Giggling. The infernal giggling would give little children nightmares if they heard that waking up. My eyes opened slowly, and I found myself in a hospital bed. I looked around the room and saw all of my weapons and armor pieces, as well as the dispenser. I looked under the covers and found myself in the clothes I wore under the armor, most matted with sweat, torn from where that man stabbed me in the stomach. I lifted the shirt and saw that I had five stab wound in a half circle in my stomach. I got up from the bed and got into my armor, strapped the small pouches with the throwing knives inside to my hip, put the Snipers hat onto my head, then put the quiver onto my back, slung the bow onto my back, then holstered the two greatswords, then slung the rifle over my shoulder.
I put the two packs onto his back and walked out of the room, before I felt something building in my chest. I thought that it was the Thu’um building in my chest and tried sucking it down, but then felt my arm starting to change. I looked at my arm and saw that my arm was emerged in the red and black tendrils. I cried out in surprise and started swinging my arm around in panic. The red and black tendrils disappeared at my panic, revealing my normal arm. I envisioned a warhammer and felt the tendrils surround my arm. A few seconds later, I opened my eyes and saw that I had a really big warhammer, easily able to crush targets, and envisioned my normal arm. I envisioned a large sword and felt my other arm get engulfed in the red and black tendrils. A few seconds later, I looked and a large serrated sword glowing a yellowish orangish hue, and envisioned the warhammer again. The same thing happened to my other arm and I opened my arms to see that both of my arms were weapons.
“Fucking amazing.” I said. I heard a clicking from down the hall and quickly dismissed the weapons. I adjusted all of my weapons and the dispenser on my shoulder before walking down the hall. A few seconds later, a nurse came walking down the hall with a clipboard in her hands. She looked up at the clicking of my boots on the marble.
“Ah good! You’re awake. Princess Celestia and Luna wish to see you.” The mare said, shaking her head in an almost apologetic way.
“To the throne room I guess.” I said, making my way to the throne room.
“Poor guy... Molestia and Nightmare Moan will tear him apart.” She whispered, although I heard it perfectly.
“Molestia? Nightmare Moan? I don’t like the sounds of their names...” I said, before I made my way to the throne room slowly. What’s strange is that all of my stuff wasn’t weighing me down like it does normally. The doors to the throne room was already opened, but no guards stood at the door. I scratched my head and walked through the door, seeing the three mares sitting on their thrones. Luna was playing some sort of game on what looked like a PSP, Celestia, which looked different than before, and the mare that looked similar to Luna, who had an evil grin on her face when she saw me. I set the dispenser onto the ground and looked up at the princesses. Celestia looked at me with a small grin that left me slightly uneasy, and with the evil grin that I was getting from this Luna doppelganger, it left me tense and untrusting.
“Well strange creature. It seems you’re up and about.” Celestia started off, her high pitched voice slightly irritating.
“Strange creature? Am I in another Equestria? God damn it...” I said, looking up at her.
“Another Equestria?” She asked in confusion.
“Yeah... I was originally in another Equestria before I was hit with a beam of light and teleported to another universe altogether. For the last week, I’ve been jumping from different universes, before I finally ended up in this one. I was hoping that I would be in the correct Equestria, only to find myself here.” I explained, catching Luna’s attention and intriguing the other two princesses.
“So inter-dimensional teleportation is possible...” Celestia whispered to herself, although I still heard her clearly.
“What is the other Equestria like? Is there video games there?” Luna asked.
“SImilar to this one, although a few key things are different, and yes, there is video games there.” I answered, rolling my eyes.
“You must be tired.” Celestia said with a wider grin.
“Actually no. I’ve managed to build up my endurance and stamina, so that I could carry all of this stuff around and not be tired at the end of the day.” I answered, still wary of the smiles I was getting from the two princesses. The Luna doppelganger was almost smiling like a madman, while Celestia still had the wide grin.
“You have to tell us your story of these teleportations, and rest up from your travels.” Luna said, smiling widely, except it wasn’t a creepy smile, more of a welcoming smile. I gave a small smile in return, only to remember I was still wearing the hat. “Gladly.” I said, before recounting my story with the eighteen mercenaries, my travels in Skyrim, the fight in the street with Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and the back alley ambush by the strange man.
“That’s quite the story, but if the strange man you named as Mercer stabbed you through the stomach and left you a ‘surprise’, how have you not perished?” Celestia asked.
“The use of the dispenser healed my wounds, and the ‘surprise’ he left me turned out to be some amazing powers. He kept saying that I was perfect for his plans before stabbing me and I teleporting here.” I answered.
“What sort of amazing powers has he given you?” Luna asked in excitement.
“From what I’ve learned so far, I have super hearing and can carry all of my stuff without feeling a single pound of it, as well as this.” I said, before envisioning the blade and feeling the red and black tendrils encircle my arm. I heard gasps, two of fear and one in glee. I looked at them and saw that Luna was practically shaking in excitement and the other two were a bit fearful.
“I’m not sure on what the extent of my powers are, but I don’t intend to find out. I’d rather go back to my normal life, instead of carrying all of this stuff constantly. Very uncomfortable.” I said, shifting the weight around on my back. Celestia looked at her hoof, before clapping them together.
“It has gotten late. Please allow us to escort you to your room for the night.” Celestia said, getting up as well as the other two princesses. They walked down the familiar hallway to the guest rooms, and within two minutes, we arrived at the guest rooms. They opened one of the doors and walked inside, with me following behind them. There was one thing I noticed.
“Where’s all the Royal Guard?” I asked. Celestia and the Luna doppelganger turned around with creepy smiles.
“They’re all on break right now.” Celestia answered.
“All of them...?” I asked, a raised eyebrow at the statement.
“They were all faced with a... predicament that had them all bed riddened.” Celestia answered, lying horribly.
‘I’m starting to like this less and less...’ I thought, narrowing my eyes at the two princesses, while Luna was shaking her head knowingly. I walked past the three princesses and set the dispenser onto the ground next to the bed. I heard the door click behind me and looked, seeing that all three princesses have left. I removed the sniper rifle and placed it next to the bed, barreling facing skyward. I took the two blades off of my back and placed them on the table a few feet from the bed. I took the bow and quiver off of my back and placed it with the swords, before I started removing the armor.
After five minutes of pulling off the armor, I finally was stripped down to the dirty clothes that I wore. I started looking around the room and found a washer and dryer next to the bathroom. I locked the door to the room before stripping down naked and tossing them into the washer, adding a generous amount of clothes detergent to the washer before starting it. I went into the bathroom and took a long shower, relishing in the hot water. I took my time washing, and thirty minutes later, I finally got out of the shower and quickly dried off, wrapping the towel around my waist. I heard a beep and walked out of the bathroom, seeing that the washer was done. I tossed my wet clothes into the dryer, as well as some fabric softener, before laying down on my bed.
As I lay on the bed, I started hearing strange noises. Sounds of breathing, small moans, whimpers, and small whispers. I got up and started looking around the room, only to find nothing to the strange sounds. I opened every door in my room, including the one for the balcony, except the door to the castle. I was about to do so before the dryer beeped and I remembered that I was in just a towel. I went over to the dryer and checked the clothes, finding them dried perfectly and still warm enough to make me feel like I was wrapped in a blanket. I put the clothes on and unlocked the door, seeing nothing as I looked down the hallway, and closed the door once more, locking it again and then going to sleep. I woke up, seeing it was still dark, and felt something twitch in my arms.
I looked down and saw that Fluttershy was in my arms. I pulled her closer and placed my head on hers, taking a deep breath before closing my eyes once again and trying to go to sleep. After thirty minutes of sitting there with my eyes closed, I opened them once more, a strange feeling of apprehension of the mare laying in my arms building in my chest. I shook my head and closed my eyes once more, only to hear a door open. I opened my eyes once again, seeing the door to the castle open once again, and seeing another Fluttershy. I jumped out of the bed, the lights flickering to life as I looked between the Fluttershy standing in the door and the one that was slowly waking up in the bed.
“What the fuck...? Can’t I catch a break from this bullshit...” I said, irritated that I was tricked into thinking that I was with the original Fluttershy.
“It seems that our plans clashed with each other Moan.” The Fluttershy in the bed said to the other. The other Fluttershy walked over to me and stood beside me, which made me scoot away quickly.
