"The Lady and the Forged"

---

Chapter 2: The Demon

---

Golden apparitions in the sky. The aliens from cold space with their twisting technology and manipulative magic.

"A-Are you-" She gulped and steadied her breath, pacemaker still running wild, "Are you the Demon Rex?"

The protoss scowled and leaned closer, bending a knee to loom closer face to face. "I know not what this 'Demon Rex' is."

Lexi gawked, "W-What?"

Of course not. There's no way the benefactor of the Tyran family could be a protoss.

The protoss chuckled and glanced down at his metal-clawed fingers rubbing together in one hand. "Yet you are half right, primitive. I am a demon." He faced her again, red eyes glowing with devilish life. "I am Carnivek! Bloodhunter of the Tal'darim and a servant of Amon. Yes… your fear is well placed in the presence of the Forged!"

He grabbed the dagger-axe still embedded in her shoulder armor and shook it. "Now, where is the tribute?!"

Lexi's still rattled mind was racing to process everything. "T-Tribute?" she squeaked. "W-What tribute?!"

Carnivek strained his neck, and Lexi felt like he was staring into her soul. "Ridiculous." He raised a foot and stomped her chest, making her armor shudder violently. "You don't have any tribute?!"

Being scolded for something she was frustratingly oblivious to managed to restore some of Lexi's nerves with ire. "No! I don't got nothin'! I'm a refugee turned soldier! Why're you askin' me for tribu- What's the tribute even supposed to be?"

The bone-white protoss' red eyes widened with an angry gaze, irises of white blaze, and red light a piercing haze. He folded his arms behind his back so his other taloned foot clamped around her right wrist and pulled it close. The red-gem, black-metal bracelet was inert on her wrist. "Why are you wearing this then?"

Lexi glanced briefly at the bracelet, then to Carnivek. Hopefully he could finally explain the mystery of the bracelet. "My Papa put that on me before I fled my home. Said it'd summon the Demon Rex."

Carnivek narrowed his eyes and cocked his head. His gesture blatantly telegraphing he thought her stupid or crazy. He released his foothold on her wrist. "Who even is Demon Rex? No…" he grumbled with gravelly disdain. He pulled from his back a device with a red gem embedded in the center.

Just like the bracelet.

No. There's still no fekkin' way!

Carnivek rattled off, "The bloodshard on your puny wrist has embedded itself into your bloodstream and nervous system to transmit a psionic connection to its sibling gem. A link across deep space. I was given a specific command to find the signal and extort tribute from whoever was emitting the signal."

Lexi froze when Carnivek's armored claws reached over her face and held her forehead and cheeks in a pinprick grasp. Past his hand she stared terrified at a single red eye of her aggressor.

He spoke, "Then I discovered the source of the enigmatic signal came from a weak, primitive simian with nothing to offer."

His hand tensed, squeezing Lexi's cheeks and digging into her forehead. She prayed he didn't punch holes through her skull.

After an eternity of this painful grasp, Carnivek pulled back and stepped off Lexi to rant, "This makes no sense. No… What was the point of all this?"

Lexi pushed herself up to warily observe the protoss' mad rambling from behind. He pulled out a small capsule and opened one end, releasing a strange purple gas. As the gas flowed outward, Carnivek's other hand splayed underneath the purple cloud to telekinetically pool it together as a swirling violet sphere.

The sphere then broke into rivers of gas that flowed to caress his face. He hummed and stood taller, and after a few seconds waved the purple gas away.

"Much better. Now I can think… Yes." He spun around and stomped toward Lexi. "If you have nothing to offer, you are useless to me."

Dread filled Lexi's stomach. She raised her hand in a feeble move to protect herself. "H-H-Hold up now!"

Carnivek stomped Lexi's chest again so she was flat on her back against the dirt. He gripped his dagger-axe and wrenched it from her shoulder armor.

"Wait. Wait. Wait!" she sputtered.

"Simpering creature."

He raised the same spear-tip end over her head, poised to plunge it straight through her face.

"My Papa's got the tribute!" screamed Lexi who tore her eyes away and turned her cheek to the weapon looming over her head, unwilling to stare death in the eyes.

It was deathly quiet for a few seconds. She prayed that meant she was spared. Lexi cracked open an eye to see Carnivek staring blankly.

He moved after that awkward silence, spinning his weapon around so the hooked, metal scythe-head of his dagger-axe tapped the side of her power armor helm. "Look at me and say it again."

"M-My papa's got the tribute," repeated Lexi. It was true, hopefully? Alois left the planet days before the Zerg invaded Tarsonis, so he must have survived. Hopefully. If Papa is still alive might have something to offer so the protoss can leave her alone.

Does Papa know about any of this?

"Hm," growled Carnivek. "Yes. You may be cowardly and spindly, but I will not go back empty-handed and you will not be a waste of my time." He stepped off her once more, lowered his weapon to his side, and pointed. "Get up, simian! You will guide me to your father so I can take the tribute from him myself!"

