Starcraft: Warriors of Purity

by Xarmar13

Liberty: SCP Haven

Tychus celebrated his decimation of the Dominion on Valhalla by launching shells into the air. Sweetie rolled her eyes and chuckled.

Once he was done, Sweetie opened a channel with Tychus, “Alright, Tychus, time to get out of the mech so the maintenance crews can clean it and repair any damages you may have caused to it.”

<”Hey, you almost make it sound like I don’t take care of my toys.”>

Sweetie smirked, “I don’t know, you do look like the type who breaks everything he gets his hands on,” she said jokingly. Tychus rolled his eyes.

Tychus exited the Odin and returned with Sweetie and Lyra to the Hyperion.

---

At the cantina, Raynor commented about Tychus not losing his edge despite his time in a cryo prison. Tychus responded that fear and violence always brought out the best in him.

Raynor changed the subject and asked how the Odin rated in his opinion. Tychus had a very high opinion of the war machine, he nearly cried tears of joy just thinking about it.

Not much was said in the news that the Raiders didn’t already know. What was amusing was when Kate one upped Donny by stealing his interview with General Warfield. The Dominion did notice the brief loss of communication with the Valhalla facility, but paid no mind to it, thankfully.

Meanwhile, at the armory, Sweetie asked Swann if he could make something like the Odin. Swann commented that the scale was too big to be mass-producing the Odin.

“Try making one economy-sized then,” Sweetie said.

“Huh, reduce the scale and we can be more realistic with producing more. Maximum scale I can work with would be about the size of the smaller Battlecruisers. I think I can work with that though.

“Anyway, my guy came through with the Viking schematics. Had to pay extra to have the upgrades installed with the schematics. But I figured you wouldn’t mind since that’s the reason you handed me most of your credits in the first place.” Sweetie smiled and shook her head to tell him that she didn’t mind. “I got the range increased and installed Ripwave Missiles that hit flyers with blasts of sub-atomic shrapnel.”

“That sounds useful, especially since Zerg flyers have a habit of bunching up,” Sweetie said. “So, any future hardware you have your eye on?”

“It’ll take some time for me to figure the right balance of scale and firepower before I can mass-produce something like the Odin. And the Dominion have been keeping a monopoly on Battlecruiser schematics since they want to have as few rivals as possible having that kind of tech. But I think I know a guy who knows a guy who has the schematics for the new Banshees. Fingers crossed.”

Sweetie said her usual goodbyes to the chief engineer and returned to the bridge.

When she arrived she saw Hanson talking to Raynor, though Sweetie noticed that she wasn’t looking well. Hanson told Raynor that her people established a new colony on Haven but the colony had gone dark, becoming unresponsive to any of her communications. The last one she received from them was that there was a small outbreak of infected colonists and they were doing their best to contain it.

Wanting to put Hanson’s fears to rest, Raynor set course for Haven.

---

What the crew of the Hyperion saw came as a surprise to some, not so for others. A fleet of Daelaam ships were preparing for their procedural purification process. Hanson begged Raynor to stop the Protoss from purifying the colony.

Raynor opened a channel to the Daelaam fleet to find the one leading the fleet was Executor Selendis.

“En Taro Adun, James Raynor. Your bravery and service to Aiur are known to us. And greetings to you as well, Sweetie Drops and Lyra Heartstrings,” said Selendis.

“En Taro Adun, Selendis. Listen - with all due respect, your fleet needs to pull back. The people on Haven are no threat to you,” Raynor said.

“Our Observers detected Zerg hive spores infesting the colonists. They must be purified. If you wish to undertake this mission in our stead, we will permit it.”

Hanson stepped in on the conversation, violently coughing as she did so. Sweetie noticed her condition was beginning to worsen; it wouldn’t be long now before the infestation took hold of her. “Jim, some of my people are infested but you can’t let the Protoss just destroy them all! If you keep the Protoss at bay, I know I can find a cure for the infestation,” she said.

“We have already attempted to do so with one subject, the results were inconclusive as he was given to a human named Emil Narud. We never heard from the subject again. We cannot be certain that the cure took hold. Therefore, the only cure that we know works is purification by fire. It would be in your best interest to burn the human female as well. I can sense the infestation within her about to fully run its course. If you choose to resist us, we will meet in glorious combat.”

Everyone but Sweetie stared wide-eyed at Hanson, who gasped and fell to her knees. Hanson suspected that the infection might have been within her, but she hoped that that wasn’t the case.

Sweetie looked at Tychus. “Tychus, take Hanson to the lab, evacuate the other staff in there and lock the door. I don’t want her getting in or out until after the matter with Haven is resolved.”

Hanson was outraged that she was being treated like a sick person outside of a quarantine, but had no choice but to comply. Before she could speak, Sweetie continued, “I will deal with you once I get back from Haven.” With that, Hanson was carried off the bridge.

