StarCraft 1. A gut instinct

When One Domino Falls…

Waking up suddenly is rarely a good way to start the day. Even less so when you wake up and you're sure that you've forgotten something important. In my case, it was a weird dream that seemed all too real and there was something about it that I needed to but couldn't remember. Slowly I staggered out of my bunk and splashed my face to try and wake up, hoping it might help. As usual, it didn't seem to help. Sitting down again, my mind drifted to the previous day and the debacle of a mission with that arrogant idiot Duke. As I'd come to expect from fighting both with and against the man, he was no tactician and even less of a commander. The man wasn't worth being called a soldier, let alone a warrior. And then there was Mengsk's "plan". Thinking it over, it wasn't really a surprise that he'd kept it between him and Duke, Duke was a cold-hearted bastard who really wouldn't care in the slightest.

My thoughts were interrupted by my door sliding open. Given that I was sleeping on my own ship rather than the _Hyperion_ at the moment, there was only a couple of people who could open that door without my permission. I looked up to find the only man that had the code. Jim Raynor and I had gone back a fair way, back to when he was one of my Marshals on Mar Sara, in the days when I was still a Confederate Magistrate. Funny, at best that could only have been a few months ago, and yet it felt like years. As bad as times had been for us, both of us were at least reasonably happy until the Tarsonis campaign. Of course, Jim had more reason than most to be pleased.

His relationship with Mengsk's lieutenant, Sarah Kerrigan, while not exactly advertised by the couple, was not exactly secret either. Personally I was glad to see the man find someone like her. It was always going to take a formidable woman to bring him out of his buried grief for his dead wife and son, but Sarah undoubtedly qualified in this regard. From what little I had found out about her history, she had had a harder run than even Jim. Having been around them both while working and during downtime, I knew quite well that professionally they were individually very lethal, but together were damn near unstoppable. Outside of combat, the pair were somewhat nervous but they fit together like fist in a glove.

I was brought back out of my musing by Jim clearing his throat. "Come on Ranger, Mengsk wants us again".

Groaning, I got up and glared at him. "So what delightful twist is he not going to tell us about this time," I replied.

Jim, Sarah and I hadn't been told that Mengsk had ordered Duke to place the bloody Psi-Emitters on the orbital platform he and I had cleared out the previous day. None of us reacted particularly well to the revelation and my trust of Mengsk, already significantly lower than Jim or Sarah, had sunk another couple of notches. This has a fair part of the reason why I was sleeping back on my own ship, the Stingray-class gunship _Liberator_, not really wanting to be within spitting distance of Mengsk.

"Not sure, but you know there'll be something," came the reply.

Walking out and keying my door closed, Jim and I walked along the corridor towards the airlock where the _Hyperion_ was currently docked. "Yeah, just a case of what crazy task he gives us this time. I'm not holding my breath for a sane battle plan," I said, feeling somewhat snarky towards things at the moment.

This business with the dream wasn't helping matters either. My gut feeling was that something big was about to happen, and ignoring my instincts had never helped matters before. As the airlock opened, a Marine was waiting on the far side.

"Sir, General Mengsk requests your presence in the conference room immediately."

"Thank you, Sargent," I replied, "Tell him we'll be there momentarily."

The Marine saluted as we walked past and I could hear him activate his comm as we moved out of range. Jim and I exchanged glances, not needing to say a word to communicate that continuing our discussion on Mengsk's flagship was probably not the wisest of moves.

In under a minute, we reached the conference room and entered to find Mengsk and Duke already deep in discussion while the adjutant remained waiting patiently. Mengsk turned to face us as we arrived. "Commander, Captain, thank you for joining us. Let us begin."

Jim and I both took our seats, as the adjutant began to speak. "I've picked up several dozen Protoss warships descending upon Tarsonis. They appear to be on a direct course with the Primary Zerg hive."

Before anyone had a chance to speak, Mengsk slammed his fist on the table. "If they engage the Zerg, the Confederates may escape." He paused for a minute and looked directly at me. "Commander, send Lieutenant Kerrigan with a strike force to engage the Protoss. Captain Raynor and General Duke will remain behind on the command ship."

Right. One Ghost, and what I could cobble together as a strike force, to take on two hostile armies and we could only engage one of them in offensive operations. There is a variety of technical terms to describe what Mengsk had just given me. The most polite of them was 'suicide mission'. FUBAR was more what I had in mind. At the same moment, my instincts were screaming that there was something wrong with this. I didn't need them to tell me, I knew everything was wrong with this. Jim, unsurprisingly, was furious. In a heated voice that gained in volume as he went, he snarled at Mengsk, "First you sell out every person on this planet to the Zerg, then you ask us to go up against the Protoss." Almost yelling by now, he finished, "And you're goin' to send Kerrigan down there with no backup!"

If looks could kill then, both Mengsk and Raynor would be dead by now. In a voice as chilly as winter, Mengsk replied, "I have absolute confidence in Kerrigan's ability to hold off the Protoss."

That all sounded well and good but holding off the Protoss wasn't exactly the only issue facing this mission and I found it strange that Mengsk didn't mention the Zerg. Still at the moment, I had precisely zero room to manoeuvre to stop this mission, which meant I has to attack the issues from another direction. "Mengsk, stopping the Protoss while not being able to attack the Zerg with what you're giving me is no simple task," I said quietly. "We're going to lose a lot of people if we do this, more than I think the mission is likely to be worth."

The look of cold fury Mengsk directed at me spoke volumes even before he opened his mouth. "No! The Confederacy must not be allowed to escape. Unless you wish someone else to take your role Commander…" He trailed off but the threat was clear. While I wasn't particularly afraid of him, if he was hell-bent on this, then I was going to make sure we could pull it off.

Sighing, I nodded, "Very well. In that case, I had better make what preparations I can." Standing, I looked at Jim. "Jim, would you mind bringing Kerrigan to the tac room ASAP. It would be better to sort out a battle plan before we start." I didn't need to tell Jim that I meant the tac room on the _Liberator_, he knew exactly what I meant. Nodding to Mengsk and Duke, I walked out and began heading to the _Liberator_ myself. Pulling this off was going to take every bit of skill and craziness I could muster and given what I had in mind, I wasn't going to allow Mengsk anywhere near the planning for this op.

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's Note)<strong>

**This idea's been rattling around in my head for a while, so I thought I'd see what I can do with it. My apologies about the writing but this is my first story so something of a learning curve. Please review and let me know what you like or don't like.**


	2. Make everyone look at one hand

Walking back to the _Liberator_, I was barely paying any attention to where I was going, considering the briefing I'd just left and its implications was proving to be highly distracting. As I walked into the _Liberator_'s tactical room, I was still turning the problem over in my mind when I saw the tactical display that my own AI, Jess, had produced. The most obvious aspect displayed was the Protoss fleet holding position above New Gettysburg. I sighed, the fleet was going to be a major complication to any assault, given we had no presence on the ground there. Looking closer, however, it became obvious that the Protoss were _landing _ground forces just outside the city. I searched my memory, trying to remember an occasion when the Protoss had chosen to engage the Zerg in a ground offensive, rather than bombarding them and any other lifeforms from orbit.

"Jess, have we any records of the Protoss engaging in a ground war before?" I asked, unable to remember any instances.

"No, Commander. The Protoss have always only ever fought from orbit," came the quick reply.

So, a new situation to deal with. That left me with three big questions I needed answers to.

Why had the Protoss landed ground forces here?

Why was Mengsk so insistent on preventing them from destroying the Zerg base?

And most importantly, why was he so keen on Kerrigan leading the ground operation and Jim and Duke remaining on the _Hyperion_?

The last two questions were difficult to answer at this point, so I concentrated on the first. Over the next few minutes, Jess and I reviewed the scans of New Gettysburg, searching for a reason why the Protoss would choose such a risky tactic. We quickly confirmed that there were no high-level military targets or other Confederate facilities that might have held secrets or technology that the Protoss would likely be interested in. Given the technology of the Protoss, it was never likely to be the case but it was best to be sure. The next aspect of our search was targeted at the Zerg forces, searching for something unusual that the Protoss might have had an interest in. Again, nothing stood out.

Understanding the enemy's objectives are always key to victory in any engagement and not knowing why the protoss were here and acting as they were was unnerving. But when the impossible is eliminated and only the improbable remains...

"Jess, how close are the Protoss to the surviving Confederate positions?"

"The nearest position is 43.6km from the main Protoss base, although civilian positions are closer. Both however have the Protoss base between them and the Zerg."

...The improbable, however unlikely, must be the answer.

The Protoss were fighting a ground war in order to _prevent_ the Zerg from attacking the Confederates and the civilian population.

Leaning back in my chair, the first flickering of light at the end of the tunnel began to appear. The Protoss commander had evidently balked at the billions of terran lives that would be collateral damage in an orbital attack and so was trying to avoid such an extreme solution. Given that they were entrenched closer to the civilian positions, the odds were good that the Confederacy hadn't turned to them for help, an unlikely situation in any case. So the Protoss had willingly chosen to defend civilian lives against the Zerg. I became even less convinced that this mission was a good idea for the reasons Mengsk had given, but it might be a good opportunity to try and find out more about the Protoss and maybe manage to save some lives, even if Mengsk didn't care for them.

For the next question, the answer was likely just as Mengsk had said, he didn't want the Confederacy to have a chance to escape. I could believe that, Mengsk's hatred of the Confederacy was legendary and I sympathized with him to a degree, but not to the tune of billions of civilian lives, thanks all the same. The last question was the hardest. Kerrigan was arguably the most loyal of Mengsk's inner circle, even more so than Duke now was. And yet he was knowingly sending her on a suicide mission while, it could be argued, keeping Jim and Duke out of harm's way. The only answer that made sense was that Mengsk either expected or _wanted_ Kerrigan to die at New Gettysburg. But why? There had to be an element I was missing. As I heard the door hiss open behind me, I realised I might have a chance to find out exactly what.

Spinning around, I saw Jim and Sarah walk in, their expressions considerably less happy than when I had seen them before they disappeared the previous night. Sarah's slim but powerful frame radiated with tension and the beautiful features of her face that had been softened with rare pleasure last night were now back to their usual hard lines, with the chill practically radiating off her body. I didn't need to wait long to find out why. Predictably Jim was the first to speak.

"This is bullshit."

Sarah rolled her eyes, and shot back, "I heard you the first time Jimmy. It doesn't change anything, I'm still going down there."

"Funny, I never thought of you as anyone's martyr."

"Now, you're talking bullshit."

I cleared my throat before the argument got any worse. "Nice to see you two getting along so well." I smirked.

As expected, one pair of green and one pair of brown eyes snapped around with matching glares. I grinned for a second before becoming serious. "You do both have a valid point though. Jim, I think we do need to head down there." I held up a hand as Jim began to open his mouth, no doubt to voice his heated opposition, "But not for the reason that Mengsk have given us."

That earned me Sarah's immediate wrath. "What?"

Turning back to the display, I walked them through what Jess and I had deduced about the Protoss's intentions.

"Pretty thin evidence," was Jim's comment.

"Maybe," I replied, "But at the moment, I can't come up with another reason why they'd be on the ground."

"You may have a point," Sarah allowed, "But this doesn't explain why you think Mengsk is wrong."

"Sarah, when your principles mean that several billion people will die because of your actions in order to gain such a small amount, it may well be that your principles are wrong," I replied. "At this point, it's not really going to matter whether the Protoss destroy the Zerg or not, the Confederacy is still more than likely finished. Killing several billion people to make sure of it is pointless and putting an entire strike force at risk by placing them between two hostile armies is not a smart strategy if you want that force to survive."

"Mengsk knows what he's doing. We can deal with the Zerg after the Confederacy and the Protoss. He'll come around, I know he will because, well, I just know he will. I am a ghost, remember?"

"I'm sure he does know what he's doing. That's part of the problem for me though."

"Oh? So what's the rest?"

I looked Sarah in the eye. Given that she was the most powerful Ghost in existence, she likely already knew what I was going to say.

"Does Mengsk have a reason to want you dead?"

Silence echoed through the room for a few seconds, before Sarah started laughing.

"You're joking right?" she managed to get out.

A few more seconds went past before she stopped laughing and took in my expression.

"You're serious?"

"Deadly." I replied. "Mengsk was very keen on you and I running this mission. He knows this is in all likelihood a suicide mission. I know he wouldn't mind seeing me out of the picture, I've been too vocal with my opposition to some of his ideas, especially the Psi-Emitters. He obviously doesn't care about the human cost to get this done. If that's the case then he must be at least prepared for you not to survive this either."

Grim silence fell across the room. Jim looked from Sarah to me and finally spoke.

"You really think that Mengsk would leave Sarah to die?"

"It's a possibility I can't discount. Sarah hasn't exactly been quiet about the Psi-Emitters either. I could be wrong and I hope I am, but I'd rather not find out the hard way that I'm not."

Watching Sarah's face, I could see the barest flicker of pain, fear and panic before she got her face back under control, but it was enough to make my heart sink. There was obviously something in her past that would be enough of a reason for Mengsk to want her dead. What I'd outlined was at least possible in her mind. A quick glance at Jim told me he had noticed as well.

"Sarah?" Jim asked softly.

Almost too soft to hear, she spoke, "He said he'd forgiven me for it".

Jim and I waited in silence. Finally she spoke.

"Do you remember how Mengsk's family was killed before he took over the Sons of Korhol?"

"Sure," I replied. "It was always said that a group of Confederate..."

I trailed off as my mind connected the dots.

Confederate Ghosts had killed Mengsk's family.

At the time, Sarah had still been forced to serve the Confederacy.

She was the strongest Ghost that had ever lived.

What was the chance that she had been part of the team that had killed Angus Mengsk as well as his wife and daughter?

_No bet_.

Looking at Jim, I could tell he'd worked it out as well. His look of horror and fury was plain to see.

Finally I spoke. "I think we may have a very good reason to be worried."

Jim nodded. "So now that we're in this mess, how do we get out of it?"

