Chapter VII: The Beginning of the End

"So do ye think ye can take it?" asked the young woman.

Jasen nodded slightly. The woman standing next to him was Sue, a woman he had seen being beaten and he had rescued her. Ever since then, she has trusted every word he's said.

"Why don't ye ever talk?" she asked.

"I don't like to." replied Jasen.

They were aboard their ship, named Black Shadow. This ship was specially designed by K.S.M.I. (Korhal Ship Making Incorporated), an independent ship making company. It was designed for speed and quick strikes, not for long battles. It was pretty small, bigger than a wraith but smaller than a Battlecruiser. It had a sleek shape, slightly like a big scout. Four engines on the back like a Battlecruiser and 3 more inner ones that would pop out when needed. Since it needed to attack fast and "disappear", Jasen made K.S.M.I. specially design a cloaking field for the ship. Now he would need his ship more then ever. Jasen smiled for a second, his ship had been known as Jasen's ship, until Sue came along and changed it to the Black Shadow.

"Why don't ye want me to come along? Ye don't even care about me." asked Sue.

Jasen looked at Sue. She was slightly attractive... "You may be valuable merchandise. Remember? Those guys were after you for something." replied Jasen.

Sue just shook her head slightly and left to her quarters. He watched her go. He had paid a lot to get those quarters. The ship only had a cockpit to stay in at first, until he had found her. He slightly smiled under his helmet then looked back at the controls. He would have to drop her off at Korhal or Tarsonis.

* * *

Edwarg opened his eyes to see that he was in some kind of building. He looked around, it didn't seem like Auir. It was dark out, and slightly damp. He saw a "form" moving in front of him. The "form" began to gain color and became a Dark Templar.

"Are you alright?" asked the Dark Templar
.
Edwarg shook his head then looked at the Dark Templar.

"Yes." he replied.

"Welcome. We found you out in the midst of one of our fields." continued the Dark Templar.

"Where am I?" asked Edwarg.

"Why, you are in Damogo, on the planet of Shakuras." replied the Dark Templar.
"Shakuras?" Edwarg was slightly startled by the Dark Templar's answer.

"So they don't want me to return to Auir..." Edwarg muttered.

"Narasqueel? (Excuse me?)"

Edwarg looked up.

"Oh nothing."

Edwarg stood up and stretched. He talked for a while with the Dark Templar, who he learned was Ulz'raja. They walked out of the building. 2 Dark Templar bumped into the couple.
"Adun Tor Edos, Ulz'raja." one of them said.

"Khas Nalee Dact, Kaist, and you too Zuu'man." Ulz'raja replied.
Edwarg looked at them. He didn't understand what they had just said but he decided to introduce himself.

"En Taro Adun. I am Edwarg of the Sargas Tribe in Auir." Edwarg said.

The Dark Templar looked at Edwarg. Kaist and Zuu'man hadn't noticed him.

"Tarus ui Dun Khas, Praetor Edwarg. Welcome. We are... just Dark Templar. We do not separate into tribes." Kaist replied.

Edwarg looked at him. It seemed Kaist didn't like him.

"I myself am learning the tricks of the Dark Templar."

"Tricks? Tricks? You call our most amazing feats... tricks? Just like you Protoss of Auir to say such things." Kaist said angrily.

"Calm down Kaist. He did not mean it that way." Zuu'man added.

Kaist turned around and left. His cape flowing madly, just like his fiery emotions.

"You must understand. He... is mad at the Conclave, what's left of it, because... when Judicator Aldaris split the Protoss here, his family fought in battle against the Templar. They all died... he is still incredibly mad." Zuu'man explained.

Edwarg looked at Zuu'man. He felt sorry for Kaist, he started to remind him of Judicator Ardarriss. They stood their for a moment, not knowing what to do or say next. Ulz'raja finally broke the silence.

"What brings you here?" he asked.

Edwarg and Zuu'man looked at each other. They didn't know who he was asking the question to.
"I am here to see the new Matriarch." Zuu'man replied.

"I... must of recalled to the wrong place." Edwarg also replied.

Zuu'man and Ulz'raja stared at Edwarg but decided not to ask.

"Ah, Felicix (not too original huh?), the new Matriarch would love to see you Edwarg." Ulz'raja added.

The three Protoss began their walk to the huge Protoss temple...

