StarCraft Chronicles Episode 18: Those Who Choose How to Save

This is a fan narrative rewritten based on the events of the original game. The characters' emotions, dialogue, and scene atmospheres have been reconstructed, and it contains major spoilers.

The Flames of Agria and Ariel Hanson

Jim Raynor stood with a grim expression, staring up at the burning red sky of the Agria colony. Spore clouds spewed by the Zerg Swarm choked the once-clear atmosphere of the agricultural planet, and the desperate screams of refugees echoed through the comm channels as if tearing them apart. Without even a moment to brush the dust off his combat suit, he issued immediate evacuation orders and shouted to hold the line.

Only despair remained where the Dominion forces had abandoned the refugees and retreated. When Raynor's Raiders descended in their dropships, Dr. Ariel Hanson was tending to the wounded with a face worn thin by exhaustion. Though her lab coat was stained with dust and blood, her eyes shone with an unwavering determination to save her people.

The moment Dr. Hanson spotted Raynor, she rushed over to plead for help. While furious that the Dominion had abandoned them, she emphasized that their absolute priority right now was escorting the survivors safely to the starport. Deeply impressed by her devotion, Raynor ordered his Raiders to escort the convoy vehicles.

Swarms of Zerg Zerglings and Hydralisks launched relentless assaults on the convoy. Gripping his Gauss rifle tightly, Raynor stood at the forefront, gunning down the lunging beasts one by one. As the vehicles carrying the refugees jolted along the rugged path, he looked at the terror-stricken eyes of the people and once again simmered with rage toward Mengsk.

Upon reaching the starport, the refugees scrambled aboard the transports. Dr. Hanson watched to ensure every last person was on board before nodding to Raynor. Agria's once-beautiful nature was already being choked and disfigured by Zerg creep, and they had to return to the Hyperion, leaving the tragic destruction of her homeland behind.

The Hyperion's passenger quarters were packed to the brim with the sudden influx of refugees. Raynor walked the ship's corridors, watching the trembling, anxious faces with a heavy heart. Dr. Hanson set up a makeshift clinic to tend to the sick, sharing with Raynor the crushing weight of responsibility she felt to find them a new home.

Raynor returned to the bridge to discuss the refugees' fate with Matt Horner. Finding a planet where they could settle safely away from the Dominion's watchful eyes was no easy task. Horner suggested Haven, a fringe world, as the most suitable candidate, and Raynor sincerely hoped the refugees could find hope once more on its soil.

Yet the shadow of the Zerg followed them far more tenaciously than they had anticipated. Among the refugees who had escaped Agria, an invisible seed of terror had already been planted. Staring out into the empty void of space, Raynor quietly questioned his own soul, wondering if he could truly carry the responsibility for these people to the very end.

The Terror of Infestation and the Purifier Over Haven

The refugees who arrived on Haven were filled with hope of starting anew. But peace did not last long. Some of the refugees began exhibiting mysterious high fevers and seizures, which were soon revealed to be the horrific reality of Zerg virus infestation. In an instant, the colony plunged into a crucible of terror.

Even in this desperate situation, Dr. Hanson worked day and night, pouring herself into developing a cure. She firmly believed that the infestation was still in its early stages and that, given enough time, she could complete a vaccine to save her people. Watching her desperate struggle, Raynor resolved to buy her that time, no matter what.

At that very moment, a massive shadow fell over Haven's orbit. A Protoss fleet clad in gleaming golden armor emerged from a warp jump. Executor Selendis, leading the fleet, established a comm link with the Hyperion, warning that the Zerg infestation had spread to Haven and declaring her firm resolve to purify the entire planet.

Selendis's voice was cold and rational. She argued that Zerg infestation was not a disease that could be overcome by human will, and that burning everything to ash was the only way to protect the sector. That merciless conclusion, born of the Protoss' eons of experience, weighed heavily on Raynor's chest.

Dr. Hanson protested vehemently to Selendis on the comm screen. She argued that killing innocent, uninfested people was nothing short of a massacre, begging for time to complete her cure. But Selendis remained unyielding, stating that given the rate of the infestation's spread, not a single second of delay could be tolerated.