That was fortunately a question I had an answer to.

"We need to be seen to be carrying this out. I never intended to do this quickly, the risks were too great, but we need to take this slower still. So firstly, we need to get the base up and running, and defences established."

Sarah nodded, none of this was out of the ordinary, we'd done this plenty of times before. Turning back to the display, I pulled up the overview of New Gettysburg, with the positions of the Zerg, Protoss and where our base was to be established. Pointing to a location 5km south of our base, I continued, "This mineral deposit is our next target. No one else has claimed it yet and I want some distance between us and the Zerg. Defensively it's not ideal but it's a lot better than having the Zerg on our doorstep. Once that position is established Sarah, I want you and all our forces not required to hold the Zerg back to relocate to that position."

She nodded, a spark of light coming back into her eyes. "That should give us a better chance of mounting a counter-strike if the Zerg should try and swarm us."

"Right," I replied. "We'll need to get some ghosts ready to deploy, and I also want some battle cruisers and nukes ready as well. Air power and massive striking capability is going to be a must. But I want to try something tricky before we have to fight the Protoss."

"This should be good," Jim chuckled.

I grinned in return and turned to Sarah. "How hard would it be to sneak into the Protoss base without killing anyone of them?"

* * *

><p>(<strong>Author's Note)<strong>

**I know it's taking a while to get to the action, but it should be here next chapter. As always, reviews are very welcome.**


	3. While you're doing something else

It always gave me something of a thrill to see people speechless after I start laying out a tactic.

Finally Sarah spoke. "You have got to be kidding me."

I grinned at her. "Not at all, it's probably about our best way of actually managing to talk to the Protoss about what's going on."

Again, silence filled the room.

"Talking to the Protoss? You sure you're not interested in killing me too?" Sarah finally spluttered.

"I didn't say you had to do it." I replied coolly. Turning back to the display, I explained as Sarah and Jim walked up to look on. "There's no Protoss forces near our landing zone right? Nor are there any close to that mineral reserve. I imagine that they will probably send some troops to scout us out. If they open fire on us, then we'll have to defend ourselves, but at this point, I don't want to actively engage them, we'll have enough trouble with the Zerg."

"But if we can't-" Sarah started.

"Hang on a sec," Jim interrupted. "Let me get this straight. You think that by not attacking the Protoss, they won't kill a messenger that penetrates right into the heart of their base?"

"That's the idea," I nodded. "I think, given their deployment here and how they've positioned themselves, it's safe to assume they have concepts of honour and such, they aren't monsters like the Zerg. If we can actively avoid killing them and get a message to them that we want to talk..."

Jim's head snapped up as if he'd had an electric shock. "That might be crazy enough to actually work."

"Assuming that works and we can get them to talk, what then?" Sarah said, her eyes narrowed.

I smiled. "If we can find out what they're here for, then that will help to dictate how we go about our mission. Despite what Mengsk says, the Zerg are the greater threat here. Who knows, we might be able to convince the Protoss that the Confederates need to be taken out too. We can evacuate as many civilians as possible, leave the Confederacy and Zerg to fight it out and the Protoss can bombard from orbit once we have everyone else off-world. Mengsk still gets what he says he wants, it's no longer a suicide mission and we can save a lot of lives and maybe open up some possibilities with the Protoss."

"So how do we get into the Protoss base?" Jim wanted to know.

I grinned. "Lockdowns."

Sarah's eyes widened and a small smile began to cross her face. "That would work. A ghost team disables the defenses and one slips in to give the message. No one dies on either side unless they have other detectors."

"Which is why we'll have two teams hitting different parts of the defensive line, so they don't know which to go to."

Sarah was silent for a few seconds, considering the possibilities. Then she spoke. "This is all still based on your idea that Mengsk wants me dead, isn't it?"

"At the moment, I'd rather plan on the worst-case scenario than anything else. Speaking of which Jim, I need you to talk to our friends. If things go south, I want to make sure we've got enough dropships to get everyone out and enough cover fire to support them."

Jim nodded. "Count on it."

Sarah looked up at Jim and I, tears almost starting to flow. "You know, I don't think anyone I've ever known has been willing to lay so much on the line for me as you two."

Seeing signs of emotion from the normally ice-cold Ghost? Maybe Jim was making progress with getting her to open up after all. I was _very_ careful not to think about that, pissing off a PI 10 Ghost that could read your thoughts was not recommended. In any case it didn't look like Sarah was paying attention to me, looking at Jim with a small smile. "Pig," she said.

Jim laughed, "Guilty as charged."

I joined in. "Sarah, I'm not explaining to Jim why his girlfriend doesn't want to come home."

That proved to be too much and I ended up with a double armful of sobbing woman. Jim and I exchanged a startled look as Sarah struggled to bring herself under control. Finally she stepped away and looked at the pair of us. "Thank you. For everything." she whispered.

I grinned. "You're welcome Sarah. Come on, let's get our mind back in the game. We've got work to do."

She nodded, her face back to the usual mask. "I'll see you on the ground."

Jim gave her a quick hug. "Good hunting darlin'."

* * *

><p>For once, establishing a base wasn't the mad scramble that I was used to. A pair of bunkers and siege tanks at each entrance, coupled with some missile turrets proved to be more than capable of dealing with both the Zerg and Protoss probing attacks, allowing us to concentrate on building up forces, as well as securing the southern mineral deposits we'd seen earlier. Air power would have to wait until we had that base online, the risk of someone with an itchy trigger finger was just too great. Still things were moving as I'd hoped. The door hissed open, revealing Jim walking in. I didn't look up beyond a quick glance to confirm who was at the door. Jim quickly walked around to the display, looking over the battlefield overview as he went. "So far, so good then," he commented.<p>

"For once, yes. I'm not holding my breath for everything to keep working though," I replied. "The Protoss seem to have left us alone after a couple of quick scouting runs, just leaves us with the Zerg being their usual sociable selves."

"That's good news. Any casualties?"

"Only among the Zerg. The Protoss have always retreated as soon as their shields went down and none of our boys have been exposed to fire long enough to take any injuries."

"Sounds like the plan's working so far then. Sarah had much to do?"

"Not so far, she's just been practising her sniping skills on any Zerg that come too close, racing the siege tanks to take them out. So far she's winning."

"I can believe it, she's almost as good a sniper as you are."

I smirked. While of late I had spent much of my time overseeing battles rather than fighting them on the ground, I was a reasonable fighter in my own right, able to handle any of the weapons that my troops used and a few more besides. By far though, my best skills were with long range shooting, although whether it was with a C-10 or a Yamato Cannon, or anything in between didn't really matter. It was because of this skill that Jim had given me the nickname 'Ranger'.

"Maybe once this is done, we should have a shooting competition."

"No thanks, I'm not shooting against you again, I've lost too much money already on that."

"Spoilsport," I grumped, watching Sarah lead a team to the southern minerals, buildings quickly following her and SCV's moving to set up bunkers and missile turrets at choke-points. I glanced at the mission clock, then activated the comm link to Sarah. "Two minutes slower than usual, Sarah. Want me to send down a bed and a glass of wine?"

On my display, I saw her look up at where the _Liberator_ was orbiting, obviously contemplating a long distance shot, before replying. "No thanks, don't want you getting thirsty up there while I do all the hard work."

"Damn, I had a nice vintage to send you too. Guess I'll just have to drink it myself."

Her reply was decidingly unladylike.

Smiling, I muted the comm and looked at Jim. "Nice to see her coming out of her shell. Before I'd have received stony silence or a suggestion to be more professional. Not sure I want to know how you managed that."

Jim's shit-eating grin was firmly in place. "Don't ask, don't tell."

"Of course," I replied. "So how did you get on?"

"I talked to Matt Horner. He's ready to back us up if needed and got a few friends ready to do the same."

"Good, hopefully that will be enough."

Jim nodded grimly. "You think he'll do it?"

I knew he meant Mengsk. "I've got no evidence to back it up. But my gut says yes. I've had a bad feeling all day, even before the briefing."

Just then Kerrigan's voice came over the comm. "Base is established and battlecruisers are online."

I opened my own comm and replied, "Good work, begin mining the main base, bring all spare forces to the south base and move on the Protoss base, battle plan Delta-5."

"Understood," came the reply.

As I lent back in my chair, Jim commented, "And so it begins."

I nodded.

* * *

><p>As Sarah slipped deep into the Protoss base and found the Protoss commander, I couldn't help but think that things were going too smoothly. Battle plans never survived contact with the enemy and yet everything was going smoothly. I had noticed that the Zerg were strangely quiet and was keeping an eye on them but at the moment, saw no real reason for concern. Looking at the viewscreen that showed Sarah I saw that both she and the Protoss commander had their weapons away and were talking carmly. I was starting to think we might just pull this off.<p>

At which point of course, an army of Zerg burst out from underground and began to charge at the main base.

Cursing, I slapped my comm, aware of Jim quickly moving up beside me to stare at the display. "Sarah, hate to interrupt but you've lots of Zerg incoming at the main base."

"How many," she asked.

"Too many. Way too many. It's your call but I suggest getting out of there."

She took a moment to look over the scans herself and then activated the general comm. "This is Kerrigan, a wave of Zerg is advancing on this position. We need immediate evac."

A sudden chill hit me as I realised I'd heard those words before. The blasted dream I'd had the previous night had shown the exact same scene playing out. Suddenly I knew what was about to come.

"Belay that order, we're moving out."

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's Note)<strong>

**Yes I said that the action would come this chapter. Sorry but it just wasn't going to work out that way. But definitely next chapter is going to get quite fiery. Thanks to those reviewer, favouriters and followers and I'll see you next chapter. Please keep reviewing and let me know what you think.**


	4. With the other hand

Mengsk's voice faded away, but the sheer fury I heard at those words remained. I moved to activate the comm to Kerrigan, only to see that the _Hyperion_ was blocking all communications to the surface. Mengsk knew Jim and I weren't going to just abandon Kerrigan and so had cut my ability to direct the battle to help her. Fine, I never planned on sitting still and waiting up here anyway. As Jim preceded to rage at Mengsk over the comm, I sprinted out of the tac room and towards the _Liberator's _cockpit. As I ran the 50m between the two rooms, I yelled instructions to Jess.

"Jess, Battle Stations. Spin up all systems and get us clear of the _Hyperion_. And start working on breaking through the _Hyperion's_ jamming."

"Understood," came the swift reply. "General Mengsk has given orders for the fleet to break orbit and move away from the planet."

Great, the bastard was determined to make sure an entire strike force was wiped out to kill one woman. Well not if I had anything to say about it. Skidding into the cockpit, I slid into the pilot's chair as my co-pilot quickly transferred control to my station. One other thing I'd got quite good at was flying, and given I'd played a key part in the design and construction of the Stingray class, and specifically the _Liberator_, I was easily the best person to fly it when she had to be pushed.

"Status report," I called.

"All systems green, drives and generators at full power," my co-pilot reported.

"Ready to break docking with _Hyperion,_" Jess added.

"Break the dock and give me a course for New Gettysburg," I ordered, swiftly checking all stations had reported in.

"Dock seal broken," Jess replied.

"Course laid in," the navigator added.

I nodded, keying the engines up to full power and spinning the _Liberator_ around. I later learned that we had broken the seal with no more than a second to spare. Mengsk had guessed that I wasn't planning on staying put and had sent a squad of marines to try to stop me. They were just about to open our airlock when we left.

"Jess, transfer New Gettysburg data to the cockpit tactical display and tell Jim to get up here," I said, quickly bringing the _Liberator_ up to normal speed. At this point there were no ships in our path, meaning I could employ full power to get moving. The _Liberator_ was practically unique, with speed and manoeuvrability not dissimilar to a Wraith, with not much less shielding and fire-power than a battle-cruiser, with some experimental systems thrown in, all in a package about 1/3 the size of a battle-cruiser. As a result, there were very few ships with a chance of being able to take the _Liberator_ on in an open fight. Unfortunately, a fleet was quite capable of it and one of the few ships that could...

"Sir, the _Hyperion's _batteries are turning to target us!"

...was the one we just left.

Sarah's voice came over once more. "Ah boys, how bout that evac?"

The communication specialist reported, "Sir, the _Hyperion_ is hailing us!"

"Put it on," I instructed.

Mengsk's voice came over the speakers and he did not sound amused. "_Liberator,_ you will return to your position immediately."

I snarled in reply, "When I have friends and troops under my command in trouble Mengsk, _I don't walk away!_"

"That was an order!"

Jim walked in just in time for me to say, "Take your order and jam it sideway, Mengsk. I'm not letting you sacrifice an entire strike force to get revenge on one person."

"Commander, I'm warning you-"

I reached up and killed the channel to the _Hyperion_, then opened a general channel to the fleet. "This is Commander Jason Davis of the _Liberator. _Raiders, form up on us and proceed to New Gettysburg. We've got a team to extract. Anyone else not willing to sacrifice good people are more than welcome to follow."

Jim stood behind me, "This is Captain James Raynor, Raiders, you heard the man. Let's get to work."

A new voice cut into the channel. "This is the _Cormorant_. Commander, we're ready to assist."

The _Cormorant._ Matt Horner's ship. A good man, and ship, to have on our side.

A second voice cut over the channel. "_Liberator_, this is the _Th__under Child_. We've got your back. Give the Zerg hell."

I grinned. Seeing the Raiders fleet, plus the other ships supporting us turn to follow, I knew that we might just stand a chance. Then a laser round sped past the window, barely missing the shields.

"Sir, the _Hyperion_ is firing on us."

Yep, noticed that. But if Mengsk wanted to move things up a notch...

"Batteries 6 through 9, switch to disruptors and engage the _Hyperion. _Concentrate on their sensors, comms and engines, in that order."

The _Liberator's_ batteries were rather different to most ships in that they fired a less powerful round, but at a much higher rate of fire. As the shields of most capital ships were designed to deal with high impact shots at low rates of fire, and smaller ships relied on evading such rounds, this made the _Liberator_ very difficult to stand against. Still, chewing through the _Hyperion's_ armour and shields would take time, time we didn't have. But the disrupters weren't designed to _physically_ damage their target, just short out their electric systems. Which meant that it wouldn't take long to...