* * *

Back in Auir... (Please stop this! AHHHHH!)

Ardarriss floated back and forth. He was incredibly worried at the moment. All his plans were about to start, but if one Terran, one Terran, were to mess up, then his entire plan would be destroyed. He looked at his watch. 5 hours...

"My lord, what worries you?" asked Raszagal.

"Nothing." replied Ardarriss.

"Open a transmission, to the Queen of Blades." Ardarriss added.
Raszagal quickly obeyed. The blank screen soon filled with the face of the Queen of Blades.

"Who the hell would send a transmission right now?" she asked immedietly.

"Ah, my Queen. Five hours left until the assault begins." Ardarriss replied coolly.

"That's neat. Why are you even helping me? I thought you Protoss hated the Zerg." she asked.

"Yes we do but I myself want revenge. With you helping me, then my plans will work perfectly." he replied.

"Um... ok... Whatever. Remember I get my share of the bargain." she said, then turned off the viewscreen.

The Queen of Blades turned her head and looked at Duran.

"Kill all of them when everything is over." she instructed him.

"Yes." nodded Duran.

Duran turned and left. He got in his own transport and left towards Auir. He had to get there and watch the birth of the one...

Sinister looked at the Protoss warriors. Lined up and tied up. They were inside a space station that they had attacked above Auir.

"Who are you?" asked one of the warriors.

Sinister noted that he was Mojo, leader of the scouts.

"Ah. Allow me to introduce myself. I am a terran and zerg hybrid, and I wished to be called Sinister." He informed them.

Mojo looked at Artanis. Artanis looked back.

"Could he be the hybrid?" Artanis asked silently in Mojo's head.

"Maybe." Mojo replied.

Sinister stared at them then grinned, his oily skin moving back to reveal sharp ivory teeth.

"You do not have to ask silently. I can hear you. Even if you speak directly to Mojo. I can read your minds." Sinister said while still grinning.

Artanis and Mojo sighed.

"Who is this Hybrid?" asked Sinister.

Mojo and the other kept quiet. Sinister's grin disappeared. One of his sharp tentacles popped out of his back.

"Tell me now." he demanded. Once again Mojo and the others stayed quiet.

Sinister sighed and stabbed one of the warriors with the tentacle. Blue blood began dripping from where his heart would be. The warrior groaned and his once proud, brave eyes became dark and hollow.

"No!" screamed Mojo.

"Tell me who this Hybrid is." he repeated his demand.

"We don't know yet!" shouted Mojo.

The tentacle moved out and and stuck through another warrior. Once again another warrior fell.
"Please, have mercy! We really don't know!" screamed Mojo. Tears began filling his eyes. The pain of the warriors dying jabbed at his own heart. Their telepathic link breaking.

"Mercy?" Sinister laughed. "Mercy, what is mercy? Being forgiving to the person? Why should I?" he asked. His tentacle slipped out, blue blood dripping off the tip. Before another Protoss warrior was killed, the Queen of Blades walked in.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked angrily.

"Interrogating them, my Queen." he replied.

"I never told you to kill them!" screamed the Queen. "Now come on. Get your enhanced Zerg strains, we're going to be attacking in 5 hours." she informed him.

Sinister and the Queen of Blades left the area. Mojo looked to his left.
"My brethren, are you all ok?" he asked.

All of them replied with a yes, except the two dead ones.

Mojo looked at Artanis. He was being exceptionally quiet. He saw Artanis' bonds break and fall to the floor.

"What?" asked an astonished Mojo.

Artanis broke free of his remaining bonds and helped the others out.

"How did you break free?" asked Mojo.

"The Queen's advisor, Duran, gave me a small cutting device and I used it. It disintegrated after I was done cutting the bonds on my hands." replied Artanis.

"Now what?" asked one of the warriors.

"That is a good question." replied Mojo.

They were stripped of their armor and weapons. Only canisters with various materials in them were in the room.

"Raynor taught me things about various chemicals and how they react. This man looks like a man of science and I suspect these containers contain chemicals that can react." Artanis informed.

After a few hours of searching, they figured out what many of the containers contained.
"Get me... Aluminum and that, Glycerine." instructed Artanis.
He put the aluminum ashes near a wall and spread it all over the corner. He got more and put it all on the corner wall. He then got a bottle of glycerine and poured in on the aluminum and ran back. The others ran back as well. The glycerine and aluminum quickly reacted. Melting the steel walls and creating a small hole which began to grow bigger.

