Starcraft: Reigns of War

Disclaimer: I do not own Starcraft, Warcraft, or any characters associated with them as they are the property of Blizzard entertainment.

"talking"

Thoughts

Brand New World

~ Protoss controlled territory ~

"Hold brothers! Reinforcements are on the way!" declared a zealot, cleaving his way through the horde about him.

A small pocket of Protoss warriors struggled against their most hated foe, the Zerg, as they brutalized the planet the former found themselves defending from the latter's endless tide of horror. Within the ranks of this group of Protoss was a battalion of every unit the psionic race had within its forces, each doing their part in cleansing this world with the vigor and skill that were hallmarks of their Psionic race.

They were initially sent to this planet, dubbed a 'seed world' due to the abundant status of its exploitable materials, to investigate unusual activity emanating from its surface. Once they landed though, it all became too clear that the Zerg had discovered the planet and were in the beginning stages of infesting it in a quest to absorb its resources for the swarm.

With information gleaned by their observers, the Protoss forces learned of the cerebrate which controlled the invading horde, and in response, a vast segment was sent in the hopes of felling the beast expediency before it could do any more lasting harm. The Dark Templars amongst them, having been safely escorted and defended, accomplished such a task upon the enormous and abominable worm like brain.

Their success proved to be shortly lived, however. Without the guiding influence of their cerebrate, the remaining Zerg population began to run rampant on the surface of the planet, killing themselves as well as what Protoss remained with an underlying nihilistic savagery that their leader would normally curb.

Even now, supposedly victorious, this battle of attrition raged on.

Zealots and Dark Templars held the foremost lines as Stalkers, Immortals, and Colossi rained down purging energy from the distance, doing all that they could at keeping the more numerous of the enemy's forces at bay. The few High Templars, Void Rays, Phoenixes, and Carriers that remained picked off the more...troublesome forces.

Although reinforcement did eventually come to their aid via Warp Gate, Robotics Bay, and Stargate, they proved too small, too token, to turn the tide in a meaningful way.

Though, just as the front lines were about to break, a Warp Prism flew in, dropping off none other than the Dark Templar Prelate, Zeratul! A Protoss that made quick work of the zerglings and roaches that though they could get past while he was planetside.

"Continue to hold brave warriors! The relief I bring is almost upon us!"

Almost on cue, a massive energy sphere fluctuated atop their nexus. A 'warp-in' had occurred there, an ancient arsenal in the Protoss armory, a Mothership, hovering high above the battlefield like an angel of Terran lore that promised vengeance, both divine and absolute

"This is Artanis, commanding the Shield of Auir!" came the voice of the head of the conclave inside the minds of all those present. "Activating mass recall now!"

Reaching beyond time and space, the Mothership warped in more Protoss forces, which evened the odds in their favor slightly, but, sadly still would not last them for long.

"Inbound aerial units sir!" said one of the technicians operating the Mothership.

As Artanis brought up the readings his subordinate had just mentioned, he looked up, wide eye at the amount of Mutalisks, Corruptors, and Brood Lords, who did a frightening job of blotting out every ray of sunshine they could from the sky from above.

He was at a loss for words, save three.

"By the gods . . . ."

With these newly arrived flying terrors pushing the insectoid race forward, the Protoss had no choice but to retreat. Even with the support of their photon cannons, the Zerg wave was just too much.

As they were forced back into their base, a mass recall order was given from Shakuras that began pulling what remained of their forces back.

However, not all of them could escape at once. This sad fact of the matter left a fourth of their remaining number behind to fend for themselves for the time being.

"A little longer! Just a little longer!" Artanis announced as ordered more probes to build photon cannons to fortify their position.

"We cannot allow them to pass beyond this point!" barked Zeratul as he rallied what remained of the groundside forces to hold back the siege.

Though the Zerg's loss of intelligence was evident by how they they lashed out randomly at anything that was close to them, a great many of them somehow managed to focus all of their attention on a still active Warp Gate being powered by a nearby pylon.

If Zeratul could smell brewing disaster, at the moment, he was certain that he would find the scent overpowering to his senses.

"We must shut down that Warp Gate! If it were to explode in its current form, there is no telling what catastrophe may come upon us!"

But the gate's internal systems were far too damaged to follow protocols. In their attempt to shut it down, the warp field matrix began to destabilize around it.

The brewing disaster growing, some of the forces were partitioned to stall the Zerg's assault on the gate while probes tried to repair the warp field matrix and other probes tried to shut down the pylon that powered it.

Too little, too late, as the Terran saying goes.

The warp field began to grow and expand in an ominous energy bubble, catching many of the Protoss forces.

Witnessing this, Artanis could only stand from his console as he watched the inevitable descend upon him and the Mothership.

"...En Taro Tassadar..." was all he could say before the vessel was gobbled up, into the event horizon.

~ Unknown place ~ (Unknown time)

Dazed, Artanis blinked at how instantaneous whatever trip he and those aboard had taken was.

"Are we...are we still alive?"

His contemplation would have to wait though. He looked down at a beeping coming from a console that signified that something was hitting his ship's shield. Looking at a gaggle of monitors, the psionic warrior was confused at the sight that greeted him.

His people's forces on the ground were engaged with an enemy force unlike the Zerg they had been facing just moments ago.

What they were fighting now was unlike anything they have ever seen, even the forces of the swarm...

Looking to his ships instruments, it became apparent that they were no longer on the planet they were just struggling upon.

They were not even in the same part of the galaxy, as noted from the correlation of the stars.

"But if that is indeed the case...where, then, are we?" Artanis questioned as it became apparent to him that they had just exchanged one battle for another.

To be continued . . . .

Author's notes: This will more or less be a pilot chapter to gauge reader reaction and see if I should continue this or not.

This seemed like an interesting idea when it crossed my mind, but, I leave that to the scrutiny of others to judge.

So, thank you all for taking the time to read this fic, and I shall further extend my gratitude if you could please take the time review it as well.