It Was a Pleasure to Burn

It Was a Pleasure to Burn

Fire washes the skin off the bone and the sin off the soul. It cleans away the dirt. And my momma didn’t raise herself no dirty boy.

XI - Rekindling the Expedition

__________

"What happened, Aldarix, why did they suddenly turn on each other?" Imorin asked, not actually expecting much of an answer. She was pacing back and forth across her small office on board her flagship super carrier impatiently while Aldarix sat watching her. Most carriers were not built with quarters such as this, as they only ever had quarters for the commander and crew, which was not usually very large. Super carriers were exceptions. Being several times larger that an ordinary carrier, which was by no means a small vessel, they had more than enough space within for more comfortable quartering.

"I am afraid I cannot give you a definite answer, as their minds were closed to me for the duration of the journey," Aldarix said. He leaned forward with his hands braced against his knees. "If I had to guess, I would say they could not control their own emotions."

"But why?"

"Our relations with the Terrans have never been optimal, Executor--"

"That goes without saying," Imorin interrupted.

"--But some of us, myself included, have fought with them personally. I fought alongside this particular cohort on the Terran world of Tarsonis, 'New Gettysburg', I believe the city was called. We saw firsthand the kinds of atrocities the Terrans were willing to commit against us and each other, and none of us were left with good impressions of them. Their new emperor had not only baited the Zerg to Tarsonis, he actively protected them from us! There is a fine line separating genius and insanity, and the Terrans seem to be walking it quite expertly."

Imorin thought for a moment. If the zealots were so twisted by the encounter Aldarix described, it would not explain why he himself was not warped in the same way.

"But of course you in your infinite wisdom were able to resist the temptation of hate?" Imorin remarked with a touch of sarcasm. She was still in a sour mood as a result of the conflict which she had truly hoped to avoid.

Aldarix rolled his eyes, a motion that Terrans and several other races would not notice due to the Protoss' monochromatic eyes. "Mind you, I do not like the Terrans myself, but I at least recognize that this emperor is an outlier. I highly doubt that all Terrans would do such things, and our experience with the Terran James Raynor is proof of this."

Imorin stared blankly at him for a long moment. "... Who?"

Now Aldarix did the traditional Terran response whenever they hear someone say something so ignorant or stupid it defies prediction: the facepalm. "How can you not know? The man who aided us in our flight from Aiur to Shakuras? The man who purged the Zerg infestation on the Terran colony of Haven? The man who defeated the Queen of Blades?"

"You are aware that I am from Shakuras? We have not had contact with Aiur for thousands of years, so do not expect us to care much about your 'heroes'."

Aldarix seemed taken aback by her response. "You are a Nerazim?" Imorin simply stared at him incredulously, amazed that he had yet to figure out his own commander's ethnicity. "Yes, well, I suppose I lose all rights to criticize your lack of knowledge on this subject, do I? I suppose this would explain why you were able to achieve Executor at such a young age, seeing as how the Conclave does not allow women to--"

"Focus, Aldarix," Imorin snapped. "Are you sure you are not becoming senile?"

At this Aldarix scoffed, "I may be old, but I am not that old yet!" He gave a brief pause to gather his thoughts. "You must surely have heard about Executor Selendis' encounter with James Raynor on Haven, and how he assisted in purging the Zerg infestation there."

Ah yes, now she remembered. Truth be told, Imorin typically tried to deliberately forget most of what Selendis said. Selendis had been born and raised in the Khalai Protoss, the dominant Protoss faction up until the end of the First Great War, and had been the personal student and immediate subordinate to High Executor Artanis. To most Protoss, she was to be greatly respected and honored, even among the Nerazim. To Imorin, however, who had unfortunately gotten to know her personally, she was not much more than an over-glorified suck-up to Artanis, as the Terrans would say.