At least she could finally stand up again. She slowly pushed her worn-out power armor back to a standing position. The adrenaline wore off and her nerves failed her, causing her to fall onto her one remaining covered hand pitifully.

Carnivek growled and forcibly propped her back to her feet with a hook into her armor's nape from his polearm. "Can you even walk?"

Lexi glanced at the UI display of her suit's integrity and power supply. "My armor's almost broke."

The protoss craned his head to the side, as if sensing something, his nerve cords swinging with every motion. "More carrion approach."

Lexi followed his gaze to see distant lights in the woods. She hoped they were Dominion who could get her away from the protoss, but the odds were slim after the UED took the field in multiple grueling, demoralizing battles.

Even so, she could just surrender to the UED and they'll get her away from the protoss.

"You really consider surrendering your one sole opportunity, yes?" asked Carnivek. His metal talons tapped the ground impatiently.

She faced Carnivek again.

Every fiber of her being refuses this, or any, protoss. Their enigmatic mysteries unnerved her. They could read minds and utilized technology beyond any terran comprehension. They use their technological and psionic might to decimate entire planets. Every ounce of sense warned her to never trust this alien to honor any deal after he so casually and gleefully slaughtered terrans.

Images of her papa flashed in her mind. Then there was Desiree who may still be with the other Old Family scions out there.

They may be all she had left.

"If I guide you to my papa, you'll take me to him?"

Carnivek made a rumbling noise, and from what orifice on his mouthless face Lexi could not tell. He asked her a question in turn, "Tell me your name."

Lexi was hesitant to ask the mind-reading alien at first. "D-Don't you already know?"

She flinched lower as the fiery red scythe ignited to life again and hung ominously over her head. "Tell me the name of the one I must travel with, primitive!" snarled Carnivek, holding out his scythe in one arm. He fixed a stern, unflinching glare with his red orbs straight to her dark brown eyes. "Say it. Face-to-face."

Lexi cowered under the weapon that could tear neosteel like a literal hot knife through butter.

The terrans were coming closer. Carnivek continued to stare her down.

"Rise, worm!"

How did he expect her to stand up when his blade was inches over her head?!

But she needed to find her family…

"You promise you'll take me to my papa and not kill me?" asked Lexi.

"Ugh. You dawdle!" groaned Carnivek. "Hear me once. So long as I receive your tribute, I will not cut you down."

Now Lexi could face Carnivek.

Slowly she stood up straight.

So too did Carnivek's red scythe rise above her.

Carnivek rumbled with assent. His weapon's energy scythe retreated back into the port opposite of the dagger-axe's metal hook. He spoke, "There. Was that so difficult? Name. Now!"

Lexi found her voice suddenly steady, and clear. "My name is," she took a breath, "Dr. Lexi Nguyen."

"There we go,. Dr. Lexi Nguyen."

She could now see the lights in the distance, rows of power armor investigating the slaughter that unfolded with Carnivek's arrival.

There was still a chance to surrender and leave this behind her.

Carnivek growled, "You still doubt? How do you apes solidify a pact?"

Lexi blinked. "Huh? I, uh, reckon we'd shake hands."

"Shake hands?" He stared at her with what she figured was confusion, which was soon replaced with confidence. "Yes. I see."

Carnivek spun his dagger-axe from his right hand to his left hand, and outstretched his lean right arm encased in sleek metal plates. Three fingers and a thumb, all wickedly clawed and fully encased in the same black metal, pried itself open like an armed snaptrap with needles to pierce her hand.

"So it is a deal then," Carnivek demanded.

Lexi was hesitant to shake his right hand with her unarmored right hand, and she was too afraid to ask him to switch to his left hand. More importantly, was she really willing to go along with this insanity?

The terrans were getting closer. They'll be spotted in a matter of seconds.

"Shake my hand, Dr. Lexi Nguyen. Your puny hand will be spared."

It was insane.

But she had to find her family.

Lexi finally mustered the courage to throw her right hand into his open palm. Her soft skin felt a cold jolt from the rough, grainy metal. She whimpered when the sharp claws trapped her hand and moved in one firm shake.

The bracelet at the wrist glowed red with power. Spotlights shone their way.

Lexi was chilled to the bone and left quaking by a flood of raw emotion.

Excitement

Malice.

Bloodlust.

Carnivek's brows rose. "Yes!..." His claws released her hand. His dagger-axe hooked and tossed her behind a tree. "Are you ready, walking carrion?!"

Lexi rolled over to see Carnivek's eyes flare like ruby torches before he snapped his armored mask back on.

The suffocating dread before his first attack returned to whisper atavistic fear in the most primal parts of her mind. The pressure, she realized, came from Carnivek.

Gunfire echoed in the woods once more. She only managed a glimpse of Carnivek bending his skeleton legs.

He was gone in a blur. His movement was as fast as it was loud.

She sluggishly moved her power-drained armor to peek around the tree. She could barely keep track of the black armored protoss moving into the fog if not for the spotlights catching glimpses of him zipping between the terrans.

"Something's coming!" she heard one of the marines shout.