“It seems so Molestia...” Moan said.
“I told you he’s mine Moan.” Molestia said, reverting back to her original form.
“I always get seconds Molestia. Not anymore. He’s mine, and you’ll wait as I have with every other stallion we’ve had.” Moan said, reverting to her original form. Molestia took the other side and looked over me.
“The reason I get the stallions first is because you’re too slow.” She quipped.
“I don’t think anyone can be slower than you with you eating all of this cake.” Moan shot back. I tried to step from in between the two fighting mares, only to find my arms trapped with magic. I tried to pull away, and managed to do so with my left arm, but my right arm was trapped in an iron grip. My left arm was grabbed by magic again and I stopped pulling and looked to the two mares.
“Let me go.” I said sternly. They looked at me and laughed.
“You’re basically property to us.” Moan said.
“That’s the reason why you don’t get stallions Moan, is because you don’t treat them nicely.” Molestia said smugly. I envisioned small spikes protruding from my body and felt the tentacles wrapping around my entire body, until I felt the spikes starting to slowly grow out. I opened my eyes and looked at the two mares, seeing them backing away from me slowly.
“I’m no ones property. Now, both of you leave now before it gets ugly.” I said, my arms turning to giant blades.
“You can’t fight two alicorns mortal.” Moan laughed.
“I’ll fight, even if I lose. I’m not afraid.” I said, turning to her.
“I’ll at least cut one of you down to size before I die!” I said, charging towards the mare. I jumped in the air and was about to bring both blades on top of her when I was grabbed in mid air.
“Although I hate competition, I will not allow somepony to be killed in my castle.” Molestia said.
“You’re trying to make me property when I already have a life in another universe, yet you’re trying to keep me here just to have your ways with me. What do you expect me to do? Roll over on my back and take it like a domesticated pup?” I asked, looking at her. She looked taken aback and hopeful.
“...Yes?” She said hesitantly.
“Wrong answer.” I said, struggling in her magical grip. I felt the grip on her magic loosen and looked around seeing myself being encased in a small bubble. I stopped flailing around and felt my feet touch the bottom of the bubble. I slammed one of my blades into the bubble, only for a large cut to appear across my chest, staining the shirt. I looked down and saw that my chest was cut open wide, with the red tendrils repairing the damage instantaneously. I started hacking at the bubble, feeling cuts and lacerations starting to cover my entire body. After ten minutes of me hammering on the bubble, I dropped to my knees, the pain and blood loss making me weak. The bottom of the bubble had a small pool of my blood.
“I was wondering when you’ll stop. Normally they stop after the first time. A few stubborn ones stop after a minute. But you... Ten minutes of constant slashing and hacking at the bubble. Either you’re really resilient or very stupid.” Molestia said in admiration. I huffed and got to my feet again, the wounds have already healed.
“I’m not giving up. Not until I get out of this damn thing.” I said, before I felt a small pressure in my chest. It felt different then when my powers acted in the medical wing. I switched my weapons over to the warhammers and started slamming them into the bubble once more. The pressure in my chest started building even more as the magical bubble started cracking, unless that was my bones, or both. I saw a few small cracks in where my hammers were slamming into the bubble and quickened my pace, slamming the hammers into the bubble faster and stronger. The pressure in my chest was getting so constricting that I had to stop for breath, until I noticed that my breath had caught in my throat. My hands started glowing, a small gradual glow that slowly built up.
“He can use magic too?!” Moan yelled in disbelief.
“I can’t... use magic...” I said, before a large burst of energy erupted from my entire body, filling the entire bubble in a bright teal color. The pressure in my chest expanded and erupted, empowering the bright teal aura in the bubble until I started feeling the ground shaking beneath me. The magical power felt like it was tearing my skin off my bone, until I heard a loud shattering sound and the whole world went dark.
Luna was resting in her bedchambers, silently watching over the ponies in Equestria as she has since she had returned from her banishment. She rolled in her bed, having her facing the balcony with the soft moonlight shining through the colored glass. She felt a tingling sensation run through her horn and opened an eye. She looked out of the balcony windows and saw a small star flying by.
“I don’t remember doing that...” She said tiredly. She trailed the small star and watched as it disappeared behind the horizon, before shrugging and crawling back into her bed. Another tingling sensation erupted from her horn, except familiar and stronger than before. She got up and stepped outside, the tingling sensation slowly fading away in the direction of the shooting star.
“Something is wrong with that star...” She said, narrowing her eyes as she used her magic to cast a strong intergalactic scrying spell and followed where the star was going. After ten minutes of following it, a large swirling vortex appeared in front of it and sucked it in. Using her magic, she followed the star into the swirling vortex. A few seconds later, a loud pop sounded around the small star, and it disappeared from sight, with Luna following behind it. She watched as she emerged into space once more,except that the magic here was almost barren.
It was still there, but it felt... strange, to say the least. She watched as the comet was pulled into a planet’s gravitational pull and slammed into the ground, leaving a large crater in the dirt. It blended in with the rest of the environment, since most of it was quite large holes that looked to be made from meteorites and comets. The dead ground left little to question whether or not it can sustain life. The rock skidded across the ground, eventually coming to a stop next to a gorge.What looked like the remains of a bridge was a few yards away from the stopped meteorite. A loud cracking sound was heard and the rock cracked open, revealing something she almost didn’t recognize.
In the middle of the rubble lay Daniel, a dark blue hoodie that was dotted with blood, as well as blood coating his armor and clothes, strange devices surrounding him, as well as a machine that had a faint grayish blue trail emerging from it and touching his chest. Two blades lay next to him, the familiar red blade crossed with a blue blade that looked completely opposite to it in every way. Next to it was what looked like a large tube with a rather oddly shaped telescope on top of it. She inspected the machine that lay next to the unconscious man and was greatly confused. The only thing she could actually name was the syringes and bottles of medicine in one of the bottom trays, one side closed. She saw a bow with a large quiver laying next to the dispenser, a faint trail of magic on the bow.
Two packs lay next to Daniel, one of them stocked completely full of food and the other stocked full of potions, pouches, and two trinkets that had large reserves of magic placed on them. She felt a stronger reserve of magic coming from Daniel and inspected his body. That’s when she realized how badly damaged he was. One of his arms was completely torn off, red and black tendrils slowly surrounding it, and the other was burnt quite badly. His shirt had been completely burnt off, leaving a small tattered mess next to him. She used her magic and flipped him over, seeing part of his face, the other part covered by a bandana that made him slightly frightening. She lifted his hand and saw a ring on it, a small reserve of magic coming from it. The stronger feeling of the magic was coming from Daniel himself.
She continued inspecting him, only to find nothing else on his body. She did a scan on him and what she found shocked her. A virus was running through his body that increased his senses, which seemed kind of helpful, while the rather large reserve of magic was coming from him. She did another scan and found that his body had finally accepted the magical energy being sucked into his body. She looked at the armor that lay next to him and teleported it on him, leaving him with his back to the ground. She took the strange object in her magic, but it fell apart as soon as it was touched. She panicked slightly and threw the rifle over the side of the gorge, before pushing all of his stuff closer to him and finally releasing the spell. Luna took a large gasp and caught her breath, the magical drain from the spell finally catching up to her, before going back to sleep quickly.
A loud roaring awoke me from my unconscious state. The tendrils immediately started repairing damages done to my body, and within ten seconds, all of my wounds were healed. I saw that I had my armor on, and started picking my stuff up. The roar of an engine was heard faintly on the horizon and I stopped and looked up, seeing some sort of black jet or something. I saw the back open up and six men dropped from the hull, most of them in blue while what I thought was the leader was in complete black. I looked around, trying to find the sniper rifle, only to find it gone. I cursed my luck and started picking up my things. I managed to pull the quiver, bow, swords, and packs on before I felt the barrel of a gun placed against the back of my head. I slowly turned around and saw that one of the blue soldiers had the rifle placed against my head and was eager to pull the trigger.
“Hold!” A voice said. The barrel of the gun was pulled away from my head and I turned around slowly, seeing all of them pointing the rifles at my chest.
“Who’re you?” One of them asked, the black soldier pulling his visor up.
“Nobody.” I said, taking a step back slowly.
“What’re you doing out here alone?” He asked.
