//------------------------------// // Char: A Desperate Alliance // Story: Starcraft: Warriors of Purity // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// The Gantrithor arrived in high orbit around the planet Char. It didn’t take long for the Protoss to discover a number of Terran ships that were displaying Zerg biosignatures. Their sensors also picked up a dwindling number of Terran signatures, revealing that the fleet was currently under attack from the Zerg. Lyra wanted to help the besieged humans before they were wiped out, but Tassadar shook his head. “We simply do not have the numbers to effectively assist them anymore. We can save one, maybe two ships at best. However, we also put ourselves at risk of coming under attack from the other ships should the Zerg or some foolish Terrans decide to engage us. With only one ship, our best course of action is to wipe them out before the Zerg fully take over the ships.” Lyra sighed in resignation. She knew Tassadar was right about them not being in any position to save anyone right now. It didn’t make the act of mercy killing the overwhelmed Terrans any less painful. She had to watch as Tassadar ordered the main weapons of the carrier to open fire on the infested Battlecruisers. In the chaos of their own conflict, the ships barely had any time at all to retaliate before they were all obliterated. “Now then, let us continue this mission” said Tassadar. “We need to investigate the psionic signature which has recently become more mobile. We shall bring our forces to the planet’s surface and investigate.” He turns to Lyra. “I am impressed with how fast your skills have grown in such a short time. I do not know if I can convince the Conclave to spare you, but you deserve a fighting chance should the worst occur. I shall impart upon you some of the techniques of the Templar while we battle the Zerg on Char.” Lyra perked at her mentor’s offer to teach her more techniques that she could impress Bon Bon with when they find each other again. With the Terran fleet taken care of, Tassadar orders every warrior he can spare to board Shuttles to the surface. Sweetie and Raynor continue to move their operations when faced with overwhelming numbers of Zerg. Kerrigan had been psychically tormenting the duo by speaking into their minds. The two of them have been using that to their advantage to relocate their operations to remain one step ahead of the infested human. To their surprise, they discovered a Protoss camp during one of their relocations. Raynor was still wary of the Protoss since they were going around incinerating planets. Sure, they were planets that had Zerg on them, but he had to wonder how many Terran lives were ended by their actions. Raynor was considering moving his forces to another location, but Sweetie made the decision for him. “Look, Raynor, I know the Protoss have been rude and imposing since coming into the sector and blasting Terran-owned planets, but I’d rather take my chances with them than constantly running from your ex-girlfriend. Besides, Lyra is probably with them so I doubt they will be so quick to attack us.” With that, Sweetie moved toward the Protoss camp. Raynor sighed in resignation and followed after his companion. When Sweetie and Raynor neared the camp, they found themselves face to face against a few Zealots. Raynor raised his rifle in self-defense as he waited for the inevitable attack. Sweetie calmly approached the warriors and spoke: “Is Lyra Heartstrings among you? I am a close friend of hers.” The Zealots looked at each other for a moment, then looked at Sweetie again. “Are you the one Lyra calls ‘Bon Bon’?” one of them said. “Yes, that’s me,” Sweetie responded. “My real name is Sweetie Drops. Lyra is just used to calling me by my other name so it stuck with her. The guards looked at each other again, then one of them went into the camp. While they were waiting, Raynor decided to take this time to ask Sweetie about her name. “Bon Bon?” he asked. “Back during my agency days, I had to go by an alias for my missions. Bon Bon was my most recent, just before Blueblood ordered the strike force to destroy the agency and kill the agents. I ended up using the name to hide in plain sight while working as a candy maker in Ponyville. It took Lyra about a year to realize that Bon Bon wasn’t my real name. By then, she preferred to call me that so I let her.” Raynor had heard the summarized version of her past while they were becoming friends back on Mar Sara. Raynor had also told her about a few things about his past like being part of a farming family and spending a few years as an outlaw with his old buddies such as Tychus Findley. The guard returned a few minutes later with a blur of aquamarine charging ahead of him and knocking Sweetie over. Raynor did not envy Sweetie in that moment as that tackle looked painful. Raynor looked back towards to camp and saw another Protoss heading for them. This one appeared to be the leader. He approached the group and spoke “Greetings human, and...pony. I welcome you to my base.” “At least he got it right,” Sweetie thought, thinking about how Mengsk called her a horse as she was getting back up on her hooves after Lyra’s affectionate tackle. Tassadar picked up on the thought and made a mental note to avoid using it, even if he didn’t know what a horse was. Tassadar allowed Raynor and Sweetie inside the base while leaving the rest of the Raiders outside until he could determine if they were trustworthy. He looked at Sweetie and asked: “I take it that you are Bon Bon.” “Yes, but please call me Sweetie. Lyra is the only one I let call me Bon Bon.” “I take it that is your true name.” Sweetie nodded. “Very well, I am Tassadar. I am the leader of this expedition and mentor to Lyra Heartstrings. Tell me, what brings you to this world.” “Something tells me it’s the same reason you’re here,” Sweetie responded. “The psionic call drew you to this world as well?” Tassadar asked. Sweetie nodded. “Have you had any luck locating its source?” “Yes we have, and I can tell you that it’s not friendly. Sarah Kerrigan, a human psychic, was sent on a mission to prevent your forces from engaging the Zerg on Tarsonis. She paid the price for accepting the mission when the Zerg abducted her and turned her into