Then she saw the crimson scythe flash alight, illuminating Carnivek in a dark red glow.

A spin of the blade.

Slash. Angry sparks illuminated the white power armor collapsing dead after a deep cut across the chest.

In such foggy darkness it was like the scythe moved on its own ghostly power, spinning and flying to reap the UED marines. It moved with impetus with a gleeful thirsting for blood, for less than a second was given to the next victim before the crimson blade tore through them. She could sometimes see Carnivek's spectral silhouette when the red energy shield flashed like eye blinks.

Manic cackles echoed over the screams, gunfire, and fiery crackles. Carnivek relished the slaughter at his hands. The suffering and death amplified the pressure of dread weighing Lexi down

She needed to move. So she worked on dismantling the damaged power armor from herself, reaching all around the suit trying to remember the latches, ports, and levers to start unlocking the armor. She hoped she was doing it correctly because injury was a distinct possibility if the undressing procedure was botched.

Arm plating detached, followed by shoulder, chest, and legs. Then the exoskeleton frame had to be split apart. Biometrics directly connected to her body by new shoulder implants released without dislocating her shoulder.

Lexi managed to successfully dismantle and unplug the medic armor from her body, thankfully. She collapsed forward in a sweaty, smelly gray jumpsuit feeling weightless and light as a feather after moving in heavy power armor.

She peered around the tree trunk to see the marines start to back away after Carnivek slew them by the dozen. He used the trees to break their line of sight.. Sometimes he would run past a tree, sometimes he would zip behind a tree then run back. With such rapid speed he threw off their aim.

He laughed with vicious glee, "Your slugthrowers are no match for me! Die!"

Jesus Christ.

With Carnivek providing a distraction, she ducked low and moved away from the fight whilst making sure to take cover behind tree after tree. Every now and then, she'd stop to watch the bloodshed with morbid fascination.

Shortly after the marines were scared away by Carnivek, they returned in greater force and a goliath emerged from the fog.

Oh shit, she thought. It was goliaths and the siege tanks that defeated her Dominion marine unit. Towering armored mechs with two autocannons that can tear through soldiers like wet paper.

Carnivek faced down the mech and let loose a cackle before charging straight towards it. It towered him more than two fold.

The thunder of autocannons rocked the woods. Large rounds tore through roots and spewed plumes of dirt where Carnivek bobbed and weaved with the trees as cover for his approach toward the goliath.

However, wherever UED goliaths walked, marines were there to support them and vice versa. They all fired at once. The increasing volume of fire, more spread out and encompassing additional angles, was visibly giving Carnivek difficulty dodging everything. His forward momentum was stopped and he had to focus more on horizontal evasion.

He kept trying to reach the goliath even as his shield kept flickering.

The autocannons managed to hit Carnivek once, maybe twice. Carnivek's energy shield broke. It was a mesmerizing sight to behold. What once appeared as a solid barrier rippled in a shaky wave from the breaking point like jelly or water, which then shattered like broken glass and evaporated into the air as entropic nothingness.

Carnivek snapped back away from the goliath, running between cover to slide next to Lexi hiding behind a giant tree.

Depleted uranium rounds thudded the trunks and sent sprays of splinters at their flanks.

"Interesting," said Carnivek with his back to the trunk. "Yes, your species' slugthrowers are more advanced than most primitive weapons."

She squealed when a good chunk of the trunk's side next to her splintered under concentrated fire. "If I may kindly suggest, I suggest we oughta move!"

"Yes! We shall let them chase us, then when they drop their guard, I attack again!"

"No!" screamed Lexi. "Fighting those folks don't amount to a hill of beans! I wanna scram before I die!"

"Spoken like a coward! Ha! I will not run till I lay those terrans low… and SLAY THEM!"

"If I die, who'll lead you to your precious tribute?"

Carnivek glared down at her and clenched his fist. "So we retreat?" He furiously slashed the tree's exposed root upward, deactivated his scythe, then slammed his metal polearm against the root, giving the plant a second dent. Angry humming from Carnivek's voice hinted further at his displeasure, but then he craned his head, as if in thought.

"There is a possibility a pathetic animal like you will die if I leave you alone to have fun. Fine, we will retreat!"

He bent low and forcibly scooped her over his left shoulder.

"Hey!" She chirped, afraid that he was finally deciding to kidnap her. "P-Put me down!"

"Did you not want to escape? Be silent!"

Carnivek bent low before his metal skeleton legs sprang him forth in a burst of speed.

She screamed from the sudden abduction at high speed and the whizzing of high-velocity bullets flying all around them. Her heart stopped when a bullet whizzed just over the top of her scalp.

She bounced painfully against his shoulder with every high speed step the tall alien took and had to push her arms against his back to avoid repeatedly bumping her chin.

Thankfully, true to Carnivek's word the pursuing marines disappeared into the horizon.

Having escaped the UED's sight, Carnivek finally stopped behind another tree where he dropped Lexi and snuffed out his scythe, leaving them in darkness again.

