StarCraft

by Timothy Zahn

  “Yes.” Tanya hesitated. “Dizz…did I scare you back there?”

  Dizz pursed his lips. “Truthfully?”

  “Truthfully.”

  “Yes,” he conceded. “I think you scared all of us.”

  “That seems fair,” Tanya murmured. The tunnel was starting to fade around her. “I think I’m going to need to be carried.”

  “No problem,” Dizz assured her, shifting his grip. “Just relax. Sleep if you need to. Why does it seem fair?”

  “I didn’t want to be the only one,” Tanya said. Her voice was fading away, even as the tunnel was going completely black. “Because I bloody well scared myself.”

  “There she goes,” Matt commented.

  Valerian nodded, watching the leviathan pull away from its close orbit and head back toward Gystt’s surface. “There they go,” he corrected.

  “Yeah.” Matt muttered something under his breath. “I don’t like it. Leaving him alive is not a good idea.”

  “Zagara says the Swarm needs him,” Valerian reminded him.

  “But she won’t tell us why.”

  “Which doesn’t mean it’s not true,” Valerian said. “As long as he’s under her control—and she claims he is—it seems to me we need to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Except that he hates her.”

  Valerian had to smile at that one. “How many years did you hate me?”

  “That’s different,” Matt insisted. “And I never really hated you. I just didn’t trust you.”

  “Of course. So much better.”

  “Whatever you say,” Matt said. “Speaking of trust, you may have noticed that Artanis’s purifier beam is still powered up.”

  Powered up, and no doubt still targeting the Point Three adostra chamber.

  I will not again attack first, the hierarch had said earlier. Had he truly meant it? “Trust isn’t an easy commodity to come by these days,” Valerian murmured. “I’m hoping he’s simply making sure he’s ready for a quick second shot if Zagara delivers the first.”

  “Or making sure she knows he can deliver the first shot if he wants to,” Matt said. “He’s heard the evidence and the arguments. Now he has to make up his own mind.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Valerian conceded. “Well, he’s made the right choices up to now. All we can do is hope he keeps it up.” He cocked an eye at Matt. “So how did I do?”

  “There were moments,” Matt said. “But in the end you came through okay.”

  “Thanks,” Valerian said ruefully. “It’s amazing how the proper and righteous path is so much easier to follow when you don’t have the power to leave it.”

  “Welcome to the world of absolute power,” Matt said. “Near-absolute, anyway. Luckily, you have people around who can help nudge you back on the path if you start veering off.”

  “I appreciate it.” Valerian took a deep breath. “In the meantime, the Dominion still has serious problems to deal with. We’ll give Zagara time to get back to Gystt, and Artanis time to do whatever stand-down he wants to do, and then see if either or both of them are up to another conversation.”

  —

  The doctors had warned Tanya that walking might be tricky for a while as her brain tried to rewire itself around the neurons she’d destroyed when she fried her implant. But for the moment, at least, she had an arm to lean on.

  For the moment.

  I hear you’re going back, she commented.

  Yes, Ulavu said. Hierarch Artanis believes that the events on Gystt have raised the Dominion’s awareness of my presence, and that it will no longer be possible for me to remain with the ghost program in my previously unnoticed position. More urgently, my true identity will soon be made known, followed closely by recriminations and feelings of betrayal. He hesitated. You are yourself aware of the damage such feelings can cause.

  I am, Tanya conceded, feeling a twinge of resentment deep within her. But it’s not necessarily certain that your identity will be discovered. I’ve discussed it with Whist and the others, and everyone’s agreed to keep your part of the mission out of their reports.

  Ulavu turned to her, and she could sense his surprise. You spoke to them on my behalf? After my betrayal of your trust?

  Tanya shrugged. We were a team. A team’s supposed to look out for each other.

  I am humbled, Ulavu said. Thank you.

  Don’t thank me yet, Tanya warned. It’s still possible that someone will find a way to dig something out of those scrambled suit recorders. If they do, all bets are off.

  I nevertheless appreciate your faithfulness, Ulavu said. I am both humbled and shamed.

  Tanya sighed. I understand why you did it, Ulavu. I don’t hold it against you.