"Commander, the _Hyperion's_ jamming is off-line!" Jess reported.

As I opened the channel to Sarah, her voice came over the speakers again. "Commander, Jim? What is going on up there?"

"Sorry about that, Sarah. We've had some problems up here, the ones we feared. The _Liberator_ is inbound for extraction, about 3 minutes out."

With the _Hyperion_ no longer an issue (being deaf, dumb, blind and drifting does tend to hinder a ship's combat ability) and the rest of the fleet either still turning to catch up or taking pot-shots at each other, I had a chance to look at the situation Sarah was facing. To say she was in trouble was a grave understatement. The Zerg were swarming over the main base, mopping up the buildings that she wasn't able to move. All the spider mines and automated defences were down, although if vision was still up...

"Sarah, get 5 nukes in the air and target the main base. Tell anyone left there to run for it!"

"Got it, everyone who was there has either left or is gone."

Sarah had also managed to mine the southern base, and shifted most of her forces and structures to behind the Protoss lines. As I watched, her siege tanks were pouring fire into the Zerg assaulting the base, preventing them from getting close enough to charge the photon cannons favoured by the Protoss, while Wraith squadrons held back the enemy air forces while a pair of battle-cruisers provided air support. The Protoss fleet was evacuating their own people, but I could see their commander fighting beside Kerrigan, the pair proving to be a decidingly powerful combination that the Zerg would have a lot of trouble with. But as soon as the Zerg dealt with the other two bases and massed against their lines, it would be game over. Time to do something about that.

"Jess, time to firing range on the Zerg?

"Twenty seconds, Commander."

I smiled and unlocked the _Liberator's_ main battery. Eight high-powered UV laser mini-guns surrounding the cockpit began to spin. Designed for heavy sustained fire against heavily armoured targets, I'd used them just as effectively in an air-support role against ground targets before. Each gun was more than capable of shredding through any ground troops or structures, and the ability to aim and fire them independently meant they could cover a very large area.

Suffice to say, the Zerg were about to discover what hell looked like.

"Sarah, suggest you keep everyone away from the western front. It's about to get messy."

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

In answer, I lined up on a Zerg force preparing to charge that area and pulled the trigger.

Despite the fact that the _Liberator_ was still over 24km from the target zone, the 2 second burst was pinpoint accurate. The ground underneath the strike was somewhat warped and molten now, but still fared significantly better than the Zerg. Every single member of the Zerg force was vaporised, even the massive Ultralisks that were so dangerous to ground troops.

Sarah's voice came over the comm, somewhat shaky. "Ok, how long have you had _that _up your sleeve?"

I grinned, "Why, you like it?"

She laughed, "Oh yeah. I like it. Now, how long can you keep that up for?"

Jim leant in and replied, "Long enough for you to get your pretty little arse on-board, sweetheart."

"You'll pay for that when I get there, pig"

I chuckled, "Ok enough with the flirting, we're on a tight schedule here everyone, get on board and let's get out of here."

"You got it, Commander. Anyone else coming to the party?"

Matt's voice came over the comm, "Kerrigan, the _Cormorant_ is on approach, we'll be ready to pick you up in 90 seconds."

"Appreciate it, Matt."

Pulling the _Liberator_ up to hover over the battlefield, I smiled. "All batteries, engage the Zerg at will. Hold them back until we can get everyone out of there."

While the rest of the _Liberator's_ batteries lacked the sheer power of the main battery, they all worked on a similar system and so all 12 batteries were easily capable of reaping havoc on the Zerg. As I watched, the Protoss forces finished evacuating all but those on the front line. Seeing an opportunity, I called Sarah.

"Sarah, if the Protoss can cover us while we make the pick-up, we can extract their forces at the same time."

Sarah had a quick discussion with the Protoss commander and replied, "Sounds like a plan. Let me know when you're ready."

As I watched, both forces began to fall back from the Zerg as they continued to throw themselves at the defences. Then several ghosts lined up targets and began to guide a group of nukes down onto the Zerg swarming in front of the base.

As the nukes struck, the _Cormorant_ began to lift off as Matt reported, "We're all full, sir. Better move fast."

"Understood," I replied. "Sarah, get ready for pickup."

"Got it," she acknowledged.

Quickly positioning so that they could board, while still being able to provide cover fire for them, I told Jim, "You'd better get down to the loading dock, make sure they get on safely."

He nodded, racing out quickly. As the Zerg closed in, I concentrated on keeping them back long enough. Finally I heard Sarah's voice over the comm.

"We're on, let's go!"

As I gunned the _Liberator_ off the mark and climbed for space, I had never been happier to hear anything.

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's note)<strong>

**Well this was one chapter I had practically written in my head from the start. I'm relatively happy with how it turned out but as always love reviews.**

**A few points I should make.**

**Firstly, while I do know of some of the back history of the game, particularly surrounding Kerrigan and Raynor, I'm not necessarily going to be relying on it for plot. I'm writing this the way I want it to be, so this will be slightly AU. That said, the events are going to be relatively close to canon, just how everyone reacts to it will be different.  
><strong>

**Secondly, yes the disrupter is essentially the Ion Cannon from Star Wars, but since Blizzard stole the name, I had to use something else. Keep an eye out because there will be other things from Star Wars I'll be modifying and using here.**

**Thirdly, at this point I'm thinking Kerrigan will be infested, but it will be a fair way down the track if it happens. As for why, you'll find out over the next few chapters. If I do infest her, it is not going to be like anything I think you've seen before, just so you know not to expect anything in particular.  
><strong>

**Fourthly, yes the Protoss will have a big role to play (congrats to izwan for calling it). Events between Kerrigan, Raynor and the Protoss will be different, and not necessarily as you might expect either.**

**Finally, at this point, I will not be pairing Nova and the Commander, mainly because I think the age gap is just a bit too much. Maybe down the track I'll think about it but not yet.**

**Thank you to all my reviewers, and those who have favourited or followed this, I really appreciate it. Catch you next time.**


	5. A Flash of Light

As we raced away from New Gettysburg, I looked at the Zerg swarming over where we had been just seconds before. At that point, it was easy to see that Sarah and the Protoss had been just seconds away from being overrun. If we had listened to Mengsk for just that bit longer...

"No use borrowing problems from the past when we have enough of our own to deal with."

I spun around in my chair to look at Sarah. Blood ran down one side of her face, she was having difficulty with her right arm, and Jim was having to hold her upright. I didn't think she had ever looked better.

"Looks like you're ready for another round then." I said, raising an eyebrow.

She snorted, a mixture of pain and amusement on her face. "I'm alive, thanks to the pair of you. Right now that's about all I care about."

"Only because you're trying not to lean on Jim, otherwise you'd be caring about something else."

"Good to know I'm good for something," Jim chuckled.

Sarah managed a smile before turning to a figure behind her, "Commander, this is Executor Tassadar. Executor, Commander Jason Davis."

I turned towards the Protoss standing in the shadows. "Good to meet you, Executor. My thanks for helping get everyone out of there."

Tassadar nodded graciously. Having no mouth, I guessed he would reply telepathically and I wasn't disappointed.

"En Taro Adun, Jason Davis. It is we who must thank you. Had you not gone against your orders and persuaded Friend Kerrigan to do the same, none of us would be here."

I nodded grimly. "I take it Jim filled you both in on what happened in orbit?"

Sarah nodded, fury momentarily crossing her face. "I can barely believe that Mengsk was so keen to see me dead. I just hope that we don't run into him on the way out."

"No fear of that, most of the fleet's already left. All that's in orbit now is Duke, those on our side and the Zerg. Looks like Duke activated Tarsonis's Ion Cannon before they left though, so leaving is going to be something of a trick."

"Mengsk doesn't like us much does he?" Jim put in.

"Not one -"

"Alert." Jess suddenly spoke. "Psionic energy signature detected. Approximately class 10."

A class 10 Psionic. The only one I'd ever encountered was Kerrigan herself, and she was so far ahead of the rest of humanity it wasn't funny. For there to be another...

"Show me where." I ordered.

A set of coordinates began blinking on my console. Turning the _Liberator_ towards them, I pulled up a visual and watched as several city blocks were vaporised. Silence ran though the bridge as we drew the obvious conclusion.

"You really want us to go there? Jim asked finally.

Pointing at the map, I replied, "It's pretty close to the Ion Cannon and we need to head that way anyway. I think we should at least take a look. If nothing else, someone is alive down there and they've got Duke and the Zerg closing on them."

"Agreed." Sarah replied. "It would be good to salvage something from this debacle."

"I will accompany you, if you wish," Tassadar added.

I nodded. "We'd be honoured. Jess, find us a landing zone and tell the fleet to follow us down. They're sitting ducks up there. And prep my suit."

"Acknowledged."

The others all looked at me in surprise. I shrugged. "Might as well get my hands dirty, I've sat too many fights out, I'll get rusty soon."

* * *

><p>As we set about establishing a base, Jim, Sarah, Tassadar and I walked over to look at the distant Ion Cannon. Seeing the two bases Duke had guarding it from orbit was one thing, but from close up, the situation looked challenging to say the least. Having the Protoss supporting our efforts would give us an advantage but it was still going to be difficult, even without the realisation that the Zerg were closing on us as well. But before we could worry about the Ion Cannon, we still had to find the mysterious psionic.<p>

"You feel anything?" I asked Sarah and Tassadar.

Sarah gave a hesitant nod. "Something, they don't seem to be moving well though. But they are moving roughly in this direction."

I glanced back at the base, seeing it set up as well as was practical, I called Matt Horner over. "Matt, work with the Protoss and hold this position. Try and work out what Duke's boys are up to as well. We'll be investigating this psionic signature."

Matt saluted. "You got it sir."

As he moved back to oversee the base, I turned to my three companions. "Ok people, let's see what we can find."

Jim and I, being the tanks we were, quickly took point as Sarah and Tassadar guided us in the right direction. Both of us had chosen unusual weapons, Jim an M12 Penetrator sniper rifle in addition to his usual Gauss rifle and grenades. As for me, my Armoured Battle Suit was a step up from even the finest Marine armour and the Multi-Purpose Assault Cannons built into the suit were deadlier than almost any other small arm, with the exception of the modified M12 that was in one of my back holsters. The other held a weapon even more unusual in that few humans carried _swords_.

Sarah shook her head. "I still can't believe you carry that thing."

"Don't knock it, this sword can cut through a Marine's armour like it's not there. Plus it never runs out of ammo."

I was used to people teasing me about carrying a sword. No one had continued to do so after seeing me use it. Suddenly Tassadar held up a hand. "I sense something."

The three of us quickly took up covering positions as we waited for his analysis. Finally, he continued. "There is a young Terran girl ahead of us who appears to be the psionic, but other Terrans are closing in on her."

Moving up quickly, we came around the corner and saw her. A girl, about 19, with blond hair running to just below her neck. Right now she was on the ground sobbing. Her greater problem however was the 40 marines currently surrounding her. As one hauled the girl to her feet, I recognised her.

* * *

><p>It had been 4 years since I last saw Nova Terra, when I had been assigned as the leader of her bodyguard team. I had been nearing the end of my career in the Confederacy military, and was just happy to be getting away from some of the front line action for a while. I had never been particularly happy with the actions of a lot of the Confederacy troops out in the fringe worlds.<p>

Despite being a distant member of the Old Families myself, I never had much time for them except the Terras at that time. Constantino Terra was at least attempting to make changes to the Confederacy in order to improve it and his wife and daughter had been like any family throughout the sector, rather than thinking they had the right to everything. I had heard rumours of Nova having some psionic potential, but had never talked to her or her family about it, knowing that keeping her out of the Ghost program was a very good idea.

* * *

><p>Coming back to the present, she was struggling to stand, being held in the grip of the marine that had dragged her up. Right now though, my concern was the other marines that were currently levelling their weapons at us. At this point I was in no mood to play nice. Exchanging a quick glance at Raynor and knowing that both Sarah and Tassadar would be able to work out what we had planned, I charged, deploying two of the hidden features of the ABS. The first was a set of tough but lightweight wings that were usually held collapsed under the weapons pack. The second was a set of jump jets.<p>

In the second it took me to cross the distance to the marines holding Nova, Jim had crouched and taken out half a dozen with the M12, before switching to his Gauss rifle and fired as he advanced.

Tassadar had caught another half a dozen within a Psionic Storm and was now firing lightning at the left flank.

Kerrigan's C-20A was landing devestating shots on the marines directly around Nova, while Sarah herself was also charging the line. The one holding Nova threw her to the ground and brought his weapon up to return fire.

Mistake no. 1. Never throw away a hostage.

Kerrigan sent a quick round through his head before he could even pull the trigger.

As for me, my MPAC's were ripping through the marines on the right flank. As bad as that was for them though, it got a lot worse at the end of that second.

Having several hundred kilos of pissed off soldier crash into you at high speed was a very good way to wind up dead, as two marines found out as I rammed their right flank. Landing on my feet, my guns were blazing, generally dealing out death and making a lot of noise. As I had hoped, the reaction of the marines was to turn and aim at me.

Mistake no. 2. Never take your eyes off an incoming threat.

Barely two seconds after I hit, Kerrigan psionically charged into the marines left standing around Nova, combat knife flashing and firing her C-20 one handed. By this point, I had drawn my sword and was in the process of reeducating the marines on how to treat young women, one bisection at a time. Jim and Tassadar had also moved up and were finishing anyone Sarah and I had left standing. From start to finish, it had taken the four of us 20 seconds to drop a force 10 times our size. Nice to see that the three of us Terrans still knew how to fight as a team and that Tassadar could definitely hold his own.

Turning back to Nova, I was slightly surprised to see Kerrigan pulling Nova into her arms, attempting to soothe her and having some effect. Nova was shaking but she managed to get herself at least partially under control. I walked over, kneeling and opening my visor as I did so. Nova looked up and a flicker of recognition crossed her face.

