Chapter 50: Aggressive Acquisitions
Cuatro días antes del ataque a Cadia
A quintuplet of bladewing fighters were continuing their patrol on what so far seemed to be an uneventful day. These Kel-Morian made fighters were a popular choice in the sector, and were in use by the Consortium, Vatican, Confederacy, as well as many private armies who could afford higher end military hardware. Built for speed above all else, they relied largely on missiles for offense, though they also came equipped with dual chainguns.
Starsong watched the five pilots through an observer as they neared the ambush site in an asteroid field. He wasn’t too worried about their armaments as much as he was their speed. They’d have to get it right on the first volley, or risk letting one of the pilots escape. Once they were right where Starsong wanted them, he gave the order through the Khala to spring the trap.
Wing one move in. Wing three, go after any runners.
The first wing of comet fighters approached from different angles. Like the bladewings, the comet fighters were built largely with speed in mind. They had a pair of psi casters in place of chainguns. While the psi casters didn’t match the raw fire power of the guns, they took up significantly less space. This allowed the comet fighters to carry a larger complement of missiles. They could also transfer power from the psi casters to the engines, allowing them to outrun most enemies.
Using their speed and larger missile payload to their advantage, the comet fighters launched a generous volley of missiles towards the bladewings. Rather than hit the bladewings directly, the missiles were set to explode around the fighters. The explosions managed to disable all but one bladewing, while also killing the pilots inside. The lone bladewing tried to make a run for it, only to be cut off by the third wing of comets which were quick to destroy the fleeing craft. The fifth bladewing was nothing but scrap, and the pilots of the four disabled bladewings lay dead in their cockpits.
“Did they make a transmission?” asked Starsong. The crew was silent, still feeling guilty over this unprovoked attack. “Did they make a transmission?!” he asked again in a much more forceful tone.
“No,” replied a crewmen. “They were slaughtered before they had a chance.”
“Good. Have wings one and three return to the Radiance to rearm. Order wing two to lure the Vampire frigate to this area. Have wing four do the same to the Mad Cows,” ordered Starsong.
The frigate from Mad Cow fleet was hit first. Using the observers to spot for it, a single comet fighter launched missiles from a safe distance where the mercenaries wouldn’t be able to spot it. While the enemy frigate was unable to get a fix on its attack, it did know what direction it came from and began pursuit.
The lone fighter transferred power from weapons to its engines and began to lead the frigate towards the ambush site. Eventually the frigate would lose site of the first fighter due to its sheer speed. Just as the trail went cold, a second fighter launched its missiles and the chase began anew. The frigate repeated the process with all remaining fighters in the fighter wing until they lead it to the ambush site where the bat ponies lay dead in their fighters.
Unknown to the Mad Cows, a Vampire frigate was also being lead in a similar manner. Once the Vampire frigate lost its target, it began to search the area for the harassing fighter. Instead it found the Mad Cow frigate inside of its territory, surrounded by the debris of five of its fighters. While the destroyed fighter was nothing more than unrecognizable floating scrap, a quick scan revealed that the four disabled fighters belonged to Vampire.
Looking through an observer, Starsong could see both ships had made visual contact. He had to assume by now the bat ponies were aware of their dead comrades. “Detonate the missiles in the asteroid field near the Vampire frigate,” ordered Starsong.
A series of explosions went off around the Vampire frigate inflicting only minimal damage on the shields. The bat ponies however viewed this as an ambush set by the minotaurs and returned fire. Both ships had called for reinforcements and were now locked in mortal combat with one another.
“So far so good. Are the Templar ready for deployment on the surface of the station?” asked Starsong.
“Yes but… the drop pods were meant for planetary deployment. This is a significantly smaller target at a much greater distance sir. Even with the calculations from the observers, there is still a chance we may miss,” replied a crewmen.
“A chance we’ll have to take,” replied Starsong.
Dos días después del ataque
“Shining. Shining can you hear me?” asked a voiced. He was still a bit drowsy from the drugs, so his hearing was a bit muffled. His eyes opened and his vision began to unblur. He saw a white unicorn mare with a stripped pink and white mane.
“Mom?” asked Shining Armor.
“I’m here honey, so is your father,” she replied.
Shining Armor took a deep breath, and for the first time in since being punched by Sovereign. He was finally able to breathe steadily. It felt good to finally be back near one-hundred percent. “It’s good to see you two are alright.”
“We came as soon as the attack was over,” said his mother.
“When we heard Matriarch Cadenza had been killed, we thought everyone in the palace must have been slaughtered as well,” added his father. He was a unicorn with a blue mane and fur. “Yet somehow my son is still alive, despite the fact his wife had been kidnapped, and our matriarch was murdered and put on display.”
“Shining!” shouted the mare. “This is the last thing he needs right now!”
Shining Night had some more words for his son considering his failure, but he adhered to his wives wishes.
“He’s right mom. I let them down. I let everyone on Cadia down,” admitting Shining Armor.
“It wasn’t his fault Mr. and Mrs. Storm Breeze,” said another voice. They turned around to see Twilight had entered the room. “He isn’t the one who allowed a hacker to take control of the battle net and shut down the space platforms that were supposed to defend us.”
“And who are you?” asked Shining Night.
Hearing her own father ask that was a bit painful, but expected. Twilight had her appearance and named altered when she joined Dominion Intelligence, so it was only natural her family wouldn’t recognize her. “I’m Vice Admiral Sparkle, I work with DI,” she answered.
“Your kind isn’t allowed on our world,” commented Shining Night. “I’m with the Cadian militia, why shouldn’t I have you shot right now?”
“Because I’m here to find out who it was that shut down your defenses and have them brought to justice,” answered Twilight. “Your
matriarch is dead. I would assume you’d want all the help you can get.”
