“Executor, we are approaching Mar Sara,” said one of the crew members of the Gantrithor.
Tassadar sat in his chair in silence. Sure, he had eliminated countless Zerg by purifying Chau Sara, but he had also wiped out countless innocent Terran lives.
Lyra was not taking the earlier spectacle well either. It was one thing to kill a bunch of predatory beasts, it was another to indiscriminately burn an entire planet with photon energy.
Tassadar was silent for a few more moments when he looked toward the crew member. “Prepare to exit warp and position the fleet in high orbit above the planet.”
Lyra winced at the thought of the process repeating itself. She looked at Tassadar with a pleading look “Do we really have to do that again? I’m still reeling from the last time the fleet did that.”
“We have our orders, Lyra. Though, frankly, I don’t like this as much any more than you. I will try to delay the purification long enough to observe the situation on the planet. That is all that I can assure you.”
Lyra nodded solemnly, knowing that this was the best of this situation that she was going to get.
Sweetie led a daring raid on the prison ship Merrimack, that was holding orbit above Mar Sara, alongside a news reporter that was stationed at Backwater Station, Michael Liberty. Thankfully, the ship was running with a skeleton crew so the security was extremely lax.
Michael can be described as a man of normal height and proportions, if a little lanky. He has dirty blond hair that is spattered with lighter striations of gray which is swept back in a ponytail to cover a bald spot.
Knowing that the law was not on their side, Sweetie couldn’t afford to care about the lives of her enemies. Any Confederate marines that were brave enough to stand against them ended up with their face blown up from a blast of her C-10 MK I.
The group soon found Raynor’s cell and a nearby guard who the group hoped had the code to the cell. Although, the guard was tight lipped, his mind wasn’t. Sweetie telepathically obtained the code from the unsuspecting guard. Typing in the code, the door opened and Raynor walked out of his cell.
Raynor looked the cream colored mare. “Thanks for rescue, Sweetie.” He rolled his head to work out the kinks in his neck. “Glad they took their sweet time decidin’ when I was gonna be interrogated.”
Sweetie smiled. She overheard Michael speaking over the comms that they have secured Jim Raynor.
Raynor looked at the man and remembered something. “Hey, I remember you.” He chuckled. “Rescued you from Backwater Station, right?”
Michael was glad that Raynor remembered him from their brief encounter. With that, he led the group back to the docking tubes that was bridging the Merrimack with the Cormorant, a repurposed merchantman vessel designed for trading, now for use by the Sons of Korhal. Once the group was aboard the merchantman, the docking tubes withdrawn, the vessel moved toward and docked with the Hyperion, the Battlecruiser that protected the colonists and Dropships during the evacuation.
During transit, Sweetie and Raynor had the pleasure of meeting an idealistic young man by the name of Matt Horner who served as an officer aboard the Cormorant. Raynor spent the time telling stories about his past and Horner quickly began to admire the Marshal’s bravery and loyalty to his old crew.
Arriving on the Hyperion’s bridge, Raynor and Sweetie finally met Mengsk in person.
It didn’t take much for Mengsk to convince Raynor to join the Sons of Korhal since they now have a common enemy in the Confederacy.
Horner approached Sweetie and started a conversation with her. “So what’s your story? How did you and Raynor meet?”
Sweetie told Horner her story about how she and her marefriend were displaced from their world in a way that didn’t imply magic because no one in this part of the universe believed that magic existed. She told him about appearing on some world with a number of strange glowing crystals around her and how she was kidnapped by the Kel-Morian Combine and made her escape when they landed on Mar Sara. One bar fight later and she and Raynor became friends. She also told him that she somehow gained the power to read minds.
Horner was taken by surprise by that last part. “You gained these powers recently? You didn’t have them before you were displaced?”
Sweetie shook her head. “I only found out about these powers when one of my Kel-Morian captors thought of the passcode to my cell.”
