An Ton's Journey

Chapter 44 - Unexpected development

" Ughhh, my head " I said,. while trying to move or do anything at all.

" Hello there, mister An ... Ton... ahahaHAHAHA HA... HA... ha. " Said the voice, that I heard recently. Oh yes it is Dark Archon's voice!

What the hell is going on?

" Oh. yes. I forgot that you can't answer me. Or even see me. Let me help you. And as you get to the point of being able to see, let me explain why you are here, our little brainwasher. " DA said, getting closer to me, as I began seeing extremely faint reddish light.

Not knowing about it, but the Maelstrom and stasis, that I was put in to keep me locked, began receding from eye portion of my Probe's body. Thinning little by little, making interference from them affect me less. Enough to think, see, and converse.

" As you captured, abducted and brainwashed my kind, you were wrong trying to brainwash me. I am representation of mind. " He said.

" And as you let your arrogance take over your safety, you let your guard down and allowed me to get close. Now it is time to punish you." Dark Archon said, as I finally could see him.

" I... I di..dn't brain.wash you. You ..." I was answering, but was interrupted by him.

" Don't you dare call me you, An... Ton..." He said, lowering his face to my eye, making me look in to his eyes from which red energy flowed like a river.

" But. " I tried to continue, but couldn't continue anymore.

" No buts. You, by using some kind of advanced AI, stole our kind to this galaxy!!! Do you know how painful it is to feel disconnection from millions of our kind? This is MADDENING!!!" Dark Archon, shouted, growing in size, increasing his red energy field.

" You were on the brink of the extinction!! " I said, trying to explain myself, as I was beginning to panic. I couldn't understand what is going on, as I couldn't interpret what he was talking about. I just heard what he was telling. But couldn't understand. He sounded like protoss from the game.

Before this moment, I could understand them, but now I could only understand small parts of what he was talking about.

~ After some undecipherable protoss speech~

" Now, we will disassemble you, and achieve full freedom from you. " He said, increasing strength of Maelstrom and stasis, making me unable to do anything, and then falling in to nothingness.

While I was incapable of any action, after our talk and without my knowledge, I was taken to the bigger place.

This was some kind of open platform made out of metal and with extremely strong foundation.

As I was brought to the field, with stasis machine, They placed me on the foundation itself. As I was locked in there using shield generators, heavy machinery was brought and installed on to the platform.

Reason for this situation, was that while I was in stasis, before my 'talk' with Dark Archon, protoss removed me from my body, and moved it to the armory, to be used for something later. And after removing me from it, they began trying to dismantle me and get inside, to be able to use system for themselves.

They scanned my body and could only see my hull and connection points, so they tried looking for any kind of connection points, screws, bolts or anything else that could be used to easily dismantle me. But there were none. So, they decided to take forceful approach.

It didn't work. Then, they tried same approach by pulling me apart, and it failed.

After this came use of energy weapons. They used insane electrical current to try and melt or weaken any part of my body. As I had insulation inside my body, Nothing on the inside was heating up.

On the outside, this current was just moved through the hull.

So, after some more analysis, they came to conclusion that I needed to open my eye, as it would become weaker in opened position.

And as it was closed, they had to wake me up and lock the eye in place, so it wouldn't close the most vulnerable part - lens and transparent material covering it.

Previously, while they were testing my durability, and couldn't find anything to break my body, they didn't dare to use extreme measures, as it might've killed me.

But now, they would.

So, to get to the lenses, they needed a way to weaken stasis in a certain part of my body, and they had no such technology.

So, they tried to use system to get the technology, but it was not responding.

And then they understood. System's core was inside my body. They suspected that it was a thing. And they would have to be more careful now, as they would gladly use system in the future. It was too good to just be destroyed.

As time was moving, a year passed.

At this point, Protoss tried using chemical ways to open me up, tried using their extremely advanced technology, void powers, psi powers, but nothing worked.

As technology was being researched, protoss took apart Nexus, and found all possible things that could be used to connect it to system.

How they dismantled it? Well, it took time and a lot of thoughts. And it was not even bȧrėly as durable as my body.

After destroying everything that could in any way connect it to system, they built a small room on the foundation of Nexus. And then placed me inside of it, locking me physically, and placing extremely thin and transparent hooks to latch on to the eye, before it would close.

To ensure that if works, they placed me inside the bigger version of my hull, so I wouldn't notice that my field of vision became just a tiny bit smaller and I wouldn't be able to see these hooks.

And after it all was done, they prepared. heavy machinery to try and break the lens,or at the very least try something stronger then before, as no heavy machinery had foundation as strong as Nexus's.

And Finally, here is the time of their triumph. They opened my eye and now I am being moved to the biggest and most efficient drill I knew about.

It's drill by itself, was not the biggest, but it was made using eight of my previous shield sticks covered by extremely strong material, even though now they are not really sticks.