Before Sweetie and Raynor’s conversation with Selendis progressed, Lyra spoke up, “I’d like to propose a compromise for our cases. I doubt all of the colonial settlements are infected yet, we will contain the spread of the infection by preventing any attempts by the Zerg to infect the other settlements. Meanwhile, Selendis will burn off any excess infection that would be difficult for us to contain by purifying the largest sources of viral infection. There are three points that have fully transformed into hive clusters. We will leave you to use the Purifier on them.”

Sweetie was considering Lyra’s proposition. The plan would put the Protoss to work by assisting with the more problematic areas while giving the colonists time to round up whatever infested they could as test subjects while protecting the parts of the colony that weren’t infested. “That sounds like a wonderful plan, Lyra.” Said Pony beamed.

Selendis considered the proposition as well. However, she was unsure whether or not to entrust the planet to humans who might spread the infection again. “I would like to add a condition to my cooperation. I wish to leave a garrison on Haven to keep the infested separate from the others. My people are immune to the Zerg virus so there would be no risk to ourselves.”

“Your condition is accepted, Selendis,” Sweetie said.

With the accord made, the Raiders and Protoss sent troops and the Purifier down to the surface.

---

By the time the Raiders arrived, the nearest settlement had already succumbed to infestation. Sweetie noticed a large Zerg that was spewing contagion all over the settlement. The Overmind called it a Virophage.

The Raiders quickly set up their defenses while manufacturing as many Vikings and Wraiths as they could. Science Vessels were also constructed to assist the fighters and bathe the infested and Zerg in radioactive gas.

The fighters arrived at the infected settlement. The Wraiths opened fire on the air and ground enemies while the Vikings transformed into their assault mode and stormed the entire settlement in a hailstorm of bullets while taking care to avoid the Virophage’s contagion. The viral creature was relentlessly gunned down and spilled its contents all over the ground.

Sweetie and Lyra had little to do but watch the colonists since the mission called for fast response and the Vikings and Wraiths were the only ones who could respond to attempted infections.

The Protoss soon arrived and warped in a Nexus near the base. Selendis entrusted the Raiders with its care while the Purifier began slowly moving toward the first Zerg hive cluster just east of theirs.

While the Purifier was traveling, the Vikings were patrolling the settlements as the infection attempts were starting to become more frequent.

The Purifier made it to the first hive cluster and charged up its purification beam. In about a minute, the intense photon energies incinerated the Zerg and infested colony buildings.

The Zerg stepped up their attempts at spreading the infection by simultaneously attempting more than one settlement. The Vikings and Wraiths were forced to split up to cover both settlements. With their forces halved, the fighters had more difficulty dealing with the attempts. More Vikings were manufactured to compensate for the intensifying attacks.

The Purifier had crept along and arrived at the second Zerg hive cluster southeast of the first one. The Zerg were unable to get past the powerful shields that were protecting it. With the Nexus keeping its shields intact, there was little the Zerg could do but watch as the Purifier eradicated them and their hive cluster.

In response to the destruction of the second hive cluster, the Zerg sent stronger strains to protect the infection groups. They began sending large, flying Zerg with Broodlings hovering next to them. The Overmind called them Brood Lords. Round looking flyers that had numerous tentacles dangling from them accompanied the Brood Lords. They were called Corruptors. The two strains of Zerg were designed to handle most land and air threats respectively.

Thankfully, the number of Vikings that had been constructed were more than enough to deal with a few Brood Lords and Corruptors.

With only one hive cluster remaining, Sweetie and Lyra led a ground force to the entrance of the remaining source of infection. Sweetie took control of the Corruptors and pitted them against the Brood Lords and Mutalisks. Any Ultralisks that came calling were also controlled and driven to attack its fellow Zerg.

Once the Purifier finally arrived, Sweetie’s force quickly evacuated and watched from afar as the last of the infestation was obliterated.

Any infested colonists that remained were imprisoned in special holding pens for further study.

Sweetie honestly hoped that Hanson was not the only scientist helping these colonists because she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be in a helping mood once they got back. The colony would also need to get used to working with the Protoss.

Comments

[Black--Soul]

for shared Colonies. A nice step for interspecies relationships development
Great chapter overall this tragic event.

[Black--Soul]

Co-existance for the best galaxy spanning friendship's

[Black--Soul]

This feels like Multiplayer Co-Op mission

[Black--Soul]

The life of any is generally full of compromises.
This is the best kind given the situation and lacking Zerg co-operation.

[Black--Soul]

We know that Stukovs injection had healed him and freed him of Amons influence.
So I am confident that the Protoss had over time great success with infested that didn't changed fully or to long.
Partial success is still better than none at all.