Liberty: Invasion Part 3
~”It would be unwise to participate in this battle”~
The Overmind warned her that if she returned to Char to personally confront Kerrigan, she ran the risk of losing the parasite to the artifact emanations. The Xel’naga artifact had the ability to affect Zerg and Protoss by absorbing their essence or psionic power respectively. The risk that the artifact would absorb the Overmind remnants was high.
After trying to think of a way to block the artifact’s power from her, she came to the conclusion that neither she nor the Overmind had enough knowledge of the artifact to devise a way to block its power. She only had one option and it truly frustrated her to no end: she would have to sit out the final battle.
Dominion and Raider alike were not looking too well. Constantly holding the line against the Zerg had taken its toll on them.
Sweetie, Lyra and Raynor wandered around the base. They saw plenty of dead Marines around them; a grim reminder of the sacrifices that were made to stop the Zerg invasion.
Suddenly it started raining, something that Sweetie was sure was a very rare occurrence on a volcanic planet.
Raynor saw the fallen form of one of his Raiders in front of him. Kneeling down, he pulled the dogtags off the fallen soldier. Looking at them, Raynor saw the name ‘M. Koiter’ as well as the date of birth and his home planet. He took a moment of silence for his fallen comrade.
A Medivac arrived in the area. Upon landing, the cargo door opened to reveal Warfield.
Warfield’s right arm had been replaced by a mechanical one that could transform into a cannon.
Raynor approached the General. “It’s good to see you on your feet, General.”
Warfield chuckled. “Well, we’ll see how long that lasts.” Raynor chuckled as well. Warfield returned his arm to its ‘hand’ mode. “I brought you all a present.”
A pair of Dominion Marines carried a metallic box out of the Medivac and placed it on the ground. The box opened to reveal the Xel’naga artifact.
Almost immediately, Sweetie began feeling a headache just from being near the object. Lyra figured that something was up with her marefriend and that it may have to do with the parasite inside her. “What’s wrong, Bonnie?” she asked. While she already knew, she needed to be sure that no one else got suspicious.
“Ugh...take me inside the Medivac, Lyra,” Sweetie said. Lyra carried her on her shoulder. When they entered, the cargo door closed. Sweetie put up her privacy spells to make sure neither the people outside the Medivac nor the Medivac pilot were listening.
“I’m gonna guess that the Overmind is reacting to the Xel’naga artifact,” Lyra said.
“Yeah, unless there’s a way to block the effects of the artifact. I’ll need to sit this mission out or risk losing the parasite to the artifact.”
“Why do you need it in the first place? Don’t you already know what you need to know about the Zerg?”
“Well actually, I…”
~”There might be a way around this dilemma, but it is extremely dangerous. Up until now, we were both content with this current relationship. However, in this situation, extreme measures would have to be taken for you to participate in this battle. I can implant my consciousness within you, discarding the last of my former shell. However, a brain was not designed to house more than one whole consciousness. The two of us would compete for dominance of the body.
~”If you intend to follow on this offer, there will come a time when your mind and my own will battle for dominance and only one will survive. There will be no going back.”~
Sweetie took a long moment to consider the Overmind’s offer. “If I do win in such a competition, what would I gain from you?”
~”You would gain the entirety of my knowledge as well as all of my secrets; secrets that would allow you to gain absolute dominion over the entire Swarm.”~
“While the knowledge and secrets seem enticing, I have no intention of leading the entire Swarm.” Sweetie thought for a while whether the deal was a good idea.
Lyra noticed Sweetie’s internal conflict. “Umm...What are you and the Overmind talking about?”
Sweetie was broken out of her thoughts. She looked at Lyra, “It is offering to plant its consciousness into my mind which is dangerous, and if I go along with this, I can’t back out of my plans to obtain the power that I need to combat Amon and his forces when they come.”
“How dangerous is it?”
“Its consciousness and mine would compete and eventually destroy the other.”
Lyra’s pupils shrank to the size of pin pricks. She didn’t want to consider the possibility of losing her marefriend to a mental battle against an ancient mind. “There has to be another way. I don’t wanna lose you.”