"Jason?" She asked. "What are you doing here?"

I ignored the looks of confusion from the others and replied, "At the moment, trying to find a way to get off-world. We picked up a psionic flare on our way out and thought we'd better take a look. I assume that was you?"

She nodded. "I was on the ship to get evacuated, when I sensed bad people surrounding Mum and Dad. So I came back but when I got there..."

i held up a hand, not needing her to continue. "I'm sorry to hear that. Your parents were good people, unlike most of the Confederacy."

I paused for a moment, letting her gather herself together again.

"Nova, are you up to moving? We can't really stay here much longer."

She nodded, allowing Kerrigan to help her to her feet.

"Nothing left here for me anymore, it will be good to leave this place."

I nodded and quickly made introductions. Jim and Sarah stiffened slightly as they realised just who Nova was, but relaxed almost immediately.

Standing and opening a comm channel, I called Matt. "How are we looking?"

Matt's reply was quick and professional. "We've had some harassment but nothing major. I think we should just take a run at the Ion Cannon, we should be able to knock it out if we move fast enough. A ghost team has cleared an approach to it, and we've got a few nukes that we can use on it."

I considered for a moment and then nodded. "Agreed, but tell them not to take unnecessary risks. We've found a survivor and are on our way back."

"Understood."

Turning back to the others, I told them, "Matt's ready to make a run at the Ion Cannon, we need to head back. There won't be much time to make our escape."

The others nodded and within 15 minutes we were back and ready to move. As we arrived, Matt's voice came over the general comm system.

"All hands, Ion Cannon is down. Get everything packed up and ready to move out."

With Duke's forces also quickly beginning to evacuate, we had no issues with attacks as we left, even the _Norad II _leaving us alone as we began the run up to enter warp. As soon as all ships reported ready, I instructed them to head for our agreed rally point. One by one, our small fleet jumped, the _Liberator_ the last to leave that god-forsaken system.

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's note)<strong>

**I was a little unsure about how to bring Nova into this, so it will be interesting to see what you all think of it.**

**In response to the question about Arbiters, firstly I think it's unlikely that the Protoss would fight side by side with Kerrigan and then just warp out, I would think Tassadar would be interested in finding out more about the Raiders. Since he is known to be reluctant to kill Terrans when destroying Zerg-held worlds, this is something of a golden opportunity for him, he's not likely to waste it. Secondly, since Arbiters aren't shown in the New Gettysburg battle, I'm going to assume he didn't have them available.**

**That's it for now, thanks to my reviewers and those that are following and favouriting this, it makes doing this a lot easier.**


	6. Clearing the Air

As soon as the _Liberator_ was safely in warp, I gave orders for shift change to be carried out early, given the day we'd had. It would be at least a day until the combined fleet reached the rendezvous point, so everyone had a chance to unwind after the horror day. Unfortunately I had more than a few issues to deal with before I could rest myself, one of which was waiting for me as soon as I stepped out of the cockpit. Sarah and Jim were waiting just outside the door and one glance told me they're weren't there just to say hello. Sighing, I waved for them to follow me. None of us spoke a word until we reached the tac room. Locking the door, I turned to face them.

"Ok, shoot."

Sarah and Jim exchanged a look, before Jim asked, "So how is it that you not only know the probable heir, but you also knew the _head _of one of the Old Families?"

"It's a long story."

The look Sarah gave me was not encouraging. "We seem to have a fair amount of time on our hands."

I hesitated. The fact that I had once been in the Confederacy was no secret to the two of them, each of us had been part of the Confederacy at one point and we all knew it. They even knew I had retired from the Confederate military as a Colonel. But my direct link with the Old Families, regardless of how distant, was something I had never shared with anyone. Particularly since I had no desire to be associated with any of them, especially my own, the Tygore family. Changing my name before I enlisted, I was determined to earn my own place. In addition, it was likely that Mengsk, despite being a member of the Old Families himself, would not take kindly to me revealing my background. The Terra's had been one of the few to know my true history, Nova's father working it out even before I was assigned to protect Nova, although he had been very understanding and even helped me keep everything hidden. But even if I wasn't inclined to tell Jim and Sarah, the odds were good they'd find out before the end of the day anyway.

Leaning back in my chair, I told them the whole story. My linage, my history, why I had left it all behind, my experience with Nova and why I didn't tell them.

Both Sarah and Jim were quiet for a long time, before Jim spoke. "That is quite a story."

"Tell me about it." I replied. "This isn't how I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't risk it with Mengsk around, and we haven't exactly had much spare time since we split from him."

Sarah finally spoke. "So any other little secrets in your closet we should know about?"

I looked at her. Anger was plain to see on her face and she was barely managing to keep herself under control. Even when she learned of Mengsk's betrayal, she hadn't been this angry.

Holding her gaze calmly, I replied, "No. You know everything about my past now."

Standing, she looked at me, no trace of understanding or compassion in her eyes. "I hope so." She said quietly, then turned on her heel and walked out.

I sighed. "Well that went well."

Jim nodded. "It's a hell of a lot to take in at once. But she'll be fine."

I raised an eyebrow. "And you?"

Jim smirked. "I knew that there was more to you than everyone knew. It must have cost a lot to build this ship, especially the way you have and without anyone finding out how it works. I figured you had a good reason for not saying anything, and I was right."

A wave of relief hit me. At least one of my closest friends was accepting of everything I'd done. "You don't know what that means to me."

Jim chuckled. "Maybe. Leave Sarah to me, I'll talk to her. What are you planning to do with Nova."

"Talk to her first. But I imagine she'll have to stay with us for a while. That's going to be another interesting conversation. Not sure how she'll take me joining a rebel group, but guess I'll find out."

Jim nodded and stood. "Good luck."

* * *

><p>Walking into the med bay, my mind was still focused on the discussion I'd just had and particularly Sarah's reaction to it. I had hoped that she would be more understanding of my reasoning. It was disappointing to find her so hostile, although not altogether surprising. Her hatred of anything to do with the Confederacy was legendary, again, given what they had done to her, not a major surprise. I could only hope that I had more luck with Nova. She was sitting on one of the beds, waiting for the medics to finish running whatever tests they were doing. As I approached, I heard one of them say "Well my dear you seem to be perfectly fine. I don't think there is any point keeping you in here."<p>

I smiled as Nova thanked them with feeling, clearly keen to escape. Standing, she turned towards me. "So, can I just say you were perhaps the last person I expected to show up then? I didn't know you were anywhere near Tarsonis."

I grimaced. "Yeah, it's a long story. I'll fill you in but not here."

She glanced at me, a speculative look in her eyes. "Why do I get the feeling this is not going to be easy to hear?"

"Probably because it isn't." I replied, walking towards my own quarters, rather than the tac room. I definitely wanted privacy for this conversation, especially since Nova was likely to react about as well as Kerrigan had.

Nova was looking increasingly concerned as we walked. "I haven't seen you look this serious for a very long time." She said slowly.

Keying open the door, I ushered her inside. "Yeah, well everything's been turned upside down so many times I have trouble keeping up." Gesturing to a seat, I waited until we sat down to continue. "Last thing you heard, I was on Mar Sara, right?"

At her nod, I went on. "We got ordered by Duke to move everyone out to the wastelands when Chau Sara got attacked. We found small patches of Zerg out there, but had no idea what they were at the time. After a while, the Zerg launched an attack on us. Duke told us not to worry about it, but Jim, the guy you met earlier, and I knew they wouldn't get there in time. So we took a force out, managed to stop them. We found a command centre covered in...something, still not quite sure what, but the Zerg had obviously taken it. When we destroyed it, Duke arrested Jim and his boys. When the Zerg launched a major attack on us, Duke told us they weren't going to help. The only people that were willing to extract everyone was the Sons of Korhol."

"The terrorist group? And you took them up on that offer?"

"It was that or watch everyone die."

Nova was silent for a moment and then said, "I guess I can understand that, but still. They're terrorists, murderers, barbarians."

"Their leader definitely is, though I only worked that out for certain earlier today. But most of the rest of them are just ordinary people that have lost too much to the Confederacy. Out in the fringe worlds, Nova, things have been bad and getting worse for a very long time. Your dad was about the only leader that was trying to change that, but he didn't have much luck."

I noticed her wince at that.

I continued. "Anyway, once we got out of there, got Jim and took what data we could find, Mengsk sent us to Antiga Prime, to help the colonists revolt. Jim and I met up with Kerrigan, you met her earlier too, then we managed to take control from the Confederates. Duke was in orbit at the time but the Zerg forced him to crash land not far from us. Mengsk ordered us to rescue him."

"Wait a second. He ordered you to rescue a Confederate _general_? Was he mad?"

"Most of us thought so, but Mengsk thought he would make for a powerful ally. I guess he was right, but I didn't trust him an inch."

"After Mar Sara, that's no surprise."

"Right. Anyway, things got worse after that."

"How?"

"The Confederates found us. They set up inside our perimeter and began their attack. Mengsk had apparently managed to decipher the data we took on Mar Sara. He said the Confederates had known about the Zerg for some time and had devised a means of luring them to a location. They had been luring the Zerg into several places as weapons tests, apparently Mar Sara being one of them. What we stole were the plans for the device used to do so, a Psi-Emitter."

"Please tell me you didn't..."

"I wish I could. Mengsk ordered Kerrigan and I to plant one in the middle of the Confederate base and used the chaos to escape before the Protoss wiped everything out."

Nova was silent, but the look of horror spoke volumes.

I said quietly, "Nova, it's not a decision I'm happy about or one that I can look on with pride. But at the time, we had little room for escape any other way and direct orders to place it. None of us were happy and we all made it clear to Mengsk."

She looked at me. "Jason, I'm not blaming you in the slightest. I just have trouble believing that all that my father strived for could result in something like this. This is not something I can believe he would have done. Using another race as weapons against his own people? That isn't -"

I interrupted. "Nova, I don't think he would have played a part in this. It's against everything that he stood for. He argued against the nuclear strike on Korhol, he would have played no part in this."

"I hope so," she replied.

We stayed quiet for a moment before she said, "That still doesn't explain how you got to Tarsonis."

"Duke and I led an assault on Tarsonis's central platform to clear out the defenses. What no one knew except Mengsk and Duke was that the intention was to place Psi-Emitters on the platform once the defenses were down. The rest of us were furious to say the least."

"My god. The Zerg were _lured_ here by Mengsk to destroy the Confederacy? I can't see how this gets any worse."

"I'm afraid it does. When the Protoss turned up, Mengsk flat out ordered Kerrigan and I to destroy them before they took out the Zerg."

Nova's expression had long gone past horror.

I gave her a tight smile. "By that point, I was getting very suspicious of Mengsk's intentions and even Jim and Sarah were starting to wonder. I managed to talk to them before the mission started and we agreed to try talking to the Protoss first. You saw how that turned out."

Nova nodded, a small smile beginning to reappear.

I went on. "Part way through the talks, the Zerg began rushing both positions and Kerrigan called for evac. Mengsk _refused_."

"What?"

"He told us to leave, I think he may have even sent marines to try and take control of my ship to stop us. When we did leave, he trued shooting us down, but didn't count on so many of his people not being willing to follow him anymore."

"He was willing to leave Kerrigan and an entire task force to the Zerg?"

"When we found them, our boys and the Protoss were fighting back to back. I don't think they would have lasted more than about another minute and that was only because we gave them something else to worry about. As it was, we got out of there just in time to see your little display and Duke activating the Ion Cannon. The rest you know."

Nova was silent for nearly a minute. I could see her struggling to keep her anger in check. Finally she spoke.

"I want in."

I blinked. "What?"

"You heard me. That bastard has taken everything I knew and turned it to ashes. I want to see him die. Preferably at my hand."

"Get in line, I think Kerrigan has first shot at him, with Jim, me and the rest of our people as well as the Protoss all wanting a piece of him. But-"

"You don't think I'm strong or old enough, do you?"

I grimaced. "No, I think you are capable of it, but that doesn't mean that you should. In any case, bringing Mengsk down right now isn't going to work. Regrettably we'll have to wait for our chance. Plus the Zerg are a bigger threat right now. But if you're determined to do this, then you are going to need some training and skills before you're ready."

Nova's face was made from steel. "Count on it."

I nodded. "Welcome to the Raiders."

* * *

><p>After showing Nova to her room, I went back to the tac room, finding Tassadar waiting for me. Nodding, I greeted him.<p>

"En Taro Adun, Tassadar. What do you think of our little ship?"

Tassadar chuckled. "I have never seen a Terran ship with such _Protoss_ attributes."

That confused me slightly. "Protoss attributes?"

He laughed. "This ship is both functional and flawless. Most Terran ships are far more utilitarian than their Protoss counterparts. I feel as at home here as on my own. Not to mention that you have quite the hidden striking power."

I smiled. "I see no point in warning an enemy of what they will face until necessary. As for the rest, a comfortable crew is an efficient crew. And I'd pit them against any crew in the sector and expect a decent show if not an outright win."

"Good. That is as it should be. What do you plan on doing next?"

"First things first. See how many people made it out, then work out what we need to do. After that, I think the Zerg are going to need to be our focus. Mengsk will have to keep."

"Agreed. They are a threat to all who live."

"No arguments here. What about your plans?"

"Right now, I am exiled from my people, but that doesn't mean that I can ignore their needs. I will continue to scout for the Zerg, try and work out their next plans. But what you have done today, I will not forget. If you require my aid, I will come."

"I appreciate that. Please let me know what you find. The Zerg won't stop until we are all dead. I'd rather fight together, than see us fall piece by piece. If you need us, just ask."

"I will, friend Davis. Get some rest, I fear we will all need it soon enough."

"Yeah," I replied. "Things are going to get worse before they get better I think."

* * *

><p>Finally I had a chance to return to my own quarters and get some rest myself. But there was one last surprise for the day. When I opened the door, Kerrigan was waiting. Her anger hadn't faded.<p>

"I was wondering how long it would take you to return."

