//------------------------------//
// Stand: Countdown 
// Story: Starcraft: Warriors of Purity 
// by Xarmar13 
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With Kerrigan’s humiliating departure, The Ponies and Protoss returned to New Antioch to discuss more important matters. On the way, Aldaris summarized that he discovered that Kerrigan was psionically manipulating Raszagal. Zeratul was shocked into disbelief, but recent interactions with the Matriarch had shown that Aldaris’ claims made sense.

Upon arrival, Zeratul had his brethren detain the Matriarch under suspicion of being under mind control. The Nerazim were confused at first, but Vorazun quickly showed up to second Zeratul’s command. With that, the Dark Templar went to arrest Raszagal.

“While I did enjoy her new attitude, I am in agreement that her behavior was unusual for her,” Vorazun said. “Now, can someone tell me why my mother is being arrested?”

“Aldaris has found evidence of your mother being mentally manipulated by the Queen of Blades,” Zeratul said.

“Of course...I kept telling her that it was about time to pass on the mantle. I warned her that someone would eventually take advantage of her old age and control her.”

“We should be able to break the control upon the Matriarch,” Tassadar said. “However, politically she is at great risk of falling to her control again. The leadership of the Nerazim must be transferred before something terrible happens.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and made their way to the detainment cells.

Raszagal was not happy being imprisoned so suddenly. She had a feeling that Zeratul and her daughter had caught on that she was an agent for her Queen and was preparing to deal with her. She could do nothing as she heard footsteps and hoofsteps approaching her cell.

“Everyone,” Sweetie spoke up. “I’d like to try something, if you don’t mind.” Lyra and the Protoss let Sweetie approach the Matriarch’s cell. Placing a hand on the prison cell, Sweetie focused her mind and projected her influence toward Raszagal. She quickly discovered the influence that Kerrigan was imposing on the Matriarch and forced it away after significant effort, allowing Sweetie to steal control of the Matriarch’s mind away from the Queen of Blades. Once the other influence had completely vanished, Sweetie released her hold on Raszagal’s mind. “You can release her now.”

Zeratul deactivated the cell holding the Matriarch. Everyone stared at her for a minute, Lyra was holding a breath that she didn’t even know she was holding. Raszagal rose to her feet and spoke, “Thank you Sweetie Drops for freeing me from her vile control.” She looked at Vorazun. “I must apologize to you, my daughter, for my stubbornness. You were right, I am a liability to our people the way I am now if I cannot prevent someone like Kerrigan from controlling my mind. Thus, I shall leave leadership of our people to you and Zeratul. We will begin the ceremony to transfer the role of Matriarch, as per tradition, after we have saved Shakuras from the renegade Zerg.”

“We must act now while the Zerg still muster their forces,” said Artanis. “The crystals must be taken to the temple. We must also ensure that we do not endanger the crystals by keeping them in one location. Therefore, we shall set up two positions: Myself and Aldaris shall protect the Uraj, while Zeratul and Vorazun shall handle the Khalis.”

“A good plan,” Sweetie commented. “Lyra, please assist Vorazun and Zeratul. Myself and Tassadar will assist Artanis and Aldaris from the ground.” 

Everyone agreed with the plan and went their separate ways to begin their preparations.







The temple grounds were in a terrible state since the Protoss last left them. The grounds and nearly the entire area surrounding the temple were almost entirely infested with renegade Zerg. The Protoss knew that they were in for a major battle.

Raszagal warned everyone that once the crystals were inside the temple, the Zerg would send everything they have to prevent the temple from destroying them, even if they had to level the whole structure.

The two bases quickly quickly set up defenses to protect themselves from large assaults. Each location regularly came under attack from moderate sized groups of Zerglings, Hydralisks and Mutalisks.

In order to take some of the pressure off of themselves, The two bases each launched an attack against the Zerg between their bases. The Zerg in between were caught in a pincer attack and were quickly crushed.

While the Protoss position was continuing to fortify, Artanis ordered a pair of Carriers to clear out the Zerg forces near the temple. The resistance was very minor and the swarm of Interceptors easily confused the Spore Colonies. 

Meanwhile, Sweetie ordered a large number of Probes to completely mine the two bases dry before establishing a strong defensive perimeter around the temple once the Creep around the temple faded.

The ground forces, primarily Zealots and Dragoons were under constant harassment from another Brood’s Queens that exploited their organic forms to infect them with Broodlings while Lurkers tried to find openings in the defensive perimeter.

To counter these nuisances, a wing of Scouts were deployed to shoot down Zerg flyers. Observers kept a constant vigil for any burrowed Zerg. A number of Reavers were constructed to take care of large groups of Zerglings and Hydralisks.

Once a strong defensive base was constructed around the temple and the resources around the original bases were depleted, the original bases were abandoned and everyone gathered at the temple base.

Artanis landed his Scout and entered the temple with Zeratul, crystals in hand. Before Artanis disappeared into the temple, he gave command of the forces around the base to Sweetie and Lyra while informing them that they needed time to channel the temple’s energies to get the result they needed.

Sensing the coming threat, the Zerg began focusing their attacks toward the temple while unleashing everything they had on the Protoss forces. Defilers started unleashing swarms of insects over the Photon Cannons while other Zerg took advantage of the cover to attack the cannons. Lyra and Vorazun cut a swath through the Zerg ground forces while Aldaris made large groups more manageable from his Arbiter by placing some Zerg in a stasis field while the defenders take the rest, leaving the frozen ones for later.

Devourers started coming in groups to deal with any ships. Lyra and Sweetie supported the ships and Photon Cannons by unleashing Psionic Storms against the bulky flyers.

Time went on and the Zerg attacks continued to get more intense and more desperate. At one point, Lyra slashed off an Ultralisk blade and Sweetie grabbed it and stabbed the beast in the face with it. Guardians appeared in large numbers and attacked the defenses from a distance while Mutalisks and Devourers supported them. Archons, Scouts and Aldaris managed to control the enemy numbers. 

The sheer number of Zerg was beginning to become overwhelming as the defenders were being hit hard and almost constantly. Sweetie began controlling Devourers and setting them against the other flyers. She soon learned that Guardians and Devourers were also a little difficult to control. The Overmind did what it could to help improve Sweetie’s control ability. Unfortunately, the sky was almost literally clouded with Zerg flyers and rumble of Zerg feet meant that a massive group was on its way.

Miraculously, Zeratul called out for everyone to withdraw into the temple and brace themselves for the blast.

As Sweetie was making a break for the temple entrance, she began to think, “Will you be able to withstand the blast?”

~”Only if you can make it into the temple. Now hurry!”~
Many Protoss abandoned their ships and flooded into the temple to prepare for the blast. Those inside did what they could to keep the Zerg from getting into the temple.

Soon, movement came from the structure of the temple itself which was followed up a minute later by a blinding flash of light that expanded outward in such a way that the entire planet was engulfed in the blinding light.

When the energies faded, the Protoss listened and looked outside of the temple, only to find no sign of the Zerg anywhere around them; only silence beyond the walls of the temple.

The Protoss and Ponies evacuated the temple to look around. There was not a Zerg in sight anywhere. 

Sweetie and Lyra took this time to collapse in exhaustion and savor the moment of peace.