerable to Exiled attacks?} Odranos added helpfully. Khalos ignored him and stepped up to the map. Contrary to what the Councillor had said -and he probably didn't believe what he had said - he had heard a lot about the loss of Aris. The disgraceful suicide attack of the prelate in charge had been a frequent topic of discussion back in Sindiris: it was not often that an Imperial officer resorted to such pathetic measures to do battle, even when the Exiled were the enemy.
But while others saw nothing but disgrace in this action, Khalos now saw genius.
{If Aris fell two weeks ago, why is Meron still standing?} he asked, zooming in on the Meron system to see that it was still equally contested by Imperial and Exiled forces. {Reason would drive the Exiled to launch a full scale invasion of Meron as soon as Aris fell. Obviously, that hasn't happened. Therefore, we may conclude either that reason is not what drives the Exiled or that Aris is, in fact, still standing. While many of my superiors would argue that the former is true, I am of the other persuasion: Aris still stands, somehow. Whoever is in charge of the system's defense should be praised, not condemned. Better yet, they should be helped.} The map suddenly disappeared and Khalos found himself staring directly into Odranos' burning eyes. The Councillor had risen from his chair and was hunched over slightly, probably due to his injuries. Despite this, he seemed to tower over Khalos, his psionic presence now clearly felt and dwarfing Khalos'. For a second, Khalos felt awe. Then, he felt a subtle tinge of fear.
{Praetor Khalos,} Odranos started solemnly, {recent events have left our beloved Imperium in what can only be called a regrettable state. It is up to protoss like you and me to restore it to its former glory. But the masses do not know this. The craftsmen, the scientists, the scholars, the warriors, they need heroes, not capable commanders and leaders. They will not accept the authority of those unproven in their eyes. And the only solution to this problem that I believe to be within our grasp, is to satisfy these needs. We must create heroes out of the capable, make legends out of those whose wisdom we must confide in.}
Here, Odranos paused, as if catching his thought, but Khalos knew that the pause was purely for dramatic effect. And it worked. Khalos was almost entranced by the Councillor's words.
{The Imperium is afraid, Praetor. You can feel it in the way it draws breath: zerg, exiled, rebels... enemies are pressing us on all sides, suffocating us. But more maddening than that, we [are not even retaliating. We have blades, but no hands wielding them. We have great minds, but they are not allowed to think. We have great pride, but it is suppressed by fear. We are bound, unable to strike, to lash out against our enemies. And you, Praetor, you must be the one to take up the blade. You must break these bonds and strike. You must become a hero. Only then...}
Another pause, and this time there was no attempt at hiding its purpose.
{Only then, may I name you, Khalos, the supreme Executor of the breadth of the Imperium's armed forces. Only then can the Imperium retake its throne. You know what you must do, Khalos. The Flame awaits your command. Leave.}
Khalos stared at Odranos in disbelief. He was completely and utterly stunned, refusing to treat the Councillor's words as facts. And yet he felt himself walking away from the room involuntarily, fully aware of what he had to do. Fully aware of what Odranos had just blessed -and cursed- him with.
-Once Khalos had gone, Odranos returned to his seat, where he remained for a few minutes, deep in thought. Then, he brought up the holographic map of the Eurim sector up again, zoomed in on the system that had recently been labelled "Davir" and stared at it, once again deep in thought. Seconds, minutes, half an hour went by. And then.
{He will make a fine Executor, if he survives his mission,} a voice out of nowhere suddenly said. Odranos did not budge, his eyes still fixated on the map, now looking at the planet named Barkanos.
{A fine Executor is not something you "make". It is something you are born as. But it is nice to hear your opinion on the matter, Zereth,} Odranos answered. The dry laughter of a Nerazim echoed through his mind and a dark templar suddenly materialized next to his seat, joining him in his study of the map.
{Are you sure he knows exactly what he is supposed to do? Your orders were not explicit,} said Zereth.
{I am fully confident in the Praetor's ability to come to correct conclusions based on even small amounts of information. Even if he does not know what to do, he will be informed. But I sense it is impatience rather than doubt that prompts your question. Am I correct in my assumption?}
Zereth did not answer for a while, simply staring at the map. Then:
{Indeed, you are,} he answered, at last. Odranos nodded.
{It was your own choice to wait for his thoughts and insights. While I respect your decision, I do not think it gives you the right to be impatient.}
{Impatience is a state of being, not a right.}
{And the other state of being is action, which vanquishes impatience?}
Again, Zereth remained silent, this time for a full five minutes. Odranos did not mind. Zereth's thoughts traveled different roads than his own and he was never one to ignore such a gift. It made Zereth impossible to manipulate, for a start.
{There are many states of being,} Zereth started, {one which happens to be dead and another which happens to be alive. I prefer belonging to the latter and charging an enemy with no knowledge of his mind is a good way to end up in the former.
{Agreed,} Odranos answered, laughing. This time, the silence spanned a full hour. Then, finally:
{Odranos.}
{Yes?}
{It is almost time.}
{I know, brother.}
SoA
Prelate Tarial is putting up a resistance on the planet of Hidron, in the Aris system. He is outnumbered but has air supriority over the Exiled's ground forces and is using hit and run tactics to remain out of the enemy's grasp but cannot do so indefinitely.
Supply Losses in Aris so far: Exiled: 1 flagship, 649 supply. Imperium: 1 flagship, 280 supply.
Khalos and a group of survivors from Mozared's science outpost raid have an audience with Councillor Odranos, the only currently living member of the Imperium's Ruling Council. Khalos is sent to Aris to retake the system. He is traveling in the Flame, a flagship reserved for the Imperium's Executor. 4 ICs/days until arrival.