“She’s a friend of mine, you can trust her,” assured Shining Armor.
“You’re friends with a DI agent?!” asked his father.
“Hun, please calm down,” asked his wife.
Shining Night refused. “Galaxy, if anyone finds out he’s been associating with-”
“Then don’t tell anyone,” suggested Twilight. “I need to speak with him in private. We have important matters to discuss.”
“You have no authority on his world. I’ll leave when I damn well please,” announced Shining Night.
“Hun, I don’t want any trouble. We can talk to him later,” suggested Galaxy.
“I do need to discuss some things with her,” said Shining Armor. “If you don’t mind.”
The older stallion shot Twilight a glare, then walked out of the room with his wife following after.
“Dad seems to be in a chipper mood,” commented Twilight. “It’s not right of him to blame you for what happened.”
“On that subject, what the hell happened Twilight?!” asked Shining Armor. “You said the Diamond Dogs would burn down a few buildings and take off. You never said anything about killing Cadenza or kidnapping Stage!”
“The Diamond Dogs got a little… overzealous during the attack. They inflicted more casualties than initially anticipated,” admitted Twilight. “As for the Matriarch, she had to die. With her dead, our people will need a new leader. They’ll look to their champion.”
“I let the Matriarch die. I deserted her. I went after Stage instead of defending the Matriarch. Why would they still call me champion?” asked Shining Armor.
“No, you fought to your last breath, despite your injuries. You fought alongside all the other palace guards who fought and died bravely alongside their matriarch,” corrected Twilight. “The only reason you survived is because a medic found you among the dead and dying. You did your duty, and our people know it.”
“There were other guards there Twilight. They heard and saw what happened between me and Cadenza. They know I deserted,” said Shining Armor.
“I’m afraid none of them survived their injuries,” said Twilight. “I saw to that personally. No one witnessed what really happened. The truth is whatever you tell them.”
Shining Armor paused for a moment to contemplate this situation. It’s true that finding out he fought alongside the Matriarch against impossible odds would help his image, but it didn’t change the fact he deserted her when she needed him most. “I can’t do this. They need to know what really happened.”
“Let’s analyze that shall we?” asked Twilight. “They find out you deserted. You’re hated, you lose the title of Champion of Cadia, and you lose your running for next Emperor.”
“I can live with that,” said Shining Armor.
“But can Cadia live with that?” asked Twilight. “The Dominion pulls its support. Cadia is left leaderless and without sufficient weapons. The Confederacy invade. Our people fight to the death naturally. After an extended campaign, their zerg eventually overwhelm us. All of our people die just so you don’t have to live with the guilt of lying to them. Are you that selfish?”
Again Shining Armor contemplated his situation. She was right, Cadia could not stand alone. With the Matriarch dead, he would be expected to lead. Morale was low enough as it was, and word of his betrayal would only shatter his peoples' already low spirits. His people needed a leader. He was no true champion, but right now he needed to play the part.
“What about Stage? What will the Diamond Dogs do to her?” asked Shining Armor.
“She’ll be kept safe, I promise,” answered Twilight. “When it’s convenient, you’ll ‘rescue’ her and be a hero throughout the entire Dominion.”
Shining Armor sighed deeply. It all felt so wrong to him. “Cadenza forgive us for what we’ve done,” he prayed.
“Hey, it’s all going to be for the better. You’ll see, I promise.” Twilight reached down and hugged her older brother. “I love you big brother. I need to get going, I have a few things I need to take care of.”
“I love you too sis. Anything you want me to pass on to mom and dad?” asked Shining Armor.
“Tell dad to loosen up,” said Twilight. She smiled at him as she left the hospital room.
Rainbow and Rain Sight both stood atop a building rooftop in the distance, thanks to Rainbow’s ability to fly in harsh weather. Both of them were wearing Cadian leather, goggles and face wrappings like any other Cadian citizen, so they weren't too distinguishable from anyone else. Rain Sight had been watching the conversation through binoculars, hoping to get any information, after which Rainbow would fly her back down.
“I would be so easy from up here,” said Rainbow. “We really should have brought the rifle.”
“In this weather?” asked Rain Sight. “Besides, the last thing we want is getting caught with a weapon. Security's the highest it’s been in who knows how long. It's kind of strange how people always up security AFTER an attack, when it’s already too late to do anything about it.”
“Too bad Sweetie Belle is still recovering. I’m sure she could have snuck up here with a rifle,” said Rainbow.
Rain Sight lowered her binoculars as Twilight left the room. “So, anything useful?” asked Rainbow.
“Well it’s pretty hard reading lips through a window from this distance. Especially with all of this snow,” admitted Rain Sight. “The snow somewhat cleared up at the end, but I didn’t read anything particularly incriminating. I did read one nugget of interesting information though.”
“And that would be?” asked Rainbow.
“I might be wrong but… I think I saw her call Shining Armor her big brother. And she referred to at least his father as her own too. They were even hugging,” said Rain Sight.
Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped beneath her face wrappings. “Twilight's parents?! Oh ho ho, pay back is going to be a bitch!”
“What?! Wait a minute, we can’t just kill her parents. They have nothing to do with this!” argued Rain Sight.
“My sister wanted nothing to do with this!” argued Rainbow Dash. “Your dad wanted nothing to do with this!”
“Then make Twilight pay, not her parents!” replied Rain Sight.
“Scootaloo said she wants to make Twilight suffer the same way we did. She took the only family I had, the only family you had. I say we return the favor,” said Rainbow Dash.
It didn’t take long for Vampire and Mad Cow to go at it in the asteroid field. Mad Cow only left a lonely frigate to defend the station from attack. While the Radiance could easily deal with the smaller vessel, flying into their territory directly would alert the station's security forces to their deception. The last thing they needed was to bring the force of both fleets upon their lone cruiser.