  Thank you, Tanya Caulfield. I am more grateful for your forgiveness than you can imagine.

  “Hey!” Colonel Cruikshank’s voice called from behind them. “You—protoss. Hold it.”

  Tanya jerked, the sudden movement briefly intensifying her chronic shaking. Ulavu was ready, catching her arm with his other hand, bringing her back on balance and sending reassurance and strength through her thoughts. They stopped in an orderly fashion and Ulavu carefully turned them around.

  Cruikshank strode up to them, a controlled thundercloud of an expression on his face. “I was just in sickbay, looking at Dr. Wyland,” he said. “First-degree burns over most of her body. Were you responsible for that?”

  Tanya opened her mouth, closed it again as Ulavu squeezed her arm warningly. Why do you think it was I?

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Cruikshank growled. “And the answer is because you’re a civilian who had no business being on a military mission in the first place. You screwed up, and Wyland paid for it. Tell me I’m wrong.”

  “He was with us at Emperor Valerian’s request,” Tanya reminded him frostily.

  “Which just goes to show that even emperors shouldn’t get everything they want,” Cruikshank retorted. “They tell me you’re leaving with Artanis and the main protoss force, so I can’t do anything about this. Fine. But be very sure that I will never again willingly allow civilians to serve alongside my people.” He focused on Tanya. “That goes for you, too.”

  Tanya shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Why not? Because you have your own special dispensation from the emperor?”

  “Because I’ve applied to be reinstated into the ghost program.”

  “Because—” Cruikshank broke off, his eyes widening. “You’re joking. I thought you just talked your way out.”

  “Well, I’m talking my way back in,” Tanya said.

  “Why?”

  Tanya shrugged. “This was my first mission. It turns out I like them.”

  For a moment Cruikshank just stared at her. “Great,” he growled at last. “Fine. Means someday I might have you under my command again. I can hardly wait.” With a final glare at Ulavu, he turned and stalked away.

  I thought you’d learned your lesson about lying to people, Tanya said reproachfully as Ulavu turned them around again and they continued on their way. Why did you let him think you caused Erin’s burns?

  I did not lie, Ulavu corrected her mildly. In truth, Dr. Erin Wyland’s first-degree burns are indeed due to my actions.

  Because without you and your warp blades, they’d have been third-degree burns?

  My statement is still truthful, Ulavu said. If Colonel Abram Cruikshank draws an incorrect conclusion, that is not my doing. You did not tell me you were returning to the ghost program.

  Tanya shrugged. I have to, she said. You still want to recruit a teek to help with the protoss warp disk program, remember? You can’t do it anymore, so I will.

  I appreciate your willingness, Tanya Caulfield. But it is not your responsibility.

  It is if I choose it. And I choose it. Reaching up a trembling hand, she squeezed his arm. Because helping each other is what friends do.

  —

  The officers’ bar on the Hyperion was stric
tly off-limits to marine sergeants. It was possibly off-limits to reapers, too, officers or otherwise.

  As far as Whist could tell, Dizz didn’t give a damn about that. Whist himself certainly didn’t.

  Luckily, no one else in the bar seemed inclined to challenge them on the point. Maybe it was the massive bandage on the back of Whist’s head, or the equally impressive one across Dizz’s chest.

  “So I hear you’re staying?” he asked Dizz as a stiffly silent waiter brought their drinks.

  “Under some protest, yes,” Dizz said. “Seems I’ve been summarily recalled to active duty and assigned to the Phobos as part of their brand-new, quote, ‘Zerg Compliance Ground-Force Unit,’ unquote. ZCGFU. Makes for a hell of an acronym.”

  “What are they complying with?”

  “God only knows,” Dizz admitted. “Whatever deal Valerian, Artanis, and Zagara came up with, I suppose. Plus chasing down any psyolisks that got away, plus watching over the adostra, plus keeping tabs on Abathur, et cetera, et cetera. Great fun.”

  “Hey, it could be worse,” Whist said. “You could have been assigned as ambassador or something. You’d probably have had to live on the ground then.”

  “I probably will anyway,” Dizz said sourly. “And I assume you’re joking about the ambassador thing. I want to fly, not talk for a living. Hardly my forte.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Whist mused. “You put on a terrific show in there with Abathur. I’d hire you as prosecuting attorney any day.”

