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"General… we have—" said one of the officers approaching me with obvious fear.
"A problem, right?" I said, reading his face.
"That's right… General Davies has been accused of treason, apparently she was arrested by a Ghost," the officer said.
I ran a hand down my face as I listened to how months of preparation to depose the traitor on the throne had gone to hell just because of Davies's ego, her need to see the traitor's fall with her own eyes.
"It must be her… Agent Nova. Apparently Davies's weakness for her is what destroyed her. Damn it, she was so deaf… I told her hundreds of times that I could eliminate Nova, but she wanted her alive and wanted me far from the operations," I said after sighing.
"What do we do now? The lower ranks know what we did, they might—" said the officer, nervous.
"That we committed acts of terrorism? That we used Zerg to attack civilian planets, lured Protoss to those worlds so they'd purge them, and struck the traitor for his weak policies? Yes, they're going to find out… which is why you never should have lied to them. Maybe we wouldn't have been the millions we are now, but we'd have had a stronger and unified group…" I replied as I thought about what to do next.
"Do we surrender?" asked another officer standing beside me.
"We're the leadership… they'll kill us all. Or well, with how cowardly the traitor is, he'll probably just throw us in prison for life… so since we already have high treason charges, we might as well go all in and wage war the old-fashioned way," I said while observing one of the skulls decorating my office.
"For Arcturus," said a third officer, raising his fist.
"Die before serving his killer," said a fourth, also raising his fist.
"Do we have contact with other ships to coordinate what to do now?" asked one of the comm officers.
"For now, take advantage of the confusion and the fact that we're on Dominion military vessels. Try to take control of as many battlecruisers as possible. We have dozens of starship yards nearby that could tilt the balance, since many of these ships have our people hidden inside the royal guard. So we have to act fast," I said, walking calmly.
I grabbed the skull of the man who once made my life hell, the skull of the Ghost academy assistant I killed after arranging for him to be sent on a mission far from the Dominion's protection. Every time I touched that skull, I could almost hear the memory of his screams for mercy after I overloaded his pain inhibitors.
The officers began obeying and sending orders quickly, and it didn't take long before we made tactical jumps to many local shipyards near Korhal, using every Ghost I had at my disposal to eliminate commanders, coordinate with royal guard members, or simply take command of battlecruisers left empty during repairs.
At the same time we deployed battlecruisers to the Ghost training center, since it was one of the most important arms and mostly relied on anonymity to hide itself rather than strong fortifications.
While I tried to manage some of the disaster Davies had caused, news reached me that she had escaped and made it to one of the most important shipyards — one I hadn't planned to attack, since we didn't have the firepower to fight Gorgon-class battlecruisers. Their armor was too heavy, and even a single one could destroy several smaller battlecruisers.
But the opportunity was too good. While many Dominion soldiers loyal to the traitor descended onto the shipyard's platform, I entered the system with three battlecruisers disguised as loyal forces while everyone was busy fighting an experimental weapon of great power.
I sent hundreds of Ghosts into the shipyard to seize the Gorgon battlecruisers that were trying to evacuate, since General Davies wanted to destroy them so they couldn't be used to stabilize the traitor's weak government. While she distracted them, mine began infiltrating and stealing the ships using activation codes we had on hand, managing to extract more than sixty of the best combat cruisers.
Davies bought us a lot of time, which gave us a good window to steal hundreds of ships and keep as many cruisers as possible.
the sector was in chaos due to a Tal'darim Protoss attack, but I used the opportunity to withdraw from the area, taking everything far away to begin capturing every Dominion research base working on secret weapons — locations I knew about.
My biggest spit in the traitor's face was finding the White Star, the Dominion's flagship, docked at one of the frontier shipyards preparing to fight the Protoss. I took the colossal battlecruiser, originally ordered by Mengsk for his personal use, and now it was mine to lead the war… or well, to try saving what could still be saved.
Barely hours passed after the news of the betrayal and what the Emperor's defenders had done when a massive amount of our recruits rapidly abandoned the organization. We had to implement a ton of changes: restructuring, key changes, new comm channels; we had to reorganize again with what we still had, and at the same time recruit from the Dominion's fringe worlds.