“Nothing. I was going to find out where I was and see if I could get back to my planet.” I said. He held a fist up and they all pulled their rifles away.
“Good luck doing that. The Dominion have the sector locked down so that only their ships get in and out.” He said.
“What’re y’all doing?” I asked, slowly picking up the dispenser.
“We’re here to save the locals from the Dominion.” He said, walking back to the street with the rest of the squad following. I followed him also, seeing as I have nothing better to do.
“Why is this Dominion taking the locals?” I asked him. He looked at me.
“I don’t know.” He said, continuing to walk forward. The soldiers and I jogged forward silently. A dog appeared around a corner of the road and started running down the street barking. He stopped every so often and looked back, before taking off again when we get close. A few buildings and weird looking cars were ablaze. A woman was standing next to the street, looking miserable, and she saw us.
“Don’t go up that road...” She whispered as we walked past, none of the soldiers even shooting her a glance. As we ran past, the dog started howling, while we jogged around a loop. Sandbags were piled next to the street, three guys that were wearing the same suits as the others, but only colored red. One of the marines spotted us and they all aimed their guns at us.
“Jim Raynor... Kill him!” One of the marines said, opening fire. The group returned fire, eventually winning the firefight. The piles of bloody bones and flesh were all that was left of the marines. I picked up one of the rifles, picking up a few of the spare clips that were blown away from the marines. I aimed down the sights, the iron sights smooth and thin, allowing easy sight of the targets. I holstered the rifle and continued jogging down the street, easily catching up with the marines.
“I’m getting tired of Mengsk’s face... Blast it!” He said, firing his assault rifle at a holographic pod or something. I pulled the rifle from my back and clutched it tightly, before firing off a three burst round. The recoil of the gun wasn’t that bad and the kick from it popped a few of my bones. I continued firing at the holograph until it exploded, before taking my time to reload. I continued jogging after finishing the reload. The group made their way to an abandoned town.
“Where is everyone?” Jim asked. We spotted two marines that were standing idly by in the street. The six marines just fired randomly from the hip, while I took the time to aim down the sights. I pulled the trigger as I set my sights on one of their heads, and blew his head completely off, helmet and all. The six marines were still firing at the one marine, spraying from the hip, and I took aim again. I pulled the trigger once more, two bullets hitting him in the chest and one in the head. The body dropped to the floor and we all jogged past. I grabbed the spare clips of ammo and even a few grenades and a few dollars and coins from the bodies. The paper dollars were actually worth a hundred a piece, and I counted twenty in all, while the coins counted up to six hundred and fifty. I continued with the group down the street. A guy was standing on the corner of a turn.
“My neighbors... My family...” He said sadly.
“This is starting to look ugly...” Jim said. We continued down the street, seeing more sandbags. A squad of marines and three fifteen feet tall mechs all stepped in behind the squad of marines.
“It’s time to call in that special delivery we talked about...” He said, most likely into a mic, and three drop pods landed among the squad and mechs. Four marines jumped out from the pods and started firing upon the squads and mechs, both firing wildly to hit anything and everything.I took aim and shot at one of the mech drivers, his head exploding inside of the suit. The suit fell to the ground, disabled but still usable. I took aim at one of the marines and fired, hitting him in the neck and leaving a large hole where his neck used to be. I swung around and fired at the remaining mech driver, who was firing his two miniguns into the crowd of marines that were cleaning up. The first three bullets hit him in the chest, another hit him in the right shoulder, and the last one hit him right between the eyes. The mech fell to the ground, disabled but still usable. By the time I finished with the mech driver, the marines had already cleaned up the rest of the forces. I walked over to Jim and tapped him on the shoulder.
“You might want to get the mechs here. I managed to take out the drivers without doing significant damage to the thing itself.” I informed him, getting a nod from the man. I picked up the money and spare ammo from the marines bodies and we continued.
“This is bad...” Jim said as we rounded a corner, seeing four marines and an armed transport vehicle. The civilians were all standing in a line leading to the transport vehicle.
“You’ll all be given a meal when you reach the dig site.” One of the marines ordered. I saw one of the civilians backing away from the line.
“My brother went off to the mines last week. He disappeared.” He said as he backed away slowly. As he turned around, one of the marines noticed and lifted his gun up at the civvie.
“We got a runner!” One of the other marines said. They all opened fire on the poor man, ending his life before he even hit the ground.
“They’re shooting civilians! Let’s move in!” Jim said, charging forward and firing randomly at the crowd of marines. I took aim and fired, hitting one of the marines in the head. The power from the gun was enough to pick him off of his feet and slam him against the transport vehicle. The turret on top of the vehicle turned around and started firing at random marines, mostly killing them in one or two shots. I fired three shots at one of the other marines, one hitting him in the eye and the other two hitting him in the chest. He crumpled to the ground, dropping his gun. One of the civilians picked up the rifle and fired it once. The force of the gun was able to lift him off of his feet and slam him against the rocky mountain. I picked a grenade out of my pocket and chucked it under the vehicle, exploding spectacularly and leaving the burning hull of the vehicle in the way. The civilians started commenting to Raynor about his past or thinking him for saving them. Anyway, after getting through the town, we ran to the mines.
“This is a restricted area! You insurgents are under arrest!” One of the marines yelled at us. We all took aim and fired, while the civvies threw molotov cocktails at buildings and enemies alike We destroyed all of the buildings except for the last one, the headquarters. We all took aim and fired, burning the place to the ground in a matter of seconds.
“I didn’t think we could fight them, but we can.” One of the civvies said in the midst of the cheering crowd.
“Now you have the weapons and resources to do it. Remember, Mengsk can only control you... if you let him.” Raynor said. I slipped away from the group to grab more clips of ammo and what I found out to be something called credits, although it uses the dollar sign and pennies still. I counted up all of the credits I got and counted nearly one hundred and fifty thousand credits. That was from the fallen marines, which carried around five to six thousand credits, the Viking drivers, which had twenty thousand each, the transport vehicle, which for some reason had thirty thousand credits, and the buildings including the headquarters, which all added up to around one hundred fifty thousand credits and some change. I pocketed all of the money and was looking around, seeing the crowd surrounding Raynor and his marines.
I waited patiently for the crowd to eventually die down and walked over to him. He was walking towards the town, his rifle slung over his back. I followed him and the rest of his squad to a bar, which they all started ordering drinks immediately. Jim and I sat at the bar, the bartender setting a bottle of whiskey and a glass in front of Raynor. Raynor pulled out some credits and gave them to the bartender, who walked to the cash register and dropped the money in. Raynor poured himself a glass and took a large swig from it. The doors opened and a large marine walked in slowly. As he walked toward us, his large boots clicked against the metal floor, and I felt the ground shake slightly with each step. I saw Raynor’s hand reaching for his revolver, which was on the table, as the large man continued walking forward.
“You know, for the most wanted man in the sector, you ain’t that hard to find.” The large man said.
“I had to see it for myself.” He continued. A hissing was heard and his visor raised into the helmet, revealing a large scar over his right eye.
“Little Jimmy Raynor. The peoples hero.” He said. I saw Raynor’s facial expression change completely, to one of relief.
“Tychus Findlay.” He started, before finishing off his whiskey. “Nice suit.” Raynor said. Tychus slammed his entire arm into the counter, knocking over several glasses and bottles.
“Pays to be prepared.” He said.
“I heard they put you on ice.” Raynor said, pouring himself another glass. “Life sentence. What, they give you time off for good behavior?” Raynor joked, swishing the whiskey around before drinking it.
“That’s right old buddy. I’m a model citizen now.” He said, finishing off his cigar and stabbing it into a fly that was unfortunately on the table.
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Raynor said, turning to Tychus. Tychus looked at him and grinned.
“Just a friendly business proposition.” He said, looking a the now burnt fly that stuck onto the cigar. Raynor smiled and grabbed the bottle of whiskey, shaking the bottle, before setting it on the bar.
“Do you even know what the Dominion are doing out here?” Tychus questioned.
“I guess you’re about to tell me.” Raynor said. Tychus got a glint in his eye as he said.
“Digging up alien artifacts, old buddy. Your boy Mengsk has gone crazy for ‘em, but I got a contact that will pay top dollar for every artifact we... ‘liberate’ from the Dominion.” Raynor finished off his whiskey and was about to grab a blue bottle that was sitting on the table when Tychus grabbed it.
