As Jim turned his attention back to gathering artifacts, he received word that Tyrador, home of the Moebius Foundation, was under attack by the zerg. Not wanting to lose his buyers, Raynor arrived on the planet to evacuate Dr. Emil Narud and recover the Foundation’s data. The Queen of Blades herself commanded the attack, leading Narud to speculate that she feared the source of the artifacts: the ancient Xel’Naga.
Shortly after spiriting most of the Moebius scientists off-planet, Raynor found himself contacted by the head of the Foundation, Valerian Mengsk – Arcturus’s son. Valerian insisted that the Xel’Naga artifacts could be combined into a whole that, when activated, would restore humanity to the Queen of Blades. Though initially distrustful, Jim agreed to work with Valerian. He’d wanted to stop the zerg and allay his guilt over Sarah’s transformation; now he had a chance.
The Raiders retrieved the last artifact pieces from the dying planet Typhon and a mysterious Xel’Naga world-ship populated by Tal’darim zealots before initiating Valerian’s plan: an assault on Char, led by General Horace Warfield, to un-infest the Queen of Blades. Success in this endeavor wouldn’t just restore Kerrigan – it would prove, Valerian hoped, that he was a suitable successor to his father.
The battle for Char was brutal, with massive losses of life among the fleet, but, after establishing a base on the surface, Raynor installed the reassembled artifact near Kerrigan. The full fury of the hive world descended on the terrans, but the artifact pulsed with energy, dispersing the zerg and melting away Kerrigan’s zerg-like features. As the Queen of Blades lay stunned, Raynor ran to recover her
……and Tychus followed the orders that freed him from jail in the first place – Mengsk’s orders – leveling his gun and attempting to slay the de-infested Queen of Blades. Stunned, Raynor made the split-second decision to shoot his friend before Tychus could take Sarah’s life.
With her humanity seemingly restored, and the swarm fracturing behind them, Raynor helped a weary, amnesiac Sarah off of Char. Had the Second Great War been brought to an end?