The next part of the plan was easily the riskiest. The bottom of the Radiance had launch tubes similar to drop pod launch tubes used by the other factions. As long as there was an observer on the ground, they could typically get some pretty accurate landings. Landing on a station from such a long distance however was going to be a bit harder than usual.
“Launch pods one and two,” ordered Starsong.
The Radiance's launch tubes opened up and two drop pods began racing towards the station where an observer was already in place to help guide their landing. The two objects, for the most part, went unnoticed among the ensuing chaos. As the drop pods finally reached their destination, they smashed a hole through the station's surface, lodging themselves into the side of the hull.
With the drop pods thoroughly secured, the bottoms opened up revealing pylons. The pylons were made from processed khaydarin crystals, which generated a limited amount of energy. The stabilizer ring surrounding the crystal channeled that energy into an energy field which could be used to provide power for khalai equipment, or it could be used to create a warp field allowing troops and equipment to be teleported instantly. These pylons were smaller and used mainly for moving infantry rather than heavy walkers.
The pylons floated down to the floor, then activated the warp ring around them. Immediately robots from the Radiance teleported on board and generated a shield on the hull breach. With the hull breach secured, armored Templar teleported in next to begin the heist. Two Mad Cows rushed into the hallway onto be gunned down by the Templars' psi-casters before they could fire a single shot.
Seeing that his force had successfully made ‘landfall’, Starsong gave the next set of orders. Insertion team one, proceed to secure the ores. Leave one squad behind to secure the pylon. Insertion team two, proceed to the station's reactor. Leave a squad to protect the pylon as well. Call for reinforcements as you need them.
Resistance onboard the station wasn’t too severe at the moment. They clearly relied more on their fleets for protection than they did their security teams. While the station was outfitted with a good number of external weapon batteries, they were meant for holding off large ship attacks, not commando raids.
When the first insertion team successfully reached the supply cache, the robots they had escorted worked to levitate the crates of raw ores back to the pylon for extraction. That part so far had been easy, as the majority of the station's forces were more concerned with defending the reactor room.
While caught off guard, the minotaur were eventually able to respond accordingly and keep the reactor room secured. They certainly seemed intent on fighting to the death over this. Starsong had to assume by now Mad Cow and Vampire realized it was a ruse. Of course it could still be a while before the more battle hungry minotaur agreed to stop fighting and return to reinforce the station.
Deploy reinforcements to assist insertion team two. Insertion team one, once the metal has be teleported back onboard the Radiance, we will teleport you to insertion team two’s pylon. Assist them in reaching the reactor room, ordered Starsong.
Starsong got out of his seat and ran to the gateway. He joined the next wave of reinforcements and landed on the station himself to oversee the final phase of the operation. There he found a number of dead Templar and Mad Cows littering the hallways. To his men’s credit, they had successfully fought all the way to the reactor room as intended. To the credit of the minotaur however, they made them pay for every inch in blood, and had fought them to a standstill just outside the reactor room.
Starsong could see what the problem was. They had set up a turret pointed at the entrance. As soon as any of his men tried to enter that control room, they’d be cut to pieces by the defenders. Eight stallions, gather around me now, ordered Starsong. His men obeyed his command forming a three by three square with Starsong in the center. He then erected a shield around them. Focus your energy on the shield, then move with me.
The shield strengthened as each stallion poured their psionic energy into the barrier. Their phalanx passed through the chokepoint and immediately came under fire. While it took a great toll on the Templar, they would be able to maintain the barrier if only for a few seconds under the hail of gunfire. The Templar in the shield took the opportunity to count and locate all enemy positions in the reactor room. Their minds working as one, the Templar who weren’t maintaining the shield ran into the room and opened fire on the Mad Cows. Having their exact positions, the minotaur were shot down quickly.
Starsong almost collapsed as the barrier finally released. Having secured the reactor room, he began to initiate the final stage of his plan. Keep me covered, he ordered. Due to his exhaustion from maintaining that barrier, it took him about a minute to finally gather enough psionic energy to complete his work. With the energy in his horn gathered, he fired a stream of lightning into the reactor, resulting in a feedback. The reactor now in flux, he gave an order to retreat.
The Templar around him were too caught up in the thrill of battle to really care what he had just done. The crew on the Radiance however let their disgust pour into the Khala. Many wondered how such a sick stallion could have ever been allowed to become a High Templar.
The Templar reached the pylon, and began teleporting back to the Radiance. Once the Templar were back on board, the pylon also warped out as well.
Finally back onboard the Radiance, the Overseer made his way back to the bridge in time to see the fruits of his labor. The observer that guided the drop pods onto the platform got a safe distance and watched. The station's reactor finally went critical, and the station was engulfed in a horrible explosion, killing all witnesses.
“Well… I would say that ties up any loose ends. Get to work on those repairs. I want that core back to one-hundred percent ASAP,” ordered Starsong. He could feel his crew’s resentment towards him growing. They didn’t seem to realize how necessary it was to remove the witnesses, as well as any dead Templar still on the station. They didn't have time to clear out all the bodies after all. The last thing they needed was for Labyrinth to be chasing them through Consortium Space.
“I said, that get to work on those repairs… NOW!” he shouted. Despite their growing disapproval, the crew obeyed and continued to follow his orders.
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With all the stuff that has happened to them as well as the setting, I think that a Dark tag might be a good addition to the story.
3264972
I've contemplated that label, but I'm sure what makes a story "dark." I never actually intended to put any darkness in this story at all, but I also don't know at what point you cross into the dark territory. Frankly this is just how I see the world working if people had this kind of technology. Not that I'm trying to make a political point about technology or anything. I'm just trying to entertain for the sake of entertainment, and my outlook just happens to be reflected now and then. Though I assure you I'm a very happy person. I was declared nicest and happiest person in my shop, and in my platoon when I was in the corps.