These strips, being extremely strong and Even very flexible ( they ARE 1 atom thick ), were used for outer layer of this small drill to ensure that lens would be drilled through.

The engine of this drill was so massive, that it was almost as big as foundation itself, and as it was connected to the foundation and made out of Nexus, it would be able to pierce the eye.

~Few hours later ~

Drilling began, it required a lot of preparation, and as it was just transferred to the working place, and had this small drill installed, it just began.

" Do you think it is worth it? " Rohana asked Dark Archon, who's name I didn't know.

" Why wouldn't it? We ARE protoss, we wouldn't be slaves to others. And you know it yourself, it was just a matter of time until he would begin to abuse us more. We already suffered enough. For more then a year our people were enslaved and being unable to even think about rebellion." DA replied, watching the deciding moment for their race.

" He wasn't really that bad, as I understand, but continuous mind control might still be talking in me " She replied.

" Yes, it is. You, before appearing in here, would never allow something like that to happen again. We already had an incident in our universe. "

" Many of our kind were becoming more and more restless, as they couldn't remember parts of their lives. They had all more and more problems with memories. You should know it. " DA said.

" And you don't even consider that we were made to think that he was saving us. And there was some kind of enemy, that we couldn't even remember! " Dark Archon angrily said.

" Yes, it was hard to get rid of this memory. You worked hard on returning our minds back. Ehh... " Rohana replied, feeling conflicted and happy at the same time.

" Only if everyone could've been saved by you. Through Khala, you was unable to help people with strongest minds and Dark templars, as they were not connected to it."

" Thankfully, I was able to help most of them in the last year." DA replied.

" Yes, most of them. Except Zeratul, some Templars and Dark Templars. " Rohana said, looking at drill going deeper in my eyes, and thinking about being unable to help. She was not a warrior who could help and hold Zeratul down.

" I wish Fenix would've survived. " Rohana said, looking sadly at the ground.

" You shouldn't feel sorry. He tried to kill me, the only one who could help us all. You had no other choice. " DA replied, looking Rohana in the eyes.

" He was my friend, and I killed him, A HERO! You don't understand, Taradan!" She lifted her voice, still being worried about shooting Fenix in the back.

...

After a long silence, Rohana went away.

As for Dark Archon, called Taradan, he had to stay there and keep maelstrom active at all times, as stasis alone was not enough to keep me and system being unable to do anything.

~ After few more hours ~

* Cling!!! *

" We drilled through! " Said the drill operator.

" Let me see! " Taradan replied, moving closer and looking at the little hole inside the lens.

" Keep drilling, we need a bigger hole then 1mm " He said, and turned away, to get out and wait for more.

* Crash* * Blang*

*extremely loud sound of glass shattering*

* Fwhoosh *

"AAARGH " came the loudest scream you could hear from Dark Archon.

* BOOOM *

Dark Archon, previously known as Taradan, died.

~ Few moment before his death ~

{ System online }

{ Analyzing situation. }

{ Extreme danger to safety found }

Activating [ Escape plan ]

{ Dangerous target found, immediate elimination required }

Order changed to [ Kill and Run ]

[Target Information Acquired.]

----

- Taradan.

Fugitive Dark Archon, previously known as leader of [ Special team ]

Known for having outstanding mind abilities.

Previously known as Taradan the hero, Saved millions from TriAlliance by battling it out against traitors and invasion of enemy.

After falling at the Aiur, was captured and ȧssimilated by the enemy known as [ #### ].

( Guess the enemy. pls )

Danger level : Extreme, annihilation on sight.

---

The moment after Taradan turned away, Crystal, shaped as Pylon, broke out of my body and shattered the glass, after that it Flew at the Taradan and penetrated him right through the heart, consuming his body and residual energy.

Right after that, This Crystal, scanned the surroundings and flew away.

On the base where it happened, chaos began, all the protoss began searching for this crystal and others flew right after him.

~ Back to the crystal ~

-Not enough energy to use [ Escape plan ]

{ Searching for escape route }

{ Possible escape routes found.}

{ Searching for the safest }

{ Route found }

From this moment, Crystal changed it's route and flew in direction of the Space station, that had a lot of protoss who were eager to get it.

As it flew, it was calculating possible future be scenarios, as from this point on, its safety was the priority.

Yes, this crystal was the system, or at least representation of system that connects it to this universe.

At that point, I was still unconscious. And didn't know about anything.

As the crystal flew right to the hangars, it penetrated the shield like hot, million degrees hot knife slices through the vacuum.

Yes, it was instant...

Through the hull, it sliced like the same knife through the buŧŧer.

And as it was flying to the certain ship, protoss finally had a try at capturing it. They used shields, walls, and even more shields to try and stop it, but nothing worked.

And where do you think it flew to?

To the Arbiter, yes. Not to Ardis. To the Arbiter that was connected to it.