The atmosphere on the bridge froze like ice. Raynor recalled the countless lives sacrificed to the Zerg on Tarsonis. Because he knew better than anyone the horrors that unfolded when an infestation spread out of control, he could not blindly condemn the Protoss logic of purification. Yet, abandoning the survivors before his eyes was equally impossible.

Selendis reminded Raynor that he was a great warrior who had fought alongside the Protoss in the past, adding that she trusted he would make the right decision for the greater good. Her words placed a heavy burden of responsibility on Raynor, pressing him under the guise of friendship. In orbit, where human hope clashed with Protoss conviction, time slipped away relentlessly.

Raynor stared down at the tactical map, his lips pressed tightly together. On Haven's surface, tens of thousands of people were still clinging to the embers of life. Caught between the horrific mutation of the Zerg and the merciless purification beams of the Protoss, Raynor shuddered at the realization that he alone held the power to decide the course of this tragedy.

The Weight of Command and the Crossroads of Choice

Raynor left the bridge and retreated to his dark cabin. Only the mournful country music drifting from his old jukebox offered any solace to his troubled mind. Toying with the marshal's badge on his desk, he reflected once more on the values he had sought to protect ever since Mar Sara. Saving lives always demanded a cruel price.

He turned on the holographic monitor to check Haven's real-time bio-sign data. Danger zones flashing in red and safe zones glowing in blue were tangled in a chaotic mess. The cure research data sent by Dr. Hanson was still incomplete, and the screen was filled with numbers that offered no guarantee of success.

Selendis's warning echoed continuously in his ears. If Hanson's cure failed, Haven would become an uncontrollable infested world, and the blame would fall entirely on Raynor, who had made the call. Visions of countless people turning into hideous monsters and tearing each other apart flickered before his eyes, stirring a deep sense of guilt.

Conversely, if he permitted the Protoss purification, the threat of infestation would be decisively eliminated, but innocent lives would also be reduced to ashes. How was that any different from standing by during the massacre Mengsk unleashed on Tarsonis? Raynor clenched his fist and slammed it onto the desk. No matter which path he chose, his hands would be stained with blood that could never be washed away.

Horner knocked on the cabin door and stepped in quietly. He reported that the crew was waiting solely for the commander's orders, and that the atmosphere was highly agitated. Conflict between those who pitied the refugees and those terrified of the Zerg infestation was quietly spreading even within the Hyperion. The longer Raynor's silence stretched, the more the anxiety grew.

Raynor offered Horner a bitter smile. While starting a revolution and fighting a dictator had clear objectives, standing at a crossroads of life and death where no one knew the right answer was the moment he, as a commander, dreaded most. Checking his magazine, he holstered his pistol and slowly stood up.

When Raynor returned to the bridge, the eyes of every crew member locked onto him. On one side of the screen was Dr. Hanson, desperately clasping her hands together; on the other was Selendis, preparing the purification beam with resolute determination. Raynor took a deep breath, resolving to bear the full weight of his decision, regardless of how history would judge it.

He opened the comm channel and spoke to them both. This was not merely a tactical decision, but a philosophical test of whether humanity could hold onto hope even in the face of ultimate terror. There was no longer any hesitation in Raynor's eyes. He was ready to pull the trigger for what he believed in.

(Choice Branch) Haven's Salvation or Fall

Haven's fate was poised to swing in entirely different directions based on a single decision from Raynor. If he resolved to stand against the merciless Protoss purification and protect Dr. Ariel Hanson's faith, the Raiders would have to endure the cruel paradox of turning their guns on a powerful Protoss fleet that had once been their ally.

If he chose that perilous path, Raynor would have to wage a desperate struggle against Selendis's elite forces, destroying shield power sources one by one to stop the destructive beam emitted by the Protoss Purifier Mothership. If they managed to repel the Mothership and protect the colonists after a razor-thin battle, Dr. Hanson would express her gratitude through tears and vow to remain on Haven to complete the cure one day. Selendis, too, would respect Raynor's steadfast resolve and withdraw her fleet.