As much as I liked and respected Kerrigan, my battle senses were on high alert at seeing her.

"Things to do, people to see. Can I help you with something?"

She stepped closer. "Do not even think about asking me to train that spoilt brat. I want nothing to do with her."

This was about _Nova? _My face hardened.

"Whether you like it or not Sarah, she is a friend of mine, as much as you and Jim. Her world has just been turned upside down, something I think you can relate to very well. You were happy to be the kind person that I know you are before. I can understand why you might not like her, but neither she, nor her family for that matter, are the monsters that I think you believe they are."

The only warning I had was a slight whistling as Sarah's hand shot towards my face. If I hadn't been expecting it, I would have been out for the count. Leaning back, I watched it miss by no more than an few millimetres. The anger on my face matched Sarah's now.

"You pissed off at me because I'm connected with them as well? Never mind the fact that I've spent my live trying to get away from anything to do with the Old Families, except the Terras I'll grant you. Never mind the fact that Jim and I have pulled your arse out of the fire more times then I care to remember. If that's how you feel, then you can get out. I'll get you on another ship as soon as we reach the rally point."

Somewhere in that vent, something must have got through to Sarah, as her face was beginning to soften and tears were starting to run. By this time however, I wasn't prepared to listen.

"You heard me. Get out."

Slowly, Sarah turned and walked out. I could see the pain and hurt in her movements but despite guilt beginning to sink in, I was still furious enough not to call her back. As the door closed behind her, I told Jess, "Jess, I don't want to be disturbed for anything short of a major catastophe for the next ten hours."

"Understood, Commander."

I turned out the light and waited for sleep to come.

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's Note)<strong>

**This was very hard to write and I've been short of time as well so sorry for taking so long to get this out. Now to reviews. **

**Firstly, thanks to izwan and Capo for being such dedicated reviewers. It is great to log on and see a review, but even better to see the same person reviewing over and over. Also thanks to those who are following and favouriting this, it makes writing a lot more enjoyable.**

**Secondly, yes Tassadar's fleet is with him, I really should have made that clearer. Hopefully that is clear now. Zeratul is coming and that should be fun to see too.**

**Thirdly, introducing Nova was hard and I didn't want to spend that much time on her then because I can't see how there would be the time in a battle. Hopefully that was remedied in this chapter. As for bringing her in so early, I think you may have a hint of why I did that, if not, next few chapters will make it very clear.**

**Next, Kerrigan's infestation, and yes she will be infested, is going to be a key part of this story. Is it going to be as tragic? Maybe. But powerful? You betcha. When the story gets to that point, I'm looking forward to setting it out, but I've got the basic ideas laid out and yes the Protoss will be there.**

**Finally, yes, a sword. Given that ghosts are using combat knifes, it's not hard for me to think that other troops are still using melee weapons, including swords. Given that this is the 25th Century, they may be more advanced and have a few more tricks but I think they have a place, especially against the likes of the Zerg, because let's face it; running out of ammo sucks when you're facing a Zerg charge.**

**Thanks to everyone reading this, please keep reviewing and I'll see you next time.**


	7. Dealing with the Aftermath

Heat.

Fire.

Zerg.

A thundering voice.

Despair.

* * *

><p>Sleep had not been the restful activity that I had hoped. Glancing at the clock, I realised I had barely managed 2 hours in the last day and a half. Jess's voice came over a private channel set up beside me, meaning I hadn't woken by myself.<p>

"I'm sorry to disturb you Commander, but Sarah Kerrigan is attempting to access your quarters."

"Define 'access'."

"She is hacking the door controls."

Sarah _hacking_ into my room? This didn't bode well.

"Give me 90 seconds, then let her think she succeeded."

Surprising a Ghost was extremely difficult, but I had two advantages. Firstly of course was that I knew Sarah was coming, even if I didn't know why. Secondly was the fact that the _Liberator_ was equipped with Psi-Screens which could be activated ship wide or room by room. I usually preferred to sleep with mine off-line, but after the last few days I wanted some privacy in my head, so I'd activated the screen in my room. These together meant that Sarah would have no idea I was waiting for her until she physically sensed me or I let her know. Moving quickly, I rigged up a dummy in the bed, grabbed my pistol and waited out of sight. Barely 5 seconds later, the door slid open and Kerrigan slipped in. She moved quickly but quietly to sit beside the bed and simply waited. Looking at her, her body language spoke of anguish and despair. I decided to take pity on her, after all she had just had the day from hell.

"Exactly how long were you planning on sitting there?"

I've never seen anyone jump so badly. Ok, maybe not taking _that_ much pity on her.

Flicking on the lights revealed Sarah's expression of shock and horror. "How long have you been there?" she nearly screamed.

"Only a few seconds actually. I barely got set up and out of sight before you finished hacking my door."

She did have the good grace to look ashamed. "I'm sorry about that but when Jess told me you weren't to be disturbed I assumed that it meant you just didn't want to talk to me."

"And you were determined to talk to me anyway? Without waiting? Must be serious." I sat down and looked at her. "So what is important enough to hack my door at 2 o'clock in the morning?"

"I talked to Nova."

That was not something I had expected, although thinking about it made me realise it was quite logical. But I still wasn't going to make her life easy just yet.

"I thought you wanted nothing to do with that 'spoilt brat'."

"I thought over what you said about her and I. And while Jim and I know you quite well since we met, I imagined that she would know you better, especially earlier on. I was curious, I know that you are a fairly good judge of character and you were arguing in her favour quite intensely. It was something I thought I needed to do."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, maybe there was more to it than that. When we...finished our discussion, I realised that you had a point about Nova. You taught me that first impressions are rarely wrong and I did like Nova before I knew who she was. Once I had a chance to find out more about her and her family, I realised that judging people by their name instead of their actions is a great way to make a lot of mistakes."

As I switched off the Psi-screen, I grinned to myself. Sarah admitting mistakes? Who was this woman and what had she done with Sarah Kerrigan?

"I heard that," she growled.

"Good." I replied. "I wouldn't want to have to repeat myself."

Sarah couldn't hide a smile at that. "You usually use a Psi-Screen?"

"No, but there's a lot to think over right now, it was supposed to help. Besides, with so many ghosts on the ship and my head being the mess that it is, it seemed best."

"Your head being a mess?"

I shook my head. "Long story and I don't want to talk about it right now."

She reached out and took my hand. "I'm sorry for how I was yesterday. When you are ready to talk, I'll be waiting."

I smiled at her. "I appreciate that."

Just then, Jess's voice came over the comm. "Commander, we are ten minutes out from the rally point."

Standing, I replied, "Thanks Jess. Bring us to full readiness. I'll be up shortly."

Sarah had stood too and was looking at me. "I'll get Jim and meet you up there." Stepping in close, she gave me a kiss on the cheek and a firm hug. "Don't let anyone change you, Jason."

"Never give up, never give in. That's my motto." I whispered back.

* * *

><p>As I settled in to the pilot's chair, letting the system reports wash over me, I was thinking over what had happened in the last few days. Between the invasion of Tarsonis, the debacle at New Gettysburg, linking up with the Protoss to escape and rescuing Sarah and Nova, it had been a busy period. Assuming that I was able to sort through all of that, there was still working out what to do about Mengsk and the Zerg, how to keep the forces we had functional and expanding where possible and working out how to coordinate with the Protoss. After all of that, I still had these blasted dreams to work out.<p>

As Jess began the countdown to arrival, I settled back into the present and concentrated on what needed to be done. As we dropped out of warp, sensors quickly confirmed that we had no unexpected visitors. The _Cormorant_ dropped out just ahead and right, while the _Thunder Child_ dropped out in a similar position to the right, with the rest of the Terran fleet arriving behind the _Liberator. _Below us, the Protoss fleet also quickly emerged, forming up into battle positions.

"All ships report safe arrival, Commander." My comms officer reported.

"Get the fleet into geostationary orbit." I ordered. "Inform the captains that there will be a fleet-wide conference in 2 hours."

Turning to Tassadar, I continued, "Executor, I'd be honoured if you and your commanders wished to attend as well."

Tassadar nodded. "I will inform them immediately. I will return to my ship and make the necessary arrangements."

Bowing, the Executor was surrounded by a blue glow as he warped back to his own ship. As he disappeared, Jim shook his head as he entered the cockpit. "Not sure I'm ever going to get used to that."

"I know what you mean." I replied.

Behind him, Sarah and Nova looked out the viewport at the frozen world below us. Nova asked, "So where exactly are we?"

"Kaldir. It's on star charts but no one has been crazy enough to colonise it. It's a safe point for us at the moment and I don't plan on staying long."

"Bit of an unusual place, don't you think?" Sarah commented.

"That's the idea. No reason for anyone to come here."

* * *

><p>With the fleet having a chance to do some quick repairs and testing now that they weren't needing to use their engines for more than orbit stabilising, things got busy very fast. Fortunately the <em>Liberator<em> had taken very little damage at Tarsonis, so we were one of the first to finish. All, however, managed to have their captains available for the conference in time. As I began to upload the tactical data, I recognised several of the captains, Matt Horner among them as well as the _Cormorant's_ captain, Michael Adams. Also represented were Tassadar and several of his lieutenants.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, before we can begin discussing our immediate plans, does anyone have any concerns we should address?"

Silence greeted my question, normally a good sign with the people here. If there was a problem, the group gathered here would voice it loud and clear.

"Right. In that case, we need to work out exactly how we can best counter Mengsk and the Zerg."

"If that's what we're planning, then we need a lot more people and ships." Adams objected.

"Yep, and we know just where to get them."

Sarah took over. "It appears that Mengsk is sending a sizeable portion of the fleet, including the _Norad II_, to the Dylarian Shipyards for repairs and refitting. It's an ideal chance to relieve Mengsk of many of his ships and put them to better use."

More than a few whistles could be heard at this. Stealing the ships would be a major coup for us.

Jim spoke up next. "Obviously we will need a lot of people to run them, as well as being able to operate on the ground. Mengsk also appears to be sending militias that object to following him to be imprisoned at New Folsom. Liberating them and some of the other prisoners would give us the people to run our operations."

That was a very difficult task. I had done several stints at both Dylar and New Folsom and was well aware of the defenses at both bases. But while an army might be able to breach the shipyards, it would break like water on rock at New Folsom. Kerrigan would be a must for that operation, and likely Jim and I would have to land personally as well.

"That's not going to be easy, sir." Captain Ryan of the _Athena_ said, echoing my thoughts.

"True, but we probably have a good enough team to pull it off. Plus we have a few tricks up our sleeve." I replied. "In addition to those operations, I want to send a detachment to assist the Protoss in their hunt for the Zerg. For all of these, we need better intel than we have. There is a large degree of confusion right now, but it won't last forever. We need to move quickly but not necessarily straight away."

"If I may interrupt?" One of the Protoss commanders said, who I remembered had been introduced as Master Selendis, despite being female.

"By all means."

"Executor Tassadar has requested Master Tamsir and myself to remain with you to assist in whatever way possible. Among Tamsir's forces are a large number of Observers, similar to your Science Vessels, although they are without offensive functions or crew, but with a permanent cloak. These would be ideal for scouting out the targets I would imagine."

Grinning, Jim replied, "Definitely. We'd even be able to leave them in place for the attack."

I added, "Agreed. Much appreciated, Selendis. So we need teams to recon both the shipyards and New Folsom. Captain Morris, you'll lead the Dylar scouting team with the _Ouroboros_ while Captain Ryan leads the team to New Folsom. Master Tamsir, if you could please provide a squad of observers to accompany each task force, I'd appreciate it. I expect regular reports from each of you."

As I gave the orders, I was sending private messages to Adams, Matt, Captain Collins of the _Hammer_ and Selendis, instructing them to remain when the others were dismissed. As each of them nodded, I continued.

"Captain Jackson, I'm sending the _Thunder Child _and the rest of your task force to assist Executor Tassadar. Assist in their operations and evacuate any civilians in the Zerg's path if at all possible. The rest of the fleet will be taking up positions so we can strike at both targets in as short a time as possible. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads as I had hoped. It was after all a simple enough operation at this point.

"Very well. I want everyone to be under way in 4 hours. Dismissed."

As the Captains' images began to wink out, those I had asked to remain waited. Quickly sending a message to ask Nova to come in, I turned to Collins. "Captain, the _Liberator_ and _Cormorant_ will not be accompanying the rest of the fleet, nor will Master Selendis and her forces. If anyone asks, we are conducting Intel gathering runs to establish the degree of resistance to Mengsk and his rule."

"Understood, sir. Do I want to know where you'll actually be?"

"Probably not at the moment. I leave the fleet in your good hands until our return."

"Yes sir."

Collins' image faded just before Nova walked in, looking slightly confused. Turning to the remaining people present, I continued.

"The reason I asked you to remain is that there is another possibility for acquiring ships and personnel that I want to explore."

Bringing up the tactical display to show a deep space station, I began to explain. "This is _Terra Firma_, a classified mobile shipyard that was operated under orders from the Terra family. Most of the Confederacy and the Old Families are not aware that the station exists. The current commanding officer of the station is an old friend of mine, back from when we were both assigned to the Terras. I'm hoping that with Nova's help, we may be able to convince him to join us."

"Seems like a lot of effort to go to to secure one station. What's so special about it?" Matt asked.

Nova answered, "The station is at the forefront of ship technology. They have a number of highly experiment ships and systems there. Their researching and production capability is among the best that can be found."

I continued, "It's where I designed the _Liberator_ and where she was built. At the very least, I imagine there will be some more Stingray-class gunships in dry dock there, although I think there will be a lot more than that."

"Does Mengsk know about it?" Sarah asked.

"I don't believe so but I can't be sure, hence why I'm keeping this information so restricted. Even so, he'll learn about it sooner or later."

"So why do you wish my assistance?" Selendis asked.