  Dizz shrugged. “Former criminal, remember? You sit through enough courtroom proceedings, you learn how it all works.”

  He picked up his drink and swirled it meditatively. “You gotta admit, though. No matter how you slice it, that was one hell of a day’s work.”

  “Sure was,” Whist said, frowning. It had been such a long day, he’d nearly forgotten that everything they’d done had indeed been crammed into that single sunup-to-sundown period. “So who are we drinking to this time?” he asked, picking up his glass. “The ones Cruikshank lost in his part of the One-Day War?”

  “First drink is to them,” Dizz agreed, nodding. “Second drink—” He gave Whist a lopsided smile. “Second drink is to all the future comrades who won’t die because of what we all did down there today.”

  Whist shook his head. “And I thought reapers didn’t have souls.”

  “I thought marines didn’t have brains.”

  “Still a fair chance we’re both right,” Whist pointed out.

  “That there is.” Dizz reached over the table and tapped Whist’s glass with the edge of his. “Cheers, friend.”

  “Cheers.”

  c. 1500 AD—A group of rogue protoss is exiled from the protoss homeworld of Aiur for refusing to join the Khala, a telepathic link shared by the entire race. These rogues, called the dark templar, cut their nerve cords to permanently sever their connection with the Khala.

  2231—The government of Earth launches four supercarriers—the Argo, the Sarengo, the Reagan, and the Nagglfar—to colonize hospitable planets mapped out in a nearby star system. Tens of thousands of passengers are placed in stasis for the journey, which is estimated to last one year.

  2232—The supercarriers’ linked navigation systems fail. The ships travel through space blindly, without a programmed destination.

  2259—The ships’ warp engines finally melt down. The supercarriers emerge into an unmapped region of the galaxy that will later be known as the Koprulu sector, and they make emergency landings on three planets—Umoja, Tarsonis, and Moria.

  2323—The Terran Confederacy is founded on Tarsonis.

  2475—Two corporate entities on Moria form an alliance, the Kel-Morian Combine, to stand against Confederate intrusions on their territory.

  2485—Tensions between the Confederacy and the Kel-Morian Combine explode into open war. This conflict will later become known as the Guild Wars.

  2489—The Confederacy declares victory in the Guild Wars.

  2489—Umojan colonies form a military coalition called the Umojan Protectorate to ensure independence from Confederate tyranny.

  2489—Senator Angus Mengsk and members of his family are brutally murdered by assassins after Mengsk dissents from Confederate leaders. His surviving son, Arcturus, openly rebels against the Confederacy from his homeworld of Korhal IV.

  2491—The Confederacy decimates Korhal IV through nuclear bombardment. Arcturus Mengsk begins sustained guerrilla operations against the Confederacy.

  2491—Mengsk’s forces, the Sons of Korhal, capture ghost operative Sarah Kerrigan and secure her cooperation against the Confederacy.

  2499—FIRST CONTACT

  • The zerg, a previously unknown alien race, invade the planets of Chau Sara and Mar Sara. Shortly thereafter, a second unknown alien race, the protoss, razes all life on Chau Sara.

  • Marshal Jim Raynor, while leading the fight against the zerg on Mar Sara, rebels against the Confederacy and joins with the Sons of Korhal.

  • More planets openly revolt against the Confederacy.

  2500—THE DOMINION RISES

  • Arcturus Mengsk uses the Confederacy’s own experimental technology to draw the zerg Swarm to the capital world of Tarsonis. The planet is utterly destroyed. Mengsk also leaves his loyal operative Sarah Kerrigan behind to die, causing Jim Raynor to defect.

  • Unbeknownst to terran forces, Kerrigan is captured by the zerg, not killed.

  • Mengsk declares himself the ruler of a new nation—the Dominion. He consolidates the scattered forces of the Confederacy under his command.

  • The protoss homeworld of Aiur is overrun by the zerg, but the Swarm’s leader, the Overmind, is killed.

  2500—NEW CONFLICT

  • Forces from the United Earth Directorate (UED) expeditionary fleet arrive in the Koprulu sector, seeking to assert control over terran planets.