"Amazing." one of the warriors said.

"Stay away from the corner for now. Do not touch it at all costs, it can burn you badly." Artanis told them.

The hole grew big enough to crawl through. Artanis concentrated and a psionic shield surrounded him. He usually let his armor do it but at this point he didn't have a choice. He crouched down and looked out. It lead to another room filled with cargo boxes. Artanis crawled through the tiny hole. He could feel the heat from the melting steel falling on his shields.
After Artanis crawled through, the rest went after him...

* * *

Zeratul looked around him. The ship was functioning, moving at most, and now he was heading for a Terran/Protoss space station, known as Peace of Life, a small station above Auir that housed Terran and Protoss alike. He stared at the station and squinted slightly. He saw an object move off of the station and head towards the other direction. He moved his face closer to the viewscreen to see more objects leaving. Then it hit him, Overlords! He looked at the station and pulled a lever, trying to make the ship move faster but to no avail, the ship wasn't going to go any faster.

After a long period of time, he looked up to see that he would be able to dock soon. He stopped the ship before it could land, he hovered above the area to see creep filling the entire area, he could see lights a few feet away, he decided to go over there. He concentrated and turned invisible. He made sure his shields were on and jumped off. It wasn't much of a jump either.
He walked through the creep and ignited his warp blades...

* * *

A few feet away..
.
Artanis swiped at a Zergling with his psionic blade. He had managed to find one for himself. The Zergling got cut and screamed in pain then fell into the creep underneath him. Artanis looked around him, blue and red blood surrounded him.

He jumped and kicked at another oncoming Zergling. It flew back and hit a wall, it got right back up and ran at him. Artanis crouched then waited until the Zergling jumped. He jumped and raised his fist, blade ignited, and uppercutted the Zergling and cut it's throat clean off. Artanis scanned the area and saw Mojo a few meters away.

Mojo also spotted Artanis, but he was too busy fighting. He was unlucky at the moment, he hadn't found a weapon yet. He punched a Zergling with all his might then flipped back before it could attack him. He had to kill this Zergling somehow. He moved back into a corner. The Zergling jumped at him and Mojo jumped over it. When the Zergling was in the corner, Mojo concentrated as hard as he could and turned his psi shields on. The shields squashed the small Zergling stuck in the corner.

"Where did they all come from!" shouted one of the Protoss pilots.

They all began to move backwards and soon found themselves back to back.

"Praetor Artanis, my old friend, it seems we have lost." Mojo stated sadly.

The hundreds of Zergling started to surround them. A sound rang out and a Zergling was chopped in half. Others soon followed. The Zergling began running about wildly, not knowing who was killing them. Soon they were gone, away or burrowed. Artanis and the others looked around, no one was there. Then Artanis heard a familiar voice.

"Artanis, hurry follow me." with that, a form began to form in front of him. It was Zeratul! He saw him run off and soon followed with the rest of the men. But the Zerg would not let them get away that easily. The ones that were burrowed unburrowed and ran towards them. Mojo looked around and knew there was no hope, or so he thought. Sounds rang out and soon many of the oncoming Zergling fell. Mojo looked up to see Terran Marines high above a platform, with Gauss Rifles ready to fire.

"Get outta here! We'll take it from here!" shouted one of the marines. He aimed and shot at another Zergling. Behind them was a Protoss High Templar, dressed differently then regular templars. He was wearing a black suit, like that of a preacher and a white collar, with a flowing cape-like robe.

"We will take it from here my brethren. We of the Terran/Protoss alliance can take it from here." the Templar said. Zeratul and the other Protoss ran towards the cargo ship that Zeratul had ridden in.

"Look!" shouted one of the pilots. He was pointing at a scout not too far off in the distance. Mojo knew immediately that it was his ship, and ran towards it. Artanis saw his ship and ran towards his. The others got in their respective ships and Zeratul and a few others that couldn't find their ships got aboard the cargo ship. The ships took off and burned any Zergling that had gotten near them. One of the scout pilots was not lucky enough to even get off of the ground. A Zergling had been waiting for him in his cockpit and he was soon ripped to shreds.