Imorin had not even met Selendis until the First Great War, and had rapidly developed a distaste for her, her subordinates, and... well, everything left over from the Khalai, which was quite a lot. Most Nerazim--Imorin especially--had looked upon the Khalai and the Conclave governing body with profound distrust. The split between the two factions had occured following the Aeon of Strife about three thousand years prior, with the Khalai originally a religious group that would rapidly become the dominant faction. The Nerazim had refused to convert, and were thus banished from their homeworld of Aiur to the shadowy world of Shakuras, where they successfully avoided contact for thousands of years.

The rift between the Khalai and the Nerazim was not only in politics, but also in ideology, which may have been the cause of the schism in the first place. One such ideology was that the Conclave, the ruling body of the Khalai, refused to allow female Protoss into positions of authority, with very few exceptions. In addition, they were extremely conservative in their policies and culture. The Nerazim, on the opposite end of the spectrum, were far more liberal. Ironically, their banishment exile from Aiur allowed them to create a free society in which individuals were allowed to do as they wished, and, more importantly to Imorin, women were actually allowed to take leadership roles. She had always found it amusing how even the Terrans had achieved gender equality hundreds of years before the Khalai, no matter how much they were looked down upon as inferior.

It was only until the First Great War that the Khalai and Nerazim had been reunited to form the Daelaam, though it was more so out of necessity for ensuring their species' survival against the Zerg swarms. The two powers had been forced to combine their forces, which raised disputes on both sides. Imorin had already reached the position of Executor only a few years before the First Great War, though it was under a different title which she had to abandon in favor of the Khalai ranking system following reunification.

This system had its pros and cons. On the upside, Imorin now had to worry less about access to resources and other hardware. On the downside, she now had many former Khalai warriors in her service, and she found them to be mostly unpleasant to work with, Aldarix as an exception... most of the time. At times his age started to show more than others.

Also, she had to collaborate with Selendis, which was a very good test of one's temperament.

Imorin sighed internally. "Unfortunately yes, I do know what you are talking about. Why did you remind me of this? You know I hate the very thought of listening to Selendis." In her best impression of Selendis, Imorin began making (mis)quotes of hers, "'Fire is the only cure!' 'It was such an honor to be assisted by one of the heroes of Aiur!'" She paused, shaking her head at how much Selendis made her hate having been born Protoss. "But yes, I do see your point. Not all Terrans are bad. Always exceptions. Never say never, do not always say always, usually say usually, blah, blah--"

"As I was saying, those zealots were too shortsighted to understand that and that is why they attacked, or so my theory goes," Aldarix interjected before Imorin could rattle off more childish remarks.

The two were silent for a moment.

"I suppose the only way to get the truth would be to interrogate them personally," Imorin mused. "But now, I really do not care. They are not, however, going to be in my cohort, so I will need to gather a new one soon enough. For now, we have the matter of these warp gates to deal with."

Aldarix straightened in his seat and nodded. "That is quite the question, is it not?"

"I am at a loss now," Said Imorin after giving to thought. "Seeing as how well the last surface... exploration went, I am reluctant to do so again. Yet we cannot not do anything."

"It is a dilemma," the old Protoss agreed.

"Are you going to give me any suggestions or are you just going to keep agreeing with me?" Imorin said impatiently. Aldarix was one of her most valued advisors, but he did have his off moments.

"I am afraid not. I can, however, say that I am personally curious as to where some of these Warp Gates lead to," said Aldarix.

"What, you want to go back down? After we were almost killed?"

"Not without taking precautions, of course..."

~

"... And you are sure we can do this?" Imorin asked, examining the dismantled pair of observer drones laid out on the hangar floor. These older drones were dull yellow, metal things that looked to be more of Terran make than Protoss. The front of its hull was a wide, bulbous ellipsoid with a short cylindrical protrusion sticking out of one end. The cylinder had three stubby wing-shaped antennae sticking out, giving the drone a harmless, almost cute appearance. If one were to stand it on its end, it would probably be about as tall as an average Protoss.