“I guess I can hardly pass that up now, can I Tychus?” Raynor said sarcastically. Tychus poured himself a glass of alcohol from the blue bottle.
“Partners it is.” He said, before passing the glass to Raynor and taking the blue bottle myself.
“Sixty forty.” Tychus bargained.
“Seventy thirty, my way.” Raynor said with a smug grin. They both chuckled.
“It feels like old times.” Raynor said.
“Old times.” Tychus said. They clinked the glass and bottle together and downed it all in one go. Raynor pulled out what looked like a suitcase, setting it on the bar next him and me, and clicking around on it. He pulled out some wires from the side and put them into the outlet, powering the weird object on.
“Thanks to your actions Mar Sara is in a state of open revolt against Arcturus Mengsk. Ex-convict Tychus Findlay has revealed the Dominion cams to Mar Sara to excavate an alien artifact. Seizing the artifact will strike another blow against the Dominion and generate funds from selling it to Findlay’s mysterious contact.” A mechanical female voice said from the laptop suitcase thing. Raynor clicked a few buttons on it and revealed a base of sorts to everyone, buzzing with activity. A large drill was steadily making its way through the dirt. The image disappeared and Raynor closed the device. He grabbed it and made his way outside. The black drop ship from earlier was sitting on the ground, the marines loading into its hull. After everyone was loaded, including Tychus, Raynor, and I, the ship took off, making its way away from the town. After thirty minutes or so, the ship stopped.
Everyone got up, with the marines jumping out first. The jump was only ten feet up, so it didn’t hurt all that much. I found myself in the middle of a base. Marines and what looked like medics were running around, patrolling, while something Raynor called SCVs were drilling some sort of crystal. I saw one fly away on the jetpacks and started constructing a building. After a few minutes, the building turned into a depot of some sort. Raynor and Tychus were making their way through the base, Tychus holding some sort of chaingun in his hands. The way he ran around reminded me of Heavy. After a few minutes, Raynor finally spoke.
“We have enough units to get into that base.” He said, the platoon of marines and medics making their way down the street. We all made our way down the streets, coming across a squad or two of marines, before coming across another base. The base was under attack by the Dominion and we helped them fight off the oncoming forces. Their forces followed us into the outpost and we took over the outpost in less than ten minutes. After we secured the artifact onto a truck, we went to a small station outside of the town and went back to the bar.
“I’ve got transport coming to pick us up, all we gotta do is sit tight.” Raynor said.
“Don’t sound too hard. I figure we earned ourselves a little R&R -” Tychus said.
“Commander, I’m detecting a massive concentration of zerg bio-signatures at the abandoned dig site.” Adjutant said. I looked at both of them.
“What the hell is this zerg?” I asked.
“I should’ve known it! Damn you Tychus!” Raynor said, looking up at him.
“I swear, man- I didn’t know nothin’ about no zerg!” Tychus said defensively.
“Given their current course, the zerg will overrun this location within the hour.” Adjutant said.
“Hell... We gotta hold out long enough for extraction. If we man the bunkers and hold those two bridges as long as we can we just might stand a chance.” Raynor said.
“I’ve been in plenty of hold outs before...” Tychus said.
“Not against the zerg, you ain’t.” Raynor said.
“What is the zerg exactly?” I asked them once more. They looked at me and smiled.
“I think we should give our friend here a first hand experience with the zerg.” Tychus said. I looked at both of them as they walked out, seeing marines running around. Two SCVs were salvaging bunkers near the bridges and backing them up to the hill leading up to the command center. The SCVs were building the two bunkers while another two were building barracks, the two barracks that were already there creating marines. I saw a holes in the ground, with some plumes of dust and dirt being thrown up as something was digging into the ground.
“Here they come! Lock and load!” A marine called out. I looked at the bridges and saw a swarm of large bug like creatures attacking random buildings. There were a few that were different. Three of them looked like a turtle with spikes and pincers, and five of them looked half snake, half... something. Its hands were that of scythe like claws, large fangs coming from its mouth. After they destroyed the buildings, the zerg started swarming across the bridges. The marines took fire upon the small bugs, while I turned my attention to the larger ones. I took aim at one of the snake creatures and fired, the first two bullets sinking into its chest and the last one into its head. It turned its attention to me and fired what looked like spines, and I barely had time to dodge it as it flew by. I continued firing on the creature, dodging whenever it shot the spines at me. I took aim and fired one last time, all of the bullets hitting it in its maw. It had a hissing noise and slowly sunk to the ground, the tail flailing slightly. I took aim at one of the large six legged creatures and fired.
The bullets pinged off of its armor, but didn’t pay attention as it continued to attack the bunkers. I looked for a weak spot on its armor and saw that its joints weren’t very protected and fired. The bullets all sunk and shredded into the things legs, causing it to fall to one side. As it rolled on its back, I fired at its belly, the unprotected part of its armor. The bullets quickly tore into its stomach, killing it quickly. I heard a loud explosion as one of the bunkers next to me exploded, sending me flying into a stack of boxes. I got up, before realizing I still had the dispenser on my shoulders. I set the thing down and held up an empty clip to it. It sat there for a second. I wondered if it actually could use different types of ammo, before I heard a loud clattering sound. I looked at the clip and saw it completely full. I replaced the clip into one of my pockets and started firing, hitting a lot of the small bugs and killing them. I saw another swarm of the bugs coming and looked at the current status of the marines. Only one of the bunkers were gone, two were being repaired of damage, and half of the marines that were in the bunker that exploded were dead. Everyone reloaded and readied for the next wave.
“To anyone hearing this message, we’re pinned down near Backwater Station! Please assist!” I heard through someone elses mic. I saw Raynor yelling out orders to a squad of marines, who all took off towards the radio’s signal. The second and third wave struck together, leaving the rest of us to scramble around shooting at the zerg. I focused my fire into the swarm of bugs and fired, killing a few in a row. The dispenser, which finally started working, was refilling my ammo, so I had nothing to worry about. I continued firing, killing a few more before I had to avoid a ball of acid flying towards me. I looked over the small wall and saw that a few had taken notice of me and started focusing on me. I focus fired one of the weaker ones, scoring a few hits before having to duck down as a spine the size of my arm came flying past my head.
I turned my attention on the ones that were focusing on me and saw that two of the six legged ones and one of the snake like one were waiting for me. I pushed my gun over the wall and blind fired at the snake one, watching as it got a mouthful of lead. It roared in pain and shot at the wall, the spine digging into it like it was paper. The spine itself was almost an inch from actually hitting me. I fired once more, seeing the bullets open his chest. Another explosion shook the ground and cries and screams of pain filled the air as the marines were torn into by the zerg. I saw one of the six legged ones walk up the ramp, ignoring all the fire it was receiving, and cut one of the marines in half with its pincers.
“Multiple air bogeys in bound. ETA, right the hell now.” Tychus yelled, and I looked up to see a large swarm of flying zerg heading straight for the station. One of the towers started firing at the creatures, the rockets that struck the flying zergs ended up knocking them from the sky. I aimed at the zerg flyers and fired, striking a few and knocking them from the air. With the air zerg down, I focused the small bug ones that were slowly making their way past the marines. A few would get a strike or bite in before being blown to bits by the marines. The ranged zerg would fire one or two spines or globs of acid before being focused on and forced to retreat or die. The barracks were constantly creating marines, the SCVs desperately trying to repair or build bunkers.
“Thought we were goners there!” The marine said. I saw the group making their way to the station, the beams of green from the medics and flashes from the marines as they desperately try and fight their way back. They made it back, helping the rest of us fight off the attack that was threatening to break through the line. The zerg forces were slowly dying away, being hammered from two sides. The marines were still coming from the barrack and adding to the attack when I heard a whistling. I looked up and saw some sort of zerg drop pod and started firing at it. Something popped inside of it and the bottom of the drop pod ended up dissolving as green acid splashed against the ground hissing and sizzling.
