Sweetie and Lyra noticed how stressed the other soldiers were after returning from Meinhoff. While the Ponies were out having fun and blowing stuff up, the soldiers had to endure waves upon waves of infested colonists and infested Marines. There were also reports of a strain of horribly mutated colonists that barely looked human. The creatures were huge and walked on four pointed legs with a human torso and extended arms.
Many of the soldiers went to the cantina for a drink to help them forget what they saw on the planet.
The news came on to discuss the refugee issue and how they continued to seek shelter on the Dominion core worlds and how many of them won’t make the journey. Donny, as usual, showed next to no empathy for the refugees. Whether he was paid to behave like that or that was how he actually was, was a mystery to Sweetie. She rolled her eyes dramatically.
Raynor decided to ask for Tosh’s opinion on Hanson, who basically told him that she seemed a little too nice, like she was hiding something. There was no telling whether or not she actually was, though.
Sweetie decided to go to the armory for a regular checkup with Swann to see if he had anything.
“So, what do you have for me this time?” Sweetie asked.
“Ah, nothin’ came up yet. I’m considering looking for old schematics. The newer stuff’s a bit hard to come by these days.”
Swann’s tone indicated that he was thinking about something that was upsetting him. “Something on your mind?” Sweetie asked.
“Just rememberin’ when me an’ my buddies were tryin’ to make a livin’ on Meinhoff. Kel-Morians were squeezing us dry. ‘Day we rose up...we just couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Yeah, they would have enslaved me too if I hadn’t escaped on Mar Sara.”
“Eh, you were one of the lucky ones, then.”
“I’ll be sure to count my blessings.”
Sweetie left the armory before the conversation became too awkward. She headed to the bridge to find Raynor talking to Hanson. He asked if the colonists had found a world to settle on yet. Apparently, they chose the planet Haven which was on the edge of Protoss territory. Matt was more concerned that there might be infested among the colonists or those bearing the seeds of infestation. Hanson was doing her best to not believe the possibility exists which, to Sweetie, seemed like a foolish thought to follow. Raynor warned her about the Protoss policy on Zerg infestation. Hanson decided to try researching for a way to cure the infestation. Sweetie decided to at least let her keep that hope for the time being just to keep her busy. She didn’t have the heart to tell her that she does not have the knowledge nor technology necessary to reverse an infection from a species with a highly chaotic gene pool.
~”I can sense a spore within her. It is only a matter of time before she is counted among the infested.”~
That comment had made Sweetie even more depressed. Now she had to watch the poor doctor become a twisted monster. She needed a breather from all the Zerg business.
Since Moebius was still looking for the next artifact, she would have to help Tosh with his Terrazine operation.
Matt gave another suggestion, “Sir, ma’am, I’ve been talking to the crew and they say that they could use a break from dealing with Protoss and Zerg and work on dealing with Mengsk. I’m sure Tosh and Tychus would agree on that. We’ve received reports of a new Dominion salvage operation on Tarsonis. They’re running a large number of supply trains with minimal security. If we intercept the trains and liberate their contents before they can be shipped off-world, we could make a serious profit.”
“Sounds like something we need after all the heavy stuff on Meinhoff. What do you think, Jim?” Sweetie asked.
“I don’t mind goin’ back to that graveyard if it means we can stick it to Mengsk.”
Everyone in agreement, they Hyperion set course for the ruined world of Tarsonis.
Raynor, Sweetie, Lyra, Matt and Tychus were looking at the displays on the star map.
“What do we got Matt?” Raynor asked.
“The Dominion restored power to the old rail network. They’re using the trains to move salvage to a central processing station. Our informants say the Dominion’s found something unusually valuable - and they’re transporting it to the processing station today. It’s on one of these trains - but they’re all scan-shielded so we can’t tell which one.”
“As long as our mystery item wasn’t on any of the earlier shipments, then we won’t need to worry about which train it’s on as long as we intercept every train that they send,” Sweetie said.
“Now that sounds like the best plan I’ve heard from you so far,” said Tychus.