Sweetie chuckled. “What do you think we have been doing these past four years? Every battle we go into is a risk to our lives. I could have lost you to the judgemental beliefs of the Conclave, or to Kerrigan at some point, or even to the to the Tal’darim when they captured you and made you compete in an arena for three years. A mental battle with the Overmind is just a different battlefield with the same rule: survive.”
Lyra thought about it for a moment and realized that she was right. For all their battles in the Koprulu sector, this was just another battle. Lyra narrowed her eyes at Sweetie. “Alright, but don’t you dare lose.”
Sweetie giggled, “I don’t intend to.”
Sweetie mentally told the Overmind to perform the procedure. At first, Sweetie didn’t feel any different, but then she started feeling like her sense of self-consciousness was going into overdrive; like a stranger that was staring at her while she was in the shower. She was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as she truly felt like the last shred of privacy she had left had vanished.
Sweetie managed to push her uncomfortable thoughts away and looked at Lyra. “This is going to take some getting used to.”
Hanson was continuing her research in the second lab into the studies of Zerg xenobiology. During this time, she became curious about what life would be like if she were a Zerg among its own kind. As an infested, she could gain direct insight into the inner workings of Zerg culture. While a cure for the Zerg virus was her primary concern, her scientific mind was also competing with that concern.
If given the opportunity, Hanson wanted to study the Zerg in a non-hostile setting.
Suddenly, she received a psychic transmission from Sweetie, “We’re beginning the final push against Kerrigan soon. This may be your only opportunity to become human again. If you choose to become human, we will drop you off at Haven so you can continue your research there. But if you choose to remain Zerg, I would like your assistance in a future project of mine. Your scientific mind and medical prowess would be invaluable.”
At that point, Hanson’s desire to be human went to war with her scientific curiosity. The result was close, but the deciding factor was the opportunity to help humanity understand the Zerg by living among them. As long as hope remained in her for a cure for the virus, she was sure another chance to be human again would come.
In the end, Hanson psychically told Sweetie that she would remain Zerg for a while longer and that if there was a cure, she would find it and be the first that she would cure. Sweetie respected Hanson’s decision and returned to the matter at hand.
When they left the Medivac, the atmosphere had improved in the camp. The soldiers, Dominion and Raiders, were prepared to put their lives on the line for the final push against Kerrigan’s primary hive cluster.
Since there was still time before the final attack, Sweetie and Lyra decided to see what was going on in the news. To their surprise, Donny Vermillion had committed himself to a mental institution. Sweetie suspected that it had to do with his mental breakdown after finding out that Arcturus, the man that he had displayed his obvious favoritism toward, was responsible for his brother’s death on Tarsonis. The disillusionment was probably too much for his psyche to take.
When Kate Lockwell said that she would be UNN’s lead anchor, Sweetie wished the woman all the luck in the sector as Kate was celebrating her promotion.
Everything was set up in front of Kerrigan’s primary hive cluster. The Dominion engineers moved the artifact to the base of the hive cluster with everything the Dominion had defending it. Everything was riding on the operation succeeding.
While the device charged, it could unleash an energy nova to kill all Zerg in a wide radius. The final nova would take a long time to charge up.
Thankfully, without the platform or the Nydus tunnels, Kerrigan would have to rely on her standing forces to fight the invaders.
Kerrigan suddenly spoke to everyone telepathically, “You’ve brought me the Xel’naga artifact - just as Sweetie promised.”
A massive Zerg force charged toward the artifact. The Dominion was unprepared for such an attack so they were forced to unleash an energy nova to psionically roast the numerous Zerg attackers.
“An impressive defense - but not nearly impressive enough. My forces are without numbers , and yours are dwindling by the minute. This can only end one way.”
0%
The first few minutes were spent preparing a solid defense. Numerous Bunkers were built and Siege Tanks were constructed to defend all choke points. Missile turrets were also constructed. Even if eighty percent of the flyers were destroyed by platform explosions, Kerrigan still had the other twenty at her command. Perdition Turrets were built to fry any Zerglings that came near.
10%
The Zerg began pushing hard against the defenders. Many Zerglings and Hydralisks moved against the Terran defenses. The destructive power of Siege Tanks blew holes into the Zergling Swarm while Psi Disrupters and Marauder grenades slowed the Zerg long enough for the Siege Tanks to deal with them.