She fell on her ass. "Ow!" She glared at the protoss, now that they'd successfully escaped imminent danger. "You wasn't gonna use that screwy mind thing you did back then?"

Her mouth clamped shut when a taloned foot large enough to crush her chest crashed against the trunk she was sitting against, where it left a splintered indentation. "I fight how I want to fight, primitive," answered Carnivek.

Lexi froze as Carnivek loomed closer and ran a finger over her scalp. Cold pain burned at the touch; perhaps even drawing blood. Carnivek's claw fell behind her ear and curiously lifted her sleek, black hair cut at shoulder length. "As if you actually contribute to your own self-defense."

She remained fearfully still until Carnivek dropped her hair and finally left her personal space.

He asked, "Where is your father located?"

Lexi froze. I don't know. I just said what came first in my mind to pacify him. What should I tell him?

Carnivek clenched a clawed hand angrily, and shouted, "You do not know?!"

Lexi raised her arms defensively, "No! H-Hold your horses, alright? I don't, but my sister Desiree probably knows, maybe she's even got the tribute herself."

"Does she?!" snapped Carnivek.

"She's the one who knew all about this stupid bracelet," explained Lexi, pointing to the object still stuck on her wrist. "She oughta know about the tribute. If anyone's got answers, it'd be her!"

At least, that's what Lexi hoped. Desiree really did seem to know what she was talking about, but all Lexi cared about at this point was finding her sister - at least she knew where she was.

Carnivek turned away and started muttering alien words, in a manner Lexi believed wasn't directed at her. Then he faced her again, with his mask still on. "I will take you to this Desiree, and if she is useless, so are you and I will cut you down!"

He started walking, his red waist cape flowing behind him. "I have a ship that will take us to our destination. Try to keep up with your short, little legs."

His long metal legs already enabled him to march fast ahead.

Lexi pinched herself and felt sharp pain in her cheek. She groaned and moved her short little legs in a futile attempt to keep pace.

---

Encased in white power armor, Major General Zacharias Hai grimly walked amongst the dead UED marines scattered on the forest floor and gazed upon the aftermath of a slaughter with his own eyes under an open visor. One hundred and twenty-eight dead soldiers were killed ruthlessly. Even worse was the loss of one out of the three ghosts allotted to them by Admiral Dugalle, which alone was considered very bad news.

"My god," said Lt. Morales, a UED medic who arrived too late after the panic started. "What did this?"

"Protoss," growled Zacharias. "They weren't supposed to be on Canton."

"I'll tell General von Falkenhausen we'll have to postpone the attack on New Wuhan to treat the wounded."

"Understood, we have to preserve our numbers. Gather the dead and wounded, then return to the base near New Wuhan," instructed Zacharias.

"Sir, what about the Dominion?" asked Morales.

Zacharias exhaled, "General Hai is confident that the Dominion will be too spooked by us to counterattack. They'll focus more on defense, which gives us space and time to reorganize."

"Understood. We'll clean this up."

Zacharias nodded, closed his visor after the marine left, and sighed. He will need to make the report. He opened the comm channel, "Chozu HQ. This is Major General Hai. Requesting permission to return to Chozu for a priority briefing with General Hai. Over."

"Romeo. Declined. The General is busy at Chozu. She will contact you later. Continue your assignment and advance to New Wuhan. Over."

Zacharias scowled. "Roger. Returning to base. Out."

Lt. Morales had heard the exchange, and asked, "What is the General busy with?"

Zacharias shook his head, "Knowing my sister. She's ingratiating herself with her future… constituents."

The forested expanse gave way to a vast, scarred desert. Canton was mostly arid, rocky desert with only small pockets of forest that could barely be seen from orbit. Way too dry. Canton had practically two deserts with a cloudless blue wasteland to mirror the red barren earth.

But in the mountain ranges that towered over the deserts, there was green. The height allowed moisture to condense in cooler temperatures, creating the conditions necessary to grow leafy plants. This is where Canton's elite lived, in Chozu.

Chozu was a mountain city… or more like a town by Terran standards, and served as the administrative and cultural capital of Canton. The neosteel architecture built around a pristine lake was inspired by East Asia. Tall metal rods act as moisture condensers sucking in the cloud vapor to supply Chozu with water for the bureaucrats, aristocrats, and the lake that received enough water to trickle away in a shallow river.

The elites. Bureaucrats, bankers, capitalists, artists. They crowded in front of the city hall, where General Hai of the UED, a woman with a brown low ponytail, yellow eyes under a peaked cap, and a custom dark-green uniform, spoke to a microphone.

Her voice was projected through loudspeakers, "Rejoice! The UED is here to bring law and order to all fellow men." She gestured to Alois Tyran, a man tall yet feeble next to the shorter woman and wore a nice suit that contrasted her military trappings. "Your local leaders will be free to continue governing under our protection and guidance. Together, we will crush the Dominion Bandits that incite the workers of Canton against you!"

She responded to the applause of the prim and proper crowd with a white smile oozing with swagger, as if she was both lord and celebrity to the people she occupied just recently.