a powerful monster who is emitting the psionic signature that you may be sensing right now.” Tassadar closed his eyes, rubbed his chin and hummed for a moment. “This is disturbing news. With the power she is emitting, she is definitely a threat. Have you discovered any weaknesses?” “Only that she seems cocky and is most likely on a power trip to test her new abilities. She seems to be under the illusion that tormenting myself and Raynor…” She pointed at the man. “...mentally, that she is wearing at our morale, when we are using it to our advantage to avoid her.” “It sounds like she is quite predictable and prone to deception.” Tassadar said. Sweetie looked over her shoulder to see more Protoss dressed differently than the others. She pointed behind the Executor and said: “Are those guys with you?” Tassadar looked behind him and his body tensed for a moment before he deployed his psi blades and began attacking one of them who wore a cloth mask over his face. His eyes were glowing green and was wearing armor with glowing green gems embedded and a maroon cloth covering his body. The defending Protoss did not deploy his blade. Instead he focused on dodging Tassadar’s attacks. Sweetie saw this as strange and in her desire to get some answers, she approached one of the unusual Protoss. “Can you tell me what is going on here?” she asked. The Protoss looked at her as if she had grown a second head. “You don’t know?” he asked. “We are the Nerazim, the Dark Templar. We severed ourselves from the Khala long ago and were branded as heretics for our actions. The followers of the Khala bear a deep hatred for our kind while some of us may still be bitter for our banishment from Aiur. Our beliefs oppose theirs and thus, we are at war with one another. Sweetie did not understand much of what the Protoss just said. Hoping to get a better understanding, she looked at Lyra. “There were a lot of terms in that that I didn’t understand. Do you know?” she asked. Lyra hummed then said. “I think that if we put what he said into something from Equestria, the followers of the Khala...” She pointed to Tassadar. “...are like the followers of Princess Celestia. While the Nerazim…” She pointed to the strangely dressed Protoss. “...are like the followers of Princess Luna. They seem to be at war with one another because of differences of beliefs. The Khala appears to be some sort of mysterious power that allows the followers of the Khala to connect with one another while the Nerazim decided that they wanted to keep their thoughts to themselves. Which I guess made the Khalai paranoid of the Nerazim because they didn’t know what the Nerazim were thinking and that paranoia turned to conflict.” “So basically, these two are wasting their energy on each other when we should be concerned with dealing with the real threat,” Sweetie said. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” said Lyra. Sweetie sighed and unslung her rifle. She pointed the weapon in the area between the two combatants. When Tassadar and the newcomer started charging each other again, Sweetie fired a shot at the ground between them, stopping them in their tracks and drawing the attention of the two. Tassadar did not look happy while the newcomer looked relieved. Sweetie put her rifle behind her back once more then took a deep breath before speaking. “This is not the time to be settling some differences of ideals you two! We have a bigger threat hunting for us and we need a plan to defeat them and not each other. Are we clear?” Tassadar and the other Protoss nodded and Sweetie continued: “Good. Now then…” she pointed at the Protoss who was fighting Tassadar. “You look like the leader of the group. What’s your name?” The Protoss introduced himself as Zeratul, Dark Prelate of the Nerazim. He had also come investigating the mysterious psionic signature that lured everyone else to Char. Sweetie, wanting to keep things simple because of her growing irritation, asked Zeratul if his people were evil, to which he replied “No.” Sweetie nodded and demanded that Tassadar and Zeratul try to get along under threat of testing the durability of their energy shields until she actually causes a wound. Raynor approached Sweetie cautiously since she seemed quite irritated. “Are you sure we can trust these guys?” he asked. Looking at Raynor, Sweetie responded “Honestly, I don’t know. Lyra seems to trust Tassadar at least and I’m not about to doubt Lyra.” Sweetie calls for a meeting with herself, Lyra, Raynor, Tassadar and Zeratul. Sweetie begins with a question for Zeratul: “Do you know of any effective ways of dealing with the Zerg?” “The best way to deal with the Zerg is to kill the Cerebrates that the Overmind uses to command the Swarm. The Cerebrates themselves are helpless but will detect me or my brethren if we get too close. There is one Cerebrate nearby that we can kill, but we must remain cautious of Kerrigan. If she catches on to our plan then my brethren will be put at great risk,” Zeratul responded. “Maybe one of us can distract her while the rest of us engage the Cerebrate.” Lyra offered. “It must be a Dark Templar that strikes down the cerebrate. The creatures have the ability to regenerate from death unless they are slain by those who radiate similar energies to their own. Only a Dark Templar can wield such power.” Zeratul said. Sweetie hummed and said: “Then it must be you, Tassadar. You must distract Kerrigan while Zeratul engages the Cerebrate. You don’t need to fight her, just keep her away from the Cerebrate long enough for him to get the job done." “What about me?” Raynor asked. “You and I have been running from Kerrigan for a while now and we need some time to rest.” Sweetie turned to Lyra. “Lyra, I want you to stay here. I’m trusting Tassadar and Zeratul to get their tasks done and I don’t want to put any unnecessary risks on us right now. Besides, we have some catching up to do. We also need to relocate while the Zerg deal with the fallout.” Lyra smiled. She had been eager to tell Sweetie all about her adventures and the training she underwent with Tassadar. The meeting adjourned and the two Protoss leaders executed the plan while the ponies discussed their adventures so far. Raynor sat around eating some rations while listening to the girls’ discussion.