I've have been accused by a critics that I'm trying to shove dark down peoples throats. That am saying, "Look how horrible everything is! See! its all so bad!" but really I'm just thinking this is how a lot of things would go down realistically in these situations.
I always assumed dark was something like cupcakes, or at least on the level of rainbow factory. I might be bias, but I never thought anything was over the top in terms of darkness. Maybe trying to force some over the top humor here and there, like Sovereign getting shot in the leg, or dressing like Sweeties dad, or Starsong catching an STD, but I never TRIED to make anything serious be dark.
Maybe I will label, I'll need to think on that more. If it is dark, its not intentional.
3264999
The way I see Dark is if the story has things like graphic descriptions of violence and darker plot elements. I would personally consider things such as the Warden describing the crimes of the other inmates or a prisoner attempting to rape Scootaloo to be Dark. Also, your action scenes tend to go into pretty fine detail about how the characters are killing their opponents. About the criticism you mentioned, I think that's really just how the Koprulu Sector is in canon. In my opinion, Dark does not have to be as far as something like Cupcakes. In fact, there are numerous fics that are dark but still manage to stay fairly lighthearted in tone. Coming Back by Bats and most of Growing Pains by Peroth E. are examples. Overall, I would say that I would recommend a Dark tag, but I do not consider this story to be at all as dark as the gorefics.
I never thought I'd say this, but Rainbow I like the way you think. As for Starsong, GO GO Dark Templar!! To be honest, I will not be surprised if he becomes a dt later in the story.
3265046
Kind of strange considering your earlier quotes.
Why the change of heart?
Isn't the dad's name Night Light? Not Shining Night.
I would rather take Shining Armor's life for the "eye for an eye". But the parents could work too i guess.
Starsong methods aren't nice, but effective. And that's what matters in war. In times like this, one cannot hesitate. Starsong is still my favorite Khalai.
Also. The fighters not being units from the game is ok and reasonable, but I wouldn't expect the Khalai to make whole new fighters or machines. They have the Khala and psionics, but they are not the engineers that the Protoss were. I would rather expect Protoss fighters just modified with newer stuff.
Besides.....weren't the Colossi ancient machines of war too? The Protoss still used them even after banning them to isolated locations.
I shall call the pylon.....Pylo!!!!
Wow Starsong, you're setting yourself up for a bad end...or a dark beginning. Also, how did Twi's parents not recognize her ? Was it the armor or some ghost memory manipulation going on ?
3265217 Two words my friend - Charackter Development. And a well done one at that. You were more than successeful at turning him from an honorblinded moron, which he was(really dislike that type), into a dark, ready to put moral norms on the bench, in order to do what needs to be done bad flank. Seriously, I am slowly starting to view him as Karn 2.0. Turn him into a dt, and you can bet your amazing (at writing) ass that I will be happy! Though, in my oppinion there's just one small dislikable detail in his profile right now. The overattractivness to Seeker. But that is very minor compared to everything else.
3265653
No. His dad never had a name. Night Light is the name of a FEMALE pony that looked kind of like him. I'm not going to give him a mares name. I stuck with the Night, but wanted to give it a stallion name. Figured, "What name sounds sort of like Shining Armor, but still sounds sort of like Night Light? Put the two together. Doesn't really matter because in the show they have no name. If their names are revealed in season four, I'll probably go back and make a change.
Also the protoss have proven to be rather horrible engineers. Sure they have fancy tech, but they have no sense of how to use it in a practical way. Come on, super strong energy source and you make it into a laser sword? And I'd like to think ponies aren't stupid enough to make a fighter that can't shoot at the ground and has to focus its only weapons into a... gravity beam
. Their weapons in game are very impractical in real life. Remember, this race never evolved culturally. And even if the protoss are particularly smart, and this is just the limitations of game balance, all the more reason to throw it out the door. Armies in real life don't care about staying balanced with their opponent, they want every advantage they can get. Remember that in game apparently marines can't hit anything more than 6 spaces in front of them. When I was the corps, we were expected to hit a target from at least 500 yds or else we wouldn't pass basic.
All that said, I did say the comet maintains a similar design to the phoenix. Its just more energy efficient, so it's faster and holds a greater payload.
Simply put, anything that has to do solely with game balance, throw it out the window because it wouldn't hold up in real life.
3265950
For the sake of protecting her family, she figured it would be best if no one could connect her to her parents.
3266292
I'm not seeing the difference between Starsong at the start and say, Tassadar, Artanis or Fenix. When you look at the lore, those guys were ten times the idiots he was. Tassadar turns himself into the Conclave right as they were about to win as a plot device for another mission. And if it weren't for Zeratul holding back Artanis in the broodwar, he would have lead the Golden Armada to its death three times over. In fact at the very end of the game he did. And Selendis was also an honor blind idiot who got her entire fleet destroyed fighting Rynor (that's the official lore ending) when she could have been using that fire power to kill zerg.
I'm not seeing how Starsong was any dumber. You hated Starsong, but you liked those guys, who all proved to be even more incapable leaders in the long run. Zerutal seemed to be the only capable protoss leader during the great war and brood war. Someone has said it reminds him of Tassadars development, but I can't quite agree with that. Tassadar never forsook his honor even after meeting the Dark Templar. He was still bound by the Templar traditions, which is why he made such a stupid surrender right when Artanis had victory in hand. His development was him learning how to channel void and psionic energies at the same time, but still kept true to his ways. And even Zeratul wasn't an honorless prick. He still tried to do the right thing at all times. Starsong is still using the "Khala's Light," but he's turning to tactics that the Templar would never consider. Tassadar used the void, but stayed true to Templar traditions. Starsong has never touched the void, but is slowly abandoning Templar traditions.
