Harbinger/54

The Final Solution
Daniel was directing the battle between the Dragoons and the Siege Tanks when Raynor and his two speed bikes pulled up with the rescued Dark Templar. ((WHEW.)) "Congratulations on your success, Jimmy!" Daniel said, eagerly patting him on the back. "Now our main task is done."

"We can pull out now, right?"

"I said our Main task was done."

"Well then, what's the second one? Because I'm tired of seeing people slaughter each other, so if we can avoid it--"

Daniel turned to face Raynor with eyes half-open; he was so tired he must have been able to fall asleep on the spot. Yet he was still facing the task before him, which was subduing the Dominion presence on Char. "One word: Duke."

"Edmund? That snake... Why is he any of your concern?"

Daniel didn't answer immediately, for suddenly there was a feeling of a twisting in his heart, and a feeling of sudden, incredible loneliness. It seemed to him as if it was the end of the world, and what a sickening feeling that was! If he wasn't so engrossed in his duties, perhaps he would have even taken the gun to himself--

And the feeling only gradually eased, leaving him a stricken man who could barely respond, "Well, let's just say that without him punished, I can't stand to do much anything else."

"Daniel, you Do realize that taking him out will do nothing to contribute to the war effort, right?"

"Actually, Jimmy, that's not true. The future success of Travincal - the base and those who swear allegiance to it - depends on our showing our might fully. We cannot give any opponent the chance of recovery. Duke posed a significant threat to us back on Antiga Prime, and we let him live, even allowed him to retain his rank. And look what happens now: he was a threat to us once again. This man has powerful friends in the Confederacy, and with him as our puppet, we will be able to pull a lot of strings. If he is allowed to go free, he will return with a Norad IV and twice as many forces as we've ever seen him with. Wouldn't that be bad?"

"Yes, it would, but don't you remember? Once Aiur finishes its half rotation, it's done for! Already fully seventy percent of the planet is scorched by the Swarm. Do you really have the time for all this?"

"Now I do."

"Err..." Raynor scratched his head in confusion.

Just then, swirls of blue appeared in the skies above them as a massive Protoss fleet gradually Phased in. From the carriers poured the miniature golden interceptors; Scouts soared ahead as the vanguard of the battle; reavers, Templar, and more poured forth from the shuttles. Suddenly, a four to one ratio in favor of Duke's forces had changed to a 10 to 1 ratio in favor of the Protoss fleet, which opened up a massive bombardment upon Duke's entrenched position, carefully leaving Travincal and Protoss Expeditionary Fleet forces unscathed.

"How the... how did you predict That was going to happen?" Then he smacked his head. "Duh! Forgot yet again that you're a psychic. That stuff is getting to me..."

"Funny the Protoss should choose now to show up, when it is quite obvious that I have triumphed and would continue to do so," Daniel muttered with disgust as he spit on the ground. "At any rate, Duke should be surrendering any time now, that is, if he isn't already dead."

The two walked into the dropship, where the pilot-turned-temporary-adjutant stated, "Protoss interception detected; call signals friendly. You have a transmission awaiting you."

"Ah, there we go, Duke is getting his behind owned by our mute friends," surmised Daniel as he pressed play.

The video turned out to be a a recording from a camera on Bounty, right next to the giant Psi Emitter. At first, there was nothing. And then the very skies blackened as an endless cloud of aliens descended. Suddenly, explosions were everywhere. Then, nothing but static; the transmission was over.

Raynor was shocked. ((How could the Zerg have moved that fast? Even with our standard Quantradyne engine we can barely cover that distance in two months! Could it be that the Zerg have superior physics technologies than we? But... that's preposterous for a race of organic creeps! And that death-deserving Edmund...))

Just then Daniel remembered how there was a ditto of him, and Christopher, and Sarlena, and Michael, and virtually all the other officials who served with him, back on that planet. He remembered all the jovial times they had had before--

And now they were gone. Truly gone. There was now only one copy of himself, only one copy of Christopher, only one copy of Sarlena... and Michael was gone altogether.

Gone.

Not coming back.

Daniel drowned himself in a rising sea of sorrows as that realization - one that he had been so easily able to ignore earlier - set in.

And not to mention that, but he felt himself considerably more mortal in the process.

What if--?