  • With the Overmind dead, Sarah Kerrigan—newly infested and empowered by the zerg—seeks control of the Swarm. She allies briefly with protoss and human factions to oppose UED forces.

  • After securing her position as the uncontested ruler of the zerg, Kerrigan turns on her allies. Retaliatory assaults against her stronghold on Char by protoss, UED, and Dominion forces fail.

  • Surviving UED forces scatter. None return to Earth.

  2502—Dominion intelligence confirms that Artanis, a young protoss military commander, is leading both the Aiur protoss and dark templar factions.

  2504—CIVIL WAR

  • Jim Raynor redoubles his insurgent activities against the Dominion. Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus’s son, aids him in secret.

  • Zerg forces begin to invade Dominion territory again.

  • Civil unrest spreads across core Dominion worlds after allegations of Arcturus Mengsk’s excesses are made public.

  • Armies led by Valerian Mengsk and General Horace Warfield invade the zerg planet of Char (with assistance from Jim Raynor’s forces). They neutralize and capture Sarah Kerrigan.

  2505—THE SWARM REEMERGES

  • Arcturus Mengsk launches a raid on Valerian Mengsk’s stronghold in Umojan territory. Jim Raynor is captured. Sarah Kerrigan escapes.

  • Arcturus Mengsk declares victory against the zerg and enacts a brutal civil suppression regime to end unrest.

  • Kerrigan reclaims control of the zerg.

  • The Swarm invades Korhal, cutting a direct path to Arcturus’s palace and killing the emperor. Zerg forces leave the planet immediately.

  • Valerian Mengsk becomes the Dominion’s leader. He pledges to reform his father’s policies and promote peace throughout the Koprulu sector.

  2506—WAR WITH AMON

  • The protoss’ Golden Armada launches an attack to retake Aiur from the zerg.

  • During the invasion of Aiur, the protoss discover that the zerg on the planet have been enslaved by the rogue xel’naga Amon. Amon then corrupts the Khala and gains control of all protoss within the psionic link. The dark templar Zeratul seve
rs Hierarch Artanis’s nerve cords, destroying his connection to the Khala and allowing him to escape Amon’s possession, but Zeratul is killed in the battle.

  • Artanis liberates as many other protoss as he can. They join up with the surviving dark templar and flee from Aiur on the arkship Spear of Adun.

  • Artanis and his forces journey to Ulnar to learn the fate of the xel’naga, the protoss’ ancient benefactors, and find that all but Amon have perished. While there, Artanis uncovers Amon’s plan to use the protoss and the Overmind’s remains to forge a new host body. If Amon succeeds, all life in the universe will be destroyed.

  • Using an ancient xel’naga relic known as the Keystone, Artanis drives Amon from the Khala, and the formerly enslaved protoss sever their nerve cords to ensure their freedom. Artanis and his forces retake Aiur. Amon is banished to the Void.

  2508—AFTERMATH

  • Kerrigan, Jim Raynor, Artanis, the broodmother Zagara, and their forces enter the Void to attempt to defeat Amon once and for all. Kerrigan absorbs the remaining power of a xel’naga, becoming xel’naga herself. She gives Zagara command of the Swarm. Then, with the aid of her allies, Kerrigan destroys Amon, disappearing shortly afterward. Raynor also disappears sometime after the battle.

  • The terrans, the protoss, and the zerg end hostilities with one another.

  • Valerian Mengsk begins open elections in the Dominion.

  • Zagara takes control of the systems near Char for the zerg Swarm.

  For Corwin, who first brought StarCraft into my life

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  TIMOTHY ZAHN has been writing science fiction since 1975 and sold his first story to Analog in 1978. Since then Zahn has published over a hundred short stories and novellas, numerous novels, and three short-fiction collections. Along the way he has won a Hugo Award (for the novella Cascade Point, in 1984) and has been nominated twice more. He is best known for his ten Star Wars novels (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, Vision of the Future, Survivor’s Quest, Outbound Flight, Allegiance, Choices of One, and Scoundrels). His most recent publications have been the science fiction Cobra series and the six-part young adult Dragonback series. He has a BS in physics from Michigan State University, and an MS in physics from the University of Illinois.