Horner hummed and placed a hand on his chin. “I have heard of a substance that, in theory, awakens psionic abilities in people. I think they call the stuff Jorium. They say that it’s a key component in the training of a Ghost. You may have ended up in a field of Jorium long enough for the effects to take hold.”
“What is a Ghost?” Sweetie asked.
“Ghosts are specialist soldiers that specialize in covert operations. They are often used for infiltration, sabotage, assassinations and sometimes guiding local WMDs like tactical nuclear warheads. They are standard equipped with C-10 rifles like the one you have. Although, when I saw it, it looked like you were using an old model. It doesn’t have the laser targeting system needed to guide nukes,” Horner.explained.
Although she was not particularly attached to her weapon, Sweetie was unsure if she wanted the ability to unleash such a dangerous weapon. However, the idea of Ghosts did have its appeal. Her secret agent training could be used effectively if she were equipped as one.
Mengsk walked up to Horner and Sweetie and asked her a question. “Pardon me, did I hear correctly that you have psionic abilities?”
Sweetie looked at him warily. “Yes…?” she responded slowly.
Mengsk looked her over, sizing her up. “I’d like to equip you in the standard Ghost gear that we have. In exchange, I need you and Raynor to run an errand for me planetside.”
“What do you need us to do?” Raynor asked.
“Right now, Mar Sara is almost completely overrun by the Zerg. The Confederates are abandoning the planet, and so are we. However, there is something I’d like to do before we leave. I want you two to raid this colony’s Confederate outpost and retrieve whatever design or weapon schematics that you can find in their networks.With the chaos of the Confederates’ evacuation, you two shouldn’t have any trouble getting in or out of their installation. You’ll have to be quick about it though. Reports are showing Protoss activity nearby. No doubt this is intended to be a repeat of Chau Sara so time is short.”
“I’m up for it,” said Raynor “How ‘bout you Sweetie?”
“Alright, let’s get changed and get down there.” Sweetie said.
Getting down to the planet was not a problem for the duo who were leading a small group into the installation.
Sweetie was wearing a hostile environment suit that was form-fitting and offered a decent degree of protection with state of the art armor. The technology in her suit would allow her to cloak herself to be intangible to the naked eye. The design was even customized to fit her hooves. Despite her protests, Raynor and Horner convinced her to use the more combat effective C-10 MK V rifle that today’s Ghosts use.
Raynor was wearing a black version of the CMC suit. The suit offered far more protection for him than the average CMC suit. His C-14 rifle was also customized to be more effective.
The group entered the installation without any problem. To her left, Sweetie noticed a couple of Confederate scientists hiding. She decided to ignore them. Part of the wall to her right opened up to reveal a rocket launcher targeting the group, who quickly reacted by opening fire on the defense and obliterating it.
The next part was a fork in the path: Two corridors and two unlocked doors that appear to lead into the same room. Peering inside, Sweetie found a mechanical walker armed with autocannons. Raynor told her that it was called a Goliath. The group checked the right corridor first.
The end of the path led to a stairwell to the upper floor where they found a teleporter, which surprised Sweetie as she never imagined technology that could imitate a unicorn’s teleport spell. Stepping on the teleport pad, the group ends up in an isolated room with no doors.
The one Confederate Marine in the room was brave enough to engage the group only to get mowed down in a hail of bullets and explosive shots. The Firebats in the group didn’t even get a chance to use their flamethrowers.
Sweetie walked up to a console and activated the security cameras to find their objective and a few other points of interest. She studied the images and committed them to memory before the group went back to the teleporter and returned to the fork.
The left path offered little to no resistance. There were a few civilians and SCVs around but everyone ignored them and continued along the path.
Going upstairs and through a door, the group found another fork in the path. Sweetie suspected the right path would lead them to that moderately defended area with the Goliath.
Sweetie’s ears perked as she heard the sound of heavy metal on a metal floor, too heavy for any marine. The sound was getting louder and it was coming from the right path. The group soon saw a Goliath heading right for them, its autocannons warming up as it approached.