Also I never said he had a crush on Seeker. I just said he admitted she was a good looking mare before Skyfall carved her up like a turkey. And technically he is right that letting her fall into DI hands would be bad for the Khalai in the long.
3266551 Tassadar I started to like AFTER he became Zeratul's apprentice(Zeratul was the only toss I liked right off the bat, the ones you listed went through Char Dev around him, before becoming likable to me), Artanis after he and Zeratul used the crystals at the Xel'Naga Temple on Shakuras. Selendis is like the third female toss I saw in sc lore, I'm bound to like her. Fenix, because he was around Raynor.
No, no. You got it wrong. I meant overly focused on her, not that he had a crush on her. And he became likable around a dt, like Tass and Artanis.
3264999
Seriously? This fic-verse is at least as dark as the Starcraft canon and that is only light in comparison to the board game it ripped off. Not to mention that you made two (so far) of the mane cast into sociopathic sadists and a third is almost as amoral, plus two of the Cutie Mark Crusaders are getting close to that status.
3266621
Oh. Yeah I guess I could see the comparison there.
3266622
Hmm.... anyone else think this is deserving of the Dark label?
3266551 I never said anything about in-game powers. If you throw out balance, the Protoss become so much stronger. 1 Zealot can take a huge amount of beating with his shields, slice through marine armor easily and get transported back to the Nexus when his life is in danger and be placed in a dragoon or immortal. Then he is warped across a huge distance to a simple pylon to blast tanks and zerg away with massive cannons. They also have carriers and motherships that can purify entire planets. They have fast fighters that can strafe and lift up tanks (maybe bigger too?) and they also tiny ships that can recall whole fleets. Boy, those are some stupid engineers if that's all they can do. We need a fighter that can shoot at the ground.
3266962
Zealots shields.
In lore a zealot falls apart in a few seconds after being shot at. You never see a zealot who eats up bullets in stories. Valarians Dominion marines seemed to have problem gunning down Ulrezaj's forces. You can argue the Khalai survivors armor was worn down from years of fighting, but his forces were fresh. Yeah the armor seemed to offer some protection, but seemenly no more than the typical marines armor. It was just a lot lighter since it was more advanced. Their individual infantry don't even seem to have shields in stories, the only thing that comes up is their armor. Zealot resilience is entirely a gameplay mechanic to make the races diverse.
In fact, the only protoss I've seen in lore that were ever able to stop a bullet with shields were High Templar, and one really powerful Dark Templar. Yet in game, those same units die when you sneeze on them. And of course, in real lore, High Templar and Dark Templar aren't really something trained in masses. They spend years of training in mental endurance before they become skilled enough to wield their powers to the fullest, as where in game you can pump out Dark Templar as cannon fodder for making archons.
Also keep in mind that in real life, weapons advance much faster than armor does. Tanks and entire capital ships can be destroyed in seconds when the right weapon is used, and usually in a very cost effective manner. Its easy to destroy than it is to create.
Near death teleportation
They also don't do the teleport near death thing in lore either. Again, entirely a gameplay mechanic. As I said, Zamara (and her entire crew) would have probably just teleported back to Aiur rather than go down with the ship. It's the same as resurrection magic in wow. It's only in game play, never in story. The only dragoons who's origin stories we've seen was Fenix and Taldarin. Neither of them teleported back, they were found dying on the ground along with other protoss who were put in stasis until the suits were ready. So many problems could have been solved in the stories if said protoss just teleported back. Same with so many problems being solved in wow if a character was just resurrected afterwards.
Purifying planets.
We have that technology today. Except ours seems to be a bit faster. They spend hours blasting away the surface. Korhal was destroyed in minutes with nukes. Kind of just shows the lack of pragmatism this race seems to be pointlessly burdened with. Again I don't think the protoss are that stupid, I think that's just more reason why you can't take anything in gameplay seriously. The game play balance forces them to be stupid.
Fighters lifting tanks
First off, they can't lift bigger. In game massive units are immune because they're too big. And second... that's not really a useful weapon. Terran ingenuity would simply be, "fire a missile or a chain gun." In real life, one strafing run with a chain gun can blow out an entire line of tanks in a ten second burst (it takes about 200 thousand American dollars to fire the avenger cannon for seconds. It cost about five times that for the enemy to build one tank). Terran weapons have been shown to be effective against protoss in the book. That means in real life, they would just send one craft to do a strafing run and take out an entire row of protoss walkers. Great, so the Pheonix in game lifted one tank and waited for his buddy to come and shoot it. Or maybe he dropped it on top of another tank. Meanwhile the terran fighter just destroyed an entire line of protoss armor in one run. That's not very practical for a weapon when compared.
To be frank though, I can imagine the protoss doing the same thing to the terran in a realistic battle. In a real battle, planes don't float overhead shooting at one another while their HP bars drop like they do in starcraft. I don't think either army is stupid enough to just stand in a straight line firing at one another. If protoss fought in real life the same way they do in game, they'd die just to terran tactics. Our tactics and tech in real life are already better than the stuff we see in game. Not because starcraft tech is stupid, that stuff is brilliant. It's because its used in unrealistic ways for the sake of gameplay balance. If the protoss built a fighter in real life, they'd just have the thing launch a volley of missiles and blow up a line of advancing armor all at once in a single pass (like we already do in real life). They wouldn't use a gravity beam and wait to destroy them one by one while the enemy blows them out of the sky like they do in game. Neither side would ever use the tech in the way the game play presents it. And if protoss were that dumb, I doubt the ponies, who seem to think more like humans on the show, would limit themselves to such stupidity.
I know in game units have "health bars," but just for balance. In lore that doesn't happen. In books, things tend to die the first time you shoot at them, just like in real life. Provided the weapon had an effect of course. And we've seen both terran and protoss have weapons that can destroy one another in the blink of an eye.