"Of course!" Aldarix said with a laugh. "These models are already obsolete and are to be recycled, and what better way to recycle them that to repurpose what is already there?"

Imorin reached into the pile of mechanical parts and pulled out one of two small, black boxes that were the focal point of their discussion. "I am more so concerned about whether or not we can keep power supplied to these for long enough to reach the Gates."

Aldarix scratched the back of his head. "Yes, well, these older cloaking systems were not as efficient, so this may pose a problem. We will have to be conservative in their use."

"How long will we have before their power supplies fail?"

"No more than two hours, if memory serves correctly. The design has not been changed in a very long time."

"How long?"

This proved a poser for Aldarix, who began thoughtfully stroking his long goatee. "Since before I was born." Imorin was surprised by this. While the Protoss did not need to update their technology as much as the Terrans seemed to, they still were constantly testing and developing new designs. "The design has worked for almost a thousand years! We never needed to change anything!"

"Very well, let us see if we can connect these to our armor then."

After many tried and failed attempts to find a way to connect the cloaking devices to the golden armor that the Protoss typically wore, Aldarix finally reasoned that as long as the devices were in contact with them they would work. They eventually settled for taking lengths of cloth strips and strapping them to the sides of their hips. Aldarix's long robes hid his quite nicely, but Imorin was rather upset at having to have such an ugly piece of machinery on her side.

"I do wish I were not required to wear this ridiculous armor in order to be Executor," she complained. "Before reunification the robes we Nerazim wore had plenty of pockets and straps."

"HA!" Aldarix barked. "Those 'robes' had more holes than rags!"

"They were symbols of our freedom and independence," she said, turning her chin up at him.

"Not to mention your promiscuity."

"What I do on my own time is none of your business."

"And thus my suspicions are laid to rest."

"You are a dirty old man, do you realize that?" Imorin said. She could feel her blood rising to her face at this point, partly out of embarrassment and partly because of anger.

"You have yet to see my true potential," Aldarix snidely remarked as he turned and walked away from the disassembled observers and towards their shuttle.

Imorin mentally slapped herself upon a sudden realization. "Why did we not think of these cloaking devices before we went to the surface last time?" Imorin asked no one in particular.

Aldarix paused and looked back at Imorin. With a chuckle and continuing his walk to the shuttle he said, "Do not berate yourself too heavily now; we all have days like that where nothing seems to go according to plan. Now come! We waste time! And be sure we did not forget to bring the psi transmitter!"

"Need I remind you that I am the one in command!?" Imorin shouted indignantly. Does he take me for a fool? of course I remembered the... the... Imorin began patting the place where the transmitter had been attached to her armor, but found it was not there. Looking around, she saw the narrow cylinder on the ground next to one of the dismantled observers. Once she was sure Aldarix could not see her from within the shuttle she snatched it from the ground and tied a piece of cord through a small ring on one end of it and hung it around her neck like a necklace. I am nobody's fool!

~

The shuttle dropped the pair off at the top of the cliff near the Warp Gate cave's entrance, where they would be safe from prying eyes and they could still observe the situation. There were no Terrans or any other creatures of significance within the chasm itself, but it was impossible to know if anything or anyone was within the tunnel.

This situation of uncertainty was the exact reason the two Protoss had chosen to bring salvaged cloaking devices with them. Before making their way down, they turned the fields on, and Imorin watched with fascination as she and Aldarix literally became invisible, save for a blue shimmer that only they could see through the psionic link they made sure to keep.

Imorin steadily crawled down the cliff feet first. The cliff had plenty of handholds and outcroppings, so the descent was easy. At least, it was until she got to the point were she could not even see the rock she was hanging on to. She made a few more fumbling progressions down before she suddenly lost her grip and plummeted downwards. Her life flashed before her eyes, somehow managing to cover the entirety of it before she hit the ground on her rear half a meter below the point she fell from.

"Ta-da!" Aldarix sang as he levitated himself gently to the floor. "Are you quite finished playing in the sand, child?" he said as he leaned over Imorin, who still had yet to sit up.