But the problem was that everyone knew what we had done, and even though I tried countering with the information that the traitor Valerian had worked hand in hand with the Zerg to kill the Emperor, it did little, because every broadcast dismissed it as fake.
And that's how my odyssey began, trying to salvage everything we had invested in repaying the favor to the late Emperor. Even though we started the rebellion with devastating hits, leaving the Dominion without almost any battlecruisers, without Ghosts, and with many of their armories stolen, we didn't have popular support — so they rapidly outnumbered us. Even if I won major battles, copying many of the UED's war tactics but using Ghosts far more as reliable intel sources, we had no way to match them. They won by numbers.
The shipyards began producing for our enemy, while mine suffered frequent rebellion and sabotage from the workers themselves. Only where I had my best operatives could I maintain control. Several times I almost ended it all, taking control of every world surrounding Korhal and putting the planet under siege, but some world always rebelled. I couldn't be everywhere, and Nova was doing her thing, killing my trusted men, weakening me, and breaking the siege.
Even though I had numerical superiority in battlecruisers, I didn't have the numbers to assault Korhal and take the Imperial Palace, so I was forced to maintain a siege. But I always had to respond to emergencies; worlds rebelled, broke the blockade, and flooded the planet with food, spare parts, and more equipment, forcing me to start over again and again.
The rebellion problems on the peripheral worlds kept increasing because our presence weakened every time we began a siege. Everything pointed to this lasting decades if we continued like this, playing cat and mouse while I tried to starve Korhal — a single month of blockade could cause millions of deaths in an ecumenopolis that depended heavily on its peripheral supply worlds.
While I was on the White Star, holding the Emperor's brooch and staring at the impenetrable defense of the Celestial Shield, I noticed the entire traitor fleet was preparing for an assault.
Lowering the brooch, I froze as I examined the situation. "That can't… be. We outnumber them twelve to one. It's suicide to launch an attack… but why?" I said as I sent an alert to all battlecruiser commanders, ordering them to prepare for a tactical jump into my coordinates and surround the Korhal fleet once they left the shield's range.
I reviewed every navigational map I had and contacted every general in charge of the garrisons maintaining the siege, but everything seemed normal. Either I had the biggest wave of desertions in my forces or Korhal's situation was that desperate.
"That can't be… there has to be something…" I muttered. "Reinforcements… maybe the Umojans… the Kel-Morians maybe? My operatives would've warned me of a military mobilization," I said while running through every possible scenario.
But time ran out when the battlecruisers — around fifty — left the safety of the orbital station where they were docked. It would've been stupid not to take advantage of the gift… even if my instincts screamed I was walking into a trap.
The moment they exited the safe zone, three hundred battlecruisers — Behemoth, Hercules, and Minotaur class — warp-jumped into the area surrounding Korhal's fleet, while I sent forty Gorgon-class cruisers straight ahead to absorb the Yamato cannon fire and the frontal batteries. It didn't take long before victory swung our way: blowing engines apart with laser batteries, splitting cruisers in half with multiple Yamato shots, and deploying thousands of bomber fighters to shred the Dominion ships trying to maneuver.
The battle quickly turned into an outright massacre, and it didn't take long before I received communications from commanders surrendering before their cruisers lost pressurization and their crews were slaughtered.
While that happened and my officers celebrated the victory, I kept thinking about the reasons behind this. I ordered every captured cruiser to be fully scanned for infiltrated Ghost operatives, and for sensors to sweep every friendly ship interacting with the surrendered ones. Until I felt the psionic presence of five Ghosts I didn't recognize.
"So that was the plan… maybe they slipped in a stealth ship and bypassed the sensors while sacrificing everything else," I said.
And before I could think further, I received a transmission from Korhal. Instantly, the traitor's face appeared, staring directly at me.
"So I imagine you're pleased with killing hundreds of thousands of Terrans," Valerian said.