It would be a precious victory forged by a seemingly reckless faith in humanity, bringing a temporary peace to the refugees. However, if Raynor decided to follow the opposite path—the cold rationality of the Protoss—the skies of Haven would burn with the flames of an entirely different tragedy.

The moment he conceded that Selendis's judgment was correct, he would have to condone the Protoss purification beams burning Haven's settlements one by one. Raynor would have to deploy forces into the uncontrollably infested zones, witnessing with his own eyes the refugees he had once saved mutating into hideous Zerg monsters, and put them down himself.

At the end of that despairing choice, Dr. Hanson, working alone inside her sealed laboratory to develop a cure, would meet the tragic fate of becoming infested by the Zerg virus. Confronted by her transformed state as a hideous Infested Terran, howling and devoid of reason, Raynor would have to swallow his agonizing pain and pull the trigger of his pistol himself to end her miserable life. It was a devastating downfall left by a broken promise.

While Selendis would praise Raynor's decisiveness in rooting out the infestation, only the indelible stench of blood would remain on his hands upon returning to the Hyperion. The terrible guilt and emptiness he would feel staring into the vacant laboratory would become an eternal punishment he must bear. Haven's salvation and its fall were mutually exclusive destinies that could never coexist.

Raynor closed his eyes tightly as the visions of these two extreme futures flashed through his mind. The reality that he would have to lose something regardless of his choice froze his heart. In the end, the commander's seat was nothing more than a cruel scale weighing which tragedy would be the least painful.

On the comm screen, Selendis and Hanson awaited his answer. Standing upon the intersection of two destinies, Raynor finally parted his heavy lips. The decision he made would set the Hyperion's course, and the skies of Haven stood ready to be painted with either the brilliant light of salvation or the fires of ruin, depending on his choice.

A Proposal in the Dark and Gabriel Tosh

Before the lingering echoes of the heavy decision on Haven could even fade, Gabriel Tosh called out to Raynor from a corner of the Hyperion's cantina, exhaling thick cigar smoke. Tosh's red eyes, as always, held an inscrutable, sinister aura. In his signature low, gravelly voice, he proposed a new plan to deal a critical blow to Mengsk.

Tosh spoke of New Folsom, the Dominion's notorious secret prison. He explained that countless political prisoners, assassins, and, above all, Spectres like himself who had rebelled against Mengsk's regime were locked away there like beasts. He tempted Raynor by suggesting that freeing them would provide an immense boost to the Raiders' forces.

Spectres were beings whose potential as Ghost agents had been pushed to the absolute limit using Terrazine gas and Jorium. Raynor stroked his chin as he studied the holographic schematics of New Folsom that Tosh displayed. Raiding a prison boasting ironclad security was practically suicide, but releasing its inmates could unleash massive chaos upon the Dominion.

Yet Raynor could not fully trust Tosh. The bizarre behavior and superstitious, voodoo-like rituals Tosh had displayed since joining had sparked unpleasant rumors among the crew. Raynor stared directly into Tosh's eyes, sharply questioning whether this operation was merely for his personal revenge or ambition.

Tosh grinned and countered, asking if his motives even mattered as long as it helped bring Mengsk down. He whispered chillingly that Mengsk had turned them into monsters and abandoned them, and now it was time for those monsters to tear out their master's throat. That rage, at least, was genuine enough for Raynor to deeply empathize with.

Tychus Findlay approached with heavy steps and chimed in. He snorted, saying that while he was all for letting criminals loose, he doubted whether Tosh's spooky brothers could actually be controlled. As Tychus pointed out, if Spectres with powerful psionic abilities went out of control, they could pose a massive threat to the Raiders as well.

Tosh assured them that his brothers were united solely by their desire for vengeance against Mengsk, and guaranteed he could control them perfectly. He explained the specific tactics to neutralize New Folsom's defenses, urging Raynor to make a decision. This hand of alliance extended from the dark seemed to carry a sweet yet lethal poison.

