//------------------------------// // Liberty: Smash and Burn // Story: Starcraft: Warriors of Purity // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// Upon returning to the Hyperion from Redstone, Sweetie discovered that Tosh had let himself onboard. Sweetie decided to have a talk with the Spectre leader. “Glad to see you’re upholding your end of the bargain,” Tosh said. “Glad to see you didn’t squander my money,” Sweetie replied. “It’ll probably be some time before we help you gather the Terrazine.” “That is fine by me. As long as it happens. You have at least gained that much of my trust.” Horner was telling Raynor about what he found out about Tosh, which Sweetie didn’t mind at all. Raynor still kept some degree of distrust around the Spectre, though. Raynor walked in on Sweetie’s conversation and asked, “So how did you two end up meetin’? “I was on my last mission with Mira Horner to investigate some mysterious arms dealer and pirate.” Sweetie said Mira’s name loud enough for Matt to hear which he responded with a loud groan. “I found out that he was gathering Jorium and Terrazine which I found out could enhance psychic powers. When I found him, I entered into a deal with him. I wanted the powers and he wanted the support to gather more supplies to create more Spectres. I offered the services of the Raiders...sorry I did so without your permission, Jim...and since we have a common enemy in Mengsk, I also had him agree to ally his forces with the Raiders and lend us his Spectres until our ultimate objective is accomplished." “And what if he betrays us? What if he’s secretly workin’ with Mengsk?” “Guess you’ll have to figure that out for yourself,” Tosh said. Meanwhile, Lyra was at the cantina fueling her video game addiction when the news came on. The news mentioned some kind of ‘shadow war’ waged by Dominion ghosts. No real details were given since anything relevant was being censored. Raynor came into the cantina later and asked Tychus if he knew anything about Tosh. Tychus had only heard rumors of the Spectre being part of some rogue branch of the Ghost Program that produced some scary bad-asses. After that, Lyra stopped listening and focused on her game. Sweetie paid the armory a visit to find Swann looking nervous and muttering something about pirates and keeping track of the inventory. Sweetie snapped him out of his thoughts when she asked if he found any new hardware. “Yeah, I got something new for ya to try out: Marauders. The latest in big badda boom hardware,” Swann said. He gestured to a soldier in the armory. The Marauder had a similar appearance in armor design to the Firebat except the weaponry equipped to the suit was completely different; these were equipped with grenade launchers for explosive damage and were made to handle enemies with thick armor.” “Where were these guys when we were fighting those Roaches?” Sweetie asked rhetorically. “Anyway, what upgrades did you find for them?” “Well, since you’re bein’ so generous with the hardware upgrades, I had these guys equipped with Concussive Shells which slows down enemies. Pretty effective against those who like to get up close and personal, not so against anything huge. I also had the insides lined with a special Kinetic Foam to save the soldier inside a few concussions from heavy impacts.” Sweetie hummed, “I suppose these guys would be useful in a supporting role, especially if we’re going against Protoss. Putting them in Bunkers with Marines would make for a decent defense in that case." “I also bought some useful upgrades for the Missile Turrets. Some Titanium Housing to increase the integrity and Hellstorm Batteries to increase a turret’s firepower.” “Good, I have a feeling we will be fighting Protoss soon and I don’t want to be caught with weak air defenses.” “Heh, ya got that right.” Sweetie left the armory to check out more of the ship. Sweetie had just received word that the laboratory was fully operational. She took Lyra with her to check out the scene. Inside, she found the artifact fragment hovering in a containment field while being allowed to perform its usual functions. Stetmann was examining the Zerg samples in the saline tank next to him. When he noticed the new entries, Stermann started asking for samples of their DNA, such as fur and horn samples, which they refused, Sweetie in a more threatening way. When he took the hint, Stetmann changed the subject to where he was telling them about what little he learned so far about Zerg and Protoss biology/technology respectively. Surprisingly, Lyra and Sweetie realized they knew much more about the Protoss and Zerg than he did. The two of them began telling Stetmann about everything they knew about the two races which immensely helped his research. This freed up plenty of time for him to come up with improvements to the Raiders’ weapon systems and tactics. With his free time, he developed numerous inventions that he wanted to apply as soon as possible. Stetmann wrote up a list of suggestions and gave them to Sweetie to show to Swann who said he would implement them soon but only had enough time to install a few of