"Incoming transmission, sir. Sir? Are you all right?"

"Hit me."

The portrait of Edmund Duke appeared. "All right, Daniel, you win, I-- what's wrong with you?"

"Oh shut up."

"Did I call at a bad time? Were you sleeping?" For Duke, even his situation couldn't stop him from sneering at him. "Not even willing to surrender will make you happy?"

"I feel like half of my soul was ripped away, and you tell me to be happy. My, but don't you know how to shoot a final arrow of pain into your enemies' hearts."

"I'm SORRY, but if you accept our surrender we're going to get torn to shreds by the Protoss you summoned, and I don't want to die!"

Raynor's anger overflowed, as he clenched his fist in front of the camera, teeth showing in his snarl. "You son of a bitch, you tried to fucking kill me!" And then he proceeded to punch the screen at where the image of the man's nose was. "D-ow! Bastard!"

"He tried to do WHAT!?!" Daniel whirled around at Raynor, seething. "That's it, Duke. You've passed the last straw. I'm in no mood to accept your terms of surrender, no matter how unconditional they are. You want to make me happy? Go eat a phase disruptor blast in the face."

"What!? No, you can't, you-- NO!!!" The end of which was blocked out by Daniel turning off the computer and collapsing on the cold metallic floor of the dropship, trying to come to terms with the fact that half of himself had just died a dismal and forlorn death somewhere trillions of light years away.

And then, just as suddenly, that part of him seemed to have been replaced - his other half soul was rediscovered and instantaneously stitched back together with his former self. Suddenly, that stricken, half-nostalgic, half-philotic feeling ebbed and faded away, leaving him alive and - very well. He opened his eyes.

And stared into those of Tealdarin.

Daniel jumped to his feet. ((((What are you doing here? How did you get here? What did you do?)))) The stream of questions came pouring out.

Tealdarin answered just as quickly, even though it was far longer: ((((We are here to see to it that you remain safe following the loss of your double and a change in the official position of the Conclave. We arrived through Phasing here, so the Protoss Templar you see before you is not exactly the same individual as the one you are familiar with, but close enough. We Phased you back aboard your ship the Hyperion, which remains in high orbit around Aiur, thereby creating a second you who, by connecting with you philotically, filled in the gap that the death of Daniel(Bounty) had opened up.))))

((((Whoa. Now that's quite a bit to take in. You said... what? That there has been an official change in the position of the Conclave?))))

((((Yes. Your friend Jaxtor seems to have a talent for convincing billions of Protoss to see the world from his perspective in under ten minutes.))))

((((Whaaatt?? This just gets weirder and weirder... Well, I guess I'll have to thank him now.))))

((((No need; Daniel(Aiur) has already done just that - thanked him for you. It's what you would have done had you been in the same position as... well, you, just the other one.))))

((((Ugh, now you're giving me a headache...))))

((((I'm not exactly done yet. Indeed, the Conclave does not support Jaxtor's highly persuasive line of reasoning entirely. Nothing alone can toss out a millennium of tradition and distaste for the Dark Templar. Now, there are certainly steps that can be taken in that direction, but in the meantime, dissent is forming in the ranks of the Conclave. Meanwhile, not everyone amongst the Dark Templar are happy with this turn of events, least of all their matriarch Raszagal. I advise that you be careful about where you tread.))))

((((Point taken. And... what about Duke?))))

((((Thanks to your selfishness and cold-heartedness, he was killed by a Templar serving under Artanis.))))

Daniel mused in thought at this. ((Well, he was a beast while he was alive, but did he have to die? And furthermore, this would be bad for politics regarding both Dominion and Confederacy. Argh! What's wrong with me? Why can't I make more reasonable decisions any more? Oh, look at me, now. This I would never have expected a mere ten minutes ago, sympathizing with that scoundrel. I guess things really do change quickly now. Who's this?))

Just then, another Templar, this one with highly frayed nerve cords at the back of its head, entered the room. ((((I am Zeratul, Prelate of the Dark Ones. Since our banishment long ago, we have never failed in our responsibility to Aiur. Though it shall cause us great pain to see our homeland once more, we shall return with you. We will do what we can.))))

((((Perfect, it's about time we showed your faction's worth to the Conclave.))))