"Show-off," she remarked.

After picking herself up off the ground Imorin activated the blue psi blade on her right arm--the only one that had a psi blade--and held it up like a lantern. The light from the blade bathed the area around them in a dim blue light for a short radius, but it was enough for the two to see where they were going. If one were to look at them now, they would see an odd sight indeed. All that would be visible to potential onlookers was a long, narrow shaft of ethereal blue light bobbing up and down as it moved towards the tunnel.

Just as Imorin and Aldarix reached the mouth of the tunnel they noticed another pair of bobbing lights coming from partway down, though these were white and seemed to be intended solely for allowing vision. Imorin quickly realized that this must be the two remaining Terrans from the disaster earlier that day. Before they could see her psi blade Imorin turned it off, and she and Aldarix both dove (literally) behind a rock to avoid detection.

The Terrans appeared to be arguing over something, or someone.

"... Trust me, if you had to work with the kinds of sorry excuses we have for grunts on a day-to-day basis around here after having worked with Phi Squadron, you'd be pretty short tempered and spiteful yourself," said the Terran Imorin recognized as the Colonel. He seemed to be criticizing the other Terran, Stuart Archer she assumed, on having been of the wrong opinion of someone.

"I'm not arguing with that, sir, I'm saying that he's--"

"That he's what, son?"

"Well... he's a dick!" Archer said, apparently not being able to come up with a decent insult.

The Colonel laughed at that. "Ha! Well so am I and half the other officers on our base! Get used to it, son, nothin's changin' for a while."

"Yes sir..."

The Terrans fell silent after that, and continued walking past the two Protoss, who were still hiding behind their rock. Once Imorin was sure there was no way they would be seen or heard, they crept out and she reactivated her psi blade.

"Who do you suppose they were speaking of?" Imorin asked out of curiosity as they began working their way down the steep tunnel.

"Who knows? It could be any of the Terrans here, judging by what their Colonel said."

Once they reached the bottom of the ramp and the massive hall of Warp Gates illuminated itself upon sensing their arrival, Imorin switched off both her psi blade and cloaking device. Neither were necessary, as there was plenty of light and no souls were in sight.

The place had not changed since their last visit, though she did notice that the dead Terrans had been dragged so that they laid on their backs almost shoulder to shoulder, still fully armored. The significance of this eluded Imorin, but if she had to guess, it would most likely be that it was a gesture of respect for the dead Terrans. It was then that something clicked into place in Imorin's mind: only the Colonel and Archer had returned, and the only Terrans that were lined up were marines and the one remaining marauder warrior. Looking down the hall, she found that they had done the same with the reapers, marines and marauders from the battle the day before. Again, however, that was all there was.

And yet, the ghost warrior is not among the dead, nor the alive from what we saw, she thought. "Aldarix! Be on your guard! I believe there is still one remaining among us."

"Of what class of warrior is it?"

"A Terran ghost I believe."

"Hmmm... If worse comes to worse, I believe we can manage him. For now, we must decide which of these Warp Gates to go through." Aldarix sounded almost excited about this and was looking around like a child in a toy store.

"... The ghost does not bother you?"

"Should it?"

"Yes..."

"Ah, well."

"Are you sure you are not becoming senile?"

"Almost definitely!"

Wonderful, Imorin thought bitterly. When Aldarix was excited about something, no force in the galaxy could dissuade him from it. "At the very least allow me to choose which one."

Aldarix seemed upset by this. He crossed his arms and grumbled, "Very well. If it helps your decision-making process I have good feelings about this particular--"

Before he could finish his "suggestion" Imorin cut in, "What of the Warp Gate we were searching for with the Terrans? Did you ever determine which one?"

Aldarix suddenly seemed perturbed and he looked at her askance. "Yes, I did. But are you sure that is a wise decision? Who knows what remains on the other side, save an elite Terran warrior who I fear we may not be able to defeat in combat?"