General Aurelius Hai knew in her mind that the loyalties of people in power are fickle. These colonial bumpkins were losing power when the Dominion took over. They look to her for protection lest the poor eat the rich.

Aurelius stepped off the podium and marched with her dark-green cape swaying with every step and armored marines guarding her flanks. Resting under her shoulder was a wooden swagger stick with gold ends she preferred to carry.

Alois need not be told to follow obediently like a dog.

They marched for her new headquarters: an Old Family mansion with American antebellum architecture that stood like a sore thumb among the surrounding asiatic style. Some of Chozu's aristocracy walked along the winding mountain streets in their fancy suits and dresses and kept a respectable berth from Aurelius.

The people here can serve the UED now.

Aurelius was the first to enter through the wooden doors carved with the heraldry of a rooster. Clean white walls, dark wooden floor. Yet even to her military mind Aurelius could see the mansion for what it truly was, a mansion stark naked with the absence of expensive decorations, rugs, paintings, and trinkets to decorate the walls.

She hadn't even looted it yet. That told her much about Alois, the man who's home she conquered just like the rest of Chozu, and soon all of Canton.

Some maids and a butler were quick to appear and bowed respectfully, but not to Aurelius

"Welcome home, Master Tyran," they said together.

Alois smiled abashedly and responded, "Lee, Emily, Trinh, y'all don't gotta call me Master no more. I'm just Mister Tyran now."

"Yes, sir," they chorused.

Aurelius raised a brow to Alois, "You know their names?"

Alois answered earnestly, "Course I do. I grew up with them when I visit Canton with my pop."

Aurelius narrowed her eyes with a smirk, "I see. So you were fooling around instead of being the boss."

The former patriarch rubbed his hands nervously, "Times have been hard since my wife died recently."

"Oh I'm sure," said Aurelius. She tapped his shoulder with her swagger stick. "We will need to discuss things in my office."

---

Alois stood in front of Aurelius sitting behind his desk in his former office, stiff as if he were a child being scolded. He watched the woman gaze fondly at the stacks of credits she piled around her as if using them to frame her image.

"General. I would very much like to speak to you about my daughter. If you'd be so kindly to hear me-"

Aurelius rapped her swagger stick on the wooden desk, startling Alois into silence as she pointed the stick to his face. The bright smile she wore in public was replaced by a cold, predatory glare inside the confines of his old home. "You can't govern for shit, Mr. Tyran. I've seen your daily routines and you contribute practically nothing to running this planet your precious family just so happened to own. Now that the UED saved the people from your gross mismanagement, what do you have to offer me."

"I… I don't know."

Aurelius stood up and stepped around the desk. "Step forward, Mr. Tyran."

An old memory flashed back to Alois. He remembered as a child wanting to play with his father, so much so that he approached his father asking for his attention during a conference. This enraged his father, who then summoned him after the conference.

Alois did his best to detach himself from his body as he obeyed and stepped closer.

Slap.

The swagger stick whipped him across the cheekbone. He caught himself against the desk, causing the credit stacks to rain over his head and shoulders. Aurelius' stick then planted over his shoulder, where he could see the long serpentine dragon, with mane, antlers and fangs, coiling around the wood.

"All you have to offer me, Mr. Tyran, is the treasure. I've seen your records. Your family was stockpiling enough minerals and vespene gas to build a flotilla of battlecruisers. That's more than any of the fringe world's GDP in credits."

Aurelius' swagger stick weighed down on his shoulders as she leaned closer to hiss in his ear, "But for some reason, you don't know where it is."

"G-General," sputtered Alois, still wincing as a red line grew on his cheek. "If I may be allowed to explain myself…"

"You may speak."

"My daughter Desiree was given charge to assemble the treasure. I helped collect the resources, but she was the one who decided where to put it. She was rearin' to take over the family business."

"And where is your daughter?"

"We sent her over yonder to Tyrador for her safety, but we lost contact. Please Miss, if I can go find her and bring her here, she'll show you the way."

"Hm." Aurelius withdrew her swagger stick and tucked it under her shoulder. "When the time is appropriate, I may send someone to retrieve your daughter at Tyrador. Until then," she pointed a white gloved finger at his face, "continue to play your part of the figurehead. Cross me and I'll just replace you with someone else."

Alois was permitted to stumble out the office doors. One of the maids was already quick to tend the welt on his cheek with a warm, wet cloth.

"Are you alright sir?" she asked tenderly.

"I-I'm alright. Much obliged."

He sadly turned away from the maid to retreat to the safety of his room, the only place left untouched by Aurelius and her Earth thugs.

He prayed that Desiree would still be on Tyrador for collection and was still alive.

In another part of his mind, which ate at him since Tarsonis fell, he mourned for Lexi. He prayed that she survived with the bracelet he attached to her wrist.

---

General Aurelius Hai growled to herself as she knelt down to pick up the fallen credits.

A call rang from a portal communicator. She pressed a button to permit General von Falkenhausen's green holographic head to address her.

"Mein general," said the man's staticky voice. "Major General Hai and Lieutenant Morales have informed me the advance on New Wuhan was stalled."