From time to time, it was used, so they kept it at hangar, as it was the sturdiest ship they had.

Crystal flew through the closed gate door of the Ardis, activating all the protective measures, and flew straight to the Arbiter part.

Flying fast enough to get inside before it's door closed.

In the Arbiter, Crystal flew to the socket where my previous Probe's body could control it, thus taking absolute control of it.

In this socket, System took absolute control over the ship and it's system, but not the probes and immortals, so system decided to abandon the [ ..dis ] Part of the ship, and flew out using Arbiter's engine.

This engine, used while still connected to the back part, created big explosion, destroying part of the hangar and hiding itself inside the smoke.

Not for long.

As shield was still covering the base, and System couldn't use Arbiter to smash through, it began shooting at one part of the shield, distracting protoss who thought that it would fly through there, and flew right through one of arriving ships using hyper engine that was installed inside the Arbiter.

As the ship blew up, protoss reacted fast enough, to follow Arbiter right through the hyperspace, making it's escape hardly possible, as in last years, protoss made quite a few 0.7 hyperdrives.

As there was no other way, System began calculating possible ways to escape fast, and after couple of minutes, decision to use Warp drive to escape in hyperspace was made.

This, in theory, was possible, and Arbiter might even come out safely after this.

Well, probably.

As System began using almost all it's available calculation abilities to calculate the beat timing for jump, Protoss began massive recall of all the available ships close to the calculated location of exit.

As hyperspace travel was much easier to calculate, and place where it would quit had three protoss outposts that would be helpful. Because of spires, all more and more protoss were surrounding the exit position, but they didn't know, that it would be their biggest mistake.

~ After three weeks of travel in hyperspace ~

{ Calculation completed }

"Best scenario would require exiting hyperspace and using warp engine, to enter warp. Inside the warp , after 69 days fourteen hours, 53 minutes, 12.069 seconds, using hyperdrive would result in 97% chance of successfully travelling to the unexplored part of the galaxy, bringing us to the relative safety. " System finished recording a message on to the Arbiter.

Why was it needed? who knows. System didn't say.

After this came couple of recordings on the ship, with future instructions for me.

[ Recordings ] :

" Hello Anton. I'm glad that you are awake. First things first. You might've noticed, but I can't answer you. If You are listening, then it means I am most probably in hibernation. Restoring my functions and energy after our escape. "

" The problem, Dark Archon that captured us, was brainwashed by enemy from previous protoss's universe. And I, thinking that my memory installation was unbreakable, didn't check all the arrivals on the signs of brainwashing. "

" This led to the situation, where almost all protoss, either through Khala, or through immediate mind manipulations, were brainwashed."

" I don't have much information about current situation, as I was unable to get into the protoss systems while escaping. And risking being slowed down and not having enough energy. "

" While trying to escape, I had to use resources saved inside our storage to run fast calculations. This led me to using almost all the resources? except for some food and one droideka, that you were playing with from time to time, as these items were further then anything else in storage. "

" I am planning to use leftover energy to place us inside droideka. "

" I request for you to begin placing as much materials inside the storage as you can. Also I would need you to get some chemicals and get them inside it, or burn materials and place them while they are burning in it. This is required to speed up my recovery, as it would generate heat and provide me with energy. Not much, but energy. "

" By my calculations, I wouldn't be able to wake up for three to five years if you don't provide me with additional energy."

" My time is running low. I left you with some knowledge inside the ship, but on this note instructions are over."

" And the last thing, don't trust anyone. They might've been brainwashed. Stay safe. And try to keep away from force users, until I'm back "

That was the last of recordings, everything else was just text documents with information about needed chemicals or anything else that it had time to write until setting timed jump, getting us inside the droideka, and falling asleep.

This all I've read long after arriving at the planet at which we crashed.

~ Time of crushing down onto the unknown planet ~

Arbiter, while exiting the hyperwarp was heated so much, that when it entered the atmosphere of the planet, frontal glass was damaged enough, to shatter upon Arbiter falling on to the earth and droideka hitting it, making droideka inside which I was placed, to fly out at speeds on which nothing was left out of our potential body.

As crystal was flying off into the distance, cooling down inside the atmosphere, rushing through some trees, it fell onto the big animal killing it immediately.

After smell of blood and cooked meat spread to the outside, some animals rushed to the place of fallen crystal and began fighting for food.

The fight was big enough to make this pile at least out of ten more bodies, making it too much of a danger for everyone, so almost all of the animals who were craving for this pile of meat now saw it as danger.

Too much fights were made because of smell of hot meat.

After almost all the predators left, movements began appearing inside the pile.

It was crystal's emergency protocol in case of failure of droideka's one.

It began consuming all the bodies and changing them to the best living being known to it and having a chance to survive and have immense potential.

Zerg larvae.

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Big THANK YOU to my supporter

[ Grey Knight ]

pa treon.com/ Muraveyy

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