"Just like you did by collaborating with the Zerg," I replied, giving orders for my men to clear the White Star's bridge and prepare for combat against the incoming Ghosts.
"My father was a tyrant. I don't understand how you all cling to his image. I imagine you still want your governorship back so you can keep squeezing the population dry," Valerian asked.
"Honestly, I don't care. Emperor Mengsk — tyrant or not — is justified if you consider he watched his parents and sister die under Confederacy tyranny and became what humanity needed to survive
And… he helped me take revenge on the people who hurt and betrayed me, so the least I can do is avenge him. I don't care about material wealth. I'm basically a vagabond now," I said, spreading my arms. "I invested everything… and once the traitor is removed from the throne, I'll be free to pull the strings of my own fate," I replied as a group entered the command room camouflaged.
"Not what I expected… I thought it was personal ambition, not respect for him. But that doesn't change things. You are under arrest," Valerian said, and five figures revealed themselves, dropping their personal cloaks and aiming their rifles at me.
"So here she is… the stone in my shoe… Nova…" I turned toward Valerian again, looking at the transmission. "Thanks, idiot, for bringing me my biggest headache," I said as I used telekinesis to bend every rifle in the Ghosts' hands, rendering them useless, and activated my psi-blade. In one second, I sliced the Ghost in front of me clean in half.
"What—?" I heard Valerian mutter.
I launched a psionic feedback at another Ghost and watched his skull explode as he failed to control the rampaging psionic power. Without wasting time, I activated my suit's cloak and leaped away from the remaining three to avoid being surrounded.
"A Ghost…" Nova said, activating her visor — clearly tracking me visually, meaning her visor had advanced sensors.
"A shadow of the Emperor, to be more exact… a far deadlier weapon than you," I said, focusing my psionic energy to unleash a chain lightning arc that struck another Ghost drawing a psi-blade, destroying several consoles in the command room.
Nova and the remaining Ghost dashed at me trying to cut me apart with their blades while I focused only on dodging.
" you can hit me… especially because I know what you're about to do…" I said, watching them. While they coordinated their strikes, I increased gravity in the area, making their movements sluggish as they fought against the altered weight.
I vaulted forward like a projectile and drove my psi-blade straight into the other Ghost's chest, dragging the blade up to his head and splitting him in two, leaving only Nova — already struggling to breathe.
"Nice way to waste five good Ghosts… but unlike Davies, I won't make the mistake of wiping Nova's memory. She has resistance to mind wipes," I said, walking back to my seat and looking at Valerian's face on-screen — completely disappointed — while I kept increasing the psionic pressure on Nova and listened to the command room's structure groaning under my power.
I focused a large amount of my energy on the tips of my fingers, which began releasing psionic sparks in every direction, and I fired a powerful beam that pierced straight through the Ghost's heart, almost melting the room's door.
"Everything makes more sense now," Valerian's disappointed voice said.
"Yeah… you were a bit stupid cutting funding to the Emperor's Shadows," I replied with a shrug.
"You were a corrupt—… the information was only for my father, wasn't it?" Valerian said.
"Yes. Well, if you're in Korhal — which I doubt — get your stomach ready, because it seems you've got no way to break the siege," I said, and cut the transmission.
I walked over to make sure Nova was really dead, because she was the closest thing to someone I should fear. Her psionic specialty was mind control, and even though she was resistant to other Ghosts' abilities, I wasn't going to leave it to chance. So with my blade, I severed her head, finally letting myself relax.
"General… God… what happened here?" said one of the marines who came in to find me.
"Nothing… report," I answered.
"The Tal'darim death fleet has been sighted to the east. They hit our garrison. The siege is broken, and we lost more than forty cruisers in the fight."
"Damn it… how long ago did that report arrive? Because if not…" I said, checking the sensors, noticing ships entering the system, slipping out of warp.
"Too late," I said to myself.
Messages began pouring into my ship, showing the Tal'darim who had razed some cities earlier, hunting down the Defenders of Man back when Davies was still breathing.