Aurelius glared, not at von Falkenhausen, but at the thought her lightning military gains at this point were stopped. "Falkenhausen, you have been giving the Dominion a bloody nose since we got here. What is the setback?'

"Protoss," responded von Falkenhausen. His face was replaced by a holographic map of the New Wuhan region. The UED forces were blinking white and red, indicating a problem. "My mechanized forces captured Dominion prisoners again. We were escorting them to prison camps until they were attacked by the protoss. Over a hundred marines were killed."

Aurelius grit her teeth. A hundred marines in the grand scheme of things was a small loss, but Admiral Dugalle didn't give Aurelius many units on the planet to begin with so the casualties stung. The Dominion in fact outnumbered the UED on Canton in terms of manpower and material.

It was a gamble for political glory. Fortunately von Falkenhausen's innovative siege tank tactics spooked the Dominion leadership so much they became overly cautious with their superior forces, granting initiative to Aurelius.

"The mechanized division has to be reconsolidated. After the protoss attacked, a Dominion probing attack was repulsed. Your brother chose caution and now we and the Dominion are both on the defensive."

"So the Dominion will be able to reinforce New Wuhan," surmised Aurelius. New Wuhan was an industrial city that could supply the Dominion with more weapons. Both sides had access to minerals and vespene in their respective territories, but New Wuhan allowed the Dominion to use those resources to mass produce weapons that could prevent a UED takeover. Taking New Wuhan, then the starport city New Busan, will allow Canton to supply the UED with a consistent supply of weapons.

"I regret to inform we also lost one of our three ghosts to the protoss"

At this Aurelius seethed. She yelled at von Falkenhausen, "Where is the protoss now?!"

Falkenhausen was not intimidated whatsoever by Aurelius' outburst, "We do not know, mein general. The protoss escaped. We do not know their affiliation or objective."

"Losing that ghost is bad performance. Attacking now would be too costly. We could lose our promotions."

"What do you advise we do?"

"General von Falkenhausen. There is the issue of the Zerg on Canton."

"The feral hive cluster attacks all terrans with raids. Our forces have little issue putting them down."

"If Dugalle's pet captain is successful with Project: Black Flag, we can take control of the feral zerg hive clusters and use them to attack the Dominion. And with the Zerg under our direct control, we can use them to intimidate the populace; scare them so much we'll be heroes when we march in guns blazing."

"I understand that means we are to avoid the hive clusters, mein general?"

"You understand well, Falkenhausen. For now, gather our forces around New Wuhan. Most importantly, find a way to deal with the protoss."

"We task Ghosts Lith and Corona to track down and kill the protoss, though I do not recommend it. They are required for other tasks."

"And the risk of losing them will piss off Fleet Command. I concur. Remember Falkenhausen. Manpower is our only finite resource. Preserve it."

"Yes, mein general."

---

"You are too slow!" hissed Carnivek, who paused for the 10th time to allow a panting Lexi to catch up.

"I ain't got long legs like yours!" protested Lexi who at this point was just throwing her legs forward left-right. "Ya gotta slow down."

Carnivek crossed his arms and scowled. "I already had to refrain from running as I did earlier when approaching you. You act like you've never marched before."

Lexi finally stopped near Carnivek and leaned forward onto her knees. "Wasn't never -cough- the athletic type of gal." She turned her head towards Carnivek's legs and squinted. "Wait a sec. Ya got cybernetic legs?!"

"Astute observation…" growled Carnivek.

"I thought it was just your armor," explained Lexi. Carnivek's slender digitigrade legs were entirely black metal. His shin below his thigh was primarily composed of two pieces as if they were charcoal-coated tibia and fibula. She must have not noticed earlier in the dark night, but now morning was starting to illuminate the forest. His metatarsus and femur sections appear solid with armor plates obscuring, but his shin looked too much like a skeleton.

Unless protoss shins are naturally separated into two stems… she never saw what a protoss looked like under all their armor. She doubted the mouthless freaks were that freaky.

"I can sense your fascination," said Carnivek. "What are you, some sort of scientist? A scholar? Your mind feels brighter, more active, than the rest of your pathetic kin. Yes. I suppose your physical ineptitude had to be compensated for something."

Lexi's ego had quickly pivoted from relishing in surprise praise to compounding annoyance over the pale protoss' rampant arrogance. "I was a doctor," she explained tersely.

"A healer? What a joke. What's the point of a healer if you coddle the weak?"

He interrupted her before she could retort, "Whatever. I do not wish to hear you prattle with excuses."

Lexi grit her teeth. Fear was strangled by the neck from shouting anger.

He unlatched his concealing mask, brushed his red waist-cape back, and raised a foot up.

Curiosity shoved fear and anger to the ground so she could marvel at the cybernetic limb. The foot consisted of four talons, a pair at the front and another at the rear. It was like looking at the talons of an eagle.

"Are all protoss feet zygodactyl like yours?" inquired Lexi, morbidly fascinated by the talons' wicked curvature as the toes flexed in and out.

