And over there—the piece of military equipment she'd pegged as a type of siege tank had tucked its massive legs underneath it, somehow leaped into the air and sprouted wings. It had now taken flight and was diving and retreating at Ulrezaj while a mutalisk was doing the same thing.
Heh... talk about "air to ground, "she mused. Clearly Arcturus, or at least his military people, hadn't been just sitting on their butts drinking port over the last few years.
And amazingly enough, the combination of zerg and Dominion vessels was obviously giving Ulrezaj pause.
It had been many years since Rosemary considered herself starry-eyed, and she wasn't now. Ulrezaj, from what she understood, could replenish himself easily and effectively at any point. Even as she watched, several of the fast little ships got too close to the dark archon and were vaporized instantly. Even if Valerian had brought the whole Dominion fleet with him, she wondered if they'd be able to best Ulrezaj on his home turf.
Still... all they needed was some time. Some time to pile into the ship, get through the warp gate, and come back with a bunch of protoss ready to...
She shook her dark head. No, they might get through with the vessel, a couple of alysaar, and some crystals. But even a slew of protoss who were masters at the sort of thing she'd witnessed on Aiur wouldn't be able to stop him. He'd wear them down.. .and then restore himself.
They were losing. He was almost here. Rosemary realized that at this moment, she was utterly impotent. She could do nothing. No grenades, no gauss rifles, no weapon or power she could wield as an ordinary human female was going to make a difference. It had been up to the protoss to defeat him, them and their psionic storms. The protoss here had done everything they could, she'd give them that— but it wasn't enough. It simply wasn't enough.
They were losing, and she and Jake would die.
Her brow creased in the stubborn frown that both friend and enemy alike would have recognized, had they seen it. Rosemary lifted the rifle and got the dark archon in her sights. It was a pointless and empty gesture, but if he got within range, she was going to fire on him.
At least she'd go down fighting.
Jake still held Zamara's four-fingered hands in his own. They were growing more and more transparent and felt oddly fragile, as if he were holding an empty eggshell instead of flesh and bone, as if he could crush them with a quick squeeze. Of course, both this eggshell-thin version of Zamara's hands and a more solid one were equally unreal, existing, as they did, solely in his mind.
More solid...
Jake stared at them. It wasn't his imagination—well, of course it was, it all was, but that was beside the point. Zamara's hands were indeed growing more solid within his own.
"What..." He didn't dare hope, but Zamara's eyes shone brightly.
"The crystal," she said, and he suddenly understood.
Normally, the dark templar utilized the khaydarin crystals found on Ehlna for the purpose of storing memories. But Jake had not given them an Ehlna crystal. He had given them a piece of the enormous crystal that had hovered deep beneath Aiur, by all accounts the most powerful khaydarin crystal any living protoss had ever encountered.
And this unique crystal was able to contain more than simple data.
"You...you won't be lost," he breathed. He felt his lips stretch in a grin that, he suspected, bordered on the idiotic.
She hunched her shoulders in a laugh. "It would appear not," she said. "Perhaps, in the future, we will find more crystals like this one. And then the dark templar will be able to preserve memories almost the way we do."
He felt almost giddy with relief and squeezed her hands, the hands that were not real. But they were real. They were as real as the tumble he'd taken that had kicked off the whole chaotic adventure, as real as the guilt that still racked him about the deaths of his friends, as real as Rosemary's kiss before he entered this mental state.
As real as—
"Ulrezaj!" he cried, reflexively tightening his grip.
"I know," Zamara said. Her grief was his own. "I have led him here, to this sacred place of irreplaceable knowledge, to these innocents who have had nothing to do with anything other than study. He has come for me, Jacob Jefferson Ramsey."
"He won't get you," Jake swore. "When—this is done, and you're in the crystal, we'll get you out. We'll keep your knowledge safe." What you died for will not be lost.
"You do not understand," she said, half closing her eyes in a smile. "My knowledge must be preserved—but so must Ulrezaj be stopped."
Jake stared at her, uncomprehending. "What do you mean? Do— do you want to get back into my head? Stop the transference?"
"No, it is too late for that. My essence is already in the crystal." Humor washed through him, shy, almost girlish. He had never thought of her as girlish, but this, too, was a part of her as much as her strength, will, and occasional acerbity. "I simply did not want to say farewell until I had to. Life is sweet, Jacob. Protoss or terran, we share that."
"I don't understand." What was she getting at. "Didn't you just tell me you were going to make it through this okay? Well—as okay as you can be?"
"I...had thought so. But now—Jacob, I believe I might be able to stop him once and for all."
"How?"
"The Alys'aril is constructed above one of the strongest energetic nexuses of this world. There is a nest of power here, it is why the site was chosen."
He nodded. This much he knew.
"Ulrezaj is just outside the Alys'aril. So are his adversaries— once again, zerg and terran fight together to destroy a monster who is our common enemy."
So, Ethan and Valerian had followed the dark archon. Jake's thoughts started to race—if Ulrezaj was indeed defeated, they would need to fight both Valerian's forces and the zerg. They would—
A gentle remonstrance brought his attention back to her words. "Time enough to deal with that once Ulrezaj is defeated," Zamara chided. "The three factions fight outside, but their battle will not be won there. It will be won here, inside your mind, inside the khaydarin crystal that contains what is left of me and all the memories I have stored."
"What?"
"Ulrezaj has recovered much of his strength. My guess is that this world—these energies that make the crystals what they are—are what has helped fuel him all this time. He was once a student here; here he was born, in a very real sense. And here, he must cease to be. The selfsame energies that created the monster can give me the abilities to harness him."
Jake thought he was starting to understand what she intended to do. The cold prickle of apprehension crept over him. He prayed he was wrong.
"You think...we can trap him in a crystal, like we're doing with you?"
"Not quite, Jacob. I intend to use a crystal to contain him, yes. But not one like the one that holds me."
Understanding crashed on him like an avalanche, and even deep into his link with Zamara, he felt his physical body twitch in protest.
"Oh no.. .Zamara, you can't—"
"I believe I can. If this crystal is powerful enough to contain not only my knowledge but my essence.. .1 might be able to utilize its powers and those of the nexus to encase him within it. Also, it should serve as a sufficiently strong prison for Ulrezaj. At the very least, I must make the attempt."
Zamara, for the good of her people, was going to spend an eternity imprisoned with a dark archon. He couldn't let her.
"No, Zamara, I will not permit you to do this. Hey!" He lifted his head to the utterly fictitious skies and yelled without a voice. "Hey!Don't let her!"
"Jacob—it is what must be done. I have ever served my people the best I knew how. If Ulrezaj is not contained, he will destroy me, you, Rosemary, every protoss here, and the Alys'aril and all the information it houses. I have done so much to keep the memories with which I have been entrusted safe."