"It seems I underestimated the Defenders of Man pests, for their miserable existence still manages to grow even after we scorched most of their base of operations… but this time I'll make sure they don't rise again. It was fortunate that terran woman informed us that you rats were still crawling around," the Tal'darim protoss said.
"You mean this one?" I said, bringing Nova's head with telekinesis and showing it to him.
"Yes… I see the terran finally found her death. A shame. She was a good warrior and I enjoyed her willingness to die… but it seems I've found someone even better…" said the Tal'darim before the transmission ended, while hundreds of protoss ships arrived into the system.
"We've got the full Tal'darim protoss fleet in front of us. Send emergency messages and begin retreat toward the peripheral worlds. We can't fight them while our forces are divided," I ordered quickly as all the White Star's laser batteries began firing at the hundreds of thousands of interceptors pouring out of their carriers.
All our capital ships began to regroup while we launched thousands of fighters to hold off the interceptors, laser batteries firing nonstop at the robotic swarm overwhelming cruiser defenses and destroying some outright.
"Fire the Yamato… full power!" I ordered when we had range on one of the protoss carriers.
For a full minute, sixteen cold-fusion cores focused their energy into a single point, and a massive wave of energy blasted forward, hitting one of the colossal ships dead center and splitting it in half.
"Deploy tactical fighters," I ordered.
"General, pilots aren't lasting out there, it's not advisable," one of my officers warned.
"Order them to deploy more tactical fighters. We need to buy time and avoid losing more cruisers," I snapped, watching more pilots launch from the White Star's hangars and from other capital ships.
I began coordinating with the other commanders as explosions from cruisers and Tal'darim ships lit up the area, tearing us apart. We finally coordinated a jump and entered warp, trying to escape the situation — even though it was a winnable battle… we would've been so devastated that we'd lose the rebellion.
Hours later, we arrived at the world of Agria, where a mass of cruisers started arriving from everywhere we held territory. Though many arrived, many also deserted upon seeing we were losing momentum, costing us another hundred cruisers defecting to the other side.
We began emergency repairs at one of the shipyards we controlled and started resupplying on the planet.
"I was so close… so close… I can't lose this war… damned alien-lover… Zerg and Protoss… damn it…" I said as the inhibitors hit their limit.
"General… your inhibitors are maxed out, administering sedatives?," said the adjutant onboard my ship.
"No" I replied.
"General… we have information that the Tal'darim fleet is trailing us, they'll be here soon," one of the radio officers said.
"They're following us… perfect… we'll wait for them…" I said, thinking.
I began coordinating the fleet. If the protoss were following us, I could force them to drop out of warp into a safe zone — and there were only two in the entire region. A fifty-fifty chance. If it worked, they'd appear right on top of us, denying their long-range advantage.
As hours passed, more ships arrived, joining every cruiser still loyal to us and nearly all the Ghosts I had scattered about. During the retreat, I had lost almost half our forces to battle and desertion, so this had to be a clean victory or I'd be forced to run.
Then the Tal'darim dropped into the system — several light-years away.
"No luck… we run," I said, ordering another warp jump as our computers began calculating routes.
The Tal'darim started attacking us, but we managed to jump before they could inflict more damage, escaping toward more peripheral worlds where we barely had repair infrastructure. But the Tal'darim seemed completely focused on chasing us; in some places we managed to hit them hard, but that only pushed them to insist even more on the fight.
And slowly, I was losing the war I had almost won.
"So this is what Hannibal felt…" I said while staring at the tactical maps, realizing there was no way to turn the battle around anymore.
I had no support, no reinforcements, and my men were abandoning me…
All I had left was a fleet of one hundred and twenty cruisers, and we had lost almost every world we controlled. It was only a matter of time before we couldn't fight anymore, with the Tal'darim fleet breathing down our neck. Even though they had suffered more than we had, the idiots fought with everything they had.
"We'll abandon Dominion space… head north, see what we can salvage," I said in the generals' meeting, where most of them were desperately looking for a way to kill me and formally surrender.
"Hendrik… we lost the war. Let's leave with at least some honor…" one of the generals said.