"No. Protoss feet only have two toes."

"Y'all are didactyl?"

"Yes." Carnivek's rear toes rotated forward and locked with the front toes, joining together into two bigger front toes. He stomped his two-toed foot against the leafy dirt. Lexi could hear the faint whirring of mysterious mechanical actions in his leg. "Protoss legs are perfect for running. When I run on the field of battle I usually default to this configuration."

He raised his foot again so the two toes could split into four talons. "I much prefer my feet like this!"

He kicked a maple tree with such force the bark was already splintering before his talons pierced deeper, causing fresh sap to ooze from the wound. Carnivek tore off a chunk of wood seemingly effortlessly, and just as easily crushed it to pieces in a vice grip.

"My legs are forged from the strongest of metals infused with minerals." He raked his talons over a boulder digging deep scars with a sharp screech of metal on rock. "The rocks will turn to dust before my blades dull! Yes!"

"Fascinating!..." cried Lexi, trying to mute her growing wonder at the alien cybernetic. It must be hundreds, maybe even a thousand, years ahead of terran cybernetics. How much force could the limb project? What power supplies such potent force? How much stronger is the artificial leg compared to the real deal?

"Indeed. You are correct to marvel," said Carnivek. "Though I must say, I am surprised your warrior armor was able to offer some modicum of resistance to my talons. I normally rend primitive metal and alloys as easily as cutting bare flesh with a blade. Tell me, does your species utilize minerals in your construction?"

Lexi raised a brow in surprise when it just occurred to her she was having casual conversation with the hated protoss. Not a minute ago he was threatening her life if she didn't run after his crazy long strides, but now he suddenly expressed something other than hostility: inquisitiveness.

Probably a good idea to keep the violent alien entertained. "Yes. We melt minerals into our buildings and tools; mostly for neosteel."

"Neosteel," said Carnivek as if trying the word. "I assume it is a mineral-based alloy. Hm, yes. Perhaps your species may not be as primitive as I thought."

"What're you sayin'?" asked Lexi.

"We are hardly the only species in the galaxy to use minerals. However, primitives have never used minerals for their full potential. Their pathetic miners cannot possibly hope to break the veins so they only use scant pebbles in puny jewelry - wasteful aesthetics. Yes. They also lack the energy to melt minerals for their weak and tiny foundries could not possibly hope to achieve a high enough temperature. The mere fact you…" He scowled at Lexi. "What are you called, simian?"

Lexi thought about the answer. "We're humans from Earth, but we're more usually called terrans."

"You terrans have the technology to utilize enough energy to melt minerals on a scale large enough to equip your warriors. In 291 solar cycles I have only ever known my race to be capable of mineral metallurgy. What do you use to power your forges?"

Lexi racked her brain for the information, unfamiliar whatsoever with the neosteel process. "We use fusion technology, but we also utilize combustible fuels."

Carnivek scowled at her with an expression she wasn't sure was annoyance or confusion. He then spoke, "I see. So you terrans actually managed to accomplish Za'Prak, or 'fusion', along with your dirty and pathetic Jasa'zul, or 'combustibles'. Still primitive. You cannot even begin to fathom our energy technology. Regardless, I congratulate your race, simian, for having earned my fleeting attention."

Lexi raised a brow at the backhanded compliment, "Thanks?"

She flinched away when Carnivek shoved an ignited red energy scythe an inch from her nose. She thought her nose was burnt off from the blade's heat.

"But do not ever entertain the idea that you can live long enough to see your primitive race come even close to my skills of forging. No matter what your worthless people create, I can destroy it with the swing of my bane blade."

Beams of light fell from the sky.

Black skeletons.

Ash and cinder.

Lexi abruptly tore her gaze away from Carnivek or his fiery weapon.

He flicked his scythe, now off, to his side. "There it is. Pain over curiosity. At least you are not utterly boring. Now move, simian! We are almost there."

Lexi sighed with no choice but to hurry after the black-armored protoss. Fortunately, he seemed to be moving a little slower than before. She wasn't certain.

She saw Carnivek stop at a clearing in the woods where the rising sun was able to shine over bare earth. Lexi moved through the trees' shadows and the beams of light that rained from the canopy to approach Carnivek, noting his sudden stiffness and the accompanying feeling of drowning dread.

Something was wrong. She dared a question, "Are we at your… ship?..."

She stared at what she assumed used to be a protoss ship in the clearing, now a wrecked pile of black metal and red materials.

Lexi cautiously watched Carnivek's mood. He was hunched forward, eyes darting around the clearing, and his fingers and talons angrily twitching.

Lexi squeaked, "Y-Your shi-"

She couldn't help the scream that escaped her when Carnivek's armored claws grabbed her by the collar and punched holes into her jumpsuit. Furious streaks of red energy burned from his crimson eyes, making her forget how to breathe from the raw feeling of danger spilling from him.

"BE SILENT." growled Carnivek, slapped his mask back on.

