Aboard the Hyperion, Lyra, Sweetie, Raynor, Aldaris and Fenix breathed a sigh of relief as they managed to escape from Korhal before Kerrigan became aware of Sweetie’s scheme to trick her into killing a fake Fenix and tipping off the Dominion to buy them some time for them to get away as far as possible.
Sweetie figured that Kerrigan was likely furious by this point and with the way things were, she would need to lay low until Kerrigan calmed down. If she wanted that to happen this decade, she would need to do something to appease her. Kerrigan wanted the whole swarm at her beck and call and there was only one way to do so.
Fenix approached Sweetie, taking care not to damage anything with his large robotic form. “My thanks for saving me from the treachery of the Queen of Blades,” he said.
Sweetie smiled. “Think nothing of it,” she said.
“You know that Kerrigan will be targeting you from now on, I pray that you are prepared for that.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have a plan to improve her mood a little, the bad news is that you’re not gonna like it.”
Fenix took on a wary tone, “What do you have in mind?”
“First we head back to Shakuras. We will need Zeratul and the Dark Templar to accomplish this task.”
With that, the Hyperion set course for Shakuras.
Upon arrival, everyone was greeted by Vorazun and Raszagal. “Adun toridas, noble warriors,” Raszagal said. “What brings you here to Shakuras?”
“We need to speak with Zeratul. His assistance will be needed for an assault on the UED stronghold on Char,” Sweetie said.
“Why would you need to do so? This war is between the UED and Kerrigan.”
“Because sooner or later, Kerrigan is going to give you a reason since she needs you to kill the fledgling Overmind. Best to kill it now than have her come knocking at your doorstep, causing lots of damage.”
Zeratul found Sweetie talking with Raszagal and Vorazun and approached the three. “Friend Sweetie, what brings you here?”
“Just the Protoss I wanted to see, I need your forces to take out the UED base on Char and to kill the Overmind. We need to do so before Kerrigan decides to show up and try to use Raszagal and Vorazun as hostages.”
“Why do you believe that Kerrigan can get past our defenses?”
“Just because I can outmaneuver Kerrigan doesn’t mean she’s any less dangerous. She can be very determined when she wants to be. We also can’t allow the UED to keep their hold on the Overmind. There’s no telling when they will master controlling the creature. And yes, I know this will allow Kerrigan full control over the Swarm, but there are far worse things that I can think of that would make this operation preferable.”
Zeratul considered Sweetie’s argument for a minute before coming to a decision, “Very well, we shall go to Char and slay the accursed Overmind.”
Taking a small fleet to Char, the Protoss prepared to locate a landing zone near the Overmind. Onboard the Gantrithor were Sweetie, Lyra, Raszagal, Vorazun and Zeratul. Fenix and Raynor decided to remain behind since they were not needed for the operation. Raynor wanted some downtime and Fenix wanted to tell his old master of his recent exploits.
“So, you ready for the operation?” Lyra asked Sweetie.
Sweetie smiled and shook her head, “Not this time, Lyra. I need to lay low for a while after what happened on Korhal. Besides, I think it’s time for you to take the lead on this. I know that you’re capable of leading others like I can, you just need to be confident in yourself. Remember what I told you before you went looking for the Khalis.”
Lyra was nervous about leading others. She was afraid of messing up and getting others needlessly killed, which Sweetie assured her was normal behavior for a leader and that she was always worried that everything would go south on her. It made Lyra feel a little better about herself.
Lyra and the forces from Shakuras landed on a site that had not yet been fully developed by the UED. Attacking the Zerg and Terran Structures in the area from the shadows, the Protoss were able to set up a base and prepare a decent defense until they were ready to take on the UED and their pet Zerg.
Thanks to the Dark Templar, there was little issue with getting the base set up since the Zerg were not sending their Overlords at first and the UED could not react in time to their attacks after the area was scanned. An Observer discovered some unused resources on the island and Lyra had some Probes harvest them.
Lyra took a force of Reavers, Dark Templar and Scouts to lay waste to the UED Zerg hive cluster that was near their base. While the Reavers tore through the structures and Lyra and the Dark Templar took out any Zerg and Terran troops that went after the Reavers, the Scouts provided air support by dealing with Mutalisks and Overlords and Observers made sure that Lurkers were not an issue. Once the skies were cleared, the Scouts kept watch for any Overlords and Dropships that wanted to reinforce their fading position in the area.
