Harbinger/15

Harbinger
Daniel left the Protoss to squabble among themselves, and turned his attention to the planet---and the nearby asteroid belt. Well isn't that some idea, he mused to himself.

On the surface, it seemed that these Dark Templar were being horribly overpowered by the Zerg. It seemed hopeless. Why would the Dark Templar be bad? Daniel had to ask himself. Weren't they also fighting the Zerg? And as long as someone's fighting Zerg, hey, I'm happy...

Daniel waited out the time, as did the other humans on the fleet's ships. It was dinner time, and that meant a victory feast. As their leader, he knew that he would be in the midst of all the attention. The atmosphere was jovial, but the rest... he didn't remember very much happening, so little attention did he pay to the ceremony. His thoughts were on the road ahead, the mysterious dislike between the two Protoss factions...

He left the party early, and a concerned Christopher and Sarlena trailed him to his quarters, leaving Raynor to rally the men. "What's wrong," asked Christopher, not even bothering to make it a question.

"Yeah, tell us and maybe we can help," added Sarlena.

"Can you help me decide whether the Dark Templar down there should be helped out or not?"

"The Who?" asked Sarlena.

"Dark Templar. You know your Protoss history, right?"

"So That's why the display's showing purple rather than yellow," said Christopher, as if he had just realized something. "The Protoss must have decided to tag them all with a certain color."

Daniel replied, "Yes, and we all know that the Protoss love the color gold, because that's their tag color and all their structures and crafts are gilded. And we all know that yellow and purple are complementary colors. Which means, if the Protoss decided the color, that they must really hate them."

"The Protoss always bicker about what to do about the Dark Templar," said Sarlena, recalling those days spent with Tealdarin. "Of the three classifications of Protoss, it seems it's always the Judicator who are most zealous in wiping them all out, while the Khalai advocate the opposite and the Templar are ambivalent."

"Now, why would the Templar be ambivalent? I recall that you taught Tealdarin the phrase 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?" asked Daniel.

"Yes, but the Protoss Templar seem to have a different preconception of what 'just' is, and so it doesn't matter who the Dark Templar are fighting; it'll still seem to the Light Protoss that they are traitors and must be eradicated," said Sarlena, a bit displeasured.

"Look at the monitor!" cried out Christopher in surprise. The three of them looked at the display, just as the last bits of purple disappeared in a sea of red.

"The Dark Templar are no more," said Daniel. "The Judicator on board will be pleased. That's what he wanted, wasn't it?"

A pause, as the three of them realized how Wrong it was for one group of Protoss to wish a forlorn death on another group of Protoss by the cold and unforgiving Zerg. But at least the Zerg had only been fighting because they were practically everyone's enemy. The Protoss--especially the Judicators--had the luxury of allying with the Dark Templar, and yet had remained cold and unmovable for a hundred decades...

[[The Conclave will not be pleased that we missed our opportunity to eradicate the Dark Templar ourselves,]] the message of the Judicator entered Daniel's mind.

[[You got your wish, didn't you?]]

[[Our wish is to fight the Dark Templar ourselves and thereby prove that our Khala is great.]]

Daniel didn't know how to reply to that, so he looked to Sarlena and Christopher and told them, "The Judicator still isn't satisfied. Oh, and what's the Conclave?"

"It's like our government," replied Sarlena. "The highest-ranking Judicators comprise it, and they determine foreign policy for the race as a whole. Except of course, for--"

"Yeah, I know, those who broke their nerve connections with them," finished Daniel.

[[An illusion? Are you afraid to face me, Templar?]] suddenly erupted into Daniel's mind. It was an incredibly strong signal...

[[So long as you continue to be so predictable, O Queen, I need not face you at all. You are your own worst enemy.]]

[[Insufferable Protoss coward! Tassadar cannot evade my wrath forever! I shall find him and--]]

"What the heck was that about?" said Daniel out in the open. He was looking straight at the other two humans, who stared back with blank expressions. "Oh, forgot. Obviously someone known as a Queen wants another someone called Tassadar dead..."

"Uh... Umm... Why not go ask Tealdarin?" suggested Christopher, who felt awkward outside of his element.

"Yeah, I guess I should," said Daniel. But he didn't have to.

[[Daniel, you listened in to that conversation, right?]] Daniel recognized its particular psionic signature as Tealdarin's.

[[Absolutely, it was so loud!]]

[[Seems like there are still Protoss on the surface.]]

[[Is Tassadar the leader of the Dark Templar, then?]]

The Judicator protested, [[What infamy is this? The Executor Tassadar with the Dark Templar? The Conclave shall find it necessary to select a new Executor in his place then...]]