Lexi had to struggle to prevent her feet from being dragged across the ground as Carnivek pulled her towards the wreckage. His stomping talons spewed plumes of dirt with every step.

He stopped in front of the wreckage, craning his head in every direction. Lexi merely remained frozen until Carnivek released her, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground.

He pointed at her, "Do not move!"

Carnivek began circling the wreckage while negative feelings continued to pool from him in waves. Anger. Suspicion. Nervousness.

Despite Carnivek's instruction, Lexi allowed herself to get closer to inspect the damage. "If I may speak my mind, it done look like an animal did this."

The protoss growled out of view behind the wreck. "That I figured. All these bite-marks. Claw-marks. What? Something ran up and chewed my starship?! No…" He reappeared on top of the wreck and surveyed the clearing. "Tracks… Some wretched beasts came here and destroyed my ship. What could have done this?! No animal can damage a protoss vessel to this extent! No!"

Lex remembered something, and suddenly it made sense. She nervously scanned the forest around her. "Oh crap. Oh, bless my heart. Oh no, no, no!"

"What are you blathering on about?!"

"There's zerg on Canton! I think the zZerg were here and did this to your ship!"

Carnivek just stared with his small circular bug-eyes. Judging. "What in Amon's name is zerg?"

A dark flood from the tears in heaven.

Organic bombs crashed through skyscrapers, elevated highways, and parks.

Monsters crawled from concrete wounds and fell on Tarsonis in a devouring tide.

A tide that killed.

A tide that corrupted.

A tide that ruined all it touched.

That is Zerg.

Lexi nearly stumbled on her ass from the sudden dizziness. She felt sick in her throat as if she didn't know if she wanted to vomit or hold it in, so all she could do was breathe. "W-What do you mean 'what's the zerg?! Y'all were there over yonder in Tarsonis!"

Pillars of light.

Legions of armor. Blades of light.

Awesome and mighty. Aloof. Uncaring.

"You protoss was burnin' our planets whole if y'all caught even a whiff of zerg infestation! How could you not know what they are?!"

While Lexi was swamped in horrible memories and teetering ever closer to staining the ground with bile, Carnivek's response was to just dismissively scoff. "Ah, yes. You confuse me with our weaker Aiur heretics. I am Tal'darim, the Forged people. We are the stronger, superior protoss who worship the true god, Amon. Yes! We hone our warrior craft in the dark nebula where Khalai observers do not even think to find us. We have yet to encounter this… 'zerg'. It appears heretics are not only in contact with these strange creatures in your mind, they are actually at war with these animals?"

"You ain't seen what I've seen!" said Lexi. "Them zerg are unending! They infest entire worlds where they multiply like crazy and overwhelm everything to consume and kill everyone they see. Even the protoss sometimes struggle to fight them."

"Spoken like a neurotic prey animal. Everything in the galaxy looks scary to weaklings like you," mocked Carnivek. "A Tal'darim has no fear, especially not for lesser beasts." He stomped on top of his wrecked ship. "So what if they are capable of chewing through starships? They are no match for my blades and martial prowess. This is but a minor setback, yes."

He jumped off the wreck and landed by her side with a loud thud as his metal legs absorbed the landing's impact. "Tell me where we can acquire a starship."

Lexi looked away from Carnivek. "I don't know."

"Did your species not colonize this planet from space?" growled Carnivek.

"What I meant is I ain't got a ship. There's still a war goin' on and I have no money, no authority, nothin' but this jumpsuit," she answered, tugged on her holed collar.

Carnivek groaned, annoyed, "Not only are you cowardly and weak, you are also insignificant even amongst terrans. I seriously wonder why I was led to you. No matter, I will acquire a ship."

He repeated, "Where can we acquire a starship?"

Lexi wracked her brain. "The closest place is New Wuhan, but it's a warzone. There's… the Sihang Temple-fort." She offered, pointing in the general direction. "That's where I was stayin' before I joined the Dominion military. They got some ships they use to travel around the planet and off-world."

"Hm. So be it. Now, we will march to this temple-fort!"

"But it's gonna take a week to get to that place on foot! And there's Zerg everywhere."

"Let the zerg try to stop me. In fact, let them dare fight me! I shall carve them for their audacity to wreck my ship!"

"But the desert-"

Carnivek hooked his dagger-axe over Lexi's shoulder and reeled her close to glare down at her. "I tire of your whining, Dr. Lexi Nguyen. Unless you have any better ideas, we will go with your suggestion."

He pointed his polearm in the direction of the temple-fort. "Now march, monkey!"

Carnivek was already starting towards their destination, leaving Lexi no choice but to follow after him or be left alone with the wreck. They were already near the edge of the woods so it wasn't long until they were exposed to the rising sun and passing by dead trees unnaturally withered to the dry elements.

Lexi was nervously scanning the horizon, expecting at any moment the Zerg would come in packs to run them down, with nowhere to escape in the sunlight that was already starting to heat up her black hair and face.

"You have the privilege to be the annoying ward of a Tal'darim warrior," grumbled Carnivek. "How much trouble can the zerg possibly be?"