Lastly, no army in real life can work with just 12 to 15 units. Armies have vast array of technology for different tactics, so of course you'll see a lot of stuff you'll never see in game. Same way it works in the books and even a few cutscenes. But they're left out because no one wants to balance an army with dozens of different units in it. Again, don't look at gameplay as realistic.
Edit: I hope I'm not offending anyone's love of the protoss or anything like that. But if you've served in a military, or at least watched a lot of war documentaries, or studied military weapons and tactics to even a degree (RTS games don't count), you already know the stuff you see in many video games is either laughably impractical, or way out of touch with the reality of how weapons are deployed in real life.
Its like 40ks books and the video games. The books are praised for holding true to realism, with the Cipher Cain series being called the most realistic military scifi ever. The games however don't reflect the books at all, nor should they. Warhammer fans recognize that gameplay and story are treated as two separate entities. In fact many lore fans hate the games for stripping away all the realism for the sake of gameplay mechanics. Gameplay and story only mutually overlap when it's convenient, but neither gets precedence over the other. The creators simply trust the fans to be smart enough to realize that gameplay doesn't reflect a realistic scenario, and that a realistic scenario wouldn't be as fun for a video game. Let us all keep that in mind.
If anyone wants a more realistic RTS, I'd recommend WarGame: AirLand battle. It shows how air and armor would work together in real life, and has hundreds of units, just a like a real army. Because no army only uses 12 units. You'll either fall in love with its realism, or be bored and frustrated to with its realism. Personally I wouldn't mind a starcraft/warhammer mod for it, but that's just me.
3266622
Starcraft is not a ripoff of 40k. They took some cues from it, such as the visual design for the marines and protoss and some of the concept of the zerg, but overall, the races differ radically from their 40k inspirations. For example, though the space marines of Starcraft look similar to those of 40k, they don't have the same strategies, they aren't one man armies, and they don't have the same fanatical motivation. The humans in 40k are an enormous empire that is radically devoted to the emporer, worshiping him, even. The humans in Starcraft are the descendants of a bunch of criminals whose prison ships crashed in the region. They are a ragtag group, barely surviving and making do with what they have. I believe that the way they were originally described was as "truckers in space." So yeah, even though Starcraft took some inspiration from 40k, it is not a ripoff.
Unless you aren't talking about 40k, in which case, oops.
3267123 I can tell you go heavily by the book adaptations. I go by what the creators said in Starcraft 1. The authors of the books probably didn't use Blizzard's lore for the sake of storytelling ( You have examples for that). The Protoss do not make ultimate, practical, war machines and such due to their fear of what they can create. (Colossi remember?) Terran engineers create new weapons all the time while the Protoss do not. Now, you said that ponies are more like the terran, well terran can rarely make anything that comes close to the grade of Protoss technology. Stetmann himself even commented on how amazing the Protoss are. So do you think some ponies are going to come in and make technology that is even better? ( even with Zamara's help)
3267413
Probably something a lot more practical, given they've had 400 years to work on and improve.
Can terran make something as powerful as protoss? Probably given enough time. You have to also remember that the protoss tech kind of stagnated during their time because they didn't really have any other technological rivals. As powerful as the zerg were, they were doing a good job of keeping them contained up until Zerutal revealed Aiur.
It also happens with humans as well. Between WW1 and 2, our technology didn't really advance that much. During WW2, we made more technological leaps in four years than we had in two decades. Supposedly humans have been in a never ending arms race with one another, rapidly making huge technological advancements, while protoss advancements have been rather slow. That's probably why terran weapons are able to hurt protoss, because terran had been advancing, while protoss had been kind of holding still.
Then we see after the broodwar, human tech makes even more leaps, while simultaneously, the protoss started to develop new tech again for the first time in forever. They had to because now its a matter of adapt or die. It's an evolutionary arms race that they used to be ahead, but it eventually caught up with them. Now they still have some crazy warp tech that humans could only dream of creating, which is what both Stedson and Swan (brilliant scientist and engineers respectively) referred too. But their weapons only seem to be keeping up with their rivals, not so much surpassing them.
But that's how the universe works, and protoss aren't an exception. You move forward just to stay in the same place, or else you fall back. At one point they were unwilling to use weapons to their fullest extent because they were clearly ahead of everyone else. But they seem to be going all out in weapons tech now that they're in the same unfavorable position as everyone else. Not that I'm saying the Empire has become weak (that is what they are called. Zealots even used to say "for the Empire!"), but its definitely struggling like very other life form in the galaxy now.
Basically their hundreds/thousands of years of technological stagnation has given their rivals a chance to catch up. They still have some neat and exclusive technology (mainly their warp tech), but the playing ground has become pretty even all around.
Edit: Forget what I said about Colossi. Apparently there were different opinion by the writers. Oh well. One guy said they were Nerazim tech buried on Aiur prior to the banishment, but a wiki page said they were Khalai tech buried on asteroids after the banishment due to the Kalath incident. Though keep in mind that in game Zeratul discovers them buried on Aiur if that means anything to you, but that one is kind of in the air. The buried on asteroids lore was said by Metzen during a lore interview when answering a fans question. I remember watching that on the blizzcon feed. He may have been making it up on the spot, as fans have actually called him out for getting his lore wrong on these panels before. Infamous red shirt guy comes to mind in the blizzcon of 2011, as well as the Eradar Sargarus timeline train wreck 2007 (maybe 06).
I'm not saying the terran will surpass them, of course not. But as far as firepower goes, they've shown they've caught up to them. Terran will make new weapons, protoss will make new weapons in response, terran will then make new weapons in response to their response, so on and so forth. That's how things work. If humans have shown one thing, its we have a very powerful imagination and a strong sense of adaptability. The Nerazim have shown that as well if they were able to catch up with the Khalai in only a millennium. Though keep in mind that terrans made the same technologically leaps in about a 1/3 of that time. Both sides will keep building weapons, but I don't think one side will vastly surpass the other. Eventually one side will destroy the other, or both sides destroy themselves.