"The war only ends when the last of the Sons of Korhal is dead. At first this was just a favor, but that alien-lover made it personal," I said, staring straight at him.
"We have no resources, no way to recruit more soldiers, not to mention producing equipment. We lost all the armories and forges, all the shipyards… what's the point of fighting?" the general asked.
I looked at him in silence, disappointed at the lack of resolve.
"Fine… vote. Hands up if you want to surrender…" I said, dropping into my chair.
Thirty-six hands rose. Only eight, the most radical and loyal followers of Arcturus, stayed with me.
"Good… you're the majority, so I guess… well… kill them," I said emotionlessly.
Two dozen Ghosts uncloaked and began killing every officer who had raised their hand, while they screamed for their lives in vain. Even when they tried to shoot me, their bullets froze in the air the moment they left the barrel.
The survivors stared at me.
"Start reading minds and clean out the mid-command… we're going underground. Back to sabotage. We'll see what we can do," I said, covering my eyes.
"General…" one of the officers said as he entered, eyes widening at the massacre.
"Yes?" I asked, tired.
"The Tal'darim fleet found us. They'll be here soon," the officer said.
"Again… damn rabid dogs. Luckily they don't have many ships left, we might be able to destroy their mothership."
"The Dominion fleet is with them… around three hundred cruisers," the officer said, killing my hopes.
"Disaster after disaster…" I muttered, exhausted by the endless bad news. "I can't pull any more miracles. Prepare a tactical jump immediately."
"General… that region isn't mapped. It could be Zerg territory, or who knows what. Jumping blind is a huge risk."
"Do you prefer waiting while I try some miracle fighting a fleet that outnumbers us four to one?… The jump is the safest option we've got," I said, not bothering to convince anyone.
Everyone began preparing for the worst while I just stared at the ceiling of the command center.
"How I miss being able to cry… or explode in rage… damn inhibitors…" I said, rubbing my face.
It didn't take long for our pursuers to arrive, and all preparations were forced into overdrive once we started taking fire, entering warp space and jumping, hoping not to come out inside a star or slam into an asteroid.
Everyone was pale and shaking, waiting to see where we'd emerge. And after hours of travel, we came out of warp. And once again, everything went wrong.
We had emerged right in front of a damned gravitational anomaly.
The ship's alarms erupted, and emergency communications filled the comms as we were dragged toward its field. Even with full engine power, not even the White Star could escape.
While everyone ran screaming, begging for help or panicking, I walked over to the cabinet where the Emperor kept his liquor. I had never drunk in this life, and only once in my previous one, so I might as well try one of those expensive bottles.
While we were being pulled in and everyone crashed against the walls, I stayed still thanks to my magnetic boots, pouring a two-century-old liquor into a glass.
"Mhhh… tastes awful…" I said as I watched the ship get swallowed by the anomaly.
I saw bodies flying, I saw the ship suffer horribly as we were dragged inside, I saw other cruisers being torn apart.
My officers' bodies bounced through the command center as I stood unmoving, watching it all, waiting for death to be quick.
A plate of armor fell from the ceiling and sliced one of my men in half — and hit me too — but I only felt a light tap. I took several other hits, but nothing.
What felt like an eternity finally ended when we came out the other side of the anomaly, and I was still standing in the center of the command room, waiting for death.
"I can't even die properly…" I said with a shake of my head as comms exploded with calls from the cruisers that had survived or those catastrophically damaged.
"Adjutant, damage report," I said to the AI.
"White Star: hull integrity compromised in over seventy percent of compartments. Bio-steel repair systems already addressing small and medium breaches. Major repairs require a shipyard. One cold-fusion generator damaged, risk of explosion. Vital signs monitoring lost for over one quarter of the crew," the AI reported.
"Deploy repair robots and seal any hull leaks. Patch me through to the other cruisers," I said, staring out the bridge at a planet nearby while watching some cruisers break apart in the void.
"Valerian… even if it takes my whole life… I'm going to kill you, you alien-loving bastard," I said as I prepared for the chaos ahead.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
-------------------------------