The group took cover behind the door they came from and prepared for a fight against the mechanical construct. Sweetie took a moment to think and decided that this would be a good time to try out the lockdown missiles. She loaded a shell into her rifle and pointed it in the direction of the door.
As the Goliath appeared in the doorway, Sweetie pulled the trigger and launched the missile. The effect was instant as the Goliath’s systems were completely locked up and the machine rendered helpless. The group opened fire and blew the machine apart.
Ignoring the right path, the group proceeded down the other path where they found another fork: One forward, one to the left and a door to the right. They decided to check the room and found more civilians who cowered in a corner and glared at the group. Sweetie walked up to the console and found an option to deactivate an automated defense system somewhere in the installation.
Exploring a corridor to the left, the most resistance they encountered were a couple of Confederate Firebats. There were two locked doors and a terminal at in the middle of a room. Curious, Sweetie unlocked the doors. To everyone’s but Sweetie’s horror, a small group of Zerglings exited one of the cells. The group quickly dispatched the creatures.
Raynor sighed. “Looks like your hunch may have been right, Sweetie.”
Mengsk spoke up over the comms. <“I saw Zerg within Confederate holding pens over a year ago. They appear to have known about the creatures for some time. For all we know, they could be breeding the things. However, that matter will have to wait another day. We need that data and we need it soon. There is no telling when the Protoss are going to begin their attack.”>
“Executor, our scans have indicated a small number of Terrans still on the planet... there is also an unusual biometric signature on the surface. The signature bears a similarity to Lyra’s,” the crew member reported.
Lyra’s ears perked at hearing the report. “Bon Bon?” she asked.
“It’s likely, unless there are more than the two of you in the sector,” he said.
Tassadar was glad to see Lyra’s mood lifted at the thought that her friend may have been located.
In an attempt to buy time for Lyra’s friend to evacuate, Tassadar ordered the fleet to delay their attack on the planet.
Moving down the remaining corridor, the Raynor and Sweetie’s group encounter a few civilians who seemed confused about something. Ignoring the confused civilians, the group came to a pit area that had a couple of vultures revved up and ready to engage them. The bikers were quickly eliminated as was the nearby wall-mounted missile turret.
The next room had another teleporter that had a little protection in the form of a couple of Marines and a floor-mounted autogun turret. The group activated the teleporter and they appeared near their destination.
Suddenly, a Confederate adjutant issued an alert on their intrusion and activated any available automated defenses while sending a few Marines their way. The only other defenses the corridor had was a floor-mounted missile turret that was quickly destroyed.
The next room they entered contained their objective. They were to be greeted by more Marines and a Confederate Ghost.
Trying something clever, Sweetie activated her cloaking field. She quickly noticed that the cloaking effect was slowly draining her energy reserves. Acting quickly, Sweetie blasted the welcoming party, who were confused as to who was shooting at them.
The rest of the group rushed inside and dealt with the last of the defenses the installation had to offer.
Sweetie walked up to the last terminal and started downloading any data she could find onto a series of discs contained in a small box. Raynor reported that the files have been downloaded and would be expecting evac once they got out of the building.
It didn’t take them long to reach the installation entrance since there was a clear path. The group entered the Dropship, handed the discs to Mengsk who was aboard the Dropship, and returned to the Hyperion.
“Executor, there are no more non-Zerg bio signatures on the planet. The signature that we have identified as ‘Bon Bon’ is on a nearby Terran capital ship” the crew member reported.
Tassadar closed his eyes for a moment, glad he would not have to give Lyra bad news before preparing himself with grim determination as he ordered the bombardment to begin.
Once again, the spectacle was both beautiful and horrifying as the planet was exposed to intense photon energy.
All life on the planet was extinguished.
A few minutes later, the Terran ship that carried Bon Bon warped away from the Mar Sara system.