Ariel's Haven

Meinhoff had been cleared. The surviving refugees had begun their exodus from the fallen world. To where they will be going, only God knows. Praying for their safety was the only thing that he could do.

Exhausted. He sat on his chair at the bridge, completely oblivious from the burst of activities there. The old Confederacy era battle cruiser had just entered warp jump. The Raiders had offered to stay behind until all the colonist finished moving out. They came to that planet as a request from Doctor Ariel Hanson. Earlier, she had detected unusual anomalies coming from Meinhoff colony. Unusual was kind a too simplistic to describe the whole problem. It was more than that. A horror movie in reality where none of the current parental rating can be applied to it. He had seen the Zerg. He saw the Queen of Blades. But none of it compared to what he saw on Meinhoff.

Infested humans with details so gory that he'd sure he would have nightmares until the day he dies. But it wasn't the deformed shape of the infested that disturbed him. It was their suffering. Torn between the desire to kill and to be kill. Trying desperately to end their own life than continued to live in such existence, and yet they couldn't. Only those who were strong enough, army marines and soldiers, could put the gun in their mouth and put the bullet through their head. The rest just have to continue killing and at the same time pleading. All of this was the work of someone he once knew. A ghost in the shadows. The betrayer.

His team managed to withstand the onslaught of the undead. Destroying every source of infestation during the day and held to their ground within their base at night. The main primary hive was the most difficult to take care of but in the end, they managed to bring it down. Once cleared, those colonist who had cleared the health check were allowed to leave. The ones that shown any indication of infestation, against Dr. Hanson protests, had to be put down.

And right now, they're on the way to one of the last colonist refuge. Despite its close proximity to the Protoss space, Haven was the only planet the refugee could go to, for now. And that's where the problem lies. The new colony, just like Meinhoff, had gone dark. Doing another Meinhoff maneuver was honestly the one thing he wasn't looking forward to repeat.

The main blast door to the bridge hissed open and from it came a cute and petite figure wearing a plain doctor's white jacket over her usual dress. Her eyes wondered towards the rebel commander who as now sitting motionless. His eyes continued to gaze forward, clearly loss in his thought. Ariel went beside him and gave out a small cough.

Jim startled. He turned to look at the pretty doctor who was now standing beside him. Her green eyes had not once left his.

"Hiya Doc," greeted him. "I hope everything's going well on your side."

"So far so good, Jim," replied Ariel. Her decision to simply use his name instead of calling him 'commander' as usual wasn't gone unnoticed.

"Yeah, well. It's good to hear that, Ariel. You're still mad at me?"

"You and your boys gunning down the slightly infected refugees? I have put it behind me, Jim. It wasn't really my place to question what you had done. I'm sure it's for the best," said Ariel, bitterly.

Jim sighed. It took him quite a moment before he continued, "You know we don't have any choice, Ariel. You know we can't allow the infestation to spread. If there's any other way we could use to tackle the situation, by God we will take it. We just, don't have that options."

"Jim," replied Ariel while at the same time placed her hand on Jim's. "I understand. Truthfully, I was indeed disappointed that you had to take that action but I know you did it for the best. You have given me so much more within a few weeks than anyone else had given me within a few years. I'm not going to hold it on you, Jim. I won't forget all the good deeds that you had done."

They were both smiling. And Ariel herself was blushing.

"Ahem."

Both of them turned around only to see Matt Horner looked amusingly at them.

"Sorry to disturb your little soap opera, sir but you might want to take a look at what's in front of us," he said.

"What is it, Matt? What the hell?!" Jim's eyes opened wide when he saw a bunch of Protoss carriers in orbit around Haven just as Hyperion came out of warp jump.

"Do you know what this means, sir?" asked Matt.

"The colonist were infested," replied Jim.

"Jim," said Ariel. "You can't let the Protoss destroy my people. Whatever conditions they're in now, they don't deserve to be destroyed just like that. You got to stop the Protoss, Jim," pleaded Ariel.

"Calm down, Ariel. We have yet known what the Protoss was planning to do. Matt, hail them."

"No need, sir. The Protoss hailed us first," said Matt while at the same time pushed a few buttons of the console in front of him. Moments later, an image of a Protoss, female from the look of it, appeared on the main screen.

"En Taro Tassadar, James Raynor. I am Executor Selendis. Your bravery and service to Aiur are known to us," greeted Selendis.

"En Taro Tassadar, Selendis. Listen - with all due respect, your fleet needs to pull back. The people on Haven are no threat to you."

"On the contrary James Raynor, our Observers detected zerg hive spores infesting the colonists. They must be purified. If you wish to undertake this mission in our stead, we will permit it," replied Selendis.

Ariel quickly went beside Jim. Holding and shaking his arm, she pleaded, "Jim, some of my people are infested but you can't let the protoss just destroy them all! If you keep the protoss at bay, I know I can find a cure for the infestation. Please Jim, I just need the time."

Selendis upon hearing what Ariel had said responded, "The only cure for zerg infestation is purification by fire! You know this to be true, James Raynor. We were well aware of what you did on Meinhoff and you have our gratitude for that and we wish to spare you from the horror of what you have seen. You can still do it for us of course, should you wish to."

" I can cure them, Jim - believe me!" pleaded Ariel once again.

"The Zerg virus mutated at an incredible rate. You know this to be true. Whatever cure you might have devise won't last. The only permanent cure for the infestation is through fire," said Selendis while at the same time eyeing Jim Raynor.

"Jim, please!"

"Commander, I'm afraid what the Executor said is right. There's no other way," said Matt.

"How can you said that?! How can you agreed to whatever it is they going to do?! They're going to kill all the helpless people and you're okay with that?!" shouted Ariel.

"Dr. Hanson, as much as I really wanted to save them, I don't really see any other way. You saw for yourself what happened on Meinhoff. Besides, your research on the cure doesn't seem to be going anywhere and we certainly don't want the Protoss added to list of our enemies," replied Matt.

"I can cure them, captain! I just need more time! Haven is the only refuge we got left. If the Protoss destroyed them, there goes everything we had work so hard. Those refugees had nowhere else to go, captain. For the sake of humanity, please think about what you have said!"

Matt was about to argue when Jim suddenly cuts in, "Alright that's enough you two! Now be quiet and let me handle this!" Turning towards the main monitor, he said, "Executor Selendis, I understand what you're trying to do. But these are my people. Infested some of them maybe, the rest of them deserved to be rescued. Now I'm going to offer an arrangement."

"What arrangement would it be, James Raynor?"

Taking a moment to draw a deep breath, Jim said, "I need you to hold back your fleet for a while. Let me and my men handle the problem our own way."

"And what if you fail?" asked the executor.

Turning to look at Ariel, he replied, "If we fail, then the job is yours."

Selendis considered it for a moment before replying, "Very well, James Raynor. I will hold back my fleet and let you handle this matter on your own. Be warn that we will keep watching. I pray that you will succeed for if you fail, there won't be any mercy."

"Thank you executor," said Jim before ending the transmission.

"Jim?" whispered Ariel.

Sighing, Jim said, "It had to be done, Ariel. We don't have the strength to fight the Protoss and we don't want to be our enemy either. It's the best I could come up with."

"Jim, you know what would happen if you fail."

Smiling, he said to her, "Then you know that failure isn't an option." He then turned towards Tychus who was watching them silently all this while. "Come on, Tychus. We got a battle to win."

"Right behind you, Jimmy," said Tychus as he tailed Jim out of the Hyperion bridge. Ariel eyes followed them until the blast door closed.

"Be safe Jim," she whispered to the man she began to have feeling with.

The end.