An unidentified spaceship has left Khasan space and is heading for Barkanos. 6 ICs/days until arrival.
Rii, Ihan System
Yatara sat uncomfortably in the seat of the terran-made vessel. She was surrounded by her lifeless companions, who were strapped to their seats in case the craft began to shake.
"Are you all right back there?" the Terran named Adam called from the transport's cockpit.
{The accommodation could use improvement. But I am fine.}, she answered. That was all they said during the short flight. She had already input the correct coordinates into the ship's computer and was sure the Terran could find his way regardless. The Wanderer's only settlement on the planet was hard to miss: it was all one huge building, with an enormous central tower and multiple smaller towers branching away from it. Yatara observed it from the transport's windows, with only faint recognition: like most other Wanderers, she had spent little time on the Tribes' planets.
"Do I land anywhere specific?" asked Adam.
{No. Just occupy the closest landing platform.}
"Roger."
A minute later, they landed and opened the ramp leading into the back of the ship.
{Please remain in the ship.}, Yatara said and then got up and exited the vessel. Outside she found herself face to face with a group of three protoss. She knelt before them and bowed her head.
{Yatara, of the Warplight. I request your assistance.} She gestured towards the insides of the ship where the other protoss were clearly visible. She looked up to see the head of the group, an old Nerazim, nod his head and gesture with his right hand. The two protoss behind him turned around and made for the nearest tower. Yatara rose.
{Nar'An, of Rii. Welcome, Yatara. Do inform. It has been many centuries since I last saw a foreign ship above our planet,} Nar'An turned around and made for the central tower, leaving Yatara with no choice but to follow.
{Await my return.}, she told Adam.
-The Protoss looked at Murkag with looks of confusion and awe as well as curiosity as the creature opened up its mouth and a group of Terrans stepped out. After Yatara had told Nar'An the whole story Dagganoth had landed his Behemoth in a nearby clearing. Adam had accompanied the two Wanderers as they led a group of Protoss there in order to use the site as a meeting and exchange ground. As his eyes darted across the field in front of him, Nar'An now also saw that the Terrans were carrying equipment that seemed very familiar to him. His suspicions were quickly confirmed as Adam turned to him.
"We lost a lot of your equipment in the earthquake, but here's what we managed to save."
{Thank you. Our equipment is valuable to us.}, Nar'An replied as he walked over to the Terrans carrying the equipment. He let his eyes slide over the items they were holding and took his time to observe all of it. After some time, one of the Terrans held out a small object to Nar'An but rather than taking it he looked at it carefully before turning back to Adam.
{What kind of payment do you seek?}
"Payment?", Adam raised his eyebrow. "It's your equipment."
{And you saved it. Along with many of our brethren.}
"But we only did what any decent person would have done... there was a distress call..."
Adam's words trailed off as Nar'An looked at him as if he were stupid.
{And that merits reward. Are you refusing our gratitude?}
"No, no! Definitely not... It's just... we're not exactly used to people wanting to repay us for doing services to them any self-respecting creature would have done anyway."
{No? It must be an unforgiving universe out there.}
"I guess it is... Well, if you insist..."
With that, Adam walked over to Nar'An and the group of Terrans as they started to make an inventory of all the equipment and research samples.
-A couple hours later, the deals had been struck and the stories shared. As Murkag was getting ready to take off to continue Garamar Brood's journey, Nar'An and his Wanderers stood opposing Adam, Jack, Yatara and Amar. Nar'An looked at the strange band.
{Thank you for all of your services... May the stars watch over you on your journey.}
As Adam opened his mouth to reply on Dagganoth's behalf, the Cerebrate let his voice be heard for the first time since the Brood had arrived on Rii and beat Adam to it.
{Wandererss... You are truly a unique speciess. Your curiosity seems unparalleled, and I hope your discoveriess may serve you well. Like the Terrans I've met before you, I would count you as friendss as well. I understand why Amar wants to stay with you.}
{Actually...}, Amar started. {I have decided to stay. While the Wanderers seem worth living amongst, I do not think I am going to have as big a chance at researching new phenomena anywhere as I would while traveling with you, Cerebrate.}
Nar'An now looked at Yatara, who seemed to be on the verge of saying something. Yatara directed her thoughts at all the participants of the meeting.
{I wish to stay as well... While I am extremely grateful for the time I have spent here, I do not feel I would belong on Rii. My destiny lies elsewhere.}
{Sso be it... I hope we can make you both feel like real members of our Brood...}, Dagganoth responded.
Yatara sneered quietly. She never said she wanted to be a member of this Brood. She kept the thought to herself as the group boarded Murkag and the creature took off. Nar'An and his crew silently watched it as it left orbit and flew into space.
SoA
-Murkag lands on Rii and Yatara informs Nar'An, the leader of this particular Wandering Tribe, of what happened.
-The Terrans and Amar meet up with a group of the Wanderers. The Terrans return the unconscious Protoss to the Wanderers along with the equipment they managed to save and most of the samples they took on the Jungle planet. In return, the Tribe shares supplies and technology with Garamar Brood worth 31 points (8 for the crystals, 8 for the Alien corpses, 3 for the equipment, 8 for the rescued scientists, 4 for the Hiver blood and spores).
-Yatara doesn't seem very happy with Dagganoth for some reason...
-Murkag leaves Rii again after the visit and sets a course back to Domus. 10 IC's/Days until arrival. 1 IC/Day until Murkag leaves the Var'Shiri nebula and communications start working again.