29%
An alert went out as sensors detected a Class twelve psionic waveform heading straight for the base.
Kerrigan was coming.
“I’m tired of working through others. It’s time I took a personal hand in your demise.”
Sweetie and Lyra were ready to meet her when she arrived. While Dominion troops started firing at the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan saw Sweetie and prepared a powerful psionic blast to throw at her. Lyra intercepted the attack with a blast of her own. As the two clashed energies, Sweetie hit Kerrigan with a powerful Psionic Lash that dealt a painful blow to the infested human.
Taking too much damage, Kerrigan teleported back to her hive to recover.
“You’ll regret that.”
40%
Zerg attacks began to intensify. Roaches and Mutalisks began attacking the base. Sweetie caused some chaos within groups of Zerg by turning some against each other. Lyra fried her share of Zerg with her Psionic Storm and Storm Charge abilities.
Lyra also used a technique that she learned from Alarak. By concentrating her energies to pull the life force from Zerg around her, she created a blood-colored sphere of energy that she could use to attack enemies or heal her wounds. She used the energy to launch a wave that slashed through a large group of Zerg.
46%
Kerrigan returned with a vengeance. At the same time a large number of Overlords drifted into the base to drop Zerglings behind the defensive lines. While Sweetie and Lyra acted against Kerrigan again, the base’s defenders scrambled to deal with as many Overlords as they could with Vikings while Marines took care of whatever the flyers managed to drop.
Kerrigan unleashed a swarm of deadly insects on Sweetie. For a moment the insects were biting away at her before Lyra stole the life from the bugs and used the life to empower her bane blade for a strike that heavily wounded Kerrigan, forcing her to retreat again.
61%
By this time, Kerrigan was growing irritated with Sweetie’s and Lyra’s antics. She was ready to unleash a large number of her minions against the Ponies.
Kerrigan made a huge mistake.
Sweetie stole control of the Zerg that were around Kerrigan and they began to attack her. Sweetie hit Kerrigan with another Psionic Lash before forcing her to retreat again.
Everyone could hear the scream as they heard Kerrigan shouting, “DAMN YOU SWEETIE DROPS!”
70%
The Zerg began hitting the Dominion with everything they had. Ultralisks and occasional Brood Lords began assaulting the base. Raynor had Hive Mind Emulators built to control Zerg while providing Sweetie the perfect cover to use her Zerg control ability to use the Ultralisks and Brood Lords against attacking waves without alerting Warfield to what she was really capable of. Vikings continued to seek out Mutalisks.
79%
At this point, Kerrigan was furious and out for pony blood. In her reckless charge, she was met with the barrels of many Siege Tanks and a downpour of rockets from Banshees. Sweetie and Lyra stayed at the back of the base while Kerrigan’s endurance was not enough to get past the massive bombardment. Kerrigan snapped out of her rage and retreated before she ended up killed.
96%
Sweetie and Lyra knew that this would be Kerrigan’s last attempt to take out the device charging the artifact. The two of them knew that she would be desperate by this point.
Once Kerrigan arrived, everything was brought against her. Kerrigan countered by unleashing numerous swarms of insects and causing the vehicles to implode. Lyra stole the life of the insects while Sweetie summoned all of her mercenaries at once to add to the massive amount of firepower being concentrated at the Queen of Blades.
Kerrigan was forced to retreat once more.
“Hang in there, Kerrigan. Just a little more.” Sweetie thought.
100%
“It’s now or never, General! HIT IT!” Raynor said.
Warfield hit the button to discharge the full power of the artifact. The resulting energy nova annihilated every Zerg over a huge area and obliterated Kerrigan’s hive cluster.
Sweetie felt her head burn for a few moments as she figured that the parasite in her head burned away. The parasite’s last act to protect Sweetie was using its cells to prevent any potential brain damage.
Shaking her head for a moment, Sweetie mentally asked if the Overmind was still there.
~”I am still here. My form was destroyed but my knowledge, consciousness and essence now reside within your brain.”~
“That is really creepy, but it’s on my growing list of things to get used to with you.”