"If all goes well, we won't need to call you. But if they are under attack or start shooting at us, then we'll need a lot of firepower, and I can't be sure that Mengsk hasn't slipped a spy into our forces. I need people I can trust for this."

"But you trust them enough for the other ops?" Jim asked.

"While they are important, they aren't as sensitive as this, and they don't know that much about them anyway."

"So what's the plan? We just show up and ask to talk?" Nova asked.

"Unless you have a better idea. Selendis, I'll need your forces to wait at the outskirts of the system and only come in when we're ready. I don't think it will help our cause if we show up with an obvious Protoss fleet."

"A fair point." Selendis agreed.

"Sounds like a plan." Sarah said. "Let's go get ourselves a shipyard."

* * *

><p>Watching as the rest of the fleet warped out to their various destinations, I was happy with the way that we had covered our tracks. We had warped out ahead of the fleet, but only travelled a few million kilometres, before moving out of the way of the fleet. It wouldn't be until the main fleet reached the assembly point that our absence would be discovered, far too late for anyone to attempt to follow us. Opening a channel to the remaining ships, I instructed, "All ships, set course for the Braxis system and proceed exactly 12.34 light years. At that point, Selendis, your forces need to drop out of warp, while the <em>Liberator <em>and _Cormorant_ continue on for another 1.5 billion kilometres."

Acknowledgements were quick to arrive. Jim, looking over the Navi-Com, turned to me with an expression of shock. "The _Shiloh_ system?"

"Thought you'd recognise it quickly enough."

"Why would you park a top secret Confederate base there?"

"No one's looking for it. Like I said, it's mobile so it's not like it stays there."

"In fact, it was in the Sara system until the Zerg showed up." Nova added.

"Now you're kidding. The Sara system?" Sarah asked.

"Why not? No shortage of resources there and not much reason for people to be travelling through every part of it. I knew quite well that not everything that system produced was accounted for. That's because it went to _Terra Firma_." I replied

"You know this sounds almost insane."

"As insane as what we've had to do to get this far?"

"I said almost insane."

I grinned. "Well, it's only a short jump so get ready guys."

The jump, as promised, took very little time and soon enough Selendis and her forces dropped out, ready to back us up if needed. 90 seconds later, the _Liberator_ dropped out, the _Co__rmorant _barely a second later. Ahead of us was empty space.

"So where is it?" Jim asked.

"Cloaked, I imagine. Standard procedure." I replied. "Jess, transmit code sequence Delta-5 directly ahead at our lowest power setting."

"Beginning transmission."

We waited as we continued cruising ahead.

"Well, well, well. What did the cat drag in this time?" A voice suddenly said over the comm.

"I know that voice." Jim said quietly.

I glanced at him, slightly surprised, then turned back to the open comm. "The latest newsfeed, Colonel, or have you actually been listening to the news?"

"You know I can't be bothered listening to that crap." The voice over the comm dropped several degrees in temperature. "You got a lot of balls showing your face around here again."

"And you know damn well that I wouldn't without a damn good reason. Maybe you should get out and about once in a while. A lot has changed."

"Oh aye, you abandon the Confederacy, turn your back on everything you gave your live to, and show up working for that bastard Mengsk."

"Believe me, it's not one of my finest decisions. But it was right at the time. If I hadn't, then everyone on Mar Sara would have been dead. If it wasn't for Raynor and I-"

"Raynor? You working with that son of a bitch too?"

I blinked, then glanced at Jim. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah." Jim replied. He stepped forward and spoke into the comm. "Hello Butler, been a long time."

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's Note)<strong>

**Well this turned out slightly differently to how I was planning. I'm interested to see what people's reactions are. A couple of things I'll explain right now.  
><strong>

**Yes, I know Selendis was Artanis's student, but she fits better than anyone else here, so I'm ignoring canon for her.**

**For those who don't know, Butler was a Marshal that was intent on catching Raynor and Tychus. I'm making him a Colonel here for the same reason as Selendis, he fits better.**

**As for whether Sarah knew Mengsk was part of the Old Families, I'm assuming yes but had enough time with him to be swayed by him. She is still going to hate the Confederacy on principle.  
><strong>

**As for Nova, expect to see a lot of her in the next couple of chapters.**

**Please keep reviewing and thank you.**


	8. An Old Friend

"Raynor." Butler hissed. "Come to give yourself up?"

I held up a hand to stop Jim's angry reply, even though I was curious about the history between the two men. "Colonel, can we put that aside for a minute? There's a lot at stake right now and we don't really have time for arguments."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow you out of the sky."

"Have you ever known me to exaggerate about a threat before?"

There was silence on the other end.

"The Zerg are in the process of wiping us all out, and even if they don't, we have Mengsk running things now. We both know that he'll be like the Confederacy but without the heart. Our best chance right now is working together."

Again, silence was the response. Finally Butler spoke. "All right, I'll clear you to land, but only the _Liberator_. That friend of yours stays out there."

"Got it."

"Follow the beacon in to Bay 94. I'm sure you remember the drill."

I snorted. "Of course. You won't regret this old friend."

"We'll see," came the cynical reply before the comm was cut.

"Well, that went well." Nova commented.

"Yeah." I replied, bringing the _Liberator_ around onto the bearing provided. "You guys read all that?" I asked Adams.

"Yeah we got it. You sure about this sir?"

"Doesn't look like we have much choice. Stay alert. I don't expect trouble but doesn't hurt to be careful."

"You got it."

As I cut the comm, we passed through the cloaking shield, getting our first look at _Terra_ _Firma_. To say the others were impressed was an understatement. But then, given the station was roughly the size of a large asteroid, that was not exactly surprising.

"How the hell was the Confederacy able to build something like this without people knowing?" Sarah asked.

"By keeping it away from everyone. It's really quite amazing how empty space is." Nova replied.

"You would have thought that the resources and manpower needed to build and run this place would make someone pay attention." Jim argued.

"Sure. But you give everyone a false trail." I replied. "One of the first systems they brought online were the engines, followed shortly by the cloaking systems. Ever since, they were moving the station all the time. No one ever realised that they were going to the same station. Not to mention that much of the station was automated even during construction and supplies were collected by a transport rather than being taken to the station directly."

"Clever. Still makes me mad considering the resources this took that could have been used elsewhere, but clever."

"At least we might have a chance to put it to good use."

As we landed inside Bay 94, I could see troops assembling outside. I turned back to Sarah and Jim.

"You might want to suit up. No reason to take chances."

"Right." Sarah replied before both Jum and her turned to leave.

"Nova, I want you to stay inside for the moment. I'd rather not put you at risk." I said, looking at her seriously.

She glared at me but didn't object.

As soon as the _Liberator_ was down, I walked to the cargo ramp, meeting Jim and Sarah there.

"You not suiting up?" Jim asked.

I shook my head. "Don't want to appear too spooked or threatening. Not like I'm going unarmed though."

As the ramp lowered, I walked down it, Jim and Sarah flanking me. At the base stood Butler, with a sizeable squad of marines guarding him. To no-one's surprise, he spoke first.

"So you actually are working with Raynor. I wasn't sure you could sink any lower. How did you end up teaming up with him anyway?"

"He was one of my marshals on Mar Sara, he's helped me save a lot of lives. Mind explaining to me how you know each other?"

"You mean he hasn't told you?"

I glanced at Jim. He grimaced before speaking.

"Before I came to Mar Sara, I spent a lot of time on the run after the Confederates stitched me up. Butler was perhaps the most determined of my pursurers."

"Pity you had to rely on others so much." Butler spat. "I put your old pal Tychus in New Folsom, but I'm sure they can find you a cell next to him."

Jim's eyes flashed, but it was Sarah who spoke next.

"I'd be careful about who you threaten."

"And who are you, his bit of skirt?"

I couldn't help it, I laughed. "You do know you're pissing off the deadliest Ghost ever, right Colonel?"

Butler's eyes narrowed as Sarah's glare focused on him. "You're joking. You got _Sarah Kerrigan_ to join up? I thought she was loyal to that bastard Mengsk."

"Getting abandoned tends to make you question a few things." I replied.

"Abandoned? You're one to talk. You turned your back on everything-."

"It was that or watch people die, people that I was responsible for. Tell me that you would just walk away."

"There's a reason we have the law, it's what separates us from the crooks, like that friend of yours there."

"Leave Jim out of this." I spat.

"Oh I don't think so. I'm going to enjoy putting him away." Butler smiled.

Without any conscious though, I stepped in between Jim and Butler, Sarah mirroring me.

"Then you will go through us." Sarah said, weapon raised.

Butler's marines raised their own weapons. For my part, I kept my hands free. I wasn't keen on provoking a fight.

"Are you really so blind, Colonel? Focussing on petty grudges while the sector burns?

"He's a criminal, so are you now. It's that simple. I'm sorry old friend, but I have no choice."

"Sarah, Jason, please." Jim interrupted. "Just-"

"Just what?" Sarah snarled. "Just let him take you, kill you? After all we've been through? I don't think so."

Before anyone could say anything, a flash of energy threw Butler and his men back. I spun, looking at Kerrigan, only to see her wide-eyed and stunned. I realised that she hadn't done anything. But then who...

"Enough!" Nova's voice suddenly shouted.

Ah. That's who. But how had she gained enough control to do that?

Turning, I could see her walking down the ramp, fury blazing in her eyes and every step taken showing the aristocrat that she was born. Butler had frozen at the sight of her. I couldn't in all honesty blame him. Her voice rang with anger and every word stabbed.

"After everything the two of you have been through Wilkes, you're ready to just turn your back? Following orders is fine and dandy, but when it gets people killed, you should be questioning them. Sometimes you got to stand up for what you believe. When did you last believe in something other than orders?"

Butler was stunned. Finally he managed to speak. "Nova, what are you doing here?"

"You mean aside from kicking some sense into your arse?"

I intervened before either could go off any further. "We picked Nova up on Tarsonis."

"What, you kidnapped her?" Butler snarled. "Have you forgotten how decent a man Constantino is? You-"

Nova stepped forward, placing a hand on my chest, which was probably just as well. I was perilously close to losing my own temper.

"If it wasn't for these three, I'd be as dead as my family." She said, clearly having trouble controlling her own anger.

Somehow, those words sunk into Butler's skull.

"Wait," Butler said. "Your family's dead?"

"Yeah." Nova said, her anger fading.

"How?" He breathed.

"A group of rebels broke into our house, with help from Edward Peters."

That name I recognised. Peters had worked for the Terras while Butler and I were part of the security team. We knew that he had been a lover to Nova's mother. But neither of us had had much to do with him, although we hadn't been impressed by him.

"They cornered everyone, then executed them. I got there just as they killed Dad." Nova managed to get out.

"But then how did you survive?"

Nova wasn't capable of answering, so I replied. "She used her psionics unconsciously, levelled everything within about 4 blocks. We saw it as we headed for the Ion Cannon, decided to investigate and managed to find her just before Duke's men took her."

"Duke?" Butler asked.

"Long story."

He looked at me seriously before waving for his men to lower their weapons. "We seem to have some time."

* * *

><p>It took around an hour to go through precisely what had happened in one of the private meeting rooms, but at the end, Butler was finally convinced that we had made the right choice. He was furious about Duke though. "Wish you'd left that son of a bich to die."<p>

"Would have loved to, but Mengsk was pretty clear. Didn't really have the option and didn't have the time to kill him when we left." I replied.

"Fair enough. So how did Raynor end up working for you?"

"About the time you got called back into the military, Mike Hammond, my predecessor cleared Jim's record and appointed him as a Marshal. I never saw a reason to replace him, he did a damn good job. Never had to draw his gun on the job."

"Have to say I was relieved when I heard you were called back to service though, Butler. Didn't fancy running into you every year." Jim smiled.

"Can't say I blame you. I don't trust you Raynor. But since both Jason and Nova do, I'll wait and see what happens and hope that I don't regret it."

Jim nodded. "Good enough for me."

Butler turned back to me. "So I'm assuming you're planning on teaming up together."

I nodded. "The Zerg are burning a swath, Mengsk is hunting down everything that is a threat to him or that he can use. We need people and resources, you need someone who can help defend you. Sounds like a good matchup to me."

"Me too. So what do you need?"

"Did the Stingray project ever get off the ground?"

"Sure did. Got the go-ahead 8 months ago. Two are ready to enter service and 12 more are well on their way."

"Good, that will give us an edge. What else you been up to?"

"You remember the Temeraire and Thylacine projects?"

My eyes widened. Both projects had just been suggested when I retired. The Temeraire was a massively upgraded siege tank, while the Thylacine made all battle cruisers look like toys. Both were very expensive though and I couldn't see how they could have been approved.

"You know I do."

"We got orders to move them to the prototype stage a few months back. Both are about 2 weeks off of completion. I actually heard rumours they were going to get you to test run them."

"News to me, I could never see how they could get through the bureaucracy."

"Well somehow they did."

"Something to think about. Let's get the Stingrays ready to deploy and you'll need to relocate again I think."

"Always something, isn't there?"

Nova snorted. "As you'd have it any other way."

Any reply was cut off as the station's battle alerts flared into life. Butler raced for the comm, while I keyed my own for the _Cormorant_. "What's going on out there?"

Matt's voice came back, and the news wasn't good. "Sir we've got incoming company."

I spun to look at the tactical display Butler had just brought up. Sure enough, there was a lot of signals heading straight for us. One glance was enough to see who was here.

The Zerg. In force.