[[Why not the Whispering One?]] offered the Khalai.

[[Why should we supplicate ourselves before an insignificant Terran?]]

Daniel was outraged. [[Another out-of-line statement from you, Judicator, and you'll find that you're not welcome on this ship!]]

[[That seals it, you have no chance of currying favor with the Conclave!]] was Tealdarin's reply. [[Don't be so rash, Daniel. The Judicator here isn't your general nobody.]]

[[I realized that, he did oversight while I was doing the Salutation ceremony. But... I guess it was just his anger getting at me,]] replied Daniel.

[[Whatever is Tassadar doing with the Dark Templar?]] asked Tealdarin.

[[We shall be finding out soon...]] replied the Khalai.

[[Cerebrate, Zasz is dead!]] It was another statement that rang out through the psionic void, which Daniel managed to latch onto. There were clearly several beings capable of sending immensely powerful psionic signals. He guessed they were all Zerg; after all, they needed to be able to communicate with their minions...

Daniel turned to stare at the digital minimap. Red dots seemed to be disappearing for no apparent reason...

[[There seems to have been a split amonst the Zerg Swarm,]] noted Tealdarin, who was also looking at a similar display where-ever he was. [[The Zerg seem to be infighting right now.]]

[[The Zerg fighting themselves? Impossible!]] responded Daniel.

[[What do you know about them that we do not?]] asked the Khalai.

[[But... The Zerg... Aren't they lead by a single Overmind? And it controlled all the Zerg, at least so it told me...]]

[[The Overmind definitely does. This seems... strange of it. Perhaps it is dying?]]

[[You wish,]] thought Daniel. But he knew that it was a rare war in which one side won because the other's leadership died naturally.

[[We are receiving reports that the Zerg have been infighting amonst themselves across many worlds currently under our Observation,]] Tealdarin declared.

[[So... Is the Overmind going to die? Is this it, the end of the war?]]

[[A five-hundred-year-war does not end anticlimactically,]] was Tealdarin's reply. [[If it is indeed the case, we shall find our lives meaningless.]]

Terran and Protoss stared at their minimap displays for the next hour..., while Daniel sat beside his computer, steadily crunching numbers away... The party in the main mess hall showed no signs of dying down...

"Jaxtor," Daniel spoke into his comlink.

"Yes admiral?"

"What would happen if the Zerg suddenly realized that something awful was about to happen to all of Char? What would they do?"

"Uh... I guess they'd flee," Jaxtor offered, confused.

"What's going to flee?" Daniel pressed his question.

"Well, any units they have, but they obviously can't simply pick up their buildings and depart now, can they?"

"Right," was the weak reply Daniel gave him. Then he changed the link so that his words could be heard by everyone. "All ship commanders, set destination to the coordinates I'm giving you," he suddenly announced into his comlink, prompting Sarlena and Christopher to trade questioning glances. Meanwhile, the forces remaining on Char were in disarray, fighting having broken throughout much of the planet.

"Why into the asteroid belt?" Christopher asked.

"Well, I've got a plan," was all Daniel said, leaving everyone else scratching their heads. The Protoss, meanwhile, were silent to him.

Several minutes later, Daniel's fleet had moved into position--behind a screen of asteroids. He typed a bit more into his computer, and spoke into his public intercom. "All ship commanders, set the targets of your nuclear missiles focused on the asteroid whose positions I'm now giving you."

Daniel emerged from his private quarters to the main tactical chamber, and the adjutant gave him worried looks. "You're wasting our nukes on a piece of rock?" Several others were looking at him as if he were crazy.

"Just do as I said, I'm in charge here, remember? Fire at the coordinates I gave you on my mark. Ready... Get set... FIRE!!!"

On command, every one of the six battlecruisers in his fleet fired their nukes, temporarily generating a second sun far more brilliant and intense--and deadly--than Char's broiling star. It was a spectacular sight, and Daniel relished it for the several minutes that the flare lasted.

The asteroid veered off trajectory, heading along the path that Daniel had calculated it would, away from the asteroid belt... and headed straight for Char.

It took merely a minute for Christopher to find conclusive, numerical proof of what Daniel was planning to do. Daniel smiled back, merely stating, "This world's already been ridden by both Zerg and hostile volcanic activity. What more is Armageddon?"

As the asteroid approached the planet at increasingly high velocities, the Zerg took notice, and very rapidly fled from the surface. Whatever could flee did so--many flyers of various classifications, as well as the Overlords (behemoths), fully loaded with ground-based minions. They all proceeded to a particular sector of space, and Daniel laughed exultingly at their flight. All those Zerg... and they are totally unprepared to meet my challenge, he thought to himself. And even if they fly away, they can't move their structures away, nor their countless remaining ground minions.