"Well then, I choose that one. Unless of course, you are afraid of a little adventure," she challenged. Imorin had learned just how and where to press Aldarix's buttons. Oddly enough, he had still not outgrown his love of adventure and suspense from his childhood, and Imorin knew it. She almost felt bad for manipulating him so, but if Imorin knew him well enough...

"Follow me," Aldarix said, and walked briskly down the corridor with Imorin in tow.

Imorin began to wonder just how far back the Warp Gate was when Aldarix suddenly stopped in front of her, causing her to crash into him and fall to the ground.

"What is it with you and falling down today?" Aldarix laughed as Imorin stood up and brushed herself off.

Ignoring him, Imorin observed the Warp Gate. It looked no different than all the rest. It was the same size, same shape, and same color. Were it not for her prior knowledge, she never would have guessed that these Warp Gates were two-way portals to completely different worlds.

"Do you know how to activate it?" Imorin asked, not seeing any displays or controls of any sort on the Warp Gate.

"Of course!" Aldarix laughed. A wave of his hand and a blue aura of psionic usage later, the Warp Gate activated, filling its ring with an almost liquid-like field of white light.

"... How... ?" Imorin asked in wonder at how Aldarix had done this.

"Hm? Ah, the button is on the backside," he said as though it were the most obvious thing in the galaxy.

From somewhere behind them, Imorin thought she heard someone smack something. She shrugged and ignored it, and directed her attention back to the glowing portal.

"Shall we?" Aldarix said.

"Finally, an opportunity to get away from this place!" she laughed as she practically ran into the Warp Gate with Aldarix not far behind.

~~~

Davis poked his head out from behind his Warp Gate to spy on the two Protoss that had just arrived not long after Archer and the Colonel had left. He recognized them from earlier that day, and was curious as to what brought them back down. While he was too far away to entirely make out what they were saying, he could tell by their gestures that they seemed to be concerned about something. They had probably noticed that he was not among the bodies, so Davis thought it would be best if he remained hidden.

The Protoss seemed to be arguing over something. All Davis could make out was that the odd, female Protoss wanted to go through the Warp Gate they were attempting to find earlier that day. For a moment there was a pause in their discussion, but then the High Templar began walking quickly down the right side of the hall with the other Protoss close behind, apparently having decided to go with the female Protoss' decision.

They quickly passed his Warp Gate. Davis waited until they were about a hundred meters down until he started following them, keeping to the shadows and darting behind the Warp Gates for cover. They were almost at the end when the High Templar stopped abruptly, causing the other Protoss to crash into him and fall over. Davis had to stifle a laugh at that, but he was not totally successful as it came out as a snort. Fortunately, they did not hear it, or at least they paid it no heed.

He was still trying to catch up to the Protoss (those suckers walk fast!), so he missed most of what they said. As soon as he arrived at the Warp Gate directly behind them, the High Templar waved his hand and the opposite Warp Gate suddenly blazed to life.

What the hell! Davis thought. I've been trying to figure out how these things work this whole time!

His thoughts were echoed by the odd, female Protoss--who Davis was now close enough to hear properly--who simply said "... How...?"

The High Templar seemed to take this in stride. "Hm? Ah, the button is on the backside."

What?

Davis managed to draw his attention away from the Protoss long enough to look at the back side of the Warp Gate he was hiding behind. Sure enough, right at eye level was a big, glowing blue circle the size of his head. How could he have missed a button? He smacked himself in the face for having been thinking of methods that were too complicated. Of course the Xel'Naga would make something so simple, laziness is the mother of invention! They never would have achieved their level of greatness if they overcomplicated things now, would they? Of course not!

When Davis looked back at the Protoss, they were gone, finally leaving him truly alone.

Let's see... to follow or not to follow?

Follow them!

No, they'll know I'm there.

Wait a while?

Sure, let's go with that.

Don't worry, big guy! I'ma comin' for ya!