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's Note)<strong>

**This was tricky to write, particularly the interaction between Butler, Nova and Raynor. It took a while for me to be happy with it.**

**Review notes:**

**1. Scorpion, one thing I'll ask you to keep in mind is that the main character is a veteran warrior. He might have finished his military career as a colonel, but he certainly didn't start there. I've always believed there were two types of leaders; those who lead from in behind, like a regrettably large number of today's leaders, and those who lead from the front. The main is definitely one of the latter and as such knows that he needs to be able to fight effectively on the front lines. I'm thinking that it would be reasonable to assume that he became such a good shot early on, maybe by training but more likely from long years of experience. Even as a Magistrate, I can seem him taking an hour or so a day to shoot, maybe as a way to relax and get away from the day's work. It's his way of unwinding, but usefully. It's also hard to imagine that he hasn't had a lot of practice since the Zerg invasion. I agree with you about Jim, but considering he was obviously an sufficiently good shot that Blizzard gave him a high powered sniper rifle in one mission, I don't think it's impossible that the main is as good or better, considering he is more experienced in my mind. While I'm going to do some scenes with him using both rifle and sword, he will not be as experienced or as good with the sword. Ultimately, I prefer writing space battles and his sharpshooting skills can still come into play in these. I prefer to think of this guy as a very good warrior but a better tactician.**

**2. At the moment, I know that there has not been much mention of casualties or my main's reaction to them. Given the style of tactics that I, and so my main, likes to use, i.e. bunker down and then use overwhelming force, at this point there haven't been any real casualties, especially since Kerrigan and Tassadar teamed up rather than fighting. That is about to change big time, so be warned.**

**3. As for Jim and Butler, all I can say is that I hope what is in this chapter helps to explain their dynamic. It's also important to remember that Raynor was only the Marshal for the Mar Sara wastelands, or at least that is how I have understood it. **

**4. As for updating, I do so as often as possible, but between a full time job, studying and writing most of this by phone, it takes me a while to get it out. Just have some patience please and I'll do my best.**


	9. And An Old Enemy

Spinning around, I asked Butler, "How long until you can get to warp?"

"An hour, at best," was the reply.

Looking at the tactical display, we didn't have half of that. Then it struck me. The _Cormorant_ had to be out of range of the Zerg sensing abilities. So what had them completely ignoring Shiloh and its forces and coming straight for us?

I shook it off. As important a question as it was, there was no time to consider it right now. Remembering the open link, I ordered, "Matt, launch your fighters, get the _Cormorant _on board and get the civilians off and anything else you can. When she goes back out, I don't want you on it. We've got a pair of Stingrays here that are ready to fly and I want you on one of them. I'll send Lieutenant Wythes to meet you."

Matt quickly acknowledged and signed off as I turned to Sarah and Jim, two of the only people with experience flying a Stingray. "Think you two can handle the other one?"

A grin crossed Sarah's face, despite the seriousness of the situation. "What kind of a question is that?"

I grinned back. "Alright. Butler, can you get someone to show them to one of the Stingrays? I'll leave my co-pilot behind to show Matt to the other one."

He nodded grimly. Calling to Nova to follow, I took off at a sprint, contacting Jess as I went. "Jess, get the _Liberator_ spun up and everyone to battle stations. Tell Wythes that I want her and Matt flying one of the new Stingrays. She needs to meet him when the _Cormorant_ lands."

"Understood, we'll be ready to lift as soon as you arrive."

Not wasting time or energy acknowledging, I switched channels. "Selendis, do you read me?"

Her telepathic voice came back gratifyingly quickly. "Loud and clear, Commander. I assume you have seen the Zerg."

"You might say that. What exactly are we looking at?"

"Our sensors detect several massive organisms, larger than any of our ships. Scourge and mutalisks are spawning from them at speed. Overlords are massing ahead of them. So far they seem to be concentrating only on your position. The planet's defence forces are launching but they are so far ignored by the Zerg."

So we were definitely the target. But why? "Have you been detected?"

"If we have, the Zerg are completely ignoring us too."

"That's unlikely in the extreme. All right, hold your position for the moment and if you can, see if you can quietly make contact with the Terran forces on Shiloh. They may be willing to help and we need everyone we can get."

"As you wish."

Selendis's reply came just as Nova and I ran up the _Liberator's_ ramp. As promised, Jess had the ship ready to lift as we raced into the cockpit. With my co-pilot absent, I directed Nova into the co-pilot's chair as I slid into the pilot's seat. She at least had flying experience and some shooting skill, and right now, I needed someone who was able to keep up. As the _Liberator_ lifted off and out into space, I keyed for a tactical display and ordered the fighters to launch. What I saw wasn't good news. Half a dozen of the massive organisms Selendis had mentioned. I designated them as leviathans on the display. Ahead of them, overlords were spreading out, while scourge and mutalisks were pouring out of the leviathans. At the moment there were about 1000 scourge and 600 mutalisks, but more were emerging all the time.

"Jess, how long until we intercept the Zerg?"

"The Zerg forces will be on us in 15 minutes 40 seconds."

"Estimate total Zerg forces deployed by that time, assuming current rate of deployment."

"Zerg forces will consist of 6 leviathans and approximately 4000 scourge and 2400 mutalisks."

Against that, our best case situation would give us 3 battle cruisers, 3 stingray class gunships, the _Cormorant_ (while a capable warship, it was still a refitted merchant ship), _Terra Firma_ itself and 40 squadrons of wraiths, if the local defence forces would team up with us. We also had Selendis's dozen carriers, and 20 squadrons of Scouts. The few Science Vessels and Observers we had might help to spot threats and had some mild offensive functions but wouldn't be really be able to help much. It wasn't hard to see we were outnumbered very badly. That was something we would have to remedy fairly quickly. The most obvious threat were the massive leviathans, with their spawning forces constantly, if we could take them out quickly, we would stand a chance. Seeing the two stingrays emerging and deploying their own wraiths, with the station's fighters coming up behind, I began to organise the fleet into an attack formation.

"Stingrays, take up triangle formation. All fighters, form up by squadrons on the Stingrays, cross X formation."

What this resulted in was the three stingrays holding positions in the corners of a triangle, each with 8 squadrons of fighters trailing back, giving each ship room to both fly and fight, but allowing for the entire fleet to mass fire against a target. So far the Zerg were not particularly massing in front of the leviathans yet. Time to punish them for that.

Just then, Selendis's voice came back over the comm. "Commander, the Terran defence forces have agreed to assist. They are heading for your position."

"Tell them not to warp into range until I give the order. When I do, I want both of you to hit their rear flanks. Make it a short, sharp stab, do not stand and fight, do some damage and jump back out."

"Understood."

Continuing, I gave orders to the fleet. "Full power to forward shields. Fighters, prepare for point defence. Stingrays, bring all forward batteries to bear on targets designated leviathans and set for maximum damage. Stand by to slave targeting and weapons systems to the _Liberator_. All ships, maintain course and speed until otherwise ordered."

The acknowledgements came back quickly, although Sarah and Matt were somewhat confused, not understanding exactly what I had in mind for them. I smiled, that was fine with me.

"And Jess?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"Get me a Lynx."

"Commencing calculations."

Nova looked at me in confusion. "A Lynx?"

A Lynx was an unusual battle tactic that I had devised when the Stingray project first got serious, since the Stingrays didn't have Yamato Cannons. Focusing fire on a single target was a long utilised firing technique, but Lynx took it a step further. The idea was based off an old astronomical technique that allowed astronomers to see more faint objects by linking telescopes over distances to simulate a much larger telescope. Lynx took the idea and turned it around. By using multiple laser cannons all focusing on the same point to create a single beam, the resulting damage and range from the strike was equivalent to that of a much larger laser strike, far more than the sum of the original laser strikes. I had experimented with the idea when I first got the _Liberator_ but never expanded it to include multiple ships.

The problems with it were difficult, although not impossible, to overcome. It required not only highly precise shooting, but also precise timing and flying that was just as demanding. The position and speeds of the ships involved in creating the beam had to be known at all times, and the beams needed to meet at precisely the right moment for the effect to work. It also required a large amount of space and was best used at large, slow or non-moving targets or at least at right angles to the beam. Such situations were very rare on the battlefield, but since the Zerg had gifted us an opportunity, it would be crazy not to try it. For it to really work required a powerful AI coordinating the attack and both firing and targeting systems on the ships involved slaved to a single ship with the AI, both of which were available.

I smiled at Nova. "You'll see."

"I get the feeling I'm going to like this."

"Yep, I think you probably will."

We waited as Jess ran through the calculations, it took time, one thing we were rapidly running out of. Finally, she reported, "Calculations complete. All ships are slaved to firing control. Lynx is ready to fire."

I grinned. "Designate leviathans as primary targets and shift fire as required. Engage at will."

The Zerg were in for one hell of a shock.

* * *

><p>On all three Stingrays, the batteries that could bear on the leviathans, 8 per ship, sent out a single burst of fire. Each was quite powerful in its own right but when they all met up, they became significantly more deadly. For each ship, the direction the merged beam took was essentially the same as the subsidiary beams, so there was more allowance for the timing. When these beams from each ship met however, the timing was far more critical as the desired direction was much more different. With Jess running things however, everything worked perfectly. All of which meant we had a front row seat to some major fireworks.<p>

The combined beam stabbed towards the Zerg, a group of scourge being unlucky enough to be directly in its path. They were vaporised without the beam losing any real power. The beam continued to cut through the Zerg forces until it reached the target leviathan. I wasn't sure exactly how much armour that monstrosity had, but it was instantly clear that it wasn't enough. Not _nearly_ enough. The leviathan was completely blown away by the beam, although the beam did run out of energy in the process. Utter shock filled the cockpit and the channels, and the Zerg seemed taken aback. I smiled. It was nice to see something work, although even I hadn't expected it to be quite so effective.

It took around 20 seconds for the cannons to be capable of firing once more and the result was just as spectacular the second time around. Finally the Zerg seemed to wake up and respond, all of them speeding up, the leviathans all forming a single file and increasing the rate in which they launched flyers, with the rest of their forces staying as far away as possible. They knew we'd take the leviathans down long before we came within their range, so were trying to ensure they had as many forces left to hit us. They were also spreading out, obviously attempting to avoid presenting such a tempting target. It was also interesting that they were not attempting to retreat, suggesting that they were particularly interested in something. No real time to work out why now.

The leviathans were destroyed after a few minutes, but they had managed to launch a sizeable force of smaller flyers, still sufficient to outnumber us, although the odds were a lot closer. So, time to change tactics again.

"Jess, release control of the stingrays."

"Yes, Commander."

I opened a channel to the fleet. "Good work. All ships, ready missiles and prepare for close engagement. Selendis, you are cleared to engage."

"Understood. Thanks for the opening."

"Our pleasure."

Jim's voice came over the comm. "Exactly how long have you had _that_ up your sleeve?"

I grinned. "It's been rattling around in my head for a while, but that was the first time I put it into action on that scale. Why, you like it?"

Sarah's voice came back, "Ah yeah, we like that. Pity we didn't get to pull the trigger though."

"Ask Selendis nicely and she may leave you something to shoot." Jim chuckled.

"Don't worry about that, I think there's going to be more than enough for everyone." I replied, watching as Selendis's combined terran and protoss fleets jumped the Zerg from behind. The Zerg were still confused by the sudden turn of events, but were still managing to quickly turn to deal with them. Even with their numbers being far less than they hoped, Selendis wasn't going to be able to do much damage to them. Still she'd be able to break their momentum towards us, which might just be enough.

Maybe if we could keep them turning...

"On my mark, all ships are to jump to within 2km of the Zerg and fire full salvoes. Be ready to jump out again on my signal."

I waited a few more seconds, allowing the Zerg to commit to battling Selendis and fully turning away from us.

"Mark."

Nova hit the warp switch, jumping us forward. Within a second, we had come well within firing range of the Zerg. The sudden hesitation was obvious, as the Zerg realised that once again, they had a threat behind them. But between Selendis's interceptors and scouts reaping havoc, and the terran battle cruisers and wraiths unloading hell, they also had to deal with forces in front of them. So far, we hadn't taken losses but a prolonged engagement would change that.

"Fire all missiles, target the scourge first. Selendis, be ready to jump out."

"Understood."

At the moment, we are all holding back from breaking the Zerg lines, we needed to trim their numbers first. Keeping them off balance was key, which meant hit and run attacks for the moment. The missile salvoes were breaking them up and doing damage, but sooner or later the Zerg would mass and charge one of us, at which point, everything would have to change.

"Selendis, jump now."

With a flicker of motion, Selendis and her Terran allies jumped away, leaving the Zerg with nothing in front of them. Surprisingly, they also jumped away.

"Selendis, you see the Zerg near you anywhere?"

"No, Commander. They didn't turn and charge you?"

"Seemingly not."

What did they have in mind? Zerg never fled from a fight, so if they weren't here or attacking Selendis, where were they? Unless...

"All ships, jump forward for a half second, then reverse course."

Quickly, each of the ships moved forward, the _Liberator_ was the last and about to jump when a call came over the channel.

"Hey, wait for us!" Adam's voice.

Glancing at the scanners, I saw that the _Cormorant_ had at last arrived, having unloaded its passengers and cargo. I also saw a number of warp signatures appearing behind it, but too big for the wraiths that might have been accompanying it. It took no more than a second to understand and another two to key the comm.

"Adams, get out of there!"

As I yelled at the comm, the Zerg raced out of warp, appearing directly behind the _Cormorant. _A flight of Scourge immediately veered towards her.

"Incoming!" Nova's voice called.

The rest of the Zerg were heading for us. I glanced at the displays again and the horrible truth hit me.

The Zerg had cut us off from the _Cormorant_ so we couldn't help them escape. Having just emerged from warp, they would also need a few seconds to reset and charge their drive. But the Zerg were already too close for them to have the time.

There was no way to save the _Cormorant._

Adams had come to the same conclusion. "Get out of here, sir!"

There was no choice, but that didn't mean it was easy to make it.

"I'm sorry." I replied, reaching for the warp switch.

Even as I pressed it, and the _Liberator _leapt forward, the scourge rammed the _Cormorant._ All I saw was the multiple detonations, replaced by the blinding flash as the mighty ship, with all of her loyal crew, was atomised as its drive exploded. The colourful display usual to warp replaced that image through the view-port, but that image remained seared into my brain.