That or both sides will eventually learn to breed with one another's women, and in time all their differences will be solved (the Peter Griffon strategy). I'd like to think human pragmatism with a Khalai moral could go far, who knows.
The only thing protoss will ever probably own exclusively again is their warp tech because that relies on their psionic and void powers. But keep in mind that humans have only begun to scratch the surface of telekinesis, so they don't know what they're capable of yet. Remember the Queen of Blades was as powerful as she was because she had a lot of buried potential to begin with. I'm certain humans will continue to artificially push their own evolution. They've caught up in a lot of other ways, they may catch up there as well. If they ever do, then that means the protoss will be forced to use their technology to also push their own psionic evolution, which so far is something they have no interest in. But if they're willing to push their other tech to adapt, I'm sure they'd willingly push their psychic evolution as well if the terran ever showed they were approaching their level.
Keep in mind that the blizz staff gives book writers their blessings. They even tell them what the general plot is suppose to be and use that to advance the game plot heavily in warcraft, and we're seeing that in starcraft as well. Tycus entire history with James Rynor is in Heavens Devils, and Flash Point is written as a bridge between Wings and Heart explaining how Kerrigan and the raiders got to that word, and how Nova found them in the first place. There are retcons yes, but the retcons are official. I'm not happy with all of them myself, but I do try to keep things in line with the official lore (even if the actual writers don't always themselves).
3267508
I thought that was a Star Wars reference XD
Ok, just making sure.
But here is what I'm saying I guess: Equestrians have come into the Sector over 100 years ago right? Finding all this technology ( some of it is probably not functional). The Protoss took so long with their tech and the terran did also. This is a lot of stuff for the ponies to discover since they did not anything of the sort in Equestria. Empires have been established during these years of constant war. War often slows down technological advances ( not always though). It seems like a stretch that the ponies have not already modified tech to fit them, but that they have created new advanced tech that beats the minds of Terran and Protoss alike. (For some reason, I think I'm reading this all wrong and/or looking too much into this)
3267600
Actually in the last two hundreds year of human history, our greatest technological advancements came during times of war. Jet engines, radar, longer forms of communication, sonar that we used to map out the pacific, GPS, more fuel efficient engines, it's all from war. Even before then, technology improved with war time. Where do you think we learned so much about ballistics and better construction? Siege engines were a huge basis for our advancements. Where do you think we developed so many of our medicines? Fighting exposure on the front lines. Sanitary napkins were a result of war. In 1960's the Department of Defense funded ARPANET. A project to connect computers together from all over the world... sound familiar? That's cold war money. The space race was in preparation for a war. Look at human history, you'll only see advancements during times of war in the last couple of centuries, and even before that. Technology always leaps during war, then transfers into civilian uses post war. Where exactly did you hear that technology slows?
I guess during the Dark Ages it would seem like things slowed with everyone fighting over feudal claims. But even then the church still pushed scientific advances. The church created the university system, and trained many scientist, even in a time when most governments were concerned with feudal wars. The use of weaponized gunpowder came from a monk at the church.
Even before the dark ages, the roman empire created lots of technological advances, largely to help sustain their armies on the front lines. Before then you'd find the similar results with the Greeks, the Catherin's, Persians and the Babylonians.
As for the ponies, they were in the sector for 100 years BEFORE the gate was destroyed. Remember that Zamara has all the knowledge of every protoss engineer, even if she no longer has the formidable powers granted by her old body. And she wasn't exactly working from scratch. Also remember that the terrans rebuilt their technologically infrastructure in less than two generations. Also remember that UED technology was far ahead of the Koprulu sectors terran tech, which is what the ponies originally found.
So as far as terran tech goes, the terrans rebuilt their technological infrastructure in two generations, I'd guess around around 30 to 40 years, just by reverse engineering what they could find, and improving on it. The ponies had even more advanced tech to work with, and while not as familiar with it, they did have about 100 years before that gateway went out, so probably enough time to get fairly close to where the koprulu terran were. Not on level with the UED of course, but 100 is a long time. Then 300 years of constantly pushing your technology to new limits would allow you match and surpass your predecessors. Americans and Russians did that with the German rocket technology in one generation.
As far as protoss tech goes, with all of Zamara's knowledge, they could probably have recovered their tech pretty fast. Remember the Nerazim did it in one thousand years using a very advanced ship, but terrans matched their accomplishments in 1/3 of the time, with a ship that had only a fraction of their tech. Here we have Zamara with lots of protoss tech, and a huge wealth of knowledge. I could be giving the ponies to much credit, but if they have the ingenuity and drive of the terrans, they could match and surpass their predecessors in that time frame as well. Remember that the whole point of protoss Preservers was to make sure no knowledge is ever lost.
And remember the terran did not take that long. Its only the year 26th century in starcraft. Humanity seems to have made some incredible technological leaps in only 500 years. And they rebuilt it in less than 50 years after the crash. So terrans and advance quickly, and have advanced more quickly than the protoss have.
The Nerazim got their technologically back up to par in only 1k years, which is a lot longer than the terrans, but its still an impressive feat. They probably took so long because they weren't meant to be "individual thinkers" and usually relied on knowledge of the past to move tech forward. Lacking any Preservers probably hurt that, but if they had their preservers, they probably could have done it in a fraction of the time.
As far as "beating the minds of your predecessors," its pretty easy to eventually do if they aren't holding still. The terran and protoss aren't exactly making technologically leaps at the moment. Rainbow Dash said it best when she was burying her competitor, "at least the competition won't be very lively." If you're racing against a motionless corpse who died further ahead of the track, you'd eventually pass it provided you didn't die on the way yourself.