them before the next operation. With the list delivered, Sweetie and Lyra returned to the bridge and decide their next move. Since Kerrigan was looking for the artifacts, Sweetie decided that they should be looking for the next piece. Everyone agreed on the artifact hunt and set course for planet Monlyth. The star map brought up a display of the artifact that was reportedly guarded by the Tal’darim. The image suddenly shifted to the edge of the base to reveal that Kerrigan’s Zerg were already making a move for the artifact. They needed to move fast if they wanted to get to the fragment before Kerrigan. While everyone else was heading to the shuttles headed for Monlyth’s surface, Sweetie asked Matt something, “Can you have the techs analyze Tychus’ armor? I’d like to execute my plan with all the info I can get.” “I’m not sure why you want to help that convict, but sure, I can help you out.” “Thanks.” The Raiders quickly set up the basics of a base and started getting troops ready for a run for the artifact. The Zerg were ignoring the Raiders for the most part but the Protoss had already sent Stalkers, mechanical walkers that walk on four pointed legs with particle disruptors on the main chassis. Lyra approached the stalkers and declared herself, “I am First Ascendant Lyra Heartstrings. I demand to know who leads you.” “We follow Executor Nyon. You and these Terrans are trespassing on sacred grounds and will leave at once.” “Nyon huh, I was warned about your leader. Thanks for clearing that up.” In an instant, Lyra forced her way past the Stalkers’ shields and slashed through their core modules which triggered each one to explode. Lyra avoided the explosions and rejoined Sweetie. “Way to start using that authority, Lyra,” said Sweetie. “Sure, it may not have worked on them but I’m sure we can find some use for that later.” A group of Zerglings and Hydralisks soon paid the base a visit and were dealt with as quickly as they came. Sweetie took a number of each type of infantry they had available with her to attack the Zerg, grabbing the Protoss relic they found along the way. Lyra took Marines, Marauders and Medics with her to push for the artifact. Sweetie pushed the left route toward the Zerg base and dealt with a pair of Spine Crawlers along with some Zerglings, Hydralisks and Mutalisks in the area. Some Stalkers and Photon Cannons guarded another Protoss relic. Sweetie locked the Stalkers down while the Reapers threw grenades at the cannons to quickly level them. Sweetie took the relic the Protoss were guarding. Once the nearby Protoss were dealt with, Sweetie moved her forces into the Zerg base. While Tychus thought her plan was suicidal, Sweetie surprised him by taking control of some of the Zerg in the area and ordering them to attack their own hive cluster alongside the Raiders. Sweetie took control of the Mutalisks in the hive cluster to gain air superiority in the area. Reapers were throwing cluster bombs into the area to deal with any Zerg, including the ones Sweetie controlled. Firebats and Devil Dogs were free to burn down the hive cluster. Meanwhile, Lyra pushed against the Tal’darim. Her troops shut down cannons by destroying Pylons. On the other side of a bridge were a pair of Sentries, robotic specialists that put up walls and provide some defense against bullets and grenades. When the sentries saw them coming, they put up walls to block the troops who focused on destroying exposed Pylons that were powering Photon Cannons while Lyra shadowstepped behind the Sentries and tore them apart. Lyra found two more Protoss relics during her run for the artifact. She had to destroy more Tal’darim defenses to get to them. Soon, Lyra came upon a small Tal’darim camp that was producing Zealots and Stalkers to send against her. Taking advantage of her knowledge of Protoss infrastructure, she had the soldiers focus on the Pylons and Probes before dealing with the Nexus. Without any means of restoring power, the remaining buildings were harmless. With the artifact fragment in sight, Lyra and her troops moved forward only for the pedestal to be blocked off by stone walls. Previously inanimate statues were suddenly moving. Lyra had the troops focus on one statue while she took care of the other. One statue met its end through a storm of bullets and grenades while the other was cut off at the legs while gravity took out the remainder of the statue. With the guardians destroyed, the walls opened up and allowed Lyra access to the relic. Raynor’s Dropship was coming so Lyra grabbed the artifact and boarded the Dropship for the Hyperion. It was as everyone was leaving that they heard a voice that they had not heard in four years. “I forgot how resourceful you two were, Sweetie and Lyra. I won’t make the same mistake twice,” said Kerrigan. When she heard her, Sweetie could have sworn that the inflection in her voice was unusually drained of spirit. Sweetie suspected that four years of Amon’s influence had a negative effect on her mind. Sweetie could only hope that they could find the remaining fragments soon and hope there was something left of Kerrigan to save.