EPILOGUE

The rendezvous was made shortly after.

He boarded the alien vessel, vast glowing walls sweeping up around like arms to surround his suddenly impoverished seeming battlecruiser and attendant dropships. The rest of his fleet was holding position outside, but he decided to skip the details and bring his entire command with him. The carrier was more than able to accommodate it.

It was pretty odd – it wasn't often one disembarked from one of the landing bridges from the Hyperion itself, except while in dock, but this was like no dock he'd ever used - but no reason to let the option get rusty.

(*)

Jim looked at it. A strange place for the names of his men, glowing blue – the names of terrans now inscribed in the heart of this strange, beautiful ship of the protoss.

He remembered his own memorial for Fenix, kept in the Hyperion in the port armoury, along with the names and remembrances of his own men, for them to visit.

Fenix had been well liked by his crew – it had been both a hard and tragic day when Kerrigan killed him. None of them saw it coming – having already died once and seeing him in battle, Jim had begun to believe the protoss could never die. He was wrong.

He had already lost so many friends to the Zerg, losing one more to Kerrigan had been one murder too far. He clenched his fist. He still remembered it. The rage. The hate. The despair, and the commitment, knowing Kerrigan wasn't the person he knew.

Later, when he was back on the Hyperion, contacting his fleet, and setting a course on a new mission, he would have a moment to think about it.

Years of pain since then, and it had twisted, grown stronger but in different ways. And then… well…

He lifted the drink. He knew what had happened since then.

"For Fenix." And he poured it out on the ground. Wherever the protoss was – maybe the gesture meant something even to the protoss with their gods and warrior religion, and whatever they talked about with their souls and that damn Khala of theirs.

The warp engines hummed, and took them away from there.

(*)

The protoss checked their sensors, and their ships, slender and golden and surrounded in a nimbus of shields, speared into an unexpectedly empty void.

The Hyperion as well, with the attendant rebel fleet, made its patrol around the colony and moons that were being ravaged scant hours ago. It took time, but eventually the protoss had shared their knowledge, recalling scouts from their farthest patrols, and come to an agreement.

The Zerg had disappeared once more…

"Looks like whatever they wanted, they got it," Commander Raynor said from his bridge. "I've got a few more colonies left to clean up here, but you boys just let us know when the fighting starts. The Zerg aren't going to stop there, and we know it."

According to the protoss, the Zerg had not left the sector, but it seemed they had given up the fight for these worlds. The defense was apparently a success. The protoss gathered their ships, and pursued.

THE END