With the area secure, Lyra sent Probes to gather the resources from the area the UED Zerg hive cluster once was. Zealots and Dragoons were prepared for the next part of their assault as they continued their way toward the Overmind. Once the Reavers crept their way back to the main base, Vorazun, Zeratul and Lyra led the assault on the UED base north of their main base. The Terrans fared little better than the Zerg hive cluster did and were quickly wiped out.
With the enemies on the island eliminated, the Protoss fortified their position and warped in Corsairs to repel Overlords and Dropships. Since the UED had little option without ferrying troops to the island and realizing the potential to bolster their numbers, Lyra convinced a few Dark Templar to merge into Dark Archons. With them in play, the Dark Archons occasionally took control of enemy transports and the enemies within.
While the Shuttles were being prepared, Lyra had the brainwashed transports return to the enemy-held islands and cause some damage before the UED took them out. The transports that survived were used to assist the Shuttles in ferrying troops to the next island just east of where the first Terran base once was.
The next base that was targeted had a mix of Terran and Zerg structures on it. By the time Lyra’s forces were ready to attack, the air force had a significant number of Scouts and Corsairs. A few Carriers were brought in to support the frontal air attack. The sheer power of the Protoss fleet knocked a number of Valkyries and Devourers out of the sky while Disruption Webs prevented ground support from the UED. Dark Archons were deployed, supported by Lyra, Vorazun and Zeratul. The Dark Archons took control of a pair of Siege Tanks in the area and added their firepower to the mayhem. Vorazun cut a swathe through the Zerg and Terran forces while Lyra did the same with her Storm Charge technique where she dashed forward while unleashing psionic lightning around her.
The ships moved to block any further transports and enemy ships from getting past them from the island where the Overmind was nesting.
An Observer picked up a rich resource cluster ripe for the harvest. Since some of the other clusters were mined out, Lyra had the Probes transported to the cluster while a few scouts cleared the area of Lurker holes. With a new forward position established, Arbiters were deployed to the area to recall ground troops to their location. This time the group consisted of Lyra, Vorazun, Zeratul, as well as nearly every type of attacking ground troops they had available.
Once ready, the assault began on the final position of the UED. Disruption Webs made defending difficult while Reavers attacked from afar. Dark Archons brainwashed the captains of a pair of Battlecruisers and turned them against their own people. Dark Templars sliced through flesh and metal alike while Archons unleashed their wrath against Terrans and Zerg alike. The hum of Zealot blades was like a song of war backed by the rhythm of impacts caused by the cannons of Dragoons.
The Protoss soon found the Overmind in front of them, defenseless, unlike the previous one. The Nerazim went to work severing tendrils and slicing into the thick flesh of the fledgling Overmind which was writhing in pain for a few minutes before it slumped over and stopped moving.
Discovering their means to control the Zerg was now dead, the remnants of the UED retreated back to the fleet.
The Protoss celebrated their victory, though Lyra was greatly concerned about what would happen in the future now that Kerrigan had control of every Zerg in the Koprulu sector.
With their task done, Lyra and the Protoss returned to Shakuras to prepare themselves in case Kerrigan decided to pay them a visit.
Kerrigan was sitting on her throne in a hive on Tarsonis. She had just sent her minions to kill a large team of UED scientists who were extending the control of the Overmind to the planet. At one point, the Zerg under the UED’s control stopped attacking her swarm and started obeying her commands. It didn’t take long for her to realize that the Overmind’s control was severed and that either meant that it was incapacitated or dead. Given how much Sweetie Drops had been messing with her emotions lately, she assumed the latter.
After the events on Korhal, Kerrigan was weary from the battle. The rage-fueled scream she made had also drained her emotionally. At this point, she wasn’t in the mood to feel anything for a while.
“My Queen, somehow all of the Zerg in the sector have reverted to your direct control. Could the Overmind and its Cerebrates have somehow been destroyed?” Duran asked.
“Most likely, although this does save me the effort of using the Protoss to do my dirty work, since they did so of their own free will, it still leaves me feeling empty. Without the anguished feelings of my enemies, It feels like they willingly gave me the Swarm on a silver platter, as if I was taking their charity.”
“Shall I rally our forces for an assault on Shakuras?”
“No, I will deal with them in time. For now, I need to be alone with my thoughts. Leave me.”
“As you wish.” With that, Duran left Kerrigan’s side. Deciding that things were going according to his master’s plan with regards to the Queen of Blades, Duran decided that he no longer needed to keep a watch on her. It was time to move on to the next phase of his master’s grand scheme.