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men. I was wondering if you would be willing to help me in a small matter.
Mengsk s smile filled the screen.
Now wait a minute, Mengsk, said Mike. We made a deal here, and we both did
our part.
And that bargain is done, Michael, continued the terrorist leader who had
saved the population of a planet. But now I want to offer a similar
arrangement to the former marshal and his men. Something that, I hope, will be
beneficial to our peoples.
all
CHAPTER 8
ZERG AND PROTOSS
It would be easy to declare that Arcturus Mengsk was a master manipulator,
which he was, or that he regularly deceivedothers, which was true as well. But
it would be a mistake todeny all personal responsibility in falling into his
web.
It seems now the height of folly ever to have dealt with theman, but think of
the situation when the Sara system died.You had the mindless beasts of the
Zerg on one side, and theunholy fury of the Protoss on the other. And in the
middleyou had the criminal bureaucracy of the old
Confederacy ofMan, which was willing to write off the population of twoplanets
in order to learn more about its enemies.
With such a surplus of devils in the universe, what did itmatter if there was
one more?
THELIBERTYMANIFESTO
THE JACOBS INSTALLATION WAS BUILT INTO THE side of a mountain on the far side
of Mar
Sara from its major cities. It wasn t listed in any planetary archive that
Michael Liberty had found, but
Mengsk knew about it.
Somewhere in the Jacobs Installation there was a computer with data in it.
Mengsk said he didn t know what the data was, but he knew it was important.
And he knew that he needed it. And he knew that
Raynor would go get it for him.
All of this made Mike wonder what else Mengsk knew. It also made the reporter
think about other deep craters on Chau Sara. Had there been similar locations
on the other planet, unknown to most humans but beacons to the Protoss? Had
Mengsk known about these as well?
Liberty suddenly felt as though he were at the epicenter of a bomb site, and
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the countdown had already begun.
The planet was already unraveling. He could see the devastation from the
screens on the dropship that brought Raynor and his combat troops in. Miles of
former farmland was now overrun with the creep, a pulsing living organism that
covered the earth and sent tendrils deep into the rock beneath. Odd constructs
dotted the landscape like twisted mushrooms, and scorpion-like creatures
pulled down and consumed anything in their path. He could see packs of the
skinned-dog zerglings, herded by the larger snake-beast hydralisks. And once,
on the horizon, there was a flight of things that looked like winged organic
cannons.
The creep had not reached the Jacobs Installation yet, but the strange Zerg
towers were already on the horizon. The front gates were open, and men were
trying to flee the complex. The dropship came under fire as it deployed Raynor
and his troops. Even in the relative safety of a low-grade technician s combat
suit, Liberty hung back.
I m not doing this for Mengsk, he told himself.
I mdoing it for Raynor.
The guards were more interested in flight than fight, and Raynor s troops
scattered them easily. Michael
Liberty followed the hulking armored forms into the base itself.
The resistance stiffened as soon as they entered. Defensive guns were mounted
in the wall, and popup turrets erupted at every corner. Raynor lost two men
before he got cautious.
We need to find some control computer, said Mike.
Yeah, Raynor agreed. But I m willing to bet it s on the far side of those
guns.
And with that he was out in the corridor, spraying spikes in a wide arc,
hitting targets that had been unseen a moment ago. Mike followed as close as
he dared, his own gauss rifle at the ready, but by the time he rounded the
corner Raynor was standing in a smoking hallway. Charred emplacements scorched
the walls and floor.
Another hundred feet and another intersection. And another turret popping up
from the floor like a mechanical gopher, spraying the hallway.
Raynor and Liberty dodged into one doorway, three others of the squad into
another. One man wasn t fast enough and was caught in the stream of bullets,
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