Raynor pulled out a cigar, lit it, and stared up at the cantina ceiling with a conflicted mind. To fight a colossal evil like Mengsk, one sometimes had to borrow the power of the dark. But whether inviting uncontrollable madness onto the decks of the Hyperion in exchange was the right choice plunged him into a deep mire of contemplation.

Nova's Warning and the Shadow of the Ghost

Immediately after his conversation with Tosh, the Hyperion's main computer detected a sudden external hacking attempt and sounded an alarm. Horner tried desperately to restore the firewall, but the comm screen had already been forcibly hijacked. As the static cleared, Nova Terra, a Ghost agent with cold blonde hair and sharp eyes, appeared.

True to her reputation as the Dominion's top assassin, Nova greeted Raynor with a relaxed yet cold demeanor. She already knew that Tosh had proposed a raid on New Folsom. Nova began exposing the horrific truth of the Spectre project that Tosh was hiding, warning of just how dangerous and unstable these entities truly were.

According to her explanation, Spectres exposed to Terrazine gas suffered from severe psychosis and psychopathic tendencies, eventually degenerating into monsters who relished slaughter without distinguishing friend from foe. Nova asserted that Tosh himself was already consumed by this madness, and that his true motive for freeing his brothers was to unleash a bloodbath upon the sector.

Nova persuaded Raynor to temporarily set aside his stance as an enemy of the Dominion and stop Tosh's plan for the sake of the sector's peace. Providing the coordinates of the secret facility where Tosh was training his Spectres, she proposed that if he destroyed the Terrazine and Jorium stockpiles there, she would personally hand over the Dominion's Ghost training secrets to the Raiders.

Tosh's blind vengeance and Nova's cold pragmatism clashed tensely across the comm network. Raynor was skeptical of how far he could trust Nova, Mengsk's loyal hound. It was glaringly obvious that she was trying to use him to eliminate Tosh, who was a thorn in the Dominion's side.

However, the clinical data and horrific records of side effects on the Spectres that Nova transmitted were far too detailed to be fabricated. If her words were true, helping Tosh free the inmates of New Folsom could unleash a disaster upon the sector far more terrible than Mengsk's tyranny. A deep furrow creased Raynor's brow.

Nova coldly added that he should judge rationally rather than being swayed by emotion, calling the Spectres failures that could never be redeemed. Once the transmission cut off abruptly and the screen returned to normal, a heavy silence hung over the bridge. Horner cautiously expressed his concern, noting that shaking hands with a Dominion agent was a dangerous gamble.

Raynor silently stared at the spot where Tosh had been standing just moments ago. A rebel armed with voodoo illusions and whispers, and a Dominion assassin wielding a cold psionic blade. Both were entities of the shadows who could not be fully trusted. Once again, Raynor had to place his foot upon the inevitable blade of choice.

(Choice Branch) The Liberation of Spectres or the Assassination of the Ghost

The crossroads presented by Tosh and Nova also demanded an extreme decision from Raynor. If he decided to take the hand of Tosh, who represented the rage of those groaning under the Dominion's oppression, the Raiders would have to embark on a reckless operation to breach the front gates of New Folsom, a heavily guarded top-secret Dominion prison.

If he chose that path, Tosh would personally leap into the battlefield, using his psionic abilities to devastate the defenses while Raynor's forces covered him and smashed the prison gates. The liberated prisoners and Spectres would join the Raiders, shouting cries of vengeance against Mengsk, and Tosh would swear eternal loyalty to Raynor in his own way, remaining a reliable ally.

However, if Raynor accepted Nova's warning and resolved to prevent the Spectres' rampage beforehand, the blade would be aimed at the heart of his ally, Tosh. Based on the information provided by Nova, the Raiders would have to raid Tosh's secret Spectre training base, carrying out a mission to thoroughly destroy the Terrazine processing facilities and key strongholds he had established to breed Spectres.

In this scenario, Nova would infiltrate the facility cloaked, assisting Raynor by ruthlessly assassinating Tosh's forces. Ultimately, having lost his entire foundation, a furious Tosh would stab a voodoo doll on the Hyperion to hurl curses, only to lose his life in vain to Nova's cold blade. Raynor would acquire the Dominion's Ghost technology, but the taste of victory would be bitter.

