StarCraft: Outcasts

Chapter 3: Maelstrom [Nyx]

The archon held the Terran motionless. Had it understood they meant him no harm? It was hard to communicate in the Terran language, even sending thoughts to him was challenging with all the wild energy flowing through them. After the merging, even the smallest tasks were difficult, but it also opened up a whole new warp gate full of possibilities.

They could feel the Terran so strongly now; his body was in their control, but it took all their strength to keep his anger subsided. They needed to search his thoughts, find something they could use to bring peace to the situation. They pierced though it's mind but around every turn nothing but anger burned. Anger toward them, toward all Protoss.

The terran squirmed and they had to tightened up their psionic grasp on its body. It could not let him go like this. For a moment an unfamiliar urge took hold of them. The feeling of power. Not the power to shatter buildings with a swing of its glowing hand, although that was part of it, but the feeling of ruling, no longer bowing down to another and serving, but being the one others bowed down to. It wouldn't be hard, they already had control of the terran's body, and terran's minds were weak. They could surely smash it into submission. They could build an army and take revenge on the other Protoss for abandoning them here on this dying world.

No. The other mind inside of them spoke up and provided the strength to push the anger away. They quickly shoved the thought out of their mind, shame spreading through their body. It was not their anger, hatred, or desire for power. It was fueled by the Terrans mind. Why was the Terran's mind is so prone to anger and war? They dug deeper and found a stronger emotion hiding underneath the anger. Hurt? Yes, this terran was in pain. Something happened him. He was fighting for revenge, revenge first against Amon, and now the Protoss. They understood his pain and sympathised.

The Terrans body went limp, it seemed to be subdued, for now. It was time to talk, to meet him with words. "Are you a disciple of Raynor?" They released their grasp enough to be able to project their language into his head, but the Terran stayed quiet. Was their grasp still too tight on him? They did not fully mind control him so he should be able to talk. They released their grasp a bit more and spoke again. "Terran, are you with James Raynor?"

"I heard ya' the first time, no need to repeat yourself." The Terran struggled to speak through its mouth, breaking through the silence. The archon winced at the primitive sounds the thing used to make words.

"That was not an answer." They said releasing their control a bit more, hoping it will allow him to speak freely.

"Do wraiths fly?" The Terran said contorting his face, and breathed heavily out of his nose, making what they once had heard was called a snort. "Of course I'm with Jim, owe him my life. How do you think he kept his hellions spitting fire and tanks blasting long enough to hold off zerg rushes? Who do you think made sure that his thor's 200m punisher cannons disintegrated the target every time?" The Terran stepped from the wrecked mech, his eyes ablazed. "Sure Swann was the mastermind, but who was his undercredited partner in crime? Yours truly." He pointed a small thumb at his chest. "So yes, I'm a friend of Raynor. And it looks like I'm going to die 'cause of it too." He mumbled to himself, just barely audible.

Why were Terrans so testing? They sighed and focused on containing their energy inside them before replying. "We mean you no harm, we seek your help."

The Terrans eyes narrowed. "Y-ya want my help?"

They paused and struggled to focus the power. "We seek an alliance."

"W-why do you want me?" The Terran asked, clearly alarmed.

"We were abandoned. We must unify." The archon paused again "To survive."

As they held the Terran, they felt his mind weighing the option. Maybe he wasn't so simple to not understand the need to work together. Believing they were no longer in danger, they fully released him. The Terran slumped over in his SCV's chair. He was about to pull for the lever to activate his guns but then stopped. Something changed in his eyes.

"Unify huh? But why do you need me? I'm just a SCV and you're a legendary Protoss. Not exactly a perfect match.

"We were templar. We cannot repair. You are a smith." The archon said.

The Terran moved his SCV around to scan the area. "Yep that is true, there are lots of parts around here, but what do you expect to find?

"Pylon, stabilize warp field, escape."

"You will really need to be able to talk with longer sentences if we are going to get along. But anyway, if you hope to find a fully functional pilon here I believe you would be sadly disappointed. Your people most likely warped away everything of value when they abandoned us."

"We must find a broken pilon. You are a smith, you can repair."

"Ha, is that right? I don't think so. I can fix anything Terran, but Protoss technology, well that's different. But hey, if you are set on not frying me as I look around, maybe we can try to find a beacon or sensor tower I can activate to call for help."

"We hear you, we will protect you."

"That's great to hear, I could use a puffball on my side."

"Puffball?"

The thing laughed. "Well that's just what my platoon called you archons, because you know, you guys shoot out white light and look like a cotton puffball. You are purple though, never seen one of those before, so what else should I call you?"

"We are Nyxana Temaran we are the merger of a dark and light templar. It was done out of necessity to preserve life."

"Heh, dark and light together huh? So you are like a balance to the force. Not bad. But your name would be too hard to remember. How about I just call you Nyx?

"If you must." They said.

"So what do you say we get to higher ground and find a supply depot or something for some food?" The Terran pointed off into the distance.

The thought was okay, it would be the first step. "Agreed. We move."

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