“Keep at it boys. Our rides on its way.” Raynor said, sending the rest of the marines into a frenzy. Some of the marines threw caution to the wind, standing up from the protection of the wall they were hiding against and fired randomly into the crowd of zerg. One of the marines was able to kill about five of the small zerg before being hit directly by a glob of acid, causing him to roll around on the ground, kicking and screaming until he was reduced to nothing but a pile of neon green goop. I popped out of the cover and fired a few rounds at the snake like zerg, hitting it in its jaw and blowing it off. It made an angered squelching noise as it fired another spine at me. I dodged the spine and fired a few more rounds at it. Most of the rounds hit it in its large forehead, completely blowing off its head. I turned my attention to one of the six legged ones, only to barely avoid a glob of acid flying past my head. I looked at the thing, before aiming my rifle at it and shooting off its legs. It tried using what remained of its legs to stand up, only to manage to flip itself over, revealing the unprotected stomach. I took aim and fired once more, hitting it and ripping it apart.
“We need immediate support! Hostiles all around us! Is anyone out there?!” A panicked voice was heard through the mic. Another squad of marines left the station to save the latest group of survivors. That’s when the latest group of zerg attacked. The same small bug zerg ran in front of the ranged zerg, except now there were these green balls rolling their way to the marines.
“Banelings!” A marine yelled, sending the entire station into chaos. Marines started focusing on the banelings, causing them to explode and kill some of the small zerg. One or two got close enough to a marine that when it exploded, it dissolved that marine.
“Thanks for the assist. We’re with you Raynor!” The marine said through the mic. I saw the group retreating to the station, desperately trying to fight off the next wave that was quickly catching up to them. We managed to kill the wave that struck behind them, and they quickly ran in. The wave struck just as the last marine ran through the gap, most of the zerg not even making it up the ramp as we focused our attention to take them out. For a few minutes, it was all silent. I looked around anxiously, inspecting every corner and crook for signs of the zerg. A sudden burst of motion sent the entire base into a tense defense. Suddenly, we were surrounded by four waves of zerg. Air zerg were quickly focusing the missile turrets down, destroying them swiftly. Drop pods rained from the sky as it struck the ground and several small zerg made their way to join the main army. Most of the marines focused on the ramp, not letting them get a single foot up it. Some of the marines started focusing the flying zerg, slowly clearing the skies. Marines were dying left and right as the zerg managed to find their way up the ramp and started cutting into them. I watched as one of the flying zerg shot some sort of glaive from its tail, the glaive cleaving its way through three marines. I continued focusing on the ocean of zerg that were already surrounding the marines.
“Hold out a little longer! We’ll be getting out of here soon!” Raynor said. The barracks were desperately trying to produce units, but we were losing too many to protect the ramp completely. An explosion rocked the area as another bunker fell to the onslaught. SCVs were desperately repairing the remaining bunkers but we were slowly losing the battle. A constant stream of zerg were bolstering the army that was already destroying the defense. The marines were swiftly making their way from the barracks, joining the defense as we slowly overtook the zerg army. I continued firing at the small zerg, the only indication of how many I’ve killed by the small meter on the side of the gun that showed the kills. I briefly looked at the meter and saw that I had already killed hundreds of zerg, the number already slowly rising while I kept a constant stream of bullets that were fueled by the dispenser. The marines were slowly pushing their way back, the one bunker that managed to survive being repaired by three SCVs at once.
“Commander, this is Matt Horner. Just hold on! Calvary’s on its way!” A voice said over the gunfire and cries of death.
“Take your time Matt. No rush!” Raynor said sarcastically. The constant stream of zerg was just bearable, only a few making it to the ramp and fewer even making it up the ramp. One or two of the small zerg managed to slip into the defense, only to get gunned down quickly. Zerg drop pods were quickly descending from the sky, some of them falling behind the main defense only to catch a second wave of marines that were stationed just for them. The ground started shaking, and a large explosion of dirt and concrete sent marines flying as large worm like zerg slowly settled. It opened its mouth and its tongue started squirting out zerg. I focused on the large worm and eventually killed it. A large torrent of blood spilled from its mouth as I fired a last burst of bullets into its tongue, the worm spinning around haphazardly before hitting the ground with a loud thud. Some of the marines had died from the zerg that was spat out by the worm. A loud roaring snapped my attention towards the sky. A large black and gray spaceship descended from the sky, flames licking the underside as it slowly leveled out. Orange laser batteries started raining from its belly, killing and burning the large zerg wave that was on the move to the station. It slowly hovered to the station, firing away at the zerg forces that just suddenly sprung to life. Almost ten of those worm zerg popped out of the ground in front of the ramp and was quickly leaking small squads of zerg out. I saw that a huge wave of the small zerg was building up on the top of the ramp, only a few attacking the marines that blocked the way in. Medics were healing the marines that stood in the way as more and more built up, before the large ship hovered overhead and started firing the laser batteries at the crowd. Almost immediately, the entire swarm of small zerg were burning alive.
“Calvary's arrived! Anyone still alive down there?” The same voice asked from earlier.
“Good to see ya, Matt! Welcome to the party!” Raynor said. “Glad we made it in time sir. Now let’s get you boys outta there.” Matt said. The oncoming zerg slowly dropped to a small constant stream that could be managed by a few marines as the ship slowly touched down, a large ramp opening up in the back. The dump truck with the artifact still on it went up the ramp first, surrounded by marines. The SCVs went next, carrying crates of the minerals and barrels of the green liquid they were collecting also. Next were the marines and medics, who all had to slowly back up and fire. I picked up the dispenser and placed it on my shoulder, one handing the rifle as I slowly backed up and fired wildly into the crowd of zerg. The last marine and medic stepped on and the ship took off, the marines cleaning up any zerg that managed to get onto the ship itself. The back closed, sealing everyone in, and I felt the ship kick into motion. I followed Raynor and Tychus as we made our way to the bridge. We stepped onto the bridge, holographic boards and controls on consoles and terminals on the side of the room as the captain of the ship, presumably Matt, was giving orders to everyone.
“Damn Jimmy, you’ve been holding out on me...” Tychus commented.
“Cutting it pretty close there Matt.” Raynor said to Matt, ignoring Tychus. Matt turned to look at Raynor.
“Never left you hanging before, sir.” He said.
“Fair enough. Just get us the hell out of here!” Raynor said.
“All batteries, concentrate forward firepower. Spin up drives two and six. All hands brace for warp jump on my mark!” Matt ordered. Tychus grabbed onto a pipe, while I grabbed one of the railings and steadied myself. I felt something like being sucked into an airtight tube and held my breath. I looked around, seeing nothing but white, until the sucking feeling finally stopped and I let my breath go. I looked out the window and saw that we were in space.
“What the hell happened? We ain’t seen the zerg in years - why attack Mar Sara now?” Raynor asked.
“It’s not just Mar Sara. You need to see this.” Matt said. He pressed a button and a small screen sparked to life.
“Zerg swarm launched a full scale attack-”
“-Devastation spread throughout all outer rim planets-”
“-Sustained heavy losses-”
“-Casualties in the billions-”
“-Minutes ago the zerg attacked a Dominion military research facility-” An explosion knocked the marines walking in the scene towards the camera and the screen went to static.
“Sweet mother of mercy.” Tychus said.
“-New, exclusive footage confirms the Queen of Blades is in fact leading the swarm!” The screen cut a feminine form walking across rubble before looking at the screen and the camera turning off. Raynor sat in the chair behind him, his hand curling into a fist before he rested his head on in his hand, closing his eyes.
“We always knew she would be back. But what’s she after?” Matt asked.
“She’s come to finish the job.” Raynor said cryptically. Raynor got up and looked at the map, apparently plotting some sort of plan.
“There’s no telling what the zerg will throw at us this time. Sir, we need to make sure our hardware and munitions are up to the challenge.” Matt said.
“Yeah, I’ll check in with Swann down in the armory. Knowin’ him, he’s already got upgrades for us.” Raynor said.
“I need to ask, sir- but is there a reason that convict and the other is on my bridge?” Matt asked, looking at Tychus and I.
“Easy Matt. Tychus is one of my oldest friends. He helped me out a real bind a few years back. I owe him. The kid here is a killing machine. He’s pretty strange, but he makes up for it with talent. Kids probably killed hundreds of zerg on that last part.” Raynor said.
“Well your friend has a criminal record as long as...” Matt said.
“Mine? Believe me, if Tychus Findlay wanted me dead, I’d be dead already.” Raynor interrupted.