Helping Tosh was a revolutionary choice that would secure a powerful ally to aim at Mengsk's throat, but it carried the risk of abetting uncontrollable madness. On the other hand, helping Nova was a rational decision to prevent a potential catastrophe, but it ultimately left a moral scar by shaking hands with a Dominion agent and driving an ally to his death. Whichever path he chose, a deep scar would inevitably be carved into Raynor's soul.

Visions of Tosh smiling madly in front of the New Folsom hologram and Nova turning away coldly with her sniper rifle slung over her shoulder crossed before Raynor's eyes. Whichever hand he took, he would have to betray someone, and the price of that betrayal would accumulate entirely as karma for Raynor's Raiders. Raynor's shoulders slumped heavily as he stared at the tactical map.

Tychus chuckled nearby, sneering that either way would make for a fun show. Horner expressed steadfast trust, stating he would follow any decision the commander made, but deep anxiety was also reflected in his eyes. Raynor spun the cylinder of his revolver with a click, the metallic friction sharply cutting through the silence of the bridge.

Would he break the chains of the Spectres, or walk into the shadow of the Ghost? Two mutually exclusive mission files blinked on the holographic panel. Raynor took a deep breath and reached toward the panel. With a single press of a button, the fate of the ghosts wandering the sector was about to be completely rewritten.

The One Standing on the Border of Trust and Doubt

Raynor stared out into the endless, pitch-black void of space through the bridge's transparent observation window. The life-and-death struggle on Haven, and the tug-of-war between Tosh and Nova, once again reminded him of the brutal reality hidden behind the word 'revolution.' Doing the right thing was never a beautiful, clear-cut process like a fairy tale.

He toyed with the worn revolver in his hand. Back when he worked as a marshal on Mar Sara, this gun was a simple, clear tool to uphold law and justice. But now, things were different. To fight a colossal monster like Mengsk, he sometimes had to weigh the sacrifices of innocent people, and at other times, shake hands with inscrutable demons.

Horner approached and reported the navigation data for their next destination. The Hyperion's engines hummed lowly, preparing for a new warp jump. Raynor lightly tapped Horner's shoulder, offering a silent word of appreciation. The crew felt relieved seeing their commander's steadfast back, but Raynor's inner mind was still caught in a raging storm.

Whom should he trust, and whom should he doubt? Hanson's pure hope and Selendis's cold rationality, Tosh's boiling vengeance and Nova's ruthless pragmatism. All of these values clashed chaotically in Raynor's head, tormenting him. Yet he knew that this painful anguish was the sole proof that he had not yet lost his humanity.

If he were to pull the trigger without any hesitation and begin treating lives like pieces on a chessboard, it would mean he had become a monster no different from the very Mengsk he sought to overthrow. Staring at his tired reflection in the window, Raynor firmly resolved once more never to cross that line.

In the cantina, Tychus was laughing boisterously while playing cards with the mercenaries, and in the armory, Swann was grumbling over new weapon schematics. Everyone aboard this ship gathered under a single focal point—Raynor—each carrying their own stories and scars. He could not betray their trust.

Raynor turned his gaze away from the observation window and slowly walked toward the command chair. Although the ghosts of the past and the uncertainties of the future weighed heavily on his shoulders, the Zerg threat threatening to shake the fate of the sector and the secrets of the ancient artifact commissioned by the Moebius Foundation did not grant him the luxury of stopping. The burden he carried was still heavy, and the path ahead was shrouded in darkness.

'Warp coordinates locked. Commander, give the word.' Horner's firm voice echoed across the bridge. Raynor slid his revolver into its holster and lifted his chin toward the front. Standing on the razor-thin border of trust and doubt, he plunged into the darkness once more, solely to see the end of the path he had chosen. 'Punch it, Matt.'

Sources Reviewed

Official Blizzard StarCraft Chronicles

Official StarCraft II Campaign Introduction

Developer Lore Q&A: Connecting Characters and War

Official StarCraft II Downloads and Campaign·Nova Purchase List