Battle, "Experience," and Evacuation

At the edge of the ruins, the Tal'darim Protoss defensive line had shattered.

The Zealots' broken bodies lay on the Creep, their armor riddled with holes eaten by acid. The surviving High Templar stood with their backs to the fortifications, holding up one last Psychic Barrier, but it flickered under the Zerg assault like a candle in the wind.

The Hydralisks suddenly stopped firing and parted in unison to open a path.

The Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan, descended slowly before the line. Her toes brushed the ground, and the Creep around her heaved as though alive.

"Foolish Tal'darim." Her voice sounded directly in the Protoss' minds, carrying the Zerg's distinctive hum. "The 'god' you worship is nothing but a pitiful fraud."

A High Templar raised his Psychic Blades, but Kerrigan merely lifted a hand. An invisible blast of Psychic Power sent him flying.

Just as the Zerg were about to swallow the last of the Tal'darim—

"Fire!"

Jim Raynor's roar cut across the battlefield.

More than four hundred Marines charged out from the flank. The thunder of Gauss Firearms instantly drowned out the Zerg's shrieks.

Four Viking Fighters in mech form fired their shoulder-mounted missile pods in unison. Dozens of high-explosive warheads blasted towering pillars of fire through the Zerg.

Tychus Findlay led the charge, the rotary machine gun in his hands spewing a dazzling stream of fire.

Armor-piercing rounds shredded Zerglings and tore Hydralisks in half. One Zergling tried to ambush him, only for Tychus to smash its skull with an elbow.

"Hahaha! Now that's what I call a good time! A man ought to do what a man's gotta do!"

Laughing, he changed his ammo belt. Once he was done, the roar of his gun rang out like a death knell.

On a distant rise of Creep,