Shortly after the operation started, Matt informed everyone of a number of unsalvaged Confederate vehicles abandoned in the hills. Swann had heard of the vehicles. He claimed that they were some kind of prototype hover tanks called Diamondbacks. Apparently the mobility and weapon systems act independently, allowing the vehicles to fire while moving. Of course, Sweetie had heard from Mira that the schematics were leaked all over the Terran sector. Mira also used them in her forces. Sweetie couldn’t help but wonder why the Raiders were among the last to utilize the old Confederate hover tanks.
Sweetie gathered a few tank pilots and began searching for more Diamondbacks.
Meanwhile an alert went out that a train just exited a tunnel northwest of their location. Lyra gathered a few Marines and the Diamondbacks that were available and went after the first train. The train was unguarded so Lyra’s group was free to unload on the armored vehicle. Lyra jumped on the train engine and created her own entrance into it. Once inside, Lyra slashed at anything and everything inside, looking for anything important. The Marines and Diamondbacks attacked the accompanying cars, tearing into the hulls and freeing the cars of their contents. The train soon fell apart and crates of Minerals and Vespene canisters littered the area.
A group of SCVs picked up the canisters.
Meanwhile, Sweetie and Lyra scoured the wasteland for anything that they could use. They found more Mineral and Vespene containers as well as the remains of Zerg Defilers.
The next train soon showed exited the western tunnel and the Dominion was starting to put escorts out to protect the trains. Marines and Firebats escorted the train and were quickly eliminated by the Ponies. Lyra repeated what she did on the first train to the second train. Because of the special armor plating, Sweetie’s Lockdown was ineffective against the trains. This increased Sweetie’s frustration. She used a Psionic Lash and devastated the cars of the train. Lyra finished up with the engine and the train fell apart.
Smashing the train had angered the local Dominion forces and have started sending attack parties to attack their base. Sweetie and Lyra decided to defend the base until the next train came along.
One attack wave later, another train exited from the southern tunnel. This was more of the same as the Ponies and Raiders unloaded their weapons at the train that added Marauders to the usual guard regiment.
In response, a number of Dominion SCVs, Marines, Firebats and Marauders were deployed at key locations along the tracks to construct Bunkers and defend the positions. For the positions that weren’t guarded by Missile Turrets, Sweetie and Lyra cleared out the bunkers and destroyed the SCVs still constructing their Bunker.
The next train added Goliaths and a Raven to the fun of train robbery. Sweetie locked down the Raven while Lyra tore apart the Goliaths. The Raiders took out the rest. Lyra finished the Raven by overloading its own energy core with its own energy.
Not much was different with the next train, except with the addition of Siege Tanks which would not be very useful when escorting a moving train. The train was derailed the same way as before.
The Dominion responded by sending large groups of Marauders to patrol the tracks. Lyra went after the Marauders alone. Since they were without a Raven to spot her, Lyra killed the entire group with a rapid series of slashes that disassembled the whole team, armor and body parts.
The Dominion tried to be clever by boosting the next couple of trains with powerful thrusters and escorted them with Hellions that were too fragile to be any challenge. Lyra slashed off the boosters from both trains and it was business as usual.
The next train was given a very large escort. Sweetie decided to call in Dusk Wings and Hel’s Angels to assist in dealing with the escorts. Advanced versions of the Dominion vehicles were added to the escort. Sweetie locked down any Ravens among them and they were taken down.
By the time the escorts were destroyed, the train was already near the exit. In one final and desperate attempt to derail the train, Sweetie ran up to the side of the engine and punched the train so hard that it actually fell off the magnetic rails.
Her hand really hurt from that punch and decided to have it looked at when she got back.
A capsule fell out of the train. When the Raiders caught up with Sweetie, they saw the capsule and opened it up to find an old adjutant.
“Adjutant 23-46...online...system recording...N-N-New Gettysburg Defense Initiative...S-S-Submit a-access codes.”
The mystery deepened. What was on the adjutant’s memory banks that Mengsk found so important? Only time and a little effort would tell.