Sweetie, Raynor, Tychus and Lyra entered the ruins of Kerrigan’s hive, wary of any surviving Zerg or the potential of the artifact not working on Kerrigan.
Lying in a cloud of mist was Kerrigan’s naked, sickly and human body. The artifact had emaciated the former Queen of Blades to where she was unable to stand.
Tychus looked at Kerrigan for a moment before turning to Raynor. “Hurry and pick her up, Jimmy boy. If we’re gonna take her away, we’re gonna have to get through the Dominion first if we don’t hurry up.”
“Right.” Raynor moved in and picked up Kerrigan’s vulnerable form. Tychus took out a sheet of fabric that he had been carrying for use if the mission succeeded. He said that the fabric would protect Kerrigan from the harsh conditions of Char as he wrapped her inside it. Raynor turned to Sweetie and Lyra. “Our deal with the Dominion is done. If you see any of them gettin’ aggressive, take ‘em out.” The Ponies nodded in affirmation.
Raynor, Tychus, Sweetie and Lyra made the trek back to Raynor’s Dropship and everyone boarded it before Raynor got in the seat and lifted off. He used every ounce of speed the ship was capable of to get back to the Hyperion as fast as he could.
While the Dominion troops were celebrating their victory over the Queen of Blades, Narud was nearby. He was in between a glowing and a dark Hybrid.
Narud took a moment to take in the scene of ignorant humans celebrating a victory while unaware that they had just given him the key to his master’s revival. Once he was done watching, he turned to the Hybrid next to him. “Do it. Drain the Keystone. We will use every ounce of energy taken from the Queen of Blades to revive our master.”
The Hybrid obeyed his command and remotely drained the artifact of its power. Once the process was finished, the Hybrid were brimming with energy. With that, Narud and the Hybrid vanished from Char.
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Of course. Because why not, right?
Albeit, Ian's human form has a liquid metal arm that can transform into almost anything he wants, from a plasma cannon to a hard-light sword, but still.
9766043
Warfields arm is indeed cannon...
... you see it in the cutsean fire and fury just befor the last mission.
9766432
What is it with humans and kinetic weapons? They are always so boring.
But seriously, I was hoping at least for a more elegant design than what looks almost like a WH40K augment. Almost. Although, judging by the Heart of the Swarm campaign (which I've never actually played, only watched) that arm replacement fits his character pretty well.
Edit: I only just now realized there was a joke in there. I don't think it's funny, but then again I don't find most things funny that normal people would.
Finaly that pain in the butt is replaced.
Always liked Kate more
Ok... Why not build first a defense before deploying the artefact?
Isnt Kerrigan tunneling back to the base? Teleport is a Protoss thing. . .
At this point Lyra is a demi goddess
Why do Sweety care? The parasit is gone after the mission and i see it only as benefishal to know one that can control zerg that isnt zerg in nature...
Dawww Tychus can be a real pal
Great chapter. Nice final for Wings of Liberty.
Time to get to the heart of the matter. Were things really get complicated and Sweety cant just basicly solorun on her own
The swarm awaits
10685148
Yeah, I probably could have worded that better. It would be more appropriate to say "deep tunneled" since that's what they use to get to far away places on the map.
I'd like to imagine that Tychus can be a real friend when he isn't wearing a suit that threatens to kill him.
I would have sit out the mission. The Overlord would be a great ally. Just transplant the parasit into a fitting host and let him pay of his depth by helping against Amon!
10685177
Your Fanfiction Starcraft story is probably my most beloved Fan adaptation of any game saga
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The hardest part is gone, now only massiv slaughter and massive bitchslaps of Egoismus driven wanna be God's awaits
So, here ends the WOL and the HOS begins very soon.
Great chapter!
Rather surprising that Valerian isn't trying anything, than again Acturus didn't raise they boy and pain him in his colors.
One thing I never understand is why Amon used Protoss and Zerg bodies, instead of already finished hybrid bodies for his new Xel'Naga host body?
Unless the Protoss body later constructed is rather a Kalha controlled puppet?
WOL is over, time for HOS. The swarm shall rise, evolve, overcome opposition and... move on to the future.