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's Note)<strong>

**I'm so sorry about how long this took to get out, but this proved to be more difficult to write than I expected. Added to that Christmas and everything else and time seems to vanish. I'm hoping to get at least another chapter out by the end of the year but expect things to be slow for a while. Still, I hope you enjoy this one.**

**As for reviews, interesting thought Capo, but you'll have to wait to find out. I hope that how the battle has gone so far doesn't seem too crazy, but it's far from over.**

**Aislore, I'm glad you're enjoying this and that you like Nova being around so early. I think you can guess why exactly she's here so soon, given everything, both in the story and out of it.**

**Please keep reviewing and thank you to those who are following and favouriting. Thank you especially to those who are reviewing, I love seeing those.**


	10. Now, it's on

As the _Liberator_ emerged alongside the rest of the fleet, I tried to push away the thoughts of the _Cormorant_. Getting distracted now would be fatal, but trying to control my anger was harder in those seconds than it had ever had before. Seeing the rest of the ships already turned around and ready, I knew we would have to turn quickly, since the Zerg would be right on our tail. It was just as well the _Liberator_ could handle it. Taking the controls from Nova, I spun the _Liberator_ end for end, balancing the drives so we wouldn't flip out of control. Half skidding through space, the _Liberator _came around just as the Zerg emerged. My eyes narrowed. I knew that an angry person couldn't think clearly and an angry commander would get their people killed, but right now fury was burning through my veins. If the Zerg wanted a fight, they were about to have one to remember.

"All ships, close engagement. Selendis, come in on our flank."

Suiting words to action, I threw full power to the drives, giving Nova control of the main battery. The flying that was going to be needed here was going to be tricky and I wasn't trusting my ship to anyone else for this. One thing was very obvious in the next instant. The Zerg did not expect _us_ to be charging _them_. They actually flinched back as they realised we weren't waiting for them to come to us. Could they tell just how furious we were or had no one ever charged at them before? I wasn't sure and didn't care. There and then, revenge was all I was interested in. Some part of me recognised exactly how dumb an idea this was but I was having a lot of difficulty controlling my anger. Then over the comm, I heard a roar of anger as Matt realised exactly what had happened to his ship.

"Jason?" Nova said quietly. There was a concern there that I had never heard before, in all the years we'd known each other. Between the two, the haze of red that had been shrouding my vision and mind cleared. The anger still burned but I could push it back under control, use it to help rather than hinder. Glancing at the displays, I keyed the comm. "Matt, take the Wraiths and go up the middle. Sarah, you and I hit the left flank. Selendis, take the right."

As the last of my anger drained back into where I held it, I began to focus back on the Zerg as an tangible enemy rather than a target. Matt would calm down eventually, just as I had, but right now his grief and anger was far too raw for him to be able to focus. Keeping the Wraiths around him would give him the best chance of inflicting the damage that he needed, and I needed him, to do. Selendis had enough fire-power to keep the Zerg wary, and from what I had seen of her, she would give as good or better than she got. As for Kerrigan, Jim and I, we would at least be able to give the Zerg a hell of a headache. I expected the Zerg to mainly concentrate on Selendis, given how much hatred existed between the two races. So it was something of a surprise to see what happened next.

"Sarah, take a look at that formation and tell me if I'm seeing things."

"You mean most of the Zerg turning to take the pair of us on?"

"Yeah. That."

"Looks real enough to me." Jim replied.

"Agreed." Sarah added.

So, a pair of Stingrays against a Zerg invasion force. This should be interesting.

"Split and come back?" Nova asked.

"Works for me. Sarah?" I asked.

"Got it."

Sarah and Jim raced away to port, while we banked to starboard. The Zerg split to chase us, as expected. But most chased after Sarah, which was not as I had thought or expected. Something in the back of my mind was trying to get my attention, by I couldn't spare the time then. Nova's hands were flying over the controls as she unleashed hell with the main cannon. Looking at the displays told me that the rest of the crew was doing an excellent job of clearing out the Zerg. Despite having most of the Zerg force on their tail, Sarah and Jim were doing an incredible job of inflicting damage while avoiding taking damage themselves. Selendis was successfully stabbing into the Zerg lines, while not exposing herself to more fire than necessary, and the Terran ships alongside her were doing a good job of hemming in the Zerg to prevent them from using their agility to escape her trap. My biggest concern was Matt and his force of Wraiths. So far they had not taken significant damage, but that was only because of the fact that the Zerg was not attacking them in force. Matt was still letting his anger dictate how he fought, and soon it was going to start costing a lot of lives. I opened a private channel to Matt's earpiece.

"Matt, I know you're pissed at the moment, but you need to dial it back a bit. Keep going the way you are and a lot more people are going to die. Then the _Cormorant_ will have died for nothing."

"How dare you-"

"How dare I? You're going to end up killing us, Matt! This is going to be dangerous enough as it is. If you keep letting your anger tell you what to do, then we are all dead. Save your anger Matt. We need it, but we need you in control more."

There was a pause over the channel, enough for me to concentrate on flying more. It was just as well that I knew the _Liberator_ so well, because I was having to take her close to her theoretical limits.

When Matt spoke again, he was noticeably calmer and more like I was used to. "Alright sir, but we are going to talk about this after we're done here."

"Agreed." I signed off, listening to him beginning to direct the Wraiths more efficiently. Another glance told me it was time to sort things out for Sarah and Jim.

"OK Sarah. Smugglers reverse on my mark, followed by head to head."

"Ready when you are."

Taking one last look, I saw the Stingray Sarah and Jim had about 4 clicks nearly dead astern of us and leading the Zerg away from us. It was now or never.

"Mark." Snapping the _Liberator_ around again but this time leaving the engines in reverse for a little, we suddenly presented the Zerg with our main batteries and the best part of our fire-power. Their formation broke apart, but not quite fast enough to save all of them. Through the resulting gap, I gunned the _Liberator_, heading straight for Sarah, who had just performed the same stunt. Both formations of Zerg swung in behind us. Finally, something was going as planned. Within seconds, the Zerg on Sarah's tail were within our range.

"Hit it." I ordered. Nova grinned, and opened up with the main battery. Hitting the Zerg all around the Stingray without damaging the Stingray itself required both pilots and gunners to be very skilled and daring. Fortunately, that was one thing we had in abundance. The Zerg obviously didn't expect us to pull such a crazy stunt, although given how many we had pulled in this battle, it was something that they really should of got used to by now. As the two Stingrays whipped past each other with metres to spare, the Zerg had obviously been hit hard. A low whistle came through our minds.

"That was something special. Knocking out 20% of a Zerg assault fleet in a single manoeuvre, I've never seen anything like it before." Selendis said, disbelief evident in her voice.

"What can I say, we're professionals." I chuckled.

Nova interrupted. "Jason, I'm reading a large warp signal coming in."

"Great, what else can they be throwing at us now?" Jim complained.

"You're really going to complain about us saving your ass?" A new voice came over the comm. "And they made you a Marshal? They must have dropped their standards."

_Butler_. I had rarely been happier to see him, even if I didn't particularly like that he was putting a lot of lives and the single biggest advantage we had at risk to help us. Before I could key my own mike, Nova cut in.

"Are you guys finished mucking around? Think you jokers could hit something?"

Grinning, I joined in. "You heard the lady, shoot something. Matt, Sarah, Selendis, form up on us. Let's bottle them up. Wraiths, form up with the station. Let's finish this."

* * *

><p>Caught between the hammer of the Stingrays and Selendis's fleet, and the anvil of<em> Terra Firma<em> and the wraiths, it didn't take long to finish the Zerg completely. The price had been high, however. In addition to the _Cormorant_, we had lost two full squadrons worth of Wraiths from our own forces. Butler had lost a similar number of fighters, while the planetary defenders had lost a battlecruiser as well as a dozen fighters. Even Selendis had not emerged unharmed, with a pair of carriers very badly damaged and all of her other capital ships sporting various degrees of damage. Her fighters had fared better than our own but they had still lost half a dozen before the Zerg were destroyed. Understandably, it was a rather sombre group that assembled on Shiloh an hour after the battle ended. Everyone was feeling the weight of what had just happened and the grief of those we had lost. Matt was among the worst affected and he was shooting glares at me from time to time. Another problem to deal with, but it would have to wait. Right now, the leaders of Shiloh were walking up to meet us, and I recognised one right away. A quick glance at Jim told me he did too.

"Mike Hammond. I wondered if you were to be found here." he said.

Hammond grinned and shook Jim's hand, then mine. "Soon as I heard that the Zerg were attacking and something looking suspiciously like the _Liberator_ was in the area, I figured it had to be you two. We was in the process of scrambling our forces when we got Selendis's message, mentioning that you were preparing to fight them. Didn't need to hear any more than that, though I'm surprised to see you teaming up with them." He quickly looked at Selendis, "No offence, Master Selendis."

"None taken. I can well understand why you might be reluctant to believe that we would join forces. I'm just glad that you came to our aid so quickly."

"A bit of self interest there, I'm afraid. Once the Zerg finished with you, they would turn to us and we wouldn't stand a chance. It made sense, although mentioning these boys helped." Hammond replied, pointing towards Jim and I.

I explained to those not familiar with our history. "Jim and Mike are old friends, and Mike ran Mar Sara before I got the job. We got to know each other quite well." I turned back to Hammond. "My condolences on those you lost, Mike. They were damn good people."

Mike turned away to watch the rest of his forces land. "Same to you, Jason. You guys are the only reason a lot more lives weren't lost, and it's not like you came away without a scratch."

I grimaced, the image of the _Cormorant's_ destruction filling my mind once more. "Yeah. We all lost a lot of good people. Now we have to make it so that they didn't die without reason."

Mike turned back to me. "Agreed. So, not that I'm complaining, but what brought you all the way out here at just the right time?"

I waved towards Butler. "Heard the Colonel here was still out this way, thought I might be able to convince him and his boys to join up."

"Yeah, well the Zerg kind of made up my mind on that count." Butler grumbled.

I could see that Hammond didn't completely buy it, but that he understood we needed to be circumspect about what exactly we were up to. "So what now? I assume you can't stay."

I shook my head. "What parts of the sector aren't on fire yet will be soon. We don't have the forces to stay and defend Shiloh and we need to do a lot more things than we have time or resources for. If it's possible, we may be able to help repel an assault if it becomes necessary but that's as much as I can promise. For what's its worth, I don't think the Zerg will return any time soon. Mengsk will probably be the next to show up here."

"Not that that's much of an improvement."

"No, but he won't be looking to start a fight either. Really, just keep your head down and pay him the lip service you have to, he'll probably leave you alone for the most part. But watch him like a hawk. He took all of us in and we nearly worked it out too late. We'll help where we can, but-"

"Yeah, lying low is the best thing right now. For all of us."

"Wish we had that option. You may want to blame the battle damage you suffered on us when he shows. Gives him more reason to trust you."

Mike stared at me. "I'll take that under advisement."

I nodded, not expecting him to take it that well, but it needed to be said. "Sorry Mike, but we'd better get moving. Too many questions are going to get asked if we stay for much longer."

Mike nodded and held out his hand. "Take care, all of you. See you around."

* * *

><p>It didn't take long to get back into space, and not much more to coordinate what forces we had into a jump. The only thing not coming with us was <em>Terra Firma<em>, which was going to find another location to set up shop, although Butler would continue to coordinate with us. I left the relief crew to conduct the jump and head for the rest of the fleet and headed for the tactical room. Nova followed, not saying a word until the door closed behind us.

"What's up, Jason?" she asked quietly.

"You mean aside from all the people we lost today, because I made a rookie mistake?"

"What, you let your anger get the better of you, or you didn't expect the Zerg to turn up?"

I stared at her. I'd forgotten she was this perceptive, although I knew part of it was her psionics. A raised eyebrow told me that she heard that. I chuckled.

"I really need to avoid getting into arguments with psionic women."

Her glare intensified. I sighed.

"You're right, of course. While my anger getting out of control was a problem, it wasn't hard to solve. But I should have planned for the Zerg showing up. I should have left the _Cormorant_ on the station. I-"

Nova silenced me. "You couldn't have left the _Cormorant _behind, we may well have died without it. They sacrificed themselves so we could get away. If we hadn't, a lot more people could be dead. As for planning for the Zerg showing up, you did. Leaving Selendis behind was our insurance against an attack, from anyone. You couldn't have planned on how to deal with the Zerg any more than you did for anyone else."

"But about all the _Cormorant_ got to do was draw the Zerg away from us and get blown up."

"And if they hadn't, it might have been us and then everything would have been very different. Wouldn't it?"

"Yeah I guess. Still doesn't make me feel any better about it though."

"You made a mistake. Happens to everyone."

I started to pull up the recording of the battle. "Maybe. Doesn't mean I can't learn from it though."

Nova put her hand over mine. "Take some advice for once Jason. Leave it for tonight. You've been running on next to no sleep for way too long. Look at it in the morning. It can wait that long."

I hesitated. I knew that I needed to look at the battle objectively and I needed a clear head to do that. But I wasn't sure I could afford the time to wait for that. Nova noticed and her glare hardened. I sighed, admitting defeat.

"OK, fine. I'll get what sleep I can. Jess, I want this ready to run first thing in the morning."

"As you wish, Commander."

I smiled wearily at Nova, realising just how tired I actually was. "Thanks Nova. You did good today." A damn sight better than good, but I didn't want to boost her ego too much.

"I heard that." Nova grinned, walking out the door. "Night Jason."

Returning to my quarters, I opened a ship-wide channel. "All hands, you already know this, but you all did a hell of a job today. Nice work everyone. Make sure you take some time to unwind, I think we're all going to need it. Davis out."

Suiting words to action, I collapsed onto the bed and was asleep almost immediately.

* * *

><p><strong>(Author's Note)<strong>

**Don't you love it when plans go out the window? I'm sorry I've taken so long to update this, but been a hectic time. I've already started on the next chapter, and while I might end up doing some rewriting on some of these chapters, I've been wanting to get this out.**

**Thanks to those reviewing and those following etc., and especially those doing both.**

**Until next time!**


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StarCraft, Adventure, Friendship