Artanis sighed. "Many of our brethren were lost here." he said aloud
.
"We of the Auriga Fleet can suffice!" shouted the pilots, including Mojo. Artanis looked at the other scouts and shook his head.

"Where to now?" asked Mojo.
"Let us go to Shakuras, rather than Auir. And please keep my return a secret for the moment." replied Zeratul.

"Why?" asked Mojo.

"I think someone on Auir wants me destroyed." replied Zeratul gravely.

"Hm.. who would do such a thing? Maybe those guys that we saw at the station back there." wondered Mojo.

"No. Those people on that station all believed in one God. They were different from us. Terran and Protoss alike grouped together like that. I hope that they survived." stated Zeratul.

Artanis looked at the Cargo ship, who would want him destroyed? he asked himself. All the ships changed course and headed for Shakuras...

* * *

Back in Shakuras... (Don't worry soon there will be no more back and forth!)
Edwarg sat in front of the Matriarch, Felicix, with Ulz'raja and Zuu'man to his side. They had been talking for nearly 4 hours. They had been speaking of many things when the Patriarch, Jokwa (the O is long), came in. The Dark Templar rised to their feet and Edwarg followed.
"Sit, sit, please sit down, no need to get up." ordered Jokwa. The Protoss sat in their seats. Jokwa walked to his "throne" and sat down. Before he could speak, one of the servants ran towards him and rammed a small knife into Jokwa's chest. The Patriarch gasped and grabbed his chest.

While stabbing the Patriarch, the servant shouted "All Dark Templar must die! Only the enlightened Templar will survive!" Ulz'raja acted first, running up to the servant and quickly striking him down.

Edwarg sat there, shocked at what just happened. Zuu'man had already gone to the Patriarch and was trying to keep his wound from getting worse. Felicix was beside her husband, tears pouring out of her light eyes.

The servant took out another knife and stabbed Ulz'raja's arm. Ulz'raja fell back in pain, holding his arm. The servant got up and ran towards the exit. Before he could Edwarg grabbed the back of his throat and pulled him up, then ignited his psionic blade and cut the servant's arm clean off. When it was all over, blue blood was everywhere, on the walls and all over the floor. The Protoss doctors had stopped Ulz'raja's bleeding but the Patriarch was a different story. The knife had hit the Patriarch's heart.

The Dark Templar heard the news fast and they all headed for the Protoss Temple. Leaving only the Photon cannons for defense...

Jasen stood there, a few feet away from the back entrance to the city of Damogo, in Shakuras. This was where the Matriarch and Patriarch resided. He looked around to see there were no Dark Templar around. He turned on the com unit in his helmet.

"Sue, scan the area for any lifeforms." ordered Jasen.

"Aren't ye glad ye brought me along now?" she asked while scanning.

"Well? I know it doesn't take that long to scan the area." asked an impatient Jasen.

"Alright, looks like the place is deserted except, hm... the temple in the center is crowded with Dark Templar." replied Sue.

Jasen looked at his watch, 3 minutes he thought.

"Sue you know what to do." stated Jasen.

"I know I know. Press the little red button to get the nukes ready right?" she asked.

Jasen didn't reply. He turned off his com and ran towards the cannons. He stopped and aimed his rifle at the center of a group of cannons. He stood there, the cold breeze moving across him. A laser shot out and a red dot appeared at where he aimed. His helmet's auto detection unit chimed "Nuclear Launch Detected."

3 minutes he thought...

The Dark Templar in the Protoss Temple glared at Edwarg, after all, he wasn't like them. One of the com officers came running through the halls shouting.

"Back to your battle stations! A nuclear launch was detected somewhere!" he shouted. The Dark Templar moved in unision. They started running towards their battle stations. Of course the ones that ended up in the back were unlucky...

2 minutes...

One of the Dark Templar ran to the Photon cannons in the back entrance and saw a red dot on the ground. He called the others and they stood in wonderment.
1 minute...

The Dark Templar saw a huge shadow covering them and quickly turned invisible. They looked up and saw it, a huge Nuclear warhead, heading down towards them. They started to run but it was too late. The missile landed on it's target, blowing up the cannons as well as the Dark Templar guarding them.