Forgot to mention with the update, so I'll mention now. New chapter for Descent into Madness is out. New art is out as well on the gallery as well.
3266551 Well, with RD going after them, things can get iffy very soon...unless Night is a badass like his son but that's just wishful thinking on my part
3267123
Can I get a cite on the comparative planetary sterilization times? I'm pretty sure that the purification of New Haven was only carried out in such an inefficient manner so that there could actually be a mission to play.
Maybe Protoss energy weapons damage the environment less than nukes to make reterraforming easier. I mean, Korhal was uninhabited for about nine years while Mar Sara was recolonized after less than four. And that's how they work in Sword of the Stars.
3268642
Zamara shows Jake Ramsey the memory of them destroying Chau Sara. I don't know why, but they decided to shoot it with lasers from orbit with lasers for several hours until they were fairly certain nothing survived. I'm sure if they wanted too, the Protoss could create WMDs that could have do the trick in a few seconds as well. They didn't seem to care about the environmental blowback considering they were willing to destroy all life alongside the zerg. In fact, due to their anatomy, they could probably survive in a barren wasteland just as well as they could in a lush green world
Frankly I think its just a thing about style. The writers just "feel" like WMDs are more a terran thing. At least those of the nuclear type. But Korhal was taken out in mere minutes. Frankly we could do that today.
On the topic of Korhal, the place is still a dump by the time you get to Heart of the Swarm. It's a strange setting, because most of the world is still a giant desert, but there are patches of green where humans have recolonized. The missions in Augstard show the inside of the cities have lush blue streams of water, and trees all over the place. The mission outside the city is a barren wasteland with lakes of bubbling black goo.
Considering they did that in only about five years, I'd say the terrans have made some pretty impressive terraforming tech. The protoss don't seem to ever teraform a planet, nor do they need to. They probably could make terraforming technology, but they probably don't see a point. Their bodies don't need plants, animals or water. They can actually survive in the vacuum. If they wanted too, they probably could have terraformed Shakkuras, or any dead world. Instead, they seem to be fine living in any environment, no matter how desolate it is because their bodies are adapted to it. That said, I don't think they would care about environmental concerns, considering they were more than willing to incinerate the surface of potential future colonies.
Anyway, the point I was making was that taking out a planet isn't very impressive in scifi setting, because we can already do it with todays toys.
3268743
The Protoss colonists on Kaldir (aka "Cadia") were attempting to alter its orbit so that it would be more hospitable. Granted it was so cold that even vehicles would freeze solid.
Also not too sure Protoss actually can survive vacuum without their ubiquitous shields, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they absorb water through their skin.
I tried to skim the comments, but my mind blanked due to the extreme lengths
3268907
Well I know I read from Dark Templar saga that they don't require air, food or water. They literally "absorbed energy from the sun, stars and moon," as their sustenance. They are sustained by psionic (or void) energy, so I think their bodies turn solar radiation into a usable energy for them. Ulrazaj is even mentioned specifically not needing air when him and the three other Dark Templar met on a moon with no atmosphere wearing nothing but a cape and trousers (suggesting they have some kind of reproductive organ they'd rather keep hidden). On Shakuras they never drank water, and had to go out of their way to bring back food and water for Dahl, because there was no water near their city. At one point in the lore they may have needed water, but if so, it's been retconned.
Kaldir is a moon that orbits a gas giant that never hosted Terran life. Cadia is the world formally known as Braxis, which while very inhospitable, the terrans still settled for the sake of mining efforts. In fact, the protoss settled on Braxis long before just fine up until the Aeon of Strife, as mentioned in Broodwar. For some reason both worlds had Ursadons (probably an overlook by the writers), but the Ursadons of Braxis were considered fairly gentle creatures, while the Ursadons of Kaldir were very vicious. I think they were only trying to change the rotation for the sake of getting their equipment to work. They seemed to survive just fine on Braxis otherwise. Though supposedly on Braxis, either race could only colonize the exposed parts as two thirds of the planet were too cold to operate on. Apparently the ice on the mountain ranges could sometimes reach as far as 2 miles thick, and was harder than any stone. The Ursadon on that world were apparently able to survive the extreme conditions on the mountains as well.
I say not to kill Twi's parents: they are innocents and do not deserve it. If any of her family has to die, it should be Shining. He killed Karn.
Also, do you have anyone prereading the story? Finding a prereader would be very helpful for improving the spelling and grammar problems that you have.
Damn there is alot of lore in the comments today
cancelled? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Why? I loved this story!
3304137 This story will never be finished.
He is gone.
3306773 just read the blog post he put up
dude.... I cant believe it.
R.I.P unholyheaven *places flowers*
3307783
Eh? Whats going on? I dont see any blog post..
3308058 Post is rated mature... Unholy made a message for his brother...
It's sad to see it, really, and apparantly it happened on tuesday.
3308437
Eesch..
I'm not sure what happened, but I can only assume the worst.
I was brought to this page through another user as a recommendation. I still intend on reading it, despite that it will never be finished, as a way to remember the author.
R.I.P. Unholy.
I'm Pretty sure an Inquisitor of the Ordo heriticus would leave a smaller body count than twilight at this point.
what an epic. One of the most time consuming fanfics I have ever read (barring Fallout Equestra and Project Horizon).
But uhm something seemed to have happened to the Author and it was supposed to be on a blog post of his but I constantly get a 404 whenever I try to see it. Can anyone tell me or possibly link me to the post?
3531727 I know what happend and lets just say that the author is not around anymore
3541611 Can you tell me how he died?
3805986 Suicide
3806206 Wow. The blade of death never stops spinning. I hope he finds peace in his' next body.