“Understood, sir.” Matt said. Raynor walked off, most likely to the armory, and I followed him. He eyed me as I stepped into the elevator with him. He pressed a button labeled ‘Armory’ and the elevator shifted into motion. A few minutes passed of nothing but silence, until the doors opened, revealing a hangar full of crates, vehicles, and combat suits. I walked over to the combat suits, seeing six different models of armor. The first was the CMC-300, which I’ve seen all the marines use, then the next one, which was the CMC-400 Combat Powered Suit. I took one look at it and immediately loved it. I took one look at the rest, seeing the bulky and otherwise too big armor. I walked over to Raynor and who I assumed was Swann, seeing Raynor starting to walk away. I walked up to the man, getting his attention.
“What could I do for ya kid?” He asked.
“I want to buy the CMC-400 armor.” I answered, pointing to the designated armor. He whistled and looked at me.
“Armor’s pretty expensive. Usually used for mercenary units.” He said.
“How much for the armor?” I asked.
“Two hundred thousand credits.” He said. I pulled out all of my credits and counted off two hundred thousand.
“Alright, just need to get your measurements and we’ll have your armor ready in a day.” He said. I pulled off the armor and equipment, revealing the slightly burnt and tattered pants.
“I thought it was just the armor. Heh…” He said, pulling out a remote device. He aimed device at me and a green beam started scanning up and down, before a small ding was heard. Swann looked at the device and whistled.
“6’6. You got lucky kid.” He said, walking off and yelling some orders. I pulled on the armor and equipment once more before walking to the elevator and going up to the bridge again. Raynor, Tychus, and Matt were all standing next to a screen, examining the next mission.
“What’s our general status, Matt?” Raynor asked.
“We’ve picked up a distress call from the planet Agria. There’s a colony there under attack by the zerg. Your convict buddy Tychus lined up a mission retrieving another artifact. It’s on a protoss shrine-world called Monolyth.” Matt said.
“...Any ships receiving this transmission, the zerg are invading Agria… The Dominion abandoned us here… We’re just a small farming colony. We’ve got to evacuate before we’re overrun… If you can hear this message, please help us!” A static filled voice said.
“We have to save that colony. Monolyth and that artifact can wait until then.” Raynor said. Tychus just shrugged and walked off the bridge, while Matt started giving orders and coordinates for the crew. Raynor stepped into the elevator and disappeared while I stayed on the bridge, staring out into the stars.
~Two days later~
My new armor, the CMC-400 Powered Combat Suit, was ready and waiting in the armory. Raynor had volunteered that I go on this mission, seeing as I was excited to try out the new armor. I walked into the elevator and clicked the button for the armory, feeling the thing kick into motion. A few minutes later, the elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing Swann at the console. I walked up to him, the clicking of my boots catching his attention. He turned around and saw me.
“We’re finished with your armor. Follow me.” He said, stepping away from the console and walking towards the armor displays. After passing a few rows of boxes, we came across an armor station.
“Step onto the pad and don’t move much.” He said. I took off my armor and stepped onto the pad, the machine kicking to life.
“Can’t you take this on and off manually, without the machine?” I asked him. He nodded.
“The machine here is only for building the armor onto the person. After you have the armor built on, you can take it on and off as you please.” He answered. The boots strapped themselves onto my feet, the machine lifting me three feet into the air. Two robotic arms grabbed my wrists and lifted my arms into the air. A dozen other arms slowly crept towards my body, some with pieces of armor, some with frames for the armor, the rest with welders or screwdrivers or other types of tools (If you want to know what its like, look up StarCraft 2 cinematic intro). After a few minutes of the armor being put together, I saw the arms retract and the platform lower to the ground. The shield was mounted on my upper arm and shoulder guard, leaving both of my hands free for the C-14 gauss rifle.
I stepped off of the platform, towering over Swann by a good three feet, compared to the other armor, which only allowed me to stand two feet over him. He handed me a device and I raised an eyebrow at him, although he couldn’t see it.
“What’s this do?” I asked, my voice changed to sound deeper due to the helmet.
“That little device allows you to activate the integrated Stimpack system in your suit.” He said, handing me another device.
“And this?” I asked.
“This is a black hole simulator. It allows troops to carry any item with them, no problem with the weight or fear of damaging an item.” He said. I pressed a button on the black hole simulator, a large portal opening up in front of me. I picked up all of my things, including the dispenser, and tossed them into it. I closed the portal and opened it up again, reaching my hand into it. I felt all of the objects in the portal, slowly floating around, and closed the device again.
“Let me tell you all about your armor.” Swann said with a smirk. After a few minutes of discussing the suits perks, my jaw dropped.
“I fucking love this armor.” I said.
“Most do. The only problem is that it’s too expensive for the average marine to purchase so they have to go with the CMC-300 armor. The 300 is almost the same thing, except that the 400 has NBC shields surrounding the marine, an advanced Stimpack system, so that it doesn’t hurt the marine as much and lasts twice as long, and better life support than the 300 model. That shield of yours is 30 millimeters of bonded carbide and easily stop an armor piercing round from tearing through. The C-14 rifle is fitted to hold drum magazines that have five hundred rounds in each of them, allowing you tear easily cut through any zerg swarm. On the end is a psionic blade, what the protoss normally use, and can easily cut through a siege tank.” He said. On the end of the blade was a glowing dark red blade.
“How do you turn this thing off?” I asked, looking for a switch of some kind.
“There’s a switch right here.” He said, flipping a switch next to the blade. Immediately, the dark red blade disappeared. I placed my hand on the grip.
“Better get up to the bridge. We’ve arrived at Agria.” He said. I nodded and made my way up to the bridge, where Matt, Tychus, and Raynor was waiting for me. I had to duck slightly to get through the elevator, then walked over to the starmap.
“Thank you so much for responding to our distress call, Commander. I’m Dr. Ariel Hanson and I represent the people of the Agria colony.” Hanson said.
“Pleasure to meet ya, Doc. You can call me Jim. What’s the situation?” Raynor asked.
“The zerg have overwhelmed our planetary defenses. The colony is lost. For the past twelve hours we’ve been evacuating people to the nearest starport. But the zerg attacks have become so intense, we can’t get more through. If you can guard the highway, we can start sending the remaining groups every few minutes.” She explained.
“Don’t worry Doc. We’ll get your folks to that starport safe and sound.” Raynor said.
“I pray you’re right, Commander. The zerg are more terrible than I ever imagined.” She said, before the screen cut and Raynor turned to me.
“Get down to the armory and prep for the mission. I want these colonists safe and sound at that starport.” Raynor ordered. I walked to the elevator, taking it down to the armory quickly and grabbing drum magazines for the gauss rifle The black hole simulator and Stimpack activator at my side, I stepped into the black medivac, seeing two firebats and two medics already stationed. I took a seat next to one of the firebats, hearing him talking softly to the other firebat. The ramp closed and the medivac took off, speeding down to the planet. A few minutes of sailing through the stars and I felt the ship hit the atmosphere, the interior of the ship starting to rise in heat. The air conditioner on my back kicked on and started venting the hot air out. A few minutes of constant heat and cool temperatures before it finally leveled out and the air conditioner vented out any remaining hot air in the suit.
The ship stopped and the ramp opened up, revealing the street. I got up from the seat and stepped down the ramp, before finally jumping, hitting the ground. I looked around, rifle at the ready, seeing that it was all clear. The rest of the squad landed and spread out, the firebats in front of the medics, and we started jogging down the street. Almost immediately, zerglings jumped from the bushes from all around, the firebats taking point and the medics backing them. I took a few steps back before readying the rifle and firing, the first few rounds striking the first zergling in the pack. The rest charged forward, running directly at the firebats, and just burnt to a crisp.
“Mmm… Scorched earth…” One of the firebats said. We continued forward as a second squad of zerglings saw us and charged. I readied myself and fired, the rounds cutting through the air and blowing the first few zerglings to hell. The rest were burned alive by the firebats, the zerglings not even getting close enough to claw at them. We continued down the road once more, the sounds of gunfire growing louder, before we saw a large group of the zerglings running around, clawing and biting anything. I fired, hitting a few zerglings. The rest turned to us and charged, the group meeting a hail of bullets and an inferno. I had four hundred and fifty rounds left in the mag, as well as ten drum mags left, as we continued forward, a small ramp leading up to a base of sorts. We all stepped forward, some of the marines breathing in relief.