Jasen ran as fast as he could, his armor would protect him from the temporary radiation but if the Dark Templar caught him, he would be dead. He turned on his com and he immediately heard Sue.
"Ye idiot! Don't go that way, I see a large amount of units coming ye're way." she shouted.
Jasen quickly moved the other way, and jumped in a tree. This better work he said to himself and pressed a button. His armor began to cloak and soon his whole body was cloaked. He heard rustling and saw the branches in front of him move and break as he saw invisible forms jumping right by him.

Jasen sighed and leaned against the tree, and waited...

* * *

All the way at the Main gate...

The Zerg that had burrowed waited, the Dark Templar should go back to the back entrance. The Hydralisk unburrowed together and quickly broke through the photon cannons.
The Dark Templar were confused now, not knowing which way to go. Jasen jumped off the tree and ran through the back entrance and aimed the laser at a group of pylons and gateways. Dark Templars warped from New Antioch to Damogo through the gateways only to be blown to peices by a Nuclear missile.

Kaist ran into the Protoss Temple and brought Zuu'man with him to fight outside. Edwarg wanted to go as well but the Matriarch stopped him from doing so.

Kaist ran through the other Protoss and ignited his warp blades. Zuu'man followed and did the same. A hydralisk in front of Kaist was soon chopped in half. The Dark Templar did their best but soon the tides changed as Overlords began sweeping over the horizon. Being invisible would no longer help. Another Nuclear launched was detected but they couldn't do anything at the moment.

Kaist was hit multiple times by Needle spines and soon fell behind. He was bleeding badly, almost to the point of dying. Zuu'man ran up to Kaist.

"You cannot survive like this! We must merge." he stated. Kaist looked at his old friend.

"Let me die here. Don't waste your life by merging with me." he replied, blood starting to drip from his nose and mouth.

"Let us merge." ordered Zuu'man. They grabbed each others arm and started chanting. Their skin began to break off and their red energy began to show itself. The energy molded and formed into a ball of energy. Their armor began to meld itself to the new form. Making sharp angled shoulder pads. Soon the ball of energy began to take a form, a huge red form with black armor. The creature known as Kaist/Zuu'man the Dark Archon, opened it's eyes and the yellow eyes pierced through the air.

"We are as one." It said. Kaist/Zuu'man felt their energies surging through them. An Overlord filled with drones and Hyrdalisks flew by. Kaist/Zuu'man focused their energy and mind controlled the Overlord and it's contents. The Drones unloaded and began to build. The hydralisk got out and started fighting with the Protoss warriors against the Zerg.

Jasen looked at the big red ball of energy. He turned and started to run but soon found himself stuck. Orange lines of energy surrounded him.

"What brings you here?" asked Kaist/Zuu'man.

"Uh... well you see, uh... the thing is, I uh... was sent here to get the guy that's nuking you." replied Jasen. Kaist/Zuu'man got ready to mind control Jasen but soon found themselves under fire by something. They looked up to see nothing. Jasen saw that he could move again and quickly ran off.

"Thanks Sue." he said into his com. Kaist/Zuu'man watched Jasen run off. They ordered the Overlord to come near but the ship was already gone. A huge amount of Zergling came running by and soon found themselves stuck because of a maelstorm. A reaver came by and shot a scarab out that hit one of the Zergling and killed all the other surrounding ones.

The Zerg began to move back for no apparent reason. Once they moved back, the Dark Templar began to shout with joy. The probes began warping in more cannons and rewarping new gateways.

The battle was over for the moment. The hatcheries were done and the mind-controlled Zerg began making a huge defensive net over the city...

The Queen of Blades was smiled.

"So did it work?" she asked.

"Yes my Queen. You see while the attack happened I was able to send in a few spies and I also got the chance to kill their dear Patriarch." Ardarriss replied happily.

The Queen of Blades laughed out loud and looked out the viewpoint. The Omega was on it's way. The destruction of all life except the Zerg.

* * *

In a Protoss bar, somewhere...

"Hey get out of my way!" shouted a Zealot, while shoving a Dark Templar out of the way.
The Dark Templar turned around and shoved the Zealot.

"Hey you want to fight or something? Come on! What's the matter? Sorry that your stupid Patriarch died?" shouted the Zealot. The Dark Templar grew angry and punched at the Zealot. The Zealot ducked and uppercutted the Dark Templar. The Dark Templar flew back and hit a table and broke it. The other people in the bar started to fight. Templar against Dark Templar...

* * *

And beneath the fields of Auir, Duran stood steady, staring at the Hybrid. It has begun...