Then the asteroid finally impacted. The ten-kilometer-wide foreign object drove a crater into the already lava-coursed planetary surface, causing the ground all around it to erupt out and away from the impact zone, a circular wall of destruction that traversed, covering the entire planet within a few short hours. The ubiquitous Zerg presence on the surface were totally destroyed, vaporized, gone.

All life upon the planet was extinguished.

And in the midst of it all, while many of the humans were torn between gladness at the eradication of the Zerg and the horror at seeing such cataclysmic obliteration, Daniel was nearly dancing in his ecstasy. No one paid any attention to the cluster of Zerg flyers, who were proceeding to a huge hurricane-like vortex, a wormhole the size of a small moon which progressively got brighter toward the center, which steadily sucked in countless Zerg silhouettes. In, in, and more in, they were all drawn to...

"Why are you so happy?" asked Sarlena, more than a bit worried in his voice.

"Why shouldn't I be?" replied Daniel, raising his fists into the air in hoots of joy. "I just masterminded the destruction of a billion Zerg."

They didn't pay attention to another signal that the Protoss had picked up: [[Behold, my long silence is now broken, and I am made whole once more. The cunning Protoss have dared strike down that which was immortal...]]

"And aren't you horrified by what you just did?" asked Sarlena, rather cautiously. She didn't want to ruin Daniel's day if she could help it.

But then, everyone in the fleet was rejoicing.

Everyone was happy.

Everyone--was--insanely--ecstatic.

And then, it struck him. Daniel realized that there was another, much--larger presence that was also happy. It felt--wrong.

Daniel collapsed onto his bed, the delight still whirling through his head, a very wide smile on his face.

And then he suddenly had the vision of a massive eyeball in an even grander socket.

The Overmind.

[[[[Joy.]]]]

What the hell??

Daniel abruptly burst out of his vision, halted his laughing... And looked around, seeing the many other humans who were still gleeful with the aura of victory.

There was no victory if the Overmind was giving off such a strong sense of joy... It was incredible.

Were these not the Overmind's minions? Daniel wondered. [[Tealdarin, did you sense that?]]

[[Of course I did,]] replied Tealdarin solemnly. The Protoss projected the image of a blue-green planet half occluded in the darkness of night, the other half brightened in the day. Daniel peered closer at the image. Several continents could be clearly made out: all dense jungles, intertwining with massive blue oceans. From space, it looked like utopia, a bright teal marble in the endless black of space. Across the entire planet was a steady blue-and-golden sparkle which Daniel took for indications that the Protoss had settled and developed the planet the world over.

And then the image shifted toward the space. In the far distance, a massive wormhole--a purplish vortex with a bright white-orange core--was slowly closing, though still thousands of miles wide.

And illuminated against the abnormally bright background of the wormhole, was a massive alien swarm that seemed to not have any end.

A swarm of Zerg.

[[[[[AT LONG LAST,

MY CHILDREN,

OUR SEARCHING IS

DONE.

SOON

WE SHALL ASSAULT

AIUR

DIRECTLY.]]]]]

[[There can be no joy for us. The Zerg have found the location of our secret homeworld, Aiur, and even now the Swarms are descending into low orbit. The long-awaited final conflict has begun, and now we know that we are not prepared to face the Overextended Swarm in its entirety...]]

For a moment, Daniel was speechless.

There must have been a hundred billion Zerg flyers, holding who knew how many more Zerg minions. In comparison with that, the armageddon that befell Char was not even a drop in the bucket.

[[You've always been waiting for an opportunity to fight the final battle against the Zerg. You've been hoping for this your whole lives, and now you've got it,]] said Daniel sarcastically and without any bit of joy

[[We are now going to Warp this fleet back to Aiur to help defend the homeworld.]]

[[Are you out of your mind!?! There is no way we can possibly fend off the Zerg!]]

[[Remember what the Khala said, Daniel? "Trust in the glory of the Khala, for the Khala is our strength, and hence our strength is Infinite." Never forget that.]]

[[But... Tealdarin! This... this is... suicide!]] Daniel lamented, as almost on command, a whirling blue vortex appeared around their ships, taking them to where Daniel didn't want to think about...

[[We fight nonetheless. We shall prove to all who are taking notice that the Firstborn are superior to the Second. This is the moment we have all been waiting for, and we stride eagerly into battle.]]

Daniel felt as if they were striding eagerly into Hell.