“Thank goodness you’re here. I’ll give you control of the main buildings so you can help us evacuate the colony.” Hanson said, the command center and barracks already being pushed into action.
“We’ll need to escort the convoys all the way to the main starport for them to have a chance of escaping this planet.” Raynor said. Another firebat popped out of the barracks, stepping next to the other two. One SCV popped out of the command center and built a supply depot, before moving to the minerals.
“The first convoy from Larks’ Crossing will be moving out soon.” Hanson said. I checked my ammo and supplies, before realizing I hadn’t ate in the last two days. I grabbed the black hole simulator and pushed the button, the hole opening up and I reached inside, grabbing my bags. I opened the bags and took out a small piece of jerky and canteen of water. I saw the colonists slowly loading into the transport truck and quickly ate, the hunger dying away slowly and my thirst being quenched. I put the things back into the black hole and closed the portal, the convoy starting to move. The firebats took point while I stayed to the side, the medics taking the rear to cover everyone. We made our way along the street, no signs of zerg anywhere, and we made it to a small ridge with a ramp leading down to it. A bunker was already built at the top of the ramp, a good spot in case some sort of zerg tries to attack.
“Someone had the right idea building bunkers to defend the roads… but why are they empty?” Raynor asked through the channel.
“The Dominion military abandoned them when the zerg attacked. They didn’t give a damn about the colony.” Hanson said.
“Sorry to hear that, Doc. At least these bunkers are in a good spot. I’ll see if we can get them manned.” Raynor said. We made our way down the street, rounding a few corners. Before long, the sounds of the zerg reached my ears and I readied my rifle, slowly scanning the area. Ten zerglings jumped out of the bushes and I opened fire, hitting the first few before they managed to reach the firebats and do harm. I felt something clawing at my leg and swung around, seeing a zergling trying to bite his way through my armor. I flipped the switch on the end of the rifle and the psionic blade flickered to life, the dark red blade shimmering in the darkness. I cut through the zergling with ease before catching up with the convoy. I felt the tendrils wrap around my leg to repair any damage done to me, thankfully catching no ones attention as my armor was repaired. I swung my rifle around just as I heard a zerglings screech, impaling a flying zergling on the end of it and burning it. I flicked the zergling off and shot it a few times, making sure it was dead, before looking to the sky and seeing an overlord. It stopped a little bit away from the convoy and started spreading creep. I kept moving with the convoy, the chirping of birds and crickets barren as the zerg swarmed around the tree line. I swung my rifle around and shot at the zerglings, catching the first ten zerglings quickly. I saw a second bunker that was at the top of another ramp, the convoy quickly making it to the starport. We started our way back to the colony, meeting a few zerglings and a hydralisk on the way back.
“It’s a long haul to the starport, partner. How can we be expected to guard the whole thing?” Tychus asked.
“I reckon we can use a mobile force to keep it clear or build more bunkers to block the approach - either way should work.” Raynor answered. We made it back to the colony just as another transport truck rolled up to the colony huts.
“The next convoy is almost ready to go, Commander. Please alert your men.” Hanson said. A few more barracks had been built as well as supply depots while we were gone. A few marines, medics, and firebats were waiting at the entrance of the colony, the two squads meeting up. An SCV took off down the street, most likely to go build another bunker or something. The next transport truck was full and moving by another minute and we surrounded the convoy. Before the convoy made it to the first bunker, twenty zerglings were emerging from the darkness. The marines focused on the zerglings as the firebats took point, soaking up the damage and burning any zerglings that got too close. The convoy continued, two firebats stepping away and getting into the bunker, the SCV from earlier finishing up a bunker that stood next to the original. The SCV repaired any damage on the first bunker before speeding off ahead of us, barely avoiding the second wave of zerglings. What we didn’t notice was the third wave sneaking up on us. We focused our attention on the second wave of zerglings, the firebats burning most of them alive.
The third wave hit as we were all reloading, most of the marines dying horribly. I felt something slam into my shield and I pushed it away, readying my rifle and firing. I managed to fight off the zerg alone, the firebats and medics being ambushed by another wave of zerglings. After killing the ten zerglings that were left, I turned my attention to the rest of the last wave, seeing a few roaches and hydralisks here. I fired, hitting a few of the roaches and killing them. I heard the clicking of the gun and pulled out a second mag, replacing the empty one in place of the full mag. I raised my shield up just in time as a spine heading for my head was stopped, barely a few inches in between both spots. I fired at the hydralisk, managing to kill it before it fired again, and pulled out the spine from the shield. The tendrils repaired the damage to the shield before anyone noticed and I caught up to the convoy. The transport truck was in bad shape and only two marines remained. I took point, keeping an eye out for anything.
The next wave of zerglings hit and I charged towards them. I slammed the shield into the first few, sending them flying away. I swung the blade around, cutting two in half, before firing at the rest of the wave. One zergling managed to bypass my gun, only to get crushed beneath my boots. I wiped the wave out completely before turning to the convoy. The transport truck was still moving, albeit barely, and the marines were on the lookout for anything. Luckily, the truck managed to reach the ramp and make it to the starport, the marines taking their spot at the top of the ramp to protect. I made my way back to the colony. I was met with two waves of zerglings. The first wave struck from the front while the second struck from behind.
They didn’t stand a chance. I managed to cut, shoot, and slam my way through the two swarms, the virus managing to rejuvenate and repair my armor and wounds. I made it back to the colony, a large group of marines, medics, and firebats waiting at the entrance of the colony. I sighed in relief as I sat down next to one of the supply depots, watching as the next transport truck rolled up and started loading more civilians.
“Commander, another convoy will be heading out soon.” Hanson said. I got off of the ground and checked my ammo count, seeing only fifty two rounds left. I pulled off the black hole simulator and pulled out the dispenser, the ammo being restocked quickly. I pushed the dispenser back into the black hole and closed the portal, the two clips of ammo full now. I saw the last civilians get into the transport vehicle and the truck start moving. I took my position near the back, watching every corner as we made our way out of the colony. A wave of zerglings struck the two bunkers, the zerglings being burned easily. The second wave struck from the front, pushing us back a little, before we managed to kill them all. We lost a few marines and a firebat, otherwise we were all uninjured. I heard some shuffling from behind and turned around, seeing a horde of zerglings hitting from behind. I started firing my gun, before I felt something slam into my back, knocking me to the ground. I twisted around, swinging the shield and slamming into everything that touched it, and quickly picked myself up. I continued firing all around me, killing zerglings as quickly as I could, seeing the convoy disappearing around the corner. I continued firing the gun, before I actually looked at how many zerglings there was. From the second I looked, I could already count a hundred or more zerglings surrounding me.
“Shit!” I yelled, jumping over a few zerglings and onto open ground, before I turned around and started running backwards, firing my rifle into the crowd. I somehow ran off the road and before I knew it, I was standing at the top of a hill, firing at zerglings that were barreling in from all sides. I felt something slam into my back again and felt about five zerglings jump onto my back, and I knew it was all over. Then… something strange happened. I felt the zerglings get off of my back. I jumped up and was about to start firing again, before I noticed that they were all backing away from me slowly. I lowered the rifle and looked around, before I saw her. Raynor had told me about her. Sarah Kerrigan. The Queen of Blades. The zerglings split apart as she walked through the crowd, Kerrigan making her way to me with a small smile on her face.
“I can see the virus within you. The first strand of zerg, but also the strongest of them all.” She whispered. I looked at her, seeing her starting to circle me. She dragged a finger across my shoulders, over my head, and down my arm.
“I’ve seen your memories. What you’ve done, what you’ve become, where you come from, and how you’ve arrived here. I’ve also seen the signs from the others in your life. How much they want you. But then these little accidents happen and you’re whisked away to another universe. I know how you have to get home. The little objectives you’ve had to accomplish. I can tell you how to get back, but all you have to do for me… is tell me who bought the artifact that you stole from the Dominion.” She said, stopping in front of me.
“The Moebius Foundation.” I said, and judging her reaction, she was surprised by my quick answer.
“So how do I get out of here?” I asked.