((((You shall be safe directing such thoughts to me, Whisperer, but rest assured, that there are elements in both factions that should like nothing more than to fight each other and tear our race to shreds, including you if you stand in their way.))))

((((Are those elements few or many?))))

((((More than you can count.))))

((((I never believed that they would go so far. In the face of total annihilation they still cling to their failing traditions!)))) Turning to the ansible, Daniel communicated to Sarlena back on Aiur. "All right, bring us back, we are sending our coordinates to you presently."

Seconds later, their dropship appeared docked to the Hyperion. As they returned to their ship, Zeratul complimented, ((((You have indeed learned much about the ways of the Firstborn. May you continue in your zeal to aid our race in ridding it of its greatest scourge.))))

Sarlena turned to face them as they entered the operations center, then burst out of her chair to run toward them, encompassing Daniel in her arms. "Oh, thank goodness you're back, I've been waiting for so, so long, and during that entire time I thought... I thought you were..."

"Quiet, Sarlena, and disentangle yourself. You're embarrassing me in front of Protoss representatives. And besides, what would Chris say if he saw you embracing me, eh? What say you to that?"

Sarlena immediately backed off, responding with a sheepish grin, but not really caring about much anyone else. "Promise me you won't go off masquerading as a sergeant again," she begged. "After Christopher, you're the closest person I have now."

"Well, I can't make promises I might not be able to keep," Daniel replied with absolutely no reassurance whatsoever. ((((Come now, please excuse my overexcited rear admiral,)))) he telepathed to the Protoss entering behind him. ((Hmm... Looks like Christopher is still out there. That big idiot. War is not for the faint of heart, but that doesn't mean those who are strong of heart should go to war.))

((((We thank you for having brought us out of captivity. For that, we are forever indebted to you,)))) communicated Zeratul. ((((The human practice of abduction and interrogation seem particularly alien to us.))))

((((Well... naturally,)))) agreed Daniel with a faint smile. He knew he couldn't hold out for much longer; he had gone nearly thirty six hours without sleep...

Daniel, Tealdarin, Tassadar, and Zeratul sat down at a square, utilitarian table, each with a computer monitor which raised itself out of the desk surface, showing blips marking Terran, Protoss and Zerg contingents.

Daniel began the conversation. ((((Okay, so right now our task is four-fold. One: Kill the Overmind. The Overmind is too densely protected, so that there is no way we can break past its defenses without first weakening it somehow, or at least weakening the Swarm located there. In order to do that, we need to kill the various broods led by the Cerebrates. That is where the Dark Templar come in. That would also prove to the dissident elements of your race that the Dark Templar can deliver. Third, we need to neutralize the threat from the Conclave and from this... Raszagal, you thought?))))

((((She is our matriarch,)))) explained Zeratul. ((((It is best not to speak of her in such a way. We do the bidding of our matriarch without fail, only she has yet to make a decision about diplomacy with your race.))))

((((Hmm. Well, we shall see. And finally, the destruction of Red Herring means that no longer are the Zerg constrained to the psionic shadow of the planet. As you can see, the Zerg are already spreading. Yes, indeed - I too can experience the suffering of your dying fellow warriors through the Khala. Not all of your race on Aiur are warriors; your Khalai and Judicator caste need protection. If there is a way, I recommend getting them out of harm's way at the earliest opportunity.))))

((((There is one more.))))

((((Another task? What would that be?)))) asked Daniel.

((((Sarah Kerrigan, this self-styled Queen of Blades. She must be rid of before the path is clear, for if she outlives the Overmind, she shall become the sole ruler of the Swarm. Seeing how ingenuitive you humans can be, that would make matters worse for all of us a hundredfold.))))

Daniel smiled. ((((Ah, she might be in line for a Zergian succession, but what is she but a human? A human has human flaws, and being one I know plenty of those flaws. Trust me, when I say that I'll remove her from the affairs of this universe.))))

((((Bold words,)))) remarked Zeratul.

((((From a bold man,)))) added Tassadar. ((((Oh, how I remember the days when I longed for combat! Now I am wearied of it. Back then Aiur was the fertile homeland we have always known it to be. Since when did this become naught but nostalgia? No, don't tell me; I already know. The Zerg are at fault. They have always been at fault for the duration of this War. I shall see to it personally that the Overmind is killed. And believe me: for I NEVER go back on my words.))))