“You must fight the Protoss when you arrive on Monolyth. Once you’ve touched the artifact, you will be sucked into the vortexes that you’ve seen.” She explained, before pointing towards the gunfire.
“The last convoy is being loaded onto the starship. Using the virus will get you there fast enough to catch the last plane out.” She finished, the zerglings parting towards the starport. I nodded and took off, the virus increasing my run speed to twice of what any man can do. After a minute of constantly running, I met up with the final convoy, just outside the starport. Hordes of zerglings, hydralisks, roaches, mutalisks, and nydus worms were surrounding the starport. Medics healed firebats as they quickly soaked up damage, while marines were trying to take out everything. I charged in from behind, firing the rifle and clearing a path through the zerg. I ran up the ramp quickly, joining the rest of the marines in fighting the zerg.
“Where were you?” One of the marines asked me.
“I had to deal with my own zerg problem.” I said.
“How many?” Another asked, gunfire breaking through his mic.
“A few hundred, no big deal.” I said, taking out a few mutas and hydras.
“Most marines can’t handle two zerglings, yet you handled a few hundred?” A marine asked, disbelief coating each word.
“I’m not an average marine, now am I?” I said with finality, shutting up the rest of them. We managed to clear the rest with ease, and the last civilians were placed on the last transport ship and flown out. The Hyperion came from the sky, laser batteries scanning for any sort of zerg biomass. Finding none, the ship landed, the marines and firebats at the ready. The ramp opened up and Raynor and Tychus stepped out, rifle and chaingun at the ready. Seeing no zerg, the troops quickly piled onto the ship and the ship took off. I went to the bridge, Raynor and Tychus talking to each other while Matt and who I presumed as the Doctor from Agria were doing the same. I shook my head and went to the cantina.
~Two days later~
I was standing on the bridge, awaiting the briefing for the mission. I was decked out in my CMC-400 armor, the gauss rifle in my hands and shield on my shoulder guard. I was idly checking the gauss rifle for any sort of damage or malfunctions, finding none. I looked around, seeing Matt staring at the starmap intently with Dr. Hanson talking to Stetmann idly. I heard the elevator doors open up and looked, seeing Raynor and Tychus walk through the doors. They walked over to the starmap and pulled up an image of an artifact, this one surrounded by what I presume is the protoss.
“There it is Jimmy, just like Moebius said. Easy money.” Tychus said.
“I don’t know. There’s a lot of protoss down there. We’re gonna have to - what the?” Raynor said, seeing a large group of zerg pop up from the ground.
“Warning! Multiple bio-signatures detected!” Adjutant said.
“Them critters were just hiding underground, waitn’?” Tychus said.
“No idea, but you can bet that they’re heading straight for our shrine!” Raynor said.
“Well, that sure complicates things. We can’t fight two armies at once, partner…” Tychus said. Raynor looked at him with a sly smile.
“With any luck, we won’t have to.” Raynor said.
“We only need to hold the area at the top of the shrine long enough to extract the artifact.” He explained. The screen cut to an empty spot on the map, in between the two armies.
“So we’ll land here and cut our way through the protoss lines while they’re busy with the zerg. It’s only a matter of time before the zerg overwhelm the protoss. We’d best grab the artifact and be long gone by then.” Raynor said. Tychus smiled evilly.
“Smart thinkin’ Jimmy.” He said. I went down to the armory and hopped into the ship, five SCVs all sitting casually in its hull. The ship took off and made its way down to the surface. We landed and the SCVs went to work, building a Command Center immediately. Once the Command Center was up, the started mining minerals, while I guarded the entrance in case of any wanderers. I saw that the SCVs were already at work building a refinery, merc compound, and barracks. After completing all three buildings, a tech lab was built on the barracks. A few more SCVs came out of the command center and they all started mining. Three marines and a medic popped out of the barracks quickly. Three stalkers walked up to a pylon, leaving us to back away to avoid being hit.
The ship came again, this time carrying three marauders. The marauders joined our forces and we pushed on the stalkers. They spotted us and fired, shooting out dual laser beams and hitting a marine. The marine went down quickly, the marauders, the rest of the marines, and I started firing. I aimed for one of their faces, only to hit an energy shield. I continued firing at the shield until it fell, then continued firing at the stalker. The stalker went down in an explosion of sparks, what I could easily tell was the shield generator flying towards me. I caught the piece in my hand and inspected it, the other two stalkers taken down already. The slightly damaged but still operable shield generators lay in my hands. I looked for a place to put the small device and saw that I had a small socket in the back of my helmet. I placed the generator in the socket and it fit perfectly, the energy shield already regenerating around me.
Once the shield was fully rejuvenated, I met up with the rest of the group, fighting a small band of zealots and stalkers. I fired at one of the zealots and his shield flared up. I continued firing until the shield went down and I aimed for his head. He turned to me and was met with a face full of lead. I turned my attention to the stalkers, who were quickly taking down the marines and marauders, and fired at one of them. His shields went down and I aimed the rifle for his legs. I fired, hitting his legs and knocking him to the ground. I swung my rifle around and fired at his brother, his shield flaring up as well. All that was left were one marine, one medic, and two marauders. I took out the stalker quickly and the squad retreated. “Warning! Zerg attack wave detected!” Adjutant said, just before a small band of zerglings and hydras ran up the ramp. I fired on the zerglings, quickly killing them before turning my attention to the hydras. I saw one of them fire at me and the spine quickly flew through the air. The spine struck the shield, the spine disintegrating as the shield destroyed it. I fired at the hydra and quickly killed it.
A second wave struck just as the last hydralisk died, the zerglings quickly dying and the roaches were quickly taken out by the marauders. We built up our forces and sent another attack out. The marauders quickly took out the pylon that powered the photon cannons and we quickly wiped out the forces. The next area was locked down with two sentries setting up force fields. We waited for the force fields to go down and charged, taking out the cannons and forces quickly. We crossed the bridge and took out the next area with ease, two void rays going down slowly. The next area was a bit tricky. We headed up the ramp and was met with three archons, four stalkers, and six zealots. I quickly dealt with two of the zealots before turning my attention to one of the archons. I fired at the archon, catching his attention and sending him towards me. He fired the lightning from his hands, my shield flaring up and absorbing the blow. I managed to take down his shield and took him out, before turning my attention to the rest of them. They managed to wipe out the attack force and looked at me. I quickly retreated back to the base, the next attack force built up and ready to go.
They all walked out as I took up the rear. We made it to the previous point and the fight started again, this time we pushed through and destroyed everything. We reached the artifact, although it was surrounded by barriers. The statues next to the artifact came to life and shot laser beams onto everyone. I shot at the statue but the bullets just bounced off. I mentally scratched my head before aiming the rifle at its eyes and fired. The statue quickly crumbled to the ground. “That easy to take them down…” I muttered, swinging my rifle around and firing at the next statue, hitting its eyes just as it powered up a laser, causing the head to explode in an orange inferno. The attack force was all dead and it was up to me to take out the last statue. I fired my rifle at the statue, only to miss by a few inches. I rolled out of the way as it fired its laser at me, barely missing me. I got to my feet and fired again, hitting it in its face but not getting it again. It slammed its fist into the ground, sending me tumbling away from the statue. I got up and readied the rifle, taking aim and firing it. The statue fired its laser one last time, only for the bullets to meet the laser halfway.
The laser exploded spectacularly, the shockwave of the explosion destroying the statue. I got up slowly, picking my rifle up in my left hand. I looked at my right arm and saw that it was gone, the explosion causing sending it to oblivion. I sighed and walked up to the artifact, touching it. After I touched it, the purple vortex that I’ve seen time and time again opened up and sucked me in. Everything at that moment caught up to me and I felt my body seize up. I still had control of my eyes and watched as the portal opened up once more and spat me out somewhere. The feeling of falling through the air pushed a sense of dread into my chest. I regained control of my body and tried stopping myself from spinning in the air. I managed to stop the spinning and saw what I felt was familiar. I crashed through the ceiling of the castle of sorts and found myself in some sort of throne room, which seemed familiar also. The dust cleared and I looked around, seeing the shocked faces of eight mares which I immediately recognized.
“Hell, it’s about damn time.”
AN: Any ideas on what happens next chapter? I'm taking suggestions, please comment below. I will take the random ones and the lucky winner will be featured in the next chapter!